"just another week in the brawl'''

DARFUR FINALLY GETS SOME WELL-DESERVED SCRUTINY
Boston Globe editorial
a report this week prepared for the United Nations Human Rights Council by a "High-Level Mission on the Situation of Human Rights in Darfur" should be welcome as a beam of bright light pointed into this 21st-century heart of darkness. Basing its recommendations on the 2005 UN affirmation of a "responsibility to protect" civilians not protected by their own governments, the mission's report tells some hard truths -- free of jargon or obfuscation.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/03/19/light_on_the_darfur_darkness

US ATTORNEY FIRINGS ILLEGAL?
NYTimes Editorial-
"It Wasn’t Just a Bad Idea. It May Have Been Against the Law."
1. Misrepresentations to Congress.
2. Calling the Prosecutors.
3. Witness Tampering.
4. Firing the Attorneys.
But based on what is known — and with some help from Congressional staff members and Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University — it was not hard to spot that White House and Justice Department officials, and members of Congress, may have violated 18 U.S.C. §§ 1501-1520, the federal obstruction of justice statute.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/opinion/19mon4.html

MORE EVIDENCE OF POLITICAL AGENDA IN DOJ?
WashingtonPost article
By Dan Eggen
"Kyle Sampson, then chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, sent an e-mail message to William Kelley in the White House counsel's office saying that Lam should be removed as quickly as possible, according to documents turned over to Congress last week."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801263.html

IGLESIAS ROLE ALREADY PLAYED BY TOM CRUZ IN MOVIE?
NYTimes article
Mr. Iglesias was Hispanic, a conservative former state prosecutor and he had pizazz. As a Navy lawyer, he had been involved in a marine hazing case that became the basis for the blockbuster movie "A Few Good Men."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/washington/18attorneys.html?

IGLESIAS TAUGHT OTHER JUSTICES ON ELECTION FRAUD
By Amy Goldstein
One of the U.S. attorneys fired by the Bush administration after Republican complaints that he neglected to prosecute voter fraud had been heralded for his expertise in that area by the Justice Department, which twice selected him to train other federal prosecutors to pursue election crimes.
David C. Iglesias, who was dismissed as U.S. attorney for New Mexico in December, was one of two chief federal prosecutors invited to teach at a "voting integrity symposium" in October 2005.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801077.html

more on the same story from Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo Muckraker pages
By Paul Kiel - March 19, 2007, 8:47 AM
It's becoming one of the central rules of the U.S. attorney purge scandal: whatever "performance related" complaint the administration claims as the justification for a U.S. attorney's firing, it's actually an area of performance for which that U.S. attorney was lauded.

also, just in from TPMMuckraker

ASHCROFT AIDE SOUGHT TO ID WEAK US ATTORNEYS
The quest by the Justice Department to replace weak U.S. attorneys long preceded Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Early in 2004, David Ayres, chief of staff to John Ashcroft, began the process of evaluating U.S. attorneys, with the hopes of determining who were the "poorest" ones, "should we have an opportunity to make changes," according to a former Justice Department official. (U.S. News and World Report)

GONZALES QUIETLY FILLED TWO LONG-VACANT JOBS
With no public announcement, the attorney general named permanent chiefs last week for the Public Integrity Section, which prosecutes government corruption cases and oversees Abramoff-related investigations, and for the Fraud Section. (WSJ)

LEAHY JUST SAYS 'NO!'
New York Times article
Some Republicans have suggested that Mr. Rove testify privately, if only to tamp down the political uproar over the inquiry, which centers on whether the White House allowed politics to interfere with law enforcement.
But Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, seemed to rule out such a move on Sunday. He said his committee would vote Thursday on whether to issue subpoenas for Mr. Rove as well as Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, and William K. Kelley, the deputy White House counsel.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/washington/19attorneys.html

THE BLOGS; ATTORNEY FIRINGS
Firedog Lake
Last night's FDL line of the day..."Yeah, don't cry with your mouth full."
"according to Republican attorney Victoria Toensing, who claims she is responsible for drafting the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, Valerie Wilson and other covert agents like her are not covered by the IIPA, even though protecting the identities of our covert agents would seem the obvious purpose of this statute."
http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/03/19/how-to-betray-americas-spies

No Quarter
"Larry Johnson's blog"
Toensing's willful, compulsive deceptions:
"On all three counts of her whimsical indictment, Ms. Toensing is simply wrong."
http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/02/victorias_secre.html

HALLIBURTON FLIES AWAY
Austin Statesman Article;
COMMENTARY: JOHN KELSO
Is Halliburton trying to escape the mosquitoes or the scrutiny?
You say Dubai, I say hello.(LOL)
"Some cynics will say Halliburton is moving because it wants people to forget about Iraq. This is the company that was given a $2.4 billion no-bid contract to supply the U.S. military, and what has it done so far?
Does the Green Zone have a Starbucks yet? I think they should have given Disney the contract. If they had, you know there'd be a theme park up by now.
Then again, maybe Halliburton is moving because of the disappearing money.
Last month, the feds said the company was responsible for $2.7 billion in contractor waste and excess billing in Iraq. And did I mention that Dick Cheney used to be chief executive at Halliburton?" http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/03/18/18kelso.html

Other Publications;
FEAR AND LOATHING AS A RIGHT WING TOOL?
from NYSalon
"To what extent today does it seem as though politicians are more likely to advise the public to fear everything and not simply fear itself? Has fear assumed the character of a ‘natural’ problem that is detached from any specific experience? In this form, does this become a perspective on life rather than a response to any particular threat?"
http://www.nysalon.org/salonevents/livinginstateoffear.html

THE WAR IN IRAQ
Letter to the editor, Seattle Post Intelligerncer
"Any serious insurgent with half a brain would not wait around for Iraqi and US troops to arrive at his door, to be detained and have his weapons confiscated. The men with black hoods, AK-47s, RPGs, and IEDs just move their destructive operations elsewhere."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/307860_webltrs19.html

BUSH ASKS FOR MORE "PATIENTS"
The war has stretched longer, with higher costs, than the White House ever predicted. On the fourth anniversary of the day Bush directed the invasion to begin, the president made a televised statement from the White House Roosevelt Room to defend continued U.S. involvement.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ

"IRAQI POLICE TRAINING HAS QUESTION MARKS"
WashingtonPost article
"The Iraqi forces still suffer from deficiencies of leadership, logistics, intelligence and, in some cases, loyalty," Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, the U.S. military's spokesman in Baghdad, said in a news conference last month."
"The company says 21 trainers have been killed in the two countries since the program began in 2003. Although the company tries to hire law enforcement officers and others who understand dangerous situations, said recruiting manager Lynn Holland, the reality in Iraq or Afghanistan is outside the experience of almost any American police officer."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801284_2.html

Middle East at large;
ISRAELI MAJORITY FAVORS COMMUNICATION WITH PALESTINIAN GOVERNMENT
via Tom Paine's link to Globeandmail.com
"More than half of all Israelis disagree with their government's decision to boycott the Palestinians' new governing alliance, which doesn't explicitly recognize the Jewish state's right to exist, a poll showed on Monday..."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070319.wisrael0319/BNStory/International/home