US scraps nuclear weapons watchdog

A US department of energy panel of experts which provided independent oversight of the development of the US nuclear arsenal has been quietly disbanded by the Bush administration, it emerged yesterday.

The decision to close down the national nuclear security administration advisory committee - required by law to hold public hearings and issue public reports on nuclear weapons issues - has come just days before a closed-door meeting at a US air force base in Nebraska to discuss the development of a new generation of tactical "mini nukes" and "bunker buster" bombs, as well as an eventual resumption of nuclear testing.

Ed Markey, a Democratic congressman and co-chairman of a congressional taskforce on non-proliferation, said: "Instead of seeking balanced expert advice and analysis about this important topic, the department of energy has disbanded the one forum for honest, unbiased external review of its nuclear weapons policies."

[...]

Hawks in the Pentagon and the energy department are pushing for the development of tactical nuclear weapons with yields of less than 5 kilotons and hardened "bunker buster" nuclear bombs, designed to penetrate deeply buried targets, where enemy leaders or weaponsmay be hidden.

According to the leaked agenda for the Omaha meeting in early August, Pentagon and energy department officials will discuss how to test small numbers of these new weapons, and whether this will require a break from the moratorium on nuclear tests.

Critics argue that the new weapons will blur the distinction between conventional and nuclear arms, and trigger a new arms race.

Australia demands U.S. retracts airline attack threat

Australia acknowledged on Thursday that it risked being used as a base for a September 11-style attack but demanded the United States corrects a public warning that it was also a possible target.
The government saw red last week when the U.S. Homeland Security Department named Australia, Britain and Italy as a possible target for suicide airliner assaults by the al Qaeda network. The U.S. was also named as a target.
Australian Attorney-General Daryl Williams said intelligence indicated the country could be used as a base for an attack on the United States or elsewhere, but said the new U.S. warning that it could be a target was ''not an accurate reflection of the intelligence.''

[...]

The head of Australia's main spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), said the including of Australia in the Homeland Security list was a ''bureaucratic mistake'' because of someone misreading intelligence.
''It is important the particular advisory you are putting out accurately reflects the intelligence on which is based,'' ASIO's Director General Dennis Richardson told reporters.

West Wing Pipe Dream
Great article about how the Bush administration has been consistently lying about the aluminum tubes that it claims Iraq bought (on the internet) to enrich uranium.

Lost in the now radioactive State of the Union scandal is the fact that the attempted procurement of African uranium wasn't the only false claim the president uttered that night about Saddam's nuclear aims. The 19 words that followed the now-infamous "16 enormously overblown" ones have proved to be every bit as untrue, and the intelligence underlying the claim nearly as shoddy.

Enemy Combatant Vanishes Into a 'Legal Black Hole'

The pivotal question: Can an American citizen, arrested on U.S. soil, be held incommunicado in a military prison indefinitely -- without being charged with a crime, without access to a lawyer?

No Choice but Guilty

The federal government implicitly threatened to toss the defendants into a secret military prison without trial, where they could languish indefinitely without access to courts or lawyers.

That prospect terrified the men. They accepted prison terms of 61/2 to 9 years.

"We had to worry about the defendants being whisked out of the courtroom and declared enemy combatants if the case started going well for us," said attorney Patrick J. Brown, who defended one of the accused. "So we just ran up the white flag and folded. Most of us wish we'd never been associated with this case."

Beauty is only skin deep...
In an earlier post, I had a link to a clip on bbc about this painful surgical procedure to increase ones height. As a footnote, I also talked about how in India girls and even some men use all kinds of skin bleaches to stay fair and not get a tan. Now the All India Democratic Women's Association in India is claiming that certain ads for these "fairness" creams are racist.

A recent row over a television advertisement for a skin-lightening cream has fuelled a debate in India over why fairer skin should be considered more beautiful.
While India has seen a phenomenal growth in the number of skin-lightening products, women's groups in the country claim recent adverts are insulting, as they equate fairer skin with beauty and success.

One advert - for a product named Fair And Lovely - has now been taken off the air.

"It's a highly racist campaign," Brinda Karat, general secretary of the All India Democratic Women's Association, told BBC World Service's Everywoman programme.

"It equates fairness with beauty."

Just like any other place in the world, the media in India controls what people consider beautiful. In most magazines and movies, all the models are a size zero and almost Caucasian looking. Women grow up with this definition of beauty ingrained in their minds. It's going to take a lot more than just taking these ads off the air to change this mentality.

Death toll mounts in Iraq
As the death toll mounts in Iraq, the US is now adopting a more aggressive approach while dealing with the Iraqi resistance fighters. This new aggressive approach is only going to make more enemies for the forces on the ground. Washington Post reports...

Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: "If you want your family released, turn yourself in." Such tactics are justified, he said, because, "It's an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info." They would have been released in due course, he added later.

The tactic worked. On Friday, Hogg said, the lieutenant general appeared at the front gate of the U.S. base and surrendered.

This is despicable. Holding family members hostage? Aren’t they violating some US law and also the Geneva convention?
Welcome to free world.

It's might not just be the Saudis...
The NYTimes reported last week that the 28 censored pages, in the 900 page report on the 9/11 attacks, contained accusations that the Saudi governement was somehow linked to the attackers.

On meet the press, this Suday, Congressman Goss said that it's not just one country. Its many countries. I wonder who those other countries might be. The first to come to mind is Pakistan. There were many reports of links between the Pakistani intelligence services (ISI) and Osama Bin Laden. It was also reported that the ISI tipped him off when Clinton launched the cruise missiles against training camps in Afganistan.

It also makes sense that Bush administration would censor those 28 pages. Pakistan, unfortunately, has become a key ally of the US in it's fight against the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden.

The bbc reported, that the ISI knows a lot about the finances of the Al-Qaeda being that they were the chief supporters of the Taliban and that it still contains representatives of the more radical Islamic factions within the powerful (nuclear) Pakistani military.

In a Feb 21st interview, Seymour Hersh, said that Saeed Sheikh, accused killer of Daniel Pearl, was a ISI intelligence agent. He also goes on to talk about the incident at Konduz where Pakistani military planes where allowed to evacuate people from the besieged town for 3-4 nights. He claims that some 2500-3000 people were evacuated and included Taliban, Al-Qaeda, ISI agents and even 2 Pakistani military generals. Donald Rumsfeld authorized this evacuation.

All right, so we have Saudi Arabia and Pakistan so far. Who else?

Wolfowitz at Meet the Press:

Paul Wolfowitz seemed to be making a concerted effort, on meet the press this Sunday to shift and main reason for going to war from WMDs to the atrocities that Saddam committed on the Iraqi people. This after having stated earlier that freeing the Iraqi people was not worth the risk on American kids' lives.

