Contractors outnumber full-time workers at DHS; lawmakers 'astounded'

Hate agreeing with Holy Joe on anything, but this is totally wrong.

Washington (CNN) - The Department of Homeland Security has more contractors working for it than full-time employees, a situation two members of Congress said Tuesday was "unacceptable, untenable and unsustainable."

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and ranking Republican Susan Collins said they were "astounded" to learn there are more than 200,000 contractor employees at the department.

(snip)

In a letter sent Tuesday to the agency's Secretary Janet Napolitano, Lieberman and Collins said the figure "raises the question of whether DHS itself is in charge of its programs and policies, or whether it inappropriately has ceded core decisions to contractors."

Jan Schakowsky, Bernie Sanders push to phase out wartime contractors

By GottaLaff

Long overdue:

Democratic Representative Jan Schakowsky and Independent Senator Bernie Sanders said they planned to introduce the "Stop Outsourcing Security Act" on Tuesday.

"The legislation would restore the responsibility of the American military to train troops and police, guard convoys, repair weapons, administer military prisons, and perform military intelligence," their offices said.

"The bill also would require that all diplomatic security be undertaken by US government personnel," they said.

While they're at it, how about including mandatory prison terms for all those Blackwater thugs?

Jesus Guns, the Sequel: "Uncle Sam had seen fit not to give us a 'pussy 'Jewzzi'"

By GottaLaff

(Via. Click to enlarge)

Remember the Jesus Guns? Weren't they special? Well, now we have the sequel:

And what they will never tell you on Fox "News", and probably not even on CNN or MSNBC, etc. is contained in the following three emails sent to Mikey Weinstein of the Nobel Prize-nominated Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), following an ABC News exposé last week on the bible versus that are encoded on the rifle scopes made by Trijicon, Inc., and used by our military serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

You'll have to follow the link to read the e-mails, but I'll give you some nasty, hate-filled, bigoted, startling little details from the weevils who need to be exposed right out loud:

The soldier shares an appalling alleged account of his superior officer's description [of the Jesus Gun] [...] All the better, said the officer according to the soldier, than what they might have received since "Uncle Sam had seen fit not to give us a "pussy 'Jewzzi' (combination of the word 'Jew' and Israeli made weapon 'Uzi')"."

Jewzzi SIR! Yes SIR!

To be more specific:

[T]he senior NCO said that the private's rifle was also something else; that because of the biblical quote on the ACOG gunsight it had been "spiritually transformed into the Fire Arm of Jesus Christ" and that we would be expected to kill every "haji" we could find with it.

You can read the rest here.

Meantime, I would like to dedicate this post to those who saw nothing wrong with a few innocent little Biblical inscriptions that would never really cross the line or even see the light of day.

And if all this doesn't convince the doubters, imagine substituting the name Jesus Christ with Allah.

Still poo-pooing us "alarmists"? How's about this:

He said that the enemy no doubt had quotes from the Koran on their guns but that "our Lord is bigger than theirs because theirs is a fraud and an idol". [...]

This senior NCO was apparently also the head person of a conservative, crazy Christian group called the "Christian Military Fellowship" and made a big deal about the importance of joining to everyone. He told us all that we MUST read a book called "Under Orders" in order to make it through this combat deployment and said he had many copies for everyone.

Nope. Nothin' wrong with that. He was just bein' neighborly, doing unto others, and loving his fellow man.

Marine Corps "Concerned" About "Jesus Guns"

By GottaLaff

(Via. Click to enlarge)

For background on prayers being secretly inscribed onto military weapons, see my previous post.

How nice to know the Marine Corps is concerned. Are they drumming up a few prayers for Jesus Guns out of that concern? Maybe they can have something special inscribed on the next batch:

"We are aware of the issue and are concerned with how this may be perceived," Capt. Geraldine Carey, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps, said in a statement to ABC News. "We will meet with the vendor to discuss future sight procurements." Carey said that when the initial deal was made in 2005 it was the only product that met the Corps needs.

