saint_monkey | Entries tagged with iraq

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/15/defector-admits-wmd-lies-iraq-war

Rafid Ahmed Alwan Al-Janabi, aka "Curveball," admits to fabricating Iraqi WMD evidence. Just in case you forget who this guy was, "curveball" was the source of a lot of the cherry-picked evidence found by the "Office of Special Plans" in the Pentagon, and used to trump up the Iraq war. His statement falls under the "if you could go back in time to kill Hitler, wouldn't you have to do that?" arena of self defense:

"Maybe I was right, maybe I was not right," he said. "They gave me this chance. I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime. I and my sons are proud of that and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy."

In that light you can hardly blame the guy, and I never have. He was put into contact with the administration by Ahmed Chalabi, who was pretty unabashedly trying to take out Saddam via any means necessary, so curveball was suspect from the get go. The fault, of course, belongs to Bush et al, who were willing to overlook a mountain of contrary evidence and sound analysis to focus on a few toothpicks that got them what they wanted.

http://saint-monkey.livejournal.com/103559.html

The release of Woodward's latest Book has lead to one of the most entertaining political semantic evasions since Clinton debated the meaning of the word "is" under oath:

Woodward says that Bush began planning the war in Iraq as early as November 2001. However, when the President was asked if he was planning war on May 23rd of 2003, he replied "I have no war plans on my desk ..." When Steve Inskeep interviewed Woodward concerning the book, this apparent disconnect was brought to Woodward's attention. Woodward replied that the President's desk in the oval office "never has anything on it, it's very clean." (I'm paraphrasing. I've no media player to get the actual wording.)

And in a related outrage:

While researching this on the web, I found the following byline in this article on America's bastion of Journalistic credibility, CBS:

On the plus side, Bob Woodward told Mike Wallace on CBS' "60 Minutes" that Saudi Prince Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on Election Day.

Woodward says that Bandar understood that economic conditions were key before a presidential election. "They're [oil prices] high. And they could go down very quickly. That's the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly," Woodward said. ...emphasis added

Um... Economic extortion by Saudi Arabia, release of Classified material to a Foreign National, (according to Woodward, the war plan was classified Top Secret NOFORN, Prince Bandar is the Saudi Ambassador to the United States) and collusion in that extortion and engineering of a war by the Executive Branch in order to pull off an "October Surprise," are all somehow deemed "On the Plus Side" as long as they lead to a reduction in (artificially inflated) gas costs at the pump?

***** Late addition ****

The Bush administration denies everything, Woodward says "Woah now, son, that's not quite what I meant." (Again with the paraphrasing.) Steffan urges you, gentle reader, to not forget this, and remember that the proof is in the pudding. We will see what happens to the price of oil in September/October.

eeee-xcellent

i forgot to put this in yesterday...

yesterday i was filling my car up with dead dinosaur, and all through the process the pump kept flashing little messages at me "two for one 2 liter bottles of coke" etc. At the end, it said, "God Bless America, God bless our troops." I thought it was so funny that an Oil machine would be telling me this. "Oil thanks you for the war in Iraq."

I know that the administration is naming the "WMD" panel because of congressional pressure, but I find it hard to believe that the administration doesn't already have a very good idea of where the fault in intel lies. This panel will be a Snipe Hunt, possibly leading to the CIA and the ousting of George Tenet. I fully believe that the real fault lies elsewhere.

bush to name bipartisan WMD panel
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/03/iraq/main597604.shtml

I seem to recall that just after september 11th, the media got ahold of a story that referenced the creation of a separate intel gathering agency called the Office of Special Plans(OSP) planted in the pentagon by senior bush officials. The job of that agency was reportedly to go through the rejected intel created by the CIA and NSA for any tasty bits that would otherwise never be included in an Intel report to the president. Most articles I found say that Cheney is the person that ultimately created the OSP, but it is headed by Senior Pentagon Official Paul Wolfowitz. But finding hard data or even a reliable news story about the agency is hard to do. The best i can come up with is from the international media.

whitehouse ignored intel
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0307/S00202.htm

from above:

The former CIA agents were asked to examine prewar intelligence last year by CIA Director George Tenet and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. They will present a final report to the Pentagon and CIA and possibly Congressional and Senate commitees later this year.

