Booz Allen is watching you. Saving Private Snowden or Saving Public Manning? (Outsourcing intel in Patriot Act times - When Big Data meets Small Government)

So I received this email*, which is supposed to make me feel guilty:

"191,537 people have signed President Obama's birthday letter.

But you're not ONE OF THEM.

SIGN THE CARD."

 
Sorry, but I don't feel guilty. And this choice of picture... Barack Obama like Cary Grant carrying that glass of milk to Joan Fontaine in "Suspicion"...

Well. I'm still ONE OF THEM, them people who subscribe to Barack Obama newsletters. So the NSA didn't have to scan my profile to find out I didn't sign the darn card: I opted in 6 years ago. And yes, I still receive Karl Rove memos - you need a good laugh now and then.

Ah! Ah! Guantanamo, can't get tired of that old Bush-Cheney joke! Actually, Obama's America invented something even better than Guantanamo in Cuba: One-man-ammo in Russia! You're afraid to face unfair justice in the US? Uncle Vlad will be happy to provide tailored hospitality in his model democracy.

No, Eric Holder hasn't choked on a pretzel yet.

Frankly, I think Saving Private Snowden is less important than Saving Public Manning. I'm not talking about poor whistleblower Bradley Manning, but about national intelligence services.

Outsourcing intel at the core of NSA is already disturbing. To a Carlyle Group affiliate. As if Israel were outsourcing its strategy to the Boston Consulting Group. Sorry, wrong example.

Outsourcing intel in Patriot Act times, when Big Data meets Small Government.

Outsourcing intel means that the Big Brother who's watching you is not the NSA but Booz Allen Hamilton.

And don't think these contractors are very careful when they handle or man this most sensitive mission. Booz Allen CEO Ralph W. Shrader said "Mr. Snowden was on our payroll for a short period of time, but he was not a Booz Allen person and he did not share our values".

In other words: "Oh, you know, that mission you hired us for, spying for America? You can trust us: we gave the job to a most untrustworthy person. Anyway, we can't afford to keep the best ones, they sell their services to foreign companies and nations. Handling confidential NSA stuff, that's pretty good on a resume when you're looking for a job in Russia, in Pakistan, or at Facebook. Non Disclosure Agreements? We do those, but only to make sure the public doesn't know how much your Government is paying us. By the way, can we renegociate this contract of ours? We believe you need new servers and software to catch up with the competition. To build their own systems, they hired people who were trained on your obsolete material and knew all your weaknesses."

Talking about weaky leaks.

McLean, Va. 795,582,003,441,637,794 data burgers served across the world.





Outsourcing intel: - #ParriotAct + #BigData + small government = #BoozAllen is watching you - Saving private #Snowden or public #Manning?
twitter.com/stephanemot/status/363709151731388416
 
#Snowden: after #Guantanamo in #Cuba, the US created #OneManAmo in #Russia The moral hazards of outsourcing intel in #PatriotAct times
twitter.com/stephanemot/status/363710368557711362





blogules 2013
Since 2003, nonsensical posts about noncritical issues in nonenglish (get your blogules transfusion in French)
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Texas State Board of Education dumps Education in favor of Creationism

I love Texas, but my patience is wearing thin.

Hosting and supporting the worst POTUS in history was one thing, delivering his dystopia is pushing a bit too far.

Among the key changes voted by the State Board of Education for 10 years starting in 2011-2012 :
- pupils will be taught that "separation of church and state" isn't written in the Constitution, a necessary step towards Dubya's vision (Intelligent Design at school, theocracy in Washington)
- pupils will be asked to point out attacks from the UN and other international bodies against the US of Amerika (you know, them Human Rights and Geneva Conventions, those un-Amerikan terrorists who dared criticize the way we handled things in Abu Ghraib and Gitmo)

Contagion to other states would be certain : Texas being a major market for textbooks, it often sets the pace at the national level.

I'm speechless, but I hope true democrats and republicans (across the aisle, without the capital D and R) will not let this infamy happen.

The obvious ways out would be a gubernatorial win by Democrats or a Supreme Court overrule. But even if they lose in the end, GOP fundamentalists would win by reigniting a really un-american civil war. This episode is also a perfect stimulus for mid-term elections : expect a spectacular turnout across the Bible belt.

blogules 2010

Memo : the case is about abuses in Gitmo, not about closing Gitmo

In an unsigned tribune ("Bush's Gitmo Vindication" - 20090522), the Wall Street Journal accuses President Obama of vindication against President Bush's Pristine Heritage in his great speech delivered yesterday. According to the unknown author, closing Guantanamo was a mistake.

