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The notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad is at the centre of fresh abuse allegations just a week after it was handed over to Iraqi authorities, with claims that inmates are being tortured by their new captors. Inside the 100-yard long cell block the smell of excrement was overpowering. Four to six prisoners shared each of the 12ft by 15ft cells along either side and the walls were smeared with filth. The cell block was patrolled by guards who carried long batons and shouted angrily at the prisoners to stand up. Access to the part of the prison containing terrorism...

The brutal excesses of Saddam Hussein's regime were relived yesterday as Iraq's new government announced that it had hanged 27 prisoners convicted of terror and criminal charges. Mass executions at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, which has several gallows erected in the execution chamber, were suspended after coalition-led troops overthrew Saddam three years ago. The death penalty was reinstituted in 2004, and yesterday's executions took place just days after control of Abu Ghraib was handed over to the Iraqi authorities. An Iraqi Justice Ministry official said two of those hanged had been convicted of terrorism charges, and the other 25 –...

BAGHDAD, Sep. 3, 2006 – Soldiers from 1st Iraqi Army Division assumed control of the Abu Ghraib prison here from U.S. Army Task Force 134 in a ceremony here Sept. 1. Iraqi soldiers will provide security for the facility – now vacant -- until the Ministry of Justice dispatches its own security detail. “Returning the empty prison to the control of the Ministry of Justice clearly says that enforcement of the rule of law is a cornerstone of the constitutional government of Iraq,” said Col. Monam Hashim Fahed, the Iraqi battalion commander. Marines from 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, Regimental...

Mexican leftists silence Fox YahooNews.com By Miguel Angel Gutierrez, Sat Sep 2, 12:38 AM ET “Mexican President Vicente Fox was forced to abandon his last state of the nation address to Congress on Friday after leftist lawmakers alleging election fraud seized the podium and refused to let him speak. Shortly before Fox was due to give his speech, dozens of legislators who support leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador marched up to the podium, some with banners calling the president a traitor to democracy.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Abu Ghraib prison, whose name became synonymous with abuse, has been emptied of detainees, a senior Iraqi justice ministry official said Sunday. "There's not a single prisoner left there," Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim told The Associated Press. The facility has been turned over to Iraqi authorities since it was emptied on Aug. 15, he said. Iraqi authorities have not decided what they will do with the empty facility, Ibrahim said. The U.S. military said a transfer of nearly 3,000 detainees from Abu Ghraib to other detention facilities run by the military was planned. But it...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The highest-ranking U.S. soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal in Iraq has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, a U.S. Army reservist from Virginia, also was sentenced Thursday to a forfeiture of pay, a dishonorable discharge and a reduction in rank to private.

NEW YORK - The soldier who triggered the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal by sending incriminating photos to military investigators says he feared deadly retaliation by other GIs and was shocked when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mentioned his name at a Senate hearing. Within days, Joe Darby was spirited out of Iraq at his own request. But his family was besieged by news media, and close relatives called him a traitor. Ultimately he was forced to move away from his hometown in western Maryland. "I had the choice between what I knew was morally right and my loyalty to other...

Opponents of President Bush and his Iraq policy have jumped on a comment last week by Gen. John Abizaid, commander, U.S. Central Command, before the Senate Armed Services Committee: "I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I've seen it, in Baghdad in particular, and that if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war." Ignored in most of the media coverage was what Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the same hearing: "I believe that we do have the possibility of that devolving to a civil...

snip…Privates Tucker and Menchaca were not simply ambushed, taken prisoner and killed. "The torture was something unnatural," said Major General Abdul Azziz Mohammed Jassim of Iraq's Defense Ministry, hinting at the state of the soldiers' remains. The corpses were so mutilated that they could be positively identified only through DNA testing. Here, then, is the enemy we face in Iraq: not nationalists or extremists or even fanatics, but something like a band of real-life Hannibal Lecters for whom human slaughter is both business and religious fulfillment. Following the killing, an Internet statement said to be from the Mujahadeen Shura Council...

Personally I think it has become much to commercialized. Remember the reason for the season!

by Mark Finkelstein June 7, 2006 For weeks, the MSM has been billing as a bellwether the congressional by-election in California to replace convicted felon Randy 'Duke' Cunningham. As per the conventional wisdom, if the Democrats managed to take the seat in what is normally a GOP-stronghold, it would be seen as a harbinger of horrible things to come for the Republican congressional majority. Well, the election was held yesterday, and - whoops! - the Republican, Brian Bilbray, won. So how did Today spin it? Why, silence was suddenly golden. At least as far as the crucial first half-hour, not...

