Iraq

“Crafty” detainees in Iraq have taken to taunting members of the Wisconsin National Guard about the successes of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre.

An amendment that would ban federal funds going to companies that require arbitration in the case of sexual assault passed the Senate on Tuesday. The amendment was offered by Sen. Al Franken and was added to the defense appropriations bill by a vote of 68 to 30.

As University of Minnesota bioethicist and torture expert Dr. Steven Miles was researching the deaths of detainees in U.S. custody, he noticed something strange. Although the Department of Defense had in the past issued press releases when detainees died at U.S.-run prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan, at some point in 2006, he says, the “entire prisoner death reporting system was turned off in Afghanistan.” Although at that time deaths in Iraq were still being reported, he says, that system was “turned off” at the beginning of 2008.

Wikileaks: They’re not just for revealing how Norm Coleman stores unprotected, unencrypted donor data anymore.
We mentioned yesterday the varied mix of leaked documents that the Wikileaks.org Web site posts, including a U.S. Army memo on soldiers’ exposure to toxins. Today that Army memo and the Wikileaks site share center stage in a Duluth News Tribune story (via), along [...]

An underground railroad has emerged in Iraq since the start of the United States’ occupation, as Muslim fundamentalists torture, maim and murder LGBT people in that country, The Manchester Guardian’s Peter Tatchell reports.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, homophobia and the terrorisation of LGBT people has got much worse. The western invasion of Iraq in [...]

While we’ve had fun looking at the social-media mashups spun off of the Bush/shoe-throwing incident, here’s a sobering issue: The BBC reports that the man, Muntadar al-Zaidi (pictured in a BBC photo), has been beaten while in Iraqi custody. His brother told the British news agency that al-Zaidi allegedly “suffered a broken arm, broken ribs [...]

The annals of politicized shoe gestures, far as I can tell, are less than voluminous. Coming quickly to mind: Nikita Khrushchev’s “We will bury you,” emphasized by a hammered sole. So-called “shoe-bomber,” Richard Reid, busted while allegedly trying to ignite a fuse in his sneakers. Super spy Austin Powers, stung by a precision-pitched loafer, who [...]

During a “surprise” visit to Iraq, George W. Bush held a press conference, during which an Iraqi journalist launched two shoes at the president. The man, who screamed “this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog,” was later wrestled to the ground. The BBC, which has the remarkable video, reports that in Arab [...]

The Economist has given all 195 of the world’s countries a say in the outcome of tomorrow’s presidential election with its Global Electoral College. Here’s how it works, as explained by The Economist: “As in America, each country has been allocated a minimum of three electoral-college votes with extra votes allocated in proportion to population [...]

You’ve probably heard Barack Obama talk about the Iraqi government’s $79 billion surplus. Now Ashwin Madia is decrying the surplus in his latest commercial. On its face it’s a compelling argument: Why are we spending $10 billion a month in a country with a $79 billion budget surplus?
If you scratch at it a little bit, [...]