Former Bush administration deputy secretary of state and current adviser to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign Richard Armitage has parlayed his years of Washington experience into winning cherry contracts with private spy agencies profiting off America's ongoing wars in the Middle East. Former administration officials George Tenet and Cofer Black are cashing in as well, according to Tim Shorrock's book, "Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing." (Salon)

Sen. John McCain's position on granting immunity to telecom companies that willingly participated in the Bush administration's wiretapping surveillance seems to have morphed over the course of his campaign for president. He voted for full immunity earlier this year, then his adviser Chuck Fish hinted at a need for a hearing before such immunity. Then last night at a campaign stop in Wisconsin, McCain described the need for a "careful balance" in protecting the companies and protecting Americans' rights. (Wall St. Journal)

Alleged political motivations of the firing of some U.S. attorneys have prompted 20 former federal attorneys to file a brief in support of forcing members of the Bush administration to testify in the ongoing case. The White House has claimed executive privilege in refusing to allow the president's close aide, Harriet Miers, and chief of staff Josh Bolten to speak to the court. (Associated Press)

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Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has repeatedly voted to back the Bush administration's illegal wiretapping program, allowing immunity for telecom companies that willingly comply with the government surveillance. He is now changing his mind on the issue just in time for his run for the Oval Office. (Washington Post)

Amnesty International has released their annual report on global human rights. Singled out for their human rights infractions are the likes of China, Myanmar, Zimbabwe and the United States for the continued employment of torture at Guantanamo Bay. (New York Times)

The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to close and move the last of the Hurricane Katrina-trailer parks in Louisiana. FEMA is closing the parks due to the start of the new hurricane season, as well as the toxic fumes in the trailers and their desire for residents to find housing elsewhere. (USA Today)

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Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker, a top Army medical officer, says mental care for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder is inadequate, as more than 28,000 troops have been diagnosed with PTSD in recent years. The Army is attempting to fill 120 more mental health professional positions, Schoomaker says. Between 12 and 15 percent of soldiers deployed Iraq and Afghanistan are taking some kind of medication to combat stress. (Baltimore Sun)

The U.S. investigation into whether guards working for Blackwater maliciously fired onto a crowd of Iraqis in Baghdad on Sept. 16, killing 17, continued Tuesday. Family members of the slain Iraqis testified before a federal grand jury. Witnesses of the shootings claim the guards fired into a crowd unprovoked. The convoy was responding to a car bombing in Baghdad's bustling Nisoor Square. (Associated Press)

Long-running investigations of Muck All-Stars Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens, both Alaskan Republicans, may unfold before this fall's election, resulting in indictments of the two politicians. Those two of three Alaskan congressional seats are already highly contentious, as both Stevens and Young have been scrutinized for their connections to disgraced Veco CEO Bill Allen; Young also faces allegations of misconduct regarding a shady earmark in Florida and the ongoing Jack Abramoff probes. (Anchorage Daily News)

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National Republican Congressional Committee staffer Christopher J. Ward was the golden boy of the Right's fundraising efforts. He handled more than $360 million at the committee since 2003. Now he is the subject of an FBI embezzlement inquiry. (New York Times)

Legislation spearheaded by the Senate Armed Services Committee will attempt to shift the influence defense contractors like Blackwater have acquired overseas. Yet news of these efforts has caused the defense companies to counteract, deploying a massive lobbying effort to sway legislators to reconsider shutting the private contractors down. (Politico)

Rep. Ron Paul's campaign for president is still going ... in case you weren't aware. The fully functional campaign staff is at the forefront of his continued push. And as FEC reports show, he's literally keeping the family together. (Washington Post)

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Sen. John McCain has seen a flood of lobbyists leave his campaign for president due to conflicts of interests, yet the staff continues to straddle its self-imposed ethical lines by keeping the likes of Charlie Black around. (New York Times and Huffington Post)

Further restrictions on photojournalists at Guantanamo Bay are being put into place in the name of "operational security." (Miami Herald)

