Bush's Shrinking Safety Zone

[glatt]

Originally Posted by tw

I kept rereading the reports. It was not entirely clear who paid for the insurance. The articles said it was paid for by employees. There was no specific reference to reinbursement or other details.

But then why would the government reinburse a CIA agent for an insurance policy sold CIA employees only by the government?

It didn't make sense to me either, that's why it stuck out and I remembered it.
I just did a search on the Post's webpage and found the article I read.

Originally Posted by washingtonpost

Worried CIA Officers Buy Legal Insurance
Plans Fund Defense In Anti-Terror Cases

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 11, 2006; A01

CIA counterterrorism officers have signed up in growing numbers for a government-reimbursed, private insurance plan that would pay their civil judgments and legal expenses if they are sued or charged with criminal wrongdoing, according to current and former intelligence officials and others with knowledge of the program.

[glatt]

And buried deeper in that article (I didn't read that far because I had to catch a train) is this:

The insurance, costing about $300 a year, would pay as much as $200,000 toward legal expenses and $1 million in civil judgments. Since the late 1990s, the CIA's senior managers have been eligible for reimbursement of half the insurance premium.

So only 50% is reimbursed. I wouldn't buy it after all, since I don't torture anyone.

[tw]

From Washington Post of 15 Sept 2006:

GOP Infighting on Detainees Intensifies
President Bush warned defiant Republican senators yesterday that he will close down a CIA interrogation program that he credited with thwarting terrorist attacks if they pass a proposal regulating detention of enemy combatants, escalating a politically charged battle that has exposed divisions within his party.

An irritated Bush, raising his voice and gesturing sharply at a Rose Garden news conference, excoriated legislation passed by a Senate panel Thursday that is intended to conform U.S. detainee practices with the Geneva Conventions. Bush insisted on legislation more specifically defining what is banned so intelligence officers would not worry about being charged with war crimes. ...

"Weakening the Geneva protections is not only unnecessary, but would set an example to other countries, with less respect for basic human rights, that they could issue their own legislative 'reinterpretations,' " McCain said in a written statement. "This puts our military personnel and others directly at risk in this and future wars."

From history, we know that McCain puts America before a political agenda. George Jr would even lie about WMDs - get America into wars - to promote a political agenda rather than America. Just another lesson from history. So which Republican should be believe?

Meanwhile, professional interrogators say torture does not provide useful information - no matter how George Jr spins it. Professional interrogators say being nice causes them to open up - sometimes intentionally and sometimes accidentally - to provide *accurate* information. Don't tell that to George Jr supporters who insist that torture is good - only because they know. Accurate information? Where are all these bombs in shipping containers? What happened to

latest terrorism alert was based primarily on information that is three to four years old, but they aggressively defended the decision to warn financial sectors in Washington, New York and Newark because of the continuing threat posed by al Qaeda. ... The alert Ridge issued on Sunday, ... that al Qaeda operatives had surveilled five buildings: the International Monetary Fund and World Bank headquarters in Washington; the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup Center in New York; and the Prudential Financial building in Newark.

Yes torture is so effective if its purpose is to increase a president's popularity rating. Screw the Geneva convention. Its not even an American town. We must reelect Republicans with an approved attitude. Not those who forget and instead work for America.

George Jr knows that torture, secret prisions, international kidnapping, and no judicial review is essential to protection. But who is he protecting? The man who works for America or the one who would screw America for a political agenda? George Jr promotes torture.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I think Bush is dead wrong and we shouldn't be torturing anyone....period. But we may not agree on what constitutes torture.

We believe that the language that would redefine Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions as equivalent to the standards contained in the Detainee Treatment Act violates the core principles of the Geneva Conventions and poses a grave threat to American service-members, now and in future wars.

I feel that statement should be amended to say, ........and in future wars against regular uniformed armies representing real countries.
I don't believe these Islamic Militants give a tinkers damn about the Geneva Convention, rules of war or basic humanity.
That doesn't mean I endorse torturing them, only that we should expect it from them.

[Hippikos]

Every intelligence officer knows or should know that torture does not produce correct information, on the contrary, torture is counterproductive.

[xoxoxoBruce]

How many "intelligence officers" do you think the average terrorist/insurgent cell has?

[Hippikos]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

How many "intelligence officers" do you think the average terrorist/insurgent cell has?

Plenty!

[xoxoxoBruce]

You must be including the the torturers and executioners.
Michael Yon tells us that intelligence between cells in Iraq is a problem for the insurgents. This causes overlap in effort and lack of information planning attacks, so they often hit the wrong target.
But I suppose it doesn't matter as long as they blow somebody up, anybody up.

Now there are so many cells in Baghdad they can use two tin cans and a string, but that said, I doubt if many of the cells have what the US Army would call "intelligence officers".

[tw]

George Jr said “Americans don’t do nation building”. And so three year later, America still provides less electricity than Saddam. Is this a nation that welcomes Americans? Americans always have electricity. But you would think things are so good based upon posts from others here.

Iraqi lives were getting better now with all this freedom. Freedom without basic services and with massive insecurity (street death and kidnapping) that did not occur when Saddam was in power. Clearly they welcome the invaders - as violence spreads even in Baghdad after even the striker brigade - abandoning Anwar province - was added to Baghdad occupation forces.

