From the Federation of Worker Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI):

1. On Sunday [Sept. 3], hundreds of health sector workers held a strike in Nasiriyah city, 370 Km south of Baghdad and in Umara city 370 Km South-east of Baghdad. They raised demands of higher average salaries and repayment of contagious disease compensation (similar to dangers of work benefit). This sector was frozen for periods after the occupation. The strike continued for 3 days during which the workers received nothing but promises. None of the demands were met afterwards. One of the strike organizers, Jassim Muhammed, stressed the willingness of the workers to hold a sit-in for the coming days in front of the officials’ buildings in order to express their dismay of the authorities’ neglect for their demands.

From the Federation of Worker Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI):

Oil Sector Unionists Meeting in Baghdad

54 trade unionists and worker activist from the central oil sector (Baghdad and vicinity) held a meeting on Monday, September 4th in the hall of the Institute of Oil in Baghdad. They were representatives of many departments and companies of oil and gas production and industry, and other oil projects, pipelines and refineries. The leadership of FWCUI took part in the discussions and decisions of the assembly after having it planned previously.

Note that even as he asks Congress to legalize torture, Bush plans to hawk what he calls his "freedom agenda" before the UN next week. The obligatory Orwell reference here would seem almost superfluous. We hope. Sarah Ferguson writes for the Village Voice, Sept. 15:

Bush Bash Is On: Cops Give Go-Ahead to U.N. Protest March
Looks like anti-war activists will get to be within shouting distance of President Bush when he delivers his speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

What's really terrifying about Bush's bid for Congress to address the controversy around torture and detainment is that, if lawmakers take the bait, there will cease to be a torture scandal and torture will be normalized. We are approaching a tipping point in the trajectory towards real fascism. From The Guardian, Sept. 15:

On a visit to his native Germany, Pope Benedict XVI weighed in Sept. 12 before an audience at Regensburg University, where he once taught, on the contentious issue of rapport between Islam and the West. Calling for a "genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today," he began his speech by quoting a 14th-century Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologus, in a conversation with a "learned Persian" on Christianity and Islam — "and the truth of both." But the words he quoted from the emperor were: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." He went on to say that violent conversion to Islam was contrary to reason and thus "contrary to God’s nature."

From the Iraq Freedom Congress:

The assassination of Tariq Mahdi is part of a series of crimes committed by the sectarian militias

On August 18, 2006, the sectarian militias in Mahmoodya city (25 Km south of Baghdad) assassinated the secretary of the trade union of health services employees and IFC member Tariq Mahdi.

Over a six-day period ending Aug. 29, ICE agents arrested 109 immigrants as part of "Operation Return to Sender," a national ICE program targeting immigrants with criminal records, final orders of deportation or other immigration violations. Most of those arrested were from Mexico; others were from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize, the Philippines, Colombia, Belgium, Iran, Cuba, and Korea. By Aug. 29, more than 35 of the immigrants had already been removed from the US. The rest were in ICE custody awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge. Of the 109 people arrested, 59 had prior criminal records. (ICE press release, Aug. 2; AP, Aug. 2)

From the Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 14:

Most of the increase in ocean temperature that feeds more intense hurricanes is a result of human-induced global warming, says a study that one researcher says "closes the loop" between climate change and powerful storms like Katrina.