Mr. Negroponte is out today – just as well perhaps
Mortar hits US Baghdad embassy – two hurt
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 19 2004 18:01 utc | 2
Allawi gives al-Sadr ‘final call’ as Najaf fighting rages
Oil hits new high over $48 as Iraq violence flares
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 19 2004 18:11 utc | 4
@B: maybe Bush missed his calling. With his Harvard MBA and all, would probably have made a great foreign currency trader.
@NEMO:
1. When the insurgency calls at the embassy, are they properly diplomatically attired?
2. I am prepared to settle the civil suit I filed against you back on Bad Choice thread in either euros or dollars. Don’t trust those Soviet dinars.
Posted by: Harold Lloyd | Aug 19 2004 18:33 utc | 5
@Harold
Ok – we settle. What? 20 Billion?
Puh, ok, but you will have to take Mark .
Posted by: b | Aug 19 2004 18:37 utc | 6
Where’s Red Adair when you need him?
Basra – Iraq’s South Oil Co. headquarters torched
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 19 2004 18:59 utc | 7
Harold Lloyd
Sartorial etiquette is faithfully observed by the Iraqi resistance but there are, of course, cultural differences vis a vis what constitutes appropriate attire. I believe that hunting jackets are de rigeur when calling upon Mr. Negroponte.
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 19 2004 19:02 utc | 8
@B:
That’s a very sad piece of paper to look at.
Just curious. What would that have bought at the height of Weimar’s inflation woes?
Posted by: Harold | Aug 19 2004 19:03 utc | 9
@ Harold Lloyd
In a spirit of good humor, good international relations and strictly ‘without prejudice’ I did send you a little something but apparently it seems to have gone astray…
Senators ask where $8.8 billion in Iraq funds went
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 19 2004 19:26 utc | 10
Any Dutch posters here?
Here comes the reinforcements!
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Aug 19 2004 19:35 utc | 11
Sometime I wonder if I shouldn’t feel pitty for Bush – because just nothing seems to work out well for him anymore. However, these are fleeting moments only.
Unwilling participants – Iraqi soccer players angered by Bush campaign ads featuring team
Posted by: Fran | Aug 19 2004 19:58 utc | 12
@Herold Lloyd
November 20, 1920, 4,200,000,000,000.0 Mark did buy 1 US$. So that note was about half a cent of 1920 US$. Not much to buy for half a cent, even 1920.
A month earlier that 20 billion note was still about 1 US$. Twenty days later it could not pay its printing costs.
Now thats why Germans are still a little wary of inflation.
Posted by: b | Aug 19 2004 20:00 utc | 13
Iraqi editor’s experience in US custody.
Why do they hate us?
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Aug 19 2004 20:02 utc | 14
Another one who does not give up.
A former Bush administration official who led the fruitless postwar effort to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq told Congress on Wednesday that the National Security Council led by Condoleezza Rice had botched intelligence information before the war and was “the dog that did not bark” over Iraq’s weapons program.
Former Iraq Arms Inspector Faults Prewar Intelligence
Posted by: Fran | Aug 19 2004 20:11 utc | 15
@ Harold
When the money turns up I expect you to return it, with interest, as the ‘evidence’ that you allege triggered your PCFS (Post Comedic Farking Syndrome) has disappeared and along with it your chances of a bumper compensation package.
Kerry’s ‘old flame’ pulls website
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 19 2004 21:36 utc | 16
@NEMO:
Thought I hit the Gravy Train there for sure.
If I see that $8Bn around, you’ll be the first to know.
Trust Me.
Posted by: Harold Lloyd | Aug 19 2004 21:51 utc | 17
@Nemo
BBC?
They are gutter press since Hutton and Grade was put in charge.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Aug 19 2004 22:11 utc | 18
More on the Bush adminstrations hopes to establish “friendly militias” to wit: Wolfowitz calls for “tightening control” over the internet I like that we get to help pay the 500 million to control us and spread freedom!
(extreme sarcasm)
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Aug 19 2004 22:30 utc | 19
Posted by: Uncle $cam | August 19, 2004 06:30 PM
Will we be able to do this after Bush’s re-election?
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Aug 19 2004 22:42 utc | 20
@Fran–
That is some limited hanghout by Mr. Kay…..question is why finger Rice, and why now?
Are the Rovians erecting the next Strawgirl?
Posted by: RossK | Aug 19 2004 22:49 utc | 21
@RossK:
Chief, if you can figure all this shit out, you could have survived in Russia 1922-1939 as a White Russian kulak.
Posted by: Anonymous | Aug 19 2004 22:59 utc | 22
@RossK:
Me there. Probably ought to get Sherlock Holmes and Hunter Thompson in on this whole Iraqi farce.
Get them to write the definitive report.
Posted by: Harold Lloyd | Aug 19 2004 23:07 utc | 23
Religious nut, sadistic psychopath, bigoted dirtbag, blood-thirsty, half-crazed demented animal, torture-loving twisted zealot Boykin ‘censured’ for remarks
US general ‘censured’ for remarks
Well, I feel so much better now.
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 20 2004 1:25 utc | 24
@NEMO:
I have a poem for you.
Enjoy and give me a literary Judgement tomorrow.
It’s rather long but well worth the read;
Boykin’s probably in it somewhere:
THE DEVIL AND BILLY MARKHAM
Posted by: FLASHHARRY | Aug 20 2004 2:12 utc | 25
Re:Religious nut, sadistic psychopath, bigoted dirtbag, blood-thirsty, half-crazed demented animal, torture-loving twisted zealot Boykin ‘censured’ for remarks…
but you know what? I’m glad he said it, at least we know where he stands unlike the many others whom actions go unnoticed.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Aug 20 2004 2:12 utc | 26
I was asked in the oily thred who wants the US as the world police. It is world economic elites. The US is a wholely owned subsidiary of every other country in the world. In order to protect their assets and real property, someone must protect the current economic system that so many elites have a stack in. Further, in order to keep the current system afloat until alternative forms of economy emerge the US military will be called on to keep order in the transition.
