Instruction Manuals

The book will never rival Harry Potter for sales, but in the rarefied world of university publishing a Chicago outfit has a somewhat unusual hit this season. The University of Chicago Press, publisher of scholarly works since 1891, just filled a rush order for a third 5,000-copy printing of "Instructions for American Servicemen in Iraq During World War II."

Bowing to critics of its tough interrogation policies, the Pentagon is issuing a new Army field manual that provides Geneva Convention protections for all detainees and eliminates a secret list of interrogation tactics. The manual, set for release today, also reverses an earlier decision to maintain two interrogation standards -- one for traditional prisoners of war and another for "unlawful combatants" captured during a conflict but not affiliated with a nation's military force.

The U.S. military's new counterinsurgency doctrine takes issue with some key strategies that American commanders in Iraq continue to use, most notably the practice of concentrating combat forces in massive bases rather than dispersing them among the population. The 282-page counterinsurgency field manual, unveiled Friday, seeks to bring together the best practices in fighting sustained insurgencies that the United States has learned during the Iraq war.

Swedish home furnishings giant IKEA promised Thursday to depict more women in its instruction manuals after Norway's prime minister accused it of showing only men assembling furniture. "IKEA will now review its instructions leaflets to get a more even balance between men and women," IKEA said. The privately owned group has 208 stores in 32 countries. IKEA said it already used pictures of women in its leaflets alongside men and cartoon figures whose sex was left unclear.

A lengthy campaign by California teachers to improve math instruction by seeking to make it more interesting and meaningful to students was dealt a sharp blow this past week when the State Board of Education appointed many outspoken critics of the reforms to the committee that will rewrite official state math guidelines.

U.S. Army manuals used in training Latin American military officers during the late 1980s contained passages advising them to employ beatings, false imprisonment, truth serum and even executions to recruit and train domestic informants, the Pentagon said Friday. Excerpts from the manuals, which were revised in 1992 to remove the offending passages, were made public by the Pentagon.

It took Dale Hines 24 years to build a sailboat in his back yard. But it took him just a couple of minutes to lose the engine's operating manual. The 80-year-old Torrance resident launched his 32-ton, 50-foot boat last month, much to the surprise of his neighbors who never thought the concrete craft would see an ocean wave.