Free the Captives: Witness Against Illegal Detention and Torture

Can it really be true? Two major British papers are reporting that the UK and US governments have secretly agreed to pull out their troops from Iraq by the spring of 2007. A Pentagon spokesman is denying the report, which may or may not mean anything.

Violence in the capital area seemed relatively mild on Saturday, with Reuters reporting "only" a dozen or so deaths from bombs and other attacks. However, a mortar round landed inside the heavily defended "Green Zone." And in an ominous dispatch, Reuters noted that sectarian militia forces, while professing to seek peace, are quietly preparing for stepped up civil war.

And the Guardian in England is reporting that the Director of the Baghdad morgue, who exposed that more than 7000 people had been killed by death squads, has had to flee the country. Many of the victims, he reported, showed signs of torture, and this wave of deaths began months before the recent upsurge in open sectarian fighting.

Finally, once again, there was no news on Saturday March 4 of the fate of Tom Fox and the other CPT peaceworkers, held captive in iraq for almost 100 days.