If you look at current population trends, the US will continue to grow to over 400 million. In order to create this larger population, massive in-migrations is needed of course. Also, this gives the US plenty of first generation poverty stricken people that will sign up for the military, thus creating a willing army.
Also, due to the background of the in-migrants, mostly coming from oppressive regimes, you will see more laws and loss of more civil liberties in order to control this mass of people.
Further trends will be land prices will continue to go up. There is not and will not be a bubble. There is plenty of buyers. Now defaulting on mortgages is a different thing. Having enough economic buying power to pay high prices mortgages will be tough.
Due to drought and lack of water in the west, populations will need to move to the midwest again.
Those are my predictions and answer to the other thread. Sorry for typos.
Posted by: jdp | Aug 20 2004 2:26 utc | 27
@JDP:
If this thread’s still standing Monday, I will try to answer you. I have a much different take on it than you do. I have a lot of stuff to do between now and Monday.
We can, of course, as you and I both do, talk
rationally and without pyrotechnics.
Take care, and enjoy the poetic link I left for NEMO. It’s a hoot!
Posted by: FlashHarry | Aug 20 2004 2:54 utc | 28
nospinzone blog has this:
LONDON (AP) – Doctors working for the U.S. military in Iraq collaborated with interrogators in the abuse of detainees at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison, profoundly breaching medical ethics and human rights, a bioethicist charges in The Lancet medical journal.
In a scathing analysis of the behavior of military doctors, nurses and medics, University of Minnesota professor Steven Miles calls for a reform of military medicine and an official investigation into the role played by physicians and other medical staff in the torture scandal.
He cites evidence that doctors or medics falsified death certificates to cover up homicides, hid evidence of beatings and revived a prisoner so he could be further tortured. No reports of abuses were initiated by medical personnel until the official investigation into Abu Ghraib began, he found.
“The medical system collaborated with designing and implementing psychologically and physically coercive interrogations,” Miles said in this week’s edition of Lancet. “Army officials stated that a physician and a psychiatrist helped design, approve and monitor interrogations at Abu Ghraib.”
Josef Mengele Bastards
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Aug 20 2004 5:06 utc | 29
What do we want? World War IV! When do we want it? Now! – An ideological road map for America lovingly drawn by a Neocon Godfather
World War IV: How it started, what it means, and why we have to win – Norman Podhoretz
Aside from the revised and often erroneous history, aside from the cherry-picked facts, quotations and distorted analysis, aside from the use of discredited information as ‘evidence’ – the scary thing about this essay is the fact that people like Podhoretz are not trying to hijack America – they are already in the driving seat.
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 20 2004 5:11 utc | 30
A few bad apples?!!!!
US Army Doctors Had Role in Abu Ghraib Abuse
Also US-warplanes are bombing Najaf and Falluja this morning. Falluja because it is supposed to be the center of resistance against US-Troups. What ever happened to the indipendece of Iraq? The US Government believes that the Sadr milizia gets their weapons from IRAN – how convienient!!!
the link is in German – here – sorry don’t have the time to translate as other work is waiting.
Posted by: Fran | Aug 20 2004 5:54 utc | 31
Between March 1 and April 6, airline agents tried to block Mr.[Edward M.] Kennedy from boarding airplanes on five occasions because his name resembled an alias used by a suspected terrorist who had been barred from flying on airlines in the United States, his aides and government officials said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/20/national/20flight.html?hp“> Senator? Terrorist? A Watch List Stops Kennedy at Airport
Book your next ticket as GWB, maybe he is not on the list, but then, he probably should be.
Posted by: b | Aug 20 2004 6:19 utc | 32
@ Harold Lloyd 7:07pm–
Ya, HST in his prime might have been able to make the nut.
But now? Well, seems the only thing the old coot cares about these days is the possibility that the Rovians might shut down pro football this season.
Posted by: RossK | Aug 20 2004 6:48 utc | 33
Thought I might drop this little chunk of speculation. As the siege of Najaf goes on, reportedly with Alawi’s own troops figuring into the spearhead, there to do the dirty work in and around the Imam Ali shrine if necessary, and bolstered by the vitriolic rhetoric of the interim defense minister Hazem Shaalan, I wonder if it’s occurred to anyone (calling the shots)
what this all might entail?
After all, in 1991 after gulf war 1, did not the Saddam government with some tacit enabling f rom the US forces make major slaughter on the Shiite uprising that followed that war? I wonder, if in the collective Shia mind, that the current siege of Najaf might be bringing back some bad memories. Could not the direction taken by the Allawi/US efforts in Najaf be seen as a harbinger of what’s to come politically for the Shia? The image of another Saddam and a US enabler rising from the ashes to once again put the nix on any Shiite aspirations, must certainly raise deep suspicion.
Now comes Muqtada al-Sadr, holed up in the most sacred site in all Shia, willing and ready to “defend” the shrine with his and his militias lives. Now, if this gets no-ones attention call me the Alamo, and we all know how that went down. Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and Sam Houston, while light years from Muqtada al-Sadr, do share that special embodiment of popular epic myth (Sadr’s case) in the making. While many in Iraq may have suspicions about him the man, I would bet the farm most Shia are watching and thinking and imagining the unfolding events in anticipation of some kind of political/spiritual epiphany in the form of an idealized image and a clear path of action.. If Sadr were to martyr himself the myth would grow exponentially, if he were to work out a deal, his movement would continue grow as it has already. In some sense,both ways, he wins.
What al-Sadr has accomplished, at least in part, is to both reframe the occupation and the Allawi government as totally complicit and a direct threat to Shiite aspirations, reminiscent of Saddam, with the end of occupation no where in sight. He has also, perhaps more importantly, provided an impetus and a method that has illustrated some fundamental weakness’ within the occupation, and that a general uprising amongst the Shia might indeed overthrow both Allawi and the occupation.
