More ironically positive developments in the José Padilla case. First, his lawyers demanded that the Justice Department charge him with a crime, rather than hold him in military custody indefinitely as an "enemy combatant." Now that the Justice Department has done so, the 4th Circuit is refusing to approve his transfer to civilian custody—which could force the "enemy combatant" designation to go to the Supreme Court, something the Administration evidently sough to avoid. From the AP, Dec. 22:

A government request to transfer terrorism suspect Jose Padilla from military to civilian custody was rejected by an appeals court that said the administration's shifting tactics in the case threatens its credibility with the courts.

Sounds like the way to win hearts and minds:

US forces demolish education building near military base in western Iraq

Text of report by Iraqi Al-Sharqiyah TV on 17 December

US forces today completely demolished the building of the College of Education at Al-Ahliyah University in central Al-Ramadi, in the centre of Al-Anbar Governorate in western Iraq.

Ahmad Abd-al-Malik, dean of the College of Education, which was established in 1993 and included five academic departments, has told Al-Sharqiyah's correspondent that US forces demolished the building because it was located in the vicinity of a US military base.

We've heard the allegations that the Darfur rebels are operating out of Chad where they receive covert support from the US. Has Sudan now entered this bloody game by grooming a Chadian rebel force on its own territory?

EL-GENEINA, Sudan, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Chadian rebels opposed to President Idriss Deby said on Wednesday they were poised for a fresh attack against a town on the border with Sudan which they attempted to storm at the weekend.

The rebel Rally for Democracy and Liberty (RDL) said in a statement telephoned to Reuters its forces had made a "tactical withdrawal" from the town of Adre on Chad's eastern border with Sudan after Sunday's fighting.

From AP, Dec. 19:

They called the two ladies "Dr. Germ" and "Mrs. Anthrax."

It was a breakthrough when U.S. forces arrested Rihab Taha, a British-educated biological weapons expert, and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a former top Baath Party official, in May 2003, about two months after the American-led invasion.

But this past weekend, after more than 2½ years in detention, the scientists were quietly released without charges, a legal official in Baghdad said.

U.N. inspectors had given Taha the nickname "Dr. Germ" for her work in running the Iraqi biological weapons facility where scientists produced anthrax and botulinum toxin in the 1980s. Taha has said that Iraq never planned to use the biological agents it produced during that time.

From Reuters, Dec. 19:

The World Court in The Hague found on Monday that Uganda violated the sovereignty of the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and was responsible for human rights abuses there during a 1998-2003 war.

From the BBC, Dec. 19:

Spanish police have arrested 14 people suspected of being members of an Islamist extremist group, with links to al-Qaeda.

The arrests were made in the southern towns of Malaga, Nerja and Seville.

Looks like it is back to the bad old days in Iran—the years of revolutionary fervor in the early '80s when music was banned from the public airwaves. Writes one of our readers: "Too bad the neo-cons are too stupid/sectarian/scared to realize you can't stop the rock. Give us 20 years and Metallica would take care of the Mullahs." From the BBC, Dec. 19:

Eight men at the American detention camp in Guantánamo Bay have separately given their lawyers "consistent accounts" of being tortured at a secret prison in Afghanistan at various periods from 2002 to 2004, Human Rights Watch has announced. The men, five of whom were identified by name, told their lawyers that they had been arrested in various countries, mostly in Asia and the Middle East. Some said they were flown to Afghanistan and then driven just a few minutes from the landing strip to the prison, indicating they were near Kabul.