"It is not a matter of if there will be an attack, but how bad the attack will be," an intelligence official told ABCNews.com.

Okay, there are a couple of things about this report I find interesting. First, it's 100% US officials leaking information purportedly given them by the Brits. Mind you, the Brits are still pissed off at us for botching their work on the "gel-bombers" and now we're leaking data?

One of two things is going to happen/is happening here. First is the possibility that this is all bullshit designed to scare the crap out of us at Christmas just like they've pulled every year and there is actually nothing going on. The second possibility is, there really IS something going on and by leaking it we've just blown yet another operation the Brits have going, and British intel is going to tell us to get stuffed.

There are other possibilities, but those seem to be at the top of the food chain.

And oh yes, lest I forget, if you want to see terror in action, read the reader comments below the fold. Good lord.

The Blotter: Attack expected in London?

Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms burst into Red Crescent offices on Sunday and kidnapped more than two dozen people at the humanitarian organization in the latest sign of the country's growing lawlessness.

....

On Thursday, gunmen in military uniforms kidnapped dozens of people in central Baghdad, police said. The attackers drove up to the busy Sanak area in about 10 sport utility vehicles and began rounding up shop owners and bystanders. Police said 50 to 70 people were abducted, but at least two dozen were later released.

Every time something like this comes up I want to know how we got to someplace that things this screwed up could happen. The answer of course is simple. The current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. doesn't give a damn about anything. He doesn't care that he's responsible for what will probably end up being the biggest slaughterhouse of the decade. He doesn't care about the troops he's shoved into this hellhole. He willfully ignored anyone who had a different thought about how things would go in Iraq, most noteably the people who the military had designing their contingency plans for what to do if we did invade Iraq, and who had figured out you could take out the Iraqi military with a minimal force, but maintaining order would take close to half a million guys before you got to break even chances of sucess. He doesn't care where Osama bin Laden is.

The situation in Iraq has degenerated to a point where it is no longer solvable. Had anyone in power bothered to act on what was already known this was possibly preventable. It is not now. The sheer manpower needs (and let's put this 20,000 troop "surge" idea away, right now, it's crap) would mean bringing in NATO, the Russians, the Chinese, and all of the Middle East and Africa. That would create even more chaos. Instead, we're doing what we've done foe decades, training the death squads.

It was never time to invade Iraq, the administration lied and bamboozled us in. Once we did, it was always time to get out.

28 kidnapped from aid office in Baghdad - Yahoo! News

The Bush administration warned Wednesday against threats by terrorist groups and other nations against U.S. commercial and military satellites, and discounted the need for a treaty aimed at preventing an arms race in space.

Let me make sure I understand this... Al Qaeda on the ground wasn't enough, now we're supposed to be worried about, I can't even say it, so we'll go straight to the jeering.

This threat is about as real as PIGS IN SPACE was on The Muppet Show, and just as threatening. At least their fabrications before were marginally plausible. This is pathetic.

U.S. warns of threat to satellites - Yahoo! News

That first killing threw the Ice staff in El Paso into a panic. Their informant had helped to commit first-degree murder, and they feared they would have to end his contract and abort the operations for which he was being used. But the Department of Justice told them to proceed.

And now, the next installment in, "The Government does anything it wants - including murder"

The ICE and DoJ guys aren't commenting because they're getting sued. Folks, this isn't something you get sued for, this is conspiracy to commit first degree murder. The guy did it, his government handlers knew he did it, and instead of doing something about it, they PAID HIM TO KEEP DOING IT.

The Bush Administration. Now with more criminals!

The House of Death | World | The Observer

In December, 2001 he was detained as a "material witness" to suspected acts of terrorism and ultimately charged with various terrorism-related offenses, mostly relating to false statements the FBI claimed he made as part of its 9/11 investigation. Al-Marri vehemently denied the charges, and after lengthy pre-trial proceedings, his trial on those charges was scheduled to begin on July 21, 2003.

But his trial never took place, because in June, 2003 -- one month before the scheduled trial -- President Bush declared him to be an "enemy combatant." As a result, the Justice Department told the court it wanted to turn him over to the U.S. military, and thus asked the court to dismiss the criminal charges against him, and the court did so (the dismissal was "with prejudice," meaning he can't be tried ever again on those charges). Thus, right before his trial, the Bush administration simply removed Al-Marri from the jurisdiction of the judicial system -- based solely on the unilateral order of the President -- and thus prevented him from contesting the charges against him.

This is what "The Greatest Generation" fought and died to stop. The current administration has demonstrated itself to be a perversion of everything this country has tried to do for hundreds of years. The last line will be when he starts sending the people in Gitmo to the "showers."

The Military Commissions Act in action

The Justice Department said Monday that the detainees have no constitutional rights because they are being held overseas. Giving military detainees access to civilian courts "would severely impair the military's ability to defend this country," government attorneys wrote.

Bullshit you blivets. Either handle them through the courts like everyone else or treat them as POWs. One or the other.

Administration: Detainees have no rights - Yahoo! News

New legal documents, to be filed next week with Germany's top prosecutor, will seek a criminal investigation and prosecution of Rumsfeld, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior U.S. civilian and military officers, for their alleged roles in abuses committed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

It's called war crimes, and it's the hole in the bottom of George Bush's leaky boat that I don't see any way for him to plug.

TIME.com: Exclusive: Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse -- Page 1

The war games looked at "worst case" and "most likely" scenarios after a war that removed then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power. Some are similar to what actually occurred after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003:

•"A change in regimes does not guarantee stability," the 1999 seminar briefings said. "A number of factors including aggressive neighbors, fragmentation along religious and/or ethnic lines, and chaos created by rival forces bidding for power could adversely affect regional stability."

“I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.”

Well George, you were about as right about Katrina then as you were right about Iraq in general. Why don't you do us all a favor, go back to Crawford, take your party of schmucks with you and let the adults try to clean up your mess.

1999 war games foresaw problems in Iraq - USATODAY.com

Investigations led by a Republican lawyer named Stuart W. Bowen Jr. in Iraq have sent American occupation officials to jail on bribery and conspiracy charges, exposed disastrously poor construction work by well-connected companies like Halliburton and Parsons, and discovered that the military did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraqi security forces.

And tucked away in a huge military authorization bill that President Bush signed two weeks ago is what some of Mr. Bowen’s supporters believe is his reward for repeatedly embarrassing the administration: a pink slip.

This isn't a war about "security" or "democracy" or anything else the White House has spewed forth as a rationale for it. It has become instead about how to bilk us out of everything we have and hand it over to someone else what wants more. My grandmother, having lived through the Depression, used to turn purple at the sound of the name Hoover. When everything about this administration finally comes out, George Bush is going to wish he were that well liked.

Congress Tells Auditor in Iraq to Close Office - New York Times

Another Marine stationed in Iraq has sent us a screenshot of what happens when you need some hot news on Macaca and Foley:

forbidden, this page (http://www.wonkette.com) is categorized as (Personal Pages) ALL SITES YOU VISIT ARE LOGGED AND FILED.

Nice little threat at the end, too. Asswipes.

Notice the other browser tabs. Two actual “personal pages” that rah-rah for Bush (What’s her name, the wannabe Coulter, and Hugh Hewitt) show up just fine, as our Marine Operative confirms. But “Talking Points Memo,” which is apparently one of the “left leaning” sites one hears so much about these days, is prohibited.

That's perfect. Withhold information that has nothing to do with the situation on the ground but that isn't favorable to the administration. I realize there could suddenly be a morale issue, but when you're getting attacked every 15 minutes, I'd tend to think that pooch is already screwed.

STOP ABUSING OUR MARINES! - Wonkette