Life in OUR America, Volume 5, the Livyjr Files Options

[Livyjr]

"Article for Military History Magazine"

http://www.thehistorynet.com/mh/blcarrhae

Roman Disaster at Carrhae (cont'd)

By Brian Dent

When Crassus revived his army career, the opponent he chose was the Parthian kingdom.

The Parthians were Iranian, inheritors of the old Persian Empire that had been destroyed by Alexander the Great in 331 BC.

The Parthians were not at war with Rome, and both Sulla and Pompey, on previous tours of duty in the east, had negotiated with them on friendly terms.

But Parthia was big enough and close enough to be a potential nuisance to Rome, and Crassus was looking for new worlds to conquer.

end quotes

And once again, for the moment, I will stop right here in this narrative .....

To let these words above sink in .....

As they somehow sound oh so familiar .....

So modern ...

SO ...

Well, let's face it ...

SO VERY GEORGE W. BUSH ....

That you just have to wonder ....

And so ....

SO VERY GEORGE W. BUSH, indeed ...

"Article for Military History Magazine"

http://www.thehistorynet.com/mh/blcarrhae

Roman Disaster at Carrhae (cont'd)

By Brian Dent

For all the preparations he made in mobilizing a mighty invasion force, Crassus' first mistake was his failure to acquaint himself with the tactics of the Parthian army.

This was a significant error, because the Parthians waged war like no nation Rome had ever faced.

The Parthians occasionally employed mercenaries or raised militia to serve as infantry, but very often - including at Carrhae - their forces were entirely mounted.

Their heavy cavalrymen were called cataphracts, from the Greek word cataphractoi, which means "covered over."

The cataphract wore scale body armor, articulated plating on his arms and greaves on his legs.

With a long lance as his primary weapon, he looked like a forerunner of the medieval knight, differing only in the absence of stirrups hanging from his saddle.

More important to the Parthians than their armored cataphracts were their light cavalry, the horse-archers.

These used a very short composite bow, stiff to pull but accurate and with tremendous firepower.

Horse-archers would ride swiftly at the enemy, loose an arrow at the enemy and then wheel around and retreat short range.

This, the proverbial "Parthian shot," was the sort of tactic that the Romans were apt to regard with disdain, as being cowardly.

Crassus nearly failed to launch his campaign at all.

Public opinion at Rome, led by a tribune named Ateius, was for calling off the whole expedition, on the grounds that the war he sought was arbitrary and immoral.

Pompey and Caesar had at least conquered enemies that were perceived as a threat to Rome.

As to this Parthian war, though, Plutarch wrote that Ateius "and many others murmured that one man should undertake a war against a people that had done them no injury, and were at amity with them."

Ateius went so far as to have Crassus arrested.

Crassus was forced to call for help from, of all people, his bitter rival Pompey, who was popular among both the senators and the citizens.

Pompey appeared "with a pleasing countenance," interceded for Crassus and escorted him out of Rome unmolested.

Before Crassus departed Rome, however, Ateius publicly cursed him, "setting down a chafing-dish with lighted fire in it, pouring incense and burning libations on it," Plutarch reported, and "calling upon and naming several strange and horrible deities."

So terrible were these curses, according to Plutarch, that they doomed the utterer as well as the person he cursed.

Crassus next went to the port of Brundusium (now Brindisi in southern Italy).

He decided to sail immediately, despite the appearance of a storm, and so began his campaign by losing a number of ships.

Arriving in Syria in the autumn of 54, Crassus relieved the local commander and set about some minor conquests before next year's major campaign.

Crossing the Euphrates, he occupied and garrisoned a few Mesopotamian towns.

All surrendered to the Romans voluntarily, except for Zenodotia.

Plutarch reported Crassus "took it by storm, plundered the goods, and sold the inhabitants."

He then required his army to salute him as Imperator (or field marshal) for what he regarded as a great victory.

What he failed to do, though, was continue on to occupy the cities of Babylon and Seleucia, which had large Greek-speaking populations and were not friendly to their Parthian occupiers.

Before withdrawing into winter quarters, Crassus was joined in Syria by his son, Publius, who had been serving with distinction under Caesar in Gaul.

He brought with him 1,000 Gallic cavalry, who would play an important part at the battle to come.

