In the newsroom: Overhauling Afghan prisons
Published: July 20, 2009
We’re awaiting a 2 p.m. briefing with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen. The New York Times reported Monday that Mullen sent a confidential message last week to military service chiefs and field commanders reminding them of the importance of treating detainees properly. The Times noted that the U.S. is planning an overhaul of the prison system in Afghanistan, which currently holds suspected insurgents and common criminals in the same lockup.
The Washington Post takes an in-depth look at the lives of those held in North Korean prison camps, where prisoners subsist on diets of corn and salt and most work 12- to 15-hour days until they die of disease, usually around age 50.
And of course, Monday marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. Celebrations abound but the Apollo astronauts think we should be focusing more on Mars than on the moon.
Stripes reporters are working on stories on another aircraft crashing in Aghanistan – this time it’s a British fighter jet –as well as onthe Army and Navy teaming to buya fleet ofthe nearly 340-foot-long Joint High Speed Vessels, which are capable of transporting everything from heavy equipment to humanitarian supplies.
In Europe, Navy officials are analyzing a year’s worth of air samples from Naples. We’ll have an update on the health assessment. And in the Pacific, we’re scouting out the best spots to be around midday Wednesday to see the longest solar eclipse in a century in Asia.
