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Wednesday, June 27, 2007 |
GOP Senator Richard Lugar: "Mr. President, I rise today to offer observations on the continuing involvement of the United States in Iraq. In my judgment, our course in Iraq has lost contact with our vital national security interests in the Middle East and beyond. Our continuing absorption with military activities in Iraq is limiting our diplomatic assertiveness there and elsewhere in the world. The prospects that the current 'surge' strategy will succeed in the way originally envisioned by the President are very limited within the short period framed by our own domestic political debate. And the strident, polarized nature of that debate increases the risk that our involvement in Iraq will end in a poorly planned withdrawal that undercuts our vital interests in the Middle East. Unless we recalibrate our strategy in Iraq to fit our domestic political conditions and the broader needs of U.S. national security, we risk foreign policy failures that could greatly diminish our influence in the region and the world."
10:52:49 AM 
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WRMEA: "At precisely 7 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 11, 2006, 17 federal prisoners across the country were taken out of their cells, held in isolation for two days, then bused to the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Terre Haute, Indiana. Here the government quietly began implementing the first stages of a secret new program, the Communications Management Unit (CMU). A completely self-contained unit housing almost exclusively Arab and/or Muslim inmates, it eventually will hold approximately 85 prisoners.
Special new rules set out in a 'CMU Institutional Supplement' dated Nov. 30, 2006 include severe restrictions on prisoner communication. Contact with family and friends is limited; outgoing and incoming mail is monitored and copied, with a one- to two- week delivery delay; and no contact visits are allowed. Instead of 300 minutes of phone time a month, prisoners may receive only one 15-minute call a week, which the warden has the power to reduce to just three minutes a month. Unlike the usual weekly or biweekly all-day contact visits, visits in the CMU are for two hours, just twice a month, and are restricted to non-contact only. Calls and visits must be conducted in English unless prior arrangement is made.
According to Jennifer Van Bergen, the journalist who broke the CMU story, there are only three government offices - all within the Justice Department - that have authority to issue changes to federal prison operations: the Office of the Director of the Prisons Bureau, the Office of Legal Counsel, and the Office of the U.S. Attorney General. Van Bergen was unable to get confirmation of where the authorization originated. The Bureau of Prisons Web site does not list CMU among its facility abbreviations, and a search of the site for 'CMU' or 'Communications Management Unit' yields no result."
10:50:14 AM
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Have you read The Diary of a Nobody? Well, if not, get a copy and enjoy yourself. You can even read it as a daily blog.
It's the diary of Mr Pooter and there's a joke in it about Cummings and Gowing, his friends.
It seems like Mr Blair wants to paint the Middle East red, red enamel to be precise, like Mr Pooter did with his bath tub and volumes of Shakespeare. The red paint came off when he took a hot bath. What a farce!
BelfastTelegraph: "Tony Blair will stand down as Labour MP for Sedgefield if, as expected, he is appointed as a special international envoy to the Middle East today."
I just wish Blair would give us a glimpse into his own 'family jewels'.
One skeleton in his cupboard that keeps popping up is the Lockerbie scam.
"Lawyers, politicians, diplomats and relatives of Lockerbie victims now believe that the former Libyan intelligence officer is innocent. Robert Black QC, an emeritus professor of Scottish law at Edinburgh University, was one of the architects of the original trial in Holland. He has closely followed developments since the disaster happened and in 2000 devised the non-jury trial system for the al-Megrahi case.
Even before the trial he was so sure the evidence against al-Megrahi would not stand up in court that he is on record as saying that a conviction would be impossible. When I asked how he feels about this remark now, Black replied: 'I am still absolutely convinced that I am right. No reasonable tribunal, on the evidence heard at the original trial, should or could have convicted him and it is an absolute disgrace and outrage what the Scottish court did.'"
But there's a lot more, of course. The war in Afghanistan has been a boost for the opium production.
BBC: "Opium production in Afghanistan is soaring out of control, the annual UN report on illegal drugs says."
There is more out of control. And Blair's friend Bush is part of the picture.
AlterNet: "President Bush was presented with a letter Monday signed by 50 high school seniors in the Presidential Scholars program urging a halt to 'violations of the human rights' of terror suspects held by the United States."
More.
Bloggerheads: "There will be comings and goings."
Independent: "But even before Tony and Cherie Blair have taken up their new home in Connaught Square, near Marble Arch, relations with other residents are promising to be almost as difficult as with their current next-door neighbour in Downing Street.
What has alarmed the residents of the square is the extraordinary precautions underway to ensure that the former prime minister and his wife are protected from anyone who may be contemplating revenge for the war in Iraq or over some other grievance.
If the Blairs are really that much at risk, the neighbours say, someone should tell them for their own sake that it is not a good idea to be living in a crowded part of central London. On the other hand, if the risk is low, life in Connaught Square is being disrupted for no good reason. A petition has been passed around the Square pleading for help from Westminster Council. It says: 'It has been suggested that to protect the Blairs it may be necessary to prevent vehicles and unauthorised pedestrians entering the west side of the Square, run part of the Square into a gated community, policed by armed guards, prune or cut down some of our magnificent old plane trees and have a police helicopter hovering above the Square.'"
My impression that Blair made Britain a safer place to live in, must have been totally wrong. Buy yourself a whole province in Siberia, Tony. And a private army to dethrone Putin, then conquer Europe, get an Order of the British Empire, become Catholic, crown yourself Emperor, then apply for sainthood, write your memories (for 20 million Pounds Sterling), then paint the world red enamel.
10:39:49 AM
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