Saddam, Bangkok, VFA

"Ashadu an la ilaha ila Allah, wa ashhadu ana Mohammedun rasool Allah…"
"Heya hay il marjala…?"
A tremendous slap in the face for the Ba'athists, a crude insult. Just when USA|Maliki was making noises about reconciliations with the Sunni.
Such crudity is the hallmark of the "Salvador Option"
Death squads at the highest level.
I can only agree with riverbend, that USA intends chaos in Iraq.
I tend to think that USA wants to kill 1000 of its own troops per year, partly to cow and brutalise its home population. People may vote whichever way they like, but Empire will continue to grind its grotesque folly. Electricity is out in Baghdad, New Orleans and Bagong Silang this week. Empires that fail will fall, but how gruesome will be the damage?


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riverbend

This last year has nearly everyone convinced that that was the plan right from the start. There were too many blunders for them to actually have been, simply, blunders. The ‘mistakes’ were too catastrophic. The people the Bush administration chose to support and promote were openly and publicly terrible- from the conman and embezzler Chalabi, to the terrorist Jaffari, to the militia man Maliki. The decisions, like disbanding the Iraqi army, abolishing the original constitution, and allowing militias to take over Iraqi security were too damaging to be anything but intentional.

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/12/30/the-farce-goes-on/
Barbara O'Brien disagrees:

Thomas Ricks’s book Fiasco, however, reveals the Bush Administration to be something like a perfect storm of utter incompetence. I have no doubt the plan, at least in Bush’s mind, was to have a glorious little war, kick Saddam’s ass, and go home to a victory parade.

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axisoflogic

The execution of the President. "The execution of President Saddam Hussein would be a grave war crime imputable under international law"
By Abdul Ilah Albayaty, Ian Douglas, Hana Albayaty, Dirk Adriaensens, Inge Van De Merlen, Brussels Tribunal Dec 29, 2006, 21:01

- can this snuff movie be part of Empire's plan to rid the world of Habeus Corpus?
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axisoflogic
Saddams Execution : The western anti war movement - the left boot of imperialism?
By Kola Odetola with Introduction by Les Blough
Dec 30, 2006, 05:15

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Bombings in Bangkok
It was only a matter of time before bombs came to Bangkok.
It may become like London in the 70s
I recall drinking in a London pub in 79, just after Neave had got his bomb (in the House of Commons car park?) the Irish drinkers raised a joyous chant "Airy Neave, Airy Neave"
The Irish damned near got Maggie Thatcher, they had explosives in her hotel bedroom wall, but the Iron Lady doesnt sleep, she was on the crapper and survived.
If it is Southern Islamists behind the bombs, Bangkok may become an edgier place.
Still a great town.
Avoid the restaurant in Khao San where the menues are in Hebrew. Lots of young Israelis with huge backpacks. Mostly just released from military service. Not a safe place

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RP hands USA soldier over to USA Embassy
But Ursua said on Monday: "We all have differing interpretations of the VFA, but in our legal system, in our rule of law, our courts have the final say and under our law, each prisoner is under the jurisdiction of the court.

"Nobody can jail a person and nobody can release a person from detention if there is no court order. That is a very basic rule in our law."
A rather dodgy trial, still one hates to see a nation suborned.

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NYT mentions search engines
Powerset "questions in plain English"
Hakiaa “natural language” search engine
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and video sites
Stickam
Dailymotion
LiveLeak, based in London.. reality-based fare like footage of Iraq battle scenes

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liveleak
A Shia IED disposes of a humvee

Saddam, Bangkok, VFA