From the Google Cache of http://www.facebook.com/ElectAllenWest/posts/10151857516861729 with commentary added.

THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: INTERROGATIONS; How Colonel Risked His Career By Menacing Detainee and Lost
By DEBORAH SONTAG; Ian Fisher contributed reporting from Baghdad for this article
Published: May 27, 2004

In western Broward County, where Lt. Col. Allen B. West, 43, is preparing to start life over as a high school social studies teacher, the grass is green, the air is moist and the pressure is barometric. Iraq seems very far away, as does the night last August when Colonel West used his gun to coerce an Iraqi police officer during an interrogation.

Intent on foiling a reported plot to ambush him and his men, Colonel West, a battalion commander, made a calculated decision to intimidate the Iraqi officer with a show of force. An interrogation under way was going nowhere, Colonel West said in an interview, and he chose to take the matter into his own hands.

''This could get ugly,'' he told his soldiers. But, he said, he imposed limits: ''This man will not be injured and he will not have to be repaired. There will be no blood and no breakage of bones.''

Still, Colonel West wanted the Iraqi policeman, Yehiya Kadoori Hamoodi, to think ''this was going to be the end'' if he did not divulge what he knew. So Colonel West presided over what he considered a time-sensitive interrogation that grew steadily more abusive until he himself fired a pistol beside Mr. Hamoodi's head.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/world/struggle-for-iraq-interrogations-colonel-risked-his-career-menacing-detainee.html?pagewanted=all

Why is Boston 'terrorism' but not Aurora, Sandy Hook, Tucson and Columbine?
Can an act of violence be called 'terrorism' if the motive is unknown?

Glenn Greenwald
guardian.co.uk, Monday 22 April 2013 11.07 EDT

Two very disparate commentators, Ali Abunimah and Alan Dershowitz, both raised serious questions over the weekend about a claim that has been made over and over about the bombing of the Boston Marathon: namely, that this was an act of terrorism. Dershowitz was on BBC Radio on Saturday and, citing the lack of knowledge about motive, said (at the 3:15 mark): "It's not even clear under the federal terrorist statutes that it qualifies as an act of terrorism." Abunimah wrote a superb analysis of whether the bombing fits the US government's definition of "terrorism", noting that "absolutely no evidence has emerged that the Boston bombing suspects acted 'in furtherance of political or social objectives'" or that their alleged act was 'intended to influence or instigate a course of action that furthers a political or social goal.'" Even a former CIA Deputy Director, Phillip Mudd, said on Fox News on Sunday that at this point the bombing seems more like a common crime than an act of terrorism.

Over the last two years, the US has witnessed at least three other episodes of mass, indiscriminate violence that killed more people than the Boston bombings did: the Tucson shooting by Jared Loughner in which 19 people (including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords) were shot, six of whom died; the Aurora movie theater shooting by James Holmes in which 70 people were shot, 12 of whom died; and the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting by Adam Lanza in which 26 people (20 of whom were children) were shot and killed. The word "terrorism" was almost never used to describe that indiscriminate slaughter of innocent people, and none of the perpetrators of those attacks was charged with terrorism-related crimes. A decade earlier, two high school seniors in Colorado, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, used guns and bombs to murder 12 students and a teacher, and almost nobody called that "terrorism" either.

In the Boston case, however, exactly the opposite dynamic prevails. Particularly since the identity of the suspects was revealed, the word "terrorism" is being used by virtually everyone to describe what happened. After initially (and commendably) refraining from using the word, President Obama has since said that "we will investigate any associations that these terrorists may have had" and then said that "on Monday an act of terror wounded dozens and killed three people at the Boston Marathon". But as Abunimah notes, there is zero evidence that either of the two suspects had any connection to or involvement with any designated terrorist organization.

More significantly, there is no known evidence, at least not publicly available, about their alleged motives. Indeed, Obama himself - in the statement he made to the nation after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured on Friday night - said that "tonight there are still many unanswered questions" and included this "among" those "unanswered questions":

"Why did young men who grew up and studied here, as part of our communities and our country, resort to such violence?"

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/22/boston-marathon-terrorism-aurora-sandy-hook

Something Just Happened*
"...something just happened...
...we don't know what it is...
...let me catch my breath...
...we don't know what it is...

...but we can tell you that...
...we smell smoke...
...there are people that are running to the center there...
...you've got cars going straight...
...you've got cars peeling to the right...
...whether they've cordoned off this block...
...whether they've squared off this block...
...we don't know...

...but we can see a helicopter that is up in the air...
...something has just happened...
...a couple of police officers are running...
...we've got a dog, a dog that's on its way...
...interesting...
...that dog is barking...
...whether that is a K9...
...we don't know, but...

...we can smell smoke...
...we can smell...
...umm...there...there's something in the air...
...it's now passed over to us...
...but something definitely...umm...went off...
...we don't know what it is...

...ok...so...now that you see what is going on around here..."


*Note that the above reportage is satirized by its recasting as a poem - thereby, its truly absurd nature is revealed. As a "news broadcast", it is to be seen here (http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnn-reporter-on-the-scene-in-watertown-reports-interesting-that-dog-is-barking/) from 0:33 sec to 1:15 sec in the video. CNN LIVE: Boston 8:35 AM to 8:36 AM and Deborah Feyerick are to be credited with the original work of performance art.