Posted by: anna missed | Aug 20 2004 8:55 utc | 34
Najaf, early hours of the morning, August 20th
Burnt out offices, South Oil Co., Basra, August 20th
South Oil Co. headquarters, Basra, August 20th
anna missed,
March 20th, 1991, as Husayn’s forces made a three pronged entry into Najaf, painted on some of the tanks that entered the city were the words ‘la shi3a ba3da al-yawm’ – No more Shi3a after today.
Doubtless American tanks blasting into Najaf, American gunships overhead and the fact that the Sunni, ex-Ba’ath assassin Allawi is today the ‘government in Baghdad’ will have resonances for many Shi’ites. And no doubt too that the Friday prayers currently being held all over Iraq will include a message about the situation that will not be particularly supportive of Allawi or his American masters.
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 20 2004 9:26 utc | 35
Very direct reporting A journey into the epicenter of the Sadr standoff from the inside of the Najaf shrine.
“You realize that what you are doing is risky,” said a US Army major, whose last name was Robertson. “That shrine might not be around much longer.”
…
The mood inside is ebullient, and the demonstrators seem determined to keep up the spirits of the unarmed fighters resting inside.
Posted by: b | Aug 20 2004 10:00 utc | 36
Anna – not to mention the opposite “signal” given to the Sunnis who now run free in Fallujah…
Posted by: Jérôme | Aug 20 2004 10:26 utc | 37
Bush Wants To Be Your Shrink
“Next month, President Bush plans to unveil a broad new mental health plan called the ‘New Freedom Initiative.’ Never mind that it couldn’t have less to do with freedom; if you’re a thinking American, this initiative should scare the hell out of you.”
—-
Keep in mind Bush is known to many, including me, to be a complete dry drunk sociopath.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Aug 20 2004 11:25 utc | 38
@ anna–
If your hypothesis is correct, this is precisely why al Sadr must be put down, correct?
And as you pointed out a while back, this all started with Bremmer.
Posted by: RossK | Aug 20 2004 15:02 utc | 39
Mutada al-Sadrs strategy of keeping a solid foothold in Najaf (past 4 months) has enabled him to draw the US/Allawi forces into a major confrontation that is most importantly symbolic and aimed at the collective will of the Shiite population. To illustrate clearly to his fellow Shia that the al-Sistani “wait and see” route to political power is systematically being undercut by the occupation/Allawi drive to consolidate power, and that in the end the Shia will be screwed yet again. He has made his point in Allawis decision to use Iraqi troops to put down his (and all of the Shia) claim on the shrine itself. The point, I think, is to instill an irrefutable sense collectively among the Shia that 1) their (his) case is legitimate and viable, 2) that the overwhelming military power can be countered effectively through symbolic resistance, 3) that overwhelming military power can be defeated if its true intentions are understood, and attacked on that level i.e. the strangulation of costs vs rewards. 4) and finally, that it is the Shia, that holds the trump card.
If nothing else, Muqtada al-Sadr has played the occupation like an old fiddle.
Posted by: ann missed | Aug 20 2004 18:12 utc | 40
@ ann missed
Would you also say that al Sistani is out of the picture? From afar it would seem that he has sought retirement and/or safety in Britain.
I suppose he could hope to make a triumphant return in the style of Khomeni (sp) when the Shah of Iran was forced out. Perhaps Nemo or Helpful Spook have some insight 🙂
Posted by: Dan of Steele | Aug 20 2004 19:15 utc | 41
If nothing else, Muqtada al-Sadr has played the occupation like an old fiddle.
I thought it was Bush who fiddled while Baghdad burned?
Would you also say that al Sistani is out of the picture?
Well…he either has old man shivers or he is de-sistani-ng himself for some sly reason.
Anna – not to mention the opposite “signal” given to the Sunnis who now run free in Fallujah…
You mean those blokes in the Brooks brothers suits stinking of the loud toilet-water Bremmer left behind? Why they look perfectly legit to me. As if they could step right into the CEO-ship of Enron or Halliburton at the click of Cheney’s fingers.
Do you suppose Dick has taught them to click their heels right smart when he issues orders?
Yes Mien Fuhrer! *CLICK*
Certainly Mien Fuhrer! *CLICK*
Right away Mien Fuhrer! *CLICK*
As you command Mien Fuhrer! *CLICK*
What an absolute travesty…
If there is any justice in this world the cost of this Iraq debacle really ought to go to a trillion US dollars.
As the only way to beat studidity in this world is to hit it over the head with a money club until it surrenders.
Posted by: koreyel | Aug 20 2004 19:52 utc | 42
@koreyel–
“…I thought it was Bush who fiddled while Baghdad burned?
True enough, which is why he shall, from this day forward, be known as a ‘NeroCon’.
Posted by: RossK | Aug 20 2004 20:53 utc | 43
On tall tales and obstacles to electoral participation in Afghanistan
The fog and dog of war
….But Ismail Khan doubts whether the 800,000 people in Herat who registered to vote in the October 9 presidential election, will bother after seeing Kabul’s failure to strike hard or act sooner….
Embattled Afghan governor scents treachery
KABUL (Reuters) – Time bombs planted by Taliban fighters wounded six police and security officials overnight outside U.N.-Afghan election offices in western Afghanistan, Taliban and police officials told Reuters on Friday….
Taliban blasts wound six in Western Afghanistan
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 20 2004 21:54 utc | 44
Sketches…
See no evil, Najaf, August 20th
Hear no evil, Najaf, August 20th
Speak no evil – US troops cringe under Iraqi fire, Najaf, August 20th
Occupation – US troops bed down in a commandeered Iraqi home, Najaf, August 20th
Smashing windows of vehicle parked on a Najaf street, August 20th
Pro-American Iraqi National Guardsman, Najaf, August 20th
Tragedy – new home made toys carried by young boys, Sadr City, Baghdad, August 20th
Placards piled up for ‘spontaneous pro-Chalabi demonstration, Baghdad, August 20th
Lured by freebies, Iraq youth turns out for Chalabi but chants for al-Sadr
Not all Chalabi’s PR operations were such transparent failures though:
Majority of Americans still think Iraq had WMD – poll
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 20 2004 22:05 utc | 45
Thanks Nemo – very valuable links.
