bustardblog

Powerlies: Part Deux

Today has been relatively calm in Baghdad - so far. There were 30 killed and 48 wounded this morning in Hurriya, a Sunni neighborhood, apparently in retaliation for the attack on the Health Ministry. Today's fighting was so intense that neither the police force nor the army in Baghdad felt strong enough to intervene. Fighting continued unabated until the U.S. army took control.
In Tal Afar 22 were killed and 30 were wounded today.
In the province of Anbar, a fighting between more and less secular Sunnis continued to increase.
Reading these figures just reignites my fury at Powerline's constant distortions. In my post yesterday I railed against their lies, and I referred to a piece of theirs which called it unfair to characterize the situation in Iraq as a bloodbath, and said that while it is violent, it is not "comparable to a civil war."
Of course just over a year ago, according to Powerline, there was a "rebellion that has broken out." The capital city was "Burning." It was  described as "up in flames." On November 7 of last year, Powerline entitled a post "Civil War in Eurabia" - the title of the next day's post clarified that to commenting on "Civil War in France."
On November 9 they wrote that "the statistics are still grim, and some of the recent attacks are among the worst." It was in this same post that they felt the need to characterize the situation as  "the rebellion that has broken out in France."
But on that "grim" day Powerline noted that "No one was hurt."  And the attacks that were "among the worst?" They were attacks on parked cars. In total two people in France died as a result of that "Civil War," and of course one of those was the victim of a heart attack.
I leave it to the good folks at Powerline to do the math and  compare the frequency of  car attacks in Paris, Baghdad, Philadelphia and DC for November of '05. I will not not leave it them to redefine words at their will - to deny that there is now a bloodbath in Baghdad and that Iraq in anything but a  disaster.

Have You No Decency, Mlle?

Hopefully, Mlle. Coulter will not be killing her mother any time soon so that she can become a "victim."  She complained this week that unless she murdered Mme Coulter, her victim status would be insufficient to attract the attention she so desires. (Clearly, her mother is guilty of some serious mistakes, but not the death penalty.)
Note to Ann: those Jersey "broads [who are] reveling in their status as celebrities".. and who are "enjoying their husbands deaths so much", did not actually kill in order to become a victim. Someone else killed their loved ones. So please leave your mother alone.
Mlle is now getting a lot of recognition, and I do hope Mme did not have to lose her life to help her daughter gain notoriery. Finally, a member of the 9/11 commission has given her the spotlight she so desires. Former Rep Tim Roemer pushed for a boycott of her book, which he called a "hate-filled attack on the patriotic heroes of 9/12 - the widows of 9/11" and made it clear who really was reprehensible and undignified. There are those who think any attention only helps Mademoiselle sell her book. But in fact all of the members of the 9/11 commission should speak up and condemn Mllle's book. Without the actions of the 9/11 widows there would have been no commission.

P.S. It will be interesting to hear what Kean pere (chair of the commission) and fils (candidate) say.

A.P. Photo of Kimberly Dozier en Route to Hospital in Germany

  A.P. Photo of Kimberly Dozier en Route to Hospital in Germany 
  Originally uploaded by bbbustard.

Yeah, there's a person there.
Now do you think we will hear an apology from Laura Ingraham for mocking the courage of journalists? Now - that more journalists have been killed in Iraq than in Viet Nam or in WWII?
I think not. Instead, we can look forward to a particularly vicious piece by Ann Coulter - who has turned a really vibrant green with jealousy over the coverage Ms Ingraham has been receiving.
I tone down my outrage only out of respect for Ms. Dozier, and Messrs. Brolan and Douglas

Scanlon & Scandal

Memorial Day Weekend, and the public tennis courts are full in Rehoboth Beach. It's a great day to be playing outside, and the two private courts at the Henlopen Acres Beach Club are more booked up than is usual for this early in the season. I don't know if Scanlon reserved a play time there or not but he is a tennis buff.

