It looks to me like Saddam has gone to join Osama at the super-secret and government-funded "CIA Retirement Home for Ex-Mass Murderers". Hey, maybe it was all a con from the start; Saddam told George that he was a bit hacked off with the whole running-a-country deal and wanted out. George saw an opportunity for political and monetary gain and Hey Presto, Gulf War Part Deux was born.
Please spare a thought today for the unknown soldier. That timeless symbol of conflicts past is, in this war, a soldier to whom a face can readily be given. They are the sacrificial lambs who give their lives and are then swallowed by silence. Unknown people slaughtered on the alter of neo-liberal thought and for a cause no more glorious than the greed of men. Those who instigate war reward the valour of these people with little bits of metal and hollow words, at the same time as they cart off the spoils of all the death and carnage. This battle may be over but the war is just beginning. If I was Bashar al Assad, I would be more than a bit worried at the moment. The chickenhawks are emboldened, their bastard-ideology is intact and they stalk their next hapless victim...
There's a superb article by Jonathan Freedland in which he suggests we stop spending money on guns, bombs and WMD and instead set about feeding, clothing and educating every single human being on the planet (which it would pay for many times over, not one single human being excluded). Not something that would appeal to The Lying Twat or his corporate paymasters but they got us into this mess and it's time they all got woken up; preferably with a cup of gobbed-in coffee and a bucket of ice-water. Someone should make this Freedland chappie Prime Minister! Oh yeah and before I go, in case you were wondering about Donald Rumsfeld's "brain-mouth disconnect" let me offer the following theory: he's has had his head up his own arse for so long all he can do is think shit, so it shouldn't be uprising he talks it too!
Amnesty says Iraq oil more protected than people
Human rights group Amnesty International accused U.S.-led forces on Tuesday of being better prepared for the defense of Iraq's oil wells than of its people and infrastructure.
"There seems to have been more preparation to protect the oil wells than to protect hospitals, water systems or civilians," Irene Khan, secretary-general of the British-based group, told a news conference in London.
"And the first taste of the coalition's approach to law and order will not have inspired confidence in the Iraqi people."
Washington and London deny suggestions that the invasion of Iraq was linked to its large oil reserves, and have vowed to make sure any oil profits are collected by Iraqis.
But since the fall of Saddam Hussein last week, water shortages and looting in parts of Iraq have proved awkward counterpoints to the widely televised popular celebrations.
Khan acknowledged that guarding oil wells and protecting people were two very different tasks, but she said the focus among U.S. and British commanders on their liberating role in Iraq made the people's welfare an even larger issue for them.
"Protecting people should be a primary responsibility of any power that expects to enter a country and justifies its intervention on the basis of liberating the people or protecting their rights," she said.
Full story...
