Employees of the CIA-connected private security corporation Blackwater diverted hundreds of weapons, including more than 500 AK-47 assault rifles, from a U.S. weapons bunker in Afghanistan intended to equip Afghan policemen, according to an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
On at least one occasion, an individual claiming to work for the company evidently signed for a weapons shipment using the name of a “South Park” cartoon character. And Blackwater has yet to return hundreds of the guns to the military. Blackwater subsidiary known as Paravant that until recently operated in Afghanistan acquired the weapons for its employees’ “personal use,” according to committee staffers, as did other non-Paravant employees of Blackwater.




The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that investigators may resume questioning a suspect who has invoked his Miranda right to remain silent and have a lawyer present if at least 14 days have passed. The 7-2 decision scales back a 1981 case safeguarding rights established in the landmark 1966 Miranda v. Arizona ruling.
Recently cleared from criminal prosecution, President Bush's "torture architect" John Yoo criticized Obama on Wednesday for allegedly ordering a "witch hunt" against him. But the timeline reflects that the investigation of his transgressions began under the former president, not the current one.
After rising from obscurity to become a significant factor in the three-way Republican race for governor, candidate Debra Medina appears to be losing ground after her remarks in a national radio interview about the 9-11 terrorist attacks, according to two public opinion surveys released Tuesday.
Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman yesterday flatly rebuffed David Miliband's request for cooperation with an investigation into the use of forged British passports in the assassination of a Hamas leader.
American foreign policy is handicapped by a narrow, ill-informed and "uncompromising Western secularism" that feeds religious extremism, threatens traditional cultures and fails to encourage religious groups that promote peace and human rights, according to a two-year study by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.





























