News – Reliving -that- day

After a hearing with first responders, the 9/11 Commission is getting together with other 9/11 related officials. The list has Rudolph Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg and Tom Ridge. I was quite taken by the intro to the hearing with the first responders. They laid out the events of the 9/11 attacks with a comforting detail, which pretty much shows they’re paying attention to a myriad of lessons learned. In a way, there will be a positive aspect of this, just like there was one in the WTC bombing. Systems and security will increase in response and could save lives in the future. Though listening to the many failures on 9/11 wasn’t good for those who had lost because of them.

Could worries amongst evangelicals over the war cause a beak with Bush? Would Kerry be able to capitalize on such a break? Just like every other political question of this nature, I find myself morbidly amused at it.

Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress have finally been cut off the US payroll. Their monthly stipend of $335,000 for intelligence gathering will end on June 30th. It’s about damn time too. Considering how useless their help was, we should get our $27 million back.

Brigadier General Rick Baccus was removed from command of Guantanamo Bay in October of 2002 on charges from the Pentagon of being too nice to detainees and too hard on troops. Was he a casualty of the suspected new regs rolled out to get tough on detainees?

How about some Kerryism’s? It’s only fair. 😉

Iraq

Clashes continue in Kerbala. Seems Sistani’s words haven’t had the desired effect.

Specialist Jeremy Sivits has been convicted of two counts of maltreating detainees, one of conspiracy to maltreat and one of dereliction of duty, all of which he plead guilty to. He’s been cooperative and provided accounts of abuses by fellow soldiers.

The alQueda group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for the death of Iraqi Governing Council head Izzedin Salim.

Now there come reports that Iraqi staff of Reuters and NBC were abused during their detention last January in a military camp near Fallujah.

Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, is calling for Washington to ceded real power to Iraq on June 30th. He’s among several US allies who are growing concerned with the way things are going.

Israel/Palestine

An attack on Rafah yesterday leaves 20 dead, including children. Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters pledge to defend the camp, seeking to set themselves as the brave defenders and the Israeli Army as the evil aggressors in the minds of locals. Meanwhile Israel is sure to use the presence of militants as further impetus to wreak destruction on Rafah under the guise of self defense. Both sides of this conflict sicken me. Just wait, the body count is going to rise.

Dr Raed Tafesh is worried. There are 140,000 in Rafah and his hospital only has 40 beds. An escalation of the conflict will overwhelm the only hospital in Rafah.

Rafah, a gateway to terror. And if this one is destroyed, along with the innocents inside it, another will be made. Then another. And another. This sort of war of attrition is not the most logical way to fight.

Marwan Barghouthi is a rare living martyr, whose incarceration hasn’t dampened support for him. His trial ends on Thursday.

What’s next on the Israeli drawing board? A moat.

Afghanistan

Clashes also continue in Afghanistan with casualties for Taliban militants and Afghan forces.

Korea

South Korea is set for negotiations on the withdrawal of further troops from the front to deter North Korea.

Military Police are arresting soldiers in connection with the faked photos sent to the Daily Mirror. The UK was previously going through it’s own abuse allegations, but pictures provided have been determined to be fakes.

General

Today’s Papers has pork in strategic states and cuts on the national level, accusations of cover-up over Abu Ghraib and more in the one page news.

Amusements

White House consults fundie Christians on Middle East policy – Because this is too damn amusing for words.

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop a new Led Zeppelin album

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this sign</A