He basically said that the US preemptively waged war on Iraq using murky intelligence. Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said "Boy, it sure didn't sound murky before the war,".

He not only said that Saddam was linked to 9/11 attacks but that Iraq was also linked to the attacks on USS Cole and the Khobar towers. But wait, he then said that he didn’t know who was responsible for the attacks but since the US forces were there to contain Iraq, Iraq was responsible. Great reasoning. I'm pretty sure that if the 900 page report on the 9/11 attacks contained anything that even loosely linked Saddam to the attackers, it would have not been censored and the administration would have publicized it big time.

While trying to shift the reason for war, he talked about the Marsh Arabs driven to extinction, the mass graves in Hela, the Abu Ghraib Prison, children being tortured in front of their parents, how Saddam wasted money trying to evade inspectors instead of helping the Iraqi people, the woman who came forward with stories of torture at the Police academy and how Uday was involved in the torture there.

The Iraqi people are definitely better off without Saddam but the end does not justify the means. The Bush administration manipulated the murky intelligence to come up with reasons to go to war with Iraq. Someone’s got to pay.

Read the transcript

Wolfowitz: Iraq Key To War on Terrorism

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz yesterday put new emphasis on the current fighting in Iraq, calling it the "central battle" in the Bush administration's post-Sept. 11, 2001, war on terrorism.

Asked about the increasing casualties among American soldiers in Iraq, Wolfowitz, appearing on "Fox News Sunday" said, "It is a sacrifice that is going to make our children and our grandchildren safer because the battle to win the peace in Iraq now is the central battle in the war on terrorism." A soldier died yesterday, and 13 others were killed in the seven days ending Saturday.

We still have to see this (murky) proof of links between Saddam and and the 9/11 attacks.

Did anyone see this?
I was watching the BBC report on the slaying of Uday and Qusay. There was this one clip that showed a whole bunch of Iraqi civilian (dressed in civilian clothes and unarmed) that looked like they were shouting stuff at the US soldiers. This was outside the house where Uday and Qusay were killed. Shots were fired, couldn't say from where, and then one of those protestors dropped to the ground. He was shot but I couldn't tell from where or by whom. The rest of the protestors then carried him off. His gunshot wound was quite visible.
I looked for this on all the news websites but couldn't find anything. Did anyone else see this?

House Votes to Prevent Change in Media Rule

The House voted yesterday to block the Federal Communications Commission from imposing rules that would allow the nation's biggest broadcasting companies to buy more television stations, setting up a potential showdown with the White House.

A bipartisan coalition pushed through the measure by attaching it to an appropriations bill to fund the Commerce, State and Justice departments and several agencies, including the FCC. The spending bill was approved by a vote of 400 to 21, despite a veto threat from the Bush administration and objections from the Republican House leadership.

This is great news.

What Would Democrats Have Done?
In this article, David Limbaugh, goes on to explain how things would have been different if Al Gore had won the elections or if Hillary goes on to win the 2004 elections. First of all, republicans seem really nervous about the rumours that Hillary might run in 2004. In fact the last time she was asked about it she said no. Maybe they think that she poses a real threat to the Bush goverment? But anyways, back to the David Limbaugh article.

Well, it's impossible to be sure what they would have done and would do in the future, but we can make reasonable assumptions based on positions they have already taken.

Assumptions made by a conservative writer. BTW, he is Rush Limbaugh brother. Must be in the genes? He goes on to say about the democrats....

They likely would have approached Afghanistan and its Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorist camps with extreme trepidation, based on their stated fears that we were headed for a Vietnam-like quagmire. To be honest, I can't imagine that Al Gore or any of these other Democratic presidential aspirants would have acted decisively in Afghanistan. A few volleys of cruise missiles and a lot of lectern-thumping speeches, perhaps, but definitive action against Afghanistan truly is hard to imagine.

Going to Afghanistan was a no brainer. Any president would have done the same thing. I agree they would have been a bit more cautious but that would probably have been a good thing and even have resulted in the capture of Bin Laden and all the other people who are out there planning more attacks. Going in like we did, gave them the oppurtunity to disperse and are still missing.

[They likey would have] conferred greater rights on enemy combatants in Guantanamo and elsewhere, and tied the hands of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies. We tend to overlook the extraordinary record of law enforcement and domestic security in thwarting further terrorist attacks on the mainland. The absence of attacks to this point speaks volumes, yet we hear nothing but criticism of our domestic security efforts.

To this day, no attacks have been prevented because of any direct information from the "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo. September 11th was the first time that islamic terrorists were able to attack mainland America. By all accounts, it took years of planning on their part and pretty glaring intelligence failures on ours for it to be successfull. The domestic law enforcement and homeland security officials have on many occasions trampled on people's civil liberties in the name of "homeland security' using the patriot act. We don't have to give up out civil liberties and rights to be safe from the terrorists.

[They likey would have] conferred on France, Germany and various international bodies veto power over our decision to attack Iraq. They undoubtedly would have continued with weapons inspections in perpetuity – assuming they ever could have obtained Saddam's permission for inspectors to re-enter, keeping in mind that he didn't agree to do so until we got American troops into the theater poised to strike, which deployment they largely opposed. We may assume they would have allowed Saddam to continue to violate the U.N. resolutions with impunity.

Here's the timeline. Iraq invited the UN weapons instectors for talks on August 1st, 2002. On September 12th Bush addressed the UN to put the case for war against Iraq. During this speech bush said

However, Mr Bush signalled that he was prepared to work with the security council to hammer out new resolutions that would give Saddam a last chance to avoid invasion by implementing standing UN resolutions on weapons inspections, human rights, the repatriation of prisoners of war and the state sponsorship of terrorism. He said it was an opportunity for the UN to salvage its credibility.

And on September 16th Iraq accepted 'unconditional' return of UN inspectors. The US troops where no where near the "the theater poised to strike". Bush used these inspections to buy some time for troop buildup in the middle east and to get support from other nations (which he didn't).

[They likey would have] not taken significant action on the homeland security front or military action against Afghanistan or Iraq, based on their relentless criticism of President Bush's deficit spending. It is objectively provable that Bush inherited an economy in recession, that the economy suffered dramatic losses because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, that we've had to spend enormous sums rebuilding a military that Bill Clinton had overextended and depleted, and that the actions against Afghanistan and Iraq cost billions of dollars.

According to the Boston Globe, "40 percent of the worsening budget deficit is due to the tax cuts, 30 percent is because of the sluggish economy, and another 30 percent is because of extra spending on the war, security, and other programs Congress has put in place." and they predict that the deficit will increase to 500-550 billion if the economy doesn't get any better. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession that began in March 2001 ended the following November. Most people agree that the recession started in March 2001, but these same people also believe that it has't ended yet.

