Baghdad Is Still Burning

But Riverbend is gone:

The day we finally appointed as THE DAY, we woke up to an explosion not 2 km away and a curfew. The trip was postponed a week. The night before we were scheduled to travel, the driver who owned the GMC that would take us to the border excused himself from the trip- his brother had been killed in a shooting. Once again, it was postponed.

There was one point, during the final days of June, where I simply sat on my packed suitcase and cried...

As we crossed the border and saw the last of the Iraqi flags, the tears began again. The car was silent except for the prattling of the driver who was telling us stories of escapades he had while crossing the border. I sneaked a look at my mother sitting beside me and her tears were flowing as well. There was simply nothing to say as we left Iraq. I wanted to sob, but I didn’t want to seem like a baby. I didn’t want the driver to think I was ungrateful for the chance to leave what had become a hellish place over the last four and a half years.

It's a long post. Hopefully it signals more frequent blogging to come.

Of course, Omar Fadhil would like us all to believe that Riverbend is just taking a holiday.

Why Rupert Hired Tim Dunlop

Not only has Tim's criticism of the Murdoch press been effectively neutered for the duration of the election campaign, but he is also going to be on board to criticise PM Keven Rudd for the next three years (assuming he keeps playing his cards right and gets his contract extended: is it an AWA, Tim?).

You know, much of the evil in this world could be avoided if people just refused to sell their souls for money.

Ass-Kicking Or Arse-Kissing?

Here's how George W. Bush evaluates US progress in Iraq:

"We're kicking ass."

Isn't that great? You betcha.

And if you don't think it's great, you suck. Even if you are in the majority, in the USA, Australia, and every other damn country on the planet.

Because it's Bush's way or the highway, dude. With US or against US. Kickin' ass or frickin' Isolationism. Yeah, that's right, you heard me!

THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE, YOU DAMNED FOOLS!!!

If the world keeps telling you to go away, that your power is despised and your culture is wicked, what are you to do? Retreat may be the natural reaction to the irrational anti-Americanism that has long infected the West. Who can forget how European intellectuals danced on the graves at ground zero?

Those are the wise words of Australian "intellectual" Janet Albrechtson, who still gets paid for her regular political commentary in the Murdoch Press even though she holds a taxpayer-funded position on the board of the ABC.

Left-wing US haters aside, disdain towards America now runs much deeper... Are we happy to leave it to Russia or China to guard Western interests when it comes to Iran and North Korea? ... Everywhere one looks, the US is there. Not always perfect. Criticise them for specific failures by all means. But acknowledge the scorecard: the full spectrum of US hegemony, from its brute military muscle to the soft seduction of American ideas, has been an overwhelming force for good.

Ah, yes, Janet! How softly we are seduced! How passionately we yearn to be embraced by that brute military muscle! Bring it on, baby! Whoo hoo!

John Howard once described Janet Albrechtsen as the GG's "best columnist":

"I don't mind when someone attacks me from the right. It keeps me honest."

Mark Latham called her"

"A skanky ho who will die in a ditch to defend the Liberal Party."

Who do you think got it right?

And on that bombshell, let's pause to remember that Latham correctly called Bush "the most incompetent and dangerous president in living memory". Latham also accused Howard of being an "arselicker" of the Bush Administration, and described his 2003 White House visit as "a conga line of suckholes" heading to Washington. Gee, I wonder why the media shot him down...

Paul Kelly Calls On Howard To Step Down

Murdoch's man politely insists it's time to go:

Howard can work as hard as he likes, but the problem transcends diligence and capability.

Howard's formula is that he would stay leader only as long as his party wanted him.

The party is not going to depose Howard and Peter Costello is not going to challenge him. Howard's leadership lies in his own hands.

For 12 years he has stayed Liberal leader because he judged correctly that he was the party's best election winner. That was true in 1995 and it was true in 2006. But is it still true in September 2007?

What is the real message of the polls? Is it for Howard to bring on the election? Or is it that the public has closed its mind against him?

Howard has no intention of walking away from this battle because for him that would be an act of panic and cowardice.

