Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Eric Alterman: Whoopee, We're All Gonna Die. I say this over and over, but the genius of this administration is the impossibility of keeping up with both their evil actions and their evil intentions. Just when you've discovered one evil thing they're up to, you discover that they're plotting something else. Sometimes the thing they're plotting is so outrageous and obviously counterproductive that it requires an effort even to take them seriously. But then they do it. I was at a dinner about a month ago for a lefty movie with smart people, and when I opined that I thought there was a 50/50 chance we'd attack Iran, nobody believed me. Nobody could bring themselves to take it seriously. But recently, if you've been paying attention, it's looking more and more possible. These people don't care that it will, undoubtedly, inspire terrorist attacks against Americans worldwide. (Iran is capable of this in a way Iraq never was.) It will also get a great many Americans in Iraq killed. It will further turn the Islamic world against us, destroy the ability of Iranian democrats to function at home, kill a bunch of them too, and it's unlikely to work against the alleged threat about which -- once again -- we have precious little reliable information. All systems go ... Read the whole Altercation here. [The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com] 12:34:04 PM    comment []

Pope 'refused to meet with Rice' By David Willey BBC News, Rome Pope Benedict XVI refused a recent request by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss the Middle East and Iraq, Vatican sources say. The Pope refused a request for an audience during the August holidays. Senior Vatican sources told the BBC the Pope does not normally receive politicians on his annual holiday at the Castelgandolfo residence near Rome. But one leading Italian newspaper said it was an evident snub by the Vatican towards the Bush administration. Christian rights There are at least two reasons why Pope Benedict may have decided peremptorily against a private meeting with Ms Rice. First, it was Ms Rice who just before the outbreak of the Iraq war in March 2003 made it clear to a special papal envoy sent from Rome, Cardinal Pio Laghi, that the Bush administration was not interested in the views of the late Pope on the immorality of launching its planned military offensive. Secondly, the US has responded in a manner considered unacceptable at the Vatican to the protection of the rights of Iraqi Christians under the new Iraqi constitution. The Bush administration has told the Vatican that as coalition forces have not succeeded in securing the whole territory of Iraq, they are unable to protect non-Muslims. Instead of meeting the Pope, Ms Rice had to make do with a telephone conversation with the Vatican's number two, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who was visiting the US during August on other business. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7002988.stm Published: 2007/09/19 14:01:41 GMT © BBC MMVII 12:31:38 PM    comment []