Circumstantial evidence points to this being an attack on some nuclear facility provided by North Korea.Krauthammer points out that:
Second, there are ominous implications for the Middle East. Syria has long had chemical weapons -- on Monday, Jane's Defence Weekly reported on an accident that killed dozens of Syrians and Iranians loading a nerve-gas warhead onto a Syrian missile -- but Israel will not tolerate a nuclear Syria.So Syrians are so incompetent that they can't load warheads on a missle but they are capable of producing a nuclear weapon?
Maliki has been accused of running an “ethno-sectarian” government, but accusing him of running a pro-Shia government is like accusing Bush of running a pro-Republican administration. Like Karl Rove, who hoped to make the Republican party supreme, Maliki seems to want to set up Shia-dominated rule that will control Iraq for generations. And like Rove, he focuses on his base, with little regard for any other point of view unless the U.S. pressures him (even then he pouts and makes vague threats about looking for other allies—by which he obviously means Iran).Who would have ever thought that a government madeup of the majority Shia would want to concentrate power in the hands of the Shia?
The United States framed its commitment last month to more than 60 billion dollars in weapons sales to the Middle East as a measure against Iran. The packaging is intended to blunt Arab objections to an aid boost to Israel, and to win congressional support for military aid to Arab countries.Is there any concern that someday we might be fighting the very countries that we have supplied with weapons (Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan maybe). And for every advanced weapon we sell to these middle east allies, Israel get even more advanced weapons to counteract them.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was more blunt in his criticism of the Saudis.
He said the United States had permitted the Saudis to "get off the hook" on failure to counter terrorism. "They have to prove they are not in a secret coalition with terrorists" to harm Americans, Rohrabacher said.
Obviously, a Republican member of Congress, tied politically and, presumably, ideologically to the policies of President Bush would not find a showdown with dovish constituents something to be eagerly awaited.It's sort of a "suck-up" type of editorial as far as "seatwarmer" Rep. McHugh is concerned. Why does Mr. McHugh even need to be in Washington? He could just tell Pres. Bush that the McHugh vote is always in support of the President.
“In blocking this bipartisan bill, Republicans have once again demonstrated that they are more committed to protecting the President than protecting our troops. They have shown they will allow President Bush’s flawed war strategy to continue to strain our military rather than allow the availability of troops to dictate our operations. And they believe it is in our national security interest to push our brave troops and their families beyond their breaking point.
Hagel, R-Neb., said the White House also "has been very effective at making this a loyalty test for the Republican Party."
The amendment was sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, Senator Arlen Specter, who voted for the legislation that the amendment attempts to reverse, and Senator Chris Dodd, who blasted today's vote. "Each of us in the Senate faced a decision either to cast a vote in favor of helping to restore America's reputation in the world, or to help dig deeper the hole of utter disrespect for the rule of law that the Bush Administration has created. Unfortunately, too many of my colleagues chose the latter," he said.These forty-six Senators have either a) not read the Constitution of the USA; b) think the USA is being invaded; c) think there is a rebellion in the USA; d) hate America.
Testing people’s reactions to situations like that of a hungry family that cooked and ate its pet dog after it had become roadkill, he explored the phenomenon of moral dumbfounding — when people feel strongly that something is wrong but cannot explain why.Moral intuition consists of decisions that take place instantaneously, "from the gut" while moral judgement comes later as an attempt to rationalize the decision.
Dumbfounding led him to view morality as driven by two separate mental systems, one ancient and one modern, though the mind is scarcely aware of the difference. The ancient system, which he calls moral intuition, is based on the emotion-laden moral behaviors that evolved before the development of language. The modern system — he calls it moral judgment — came after language, when people became able to articulate why something was right or wrong.
Dr. Haidt believes that religion has played an important role in human evolution by strengthening and extending the cohesion provided by the moral systems. “If we didn’t have religious minds we would not have stepped through the transition to groupishness,” he said. “We’d still be just small bands roving around.”Even morality of members of liberal and conservative political parties are discussed. Although I disagree with his findings as does Dr. Frans B. M. de Waal, a primatologist at Emory University. Dr. de Waal writes:
Religious behavior may be the result of natural selection, in his view, shaped at a time when early human groups were competing with one another. “Those who found ways to bind themselves together were more successful,” he said.
“For me, the moral system is one that resolves the tension between individual and group interests in a way that seems best for the most members of the group, hence promotes a give and take,” Dr. de Waal said.
Fallon was clearly irked by the stories about his supposed disagreements with Petraeus over the pace of that withdrawal and all-around disdain for the Army general published in outlets ranging from The Washington Post to various blogs. One story cited an unnamed senior official who said “bad relations” between Fallon and Petraeus was the “understatement of the century.” Another quoted Pentagon sources as saying Fallon openly derided Petraeus during their first meeting last March after Fallon took the CentCom reins.I assume a libel lawsuit will be made against IPS and Gareth Porter.
The latter story particularly galled Fallon, who called it “scurrilous,” adding that the characterizations of a dysfunctional relationship with Petraeus are “just absurd.”
Already, private contractors constitute the second-largest "force" in Iraq. At last count, there were about 100,000 contractors in Iraq, of which 48,000 work as private soldiers, according to a Government Accountability Office report. These soldiers have operated with almost no oversight or effective legal constraints and are an undeclared expansion of the scope of the occupation. Many of these contractors make up to $1,000 a day, far more than active-duty soldiers. What's more, these forces are politically expedient, as contractor deaths go uncounted in the official toll.Blackwater, Inc. license to operate in Iraq has been suspended by the Iraqi government.
Baghdad: American security contractors shoot dead 9 Iraqi civilians, Nisoor Square; car bomb kills 5, Mansour; roadside bombs kill 3, Zayuna, Mamoun, Harthiya; mortars kill 2, near Shaab stadium; gunmen kill members of Municipality of Bayaa and Municipality of Doura; 12 bodies.So far this month, an average of 2.35 soldiers are being killed each day. So far 3781 American soldiers killed. How is that for a "small price to pay"?
Tuz Khurmato: suicide bomber kills 8 at cafe.
Muqdadiya: gunmen attack two villages and kill 14, including 3 children.
Baquba: 6-year-old boy killed by sniper fire.
Diwaniya: 12-year-old son and elderly father of Mahdi army leader killed during US/Iraqi raid on their house.
Hilla: bodies of traffic policeman and his 16-year-old son found tortured.
The profoundly different views of the U.S. role in Iraq only exacerbated the schism between the two men.Armageddon, that sounds like maybe some pretty tough words were thrown around. Since Adm. Fallon is Gen. Petraeus's boss, I'm assuming most of the word throwing around was done by Adm. Fallon.
"Bad relations?" said a senior civilian official with a laugh. "That's the understatement of the century. . . . If you think Armageddon was a riot, that's one way of looking at it."
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., previously recommended Mukasey for a Supreme Court vacancy.That's not to say that Mukasey will be an easy confirmation by Democrats either. I'm pretty sure he will be asked some tough questions.
The sad thing for the American people is that we have no commander in chief anymore, framing our real situation and options. The president’s description on Thursday of the stakes in Iraq was delusional.He goes on:
We also do not have a commander in chief weighing the costs of staying in Iraq indefinitely against America’s other interests at home and abroad. When General Petraeus honestly averred that he could not say whether pursuing the surge in Iraq would make America safer, he underscored how much the war there has become disconnected from every conceivable worthy goal — democratization of Iraq or spreading progressive governance in the Arab-Muslim world — and is now just about itself and abstractions of “winning” or “not failing.”Remember, this is from a guy that has been asking for "six more months" in Iraq for several years.
