Dr. Iyad Allawi (is) a secular Shiite member of the American-appointed Iraqi Governing Council with close ties to the C.I.A. ... he has a somewhat limited base among Iraqis, being viewed by many as an outsider because he lived in London for the past 20 years or so.

... The decision to name Dr. Allawi was made with the approval of Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy, though it was unclear how enthusiastic his support was. At United Nations headquarters in New York, officials contended that they were caught unawares by the announcement but said that they endorsed the choice.

... members of the Security Council, which this week began negotiating a new resolution for post-transition Iraq, had been expecting Mr. Brahimi to deliver the names by the end of this month. They had also been told that the names would be made public as a group, not in the sporadic and individual manner that Dr. Allawi's name emerged today.

"The United Nations Special Envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, is now consulting with a broad spectrum of Iraqis to determine the composition of this interim government. The special envoy intends to put forward the names of interim government officials this week ... (including) a president, two vice presidents, and a prime minister ... The fourth step in our plan is to enlist additional international support for Iraq's transition. At every stage, the United States has gone to the United Nations ..."

A more appropriate way to think of the present conflict, however, is as the battle of Iraq, as in World War II's Battle of Britain -- a vast fight to the death that shaped the course of the larger global struggle.

Had the British been overrun by Nazi invaders after December 7, 1941, the larger war would not have ended nor, in all likelihood, would its ultimate outcome have been altered. But achieving the complete destruction and unconditional surrender of the Axis powers would have been much more difficult, protracted, and costly in lives and treasure.

The culture needs to be changed. I call it, so people can understand what I'm talking about, changing the culture from one that says, "If it feels good, do it, and if you've got a problem, blame somebody else," to a culture in which each of us understands we're responsible for the decisions we make in life. I call it the responsibility era. … I said that when I was governor of Texas. As a matter of fact, I've been saying that ever since I got into politics. This is one of the reasons I got into politics in the first place. Governments cannot change culture alone. I want you to know I understand that. But I can be a voice of cultural change.
...
That's why I took the position I took on the sanctity of marriage. I believe it's a very important issue for America. I think it—marriage—has worked. It's the commitment between a man and a woman. That shared responsibility is the cornerstone—has been the cornerstone—will be the cornerstone for civilization and I think any erosion of that definition by itself will weaken civilization as we have known it, and as we hope to know it.
...
And my family life is great. I wouldn't be talking to the American people about seeking the vote if I couldn't say loud and clear that my marriage is really good. I wouldn't want to put a family through what you have to go through. Look, I'm not griping because life in a bubble is pretty comfortable. But there's obviously a lot of pressure, and lot of background noise and there's a lot of small voices constantly hammering away. The fact that Laura and I are—that we thrive together in this environment—gives me great comfort.
...
Interviewer: Do you believe there is anything inherently evil in the way some practice Islam that stands in the way of the pursuit of democracy and freedom?

Bush: I think what we're dealing with are people—extreme, radical people—who've got a deep desire to spread an ideology that is anti-women, anti-free thought, anti art and science, you know, that couch their language in religious terms. But that doesn't make them religious people. I think they conveniently use religion to kill. The religion I know is not one that encourages killing. I think that they want to drive us out of parts of the world so they're better able to have a base from which to operate. I think it's very much more like an … "ism" than a group with territorial ambition.

Interviewer: More like a what?

Bush: An "ism" like Communism that knows no boundaries, as opposed to a power that takes land for gold or land for oil or whatever it might be. I don't see their ambition as territorial. I see their ambition as seeking safe haven. And I know they want to create power vacuums into which they are able to flow.

For myself, I am serenely optimistic about the war. I think we did the right thing taking down Saddam, I think we should do more of this kind of thing, and I believe we shall get out of Iraq in a way that leaves the American public satisfied as to our national honor. As to what the Arabs think about us: Try as I might (and I confess I haven't tried very hard) I can't summon up an ounce of interest in what the Arabs think about us. Nor the Bushmen of the Kalahari, neither. Though I think the Arabs should be considerably worried as to what we think about them.

"It's a longstanding scandal that most of the bishops in years past tried to finesse or evade their responsibility in calling Catholics to account," says [Neuhaus]. "That's the job of bishops - to be concerned about the spiritual welfare and make sure the church's teaching isn't fudged or compromised in public." [emphasis added]

Cardinal Law given plum post in Rome

Cardinal Bernard Law was appointed by the pope Thursday to a ceremonial but highly visible post in Rome, outraging many in the archdiocese Law left in disgrace as the height of the clergy sex scandal.

[edit]

The Rev. Bob Bowers of St. Catherine's Church in Charlestown said he was astounded the Vatican would "reward" Law so soon after announcing church closings caused in part by what he considers mismanagement of the archdiocese.

"It's an utter disgrace and the people of the archdiocese are being burdened by this," he said.

[edit]

Lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who represents many alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests, said: "He apparently is being transferred to a position that is comfortable and appears to be some sort of reward. The Vatican either doesn't understand the problem of clergy sex abuse, or it doesn't care."

Concerned Women for America (CWA) denounced the 9th Circuit Court for their blatant disregard for life and the law in ruling for assisted suicide in Oregon.

“Judicial activists on the 9th Circuit have done it again,” said Wendy Wright, senior policy director for CWA. “From outlawing the Pledge of Allegiance to allowing one state to disobey a legitimate federal law intended to protect life, the 9th Circuit just can't get it right.

Lamb: Huntsville, Texas -- go ahead, sir.
Caller: "Yes. When it comes to the military, too many people is ignorant, are ignorant, of the sacrifice that ..."