Now, now, what's wrong with militarizing religion... or religionizing the military?

Wait for it...

However, a spokesperson for CentCom, the U.S. military's overall command in Iraq and Aghanistan, said he did not understand why the issue was any different from U.S. money with religious inscriptions on it.

Just FYI, Trijicon, who makes the sights, has a $660 million multi-year contract for up to 800,000 sights.... for the Marines and the Army.

U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

Rules, schmules.

Maj. John Redfield, spokesperson for CentCom:

"This does not constitute proselytizing because this equipment is not issued beyond the U.S. Defense Department personnel. It's not something we're giving away to the local folks."

Ohhhh, well then! Our bad.

But ABC News was able to find repeated references to the Biblical citations in on-line discussions of the gun sights.

Oops. What's the opposite of our bad? Our good?

Back in 2006, on a self-described "Armageddon Forum," a number of users discuss the Bible references. "Seems there's a different verse on each model," writes Mr45auto. "They chose some whoppers too!"

And here's one from a 2006 thread on a gaming forum:

"DoD contractor puts bible verses on it's (sic) products."

There were more like this, even on YouTube, where a video about the verses got nearly 20,000 hits. Here are a couple of comments from that very page:

"I love it. I love it. Yes, Trijicon, those guys are Christians. On all of their different sights they have verses on there."

"For those of you who aren't Christians, well, you know, get over it."

It's good to know how concerned everyone is. I feel somehow comforted and no longer feel the need to worry one whit about the separation of church and state.

U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes

By GottaLaff

(Via. Click on image to enlarge)

Jesus saves! Love your fellow man! Then shoot 'em with Guns for Jesus:

Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.

The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

There are more references cited here.

Whatever happened to separation of church and state? Remember that?

According to "Mikey" Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group that seeks to preserve the separation of church and state in the military, this violates the Constitution.

Weinstein, an attorney and former Air Force officer, said many members of his group who currently serve in the military have complained about the markings on the sights. He also claims they've told him that commanders have referred to weapons with the sights as "spiritually transformed firearm[s] of Jesus Christ."

He said coded biblical inscriptions play into the hands of "those who are calling this a Crusade."

That should go over well.

VIDEO: Coal ash from U.S. blamed for Dominican town's birth defects

By GottaLaff

This is excruciating to watch, but it's a must:

Villagers in the Dominican Republic say coal waste from a U.S. power plant has caused birth defects. [...]

It has been six years since a contractor from Delray Beach, Fla., brought the black dusty residue to the province of Samaná, and three years since the ash was cleaned up. Several civil lawsuits and criminal cases later, just when everyone thought it was over, the other shoe has dropped.

A civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in Delaware charges that toxic levels of waste dumped at the Arroyo Barril port has made people nearby sick. After years of repeated miscarriages, women whose blood levels show abnormal levels of arsenic are giving birth to babies with cranial deformities, with organs outside their bodies or missing limbs.

The case highlights the debate over coal ash, an unregulated byproduct of coal energy, which when processed and recycled is used in everything from cement to the foundation for golf courses. Popular Mechanics magazine this month calls a concrete made from coal ash one of the "10 Most Brilliant Products of 2009.''

The ash, a concentrated form of naturally occurring contaminants, is what is left over from burning coal for power. It usually contains arsenic, lead, cadmium, chromium and nickel. But as towns in Tennessee and Maryland clean up massive spills of the substance, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is poised to rule on whether it should be classified as hazardous -- which would be a tremendous blow to influential power companies that have long lobbied against such a classification.

Much more here.

"Clean" coal, my ash.

Iraq Embassy Scandal Expands: Contractor May Have to Repay $130 Million

By GottaLaff

Jeremy Scahill is so on top of things, he needs his own mountain. Check this out:

The extent of the massive waste and abuse surrounding the construction of the monstrous US embassy in Baghdad continues to expand. The State Department has just released another audit of the embassy’s construction and suggests that the Kuwaiti contractor hired by the Bush administration to do most of the construction work may have to repay more than $130 million to US taxpayers as a result of construction deficiencies, incomplete and undocumented design work, inadequate quality control and interest on unauthorized payments. [...]