"Obama still hasn't said where the worst terrorists will go".
=> Well. After seven years of outrages, Guantanamo still hasn't said whether detainees were terrorists or not. Obama just took office a few months ago, remember ?

To Jim Webb, who said "We spend hundreds of millions of dollars building an appropriate facility with all security precautions in Guantanamo to try these cases. There are cases against international law", the courageous author adds "That was the Bush Administration's point all along."
=> First, a reminder : Bush's Amerika spent hundreds of billions of dollars building an inappropriate war in favor of terror instead of an appropriate war on terror.
=> Second, what Obama and the World point all along is this : of course terrorists are against international law ! But Gitmo abuses were against international law, the Bush Administration was against international law, Bush's Amerika was against international law. The case is not about closing Guantanamo but about what went wrong there.

"Mr. Obama called all of this a "mess" that he had inherited, but in truth the mess is of his own haphazard design. He's the one who announced the end of Guantanamo without any plan for what to do with, or where to put, KSM and other killers".
=> It's like the economy, stupid. You need to stop the wrongs but it's not that easy because the mess is really deep and nasty. What did you expect Obama to say in front of the collapse of the World economies last autumn ? "Good job ! Keep Going" ? Same here : we first say this must stop, and then we work on a solution.
=> "Haphazard design" is not deciding to close Guantanamo. "Haphazard design" is deciding to promote torture, committing Abu Ghraib abuses, and giving a boost to worldwide terror in the process.

"Tell us again why Gitmo should be closed?"
=> my pleasure, dear unknown fascist coward : "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".

True v. False vs Good v. Evil

"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".

I must confess I had the political equivalent of a quick but intense orgasm when I heard that sentence, to me the climax of an otherwise not-so-great but nonetheless perfectly powerful inaugural speech.

"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals" celebrates the end of the Bush-Cheney era.

This "we" goes far beyond "We the People of the United States", which does already incompass a large spectrum of origins, colors, beliefs, non-beliefs... you name it, and did Barack name a few during his 18 mn speech !

This "we" includes human beings from "each nation, every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity".

The verb "reject" resonates strongly in such an inclusive speech and it should because it denounces our worst enemy, the one from within. When we forget who we are.

The Bush-Cheney equation was "false". This is not a moral judgement, "right" vs "wrong". And this is certainly not a religious statement about who is "good" and who is "evil". This is a clear definition of what mankind is all about.

At this defining moment, Barack Hussein Obama reminded us the true definition of freedom and democracy.

"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".

We reject as false the Bush-Cheney definitions of "freedom" and "democracy".

To add insult to injury, the Supreme Justice nominated by George W. Bush fumbled with the 35 words of the Constitution he was supposed to protect during that glorious inauguration. And of all words, he put "faithfully" in the false position.

President Obama later talked about things that were "true". One may question "patriotism" or other examples, but the word "true" has a more forgiving and subjective meaning. It is about loyalty to life, whatever or whomever you care for. Your ideals.

"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".

Obama's first decision is to close Guantanamo and put an end to Bush-Cheney's caricature of justice.

"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".

At this defining moment, America declared its independence from Amerika.

blogules 2009

The Bush Legacy

When former French President François Mitterrand died in January 1996, his closest followers started working on his legacy, so that History recalls his great moments (peaking with the abolition of death penalty), and forgets his less glorious ones (where to start : Vichy ? Rwanda ? illegal eavesdropping... ?).

George Walker Bush is not dead yet, but The Bush Legacy project seems to be the priority of an administration in its last throes (nevermind those minor wars and crises). Former eminent members are also taking part, and Ks are welcome. Not necessarily of the triple nor financial kind but yes, Karen Hughes and Karl Rove are doing their shares.

"The Architect" is not only indulging into revisionism but also threatening to reveal, in a book, the names of political figures who never considered Lord Dubya "a legitimate president" : "I'm going to name names and show examples"¹.

"I'm going to name names and show examples". I guess many of us obscure bloggers wish we were political figures instead of pathetical buffoons, just to have the pleasure to receive this supreme honor from a man who, ironically, owes his "Turd Blossom" nickname to the very person of whom, over the past decades, he's been devotedly licking the fleshiest parts other beers cannot reach.

