The Daily Muck

An Italian probe into arms trafficking has uncovered a $40 million black market arms deal between Iraqi and Italian partners to send hundreds of automatic weapons to Iraq. The Associated Press has also discovered that these deals have also involved Iraqi government officials, who most likely circumvented U.S. approval to acquire weapons. Via War and Piece. (AP)

Gonzales visited Iraq this week, and commented optimistically on the progress made by the nascent government in developing a fair and balanced legal system. Then again, thanks to Gonzales’ work over here, the bar for good legal governance is pretty low. (Associated Press)

Punishments handed out to three high-ranking officers in the Pat Tillman case are relatively mild, say critics, with no mention of the event being put on their official records. (Associated Press)

Two British private security companies in Iraq, Aegis Defense Services and Erinys Iraw, were paid nearly $200 million more than the amount agreed upon in their original contracts. The payment underscores the significance of private security companies in Iraq as the U.S. struggles to quell violence in Iraq. (Financial Times)

On Thursday, Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) penned an editorial for the New York Post in which he decried the shrinking budget for human spying- a budget that is classified. The leak -the second in as many weeks from Republicans with key intelligence information- is particularly entertaining given that Hoekstra attacked reckless “leaks to the media” in the same article. (ABC’s The Blotter)

A biological detection program initiated by the Bush administration has finally begun to operate- only 21 months behind schedule. The cause of the delay seems to be the misreported efficacy of the technology, as well as the fact that the Department of Homeland Security has so many empty senior positions that no one was able to spearhead the program, causing it to bounce around the agency. (USA TODAY)

Another hurrah to FEMA for its legendary swift action. Nearly a year since suspicions that FEMA-issued trailers were contaminated with formaldehyde and the discovery that FEMA was trying to downplay the problem, the agency has announced it will move thousands of hurricane-victim residents out of the trailers. (AP)

Yet another article points out that the new lobbying rules have large loopholes that render the reform essentially toothless. Today, we focus on the “breakfast date.” (Columbus Dispatch)