So what have I learned from this article by David Limbaugh? Don't go to NewsMax.com. You might end up spending too much of your precious time on posts like this one.

Bush Aide Takes Blame for Uranium Claim

A top White House national security adviser is taking the blame for allowing a tainted intelligence report suggesting Iraq was trying to buy uranium in Africa to find its way into President Bush's State of the Union address.

Deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley said two CIA memos and a call from CIA Director George Tenet had persuaded him to take a similar passage out of a presidential speech in October - and that he should have done likewise when it turned up again in State of the Union drafts.

"Had I done so, this would have avoided the whole current controversy," Hadley said on Tuesday. "It is now clear to me that I failed in that responsibility."

National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Hadley's immediate supervisor, told reporters on July 11 that there was discussion with CIA officials about their reservations to proposed language in the State of the Union Speech and that it was changed to meet the CIA objection. She has said repeatedly that the CIA did not object to the final wording used.

Changing the story once again. Rice should resign.

Annan backs Iraq's US-picked leaders

The United Nations secretary general gave his stamp of approval yesterday to Iraq's governing council, selected by the US-led occupation forces in Iraq, which he believes "will provide a broadly representative Iraqi partner with whom the United Nations and the international community at large can engage".
In a report released yesterday he called on the UN security council, which will discuss the report today, to "assist the governing council" and "confer legitimacy on the process" of transition to democracy laid out by the occupying powers.

[...]

A delegation from the council, many of whom are returned exiles drawn from disparate and often fractious religious and ethnic communities, will visit the UN today, and declare itself the sovereign representative of Iraq.

How can you be sovereign representatives when you are appointed by an occupying force that has powers to veto any decision you make. The council has no real authority. They are nothing but a puppet regime, installed to take the blame when Iraqi people don't have basic ammenities like water and electricity.

Hussein's Sons May Be Among Dead in U.S. Raid

U.S. troops searching for leaders from the former Iraqi government killed four people in a firefight in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul today and among them may have been the sons of Saddam Hussein, U.S. officials said.

Details of the attack were very sketchy in Washington and there was no immediate confirmation of the deaths. But one intelligence official said, "Among the dead may be Uday and Qusay" Hussein. Another official said that two of the bodies bore strong physical resemblance to the men. Both men were among their father's closest advisers and had been listed as aces in the deck of cards depicting former Iraqi officials being sought by U.S. troops.

The dead did not include Saddam Hussein, U.S. officials said.

The report has still to be confirmed.

Report on USA Patriot Act Alleges Civil Rights Violations

A report by internal investigators at the Justice Department has identified dozens of recent cases in which department employees have been accused of serious civil rights and civil liberties violations involving enforcement of the sweeping federal antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act.

The inspector general's report, which was presented to Congress last week and is awaiting public release, is likely to raise new concern among lawmakers about whether the Justice Department can police itself when its employees are accused of violating the rights of Muslim and Arab immigrants and others swept up in terrorism investigations under the 2001 law.

The report said that in the six-month period that ended on June 15, the inspector general's office had received 34 complaints of civil rights and civil liberties violations by department employees that it considered credible, including accusations that Muslim and Arab immigrants in federal detention centers had been beaten.

ACLU's report on how the justice department mis-led people, media and the congress about the impact and scope of the Patriot Act is a must read.

Wolfowitz Warns Iraq's Neighbors Not to Interfere

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz warned foreigners Monday not to interfere in Iraq (news - web sites), in remarks aimed at Iraq's neighbors and suspected foreign fighters who may have arrived in the country.
Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), told a news conference in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul that Washington would, however, welcome outside help.
"I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq," said Wolfowitz, who is touring the country to meet U.S. troops and Iraqi officials.

Wow! Is this guy funny or what? Does he know he isn't Iraqi?

Rock the vote(Scroll down and to the right)

Is President Bush doing a good job?

Results as of 07/21/03 3:00PM

Yes 49% 101984 votes
No 51% 104379 votes

Total: 206363 votes

Who are these 101984 people who voted "yes". Initially, I thought it was a rhetorical question.

Did 'shock and awe' really work?

After all the much trumpeted "shock and awe" of the Iraqi war, did those precision weapons dropped by coalition planes or fired by guided missiles really work?

Did they destroy the bunkers where the CIA thought Saddam Hussein and his top generals were hiding?

These were some of the questions a team of nearly 80 weapons specialists from the Pentagon and the intelligence community that just returned from Iraq had been searching to answer.

[...]

The team looked at 150 bombed facilities around Iraq to see how well U.S. precision munitions did against some of Saddam's most secret facilities.

The bombs hit their targets, but surprisingly Iraq's bunkers were even stronger than the U.S. thought.

A senior team official told CNN they found unexpectedly sophisticated construction techniques.

Many bunkers had been built with European assistance designed specifically to withstand U.S. precision bombs, with hardened concrete, steel reinforcements and "shock absorbing" equipment.

[...]

So, what was learned from the investigation?

The team concluded that while the bombs were "stunningly accurate," the U.S. would need much better intelligence about targets the next time it goes to war.

And much better intelligence about the real danger posed by the "enemy". Especially if we are going to strike pre-emptively.

India rights campaign for infanticide mothers

Human right groups fighting the practice of female infanticide in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu have launched a new campaign.
They are now coming to the aid of mothers found guilty of killing their new-born babies.

Surveys indicate that 16 new-born girls in every 1,000 in Tamil Nadu are killed.

But rights campaigners say the mother of an unwanted girl child is as much a victim as the baby.

Killing baby girls soon after birth is widely practised in poor southern districts of the state, with some areas reporting 15% deaths among female babies.

Human rights groups say the practice has now spread from three to 13 districts.

It's very sad that this still happens in 2003. The fact is that these people are very poor and uneducated. Education is the only way we can completely eradicate this evil.

Ex-Spies: CIA Workers Outraged

Before the bombs fell on Baghdad, there were analysts inside the American intelligence community who were troubled by the U.S. case for war, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Acosta.

Raymond McGovern, a former CIA analyst and supervisor, says, "Never before in my 40 years of experience in this town has intelligence been used in so cynical and so orchestrated a way."

McGovern is one of several retired intelligence analysts who say they are speaking out for those who can't inside the CIA.

"The Agency analysts that we are in touch with are disheartened, dispirited, angry,” he says. “They are outraged."

Warning in Iraq Report Unread

President Bush and his national security adviser did not entirely read the most authoritative prewar assessment of U.S. intelligence on Iraq, including a State Department claim that an allegation Bush would later use in his State of the Union address was "highly dubious," White House officials said yesterday.

[..]

The official said Bush was "briefed" on the NIE's contents, but "I don't think he sat down over a long weekend and read every word of it." Asked whether Bush was aware the State Department called the Africa-uranium claim "highly dubious," the official, who coordinated Bush's State of the Union address, said: "He did not know that."

