I would like to apologise for the somewhat gross cartoon of his majesty Bushit the second... The mitigating factor was that he was holding my hand, virtually, at the time...

If anyone needs to apologise Gus, it's bushit, "aussie tony" & our little rodent, johnnee.

No-one seems to have noticed that in this past week the number of US military fatalities in Iraq hit 2800, surpassing the "official" number of fatalities recorded in the twin towers disaster (2752).

Five years after Usama bin Laden wreaked havoc in New York & provided the pretext that bushit & his team of weary old warhorses needed to take out Saddam, an equal number of young Americans have been butchered, whilst countless numbers have been physically & spychologically maimed & hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians murdered, whilst Usama remains free. And not so much as a word of acknowledgement from the lying trio of war criminals ....

And all so the land of the free & the home of the brave can continue to drive their humvees & terrarize the rest of the planet.

What a pity your cartoon can't come to life, with bushit being promptly flushed away to a suitable cesspit !!!  

‘Cheryl Kagan, a former Maryland Democratic legislator, was shocked when she opened her mail Wednesday morning.

Inside, she discovered three computer discs. With them was an anonymous letter saying the discs contained the secret source code for vote counting that could be used to alter the votes cast through Maryland's new electronic voting machines.

"My understanding is that with these disks a malicious person could skew the outcome of an election," Kagan said.

Diebold, the company that makes the voting machines, told ABC News, "These discs do not alter the security of the Diebold touch-screen system in any way," because election workers can set their own passwords. 

But ABC News has obtained an independent report commissioned by the state of Maryland and conducted by Science Applications International Corporation revealing that the original Diebold factory passwords are still being used on many voting machines.

’Electronic Voting Machines Could Skew Elections

‘Congress has given Bush a blank check as he's bulldozed toward an imperial presidency.  We have the outward forms of democratic institutions such as Congress and a so-called free press.  However, the people currently managing those institutions behave as if they're being forced to serve a totalitarian dictator.

A perfect example of this surrender to Bush's virtual despotism is Congress's and the mainstream media's compliance regarding Bush's Military Commissions Act.  While Keith Olbermann and Jonathan Turley see the extreme danger posed by Bush's authoritarian moves, Congress has done little to challenge Bush, and, overall, the press is eerily silent.

In The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich, William L. Shirer said the Reich Press Law of October 4, 1933, ordered editors not to publish (among other things) anything which "tends to weaken the strength of the German Reich or offends the honor and dignity of Germany."  According to Shirer, Max Amman, Hitler's top sergeant during the war and head of the Nazi Party's publishing firm and financial head of its press said that after the Nazis seized power in 1933, it was "a true statement to say that the basic purpose of the Nazi press program was to eliminate all the press which was in opposition to the party."

The U.S. mainstream press doesn't have to be coerced by a government Press Law to avoid publicly opposing Bush's most egregious policies.  Television news networks, in particular, have voluntarily held back serious scrutiny.  They have not only failed to discuss the recent Military Commissions Act at length, but in the run-up to the Iraq war, liberal talk show host Phil Donahue and comedian Bill Maher were fired for challenging the White House spin about Iraq and the 9/11 attacks.

Shirer also describes the ease with which the German Reichstag gave Hitler the power to change the nature of Germany's parliamentary democracy.  He writes:

"One by one, Germany's most powerful institutions now began to surrender to Hitler and to pass quietly, unprotestingly, out of existence...It cannot be said they went down fighting.  On May 19, 1933, the Social Democrats - those who were not in jail or in exile - voted in the Reichstag without a dissenting voice to approve Hitler's foreign policy."

Shirer concludes:  "The one-party totalitarian state had been achieved with scarcely a ripple of opposition or defiance, and within four months after the Reichstag had abdicated its democratic responsibilities."’

Bush's Absolute Power Grab

In less than a couple of weeks, you will be asked to vote for your Congress future, your country's future which in turn is also the world's future. I beg you from the bottom of my heart to stop George W Bush, The US "War" President who is dismantling the US Constitution stone by stone. Stop him from doing any more damage. Your congress needs to stop him.

