Obama Set to Revive Military Tribunals 09 May 2009

[CLG_News]

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government
09 May 2009
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Obama Set to Revive Military Tribunals 09 May 2009 The Obama administration is preparing to revive the system of military tribunals established at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, under new rules that would offer terrorism suspects greater legal protections, government officials said. The military commissions have allowed the trial of terrorism suspects in a setting that favors the government and protects classified information, but they were sharply criticized during the administration of President [sic] George W. Bush. "By any measure, our system of trying detainees has been an enormous failure," then-candidate Barack Obama said in June 2008. 

Document: Judge sets May 27 war court hearing 06 May 2009 The chief judge for the Pentagon's military commissions has scheduled the next war court hearing at Guantánamo Bay for late May, according to a document obtained by The Miami Herald. The May 27 hearing for Ahmed Darbi, a Saudi captive, would be the first since government lawyers sought, and won, a 120-day freeze of the hearings staged at an abandoned airstrip [ironically] called Camp Justice. 

CIA memo cites 40 Congressional briefings on torture By Bill Van Auken 09 May 2009 A memo released Wednesday by Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair lists 40 separate briefings beginning in September 2002 in which leading members of Congress were briefed by the CIA on the agency’s use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" -- in plain words, torture. Before the revelations about the employment of such methods as waterboarding appeared in the media, none of these legislators, including leading Democrats, objected to or publicly protested against what amounted to war crimes. 

Binyam torture ban reassessment 09 May 2009 Lawyers for former terror prisoner Binyam Mohamed yesterday welcomed a High Court decision to reconsider a ruling which bans the disclosure of his alleged torture at the hands of US and Pakistani intelligence services with the collusion of British agents. Last year Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones withheld from publication seven short paragraphs summarising US Government reports on Mr Mohamed's treatment, which were central to his claim that he was subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment with the consent of UK authorities. 

US army kills 12-year-old 'with grenade' 10 May 2009 The US military said on Saturday its soldiers shot dead a 12-year-old boy who tried to attack a joint American and Iraqi patrol [Yeah, right!] with a grenade in the tense northern city of Mosul. "Coalition forces fired on two of three individuals positively identified as involved in the attack, killing one, who they later discovered was a 12-year-old boy," Master Sergeant Michael Wetzel told AFP. 

TV: U.S. drone attack kills 10 in Pakistan's tribal region 09 May 2009 Up to ten persons were killed in suspected U.S. drone attack in Pakistan's tribal region on Saturday, TV channel Geo reported. Suspected U.S. drones fired four missiles at a house and a Madrassa at Sararogha area of South Waziristan, a tribal area bordering Afghanistan, said the report. Local people pulled eight bodies out of the rubble. Seven others were injured and two of them later died of wounds in hospital. 

Afghan leader demands US air strikes end 08 May 2009 Afghan President Hamid Karzai has demanded an end to US air strikes, which he said killed as many as 130 civilians earlier in the week and were infuriating the public. As US and Afghan investigators prepared to release findings into the bloodshed, Karzai categorically rejected US military suggestions [lies] that Taliban 'insurgents' rather than bombings may have been to blame. "Airstrikes are not acceptable," Karzai told CNN on Friday during a visit to Washington. "We believe strongly that airstrikes are not an effective way of fighting terrorism, that airstrikes rather cause civilian casualties." 

Mission accomplished: Iraq Kurds to start Tawke crude exports June 1 08 May 2009 Crude oil exports from the Tawke oil field in Iraq's northern Kurdish region will begin on June 1, the largely autonomous region's government said on Friday. Exports will begin at an initial rate of 60,000 barrels per day (bpd), the statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government said, adding that in addition 40,000 bpd will be sent in June by truck from the Taq-Taq field and ultimately to the Iraq-Turkey export pipeline. 

Iraqi police general assassinated in Basra 09 May 2009 An unknown gunman has assassinated an Iraqi police general on a street near the oil hub of Basra, south of the war-torn country, authorities say. General Hakeem Jassim was shot dead as he stood in front of his son's shop in the district of Zubair south of the city center, a police official told AFP on Saturday. 

Iraq arrests minister's brother 09 May 2009 A brother of Iraq's trade minister has been arrested on suspicion of corruption, officials say. Sabah Mohammed al-Sudany was held at a checkpoint in the south of the country.

Relatives of murdered Iraqi girl demand execution of US soldier --Private guilty of raping and murdering 14-year-old and killing her family 09 May 2009 Relatives of a 14-year-old Iraqi schoolgirl who was raped and murdered by a US soldier yesterday called for her killer to be executed after a Kentucky court found him guilty of the crimes. Private Steven Green, now 24, was the ringleader of one of the most shocking atrocities committed by US forces following the 2003 invasion. 

Military Fails to Collect From AIG for Care to Injured Contractors 08 May 2009 The Pentagon has failed to bill American Insurance Group and other major insurance carriers for millions of dollars in medical care provided to private contractors mercenaries injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new federal report. The United States has hired hundreds of thousands of civilians to work in the two war zones. When injured on the job, their medical care is supposed to be paid for by private insurance companies, primarily AIG, under policies bought by the contractors. 

Human Rights Watch calls for halt to Iraq hangings 08 May 2009 Iraq should institute an immediate moratorium on the death penalty in the aftermath of a large number of executions on Sunday, Human Rights Watch said this week. According to United Nations officials in Baghdad, the Iraqi government hanged 12 people in Baghdad on Sunday (May 3) who had been convicted of criminal offenses. The UN officials said they believed that another 115 prisoners could face execution in the near future. 

