It's been a busy few days and I didn't do any of the following the justice I should have.
As I type this the BBC world service on PBS is reporting - I've no link - that Iraqi PM Maliki is saying occupation troops could be out of everywhere except Baghdad by the year's end. Color me sceptical about his motives. I can just imagine it would suit his party fine to be given a free hand to ply death squads and ethnic cleansing everywhere beyond sight of the Green Zone. I have a sneaking feeling that we are seeing Iraq's next strongman dictator in the making here. (Diplomat's with Tony Blair on his visit to Iraq are saying four years, by the way.)
Update Here's the Guardian's version - Maliki is saying troops out by year's end "apart from Baghdad and Anbar province". I stick by my opinion that Maliki - who has promised to use "maximum force" - is a strongman would-be dictator who will be patient and play the democracy game a little longer. I also think a strongman is exactly what Khalilzad and the neocons who have always backed him have been aiming for these past several months.
You definitely should read this report from Helena Cobban on US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad's (he who supported the Taliban before he was against them) heavy-handed stage managing of the recent "united" Iraqi parliament. It makes a joke of any pretense of sovereignty. She also suggests that Khalilzad is already setting up his CYA should the Iraqi government fail to bring order. Truly, being a neocon means never having to say you are sorry.
Patrick Coburn of the Independent yet again has some of the best reporting and analysis from Iraq in his piece today looking at the difference between what the politicians say and the reality for the common people. "Which is the real Iraq?"
Here's a snippet: So divided is the new government that each ministry becomes the fief of the party that holds it. The ministries are, in practice, patronage machines employing only party loyalists. They are milked for money, jobs and contracts. Ministers cannot be dismissed for incompetence or corruption, however gross, because it would lead to the deal between the parties and communities unravelling. (The government has become a sort of bureaucratic feudalism with each ministry presided over by an independent chieftain.)
The Head of the IAEA wants the U.S. to offer Iran a pledge not to try to topple the Islamic Republic's government if they give up uranium enrichment. Unsurprisingly, the Iranians say they wouldn't believe it even if such a pledge was given and the Bush administration says it will never give Iran any security assurances. I wonder how long the EU3 will continue to act as puppets for BushCo's regime changing drive-by democracy? I don't think it will be long before they split with the US and do what they think is best for them, rather than for neocon warmongers.
The Guardian reports that Britain's Secret Intelligence Service is bracing itself for a fresh series of security leaks about its operations on an internet blog launched by former top-ranking MI6 officer, Richard Tomlinson. I almost hope this tactic catches on with other whistleblowing ex-agents.
Update Here's the Tomlinson website. Judge for yourselves if you wish but, to me, he comes across as a priveliged-background spoiled brat with a huge chip on his shoulder. Sounds about right for a member of Her Majesty's Secret Service. (Many thanks to reader nostril-recon for the link).
Wired News has published documentation provided by AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein and concerning the telecom giant's involvement with NSA warrantless domestic wiretapping. Wired News says "AT&T claims information in the file is proprietary and that it would suffer severe harm if it were released. Based on what we've seen, Wired News disagrees. In addition, we believe the public's right to know the full facts in this case outweighs AT&T's claims to secrecy." Good for them.
We keep being told by Rightwing cheerleaders that Iraq is nothing like Vietnam. That may well be true - so far - in terms of general violence and casualties, but for British troops at least the two conflicts have something in common. Drug abuse. Could we be seeing something that has never happened before - the "vietnamization" through falling morale and discipline of the vaunted British military? If so, then American experience from that older war suggests the path to recovery is not an easy or short one.
Another first class analysis, this time from Steve Soto. He says he has been talking to retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner, the man who wrote the book on how the White House sold the war on Iraq. Based on those conversations, in which Gardiner says "I would stay the probability of a strike before the elections is 80 to 90%" and others with historian Juan Cole, Soto says "Keep Your Eyes On Iran".
What kind of heartless bastard would you have to be to want to renege on the 1868 constitutional amendment granting citizenship to babies born on U.S. soil just so that you can deport them with their illegal mom or dad? A Republican one, it seems.
U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman says his wife bargain hunts for cheap gas. The only reason he doesn't do the same is because the Secret Service fills up his car. I'm not sure I could add snark to this. It is complete and perfect as is.
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