The headline reads like something from a tabloid: "Exclusive: Shocking Details on Abuse of Reuters Staffers in Iraq." But it's actually from the staid, if left-wing, newspaper trade magazine Editor & Publisher.

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[Reuters bureau chief Andrew] Marshall claims that before their arrest, the Reuterians were thrown to the ground and threatened with guns, and afterward they were kept in a cold cell, had bags put over their heads, and were forced to listen to loud music and do gross things with their fingers.

The U.S. military denies the charges. We leave it to our readers to decide which is more credible, the U.S. military or the wire service that routinely gives us such headlines as "Giuliani Lauds 9/11 'Heroes' Amid Angry Hecklers."

But we have to say, even if the allegations are true, we don't understand why Marshall is so upset. After all, official Reuters policy is that, in the words of global news editor Stephen Jukes, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." If that's so, isn't one man's maltreatment another man's saturnalia?

You have done incalculable damage to ACU and I hope that you will have the good grace to resign your position as Vice Chairman. If you don't, I can assure you that I will ask the Board to consider removing you at our June meeting.

During George W. Bush's keynote address to the 40th anniversary black-tie banquet of the American Conservative Union (ACU) last week, diners rose repeatedly to applaud the president's remarks. But one man kept his seat through the 40-minute oration. It was no liberal interloper but conservative stalwart Donald Devine.

As ACU vice chairman, Devine was privileged to be part of a pre-dinner head-table reception with President Bush. However, Devine chose not to shake hands with the president. Furthermore, he is one of about 20 percent of Republicans that polls classify as not committed to voting for Bush's re-election.

The conventional wisdom portrays the latest Zogby Poll's 81 percent of Republican voters committed to Bush as reflecting extraordinary loyalty to the president by the GOP base. Actually, when nearly one out of five Republicans cannot flatly say they support Bush, that could spell defeat in a closely contested election. When Don Devine is among those one out of five, it signifies that the president's record does not please all conservatives.

In a time of crisis in Iraq, Bush spent more than an hour at the J.W. Marriott Hotel Thursday night to celebrate the ACU's anniversary and woo his conservative base. His speech was crafted to evoke the maximum response from that audience. There was no mention of either "compassionate conservatism" or "no child left behind "

Why, then, did Devine dismiss a consciously conservative speech as "long and boring"? At age 67, Devine has spent a lifetime as a party regular and faithful conservative. I first encountered him some 30 years ago when, as a University of Maryland political science professor, he was adviser and strategist for conservatives in rules fights at Republican national conventions. Directing President Reagan's Office of Personnel Management, he was one senior administration official who took seriously the Reagan Revolution. He was a political adviser in Bob Dole's presidential campaigns and ran himself for Congress and statewide office in Maryland.

"If they're so fascinated with these [images], publish them in an in-house memo."

Our enemy is horrid, wicked, inhuman. Those are the adjectives for 9/11, and for 5/11. Not "inhumane," as some of our soldiers acted at Abu Ghraib. Inhuman. The moral equivalence, and the adjectival equivalence, needs to end now.

"The emperor has no clothes," Pelosi, D-California, told reporters on Thursday. "When are people going to face the reality? Pull this curtain back."

"The situation in Iraq and the reckless economic policies in the United States speak to one issue for me, and that is the competence of our leader," Pelosi said. "These policies are not working. But speaking specifically to Iraq, we have a situation where -- without adequate evidence -- we put our young people in harm's way."

Asked specifically if she was calling Bush incompetent, Pelosi replied:

"I believe that the president's leadership in the actions taken in Iraq demonstrate an incompetence in terms of knowledge, judgment and experience in making the decisions that would have been necessary to truly accomplish the mission without the deaths to our troops and the cost to our taxpayers."

"Nancy Pelosi should apologize for her irresponsible, dangerous rhetoric," Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said. "She apparently is so caught up in partisan hatred for President Bush that her words are putting American lives at risk."

[Soros and his allies] have spread their tentacles throughout the whole of our society. Soros... had approval to... gather and distribute humanitarian aid. ...However, we... allowed them to do almost whatever they wanted. ...They have involved in their network... people of all ages and classes--from secondary school pupils and students to journalists, university lecturers and academics--trying to win them over by financial aid. These are people from all walks of life, from the cultural, economic, medical, legal and journalistic sphere... [There aim is to] control all spheres of life... setting up a state within a state...

Through the Soros Open Society, the Helsinki Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations, they have spread their tentacles throughout the whole of our society. Soros was registered in Croatia on 5th March 1993 with the Ministry of Economy. What they had approval to do was to gather and distribute humanitarian aid. We shall see what sort of humanitarian aid this was.

I have to be self-critical and admit that it was clear to me what kind of humanitarian aid this was, and that we had to take a broader point of view towards Soros and others, including the diplomats, at a time when we were trying to establish good official relations with the European countries and the main world power. However, we neglected the scope of their activities and allowed them to do almost whatever they wanted. This is how they were given almost endless possibilities to operate without any hindrance.

They included in their projects not less than 290 various institutions in Croatia and hundreds of people who are directly connected with them, who are given their grants or smaller or larger amounts of money. They have involved in their network, or signed up, people of all ages and classes - from secondary school pupils and students to journalists, university lecturers and academics - trying to win them over by financial aid. These are people from all walks of life, from the cultural, economic, scientific, medical, legal and journalistic sphere. The Soros foundation alone has spent 15m dollars for these purposes in recent years.

