Global outrage at Gitmo and Pentagon detainment centers in Iraq and Afghanistan is growing. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in a report to the Security Council June 8, said that in Iraq, "one of the major human rights challenges remains the detention of thousands of persons without due process". Read the report: "Despite the release of some detainees, their number continues to grow. Prolonged detention without access to lawyers and courts is prohibited under international law including during states of emergency." (Reuters, June 9)

Rumsfeld's visit to Norway reveals that Iraqi officers are being trained by NATO in this Nordic country. Who knew? This from the Pentagon news site Defenselink:

NATO's Iraqi, ISAF Training Site in Norway Hosts Rumsfeld Visit
STAVANGER, Norway, June 8, 2005 – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today visited NATO's Joint Warfare Center here, where Iraqi troops and international forces in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan have trained.

Kudos to TruthOut for pairing these two gems from the UK Guardian and the NY Times:

There was an old joke back in the '70s: Getting Nixon for burglary was like getting Hitler for tax evasion. Now it seems life imitates black humor. From the BBC, June 7:

Mixed day in court for Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet may be charged with tax evasion but not over human rights abuses committed when he was Chile's military ruler, a court has ruled.

Violence continued in Nepal June 7, with 14 soldiers and six Maoist guerillas killed in a clash in the southwest, even as the rebels publicly apologized for killing 38 civilians in a land mine blast the day before. The civilians were killed and 70 others wounded in the worst attack on civilians since the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), or CPN(M), launched its armed struggle in 1996. The rebels said they had intended to attack a passing army convoy, but instead hit a bus carrying civilian passengers.

The 9-11 Commission, its formal mission completed, is staying on as a private body, the 9-11 Public Discourse Project. In its first efforts, this private body is finding fault with the FBI for perceived inefficiencies in its intelligence capabilities, and the agency, in turn, assures that it is making amends. All freedom-lovers should shudder.

From the June 3 Stars & Stripes:

Advocates See Veterans of War on Terror Joining the Ranks of the Homeless
By Leo Shane III
Stars and Stripes

Friday 03 June 2005

Washington - Advocates for the homeless already are seeing veterans from the war on terror living on the street, and say the government must do more to ease their transition from military to civilian life.

More Koran desecration is being reported -- this time in Israel. Israeli parliamentarian Ahmed Tibi has called for a Knesset investigation of the incident, which is supposed to have taken place in Megiddo prison on June 7. Ha'aretz reports:

Prisoners claim that at approximately 10:00 A.M., security forces who raided the prison in order to disperse a riot entered the prisoner cells, where they ripped pages out of the Islamic holy book and, in some instances, stepping on them.

Palestinian security prisoners told Tibi that they have launched a hunger strike and that they will refuse to see visitors in protest to the alleged desecration.