The techniques themselves -- forced nudity, sleep deprivation, painful shackling -- had been used for years to prepare U.S. fighter pilots for possible capture by an enemy. But Col. Steven Kleinman, an Air Force instructor, said he was shocked in 2003 to see the same harsh methods used haphazardly on Iraqis in a U.S. prison camp.
"It had morphed into a form of punishment for those who wouldn't cooperate," said Kleinman, a career intelligence officer and survival-school instructor.
Air Force Instructor Details Harsh Interrogations
Mortgage help for bankrupt homeowners dropped
House Democrats say the idea of letting judges rewrite mortgages to help bankrupt homeowners avoid foreclosure won't be a part of the $700 billion financial industry bailout.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told Democrats at a closed-door meeting Friday evening the provision would be a deal-breaker for Republicans who she has said must deliver substantial votes for the rescue plan. That's according to several lawmakers who attended the session.
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama had said earlier that the measure didn't belong in the bailout.
TVNL Comment: Still think that Democrats are good? They are all your enemies!
S.E.C. Chief Says Deregulation Fueled Crisis
Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and a longtime proponent of deregulation, acknowledged on Friday that the voluntary supervisory program of Wall Street’s largest investment banks had contributed to the global financial crisis and abruptly shut the program down.
The agency’s oversight responsibilities will largely shift to the Federal Reserve.
Half of Europe's frogs face extinction
More than half of all amphibian species in Europe could become extinct by 2050 because of a combination of habitat loss, infectious diseases and the effects of climate change, scientists have found.
What Did Bush Tell Gonzales?
Sources say Alberto Gonzales now claims that President Bush personally directed him to John Ashcroft's hospital room in the infamous wiretap renewal incident—and that in another instance the President asked him to fabricate fictitious notes
Rice admits officials approved 'harsh interrogation techniques'
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently became the first Bush administration official to admit that high-level discussions of the use of torture had taken place in 2002 and 2003.
According to a written statement provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month and released on Wednesday by committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), officials were told that waterboarding and other "harsh interrogation measures" routinely used in a survival training program for US soldiers would not cause "significant" harm if used on prisoners.
Palin Unqualified? She is 10 Times Smarter Than Bush.
TVNL Comment: Does anyone remember what an unqualified idiot George W. Bush was, and pretty much still is? Anyone who questions Pailin's qualifications or understanding of foreign affairs better explain why we allowed such an uneducated idiot like George W. Bush lead this nation to it's demise.
CEOs who got out before crisis left with millions
Under the government plan, the long-gone CEOs would not have to give anything back, said Steven W. Adamske, a spokesman for the House Committee on Financial Services. He said there was no constitutional way to recoup pay retroactively.
Meanwhile, the former CEOs who accepted fat severance packages from the banks at the heart of the crisis are long gone.
Army deploys combat unit in US for possible civil unrest
For the first time ever, the US military is deploying an active duty regular Army combat unit for full-time use inside the United States to deal with emergencies, including potential civil unrest.
Beginning on October 1, the First Brigade Combat Team of the Third Division will be placed under the command of US Army North, the Army’s component of the Pentagon’s Northern Command (NorthCom), which was created in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks with the stated mission of defending the US "homeland" and aiding federal, state and local authorities.
Page 1072 of 1153
