Behind every evil man...

... which makes me wonder: How on earth did that nice, mild mannered, publicity shy, Dennis Thatcher get stuck with that frightful bully-girl, Margaret?

Am I the only one who has trouble reading things like these? On one hand I feel that I should be aware of these events yet it is very difficult for me to read these accounts and look at these pictures. It twists me up inside in such a horrible way.

I've been trying to catch up on a lot of the going ons in other places. In my country certain books and information either weren't widely available, outdated, biased or illegal so it's been an eye opener learning about world history and politics.

Here's another one with no easy answer, but it raises a lot of questions

US man jailed for Bush death plot
A US court has sentenced a US citizen convicted of plotting to kill President George W Bush and conspiring to support al-Qaeda to 30 years in jail.
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 25, was found guilty on all nine counts in November, including conspiracy to hijack a plane.

The Arab-American student was held in Saudi Arabia in 2003 and reportedly confessed to membership of al-Qaeda.

His defence team said he was tortured and forced to confess, but the judge refused to disallow the confession.

"The court is sentencing you to 360 months, which is 30 years in prison," said US District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in Alexandria, Virginia.

Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, but Judge Lee said that Abu Ali's actions "did not result in one single actual victim" and no weapons were found in his possession.

"That fact must be taken into account," the judge said.

Torture claims

Abu Ali was detained in Saudi Arabia in June 2003 and held there until February 2005, when he was returned to the US and charged.

Prosecutors alleged that he aimed to establish an al-Qaeda cell similar to the one that carried out the 11 September 2001 attacks.

The charges said Abu Ali would shoot Mr Bush on the street or detonate a car bomb.

Prosecutors said that he made contact with al-Qaeda while studying at university in Medina, Saudi Arabia, in 2001.

In Saudi Arabia, he signed confessions and made statements admitting to the plot against Mr Bush and to having ties to an al-Qaeda cell.

But in court he pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying he made up the confessions after being tortured by Saudi authorities.

Prosecutors denied he was mistreated.

Abu Ali was born in Houston and raised in Falls Church, Virginia.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4859214.stm

Interesting Cicerone. I am not sure what to make of this. I'm not naive enough to deny he was tortured without knowing all the details.

It's difficult to form a full picture of the situation when so many vital details are not known. (or given, as the case may be)

For one, as an American citizen, the US government should never allow them/another country to torture our citizens.

That's the problem with Gitmo and our prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan; we know we torture prisoners.

I am against torture on principle, no matter what country the victim comes from.

Most American are against torture except for neocons that support Bush's policies to protect "mericans.