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| Current Topic: Current Events |
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The New York Times -- Op-Ed Columnist: Swagger vs. Substance |
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| Topic: Current Events |
9:24 am EDT, Sep 28, 2004 |
Interviews with focus groups just after the first 2000 debate showed Al Gore with a slight edge. Post-debate analysis should have widened that edge. After all, during the debate, Mr. Bush told one whopper after another - about his budget plans, about his prescription drug proposal and more. The fact-checking in the next day's papers should have been devastating. But as Adam Clymer pointed out yesterday on the Op-Ed page of The Times, front-page coverage of the 2000 debates emphasized not what the candidates said but their "body language." After the debate, the lead stories said a lot about Mr. Gore's sighs, but nothing about Mr. Bush's lies. And even the fact-checking pieces "buried inside the newspaper" were, as Mr. Clymer delicately puts it, "constrained by an effort to balance one candidate's big mistakes" - that is, Mr. Bush's lies - "against the other's minor errors." The result of this emphasis on the candidates' acting skills rather than their substance was that after a few days, Mr. Bush's defeat in the debate had been spun into a victory. The New York Times -- Op-Ed Columnist: Swagger vs. Substance |
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Prewar Assessment on Iraq Saw Chance of Strong Divisions |
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| Topic: Current Events |
8:46 am EDT, Sep 28, 2004 |
] The estimate came in two classified reports prepared for
] President Bush in January 2003 by the National
] Intelligence Council, an independent group that advises
] the director of central intelligence. The assessments
] predicted that an American-led invasion of Iraq would
] increase support for political Islam and would result in
] a deeply divided Iraqi society prone to violent internal
] conflict. Prewar Assessment on Iraq Saw Chance of Strong Divisions |
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KR Washington Bureau | 09/25/2004 | Iraqi civilian casualties mounting |
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| Topic: Current Events |
8:44 am EDT, Sep 28, 2004 |
] BAGHDAD, Iraq - Operations by U.S. and multinational
] forces and Iraqi police are killing twice as many Iraqis
] - most of them civilians - as attacks by insurgents,
] according to statistics compiled by the Iraqi Health
] Ministry and obtained exclusively by Knight Ridder. KR Washington Bureau | 09/25/2004 | Iraqi civilian casualties mounting |
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USATODAY.com - Former soldiers slow to report |
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| Topic: Current Events |
8:42 am EDT, Sep 28, 2004 |
] WASHINGTON -- Fewer than two-thirds of the former
] soldiers being reactivated for duty in Iraq and elsewhere
] have reported on time, prompting the Army to threaten
] some with punishment for desertion. USATODAY.com - Former soldiers slow to report |
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Yahoo! News - Insurgents Are Mostly Iraqis, U.S. Military Says |
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| Topic: Current Events |
8:16 am EDT, Sep 28, 2004 |
In interviews during his U.S. visit last week, Allawi spoke ominously of foreign jihadists "coming in the hundreds to Iraq." In one interview, he estimated that foreign fighters constituted 30% of insurgent forces. Allawi's comments echoed a theme in Bush's recent campaign speeches: that foreign fighters streaming into the country are proof that the war in Iraq is inextricably linked to the global war on terrorism. Kerry has made a similar case, with a different emphasis. In remarks on the stump last week, he said that the "terrorists pouring across the border" were proof that the Bush administration had turned Iraq into a magnet for foreign fighters hoping to kill Americans. Yet top military officers challenge all these statements. In a TV interview Sunday, Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, estimated that the number of foreign fighters in Iraq was below 1,000. "While the foreign fighters in Iraq are definitely a problem that have to be dealt with, I still think that the primary problem that we're dealing with is former regime elements of the ex-Baath Party that are fighting against the government and trying to do anything possible to upend the election process," he said. Iraqi elections are scheduled for January. Yahoo! News - Insurgents Are Mostly Iraqis, U.S. Military Says |
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Admiral Ackbar For President |
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| Topic: Current Events |
10:34 am EDT, Sep 26, 2004 |
] Supposedly he was a great warrior and a mighty leader.
] Yet his sole contribution to the almost disastrous
] attack on the second death star was to spin round in his
] chair,waving his flabby hands about, shrieking "It's a
] twap! It's a twap!".
]
] Yet, contrary to popular belief, this idiocy was
] NOT a failing on the part of Ackbar. Nay.
