By way of a round-up...
The headline on Slate.com’s Today’s Papers is “Abu Grim,” and that perhaps captures many of the stories in the papers today.
I thought CNN’s Aaron Brown intro for his show last night captured the issue...
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
I didn't write this page tonight. It was written instead by a viewer. It is a viewer who writes me often, sometimes agreeing with what we do, often not. I've done a little bit of editing here for time but this is what he wrote.
As one who supported Bush's war on terrorism and the Iraq invasion, I am very disturbed by what I see happening now. Iraqi citizens are still being tortured in Saddam's jails now by Americans. An Iraqi general, with Saddam's moustache no less, is in charge of Fallujah. Aaron, I ran cell blocks in federal prisons for over 20 years and never saw anything like this and there is no excuse for it, a complete breakdown in command and control. Is this, he writes, what we went to war for and is this what we get at the cost of hundreds of American soldiers dead? The Marines are pulled back from victory in Fallujah. This is perceived as a victory in the Arab world. Didn't Bush learn anything from Beirut and Somalia? Now we look both cruel and weak, the worst possible combination if we hope to effect change in the Arab world. And he closed this way. I vote Republican, am hawkish on foreign policy, so if someone like me is asking these questions, the administration is heading for an election problem. I don't support what I'm seeing in Iraq. I'm sure others are asking these questions. I trust you're doing well. I'm looking forward to your thoughts on page two. Take care, John.
If the administration has lost John, it has lost a lot over the last few weeks and nothing in today's news is likely to win him back.
And the company involved... Arlington, Va.-based CACI...
CACI Wants to Review Report on Alleged Abuse [WP, 5.4.2004]
CACI International Inc. said yesterday that an outside law firm will conduct its investigation of its employees' conduct in Iraq and review its operations around the world.
CBS Delayed Abuse Report At the Request Of Gen. Myers [WP, 5.4.2004]
NEW YORK, May 3 -- CBS News delayed for two weeks airing a report about U.S. soldiers' alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners, following a personal request from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Questions of War [New Yorker]
An investigation of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by the U.S. Army.
by Seymour M. Hersh
War Makes Iraq Worst Place to Be a Reporter [5.3.2004]
(AFP) - War has made Iraq the most dangerous country for a reporter to work in, but Cuba, followed closely by China, jailed most journalists for doing their job last year, according to reports issued to mark World Press Freedom Day. The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists said up to 25 journalists had been killed at work in Iraq since March 2003, when a US-led invasion aimed at toppling the government of Saddam Hussein was launched
Worst Places to Be a Journalist (Cmte. to Protect Journalists)
Memorial Honors 53 Journalists Who Died [AP, 5.3.2004]
'Nightline' Ratings Rise For Roll Call of Iraq Dead [WP, 5.4.2004]
By Lisa de Moraes, Page C01
ABC News's "Nightline" scored nearly 30 percent more viewers on Friday night than it did the rest of last week, according to preliminary numbers.
Elsewhere...
Millions of Secrets [WP, 5.3.2004]
By Al Kamen
The way things are going, it's getting to where even The Shadow won't know "what evil lurks in the hearts of men." And forget that lurking-in-the-heart stuff, pretty soon the old radio detective won't even be able to find out what your government has been doing for you. Executive branch agencies -- mostly the CIA, the Pentagon, the spy satellite folks and the Justice Department -- discovered more than 14 million new secrets last year, according to a report to the president by the Information Security Oversight Office, part of the National Archives. That's a 25 percent increase over the prior year in creating things that must be "secret." Just before Sept. 11, 2001, the rate was 8 million a year. So that's a substantial surge in the urge to submerge. (Sorry.)
Editorials...
Touchy Touch-Screen Voting [CSM, 5.4.2004]
Electronic voting methods can be problematic but it's worth it to fix any glitches.
Troubled ties: Bush and the press [CSM, 5.4.2004]
The current president follows his father's footsteps in his famously chilly attitude toward the 4th estate.
California's Accidental Governor [NYT, 5.4.2004]
With a string of successes under his belt, Arnold Schwarzenegger has emerged as a popular and indomitable leader.
Arnold is also on the front page of The Economist.
Off-topic...
Junk-Food Games [WSJ]
Online Arcades Draw Fire For Immersing Kids in Ads; Ritz Bits Wrestling, Anyone?
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