And I'm not talking about "America the Beautiful" here.
It's truly amazing what you can find out here in cyberspace and it doesn't take a whole lot of digging either. Yes, I know there are the flakes who would try to have you believe that somehow Obama was responsible for JFKs' death, even though Barack was only two years old at the time.
I was wondering just how far back the events that lead up to the current uprisings went and what the U.S. roll in all of this played. I'd be almost certain that it goes back farther than this if you take some of the things done as far back as the 1950s into consideration but let's just focus on current events.
Digging through the archives I find:
On February 17, 2003, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr (aka "Abu Omar") was kidnapped by the CIA in Milan (Italy). He was rendered to Cairo, Egypt and presumed tortured by local agents there.
If you look at Wikipedia articles on the subject you'll find a map by one Swiss investigator Dick Marty who worked for a human rights group looking into the matter. The map at the top however doesn't begin to show the extent process or all of the locations used. I found a better one :
But I have my suspicions that even this map is far from complete. There is the drop off point not mentioned in Romania and I'm sure there are others not mentioned. Just pick a country where we have a cordial relationship with a dictator and you can bet there's an Abu Ghraib styled interrogation complex complete with waterboards.
The current administration is in a bit of pickle as the saying goes and that's understandable. One the one hand they had no choice but to continue the programs done under the illegal Patriot Act. To do otherwise would have resulted in exposures to some very interesting legal situations both from U.S. and international law. On the other hand if Obama and Clinton were to come clean they would be admitting to the criminal acts of the last two decades. A conundrum of world order with no solution. And now they must face the facts. This might not have started on their watch but they are stuck with the problem.
And the $64,000 question: Do they continue to support Mubarak and his regime until his departure? We know that he is doing nothing more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic when he hand picks people for the transition. And here's one last thought on the matter. It's all about those with the power and money trying desperately to hang on to it. They're losing the power but want to keep the money. All the while they're trying to make it appear as if they are looking out for the best interests of the people. We see it over there and we see it here in our country.
UPDATE:The U.S. is sending a couple of marine platoons to Egypt
8 comments:
Obama is in a pickle, he has to play politics as they are practiced in this country, it's pretty damn hard to change this system.
Did you read what Horsey had to say about Obama? It was interesting.
Are times interesting enough for you?
Keep in mind that for some years now I have been predicting a nice big religion war.
Egypt and the UK just may be the trigger for that. Those fools are just not going to give up their pushing and shoving.
I heard 1950 but I would bet we screwed them during or right after ww2.
From what I am hearing from the right they will help him when he leaves though he swears he is going to die on his soil.
I am sure there are those that will arrange that.
Knowing how military's work I don't get interrogating and waterboarding, most of those captured don't know a hell of a lot other than what they were told to do.
If you're going to take prisoners for bargaining that's fine, but don't fuck with them. Just put them to work so they can help pay for their keep.
And if they are too hard to control just kill them.
I should make a fancy map of all the places I take a piss during one day, hehehehehe
What are you trying to leave a scent trail Billy?
Jim that was my guess as well. We probably had an agreement with Egypt when Rommel was there.
You seem to forget the era of Gamel Abdel Nasser. He did a masterful job of playing the U.S. off against the Russians during the Cold War. He also did his best to create a pan-Arab union so Mideast countries would have more clout, and to a fair extent succeeded. He wasn't on Washington's short leash by any means.
Rendering is ugly business. I suppose it's sometimes necessary, but shouldn't be SOP to the point of looking like a commercial airline operation. It's what you can expect with clods like Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld in charge, though.
Obama can't come clean now, but he can and should phase it out.
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