Instahoglets 5th Mar. 06

Never believe anything until there has been an official denial. I officially deny that these punchposts contain any intentional snark.

The US military are denying reports from British newspapers that all British and US troops will be pulled out of Iraq within the next 12 months. The main reason for the denial would seem to be that the claim by the newspapers that "The planned pull-out from Iraq follows the acceptance by London and Washington that the presence of the coalition, mainly composed of British and US troops, is now seen as the main obstacle to peace." Can't have the Dear Leader shown to have made a mistake, now can we?

Meanwhile British military figures admit that the UK could well have troops in Afghanistan for the next decade. Things aren't going so well there either. The Taleban is more active than at any time since it was ousted from power by US-led forces five years ago and appears to be copying the tactics of Iraq’s bloody insurgency. With characteristic black humour, the Paras have named their home base in Afghanistan "The Alamo".

You knew it was coming. The Bushevik sycophants, aghast at several neocon leading lights who have recanted their warmongering ways, have decided that those thinkers must have been closet liberals all along. I kid you not! I guess that means Bill Kristol is a liberal too - after all he thinks Bush and his cronies are incompetent.

If you want more evidence that anyone who could actually string two coherent thoughts together has already deserted the sinking Bushevik ship, here's James Wolcott with the tale of the Bushevik lady who cannot tell the brothers Zogby apart but then tries to spin her way out of her mistake in truly ridiculous fashion.

The Left Coaster has the best of the speculation on whether the Duke Cunningham bribery scandal reaches as far as Porter Goss, head of the CIA. Noting that Goss's henchling Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, who is under investigation, used to be a mid-level procurement supervisor in Frankfurt I find myself wondering if he also knows Steven G. Potoski.

The Bushevik blogs are going nuts today about an article by long-time Pentagon mouthpiece Philip Sherwell which purports to prove that Iran has admitted lying and misleading the world on it's nuclear plans. Here's a few facts about the article: a) it doesn't mention Iran admitting planning to build nuclear weapons at all; b) it doesn't mention that concealing nuclear programs is exactly what Bush's best pals India, Israel and Pakistan all did (except they DID build bombs) and no-one is threatening them with the Security Council; c) the evidence for the article seems to have come from the Mujahedeen e-Kalq's political wing again.

As David Sanger puts it today:

In essence, Mr. Bush is making a huge gamble — critics say a dangerous one — that the United States can control proliferation by single-handedly rewarding nuclear states it considers "responsible," and punishing those it declares irresponsible. For those keeping a scorecard, India is in the first camp, Iran is in the second, and no one in the administration wants to talk, at least on the record, about Israel or Pakistan — two allies that have embraced the bomb, but not the treaty.

Sanger has a good breakdown on the massive can of worms Bush has opened here.

And on the Fathe...sorry...Homeland Front, Bill Frist is trying to prove he's a good Bushevik by attempting to rewrite the Senate Intelligence Committee's rules so that it can't do its job any more. Glenn Greenwald, as always, does sterling work explaining how.

Last item - Stranger at Blah3 coins the term "limousine bloggers" as he gets worked up over celebrity bloggers with a fast-track to blogging fame. Maybe it's time for a new ecosystem rating - "How punk is your blog?"

As an aside (well, not really), the voting is open for the Koufax Awards, where Newshog is a nominee in the "Most Deserving Of Wider Recognition" category and has no chance of winning (Since enough people have to actually read your blog AND like it enough to vote for it). However, you can cast your vote for many other non-limousine bloggers in other categories too.