Hundreds of Iraqis, mostly football fans lured by the promise of free shirts, walked and danced through central Baghdad carrying posters of disgraced Pentagon favourite Ahmed Chalabi, but chanting their support for Shiite radical leader Moqtada Sadr….
Although they held in their hands banners supporting the secular Chalabi, on their lips was praise for Sadr…
Masan said he had joined the march at the request of senior members of his local football club, who had been asked to provide support for a rally by Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress (INC). …
“We were told we would be given sports items such as T-shirts and football equipment if we participated in the march”
Lured by freebies, Iraq youth turns out for Chalabi, but chants for Sadr
Posted by: b | Aug 20 2004 22:19 utc | 46
PR tricks – media blowback
PATRAS, Greece — Iraqi midfielder Salih Sadir scored a goal here on Wednesday night, setting off a rousing celebration among the 1,500 Iraqi soccer supporters at Pampeloponnisiako Stadium. Though Iraq — the surprise team of the Olympics — would lose to Morocco 2-1, it hardly mattered as the Iraqis won Group D with a 2-1 record and now face Australia in the quarterfinals on Sunday.
Afterward, Sadir had a message for U.S. president George W. Bush, who is using the Iraqi Olympic team in his latest re-election campaign advertisements.
In those spots, the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear as a narrator says, “At this Olympics there will be two more free nations — and two fewer terrorist regimes.”
“Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign,” Sadir told SI.com through a translator, speaking calmly and directly. “He can find another way to advertise himself.”
Ahmed Manajid, who played as a midfielder on Wednesday, had an even stronger response when asked about Bush’s TV advertisement. “How will he meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women?” Manajid told me. “He has committed so many crimes.”
“The ad simply talks about President Bush’s optimism and how democracy has triumphed over terror,” said Scott Stanzel, a spokesperson for Bush’s campaign. “Twenty-five million people in Iraq are free as a result of the actions of the coalition.”
To a man, members of the Iraqi Olympic delegation say they are glad that former Olympic committee head Uday Hussein, who was responsible for the serial torture of Iraqi athletes and was killed four months after the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003, is no longer in power.
But they also find it offensive that Bush is using Iraq for his own gain when they do not support his administration’s actions. “My problems are not with the American people,” says Iraqi soccer coach Adnan Hamad. “They are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything. The American army has killed so many people in Iraq. What is freedom when I go to the [national] stadium and there are shootings on the road?”
At a speech in Beaverton, Ore., last Friday, Bush attached himself to the Iraqi soccer team after its opening-game upset of Portugal. “The image of the Iraqi soccer team playing in this Olympics, it’s fantastic, isn’t it?” Bush said. “It wouldn’t have been free if the United States had not acted.”
Sadir, Wednesday’s goal-scorer, used to be the star player for the professional soccer team in Najaf. In the city in which 20,000 fans used to fill the stadium and chant Sadir’s name, U.S. and Iraqi forces have battled loyalists to rebel cleric Moktada al-Sadr for the past two weeks. Najaf lies in ruins.
“I want the violence and the war to go away from the city,” says Sadir, 21. “We don’t wish for the presence of Americans in our country. We want them to go away.”
Manajid, 22, who nearly scored his own goal with a driven header on Wednesday, hails from the city of Fallujah. He says coalition forces killed Manajid’s cousin, Omar Jabbar al-Aziz, who was fighting as an insurgent, and several of his friends. In fact, Manajid says, if he were not playing soccer he would “for sure” be fighting as part of the resistance.
“I want to defend my home. If a stranger invades America and the people resist, does that mean they are terrorists?” Manajid says. “Everyone [in Fallujah] has been labeled a terrorist. These are all lies. Fallujah people are some of the best people in Iraq….”
Iraqi soccer players upset about Bush campaign ads using team
ATHENS, Aug. 19 – The United States Olympic Committee has asked the Bush campaign to stop using the Olympic name in commercials. Federal law grants the U.S.O.C. exclusive rights to the name.
The campaign recently began running an ad that shows a swimmer, with flags of Afghanistan and Iraq. An announcer says: “Freedom is spreading throughout the world like a sunrise. And this Olympics, there will be two more free nations and two fewer terrorist regimes.”
“We’re awaiting a reply,” Darryl Seibel, a U.S.O.C. spokesman, said.
US Olympic Committee on Bush campaign ads
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 20 2004 22:52 utc | 47
Useless PR tricks – style over substance – how saying things are going wonderfully doesn’t actually make it so
The Bush administration is facing growing criticism from both inside and outside its ranks that it has failed to move aggressively enough in the war of ideas against Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups over the three years since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001….
…Middle East experts – and some frustrated U.S. officials – complain that the administration has provided only limited new direction in dealing with anti-American anger among the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims and is spending far too little on such efforts, particularly in contrast with the billions spent on other pressing needs, such as homeland security and intelligence…
“It’s worse than failing. Failing means you tried and didn’t get better. But at this point, three years after September 11, you can say there wasn’t even much of an attempt, and today Arab and Muslim attitudes toward the U.S. and the degree of distrust in the U.S. are far worse than they were three years ago. Bin Laden is winning by default,” said Shibley Telhami, a member of a White House-appointed advisory group on public diplomacy and Brookings Institution scholar….
“…There is a total collapse of trust in American intentions and it’s only gotten far worse over the past year,” Telhami said. “When people hate or resent the United States far more than they dislike bin Laden, how can you succeed? That’s the bottom line.”
US struggles to win hearts and minds in the Muslim world
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 20 2004 23:12 utc | 48
A prisoner’s tale
LUFKIN, Texas (AP) – A 76-year-old man who spent nearly every day of the last four decades in prison walked free after a judge found that deputies extracted his confession to a 1962 robbery by crushing his fingers between cell bars….
Texas man, 76, walks free from prison after judge finds his robbery confession was coerced
Ah, the bad old days – who could imagine torture being part of American interrogation procedures nowadays? OK, OK, all of you can – I see.
