Cosmic Iguana - Voice of the Evil Doers

NATION:

...For the first time since the war in Iraq began twenty-six months ago, the House of Representatives debated the need for US troops to exit Iraq. The modest amendment, introduced by Rep. Lynn Woolsey of California last Thursday evening, called on President Bush to develop a plan for the withdrawal of US forces. With virtually no prior notice or lobbying, 123 Democrats and 5 Republicans voted for Woolsey's amendment. But with no support from either the Democratic or Republican leadership, and thus no chance of passing, no major US newspaper felt obligated to cover the unprecedented proceedings... [*]

Cheney says we'll be there till 2009. He plans to run the oil till who knows when. The media is bought off. And the public feels disempowered. But more than half the Congressional Democrats voted for withdrawal. If things stay this bad for another year, lots more will join them.

Posted by cosmici at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Basra is supposed to be a sea of tranquility compared to Baghdad, but apparently that's just on the surface. GUARDIAN:

The chief of police in Basra admitted yesterday that he had effectively lost control of three-quarters of his officers and that sectarian militias had infiltrated the force and were using their posts to assassinate opponents.

Speaking to the Guardian, General Hassan al-Sade said half of his 13,750-strong force was secretly working for political parties in Iraq's second city and that some officers were involved in ambushes.

Other officers were politically neutral but had no interest in policing and did not follow his orders, he told the Guardian.

"I trust 25% of my force, no more." ... [*]

Every time the US intervenes in a country it destabilizes it for years. Iran 1954, Haiti 1993, whenever. Sometimes its in a good cause, but most of the time its relatively pointless. Iraq is going to haunt us for decades in spite of The Dick Cheney's recent promise to get us out by 2009 (incidentally, after he is out of office, just by coincidence [*]

Posted by cosmici at 08:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AP:

Quoting letters of the fallen from the war in Iraq, President Bush vowed yesterday to a Memorial Day audience of military families and soldiers in uniform that the nation will honor its dead by striving for peace and democracy, no matter the cost...

"My death will mean nothing if you stop now," Louisiana National Guard Sgt. Michael Evans wrote in a letter home. Evans died Jan. 28 while on patrol in western Baghdad, part of a major security operation to protect the first free Iraqi elections in more than 50 years.

"I know it'll be hard, but I gave my life so you could live, not just live, but live free," Evans wrote... [*]

Hmm, that's weird. A living soldier writing "I gave my life..." Apparently, he not only had a premonition, but time-travelled to the future in order to write it in the past tense. Or more likely Karl Rove wrote it for him. That would explain the good job he did covering White House talking points.

Posted by cosmici at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Remember Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr in the film about the CIA funded airline that became infamous for drug smuggling during the Viet Nam war? Well, here's the 21st century version. NY TIMES:

...When the Central Intelligence Agency wants to grab a suspected member of Al Qaeda overseas and deliver him to interrogators in another country, an Aero Contractors plane often does the job. If agency experts need to fly overseas in a hurry after the capture of a prized prisoner, a plane will depart Johnston County and stop at Dulles Airport outside Washington to pick up the C.I.A. team on the way.

Aero Contractors' planes dropped C.I.A. paramilitary officers into Afghanistan in 2001; carried an American team to Karachi, Pakistan, right after the United States Consulate there was bombed in 2002; and flew from Libya to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the day before an American-held prisoner said he was questioned by Libyan intelligence agents last year, according to flight data and other records... [*]

It is interesting however, that no one has raised the question about how all the heroin that suddenly began growing in Afghanistan after the American invasion is getting shipped to the West. Could Aero Contractors be playing a role? Just asking.

Posted by cosmici at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

SIDNEY MORNING HERALD:

Personal criticism of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il, from the highest levels in Washington may thwart hopes of Kim's isolationist regime returning to negotiations over its nuclear weapons program.

The US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, sharply attacked Mr Kim, as United Nations officials warned of a famine about to hit North Korea and the US deploys more Stealth strike aircraft to the Korean peninsula... [*]

Ever since BushCo took office they have been addicted to rattling sabres at N. Korea. and each time they have, the thin-skinned N. Koreans have taken offense. They declared John Bolton Person non grata, but Dick Cheney didn't learn the lesson.

Or maybe he did. Maybe the purpose is to keep the Koreans from cutting a deal so that we can stage another war. It worked with Saddam in Gulf War 1.0 , when Bush I deliberately mispronounced Saddam's name [*]in order to piss him off enough to keep from making peace. We now know they tried it again in 2002 with their bombing campaign (see below).

Of course, a war on the Korean peninsula would cause an estimated 1 million casualties [*], so it wouldn't be rational to do that. But has rationality really ever stopped BushCo when they've made up their minds on something?

Posted by cosmici at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE:

... As this bloody month of car bombs and American deaths -- the most since January -- comes to a close, as we gather in groups small and large to honor our war dead, let us all sing of their bravery and sacrifice. But let us also ask their forgiveness for sending them to a war that should never have happened. In the 1960s it was Vietnam. Today it is Iraq. Let us resolve to never, ever make this mistake again. Our young people are simply too precious. [*]

What he said - period.

Posted by cosmici at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some pictures say more than words:

Posted by cosmici at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WRH:

Today is Memorial Day, the day we are taught to remember our war dead and to honor their sacrifice...

...The reality is that Memorial Day is a day when we are supposed to forget. We are supposed to forget those we knew and loved and how they were torn from our families then to be torn to bloody bits upon the field.We are supposed to forget the greed and avarice of our leaders masked in lies and deception that sent young men and women to be killed and crippled upon fields not covered with glory but with blood, fear, and savaged anatomy. We are supposed to forget all of that, and make do with those sterile and empty symbols that take the place of the truth, that we may close our eyes to the suffering and pain we create by closing our eyes to the greed and avarice of our leaders. We are never supposed to remember those who died in wars, lest we feel sympathy for them and their families, and falter as out leaders march our young people off to the next war... [*]

Harsh words but consider this: Nearly every war we have had in the last 50 years has been with countries led by a former CIA operative [*]. So what is up with that? A cynical person might say that War is good for Business or War gets Leaders Re-elected. But I'm not a person, I'm an iguana.