"I'm going to name names and show examples". This sentence is probably the ultimate tribute to the actual Bush Legacy, the most vibrant homage to the darkest moments in the Bush-Cheney era. Amerika decided to show such examples as Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib, and History will need names to go along with these.

History has just started its work on the Bush Legacy, Karl²... And your own name has been named for a legitimate residency in jail, remember ?

I guess Hollywood can milk out of your project something like "The Bourne Again Christian" trilogy : The Bush Legacy = The Fundamentalist Supremacy + The Fascist Identity.

One last time, Bush was successful only as a Fundamentalist in Chief : he never acted as a President for the good of his country, nor even as a Republican for the good of his party, but as a Fundamentalism for the good of fundamentalism. And in that field, he was only one Supreme Justice short of a perfect record.


1 - "Rove planning to 'name names' of Bush haters in his new book" (Amanda Terkel - Think Progress 20081207)

2 - Including from Iran, with love : "Bush: A disgraceful legacy" (Linda S. Heard - Tehran Times 20081207) "You have to admire President George W. Bush, who on January 20 will leave behind him what is arguably the worst U.S. presidential legacy ever. No sleepless nights over a global economy in freefall for him. No conscience haunted by the millions of souls, whose lives have been ruined for ever due to his misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Everybody loves Raymondville, TX

America just redeemed itself*, and Texas seems to follow suit.

I mean literally : a local Grand Jury has indicted, along with Senator Eddie Lucio Jr**, the two symbols of George W. Bush's sick idea of justice.

Cheney and Gonzales Indicted At Last !

This suit has something to do with abuses of prisoners, but neither in Gitmo nor in Abu Ghraib : the crimes were perpetrated in US prisons just a few miles away from the Mexican border, in Willacy County, TX. Today, everybody loves Raymondville.

W.'s Chief Torture Officer is charged for lobbying against investigations into those abuses, and "Lobby Dick" for - what else - conflict of interest : Darth Vader owned shares in the Vanguard Group which itself had something to do with those dark Texas detention centers.

Interesting day for Alberto Gonzales : the Justice Department announced that his lawyer fees would be paid for (up to 24 Grants a month) by taxpayers' money. You know ? Gonzie happens to be sued for imposing political biases in hirings and firings within that very Justice Department... I doubt this exceptional favor was awarded by a "liberal leaning" appointee.

* see "America is a great country"
** KRGV-TV, today's Huff Post "Cheney, Gonzales Indicted By South Texas Grand Jury".

Driving Mister Crazy

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama Bin Laden's Yemeni driver, enjoyed his 15 Wharolian minutes.
Bonus : 7 years in Gitmo Resort, and more to come.

Hamdan has eventually been found guilty of something. Amerika's justice simply could not let this pathetic figure walk away without losing what's left of its own credibility : this nobody symbolically won all previous bouts, including the fabled Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case. For one good reason : this whole mock-up of a judicial framework was proven inconstitutional. And the only way to maintain him in the Guantanamo limbo was to label him "Enemy combatant" (turning his car into a Mobile Weapon of Mass Destruction with SA-7 missiles).

So Hamdan is guilty. For serving Dubya's partner* in his Good vs Evil crusade. For exposing the failures of freedom, justice, and democracy in a country that was supposed to disseminate freedom, justice and democracy**. For masterminding a plot against the cover-ups, lies and forgeries of an Administration that insulted the values of its nation.

So the driver will pay. But the madman who's been driving the USovA down the gutter of infamy shall remain un-prosecuted. In spite of all the recent "revelations" from former White House members who should have blown the whistle a long time ago. Yeah, Dennis Kucinich did mention impeachment but this masquerade was too little too late, and only an expedient for Nancy Pelosi to clinch a minor deal***.

Actually, I can't prove that George W. Bush was a member of al Qaeda but History will probably charge him for "engaging in hostilities against the US", "conspiracy", and "providing support for terrorism".



