‘The idea that “surging” twenty thousand more American troops to Iraq can make any real difference to what is already a full scale civil war is risible. Colin Powell pointed this out over the weekend but Powell —as usual—is a latecomer to the game.

Folks talking about increasing U.S. troop levels should first consider some painful military statistics: to begin with, according to the Pentagon’s own figures, every front line soldier requires at least three other military types to back him up: engineers, electricians, medics, bookkeepers, etc. Which means that 20,000 more troops to Iraq works out to only about 5,000 additional American trainers or soldiers actually pulling the triggers.

from the Bartlett Diaries …..

‘The news that the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions has decided not to lay charges against the police sergeant involved in the death of an Aboriginal man on Palm Island two years ago will seriously damage any faith Indigenous people have in the justice system.

Next May/June will see Australia host the largest military exercises we've ever had in peacetime. Talisman Sabre 07.

Twelve thousand Australian soldiers and nearly l4,000 US troops and sailors will take place in bombarding our shores and fragile landscape, storming our beaches, gunning down 'terrorists' in the newly built urban guerilla warfare training centre, testing their latest laser guided missiles and 'smart' bombs in some of the most pristine wilderness I've ever seen on this planet - and in 30 years of making films, I've seen a lot of this planet.

‘It is requested that an act may be passed to the effect that any citizen of the United States who proposes to force this country into a war with Great Britain or with any other country on a dispute about boundaries or any other similar issue, shall be immediately conscripted or entered upon the army roll for service from the beginning to the end of any such war when it shall occur.

from today’s Sydney morning herald …..

‘Significant parts of the Government's terrorism laws may be unconstitutional, the recently retired High Court judge Michael McHugh says.

Mr McHugh believes the ability to detain people who are not suspected criminals is dubious, as are control orders imposed on people who have not been convicted of any offence. He also criticised the prohibition on praising acts of terrorism.

‘Military planners and White House budget analysts have been asked to provide President Bush with options for increasing American forces in Iraq by 20,000 or more. The request indicates that the option of a major "surge" in troop strength is gaining ground as part of a White House strategy review, senior administration officials said Friday.

‘The Government's case for going to war in Iraq has been torn apart by the publication of previously suppressed evidence that Tony Blair lied over Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

Let's face it.

In more than 2000 years of Christianity we've learned zip about Christian values...

At this point in time, 2007 approaching, a tad over 45 years after the flower power failed enlightened revolution, all we've managed to badly grasp and preach about is related to sex and less sex. Thy shall not f**k before marriage - abstinence and all that jazz. Sad misunderstanding of nature.

‘The hard core of detainees held at America's Guantanamo Bay detention camp will be held indefinitely even if there is insufficient evidence to bring them to trial, a senior Bush administration official said.

Of the 435 detainees being held at Guantanamo, only 10 have so far been charged with terrorism-related offenses. A further 14 detainees — the so-called high value detainees such as the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — are also expected to face trial now that the U.S. Congress has passed the Military Commission Act, which will finally enable America to commence trials of Guantanamo detainees next year.

from our ABC …..

Commonwealth fights Hicks legal action

Lawyers for the Commonwealth are seeking to have dismissed legal action demanding the release of Guantanamo Bay detainee, David Hicks.

‘What an amazing bloody catastrophe. The Bush administration's policy towards the Middle East over the five years since 9/11 is culminating in a multiple train crash. Never in the field of human conflict was so little achieved by so great a country at such vast expense. In every vital area of the wider Middle East, American policy over the last five years has taken a bad situation and made it worse.

from the centre for american progress …..

"[President Bush] decided, frankly, that it's not ready yet," White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said yesterday of the White House's promised Iraq plan. "[It] is not going to happen until the new year. We do not know when, so I can't give you a date, I can't give you a time, I can't give you a place, I can't give you a way in which it will happen." As the administration dawdles, the "grave and deteriorating" situation in Iraq continues to worsen. Yesterday, 70 Iraqis were killed in a truck-bomb attack, five U.S. soldiers died, and a grim milestone was reached: 25,000 U.S. soldiers have now died or been wounded in the war. Seventy-one percent of Americans disapprove of Bush's handling of the conflict, an all-time high. (Only 16 percent agree with Bush and Cheney that we're winning.) A change in strategy is desperately needed, yet the "search for a new plan for Iraq seems to be taking place with as much urgency as the deliberations over a new color for the dollar bill." The White House initially promised a new plan "before Christmas," but that has been pushed until January at the earliest. The decision to delay may be an attempt to "blunt the effect of the publicity" of the Iraq Study Group's report, or a way to keep a possible increase in troop levels under wraps until after the holidays. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) called the delay "unpardonable." "Every day that goes by," Hagel said, "we are losing ground." "The nation is in a crisis, and Americans need to hear how he plans to unwind the chaos he has unleashed in Iraq," the New York Times writes. "Americans need to see that he is prepared to choose among the undesirable alternatives, and clear the way for a withdrawal of American troops that does not leave even more killing and mayhem behind." (The Center for American Progress has a way: Strategic Redeployment.)

for johnnee, phil, alexander & brendan ..... 

‘After thousands of years of practice, you might have imagined that every possible means of inflicting pain had already been devised. But you should never underestimate the human capacity for invention. United States interrogators, we now discover, have found a new way of destroying a human being.