Thursday 18th of April 2024

awstraylens, let us all rejoice .....

from the pen of Richard Neville …..

‘Familiar lies are music to our nation’s ears.

Australians always punch above their weight. We are the most generous people on earth. Our soldiers are the most professional in the world. In fact, we’re so professional, that even when our troops shot at the Iraqi Trade Minister’s bodyguards in June, killing two people and wounding four others, our military carried out an investigation without bothering to interview any Iraqis. Defence Force chief, Angus Houston, found that our soldiers had “acted in accordance with their rules of engagement”. In November, when the US Marines murdered Iraqi women and children in their homes in Haditha, this action was also said to comply with the “rules of engagement”. In that case, the toll was 24. Perhaps it was this death disparity that led Air Marshall Houston to conclude, “the Australian soldiers might have been over-cautious”. While the government has agreed “in principle” to pay compensation, it has decided “in principle” not to apologise.

The Australian media have lately been enthralled by a public spat between the country’s Treasurer, Peter Costello, and its Prime Minister, John Howard.

The treasurer publicly stated that the PM promised to hand the top job over to him before the start of the next next year’s election but John Howard denies this. On Monday, a poll of 1416 voters showed that most Australians believed the Treasurer’s version of events, which is not all that surprising, given our PM’s forked tongue. The rest of the poll is illuminating. Despite their judgment that John Howard is a liar, Australian voters still prefer him to stay on as Prime Minister. Part of me understands this. In today’s explosive world, there is something reassuring about a grey suited leader in a regimental tie who has, for over a decade, been shrinking our minds on the TV news, while spooning out imperial inanities. Iraq is doing great. Afghanistan is off and running. Kyoto is biased. Since our forefathers took possession of Australia, the treatment of indigenes has been even handed. We can be a future energy superpower, riding clouds of yellow cake and soot. The Pentagon’s Military Commissions are just. Foreign footy referees are weird. Gays mustn’t marry gays. Israel has the right to inflict collective punishment. And so on, endlessly repeated until the brain snaps.

Howard works hard for his country. The economy is purring. His unconditional embrace of White House is derived from a belief it will guarantee future security. From the outside, Australia looks good; the Opera House, Nicole Kidman, the Barrier Reef, jocks in hotpants. Some of this is an illusion. The interior of the Opera House is a letdown and the Barrier reef is dying. Sport dominates the media-scape. Listening to political debate today is like being locked in the Alzheimer ward with the treasurer and a shock jock. After ten years of John Howard, the image that speaks to the inner self is Edvard Munch on the Harbour Bridge, screaming. But this is a minority view.

Not only have most Australians fallen in love with our self applauding fantasies, but citizens from other nations are following suit. “God, I love Australia”, writes Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post, “an island of tranquility in a roiling region … Australia has no illusions about the ‘international community’ and its feckless institutions… For Americans, Australia engenders nostalgia for our own past, which we gauzily remember as infused with John Wayne plain-spokenness and vigour”. (Actually, that sounds like America’s present). Most of all, according to Krauthammer, Aussies are “sympathetic to America’s predicament as reluctant hegemon”. True, our government couldn’t be more sympathetic if it tried.

In his dubious role as deputy sheriff, our Prime Minister is assisted by powerful friends, especially global mogul Rupert Murdoch, a fervent supporter of George Bush and concocted invasions. VOTERS TELL PM TO STAY is a front page Murodchian headline and his commentators chorus it’s in everyone’s interest. Readers are being softened up for another term of amnesia. Oh, the Middle East Crisis? Turn to page 6, where we learn that valiant Israel is “resisting help” from an “international military force”, as it punishes the citizens of Lebanon. So far 254 people killed, over 500 wounded, “all but 13” civilians. Numerous tourists and Lebanese nationals are trapped, terrified and starving. Israel has denied the Australian government safe passage for its citizens.

George Bush, Tony Blair, John Howard and the Murdoch media agree that Israel had been “obliged to strike back in self defence”, following the capture of its soldiers – one in Gaza, two in Lebanon. No mention that the number of Palestinian children currently in Israeli custody is 388. No comment on the unashamed sadism of Israel wanting “no one to sleep at night in Gaza.” No reference to the fateful 9 June explosion on a Gaza beach, which wiped out 8 Palestinians and injured another 30. Nor is the “valiant Israel” narrative clouded by mention of Palestinian casualties since September 2000, the killing of almost a thousand children and minors, the injuring “in various degrees” of another 18,800+.

