Wednesday, November 17, 2004

New C.I.A. Chief Tells Workers to Back Administration Policies. Porter J. Goss, the new intelligence chief, has told Central Intelligence Agency employees that their job is to "support the administration and its policies in our work,'' a copy of an internal memorandum shows. "As agency employees we do not identify with, support or champion opposition to the administration or its policies," Mr. Goss said in the memorandum, which was circulated late on Monday. He said in the document that he was seeking "to clarify beyond doubt the rules of the road." (link) I thought their job was to provide intelligence analysis regardless of whether or not the truth supports the administration's policies. Silly me. [Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs] 1:02:22 PM    comment () Will China trump UN/US sanctions on the Sudan?  It's likely.  China get's 6% of its oil imports from the Sudan (60% of Sudan's production).  It also is rumored to have thousands of soldiers in country guarding the pipelines.  China's Iran deal will likely serve as a model for it's Sudan relationship.  With Iran, China was able to secure long-term supplies of LNG and soon oil (China gets 14% of its imports from Iran).  It is also using Iran to build an export market for Chinese products in the ME.  In exchange, it promised to block all UN action on the country over nuclear enrichment.  The fight for secure supplies of oil continues. [John Robb's Weblog] The real question is: will China do anything to defend the Iranians when the Feds decide to conquer them? 12:02:49 PM    comment () American Heroes... We sat, horrified, stunned with the horror of the scene that unfolded in front of our eyes. It's the third day of Eid and we were finally able to gather as a family- a cousin, his wife and their two daughters, two aunts, and an elderly uncle. E. and my cousin had been standing in line for two days to get fuel so we could go visit the elderly uncle on the final day of a very desolate Eid. The room was silent at the end of the scene, with only the voice of the news anchor and the sobs of my aunt. My little cousin flinched and dropped her spoon, face frozen with shock, eyes wide with disbelief, glued to the television screen, "Is he dead? Did they kill him?" I swallowed hard, trying to gulp away the lump lodged in my throat and watched as my cousin buried his face in his hands, ashamed to look at his daughter. "What was I supposed to tell them?" He asked, an hour later, after we had sent his two daughters to help their grandmother in the kitchen. "What am I supposed to tell them- 'Yes darling, they killed him- the Americans killed a wounded man; they are occupying our country, killing people and we are sitting here eating, drinking and watching tv'?" He shook his head, "How much more do they have to see? What is left for them to see?" They killed a wounded man. It's hard to believe. They killed a man who was completely helpless- like he was some sort of diseased animal. I had read the articles and heard the stories of this happening before- wounded civilians being thrown on the side of the road or shot in cold blood- but to see it happening on television is something else- it makes me crazy with anger. [Baghdad Burning] An Iraqi's reaction to the murder of a wounded man in a Fallujah mosque. 10:04:37 AM    comment () Seen on a mailing list: The British Virgin Islands, sick of all of the harrassment and threats of blacklisting and such by the OECD, have finally caved in and acknowledged that their dual tax codes for domestic and international corporations constitutes "harmful tax practices" and have agreed to do something about it: They are eliminating the domestic tax to make it exactly like that which is applied to internationals (i.e. "none.") 9:43:26 AM    comment ()

© Copyright 2006 Ken Hagler. Last update: 2/15/2006; 2:03:30 PM.