"The president was comfortable at the time, based on the information that was provided in his speech," the official said of the decision to use it in the address to Congress. "The president of the United States is not a fact-checker."

Agreed, he isn't a fact checker but how about at least reading the damn document.

Bush launches magazine to teach young Arabs to love America

So what if George Bush is threatening to invade your country? At least the kids in America have nice, white teeth and listen to the same music as you. Isn't that enough for you to love the good 'ol US of A?

That, at least, appears to be the message of a glossy new magazine published by the Bush administration and going on sale across the Middle East this week, targeting young people with a mix of features, celebrity profiles and music. The Arabic-language Hi magazine is US propaganda 2003-style. "We're fighting a war of ideas as much as a war on terror," said Tucker Eskew, director of the White House's Office of Global Communications.

If it sounds like state sponsored propaganda, then it must be state sponsored propaganda. There are already enough magazines out there that do this kind of "west is the best" advertising. Why do we need one more that's financed by the government when people in the middle east already think that the Bush administration and US in general is out to get them?

Not everyone is convinced the magazine and the network will succeed. Rani al-Hajjar, an Atlanta student and co-ordinator for Palestinian Media Watch, said: "I think if it's coming from a cultural superiority complex, saying that we are infallible and saying that our policies are best, then I think it is liable to fail."

So this magazine is basically going to paint a very rosy picture of what goes on in the states. I don't think the people in the middle east are going to take it seriously especially since it has state sponsorship.

(thanks to Christine B)

US suspends proceedings against Guantanamo Britons
All that ass kissing seems to have paid off.

The United States has agreed to suspend controversial military court proceedings against British detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, pending talks with British legal officials, it was announced today.
The prime minister's official spokesman said a joint US-British statement, due to be released later today by the White House, would confirm the decision, which follows Tony Blair's talks yesterday on the subject with US President George Bush.

The military trials are only suspended. They will probably just hold these 9 detainees for the rest of their lives.

The announcement comes a day after Mr Bush said he would "work with the British government" on the fates of Moazzam Begg and Feroz Abbasi, two of the British detainees, but said: "The only thing we know for certain is that these are bad people."

Bad people? How about proving that they are "bad people" in a legitimate, unbiased court of law.

Bush Welfare Marriage Plan Sailing Through Congress
Divorce lawyers everywhere are ecstatic as Bush tries to get approved a new welfare legislation which includes a marriage initiative.

Under the Bush marriage proposal, the government would spend $300 million per year on programs promoting marriage. That includes $200 million in federal dollars, and $100 million states would have to spend in matching funds. The administration is vague about what the money would go for, but says it would help couples that are already interested in marriage, perhaps through financial incentives or by offering counseling.

State sponsored marriages?

Michael Tanner of the libertarian Cato Institute says there's no evidence these programs will work and argues there are too few "marriageable men" out there anyway.

"It's not like there's a doctor or an accountant down the street waiting to marry an unwed teenage mother," Tanner said Thursday before a news conference with feminists and others to denounce the initiative.

Women's groups worry that women will wind up coerced into bad, possibly abusive relationships. "The government has no business being involved in personal issues like marriage," said Lisalyn Jacobs of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund.

US snooping plan blocked

A controversial computer surveillance project that would comb through the personal records of Americans in the search for suspected terrorists has suffered a severe setback.
The US Senate has voted to cut funding for the programme, known as Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA)(previously called Total Information Awareness), despite pressure from the White House to back it.

Civil liberties activists have been vocal in their opposition to the plan, arguing it would impose a Big Brother state and intrude into the privacy of Americans.

The future of the multi-million dollar programme will be determined in talks on Capitol Hill but experts say the opponents of TIA are likely to win the day.

[...]

The TIA project would collect as much information about every single aspect of everyone in America as possible, from doctor's records to bank deposits, e-mail to travel tickets, phone conversations to magazine subscriptions.

Say goodbye to privacy.

Bush and Blair defend Iraq war

Mr Blair - who was greeted with cheers and repeated standing ovations during his address - said that even if they had been wrong about weapons of mass destruction, history would forgive the removal of Saddam Hussein.

What about the victims of the war? What about the soldiers and civilians that were killed? Do you think their families and loved ones would forgive them?

GOP Attorneys General Asked For Corporate Contributions

Republican state attorneys general in at least six states telephoned corporations or trade groups subject to lawsuits or regulations by their state governments to solicit hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions, according to internal fundraising documents obtained by The Washington Post.

One of the documents mentions potential state actions against health maintenance organizations and suggests the attorneys general should "start targeting the HMO's" for fundraising. It also cites a news article about consolidation and regulation of insurance firms and states that "this would be a natural area for us to focus on raising money."

The attorneys general were all members of the Washington-based Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). The companies they solicited included some of the nation's largest tobacco, pharmaceutical, computer, energy, banking, liquor, insurance and media concerns, many of which have been targeted in product liability lawsuits or regulations by state governments.

What's the definition of extortion?
ex·tor·tion ( P ) Pronunciation Key (k-stôrshn)
n.

• The act or an instance of extorting.
• Illegal use of one's official position or powers to obtain property, funds, or patronage.
• An excessive or exorbitant charge.
• Something extorted.

The article continues...

One document (obtained by WAPO from anonymous sources) states, for example, that Cornyn (the then Attorney General in Texas) was asked to collect a donation from Shell Oil in late 1999, but does not mention whether Shell gave the group money. The firm was one of five energy companies that reached a $12.6 million settlement with Cornyn in August 1999 in a dispute over unpaid royalties. Two years later, Shell was one of 28 oil and petrochemical companies to reach a $120 million settlement with him and the U.S. Department of Justice in a separate dispute over toxic waste.

Last night, Don Stewart, a spokesman for Cornyn, said the senator does not recall telephoning Shell Oil. Stewart also said he was "troubled by the inference that there is some kind of connection" between any such phone call and a legal settlement that "benefited the citizens of Texas."

This was just one instance of extortion. Read the article, there are many more.

Tenet Says He Didn't Know About Claim

CIA Director George J. Tenet told the Senate intelligence committee yesterday that his staff did not bring to his attention a questionable statement about Iraq seeking uranium in Africa before President Bush delivered his State of the Union address.

But Tenet told the senators during a nearly five-hour session behind closed doors that he takes responsibility for the now-famous 16-word sentence in the speech because an agency official had approved it after negotiations with the White House, according to congressional and administration sources who attended the session.

"Members were stunned," one Democratic senator in the meeting said, "because he said he basically wasn't aware of the sentence until recently."

The shit's going to hit fan real soon, or has it already? Who is this mystery agency official negotiating whether statements should be added to SOTU address? Why are there even negotiations when this particular 16 word sentence was removed from the Oct 7 speech in Ohio?

