Former Bush Officials Can No Longer Travel To Europe + Spain Will NOT Pursue Torture Prosecution

Dandelion Salad

Update: April 16, 2009; added video and story

VOTERSTHINKdotORG

http://earth2obama.org/

April 14, 2009 CNN

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Chill the Champagne

The Bush Six to Be Indicted

By Scott Horton
ICH
April 14, 2009 “Daily Beast”

Spanish prosecutors will seek criminal charges against Alberto Gonzales and five high-ranking Bush administration officials for sanctioning torture at Guantánamo.

Spanish prosecutors have decided to press forward with a criminal investigation targeting former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five top associates over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Guantánamo, several reliable sources close to the investigation have told The Daily Beast. Their decision is expected to be announced on Tuesday before the Spanish central criminal court, the Audencia Nacional, in Madrid. But the decision is likely to raise concerns with the human-rights community on other points: They will seek to have the case referred to a different judge.

Both Washington and Madrid appear determined not to allow the pending criminal investigation to get in the way of improved relations.

The six defendants—in addition to Gonzales, Federal Appeals Court Judge and former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, University of California law professor and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, former Defense Department general counsel and current Chevron lawyer William J. Haynes II, Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff David Addington, and former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith—are accused of having given the green light to the torture and mistreatment of prisoners held in U.S. detention in “the war on terror.” The case arises in the context of a pending proceeding before the court involving terrorism charges against five Spaniards formerly held at Guantánamo. A group of human-rights lawyers originally filed a criminal complaint asking the court to look at the possibility of charges against the six American lawyers. Baltasar Garzón Real, the investigating judge, accepted the complaint and referred it to Spanish prosecutors for a view as to whether they would accept the case and press it forward. “The evidence provided was more than sufficient to justify a more comprehensive investigation,” one of the lawyers associated with the prosecution stated.

[...]

via Information Clearing House – ICH.

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Differing Views of the “Rule of Law” in Spain and the U.S.

By Glenn Greenwald
ICH
April 14, 2009 “Salon”

Scott Horton reports this morning that, in Spain, “prosecutors have decided to press forward with a criminal investigation targeting former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five top associates [John Yoo, Jay Bybee, David Addington, Doug Feith and William Haynes] over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Guantánamo.”  Spain not only has the right under the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture to prosecute foreign officials for torturing its citizens, but it — like the U.S. — has the affirmative obligation to do so. (Indeed, the Bush administration itself insisted just last year that the U.S. the right to criminally prosecute foreign officials for ordering acts of torture even in the absence of an accusation that any of the victims were American).

As Hilzoy argues, however, the primary obligation for these prosecutions lies with the country whose officials authorized the war crimes — the United States:

It is a requirement of law, the law that the Constitution requires Obama, as President, to faithfully execute.  He should not outsource his Constitutional obligations to Spain.

That the U.S. has the legal obligation under the U.S. Constitution, our own laws and international treaties to commence criminal investigations is simply undeniable.  That is just a fact. Yet it’s hard to overstate how far away we are from fulfilling our legal obligations to impose accountability on our own torturers and war criminals.

[...]

via  Information Clearing House – ICH.

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Update

Spain Will NOT Pursue Torture Prosecution Against Bush White House!

April 16, 2009 CNN

more about “Spain Will NOT Pursue Torture Prosecu…“, posted with vodpod

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Spain rejects US ‘torture’ probe

BBC NEWS
16 April 2009 13:23 UK

Spain’s attorney general has rejected an attempt to bring a criminal case against six former US officials over torture allegations at Guantanamo Bay.

The officials, including former US attorney general Alberto Gonzalez, were accused of giving a legal justification for torture at the US detention centre.

But Candido Conde-Pumpido said the case had “no merit” as they were not present when the alleged abuse took place.

Spanish courts can prosecute people for crimes committed outside Spain.

Using the principle of “universal justice”, they have also investigated alleged crimes in Argentina, Tibet, El Salvador and Rwanda.

via BBC NEWS | Europe | Spain rejects US ‘torture’ probe.

h/t: CLG

see

Laura Nader: When the Rule of Law is Illegal (must-see)

Countdown: Obama adm. actively shielding Bush, Cheney + Maddow: Why do we need to outsource justice?

