Bad Deeds for 10-23-2007

Glenn Beck Says “A handful of people who hate America … are losing their homes in a forest fire today” – On the October 22 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, host Glenn Beck stated, “I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today.” Beck’s comment came as forest fires ravaged parts of Southern California, leaving one person dead, four firefighters wounded, and forcing about 250,000 people from their homes.

Bush Gave ‘Marching Orders’ on Aggressive Interrogation at Guantanamo According to General – More than 100,000 pages of newly released government documents to demonstrate how US military interrogators “abused, tortured or killed” scores of prisoners rounded up since Sept. 11, 2001, including some who were not even expected of having terrorist ties, according to a just-published book. In Administration of Torture, two American Civil Liberties Union attorneys detail the findings of a years-long investigation and court battle with the administration that resulted in the release of massive amounts of data on prisoner treatment and the deaths of US-held prisoners. “[The documents show unambiguously that the administration has adopted some of the methods of the most tyrannical regimes,” writes Jameel Jaffer and Amrit Singh. “Documents from Guantanamo describe prisoners shackled in excruciating ‘stress positions,’ held in freezing-cold cells, forcibly stripped, hooded, terrorized with military dogs, and deprived of human contact for months.”

Cheney ‘Interfered Directly’ to Get Terror Plea Bargain According to Australian Television – Vice President Dick Cheney cut a deal with the prime minister of Australia to orchestrate a plea bargain with an Australian terror suspect that would keep him out of sight until after Australia’s national elections next month, an Australian television station reported. Cheney “interfered directly” to secure Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks’ guilty plea to material support for terrorism, the Australian Broadcasting Company reported Tuesday. Cheney’s intervention, according to a Harper’s article cited by the ABC, was “part of a deal” with Prime Minister John Howard, who is facing a re-election fight next month. Howard denies the deal.

State Department Cannot Account for Most of $1.2 Billion paid to DynCorp to Train Police Officers in Iraq – A State Department review of its own security practices in Iraq assails the department for poor coordination, communication, oversight and accountability involving armed security companies like Blackwater USA, according to people who have been briefed on the report. In addition to Blackwater, the State Department’s two other security contractors in Iraq are DynCorp International and Triple Canopy. At the same time, a government audit expected to be released Tuesday says that records documenting the work of DynCorp, the State Department’s largest contractor, are in such disarray that the department cannot say “specifically what it received” for most of the $1.2 billion it has paid the company since 2004 to train the police officers in Iraq. The four-member panel found serious fault with virtually every aspect of the department’s security practices, especially in and around Baghdad, where Blackwater has responsibility.

Telecom Companies Seeking Immunity Donate to Democratic Senator – Executives at the two biggest phone companies contributed more than $42,000 in political donations to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV this year while seeking his support for legal immunity for businesses participating in National Security Agency eavesdropping. The surge in contributions came from a Who’s Who of executives at the companies, AT&T and Verizon, starting with the chief executives and including at least 50 executives and lawyers at the two utilities, according to campaign finance reports. The money came primarily from a fund-raiser that Verizon held for Mr. Rockefeller in March in New York and another that AT&T sponsored for him in May in San Antonio. Mr. Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, emerged last week as the most important supporter of immunity in devising a compromise plan with Senate Republicans and the Bush administration.

White House Cut Deal With Panel on FISA – Senate Judiciary Committee members yesterday angrily accused the White House of allowing the Senate Intelligence Committee to review documents on its warrantless surveillance program in return for agreeing that telecommunications companies should get immunity from lawsuits. Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the ranking Republican, said any such agreement would be “unacceptable,” signaling that legislation granting immunity to certain telecom carriers could run into trouble. Leahy and Specter demanded that the documents, which were provided only to the Intelligence Committee, be turned over to the Judiciary Committee as well.

AEI Warmonger On Hardball: There Are No Alternatives – BOMB IRAN NOW – On Monday’s Hardball Chris Matthews talked with Jim Walsh from MIT and Joshua Muravchik from the American Enterprise Institute to discuss Iran and whether or not the U.S. should attack. In what was one of Matthews’ more palatable segments, he grills Muravchik, who says he doesn’t care when we attack Iran just as long as we do it soon because, in his words, there are no alternatives. Both Matthews and Walsh fail to mention Sunni militants, supported by Saudi , who are actually responsible for the majority of attacks on U.S. soldiers and the fact that the Bush administration doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge it.
Stopping the New War Before It Starts

FBI Coerces Confession From Innocent Man – An Egyptian national, Abdallah Higazy, was staying in a hotel in New York City on September 11 and the hotel emptied out when the planes hit the towers. The hotel later found in the closet of his room a device that allows you to communicate with airline pilots. Investigators thought this guy had something to do with 9/11 so they questioned him. According to Higazi, the investigators coerced him into confessing to a role in 9/11. Higazi first adamantly denied any involvement with 9/11 and could not believe what was happening to him. Then, he says, the investigator said his family would go through hell in Egypt, where they torture people like Saddam Hussein. Higazy then realized he had a choice: he could continue denying the radio was his and his family suffers ungodly torture in Egypt or he confesses and his family is spared. Of course, by confessing, Higazy’s life is worth garbage at that point, but … well, that’s why coerced confessions are outlawed in the United States.

So Higazy “confesses” and he’s processed by the criminal justice system. His future is quite bleak. Meanwhile, an airline pilot later shows up at the hotel and asks for his radio back. This is like something out of the movies. The radio belonged to the pilot, not Higazy, and Higazy was free to go, the victim of horrible timing. Higazi was innocent! He next sued the hotel and the FBI agent for coercing his confession. The bottom line in the Court of Appeals: Higazy has a case and may recover damages for this injustice.

Then it gets weird…

Mike Huckabee Makes Up Stuff About the Deceleration of Independence – At the GOP debate the other night, Mike Huckabee said, “When our founding fathers put their signatures on the Declaration of Independence, those 56 brave people, most of whom, by the way, were clergymen, they said that we have certain inalienable rights given to us by our creator.” However, only one of the 56 was an active clergyman, and that was John Witherspoon. A few more of the signers were former clergymen, though it’s a little unclear just how many. But even if you consider former clergymen among the signers the best you could come up with is four. The Republican Debate on Fox News Channel

PR Firm is Old Hand at Polishing Republican Dirt – The firm that “coached” Blackwater CEO Eric Prince for a Congressional hearing previously represented Iraq intelligence launderer Ahmed Chalabi and is now working with AT&T to repair their image in the wake of their involvement in President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program. The communications firm BKSH, a subsidiary of public relations giant Burson-Marsteller, is run by a man with extremely close ties to the Bush Administration. The founder and current head of BKSH is Charlie Black whose ties with the Bush family go back to 1972, when he and Karl Rove were jockeying for control of the College Republicans in a campaign so dirty that George H.W. Bush, then head of the Republican National Committee, had to step in and sort matters out.

Wal-Mart’s Bid To Avoid State Taxes – In May 2001, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. issued an appeal to big accounting firms: Find us creative new ways to cut our state tax bills. Ernst & Young LLP swung into action. Senior tax experts at the big accounting firm swapped ideas via email and in a series of meetings. At least one gathering, according to an internal Ernst & Young calendar, took place in Wal-Mart’s headquarters in the “Tax Shelter Room.” The accounting firm, for example, helped Wal-Mart take tax deductions in California for dividends it never actually paid. And in Texas, Ernst & Young advised, the giant retailer could exploit a wrinkle in the tax law involving limited partners from out-of-state — a maneuver subsequently shut down by the state’s legislature.

Regards,

Jim