The Baghdad embassy—the largest of any nation on planet earth and ten times bigger than any other US embassy—is striking evidence indicating a continued US presence in the country for many years to come. The structure cost more than $700 million and is the size of 80 football fields. It is bigger than the Vatican, six times larger than the United Nations compound in New York and is about two thirds the size of the National Mall in Washington. It has space for 1,000 employees who are guarded by scores of paramilitary mercenary forces. In other words it is the perfect structure for a nation that claims to be leaving Iraq very soon. [...]

What makes this story all the more outrageous is that the Obama administration is moving forward with a plan to build a $736 million massive US embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan that is modeled after the Baghdad embassy.

There is a whole lot that I left out. Go here to read it all.

VIDEO: ACORN Rises Again! Pentagon Confuses Cartoon for News, Blocks ACORN Contracts

By GottaLaff

Somehow, my pal Allen McDuffee has managed package ACORN, Jeremy Scahill, and Mark Fiore all in one terrific post. Here's the video, but you'll have to go here for the rest. I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning:

Franken's anti-rape amendment in trouble?

By GottaLaff

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Remember those 30 Rushpublic senators and Senator Al Franken's anti-rape amendment (video here)? They have company. My Twitter pal David Waldman brings us some potentially bad news. :

An amendment that would prevent the government from working with contractors who denied victims of assault the right to bring their case to court is in danger of being watered down or stripped entirely from a larger defense appropriations bill.

Multiple sources have told the Huffington Post that Sen. Dan Inouye, a longtime Democrat from Hawaii, is considering removing or altering the provision, which was offered by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and passed by the Senate several weeks ago.

Yes, as Jed noted earlier, this amendment could actually be gutted.

Why? Lobbying from defense contractors, of course!

Go here for more from David.

Here's an excerpt from HuffPo:

Multiple sources have told the Huffington Post that Sen. Dan Inouye, a longtime Democrat from Hawaii, is considering removing or altering the provision, which was offered by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and passed by the Senate several weeks ago.

Inouye's office, sources say, has been lobbied by defense contractors adamant that the language of the Franken amendment would leave them overly exposed to lawsuits and at constant risk of having contracts dry up. The Senate is considering taking out a provision known as the Title VII claim, which (if removed) would allow victims of assault or rape to bring suit against the individual perpetrator but not the contractor who employed him or her.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/22/frankens-anti-rape-amendm_n_329896.html

KBR would skate.

Lobbyists, special interests, Big Everyone: They own us. It's time to replace these so-called lawmakers with people who actually care about Americans. This is stomach-turning.

Unacceptable.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

We have some hard work ahead of us. Need some motivation? Reread this post and watch the video above.

H/t: Pigboy

PhotOh! Rape enabler KBR's ads appear on DC Metro

By GottaLaff

Rapists and their enablers are advertising on the DC Metro now. This photo was taken by one of my Twitter pals, Rizzz:

"We're with you every step of the way!" Yesireebob.

KBR: The stellar group that made stories like this, this, this, and this possible.

This is off the rails... literally.

Here are the 30 Republican Senators Who Voted to Enable Rape

By GottaLaff

Your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash, via my buddy Mark Karlin (please also see yesterday's prequel):

Rape is a horrific crime. So is the American corporate news media, which so skews the news between entertainment and GOP hit jobs that serious public policy discussions, with real information, are largely missing from public discourse.

And the names of 30 GOP Senators who stood up for rape remain largely unknown to anyone who wasn't in the Senate chamber at the time of the vote.

Much more here.

30 Republican Senators Voted to Sanction Rape

By GottaLaff

Your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash, via my pal Mark Karlin:

Last week, Senator Al Franken proposed an amendment that would prohibit the Pentagon from contracting with firms that force women employees to agree not to sue companies if they are raped as a result of their employment. [...]

