@CP – those aren´t trolls but spamers, usually automated ones. Just don´t answer them please. Send me a mail if you see one and I will delete it.
Thanks

Posted by: b | Nov 4 2004 16:16 utc | 4

oh if there is a god please not ashcroft.also what if these blackboxvoting people get all the info they filed for un freedom of info act for the flordia and ohio vote and find evidence of tampering on the electronic machines? i know they found a few things in the 2002 elections and not much seemed to have came of it but this is a presidential election,but if it can be proven can anything be done at this point? this also gave me shivers,someone (a bush staff member)can’t remeber who said today we need at least 10 more supreme justices like they have on state levels,can they conceivably do this?

Posted by: onzaga | Nov 4 2004 16:30 utc | 6

Israel Radio saying Arafat is clinically dead.
A minute’s silence in the Knesset?

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Nov 4 2004 16:38 utc | 8

sour grapes
more fraud

Posted by: annie | Nov 4 2004 17:33 utc | 10

Thanks for those links annie. No doubt we’ll get to the bottom of this fraud and expose both the dems and repubs.

Posted by: b real | Nov 4 2004 17:56 utc | 12

that was supposed to say 40 min and 50 seats

Posted by: annie | Nov 4 2004 18:12 utc | 14

18, 181
“This is the number of total votes of three separate candidates in Comal County, TX. They were all Republicans, but it was for representatives in 3 separate districts. It does sound strange but what is the significance of that number? If there is any.”
(From a post at Black box voting; some discussion follows).
Strange, you bet! (Statistically speaking, it is not a possible result.)
The complete correct answer is:
This number gives math geeks thrills.
It is a dihedral palindromic prime. (Reads the same from top or bottom and left and right.)
Moreover, 1..8..1 repeated to give 7*11 digits (as in: 181818181…) is also a prime and a smoothly undulating one!
(For other mathematical properties, see:Prime Curios)
Read: snake.
Looks very like an inside joke. Perhaps, some weird error or default number, plugged in in advance.
One person on the site pointed out that 1=A and 8=H which gives:
AHAHA! 😉

Posted by: Blackie | Nov 4 2004 18:39 utc | 16

A question to our German speaking friends:
The top song here on my radio is a German song from a group called Ramstein(?) which starts with something like “Wir all lieben Amerika (bis) Amerika ist wunderbar”.
Are you familiar with it? Is it ironic or otherwise? I can’t get enough of the wording to get it…
Thanks for any info.

Posted by: Jérôme | Nov 4 2004 18:59 utc | 18

@Jérôme – people always wonder if Rammstein is right wing or left wing. Nothing of both in my view.
Their song “Amerika” can not be seen as pro american and its not “ironic” it’s reality based.
Consider the lines
music is played by the White house
next to Paris there lives Mickey Mouse
…
We’re all living in America,
Amerika ist wunderbar.
We’re all living in America,
Amerika, Amerika.
We’re all living in America,
Coca-Cola, sometimes WAR,
We’re all living in America,
Amerika, Amerika.
Lyrics (you may have to click “Accept” somewhere to reach it)

Posted by: b | Nov 4 2004 19:26 utc | 20

@b – thanks.

Posted by: jerome | Nov 4 2004 20:19 utc | 22

No Moon of Alabama
There may be trouble ahead
But while there’s moonlight and music
And love and romance
Let’s face the music and dance
Before the fiddlers have fled
Before they ask us to pay the bill
And while we still
Have the chance
Let’s face the music and dance
Soon
We’ll be without the moon
Humming a diff’rent tune
And then…
There may be teardrops to shed
So while there’s moonlight and music
And love and romance
Let’s face the music and dance

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Nov 4 2004 21:38 utc | 24

jj “Did everyone but me know that the Senate is controlled by literal Theocrats?” well, i knew, just assumed that everyone here did too.
fascism 101