Elsewhere at Gitmo, an report by an official there that detainee Ibrahim al Qosi had called his family in Sudan in order to find legal counsel outside of the U.S. military lawyer offered him turned out to be untrue. A later notification by a spokeswoman retracted the earlier report; Qosi's call is still in the works. (Reuters)

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Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, fired by the Bush administration under suspect circumstances, speaks out in an interview with this Sunday's edition of the New York Times Magazine. Iglesias, now calling himself a "disillusioned Republican," ruminates on Karl Rove's role in his firing, being jilted by the administration following his dismissal and how he plans on voting in November. (Editor and Publisher)

On the same day House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers issued former Bush-adviser Karl Rove with a subpoena for his role in the firing of U.S. attorneys and the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D), lawyers for Siegelman appealed his 2006-conviction for bribery. Siegelman claims the alleged bribes were contributions he asked for on behalf of the Alabama Education Lottery Foundation, and the sentence he received was overly harsh because he went public with suspicions that Republicans were responsible for his prosecution. (Associated Press)

A Pentagon audit has found $8.2 billion of taxpayer funds lost through contracts the U.S. Army has with contractors since the payments rarely followed federal rules. The absence of accountability in Iraq allowed contractors to receive massive payouts from the U.S. despite little or no record of results on the ground. (New York Times)

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An unnamed FBI agent has come forth to report the exhaustive interrogation tactics used against Australian detainee Mamdouh Habib at Guantanamo Bay. The agent told investigators Habib was probed in two 15-hour sessions with little reprieve in between. Besides vomiting repeatedly from the stress of the tactics, Habib has claimed a female interrogator splashed him with what he believed was menstrual blood. (The Age)

After the Washington Post's four-part series on illegal immigrant detainees and the medical care they receive in Gitmo-like U.S. prisons, members of Congress are demanding answers from Dept. of Homeland Security officials, including Secretary Michael Chertoff, regarding the sub-standard care being provided. Top Senate leaders will question Chertoff and others today on the reports of negligence and detainee deaths while in the prisons. (Washington Post)

An investigation team led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is seeking answers to how a federal database that records Medicaid spending by the government was changed through improper channels. The main concern is whether the matter, which could include tens of billions of dollars, was a significant processing error or evidence of a larger payout impropriety to states and drug companies. (Politico)

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The mass exodus of lobbyists from Sen. John McCain's campaign staff continues, as Randy Scheunemann of Orion Strategies jumped ship after records showed he represented the countries of Macedonia, Georgia and Taiwan from 2003 to March 1, 2008. Scheunemann was McCain's top foreign policy adviser, and stayed on-staff even after the campaign couldn't pay him late last year. (USA Today)

Ever since he took over as defense secretary for Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Gates has voiced his desire to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. But Tuesday in front of a Senate hearing, Gates said closing the legally-ambiguous prison won't happen anytime soon since the government is "stuck in several ways." One of the main concerns of the U.S. government is that around 70 prisoners have been cleared to go home, yet either their home government won't take them back, or the U.S. is afraid their home government would "let them loose once we return them home," Gates said. (Reuters)

A new indictment was handed down against the CIA's former No. 3 official, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, in a spinoff of the scandal involving former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA). In addition to the original corruption charges, Foggo was indicted on allegations of accepting "sexual companionship" bribes in exchange for helping Brent Wilkes land cherry government contracts. (Associated Press)

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Whistleblowers within the Federal Aviation Administration are believed to have been subject to bullying tactics and unwarranted punishment from FAA managers for reporting safety concerns, according to FAA documents. Included in the allegations are accusations that the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, recently under fire for chilling such whistleblowing, was slow to investigate claims made by FAA workers. (Wall St. Journal sub. req.)