The ad-hoc committee, called the Office of Special Plans, headed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith and other Pentagon hawks, described the worst-case scenarios in terms of Iraq’s alleged stockpile of chemical and biological weapons and claimed the country was close to acquiring nuclear weapons, according to four of the CIA agents, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the information is still classified, who conducted a preliminary view of the intelligence.

The agents said the Office of Special Plans is responsible for providing the National Security Council and Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice and Rumsfeld with a bulk of the intelligence information on Iraq’s weapons program that turned out to be wrong. But White House officials used the information it received from the Office of Special Plans to win support from the public and Congress to start a war in Iraq even though the White House knew much of the information was dubious, the CIA agents said.

That was written by freelance journalist Jason Leopold. no sources are named directly in the article., which means that Leopold can say essentially whatever he likes. However, a gaurdian article names some specific sources in addition to quoting “former pentagon officials”

the spies who pushed for war
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,999737,00.html

from that article:

"They surveyed data and picked out what they liked," said Gregory Thielmann, a senior official in the state department's intelligence bureau until his retirement in September. "The whole thing was bizarre. The secretary of defence had this huge defence intelligence agency, and he went around it."

OSP reportedly met with members of Iraqi groups which now make up the Iraqi Governing Council, most chief of these being Ahmed Chalabi. These men stood to gain from the overthrow of Iraq, so intel from them should have been held as suspect unless it could be corroborated.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/08/1060145871467.html

further reading can be found at this comprehensive site: http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/wot/iraq/office_of_special_plans.html

Seeing this, we can expect the administration to either divert attention to the CIA, since everyone seems willing to scapegoat them after the Intel Failures that led to 9-11, or perhaps it will “uncover” the OSP’s activity, and say that it has overstepped it’s “mandate” and tie it to a senior pentagon official, probably not Wolfowitz, and perhaps not Frieth, but some other high level admin on the panel. This person will be fired, or will take one for the team, like Ollie North.

in a press conference today, the president said that those that fire on american troops are actually firing on the iraqi people. it will be a tough sell, what with the american flags on their uniforms and all, but we hope to make it work by year's end.

but obviously it doesn't go both ways, because american soldiers killed a couple of iraqi people just today... (true, i'd have shot them too, they ran a checkpoint, but still...) i can't imagine what being in a terror cell is like when the president starts making statements like that... it must be hard to draw the lines in a terror campaign when if you fire at american soldiers, you are actually firing at yourself, while the americans can fire on you and still be firing on THE ENEMY. (or the evildoers, or whatever they are today, satanists, perhaps) it is like some scheme Bugs Bunny would cook up. "Nah doc.... You can't fire on me, cause.... I'm actually you. Fire on THAT guy over there, he's really ME."

that's what i like about Bush... if you don't like the reality of the situation, substitute it with something you do like....it is all just semantics anyhow. it's not about oil, it is about the weapons of mass destruction, or regime change, or (my personal favorite) securing the riches of the iraqi people. (which reminds me, my car has been running about a quart low on "the riches of the iraqi people" for a while now, i need to go get a "riches of the iraqi people" change.) as if changing the textual reality of a situation makes the ACTUAL reality of the situation better. (There are many examples, among them: "Enemy Combatant" and "Jobless Recovery," etc) Or by somehow defining the people you see as your occupiers as citizens, is he hoping to turn the people of Iraq to him, or maybe he hopes to make the heartless Fedayin Al Saddam feel GUILTY about shooting RPG's at Americans (oops, I mean, "The Iraqi People?") I really don't see the sense of the statement. How is it NOT supposed to sound imperialist to the Iraqis that are still our friends?

But as i think about it.. i really wonder... there is no real government in iraq right now, and the UN sort of has granted the US temporary authority over there... I wonder if this casual statement really HAS in ACTUALITY granted US Soldiers Iraqi Citizenship? And if so, i wonder if this is his way of rigging any future Iraqi election... if all these american soldiers are iraqi citizens, that is going to make quite a voting bloc. Carl Rove is probably already at work on a way to make it stick.

