A wee bit o' backpedaling

In Iraq news, George Bush, after all the furor that erupted in the Arab world when he failed to apologize for the torture of Iraqi inmates, has now done so. Donald Rumsfeld has apologized as well after facing calls for his resignation. Al Qaeda has upped the ante by offering 10kg of gold, or about $125 000, as a reward to anyone who assassinates Paul Bremer, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi or Kofi Annan. Tribal and religious leaders in Iraq have offered to mediate the standoff between the United States and Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. This comes none too soon, as eight Iraqis have been killed just today in clashes between American troops and his supporters.

Tony Blair, in a move that makes me wonder what he can possibly be thinking, has elevated John Scarlett, the man responsible for putting together the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction dossier, to be the new head of their international intelligence agency, MI6. The Atlantic Monthly features an article that ties in nicely with this recent announcement: "Where did Tony Blair go wrong?"

An American lawyer living in Oregon, Brandon Mayfield, is being held as a material witness to the Madrid bombings that killed 191 people. In Spain, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has said that Spanish troops will never return to Iraq, independent of a NATO or United Nations mandate.

Yesterday I wrote briefly about the new tougher Cuba policy that George Bush recently approved and tried to note my disapproval somewhat diplomatically. I expected some opposition from the Democrats at least but John Kerry's team came out with a response that, frankly, doesn't seem to say anything -- also known as pandering to Cuban Americans in Florida. However, I have to give mad props to the key aide of Colin Powell for bringing the subject home in a concise statement during a recent interview, calling the American sanctions against Pakistan and Cuba, "the dumbest policy on the face of the Earth." At least someone in the Bush administration seems to know what's really going on.

Human Rights Watch is accusing the Sudanese government of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity for aiding Arab militias in Darfur. The United Nations has recently reported its belief that the refugees in the region are being systematically starved.

In brief:
- NASA is thinking about sending one of the Mars rovers into a crater, even though it might not be able to get out.
- Scientists have managed to slow neutrons down to just 15 miles per hour.
- Microscopic plastic fragments in the ocean are being studied as to their effect on the ecosystem.
- Recent research seems to show that SARS may spread through sweat.
- Scientists believe they have found out how the brain recalls old memories.
- Researchers believe they have identified the fungus responsible for the Irish potato famine.
- How IRC is the seedy backwater of the internet.
- A suicide bomber killed 15 people and injured over 100 in a Karachi mosque in southern Pakistan. The bombing is believed to have been carried out by Sunni extremists, though no one has yet claimed responsibility.
- In a 140 to 6 vote, the United Nations has adopted a non-binding resolution granting the Palestinians sovereignty over the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and eastern Jerusalem.
- Soon to be former CSO conductor Daniel Barenboim has announced that he will start a classical music program for Palestinian children and spoke to his support of the need for a Palestinian state.
- Iran has begun its second round of polling in districts where any candidate received at least 25% of the vote.
- The international community has reacted with great concern over the sentencing to death of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor.
- The FDA has ruled that a morning-after pill can not be sold over the counter.
- A judge in Florida has deemed unconstitutional a law put forward by Jeb Bush that prevented Terri Schiavo from being taken off life support.
- An alternative view of the 'close election' hypothesis -- why Kerry will win in a blowout.
- The United Methodist Church, the third-largest denomination in the United States, is not so united over homosexual issues.
- A New York Times article on the issues facing contemporary sculpture.
- An essay on the problems in Islam.
- Since he's coming to Ravinia, I thought I'd post an ABC interview with Rufus Wainright.
- Republican Massachusetts governor is trying to reinstate the death penalty in the state, and claims to have a foolproof plan that will prevent innocent people from being put to death.
- It might be time to dump your hotmail account -- Microsoft has plans to allow some spam vendors, those with the money to pay Microsoft $20 000, access to your account, bypassing the spam filter.
- Looks like the TV and movie industry are getting wise to the illegal downloading of shows as a survey shows that downloading had tripled in Britain over the last year.
- Slate asks whether video games can be too hard.
- Reviews of Super Size Me, a documentary about a guy who eats nothing but McDonalds for a month from both Slate and the Christian Science Monitor.
- Following up on yesterday's post, The Shining, as performed by bunnies.