Described is what Iraqis are supposed to call ‘the good times’. From the NY Times of 25 Sept 2006:

As Iraqi Lights Flicker, ‘Generator Man’ Feels Heat
Iraq has three sources of electrical power. At the low end is the frail national grid, which provides only about one hour of electricity every four hours — a total of six hours a day — and sometimes less.
At the top is the small, personal-size generator, a feature in many homes, though the steadily rising cost of fuel now makes it a luxury for most families.
Filling the gap, and carrying the load for much of urban Iraq, is the generator man, owner and operator of the neighborhood power plant. Throughout Baghdad, for example, there is at least one generator every few blocks to help power nearby homes and businesses. …
In theory, the generator man provides 10 to 12 hours of power a day during periods of peak demand, seamlessly switching on when the national grid switches off.

And then we look at the numbers.

A subscription for about 10 amperes from the generator man — typical for an average middle-class family here in the capital — costs about $65 a month,

$65 means the richest Iraqis can afford this luxery. A country dependant on air conditioners. Ten amps will barely run a typical air conditioner - and nothing else.

Meanwhile American extremists have been telling us how Iraq has been getting better. They do this by forgetting to provide numbers. Under Saddam, air conditioners worked. Electricity even from obsolete equipment was provided.

Iraqis should be so happy. We installed new genarators. That was the propaganda. Reality - they have even less electricity. "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to loose."

Some in The Cellar have repeatedly said for years, "Iraq is getting better" - even though American do not do nation building. Somehow, a democratic government has made everything better. Deja Vue Vietnam. Where things did not start getting better until the Americans were driven out.

[Ibby]

tw, you just got big points for Bobby McGee there.

[tw]

From the International Herald Tribune on 5 Oct 2006:

China joins with critics of N. Korea
The Bush administration sent a direct message to North Korea on Wednesday, warning it not to set off a nuclear test, and later declared the United States was "not going to live with" a nuclear-armed North Korea.

The later statement came in a speech Wednesday by Christopher Hill, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

"We are not going to live with a nuclear North Korea, we are not going to accept it," he said, Reuters reported. Hill did not suggest what the U.S. response would be and gave no hint of an economic or military response. But in the speech on North Korea, he said: "It can have a future or it can have these weapons. It cannot have both."

How many times does George Jr draw a line in the sand, watch the line be crossed, do nothing, and then draw another line? North Korea claims to have conducted a nuclear test. George Jr only draws another sand line - empty threats.

Bush Says N. Korea Nuclear Test a Threat
Once again, North Korea has defied the will of the international community and the international community will respond," Bush said. ...

"The transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States," Bush said.

Another threat without consequences results in a term called 'paper tiger'. A smart leader would not make threats he obviously cannot backup with action. That is not even a bluff. A dumb leader bluffs so often that no one believes him. It says but again how toothless George Jr has made America. It says so much about the man's intellgence, his inability to even play poker, and that lying is so usual for George Jr.

[piercehawkeye45]

It is a democracy. No intelligent person would say "I don't like the idea of NK having nuclear weapons, but I don't think I will really do anything about it" and expect to get elected. Even if he is severely against NK having nuclear arms, now would not be a good time since all the US troops are in Iraq.

Bush is a corrupted liar that is working to make the US a completely fascist country but he is in no way unintelligent.

[tw]

Any non-American citizen even inside the US can be kidnapped, taken to secret prisons, torutured, and cannot even appeal for judicial review. It is now legal. Writ of Habeas Corpus was a cornerstone of American judicial review as defined by the Constitution. Because the Supreme Court, on 29 Jun 2006, made George Jr admit to torture, secret prisons, and kidnapping, then the mental midget got Congress to make kidnapping and torture legal. Bill S3930, that people such as MaggieL avvidly endorsed, now bans the US Supreme Court from protecting Universal Human Rights. Its open season on all non-Americans. MaggieL is not alone in avvidly loving torture.

From the Washington Post of 20 Oct 2006:

Court Told It Lacks Power in Detainee Cases
Moving quickly to implement the bill signed by President Bush this week that authorizes military trials of enemy combatants, the administration has formally notified the U.S. District Court here that it no longer has jurisdiction to consider hundreds of habeas corpus petitions filed by inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

In a notice dated Wednesday, the Justice Department listed 196 pending habeas cases, some of which cover groups of detainees. The new Military Commissions Act (MCA), it said, provides that "no court, justice, or judge" can consider those petitions or other actions related to treatment or imprisonment filed by anyone designated as an enemy combatant, now or in the future.

Beyond those already imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere, the law applies to all non-U.S. citizens, including permanent U.S. residents.

How many in Guantanamo Bay are probably guilty? Eight definitely. Maybe as many as 40. And yet hundreds are held in direct violation of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights without even judicial review. Furthermore, hundreds more were finally released because of international pressure - and are not in prison anywhere because they were not guilty. One was a 13 year old boy. They were Muslim - nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition. Imprisoned for years because America now loves kidnapping and torture of anyone who is not an American citizen ... without judicial review.

[xoxoxoBruce]

...the law applies to all non-U.S. citizens, including permanent U.S. residents.

What are non-US citizen permanent residents?