Oscar-Tango | despardes.com

Freed Briton: I saw Americans killing detainees in Afghanistan
FEB 26: A Briton who was detained in Guantanamo and Afghanistan said that he witnessed U.S. guards beating two detainees �so badly" that he believes it caused their death.

Moazzam Begg, 37, from Birmingham, was one of the four Britons freed last month from the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

He said that he was tortured by U.S. guards and CIA officers in Afghanistan and was left tied up and hooded for several hours even though he suffers from asthma.

Begg was detained in February 2002 and was held at the Bagram air base near Kabul in Afghanistan before being transferred to Guantanamo in early 2003.

He said he was working on "humanitarian relief" when he was arrested. "I went to a country where people are a lot more impoverished and a lot more worse off, and I tried to help them if I could,"

The former law student and shop owner also said that he spent much of his detention in solitary confinement, often exposed to extreme cold and deprived of basic needs.

In his first interview since he won his freedom, Begg told Britain�s Channel 4 News that he "witnessed two people get beaten so badly (at Bagram) I believe it caused their deaths".

He noted that after he revealed the abuse accusations, he was interviewed at Guantanomo by U.S. Security officers who wanted him to identify the guards in the alleged beatings.

"I saw one body actually being carried away and the other one, I wasn't sure whether he had been killed but the photographs the American intelligence officers had brought confirmed this person had been killed." He said in the interview.

Moreover, he was forced to sign a "confession" which had been prepared to ensure that he would be taken to a public court and could then dismiss the abuse allegations as "rubbish".

He added: "The worst thing in that (document) somehow stated that a couple of hundred pounds that I had sent in 1993 or 94 had somehow in some crazy way made its way to supporting the 9/11 attackers, which in essence that was the worst thing that was on there."

Begg described his imprisonment at Guantanamo as "tortuous" but talked more about the way he was treated at Bagram. In one tough interrogation, he said that he two FBI agents ordered punishments which included being "hog-tied".

He described the punishment as "having your hands tied behind your back and then simultaneously having them tied to your legs and your ankles and shackled from behind; left on a floor with a bag over my head, and kicked and punched and left there for several hours, only to be interrogated again".

Begg denied having any links to Al-Qaeda network or any other militant group, he said: "...through the whole period of detention they have stated that I am a member of al-Qaeda but they have offered no evidence to prove that at all.

Regarding his release, Begg, the father of four, said: "I don't think I can ever be back to normality and I'm still trying to work out what normality is. But what's kept me going is my faith and the thoughts of my children."

British Navy allows 'Satanic Ritual' aboard ship
FEB 26: Chris Cranmer, a Satan-worshipping sailor in the Royal Navy, has been officially allowed to perform 'satanic rituals' aboard ship and permits him to have a 'Church of Satan' (COS) funeral should he be killed in action.

'Satanic Ritual' includes burning people alive, shooting people and then burying them alive and other acts beyond one's imagination.

Cranmer is apparently a member of the 'Church of Satan.' The COS web site approves of killing people. The 11th rule of the COS is, "When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him."

Cranmer is quoted as saying, "If I were asked if I were evil, I would say yes."

CNN
GUARDIAN
COS

FEB 25, 2005

Bin Laden � a brand you can trust

FEB 25: One of Osama Bin Laden�s half brothers has been allowed to use his name � Bin Ladin � as a trademark in Switzerland, Swiss authorities confirmed. Yeslam Binladin, a Saudi-Swiss businessman based in Geneva, had sought to register his family name in August 2001, shortly before the deadly attacks on the World Trade Centre towers in New York.

But the Swiss intellectual property office rejected the trademark registration in July 2002, which said there was a danger to public order because of the strong feelings raised by the attacks. A federal appeals commission overturned the decision in June 2004 following an appeal by Binladin, officials said. The approval notice in a specialist journal was reported by a newspaper Thursday.

�That means Yeslam Binladin may give his name to his products,� the president of the appeals commission, Kurt Wutrich confirmed. Fifty-four year-old Binladin, who operates a trading company, is one of several dozen half brothers of the head of the al Qaeda network. He has repeatedly insisted that he has had not had any contact with Osama for several years. Binladin has said he understood the sensitivity of the issue and does not intend to use the trademark commercially for the time being. The businessman last October launched a brand of perfume using his first name, Yeslam. (AFP)

World's most expensive teabag made

Suicide barrier considered for Golden Gate Bridge

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HIV Infection Rate Among Blacks in US Doubles...

Former US president Bill Clinton 'was' in Beijing to allegedly promote AIDS awareness.

Beijing diplomats said China was keen to keep Clinton's visit quiet.

China's foreign mininstry and health ministry refused to comment on the visit, as did the Clinton Foundation in Beijing.