"2 percent of Basra residents felt that the British military had had a positive impact"

considering the margin of error for polls in general, 2% is equivalent to no support whatsoever...

juan cole...

A recent poll conducted in Basra has little good news in it for the British in the south.

In the poll, only 2 percent of Basra residents felt that the British military had had a positive impact on the security situation in the southern port. Some 86% said that the British impact has been negative! Not suprisingly, 83% said they wanted British troops to leave Iraq altogether. The BBC adds:

Two-thirds felt security would improve in the short term, while 72% said it would improve in the long term. Only 5% said security would deteriorate following the withdrawal.

These number really are suggestive of a colonial experiment gone badly wrong. If the British had been in the Iraqi south as helpmeets to Iraqi authorities, as former PM Tony Blair often alleged, it is hard to imagine that the people there would be this hostile.

"gone badly wrong" is a serious understatement...

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Tony Blair, middle east peace emissary

remember when that was such a big deal back in july...?

The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday it was high time for serious efforts toward Middle East peace, as former British prime minister Tony Blair arrived in the Gulf state on his first visit to the region as an emissary for the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators.

"It is high time to find real mechanism to achieve peace...all efforts should be exerted towards just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East so that the Palestinian people achieve their legitimate rights," UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan told Blair.

and now...?

< crickets chirping >

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The Spin is Dead, Long Live the Spin

And so finally, the Prince of Spin Tony Bliar.. I'm sorry.. Blair, departed Number 10 after his Rada-esque tears and quivering lips at both Party Conference and PM Question Time, allowing a no frills, no-nonsense, 'no spin' Chancellor to bring in a new era of conviction politics...and if you believe that, then you deserve what you get - and that is spin,spin,spin,lies, deceit,spin,spin,spin...

Gordon Brown was embroiled in another row about "spin" last night after telling MPs he may pull all of Britain's troops out of Iraq before he calls an election.

The Prime Minister said he was planning to reduce the total number of troops from 5,500 to 2,500 by next spring and held out the possibility of a total pull-out of British troops by the end of 2008. That would enable him to fight the next general election – now expected to be held in 2009 – with no troops in Iraq, neutralising the damage done to the Government by Tony Blair's decision to go to war.

He said the decision about more troop withdrawals would be taken in spring next year as Britain switched to an "over-watch" role with Iraqi forces, and it would depend on the advice of the military chiefs. But his claims were greeted with scepticism.

Mr Brown was accused of cynical media manipulation last week when he used a trip to Basra during the Conservative Party conference to imply that 1,000 British troops would be brought home by Christmas after the transfer of more tasks to Iraqi forces. It later emerged that the total included the withdrawal of 500 troops which had been previously announced.

This is a tiny HINT of what is to come. Already he threatened to call an early general election for this autumn, then seemed to change his mind at the last minute following a surprising post-Conference surge in the polls for Cameron's Tories. He will not have the quivering lips and solemn teary-eyed gazes of his thespian predecessor, but he will deceive and manipulate by different means, precisely because he appears to be lacking in histrionics. Those who are hoping for better from Brown - you have been warned!

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The case for war crimes charges against Tony Blair

steve clemons has a post up about an upcoming bbc radio drama...

The BBC has a must-listen show on radio tomorrow titled Called to Account [Saturday, 14 July 2007, at 2:30 pm UK Time and at 9:30 am EST. This can be listened to over the web live or downloaded to a podcast for later listening] offering a theatrical version of Tony Blair's indictment for Iraq War-related crimes. This may inspire many on this side of the Atlantic pond to think about various strategies to hold America's current political leadership accountable for duplicity and mismanagement of America's national security portfolio -- and particularly for the Iraq War.

while i am in complete agreement with the need for accountability, i would certainly see it extending to much more than the "duplicity and mismanagement of America's national security portfolio -- and particularly for the Iraq War"... the failure to uphold the u.s. constitution, violation of fisa, the list is too long to enumerate here...

steve goes on...

If 'Democracy' is ever going to shed its bad name, accountability must be one of its fundamental pillars in any genuine system of checks and balances. There should be a price paid for serious errors by national leaders -- and an even higher price paid by those who wield power with impunity and who lie to their publics in so-called democracies.

again, "serious errors" is a serious understatement... "lying to the public" is a better description, but the "commission of deliberate and conscious crimes" i think says it best overall...

a few more thoughts...

if the u.s. isn't yet at a tipping point, we are getting damn close... the extension of executive privilege to include not only spurning a subpoena but also an outright refusal to appear (as in harriet miers no-show before the house judiciary committee yesterday) is an in-your-face demonstration of the stunning degree of lawlessness that is the hallmark of this presidential administration...

the first order of business, superseding anything else, is getting this crowd OUT of the white house before they can wreak more havoc... the second is undoing the outrages they have perpetrated against our constitutional framework BEFORE a new president takes office... the third requires that we hold these criminals accountable in the fullest possible sense and insure that the maximum consequences are imposed, and that needs to take place both domestically as well as on the world stage... our future as a nation, our future in the world of nations, and our ability to look ourselves in the mirror each morning depend on it...

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George and The Poodle - bedtime reading from Chris Floyd

sometimes i just want to break down and sob...

These are days of troubled sleep. As in a dream, you walk familiar streets, living out your ordinary life -- going to work, having love affairs, watching sports, getting the car fixed, worrying about bills, fighting a toothache, taking kids to school, listening to music -- and everything seems as it was before, as it always was; you seem to be what you always were: a free person in a free country. Then some discordant noise reaches your mind; you stir, you open your eyes, and you remember: that's not how it is here anymore.

