Yah done good.

On behalf of the rest of the world; who have all called to assure me that it is OK to say that;

THANKS.
Since that wont be nearly enough words.

Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, Thanks

I spend a lot of time here pissing and moaning because, as a furriner, that's all I can do.

But I do it because, like many furriners, I am afraid for my American friends and their futures, I am afraid for the effect of America's failure on the rest of the world and because, in its constitution if not its practise, America IS the best hope we have.

There's a story in today's Sydney Morning Herald written by Paul McGeough who has been a consistently good reporter, spending time in the streets among the Iraqis and getting the story out whenever he can.

McGeough was the guy who, late in 2003, interviewed the leaders of the resistance in Baghdad.

They were the ones that identified themselves as Iraqi army and talked about their resources, including, at that stage, 5,000 willing suicide bombers. His take back then has been pretty well played out in the real world.

I've been waiting for someone to launch this topic but haven't seen any obvious candidates. It has, however, been all over the international news for 2 days now and even made today's NYTimes, albeit as Qaeda Group Claims It Has 2 U.S. Troops

The story is very odd in the Times, it makes the doubt about who might be holding the troops the top story and doesn't even introduce their names till the seventh paragraph, but it appears that the story is true.

This started as a reply to ksuwildkat on the Black Hawk Down Thread, but I got carried away so I thought I would make it a diary.

ksuwildkat says my contention that the US Military is breaking is the half empty view and s/he put the "half full" case. In it K says "Training and equipment couldn't be better."

I disagree and I think that if K has evidence to back that assertion up, I want to see it. I want to see attrition rates, delivery rates and reports across the board that support it, from thumbtacks to tank tracks. I don't think they are there.

While there have been plenty of pie fights over whether a "Jewish Conspiracy" is in charge of US foreign policy, much less has been said about the danger posed to Jews by the vicious fundamnetalist christist right.

It looks like Jews have finally woken up. Jews fear growing religious intolerance

This is unusual to say the least. Butler is a pretty outspoken guy and has lit into the US before, but never to this extent, and this is the Australian media, you know, your friends.

Butler slams US 'terrorism' over poverty goals

I belong to a number of lists, this came just now on one of them.

Notes From Inside New Orleans

by Jordan Flaherty

Friday, September 2, 2005

I just came across this piece in the Scotsman

Decision to end a life in city of woe

I thought it would be a sad tale of suicide in the face of neglect and horror. If only.

We scream a lot about the Dems when they don' show their mettle, its time all the voters on this site paid a little love to their slowly evolving party.

This just up from the NYTimes

Republicans Fail to Force Senate Vote on Bolton's U.N. Nomination

Paul McGeough Chief Herald Correspondent in Baghdad has done the best reporting job of anyone in Iraq, by a couple of miles

In the last terrible minutes of his life, the world Chris Ahmelman and his buddies thought they knew so well collapsed in confusion, chaos and - for three of them - death.

I got into a nasty spat a couple of days ago with RepublicanTaliban in the Do Iraqis Have The Right To Resist The Occupation? thread.

Its been preying on my mind because I don't think we disagree about a lot of stuff, especially Bush's role and responsibility in this catastrophe. Yet still we ended up at each other's throats and I've been mulling on it.

I think it was probably my fault, and I want to see if I can make what I was trying to say clearer. (Very long)

This just fucks me off so much. For the second night in a row I'm sitting here with tears down my cheeks from watching an American TV programme.

Last night it was the episode of West Wing that dealt with whether or not, and under what conditions, it would be appropriate and possible for a President to commute a Federal death sentence.

I sat through a programme that wrestled with the conflict between faith, belief, the rule of law and the role of the President and saw more care for the constitution and an ethical life in 60 minutes than I have seen evidence of any of that in four years from the Bush White House.

Australia is a cynical and freeloading part of the coalition of the willing. As far as I know, we are not being paid by the US to ommit war crimes; on the other hand, the cynical little shit in Canberra, John Howard, is doing it on the cheap with mucho headlines and very few troops in harm's way.

Howard spends most of his life with his head up Bush's ass inhaling deeply. But it appears that his sheeple are rather less enamoured of their leader and his addiction. Very much less.

Our new nightmare: the United States of America

and we'll let you stay in Australia. Otherwise, go fuck yourself.

These bastards are testing to see how far they can sink into the religious bigotry and anti-human rights mire.

Its not bad enough that we lock refugees up in desert concentration camps, including children. Its not enough that we treat them like dirt, withhold the emotional and psychological support they need to endure this shit. Its not enough that we treat their beliefs with contempt while they are there, its not enough that we are in such a hurry to poke them back to their oppressive and violent countries where they can be arrested, tried and executed for any number of trumped up crimes; Oh no

The Australian government is, fundamentally, irresponsible, corrupt and cowardly. Their treatment of the electorate is well into contempt, their sucking up to Bushco is legendary and their willingness to explain themselves is non-existent.

So last year, when the Shrub, suitably sanitised by passing his demand for more troops to Howard via Blair, told the Aussies to get more willing in the coalition, the Coward in Kiribilli House said "Yeees Master".

Until we get more hard data we need to have some kind of thinking tool to identify where we should be looking. One way of doing that is to set up a risk/power matrix to see where the channels are.

Given the facts that Guckert is a hooker for someone in the WH, and that his journalism "credentials" were established ex post facto, and that he has continued in the role until right now, I think this is a reasonable scenario.

Despite my rabid social democrat liberal ranting, I also have some good contacts around the US Military, most of them by accident and all but two, retired.

One of them, a former SF Brass who spent his latter years in policy development in the Pentagon, said to me in October, about Bush, and from a soldier's perspective, "he has to go".

I had dinner with him and his wife, also a military employee, again today. I think he talks as straight as anyone I know, this is how the discussion went.