News and Analysis (3/4/08)

Self-styled religious leaders abusing Islam for secular political goals push Iraqi youth away from the faith, creating “a society of non-believers”:

• Violence Leaves Young Iraqis Doubting Clerics (New York Times)

Washington Post columnist debunks the Bush administration’s reasons for telecom immunity, but laments over likely Congressional acquiescence on the matter and other civil liberties safeguards in future FISA legislation…

• Why Immunity Matters (Washington Post)

…which Congressmen and women are currently involved in at the moment…

• Wiretap Compromise in Works (Washington Post)

…while EFF Attorney Kurt Opstahl provides a list of questions for journalists on how to probe the White House its domestic spying program:

• Top Ten Questions for Journalists to Ask the White House (Electronic Frontier Foundation)

Terrorism journalist Peter Bergen interviews abducted and tortured cleric Abu Omar and gives an in-depth investigation of the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program:

• Exclusive: I Was Kidnapped by the CIA (Mother Jones)

Arab media remains defiant despite Middle East states’ “charter” stipulating heavy restrictions on media freedom:

• Arab Broadcasters Say Charter Will Not Silence Them (Reuters)

“Why can’t the Defense Department today defend the country for less money than was needed to defend it during the cold war, when we faced a formidable enemy with large, modern armed forces, and thousands of accurate, nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles?”—Robert Briggs, Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute

• No More Pentagon Budget Games (Christian Science Monitor)

Alejandro

Alejandro Beutel is program assistant for the Minaret of Freedom Institute with expertise in religious freedom, democratization and security issues.