For those who know that already but despair there is little that can be done, please rally your friends, rally your neighbours, rally your families and vote en masse against that pathetic, stupid, moronic President and his team of Nazis in civvies who will bring more grief to the world should they be allowed to. Despite his changing rhetoric for example abandoning slogans like "stay the course" and trying to smooth a few corners, he is hell bent on continuing fudging, lying, warring, stealing.

For those who are "swinging voters" and voted him in last time at spruik value — all is forgiven as long as you now walk the walk to the polling booths and vote someone in your congress that will oppose everything "your" President is doing.

To those who vote electronically or with dubious cards systems beware of the manipulations that are possible by these systems and demand that voting be done by ballot with the name of the candidates on it, deposited in sealed boxes and scrutinised by both sides. Go to the street, demonstrate, oppose.

Do it for your country. Do it for the world.

A letter in the Sydney Morning Herald

We're saving Iraqi lives

I often read on this page of Saddam Hussein's non-existent weapons. Would anyone like to explain the definition of "non-existent" to the relatives of the thousands of Kurds and Iranians who died terrible deaths from these "non-existent" weapons? There can be no doubt that Iraq possessed, and used, poison gas, outlawed by international law.

Whether or not stockpiles still existed at the time Saddam was overthrown was not known, and Saddam did everything possible to thwart United Nations efforts to find out.

Saddam was a tyrant who tortured and murdered his own people. He had to go, for the future of Iraq and the benefit of the world.

Since his overthrow, it has been reported, more than 600,000 Iraqis have been killed. This with Australia and its allies doing their best to protect Iraqi civilians. I hate to think what the toll would be if we were not there. We must continue to help the Iraqi people to rebuild their country and restore their peaceful life.

David Knowles Chittaway Bay

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

Gus: yes Mr Knowles, it is very comforting to add one and one, dismiss the dynamics of division and complications, and have a beautiful result... Father Bush was smarter than the average bear, including his son, Dummybear. This is why after Gulf War One, his armies did not remove Saddam from power although he could have done so.

If Iraq was an homogenous country, your proposition could work out reasonably fine as long as the US did not create resentment by trying to appropriate the Iraqi oils wells (of course via market forces of private enterprise and competition which the US controls tightly in regard to oil).

Before Gulf War Two, Iraq was a country of 60 per cent fundamentalist that Saddam controlled by "brutal" means. In twenty years of "his" rule it has been estimated than about 300,000 people were murdered and dumped in mass graves. This is only an estimate created by "Western" (US mostly) nations in order to justify a war. In fact it is hard to know since no real "mass graves" have ever been found to confirm this number. Saddam is on trial now in Iraq for ONLY a few murders (one hundred here, one hundred there) and his argument was "he was squashing rebellion". If 20 millions blacks took to the street in the US, there would be few murders of that nature done by the government under the same reason. Yes Saddam did some bad things and murdered people... possibly up to 50,000 during his tenure.

But the war "mission in-accomplished" by George W Bush has several outcomes:
* It "liberated' Iraq... In fact it liberated most of the fundamentalist spirit bottled in that country — fundamentalism that the US troops are fighting, calling them terrorists, insurgents and the like.
* The US ARE appropriating via "private enterprises" the oil wells of Iraq. The wealth of that country is not being used to help the pitiful reconstruction, of which up to 50 per cent of budgets go to line some pockets in "corrupted" practices.
* The present Iraqi government — designed as a puppet of the US, voted in by Iraqi people, with convoluted sectarian allocations to avoid, at all cost (in the US view), the majority (fundamentalist) getting a grip on the handle of power — is trying hard to manage a divided country, where even a certain form of federalism would plunge it further into civil war.
* The US invasion also allowed foreign elements to infiltrate the country and act as terrorists.
* The US invasion has allowed sectarian (decidedly or not) violence, taking away some of the heat against the "invaders" (the US is resented by about 75 per cent of the Iraqis. The Shia resent them for not having gained full control when they are the majority of the country, and the Sunnis resent the US for having removed them from power.
* Revenge is currency. If your family were murdered by whomever and the "law" mostly inexistent or was protecting the culprits, you would, certainly in the frame of mind of some Iraqi people, seek revenge.
* The invasion of Iraq was done under false pretences. The events you refer too happened soon after the end of Gulf War One, when the Kurds — spurred to revolt against Saddam by the CIA during that first war were then abandoned by the CIA to the whim of the despot.
* Saddam had followed the UN resolution to destroy all Iraqi stocks of "Weapons of Mass Destruction". He was obfuscating with inspectors as not to show his enemies he was toothless, although three month before the US invasion gave clear way for the inspectors to proceed as they wished and gave a 10,000 pages report on the disposal (proven) of WMDs in 1991. The US promptly stopped the inspectors because the US knew there were no weapons to be found and this would have exploded their sabre-rattling and fear mongering.
* The invasion of Iraq by the US has reduced to basically zero the ability for Christians in Iraq to survive. More than half have fled and the other half live in fear while under Saddam, they lived "normal lives" some of them even being government ministers.
* By staying in Iraq we add to the fuel of resentment and nothing much is going to improve. If the US forces cannot manage to stop the violence presently, do you think the Iraqi army does have a chance?
* Despite the rhetoric, the US is not planning to leave Iraq until they have extracted as much oil as possible.
* The US made many mistakes in Iraq some deliberately designed to create chaos. The administration is not full of stumbling idiots... they know they had to create havoc in order to rule and avoid the country falling in the hands of fundamentalists... in the process more than 600,000 Iraqi have died... Plenty more than if Saddam had stayed on... but then the oil would still be in the hands of the Europeans and the Russians... The Yanks could not have that.