So, as [Jon] Stewart caustically noted, 30 Republican Senators -- 30 -- voted in favor of denying recourse to rape victims in order to protect corporate America.

It, simply put, is beyond belief in a civilized society that 30 Senators -- all Republicans -- voted in favor of rape, gang rape, in the precipitating case that caused Franken to try and end governmental sanctioning of this outrage.

As Stewart, once again, did the work that corporate media should be doing, he showed the hypocrisy of the Republican Senators, many of them who just the week before went on a successful partisan rampage to revoke government funding of ACORN, an organization that had been entrapped by a right wing wannabe pimp, but did not have any employees raped on the job. [...]

That is unspeakably horrifying, and yet the mainstream media was more absorbed with right wing attacks on Obama [...]

That's 30 Republican Senators who voted for gang rape.

The Franken amendment passed because every Democrat voted for it and a few Republicans who haven't yet descended into Dante's Inferno. [...]

It's beyond disgraceful. It's 30 U.S. Senators who are accessories to a brutal crime.

More here, including the Daily Show video.

My previous posts on this subject here and here.

VIDEOS: Franken's for protecting women v. 30 Republican Senators who aren't

By GottaLaff

Remember this post about how proud we were of Al Franken's legislation reining in KBR's treatment of sexual assault? That's because it would be unthinkable to ignore such a horrific crime... unless you're a Rushpublic senator.

So. Who would you rather be associated with? Al...



... or these schmucks, who would apparently prefer to pal around with rapists:



Oof! That hurt.

Good.

VIDEO: Private police force APPF Backs Out Of Hardin Jail Deal

By GottaLaff

APPF's Becky Shay: Firm Will No Longer Pursue Hardin Jail Deal

Good riddance:

Controversial private security contractor American Private Police Fore has officially backed out of a deal with Hardin, Montana, to run a local prison, APPF spokeswoman Beck Shay announced this afternoon. [...]

The announcement comes after revelations that APPF's Michael Hilton, who led the negotiations with Hardin, has a history of criminal fraud. And numerous claims made by Hilton about the company's background and experience have been called into question.

Amazing how they skedaddled out of there after a few pertinent facts were revealed.

Buh-bye now.

VIDEO: Franken Wins Bipartisan Support For Legislation Reining In KBR’s Treatment Of Rape

By GottaLaff

Here's a video of someone who should have been an sworn in as senator months before he was:



I've written about Jones over and over again, distraught over what she was forced to endure and the treatment she got (unfortunately, the archives were lost when we moved to this site). This is very, very welcome news:

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) proposed an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR “if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court.” [...]

On the Senate floor, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) spoke against the amendment, calling it “a political attack directed at Halliburton.” Franken responded, “This amendment does not single out a single contractor. This amendment would defund any contractor that refuses to give a victim of rape their day in court.”

In the end, Franken won the debate. His amendment passed by a 68-30 vote, earning the support of 10 Republican senators including that of newly-minted Florida Sen. George LeMieux. [...]

Appearing with Franken after the vote, an elated Jones expressed her deep appreciation. “It means the world to me,” she said of the amendment’s passage. “It means that every tear shed to go public and repeat my story over and over again to make a difference for other women was worth it.”

This was long overdue. Thank you, Senator Franken, Take a look at the 30 Rushpublic senators who voted against his amendment. They include Vitter, Sessions, DeMint, and, well....

... one of the stellar "'Family Values'-rape's-okay-if-it's-committed-by-special-friends" senators (h/t: John Amussen):

D'oh! Anti-ACORN Bill Ropes In Defense Contractors, Others Charged With Fraud

By GottaLaff

UPDATE: SPREAD SHEET HERE. (H/T: Gr8RDH, barbiesnow)

For people who want to "take their time" passing health care reform, Rushpublics sure are in a hurry to push through legislation to punish black peop-- er, ACORN. And we all know what happens when you rush. Mistakes happen:

The congressional legislation intended to defund ACORN, passed with broad bipartisan support, is written so broadly that it applies to "any organization" that has been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws, campaign finance laws or filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. It also applies to any of the employees, contractors or other folks affiliated with a group charged with any of those things.