Posted by: annie | Nov 4 2004 22:45 utc | 26

the situation of your country is extreme – though pat says do not fear jackboots when i watch the armies of murdoch through foxnews the only yhting that is absent is jackboot
you are led by vulgar corrupt & stupid men
there is not an ounce of intelligence amongst them
for the last four years they have brought you nothing but disaster
they have destroyed any lasting remnants of rigour or of decency from your legislative and judicial institutions. now they will destroy what remains & there can be no doubt about that
you once, long ago on your sumpreme court has some men even amongst conservatives who were great jurists – you had good & honest men in the form of marshall & frankfurter(?) – there were others who brought honour to the name of justice even though i would have rigorously opposed them i could not attack was clearly a respect for law & rights
your supreme court is now the refuge of dullards – of those with a very meagre history as jurists – they are inconsequential in the extreme – they are after all that which they sd they attacked – they are activists – scalia & thomas – are the burners of the reichstag
& what is fascism, pat – except the destruction of democratic institutions – if you do not believe these institutions are being subverted from their real base – then you know nothing of law – even your own. democratic institutions are nourished by participation not devotion. you create real civic duty by nourishing the life of a community. you nourish the life of a community by taking their demands seriouslly
no, your supreme court is butrning to the ground & if you cannot see that then you do not have eyes to see
if you cannot see what has happened to your media & it is not only me buut somùe of your conservative & liberal icons who are speaking of the corruption of journalism – of the impoverishment of public life
pat, you were an interrogator – surely you understand what refinement means even in terms of military force – there are delicacies that the machinery of this state is incapable of – they are crude, they are vulgar – & yes if you like they are the true & only inheritors of a goebbels, a heydrich, a streicher, a rosenberg a speer
& that isn’t hyperbole – every time i look at thaat face of that puritan prick ashcroft all i see is reinhard heydrich in his beatiful & cute uniform
what is fascism except for the dimunition of a public life – a real public life -what is fascism except for the private will of a relatively small number of people replacing the heart & perhaps the innocence of the people
i do not think i have to paint a black picture – america is doing that all by itself
fascist use words like sanstity but do all to turn everything sordid – they abuse the word sacred turning everything profane including that most valuable tool – our conscience. to be aware- to be awake – to be conscient pat is not a crime – for me i watch my people here awake to their power & it is a resolute & beautiful thing. i watch people who have been ‘absent’ from public life transformed by it & able to participate. i love my country, france – while it is both fragile & frail it is really open in a way americans can only imagine. it is not soft as your right would like to believe – sometimes is is a hard mother but she is a caring mother
what is foxnew except for the despoilation of both public & private lives – everything has become pornographic in his hands & watch those hands work – simultaneously capable of the highest piety while at the same time besmirching it
let me be clear – what is happening what will happen is irreparable
pat – when you were an interrogator – i would have gladly sat at the other side of the table – because their dream though flawed, and even when you were working – it was something that was already close to collapse – they had dreams & desiress that should humble any person who has a heart
dark times – oh yes the times are going to be very dark indeed – but bush has also menaced the public life of france – it will create tensions in our communities that have been trying to be conciled – i work with many north afris & i can tell you that in the last four years – america has created militia after militia, suicide bomber after suicide bomber, fanaticism that will become worse more active
pat – you laughed over my contempt for obl – but it is these communities here & in the middle east & in south east asia that i am concerned by in pakistan, in egypt, in indonesia you have created the monsters that will fill our nightmares & the terrible truth will be that some of these monsters will be searching for a real justice – a justice with meaning – but the circumstance on that side will prefer theocracy as it does in america
i fear very much for our future
the jackboots you do not see will caress you with their contempt
in respect but also in despair
& to suggest in large part that deanander has the more reasonable voice but he is telling truths here that in their clarity are in themselves terrifying
i am by nature a quiet man – it is the world that is hysteric
still steel

Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 4 2004 23:16 utc | 28

From Samizdata:
Not only is Kerry the ’60s candidate, but he also apparently employed a campaign strategy that would have given [him] the election in the ’60s. If Kerry had won the same bundle of states that gave him 252 electoral votes in this election, but the states were still valued according to the Congressional apportionment based on the Census of 1960, he would have won the election, 270 electoral votes to 268. The trend since then:
1960 census (1964, 68 elections) – Kerry 270, Bush 268 1970 census (1972, 76, 80 elections) – Kerry 270, Bush 268 1980 census (1984, 88 elections) – Bush 276, Kerry 262 1990 census (1992, 96, 2000 elections) – Bush 279, Kerry 259 2000 census (2004, 08 elections) – Bush 286, Kerry 252
This is indicative of a potential long-term problem for the Democrats: they are strongest in the parts of the country that aren’t growing anymore. Even since the 2000 election (which was still based on the 1990 Census) the states Kerry won this time around are worth seven fewer electoral votes than they were worth last time.
On the other hand, maybe I should not bring up any of this, out of fear that someone will accuse Bush of stealing the election through the Census. Bush 2004: enumerated, not acclamated!
(Source for old electoral college apportionments: Statistical Abstract of the United States Table #402 – this link opens a .pdf file.)