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 20 2004 23:52 utc | 50
OK, I’ve read bits of Podhoretz’ piece of drivel, and I have to say that anyone who dares to write this deserve to die in the most painful way, to my greatest pleasure and satisfaction:
“In this instance, encouragement and reinforcement came from the almost incredible degree of hostility to America that erupted in the wake of 9/11 all over the European continent, and most blatantly in France and Germany”
Well, fuck you, asshole. This sick bastard is unfit to live.
I really wished the pityful “European leaders” had more gutst than that and would openly and officially tell to Bush that crap like the whole “Anti-Americanism” chapter of this ne-con clown won’t be tolerated anymore and may serously jeopardise any friendship between America and Europe.
Oh, and apparently he didn’t read that William Buckley is not pretty upset at Bush and his insane policies.
Damn, this whole site there is a complete trash bin of the worst kind, with stuff about how legalising torture would be fine with the US, how Latin America goes badly with dictator Chavez and other buddies, how feminists are Evil, and other nonsense. And this is from the so-called “American Jewish Committee”. Well, were I an American Jew, I would be pretty pissed that such a bunch of fascistoid wingnuts are hijacking a whole community.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Aug 20 2004 23:54 utc | 51
Clueless Joe,
With you 100%, but as I say, Podhoretz and his ideological companions are not ‘mad outsiders’ nursing a crank agenda – they are in the driving seat of American foreign policy. Those who have died, and who most certainly will die, in their hundreds of thousands or worse as a consequence of the diseased thinking of Podhoretz and Co. can take no comfort from the fact that their being blasted from the earth owes its genesis to the twisted thoughts of respectable men in sharp suits.
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 21 2004 1:09 utc | 52
”Oh, you mean THAT £4.35 million mansion and estate? I’d forgotten all about that!”
“…When newspaper reports first linked Ms Bhutto and her husband with the property, they both issued denials. Mr Zardari said indignantly: “How can anyone think of buying a mansion in England when people in Pakistan don’t even have a roof over their heads?” Ms Bhutto continues to deny her involvement….
Bhutto’s husband now admits owning £4m estate
Greed, theft and corruption – what would politicians do without them? Just tell lies I guess…
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 21 2004 1:11 utc | 53
PR tricks update – Hypocrisy makes a stand
President Bush’s re-election campaign will continue to run a television ad that mentions the Olympics, despite questions about whether that violates the bylaws for the games….
Bush campaign won’t stop running Olympics ad despite query from U.S. organizing committee
Perhaps one of the most nauseating things, for Iraqis about Bush claiming any shred of ‘credit’ for the achievements of the Iraqi soccer team is that fact that U.S. soldiers took their training stadium (mal’ab al-Sha’ab) and made it a military base….
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 21 2004 5:40 utc | 55
Paranoia at it’s best! Must be really fun to travel in the US.
Kennedy’s name on US ‘no-fly’ list
Posted by: Fran | Aug 21 2004 6:38 utc | 56
Well time for some sick humour from the ever-abrasive (and in this case imho effin brilliant) Chris Floyd
I’d like to hear this one done as a radio spot by the Firesign Theatre…
But things have reached a sorry pass in this country when decent businessmen are forced to give up profits and betray their foreign partners just because of some ridiculous law. I mean, come on! The law is for regulating the behavior of the lower orders; it was never meant to apply to people like us!
nemo; tragedy-new homade toys carried by young …
sad and indicative, the seeds of resistance planted deep in the Iraqi psyche, will bloom in a few years unquestioned.
Posted by: anna missed | Aug 21 2004 7:38 utc | 59
Out of the mouths of babes…
To Prime Minister Tony Blair,
My name is Maxine Gentle and I am 14 years old. I am the sister of Fusilier Gordon Gentle who died in the war in Iraq on the 28th June 2004. I want my thoughts and feelings to be heard and known.
My feelings are that I think you are rubbish at your job. You don’t care about the British public, armed forces or anyone in fact.
My big brother died at the age of 19, and what for? A war over oil and money, that’s what I think the war is all about. There was no such thing as weapons of “mass destruction”, if there were Saddam Hussein would have used them at the start of the war.
I think that you should withdraw all of our soldiers from Iraq. After all, it is not our war, it’s America’s. So why did we, the British, have to get involved? I think that you just don’t want to get on the wrong side of George Bush.
My big brother meant the world to me. I looked up to him with pride because he made something of himself. He was well known, just like you, but everyone liked and loved him, not like you, because I have no respect for you, and nor do a lot of other people I know.
Gordon had only passed out in April, and yet by May YOU sent him and many others to a war zone.
What I find strange is that in order to be a qualified plumber or electrician you need to train for 3 or 4 years, but to be a qualified soldier, and learn to KILL someone, you only need to train for SIX MONTHS! The people that you have sent out there are still young; they have the rest of their lives to live, just like Gordon did.
My family is still hurting badly and so am I. To you he was just another number clown. From the minute that we found out Gordon was going over there we were all worried about him, right up until the minute we found out it was Gordon that was killed by the Iraqis.
We are all hurting badly, but I don’t just blame Gordon’s death on the Iraqis that made the roadside bomb, I blame YOU as well because it is your fault that our soldiers are over there in the first place, by agreeing with George Bush that we HAD to go to war, when we didn’t!
As I said everyone is hurting badly right now, but you would not know that because your sons are all tucked up nicely in bed at night, at the same time as there are mums and dads who still have sons over there, who can’t sleep at night, wondering if their loved ones are coming home or are they going to be the next ones to be killed.
You would not know how we all feel, because you’re at home at night with your wife and son watching them growing up, but we will never know what Gordon would have been like in years to come.
It is okay for you sitting there with all your money and power, ruining people’s lives by the decisions YOU make. I don’t care who knows how I feel about you. All you care about is things that benefit you. All you and your new “best Friend” George Bush care about is Iraq’s oil.