In connection with this, we need to say that we, the authorities and the state administration, regardless of the fact that we had to be careful and take a more flexible attitude because of the international circumstances, allowed such activities, which are incompatible with the diplomatic practice and state sovereignty.

And what do this Soros foundation and similar societies want to achieve? They are frank about this themselves: their task is to change ownership and management structures by means of donations in terms of technical and financial aid.

They even say openly that it is not sufficient to give grants for [training at the Voice of] America, the BBC and similar organizations, it is not sufficient that they train journalists and others - instead they have to give them technical and financial aid.

The Voice of America is inviting all radio stations in Croatia to use their broadcasts and if they agree they will be given technical assistance, but only Radio 101 [Zagreb-based independent radio] has responded, and they consider their greatest success, apart from the existence of Radio 101, to be `Feral Tribune' [Split-based satirical paper which often lampoons Tudjman].

Certainly, the public and even ministers are not sufficiently familiar with these facts, and there is, as a result, not only a failure to understand such phenomena, but there are also false assessments and actions.

In creating a situation aimed at changing the current authorities and circumstances in Croatia, and control of all spheres of life, the media and culture are considered the areas where the greatest influence should be brought to bear. They repeat this at all their meetings and in all their written documents.

Others, European and US foundations and diplomatic representative offices, are engaged in Soros' mission of providing aid to the media. To this end they have been providing financial support to [the newspapers] `Feral', `Arkzin', `Vjenac', `Novi List', `Bumerang', `Otok' (?`Ivanic Dan'), `Metro' [words indistinct] Radio Baranja, Radio Labin. The extent to which this has gone can be seen from the fact that they once attached special importance to `Feral Tribune' in the media, as one of their most successful projects in the free world.

Apart from this and Radio 101, they also mention some `Bumerang' based in Osijek and some (?`Foto') based in Ivanic-Grad, where they have succeeded, as they themselves write, in initiating the replacement of the head of the municipality and the director of the health centre, and they have also managed to stir up a scandal in the [local] defence office.

That institutions and individuals are enmeshed and involved in concrete activities is attested to by the example of two female employees at the kindergarten in Samobor, who of course received payment in dollars, and who then proceeded to collect signatures on a petition for the dismissal of the HDZ mayor of Samobor, Bedenicic.

The conniving, self-proclaimed leadership at home and abroad is already preparing for the 1997 elections. This is now acquiring the dimensions of plans for a post-Tudjman era and, of course, has to be taken advantage of. They placed high hopes on the introduction of a law on value added tax, assessing that this would further fuel the discontent of the broad masses and facilitate all that is conducive to the ejection of the HDZ.

All this is included in their written documents and strategic studies - which are being drawn up by individuals recruited by circles in London, Washington, Paris, Bonn - and even Australia. They are obviously backed by centres preparing strategic plans for the inclusion of Croatia in a Balkan regional integration - south of Slovenia and north of Greece - or a southeastern European integration, which would drag Croatia even deeper into the Balkans.

The aforementioned emissaries - in the guise of ringleaders and coordinators of overall activities for the toppling of the HDZ authority - already have detailed blueprints, and are preparing special studies, for the strategy of the main opposition party - which they believe is the HSLS [Croatian Social Liberal Party], because of its presidential candidate - and for the opposition as a whole. Everything should be done to bring about the disintegration of the HDZ. According to their estimates, there are also moderate forces within the HDZ, but they cannot be helped and cooperated with as long as Tudjman remains at the helm of the party and state. The man deserves great merit for what he has done for Croatia - they acknowledge - but he is the main obstacle - and they of course do not say what he is an obstacle to - and they write: Tudjman must not be negotiated with, he must be vanquished.

Obviously, let us recall, these are the same people who launched the first initiative from abroad - which said that Tudjman must resign - and which was signed by [Vlado] Gotovac, [Slavko] Goldstajn [opposition politicians] and their ilk. As we said before, well-intentioned professors and a Vatican official quickly withdrew from this first initiative. With its 2,000-year experience, the Vatican quickly figured out what it was all about and refused to take part in such anti-Croatian activities at this specific moment in global relations.

This group - whose nucleus is made up of all those shady emigre names with their extensive network - is systematically expanding its activities geared towards reaching its objective. In addition to people from the ranks of the opposition they are endeavouring to attract as many neutral people as possible, such as Zivko Kustic [Catholic publicist] and Vice Vukov [pop singer], if for no other reason then to have them in their special cultural and media programmes. They have already set up their own TV network, which will be offering others its programmes from now until the 1997 elections.

They are going to great lengths to lure people of different views, because they have to win over everything they do not control in order to impose the minority on the majority. Their new projects - in addition to all the tabloids they are indirectly or directly in control of - include the setting up of a serious weekly and even daily. They already have a publisher, printing shop and editor-in-chief for the weekly. They have already secured half of the necessary 500,000 dollars, some of which came from certain embassies, in view of the fact that the contents are to be approved and cleared by an ambassador.

Since they are predicting that this weekly will have a circulation that will make it profitable, the long-term profits will be used - in cooperation with this embassy - to finance the development of democracy in other Croatian media. Proposals for the use of these funds will be submitted for approval to those who allocated the funds, primarily the embassy.