Posted by: Pat | Nov 4 2004 23:55 utc | 30

& should america even think to lay a hand on the beautiful head of the cuban revolution i & many other people – will go to that country to defend it
i imagine it is on the cards – it is weak – it has been harmed by the sanctions – the time is ripe to be anticuban – the grande fidel is old – but i know these people intimately – they will make what the somalis did to the american armed forces look like a child’s game
& there will be many, many people who will defend her – practically
we will not permit american fascist to lay one hand on her head
still steel

Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 5 2004 0:18 utc | 32

For God’s sake, rgiap, I didn’t laugh at your contempt for OBL. I laughed at your prediction of a unified Muslim world, which is as positively nutty as the idea of a unified West. Or a unified Democratic or Republican Party. Or the lyrics to ‘Imagine.’

Posted by: Pat | Nov 5 2004 0:47 utc | 34

@ Pat:
way I heard it, the Dems are the Stupid Party and the Repubs are the Evil Party. as we’ve just seen.

Posted by: catlady | Nov 5 2004 1:03 utc | 36

@ jj
I went through the same jaw-drop over the theocracy thing a while ago. in my opinion http://www.yuricareport.com has the most comprehensive overview which also points out the neo-con connection, among many others –start with the “The Despoiling of America”.

Posted by: anna missed | Nov 5 2004 1:22 utc | 38

pat
they do not need a unified arab world – what i said was multiplicities of an armed leadership & i think they are well on the way to that – they have had a long experience of war, of experienced training & their ability to risk. what i am suggesting is that you will see attack after attack all over the globe though they may not be the same group or even have any connections -but they will serve the ‘greater goal’ of turning arab reflection into an armed guerrilla war.
they are not fools – i am sure you are aware – that no maoists they – but they have & will adapt the experience of the guerilla wars of the century but this time they will bring it to the cities. of that i am sure – they may be divided on a whole number of levels – but on this we have witnessed an incremental ability to wage those actions & tho i have said they have often chosen easy countries in which to lauynch their actions – they will now take it to another level – of that i am also sure
& that fool bush will have the blood on his hands as he already does because if there is one single reaosn for that acceleration it is american policy towards the middle east
if you really think it will slow down – then i think you are profoundly mistaken
iraq – a whole other – box of explosives – is going to develop into a very systematic war of national independence – of that i am also sure – all the evidence is there & in any case whatever will happen will be a honourable & just war of resistance which it is becoming & i hope that it does & i hope that it teaches the americans a lesson they will never forget – they have that capacity
iraq is not latin america where you can prop some oligarchy & arm them to teeth – this is very much a diem ky thieu situation – a corrupt clique locked into the cities with the guerilla controlling the country – there will not even be the pretence of sovereignty & i can tell you this – there are going to be tens of thousands of american and british dead before this is over
& for what end – it will soon turn into an iranian theocracy – the americans like the nazis before them have bought into an endless war in which the humiliation of your country will be the final result but what a world will be created during that time – i am too scared to think
we are living the war we will continue to live it for a long time
& as i sd should they attempt to belittle latin america through cuba or through chavez – a whole other world will open
as military strategist they have already proved themselves to be of an incompetence inouîe – there is no other sense than a disproportionate armed power & as i’ve sd over & over again – the vietnamese taught you what that was worth
& pat you speak often of the intelligence of your armies – but where are their great strategies or strategist – i think i am familiar with the material & i cannot name one who is not a clerk. & in any case your army has never had a zhukov, or a chuickov but i am interested in what your great seats of military learning have created
like your political administration – i imagine it is corrupt from within – & that while it may have many middle level persons of capacity & intelligence – they don’t make the decision nor do they have the power
& if i am frank with you – it is to say – that i don’t see any difference between your band of criminals & their armed forces & the worlds of ben laden/salafists/wahabists or their armed forces
i don’t know what is passing through your head sometimes – its as if you think in jan/march – they will set up a nice little govt in iraq with a nice little army & your little army can go home. that is not going to happen. you know it as well as i that your sons & daughters – the young you met on the marathon are going to come home in boxes
is that what you call honour
is that what you call dignity
is that a way a nation returns the love & allegiance of its young
no there is another name & it is a name well known to the people of the third world – it is murder
still steel

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Nov 5 2004 1:43 utc | 40

b
many irregularities with posting ce soir – problems of identification – problems as above with repeating text
anna missed
on a practical level – i too see in iraq – almost as is the resistance has studied well some of the set battles in vietnam – i see many many resemblances in method & in application – with an obviouslly chaotic form of organisation they seem to follow coherent strategic imperatives – i sense this instinctually though i think i could offer some very concrete similarities – your thought my friend
still steel

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Nov 5 2004 1:49 utc | 42

Somber week. I’m listening to Art Ensemble of Chicago’s ‘Prayer for Jimbo.’ Maybe I should listen to Ligeti’s Requiem next.
David Harvey has said, and no hyperbole can possibly be intended by him, ‘the u.s. is commiting suicide in Iraq.’
‘bleed-until-bankrupt-plan.’
Mark Strand: “Everyone who has sold himself wants to buy himself back.”
Ho ho.

