``When apparent homicides occur in secret prisons, and promised investigations show no results, the country's cherished values of humane treatment and respect for the law are dishonored,'' William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in a written statement. ``The failure to account for the prisoners' deaths indicates a chilling disregard for the value of human life.''

Mexican authorities have placed three officials of a data base company under house arrest and are considering charging them with treason for allegedly providing information on 65 million Mexican voters to a U.S. company that resold the information to the U.S. government.
The U.S. sought the list, which reportedly contained addresses, passport numbers and even unlisted phone numbers, to conduct investigations involving Mexican citizens without having to contact Mexican law enforcement.
ChoicePoint is no stranger to controversy. One of its subsidiaries, DBT Inc., was responsible for a database that was circulated to local Florida elections officials prior to the 2000 presidential election to help them purge felons from voter rolls, though the database was found to be badly flawed.

This is no isolated case. In the wake of September 11 the New York Fire Department encouraged its firefighters to counsel their dead colleagues' spouses. As a result of that policy at least a dozen New York firemen have abandoned their wives and moved in with the widows.

The absence of dead Iraqi fighters after US troops reported killing at least 54 guerillas in a fierce battle in the town of Samarra raised serious questions about the military claims yesterday. Only eight bodies, mostly civilians including women and children, were in the morgue.
US officers said the attackers were dressed in uniforms worn by Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen militia, but this was dismissed by an Iraqi policeman. "Everyone wearing a kafiyeh (an Arab headdress) was a Fedayeen to the Americans," he said.