These are ambitious new projects for those who have already dished out four million for media projects last year. On the other hand, until this very day neither the HDZ nor the democratic Croatian authority could secure sufficient funds even for `Vjesnik' [daily], we could barely find a solution for the publishing of `Obzor' [HDZ-sponsored weekly], and there was not enough for the literary weekly `Hrvatsko Slovo' [Croatian Letter]. We - who had to organize the defence and reconstruction of the country - do not have funds, while those who are plotting against have them in abundance. The conclusions to be drawn from this are obvious.

But this does not apply only to the media. Science and culture are also under fire, and so are environmental protection, health and education. These gentlemen have even set up a Croatian legal centre in Zagreb, and are paying dozens of lawyers to investigate war crimes in Croatia - although nothing has been heard from them about the crimes committed by aggressors and terrorists from Vukovar to Skabrnja. Only about alleged crimes in [Croatian military operations] Flash and Storm.

They are involved in various forms of education - aid in the form of books, aid to kindergartens and secondary schools - to what ends, we have already seen with the example of Ivanic Grad and Samobor.

Cicak [Croatian dissident Ivan Zvonimir] of the Helsinki Watch employs many people, and he does not hesitate to say on TV that he is receiving donations from five or six international organizations and from foreign embassies in Zagreb. And then we allow him to hold rallies in Ban Jelacic Square, which he organizes without authorization, with disregard for the law, even though he tries to portray himself as a champion of the law-governed state.

In the context of launching his new paper, responsibilities have been determined in a very democratic way - first the programme demands of the financiers must be satisfied, then come the formal publishers, and, finally, there is the public.

They have noted in writing that the current media have succeeded in devaluating everybody who is a somebody in Croatia, through systematic attacks and presentation of various fictitious affairs. The Cviic-Banac advisory headquarters is planning programmes and conferences in the country in advance, and participation in international gatherings months and even a year beforehand.

They have turned certain institutions, like the Zagreb Dramatic arts Centre led by Vjeran Zupa and Nenad Puhovski, into headquarters for their broad range of activities. They have openly proclaimed as their objective - now listen to this - the internationalization of Croatian drama and all literary subjects, moreover, the elimination of the national element from Croatian art in general. This means the denationalization of Croatian culture or - as Banac so aptly put it - the de-ethnization of Croatian culture.

These are their objectives, and not only in culture, nothing more and nothing less.

And for this they have an additional explanation - here is a quote from one of their documents: to accord space for the importation of multicultural aspects of culture, which exist in the region of former Yugoslavia, as well as in other socialist states. Believe it or not! Indeed, such are their plans.

For the realization of these and similar ideas, one of their supporters from Australia, who goes under the very characteristic name of Osman Stuart - but is in fact some kind of Croat from the island of Iz [in the Adriatic] - debates with Banac and Cviic how a think tank should be set up in Croatia - a strategic centre in which their brain trust - modelled on those in London and America - would develop their democratic ideas, but which in order to succeed in Croatia should be dubbed Stjepan Radic.

In view of such proclamations of alleged democratic cultural policies, which openly advocate the de-Croatization of Croatian culture - and in order to accomplish this they first have to de-Croatize Croatian policy and the Croatian state - does this not make one wonder how such things are possible, and what are they trying to achieve after the establishment of Croatia's freedom, Croatia's democracy and our state independence?

How is it is possible that the Croatian PEN club is today internationally represented by Banac and Cviic's followers, like Prosperov-Novak and similar literary nonentities, and not by Croatian literary giants like Petar Segedin, Ranko Marinkovic, Slobodan Novak, Dragutin Tadijanovic, Slavko Mihalic, Pero Budak, Ivan Aralica, Ivan Kusan, Hrvoje Hitrec, Nikola Milicevic, Pavao Pavlicic, Goran Tribuson, Vlatko Pavletic, Milivoj Slavicek, Ivo Frangec, Nedeljko Fabrio, Ante Stamac, Dubravko Jelcic, Andjelko Vuletic, Nedjeljko Mihanovic, Dubravko Horvatic, Josip Pavicic, and others. There are no important names among them, but they are speaking not only on behalf of the Croatian PEN club but also in the name of the Croatian intellectual public. Yes, how is this possible? Why do we allow this?

The example of the PEN club shows to what extent remnants of the Yugo-communist heritage have survived, and just how much new illusionists have imposed themselves. Not only despisers of everything Croatian but new illusionists in the vein of those from the periods of pan-Slavism, Yugoslavism, internationalism and so on.

While people like these were infiltrating all cultural, scientific, and even marginal pores of public life - something we did not get a chance to concentrate on due to our preoccupation with all the problems associated with the building of the state [changes thought] - we did not manage to sufficiently rally all the war veterans or state media, nor seriously tackle all the problems of transition to a civil society by various associations - from the youth to anti-fascist veterans and representatives of the Serb minority and so on. In all, they were setting up a state within a state...

With a fraction of a fraction of what our competition in the elite media has to spend, National Review Online has become the Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu waza Banga of the worldwide web. But being the all-powerful rooster who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, will go from conquest to conquest leaving fire in his wake, isn't Christina Aguilera — by which I mean it ain't cheap or easy.

The fact is, enough people haven't awakened. But maybe that's not surprising. When 'homosexual' comes up, people are hesitant. It's not easy table talk. And heterosexual men don't like to discuss it. They have to be on guard. They know these men are predators. Add up all these factors and you get some reluctance.