A "Radio Times" interview with Newsweek International Editor and "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" Panel Member Farid Zakariah (who was on plugging his book about the importance of establishing Democracy in a slow careful manner) produced this excellent quote:

New York Times Reporter: What do you think that America will bring to Iraq?
Iraqi Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy!

isn't it odd that this action isn't about oil, and yet Rumsfeld keeps saying "please don't burn the oil." it's not ABOUT the oil, but don't burn it. what did the oil ever do to you? why take this out on the oil? won't somebody think of the OIL?

i would buy it if they said "don't burn the oil, it is really toxic, plus it is hard to put out, you'll pollute the place for ten years," which is all true, but instead they say "don't burn the oil, you'll waste your riches." if i were saddam, that kind of talk would make me want to burn the oil, because it clearly gets the US's attention, and if we move to stop the oil burning, he can say "see, the oil is all they care about." and what good is the oil to saddam if he is dead? so let's just figure tht he is definitely going to burn the oil, stop complaining about it, go in, kill the guy, and secure the oil if that is what you are after. the oil can only burn at a set rate... a prolonged war = less oil. the sooner it is over, the sooner the oil can be saved. screw the kurds, save the oil!

i sure hope they got saddam with that opening salvo. that was a nice tactical move... the kind of thing i would have been trying all along... scare him into a bunker with talk of a long prolonged bombardment, use the sigint to locate him and drop a bomb on the bunker. game over. minimal engagement = minimal collateral damage. if this is tommmy franks style of war, then i must say it's smarter than i gave him credit for.
ß

on the way home from dropping mystery off at school.
i noticed a bumpersticker on the back of a car in front of me
it said:

think of how bad the economy would be if we allow ourselves to be nuked by our enemies.

woah! i never thought of that! that completely diffuses the "economy" argument against the war! let's piss away economic recovery on the off chance that some enemy rogue faction manages to cobble together pinball machine parts and play-doh into a NUKE! i'd much rather have security against a theoretical possibility that is more actually a practical impossibility than a JOB. (the most likely domestic attack against the continental US is a chemical attack. the bush administration is doing very little to help with that, they are cutting the aid clinton gave to police forces and emergency services, and these would be the real front lines in a domestic attack. they seem to be addressing placebos for the public mind, like playing to the duct tape lobby. folks, i can't think of a more ironic "fix" to fears of a CBE attack... did jeff fozworthy come up with this? duct tape fixes a CBE attack like it fixes plumbing. it doesn't. which agent are we talking? is it lighter or heavier than air? where are the p-bromide pills and atropine injectors? no, just slap some duct tape over your head, you'll be fine.) Our friends are more likely to nuke us than our enemies, especially if we drag the world economy into the toilet with a war that nobody except our deranged gunslinger of a president wants!

warning, an attempt at humor!

bush: hey, baby.... let's get our war on.
un: naw, i don't feel up to it, i've got... a sudden and profound feeling of reluctance.
bush: again? you just had that last week!
un: it's not something i can just make come and go!
bush: but what about that presentation i sent to you? i worked so hard on it! didn't powell look great?
un: i know, it was nice, he's so handsome, but i just don't feel up to a commitment of this... seriousness right now, i'm just getting over the last time i made war, right now, what i really need is a chance for inspections to work, and maybe...
bush: don't tell me, "diplomacy", right?
un: yes, i really need someone nice, who will help me impose sanctions and not be so... pressuring about war all the time. i'm not sure that the time is right for war right now, i've got so much going on...and i keep worrying about the economy... i'm sure that diplomacy...
bush: if you only knew how many times i've heard that old line! everytime i get close to making war, i hear "oh, let inspections work," and "sanctions!" let me tell you, when nations tell you that, all they really want is war. they are just saying what they think you want to hear!
un: but you said just last week, when we were talking about north korea, that diplomacy might be the answer, are you telling me that what you really meant was....!
bush: oh, hey! don't go crazy now, you know that there are exceptions! you can trust me, haven't i always been truthful with you?
un: weeeeelllll....
bush: plus, you are so cute when you are angry.
un : oh, you!
bush: ok, forget war, how about a police action? some hot police action! yeah!
un: i don't know, that can get messy, remember sarejevo...i'm still trying to gain back some of the credibility i lost....
bush: ah, baby, please?
un: but i am feeling a bit antsy about iraq... maybe they haven't been all that forthcoming... it's so frustrating, but i find them so... mysterious. at first i thought it was something i could work with, you know, if they'd change they'd be just about the perfect nation! so dreamy, with all that oil. *sigh* but. i mean, they keep telling me one thing, and then doing another! it drives me crazy! it makes me so mad that i almost WANT to go to war, just to SPITE them.
bush: now we're talkin! so what do you say, i'll just put a few troops in, and if you don't like it, i'll pull them right out again... you can't get into trouble with just a few troops.
un: well, ok.. but only just a few.

