The secret legal opinions issued by Bush administration lawyers after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks included assertions that the president could use the nation's military within the United States to combat people deemed as terrorists and to conduct raids without obtaining a search warrant.
That opinion was among nine that were disclosed publicly for the first time Monday by the Justice Department, in what the Obama administration portrayed as a step toward greater transparency. The opinions showed a broad interpretation of presidential authority, asserting as well that the president could unilaterally abrogate foreign treaties, deal with detainees suspected of terrorism while rejecting input from Congress and conduct a warrantless eavesdropping program.
Bush administration memos claimed vast war powers
Israel to present Clinton with 'red lines' on talks with Iran
Israel plans to present U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with a series of "red lines" it wants Washington to incorporate into its planned dialogue with Tehran about Iran's nuclear program.
The red lines were jointly formulated by the Foreign Ministry and the defense establishment, and Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has been briefed on them. The document recommends that Israel adopt a positive attitude toward the planned U.S.-Iranian dialogue, but proposes ways of minimizing what Israeli officials see as the risks inherent in such talks. Its main points are as follows:
TVNL Comment: Clinton is going to meet her real bosses and get her marching orders.
Evidence of Bush-Rove Crimes Hidden Away in Southern Town?
4 Tons of Fertilizer Stolen From Store
At least four tons of fertilizer was stolen over the weekend in Frederick, city police said. No motive had been determined.
A ton of urea and three tons of other fertilizer were taken from the Southern States store on South Street between Saturday night and Sunday morning, police said.
Secret Bush memos made public by Obama
The Justice Department has released a long-secret legal document from 2001 in which the Bush administration claimed the military could search and seize terror suspects in the United States without warrants.
The legal memo was written about a month after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. It says constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure would not apply to terror suspects in the U.S., as long as the president or another high official authorized the action.
Even after the Bush administration rescinded that legal analysis, the Justice Department refused to release its contents, prompting a standoff with congressional Democrats.
The memo was one of nine released Monday by the Obama administration.
Surveillance Court Quietly Moving
What workers have finally completed -- or perhaps not; few really know, and none would say -- is the nation's most secure courtroom for its most secretive court. In coming days, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court will move from its current base at the Justice Department and settle into a new $2 million home just off a public hallway in the District's federal courthouse.
French professor sacked over 9/11 conspiracy theory
An academic in France has been sacked by the Ministry of Defence after questioning the official version of events surrounding the 9/11 attacks. He now reportedly plans to sue the government.
Aymeric Chauprade lost his job allegedly over the introduction to his latest book about political crises around the world, and more specifically, that the 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. were an orchestrated “American-Israeli conspiracy”. The Defence Minister had strong objections to the material, so Aymeric had to go.
Chauprade explained his firing by the Ministry of Defence as the result of him speaking about a subject that was considered off limits.
TVNL Comment: Imagine...off limits. We are not even allowed to talk about certain things. How is that for freedom and liberty?
MAJORITY OF GOVERNMENT ACTIONS ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL
Patriots must defeat, impeach, and prosecute the traitors in government with the rule of law while making it very uncomfortable for them, but not harming a hair on their heads. Beg traitorous officials for nothing, call them names, picket them, and in all ways let them feel your absolute contempt; for if we should fail to get them out of office, the populace, when they feel the pain of total deprivation will revolt against the usurpers in a killing rage. If the government does not expect a deadly response for their treason, why are the police being militarized, military conducting training in cities, government trying to take our weapons, with large internment camps at the ready? Shades of Hitler’s Holocaust, history repeats.
U.S. government condemns "waterboarding" as torture
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder ruled out the use of "waterboarding" as an interrogation technique for terrorism suspects on Monday, calling it a form of torture that the Obama administration could never condone.
"Waterboarding is torture ... My Justice Department will not justify it, will not rationalize it and will not condone it," Holder, who his heading a review of the treatment of terrorism suspects, said in a speech to the Jewish Council of Public Affairs in Washington.
"Too often over the past decade the fight against terrorism has been viewed as a zero-sum battle with our tradition of civil liberties. Not only is that school of thought misguided, I fear that in actuality it has done us more harm than good," Holder said.
TVNL Comment: Waterboarding is a red herring. Much harsher interrogation methods were used. Actually, the word is "torture."
Page 963 of 1143