Yes Gus, the rodent & his gang-gang continue to peddle the line that we must stay in Iraq to “save” the Iraqi people, provide stability in the middle-east (whatever that means) & “save” us gentle, defenceless folks from the evil “terrarists”.

The problem that little johnnee, “aussie tony” & the world’s greatest gangster, bushit, can’t escape is that their words lack any credibility whatsoever. As you rightly observed, the “coalition of the willing” had every opportunity to remove Saddam as a logical outcome of the 1^st Gulf War but did not.

These war criminals lied their way into Iraq simply to loot its resources …. no link to 911; no link to the “terrorism”; no WMDs; no 45 minutes to a mushroom cloud, no justification to launch a war of aggression, the greatest of war crimes - a crime against peace - & all without a mandate from the UN.

And even now, 5 years on, they are no closer to catching the criminal allegedly responsible for the twin towers horror. Why? Because they’ve been too busy raping & pillaging to look for him. So much for the phoney “war on terra” ….

Bush & his corporate & political cronies are not only guilty of trashing one of the world’s oldest civilisations, but of looting the US treasury of more than US$350 billion to their own direct benefit, expropriating the “great prize” of Iraq’s oil & butchering hundreds of thousands of innocent people in the process. Saddam was a prince by comparison.

Now that it’s all gone pear-shaped & our self-appointed lunatic political warriors (none of whom have ever seen military service, whilst ever ready to bask in the reflected glory of those who have) are under pressure to get out, they self-righteously & obscenely protest that we have a responsibility to “protect” the Iraqi people & stop the situation getting any worse.

If our so-called leaders were at all serious about bringing the carnage in Iraq to a halt, reducing the level of sectarian violence, removing the driver of growth in terrarism & the corresponding growth in hatred of everything we stand for, they would acknowledge their criminal lies & deceit & call upon the UN to create an internationally supported protectorate in Iraq, to take responsibility for restoring order, protecting ALL of its people, overseeing its reconstruction & transition the country to self-government, IN THE INTERESTS OF ALL THE IRAQI PEOPLE.

But of course that would mean that the real ambitions of the US would be thwarted, which is why it hasn’t been proposed as an alternative to “cutting & running” or “staying the course”.

But, as you rightly observe, bushit & his cadre of corporate criminals can’t & won’t take their feet off the great treasure of Iraq ..... but just maybe the American people might cut them all off at the knees in the next couple of weeks? We live in hope ….

In the meantime, new voices of dissent are appearing amongst the rodent’s ranks, as reported in today’s Sydney morning herald …..

‘As the Howard Government yesterday talked up ridicule of Labor's policy to quit Iraq, a Liberal senator with strong foreign policy credentials broke ranks, questioning whether staying to the end was a productive pledge.

"The logic of this policy is that we will only withdraw when the work is done," said Russell Trood, an associate professor of international relations at Brisbane's Griffith University before entering the Senate.

"The issues are: how soon will that be and is the present policy likely to achieve that objective."

Senator Trood warned of a political backlash. He said a small but growing number of Government backbenchers were "increasingly agitated about the war and its political fallout".

In an interview with the Bulletin, Senator Trood questioned prospects of success.

Australian troops, he said, might be left in a "long war of attrition that could intensify divisions within Iraq", sap American energy and fail to stabilise Iraq.

His outspokenness was tempered by his view that Australia must not "just pick up and leave".

Senator Trood said Iraq progress was "well behind expectations". Despite encouraging signs, sectarian violence might be intensifying, and the supply of suicide bombers seemed endless.’

Liberal Breaks Ranks On Iraq

from the Centre for American Progress ….. 

‘At an event on Capitol Hill today with Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the Center for American Progress Action Fund released its third quarterly "report card" this year on the Bush administration's handling of Iraq.

The analysis, written by senior fellows Brian Katulis and Lawrence Korb, evaluates the progress towards the goals identified in the administration's "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" and "finds Iraq on the brink of collapse, with growing violence, increased sectarian tensions and divisions in the Iraqi national government, and few significant advances in Iraq’s economic reconstruction. All indicators point to the utter failure of President Bush’s strategy for Iraq." This evaluation tracks with a growing chorus of concerns coming from allies of Bush. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said yesterday, "We're on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working." Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) added that the administration has to "face the fact" that Iraq is now in a civil war.

Put on the defensive, White House Counselor Dan Bartlett countered with a media blitz yesterday morning. "We know there is a sense of urgency," he said, adding that the administration did not have its "heads in the sand" on Iraq. Yet, that's the undeniable impression that the White House has created.

While the administration continues to assert that there have been great successes in Iraq, a recent poll finds only 19 percent of Americans believe the U.S. is winning.

The 17th century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes remarked in his seminal work, Leviathan, that a society without established order quickly deteriorates and leaves warring conditions that pit "every man against every man." Such an explanation is well-suited to describe the endemic chaos that has gripped Iraqi society and left it in a state of anarchic civil war. In their new analysis, Katulis and Korb write that the conditions on the ground in Iraq are far worse than the term "civil war" suggests.

There are now four separate major internal conflicts ongoing. A Sunni-Shiite civil war rages in Baghdad and the central part of Iraq; an intra-Shiite conflict is growing more heated in the south; the Sunni Arab insurgency continues to undermine security in western Iraq; and, an Arab-Kurdish dispute has sparked tensions in the north. In Iraq, unfettered milita groups, with their assortment of guns and weapons, control the balance of power. "At the time of U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Sadr's militia did not exist. Today his [Mehdi] army numbers tens of thousands." The security vacuum created in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq has made Sadr "the most potent political figure, and the most popular one." But Sadr is not alone. Other militas, like the Badr Brigades led by their Iranian-friendly leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, are asserting power and control stemming from both their ethnic-driven popularity and their arms.

Hobbes surmised that living in "continual fear" and in "danger of violent death" leaves the life of man "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." Indeed, Iraqi lives bear witness. According to one recent study, "more than 650,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the U.S. invasion and its ensuing chaos."

Yesterday, Muslims all over the globe celebrated Eid ul-Fitr, the festival culminating the month-long fast during Ramadan. In Iraq, one of the most celebrated days of the year has instead been "replaced with mourning." "There will be no holiday in Iraq," said Abu Marwa, a mobile phone show owner in Baghdad. "Anyone who says otherwise is a liar." "Everything has been taken from us, and now our Ramadan has been stolen, too," said one Iraqi man. "It would be like having a false celebration, a false joy." Nibras Jaffar, a 29-year old father who was toy-shopping for his son to mark the occasion said, "We don't have any hope for this feast. We are weighed down with problems." Homebound police recruits and shoppers rounding up last minute sweets and delicacies for the coming feast were gunned down by militants on Sunday. "Fearing new attacks, Iraqi Sunnis largely shunned public celebrations," staying huddled in their homes.

