Month: July 2004

did they get anything right about the war?

Observer | PM admits graves claim ‘untrue’: Downing Street has admitted to The Observer that repeated claims by Tony Blair that ‘400,000 bodies had been found in Iraqi mass graves’ is untrue, and only about 5,000 corpses have so far been uncovered. The claims by Blair in November and December of last year, were given widespread credence, quoted by MPs and widely published, including in the introduction to a US government pamphlet on Iraq’s mass graves. In that publication – Iraq’s Legacy of Terror: Mass Graves produced by USAID, the US government aid distribution agency, Blair is quoted from 20 November last year: ‘We’ve already discovered, just so far, the remains of 400,000 people in mass graves.’ On 14 December Blair repeated the claim in a statement issued by Downing Street in response to the arrest of Saddam Hussein and posted on the Labour party website that: ‘The remains of 400,000 human beings [have] already [been] found in mass graves.’ The admission that the figure has been hugely inflated follows a week in which Blair accepted responsibility for charges in the Butler report over the way in which Downing Street pushed intelligence reports ‘to the outer limits’ in the case for the threat posed by Iraq.

So, there were no WMDs, nowhere near the genocide totals (at least as far as anyone can verify), and the locals didn’t welcome the liberators with flowers and kisses.

Observer | PM admits graves claim ‘untrue’:

Downing Street has admitted to The Observer that repeated claims by Tony Blair that ‘400,000 bodies had been found in Iraqi mass graves’ is untrue, and only about 5,000 corpses have so far been uncovered.

The claims by Blair in November and December of last year, were given widespread credence, quoted by MPs and widely published, including in the introduction to a US government pamphlet on Iraq’s mass graves.

In that publication – Iraq’s Legacy of Terror: Mass Graves produced by USAID, the US government aid distribution agency, Blair is quoted from 20 November last year: ‘We’ve already discovered, just so far, the remains of 400,000 people in mass graves.’

On 14 December Blair repeated the claim in a statement issued by Downing Street in response to the arrest of Saddam Hussein and posted on the Labour party website that: ‘The remains of 400,000 human beings [have] already [been] found in mass graves.’

The admission that the figure has been hugely inflated follows a week in which Blair accepted responsibility for charges in the Butler report over the way in which Downing Street pushed intelligence reports ‘to the outer limits’ in the case for the threat posed by Iraq.

Does anyone doubt that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant of the first order? So why exaggerate everything? The only reason I can imagine is to mislead the public into supporting a war.

it would be funny if it weren’t believable

Daily Show on possible election cancellations Lisa Rein has posted Jon Stewart’s Daily Show commentary on the threatened cancellation of the November US elections in the event of terrorist threat. Required viewing.

By holding the elections on Election Day, we’re playing right into their hands. But our government is way ahead of the baddies on this one . . . watch the clips and feel safer.

Daily Show on possible election cancellations
Lisa Rein has posted Jon Stewart’s Daily Show commentary on the threatened cancellation of the November US elections in the event of terrorist threat. Required viewing.

Link

(via On Lisa Rein’s Radar) [Boing Boing Blog]

now playing: Variatio 3 A 1 Clav. Canone All’unisono from the album J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations Bwv988 by Glenn Gould

sometimes you just want stuff that works

ongoing: Stupid Broken Wintel: Sometimes I hate computers.

ongoing: Stupid Broken Wintel:

Sometimes I hate computers.

Tim finds that just because you can connect things together doesn’t mean they actually work.

As for his comment that his wife loathes trackpads, I think it would be fairly easy for someone to make a replacement keyboard with some alternate pointer (that little eraser tip deal that ThinkPads use would be fine) for *Books. I’d like one.

Anyone think they could make this? Would anyone else like something similar?

tools of engagement


Letter from David Brock (7.20.04) … [Media Matters for America]

David Brock, formerly a card-carrying member of the vast right-wing conspiracy, takes his new role as “watcher of the watchers” seriously enough to start up an activism network to keep the heat on the lazy news organizations.

How bad is it? When a comedy show does a better job of asking questions that any reputable reporter should be asking, it’s pretty bad.

new iPods too new for me?

Well, as everyone who cares knows, the new iPods are out and true to form, they’re an improvement where no one really had a reason to expect one (but then, doesn’t that define innovation?). I noticed a new iPod software update today and eagerly downloaded it, thinking perhaps the improvements in battery use would trickle down to older models. Hmm, apparently not.

Well, as everyone who cares knows, the new iPods are out and true to form, they’re an improvement where no one really had a reason to expect one (but then, doesn’t that define innovation?).

I noticed a new iPod software update today and eagerly downloaded it, thinking perhaps the improvements in battery use would trickle down to older models. Hmm, apparently not. Wonder why not? The hardware is the same, as far as news reports can determine. Is last year’s model so far out of date?

ipod30
[click for larger image]

So the 2.2 software release might be the end of the road?

The Times posts a more detailed mea culpa

The New York Times > Opinion > A Pause for Hindsight: Saddam Hussein was indisputably a violent and vicious tyrant, but an unprovoked attack that antagonized the Muslim world and fractured the international community of peaceful nations was not the solution…. Saddam Hussein and his rotting army were not a threat even to the region, never mind to the United States. Now that we are in Iraq, we must do everything possible to see that the country is stabilized before American forces are withdrawn…. Congress would never have given President Bush a blank check for military action if it had known that there was no real evidence that Iraq was likely to provide aid to terrorists or was capable of inflicting grave damage on our country or our allies…. And even though this page came down against the invasion, we regret now that we didn’t do more to challenge the president’s assumptions.

The New York Times > Opinion > A Pause for Hindsight:

Saddam Hussein was indisputably a violent and vicious tyrant, but an unprovoked attack that antagonized the Muslim world and fractured the international community of peaceful nations was not the solution. There were, and are, equally brutal and potentially more dangerous dictators in power elsewhere. Saddam Hussein and his rotting army were not a threat even to the region, never mind to the United States.

This and the increasing pile of evidence that Iran was the real threat — and the source of the information that led to the coup — makes me wonder how the incumbent regime can survive. But if the toothless media don’t report it, they just might.

slouching toward reality

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590171292/nationbooks08 TomDispatch: “The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

Tomgram: Orville Schell on our failed press:

The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. — Thomas Jefferson

Saw this book (not yet released) that goes into detail on how the press let us down. Please read through the linked article and mark some of the quotes about how the press is considered just a vocal special interest, rather than an essential component of a free democracy.

now playing: Falling From Above from the album Greendale by Neil Young & Crazy Horse | Buy it

iPod Nation

MSNBC – iPod Nation: In just three years, Apple’s adorable mini music player has gone from gizmo to life-changing cultural icon Just this week, I was wondering about the phrase “iPod nation.”

MSNBC – iPod Nation:

In just three years, Apple’s adorable mini music player has gone from gizmo to life-changing cultural icon

Just this week, I was wondering about the phrase “iPod nation.” I hadn’t heard it, and wondered why not.

Anyway, new iPods are rolling out this week: they look like the 3G models with the same controls as the Minis. No idea on capacities, though I assume they’ll be larger than the Minis, given the shortage of parts.

now playing: Conquistador from the album Greatest Hits by Procol Harum | Buy it