In the last month, Bush often has attended GOP events and conducted taxpayer-financed business while on the same trips outside of Washington. He delivered the commencement address at Louisiana State University before raising $2 million near New Orleans, spoke to graduates of a Wisconsin college shortly after taking in $2.2 million in nearby St. Louis, and hailed his commitment to the environment near a Florida bay before pulling in more than $4 million for the Republican National Committee in Naples and Miami.

Sometimes, as with the commencement speeches, campaign strategists build fundraisers around the president's official schedule.

Other times, a fundraiser prompts White House aides to set up an official event. That is how Bush came to hold a "conversation" on healthcare information technology Thursday in Nashville, a White House spokeswoman said. She said the White House had been seeking an opportunity to hold a healthcare technology event anyway.

The benefit of arranging campaign and official events on a single trip is to save money, campaign finance experts said. The campaign does not have to foot as much of the bill on official trips as it would on an entirely political journey.

"The point is to make the most effective and efficient use of the president's time," said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan.

--Domestic security at the Homeland Security Department and other agencies would go from $30.6 billion in 2005 to $29.6 billion in 2006, a 3 percent drop.

--The Education Department would go from $57.3 billion in 2005 to $55.9 billion in 2006, 2.4 percent less.

--The Veterans Affairs Department would fall 3.4 percent from $29.7 billion in 2005 to $28.7 billion.

--The Environmental Protection Agency would drop from $7.8 billion in 2005 to $7.6 billion, or 2.6 percent.

--The National Institutes of Health, which finances biomedical research and had its budget doubled over a recent five-year period, would fall from $28.6 billion to $28 billion, or 2.1 percent.

--The Interior Department would fall 1.9 percent from $10.8 billion in 2005 to $10.6 billion.

--The Defense Department would grow 5.2 percent to $422.7 billion in 2006, and the Justice Department would increase 4.3 percent to $19.5 billion in 2006.

The FBI and Justice Department insist that warning the public about a possibly devastating terror attack in this country was justified by intelligence and may avert a repeat of the Sept. 11 attacks. But some Bush administration officials and lawmakers aren't so sure.

These officials and members of Congress with access to the same intelligence reports said the announcement by Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller was overblown and caused unnecessary public worry.

Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the Ashcroft-Mueller news conference on Wednesday mistakenly led some to believe the nation's threat level had been increased.

He called it "regrettable'' that Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who made a round of television appearances Wednesday, did not join Ashcroft and Mueller.

"Their separate public appearances left the impression that the broad and close interagency consultation we expect -- and which the law requires -- may not have taken place in this case,'' Cox said.

Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse reiterated Thursday that his agency has not seen any change in the ``steady stream of threat reporting.''

"We do not have any new intelligence or specific information about al-Qaida planning an attack,'' he said.

Council members Pakistan, Algeria, and at times China and Russia have backed Sudan's stand, blocking moves to put the matter on the agenda or dragging their feet in deliberations, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan and Algeria, like Sudan, are Muslim states while China has business interests in Sudan and Russia fears U.N. interference in its own crackdown on Chechen separatists.

For much of the past decade, relations between Sudan and the United States have been strained to the point of hostility as the Islamic government persecuted its war with southern rebels and played host to Osama bin Laden

But now that the government is close to a final peace deal with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army, President Omar el-Bashir's administration hopes relations will improve, U.S. sanctions will lift and Sudan will be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

[edit]

On May 18, the State Department dropped Sudan from the list of countries not cooperating in the war on terrorism because of its "remarkable" information sharing with the United States. The country, however, is still regarded as a state sponsor of terrorism.

[edit]

The cooperation has enabled the FBI and CIA to set up a "big station" in Khartoum and led to the exchange of information between U.S. and Sudanese security personnel on bin Laden, his followers and other Islamic groups that set up base in Sudan in the 1990s, el-Mahdi told AP in a recent interview.

Other Sudanese officials said U.S. authorities have inspected sites, such as laboratories in Khartoum University, to check whether Sudan was producing chemical weapons.

U.S. officials refused to comment on the details of Sudan's cooperation. But an official in Washington said "they have done everything we have asked them to do."

The refugees tell of mass murder, the razing of villages, destruction of wells and markets, and women being raped by the hundreds in a brutal campaign waged by the Sudanese government against rebel forces.

[edit]

At least 10,000 civilians have been killed in ethnic warfare in Sudan's Western Darfur province by U.N. estimates, but no agency has had enough access to make an accurate count. Most villages have been emptied or destroyed.

Retiring U.S. Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) recently continued his string of outspoken comments by comparing American soldiers’ abuse of Iraqi prisoners to his own experiences as a Marine showering with other men.

“The two times I think I have been most humiliated in my life was standing in that big room, naked as a jaybird with about 50 others when they were checking us out,” Miller told radio host Don Imus on May 17.

“Now that was humiliating. It was humiliating showering with 60 others in a public shower, that can be humiliating. But it didn’t kill us, did it? No one ever died from humiliation.”

Miller then rattled off a long list of “what people die from,” including “getting their heads cut off” and “being burned alive or jumping out of windows 50 stories high” — references to the beheading of American citizen Nick Berg in Iraq and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Imus later quipped, “Whenever I was naked, I always felt sorry for the other guys.”

“Yeah, bend over, spread those cheeks,” Miller said, laughing.

Let's aggressively, passionately and with no ambivalence pursue bad guys. Let's give as much respect, assistance and credit to the searchers as we can. And if we have to hold symposiums and commissions to criticize them for overexuberance and unnecessary roughness, let's do it later, like in 2016, when this is over and our children have been allowed to grow up.

