The Iraqi National Congress says it is only 12 to 24 hours behind Saddam and closing in on him.

The Iraqi National Congress said yesterday that it has received several credible reports of sightings of Saddam Hussein and that it is hunting the ousted president in an area between Baghdad and the Iranian border. "We are 12 to 24 hours behind him, but we are getting closer," said Zab Sethna, the chief spokesman for the group, which is expected to be a major player in Iraq's interim government. "We are convinced he is alive and on the run."

Thousands of Peruvian coca farmers, fighting to end restrictions on their coca crops, marched on the Peruvian capital Monday. The marchers left their homes and crops in the mountainous jungle valleys and set out for the captial ten days ago.

Mike Hawash has written a letter from his jail cell in Oregon.

The Supreme Court Monday agreed to revisit the issue of Miranda warnings in a Colorado case, U.S. v. Patane. The 10th Circuit opinion is here.

Update: The issue is whether physical evidence derived from unmirandized statements, such as guns or drugs, can be used in court.

The Associated Press is reporting that the D.A. in the Laci Peterson case is likely to seek the death penalty against Scott Peterson.

We doubt the decision will be made today. Hopefully, the prosecutors will meet with defense counsel and allow them an opportunity to argue against the death penalty prior to deciding.

We also wonder how Scott Peterson is going to afford a death penalty defense. Will he end up with appointed counsel? Whoever represents him must assemble a team of experts....from DNA to death penalty mitigation specialists, to jury consultants and lots more.

The taxpayers of California and Stanislaus County, as well as whatever county the trial is moved to, should a change of venue be granted, will pay dearly-- according to one California sherriff, it takes $500,000 just for law enforcement expenses. By the time appeals are over, it's more likely to approach $2 million.

A 1993 study from California found that each death penalty case cost at least $1.25 million more than a regular murder case and a sentence of life without. (South Bend Tribune, June 2, 2002)

We think it would be far preferable for the money to be used for schools, hospitals, public safety and jobs--or to help the families of murder victims, through counseling or financial help. We urge California residents to contact the District Attorney's office and ask them to seek life without as the maximum penalty for Scott Peterson.

Stanislaus County District Attorney 800 11th Street, Room 200
Modesto, California 95354
Telephone: (209) 525-5550
Fax: (209)525-5545
email: adultcrimes@stanislaus-da.org

Atrios writes on The Spinning of Leung in today's New York Press.

The truth is that Leung is a well-known Republican party activist and fundraiser. If any Gore-related investigations were compromised by her involvement with former FBI agent Smith, it is likely that any disinformation she provided was designed to hurt, and not to help, him. Years later, the media's desire to justify their overblown coverage of Gore fundraising irregularities leads them to spin any story against him. It stands in sharp contrast to their quiet coverage of numerous campaign finance illegalities, including donations from Chinese sources, of the '96 Dole presidential run, and the fact that the Federal Election Commission auditors had determined that the Dole campaign took in over twice as much in illegal contributions than did Clinton and Gore.

One of TalkLeft's highly regarded readers is concerned about the connection between Leung and the Republican party and believes the press is conveniently overlooking the import.

Leung was also active in Republican party politics and the connection between the two troubles me. I'm hesitant about reading more into stuff than may be there, but this seems very strange. When the story came out, I googled her name and came up the fact that she was:

1. An "old Friend" of William Simon, "Republican candidate for Governor
of California,"

2. A donater to Richard Riordan's campaign for Governor in her role as
"Secretary" of National Association of Chinese Americans, (apparently,
she also travelled with him to China)

3. A contributer as an individual at the "Benefactor" level (the highest level, I think) to The National Committee on United States-China Relations which includes Gerald Ford, Robert S. Macnamara, David Gergen, and Tom Kean amongst its many luminaries. These are, of course, major players in both parties but primarily Republican.

The Supreme Court granted cert today on three issues in 02-8286, Banks v. Cockrell --the case of Texas death row inmate Delma Banks. From a press release received from National Coaltion Against the Death Penalty:

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday announced it will hear a case involving Delma Banks Jr., who sits on Texas' death row despite questions about prosecutorial misconduct, biased jury selection and ineffective legal counsel.
Banks was convicted and sentenced to death in connection with the murder of Richard Whitehead of Texarkana after prosecutors struck all black prospective jurors from the jury pool and withheld critical exculpatory evidence from the defense. NCADP Executive Director Steven W. Hawkins said Banks has never received an opportunity to present in court evidence that prosecutors failed to inform defense counsel that one of its key witnesses was a paid informant and that another key witness received a reduced sentence after testifying against Banks.

