Ten bucks you won’t hear about the sarin-filled IEDs or Saddams atrocities at Abu Ghraib on the TV.
As to the former, Sadly, No! offers: CBS News (text and video, ABC News (text) and NBC News (text, with link to video featuring well known hater of freedom and America David Kay.)
Bonus points — Google News:
Results 1 – 10 of about 1,510 for sarin iraq. (0.17 seconds)
Helle Dale attempts to put her thinking cap on:
Americans are struggling to comprehend what happened to the fresh-faced young people we sent to Iraq. While most are serving honorably and bravely under incredibly difficult conditions, six will soon be court-martialed for abuse of Iraqi prisoners, for behavior most of their countrymen find disgusting and sick. And in one of the very prisons Saddam Hussein’s torturers used for their victims.
What happened, we ask? Iraqi prison guards may have tortured other Iraqis, but Americans are not supposed to do things like that.
No they’re not, so what happened Helle? Please tell us:
The problem that we may have to deal with is that in the wartime absence of the societal rules and norms, proper leadership and training, some people do behave appallingly and criminally.
So, what you’re saying is that “someone” sent inadequately trained troops into battle in order to perform certain tasks, and that someone in turn failed to properly supervise those troops. We wonder who that “someone” could be. Apparently, it cannot be the Secretary of Defense:
In the United States, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has come under heated attack and demands for his resignation are flying fast and furious from Democrats and liberal editorial pages. Yet, until anyone has demonstrated ? as opposed to speculated ? that any systemic problem exists for which Mr. Rumsfeld can be said to be responsible, that can hardly be considered more than political posturing.
Because you see, when things like this happen, it’s nobody’s fault:
So far it seems our problem is that boys ? and girls ? were sent out to do a man’s job without adequate training and supervision. They may not even have been familiar with the Geneva Conventions. They went wildly astray as a result. Or as the father of Jeremy Sivits, the first to be court-martialed, put it, “My son is not a trained military MP. He is a trained mechanic … Why was a mechanic allowed to handle prisoners?”
Imagine that — soldiers who were not familiar with the Geneva Conventions were put in charge of handling prisoners! Yet some people insist that somehow blame for this lies with those in charge of the armed forces, when it quite clearly totally and indubitably doesn’t. So instead why don’t we just feel a little bit bad about the whole thing and move on, ok? Awesome!
WASHINGTON, May 17 ? The United States government has decided to halt monthly $335,000 payments to the Iraqi National Congress, the group headed by Ahmad Chalabi, an official with the group said on Monday.
Mr. Chalabi, a longtime exile leader and now a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, played a crucial role in persuading the administration that Saddam Hussein had to be removed from power. But he has since become a lightning rod for critics of the Bush administration, who say the United States relied on him too heavily for prewar intelligence that has since proved faulty.
Mr. Chalabi’s group has received at least $27 million in United States financing in the past four years, the Iraqi National Congress official said. This includes $335,000 a month as part of a classified program through the Defense Intelligence Agency, since the summer of 2002, to help gather intelligence in Iraq. The official said his group had been told that financing will cease June 30, when occupation authorities are scheduled to turn over sovereignty to Iraqis.
Thanks to Blair for the link.
Start here. Enter a good friend’s name. Magic follows:
It’s likely that you’ve never heard of Amber Pawlik, but soon people all around the world will be talking about her and watching her naked on the Internet!
Amber Pawlik will be the star of her own all-free / all-the-time adult web site showcasing her wild sexual desires that can no longer be contained, supported only by advertising revenue. Amber Pawlik looks like your average woman, but she says that she’s been living a double life of wild sexual exploration.
