News – No break for Halliburton(1/2)

Iraq

Halliburton continues to be picked at for inconsistencies and issues with their work done in Iraq. Meanwhile I feel the need to put the hurt on whoever does their ads. Those hokey, sappy, feel good PR commercials they’re putting out sicken me. Doesn’t matter what you do in Iraq if you’re screwing around improperly with taxpayer money while you’re doing it. They’re worried about their liquidity now and might have to take out loans cause of the government holding back payment during audits. Well, cry me a river. Maybe next time you get a contract, you won’t pull any of this bullshit and you won’t have to worry about getting the crap audited out of your collective corporate asses.

Grr, I say. 😉

Despite their useless info before the war, Ahmad Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress exile group is still pulling down $340k a month for info on insurgents. US officials say the INC is still giving information and has contacts. Personally, I’m skeptical of that.

Israel/Palestine

A draft plan, secured by an Israeli paper is revealed. One that will be discussed with US envoys expected today. Arafat pipes up to say he thinks any pullout should be total from occupied Palestinian areas. As well that the withdrawal should be accompanied by a resumption of dialogue between them.

Looks like, at the very least, Sharon will be talking to Ahmed Qureia next week after six months of silence between them.

McDonalds in Israel is criticized for forcing its employees to speak only in Hebrew to customers, not Arabic or Russian, both spoken by 20% of the population each. It seems this is not that uncommon in some Israeli businesses, if claims are to be believed. Considering Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Even if the Arabs integrate wonderfully with us, when their numbers reach 35% to 40% of the Israeli population, the Jewish state will at that point cease to exist.”, one might wonder if Israel isn’t primed to become discriminatory, simply by its very strong sense of self preservation which, at times, can border on the extreme.

Egypt has said it can secure it’s side of the Gaza border if Israel does its pull back. They say they can make sure there is no weapons smuggling across the border, but they haven’t done very well with that thus far it seems.

Hamas admits , for the first time, that they sent two Britons in suicide missions in Israel.

A commentary piece on how Israel seems set on reawakening its own feared resurgence of anti-Semitism. Much the same way as America tends to cause its own problems, by flailing at a problem without true insight into its causes, unwilling to look deeper.

Bush’s pro-democracy initiative is criticized for excluding Israel.

Iran

Other countries are starting to wonder about Iran and if they’re trying to pull a fast one now. Iran reacts angrily and accuses European nations of caving to US bullying. Meanwhile a new resolution form the US, to Iran, is generally accepted by 18 other nations, but some balk at the threatening wording.

Haiti

Gerard Latortue, selected by a US backed council to be Haiti’s Prime Minister until elections are held, has arrived in the country today. Two Haitian gunmen were killed when they ambushed a marine patrol.

Spain

A series of rush hour explosions at Madrid train stations has left 173 dead and many more wounded. Spain officials point the finger toward the Basque separatist group Eta. The leader of the Batasuna, banned in Spain for alleged links to Eta, said he did not believe Eta was behind this. He thinks some Arab resistance did it, considering the high body count. It is Spain’s deadliest terrorist attack yet.

(Wikipedia is a new resource for me. Luverly)