U.S. Army Investigates Taliban Abuse Claims

October 20, 2005 --

Army Examining an Account of Abuse of 2 Dead Taliban
U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan allegedly burned the bodies of two Taliban and then used the corpses in a propaganda campaign. (NY Times)

Read the Transcript of the Australian TV Show Dateline: Psych War in Afghanistan

Rove Told Jury Libby May Have Been His Source In Leak Case
Rove told grand jury Libby may have been source in CIA leak case, further undermining White House's contention that neither man was involved. (Washington Post)

Lebanon Anxiously Awaits U.N. Findings
Lebanon increased security around Beirut on Thursday as the country awaited the findings of a U.N. investigation into the assassination of its former premier. (AP)

Quake 'is UN's Worst Nightmare'

The UN says the Asia quake aid situation is worse than last December's tsunami and calls for a massive airlift. (BBC)

Bird Flu Cover-Up Alleged
Indonesia covered up a bird flu epidemic in its poultry industry for nearly two years until the disease began infecting people, a former top health official has claimed. (The Age)

Iran 'Has Proof' of British Role in Bombings
Iran said it has proof that Britain was involved in a double bomb attack last week that killed six people and injured more than 100 in the restive southwestern city of Ahvaz. (AFP)

Bagram Air Base Fugitives Release Video on Al Arabiya
Four alleged members of the al-Qaeda terrorist network who escaped from the US air base in Afghanistan on 10 July have released a video that was aired on the Dubai-based Arab language satellite TV channel Al Arabiya on Tuesday. (AKI)

Sources: The Libyan Bagram Fugitive Studied in Mauritania
The Libyan who escaped Bagram prison in Afghanistan is Hasan Qayed, also known as Yunis al Sahrawi, fundamentalist sources in London told Asharq al Awsat newspaper. Qayed studied Islamic law in Mauritania before joining the Libyan Combatant group in Afghanistan. A video showing a man called Abu Nasser al Qahtani, supposedly one of the four who escaped the prison in July, was also posted on the Internet today. (Asharq al Awsat)

Canada Charges Rwandan with Genocide, War Crimes
Canadian police arrested a Rwandan man who is living in Toronto on Wednesday, charging him with crimes against humanity during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, a police statement said. (Reuters)

High Court Agrees To Hear Appeal by Terror Suspect Amrei
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a Syrian man who has been held in a Canadian jail for four years on suspicion of terrorist links. (Canadian Press)

Russian Army Cleared over Beslan
Russian forces who used flame-throwers during the Beslan school siege last year will not face charges, a top Russian prosecutor has said. (BBC)

Bali Bombers 'Do Not Want Pardon'
Three Indonesians sentenced to death for the 2002 Bali bombings will not seek presidential pardons, prosecutors have said. (BBC)

Saddam's Own Video Could Be Key Evidence
A piece of key evidence in the trial against Saddam Hussein is a video clip allegedly shot by his own photographer: Prosecutors say it shows Saddam interrogating four residents of the town of Dujail after a purported attempt on his life. (AP)

Billions of Dollars Short, U.S. Must Scale Back Iraq Reconstruction
The Bush administration cannot fulfill all its grand promises to rebuild Iraq because soaring security costs, mismanagement and poor planning have cost billons of dollars, federal auditors said Tuesday. (Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Nearing a 'High Noon' Showdown with Damascus
It's the Middle East equivalent of a "High Noon" showdown: on Friday, the United Nations special prosecutor, Detlev Mehlis, will present his findings on who killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. If that report alleges Syrian involvement in the killing, as is widely expected, a deadly season will begin in Beirut and Damascus as the United Nations tries to bring the killers to justice. (The Daily Star)

Frontline: The Torture Question
How the post 9/11 "get-tough" policy at the highest levels of the U.S. government worked its way down to the cell blocks of Abu Ghraib. (PBS)

In Iraq, Two Views: Hero or Villain
For Iraqis, there is no middle ground for ousted president as many see him as villain or hero. (Washington Post)

Arab TV Tackles Terrorism
Beautiful virgins with white complexions and large black eyes are waiting in heaven. These fair-skinned lovelies are what a growing number of Muslims in Iraq, New York and London believe will be their reward for exploding themselves and killing civilians in the name of Islam. (USA Today)

The Salafization of the Iraq Conflict
An interesting note posted on a jihadi web forum complements a recent analysis by U.S. Maj. Gen. Richard Zahner on the course of the insurgency in Iraq. (Terrorism Focus, The Jamestown Foundation)

From the Blogs: "An Agenda for Peaceful Change in Syria"
When Bashar al Asad succeeded his father as President of Syria in 2000, there was a great deal of hope among much of the population that dramatic and systemic change might now, finally, transform the Syrian political system. (SyriaComment.com)

Walker's World: Saudis Exposed
It is not a widely known fact that more of the money deposited in Saudi bank accounts belongs to women than to men. Nor have many in the West heard of Kerantina, the sprawling slum in south Jeddah, the main Saudi port, where hard drugs, prostitutes, alcohol and witchcraft are widely available, where the police dare not go, and where real power rests with a transplanted Nigerian tribal leader. (UPI)