James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), the House Judiciary Committee chair, has introduced the Orwellianly named "Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act" (HR 1528) would compel people to spy on their family members and neighbors, and even go undercover and wear a wire if needed. Citizens who resisted would face imprisonment.

Under the law, if you "witness" or "learn about" certain drug offenses, you must report the offenses to law enforcement within 24 hours and provide "full assistance in the investigation, apprehension and prosecution" of the people involved. Failure to do so would be a crime punishable by a mandatory minimum two-year prison sentence, and a maximum sentence of 10 years.

An Islamist prisoner, accused of involvement in the 2003 Casablanca bombings, has died in a Moroccan prison on hunger strike, al-Jazeera reports. The unidentified man died in Autaita prison in the city of Sidi Qasim, where about 1,000 inmates, members of the so-called Salafia Jihadia organisation, had staged a hunger strike. The strikers deny involvement in the bombings and say they have been tortured. Abu Usama, a prisoner in Autaita jail, told Aljazeera the prisoners were demanding the Moroccan authorities open an investigation into rights violations they faced in Morocco's prisons and jails, including being made to sign confessions under threat of torture.

Stephen Ulph of the national-secuity think-tank The Jamestown Foundation writes that "militant Islamist forums" in Algeria are circulating a statement dated May 8 purporting to announce the formation of a new al-Qaeda cell, apparenrly seeking to revive Algeria's dormant civil war.

The Intifada which has broken out in Morocco-occupied Western Sahara continues too grow, and has even spread to Morocco proper. Yesterday, bludgeon-wielding police raided a university campus in Rabat to break up a protest by Saharawi students held in solidarity with demonstrators in the occupied territory. Students hurled stones at the police, and injuries were reported on both sides. (AlJazeera, May 28)

A May 27 article in The Forward, Uzbek Unrest Shines Light on Leader's Ties to Jewry, highlights the cozy relationship between the repressive Uzbek regime led by President Islam Karimov, organized American Jewry and that great moral authority on democracy, Natan Sharansky:

Earlier this month, Karimov unleashed his security forces to quell an opposition demonstration in the east of the Central Asian republic, causing hundreds of civilian deaths. Even before the latest violence, in recent years the State Department, the United Nations and major human rights organizations all have criticized the Uzbek regime for alleged abuses, including the systematic use of rape and torture against opponents.

Clashes between Moroccan security forces and Saharawi demonstrators have broken out in towns across Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, following the violent repression of pro-independence protests. Saharawi human rights activists say that nineteen people are missing in police custody, including one whole family, and that a young demonstrator was raped by Moroccan security forces.

At least 25 are dead in an apparent suicide bombing at the Bari Imam Sufi shrine at Nurpur village outside Pakistan's capital Islamabad this morning. Thousands of devotees were attending the last day of a five-day festival at the time of the explosion. Worshippers had been waiting for a prominent Shi'ite leader to address the gathering when the bomb went off. The shrine is located about one kilometer from the official residence of Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), darling of the liberal left, made an extraordinary observation to the crowd at the AIPAC convention on May 24:

"There are those who contend that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is all about Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. This is absolute nonsense. In truth, the history of the conflict is not over occupation, and never has been: it is over the fundamental right of Israel to exist." (US Newswire, May 24)

Pelosi should have a look at the following piece by Ha'aretz' Palestinian affairs analyst Danny Rubinstein: