While turd blossom attempts to justify his folly in Iraq by fabricating the outcome of amerika’s earlier foreign policy disaster in Vietnam, there are still those who think it wiser to learn from history, rather than ignore it.

'"When Iraq becomes strong enough in our opinion to stand alone, we shall be in a position to state that our task has been fulfilled, and that Iraq is an independent sovereign state. But this cannot be said while we are forced year after year to spend very large sums of money on helping the Iraqi government to defend itself and maintain order.”

I once had the pleasure of being the sole occupier of the Presidential Suite at the Sebel Town House. (don't ask...it was a private joke..bloody nice, though very brown( and so was wondering today what that level of motel room was like these days.

The Tele's Gemma Jones (wasn't she the one covering the break-in of Haneef's unit? Yep) went to what will be Bush's room for a test drive.. it sounds like the same sort of digs as I had.

I was struck, reading this piece, by the line:

The first thing the President will see when he steps inside the luxury suite is a stunning postcard view of Sydney Harbour and the Opera House.

Of course Bush won't see any nasty views of protestors. They're banned from his line of sight. That's what it's all about.. well, mostly.

 

 

from mike carlton

big words from the big man of pork barrels

Twenty years ago, in the wilderness of opposition, John Howard and the Liberal Party's advertising flacks put their heads together and concocted a new buzz word to inspire the nation: incentivation.

 

Generals Differ on the Timing of Troop Cuts …..

As the Bush administration mulls options for withdrawing forces in Iraq, fault lines are beginning to emerge in a debate between commanders in the field who favor slow reductions and senior generals at the Pentagon who favor cutting the number of combat troops more deeply...

Generals Differ On Timing Of Troop Cuts

Christian Kerr writes …..

Doctor, you’re not in trouble: Morgan Poll

A good Christian like Kevin Andrews no doubt doesn’t swear. Instead, he’ll no doubt be saying "Goodness gracious me" with the news that almost half of all Australian electors believe Dr Mohamed Haneef should be able to return from India.

In the third Terrorism Index, more than 100 of America’s most respected foreign policy experts see a world that is growing more dangerous, a national security strategy in disrepair, and a war in Iraq that is alarmingly off course.

Gunns takes control of Auspine …..

The Tasmanian timber company Gunns Limited now holds more than 50 per cent of the South Australian-based sawmiller Auspine.

It gives Gunns a controlling interest in Auspine's sawmills in south-eastern SA and two at Scottsdale in north-east Tasmania.

‘In a just-published article in the New Yorker magazine entitled "The Black Sites: A Rare Look Inside the CIA's Secret Interrogation Program," Jane Mayer documents what only those in hopeless denial can avoid knowing: the United States has tortured people in the so-called CIA "black sites".

DSTO Media Release 21/8/07

The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO is researching the use of a novel technique to deal with the after-effects of incidents involving a dirty bomb

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, Mr Peter Lindsay, said the technique known as ‘luminescence’ would measure levels of radiation resulting from an explosion, so that appropriate treatment could be rendered to people affected by the incident. 

A dirty bomb is an explosive device containing radioactive material which disperses radiation on detonation. Its primary aim is to deliberately spread radioactive contamination unlike an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which is designed to cause damage through a blast effect.  

Demagogue: one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

H.L. Mencken

‘Reports that the Bush Administration will put Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the terrorism list can be read in one of two ways: it's either more bluster or, ominously, a wind-up for a strike on Iran. Officials I talk to in Washington vote for a hit on the IRGC, maybe within the next six months. And they think that as long as we have bombers and missiles in the air, we will hit Iran's nuclear facilities. An awe and shock campaign, lite, if you will. But frankly they're guessing; after Iraq the White House trusts no one, especially the bureaucracy.

‘Sapped by nearly six years of war, the Army has nearly exhausted its fighting force and its options if the Bush administration decides to extend the Iraq build-up beyond next spring.

The Army's 38 available combat units are deployed, just returning home or already tapped to go to Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere, leaving no fresh troops to replace five extra brigades that President Bush sent to Baghdad this year, according to interviews and military documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

That presents the Pentagon with several painful choices if the U.S. wants to maintain higher troop levels beyond the spring of 2008:

‘The second cricket Test match of the recently concluded test series between India and England played at Trent Bridge was important as it went on to underline the success that the Indian cricket team has been enjoying on foreign trips in the recent past.

APEC Public Holiday …..

The NSW Government has announced details of a public holiday to coincide with the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Summit to be held in Sydney in September 2007.

The public holiday on the 7 September 2007 has been declared for the Sydney metropolitan area only, including Penrith, Camden and Campbelltown. (see full LCA list below).