The military has announced it's recruiting goal for Army national guard soldiers will fall short by 5,000.

It will be the first time since 1994 that the Guard has missed its sign-up goal.

Two reasons are given:

One reason is the active-duty Army is prohibiting soldiers already in units in Iraq or Afghanistan — or preparing to deploy there — from leaving the service, even if their enlistment term is up. The other reason, [Army Lt. Gen. H. Steven]Blum said, is that active-duty soldiers know a growing number of Guard units are being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan, so they figure there is little to be gained, in terms of reduced personal risk, by switching from active duty to the Guard.

TalkLeft's premium ad space on the right will be available tomorrow. I've lowered the price in case anyone is interested. The space is limited to one ad at a time.

The Washington Post weighs in on the release of Yaser Hamdi:

What remains objectionable -- what looms as more objectionable than ever, now that the government has acknowledged Mr. Hamdi's unimportance -- is the unnecessary assault on civil liberties that the administration led in his case. For three years the administration insisted that Mr. Hamdi be held incommunicado and without any semblance of normal legal process or rights despite his citizenship. For most of his detention he was prevented from meeting with his lawyer. In 2002 the government contended in court that merely allowing him to meet with counsel "jeopardizes compelling national security interests" and would "interfere with if not irreparably harm the military's ongoing efforts to gather intelligence." Mr. Hamdi, it warned, might even "pass concealed messages through unwitting intermediaries."

Had the military allowed Mr. Hamdi to meet with his lawyer in a timely fashion and not acted so aggressively to prevent him from presenting his own account of his behavior, it might have had credibility to reserve the right to act otherwise in a truly exceptional situation. But its behavior toward Mr. Hamdi -- even assuming he is an enemy combatant, which he denies -- makes it difficult to give the benefit of the doubt to such claims of necessity. Apocalyptic justifications for needlessly aggressive positions that have gross consequences for liberty cannot be wiped away with a blithe "never mind."

The New York Times Opinion section rocks today:

Editorial: The Face of Iraqi Democracy

Iraq's appointed leader, Ayad Allawi, put on an impressive performance yesterday in Washington. Addressing Congress and then holding a joint news conference with President Bush, he thanked America in the name of the Iraqi people for overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Challenging the news reports that Americans get daily, Mr. Allawi claimed that security is improving, economic reconstruction is progressing and democratic institutions are taking root. It was everything the Bush re-election campaign could have asked for. Unfortunately, most of it was wrong.

Bush Upbeat as Iraq Burns
By BOB HERBERT

This woman is the best. She speaks what we are thinking. And she has the where-with-all to tell anyone who doesn't like it where to go.

Wednesday night in Phoenix, Theresa Heinz-Kerry raised a cool mil for Arizona Democrats. And in the process, she surmised aloud:

In regard to the hunt for terror leader Osama Bin Laden, Heinz Kerry said she could see the al-Qaida chief being caught before the November election. "I wouldn't be surprised if he appeared in the next month," said Heinz Kerry, alluding to a possible capture by United States and allied forces before election day.

In the October 7 issue of the New York Review of Books, Mark Danner reviews the final official Abu Ghraib report , also known as the Schlesinger Report, and notes:

Out of the interlocking scandals and controversies symbolized by Hooded Man and Leashed Man, the pyramids of naked bodies, the snarling dogs, and all the rest, and known to the world by the collective name of Abu Ghraib, one can extract two "master narratives," both dependent on the power and mutability of the images themselves.

The first is that of President Bush, who presented the photographs as depicting "disgraceful conduct by a few American troops, who dishonored our country and disregarded our values"—behavior that, the President insisted, "does not represent America." And the aberrant, outlandish character of what the photographs show—the nudity, the sadism, the pornographic imagery—seemed to support this "few bad apples" argument, long the classic defense of states accused of torture.

