The Daily Muck

The Pentagon’s statistics show that 4,471 troops have sustained brain trauma in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the actual number is five times that, according to USA Today’s investigation. One reason why the Pentagon has missed more than 20,000 brain injuries is that wounds discovered after a soldier leaves Iraq are not counted. (USA Today)

Guards from Unity Resources Group who shot and killed two Iraqi women on October 9 also shot and seriously wounded a man in June when they raked his van with automatic weapons near a Baghdad kindergarten. Now, RTI International, the North Carolina-based firm that hired Unity and works under a U.S. contract to help promote democracy in Iraq, has discovered internal reports about that second, previously undisclosed shooting. The firm initially said it had no information about the event – maybe because Unity deleted the event from its records. (Washington Post)

The Sunday Times of London reveals that several European countries have assisted the U.S. in transporting detainees to Guantanamo Bay, despite their officials’ public objections to the widespread human rights abuses and torture there. At least five European nations provided airstrips and have allowed more than 700 suspects to cross their territory. Officials from those countries believe this makes them complicit in crimes. (TimesOnline)

A suspected terrorist (Abu Omar) who was snatched off the streets of Italy by the CIA and Italian intelligence officials and then sent to Egypt could win substantial damages against the CIA for kidnapping. The Italian prosecutor Armando Spataro, who is obliged to “prosecute this as a serious crime,” has spent significant time in the U.S. and has compiled a strong case against the CIA for its alleged lawless actions. (CQ Politics)

The U.S. military and prosecutors are pursuing 83 criminal investigations into contract fraud. They are also reviewing a sample of 6,000 contracts worth $2.8 billion. One of the more interesting investigations targets the American George H. Lee, whose case shows how the system of bribes and kickbacks thrived in the chaos of Iraq. (AP)

New earmark disclosure rules are so narrowly written that when “House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) earmarked $235,000 for a fitness center serving low-income residents of Columbia, S.C., he did not have to publicly disclose (sub. req.) that his daughter works for the city-owned center as its marketing and membership director.” (Roll Call)

California’s Environmental Protection Agency has long classified Trichloroethylene (TCE) as a carcinogen. But even though TCE was discovered in aquifers that supplied drinking water to 2 million California residents (thanks largely to Lockheed Martin facilities in Burbank), federal regulators failed to take action and assess potential health damage before the mid-1980s. Today, a House committee asks why. (LA Times)

Despite new travel rules for Congress that prohibit trips sponsored by sources of private funding, loopholes (sub. req.) allow members to accept travel funded by foreign states. The loophole comes courtesy of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act. (Roll Call)

If you leave near or visit Washington D.C., check out the “Perp Walk of Fame.” Dana Milbank provides a great walking tour of the capitol that promises to dispel lingering beliefs of the “innate goodness of humankind.” Our favorite is the 100 block of D street SE: then-representative Don Sherwood (R-PA) tried to strangle his lover, former representative Tom Delay (R-TX) set up a lobbying business, and former representative Mark Foley (R-FL) entertained teenage boys. (Washington Post)