Only one in five prisoners under U.S. custody in Iraq fall under one of the prime militant extremist groups opposing U.S. forces, say U.S. military analysts. The rest that are swept up in the search for such militants have no business being detained. (USA Today)

Charges were dismissed last week against Mohammed al-Qahtani, the alleged 20th hijacker on 9/11, most likely because his mental impairments disallowed him from participating in his own defense. A Pentagon review of Qahtani's treatment while at Gitmo found "abusive and degrading" interrogation tactics. Such treatment may have ultimately ruined the case against him, say some military prosecutors. (Wall St. Journal sub. req.)

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Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has seen a recent rash of resignations amongst his lobbyist-riddled campaign staff as he tries to live up to his image as an untethered candidate. The latest to leave the camp is McCain's national finance co-chair Thomas Loeffler, who runs The Loeffler Group. (Politico and Associated Press)

The long saga of Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham continues to play out. Thomas Kontogiannis was sentenced to eight years and one month in the joint for money laundering through fraudulent mortgages in an effort to influence Cunningham. Duke himself received an eight-plus year sentence for accepting the bribes. Defense contractor and briber Brent Wilkes was given 12 years for his dealings with Cunningham. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The fallout continues from the revelations that Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann used his position to unlawfully attempt to prosecute Gitmo detainees during tribunals. Now lawyers of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and four other prisoners, are calling for the abandonment of all charges levied against them due to Hartmann's failure to objectively handle such cases. (LA Times)

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The practice of outsourcing defense operations in Iraq and Afghanistan includes another wrinkle, the House Oversight Committee reported Thursday. While the pertinent government agencies have set rates with a single carrier, the Pentagon has allowed the contractors to negotiate their own insurance deals, causing massive markups that taxpayers inherit. (Associated Press)

Following the recent resignation of two staffers of Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) campaign team due to their ties to lobbying for a dictatorship, Republican consultant Craig Shirley has been asked to leave the campaign now after Politico found Shirley working for a '527' group in opposition to Democratic presidential candidates. McCain hired Shirley's firm, Shirley & Bannister Associates, for $22,000 earlier this year to drum up Republican support. Shirley has received over $155,000 since 2007 from Stop Her Now, the '527', for public relations work. (Politico)

The Bush administration cut ties with Iraq war-pusher Ahmed Chalabi this week ... again. He was removed from his post in the Iraqi government for his connections to Iranian officials. But is he really gone for good? (Newsweek)

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During a House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Allen Raymond, former Republican consultant connected to the 2002 Election Day phone-jamming controversy in New Hampshire, said the White House had no knowledge of the plot. The scandal has led to at least three criminal prosecutions and a $135,000-lawsuit settled between Republicans and Democrats.(Associated Press)

The top defender in Supreme Court cases of the Bush administration's policies toward legal rights of Gitmo prisoners is resigning after nearly three years at the post. Solicitor General Paul Clement argued before the Supreme Court that the detainees are not allowed rights to prove their innocence, backing the administration's view to abolish habeas corpus rights for all terrorism suspects. (Reuters)

Head of analysis for all U.S. spy agencies Thomas Fingar spent years compiling an intelligence report on Iran and the country's nuclear goals. Just before his report was to be released last summer, new intelligence offered a view different from Fingar's, that Iran was no longer seeking a nuclear program, undermining the Bush administration's hard line on Tehran and underscoring the murky lines that separate politics and intelligence. (LA Times)

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The Washington Post's extensive four-part series on the shoddy health care provided to imprisoned illegal immigrants ends today with a look into the drugging of detainees, oftentimes for no medical reason. (Washington Post)

The Detroit City Council narrowly voted to begin the removal of embattled Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Tuesday. The measure, passing by one vote, asks the governor to force Kilpatrick out as the council simultaneously moves to do the same. (Detroit Free Press)

Another legacy of the Bush administration: Using federal agency bureaucrats to propose or adopt rules limiting lawsuits, circumventing an unfriendly Congress and the public's watchful eye. (Associated Press)

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The Washington Post's four-part series on sub-standard health care provided for illegal immigrants with fewer rights than convicted felons, detained in Gitmo-like prisons, continues today with a look into the perils of mental health treatment at detention centers. (Washington Post)