But if the Liberal Party really believes the election is lost, then Howard must consider his responsibility as leader. He needs, at least, to re-examine his position and decide whether its logic remains valid.

Of course, Kelly has just devoted a whole article to proving that the logic is not valid.

Wanker Of The Day

Shorter Miranda Devine:

Only those who have been to Iraq (like me!) are entitled to an opinion on the war. Only those in the Middle East (like me!) can see how Rudd's talk of withdrawal is detrimental to Australia's interests.

Labor hates the troops, who are great blokes doing a great job of training Iraqi forces (even if the USA now wants to disband them).

General Petraeus' Aussie advisor has helped create a "tribal awakening" which has Al Quaeda "off balance". No, really.

Bush And Howard Behind Bars At Last

Great photo from Andrew Meares. Click that link for a good SMH run-down of Bush's first morning in Sydney, or click here for some great eyewitness reporting from blogger Darryl Mason:

Inside The Cage yesterday afternoon, police, security guards and foreign secret service agents patrolled the streets, manned entry points along the 'steel wall' and videod every person who walked past the side and rear service entries to the Intercontinental Hotel, where President Bush is now staying.

The few pedestrians and tourists wandering around inside The Cage barely spoke. Heads down, shoulders slumped, people moved as fast as they could to get to where they were going. Entire cafes, normally crowded with tourists, sat empty, rows of chairs and tables bereft of customers. If you wanted coffee, or food, you waited until you were outside of The Cage to stop and get what you wanted.

Nobody wanted to linger in there. Inside The Cage was a Sydney I'd never seen before. Quiet, subdued, confused and nervous.

Cheney Is Already At War... With The Pentagon

Given that an attack on Tehran still hasn't happened, I've been thinking the same thing as TPMmuckraker:

[T]he real target of any coordinated campaign between the VP and right-wing D.C. think tanks on Iran isn't the Iranians themselves, or even general public opinion, but the Pentagon. Cheney needs to soften up his opposition inside the administration if Bush is to ultimately double down on a future conflict, something that a drumbeat of warnings about the Iranian threat can help accomplish...

How would an actual war be launched, given the expected opposition of the Democratic-controlled Congress? To that end, President Bush's decision to declare Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group provides an opportunity. If the IRGC, Iran's alternate military, is a terrorist group, Bush could claim authority under the September 18, 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force in Afghanistan to take action against Iran without Congressional approval, citing the AUMF's broad provision that "the President has authority under the Constitution to take action to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States."

The idea that Cheney is at war with the Pentagon might also help explain who hacked into the Pentagon's email system a few weeks ago. The Chinese insist it wasn't them.

Howard's Australia

Like the bumper stickers say: Love Howard, or piss off.

"Arrest That Man! He's A War Criminal!"

What do you think would happen if you tried to make a citizen's arrest of Phillip Ruddock?

The Last Waltz?

Well, here we go. Bush has finally touched down Down Under, and on that bombshell the APEC media circus is finally underway. For John Winston Howard, this is it - the last opportunity to boost his flat-lining popularity before he calls an election.

Howard and Bush will be out on the water today, having lunch with their hand-picked military, political and media stooges. The story will almost certainly top the TV news tonight. There will be much more of the same over the coming week. And then, I suspect, there will be time for just one more Newspoll before Howard calls the election.

But what if that final pre-election poll shows that even APEC has not given Howard a boost? What then? I can't help wondering if Howard might not - even at this late stage - step down "in the best interests of the Party" and let Costello eagerly fling himself off the election cliff into political oblivion. It would be a short plank for Costello to walk - a five-week orgy of smirking self-congratulation, then into the hungry jaws of the post-mortem sharks. Meanwhile, Howard could walk off the political scene (stage right) still pretending his political legacy was intact.

Costello could tweak a few unpopular policies (esp. WorkChoices) and reshuffle the cabinet - well, what have they got to lose?

Small business' greatest threat is big business

Here's an interesting quote from The Bulletin:

I am normaly a Liberal voter, but will vote Labor this time. I am in small business (retail) and can say on the whole the new IR laws have not worked well for us... Small business' greatest threat is big busines [sic].

