AMERICAN GULAG ARCHIPELAGO
"Saddam Hussein is now prisoner No. 1 in what has developed into a global detention system run by the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency, according to government officials.

Many of the prisoners are still being held in a network of detention centers ranging from Afghanistan to the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Officials described it as a prison system with its own unique hierarchy, one in which the most important captives are kept at the greatest distance from the prying eyes of the public and the media. It is a system in which the jailers have refined the arts of interrogation in order to drain the detainees of crucial information."
(NYT)

CITIZEN OVERSITE
A new Internet site unveiled by Iowa state officials Monday was promoted as a tool for citizens to track government performance.
The Web site summarizes agency operations, government finance and economic indicators and detailed performance information from each state agency. It lists a mission, goals and an explanation of plans to improve outcomes for each of 47 departments.
(FINDLAW)

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT!!!
Just got this email from a friend of a friend's cousin. Don't know if its legit, looks it and I trust the people who sent it to me. (I deleted his name):
From:

Subject: We got Saddam Hussein!
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2003 16:53:20 +0300
ALL,

As you all know by now, we have captured Saddam Hussein. The 1st Brigade Combat Team "Raiders", 4th Infantry Division (M)with Special Ops forces caught HVT#1.

I participated in this raid last night which started at about 1900 (7PM) as we quickly rehearsed the plan. This was a joint operation between 1st Brigade, 4ID and Special Ops Forces. After we rehearsed the plan at a grain storage facility in Tikrit (that smelled like an outhouse by the way!), we mounted up and drove about 20km south to Ad Dawr. We had Humvees and a some armored Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and the Special Ops guys brought their toys. I won't go into what they ride around in, but they have got some nice vehicles and equipment! One vehicle you'd never expect to see over here! Totally out of place but totally fits the Special Ops "look".

We drove at about 40-50 MPH in total darkness on the highway across the Tigris River and headed south to the small town of Ad Dawr. We used our Night Vision Goggles as we sped down the road as some of the locals watched this convoy of about 30 vehicles speed by in the moonless night. Wonder what they were thinking? Last night was pitch black with no moon until about 2130hrs (9:30PM).

After we hit the objectives (Wolverine 1 & 2) we set a cordon and began the search. Initially we didn't find him and the Special Ops soldiers in the house were being led away from his #1's "rat hole" by an Iraqi that was in the house.

Well, the "rat hole" was discovered and the cover moved and sure enough, there he was down in the bottom! Our Special Ops guys whisked him away in a "Little Bird" (small Special Ops Helicopter)off to Tikrit for a quick stop and then off to Baghdad.

We drove all the way back up to Tikrit in disbelief that we had finally found this guy! All the work and intelligence gathering we have done for the past 8 months have paid off! It has been quite amazing watching us narrow the ring around this guy. We have got an amazing "wiring diagram" with Saddam Hussein in the middle working outwards starting with his children, wives, cousins, uncles, nephews, body guards, drivers, etc. Amazing! We just followed up on all the clues we have gathered and here we are. The last two weeks we have really been "cleaning house" on Saddam Husseins most trusted aides. We have had a great working relationship with our Special Ops brothers. We have shared information and worked together for so long on this that it's great to be able to say that "I was part of the unit that caught Saddam Hussein!"

I have a great photo of him in the house that I'll try to send, but it's a very big file. Over 2 MB! I'll try to send it in another email as an attachment!

1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) RAIDERS!

SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS GORE ENDORSEMENT
Just moments after former Vice President Al Gore endorsed former Vermont Governor Howard Dean for President in Harlem yesterday, the Supreme Court overturned his endorsement by a 5-4 margin.
The Court, finding the former Vice President’s endorsement of Mr. Dean unconstitutional, transferred his endorsement to President George W. Bush instead.
(BOROWITZ, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

INTERNATIONAL RUM FESTIVAL
Preparations are already underway in Havana for the International Rum Festival, scheduled for June 6 to 9, 2004 to coincide with festivities for the 485th anniversary of the founding of the city of San Cristobal de La Habana.
During that period, Havana will be transformed into the world’s capital for quality rum thanks to fruitful exchanges between producers, retailers, bar tenders and rum-lovers from around the globe and particularly from those regions where rum is produced from the sugar cane and select honeys from the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America."
(GRANMA, unearthed by Cuban Daily News Digest)