Exclusive: As his presidential library debuts, George W. Bush prepares to return to public stage on his own terms

By TOM BENNING
Staff Writer
tbenning@dallasnews.com
Published: 13 April 2013 11:35 PM


UNIVERSITY PARK — More than four years after George W. Bush left the White House — settling in Texas with a desire to leave politics behind — the former president remains reluctant to give up the liberation of “not feeling like I’ve got to be in the limelight.”

But as the George W. Bush Presidential Center prepares to open, Bush and his confidants don’t hesitate to defend a presidency that’s taken its share of lumps over the years.

The former president is doubling down on “compassionate conservatism.” He’s listing no new regrets. He’s focused on the center’s policy institute, which builds upon the main themes of his presidency. And he delights in taking on preconceived notions of him — on everything from his fiscal record to his artistic talent.

Taking measure of a driving philosophy behind his presidency, Bush said in an exclusive interview with The Dallas Morning News that discussion of his legacy should start with a fresh look at his record.

...

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20130413-exclusive-as-his-presidential-library-debuts-george-w.-bush-prepares-to-return-to-public-stage-on-his-own-terms.ece?action=reregister

Documented civilian deaths from violence: 111,951 – 122,466
Further analysis of the WikiLeaks' Iraq War Logs may add 12,000 civilian deaths.

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

Total Coalition Military Fatalities: 4804
Iraq Coalition Casualties Contractors: 468
Iraq Coalition Casualties U.S. Wounded: 32223

http://icasualties.org/

Journalist Fatalities: 150
Media Support Worker Fatalities: 54



Iraq war and news media: A look inside the death toll
By Frank Smyth/CPJ Senior Adviser for Journalist Security

The U.S.-led war in Iraq claimed the lives of a record number of journalists and challenged some commonly held perceptions about the risks of covering conflict. Far more journalists, for example, were murdered in targeted killings in Iraq than died in combat-related circumstances. Here, on the 10th anniversary of the start of the war, is a look inside the data collected by CPJ.

At least 150 journalists and 54 media support workers were killed in Iraq from the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 to the declared end of the war in December 2011, according to CPJ research.

Fatalities in Iraq far surpass any other documented war-time death toll for the press. CPJ, founded in 1981, recorded the deaths of 58 journalists during the Algerian civil war from 1993 through 1996, another 54 fatalities in the undeclared civil conflict in Colombia, which began in 1986; and 36 deaths in the conflict in the Balkans from 1991 to 1995.

Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan foundation dedicated to free press, has compiled lists of journalists killed in conflicts prior to 1981. The organization lists 89 journalists killed in the Central American conflicts from 1979 to 1989; a total of 98 killed in the Argentine conflict from 1976-1983; another 68 killed in World War II; and 66 killed in Vietnam from 1955 to 1975.

...

http://www.cpj.org/security/2013/03/iraq-war-and-news-media-a-look-inside-the-death-to.php

Gay man handcuffed, forcibly removed from partner’s bedside at Missouri hospital
4/11/2013 11:58am by John Aravosis

UPDATE: I just interviewed the daughter of Roger Gorley, the man arrested at his husband’s hospital bed. Her eyewitness account directly contradict’s hospital’s official statement. She also alleges HIV discrimination by the police.

Research Medical Center in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, forcibly removed a gay man, Roger Gorley, from his partner Allen’s bedside in handcuffs, even though the men had a joint power of attorney in order to make medical decisions for each other.

The men say the hospital refused to check for their medical power of attorney, even though they have one, and told the hospital they have one.

...

http://americablog.com/2013/04/missouri-gay-hospital-visitation-remove-research-medical-center.html

...

https://www.facebook.com/ResearchMedicalCenter

Atty. Gen. Holder Faces Senators on Judiciary Cmte.



Washington, DC
Wednesday, March 6, 2013

The Senate Judiciary Committee heard from Attorney General Eric Holder in a hearing entitled “Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice.”

The committee questioned Holder on a wide variety of issues including the effects from sequestration for Holder's agency. But lawmakers focused on the CIA drone bombing raids abroad.

Last week, the Attorney General warned that budget cuts mandated through sequestration will have a “profound” effect on the Justice Department. He said that cuts to the FBI, ATF, U.S. Marshalls, & U.S. Attorneys will limit the department’s capacity to investigate and solve crimes.

Sequestration, the mandatory across-the-board budget cuts agreed to in the Budget Control Act of 2011, took effect last Friday. This year, the federal government will have to make $85 billion in cuts, split evenly between defense and discretionary spending.

...

http://www.c-span.org/Events/Atty-Gen-Holder-Faces-Senators-on-Judiciary-Cmte/10737438568/

Man faces charges for shooting horses in Swisher
Jan. 29, 2013 9:26 AM,

A Cedar Rapids man faces charges after allegedly shooting horses from inside his truck.

Johnson County Deputies were dispatched to Falcon Avenue in Swisher at 2 p.m. Sunday after a caller reported that someone had shot his horses. The caller retrieved a license plate number from the suspect vehicle, according to police.

Investigators made contact with the defendant, Ryan L. Grafft, 31, who agreed to meet at the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, according to complaints. During an interview, Grafft admitted to the investigator that he was driving around in his vehicle shooting things with his rifle. Grafft told the investigator that he saw three horses in a field and decided to shoot them.

One of the horses was killed and two required immediate medical care by an on call veterinarian, according to complaints.

...


http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20130129/NEWS01/130129006/Man-faces-charges-for-shooting-horses-in-Swisher