Martini Republic » Secret gulags may have shut down just last month:

"A European investigator said Tuesday he has found mounting indications the United States illegally held detainees in Europe but then hurriedly shipped out the last ones to North Africa a month ago when word leaked out."

(Via Martini Republic.)

Salon.com | News Wires: "House Republican leaders drafted legislation on Thursday that rejects calls for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq as 'fundamentally inconsistent with achieving victory' and said they would force a vote on Friday.

It would be the second time in five weeks that GOP leaders maneuvered for a vote on the war in the face of Democratic calls for a timetable for withdrawal."

Withdrawal, inconsistent with victory? In other news, 1+1=2.

(Via Salon.)

McCain Wins Agreement From Bush on Torture Ban - Los Angeles Times: "WASHINGTON -- After resisting for months, President Bush caved in to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday and said he would accept a formal ban on the cruel or inhumane treatment of detainees in U.S. custody anywhere in the world.

The agreement represented a rare policy reversal for Bush on his signature issue: his leadership in the battle against terrorism. It followed an unusual rebuke of the president from lawmakers in his own Republican Party, who largely fell in line behind McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war and torture survivor with unassailable authority on the subject.

The White House had resisted a formal ban, arguing that existing law outlawed torture. Bush administration officials also had expressed concern that a ban would undermine U.S. personnel interrogating terrorism suspects, because detainees would fear them less."

(Via Google News.)