Such data cuts no ice with Bush, Blair or Howard, three leaders who put the match to Iraq, the ones who are loaded with moral responsibility for every innocent death and mutilation triggered by that squalid invasion, since descended into pack rape, pillage, torture and terror. More than 14,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq in the first half of this year.

Yesterday, 50 corpses, 100 wounded. Maybe the three leaders barracked for Israel’s right to commit war crimes to divert attention from their own. They trashed Geneva, let Ehud Olmert trash Geneva. Murdoch’s still blowing his bugles, eager for cheap oil. His paper’s editorialist glanced at the flames of Beirut from his Sydney office and concluded, “Israel is doing Lebanon a favour….”

Meanwhile, on the ground, Robert Fisk reports on the massacre of Marwaheen, “All the civilians killed by the Israelis had been ordered to abandon their homes in the border village by the Israelis themselves a few hours earlier. Leave, they were told by loudspeaker; and leave they did, 20 of them in a convoy of civilian cars. That's when the Israeli jets arrived to bomb them, killing 20 Lebanese, at least nine of them children”. In Haaretz, Gideon Levy puts it like this: "In Gaza, a soldier is abducted from the army of a state that frequently abducts civilians from their homes and locks them up for years with or without a trial - but only we're allowed to do that. And only we're allowed to bomb civilian population centers." There are bastards and angels on both sides, but noble leadership on neither. Israel has the right to defend its citizens, but not to annihilate neighbours.

All this carnage on the 70th anniversary of the fascist bombing of Guernica, which prophesised calamity. Four Islamic lands now under aerial bombardment, more in the firing line. For all the bright lights, witty musicals and executive jets, the world is reeling. Polluted heavens, clouded judgments, melting glaciers, declining oil, burning forests, rising seas and … that sinking feeling.

At the dawn of the 21st Century, we are stuck with leaders whose mindset is medieval.’

Medieval? Neanderthal!

Hear, hear, Richard...

EU gives 10mln euros humanitarian aid to Lebanon


     

July 20, 2006, 14:30
 
The European Union (EU) announced 10 million euros in aid to help Lebanese fleeing fighting in their country and expressed grave concern over the humanitarian situation in the region.

Louis Michel, the bloc's aid commissioner, stressed the gravity of the humanitarian situation and called for the opening of safe routes to get the aid to displaced people.

"We are facing a serious humanitarian crisis, about half a million internally displaced persons, but it could rapidly increase to one million if the fighting continues. The needs are big," Michel said in a statement.

Aid to arrive in two to three days


Once formally approved, the aid can arrive in 48 or 72 hours, and will be given to UN and non-governmental organisations. It could be increased if necessary, Altafaj told a news conference.

Barroso said the aid was given to express EU "solidarity with the civilians who are suffering from this terrible conflict".

Sixty-three Lebanese civilians were killed in air strikes yesterday, the deadliest toll in the nine-day war triggered by Israel's retaliation against Hizbollah's July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border operation.

Lebanese nationals feel abandoned by international community


Some Lebanese nationals stranded in their own country with no way of escaping say they feel abandoned by the international community.

They say ordinary civilians are baring the brunt of the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah. This comes as Israel and Hezbollah continue to exchange fire on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Thousands of foreigners, including some South Africans and displaced Lebanese are desperately trying to find a way out of the conflict zone. Once such person is Rima Sayrafi, a journalist married to a South African. Rima says she has been forced to flee to a remote village to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

Marines help evacuate thousands


Meanwhile, US Marines waded through waves at a Beirut beach today to whisk hundreds of Americans to Cyprus, where thousands of foreigners have fled to escape Israeli air strikes against Lebanon.

About 40 lightly armed Marines, aided by Lebanese soldiers, landed near Beirut at dawn and by mid-day had carried to a troop carrier about half of 1 200 Americans, including many children, expected to be evacuated on Thurday.

"We are thankful to leave but our hearts and prayers are with Lebanon and its people," said Mireille Ayoub (47), from Los Angeles.

Thousands have poured into Cyprus since Israeli air raids began nine days ago, including scores of young children, the old and infirm.

