Saturday, April 10, 2004

Posted here Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 4:20:02 PM     The key issue on the ground in Iraq, from www.billmon.org see fubar april 10 But, if it is true that Centcom has temporarily backed away from the fight, and is preparing to hunker down in fortified bases in hopes the intifada will eventually start to cool down, then this really would start to resemble the first Vietnam War -- in which the French Army, knowing it was too weak to pacify the entire country, tried to rely on a system of block houses and other strong points to maintain some semblance of control. ********

Posted here Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 3:08:35 PM     This from Tokyo http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040410a1.htm Takeo Fukuda made his decision by saying "the life of a person is heavier than the Earth," a phrase that has long lived in people's memories. ********

Posted here Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 12:24:39 PM     Overheard I think the real war is about who owns the past. ********

Posted here Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 10:49:25 AM     Restless. Do we see the emergence of teachins, marches?  For a view from the leading edge of concern http://tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/10216 So this is a full-blown crisis, and our leader will not, or cannot, resolve it. It’s time to put partisan politics aside. John Kerry the statesman has to replace Kerry the politician. Sane Republicans like Brent Scowcroft, James Baker and Senator Dick Lugar have to join with leading Democratic statesman in an ultimate showdown with the White House. President Bush has to be forced to admit that his entire Iraq policy was wrong-headed, and if he won’t decline to seek re-election, than he has to fire Don Rumsfeld and ease Dick Cheney off the ticket and seek a consensus for a new Iraq policy. Byrd has to convince other Democrats, such as clear-headed colleagues like Ted Kennedy, to resist the urge to see Iraq as an electoral tool against Bush. What is happening in Iraq is far more important than a partisan electoral issue. And anti-neocon Republicans have to ignore the temptation to rally behind the the bungling Bush administration, for the good of the country and for the salvation of Iraq. Perhaps they can convince President Bush 41 to step in, too. Whatever it takes. There is still a slim chance that a U.S. decision to withdraw all its troops by year’s end, combined with a United Nations takeover and the involvement of Iraq’s Arab neighbors, can stop Iraq from its nightmarish plunge into chaos. ********

Posted here Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 10:34:38 AM     A most powerful resource: post colonial literature.. http://www.postcolonialweb.org/ ********

Posted here Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 10:30:04 AM     Not sure if you have seen this, Clinton met with 9/11 right after Rice By TODD S. PURDUM and RAYMOND HERNANDEZ Published: April 9, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/09/politics/09CLIN.html?ex=1396929600&;en=306b3bd4fce74448&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND WASHINGTON, April 8 — Hours after it riveted Washington's attention with public testimony from Condoleezza Rice, the commission investigating the 9/11 attacks met in secret and hung on the words of a witness who once made much bigger headlines: Bill Clinton. True to form, Mr. Clinton stayed an hour longer than planned, and sometimes answered questions that had not been asked, commissioners reported. He took time off from finishing his memoirs and "battened down the hatches to prepare for this very methodically," reviewing relevant documents and discussing the issues with former aides, one longtime associate said. Advertisement Mr. Clinton met "in closed private session" on Thursday afternoon with all 10 members of the bipartisan commission at its request, the panel said in a terse statement issued after it was all over. The encounter, in an anonymous government office building off the Mall, lasted about four hours, and the commission said it "found the former president forthcoming and responsive to its questions." ********

Posted here Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 10:24:33 AM     My suspicion is running.. What is the chance that Cheney's Asian visit is about an initiative towards Korea? ********

Posted here Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 10:14:29 AM     Technology and markets are leading to productivity which is confined to a wealth owning minority, untaxable and not employing people. This says that the combiantion is undermining the whole of society EU: The Politics of Deficits http://www.stratfor.com/corporate/static_index.neo Apr 09, 2004 Half the eurozone's 12 countries likely will breach EU fiscal deficit limits this year, according to the European Commission. Rebukes over deficits have not prevented Paris from pledging to launch new spending initiatives or Rome from promising tax cuts. The French and Italian situations illuminate Europe's problem in microcosm and demonstrate how domestic politics will continue to trump EU-wide financial concerns ********