The United States is insisting that its troops be exempt from international war crimes prosecutions while serving in any U.N. force in Iraq, despite U.S. abuse of prisoners there, Human Rights Watch said today.

Without prior notice to members of the U.N. Security Council, the United States yesterday demanded an immediate vote to renew contentious Security Council Resolution 1487. This measure grants immunity to personnel in U.N. authorized or approved operations from states that have not ratified the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty.

A similar resolution granting immunity to U.S. peacekeepers was first adopted in July 2002, and was renewed by Resolution 1487 last year. Resolution 1487 does not require renewal for another five weeks.

"Given the recent revelations from Abu Ghraib prison, the U.S. government has picked one hell of a moment to ask for special treatment on war crimes," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice program at Human Rights Watch. "The U.N. Security Council should not grant special favors to any country, including the United States."

Human Rights Watch said that the U.S. government wanted to push an ICC resolution through as quickly as possible so that the contentious issue would not overshadow efforts to win Security Council backing for the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqi authorities on June 30.

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"The ICC can only prosecute the most serious crimes where national courts fail to punish those responsible," said Dicker. "It is time for the United States to demonstrate that it will abide by international standards and has nothing to fear from the ICC."

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"The United States fears any meaningful discussion of this resolution," said Dicker. "Washington wants to steamroll renewal of Resolution 1487 in 48 hours to undercut growing objections to its campaign of special exemption from the rule of law. Last year three states didn't vote for the resolution, and this year that number will grow."

The Bush administration's promotion of the new Medicare law through videos made to look like news reports violated a prohibition against using public money for propaganda, Congress' [GAO] said Wednesday.

The materials in English and Spanish were produced by the Health and Human Services Department, but did not identify their source. The videos, or parts of them, aired on at least 40 TV stations ... GAO faulted the administration for distributing seemingly independent, ready-to-air reports that did not inform viewers that they came from the government.

... The English version ends with a woman's voice saying, "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting." A man identifies himself as a reporter named Alberto Garcia in the Spanish-language version.

"The viewing audience does not know ... that Karen Ryan and Alberto Garcia were paid with HHS funds for their work," congressional investigators said.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who asked for the GAO inquiry, said President Bush's re-election campaign should repay the government for the cost of the videos. Lautenberg said he will introduce legislation to force the reimbursement.

... When (HHS) officials, including Secretary Tommy Thompson, addressed the issue with reporters in March, they played similar videos made by the Clinton administration in an effort to show how common video news releases are. The principal difference, however, was a clear disclaimer in the Clinton administration product identifying HHS as the producer.

South Florida attorneys ... are predicting a serious crisis in the criminal justice system after July 1, when the paycheck for representing low-income people accused of capital crimes will be slashed statewide to a maximum of $3,500.

As the burden for paying court-related costs shifts this summer from counties to the state, local attorneys and legal experts are predicting that it will be impossible to get lawyers to do the demanding and emotionally draining work of representing poor people who face the death penalty.

Death cases are the most challenging and time-consuming because a life is at stake and the attorney must try to save it. And even supporters of the death penalty should be concerned, local attorneys said, because the problems will slow down cases and may make them even more likely to be reversed on appeal.

"I think concerned is too light a word to describe what I feel, I think it borders on the critical," said Broward Chief Judge Dale Ross.

... "[A rate of $3,500] would average out at about $3 per hour for these complex cases," (attorney Michael) Gottlieb said. "It's certainly below minimum wage and any attorney willing to take a case for that would not be qualified to handle it."

The association is considering filing a class action lawsuit because the rate cut would deprive judges of the ability to appoint effective attorneys to represent poor people, a right the U.S. Constitution guarantees every defendant, said Bruce Rogow, a Fort Lauderdale attorney and nationally recognized expert on constitutional law.

"Marriage here is traditionally considered a Judeo-Christian value, a very strong symbol organized around heterosexuality. For many, the validity of marriage is procreation. It's an extremely archaic vision in my opinion, an idea encased in glass. The Americans are much more advanced in the fight against discrimination despite their puritanical and their slightly Protestant bent."

... (Speaker) Hastert pretended not to know who McCain was when asked about a recent statement by the GOP senator from Arizona. As other House GOP members stood behind him laughing, Hastert, R-Illinois, then expressed doubt that McCain was indeed a Republican.

The exchange started when a reporter asked: "Can I combine a two issues, Iraq and taxes? I heard a speech from John McCain the other day..."

Hastert: "Who?"

Reporter: "John McCain."

Hastert: "Where's he from?"

Reporter: "He's a Republican from Arizona."

Hastert: "A Republican?"

Amid nervous laughter, the reporter continued with his question: "Anyway, his observation was never before when we've been at war have we been worrying about cutting taxes and his question was, 'Where's the sacrifice?' "

Hastert: "If you want to see the sacrifice, John McCain ought to visit our young men and women at Walter Reed and Bethesda (military hospitals). There's the sacrifice in this country. We're trying to make sure they have the ability to fight this war, that they have the wherewithal to be able to do it. And, at the same time, we have to react to keep this country strong."

Question: You talked about the overextension of the troops. Do you think this course is ultimately going to lead to the institution of the draft?

