Citizens For Legitimate Government 07 Jun 2009 http://www.legitgov.org/ U.S. Lawyers Agreed on Legality of Torture Tactics --None of the Justice Department lawyers who reviewed the interrogation question argued that the methods were clearly illegal. 07 Jun 2009 When Justice Department lawyers engaged in a sharp internal debate in 2005 over brutal interrogation techniques torture, even some who believed that using tough tactics was a serious mistake agreed on a basic point: the methods themselves were legal. Previously undisclosed Justice Department e-mail messages, interviews and newly declassified documents show that some of the lawyers, including James B. Comey, the deputy attorney general, went along with a 2005 legal opinion asserting that the techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency were lawful. That opinion, giving the green light for the C.I.A. to use all 13 methods in interrogating terrorism suspects, including waterboarding and up to 180 hours of sleep deprivation, "was ready to go out and I concurred," Mr. Comey wrote to a colleague in an April 27, 2005, e-mail message obtained by The New York Times. Homeland Security Nominee Withdraws Amid Questions About Torture 06 Jun 2009 President Obama's nominee to be U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis withdrew his name from consideration Friday after it became clear lawmakers would question his involvement in interrogation and detainee policies under President [sic] George W. Bush. Philip Mudd, currently a top official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said he was bowing out. Democrats on Capitol Hill had signaled their intention to probe Mudd's knowledge of and role in approving brutal interrogation techniques -- some of which qualify under international law as torture -- used by CIA officials against prisoners. Afghanistan to 'try criminal foreign troops' for war crimes --Nearly 150 civilians were killed when US warplanes dropped bombs last month on two villages. 06 Jun 2009 Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of parliament, has accused foreign troops based in the country of war crimes, urging a trial for the criminals. Wolesi Jirga secretary Abdul Sattar Khawaasi told reporters that 73 members of parliament are collecting documents regarding foreign troops' crimes and offences in Afghanistan. "The foreign troops came to the country claiming to bring security, but the crimes perpetrated by the them are not pardonable," he said. Khawaasi added that foreign troops based in Afghanistan have violated the Constitution as well as international agreements in more than 20 instances. In May, the Afghan parliament slammed the brutal bombardment of civilian areas by US-led forces, demanding legal restrictions on the activities of foreign forces. 'The Taliban have been winning hands down.' --Architect of Canada's new strategy slams West's failure to grasp Afghans 07 Jun 2009 International forces have failed to quash the insurgency in Afghanistan because they have failed to understand the Taliban's common-touch campaign, a key architect of Canada's bold new "model village" strategy said Sunday. At its heart, Prof. Thomas Johnson said, the counter-insurgency is "essentially an information war" the Taliban have been winning hands down. "We need a change in strategy," said Johnson, the director of the Program for Culture and Conflict studies at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. Fighting intensified in Afghanistan as over 80 killed in one week 07 Jun 2009 Taliban-linked 'insurgency' and conflicts are going up in Afghanistan as over 80 people and seven foreign soldiers have been killed since beginning of June. In the latest wave of violence, Taliban militants ambushed the motorcade of officials in Paktika province east of Afghanistan Sunday killing a senior police officer and injuring a district chief, spokesman of provincial administration said. Pentagon: Billions in U.S. terror aid to Pakistan diverted 06 Jun 2009 Pakistan diverted U.S. aid meant for fighting Taliban terrorists to bolster its conventional warfare capabilities against India, documents indicate. U.S. Defense Department documents accessed by the Press Trust of India reveal Islamabad secretly diverted a substantial portion of nearly $7 billion in foreign military financing and arms sales from the administration of former U.S. President [sic] George W. Bush to beef up its armed forces along the Indian border instead of fighting terrorists. PTI quoted the Pentagon documents as saying that a major portion of post-Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. military aid meant to counter advances made by the Taliban and al-Qaida [al-CIAduh] in Pakistan's northwest was instead used to buy and refurbish eight