Either oil thieves have "siphoned off" 100,000 to 300,000 barrels of oil a day in Iraq for the last four years (perhaps explaining Dick Cheney's recent visit -- was he checking the pilfered oil stash?), or Iraq has been substantially puffing its oil production reports. Neither explanation would be good news for an administration that expects us to embrace its vision of Iraq as a nation where oil profits will bring peace and prosperity to all.

The report by the accountability office is the most comprehensive look yet at faltering American efforts to rebuild Iraq’s oil and electricity sectors.... The report also contains the most comprehensive assessment yet of the billions of dollars the United States and Iraq spent on rebuilding the oil and electricity infrastructure, which is falling further and further behind its performance goals.

The final version of the GAO report is expected to be released next week. Look for it late Friday, after the press has gone to bed.

I'll be offline most of today so here's a space for you to hang out and discuss whatever is on your minds.

Some news I've been following:

• The Government is still pressing on with attempts to limit detainees' access to lawyers although it has withdrawn the most restrictive proposal of limiting the number of visits to three.

...the administration would continue to seek other limitations on the lawyers. These would include requests to permit only one visit for a detainee to authorize a lawyer to handle his case; to screen mail sent by lawyers; and to allow government officials, on their own, to deny lawyers access to secret evidence used against detainees by military panels.

• Equal and Splenda settled their lawsuit (background here)-- after the jury came in with a verdict but before it was announced. The jury had found for Equal and would have awarded substantial damages. How did the parties know to settle?

Settlement talks began after jurors asked the judge for a calculator and expert reports from both sides on how to determine damages. Lawyers rushed to the judge's office to try to delay the jury's announcement and then huddled in a courthouse meeting room.

More...

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan granted the House Judiciary Committee's request for immunity for Monica Goodling so she can be forced to testify at an upcoming hearing. I've uploaded the immunity application and order (pdf.)

The New York Times adds a new name to the mix:

Two years ago, Robin C. Ashton, a seasoned criminal prosecutor at the Department of Justice, learned from her boss that a promised promotion was no longer hers.

“You have a Monica problem,” Ms. Ashton was told, according to several Justice Department officials. Referring to Monica M. Goodling, a 31-year-old, relatively inexperienced lawyer who had only recently arrived in the office, the boss added, “She believes you’re a Democrat and doesn’t feel you can be trusted.”

The Times also reports details of the questions Goodling asked applicants, including whether they ever committed adultery:

Ms. Goodling would soon be quizzing applicants for civil service jobs at Justice Department headquarters with questions that several United States attorneys said were inappropriate, like who was their favorite president and Supreme Court justice. One department official said an applicant was even asked, “Have you ever cheated on your wife?”

More....

The She-Pundit With Long Blond Hair (I don't use her name on TalkLeft if I can help it) has been cleared of voting fraud charges in Palm Beach. They found no evidence she "willfully or deliberately'' violated any laws."

The Palm Beach Post reports on questions surrounding support she received from an FBI agent in the probe.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like Ms. C. didn't change her address because of a stalker, whom she had reported to the FBI, and the FBI agent called the voting fraud investigator to confirm the stalking incident, not to try and influence the investigation.

If that's the case, and she was trying to vote where her registration was, even though she knew it was no longer the correct address, but she didn't lie on her voting registration form for the purpose of defrauding the elections commission, I don't have a problem with this.

No doubt she feels she was unjustly accused, and I'm sure it's too much to hope for that she'll have more empathy for other putative criminal defendants, which is a shame. The only solace for those who would have liked to see her stand in the dock is that it probably cost her a bundle in legal fees.

Once again, that old adage, the man who defends himself has a fool for a client, comes to mind.

Last year I wrote about Boca Raton physician Rafiq Abdus Sabir who was arrested and charged with providing material support to terrorists.

The trial is taking place now in New York. The other co-defendants pleaded guilty but Dr. Sabir wanted to go to trial. He is representing himself.

He testified today, and things did not go well for him. Look what the prosecutor got into evidence:

Tony Blair has announced he will step down as Britain's Prime Minister on June 27.

Gordon Brown is expected to be his successor and launched his candidacy today.

Brown has Blair's support. Among Brown's positions:

He also denied he would move the government to the left, saying he would continue to "drive forward" New Labour reforms to the public services....in a speech in Knebworth, in Hertfordshire, Mr Brown promised to create a "new kind of politics" in which the government "gives power away so that people in the community can have more power".

As to Iraq:

Mr Brown said: "I accept that mistakes have been made."

