] C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a
] perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now
] seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through
] military action, justified by the conjunction of
] terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were
] being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience
] with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing
] material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little
] discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military
] action.

And now we see that there really was a rush to war. Lovely.

The secret Downing Street memo - Sunday Times - Times Online

] "I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims did
] not have weapons of mass destruction. I told the world,
] contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to
] al-Qaeda. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that
] Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001. I
] told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi
] people would resist a British and American invasion of
] their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be
] the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the
] beginning.
]
]
] "Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out
] to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000
] people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American
] soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000
] of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack
] of lies.

I don't think he bothered to pull any punches on this one. Too bad it's not going to get any play.

Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington

] "Contrary to White House spin, the allegations of
] religious desecration at Guantanamo such as those
] described by Newsweek on 9 May 2005 are common among
] ex-prisoners and have been widely reported outside the
] United States. Several former detainees at the Guantanamo
] and Bagram airbase prisons have reported instances of
] their handlers sitting or standing on the Koran, throwing
] or kicking it in toilets, and urinating on it.

I just love how these guys do things.

Newsweek Was Right

] Luis Posada Carriles, a 77-year-old former
] CIA operative and Venezuelan security official, was taken
] into custody by U.S. immigration authorities, the
] Homeland Security Department said in a statement.
]
]
] The department did not say what it planned to do with
] Posada, who is wanted by Venezuela and Cuba. But it said
] that generally, the U.S. government does not return
] people to Cuba or to countries acting on Cuba's behalf.

Interesting to see this start to move, finally.

U.S. Detains Cuban Linked to 1976 Bombing - Yahoo! News

] Two of the most notorious pictures from the Abu Ghraib
] prison scandal were expected to figure in a military
] trial set to begin this week, barring a last-minute plea
] deal.

Why do I get the impression the "moral" of this story is really, "don't take pictures."

Abu Ghraib Military Trial Set to Begin

] Karpinski has previously said she was not given full
] authority over Abu Ghraib and that when photographs of
] the abuse became public she was made a scapegoat. In her
] e-mail, she didn't respond to the Army's substantiated
] charge that she was in dereliction of duty.
]
]
] No one from the
]
] Department of Defense telephoned Karpinski to inform her
] of the findings, she said.
]
]
] "I did not find out about this action from any one of
] these sorry leaders," Karpinski said. "Instead, a
] voicemail message on my cell phone from an LA Times
] reporter alerted me to what was announced at the
]
] Pentagon briefing. If they are so sure about what they
] are doing, why are they afraid to tell me to my face?"

Let's find someone to blame, but since the report has to be factual, they can't actually blame her for Abu Gharib. Way to go.

Demoted General Says Army Used Old Case - Yahoo! News

] The deportation order that was overturned said Bosch had
] been "resolute and unwavering in his advocacy of
] terrorist violence" for 30 years. In 1968, Bosch was
] convicted of firing a bazooka at a Polish freighter in
] Miami's harbor. Like Posada, Bosch is wanted in Cuba and
] Venezuela, which suspect him of involvement in the Cuban
] airliner attack.

It's okay, they're only terrorists against people we don't like. Lying sacks of...

U.S. promotes double standard in how it deals with 'terrorist' cases - Yahoo! News

] Why, when we flex our military muscles on behalf of
] freedom and peace, does the world beyond our borders
] become all the more cantankerous and disorderly?
] Madeleine Albright irritated Colin Powell by famously
] asking, "What's the point of having this great
] army you're always talking about if we can't
] use it" From our present perspective, a better
] question might be: "What's the point of using
] this great army if the result is Fallujah, Najaf and
] Karbala?"

A particularly damning accounting of Tommy Franks stewardship in the Mid-East disguised as a book review. And it raises some very interesting points like the one above.

ANDREW BACEVICH - A MODERN MAJOR GENERAL

] A new Army report shows that Gen. John P. Abizaid, the
] theater commander in Afghanistan, and other top Army
] officials were aware an investigation had determined the
] death was caused by an act of "gross negligence" four
] days before a nationally televised memorial service.

I'm not going to take anything away from Pat Tillman. He did what he thought he should and I don't have any issue with that. What I find insulting is that his death has been used as some sort of rallying cry, but for what I don't know.

Look at this guy! He turned down a huge football contract to join the Army!
Okay, except he's dead, which doesn't make things look like the kind of job I want, and worse, he got killed by our guys? Now this really doesn't look like a good position. And then there's all this flag waving after they knew all of this? This isn't good.

Report: Army Knew Details of Tillman Death

] A call about a possible weapon at a middle school
] prompted police to put armed officers on rooftops, close
] nearby streets and lock down the school. All over a giant
] burrito.
]
] Someone called authorities Thursday after seeing a boy
] carrying something long and wrapped into Marshall Junior
] High.

What will the war on terror get us? Eventually, some poor kid is going to end up like Amadou Diallo, only he won't be a black guy from Guinea, it'll be some white suburban 13 year old kid with the poster part of his science project that they're pulling police bullets out of and trying to blame.

The war on terror is well on its way to being lost.

School Mistakes Huge Burrito for a Weapon - Yahoo! News