should be on every national news show tonight

* amy:

"100,000 Private Contractors In Iraq
The number of private contractors in Iraq has now reached about 100,000 -- the most ever used in a U.S. military operation. Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root is one of the largest contractors in Iraq. It has more than 50,000 employees and subcontractors working between Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. Blackwater USA has more than 1,000 employees in Iraq. Dyncorp has about 1500 employees there."

* amy:

"Danish Journalists Acquitted
In Denmark three journalists have been acquitted on charges of endangering national security. They were arrested after they published a series of articles based on classified Danish intelligence reports that concluded iraq had no weapons of mass destruction."

* glenn has a great post up about the House of Death case (and David Rose's recent article) - and the appalling lack of media interest in the US in this story:

Once the DEA's Gonzalez put these accusations in writing, the Bush Justice Department responded boldly and vigorously . . . by attacking, threatening and ultimately forcing the retirement of the DEA's Gonzales -- the whistleblower who brought this to light -- for the crime of complaining about it and putting it in writing, thereby risking discovery of what ICE had done (with the permission of the DOJ). Not only was no action taken against the perpetrators, but they were actively protected.

Specifically, U.S. Attorney Sutton -- the long-time Texas associate of George Bush and Alberto Gonzales -- used his DOJ connections, including with John Ashcroft, to have the entire matter concealed and have the DEA's Gonzalez threatened
[]
So, to recap -- Homeland Security agents at ICE were so obsessed with building a case for drug trafficking that they knowingly stood by and continued to work with and pay a murderous psychopath who brutally murdered innocent people (Mexicans, that is) while being recorded by Homeland Security agents. Despite that, they continued to receive permission from the highest levels of the DOJ to maintain their connections with him. And when a 30-year DEA agent complained about this -- after one of his agents and the agent's family was almost slaughtered as a result -- the DOJ sided with Bush's Texas cronies and threatened and punished the whistleblower with all sorts of recriminations (despite 30 years of exemplary service).
[]
All the familiar elements are here. The Bush administration acts without legal or moral limits. When the conduct is uncovered, it is the whistleblower who is punished. Virtually no American media outlet is even slightly interested, and we have to rely upon an Internet newsletter and British newspaper to do the heavy investigative work.

And if any of this ever were actively discussed here -- and, really, why would it be? -- all of it will be justified by invoking scary bogeymen, in this case the dark Mexican drug lords instead of the dark Arab Terrorists. The one thing you can say about the Bush administration is that they act in accordance with a very consistent template.

sibel will be happy.

Some typical comments from Glenn's place:

This should be on every national news show tonight. Will it?

and

I read this article this morning. I'm forwarding it to my Congressional representatives and major news organizations.

and

This story is so shocking and sickening it's almost impossible to believe it won't end up dominating news cycles for months to come. Talk about a story that needs to be told.