Waterboarding And President Obama

The Christian Science Monitor is reporting today that "The ongoing debate over the ethics and usefulness of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding received new fuel on Sunday night, with a New York Times report that two Al Qaeda suspects were subject to the method, which simulates drowning, a combined 266 times.

That number is higher than previously reported, and will no doubt cast a long shadow over President Obama's first scheduled visit to CIA headquarters today, where he will publicly address employees."

The New York times is reporting that the that former C.I.A. officer, John Kiriakou, told ABC News and other news media organizations back in 2007 that Abu Zubaydah, one of the terror suspects from the 9/11 attacks had endured waterboarding for only 35 seconds before agreeing to tell everything he knew.

However that is not the case. As pointed out by the Christian Science Monitor "The new information came out over the weekend thanks to the investigative work of bloggers like Marcy Wheeler, who found it in the footnotes of Bush administration interrogation memos released last week and posted it to her blog emptywheel."

President Obama will visit the CIA today, his first visit; and he will speak to its employees.

Sources: Christian Science Monitor

New York Times

President's Dog...Obama Makes Good On Promise

On inaguration night President Obama told his daughters, Malia and Sasha that the puppy that they wanted was indeed in route...

The New Your Times reports...

"In a long-anticipated decision, the Obamas have chosen a 6-month-old Portuguese water dog — a gift from Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and his wife, Victoria, to Malia and Sasha Obama.

The girls have named the dog Bo because they have cousins with a cat of the same name and because Mrs. Obama’s father was nicknamed Diddley, after the musician Bo Diddley.

“We couldn’t be happier to see the joy that Bo is bringing to Malia and Sasha,” the Kennedys said in a statement. “We love our Portuguese water dogs and know that the girls, and their parents, will love theirs, too.”

The paper said further..."The dog is officially due to arrive at the White House on Tuesday, although the White House Web site on Sunday featured pictures of the first family and their pet in what was described as a getting-acquainted visit earlier at the White House."

So it appears that the President made good on his promise to his daughters, and that the lovely young girls will soon have have the promised puppy.

Source: New York Times

What Is G20 Summit

US President Barack Obama said the international community "can only meet this challenge together," speaking at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London. He called reports of a split between nations "vastly overstated."

But, in Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "travelling to London with a mixture of confidence and concern." Her anxiety is over whether the group of the world's 20 wealthiest nations would "suppress the problems and paint things in a brighter light than they are." Read Entire Story HERE