Reporter James Brandon is one lucky guy. After being kidnapped, beaten, threatened with execution and held hostage by Islamic extremists last week, he was released. He tells his story in today's Telegraph. [link via Oxblog]

Tex at Anti-war.com has a detailed wrap-up of the latest mayhem in Iraq. Mystery bombings, a phony truce, what else is new?

Update: Unfair Witness on the U.S. giving up on the Fallujah Brigade.

This is good news. In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the ACLU and other civil liberties groups in June, a Manhattan federal juge has given the Government 2 weeks to release documents pertaining to the torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and other other detention centers, or establish an exemption under the Act.

The U.S. government has less than two weeks to start giving civil rights groups documents about the torture of prisoners held by U.S. forces at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and other facilities, a federal judge ordered Thursday. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said prosecutors must start handing over certain papers identified by the American Civil Liberties Union by Aug. 23 unless they can show the documents cannot be found or they are subject to certain exemptions.

Here's what the ACLU is seeking:

Matt Stoller at Blogging of the President:

This Is Rumor Control, a new web site composed of various intelligence analysts and journalists, is reporting that Iran has decided to confront US forces in Iraq. I hope this is not true, but based on the recent murmurings on Iran on the talk shows and rumors from military people, I'm not dismissing it.

The Guardian reports:

The US charge sheet against Iran is lengthening almost by the day, presaging destabilising confrontations this autumn and maybe a pre-election October surprise. The Bush administration is piling on the pressure over Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme. It maintains Tehran's decision to resume building uranium centrifuges wrecked a long-running EU-led dialogue and is proof of bad faith. The US will ask a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency on September 13 to declare Iran in breach of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, a prelude to seeking punitive UN sanctions.

An Islamic website aired a new beheading video today, claiming that the man who was beheaded is a CIA operative. A U.S. spokesman says all CIA personnel are accounted for.

The Internet site, which Islamic extremists often use to post tapes and statements, displayed footage of eight militants surrounding a seated man. A sign around the man's neck showed his photograph and carried a message saying he was a CIA agent and what appeared to be an official pass bearing the word "visitor" written in English.

The footage, titled "Video of the beheading of an American CIA operative in Iraq," lasted more than four minutes and included several scenes, including a masked militant holding a large knife to the captive's throat. On the tape, a man was heard telling the captive in Arabic "put down your hand, this is the last time, next time I will gouge your eyes out." Then in English, he tells the captive, "open your eyes, open your eyes."

There are three Americans missing in Iraq: U.S. Army Spc. Keith M. Maupin and civilian contract workers William Bradley and Timothy Bell. Here are some of the gruesome details in the video:

Cheers for Denmark, which is refusing to hand over prisoners to the new Iraqi Government because of its reinstatement of the death penalty.

For now, Danish troops, who operate in southern Iraq under British authority, have an informal agreement that prisoners won't be handed over to the Iraqis without Danish consent, Defense Ministry spokesman Jakob Winther said. Until that agreement becomes official, Danes will not hand over suspects they apprehend.

"We wish to know for certain that people in our custody won't be handed over to face the death penalty," Danish Defense Minister Soeren Gade said late Monday in Washington, where he met with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to discuss Denmark's participation in peacekeeping missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Well, as TalkLeft forewarned here, that didn't take long. Only now it's official. The new Iraqi Governing Council (appointed by the U.S.) has reinstated the death penalty.

Iraq reinstated capital punishment for people guilty of murder, endangering national security and distributing drugs, the government announced Sunday, saying the death penalty was necessary to help put down the country's persistent insurgency.

Capital punishment was suspended during the U.S. occupation. Under Saddam's regime, some 114 offenses could garner the death penalty. The new law was more restrictive than that had been....Many Iraqis also wanted the death penalty reinstated so it could be applied to Saddam, who faces trial on war crimes charges. It was not immediately clear how the new law would effect Saddam.

Iraq has issued arrest warrants for Ahmad Chalabi and his nephew Salem Chalabi. The charge against Ahmad is counterfeiting and possibly money laundering. Salem, who is head of the tribunal responsible for trying Saddam, is charged with murder.

Chalabi told CNN from Iran where he is attending a conference that the charge is bogus. He also says he intends to go back and submit to the Iraqi justice system. I'd think long and hard about that if I were him. Especially since Iraq's new Government reinstated the death penalty yesterday.

Salem also denied the charge. Both said they learned of the warrants through the media and that the charges are politically motivated. If so, why go back? Won't the trial be as farcical as the charges? Why not seek asylum in another country?

Tell Bush and Cheney to Stop Lying About Iraq-al Qaeda. Go here, read and sign.

The U.S. has announced it killed 300 militia fighters in Najaf during the past two days. That seems like a huge number to us. Here's what a U.S. spokesman had to say:

Colonel Anthony Haslam, the chief of operations in Najaf, said: "The poor Iraqi police force do not have a chance. They are attacked and they are outgunned. Without eliminating that threat, this city will never be stable."

The US-appointed governor of Najaf, Adnan al-Zurfi, later put the death toll at 400 and said 1,000 of Mr Sadr's Al Mahdi militia had been captured.

1,000 captured? Where are we putting them?

Here's what the new Iraqi government had to say.

Mr Sadr and his criminal supporters must be removed from the holy shrine at Najaf to restore respect and peace to the area."

Here's what the locals had to say:

Residents who talked to the Guardian by phone said most shops were closed, and a number of dead bodies were lying on the empty streets.

This is the road to peace?

Update: The Independent reports that the new Iraqi government is close to declaring martial law in Iraq.

Jeanne D'Arc of Body and Soul gently reminds us all that while the news has been focused on the elections, conventions and terror threats ( not to forget bands against Bush, Kobe, Scott and the missing jogger in Utah,) there's still a war going on in Iraq. Go read her accumulated update of recent events.

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers have combat stress after completing their national service in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Help is on the way. They will soon be treated with cannabis.

The mental health department of the Medical Corps is set to to begin tests in the next few days on volunteers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after reserve duty, the paper said. A scientist who will help conduct the experiment heads a research team, which discovered that cannabis helped mice that had suffered physical stress and even reduced the risk of stroke.

Can you imagine the U.S. ever being so enlightened with our soldiers facing combat stress from their tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan? Didn't think so.