Posted by: slothrop | Nov 5 2004 2:13 utc | 44

“gonna spend some political capital.”
No better expression that all of America’s have now triumphantly exhulted as the instrumental expenditure of the ‘people’s will.’
I would not doubt that he pays his wife to fuck.
thanks for the jensen piece.

Posted by: slothrop | Nov 5 2004 2:35 utc | 46

rememberinggiap:
Let me add another quotation from Micah to the collection in the article you posted.
Micah 3:
9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

Posted by: x | Nov 5 2004 3:07 utc | 48

@Pat 08:09 PM
losing the election to fraud is not a security blanket. it’s not about what is or is not more painful, it is the reprecussions, for the globe, not just the democrats. it would be more convenient for all to think this administration was legit. to imagine that as down and dirty as they are , at least they are honest?? very unlikely. hard to fathom this great land of the free and we’re not? it may take weeks or more for the results to come back so we do not have much to work with. we may sound like crickets, but millions of crickets is deafening. and what is your point? mine is not that we are smarter. you did not answer my question. do you believe they won fair and square? does it even make a difference to you? do you really think they can convince the rest of the world they have a ‘mandate’. can they convince us? it’s not a contest of who’s smarter, and what pill is easier to swallow. it’s about how to make change. exposing the truth. i want to know the truth.

Posted by: annie | Nov 5 2004 5:54 utc | 50

Here is some humor to start the day – well, maybe it is not that funny.
Key Saddam trial evidence ‘lost’

Human Rights Watch says it is likely crucial evidence for the trials of Saddam Hussein and other former Iraqi officials has been lost or tainted.
…
Human Rights Watch alleges that the coalition’s failure to prevent or minimise the looting and destruction of government buildings in April 2003 led to the widespread removal of state archives, which are now virtually impossible to trace.
The coalition subsequently failed to put in place expertise and assistance needed to ensure proper classification and exhumation procedures.
Crucial evidence necessary for future trials was never collected and may have been irreparably damaged
In some areas, it says, coalition soldiers watched as villagers or families of people who disappeared during Saddam Hussein’s rule dug up remains at mass grave sites.

Posted by: Fran | Nov 5 2004 6:57 utc | 52

And now this little bonus for HIS re-election from http://www.back_to_iraq.com
Welcome to Baghdad, Collaborators!
BEIRUT — In a comment in a previous post, Farid said:
I have a friend living abroad who expressed to me exactly what you just did. Pre-election, Americans were deemed to be helpless bystanders of a government who has taken them hostage with its own agenda. Now they are seen as collaborators with it.
This comment resonated strongly with me personally because the insurgents in Iraq see all Americans/foreigners there, including we journalists, as collaborators with the U.S. occupation. I worry that the endorsement of the American people of the last three years will extend this attitude to the rest of the world. (Of course, some people don’t give a damn about what the rest of the world thinks.)
While, obviously, the French aren’t equivalent to Iraqi insurgents, despite the political rhetoric of Crawford. However, the feeling that everyone hates you and sees you as an active agent of their suffering is a feeling I know well; most of the people reading this blog probably don’t.
If the world’s populace now sees the American people as “collaborators” with the Bush administration, welcome to Baghdad. Trust me, you won’t like it.

Posted by: anna missed | Nov 5 2004 8:16 utc | 54

Meanwhile, victory seems to go to some people’s heads like bubbly:
Perhaps the best indicator of what a now-unfettered Bush is going to be like over the next four years came during his Thursday press conference. Associated Press reporter Terence Hunt opened the questioning with a three-part query. Bush responded to his questions by saying, “Now that I’ve got the will of the people at my back, I’m going to start enforcing the one-question rule. That was three.” When another reporter dared to ask a multi-pronged question, Bush’s response was, “Again, he violated the one-question rule right off the bat. Obviously you didn’t listen to the will of the people.” In other words, journalists, sit down and shut up.
I predict that we’re going to be very, very tired of the phrase the will of the people in just a few short weeks. Ironic ain’t it, how the US ultra-right manages to co-opt and retread the old bromides from the old Soviet Union’s Greatest Hits playbook? You can kind of tell these neocons used to be young Trots. Playing now, on stage live in DC: Comrade Bush Explains the Will of the People. Oh puh-leeeeze.

