“Although [Jacques] Chirac carries the banner of the Gaullist party, he is very pro-United States…”

The FAC said there should be a thorough analysis of interrogation techniques used by the US given the differences in how torture is defined by the two countries. The committee also reminded the government that it was under a legal obligation to ensure flights entering UK airspace or land at UK airports are not used for extraordinary rendition, even if there are no detainees on board (e.g. refueling).

The report also called on the government to investigate Pakistan’s role in torturing British suspects who have dual (British/Pakistani) nationality.

The full report by the FAC can be found online (pdf).

Glenn Greenwald has some more on this from an American perspective.

*An important year for another reason too.

So hot is the speculation that war-crimes trials will eventually follow in foreign or international courts that Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s former chief of staff, has publicly advised Mr. [Douglas] Feith, Mr. [David] Addington and Alberto Gonzales, among others, to “never travel outside the U.S., except perhaps to Saudi Arabia and Israel.”

Canadians are divided on the situation of the teenage boy.

(Via BNR.)

Tomorrow, July 8th, could mark the beginning of official condoning of warrantless surveillance of law-abiding citizens in the US, not to mention foreign nationals.

1. ALL AMERICANS: Go to the EFF website here and put in your zipcode to find your Senator’s phone number. Call them and read the short script on the same page. If no answer, click the link at the bottom of the page to e-mail them.
(Tell others verbally to go to “www.eff.org” and click “take action”)

2. OBAMA SUPPORTERS: Go to My.BarackObama.com here and join the group requesting he oppose (as he did earlier) the amendment. This takes about 30 seconds. I suggest changing “ListServ” in the bottom right to “Do not receive e-mails.”
(Tell others verbally to search “obama please vote no” on Google and My.BarackObama.com will be in the top 3 results, currently #1)

The manual advocates the use of “paramilitaries, pervasive surveillance, censorship, press control and restrictions on labor unions [and] political parties”.