Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)

He has the largest non-American military force in Iraq, actually. If he called for violent resistance what we've seen so far would be nothing compared to the hell that would erupt.

You mean the Badr Brigade? I am not sure to what degree Sistani controls it.

sean-paul at the agonist.org is reporting that the usa attack in najaf may be starting.

bob mcmanus, no not the badr brigade... see juancole.com for background and analysis.

"the Shia clerics particularly Ayatollah Sistani ***had*** forbidden Iraq’s Shia majority from taking any military or physical action against the U.S. forces in Iraq." [emphasis added]. This is historical background comment, not a report of a recent call to pacifism!

Surfdom is that region of the Pacific Ocean ruled by gnarly dudes on big boards, especially off the coasts of Hawaii and California.

Serfdom is a condition of economic servitude associated with Feudalism.

Of course, the Shia could be boarding in the Persian Gulf, but they'd have to use the wakes of oil tankers to get a ride...

Dune surfing just fails, though, the sand rubs the wax off the bottom of the board.

sistani is playing chess...bremer is a checkers player (& a good one)...sistani survived under saddam while Bremer excelled at inside-the-beltway politics...which is the more pertinent experience?

April 14, 2004 -- The national 9/11 commission has been hijacked by political shills -- men and women eager to subordinate truth to partisan advantage; who hold a transitory victory on Election Day more dear than American victory in the war on terror.
Tawdry ambition has eclipsed sacred duty; all Americans are diminished, but none more than the families of the 9/11 victims -- who expect better from the commission, and certainly deserve it.

Unless it is the thousands of young Americans now under arms in Iraq and elsewhere; their bravery and devotion to duty is inspirational. How shameful that the commission attack dogs hold their sacrifices so cheaply.

And John F. Kerry, who presumes to the presidency, acquiesces. What a disgrace.

Yesterday, Democratic shills Richard Ben-Veniste and Bob Kerrey hectored Attorney General John Ashcroft. They implied he was a coward for travelling on government aircraft at a time of heightened pre-9/11 security - if not, in fact, a scoundrel in possession of advance notice of the attack.

Last week, it was National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice in the Democrats' dock; she was a fool, a filibusterer, a liar.

"Isn't it a fact, Dr. Rice, that [President Bush was] warned against possible attacks in this country?" demanded Ben-Veniste.

Funny thing about that warning. Ben-Veniste was speaking of the now-famous Aug. 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing paper - suggesting that it proved the White House had failed to comprehend al Qaeda's threat to America.

Yesterday, it came out that someone had indeed gotten it right.

George W. Bush, who had directed that the briefing paper be prepared.

In a 13-page report titled "Threats and Responses in 2001," the commission staff paints a picture of alarm bells going off throughout Washington in the months before 9/11 about an imminent "spectacular" terror attack by Osama bin Laden.

But the intelligence reports all talked about attacks occurring against targets overseas.

And the fevered reports, in the summer of 2001, of possible threats "seemed to be focused on Saudi Arabia, Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen and possibly Rome, but the danger could be anywhere . . . "

So the CIA prepared the Aug. 6 memo, "summarizing its understanding of the danger."

In sum: The briefing paper was written specifically for the president in direct response to an order from the president!

Obviously, the CIA's "understanding of the danger" was deficient.

But it clearly was not "a fact" that Bush was "warned against possible attacks in this country."

It is clear, now, that the entire briefing-memo "scandal" was sewn from whole cloth. But will there be an apology from Ben-Veniste, Kerrey & Co.?

Not a chance.

Why not.

Because, to the Democrats, the enemy is not just al Qaeda.

It is also the George W. Bush White House.

So they cross the bounds of acceptable political discourse, twisting the truth and bending the facts to produce a product that will advance their political ambitions.

To hell with the 9/11 families.

And to hell with eight young Americans reported killed in action in Iraq just yesterday; to the 65 who died over the past week - and to the hundreds who have laid down their lives for peace and freedom since 9/11.

All to defeat Bush.

John Kerry could shut it down in a heartbeat, simply by saying: "Stop it!"

Kerry needs to do just that. He must state the obvious: that 9/11 was the work of Islamist fanatics, and that the danger will not have passed until those who make war on America are either killed or in captivity.

It is simply disgraceful that he hasn't already done so.

I think this is our last chance with Sistani. If we blow this, I think he'll wash his hands of us. In that case, we can kiss our asses goodbye in Iraq.

Online Casino Directory

Lectio brevior lectio potior - The shortest reading is the more probable reading

Ipsa scientia potestas est - Knowledge itself is power. (Bacon)

Age. Fac ut gaudeam - Go ahead. Make my day!

Cave quid dicis, quando, et cui - Beware what you say, when, and to whom

Saepe ne utile quidem est scire quid futurum sit - Often it is not even advantageous to know what will be. (Cicero)