A suicide bomber crashed his car into a US military patrol just outside Kandahar June 13, killing himself and wounding four US soldiers, one seriously. The US ambassador in Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad, condemned such attacks as "cowardly acts of desperation, committed by criminals who move in shadows and hide in holes" and vowed to catch those responsible. (IHT, June 14)

David Horowitz' website Discover the Networks: A Guide to the Political Left is pretty funny, evoking what Richard Hofstadter called "the paranoid style in American politics." Its list of un-American "radicals" includes both George Soros and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman (neither "leftists"), as well as Death Row celebrity Mumia Abu-Jamal and pro-death penalty ex-prez Bill Clinton. What isn't so funny is that Discover the Networks apparently exchanged links with a truly evil site called Target of Opportunity. The disingenuous "disclaimer" on this site is actually an explicit incitement to violence:

A top member of a banned Islamist group who predicted the fall of Morocco's monarchy and called for the setting up of a republic will go on trial this month. "I'm accused of attacking the monarchic regime and face three to five years imprisonment," said Nadia Yassine, daughter of Abdeslam Yassine, the spiritual leader of the Justice and Charity group. The group, which rejects violence, is seen as the main opponent to the North African monarchy. It has a strong following in universities and is popular in poor areas.

Nadia told a newspaper last week she expected the monarchy to collapse soon and that "Moroccans can live without King Mohammed." She also said the Moroccan constitution was "worthy of history's bin" and called for the setting up of a republic.

In their bid to get the Patriot Act made permanent when it comes up for renewal later this year, Bush and Attorney General Gonzales are claiming 200 terrorism convictions thanks to new post-9-11 powers. However, a review of the cases by the Washintgon Post June 12 finds that the overwhelming majority had nothing to do with terrorism. Thanks to TruthOut for passing this along:

Our reader Ivo Skoric offers the following observation on news that National Intelligence Director John Negroponte will be appointing his personal intelligence overseer at the FBI:

Now that White House will have its man inside the FBI, actually a top intelligence official inside the FBI, there will be no Mark Felt opportunities any more. No more chances for an independent inquiry into the lawfulness of the political leadership. Deep Throat will remain a part of the imperfect Nixonian history. Not to be repeated under the totalitarian Bush regime.

Jonathan Bennett of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) sends the following observations on follow-up coverage of revleations the Bush White House altered science on global climate change:

On the same day that Bush called for the Patriot Act to be made permanent when it comes up for renewal later this year (see his comments at the National Counter-Terrorism Center), finally some dissension emerges in Congress over the legislation--with the Republicans resorting to outright censorship of some Democratic critics. TruthOut sends the following clip from the AP:

Tentative moves towards peace are reported from Darfur, where the first group of some 200 internally displaced people left Kalma camp near Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur, on 20 trucks provided by the Sudanese government. They are part of the total 30,000 displaced people (or 6,000 families) the government plans to return to their areas of origin in West Darfur. With a population of 110,000, Kalma camp is one of the world's biggest camps for displaced people. Its inhabitants had fled attacks on their villages in 2003 and 2004 and walked for days before reaching what they felt was a safer place in South Darfur. The camp was visited by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan two weeks ago. (UNHCR, June 10) Sudan also announced that it has established its own special court to try Darfur war crimes suspects. (Xinhua, June 11) But African Union peacekeepers reported observing a new clash between government forces and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) near El-Fasher--claims the Sudanese government denied. (PolitInfo, June 11)