* see "Universal Declaration of Independence from fundamentalism"
** both Dubya's experts in justice (Harriet E. Miers and Alberto Gonzales) should actually end up in jail, and his record consists of the disastrous handling of the cases of two underbrained misfits (Zacharias Moussaoui pairing with Salim Hamdan) and one former dictator (see "Smokescreened him out - Saddam 1-1 Slobodan - Red blogule to justice in 2006" 20061230).
*** in her own crude words, she even claimed to have saved the POTUS from self-inflicted torture ("We pulled the president's chestnuts out of the fire")

5-4. Still standing

Guantanamo prisoners have a right for justice, ruled the Supreme Court. Habeas Corpus still means something in Bush's Amerika.
But that was a close call : 5-4.
And there were a lot of comments from both sides.
From Justice Anthony Kennedy, this sound and relevant comment : "Liberty and security can be reconciled and in our system they are reconciled within the framework of the law."
For Justice (?) Antonin Scalia, this ruling is an "incursion into military affairs".
And from the 4 Justices (?) who voted against the ruling (the same Scalia + Samuel A. Alito Jr, Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice (?) John G. Roberts Jr, Dubya's latest pick), this written comment, a clear incursion into political affairs : "America is at war with radical Islamists"..
Amazing.
US voters should definitely make sure John McCain is not elected.
And the 5 last defensors of genuine Justice in their country should definitely watch for their health until next spring.

Justice now

Alberto R. Gonzales, David S. Addington, Harriet E. Miers, John B. Bellinger III... the simple mention of those names reminds us the way justice has been disgraced under the Bush-Cheney rule (denial of justice, withdrawal from international conventions, promotion of torture, illegal abductions, the Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib messes... you name it).

These four Bush "law" experts discussed together the destruction of the CIA tapes at the core of the scandal the most likely to lead to some form of impeachment in the short term. We know they didn't issue any warning against the destruction, but we don't know if they pushed in favor of it - one can easily guess where their preferences lied.

We do know what John Negroponte, then the head of national security, recommended. He sent a memo to Goss, then the head of the Agency and thus a subordinate, warning against the destruction of the said tapes.

We do know that the CIA tapes have been destroyed.

Don't tell me a small fish turned the wrong button at the wrong time in a matter involving such big whales (nothing personal, Karl*).

Once again, we are not talking about a fling with an intern in the Oval Office but about the cover up of acts of torture condoned by both the President and his VP.

If the American people wants justice, it should demand impeachment right now.

* see "Whale Hunt at the White House" (20070814)

Chief Torture Officer

Impeachment. The situation requires impeachment.

I know neither Dubya nor Lobby Dick are likely to get it on time. But there is a chance their Chief Torture Officer will, as a tribute to such a disgraceful presidency.

The least one could say is Alberto Gonzales acted wrongly in the US at the head of the DOJ, but History is bound to attach two more exotic resorts to his name : Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Not to mention these Twilight Zones where people disappeared, phantom CIA planes landed, and justice was denied.

If Gonzales is not responsible for everything ("higher" beings were in charge), he clearly provided the theory and was a mastermind for the most revolting insults made by this administration to justice and democracy.

Impeaching Alberto Gonzales would be a small step for the restoration of American values, but a giant leap for mankind.

Red blogule to Dick Cheney - Apneamerika

Hold your breath. The latest videogame is about entering Amerika safe and leaving it alive.

First, you must pass through the Great Mexican Wall. Then, you have to avoid Florida snipers (The Gunshine State welcomes you*) and scary CIA Abductors. Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200 but give ten times that amount to the GOP and you may reach the next level. But you can end up in a dead end even before entering Amerika - that twilight zone is called the Guantanamo Law Warp.

Now is the moment of truth : are you truly an Amerikan ? Answer a few tricky questions from Darth Vader (Lobby Dick Cheney), such as "Do you consider the law of the jungle in business to be Darwinian (only the fittest prevail) or creationist (there is a scheme and big corporations set some kind of an Intelligent Design) ?"

Whatever the outcome, you then must take a bath. Either in order to be baptised a stubborn-again Bushite, or to be drowned to death a cruel, inhumane and degrading way**.


* see "Red blogule to the Gunshine State - shootfirstlaw.org Hammered down by the NRA" (20051011)

** see "White blogule to John McCain vs cruel, inhuman, or degrading Amerika" (20051025)

Red blogule to the President who "saves American lives"

President Bush proudly signed the death certificate of Habeas Corpus over a "Protecting Amerika" billboard Joseph Goebbels would have been proud of.

Dubya even dared add this was "a rare occasion when a president can sign a bill he knows will save American lives".

Tell that to the relatives of the 2,783 Americans "saved" from life in Iraq (3,020 overall for what's left of the pretended coalition, according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count*). Not to mention non-lethal US casualties (somewhere between 30 and 50,000) and of course the 43,937 to 48,783 Iraqis civilians killed because of the US invasion**. So far.

The fact is Bush has never had any occasion of actually saving American lives. Beyond his own, that is, for instance during the Vietnam War as an outfielder Washington Dodger.

