Two prison guards at Guantamo have been disciplined for abuse . The offenses don't sound as bad as those committed by the soldiers in Iraq, but then again, we have no pictures from Guantanamo, only information the military decides to release.

This is a strange story. Portland lawyer Brandon Mayfield has been arrested on a material witness warrant because his fingerprints were on "materials related to the Madrid bombings." When we first read the article, we thought it said his fingerprints were on the bomb-making materials, as in materials used to make the bomb. It doesn't say that. It says "material related to the bomb." That could be anything from letters, to books, to internet articles. Mayfield's wife says he has never been to Spain.

In another twist, the article says Mayfield once represented one of the Portland terror defendants in a custody case. But authorities could find no links between Mayfield and any of the other Portland defendants.

Mayfield, a native of Oregon, converted to Islam in 1989. He served as an Officer in the U.S. Army.

Manish of Damn Foreigner: May 2004 Archives discusses what the U.S. should do to clean itself up after the Iraqi prisoner abuse --after the obvious steps of cleaning up the prisons and investigating and prosecuting the wrongdoers:

Get out of the business of incarcerating Arabs and Muslims. Any perceived benefit from taking certain people off the streets is easily negated by the pictures that we saw which will inflame those on the outside.This includes a few things..

First Gitmo has to go. Either charge people or release them. We are supposed to be a shining example of freedom and democracy, this doesn't help. The possibility that something like the photos of Abu Ghraib getting out of Gitmo also exists. And quite frankly, lets do this before the Supreme Court makes a decision on this case. Next, we have to release people in Iraq who haven't been charged with a crime. Holding people because we think they might do something bad is simply wrong and un-American. It violates constitutionally protected freedoms that we should be spreading, not suppressing at every chance.

Stakeholder, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's weblog, is circulating this petition to bloggers for the removal of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Help us spread the word and garner a response that will overwhelm the administration and knock them on their heels. With your reach and capability for rapid response, you are in an invaluable position to help us achieve this. It is also an opportunity to demonstrate the power of the blogosphere as an active and engaged community to the Democratic establishment both here and throughout the Hill, and to help cement a strong relationship of mutual respect.

Move-On adds:

Please call President Bush now, and urge him to fire Rumsfeld. Bush has already taken the unusual step of publicly disclosing a reprimand of Rumsfeld. But he's got to go further, and dismiss him.

White House comment line 202-456-1111 or 202-456-1112

Please also call your Senators and Representative and let them know it's time for Rumsfeld to go. Then go here and let MoveOn know you've done so.

Go spread the word.

With the President of Jordan at his side, President Bush issued an apology for U.S. soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners. John Kerry responds:

As president, I will not be the last to know what is going on in my command," Kerry said. "I will demand accountability for those who serve and I will take responsibility for their actions. And I will do everything that I can in my power to repair the damage that this has caused to America to our standing in the world and to the ideals for which we stand."

Kerry also called for Rumsfeld to resign:

It's the way it was handled. The lack of information to the Congress, the lack of information to the country, not managing it, not dealing with it, recognizing it as an issue. But look this is, this is the frosting," Kerry said. "I think Iraq and the miscalculation and the overextension of the armed forces and the entire way in which they rushed the nation to war under these assumptions that he was making - which were incorrect - is a huge, historic miscalculation and I thought he should have resigned then."

Bush says Rumsfeld will remain in his cabinet. Just another reason to Boot Bush. Give today.

Reuters reports the Arab media reacts to Bush's statements on Arab tv yesterday by saying " too little, too late."

We were excited yesterday to receive an invitation to apply for press credentials to cover the Democratic National Convention in Boston this summer. We submitted our application immediately to the DNCC and the Periodical Press Galleries. Today, were received an e-mail from the Press Galleries turning us down. Our offense? We lobby/tesify to Congress on proposed and existing legislation. True enough. Here's the rule:

.... they shall declare that, while a member of the Galleries, they will not .... become engaged or assist, directly or indirectly, in any lobbying, promotion, advertising, or publicity activity intended to influence legislation or any other action of the Congress, nor any matter before any independent agency, or any department or other instrumentality of the Executive branch; and that they will not act as an agent for, or be employed by the Federal, or any State, local or foreign government or representatives thereof; .....

Now our hope lies with the DNCC--unless we can get a cable tv news station, newspaper, online news service or magazine to sponsor us.