(mystery and i were watching the news this morning, and she brought up the idea that turned into this post, mainly that the president seemed to be pressuring for war the way a frat boy pressures for sex, (i wonder if he learned that at yale,) she said that she expected him to go on tv if the war went wrong and blame the un un, for getting him "all hot and bothered")

rambling

i've got nothing to say really, but i'm going to say it anyhow. because i have "prior experience" in call center, the training folks pressured me into getting onthe phones right away (skipping the "listening" and "keyboarding" stages of call center training,) and i went straight to taking calls while a "shadower" (ie: random customer service rep) listened over my shoulder. my shadow was a pregnant lady, and i only mention it because she used her state as an excuse for what happened next. my second call is a little old lady whose pin is pulled over some checks that she should have been overnighted. i'm trying to "verify" her identity, and she's been through the call center like, seven times... and is about to go postal. but my shadow won't let me cool her off, and keeps pressuring me to ask her for her social, and not letting me hear her out, so that she can calm down and i can get to business (the shadow is worried about her "numbers" which i am clearly messing up by handling calls in a human fashion.) anyhow, i ignore my shadow and start listening to the customer's issue, and she (my shadow) snatches the headphones off my head in midsentence and then comes online saying "that guy is a trainee and he don't know nuthin, i'm his supervisor, and i will take care of you..." and she proceeds to tick the lady off, then put her on hold for ten minutes while she calls various places, and then comes back online with the customer and blames the delay on me. after the call finishes, she blames it on her temper swings because of her pregnancy, so i can't get ticked at her and report her to her supe without seeming like a misogynist.

god it feels so much better to vent that. the best part? i get to go sit with this person for another three hours today. (and i didn't think it possible to make the prospect of a phone shift seem even worse.) i need to get another fricken job, folks.

in other rambling...

i'm anxious to see the president's evidence against iraq (i imagine it is surveilance of iraqi troops moving weapons or weapon production materials prior to the arrival of inspectors, that or some old "keystone cops" silent film footage altered to look like surveilance video... Powell: "You can see this iraqi general, here dressed as a policeman, moving this biohazard refining chamber, here disguised as a ladder, into a biochemical transport vehicle, here disguised as a paddywagon." i'm not trying to imply that the bush-ites would act without evidence, (they probably have reams of incriminating materials) but they aren't forthcoming with ANYTHING, which makes me suspect anything they DO release as fabricated. PLUS, they are so paranoid, i wouldn't put it past them to release false evidence on the grounds of protecting the evidence they do have.) anyhow, that is coming up at 10:30. i'm glad they are letting the humanitarian (powell) release the evidence, he can at least talk to the public without speaking as if to a naughty child. powell really is a good choice in other regards. powell has done a great job of standing up to the hard liners in the white house without coming off as a complete tool of the left, as a general he can appeal to the reluctant hawks on the republican side (who i expect to get behind the president if the evidence is at all credible) and the centrist democrats, who will see him as a fellow centrist, "convinced" by the clarity of the case.

mystery said this this morning in response to the sunday news roundtables

Lady in tacky red suit, concerning iraqi scientist's failure to speak about Iraq's weapon's program. "Their silence speaks volumes..."
Mystery" yeah, about shit we want to make up!"

