The US Government’s Biggest Single Problem …
The biggest single problem the federal government has is its hypocrisy. It talks one way and acts another. It talks of spreading democracy while supporting dictators; it blathers about human rights while violating them; and it claims to promote the rule of law while scoffing at laws it considers inconvenient…
[Via Je Blog]
Her husband King Abdullah also made his Palestinian-born wife head of the Queen Rania Society for the Support of the Military and their Families.
In March, Rania launched a media campaign to change women’s stereotypes and boost their role in Arab society.
[Source: BBC]
This is really interesting and I think is meant as part of the campaign to change women’s stereotypes and to advance woman’s rights even further in Jordan.
I think it’s great.
I’ve always admired Queen Rania for the hard work she does and her commitment to addressing really important issues.
Plus she’s the best looking Jordanian queen in the history of the country.
I got to know a lot about her and her work while working on her official website when I was back in Jordan, and even though there were a number of tight deadlines and late nights spent working on that project, it was truly an honour for me.
The 56-page memo to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cited the president’s “complete authority over the conduct of war,” overriding international treaties such as a global treaty banning torture, the Geneva Conventions and a U.S. federal law against torture.
“In order to respect the president’s inherent constitutional authority to manage a military campaign … (the prohibition against torture) must be construed as inapplicable to interrogations undertaken pursuant to his commander-in-chief authority,” stated the memo, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.
[Source: Reuters]
So, now all that crap about international treaties, conventions and laws doesn’t apply to the United States because they get their orders from their President and well their President is simply untouchable and above any international law.
If this is not absurd, I don’t know what is!
Bearing in mind that the U.S. Army currently has troops stationed in 120 countries, is Abu Ghraib really the most suitable assignment for this American soldier?
[Via Lawrence of Cyberia, Je Blog]
The announcement came after a series of confusing developments that began with the U.S. administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, and U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi telling al-Yawar their choice was Adnan Pachachi.
But after the latter announced that he would not accept the position, Iraq’s Governing Council voted to name its current president — al-Yawar.
It was less than an hour later when Brahimi issued a statement naming al-Yawar as his choice, but noting that he first offered the job to Pachachi.
The Brahimi statement also included his choices the two deputy presidential positions. Those selections were Dr. Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shi’ite Muslim and Dr. Rowsch Shaways, a non-Arab Kurd.
[More: CNN, Washington Post]
I think that what they’re trying to do in Iraq is something similar to the system in Lebanon where the President is always Christian and the Prime minister is always Muslim.
In Iraq, we see now that the President is Sunni, the Prime minister is Shiaa and Vice presidents are Shiaa and Kurdish.
The idea is to create a balance of power in the country so that no single group fully controls the government.
It worked for Lebanon.
Still I don’t think it’s that necessary if democracy is applied and diverse political parties have a role in the running of the country without certain roles having to be cut out for certain groups.
CIA stooge Allawi gets Iraqi presidency as reward for bogus WMD claim.
Exiled Allawi was responsible for the claim that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction could be operational in 45 minutes.
[Source: The Independent]
The naming of Mr Allawi who spent three decades in exile came as a surprise, he was evidently not the first choice of the UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. [BBC]
[Via Je Blog]
[…]
The magazine quoted a visitor who had been shown the gun, which is kept in a small study off the Oval Office where Bush displays memorabilia. It is the same room where former President Clinton had some of his encounters with former intern Monica Lewinsky.
Bush shows Saddam’s gun to select visitors, telling them it is unloaded, both now and when Saddam was captured, Time reported.
“He really liked showing it off,” Time quoted a visitor who had seen the gun as saying. “He was really proud of it.”
[Source: CNN]
So now Saddam’s gun is a war trophy and a game for Bush.
I can’t believe how childish and immature this guy is.
Some intelligence officials now believe that Iran used the hawks in the Pentagon and the White House to get rid of a hostile neighbour, and pave the way for a Shia-ruled Iraq.
According to a US intelligence official, the CIA has hard evidence that Mr Chalabi and his intelligence chief, Aras Karim Habib, passed US secrets to Tehran, and that Mr Habib has been a paid Iranian agent for several years, involved in passing intelligence in both directions.
The CIA has asked the FBI to investigate Mr Chalabi’s contacts in the Pentagon to discover how the INC acquired sensitive information that ended up in Iranian hands.
The implications are far-reaching. Mr Chalabi and Mr Habib were the channels for much of the intelligence on Iraqi weapons on which Washington built its case for war.
“It’s pretty clear that Iranians had us for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” said an intelligence source in Washington yesterday. “Iranian intelligence has been manipulating the US for several years through Chalabi.”
Larry Johnson, a former senior counter-terrorist official at the state department, said: “When the story ultimately comes out we’ll see that Iran has run one of the most masterful intelligence operations in history. They persuaded the US and Britain to dispose of its greatest enemy.”
[Source: The Guardian]
Now, this is a quite an interesting development in the story.
So, now we can know the truth that the US is a poor victim of Irani intelligence. The US never wanted to go to war in Iraq, even though they always talked and obsessed about it, they never really wanted to. It was Iran that was dealing the cards and playing them into a trap all along.
Yeah, ok, whatever you say dudes. We believe you. (NOT!)
Of course Chalabi is a dirty liar, but he was the US’ dirty liar.
And now he is the US’ scapegoat.
Amnesty International also rapped partners across the world in the United States’ self-declared “war on terror” for jailing suspects unfairly, stamping on legitimate political and religious dissent, and squeezing asylum-seekers.
“The global security agenda promoted by the U.S. administration is bankrupt of vision and bereft of principle,” Amnesty head Irene Khan said, launching its annual report.
“Violating rights at home, turning a blind eye to abuses abroad and using pre-emptive military force where and when it chooses has damaged justice and freedom, and made the world a more dangerous place.”
Specifically, Amnesty lashed Washington for unlawful killings of Iraqi civilians; questionable arrest and mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan; and opposition to a new global criminal court.
[More: CNN]
