In Iraq, Was I a Torturer?

By Justine Sharrock, Mother Jones.

[Alternet]

When 27-year-old Ben Allbright returned from Iraq, he was treated like a hero. But he is haunted by the "harsh interrogations" he oversaw.

The prisons in Iraq stink. Ask any guard or interrogator and they'll tell you it's a smell they'll never forget: sweat, fear and rot. On the base where Ben Allbright served from May to September 2003, a small outfit named Tiger in western Iraq, water was especially scarce; Ben would rig a hose to a water bottle in a feeble attempt to shower. He and the other Army reservists tried mopping the floors, but the cheap solvents only added a chemical note to the stench. During the day, when the temperature was in the triple digits, the smell fermented. [...]

Using Tasers on Children

link

Police officers must make split-second judgments in volatile situations.

But shooting children with Taser stun guns -- except perhaps in the most dire cases -- is unacceptable. In the past two weeks, however, police in Miami-Dade County used stun guns to subdue two children. ... Tasers have their place in law enforcement as an alternative to deadly force, but must not become the option of first resort when less-risky intervention tactics exist.

Considered a non-lethal tool, Tasers deliver a highly painful 50,000 volt charge. Their use has possibly contributed to a number of deaths, and their safety has never been adequately established by independent studies.

Most important, we know virtually nothing about how they might adversely affect children, who are quite different physically from adults. The Miami-Dade Police Department should issue a moratorium on using Tasers on children until the two cases are investigated and officers are retrained to react with more prudence.

[The Brown Watch]

Eric Pepin again!

Stumbled upon the last article almost by chance few weeks ago, and now Pepin's saga is taking a new turn, it's like suing a costumer of yours who got a bad prescription from you. Heck, that's crazy!

Have a look yourself...

Eric Pepin - Higher Balance Institute Sue SOTT for 4.47 Million Over SOTT Forum Comments!

Yesterday, as I was working on finishing up the next installment of the Comet Series of Articles, FedEx delivered a packet of mail from our corporate registered agent in the U.S. It was "Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial" filed in the State of Oregon by Eric Pepin's Higher Balance Institute, LLC. The reason? A discussion on the SOTT Forum that begins HERE.

Well, that was entertaining enough when you think about the fact that the discussion that he objects to was centered on several newspaper articles that describe his close calls with the legal system in Oregon over charges of sex abuse.[...]

The World's spinning badly. We call our lawyer in the same way we buy peanuts at the store... without thinking, it's such an habit, and now it's more like the latest fashion, vogue, haute couture.

Let's see how it goes.