happy fucking anniversary

WAR
* "former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez said that the U.S. government has plans to “bring about a change in Venezuela.” When pressed as to what type of plans these might be, Rodriguez responded that the Bush administration “could do it with a military strike, with a plane.”" LINK

* "Ms Short said President George W Bush's decision to put forward his hawkish Deputy Defence Secretary was like showing "two fingers to the world"." LINK

* "Berlusconi has taken a battering from the press and opposition parties, which said he had been forced into an ignominious climbdown by his more powerful allies in Washington and London over his stated intention to withdraw Rome's troops from Iraq." LINK

* who replaces wolfowitz @ the pentagon?

* do u think that wolfowitz plan to reduce poverty might have something to do with the spread of 'democracy'?

* what sort of media coverage will the annievrsary peacemarches get today?

* cnn is doing an anniversary bit - and quoting 'iraq body count' which says that there are 19000 dead iraqi civilians 'but cnn has *no way* of verifying that' - implying that that number is too high. how about quoting the fucking lancet? - then they go to say that the "lowest point" of the war was the killing of the fallujah four. fucking hell.

* in other news, cnn is still calling its iraq coverage: "the new iraq"

* "Asked if he would instigate "regime change" at the bank, Wolfowitz said: "Absolutely not. Many people think I will turn the organization upside down but this is not my style at all."" LINK
nope - not at all.

* "US Embassy employees are forbidden to travel by land the in and out of the capital." right - but negroponte took it the night sgrena got shot? LINK

* "1.) six in 10 Americans also continue to think that before the war Iraq provided direct support to the al Qaeda terrorist group... 2.)Fifty-six percent of Americans still think Iraq did possess WMDs shortly before the war... 3.)(blinky's)approval specifically on Iraq was 75 percent as the main fighting ended; it's 39 percent now... 4.) The number of people who say the war was worth fighting has fallen from 70 percent during the war to 45 percent now." LINK
ok - so if the solomnolent were corrected for the brain-errors in points 1 & 2, then the ratings on points 3 & 4 presumably become near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. near-zero. thats the point. is it too difficult for a journo to complete the dots? sadly, yes.

* "Kerry said Wolfowitz, whose nomination must be approved by the World Bank board, was "as guilty as [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld" of major miscalculations about the war in Iraq." LINK

* "Porter J. Goss, the director of central intelligence, said Thursday that he could not assure Congress that the Central Intelligence Agency's methods of interrogating terrorism suspects since Sept. 11, 2001, had been permissible under federal laws prohibiting torture." LINK

* "The deputy commander of the Iraqi army in western Al-Anbar province was shot dead by US troops at a checkpoint Tuesday night, a police officer said." LINK