Kerry's Original Statement:
I hope not. I would be against that in the current form. I don't think we need it now, particularly if we did the proper diplomacy. The overall effort of the president right now ought to be really to try to find ways to reduce the overexposure, in a sense, of America's commitments. A proper approach to the Korean Peninsula, for instance, should include the deployment of troops, the unresolved issues of the 1950s, and ultimately, hopefully, could result in a reduction of American presence, ultimately.

Kerry: [No] I would be against that. I don't think we need it. [The president ought to] reduce the overexposure of America's commitments. A proper approach to the Korean Peninsula, for instance, should include the deployment of troops, the unresolved issues of the 1950s, and could result in a reduction of American presence.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, criticized (Deputy Defense Secretary Paul) Wolfowitz and (Deputy Secretary of State Richard) Armitage for not knowing precisely how U.S.-run prisons will be handled after the transfer of sovereignty. Armitage said officials hope to put them under Iraqi control "as rapidly as possible" but said he didn't know how long that meant.

"I would have thought that this government would put some time into this, especially with what we've just been through the last two weeks," Hagel said of the firestorm in the United States and abroad over publicized photos of abuse.

In an account published Monday, the Los Angeles Times reported that the victim had been brought to the prison with his head covered by an empty sandbag. It said he died in the midst of intensive questioning in the shower by military intelligence officials. After he collapsed, the interrogators removed the bag and then saw severe head wounds that had not been treated.

"We will not play politics" with the stockpile, Bush said.

"That petroleum reserve is in place in case of major disruptions of energy supplies to the United States," he said. "The idea of emptying the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would put America in a dangerous position in the war on terror. We're at war. We face a tough and determined enemy on all fronts, and we must not put ourselves in a worse position in this war, and playing politics with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would do just that."

No one has advocated "emptying" the reserve, as Bush said, however. The reserve — 660 million barrels, or equivalent to more than two months of imports — is in salt domes on the Gulf Coast. It was created after the 1973 oil embargo to counter supply disruptions.

A group of Democratic senators has introduced a resolution calling for the release of 1 million of barrels of oil a day from the stockpile for up to 60 days, arguing that would force down gas prices.

Of 415 historians who expressed a view of President Bush’s administration to this point as a success or failure, 338 classified it as a failure and 77 as a success.... Twelve percent of all the historians who responded rate the current presidency the worst in all of American history, not too far behind the 19 percent who see it at this point as an overall success.

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The second most common response from historians, trailing only [Bush is the worst president since] Nixon, was that the current presidency is the worst in American history.

... (Secretary of State Colin) Powell and other U.S. officials tried to dissuade Israel from demolishing Palestinian homes in its drive to stem the flow of weapons through tunnels.

"The Israelis have told us they will make every effort to minimize the impact on Palestinians not involved in acts of terrorism or arms smuggling," McClellan said. "We understand their explanation but we still find the violence troubling," he said.

Bush made only a passing reference to the violence in Gaza during his speech, saying it was "troubling and underscores the need for all parties to seize every opportunity for peace." ... Bush's political advisers think even a slight increase in support among Jewish voters could help him in what they expect to be another tight election.

... the White House and U.S. ambassador asked Israel for an explanation for [today's] attack, which killed at least 10 Palestinians, all children and teens.

... State Department spokesman Adam Ereli noted Israel had expressed its regret ... "We have registered our deep concern" with Israel, Ereli said, and "made our views very clear." He said the United States was still seeking the facts surrounding the incident.

... Israel's military acknowledged that soldiers fired four tank shells, a missile and machine guns to stop 3,000 Palestinian demonstrators it said were heading toward a battle zone in the Gaza Strip.

Bush pointedly refused to criticize the attack. "We'll get clarification from the government," Bush said more than five hours after the attack.

Associated Press Television News footage showed a large explosion going off in a crowd of demonstrators ...

The Bush administration helped rally public and congressional support for a preemptive invasion of Iraq by publicizing the claims of an Iraqi defector months after he showed deception in a lie detector test and had been rejected as unreliable by U.S. intelligence agencies.

The defector, Adnan Ihsan Saeed al Haideri, claimed he'd worked at illegal chemical, biological and nuclear facilities around Baghdad.

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The White House used Saeed's claims in a background paper nine months after CIA and DIA officers had dismissed him as unreliable.

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The White House paper gave prominent billing to Saeed's claims. It was released Sept. 12, 2002, in conjunction with a speech Bush delivered at the United Nations General Assembly.

The paper was the administration's first major compendium of "specific examples of how Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has systematically and continually violated 16 United Nations Security Council resolutions over the past decade."

U.S. forces beat three Iraqis working for Reuters and subjected them to sexual and religious taunts and humiliation during their detention last January in a military camp near Falluja, the three said on Tuesday.

The three first told Reuters of the ordeal after their release but only decided to make it public when the U.S. military said there was no evidence they had been abused, and following the exposure of similar mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

An Iraqi journalist working for U.S. network NBC, who was arrested with the Reuters staff, also said he had been beaten and mistreated, NBC said on Tuesday.

Two of the three Reuters staff said they had been forced to insert a finger into their anuses and then lick it, and were forced to put shoes in their mouths, particularly humiliating in Arab culture.

All three said they were forced to make demeaning gestures as soldiers laughed, taunted them and took photographs. They said they did not want to give details publicly earlier because of the degrading nature of the abuse.