"Over the next couple of days you are going to be seeing a very large influx," Ronald Schlicher, the US ambassador to Cyprus, told reporters. "Maybe five, maybe six, maybe seven (thousand)." - Reuters


Article printout courtesy of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

 

 

You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation. ~~ Marian Wright Edelman

well said, Kim

From the ABC

Lebanon evacuation efforts may not succeed: PM
The Prime Minister, John Howard, has again called on Australians to understand the difficulties in Lebanon saying it could be the largest evacuation in Australia's history.

It is hoped thousands of Australians will leave Beirut today and on the weekend.

Government-chartered ships are due to arrive at the Beirut port today to ferry up to 2,500 Australians to Cyprus.

But Mr Howard says there are no guarantees the effort will be successful.

"I do ask people to understand the challenge that is involved here, it could be the largest movement of Australians overseas ever," he said.

There have been a series of mishaps surrounding the Government's evacuation plans but Mr Howard has again pleaded for understanding.

"I do ask people to understand the challenge that's involved here," he said.

"I think the department has done a remarkable job in very difficult circumstances ... I think some of the criticism is quite unfair and I reject it."

Costs
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says the Government will decide soon where next to send Australians who are ferried from Beirut to Cyprus.

Mr Downer says the mission will cost Australian taxpayers an "enormous amount" but those evacuated from Beirut will not be expected to cover the bill.

He says the Australians will be taken to Cyprus and then to a third country.

"In the case of Cyprus, there just isn't going to be the infrastructure to support all the foreigners arriving there," he said.

"So we are going to have to get people out of Cyprus to hubs, probably in the Middle East and Europe, but we haven't finalised the details.

"We hope to make an announcement about that tomorrow."

Too late
Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley has stepped up his attack over the Government's handling of Australians stranded in Lebanon.

Mr Beazley says while he is pleased progress is finally being made it is too little, too late.

"The fact of the matter is, no criticism's been directed at our public servants engaged in this," he said.

"Criticism is being directed at the performance of ministers and we do have an exceptionally incompetent group of ministers handling these sorts of crises."

A holiday picnic

Put the words 'Anzac' and 'hero' together, and the natural conclusion is 'John Howard'. Out Leader doesn't scratch around the edges of the Big Picture with a trowel, he gets about with a jackhammer and backhoe, sinking another few yards of trench for the foundation. Bugger the neighbours! He likes nothing better than jumping onto a D9, and clearing a bit more of the path to his destiny.

Witness Howard unveils Beaconsfield memorial:

Prime Minister John Howard has unveiled a plaque commemorating the Anzac Day rock fall, which killed one man and trapped two others at the Beaconsfield Gold mine. ...

To hell with Larry, Brant and Todd. This is about Anzac!

It wasn't always like this. The volunteers for the First Division were conned, probably, about lazing away their plentiful spare time on warm, golden Mediterranean beaches. The attraction for Australia's Lebanese expatriots is similar.

The good thing about the Gallopoli debacle, according to Australian War Memorial, was:

The most successful operation of the campaign was the evacuation of the troops on 19–20 December under cover of a comprehensive deception operation. ...

From No talking, lads, no smoking, "Over two weeks, 35,000 Australians were evacuated from Gallipoli."

Right here, we see, The Little Digger has put himself in strife. In Lebanon evacuation efforts may not succeed: PM he reckons:

... it could be the largest evacuation in Australia's history. ...

Hmmmm. Back to the history wars, John.

Never mind about the detail. In nine short years, with Israel and Lebanon a stretch of moonscape, Iran and Syria reduced to a flat, glazed surface, Jeb Bush ruling from Babylon, and one of the US battle fleets at his back, Our Leader will be back at Gallipoli. On April 25th, 2015, he will plant a flag at Suvla Bay, renaming it Cronulla Bay. We will be back!

However, doubters like Paul Krugman will have to be overcome. From The Price of Fantasy:

 

July 21, 2006Op-Ed Columnist The Price of Fantasy By PAUL KRUGMAN

Today we call them neoconservatives, but when the first George Bush was president, those who believed that America could remake the world to its liking with a series of splendid little wars — people like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld — were known within the administration as “the crazies.” Grown-ups in both parties rejected their vision as a dangerous fantasy.

