A city

I took a photo on the flight to Brussels last night. Can you guess what this is? Put it in the comments.

Bush’s address

“Some look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude that the war is lost, and not worth another dime or another day, I don’t believe that. Our military commanders do not believe that. Our troops in the field, who bear the burden and make the sacrifice, do not believe that America has lost.” Bush in Sunday’s televised address

I take it that’s an order?

West Wing’s Leo dies at age of 58

John Spencer, the actor who played vice-presidential candidate Leo McGarry in NBC television’s The West Wing, has died of a heart attack at 58. BBC

Zarqawi ‘captured and released’

Whoops:

Iraqi police captured and mistakenly released militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last year, the Iraqi deputy interior minister says. BBC

Meanwhile in internment camps all over the world …

White House caves in, backs ban on torture

It’s done. The Bush administration has finally buckled to increasing political pressure and is now backing a ban on torture:

The White House and Senator John McCain have reached agreement on formally banning the torture or the degrading treatment of foreign terror suspects.
Mr McCain, once a prisoner of war in Vietnam, proposed the measure as an amendment to a military spending bill.

Both houses of Congress had passed the bill in defiance of President George W Bush’s threat to veto any legislation limiting interrogation tactics.

The White House had wanted an opt-out for CIA interrogators. BBC

Now about those secret installations?

House backs McCain on torture ban, defies Bush

In an unusual bipartisan rebuke to the Bush administration, the House on Wednesday overwhelmingly endorsed Senator John McCain’s measure to bar cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners in American custody anywhere in the world.

(…) The House vote was 308 to 122, with 107 Republicans lining up along with almost every Democrat behind Representative John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who sponsored Mr. McCain’s language and who has become anathema to the administration on any legislative measure related to Iraq since his call last month to withdraw American troops from Iraq in six months.

“Torture does not help us win the hearts and minds of the people it’s used against,” Mr. Murtha said on the House floor. “Congress is obligated to speak out.” New York Times

Yes, Congress should speak out. So where have you guys and gals been the last five years? Nice you could finally join us.

Rice says all U.S. personnel is bound by ban on torture

Coming about!

Talk about a complete reversal:

The US secretary of state says the UN treaty on torture applies to American interrogators in the US and overseas, in an apparent shift in US policy.

The Bush administration has previously said the convention, which bans cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, does not apply to US personnel abroad. BBC

What I want for Christmas

Dear Santa,
I have everything I could want: a loving wife, a cat, a home and an iPod. Nevertheless, I am going to ask for some items that I think would be neat to have, even though they are not really just for me.

One errand I’d like you to run concerns all those being held illegally or tortured on behalf of the citizens of America. How about bringing them some chocolate along with the message that not all inhabitants of America are cruel? Most of us don’t condone throwing blood on prisoners, telling them it’s menstrual blood, or terrifying them with dogs, mock executions and the like. I think we can all agree that ripping out people’s finger- and toenails should never be done to anyone.

If that’s too much to ask, could you at least make sure the truth about those despicable acts gets out? That would usually be the job of the mainstream press, I know, but those guys seem to be busy being intimidated and writing books about how great they are.

I’d also like you to drop by the White House. I know this is usually not your line of work, but I hear both the Ghost of Christmas Future and the Ghost of Christmas Past are busy. The Ghost of Christmas Present is available; he’s just too whiny.

For far too long, the president has been cooped up in his bubble with no one telling him the true nature of the economy, the war and most other things a president should be truthfully informed about. Past advisers who spoke bluntly to him were fired, the ones he has right now are too scared to do so and any new adviser that has been hired as of late is informed to tell him only what he wants to hear. No wonder his notions are a bit messed up.
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German Minister was informed about at least one torture case

It seems the German government knew about at least one case after all:

In May 2004, the White House dispatched the U.S. ambassador in Germany to pay an unusual visit to that country’s interior minister (Otto Schily). Ambassador Daniel R. Coats carried instructions from the State Department transmitted via the CIA’s Berlin station because they were too sensitive and highly classified for regular diplomatic channels, according to several people with knowledge of the conversation.

Coats informed the German minister that the CIA had wrongfully imprisoned one of its citizens, Khaled Masri, for five months, and would soon release him, the sources said. There was also a request: that the German government not disclose what it had been told even if Masri went public. The U.S. officials feared exposure of a covert action program designed to capture terrorism suspects abroad and transfer them among countries, and possible legal challenges to the CIA from Masri and others with similar allegations.

(…) While the CIA admitted to Germany’s then-Interior Minister Otto Schily that it had made a mistake, it has labored to keep the specifics of Masri’s case from becoming public. As a German prosecutor works to verify or debunk Masri’s claims of kidnapping and torture, the part of the German government that was informed of his ordeal has remained publicly silent. Masri’s attorneys say they intend to file a lawsuit in U.S. courts this week. Washington Post

This article is required reading. It’s such a chilling account of a man imprisoned and held for 5 months without any cause. It’s simply outrageous, especially since the German minister of interior knew about it but never went public.

Am I to assume that Schilly valued relations with the U.S. more than the rights of a German citizen? That cannot be allowed to stand.

I posted the article in its entirety after the jump.
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