Posted by cosmici at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That's what Bush and his buddies have been saying [*] all year.

In truth, the US decided to invade Iraq in January 2001. They convinced Britain in 2002. The Downing Street Memos confirm this, and it was obvious to anyone who was really paying attention by late summer 2002 [*]. Now this has come out. LONDON TIMES:

THE RAF and US aircraft doubled the rate at which they were dropping bombs on Iraq in 2002 in an attempt to provoke Saddam Hussein into giving the allies an excuse for war, new evidence has shown.

The attacks were intensified from May, six months before the United Nations resolution that Tony Blair and Lord Goldsmith, the attorney-general, argued gave the coalition the legal basis for war. By the end of August the raids had become a full air offensive.

The details follow the leak to The Sunday Times of minutes of a key meeting in July 2002 at which Blair and his war cabinet discussed how to make “regime change” in Iraq legal... [*]

Democracies don't start wars? If that is still true, it just proves that the United States is no longer one.

Posted by cosmici at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

LA TIMES:

A year after the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal erupted, Iraqi anger has flared anew over the growing numbers of detainees held without charge at the notorious detention center and another prison in the south.

In the battle against the insurgency, U.S. military sweeps net many guerrillas, but also thousands of people whose offenses are nonexistent, minor or impossible to prove. They are often held for months, only to be released without explanation.

The population of long-term detainees at Abu Ghraib and the larger Camp Bucca, near Basra, has nearly doubled since August and now tops 10,000. With a large operation by Iraqi security forces underway in Baghdad, that number could rise... [*]

They are being held as "security risks" with no limit to how long they can be held. There is no habeus corpus in Iraq. Everyone innocent person who is held and their friends and their families are potential recruits for the insurgency. That's called a self-fulfilling prophecy, or maybe I should say a self-defeating one.

Posted by cosmici at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MERKFUND:

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is warning that the U.S. current account deficit will hit $900 billion or 6.7 percent of U.S. gross domestic product in 2006. These very large numbers are caused by a continued reinforcement of global imbalances: on the one hand, a very low U.S. savings rate, high U.S. consumption fostered by very low interest rates, and cheap Asian goods flooding the U.S. market (cheap because Asia subsidizes their exports through low exchange rates). On the other hand, we have lackluster demand in Europe and some Asian countries, notably Japan. OECD chief economist Jean-Philippe Cotis told the Financial Times: “We are not saying there will be a doomsday tomorrow morning ... but because the adjustments [to global imbalances] are relatively slow, we are running the risk that an accident will happen. [..] Time is running out – the numbers are getting big, big, big.”

As pressure has mounted on China to revalue their currency, China has instead opted to impose export tariffs on select textiles and other goods. For China, this path of appeasing Western complaints about dumping their markets has the advantage that they do not have to devalue their massive currency reserves, that the Chinese government increases tax revenue, and that they can micro-manage their economy... [*]

Export tariffs are a joke. They allow the exporting country to raise capital, while hurting the import countries consumers. The US tried this on Japanese trucks in the 1980s and look at how well THAT worked.

Meanwhile the humungous US trade deficit will continue to grow. Why bother then? Because it looks like someone is doing something. And that's good enough for BushCo.

Posted by cosmici at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WPOST:

Posters that depicted President Bush with a Groucho Marx-style mustache and cigar were ordered torn down at a high school after a student complained...

...Principal Kenny Lee ordered 100 posters removed from the campus of El Camino Real High School in the Woodland Hills area last week on grounds that they promoted smoking and "endorsing one ideology over another."...

...The school-funded posters advertised the students' play, "The Complete History of America (Abridged)," which satirizes U.S. history.

A senior who supports the president wrote a complaint letter to the administration, teachers and students said.

"We had one student who was very upset," Lee said. "If something is bothering a student on campus, we're going to address it."... [*]

I hope that if one student objects to military recruiting or unhealthy junk food on campus they will also address it, don't you?

Note that this is the same rationale "endorsing one ideology over another" that CBS used to ban Moveon.org ads from the Superbowl, the same year BushCo advertised that pot smoking supported terrorism.

Somehow the other side does always manage to get its message across while try to suppress ours, doesn't it?

Posted by cosmici at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Mr X sent this in a couple days ago but in the process of changing my email I forgot about it. SCOTSMAN:

Scotland is home to many fine regiments of the British Army ...(among them the Black Watch, who led the assault on Basra and helped secure and pacify the south of Iraq) ... Scotland is also home to several airbases chock full of the latest high-tech weoponry, staffed by highly competent aircrew. Not only that, the UK is one of the US's staunchest allies and Scotland in particular is rightly proud of its historic links to America...

... [but] Mr Bush is apparently not happy with the arrangements made for his safety and is not only bringing his own limousines and helicopters to ferry him around, he's bringing a whole aircraft carrier, with a battle group of US marines on board, just in case they need to … what, exactly? Invade Auchterarder?... [*]

One could say that the Preznit is a very insecure man (especially as he doesn't dare speak to any crowds that aren't pre-screened etc). Maybe he NEEDs the world's largest military to follow him wherever he goes?

On the other hand, don't get lulled into thinking he might not invade Scotland, after all.

Posted by cosmici at 08:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

GANNETT:

For the first time, a majority of Americans say they are likely to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton if she runs for president in 2008, according to a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday. The survey shows that the New York senator and former first lady has broadened her support nationwide in the last two years, although she still provokes powerful feelings from those who oppose her.... [*]

But then there's this, which I incorrectly took off a consolidator as a new story, but it's really from last October, as an astute commenter, grannyinsanity noticed. AP:

... Touch-screen machines "provide sufficient safeguards" of constitutional rights by warning voters if they didn't vote in a race and by allowing a final ballot review, U.S. District Judge James Cohn wrote in a 25-page order... [*]

You have the constitutional right to cast a ballot, but not to have it counted or counted right. I hate to tell Hillary this, but she could run against Saddam Hussein in this country in 2008, and she would not win Ohio or Florida or any state with a Republic Governor and/or Secretary of State.

That should go without saying, but f*ck 'em anyway. Plus you can bet the born-agains will literally raise holy hell. We may even see "Christian" suicide bombers. But f*ck 'em too.