In other words, the bill could plausibly defund the entire military-industrial complex. Whoops.

Apparently, the Rushpubs' frantic, creative little minds need a little more oversight. Snerk!

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) picked up on the legislative overreach and asked the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) to sift through its database to find which contractors might be caught in the ACORN net.

Lockheed Martin and Northrop Gumman both popped up quickly, with 20 fraud cases between them, and the longer list is a Who's Who of weapons manufacturers and defense contractors.

The language was written by the GOP and filed as a "motion to recommit" in the House, where it passed 345-75. [...]

The Florida freshman is asking for direct assistance. He has set up a Google spreadsheet where people can suggest contractors who have been charged with violations and include a link to a media or government report documenting the alleged transgression.

DKos has a piece on this hilarity, too.

Xe fun has only just begun.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/22/whoops-anti-acorn-bill-ro_n_294949.html

H/t: Hilz

U.S. Increasing Use of Private Contractors in War Zone

By GottaLaff

Jeremy Scahill is the go-to guy when it comes to Blackwater aka Xe aka Bad News. Now he has news about private contractors in general:

The Department of Defense has released an updated census of Pentagon contractors deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and CENTCOM’s area of operations. The overall number of contractors in the third quarter of 2009 increased slightly from 243,000 to 244,000, which means that private forces continue to constitute about half of the total US force deployed in these two wars. [...]

The DoD says the “increase can be attributed to an increased need for PSCs to provide security as the military begins to drawdown forces and to our continued improved ability to account for subcontractors who are providing security services.” In other words, less soldiers means more mercenaries in Iraq. [...]

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, there continue to be more private contractors than US soldiers. [...] That increase is, predictably, linked to the overall “build up of forces” in Afghanistan. [...]

In Iraq, there has been an overall 10% decrease in the total number of private contractors— there are now 119,706. According to DoD this is “due to ongoing efforts to reduce the contractor footprint in Iraq.” Interestingly, there has been an increase in the overall number of contractors in Afghanistan [...]” Kuwait has also seen a “significant” increase in US contractor personnel. The report was prepared by the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Program Support.

More here. Your turn.

Nadler Warns Holder Not to Limit Torture Probe to CIA Interrogators

By GottaLaff

Earlier, I posted about the likelihood of Attorney General Holder opening a very limited criminal investigation into the CIA's torture of detainees. Jerry Nadler has other ideas, as in, broadening the scope. I like the way he thinks.

Via my pal Jason Leopold:

Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, warned Attorney General Eric Holder that if he decides to pursue a criminal investigation into torture it should not be limited to rogue CIA interrogators but should also probe whether high-level officials of the Bush administration committed war crimes. [...]

But in a little noticed letter sent to Holder Aug. 4, Nadler, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties subcommittee, wrote, “There simply is no legal, moral or principled reason to insulate those who authorized the torture of detainees, either through legal reasoning or other policy directive, from investigation.”

Nadler, whose letter also reiterated his previous calls for a special prosecutor, wrote that he has “fundamental concerns” with any investigation that is limited to “activities by interrogators, working in bad faith, that fell outside the ‘four corners’ of the legal memos” provided by lawyers from the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice.”

“First, such an investigation would fail to consider the possible violation of laws by high-ranking officials and lawyers who, through legal advice or otherwise, may have authorized torture,” Nadler wrote.

“This country has been instrumental in establishing the principle that high-ranking officials and lawyers who use legal reasoning to justify or otherwise authorize war crimes can, and should, be held legally accountable. The ban on torture is absolute and we have a legal obligation to investigate torture and all of those who may have been party to its use.”

This is the second letter Nadler sent to Holder this year calling for a special counsel to conduct a wide-ranging criminal investigation into the Bush administration’s torture policies. In April, other Democratic lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee signed a similar letter to Holder written by Nadler and Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers.