There's One In Every Class, Isn't There?

There is something profoundly un-Australian about Erez Sharabani. I fear he will never be able to integrate fully with our society.

Tears Of A Clown

What a wanker:

Fully aware of his isolation as he defiantly insists his forces struggle on in Iraq, Mr Bush told Mr Draper: "I've got God's shoulder to cry on, and I cry a lot."

Referring to the growing death tally in Iraq, he added: "I'll bet I've shed more tears than you can count as president."

As for his plummeting standing in the popularity polls, the president pointed to his dog, Barney, and said: "That guy who said if you want a friend in Washington get a dog, he knew what he was talking about."

But he said: "I made a decision to lead. One, it makes you unpopular; two, it makes people accuse you of unilateral arrogance, and that may be true. But the fundamental question is, is the world better off as a result of your leadership?"

Mr Bush says history will have to decide on his legacy, but he adds that he gets short shrift from wife, Laura, when he gets down. "She reminds me that I decided to do this," he said.

"Self-pity is the worst thing that can happen to a presidency. This is a job where you can have a lot of self-pity."

Mr Bush said he's hoping General David Petraeus, America's top commander in Iraq, will be able to sell the progress he claims is being made in the war when he delivers his report to Congress next week.

He said his belief that his "surge" plan would work in Iraq was not for show. "You can't fake it," he added.

But he worries about his ability to convince the public his strategy is working. "I've been here too long. Every time I start painting a rosy picture, it gets criticised and then it doesn't make it on the news."

John Howard can probably relate to that last point. I think it's called credibility.

Must Read

New York Times: Pattern Cited in Killings of Civilians by U.S.

Howard Calls Bush "Misleading" and "Contemptuous Of The Public"

Bush:

You want to get me to talk about polls when I don't pay attention to polls.

Howard:

"Political figures who say they don't take any notice of polls are misleading the public and indeed being contemptuous of the public."

So Bush Is Coming To APEC - Does That Mean No War With Iran?

“I am a Republican. I am a conservative. But I’m not a raging lunatic. This is lunatic.”

That's from a secret source "with connections to someone at a neoconservative institution in Washington", as quoted by George Packer at The New Yorker.

The leaked details of an impending attack on Iran were formerly posted at Juan Cole's blog. TPM Cafe has more info. Even Oliver "Iran-Contra Hero" North is getting in on the game.

Add that to reports of increased US warplane activity across the USA and it's an interesting situation indeed.

UPDATE: From Reza Aslan at Slate:

According to a report released by the New York Times, of the 60 to 80 fighters who enter Iraq each month to join al Qaida in Mesopotamia, half are from Saudi Arabia. The majority of suicide bombers are Saudis, as are about 45 percent of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. And nearly half of the foreign prisoners in U.S. custody in Iraq are from Saudi Arabia. Yet, far from threatening to confront Saudi Arabia's murderous activities, Bush has just offered to supply billions of dollars in advanced weaponry to that country. Why? According to State and Defense department officials, to help ward off Iranian influence.

Why Is This Man Still Smiling?

Don't forget the 1978 Hilton Hotel garbage bin bomb. In that case it was a Regional Heads of Government Meeting. The top suspect, Tim Anderson, was eventually acquitted after many long years of protesting his innocence. ASIO was heavily implicated. Questions remain unanswered.

Would they do it again? You betcha!

UPDATE: Oh my! More form:

HOLES have emerged in the evidence Australian intelligence agencies have relied on to paint former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib as a national security threat.

Authorities have used phone calls made by a US terrorist to Mr Habib's Sydney home in 1993 to bolster their case against him.

But The Australian has learned the terrorist could not have made the calls, which phone records reveal were made after he was arrested over the 1993 bomb attack on New York's World Trade Centre.

This Is NOT A Retreat

Steve Bell is back:

It sure looks like a retreat, doesn't it?

Basra is Iraq's second largest city. British troops are now stationed at the local airport, Basra Air Station, awaiting a ride home. Ironically, the new British HQ is where George W. Bush chose to make his PR stopover last night, lauding "progress" in the area.

