"No Place To Hide"

From Information Clearing House:

On Visit to France, Donald Rumsfeld Hit with Lawsuit for Ordering, Authorizing Torture

U.S. and European human rights groups filed a lawsuit in France today charging former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with ordering and authorizing torture. The plaintiffs include the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights. They say Rumsfeld authorized interrogation techniques that led to abuses at US-run prisons in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.

The complaint was filed with the Paris prosecutor's office as Rumsfeld arrived in France for a visit. This is the fifth time Rumsfeld has been charged with direct involvement in torture since 9/11. Michael Ratner is the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. He joins me in the firehouse studio. Jeanne Sulzer is a French attorney with the International Federation of Human Rights. She joins me on the line from Paris... ~ Read on ~

Also check out:

Taxi to the Dark Side

Must Watch Award-Winning Documentary

The film documents how Rumsfeld, together with the White House legal team, were able to convince Congress to approve the use of torture against prisoners of war. Taxi to the Dark Side is the definitive exploration of the introduction of torture as an interrogation technique in U.S. facilities, and the role played by key figures of the Bush Administration in the process.

Over one hundred prisoners have died in suspicious circumstances in U.S. custody during the "war on terror". Taxi to the Dark Side takes an in-depth look at one case: an Afghan taxi driver called Dilawar who was considered an honest and kind man by the people of his rustic village. So when he was detained by the U.S military one afternoon, after picking up three passengers, denizens wondered why this man was randomly chosen to be held in prison, and, especially, without trial?

Five days after his arrest Dilawar died in his Bagram prison cell. His death came within a week of another death of a detainee at Bagram. The conclusion, with autopsy evidence, was that the former taxi driver and the detainee who passed away before him, had died due to sustained injuries inflicted at the prison by U.S. soldiers... ~ Link ~

the unofficial surge success meter

US to force diplomats to take Baghdad jobs

Sat Oct 27, 12:17 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US State Department announced
Friday it will force diplomats to
serve in Iraq to fill a growing number of vacant positions at its
embassy in Baghdad on threat of dismissal.

The department has not received applications for about 50 of 250
Baghdad jobs to be filled by mid-2008, said Harry Thomas, the
department's director of human resources.

Between 200 to 300 diplomats have been identified as potential
candidates and will receive a letter on Monday ordering them to
apply for a Baghdad position.

The targeted diplomats will have 10 days to reply. After the
deadline passes, a panel will directly appoint diplomats...

~ Link ~

Shocking New Fur Investigation (Warning: video contains very disturbing imagery)

Eighty-five percent of the fur industry's skins come from animals living captive on fur factory farms. These farms can hold thousands of animals, and the practices used to farm them are remarkably uniform around the globe. As with other intensive-confinement animal farms, the methods used on fur factory farms are designed to maximize profits, always at the expense of the animals.

~ Link ~