Crassus spent his time in Syria during the winter of 54-53, "more like an userer than a general," Plutarch wrote, noting that it pleased him to weigh, "by scale and balance," all the treasures in the local temples he had captured.

He accepted cash payments from the native citizens, in lieu of levies of militia for the coming campaign.

end quotes

And with that last just said .....

Once again ...

I will pause ...

For a moment of reflection ....

And so .....

[Livyjr]

Crassus nearly failed to launch his campaign at all.

Public opinion at Rome, led by a tribune named Ateius, was for calling off the whole expedition, on the grounds that the war he sought was arbitrary and immoral.

And zooming ahead in time some 2,000 years, we have going on in the same relative place right now as follows ......

Because George W. Bush and his crowd don't know history ...

And they don't know people ...

And so ...

They don't know much at all ....

But how to sow strife and turmoil in people's lives .....

NOW ...

That is something that this BUSHCO crowd knows how to do alright ....

They get high marks in that, and that is for sure ....

"Sunni mosque bombed as Iraqi tanks deploy in Baghdad"

1 hour, 48 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) - Iraqi tanks deployed in Baghdad to pacify the city after an eruption of sectarian violence, but the bombing of a Sunni mosque and a mortar attack shattered the relative calm.

Four people were killed and 15 wounded in the bomb attack outside a Sunni mosque in eastern Baghdad as the faithful were leaving evening prayers, security officials said.

The attack was the latest strike against Iraq's ousted Sunni elite since Shiite mobs unleashed a wave of vengeance against the embittered minority after a revered Shiite shrine was blown up north of Baghdad last Wednesday.

Also Monday, a mortar shelling killed four people and wounded 14 others in a Shiite neighborhood, while two people were killed by gunmen who opened fire on a garage in Baquba, east of the capital, officials said.

Ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, meanwhile, called upon all Iraqis to unite and praised the role played by top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali Sistani in trying to curb the sectarian violence.

On the eve of the resumption of his trial for crimes against humanity, Saddam called "for unity at all levels to stop those who want to trigger sedition and division", his lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said in a statement.

The latest bloodshed came as Iraqi authorities lifted a daytime curfew and positioned tanks in certain regions of Baghdad as they sought to defuse the crisis that had pushed Iraq to the precipice of civil war.

It was unclear whether the latest violence would strain efforts to lure Sunni parties back into talks on forming the country's next government after they bolted negotiations last Thursday in anger over the attacks on their community.

Sunni participation in government is seen as crucial to ending the community's insurgency, which has plunged Iraq into chaos since US forces toppled Saddam's regime in 2003.

Before Monday's mosque bombing, the main Sunni political bloc, the National Concord Front, indicated it would return to talks if Sunni religious sanctuaries that it claimed were seized by Shiite militias were returned to them.

"I have given a complete list to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari of the Sunni mosques that are under Shiite control."

"If this is done, we will return to the negotiating table," said Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the Sunni alliance.

In Baghdad, there were signs of normality as both cars and pedestrians again clogged the streets after the lifting of a curfew and a 24-hour vehicle ban imposed in the wake of the violence that killed more than 120 people.

However, a three-hour extension to the usual seven-hour night curfew remained in place in the capital and the three central provinces of Salaheddin, Babil and Diyala, officials said.

General Abdel Aziz Mohammed, the defence ministry's chief of operations, announced tank deployments in parts of Baghdad, and warned that soldiers were now ordered to arrest anyone carrying weapons illegally.

The move appeared to be aimed at cracking down on Shiite mobs suspected of targeting Sunnis in retribution for Wednesday's bombing of the revered shrine in Samarra, north of the capital.

But the lurking fear of last week's sectarian killings continued to be felt as people hesitated to send their children to schools.

"Fear is still the master of the situation," said Ali Adnan, a 27-year-old Sunni engineer whose father was briefly kidnapped amid Shiite reprisals against Sunnis.

Iraq's national security adviser Muwaffak al-Rubaie announced that 10 people, including four security guards, had been arrested in connection with the bombing of Samarra's golden domed shrine.

Rebuilding the shrine will take at least five years, Iraq's Housing and Construction Minister Jassem Mohammed Jaafar said Monday, while the United Nations volunteered to help in the effort.

Iraqi radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose Mehdi Army militia was accused of attacking Sunnis, told reporters in his home town of Najaf he had returned early from a trip to Iran to assert control over the militia, while denying it was responsible for the violence.

