WASHINGTON (CNN) — The FBI is guilty of “serious misuse” of the power to secretly obtain private information under the Patriot Act, a government audit said Friday.

The Justice Department’s inspector general looked at the FBI’s use of national security letters, in which agents demand personal and business information about individuals — such as financial, phone, and Internet records — without court orders.

The audit found the letters were issued without proper authority, cited incorrect statutes or obtained information they weren’t supposed to.

As many as 22 percent of national security letters were not recorded, the audit said.

“We concluded that many of the problems we identified constituted serious misuse of the FBI’s national security letter authorities,” Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said in the report. Read the rest of this entry »

No. We don’t actually believe the Libby guilty news is actually news, especially when compared with what it managed to push off the front pages of all the major web news sites which is..

Iraq attacks on Shiite pilgrims claim more than 120 lives

HILLA, Iraq (CNN) — Insurgents stepped up attacks on Shiite pilgrims heading to the holy city of Karbala on Tuesday, with a series of bombings and small arms attacks that left more than 120 people dead and more than 200 wounded.

In the deadliest attack, suicide bombers targeted Shiite pilgrims in Hilla, killing 93 people and wounding 147 others, police said.

Two bombers struck the crowd of pilgrims on foot in the mostly Shiite city, about 80 miles south of Baghdad, a Hilla police official said. The official said 40 of the injured are in critical condition.

Many of the pilgrims were from Iraq’s southern provinces, and were walking on a main road through the city’s downtown. Read the rest of this entry »

Here we go telling the Gander that it’s only god for the Goose. It appears that when the U.S. holds “Terror Suspects”, it’s OK to torture them and “lose” them, but when Iraq does the same, Iraq is wrong in doing so. Glad to know. Now the question is, who’s wrong, Iraq, or the U.S.? They have both done the same thing, while both on the same side of the terror war. If Iraq is wrong, then the U.S. policy is wrong also, if the U.S. is right, then so is Iraq.. Let’s see how they spin this out.

BASRA, Iraq (CNN) — Iraqi and British troops discovered about 30 prisoners — including a woman and children — showing signs of torture at an Iraqi Intelligence Agency office in Basra Sunday, the British military said.

Led by the Iraqis, the forces launched “an arrest and detention operation” for wanted terrorists at two successive locations, British Lt. Col. Kevin Stratfordright told CNN.

Read the rest of this entry »