Posted by cosmici at 03:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

WPOST:

Two Army analysts whose work has been cited as part of a key intelligence failure on Iraq -- the claim that aluminum tubes sought by the Baghdad government were most likely meant for a nuclear weapons program rather than for rockets -- have received job performance awards in each of the past three years, officials said...

...The Army analysts concluded that it was highly unlikely that the tubes were for use in Iraq's rocket arsenal, a finding that bolstered a CIA contention that they were destined for nuclear centrifuges, which was in turn cited by the Bush administration as proof that Saddam Hussein was reconstituting Iraq's nuclear weapons program.

The problem, according to the commission, which cited the two analysts' work, is that they did not seek or obtain information available from the Energy Department and elsewhere showing that the tubes were indeed the type used for years as rocket-motor cases by Iraq's military.... [*]

It's not really rewarding incompetence. That would assume that they DIDN'T know what they were doing, and I don't think we can assume that. More likely they were rewarding for doing their duty - that is, lying, cheating, stealing, or committing war crimes for their President.

There is no crime so great that you can't be rewarded for it - just ask John Bolton or Alberto Gonzales - so long as it was for Dear Leader.

UPDATE: Josh Marshall finally weighs in and he's with me. TPM:

...That each of these men could have been given such high commendations over the period of time in which their errors and poor performance became apparent makes it hard not to think that they were actually being intentionally rewarded for their flawed assessments. At a minimum, it demonstrates a complete indifference to any sort of accountability for a national embarrassment and scandal the magnitude of which the country has not even begun to come to grips with... [*]

At maximum, under Dear Leader's tutelage, we reward our war criminals and forgers for their treason.

Posted by cosmici at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Chinese government is locked in a bit of a fatal embrace with the US dollar. If they don't revaluate, they continue to lose what has amounted to 30% of the value of their HALF trillion US$ holdings. If they do revaluate, they put at risk their humungous trade surplus, the source of those holdings. That's not true for Chinese citizens though. CHINANEWS:

Affected by the recent anticipated adjustments in the RMB, quite a few Shanghainese residents lean towards getting rid of the U.S. dollars they own. In April this year, many Shanghainese banks have experienced the pressure of rising volume of foreign currency transactions. Many banks reflected that near end of April and beginning of May, residents' forex transactions amounts were up 30% or more over last year. Certain individual banks even reported single day currency transactions amounting to several hundred thousand U.S. dollars... [*]

Posted by cosmici at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One is the land of the free and the other, an increasingly dictatorial former evil empire.

Country 1:

The Marine Corps dropped murder charges yesterday against an officer accused of riddling two Iraqis with bullets and hanging a warning sign on their corpses as a grisly example to other suspected insurgents... [*]

Country 2:

A 12-member jury of the North Caucasus Military District Court in Rostov-on-Don decided last week that Captain Eduard Ulman and three subordinates were simply obeying orders when they killed six Chechen civilians in January 2002 and should not be held responsible... [*]

Now I am trying to remember which of the 2 countries attached electrodes to the genitals of prisoners and sexually tortured and humiliated them.

Posted by cosmici at 08:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I mean the completely independent democratic republic of Iraq. REUTERS:

Health experts in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, warned of a possible cholera outbreak this summer, saying they have seen an increase in cases so far this year and called for urgent action to prevent it from spreading.

Dr Duraid al-Khatoon, a paediatrician at the Children's Teaching Hospital in the capital, told IRIN that as of January 2005 at least one case of cholera in children has been reported every day and that 90 percent of the cases were living in suburbs where sewage treatment is non-existent. He added that last year less than 10 cases were reported by the hospital monthly, representing a three-fold increase in the disease... [*]

But it's not so bad for everyone. Some people are doing very well. WPOST:

...tucked away on a side street, Ghassan Aboudi's shop was busier than ever, he said. This month, three car bombs have exploded in the neighborhood, across a bridge from the U.S.-controlled Green Zone. Each blast shattered hundreds of windows over several blocks. And for Aboudi, a glass salesman, each added to what has become a flood of unfortunate customers...

At any other time, in almost any other place, Aboudi's would not be such a morbid, and lucrative, profession. But Baghdad has had as many car bombings this month as in all of last year. The city's glass salesmen acknowledge, sheepishly, that the bloody month has been a bonanza for them.... [*]

But don't feel bad, because you know what these attacks mean -- it means ... they are getting desperate, right? That's what they told us when Saddam was captured, the Provisional Government was formed, and when elections were held. Dang, they must be REALLY desperate now.

Posted by cosmici at 08:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you thought there was a limit to the depths Halliburton could stoop, there's this. Mark Baltazar signed up w/ KBR in order to buy a new home. He was injured in a suicide bombing in December with 22 other KBR employees. Seven were killed. COMMON DREAMS:

...like many civilian workers injured in Iraq, Baltazar is still battling with KBR's insurance adjusters. If he wins, he hopes to be paid the disability benefits he needs to support himself and his family.

Instead of saving for a new home, Baltazar finds himself worse off then he was when he left for Iraq; he's jobless because of his injuries, living in a Houston apartment, and relying on a $368 disability check every two weeks.

"You make more money working at McDonald's," he says dejectedly.

Because he worked for Halliburton's KBR, which uses Cayman Island subsidiaries to employ 70 percent of it's workers, Baltazar is not eligible for unemployment.

Baltazar's lawyer says he is also being denied full insurance coverage worth more than $1,000 a week as outlined in the Defense Base Act (DBA). The DBA requires businesses working overseas under U.S. funded contracts to provide insurance coverage for injuries and disabilities of all employees... [*]

Posted by cosmici at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This must mean "we are winning." WPOST:

..."We will also impose a concrete blockade around Baghdad, like a bracelet around an arm, God willing, and God be with us in our crackdown on the terrorists' infrastructure. No one will be able to penetrate this blockade," [Iraqi Defense Minister] Dulaimi said.

"You will witness unprecedentedly strict security measures."... [*]

Call me a pessimist, but somehow I think the insurgency will survive.

Posted by cosmici at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

AP:

As part of its faster response to requests from overseas, the Navy announced Tuesday it is sending five ships to the Middle East with a mission to disrupt terrorist operations at sea.