Listen to the way Israel's highest court dealt with a similar question when, in 1999, it was asked to balance due process rights against dire threats to the security of its people:

"This is the destiny of democracy, as not all means are acceptable to it, and not all practices employed by its enemies are open before it. Although a democracy must often fight with one hand tied behind its back, it nonetheless has the upper hand. Preserving the Rule of Law and recognition of an individual's liberty constitutes an important component in its understanding of security. At the end of the day they (add to) its strength."

Fifty-one percent said the war with Iraq has made the world less safe from terrorism, while 42 percent said the war made it safer.

58 percent said they thought the world was safer because of the Iraq war, and 33 percent said it was less safe.

What do you get when you cross Jesse Helms, Jerry Falwell and a plethora of college students who are anxious to impact the culture with our time-honored conservative values?

Well, if you ask Sen. Hillary Clinton she’d likely tell you that it is further evidence of a “vast right-wing conspiracy” that is out to destroy her husband’s so-called legacy and steer the nation toward mindless servitude to Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. (Maybe I should write the Democrats’ talking points.)

But the correct answer is: The new Helms School of Government at Liberty University.

For the record, Republican officials are denouncing the speech that former vice president Al Gore gave yesterday condemning the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq and the larger war on terror. But privately, GOP strategists say they are "delighted" that Gore, whose speeches include rhetorical extremes and are delivered with vein-popping fury, has apparently taken a high-profile role as a surrogate for the Kerry campaign

Such performances, GOP insiders believe, will eventually alienate all but the most dedicated Democratic base voters.

"It was an anger-filled speech before an angry audience belonging to an angry group," the Republican insider continued.

If it seems that there have been quite a few rationales for going to war in Iraq, that’s because there have been quite a few – 27, in fact, all floated between Sept. 12, 2001, and Oct. 11, 2002, according to a new study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. All but four of the rationales originated with the administration of President George W. Bush.

When the average black high school graduate has an academic achievement level on par with that of a white seventh- or eighth-grader, and the achievement levels of white seventh- and eighth-graders are nothing to write home about, I think we can reasonably say black education is a disaster. As such, we might benefit from what could be called educational triage.

[edit]

Educational triage would acknowledge that there are black youngsters who cannot benefit academically no matter how many educational resources are spent on them. They have little or no family support. Their very presence in school, through disruptive and criminal behavior, makes education impossible for others. Spending resources on these youngsters is the educational equivalent of medical practitioners spending resources on disaster victims who'll die even if treated. These youngsters should be removed and not allowed to take resources from and make education impossible for those who do have a chance for academic achievement.

Holly Templeton, 13, of Bangor, Pa., a seventh grader at Faith Christian School, likened giving away one's virginity to a present wrapped in brown paper. It's an analogy she read in Brio magazine, she says, which is a publication of "Focus on the Family," a conservative Christian organization.

"The gift is easy to open, but can only be opened once. You can wrap it back up again to give it to the person it's supposed to go to, but the paper wrinkles and it's not as appealing.

"And if you then give it to another person and then another, the paper gets so wrinkled that nobody wants it," she says.

"Frankly, to save some American troops' lives or a unit that could be in danger, I think you should get really rough with them," Lott said. "Some of those people should probably not be in prisons in the first place."

The questioning of hundreds of Iraqi prisoners last fall in the newly established interrogation center at Abu Ghraib prison yielded very little valuable intelligence, according to civilian and military officials.

The interrogation center was set up in September to obtain better information about an insurgency in Iraq that was killing American soldiers almost every day by last fall. The insurgency was better organized and more vigorous than the United States had expected, prompting concern among generals and Pentagon officials who were unhappy with the flow of intelligence to combat units and to higher headquarters.

But civilian and military intelligence officials, as well as top commanders with access to intelligence reports, now say they learned little about the insurgency from questioning inmates at the prison. Most of the prisoners held in the special cellblock that became the setting for the worst abuses at Abu Ghraib apparently were not linked to the insurgency, they said.

The White House put government agencies on notice this month that if President Bush is reelected, his budget for 2006 may include spending cuts for virtually all agencies in charge of domestic programs, including education, homeland security and others that the president backed in this campaign year.

[edit]

But the cuts are politically sensitive, targeting popular programs that Bush has been touting on the campaign trail. The Education Department; a nutrition program for women, infants and children; Head Start; and homeownership, job-training, medical research and science programs all face cuts in 2006.

[edit]

Also slated for cuts are the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the Small Business Administration, the Transportation Department, the Social Security Administration, the Interior Department and the Army Corps of Engineers.

President Bush's political strategists have concluded that the way to battle back from record low job-approval ratings and months of bad news from Iraq is to talk about Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry.

Mediators consulted with the Sudanese government and southern rebels Thursday to plan the final phase of talks on ending Africa's longest-running war, after the adversaries signed agreements that pave the way for a comprehensive deal.

The warring parties signed three protocols late Wednesday on power-sharing and the administration of three disputed areas in central Sudan, clearing up the last remaining political issues needed for a final peace accord.

The signing took place in Naivasha, 60 miles west of the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

Khartoum is continuing a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" in the western region of Darfur, despite having signed a peace accord with rebels to end 21 years of civil war in the south, an international rights group warned.

"Ending the war in southern Sudan is a huge step forward, but in the western part of the country, the Sudan government is taking a terrible step backward," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement.

"The governments campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur raises real questions about whether Khartoum is really willing to comply with Wednesdays peace accord in the south," it added.

"As recently as Tuesday, Arab militias attacked five villages situated 15 kilometers (nine miles) south of Nyala in Darfur, killing 46 civilians and wounding at least nine others," the statement said, citing local sources.

Relief workers are racing against the clock to keep hundreds of thousands of people from dying in Sudan's western Darfur region, in what has become the biggest humanitarian crisis of "our age," a U.N. official said.

With the rainy season two to three weeks off and about to make it difficult to bring in relief by trucks, the number of people in acute need of food and medical help has nearly doubled from 1.2 million to 2 million, Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland said Wednesday.

[edit]

"We have $50 million from the world donor community. We need four to five times that to be able to care for the 2 million beneficiaries," he said.

"It is the most dramatic race against the clock that we have anywhere in the world at the moment," Egeland said. "If we lose, hundreds of thousands of women and children, mostly, will perish."

He's working to build a modern Pakistan that is tolerant and prosperous. Achieving this vision of moderation and progress will require movement toward democracy in Pakistan. The United States currently provides over $31 million for initiatives in Pakistan, aimed at broadening political participation and expanding educational opportunities, especially for women and girls.

"... a veneer of legality masks rampant human rights abuses in Pakistan. The most pressing human rights concerns in the country include harassment and intimidation of the media; a rise in sectarian violence; legal discrimination against and mistreatment of women and religious minorities; torture and mistreatment of political opponents; and lack of due process in the conduct of the 'war on terror' in collaboration with the United States."

Estimated percentage of women in Pakistani prisons whose crime was fornication: 80

"Pentagon officials say Sanchez’s departure has been in the works for months and is no reflection on his performance in the war or the (Abu Graib prison) scandal.

But some military experts say the timing is not coincidental ... Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., says Sanchez was asked to preside over a military occupation in the midst of a chaotic guerrilla campaign that took Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and subordinates by surprise. ..."This is just not the kind of war we like to fight," Thompson says.

George W. Bush promised us a foreign policy with humility. Instead, he has brought us humiliation in the eyes of the world.

He promised to “restore honor and integrity to the White House.” Instead, he has brought deep dishonor to our country and built a durable reputation as the most dishonest President since Richard Nixon.

Honor? He decided not to honor the Geneva Convention. Just as he would not honor the United Nations, international treaties, the opinions of our allies, the role of Congress and the courts, or what Jefferson described as “a decent respect for the opinion of mankind.” He did not honor the advice, experience and judgment of our military leaders in designing his invasion of Iraq. And now he will not honor our fallen dead by attending any funerals or even by permitting photos of their flag-draped coffins.

How did we get from September 12th , 2001, when a leading French newspaper ran a giant headline with the words “We Are All Americans Now” and when we had the good will and empathy of all the world -- to the horror that we all felt in witnessing the pictures of torture in Abu Ghraib.

Former Vice President Al Gore called on President Bush to condemn top talk radio host Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday, even though he once referred to Limbaugh as "a distinguished American."

GROSS: Early in the genocide there was a radio station that was exhorting its listeners to kill Tutsis. A little later into the genocide one of the people on the radio, I believe, was exhorting its listeners to kill you. And I think they were identifying you as `the white man with the mustache.'

Gen. DALLAIRE: Yes.

GROSS: What can you tell us about what was actually said in the broadcast?

Gen. DALLAIRE: Well, the broadcast indicated that I, through my work, was sympathetic to the rebels and that, in fact, wherever I went, the rebels would be following within a week or two. And the reason that they used that is the fact that whenever I met with the extremist leaders, they were so terrible in defending their positions in the civil war parts of it--is that they would often be overrun by the RPF. And so the radio simply made it clear that people, if they saw me, should kill me because I was essentially working for the other side. And so when that came out, I had still some white officers and some of them had mustaches--Europeans. And they all started to become targets, and people had to fight off mobs and the like. So I had to order their evacuation just for their own safety.

GROSS: Because they were white and had mustaches.

Gen. DALLAIRE: Yes, and they looked a bit like me, and it was close enough for the mob.

GROSS: Did you shave?

Gen. DALLAIRE: No.

GROSS: Really? Why not? If they're looking for a mustache, why not take it off?

Gen. DALLAIRE: No, there was no way that I was going to camouflage myself. In fact, I never even changed uniform to be in combat uniform. I remained in my dress that I always had even before the war. I wore a flak jacket. And then because of the threat, I was ordered to carry a pistol. And I would not always go in my 4X4. I would at times, depending on where I was going, use an APC, though.

GROSS: I'm sorry, what's an APC?

Gen. DALLAIRE: An armored personnel carrier.

GROSS: Oh, I see. OK. Did anyone come close to fulfilling the command to kill you?

Gen. DALLAIRE: Yes.

GROSS: What happened?

Gen. DALLAIRE: I'm not going to talk about it.

The Democrats are talking trash these days, lobbing the left wing's frantic and often melodramatic insults at the Bush administration while Iraqi prisoner abuse is still leading the news.

"There is no longer a distinction between the rhetoric used by people on the left fringe of the Democratic Party and the rhetoric used by the leaders of the Democratic Party," Christine Iverson of the Republican National Committee said yesterday.

"This is the same vitriolic stream of political hate speech we've seen since the Democrat primary began. Anger is not an agenda, but anger is the only thing Democrats have been offering the American people. And it's going to backfire," she said.

Democratic Reps. Bill Delahunt and Barney Frank of Massachusetts recently called the prisoner abuse in Iraq "disgusting and disturbing" and "heartbreaking," respectively — though Mr. Frank also categorized the abuse as "sadomasochistic sexual degradation."

Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington state said abuse images "depict an America I don't know," while Rep. John W. Olver, Massachusetts Democrat, said the situation had created "an unaccountable regime."

