Lawsuit: Blackwater/Xe is operating illegally in Iraq 10 Jun 2009 The latest in a series of war-crimes lawsuits against Blackwater and its affiliated companies alleges that they continue to operate illegally in Iraq a month after the expiration of their lucrative security contract with the U.S. State Department. The new lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, says Blackwater is still providing armed protection services in Iraq under the name Greystone Ltd. for the International Republican Institute, a nonprofit [terrorist] organization funded by the U.S. government.
Guardsmen Say KBR Exposed Them to Poison 10 Jun 2009 Five National Guardsmen say military contractor KBR knowingly exposed them to hexavalent chromium during restoration of an Iraqi water facility. The men say that when they developed “chrome nose” bleeding, KBR brushed off the telltale sign, claiming that they were allergic to sand. Rocky Bixby, Lawrence Roberta, Scott Ashby, Charles Ellis and Matthew Hadley claim that KBR’s southern Iraq Health Safety Environment manager knew about the contamination in May 2003, but the company kept them working, and in the dark, for 4 more months.
IDF developing battlefield robot snake 09 Jun 2009 A robot snake, capable of recording video and sound on the battlefield, is on the way to join the IDF’s hi-tech arsenal. According to a Channel 2 report the spying robot, which is about two meters long and covered in military camouflage, mimics the movements and appearance of real snakes, slithering around through caves, tunnels, cracks and buildings, while at the same time sending images and sound back to a soldier who controls the device through a laptop computer. [Just squish it, slice it in half or dump a caustic chemical on its head.]
2 Israelis ‘voted in Lebanese elections’ 10 Jun 2009 Lebanese Security Forces have arrested two Israeli women over their participation in Lebanon’s general elections earlier this week. Two sisters, Josephine and Georgette Mussa, who entered the country ahead of the June 7 elections, were arrested in Beirut Airport before leaving the country, Al-Manar reported on Wednesday.
Lawsuits Force Disclosures by C.I.A. 10 Jun 2009 So far, President Obama has managed to curb Congressional calls for a national commission to investigate Bush administration detention policies. But Mr. Obama cannot control the courts, and lawsuits are turning out to be the force driving disclosures about brutal interrogations. Mr. Obama’s decision in April to release legal opinions from the Bush regime on interrogation, which were sought in a lawsuit, has opened the door to the disclosure of other documents.
Palau to accept 17 Chinese Muslims from Guantánamo as ‘gesture of thanks’ to US 10 Jun 2009 Johnson Toribiong, the president of Palau, said the decision was a “humanitarian gesture” intended to help the detainees restart their lives. “This is but a small thing we can do to thank our best friend and ally for all it has done for Palau,” he said. Negotiations between Washington and the Palauans over the prisoners coincided with discussions about a $200 million (£120 million) renewal of a regular assistance package on which the island, a former US territory, depends. However, a senior US state department official described the idea of any connection as “completely false”.
First Guantanamo Bay inmate to face US trial pleads not guilty 11 Jun 2009 first Guantanamo Bay inmate to face a civilian trial on US soil yesterday pleaded not guilty to mass murder charges related to the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa. Tanzanian-born Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who once served as a bodyguard to al-Qa’ida leader Osama bin Laden, faced a New York courtroom as prosecutors alleged he helped kill 224 people, including 12 Americans.
Ex-Guantanamo detainee ‘sure’ he was tortured 08 Jun 2009 A freed former Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, terror prisoner says he has no doubts he was tortured by U.S. interrogators during his seven-plus years there. In an interview with ABC News Monday in France, Algerian Lakhdar Boumediene said he doesn’t “think” he was tortured, “I’m sure,” he said.
‘Shoe-bomber’ Richard Reid on hunger strike in US prison 11 Jun 2009 The British shoe bomber convicted of trying to blow up a transatlantic flight is being force-fed in America’s toughest jail after going on hunger strike, court papers disclose. Richard Reid has been refusing food for several weeks in an apparent protest against prison restrictions that he says prevent him from following his Sunni Muslim faith.