But in 2000 the Supreme Court delivered the White House to a man who, although he may be 60, doesn’t act like a grown-up. The second President Bush obviously confuses swagger with strength, and prefers tough talkers like the crazies to people who actually think things through. He got the chance to implement the crazies’ vision after 9/11, which created a climate in which few people in Congress or the news media dared to ask hard questions. And the result is the bloody mess we’re now in.

This isn’t a case of 20-20 hindsight. It was clear from the beginning that the United States didn’t have remotely enough troops to carry out the crazies’ agenda — and Mr. Bush never asked for a bigger army.

As I wrote back in January 2003, this meant that the “Bush doctrine” of preventive war was, in practice, a plan to “talk trash and carry a small stick.” It was obvious even then that the administration was preparing to invade Iraq not because it posed a real threat, but because it looked like a soft target.

The message to North Korea, which really did have an active nuclear program, was clear: “The Bush administration,” I wrote, putting myself in Kim Jong Il’s shoes, “says you’re evil. It won’t offer you aid, even if you cancel your nuclear program, because that would be rewarding evil. It won’t even promise not to attack you, because it believes it has a mission to destroy evil regimes, whether or not they actually pose any threat to the U.S. But for all its belligerence, the Bush administration seems willing to confront only regimes that are militarily weak.” So “the best self-preservation strategy ... is to be dangerous.”

With a few modifications, the same logic applies to Iran. And it’s easier than ever for Iran to be dangerous, now that U.S. forces are bogged down in Iraq.

Would the current crisis on the Israel-Lebanon border have happened even if the Bush administration had actually concentrated on fighting terrorism, rather than using 9/11 as an excuse to pursue the crazies’ agenda? Nobody knows. But it’s clear that the United States would have more options, more ability to influence the situation, if Mr. Bush hadn’t squandered both the nation’s credibility and its military might on his war of choice.

So what happens next?

Few if any of the crazies have the moral courage to admit that they were wrong. Vice President Cheney continues to insist that his two most famous pronouncements about Iraq — his declaration before the invasion that we would be “greeted as liberators” and his assertion a year ago that the insurgency was in its “last throes” — were “basically accurate.”

But if the premise of the Bush doctrine was right, why are things going so badly?

The crazies respond by retreating even further into their fantasies of omnipotence. The only problem, they assert, is a lack of will.

Thus William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, has called for a military strike — an airstrike, since we don’t have any spare ground troops — against Iran.

“Yes, there would be repercussions,” he wrote in his magazine, “and they would be healthy ones.” What would these healthy repercussions be? On Fox News he argued that “the right use of targeted military force” could cause the Iranian people “to reconsider whether they really want to have this regime in power.” Oh, boy.

Mr. Kristol is, of course, a pundit rather than a policymaker. But there’s every reason to suspect that what Mr. Kristol says in public is what Mr. Cheney says in private.

And what about The Decider himself?

For years the self-proclaimed “war president” basked in the adulation of the crazies. Now they’re accusing him of being a wimp. “We have been too weak,” writes Mr. Kristol, “and have allowed ourselves to be perceived as weak.”

Does Mr. Bush have the maturity to stand up to this kind of pressure? I report, you decide.

 

From US hawks smell blood:

... Just nine days after September 11, Kristol and PNAC - whose charter members included Vice President Dick Cheney, Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and half a dozen other senior Bush administration officials - released an open letter to Bush that called for the United States to retaliate not only against al-Qaeda and Afghanistan, but also against Israel's main regional foes, beginning with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat. In addition, the letter advised, "any war against terrorism must target Hezbollah. We believe that the administration should demand that Iran and Syria immediately cease all military, financial and political support for Hezbollah and its operations. Should Iran and Syria refuse to comply, the administration should consider appropriate measures of retaliation against these state sponsors of terrorism.  ...

Our Leader may be enjoying his ride on the tiger, but soon enough he will have to explain to his patrons why Bush's Mesopotamian adventure is a "four act play", and the nation of Israel features in the first three acts, only. [Reference to this analogy has been lost]

the "great" decider

From the Moscow times's Chris Floyd

Global Eye
Craven Image

By Chris Floyd
Published: July 21, 2006

Well, that didn't take long. Two weeks ago, we wrote here that the "lickspittle, lock-step" U.S. Congress would scurry to give its approval to the dictatorial powers asserted by President George W. Bush after the Supreme Court struck down those claims earlier this month. And lo and behold, last week Republican Senator Arlen Specter introduced a bill that would not only confirm Bush's unrestrained, unconstitutional one-man rule -- it would augment it, exalting the Dear Leader to even greater authoritarian heights.

