The View girls get all hot and bothered while discussing who does and who doesn't qualify as a terrorist. And guess what?!? Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Rosie O'Donnell disagree!!! Shocking.

We have to say we feel a bit bad for poor, misguided Elisabeth. Those girls obviously get off on picking the lone conservative...

(Thanks to virtual matter for the heads up!)

Prince Harry can't have everything he wants. The 22-year old royal insisted he be sent to fight in the Iraq War, but Army brass ain't having it. BBC reports that General Sir Richard Dannatt has nixed the plan due to threats against the would-be reconnaissance commander. Dannat said,

Following a visit to Iraq last week I discovered a number of threats relating directly to Prince Harry and those around him and I am not prepared to export those risks... I know Prince Harry will be extremely disappointed and his soldiers will miss his presence in Iraq.

We understand how much the prospect of fighting the not-so-good fight meant to you. You'll most likely never be King, so this was an opportunity for you to really shine. Now, you'll just sink back into your life as a peaceful citizen. Or, you could go it alone and become a war vigilante. Better yet, you can form a rag-tag group of mercenaries with a clever name, like "The H-Team" or "Harry's Angels"! That would show the stupid army.

More gay casualties of war over in Iraq. Last month, police picked up a 27-year old carpenter and suspected homo named Maan. Four days later, on April 25th, the Taji resident's corpse was found on the side of the road - he had been killed execution style.

Meanwhile, a known gay activist named Hani remains in hiding after being arrested and tortured by Iraqi police. Doug Ireland reports that a police squad targeted and tortured an Iraqi gay activist named Hani. Worse yet, American officials may have been present, but did nothing.

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Circus doesn't even begin to describe the hubbub surrounding Valerie Plame's congressional testimony. Sure, Scooter Libby may have already been found guilty, but the nation watched as the former CIA spy blasted the government for putting her life in danger simply to get back at her anti-war husband, Joseph Wilson.

Though a riveting judicial spectacular- former spies, secretive meetings, shadowy government - the testimony may most well be remembered for the pink-wearing, mannish-looking lady protesting in the back. A member of Code Pink, the tranny in question, Midge Potts, has finally broken her silence about her involvement in the all-women's anti-war group.

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Born in 1974 in Iran, openly gay singer Firouz saw both the Islamic revolution and the Iraqi invasion, giving him a first hand experience of war's destruction. After the invasion razed his small town, his family packed him up and sent him to Europe, where he found another escape in music.

His single, "Warchild" tells this tale, but, as he tells Arjan from Arjan Writes, it's a tale to which all can relate:

My story isn't an exception and not only about teenagers in some parts of the world where they die in senseless wars or lose their homes and family. Everybody has their own personal fights. The hardest battle is the one inside of yourself and in your own life. Everybody is a warchild.

Arjan informs us that the track has been remixed and is now available on iTunes.

We've gone ahead and posted the video after the jump. You know, so you can make an informed decision...

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The Pentagon's sending another 9,000 troops to the ever-deteriorating Iraq, but something tells us they won't be guarding the nation's gays. Nor would it matter. A fresh letter from Iraqi gay activist Ali Hili makes clear that nothing's changed in the historically homophobic country, nor does there seem to be a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow. Sadr and Badr militias continue to massacre "sexual perverts" in an effort to "cleanse" the country. Hili writes:

The government of Iraq refuses to crack down on the killers or to take any action to protect its gay citizens. It is a regime that is dominated by Shia fanatics and
homophobes.
...
Some members of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government are linked to the anti-gay death squads. They are the political representatives of the Muqtada al-Sadr movement and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). Both these parties have militias, respectively the Mahdi army and the Badr brigades, who are responsible for the execution-style killing of lesbian and gay Iraqis.

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President Bush may be sending more troops to Iraq, but that doesn't mean Iraqi gays will get more protection. Though we've covered this story before, we think it's worth noting that Iraqi gay activist Ali Hili has again spoken out against the wide spread abuses facing Iraqi's queers.

Speaking to about 250 people at Saturday's Faith, Homophobia and Human Rights in London, Hili blasted the government and security forces for blasting gays:

Members of these militias have infiltrated the Iraqi police and are abusing their police authority to pursue a plan to eliminate all homosexuals in Iraq. This is happening with the collusion of key ministers in the Iraqi government... What is happening today in Iraq is one of the most organized and systematic sexual cleansings in the history of the world.