For years, President Bush has communicated his strategy for Iraq with a simple three-word pronouncement: stay the course. Bush said in August, "We will stay the course." In July, he again said, "We will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course." The month before that, he said the U.S. must keep its nerve and "stay the course." Now, with his approval ratings plummeting and his strategy failing, Bush is ditching the phrase, claiming "we've never been stay the course." The Washington Post writes, "The White House is cutting and running from 'stay the course.'" The White House is in full retreat, sprinting away from the slogan. Spokesman Tony Snow declared yesterday, "That is not a stay-the-course policy." Bartlett said the administration has "never" had a "stay the course" strategy.

Unfortunately, the rhetoric correction offers little in the way of an actual course correction.  The administration's shallow attempts to change its rhetoric will be meaningless until it accepts the growing consensus that a strategic redeployment offers the last best hope for success.’

‘Press Secretary Tony Snow was able to blend the facts on this matter with true poetic voice when asked if "stay the course" is being abandoned by the White House. "What you have is not 'stay the course,'" said Snow, "but, in fact, a study in constant motion by the administration and by the Iraqi government, and, frankly, also by the enemy, because there are constant shifts, and you constantly have to adjust to what the other side is doing."

A study in constant motion?

James Crabtree, writing for the UK Guardian, attempted to analyze the phrase. "A brief search for the phrase on Google isn't terribly revealing," wrote Crabtree. "A study in constant motion is, apparently, a way to describe an obscure Michelangelo Antonioni movie, a description of a soccer game, and an advert for a rental home in North Carolina's Outer Banks. It is also, intriguingly, a way to describe the oeuvre of Scot's born film Director Norman McLaren, and the 'approach to global success' of computer giant Microsoft. It certainly, however, is not a description of how to succeed in Iraq."

Poetry notwithstanding, the Bush administration's handling of Iraq has indeed been a study in constant motion. Recall, if you will, the claims made by Bush in his January 2003 State of the Union address: Iraq is in possession of 26,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, 500 tons (which equals 1,000,000 pounds) of sarin, mustard, and VX nerve agent, nearly 30,000 munitions to deliver the stuff, mobile biological weapons labs, uranium from Niger for use in a robust nuclear weapons programs, and connections to al Qaeda that led directly to the attacks of September 11.

Ari Fleischer's tapdancing behind his podium reached mythological status in July of 2003 when, during a briefing in which he was pressed to explain why no WMD had been found in Iraq, said, "I think the burden is on those people who think he didn't have weapons of mass destruction to tell the world where they are."

Come again? The people who said Iraq had no weapons and posed no threat must be the ones to explain where the weapons are? Certainly, the myriad administration officials who promised that stockpiles of WMD were practically falling out of the sky in Iraq shouldn't have to explain themselves. That wouldn't be cricket.

The rest, as they say, is history. The weapons stopped being the story, so put away your plastic sheeting and duct tape. The whole point was to bring democracy to the Middle East by way of Iraq. Then it became about fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here. Then it became about us standing down when the Iraqis stand up. Then it became about standing as referee between factional militias. For a while, it was about staying the course.

Not so much anymore.

Constant motion indeed.’

A Study In Constant Motion

‘The White House confirmed yesterday that it had set "benchmarks and milestones" for the Iraqi government to disarm militias and take other concrete steps to stabilise the country.

The administration had initially denied a report that the government of prime minister Nuri al-Maliki would be given an ultimatum to do more to curb sectarian violence, but Dan Bartlett, President Bush's media adviser, yesterday argued that the report had simply been "overwritten" and there was little new in it.

There is rising impatience in Washington and among US military commanders over the Maliki government's apparent inability or unwillingness to confront Shia militias. The report in the New York Times said the Bush administration was not threatening the Iraqi government with a full US withdrawal but with "changes in military strategy and other penalties".

Mr Bartlett would not go into details, but told Fox News: "There a lot of different ways in which you can either incentivise - or however you want to put it - to move them along that path. And that's something we're constantly working and adjusting with them."’

Bush Tells Maliki Government To Tackle Militias Or Face Penalties

Iraqi army officers are reportedly planning to stage a military coup with U.S. help to oust the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Cairo-based Iraqi and Arab sources said Monday several officers visited Washington recently for talks with U.S. officials on plans for replacing Maliki's administration by a "national salvation" government with the mission to re-establish security and stability in Iraq.

One Iraqi source told United Press International that the Iraqi army officers' visit to the United States was aimed at coordinating the military coup in case the efforts of Maliki's government to restore order reached a dead end.

