Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: michael97123 who wrote (135973)	6/8/2004 3:58:49 PM
From: Win Smith	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Tortured WWII analogistics have long been a staple here, the primary variant being that insufficient enthusiasm for W's war made one akin to Chamberlain, I think. As far as D-Day goes, I think you are perhaps using retrospect in an unconventional fashion. In retrospect, the Germans were pretty dead by then, the Russian front and all that. As far as Western Europe goes, my understanding is that the main problem there was that so much time and effort was wasted in not-terribly-strategic Italy before D-Day, though I'm not sure whose idea that was. The humor angle is something else again. I hear that Rush is allegedly an entertainer, when it's convenient anyway. Me, I'm more into the "you can't fight in here, this is the war room" school.

To: michael97123 who wrote (135973)	6/8/2004 4:10:06 PM
From: Rascal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

No Yolk! U.S.'s Ashcroft Won't Release or Discuss Torture Memo (Update2) June 8 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, warned that he might be risking a contempt citation from Congress, told lawmakers he won't release or discuss memoranda that news reports say offered justification for torturing suspected terrorists. Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Ashcroft about reports in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times that the Justice Department advised the White House in 2002 and 2003 that it might not be bound by U.S. and international laws prohibiting torture. Ashcroft said he wouldn't reveal advice he gave to President George W. Bush or discuss it with Congress. ``The president has a right to hear advice from his attorney general, in confidence,'' Ashcroft said. He also refused to answer whether he personally believes torture can be justified under certain circumstances. The Washington Post, citing one Justice Department memo, said government lawyers told the White House in August 2002 that torturing captured al-Qaeda members abroad may be justified in the war on terrorism. Executive Privilege Senator Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat, challenged Ashcroft to say whether he was invoking executive privilege in refusing to give Congress the Justice Department memos. Ashcroft said he wasn't invoking executive privilege. ``You might be in contempt of Congress, then,'' Biden replied. ``You have to have a reason. You better come up with a good rationale.'' Later, Senator Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said Ashcroft had to cite a federal statute to justify not sharing the requested information. Ashcroft replied that his refusal was ``protected by the doctrine of separation of powers in the Constitution.'' Durbin shot back, ``You are not citing a law.'' Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican and chairman of the committee, asked Ashcroft whether the memos in question are classified. After consulting with staff members, Ashcroft replied, ``Some of these memos might be classified in some ways, and for some purposes.'' Durbin called that answer ``an evasion.'' Prison Photographs Senator Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, held up copies of some of the photographs that have been released that depict abuses against inmates at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. Seven U.S. military police soldiers have been charged in the abuses. ``This is what directly results when you have that kind of memoranda out there,'' Kennedy said. Ashcroft denied any link between the administration's deliberations and the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. ``The kind of atrocities'' depicted in the photographs ``are being prosecuted by this administration,'' he said. ``They are being investigated by this administration. They are rejected by this administration.'' ``This administration rejects torture,'' Ashcroft said. Bush ``has not directed or ordered any conduct that would violate the Constitution of the United States,'' any U.S. laws or any international treaties, he said. Ashcroft challenged the lawmakers on whether their questions were appropriate. ``We are at war,'' Ashcroft said. ``And for us to begin to discuss all the legal ramifications of the war is not in our best interest, and it has never been in times of war.'' Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, told Ashcroft that ``you are wise'' not to offer an opinion ``on the absolute, ultimate power of a president of the United States to protect the people of this country.'' Rascal @ClintonNotSpeakingAtFuneral.com