In a victory for the Bush administration, the full 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals will reconsider a ruling that the government should charge Ali al-Marri, a legal US resident and the only suspected "enemy combatant" on American soil, or release him from military custody. The administration had asked the full 4th Circuit to review a three-judge panel's June 11 ruling. The Justice Department had argued that national security will be threatened if the administration is not allowed to indefinitely hold "enemy combatants" within the US.

The sad—and frightening—thing is that Americans generally have such a poor sense of history that many will get taken in by Bush's warped Vietnam analogies, delivered to applause at a National Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention in Kansas City Aug. 22. The Washington Post offers some quotes:

From Newsday, Aug. 23:

Drunk driver kills Good Samaritan
On the day he planned to go house-hunting with his family, an immigrant livery driver from Azerbaijan was killed in Brooklyn while trying to assist a colleague with a stalled car -- mowed down by a vehicle whose driver was drunk, police said.

Note the last sentence of this Aug. 19 AFP account. Do you think Hamid Karzai grasps the irony?

Afghanistan celebrates independence from Britain
President Hamid Karzai led Afghanistan's Independence Day celebrations on Sunday with a call to the country's young people to educate themselves to preserve their freedom.

Remember back in March when the Brits pulled out of southern Iraq, citing "progress"? Looks like the only thing which has "progressed" is a violent internecine Shi'ite struggle for political control. From the LAT, Aug. 21 (links and emphasis added):

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed the governor of Muthanna province yesterday, and armed men in a fleet of sport utility vehicles kidnapped a senior government minister on a busy Baghdad street.

A glimmer of hope that the ADL capitulated, but what a profound disgrace that they had to. And note that they are still taking a reactionary position on the Congressional resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide. Does Elie Wiesel, whose name they invoke in their defense, share this shameful stance? From JTA, Aug. 21:

Israel Corp., one of Israel's major holding companies, is evaluating the acquisition of Peruvian utility Electroandes' four hydroelectric plants, the government paper El Peruano quoted the Israeli company's president Idan Ofer as saying. The US-based Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) controls Electroandes, and is seeking to divest it. Israel Corporation has already completed the 180MW Kallpa thermo plant, which recently went on line (at Chilca, 65 kilometers south of Lima). Israel Corp. took over the Kallpa project form the UK-based Globeleq. "The principal motivation for investing in Peru is the stability and transparency of the electric market," Ofer said. The holding company also is looking at Peru's biofuels and port sectors. (Business News Americas, July 25, via BBC Monitoring)

Bolivian President Evo Morales has announced he and his cabinet will donate part of their pay to families left homeless by the devastating earthquake that hit neighboring Peru last week. "Peru has always shown solidarity toward us, and the first contribution I'd like to announce is that the president and vice president will donate 50 percent of their salaries," Morales told a news conference in La Paz. Morales said all ministers and deputy ministers will donate 25% of this month's salaries and urged all Bolivians to contribute to relief funds.