A more slavish piece of work can scarcely be imagined. And the implications are profound. Besides providing ex post facto cover for Bush's clearly criminal domestic surveillance programs, the measure is a stinging confirmation that there is no crime the Bushists can commit that the craven rubberstamps in Congress will not countenance. Aggressive war, torture, rendition, "extrajudicial killing" (i.e., murder), spying on citizens -- it's all good for the corporate bagmen, gormless goobers and extremist cranks now polluting the chambers on Capitol Hill.

But the reverberations go even further. Specter's bill also represents a message from the American Establishment, giving its imprimatur to the codification of presidential dictatorship as the new form of government in the United States, replacing the constitutional republic established in 1789. The bill embraces the core of Bush's claim to authoritarian rule: that the president cannot be restrained by any law or court ruling in his arbitrary actions on any "matters pertaining" to national security -- and of course it is the president who will decide, in secret, what pertains to national security and what does not...

read more at the Moscow Times

Aussies may be charged for trip home



AUSTRALIANS evacuated from Lebanon could be charged to return to Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says.

As about 150 Australians returned home from Cyprus today, Mr Downer said the issue of evacuation costs was still being determined.

"We're certainly not charging Australians to be evacuated from Lebanon," Mr Downer said.

"(But) there is an issue that is still to be resolved as to what we would pay for people to be returned from a staging post in Europe or the Middle East to Australia."

He said cost details would be discussed by the Government tomorrow.

"We just want to finalise those details, what they will be charged for and what they won't be charged for, and who will be charged and who won't be charged," Mr Downer said.

"Obviously it (evacuating Australians from Lebanon) is an expensive exercise but we are sparing no expense to ensure those that want to get out will be able to get out."

Mr Downer said evacuating Australians from Beirut could cost up to $25 million.

The Government plans to ship up to 6500 Australians from Beirut to safety by Sunday.

It is hopeful that 500 to 1000 people will shipped out today, probably to Cyprus.

However, Cyprus is struggling to cope with the influx of foreign refugees.

Mr Downer said Australia had booked about 500 hotel rooms in Cyprus.

He said about 150 Australians already in Cyprus were today flown home on a chartered plane. 

 

You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation. ~~ Marian Wright Edelman

Tickets, please...

From the ABC

Govt to foot Lebanon evacuation bill
The Federal Government will pay for the evacuation of Australian citizens and permanent residents out of Lebanon.

But Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says those who do not usually live in Australia will have to pay their own way.

Mr Downer says hundreds of Australians have been moved out of Lebanon and the evacuations will cost the Government about $25 million.

"We need to get people out of Cyprus and Turkey as soon as we can," he said.

"We've chartered aircraft, we're in the process of getting them out as well so they can go back to Australia,

"It's not compulsory, there's nothing compulsory about it... they don't have to return to Australia if they don't want to.

-----------------------

I did a cartoon that could be posted sometimes later on tonight...

But this in the meantime...
""It's not compulsory, there's nothing compulsory about it... they don't have to return to Australia if they don't want to." said our Mr Bozo in his full fluffy clown regalia. He then might have added: "And yes, obviously, it is not compulsory to escape the bombing. You can choose to be bombed if you wish since we're not going to ask Israel stop their destruction of Lebanon... Ah ah ah.... "

Cartoons

Had a sneak preview, bloody good job. But then most of your cartoons are tops. Was wondering, have you done any "Abbott and Costello" cartoons? They would have to be bloody rippers.

You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation. ~~ Marian Wright Edelman

marie antoinette .....

Apologies Gus for not posting your 'toons ..... a slight technical hiccup at present which, hopefully, won't hold us up too long.

In the meantime, as I'm sure Marie Antoinette would say: "Let them read" !!! 


 

 

Expert's sad death...

From the ABC/AAP

British MP casts doubt on David Kelly suicide
An opposition member of the British Parliament has alleged a Government scientist who cast doubt on intelligence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction may not have taken his own life.

A judicial inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly in July 2003 concluded the one-time UN weapons inspector and expert on Saddam Hussein's weapons programs committed suicide.

He did so after he was named as the source of a BBC news report suggesting that Prime Minister Tony Blair's government had "sexed up" intelligence in the run-up to the US and British invasion of Iraq four months earlier.

