Secret torture is secret

Even if the victims told the details of their super-sekrit torture, would it get reported? If it did, would the Guantanamo deniers believe it?

But even money says it's not the methods break new ground or are particularly innovative. The sheer outrageousness of what's being done in the secret prisons is what needs to be kept secret.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has told a federal judge that terrorism suspects held in secret CIA prisons should not be allowed to reveal details of the "alternative interrogation methods" that their captors used to get them to talk.

The government says in new court filings that those interrogation methods are now among the nation's most sensitive national security secrets and that their release, even to the detainees' own attorneys, "could reasonably be expected to cause extremely grave damage." Terrorists could use the information to train in counter-interrogation techniques, according to documents submitted to U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton on Oct. 26.

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Newspeak 1.0

We are at war with Eurasia. We have always been at war with Eurasia.

The US defence department has set up a new unit to better promote its message across 24-hour rolling news outlets, and particularly on the internet.

The Pentagon said the move would boost its ability to counter "inaccurate" news stories and exploit new media.
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The Bush administration does not believe the true picture of events in Iraq has been made public, the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says.

The administration is particularly concerned that insurgents in areas such as Iraq have been able to use the web to disseminate their message and give the impression they are more powerful than the US, our correspondent says.

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Fluidity of law

Nothing like changing the law when the courts disagree with you. It's good that we now have "standards" that "protect" the imprisoned. Of course, by "standards" I mean firing squads, and by "protect" I mean execute.

President George W Bush has signed into law a bill that sets standards for the interrogation and prosecution of foreign terror suspects held by the US.

The law aims to enshrine defendants' human rights, but still restricts their right to challenge their detention.

It follows a Supreme Court ruling in June that military tribunals set up to prosecute detainees at Guantanamo Bay violated US and international law.

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Loose lips sink ships

Or careers. If you know it's wrong, and do it anyway, for fuck's sake, don't brag about it. The walls have ears.

But, then we know how reliable a government "inquiry" can be.

The US Pentagon has ordered an inquiry into alleged abuses at Guantanamo Bay after reports that camp guards boasted of beating and mistreating detainees.

A marine sergeant who visited the camp has said she understood "striking detainees was a common practice".

The sergeant's sworn statement said she had overheard a guard describe slamming a detainee's head into a cell door.

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La-la-la! I can't hear you!

Ah, the sweet sound of the water lapping up on the banks of denial. I wonder when the U.S. will pass a law that makes it treason to call this "genocide?" After all, we can't be like France.

NEW YORK - President Bush says he doesn't believe it. Some experts have a problem with it. But several others say it seems sound.

Such was the varied reception for a new study that estimated the Iraq war has led to the deaths of nearly 655,000 Iraqis as of July.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad derived that estimate from a door-to-door survey, conducted by doctors, of 1,849 households in Iraq. Taking the number of deaths reported by household residents, they extrapolated to a nationwide figure. Researchers acknowledged a margin of error that ranged from 426,369 to 793,663 deaths.

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Fixing the symptom...

I'm sure some defense contractor would be happy to overcharge for armored sleeves and legs. It seems that we're not facing the type of enemies that we had planned on, and new equipment might be in order. But then, we've never really fought an urban war before.

The biggest flaw in most military strategy is "fighting the last war." Especially now that Henry Kissinger is attempting to re-fight Vietnam in Iraq. I hope they remember to turn off the lights in Baghdad when the last chopper leaves.

So let's get some arm and leg armor for the troops, and while we're at I want a god damned Gundam suit!

...the amputation rate in the Iraq conflict is just 20 percent compared with 76 percent during the Vietnam War, translating into thousands of saved limbs.

Faster treatment and evacuation as well as new plastic surgery techniques "have allowed us to care for injuries that in previous wars would have resulted in the death of the patient or an amputation in the field," said [the surgeon], who has just retired from the Navy.

According to the Pentagon, 20,687 in the U.S. military have been wounded in Iraq as of Oct. 6, with 9,352 injured too seriously to quickly return to duty.

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P.S. The bad news is that you've only got a 45.2% chance of going home if you get shot up. Look for the C-Leg battalion to be reporting for duty soon. Seems like I've seen this movie before before.

Is there a point?

Seriously. I looks like the trial has turned into a parade of "Saddam looked at me wrong, now I get to whine" witnesses. In Iraq now, it looks like you're either a witness against Saddam or an insurgent fighter.

This is what happens when you put on a show trial without input from Hollywood. The production values on this show really suck.

The chief judge at Saddam Hussein's genocide trial has expelled the former Iraqi leader from court after he shouted out a verse from the Koran.

It is the fourth time in recent weeks the former dictator has been ejected from his Baghdad trial for alleged war crimes and genocide against the Kurds.

Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa cut off Saddam Hussein's microphone and ordered bailiffs to escort him out.

A second defendant was also ejected and the trial continued in closed session.

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