The letter Nadler sent Aug. 4 was prompted by a half-dozen or so news reports published last month that said Holder decided to lean toward a criminal probe after he reviewed a classified CIA inspector general’s report that reportedly called into question the legality of the Bush administration’s torture program. [...]

Nadler said if Holder decides to sign off on a criminal investigation a prosecutor must probe whether “federal criminal laws were violated by individuals who authorized or participated in the interrogation of detainees, including high-ranking officials and lawyers from the Department of Justice itself who allegedly approved or ordered the use of enhanced interrogation techniques that amounted to torture.”

“The ban on torture is absolute: ‘no exceptional circumstances whatsoever . . . may be invoked as a justification of torture,’ and ‘an order from a superior officer . . . may not be invoked as a justification of torture.’

“It may prove true that some interrogators faced difficult choices – pressure from superiors to obtain intelligence information from detainees coupled with directives or advice indicating that harsh interrogation methods were lawful – but limiting the scope of investigation to exclude individuals up front ignores the absolute bar on torture and our legal obligation to investigate torture, and is not necessary.

“If, indeed, laws were violated, the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 provides a limited defense for those interrogators who show that they relied in good faith on legal advice in using interrogation methods that they did not know, and that a reasonable person would not know, were unlawful. These determinations are necessarily fact-based, and making ultimate decisions as to what the facts might prove or disprove, before any independent investigation has occurred, is unwarranted and would undermine the credibility of any investigation.” [...]

“I appreciate and share the desire to put this unfortunate chapter in our nation’s history behind us, but we cannot do so without fulfilling our legal and moral obligation to investigate whether laws were broken by those who conducted and those who authorized the enhanced interrogation practices.”

Agreed. Please go read the rest of Jason's piece here.

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

Criminal investigation into CIA treatment of detainees likely

By GottaLaff

This isn't going to be easy, but then, nobody thought it would be. BushCo managed to mangle the law enough to legalize torture, and then cover their tracks. Hopefully, not well enough to avoid prosecution and conviction.

And with any luck, this effort by DoJ will be effective, and will not be impossibly hampered by Yoo and Co.'s legal acrobatics, or rendered hopeless by logistical issues.

Meanwhile, those who knowingly went too far by ordering and/or overzealously carrying out the actual deeds have been slithering through legal cracks, because documented evidence was scant, people were afraid to talk, eye witnesses were impossible to track or pin down, etc. etc. etc.

All of that is documented in The Dark Side. Now, here's the latest:

U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. is poised to appoint a criminal prosecutor to investigate alleged CIA abuses committed during the interrogation of terrorism suspects, current and former U.S. government officials said.

A senior Justice Department official said that Holder envisioned an inquiry that would be narrow in scope, focusing on "whether people went beyond the techniques that were authorized" in Bush administration memos that liberally interpreted anti-torture laws.

Current and former CIA and Justice Department officials who have firsthand knowledge of the interrogation files contend that criminal convictions will be difficult to obtain because the quality of evidence is poor and the legal underpinnings have never been tested.

Some cases have not previously been disclosed, including an instance in which a CIA operative brought a gun into an interrogation booth to force a detainee to talk, officials said.

Other potentially criminal abuses have already come to light, including the waterboarding of prisoners in excess of Justice Department guidelines, and the deaths of detainees in CIA custody in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2002 and 2003. [...]

[A] prosecutor would examine cases that are generally at least five years old, and probably some that were previously reviewed by career prosecutors who concluded that they could not be pursued.

"I don't blame them for wanting to look into it," said a former high-ranking Justice Department official familiar with the details of the program. "But if they appoint a special prosecutor, it would ultimately be unsuccessful, and it would go on forever and cause enormous collateral damage on the way to getting that unsuccessful result."

Keep in mind who who that quote came from: A former high-ranking DoJ official. A BushCo former high-ranking DoJ official? Probably. So much for the credibility of that statement.

Bracing for the worst, a small number of CIA officials have put off plans to retire or leave the agency so that they can maintain their access to classified files and be in a better position to defend against a Justice investigation. [...]

