Report: Bush Lawyer Said President Could Order Civilians to Be Massacred <http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/archive/2010/02/19/report-b\ ush-lawyer-said-president-could-order-civilians-to-be-massacred.aspx> 19 Feb 2010 The chief author of the Bush administration's "torture memo" told Justice Department investigators that the president's war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be "massacred," according to a report released Friday night by the Office of Professional Responsibility. Pressed on his views in an interview with OPR investigators, former Justice lawyer John Yoo was asked: "What about ordering a village of resistants to be massacred? ... Is that a power that the president could legally--" "Yeah," Yoo replied, according to a partial transcript included in the report. "Although, let me say this: So, certainly, that would fall within the commander-in-chief's power over tactical decisions." "To order a village of civilians to be [exterminated]?" the OPR investigator asked again. "Sure," said Yoo.
<http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news> U.S. plans for possible delay in Iraq withdrawal <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/22/AR20100\ 22202933.html> 23 Feb 2010 The U.S. military has prepared contingency plans to delay the planned withdrawal of all combat forces in Iraq, citing the prospects for political instability and increased violence as Iraqis hold national 'elections' next month. Under a deadline set by President Obama, all combat forces are slated to withdraw from Iraq by the end of August, and there remains heavy political pressure in Washington and Baghdad to stick to that schedule. But Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Monday that he had briefed officials in Washington in the past week about possible contingency plans Iran grounds plane with Rigi holding US-issued passport <http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119318§ionid=351020101> 23 Feb 2010 Iran's security officers grounded the plane carrying the ringleader of Jundullah terrorist group Abdolmalek Rigi in one of Iran's southern ports, informed sources say. As initial reports indicated that Iran's most wanted man was captured on a flight en-route to Kyrgyzstan from Dubai, a source talking to Press TV on condition of anonymity confirmed that Rigi and one of his deputies were captured after their plane was brought down by security forces in an airport in the Iranian Persian Gulf city of Bandar Abbas. Iran's intelligence minister says the leader of Jundallah terrorist group was at a US base in Afghanistan 24 hours before his capture, in possession of a US-issued, forged Afghan passport. Hamas to EU: Put Israel on terrorism list <http://jta.org/news/article/2010/02/22/1010741/hamas-to-eu-put-israel-o\ n-terrorism-list> [Add the US, too.] 22 Feb 2010 Hamas asked the European Union to include Israel on a list of countries that support terrorism. "We urge the EU to include the Zionist entity on the list of countries that support terrorism, as it represents a threat to international peace," Hamas said in a statement released Monday. Hamas has accused Israel of being responsible for last month's assassination of a Hamas commander, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in a Dubai hotel. Rachel Corrie's family bring civil suit over human shield's death in Gaza <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/23/corrie-death-law-case> --Parents want case to highlight events that led to American activist's death under Israeli army bulldozer 23 Feb 2010 The family of the American activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza seven years ago, is to bring a civil suit over her death against the Israeli defence ministry. The case, which begins on 10 March in Haifa, northern Israel, is seen by her parents as an opportunity to put on public record the events that led to their daughter's death in March 2003. Nato air strike kills 27 civilians in Afghanistan <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7292631/Nato\ -air-strike-kills-27-civilians-in-Afghanistan.html> --A Nato air strike has killed at least 27 civilians including women and a child who were travelling in a convoy of minibuses. 22 Feb 2010 The botched attack on Sunday was the third 'mistaken' strike in a week and threatened to further strain relations between the Nato powers and President Hamid Karzai's administration. General Stanley McChrystal, the senior coalition commander in Afghanistan, personally apologised to the president hours after the deaths, but the Afghan cabinet on Monday condemned the attack as "unjustifiable". Nato had mistaken the convoy in Uruzgan province as carrying militants towards a base. At least seven civilians killed in Helmand blast <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/at-least-seven-killed-in-h\ elmand-blast-1907707.html> 23 Feb 2010 A remote-controlled [Blackwater?] bomb killed at least seven Afghan civilians and wounded 14 in front of a government building in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, a government official said. The blast was in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province. Nato-led troops are in the 10th day of an operation to flush the Taliban out of nearby Marjah district, where the militants had set up their last big stronghold in Helmand. US to launch major campaign in Afghanistan in next 18 months <http://www.indianexpress.com/news/us-to-launch-major-campaign-in-afghan\ istan-in-next-18-months/582823/> 22 Feb 2010 US and NATO forces are all set to roll out an "intensive 18-month" ground campaign in Afghanistan to stamp out Taliban and al-Qaeda militants, top US generals have said warning the insurgents that Marjah offensive was just the start. "Marjah campaign where the Taliban resistance has only been disjointed is just an initial operation of what will be a 12 to 18 month campaign to overrun the Taliban," General David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command told NBC television's 'Meet The Press' programme. [Gee, looky here. There's *lots* of money to spend on mercenaries to preserve the opium and gas pipelines in Afghanistan, right? --LRP] Shooting at Luke Air Force Base kills 1, injures another <http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/02/23/20100223luke-air-forc\ e-base-shooting.html> 23 Feb 2010 One man was killed and another man injured late Monday when they drove a stolen car through the Luke Air Force Base security gate and were shot by guards there, officials said. The stolen vehicle broke through the gate about midnight and was about to cross a bridge that connects the two parts of the base when the shooting occurred, said Capt. Jerry Gonzalez, a spokesman for Luke. Base security had set up a barricade on the bridge and at least one of the guards opened fire when the vehicle drove toward the security personnel, authorities said. Daughter says pilot in Texas IRS crash was a hero <http://www.legitgov.org/austin_texas_plane_crash_oddities.html> 22 Feb 2010 The daughter of a man who crashed his small plane into a building housing offices of the Internal Revenue Service called her father a hero for his anti-government views but said his actions, which killed an IRS employee, were "inappropriate." Joe Stack's adult daughter, Samantha Bell, spoke to ABC's "Good Morning America" from her home in Norway. Asked during a phone interview broadcast Monday if she considered her father a hero, she said: "Yes. Because now maybe people will listen." Heads up! US pharmaterrorists working on a new pandemic to create vaccine demand: Deadly Hybrid Flu Possible <http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/636221.html> --Stronger strain could develop if avian, seasonal viruses combine, scientists warn 22 Feb 2010 Research in mice [to create a new pandemic] suggests the avian flu virus and the ordinary seasonal flu virus could combine to create a new deadly kind of flu, researchers say. A single bit of genetic material from the seasonal virus converted the avian flu -- officially known as H5N1 -- into a very dangerous form, the scientists report in a study published in the Feb. 22-26 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. US school district spied on students through webcams, court told <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/19/schools-spied-on-students-w\ ebcams> --Pennsylvania district accused of using remote-control laptops to photograph teenage students at home without their knowledge 19 Feb 2010 A school district in Pennsylvania spied on students through web cameras installed on laptops provided by the district, according to a class action lawsuit filed this week... According to student Blake Robbins, assistant principal Lindy Matsko said the school had retained the ability to activate the laptop webcams remotely, at any time. Backed by his parents, Robbins filed a lawsuit on behalf of all students provided with laptops by the school. The suit claims that since the laptops were used by students and their friends and family at home, images of "compromising or embarrassing positions, including ... in various states of undress" have been captured. 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