WHILE CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O HAS ANOTHER RELATIVE IN THE COUNTRY WITH A DEPORTATION WARRANT, AND THIS ONE'S A DRINKER!, AND ATTEMPTS TO CONVINCE EVERYONE THAT ALL THESE TRASHY PEOPLE ARE NOT A REFLECTION ON THE OBAMA FAMILY OR GENE, OTHERS HAVE THEIR OWN TRASHY DRAMAS.
TAKE CRAZY ASS AL BINT WHO LEAVES COMMENTS ON BLOGS THAT AMERICA'S PRINCESS BARRY O NEEDS A SECOND TERM BECAUSE . . . WELL SHE CAN'T NAME A SINGLE ACCOMPLISHMENT. BUT IT'S GOOD, SHE INSISTS, FOR CHILDREN.
YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS GOOD FOR CHILDREN? RAISING THEM! GET OFF THE BLOG AND INSTILL SELF-RESPECT IN YOUR OWN CHILD, AL BINT, SO THEY DON'T HAVE TO DESPERATELY SEARCH THE HORIZON TO FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN MAKE THEM FEEL GOOD ABOUT THEMSELVES.
IT'S CALLED PARENTING, LAZY ASS.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
The lies of war, the war of lies. Bit by bit, the lies of the Iraq War are slowly exposed. As we noted in our conclusions on the Iraq Inquiry, it was obvious that Bully Boy Bush and then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair had agreed not to seek a second United Nations resolution (the first covered weapons inspectors, it did not allow for war, which is why then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called it an "illegal" war). Today Chris Ames and Richard Norton-Taylor (Guardian) report that in October 2002, Bush and Blair decided they need not seek a second resolution to declare war on Iraq. This comes via an October 17, 2002 letter Tony Blair's secretary Matthew Rycroft wrote to then-Foreign Minister Jack Straw's secretary Mark Sedwill. Ryscroft cautions, "This letter is sensitive." And he underlines that. He goes on, "It must be seen only by those with a real need to know its contents, and must not be copied further." Ames and Norton-Taylor note:
The Downing Street letter is particularly significant against the background of the government's repeated emphasis in public at the time on the need to get UN approval before any invasion of Iraq. The "first resolution" referred to in Rycroft's letter was number 1441, passed unanimously in November 2002. Goldsmith and most of the government's legal advisers insisted a second UN resolution was needed before military action could lawfully take place.
While not quoting from the letter, they summarize: "That was the only way they could persuade the Bush administration to . . ." Provide the letter. Provide the quote. It's not a minor issue. Everyone should be reflecting on February 2nd of this year when Jack Straw appeared before the Inquiry (again) and Committee member Roderic Lyne asked very specific questions and made very specific points. Including that it would appear Straw (and the Cabinet) already favored regime change. For those who've forgotten, not only did Lyne pursue what Straw spoke of with then-US Secretary of State Colin Powell, what papers were forwarded on (and if regime change was not favored, why a paper on it was forwarded), Lyne told Straw, "I am very curious you didn't react to the second paper by saying regime change cannot be an objective of the UK foreign policy. Warn the Prime Minister." Lyne summarized (in the form of a question) Blair's approach, "Get on side of President Bush but presumably not get ahead of President Bush on this issue or encourage President Bush to push it ahead at high speed?"
Possibly Chris Ames will post the letter at his Iraq Inquiry Digest. But ignoring their single sentence summary of the letter regarding Bush, what the letter does is back up to point Lyne was making: The Cabinet wanted regime change and had signed on for it. Blair was not pulled into this by Bush, he was an active participant.
Related, Sunday the former head of England's spy agency (MI5) Eliza Manningham-Buller is in the news cycle. BBC News reports she told BBC Radio Times that it was known in 2003 that Iraq was not threat, that a war with Iraq would likely increase domestic threats and that an Iraq war would be "a distraction" from the then-pursuit of al Qaeda. The Daily Mirror observes, "Britain's former spy boss has given her strongest condemnation yet of Tony Blair's decision to go to war in Iraq, saying he was told it posed no threat to the UK." Paddy McGuffin (Morning Star) adds:
Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said: "It may well be that, in advance of Chilcot, which is due to publish its findings in the autumn, various people are distancing themselves from the decision to go to war.
"I'm glad she has said what she has as it is a vindication of the anti-war campaign but the decision to go to war was a failure not just of Blair but the whole Establishment including the security services and Parliament itself.
