In the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce debate this Monday, George Allen said that it was wrong to negotiate with Iran. He also criticized those who would advocate such negoations. Well, now it looks like the Bush lapdog (Allen) has strayed a bit from his master. From today's Washington Post comes an article headlined, "U.S. Policy on Iran Evolves Toward Diplomacy." The Post continues:
..With the United States ensnarled in an increasingly difficult campaign in Iraq, war is no longer a viable option. Instead, the administration is struggling with the difficult and messy business of diplomacy...Slowly but surely, the White House has muddied what were once clear lines in pursuit of diplomacy...
Very interesting, eh? Not only that, but "Bush, in his speech, used notably mild language when he discussed Iran, suggesting that the two countries one day will 'be good friends and close partners in the cause of peace.'"
Whoops, looks like Lapdog George (Allen) had better start checking with Master George (Bush) more often! Ha.
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
ACOUPLE of years ago, President Bush might well have counted Maher Arar as one of the success stories of the CIA's secret program for detaining and interrogating suspected terrorists. Mr. Arar, a Canadian citizen, was arrested at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 2002 because he was on a watchlist; Canadian police said they believed he had connections to al-Qaeda. Rather than being returned to Canada, Mr. Arar disappeared into the CIA's secret system -- he was transported to Syria and handed over to its military intelligence service. For several weeks, Mr. Arar was tortured by his Syrian captors, who beat him with an electric cable. Eventually he broke and confessed that he had trained at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan.The problem with this story, as an official Canadian investigation reported Monday, is that Mr. Arar was innocent. "Categorically there is no evidence" that Mr. Arar was a terrorist or posed a security threat, the report stated. He never traveled to Afghanistan. The Canadian police intelligence about him was simply wrong. But after his coerced confession, he was held in a Syrian dungeon for 10 months and suffered "devastating" mental and economic harm before finally being released in 2003.
Analysis of news and events about South Kurdistan from an Iraqi Kurdish perspectiveAugust 9 2006
Spreading Public Protests In Iraqi KurdistanIn recent days public protests erupted in many Kurdistani cities like Kifri. Kalar, Chamchamal, Darbandikhan, Shoresh..etc due to the widening gap between the public in general and the governing Kurdish authorities an d the lack of insight of authorities about the escalating crisis of unemployment, fuel shortages, lack of electricity and driniking water and the wiespread corruption, nepotism and cronyism of Kurdish parties, where only members of leading parties are allowed privileges but the vast majority of Kurdish society are living under miserable conditions without any prospects for improvement, while at the same time people are watching the luxurious villas and cars enjoyed by members of leading parties throgh imbezzeled public funds. There is an unbeleivable insensetivity of the ruling elite of both main parties about the daily difficulties of the majority of the people inspite of the immense increase of funds allocated from central government for the Kurdistan region ( nearly 6000 million Dollars yearly).
The unified government of Kurdistan ought to pay more attention to public grievances and sack inefficient and corrupt officials who fail in their duties.Dr Nazhad Khasraw Hawramany
If this view is correct, it's no wonder the GOP loves the Kurdistan economy and class structure! It sounds like the place is being run by Bob Ney, Jack Ambamoff and Grover Norquist.