Posted by: DeAnander | Nov 5 2004 8:42 utc | 56

Correction to the line with “both justify”
“both justify … Esfahan and “necessitate” military consciption.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Nov 5 2004 9:15 utc | 58

annie 03:28 AM
Check out Andrew Tenenbaum web site :
http://www.electoral-vote.com/info/votemaster-faq.html
He could be a great expert volunteer to pursue with this.

Posted by: sal | Nov 5 2004 11:40 utc | 60

The “will of the people” is one of the oldest fascist canards. Pure demagoguery, pure populism. I’m sure there are a few people here that could tell you about some fascist leaders using “will of the people” as the end-all argument to silence any opposition and push their own wingnut agenda.

Posted by: CluelessJoe | Nov 5 2004 13:15 utc | 62

Hearts and Minds. They still don’t get it. And for my money, neither did Kerry. At least on the message we kept hearing.

Posted by: x | Nov 5 2004 14:25 utc | 64

Pat: Well, fair enough. If the US troops assume that kids and women are fair game in Fallujah, then it’s perfectly normal to allow Al-Qaeda to consider women and kids in the US to be fair game as well.
The Wehrmacht came to the conclusion that killing the kids was the thing to do in Stalingrad, too, at the end. Not that it helped them much.
BTW, if you had a 10-mio strong Muslim army occupying the States, would you find normal for kids and women to help the resistance, and would you find normal for the invading Muslim army to gun down women and kids because “they’re supplying the guerrilla and attacking us”?

Posted by: CluelessJoe | Nov 5 2004 14:38 utc | 66

Hi, x.
Continuing along with my Falluja sub-thread…
(A few hours ago, I think.) FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) – U.S. forces warned residents of Falluja through loudspeakers and leaflets on Friday that they would detain any man under 45 trying to enter or leave the rebel-held Iraqi city.

Posted by: Pat | Nov 5 2004 14:49 utc | 68

crickets? Only if your world view relies on official sourcing. Look, the Democrats (minus the CBC) showed that they’re in on the fix after the 2000 elections. Same for the mainstream corporate media. If our “elected” representatives and media will not, can not, guarantee, much less make a concerted effort toward ensuring that every vote is counted legitimately, they are not on our side. Wake up people! Reality based…remember?

Posted by: b real | Nov 5 2004 15:41 utc | 70

From Elaine Grossman’s Nov. 4 Inside the Pentagon:
[…]Pentagon officials recently said they would boost troop strength by more than 6,000 soldiers in Iraq through the anticipated January elections. Rumsfeld has continued to resist outside calls for a longer-term increase in the approximately 138,000 U.S. forces there.
Some junior and mid-ranking officers say it appears U.S. Central Command chief Gen. John Abizaid and his top deputies in Iraq have not conveyed to Rumsfeld their desire for more troops for the long haul, and have on repeated occasions disapproved unit commander plans to counterattack the insurgents.
“The generals are doing everything they can to cede the initiative to the insurgents. In most respects, we are here only for show and that really pisses me off,” one officer in Iraq tells ITP. “No one in charge wants to win, just survive and put in their six to 12 months and go home.”
Army captains and majors “now have infinitely more combat experience than the people who command them,” says retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, who led combat troops in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment during the 1991 war in Iraq. Junior officers “are willing to improvise to be successful [in] stability operations, as well as in combat. But they are left little maneuver room.”
Macgregor — the author of two books on military reform, “Breaking the Phalanx” and “Transformation Under Fire” — says he regularly hears from junior officers in Iraq on what is and is not working. [DNI Editor’s note: Col Macgregor’s briefing on Breaking the Phalanx is available at http://www.d-n-i.net/second_level/organization.htm.%5D
An Army decision in 1998 to strip a company out of each battalion is producing perilous results in Iraq, the retired colonel has concluded. Funds spent on high-dollar procurement items like the now-canceled Crusader artillery system and Comanche helicopter were drawn from force structure, leaving three-company battalions to perform the same tasks as their larger predecessors once did, he says.
Not counting administrative support staff, the change has left only about 350 troops per battalion to run routine combat patrols and perform counterinsurgency operations. That is not enough to do the job, particularly in light of the strains of a typical 12-month tour in Iraq, says Macgregor.[…]
[CENTCOM hasn’t made requests for more troops for the long haul because our presence in Iraq undergoes change after January. Reduction by half, give or take a little, by the end of 2005. Those anticipating, after Bush’s reelection, a continued, current-strength Iraq commitment for the next four, or even two, years aren’t looking at the numbers, which don’t support that scenario.]

