billmon out?

* has billmon left the building? say it aint so.

* amy:

"Sadr Deputy Killed in US Military Raid
In other Iraq news, thousands of people demonstrated in Najaf Wednesday against the US military’s killing of a top deputy to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The deputy -- Sahib al-Amiri – was shot dead in an early morning raid. The Pentagon says Amiri was responsible for scores of bombings against US and Iraqi forces. But aides said al-Amiri ran an educational organization for orphans and impoverished children and was never involved in illegal activity. Amiri’s nineteen year old son, Karrar, said he found his father dead on the roof of their home with four gunshot wounds."

* amy:

Ex-Interior Secretary to Work for Shell
Back in the United States, months after her resignation from Bush administration, former Interior Secretary Gayle Norton has taken a new job with the oil giant Royal Dutch Shell. Norton resigned in March shortly after her department was linked to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. She will serve as a key legal advisor to Shell’s operations on public lands in the western United States. Norton’s Interior Department routinely dealt with Shell on issues including drilling in environmentally sensitive areas.

* AP:

The inspectors general entrusted to unearth waste, fraud and abuse in federal agencies are increasingly under attack, as top government officials they scrutinize try to erode the watchdogs' independence and authority.

During 2006, several inspectors general felt the wrath of government bosses or their supporters in Congress after investigations cited agencies for poor performance, excessive spending or wasted money.

* Emptywheel:

"Let's play a little game of free association, shall we? What does this sound like to you, "Bandar Bush" sneaking back to the US to carry out back channel negotiations with Darth Cheney? I think of ... Michael Ledeen and Curt Weldon holding meetings with Ghorbanifar without informing the US Ambassadors or CIA Chiefs in the countries in question ... Niccolo Pollari holding a meeting with Stephen Hadley to discuss, almost certainly, Niger forgeries and false aluminum tube stories ... Pollari helping us carry out extraordinary renditions while burying the evidence ... Michael Ledeen and Ollie North holding secret meetings with Ghorbanifar to negotiate arms sales to Iran in order to raise funds for an illegal foreign policy in South America ... the US and Saudi Arabia cooperating to fund and train the Mujahedeen ... Saudis currently funding the Sunni insurgency in Iraq ..."

* emptywheel:

"We really really need to get rid of Cheney. Not sure if it's via impeachment--or something else (since he's a Constitutional officer, it'd almost have to be impeachment). But it has to happen. The man is going to bring us into WWIII."