Don't be fooled. Here's what one resident said as the Iraqi flag was raised over Basra Palace:

"We as an Iraqi people reject occupation. We reject colonialism. We want our freedom."

In London, the British pullout has renewed calls for a full enquiry:

We must not be in denial any longer. If a people or a government is guilty of serious wrongdoing, on a scale from the discreditable to the shameful, then we know from experience that it becomes itself a victim of its actions.

Today's Newspoll suggests Australians are finally preparing to dump Howard and enter the 21st Century. But it's not enough just to pick a new PM and pull the troops out. We also need an unbiased enquiry into how we ever got involved with this disastrous War Crime.

Australia still "seems a strange democracy where truth is discouraged".

Rewriting History

Gerard Henderson on mandatory detention:

It is not a widely known fact that the initial move for reform came [from] the Prime Minister's Department and the Prime Minister's office with the acquiescence of Howard himself. The strong advocacy of such Liberal backbenchers gave impetus to the cause.

Um, didn't massive public outrage have something to do with it?

Quote Of The Day

Via Tony Karon:

He had always considered himself a human being, a Jew and a Zionist until he began to recognize that his Zionism negated the other two aspects of his identity.

I was thinking yesterday how Bush and Howard cannot escape the mess of the Iraq War, because they cannot admit they were wrong, and so the whole morass becomes an ever-deepening quagmire entrapping more and more innocent lives.

But really, what is the Iraq War if not just one more aspect of the endlessly tragic conflict over Palestine that began in 1948?

Obscene Greed

Who's profiting most from the Iraq war? MSN Money puts Halliburton subsidiary KBR at the top of the list, followed by Veritas Capital Fund (a private equity fund). Here's the MSN Money quote:

Not all of the Iraq-war money is well spent.

You might think the whole report is tongue-in-cheek, and some of it is, but there is a very serious side to this article. MSN Money is, after all, a website for investors. So you find related stories like these:

* Why politicians are worth buying
* Are you investing in terrorism?
* Invest in the new mercenary army
* Invest in uranium? Not yet
* Does military service still pay?

Now surely those stories are just hoaxes, right? NOT! Click on the first one and you get this:

Companies that give money to political campaigns have better-performing stocks, according to a new study, than companies that don't contribute. It's no small gap, either. Corporations that give the most have beaten the market by 2.5 percentage points a year over the past 25 years.

What about investing in one of the 20,000 private military contractors ("sadly, the term mercenary is passé")?

If this gives you a chill, look at the bright side. It gives you the opportunity to be an entirely new type of war profiteer. No longer must you make money merely in the bloodless tailwind of mega-cap equipment vendors like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. You've now got a chance to make a few bucks off the men and women who actually shoot to kill. It's a capitalist version of "24," without the commercial breaks.

This article on Iraq War profiteering is currently #5 in the MSN Money Reader's Choice list. Here's an interesting snippet from the #1 article:

Lastly, in a sad commentary about where we are as a country, U.S. Comptroller General David Walker was quoted Tuesday (also in the Financial Times), as follows: "Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr. Walker warned there were 'striking similarities' between America's current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including 'declining moral values and political civility at home, an overconfident and overextended military in foreign lands, and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government.' "

Unfortunately, it seems to me that he is dead right.

UPDATE: A great comment from DeanL at Lefty's blog:

The Government has become a bank. And it's become a saver of our money for us because, apparently, they don't trust us to manage our money ourselves - we'll spend it on stupid stuff (like our mortgages?) and cause inflation to go up. But are these users of our money really spending it on stuff that is good for us and our environment? I guess, economically, we're doing all right - sure we're losing all our spare time and work conditions but we're ok. The envorionment? Well, who cares?

Now, I'd be willing to listen to a well-reasoned argument about why this is a good thing; but, on the surface, it just appears to me as if it's not much better than a communist regime taking and redistributing on our behalf.

Oh, My!