Torture on Dandelion Salad

Rendition

Gitmo

Mosaic News – 4/13/09: World News From The Middle East + video

Dandelion Salad

Warning

This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

linktv

Mosaic needs your help! Donate here: http://linktv.org/contribute

“Egypt Hunts Hezbollah Suspects,” Al Jazeera TV, Qatar
“Hamas Criticizes Abbas Over Call to Netanyahu,” Dubai TV, UAE
“Peres: They are fighting without us,” IBA TV, Israel
“Bitter Sweet Homecoming,” Al Jazeera English, Qatar
“Algerian President Wins 3rd Term,” Abu Dhabi TV, UAE
“Lebanese Soldiers Killed in Ambush,” Al Arabiya TV, UAE
“Are Iran-Russian Relations Warming?” Al-Iraqiya TV, Iraq
“Pakistan militants torch NATO supplies,” Al-Alam TV, Iran
Produced for Link TV by Jamal Dajani.

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Peres on Ahmadinejad: We’ll strike him

http://www.presstv.ir

War, Oil and Gas Pipelines: Turkey is Washington’s Geopolitical Pivot by F. William Engdahl

Dandelion Salad

by F. William Engdahl
Global Research, April 14, 2009

The recent visit of US President Obama to Turkey was far more significant than the President’s speech would suggest. For Washington Turkey today has become a geopolitical “pivot state” which is in the position to tilt the Eurasian power equation towards Washington or significantly away from it depending on how Turkey develops its ties with Moscow and its role regarding key energy pipelines.

If Ankara decides to collaborate more closely with Russia, Georgia’s position is precarious and Azerbaijan’s natural gas pipeline route to Europe, the so-called Nabucco Pipeline, is blocked. If it cooperates with the United States and manages to reach a stable treaty with Armenia under US auspices, the Russian position in the Caucasus is weakened and an alternative route for natural gas to Europe opens up, decreasing Russian leverage against Europe.

Thermite By John S. Hatch

Dandelion Salad

By John S. Hatch
April 14, 2009 “Information Clearing House“

A recent article published in the respected peer-reviewed Open Chemical Physics Journal by nine noted scientists offers incontrovertible proof that the dust from the Twin Towers and Building Seven of the World Trade Center contains small intact samples of Thermite.

Thermite is a highly explosive agent consisting mostly of aluminum and iron oxide, and is used to cut steel in building controlled demolitions, and is also used in welding and in military applications.

Using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry, the scientists were able to determine that the Thermite present is of a specialized type called Nano-thermite or Superthermite. It burns hotter and has a lower ignition temperature than normal Thermite, and is produced at laboratories such as Lawrence Livermore, incidentally thought to be the same lab that produced the anthrax sent out shortly after 9/11.

Resurrection of Intolerance by Walter Brasch

by Walter Brasch
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.walterbrasch.com
April 14, 2009

The fanatic right-wing, after taking a few days off to catch their breath, is back again with vengeance.

Name anything that President Obama is doing, and this broken wing will try to slap it down, unmindful that more than two-thirds of Americans support the President, with his popularity rising each week, according to several independent polls.

During the campaign, they attacked Obama for being a Muslim. After all, they figured anyone with a name that wasn’t WASP-sounding must not be a Christian. Of course, they overlooked the Constitution, which says anyone—Christian, Muslim, Jew, or even atheist—has a right to be president.

When the Muslim connection didn’t wash with the people, the right-wing said that Obama went to the wrong Christian church. The United Church of Christ, many claimed, wasn’t even Christian because it allowed people of all views into its congregations. For the shrill-voiced pretend-Christians, their religion is more a religion of exclusion than of inclusion.

The Democratic Leadership Council Redux by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH

by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on Buzzflash.com 04/09/2009
April 14, 2009

Political commentators and analysts are not always right. Nevertheless, in my readings of many of them over time, I have rarely found one who admitted it when they were wrong. However, I was surely wrong about Barack Obama when I first started to take him even somewhat seriously as a potential Presidential candidate back in the fall of 2007. At the time, I wrote (“The Presidential Election, 2008: Democratic Considerations,” The Political Junkies.net):

Poll: Should Drugs Be Legal?

Dandelion Salad

April 14, 2009

Here are 2 polls you can participate in.  Vote directly in the poll box below then go to the link to vote in CNN’s poll. ~ DS

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CNN

Do you think the United States should legalize drugs?

No way

Yes, all drugs

Only marijuana

http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/13/vote-should-drugs-be-legal-in-the-us/

results 4.14.09 2:00 PM CDT:

No way	7%	110
Yes, all drugs	49%	753
Only marijuana	43%	660
Total Votes: 1523

This is not a scientific poll

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

A criminally stupid war on drugs in the US By Clive Crook (updated: added video and poll)

Marijuana on Dandelion Salad

stimulator: P.H.A.T.W.A.

