Today's helping

* While Syria hints that it will withdraw troops from Lebanon, Stephen Zunes analyzes the "broader implications" of the Hariri assassination, teasing together the potential effects of the killing on internal Lebanese politics, Syrian-Lebanese relations, and external political pressure from France, the US, Israel, etc.

* "From the U.S. perspective," Bob Herbert writes in the NY Times, "Syria is led by a gangster regime that has, among other things, sponsored terrorism, aided the insurgency in Iraq and engaged in torture. So here's the question. If Syria is such a bad actor - and it is - why would the Bush administration seize a Canadian citizen at Kennedy Airport in New York, put him on an executive jet, fly him in shackles to the Middle East and then hand him over to the Syrians, who promptly tortured him?"

* Those pesky ACLUers keep finding more torture goodies in the dark recesses of the US government's file cabinets. Plus: Tex from Unfair Witness teaches us a new term -- "Palestinian hanging" -- to add to our "ever-growing torture vocabulary list." Thanx, Tex!

* Oh, and forget about that wee lil' Gulfstream V. The CIA is using a Boeing 737 to ship its "ghost detainees" around the globe, according to Newsweek.

* "The best news in a long time has got to be Time magazine's remarkable story about negotiations taking place between the U.S. and the Iraqi insurgency," declares Justin Raimondo. "This is enormously significant," he adds, "because it means an influential section of the U.S. military and political leadership has begun to realize that they can't win the war in a purely military sense with the present level of resources" and "are looking to build the foundations for a political solution."

* Get ready, Ramadi. The calls to rebuild your town can already be heard.

* The US Army is having trouble reaching its recruitment goals, according to the Washington Post. To compensate, the Army is rushing enlistees into duty and utilizing more active-duty recruiters in an attempt to bridge the gap.

* Reuters reports that the first ever Afghanistan Human Development Report warns that, despite the "remarkable progress" witnessed in that country since the fall of the Taliban, it "could easily tumble back into chaos" unless substantial improvements in social welfare, physical infrastructure, and political participation are instituted.

* Paul Harris puts the Gannon/Guckert controversy into its proper context in the Observer. Rather than viewing this bizarre incident in isolation, Harris says it needs to be analyzed in conjuncture with Bushist efforts to manipulate the press and the American media's inability to properly contextualize current affairs.

* So the Swifties have been resurrected to fight Bush's Social Security battles. From the NY Times comes this gem of analysis: "'They are the boulder in the middle of the highway to personal savings accounts,' said Charlie Jarvis, president of USA Next and former deputy under secretary of the interior in the Reagan and first Bush administrations. 'We will be the dynamite that removes them.'"

* The recently-released Doug Wead tapes provide an additional glimpse into Dubya's carefully choreographed effort to craft his political image and woo Christian fundamentalists, says Robert Parry.