ADIOS RUBEN
"Ruben Gonzalez, one of the stars of the Buena Vista Social Club band, died Monday in Havana. He was 84. Gonzalez was the pianist of the group that helped spark a renaissance of traditional Cuban music."
(NPR)

IT'S WORKED SO WELL FOR THEM
"Israeli advisers are helping train US special forces in aggressive counter-insurgency operations in Iraq, including the use of assassination squads against guerrilla leaders, US intelligence and military sources said yesterday."
(GUARDIAN, unearthed by Common Dreams)

THE KETTLE IS BLACK
"President Bush cites dictator Fidel Castro's recent crackdown against dissidents as reason to prolong the 42-year-old Cuba embargo. Yet the Cuban people know that Bush himself has imprisoned, indefinitely and without due process on that same island, hundreds of Muslims as 'enemy combatants' of the United States. The hypocrisy isn't lost on anyone. Although Bush shouldn't be compared to Castro, whose atrocities are many, the president's high road to moral superiority ends at the Guantanamo gulag. Once again, Castro can thumb his nose at a U.S. rationalization for the embargo."
(DAYTONA NEWS-JOURNAL, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

CHE FACEPLATE OPTIONAL
"Cubans wear them like fine jewelry, but they don't glitter. They ring. They chime. They even vibrate. Cellphones, old news in most of the Americas, are the latest rage in this socialist nation. They're a symbol of status and power, a way to slip into the wireless world, if only for a moment."
(DALLAS NEWS, unearthed by Cuba Daily News Digest)

CHANGING FACE OF CUBA, PART 2
"In such areas as trade, the environment, the arts, even tourism, Americans are choosing to work with Cubans despite an economic embargo"
(NAPLES DAILY NEWS)

CHANGING FACE OF CUBA, PART 3
Bracing themselves for burgeoning tourism, Cuban environmentalists and their international counterparts focus on conservation efforts.
(NAPLES DAILY NEWS)

CHAPLAIN SPEAKS OUT
"Captain Yee was held in solitary confinement in a South Carolina Navy brig for nearly three months while he was under investigation, permitted only two 15-minute telephone calls a day after a month and, his lawyers said, barred from speaking Arabic to his wife, whom he met while studying Islam in Syria in 1997."
... He was released last week without any espionage charges brought against him. But in a twist that Mrs. Yee said was more devastating than the espionage investigation, the military has charged him with adultery — a violation of military code — and possession of pornography, in addition to charges that he had disobeyed orders by taking classified information home.
... Shaheed Nuriddin, a close friend of the Yees, said: "The adultery was worse. The Army had come to her and said, `You don't know the man you married.' And this was after they kept trying to get her to identify her husband as a terrorist."
(NYT)

SCAM BAITERS
Scam-baiters start by replying to emails from African fraudsters trying to fleece recipients with fake charities or investments.
The baiters pretend to fall for the scams while secretly humiliating the fraudsters, whom they call 'lads.'
Typically, they make endless demands for proof of identity that force the lads to forge passports, bank accounts and documents. Sometimes the lads are told to photograph themselves in ridiculous poses, with loaves of bread on their heads, or clutching signs with secret passwords.
(STUFF unearthed by www.dailyrotten.com)

COINTELPRO ALL OVER AGAIN
A confidential FBI memo confirms that the federal government is targeting innocent mericans engaged in nothing more than lawful protest and dissent.
In the memo the FBI advocates spying on peaceful protesters and ndicates that protesters who engage in civil disobedience or other disruptive acts should be treated like potential terrorists. It confirms that the government has monitored the actions of peaceful protestors and wants intelligence about protestors to be reported to the nearest FBI field office or terrorism task force.(ACLU, unearthed by Wilson Myers)

CHANGING FACE OF CUBA, PART 1
"....More than ever, their presence represents a change in the minds of a growing number of Americans with which the U.S. government may soon be finding itself in the position of playing catch-up. "
(NAPLES DAILY NEWS and featured in CUBANET, unearthed by Cuba Daily News)