The Daily MuckThe first of a possible 160 court reviews of detainees at Guantanamo Bay resulted in the termination of the case against Chinese Muslim Huzaifa Parhat. The Justice Department conceded the case, saying there was no evidence that he ever fought against the U.S., or had plans to do so. (Associated Press)
Though women make up only 14 percent of U.S. Army personnel, 46 percent of Army discharges due to the military’s policy of prohibiting openly gay citizens from serving were female. (New York Times)
The first convicted contract worker employed in Iraq was sentenced to five months of confinement for stabbing a fellow translator. Alaa “Alex” Mohammed Ali, an Iraqi Canadian citizen, pleaded guilty to stealing a soldier’s knife, assaulting his colleague and wrongfully disposing of evidence. (LA Times)
The Government Accountability Office released a report yesterday announcing the failure of post-surge planning by the Bush administration. The report claims many goals mapped out by the White House in what was termed the “New Way Forward” have gone unmet. (Washington Post)
Upon notice from the Department of Justice, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge registered this month a nearly half-million-dollar sum he received from the Albanian government in the way of lobbying contracts. (Roll Call sub. req.)
The findings of preferable mortgage deals given to Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) by Countrywide Financial Corp. has sparked a probe by Politico of all senators’ existing mortgages. (Politico)
Congressional travel records show former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) ran up a tab for taxpayers to the sum of over $20,000 for foreign travel during the last eleven months of his term in office. (Associated Press)
Doug Feith, former Undersecretary of Defense and dogged supporter and plotter of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, now defends the incorrect statement made by former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in 2002 that Saddam Hussein was close to producing a nuclear device. (Think Progress)
The UK “lacks the political will” to enforce its own anti-corruption laws, says one watchdog group. The allegations come in response to the government’s abandonment of the bribery case against arms dealer BAE Systems. (The Guardian)