The soldiers told them they would be taken to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, deprived them of sleep, placed bags over their heads, kicked and hit them and forced them to remain in stress positions for long periods.

The U.S. military, in a report issued before the Abu Ghraib abuse became public, said there was no evidence the Reuters staff had been tortured or abused.

Army officials in Iraq responded late last year to a Red Cross report of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison by trying to curtail the international agency's spot inspections of the prison, a senior Army officer who served in Iraq said Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of civilians have died and close to a million
driven from their homes in Sudan’s western region of
Darfur. The victims are mostly from the Fur, Zaghawa, and
Masaalit groups, considered to be “Africans”; the attacks are
largely by a government-supported “Arab” militia, known as
the “Janjaweed.”

According to the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID), as many as 100,000 civilians may die
over the coming months.

The Khartoum-based government fuels ethnic and racial violence
by using the Janjaweed militias as its proxies against Darfur
insurgents. But it is civilians who suffer. The government used
similar tactics in southern Sudan:

• PITTING ethnic groups against each other

• RESTRICTING international humanitarian access, which
threatens mass starvation

• BOMBING civilian targets with aircraft

Although the Sudanese government has restricted access
to the region, refugees fleeing to neighboring Chad provide
chilling testimony.

They report that the government-allied militias are torching
villages, murdering civilians, raping women and girls, burning
food supplies, and destroying water sources. One refugee told
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof that “the Arabs want
to get rid of anyone with black skin…. There are no blacks left
[in the area he fled].” According to a European Union delegate,
the government-supported militias are “running riot in
the countryside.” Roger Winter, a top USAID official, says that
“what feeds into the ethnic cleansing scenario is that the government does not seem interested in protecting the Darfur
people against the [militia] raids."

The Bush administration moved one step closer Tuesday to lifting an arms embargo against Sudan, even as it decried the government's role in blocking relief efforts for a huge humanitarian crisis sparked by continuing Sudanese military attacks against civilians.

Secretary of State Colin Powell removed Sudan from a list of countries that cannot receive U.S. arms because they have failed to cooperate with the U.S. on international terrorism. He formally notified Congress of that decision with the publication Tuesday morning of a notice in the Federal Register.

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Department spokesman Richard Boucher defended the U.S. decision to improve relations with Sudan by removing its name from the terrorism list even in the face of the government's actions in Darfur.

"If they do cooperate against terrorism, it's good for us to show that that leads to a beneficial change," Boucher said. "That's the encouragement for other countries to cooperate against terrorism."

He also said the move "doesn't change the kind of pressure that we're bringing on Sudan, the strong pressure we're bringing on Sudan, from us and others in the international community, to change their behavior in Darfur."

But Jemera Rone, a Human Rights Watch official who has worked on the Darfur situation, said it was "just appalling" for the U.S. government "to make any gesture toward Sudan like this." She also predicted the Sudanese government would hold it out to critics as "some sort of U.S. stamp of approval" for its actions.

John Kerry is continuing his negative attacks on the President this week and exploiting the high cost of gasoline to do it.

President Bush is concerned about rising gas prices, and will continue to stay on top of this matter. There are steps that can and are being taken. Congress needs to continue to work on and adopt a national energy policy that will, among other things, allow for increased production here at home so we're less dependent on foreign sources.

They've been trying to do this for several years. John Kerry opposed the energy policy and has even sought to raise gas taxes over the years. That support for higher gas prices would have increased the prices beyond where they are today.

How can you help spread the word?

Visit www.GeorgeWBush.com to watch "Wacky," our ad featuring Kerry's support for higher gas taxes.

Forward "Wacky" to your friends so they can see John Kerry's support for gas taxes.

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With your support, the truth will get out and we'll shine a light on John Kerry's wacky ideas.

After the genocide in Rwanda a decade ago, the world's moralists said "never again." Well, it is happening again, this time in Sudan, but once more the United Nations, the Arab world and Europe are failing to speak up, much less to act.

[edit]

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has raised the alarm about Sudan, but once again the "international community" is proving to be feckless, and the Bush Administration has been isolated in its attempts to raise international pressure on Khartoum.

The Khartoum regime knows that an America already tied down by two wars cannot intervene militarily in Darfur.

The picture of Belgian and French paratroopers, sent to escort their nationals to safety, standing back while the slaughter has unfolded isn't very inspiring. But we don't live in a world that recognizes a responsibility to provide order for those people stuck in places where history or the intimidations of cultural politics have made it hard for them to govern themselves.

Elaine Jones of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund tried to call you today to ask that the Judiciary Committee consider scheduling Julia Scott Gibbons, the uncontroversial nominee to the 6th Circuit at a later date

[edit]

Elaine would like the Committee to hold off on any 6th Circuit nominees until the University of Michigan case regarding the constitutionality of affirmative action in higher education is decided by the en banc 6th Circuit

[edit]

The thinking is that the current 6th Circuit will sustain the affirmative action program, but if a new judge with conservative views is confirmed before the case is decided, that new judge will be able, under 6th Circuit rules, to review the case and vote on it.

Shaw: The allegation was the Elaine had called Senator Kennedy's office. Now, there was a bar complaint filed against her. That complaint has been dismissed because it is within the First Amendment rights of an individual to call a senator and say "we don't want to have somebody with certain views appointed to a court." This is an ugly, ugly environment we are in. I wish that we could be more civil. But we're not going to lay down for the appointment of judges who are going to turn back the clock when it comes to civil rights.

