The Daily MuckDisplaced Iraqi civilians that have stayed within the country’s borders are now being offered more aid by various militia groups than the Iraqi government, according to a report by Refugees International. The report says “militias of all denominations are improving their local base of support by providing social services …,” while the Iraqi government, “has access to large sums of money,” yet is incapable and unwilling to offer necessary humanitarian assistance. (Washington Post)
The environmental group Greenpeace was the subject of intense, intrusive attention from a private security firm during the late 1990s, according to documents attained by Mother Jones. Beckett Brown International, made of former Secret Service and police officers focused their surveillance and infiltration techniques on environmental groups for clients like Allied Waste, the Carlyle Group and Monsanto, among others. (Mother Jones)
Today is April 15. Have you done your tax-related duties? Well, the Internal Revenue Service has outsourced some of its own. The agency is expected to lose over $37 million in using private debt collectors to do their bidding. Since 2006, the IRS has collected only $49 million of the $1 billion they sent private companies to retrieve. Those collectors took home as much as a 24 percent commission in the process. (Washington Post)
Upcoming hearings on The Hill will address calls from bipartisan groups of Congress to curb the access and amount of personal information allowed to the FBI. Officials at the FBI are claiming that gathering private telephone and credit card records are necessary for rooting out terrorism suspects. (Washington Post)
Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s former employer, Greenberg Traurig, dodged criminal charges from the U.S. territory of Guam when the firm agreed to repay money Abramoff illegally charged Guam while he lobbied for the territory years ago. (Miami Herald)
Not that legal proceedings at Guantanamo have ever been tidy, but after recent reports that the Pentagon is trying to speed up the rate of trials of “enemy combatants,” The Miami Herald says actions of some detainees are spoiling those plans. Prisoners held for war crimes are denouncing the court as a “sham” and rejecting the military attorneys they are provided. To the chagrin of his supplied lawyer, one detainee, Ibrahim Qosi, went as far as jamming his fingers in his ears in protest. (Miami Herald)
For years, Nelson Mandela, member of the African National Congress and fighter of apartheid in South Africa, was considered suspect by the U.S. government. To this day, he battles certain travel restrictions to enter the United States. A bill has been introduced to lift the restrictions. Though Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said she is embarrassed by the longstanding restrictions, a Capitol Hill staffer familiar with the case says otherwise. (Vanity Fair)
At the trial of Chicago real estate developer Antonin Rezko, a witness claims to have seen presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle in attendance at a party of Rezko’s. The gathering was for Nadhmi Auchi, a billionaire formerly charged for fraud in Europe and a prospective real estate investor at the time of the party in 2004. Obama has insisted throughout his campaign that he did nothing to help Rezko. (New York Times)
A federal agent, Cory Voorhis, has apologized to one-time Republican candidate for governor of Colorado, Bob Beauprez, for illegally tapping into a criminal database and using the information he found in an ad against Democratic candidate, and eventual winner, Bill Ritter. Voorhis voluntarily apologized and thanked Beauprez for not outing him as the source during public outcry over the dishonest use of restricted information. (Associated Press)