Posted by: Pat | Nov 5 2004 15:49 utc | 72

The Mesopotamian:
“It would be one of those serious mistakes, in my opinion, to rush into battle in Fallujah without protecting and thoroughly securing the rear in Baghdad and surrounding area.”

Posted by: Pat | Nov 5 2004 15:56 utc | 74

Something else to take into account.
From an OCT 30 LA Times article:
Up to 80% of Fallouja’s population of more than 250,000 has fled the city, said Maj. James West, an intelligence officer with the Marines outside the city. Recent visitors have described Fallouja as a ghost town, with little traffic and few shops open, and masked insurgents, who call themselves mujahedin, guarding principal entrances and exits.

Posted by: Pat | Nov 5 2004 16:57 utc | 76

LA Times Mercy and Murder at Issue in Iraq Death – Two U.S. soldiers face charges after taking life of injured youth. They say he was already gone.

As soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, approached the burning vehicle, they did not find insurgents. The victims were mainly teenagers, hired to work the late shift picking up trash for about $5 a night, witnesses said.
Medics scrambled to treat the half-dozen people strewn around the scene. A dispute broke out among a handful of soldiers standing over one severely wounded young man who was moaning in pain. An uninjured Iraqi claiming to be a relative pleaded in broken English for soldiers to help the victim.
But to the horror of bystanders, Alban, 29, a boyish-faced sergeant who joined the Army in 1997, retrieved an M-231 assault rifle and fired at the wounded man.
Seconds later, another soldier, Staff Sgt. Johnny Horne Jr., 30, of Winston-Salem, N.C., grabbed an M-16 rifle and also shot the victim.
The killing might have been forgotten but for a U.S. soldier who days later slipped an anonymous note under the door of the unit’s commander, Capt. Robert Humphries, alleging that “soldiers had committed serious crimes that needed to be looked at.”
U.S. officials have since characterized the shooting as a “mercy killing,” citing statements by Alban and Horne that they shot the wounded Iraqi “to put him out of his misery.”

This happened in Baghdad. Expect more mercy killing of civilian anti-Itari Iraqis in Falluja.

Posted by: b | Nov 5 2004 18:20 utc | 78

Back to the election…
I almost never watch TV. So I am not desensitised, when I watch the box, I see real people behaving and acting in front of me. And with EU Tv, cable, and a big top quality screen – they are in my face. A bit frightening actually; suddenly you have a bunch of liars in your living room.
I watched BBC World and CNN Europe. The whole election was scripted from start to finish. Very few of the people who appeared – that is a few innocent guest commentators – were in any way in suspense, or surprised, or expectant. Everyone had their lines ready, and everyone knew the result that was coming. Two or three let their anger leak (one woman on BBC was particularly affected) while maintaining a smooth exterior.
It was a charade, and quickly over with too, as it was wearisome. There was something sketchy and empty about the performance. Trivial platitudes were mouthed without conviction.
Unity, time to move on. Kerry to concede at x time. etc. etc.
BushCo announcing a win before the concession was probably not planned – to them, an irresitible last minute show of sneering power. That’s it folks! Show’s over! Our call!
(The Democrats should stop talking about the next election. They should just watch the TV tapes of this one, and imagine the whole thing over again, with slight changes in dress and hairstyle.)
On the French and Swiss TV there was some suspense, and those who looked like they had their predictions or certainties were still not 100% sure.
That is what I thought I saw. As everyone knows, it is very difficult to deny or negate those kinds of impressions. They stick, stay, hold.
——
In this case a military dictatorship would be better. Many in the US military are pragmatic and have ‘old fashioned’ values. But the theocrats are busy taking over the army as well, so it may be a bit late for your regular kind of military coup.

Posted by: Blackie | Nov 5 2004 19:21 utc | 80

@Blackie – are you implying that Europeans you watched took it as a given that the fix was in?

