Traveling imposes time and distance restraints, making apt and current writing difficult sometimes. I just caught this story today and it seemed to me to be a near-perfect analogy for our efforts in Iraq:

This is a weird story. Earlier today, a blast near a soccer field in Ramadi kills scores of children. Also today, apparently, the US military conducted an explosion near a soccer field in Ramadi that hurt a bunch of children. But the US military is saying the deadly attack couldn't have happened, because they'd have known about it. At the same time, both of these attacks sound awful similar - like they may be the same explosion, i.e., one we caused.

If I’m reading this right, there were (supposedly) two explosions near soccer fields in Ramadi, one caused by us (good explosion – sorry about the wounded children) and one caused by the usual suspects (bad explosion – the evil bastards killed 18 children.)

And the US claims to know nothing about the car bomb attack.

But here's where it gets stranger. The US says they can't imagine the deadly attack is real since they weren't aware of it:

Iraq's government and police said a bomb blast near a soccer field in the western city of Ramadi on Tuesday killed 18 people, mostly children, but the U.S. military said it was unaware of such an attack....

"I can't imagine there would be another attack involving children without our people knowing," said Major Jeff Pool, a spokesman for U.S. forces in western Anbar province. The wounded had cuts and bruises, he said [referring to the explosion the US caused near a soccer field].

Isn’t that just like those evil insurgents? Setting off car bombs when our backs are turned.

A cynical man might wonder just how many soccer fields there are in Ramadi.

The Wall Street Journal discusses a rather inconvenient fact uncovered by the US in Iraq (subs req):

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An American military raid in southern Iraq uncovered a makeshift factory used to construct advanced roadside bombs that the U.S. had thought were made only in Iran. The find raises fears that Shiite Muslim insurgents across Iraq may be able to manufacture large quantities of such weapons on their own. The Saturday raid in the small town of Jedidah marked the first time U.S. forces found evidence that militants inside Iraq are assembling "explosively formed penetrators," or EFPs, which can punch through the armored shells of U.S. military vehicles.

Readers might remember that CENTCOM and MNF-I put on a great dog-and-pony show two weeks ago, complete with anonymous briefers and alleged photographic “proof” that the evil Iranians are supplying IEDs enhanced as EFPs.

This is the EFP Iran produces, and these are the specifications.

I’m not an expert on this sort of weapon, but it looks fairly professional to me.

This is what the USG was pretending came from Iran.

Looks just like something turned out in someone’s garage.

I mention this again because we are about to be deluged with yet another round of manufactured evidence preposterous claims about Iranian military meddling in Iraq.

It’s not really surprising the WSJ reports stories like this because the news pages are created in an entirely different environment than the editorial pages. Accepting the premise that “opinion makers” only read the WSJ editorial page and business sections, that is where the ideological emphasis is placed.

Kudos to the paper’s news department, which still understands about reality.

We seem to be having some problems in Afghanistan. Mr Cheney flew in there yesterday, and immediately after his arrival an Afghani set off a large truck bomb inside the outer gate of Bagram Airbase, supposedly our most secure outpost in that war-torn and ignored country, killing at least 23 people, including an American soldier and an American contractor, along with a South Korean soldier. The good news of course, is that Mr Cheney wasn’t injured, as he was reportedly more than a mile away from the attack point. The bad news is that Bagram is supposed to be our most secure location in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 — The audacity of a suicide-bomb attack on Tuesday at the gates of the main American base in Afghanistan during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney underscores why President Bush sent him there — a deepening American concern that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are resurgent.

American officials insisted that the importance of the attack, by a single suicide bomber who blew himself up a mile away from where the vice president was staying, was primarily symbolic. It was more successful at grabbing headlines and filling television screens with a scene of carnage than at getting anywhere near Mr. Cheney.
But the strike nonetheless demonstrated that Al Qaeda and the Taliban appear stronger and more emboldened in the region than at any time since the American invasion of the country five years ago, and since the Bush administration claimed to have decimated much of their middle management. And it fed directly into the debate over who is to blame.

The leaders with whom Mr. Cheney met on his mission to Pakistan and Afghanistan have appeared increasingly incapable of controlling the chaos, and have pointed fingers at one another.

It’s distressing, but hardly surprising, that our broken, bought-and-paid-for media focused solely upon the fact that this attack occurred while Big Dick was in-country, and not upon the circumstances surrounding the attack. Right after the explosion, the USG, sensing a great PR opportunity, announced that – heavens be praised! – Mr Cheney was quite safe. In the time it takes to dream up a press release, the Taliban and al-Qaeda announced that he was the intended target. This was dutifully repeated by the media without bothering their blown-dried heads to wonder how they knew he was arriving.

Mr Cheney does like his secrecy, so it’s quite likely almost no one in-country knew he was coming, and yet somehow the Taliban learned of the fact? This possibility speaks of a very thorough penetration of the inner circle of the Afghan government. Implications:

We’re losing in Afghanistan.

The second possibility is that the Taliban is so strong and resurgent as a result of the failed foreign policy of the Bu$h maladministration that this enemy – the real enemy - has been reinvigorated to the point that they have developed a sophisticated press shop and can respond in real time to events and produce believable narratives as needed. Implications:

We’re losing in Afghanistan.

Mr Cheney’s response to these events was the standard boilerplate Cheney spin fertilizer:

Mr. Cheney said the attack was a reminder that terrorists seek “to question the authority of the central government,” and argued that it underscored the need for a renewed American effort.

Mr Cheney did not explain what renewed effort he had in mind. A cynical man would presume it did not involve drafting the thousands of Young Republicans who are patriotically dedicated to fighting the “war of words” here in the US rather than fighting the “war on terror” over there.

Mr Bu$h’s ”surge” escalation, publicly stated to involve pouring more troops into Baghdad in order to create a series of small-unit posts manned by paired US and Iraqi units, looks suspiciously like the de Lattre line, a tactic used by the French in their attempts to pacify the Viet Minh. While the French produced great slaughter among the Viets initially, history has shown us that defensive positions generally don’t create victories.

See "Maginot Line" in any good encyclopeda.

Used as bases from which to patrol, search and clear, they might be of some tactical benefit. However the nature of insurgency warfare is such that clear and hold operations are expensive; each time you “clear” an area you must occupy it or ensure the insurgents don’t reoccupy the area once you’ve moved on. The brutal fluidity of urban combat means you have to leave a desert behind you or your opponent will find a way to move back into previously held strongpoints.

Despite the fact that the stated intention is to produce a cleaned-out Sadr City, the Army’s policy calls for intensive desert training before deployment. Unless the goal is public appearances for domestic consumption, rather than true effectiveness, which is a trait we’ve seen before with Bu$hCo:

Rushed by President Bush’s decision to reinforce Baghdad with thousands more U.S. troops, two Army combat brigades are skipping their usual session at the Army’s premier training range in California and instead are making final preparations at their home bases. Some in Congress and others outside the Army are beginning to question the switch, wondering whether it means the Army is cutting corners in preparing soldiers for combat, since they are forgoing training in a desert setting that was designed specially to prepare them for the challenges of Iraq. Army officials say the two brigades will be as ready as any others that deploy to Iraq, even though they will not have the benefit of training in counterinsurgency tactics at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., which has been outfitted to simulate conditions in Iraq for units that are heading there on yearlong tours. “You would like everybody to go through” the training center, but in this case it is not possible, Brig. Gen. Tom Maffey, director of Army training, told a news conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday. He said the soldiers are losing very little by not going to Fort Irwin. “The effect is marginal, at most,” Maffey said.

