News and Analysis (1/3/07)

Democracy in Iraq: man who recorded the sectarian taunting of Saddam is arrested

·        Official Held in Saddam Hanging Video (ABC)

Is this response to the Danish cartoons a case of poor taste or incitement to violence? (At least the editor of Jyllands Posten never said “I’ll be back”):

·        Cartoon Protests ‘Just Slogans’ (BBC)

“I believe the single thing that we have done wrong and we are striving extremely hard to improve on is killing innocent civilians,”—NATO spokesman Richard Nugee

·        NATO Laments Afghan Civilian Dead (BBC)

With the ICU gone, Somalis doubt the government can fill looming political and security vacuums:

·        Somalia Tense After Islamists Vanish: Ethiopian Forces Supporting the Government Have Routed the Islamists, but Are Seen Locally as Occupiers (Christian Science Monitor)

Darfur was used to revivify the case for foreign interventionism, but the “Global War on Terror” has shifted focus back to Somalia:

·        Darfur Diplomacy: Sidelined by Somalia? The Defeat of Islamists in Somalia May Lessen the Pressure on the Sudanese President to Accept a Large UN Peacekeeping Force in Darfur (Christian Science Monitor)

Turnabout is fair play:

·        Has Lebanon’s Cedar Revolt Come Undone? Hizbullah Now Occupies the Beirut Squares Where the ‘Cedar Revolution’ Helped End Syrian Dominance in 2005 (Christian Science Monitor)

FBI agent finds treatment “not only aggressive but personally very upsetting”:

·        FBI details possible detainee abuse (USA Today / AP)

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