Category: Grave

Gitmo’ Money, Gitmo’ Problems: Take down the sign, boys, we’re back in business!
“Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Wednesday that the Bush administration was not considering shutting down the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and he defended the treatment of its prisoners by their American military guards and interrogators as humane.”
– Rumsfeld Says Guantánamo Isn’t Being Considered for Closing, by Thom Shanker, The New York Times, June 9, 2005
Related: Pentagon to Release Data on Base Closings, AP/Guardian, May 28, 2005

Here’s President Bush’s schedule for today, by way of the Washington Post‘s White House Briefing for June 8, 2005:

Today’s Calendar:
Bush met this morning with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Also today, he speaks about Social Security before a meeting of builders and contractors at the Capital Hilton, sits down for an interview with Neil Cavuto of Fox News to be shown this afternoon, and meets with Republican congressional leaders.
Tonight he is scheduled to watch “Cinderella Man” at the White House.

General Motors said Tuesday that it would cut about 25,000 jobs from its blue-collar work force in the United States by the end of 2008, in a broad move to reckon with its declining grip on the American car market.
The cuts, which represent about 22 percent of the hourly work force, would bring G.M.’s nationwide employment to 86,000 hourly workers, roughly the number it employed in the city of Flint, Mich., in the 1970’s.
– G.M. Will Reduce Hourly Workers in U.S. by 25,000, by Danny Hakim, The New York Times, June 8, 2005.

Related: GM Employee Discount for Everyone Event

A military inquiry has found that guards or interrogators at the Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba kicked, stepped on and splashed urine on the Koran, in some cases intentionally but in others by accident, the Pentagon said on Friday.
[…]
The investigation into allegations that the Koran had been mishandled also found that in one instance detainees’ Korans were wet because guards on the night shift had thrown water balloons on the cellblock.
– Military Details Koran Incidents at Base in Cuba, by Eric Schmitt, The New York Times, June 4, 2005.

Dear Mom and Dad,
Greetings from Camp X Ray where if the food doesn’t kill ya, something else probably will! Ha ha ha. Just kidding.
I am having a lot of fun here and am meeting a lot of really, really nice people from all over the world. We do sports for one hour every day and we get to sing along to all kinds of music.
Our counselors are really crazy! One night they threw water balloons at us while we were sleeping! We all laughed a lot, but then we realized they got my Holy Koran wet and I got mad. But they apologized and promised all of us a pizza party! (Once a counselor accidentally splashed pee-pee on my bunkmate’s Holy Koran and we had an ice cream party.)
Next week we’re going to a petting zoo with real live animals! It’s gonna be great! We might also go swimming, but I am afraid I might drown. Ha ha ha.
I miss you both a lot and I hope to see you soon. Can you please send me a care package with fresh water and some Band-Aids?
Love, Your Son

From the Associated Press: White House Hopes to Boost Palestinian With Visit and Aid, May 26, 2005:

Bush also announced that United States will direct $50 million for housing and other construction aid to the Palestinian Authority to help Palestinians in Gaza once Israelis leave this August.
[…]
The $50 million in new direct aid is part of a $150 million package that Bush is seeking for the Palestinians from Congress. He said the money would help Palestinians settle into Gaza once the Israel withdrawal set for this summer is complete.
“America wants to help,” Bush said.
Reacting to the announcement, Palestinian legislator and human rights activist Hanan Ashrawi said the $50 million was just a “modest beginning.”
“I’m sure the U.S. is capable of giving greater support not only to Gaza, but to the West Bank,” she told The Associated Press.

RELATED: US Senate approves 2005 Israel aid package – Israel will receive $2.2 billion in military aid and $480 million in civilian aid: “Each year, Israel receives the largest share of US foreign aid, which totals $17 billion in the current fiscal year. Egypt is the second largest recipient of aid, with $1.9 billion. Jordan receives $464 million, after the 0.59% deduction. In addition to the annual aid, the US has provided Israel with $9 billion in loan guarantees over three years, or $3 billion a year.”
U.S. Financial Aid To Israel: Figures, Facts, and Impact: “Total U.S. aid to Israel is approximately one-third of the American foreign-aid budget, even though Israel comprises just .001 percent of the world’s population and already has one of the world’s higher per capita incomes.”

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)


(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

A U.S. Marine writes an identification number on the forehead of an Iraqi man detained during a search in Haditha, 220 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Wednesday, May 25, 2005.
RELATED: ellesse PRIMAVERA-ESTATE APPAREL SPRING SUMMER 2005
EARLIER: Primo product placement: I’m a pepper, she’s a pepper…Wouldn’t you like to pepper spray these Muslim savages, too?

10 Dead as Car Bomb Tears Apart Baghdad Restaurant, the Los Angeles Times
Car bomb kills 5 at Shi’ite mosque in Iraq, Reuters
Four Car Bombings Kill Dozens Across Iraq, Associated Press
OK, those are some pretty distressing headlines, but…what exactly does a car bombing look like?

Nori Abdul Hussein, 4-years old, lies on a hospital bed in Baghdad’s al-Yarmouk hospital after being injured when a car bomb blew up outside the Abul-Fadl Abbas Shiite mosque in Mahmoudiya, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad, killing at least 10 people at about the time worshippers would go to a mosque for sunset prayers, in Iraq Monday, May 23, 2005. (AP Photo/Haidar Fatehi)