What a backwater state this can be sometimes. First, we had the Baptist preacher who kicked members of his parish out because they voted for Kerry (but, fortunately, there was a happy ending). And then we had another Baptist preacher who posted a sign in front of the church saying “The Koran should be flushed.” (Afghani deaths: Unknown). And then, … Read More
Juan Cole Lays It Out
Do yourself a favor and read it. These are the closing paragraphs, but the support for his argument preceeds it: Therefore, I conclude that the United States is stuck in Iraq for the medium term, and perhaps for the long term. The guerrilla war is likely to go on a decade to 15 years. Given the basic facts, of capable, … Read More
The McClellan Challenge
L’il Scotty McClellan throws down the gauntlet: “In terms of the intelligence, the – if anyone wants to know how the intelligence was used by the administration, all they have to do is go back and look at all the public comments over the course of the lead-up to the war in Iraq, and that’s all very public information. Everybody … Read More
Rupert Murdoch Endangers Soldiers
From the New York Times The United States military expressed anger and dismay today over the unauthorized release of photographs of a jailed Saddam Hussein in his underwear and performing menial activity. … “These photos were taken in clear violation of Department of Defense directives and possibly Geneva Convention guidelines for the humane treatment of detained individuals,” the military statement, … Read More
Somebody Fire The Editor Of The New York Times!
…for printing facts that reflect badly on America: Even as the young Afghan man was dying before them, his American jailers continued to torment him. The prisoner, a slight, 22-year-old taxi driver known only as Dilawar, was hauled from his cell at the detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan, at around 2 a.m. to answer questions about a rocket attack on … Read More
1,346
Amanda Marcotte notes something: The number above is the number of days between the bombing of Pearl Harbor and V-J Day. Since it’s not unheard for the warbloggers to compare the War on Terra favorably to WWII, this number has some significance today, the 1,346th day after September 11th, according to Shakespeare’s Sister and Angry Bear. Contrary to the heavy-handed … Read More
Iraq – A Sobering Assessment
Despite the pie-in-the-sky propagandistic high-fives of those in the non-reality-based community, it seems that things in Iraq aren’t going that well: In interviews and briefings this week, some of the generals pulled back from recent suggestions, some by the same officers, that positive trends in Iraq could allow a major drawdown in the 138,000 American troops late this year or … Read More
Tolerance For Terrorism?
A guy plants a bomb on a plane, and it blows up, killing all the men, women and children civilians on board. That’s a terrorist act, right? And if were up to Bush—the architect of the “war on terrorism”—that guy would be captured, killed, prosecuted, tortured, etc., right? Right? Well, Daddy Bush picked up the bat on this issue once, … Read More
Pentagon Kettle Meets Newsweek Pot
Pentagon spokesman Larry Dirita today announces some uncorroborated and unverified “facts” to the world: We’ve found nothing that would substantiate anything that you just said about the treatment of a Koran. We have, other than what we’ve seen – that it’s possible detainees themselves have done with pages of the Koran. And I don’t want to overstate that, either, because … Read More
Hiding From The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Trall
Uses for a towel: “wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Trall (a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you–daft as a brush, but very very ravenous).”—from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Apparently, HGTG is a book read by … Read More
Conyer’s Letter
Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) has just issued a sharply worded letter to White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan over the Administration’s response to a Newsweek article. Full text below the fold.
Oil-For-Food Kickback Scheme and U.S. Fingerprints
I think I know why the White House is screaming about Newsweek. It’s diversionary. They knew another story was about to break, and break it has: The United States 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 … Read More
The Downing Street Memo
Since the press isn’t going to report it, it is a good thing that bloggers are doing the analysis. Here’s a nice summary table from downingstreetmemo.com: Facts of the Memo:July 23, 2002 Words of theBush Administrationleading up to War in Iraq “There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, … Read More
Is Real ID A Good I.D.-a?
Congress is attempting to pass the Real ID Act (text of the bill and the Congressional Research Services analysis of the bill), which would establish uniform standards for state driver’s licenses, effectively creating a national ID card. A number of criticisms of the idea have made their way around the blogosphere. For example, the Real ID Act requires driver’s licenses … Read More
Terror Alert Was Raised On “Flimsy Evidence”
USA Today reports what many of us already suspected: WASHINGTON — The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says. Ridge, who resigned Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with administration officials … Read More