Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Kind of a cut 'n' paste blog post today, I'm feeling too out of the loop to try to analyze anything.

Life in Iraq, as usual....

Two suicide bombers struck Baghdad's police academy Tuesday, killing at least 43 people and wounding 73 more, U.S. officials said, while Al-Jazeera broadcast an insurgent video claiming to have kidnapped a U.S. security consultant.

The suicide attackers were wearing explosives-laden vests and a U.S. contractor was among those wounded, a U.S. military statement said. U.S. forces rushed to the scene to provide assistance, the statement said. The military initially said the bombers were women but later retracted the statement.

I was watching BBC today and they reported that an average of 250 Iraqi security personnel are killed each month.

I found this report to be interesting. An excerpt:

Iraqis, rather than foreign fighters, now form the vast majority of the insurgents who are waging a ferocious guerrilla war against United States forces in Sunni western Iraq, American commanders have revealed.

Their conclusion, disclosed to the Sunday Telegraph in interviews over 10 days in battle-torn Anbar province, contradicts the White House message that outsiders are the principal enemy in Iraq.

Interesting to think that the people who the US 'wanted' to liberate (after the collapse of the WMD argument for war) have now turned against the troops. I'm not sure too many of us would blame them. Nor do I blame the average soldier. While they are not blameless, the weight of the matter must land upon those who ordered them there in the first place.

Lastly, as one should always do, read Juan Cole. This is an excerpt from an article he recently published.

The Bush administration naively believed that Iraq was a blank slate on which it could inscribe its vision for a remake of the Arab world. Iraq, however, was a witches' brew of dynamic social and religious movements, a veritable pressure cooker. When George W. Bush invaded, he blew off the lid.

Oh, and December 8 marks the 25th anniversary of the shooting death of John Lennon.

A sovereign thought, delivered to your door at 7:51 PM ~~ 0 bonsai trees

shout out out out out out

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