Weekly Review

By Paul Ford

White House photo.

At least 162 people were killed in violence in Iraq,¹ where 173 malnourished Sunni Arab prisoners, many of whom had been severely tortured, were found in the basement of an Iraqi Interior Ministry compound. “You know what happens in prison,” explained the Interior Ministry's undersecretary for security. “Their skins,” said one witness, “got stuck to the floor.”^{2 3} Two Iraqi businessmen accused U.S. troops of caging them with lions in 2003. The men were also severely beaten after they were not able to tell Army interrogators where to find Saddam Hussein or weapons of mass destruction. “I thought he was joking, so I laughed,” said one of the businessmen. “He just hit me.”⁴ In Basra two British-trained policemen had tortured at least two civilians to death with electric drills.⁵ After repeated denials, the Pentagon finally admitted to using white phosphorus during the 2004 attack on Fallujah. “It is an incendiary weapon,” explained a spokesman.⁶ Representative John Murtha (D., Pa.), called for the halt of U.S. troop deployments to Iraq. Duncan Hunter (R., Calif.), seeking to cut off debate over Murtha's statements, countered by proposing a measure that required that U.S. troops be brought home immediately. Jean Schmidt (R., Ohio) addressed Murtha, a decorated veteran and former Marine colonel who previously supported the invasion of Iraq, by quoting a Marine Corps reserve officer who told her that “cowards cut and run.” She was booed by Democrats. “You guys,” yelled Marty Meehan (D., Mass.), “are pathetic!” Harold Ford (D., Tenn.) ran across the House chamber's center aisle to the Republican side. “Say Murtha's name!” he shouted. Schmidt asked that her comments be struck from the record, and Hunter's resolution was rejected 403 to 3, with Murtha among those voting against it.⁷ The House approved a $50 billion budget cut that will increase Medicaid fees and reduce funding for student loans and food stamps,⁸ and Congress voted itself a $3,100 annual pay raise.⁹ The Pentagon revealed that since September 11, 2001, it has detained more than 80,000 prisoners at facilities around the world,¹⁰ and UN human rights experts decided not to visit Guantánamo Bay because the United States refused to allow them full access to detainees.¹¹ A CIA official revealed that the agency's annual budget, which is classified, is $44 billion.¹² The Justice Department was considering an investigation into how the Halliburton Company was secretly awarded noncompetitive multibillion-dollar contracts for oil-field repairs in Iraq.¹³

A White House document showed that executives from large oil firms met with Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force in 2001; the document was released a week after representatives from those firms testified before a Senate committee that they had not met with the task force.¹⁴ Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward admitted that a “senior administration official” had revealed the identity of Valerie Wilson to him one month before administration officials revealed Wilson's identity to anyone else. The official is apparently neither I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby Jr. nor Karl Rove. Condoleezza Rice denied any involvement.^{15 16} Patrick Fitzgerald announced that he would call a new grand jury to investigate the Valerie Wilson case.¹⁷ Bill Clinton referred to the Iraq war as a “big mistake.” “We never sent enough troops,” he said.¹⁸ Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971, said that history was repeating itself.¹⁹ The German intelligence officials who interrogated “Curveball,” an Iraqi who provided intelligence that the Bush Administration used to justify the war in Iraq, said that they repeatedly warned the United States that Curveball (who may have been lying in order to obtain a German visa) could not be trusted. “Mein Gott!” said an intelligence official. “We had always told them it was not proven.”²⁰ Ahmad Chalabi met with Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Washington, D.C. ²¹ In Australia a ten-year attempt to create pest-resistant peas was cancelled after it was found that the peas cause lung damage in mice.²² A Swedish study linked oral sex to mouth cancer.²³ A Florida woman was run over by ten different cars while attempting to walk across a highway. Police marked parts of her body with traffic cones. “It is crazy out here,” said a trooper, “to try to cross the median.”²⁴ The U.K. was building a database that will track the movements of every vehicle on its roads.²⁵ Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito attempted to distance himself from his statement, “the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion,” which he wrote in an application for a job in the Reagan Administration. “It was a political job,” he clarified, “and that was 1985.”²⁶

A Congressional investigation determined that the FDA decided to bar over-the-counter sales of the “morning after” pill before a scientific review of the pill was completed.²⁷ Eight possibly pregnant South African Boer goats were missing in Lincoln, Nebraska.²⁸ One Milwaukee, Wisconsin, man was in trouble for drunken ice-cream-truck driving,²⁹ while another was in trouble for severely beating his girlfriend with a cactus.³⁰ Peter Drucker died,³¹ and Prince Albert ascended to the throne of Monaco.³² The Night Safari Zoo was preparing to open in Thailand; its buffet will feature tiger, lion, elephant, and giraffe.³³ In Georgia a 37-year-old woman married a 15-year-old boy,³⁴ and the Kansas Board of Education had redefined “science” so that it is “no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena.”³⁵ The Vatican announced that Intelligent Design was not science and did not belong in science classrooms.³⁶ President George W. Bush visited China, where he went to church.³⁷ China announced that it will vaccinate 14 billion poultry against bird flu.³⁸ Bodies were still being found in New Orleans.³⁹ An Oklahoma man confessed that he killed two elderly women because he wanted to do something exciting.⁴⁰ The Senate refused to consider a Democratic resolution to honor Bruce Springsteen.⁴¹ At a convention center in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, a sparrow flew in through an open window and knocked over 23,000 dominoes. The sparrow cowered in a corner until it was shot and killed.⁴² Scientists found the gene that regulates fear in mice and created mice that are not afraid.⁴³ In Chhattisgarh, India, a three-day-old baby died from an infection when her parents were unable to afford surgery. The baby had been born with her heart in her hand.⁴⁴