On March 6, a suicide bomber killed more than 30 and wounded dozens in a cafe north-east of Baghdad, while a car bomb in the suburb of Saidiya killed seven Shi'ite pilgrims headed for the holy city of Najaf. Elsewhere in the capital, gunmen wounded six pilgrims on their way to the holy city of Karbala. In Hilla, south of Baghdad, a suicide bomber lured unsuspecting pilgrims with cakes, an age-old custom during the annual Arbaeen religious festival. Other gunmen fired on pilgrims from passing cars. More than 1.5 million went to Imam Hussein's shrine despite the violence which claimed some 140 lives and left 200 wounded on March 6 alone. Shi'ite political leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim joined pilgrims south of Baghdad and vowed that they would not be deterred. "Even Saddam, with all his institutions and strength, was not able to stand in the way of these masses," he told Furat TV. Arbaein (also rendered Arabaein, Arbaeen, Arba'een, Arbayeen, etc.) marks the end of the 40-day Ashura period commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussien bin Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad. (The Guardian, The Age, Australia, Feb. 8; Indian Muslims, Feb. 7)

OK, Fox News may be touting this story for bad, Islamophobic reasons. One of the ironies of our times is that jingoistic propagandists like Fox are bashing US allies like Saudi Arabia, while "progressives" in the West are lining up with reactionary political Islam—even if it means cutting slack for US client states. Are we the only ones who feel like we're through the looking glass here? March 6:

Here we go again. We noted two years ago that the annual State Department human rights report for the Americas displayed a blatant double standard concerning US client Colombia and Axis of Evil junior affiliate Venezuela. The new report goes one better, actually singling out Venezuela and Cuba as having the worst human rights records in the hemisphere. The report says that as of the end of 2006, there were at least 283 political prisoners or detainees in Cuba and 13 in Venezuela. Barry F. Lowenkron, the assistant secretary of state for human rights, said the situation in Venezuela is worsening under President Hugo Chavez's government, which he characterized as "regressive." (AP, March 6)

Democrats are urging President Bush not to pardon Lewis "Scooter" Libby following his conviction on perjury charges in the Valerie Plame case. His lawyers pledge to seek a retrial, or appeal. Significantly, Libby was never charged with leaking Plame's identity—whoever did that remains at large. Vice President Dick Cheney, in a written statement, said he was "disappointed with the verdict." Cheney said "Scooter has served our nation tirelessly and with great distinction through many years of public service." (CNN, March 6) We suspect Dick is laughing down his sleeve. Michael Roston for Raw Story:

From the Center for Constitutional Rights via Buzzflash, March 6:

US to Put 14 Ghost Detainees From CIA Black Sites Before Sham Tribunals at Guantanamo
Today the Center for Constitutional Rights issued a statement in response to the news that CCR's client, Majid Khan, one of the 14 so-called high value detainees at Guantánamo who were kept in secret CIA prisons and tortured before being transferred to Guantánamo in September 2006, would be brought before the Combatant Status Review Tribunal despite having been denied access to counsel:

Jumal Juma, coordinator of the Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, writes for Electronic Intifada, March 5:

Open Letter to the People of Six Nations
On the anniversary of the Six Nations Land Reclamation we express our solidarity to you and to all those that are defending today their land and livelihoods against theft and colonization.

Before dawn on Feb. 8, near Silverbell, Arizona, two men fired high-powered assault rifles at a pickup truck carrying migrants who had just crossed the border on their way to Phoenix. Three migrants—one Mexican man, one Guatemalan man and one Mexican woman—were killed, and one woman was seriously wounded. The alleged guide leading the trip, a man from Mexico, was shot in the hand and is under arrest. The driver of the pickup and some two dozen other migrants remain missing. Four witnesses who survived have told conflicting stories about the details about the shooting. It is not clear whether the attack was the work of rival smugglers, extremist vigilantes or what are known as bajadores—crews of bandits who steal human cargo from smugglers to extort ransom from migrants' families. (Washington Post, Feb. 19; Arizona Daily Star, Feb. 28; New York Times, Feb. 9)

China's Premier Wen Jiabao opened the annual session of the country's parliament March 5 with a call for economic growth to be balanced with environmental protection and efforts to tackle a growing urban-rural wealth gap. "Protect social equity and justice, and let all the people together enjoy the fruits of reform and development," he told the National People's Congress in Beijing. (The Guardian, March 5) This won some global headlines, but the context for it was generally overlooked—the growing threat of rural unrest as peasants are increasingly expropriated of their lands in China's breakneck and largely lawless drive for "development." China has heretofore been using the proverbial iron first against rebel peasants, but the past few months have seen an effort on the part of the central government to address the roots of the problem by reining in illegal land sales by local authorities—as the below Sept. 6, 2006 story from the state news agency Xinhua indicates. The fact that such measures are even necessary should end once and for all the illusion that the People's Republic is "communist" in anything other than name.