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This Week in Accountability, October 16, 2011

Former Vice President Dick Cheney manages to stay in the news defending torture and insisting the intelligence to invade Iraq was correct. He has praised President Obama’s use of targeted assassination and felt the White House should apologize to former Bush administration officials for criticizing enhanced interrogation. President Obama has increased drone attacks, killing supposed enemies without trial or due process. In these attacks innocent civilians including women and children have perished. The drone industry continues to receive a surplus of funds from the government to continue to operate while much needed programs in the country are being cut. CODEPINK cofounders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans speak out against manufacturer General Atomics, maker of the killer Predator and Reaper drones.

Donald Rumsfeld continues on the speaking circuit across the globe. He received a real patriotic welcoming from members of Veterans for Peace and CODEPINK while in Boston. Rumsfeld helped craft the invasion of Iraq and lied the country into war.

Rumsfeld found himself going toe-to-toe with Al-Jazeera news. If you recall, while working as cameraman with Al-Jazeera news, Sami al-Hajj was detained in Pakistan and wrongfully held for six years at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo.

Former President George W. Bush is expected to receive an un-welcoming from the city of Surrey in Canada later in the month. Amnesty International and other human right groups are urging the government of Canada to arrest the former president when he enters the country. Even though there has been a public outcry against Bush traveling to Canada, former Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg has been denied entry into the maple leaf country. Begg who has traveled throughout Europe, Northern Africa, Middle East and Central Asia speaking out against his wrongful detainment, flew into Montreal and was taken into custody and denied entry.

Karl Rove was the latest politician to get “glitter-bombed” by gay rights advocates in Minneapolis. Rove and former President Bush are opposed to same-sex marriage. Rove does not regret his or Bush’s stance on this issue.

The controversial media-mogul Rupert Murdoch whose company News of the World faced allegations of hacking the phone numbers of private citizens was speaking at an education conference in San Francisco. In true San Francisco spirit, Morduch was greeted by demonstrators from Occupy Sesame Street and US Uncut, an organization holding corporations accountable through creative actions.

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