Posted by: jj | Nov 5 2004 19:54 utc | 82

I can’t see any reason for the insurgency to stay in Falluga and fight a conventional battle. The strength of the insurgency lies in their ability to control territory politically in the absence of stationary US control, and the US does not have the numbers to control much territory. The insurgency, I would think lacks any realistic ability to fortify a city like Falluga to any significant degree, sure they could mine the streets, tunnel between fighting positions & escape routes, rigg large scale booby traps, and I’m sure they have done all that. But at the end of the day, and especially if the city has been drained of civilian “cover”, I can’t see them sticking around for the slaughter, givin what they must know about US tactics as shown in Najaf (the newfound reliance on heavy armour in urban fighting). No, I think the insurgency will in large part leave and regroup for unexpected offensive actions elswhere, like maybe Baghdad, Sammara, the new British positions, or maybe the green zone. The US will however probably bomb the crap out of Falluga anyway, destroying enough life and property to accomplish the propaganda message for both US consumption, and also the insurgency. This in the end will do little to change the equation politically on the ground.

Posted by: anna missed | Nov 5 2004 20:17 utc | 84

I think we have work to do in educating our commanders about how to fight intelligence,” says Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, who served as the Army’s top intelligence officer in Iraq.

I thought this was an odd quote from the Christian Science Monitor
It also says And the Army plans by 2007 to increase the number of military intelligence (MI) soldiers by 9,000. Meanwhile, more MI soldiers are being assigned to each Army brigade.
I wonder what these extra 9,000 guys are going to do, take turns analyzing the same intel?
It appears to me, from far away and nothing except what I see in the newspapers to go on, that the Iraqi resistance is organized with some discipline. It seems that they are getting funding which could come from just about anyone in the world with the possible exception of the US and UK, they are brutal in dealing with sympathisers and whole scale death does not deter them.

Posted by: Dan of Steele | Nov 5 2004 20:41 utc | 86

no jj they (EU TV pundits) were hesitant and puzzled although some had personally constructed convictions or predictions – yet they were not completly sure and did not want to look like fools. Certainly some suspected the fix was in but who knows?
Here the papers have made hay about the horrid surprise of so many unexpected fundamenalist religious voters, etc. Endless inteviews of Midwest Missies saying We are no longer Free, Gay marriage is an abomination, They catch yickey diseases, What are they teaching in the schools , etc.
The EU press can’t cope with all this so it reverts to “Americans are nuts” – they have to put deodorised Jesus figures in their refrigerators. Or something. Like that.

Posted by: Blackie | Nov 5 2004 20:46 utc | 88

i’m not in knots, depressed but not so overloaded my brains gone. of course the press is full of ‘ oh, poor me how did we loose stories’ that’s the point. for us to ‘get it ‘ that we lost. so we can crawl our way out of some realization. its bs. it’s a given that we are screwed. it’s a given they had a plan when they came in (project for new america)_ and they are proceeding on schedule. to go into some laps and think anything coming out of the press is going to be some effect of current circumstances is naive. we just don’t hear the plans. just like the nyt article, we can sit around and watch history unfold. so the only course of action as i see it, is to assume their game plan. assume they will cheat and lie, draft us , attack the ME till its colonized, and when enough people wake up and figure it out maybe then they will all walk to the polls in 2006 demand a paper ballot, drag the info about the stolen election out in the open, fsck the right being the in your face tough party, get dean or a candidate w/ balls for heaven sakes, and change the senate ASAP. for starters. and don’t believe a word they say. if they say ‘dems fraud’ think ‘rep fraud’ if they say mandate, know they damn well know ‘no mandate’ its a game, rove is the master player because he’s figured out how to cheat the system and until we can wake up, we are in the palm of his hand.