Alaa "Alex" Mohammad Ali, dual Iraqi and Candadian citizen and Army translator working in Iraq, has been court-martialed by the U.S. military for stabbing another contract worker on Feb. 23. This is the first such prosecution of a civilian military contractor working for the U.S. since the Vietnam War. (US News)

Esquire takes a careful look at John Yoo, former Justice Dept. lawyer and author of what are now called the torture memos, and the steps he took when contemplating the rationales for torture during a war with a unique foes. (Esquire)

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The Washington Post takes a four-part look into sub-standard health care offered to detainees held in prisons across the United States made for certain indigent laborers awaiting trial for minor offenses, or those waiting for political asylum from their home countries. They have less access to legal protection than convicted felons, and some prisons they must endure resemble Gitmo. (Washington Post)

It may not be a comeback when nothing changes, but it seems defense contractor Blackwater has done just that as the State Dept. recently renewed their contract. No charges have been brought against Blackwater despite the unprovoked, mass-killing of 17 Iraqi citizens at the hands of Blackwater guards and repeated calls from Iraqi officials for the U.S. to outlaw the group's security influence in the country. (New York Times)

According to a memo from seven employees of the Office of Special Counsel, department head Scott Bloch, whose office was raided last week during an investigation into whether his office was used for political motivations, ordered the closing of an investigation into allegations that former White House adviser Karl Rove attempted to make the frontrunner candidate for governor in Alabama Don Siegelman (D) a target for prosecution. (Washington Post)

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Television news networks have been remarkably quiet about the New York Times recent cover story detailing the practice of retired military analysts, many with ties to defense contractors, regurgitating Pentagon talking points on television news programs. Now Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and John Dingell (D-MI) have sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission "urging an investigation of the Pentagon's propaganda program." DeLauro also sent letters to five networks questioning their motives. Only ABC and CNN have anwsered thus far. (New York Times and Politico)

David Mason's name has been withdrawn by President Bush as a Federal Election Commission nominee. Some charge the move was made to fix John McCain's problems with the FEC. But McCain's camp respond that such controversy is "manufactured". Mason has voiced a negative opinion of allowing McCain to back out of a primary election public funding program. (Politico)

Longtime military vet Maj. Gen. Jay W. Hood was penciled in as the next senior American officer in Pakistan. But the military discreetly canceled his nomination once Pakistani news media picked up on Hood's former post: commander of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. (New York Times)

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Republicans in Washington D.C. have asked Office of Special Counsel chief Scott Bloch to resign. This follows an FBI-led raid of his offices uncovered documents related to an investigation into allegations of Bloch's political bias and obstruction of justice in an office designed to protect whistleblowers and enforce rules on political activity in federal workplaces. (Washington Post)

Pentagon officials are pointing to the suicide bombing in Iraq by Guantanamo detainee Abdullah Salih Al Ajmi as a justification of holding prisoners there until the government is sure they are innocent. The Pentagon went on to release a list of a dozen former Guantanamo prisoners they claim have been released and then returned to fighting against the U.S. and its allies. (Boston Globe)

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is once again crying foul over ads from the organization Freedom's Watch. The DCCC claims the conservative group did not follow election guidelines by not reporting more than $600,000 of television ads in Louisiana and Mississippi elections. Freedom's Watch says the ads followed the rules, yet the complaint filed by the DCCC accuses the group of airing "electioneering communications" on April 22 and 29 regarding the race for a Louisiana Congressional seat without proper notice to the FEC. (Roll Call)

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The Environmental Protection Agency says there is a "distinct possibility" that the agency will not cleanse contaminated drinking water of the toxin perchlorate, a rocket fuel ingredient that has been found in water of 35 states. Perchlorate affects the thyroid and can cause health risks in fetuses. The EPA claims that fixing the problem may not do any good and, instead, may issue a health warning. (Associated Press)

Attorneys of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay believe their phones have been bugged by the U.S. government, they claim in court filings that seek an answer on possible surveillance. The Justice Department did not comment on the allegations, but have said as recently as March that they could neither confirm nor deny spying on detainees' lawyers because saying so would compromise U.S. intelligence sources and methods. (New York Times)

