USS Cole bomber nuts? Trial delayed - again

Yet more bs. Are YOU paying attention? :

Mental Health Test Delays Cole Bombing Suspect Hearings

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

FORT MEADE, Md., Feb. 7, 2013 – Pretrial hearings for the suspected USS Cole bomber are on hold until mid-April as doctors assess his mental competency and the military commission determines how that will affect future proceedings.

The latest round of hearings for Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri kicked off Jan. 4 at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and had been scheduled to conclude today.

However, that schedule got derailed after the prosecution requested a mental-health assessment, challenging the defense claim that Nashiri suffers from long-term post-traumatic stress allegedly caused by enhanced interrogation techniques the CIA used on him before he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay.  [Yes, emphasis mine]

Members of the defense questioned what such an assessment would provide, telling the commission judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl, they lack faith in any medical practitioner the convening authority might appoint to conduct it. Pohl authorized the exam, but granted the defense’s request that Dr. Vincent Iacopino, a member of the Physicians for Human Rights organization with expertise in torture, be called on to provide advice on how to conduct it without “doing harm.”

Iacopino testified via teleconference Feb. 5, explaining special requirements for mental health exams on torture victims. He acknowledged that he has neither met nor examined Nashiri.

Dr. Sondra Crosby, who reportedly has examined hundreds of torture victims as director of medical care at the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights, is expected to conduct the exam.

Pohl told the court Feb. 4 that he would not take up other legal and administrative issues surrounding the case until after the mental-health assessment is complete. He recessed the court following Iacopino’s testimony, and proceedings are expected to continue in mid-April.

Nashiri is the alleged mastermind behind the attack off the Yemeni coast that killed 17 sailors. He is charged with perfidy, murder in violation of the law of war, attempted murder in violation of the law of war, terrorism, conspiracy, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects and hazarding a vessel.

The charges arise out of an attempted attack on the USS The Sullivans in January 2000, the actual attack on the USS Cole in October 2000, and an attack on the motor vessel Limburg -- a civilian oil tanker -- in October 2002.

Nashiri is a Saudi-born member of al-Qaida. U.S. officials allege he was under the personal supervision of Osama bin Laden, and that bin Laden personally approved the attacks on the U.S. Navy ships.

(source)

Lucy Joy Bratdog: Beyond the Rainbow Bridge

This last Tuesday, 12 February, I honoured my girl's very clear wishes and sent her on ahead. At 10.42am, I felt her mighty heart as it stopped beating. She continued on just as she came into our lives as a 9 week old fuzzy puppy : fearless, with absolute trust, and surrounded by unconditional love.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. 


When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. 


There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. 


There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. 


All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.


The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. 


They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. 

Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together.... 


Author unknown... 

To infinity and beyond...

Wednesday Hero

Cpl. Alvin Krumrey 91 years old from Tulsa, Oklahoma     Alvin Krumrey didn't think much about his military dog tags that he had lost over 70 years ago. That is until they were found in a coin store in the Solomon Islands.   You can read more about Alvin Krumrey here

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Condors on the Wings of Destiny

From ISAF: 

Published on Feb 1, 2013

Feature nat. package video about the OH-58 Kiowa pilots and AH-64 Apache pilots of C Troop, 2-17 CAV, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and why they fly in "Pink teams." Interviews from Chief Warrant Officer 2 Seth Armstrong of Crawfordsville, Ind. and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Les McNellie of Tampa, Fla. Courtesy visual media content from SFC Eric Pahon, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs and SGT Christopher Bonebrake, 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment. (Video by Staff Sgt. Anna Rutherford, 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

MUST READ! The MIC "won" - and the slippery slope to the Post-American Century continues

From War On Terror News:

02/05/2013

The Post-American Century: the ruler becomes the Sovereign

A popular question in politics has been "What is the American Culture?" or "What are American Values?"  There has been an emphasis in America placed on "multi-culturism" which has implied an equivalency between American Culture to "racism," and excluded it from the realm of multi-culturism.  The answer of would be rulers is that there is no such thing as "an American Way of Life," as the real answer is at odds with their own greed for power.

The truth is that American values and culture do not exclude cultural aspects of immigrants of other countries, but rather it is a culture of God-given Rights and Liberties.  Americanism means that the Citizen, not the ruler, is the Sovereign.  It is a largely unspoken and undefined definition of the American Way of Life.  It is implicit in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, and understood, if unstated, by those that argue for the restoration of principles and policies of the US Constitution.

The American way of life is not democracy.  Democratic election of Representatives in a Republican form of government, was simply the means used to achieve personal freedom, and sovereign liberty of the Citizenry.

Competing forms of government: monarchies, socialism, islamism, theocracies, and the like that have come before, during, and after the "American Experiment" were distinctly different because the government ruled the lives of the citizenry, rather than being the servants of it.  Whether King, Ceasar, Pharaoh, Emperor, Premier, Caliph, Holy Roman See, or "Dear Leader," the difference was that these rulers dictated the rules to their subjects, rather than bowing to the rules written by the Citizenry.

The subjects of these rulers were forced to beg the Sovereign for the means of survival, and called the Sovereign a tyrant when allowed to keep too little of their labors.

The "American Experiment" was less that it afforded the Citizenry a means to peaceably change the politicians in government, than it was that it placed the Citizen as Sovereign over the government, and those politicians, by binding them with the constraints of the US Constitution.  While politicians have clung to the title of "public servant," they have shed the cloak of what it means to be a Representative....

Now, more than ever, it is critical that American citizens pay close attention to what is happening - often in plain sight - to their country.


Go - now - and read the rest here.  And yes:  PAY ATTENTION!

Wednesday Hero

Maj. Gen. Glenn M. Walters       Maj. Gen. Glenn M. Walters, commanding general of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, pilots a KC-130J Hercules in southwestern Afghanistan in 2011, when he commanded 2nd MAW (Forward). Walters assumed command of 2nd MAW in May 2012, just two months after returning from Afghanistan. "Instead of employing the wing in combat, now I'm preparing Marines for combat," Walters said. "It's the continuum of who we are as Marines, answering the call to do our nation's defense wherever we're called."   Photo taken by Staff Sgt. James R. Richardson courtesy U.S. Marines These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
 

Red Shirt Friday: Canada Supports Our Troops!

NO Canada Goose - that I could see - in here....oh and NO Brats, either! But a very cool video nonetheless, and NO!  You do not have to RUN to support our Troops - trust me, I know this.  BUT you can wear RED!