Inskeep: So she did make the call campaigning against the judge but she was found guilty of no wrongdoing ...?

Shaw: You know what, you may find this hard to believe, I never even asked Elaine whether she made that call. The bar in Virginia found that if she did make the call, that is not a violation of the ethical rules in any way.

Due to the increasing popularity of our in-room amenities, we are happy to make many of these items available to our guests for sale. Please consult your hotel directory for details.

REPORTER: When [the president] was talking to (South Korean) President Roh, did he tell President Roh that moving troops out of South Korea into Iraq was inevitable?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yeah, I think that you're going to hear more from the Pentagon later today. And I think I'll let them talk to you more about that.

REPORTER: When you said, "yeah," was that you confirming that that's what he said?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think that -- I'll leave it where I stated it. I do want to make clear that any possible redeployment of a brigade from South Korea does not in any way diminish our commitment to South Korea and the region.

Due to our continuing commitment to South Korea, we are happy to announce that we are moving thousands of battle-tested troops out of that country and into Iraq. Please consult the Joint Chiefs of Staff for details.

IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES.

AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OF OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.

THEREFORE, MAY 19TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT UP THEIR BEHIND" DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE THAT DAY.

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.

The Bush administration has refused to answer repeated requests from the Sept. 11 commission about who authorized flights of Saudi Arabian citizens, including members of Osama bin Laden’s family, from the United States immediately after the attacks of 2001.

Former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), vice chairman of the independent, bipartisan commission, disclosed the administration’s refusal to answer questions on the sensitive subject during a recent closed-door meeting with a group of Democratic senators, according to several Democratic sources.

[edit]

Another Democrat in the meeting who confirmed Boxer’s account reported that Hamilton said, "We don’t know who authorized it. We’ve asked that question 50 times."

"I stopped being surprised about this a long time ago," said Harvey, whose wife died in the attack on the World Trade Center. "They’ve not been cooperative. There’s cooperation and then there’s cooperation. Are they doing things under possible threat of subpoena? Yes. Are they actively fulfilling the spirit of the commission’s requests? No."

"The White House was opposed to the formation of this commission in the first place," said Harvey. "They did everything to neuter it. Earlier this spring when we tried to get more time for [the commission to complete its report], the White House was an obstacle."

[New Yorker's Seymour] Hersh is, as far as I can tell, the greatest investigative reporter in the history of this country; perhaps in the history of any country, though I’m not qualified to say that.

... his latest (article) ... because it was released to the media and on the New Yorker’s Web site on Saturday, determined the tenor of Sunday’s Bigfoot press coverage. What would we do without him? And thank goodness the New Yorker has given him the space and support he needs to do his best work, ever.

How silly is journalism sometimes? This sentence appears in Time's cover story this week: "'Iraq,' said a longtime Bush watcher, ‘is taking its toll.’"

Excuse me but just what is so brilliant about that observation that it required an ID of its speaker that would apply to roughly say, a quarter of the human race? After I read it I had to ask my six year old if she happened to be the source because for all Time tells us, she might have been, though to be fair, her comments about Bush tend to have more substance than that one.

With his poll numbers plummeting, President Bush could use a little help from his friends -- and two friends in particular: Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan and Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

The White House has been counting on the two Bush buddies to keep interest rates and gasoline prices low for the election. ... Now, neither seems likely to deliver.

... Although a lifelong Republican, the Fed chief has a stubborn tendency to set (interest-rate) policy without regard to politics.

... [President Bush] told financial reporters in April of last year that he thought Mr. Greenspan deserved another term. Now, however, the White House seems to have reverted to earlier form, withholding formal renomination of the chairman, even though his term expires June 20.

Is this a pressure tactic? Doesn't matter ... [Mr. Greenspan]'s already signaled to financial markets that he will raise interest rates this summer. If he fails to follow through -- or if the White House even hints of replacing him -- markets will respond with an even more punishing reaction.

Meanwhile, Prince Bandar's ability to keep oil prices below $30 a barrel is shot ... because $6 to $8 of today's price is determined not by supply and demand, but by current anxiety over events in Iraq and elsewhere. ... Fifty-dollar-a-barrel oil may be more likely than $30 oil.

She and one of her PhD supervisors, David Naccache, a cryptographer with Gemplus, which manufactures banking and security cards, tackled two high-profile documents. One was a memo to US President George Bush that had been declassified in April for an inquiry into the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. The other was a US Department of Defense memo about who helped Iraq to 'militarize' civilian Hughes helicopters.

It all started when Naccache saw the Bush memo on television over Easter. "I was bored, and I was looking for challenges for Claire to solve. She's a wild problem solver, so I thought that with this one I'd get peace for a week," Naccache says. Whelan produced a solution in slightly less than that.

Demasking blotted out words was easy, Naccache told Nature. "Optical recognition easily identified the font type - in this case Arial - and its size," he says. "Knowing this, you can estimate the size of the word behind the blot. Then you just take every word in the dictionary and calculate whether or not, in that font, it is the right size to fit in the space, plus or minus 3 pixels."

The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq.

Rumsfeld’s decision embittered the American intelligence community, damaged the effectiveness of élite combat units, and hurt America’s prospects in the war on terror.

