The Department of Justice rejected a request from psychologists Bruce Jessen and James Mitchell to give the CIA the power to pretend to bury terror suspects during interrogations in the years after the 9/11 attacks. A report (PDF, 289 pages) from the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, released last Friday, documents ten interrogation techniques approved by Bush administration lawyers Jay Bybee and John Yoo. The psychologists had requested twelve techniques. One of those two techniques has already been revealed to be prolonged diapering.

The March 7 election may be a critical event in the contest to decide Iraq’s future, but for some of the nation’s poor, the right to vote does not mean having a say in who leads the country; it means having something to sell to make desperately needed cash. With intensive campaigning now under way in what is shaping up to be a highly competitive ballot, votes have become a precious commodity, a fact not lost on many ordinary people who care little for politics but who struggle to make ends meet. "Elections are a beautiful opportunity to get some money," Ahmad Salam said. "There are lots of people willing to sell their votes, and lots of people who want to buy them." AWIP/Dahr Jamail: US Using Iraqi Political Discord to Justify Continuance of Occupation.

Anthony Lawson is a retired, international-prize-winning TV commercials director, cameraman and editor, and a professional voiceover artist living in Thailand. His entire catalog of YouTube videos can be viewed online. Palestinian Center for Human Rights: Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Moshe Dayan's widow: Zionism's role is over ... We don't know how to make peace. We go from war to war and this will never end.

[Editor's Comment:] But even at this late stage, she can't help herself from lying: "We didn't expel. During my childhood, we didn't expel. We bought those tracts of land. Since then, however, many things have happened and today Israel is not the same. It's cliche to talk about how we're in a state of occupation and we're trying to occupy more and more. I'm at that age where I don't even talk about peace anymore. We don't know how to make peace. We go from war to war and this will never end." Oh, yes, they did "expel", and thousands too. About 7-800.000 of "them" in fact. More HERE, HERE, HERE and here: New Israeli Law Forbids Palestinians From Mourning Or “Showing Signs Of Sadness”.

And what exactly was Zionism's "role"? -Jewish fascism ("Zionism") set out to steal all of historical Palestine. They now have come very close to their goal. (Check these maps.) Translating Ruth Dayan's statement, we get closer to the truth: We don't know how to be happy with the land we've already stolen. We go from war to war to steal ever more and this will never end.

Israeli settlers in Hebron intend to rally Saturday, commemorating the 1994 massacre that saw a Jewish-American open fire on praying Palestinians, killing 29, the Israeli news site Yedioth Ahronoth reported. AWIP: US: Israel's national heritage plan 'provocative'.

Israel is urging instructing the United States to freeze its decision to send a new envoy to Syria, in the wake of this week's tripartite meeting between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, according to a report Saturday in London-based Arabic daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat.

“I strongly support the dedicated public servants of our intelligence community. Their work to ensure our national security is to be commended. However, I must oppose the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2010. “This legislation contains provisions that implement vital measures of accountability, such as a provision to prohibit the use of funds for payment to any contractor to conduct interrogations of detainees currently in custody. I also support the provision in this legislation to establish an independent Intelligence Community-wide Inspector General. These provisions are an important step to ensure that mechanisms of accountability and oversight are in place. However, I remain concerned that some of the methods being employed by our intelligence community may amount to serious violations of international law and our Constitution." AWIP/Jayne Lyn Stahl: A Refuge for Cowards: Senate Extends Patriot Act. AntiWar: Obama signs one-year extension of Patriot Act.

They will interview six British-Israeli nationals whose identities were stolen by the suspected killers. The officers said the men were being treated as potential witnesses to a crime and not as suspects. It is widely believed Israel's secret service, Mossad, killed Mahmoud al-Mabouh in a Dubai hotel last month. Israel has declined to confirm or deny that it was responsible. AWIP: 'Netanyahu authorized Dubai assassination'.

A massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Chile this morning crumbling buildings, destroying bridges and causing an unknown number of deaths. The temblor struck near where the largest earthquake on history was recorded in 1960 and ties as the fifth largest since 1900.

The quake has caused tsunami warnings to be issued for most of the nations along the Pacific including Australia, Japan, Russia, Indonesia and the Philippines. In Hawaii, the tsunami arrived in recent hours and it appears the state will escape relatively unscathed.

In the aftermath, buildings in Chile’s capital of Santiago caught fire sending smoke into the sky. The temblor that shook the ground for nearly a full minute also sent a cloud of dust into the air. Click here for a slideshow of some of the first images after the quake. NASA’s Terra satellite flew over the stricken area today and the agency released ‘before and after’ photos that clearly show the smoke and dust. Al Jazeera: Chile quake leaves hundreds dead -Video. PressTV: Chile's killer quake toll passes 300. Boston.com: Disaster pictures from Chile [The Big Picture set]

Google Person Finder: Chile Earthquake

The head of Russia's federal drug control agency has lambasted the US-led forces for failing to stamp out drug production in Afghanistan. Victor Ivanov blamed US President Barack Obama's administration for not doing enough to destroy opium poppy crops and curb the production of heroin in Afghanistan, the BBC reported on Saturday. At least 30,000 people die in Russia every year due to heroin, 90% of which comes from Afghanistan, Ivanov added. PressTV: 40-fold drug surge in Afghanistan: report. Afghanistan Conflict Monitor: Afghan Opium Production Up 34 Percent in 2007; New Record Set. Uruknet: Afghan drug trafficking brings US $50 billion a year.

[Background info:] Interview with Alfred McCoy. + The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade [Interview]. + Afghanistan: Drug Addiction Lucrative for Neolib Banksters, CIA. + Washington's Hidden Agenda: Restore the Drug Trade. + Halliburton Corporation's Brown and Root is one of the major components of THE BUSH-CHENEY DRUG EMPIRE.

Afghan collaborators will begin to take charge of the prison facility at Bagram, currently run by the US military, from next week. Addressing a news conference at the jail near the capital Kabul on Saturday, US and Afghan officials collaborators said the handover of the prison would be gradual over the coming year as Afghan officers traitors still require torture training.

Libyan leader dictator Muammar Gaddafi has called for a jihad, or holy war, against Switzerland, as an ongoing diplomatic row between the two nations heats up. He criticised a recent Swiss vote against the building of minarets and said Muslims must boycott the country. A Swiss foreign ministry spokesman declined to comment on the jihad call.

Tens of thousands of Italians have taken to the streets of Rome to protest a court decision to adjourn Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's trial for a month. Tens of thousands of Italians congregated on Saturday in Piazza del Popolo in central Rome to protest against Berlusconi under a banner reading "Enough. The law is the same for everyone." BBC: Tens of thousands of Italians have demonstrated in Rome against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.