...perspectives...

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

CIA: No Iraqi officer link - White House official denies commissioner's statement that tied Saddam's Fedayeen unit to al-Qaida - June 22, 2004 - by Knut Royce, Washington Burea, Newsday.com - National News
The CIA concluded "a long time ago" that an al-Qaida associate who met with two of the Sept. 11 hijackers in Malaysia was not an officer in Saddam Hussein's army, as alleged Sunday by a Republican member of the 9/11 commission.

Commissioner John Lehman, who was Navy secretary under Ronald Reagan, said "new ... documents" indicated that "at least one officer of Saddam's Fedayeen," an elite army unit, "was a very prominent member of al-Qaida."
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Lehman could not be reached for comment.
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wo 8:30 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Thursday, June 17, 2004

You Break It, You Go To Jail - International Law that is (or "Oh, sorry, we just dropped the ball, forgive us")

Pentagon: Military Hid Iraq Prisoner from Red Cross (Reuters - Thu Jun 17, 2004 07:32 AM ET)
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Defense officials confirmed that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered military officials to hold the suspected member of the Ansar al-Islam guerrilla group last November at the request of then-CIA Director George Tenet without telling the International Committee of the Red Cross.
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In March, Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, the U.S. Army officer who investigated abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, criticized the practice of allowing ghost detainees as "deceptive, contrary to Army doctrine, and in violation of international law."
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Rumsfeld ordered 'ghost detainee' (BBC News - Thursday, 17 June, 2004, 13:51 GMT 14:51 UK)
The US military has been secretly holding a suspected terrorist in Iraq on the orders of the Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The Iraq man has been held since last November at a high-risk prison near Baghdad, without being listed on any roll or assigned a prisoner number.

Both conditions violate the Geneva Convention on treatment of prisoners.

wo 10:57 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Thursday, June 10, 2004

Why ask for legal clarification on torture if you do not intend to use it?
"Even though the administration was claiming the right to ignore laws and treaties against torture, officials say it has abided by them."

wo 8:45 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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