"The abuse of detainees in U.S. custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of 'a few bad apples' acting on their own," the report states. "The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees."
Gdn: inside (parts of) Gitmo (video)
WP: Portugal lobbies EU to accept released detainees
WP: Belgium arrests 14 in alleged terror plot
NYT: bomb kills at least 48 near Kirkuk (WP says 57)
"The apparent target was symbolic and incendiary: a meeting of Kurdish officials and Sunni Arab members of the Awakening, mostly former insurgents now working for the government, trying to reduce tension between Arabs and Kurds, each with claims on the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
Even before the bombing, the fear of violence in Kirkuk was so high that the city was exempted from nationwide provincial elections, scheduled for Jan. 31."
LAT: Sheik Lawrence important US ally in Anbar
"There are many Sunni tribal sheiks in Anbar, but there is only one Sheik Lawrence. His authority and name are inherited from his great-grandfather, one of the Bedouin leaders who rode beside the Englishman T.E. Lawrence during the World War I fight against the Ottoman Empire.
His tribe, the Anezi, is not particularly large, and the area he controls isn't prominent in Iraqi politics. But as U.S. military and civilian officials have learned, he is a man to be reckoned with...
When the history of the U.S. involvement in Iraq is written, one focus will be the Americans' relationship with the sheiks of Anbar, the province that was the birthplace of the Sunni-led insurgency. At first, the U.S. military sought to ignore them as cultural anachronisms -- a decision it soon came to regret as the insurgency burgeoned.
Then came the Anbar Awakening, a pledge by some of the sheiks to side with the Americans against the insurgency. Within two years, Anbar went from lost cause to success story in the eyes of U.S. officials, even before the buildup of troops in Baghdad.
Figuring out the pecking order among sheiks has been a challenge for the U.S. military. Some sheiks have great authority; others pretend to. Some are what commanders have come to call 'fake sheiks.'"
LAT: US military claims violence down because fewer Iranian weapons
Gdn: timeline of important events in Iraq, 2003-2008
BBC: history lesson as Brits prepare to pull out: a diplomat's diary from 1920
NYT baghdad bureau blog: the symbolism of Firdos Square
CSM: Pakistani general reigns in Army
"Centuries ago, Faridkot was best known for its Sufi patron saint, Baba Farid. That was when Muslim mystics and poets roamed the subcontinent -- long before the 1947 partition that created six decades of enmity between Pakistan and India. In more recent years, the deeply impoverished area around Faridkot, which is about 25 miles from the Indian border, has been a recruiting ground for the Pakistani military as well as increasingly virulent Sunni Muslim extremist groups such as Lashkar-i-Taiba, according to experts on the region. Now the story of this Pakistani town includes Kasab, even if his former neighbors are deeply reluctant to admit it."
"The strike, which is supported by the theatres where they perform, was sparked by the decision of Lahore High Court last month to ban the Mujra, the graceful and elaborate dance first developed in the Mughal courts 400 years ago, on the grounds that it is too sexually explicit...
WP: wall, speculation on Palestinian state borders generate migration within Jerusalem and Israel
"Many of the 250,000 Palestinians who are residents of East Jerusalem, but who are not Israeli citizens, are equally concerned about losing access to Israeli services such as medical care and social security if their neighborhoods became part of a Palestinian state. A growing number are moving into predominantly Jewish neighborhoods such as French Hill or Pisgat Zeev -- areas that Palestinian officials consider to be illegal Israeli settlements."
IHT: accounting for the riots in Greece
IHT (op-ed, Kalyvas): the problem is a cultural, not social, one
"Undergirding these actions is a more or less complete absence of sanctions - few people get arrested and almost no one gets sentenced. Participation in these riots is seen as a fun and low-risk activity, almost a rite of passage. This attitude of toleration covers a variety of other acts, such as the widespread use of graffiti, which has totally defaced Athens in the past few years.
The police lack a consistent policy. They are regularly harassed by groups of youths - a recurrent activity that is perceived as more or less normal; badly trained and inefficiently led, they are prone to outbursts of brutality. The cycle is vicious."
BBC: France arrests ETA leader"The people of Luxembourg stripped their beloved monarch of his political powers today after he tried to veto a bill that allows for the legalisation of euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Grand Duke Henri, ceremonial ruler of Luxembourg's 470,000 inhabitants, provoked an unprecedented crisis in the sedate territory two weeks ago when he refused to sign the law, apparently for reasons of conscience."
"The April 21, 2007 election saw power transferred from one elected civilian to another for the first time in Nigeria's coup-plagued history. But thugs openly stole and stuffed ballot boxes and harassed voters, and international observers said the election was deeply flawed."
Econ: unless you're Mugabe, who is apparently blind
"Zimbabwe’s leader dismisses suggestions that his people are suffering as attempts by outsiders to make a case for military intervention. On Thursday he concluded that 'Now that there is no cholera, there is no need for war.' "
And yet, as the killings took place, a contingent of about 100 United Nations peacekeepers was less than a mile away, struggling to understand what was happening outside the gates of its base...
The trouble began on Oct. 28, when Congolese Army troops fled the town, fearful of the advance of Mr. Nkunda’s troops.
The soldiers, who had already been routed by Mr. Nkunda’s men farther south, looted and raped as they ran, taking everything of value and even forcing some residents to help them carry the spoils, according to witnesses and investigators. Fearful residents had to choose between two bad options: follow the rampaging army or wait to see what the rebels might bring.
