The Dish

Amazing, I know – but the capture of this Qaeda operative is obviously a small breakthrough. Congrats to those who managed it. I only hope that he has not been tortured. But he has been in the Bush-Cheney torture network, is in Gitmo’s Camp 5, and so we know now what to expect.

An American soldier does what soldiers have done for centuries – go looking for sex. Trouble is: this is Afghanistan and the dangers are immense. But our hero (who wouldn’t pass the Imus test) is undeterred:

There were about 8-10 girls, and maybe 3-4 at best were worth looking at. I chatted one up for a bit, then quickly changed course, in favor of a bigger breasted, more tender seated, slightly older woman. This action illustrates a strongly held principle of mine when it comes to whore mongering. I will always go for a girl with a fit body and a less exciting face as opposed to the reciprocal of that equation. A pretty face on a whore is a lot like a GPS tracking system in a Humvee. They’re nice to have, but not mission essential.

Of course, I cannot verify this story which appears anonymously in a Moscow internet paper.

Iraqis try to comfort a weeping man at the site of a suicide car bomb in the holy city of Karbala, central Iraq, 28 April 2007. A suicide car bomb attack near a revered Shiite shrine in the central Iraqi city of Karbala killed at least 55 people and wounded nearly 160 today, a health ministry official said. By Mohammed Sawaf/AFP/Getty.

David Kurtz assesses the latest from the Bush administration’s talking points on the war.

Just use your imagination.

Ace of Spades grapples with a … vagina.

It’s legal and may not be stoppable if a father decides to go ahead with it.

Bush’s main point-man for promoting abstinence as a first-line defense against HIV transmission was Randall Tobias:

As the Bush administration’s so-called "AIDS czar," Tobias was criticized by some for emphasizing faithfulness and abstinence over condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS. In a 2004 interview, Tobias explained his approach as "A and B and C … Abstinence works. ‘Be faithful’ works. Condoms work. They all have a role. But it’s not a multiple choice, where there is only one answer."

As a top official overseeing global AIDS funding to other countries, Tobias was responsible for enforcing a U.S. policy, enacted during the Bush administration, that requires recipients to swear they oppose prostitution and sex trafficking. USAID adopted a similar policy in 2004.

You can almost predict the rest.

There’s a link in the accusations against them. Their humane treatment of detainees and resistance to abuse and torture may be the real reasons they’ve been targeted by the Pentagon. Yee was ruined but cleared in the end.

Approaching San Juan Island, Washington, on a ferry, 3.30 pm.