A U.S. military disciplinary panel on Monday recommended that a decorated combat Marine be involuntarily discharged after he joined an anti-war demonstration and spoke out against the Iraq war.

How did this happen? As IRR he's not subject to the UCMJ:

Members of the IRR are only subject to the UCMJ under the following circumstances:
If called to active duty (AD).

While on inactive duty training (IDT), including muster duty.

If made the subject of Article 15 or Article 30 proceedings, and called to active duty for the purpose of dealing with these proceedings (e.g. trial by court-martial).

While Washington lawmakers play procedural games with an out-of-control executive branch, Iraqi legislators are working to bring an end to the occupation of their country.
...
The parliament today passed a binding resolution that will guarantee lawmakers an opportunity to block the extension of the UN mandate under which coalition troops now remain in Iraq when it comes up for renewal in December. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose cabinet is dominated by Iraqi separatists, may veto the measure.

The law requires that any future extensions of the mandate, which have previously been made by Iraq's Prime Minister, be approved by the parliament. It is an enormous development; lawmakers reached in Baghdad today said that they do in fact plan on blocking the extension of the coalition's mandate when it comes up for renewal six months from now.

Rubaie, the head of Al-Sadr bloc in Iraq's Council of Representatives, said, "this new binding resolution will prevent the government from renewing the UN mandate without the parliament's permission. They'll need to come back to us by the end of the year, and we will definitely refuse to extend the UN mandate without conditions." Rubaie added: "there will be no such a thing as a blank check for renewing the UN mandate anymore, any renewal will be attached to a timetable for a complete withdrawal."

Without the cover of the UN mandate, the continued presence of coalition troops in Iraq would become, in law as in fact, an armed occupation...

I'm leaving the Middle East now, closing up years spent covering the fighting and fallout that have swept the region since Sept. 11. Of all the strange, scary and joyful experiences of the past years, my time covering Saudi Arabia remains among the most jarring.

I spent my days in Saudi Arabia struggling unhappily between a lifetime of being taught to respect foreign cultures and the realization that this culture judged me a lesser being. I tried to draw parallels: If I went to South Africa during apartheid, would I feel compelled to be polite?

(h/t to Donsu): Want to see what real Christianity looks like?

"Two Roman Catholic priests, Jesuit Fr. Steve Kelly and Franciscan Fr. Louie Vitale, are willing to go to prison to expose the fact that young soldiers at Fort Huachuca are being trained to torture. Further, one of those young soldiers has already committed suicide after going into the prisoners' cages as an interrogator in northern Iraq.

At the time of their arrest, Kelly, 58, and Vitale, 74, sought to deliver a letter to the military commander at Fort Huachuca. When they were halted, they knelt in prayer and were arrested.

This case, however, is not just about two priests charged with trespass. It is not just about Fort Huachuca.

These priests are armed with a message about the proliferation of U.S. torture, secret prisons, depleted uranium and prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba who are never charged. It is about torture and the United States violation of the Geneva Conventions."

Perhaps the conservatives who are busy clamoring for Libby to be pardoned might spare a few moments to protest this arrest? Or does moral outrage require a letter of support from the likes of Henry Kissinger first?

In addition to the US Army Intelligence Center, Fort Huachuca is the home of the 111th Military Intelligence Brigade, which conducts Military Intelligence (MI) MOS-related training for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines. The Military Intelligence Officer Basic Leadership Course Phase Three (MIBOLCIII), Military Intelligence Captain's Career Course (MICCC), and Warrant Officer Basic and Advanced Courses are also taught on the installation.

British and American collusion in the pillaging of Iraq's heritage is a scandal that will outlive any passing conflict
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Fly into the American air base of Tallil outside Nasiriya in central Iraq and the flight path is over the great ziggurat of Ur, reputedly the earliest city on earth. Seen from the base in the desert haze or the sand-filled gloom of dusk, the structure is indistinguishable from the mounds of fuel dumps, stores and hangars. Ur is safe within the base compound. But its walls are pockmarked with wartime shrapnel and a blockhouse is being built over an adjacent archaeological site. When the head of Iraq's supposedly sovereign board of antiquities and heritage, Abbas al-Hussaini, tried to inspect the site recently, the Americans refused him access to his own most important monument.

Yesterday Hussaini reported to the British Museum on his struggles to protect his work in a state of anarchy. It was a heart breaking presentation. Under Saddam you were likely to be tortured and shot if you let someone steal an antiquity; in today's Iraq you are likely to be tortured and shot if you don't. The tragic fate of the national museum in Baghdad in April 2003 was as if federal troops had invaded New York city, sacked the police and told the criminal community that the Metropolitan was at their disposal. The local tank commander was told specifically not to protect the museum for a full two weeks after the invasion. Even the Nazis protected the Louvre.
...
It is abundantly clear that the Americans and British are not protecting Iraq's historic sites. All foreign archaeologists have had to leave. Troops are doing nothing to prevent the "farming" of known antiquities. This is in direct contravention of the Geneva Convention that an occupying army should "use all means within its power" to guard the cultural heritage of a defeated state.
...
And we had the cheek to call the Taliban vandals.

Next time any of my dear friends here want to talk about corruption, InfoUSA is the link you will be seeing.

The multijurisdiction groups, usually a DEA Agent plus a ten to twenty officers drawn from a hodgepodge of local Departments, are especially problematic as they are not overseen by any particular local officials, an invitation to corruption and abuse.

The grants have always been issued annualy, the 5 year plan is a departure.

The measure heads to the House, and presumably the Judiciary Committee. With the unanimous consent in the Senate, it's unlikely these units can be defunded now. There is room to amend for just 1 more year. I've convinced my Representative, Tammy Baldwin, who sits on the Judiciary's Crime Subcommittee, to push for the one year option. Some heat on the other Committee members becomes appropriate.

Well, Americans:
What, nothin' better to do?
Why don't you kick yourself out?
You're an immigrant too.

Who's usin' who?
What should we do?
Well you can't be a pimp
And a prostitute too

Looks like we are now actively fighting Iran both in Iraq and Afghanistan.    

Genarlow Wilson should be free

Here's my position on these type of judicial travesties, maybe one of you lawyers can set me straight.

Here's some advice to anyone who sits on a jury, regardless of the judge's instructions, and how you are instructed to interpret the law, when you sit on a jury, you are the law, and your job is to find justice. The people who sat on this jury apparently believed that they must find this young man guilty, because the judge told them so.  The reason why we have a jury system in America is precisely to avoid allowing the letter of the law to rule our society.  

Regardless of what you've been told folks, we are not a nation of laws, we are a nation of human beings, and judges who try to control a jury's verdict by telling them what they must do, are in in my judgment subverting the legal system.  In this case all it would've taken is one juror with the courage to think for themselves, to say to themselves and everyone else on that jury, I will not convict this young man, because it's wrong, and it's not Justice.  I hope everyone who reads this will remember that, if they ever sit on a jury.  Think for yourself, do what's right, and when bad laws come into conflict with finding justice, simply disregard them, you have the power.

I've made declarations similar to this every time I've been called for jury duty, something like 10 times in my life, state and federal court, and I've always been released on the spot. :-) I was once even called for jury duty while I was out of jail on bond, that was funny.

 I suppose my position scares the hell out of judges and lawyers. Unfortunately I'm probably the kind of person who should be sitting on a jury, but I have no interest in judging people, I have enough problems judging myself.

I always knew that the sex offender registries were just the tip of the iceberg.

So we now have Internet registries for convicted drug dealers and a proposal in the state of PA for domestic violence registries.

Anyone want to take a guess at the next criminal registry proposal?