WAR CHAT- War News and History

Above: CIA torture

The Pentagon has recently made public a five year old Justice Department memo that approves of harsh interrogation of suspected terrorists.

The memo is dated March 14, 2003. It was written by John Yoo (pictured below), who was at the time deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel.

Below: John Yoo

The memo legally justifies the military’s use of torture tactics against al-Qaeda and Taliban detainees overseas. The catch is that the torture is not supposed to be directly intended – which is stupid since torture techniques are all pre-empted as it uses different tools to inflict pain.

Posted on April 2nd, 2008 under News America, News World. Tags: legal memo, president bush, torture, veto, waterbaording. Comments: 2

Above: Peace between the leaders

After one week of bickering and threats, the presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela have ended their border dispute.

In a summit hosted by President Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic, the three presidents shook hands in the live Latin America broadcast to formally end to their recent differences.

“And with this … this incident that has caused so much damage (is) resolved,” said leftist Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa before standing up and shaking hands with his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe, who happens to be a Western-backed conservative.

Posted on March 7th, 2008 under News America. Tags: Chavez, Colombia, Ecuador, FARC, Venezuela. Comments: None

Above: Hugo Chavez

Yesterday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (pictured above) sent a battalion to the Colombian border. He’s ready to go to war it seems after Colombia went after Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) leader Raul Reyes (pictured below). Reyes and 16 other militants were killed by Colombian forces in Ecuador. Colombia sent their air force to bomb the rebel base. Afterwards, troops went in for the kill.

Below: Raul Reyes

“Mr. Defense Minister, move me 10 battalions to the border with Colombia immediately - tank battalions,” President Chavez said on his weekly TV show Alo Presidente. The Venezuelan Air Force is also on standby.

Posted on March 2nd, 2008 under News America. Tags: Alvaro Uribe, Colombia, FARC, Hugo Chavez, Venezuala, war. Comments: 1

Above: Gloria Palanco

This Wednesday, four politician hostages were freed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) after seven years of captivity. Their release was coordinated by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The release was made to clean up the rebel group’s name; as they are considered as a terrorist group by different nations of the international community — one of which is the European Union.

One of the freed captives, former congresswoman Gloria Polanco (pictured above) had this to say, “You’ve given me the opportunity to live again,” in her gratitude to President Chavez. Her husband, Huila governor Jaime Lozada, was assassinated by the FARC in 2005.

Posted on February 28th, 2008 under News America. Tags: Colombia, FARC, Ingrid Betancourt, kidnap, President Chavez, terrorist. Comments: 3