If the effect on non-training is marginal, why not just send troops as soon as they know which end of the rifle is the dangerous one? We’re currently accepting large numbers of volunteers that would never have passed muster six or seen years ago.

To keep filling the ranks in Iraq, the U.S. Army has had to keep lowering its expectations. Diluting educational, aptitude and medical standards has not been enough. Nor have larger enlistment bonuses plugged the gap. So the Army has found itself recklessly expanding the granting of "moral waivers," which let people convicted of serious misdemeanors and even some felonies enlist in its ranks. Last year, such waivers were granted to 8,129 men and women — or more than one out of every 10 new recruits. That number is up 65 percent since 2003, the year President George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq. In the last three years, more than 125,000 moral waivers have been granted by America's four military services. Most of last year's Army waivers were for serious misdemeanors, like aggravated assault, robbery, burglary and vehicular homicide. But about 900 — double the number in 2003 — were for felonies. Worse, the Army does no systematic tracking of recruits with waivers once it signs them up, and it does not always pay enough attention to any adjustment problems. Without adequate monitoring and counseling, handing out guns to people who have already committed crimes poses a danger to the other soldiers they serve with and to the innocent civilians they are supposed to protect.

I suspect a large number of these criminals – that’s what “felons” are, after all, already know how to pull a trigger, so why not just teach them weapon maintenance, kit them up in ACU’s and ship them out? If the real goal of the Bu$h malAdministration is to look like they’re doing something then why spend that money on expensive things like learning facing movements and marching? According to BG Maffey’s equivocation, wouldn’t the effect of such negligence be ”minimal”?

I am watching the Bob Woodruff special on ABC. I was good as long as it was about journalists and photographers and such. But Dammit! When he started interviewing injured military members and their families and talking to their care-givers, I started tearing up.

Of course, then he gets to the Bush shill in charge of Veterans affairs and it just makes me mad. It ought to make every citizen mad.

The Wizard of Oz would be a busy shaman here and now. The 30% or so of Americans who still support the Immoral Moron and his (mis)administration have neither brains nor heart nor courage.

EDIT: Holy Shit I hope that Laura "only the bad news is being reported" Bush was watching this. Breathe man, remember to breathe!

CAFKIA

Josh Marshall has a piece up about the Bu$h malAdministration conducting yet another flip-flop. There’s much there to savor and I think we could riff of it for a long time, utilizing million monkeys system. Just detailing the sub-plots entailing Dick “dick” Cheney and his headlong rush to corporate dominion of the Middle East is probably engaging better writers than me even as we read.

But this bit stuck out to me:

In the Hersh piece in The New Yorker we learn that the US has essentially decided to get out of the al Qaeda/Sunni-jihadist fighting business and redirect our efforts toward fighting the Iranian peril. The real war we're in the midst of now, it turns out, is the trans-Middle Eastern Sunni-Shi'a civil war. And we're going to side with the Saudis, who will in turn enlist a bunch of al Qaeda type groups to work on our behalf against Iran. Now, you may be worried that this sounds rather like how we got into this mess in the first place. But don't worry. As Hersh writes, the Saudis are assuring the White House, that "they will keep a very close eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was 'We've created this movement, and we can control it.'"

Now, I know the Bu$h family has been in business with the Saudis in general, and the bin Ladens specifically, for more than 30 years, but it should be pointed out that Mr Hersh quotes the Saudis as admitting they were the founding force of al Quaeda.

And it looks like we’re going to now going to be partners with them in the “conquer Iran” business, too. I’d be interested to know what guarantees we’re getting from the Saudis that they’ll be able to deprogram al-Q when this is all over.

Yeah. I didn’t think so either.

While discussing vivisecting the rise and fall of various wrongwing webpages, the 60 foot tall TRex serves up this year’s best description of winger lunacy:

Warning: Liquid Alert

Wingnuts are like herpes sores. They might disappear for a while, but every moment you enjoy without them around brings you closer to the next painful, embarrassing, incapacitating outbreak.

A brand new webpage, Open Congress, plans to report on daily Congressional activities, with frequent updates as the situation requires. In Mr Bu$h’s streamlined 21st century America, a revitalized and active Congress may be our nation’s only hope of salvation.

OpenCongress brings together official government information with news and blog coverage to give you the real story behind what's happening in Congress. Small groups of political insiders and lobbyists know what's really going on in Congress. Now, everyone can be an insider. OpenCongress is a free, open-source, non-profit, and non-partisan web resource with a mission to help make Congress more transparent and to encourage civic engagement. OpenCongress is a joint project of the Sunlight Foundation and the Participatory Politics Foundation.

Two proposed bills highlighted this morning feature efforts by two Florida legislators (R’s, naturally) to establish national standards allowing residents of one state to carry concealed firearms in other states (HR 861), after guaranteeing that anyone not prohibited by the Brady Law (HR 73) may not be prohibited from buying and using firearms in the interests of “personal security.”

This is just what we need. The nationalization of Florida’s “Castle Law.”

Yes, indeed, now you too may have the right to shoot to kill anyone you don’t like the look of when you open your front door.

A tip of the too-small Kevlar helmet to the amazing ChiDyke.

Sometime yesterday, while I was scurrying around southern New Jersey we had our 100,000th visitor.

Thank you.

Report: 3 Gulf states agree to IAF overflights en route to Iran

Three Arab states in the Persian Gulf would be willing to allow the Israel Air force to enter their airspace in order to reach Iran in case of an attack on its nuclear facilities, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyasa reported on Sunday.

According to the report, a diplomat from one of the gulf states visiting Washington on Saturday said the three states, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, have told the United States that they would not object to Israel using their airspace, despite their fear of an Iranian response.

….

British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday that Israel is negotiating with the U.S. over permission for an "air corridor" over Iraq, should an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities become necessary.

International observers from a score of countries expressed surprise that Israel had appointed Dick “dick” Cheney as its new Foreign Minister. An official of Mr Cheney’s “war shop” – the Iran Study Group – denied these claims, insisting that a consortium from ExxonMobil, Conoco Oil, and Chevron are still the official representatives in the Middle East for both countries.

After a long period of fitful travel, hotels with bad internet connections, and a small snowstorm, it was a pleasure to once again be able to read news and comment.

There isn’t much to be done about the bad hotels; this is just a fact of life in corporate America, where it is more profitable to offer one wifi router in a building, rather than a series of repeaters. Likewise, wiring up a hotel for more secure and reliable LAN connections. Dorothy was right when she said there’s no place like home. Chef Jay Hicks also got it right in Apocalypse Now when he said “Never get out of the fucking boat.” Words to live by. On a different note, Atlantic City casinos are much like those in other places: cold, over-lit soulless places dedicated to the proposition that anyone can be made to smile as he hands over his money to someone else.

Rather like our Republican Party, in fact.

On a more positive note, they promised to send me a photo of the bronze plaque memorializing my visit just as soon as it’s installed on the wall.