Posted here Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 10:02:01 AM     Juan Cole and the Israel connection saturday http://www.juancole.com/ Part of what caused this incipient collapse of the US-appointed Iraqi government is that the US military decided to besiege the entire city of Fallujah to get at insurgents who killed 4 US Blackwater mercenaries last week, even though reports indicated that the guerrillas left the city after the killings. Those guerrillas, supported by civilian demonstrations and desecration of the mercenaries' bodies, announced that they were taking revenge for the Israeli murder of Hamas clerical leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Just as the Israelis and their American amen corner helped drag the US into the Iraq war, so they also have inflamed Iraqi sentiment against the US by spectacular uses of state terror against Palestinians. Both the Sunni and the Shiite uprisings in Iraq in the past week in a very real sense were set off by Sharon's whacking of Yassin, a paraplegic who could easily have been arrested. (Only once Muqtada al-Sadr announced his support for Hamas was he targeted by the Neocon-dominated Coalition Provisional Authority for arrest, convincing him that he had nothing to lose and had better launch an insurgency).   ********

Posted here Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 9:58:34 AM     From England http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=510195 After their White House talks next Friday, Mr Blair and President George Bush will tell the world that they are not wavering. Their common script is already being honed. The 30 June deadline for handing over power to the Iraqi interim government will not be moved. A "small minority of insurgents" must not derail the moves to democracy. Those who look for a sign of weakness must be met with a show of unwavering strength and determination. ********

Posted here Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 9:32:43 AM     We are getting to a place where the majority does not like the view that was put forward by the combination of white house, senate, house and the press. The majority is unrepresented, espcially in the presidential candidates. This means lots of instability. If both Bush and Kerry decline in the polls, what alternative might emerge?   ********

Posted here Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 9:21:44 AM     Iraq, and the world.. what a complex chess game. (these are from Google news, so no direct links. sorry) China Cheney to push reactors in China Fort Worth Star Telegram (subscription), TX - 4 hours ago WASHINGTON - On a trip to China next week to discuss high-stakes issues such as terrorism and North Korea, Vice President Dick Cheney will have another task ... Taiwan Taiwan Riot Police Battle Election Protesters New York Times - 20 minutes ago AIPEI, Taiwan, April 10 Riot police fought with demonstrators and used water cannon mounted on armored cars as a large rally turned unexpectedly violent here on Saturday night here in front of the presidential palace. Japan Japan appeals for Iraq hostage release Reuters - 45 minutes ago TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi has appealed for the release of three Japanese hostages in Iraq as protesters called for Tokyo to withdraw its troops to save the captives' lives. and Cheney arrives in Japan for visit Xinhua, China - 3 hours ago TOKYO, April 10 (Xinhuanet) -- US Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Tokyo late Saturday, kicking off a four-day tour. Cheney ... Europe US heading for disaster in Iraq, say Europeans Straits Times, Singapore - 18 hours ago BERLIN - There was dismay throughout Europe on Thursday with the fighting in Iraq, with some commentators predicting that the United States was now fully ... Bush whitehouse Key document warned of possible al Qaeda scenarios CNN - 8 hours ago CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- -- The president's daily intelligence briefing delivered to President Bush a month before the September 11 attacks warns of various scenarios of al Qaeda's intentions to strike inside the United States, sources confirm to CNN. and, in official think Intolerable Casualties Washington Post - 12 hours ago Lawrence F. Kaplan [op-ed, April 3] says a survey shows that the American public will "tolerate" 29,853 fatalities among our troops in Iraq, and that it is our leaders who get happy feet when casualty rates rise, not average Americans. His conclusion is ... Senate http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en60700&;F_catID=&f_type=source WASHINGTON: Thirteen of the most powerful opposition US senators released a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asking to explain the role of civilian contractors in Iraq, a foreign news agency reported on Saturday. The letter follows the killing and mutilation of four US security contractors in Fallujah, Iraq, on March 31. In a letter to Rumsfeld dated April 8 -- but released Friday -- the senators expressed concern about "private armies operating outside the control of governmental authority." The letter also questioned if there were adequate numbers of US troops in Iraq. Signers included Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, former first lady Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts, as well as Carl Levin of Illinois. read Billmon for balanced analysis, http://billmon.org/archives/001364.html   ********