The 2,800 sailors had less than two months' notice that they would leave this week and next to spend about three months in the Mediterranean and Red seas.

Leaving Wednesday are the USS Saipan, an amphibious assault ship, the USS Nashville, an amphibious transport ship, the frigate USS Nicholas and the cruiser USS Philippine Sea. The Saipan, Nashville and Nicholas are all based in Norfolk, while the Philippine Sea's home port is Mayport, Fla.

The USS Gunston Hall, an amphibious dock landing ship, is to leave June 1 from Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base in Virginia Beach... [*]

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't amphibious assault and transport vessels more appropriate for sea-based invasion than blue-water interdiction?

Posted by cosmici at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HA'ARETZ:

Under the cloak of secrecy imparted by use of military code names, the American administration has been taking a big - and dangerous - step that will lead to the transformation of the nuclear bomb into a legitimate weapon for waging war...

...Remember the code name "CONPLAN 8022." Last week, the Washington Post reported that this unintelligible nickname masks a military program whose implementation could drag the world into nuclear war.

CONPLAN 8022 is a series of operational plans prepared by Startcom, the U.S. Army's Strategic Command, which calls for preemptive nuclear strikes against Iran and North Korea... [*]

The reason is that those "bunker busters" we heard so much about in Iraq and Afghanistan really don't work that well. We want something more powerful.

In the post-MAD era of a single super-power, we don't have to worry about nuclear escalation. BushCo, according to the article, considers these weapons "small" with "minimal" environmental and collateral damage.

The fact that the nuclear genie has been kept in the bottle, at least in part, for the last 60 years by a univeral doctrine that they were weapons of last resort is not considered. Nor is the the hypocrisy of nuclear war to prevent nuclear war.

Posted by cosmici at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

There are those moments when you can see just how laughably stupid BushCo is. AP:

Seeking to improve its image among Palestinians, the United States has launched an advertising campaign in the West Bank, using billboards and television commercials filled with grinning children to tell Palestinians they have cleaner water and more classrooms thanks to its generosity.

But the U.S. government's campaign is off to a tough start: No Palestinian entertainer or athlete was willing to serve as its goodwill ambassador, reflecting widespread anti-American sentiment. No political leaders were asked to participate... [*]

No one was willing to participate because they would have been SHOT! Likewise Karen Hughes's new position of Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy to the Islamic world is similarly doomed [*].

Why does their brand of BS work so much better here than abroad? Maybe owning the media has something to do with it.

Posted by cosmici at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DEMOCRACY NOW:

Images of thousands of dead U.S. soldiers helped to turn the tide of public opinion against the Vietnam War, but now photo-journalists are even banned from military funerals at Arlington national cemetery. A report this weekend in the Los Angeles Times documented the extremely rare publication of photos of American casualties in six major newspapers during a sixth month period. Readers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Washington Post never saw a single picture of a dead serviceman or servicewoman in their morning papers... [*]

I would be willing to wager that one of the strongest predictors of Republicanism is inability to empathize, especially with people different from oneself.

Pictures go a long way to bridging that gap, as we saw in Viet Nam and more recently the tsunami.

Numbers of deaths without the pictures are simply statistics, which is why BushCo has banned them.

Sidney Schanberg tells Amy Goodman in this Democracy Now interview, how Pacifica and other independent media sued the Pentagon to release such pictures. Not a single mainstream media outlet joined them. Pretty sad.

Posted by cosmici at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LA TIMES:

The U.S. military's plan to pacify Iraq has run into trouble in a place where it urgently needs to succeed.

U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad agree that Al Anbar province — the vast desert badlands stretching west from the cities of Fallouja and Ramadi to the lawless region abutting the Syrian border — remains the epicenter of the country's deadly insurgency.

Yet U.S. troops and military officials in the embattled province said in recent interviews that they have neither enough combat power nor enough Iraqi military support to mount an effective counterinsurgency against an increasingly sophisticated enemy... [*]

In fact, despite the recent publicity, the US is actually reducing troops in the area from 3600 down to 2100. Why? Because Baghdad is in flames and the few hundred trained Iraqi troops are also stretched too thin. They probably also have indigestion from all the raw cats they eat (see below).

Posted by cosmici at 08:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

FREE IRAQ:

On Friday [May 13, 2005], a 64 years old Iraqi farmer, Haj Haidar Abu Sijjad, took his tomato load in his pickup truck from Hilla to Baghdad, accompanied by Ali, his 11 years old grandson. They were stopped at an American check point and were asked to dismount. An American soldier climbed on the back of the pickup truck, followed by another a few minutes later, and thoroughly inspected the tomato filled plastic containers for about 10 minutes. Haj Haidar and his grandson were then allowed to proceed to Baghdad.
A minute later, his grandson told him that he saw one of the American soldiers putting a grey melon size object in the back among the tomato containers. The Haj immediately slammed on the brakes and stopped the car at the side of the road, at a relatively far distance from the check point. He found a time bomb with the clock ticking tucked among his tomatoes. He immediately recognized it, as he was an ex-army soldier. Panicking, he grabbed his grandson and ran away from the car. Then, realizing that the car was his only means of work, he went back, took the bomb and carried it in fear. He threw it in a deep ditch by the side of the road that was dug by Iraqi soldiers in preparation for the war, two years ago.

Upon returning from Baghdad, he found out that the bomb had indeed exploded... [*]

The site also lists a second example of possible US complicity in an attempted attack. Can we dismiss this as terrorist propaganda? Or is it evidence that, as reported here, the US is at least in some areas supporting the insurgents to undermine the Shi'ites to weaken its ability to align with Iran [*]?

Posted by cosmici at 08:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In 2000, a national recall of corn products was caused by contamination of human food by Starlink animal GMO corn. In March, Nature magazine revealed Syngenta contaminated 146,000 tons with unapproved GMO corn. Now industry wants to gut local protections against GMO bans. N.C. NEWS& OBSERVOR:

...[N.Carolina] House Bill 671 and Senate Bill 631 aim to prevent towns, counties or cities from passing any ordinance, regulation or resolution to control any kind of plant or plant pest (including invasive plant species). The bills would usurp local control by making the state Department of Agriculture the only body in North Carolina with the authority to regulate plants.

