inignoct wrote:
] ] A former Iraqi intelligence officer, whom the Express did
] ] not name, told the paper that Saddam was held prisoner by
] ] a leader of the Kurdish Patriotic Front, which fought
] ] alongside US forces during the Iraq war, until he
] ] negotiated a deal.
]
] ] The deal apparently involved the group gaining political
] ] advantage in the region.
]
] This would be interesting if this hit the mainstream press.
] Certainly would change the views of Bush's job in Iraq. I
] wish some enterprising journalist in the US would follow up on
] this.

Bonus Ryan: There have been some reports criticizing this story, but no one seems to be able to refute some of its core points. Here's a good one for you: the hole Saddam was in was incapable of opening from the inside and he had no communications equipment with him.

RE: Yahoo! News - Saddam was held by Kurdish forces, drugged and left for US troops

] The Army will prohibit troops returning from Iraq and
] Afghanistan from retiring or leaving the service for
] other reasons for up to 90 days after arriving at their
] home bases, military officials said Monday.

Thanks for your service! No, you can't leave. Sorry.

CNN.com - Army to delay soldiers' exits - Jan. 5, 2004

] A former Iraqi intelligence officer, whom the Express did
] not name, told the paper that Saddam was held prisoner by
] a leader of the Kurdish Patriotic Front, which fought
] alongside US forces during the Iraq war, until he
] negotiated a deal.

] The deal apparently involved the group gaining political
] advantage in the region.

This would be interesting if this hit the mainstream press. Certainly would change the views of Bush's job in Iraq. I wish some enterprising journalist in the US would follow up on this.

Yahoo! News - Saddam was held by Kurdish forces, drugged and left for US troops

Salon interviews former Georgia Senator Max Cleland about troubles the 9/11 Commission (which he is still a member of) is having in obtaining documents from not just the White House.

] Let me walk you through this thing here. First of all,
] we're not talking about a prescription drug plan under
] Medicare here. We're talking about the most serious
] assault on the homeland of the United States since the
] British invaded during the war of 1812. This is the deal.
] The joint inquiry made up of Democrats and Republican
] members of Congress, they issued a report [this summer],
] but they couldn't get at the PDB's. They kicked the can
] down the street so that the 9/11 commission could get at
] the full story. That's the reason for this independent
] commission, with the time and energy and staff to get at
] all of this. Had the Joint Intelligence Committee been
] able to do its job, there wouldn't have even been a 9/11
] commission.
]
] We're coming down to the final [months] of the commission
] and we're still messing around with access issues. This
] is a key item. I don't think any independent commission
] can let an agency or the White House dictate to it how
] many commissioners see what. So this "deal," we shouldn't
] be dealing. If somebody wants to deal, we issue
] subpoenas. That's the deal. That was the deal with the
] FAA, that was the deal with Norad.
]
] And the reason is principle. Clinton has agreed to
] cooperate with the commission and is eager to come before
] it. So why doesn't this White House, which was on the
] bridge when the ship got attacked, why doesn't this White
] House want to know everything that happened on their
] watch so that it can't happen again? Why they want to
] play games with this commission, to make deals, I don't
] know. It's information control. It's not transparency.
]
] I don't know if they're hiding something. But the public
] will never know and the 9/11 commission will never know
] because under the current deal, a minority of
] commissioners will see a small number of documents and
] then brief the White House on what they're going to tell
] the other commissioners. Wait a minute! That doesn't make
] any sense at all.

Former Senator Max Cleland Interview: 'The President ought to be ashamed'

] Homosexuality can be separated from marriage in roughly
] the same way. Marriage is a broadly shared American
] value. You don't have to support homosexuality to support
] marriage. A politician can say, "I'm pro-marriage. The
] issue isn't whether you're straight or gay. The issue is
] whether you support marriage."

This is a fantastic article for anyone interested in the political ramifications of the Mass. ruling concerning gay marriage. A clear way for liberals to win the argument. William Saletan is a savvy dude.

It's the Commitment, Stupid - How to sell gay marriage. By William Saletan

] On 21 September 2002, The Memory Hole posted an extract
] from an essay by George Bush Sr. and Brent Scowcroft, in
] which they explain why they didn't have the military push
] into Iraq and topple Saddam during Gulf War 1. Although
] there are differences between the Iraq situations in 1991
] and 2002-3, Bush's key points apply to both.
]
] But a funny thing happened. Fairly recently, Time pulled
] the essay off of their site.

The Memory Hole: Reasons Not to Invade Iraq, by George Bush Sr.

] Kerry's whose wife is the heiress of the Heinz ketchup
] fortune, is expected to announce this week whether he
] will follow suit and invest his family's money in his bid
] for the White House.
]

wow, that's a different approach to campaign finance reform.

CNN.com - Report: Kerry fires campaign manager - Nov. 10, 2003

] WE, therefore, the architects and builders of Dean for
] America, appealing to the Wise Judgment of the American
] people on our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by
] Authority of the good People of these United States,
] solemnly Publish and Declare, the People of these United
] States are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND
] INDEPENDENT OF SPECIAL INTERESTS and that as FREE AND
] INDEPENDENT CITIZENS, they have full Power to
] participate, deliberate, pursue the common good, protect
] their own interest from corruption, and to do all other
] Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT CITIZENS may of right
] do. And for the support of this Declaration, we mutually
] pledge to each other to write letters, knock on doors,
] organize our neighbors, self- fund this effort, and vote.

Howard Dean today became the first presidential challenger to decline federal matching funds. His supporters (disclosure:including myself) voted 85% to 15% to do so. Perhaps we will now have a chance to defend against Bush's prospective $200M war chest for the presidency.

Dean for America: A Declaration of Independence by the People of Dean for America