He said among the prominent officers were the deputy chief of staff, a Muslim Shiite, the intelligence chief, a Sunni, and the commander of the air force, a Kurd. It is believed the three would constitute the nucleus of the next government after the army takes over power.

The proposed plan, according to the source, stipulates that the new Iraqi army, with the assistance of U.S. forces, will take control of power, suspend the constitution, dissolve parliament and form a new government. The military will also take direct control of the various provinces and the administration after imposing a state of emergency.'

Coup Against Maliki Reported In The Making

from the BBC
Bush team defends US Iraq plans

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6082620.stm|Top members of the US government] have offered their backing to President George W Bush's policy in Iraq, weeks before his party faces mid-term polls. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was among several officials defending the government's Iraq policy as adaptable.
The US envoy to Iraq earlier said Iraq could be stabilised, despite setbacks.
A top Republican has meanwhile joined Democrats in criticising Mr Bush in a month when 90 US troops died in Iraq - the highest toll since November 2004.
Three hundred Iraqi troops have also died in October, and some estimates say sectarian attacks now claim an average of 40 Iraqi lives every day.
-------------------
Gus: Obviously Dunny Rummy is not going to flush his own glorious work down the toilet... although it's already in it...

From Al Jazeera

The American mid-term elections

By Sandy Shanks
Sunday 22 October 2006, 20:46 Makka Time, 17:46 GMT
[http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/812C5E5C-3FE8-41F7-83F8-8CD7448A1A04.htm|The title of this article begs] a question. Why would non-Americans be interested in the US elections on November 7?

After all, this is not about the presidency. It is about congress, a third of the senate and 36 state governorships. Surely these are internal US issues of little concern to countries with enough problems of their own.
However, because George Bush's Republican party controls senate and congress, these elections may well be less about American state and local issues and more of a referendum on presidential policy.
.....
To put it in a different way: How badly does Bush want to win next month?
He is nearly maniacal in believing that he is the second coming of Franklin D Roosevelt. In his mind, he wants to save the world from fascism – what he sees as an Islamist variety this time – and preserve and expand democracy for all people on the planet to enjoy.
What he fails to realise is that his policies have encouraged the proliferation of extremism, as evidenced recently by 16 US intelligence agencies, and that some peoples really do not want the American brand of democracy.

From the Washington post

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102401223_pf.html|Radio Hosts] Get Closer to the White House -- if Only Physically
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 25, 2006; A07
It sounded like the kind of friendly interview that administration officials expected when they invited 42 mostly conservative radio hosts to broadcast yesterday from beneath a long, heated white tent on the president's doorstep.
"The American people, in my humble opinion, don't realize we're at war," Neal Boortz, an acerbic libertarian based in Atlanta, told presidential counselor Dan Bartlett. "How do you communicate to the American people that there is a grave threat that must be addressed?"
Moments after Bartlett moved down the rows of folding tables to the next interview, however, Boortz said during a break: "I've adopted the opinion that maybe I'd like to see the Republicans take it in the teeth in this election, lose the House and lick their wounds. They just haven't done enough to be rewarded with continued control in Washington."
For 15 years, the conservatives who dominate talk radio have served as shock troops for the GOP, bashing Democrats, hitting the hot buttons and rallying their listeners. Since the Republicans won back Congress in 1994, a feat in which Rush Limbaugh played a catalyzing role, through the disputed election of 2000 and President Bush's first term, the radio talkers have wielded a powerful megaphone for their ideological side.
But as Bartlett, Karl Rove, Tony Snow, Michael Chertoff and other top administration officials worked the tent during yesterday's day-long event, it became apparent that there are serious cracks in this once-solid wall of support.

In about twelve months, the bushit inc. organisation will proclaim that its "job is done" in Iraq... Fanbloodytastic. But the proclamation will obviously be the cover up of a deliberate hit and run. Hit in the 2003 invasion, and a run in 2007.... No... Iraq won't be stable by then, far from it! no... the Iraqi armies won't be able to stem the ever growing tide of violence, but Bushit inc. will tell the Iraqi government "that's your problem now... We've done enough... grow up..." All the US armies still in the country, the 80,000 or 100,000 or so will be there to guard the OIL WELLS. That's the only thing that really matters for the US: secure shipment of oil. The Iraqi can thus sort their differences between themselves... By then the political mechanics of an agreement between Washington and Baghdad will be such that the Iraqi wont have a say in these resources. This is phase three of the invasion. It does not matter whether the Iraqi fight between themselves or not, as long as the loot is well guarded... for the US to pump, strategically.

