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Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that the U.S. has identified 30 Guantanamo detainees to be released and will ask allies to take the former suspected terrorists within the next few weeks. Holder made the announcement in Berlin, Germany, a country which has so far declined to say whether it will take released detainees. Other European countries, including Britain, France and Portugal, have signaled that they will consider taking former Gitmo detainees to assist in President Obama's stated goal to close the controversial military prison within the year. (Reuters)

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A federal judge sentenced former Orange County sheriff Michael Carona to five and a half years in prison for attempting to obstruct a grand jury investigation. Carona was convicted in January for asking an assistant Sheriff to lie to a grand jury investigating Carona for using his office to attract cash and gifts for his wife and mistress. In a half-hour lecture during the sentencing, Judge Andrew Guilford told Corona that "lying will not be tolerated in this courtroom, especially by the county's highest-ranking law enforcement officer." Carona was once named "America's Sheriff" by CNN's Larry King for spearheading the investigation into the murder of a five year old girl. (LA Times)

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The Iraqi government condemned a U.S. military raid targeting an elite Shi'ite militia, allegedly armed by Iran, which killed two civilians Sunday. After hundreds protested in Southern Iraq after the attack, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said that the raid violated the U.S.-Iraqi security pact instituted this year, which stipulates that American soldiers cannot conduct military operations without coordination with the Iraqi government. Al-Maliki asked the U.S. military to release the detainees from the attack to the appropriate domestic courts. According to the pact, U.S. soldiers are immune from prosecution even if the raid is deemed illegal. (Reuters)

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The Obama administration will ask the Supreme Court to reconsider a 1986 ruling that police officers cannot question a defendant with representation unless the lawyer is present. In a court brief, the solicitor general said that the decision in Michigan v. Jackson should be overturned because it "serves no real purpose" and defendants should speak to police if they so choose. The judges supporting the ruling say it is especially aimed at poor or developmentally disabled defendants who could be tricked into giving incriminating information to prosecutors without a lawyer present. In the aftermath of the administration's invocation of the "state secrets" privilege, and support for the imprisonment of enemy combatants in Afghanistan, this position has further alienated civil liberties groups. (AP)

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Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) called for an investigation into whether AIG and other medical benefits providers denied costly treatment for civilian contractors injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a letter Tuesday to Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who chairs the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy of the House Oversight Committee, Cummings said he was "absolutely disgusted to read about the atrocities that individuals are being forced to endure as they attempt to get treatment for the injuries they received while serving our country." The LA Times and ABC News reported last week that providers of medical benefits were unwilling to fund basic medical needs like artificial limbs, surgery, and psychological counseling. (LA Times)

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Armed guards who once worked for the defense contracting company Blackwater Worldwide -- now renamed "Xe" -- will remain in Iraq much longer than was previously reported, government officials told the AP Monday. Xe guards will continue work in Southern Baghdad and the company's aviation wing will continue to provide air security for U.S. diplomats through September. After a group of Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians in late 2007, the Iraqi government refused to renew Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq. Last month, the State Department announced that it would replace Xe with Triple Canopy as its primary defense contractor in Iraq. But these statements by government officials show that the change is taking longer than once thought. (AP)

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A U.N. torture expert said Saturday that the United States has an obligation to prosecute CIA officers who used harsh interrogation tactics to question detainees in the War on Terror. Manfred Nowak, the U.N. special rapporteur in Geneva, told the AP that the U.S. had to abide by the U.N. Convention against Torture to make torture illegal and seek justice against those who used it. Nowak criticized President Obama's logic in the decision announced Thursday not to prosecute CIA officers who used the tactics -- including waterboarding. "The fact that you carried out an order doesn't relieve you of your responsibility," Nowak said. (AP)

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The Michigan-based Council of Islamic Organizations said Thursday that it asked Attorney General Eric Holder to review complaints that the FBI planted Muslims in mosques to spy on Islamic leaders and community members. Congregation members said that the FBI probes extended beyond alleged spying on Islamic leaders who allegedly supported terrorist acts; some community members were told that the FBI could resolve citizenship cases if they spied on their Mosque. An official in another Michigan Muslim organization said that as Holder revamps the Justice Department "it's extremely necessary for him to take a serious look at this issue." (AP)

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U.S. Master Sergeant John Hatley murdered four Iraqi prisoners execution style, a military court ruled Wednesday. The eight-member panel said that after a 2007 firefight with a set of Iraqi insurgents, Hatley acted as "judge, jury and executioner" when he blindfolded the prisoners, shot them one after the other, and dumped their bodies in a nearby canal. Two soldiers in Hatley's unit were convicted in connection to the killings earlier this year and two pleaded guilty and were sentenced to jail last year. If convicted on all counts of premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder, Hatley could face life in prison. (AP)

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Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich will be arraigned today before a federal court after being indicted on 16 counts of racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud earlier this month. Blago is expected to plead not guilty to all the charges, which include allegations that he used pay-to-play politics to sell Barack Obama's vacant senate seat. The four other people charged, Blago's former chiefs of staff John Harris and Lon Monk, his top fundraiser Christopher Kelly and Illinois powerbroker William Cellini will be arraigned in the next ten days. (Chicago Tribune)

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Neil Barofsky, the special inspector-general assigned to oversee the deployment of TARP funds, will begin to investigate more forcefully whether banks manipulated their books to receive more government assistance. Barofsky told the Financial Times, "I hope we don't find a single bank that's cooked their books to try to get money but I don't think that's going to be the case." At a congressional hearing earlier this month, Barofsky said that his office was involved in up to a dozen investigations into potential wrongdoing. He told the Financial Times that the system for deploying bailout funds was easily manipulated. "Indictments can serve as great deterrents," he said. (Financial Times)

