Weekly Review

By Roger D. Hodge

Devils Galore.

Members of Congress were given a private viewing of unreleased photographs and videos from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq; some showed Pfc. Lynndie England having sex with other soldiers in front of prisoners; other images showed prisoners cowering before attack dogs, Iraqi women being forced to expose their breasts, naked prisoners tied up together, prisoners being forced to masturbate, and a prisoner repeatedly smashing his head against a wall. "It was pretty disgusting, not what you'd expect from Americans," said Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota. "There was lots of sexual stuff — not of the Iraqis, but of our troops." ¹ One photograph showed an Iraqi sodomizing himself with a banana. "My conclusion is that was probably coerced somehow," said Representative Trent Franks, a Republican from Arizona.² It was reported that the Abu Ghraib torture fiasco was a product of a covert Pentagon operation — a so-called special-access program, authorized by Donald Rumsfeld and run by his undersecretary Stephen Cambone — that applied unconventional interrogation techniques developed for use in Afghanistan to the situation in Iraq.³ And it was revealed that in 2002 White House council Alberto Gonzalez wrote a memo arguing that the war on terror "renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."⁴ President Bush told Donald Rumsfeld that he has been doing a "superb job."⁵ Rumsfeld, who this week made a surprise visit to Abu Ghraib prison, compared the Iraq war to the American Civil War and said that "the carnage was horrendous, and it was worth it."⁶

An American businessman named Nick Berg was decapitated on video by Iraqi militants.⁷ More than 120,000 Israelis demonstrated in support of withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, and⁸ Palestinian families in Gaza fled their homes, often with their belongings piled on donkey carts, as Israeli forces surrounded a refugee camp and prepared to demolish hundreds of homes.⁹ Secretary of State Colin Powell said that U.S. troops would leave Iraq if an interim government asked them to.¹⁰ The Bin Laden Construction group was selected to build the world's tallest skyscraper in Dubai.¹¹ "Nothing good or just can be built on the destruction or suffering of others," said President Bush at a commencement address, and a¹² suicide bomber killed the president of Iraq's Governing Council.¹³ New documents emerged about the CIA's friendly relationship with a number of former Nazis after World War II, and the¹⁴ European Union's envoy to Slovakia said that Gypsy children should be taken from their parents and put in boarding schools so that they can learn "European values."¹⁵ Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India resigned after his Hindu nationalist party lost in parliamentary elections; the Indian National Congress party, led by Sonia Gandhi, won a plurality and was expected to form a coalition government. Gandhi was expected to become the first foreign-born Indian premier.¹⁶ Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago asked the Illinois legislature to approve a city-owned casino, and¹⁷ Citigroup agreed to pay $2.85 billion to people who invested in WorldCom.¹⁸ Crude oil prices were over $40 a barrel.¹⁹ Sarin nerve gas was found in a small partly detonated shell in Baghdad.²⁰ The president of Cyprus fainted.²¹ A new report found that almost 10 percent of prisoners in federal and state prisons are serving life sentences.²² The United Nations was investigating accusations of sexual abuse by its staff in Bunia, Congo, and the²³ Vatican warned Roman Catholic women not to marry Muslims.²⁴ The pornography industry lifted a moratorium on film shoots that was imposed after several actors tested positive for HIV.²⁵ Australia's treasurer promised to pay $2,000 for every child born in the country; "You go home," he said, "and do your patriotic duty tonight."²⁶

South Korea's constitutional court reinstated President Roh Moo Hyun, who was impeached in March.²⁷ The president of Brazil tried to expel a New York Times reporter who wrote an unflattering article about his drinking problem, and scientists²⁸ reported that the amount of sunshine that reaches the surface of the earth has dropped significantly in recent decades.²⁹ A company called Orbital Recovery announced that it will launch a space-going tugboat in 2007.³⁰ Japanese scientists discovered that dandruff helps dolphins swim faster.³¹ Greenpeace went on trial for "sailor mongering," in violation of an archaic law that was last prosecuted 114 years ago, and³² David Duke got out of jail and began performing his community service hours by working for the European-American Unity and Rights Organization.³³ Turkmenistan outlawed child labor.³⁴ An EPA study found that household "air fresheners" could be causing a carcinogenic smog in people's homes, and the³⁵ World Wildlife Fund said that world cod stocks could be wiped out by 2020.³⁶ Mammals that live in colder climates benefit from having a large penis, scientists said, and trillions³⁷ of 17-year cicadas were preparing to swarm, mate, and die in the Eastern United States.³⁸ Homosexuals were lining up to get married in Massachusetts, and President Bush again called for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.³⁹ A clinical trial suggested that stem cell therapy might be able to heal broken hearts.⁴⁰