We’ll leave it to the Constitutional scholars to determine whether stupidity is an impeachable offense — judging purely from the experience of the previous Oval Office occupant, it is — and just focus on the fact of it. . . . → Read More: “There was no guidance for restoring order in Baghdad …”
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According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average pay for top US executives was 185 times that of the average employee in 2003. And that was down from a ratio of 300-1 in 2000. . . . → Read More: Effette Britons horrified by wage gap Neither government, in the U.K. or the U.S., have disputed the accuracy of the meeting minutes summarized in the memo. But even though by far the more serious charges in the memo are leveled at the U.S. administration — that the “last resort” war, costing the country nearly $300 billion and counting, nearly 2,000 military dead and counting, nearly 20,000 wounded, maimed and injured and counting, many tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis dead, maimed and wounded, and our credibility shattered not only in the Muslim world, but the rest of it as well, was the product of incessant lying, to Congress and the American public, by George Bush and his administration — our press have given it an almost invisible fraction of the attention the British press have done. . . . → Read More: All Downing Street all the time; Friedman discovers Guantanamo Bolton’s nomination has been troubled by allegations that he sought to have intelligence analyses tailored to his needs, and that he bullied analysts who refused to cooperate with him, in some cases attempting to get the analysts fired. His opponents contend that appointing a UN Ambassador with a reputation for twisting intelligence will only diminish the country’s already damaged credibility. . . . → Read More: White House spurns Frist on Bolton documents So the “nuclear option” debate is over (for now). The conservatives are crying foul and the Democrats are breathing a sigh of relief. Which is very strange, since this is as much a compromise as a mugger deciding at last the minute not to take your life along with your wallet is a compromise. . . . → Read More: Fili-busted Today in the White House briefing room, I asked Scott McClellan this question: Scott, last week you said that claims in the leaked Downing Street memo that intelligence was being fixed to support the Iraq War as early as July 2002 are “flat-out wrong.” According to the memo, which was dated July 23, 2002, . . . → Read More: White House does not dispute substance of Downing Street Memo The editorial board of the Des Moines Register became the first US newspaper to call for an independent investigation into the Downing Street memo, top secret minutes from a July, 2002, meeting between British prime minister Tony Blair and senior members of his Cabinet who said they believed the US had determined to attack Iraq more than a half-year before Washington has said a decision was made. The Register editorial, which says that while the memo is “not quite” a smoking gun, “it should be enough for Congress finally to see its duty and launch a formal, independent inquiry,” follows a letter sent to president Bush by Democratic Congressional representatives calling for an explanation of and investigation into statements made in the meeting. Ironically, the first subject of any US investigation may be the British prime minister: a report in the May 21 London Sunday Times says that Congressional Democrats may send a delegation to London to inquire into the matter. Continue reading The Downing Street Memo: A call for an independent inquiry At his best, Daniel Okrent was a good ombudsman. Most of the time he was mediocre, often enough unable to recognize bad journalism when he saw it. At his worst, he was a dishonest bully who should never have been allowed to complete his term at the paper. . . . → Read More: How The New York Times public editor blew it And at the end of it all, we’re still left with questions about what investigations have been completed and reviewed by whom, and whether or not the allegations made by numerous Guantanamo detainees and a US government official, are true. Somewhere, behind the smoke and the heat, lie the answers. . . . → Read More: Bush administration divided over impact of Newsweek article |
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Behind the looking glass in Iraq
On May 10, Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi, the newly appointed governor of Iraq’s Anbar province, was kidnapped by insurgents.
Five days later, according to news reports, he was freed.
But today, more than two weeks after he was freed, he was “found dead along with his militant captors after a clash with U.S. forces.”
. . . → Read More: Behind the looking glass in Iraq