-----Original Message-----
From: Luke
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 6:24 AM
To:
Subject: Emailing: security_commission_apology_dc


i didnt really watch much of the commission this week - i forced myself to try to get some sanity points via watching football.

a couple of points tho - i saw clarke get more than one ovation - which seemed a bit 'inappropriate' given the apparently formal setting (i didnt see anyone else get applauded, but i may have missed it) - it was kinda reminsicent of that brief glimpse of hope when dom dvp got an ovation in the un way back when. i havent seen much reporting on clarkes ovations.

the other thing that seemed to go underreported was that all the families walked out when armitage was testy-fying - in protest at condis principled stand to spend all her time on squakshows instead of going to the panel. this was reminscent of the journos walking out on powell last week cos some more journos got microbiologisted. (the palestinian hotel incident was unspeakably disgusting). its really quite ignominious for the speakers and looks terrific on camera, if the pix get to broadcast. there should be more of it.

speaking of ignominy - watching blair blow madgod gaddafi rates about 9. the 'iraq war led to libyan tranparency' line is complete bollox. libya has been trying to buy its way into legitimacy for years, and the lockerbie payment was blackmail. the libyans have said since that they didnt do it, but they had no option but to 'admit' aka appease. i wonder who really did it.

im not sure about the british military cavediving in mexico and refusing to be saved by mexicans. it sounds suspicious of course, but i dont have any thoughts on it.

re the palestininan suicide bomberboy - assuming that it was a setup - apart from the obvious moral questions of using an apparently mildly-retarded child in a faux suicide mission, the more important question as always, is what it portends? and whatever the answer is, its unlikely to be pretty. it brings to mind the abolutely disgusting use of that 15yo daughter of diplomat they put in front of congress (senate?) just prior to iraq1.0 who they trained to tell lies about babyincubators being tipped over in hospitals by soldiers and left on the floor to die. thanks hill&knowlton. can u imagine doing that to any child? of course, that disgust is soon usurped when u realise that the specific purpose was to go kill a bunch of people. at least they dont prostitute kids lightly - best to keep it for the big things. the problem with that is that the current 14yo boybomba story is prolly done for a scary purpose. one is also tempted to question whether the introduction of female suicide bombers last year(?) mite be a part of the same technique. and if one extrapolates further, perhaps all/many suicide bombers are also related, as ive hypothesised b4. imagine if that were true. even i struggle to contemplate it. (and im one helluva contemplating kinda guy)

cnn are now reporting that the 14yo's mum says he is actually 16 - its not obvious how that error was made. ive never ever heard a kid understate their age. (thats normally saved for people our parents age) my guess is that he's more likely to say '16 and a half' or whatever. so presumably he was either given fake id, and/or told to lie, or the idf just guestimated his age somehow. or his mum is lying.

australia joined the us in voting against the un condemnation of the assassination of yassin. lets get this str8 - assassination is illegal (altho so are invasions). even the fukking cia didnt wanna assassinate obl we are hearing in the commission. john howard is a whore. at least the us werent left alone to defend israel for the gazilionth time. somewhat interestingly, jack straw seemed to actually condemn israel - its the first time ive seen him not blowing smoke. praps theres a crack in the system. his reponse was most different from the us's disgusting 'israel has a rite to defend herself' - which apparently means u can go kill anyone and those anywhere near them. i remember the good old days when we had courts and police.

speaking of assassinations - it was illegal for the US to attack saddam. every time. the first attack 'b4' the war and every subsequent one. as were the apparent assassinations of uday and qusay. which appears to have been a complete farce and fabrication - i wonder if they are still alive. presumably not, but my guess is that they arent in the graves marked 'uday and qusay'

cnn is reporting that aljaz has a new zawahiri tape - that whole 'hi-valu target' thing was bollox last week. which augurs ill. the fabulous stories of him escaping in a bulletproof landcruiser bursting outta the desert, and the later stories of a 2 mile tunnel are at least humourous. as a teenager, my dad used to catch rabbits - he'd put nets over each of the exits and then send in a ferret. the cool thing about that is that when the rabbits try to escape, they run into one of the nets. its well known that there is a 'network of caves' (ie a tunnel) in the area and there were thousands of troops in this area. 2 miles isnt far in a desert. i dont know why they dont say 'a 20km tunnel.' it seems almost designed to be 'tantalisingly close' - if it was 20km then we mite get disheartened wrt the futility.

i hope dick clarke can make the same claim that oneill made 'im too old and to rich to care what they try to do to me.' having said that, im still not entirely convinced that the clarke debate is entirely legit. it mite be, i havent decided. part of me questions whether its just a faux furore.

and about bushs comedy schtick - wtf? were they serious? are they that desperate? can fauxheads stop telling me how 'hilarious' it was? could this be the worst moment of his Residency?

i mentioned the other day the alq / suitcase nuke interview on denton - the new news was based on an interview 30 months ago. the interview was by an aussie satirist called andrew denton on the abc who interviewed lisamarie presley the previous week - the interview with her got her in trouble with the fbi about michaeljacko. apparently she said something damning like 'i dont wanna talk about that'. i dont know what it means but its curious that a satirist on a lefty ozzy station gets amplified for dubious reasons twice in 2 weeks.

fox is carrying rumsfled and myers live at the top of the hour (so far 17mins). i dont really listen to all the noise - so im not sure of the detail - but i think that rumsfeld's purpose for the briefing is to announce that he thinks that it would be advantageous if the 911comm comes back without any dissent. 'sometimes agreement is bad, but not here'. myers seems to be there as a foil - his announcement was 'today i met with the uzbeks' - both look *very* uncomfortable.

rummy just sed 'opine' - which is an oreilly word.