So, I’ve been on the road for three days, and finally have a chance to sit down, breathe a few times, and trim my eyebrows. Apologies for the lack of blogging; perhaps I’ll be able to work up a bit of stuff over this weekend while I’m in DC for the conference. Monday I’m off to NYC for some business matters, mixed with a lot of personal stuff, including some threatened lunches with friends and several readers of this blog. I’ve been away from all the news, so I don’t have much to comment on at the moment. If I survive tonight’s Thai dinner I may be able to write later, what with agita and being up all night.

It’s been reported that Iran has failed to comply with UN demands to cease all nuclear enrichment activity at their facilities. This sets the course for the next round of action: imposition of UN-mandated sanctions, which might end up being as effective as the 10 years of sanctions leveled against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. During that time it is estimated that somewhere between 500,000 and one million children died, and the Iraqi social and civil infrastructure began to decay from lack of funds.

That won’t happen this time because Messers Bu$h and Cheney are compelled by the whip of the Likudnik operatives who drive our foreign policy and demand the immediate destruction of Iran as a functioning country. According to the Yinon strategy, until Iran (and Syria) are reduced to the status of a collapsed social organization, like Iraq is now, Israel is not safe.

However, before Bu$hCo can start another war of aggression, there must be the semi-believable excuse. Perhaps somewhat prophetically, things are not going well on the propaganda front:

Much of the intelligence on Iran's nuclear facilities provided to UN inspectors by US spy agencies has turned out to be unfounded, diplomatic sources in Vienna said today. The claims, reminiscent of the intelligence fiasco surrounding the Iraq war, coincided with a sharp increase in international tension as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran was defying a UN security council ultimatum to freeze its nuclear programme.

That report, delivered to the security council by the IAEA director general, Mohammed ElBaradei, sets the stage for a fierce international debate on the imposition of stricter sanctions on Iran and raises the possibility that the US could resort to military action against Iranian nuclear sites

Regardless of how right or wrong the US insistence that Iran is trying to produce a weapon is, Iran has the legal right to develop facilities for the production of nuclear energy. That is an inconvenience since it creates the base for the “nuclear Iran” scare campaign.

[M]ost of the tip-offs about supposed secret weapons sites provided by the CIA and other US intelligence agencies have led to dead ends when investigated by IAEA inspectors, according to informed sources in Vienna.

"Most of it has turned out to be incorrect," a diplomat at the IAEA with detailed knowledge of the agency's investigations said.
"They gave us a paper with a list of sites. [The inspectors] did some follow-up, they went to some military sites, but there was no sign of [banned nuclear] activities.

"Now [the inspectors] don't go in blindly. Only if it passes a credibility test."

With officially less than two years to go until the Bu$h malAdministration leaves the White House, there is a lot of pressure to get on with the attack against Iran. Tel Aviv should be pretty certain that the next President, most likely a Democrat, won’t continue following the Yinon plan without a serious provocation on US soil, like the 9/11 attacks.

Due to real world requirements blogging will be light-to-nonexistent today. I'll be going out of town early tomorrow and there are birds and dogs to house, bags to pack, and an annual luncheon with some fraternity brothers. I'll be traveling up to the New York area for personal and business reasons and blogging will be erratic for the next few days, because I refuse to fly in Mr Bu$h's 21st century America, and so it's a road trip!!

While I was tidying up the files I noticed we recently posted our 1,000th article. No one is more surprised than I am. As is traditional with milestone events, some stock-taking is called for.

I'd like to thank all the readers, and the commenters, who've so graciously supported us and engaged us in dialog. There is no paycheck; the only compensation for writing here is a sense of self-fulfillment and the responding commentary, which either feeds a need to communicate and share ideas, or my ego, depending on whether you believe me or my ex-wife's lawyer.

So thank you all for your engagement. You make it worth while.

This morning’s NY Times carries the story about yesterday’s sophisticated attack against an American base in Tarmiya, north of Baghdad.

BAGHDAD, Feb. 19 — In a rare coordinated assault on an American combat outpost north of Baghdad, suicide bombers drove one or more cars laden with explosives into the compound on Monday, while other insurgents opened fire in the ensuing chaos, according to witnesses and the American military. Two American soldiers were killed and at least 17 were wounded.

The brazen attack, which was followed by gun battles and an evacuation of the wounded by American helicopters, was almost surely the work of Sunni militants, most likely Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, according to American and Iraqi officials.

The attack, which began with apparently three car bomb assaults against the gates of the base, comprised extended gunfire attacks on the base from multiple points. Resisters using AK’s and automatic weapons engaged US troops in a long gun battle, finally ceasing their attack as helicopters responded.

Militants usually attack American bases by firing mortars from a distance, using snipers to wait for targets of opportunity, or planting explosive devices on roads frequented by Americans. Iraqi police and army stations, on the other hand, have come under frequent assault by suicide bombers.

There is no evidence that al Quaeda in Mesopotamia planned and carried out this attack. The contention of that is reflexive reaction from CENTCOM and MNF-I. The attack carries too much evidence of military sophistication, and the US military seems to be very sensitive to mention of the estimated 400,000 old army members who were unceremoniously kicked to the curb by the CPA after Iraq was conquered.

Likewise, there is absolutely no evidence of ideological, financial or tactical cooperation between al-Quaeda and the dispersed army, but currently there are only two official bugbears in Iraq: al-Quaeda and Iran, striking through one of its proxies, the Mahdi Army. The construction “al-Quaeda in Mesopotamia” is relatively new in CENTCOM and MNF-I news releases, and seems to represent a renaming of “Al Quaeda in Iraq” after the death of Musab al-Zarqawi the Jordanian last year and the ascension of Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, an Egyptian, to leadership of the group.

Zarqawi did make several attempts at coordinated attacks using separate but integrated weapons with only relative success. His greatest success was with bombs.

The resuscitation of Al Quada in Iraq is the product of either the efforts of Muhajer or flacking by American authorities,

I had intended to write something about the revelations of scandalous conditions at Walter Reed Hospital. I should have done that yesterday.

John and Joe, located in DC, writing for AMERICAblog hav done yeoman work in the last two days on this matter. There’s little to add to their outstanding coverage.

The first great story from WaPo (Sunday) and here.

Second WaPo story on Walter Reed. (Monday)

A report from Army Times

Military doctor on vets abuse.

Novak on GOP shitcanning a rep who fought for vets. Yes, even Novak, a 30 year excuse factory for the GOP is scandalized.

Veteran’s Abuse

Thank you, gentlemen. We appreciate your efforts.

Officials: Iranian patrol boats probe Iraqi waters

From Barbara Starr
CNN Pentagon Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iranian patrol boats have increased attempts in the last week to assess defenses near Iraqi offshore oil terminals, U.S. military officials said Monday.

The Iranian actions at the northern end of the Persian Gulf have been a subject of operational briefings for U.S. military personnel in recent days, the officials said.

The officials -- who said they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter -- said that the United States does not see the Iranian moves as aggressive or provocative. The assessment is that the probes are part of an Iranian effort to raise its military presence in the gulf.

Officials said that for several months they have seen Iranian flagged vessels attempt to approach oil terminals in the area, but activity rose last week.

On at least two days, Iranian patrol boats crossed into Iraqi waters at the northern end of the Persian Gulf, the officials said.

