Security Scholars for a Sensible Foreign Policy includes more than 650 foreign affairs specialists in the United States and allied countries. They have signed an open letter opposing the Bush administration's foreign policy and calling urgently for a change of course. From their announcement:

The letter asserts that current U.S. foreign policy harms the struggle against Islamist terrorists, pointing to a series of "blunders" by the Bush team in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. "We're advising the administration, which is already in a deep hole, to stop digging," said Professor Richard Samuels of M.I.T.

The scholars who signed the letter are from over 150 colleges and universities in 40 states, from California to Florida, Texas to Maine. They include many of the nation's most prominent experts on world politics, including former staff members at the Pentagon, the State Department and the National Security Council, as well as six of the last seven Presidents of the American Political Science Association.

"I think it is telling that so many specialists on international relations, who rarely agree on anything, are unified in their position on the high costs that the U.S. is incurring from this war," said Professor Robert Keohane of Duke University.

The text of the letter, a list of signers and details about the group are available here. Bonassasus blog adds some context.

Over half his life has been spent in prison for a rape he didn't commit. At 36, Dennis Brown is free for the first time since he was 17 when he was charged and convicted of raping a woman at knifepoint in her home. New DNA tests have excluded him as the perpetrator. What convicted him? Faulty eyewitness testimony.

During a trial in September 1985, the victim testified she was certain Brown raped her. "I had his face this close," she testified, holding her hand less than 6 inches from her face, "for at least 20 minutes, and he's the man."

Brown denied the attack when he took the stand in his own defense, against his attorney's objection. He told the jury the police investigators were lying and that the first time he set eyes on the victim was in court. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

Brown protested his innocence for years and the Innocence Project took up his case.

Under a statute passed in 2001, lawyers from the group secured a court order to test any evidence preserved by police in Brown's case. DNA tests of blood, semen and clothing found at the scene excluded Brown as the rapist.

Brown says he never lost faith, he knew he'd eventually be freed. He's now home.

His brother, Archie, hugged him for the first time in nearly two decades and drove him home, first stopping for foot-long shrimp po-boys.

The decision as to whether to push for a reconciliation between the House and Senate versions of the 9/11 Intelligence Reform bills is in the hands of Sen. Bill Frist. The two versions may be too far apart to realistically expect a unified version before the November 2 election. Nonetheless, Frist wants negotiators to start working on a compromise right away. The Senate has named its negotiators:

Frist on Monday appointed GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, George Voinovich of Ohio, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, John Sununu of New Hampshire, Pat Roberts of Kansas, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Trent Lott of Mississippi to serve as the Senate GOP negotiators.

Democrats chose Sens. Joseph Lieberman, Carl Levin of Michigan, Richard Durbin of Illinois, John Rockefeller of West Virginia, Bob Graham of Florida and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. The House has not yet named its negotiators.

Both chambers say they want to create a national intelligence director before the election, but the House decided to also include additional government anti-terrorism powers, including some additional barriers against illegal immigration, inside its legislation that the Senate had rejected to consider as part of its bill. House leaders say they will insist on their provisions because they think their bill is better.

The Senate bill is S. 2845, and the House bill is H.R. 10. You can access both at Thomas.

As to the provision of H.R. 10 that would have allowed the deportation of alien criminals and terror suspects to countries that might practice torture, the Washington Post reported:

If only every city had one.....Here's why they are doing it

As citizens alarmed by the actions of the current administration, we are making the case for change. We are not interested in personal assaults. Many of us find Bush a likeable guy. But his administration, including Rove, Cheney, and Ashcroft, is not conservative; we think they are far right and dangerous.

A surprising number of Republicans, independents, and government officials agree. We want a responsible and accurate national debate on this proposition.

The Baltimore Sun reports today on the difference between statements of Bush and the Pentagon and those of the soldiers fighting daily in Anaconda,Iraq. It begins:

This sprawling supply base on a dusty stretch about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad is officially known as a "logistical support area." But some of the thousands of soldiers and contractors who suffer daily mortar and rocket attacks have another name for it: "Mortaritaville."

At least a half-dozen soldiers and contractors have been killed and nearly 100 wounded here since April. There have been about two attacks a day since July. Three weeks ago, a young airman lost both legs and his right hand when a mortar shell slammed into the base.

Officers say Anaconda, the largest support base in the country, with 22,500 U.S. troops and 2,500 contractors spread over 15 square miles, is also the most frequently attacked. But there is no indication the soldiers will get the help they want to deal with their nagging and deadly problem.

It's well worth the time to read the whole article.