Dandelion Salad

stimulator

http://submedia.tv/stimulator/2009/04…

This week:

1. Montezuma’s Revenge in Reverse
2. California Droughting
3. Coke Crude
4. New School student beat down
5. London PoPo G20 murder
6. RNC 8 are not terrorists
7. Univ. of Colorado gets pwend
8. Obama’s war chest
9. P.H.A.T.W.A.
10. Skidmark Bob of Free Radio Santa Cruz

more about “stimulator: P.H.A.T.W.A.“, posted with vodpod

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New York police attack protesting New School students (+ videos)

Who owns Colorado’s rainwater? + Catching rain water is against the law

Man dies during G20 protests in London (video link; updated again)

Miriam Pemberton: Obama’s military budget

RNC – St Paul-Minneapolis MN

Barack Obama on Dandelion Salad

Meet the new boss the same as the old boss

Obama Takes Bush Position On Habeas Corpus

Dandelion Salad

VOTERSTHINKdotORG

http://earth2obama.org/

April 13, 2009 MSNBC Rachel Maddow Show

more about “Obama Takes Bush Position On Habeas C…“, posted with vodpod

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Justice extends to Bagram, Guantánamo’s Dark Mirror by Andy Worthington

Obama moves to block court access for detainees in Afghanistan

Barack Obama on Dandelion Salad

Meet the new boss the same as the old boss

Torture on Dandelion Salad

Rendition

Bagram

Gitmo

Pepe Escobar: Welcome to another New World Order

Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews

More at http://therealnews.com/t/in…

Pepe Escobar Pt1: A tsunami of hype around another New World Order

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Welcome to the new “New World Order”

Pepe Escobar Pt1: A tsunami of hype around another New World Order

The idea of a New World Order was presented at the recent G20 summit where the global ruling elite met in hopes of finding a solution to the current world financial crisis. Pepe Escobar, Foreign Correspondent for The Real News, felt the overall idea put forth in this NWO was “a world were it’s our gain, your pain”.

While there were a lot of promises made by Obama to pump money in to the IMF little has changed, Escobar comments “the G20 sounded like an Obama credit boom with fake money, the global depression roles on”.

Even though Obama claims the G20  was a success which saw an “enormous consensus” between the largest developed and emerging economies Escobar remains skeptical,  “before the G20 the GAB (a European economic think tank)….were projecting what may happen next. The system may disintegrate and global political dislocation, in other words chaos may be just around the corner”

For complete coverage of this story visit our website: http://therealnews.com…

see

Pt 2 Pepe Escobar: There will be class war and blood

Financial Crisis: Sustaining Unsustainability by Prof. Michael Hudson

Obama’s New World Order – Michael Hudson’s analysis of the financial crisis by Stephen Lendman

Michael Hudson and John Perkins Interviews on Iceland (must-see)

The Financial War Against Iceland by Prof Michael Hudson

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse 2

Financial Crisis: Sustaining Unsustainability by Prof. Michael Hudson

Dandelion Salad

by Prof. Michael Hudson
Global Research, April 4, 2009

$1 Trillion more to sustain the economic crisis. G-20 message to indebted countries. “Drop Dead!”

Not much substantive news was expected to come out of the G-20 meetings that ended on April 2 in London – certainly no good news was even suggested. Europe, China and the United States had too deeply distinct interests. American diplomats wanted to lock foreign countries into further dependency on paper dollars. The rest of the world sought a way to avoid giving up real output and ownership of their resources and enterprises for yet more hot-potato dollars. In such cases one expects a parade of smiling faces and statements of mutual respect for each others’ position – so much respect that they have agreed to set up a “study group” or two to kick the diplomatic ball down the road.

The least irrelevant news was not good at all: The attendees agreed to quadruple IMF funding to $1 trillion. Anything that bolsters IMF authority cannot be good for countries forced to submit to its austerity plans. They are designed to squeeze out more money to pay the world’s most predatory creditors. So in practice this G-20 agreement means that the world’s leading governments are responding to today’s financial crisis with “planned shrinkage” for debtors – a 10% cut in wage payments in hapless Latvia, Hungary put on rations, and permanent debt peonage for Iceland for starters. This is quite a contrast with the United States, which is responding to the downturn with a giant Keynesian deficit spending program, despite its glaringly unpayable $4 trillion debt to foreign central banks.

The System: Capitalism and its Role in American Society’s Plunge into the Abyss by Manuel Valenzuela (2004)

Dandelion Salad

by Manuel Valenzuela
Valenzuela’s Veritas
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Originally published April, 2004

The System: Capitalism and its Role in American Society’s Plunge into the Abyss. Part I

Breaths of Freedom

For one brief moment of life, when light enters our eyes for the very first time, we can claim to be the embodiment of innocence and human goodness, the essence of human perfection. It is also the only moment in our lives we can claim to be free.

