more on the military murder-rape case; assorted news
Editor and Publisher is also reporting the story. It doesn't contain much we don't already know, other than an embedded AP reporter broke the story... and a couple other tidbits:
Iraqi police had been told about the killings three months ago. The U.S. contended the killings were by insurgents, until two or three soldiers spoke up.
Some of them still retain their humanity and sense of duty. Good on them.
"The official said the killings appear to be unrelated to the kidnappings but that a soldier felt compelled to report the killings after his fellow soldiers' bodies were found."
I could say something sarcastic about the lightbulb going on that maybe abusing and murdering the population was a good way to provoke atrocities in return, except I don't imagine it's easy to choose to implicate your fellow soldiers. They did the right thing eventually, and it's slightly comforting.
**
More on the Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld decision:
WaPo's Eugene Robinson says: "[Bush] has been told that he is still a president, not an emperor."
Robert Parry of Consortium News points out that the Hamdan case was decided by a slim margin, and that if Bush gets to nominate more minions justices to the Supreme Court, that majority in favor of the rule of law and opposed to an imperial presidency may not hold.
In demanding reasonable legal safeguards for Hamdan and other Guantanamo detainees, the Supreme Court majority also was declaring that Bush’s powers are not without limit. The Court was asserting that other human beings who share the planet with Bush have rights, too.
Election 2006, however, may well decide whether the future of the United States will be as a nation of laws with citizens who continue to possess “unalienable rights” - or whether Bush becomes a modern-day king and all other Americans become his subjects.
I don't remember to check Consortium News often, even though - or maybe because - it's usually disturbingly on target.
Meanwhile, the Navy lawyer who won Hamdan may lose his job for it. Or be turned down for promotion again, which would be pretty much the same. He's said, "If they are calling the commissions (tribunals) military justice, it's got to live up to what military justice is. It means something. It's about the law, not what the leaders want." Word. Bush needs to have that quote taped to his bathroom mirror, methinks. And somehow, I don't think he'll have trouble finding work.
**
A federal panel has unanimously recommended that all the new anti-HPV/anti-cervical cancer vaccine be routine. Conservatives are being stupid, as usual.
Meanwhile, it's not easy being a female politican in the Arab world: a female Iraqi legislator has been kidnapped, and Kuwaiti women standing for office failed to win any seats. Although, women did vote for the first time. That's a victory in itself.
Audio of Rice arguing with a Russian diplomat over security in Iraq was broadcast on CNN. Oopsie.
Iraqi police had been told about the killings three months ago. The U.S. contended the killings were by insurgents, until two or three soldiers spoke up.
Some of them still retain their humanity and sense of duty. Good on them.
"The official said the killings appear to be unrelated to the kidnappings but that a soldier felt compelled to report the killings after his fellow soldiers' bodies were found."
I could say something sarcastic about the lightbulb going on that maybe abusing and murdering the population was a good way to provoke atrocities in return, except I don't imagine it's easy to choose to implicate your fellow soldiers. They did the right thing eventually, and it's slightly comforting.
**
More on the Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld decision:
WaPo's Eugene Robinson says: "[Bush] has been told that he is still a president, not an emperor."
Robert Parry of Consortium News points out that the Hamdan case was decided by a slim margin, and that if Bush gets to nominate more minions justices to the Supreme Court, that majority in favor of the rule of law and opposed to an imperial presidency may not hold.
In demanding reasonable legal safeguards for Hamdan and other Guantanamo detainees, the Supreme Court majority also was declaring that Bush’s powers are not without limit. The Court was asserting that other human beings who share the planet with Bush have rights, too.
Election 2006, however, may well decide whether the future of the United States will be as a nation of laws with citizens who continue to possess “unalienable rights” - or whether Bush becomes a modern-day king and all other Americans become his subjects.
I don't remember to check Consortium News often, even though - or maybe because - it's usually disturbingly on target.
Meanwhile, the Navy lawyer who won Hamdan may lose his job for it. Or be turned down for promotion again, which would be pretty much the same. He's said, "If they are calling the commissions (tribunals) military justice, it's got to live up to what military justice is. It means something. It's about the law, not what the leaders want." Word. Bush needs to have that quote taped to his bathroom mirror, methinks. And somehow, I don't think he'll have trouble finding work.
**
A federal panel has unanimously recommended that all the new anti-HPV/anti-cervical cancer vaccine be routine. Conservatives are being stupid, as usual.
Meanwhile, it's not easy being a female politican in the Arab world: a female Iraqi legislator has been kidnapped, and Kuwaiti women standing for office failed to win any seats. Although, women did vote for the first time. That's a victory in itself.
Audio of Rice arguing with a Russian diplomat over security in Iraq was broadcast on CNN. Oopsie.