A U.S. Army synopsis of deaths and mistreatment involving prisoners in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan shows a pattern of abuse involving more military units than previously known, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The summary, dated May 5, was prepared by the Criminal Investigation Command ... (and) outlines the status of investigations into 36 cases, including the continuing probe into the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison ...

In an incident reported to have taken place last month, a prisoner detained by Navy commandos died in a suspected case of homicide blamed on "blunt force trauma to the torso and positional asphyxia," the paper said.

Members of the 223rd Military Intelligence Battalion, which is part of the California National Guard, were accused of abusing Iraqi detainees last spring in Samarra, north of Baghdad ... The Army summary said the unidentified enlisted personnel "forced into asphyxiations numerous detainees in an attempt to obtain information" over a 10-week period, according to the paper.

[Bush] said the armed resistance to American occupation in Iraq came from former members of Saddam Hussein's army. That is to leave out entirely the stiff Shiite resistance to American rule in the form of the Mahdi Army of cleric Moktada al-Sadr. The Shiites, a majority in Iraq, were longtime enemies of Saddam Hussein; the core of Saddam Hussein's army was for the most part Sunnis.

When the White House and the U.S. Army needed someone to blame for the postwar failure ... (Iraq's) Sunnis were quickly labeled Baathists, criminals, and "regime dead enders." Western journalists, ignorant of Iraqi history and for the most part unable to speak Arabic, quickly adopted these simplistic assumptions. But the people of Ramadi and Fallujah had not been part of what was called, before the war, "the royal family" -- the residents of Saddam's hometown, Tikrit ... The rest of the Sunni Triangle was by no means universally pro-Saddam. In fact, a number of the coup attempts against Saddam are believed to have originated here, because its natives held such prominence in the army.

... On the one hand, all [Ramadi and Fallujah] residents are said to be rabid Saddam supporters ... On the other hand, the resistance is said to be supported by only a handful of people. This inconsistency ... (and) mistaken assumptions have led to catastrophic missteps. All the civilian deaths (in the Sunni Triangle) would have caused a population anywhere to react: on Bloody Sunday in 1972, for example, only thirteen Irish Catholics were killed by British troops, but the incident set off decades of fighting.

In the Sunni Triangle, an honor-based tribal society where revenge killings are integral to the culture, the cycle, once started, was almost impossible to stop.

"If you were to ask soldiers in the field if they ever heard of my draft memo, they would have said, 'What?'"

PHYSICAL CONTACT
Touching among same sex is not considered homosexual. Good friends often hold hands as a sign of friendship.
They keep no distance between individuals, even when sitting.
If you move back they will just close the distance

Courtesy is valued and is not a weakness ... Respect and courtesy show strength and masculinity.

Shame is given by placing hoods over a detainee's head. Avoid this practice.
Placing a detainee on the ground or placing a foot on him implies you are God. This is one of the worst things we can do.

About 50 black preachers from across the country came to town, not to celebrate (the Supreme Court's decision in) Brown but to push for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

The Traditional Values Coalition, a conservative Christian group, organized the meeting of like-minded black pastors who oppose gay marriage. Would that this group of ministers were inclined to devote an equal amount of energy promoting the state of marriage. Goodness knows, in our community marriage is a dying institution.

Here's another post-Brown truth: The lowest marriage rate of any group belongs to African Americans. Nearly 70 percent of our children have unmarried moms ... And the preachers? Even as their churches become older and populated with mostly unmarried women, and small children living apart from their fathers, these ministers of the cloth have the unmitigated gall to rail against two people in love who want to get married and stay married.

Cosby's wrong about one thing. It's not just low-income folks. A lot of us aren't holding up our end in this deal.

The Council also expresses its deep concern at the continuing reports of large-scale violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law in Darfur, including indiscriminate attacks on civilians, sexual violence, forced displacement and acts of violence, especially those with an ethnic dimension, and demands that those responsible be held accountable

[O]n opposition groups and the Government to facilitate the immediate deployment of monitors in Darfur, and to ensure their free movement throughout the area.

I don't find it surprising that when the United States was attacked by Saudi Arabian jihadists we responded by attacking a secular regime in Iraq. Germany in 1914 declared war on Russia and invaded France. All governments enchanted by the story of their own magnificence fall afoul of the same stupidities ... The variable is the character and quality of the excuses.

... Dr. (Condoleezza) Rice confined her testimony (before the 9/11 Commission) to a world made entirely of paper. Her office had filled out all of the necessary forms, followed all of the correct procedures, composed the appropriate number of power points. Meetings had been held, documents distributed, FBI field offices "tasked" to increase surveillance ... Had the national security adviser known that death was destined to come to Manhattan from a clear blue sy, she would have moved heaven and earth to send it somewhere else, but she didn't know, and the moving of heaven and earth was a topic that President Bush discussed only with God.

... The fault (for 9/11) was not in man or beast or the constellation of Orion; the fault, my lords, was in the threat itself. It wasn't sent by courier or distributed in triplicate, "was not a warning," because "it was not specific as to time, nor place, nor manner of attack." ... What kind of third-rate terrorist operation forgets to enclose a return envelope?

... At his press conference on April 13 the President ... borrowed a number of tropes from Dr. Rice's tour de force on Capitol Hill ... Mr. Bush prefers the religious to the secular forms of escape into unreality, and so instead ... he transferred the reason for the American presence in Iraq to a heavenly compulsion: "Freedom is the Almighty's gift to every man and woman in this world. And as the greatest power on the face of the earth, we have an obligation to help the spread of freedom."

But we have found a number of instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been. In some cases, information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged. Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged — or failed to emerge.