Meanwhile, Saddam, whose trial was set to resume Tuesday, has ended a hunger strike after fasting for 11 days, his lead lawyer Dulaimi told AFP.

"I met with my client for seven hours on Sunday."

"At our request he had earlier ended the hunger strike he had been on for 11 days ... ," Dulaimi said, adding that the defence team may return to the court proceedings Tuesday after boycotting it for a month.

Saddam and seven co-accused face the death penalty if found guilty.

US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said Iraq's interior ministry had information on the whereabouts of American journalist Jill Carroll, abducted on January 7 by armed men.

A deadline set by her kidnappers to kill Carroll if their demands were not met passed Sunday with no news.

Khalilzad said that he was told that Carroll was still alive.

[Livyjr]

SO VERY GEORGE W. BUSH, indeed ...

"Article for Military History Magazine"

http://www.thehistorynet.com/mh/blcarrhae

Roman Disaster at Carrhae (cont'd)

By Brian Dent

For all the preparations he made in mobilizing a mighty invasion force, Crassus' first mistake was his failure to acquaint himself with the tactics of the Parthian army.

This was a significant error, because the Parthians waged war like no nation Rome had ever faced.

Ah, yes .....

FAILURES OF INTELLIGENCE ....

How very familiar sounding that is .....

But one has to really wonder ....

Was it INTELLIGENCE that failed?

Or was it really a fault of those who attributed INTELLIGENCE to those who never had it in the first place?

[Livyjr]

Or was it really a fault of those who attributed INTELLIGENCE to those who never had it in the first place?

"Article for Military History Magazine"

http://www.thehistorynet.com/mh/blcarrhae

Roman Disaster at Carrhae (cont'd)

By Brian Dent

Emerging from winter quarters in 53 BC, the Romans were met by an embassy from King Orodes II of Parthia.

The king's message was that if Crassus' army was sent by the people of Rome, Parthia would have no mercy; but if the invasion was Crassus' private adventure, for his own profit, Orodes would "take pity on Crassus' dotage," and allow the army to depart.

Crassus replied scornfully that he would give his answer at Seleucia.

The Parthian ambassador laughed and showed Crassus the palm of his hand, saying, "hair will grow there before you see Seleucia."

Crassus next received word from his ally, King Artavasdes of Armenia, along with 6,000 Armenian cavalry.

The king advised Crassus to invade Parthia by way of his realm - the Romans would then be provisioned by the Armenians, and the hilly country of that land would be unfavorable to Parthian cavalry.

Inexplicably, Plutarch wrote, Crassus refused that offer, and returned the king "but cold thanks."

Crassus' blunders continued.

He advanced to the city of Zeugma on the Euphrates and crossed to the east bank.

He was advised by his lieutenant, Gaius Cassius Longinus (better known to history for his role in cutting Julius Caesar's ambitions down to size on the Ides of March, nine years later) to advance along the Euphrates towards Seleucia, having his flank protected and his water supply guaranteed by proximity to the river.

Crassus paid no attention.

Instead he was taken with a local Arab chieftain named Ariamnes, who persuaded Crassus that only a token force of Parthians, commanded not by King Orodes but by a General Surena, was nearby to oppose him.

Ariamnes, of course, was a spy, sent to lead Crassus into a trap, but Surena was in fact the Parthian commander - and an interesting character in his own right.

Though not yet 30 years old, he was deemed the second man in the kingdom and had had the honor of placing the crown on King Orodes' head.

Wherever he traveled, even to battle, he required 1,000 camels to carry his baggage, 200 wagons to transport his concubines, and was accompanied by 1,000 armed bodyguards.

Crassus agreed to engage Ariamnes as a guide through the Mesopotamian desert.

Leaving the river, the Arab guided the Romans along a way "that was at first pleasant and easy but afterwards very troublesome by reason of the depth of the sand," Plutarch wrote.

Indeed, the Romans soon found themselves "in a sea of sand" with no water in sight.

While Crassus was on the march, fresh word arrived from King Atavasdes:

He was under attack by a Parthian force under King Orodes himself, and was not able to send the reinforcements he had promised.

Once again, the Armenian urged that Crassus withdraw from the desert and renew the attack from Armenia, where their forces could be joined on friendly ground.

