POLITICS-US: Republicans Take Aim at "Gitmo" Messenger

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is hitting back at a Senate Republican report calling on the George W. Bush administration to reassess financial support for the organisation because it is allegedly using U.S. funds to lobby against U.S. interests.

RIGHTS: U.S. Moral Authority in "Free Fall", Senators Warn

As Amnesty International urged the George W. Bush administration to "close Guantánamo and disclose the situation in the USA's shadowy network of detention centers around the globe", a subsidiary of Halliburton, the oil services group once led by U.S. Vice Pres. Dick Cheney, won a 30-million-dollar contract to help build a new permanent prison for terror suspects at the U.S. Navy's controversial detention center in Cuba.

POLITICS-US: Bush and Hawks Try Pre-Emptive Strike Vs. Iran Vote

A familiar clutch of hardline U.S. hawks who led the march to war against Iraq have tried to carry out yet another pre-emptive strike. But this time it wasn't military.

POLITICS-US: Southcom Generals Fret Over New Domino Effect

Pax Americana has got problems - not just in the Middle East and East Asia, but in the imperium's own backyard.

RIGHTS-US: Congress Wades Into Fray on Detainee Abuses

In its first attempt to develop laws governing the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. military prisons, Congress Wednesday began to travel the tortuous road between the argument that "enemy combatants" have no rights, and rising concerns that endless detention is unethical and creates a powerful recruiting tool for terrorists.

POLITICS: North Faulted for Cold-Shouldering South at Annual Meet

Jamaican Prime Minister Percival Patterson, who chairs the Group of 77 developing nations, arrived in the Qatari capital with a message to the industrial North.

POLITICS-US: Concern Grows Over Guantanamo, Detention Practices

Two weeks after the Bush administration began attacking Amnesty International for calling the U.S. detention practices against suspected terrorists "the gulag of our times," it finds itself increasingly on the defensive on the issue.

POLITICS-US: Iraq News Is Bleak, Even for Pentagon’s ‘Early Bird’

Readers of the Pentagon's 'Early Bird' news file, a daily compilation of around 50 stories circulated throughout the U.S. national-security bureaucracy, could be forgiven Monday for reaching for the Rolaids, a popular over-the-counter medication for queasy stomachs.

POLITICS: Nuclear Warrior Replaces Bolton as Arms Control Chief

The top U.S. government official in charge of arms control advocates the offensive use of nuclear weapons and has deep roots in the militarist political camp.

POLITICS: White House Seeks Softer, Gentler Liaison to Arab World

If enthusiastic White House and Congressional support could solve Washington's public diplomacy problems, Dina Habib Powell would be well on her way to becoming a national heroine.

POLITICS-US: "Evolution" Preferred Over "Revolution" in Arab Lands

The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush should back up its pro-democracy rhetoric in the Middle East with more action and consistency, according to new bipartisan report that also urges Washington to encourage "evolutionary," rather than "revolutionary" change in Arab lands.

RIGHTS-UZBEKISTAN: Rights Group Calls Andijan Deaths a "Massacre"

Last month's violence in Andijan, Uzbekistan amounted to a "massacre" by government forces against mostly unarmed civilians, according to a new report released here Tuesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

RIGHTS-US: 9/11 Commission for Prisoner Abuse?

On the heels of the dustup over the nomination of John Bolton to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Pres. George W. Bush's next congressional tsunami may well be a provision tucked away in a proposed anti-terrorist bill. That legislation would establish an independent 9/11-type commission to investigate U.S. abuse of prisoners throughout the world.

REPEAT/POLITICS-U.S.: Right’s Hostility to NGOs Glimpsed in Amnesty Flap

The flap over Amnesty International's characterisation of U.S. overseas detention facilities and practices as a "gulag of our times" offers important insights into the deep distrust of the George W. Bush administration and its far-right and neo-conservative supporters towards some non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

POLITICS-U.S.: Right-Wing Hostility to NGOs Glimpsed in Amnesty Flap

This week's flap over Amnesty International's characterisation of U.S. overseas detention facilities and practices as a ''gulag of our times'' offers insights into the Bush administration's and its neo-conservative supporters' deep distrust of some non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

POLITICS-U.S.: ‘Realists’ Press for Bush to Engage Iran, North Korea

Hawks in the administration of President George W. Bush may think that they are tough, but their dreams of ''regime change'' in Iran and North Korea are increasingly deluded, not to say dangerous, according to their hard-edged realist rivals who have become increasingly outspoken in recent weeks.

POLITICS-SUDAN: Bush Once Again Cites ‘Genocide’ in Darfur

Breaking nearly six months of silence on the issue, U.S. President George W. Bush reaffirmed Wednesday his belief that ''genocide'' is taking place in Darfur, Sudan, but gave no indication that his administration is prepared to pursue aggressive efforts to stop it.

RIGHTS-U.S.: Bush, Cheney Attack Amnesty International

Stung by Amnesty International's condemnation of U.S. detention facilities in Iraq and elsewhere overseas, the administration of President George W. Bush is reacting with indignation and even suggestions that terrorists are using the world's largest human rights organisation.

POLITICS-U.S.: Military Finds Itself in Twilight Zone

On the day that U.S. citizens honoured the nation's war dead, the U.S. armed forces found themselves in a twilight zone somewhere between glory and hell.

POLITICS-U.S.: Bush Raises Stakes with North Korea

Increasingly frustrated over its failure to get North Korea back to the negotiating table, the administration of President George W. Bush is taking new steps virtually certain to escalate tensions with the third spoke in his original ''axis of evil,'' analysts said.

RIGHTS: Give Rumsfeld the Pinochet Treatment, Says U.S. Amnesty Chief

If the administration of President George W. Bush fails to conduct a truly independent investigation of U.S. abuses against detainees in Iraq and elsewhere, foreign governments should investigate and prosecute those senior officials who bear responsibility for them, the head of the U.S. chapter of Amnesty International said here Wednesday.