My big brother died in the early hours of the morning, and yet, when you and George Bush went on live TV in the afternoon to hand the country back over, you both stood there that afternoon smiling and acting like one big happy family when you both knew well that a British soldier had died that morning.
Nothing you can do or say will change my mind, or the fact that I am hurting badly inside. I cry myself to sleep most of the time because Gordon has gone and is never coming back.
Quite frankly I would have loved to meet you myself and tell you all this personally. But if I met you I would not shake your hand. This is my personal feelings towards you and George Bush, but I have less respect for you than him because YOU are the British Prime Minister, well supposed to be, and I am British, although sometimes I am ashamed to admit to being British when I have got such a bad prime minister as you.
I hope you have pleasure reading this as I have had pleasure writing it.
Yours Sincerely
Maxine Gentle
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 21 2004 7:45 utc | 60
Insincerity
Dear Mrs Gentle,
I am sorry I have not written to you before about Gordon. I was uncertain, having read your comments in the newspapers, whether you would resent my writing to you.
I offer you my deepest condolences on his death. But I would like you to know that I believe what Gordon and his fellow soldiers are doing out in Iraq is vital not just for the change necessary in that country but vital for the security and stability of this country, Britain and of the wider world.
I understand you may not agree with this, but you should know at least that I hold this belief sincerely.
It is a heavy responsibility to send young soldiers into war and I can assure I did not take the decision lightly. But I believe that had we allowed Saddam to remain in power, the consequences would have been appalling and dangerous far beyond the frontiers of Iraq.
I would like to pay tribute to Gordon’s courage, dedication and professionalism. By all accounts, he was a fine soldier. I know you will be very proud of him and so is his country in whose service he gave his life.
You and Mr Gentle are in my thoughts and prayers,
Yours sincerely
Tony Blair.
Blair to Mrs Rose Gentle, mother of a British soldier killed in Iraq
War of words – Blair and the families of British soldiers killed in Iraq
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 21 2004 7:51 utc | 61
anyone checked the brew ha ha over at back-to-iraq? and who is that richard wadsack guy ? he could peel paint.
Posted by: anna missed | Aug 21 2004 8:29 utc | 62
This would be really funny if it weren’t so sad!
Nick Coleman: Gospel, crosses and boos on cue
Posted by: Fran | Aug 21 2004 8:44 utc | 63
Fran,
Salam Pax is actually inside the Imam Ali shrine at Najaf at present, I am sure his take on things will be interesting reading when he blogs again.
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 21 2004 9:51 utc | 65
When the US Marines make policy Iraq burns
Assassinations and ‘mistakes’
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 21 2004 19:32 utc | 66
@Nemo – When the US Marines…
The article says, as the NYT reported, that the Marines started the Najaf clashes without orders from higher ups. I did thought so too, but now I do believe that this NYT report is a just a measure to deflect cricism from the Bush administration for anything bad that might happen through this endevour. Marines are gung-ho, but the command structure is not as independet as described.
It also fits the NeoCons plans to stir as much trouble as possibel in the Middle East. In the case Kerry wins, they will have set up so many escalations that Kerry will have no room to manuever except into the direction the NeoCons desire.
Posted by: b | Aug 21 2004 20:05 utc | 67
b
You are wise to hesitate to give credence to the ‘out of control Marines’ scenario – plausible deniability is always a feature in operations where negative consequences might be grave. Better to promote an image of gung ho US Marines than the possibility that orders are coming directly from the highest level. And doubtless the ‘coincidence’ of the launch of a massive attack on al-Mehdi militiamen in Sadr City, Baghdad, which occurred as one of the numerous ‘final pushes’ was being made at An Najaf was down to a few hot-headed US army officers in Baghdad, eh?
Analysis: Najaf siege might not end rebel cleric’s challenge
Substitute ‘won’t’ for ‘might’ in the headline and this is a very useful analysis
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 21 2004 21:14 utc | 68
Final result – Hugo Chavez 1 George W. Bush and the CIA 0
Venezuela vote audit confirms Chavez victory
Home win.
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 21 2004 21:21 utc | 69
An Najaf
1.25 am, Iraq time
Fire blazes in Najaf after blasts
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 21 2004 21:25 utc | 70
Last night I made a little comment on the photo Nemo linked, of the !raqi boys playing with homade RPG launchers. For some time I’ve had this sense that, any culture that has within it an ongoing insurgency, rebellion, or occupation,will over time incorporate those elements and debase the culture in such a way that litterally “breeds” an effective resistance to the subugation or intrusion.
On the “Teen Sex” thread, Uncle $cam makes an interesting point on socio-sexual imprinting and the effects on both individual behavior and the resulting cultural condition. Would it not logically follow that the images of the“ rites of passage “ of sexual maturation, when experienced in a long term war zone, might be supersceded by the new images of heroic warrior? Personal anexity of the developing “new body” are easly projected onto the shifting and perilous conditon of the culture itself, giving rise to boys with wooden RPG’s with dreams that are simultaniously self agrandizing and alturistic.
While these effects are exploited by our own military and its need for recruits, I would think this pales in comparison to having the war taking place in your own back yard, day in day out. And, it would seem that the longer such a conflict went on, the deeper and more pervasive the affliction would become entreanched within the culture. Without a doubt this presents any occupation force with a steadly diminshing opportunity to recast the “ mind set” of the culture, thus dooming it to eventual failure.
There is also a downside to the host culture in this scenario, while perhaps throwing off an oppressor, they are still stuck with a culture that is addapted to warfare, a sort of cultural addiction (to war). The post war period of Viet-nam and Afganastan might serve as illustrations,they just couldn’t stop.
Posted by: anna missed | Aug 21 2004 22:16 utc | 71
@ anna m.
Can’t disagree, especially wrt the Afgan example….so much for the flypaper hypothesis, huh.
Posted by: RossK | Aug 21 2004 23:05 utc | 72
Sunday, August 22nd, 4.05am, An Najaf
US launches fresh assault on al-Sadr militia in Najaf
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 0:06 utc | 73
Harold Lloyd,
So do you think that the USA should invade Venezuela, just to be on the safe side?