Wierd. The "Breaking news" section of Teh Oz shows this:

Government thought quarantine OK

1:55pm PRIME Minister John Howard admitted today that the Government received a letter three years ago warning that changes to quarantine laws could allow diseases like equine flu (EI) to enter the country.

But the pro-Howard story it links to doesn't follow up on that angle at all. Is there something they don't want us to know?

UPDATE: Never mind, here's The Age version:

In letters sent to then federal agriculture minister Warren Truss in 2004 and 2005, the Australian Racing Board (ARB) outlined its opposition to quarantine changes, particularly the use of private veterinarians to inspect horses coming into the country.

Hmmn. So outsourced private sector vets allowed the Equine Virus into the country, and Howard has released these ARB protest letters on the same day as he is announcing an enquiry.

Mr Howard denied claims the outbreak could have been prevented through stricter quarantine guidelines.

"We considered that view and decided that view was not properly based," Mr Howard said.

"What has caused this latest outbreak, we don't know.

"We don't want to jump to conclusions about what happened here."

Sure, let's not jump to conclusions. Let's wait for the sanitized government whitewash.

Why Isn't APEC In Canberra?

Somebody made a bad call, but nobody wants to admit it.

The official reason why Sydney was selected over Canberra is spelled out in the official APEC FAQ:

The scale of the APEC leaders meetings means it is impractical to host it in Canberra. For example, APEC requires approximately 25,000 room nights at hotels where leaders, delegates and media will be staying.

That estimation is reached by muliplying visitors by the number of nights they will be staying. But the original estimate turns out to be wildly over-optimistic:

Two years ago Sydney hoteliers were contacted by the Federal Government and asked to reserve thousands of rooms for the summit.

But the expected 6000 delegates from the 21 APEC nations have not materialised. Instead, only about 4000 have said they are coming to town.

Of course, hotel rooms are also needed for security personnel, media, and so forth. But if the event had been scheduled for Canberra, there would have been less protestors, and therefore less police and security staff needed. There would also have been less political and media hangers-on taking junkets. The result would have been a more professional and focussed meeting.

Given that this was long planned as a pre-election showpiece of Howard's international statesmanship, and given how much Howard has always favoured Sydney over Canberra, I'm thinking the PM's office should take the blame.

Thou Shalt Not Criticize Thy Murdoch Press

Tim Dunlop plays by the rules, warning readers about the Iraq media blitz without mentioning his own organisation's major contribution to said blitz.

Just saying.

John Howard: Completely Wrong About Everything

Howard says Bush is "an intelligent, likeable man":

"You form a view of somebody and their character and I tend to stick with them. It may not always enjoy total support, but I do it in a way that doesn't damage the interest of my country."

Oh, really???? So despite all the evidence that it has made Australia a more dangerous place to live, you still stand by your decision to support Bush's ill-advised, illegal, pre-emptive invasion of Iraq?

"I believe we were right to go into Iraq, I think we'd be very wrong to pull out now. What would happen if the Americans pulled out now, the place would just descend into total chaos, the terrorists would have a huge victory and that would be a major setback for our cause. So that's why I'm persevering with our policies."

Our cause. Our policies. Our APEC summit. Our government.

YOUR leader.

Exposed: Bush's Retirement Plans

Step One: Rake in the dough:

"I’ll give some speeches, just to replenish the ol’ coffers.. I don’t know what my dad gets — it’s more than 50-75 [thousand dollars per speech]... Clinton’s making a lot of money."

Step Two: blame everybody else:

"The policy was to keep the army intact; didn’t happen... Yeah, I can’t remember, I’m sure I said, ‘This is the policy, what happened?’... Again, Hadley’s got notes on all of this stuff..."

The Logic Of Radicals

If Bush wants an excuse to order the bombing of Iran in the next 48 hours, Ahmadinejad just gave it to him. Never mind that his boast of '3,000 atomic centrifuges' is a hoax. Violent rhetoric suits Ahmadinejad's political agenda just as much as Bush's.

Much more info on a likely attack here.

There is indeed a War Criminal In The Living Room:

US Navy aircraft carrier strike forces are deployed off Iran.

