Newshog 26-12-2004

You may have noticed that many of the liberal bloggers are betting that the Iraqis will ask occupation forces to leave following the assembly elections in January. I don't think this will happen - it is very easy to engineer a proportional representation scenario so that the result is deadlocked at the very least. I have already posted links showing both the British and US Defence Depts. expect to be there four more years and I think they will get what they are planning for. This liberal hope is just wishful and naive thinking in the abscence of a real policy. My policy? Read my post on Talking to Terror.

The first few links today are about the Iraq election - plus, the rest of the Newshog news briefs for today. Enjoy, and please comment.

• Increasingly, US military experts say Americans need to prepare for a decades-long counterinsurgency campaign.
  
  
• The Iraq elections at-a-glance, plus more detailed analysis and the actual wording of the Law of Administration for the transition government.
  
  
• Iraq's election body rejected a suggestion in Washington it adjust the results of next month's vote to benefit the Sunni minority. This was an idea many liberal commentators were pinning a lot of hope on, now dashed.
  
  
• Iraq poll hangs on overseas vote - UN launches £50m operation to reach four million expatriates.
  
  
• Washington-funded organizations are hard at work providing assistance to political campaigns in the lead up to next month’s nationwide elections, but critics suggest their participation is anything but benevolent. Look back over the last few Newshog briefs for other stories about undue influence in the elections.
  
  Well, what do you think? Let me know.
  
  
• US State governors are mounting a bipartisan lobbying effort to stave off new federal limits on the Medicaid program.
  
  
• Losing our religion: while the religious right is ascendant in the US and religion moulds politics, the number of Britons who say they believe in God has nearly halved since 1968, from 77 to 44 per cent.
  
  
• Israel is to lift curbs in Palestine before the elections there, removing troops from Palestinian cities.
  
  
• Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has offered China wide-ranging access to the country's oil reserves.
  
  
• DefenceTech summarises the bad news about the Mosul attack and quotes an ex- Marine as guessing it will take 10 years to defeat the insurgency.
  
  
• The International Relations Council makes it's predictions for the next four years in US politics at home and abroad.
  
  
• George Bush's two closest allies in his attempt to sabotage international action to combat global warning last week dramatically distanced themselves from him.
  
  
• UK Ministers are secretly establishing an "Armageddon agency" to respond to devastating terrorist attacks on Britain.
  
  
• Oppositon candidate Viktor Yushchenko led in all three exit polls tracking Sunday's re-run of the presidential election in Ukraine.
  
  
• More than 11,500 people have been killed across southern Asia in massive sea surges triggered by the strongest earthquake in the world for 40 years.
  

Quote of the Day:

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.
John F. Kennedy