The coverage of the western media has been abysmal. Nearly every article and TV news segment begins with accusations of Russian aggression concealing the fact that the Georgian Army bombarded and invaded the capital of South Ossetia one full day before the first Russian even tank crossed the border. By the time the Russians arrived, the city was already in a shambles and thousands were dead.
So says John McCain, as part of his tough talk about Russia’s attacks on Georgia. In calling for Russia to get out, McCain says he doesn’t think we’ll reignite the Cold War, but that you can’t justify the “extent and degree” of Russia’s intervention in Georgia. The presumptive Republican nominee insists that we need to make sure that in the 21st century, we all have respect for the sovereignty and independence of nations.
Say what? The United States invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq more than 5 years ago. And you, Senator McCain, were all for the idea. You voted for the war, remember? At the time, McCain insisted that the U.S. needed to act before Saddam Hussein could develop more advanced weapons. And since then, McCain has remained steadfast in his support of arguably the biggest foreign policy blunder in the history of this country. At one point, McCain said U-S troops could remain in Iraq, a sovereign nation, for 100 years.
In Louisiana, the family of a police taser victim has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against city officials in the town of Winnfield. Baron Pikes died on January 17 from electrocution after a police officer shot him nine times with a taser. Pikes had been in handcuffs at the time. His death has been ruled a homicide. Pikes was the first cousin of Mychal Bell, the lead defendant in the Jena Six case. The lawsuit comes as a grand jury has begun convening on whether to charge the police officer involved.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey has appointed a known supporter of the Bush administration’s torture policies as his chief of staff. Brian Benczkowski has previously argued that US interrogators aren’t practicing torture if they are solely acting to prevent an attack and not intending to humiliate or cause harm. In a previously undisclosed letter, Benczkowski writes: “The fact that an act is undertaken to prevent a threatened terrorist attack, rather than for the purpose of humiliation or abuse, would be relevant to a reasonable observer in measuring the outrageousness of the act.”
The New American Empire, let us take back our rights.
Tallahassee Democrat senior writer Stephen Price on Friday was singled out and asked to leave a media area at the Panama City rally of presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.
Price was among at least three other reporters, and the only black reporter, surrounding McCain’s campaign bus — Gov. Charlie Crist and his fiancee, Carole Rome, were already aboard — when a member of the Arizona senator’s security detail asked the reporter to identify himself. Price had shown his media credentials to enter the area.
Price showed his employee identification as well as his credentials for the Friday event.
“I explained I was with the state press, but the Secret Service man said that didn’t matter and that I would have to go,” Price said.
When another reporter asked why Price was being removed, she too was led out of the area. Other state reporters remained.
Jonathan Block does advance work for McCain’s campaign. He was in Panama City on Friday but was not present when reporter Stephen Price was asked to move from a restricted area.
“Access to the senator is tightly controlled,” Block said. “I would first express regret that your reporter was moved, and I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that race had nothing to do with it.”
The New York Times reports US hospitals are increasingly deporting seriously injured or ill immigrants who cannot find nursing homes willing to accept them without insurance. The hospitals often conduct the deportations on their own, without assistance from US immigration authorities. Some immigrant rights advocates describe the procedure as a kind of international patient dumping. Dr. Steven Larson of the University of Pennsylvania said, “Repatriation is pretty much a death sentence in some of these cases. I’ve seen patients bundled onto the plane and out of the country, and once that person is out of sight, he’s out of mind.” At least one private company, MexCare, can be hired to handle deportations for hospitals.
A major study prepared for the Pentagon has criticized how the Bush administration has focused on using military might to defeat al-Qaeda in the so-called war on terror. The RAND Corporation study concludes that the current strategy for defeating al-Qaeda has failed in diminishing the group’s capabilities. The study recommends a “fundamental rethinking of US strategy” to focus on minimizing overt military action while increasing intelligence collection and partnerships with law enforcement agencies around the world. The co-author of the study, Seth Jones, said, “Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors, and our analysis suggests there is no battlefield solution to terrorism.”
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