] In one single day of sustained jestering, the
] Admiral managed to kill the emperor, destroy the evil
] empire and save Anakin Skywalker from the clutches of the
] dark side. ] We once thought that the power of the force
] lay with the jedi knights, but we can now see
] that it does not. The true power of the force
] lies with risible Vaudevillian comics like Admiral Ackbar.
]
] VOTE ACKBAR Admiral Ackbar For President |
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'Osama Bin Laden' robs petrol station |
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| Topic: Current Events |
10:29 am EDT, Sep 26, 2004 |
] A man disguised with an Osama Bin Laden face mask robbed
] an Auckland petrol station attendant at knifepoint early
] yesterday before running off with a small amount of cash.
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] The robbery happened at 4.55am at a Shell service station
] in Auckland City.
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] Auckland City police say the robber was a slim European
] man, about 1.85m tall, wearing dark clothing.
]
] They are appealing for information. 'Osama Bin Laden' robs petrol station |
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Yahoo! News - Iraq Violence Eclipses Rosy Declarations |
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| Topic: Current Events |
5:35 pm EDT, Sep 24, 2004 |
] BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and President
] Bush (news - web sites) have declared that Iraq (news -
] web sites) is on the road to stability, with the Iraqi
] leader saying elections would be possible in all but
] three or four of Iraq's 18 provinces. But the map of Iraq
] is scarred with violence every day. The capital is
] wracked by kidnappings and bombings. And September is
] shaping up as one of the deadliest months for American
] soldiers.
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] Westerners are fleeing Iraq with reconstruction projects
] half-finished. Town markets sell grisly videos of
] beheadings. And U.S. troops grapple with an increasingly
] potent insurgency that appears to have little problem
] recruiting fighters. This is one of the best articles I've seen covering the problems in Iraq, and even bringing up some good developments. Yahoo! News - Iraq Violence Eclipses Rosy Declarations |
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The New York Times -- Iraqis Battle Over Control of Panel to Try Hussein |
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| Topic: Current Events |
12:35 pm EDT, Sep 24, 2004 |
But after 12 weeks, Iraqi and American officials familiar with the relationship between the Americans and Dr. Allawi say, American respect for the Iraqi leader has been tempered by a growing sense that he is careless, even dismissive, of the checks and balances the occupation authority built into transitional political structures here. Officials who voice these concerns include some who are rivals of Dr. Allawi's or who oppose his long-term political ambitions, but they also include people who have worked with him since the formal transfer of sovereignty. Under Dr. Allawi and John D. Negroponte, the American ambassador, who wields extensive behind-the-scenes power, the Americans and Iraqis have taken care to keep their disputes hidden. But in recent weeks, Dr. Allawi has taken a number of steps, these Iraqi and American officials say, that have suggested that he may harbor ambitions to mold the government into an instrument of his personal will, curbing dissent and increasing the influence of the Iraqi National Accord. Last week, Dr. Allawi dismissed Mowaffak al-Rubaie, his national security adviser, after disagreements over how to confront Moktada al Sadr, the rebel Shiite cleric. While Dr. Rubaie favored a strategy aimed at coaxing Mr. Sadr's men into the political mainstream, Dr. Allawi insisted on military force. Iraqi and American officials cite other examples. Asked by Iraqi and American commanders to nominate a list of officers for more than two dozen command posts in the Iraqi armed forces, Dr. Allawi put forward a list drawn entirely from his own political party, according to a knowledgeable Iraqi source who is an opponent of Dr. Allawi's. Senior American officers say care will be taken to see that appointments are not made by political favor. The New York Times -- Iraqis Battle Over Control of Panel to Try Hussein |
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Violence Belies Positive Picture |
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| Topic: Current Events |
12:30 pm EDT, Sep 24, 2004 |
] BAGHDAD -- Large swaths of Iraq remain outside the
] control of the interim government, major highways are
] fraught with attackers, and interim Prime Minister Iyad
] Allawi -- along with the U.S. Embassy and much of the
] international community -- must conduct business in
] fortified compounds guarded by tanks, blast walls and
] barbed wire.
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] In Washington, Allawi gave Congress an upbeat assessment
] Thursday, but the situation in Iraq is more complicated.
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] Widespread anxiety engulfed much of Iraq this month as a
] wave of car bombings, kidnappings and gun battles killed
] scores of American soldiers, Iraqi civilians and
] hostages. Violence Belies Positive Picture |
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