I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Much has been written about the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) negotiated between the Bush administration and the Iraqi government. ABC News notes that the agreement would finally place American private military contractors like Blackwater under the jurisdiction of Iraqi courts:
The proposed agreement does away with the immunity Defense Department contractors received under the 2003 Coalition Provisional Authority order. But it would only give Iraqis authority to charge DOD contractors committing crimes off base and outside their official duties — a narrow definition that would likely limit much real impact.
“It’s a positive gesture because it’s a move to recognize the sovereignty of Iraq,” said Haider Hamoudi, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. “But I don’t think it’s as practical as it is symbolic.”
However, contractors in other areas, such as for the State Department or USAID, wouldn’t have as many protections and would fall directly under Iraqi authority, regardless of whether they were acting in official duty, according to a copy of the agreement.
A State Department official said that the agreement brings U.S. contractors in line with procedures for U.S. citizens across the globe, including in Afghanistan.
The Iraqi parliament is considering whether to ratify the agreement this week. Blackwater, a private military firm under contract to protect State Department diplomats in Iraq, was founded by Michigan native Erik Prince.
Blackwater guards have been involved in a number of incidents that killed Iraqi citizens. In one such incident, a Blackwater employee shot and killed the bodyguard of the Iraqi vice president while drunk, but he could not be charged for the crime under Iraqi law. Blackwater quickly removed the employee from the country and brought him back to the United States, but he returned to Iraq a few months later with a different private security company.
In another incident, Blackwater guards opened fire on a crowd of civilians at a traffic checkpoint in Baghdad last fall and killed 17 people. Investigations by the Iraqi government and the Pentagon both determined that the Blackwater guards were unprovoked and liable for their actions. A grand jury in this country is considering whether to charge those guards now under American law.
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