While Pakistan has remained largely silent about U.S. drone strikes in the northwest, Pakistani security officials are drawing a line at direct interference by U.S. and NATO manned aircraft.
Top-Secret America? - This month, Pennsylvania's citizens were shocked when they discovered that their Office of Homeland Security had been issuing intelligence bulletins to local law enforcement and private industry that covered the activities of law-abiding activist groups, most prominently those opposed to natural gas drilling. The bulletins, however, weren't generated by state law enforcement. Instead they were produced by the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, a Philadelphia- and Jerusalem-based consulting firm that received a $103,000 no-bid contract from the state homeland security director James Powers to identify threats to Pennsylvania's critical infrastructure. Aside from the obvious civil liberties abuses, Powers's decision to outsource his agency's intelligence mission demonstrates that the murky world of "Top Secret America" has trickled down to the states. Or in other words, intelligence is now big business. US war crimes trial underway - This week's testimony in the hearing of Specialist Jeremy Morlock further complicates the troubling story of five soldiers accused of killing three Afghan civilians. Testimony described the unit as consumed with drug use. Seven soldiers from the unit were accused of hashish possession. After a possible traumatic brain injury, military doctors prescribed Morlock medication for sleep deprivation and pain and muscle stress. Investigators in Afghanistan looking into the case described Morlock as tired and slouching, but said he seemed coherent with a strong retention of details. The video of their investigation, meant merely as case preparation, was leaked to the press yesterday. It shows Morlock, who the says "looks like a teenager recounting a story to his parents," talking about his unit's role in the civilian killings, which both he and another accused soldier independently said were at the insistence of their sergeant, Calvin Gibbs.