The facts, however, almost from day one, did not: the Red Cross report, the Army's own Taguba report, even the photographs themselves, some of which depicted military intelligence soldiers assisting in abuses they supposedly knew nothing about—all strongly suggested that the images were the brutal public face of behavior that involved many more people than the seven military police who were quickly charged.

Haven't heard much from Attorney General Ashcroft lately--but his spin machine was at work today. He conducted a conference call with all 93 U.S. Attorneys last week, urging them to be vigilant because of pre-election day terror threats.

Ashcroft and Comey reiterated concerns that top U.S. officials have been voicing since the spring -- that al Qaeda may try to attack the United States in the run up to the November election. "Given that the intelligence was pegged to an attack between now and the election, the closer we get to the election, obviously the smaller the window gets and the greater our concern gets," said the official.

"We are engaged in a full-court press in every corner of the country to try to detect and disrupt the attack that we're worried about. And this is part of that -- enlisting the U.S. attorneys."

The official said Ashcroft was concerned that some prosecutors and law enforcement officials may have let their guard down because there had been so many terror alerts. "It was a pep talk," he said. "We're pushing energy into the system."

If you are a criminal defense lawyer or defense investigator don't miss this seminar in Atlanta, October 14 - 17 on eyewitness evidence and police and prosecutorial misconduct offered by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL.)

This innovative CLE seminar is a double-barreled attack on police and prosecutorial misconduct — from suggestive eyewitness procedures to racial profiling — featuring an all-star lineup of litigators and experts. This historic conference will dramatically change the way you litigate eyewitness cases — from strategies designed to overrule Manson v. Braithwaite regarding the admissibility of eyewitness evidence, to creative new state-of-the-art methods to litigate eyewitness identification cases before juries. Join NACDL in the forefront of transforming and developing successful winning criminal litigation strategies for the 21st Century. This is a critical seminar for every criminal litigator.

Melanie Lowery, was a battered woman who killed her husband to get him to stop beating her and sodomizing her 9 yr. old son. After serving 14 years at Alabama's Tutwiler Prison, she was granted parole last month by the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles that has granted virtually no paroles in the past 5 years to people convicted of violent crimes.

Melanie was granted parole because of her perfect prison record and the facts of her case. Attorney General Troy King, a young, politically ambitious conservative Republican in the mold of his predecessor Bill Pryor (after his contentious appointment to the 11th Circuit), decided to oppose the parole, and demanded the parole board reconsider their decision. The Birmingham News reports the sad decision.

George Bush, fearmonger.

The calls for explanations from President Bush as to why Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, was denied entry to the U.S. and sent back to Britain are increasing. From the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Southern California.

Treating "mainstream and moderate Muslims like Yusuf Islam as if they are criminals or terrorists, without bringing charges or allowing due process, sends the message to the Islamic world that even those who seek peace and condemn terror are not fit to enter the United States.... We call on the Bush administration to explain why Yusuf Islam was barred from coming to this country, and whether other internationally respected Muslim travelers or scholars will face such treatment in the future."

Cat Stevens today called the deportation "ridiculous." Here's more:

Asked if he felt victimized, Stevens said: "Absolutely. But you know, for God's sake people make mistakes. I just hope they have made a big mistake. "I wasn't handcuffed or anything like that. They treated me very well. The one positive thing I can say is that a lot of security officers are very pleased because they got my autograph."

A new program is in effect at 4 U.S. airports-- screening of passengers' documents:

A new device that scans documents for traces of explosives has made its debut at four of the nation's busiest airports, where officials will use it to screen selected passengers. Federal security screeners started testing the equipment Wednesday at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. It is also being used at Los Angeles International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Washington Reagan National Airport to detect chemical residue on the surface of items such as wallets, passports and airline boarding passes.

Of course, the screening isn't being done on all passengers.

It will be used for passengers selected by security workers and those who set off alarms at checkpoints.

There may be lots of false positives:

Dozens of chemicals could trigger the scanners, including nitroglycerin taken by heart patients, fertilizer and gunpowder residue.

After a 30 day trial period, the Government will decide whether to extend the program to all airports.