The boats stayed inside Iraqi waters for several minutes before Iraqi security forces told them to leave. The Iranian boats did not approach the oil terminals.

Iraqi security forces recently took over the main responsibility for guarding the terminals, although U.S. naval forces remain nearby.

A senior U.S. Navy officer said he thinks Iran is trying to see what response its actions get from Iraqi and U.S. naval forces. The Navy officer said that in the last several months Iranian naval forces have expanded their area of operations inside the gulf, often increasing activity in offshore areas for training and exercises.

This report is most likely “unreliable” (Bu$hCo lying) since the sources – unnamed officials and Barbara Starr have been thoroughly compromised. In the world of intelligence the accuracy of information is judged by the sources and methods of collection. Since the method of collection in this case is a DoD handout, the past accuracy of this sort of collection should be examined for accuracy (“truth’.)

Barbara Starr, the CNN Pentagon correspondent, has a record of disseminating Bu$hCo and DoD lies and misrepresentations, even after thy have been publicly proven false.

This report is highly suspicious because the sources and methods are third rate.

Baghdad Plan Is a ‘Success,’ Iraq Prime Minister Tells Bush

BAGHDAD, Feb. 16 — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki told President Bush on Friday that the increased effort to provide security in Baghdad had gone exceedingly well so far, Mr. Maliki’s office said in a statement.

The two spoke via video link and, according the statement, Mr. Maliki said, “The security plan has been a dazzling success during its first days.”

Across Baghdad, there were signs of the heightened troop presence, as cars were searched at new checkpoints and raids resulted in the arrest of at least 35 people, according to Iraqi officials.

Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of the First Cavalry Division in Baghdad, told reporters on Friday that there had been a substantial reduction in violence in the past 48 hours, which he attributed both to the increased troop presence and the decision by Sunni and Shiite militants to keep a low profile. [emph added]

Thank you, Mr Maliki. Tell the young Emperor what he wants to hear, otherwise you might end up being replaced. You (and MG Fil) have learned that favorable news gets people promoted while honesty brings on early retirement and disgrace.

Official: Baghdad Violence Down 80% in Recent Days

[Friday, Feb 17]

Badr News Net reports that the level of violence in Baghdad is down by 80% since the launch of the new security operation, according to Colonel Qasim Atta Al-Musawi, a Defense Ministry spokesman. Colonel Al-Musawi stated in a press conference today that the Medico-legal Institute (main morgue) in Baghdad has received 20 corpses over the last two days, compared to the usual 40 or 50 corpses each day prior to the start of the Imposing Law military operation. He added that 130 displaced families have returned to their areas and that commercial stores in Allawi Al-Hilla and Haifa Street in Baghdad were reopened as a result of improved security in central Baghdad…

“What distinguishes the Baghdad security operation from its predecessors is that the troops will remain and hold the areas that are cleansed from terrorism so that displaced families can return to them,” said Al-Musawi, who also warned the bodyguards of governmental officials that they will be detained if they are caught carrying weapons on their own.

It certainly does sound optimistic, doesn’t it?

OOOps……

String of Bombings Kill 15 in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A string of bombings killed at least 15 people Monday in the Baghdad area, a day after a massive car bomb attack in a Shiite area market delivered the first major blow to the U.S.-led security crackdown.

Attacks in other parts of Iraq pushed the overall death toll near 30.

U.S. forces also reportedly came under attack. They clashed with insurgents north of Baghdad after a suicide bomber apparently tried to break through barriers around a joint U.S.-Iraqi base, area residents told The Associated Press. U.S. military officials said they were looking into the incident.

In Baghdad, five people were killed when a suicide attacker detonated a bomb-rigged belt on a public bus headed for the mostly Shiite area of Karradah in central Baghdad, police reported.

A roadside bomb killed three policemen in the Shiite area of Zafraniyah in southeastern Baghdad, officials said. Only 100 yards away, a bomb hidden in an open-air market exploded, killing at least five.

In Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of the capital, a car bomb went off among auto repair shops, killing two and wounding two, police said. Mahmoudiya is mostly Shiite with Sunnis living in villages around the community and has long been a flashpoint for sectarian violence.

Elsewhere in Iraq, a car bomb in Ramadi, about 90 miles west of Baghdad, killed at least nine bystanders congregated at a police checkpoint in the aftermath of a failed suicide attack.

And in Duluiyah, a Sunni area about 45 miles north of Baghdad, at least four were killed when a bomb-rigged car exploded.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced Monday that a U.S. Marine was killed two days earlier during combat operations in Anbar province, a Sunni insurgent hotspot west of the capital.

The latest attacks were a sobering reminder of the huge challenges confronting any effort to rattle the well-armed and well-hidden insurgents.

On Sunday, police said at least 62 people died in the attack in the mostly Shiite area of New Baghdad. Nearly 130 people were injured.

Another person was killed in a car bombing Sunday in the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City.

Just a few hours before the weekend blasts, Lt. Gen. Abboud Qanbar led reporters on a tour of the neighborhood near the marketplace and promised to ''chase the terrorists out of Baghdad.'' On Saturday, the Iraqi spokesman for the plan, Brig. Gen. Qassim Moussawi, said violence had plummeted 80 percent in the capital.

That was a very short “dazzling success.” I especially like the part with the Iraqi general touring the market with reporters touting the success hours before the bombing killed “at least 62” and wounded “nearly 130.” While it’s true that attacks may be off slightly, it’s more likely that they’re just marking time.

Perhaps things will change once the escalation is complete. Here’s hoping.

Most sentient beings remember Ralph Nader’s effect on the 2000 and 2004 elections. His campaign bled support from the Al Gore ticket and ensured Mr Bu$h’s disputed poll figures were close enough to justify Mr Bu$h’s father’s friends handing him the keys to the Oval Office.

It’s not my purpose to rehash a stolen election. I just wanted to point out that Nader is planning to do it to America once again.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader said he is considering a presidential run in 2008 and strongly suggested today he would enter the race if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton wins the Democratic Party nomination.

"She's just another bad version of (former President) Bill Clinton,'' Nader told KGO radio host Ronn Owens in San Francisco.

Asked to describe Clinton, a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination a year in advance of the primaries, Nader said: "Flatters, panders, coasting, front-runner, looking for a coronation, not taking on the huge waste in the military budget as a member of the Armed Services commission, never going after the corporate crimes against pensions, against workers. ... She has no political fortitude.''

Asked specifically if he would run in 2008, Nader said it is "too early to say. ... (I'm) considering it. We're going to see what the Democrats come up with."

I’m not quite sure why Ralph Nader appears to consider himself the conscience of the Democratic Party after he has done so much to try to destroy it. It appears that Mr Clinton, who brought us eight years of peace and prosperity, a balanced budget, and world-wide acclaim is a bad, evil man, and therefore so is his wife. Well, bad and evil, but surely not a “man.”

Because Mr Nader has never spoken out against the evil inherent in the Bu$h maladministration I am forced to accept the idea that he believes things are just fine in this 21st century streamlined America of massive debt, never-ending war, lost civil rights, rape of the Constitution and shattered economy. Or, as a alternative thought, Mr Nader is a paid operative of the Republican Party.

