Since there’s no current thread… I’ll post this here. I dunno about you… but it sure made me smile! Hugely. 😀
Prosecution of Bush Six Back On
by Scott Horton
April 29, 2009 | 12:39pmIn a ruling in Madrid today, Judge Baltasar Garzón has announced that an inquiry into the Bush administration’s torture policymakers now will proceed to a formal criminal investigation. The ruling came as a jolt following the recommendation of Spanish Attorney General Cándido Conde-Pumpido against proceeding with a criminal inquiry, which was reported in The Daily Beast on April 16.
Judge Garzón previously initiated and handled investigations involving Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Argentine “Dirty War” strategist Adolfo Scilingo and Guatemalan strongman José Efraín Ríos Montt, often over the objections of the Spanish attorney general. His case against Pinochet gained international attention when the Chilean general was apprehended in England on a Spanish arrest warrant. Scilingo was extradited to Spain and is now serving a sentence of 30 years for his role in the torture and murder of some 30 people, several of whom were Spanish citizens.
Garzón’s ruling today marks a decision to begin a formal criminal inquiry into the allegations of torture and inhumane treatment he has been collecting for several years now.
Now, Garzón has announced a preliminary criminal inquiry into the Bush administration torture policy, specifying the evidence that a crime had been perpetrated against Spanish subjects, but not yet specifying the specific targets of the investigation. Judge Garzón’s decision revealed a deep engagement with documents which had been released in Washington in the last two weeks, particularly a group of memoranda prepared by lawyers in the Bush Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, a report of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a memo released by the Senate Intelligence Committee, making it likely that he would focus on the authors of the torture memoranda and other lawyers who worked with them.
Much more here at The Daily Beast:
Prosecution of Bush Six Back On
BTW, it seems Prez. Obama was trying very hard to get Spain to drop it. Thankfully, in Spain unlike the USA, the Judges follow the law and can’t be bullied by their government. 🙂 But, there is one way Obama can prevent the Bush criminals being tried in Spain (from the above link):
]]>Spanish lawyers close to the case tell me that under applicable Spanish law, the Obama administration has the power to bring the proceedings in Spain against former Bush administration officials to a standstill. “All it has to do is launch its own criminal investigation through the Justice Department,” said one lawyer working on the case, “that would immediately stop the case in Spain.”
In early radar controlled weapons, they actually checked to see things were working by putting standard fluorescent tubes in the path.
I thought I was going to be trapped in NSA headquarters forever because the hospital included my dental x-rays with my records, and even exposed film was a no-no. I had to wait while they were scanned under a microscope before they were destroyed. I was out-processing, all I wanted to do was turn in my badge, and get the out-processing form signed, and sign out on the duty book. Six hours I’ll never get back with one of the professional paranoids.
I wasn’t allowed to just take in the badge and the out-processing register to the duty officer, everything had to be kept together, and the process completed in a specific order. It’s on an Army facility and they had a fit if you went in the logical order.
]]>I had a trip to DSTO in Salisbury, SA (kinda like your DARPA) with a new guy once, and I took him through the checkin & security procedures. Because he was new, he had to be *processed* (credentials checked, photo & fingerprints taken and he was searched). He thought it was stupid and couldn’t see the point. So I organised a security lecture for him (which they have there for people who don’t get it). After that dog and pony show, he was a nervous wreck. 🙂 Even the people who work there from the highest level down have to go through the security check every day before they can enter or leave.
Oh, reminds me of a funny story! 😆
We were escorted by one of teh senior Scientists we’d gone there to meet. The base was huge and sprawling with small buildings dotted over the landscape here and there. The main complex was a half hour drive from the main gate. As we were driving, my new partner noticed sheep all over grazing. He commented that that was a good way to keep the grass down. My Scientist friend looked out the window and said “Oh, yes. I suppose they are good for that too.” My partner asked the obvious “What are they for then?” The Scientist said ‘We work with a lot of high energy radiation. We have a new phased array radar system we are testing. If the sheep start dropping, we can trace the pattern and know which installation caused the event and terminate the experiment. We can also collect useful data from the corpses.” This was all said with the perfectly matter-of-fact voice and straight face as only a hard-core Scientist can do. My parner looked a bit shaken and began scanning around the moving car for any signs the shhep were dropping dead. The Scientist friend looked over at me and we both laughed! My Scientist friend had a wicked sense of humor (even though what he said was the truth). 😉 He worked for what was known then as the ‘Microwave Energy Weapons Research Group’, but was on loan to the ‘Radiowave Propagation Group’. I always loved the names they used! 😆
They have had a couple accidents there. It usually just means lamb for lunch the next day! 😀
]]>When I read about the military using Flash drives I cringe. Bringing removable media into a building with military computers without authorization was a violation, and for a while they measured the back-up tapes.
Things have fallen to pieces, and the trend started at the top. I went through a network security class with some Air Force systems maintenance guys down here [you have to check the boxes, sigh] and they complained loud and long about lapses because of orders from up the chain to make things “more efficient”. Efficiency wasn’t the point, security was.
The entire nuclear tracking system has obviously collapsed, because people aren’t bothering to follow the regulations and procedures. The “managers”, who were once called officers, are trying to streamline operations, like any business. The McNamara Mindset that was introduced into all of the academies has a lot to answer for.
]]>Accountability. What a silly concept these days.
]]>About 59 to give my local economy something to work with, Hipparchia.
]]>but yeah, anyone who doesn’t understand that networks are for sharing and that secrets are not, is, to put it kindly, a doofus.
hipparchia´s last blog post..Send faxes, faxes, and money! [update]
]]>Comrade Kevin´s last blog post..Blessings in the Most Unexpected of Places
]]>You privatize and use contractors, subcontractors, etc. with no oversight, and no real controls and this is the result. You cannot have security in a fractured environment.
The truly classified, important stuff is not on a network, most of it isn’t even digital. When I was in they wouldn’t even permit electric typewriters, because they generated low-level signals.
Contractors don’t like the “professional paranoids” that were once SOP for military ops. I don’t doubt that the Hedgemony has screwed the system up to make it more efficient and privatization friendly.
I loved the friendly little sticker on one of the pieces of equipment I used: “Losing control of this equipment will cost you $10,000 and 10 years of your life”. It was packaged with a sidearm and 50 rounds of ammunition. It went from the vault to the aircraft, back to the vault, and it was signed for even on alert.
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