Some of you, less nutty about politics than me, might be unaware of some choice stories coming out of Iraq. I call it, "Mess in Potamia." Kinda has a nice ring, don't you think?
-
Chalabi got nabbed, cause apparently he was feeding info to Iran and 8 other nations. They raided his compound, confiscated all weapons, busted up the place, the whole deal. The fact that he's a liar and a criminal doesn't figure into the equation, only when he was found to be planning a coup in Iraq does anyone do a damn thing. And now, all the little warbot pundits have jumped to his defense. See, when a rich, corrupt collaborater has his door kicked in, that changes everything. All of a sudden, there's a secret plot by the CIA to discredit Chalabi, due process is important all of a sudden and people can't just be held without charges. Riiight. In one of the more interesting articles, Michael Ledeen holds a conversation with a dead CIA analyst. Get it while
its hot-
Rumsfeld bans all cellphones with a camera capability from all US installations in Iraq. Wow, great move, the Abu Ghraib photos haven't even stopped rolling in, and already Rummy jumps at the opportunity. I'm sure the world will NOT see this as an attempt at censorship.
article-And, in direct contradiction to the "just a few bad apples" line, is this, a statement by a soldier that
General Sanchez, the top US general in Iraq, was present at times when abuse against prisoners occured. I mean, physically present. That story, over
here. But just to keep up the proud tradition, authorities in Baghdad
have denied it.-Meanwhile, the costs of Dubya's little adventure have now reached fully
twice the cost of the first Gulf War. article-Speaking of costs, as of right now,
800 American troops have died in Iraq. The Department of Defense has a pdf over
here.
-In a lovely move by the UN,
Us and British troops are extended immunity from war crimes following the "handover" in June. Article
here. Now, just so we're all clear on what war crimes are, and just so we're all clear that there has been an abundance of them during the occupation, here is a nice little
summary.
-I love the smell of censorship the morning, so it is with great delight that I inform you that the
Pentagon removed 2000 pages from the 6000 page Taguba report that was delivered to the Senate Armed Services Comitee. Article
here .
