Month: May 2004

Beating the War Addiction of the Five Point Plan

May 26, 2004 Off

Given Bush’s history as an alcoholic and born-again Christian, I suppose it is fitting he proposed a “five point plan” to address his failings in Iraq. Of course, there was little new in the speech, he was clearly only speaking to his voting block to give them something to believe in. United for Peace and…

By leigh

Torture Commander Evasive

May 24, 2004 Off

Major General Geoffrey Millers testimony has been called into question by members of the Senate inquiry investigating the prisoner torture. Miller was the former commander of Guantanamo Bay and responsible for implementing the torture of prisoners there and now put in to replace Brigadier General Janis Karpinski after it was found she allowed his orders…

By leigh

Control Room

May 24, 2004 Off

Just saw Control Room, an excellent documentary examining the nature of subjectivity in news reporting. From the co-director of startup.com, it is an investigation of staff at al-Jazeera, the now well known Arabic satellite TV channel. It is telling how this gulf war has repeated the rise in position of a TV network in the…

By leigh

A Marine Speaks Out

May 24, 2004 Off

Courtesy of Jill, an interview with a Marine NCO, honourably discharged after serving in Iraq. He relates experiences firing on unarmed civilians when driving motor vehicles and firing on unarmed demonstrators. It is worth noting that reports in the New York Times of U.S.

By leigh

Enforcing the Geneva Conventions

May 21, 2004 Off

With the giant jellyfish starting to revert to it’s role of stenographer in the prison abuse scandal, reporting the MP’s getting sent down, but not pushing how high it goes, it’s worth noting there are knowledgeable sites that continue to tackle the full breadth of the issue.

By leigh

The Bush-house in a Nutshell

May 21, 2004 Off

I struggle to sum up the Bush administrations behaviour any more succinctly than this It is a pattern of wishful thinking, blinding moral outrage, willful ignorance of foreign cultures, a naive faith in American triumphalism, a contempt for the messy compromises of diplomacy, and a knee-jerk refusal to do anything the way the Clinton administration…

By leigh

Bush’s Christian Zionist Polity

May 19, 2004 Off

Further confirmation that the Bush-house policy is beholden to apocalyptic Christians. Note that the NSC Near East and North African Affairs director Elliott Abrams was convicted of masterminding the illegal Iran-Contra scandal and only escaped jail because of Bush I’s pardon.

By leigh