This Sept. 7 report from AP notes what seems to be a growing trend—and vindicates our observation of a strategic tilt to the Sunnis on the part of the US.

US and Iraqi troops backed by attack aircraft clashed with suspected Shi'ite militiamen in Baghdad, bombing houses and battling more than a dozen snipers on rooftops. Residents and police said at least 14 people were killed.

This Sept. 6 report from Computer World hails a victory for the privacy rights of cyberscenti, but as we have noted, this also concerns us old-school types who go to libraries and read books. (We know, how quaint.)

Judge: Court order needed before ISPs turn over user info without notification
A federal court today ruled that the FBI can't compel ISPs to turn over user records without notifying those users unless it has a court order or a grand jury subpoena. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York struck down part of the amended Patriot Act's National Security Letter (NSL) provision, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which had filed a lawsuit challenging the provision.

The Indo-Asian News Service is justly proud of Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers' Alliance in this Sept. 5 account. New York City is fast becoming a laboratory for the new surveillance state, and the heroic taxi drivers are in the vanguard of the resistance:

Bhairavi Desai leads taxi strike in New York
Fewer taxis were seen on the roads in New York and it was taking longer to hail one as the two-day strike by a section of the city's 13,000 cab drivers started on Wednesday morning. Drivers of yellow cabs—about 60 per cent of them are South Asian—have been protesting the installation of GPS software and credit card readers by the government.

Sri Lanka's government is dividing districts in the east to prevent a Tamil homeland being created, potentially spoiling chances for a peace settlement, charged R. Sampanthan, parliamentary leader of the Tamil National Alliance party. The aim is to create an ethnic Sinhalese region between the port of Trincomalee in the Eastern Province and Mullaiththeevu in the Northern Province, Sampanthan told the TamilNet Web site. The army won control of the Eastern Province in July after 14 years of fighting with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE still controls parts of the northern Jaffna peninsula. (Bloomberg, Sept. 6)

Twenty Burmese security officials taken captive for several hours by Buddhist monks were released unharmed Sept. 6. The officials had arrived at the monastery in the town of Pakokku to apologize for injuries caused during a protest on the previous day over fuel price rises. Angry monks set fire to their vehicles and refused to let them leave. Hundreds of local residents gathered outside the gats of the monastery to applaud the monks. The officials were freed after a senior abbot intervened. At the Sept. 5 protest, security forces fired shots into the air to disperse 400 people in a rare demonstration by monks in Pakokku. At least three monks were injured.

The Secretary of the Navy Sept. 5 handed down letters of censure to three US Marine officers for improper performance of duties in the reporting and investigation of the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha in November 2005. A previous investigation into the officers' alleged misconduct revealed no evidence of a plan to conceal the Haditha incident which would violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). As the investigation did not indicate a UCMJ violation, the officers were not brought before an Article 32 panel to determine whether they should face courts-martial for their actions. Letters of censure are the most severe administrative punishment available to the Secretary of the Navy. The censured officers—Maj. Gen. Richard A. Huck, Col. Stephen W. Davis and Col. Robert G. Sokoloski—may be denied promotion and may lose full retirement benefits as a result of the letters.

From Newsday, Sept. 4:

Brooklyn boy dies after being struck by two cars
A Queens driver is facing a felony charge after he fled a Brooklyn accident in which a 7-year-old boy was struck by two vehicles and killed as the boy's mother and older brother watched, police said.

Bush's Sept. 3 visit to Iraq was his first not involving a stop in Baghdad. Instead he visited the former Sunni-insurgent stronghold of Anbar province, in what The Wall Street Journal calls a "a symbolic nod to the emerging administration strategy" of focusing less on the central government in Baghdad and more on local players who can bring about some stability to their communities. In Anbar province, "You see Sunnis who once fought side by side with al Qaeda against coalition troops now fighting side by side with coalition troops against al Qaeda," Bush said during his seven-hour visit, which included meetings with US commander Gen. David Petraeus, US Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Iraqi political leaders such as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Sunni tribal figures. (WSJ, Sept. 4) The Journal takes the opportunity of Bush's trip for a shamelessly optimistic opinion piece, "The Tide Is Turning in Iraq," by Kimberly Kagan of the Institute for the Study of War. Excerpts, with our commentary interspersed: