The United States must prosecute former President George W. Bush for torture if his admission in a memoir that he authorized waterboarding holds true, rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
In "Decision Points," published this week, Bush defended his decision to authorize waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning condemned by some as torture.
Bush said the practice was limited to three detainees and led to intelligence breakthroughs that thwarted attacks and saved lives. He told NBC in an interview to publicize the book that his legal adviser had told him it did "not fall within the anti-torture act."
Amnesty: prosecute Bush for admitted waterboarding
Halliburton to EPA: Just Trust Us and Go Away
Two months ago, U.S. EPA wrote nine major natural gas drilling companies a letter. It politely asked the recipients to voluntarily tell agency officials the secret brew of chemicals they use to "frack" gas from the shale deposits.
EPA wasn't even planning to make the ingredient list public, a policy the industry is fighting tooth-and-nail in Congress. Instead, it just wanted the information to help with a crucial first-ever federal study of the health and safety risks of hydraulic fracturing, a drilling technique that has already ruined water and air quality in towns across the country and has proceeded unregulated thanks to the Dick Cheney-pushed "Halliburton loophole" passed in 2005.
Iraqi Christians targeted in another slew of attacks
A series of bombings across Baghdad Wednesday morning targeted Christian homes, killing at least three and wounding 26.
The attacks came just 10 days after Islamist militants stormed a church during Sunday mass, eventually killing more than 50 people, mostly Christian worshipers. It was the worst attack on Iraqi Christians in recent history, and it has increased fear that more of Iraq’s already dwindling Christian community will leave Iraq and seek safer homes abroad.
7 ways Bush benefited from 9/11
Standard criminal investigation protocol includes seeking who benefited. (What kind of American would not want to know who benefited from 911?) A succinct summary of who has and is benefiting from the 911 New York City mass murder is provided in Upswing's October 18 Newsvine article, Did the Bush Crime Family Benefit Most From the Failed 9/11 Attacks?
UK military prosecutors investigate Iraq abuse claims
Three British soldiers are being investigated by military lawyers over the alleged abuse of an Iraqi detainee, a court has been told. They have been referred to prosecutors and could face war crimes charges.
The High Court is being asked to order a public inquiry into mistreatment claims by more than 200 civilians in UK-controlled detention sites in Iraq. A government lawyer revealed the ongoing inquiry as he argued that a public probe was unnecessary.
No charges in CIA tape destruction, Justice Departrment says
The CIA's former top clandestine officer and others won't be charged in the destruction of CIA videotapes of interrogations of suspected terrorists, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
Another part of the criminal investigation is continuing into whether CIA interrogators went beyond the legal guidance given them on treatment of the suspects during questioning, a Justice Department official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because that part of the probe is still under way.
I Voted Republican - Say it Loud, Say it Proud!
You gotta love this tee shirt....it says it all! It should be worn by every single person who voted against his or her own interests in this midterm election. What is it about self-destruction that GOP supporters don't understand? Never mind, just keep the federal government out of their Medicare, their veteran's benefits, their Social Security, their Department of Education, their EPA, - stop them from regulating toxins in their food, their air, and their water, and, of course....keep the giverment from stopping the financial institutions from robbing them blind again. The inmates have taken over much of the asylum, and it's only a matter of time until they run the whole damn place.
Cable Companies' $46+ Billion Robbery -- Subscribers Have Been Ripped off for $5 a Month Since 2000
The cable companies are diverting money that is intended to improve infrastructure into a black hole, creating a perpetual cash machine for greedy execs. When cable television subscribers open their monthly bills they will not see a charge for the “Social Contract.”
Since the mid-1990s, it appears that every cable subscriber has shelled out $1 per month increasing to $5 a month by 2000 to subsidize cable companies’ system upgrades. There has been no accounting for the total monies raised through this subsidy nor a thorough assessment of whether the cable operators fulfilled the system upgrades (including wiring and services to public institutions) the subsidy is suppose to underwrite.
Illegal tiger trade 'killing 100 big cats each year'
The illegal trade in tiger parts has led to more than 1,000 wild tigers being killed over the past decade, a report suggests. Traffic International, a wildlife trade monitoring network, found that skins, bones and claws were among the most common items seized by officials.
The trade continues unabated despite efforts to protect the cats, it warns. Over the past century, tiger numbers have fallen from about 100,000 individuals to just an estimated 3,500.
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