Plutarch wrote that Crassus, "out of anger and perverseness," decided that this was actually treachery on the part of the Armenians.

He returned no answer, but promised to revenge himself on Armenia when he was through with Parthia.

Things went from bad to worse.

Crassus' Arab guide vanished.

The Romans found themselves stranded in the Mesopotamian desert, not far from a little town called Carrhae.

Some of the army's scouts, now battered and bloodied, came in to report that their comrades were dead, and that they themselves had barely escaped.

The Parthian army was nearby, they said, and ready to attack.

end quotes

And once again ...

A pause .....

To Reflect .....

On how "Crassus" George W. Bush really is ....

And in the same place, too ...

And for the same reasons ...

Arrogance ...

Stupidity ...

Pig-headedness ....

An inability to change plans in mid-stream, when it is apparent to everyone else that you are heading right into the heart of the desert ...

Which Crassus and George W. Bush both see as being RESOLUTE .....

You know ...

STAY THE COURSE ....

VICTORY AT ANY COST ...

That kind of blithering idiocy .....

The art of "Sloganeering" at its highest expression ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

Things went from bad to worse.

Crassus' Arab guide vanished.

The Romans found themselves stranded in the Mesopotamian desert, not far from a little town called Carrhae.

Some of the army's scouts, now battered and bloodied, came in to report that their comrades were dead, and that they themselves had barely escaped.

The Parthian army was nearby, they said, and ready to attack.

end quotes

And once again ...

A pause .....

To Reflect .....

On how "Crassus" George W. Bush really is ....

And in the same place, too ...

And for the same reasons ...

Arrogance ...

Stupidity ...

Pig-headedness ....

An inability to change plans in mid-stream, when it is apparent to everyone else that you are heading right into the heart of the desert ...

Which Crassus and George W. Bush both see as being RESOLUTE .....

You know ...

STAY THE COURSE ....

VICTORY AT ANY COST ...

That kind of blithering idiocy .....

The art of "Sloganeering" at its highest expression ....

And so ....

And once again leaving the damn arrogant and pig-headed fool Crassus to contemplate his own doom in the desert some 2,000 year ago where George W. Bush is now facing his own, unless he can get his head out of somewhere where he never should have stuffed it in the first place, we come back to OUR own times, for just a moment ...

To take a quick look around ....

Where we have this following to report upon .....

For what it might be worth .....

In this age of strife and turmoil that has now descended upon us here in OUR America ...

With the ascension of George W. Bush and his crowd to power here in OUR America .....

"Residents Fed Up With Brooklyn Oil Slick"

By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writer

Mon Feb 27, 5:16 AM ET

NEW YORK - Big Oil left most of the Brooklyn waterfront decades ago, but the industry's legacy still bubbles to the surface.

Beneath the industrial yards and townhouses of Brooklyn's Greenpoint section lies a vast underground oil slick that, at one time, covered an area as big as 41 football fields and contained more petroleum than the Exxon Valdez spilled off the Alaskan coast.

The stuff oozes into a concrete-lined canal known as the Newtown Creek, and some of it makes its way into the East River, leaving an oily sheen.

Also, residents complain of an oily smell in their basements after heavy rains.

Refineries left the stuff behind during more than a century along the waterfront.

The details of how so much got in the ground are something of a mystery, but Exxon Mobil accepted responsibility for much of the damage in 1990 and has been pumping out the oil ever since.

The cleanup, though, has been painfully slow.

More than half of the 17-million-gallon spill is still thought to be in the ground.

A number of Greenpoint families say their patience has run out, and more than 20 people sued in December, claiming the oil is releasing foul-smelling fumes that could be toxic or flammable.

Soil tests conducted this summer by the environmental group Riverkeeper suggested the spill might be emitting benzene gas, which can cause leukemia, and methane, which can explode in a confined space.

The tests were inconclusive, but the results still struck fear among residents.

They were further incensed by a state Department of Environmental Conservation estimate that the mop-up would take 20 more years.

"Twenty years!"

"Are they kidding?" said one plaintiff, Robert McErlean, 58.

"If they wanted to come in and drill for oil for profit, you know they'd have that oil out in 20 days!"

State health officials took issue with Riverkeeper's findings.

"All preliminary data and test samples collected near the spill site indicated that there was no immediate public health concern," said Health Department spokesman Jeffrey Hammond.

Most of the oil is 10 to 40 feet underground.

