WTF is the U.S. Dept. of the Interior doing supervising Iraqi prisons? Who says we never learn from the Europeans?
An Anti-War Presidential Ticket?
Interesting idea posted by Libertarian Jackass:
HERE IS THE MOMENT Just as Nader calls for the impeachment of President George W. Bush for sending thousands to their deaths based on “false pretenses,” here’s one idea for stirring up trouble in the 2004 Presidential election:
Why the Time is Ripe for an LP/Nader Anti-War Fusion Candidacy
In Case You Missed It
From Fox News:
- Iraq Homicide Rate 10 Times New York City’s
BAGHDAD, Iraq — More than 5,500 Iraqis died violently in just Baghdad and three provinces in the first 12 months of the occupation, an Associated Press survey found. The toll from both criminal and political violence ran dramatically higher than violent deaths before the war, according to statistics from morgues.
There are no reliable figures for places like Fallujah and Najaf that have seen surges in fighting since early April.
Indeed, there is no precise count for Iraq as a whole on how many people have been killed, nor is there a breakdown of deaths caused by the different sorts of attacks. The U.S. military, the occupation authority and Iraqi government agencies say they don’t have the ability to track civilian deaths.
But the AP survey of morgues in Baghdad and the provinces of Karbala, Kirkuk and Tikrit found 5,558 violent deaths recorded from May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared an end to major combat operations, to April 30. Officials at morgues for three more of Iraq’s 18 provinces either didn’t have numbers or declined to release them.
The AP’s survey was not a comprehensive compilation of the nationwide death toll, but was a sampling intended to assess the levels of violence. Figures for violent deaths in the months before the war showed a far lower rate.
It goes on to recite the requisite blather about how things are still better than they were–y’know, getting blown up by an American or insurgent bomb is much better than getting shot by the Mukhabarat–but interesting nonetheless.
What Bush Really Said
South Knox Bubba translates Bush-speak into English.
Missing Kiwi was in US gulag
A New Zealander whom authorities here feared had gone missing in Iraq was held incommunicado in United States Army custody for three months of interrogations, the New Zealand Herald says.
Software developer Andreas Schafer, 26, vanished in March, sparking high-level inquiries by New Zealand with US authorities that repeatedly denied knowledge of him.
The Herald says it has contacted Mr Schafer in Amman, Jordan, where he said Iraqi police in Diwaniya, south of Baghdad, had initially detained him in early March and they handed him to the United States.
“I was then held for nearly three months and interrogated by the US Army on several occasions,” he told the Herald in an email.
“Each time they questioned me they said it was the first they had heard I was being detained and that the investigation was starting from the beginning.”
The report added that Mr Schafer was released a week after the British Consul got involved.
Mr Schafer had been working on software in Afghanistan for non-government organisations and had decided to go to Iraq early this year to continue the same work.
The US embassy in New Zealand, which had denied knowledge of Mr Schafer, has not commented on the latest report.
Every time you think the US has plumbed the depths of stupidity and arrogant incompetence in Iraq, you find you’ve misunderestimated them.
Rumsfeld bans all recording devices in Iraq
After the unfortunate attack on a wedding party in Iraq by the U.S., and the surfacing of actual video footage showing the wedding, Donald Rumsfeld announced this morning that camcorders, digital or not, are prohibited from now on during any kind of celebration, including weddings, birthday parties and anniversaries.
“We ask that the people of Iraq refrain from using camcorders of any kind and/or regular cameras as well.” Stated Donald Rumsfeld in a televised press conference in Iraq, “The attack on that party was legitimate. These were people that planned attacks on us. Sure they have weddings too. However, the surfacing of the videotapes showing the wedding party makes it very hard for us to seem like the good guys. So from this point on, all recording devices are prohibited.”
Read the rest at the Daily Farce…
Really, I feel sorry for the satirists. This is pretty funny, but it’s too close to the truth.