Enron wife Lea Fastow has been sentenced to 12 months in jail on her misdemeanor plea. She will get no good time and have to do the full 12 months. Last week, she signed on with the Government as a cooperating witness, as did her husband, former CEO Andrew Fastow, several months before.

Why would she sign on as an informant now? We think it is to enable the Government to file a "Rule 35" motion in a few months seeking a post-sentencing cooperation reduction to get her back to the five months the Government originally agreed to. Clearly, the Judge is not happy with the Prosecution for dismissing six felony counts and allowing Ms. Fastow to plead to a misdemeanor:

Before sentencing her, Hittner lambasted the government for recommending that she be sentenced on a misdemeanor tax charge after originally being charged with six felony counts. "The Department of Justice's behavior might be seen as a blatant manipulation of the federal justice system and is of great concern to this court," he said.

How do you think this man will be treated, after the abuses U.S. soldiers inflicted on Iraqi detainees in their control?

Dubai-based Al Arabiya television aired on Thursday what it said was a videotape showing an American engineer working for the Pentagon held hostage in Iraq. The network said it had received the tape from a group calling itself The Islamic Rage Squadrons which said it had kidnapped the man on May 3. He was shown blindfolded with a checkered Arab scarf and wearing a jacket.

"My name is Aban Elias from Denver, Colorado," an Arabiya transcript quoted the man as saying. "I am a civil engineer working in Baghdad...and we are working with the Pentagon... I was kidnapped and I call upon Muslim organizations to interfere to release me."

The network said a copy of the man's U.S. passport showed he had been born in Iraq. Arabiya said the kidnappers had not made any demands. Dozens of Westerners have been kidnapped in Iraq recently. Some have been released and others killed by their captors.

Angry Democrats in Congress are calling for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's ouster:

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters she believes Rumsfeld must go. And Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, issued a statement saying, "For the good of our country, the safety of our troops, and our image around the globe Secretary Rumsfeld should resign. If he does not resign forthwith, the president should fire him."

We agree. There can be no confidence in our military under his continued leadership.

In related news, the Red Cross says it repeatedly warned the U.S. of abuses at the Abu Ghraid prison.

Maine has become the fourth state to require mandatory taping of police interrogations. Maine's Governor just signed the legislature's bill mandating recording of interrogations into law. Alaska (1985) and Minnesota (1994) have been required to tape by their supreme courts, and Maine now joins Illinois (2003) and the District of Columbia.

From an email by Maine State Senator Ethan Strimling, Senate Chair of the Criminal Justice Committee and lead sponsor of the bill:

Governor Baldacci today signed LD 891, An Act to Require the Recording of Certain Custodial Interrogations. The Act requires audio or videotaping of police interrogations for serious crimes. The purpose of LD 891 is to prevent investigators from violating the Maine and United States Constitutions by employing coercive techniques during an interrogation. Likewise, the Act reduces the number of frivolous claims of coercion by defendants. "It's important that we remain vigilant, attentive to the risks that can challenge civil liberties if we ever drop our guard. These new policies will be important to assure that we keep a balance in Maine between aggressive protection of public safety and aggressive protection of civil liberties," add Governor Baldacci.

We're told congratulations are due to the Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers for the success of their persistent efforts to shepherd this bill into law.

Don't miss this commentary in the Los Angeles Times (free subscription required) by Los Angeles lawyer Robert L. Bastian Jr. on how prisons are the shame of America--and how the allegations in Iraq reflect the violent, abusive prisons that have arisen here. We're just exporting the shame.

Bastien reminds us that Winston Churchill once said, "treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of civilization of any country," and says, if Churchill is right, so, are America's critics.

President Bush says "That's not the way we do things in America" and what's going on at Abu Ghraib is "not the nature of the American people." He's wrong.

In 1971, for example, Stanford psychology professor Philip G. Zimbardo initiated an experiment in which participating Stanford students were designated either as prisoners or guards, with guards told to maintain order. After only a few days, the project had to be terminated prematurely because the guards were, with no apparent motivation other than fulfilling their roles, becoming uncomfortably abusive toward the prisoners. What does that say about our "nature"?

In another famous experiment, Yale psychology professor Stanley Milgram told subjects to give electric shocks to a victim in a learning experiment. As the victim — an actor in another room who was not actually being shocked — gave incorrect answers, the participants were asked to turn the voltage up, even to where the dial read "danger," a point at which the victim could be heard screaming. Although often reluctant, two-thirds of the subjects continued to follow orders to administer shocks.