Wednesday News Bucket

8 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on March 28, 2007 at 7:24 am

   for torture of prisoners Time/AP

   Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld cannot be tried on allegations of torture in overseas military prisons, a federal judge said Tuesday in a case he described as “lamentable.”

   U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan threw out a lawsuit brought on behalf of nine former prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said Rumsfeld could not be held personally responsible for actions taken in connection with his government job.

   The lawsuit contends the prisoners were beaten, suspended upside down from the ceiling by chains, urinated on, shocked, sexually humiliated, burned, locked inside boxes and subjected to mock executions.

   Who the heck can be held accountable for this?  Those prisoners didn’t torture themselves, and the torturers did what they did on someone’s orders.  It’s beyond disgusting.

   Moreover, when did comitting crimes in the course of one’s government employment grant you de facto immunity from prosecution?

2. 

   CabinGirl on March 28, 2007 at 7:38 am

   on NYC NYT

   Frustrated by a bruising, and so far unsuccessful battle to open its first discount store in the nation’s largest city, Wal-Mart’s chief executive said yesterday, “I don’t care if we are ever here.”

   H. Lee Scott Jr., the chief executive of the nation’s largest retailer, said that trying to conduct business in New York was so expensive — and exasperating — that “I don’t think it’s worth the effort.”

   Wal-mart credits the unions with being the ‘problem’ preventing them from getting a bite of the big apple.  Cuz, gawd forbid a Wal-mart employee earn a living wage and benefits…

3. 

   olivia on March 28, 2007 at 8:57 am

   BBC — Dozens of young women from a religious school in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, have broken into an alleged brothel and kidnapped the owner.

   The women, from the nearby Jamia Hafsa madrassa, burst in late on Tuesday, demanding the premises be shut down.

   The women say they have a right to end immoral activity under Islamic law.

   […]

   • 

     CabinGirl on March 28, 2007 at 9:09 am

     Talk about turning the tables…good for those women!

4. 

   rba on March 28, 2007 at 10:30 am

   Arab League – Summit.

   Arab leaders on Wednesday kicked off the 19th Arab League summit in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, with Arab peace initiative, Middle East security, the Iraq issue high on the agenda.

   The conference, which started at 1:20 p.m. (1020 GMT) at Abdulaziz International Conference Center, brought together 17 heads of state of the 22-member pan-Arab bloc.

   Questions about snubbing America should be directed to the offices in Riyadh.

5. 

   idredit on March 28, 2007 at 1:42 pm

   Saudi king slams ‘illegitimate occupation’ of Iraq

   from AFP

   “In beloved Iraq, blood is being shed among brothers in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation, and ugly sectarianism threatens civil war,” Abdullah said.

   He also said that Arab nations, which are planning to revive a five-year-old Middle East peace plan at the summit, would not allow any foreign force to decide the future of the region.

   In the past, Saudi leaders including Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal have often criticised US policy in Iraq but have never described its presence there as “illegitimate.”

   [..]

   • 

     CabinGirl on March 28, 2007 at 1:54 pm

     Whatever happened to ‘Bandar Bush’? </snark&gt

6. 

   CabinGirl on March 28, 2007 at 2:10 pm

   this congressional oversight thing, how about you?

   (ps, it’s a long YouTube, but worth it.)