SPB News for Tuesday.

NOOSE ALLEGEDLY FOUND AT SECRET SERVICE TRAINING CENTER — The U.S. Secret Service has placed a white agent on leave after an African American employee reported finding a noose hanging at the service's main training facility outside the nation's capital. — The service has acknowledged …

Investigators: $10 billion charged by U.S. contractors for Iraq reconstruction 'questionable' or 'unsupported' --Failed projects falsely described as 'complete' by Bush administration Millions of dollars of lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts were never finished because of excessive delays, poor performance or other factors, including failed projects that are being falsely described by the U.S. government as complete, federal investigators say. The audit released Sunday by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, provides the latest snapshot of an uneven reconstruction effort that has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $100 billion. Last year, congressional investigators said as much as $10 billion -- or one in six dollars -- charged by U.S. contractors for Iraq reconstruction were questionable or unsupported, and warned that significantly more taxpayer money was at risk.

Syria says US reactor charges as fake as Iraq WMD claims Syria said on Monday that US accusations it had been building a nuclear reactor until its destruction in an Israeli air raid last September were as bogus as American claims that Saddam Hussein's government had weapons of mass destruction in 2003. "When you look at these pictures... a single image comes to mind -- that of US Secretary of State Colin Powell accusing Iraq of hiding weapons of mass destruction and presenting as proof a dossier of photographs," Al-Baath said.

Outspoken Arizona Senator Questions 9/11 Official Version of Events --Republican attacked for expressing opinion on September 11th cover-up By Steve Watson. State Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa, has come under fierce criticism for going on record with her doubts over the government's version of events surrounding the 9/11 attacks. Following a vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Arizona's 9/11 Memorial, Johnson told Capitol reporters "There are many of us that believe there's been a cover-up." Details of Johnson's comments come in an vicious hit piece article in the Arizona Republic entitled 'Drinking the 9/11 Kool-Aid.'

La. Man Pleads Guilty to Hate Crime For Nooses Targeting "Jena Six" Marchers (fbi.gov) Jeremiah Munsen, 18, of Colfax, La., pled guilty today to a federal hate crime for his role in using nooses to threaten marchers who participated in the "Jena Six" civil rights rally, announced Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, and Donald W. Washington, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana.

Mukasey Taps Justice Lawyer for Office of the Pardon Attorney

by Pedro Ruz Gutierrez
Attorney General Michael Mukasey today appointed Ronald Rodgers to serve as the next U.S. Pardon Attorney. Rodgers replaces Roger Adams, who resigned in January after an Office of Inspector General investigation into allegations of mismanagement found he made "highly inappropriate" racial remarks about a Nigerian petitioner and threatened retaliation against employees.

Defense lawyers of clients living overseas, but barred from the U.S. due to accusations of supporting terrorism, assume that the U.S. government is monitoring their e-mail or phone correspondence with the clients. These assumptions are causing lawyers rigorous travel and expense to meet with exiled clients. (New York Times)