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A congressional investigation released Thursday into a 2004 NASA study, which interviewed 30,000 pilots and was allegedly shut down by the FAA, failed to elaborate on the pilots' statements. The FAA reportedly stopped the study, claiming that the pilots over-reported instances where they hit large flocks of birds in the air, which caused a US Airways jet to land in the Hudson River in January. The investigation came to light in 2007, when the AP reported that it was shut down to avoid harming the FAA's image and profits. Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) told the AP that the study failed partially because it "didn't have the support it needed from the primary customer - the FAA." (AP)

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Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) confirmed that the Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating all connections he had with former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. In a phone conversation that was recorded by prosecutors, Blago said that a staff person for Jackson approached him offering to pay $1 million in campaign contributions if he would appoint Jackson to Barack Obama's vacant senate seat. In an email statement released Wednesday, Jackson said that he is cooperating fully with the probe and added, "I have done nothing wrong and reject pay-to-play politics." The Office of Congressional Ethics has thirty days to investigate the connection, at which point it will refer information to the House Ethics Committee to determine outcomes. (ABC News)

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A Congressional ethics board opened an investigation last week into Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) to probe the Congressman's role in the scandal of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who is accused of trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant senate seat. Investigators have asked parties related to the ex-governor to release documents showing correspondence with Jackson. The head of the Office of Congressional Ethics said that Jackson has not been accused of wrongdoing, and that the probe is only a fact-gathering entity that does not have subpoena power. (Chicago Sun-Times)

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Dawn Gibbons, the first lady of Nevada, has accused Republican Governor Jim Gibbons of infidelity with two women, including a former Playboy model, in divorce papers filed recently. Mrs. Gibbons also claims that the Governor sent 860 improper text messages to an aide, Kathy Karrasch, from a state cell phone. Gibbons repaid the state $130 for the text messages but says that they were not "love notes" and that he was consulting with Karrasch on state business. In court documents, Mrs. Gibbons said that this claim "is false, and is laughable." Gibbons has been accused of improper relations with women in the past, including Chrissy Mazzeo, a former cocktail waitress who is suing Gibbons for allegedly assaulting her in a Las Vegas parking lot. (LA Times)

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The State Department's decision to replace Blackwater Worldwide as its primary defense contractor in Iraq may be little more than a name change. Though Blackwater -- recently renamed "Xe" -- has been widely criticized and investigated on criminal charges for its role a 2007 firefight that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, most of its security guards will return to Iraq next month wearing the uniform of the State Department's new contractor Triple Canopy. Susan Burke, an American lawyer representing Iraqi civilians in civil lawsuits against "Xe" told the New York Times, "They're really all still there, and it's back to business as usual." (New York Times)

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Attorney General Eric Holder signaled Thursday that the Justice Department will work more closely with state and federal prosecutors to crack down on financial fraud, in response to the recent increase in white-collar crime convictions. To prevent future Madoff-like crimes, Holder said that the Justice Department must work with local and federal officials and consider instituting a task force to investigate fraud and other white-collar crime. (Wall Street Journal)

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Proven cases of fraud and corruption cases dropped suspiciously among defense contractors even as funds for defense contractors rose dramatically since 1993, according to a Center for Public Integrity study. The study showed that even as defense contracting doubled from the beginning of Bill Clinton's first term to the end of George W. Bush's second term (from $200B to $400B), proven cases of contracting fraud decreased 76 percent. An FBI spokesman said that the terror threat took resources away from efforts to oversee defense contractor fraud. (Center for Public Integrity)

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A Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the ACLU to be decided this week will test the Obama administration's upcoming decision on whether to release more interrogation memos with information about the Bush administration's methods in the War on Terror. Some officials, including Attorney General Eric Holder, have argued that the memos should be released quickly, but former CIA officials oppose the release, saying that could offend active CIA agents. Though President Obama and Holder have both expressed disapproval of the Bush administration's interrogation tactics, they have not yet released documents. But the administration could be pressured to release the documents in response to the ACLU suit. (New York Times)

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The Obama administration signaled Monday that it would release Aymen Saeed Batarfi, a Yemeni prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay, as part of President Obama's promise to empty the controversial detention facility within a year. Batarfi's lawyers say he was arrested while on a humanitarian mission, but Justice Department prosecutors allege that he participated in a major al Qaeda battle as more than a humanitarian worker. (Associated Press)

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Immigration courts are too backed up to provide speedy trials for tens of thousands of immigrants, according to a USA Today study released this weekend. Based on a review of court cases between 2003 and 2008, the study found that almost 90,000 accused illegal immigrants had to wait at least two years to have their case heard before a judge and 14,000 had to wait nearly five years. A spokesman for the American Immigration Lawyers Association said that U.S. immigration courts, which only employ 224 judges, simply do not have enough resources. San Francisco immigration judge Dana Marks told USA Today, "you could have a case that would take an hour (to hear). But I can't give you that hour of time for 14 months." (USA Today)

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Among the hullabaloo surrounding the AIG retention bonus scandal, one thing is certain: speaking before Connecticut lawmakers Thursday, AIGFP exec Stephen Blake did not bend to public opinion. Blake defended the insurance company's $165 million in retention bonuses which have drawn the scorn of taxpayers following the government's $182.5 billion bailout of AIG. "The program did what it was supposed to do, and that was to retain employees," he said. While defending the bonuses, though, he affirmed that no rewards went to individuals who made credit default swaps, which are largely responsible for AIG's failure. (Associated Press)

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