• Anderson Cooper made himself available to the highest bidder for an AIDS auction charity. The winning bid? $21,000. The winner? Brit bachelor Oliver Hicks. [Page Six]

• Brad Pitt. Shirtless. Smoking. On a motorcycle. Pics. [MollyGood]

• You care immensely about Britney Shears, right? [Dlisted]

• Leader of Iraqi GLBT advocacy group met with open arms – and applause – at London conference [UKGN]

• Anglican Church tries to get its shit together. [AP]

• Always lovely to see black press supporting homophobia. [Black News Weekly]

• Nigerians speak up for GLBT rights. [GCN]

• Doctor Who's John Barrowman's biggest complaint: being too well endowed. [Sky]

While we're on the subject of things we love, let's turn our attention to Danish duo Junior Senior.

We remember the first time we heard them: we were in London on the eve of the war in Iraq. Needless to say we weren't sleeping, but needed a distraction from, you know, all the destruction. We flipped on over to MTV and saw the video for their monster single, "Move Your Feet" from their debut album, D-D-Don't Stop The Beat.

While there's still no escape from news of the war, it's been a while since we've heard from J.S. (Jesper Mortensen and Jeppe Laursen, respectively - Laursen's the gay one). There'd been a murmur of a new album, but no official release. That's because the album, Hey Hey My My Yo Yo was only distributed in Japan and certain parts of Europe. Thanks to the magic of YouTube, however, we found this video for a single off that elusive album, "Take My Time." And now we're passing it on to you.

We first reported on the case of the missing gay Iraqis back in The Power Issue, when Peter Tatchell wrote on the horrors facing Iraqi queers. The men have been missing since November 9th and - guess what? - still no word. It's unfortunate to say, but they're probably dead.

Their disappeance, however, is hardly the most recent. UK Gay News reports:

Just days after these five activists were abducted, Haydar Kamel, aged 35, the owner of famous men’s clothing shop in the al-Karada district of Baghdad, was kidnapped near his home in Sadr city.

The kidnappers were members of the Mahdi army, an Islamist militia loyal to fundamentalist leader Muqtada al-Sadr.
...
Another recent raid was on the Jar al-Qamar barber shop in the al-Karada district of Baghdad. It was popular with gay men, which is probably the reason it was targeted.

All four employees were arrested and taken away by the Iraqi police. They have disappeared.

It is feared that these ten kidnapped men may have been summarily executed.

Amnesia Sparkles is great for a laugh, but power's not all fun and games. For this installment, Peter Tatchell delves inside the gruesome injustices that face gay Iraqis. Let's just say it's not pretty.

It's no secret that armed militias have taken advantage of the power vacuum to enact their own anti-gay justice. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Tatchell argues, there has been a startling rise in the strength and pervasiveness of these groups. Without intervention, the numbers will only continue to rise, certainly a dim outlook.

Read about the more forceful - and certainly more graphic - aspects misused power, after the jump.

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What? You thought there wouldn't be some sort of Andrew Sullivan/Election Day interview? Sheesh, you're more far gone than we thought.

If you kids head pop on over to our friends at Radar (click here, silly), you too can enjoy John Cook's interview between the famed homo-journo-politico. It's definitely a good read, with Cook really sticking it to Sullivan (pictured, in a Boi From Troi artist's rendition).

Here's a taste from their discussion of the war in Iraq:

JC: We do know that perhaps hundreds of thousands of people that are dead now would still be alive.

AS: We don't know that, actually. We know what has happened because of the result of our actions. We don't know what the result of inaction would have been. Many people who opposed the Iraq war opposed the Afghanistan war. Not many of them are prepared now to admit it, but many of them did. All one can do is account for the decision one has made. But I don't think the hard left, which was against anything Bush did, and actually believed that America deserved what Al Qaeda gave us, has been proven right. Do you?

JC: No.

AS: You don't think Michael Moore, who said the Afghan war was about an oil pipeline deal, has been proven right. But I don't see you demanding that he take account of his own errors.

JC: I'm not interviewing him right now.

Of course, the boys talk about than just the war. Sullivan calls himself a rebel for being a Thatcherite, glosses over Mark Foley like a pro and defends his love of Reagan. Wheee!