These bills are not a homegrown initiative, but part of a nationwide biotech industry campaign. Similar bills, containing identical language, have cropped up in at least nine other states as part of a campaign by industry to prevent citizen initiatives like those passed in three California counties last year that prohibited cultivation of genetically modified crops.

Proponents of the seed pre-emption bills, including the Agriculture Department, are championing the interests of corporate "gene giants" such as Monsanto and Syngenta -- not citizens... [*]

It appears that Monsanto et al don't mind the obviously small risk of creating mutants. Perhaps they even plan on marketing them to the DoD as X-men?

Posted by cosmici at 08:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

THINKPROGRESS has an interesting item on how the US is outsourcing Homeland Security to the former Arthur Andersen to the tune of $10 Billion over the next 10 years. Accenture, as it's now known, has a reputation as a "financial black hole", so we can probably kiss the money goodbye. Accenture advised the DHS on how to run the bidding process and just by coincidence won the contract. The money is being paid piecemeal so even if the system they design doesn't work, they'll still be paid [*].

Posted by cosmici at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is not a joke, apparently. TELEGRAPH:

The warriors of Iraq's new army excel at wearing balaclavas, eating raw cat and driving into battle at hair-raising speeds...

"We go fast, they not hit us. No need to be worried. Iraqi soldiers are very brave," boasted Capt Haidar, although not brave enough himself to give anything other than his first name. "I am special forces," he said. "To finish training we must catch a wild rabbit or cat with our hands, kill it with our hands and then eat it raw. I have eaten five cats. See how strong is the Iraqi soldier... [*]

The reporter, Oliver Poole in Muqdadiya, Iraq observes that it is a case of fearful troops boasting to boost their confidence. It's really very sad and pathetic.

Posted by cosmici at 08:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Onward Christian Soldiers... NY TIMES:

The Department of Defense inspector general's office is looking into accusations that a chaplain at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs was dismissed from her administrative job and given orders to transfer to a base in Japan because she had criticized the religious proselytizing of academy cadets.

An Air Force spokeswoman said Monday that the service had asked the inspector general to investigate the case of the chaplain, Capt. MeLinda Morton, who went public this month with her criticisms of the religious climate at the academy. The announcement came on the day a task force was to finish a preliminary report on an inquiry into complaints that some officers permitted harassment and inappropriate proselytizing at the academy... [*]

Never forget we are fighting a holy war. Christians are better soldiers because they won't question orders, especially about firing into cars of heathens approaching checkpoints. I think that's the point, anyway.

But with the military recruiting scandal, we should hardly be surprised that people are being forced to listen to conversion speeches or harassed for different beliefs once they are inside, as well.

And a chaplain of all people, should understand that's the way it should be, Gawdammmit!

Posted by cosmici at 07:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The truth is, we won't really know until we see whether the Democrats turn chicken-sh*t over the next Supreme Court nominee. But we know who WON'T be President in 2008 and it's Bill Frist.

Posted by cosmici at 09:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

REUTERS:

U.S. civil-liberties groups said on Monday they were alarmed at new provisions to be considered in Congress this week to strengthen the government's ability to seize private records without judicial review.

Officials from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Open Society Institute and the Center for Democracy and Technology said in a telephone conference call the new provisions to the USA Patriot Act would allow the FBI to secretly demand medical, tax, gun-purchase, travel and other records without approval from a judge...

..."This bill includes ideas long sought, and rejected ... The idea that a FBI official could issue a piece of paper saying, 'Give me all your records' with no judicial approval, no prosecutorial review, no checks and balances,"... [*]

The Injustice Department has already held people for years without lawyers or trials as in the Guanatanamo and Jose Padilla cases. Since judges are horrible liberals (even the Republican-appointed ones) why have them do any work at all? In fact, why not disband the Judiciary, Congress and everything but the Military and the Department of Homeland Security?

Then we will have the Government we want and deserve.

Posted by cosmici at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Remember this one? INTL-NEWS:

Congress has refused to halt spending on a decade-old investigation of former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros despite Democratic senators' attempt to stop it.

A Senate provision that would have ended spending on the probe next month was killed during closed-door negotiations on a broader bill paying for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

The bill for the Cisneros investigation had reached nearly $21 million at the end of the September... [*]

$21 million! That's more than double what I remember being spent on 9-11. But of course it is so much more important, isn't it?

Posted by cosmici at 02:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our moslem brothers in BushCo's Oil division are stll defecting. AINA:

... Like many Saudis, he was said to have experienced a religious awakening after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and dedicated himself to Allah, inspired by "the holy attack that demolished the foolish infidel Americans and caused many young men to awaken from their deep sleep," according to a posting on a jihadist website.

On April 11, he died as a suicide bomber, part of a coordinated insurgent attack on a U.S. Marine base in the western Iraqi city of Qaim. Just two days later, "the Martyrdom of Hadi bin Mubarak al-Qahtani" was announced on the Internet, the latest requiem for a young Saudi man who had clamored to follow "those 19 heroes" of Sept. 11 and had found in Iraq an accessible way to die.

Hundreds of similar accounts of suicide bombers are featured on the rapidly proliferating array of websites run by radical Islamists, online celebrations of death that offer a wealth of information about an otherwise shadowy foe at a time when U.S. military officials say that foreign fighters constitute a growing and particularly deadly percentage of the Iraqi insurgency... [*]

All the US propaganda about "foreign fighters" rings hollow when it turns out that however many they actually are, they are from our erstwhile "ally". Shoudn't we invade?

Posted by cosmici at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These two articles were linked by WRH today. CTV:

A scientist and former inspector for the U.S Agriculture Department says he's willing to take a lie detector test to back his claim that his government is covering up mad cow disease.

Lester Friedlander, now a consumer advocate, was fired from his job as head of inspections at a large meat-packing plant in Philadelphia in 1995 after criticizing what he called unsafe practices.

Friedlander said he knows U.S. Agriculture Department veterinarians who sent suspect cow brains to private laboratories that confirmed mad cow infection, but samples from the same animals were cleared by government labs... [*]

And there's this suspicious little item: SF CHRON:

A prominent physician at San Francisco General Hospital who once headed the San Francisco Medical Society was found stabbed to death inside the doorway of his Diamond Heights home Thursday, police said.