U.S. Senate confirms first Global Strike Command head 09 May 2009 Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, named in a recent Times story as the man selected to head the new Global Strike Command at Barksdale Air Force Base, was unanimously confirmed for that post Friday by the U.S. Senate. On April 2, the Air Force announced Barksdale had been selected as headquarters of Global Strike Command. 

No verdict yet in third terrorism conspiracy trial 08 May 2009 There is still no verdict in the trial of six Miami men charged with plotting terrorism attacks against Chicago's Sears Tower and the FBI. The 12-person jury quit for the weekend Friday after four days of deliberations this week in the "Liberty City Six" case. They resume Monday. The two-month trial is the third in the case. The others ended in mistrials when juries failed to agree on verdicts. 

U.S. has more than 2,000 new flu cases: CDC 09 May 2009 The United States has 2,254 confirmed cases of the new H1N1 swine influenza, with 104 people in the hospital, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday. "Today there are almost 3,000 probable and confirmed cases here in the United States," the CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat told a news briefing.

Five new flu cases at London school 09 May 2009 Health officials confirmed five further cases of H1N1 flu in Britain on Friday, bringing the total to 39. All the new cases are connected with Alleyn's school in Dulwich, southeast London, which is already shut as a precautionary measure. 

Hong Kong Lifts Swine Flu Quarantine on 351 People 08 May 2009 Hong Kong released 286 people quarantined in a downtown hotel that was the site of the city’s first confirmed swine flu case. Another 61 were released from a holiday village and four were released from a local hospital. 

Banks Won Concessions on Tests --Fed Cut Billions Off Some Initial Capital-Shortfall Estimates 09 May 2009 The Federal Reserve significantly scaled back the size of the capital hole facing some of the nation's biggest banks shortly before concluding its stress tests, following two weeks of intense bargaining. In addition, according to bank and government officials, the Fed used a different measurement of bank-capital levels than analysts and investors had been expecting, resulting in much smaller capital deficits. 

U.S. regulators shut down 33rd bank in 2009 09 May 2009 Federal regulators on Friday shut down Westsound Bank of Bremerton, Wash., making it the 33rd bank to fail this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized the small bank and said its nine branches and nearly all of its deposits will be taken over by Kitsap Bank of Port Orchard, Wash. Westsound Bank is the second bank based in the state of Washington to collapse this year, after the Bank of Clark County in January. 

U.S. threatens to rescind stimulus money over wage cuts --California officials: Failure to revoke scheduled wage cut before it takes effect July 1 could cost state $6.8 billion in stimulus money 08 May 2009 The Obama administration is threatening to rescind billions of dollars in federal stimulus money if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers do not restore wage cuts to unionized home healthcare workers approved in February as part of the budget. Schwarzenegger's office was advised this week by federal health officials that the wage reduction violates provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. 

Obama makes push for credit card legislation 09 May 2009 Putting himself on the side of fuming consumers, President Obama is pushing Congress to send him legislation by Memorial Day that would put a tighter rein on the credit card industry. Obama has prominently lobbied for a bill calling for a credit card crackdown. [And, when the GO/corpora-terrorists pressure him, he will fold quicker than a house of cards in an F4 tornado.]

US denies polar bears protection from climate change --Obama administration to uphold a Bush-era ruling that limits protection of the polar bear from global warming 08 May 2009 The Obama administration today declined to protect polar bears from the single greatest threat to their survival -- the melting of sea ice by global warming. The decision brought immediate protests from wildlife and environmental groups. The interior secretary, Ken Salazar, said he would not overturn one of the most controversial last-minute rules of the George Bush era. The rule had denied protection to the polar bear because Bush did not want to be pressed into regulating the industries that emit greenhouse gases. 

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Previous lead stories: 'I mean, I could give you a number today,' General Odierno said. 'It will be different tomorrow, it will be different the next day. O.K.?' General Sees a Longer Stay in Iraq Cities for U.S. Troops 09 May 2009 The top American general in Iraq said Friday that one-fifth of American combat troops would stay behind in Iraqi cities even after the June 30 deadline that the United States and Iraq had set for the departure. The estimate by Gen. Ray Odierno, at a Pentagon briefing, was the most specific yet for the extension of American combat operations in Baghdad and Mosul. The general declined several times to put an actual number on the combat troops who would remain in Baghdad and Mosul after June 30 because, he said, he did not know [!?] the precise number of troops there now.

Pentagon's Black Budget Grows to More Than $50 Billion --About seven and a half percent of DoD's total spending now classified By Noah Shachtman 07 May 2009 The Pentagon wants to spend just over $50 billion on classified programs next year, newly-released Defense Department budget documents reveal. "That’s the largest-ever sum," according to Aviation Week’s Bill Sweetman, a longtime black-budget seer -- a three percent increase over last year’s total. It makes the Pentagon’s secret operations, including the intelligence budgets nested inside, "roughly equal in magnitude to the entire defense budgets of the UK, France or Japan," Sweetman adds. 

Obama budget allocates $130 billion for 2 wars 07 May 2009 President Barack Obama's proposed defense budget includes $130 billion for the nation's two wars, a figure that may not be enough. Obama sent to Congress on Thursday details of his proposed $664 billion Pentagon spending plan for the budget year starting in October. It includes $534 billion for base 'defense' programs and $130 billion for overseas operations, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


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CLG Managing Editor: Lori Price. Copyright © 2009, Citizens For Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved.
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