Bush speech brags of success in torture of insane man

Bush speech brags of success in torture of insane man : "Dan Coleman, one of FBI’s top agents on al-Qaida, was assigned to read Zubaydah’s diary. In it, he writes in three incoherent voices, reflecting different personalities, writes Suskind. 'The CIA had long suspected that the ubiquitous Zubaydah was involved in the August 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Africa. He [Coleman] looked for entries in the summer of 1998 in Zubaydah’s diary. Nothing … nothing but nonsense.' Coleman reported to an FBI official: 'This guy is insane, certifiable, split personality.'

Bush was briefed. 'I said he was important,' the president complained to Tenet. 'You’re not going to let me lose face on this, are you?' 'No sir, Mr. President.' So Zubaydah became the first experiment in the new rules on torture in which the Geneva Conventions did not apply. Over at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., a CIA official told Suskind, 'Around the room a lot of people just rolled their eyes when we heard comments from the White House. I mean, Bush and Cheney knew what we knew about Zubaydah. The guy had psychological issues. He was, in a way, expendable. It was like calling someone who runs a company’s in-house travel department the COO.'

But the decision was made to 'torture a mentally disturbed man and then leap, screaming, at every word he uttered.' He was 'waterboarded,' simulating drowning. Zubaydah babbled about terrorist threats to shopping malls, nuclear power plants, supermarkets, and about al-Qaida plans to build a nuclear device. The administration sounded alerts on every unconfirmed threat. In May 2002, New York City was put on high alert over Zubaydah’s torture-incited ravings that the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty were targets. Cheney went on 'Larry King Live' to defend the alerts: 'We now have a large number of people in custody, detainees, and periodically as we go through this process we learn more about the possibility of future attacks.'"

(Via Martini Republic.)

NYT: Disney/ABC filmmaker admits they just made stu

NYT: Disney/ABC filmmaker admits they just made stu: "We now have a Disney/ABC representative on-the-record admitting that parts of the movie have been knowingly falsified and that Disney/ABC has no problem with that. They knew the depictions were false and kept them in there. Albright, Berger and Clinton just had their defamation lawsuit handed to them on a silver platter."

(Via AMERICAblog.)

What Dropoff? August Death Total in Baghdad Morgue Triples

What Dropoff? August Death Total in Baghdad Morgue Triples: "It turns out the official toll of violent deaths in August was just revised upwards to 1535 from 550, tripling the total. Now, we’re depressingly used to hearing about deaths here, so much so that the numbers can be numbing. But this means that a much-publicized drop-off in violence in August – heralded by both the Iraqi government and the US military as a sign that a new security effort in Baghdad was working -- apparently didn’t exist."

(Via AlterNet.)

Halliburton steals Mexican election?

Halliburton steals Mexican election?: "Now, in classic corporate Economic Hit Man style, Caldron will begin privatizing Mexico's national oil company and handing over resources owned by the Mexican people to US corporations."

(Via AlterNet.)

Bush admits CIA has secret prisons

Bush admits CIA has secret prisons: "United States President George W Bush has acknowledged the CIA has run a secret overseas detention program for terrorism suspects.

He says 14 of those held have been transferred to the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Human rights organisations have expressed concerns about the secret detention of terrorism suspects.

But Mr Bush has strongly defended the detention and questioning of terrorism suspects through this method, and says the CIA treats them humanely and does not use torture."

(Via Google News.)

Pakistan Throws in the Towel

Pakistan Throws in the Towel : "The Pakistani military will no longer operate in the area where Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda operatives are believed to be hiding, according to terms of what the Pakistan government calls a "peace deal," signed today with militant tribal groups allied to the Taliban and al Qaeda.

It is a stunning setback for U.S. efforts to root out al Qaeda and Taliban strongholds.

The agreement, signed in the North Waziristan district of Pakistan's volatile tribal belt, calls for the military to return to its barracks and for the insurgents to stop launching attacks on Pakistani troops."

(Via a DefenseTech.)