One of the lessons of the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials of Germans after Germany’s defeat in WW II was that obeying orders is no excuse for war crimes. US prosecutors took the position that the German military should have refused to obey Hitler’s orders.
Chief US prosecutor Robert Jackson established that military aggression was a war crime.
US Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada took the Nuremburg lesson to heart. He refused to deploy to Iraq on the solid ground... (more)
WASHINGTON - President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant, the Daily News has learned.
The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open people's mail under emergency conditions.
That claim is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, say experts who have review... (more)
Some key Senate Democrats say they could support a short-term increase in American troop levels in Iraq, a stance that reflects division with the party and could provide an opening for President Bush as he prepares to announce his plan for Iraq as early as next week, the NEW YORK TIMES reports in Thursday's papers.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), incoming Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.... (more)
Summary: Major papers and the broadcast news networks have either ignored or downplayed the "personal and political baggage" identified by the staff of former New York City mayor and presumptive 2008 Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani in a document that lays out his plan for a "bid for the White House."
On January 2, the New York Daily News reported that it had received the "top secret plan" for former New York City mayor and presumptive 2008 Republican pre... (more)
According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng was taken away from his Beijing home a week ago by police. No one can now confirm his whereabouts, although one report suggests he may no longer be in police custody.
In an interview on Jan. 3 with RFA reporter Zhang Min, Gao's mother-in-law said of Gao, "He had only stayed [at home in Beijing] for a couple of days, then he was taken away by them, and no one knows where he went." ... (more)
Illegal immigrants planning to cross the desert and enter the US on foot are to be given hand-held satellite devices by the Mexican authorities to ensure they arrive safely.
Those who get lost or fall sick during the dangerous four-day crossing will be able to activate the device, to alert frontier police on both sides of the border.
The satellite tracking service will require would-be illegals to register their intentions before setting off &... (more)
Prominent Muslims and Jews united with Christians yesterday to voice concern at laws boosting gay rights.
Churches are organising demonstrations next week against the Sexual Orientation Regulations, which are due to come into force in April.
Campaigners claim the rules will force religious groups to promote homosexual rights in contradiction to their teachings and could persecute those who disapprove of homosexuality on moral grounds.... (more)
In 2004, when L. Paul Bremer III left his position as Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) administrator to “transfer sovereignty,” he also left behind 100 deadly orders to govern Iraq. Order 81, which included “Patent, Industrial Design, Integrated Circuits and Plant Variety,” prohibited Iraqis from reusing seeds of “new” plant varieties patented under the law. Think about that for a second . . .
What that order means is that seeds from those... (more)
The House of Representatives is often called "the People's House." So wouldn't it be nifty if the "people" could see what was going on in their own house?
But those watching on TV really can't. Only tight camera shots of lawmakers speaking on the floor -- or of the presiding officer in the chair -- are allowed. The camera is not permitted to pan the chamber. Incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) had promised that the Democrats would have "the most honest... (more)
An office worker checks her home-gadget webpage from her work computer. The tasks she set for her home robots in the morning have all been completed: washing and ironing, vacuuming the lounge and mowing the lawn.
She orders dinner from the kitchen chefbot - sushi today, using a recipe from a Japanese website - then checks her elderly mother's house. The companionbot has given mum her medicine and helped her out of bed and into a chair.
BOSTON -- Dental experts are warning that too much fluoride could be a bad thing for babies.
NewsCenter 5's Liz Brunner reported Wednesday that if you're a parent, you may have noticed Nursery Water. It's fluoridated water and bottled for babies. It's marketed as a way to help prevent tooth decay.
Dental experts said there's no doubt that fluoride is the best way to fight cavities, but they warned that parents should not be giving any fluoridated water to infants un... (more)
A 16-year-old from Stavanger has become the first Norwegian charged with illegal file-sharing for distributing copyright protected material via the Internet.
Police in Rogaland aim to get the accused a suspended sentence of 60 days in jail and a fine of NOK 4,000 (USD 644). In addition the boy's parents face a six-figure fine for compensation from the music and film industry, newspaper Dagbladet reports on its web site.
"We are very pleased that the police have take... (more)
Evidence from a senior Iraqi court official provides compelling evidence that Americans took all mobiles except two used openly by "high-ranking government officials". This confirms that the mobile phone video was not recorded secretly, but was done openly and with government approval, and that the Americans controlled who was allowed in with any mobile phone. This reinforces the belief that both the making, and the leaking of the video, was deliberate black propaganda to further inflame the c... (more)
The UN said today that it would launch an investigation after the Daily Telegraph reported allegations that UN personnel have abused children in southern Sudan.
Members of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Sudan are facing allegations of raping and abusing children as young as 12, The Daily Telegraph reported today.
The abuse allegedly began two years ago when the UN mission in southern Sudan (UNMIS) moved in to help rebuild the region after a 23-ye... (more)
The UN is to investigate itself again after it was revealed by the London Telegraph today that more than twenty different cases of child sex slavery involving UN staff have been reported in southern Sudan.
Many adults in Iraq believe the coalition effort has been negative, according to a poll by the Iraq Centre for Research and Strategic Studies and the Gulf Research Center. 90 per cent of respondents think the situation in their country was better before the U.S.-led invasion.
The coalition effort against Saddam Hussein’s regime was launched in March 2003. At least 3,000 American soldiers have died during the military operation, and more than 22,500 troops have been wounded i... (more)
• Detainees seen "chained hand and foot ... with no chair/food/water"
• Prisoners "urinated or defecated on selves and were left there 18, 24 hours"
• Witness saw a detainee "with a full beard whose head was wrapped in duct tape"
• Witness saw detainee draped in an Israeli flag
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI on Tuesday released documents showing at least 26 of the agency's employees witnessed aggressive mistreatment and harsh interrogation tec... (more)
Fresh from winning a $2 million settlement in a suit against the FBI for wrongly tying an Oregon lawyer to the Madrid bombing case, Jackson Hole attorney Gerry Spence warned Tuesday of growing fascism in America.
Spence was the lead attorney in a case brought by Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield against the FBI for his arrest in the case that saw 191 people killed in Spain. The FBI began investigating Mayfield after computers said his fingerprints came close to matching a print found... (more)
As political media buzzed about whether or not Senator Barack Obama's admission eleven years ago that he used cocaine as a teenager would hurt his political prospects, Fox News ran a segment on "Obama's Cocaine Confession." Their conversation took an unusual turn, however, when Fox reporter Kirian Chetry said President Bush had also admitted to using cocaine.
Obama "talks very candidly, as did our current president, who admitted to using cocaine, correct? [Others demur] Well, who... (more)
When federal immigration officials booked Camp Dodge as a temporary detention facility for people arrested at Swift & Co., they planned to house up to 1,100 undocumented workers for as many as 10 nights, a government contract shows.
That would have cost U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement $32,000 - but immigration officials stayed at the state military training site in Johnston for fewer days and housed about 500 people.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- After numerous refusals over three and a half years, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has released the first known public copy of the U.S.-Mexico Social Security Totalization Agreement. The government was forced to make the disclosure in response to lawsuits filed under the Freedom of Information Act by TREA Senior Citizens League, a 1.2 million-member nonpartisan seniors advocacy group.
AUSTRALIA'S spy agency was tricked by Israel into believing Bob Hawke was the target of a Palestinian assassination plot, the former Palestinian ambassador to Australia said today.
Cabinet documents from 30 years ago released today, Bob Hawke, then Labor Party and ACTU President, faced the possibility of assassination at the hands of Palestinian militants for his strong pro-Israel views.
But former Palestinian ambassador for Australia and the South Pacific Ali Kazak... (more)