White House e-mails from a critical three-month period that includes the March 23, 2003, invasion of Iraq are missing, White House officials say. The Bush administration says the files may be found on computer backup tapes due to the way they were dated and are hoping an archiving system could possibly recover the lost e-mails. (Washington Post)

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Based on a figure from the RAND Corporation calculating around 20 percent of U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, as well as established suicide rates for patients with similar conditions, the National Institute of Mental Health is worried the number of suicides among returning veterans might eclipse the amount killed in Iraq. The Pentagon did not dispute these claims. (Associated Press and Bloomberg)

An internal audit of the State Dept. found that as many as 400 employee laptops from the Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program are missing. The unit is designed to help train and provide equipment for foreign police, intelligence and security forces. The department is now scrambling around its Washington offices to take inventory of all registered laptops. (Congressional Quarterly)

The FBI, the IRS and federal prosecutors around the country are teaming up to investigate whether some mortgage lenders willingly accepted falsified income profiles from borrowers. The task force, first formed in January to examine 14 mortgage companies involved in localized activity. The inquiry has since expanded its reach to well-known operations like Countrywide Financial Corporation. (New York Times)

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A former aide to Reps. Jane Harman (D-CA) and Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) was sentenced to six months in jail for embezzling money from her employers' accounts to help fund political campaigns. Investigators are looking into other congressional staff members and their involvement into similar campaign-support activity at the request of their bosses. (Wash Post)

The role of defense contractors in Iraq will increase soon, as the military officials are openly calling for such privatized troops to live with (for the first time) Iraqi military groups while they help train the fledgling army. Defense contracting has come under scrutiny from Congress of late, yet one Pentagon official says the step of using non-U.S. military is a "natural step" in the training of the Iraqis as American forces draw down. (The Hill and Washington Post)

A major defense contractor used by the U.S. in Iraq, MPRI out of Virginia, was found to have used a shell company in Bermuda to subcontract the defense work. The offshore companies set up to avoid taxation were started just months after signing a $400 million contract to provide military support in Iraq. (Boston Globe)

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Following reports of over 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan vets in need of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, and allegations from former troops that the Department of Veterans Affairs is unequipped to handle such demands, Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged Thursday that the military has been substandard in the treatment of returning soldiers. He is calling for procedural change in access to PTSD treatment, as well as the improvement of housing throughout the ranks. (Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle and Reuters)

Detained in December 2001 by Pakistani security on his way to a reporting assignment, then held the next six years at Guantanamo Bay by the U.S. government, Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al Hajj was released recently, his attorneys say. The Pentagon declard Hajj an "enemy combatant," not believing he was a journalist as he claimed. (McClatchy)

A Senate panel has voted to ban defense contractors from engaging in CIA interrogations of detainees. The bill approved in the Senate Intelligence Committee would also give the Red Cross access to prisoners now deemed "ghost detainees," as well as limiting the CIA to interrogation tactics only approved by the U.S. military's Army Field Manual. (Associated Press)

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A recent report by the RAND Corporation found the numbers of Iraq and Afghanistan vets with post traumatic stress disorder to number over 300,000. Now the Disabled American Veterans is calling for budget reform within the underfunded Dept. of Veterans' Affairs to combat "devastating mental health consequences" that have resulted from the war. (Associated Press and The Hill)

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, alleged former driver of Osama bin Laden, has repeatedly denounced and refused to participate in the military tribunals. Imprisoned for the past seven years, he rejected the notion that he should be judged by officers of the military that detained him. (Washington Post)

The Pentagon has caught fire for using its lineup of retired military officials to give talking points to national media outlets. Nearly two weeks after the story broke, a reporter got around to asking White House Press Secretary Dana Perino about it. Despite what the story reported, Perino claims "it's absolutely appropriate to provide information to people who are seeking it and are going to be providing their opinions on it." (Think Progress)

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