News – Iraq Instability Continues

Seems the current spate of battle won’t end with Falluja.

Iraq

Seems a US soldier has been caught on tape shooting an unarmed, injured Iraqi man in the face. He was a prisoner, one of five in a Falluja masque. The US military is investigating this. Here’s the situation(From the Reuters link, though a little more detail is in the Guardian article):

The pool report by NBC correspondent Kevin Sites said the mosque had been used by insurgents to attack U.S. forces, who stormed it and an adjacent building, killing 10 militants and wounding the five.

Sites said the wounded had been left in the mosque for others to pick up and move to the rear for treatment. No reason was given why that had not happened.

A second group of Marines entered the mosque on Saturday after reports it had been reoccupied. Footage from the embedded television crew showed the five still in the mosque, although several appeared to be already close to death, Sites said.

He said one Marine noticed one of the prisoners was still breathing.

A Marine can be heard saying on the pool footage provided to Reuters Television: “He’s f***ing faking he’s dead. He faking he’s f***ing dead.”

“The Marine then raises his rifle and fires into the man’s head. The pictures are too graphic for us to broadcast,” Sites said.

The report said the Marine had returned to duty after being shot in the face a day earlier.

Sites said the shot prisoner “did not appear to be armed or threatening in any way.”

Damning.

US forces have now turned attention to Mosul, where insurgents have settled in while they were attacking Falluja. Oil exports have been effected dramatically by the new violence in the city. We’ve also got air strikes being called into Baquba yesterday as US forces square off with insurgents there as well as in Baghdad, Ramadi, Buhriz and Suwayra. On some level I wonder if this is a new tactics now.. to lead the US on a merry chase through city after city? I suppose we’ll see.

Senate investigators have upped the previously assumed amount Saddam got off the UN’s oil for food program, doubled to $21.3 billion.

Israel/Palestine

Israel has lodged a protest with the UN over the latest incident of Katyusham rocket fire at it, coming form southern Lebanon. They blame Hizbollah for the rockets, one of which landed in the sea and the other hit a northern Israeli town(no reports of damage). Thus far Hizbollah hasn’t taken responsibility for the rockets. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has cited security sources in suggesting that Palestinians from refugee camps in Lebanon, backed by Hizbollah, could have been behind the rocket attack. A PLO official has denied this.

The man who instigated the attack on Mahmoud Abbas, The Fatah secretary general in Gaza Ahmed Hillis, appears to be a member of the old guard, a man put in place for his loyalty rather than his skill or clout. He’s tried to instigate more violence toward Abbas, but his efforts seem to bear little fruit.

Afghanistan

Looks like the militants holding three UN workers will be narrowing their demands, not including demand that US forces get out of Afghanistan or for the release of Gitmo prisoners. Might just be the fifteen Taliban prisoners held in Afghanistan.

Africa

The Ivory Coast has recently started a slide away from peaceful prosperity and there are talks of an arms embargo if the government and rebels don’t return to the terms of a 2003 peace agreement.

Human Rights Watch says neither side is adhering to the April ceasefire agreement and notes that failure to hammer them for it will be seen as an opening to continue. The UN remains divided on the course of action to take.

Europe

Jacques Chirac, French President, has commented that the UK has gained nothing out of its support of the Bush administration’s war in Iraq. Meaning US support for Middle East peace. “I said then to Tony Blair: ‘We have different positions on Iraq. Your position should at least have some use’. That is to try to obtain in exchange a relaunch of the peace process in the Middle East.”, Chirac has said.

US

The excitement at the White House yesterday was nonstop. A man set himself on fire outside of the White House Monday first. It seems he was a Mohamed Alanssi, Yemeni federal informant on terrorism upset over how the FBI had managed his case. Later that day a man actually climbed the White House fence(not in article, but I saw it on the news). Who knows what he was thinking, but he was quickly taken down and carted off.

