- The leader of Britain's biggest union has come out for a change in the Labour leadership, backing Gordon Brown to take over from Tony Blair. For those in the US who aren't used to the idea of a socialist party being in power, this carries real weight with the Labour Party faithful.
- Biggest news story of the week - US special forces have been doing target scouting in Iran for 6 months. The Pentagon doesn't exactly deny it, but the Iranians have ridiculed the idea. Is this a case of military disinformation fed to the media again or not?
- Second biggest story of the week - Condi gets a grilling, perjures herself, defends her husba...the President, and utters the words "We are very concerned about a democratically elected leader who governs in an illiberal way." More quotes here too.
- Bush will lose his biggest ally if he goes into Iran. A UK Foreign Office spokeman said it was "inconceivable that the UK would support such a policy, were such a policy to exist." Straw and Blair are already making moves to distance themselves from the US chickenhawks.
- The abuse pictures that have shamed the British Army - prosecutor alleges the order that led to the abuse contravened both military law and the Geneva Convention as 3 soldiers stand trial. The case is bound to further wound Blair's already shakey belief that the war was the right thing to do, says one pundit.
- Gun manufacturers and dealers are to be held liable for criminal use of their weapons in New York for the first time in American history. Isn't it about time the US admitted that stupid people with guns kill people and implemented a nationwide amnesty and ban?
- Gonzales tells Senate that torture by US personnel is illegal, but refuses to give details on the difference between "torture" and "allowed interrogation techniques". Basically, if its allowed then it can't be torture, can it?
- Top Republican says that partisan warfare over Social Security will quickly render President Bush's plan "a dead horse", further fuelling Republican unease over the issue.
- News from through the lokking glass - The US military is operating a system of collective punishment in Iraq. That means if the insurgents attack from your fields, they plow the fields, cut down the trees and blow up your local gas station.
- The Pentagon is building a permanent military communications system that suggests American soldiers will be in Iraq for the foreseeable future.
- Approximately 300 Iraqi academics have been killed in a mysterious wave of murders the security forces seem powerless to halt.
- Six National Guardsmen from Southeast Louisiana were killed by a roadside explosive on 6 January 2005. Obeying the family's wishes instead of the Pentagon's, the Guard allowed the press - including CBS News and the Associated Press - to film and photograph the arrival ceremony. Just a reminder of one of the forgotten scandals - the Pentagon ban on the US seeing it's own dead heoes come home. Let's talk about lack of respect.
- Could the true US casualty count in Iraq be as high as 6,000 servicemen killed and 48,000 wounded? At least one blogger thinks so. After all, the Pentagon initially under-reported casualties in Vietnam so why not now? There is certainly something weird going on. By my own calculations the ratio of killed to wounded for US soldiers is only 1:17 but for British troops it is 1:35. Why the difference?
- PhRMA's Envoys - A former US ambassador lobbies Canadians on behalf of the big drug companies to prevent importation of prescription drugs from across the northern borders to U.S. Just more jobs for the boys, ethics don't enter into it...
- Thanks to Shadows and Shirrin as always for keeping me notified of stories I would otherwise have missed.
Quote of the Day:
It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.
Thomas Paine
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