The Christian Science Monitor today reports on the laws of war and what the that Bush Administration has failed to do:

Exiled Iraqi lawyers say the US government failed to adopt - or even translate from Arabic - suggestions they provided in advance on how to prevent the kind of civil disorder, including looting and revenge killings, that has marred postwar Iraq. Weeks before the unrest erupted, the exiles proposed imposing martial law for 24 hours. The Pentagon also shelved a recommendation to recruit and vet Iraqi traffic police and security officers, who American soldiers did eventually turn to - but without checking their backgrounds.

The article reports there has been infighting between the State Department and the Department of Defense. The Guardian has more.

Matt Yglesias reminds us not to forget there are Americans locked up without charges, and points us to this article in Sunday's New York Times about the more than two dozen American citizens arrested as material witnesses in terrorism cases since September 11, and in particular, Oregonian Mike Hawash.

Some Muslims say that since his arrest on March 20 they have remained silent rather than speak up at community meetings, fearful of government retaliation. Other Muslims who want to support Mr. Hawash have refrained from contributing to his legal defense fund, saying they are fearful that the donations might draw unwelcome attention.

"People are saying, if this could happen to him, this could happen to any of us," said Zaha Hassan, a Palestinian-American lawyer who knows Mr. Hawash. She and other Muslims argue that if the government believes Mr. Hawash has committed a crime, it should indict him so he can have an open and public hearing.

"Then we could defend him, or accept that he had done something," Ms. Hassan said. "All we can do now is support him and say the process is wrong and stand up against this kind of secret detention."

Go read the whole article. Here's more on how the Government is using and abusing the material witness statute, from Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin.

Our prior coverage of Hawash is here. For the most information on the case, check out FreeMikeHawash.Org.

The Independent, UK has an editorial today, So Where are They Mr. Blair?, pointing out

Not one illegal warhead. Not one drum of chemicals. Not one incriminating document. Not one shred of evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.

The Independent asks,

But, Mr Blair, where are they? A month has passed since American and British troops entered Iraq, more than a week since the fall of Baghdad. But thus far not even a sniff. Not a drum of VX or mustard gas, not a phial of botulin or anthrax, not a shred of evidence that Iraq was assembling a nuclear weapons programme.

If evidence of the weapons don't turn up, The Independent wants a Parliamentary investigation.

If only for the credibility and reputation of our country, this newspaper hopes that enough weapons of mass destruction will be discovered to justify a war that has grievously weakened the UN, strained the Atlantic alliance and split the European Union. But they'd better be found pretty soon....This pointless war cannot be un-made. But we urgently need to know that the invasion was not illegal as well. With Britain and the US in full control of Iraq, a month should suffice. If no "smoking gun" has turned up by then, a full parliamentary inquiry is essential – into the competence and accountability of the intelligence services, and into how our Government used them to sell a mistaken and reckless policy.

We'd like to ask our Government the same question.

Remember Colin Powell at the Security Council two months ago (though today it seems another age on another planet): the charts, the grainy intelligence satellite pictures, the crackly tapes of the intercepted phone conversations among Iraqi officials? How plausible it all sounded, especially when propounded by the most plausible figure in the Bush administration.

Was it just the overly fertile imagination of our intelligence agents? Or the determination of the Administration to attack Iraq no matter what, using whatever justification they thought the American public would buy?

Natasha at The Watch says Mac Diva will no longer be posting there. No comment yet over at Mac Diva's blog, Mac-a-ron-ies.

Calpundit has had a bloglift and is now at its own home, so change your bookmarks. The site has also added a comments feature. Nice, Kevin.

Chris Allbritton of Back to Iraq is headed home. His farewell post is here.

Instapundit has details about new opposition to the Patriot Act. At a rally in Utah, protesters called for Sen. Orrin Hatch to "resign from office for turning his back on the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights."

Soapbox Canyon, an Arizona blog, tells us about the suspect arrest of Laro Nicol, a Phoenix peace and justice activist and crusader against police brutality, on an explosives charge. Gail Davis has emailed us the links to several articles on the arrest, including this from IndyMedia. Many are charging that he's a political prisoner.

Newsweek's Michael Isakoff reports reports that Katrina Leung was instrumental in the Justice Department's 1996 investigation into campaign contributions to then President Clinton and Vice President Gore. She was supposed to be an agent for the U.S, trying to lure a large Chinese contributor back to the U.S. Now, there are doubts--was she compromising the campaign financing investigation and actually working to protect the Chinese contributor?

Another dimension to the case involves FBI Agent Smith, Leung's handler and lover. It turns out Smith was also the agent in charge of debriefing and maintaining contact with Johnny Chung, a key figure in the 1996 campaign fund-raising scandal who cooperated in the Justice Department's probe after pleading guilty to tax evasion and violations of campaign finance laws.