P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, worth $474 million. [And yet, Obusha gives Pakistan millions! US Pledges Additional $200 Million in Aid to Pakistan 03 Jun 2009 U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said the Obama administration is standing beside Pakistan in its fight to defeat create Islamic extremists. See: Billions in U.S. Aid to Pakistan Wasted, Officials Assert 24 Dec 2007 and US Senate approves Pakistan aid worth $785m 20 Dec 2007.] Israel facing hundreds of war crime lawsuits 07 Jun 2009 Israel could soon be charged with hundreds of war crimes as Palestinian lawyers file 936 lawsuits against the Israeli military five months after its three week war on Gaza. Head of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) Iyad al-Alami, says the cases will soon be heard in Spain's National Court under universal jurisdiction, the pro-Israeli magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Israeli ordnance kill in Gaza 06 Jun 2009 The remains of Israeli ordnance has killed a Palestinian and wounded another in the southern town of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources say. The explosion, which was caused by unexploded munitions on Saturday afternoon, killed a 50-year-old man in a farm in Khan Yunis, Ynet reported. Chrysler Creditors Ask U.S. Justice to Stop Fiat Sale 07 Jun 2009 Chrysler LLC creditors asked a U.S. Supreme Court justice to block the carmaker from selling its assets as early as tomorrow to a group led by Italy’s Fiat SpA. Indiana pension funds that lent Chrysler money said in papers filed late yesterday that they will seek a Supreme Court review of a ruling allowing the sale. Bank No. 37 Closed; Bank of Lincolnwood Seized by Regulators 05 Jun 2009 Bank of Lincolnwood, Lincolnwood, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. The total number of bank failures now stands at 37 for the year. Previous lead stories: U.S. Could Let Detainees Plead Guilty, Be Executed Without Trials 06 Jun 2009 The Obama administration is considering a change in the law for the military tribunals at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that would clear the way for prisoners facing the death penalty to plead guilty without a full trial. The provision could permit military prosecutors to avoid airing the details of brutal interrogation techniques torture. The proposal, in a draft of legislation that would be submitted to Congress, has not been publicly disclosed. It was circulated to officials under restrictions requiring secrecy. [Note: The New York Times has already changed its original headline.] Obama Nominee Linked to Spying on Muslims, CIA Torture (Democracy Now!) 05 Jun 2009 The Obama administration’s pick for a top Homeland Security position has ties to the FBI spying on Muslim Americans, as well as reported links to CIA torture. Philip Mudd has been nominated to become secretary of intelligence and analysis at Homeland Security. Under the Bush administration, Mudd helped spearhead an FBI program that sifted through customer data collected by San Francisco-area grocery stores in 2005 and 2006, hoping that sales records of Middle Eastern food would lead to Iranian secret agents. A congressional aide, meanwhile, told the Associated Press Mudd had direct knowledge of the torture of foreign prisoners while serving as deputy director of the CIA’s Office of Terrorism Analysis. Obama's support for the new Graham-Lieberman secrecy law By Glenn Greenwald 01 Jun 2009 ...[O]bviously anticipating that the Government is likely to lose in court again -- Obama wants Congress to change FOIA by retroactively narrowing its disclosure requirements, prevent a legal ruling by the courts, and vest himself with brand new secrecy powers under the law which, just as a factual matter, not even George Bush sought for himself. The White House is actively supporting a new bill jointly sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman -- called The Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act of 2009 -- that literally has no purpose other than to allow the government to suppress any "photograph taken between September 11, 2001 and January 22, 2009 relating to the treatment of individuals engaged, captured, or detained after September 11, 2001, by the Armed Forces of the United States in operations outside of the United States." As long as the Defense Secretary certifies -- with no review possible -- that disclosure would "endanger" American citizens or our troops, then the photographs can be suppressed even if FOIA requires disclosure... The Senate passed the bill as an amendment last week. Those who wish to be added to the list can go here: http://www.legitgov.org/#subscribe_clg and add your name. 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