16 word sentence remind me of this.

AfterThought: The whole "I don't know" claim by Tenet reminds me of way back when I broke something and mom asked me if I knew who did it.

Man Sentenced on Racketeering, Not Terror

In a sharp blow to the government, a judge refused Thursday to add as much as a dozen years to the sentence of an Islamic charity director linked to Osama bin Laden, saying his racketeering offense was not a crime of terrorism.

Enaam Arnaout, 41, would have been sentenced to 20 years under federal guidelines calling for tougher prison terms for those convicted of terrorism offenses.

Judge Suzanne B. Conlon ruled, however, that the terrorism guideline does not apply in Arnaout's case.

He was not convicted of a terrorism offense, she said, ``Nor does the record reflect that he attempted, participated in, or conspired to commit any act of terrorism.''

For a simple racketeering conviction he could be sentenced to eight to 10 years in federal prison. Conlon has leeway to give him more or less at sentencing, scheduled for Aug. 18.

Pakistanis freed from Guantanamo

An American military aircraft has brought back 11 Pakistani nationals after they were released from US custody at the maximum security prison at Guantanamo Bay.
This is the biggest group to be set free from among the 54 Pakistanis taken to the Camp Delta detention centre, most of whom were arrested by the US authorities in Afghanistan - suspected of links to al-Qaeda.

Do these guys get any kind of compensation for the time they spent at Guantanamo Bay? I think they should. They weren't changed with any crimes. They just fought on the side of the Taliban. And as far as I know that's not a crime. These guys also didn't have any connections with al-qaeda but then again, if they did, they probably would never be released.

More signs that the economy isn't getting any better

• Aviation sector hits fresh turbulence

  Chicago-based Boeing, the world's largest aircraft maker, said it planned to axe between 4,000 and 5,000 jobs by the end of the year, blaming "continued weakness in the commercial airline industry".

• Stocks Fall on Earnings Worries

  Stocks fell Thursday as disappointing outlooks from technology bellwethers International Business Machines (IBM) and Nokia (NOK) raised doubts about the rebound that investors had been betting on for the last four months.
  In mid-afternoon trading Thursday, the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average was down 38 points at 9,056 while the technology-packed Nasdaq Composite Index was down 44 points at 1,703. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 11 points at 983.

• GM Earns Fall, Incentives, Tornado Blamed

  General Motors Corp., the world's largest automaker, on Thursday said second-quarter earnings plunged 30 percent due to the rising cost of consumer incentives and the shutdown of a key plant hit by a tornado.
  The results were much better than expected, and GM said it was now more optimistic about the earnings outlook for the full year, but Wall Street was not impressed. GM shares were little changed.

  They did blame the weather, but it doesn't help consumer convidence or the economy.

Maybe things aren't that bad after all

• Major carriers post profits, with Uncle Sam's help

  Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines all reported second-quarter profits, unlike the world's largest airline, American Airlines parent AMR Corp., which Wednesday posted a net loss of $75 million and an operating loss of $357 million.

**UPDATE**
Group Says 2001 Recession Lasted Eight Months

The recession that began in March 2001 ended the following November, the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research, the accepted arbiters of when slumps begin and end, announced today.

At eight months, the 2001 recession was slightly shorter than the average of the nine previous slumps since World War II and it was also among the mildest in terms of lost output. The 1990-91 recession also lasted for eight months.

While the economy has been growing for the past 20 months, the committee was quick to say that deciding the recession was long since over did not mean the economy was in good shape. For instance, it said, "The most recent data indicate that employment has not begun to recover at all."

Basically the economy is on it's way up but still in the hole. In any case, the sceptic in me says maybe not.

Damage control
Check this animation out. It's hilarious.

Sidestepping Sanctions (via Democracy Now!)

While the Bush administration looks the other way, U.S. companies are dodging laws that bar them from doing business with nations accused of sponsoring terrorism.

This has probably been going on before the Bush administration came into power. The article does not mention it.

In April, as American tanks approached the outskirts of Baghdad, Pentagon officials suggested that only U.S. companies would be allowed to take part in the postwar reconstruction of Iraq's oil fields. In strategic leaks to the press, the Defense Department offered a rationale for an American-only policy: European firms, they declared, should be excluded because they do business with Iran and other countries that sponsor terrorist organizations and harbor weapons of mass destruction.

What defense officials failed to note, however, is that many U.S. companies routinely find ways to bypass economic sanctions and export regulations that bar American citizens and companies from trading with Iran, North Korea, Libya, and Sudan. Taking advantage of legal loopholes, these corporations simply conduct their business through offshore subsidiaries that employ only foreign citizens. With no Americans on the payroll, the subsidiaries are free to ignore U.S. sanctions against the "axis of evil" and other countries identified by the Bush administration as the primary sponsors of terrorism. Other U.S. firms -- including Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, and Procter & Gamble -- ship their products to Dubai, where third parties are known to "re-export" goods to Iran.

[...]

In Iran -- "the most active state sponsor of terrorism," according to the State Department -- General Electric is providing four hydroelectric generators to expand a dam on the Kurun River through a Canadian subsidiary called GE Hydro and is also supplying pipeline compressors and gas turbines for Iran's burgeoning oil sector through an Italian unit called Nuovo Pignone. Not far from the Iraqi border, a subsidiary of Halliburton is helping to build a $228 million fertilizer plant, one of the world's largest. Another Halliburton division based in Sweden is providing the Iranian National Oil Co. with a $226 million semi-submersible drilling rig, while other subsidiaries operate in Libya. A British subsidiary of ConocoPhillips helped Iran survey its Azadegan oil field, and ExxonMobil only recently sold its Sudanese gas subsidiary based in Khartoum.

Why are these corporations allowed to invest money in "the most active sponsor of terrorism" when one of the reasons given for the Iraq war was that Saddam was sponsoring terrorists by giving cash to families of suicide bombers? What Saddam did wasn't right and allowing these companies to continue to profit isn't either. But this is all legal. It's a loophole that these companies have been taking advantage of.

US faces 'Iraqi guerrilla war'

The US chief of military operations in Iraq has admitted that attacks against US troops in the country bore the hallmarks of a "classic guerrilla-type campaign".

[...]

In Wednesday's attacks:

• One soldier was killed and two injured in an explosion which hit their convoy as they travelled west of the capital, near Abu Ghraib
• A missile was fired at an American transport plane as it landed at Baghdad airport in what a spokesperson said was possibly the first such attack during the conflict
• The pro-American mayor of the western Iraqi town of Haditha and one of his sons were shot and killed
• At least three other US soldiers were wounded in separate attacks in Baghdad.

Correspondents say US forces in Iraq are becoming increasingly nervous and desperate to return home.

