Rookie volunteers Jay Edwards and Marian Chirichella walked into Ward 57 of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2003 expecting assignments like “passing out socks.” But what they saw inside the Army amputee ward changed their lives. “A young girl was sitting with her father, rubbing what was left of his legs and saying, ‘He’s still my Daddy,’” recalls Edwards. Read the rest of this entry »

Sitting at a computer and fiddling with a picture of dead fish, Carol Jobusch says the advantages of digital over film photography are obvious. “You can play God with your images,” she says, using her mouse to flesh out fine detail on the gills. Of course, being a deity requires some practice, which is why Jobusch is taking a class on the finer points of digital photography. Read the rest of this entry »

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in a pair of cases that may determine the future of race-based desegregation policies in public schools. At issue in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, was the constitutionality of policies that consider race to encourage diversity in the classroom. Read the rest of this entry »

For the past two years, Fatou Bensouda, the deputy prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, has gathered grim evidence against warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. The former head of the Union of Congolese Patriots in the eastern region of Congo, Dyilo is charged with enlisting and conscripting child soldiers. In 2003, at the peak of the conflict, prosecutors allege, he had as many as 30,000 children under arms in his militia. Dyilo will be the first person tried before the new judicial body-based in The Hague-which was established to investigate war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. Read the rest of this entry »

David Abshire knows something about troubled presidencies. Not only does he head the Center for the Study of the Presidency; he was also a special counselor to President Reagan during the Iran-contra scandal. It seemed only natural, then, that he was on the congressional speed dial last November when the Iraq Study Group (otherwise known as the Baker-Hamilton commission) was organized. Abshire spoke with U.S. News about the pitfalls and potential of government commissions when facts on the ground are changing fast. Read the rest of this entry »