The U.S. rounded up 390 or so Iraqis in Thuluya, including kids and elderly men, in a raid that killed at least 3 Iraqis (Washington Post). US forces are occupying people's homes in the town, which they suspect is a bed of anti-US activity (referred to merely as pro-Saddam activity, though no evidence of that has been offered). 27 to 70 Iraqi fighters were killed by the U.S. elsewhere in clampdowns by the U.S., some of whom were foreign fighters (Associated Press/SF Chronicle).

Writer and commentator Molly Ivins speculated that the war would be short, but the peace would be "from hell," and I hope she bet money on that.

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One of my friends complained that there are all sorts of allegations published in the press about mass graves which may be victims of Hussein's evil regime, but then raise questions (why were the victims all tidily and properly buried in caskets if they were mass-murdered in secret?) and then fail to follow up with the site turns out to be a cemetary from the Iran-Iraq war.

Finally, 10 bodies have been dug up from a mass grave which witnesses said should contain 115 bodies of deserting soldiers and prisoners. (Washington Post) The witness insist that they saw fresh bodies piled up in the area, where the digging has taken place. The article says this site is the first of its kind, because some of the remains are recent, which is worth noting for my friend right there.

But where are the other 105 bodies? The witnesses have no idea. And then, raising more questions, they have experts saying that all remains turn skeletal in the climate in this area, but then turn around and suggest that people recognized their relatives and claimed the bodies and took off quickly.

I know I work in law and am perhaps more obsessed with evidence standards than many, but it seems ridiculous to me that, if a government wants to try someone as bad as Hussein was reputed to be for war crimes, they 1) can't find enough victims and 2) everyone can find their dead skeletal relatives EXCEPT the investigators. It's just mystifying.

Speaking of avoiding justice, even the head of the U.N. thinks immunity for all U.S. soldiers on peacekeeping missions is a bad idea. (BBC) War crimes are war crimes, right? Don't we all deserve equal justice under the law? The U.S. is so desperate to avoid prosecution at the International Criminal Court, you have to wonder what our fine leaders have planned. The US did get another exemption from prosecution (Washington Post), which makes me wonder what they have in mind.

Aside from avoiding the charges currently pending by Iran. Iran brought suit against the U.S. for supplying WMDs to Iraq for its attacks on Iran, a case that has been stalled for years. Now Iran wants an apology for U.S.' role in helping to set up Al-Quaida (Engineering News Record). They aren't holding their breath. But I'd love to hear Bush's supporters stumble while trying to explain this one away. 'Well, Sadda m is an evil man NOW, but... well... um..."

The U.S. is planning its execution chamber for the prisoners of war at Guantanamo Bay. The rules for the kangaroo courts the U.S. government has laid out have been discussed in the legal papers I read. They suck. I can't even tell you how badly. Defense lawyers won't get any confidential time with their clients and aren't even allowed to see the evidence against their clients. They may not be able to see most of the evidence in trial. And they need a security clearance. And can't investigate. And can't ever talk about what happened. And likely can't ever be paid, which is the least of the problems with the system, but still.

Military tribunals, secrecy, no opportunity for a real defense... Didn't we used to make fun of countries that had such pathetic and unjust systems? Didn't we mock the Soviets for this during the Cold War??

The BBC has provided a new update on the status of Iraq's cultural treasures, investigated by one of its correspondents. The article points out that Hussein's attempts to co-opt history involved imposing Baath party members in the museum administration, making it an attractive target for oppressed citizens who didn't necessarily view the ancient treasures of their people as the ancient treasures of their people. Perhaps the U.S. soldiers, who exchanged fire with Iraqi soldiers who holed up at the museum briefly, saw it the same way: the way the soldiers secured the oil ministry while ignoring the museum workers' pleas for assistance is still unpleasantly inexplicable.

"The claim that 170,000 items were destroyed or looted has long been abandoned, and reduced considerably. Also, many items have been recovered. Museum staff say that only 33 major items, and around 2,100 minor items, are missing, while 15 major items in the galleries were seriously damaged. These include the famous 4,500-year-old-harp from Ur, with its fabulous golden bull's head...."

2,100 "minor" items is still a lot to lose. A loss that was unnecessary, if the ministry of oil hadn't been so darned important to the U.S... And the full collection hasn't been fully recatalogued, so missing items are still being identified.

Targeted thefts of some of the most valuable items support the theory that some of the looting was either professional and/or an inside job.

That so much has been recovered and hidden by the dedicated staff is some of the first good news I've heard. The article talks about the careful planning that the museum staff went through, evaluating what should be hidden because it could be carried, and what should be left because heavy equipment would be needed to steal. The correspondent was even able to inspect the locked (and unlocked) storerooms.

If I were the museum employees in the lawless weeks after the U.S. 'took control' of Baghdad, I'd claim I'd been cleaned out, too, since U.S. soldiers still refused to guard the place. It's a good looter deterrent to claim to have nothing to loot, and was good thinking on the curator's part.

Sadly, Vice President Haji Abdul Qadir of Afghanistan has been killed. (BBC) Remember Afghanistan? Remember how the U.S. solved all their problems by bombing the Taliban out (along with a few wedding parties and farmers and Red Cross warehouses)? Sounds great, doesn't it? So tidy! So successful! Peace just keeps on happen...

It's hard for the Afghans to even get into the news here. They're YESTERDAY's war. Over and done with. A reminder that we're not very good at this superhero business, since we never really save the day -- though we're there with lots of special effects for the fighting scenes.

Afghanistan needs our help. We destabilized their country by removing one terrible regime, put a group of wanna-be-terrible-regimes in a power sharing arrangement, made some promises, and left. We can do better than that!!

Retiring UN weapons inspector Hans Blix is complaining about the U.S.' negative attitude about the UN. (BBC) "According to Mr Blix, as the US build-up for an invasion of Iraq intensified, US administration officials had leaned on his weapons inspectors to use more damning language in their reports on Iraq." Blix also criticized the intelligence provided to him on alleged WMDs, which turned up nothing.

It's interesting that several weapons inspectors have become firm critics of the U.S. As did the last U.N. human rights chief, who also had to deal with the current administration. Hmmmm.

The tiny news item I read some weeks ago about changing the way Americans look at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to win concessions from the Palestinians is apparently in full force. Even NPR has stopped referring to the occupied territories as such. There is no mention of the U.N. resolutions against Israel. The occupied territories are now just "the West Bank" and "the Gaza strip." The word 'illegal' is only applied to certain Israeli settlements not approved by the government, but not those settlements that were.

And, while the UN guaranteed the right of Palestinian return years ago, I'm glad I read it: the media keeps simply implying that the return of refugees is an unreasonable and far-out demand.

What is worse: the manipulation, or the cynical expectation that the manipulation will continue indefinitely?