Something from Mr Bush’s press conference this past week stayed with me. In among all the faux cowboy bluster, patently obvious lies and distortions, there was this gem:

In response to a question from CNN’s Ed Henry Mr Bu$h said (in part):

QUESTION: What assurances can you give the American people that the intelligence this time will be accurate?

BUSH: Ed, We know they’re there. We know they’re provided by the Quds Force. We know the Quds Force is a part of the Iranian government. I don’t think we need who picked up the phone and said to the Quds Force, Go do this, but we know it’s a vital part of the Iranian government.

What matters is, is that we’re responding. The idea that somehow we’re manufacturing the idea that the Iranians are providing IEDs is preposterous. My job is to protect our troops. And when we find devices that are in that country that are hurting our troops, we’re going to do something about it, pure and simple. [emph added]

When I read this I assumed he meant “more saber rattling.” I may have been wrong.

Iran car bomb kills 11 soldiers

Sunni rebels allegedly linked to al-Qaida were blamed for a car bomb attack which destroyed a bus and killed at least 11 Iranian revolutionary guards yesterday in the latest outbreak of violence to strike one of Iran's most unstable provinces.

Witnesses said the bus was moving through the Ahmadabad district of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan, when it was overtaken by a car whose occupants jumped out just before it exploded and fled on motorcycles.

The AP has more details:

A Sunni Muslim militant group called Jundallah, or God's Brigade, which has been blamed for past attacks on Iranian troops, has claimed responsibility for the Wednesday bombing.

Iran has accused the United States of backing militants to destabilize the country. Tensions between Tehran and Washington are growing over allegations of Iranian involvement in attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, and over Iran's nuclear activities.

Oh yes, by the way, it appears Iran has “unnamed sources” too.

IRNA quoted an unnamed "responsible official" late Friday as saying that one of those arrested on charges of involvement in Wednesday's bombing, identified as Nasrollah Shanbe Zehi, has confessed that the attacks were part of alleged U.S. plans to provoke ethnic and religious violence in Iran.

The confessions by Zehi helped police detain an unspecified number of Jundallah members and confiscate weapons and documents from the group in a raid Thursday in Zahedan, IRNA also said.

In the service of consistency I would tend to automatically dispute the statements of this anonymous alleged Iranian government source. After all, if the odds of lies from Bu$hCo anonymity approach a million to one, then what are the odds of truth from an unnamed Iranian source?

But still…..

we’re going to do something about it, pure and simple.

A while back we wrote about genetically modified foods. Termed “frankenfoods” by opponents, and “increased profit centers” by corporations, GM foods offer a promise of increased crops to feed a rapidly growing populace on increasingly limited arable land.

Sadly, the promise appears to not be coming true. The Independent has a piece today about trials of GM potatoes that have been linked to an disturbing increase in cancer among laboratory rats. The lab tests were apparently conducted years ago. I know this will surprise you, but the biotech corporation involved suppressed the study, and only released the study after eight years of litigation.

UK Greenpeace activists said the findings, obtained from Russian trials after an eight-year court battle with the biotech industry, vindicated research by Dr Arpad Pusztai, whose work was criticised by the Royal Society and the Netherlands State Institute for Quality Control.

The disclosure last night of the Russian study on the GM Watch website led to calls for David Miliband, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to withdraw permission for new trials on GM potatoes to go ahead at secret sites in the UK this spring. Alan Simpson, a Labour MP and green campaigner, said: "These trials should be stopped. The research backs up the work of Arpad Pusztai and it shows that he was the victim of a smear campaign by the biotech industry. There has been a cover-up over these findings and the Government should not be a party to that."

Shocking, simply shocking. The thought that a corporation would suppress information that shows what they’re doing will harm people should be shouted from the rooftops.

rina Ermakova, a consultant for Greenpeace, said she had conducted her own animal feeding experiments with GM materials. "The GM potatoes were the most dangerous of the feeds used in the trials ... and on the basis of this evidence they cannot be used in the nourishment of people."

Greenpeace said the Russian trials were also badly flawed. Half of the rats in the trial died, and results were taken from those that survived, in breach of normal scientific practice.

I’d call that a flawed study. If we used that sort of protocol in studying traffic accidents, we’d be able to say our roads were quite safer than they are.

The House had its (sadly) symbolic vote on a non-binding resolution to halt Mr Bu$h’s escalation in Iraq. Final score: 246 against the escalation (including 17 Republicans) and 182 in favor of it (including 2 Democrats.) The vote has been termed a “rebuke” of Bu$hCo actions in Iraq.

A vote scheduled for today in the Senate seems a lot less certain.

Tomorrow the Senate will vote on whether to allow the same simple anti-escalation resolution that passed the House today to go to the Senate floor -- but a key adviser to Dem Senate leader Harry Reid says that Dems probably don't have the votes to make this happen.

Reid spokesman Jim Manley tells Election Central that he thinks cloture will garner a Senate vote in the low to mid 50s -- well short of the magic number of 60. Upshot: The Senate may end up failing to do what the House did today -- that is, to have a straight yes-or-no vote on whether it supports escalation. It would be the second time in a row that the Senate has failed to bring a vote on the "surge" to the floor.

Mr Bu$h signals his reaction to the Congressional “rebuke.”

On the same day that the House of Representatives expressed its disapproval of President Bush's US troop increase in Iraq, the Pentagon announced it is accelerating the deployment of a division headquarters there by about three months, which would add another 1,000 troops to the "surge."

The 3rd Infantry Division headquarters based in Fort Stewart, Ga., will deploy next month instead of June, a Pentagon statement said.

Those non-binding resolutions certainly are effective, aren’t they?

Before the Bu$h malAdministration unleashed their publicity campaign to ramp up for the coming war against Iran, the military understood they had a mine problem, and that the HMMVs were unequal to the task. Requirements for a better-protected patrol vehicle were developed in late 2005/early 2006.

The Hampton Roads Daily Press reports that the Marine Corps has decided to abandon the HMMV for transportation and patrol use in Iraq and adapt a stronger vehicle.

WASHINGTON -- Marines in heavily armored Humvees are being killed by powerful roadside bombs at such a rate that the Marine Corps intends to replace all its Humvees in Iraq with specialized blast-resistant armored vehicles, according to senior Marine officers.

The Army will continue to rely primarily on its armored Humvees in Iraq, senior Army officers said yesterday.

The decision to scrap the Marines' Humvees in Iraq, after years of trying to protect their crews by adding armor plate, was made by Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, commander of Marine forces in the Middle East.

It will cost an added $2.8 billion for the V-hull armored vehicles called MRAPs, or Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, that are being delivered in small numbers to Iraq, and it will take years to complete the replacement.

Since the Iraq war began in 2003, more than 700 Marines have been killed in combat action. Almost two-thirds have been killed in HMMVs. There are some MRAPs already in use in Iraq, and experience indicates that troops are four times more likely to survive attacks by IEDs in this sort of vehicle.

The Corps placed four Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contracts in late January for MRAPs for testing purposes.

BAE Systems for four vehicles, two 4x4 and 2 6x6 from their R33 series, for testing. This vehicle has had some success in South Africa.

Force Protection, Inc. and General Dynamics Land Systems have formed a joint venture to offer the Cougar 4x4 and 6x6 armored vehicles.

