This man's treatment, and the defense's arguments, constitute another step in the legitimization of torture, and the dumbing-down of the word's definition. But at least the judiciary is showing a semblance of backbone here. From the New York Times, Oct. 5 (links, interjections and emphasis added):

From the Iraq Freedom Congress Weekly Update, Sept. 27:

Formation of IFC Doctors
Iraq Freedom Congress announces the formation of IFC Doctors, an organization of doctors and nurses who will provide free health services from the IFC headquarters in Baghdad. IFC Doctors is also forming traveling squads of health care teams to provide treatment off-site for people who cannot reach the office. Read more.

From the Iraq Freedom Congress, Sept. 17:

Al-Sanna Satellite TV Channel
Invites passionate volunteers to join its production team

Al-Sanna will start broadcasting its programmes in autumn 2006 to amplify the voice of freedom, peace and the equal rights of all people in Iraq and the Middle East.

In response to a question from New York's African American Inner City Press during the UN General Assembly debates Sept. 20, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is vying for a seat on the Security Council, said he would need more time to study the question of Darfur before recommending sending peacekeepers. Another Inner City Press report filed that day noted that Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir told reporters, "Everyone knows who is the real power behind the transition to a UN force... It's an attempt to dismember Sudan" and divide it into five pieces. When asked about all those demonstrating under the banner of "Save Darfur" that weekend, al-Bashir said that "Zionist organizations organized the rallies." Days earlier on Sept. 12, AP reported that Ismail Haj Mussa, a senior member of the Sudanese Parliament, told state-run Radio Omdurman that Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the United States are leading a conspiracy against his government, which "began as a political campaign in the UN and is now taking the form of a military intervention."

Our September issue featured stories on the question of 9-11 "conspiracy theory," including a skeptical look at the conspiracy industry and the so-called "9-11 skeptics" by WW4 REPORT editor Bill Weinberg. The September Exit Poll was: "OK, did Bush do it?" We received the following responses (beginning with the most long-winded and predictable one, just to get it out of the way):

From The Scotsman, Sept. 26:

Somali Islamists put down a women's protest against their capture of the port city of Kismayo yesterday.

In "Return to Sender" raids from Sept. 8 to 13, ICE agents arrested 55 people, 11 of them with prior criminal records, in the area around Lansing, Grand Rapids and Battle Creek in western Michigan. Those arrested were from Burma, Cambodia, China, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Nicaragua, Turkey and Yugoslavia. One man with a prior criminal record faces charges for having reentered after being previously deported. Most were detained in the Calhoun County Correctional Facility for processing and deportation. While ICE claimed all those without criminal records had ignored deportation orders, Grand Rapids Attorney Richard Kessler, who specializes in immigration law, said some were merely "in the wrong place at the wrong time," detained because they were at the home of the individuals being sought. The sheriff's offices of Calhoun and Kent counties provided "significant assistance" to the operation, ICE said. (Grand Rapids Press, Sept. 16; AP, Sept. 14)

On Sept. 21, the House of Representatives voted 328-95 to approve HR 6094--the "Community Protection Act of 2006"--an anti-immigrant bill which would allow indefinite detention, overturning the Supreme Court's June 2001 Zadvydas v. Davis ruling. The bill would also allow noncitizens to be quickly deported if the government believes they are gang members, and would bar suspected gang members from obtaining political asylum. The same day, the House voted 277-140 to pass HR 6095—the Immigration Law Enforcement Act of 2006—which would authorize state and local police to enforce federal immigration law, expand expedited removal, limit appeals and lawsuits in immigration cases and revoke the Orantes injunction, which protects Salvadorans from expedited removal. A third bill, passed unanimously, would impose a 20-year prison sentence for creating or financing a tunnel under the US border.