From the BBC

Surprise gift
Richard Greene
31 Oct 06, 08:47 PM

George Bush and Dick Cheney have been working overtime (and racking up air miles) to rally conservative stalwarts in the final days before the elections, and on Monday they got a [http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/|gift] from an unexpected source: John Kerry.
--------------
Gus: unfortunately, jokes need good writers and we can muff our own here, but democratic candidates and politicians should stay clear of the mud as the good old saying goes: "who throws mud loses ground"... We could have been "losing ground" for so long here, we would be floating in mid-air if the government itself was not providing the mud for us to throw at it, but coming from leading folks, only serious and informed statement can do. Mind you the President Dubya wallops in deeper than everybody else but he seem not to notice the smell... Our Johnnee walks on thick water...

today’s new york times editorial …..

‘As President Bush throws himself into the final days of a particularly nasty campaign season, he’s settled into a familiar pattern of ugly behavior. Since he can’t defend the real world created by his policies and his decisions, Mr Bush is inventing a fantasy world in which to campaign on phony issues against fake enemies.

In Mr Bush’s world, America is making real progress in Iraq.

In the real world, as Michael Gordon reported in yesterday’s Times, the index that generals use to track developments shows an inexorable slide toward chaos. In Mr. Bush’s world, his administration is marching arm in arm with Iraqi officials committed to democracy and to staving off civil war. In the real world, the prime minister of Iraq orders the removal of American checkpoints in Baghdad and abets the sectarian militias that are slicing and dicing their country.

In Mr Bush’s world, there are only two kinds of Americans: those who are against terrorism, and those who somehow are all right with it. Some Americans want to win in Iraq and some don’t. There are Americans who support the troops and Americans who don’t support the troops. And at the root of it all is the hideously damaging fantasy that there is a gulf between Americans who love their country and those who question his leadership.’

The Great Divider

From the BBC

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5365142.stm|Mr Chavez], who brandished a copy of American leftist writer Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance, said Mr Bush promoted "a false democracy of the elite" and a "democracy of bombs".
"He came here talking as if he were the owner of the world," the Venezuelan leader said.
He called for drastic reform of the UN to reduce what he called US influence.
The UN in its current form "doesn't work", he said.
-------------------
Gus: No,no,no no, Mr Chavez.... Bush is not the devil... He's only a stupid bloke with limited comprehension of what's going on... and behind his back there is a conglomerate of very greedy two-faced puppet-string pullers... And Bush knows it... but he plays the dumb card to fool us... Er I'm lost here... Is he as dumb as he appears to be? Please do not answer that... I know...

From a very unfunny Auntie

Labor's Iraq withdrawal policy delusional: Nelson
The Defence Minister has attacked Labor over its policy on Iraq, saying that withdrawing troops would damage Australia's relationship with the United States.

In the presence of senior American officials at a dinner at Canberra's Old Parliament House, Brendan Nelson warned the Australia-US relationship would suffer if Australia did not stay until the end with its allies in Iraq.

"Friendships count for something," he said.

"Anyone who thinks that prematurely leaving Iraq, the United States and the United Kingdom would not do damage to our relationship with those countries is in my opinion delusional."

Labor's foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd dismissed the talk.

"Some might argue it was delusional to go to war in Iraq without a plan for the post war period," he said.

"We in the Labor Party have never had a view that an alliance equals automatic compliance."
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Gus: the grand delusion, dear Mr Nelson (once the minister-for-holes-in-the-head — and rablats or was it rat-labs? See relevant cartoons on this site like "From the minister for scientific holes in the head") is to believe in Mr Bush's lies, porkies, fumbles, fiddles-faddles and not being able to see his grand dangerous stupidities, whether they're deliberate or not. But fools can never see their own delusions nor the delusions of their masters, can they?

Yes, brown-nosing has its rewards but they can be very smelly at times...