"Today, I challenge that conclusion," wrote Norman Baker, from the smaller opposition Liberal Democrats, in the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

"I do so on the basis that the medical evidence available simply cannot sustain it, that Dr Kelly's own behaviour and character argues against it and that there were serious shortcomings in the way the legal and investigative processes set up to consider his death were followed."

Points raised by Mr Baker - whose centre-left party opposed the Iraq war, included the fact that Dr Kelly supposedly cut his ulnary artery in his wrist, a more difficult and painful option than the radial artery.

In 2003, Mr Baker said Dr Kelly was the only person recorded to have taken his or her own life in this fashion.

Mr Baker also said that paramedics who attended the scene where Dr Kelly's body was found in Oxfordshire noticed that he had lost little blood and was "incredibly unlikely" to have died from the wound they saw.

Police said that 29 tablets of pain-killer coproxamol were missing from a packet in his home, but all that was found in Dr Kelly's stomach was the equivalent of one-fifth of a tablet, Mr Baker said.

Volunteer searchers who found his body said he was slumped against a tree, rather than lying prone, as police stated.

Despite the stress he was under in the days leading to his death, Mr Baker also said contacts with friends and relatives showed no sign that Dr Kelly had suicidal thoughts.

Mr Baker also faulted the way Dr Kelly's death was investigated, saying that the pathologist assigned to the case was one of the least experienced in the country, and that Lord Brian Hutton, who conducted the judicial inquiry, had never conducted such a public inquiry before in his long career.

"Many people find it hard to accept that Dr Kelly's death was suicide and the passage of time has only firmed up that doubt," wrote Mr Baker in the Mail on Sunday, which editorially is highly critical of Mr Blair's Government.

"I am conscious that some, particularly those who were close to him, will want to put all this behind them, to move on. The reality, however, is that this episode is not going to go away."

read more at the ABC/AAP

-----------------------
Gus:
We knew that David Kelly knew — through his important work and his contacts with Iraqi scientists — that the UK-Blair dossiers on WMDs were a fabrication or "sexed up" unreliable information at least...

He was put under enormous pressure to recant his "exposure" of this fact to a somewhat careless journalist who used David Kelly as his only source to expose the "sexing up" con, although David Kelly had expressly urged him not to use him as the source for this — since it would compromise his position in the government.

Beyond that, in order to protect himself, and refute he leaked the information, David Kelly denied the dossiers had been "sexed up" to another journalist. Thus he confused the issue for himself while whitewashing the government.

He was nonetheless taken to a tribunal where things got quite nasty for him. The Blair government placed a lot of pressure on David Kelly... Yet, the Blair government, the US administration and the Howard government were lying through their teeth re the weapons of mass destruction held by Saddam. But they had to be believed for their illegal little war to go ahead, lies swallowed by the public at large as a necessity.

In all probability there would have been only 5 per cent that David Kelly killed himself, but he knew as revealed to a friend a few month before his leak to the press, he would die from what was then going to follow. The stakes were high: on one side the UK government needed its dossiers to be believed, on the other David Kelly knew they were a lot of chicken-poop.

From the government point of view, David Kelly may have gone on to spill the beans on the "fabrication" of the dossiers, although he was wrestling with his conscience to find where a balance was: his "allegiance" to HIS country versus his knowledge that HIS country was lying to achieve an end... the end of a dictator... He had the power to change the course of history.

Sadly, he died in very suspect circumstances. The official version was "suicide"...

Toons

In the meantime, the missing toon can be seen at:

Clowner 


You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation. ~~ Marian Wright Edelman

thanks flea ....

Thanks Flea ....

Welcome to YD by the way .... you've gotten off to an energetic start !!! 

It's terrific for our readers to be able to benefit from the your "fresh passion" & unique insights as an ex yankee / new awstraylen.

No Worries

 JR: "Welcome to YD by the way"

 

My Pleasure, John. I am just sorry that it took so long. I am now planting myself in the chat room daily from 12-2 pm WA time, (2-4 pm in the east) and would love to see any of the readers and bloggers there as they find the time. I am also popping in during evenings when my schedual permits, and keeping the chat window open when ever I am on this machine. An email request will have me there quick smart, should anyone feel the urge for a chin wag.  

 

You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation. ~~ Marian Wright Edelman