Headlines Friday 16th January 2009

PUSHED TOO FAR
Tim Blair
Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser on those modest, home-made rockets:
It is the kind of weapon used by those who have been pushed too far and basically have no resources.
Consider for a second what Hamas would do if it had more resources; consider what Hamas would do if it had nuclear resources.
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THE PLANES DROP A DRAGON ON US
Tim Blair
Israeli television mocks the BBC.
UPDATE. In its way, this 2006 interview with Hamas leader and supplier of suicide bombers Nizar Rayyan is even funnier:
“Everyone, all the media, says that Hezbollah is wonderful,” he complained. “We stand with our brothers of Hezbollah, of course, but, really, look at the advantages they have. They get all the rockets they will ever need from Iran.”
Those Hezbo freeloaders; talk about getting an easy ride. Nizar is no fan of Fatah, either. It’s probably for the best that Nizar was recently nudged out of Middle Eastern affairs.
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BRA WORN
Tim Blair
The Guardian covers the admission by Bush administration official Susan Crawford that a Gitmo inmate was tortured:
Crawford admitted for the first time that torture had been carried out. Until now, the Bush administration, in particular the vice-president, Dick Cheney, had denied the interrogation techniques at Guantánamo constituted torture.

Crawford’s admission of torture is in relation to the case of a Saudi national, Mohammed al-Qahtani, 30, accused of involvement in the 9/11 attack. He is often referred to by US authorities as the “20th hijacker”. He was denied entry to the US in August 2001 and captured in Afghanistan in 2002. He was tortured for a month and then kept in isolation.

Crawford, a Pentagon official who last year was put in charge of military commissions that decide whether detainees should be tried, told the Washington Post: “We tortured Qahtani. His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that’s why I did not refer the case [for prosecution]” …

[Qahtani’s lawyer Gita] Gutierrez, who works for the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents many of Guantánamo’s 200-plus inmates, said she thought Qahtani’s torture constituted a war crime.

The International Red Cross, the only independent body with access to Guantánamo, does not speak about specific cases, but it said yesterday that in general, acts of torture could amount to war crimes …

The US will find it difficult to go ahead with any prosecution of Qahtani given that evidence obtained under torture would be inadmissible. Some within the US have argued that evidence obtained at a later stage and not tainted by torture could still be used.
The precise nature of Qahtani’s torture is missing from this report, although the word appears often enough. Here’s the extent of it:

• Forty-eight of 54 consecutive days of 18-to-20-hour interrogations.

• Standing naked in front of a female agent.

• Subject to strip searches.

• Insults to his mother and sister.

• Threatened with a military working dog named Zeus.

• Forced to wear a woman’s bra.

• Had a thong placed on his head.

Aside from the 18-to-20 hour questioning, Christopher Hitchens should breeze through this. His reenactment of Qahtani’s ordeal is greatly anticipated.
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CHOICE OFFERED
Tim Blair
Historian Andrew Roberts:
The American lady who called to see if I would appear on her radio programme was specific. “We’re setting up a debate,” she said sweetly, “and we want to know from your perspective as a historian whether George W Bush was the worst president of the 20th century, or might he be the worst president in American history?”

“I think he’s a good president,” I told her, which seemed to dumbfound her, and wreck my chances of appearing on her show.
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BARNABY FRENZY
Tim Blair
AAP-sourced headline in the Herald Sun:
Environmentalism is like Nazism – Joyce
The item continues:
Senator Joyce rejected a suggestion he was a climate change denier and drew a parallel with the Holocaust, the murder of millions of Jews and others by the Nazis during World War II.

“Climate change denier, like Holocaust denier, this is the sort of emotive language that has become stitched up in this (emissions trading) issue,” he said.
It looks more as though Joyce was pointing out parallels drawn by others. Meanwhile, in other Barnaby developments:

• Queensland opposition leader Lawrence Springborg defends Joyce’s enviro views;

• Nationals leader Warren Truss points out that the word “Nazi” was introduced to this debate not by Joyce but by hysterical Labor agriculture minister Tony Burke, who is seeking a retraction of something Joyce didn’t say;

• A hurt-sounding Burke says Joyce “drew comparisons between responding to climate change and Nazi Germany”;

• Truss wants Joyce to fall into line and play as part of a team;

• And independent MP Tony Windsor has described Joyce as the ”Sarah Palin of the north” – a curious title, given that Palin herself already holds it.
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PM and GG to take part in historic event
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Governor-General Quentin Bryce have announced they will take part in a historic national event on Friday.
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Johnny Knoxville detained for grenade at airport
Jackass star Johnny Knoxville has been detained for allegedly bringing an inert grenade into Los Angeles International Airport.
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Call for hijab ban backed by retailers
A radio announcer's call for a ban on Islamic hijabs has been backed by the Retailers Association.
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New York Miracle: passengers survive Hudson River crash
Miraculously, all passengers and crew on a plane that crashed into New York's Hudson River have survived. It's believed a collision with a flock of birds may have caused the accident.
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Israel to discuss Gaza truce in Washington
Arson: men charged over starting NSW bushfire