Incidentally, I am still making steady progress with your poem – I am slowed down because I have to research who many of the characters in it are!
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 1:09 utc | 75
Iraq – technology transfer and training
Republican Guards officers, Fallujah fighters training Shi’ite militia
It is heartwarming to see the Iraqi people coming together and overcoming their religious differences – well done Mr. Boosh!
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 1:23 utc | 76
@NEMO:
Do a Boolean, NEMO.
It helps with Americanisms, obscure historical people, and strange things.
It’s fast, too.
Information Technology Training and Transfer(ITTT) will set your people free.
Take Care My Friend.
Posted by: Harold Lloyd | Aug 22 2004 2:03 utc | 77
Not quite a fatwa but…
Ayatollah al-Sistani – Occupiers should leave Iraq
The commander of the big battalions speaks, and his remedy is not dissimilar to that of young Muqtada al-Sadr – the spin on this news should be interesting…
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 5:33 utc | 78
Spot the difference
…The maximum sympathy payout for wrongful death is $2,500 according to lists kept by the Iraqi Assistance Center, a liason office that helps Iraqis manage affairs involving the occupying militaries…
Running the US military’s compensation gauntlet in Iraq
…The British army has paid out £390 to the family of an eight-year-old Iraqi girl who was killed after being hit by a bullet fired by a British soldier….
How much is an Iraqi girl worth in British eyes?
Bereaved Iraqi family gets £390
A former Special Air Service sergeant whose military career ended when he was crushed by an American helicopter in Afghanistan has received £1.3 million in compensation from the US government…
US pays SAS ‘friendly fire’ victim £1.3m
Skin color, race, religion or just general comtempt?
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 6:24 utc | 79
It occurred to me the other day just how smart George W. Bush was to declare victory in Iraq in May of 2003. Americans have come to expect ludicrously short wars (rather, cloyingly-named operations, since wars are no longer declared by us) with relatively few casualties on eiter side. This is what the White House and the Pentagon delivered in both Afghanistan and Iraq. The actual elements of victory, such as the crushing defeat and formal or de facto surrender of one’s opponents, does not matter in these scenarios; what matters is the public packaging of our military operations. The quick drive to Baghdad and its subsequent occupation by Coalition forces could be packaged as a “victory,” and if subsequent events proved the circumstances of victory to be little different from the circumstances of war itself, then the public would simply have to undergo an alteration of definition. And this is just what has happened, as we are regularly reminded by commentators across the spectrum that we “won the war” but haven’t “won the peace.” It’s a naive and completely assinine assessment of our situation, but there you have it: victory declared and accepted in spite of the facts.
If this administration – if this country – is presently guided by war-mongers, the war-mongers are patently inept at their chosen art. We don’t so much fight wars anymore as fuck around with the idea of it. This is what bin Laden meant when he called the US a paper tiger. For all its swagger and whoop-ass rhetoric, the Bush White House has only further reinforced this appalling reality and its contributing political mind-set.
Not a single US military engagement from the first Gulf war onward was fought to a successful conclusion. It’s worth wondering why the world’s preeminent military power has established such a pattern and sticks to it despite an extraordinary attack against its homeland and the greater price that punch-pulling and political caution extract in the long run.
Posted by: Pat | Aug 22 2004 7:31 utc | 80
Caveat emptor
Sudan uncover ‘fake rape’ video ring
Fake ‘honor killing’ book author is a wanted con-woman
Amend international law to allow a pre-emptive strike on Iran – Alan Dershowitz
In the battle to sway and influence your opinions propaganda comes in many guises – fortunately insanity and demented bloodlust is easier to spot than some of the other approaches. Dershowitz should be forcibly confined in an asylum for the pathologically insane and all who have come into contact with him should be decontaminated without delay.
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 7:40 utc | 81
Good catch there Nemo, this whole thing is just sickening beyond belief. I was listening to the symphonic “Tool” a string quartet tribute to “tool” and had that sucker cranked to ten. And started screaming to the top of my lungs for about 7 or 8 minutes. Cathartic! And I am reminded of this acute first-circuit utter and complete trap we are all stuck in best described thus: When the Russian mathematician, Ouspensky, was first
studying with Gurdjieff, he had great trouble understanding
Gurdjieff s insistence that most people are machines and totally
unaware of the objective world around them. Then, one day,
after World War I had begun, Ouspensky saw a truck full of
artificial legs. These artificial legs were being sent to the frontline
hospitals, for soldiers whose legs had not even been blown
off yet, but whose legs would be blown off. The prediction that
these legs would be blown off was so certain that the artificial
legs were already on their way to replace the natural legs. The
prediction was based on the mathematical certainty that millions
of young men would march to the front, to be maimed and murdered,
as mindlessly as cattle marching into a slaughterhouse.
In a flash, Ouspensky understood the mechanical nature of
ordinary human consciousness.
Arggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Aug 22 2004 7:50 utc | 82
Pat, in the light of your critique above I’d be interested in your read on the likelihood of Israel getting US support for the action that Dershowitz is calling for, an action that would, beyond a shadow of a doubt, set the entire Muslim world on a very real collision course with the West.
Iran doesn’t need a lot more pushing, what with the graves of millions of Iranians being bombed and fought over daily in the cemetery in Najaf, and the mere suggestion of Dershowitz’s idea will have ramifications. You argue convincingly that the US administration is hooked on media sound bites and the art of deception – but is it out of control? Iran is the wrong place to choose for a ‘get tough and stay tough’ policy – an attack there will ignite the world.
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 7:51 utc | 83
Uncle $cam,
It is indeed a dark place to be when the realization of the consequences of a mechanical march of madness comes home to you. It doesn’t even have the comfort of ‘only being a nightmare’ – it’s reality and its predictable outcomes are emerging day by day. God help us all.
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 7:56 utc | 84
My above post, last sentence should read: The post war period of the US – Vietnam and the Afgan – Soviet wars both resulted in extended conflict, Vietnam’s war on Cambodia and the Afgan civil war would illustrate the problems of de-progaming the culture.