Dr. Robert J. Lull, 64, was discovered on the floor in the entryway of his hilltop home on Gold Mine Drive at Jade Place shortly after noon.... [His wife]said she could not fathom why someone would attack him. "I don't think he has any enemies as far as I know of" ... [*]

A google search under his name reveals ONE possible enemy though, since the leading article is his demand that ALL US beef be tested for BSE, something that industry rejects.

Current US policy forbids farmers from testing their own herds [*], tests the wrong cows [*] as well as not enough cows.

Clearly there is a coverup that will last until Mad Cow erupts in a decade among humans in the US just like it did in Britain. Dr Lull wanted to avoid that. That's how he made one enemy.

Posted by cosmici at 01:39 PM | Permalink

The Iguana will be hiding in a lava tube in Mt Haleakula. He may venture out briefly on Saturday night, but more likely you will see him on Monday afternoon.

Posted by cosmici at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reader TSD sends this in. VNU:

The website for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs has removed testimony from UK MP George Galloway from its website.

All other witness testimonies for the hearings on the Oil for Food scandal are available on the Committee's website in PDF form. But Galloway's testimony is the only document not on the site.

"I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him," Galloway told the Committee.

"The difference is that Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps the better to target those guns."... [*]

No, we cannot afford to have the truth on a Senate website. Big Brother's name would be impugned and the Plebes would rebel.

Repeat our magificent slogan now... "War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength and Freedom is Slavery!" Don't you feel better now?

BTW, TSD reports the evil Michael Moore has an excerpt of the video of Galloway's appearance [*].

Posted by cosmici at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Or maybe just saying buying votes, might be easier. FIRST DRAFT:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency made $31 million in questionable payments to residents of Miami-Dade County for damage from Hurricane Frances last September even though the storm caused only minimal damage in that area of Florida, government investigators said yesterday.

More than $8 million of that amount was given to 4,300 people to rent temporary housing even though they had not asked for the money, and in many cases their homes were almost completely undamaged by the storm...

...FEMA paid to replace thousands of televisions, air conditioners, beds and other furniture, as well as a number of cars, without receipts, or proof of ownership or damage, and based solely on verbal statements by the residents, sometimes made in fleeting encounters at fast-food restaurants... [*]

--You say you lost everything? OK, let me write you a check for $10,000. Now don't forget who to vote for...

Posted by cosmici at 12:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

AVN:

Porn star and former gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey will be joining her boss, Kick Ass Pictures president Mark Kulkis, in attending a dinner with President Bush in Washington, D.C. on June 14.

Kulkis was invited to attend the event by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which is organizing the event. Over a two-day course of NRCC events preceding the dinner, Carey and Kulkis will be attending a meeting with presidential advisor Karl Rove, giving their recommendations on important national issues.... [*]

My, those Republicans DO have a big tent... Ever notice how tolerant and understanding they suddenly become when it comes to big donors? And ever wonder why the born-again foot soldiers put up with this kind of decadence? Guess it's because they are too busy reporting propaganda over at Fox.

Posted by cosmici at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

REUTERS:

The Bush administration is considering whether to ask
Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan to stay in office a few months past the end of his Fed board term, which expires on Jan, 31, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said the delay would give the White House more time to conduct the search for a succesor... [*]

It's hard to know whether to take this at face value. Greenie is a hack, as has been demonstrated by his lockstep with BushCo marching orders for the last 6 years. Anyone who takes office to replace him will have to raise interest rates pronto to get them out of the negative (in real terms), then the real estate bubble will burst big time.

But it's also hard to believe that after 6 years they still haven't figured out who to replace him with. On the other hand, they did go into Iraq despite years of planning without any plan to get enough troops on the ground.

Posted by cosmici at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

NBC/WSJ poll reveals 'angry electorate' [*]

Congress approval 33%, War approval 37%, Nuclear oprion 34%...

Don't you wish we had a parliamentary system so we could call the election now?

Actually, I wish we had ANY kind of democratic system!

Posted by cosmici at 05:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AP:

The international Red Cross told U.S. authorities about American personnel at the Guantanamo Bay detention center showing disrespect to Islam's holy book, the Koran, a spokesman said Thursday, in the wake of the controversy over a Newsweek retraction earlier this week... [*]

OK, folks, you know what Karl Rove is thinking...

-"The Red Cross is TOAST, and to hell with Elizabeth Dole for that matter.."

Posted by cosmici at 04:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brit MP George Galloway ripped a new arsehole in Repug committee chair Norm Coleman yesterday (see below), at the same time there was new evidence that the bogus oil-for-food scandal was fueled by forgery. BELLACIAO:

Ahead of Mr Galloway’s appearance in front of a committee of US senators in Washington, his party said the committee was relying on a counterfeit document created in Baghdad.

It said Mr Galloway’s name had been pasted on to a list of people and companies alleged to have made money out of the Oil For Food programme.

His name appeared in a different typeface to other words on the same line, the print was lighter in colour and Respect suggested it had been stuck on and then the page re-photocopied.

His name also appeared at a slight angle and Respect said that would be impossible on the computerised document unless it had been artificially added... [*]

Gee, Dan Rather had to resign over a false forgery, do you think any heads will roll for a REAL one?

UPDATE: WRH has posted an excerpt of the forged log here [*] .

Posted by cosmici at 12:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Houston Indy Media is reporting 16 arrested and a dozen trampled by horses at a Halliburton protest. Videos are available at the webpage. [*]

But don't expect to see it on tonight's news. Recently ABC has said it won't cover Iraq war news since there is no controversy about it here at home [*]. But when was the last time you saw ANY coverage of the nearly daily protests against the war and BushCo?

Posted by cosmici at 12:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bush's popularity must be tanking again. AP:

A grenade hurled in a crowd during last week's speech by President Bush in the Georgian capital was capable of exploding and was considered a threat against the president, the FBI said Wednesday...

...The FBI statement contradicted initial reports by Georgian officials that the Soviet-era grenade was found on the ground, was inactive and posed no danger to Bush.

