Australian troops “ended their main combat mission in Iraq on Sunday, handing over their responsibilities in southern Iraq to U.S. forces.” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who was elected last November, “had pledged during campaigning to end his country’s frontline military role in Iraq.”
“American deaths in the Iraq war dropped to 19 in May, their lowest monthly level since the invasion in 2003, the United States military said Sunday.” But military officials are “reluctant to highlight the number as a milestone” because “there have been troughs in American casualty rates before, only to be followed by increases.”
Using information gleaned from statements by the “U.S. military, the Council of Europe and related parliamentary bodies, and the testimonies of prisoners,” human rights lawyers have said that the “United States is operating ‘floating prisons’ to house those arrested in its war on terror” in “an attempt to conceal the numbers and whereabouts of detainees.
A draft declaration shows that the “United States is blocking efforts to get next month’s Group of Eight summit to agree targets for cutting carbon emissions over the next 20 years.” The Bush administration is insisting climate action come only through its “Major Emitters” group.
“It is time for Michael Mukasey, the attorney general, to stand up for justice by enforcing Congress’s subpoenas,” the New York Times says of the prosecution of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman. “If he will not do that, Congress must ensure that its investigative authority is not thwarted. Mr. Rove seems willing to talk about this case everywhere except where he is required to.”
Worker advocates and lawmakers say the fact that “hundreds of workers have been sentenced but not one company official as yet faces any charges” following “the biggest immigration raid in U.S. history” is “typical of a federal government that is tough on employees but easy on owners.” Of the 389 workers arrested in the May 14 raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville, IA, 297 have pleaded guilty.
The U.S. State Department “has reinstated seven Fulbright grants offered to Palestinians in Gaza for advanced study in the United States, reversing a decision to withdraw the scholarships because of Israel’s ban on Palestinians’ leaving Gaza for study abroad.”
In the next several weeks, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “intends to call up a number of union-friendly measures,” including bills expanding “collective-bargaining rights for firefighters and other public safety employees” and requiring that “workers on projects to bolster renewable-energy facilities be paid the local prevailing wage.”
“Some of the nation’s biggest banks have closed their doors to students at community colleges, for-profit universities and other less competitive institutions.” The practice suggests that “some of the nation’s neediest students will be hurt the most.”
And finally: Fox News host Bill O’Reilly has been whining that Scott McClellan hasn’t yet come on his show. O’Reilly has claimed that McClellan’s promotion strategy has been, “Go to the Bush-hater people and that’s where we’ll sell our books.” McClellan’s publishers claim that they tried to book McClellan on O’Reilly’s show, but his bookers balked at not getting the former White House press secretary first — before NBC’s Today Show. McClellan is now due to appear tonight.
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
Previous in TP Politics
By clicking and submitting a comment I acknowledge the ThinkProgress Privacy Policy and agree to the ThinkProgress Terms of Use. I understand that my comments are also being governed by Facebook's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.