With the soldiers long gone, Mr. Nkunda’s troops took the towns of Kiwanja and Rutshuru without firing a shot. Immediately, they ordered the residents who remained to torch sprawling camps that held about 30,000 people displaced by earlier fighting, proclaiming that it was now safe for the camp dwellers to return to their villages, witnesses said.
“They said there was security, so everyone should go home,” said François Hazumutima, a retired teacher who had been living in a nearby camp. “But none of us felt safe.”
A week later, on Nov. 4, a group of militia fighters known as the Mai Mai carried out a surprise attack on Kiwanja. But the rebels soon routed the Mai Mai — and ordered all residents to leave.
The soldiers then went house to house, saying they were searching for militia fighters who stayed behind to fight. But many residents who stayed were scared their houses would be looted or were too old or infirm to flee, according to witnesses. Others had simply not gotten the message to leave.
The rebels came to the door of a 25-year-old trader, banging and threatening to shoot their way in.
“There were gunshots everywhere,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “They asked for money. I gave them $200.”He then watched in impotent horror as the rebels went to his 22-year-old brother’s house next door. The man, a student, had no money to offer them. The soldiers ordered him to lie on the ground. They stabbed him in the neck with their bayonets and shot him in the head, he said.
“They said, ‘If you don’t have money, you are Mai Mai,’ ” he said. “Everyone who was young was destined to die.”...
Mr. Nkunda’s men continue to hold the town, as well as neighboring Rutshuru. Outwardly, calm has returned to the streets. But mothers have sent their sons packing because the rebels have been forcing men and boys to join them."
Gdn: UK rejects EU call to send more troops
Ind: EU does begin mission in Kosovo
"With reporters banned from the war zone, the media must depend on government and rebel statements for most information about the war. Each side commonly exaggerates its enemy's casualties and plays down its own.
Fighting has escalated in recent months as government troops have moved deep into rebel territory and captured a number of key bases and towns, but they are still locked in heavy battles at the edge of Kilinochchi."
BBC: internal politics of the Tamil diaspora in the UK
They call themselves ilaga or "rats" in a local Philippines dialect. They're vigilantes: Christian farmers who have taken up arms to protect their land and families against Muslim rebels in this troubled corner of the southern Philippines...
Here on the island of Mindanao, such Roman Catholic vigilantes haven't been a force since the 1970s, when all-out communal war raged. Their return now, some 30 years later, is a sign of a society that's again become dangerously polarized along religious lines.
It's one sad consequence of the breakdown of peace talks between the Philippines government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Four months after talks broke down, the military is still engaged in a deadly, cat-and-mouse game with three "rogue" commanders, including Mr. Kato. Hundreds of thousands of Muslim civilians remain in makeshift camps, afraid to return to their homes. And Malaysian monitors who helped enforce a cease-fire left Nov. 30 after their mandate expired.
With the peace process in tatters and no clear way forward, many fear that the gains of 11 years of negotiations are fast disappearing amid recriminations and communal mistrust."
WP: escaped North Korean political prisoner recounts life in camp
"There are 14,431 North Korean defectors living in South Korea, according to the latest government count. Shin is the only one known to have escaped to the South from a prison camp in the North...
[His book] is illustrated with simple line drawings of his mother's hanging, the amputation of his finger, his torture by fire. There are black-and-white photographs of his scars, as well as drawings and a satellite photo of Camp No. 14. It is located in Kaechon, about 55 miles north of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.
The book grew out of a diary he kept in the Seoul hospital while he was recovering from the nightmares and screaming bouts that were part of his adjustment.
It begins with the story of his birth in Camp No. 14 to parents whose union was arranged by prison guards. As a reward for excellent work as a mechanic, his father was given the woman who became Shin's mother. Shin lived with her until he was 12, when he was taken away to work with other children.
In the book, Shin describes the "common and almost routine" savagery of the camp: the rape of his cousin by prison guards and the beating to death of a young girl found with five grains of unauthorized wheat in her pocket. He once found three kernels of corn in a pile of cow dung, he writes. He picked them out, cleaned them off on his sleeve and ate them. "As miserable as it may seem, that was my lucky day," he writes."
LAT: nearly 5,400 have died in Mexico drug violence in 2008"A gun could be swapped for a $100 voucher, while an assault weapon would net $200.
The most popular vouchers were for a supermarket chain, police said.
"People just don't have the money to buy the food these days," said Sergeant Byron Woods."
++NYT mag: the benefits of teasing
The language of teasing is intimately linked to the language of social behavior. Because teasing allows us to send messages in indirect, masked ways, it is an essential means of navigating our often-fraught social environments. In teasing, we become actors, taking on playful identities to manage the inevitable conflicts of living in social groups...
Teasing can be thought of as a status contest with a twist. As humans evolved the ability to form complex alliances, the power of a single individual came increasingly to depend on the ability to build strong bonds. Power became a matter of social intelligence (the good of the group) rather than of survival of the fittest (raw strength). As a status contest, teasing must walk a fine line, designating status while enhancing social connection...
In seeking to protect our children from bullying and aggression, we risk depriving them of a most remarkable form of social exchange. In teasing, we learn to use our voices, bodies and faces, and to read those of others — the raw materials of emotional intelligence and the moral imagination. We learn the wisdom of laughing at ourselves, and not taking the self too seriously. We learn boundaries between danger and safety, right and wrong, friend and foe, male and female, what is serious and what is not. We transform the many conflicts of social living into entertaining dramas. No kidding."
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