Posted by: annie | Nov 5 2004 21:11 utc | 90

My letter from Ed Gillespie. No particular reason for posting, just thought some might like to see what the Republicans are saying
————————————-
Dear Dan,
As a part of the hardest working, most efficient team in the history of politics, you helped Republicans all across the country achieve victory this election cycle.
President Bush won a historic victory, defeating John Kerry by more than 3.5 million votes, 58.6 million to 55.1 million (51% to 48%) and winning the Electoral College 286 to 252.
In doing so, President Bush:
Becomes the first presidential candidate to win more than 50% of the popular vote since 1988,
Received the most votes by any presidential candidate in history-over 58 million,
Becomes the first President re-elected while gaining seats in the House and the Senate since 1936, and the first Republican President to be re-elected with House and Senate majorities since 1924, and
Garnered 7 million more popular votes than in 2000-more than twice the amount that President Clinton increased his vote between 1992 and 1996.
Your hard work made this possible. We had the best volunteer grassroots organization activating the most sophisticated voter contact strategy in campaign history.
Your efforts are astounding:
1.2 million volunteers made over 15 million contacts, knocking on doors and making calls in the 72 hours before the polls closed.
7.2 million e-activists were contacting their family, friends, co-workers,
The RNC registered 3.4 million new voters, enlisted 1.4 million Team Leaders, and contacted-on a person to person basis-30 million Americans in the months leading up to and including Election Day, and
In the final 72 hours we met 129 % of our door-knocking goal; and met 120 % of our phone-calling goal.
For the first time in modern politics an equal number of Republicans and Democrats turned out for a presidential election.
We saw the impact of the President’s convincing win in other races across the country. We increased our majorities in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, captured two Governor’s races, won the Georgia House and the Tennessee Senate for the first time since Reconstruction, and won the Oklahoma House for the first time in 83 years.
In summary, Republicans improved our standing in key demographic groups and geographic areas, and President Bush won a mandate.

Posted by: Dan of Steele | Nov 5 2004 21:30 utc | 92

ding ding ding Wa-a-akin up is ha-a-ard to do…they say that wakin u-u-up is…
Hey dahlin I’m plenty awake. And hunkered down. There are ways to deal with this you know; not easy and comfortable unless you happen to be made for the dropout lifestyle, but um, its possible. You’ve been given too much power, see, and you don’t like it taken away. Sure wish I could be more positive in a green trees and gurgling water kinda way, but not yet, still thinking about it.
One wonders what happened to all the turncoats, the whistle-blowers who see the crimes on the inside and stay clammed up. There must be hundreds of em. Are they all cowards? Hard to believe.
Be back later with more drivel.

Posted by: rapt | Nov 5 2004 21:36 utc | 94

@rgiap @05:04
Sometimes you are very lucid. The waste is beyond thinking.

Posted by: DM | Nov 5 2004 22:15 utc | 96

Yes, RGiap, the clarion call will be Embrace Catastrophe!

Posted by: jj | Nov 5 2004 22:26 utc | 98

RGiap: I’m pretty sure the insurgents are not all dumb idiots, so they must know the essence of asymmetric warfare, guerrilla tactis and the like, things used not only by Mao and Giap, but in centuries before during previous occupations by ruthless forces.
Nothing new here, we know all that since more than 2.500 years:
“18. All warfare is based on deception.
19. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
20. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
21. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
22. If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
23. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.
24. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
25. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand. ”
Sun Tzu, chapter I
This makes me wonder what they’re really teaching at West Point…
And of course, Osama seems to have figured some things by himself, that book-lover G W Bush hasn’t:
“2. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.
3. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain.”
“10. Poverty of the State exchequer causes an army to be maintained by contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished.”
(chapter II)
Apparently, Bremer is also a very knowledgeable person:
“17. Therefore in chariot fighting, when ten or more chariots have been taken, those should be rewarded who took the first. Our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy, and the chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours. The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept.
18. This is called, using the conquered foe to augment one’s own strength.”
Chapter III:
“1. Sun Tzu said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.
2. Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
3. Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy’s plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy’s forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy’s army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities”
I suppose it’s why Rummie didn’t send enought troops to secure the country, and those who were there were playing beach-volley instead of protecting the infrastructure and official buildings.
“5. The general, unable to control his irritation, will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants, with the result that one-third of his men are slain, while the town still remains untaken. Such are the disastrous effects of a siege.”
Fallujah, 1st assault
“6. Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.
7. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete. This is the method of attacking by stratagem.”
Interestingly, this is not too far from the actual invasion in March 2003 – except that there already was a huge problem with the supplies and supply line.
Chapter V:
“5. In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory.”
“19. Thus one who is skillful at keeping the enemy on the move maintains deceitful appearances, according to which the enemy will act. He sacrifices something, that the enemy may snatch at it.
20. By holding out baits, he keeps him on the march; then with a body of picked men he lies in wait for him.”
Chapter VI:
“5. Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected.”
“11. If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve.”
“though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All we need do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way.
13. By discovering the enemy’s dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy’s must be divided.
14. We can form a single united body, while the enemy must split up into fractions. Hence there will be a whole pitted against separate parts of a whole, which means that we shall be many to the enemy’s few.
15. And if we are able thus to attack an inferior force with a superior one, our opponents will be in dire straits.”

Posted by: Clueless Joe | Nov 5 2004 23:08 utc | 100