Updated: 11/29/2004; 2:53:21 PM.

Rayne Today
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daily link  Thursday, December 18, 2003

Now this might be interesting

Saddam's Wmd Will Be Found - Baroness Nicholson

Immediately prior to Colin Powell's presentation to the U.N. in February this year, there had been some scuttlebutt about information provided to Baroness Nicholson, ostensibly related to WMD.

There has been virtually no follow-up by the press on this item since February.

Now the Baroness says the WMD are buried in near Iran; this spawns numerous questions.

Why did this not get to Hans Blix and the IAEA before war broke out? 

Why did the U.S. not detect this burial with its intelligence from satellites or from on the ground, either by the CIA or military, assuming this information is accurate.

I have many more questions, but I'm still waiting for answers to questions from February on and around this topic.

 

  10:20:22 PM  permalink  comment []
How You Can Help Our Troops
 

Governor Dean sent the following message to his supporters today:

Dear Friend,

Our troops are in harm’s way this holiday season. Hundreds of thousands of American soldiers won’t be home for the holidays—but we can still let them know how proud we are of the finest military in the world. There are two ways you can show American troops how grateful their fellow citizens are for their sacrifice.

Many Americans want to send care packages to the troops, but have no idea how to do it. By visiting this site you can get information about sending a care package to one of our troops in the field:

http://www.anysoldier.us

The site provides information about what our troops need us to send and where we can send it. Many of our men and women in uniform endure the harshest conditions—even the most basic food items or personal hygiene products can make a huge difference. They also need help with supplies like gloves and flashlights to help them complete their missions. Click here to send a soldier the supplies she or he needs on the ground:

http://www.anysoldier.us

Some soldiers will almost make it home for the holidays. Each day more than 470 soldiers arrive home on short notice for two-week R&R stints—but the military only takes them part of the way. Servicemen and -women are flown to Germany or one of three airports in the United States—from there they are on their own to get home.

You can donate your airline frequent flyer miles to Operation Hero Miles to bring them all the way home. Twelve major airlines will accept donations as part of this program, started by Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, Democrat of Maryland:

http://www.heromiles.org

Because the last-minute notice the troops receive, they are forced to pay very expensive fares to finish their journey. Your miles can bring an American soldier home to his or her family for the holidays:

http://www.heromiles.org

Many of you, like me, did not support a unilateral war in Iraq. But the brave women and men of the U.S. military deserve our support and gratitude even as we seek to change the policies that put them in danger. Please join me in supporting our troops this holiday season—and in wishing them a safe return home.

Yours sincerely,
Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

===

If you can help now, please do; they need our continued support as they finish the mission.

~Rayne

 

 

  5:55:02 PM  permalink  comment []
French Fried-man

Tom Friedman explains today that we've entered a new phase in Iraq now that Saddam has been captured.

A resounding "DUH!" in response is all that this piece deserves.  This is obvious to the entire world.

 

Friedman is ordinarily more gifted than this; he not only wastes time on a non-starter, but he dedicates half his efforts on a tangent, a non sequitur.  He attributes France's moves towards forgiving portions of Iraq's debt "to scramble onto the right side of history."


Not likely. The French have a far longer view of history than we Americans do. The French have a broader perspective than we do, know more about the nature of occupation and oppression, more about the threat of destruction. After all, it's been 200+ years since this country was occupied and liberated by a foreign power. Many French still remember German occupation of their homeland. And they're a LOT closer to the Middle East and those theoretical weapons of mass destruction than we are.


I believe that Friedman is reacting from the gut, just plain not thinking, indulging in French-bashing. His latest comments fail to recognize that the French have long had closer ties than we have with other countries on the continent, including Middle Eastern countries. They also had investments in Iraq that they may wish to recover at some point rather than right them off. There are Iraqis who live in France, press the French government as much as U.S. resident Iraqis press the U.S. government for improvements in Iraq. Moreover, the money in reconstruction contracts is nothing to sneeze at, contractor or subcontractor.


Lastly, with James Baker now on board, the French have a far more rational party with whom to negotiate debt, versus the moronically narrow-minded neo-con portion of this Administration. Granted, James Baker is one ruthless bastard -- but better the devil you know than the devil you don't. Better than that ham-handed irrational neo-con devil. Of course, the French will be more conciliatory; I can't blame them a bit for waiting until a grown-up arrived on the scene to talk with them.


Mr. Friedman needs to take a long, quiet holiday rest; when he returns, I hope he'll stick to constructive commentary on Iraq and stop acting like a bigoted, ugly American.

 

  10:49:50 AM  permalink  comment []

 
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