Friday, 29 April 2011

The Daily Telegraph has published 759 of the leaked Guantánamo files it obtained from WikiLeaks, despite the files not having been redacted to remove sensitive information.
One of the documents published by the Telegraph today includes the full name of a boy detained at Guantánamo who, according to the file, was raped at the age of 15, just prior to being transferred to the camp.
The publication of his name appears to breach the Press Complaints Commission Editors' Code of Conduct, which states that "the press must not, even if legally free to do so, identify children under 16 who are victims or witnesses in cases involving sex offences".
The PCC said today that it could not comment on individual cases before a complaint was made, but it "would of course consider any complaint".
No charges were brought against the detainee, who was captured by US forces in Afghanistan and transferred to Guantánamo Bay "because of his possible knowledge of Taliban resistance efforts and local leaders". He was released a little more than a year after being transferred to the camp.
The file has also been published by WikiLeaks and the Guardian but the Guardian has blacked out the text relating to the alleged assault.
In a statement sent to Journalism.co.uk this afternoon, the Telegraph defended the move, saying it had undertaken "minimal redactions" and that its position was "supported by WikiLeaks".
"The Daily Telegraph takes its responsibilities when releasing confidential documents very seriously, but we believe this information is crucial for full public understanding of Guantánamo Bay. The newspaper has a long track record of redacting documents when necessary, including the release of hundreds of files relating to MPs expenses and the US diplomatic cables.
"However, in this instance, after taking detailed expert advice on the information already in the public domain and the importance of the documents to the general public and the detainees, we have decided to make only minimal redactions. This position has been supported by WikiLeaks.
"We have detailed security protocols in place for the handling of sensitive data by Telegraph employees. We have been alarmed at the reports of the apparent cavalier handling of data by former partners of WikiLeaks, which led to their relationships with the organisation breaking down."
Concerns have also been raised today that a number of the files published by the Telegraph contain unverified accusations against current and former detainees. Speaking to Journalism.co.uk earlier today, Guardian investigations editor David Leigh said that the Telegraph's publication was "totally scandalous ... the most irresponsible thing that I can imagine".
"We took out the names of people who because of the British libel law we couldn't just publish unverified accusations against. We did a lot of redacting and the New York Times did a lot of redacting, but unfortunately WikiLeaks hasn't, and the Daily Telegraph has just published the lot."
The director of Reprieve, a human rights group set up to help the detainees of the Guantanamo Bay camp, wrote to the Telegraph following their initial coverage of the files, accusing it of "extraordinarily inaccurate journalism".
Clive Stafford-Smith's letter, which was not published by the newspaper but was sent to Journalism.co.uk by Reprieve, says:
"The Daily Telegraph line about the Guantánamo WikiLeaks is extraordinarily inaccurate journalism: 'At least 35 Guantánamo Bay inmates fought against the West after being indoctrinated in Britain, leaked files disclose'. "You write that nine of these are British nationals and eight are British residents. I have helped to represent most of these men, and there is no credible evidence – zero – that any fought against the West." Stafford-Smith has also criticised the Guardian for its coverage, claiming in an article published by the newspaper that it took "a very credulous approach to the WikiLeaks exposé".
Joel Gunter @'Journalism.co.uk'

And so it begins...

Oslo Davis

Hitler VS Sony

GreatDismal William Gibson

The future tweets in it's sleep.

Bradley Manning no longer held in solitary confinement, Pentagon says

Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of leaking classified cables to WikiLeaks, is no longer being held in solitary confinement and is now being allowed to move among other military prisoners, according to the Pentagon.
Reporters were allowed to view the kind of accommodation in which Manning is currently being detained, at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, after he was moved earlier this month from Quantico marine base in Virginia as he awaits court martial.
His treatment in Virginia– which included 23 hours in his cell and being stripped down to a smock at night – was widely condemned by human rights groups including Amnesty International and the UN rapporteur on torture, who subsquently launched an investigation into conditions.
Manning is now detained among other medium-security inmates also awaiting military trial, according to Associated Press, which took part in a media tour of his new accommodation. The move implies that Manning has been cleared as a suicide risk, as any detainee deemed a risk of suicide would be held on their own.
It has long been a complaint of Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, that the advice of psychiatrists at his old prison in Quantico was ignored. Records show that mental health professionals regularly assessed him and found him to be no risk to himself, but Manning was kept on a "prevention of injury" order, which required him to be segregated from other inmates.
Reporters were told that Manning will, in future, be housed alongside another 10 or so prisoners, all of whom are awaiting trial. AP said he will have his own cell, wear standard prison clothing and have open access to a communal area except overnight.
With concern receding about the way Manning is being treated, the focus is now likely to swing towards the trial. No date has yet been sent for the court martial, though it is understood that the first subpoenas have been sent out for acquaintances of Manning to appear before a grand jury investigating the charges.
Manning faces multiple counts relating to the leaking of hundreds of thousands of documents and videos to WikiLeaks, which include the Iraq and Afghan war logs, and the US embassy cables disclosing secret diplomatic intelligence from around the world.
Last week President Obama was accosted by Manning supporters at a fundraising event in San Francisco. The president spoke to one supporter and reportedly said: "He broke the law."
The supporters interpreted Obama's words as referring to Manning, and have complained that by declaring the suspect guilty the president has destroyed the chance of a fair trial.
Ed Pilkington @'The Guardian'

