Speaking to reporters after winning Mauritania's first "free elections," Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdalahi pledged to "transform" the nation and "build a country that conforms to the norms of justice and economic development." In implicit reference to the early-'90s violence, in which Black Africans were expelled to neighboring Senegal and Mali, he said he would work for democracy "founded on tolerance and acceptance" to "reinforce national unity." But IRIN notes March 28 that "because of his association with former Taya supporters, Mr Abdalahi's detractors have alleged that his victory means the military's influence will creep back into politics, a perception not helped by the army chief of staff Ahmed Ould Daddah issuing a statement congratulating Mr Abdalahi on his victory."

The April-May issue of the online alternative fashion magazine IMT Styles (for "I made that") has a feature on WW4 REPORT—including an interview with WW4R editor Bill Weinberg by IMT Styles editor Tiffany Brown. We're happy to make this unlikely connection. The sexy/homespun IMT Styles proves that just because folks reject consumerist culture doesn't mean they have to be dour, frumpy intellectual hippies (although we at WW4 REPORT are). Here's the interview:

The New York Times' March 24 review of a new exhibit on the Abraham Lincoln Brigade at the Museum of the City of New York is a depressingly sinister and hypocritical piece of propaganda. Entitled "The Spanish Civil War: Black and White in a Murky, Ambiguous World" by Edward Rothstein, the piece pokes smarmy fun at the heroic and paints the critical precursor struggle to World War II with a bogus moral equivalism. Rothstein comes close to a fascism-wasn't-so-bad-after-all position, which is particularly frightening when so many of its characteristics (aggressive wars, secret prisons) are once again in evidence.

The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis entered the Persian Gulf March 27, where it will conduct a joint exercise with the Dwight D. Eisenhower, which has been in the Gulf since October. The air wings of the two carrier groups will conduct a joint exercise while surface ships will hold exercises in anti-submarine, anti-surface ship and mine warfare. The Stennis is escorted by the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam.

From the Center for Constitutional Rights, March 27:

First Military Commission at Guantanamo Deeply Flawed
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) today released a statement on the military commission proceedings at Guantánamo Bay against Australian David Hicks that began yesterday. Hicks pled guilty to material support of a terrorist group last night apparently in exchange for being allowed to serve his sentence in Australia.

Abdul Malik, an al-Qaeda suspect accused of involvement in terrorist attacks in Kenya in 2002 has been handed over to US custody by Kenyan authoirites and transported to Guantanamo Bay due to the "significant threat" he represented, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. He said Malik has admitted involvement in a hotel bombing and for trying to shoot down an Israeli jetliner with 271 people on board. The attack on Mombassa's Hotel Paradise, a resort popular with Israeli tourists, killed over a dozen people. Malik is the first detainee to be transferred to Guantanamo since September 2006, when 14 al-Qaeda suspects arrived from secret US prisons overseas. Whitman said Malik was held at US military prisons before being taken to Guantanamo, not secret CIA prisons. (AlJazeera, March 27)

Two suicide car bombs exploded near the home of a tribal leader in the Abu Ghraib district west of Baghdad March 27, killing the sheikh's son and several other people. Sheikh Thahir al-Dari, whose home was targeted, is the head of the al-Zobaie tribe and belongs to a group opposed to al-Qaeda. Salam al-Zobaie, Iraq's deputy prime minister who survived an assassination bid last week, belongs to al-Dari's tribe. (AlJazeera, March 27)

More than 18,000 Afghan refugees in Pakistan have returned home since the UN High Commissioner foor Refugees (UNHCR) started this year's voluntary repatriation to Afghanistan, officials announced March 23. "They have been given a grace period from March 1 to April 15 to repatriate voluntarily with assistance," UNHCR said, adding that Afghans who did not register during the 15-week period and thus do not have Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, will be considered illegal migrants and will be subject to prosecution. UNHCR says there are still some 2.15 million Afghan citizens in Pakistan. (UNHCR press release, March 23)