Free Republic

TUCSON — Two priests who wanted to put alleged torture training at Fort Huachuca on trial have been blocked from that defense strategy by a Tucson-based federal magistrate. On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Héctor Estrada told the Rev. Stephen Kelly and the Rev. Louis Vitale that he was granting the government’s motion not to allow the defendants to use what they contend is torture training on the Southern Arizona Army post. He also denied the priests’ request for a jury trial. But the judge also denied the government’s attempt to have Vitale’s prior arrests and convictions as prima facie evidence of...

KEYPORT, Wash. - Critics of a Navy plan to use dolphins and sea lions to guard waters off the coast of a major submarine base say the ocean is too cold for the plan to work. Other critics who showed up at a public open house Tuesday questioned the use of live animals rather than sophisticated technology at Hood Canal, home of the West Coast Trident submarine base. The animals are trained to alert a handler when they detect anyone in the water. The handler, in a small boat, then places a strobe light on the nose of the animal,...

Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday questioned the Bush administration's spending on missile defense, arguing that a terrorist is more likely to attack by truck or by boat. "Why would someone send a missile when they can just put it in a suitcase?" Rep. Christopher Shays (news), R-Conn., asked a panel of experts at a hearing on protecting the United States from terrorism. "It's inexcusable for this administration not to recognize that possibility and act on it." "We can't afford to waste billions of dollars" because of the Bush administration's "theological fascination with missile defense," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich (news),...