Some good news. Last Friday, the conference on the Department of Defense authorization bill was completed and, after a difficult fight with the House, the Durbin anti-torture amendment survived virtually unchanged. On Saturday, the Senate and House approved the conference report and the bill was sent to the President for his signature. From a Durbin press release received today by e-mail:

Legislative language written by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) to affirm the United States’ commitment not to engage in torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment was approved as part of the Defense Authorization bill this weekend by the U.S. Senate. The amendment codifies a very important, long-standing position of our nation: that the United States shall not engage in torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. This is a standard that is embodied in the U.S. Constitution and in numerous international agreements which the United States has ratified.

Durbin’s provision would also require the Secretary of Defense to issue guidelines to ensure compliance with this standard and to provide these guidelines to Congress. The Defense Secretary would also be required to report to Congress on any suspected violations of the prohibition on torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The Durbin language specifically provides that this information should be provided to Congress in a manner and form that would protect national security.

I'm also told that the anti-torture provision in the Intelligence Reform bill passed by the Senate last week extends the Durbin amendment’s requirements to the intelligence community, including the CIA.

Durbin and other Democrats will be fighting hard to retain these provisions in conference. When the conferee's names are released, I'll be posting them along with contact information.

Russia's reaction to the massacre in Breslan:

Moscow schoolchildren will soon have to wear military-style dog tags and carry special "passports" as part of a security drive in the wake of Beslan.

Mr Popov, head of the Moscow city assembly's security and legislation committee, said children would wear the dog tags round their necks and carry the passports in their pockets, which would bear their fingerprints and other personal data.

The passport will give the child's name, address, telephone number, blood group and details of any allergies to medicines, he said.

Do you think Bush would oppose such measures here?

The municipal elections in Saudi Arabia will take place in February, 2005. The BBC reports women will not be allowed to vote:

The Saudi interior minister has said women will not be allowed to vote in the country's municipal elections starting in February 2005. In response to a question about women's getting the vote, Prince Nayef bin Sultan said simply: "I don't think that women's participation is possible."

The excuse is "administrative problems."

The official told AP that there were not enough women electoral staff to run women-only voter registration centres, while only a fraction of women in Saudi Arabia had photo identity cards.

Bump and Update: Here is the latest total from Editor and Publisher.com. The (B) is for papers who endorsed Bush in 2000, the (G) for those who endorsed Gore. Daily Kos points out:

...no Gore paper has endorsed Bush thus far. Meanwhile, three Bush papers have switched sides -- the Oregonian, the Seattle Times, and Connecticut's The Day. The (B) is for papers who endorsed Bush in 2000, the (G) for those who endorsed Gore.

JOHN KERRY
The Atlanta Journal Constitution (G): 418,323
The Philadelphia Inquirer (G): 387.692
Detroit Free Press (G): 354,581
The Oregonian (Portland) (B): 342,040
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (G): 281,198
The Seattle Times (B): 237,303
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (G): 150,901
The Philadelphia Daily News: 139,983
Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) (G): 109,592
Portland Press Herald (Maine) (G): 73,211
The Day (New London, Conn.) (B): 39,553
Total Pro-Kerry Daily Circ: 2,534,377

After three long years in confinement as an alleged enemy combatant, Yaser Hamdi, an American citizen at the time of his capture in Afghanistan, has arrived home to Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. citizen was kept in solitary confinement and had no access to the legal system until the Supreme Court ruling in June, which was one of a series this year that limited President Bush's war on terrorism. Instead of Hamdi having his day in court, the U.S. government negotiated a deal in which he also gave up American citizenship and agreed not to travel to the United States for 10 years and to tell the U.S. embassy of plans to travel outside Saudi Arabia for 15 years.

The State Department spent two weeks seeking to assure Saudi Arabia it was not responsible for enforcing the deal. Still, the length of the delay may indicate Saudi Arabia wanted to signal its irritation over being excluded from negotiations.

President Bush Does Not Represent All Coloradoans: There will be a silent, civilian Bush protest today at 3pm when he appears at a last-minute campaign stop at Red Rocks Amphitheater.

Bush will ask Colorado for “four more years.” The media needs to see the faces of many Colorado citizens who know that four more years of Bush’s environmental policies would be devastating to our state’s most beautiful places like Red Rocks Park.

Please join a large, quickly-forming coalition of environmentalists, pro-choice women, people of color, gays and lesbians, musicians and everyday Colorado citizens to march near the park in silent protest.

No signs, no yelling, no exchanges with the Bush supporters - just a peaceful demonstration of hundreds of patriots wearing red, white, and blue, who cannot abide Bush policies in the backdrop of one of our most beloved Colorado parks.

Everybody knows Bush has an abysmal record on the environment. Bobby Kennedy, Jr. and Eugene Weekley lay it out for us in article called Bush's Crimes Against Nature:

The hundreds of major environmental roll-backs promoted by the Bush administration over the last three and a half years are part of a deliberate attempt to eviscerate 30 years of environmental law.