As we have noted before, these annual State Department human rights reports are not always so objective. But this year's report throws a little cold water in the face of the Administration's official optimism on Iraq—even if it implicitly gives the US a pass on "rendition." From the International Herald Tribune, March 9:

How to win friends and influence people. From the Iraqi League, March 4:

On 28th of Feb, 2006, a group of female students were returning home on board the official 40-seater bus belonging to the Mosul Institute of Teachers. As the bus reached Square-19, a US solider ordered the bus to stop, and proceeded to board the bus.

It would almost be comical in its choreographed predictability, if the stakes for world peace weren't so high. From Knight-Ridder, March 8:

The war of words over Iran's nuclear program grew harsher Wednesday, as Iran threatened to inflict "harm and pain" on the United States in retaliation for any U.S.-led effort to force the Islamic republic to abandon its uranium enrichment work.

From AP, March 2:

Al-Qaida has encouraged its followers to attack oil pipelines and facilities in Muslim countries and tankers but not wells, according to a document posted on a Web site by the group that targeted the world's largest oil-processing complex in Saudi Arabia.

From Reuters, March 8:

KHARTOUM - Shouting "Down, Down USA," thousands of Sudanese protested in Khartoum on Wednesday against any deployment of U.N. troops to the western Darfur region.

From Prensa Latina, March 8:

A call to return illegally owned lands was launched by Bolivia´s President Evo Morales, while warning his administration will put an end to unproductive large landed estates.

Just to get both sides of the story, first this account (in rather poor English) from Cuba's Prensa Latina:

La Paz, Mar 8 - Bolivia conditioned the return of weaponry and technology the US supplied to an elite military unit on submitting an official request through the Foreign Ministry.

Ginger Thompson writes for the New York Times, Feb. 27:

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 26 A secret report prepared by a special prosecutor's office says the Mexican military carried out a "genocide plan" of kidnapping, torturing and killing hundreds of suspected subversives in the southern state of Guerrero during the so-called dirty war, from the late 1960's to the early 1980's.