In birth awakens the wonderment of humanity, the hope of civilization and the positive energy of our future. In birth are we all born unclothed, unmarked and uncorrupted, and, for at least a second, engendered with the same promises of ability and opportunity theoretically endowed to us all. The promise of a new tomorrow lives in the curious smile and ever-innocent eyes of tiny humans born in the today.

[...]

via Valenzuela’s Veritas: The System: Capitalism and its Role in American Society’s Plunge into the Abyss. Part I.

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The System: Capitalism and its Role in American Society’s Plunge into the Abyss, Part II of III.

The American Nightmare

Social classes are today an illusion designed to create the impression that upward mobility, even in this age of capitalistic exploitation, can be easily achieved. The American Dream is one such instrument of deception that, while at one time a functioning reality, now assures those who exploit of the hard and ceaseless work of those seeking to escape their lifetime subjugation. For decades the utopian idea of the American Dream has captivated the masses. Indeed, it is the psychological cog that runs the American capitalistic engine, making hundreds of millions nothing more than obedient producers and consumers whose enslavement is the backbone of the effervescent and continually expanding economy.

The American Dream is the slogan to strive for, the mantra to hum in our misconceived perception of upward mobility even as we delve further into our predetermined caste. It is our battle hymn as we march merrily to work, eager to jump into the next stage of our caste-filled lives. The Dream, implanted from birth through television and culture, has become ingrained in our hypnotized minds as we seek to emulate the perfection we see on the screen. We have become Pavlovian dogs drooling at the fiction we think is within our grasp. Yet the fantasy we desperately crave and the reality we want to escape are mutually exclusive, never attaining the former and never evading the latter.

[...]

via Valenzuela’s Veritas: The System: Capitalism and its Role in American Society’s Plunge into the Abyss, Part II of III..

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The System: Capitalism and its Role in American Society’s Plunge into the Abyss. Part III

The Poisonous Tentacles of Capitalism

A living poison embedded inside us fills our lungs and brains, clogging our lifestyles and rendering us unable to stop its progression through our impotent minds. We have been contaminated by the demons of capitalism, and throughout our existence its permutations seep out of our porous bodies to wreak havoc on our lives and those of our loved ones. Unable to excrete it from our lives, the poison grows over time, from our childhood until death, making us feeble creatures under control of the tentacles of capitalism. We seem powerless to stop its thriving energy inside us, allowing it to command and control, influence and exploit. The mighty tentacles have us wrapped in their powerful grip, sapping away our verve and plunging us down further into the dark abyss.

Living in the most prosperous nation in the history of the world has made us immune to the troubles afflicting billions of human beings around the globe. Our lands, from Pacific to Atlantic Oceans, have for too long been immersed in the apathetic trivialities and ingrained ignorance engendered by our nation’s excessiveness, lavish wealth, comforts and capitalistic philosophies. America’s superfluous lifestyle has flourished while that of the developing nations we exploit and plunder diminishes. As a result, we have become detached from a planet that is on the retreat, mostly due to our voracious appetite for land and labor exploitation.

[...]

via Valenzuela’s Veritas: The System: Capitalism and its Role in American Society’s Plunge into the Abyss. Part III.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

Zinn on class in America (updated)

The Economy Sucks and or Collapse 2

Valenzuela-Manuel

older posts: Manuel Valenzuela

Noam Chomsky on the Global Economic Crisis and Resistance to American Empire

Dandelion Salad

Democracy Now!
4.13.09

Noam Chomsky on the Global Economic Crisis, Healthcare, US Foreign Policy and Resistance to American Empire

Part II of our conversation with MIT professor and author Noam Chomsky on the global economic crisis, healthcare, the media, US foreign policy, the expanding wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, resistance to American empire, and more.

“As far as policy is concerned, unless [Obama] is under a lot of pressure from activist sectors, he’s not going to go beyond what he’s presented himself as in actual policy statements or cabinet choices and so on: a centrist Democrat [who’s] going to basically continue Bush’s polices, maybe in a more modulated way,” says Chomsky. [includes rush transcript]

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transcript

AMY GOODMAN: Today, a conversation with one of the most important dissident intellectuals of our time, Noam Chomsky, on the global economic crisis, healthcare, the media, US foreign policy, the expanding wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and resistance to American empire. Noam Chomsky is a world-renowned linguist, philosopher, social critic, and Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.