Textron Marine & Land Systems produces the M-1117 ASV.

Oshkosh Truck Corporation has been contracted to supply two smaller units for urban patrol and two larger vehicles, sized to carry ten occupants.

Protected Vehicles, Inc of South Carolina has partnered with RAFAEL of Israel, which produces the Golan, currently in testing phase in that country.

The urgency of the project might require an off-the-shelf commercially available item, with little immediate concern for refinements. Those might be included in later blocks of the vehicles once After Action Reports are submitted.

The BAE R33 and PVI/RAFAEL Systems vehicles suffer from the NIH syndrome.

Articles on MRAPs:

Mine Resistant Vehicles

17,700 MRAPs

Marine MRAPs Mired in Minutiae

A Minor MRAP Problem

The Super-MRAP

The Cougar MRAP

Baby Huey Needs Feeding

A Strategically Influenced Nation

From the Press Conference:

"We talked about the fact that our coalition troops that are heading into Baghdad will be arriving on time. In other words, I'm paying attention to the schedule of troop deployments to make sure that they're there, so that General Petraeus will have the troops to do the job -- the number of troops to do the job that we've asked him to do."

Doghouse Riley harshes America’s embarrassment:

1) Can't they do anything with him? This country, once the big, brawny, brawling Breadbasket of the World and Forger of Steel to scrape the skies is now pretty much the Queen of the Makeover. We specialize in turning guttersnipes and trailer trash into stars, before turning them back into gutter trash, and yet in eight years (counting the 2000 Republican "campaign") no one has been able to teach this prep-school prat how to behave in public. He's like a nose-picking child who has a speaking part in the school Christmas pageant, and you work for two months to get him to stop, and on the big day he tells the crowd, "I'm not supposed to eat boogers anymore!"

And from there on it gets better…..

A grateful tip of the too-small Kevlar helmet to Steve M

News about Afghanistan. That’s the war we entered to strike back against the Taliban, who were seen as allies of Osama bin Laden, scion of the wealthy Saudi Arabian family that has been in business with the Bu$h family for over 30 years.

Mr Bu$h spoke yesterday about Afghanistan, as always before an ultra-friendly group, the neoncon and Likud-infested American Enterprise Institute.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 — President Bush warned on Thursday that he expected “fierce fighting” to flare in Afghanistan this spring, and he pressed NATO allies to provide a bigger and more aggressive force to guard against a resurgence by the Taliban and Al Qaeda that could threaten the fragile Afghan state.

With American and NATO commanders pressing for more troops and experts predicting that further gains by the Taliban could put the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai in danger, Mr. Bush used his presidential platform to lay out what he said was substantial progress in Afghanistan since 2001, but also a continuing threat.

The remarks, to the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research organization here, amounted to an unusually high-profile acknowledgment from Mr. Bush of the precarious state of the effort to stabilize Afghanistan, a country the administration long held up as a foreign policy success story.

The speech renewed criticism from Democrats that had the United States not been tied down in Iraq, the situation in Afghanistan would not have turned dire. At the same time, some Republican lawmakers said Mr. Bush’s new strategy would not do enough to tamp down the Afghan drug trade. Outside experts criticized the president for painting too rosy a picture.

It’s hardly surprising that the situation in Afghanistan has turned so gloomy, since it was a Bu$hCo enterprise, and therefore flawed from the beginning.

Some people say that the true sign of the coming Rapture will not be the appearance of a two-headed red calf, or the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, but rather the successful conclusion of anything Mr Bu$h puts his hand to.

“Across Afghanistan last year, the number of roadside bomb attacks almost doubled, direct fire attacks on international forces almost tripled, and suicide bombings grew nearly fivefold,” Mr. Bush said. “These escalating attacks were part of a Taliban offensive that made 2006 the most violent year in Afghanistan since the liberation of the country.”

Mr. Bush said the question now was whether to “just kind of let this young democracy wither and fade away” or to step up the fight.

“The snow is going to melt in the Hindu Kush mountains, and when it does we can expect fierce fighting to continue,” Mr. Bush said. “The Taliban and Al Qaeda are preparing to launch new attacks. Our strategy is not to be on the defense, but to go on the offense.”

But Mr Bu$h does have a plan to turn things around in Afghanistan. More money and more extended deployments for the troops.

Mr. Bush noted that he has already extended the tour of a 3,200-soldier American brigade and called on Congress to provide $11.8 billion more to pay for operations in Afghanistan over the next two years.

Interestingly enough, the Taliban has also been talking in public recently:

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The Taliban have deployed 10,000 fighters for a spring offensive of "bloody attacks" against foreign troops in Afghanistan, a rebel commander said on Friday.

More than 4,000 people, a quarter of them civilians, were killed in fighting last year, the most violent year since the Taliban were ousted in 2001. NATO commanders and analysts warn this year could be just as bad or worse.

As the harsh winter snows melt, the insurgents have resumed their attacks, mostly in the south, where they have captured a major town and have threatened a key hydroelectric dam.

Mullah Abdul Rahim, the Taliban's operational commander for southern Helmand province -- the opium center of the world's major producer -- said militants would step up attacks in spring.

"As the weather becomes warm and leaves turn green, we will unleash bloody attacks on the U.S.-led foreign troops," Rahim told Reuters by satellite phone from a secret location.

"Our war preparations, especially in southern Afghanistan and in Helmand province, are complete and for this our 10,000 fighters are ready to take up arms the moment they are ordered."

The Daytona Beach News-Journal is dead smack in north Florida’s deep red anti-Democratic Party’s “crescent of denial” yet somehow they’ve gotten it:

When he speaks, President Bush conveys unmistakable characteristics about himself. Credibility is not one of them.

Bush has behind him a six-year history of exaggerations and outright lies. When he declares with absolute certainty that Iran is providing insurgents in Iraq the kind of particularly lethal roadside bombs that have been shredding American troops, he elicits doubt before concern. So does the manner in which his administration presents its facts. The evidence of Iranian weaponry is scant and as dubious as the sort of WMD evidence Bush dangled before the public to justify invading Iraq, including pictures showing the alleged Iranian-made weapons (with Western, not Farsi, letters and numbers marking up the ordnance).

We do know that Saudi Arabia's allegiance and money is with the Sunni insurgency, which has killed American troops. Saudi Arabia, a Sunni kingdom, is scared, like many Sunni regimes in the Arab world and in Pakistan, of another oil power dominated by Shiites -- in Iraq or Iran. We also know that huge caches of weaponry and bomb-making equipment went missing after Americans invaded Iraq, when occupation forces failed to secure them. We also know, according to the Pentagon's own auditing reports, that weapons by the tens of thousands tagged for use by Iraqi soldiers being trained by the American military have also gone missing and probably fallen into the hands of insurgents. The American military wasn't keeping track of those, either. If weaponry is falling in the hands of insurgents, it's not just by Iran's doing. American forces have played a huge role, too.

Yet the suggestion that Iranian weapons are circulating in Iraq isn't new, as Bush makes it sound. The New York Times on Thursday cited military officials tracing Iranian weaponry in Iraq all the way back to the earliest days of the insurgency in 2003, including those roadside bombs with the "explosively formed penetrator" that Bush referred to in his saber-rattling news conference the same day. Why suddenly make an issue of Iranian weapons now?