The Assassination of Julian Assange

Cue Outrage: Superman To Renounce U.S. Citizenship In New Comic

♪♫ Meat Puppets - Orange

Via

Unfollowed: How a (Possible) Social Network Spy Came Undone

Attorney Challenges “Gag Order” on WikiLeaks Docs

The ongoing release of another large collection of classified documents by WikiLeaks concerning Guatanamo detainees creates a new set of challenges and opportunities for the detainees’ attorneys. But the government says the attorneys cannot discuss those matters in the public domain, even though anyone else can.
Attorney David Remes petitioned a court yesterday to release him from all such restrictions regarding publicly available WikiLeaks documents. His petition (pdf) was posted by Ben Wittes of Lawfare blog.
It was also reported by Scott Shane in the New York Times today, and discussed by Marcy Wheeler at EmptyWheel.
The petition argues that not only are continuing controls on publicly available information futile, they are unjust. That is, they inhibit the attorney’s ability to act in the best interests of his clients by correcting errors or identifying exculpatory factors.
A response by the government will follow.
Steven Aftergood @'Secrecy News'

Word cloud and Word document for 2011 White Paper on National Defense

White Paper National Defense 2011
Via

Twitter Ordered to Hand Over Personal Details of UK Politician’s Account

DJ echochorus - How I Ended This Summer Mix

Tracklist:
01 relapxych.0 – city nightlight II
02 relapxych.0 – ripples on the surface of time
03 bvdub – different place
04 bvdub – nothing you can say
05 skyscraper – shaping the sky
06 cv313 – beyond the clouds
07 bvdub – i knew you then
08 hallucinator – hallucinator
09 the orb – baghdad batteries
10 bvdub – a silent reign
11 bvdub – isolation’s embrace

DOWNLOAD
via

Thursday, 28 April 2011

Guantanamo's Child Soldiers

Policy Files: Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Noble Eagle

OEF ONE SCF

This 47-page document, published on March 28, 2002, "provides instructions and guidance on the classification of information involved in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Noble Eagle," the former being "the war on terrorism outside the United States," and the latter referring to "US military operations in support of homeland defense and civil support to federal, state and local agencies in the United States." As such, it provides exhaustive lists of what the classification procedures are for a vast range of eventualities.

Download the PDF file

@'WikiLeaks'

charlieconnelly Charlie Connelly

I refuse to accept this wedding is a 'fairytale' until the Archbishop of Canterbury is eaten by a wolf wearing a lace cap and shawl.

ROFL!!!

AdamBienkov Adam Bienkov

Sleeping rough before protesting against the govt: illegal and wrong. Sleeping rough before bowing your head to the Royals: a patriotic duty

WikiLeaks: The Guantánamo files database

The Mark of Cain (A documentary by Alix Lambert about the culture of Russian prison tattoos)

The Mark of Cain documents the fading art form and language of Russian criminal tattoos, formerly a forbidden topic in Russia. The now vanishing practice is seen as reflecting the transition of the broader Russian society. Filmed in some of Russia;s most notorious prisons, including the fabled White Swan, the interviews with prisoners, guards, and criminologists reveal the secret language of The Zone and The Code of Thieve.
The prisoners of the Stalinist Gulag, or "Zone," as it is called, developed a complex social structure (documented as early as the 1920s) that incorporated highly symbolic tattooing as a mark of rank. The existence of these inmates at prisons and forced labor camps was treated by the state as a deeply-kept secret. In the 1990s, Russia's prison population exploded, with overcrowding among the worst in the world. Some estimates suggest that in the last generation over thirty million of Russia's inmates have had tattoos even though the process is illegal inside Russian prisons.
The Mark of Cain examines every aspect of the tattooing, from the actual creation of the tattoo ink, interviews with the tattooers and soberly looks at the double-edged sword of prison tattoos. In many ways, they were needed to survive brutal Russian prisons, but mark the prisoner for life, which complicates any readmission to normal society they may have. Tattoos expressly identify what the convict has been convicted of, how many prisons he;s been in and what kind of criminal he is. Tattoos, essentially, tell you everything you need to know about that person without ever asking. Each tattoo represents a variety of things; cupolas on churches represent the number of convictions a convict has, epaulets tattooed on shoulders represent the rank of the individual in the crime world and so on and so forth.
The unflinching look at the Russian prison system is slowly woven into the film. Cells meant to hold 15 hold 35 to 45 men. Drug resistant tuberculosis runs rampant through the prison populations and prisoners are served three meals a day of watery slop. There are allegations of brutality by the guards. As these men deal with pestilence, violence and grossly substandard living conditions, the prison guards and administration put on a talent show.
The film served as source material for David Cronenberg's 2007 dramatic movie, Eastern Promises. He commented, "This is a very courageous documentary on the tattooing subculture in Russian prisons. I don't know how it ever got made, but it's beautiful, scary, and heartbreaking."
(Wiki)
Via

Saw this when it was on SBS many years ago. Starting at 11:47 check out the work of Aleksander Borisov, one of the most amazing tattooists ever...

