News – Iraq Instability, No International Help

Are we desensitized yet?

I know I was already, but how about you?

Iraq

The Aike Hotel in Baghdad has been bombed. A Somali guard was killed in the blast.

Akila al-Hashemi of the Iraqi council died of wounds received in a Saturday assassination attempt.

Everyone’s waiting for the report on WMD. But it is unlikely any weapons will be reported(Rough draft of the report in circulation) found, only some proof that they had programs for them. Which is unlikely to be of importance. We know he had them at some point. The key is did he have them when the US was supposedly threatened by him? Docs showing weapons programs years ago won’t impress me.

Republicans are pushing Bush to lay out his plan on Iraq. He’d have to be a moron not to.. unless he is planless.

Slate’s Fray tosses about opinions on Bush’s UN speech. View it from many angles.

Israel/Palestine

Israel has killed Diab Shyoukhi, an Islamic Jihad leader for the southern West Bank and three other militants. Expect retaliation soon.

On surprising note, 27 Israeli pilots have refused to fly assassination missions that could endanger civilians on the West Bank.

“We, who have been educated to love the state of Israel refuse to take part in airforce attacks in civilian population centres. We refuse to continue harming innocent civilians.”, one said.

Gotta respect that. Apparently, their commanders don’t. The 27 have generally been derided as a tiny minority and there are notes of disciplinary action for their “illegitimate” and “forbidden” statement.

Iran

More traces of enriched uranium have been found in an Iran nuclear site, but this sample could give support to their claim of it being residual contamination. Could it be.. they’re actually telling the truth?

Afghanistan

The European Commission is shelling out millions to help pay police salaries in Afghanistan. Good for the police there.

Korea

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has impressed the hell out of me. He’s linked the deployment of troops to Iraq to the talks with North Korea. Progress in the talks equals troops for Iraq. It’s only fair as far as I’m concerned, but to even suggest it is a pretty tough stand to take against the Bush Administration.

Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has done some great things for his country. But he also has a dark side, which is hardly new or secret. Will Bush turn a blind eye to the retreat from democracy in Russia to secure her help with his nation building?

US

The Do Not Call list has been sidelined for the moment. Oklahoma City District Judge Lee West declared that the FTC didn’t have the authority to make the list. The FTC will appeal and congress is vowing immediate action.

Dean and Kerry are attacking Wesley Clarks democratic credentials. Because he voted for Regan and Nixon. I wasn’t aware that democrats had to vote on party lines to be democrats. Oh wait, they don’t.

Wesley Clark lays out his 100 billion dollar plan to create jobs and assist the middle class. An important step, though not many details are given here.

The Gaffes of Carol Moseley Braun: Her most embarrassing quotes in context. Baseless statements on perceived racism made under pressure. Later apologized for.

General

Need a ‘cheap’ supercomputer? Go Mac cluster.

A study faults Microsoft’s monoculture for the difficulties in PC security. Microsoft denies this and says the report is looking too much at the negatives and not the positives of a monoculture when it comes to software.

The RIAA retreats after it is found their lawsuit against a 66 year old sculptor was targeting the wrong person. With their Mac, they can’t even run Kazaa. The owners of Kazaa, in other news, are filing suit against the RIAA for using unauthorized versions of his software to track down its users. You know.. copyright infringement. Bask in the irony. 😉

Explainer expounds upon what military crimes can get soldiers the death penalty.

Day to Day: Wesley Clark’s buzzwords, letters and more.

A review of The Rundown. Seems to be no solid good or bad to it. Pros and cons of this, the Rock’s third shot at the movies. Personally, I plan to see it, I liked the previews.

Explainer goes to bat or JetBlue over its privacy misstep. I don’t know about concrete harm, but it is a matter of trust at the very least.

William Saletan elaborates on his ballot box commentary as many get the message of his note of Democratic lying wrong. I’m not surprised Rush read only what he wanted to see into it. What