The answers may be unfolding in the field in Iraq. The war is going badly for American forces despite the recent "surge." Twenty-seven of the 29 deaths of American soldiers reported since Feb. 7 have occurred outside of Baghdad, where the "surge" is focused. Soldiers are being sent to Iraq in many cases without the necessary Humvee armor to protect them from roadside bombs, because the armor manufacturer won't have the means to equip all forces with upgraded armor until summer. And as he has regarding al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein in previous years, when his poll numbers were low, Bush relieves political pressure on his administration by seeking confrontation. He's building up Iran into his next target.

It’s an amazing thing to see because more and more editorials of this type are popping up in papers, especially in areas formerly considered solidly Republican. While the NY Times and Washington Post carefully parse their words, apparently in terror that they will offend some Beltway insiders or politicians and affect their “access,” the nation seems to be slowly waking from a dream state and realizing just how corrupt and criminal the Bu$h malAdministration is.

And they want something done about it.

Even as the Bu$h malAdministration tries desperately to change the public focus from the lost war in Iraq to the looming lost war in Iran American politicians of the anti-Democratic Party are being forced to decide between loyalty to their corrupt and criminal party, and loyalty to themselves. More and more are coming to the conclusion that the electorate was serious last November when they voted the Democratic Party into majority in Congress.

The Lansing Star Journal carries a story today of Rep. Candice Miller, once a proud and loyal supporter of every bit of kool aid the Republican Party had going. Her husband had been an Air Force pilot during Viet Nam and she has realized we are in the middle of Viet Nam II.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Candice Miller, whose once-enthusiastic support for the Iraq War began eroding last year, harshly criticized the White House on Thursday for repeating the mistakes of Vietnam and "micromanaging" the conflict.

"From the very beginning of the Iraq conflict, we should have allowed our troops to go in and use overwhelming force - but we were told no," Miller, R-Harrison Township, said in a passionate speech on the House floor.

"Our troops can win, but they are being held back, they are being micromanaged by our politicians," said Miller, a conservative member of the House Armed Services Committee and a former Michigan secretary of state. "I cannot believe in my lifetime, we are once again repeating this mistake."

The Indianapolis Star carries a similar story:

WASHINGTON -- While Indiana's Democratic lawmakers are united in their opposition to sending more troops to Iraq, the state's Republicans are caught between supporting that unpopular move and defying the president of their party.

WASHINGTON -- While Indiana's Democratic lawmakers are united in their opposition to sending more troops to Iraq, the state's Republicans are caught between supporting that unpopular move and defying the president of their party.

Rep Souder is quoted as saying, “[T]he surge will [not] succeed. The president needs to understand that opposition to the surge is not just among Democrats. It is even among his strongest supporters," Souder said Wednesday.

The San Jose Mercury Star has more of the same:

WASHINGTON - Friday's milestone vote in the House of Representatives opposing President Bush's troop increase in Iraq will be no cliff-hanger - it's certain to pass - but its potential political consequences have lawmakers grinding their teeth.

The nonbinding resolution could influence lawmakers' re-election prospects, their willingness to back stronger antiwar policies later and how other nations view the United States.

No one feels more pressure over the vote than the lawmakers - mostly Republicans - who won election last November by narrow margins.

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., whose 369-vote margin is still being contested, said he had struggled over this vote for weeks as he met with intelligence experts, ambassadors and war veterans. He said he would announce his decision in a speech on the House floor. Whatever he does, he said: "A lot of people want to make this about politics. This shouldn't be about politics."

While Mr Buchanan may or may not be validated in his seat, he seems to appreciate the truth: Ending the war in Iraq isn’t about politics; it’s about national survival. It’s about rescuing our Army and Marines while there is still something left to rescue. It’s about saving our children’s and grandchildren’s future, and somehow reversing the slide into financial oblivion brought on by Mr Bu$h’s demand for tax cuts, and more and more spending for an over-bloated Defense Department.

It is ironic that our Defense Department has a budget more than twice that of the rest of the world. It is ridiculous that a nation spending so much on its military cannot put down a resistance in a country it invaded. It is inconceivable that in a nation so wealthy a sixth of its population has no medical care. It is shocking that in such a wealthy country millions of children go to bed hungry every night. It is inconceivable that in a country once considered the acme of civilized democracy, an emblem other countries admired, the primary pursuit of the Executive is protecting his own wallet while inventing a cause to start yet another unjustified war, and its chief law enforcement officer spends his time justifying the kidnapping, hidden transportation and torturing of other nation’s citizens in hidden prisons. It is disgraceful that in such a nation one political party argues that loyalty to party transcends loyalty to country, and therefore the above circumstances are justified.

A raft of real-world obligations impose today, and I don't expect to be able to post much until the afternoon. My apologies.

Take care today, wear clean underwear because you never know. Look both ways before crossing the street, and always brush your teeth after eating. And if you can have fun with all those restrictions, it should be a perfect day.

John Amato has a piece over at Crooks and Liars which features a vid clip of the Tuesday Tony Snow tap dance about why GEN Peter Pace, Chairman of the JCS, has twice spoken publicly (overseas) that he believes the fraudulent “evidence” presented by the unnamed “experts” drummed up by CENTCOM does not really indict the Iranian leaders as being actors in the Iraq debacle resulting from Mr Bu$h’s ego-war.

Snow was asked over and over why there was a disconnect between what he was saying and what Pace had said they day before, and yet all Snowjob could do is the familiar Bush logic fallacy of saying "this is undisputed" and "this is undisputed", implying a relationship between the two. I can't believe that the Bush Adminstration is trying the whole "Saddam = Al Qaeda" syllogism again with Iran. They must really think we're all idiots to fall for it again. Then again, considering those right wingers applauding it, maybe they have a point.

The article contains a quote from a Tuesday WaPo piece indicating that GEN Pace has no information regarding involvement of the Iranian government supplying the now-legendary EFPs that the Bu$h malAdministration is determined to insist is a casus belli. Now true, this might just be artful wording from GEN Pace, because some people who refuse to be identified actually have the “evidence” and not GEN Pace. Watch the clip as Tony Snow artfully tries to submit the Qods Brigade, which is supposedly part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is actually a part of the “government.” The next thing you know, Tony will be trying to maintain that the Delta Force and Special Ops personnel inside Iran establishing targeting data are part of the US Government.

The article contains a torturous transcript as well. Good stuff; watch Tony tapdance as he dishonestly keeps insisting 2+ 2 = 5. Today. Tomorrow it may equal 3, depending on what happens to this week’s chocolate ration.

It seems that John Edwards and his Presidential aspirations are now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the anti-Democratic Party. That’s a shame. Mr Edwards had some good social ideals and some nascent plans to improve the lot of average Americans. John Donohue, self-appointed morals-in-literature guardian and anti-Semitic bigot, didn’t like that idea. Because our broken media is required to always give free airtime to every lunatic and Fascist in our country the loathsome toad has been on every television show except “Queen For a Day,” whining about Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwen having religious opinions that he doesn’t agree with.

We haven’t discussed this little teapot tempest because when you talk about the typical bigot in the nitrogen-breathing side of the political aisle, you only embolden them, like they always pretend we do for the terrorists when we ask why the hell are Americans dying and being maimed every day in Mr Bu$h’s little ego-war.