One soldier at the scene of Wednesday's convoy blast wept and another raked the ground with machine gun fire.

"We need more protection. We've seen enough. We've stayed in Iraq long enough," one soldier travelling in the convoy said.

There is growing anger in the United States about delays in bringing troops home - particularly from the 3rd Infantry Division which helped conquer Baghdad.

Their return has been delayed four times. General Abizaid said they would be returning in September but added their homecoming was conditional on replacements being ready.

The BBC's Peter Greste says Iraqis working with Americans are also becoming increasingly frightened about the risk to their own lives.

He says translators are worried about reprisals from the militias.

Also on CNN.com

A U.S. soldier was killed Wednesday in an attack on a convoy in Baghdad, bringing the number of American battle deaths in the Iraqi conflict to 148 -- the same number as in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

This after just 10 weeks of occupation.

Flash Mob Alert - Today's the Day

The fourth manhattan flash mob will be held on Wednesday, July 16th. CheeseBikini has more details...

CIA: Syria weapons threat is exaggerated

In a new dispute over the interpretation of intelligence data, the CIA and other agencies objected to a Bush administration assessment of the threat of Syria's weapons of mass destruction that was to be presented Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

After the objections, the planned testimony by Undersecretary of State John Bolton, a leading administration hawk, was delayed until September.

There were conflicting explanations for the delay.

U.S. officials said Bolton was prepared to tell members of a House International Relations subcommittee that Syria's development of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons had progressed to where they posed a threat to the region's stability.

The CIA and other intelligence agencies said that assessment was exaggerated, sources said.

deja vous?
Dunno who John Bolton is? Check this out...
John Bolton: Syria, Iran, North Korea to follow Iraq

Grand Finale to the Photo Op(via hundreds of other blogs)

Q So even though there has been some question about the intelligence -- the intelligence community knowing beforehand that perhaps it wasn't, you still believe that when you gave it --

THE PRESIDENT: Well, the speech that I gave was cleared by the CIA. And, look, the thing that's important to realize is that we're constantly gathering data. Subsequent to the speech, the CIA had some doubts. But when I gave the -- when they talked about the speech and when they looked at the speech, it was cleared. Otherwise, I wouldn't have put it in the speech. I'm not interested in talking about intelligence unless it's cleared by the CIA. And as Director Tenet said, it was cleared by the CIA.

This after Tenet in a July 11th statement said that "These 16 words should never have been included in the text written for the President. " Bush continues...

The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is, absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in. And, therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove him from power, along with other nations, so as to make sure he was not a threat to the United States and our friends and allies in the region. I firmly believe the decisions we made will make America more secure and the world more peaceful.

Thank you.

Wow! And he does it with soo much confidence. Didn't any of the reporters asking him questions start cracking up? I know I would've if I was there.

Rock the Vote
QUESTION OF THE DAY
Should the United States launch a pre-emptive strike against North Korea?
Results as of 7/15/03 6:08PM..

Yes 25% 1545 votes
No 75% 4543 votes

Total: 6088 votes

*UPDATE*
Results as of 7/16/03 755AM..

Yes 23% 1870 votes
No 77% 6391 votes

Total: 8261 votes

White House Foresees Deficit Reaching $455 Billion This Year

The Federal budget deficit will be $455 billion, roughly 50 percent larger than the White House estimated in February, the President's Office of Management and Budget said this afternoon.

The sluggish economy, the cost of on-going operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the administration's tax cuts are the primary sources for the rising revenue shortfall.

The projected deficit announced today, for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, is up sharply from the $304 billion deficit the budget office foresaw six months ago. Unless conditions change significantly over the next few months, private analysts said the number could be even bigger.

While drastically bigger than the original forecast, the numbers do not come as much of a surprise. When it offered its last estimates in February, the White House did not include costs related to the war in Iraq. And this year's $330 billion tax cut had not been enacted.

[...]

The economy, which has not grown anywhere near as rapidly as the administration forecast back in February, has also contributed to the rising deficit, as tax revenues have declined.

Maybe the Republicans didn't cut taxes enough. They probably want to borrow more money to give more tax cuts( or start another war someplace else) and that'll really stimulate the economy.

That takes the biscuit

The news that the Australian cricket team have been ordered to cut down on the sledging will have delighted many.

Now you won't hear about classic encounters like this....

Glenn McGrath v Eddo Brandes
McGrath was bowling to the Zimbabwe number 11 - who was unable to get his bat anywhere near the ball.

McGrath, frustrated that Brandes was still at the crease, wandered up during one particular over and inquired: "Why are you so fat?"

Quick as a flash, Brandes replied: "Because every time I make love to your wife, she gives me a biscuit."

Even the Aussie slip fielders were in hysterics.

lol...

Like Autopsy Reports?
I found this blog a while ago (don't remember how) but I think it's great. Check it out....
Here's an excerpt from one of his posts....

The first noticeable thing (besides the freakin' smell) is the green appearance overall. Some areas are a dark, almost blackish, green and some areas are a lighter green. Green is the color change that the red blood goes through when it breaks down. Then there is what is referred to as "skin slippage." The skin basically sloughs off in the direction of gravity. There can even be what is known as degloving. For example, in the case on friday, the skin around the ankle and foot slipped off in such a way that it was hanging off the toe inside out. It sort of reminds you of a snake shedding its skin. If the body is found on its back, then the skin on the chest won't slip as much, but if you press on it, you can feel air bubbles underneath. The gases that are given off by the bacteria that are eating away at the insides cause the abdomen to swell. Also, most decomp faces remind you of something you would see in a horror movie. Usually the eyes are not very recognizable and the green decomp material covers what may be left.

* ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE

http://www.unitedforpeace.org 212-603-3700

Demand that Bush come clean on Weaponsgate!

The Bush Administration is desperately trying to contain the brewing controversy about its false statements regarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. They lied to drive us into a war against a country that posed no threat, a war which has so far killed over 6000 Iraqi civilians (http://www.iraqbodycount.net) and over 200 American soldiers. Speak out now! Help keep this issue in the public spotlight.

Read More.....

(Thanks to Christine B)

U.S. refuses to make terror witness available to Moussaoui

The Justice Department acknowledges its defiance of a judge's order may cause dismissal of charges against accused September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, but says it won't produce an al Qaeda prisoner for questioning by the defendant.
The government notified the trial judge Monday that it wouldn't budge in its refusal to let Moussaoui, an acknowledged al Qaeda loyalist, interview a former superior -- suspected September 11 attack coordinator Ramzi Binalshibh.

Can the Justice Department do this? Can the court hold them in contempt and throw them in jail?

While dismissal could ultimately lead to prosecution by a military tribunal -- where the government's national security concerns would be paramount -- the Alexandria, Virginia-based judge could take less drastic steps. She could throw out some charges, exclude government evidence or instruct jurors that the government refused to provide certain evidence.