Your friendly neighborhood Coalition Provisional Authority knows how to get things back on track in the New Iraq?:
Monday, May 17th — Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) officials and members of the Iraq Media will leave the headlines on the sidelines as they compete together in a friendly soccer (football) match to be held on Monday, May 17th at 5 PM (1700). […]
The game will be played with eight players from each team on the field at a time. Coalition Public Affairs Officers and members of the Iraqi media working in Iraq will demonstrate with athletic prowess their commitment to the shared goal of a free and sovereign Iraq. […]
Both teams will wear locally made jerseys which bear a logo which reads, in Arabic, “Together We Work for the New Iraq” blazoned on an image of the country. After the game, the teams will share, God willing, cold drinks as well as increased mutual respect and understanding in their professional relationships. [Emphasis added]
[No link yet — we received this press release by email. Because of today’s attack however, the game has been canceled.]
Head of Governing Council Killed in Car Bombing
Monday, May 17, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq ? The president of the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council (search) was killed in a car bomb attack Monday, the council told Fox News.
Abdel-Zahraa Othman, more commonly known as Izzadine Saleem (search), was among four Iraqis killed in the explosion outside coalition headquarters in central Baghdad, council member Nasier al Jaderji said.
Saleem was a Shiite and leader of the Islamic Dawa Movement (search) in the southern city of Basra. He was a writer, philosopher and political activist, who served as editor of several newspapers and magazines.
The attack took place amid rising turmoil in Iraq as this country prepares for the United States to transfer power to an Iraqi interim government June 30. It underscores the risks facing those perceived as owing their power to the Americans.
That is one wickedly effective flypaper they’ve got going over there…
Tim Lambert finds someone else who needs remedial math tutoring:
So let?s see. We have some coffee at 60 degrees and add an equal amount also at 60 degrees. Georgia tells us that the mixture will have a temperature of 60 degrees. So far so good. And that adding the two temperatures doesn’t give the right answer. Let?s see: 60+60 = 120, which is not the right answer. OK. And that ?dividing that number by two doesn?t give you the average temperature either?. Let?s see: 120/2 = 60, which, err, is the right answer. I don?t want to be too harsh here, but I think your average eight year old could figure out that if you add a number to itself and divide by two you get the original number back again. But this was too much for Georgia.
And where did Tim find this Georgia fellow? Why, Tech Central Station of course!
The incomparable Roger Ailes has an update on the neocons’ cakewalk factory:
Neoconman Ken Adelman, February 2002:
I believe demolishing Hussein’s military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk. Let me give simple, responsible reasons: (1) It was a cakewalk last time; (2) they’ve become much weaker; (3) we’ve become much stronger; and (4) now we’re playing for keeps.
Be sure to read the later quotes as well…
Just as we’re back and ready to devote our attention to Amber again (you may remember she’d complained during our absence,) it turns out that the Ayn Randian Princess has health issues of her own:
Well la de friggin’ da. Guess who has mono. I’ve been sick since last Monday, May 10, and reached breaking point by Wed. afternoon. I left work early, and the doctor recommended a mono test as I came up negative for strep throat. It came out positive.
If this were a nice blog we’d simply wish her a prompt recovery and leave it at that. This, however, is not such a blog. So while we do wish her all the best, we can’t help but add this:
I have to remind myself: kissing my boyfriend is bad, bad, bad. Mono is not very contagious unless saliva is swapped somehow. Not kissing him is going to be hard. I’m sure he’ll put his foot down. He is always better at that kind of thing than I am. [Emphasis added.]
How entirely unexpected! Will life imitate art? Let’s hope not:
Elaine: How come he’s gettin’ so smart? I stopped having sex with Ben three days ago and I don’t know no Portuguese?
Jerry: Are you all right?
Elaine: I don’t know. It’s just the last coupla days my mind has been, not good.
Jerry: Wait a second, I know what’s happening. The no sex thing is having a reverse effect on you.
Elaine: What? What are you talking about?
Jerry: To a woman, sex is like the garbage man. You just take for granted the fact that any time you put some trash out on the street, a guy in a jumpsuit’s gonna come along and pick it up. But now, it’s like a garbage strike. The bags are piling up in your head. The sidewalk is blocked. Nothing’s getting through. You’re stupid.
Elaine: I don’t understand.
Jerry: Exactly.