Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's new security plan for Baghdad grants military commanders sweeping powers to arrest people and restrict their basic freedoms of speech and association, Human Rights Watch says in a March 2 statement. On Feb. 13, al-Maliki issued martial law powers giving military commanders authority to conduct warrantless arrests, monitor private communications, and restrict civil society groups in Baghdad. Gen. Qanbar Hashim, commander of Baghdad operations, announced the decree as part of the Iraqi government's latest plan to curb the escalating civil war in the country. The decree also grants Gen. Qanbar full control over the Defense and Interior Ministry forces, apparently a move to crack down on sectarian attacks committed by these forces.

On March 2, residents from Um Salamoneh and nearby villages outside Bethlehem joined with international and Israeli supporters in a nonviolent protest against the seizure of Palestinian farmland for construction of Israel's illegal "separation wall." The protesters conducted Friday prayers on the farmland, and then moved to a nearby settler-only road, which they blocked until the Israeli army arrived at the scene and a small scuffle broke out. No injuries were reported.

At least six explosions rocked the Somali capital, Mogadishu, March 2, a day after 35 Ugandan troops flew in as the advance guard of a 8,000-strong African Union "peacekeeping" force. Witnesses said the explosions came from mortar shells, and wounded six people, including two children. A day earlier, one was killed on both sides in an armed attack at the home of Mogadishu's port director, Abdi Jinow, whose gaurds returned fire. Early that morning, the body of unidentified who had been tortured was found near Mogadishu waterfront. Violence is unabated since Feb. 28, when the transition government's Interior Minister Mohamed Mohamud Guled announced a massive operation to restore order in the capital, the scene of growing insurgent activity. (AP, March 2 via Gulf News, UAE, and SomaliNet; SomaliNet, March 1)

Some recent gaffes or revelations (depending on your point of view) by Big Names in the media are providing more fodder for the always-eager conspiracy set. First is Seymour Hersh's latest in the March 5 New Yorker, "The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?" Like most of his recent journalism, it is based overwhelmingly on anonymous, unverfiable sources. It argues that the US is cooperating with (Sunni) Saudi Arabia in covert activities aimed at beating back the influence of (Shi'ite) Iran and Hezbollah in the Middle East, and that a "by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda." This is a rather vague statement ("by-product" implies this "bolstering" is not an intentional policy). But in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer after the piece came out, Hersh went one step further, asserting that the US is directly aiding al-Qaeda-linked groups:

As the Darfur genocide enters its fifth year, and nearly two years after UN Security Council Resolution 1593 of March 2005 referred violations of international law in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC), on Feb. 27 ICC prosecutors formally identified two of those responsible for slaughter—Janjaweed militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman (nom de guerre Ali Kushayb) and Sudan's Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Harun. Under Article 58 of the Rome Statute that created the ICC, evidence of crimes against humanity will now be submitted to the Pre-Trial Chamber, which will, in the words of the official summary of the Prosecutor's Application, “review the evidence submitted and decide how to proceed.”

Israeli forces re-occupied Nablus Feb. 28 less than a day after withdrawing from the West Bank city. From the afternoon of Feb. 25 to the morning of Feb. 27, Israeli forces imposed a curfew, destroyed ancient structures in the Old City, and killed a man, while searching houses, holding scores of families at gunpoint in single rooms in their own homes. On the morning of the 28th, Israeli forces returned to the heart of Nablus in a convoy of some 100 military vehicles, announcing through loudspeakers that the curfew was again imposed. Israeli forces occupied Rafidiya Hospital, conducting searches of the patients, as they did in the first two days of the operation dubbed “Winter Heat.” They then continued going house-to-house, searching for men on a "wanted" list accused of collaborating with Islamic Jihad. Dozens of Palestinian residents are being held at a makeshift prison in a school outside the Old City. (Palestine News Network, Press TV, Iran, Feb. 28).

The US and Italian ambassadors to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake and Pio Mariani, were slightly injured in an artillery attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on an air force base at Batticaloa, in the island's east Feb. 27. The LTTE expressed "shock and sadness" at the wounding of the diplomats, but said the government was to blame for not informing the rebels the envoys would be in the area. Sri Lankan military aircraft bombed "identified LTTE bases" in the Batticaloa district after the attack. The LTTE said a civilian teacher was killed and another wounded in the raids. (Bloomberg, Feb. 27) Meanwhile in Afghanistan, Vice President Dick Cheney was reportedly unhurt when Bagram air base came under attack during his visit to the base, also early Feb. 27. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the apparent suicide blast at the base's front gate, which killed two US soldiers and over 20 Afghans. Cheney is in the region to discuss resurgent Taliban/al-Qaeda activity with the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Bloomberg, AP, Feb. 27)

Thousands of Serbs protested in front of the US embassy in Belgrade Feb. 27 against independence for Kosova, which has been under United Nations control since 1999. The protest, organised by the Serb National Council of Kosovo (SNV), drew some 40,000 people. Many came by bus directly from Kosova, carrying banners reading “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia”, "We won't give up Kosovo" and "Russia, help!" Some carried pictures of Vladimir Putin or signs calling for Moscow to veto Kosova's independence at the Security Council.