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.

From the Iraq Freedom Congress, Sept. 3:

The Anti-Oil Law Front Stages a Mass Demonstration in Baghdad
US Forces Try to Provoke the Demonstrators
The Anti-Oil Law Front staged a demonstration in the center of Baghdad (Liberation Square) under Liberty Monument. The demonstrators raised slogans in English and Arabic denouncing the oil Law and chanted against the US administration and its appointed government. The US forces surrounded the rally for half an hour and took pictures of the demonstrators who carried the banners. They also blocked the traffic to prevent people joining the demonstration in an attempt to spread terror among whoever intends to join the rally. The area was filled with hundreds of police and National Guard of whom dozens sympathized with the demonstrators and the cause.

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 the sarcastically-named RNC Welcoming Committee, Sept. 3:

We Will Not Be Intimidated
On Friday, August 31, nineteen people were arrested after police brutally attacked cyclists with Tasers, pepper spray, and excessive physical force. The cyclists were part of the monthly Critical Mass bike ride.

Colombia's Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos announced Sept. 3 army troops have killed Tomas Medina Caracas AKA "Negro Acacio," a top commander in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), wanted in the US on drug trafficking charges since 2002. The US accuses Medina of being the top contact for the guerilla organization's globe-spanning drug deals—including receipt of some 10,000 AK-47s, purchased in Jordan by arms traffickers thought to be working with then-Peruvian spymaster Vladimiro Montesinos.

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: