All on this site, Tartarin
http://nata2.info
Gel
That is actually an old magic trick, utilizing perspective to present an image which, at first, seems quite convincing. But there are actually two men here. Bush's lower body is extended horizontally away from the viewer and supported by the second man whose legs we see. That's Ashcroft in this instance.
So much for 'unilaterilism' (sp?)
frolic wrote:Prevention of an attack by Iraq on Israel and other Middle Eastern countries?
What insane dictator would attack a coutry with a stockpile of WMD and the backening of a coutry with the ability to destroy the entire world several times over. Saddam was a sickening evil dictator but he was no lunatic.
Saddam could have sold WMD to terrorists.
Innocent until proven guilty. There was, is and never will be a connection with international terrorism. In fact, Iraq was perhaps one of the sole countries in the region not supporting terrorism. Saudi-Arabia, Iran, Syria, Lebanon,... Those are the coutries you can invade with this criterium.
The war sent a message to dictatorial regimes and terrorists throughout the world: if you create WMD, mistreat your people, and threaten the US, we will destroy you.
The message sent was: Better get those WMD quick. Because without them US troops could land on your shores any minute. Pakistan or North-Korea are a much higher threat to the US but are treated with much more caution because they for sure have WMD and are developing the devices to deliver them.
We are in the War on Terror, and we need to be diligent about it.
Most of the hijackers were Saudis. Al Qaeda itself has strong
connections to Saudi Arabia. Why Iraq? Like i said there isn't even a connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda. It just wont work. Bin Laden is (was?) a religious extremist, Saddam a calculating secularist. They are unlikely partners. And besides, the war against Iraq was a great Commercial for the Islamic extremists to gain more support and funds.
For once, I am wholly in agreement with Frolic ... noted!
T'anks, fellas.
What Blatham said.
A little while ago, on this thread or another, there was a small discussion about whether the press would continue the stories on Iraq-Flak. Well, today's Washington Post gladdens my heart. Dana milbank and Mike Allen have a fascinating article, concentrating on Codi Rice, which is certainly bringing it closer to the White House. The statement has been made repeatedly by the Bush chorus that they got their intel from the Brits. This article sort of lays that one to rest without ever saying it in so many words. It lays out, clearly and in detail, other facts. Turns out various intel agencies here not only shared information; they kept trying to share it with the WH. So where that Brit inetl fits in looks more an insert of convenience. It also puts the lie to various claims of not having read, heard, too busy, etc.
Read, enjoy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51224-2003Jul26.html
The WH can use all the spin they want, where ever they want but the one thing it all boils down to is:
BAD LEADERSHIP
before, during, after and now -
they can't spin that away!
mamaj, They've continually put themselves in a corner, and is now cowing like rats in a trap. c.i.
Mama: the dissing of Condi may be the next strategy, her name has come up a couple of times in the past few days as someone who should have known better. The coming forward of that second level guy didn't shake the dogs for a moment. Maybe they are going to throw her off the train next? or at least make a show of it......... Ms Rice steps up and says her office is now bisecting every Presidential statement blahblah. The Shrub shrugs and hugs her neck. We are all supposed to be okay.
Meanwhile the holder of the big black magic markers have wiped out any reference to S_______ A________. (two points off if you filled in South America.) from which all manner of charity still flows into the coffers of those who actually are threats to the USA. And the boys in Pakistan still are shrugging their Islamic shoulders every time we catch a scent of Osama. (They really like Osama there, he's one of them, even if he is a little nuts and a terrorist and all. Here's the rule: First, no matter how bad a person acts towards the non-believers, if he is a believer, he gets a pass, even if a few believers get whacked by his actions. (see Arrafat).
Yeah, another Dubya "case closed." ha, ha.....
I think the Bush method of getting rid of old faithfuls is probably very mafia-like. Kiss on each cheek in public, and then whacked somewhere along the NJTP.
They just have to be fearful when they find a dead fish in their house. c.i.
d
Are we now launching preemptive strikes on houses that might at some time in the distant future house a person that may at an uncertain period of time in the far off but up coming near future give a glass of water to a possible terrorist?
US troops raid Baghdad house, no sign of Saddam
28.07.2003
7.50am
BAGHDAD - US soldiers from a special unit hunting Saddam Hussein and his top lieutenants staged a bloody raid on a villa in central Baghdad today, but there was no sign of the deposed Iraqi dictator.
An American soldier at a nearby hospital said five bodies and at least eight wounded had been brought in from the scene of the raid. An Iraqi policeman said all the dead had been in cars fired on by troops as they drove through the area.
A military spokesman said he had no information on the raid except that it was carried out by Task Force 20 - a special team set up to hunt Saddam and his key aides.
The owner of the villa, tribal chief Rabeeah Amin, said he returned to the house after the raid began to find that soldiers had broken down the door and ransacked the villa.
"I was told they had been tipped off that Saddam was hiding in my house, that he was in fact my guest," Amin told Reuters. "But I know nothing about this."
Troops sealed off the area for more than an hour. Two cars outside the house caught fire during the raid and two others were riddled with bullets.
Soldiers on the scene refused to comment and pulled out of the - which suggested that no important figures had been found, alive or dead.
The US soldier guarding the emergency ward of Yarmuk Hospital said all the dead and wounded brought in were male and had suffered gunshot or shrapnel wounds. A boy in his early teens was among the dead. Two bloodied corpses lay on the floor of the crowded hospital mortuary.
"Today has been off the wall," the soldier told Reuters.
Amin said he had not seen Saddam for months. Asked about his ties with the deposed dictator, he said: "He was the president of Iraq and we all had a relationship with him one way or another. But my ties were nothing special."
Neighbours said US troops had used explosives to burst into the villa.
"They came here and ringed off the area, set explosives and blew out the door," one said, showing reporters where charges appeared to have been set in a gate on the walled villa compound.
Several houses in Mansur were destroyed on April 7 when US planes dropped four 2,000-pound "bunker-buster" bombs after receiving reports that Saddam and his sons were meeting in a building in the area. Saddam sightings continued after the attack.
Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay were killed last Tuesday in a US onslaught on a villa in Mosul, after a tip-off from an informant who Washington says will claim a USUS$30 million reward. Saddam himself has a USUS$25 million price on his head.
- REUTERS
Can't you imagine George fielding questions in an open 'town hall meeting'?! Do you remember the one from a couple of years ago when he complained that Congress was an impediment to the administrative branch of government?
I'm posting the following link not to reiterate that this administration does a lot of lying, but rather to remind us that a particular past lie, reiterated and reiterated, has done real damage not just to truth, but also to the UN. The lie was that the inspections were not working.
Quote:It is now fair to say that the U.N. inspection process was working, and if given the time and resources necessary, could have had a good chance of both preventing any ongoing programs, discovering any activities that were underway, and ending a good deal of this low-level activity, (such as the hiding of critical blueprints and parts recently unearthed in the backyard of an Iraqi scientist), and preventing the restart of any of these programs as long as the UNMOVIC plan had been allowed to continue.
http://www.ceip.org/files/nonprolif/templates/article.asp?NewsID=5067
Here's a very good audio file interview with Cirincione (author of piece above) on Fresh Air. Special bonus interview with Bill Kristol follows.
http://freshair.npr.org/day_fa.jhtml?display=day&todayDate=04/01/2003
I also think he's walking funny now (Bush), with that peculiar upright backward stance so many people on the sauce have, in order to make you think they're sober and erect. (A caution: my husband says that anyone who thinks iced tea is a natural drink to order at dinner - that's me - can't be considered an expert on a soused upright stance). Maybe, Gel, this goes hand in glove with that peculiar comment you quote.
And Jon Stewart on Comedy Central the other night had Joseph Wilson, who's the one who wrote the report on Niger not having yellow cake, and then was subjected to a smear campaign by the WH. Wilson turned out to be funny, but wouldn't retract a word of the op-ed he wrote on this for the Sunday NY Times.
Is the dam breaking? So many people are now coming out with so many conflicting stories. And where can the Bush people go? They can't leave Iraq; they haven't succeeded so far in gaining useful personnel or funding; they're having to deal with an increasingly ungrateful Iraq who doesn't consider itself liberated by the U.S., and now James Baker of Florida fame is going there to take charge. Will Bremer willingly play second chair? Lord, the excitement of all this is too much for me.
Another thing. Why is it so difficult for the shrub team to realize that they are trying to deal with a totally different culture? Are they really so insular they don't realize a large portion of the world is different from them? Or ....is it the same arrogance that dictates everything else?
