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1. This week we take a look at the Physicians for Human Right’s report called Experiments in Torture.

2. Then we’ll hear from Human Rights Lawyer and Columbia Law School professor Scott Horton on the PHR report, potential criminal prosecution and the U.S. responsibility in the complying with existing codified standards of human rights in light of its torture programs, blacksite operations and drone strikes.

3. British politicians have complained about too much Anti-BP rhetoric in the American reaction to the worst environmental catastrophe in our nation’s history. I’ll have an op-ed about the historical nature of this plea and a few words about the british reaction and what Americans might take note of.

4. And What is up with ABC?
It is expected that FoxNews brings on shills like Liz Cheney without much need for their practical expertise, but ABC? For the last couple of years the “global reaches” of ABC News could produce nothing better than Liz Cheney as a regular “Made Ya Look” guest for their Sunday shows and Good Morning America segments. And we look. I’ll talk with Jess Levin about this confusing decision by ABCNews.

5. And last we’ll listen to testimony from U.S. Helsinki Commission from December 10, 2007 featuring Malcolm Nance, Thomas Hide, and Devon Chaffee from Human Rights First on the topic of waterboarding and torture in U.S. custody.

Segment One
Malcolm Nance is a former U.S. Navy security official, SERE Instructor and is an expert in POWs, Terrorist Hostage Survival Techniques, Counterinsurgency, and Al Qaida. He is fluent in Arabic and is the author of The Terrorist Recognition Handbook: A manual for predicting and identifying Terrorist activity, The Terrorists of Iraq, and his most recent book “An End to Al Qaida: Destroying Bin Laden’s Jihad and Restoring America’s Honor.”

Segment Two
I speak with Columbia Law School professor and Human Rights lawyer, Scott Horton on the PHR report, U.S. obligation to investigate and prosecute American violators of human rights, and the legality of the CIA’s drone strike program in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mr. Horton is also the author of the No Comment blog at the Harper’s website.

Segment 3
From this week’s Democracy Now interview with Nathaniel Raymond, Director of Campaign Against Torture at Physician for Human Rights and Dr. Allen Keller, director of Bellevue/NYU program for Survivors of Torture.

Segment 4
Dick Cheney has been rather quiet about the destruction of the Gulf of Mexico by his long time buddies in the Oil industry. His regulation plan contributed tremendously to this catastrophe and yet he has little to say to defend his own record? Liz Cheney, the deferment child of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has been sent in his place to defend the family name and make sure that any valuable examination of who is responsible for this devastation is obfuscated. Her offering to the conversation never rises above pablum sneering whine and vacuous filibustering in favor of policies completely discounted by people who work in the very fields she claims expertise. Let’s be clear, this person’s only expertise is being a tool for her father’s agenda and without him, she’d have none of this access to the media. The merit based panels of the past have given way to celebrity and shock. ABC News is playing a gotcha game and even media critics like myself still tune in to capture what Cheney says. The pitch for ABC’s Sunday program was more about Liz Cheney’s appearance than anything else. They know it gathers ratings and yet does she offer anything tangible to the conversation other than opposition? I spoke with Jess Levin of Media Matters about this pattern and the facts behind Liz Cheney’s defense of Halliburton’s record of fraud and deception.

Segment 5
British officials want us to Pipe down a bit.
IN light of the catastrophe in our gulf of mexico, considering the timing and ongoing nature of the disaster, it is beyond galling to have the politicians of England telling the politicians in the U.S. to contain the anger. Fears are based on the concern for destroying the value of BP which is the largest company in the British economy and the 6th largest company in the world. While the concerns for pensions and current employees is reasonable to take note of, it shouldn’t come at the expense of those who are affected by this company’s practices and failures.

Right now there are employees in the U.S. who are just as concerned about the future of BP. But I would ask them to consider it a dead end road. If you look back in the history of the British government’s invested stakes in BP’s private gains, you’ll see the British people have had 50 years to get their act together over this concern. 50 years ago the British went crazy that their economy would be devastated if Iran didn’t give them Iranian oil and now they’re going crazy if the U.S. wants to protect its own interests over that of a private entity, albeit largest employer.

The lesson that should have been learned this year is “Too Big to Fail”. But will we? I say we won’t. I think there are just too many people who are still bought into the idea of big business as the way to ensure longevity. Well tell that to the Burmah oil company who went out of business in 2000. Tell that to Lehman Bros. These companies are not flexible enough to fall apart without devastating an entire country’s economy and thus are a threat to national interests in more ways than the need to endlessly war on their behalf.

It would be hard to tell what Iran might be like if William D’Arcy had never struck oil there. If there had been no reason for the Soviets and the British to invade, control, and depose leaders in Iran, we might not have the highly charged Iran we have today. The country has been in perpetual conflict for generations and at the heart of large part of this conflict was the outside demand for their oil.
The demand for oil by the people and the inconsiderate behavior of our industrial systems is unsustainable. We must change our ways. We must not be dependent upon either the use of oil or the employment and financial investments in oil. We must not invest in entities that put us at risk later by ignoring safety over profits. It is time to change our thinking entirely on the matter. The destruction of the Gulf of Mexico is unforgivable and for the leaders of Britain I have two words for you when it comes to telling U.S. to pipe down a bit, American Revolution.

Last Segment
View Panel at CSPAN.org
We’ll listen to a hearing from December 10, 2007 with the U.S. Helsinki commission on waterboarding and Torture in U.S. custody. This segment is from CSPAN coverage and we thank them for their work in covering these kinds of events. Make sure you visit them at CSPAN.org.

Thank you for listening this week and we will see you next week. Links to guests and documents can be found at our website VeracityRadio.com and you can always contact us with feedback at veracityradio@gmail.com. Thanks to our guests and to the VR and CheneyWatch volunteers. VeracityRadio is a part of the CheneyWatch Project. See you next week.