The MAeLstrom

[A scan of news articles and commentary on the internet.]

Surge not Working — Juan Cole at Informed Comment lists the latest disasters in Iraq and notes that Bill O'Reilly does not think any of this is important, or, actually, thinks reporting what goes on in Iraq is a form of treason. Just remember, as Orwell's 1984 reminds us: "War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength."

U.S. ATTORNEYS - Ex-Justice Dept. lawyer can't recall his role in controversial policies — Greg Gordon of McClatchy Newspapers reports that “Another former Justice Department lawyer went before Congress on Wednesday with few answers for his Democratic interrogators and a spotty memory.”

FBI Terror Watch List 'Out of Control' — ABC News, Justin Rood Reports: “terrorist watch list compiled by the FBI has apparently swelled to include more than half a million names. Privacy and civil liberties advocates say the list is growing uncontrollably, threatening its usefulness in the war on terror.”

Secret UN report condemns US for Middle East failures — Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem and Ian Williams report in The Guardian: “The highest ranking UN official in Israel has warned that American pressure has "pummelled into submission" the UN's role as an impartial Middle East negotiator in a damning confidential report.”

Justice Dept. Reshapes Its Civil Rights Mission — Neil Lewis reports in the New York Times that “In recent years, the Bush administration has recast the federal government’s role in civil rights by aggressively pursuing religion-oriented cases while significantly diminishing its involvement in the traditional area of race. Paralleling concerns of many conservative groups, the Justice Department has successfully argued in a number of cases that government agencies, employers or private organizations have improperly suppressed religious expression in situations that the Constitution’s drafters did not mean to restrict.

Alan Dershowitz and Robert Bork Team-up to Halt Patrick Fitzgerald — Qwerty’s Qoncepts notes that a group of leading lawyers and law professors, among them none other than Alan Dershowitz and Robert Bork, have written an amicus brief, questioning the constitutionality of the appointment of the special prosecutor in the case against Scooter Libby.

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