US split with allies grows
Hawks and doves clash over Iraq

Robert Fisk : The Arab nations are lost in a pit of desperation
'They cannot criticise US policy, however outrageous they believe it to be, because they are all beholden to it'

FRENCH JUDGE GIVES TALIBAN WIN
Afghan Fighters' Artistic Impression Marks Mysteriously Higher

Despite making what most observers agreed were "obvious technical errors," such as surrendering, the Taliban were awarded victory in the Afghanistan war last night after the French judge said they won on presentation.

The decision snatched triumph away from a U.S./U.K. pair who most agreed put on a magical, career-defining performance last month. It also stirred an immediate controversy, as analysts questioned how five judges — from France, Russia, China, Poland, and Ukraine — could have scored the Taliban higher than the American/British fighters.

"When the Americans and British finished, I thought, 'That's it. They've won,'" said Abdur Muhammed, a former Syrian general and now color commentator with Al Jazeera. "But when I saw the scores last night, frankly, I was embarrassed for our profession."
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Flash Cards

George W. Bush keeps flash cards in his top deskdrawer with thumbnail pictures and short bios of certain specific evildoers he wants to kill. We know this because, in his wisdom, he has in fact shown them to reporters. They’re not actual cards per se; they are color printouts on white paper. George likes to have a face he can see when he puts someone to death. George’s goal is to put a big black X through each picture (there’s only one X so far - and another one with an X that had to be erased, because the bombing victims turned out NOT to include the individual targeted). George says he likes his flash cards - they remind him of playing with baseball cards when he was a kid. He says: "I'm a baseball fan. I want a scorecard."

Scorecard? William Tecumseh Sherman, a man who knew a thing or two about war, once said: "It is only those who have neither fired a shot, nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded, who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation." It’s the perfect quote for George W. Bush.

Protected in his private office, far away from the blood and flesh and pain and suffering of the innocent men, women and children he has maimed and killed by the thousands, George can sit and peruse his flash cards and imagine himself as the commander in chief of a great army. His self-delusion is so complete that he actually believes he has been to war. In fact, he has told us flat out that he would rather go to war, than deal with his twin daughters. "I've been to war. I've raised twins. If I had a choice, I'd rather go to war." This is your president folks. Killing people is so much easier, and so much less trouble, and causes George so much less personal anguish, than dealing with the awful, real-life tribulations of raising daughters. So George sits safely at his desk and keeps score with his flash cards.
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thanks to Unknown News