Metropolitan police officers flushed my head in toilet, says suspect –Solicitors for five held in drug raids allege torture –Six officers face IPCC over waterboarding claims 10 Jun 2009 One of the victims of alleged torture by six Metropolitan police officers claims his head was thrust down a toilet which was repeatedly flushed over him as he was interrogated, the Guardian has learned. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating allegations that the officers, all of whom worked for Edmonton CID, used water torture on up to three suspects arrested last November on drug importation charges.
Terror link to 2 aboard crash jet –Two passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on the doomed Air France jet. 11 Jun 2009 French agents matched names on the passenger list to extremist suspects. And the airline received a bomb threat just days before flight AF447 plunged into the Atlantic last week, killing all 228 on board. An Air France long-haul pilot claims it is “highly likely” the Airbus 330 was blown up as it flew from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Agents checked the passengers – and found two names also on classified documents listing radical Muslims considered a threat to France. A source within security services said the link was “highly significant”.
Terror Names Linked to Doomed Flight AF 447 10 Jun 2009 Two passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on the Air France flight which crashed with the loss of 228 lives, it has emerged. French secret servicemen established the connection while working through the list of those who boarded the doomed Airbus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 31… Soon after news of the fatal crash broke, agents working for the DGSE (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure), the French equivalent of MI6, were dispatched to Brazil. It was there that they established that two names on the passenger list are also on highly-classified documents listing the names of radical Muslims considered a threat to the French Republic. A source working for the French security services told Paris weekly L’Express that the link was “highly significant”. [Translation: A govt agency (Gee, who could that be?) likely blew the plane out of the sky.]
Air France bodies taken to identification point 09 Jun 2009 Bodies recovered from the Air France plane which crashed into the Atlantic last week have been taken to a mortuary in Brazil. The remains of 28 people were flown by helicopter to the Brazilian city of Recife where dental records and DNA tests will confirm identities.
Security scares close White House streets 10 Jun 2009 Two security scares prompted the closure of Washington streets and sidewalks around the White House for about an hour Tuesday, officials said. One incident involved a woman with a backpack climbing a fence surrounding the White House grounds. The second involved an unattended bag found about two blocks away from the president’s mansion, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
US racist shoots guard dead at Holocaust museum –White supremacist convicted of trying to kidnap Federal Reserve Board 25 years ago 11 Jun 2009 A white supremacist pensioner strode into the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington yesterday and shot dead a security guard before he was felled by return fire from two other security staff. The man, identified by media outlets as James Von Brunn, an 88-year-old resident of Maryland with apparent ties to assorted racist hate and anti-government groups, was taken to hospital for emergency treatment. The security guard, Stephen Tyrone Johns, died at George Washington University Hospital.
White supremacist James W Von Brunn opens fire at Holocaust museum 10 Jun 2009 An 89-year-old white supremacist and Holocaust denier opened fire in Washington’s Holocaust Museum today, wounding at least one before being shot in the head by security officers. James W von Brunn, who was charged and convicted in 1981 for running towards the boardroom of Washington’s Federal Reserve building with a shotgun, entered the Holocaust Museum just before 1pm and opened fire “indiscriminately” with a long rifle.
Shooting Highlights Growth of [Rightwing] Hate Groups –Suspect James Von Brunn Railed Against Blacks, Jews, Found Allies On White Supremacist Web Sites 10 Jun 2009 Federal investigators in Washington, D.C. are scouring the troubled history of 88 year-old shooting suspect James Von Brunn – an anti-Semite with a lifelong grievance against the government who found allies on white supremacist Web sites. The Holocaust Museum shootings came 11 days after another hate crime, the murder of Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller. The suspect in that shooting, Scott Roeder, is described as an anti-abortion rights radical terrorist.
