Late last month, Huntington Beach police officers unloaded 18 bullets into 19-year-old Ashley MacDonald in a city park after, they say, she moved toward them with a pocket knife. The shooting has understandably sparked protests and countywide debate over when police officers should be allowed to use deadly force. I'm infuriated not just by the senseless nature of the killing, but by the arrogance of the police agencies, which refuse to talk frankly about the appropriate use of deadly force. The police department and sheriff's department, which investigates these shootings for HBPD, say we shouldn't second-guess the officers or rush to judgment before the investigation is complete. ut it could take months before all the details are gathered. I contacted HBPD and asked for reports from two previous police shootings, from 2004 and 2001. The department's answer: Even though the investigations are complete, they will release no information other than the skeletal facts, such as ... http://www.lewrockwell.com censor News |
Editor - 21:28:00 09-13-06 |
When rockets and phosphorous cluster |
"In Lebanon, we covered entire villages with cluster bombs, what we did there was crazy and monstrous," testifies a commander in the Israel Defense Forces' MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) unit. Quoting his battalion commander, he said the IDF fired some 1,800 cluster rockets on Lebanon during the war and they contained over 1.2 million cluster bombs. The IDF also used cluster shells fired by 155 mm artillery cannons, so the number of cluster bombs fired on Lebanon is even higher. At the same time, soldiers in the artillery corps testified that the IDF used phosphorous shells, which many experts say is prohibited by international law. According to the claims, the overwhelming majority of the weapons mentioned were fired during the last ten days of the war. The commander asserted that there was massive use of MLRS rockets despite the fact that they are known to be very inaccurate - the rockets' deviation from the target reaches to around 1,200 meters - and ... http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/761910.html
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Editor - 21:03:00 09-13-06 |
Hezbollah accused of war crimes |
Amnesty International has accused Hezbollah of acts amounting to war crimes in the conflict with Israel. The group said Hezbollah deliberately targeted civilians with rockets in the 34-day war - a "serious violation of international humanitarian law". An earlier Amnesty report accused Israel of committing war crimes by deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in Lebanon. Amnesty again urged a UN inquiry into violations by both sides. It quoted Sheikh Nasrallah as saying: "As long as the enemy undertakes its aggression without limits or red lines, we will also respond without limits or red lines." Amnesty said Israel's violations could in no way justify Hezbollah's actions. Amnesty International's Secretary General, Irene Khan, said: "Civilians must not be made to pay the price for unlawful conduct on either side." ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5343188.stm
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Editor - 19:38:00 09-13-06 |
Iran's Top Leader Says U.S. Withdrawal Is the Solution to End Instability in Iraq |
Supreme Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the visiting Iraqi prime minister Wednesday that the way to end instability in Iraq is for U.S. forces to withdraw. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was on the second day of his first visit to Iran since he taking office in May, looking to a close ally of his Shiite-led government for help in calming the violence tearing apart Iraq and in developing Iraq's troubled oil industry. He told Khamenei the Iranian governments must stop outside influences that are having a "negative" impact on Iraq's security, the Iraqi leader's spokesman said. With Iraq torn by sectarian violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, as well as a Sunni-led insurgency, the United States has frequently accused the Iranian regime of interfering in Iraqi politics and allowing insurgents to cross the border. Tehran denies that. ... http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2430543
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Editor - 19:11:00 09-13-06 |
Gotti Mob Charges Thrown Out Second Time Judge Throws Out New Racketeering Charges for Gotti, Saying Prosecutors Didn't Prove Claims |
For the second time, a judge on Wednesday tossed out new racketeering charges filed against John "Junior" Gotti, finding the evidence introduced at his trial insufficient to support a conviction. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin decided the government had not proven its claims that money invested in several of Gotti's properties stemmed from alleged loansharking or construction industry extortion. The government filed the new charges several months ago in a bid to boost its case against Gotti, the son of late mobster John Gotti, after two juries in the last year deadlocked on racketeering charges against him. Closing arguments in his retrial could begin as early as Thursday. A spokeswoman for prosecutors, Lauren McDonough, said the government had no comment on Scheindlin's ruling. Scheindlin had thrown out the new charges last month before Gotti's retrial started but changed her mind and reinstated them days later... http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2430480
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Editor - 18:03:00 09-13-06 |
Deputy head of Russian central bank shot: Ifax |
The first deputy chairman of Russia's Central Bank is in critical condition in hospital after being shot, Interfax news agency quoted law enforcement sources as saying on Wednesday.Andrei Kozlov's driver was killed in the attack in Moscow, the agency said. Police and the Central Bank could not immediately be reached for comment. Kozlov, 41, is in charge of banking supervision at the Central Bank. Interfax quoted medical sources as saying that he had serious bullet wounds to his chest and stomach and surgeons were preparing to operate. The agency said two gunmen attacked Kozlov as he arrived at a sports stadium to watch an amateur soccer match. ... http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2430422
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Editor - 17:54:00 09-13-06 |
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