A conviction in a torture-killing in Iraq... But no prison sentence—just a "reprimand"...

FORT CARSON, Colo., Jan 23 (Reuters) - A U.S. Army jury on Monday ordered a military interrogator be reprimanded but not sent to prison for the killing of an Iraqi general who was stuffed head first into a sleep bag.

Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer, the highest ranking Army official charged in the death of an Iraqi detainee, also was ordered to forfeit $6,000 in pay and given 60 days of restricted movement.

This one really takes the cake. William Blum's anti-imperialist tome Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower has shot up from 205,763 to 26 on Amazon.com's index of the most-ordered books since it was given a favorable review by Osama bin Laden. Wrote the acccused terror mastermind in his Jan. 19 communique:

From London News, Jan. 22:

Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova died on Saturday aged 61, after a long fight with lung cancer. Mr Rugova was a key player fighting for peace in the region for more than a decade. He took on the Serbian regime of Slobodan Milosevic and symbolized the struggle by Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians for independence from Serbia.

From the AP, via Israel's Ha'aretz, Jan. 22:

CARACAS - Hundreds of Venezuelan intellectuals expressed "shock and consternation" in a public condemnation Saturday of allegedly anti-Semitic remarks made recently by President Hugo Chavez.

Once again—how convenient is this? As bumping off Iran's regime becomes more of a strategic necessity for Washington, suddenly Tel Aviv accuses Tehran of being behind the latest suicide bombing. Tehran, for its part, denies the charges—while publicly embracing Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

LONDON, January 21 (IranMania) - Iran on Saturday dismissed as "baseless" remarks by Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz accusing Iran and Syria of being behind a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that wounded 19 people, said AFP.

From BBC, Jan. 19:

France 'would use nuclear arms'

French President Jacques Chirac has said France would be ready to use nuclear weapons against any state which launched a terrorist attack against it.

Speaking at a nuclear submarine base in north-western France, Mr Chirac said a French response "could be conventional. It could also be of another nature."

From the AP, Jan. 19:

Al-Jazeera on Thursday aired an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden, who says al-Qaeda is making preparations for attacks in the United States but offering a truce "with fair conditions."

The tape's release came days after a US airstrike in Pakistan that was targeting bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and reportedly killed four leading al-Qaeda figures, including possibly al-Zawahri's son-in-law. There was no mention of the attack on the segments that were broadcast.

Glorify 'em as heroes and martyrs for war propaganda—then screw 'em. It's the American way. From NY1, Jan. 17:

Supreme Court Rules 9/11 Families Cannot Sue Over Faulty Radios
Families of New York City firefighters won't be allowed to sue over the radios the department used during the September 11th terror attacks.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision which dismissed a lawsuit against the city and the radio manufacturer, Motorola. The suit alleged the radios were faulty and prevented responders from hearing evacuation calls while they were rescuing people from the North Tower.