As we have noted before, these annual State Department human rights reports are not always so objective. But this year's report throws a little cold water in the face of the Administration's official optimism on Iraq—even if it implicitly gives the US a pass on "rendition." From the International Herald Tribune, March 9:

How to win friends and influence people. From the Iraqi League, March 4:

On 28th of Feb, 2006, a group of female students were returning home on board the official 40-seater bus belonging to the Mosul Institute of Teachers. As the bus reached Square-19, a US solider ordered the bus to stop, and proceeded to board the bus.

It would almost be comical in its choreographed predictability, if the stakes for world peace weren't so high. From Knight-Ridder, March 8:

The war of words over Iran's nuclear program grew harsher Wednesday, as Iran threatened to inflict "harm and pain" on the United States in retaliation for any U.S.-led effort to force the Islamic republic to abandon its uranium enrichment work.

WW4 REPORT Editor Bill Weinberg will be speaking on Friday March 10 in Barre, MA, at a double-feature screening of films on the Zapatista movement in Mexico and the civil resistance in Iraq. The latest installment in the Barre Winter Film Series will present the 1998 documentary A Place Called Chiapas and the new DVD Go Forward, Iraqi Freedom Congress!, produced by Japanese peace activsts and documenting the activities of a new anti-occupation civilian coalition in Iraq. Weinberg, the author of Homage to Chiapas: The New Indigenous Struggles in Mexico (Verso Books, 2000), recently returned from a conference in Japan where he met with and interviewed leaders of the Iraqi Freedom Congress.

From AP, March 2:

Al-Qaida has encouraged its followers to attack oil pipelines and facilities in Muslim countries and tankers but not wells, according to a document posted on a Web site by the group that targeted the world's largest oil-processing complex in Saudi Arabia.

From Reuters, March 8:

KHARTOUM - Shouting "Down, Down USA," thousands of Sudanese protested in Khartoum on Wednesday against any deployment of U.N. troops to the western Darfur region.

From Prensa Latina, March 8:

A call to return illegally owned lands was launched by Bolivia´s President Evo Morales, while warning his administration will put an end to unproductive large landed estates.

Just to get both sides of the story, first this account (in rather poor English) from Cuba's Prensa Latina:

La Paz, Mar 8 - Bolivia conditioned the return of weaponry and technology the US supplied to an elite military unit on submitting an official request through the Foreign Ministry.