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Soldier’s attorneys cite probes alleging widespread abuse of prisoners
By Josh White
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Defense attorneys for a military police soldier charged with detainee abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison argued in court yesterday that their client was a pawn in a widespread policy of abusive military intelligence procedures, citing two extensive Army investigative reports released last week as evidence that the soldier was following orders.
The argument, on behalf of Pfc. Lynndie R. (…)

by Dennis Kyne
In May of 2004 I attended my first Barter Faire ever, in Curlew, Washington. Sponsored by the Veterans for Peace, I arrived as far north as I had ever been in America. I came to tell the people of Eastern Washington that depleted uranium needs to be dealt with. I had a wonderful visit, met wonderful people, and made wonderful friends. Thank you, Eastern Washington, for receiving me so nicely.
A year prior to my visit, in its May issue, Environmental Magazine informed the (…)

Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War!
8:00PM Thursday, Sept. 2
Union Square
(14th Street & Broadway)
Download leaflet
This past Sunday, half a million people sent a message around the world that we reject the Bush administration’s policies of war, greed, hate and lies. On Thursday evening, as George Bush is making his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, exploiting the 9/11 tragedy for political gain in the most crass and cynical possible way, we must continue to (…)

POLICE in New York have arrested more than 560 protesters after demonstrations outside the Republican convention turned wild.
Demonstrators and an entire midtown Manhattan block were wrapped in orange netting in a bid to control the anti-Republican activists who massed in the streets for marches to the site of the convention.
Outside the New York Public Library, in the streets near the famed Herald Square and at the site of the fallen World Trade Centre, demonstrators pointed themselves (…)

by Lisa Ashkenaz Croke
While the latest reports investigating the widely condemned events at Abu Ghraib prison attempt to close the book on the Pentagon’s culpability with a somber critique, new evidence gathered for a class action lawsuit filed against two US-based private contractors could prove that the scandal at Abu Ghraib was far from an isolated series of incidents perpetrated by a few rowdy "bad apples" working the night shift during Ramadan.
An attorney representing former (…)

By R. Jeffrey Smith
WASHINGTON - Early last September, as attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq were spiking and the military was under pressure to extract more information from prisoners, the senior U.S. military commander in Iraq sent a secret cable to his boss at U.S. Central Command outlining more-aggressive interrogation methods he planned to authorize immediately.
The Sept. 14 cable signed by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez listed several dozen strategies for extracting information, drawn partly (…)

Idaho governor, 1960s rock star attend services
BOISE, Idaho (Reuters) — Tom Titus experienced the shock of watching his best friend die in his arms during the Vietnam War in 1971.
On Monday, the ex-Army Ranger felt the even greater horror of burying his only son Brandon, 20, killed on August 17 by an explosion while patrolling a Baghdad slum.
Idaho’s Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, a 1960s rock ’n’ roll star, grieving relatives and leather-clad Vietnam War veterans attended the funeral at a (…)

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was appalled by the murder today of 12 Nepalese workers in Iraq and called for the release of all hostages held there.
"The secretary general is appalled and dismayed by the gruesome murders of 12 Nepalese civilian hostages in Iraq," Mr Annan’s spokesman said in a statement.
"The secretary general is particularly disturbed by the cruel nature of these crimes and their use as public spectacle," it added.
The statement said Mr Annan "strongly (…)

Nothing like sowing doubt in the mind of someone in the line of fire. The enemy works on soldiers this way all the time.
Do you think Mr. Osman-Bravard improved his son’s mindset with respect to the young man’s ability to be on his game in the defense of his own life and the lives of his comrades iin Iraq? I don’t think so.
This is a self-aggrandizing letter from a self absorbed father who is elevating his own status on this website at the expense of the prospective welfare of his son (…)

Haitian Community Says: ALL OUT ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND!
While Bush is accepting the nomination ... Join us outside of Madison Square Garden to say: U.S. Out of Iraq! Bring the troops home now! End the Colonial Occupation of Iraq, Haiti, Palestine and everywhere!
Gather at 7 pm at 8th Ave. and 31st St. for a Permitted Rally
Bring drums and noisemakers. Let your voice be heard. We will not be silent!
The Haiti Support Network (HSN) calls on all the supporters of Haiti’s movement (…)