http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/02/usa.humanrights

United States is operating "floating prisons" to house those arrested
in its war on terror, according to human rights lawyers, who claim
there has been an attempt to conceal the numbers and whereabouts of
detainees.

Details of ships where detainees have been held and sites allegedly
being used in countries across the world have been compiled as the
debate over detention without trial intensifies on both sides of the
Atlantic. The US government was yesterday urged to list the names and
whereabouts of all those detained.

Information about the operation of prison ships has emerged through a
number of sources, including statements from the US military, the
Council of Europe and related parliamentary bodies, and the
testimonies of prisoners.

The analysis, due to be published this year by the human rights
organisation Reprieve, also claims there have been more than 200 new
cases of rendition since 2006, when President George Bush declared
that the practice had stopped.

(...)

The problem with putting us old guys in the army is first
time some smart-ass young officer started pushing his
weight around, we'd turn him across our knee and tear
his tail up. We'd figure out in about 2 weeks that the enemy
was partying it up over in the Officers Quarters while we
froze our asses off in tents. As for thinking about sex,
we would rather have a nice steak and potatoes, cooked
by our wives, and go curl up in a warm bed without
having to pretend to be some hotshot. If I had to do it
all over again, I'd adopt a potty-trained 5 year old.
Then I guess there's the enemy "over there". Best
weapon in the world is a good restuarant in Iraq, and
a belly dancer to feed me grapes. We'd all get along
fine.

johns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atgGNFUehpI

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Please click on the above YouTube link so we can count how many people
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This is the DEFCON Warning System. Alert status for 7 P.M., Sunday,
June 1st, 2008. Condition Green: DEFCON 5. Condition Green: DEFCON 5.
Condition Green: DEFCON 5.

There are currently no imminent nuclear threats against the United
States at this time.

Recent discoveries in China have revealed a hidden nuclear submarine
port and upgrades to their nuclear missile forces. This is keeping with
Chinese policy of defending against Taiwan independence including the
use of nuclear weapons. While China does not possess an arsenal large
enough to devastate the United States, there are enough weapons to
cripple a significant portion of the country.

Ur A. Baboon wrote:

US politicians?? :-)

A lie a day keeps the prosecutor away....

... for now. ;<)

I wonder if George will get conjuncal visits?

TMT

McClellan: Bush should have fired Rove By BEN FELLER, Associated Press
Writer

President Bush broke his promise to the country by refusing to fire
aide Karl Rove for leaking a CIA agent's identity, said Scott
McClellan, the president's chief spokesman for almost three years.

"I think the president should have stood by his word and that meant
Karl should have left," McClellan said Sunday in a broadcast interview
about his new tell-all book, a scathing rebuke of the White House
under Bush's leadership.

McClellan now acknowledges he felt burned by Rove, Bush's top
political adviser, and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick
Cheney's former chief of staff. He said Rove and Libby assured him
they were not involved in leaking CIA operative Valerie Plame's
identity, and he repeated those assurances to reporters.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/frontline/1947066/Food-vouchers-for-soldiers...

Food vouchers for soldiers on 'poverty pay'

By Thomas Harding
Last Updated: 11:58PM BST 11/05/2008

Impoverished soldiers have been issued emergency food vouchers because
they are not paid enough, an internal Army report has shown.
Privates earning

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1950061/US-troops-to-help...

US troops to help 'deluded' British in southern Iraq

By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:32AM BST 13/05/2008

American troops will be deployed to southern Iraq this summer with
orders to adopt a more robust approach than the "self-delusional"
British.

A senior US officer has told the Telegraph that Iraqi troops had not
been ready to assume responsibility for Basra when British forces
withdrew late last year.

He also said that US commanders in Iraq believe the Shia south is
ready to copy the developments that transformed the western province
of Anbar from being the main hotbed of insurgency into one of Iraq's
most peaceful regions. To foster this change, US troops are moving
south for the first time since the 2003 war.

"There's going to be a whole new approach when we send troops down
there," said the US officer.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/frontline/1952772/Army-suffering-%%27critical...

Army suffering 'critical weaknesses' due to Iraq

By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent
Last Updated: 6:35PM BST 13/05/2008

Nearly half of all armed forces units are suffering from

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/frontline/1994124/British-troops-back...

British troops back in Basra 'no-go' areas

By Damien McElroy in Basra
Last Updated: 1:25AM BST 21/05/2008

British soldiers have re-established a permanent presence in the city
of Basra, patrolling with Iraqi forces in "no-go" areas they were
driven from months ago by Shia militants.
Commanders say the joint operations have, in a matter of weeks,
brought a measure of normality to a city that had fallen under the
sway of powerful criminal gangs and the Iranian-backed fighters.

But the patrols represent a reverse in policy by British forces, which
retreated last year from Basra under a barrage of fire that pushed the
UK

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/frontline/1988691/Abuse-of-uniformed-troops...

Abuse of uniformed troops to become a crime
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:39AM BST 20/05/2008
Abusing troops in uniform will be treated as a criminal offence on a
par with a racist attack under a package of Government-backed measures
to improve relations between the public and the Armed Forces.
Following a series of incidents in which servicemen and women in
uniform have been barred from stores or abused on the streets, a
report ordered by the Prime Minister has recommended legislation to
outlaw discrimination.

The Nation Recognition of our Armed Forces report, written by Quentin
Davies, MP, highlighted one incident in which an officer in full dress
uniform was refused entrance to Harrods after attending a Remembrance
Sunday parade.

The store, owned by Mohamed Fayed, has insisted on barring troops in
combat fatigues which the report said was