(open on a set roughly resembling the oval office. THE PRESIDENT is at his desk, deep in thought, enter RUMSFELD)

Don Rumsfeld: "we've found them mr. president."

President: "what? my tiny beanie babies? it was Rove wuddn it? that SOB. if he knew how many happy meals i had to buy to get that damn ostrich.."

Rumsfeld: "no mr. president, that was Blix on the phone. They've found them"

President: "Blix? inn he a reindeer or somethin?"

Rumsfeld: no sir, that's blitzen. this is Hans Blix, the head of the UNSCOM inspection team in bagdhad.. they've found them."

President: "you mean?"

Rumsfeld: "yes. the weapons of mass destruction. they were in one of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces."

President: "I KNEW IT!"

Rumsfeld: "yes, they were tucked into a couple of boxes in the the closet, up by the top... marked 'xmas ornaments.' "

President: "man. that's well hidden. how did they figure it out?"

Rumsfeld: "well, it's Iraq, they have ramadan, not christmas, so the inspectors thought it was odd, so they took a look. and there under a couple of santa ornaments and a clothespin reindeer, were just stacks and stacks of weapons of mass destruction"

President: "man, that's a bummer, i knew saddam was EVIL, but no christmas? as soon as we take over, we gotta give em christmas back."

Rumsfeld: "yes, sir. it's just another illustration of how dire things have become over there."

President: "so... what type of weapons did we find?"

Rumsfeld: "um. massive ones. and um, destructive ones. massive weapons of mass destruction, missles, mostly."

President: "so the report didn't say anything about that, what's the story there?"

Rumsfeld: "Saddam said that they were supposed to be destroyed in '91, but they were a gift from his beloved people to use against the heartless, callous kurds of kurdistan, and he held onto them for sentimental reasons."

President: "hmm. what else was there?"

Rumsfeld: "some loompanics books, like 'Uncle Fester's guide to Airborne Pathogens,' 'How to fabricate your own weapons of mass destruction' and 'the poor man's lockheed-martin ground to air heat seeking missle battery guide,' 'gassing your population into submission,' and oh yeah 'The Joy of Mocking the Will of the UN and the United States By Obfuscating Evidence and Delaying a Rightous War of Freedom.' "

President: "oh man! now if that ain't proof! fire up the F-15's! and get me a BULLHORN!"

Rumsfeld: "the Huey is already warming up in the garage sir,"

President: "Kick Ass!"

Ari Fleischer: "Mr. President! Al Gore is on the phone! he wants to conceede the election!"

President:"What, again! talk about a sore loser, now Muskie, there was a ..."

Fleischer: "No Mr, President, not the 2000 election, he's heard about the war and wants to conceede the 2004 election! and plus, he says Nancy Pelosi is drafting legislation to change the National Anthem to Nazareth's Hair of the Dog, and Tom Daschle has decided to do "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" in a red wig and a pink tutu on next week's 'Meet the Press!' "

President: (runs upstage) "WOW! This is the best Christmas EVER!"

(Backdrop quickly falls in front of the office set, a bedroom is painted on the drop. a bed on casters is pushed in from stage left, LAURA is in the bed, she tosses a nightcap to GEORGE who hastily puts it on and jumps into bed, closes his eyes and drops to sleep. a large wardrobe, also on casters, is pushed on from stage right.)

George: (mumbling) "Best Christmas ever.... best... christmas...(softer and faster) don't mind if i do, Stoli if you'll be so kind..."

Laura: "George! George! WAKE UP!"

George: "Whut... whut.. oh, Laura."

Laura: "You must have been having a bad dream dear."

George: "yes... but it wasn't a bad dream, it was the best dream EVER! it was like.... like a fantastic WISH COME TRUE!"

Bar Bush: (jumps out of the wardrobe) "then it must be a CHRISTMAS WISH, George."

George: "MOM!"

Bar: "Yes George, i've been hiding in the wardrobe this whole time!"

George:"you mean?"

Bar: "yes, but that isn't important. what IS important is your CHRISTMAS WISH! if you close your eyes and wish ever so hard, it will come true on christmas morning!"

