by Katie Fretland

President Bush today called Zimbabwe's violence-plagued election a "sham" and promised that the United States was working to punish the country's leader, Robert Mugabe, for his regime's "blatant disregard" for human rights.

Mugabe is accused of using violence and intimidation to force the people of Zimbabwe to vote for him during Friday's runoff election. In today's Chicago Tribune, correspondent Paul Salopek reports from Africa about the people killed in political violence. The opposition released a list of the names of the dead, including 4-year-old Brighton Mambwera, burned to death, and Temba Muronde, tortured and killed with an axe.

Bush instructed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson to pursue sanctions against the government of Zimbabwe and its allies. The U.S. could introduce a U.N. resolution as early as next week seeking measures against Mugabe.

"We will press for strong action by the United Nations, including an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and travel ban on regime officials. We will continue to work closely with the African Union, Southern African Development Community, and other world leaders to resolve this crisis," Bush said.

by Matthew Hay Brown

It was 20 years ago today that The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment took effect. The world body is marking the anniversary with an International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

While Americans stand in solidarity with torture victims the world over, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said this morning, the observance also gives the United States a good opportunity to look in the mirror.

"What can an American say about torture?" he asked, at a Capitol Hill event featuring staff and clients of a Baltimore-based treatment center for torture survivors. "What can we say with a clean conscience? What can we say with a straight face?

"What can we say after waterboarding - 'controlled death' - has been endorsed at the highest levels? What can we see after and American Attorney General called the Geneva Conventions 'quaint?' What can we say after hypothermia at Guantanamo, after humiliation at Abu Ghraib, after secret prisons and extraordinary rendition and unlimited detention?

"After all that, how much weight can our words possibly carry? No matter how pure our intentions, no matter how noble our words, it is clear that our reputation has been sullied. And that fact is written into our history with indelible ink."

At the event to honor Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma, which runs treatment centers in Baltimore and Washington, Hoyer and other lawmakers spoke of reasserting America's moral authority on human rights.

by Katie Fretland

A bipartisan coalition of former national security officials, military leaders and religious figures today called for President Bush to issue an executive order banning torture. The group includes members of eight presidential administrations, including both Bush administrations, and leaders from the Baptist, Catholic and Evangelical faiths.

"Though we come from a variety of backgrounds and walks of life, we agree that the use of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment against prisoners is immoral, unwise, and un-American," the group said in a letter today. "In our effort to secure ourselves, we have resorted to tactics, which do not work, which endanger U.S personnel abroad, which discourage political, military, and intelligence cooperation from our allies, and which ultimately do not enhance our security."

Today marked the beginning of a campaign to garner public support and the support of leaders before taking the statement to the president, the group said.

In a conference call with reporters, retired Gen. Paul J. Kern said the call to ban torture aims to restore the values of the country.

"I could find no evidence that torture produces any answers that are credible and that are useful for the commanders to judge against other materials that they find in their intelligence collection," said Kern, who led an internal investigation of the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.

Torture contradicts the rights protected by the Geneva Convention that U.S. servicemen and women should have if captured, Kern said.

Today at the White House, Press Secretary Dana Perino said the administration has already passed laws relating to detainee treatment.

"We feel like we have taken steps to address that issue," Perino said. "And I would also point out that we face a very different enemy today than America has ever faced before. We face an enemy that respects no borders, respects no uniforms, and certainly has no regard for civilians, especially innocent women and children and the elderly. So we take his position seriously, but we do think that we have the mechanisms in place to address the issue."

Alberto Mora, the former general counsel for the U.S Navy said torture has not prevented attacks or made the country safer. In fact, the short and long term costs of torture weaken the United States' defenses by hurting alliances needed for the war on terror, he said. Virtually all countries the United States wants to ally with during war consider torture criminal, Mora said.

by Matthew Hay Brown, updated

The two members of Code Pink who were arrested in Pakistan earlier today have been released by the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, the organization announced.

Medea Benjamin and Tighe Barry, who arrived in Pakistan Nov. 25, have had their visas revoked and are to be removed from the country early Wednesday, the feminist antiwar group said in a release. The protests in which the activists have been involved are illegal under the emergency rule declared last month by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the organization said.

Code Pink has gained notoriety around Washington for disrupting congressional hearings and other Washington events. Medea and Barry were in Pakistan to learn about and support Pakistani civil society, the organization said.

The pair were leaving the Lahore Press Club when their car was stopped by six government agents, Code Pink said in a release. The driver was ordered out and the police confiscated the vehicle with the activists inside.