US Air Force jets and missile systems are deployed in bases in countries bordering or near to Iran.

US B-2 stealth bombers have been refitted to carry 30,000 pound “bunker buster” bombs.

The US government is financing terrorist and separatist groups within Iran.

US Special Forces teams are conducting terrorist operations inside Iran.

US war doctrine has been altered to permit first strike nuclear attack on Iran and other non-nuclear countries.

Bush’s war threats against Iran have intensified during the course of this year. The American people are being fed a repeat of the lies used to justify naked aggression against Iraq...

Is anyone going to ask Howard about this?

Wanker Of The Day

John Howard.

Forget for a moment the gratuitous use of YouTube. Forget all the over-the-top hype about protesters, clearly designed to provoke massive, violent protests. Just look at the arrogant message Howard is sending out:

"I simply ask them to stop for a moment and consider that if they really are worried about issues such as poverty, security and climate change, then they should support APEC, not attack it," he said.

Is he serious, or is that just a red rag to a bull?

Howard has spent the last decade pretending climate change doesn't even exist. He has increased the terrorist threat to Australia, and the world, with his illegal pre-emptive war in Iraq. Meanwhile, he has happily neglected all those living in poverty, in Australia and around the world, and his WorkChoices program will help ensure that only the richest of the rich continue to benefit from his economic policies.

But we should all shut up and trust him on these issues?

Wanker Of The Day

Karl Rove always insisted that the best form of defence is attack. You take your greatest weakness and turn it against your opponent, no matter how nonsensical it may seem. So here's how a violence-loving, anti-democratic, totalitarian, fascist fan of Rove describes anti-APEC demonstrations:

It is a bitter fruit of the anti-democratic, totalitarian, fascist, street-fighting qualities of modern demonstrators that, for international delegates, it can be easier to have a free discussion in Beijing than Sydney.

Two words: Tianenmen Square.

Obviously Greg Sheridan is thinking about the Murdoch model of "free discussion in Beijing", whereby you first grease the palm of all and sundry in the Politburo. Then they let you screw their peasants.

Teh Oz's top political dawg insists all Australians should be proud of APEC:

APEC is wholly a good thing.

The demonstrators trying to wreck it are nuts.

Wow, deep analysis, Greg!

As if to prove that he is not a partisan hack, Sheridan even praises Hawke and Keating for seeting APEC up all those years ago, when we were all so miffed at being excluded from ASEAN meetings. But that's hardly the point today, is it? APEC today represents a whole host of non-representative governments pushing ahead with a globalized business agenda which is not in the best interest of their citizens.

I am not sure how many protesters will turn out, but I hope there will be many thousands making their voices heard. Peacefully, of course.

In other news, Bush is planning a three-day air blitz on Iran. He is supposed to arrive in Sydney for APEC on Tuesday. Let's see if he makes his flight.

Why Bush Won't Be Coming To APEC?

Robert Fisk has yet another rumor to back up Greg Sheridan's:

Well, an old chum of mine in the Deep South – a former US Vietnam veteran officer – has a habit of tramping through the hills to the north of his home and writes to me that "in my therapeutic and recreation trips ... in the mountains of North Carolina over the last two weeks, I've noticed a lot of F-16 and C-130 activity. They are coming right through the passes, low to the ground. The last time I saw this kind of thing up there was before Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan".

That was in early August. Two weeks later, my friend wrote again. "There were a few (more) C-130 passes... I know that some 75th Rangers have just moved out of their home base and that manoeuvres have gone on in areas that have been used... in the past before assaults utilizing [sic] aircraft guided by small numbers of special operations people."

And then comes the cruncher in my friend's letter. "I think that the Bush administration is looking for something to distract Americans before the mid-September report on progress in Iraq. And I believe that the pressure is building to do something about the sanctuaries for the Taliban and foreign fighters along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border..."

Fisk speculates that Bush will make a major attack within Pakistan, but it could just as easily be Iran.

Meanwhile, the media surge surrounding the Petraeus Report continues to build, as US TV News Megastar Katie Couric joins Miranda Devine in Baghdad.