News – Iraqi Protests Continue

There are further protests for a second day today. This is something that will have to be addressed. If there are massed protests and more now, it could get much worse over the next 3-6 or more months of US presence. Hoping they can be ignored like the protests on other counties isn’t an option.. if you think some of the protesters in the US were disorderly, I’d surmise Middle Eastern protests, whipped into a frenzy, could be deadly. Garner might be chummy with the Kurds(a previously developed situation), but Kurds are the minority in Iraq. And Shi’ites, the ones protesting, are the majority. That’s a lot of angry people.

They were, in part, calling for the release of Muhammad al-Fartusi, a Shi’ite cleric who was detaned by the US forces, with three aides, for reasons as of yet unknown. One suggestion is that they were detained because they were armed. He was recently released. The rise of confidence, in the wake of lifting Saddam’s oppressive presence, may well work against US intentions of ‘guiding’ Iraq into the future. What if the Iraqis begin to refuse cooperation?

Another sticky spot is long term basing in Iraq, as the US has lots of bases in several countries. Rummy denies that its been decided already, saying it’s ‘unlikely’. Take that however you wish.

Nope. Still no WMD. But guess what? Some US officials are of the opinion that all they need is one of the science types to testify to Saddam’s supposed and alleged arms ambitions to justify the Iraq war on that level. I only have one word for that. Bull! Blix is talking, though what good it’ll do is debatable.

International Papers runs down the happening sin the Middle East. Way too much to coherently summarize, as the article does good enough already. Suffice it to say things remain complex. Today’s Papers have a mix of things. One interesting bit I heard about on TV is that the Supreme Court is looking into the Miranda Rights, which are read by police in the US. The question, can evidence obtained from suspects who haven’t been read their Miranda rights be admissible in court? On the Iraq scene, electrical tech in Garner’s crew note why power is still off in Baghdad. With 60% of the wires down across the city and looters having stripped power plants, it’ll take work to get it all going again. LA Times has a piece on the cluster bomb bombletts that are in Baghdad, despite that the US had previously banned the use of such weapons. Also, a speak peek at Bush’s re-election strategy. The last sentence of the summary is sure to floor you. :p

Explainer has some obscure lore, looking into where Abraham was born. The ultimate answer? We just don’t know. But most assume Ur, which is where US/Iraqi talks were going on.

The Bush Administration has ceased putting pressure on China for its human rights violations. Mostly for strategic value, which may or may not be required. Convenient how the push for a better world stops when Bush needs someone for something. Loose principals as always. Press box questions the recent article written by Judith Miller about the scientist who revealed three big possible bombshells when taken into custody. Did she agree to some harsh voluntary censorship to break the story?

There are plans for the US to wrap up the aid portion of its work in about one or two years, a tenth of the estimate for Afghanistan.

One unforeseen boon with all this war stuff. Since the US military did so well in wasting Iraq’s military, some are questioning if the Pentagon really needs loads of cash to make better and better weapons. D’oh!

Syria is pleased with the ease of US pressure on them and looking for more serious dialogue. Doubt they’ll get much, since the current administration is so wrapped up in a half dozen different issues(Afghanistan, Iraq, N Korea, SARS, Tax Cut, etc..).

North Korea might be getting into talks soon.. perhaps to actually end this nuke standoff without guns and bombs. What a good time for the possible leak of a US plan to bomb a North Korean reactor if it starts to reprocess fuel rods. The question of the day, starting to overshadow Iraq in some ways, is how will the current negotiations with them be handled? This is the next big insight into how Bush intends to deal with things like global nuke proliferation.

Despite not getting the votes once, Bush and Friends are keen on getting at least 550 billion of their tax cut, rather than the 300+ billion budget. So what.. we’ll only have massive deficits for five years with the 550b? And if that doesn’t work, they’ll try to phase it in. So either way, we lose.

A potentially infected Canadian health worker resisted voluntary quarantine, potentially putting many at risk of infection by his resistance. But this is one of those things you see in the movies, life imitating art. People get scared.. and fear makes them irrational. Hopefully he was subdued without too much struggle and no one else was infected, if he is.

Time for him to put his can away.

A New Banner for Some of You

Lastly, the Iaqi Info Ministers’s Resume!