WMD intelligence report [US WMD Intelligence Commission] News
WMD intelligence report [US WMD Intelligence Commission]

Report, Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the US regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, March 31, 2005 [reporting that US intelligence agencies know 'disturbingly little' about threats posed by the nation's most dangerous adversaries, and the commission recommended more than 70 changes that President Bush can make to improve intelligence]. Excerpt:

On the brink of war, and in front of the whole world, the United States government asserted that Saddam Hussein had reconstituted his nuclear weapons program, had biological weapons and mobile biological weapon production facilities, and had stockpiled and was producing chemical weapons. All of this was based on the assessments of the US Intelligence Community. And not one bit of it could be confirmed when the war was over.

Read the full text of the report here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Burma attains independence from UK

On January 4, 1948, Burma became independent of the United Kingdom, regaining national soverignty for the first time since 1885. Fourteen years later, in 1962, a military junta seized power and changed the country's name to Myanmar. Read the Burma Independence Documents, including the independence treaty between the UK and Burma, from the Burma Peace Foundation Archives.

Kent State shootings settlement reached

On January 4, 1979, the state of Ohio reached an out-of-court settlement with victims and relatives of victims shot by National Guardsmen at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. Under the settlement, plaintiffs received $675,000. Learn more about the Kent State settlement.