:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::
"Everything is being compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news every day - 23 minutes - and that's supposed to be enough." -Walter Cronkite, RE TV news. The Web has changed that for many, however, and here is an extra dose for your daily news cocktail. This prescription tends to include surveillance and now war-related links, along with the occasional pop culture junk and whatever else seizes my attention as I scan online news sites.:: 5.20.2003 ::
:: War & Iraq ::
From The Guardian UK:
Security council to discuss greater UN role in Iraq
The UN security council will today meet in a closed-door session to discuss the third draft of a resolution lifting sanctions against Iraq.
The new draft, proposed by the US, Britain and Spain, gives the UN a clearly defined role in establishing a democratic government and increases the stature of a UN envoy in Iraq.
The US is pressing for a vote on the resolution tomorrow, which looks likely to be passed.
France, Russia and China - the permanent members who opposed the US-led war in Iraq - had expressed reservations over the first draft's naming of the US and Britain as "occupying powers" and handing over control of the country's oil revenues to them.
ALSO:
Disunited nations
In the first of this week's series on global institutions, Jonathan Steele examines how the conflict in Iraq has undermined the role of the UN
Metallica is latest interrogation tactic
US military interrogators are using unorthodox musical techniques to extract information about weapons of mass destruction of fugitive Ba'athist leaders from their detainees - a fearsome mix of Metallica and Barney the Dinosaur.
The Americans have long been aware of the impact of heavy metal music on foreign miscreants. They blared Van Halen (among other artists) at the Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega when he took refuge in the Vatican embassy in Panama City, and blasted similarly high-decibel music at Afghan caves where al-Qaida fighters were thought to be hiding.
Now it is reported that the combination of high-voltage rock and happy-smiley children's songs can break the will of the hardest terrorist or rogue element.
"Trust me, it works," a US "operative" told Newsweek magazine.
"In training, they forced me to listen to the Barney I Love You song for 45 minutes. I never want to go through that again."
US interrogators routinely employ "stress-and-duress" techniques, including sleep deprivation: treatment which human rights activists describe as a form of torture.
posted by me
:: 3:12:00 PM [+] ::
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