drat fink
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art officials
"Why did the US fail to protect the museum? To the extent that the ACCP would rather see anquities on the market rather than locked up in "retentionist" state museums, the group's recommendations may have struck a respondant chord among the Pentagon's neoconservative ideologues. Neoconservatives see state-owned libraries, archives, and museums as residues of socialism and are working to transfer public library and museum assets to private concerns.. Were the troops instructed to stand by while the museum looting took place? This seems unlikely; after all, the troops failed to protect hospitals as well as museums, and may have violated the Hague Convention in their failure to do so.* It seems that no plans were developed for protecting the Iraqi people's assets in the conflict's aftermath."
via cursor
conséquences graves
"The fall of France was astonishingly swift. After regime change in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, it was only a matter of time before Tony Blair and George W. Bush said that they had “no plans” to attack France. The detested Jacques Chirac had long been a thorn in their sides. He was a past friend of Saddam Hussein, welcomed Arab exiles and had a suspiciously large Muslim population. Above all, he refused point-blank to disband his force de frappe weapons of mass destruction. As Donald Rumsfeld had said back in 2003: “Things mean consequences.” France posed a clear and immediate threat. The coalition acted in pre-emptive self-defence. It was a pity about the Louvre."
via booknotes
fire sail
"What happened to the Royal Library of Alexandria? We can be certain it was there once, founded by Ptolomy II Soter, and we can be equally certain it is not there now. It formed part of the Museum which was located in the Bruchion or palace quarter of the city of Alexandria. This great ancient city, occupying a spit of land on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, had been founded by Alexander the Great in his flying visit to Egypt and became the capital of the last dynasty of Pharaohs descended from Alexander's general Ptolemy. The Great or more properly Royal Library formed a part of the Museum but whether or not it was a separate building is unclear."
via hesiod
self demotion
just noticed that im at 403 on the ecosystem chart due to some clerical error, im sure. and while i was there i noticed a new addition to the "what were they thinking when they linked to me" club, cooped up. i guess he must have intuited that i was a poor shleb of a mets fan. fortunately, ive had the war to distract me from their woeful play. (i knew eventually rummy would do me a solid.) but in reality, the worse they play, the less of an interest i have. and in the end, i regard my disregard as a good thing. so its on to syria, i say, i cant bear to watch the nba playoffs.
le watchdog
global corporate ethics monitor via agence france-presse well, it looked good. unfortunately, its a subscriber only service.
pants on fire
"Other presidents have had problems with truth-telling. Lyndon Johnson was said, politely, to have suffered a "credibility gap" when it came to Vietnam. Richard Nixon, during Watergate, was reduced to protesting, "I am not a crook." Bill Clinton was relentlessly accused by both adversaries and allies of reversing solemn commitments, not to mention his sexual dissembling. But George W. Bush is in a class by himself when it comes to prevarication. It is no exaggeration to say that lying has become Bush's signature as president."
earning trusc
"Of more enduring importance, the Etruscans were a conduit for the introduction of Greek culture and its pantheon of gods to the Romans. The Etruscans developed a version of the Greek alphabet, a step that influenced Roman letters and thereby northern Europe's. They built the first cities in Italy, when the hills of Rome stood barren of promise, and their influence shows up in later Roman works of architecture and engineering."
damascussing
"However, there is a small problem with diplomacy backed by the threat of force: You must be prepared to follow through with the threats. Of course, nobody at the most senior level inside the Bush administration has actually offered to order the Third Infantry Division into Syria. But the half-threats that have emerged so far have unsettled even the president’s closest ally: the British government of Tony Blair."
listing
"Hmmmm . . . let's go down the pre-invasion checklist:
Vague, unsubstantiated claims about weapons of mass destruction? Check.
Helpful testimony from a highly convenient defector? Check.
Ominous "all options on the table" rhetoric from the White House? Check.
Evasive "Don't look at me; I just work here" excuses from Colin Powell? Check.
Naive reassurances from our British flunk. . . er, allies? Check.
Bellicose threats from our Israeli master. . . er, allies? Check.
US forces quietly assembling on the Syrian border? Check.
Likudnik media whores spouting the administration line? Or is it the other way around? Well, anyway: Check."
via billmon
where is raul?
"From the war to come, we turn our attention back to the war that just was. Last Friday, much to my delight, I began receiving emails again from Raul, the last Iraqi teenager with access to the Internet. When we left our hero, he had turned against the United States and become a Fedayeen Saddam. It looks like he's changed his mind again, and I welcome him back. His transmissions began anew last Wednesday, the Day The Earth Stood Still."
lynch mob
"NASIRIYAH, Iraq, April 14 -- Accounts of the U.S. military's dramatic rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch from Saddam Hospital here two weeks ago read like the stuff of a Hollywood script. For Iraqi doctors working in the hospital that night, it was exactly that -- Hollywood dazzle, with little need for real action.
"They made a big show," said Haitham Gizzy, a physician at the public hospital here who treated Lynch for her injuries. "It was just a drama," he said. "A big, dramatic show."
via slate