The grenade, wrapped in a dark handkerchief, fell about 100 feet from the podium where Bush was speaking and "simply failed to function," FBI agent Bryan Paarmann said.... [*]

A grenade that falls 100 feet and fails to explode is what I call "dud" not "live". And why did it take everyone a week to change their minds? Sounds like we just got another Newsweek-style "retraction."

Posted by cosmici at 12:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

George Galloway is the Brit MP who's the official scapegoat of the repug food-for-oil travesty designed to take revenge for the UN's opposition to the Iraq war and occupation. A scandal, which BTW is a fraction of good ol' Halliburton's rip-off in Iraq. FINANCIAL TIMES:

Alternating between detailed rebuttal and sweeping denunciation, the MP derided the quality of the committee's evidence, his accusers' motives, and US policy in Iraq as a whole.

He did not deny that Fawaz Zureikat, his colleague and the man alleged to be the go-between for his oil allocations, could have been involved in the oil trade, saying instead that he had always known he was involved in Iraqi business.

Neither did he have a ready explanation for Iraqi letters, provided by the committee, that referred to oil deals with Middle East ASI, Mr Zureikat's company, next to Mr Galloway's name in brackets. He merely said he had not seen the documents before, and raised the possibility they might be forgeries.

Mr Galloway was adamant he had not met Mr Hussein many times, as claimed, but “twice”: the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary. He had long opposed Mr Hussein's dictatorship, even when “British and American governments and businessmen were selling him guns and gas”.

He owned no company that could have made profits from trading Iraqi oil, and he cast doubt on the reliability of evidence given by Iraqi officials now held prisoner by the US. He derided the committee's references to a libel case with The Daily Telegraph, a UK newspaper, as a “schoolboy howler”.

Mr Galloway also dismissed allegations that he was involved in paying bribes totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars to Mr Hussein as “utterly preposterous”.

And on the central contention that Iraq had allocated him oil through two front companies Aredio Petroleum or Middle East ASI Mr Galloway had a simple question: “Where's the money?” To that the committee had no answer.

Mr Coleman appeared a little lost for words... [*]

Way to Go George!

Posted by cosmici at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

here's one of about half a dozen listed by INTL-NEWS:

...it was impossible to pray because initially we did not know the direction to pray, but also given that we couldn’t move and the harassment from the guards, it was simply not feasible. The behaviour of the guards towards our religious practices as well as the Koran was also, in my view, designed to cause us as much distress as possible. They would kick the Koran, throw it into the toilet and generally disrespect it. It is clear to me that the conditions in our cells and our general treatment were designed by the officers in charge of the interrogation process to “soften us up"... [*]

But don't let reality get in the way of a good chance to control the media...

Posted by cosmici at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

INTL-NEWS:

The owner of two Kentucky theaters has refused to show the new Jane Fonda film "Monster-in-Law."

Ike Boutwell said it's because of the activist role the actress took during the Vietnam War. Boutwell trained pilots during the Vietnam War... [*]

"Monster in Law" is no great loss to civilization. But conservatives love to tell liberals to "get over it." So why can't they?

Posted by cosmici at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

GUARDIAN:

Report claims blind eye was turned to sanctions busting by American firms - The US administration turned a blind eye to extensive sanctions-busting in the prewar sale of Iraqi oil, according to a new Senate investigation. A report released last night by Democratic staff on a Senate investigations committee presents documentary evidence that the Bush administration was made aware of illegal oil sales and kickbacks paid to the Saddam Hussein regime but did nothing to stop them. The scale of the shipments involved dwarfs those previously alleged by the Senate committee against UN staff and European politicians like the British MP, George Galloway, and the former French minister, Charles Pasqua... the Senate report found that US oil purchases accounted for 52% of the kickbacks paid to the regime in return for sales of cheap oil - more than the rest of the world put together... [*]

Get that? It DWARFS allegations against the US scapegoats Galloway and Pasqua!

Posted by cosmici at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

APJ [*] has this article by Keith Olbermann tagged as the "definitive, must-read" article on the Dan-Rathering of Newsweek [*].

Check it out.

Posted by cosmici at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

200 More Killed in Second Uzbek City [*]. Uzbek Violence Spreads [*]. Thousands Flee Violence in Uzbekistan [*]. Gunfire Persists in Eastern Uzbek City [*]. Tyrant of Tashkent Makes Saddam Look Like a Choir Boy [*]. Uzbek leader learns from fate of other autocrats [*] . US deposed ones, that is...

Posted by cosmici at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

GLOBE & MAIL:

International investments in U.S. securities dropped to $45.7-billion (U.S.) in March from $84.1-billion in February, the U.S. Department of Treasury said Monday, further evidence that foreign central banks may be diversifying their holdings away from U.S. assets.

The March inflows fell well short of the $70-billion economists polled by Bloomberg had expected. Moreover, it is below the $65-billion to $75-billion that is needed to cover the U.S. current account deficit and outflows of foreign direct investment, according to a report by Adam Cole, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in London ...

70-80% of US debt is held by central banks, according to the article. Like the article below, this suggests that the buyers are primarily private investors in hedge funds, and that the recent rally in the dollar is likely to be temporary.

That's because Central Banks, which have stability as a primary interest, are more likely to be willing to take a loss and cushion the dollar's decline to protect exports. Private investors tend to, well, stampede.

As one chief economist cited in the article said, "Hedge funds are not a currency's best, long-term friend" [*].

Posted by cosmici at 01:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FINANCIAL TIMES:

The world's central banks were net sellers of US assets in March for the first time since September 2002, according to figures that may hint that the recent rebound in the dollar will be temporary.

Central banks sold a net $14.4bn in US assets during the month, the largest sale since August 1998, the US Treasury revealed. Asian central banks, however, continued to accumulate reserves, with their stockpiles rising by about $30bn over the month.

“For those central banks that are not managing their currencies, there may well be a feeling that the dollar is not a great bet,” said Adam Cole, currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets

Economists says these sales may be a sign that central bank officials fear the dollar downtrend will at some point resume. The most conspicuous sale was by the Central Bank of Norway, which sold $17bn of US Treasuries.

Private-sector inflows into the US remained robust in March at $74.5bn, only slightly down from $79.4bn in February.

