More than 200 detainees in Guantánamo Bay are in their fifth week of a hunger strike, the UK Guardian reports Sept. 9. The paper cites statements from prisoners recently declassified by the US government, revealing that the men are starving themselves in protest at the conditions in the camp and claimed abuses by guards—including desecration of the Koran.

For a second day, US war-planes struck a supposed al-Qaeda stronghold in the city of Qaim on the Syrian border. A US military statement said the attack is thought to have killed Abu Ali, a senior al-Qaeda agent in charge of helping foreign fighters enter the country from Syria. The target was just a few miles from the town of Husaybah, where residents said masked insurgent gunmen had taken control, setting up roadblocks and questioning people on the streets. They said snipers were atop buildings and gunmen roamed the streets. Marine warplanes also bombed two small Euphrates bridges being used by insurgents to move weapons and fighters near Karabilah. (AP, Sept. 7) A sign newly posted at the entrance of Qaim by insurgents declared: "Welcome to the Islamic Kingdom of Qaim." A statement posted in mosques described Qaim as an "Islamic kingdom liberated from the occupation." (LAT, Sept. 5) Last week, local hospital workers said 56 had been killed in US airstrikes, including many women and children. (Granma, Aug. 30) Some 200 have been arrested by US-Iraqi forces in sweeps at the nearby town of Tal Affar. (AP, Sept. 9) US forces have ordered all civilians to leave the Tal Affar, as new airstrikes on the town are underway. (BBC News, Sept. 9)

A soundman working for Reuters TV was shot dead Aug. 28 in Baghdad, and a cameraman with him was wounded and then detained by US soldiers. An Iraqi police report, read to Reuters by an Interior Ministry official, said the two had been shot by US forces. US military spokesman Lt. Col. Steven A. Boylan said the incident was being investigated, and an official statement indicated that the troops were responding to an attack on an Iraqi police convoy when the journalists were shot. The death brings to 66 the number of journalists and their aides killed in Iraq since the start of the invasion in 2003, said Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based news media rights group. That surpasses the 63 journalists killed over 20 years of conflict in Vietnam, the group said.

From The Independent, via TruthOut, Aug. 29:

Iraqi Activist Taken Up by Bush Recants Her Views
She was the Iraqi activist who became a symbol of the possibility of a brighter future for Iraq.

Back in February, with blue ink on her finger symbolising the recent Iraqi election in which she had just voted, Safia Taleb al-Souhail was invited to sit with the first lady, Laura Bush, and listen to the President claim in his state of the union address that success was being achieved in Iraq. Her picture went round the world after she turned to hug Janet Norwood, a Texas woman whose son had been killed in Iraq.

Morocco's leading independent human rights group called on the government Aug. 29 to start talks to try to end a hunger strike by prisoners from Morocco-occupied Western Sahara who are demanding better conditions. The Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH) said 29 prisoners in three prisons—one in the disputed territory and two in northern Moroccan cities—had refused to eat for three weeks. "The strike has started to seriously take its toll on their health," said MDH spokesman Abdelilah Benabdeslam. "Their lives are at risk now."

The group of New York cyclists who join the monthly Critical Mass Bike Ride is asking Mayor Michael Bloomberg to join in so he can see first-hand how they're treated by police. They also say they are going to launch a letter campaign asking the mayor for a public hearing to explain why money is being spent to police their events. "Critical Mass happens around the world," said Sara Stout of World Carfree Network.

One man was killed and five officers were injured during clashes between Kurdish protesters and police in southeastern Turkish city of Batman Aug. 29. The violence flared after some 1,000 Kurds marched to demand the release of the bodies of six men accused of being Kurdish separatist guerillas killed in fighting with Turkish military last week. The fighting comes despite a unilateral ceasefire announced by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) 10 days ago.

Expounding its ideology in a lengthy manifesto, the group "al Qaeda in Iraq" says the insurgency is stronger than the US admits and vows to "destroy the American empire." The group says in an e-book which surfaced on the Internet last week: "Every now and then, the schoolboys of the Pentagon and the adolescents of the Black House [sic] keep blasting our ears with talks of pure arrogance and conviction saying, 'We will not leave Iraq until we accomplish our mission.' This desperate catchphrase that they keep repeating is used to make the public believe that the mujahedeens are in bad shape, as if they are begging the Americans, saying, 'Please Americans, leave Iraq.'"