Sunday, September 10, 2006

Anne Flaherty & her editors WHORE for BushCo AGAIN, report 'MORE TORTURE!' story in fuzzy, friendly terms...

Well, to see just how far the American press-media has degenerated to the arms of State-run Propaganda, one need merely switch a couple of words in this AP Headline of today's Anne Plummer Flaherty column:

"Bill would EASE CIA interrogation LIMITS" becomes:

"Nazis EASE LIMITS on Rounding Up and Deporting East European Jews."


We can't say for certain what AP's links are to the NEW YORK TIMES, but over at the Boston.com the BOSTON GLOBE, a wholly owned subsidiary of the New York Times, ran a Flaherty/AP piece in July of 2006 with a similar "soft and fuzzy" headline;

- "Bush Submits New Terror Detainee Bill," which contains the NOT SO FUZZY first sentence:

<>
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/07/28/bush_submits_new_terror_detainee_bill/

GET THAT? Our hypothetically reworded sentence "Nazi Courts EASE LIMITS on Rounding Up and Deporting Jewish Terrorists" doesn't really seem so far-fetched, WHEN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WANTS THE POWER to ARREST ("detain") AND HOLD "INDEFINITELY" **ANY ONE THEY WANT TO**....

- *** WITHOUT ACESS TO COURTS, outside observers, or judges!!! ***

Yep, 60 years after the death of Hiter, the JEWISH OWNED NEW YORK TIMES is SOFT-PEDDLING (which is to say, PROMOTING) the vey NAZI-esque powers of #1.) TORTURE; and #2.) UNLIMITED ARREST, DETENTION, DEPORTATION (to nowhere/anywhere) and/or death by torture/summary judgement THAT WERE THE VERY HALLMARKS of Nazi rule.


OK, proving the link between Anne Plumber Flaherty > AP> Boston Globe> New York Times> Sulzberger Family ownership of The Times is, we concede, at this point a tenous linkage.


Yet the VAST PREPONDERANCE of EVIDENCE, available in the pages of The Boston Globe, the Times, and in widely syndicated NYT articles and editorials, is that, by SOFT REPORTING and FUZZY HEADLINES ("limits eased" meaning UNLIMITED TORTURE POWERS), the NEW YORK TIMES ENTIRELY APPROVES of the new Himmler/Heydrich agenda.

"ROUND 'em UP, SHIP 'em OFF, and NO QUESTIONS ASKED OR ANSWERED, IN THE NAME OF State Security, the New Imperial Empire.... salute the National Leader Uber Alles!"

..... the new 'standard' of reporting from the Sulzberger owned NEW YORK TIMES.


(Indeed, perhaps we should call Fallujah "the New York Times' very own Lidice," as the Times' own William Safire was the first, the most persistent, and the most widely syndicated writer calling for the Lidice/Guernica treatment for Fallujah back in 2003 after some US mercenaries entered that town and were killed by local insurgents.)

======================================

Bill would ease CIA interrogation limits

By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer
Sun Sep 10, 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060910/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/detainee_interrogations;_ylt=AlRwAyB89YDQZIElRXftaR2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM-


WASHINGTON - To many of President Bush's allies, it is time to free intelligence officials from "legislative purgatory" and get the CIA back in the business of effective interrogations of suspected terrorists.
ADVERTISEMENT

That chance could come this week if the Senate takes up a White House proposal limiting the punishable offenses that CIA interrogators may face when questioning "high-value" terrorist suspects. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is expected to begin debate on the bill as early as Tuesday.

Through omissions and legal definitions, the proposal could authorize harsh techniques that critics contend potentially violate the Geneva Conventions, which govern the treatment of war prisoners. These methods include hypothermia, stress positions and "waterboarding," a practice of simulated drowning.

The bill would keep in law prohibitions on war crimes such as rape and torture that are widely accepted as illegal.

The proposal would apply back to 2001 the Bush administration's standards for treatment of detainees. That would shield CIA personnel from liability under a 1996 law intended to uphold the Geneva Conventions, since the fight against terrorism began and harsher interrogation methods were approved.

The New York Times, meanwhile, reported in a story posted Saturday on its Web site for Sunday newspapers that sharp differences arose between the CIA and the FBI over tactics used in the questioning of Abu Zubaydah at a safe house in Thailand in the spring of 2002.

In a speech last Wednesday, Bush cited the questioning of Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaida cells, in saying that questioning of various terrorists in CIA custody has played a role in the capture or questioning of nearly every senior al-Qaida member or associate detained by the U.S. and its allies.

The Times said interviews with "nearly a dozen" officials that it did not identify showed disagreements over the interrogation methods used on Zubaydah exposed a rupture between the FBI and CIA that has yet to heal.

"It would be improper for us to comment on operational issues involving any sensitive or ongoing matters," FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said Saturday in response to the Times story. "It is also important to note that we have a strong and vital partnership with the CIA. We work together every day to ensure the safety of Americans everywhere."

Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has developed his own plan to address concerns he has related to the military commissions that would prosecute terrorism detainees. According to a draft copy of the bill, his legislation also may amend that 1996 law, the War Crimes Act.

Bush sent his plan to Capitol Hill last Wednesday, the same day the Pentagon issued rules forbidding military personnel from using those same harsh techniques.

"The net effect is that at least some of the alternative techniques are rendered, in effect, lawful" for the CIA, said Martin Lederman, a Georgetown law professor and former legal adviser at the Justice Department during the Clinton administration.

Lederman and other legal experts, along with human rights activists, say the White House proposal would undermine the 1949 Geneva Conventions by providing a more narrow definition of objectionable treatment.

"I think that's the bombshell ... because no other country has done that," said Elisa Massimino, the Washington director for Human Rights First. "And once we do, we lower the floor and the whole structure could crumble."

But according to conservatives, the move was necessary to repair damage done to the White House's intelligence program since a Supreme Court ruling in June. The court ruled against Bush's claim that interrogators did not have to comply with the Geneva Conventions when dealing with members of al-Qaida.

The court's decision to grant suspected terrorists certain rights potentially exposed Americans to prosecution under the War Crimes Act. The result, conservatives say, was a profound cooling effect on the CIA interrogation program.

"We're interviewing, not interrogating," said Sen. Pat Roberts (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Roberts, R-Kan., said in a recent interview that he believes intelligence officials are frozen in a type of "legislative purgatory." He said that keeps them from wanting to "walk up to the line, as has been the case before where we got 50 percent of our intelligence on what the terrorists were doing."

Tom Crispell, a CIA spokesman, declined comment on the agency's program.

According to recent public opinion polls, Roberts is not alone with his concerns. In an August poll conducted by Time, 55 percent of those surveyed said they support the harsh interrogation methods sometimes used to obtain information from prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In a separate poll also by Time, 15 percent of respondents favored torture, even though it is against the law.

Such a willingness to be tough on terrorists could help Bush push a hard line on his legislation. At the same the president is asking Congress to amend the War Crimes Act and establish military tribunals to try detainees, he also wants lawmakers to approve the National Security Agency's terrorist surveillance program.

The effort is seen by many critics as an election-season push to expand his authorities to monitor suspected terrorists at a time when lawmakers from both parties are selling themselves as tough on terrorism.

No comments: