Terror suspect Binyam Mohamed, 30, an Ethiopian, was granted refugee status in Britain in 1994. He was picked up in Pakistan in 2002 on suspicion of involvement in terrorism, rendered to Morocco and Afghanistan, tortured and then sent to Guantanamo Bay in 2004. All terror charges against him were dropped last year.
Two High Court judges last week said they wanted to release the full contents of a CIA file on his treatment but they held back seven paragraphs of information after David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, argued that it could compromise intelligence sharing with the US.
A British official, who is regularly briefed on intelligence operations, said: "The concern was that the document revealed that intelligence from the British agencies was used by the Americans and that there were British questions asked while Binyam Mohamed was being tortured.
"Miliband is being pushed hard by the intelligence agencies to protect the identity of those involved."
The 25 lines edited out of the court papers contained details of how Mr Mohamed's genitals were sliced with a scalpel and other torture methods so extreme that waterboarding, the controversial technique of simulated drowning, "is very far down the list of things they did," the official said.
From Think Progress:
Republican objections are indeed ironic coming from some of the greatest advocates for President Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut package in 2001. Indeed, when Bush introduced his tax cuts he declared, "A warning light is flashing on the dashboard of our economy, and we just can't drive on and hope for the best. We need tax relief now." The Republicans who now call the $800 billion recovery package "too big" jumped on the Bush bandwagon claiming his $1.35 trillion in tax cuts were just what was needed to jump start a sluggish economy:Kyl: "I was there when the president signed into law the tax cut. … If that isn't one of the best things we can do to get this economy going again, then it seems to me that the American people might well lose confidence in what we're doing, which would be the worst thing to do for the economy." [Finance Committee Hearing, 10/3/2001]
Ensign: "Well, I don't know that we're going to get to the — you know, the total $1.3 trillion tax cut. I do think the tax cuts are necessary right now." [CNN, 1/3/2001]
Graham thought the cuts were so effective he wanted to make them permanent. But the tax cuts they championed proved to be extremely ineffective, leading to the slowest period of economic growth in decades.
If you compare the condition of the economy in 2001 to the current state of the economy, the numbers show that those who now call the recovery package too big, were willing to spend far more when the economic situation wasn't nearly as precarious:
2001 2009 Cost of package: $1.35 trillion $900 billion Unemployment: 4% 7.6% Percent of Population Living In Poverty: 12.7% 17% Foreclosure Rates: .48% 1.19% Americans Relying On Food Stamps: 17 million Over 30 million
Why are we listening to these people again?
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John V. Santore:
Recently, I've been forced to deal with my own rank hypocrisy concerning the Obama administration. I find myself flying off the handle in all directions, attacking the new team in Washington one minute and defending it the next, praising its critics and then assaulting them for being unreasonable and expecting too much, too soon. The end result is that I'm far more confused about the future of Barack Obama's presidency than I was with Bush's. When George was in office, it was clear that things were bad and going to get worse. It was simply matter of holding on for dear life until the wretched, dark days were over. But with Obama, I find myself hopefully disappointed, waiting for Barack to prove to me that he isn't the man I didn't think he was during the campaign, but now think he might be (maybe).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-v-santore/obama-isnt-who-i-didnt-th_b_165028.html
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The Post notes in a Page One today that the House and Senate GOP feel emboldened by their obstructionism against the economic recovery package. Giddy House Republicans are crowing that by having the whole caucus oppose the package, it puts them months ahead of schedule of where they thought they would be in dealing with a popular president.
You know, a president who focused too much effort in caring one damn bit what they thought about anything.
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/013791.php
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Stimulus bill survives Senate test vote: 61-36.
Every vote against it was cast by a Republican. Two Republicans, Isakson of Georgia and Grassley of Iowa voted "no" in spite of the fact the Senate agreed to their amendments to the bill. The amendments added $100 billion to the bill's price tag.
Is that not the height of hypocrisy and irrational behavior? What do the Republicans want?
Three Republican senators did vote yes: Specter, Snowe, and Collins. And one didn't bother to vote: Cornhole of Texas. He was in New York with a bunch of prominent media conservatives and Wall Street Republican donors at the Grand Hyatt.
[T]o appease the centrists, a plan that was already too small and too focused on ineffective tax cuts has been made significantly smaller, and even more focused on tax cuts....
The plan should have been at least 50% larger.
Now the centrists have shaved off $86 billion in spending — much of it among the most effective and most needed parts of the plan....
My first cut says that the changes to the Senate bill will ensure that we have at least 600,000 fewer Americans employed over the next two years.
The real question now is whether Obama will be able to come back for more once it's clear that the plan is way inadequate. My guess is no. This is really, really bad.
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A suicide car bomber struck a U.S. patrol in northern Iraq on Monday, killing four American soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter in the deadliest single attack against U.S. forces in nine months.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/09/exgitmo-detainees-transfe_n_165240.html
4,243 soldiers killed in Iraq; 647 in Afghanistan.
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Foul play is suspected in the devastating wildfires in Australia which have caused at least 173 deaths (not counting all the animals) - arsonists to face murder charges.
Desperate for water, this koala approached a biker on a highway.
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Those Dominican boys really put out!
This is the Jesus of the Republican party?
To the Republicans, a bigoted, hate-mongering, goitered pedophile is their savior. That should tell you all you need to know about the GOP.
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Here is a real change of how things have been done: A presidential "town hall" meeting without pre-screening the audience to make certain that it is stacked with party loyalists.
Nothing like that happened with the preceding president, whose audiences would have lined up to fellate him if the Secret Service would have let them. You can also bet your ass that this would not have happened if that other feller had won.
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This is all the American Family Association has left, folks, but it's slickly produced bile. When homo-hating, illegal pistol-packing state legislator Sally Kern cited the book After the Ball as proof of the homosexual agenda last week at a fundnut fest in OKC, it should have been no surprise that the AFA has been propagandizing this nonsense with its web site and hour-long video, Silencing Christians.com.
The premise is that Christians are under assault by homosexualists, enabled by state and local governments and schools, to force them to accept LGBTs as—gasp—human beings deserving of civil rights! They are careful to mention "former homosexuals" and those struggling with "unwanted same-sex attraction" in order to soothe and absolve the target audience of "Christians" that their motivations are rooted in compassion, not bigotry.
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More like this, please: On Sunday, hundreds of angry homeowners and volunteers traveled in vans and minibuses and protested outside Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack's multi-million-dollar mansion to tell the wealthy finance czar how they really feel.
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Oh good. Octa Mom is on food stamps, and 3 of her kids receive disability payments: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/10/octuplet-mom-nadya-sulema_n_165508.html
I think her doctor needs to pick up the tab.
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On his way out the door, Bush appointed more than 100 people to 6 year lucrative positions - some up to $3,000 per day: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/09/AR2009020902519.html?hpid=moreheadlines
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