[edit]

Some critics of our coverage during that time have focused blame on individual reporters. Our examination, however, indicates that the problem was more complicated. Editors at several levels who should have been challenging reporters and pressing for more skepticism were perhaps too intent on rushing scoops into the paper. Accounts of Iraqi defectors were not always weighed against their strong desire to have Saddam Hussein ousted. Articles based on dire claims about Iraq tended to get prominent display, while follow-up articles that called the original ones into question were sometimes buried. In some cases, there was no follow-up at all.

U.S. officials have obtained new intelligence deemed highly credible indicating al-Qaida or other terrorists are in the United States and preparing to launch a major attack this summer, The Associated Press has learned.

The intelligence does not include a time, place or method of attack but is among the most disturbing received by the government since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to a senior federal counterterrorism official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Tuesday.

Of most concern, the official said, is that terrorists may possess and use a chemical, biological or radiological weapon that could cause much more damage and casualties than a conventional bomb.

"There is clearly a steady drumbeat of information that they are going to attack and hit us hard," said the official, who described the intelligence as highly credible.

History lesson: GOP must stop Bush

Thirty years ago, a Republican president, facing impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction by the Senate, was forced to resign because of unprecedented crimes he and his aides committed against the Constitution and people of the United States. Ultimately, Richard Nixon left office voluntarily because courageous leaders of the Republican Party put principle above party and acted with heroism in defense of the Constitution and rule of law.

"What did the president know and when did he know it?" a Republican senator — Howard Baker of Tennessee — famously asked of Nixon 30 springtimes ago.

Today, confronted by the graphic horrors of Abu Ghraib prison, by ginned-up intelligence to justify war, by 652 American deaths since presidential operatives declared "Mission Accomplished," Republican leaders have yet to suggest that George W. Bush be held responsible for the disaster in Iraq and that perhaps he, not just Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, is ill-suited for his job.

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Today, the issue may not be high crimes and misdemeanors, but rather Bush's failure, or inability, to lead competently and honestly.

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Today, the United States is confronted by another ill-considered war, conceived in ideological zeal and pursued with contempt for truth, disregard of history and an arrogant assertion of American power that has stunned and alienated much of the world, including traditional allies. At a juncture in history when the United States needed a president to intelligently and forcefully lead a real international campaign against terrorism and its causes, Bush decided instead to unilaterally declare war on a totalitarian state that never represented a terrorist threat; to claim exemption from international law regarding the treatment of prisoners; to suspend constitutional guarantees even to non-combatants at home and abroad; and to ignore sound military advice from the only member of his Cabinet — Powell — with the most requisite experience. Instead of using America's moral authority to lead a great global cause, Bush squandered it.

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But among Republicans today, there seems to be scant interest in asking tough questions — or honoring the example of courageous leaders of Congress who, not long ago, stepped forward, setting principle before party, to hold accountable presidents who put their country in peril.

All along, some have questioned whether the Iraqi people are ready for self-government, or even want it.

ONE SENTENCE [Ramesh Ponnuru]
in David Brooks's column today fairly leaps off the page: "[Bush] began this war in Iraq repeating the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence, that our creator has endowed all human beings with the right to liberty, and the ability to function as democratic citizens." I see two problems with this formulation: God has manifestly not "endowed all human beings with . . . the ability to function as democratic citizens," and the Declaration of Independence says no such thing.

After June 30th, American and other forces will still have important duties. American military forces in Iraq will operate under American command as a part of a multinational force authorized by the United Nations.

Teenage rape victims fleeing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo are being sexually exploited by the United Nations peace-keeping troops sent to the stop their suffering.

The Independent has found that mothers as young as 13 - the victims of multiple rape by militiamen - can only secure enough food to survive in the sprawling refugee camp by routinely sleeping with UN peace-keepers.

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During a five-day period, The Independent spoke to more than 30 girls, half of whom said they made the 20-metre journey from the camp to gaps in the wire fences of the compound run by Monuc, the UN mission in Congo.

One worker, employed by Atlas, the aid group that manages the camp, confirmed that staff were aware of the trade in sex but were too frightened to tackle it.

He said: "There is nothing to stop them and the girls need food. It is best to keep quiet, though. I am frightened that if I say something I may lose my job and I have children of my own to feed."

As more details have emerged on abuse by American soldiers against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, Christian commentators have largely focused on the pornographic nature of the images, speculating that the pervasiveness of pornography is at least partly responsible for the outrageous behavior. When Christian leaders have spoken directly on how religion and the abuse intersect, the focus has largely been on recognizing the sinful nature of each human being. Each of us is capable of great evil, several writers have noted.

The first item comes from Spec. Joseph M. Darby, who reportedly confronted Spec. Charles A. Graner Jr.—apparent ringleader of the prison abuse—about the activities. Darby later told investigators that Graner told him, "The Christian in me says it's wrong, but the corrections officer in me says, 'I love to make a grown man piss himself.'"

That the Christian in Graner lost out (in fact, it wasn't just the prisoner's own urine that Graner reportedly liked to see prisoners soaked in) is ripe for much commentary.

But far more troubling is an allegation that guards deliberately attacked the prisoners' faith. Details on this matter have largely surfaced from prisoner Ameed Saeed al-Sheikh, who, in the words of The New York Times, said that "a hostility toward Islam coursed through much of the abuse." We've already heard of many abuses that would have been particularly offensive to Muslims, but it now appears that the guards may have deliberately chosen some of these methods because they're so offensive to Muslims. Some prisoners, press reports say, were "forced to renounce their religion."

Particuarly disconcerting is this testimony from al-Sheikh: "Someone else asked me, 'Do you believe in anything?' I said to him, 'I believe in Allah.' So he said, 'But I believe in torture, and I will torture you.'"