Yesterday was the first day of work for life guards at the beach here. I'm not sure what their pay is for this season, but last year it was $11.65 per hour. That is what Republican operative and former Abramoff partner Michael Scanlon was paid for the six day a week jobs, which he had done as a kid, and again in 2002 through 2005.  Although he wanted to serve, Scanlon was not hired to be a guard this season. There was concern that his notoriety would be disturbing to beach goers here. There is no indication that he had ever tried to serve in the National Guard.

Tennis playing in Iraq was not so easy this weekend. A coach and two players were stopped, and told to get out of their car. Unknown assailants noted that they were wearing shorts, so they shot and killed them. There had been warnings that shorts were not acceptable, but I guess these three didn't know how dangerous shorts can be.

Happily for Michael Scanlon the U.S. is a different place. Because he had been Tom DeLay's press secretary, the boyish looking lobbyist was picked by Abramoff to form a partnership.  They eventually stole 80 million from the Indian tribes that they were "representing."

As part of his plea deal Scanlon will have to return about 19 million; but it seems clear that he will still be a multimillionaire as a result of his crimes. Last year he bought a house in Rehoboth, currently valued at over 2 million.  It is in his wife's name. Seven years his junior, he met this, his second wife, while she was working as a waitress one summer. State records indicate that there are six properties in Southern Delaware still in his own name. Under the Bush administration, crime does pay. 

She's not exactly suffering either, but it almost makes you feel sorry for Martha Stewart. And she says that tennis whites are a "good thing."

Troubled Turkey

As expected on this blog (ie here, or here) the war in Iraq is damaging our influence and our reputation in Turkey, as well as inflaming problems in that very problematic neighborhood.

Bits of News Include:

• Last Sundays N.Y. Times reported a bombing near the Istanbul airport that injured thirty - which was believed to be the work of Kurdish separatists. In the week before there were two bombings in Istanbul, as well a car bomb which killed two Turkish soldiers in the Southeast. (link)
• Suat Kiniklklioigu of the Turkish Daily Press wrote today of his anticipation "that the PKK will continue to raise the level of violence" as "an increasing number of Kurdish youth are heading out to the mountains. Not a good sign."
• The Zaman Daily Newspaper reported yesterday of of a 100 man military team of Turkish troops "proceeded towards the inner parts of Norther Iraq." They "will lead the other troops deployed at the border" - 'the other troops' number close to 200,000.
• Newsweek's April 24 edition featured a piece "Turkey: Going Backwards, Fast. An Ugly Nationalist Mood is Brewing in Ankara." "young Turks in particular now seem to be turning toward [political] parties critical of U.S. policy in the region." "Turks also blame the United States for failing to close down military camps of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in norther Iraq." It described how the Prime Minister had tried to give Kurds more rights, and"for his pains, [he] has a revolt on his hands that bears uncomfortable similarities to the Palestinian intifada." As a result the P.M. "has focused his energies on developing Turkey's ties to the Islamic world."

And in Baghdad Today?: 7 bombs, 7 dead (one a ten year old boy), and 15 bodies found in two trucks.
And in Egypt today?: 3 bombs, more than 30 dead, over 150 wounded. Mubarak has called it terrorism.

We have done much evil in the world these last five years.

Today in Baghdad

The BBC is reporting an explosion at a Shia Mosque in Baghdad has killed 51 Iraqis, while wounding 158. The mosque belongs to the most powerful Shia political group in the current governing alliance.  We can expect to see revenge in the form of dead Sunnis, murdered byauniformed militia, throughout the weekend.

Our Secretary of Defense pointed out yesterday that our Secretary of State, and National Security Adviser at the time of the invasion, suffers from "a lack of understanding what warfare is all about."

Another Success for Bush

The very conservative British organization, Iraq Body Count, has released figures on violent civilian deaths in Iraq. In the first year after our invasion there were 20 such deaths each day; while in the second year there were 31 deaths daily.  The numbers for the third year are not complete, but when all data is analyzed, it is clear that it will be more than 36 dead per day.

Shame.