A Very Difficult August

US: Soldiers case shows law needs fixing - 3 Aug 2007 at 11:11am - WASHINGTON -- When three soldiers were abducted in Iraq in mid-May, U.S. government lawyers began drafting emergency warrants to try to monitor communications that could lead to the suspected captors. The Bush administration and its allies, The Associated Press has learned, have argued that the legal work ate up precious hours because of an odd twist to a U.S. surveillance law. One of the soldiers was later found dead in the Euphrates River, and an al-Qaida offshoot has said the others are dead as well.

But we've been told that in such an emergency, the authorization may be requested retroactively.

Four U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq - 3 Aug 2007 at 12:39pm - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Four U.S. soldiers were killed in Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Friday, underlining U.S. President George W. Bush's grim prediction of "a very difficult August" for U.S. troops in Iraq.

Marine gets time served in Iraqi's death - 3 Aug 2007 at 12:24pm - A jury sentenced a Marine corporal Friday to time served and reduced his rank to private for conspiring to murder an Iraqi civilian during a frustrated search for an insurgent. Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, 24, has already served 448 days in custody and was to be freed Friday. He was acquitted of murder but also found guilty of larceny and housebreaking, and cleared of making a false official statement.

Marine gets 15 years in Iraqi's death - 3 Aug 2007 at 3:21pm - CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A jury sentenced a Marine sergeant Friday to 15 years in prison for the murder of an Iraqi civilian during a fruitless search for an insurgent.

Bush: Congress must stay in session - 3 Aug 2007 at 2:59pm - President Bush said Friday that Congress must stay in session until it approves legislation modernizing a U.S. law governing eavesdropping on foreigners.

"Modernizing" = watering down to the point of uselessness?

Thought for the day:
"The world owes all its onward impulses to men ill at ease. The happy man inevitably confines himself within ancient limits." -Nathaniel Hawthorne