Iraq's nuclear weapons, death rays, vans of death, drones of death, mobile germ labs, poison gas factories, hidden weapons depots, long-range missiles, links to al-Qaida -- all were bogus. The only thing real is Iraq's oil.

JOHN Howard has conceded that the intelligence Australia relied on to invade Iraq may have been "inaccurate", but has ruled out any immediate inquiry. "History may, in the fullness of time, it might be demonstrated that the advice was inaccurate," Mr Howard said on Perth radio.
Referring to a lack of discovery of stockpiles of weapons, tb said: "That part of the intelligence was wrong but the rest of the intelligence was plainly right."

mred = foxtel just fell over while i was watching a ray mcgovern interview on the beeb. theres no rain or anything outside - a clear nite.

Military spending worldwide is now probably $US1000 billion ($1315 billion), and spending on subsidies or tariffs to protect developed world farmers is about $US300 billion. Meanwhile, the rich countries offer no more than $US50-$US60 billion in aid to developing countries while blocking most of their agricultural exports -- one of the few ways these countries could pull themselves out of poverty.
"The three things are linked," Wolfensohn argues. There are 5billion people in the developing world, 3billion earning under $US2 a day, and 1.2 billion earning under $1 a day.
"And we now have 2.8 billion people under the age of 23, 1.5 billion under the age of 15, and in the next 25 to 30 years the world grows by 2billion," Wolfensohn says, reeling off the figures.

But George Tenet can testify to the contents of the security briefing given to Bush on August 6, 2001 in Crawford, Texas. That is the briefing that almost certainly concerned the imminent danger from an attack from al-Qaeda. If the contents of that ever got out, Bush could never be reelected and would go down as one of the great villains in American history. I'm sure Bush wouldn't ask Tenet to go anywhere Tenet didn't want to go. Americans should be troubled that the head of the CIA has that kind of blackmail over the President.

"If you look at my presentation from last year, I talk about intent," Powell said.

"I have confidence in the intelligence community," Powell said. "I've seen them do many things that were absolutely brilliant in their concept and their execution, many things we'll never be able to discuss and will never get a headline." With a twinkle in his eye, he added: "Very recently, as a matter of fact. Go research that if you wish."