the war on terror

[jfb]

Worried about that Justice Department memo that said torture is okay? Don't worry, say unnamed officials: That memo wasn't about whether we should torture prisoners, it was about justifying the torture techniques we already were using. They've anonymously come forward because they want you to know the memo's author wasn't an advocate of torture, just someone who thinks torture is legal, and that's why it shouldn't bother you that now he's a federal judge.

Seriously.

In other news: Things are tough for David Petraeus as he tries to train the Iraqi army to fight Iraqis, and for teenage girls in Iraq. And for electrical engineers:

Still, as power demand rises over the summer here, the official said, "we are not able to chase the demand target as fast as it's growing."

Engineers at Qudas more than confirmed that gap, saying electricity in their own homes fell far short of needs. One of the engineers, Ali Talib, said he was ashamed to tell his neighbors what he did for a living. "We are generating electricity, but we don't have electricity in our neighborhood," he said.

The Taliban blew up a bus carrying election registration workers, but it's already yesterday's news. This story described the bombing, which killed two women on the bus, as the "most serious attack yet", but since then 14 men have been murdered just for registering.

There was a memorial service on Saturday for Paul Johnson, the engineer killed in Saudi Arabia (the story is not online). A statement from the family spoke of his love for Saudi Arabia and its people, and their hope that his death will bring Westerners and people of the Middle East together to work against "fear and barbaric acts against free peoples".

Comments

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

Damn, I'm stilled worried.