Nir Rosen's assessment of the latest, breathless assessment of the neocon regime's "strategy" vis a vis Iraq by Louella Hayden.

Anatomy of a Civil War: Writer Nir Rosen on Iraq's Descent Into Chaos

So, for Sunnis, whether these reports are true or not, for Sunnis to ever imagine that they could ever regain power, that the Baathists could ever be restored to power, that Americans actually matter in Iraq anymore is naïve in the extreme. Iraq is Shia now. They have the majority, the security forces, they have the militias. What you are going to see in Iraq I think, in Baghdad especially, is a virtual genocide of the Sunnis. And the Americans are going to be unable to stop that.

As for the Bush and Maliki meeting, I think both Bush and Maliki are absolutely irrelevant in Iraq. Neither one of them has any power. Maliki has no militia to speak of. Bush has militia, the American army, one of the many militias operating in Iraq. But the American Army is lost in Iraq, as it has been since it arrived. Striking at Sunnis, striking at Shias, striking at mostly innocent people. Unable to distinguish between anybody, certainly unable to wield any power, except on the immediate street corner where it’s located. So, it just doesn’t matter.

And the idea of a strong man is also, sort of a bit too late. The strong man would have to have his own militia, and his own popular support. Well, the only people who have that are Muqtada al-Sadr, who has the Madi Army, some of the Kurdish militias in the north, or Abdul Aziz Hakim, who has the Badr Brigade. And, we’re certainly not going to hand Baghdad over to the Kurds because the Shias would slaughter them. And we already handed Baghdad over and much of the country to the Shia militias. So there is no strong man solution.

There is this romantic idea lately that you could have a coup and replace the Maliki regime with somebody else, because Iraq has a history of coups. But, Iraq’s history of coups, occurred when Baghdad was the only large city in the country, and you could simply switch leader in Baghdad and you’d have a new leader. Now you have about 10 or 12 city states in Iraq: Mosul, Baghdad, Kirkuk, Basra, Amara, Ramadi, each one is disconnected from other, each one controlled by its own militias. You could put anybody you wanted in Baghdad, it just wouldn't make a difference outside of Baghdad. And the guy you put in Baghdad would have to have power in Baghdad, which means street power, which means Muqtada al-Sadr.

Posted by: John Francis Lee | Nov 27, 2006 10:50:00 PM | 101

nir rosen was very blunt, but correct today on democracynow

Every single American who dies in Iraq, who is injured in Iraq, dies for nothing. He didn’t die for freedom, he didn’t die to defend his country, he died to occupy Iraq. And if withdrawal the troops you’ll have less Americans killing Iraqis. Everyday the Americans are there they kill innocent Iraqis, they torture innocent Iraqis, and the occupy Iraqis and terrorize Iraqis. They should leave today.

and

check... check... is this thing on???
Word on the street ... they’re listening

The microphones can detect conversations 100 yards away and record aggressive exchanges before they become violent.

The devices are used at 300 sites in Holland and police, councils and transport officials in London have shown an interest in installing them before the 2012 Olympics.

The interest in the equipment comes amid growing concern that Britain is becoming a “surveillance society”. It was recently highlighted that there are more than 4.2m CCTV cameras, with the average person being filmed more than 300 times a day. The addition of microphones would take surveillance into uncharted territory.

The Association of Chief Police Officers has warned that a full public debate over the microphones’ impact on privacy will be needed before they can be introduced.

The equipment can pick up aggressive tones on the basis of 12 factors, including decibel level, pitch and the speed at which words are spoken. Background noise is filtered out, enabling the camera to focus on specific conversations in public places.

i see

Posted by: b real | Nov 27, 2006 10:54:49 PM | 102

Genocide or Erasure of Palestinians

We have long played with words about this, labeling Israel's policy "ethnocide," meaning the attempt to destroy the Palestinians as a people with a specific ethnic identity. Others who dance around the subject use terms like "politicide" or, a new invention, "sociocide," but neither of these terms implies the large-scale destruction of people and identity that is truly the Israeli objective. "Genocide" -- defined by the UN Convention as the intention "to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group" -- most aptly describes Israel's efforts, akin to the Nazis', to erase an entire people.