Group passes on $500k-plus to WikiLeaks

Brains of Buddhist monks scanned in meditation study

Gitmo, Wikileaks and a window on tyranny

Why We Need An Open Wireless Movement

Morrissey on the Royals

Fervent anti-Royalist Morrissey, whose swan song masterpiece in The Smiths was entitled The Queen Is Dead, has taken the impending Royal Wedding to lash out at the British monarchy. Morrissey used an interview on BBC Radio 5 yesterday to dub the Royal Family as dole bludgers, accusing them of being ‘benefit scroungers’.
Morrissey questioned an interviewer who asked him if he’d be amongst the estimated two billion people watching the ceremony globally. “Why would I watch the wedding? Why would I watch it? I couldn’t take any of that seriously. I don’t think the so-called royal family speak for England now and I don’t think England needs them. I do seriously believe that they are benefit scroungers and nothing else. I don’t believe they serve any purpose whatsoever.”
Warming up to his topic, he added: “The press reports from Buckingham Palace tell you that people love them, but go out now and speak to people on the street and they will laugh at you. They really will.” Morrissey once fantasised in ‘The Queen is Dead’ back in the 1980s of breaking in to Buckingham Palace armed with just a “sponge and a rusty spanner”. His hatred of the Queen extended to her son Charles, Prince William’s old man, suggesting that he’d like to “appear on the front of the Daily Mail, dressed in your mother’s bridal veil.”
As recently as a few years ago he said of William’s Dad “The very idea of Charles being King is laughable. You might as well say that Ronnie Corbett will be king one day. I think that would give people more pleasure.” Clearly nothing has changed.
Via

♪♫ Nostalgia 77 - Simmerdown (feat. Josa Peit)

HA!

domknight Dominic Knight

I will shortly be releasing the Certificate of Inauthenticity for Donald Trump's wig.

The Story Of This Is The Sea: An Interview With Mike Scott Of The Waterboys

You only had to take one look at Mike Scott in the early 1980s to know that he was born to write. His carefully cultivated appearance – long dark overcoat with collar turned up to the wind, shoulder length hair only a shampoo away from Bob Geldof's unkempt mop and tucked away beneath a Greek fisherman's cap – gave him the look of a poet, conveying an earnest, literary image no doubt enhanced by his study of English literature in his native Edinburgh. Like Morrissey, who formed The Smiths around much the same time as The Waterboys were born, Scott was a bookish romantic and also a product of punk culture: while Morrissey was running the New York Dolls fan club, Scott was publishing a fanzine, Jungleland. But unlike Morrissey, Scott wasn't immersed in the kitchen sink culture of 1950s England encapsulated by Alan Sillitoe, and neither did he write of gritty streets and the day-to-day minutiae of dreary disappointment. Instead he buried himself in the work of William Butler Yeats, Robbie Burns and William Blake, dreaming of "unicorns and cannonballs, palaces and piers / Trumpets, towers and tenements, wide oceans full of tears". Scott sought to give voice to a sense of the epic rather than the prosaic, almost guitar music's polar opposite of The Smiths, and he wasn't alone: U2 had made tentative steps towards grand themes on their early releases just as The Waterboys had on their first two impressive but nonetheless mildly technologically hamstrung albums. By 1985, however, the year that their third album, This Is The Sea, emerged, Scott had perfected a concept that The Unforgettable Fire, a year earlier, could only aspire to, a sound that rapidly became known as 'The Big Music'.
It took its name from a Waterboys song, the first single to be released from their second album, A Pagan Place. Though metaphorical in intent, its lyrics applied perfectly to the scale and grandeur with which Scott was beginning to carve his style: "I have heard the big music," he sang, "and I'll never be the same… I have climbed the big tree, touched the big sky / I just stuck my hand up in the air / and everything came into colour / Like jazz manna from sweet, sweet chariots". The album, however, was less successful at creating this sense of sweet euphoria: though its aim was ambitious – something to which opener 'A Church Not Made With Hands' and the mournful 'The Thrill Is Gone' testify, not to mention the eight minute waltz of 'Red Army Blues' – its reach sometimes fell somewhere short of Scott's target, partially due to the claustrophobic sound, a result of the fact that some of its tracks were little more than glorified demos. But that was, as Scott would have it, the river, and now he was looking to further, wider horizons: to the sea. With its follow up, Scott wasn't going to make the same mistake again...

Continue reading

Wyndham Wallace @'The Quietus'

WSB

(Click to enlarge)

Via

Crash

Available
HERE

Josh Homme & Alain Johannes - Aqua Unit Patrol Squad One Theme

Arabic Calligraffiti: How Calligraphy Found Its Way Into Urban Arts

(Preview)

The 'carnival barker' speaks...

...#bellend

Glenn Greenwald: FBI serves Grand Jury subpoena likely relating to WikiLeaks

Steadman's unused Fear & Loathing title

Video from 1998 shows artist Ralph Steadman at work on the title treatment for the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. This version ultimately wasn't used.
HERE