clear as dum

* xymphora "... the information in the 'entrapment' related to the lives of Israeli spies in Kurdistan (a cover story important enough that they decided to admit they had agents in Kurdistan, something they had previously denied)." LINK
syhersh broke this story a long, long time ago... he is a terrorist.

* ""We urge you to reject (bolton's) nomination," the 59 former diplomats said in a letter... Their criticism dwelt primarily on Mr. Bolton's stand on issues as the State Department's senior arms control official. They said he had an "exceptional record" of opposing American efforts to improve national security through arms control." LINK

* "Australians are as just as concerned about United States foreign policy as Islamic extremism and regard the US as more dangerous than a rising China" - and thats with the media here ranked 41st in the the world in terms of pressfreedom - imagine what the numbers would be like without murdoch... LINK

* juancole:
"US Generals revealed on Sunday that a) guerrillas in Iraq are able to keep the number of attacks at about 60 a day and b) that the proportion of fighters that is foreign jihadis has increased somewhat in the past few months...
By the way, if there are 60 attacks a day, why do I only read about 7 or 8 of them?"
http://www.juancole.com/2005/03/no-government-and-16-dead-us-generals.html and if juancole is only seeing 15%, imagine what the somnolent-many see... meanwhile, "The war in Iraq is the most important problem facing the US in the eyes of the American public, according to a recent poll."

* in other news, iraqs little democracy experiment aint going so great. still no govt. their lil session tuesday fell at the first hurdle of trying to get a speaker. the media was kicked out (im not sure whether thats better or worse than what we see in amMSM). meanwhile the talkingpoints goes something like 'its really goot that they dont have a goverment. its politics and horsetrading. its exciting'

* "At least 1,527 American soldiers have died during the military operation, and more than 11,400 troops have been injured." LINK
i keep seeing these numbers quoted everywhere - surely it would be more responsible to also include the dead & hurt amcivilians. there are at least 300 dead civs, and presumably at least 3000 injured. please remind everyone of this.

* australia beat iraq in the soccer. the iraqis are beating us in the war - so we'll call it even.

* juancole on haririkiri:

"Hariri Likely Killed by Truck Bomb...
This discovery bolsters the case for Hariri's death having been the work of a suicide bomber, Abu Adas, a radical Muslim who had travelled in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and may have had links to Ansar al-Islam and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

If Abu Adas did blow up the van and kill Hariri, and if he was connect to Ansar al-Islam, it would be an indication that Bush's Iraq misadventure is destabilizing Iraq's neighbors, and not in a good way.

Syria itself remains a suspect, of course. But the urban legend that there was no truck bombing and that the Syrian secret police set up a bomb in the sewers, seems less likely now."

the situation is still as clear as mud....