* g pointed me to this triffic comprehensive article re iraq "They knew..." - nothing new - but one is left wondering why this article isnt in every publication in the world.
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/they_knew_0802
the key (unstated) takeaway from the whole 'they knew' episode is much more significant however. given the premeditated shamelessness of all the iraq lies - its simply not possible to trust anything theyve ever said, or anything they will say in the future. who can read this article and be confident that the same isnt true about what they say about iran. or syria. or florida2000. or nov04. or 911. or the budget. etc etc. its simply inconceivable that the iraq lies are isolated. who can possibly believe that they have any constraints? moral? ha! 4th estate? ha! 3rd estate? ha! 2nd estate? ha! 1st estate? ha! zeroeth estate? ha! the ugly unanswered (and largely unasked) question about all the iraq lies is why the fukk did they do it? im still a long way from having an answer to that. the simplistic 'oil' doesnt satisfy me. the 'democracy dominoes' theory still seems rubbish. 'protectingisrael'? praps - but still largely unsatisfying.

given that it seems near impossible to divine a reason/purpose for the iraq thing, im left with the sinking feeling that iraq was merely the entree - and trying to ascertain the purpose of the iraq thing is like trying to understand the strategy of an entire chess game by simply looking at the opening pawn move. thats why its all so farking scary - i fear we aint seen nothin yet. its difficult to consider that iraq was the endgame - especially with the ongoing sabre-rattling. if its true that iraq is just phaseone, given the apparent lack of excess military capacity then i can see only 2 possibilities - a) the draft (altho the requisite timelags would seem to put a brake on the plans) b) nuking the fukk out of whoever they dont like - cf iran/nthkorea et al

and if iraq is just phaseone, then its almost inconceivable that they will give up power in nov04 - (altho its somewhat conceivable that the system keeps rolling albeit with kerry as 'pres') - theres still so much to do. in fact, that should be 42.5's campaign platform 'theres still so much to do' (both domestic and foreign). actually, given the obvious extremism of the bushcrew, one imagines that if they had any fear of losing power in an 'extremely close election', they'd be ramming thru as much agenda legislation as possible between now and nov for fear of not being able to do it next year. to the extent that they arent doing that, then im pretty comfortable suggesting that they know that they will still be in power and will be able to continue unabated - whether via something looking like an election or some other mechanism...

come january we'll see everyone drafted. gays banned. foreigners 'rounded up'. patriot2 implemented. we'll see the 2term limit abolished (21st (?) amendment) and/or the restriction on foreign presidents removed (hint - not so that mads albright can run).

the abovementioned 'they knew' article documents things that we already knew - in the absence of any semblance of an answer to the 'why?' question, i think we've all gotta be kinda concerned. my rant above is virtually exactly the same as ive written many times before - even before the invasion (i think), and ive seen nothing which causes me to change my view (altho praps theres a much more benign explanation?).

get your papers in order.