Late Edition

Bush sets the tone for dictators of the world by Chris in Paris - 7/23/2006 08:13:00 PM

Oh nice. Now Mugabe is steeling a classic one right out of the Bush handbook on ruling. It's so similar it's scary.

Parliament plans to debate proposals next month to empower the secret police to eavesdrop on mail, e-mail and phones without any court approval.The government denies any sinister intent, saying it is putting its anti-terrorism legislation in line with international practice.Those in dissent are saying pretty much the same thing as well and they're correct.

The aim "is to monitor and block communications for political reasons and to use information they get to persecute opponents," said Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly, a group critical of repressive laws and actions of Mugabe's government.

Telephoned from neighboring South Africa, he said: "It is part and parcel of the process of controlling dissent and stifling democratic debate."

Iraqi's Prime Minister calls US troops "butchers" by John in DC - 7/23/2006 04:04:00 PM

This war is an absolute disaster. Things have gotten so bad that the leader of Iraq is now calling us "butchers." That kind of rhetoric will only help fuel the insurgency, and will help fuel the Iraqi people's anger, and mistrust, of American troops, which will make their job even harder. The message the Iraqi Prime Minister is sending is that the US military is out of control, and out of HIS control. It's a very small step between that kind of implication and his calling us outright occupiers.

“We know there was a corrupt regime in Saddam, but a regime should be removed by surgery, not by butchering. The U.S. occupation is butcher’s work under the slogan of democracy and human rights and justice.”George Bush has failed. The war in Iraq is over. Bush lost. Prolonging our presence there will only lead to more death, and more hatred, on all sides. Yes, an American withdrawal will be a disaster. But an American commitment to stay in Iraq will also be a disaster.The patient is terminal. You can either give him massive doses of chemo and radiation that will do nothing to help, and actually will hurt him even more, or you can stop the treatment and call a failure a failure. If you think America is on the right course in Iraq, then please do vote Republican this fall.

Pentagon says Bush budget cuts and go-it-alone strategy have hurt the war on terror by John in DC - 7/23/2006 12:07:00 PM

Great. So George Bush's go-it-alone America-is-above-the-law policies have now jeopardized the war on terror. And I'm not the one saying it, senior US military officials are the ones saying it.

The Bush administration and Congress have slashed millions of dollars of military aid to African nations in recent years, moves that Pentagon officials and senior military commanders say have undermined American efforts to combat terrorist threats in Africa and to counter expanding Chinese influence there.Since 2003, Washington has shut down Pentagon programs to train and equip militaries in a handful of African nations because they have declined to sign agreements exempting American troops from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague....Some cite this as a case where the unintended consequences of the go-it-alone approach to foreign policy that Washington took after the Sept. 11 attacks affected the larger American efforts to combat terrorism....Some military officials also argue that the aid cuts have given China an upper hand in what they describe as a modern Great Game — a battle for influence in Africa between the powers, similar to the 19th-century rivalry in Central Asia between the British and the Russians....Passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in August 2002, the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act prohibits certain types of military aid to countries that have signed on to the International Criminal Court but have not signed a separate accord with the United States, called an Article 98 agreement....White House opposition to the court led Congress to severely restrict military and economic aid to countries that have not signed Article 98 agreements.Bush didn't want international law to apply to Americans, so in order to get his way, he got together with his Republican-controlled Congress and passed legislation that hurt US national interests and the war on terror. All because Bush had a bright idea and the Republicans refused to challenge him on it, or anything else.

And now America is less safe.