Earlier, the activists had attended a student rally at the press club in Pakistan’s second-largest city, the organization said. On leaving, they were followed by police on motorcycles. When they attempted to call reporters, the organization said, they found their cell phones were jammed.

by Mike Dorning

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said last night that fears of widespread sectarian and ethnic conflict in Iraq following a U.S. troop drawdown are not sufficient reason to justify the continued deployment of a large U.S. millitary force there.

The Illinois senator argued that logic, used by some supporters of the war in Iraq, was inconsistent with the U.S. military posture toward countries in the midst of genodical conflict, such as Congo and Sudan.

"Well, look, if that’s the criteria by which we are making decisions on the deployment of U.S. forces, then by that argument you would have 300,000 troops in the Congo right now — where millions have been slaughtered as a consequence of ethnic strife — which we haven’t done,” Obama said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“We would be deploying unilaterally and occupying the Sudan, which we haven’t done. Those of us who care about Darfur don’t think it would be a good idea,” he said.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 11:35 am CST, updated at 1:10 pm CST

Spotted, waiting to meet with presidential candidate Barack Obama, at the Illinois senator's office in the Hart Senate Office Building: Bono of the band U2.

Update: Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Obama, said the two met for about a half hour in the senator's personal office to discuss the ONE Campaign, a non-profit organization that the Irish rock star helped form to combat AIDS and global poverty.

"Bono was making rounds on the Hill to build support for the ONE campaign. He particularly wanted to meet with Senator Obama since he’s a member of the Foreign Relations Committee – and has been active on international poverty and global health issues," LaBolt said.

LaBolt said the two did not discuss particular programs or legislation but "had a general discussion about how foreign assistance to the right programs (anti-poverty, global health) can boost our security and the standing of the U.S. around the world."

Posted by Frank James at 12:36 pm CST

The New York Times has a story today based on interviews with the lawyers of Jose Padilla, the accused would-be dirty bomber who was arrested at O'Hare International Airport in 2002 and was held by the U.S., first as an enemy combatant, and now as a criminal defendant.

The Times reporter got to view an undated and still classified videotape of Padilla being moved from his cell for a dental procedure.

The stills from the video give a sense of the extremely harsh conditions Padilla was kept under during his incarceration at a South Carolina military brig.

Posted by Mark Silva at 12:01 am CST

HANOI – I set out on the back of a motorbike early this morning for a hair-raising ride into the heart of the old French quarter of Ha Noi, headquarters of colonial occupation by a nation that learned the painful way what it would take the United States another 20 years to learn about the depth of Vietnamese nationalism.

In the three decades since the Americans, and before them the French, departed this land, the Communist-run regime has discovered the benefits of Western capitalism, Ha Noi teeming with the commerce of one of Asia's fastest growing economies. Yet the government here has not relinquished its grip on personal liberties, restricting religious worship and freedom of speech. Before my bike ride, I spoke with an activist for democratic reforms who spent two years in prison and two in house arrest for translating an American document about democracy – and who says he was pulled out of his home yesterday again and beaten.

The way one crosses the street here is to step out into traffic. They steer around you. Photo by Mark Silva

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, July 12, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush is leaving for the G-8 summit in Russia.

The House Armed Services Committee is holding a hearing on what type of judicial system should be used to try the terrorist suspects held at the U.S.-operated Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. 10 a.m.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, July 12, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush is leaving for the G-8 summit in Russia.

The House Armed Services Committee is holding a hearing on what type of judicial system should be used to try the terrorist suspects held at the U.S.-operated Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. 10 a.m.

Posted by Cam Simpson at 12:40 pm CDT

We can't find any evidence in the official Department of Defense bio for Thomas Gimble, the principal deputy in the DoD's office of inspector general, that he was once a track star or a Golden Gloves champ. But Gimble made an impressive dash from a hearing room in the Rayburn House Office Building Wednesday after
successfully ducking a question from your trusty scribe.

As we reported in the Tribune today, Gimble is the author of a previously undisclosed memo, dated April 14, regarding some of the specific findings in the Tribune's award-winning series, "Pipeline to Peril."

Posted by Frank James at 10:38 am CDT

My colleague Cam Simpson reports in today's Chicago Tribune that the State Department has for the first time included in its latest "Trafficking in Persons Report" charges that American taxpayers are unwittingly contributing to the world's human trafficking problem.

Cam has become an expert on human trafficking through the reporting he did for and since his highly praised series called "Pipeline to Peril" which the newspaper ran last year. It focused on the tragedy that befell a group of Nepalese men who were hired by labor contractors and sent to work on U.S. military bases in Iraq where they were kidnapped and killed by insurgents.

To get a fuller picture of how U.S. taxpayers are paying for human trafficking, read today's article, the State Department report, and last year's series. A complete version of the today's story is below.