‘You can’t authorise murder’: Hersh 12 May 2009 Pulitzer prize-winning American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh recently said that former US vice-president [sic] Dick Cheney headed a secret assassination wing that targeted America’s enemies abroad. SEYMOUR HERSH: In Cheney’s view this isn’t murder, but carrying out the “war on terror”. And in the view of me and my friends, including people in government, this is crazy. The vice president is committing a crime. You can’t authorise the murder of people. And it’s not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s in a lot of other countries, in the Middle East and in South Asia and North Africa and even central America.

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/05/13/10313137.html

 

President Obama to restart Guantanamo Bay military tribunals 15 May 2009 Barack Obama is set to reverse the first formal decision of his presidency today with the expected announcement that his Administration will restart Bush-era military tribunals for Guantánamo Bay detainees. While still on the campaign trail, Mr Obama denounced the military commission system as “flawed”.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6291650.ece

 

Obama says Iran war not off the table 17 May 2009 President Barack Obama says the US has not taken military action against Iran over its nuclear program off the table ahead of the Israeli premier’s trip to Washington. In an interview with Newsweek on Saturday, Obama made it clear that he did not take any options off the table when asked about war with Iran.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=95022&sectionid=351020101

 

Israeli war on Iran ‘completely insane’ 17 May 2009 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general says Israel would be making a ‘completely insane’ move, should it stage a war on Iran. Head of the UN nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei advised officials in Tel Aviv to exercise restraint and allow the diplomatic approach of the Obama White House on the Iranian nuclear issue to proceed.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=95006&sectionid=351020104

 

Israel ups war training despite US discontent 15 May 2009 The Israeli Air Force (IAF) is training against warplanes in service with Arab nations and Iran amid worries in the White House that Tel Aviv would start a war without US consent. The IAF has trained against Soviet-designed MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters — loaned to Israel by an unidentified foreign country — to prepare its pilots for missions where they might have to fight a foreign air force, Israel’s Channel 2 reported.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=94859&sectionid=351020202

 

Leon Panetta’s mission to stop Israel bombing Iranian nuclear plant 15 May 2009 America’s spy chief was sent on a secret mission to Israel to warn its leaders not to launch a surprise attack on Iran without notifying the US Administration. As Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, prepares to visit Washington, it emerged yesterday that Leon Panetta, the head of the CIA, went to Israel two weeks ago. He sought assurances from Mr Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister, that their hawkish new Government would not attack Iran without alerting Washington. [Oh, so it's ok if Israel attacks Iran -- as long as they notify Washington?]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6289593.ece

 

Lebanon arrests 13th Israeli spy in 2 months 16 May 2009 Lebanese troops have detained another suspected Israeli spy in the eastern Bekaa valley as Beirut pushes ahead with a campaign to end Israeli espionage in the country. Ziad Homsi, former mayor of Saadnayel town and current deputy mayor, was arrested in his home at dawn, a Press TV correspondent reported Saturday. The latest arrest brings to about 13 the number of people formally charged with spying since April, when a former general in the security service, his wife and a nephew were detained.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=94972&sectionid=351020203

 

Obama Dares Judge to Order Release of NSA Spy Document 15 May 2009 Setting the stage for a constitutional showdown, the Obama administration dared a federal judge here late Friday to do what no judge has yet done: disclose classified data the government has declared a national security state secret. The administration urged (http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2009/05/walkercrisis.pdf) U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to order such a disclosure in a 3-year-old lawsuit weighing whether a sitting U.S. president may bypass Congress and adopt a program of eavesdropping on Americans without warrants. Such an order, the administration said, could halt three years of convoluted litigation and force the appellate courts to weigh in on the hotly contested issue.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/nsa/

 

Anger at Obama Guantanamo ruling 15 May 2009 Civil liberties groups have reacted angrily to US President Barack Obama’s decision to revive military trials for some Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Mr Obama has previously denounced the Bush-era judicial system, but in a statement said new safeguards would ensure suspects got a fairer hearing. New rules include rejecting statements obtained from harsh interrogations torture and limitations on using hearsay evidence.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8052999.stm

 

Barack Obama U-turn over military terror trials 15 May 2009 President Obama has been accused of a major policy U-turn after he decided to restore the controversial military tribunals set up by George Bush to prosecute terror suspects. The surprise White House announcement reversed his campaign pledge to rely on the conventional court system. The move was last night criticised by human rights groups, who believed Mr Obama intended to dismantle the terror tribunals after calling them ‘an enormous failure’ during last year’s presidential campaign. It was the president’s second U-turn this week, after he changed his mind and pledged to try and block the court-ordered release of photographs showing U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners. [See: Obama U-turn on abuse photographs 13 May 2009: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8048774.stm]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1182228/Barack-Obama-U-turn-military-terror-trials.html

 

Cheney’s Role Deepens By Robert Windrem –Former NBC News investigative producer reports that the vice president’s office suggested waterboarding an Iraqi prisoner who was suspected of knowing about a relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. 13 May 2009 Robert Windrem, who covered terrorism for NBC, reports that: Two U.S. intelligence officers confirm that Vice President [sic] Cheney’s office suggested waterboarding an Iraqi prisoner, a former intelligence official for Saddam Hussein, who was suspected to have knowledge of a Saddam-al Qaeda connection. The former chief of the Iraq Survey Group, Charles Duelfer, in charge of interrogations, tells The Daily Beast that he considered the request reprehensible. Much of the information in the report of the 9/11 Commission was provided through more than 30 sessions of torture of detainees.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-13/cheneys-role-deepens/