PBC News & Comment: McCain vs. Hagel, Viet Vets Argue Over Wars

At Hagel confirmation hearing, McCain flails, fails in attempt to get Hagel to reverse his opinion of Iraq “surge” myth…..The Vietnam vets who were friends in the Senate until Chuck Hagel disagreed with Bush’s “surge” in Iraq, traded jabs today.  Nick Turse, who was our guest on January 11 regarding his new book on atrocities in Vietnam, states a question that won’t come up in the hearings in this column

On Monday, we relayed the Guantanamo scoop from Truthout’s Jason Leopold, who is at the prison covering pretrial hearings in the case of the alleged 9/11 masterminds.  Today,  Leopold advances the story, as Judge Pohl has decreed that there will be no remote control of the audio and video feed of the trial, following an episode Monday where a third party, likely at CIA, was able to remotely interrupt the media feed

–without credit to Leopold, NY Times reporter Charlie Savage filed a story today on the Gitmo trial and the judge’s demand for an end to remote control interference.  He also discusses the recent court rulings that bar charges for “conspiracy” and AG Holder’s plan to appeal them

–Israeli warplanes hit Syria yesterday, perversely producing strong support for the Assad dictatorship

–UN panel rips Israel for its 250 settlements with 500,000 residents in the West Bank, says Israeli policy can be viewed as war crime;  US says it opposes settlements, but opposes the investigation and its findings

–at DeSmogBlog, Steve Horn reveals new legislation from ALEC and Heartland Institute that mandates unscientific teaching on climate change

–Bubba the Love Sponge wins defamation trial, as jury rejects all charges that his invective actually harmed his competitor, Todd Schnitt

Podcast: Play in new window | Download