According to interviews with several past and present American intelligence officials, the Pentagon’s operation, known inside the intelligence community by several code words, including Copper Green, encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq. A senior C.I.A. official, in confirming the details of this account last week, said that the operation stemmed from Rumsfeld’s long-standing desire to wrest control of America’s clandestine and paramilitary operations from the C.I.A.

Rumsfeld, during appearances last week before Congress ... conveyed the message that he was telling the public all that he knew about the story. ... The senior C.I.A. official, asked about Rumsfeld’s testimony and that of Stephen Cambone, his Under-Secretary for Intelligence, said, "Some people think you can bullshit anyone."

... One Pentagon official who was deeply involved in the program was Stephen Cambone, who was named Under-Secretary of Defense for Intelligence in March, 2003. ... Cambone was a strong advocate for war against Iraq. He shared Rumsfeld’s disdain for the analysis and assessments proffered by the C.I.A., viewing them as too cautious, and chafed, as did Rumsfeld, at the C.I.A.’s inability, before the Iraq war, to state conclusively that Saddam Hussein harbored weapons of mass destruction.

... The Bush Administration had unilaterally declared Al Qaeda and other captured members of international terrorist networks to be illegal combatants, and not eligible for the protection of the Geneva Conventions ... Rumsfeld and Cambone went a step further, however: they expanded the scope of the [special-access program or SAP], bringing its unconventional methods to Abu Ghraib. The commandos were to operate in Iraq as they had in Afghanistan. The male prisoners could be treated roughly, and exposed to sexual humiliation.

... Cambone then made another crucial decision, the former intelligence official told me: not only would he bring the SAP’s rules into the prisons; he would bring some of the Army military-intelligence officers working inside the Iraqi prisons under the SAP’s auspices. "So here are fundamentally good soldiers -- military-intelligence guys -- being told that no rules apply," the former official, who has extensive knowledge of the special-access programs, added. "And, as far as they’re concerned, this is a covert operation, and it’s to be kept within Defense Department channels."

Well, today is D-Day for gay marriage, which seems to be stealing the thunder from the day's 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. A moment of silence is in order, to consider the effects likely to ensue.

... here is what the very first recipient of a Provincetown MA same-sex marriage license has to say about marriage:

"[Jonathan Yarbrough] says the concept of forever is 'overrated' and that he, as a bisexual, and [his partner Cody] Rogahn, who is gay, have chosen to enjoy an open marriage. `I think it's possible to love more than one person and have more than one partner, not in the polygamist sense,' he said. `In our case, it is, we have, an open marriage.'"

Does this qualify as a "red herring" (as gay-marriage advocates would call it) or a "slippery slope" (as the opponents of gay marriage have been saying all along)?

... (Graner) repeatedly has faced allegations of violence and psychological abuse in his personal life and at his job as a Pennsylvania prison guard. The complaints about Graner in Pennsylvania never led to a conviction, but some were similar to what he's now accused of doing in Iraq: beating prisoners, taunting Muslim inmates and not following orders.

... Graner, who served in the Persian Gulf War as a Marine reservist, was a guard at a (Pennsylvania) county jail for about five years before he began work as a $16-an-hour guard at a maximum-security state prison ... He was fired in June 2000 for repeatedly being tardy, abusing sick leave and disobeying orders to remain on duty. He was reinstated two years later after a hearing, and the punishment was reduced to a three-day suspension.

Inmates at the state prison complained that Graner mistreated them, but none of the charges was upheld in the prison grievance process or in federal court. Still, former death-row inmate Nicholas Yarris maintains that Graner abused his authority.

"Most guards are good people trying to make a living, but Charles took absolute glee in exercising power over inmates," says Yarris, who, after spending 22 years in prison on a murder conviction, was released in January after DNA evidence exonerated him.

Yarris says Graner spat in inmates' food, taunted Muslims about not eating pork, cracked jokes about homosexuals during strip searches and relished withholding privileges such as exercise.

... Privacy rules prohibit the prison from disclosing how many times inmates accused Graner of abuse. But two grievances led to lawsuits in federal court in Pittsburgh that alleged physical abuse.

In one suit, an inmate accused Graner and other guards of putting a razor blade in his food in retaliation for the inmate testifying against guards in another abuse case. The inmate, who is black, claimed that after he had received a medical exam and while he was handcuffed, Graner lifted him off his feet, slammed his head on the floor and shouted racial slurs at him.

... The suit, filed in 1999, was dismissed in 2001 because the inmate did not pursue the case after his release from prison on a burglary charge.

... Graner's personal life has been difficult, too. During their divorce, Graner's ex-wife, Staci, secured three "protection of abuse" court orders against him for allegedly beating her, breaking into her house and secretly videotaping her. Their divorce was final in 2000; the most recent protection order ended in March 2002.

Graner consented to one of the orders against him and did not contest the other two. He was not arrested for spousal abuse and court records indicate he did not violate the court orders.

... At Abu Ghraib, Graner is accused of hitting prisoners, including one who was knocked unconscious. ... "He was joking, laughing, like he was enjoying it," Spc. Jeremy Sivits told investigators, according to court papers. Sivits goes to trial on Wednesday; he is cooperating with prosecutors and has told them in a statement that Graner played a lead role in the abuse.

Graner's attorney, Guy Womack, says Graner's work history and the allegations of domestic violence cannot be considered in the upcoming military court-martial. "He is a very good guy," Womack says.