Bill Kristol Fox Television commentator and arch neoconservative revealed recently what many had long suspected was US thinking about the current international situation. Kristol recounts that in a 90-minute, mostly off-the-record meeting with a small group of journalists in early July, President Bush “conveyed the following impression, that he thought the next president’s biggest challenge would not be Iraq, which he thinks he’ll leave in pretty good shape, and would not be Afghanistan, which is manageable by itself. … It’s Pakistan.” We have “a sort of friendly government that sort …

The New York Times recently revealed that the Pentagon “roped in” more than 75 retired military officers to propagandise for them on national television. After being extensively wined and dined by officials and given flattering audiences with Donald Rumsfeld it was difficult to discern criticism of American invasion tactics. Although not directly on the Pentagon payroll many of the officers have business ties to the lucrative US defense industry, an obvious conflict of interest.

A masters student researching terror tactics who was arrested and detained for six days after his university informed police about al- Qaeda related material he downloaded has spoken about the “psychological torture” he endured in custody.
Despite his Nottingham University supervisors insisting the materials were directly relevant to his research, Rizwaan Sabir, 22, was held for nearly a week under the Terrorism Act, accused of downloading the materials for illegal use. The student had obtained a copy of the al-Qaeda training manual from a US government website for his research.
The case …

The US government is close to reaching an agreement with the Iraqi government over its long term military role in the country but will not seek “permanent” bases in the nation.
Bush administration officials told Al Jazeera that they expect to finalise a deal by the end of July over the so-called Status of Forces agreement, or SOFA.
The agreement if ratified will replace the current United Nations mandate authorising US troops to remain in the nation, which expires in December 2008.
In response to called protests against the agreement by prominent Muslims …