“It does seem that when private sector investors are willing to buy dollars, the central banks are happy for any excuse to offload part of the mountain of dollars they have accumulated,” said David Bloom, currency strategist at HSBC.... [*]

Private investors in the dollar are betting the US will raise interest rates, and make the dollar's risk worthwhile. That's interesting because domestic investors are betting the Fed will cease raising interest rates to protect the the real estate market [*].

That's because if the Fed keeps raising interest rates the housing and car markets will tank and the economy will crash. On the other hand, if the Fed DOESN'T raise interest rates, private investors will bail out of the dollar markets, and the dollar will crash. Gas prices will double, and so will imported products (almost everything). THEN the economy will crash.

So there you have it, there's a crash ahead, and BushCo has painted us into a corner we can't escape.

Posted by cosmici at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CS MONITOR:

During the past four base-closure rounds, success was a simple equation for military towns: Don't lose the base. With the release of the Pentagon's new list last Friday, however, it has become obvious that this year, for the first time, there will be actual winners - and that overwhelmingly, the core of American military might is shifting southward.

Unlike past rounds, when the Defense Department cut through its bases with broad strokes, seeking to maximize cost savings after the cold war, this year's list is about aligning America's network of bases for the needs of the next century. In the South, the Pentagon has apparently found its ideal environment: proximity to the coasts for rapid deployment, cheap and plentiful land, and a culture more tied to martial traditions... [*]

Moving the troops out of the Blue states deprives them of jobs and the chance to influence the military for the better. Putting them in Red States, gives the Govt bases from which to bomb the Blue States, should the need arise...

Posted by cosmici at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Expect heightened security checks on good-looking women. USA TODAY:

The agency in charge of the nation's air security expects later this year to begin using a controversial X-ray machine that will show airport screeners a clear picture of what's under passengers' clothes — whether weapons or just bare skin.

Screeners plan to test the "backscatter" machines at several U.S. airports, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says. The refrigerator-sized machines are considered a breakthrough in scanning technology but have been labeled "a virtual strip search" by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Security workers using the machines can see through clothes and peer at whatever may be hidden in undergarments, shirts or pants. The images also paint a revealing picture of a person's nude body.... [*]

How long do you think it'll take for the security pictures to get on the Internet?

Posted by cosmici at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Despite Newsweek's backtracking on Koran abuse, there is confirmation of that kind of thing happening. ANTIWAR.COM:

Contrary to White House spin, the allegations of religious desecration at Guantanamo published by Newsweek on May 9, 2005, are common among ex-prisoners and have been widely reported outside the United States. Several former detainees at the Guantanamo and Bagram prisons have reported instances of their handlers sitting or standing on the Koran, throwing or kicking it in toilets, and urinating on it...

One such incident (during which the Koran was allegedly thrown in a pile and stepped on) prompted a hunger strike among Guantanamo detainees in March 2002. Regarding this, the New York Times in a May 1, 2005, article interviewed a former detainee, Nasser Nijer Naser al-Mutairi, who said the protest ended with a senior officer delivering an apology to the entire camp... [*]

I mean, folks, lets get real, does anyone doubt that the type of people that would hook up humans to electrodes, sexually humiliate prisoners, and all the other stuff we've seen photos of (and remember we were never allowed to see the worst photos) would have any compunction about flushing a book?

Posted by cosmici at 12:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Most of us are getting so used to BushCo's outrageousness we are stopping questioning the bizarreness of the Bolton appt. NY TIMES:

“Republicans are hoping to shame Democrats into a quick vote on Mr. Bolton. They argue that he needs to be in place by June so that the United States will have the latitude it needs to press its concerns about Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program before the Security Council.” ... [*]

GLOBAL RESEARCH asks:

Why the big rush? My reliable sources tell me it is because there is a timetable that makes it urgent for Bolton to be ready for action in June in order to cripple the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as part of the plan to bomb the Iranian nuclear-power plant at Bushehr. That's because Bushehr, under construction with Russian supervision, will soon be ready to receive the Russian fissionable material enabling it to produce power. In 1981, remember Republican Senators, Israel bombed the Osiraq nuclear power plant near Baghdad just before it was to be fueled by its French contractors. Once fueled, bombing is out of the question because of the radiation that would be emitted, with clouds traveling who knows where.... [*]

Of course, the rationality of this approach rests on the assumption of hostile intent on the part of Iran, something that BushCo has done every thing it can to stimulate.

We can't invade Iran, because of the quagmire to the west, but there's nothing to stop a nice "preventative strike" but world opinion, and look how much good that does. But we need a maniac like Bolton in charge so our OWN guys will be intimidated and not tell the truth about yet another trumped up charge about weapons of mass destruction.

Posted by cosmici at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

INDEPENDENT:

Washington's "war on drugs" in Colombia is collapsing in chaos and corruption, and the drug producers are winning. The so-called Plan Colombia, which has cost the US more than $3bn (£1.6bn) in the past five years, is being abandoned, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has announced.

Last year, the hugely expensive effort to poison coca bushes - whose leaves are the source of cocaine - by aerial spraying ended in failure. More bushes were flourishing in January this year than in January 2004.

Meanwhile, complaints have multiplied about the damage done by the chemical poisons to the health of humans, especially children, as well as to livestock, fish and the environment... [*]

Why is it that Condomleeza can see the writing on the wall in Colombia, but not in the far more expensive war on, I mean, in, Iraq?

That's because the war on terror has made the war on drugs expendable, it's chief raisons d'etre being winning election, driving up the military budget, and ending pesky civil liberties.

Who needs Colombia now that we can scare people with Ay-rabs? F*ck 'em if they can't take a joke.

Posted by cosmici at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As some 500 people are reported slaughtered in the inconvenient democracy movement in Uzbekistan [*], the US attacks the freedom movement as being pro-terrorist. But others aren't convinced. OBSERVER:

Heated criticism was growing last night over 'double standards' by Washington over human rights, democracy and 'freedom' as fresh evidence emerged of just how brutally Uzbekistan, a US ally in the 'war on terror', put down Friday's unrest in the east of the country.

Outrage among human rights groups followed claims by the White House on Friday that a