Alexander Cockburn asks, “Has Bush Gone Over the Edge?”
I thought he went over the edge long ago, but this is really bad.
Oh, and Tony Blair is also insane.
UPDATE: Here’s the Capitol Hill Blue article Cockburn references.
Sunni clerics reject IGCv2.0
Iraqi Sunni Muslim clerics Friday rejected the newly appointed Iraq interim government, charging it is a U.S.-shaped and dominated administration.
The clerics used their Friday sermons t criticize Prime Minister Iyad Allawi for declaring the new government will sign security agreements with the United States for extending the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq.
Leaflets distributed by Sunni groups, including the Islamic Liberation party, compared the interim government to the dissolved U.S.-sponsored Iraqi Governing Council.
There is no difference between the IGC and the transitional government. They are two sides of the same coin, one leaflet said
Iraqi Puppets: Please stay
Please don’t take our bodyguards away
Astonishingly, Hoshyar Zebari, speaking for the New Iraqi Government® tells the UN that the IGCv.2.0 wants the American military to stay in Iraq, to “keep the peace.” One might wonder what “peace” there currently is in Iraq to be kept, but that would be cynical, wouldn’t it? According to most Iraqis, the Occupation forces are responsible for the lack of peace, but the Puppets are hardly in a position to listen to most Iraqis when their overriding concern is staying alive.
Recommended reading…
Hersh book to be about Abu Ghraib
A new Seymour Hersh book planned:
The details of the deal were not disclosed, but the book, to be titled “Chain of Command” is expected to be published in the fall.
“Sy Hersh has been writing big, important stories for more than 30 years, and we see this book as another milestone in a great career, “HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman said in a statement.
Executive Editor David Hirshey, who will edit the book, said he had pushed Hersh about doing a book for the past four years, but that Hersh had said he too busy with his work for The New Yorker to commit to anything.
“I sensed a real seismic shift in his thinking after Abu Ghraib,” Hirshey said. “He has become a man on a mission and feels that a book that holds the Bush administration accountable for its intelligence failures and human rights violations in Iraq could have a significant impact on the upcoming elections.”
So, it will be out before the election – I’m sure that news made Duhbya’s day. I wonder when Tenet will announce his book.
Sistani’s fatwa
Juan Cole has translated Sistani’s fatwa on the “new” government. It sounds pretty harsh to me. He didn’t call for an uprising, but he might as well have:
1. Obtain a clear resolution from the United Nations Security Council on the return of complete sovereignty over their country to the Iraqis, unconstrained in any regard, whether political, economic, military, or security-related. Every effort must be made to efface all signs of occupation in every way.
“Complete sovereignty” is different from “limited sovereignty“, isn’t it?
Anyway, you can read the rest, but number one is clearly a large obstacle to the current Bushista plans, such as they are. It will be interesting to see how much they take Sistani’s views into account.