Here is Brown's speech in full. So, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

33 years ago this week I was sworn into the Colorado Bar. Here's a picture a classmate e-mailed me today of the reception following that event, taken in the law school courtyard, in 1974. How silly we looked, kind of like a cross between the BeeGees and the Mod Squad.

An unethical prosecutor and a fraudulent lab chemist put Curtis McCarty on death row in Oklahoma, not once, but three times. After 21 years in prison, he's now been exonerated:

The Innocence Project details the case and says:

“For anyone who believes the death penalty is being carried out appropriately in this country, and anyone who believes that prosecutors and government witnesses can always be relied on to pursue the truth, this case is a wake-up call,” said Peter Neufeld, Co-Director of the Innocence Project. “Three separate times, an innocent man was sentenced to die because of the actions of an unethical prosecutor and a fraudulent analyst.”

McCarty is the 201st person in the United States exonerated through DNA evidence – and the 15th of those 201 who has served time on death row. McCarty is the ninth person to be exonerated by DNA evidence in Oklahoma and the third to be exonerated from the state’s death row.

As for the prosecutor, it was Bob Macy of Oklahoma City.

In an interview in the Kansas City Star yesterday, author John Grisham calls for a moratorium on all death penalties due to flaws in the system -- and for its permanent abolition in the U.S.

Grisham, whose books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, emphasized he was expressing his personal views..... it is his personal view that the death penalty is immoral.

“I’m a Christian, and you’ll never convince me that Jesus taught revenge killings are what Christians are supposed to be doing.”

He also calls for an end to snitch testimony:

“Let’s start with the basic concept of a fair trial. We are so far away from that in every state in this country.”

“Snitch testimony” should be outlawed, Grisham added. In some cases, including that involving Williamson and Fritz, prosecutors have paid individuals for their testimony. In other instances, prosecutors have hidden evidence or refused to share exculpatory evidence with defense lawyers.

More...

Iraqi President Talabani says:

Iraq’s Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani, said Friday that his country may need U.S. troops for one or two more years. The statement came after lawmakers in Baghdad backed a drawdown in the number of foreign troops in Iraq. . . . “I think that in one or two years we will be able to recruit our forces, to prepare our forces and say goodbye to our friends,” he said.

2 years ago, Talabani said:

Sunday, April 10, 2005 Posted: 6:20 PM EDT (2220 GMT) BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The newly elected president of Iraq said Sunday he expects that U.S. troops will be gone from his country within two years. Jalal Talabani told CNN two years should be enough time for Iraqi forces to rebuild and secure control of the country as well as take over the job currently being performed by some 140,000 U.S. troops.

Benchmarks anyone?

The ACLU reports:

The American Civil Liberties Union today cheered an amendment to the House Intelligence Reauthorization Bill that would prevent illegal domestic wiretapping by the government. The amendment, by Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ), will reaffirm the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as the only legal means of collecting electronic intelligence surveillance. The amendment was passed late last night by a vote of 245-178.

"Congress has signaled that it will not allow the president to continue the National Security Agency's illegal eavesdropping," said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office. "Passage of the Schiff/Flake amendment is Congress drawing a line in the sand. This amendment reaffirms that FISA is the law and it needs to be followed."

More....

Glenn Greenwald documents some of the big names that have caught it - and it all seems to be about David Broder, as far as I can tell.

It's funny, because I think most of the blogs absolutely revere good journalism and smart punditry. One of the guys I have liked and praised is Jon Alter, even though I have disagreed with him from time to time. I think Joe Klein has been living up to his talent this year, and yes, I think Klein is very talented and very smart. So when they say things like this and this, I can only chalk it up to BDS, Blogger Derangement Syndrome, on which Atrios has more today. Jon Alter's statements are really shocking:

There's one dimension of the blogosphere that never ceases to amaze me: Some people disbelieve nearly everything they read in the "mainstream media" -- and believe nearly everything they read online. Never mind that the ground-breaking reporting on which they base their opinions often comes from the MSM publications like Newsweek, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

Who are these "some people?" Let me be blunt - if this is an example of the political reporting we get from the MSM, and it is, it never ceases to amaze me that someone as GOOD as Jon Alter would choose to defend it. There are "some people" of course. But that is not Alter's insinuation. It is most bloggers he is thinking of. And that is just false. Bloggers have practically built churches for reporters and pundits like Dana Priest, Paul Krugman, Ed Wong and yes, for good strong reporter/pundits like Jon Alter.