It barely rates a headline these days, but things are sure looking good in the long aftermath of another US military adventure, eh? From the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, Feb. 12:

Hundreds gathered on Sunday, February 11, in the centre of Pristina to mourn the victims of the previous day’s demonstration against the UN peace plan that turned violent and ended in fatalities. Two people died and more than 80 were injured in clashes with the police.

We've noted before in the US anti-war movement's factional jockeying, how the sectarian-controlled International ANSWER has used Palestine as a "wedge issue" against the more legitimate United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ) coalition—which really has been timid around the question. Now, at long last, UFPJ is seriously addressing Palestine. The Forward may not be happy about this, but we are. Daniel Treiman writes, Feb. 2:

From the Calgary Sun, Feb. 18:

OTTAWA -- A Liberal MP has accused the Conservatives of trying to keep the public in the dark about the state of three terrorist suspects on a hunger strike in a prison derisively known as Guantanamo North.

Five members of a Palestinian family jailed by immigration authorities in Texas since November were released on Feb. 3, a day after the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) accepted to reopen their asylum case. Salaheddin Ibrahim, his wife Hanan Ibrahim, who is five months pregnant, and four of their five children had been detained since a Nov. 2 raid on their home by ICE agents. Hanan Ibrahim was jailed at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, together with the couple's 15-year-old son Hamzeh and daughters Rodaina (14), Maryam (8) and Faten (5). Salaheddin Ibrahim is held at a separate facility in Haskell, Texas and had not been released as of Feb. 4. Three-year-old Zahra Ibrahim, a US-born citizen, has been cared for by her uncle, Ahmad Ibrahim, since her parents' arrest. The family's plight stirred media and public attention, and at least three protests were held outside the Hutto facility during their detention there. (Dallas Morning News, Jan. 31, Feb. 4; WFAA-TV, Feb. 1)

In a decision received on Jan. 30, Los Angeles immigration judge Bruce J. Einhorn terminated deportation proceedings against Khader Musa Hamide and Michel Ibrahim Shehadeh, the last two members of the "Los Angeles Eight" (LA 8) group of Palestinian rights activists who were still fighting deportation. The government has been attempting to deport Hamide and Shehadeh since January 1987 on the basis of their alleged political associations with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization. In his decision, Einhorn said that the proceedings must be terminated because the government had violated the constitutional rights of Hamide and Shehadeh by its "gross failure" to comply with his orders to produce "potentially exculpatory and other relevant information."

Followers of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr insist their leader is still in Iraq, disputing claims by US officials that he has fled to Iran to avoid a new offensive against militants. Four Sadr aides said he was still in the country, with some indicating he was in Najaf but had reduced public appearances for "security reasons." "He is now in Iraq," Nassar al-Rubaei, head of the Sadrist bloc in Iraq's parliament. The conflicting reports come after Iraq announced it is closing its borders with Iran and Syria and lengthening a night curfew in Baghdad to try to curb relentless violence in Baghdad.

From the British Ahwazi Friendship Society, Feb. 14:

An Ahwazi Arab teacher, Reisan Sawari, died while on hunger strike on Tuesday. Sawari had been held in solitary confinement for a year and was protesting against his conditions. He was a member of the reformist Lejnat al-Wefagh (Reconciliation Committee), which campaigned for Arab rights by constitutional means, including contesting elections. The party was banned by the regime last year, with government spokesmen claiming it was a threat to national security.

From the Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus, Feb. 14:

MONTPELIER — Vermont's Legislature became the first in the country Tuesday to pass a resolution calling for an immediate and orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.