An inquiry also would probably drive a new wedge between the CIA and the Justice Department, agencies with a fractious history that have struggled to work more closely together since the Sept. 11 attacks. [...]

Because of such documented discrepancies, Justice Department officials and legal experts regard the waterboarding abuses as cases that hold the most promise for prosecution.

Even so, the cases are hampered by legal and logistical complications.

The U.S. anti-torture statute requires proving that an interrogator "specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering" -- a daunting legal threshold.

Yep, Torture Memoists John Yoo, David Addington, and their gang of thugs took care of that. Dauntitude was their specialty. Intimidation was their sub-specialty. Read Jane Mayer's book.

"A number of people could say honestly, correctly, 'I didn't know what was in it [the DoJ memo],' " said a former senior U.S. intelligence official familiar with the inner workings of the interrogation program.

The CIA report also cites cases in which interrogators engaged in potentially illegal improvisations. One interrogator brandished a gun, former CIA officials said. Other prisoners were reportedly threatened with bodily harm, including being buried alive. [...]

In addition to the sweeping 2004 document, former CIA Inspector General John L. Helgerson, who recently retired, also produced a dozen or more follow-up reports that could motivate the Justice Department investigation.

Among them are examinations of other cases that involved prisoners' deaths while in agency custody. [...]

The leader of the SEAL team was later acquitted of criminal charges. The CIA interrogator, Mark Swanner, has not faced prosecution. [...]

Official cited a host of problems, including difficulty locating witnesses and identifying documents -- such as clinical examinations or autopsies -- that could withstand scrutiny in federal court. [...]

"They weren't there because of the way they were investigated, because of the facts, because of the lack of witnesses and evidence."

And that's just the way BushCo wanted it.

***************************************************

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

Military Weighs Private Security Contractors on Front Lines

By GottaLaff

Wasn't the blowback from Blackwater-- or Xe or Pee or whoever they are-- enough?

The U.S. military command is considering contracting a private firm to manage security on the front lines of the war in Afghanistan, even as Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates says that the Pentagon intends to cut back on the use of private security contractors.

On a Web site listing federal business opportunities, the Army this month published a notice soliciting information from prospective contractors who would develop a security plan for 50 or more forward operating bases and smaller command outposts across Afghanistan.

Although the U.S. military has contracted out security services to protect individuals, military bases and other facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, this contract would award a commercial company unusually broad "theater-wide" authority to protect forward operating bases in a war zone.

"The contractor shall be responsible for providing security services, developing, implementing, adequately staffing, and managing a security program," the notice said, adding that the contractor would have to be available "24 hours a day, seven days a week."[...]

The intent of the proposed contract is to bring all "disparate and subordinate contracts" under single, theater-wide management at a time when the U.S. forces are expanding [...]

The Army has not issued a formal proposal for a contract, but the notice says that interested companies should reply by Wednesday and that a formal request for proposals should follow. The "anticipated award date" for a contract is Dec. 1, according to the notice.

The request for information comes as Gates is moving to put soldiers back in charge of security roles that contractors have filled in recent years. [...]

Lawmakers, too, have raised concerns about the cost of contractors and about outsourcing what have traditionally been government roles. [...]

Meanwhile, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), chairman of the Senate subcommittee on contracting oversight, said her panel had "revealed major concerns about the use of private security contractors in Afghanistan." [...]

"We don't want to waste scarce Afghan army and police, so we must be creative," said Michael E. O'Hanlon, a senior fellow and military expert at the Brookings Institution.

But O'Hanlon also said he is concerned that if contractors were to take over security at forward operating bases, they would be the first to see hostile fire, and they -- not soldiers -- would have to decide whether to employ weapons against an enemy.

Instead of hiring a private firm, O'Hanlon said, the Americans and Afghans could create a local version of Iraq's Facilities Protection Service, the modestly trained but government-paid guard force that was pulled together to provide protection for government ministries in Baghdad and the oil fields.

Privatizing another war doesn't sound like a wise move to me.

Someone want to ?