George:"no foolin?"

Bar: "no foolin."

George: "oh boy! i'm going to start wishing right now."

Enter ALL from both sides

ALL (together) That's our George!

(Applause as curtain drops.)

warning, this parody has not been authorized by the department of homeland security.

WASHINGTON: The New York Times published a story on Friday that outlined the Pentagon's plans for administering the nation of Iraq in the aftermath of any military actions there. The system will be set up along time tested and historically proven prior militarily administered occupations, such as MacArthur's occupation of Japan.

The story goes on to supply a significant amount of detail. The nation will be divided into four ethnic sublocalities, each to be governed by a regional tribal warlord. There shall be a quarter of the country for the Sunnis, a quarter for the Kurds, a quarter for the Shiites and a Quarter for the Turkomans and Asyrians. Each regional warlord or tribal magician, or "Witch" if you will, shall be then divided by polarity, with each having an opposing viewpoint, one generally "Good Witch" will be installed in the North and South, and one "Bad Witch" in both the East and West. Hopefully minor orchestrated skirmishes between the forces of each opposing Witch will divert and distract attention from any large scale uprising which would threaten the general security of the nation.

The nation as a whole shall be governed by a central administrative authority, probably the commander of the US Persian Gulf Forces. However, to ensure an air of unapproachable mysticisim, that commander shall be known in Iraq as a "Wizard", preferrably one that is "Great and Terrible." Naturally, any authority would need to retain the ancient and centrally located capital of Bagdad, but the city itself, (which the administration expects to suffer considerable damage during the war of occupation, ) shall be rebuilt into a large crystalline green city. Green, ( or "Emerald," as this city will be known, in order to ensure the necessary air of majesty,) is a historically neutral color in Persian history, that psychologists think will provoke no hostility and has been proven in clinical trials to soothe the normally turbulent Iraqi mind.

The President is particualary excited about the administration and execution of this plan, and is rumoured to have created a number of the details and terms himself. However, the plan has not yet been rubber-stamped by all the Armed Services as of yet. With recent troubles over the failure of the V-22 Osprey, the Air Force is reluctant to develop a proposed drone aircraft that employs largely expendable genetically modified chimpanzee pilots to patrol the No-Fly Zone, which shall be continued as part of any occupation. Fearing developmental problems, as well as outrage from Pilots within the Air Force and animal rights activists outside the service, the plans for the contested Flying Monkey Squadron have been placed on hold indefinitely.

Some folks have pointed out that my "loud stereo analogy/joke" was oversimplification of the Iraqi issue. In other words, the center did not hold. true, true, but i think that the mindset of my old noisy neighbor, and saddam hussein are very similar. "i will comply, but only for now" It is true, i did blow things out of the water by applying our actual solutions and fears to the analogy (an attempt at humor, and to make a point, to show how those policies were fruitless in the situation and to apply absurdity by using those solutions in the admittedly flawed analogy...otherwise it might not be FUNNY.)

anyhow, i thought i'd better air how i REALLY DO FEEL about iraq, nno glazing over. it ain't easy.

if we go in and fight a war with Saddam without NATO or the UN, then we look like aggressors trying to overthrow the head of a nation. the international community,( although you and i know that they have no cause to fear us,) may begin to think that the US is in the business of changing out heads of state that we don't approve of.

on the other hand, if the president lets the UN try to sort it out, the UN will most assuredly let Saddam play his same hand. "Yes I'll let you let a team in" (although right now, he is attaching conditions that he has no right to attach, like cessation of sanctions,) and then, as soon as the US ' foriegn or domestic policy heats up on another front, (for example, the Democrats barely control the Senate, a number of close races will determine whether there is a Republican controlled Legislative AND Executive branch at the same time, something Bush and Cheney would very much like. To keep that from happening, the Dem's will try to bring the current administration to task on the economy (whether it is the Repubs fault or not, another grey area.) they will assuredly drag Greenspan's warnings about deficeit spending into the fray, especially with the Military Complex contemplating an "endless" war on two fronts,) At THAT time, Saddam, if he has let inspectors back in, will find some way to eject them (whining about "iraqi soveriegnty "I guess, calling them spies or CIA shills, etc) knowing that the UN won't back it's bets, and betting that the US won't move against the Dem's, because this would create unpopular public opinion (remember that the Dem's did take more than Half of the popular vote, that counts for a lot of public opinion related muscle,) in any case, this is what Saddam and Tariq Aziz are maneuvering for right now, sustaining the status quo. You will see them drop the ridiculous "no sanctions" restrictions (i'm sure that they only added them as false bravado, just so that they can drop them and appear submissive) and allow inspectors back in under the terms that Powell has set before them.

