In this video from the USA, ‘CNN is reporting that [US] Brigadier General Karpinski has revealed to a Spanish newspaper that she personally saw a memo from Donald Rumsfeld that gave permission for army personel and private contractors to torture Iraqis and also ordered that detainees not be registered or accounted for. ‘
By Joe Kay:
Report details secret Bush administration memos authorizing torture
5 October 2007
Since 2005, the Bush administration has produced at least three secret orders and memoranda justifying extreme interrogation methods banned under international law as forms of torture, according to a newspaper report published on Thursday.
The existence of the memos was revealed in a New York Times article (“Secret US Endorsement of Severe Interrogations”, by Scott Shane, David Johnston, and James Risen) published on Thursday. None of these opinions or memos have been released to the public.
The authors highlight the attempt by Justice Department lawyers, under the leadership of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, to conceal the illegal actions of the administration and allow its policy to continue despite an unfavorable Supreme Court ruling and a bill prohibiting “cruel, inhuman and degrading” treatment.
Bush defends torture: here.
Rory Kennedy on this: here.
Egyptian bloggers expose horror of police torture: here. More on Egypt here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Court reverses Bush on archive secrecy
Posted by: “Jack” miscStonecutter@earthlink.net bongo_fury2004
Tue Oct 2, 2007 1:08 am (PST)
Court reverses Bush on archive secrecy
By JoAnne Allen
Oct 1, 2007
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A federal judge on Monday tossed out part of a 2001 order by President George W. Bush that lets former presidents keep some of their presidential papers secret indefinitely.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the U.S. Archivist’s reliance on the executive order to delay release of the papers of former presidents is “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with law.”
Criticized by historians, the November 2001 order allowed the White House or a former president to block release of a former president’s papers and put the onus on researchers to show a “specific need” for many types of records.
“The Bush Order effectively eliminated the archivist’s discretion to release a former president’s documents while such documents are pending a former president’s review, which can be extended — presumably indefinitely,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a 38-page ruling.
“The average delay caused by a former president’s review of a document request is 170 days or nearly, six months,” the judge wrote, adding that the Archivist’s reliance on the Bush order has “caused” the delay.
The judge did not address provisions of the Executive Order extending the authority over release of presidential papers to a former president’s designated representative or to former vice presidents.
The White House had no immediate comment.
The ruling came in a lawsuit led by the National Security Archives, a non-governmental research institute and library at George Washington University. It argued that the Bush order severely slowed or prevented the release of historic presidential papers.
Meredith Fuchs, general counsel for the National Security Archive, said the court had avoided “the hard questions” about the role former presidents, former vice presidents, and their heirs can play when it comes to disclosure of presidential records.
“Unless the executive order is reversed or withdrawn, decisions about the release of records from this administration may ultimately be made by the Bush daughters,” Fuchs said in a statement.
Despite a veto threat, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation in March to overturn the order. A similar bill has stalled in the Senate.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071002/pl_nm/court_bush_papers_dc_1
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Student paper headline ignites US free speech row
Posted by: “Jack” miscStonecutter@earthlink.net bongo_fury2004
Tue Oct 2, 2007 1:14 am (PST)
Student paper headline ignites US free speech row
���· Editor faces dismissal for ‘vulgar’ anti-Bush protest
���· Communications board to rule if ethics code violated
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Tuesday October 2, 2007
Guardian (UK)
University authorities in Colorado are on Thursday to decide the fate of a student editor who published a huge “Fuck Bush” headline. David McSwane, 20, is facing the sack over an incident that has grown from a campus row into a national debate about free speech. The board of student communications will decide at the hearing whether he violated the paper’s ethics code that states that “profane and vulgar words are not acceptable for opinion writing”.
In the wake of the row, many advertisers have cancelled tens of thousands of dollars worth of adverts in the Rocky Mountain Collegian, which has been going since 1891 and which pays for itself. There have also been complaints from students, including a petition from the college Republicans calling for Mr McSwane to resign.
Sympathisers, in emails to the university and at campus meetings, have expressed support on the basis that the constitution’s first amendment protects freedom of expression. Others have called for leniency, saying the headline was part of the naivety that can happen in student journalism.
The headline, published on September 21, was connected with an incident three days earlier at the University of Florida where a student, Andrew Meyer, refused to give up the microphone when seeking to question senator John Kerry, the former presidential candidate. Police used a Taser on Mr Meyer.
Reflecting a wave of public feeling that the police had overreacted, Mr McSwane published an article under the headline “Taser this … Fuck Bush”, even though the president had no involvement in the incident. At an initial hearing last week, Mr McSwane refused to apologise, saying the aim was to provoke a debate about freedom of speech on campuses. “We did not do this setting out to make headlines. These past couple days have been hell for all of us. Our intention was to get college students, CSU students, thinking about issues that affect them,” he said.
The university’s president, Larry Penley, said: “While student journalists enjoy the privileges and protections of the first amendment, they must also accept responsibility for the choices they make. Members of a university community ought to be expected to communicate civilly and rationally and to make thoughtful arguments in support of even unpopular viewpoints.”
The university is prohibited from censoring the content of student media publications. But the board of student communications hires and can remove editors.
Guardian Unlimited ���© Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2181620,00.html
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