Some 3rd Infantry Troops to Stay On in Iraq

Elements of the 3rd Infantry Division , who were told by their commanding general that they would be coming home next month and September, will now be held indefinitely in Iraq.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that almost all of the 3rd -- which led the coalition rush from the Kuwait border to Baghdad -- would be home by September.

Banzia TV Fox reaches new lows in entertaintainment.

Did you guys see this show last night at 8:30 PM on Fox 5 (NYC area)? It was offensive at soo many levels I don't know where to start.

Basically, throughout the show, viewers can place bets on multiple-choice answers. I'm not sure if you'll get anything if you win. The games, last night, ranged from being slightly funny to OMG, what's wrong with them. The other thing about the show that I didn't like was the fact that they stereotyped Asian people as being unable to speak proper English and also I wasn’t too fond of the whole Asian accent which I think was very exaggerated.

One of the games was “old lady wheelchair chicken contest”. Now this was very disturbing. They actually had two old ladies on wheelchairs playing chicken. I think anyone who has a grandmother or knows an elderly person would probably find this offensive. The senior citizens didn’t have any visible knee guards or head protection. Almost seemed like they were taking advantage of poor seniors trying to make some money. Very sad.

The other really offensive game was “amputee soccer goal scoring contest” (not sure exactly what they called it in the show). In this game, a striker who is missing one leg tries to score in the penalty shootout against a goalkeeper who is missing an arm. I have great respect of Achilles athletes and found it very disrespectful.

Army Times Poll (scroll down) - via Roland

What do you think about the "bring them on" challenge President Bush issued July 2 from the White House, referring to those who attack U.S. troops in Iraq?
Options...
1) It showed U.S. resolve and confidence in troops to finish the job in Iraq
2) It was irresponsible and unnecessarily placed the lives of U.S. troops in even greater danger
3) I don't know

See results here. They might surprise you.

20 Lies About the War

1 Iraq was responsible for the 11 September attacks

A supposed meeting in Prague between Mohammed Atta, leader of the 11 September hijackers, and an Iraqi intelligence official was the main basis for this claim, but Czech intelligence later conceded that the Iraqi's contact could not have been Atta. This did not stop the constant stream of assertions that Iraq was involved in 9/11, which was so successful that at one stage opinion polls showed that two-thirds of Americans believed the hand of Saddam Hussein was behind the attacks. Almost as many believed Iraqi hijackers were aboard the crashed airliners; in fact there were none.

I actually know people that believe this and I didn't bother discussing the issue with them.
Other lies include, Iraq and al-Qa'ida were working together, Iraq could deploy its weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes and troops would face chemical and biological weapons.

India rejects Iraq troop request

The Indian Government has rejected a US request to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq.

U.S. report on 9/11 to be 'explosive'

WASHINGTON - A long-awaited final report on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will be released in the next two weeks, containing new information about U.S. government mistakes and Saudi financing of terrorists.

Former Rep. Tim Roemer, who served on the House Intelligence Committee and who has read the report, said it will be ''highly explosive'' when it becomes public.

The staff director for the congressional investigation that produced the 800-page report, Eleanor Hill, said Wednesday that several lengthy battles with the Bush administration over how much secret data to declassify have been resolved.

She expects the document to go to the Government Printing Office late this week and then be made public about a week later.

''It's compelling and galvanizing and will refocus the public's attention on Sept. 11,'' predicted Roemer, an Indiana Democrat. ``Certain mistakes, errors and gaps in the system will be made clear.''

I wonder who the fall guy is going to be? I doubt the Bush administration will be held responsible for not being able to stop the 9-11 attacks.

Highlight of Bush's trip to Africa
Another entry under "Bush doing what no other US President has done before" (presumably).



In case you didn't notice, two elephants are getting it on while a third is either watching or taking a break. :o)

Later, at the press conference, Bush describes the experience....

Flash Mob Alert
The fourth manhattan flash mob will be held on Wednesday, July 16th. CheeseBikini has more details...

Keep to the law, Blair tells Bush

Tony Blair gave George Bush a strong warning yesterday that he must follow proper legal procedures in the military trial of two Britons held at Guantanamo Bay who face the prospect of a death sentence.
As 163 MPs signed a motion calling for the men to be repatriated, the prime minister made his unease clear when he demanded that the US should observe the "proper canons of law".

"I quite agree that any commission or tribunal that tries these men must be one conducted in accordance with proper canons of law so that a fair trial is both taking place and seen to take place," he said as he faced intense questions in the Commons.

The prime minister issued his rare rebuke to Mr Bush in response to the president's formal ruling last week that Moazzam Begg and Feroz Abbasi should face a military trial at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Wow! Tony Blair finally grew himself a set of balls, he's speaking up against Bush!
It's too late, his political career has ended. And what I don't get is that he is speaking up now against the military trial but didn't mind the fact that these individuals were held for 18 months without trial or access to a lawyer.

Bush to the Military: Nothing But Lip Service
Great article about what's going on with the US army and the views of a few whose loved ones are fighting this war in Iraq.

Editorial from Army Times: Nothing but lip service

In recent months, President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress have missed no opportunity to heap richly deserved praise on the military. But talk is cheap — and getting cheaper by the day, judging from the nickel-and-dime treatment the troops are getting lately. For example, the White House griped that various pay-and-benefits incentives added to the 2004 defense budget by Congress are wasteful and unnecessary — including a modest proposal to double the $6,000 gratuity paid to families of troops who die on active duty. This comes at a time when Americans continue to die in Iraq at a rate of about one a day.

And don't forget to scroll down to the "From a soldier's father" message....

"My son is in the U.S.Army and currently stationed in Baghdad. I hear from him every three or four days. He is like most of the young men and women who went to fight over there inasmuch as he was proud to go and achieve what President Bush said was necessary. I have seen his attitude take a U-turn during the last month. At first he was saying: "I wonder why we are not doing this or that to help make life better for our soldiers?" Then he started to wonder why we were not doing more to help the Iraqi people who are suffering under terrible conditions. Not enough water or food, no electricity most of the time, a terrible shortage of medical supplies and medical staff, basically they are living like animals. Then he started to worry about the safety of our troops in the area. He says they are sitting ducks and easy targets for Iraqi people bent upon gaining revenge for slain family members and by those who hold the U.S. responsible for the terrible conditions they find themselves in. Yesterday he had a different message altogether."

(Thanks to Christine B and Lisa G)

White House 'lied about Saddam threat'

A former US intelligence official who served under the Bush administration in the build-up to the Iraq war accused the White House yesterday of lying about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.
The claims came as the Bush administration was fighting to shore up its credibility among a series of anonymous government leaks over its distortion of US intelligence to manufacture a case against Saddam.

