Human Rights

A Victory for Ehren Watada -- and for Freedom of the Press

Ehren WatadaArmy First Lieutenant Ehren Watada saw his case move one step closer to resolution earlier this month when a federal court issued a preliminary injunction against a second court martial. The Army's prosecution of the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq has been in legal limbo since a February court martial ended abruptly when the military judge threw out a stipulation agreement and declared a mistrial.

A Preview of "Stop-Loss": A Film by Kimberly Peirce

Stop-Loss movieOn Wednesday, November 14, 2007, Hollywood came to Madison, Wisconsin. Paramount Pictures sponsored a free pre-release screening of "Stop-Loss," which is due to hit theaters nationwide on March 28, 2008. (It will be released in the U.K. on April 18, 2008.) Writer and director Kimberly Peirce, best known for directing "Boys Don't Cry," was in attendance and took part in an extended questions and answer session after the screening.

Olympic Sponsors Go for the Green (Forget Darfur and Tibet)

Human rights, environmental, health and labor campaigns around the Beijing 2008 Olympics that seek to change China's behavior are increasingly targeting Olympic sponsors.

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Featured Participatory Project: Record Whether Your Senator Voted to Confirm Bush's A.G. Pick

Michael Mukasey was confirmed as the Attorney General of the United States by the Senate last week in a contentious 53-40 vote. Mukasey's nomination gained controversy with Democrats as he largely endorsed the Bush administration's policies in the War on Terror and refused to say whether waterboarding violated anti-torture laws, though he said he found the procedure "repugnant."

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Torturing Evidence in Iraq

According to a "privately contracted interrogator working for American forces in Iraq, near the Iranian border," U.S. intelligence activities in Iraq are skewed to find incriminating evidence against Iran. Micah Brose told The Observer that U.S. officials "push a lot for us to establish a link with Iran. They have pre-categories for us to go through, and by the sheer volume of categories there's clearly a lot more for Iran than there is for other stuff.

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Blackwater's Repositioning, Real and Imagined

As investigations into its shootings of Iraqi civilians continue, the private military contractor Blackwater USA is softening its public image. "The company's roughneck logo — a bear's paw print in a red crosshairs, under lettering that looks to have been ripped from a fifth of Jim Beam — has undergone a publicity-conscious, corporate scrubbing," reports Paul Von Zielbauer.

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