I just found a news story off a design website I was visiting and am truely shocked shocked shocked at details coming out about the US treatment of detainees (what a euphemism!).

Here is a link to the Guardian story and then my comments further:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1000273,00.html

The bitterest betrayal

Among the 680 men imprisoned at Camp Delta, Cuba, are nine Britons. The US says they are hardcore terrorists, and holds them without charge. But where is the evidence? And why is our government so silent on their plight? By Tania Branigan and Vikram Dodd

Saturday July 19, 2003
The Guardian

Now for some of the worst news: there is now a "Camp Iguana" there for CHILDREN held as prisoners!!!! Here is what the Guardian story above includes on this chilling detail:

Guantanamo's newest and most notorious addition is Camp Iguana, which holds children whom the US regards as enemy combatants. It is less formidable than the adult version: the wire fence is just 12ft high and the all-night floodlights are softer. A 20ft long rectangle has been cut from the green canvas surrounding the camp, so that the children can see the Caribbean sea. "It adds a certain tranquillity to the environment," says Dave Wodushek, who runs Camp Iguana. He is saddened that people so young are held here: the four children, believed to be Afghans, are as young as 13. He blames those countries which use children as soldiers.

I am mortified at the extent my own government has gone to in order to "suppress" or "fight" terrorism. How can other countries but believe the US is using every evil tactic the US acused other governments of using? The secrecy is some of the worst: our imaginings can only allow that there are many possibilities that some of these people are innocent and now among "the disappeared". Isn't this what happened in Argentina and other South American countries?

Shocked, sickened, but no awe here...

GIA: Make that 15 Minutes of Fame Come Back, NOW!

Remember hearing about the MIT project website written up by Heather Bray of the Boston Globe called GIA?

Link to today's post in What Fires You Up:
GIA website

This just in from The Monster Limo Weblog, http://blogs.salon.com/0001956/
After I've read all the other comments about the "errors" in the Bush State of the Union speech, I got a laugh out of the title of this post alone. Have to quote it in full, because this blogger really has it right on target...

I LOVE the title to this post!

Shucks , We've Got Just About the Rootinest, Tootinest, Gol-Durn Spy Service You Ever Did Lay Eyes On

A new low, from an administration full of them: Seeking, no doubt, to reclaim his image as a "straight shooter," Bush tried to snuff out the flames of controversy by insisting the quality of intelligence he gets is "darn good." Darn right, but unfortunately the problem isn't the quality of intelligence, it's whether that intelligence was ignored, manipulated, or lied about to produce a favorable public result. Note also the new spin: "When all is said and done the people of the United States will realize that Saddam Hussein had a weapons program," Bush said. Um, but wasn't the point that he had WEAPONS, and not just a "weapons program"? Ah, but that was almost four months ago, and who has time to remember?