This was the first time an administration official has put his name to specific claims. The whistleblower, Gregory Thielmann, served as a director in the state department's bureau of intelligence until his retirement in September, and had access to the classified reports which formed the basis for the US case against Saddam, spelled out by President Bush and his aides.

Mr Thielmannn said yesterday: "I believe the Bush administration did not provide an accurate picture to the American people of the military threat posed by Iraq."

He conceded that part of the problem lay with US intelligence, but added: "Most of it lies with the way senior officials misused the information they were provided."

[...]

At a press conference yesterday, Mr Thielmann said that, as of March 2003, when the US began military operations, "Iraq posed no imminent threat to either its neighbours or to the United States".

In one example, Mr Thielmann said a fierce debate inside the White House about the purpose of aluminium tubes bought by Baghdad had been "cloaked in ambiguity".

While some CIA analysts thought they could be used for gas centrifuges to enrich uranium, the best experts at the energy department disagreed. But the national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, said publicly that they could only be used for centrifuges.

And lets not forget the claims made by Powell in the speech at the UN.

Mr Thielmann also said there was no significant pattern of cooperation between Iraq and al-Qaida. He added: "This administration has had a faith-based intelligence attitude ... 'We know the answers - give us the intelligence to support those answers'."

The Bush administration definitely took advantage of our fears after the 9-11 attacks to drum up support for the war in Iraq by claiming that Al-qaida and Saddam had significant links. What suprises me is that there are still people out there that believe that Iraq was connected somehow to the 9-11 attacks.

Responding to claims of deliberate distortions, Mr Bush accused his critics of "trying to rewrite history" and insisted "there is no doubt in my mind" that Saddam "was a threat to world peace".

Meanwhile, US citizens are still being killing in Iraq. No WMDs have been found yet. I think eventually they will find some WMDs, afterall he used them against Iran and the Kurds and this was when the US supported Saddam. But where are the 8500 liters of anthrax, 550 artillery shells with mustard, 30,000 empty munitions and enough precursors to increase his stockpile to as much as 500 tons of chemical agents?
No Saddam Al-Qaida links have been found. And none will be found. So if the people feel safe, they shouldn't. The only thing, as far as terrorism goes, that the war in Iraq produced was more terrorists who are pissed off at the US. Just ask the relatives of the 3000+ cvilians killed during the war what they think of the US.

Kill looters, urges archaeologist

An American archaeologist yesterday urged her compatriots to kill the looters who are pillaging archaeological sites in Iraq.
"I would like to see some helicopters flying over these sites, and some bullets fired at the looters," Elizabeth Stone, head of archaeology at Stony Brook University in New York, said in London yesterday. "I think you have got to kill some people to stop this."

Yes, let us kill the looters, because that's exactly what happens in "free" countries. Summary executions. Very nice. (in case you didn't get it, my comment was peppered with sarcasm)

3rd Infantry to Leave Iraq Soon, Rumsfeld Tells Senate Panel

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some of the longest-serving U.S. troops in Iraq will return home soon and more countries will be providing soldiers to ease the burden on American forces who are increasingly under attack, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told senators Wednesday.

Great news but what about replacements? Is the Iraqi army going to be ready by then.

Rumsfeld said 19,000 coalition forces from 19 countries are on the ground. Another 19 countries have committed a total of 11,000 troops, which would bring the total to 30,000. Also, discussions are under way with 11 other countries. Franks said talks were continuing with Pakistan and India.

Whether the international forces keep their promises ramains to be seen. Right now the Bush administration is under a lot of pressure due to the "post war" casualties. Once the international troops replace the US marines, they won't get too much heat when a few hundred, say for example Pakistani or Indian troops die. Works well for the 2004 elections.

Democrats pressed Rumsfeld about whether the administration specifically requested forces from NATO. Rumsfeld said his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, made a formal request for postwar assistance in December

"None since the war?'' asked Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee's top Democrat.

"I have no idea,'' Rumsfeld said, offering to find out.

Shouldn't the Defense Secretary stay on top of things like this? They really have a plan for post war Iraq, don't they?

A Former Special Forces Soldier Responds to Bush's Invitation for Iraqis to Attack US Troops
"Bring 'Em On?" - By STAN GOFF

In 1970, when I arrived at my unit, Company A, 4th Battalion/503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, in what was then the Republic of Vietnam, I was charged up for a fight. I believed that if we didn't stop the communists in Vietnam, we'd eventually be fighting this global conspiracy in the streets of Hot Springs, Arkansas. I'd been toughened by Basic Training, Infantry Training and Parachute Training, taught how to use my weapons and equipment, and I was confident in my ability to vanquish the skinny unter-menschen. So I was dismayed when one of my new colleagues--a veteran who'd been there ten months--told me, "We are losing this war."

[.......]

Yesterday, when I read that US Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush, in a moment of blustering arm-chair machismo, sent a message to the 'non-existent' Iraqi guerrillas to "bring 'em on," the first image in my mind was a 20-year-old soldier in an ever-more-fragile marriage, who'd been away from home for 8 months. He participated in the initial invasion, and was told he'd be home for the 4th of July. He has a newfound familiarity with corpses, and everything he thought he knew last year is now under revision. He is sent out into the streets of Fallujah (or some other city), where he has already been shot at once or twice with automatic weapons or an RPG, and his nerves are raw. He is wearing Kevlar and ceramic body armor, a Kevlar helmet, a load carrying harness with ammunition, grenades, flex-cuffs, first-aid gear, water, and assorted other paraphernalia. His weapon weighs seven pounds, ten with a double magazine. His boots are bloused, and his long-sleeve shirt is buttoned at the wrist. It is between 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit at midday. He's been eating MRE's three times a day, when he has an appetite in this heat, and even his urine is beginning to smell like preservatives. Mosquitoes and sand flies plague him in the evenings, and he probably pulls a guard shift every night, never sleeping straight through. He and his comrades are beginning to get on each others' nerves. The rumors of 'going-home, not-going-home' are keeping him on an emotional roller coaster. Directives from on high are contradictory, confusing, and often stupid. The whole population seems hostile to him and he is developing a deep animosity for Iraq and all its people--as well as for official narratives.

This is the lad who will hear from someone that George W. Bush, dressed in a suit with a belly full of rich food, just hurled a manly taunt from a 72-degree studio at the 'non-existent' Iraqi resistance.

(Thanks to Christine B.)

ACLU Demands Truth From Justice Department; New Report Details False Claims About Scope, Impact of PATRIOT Act (via NoteOnAtrocities)

WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union today said that it has found a consistent pattern of factually inaccurate assertions by the Department of Justice in statements to the media and Congress, statements that mischaracterize the scope, potential impact and likely harm of the now-notorious USA PATRIOT Act.