News – Garner in Baghdad. The True Test (2/2)

Kurd Sellout, day 47(Friday) takes a look at possible rising violence from Kurdish forces(unsanctioned by leaders) that raise tensions, as well as the US possibly asking for Turkey to lend forces in Iraq. A situation that bears some watching for a potential sellout.. or a good old fashioned flare up of tension from mistakes and misunderstandings.

Today’s Papers lead with several different stories on the front. From SARS< to Bush's words to Syria, to the marines retreating from Baghdad to leave it in the more subtle hands of the Army. As well, there is the capture of Saddam's son in law and the minister of higher education and scientific research. IN particular, the scientist said that had chemical and biological weapons, but destroyed them on the eve of the war, days before it started. He also said that Iraq had been secretly moving unconventional weapons and technologies to Syria since the mid 1990s. Lastly, he asserted that Iraq had been dealing with alQueda. The article linked to Today's Papers doesn't say how long, but I heard about this on talk radio and believe it was said to have started 'recently'. Are this man's words true? Good question.

If the US is determined to take responsibility for matters, Slate’s Gideon Rose thinks they need to start really taking it seriously. I’m inclined to agree. I do think that this post-war plan has been a little too ad hoc and unplanned.. or at the very least low on the type of detail and preparation needed to pull it off successfully. Unless the Bush Administration starts to take it seriously, they might fail. Especially with what I see as a wanting breadth of knowledge when it comes to Middle Eastern culture, religion and society.

China’s health minister and Beijing’s mayor were sacked for negligence in dealing with SARS. It seems China is starting to get with the program in a big way. Hopefully it’s not too late to quell the spread in their country. Hong Kong has had 7 more deaths and 22 cases of SARS, but seems confident that the outbreak has stabilized and will be checked. I’m hoping so. The CDC thinks that the SARS death rate thus far is 4%, but others think its higher. Ultimately, there hasn’t been enough cases and study to determine an accurate death rate.

Carmakers seem to be hopping on the Eco bandwagon with some new concept cars. One by Volvo supposedly cleans the air around it as you drive and one from Ford uses recycled materials for the interior. Both cute, but that’s not the eco response we’re looking for. We need alternative fuels in product line cars, not pipedream concept cars. There are some other promising ideas in the article, but I’ll be convinced once you can walk into the dealership and buy them.