Archive for May 2, 2007

After Abu Ghraib, the US administration made sure to send qualified and competent officers to run the Iraqi prisons: “In Florida, Steele was charged in 1993 with aggravated child abuse in connection with the alleged mistreatment of a stepson, 11. According to an arrest affidavit filed in court, Steele struck the boy for failing to [...]

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

“Powell, as assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs and deputy to Undersecretary of State Karen P. Hughes, played a critical role in the administration’s efforts to bolster public diplomacy in the face of the wave of anti-Americanism that has swept the Arab world since the U.S. invasion of Iraq.” Oh. So now [...]

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

An American correspondent sent me this message (excerpts): “Sarah Lee Whitson, who is in charge of the middle east for human rights watch, has a big poster of the march 14 demonstration in her office. its a view from above of all the demonstrators, it says 03 14 05 on one side and on the [...]

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

““Lebanon is a way of Life that is unique and special,” is how Saudi Prince Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz Bin Salman Al Saud described Lebanon to Joseph Sarkis, Lebanon’s minister of tourism.” Oh, yeah. Lebanon is special in the same way that Charlie Manson was “special.” (Sarkis is the Lebanese Forces’ minister in the cabinet. [...]

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

“But Israeli taxpayers do not have to worry that Halutz will be uncomfortable in McArthur Hall on Soldiers’ Field Road. He will have maid service and access to whirlpools, a sauna and a steam room when class is not in session.” (thanks Maryam)

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

“The template for Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho (and Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, Texas tower sniper Charles Whitman and countless other suicide bombers) had been set as far back as May 18, 1927, when a Bath, Michigan farmer named Andrew Kehoe killed his wife and set fire to his farm, then drove [...]

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

“Anti-Capitalism in Five Minutes” (thanks Sami)

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

“The car bomb was invented in the US and was used to devastating effect by Mario Buda, an anarchist who exploded his horse-drawn wagon on Wall Street in 1920, thus prompting the title to Buda’s Wagon, a new book by often controversial and politically radical Mike Davis. Buda was the first car bomber, his progeny [...]

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

“The office of Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has used a Saddam Hussein-era law to halt dozens of corruption-related probes of government ministries, a US auditor’s report said Monday.” (thanks Fatima)

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

“the Democrats’ plan does almost nothing to address the second largest force in Iraq — and it’s not the British military. It’s the estimated 126,000 private military “contractors” who will stay put there as long as Congress continues funding the war.” (thanks Wissam)

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

“Lawyers envision more suicides and despair at Guantanamo Bay if the U.S. Justice Department succeeds in severely restricting access to detainees by defense attorneys, virtually the only contact inmates have with the outside world.” (thanks Yasmine)

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

“Political assassination as a strategy against liberation movements” (thanks Laleh)

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

Now we know who is preventing Mr. Bush from making progress in Iraq: “Who is Basima Lu’ay Hassun al-Jadiri? According to Az-Zaman, this hitherto little-known adviser to al-Maliki holds the strings of power in the Iraqi state, and is responsible for much of the current ills in the country. The name of al-Jadiri first appeared [...]

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

Through Mideastwire: “ Published in Cheragh on Monday, April 30: Recently the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that its country would hire 4 pilotless Israeli spy planes at a cost of €17 million for the Spanish military forces in Afghanistan. The planes are able to fly for 12 hours non-stop. The planes are also able [...]

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

Another famous Lebanese. Another famous Lebanese. Let LBC-TV and An-Nahar brag about his achievements and contributions. Lebanonesia can now be proud. (thanks Ziad)

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad

This is hilarious. Lebanonese politicians and journalists are delusional to the point that they actually think that they can shape the policies of the US. Here, Michael Husayn Young (the well-known expert on offshoots), instructs the US administration: “That’s why the U.S. must use any future conversation with Iran, assuming it goes well, as leverage [...]

Posted on May 2, 2007 by As'ad