Colin Powell is out, but could Condi be in? Yup, speculation is that Condi will be the new secretary of state after Powell leaves. Whether or not that is a good thing I remain undecided on. Mostly because I don’t know what the hell Condi has been doing the last four years.. has she done anything? Speculation rises on why Powell is getting out. Personally, I don’t blame Powell for wanting out. He was getting a raw deal overall, as far as I’ve seen things.

What of Rummy? He says he hasn’t discussed his future with Bush. The uncertainty of that statement is interesting.

Word is that Stephen Kappes, deputy director for operations, and his deputy Michael Sulick resigned from the Directorate of Operations, the powerful unit that recruits foreign spies and conducts covert operations overseas, after confrontations with Goss’s chief of staff, Patrick Murray. This is the sort of BS we don’t need right now, especially when it involves talented officials. If Goss can’t reign in clashes like this, maybe he isn’t ready for this assignment?

Congress could be fast tracking copyright legislation that could severely hamper fair use. Bad idea, I think, because the last thing we need is to further unbalance the situation with such vague legislation that could stifle innovation the same way that conservatives charge health care rates have risen. Through fear of litigation. This legislation needs a longer period of being poked, prodded and tightened into something helpful rather than harmful.

Round one of three way dialogue on Welfare reform, in part discussing Jason DeParle’s recent book American Dream, an account of the journey of three Milwaukee women in the wake of the 1996 welfare bill

Treasury Secretary Snow admits the US has a deficit that’s too high, but insists there is no need to cut spending in the War on Terror. So where shall we begin cutting?

Peter Gotti, brother of late mob boss John Gotti, is on trial for allegedly plotting to kill famed Gambino crime family informant Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano for bringing down the head of the family. Real life mob trial action.

An Arizona woman has been sentenced to seven years and three months for attempting to kill her Marine husband at a Kuwait base, in a plot through which she hoped to blame his death on terrorism. That’s very uncool. Her accomplice and lover, Chief Warrant Officer Larry Framness , attempted to kill Wendy Glass’s husband with a grenade, but the attack failed and he has been sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 25 years. As well he should be.

General

John Humphrys, one of Britain’s leading political journalists, believes that politicians like Bush and Blair are destroying the English language through a “deadly virus of management speak”. That they’re mangling the language, destroying its meaning by avoiding the use of verbs, twisting nouns into verbs, and endlessly repeating phrases until they become “zombified.” In particular he criticizes political leaders for being sucked into using meaningless phrases and hackneyed mantras to disguise policies or protect themselves from accountability.

Marvel is suing the companies behind the MMORPG City of Heroes because the game allows players to make characters similar to their own. They accuse the companies behind it of making the game in such a way as to knowingly allow players to fashion their characters to look like and be named after famous Marvel icons like The Hulk, Captain America and Spider-Man. I think Marvel is picking the wrong fight. Making a huge issue out of that, true or not, is not the way to keep fans. Personally, it disgusts me.

The first large national US study on the subject finds that lesbian couples raise teenagers whoa re not that much different from those raised by heterosexual couples. Just another chip on the ‘depends on the parent, not the sexuality’ pile.

Explainer clears up the mystery of Blair’s lapel flower.

OF all things, a book on proper techniques in cunnilingus. I must admit, it would feel odd reading about such things. As well, a history of the orgasm which is said to completely miss the point.

Today’s Papers has note that comparatively few of the insurgents captured in Falluja are foreign, musings of Bush cabinet changes and other tidbits in the one page news.

Amusements

FDA tells Pfizer to pull the Viagra “Wild Thing” ad. Enzyte Bob still the wood that will not bend

Thieves attempt to steal live gas pipe by sawing it in two

The unwritten rules of “The Price is Right”: “Girls can kiss Bob. Boys can’t kiss Bob. Everybody can hug Bob, but the No. 1 rule is don’t hurt Bob.”

Case dropped against woman who didn’t know the George W. Bush $200 bill wasn’t real currency

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop scenes from the upcoming movie “Weekend at Yasser’s.”

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this coastal wall

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this autumnal dog walker. Difficulty: No crucifixions