In fact, it matters little what you call it, so long as it is recognized that what Israel intends and is working toward is the erasure of the Palestinian people from the Palestine landscape. Israel most likely does not care about how systematic its efforts at erasure are, or how rapidly they proceed, and in these ways it differs from the Nazis. There are no gas chambers; there is no overriding urgency. Gas chambers are not needed. A round of rockets on a residential housing complex in the middle of the night here, a few million cluster bomblets or phosphorous weapons there can, given time, easily meet the UN definition above.

With the near completion of the separation wall, the Israelis have systematized the West Bank prison. Since August 2005, the number of checkpoints throughout the West Bank has risen 40 percent, from 376 to 528, according to OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which carefully tracks the numbers and types of Israeli checkpoints, as well as other aspects of the Israeli stranglehold on the Palestinians. As part of the systematization, a series of elaborate terminals now manage the humiliation of Palestinians at major checkpoints, particularly around Jerusalem. The terminals are huge cages resembling cattle runs, which direct foot traffic in snaking lines that double back and forth. At the end of the line are a series of turnstiles, x-ray machines, conveyor belts, and other accoutrements of heavy security. Any Palestinian entering Jerusalem from the West Bank to work, to visit family, to pray at al-Aqsa Mosque or the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, to go to school, or for medical treatment must have a hard-to-obtain permit from Israel. The turnstiles and other security barriers are controlled remotely by Israeli soldiers housed behind heavy bullet-proof glass.

The West Bank has become a series of Palestinian Concentration Camps seperated by ethnically cleansed areas of Israeli settlers, bragging that they killed Jesus and they'll kill you too.

Posted by: John Francis Lee | Nov 27, 2006 11:01:31 PM | 103

there's a very good doc out there, sir! no sir! chronicling the anti-war vet scene. vets were crucial to the movement because they refused to fight and they had credibility. will vets do the same now? or do we have crazed nationalists returning pissed off like the german vets come home to smash the weimar?

Posted by: slothrop | Nov 27, 2006 11:02:36 PM | 104

per breal

brothers, sisters. go to one of your favorite knucklehead websites and post simply, truculently: they die in vain.

and watch the fur fly!

Posted by: slothrop | Nov 27, 2006 11:07:32 PM | 105

Britain tracing poison that killed spy

Reid, responding to opposition demands for an explanation of how polonium-210 came to be in Britain, said the radioactive element is strictly regulated and is used by about 130 sites in Britain.

"There has been no recent report of the loss or theft of a polonium-210 source in England or Wales," Reid said.

Before his death, Litvinenko told police he believed he was poisoned Nov. 1 while investigating the October killing of Politkovskaya, another critic of Putin's government. The ex-spy was moved to intensive care last week after his hair fell out, his throat became swollen and his immune and nervous systems suffered severe damage.

The Metropolitan Police said they were investigating it as a "suspicious death" rather than murder. They have not ruled out the possibility that Litvinenko may have poisoned himself.

Fortunately for the estate of Alexander Litvinenko, polonium-210 is fairly traceable...unlike, say, a proprietary strain of catalogued and DNA tagged, weaponized anthrax would have been.

And speaking of DNA, it's time for all of us to check back in with Total Information Awareness... or whatever DAARPA's calling Big Brother now. (I can just hear a screechy voice devoid of any genuine passion in the background of this story... "Won't SOMEONE please think of the CHIIIIIIILDREEEEEEEEEN???)

More Parents Taking Kids' DNA Samples

I actually saw a salesperson once a few years ago trying to convince a group of parents to imbed their children with RFID chips... y'know, just in case they're ever abducted by aliens or stay out past their curfews or some other world-ending catastrophe. That's the pattern... and pretty soon all we'll ever be is monitored and supervised children. Not that there'll be a noticeable difference, mind you... at least in North America where the MSM dumbs down all the publications meant for public consumption, people have already been subsisting on a diet of pablum.

