And we wonder why they hate us...

I understand the need for capturing a dangerous enemy, but must we sink to a level at which we are kidnapping wives of insurgents and using them as bait to capture them? Reuters mentions two particular incidents.

In one, members of a shadowy military task force seized a mother who had three young children, still nursing the youngest, "in order to leverage" her husband's surrender, according to an account by a civilian Defense Intelligence Agency intelligence officer.

In the other, an e-mail exchange includes a U.S. military officer asking "have you tacked a note on the door and challenged him to come get his wife?"

The documents were among thousands obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union from the government under court order through the Freedom of Information Act.

"This is not an acceptable tactic," ACLU lawyer Amrit Singh said on Friday, referring to seizing a wife to try to catch a husband, "nor are any of the other abusive techniques acceptable. We know that abusive techniques were employed in a systemic manner across Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay."

I am almost too afraid to imagine how much we DON'T know that also goes on in Iraq. This story comes from a memo written by a civilian Defence Intelligence Agency employee, who referred to "violations of the Geneva Convention" for illegal detention of noncombatants.

In completely unrelated news...

Michelle Kwan is going to the Olympics.

Kwan will join Sasha Cohen, who won her first national title in St. Louis, and Bel Air's Kimmie Meissner, who finished second, on her third Olympic team. Emily Hughes, the younger sister of 2002 Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes, was officially bumped from the Olympic team with yesterday's announcement. Hughes, who finished third at nationals, will remain the Olympic alternate.

"It's really, truly the opinion of this monitoring team that Michelle could win the Olympics and is definitely qualified to win a medal," said Bob Horen, the head of the team and U.S. Figure Skating's International Committee chairman, during a press conference in Los Angeles that was available via teleconference. "We really believe that, and she skated that way."

Oprah says "sorry"

"I made a mistake and I left the impression that the truth does not matter and I am deeply sorry about that," Winfrey told viewers of her Chicago-based show. "That is not what I believe." She said she was "really embarrassed," adding, "To everyone who has challenged me on this issue of truth, you are absolutely right."

But for me, Oprah lost her credibility when she publicly criticized Hermes for not giving her super-star treatment when she went to visit a Hermes store during after hours.