I'll tell you what Dubya : not only American lives are not saved, America's soul his being repeatedly tortured and raped by your abject Administration.

As far as I'm concerned, I don't know if I should visit the US again. I love the country but I don't feel secure under a fascist regime where anyone can be abducted anytime anywhere, deprived from any justice, tortured, and even supersized (in Amerika, even Guantanamo residents are overfed with junk food).

* see Icasualties.org.
** see IraqBodyCount.net. President Bush declared The Lancet "not credible" when it announced over 650,000 Iraqi deaths, but The Lancet already was "not credible" for supporting science over creationism, intelligent design and other revisionist theories.

White blogule to Kofi's last throes of morality

Why now ? All of a sudden, the UN's Secretary General asks Koizumi to stop his provocating visits to Yasukuni and a UN panel asks the US to stop Guantanamo's tragic farce. Maybe Kofi Annan feels his days are counted at the head of this not yet dead international body. That won't save Darfur but bad guys can be found everywhere.
Anyway, both Japan and the US do as if nothing happened. Toni Snow said "everything that is done in terms of questioning detainees is fully consistent with the boundaries of American law" and I'm afraid he is right : Amerika's administration changed America's laws to allow torture, illegal tapings, illegal abductions among other small steps for W but giant leaps backwards for humanity.

White blogule to Sen. Feingold - Saving private eye Bush

Senator Russell D. Feingold (D-WI) eventually dropped the "I" word. Impeachment, at last !
Senator Arlen Hannibal Specter countered and The Red Machine seized the opportunity to wake its gloomy base up : hey, you ! Something to fight for, don't let your majority lose, save private eye Dubya !
A noble cause worth the fight : your beloved Duce needs you. If you want your Administration to keep insulting democracy, vote Republikan. Don't listen to these no gooders who claim being Republicans but don't support Our Dear Compassionate Leader. You want to feel the same pride as you did while crushing that flip-flopping weasel ? You want to feel like a winner again ? You want to say "Mission Accomplished" one more time, even for a day ? You want to forget you elected the worst US president in History ? Vote Amerika. And oh, impeaching Dubya would send a wrong message to the world and to our Middle East friends. Instead, we should keep broadcasting snapshots from our Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib Club Meds, where people smile happily while playing Mr Hyde and Sick.
Far away from this noise, the Bush Administration keep doing their job, and mass destruction of the independance of justice remains at the top of their agenda : they intend to teach U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema how to do justice this side of the Rio Grande. The Law shouldn't work for that Zacharias Moussaoui guy ; the people wants blood, hang'im up !
Excuse my French, there is a word for what they're doing to your country and that's "fascism". Do you want the US to confirm the choice of infamy ?
Dear Americans*, don't let this happen, spread the word around ! And don't let the Dems flunk once again : that's a grassroot thing - if you leave it up to them, you leave it to Ken Mehlman and your beautiful country is lost for good. Speak out loud !!! Remind your fellow citizens which values they used to stand for.
This time, don't you dare miss the opportunity.


* ... or at least my dear hundred daily visitors from the US ! You come from 50 states, over 700 counties, and over 1,600 cities (including Midland, TX). That's a far cry from the RNC's e-mail to 15M supporters but hey, you have to start somewhere - anywhere and everywhere...

Red Blogule to JFK - Out of the blue(s) ?

I read "The Speech the President Should Give" by John F. Kerry in the NY Times dated 20050628. Including the laconic footer "John F. Kerry is a Democratic senator from Massachusetts".
Not as thrilling as "I was a teenage mutant presidential candidate", but better than "John Edwards is a former North Carolina senator and now a sorry podcaster (does One America Committee have more than one member ?)".
The said speech doesn't bring any news but the fact Senator Kerry is still alive and not kept hostage in a dark Abu Ghraib / Gitmo / Congress cell. Yet the torture must have been intense : being deprived of media exposure for over half a year can drive any warrior insane. But Senator Kerry is not insane. Just unlucky enough to have faced Karl Rove at his best - that is at his worst.
In the meanwhile, my Yee-haaoo! Mail box got saturated by Howard Dean's deep thoughts. The laxative kind you got for attending the second part of Saturday Night Live. Only not as funny.
In the meanwhile, Hillary tries to raise other things than eyebrows in front of her latest hairdo.
In the meanwhile, Barack does his job and listens to the next plans of the Architect for Illinois.