on the other OTHER hand (Larry Niven would call it "The gripping hand") we can't let the Iraqi's have thier status quo, no matter how much the UN wants them to have it. If we let Iraq develop into a nuclear power, we risk a lot on the humour of any new "regime." Historically, Persia has always been ruled by one thing only, the iron hand.... any supplanter of Saddam may be no better. If we don't swap regimes before then, we may hand the keys to a nuclear program close to fuition over to an unstable region.

No, Iraq is no easy nut to crack. what we need is unilateral action, so we must include the UN, the inspectors can be let in, but any resolution should have that as only its secondary concern. the resolution should set up all the tools for an attack, bases, troop movements, etc, put in place starting NOW (something that will take months) and then, when that is in place, send inspectors in, saying that any attempt to resist or reject them will be met with immediate UN military reprisal. But i think that requires too much of our international allies, who do fear for thier own soveriegnty.

(you know, i tried to spell check this, but the spell checker broke my browser. having had to retype this once already, i think i'll just post it now, errors included, tyvm.)

Now i got nothin for Iraq. you ask me, they are like the guy in the apartment next to you that plays vanilla ice at full volume at three in the morning, you ask him to turn it down, and he smiles and says "sure," and then he does it, but the next day he's got debbie gibson going full blast, and you confront him again and he says "sure" and then turns it down.... pretty soon you realize that he's never going to figure out that this bothers you, (or if he knows it bothers you, he never gets it into his head that you are another human being, and deserve to be treated with respect) and unless you are forced to confront him every day, he's never going to stop turning up the frikken stereo.

SO you send in some guys to beat the crap out of him, bust his stereo, and put an armed guard outside his apartment to inspect his bags every day to ensure he isn't sneaking in a transistor radio. then a neighbor says "hey, he's got a walkman in there! and i think he's buying parts for an old tube amp and is salvaging old guitar amps to make a speaker!" so you start thinking that maybe you should send in some boys to forcibly evict him, and install the really cool roommate you had back in college, who at least had some TASTE in music... and then the neighbors get all in your shit and say "You can't do that! You've got to give him fair warning, the walls are thin!" and things like "he's got a lease, " and you aren't the landlord," and "Your gaurd won't let his kids out of his house." BLAH BLAH BLAH. I say i have the ABILITY to enforce this, so I will. It's clear that someone has to, he's a danger to all decent people who want to sleep at night. Guys like that, you give em any leeway and they will screw you. They care nothing for other people. So i say, kill that guy next door, let's see the rest of you try to stop me. The way I see it, you are with me or against me. And when he's gone, then maybe that other guy from downstairs will think twice before he comes up here to ask me to stop playing my music so loud. asshole.

and that's What I Think, About Iraq.

this just in, the nation's terror status has been upgraded:

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all terror may or may not contain techron

in other news, i got an interview tomorrow for a temp job at a telco company, (they responded to the monster.com resume) working cs for technical support, routing to internet or inside plant folks from the switchboard. piece of cake work, and they seem willing to pay me three dollars above scale for it. at the very least, i can do this in lieu of unemployment while i look for better work.

whups, gotta go, my coke is going to explode in the freezer!

by the by, i will immediately remove this post should something horrible happen, and i have no wish for anyone to take such warnings lightly. (have you noticed that the guy that writes "boondocks" has started to put "Just a joke, folks" in a little box on his punchline panel? it's too bad that free expression has come to this, cause he has a damn funny comic.)