The Daily MuckIn 2003, a Baltimore area high school graduate disappeared into a “black site” of the CIA’s secret prison system. He turned up at Guantanamo Bay last year. On Tuesday, he had his first meeting with an attorney. This “ghost detainee” has spoken only once publicly (through a partially censored transcript of a Pentagon hearing earlier this year) when “he complained of chronic abuse in American custody and said he repeatedly tried to kill himself in his despair.” (Miami Herald)
One of Michael Mukasey’s first jobs will be to figure out what to do with Craig Morford, the U.S. Attorney who was brought in as Deputy Attorney General to clean up Gonzo’s mess. The administration is suggesting that Mukasey can pick his own DAG, which is leading Morford supporters (particularly the other U.S. attorneys) to believe that Morford is being booted out (sub. req.) for his work on politically sensitive prosecutions. (Wall Street Journal)
The President of Oral Robert University is taking a leave of absence amid accusations of treating the school founded by his father as his own private piggy bank. I blame the growing public mistrust on this article. (LA Times)
Not a moment too soon. Blackwater is looking more and more likely to leave Iraq. Though the State Department has reaffirmed that it will not fire the private security firm for incidents like that at Nissor Square, the company is likely to get out of the Iraq contracts game. This comes on the tail of a string of particularly disturbing stories about Blackwater employees, which are becoming commonplace when discussing Blackwater. (AP, CNN)
Facing the prospect of a Republican rout in 2008, The National Review Online (NRO) is urging representative Boehner (R-OH) to take a stance (not too wide) on ethics, “deal out some tough love,” and throw some colleagues under the bus. According to NRO, the “ethical Housecleaning” should begin with representatives Don Young (R-AL) and John Doolittle (R-CA), who are both subjects of federal investigations. (National Review)
Bundling, once an innocent way for Puritan youth to test their compatibility before marriage, is now the chief source of abuse in the American campaign-finance system (think Alan Fabian and Norman Hsu). The number of bundlers in presidential campaigns has doubled since 2004. (Wall Street Journal)
As Congress looks like they will not defeat the President’s S-CHIP reform veto, it’s worth reflecting on who the real winners are: tobacco companies. (Politico)