Red blogule to President Cheney and his "unlawful combatants"

Hypocrisy is not Lobby Dick's middle name. You can easily translate Dubya's doubletalk by catching the not so innocent pieces of ultraconservative wisdom his VP keeps releasing with the precision of a Swiss clock. Who was there to put some (Halliburton ?) oil on the fire at the peak of North Korean tension last week ? President Cheney. Who is there to defend Guantanamo under fire ? Richard The Second.
According to the NYT, the man a heartbeat away from becoming the world leader of democracy said Guantanamo detainees do not qualify for treatment under the Geneva Conventions because they are "unlawful combatants" who have not "operated in accordance with the laws of war" because they don't wear uniforms and have targeted civilians.
Here are the facts, Mr Cheney :

• Yes, atrocities are also committed by American people because you told them not to abid to any laws. Refusing the Geneva Conventions and any other kind of accountability goes beyond "unlawfulness" : you are training outlaws and torturers and this administration brought the shame on your country like no other one before.
• Yes, terrorists did and do commit atrocities - against the American people but more fundamentally (indeed !)against moderate muslims who are now defenseless because of the illegal war you sold - these are the perfect target civilians who get killed while you, as usual, stay safe far away from the actual war.
• Yes, this can also be said about you : you are "unlawful", you have not "operated in accordance with the laws of war", you don't wear uniforms and your so called war on terror mainly targeted civilians (the fact that US soldiers die because of you doesn't hurt the feelings of your buddies : after all, you traded their big corporation losses for a massive public deficit).

You say you want to bring Osama to justice but I wonder what kind of justice USA can bring under the helm of a known promoter of torture and at a time when even paedophiles are acquitted.

White blogule to impeachment

At last, someone like Carter dares demanding an end to the Guantanamo scandal and Amnesty International dares mentioning USA's network of legal-free but torture-laden prisons as a global gulag archipelago. Every day, the Bush Administration immorality makes the news and Clinton's Oral Offices performances sound relatively harmless compared to the deliberate use of propaganda and falsification (ie the recent NYT paper on the politically alteration of scientific reports on global warming by Philip Cooney, Mr Environment at the White House - yeah, I know it sounds weird but consider there ARE more than a couple of guys in charge of economy in the French government)...

Here is the closest thing to a dictator Amerika ever had, the biggest insult to the spirit of the US constitution, an almost farcical caricature of what a ruler shouldn't be. A notorious dodger, cheater and lyar. Unlike Nixon, Bush didn't have the other party's quarters taped, but he manipulated the total mediasphere of his country and people died for the wrong reasons.

Yet, no one ever mention impeachment.

What is wrong with the people of America ? What is wrong with the people of France ? What is wrong with democracy ?

White blogule to deep throats

If W. Mark Felt actually is Watergate's "Deep Throat", the best kept secret in journalism has come to an end.
What puzzles me is first the timing of the disclosure... right after the "flushed Quran" scandal (which, as I suspected, should never have been called the "Newsweek scandal") : just to remind the not so courageous guy who leaked the Guantanamo mess before retracting the whistle blower can be the hero.
What puzzles me next is the paper releasing the scoop, "Vanity Fair" being a joke on the media exposure. Exposing himself as Deep Throat to the mass media mirrors wasn't about vanity - the guy is 91 and just wanted the truth to come out. What wasn't fair was the necessity to hide for telling it in the first place.

Red blogule to the flushed Quran scandal

Tough times for journalists : you need bullet proof evidences and witnesses to publish anything in BC04 Amerika or else... you're to commit seppuku publicly, explain you told lies*, that you never meant to criticize Uncle Joe... er... Uncle Sam. Dubya's mob is as efficient as Stalin's : they can forge any untruth they want (hey, that got'em reelected) but if you can't have your own sources confirm their off the record leaks (which could get them fired) you're a bold liar. So you become the one responsible for fueling hatred within the Muslim world, you're the one carrying the scapegoat nickname (Rathergate) while the Karl Rove squad of forgers walks away, you're the one shooting a sick remake of sex, lies and videotapes in Abu Ghraib, you're the one bringing shame on Guantanamo, that pleasant resort for tourists from the Middle East...
I suppose the Quran was truly desacrated in Guantanamo but I can't prove it. But I know for sure America has been desacrated by its own rulers : Bush flushed the US Constitution down the toilet of History.

* Newsweek's mea culpa : "On Monday afternoon, May 16, Whitaker issued the following statement: Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Qur'an abuse at Guantanamo Bay."