US Army reservist sentenced to eight years in prison for abusing five prisoners at Abu Ghraib

While it is good to see people punished, the only reason people are being punished is because of huge public pressure. I'm sure people higher up can sleep safe in the knowledge that they won't be brought to account. And I'm sure similar outrageous incidents will be taking place as I write this elsewhere in Baghdad and indeed in the rest of Iraq. God bless America.

Care International stop operations in Iraq after the director of the charity's work there was kidnapped

I don't see how the charity has much other choice. The people who hold Margaret Hassan can now hope to extract weeks of publicity out of her. When they're bored they can slowly remove her head from the rest of her body and post it on the Internet where people will be able to watch it at their leisure. On repeat if they so choose. And then they claim they were 'sickened' and 'disgusted' by watching a woman being beheaded.

Wonderful world we live in.

Plans to place UK troops under US control in Iraq will be considered claims Health Secretary Reid

And what exactly is the Health Secretary supposed to know about all this? He's supposed to be stopping the NHS from dying on us and not discussing British policy in Iraq. Exactly what job is John Reid doing here, other than being an unashamed Blairite?

Something's up. No doubt about it.

Johnson receives a 'kick in the pants' from leader Howard over an article which derides Liverpool

I can't say any more on it until I see the complete article.

I do think it is time to allow the family of Ken Bigley to grieve for their loss. The media should just drop it now.

Abu Hamza to face British terrorism charges

Abu Hamza is a really hateful little man. I'm all for allowing people into our country so long as they respect us. How can we justify allowing a man who has preached hate against the United Kingdom for years and supported people who may want to attack us to remain here unchallenged? It's wrong, pure and simple.

However he should be tried fair and square, and not under Big Blunkett's needlessly authortarian laws. The sooner we try and repeal those, the better.

Lied Rice

Yahoo! News - Rice: Saddam Posed Nuclear Threat to U.S.

....A New York Times story Sunday quoted four CIA officials and a senior administration official as saying that Rice's staff had been told in 2001 that Energy Department experts believed the tubes were probably intended for small artillery rockets — and not nuclear weapons.

Rice said she learned of objections by the Energy Department only after making her 2002 comments.

During the CNN interview in 2002, Rice said the tubes were "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs." In bolstering the administration's argument of the threat the nation faced, she added: "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."