For citizens in the world's two "leading democracies," the United States and Britain, these rude awakenings come at regular intervals now, piercing through the incessant roar of static from the media engines of sell and spin. A story catches your eye -- usually something buried beneath the "big news" of the day -- and once again you're tumbled from your private concerns into a dreadful realization of where history has taken you: into a strange hybrid world of unfree freedom, where you can say what you want, do what you want -- unless those in power arbitrarily decide that you can't. In 99 cases out of 100, they'll leave you alone (as long as you're white and look non-threatening; if not, that ratio drops considerably). But this liberty is illusory; it no longer has a physical reality, or even a statutory one. It is now a "gift" of the authorities, one which they can bestow -- or revoke -- according to their own, ever-shifting needs and desires.

The idea of arbitrary power beyond all check of law or outside supervision is the sum total of the so-called "Unitary Executive" theory of the Bush Administration, which has put this radical and barbaric idea into practice. It is also undergirds the "crown prerogative" of British governance, where the ancient immunities of the sovereign ("The king can do no wrong" -- or as that proto-unitary executive Richard Nixon once put it: "If the president does it, it's not illegal") have "devolved" upon the prime minister as head of the government. In neither of these endlessly self-celebrating democracies is the consent of the governed or the rule of law the basis for the exercise of power. Otherwise, the leaders of these countries -- the dual lame ducks Bush and Blair -- could not have launched an illegal war or maintained this criminal enterprise year after blood-soaked year.

i so badly want it to end... please, let it end... please, please put them out of my misery...

(thanks to luke at wot is it good 4...)

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Say goodbye to the Poodle and hello to Gordon Brown

OUT

this is coming quick... it sounds like he must be just one step ahead of the law...

British Prime Minister Tony Blair will step down on May 9th, reports the Sunday Mail.

The decision, according to the paper, was made to preempt any charges made in the "cash for honors" scandal.

"That will trigger a seven-week leadership election process in the Labour Party and a new PM - probably Gordon Brown - will move into 10 Downing Street at the end of June," writes Rob Gibson.

gordon brown is a pretty big guy, physically... i can't quite feature him sitting in george's lap...



IN

(cartoons thanks to steve bell at the guardian... story thanks to raw story...)

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Why should Mahmoud Ahmadinejad be labeled as a perfidious hypocrite?

he's only doing the photo-op two-step just like george bush and tony blair... the difference is, he did it with a positive, non-lethal outcome...

The 15 British hostages in Iran were released more quickly than was feared. They were the pawns of higher powers -- and of a president who staged their release as a perfidious performance. Nevertheless, progress in the Middle East is now at least a possibility.

[...]

It was an act of humanism in the spirit of Islam that prompted the Iranian president to grant the British hostages their freedom. Blame for the incident could be assigned to the British government, which he said had "behaved badly."

It's that easy, said Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

One has to pay close attention to what he says. It's well worth the effort because it reveals such rare depths of hypocrisy.

aw, c'mon... this axis of evil crap is so goddam old and so is the term "hostages..." give it a rest... and from a german publication, no less...

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A shadow battle against the shadow government that wants war with Iran

robert parry, as usual, offers a first-rate analysis and summary of the ugly disease that took us into iraq and is poised to strike iran...

One intelligence source told me that Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Peter Pace, has explored the possibility of resigning if Bush presses forward with air attacks against Iran, a war strategy that might be done in coordination with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Though Pace has given no public signal on resigning, he has undercut Bush’s case for an expanded Middle East war by challenging the administration claims about Iran’s alleged sponsorship of attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and by telling Congress that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have eroded American military capability to confront another crisis.

[...]

One intelligence source directed me to a paragraph in Seymour Hersh’s new article in The New Yorker, referring to Bush’s order for hair-trigger preparations on going to war with Iran so he can attack within 24 hours.

[...]

By creating such a tight time frame for action, Bush would negate the possibility for the Pentagon brass and Congress to mount any serious opposition to a presidential order on Iran, even if they are convinced Bush’s actions will be catastrophic.

The tradition of the U.S. military is to implement presidential orders regardless of doubts. Perhaps months later, a dissenting commander might quietly resign.

That practice and the 24-hour window may help explain why several U.S. generals are pondering now how to stop Bush from blindsiding them with a new war. One of their tactics appears to be leaking indications of their strong opposition to the press.

[...]

But one source told me that the resistance – from the Pentagon, Blair and even Democrats in Congress – appears to be having an effect on Bush’s decision-making. This source said he believed Bush had planned to launch an attack on Iran, possibly as early as this week, but was getting “weak knees.”

[...]

But one source told me that the resistance – from the Pentagon, Blair and even Democrats in Congress – appears to be having an effect on Bush’s decision-making. This source said he believed Bush had planned to an attack on Iran, possibly as early as this week, but was getting “weak knees.”

if bush is getting "weak knees," it will be the first time that anything has come between his fantasy world and reality...

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Bye-bye Brits, part 2

Ally's Timing Is Awkward for Bush

no shit, sherlock...

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Bye-bye Brits

cheerio...

Tony Blair is expected to announce a timetable for the withdrawal of UK troops from Iraq.

The prime minister is due to make an announcement in the House of Commons on Wednesday in which he is expected clarify the details.

Mr Blair is expected to say hundreds of troops will return from Basra within weeks with more to follow later.

Some 7,000 UK troops are currently serving in Iraq and about 1,500 are expected to return within weeks.

whaddaya know... the poodle bites...

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