There's no word on whether this line came from Graner, but if it did, it's clear that "the Christian in him" was not calling the shots.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, does not accept that. "When they could make the 30-second ad accurate and they don't, you've got to believe that they're intentionally misleading you," she said.

Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling -- The situation in Iraq?

Approve 40%
Disapprove 58%

Do you think the George W. Bush Administration does or does not have a clear plan for handling the situation in Iraq?

Does 40%
Does not 58%

All in all, considering the costs to the United States versus the benefits to the United States, do you think the war with Iraq was worth fighting, or not?

Yes 48%
No 50%

Please tell me whether the following statement applies to George W. Bush or not: He can be trusted in a crisis

Yes 60%
No 39%

They don't care about governing. Given a choice between having 25 conservative judges serving lifetime careers on the federal bench and complaining about not having the judges, the far right strongly prefers complaining.

Republicans need a plan to bring the party together. One way is to create an opportunity for Democrats to filibuster important legislation and appointments. Given the election, it would be savvy to make Democrats go on the record as blocking the nation's business. Such a strategy would turn the legislative negative of unfinished bills into a campaign positive by being able to blame obstructionist Democrats for the chamber coming to a halt. It is better than more Republican infighting.

The CIA profile summed up his record skeptically: “He had a history of predicting events after they happened and was seen as a rumormonger of occasional usefulness. In addition, the information collected by him consistently lacked sourcing and detail notwithstanding his exclusive interest in acquiring money."

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Whatever the plan, there was still Manucher Ghorbanifar. His chief capital was his wits. His stock-in-trade was his ability to tell others what they wanted to hear or believe. He was so shady that he inevitably aroused suspicion that he was congenitally incapable of telling the truth or dealing in good faith.

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The Americans knew what he was, a liar and duplicitous sneak … They were surprised not that he had lied but that he had lied so blatantly, as if a mere lie was not enough to explain how he had taken them in.

Like everyone else, I've been reading the stories about my friend Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress, and the accusations that he's an Iranian spy.

Societal Suicide
Legalizing gay marriage will lead to more family breakdown and crime.

Is America witnessing the end of marriage?
...
In nearly 30 years of prison ministry, I've witnessed the disastrous consequences of family breakdown?in the lives of thousands of delinquents. Dozens of studies now confirm the evidence I've seen with my own eyes. Boys who grow up without fathers are at least twice as likely as other boys to end up in prison. Sixty percent of rapists and 72 percent of adolescent murderers never knew or lived with their fathers.

Even in the toughest inner-city neighborhoods, just 10 percent of kids from intact families get into trouble, but 90 percent of those from broken families do.

Girls raised without a father in the home are five times more likely to become mothers while still adolescents. Children from broken homes have more academic and behavioral problems at school and are nearly twice as likely to drop out of high school.

Yet to the disappointment of many Armenian-Americans, [Bush] will refrain from using the term "genocide." Against the evidence, Turkey -- the successor state to the Ottoman Empire -- officially views the Armenian Genocide as an unfounded allegation, not the established historical fact that it is.

History, then, is not on Turkey’s side, but realpolitik is. Aside from being a crucial N.A.T.O. ally, Turkey is also the transit-point for oil. U.S. companies have a large stake in the ongoing construction of an oil pipeline running from Baku, Azerbaijan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. In 2000, the House of Representatives withdrew a resolution on the Armenian Genocide after Turkey threatened to close its airbases to U.S. planes on fly-over missions in Iraq.

In this series, a Great Dane consistently finds himself in humorous adventures such as flunking out of obedience school, getting disguised as a stegosaurus, behaving like a cat, and getting trapped in a hot air balloon.

Welcomes the commitment of the occupying powers to end the occupation by 30 June 2004, at which time the Coalition Provisional Authority will cease to exist and the interim Government of Iraq will assume the responsibility and authority for governing a sovereign Iraq

Reaffirms the authorization for the multinational force under unified command established under resolution 1511 (2003), having regard to the letter referred to in preambular paragraph 10 above, decides that the multinational force shall have authority to take all necessary measures to contribute to the maintenance of security and stability in Iraq including by preventing and deterring terrorism, so that inter alia the United Nations can fulfill its role in assisting the Iraqi people as outlined in paragraph five above and the Iraqi people can implement freely and without intimidation the timetable and program for the political process and benefit from reconstruction and rehabilitation activities, and decides further that the mandate for the multinational force shall be reviewed 12 months from the date of this resolution or at the request of the Transitional Government of Iraq

Adams deplored the excesses of the French Revolution ... Jefferson's most vulnerable spot. ...Jefferson admitted that the constantly changing regimes in Paris were of a disturbing "oligarchical nature," then, anticipating Adams' return, he gave a splendid spin to the ball: "I am sure from the honesty of your heart, you join me in detestation of the corruption of the English government, and that no man on earth is more incapable than yourself of seeing that copied among us willingly." In other words, you play the French card and I will play the English card.

... One year before [Jefferson] had settled into his "retirement," Madison was putting him forward as Republican candidate for president against "the British Party."

"I know the arithmetic of the tax-cutting equation. You cannot have social programs like Canada with taxation levels like those of the United States."

"The (incumbent) Liberal government is collecting about $1,500 more in taxes per Canadian than it did ten years ago. That is an annual $6,000 increase for a family of four."

I oppose the U.N. or anybody else risking their lives of their citizens to extract us from our debacle in Iraq. The majority of Americans supported this war once it began and sadly that majority must now sacrifice their children until enough blood has been let that maybe, just maybe, God and the Iraqi people will forgive us in the end.

COULTER: Yes. I think it‘s hard to get around that.

