Skip to main content

The First Breach in the Dike?

Rumsfeld is in Australia pontificating on how well things are going in Iraq. Lord Downer of Baghdad [speaking this morning on ABC referring to his having "spoken to Condi" the other day - a little big-noting?] rabbits on to the same tune. Meanwhile, those in the know - that is on the ground - keep on saying that things are far, far from going well in Iraq.

With George Bush having being Commander in Chief and the American propensity to give their President a degree of veneration which defies belief, the US Administration has thus far been able to basically keep the nation behind the Iraq war effort. No more! The majority no longer trust Bush.

Now comes news that the dike may have been broken - for the first time! A leading Democrat, who initially supported the war and who has an impecable track-record in many areas, has called for an end to the war and recalling the troops. He is the first politician to openly do so. Read the NYT report here.

It is interesting to speculate whether any politician in Australia or the UK is prepared to follow suit. Of course, in the USA Cheney [who can't really have any credibility - if he ever had any in the first place] was this morning banging on how George Bush and the Administration were being wrongly maligned with lies. Lies? An accusation of lying by Cheney? A little rich!

Also read this most interesting article by James Fallows on the Iraq "story-line" in The Huntington Post and who said what and when.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t...

Palestinian children in irons. UK to investigate

Not for the first time does MPS wonder what sort of country it is when Israel so flagrently allows what can only be described as barbaric and inhuman behaviour to be undertaken by, amongst others, its IDF. No one has seemingly challenged Israel's actions. However, perhaps it's gone a bridge too far - as The Independent reports. The Foreign Office revealed last night that it would be challenging the Israelis over their treatment of Palestinian children after a report by a delegation of senior British lawyers revealed unconscionable practices, such as hooding and the use of leg irons. In the first investigation of its kind, a team of nine senior legal figures examined how Palestinians as young as 12 were treated when arrested. Their shocking report Children in Military Custody details claims that youngsters are dragged from their beds in the middle of the night, have their wrists bound behind their backs, and are blindfolded and made to kneel or lie face down in military vehi...

Wow!.....some "visitor" to Ferryland in Newfoundland