Weekly Review

By Roger D. Hodge

After maintaining for three years that Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American citizen captured in Afghanistan, was so grave a threat to the United States that merely permitting him to meet with his lawyer would fatally compromise national security, the Bush Administration (having been told by Justice Antonin Scalia that "the very core of liberty secured by our Anglo-Saxon system of separated powers has been freedom from indefinite imprisonment at the will of the Executive") declined to defend its case against Hamdi in open court and announced that he will be stripped of his citizenship and released in Saudi Arabia.¹ Charges were also dropped against Ahmad al Halabi, a Syrian-American airman who was accused of spying at the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. ² Colin Powell said that the Iraqi insurgency is "getting worse," and U.S. forces arrested a high-ranking officer in the Iraqi National Guard, one week after he was appointed commander of the Diyala province, because he supposedly has ties to insurgents.³ President Bush said that John Kerry's criticisms of his policies in Iraq are hurting the war effort.⁴ An expert panel appointed by the Pentagon concluded that the United States lacks the troops to maintain its current military commitments, and⁵ Halliburton was thinking about selling its KBR subsidiary, which handles the company's contracts in Iraq.⁶ The Pentagon announced that it will issue microwave pain guns to its forces in Iraq.⁷ The United States military was planning a large new offensive in Iraq to prepare for the scheduled January elections, and⁸ Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted that the ongoing war could result in a "limited" election. "Well, so be it," he said. "Nothing's perfect in life, so you have an election that's not quite perfect."⁹

The Transportation Security Administration announced that it plans to force airlines to provide personal information about passengers so that it can test a new system for identifying potential terrorists; in some cases the airline records will be compared with private databases.¹⁰ Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, was refused entry to the United States because his name appears on a list of terrorism suspects.¹¹ The federal government refused to admit that a regulation exists requiring airline passengers to show a form of picture ID before they board planes.¹² The inspector general of the Homeland Security Department reported that airport screeners are still permitting knives, guns, and explosives to be smuggled through security checkpoints by government testers.¹³ More flaws were found in Diebold Election Systems' electronic voting machines.¹⁴ The Israeli government seized 80,000 cans of dog food that had been labeled as foie gras.Christian Science Monitor 2004-09-27 ¹⁵ The BBC cancelled a satirical cartoon series called "Popetown," which featured corrupt bishops and depicted the pope jumping around the Vatican on a pogo stick.¹⁶ An academic conference at Yale University was devoted to Michael Jackson, and¹⁷ Jimmy Swaggart said that he would kill any gay man who "looks at me like that."¹⁸ Wal-Mart agreed to stop selling The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, a nineteenth-century anti-Semitic forgery, on its website; a spokesman said the company had "made a business decision to remove this book."¹⁹ David Koresh's 1968 Camaro was sold at auction to a car wash owner from San Antonio, Texas, for $37,500.²⁰ Israel used a car bomb to assassinate a Hamas official in Syria.²¹ A Malawian pothead decapitated two women with an axe.²²

President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria said that the African Union will send thousands of troops to keep the peace in Sudan.²³ Nigerian rebels threatened to attack oil wells in the Niger delta.²⁴ California regulators announced that car makers must cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent by 2016, and crude²⁵ oil closed at $48.88 a barrel, a new record.²⁶ Armed gangs rioted in Haiti outside a food distribution center in Gonaives, which was largely destroyed by tropical storm Jeanne.²⁷ Another hurricane hit Florida.²⁸ In Italy, an old woman was killed by a falling crucifix, and the²⁹ company that makes Hostess Twinkies and Wonder Bread went bankrupt.³⁰ New research concluded that low-birthweight babies are twice as likely to commit suicide.³¹ It was discovered that Israeli traffic fatalities rise by 35 percent in the days following a terrorist attack.³² Scientists said that over the last 15 years several glaciers in Antarctica have increased the rate at which they are sliding into the sea.³³ The discovery that methane and water vapor are concentrated together on Mars suggested that methane-producing bacteria may be present on the planet.³⁴ A group of Australian scientists developed a vaccine to cut down on the methane emitted by sheep when they belch and fart.³⁵ China opened its first Formula One raceway.³⁶ American researchers developed a device that uses spinach to generate electricity, and scientists³⁷ were hoping to use rat brainwaves to find people buried by earthquakes.³⁸ California banned necrophilia.³⁹