@Pat
Would this also account for the “we have the most advanced health care system in the world” rhetoric, when in fact we rate 26th down there somewhere with Costa Rico in actual health care delivery? If so, would you say that we may be suffering a major epidemic of cognative dissonance? Maybe some massive horseblinder syndrome? HELP !!!
Posted by: anna missed | Aug 22 2004 8:22 utc | 85
My above post, last sentence should read: The post war period of the US – Vietnam and the Afgan – Soviet wars both resulted in extended conflict, Vietnam’s war on Cambodia and the Afgan civil war would illustrate the problems of de-progaming the culture.
@Pat
Would this also account for the “we have the most advanced health care system in the world” rhetoric, when in fact we rate 26th down there somewhere with Costa Rico in actual health care delivery? If so, would you say that we may be suffering a major epidemic of cognative dissonance? Maybe some massive horseblinder syndrome? HELP !!!
Posted by: anna missed | Aug 22 2004 8:24 utc | 86
Aaaaaaaaarrrghhh!!!
Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!
Armed robbers steal Munch’s ‘The Scream’ in Oslo
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 16:48 utc | 88
Right on, Pat. Saying the “war is over” is of a piece with calling our opponents “insurgents,” or “anti-Iraqi” forces. It’s all fun and games for the propagandists, and it doesn’t alter the body count or the sticker shock–inevitably connected to our “not winning the peace” in Iraq…. And also: while you’ve been entirely right about that mosque, can you imagine Americans not paying a terrible price (on the ground in Iraq) if, for any reason, the mosque happens to blow up?
Posted by: alabama | Aug 22 2004 17:14 utc | 89
War news from one of the ‘war is over’ zones
Warily negotiating the streets of Najaf as fighting rages in the city, August 22nd
Negotiating the streets of Najaf II, August 22nd
Inside the Imam Ali Shrine, Najaf, August 22nd
Iraqi girls outside their home, hit by artillery shell, Najaf, August 22nd
Home – damaged by artillery shell – Najaf, August 22nd
Heavy clashes in Najaf as shrine handover suspended
4 US Marines killed in Iraq incidents
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 17:30 utc | 90
American spin – number 63,789,058 – ‘Training the new Iraqi forces to take on the country’s security demands and provide much needed stability.’
”…the 330 ING recruits get just three weeks of training before being dispatched into Iraq’s roughest areas to take on insurgents….
“…I only have three or four weeks. I can’t make Rambo in that time,” said Waldenfels, adding that the basics of soldiering can nonetheless be taught in a short period of time. “We need them, so it’s important to shorten the process….”
“…This is the exit strategy,” said Maj. Bemis, looking out over a platoon of recruits training to defend themselves against an insurgent ambush. “The success of these guys will determine when we can actually leave.”
US pins exit hopes on Iraq troop training
Hmmm, three whole weeks training, eh? And four for ING forces going to really volatile areas? And that’s an EXIT STRATEGY? The obvious question arises – is America really serious about ‘leaving’?
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 18:01 utc | 91
Nemo: The obvious question arises – is America really serious about ‘leaving’?
The obvious answer – it never was and it will not be until the losses become uncomfortable.
Posted by: b | Aug 22 2004 18:06 utc | 92
Well who exactly is?
A grieving mother is not fit to debate Iraq
Vomit-inducing opinion piece from ‘controversial’ right-wing Irish journalist writing for a right-wing British newspaper. His unctuous, dismissive and patronizing tone reduces the opinion and feelings of one who has actually paid a very real price for the attack on Iraq to a display of emotional hysteria. No recognition of the rights of the thousands of Iraqi dead or the pain of their families or the views and feelings of the families of the 1,000+ dead soldiers of the ‘multinational forces’.
The loathsome Myers, with his studied indifference to real suffering and loss and his eagerness to outline ‘what soldiers are for’ is a fine, despicable example of the mechanical mindset so eloquently described by Uncle $cam above.
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 18:21 utc | 93
Blair’s note of sympathy truly reaches new depths
This article perhaps better places the wretch Myers’ piece in perspective – clearly his work is an attack on the Gentle family to counter the negative publicity they have generated towards the Iraq war and towards Bush’s poodle, Blair.
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 18:35 utc | 94
APA Proud of its Cover-up of Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health:
American Psychiatric Association Says Bush Administration “Appreciative” of APA Efforts to Suppress Mass Media Coverage of Facts and Stories Raised by the British Medical Journal Series.
The American Psychiatric Association is bragging in its own membership newsletter that they pleased the Bush Administration by successfully discouraging the mainstream media from looking into the corruption exposed by the British Medical Journal in a recent series of articles.
here
Posted by: Anonymous | Aug 22 2004 18:49 utc | 95
@Nemo
Kevin Myers?
I don’t buy the Irish Times because of this Pro-Israeli Fascist.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Aug 22 2004 18:49 utc | 96
Off Iraq – a good reference macroeconomics site here:http://www.stern.nyu.edu/globalmacro/
Posted by: Anonymous | Aug 22 2004 19:03 utc | 97
CAROLYN WOOD – come on down! – your fifteen minutes of fame is about to commence
Washington, DC, Aug. 21 (UPI) — Investigators said Saturday some military personnel implicated in the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal were involved in deaths and abuses of detainees in Afghanistan….
Iraq abusers linked to Afghan abuse
Abu Ghraib interrogators involved in earlier Afghan abuse probe
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 19:25 utc | 98
Bumbling
“…After his arrest warrant was issued 10 days ago, Chalabi announced he was returning from Iran to Baghdad to clear his name. Far from preparing the handcuffs, Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi begged him to stay away until the situation was resolved. Less than 24 hours later, the Interior Ministry announced it would temporarily suspend the warrant….”
In post-war Iraq the long arm of the law just isn’t long enough
The law is a 7mar, a majnoon*
{*With apologies to C. Dickens Esq.}
Posted by: Nemo | Aug 22 2004 20:29 utc | 99