Link: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Fox_guest_Bush_should_have_executed_0227.html

A former CIA officer has said its ridiculous that the Bush administration didn't execute numerous prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, regardless of whether they have had a trial, when it had the chance.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=87086&sectionid=3510203

"Taking troops out of Iraq should not mean more troops available for deployment in other operations," he said. "You can't be in and out at the same time."

Link: http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-02-27/French_professor_sacked_over_9_11_conspiracy_theory.html/?fullstory

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.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/129383/marijuana_milestone%3A_no_more_raids_on_pot_dispensaries%2C_says_attorney_general/

In response to a question at a Wednesday news conference, US Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department will no longer raid medical marijuana dispensaries in states where they are legal under state law. The announcement marks the fulfillment of a President Obama campaign promise, and it marks the end of 13 years of stubborn federal resistance to state medical marijuana programs.

Link: http://www.truthout.org/030109Y

In a startling ambitious budget message, President Barack Obama has thrown down the gauntlet to the American Right not only by tying the current economic crisis to the recklessness of the past eight years under George W. Bush but by tracing it back further to the anti-regulatory, anti-labor and anti-government policies of Ronald Reagan. "For the better part of three decades, a disproportionate share of the nation's wealth has been accumulated by the very wealthy,"

Link: http://www.infowars.com/government-prepares-the-public-for-cradle-to-grave-surveillance/

Last week Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood floated the idea of a mileage tax. “The idea — which involves tracking drivers through Global Positioning System (GPS) units in their cars — is gaining support in some states as a way of making up for a shortfall in highway funding,” reports CNN.

Link: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/27/can_us_achieve_meaningful_health_care

The Obama administration says its repeal of Bush-era tax cuts for wealthier Americans will help pay for a $634 billion reserve fund for what it calls its top fiscal priority: healthcare reform. But can the US achieve real healthcare reform without adopting single-payer? We host a debate between Dr. David Himmelstein of Physicians for a National Health Program and Len Nichols of the New America Foundation.

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aKMkV532Xkq0

The U.S. economic contraction in the fourth quarter was deeper than the government first estimated, with other reports today signaling little prospect of relief until at least the middle of 2009.

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51Q2W220090227

Canadian fighters planes scrambled to intercept an approaching Russian bomber less than 24 hours before U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Ottawa last week, Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay said on Friday.

Link: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/ny-wodeve276051233feb27,0,5122233.story

President Barack Obama has told lawmakers he plans to pull troops out of Iraq by August 2010, congressional officials say. His plan would leave behind 35,000 to 40,000 troops, possibly as many as 50,000, to advise Iraqi troops and protect U.S. interests. Asked about the higher figure, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said, "That's a little higher than I would have anticipated." Said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.): "It has to be done responsibly, I agree. But 50,000 is more than I would have thought." Obama is expected to announce the new strategy today.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/may/08/iraq.iraq

The sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison was not an invention of maverick guards, but part of a system of ill-treatment and degradation used by special forces soldiers that is now being disseminated among ordinary troops and contractors who do not know what they are doing, according to British military sources.

The techniques devised in the system, called R2I - resistance to interrogation - match the crude exploitation and abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad. One former British special forces officer who returned last week from Iraq, said: "There is a reservoir of knowledge about these interrogation techniques which is retained by former special forces soldiers who are being rehired as private contractors in Iraq. Contractors are bringing in their old friends". Using sexual jibes and degradation, along with stripping naked, is one of the methods taught on both sides of the Atlantic under the slogan "prolong the shock of capture", he said. The full battery of methods includes hooding, sleep deprivation, time disorientation and depriving prisoners not only of dignity, but of fundamental human needs, such as warmth, water and food. WSWS: Soldiers report British torture of Iraqi civilians. ICC: A short history of British torture. Daily News: British Torture Scandal Photos Surface. Kennedy's Rum: Britain’s role in torture.

Link: http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/644

One reason the Exxon Valdez story is still important 20 years later is that the disaster itself could easily happen again. However, another reason for the ongoing relevance of the lessons learned in Prince William Sound over the past two decades is that Exxon can convince the media and politicians that black is white. They did in Alaska, and they continue to do so all over the world.

Link: http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090224_7895.php

A number of U.S. institutions with licenses to hold nuclear material reported to the Energy Department in 2004 that the amount of material they held was less than agency records indicated. But rather than investigating the discrepancies, Energy officials wrote off significant quantities of nuclear material from the department's inventory records.

Link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/130150

“Time is running out fast and oozing between our fingers,” Barak said. “Robust and resolute sanctions against the Iranian regime are needed,” Barak said. “If these do not succeed in blocking the development, the necessary matters must be considered,” he added. This is what a psychopath, war criminal & mass murderer sounds like...Barak's recent warning is barely less violent than the death & destruction he has visited upon the Palestinian people. Even more horrifying crimes now are being planned. -May this guy rot in Hell! PressTV: Poll: Israel threatens Mideast stability.