Left-wing social critic and political activist Noam Chomsky is not surprised that Americans felt “shock and indignation” when the Bush administration torture memos were released — but he is surprised that anyone would consider them surprising.
“Torture has been routine practice from the early days of the Republic,” Chomseky writes in Z Magazine’s June issue. “Accordingly, [...]
June 3, 2009
Chomsky: Torture has been America’s ‘routine practice’ since ‘early days’…
June 3, 2009
Sunday Times executives consider charging readers on new site…
The Sunday Times is set to launch a standalone website and is considering charging readers for its content.
Plans have not been finalised, but executives at Sunday Times publisher News International are considering the charges to fall in line with the publicly stated desire of Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of parent company News [...]
June 3, 2009
Iran signs $4.7b gas deal with China…
Tehran has replaced France’s Total with a Chinese company to develop phase 11 of Iran’s South Pars gas field.
An Iranian delegation headed by managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Seyfollah Jashnsaz, which is on a visit to Beijing, has finalized the deal with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) today, IRNA reported on [...]
June 3, 2009
Chavez talks of CIA assassination plot…
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the US Central Intelligence Agency of conspiring to assassinate him during his planned visit to El Salvador.
Chavez called off a trip to the Latin American state of El Salvador on Monday in order to forestall alleged efforts meant to murder him on the plane.
The Venezuelan leader stated that the [...]
June 3, 2009
Obama Has 250,000 “Contractors” in Iraq and Afghan Wars, Increases Number of Mercenaries…
Newly released Pentagon statistics show that in both Iraq and Afghanistan the number of armed contractors is rising. The DoD says it sees “similar dependence on contractors in future.”
by Jeremy Scahill
Source: RebelReports
A couple of years ago, Blackwater executive Joseph Schmitz seemed to see a silver lining for mercenary companies with the prospect of US forces [...]
June 3, 2009
10 security guards killed in Afghan bomb blasts…
Two roadside bombs tore through a convoy carrying private security guards, killing 10 of them in eastern Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday.
The convoy was initially hit by a blast that killed one security guard on Tuesday, said police chief Azizullah Wardak of Paktia province.
A second improvised explosive device then ripped through the convoy and killed [...]
June 3, 2009
Most Americans against closing Guantanamo: poll…
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Two of every three Americans are opposed to closing Guantanamo, with an even higher percentage against moving some of the detainees from the “war on terror” prison to their own US states, poll results showed Tuesday.
When asked if the United States should shutter the notorious facility and move some of the accused [...]
June 3, 2009
Yemeni Prisoner Muhammad Salih Dies At Guantánamo…
It has just been reported that Muhammad Ahmad Abdallah Salih (also known as Mohammed al-Hanashi), a Yemeni prisoner at Guantánamo, has died, apparently by committing suicide.
The news comes just three days after the second anniversary of another death at Guantánamo — that of Abdul Rahman al-Amri, a Saudi prisoner who died on May 30, 2007 [...]