It seems both ladies were frightened by the horrible vitriol and death threats emailed to them by the oh-so-pious christians and catholics as a response to Bigot Donohue’s insane ravings. Ms Marcotte’s server has been so overloaded with the filth and misogyny shown by these alleged followers of Christ that she has had to shut down her site for a while.

Kevin Hayden has posted an email from her detailing the filth that has crossed her inbox from knuckle draggers who like to pretend they are followers of Christ. They would most likely be horrified if they ever learned that Jesus was a Jew, spoke Aramaic, and was a swarthy dark-skinned Middle Easterner with dark eyes and curly black hair. Such is the state of American “christianity” these days.

Meanwhile, Mr Edwards, who once maintained that his strength stemmed from his career as a trial lawyer fighting for the poor and downtrodden, has shown just what an empty vessel he is. It is one thing to build a career on fighting for the underdog when you can make a good buck on it, Mr Edwards. It is another thing entirely when the only profit is honor. I have had 7 years of a president with no honor. I don’t need you.

My respects to Elizabeth Edwards, who is a valiant and ardent supporter of her husband, as well as one versed in rhetoric, who blogs herself. I know you love him, but he is now officially an empty suit. He has failed his test of manhood, and we are the worse for it.

We will find another champion to fight the Fascism rising in this country. Mr Edwards must find some way to live with his cowardice for the rest of his life.

UPDATE: It appears the Attack Penguin agrees with me.

They’re “debating” an anti-Iraq war in Congress. It will go on for days because every Congresscritter gets five minutes to express his or her thoughts on the matter. Even the mooks get to say something,

Say, speaking of mooks, here’s Ohio’s own proud product, Minority Leader John Boehner explaining how the Iranians started it all.

That’s right. We had to invade Iraq because the Iranians seized our embassy in 1979.

But – wait a minute! Didn’t they seize our embassy because we caused a revolt when we overthrew their Prime Minister and placed the Shah on the Peacock Throne?

Just a short while ago Mr Bu$h released his next budget, for fiscal year 2009. In an accompanying statement, he stated that the 2009 budget is planned to balance the national budget by 2012. One way he plans to do that is by the traditional Republican value of supporting the troops.

Funding for VA slashed in 2009

WASHINGTON -- Iraq War veteran Christopher Carbone said he wouldn't mind a decrease in his medical benefits if it meant that additional federal dollars would be used for armored Humvees on the battlefield.

But Carbone, a survivor of an improvised explosive device attack in Iraq in October 2005, couldn't help being a little jarred when he learned the Bush administration planned to cut funding for veterans' health care by 2 percent in 2009 in order to balance the federal budget by 2012.

Why spend money on broken soldiers? The official Republican view seems to be that once they're of no further use they can be tossed aside. There's always more young poor and middle class men and women who can't find decent jobs, or want a college education, and are willing to risk eight years of their lives for their goals.

[The 2009 budget] request, for the first time, attempts to show the true cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming fiscal year, $145 billion, but includes just $50 billion for fiscal 2009 and nothing thereafter.

Naturally, the tax cuts Mr Bu$h demanded for himself should remain in place. This will require loading additional taxation on the vanishing middle class, and cutting social and service benefits for both the middle class and the growing poor.

WASHINGTON - President Bush asked Congress on Monday to slash taxes by $1.9 trillion over the next decade, cementing his first-term tax cuts while changing the way health insurance is taxed.

The lion's share of the president's proposed tax reductions would come from making permanent his signature cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, at a cost of $1.6 trillion over the next 10 years. Those cuts would otherwise evaporate at the end of 2010.

And we certainly don’t want a War Leader encumbered with taxes, do we?

The president also proposed a variety of individual and business tax breaks, including incentives for retirement and health care savings. He asked for an extension of a popular research and development tax credit, at a cost of $117.3 billion over 10 years. The cost of extending Bush's earlier tax cuts would be $146.5 billion in 2011 alone — the first year after they are set to expire.

Bush called for a change in the way the tax code treats health insurance as part of a complex plan to expand coverage to the uninsured. His plan would end the tax-exempt status of employer-provided health insurance payments, and give families a $15,000 deduction for buying medical coverage. Employer contributions that exceed the deduction amount would be taxed.

The research and development is a “popular” tax break because it allows business to load just about any shmaydray item into their tax reporting and call it “research.” And the loss of a tax exemption for employer-provided health insurance plans will further enable employers to dump all health insurance costs onto their workers.

Kim Novak is 74 today. Every man and woman has their own ideal of perfect beauty and Kim is one of three that I carry in my heart. Two of her roles that sealed the deal for me were her portrayals of Molly in Otto Preminger’s adaptation of Nelson Algren’s The Man with a Golden Arm and her riveting performance as Madge Owens in Picnic. Ms Novak won a Golden Globe Award for her performance of a young woman drawn between two men in this adaptation of William Inge’s play, which won a Pulitzer Prize. Her character, Madge, is engaged to a man and falls into desperate love with a drifter played by William Holden.

Algren’s Novel deals with the trap of addiction and its effect on the human soul. Frank Sinatra was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of a strung-out addict trying to put his life together on the straight after release from prison. But for me Ms Novak’s portrayal of Frankie Machine’s neighbor who tries to force him to clean up by going cold turkey was very remarkable. Elmer Bernstein’s jagged, upbeat music emphasized the emotional trauma Frankie endures in his life with harsh, staccato jazz riffs interspersed with sweet sounds set a frenetic beat for the film’s conflict.

The theme song for Picnic is a standard for romantic atmosphere, as it plays its sweet beguiling notes, segueing effortlessly into Moonglow.

I fell in love with Kim Novak. It must have been the moonglow.

In what will most likely be hailed by the Bu$h maladministration as a diplomatic victory, negotiators in Beijing believe they have achieved a breakthrough in talks about the North Korean nuclear weapons threat.

BEIJING (AP) -- North Korea agreed Tuesday after arduous talks to shut down its main nuclear reactor and eventually dismantle its atomic weapons program, just four months after the communist state shocked the world by testing a nuclear bomb.

The deal marks the first concrete plan for disarmament in more than three years of six-nation negotiations, and could potentially herald a new era of cooperation in the region with the North's longtime foes -- the United States and Japan -- also agreeing to discuss normalizing relations with Pyongyang.

Under the deal, the North will receive initial aid equal to 50,000 tons heavy fuel oil within 60 days for shutting down and sealing its main nuclear reactor and related facilities at Yongbyon, north of the capital, to be confirmed by international inspectors.

For irreversibly disabling the reactor and declaring all nuclear programs, the North will eventually receive another 950,000 tons in aid.

This agreement was achieved to a great extent by the participation and assistance of China, which has been viewed as having a large degree of influence over North Korea, and has hosted the six party talks over the last five months.

It is essentially the same agreement achieved in 1994 by the Clinton Administration, although initial reports of this draft agreement make no mention of the assistance in building a light water reactor that is considered a necessity in order to induce North Korea to dismantle their plutonium and uranium breeder processors.

The light water reactors are to be primarily financed and built by South Korea and Japan, at an anticipated cost of $4 billion. Howev