<p>NEW YORK (AP) A Pakistani immigrant has been convicted of plotting to blow up one of Manhattan's busiest subway stations in retaliation for the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal.</p>

Folks, my new book, America's Victories: Why the U.S. Wins Wars and Will Win the War on Terror was released this morning from Sentinel. Pre-orders and book club orders indicate it's going to do pretty well, better than even A Patriot's History of the United States. I won't post a link---that's a no-no---but I will update you on a few appearances and media events: Tues, May 23 I'll be on Fox and Friends, 6:45-7:00 a.m. Mon, May 22, I'll be on "Mancow in the Morning," 8:10-8:30; and on Michael Medved's radio show in the 4:00-5:00 slot. May 25, I'll be...

Iraq's prime minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki said Tuesday that the line-up for country's first permanent government of the post-Saddam era was almost ready, after months of tortuous negotiations. "We will finalise the cabinet today or tomorrow and will present the new government to the parliament this week," he told reporters. Iraq's rival political factions have been wrangling since the December election over the shape of a new national unity government which it is hoped will help quell raging sectarian violence and rein in the Sunni-led insurgency. "This is a government of all Iraqis and not of one sect," Maliki said. "Iraqis...

WASHINGTON -- The Army on Friday charged the former head of the interrogation center at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq with cruelty and maltreatment, dereliction of duty and other criminal offenses for his alleged involvement in the abuse of detainees at the notorious prison in 2003 and for interfering with the abuse investigation. Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, was charged with 12 counts of violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for seven separate offenses.

Sweetness and Light has noticed that the press has quoted two former counterterrorism experts in defense of Mary McCarthy but omitted one interesting detail, which may or may not be relevant. Here's ABC News report quoting the first expert, Ray McGovern to the effect that McCarthy had a higher duty to "defend the constitution". To supporters, McCarthy is a woman of conviction who exposed actions she believed were against the law."This a matter of principle," said Ray McGovern, a former fellow CIA analyst, "where she said my oath, my promise not to reveal secrets is superceded by my oath to...

U.S. soldiers who worked at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq while detainees were being abused there have received letters from U.S. Sen. Carl Levin asking about the involvement of higher-ranking officials in authorizing harsh interrogation tactics, a lawyer for a convicted military policeman said Tuesday. The letters from the Michigan senator follow Democrats' failure to persuade Congress to open an independent investigation into allegations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and other U.S. military detention facilities. The letters were first reported Tuesday by The Washington Post. Former Army staff sergeant Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick, a military police reservist serving...

The Public Editor BAD mistakes happen even at the best newspapers, and public editors should usually watch for patterns rather than single out a specific incident. But when a Times front-page article highlighting the sensitive detainee-abuse aspect of the Iraq war turned out to be fatally flawed, it seemed to me that a closer look at the journalistic practices involved was warranted. The March 11 article profiled a man who said he was the hooded Abu Ghraib prisoner famously photographed about two years ago, standing on a box with wires attached to his extended hands. The article included an interview...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 3/25/06 - Samarra, Op. Swarmer , Kerbala, Abu Ghraib, al-Dor, Baquba, USS Gonzalez, USS Cape St. George, Taji, Nowruz, Istanbul, Tashkent, Tehran BREAKING: Samarra, Op. Swarmer - 11 caches and 104 terrorists taken BREAKING: Kerbala - terrorist attack Abu Ghraib - Real story: cache taken al-Dor - US-Iraqi patrols root out terrorists Baquba - Cache taken USS Gonzalez, USS Cape St. George - Weapons confiscated from terrorist pirates Taji - Nowruz celebrations Istanbul, Turkey - Nowruz celebrations Uzbek capital Tashkent - Nowruz celebrations Tehran - Nowruz celebrations QFN ==== YE OLDE QUAGMIRE-FREE...

NEW YORK For the second time in less than a week, The New York Times today admitted to a serious error in a story. On Saturday it said it had misidentified a man featured in the iconic "hooded inmate" photograph from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Today it discloses that a woman it profiled on March 8 is not, in fact, a victim of Hurricane Katrina--and was arrested for fraud and grand larceny yesterday. As it did in the Abu Ghraib mistake, the Times ran an editors' note on page 2 of its front section, along with a lengthy news...