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Tuesday, Apr 15, 2003

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

heads or tails

"The White House has privately ruled out suggestions that the US should go to war against Syria following its military success in Iraq, and has blocked preliminary planning for such a campaign in the Pentagon, the Guardian learned yesterday."

value proposition

"Now, this is a complicated point because although everybody in the room represented the media (and would, in short order, be recirculating the noninformation and obvious disinformation that was given out), almost everybody in the room saw the media as occurring somewhere else - a confection being created by some unseen hand. Everybody here would step out of the briefing room and look up at the monitors above the makeshift newsroom tuned to the networks and news channels and watch the briefing be reported to the world and share the same reaction: what bullshit. "
via digby

Monday, Apr 14, 2003

the right board

information on and a list of current members of the defense policy board.

road bloke

"Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave his strongest indication yesterday that he expected to see a Palestinian state and was willing to evacuate controversial settlements to achieve peace.

In an apparent softening of his stance, Mr Sharon declared that he was prepared for a "parting from places" that have been bound up with the state of Israel."

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