Posted by: Monolycus | Nov 27, 2006 11:49:08 PM | 106

Because irony should be savoured, the same week in which we reminisce about how it was bankruptcy that ended the former Soviet Union, A semi-literate US President is announcing plans to build the most">http://www.nydailynews.com/front//story/475052p-399492c.html">most expensive Presidential library to date.

Come to think of it, what was the final price tag on this guy's re-inaugural ball? Why are the least deserving of it so consistently addicted to pageantry?

Posted by: Monolycus | Nov 28, 2006 12:34:57 AM | 107

@Monolycus

Re:#107 geez, I should be flabbergasted by the hubris and hypocrisy coming from this dink, however, I'am not. Besides, why have a Presidential library at all if your going to seal the goddamn thing as he and his father like him did from his first administration. What's he going to put in the library, a bunch of "top secret" stamps over all the records?

Meh, these fucks sicken me... But the real pisser is a system that allows this legalized regulation and crime.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 28, 2006 1:31:50 AM | 108

Addendum:

Yeah, CCB closes one library, EPA underhanded library closure and wants to open another...

Too many words, not enough pitchers... ya gotta stay inebriated to deal with this travesty...

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 28, 2006 1:53:12 AM | 109

merci b.
:)

Posted by: esme | Nov 28, 2006 1:58:36 AM | 110

@ Monolycus #107. All of that for comic books?

Posted by: beq | Nov 28, 2006 8:02:12 AM | 111

@beq

That and a few copies of L'Etranger and My Pet Goat. Seemed a bit steep to me.

Posted by: Monolycus | Nov 28, 2006 8:47:57 AM | 112

mono #106,

when my son was 12 his father and i finally settled our child support issues thru the state. it was then that i found out that for the state to disperse the funds( this would be for any legal child support payments) they required DNA samples. immediately i thought of
my sons future and the state having his DNA records. his father and i both protested. we had to fill out many forms and go thru a process to avoid this outcome. we volunteered to have him blood tested . they relented and let us pass. when you consider how many children have gone thru the system, and how many records they hold already.. its scary. eventually they will collect all childrens dna at birth..

Posted by: annie | Nov 28, 2006 8:51:52 AM | 113

annie! (whew)

And don't forget the coloring books Monolycus!

Posted by: beq | Nov 28, 2006 11:46:48 AM | 114

...and if I were Dallas I'd let Waco have it what with everyone making pilgrimages to piss in the potted palms and such.

Posted by: beq | Nov 28, 2006 11:53:58 AM | 115

@annie (#113)

I think you made the right decision, for what it's worth. But you're right, when you think of all the records they do have and then all the records they want to have (they didn't spook the pants off everyone calling it TOTAL Information Awareness for nothing)... it might only be a matter of time.

Thinking about it makes me want to craft a tinfoil hat... except that crazy guy at the bus station assures me that is just a trick used to amplify your thoughts rather than blocking them.

Posted by: Monolycus | Nov 28, 2006 12:42:08 PM | 116

Was kind of curious, so I googled "stadium cost"... the $500 million George the Lesser Library will run on the high side of what it costs to build a football or baseball stadium. Huh. Learn something new every day.

Posted by: Monolycus | Nov 28, 2006 12:47:08 PM | 117

I'm sure the new library will need interactive capabilities for the various video games that simulate blowing up frogs, so future youth can "re-live" George's childhood in a virtual reality setting.

Posted by: Bea | Nov 28, 2006 2:05:23 PM | 118

The idea of the library is not a library, but money to run a new huge think tank for a long time devoted to Bush's ideas whatever those may be. Think AEI square ...

Posted by: b | Nov 28, 2006 2:16:35 PM | 119

"Bush's ideas..."

That's mind boggling all by itself.

Posted by: beq | Nov 28, 2006 6:03:27 PM | 120