"There was no serious attempt by any of them to stop Blair. The only attempt came from the streets."
Tim Ross (Telegraph of London) observes, "Her comments, in an interview to mark the start of her three Reith Lectures, which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this week, represent the most outspoken criticisms to date of the 2003 conflict by such a senior figure in the intelligence services." You can read about her remarks in the British press (not the Guardian) and in La Nueva Espana, in Santiago's El Mercurio and in El Norte De Castilla. Lots of luck finding it in US outlets. They sold us the lies of war, the war of lies, they had plenty of time to front page all of that. And now they can't make time for what the head of British intelligence was actually telling Tony Blair in the lead up to the Iraq War? Amy Goodman didn't have time for it either. Telling.
Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said: "It may well be that, in advance of Chilcot, which is due to publish its findings in the autumn, various people are distancing themselves from the decision to go to war.
"I'm glad she has said what she has as it is a vindication of the anti-war campaign but the decision to go to war was a failure not just of Blair but the whole Establishment including the security services and Parliament itself.
"There was no serious attempt by any of them to stop Blair. The only attempt came from the streets."
Tim Ross (Telegraph of London) observes, "Her comments, in an interview to mark the start of her three Reith Lectures, which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this week, represent the most outspoken criticisms to date of the 2003 conflict by such a senior figure in the intelligence services." You can read about her remarks in the British press (not the Guardian) and in La Nueva Espana, in Santiago's El Mercurio and in El Norte De Castilla. Lots of luck finding it in US outlets. They sold us the lies of war, the war of lies, they had plenty of time to front page all of that. And now they can't make time for what the head of British intelligence was actually telling Tony Blair in the lead up to the Iraq War? Amy Goodman didn't have time for it either. Telling.
| While discussing the Libyan War last week on Antiwar Radio, Scott Horton and Jason Ditz noted this of Iraq. Jason Ditz: It's a good story for the media to cover about, you know, instead of covering all the failures in Afghanistan and the fact that the Iraq War isn't going to end as scheduled again, they can focus on the great success of Libya. Scott Horton: (laughing) Yeah. I'm so sorry. I'm just stuck on Iraq 2003, where Baghdad had fallen, it had been a week since Saddam Hussein had been in power and all the War Mongers are going, "See, everything went great. All your antiwar excuses and reasons didn't come true and whatever." When they hadn't even given it a chance at all. And as you just said, we're still in Iraq right now. Ain't going no where either. Giant war, a million people died somewhere between here and there. And this is how all these Democrats sound now, talking about what a great victory they have. Let's see what a victory it is when there's an insurgency against the new democracy and whatever else we're headed towards in a year, two years, three years from now |
Over the weekend, Al Rafidayn reported that the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has refused to meet with Nouri al-Maliki and other politicians. For the last 8 weeks, al-Sistani has refused them. Why? His clerics say that he feels the people's needs are not being addressed and that the government has failed to deliver basic services and to reduce corruption. In related news, Alsumaria TV notes, "Head of Al Sadr Front Sayyed Moqtada Al Sadr called for mass demonstrations in all Iraqi provinces and cities after Eid Al Fitr marking the end of the six month deadline granted to the Iraqi government in order to improve services, a source told Alsumaria. Speaking on behalf of Al Sadr, Sadr Front Sheikh Abdul Hadi Al Mahmadawi reminded the Iraqi government of Arab leaders' fate who were toppled due to people's demonstrations in Tunis, Egypt and Libya." Annie Gowan (Washington Post) adds that Moqtada delivered his call in a letter (the article doesn't note it but the letter repeats the same charges Sistani made) and reminds, "Elsewhere, activists in Baghdad are using Facebook and other social media to plan a Sept. 9 rally in the capital, also to protest the lack of services and poor security. Dozens of people were killed in February during protests [. . .] and Maliki's government has been criticized for rough treatment of many who took to the streets during those days."
Staying with politics, more than anything the Bush administration wanted an Iraqi oil law. Lucky for the greedy, Barack Obama wants that too. Aswat al-Iraq reports that Nouri's Cabinet has forwarded an oil and gas draft law onto Parliament. This has happened before. It has yet to move beyond the referral to Parliament. Platts notes that Ali al-Dabbagh, Nouri's spokesperson, states this draft supersedes all others. Like it matters, the country's in a stalemate.
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