No, they root against their own country. I think that is an unavoidable conclusion

O‘DONNELL: What Michael Moore said is not treason. We have a First Amendment. That has to be remembered. Even on SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY, we have a First Amendment.

SCARBOROUGH: So is it treasonous or not?

O‘DONNELL: No, not in the least.

COULTER: What is treasonous?

(CROSSTALK)

O‘DONNELL: Let‘s read the constitutional definition.

COULTER: No, let‘s not. Why not just treasonous?

O‘DONNELL: It‘s not treason. Here‘s why.

Just so Americans can know, you can say anything about the United States and about its conduct of a war. You can even actively say you hope the other side wins. That‘s not treason. You have to go to the other side.

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COULTER: Lawrence keeps hinting at that idea that, because it is the spoken word, it‘s protected by the First Amendment. Well, OK, saying stick them up or give me all your money is the spoken word. That doesn‘t mean you‘re allowed to commit bank robberies because you have to use speech to engage in that. That‘s an insane legal theory. But I‘m one who is saying I‘m not talking about this.

O‘DONNELL: You don‘t prosecute bank robbers for what they say. You don‘t prosecute a bank robber for what they says. You prosecute them for what they do. Treason is an action. It is not human speech.

The person selected for this position will lead, coordinate and integrate DOD International Criminal Court related activities to achieve DOD objectives in protecting U.S. personnel for investigation or prosecution from the International Criminal Court, (ICC) including the development of interagency policy on the conclusion of Article 98 agreements with countries throughout the world; represents DOD and Executive Branch interest in official, bilateral negotiations; develop and implement strategies that ensure legal arrangements are secured for service-members stationed in foreign countries; works closely with Joint Staff, the Office of General Counsel/DOD, the Department of State and National Security Council; briefs senior DOD officials, prepares background and talking points and attends DOD and interagency meetings.

Despite his campaign's frantic efforts to portray Kerry as the quintessential American jock, the candidate's selection of sports — snowboarding, windsurfing, ice hockey — does nothing to bolster that image. Windsurfing is something the typical American may do for an hour on a two-week vacation at Myrtle Beach; you don't build a fitness program around it.

Conversely, George W. Bush is an athlete, albeit an adult-onset one. He runs 6-minute miles, bench-press 200 pounds, chops wood out on the ranch. Heck, he's been on the cover of "Runner's World." Unlike Kerry's, the president's workouts are actual periods of elevated heart rate and significant exertion, not orchestrated photo ops. The president doesn't exercise for the benefit of the press corps.

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The proof of Bush's athletic superiority, ironically enough, is evident in — of all things — his tumble.

When Kerry fell while snowboarding a few months ago, he famously said, "I don't fall" before blaming a Secret Service agent for running into him.

The truth: Athletes fall, Mr. Kerry. They trip, they stumble, they are sacked. They fall off their horse, they get hit by a ball, they twist their ankles, bruise their elbows, and dislocate their shoulders, but they get up and ride back to the ranch. The real jock knows this and is not embarrassed by the occasional tumble. In fact, he knows that bruises and casts are tangible proof that he's giving his all: Witness the runner hobbling down the street with one or both knees swathed in bandages.

Our president — the true jock — allowed himself to be photographed soon after his spill, unashamed of the scrapes on his face. Bush does fall, just like Kerry, but the president does so with class. And whatever you think of Bush's policies, there's no arguing with 14.5-percent body fat.

If Republicans can make insinuations about Mr. Kerry's manliness, and go so far as to call him French, then turnabout is fair play, said [Katz]. Remember, he said, when President Bush showed up with a bandage on his head after he collapsed while watching television and eating pretzels?

"My proposal is that the Kerry campaign run a 30-second ad which is nothing but John Kerry sitting on a couch and eating pretzels without involving paramedics at all," Mr. Katz said. "Guys can't help but be impressed by that, if he can get to the bottom of a bag of pretzels without someone having to call an ambulance."

"It's been raining a lot and the topsoil is loose," the spokesman said. "You know this president. He likes to go all out. Suffice it to say he wasn't whistling show tunes."

Bush administration claims that abuses in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison appear to be isolated acts by low-level soldiers sprang more leaks with the Pentagon's acknowledgment that it is reviewing the deaths of 33 detainees captured in Iraq and Afghanistan, including nine homicides.

Of the nine, three in Afghanistan and six in Iraq, most appear to have come as a result of beatings, according to death certificates released by the Pentagon. A senior Pentagon military official said most of the beatings appear to have been delivered during interrogations. One death, involving a senior Iraqi general, was the apparent result of strangulation, the reports said.

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The Pentagon's wider probe of prison abuses extends throughout various sites in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of the 33 cases appear to be deaths related to heart problems, though one unnamed detainee died of multiple gunshot wounds on May 18, the records say. Of the homicides, six note "blunt force injuries." The death certificate for former Iraqi Army Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush says he died of "asphyxia, due to smothering and chest compression."

The international community must act urgently -- and be prepared to use force if necessary -- to save hundreds of thousands of civilians whose lives are at risk because of Sudan’s brutal counter insurgency in its western region of Darfur.

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"There is just enough time to save the hundreds of thousands of lives directly threatened by government-supported Janjaweed militias and looming starvation, but only if the world acts very urgently", says John Prendergast, Special Adviser to the ICG President for Africa. "If 'never again' means anything, then it's now or never in Darfur".

Since it erupted in February 2003, the conflict has claimed some 30,000 lives, but experts warn that without a rapid international response, what UN officials have already called the worst humanitarian situation in the world today could claim an additional 350,000 in the next nine months, mainly from starvation and disease. Many more will die if the direct killing is not stopped.