Latest show April 7, 2007

• A new strategy in Iraq?
• Iran and hostages
• Ethiopia and torture

Citations

Federal Official in Student Loans Held Loan Stock - New York Times

A senior official at the federal Education Department sold more than $100,000 in shares in a student loan company even as he was helping oversee lenders in the federal student loan program. ... John Edwards, the Democratic candidate for president, also weighed in on the issue yesterday, arguing that students should borrow directly from the government. "We need to fix the student loan program to take banks which are just an expensive middleman out of the process," he said in a statement.

Permanent drought predicted for Southwest - Los Angeles Times

The study, published online in the journal Science, predicted a permanent drought by 2050 throughout the Southwest one of the fastest-growing regions in the nation.

US priority: managing captives in Iraq | csmonitor.com

For the past several years, the United States itself has held about 13,000 individuals captive and now holds about 18,000 captives. But as the Baghdad security plan also known as Fard Al Kanoon moves forward, Petraeus is planning for the possibility of holding as many as 40,000 captives. ... American commands will hold many of those detainees indefinitely

British Sailors Were Gathering Intel on Iranians Before Capture - Sky News

Captain Chris Air of the Royal Marines revealed to Sky News that he and his colleagues had been gathering intelligence on the Iranians.

Democratic Blood Money - Senator Feinstein's War Profiteering

Feinstein, who served as chairperson and ranking member for the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON) from 2001-2005, came under fire early last year in these pages for profiting by way of her husband Richard Blum who, until 2005, held large stakes in two defense contracting companies. Both businesses, URS and Perini, have scored lucrative contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last four years, and Blum has personally pocketed tens of millions of dollars off the deals his wife, along with her colleagues, so graciously approved.

Bill to cut off almost all war spending - USATODAY.com

"If the president vetoes the supplemental appropriations bill and continues to resist changing course in Iraq, I will work to ensure this legislation receives a vote in the Senate in the next work period," Reid warned in a news release. The action marks a potential escalation in the war of words between Bush and Senate Democrats. The emergency war spending bill would require only the withdrawal of troops, but the new measure would cut off future funding as well as require the withdrawal.

High court won't hear detainees' appeals - The Boston Globe

Justices signaled, however, that the high court eventually may hear the cases, filed by two groups of Guantanamo detainees. Three justices dissented yesterday, writing that "these questions deserve this court's immediate attention." And two members of the court, John Paul Stevens and Anthony Kennedy, issued a joint statement, emphasizing that the decision "does not constitute an expression of any opinion on the merits" and holding out the possibility that the cases could be considered once detainees tried all the legal steps available to them. Court rules require the agreement of four of the nine justices to accept a case.

Bush acts on Eastern Europe missile defense - Los Angeles Times

"Iran won't be able, in the foreseeable future, to manufacture missile launchers with more than 3,000 kilometer (1,800 miles) radius. How can it present an acute danger to the United States, then?" said retired Maj. Gen. Roman Popkovich, a former chairman of the defense committee in the lower house of the Russian parliament. "Maybe they are not telling us about their real strategic plans, something like being able to shoot down our missiles at take off."

U.S. diplomat visits American prisoner in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Nation/World

Ethopia's intelligence service is holding an American who fled Somalia's fighting in a secret facility pending a hearing on his status next month, U.S. officials said Friday.

Police Log Confirms FBI Role In Arrests - washingtonpost.com

A secret FBI intelligence unit helped detain a group of war protesters in a downtown Washington parking garage in April 2002 and interrogated some of them on videotape about their political and religious beliefs, newly uncovered documents and interviews show.

Cheney Sticks to His Delusions - By Dan Froomkin - washingtonpost.com

As it happens, just in case anyone needed more evidence of the spuriousness of Cheney's views, yesterday also marked the release of yet another report confirming that that al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's government were not working together before the invasion. The report also further documents how Cheney willfully ignored reliable intelligence in favor of broadcasting invented assertions emerging from a rogue Defense Department office -- a habit he apparently has yet to break.

An Administration's Epic Collapse | TIME

The three big Bush stories of 2007--the decision to "surge" in Iraq, the scandalous treatment of wounded veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys for tawdry political reasons--precisely illuminate the three qualities that make this Administration one of the worst in American history: arrogance (the surge), incompetence (Walter Reed) and cynicism (the U.S. Attorneys).

Army Sees Gap in Jurisdiction Over Military Contractors - Secrecy News

Contractors accompanying U.S. military forces in Iraq or elsewhere who commit crimes may be beyond the reach of law enforcement, a recent Army publication warns (pdf), because the Defense Department has not yet updated its regulations to conform to a Congressional mandate, resulting in a "gap" in legal jurisdiction.

Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq, and More from CRS

"The humanitarian crisis many feared would take place in March 2003 as a result of the war in Iraq appears to be unfolding," says a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service. "It is estimated that in total (including those displaced prior to the war) there may be two million Iraqi refugees who have fled to Jordan, Syria, and other neighboring states, and approximately two million Iraqis who have been displaced within Iraq itself."

News notes

Saturday 7 April 2007

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