Jun. 12, 2006 - 20:53 MDT

STILL WONDERING

Dribs and drabs from mid Rocky Mountain News. One from Florida in the Nation Briefing section.:

RUMSFELD TRIES TO DIVERT ANTI-DRUG HELICOPTERS

MIAMI -- "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wants to end Army helicopter support for a joint U.S.-Bahama drug-interdiction probram that over the past two decades has resulted in hundreds of arrests and the seizure of tons of cocaine and marajuana."

"The Army's seven Black Hawk helicopters and their crews form the backbone of Operation Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, which intercepts smugglers trying to enter Florida."

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Why Rummy ? ? What do you know that we don't ? ? Need those seven for Iraq ? ? Or is this just media gabble ? ?

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Then in the Nation Briefing of today is this:

ONLY FRACTION OF LOSSES BEING PAID BY INSURERS

NEW ORLEANS -- "The owners of the sagging, flood-stained home aren't in. Above the front door, a banner explains their absence and the lack of progress: "Allstate paid $10,113.34 on this house for storm damage."

"Like the homes next to it, the house was disemboweled Aug. 29 by Hurricane Katrina."

"I want people to drive by my home and decide for themselves. Could I repair this for $10,000 ?" asks Eric Moskau, the home's owner who had more than $1.2 million in coverage on his 3,000 square foot home."

"The insurance industry says it has settled more than 90 percent of its Hurricane Katrina claims, proving it's meeting its obligations to policy holders. But consumer advocates say insureres settled numerous cliams for only a fraction of the actual damages, using numerous exclusions to reduce payouts."

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All that money on all those premiums to insure a home. Its a sure thing the insurance industry is not going to go broke over a hurricane, I guess.

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Then in World Briefing in today's paper is this:

WEAPONS SALES FOSTER VIOLENCE AMNESTY SAYS

BEIJING -- "China's sales of military vehicles and weapons to Sudan, Nepal and Myanmar have aggravated confllicts and abetted violence and repressive rule in those countries, Amnesty International said in a report released Sunday."

"The London-based rights group's report sheds light on an area of Chinese foreign policy its government does not disclose: assistance to regimes embroiled in internal conflicts and often shunned by the West."

"In particular, the report said China had shipped hundreds of military trucks to Sudan and the Myanmar military and rifles and grenades to Nepal's security forces."

"Senior Bush Administration officials have publicly taken China to task for a robust military buildup at home and a lack of transparency in its defense policies."

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Seems to me though our administration has been walking delicately on eggs in its dealings with China. Guess our biggies want China to keep a lower profile and possibly avoid a pre-emptive war with someone ?

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And then in mid paper, an article by Dan Bilefsky of The New York Times, but having a few more words of content than the shorties, quoted herein in full:

REPORT: EUROPE HELPED CIA TRANSFER PRISONERS

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- "Fourteen European countries worked with the CIA in the secret transfer of terrorism suspects, and two of them -- Romania and Poland -- probably harbored secret CIA detention centers, the Council of Europe contends in a report issued Wednesday."

"In its 67-page report, the council, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights, said it was disingenuous for Europe to portray itself as an unwilling victim of an operation led by the United States because European countries played an active role in transfers orchestrated by the CIA."

"The United States "created this reprehensible network," the report's author, Dick Marty, a member of the Swiss Parliament, said in the report. "But we also believe to have established that it is only through the intentional or grossly negligent collusion of the European partners that the 'web' was able to spread over Europe."

"But the report concedes that the council has no hard evidence."

"The report drew swift denials. Romania rejected it as "pure speculation," while Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz of Poland dismissed it as "libel."

"These accusations are slanderous," Marcinkiewicz said. "They not based on facts."

But he said he had heard of a few cases of secret landings by CIA planes in Poland, saying it was "natural" in the global fight against terrorism." "Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain said the report contained "absolutely nothing new," while Spain's Foreign Ministry denied that the country had participated in prisoner transfers. also known as rendition."

"The report said seven countries -- Britain, Italy, Germany , Sweden, Macedonia, Bosna-Herzeovina and Turkey -- could be held responsible for violating prisoners' rights to "varying degrees." Others, it found, "could be held responsible for collusion -- active or passive" in the matters of secret prisons and transfers."

"It mentioned Poland, Romania, Spain, Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal and Greece."

"The report follows up similar accounts from European Parilament and the council itself."

"Tracing a "global spider web" of presumed prisons and transfer points, the report suggests that European involvement was deeper than previously surmised."

"Marty, a former prosecutor, describes an elaborate and orgaized system for the abduction and interrogation of suspected terrorists, consisting of several landing points, where civilian and military planes either stopped or refueled on their way to and from detention centers in Cuba, Afghaistan and Iraq."

"The report, however, put the number of clandestine CIA flights it contends stopped on European territory since Sept. 11, 2001, at far less than the 1,000 flights previously suggested by the European Parliament."

"It repeats accusations that Romania and Poland ran secret detention centers, saying there is "now a preponderance of indications" that the centers existed."

"It also contends that Britain gave the CIA information about its citizens and residents that resulted in their being detained and moved to places where they were possibly tortured."

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There is so much smoke over this "rendition" bit and secret prisons that there must be some fire . . . . . . . And political expediency covers all hind ends in the end perhaps.

There are many good people in this world and there is much good being done which is ignored because it is not exciting news. But the infrastructure of our governments world over leaves much to be desired to my way of looking at things. And if the biggies become rotten to the core, how soon will their population catch the same old disability ? This Jew is STILL WONDERING . . . . . . . . . .

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