Massoud Barzani, the effective political leader of the autonomous Kurdish population in Iraq, has said that the Kurds will fight for the (oil rich) city of Kirkuk, if necessary. Basically, this is sort of a microcosm of the big picture in Iraq. Sunnis are the principal “insurgents” for two reasons: (1) they know that the Shia majority will not only invoke pay-back for the abuses of the Saddam regime, but will cut them out of their heretofore privileged position in the pecking order, and (2) the “foreign fighters” (imported terrorists) are generally Sunnis– and, since they are indeed A.Q. allies...
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It Wasn’t About the Oil (Chapter Umpteen…)
The United Nations agency charged with oversight of nuclear proliferation is expressing “concern” over the “disappearance” of various pieces of nuclear-program related equipment and “some material” from Iraqi facilities. The disappearance and/or los of accountability of Iraqi nuclear materials all took place after the American led war of aggression against the Iraqi people. Among the highlights: even after we secured control of Iraq, we refused to allow UN monitors in to the facilities they previously oversaw (until this day, I believe). Do you have that? Depressingly, John Kerry seems more concerned with covering his own ass in having voted for...
Continue reading...What a HERO is
I’m saddened to learn of the death of Christopher Reeve at age 52, from heart failure caused by complications from quadriplegia. As you all know, Reeve, an actor best known for playing Superman in the movie series of that name, was paralyzed from the neck down after a horseback riding accident nine years ago. Rather than fade away and die, as a lesser man might have, horrifying circumstance intervened and Reeve went from being a make-believe super-hero and drove him to become a real one, as he used his public stature to lobby and publicize the plight of those in...
Continue reading...JEB Bush, Katherine Harris Advise Karzai Campaign
Let’s hear it for that “freedom and democracy” in good old neglected Afghanistan, where President Bush insists is miraculous in that “10 million people, nearly half of them women, registered to vote”. Well, all 15 of the candidates opposing interim American-backed-semi-puppet and fulltime shakedown artist Hamed Karzai announced that they are boycotting the “election” in protest of a VERY low tech way that Karzai and his crew(presumably– no– fuck that– ALMOST CERTAINLY– in conjunction with the Bush Administration) chose to rig this “election”. Really too bad: violence had broken out with the Taliban hoping to undermine the election, and lots...
Continue reading...Another Cautionary Tale of Horror
Two explosions ripped through resorts in the Egyptian (Sinai) town of Taba, killing dozens, injuring hundreds, with dozens more missing. Hotels at the resort were packed with Israeli holiday-goers, and I suspect that when this is sorted out, this will prove to be one of the worst, if not the worst, terrorist attacks ever directed at Israelis. Think of Taba as an Israeli version of Tijuana: it’s a border town, conveniently located in a Third World country. The Egyptians maintained security in the area that ranged from lax to non-existent. Sadly, Israelis fleeing fortress Israel failed to account for this....
Continue reading...Ethics DeLay is Ethics denied…
The good old House Ethics Committee issued a “stern rebuke” to the House Majority Leader and enemy of the Constitution Tom DeLay, over charges involving, among other things, using the FAA to attempt to track a private plane carrying Texas state senators out of the state to avoid a legislative quorum for Tom DeLay’s Congressional gerrymandering scheme, and for soliciting money for that scheme under some kind of improper pretense. Other “more serious” charges involving, oh, bribery and solicitation of bribes were… “tabled”. This was deLay’s second “rebuke” in a week, and his third overall. I understand he places these...
Continue reading...Chief Inspector Clousseau… er, Duelfer… files for asylum in France
Picking up from David Kay, Chief American Weapons Inspector Charles Duelfer released his long awaited report on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction today, with the report concluding what yours truly told you for the better part of a year before the war of aggression against the Iraqi people in 2003: Saddam had bubkes. In short, no stockpiles of nucular weapons, no bio-hazards, no chemical weapons: no nothing. A few balsa wood air-drones that the President’s minions tried to equate with ICBMs, some programs that stopped dead in the 1990’s, and otherwise: nothing. Oh wait– once sanctions were lifted, and international...
Continue reading...Ifil Sour, Cheney Glowers, Edwards Towers
Last night’s bout in Cleveland between Pretty Boy Edwards and Dirty Dick Cheney was scored close enough by most people to be viewed as a draw, or at least, an indecisive win for one or the other. (The one thing everyone can agree on is that PBS personality Gwen Ifil was horrendous in her role as moderator, and hopefully, will never be permitted so important a job ever again.) This is interesting, in that while I scored Kid Kerry a 2-1 and 7-5 in rounds winner over the President, I scored Pretty Boy Edwards as a solid 3-0 winner, and...
Continue reading...Bremer Renounces U.S. Citizenship, Seeks Asylum in France. Rumsfeld considers joining him
Speaking to a group of insurers at a meeting in West Virginia, former American Pro-consul to Iraq L. Paul “Jerry” Bremer announced that American troop presence in Iraq was wildly insufficient, and as a result, Americans (and Iraqis) paid a heavy price from the resultant lawlessness. In this rather bizarre indictment of the President’s flawless execution of the war (coming within the “red zone” of exactly four weeks until the election) Bremer quickly added that toppling the Saddam Hussein statute was certainly worth the cost of $200 billion and over 1,000 American lives, and counting. Speaking from the Air France...
Continue reading...Cost Effective Defense Policies
Because distributing the vaccine (in pill form, actually) would have “cost too much money”, our good old military decided to abandon a vaccination program in 1996, which allowed a virus to spread that has killed at least six military recruits, four this year. Let’s just say that there’s plenty of blame to go around on this one (while the decision was made during the CLinton Adminsitration, its not lke the Bush Administration reversed it, now is it?). As usual, it reflects the belief that the most expendible component of our military was, is, and sadly will likely always be, the...
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