World military spending rose for a sixth year running in 2004, growing by 5% to $1.04 trillion on the back of "massive" US budgetary allocations for its war on terror, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says in its annual yearbook. World military expenditure was still 6 percent below all-time highs recorded in 1987-88 toward the end of the Cold War. With expenditure of $455 billion, the United States accounted for almost half the global figure, more than the combined total of the 32 next most powerful nations. "The major determinant of the world trend in military expenditure is the change in the United States, with its 47 percent of the world total," the Swedish government-funded institute said. US spending "has increased rapidly during the period 2002-2004 as a result of massive budgetary allocations for the 'global war on terrorism', primarily for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq," it added.

Global outrage at Gitmo and Pentagon detainment centers in Iraq and Afghanistan is growing. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in a report to the Security Council June 8, said that in Iraq, "one of the major human rights challenges remains the detention of thousands of persons without due process". Read the report: "Despite the release of some detainees, their number continues to grow. Prolonged detention without access to lawyers and courts is prohibited under international law including during states of emergency." (Reuters, June 9)

Rumsfeld's visit to Norway reveals that Iraqi officers are being trained by NATO in this Nordic country. Who knew? This from the Pentagon news site Defenselink:

NATO's Iraqi, ISAF Training Site in Norway Hosts Rumsfeld Visit
STAVANGER, Norway, June 8, 2005 – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today visited NATO's Joint Warfare Center here, where Iraqi troops and international forces in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan have trained.

Kudos to TruthOut for pairing these two gems from the UK Guardian and the NY Times:

There was an old joke back in the '70s: Getting Nixon for burglary was like getting Hitler for tax evasion. Now it seems life imitates black humor. From the BBC, June 7:

Mixed day in court for Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet may be charged with tax evasion but not over human rights abuses committed when he was Chile's military ruler, a court has ruled.

Violence continued in Nepal June 7, with 14 soldiers and six Maoist guerillas killed in a clash in the southwest, even as the rebels publicly apologized for killing 38 civilians in a land mine blast the day before. The civilians were killed and 70 others wounded in the worst attack on civilians since the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), or CPN(M), launched its armed struggle in 1996. The rebels said they had intended to attack a passing army convoy, but instead hit a bus carrying civilian passengers.

The 9-11 Commission, its formal mission completed, is staying on as a private body, the 9-11 Public Discourse Project. In its first efforts, this private body is finding fault with the FBI for perceived inefficiencies in its intelligence capabilities, and the agency, in turn, assures that it is making amends. All freedom-lovers should shudder.

From the June 3 Stars & Stripes:

Advocates See Veterans of War on Terror Joining the Ranks of the Homeless
By Leo Shane III
Stars and Stripes

Friday 03 June 2005

Washington - Advocates for the homeless already are seeing veterans from the war on terror living on the street, and say the government must do more to ease their transition from military to civilian life.