Brooklyn does not use wells for drinking water.

Cancer rates in Greenpoint are also lower than elsewhere in the city, according to state data, and Exxon Mobil spokesman Brian Dunphy said studies have indicated that no vapors are getting into homes.

Those assurances are unlikely to end the legal battle.

The families are represented by a California law firm that has brought in celebrity activist Erin Brockovich to recruit more plaintiffs.

They are seeking unspecified damages from Exxon Mobil and two other oil giants, Chevron and BP.

In a second lawsuit, Riverkeeper and Brooklyn's top politicians are seeking fines of $32,500 per day from Exxon Mobil for every new oil discharge into the canal, plus fines of $27,500 for every discharge before 2004.

The lawsuit is aimed at pressuring the company into adopting a more efficient way of extracting the oil.

"We know there are technologies out there that are a hell of a lot more aggressive," said Riverkeeper investigator Basil Seggos.

Such improvements, he said, might include installing wells to actually clean the groundwater instead of simply removing the oil, and using ventilation systems that draw away gases.

The oil companies say the cleanup has accelerated in the past few years and much less oil is leaking into the canal.

Some 40 refineries were once clustered in Greenpoint, and as a result, the oil companies disagree over who is responsible for what.

The first of Greenpoint's refineries opened in 1867.

Much of the oil probably leaked over many decades, at a time when industry was held to lower environmental and operating standards, Dunphy said.

Some have blamed much of the leakage on a 1950 explosion caused by fuel seeping into Greenpoint's sewers.

The scope of the plume was not discovered until 1978, when the Coast Guard noticed oil.

By then, most oil company operations in the neighborhood had closed.

McErlean, whose grandfather was a refinery worker, said only public pressure will keep the companies from walking away entirely.

"The more squeaks in the wheel, the more it is going to get oiled," he said.

"Not that we want any more oil down here."

[Livyjr]

And HISTORY .....

We have some "HISTORY" other than that of the fate of the fool Crassus to report upon as well .....

"Scientists claim to find lost civilization"

By RAY HENRY, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:46 a.m., Tuesday, February 28, 2006

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. -- Scientists have found what they believe are traces of the lost Indonesian civilization of Tambora, which was wiped out in 1815 by the biggest volcanic eruption in recorded history.

Mount Tambora's cataclysmic eruption on April 10, 1815, buried the inhabitants of Sumbawa Island under searing ash, gas and rock and is blamed for an estimated 88,000 deaths.

The eruption was at least four times more powerful than Mount Krakatoa's in 1883.

Guided by ground-penetrating radar, U.S. and Indonesian researchers recently dug in a gully where locals had found ceramics and bones.

They unearthed the remains of a thatch house, pottery, bronze and the carbonized bones of two people, all in a layer of sediment dating to the eruption.

University of Rhode Island volcanologist Haraldur Sigurdsson, the leader of the expedition, estimated that 10,000 people lived in the town when the volcano erupted in a blast that dwarfed the one that buried the Roman town of Pompeii.

The eruption shot 400 million tons of sulfuric gases into the atmosphere, causing global cooling and creating what historians call "The Year Without a Summer."

Farms in Maine suffered crop-killing frosts in June, July and August.

In France and Germany, grape and corn crops died, or the harvests were delayed.

The civilization on Sumbawa Island has intrigued researchers ever since Dutch and British explorers visited in the early 1800s and were surprised to hear a language that did not sound like any other spoken in Indonesia, Sigurdsson said.

Some scholars believe the language more closely resembled those spoken in Indochina.

But not long after Westerners first encountered Tambora, the society was destroyed.

"The explosion wiped out the language.

That's how big it was," Sigurdsson said.

"But we're trying to get these people to speak again, by digging."

Some of what the researchers found may suggest Tambora's inhabitants came from Indochina or had commercial ties with the region, Sigurdsson said.

For example, ceramic pottery uncovered during the dig resembles that common to Vietnam.

John Miksic, an archaeologist at the National University of Singapore, has seen video of the dig and said he believes Sigurdsson's team did find a dwelling destroyed by the eruption.

But he doubts the Tamborans were from Indochina or spoke a language from that area.

If Vietnamese-style ceramics reached the island, it was probably through trade with intermediaries, Miksic said.

During the dig, Sigurdsson's team found the charred skeleton of a woman who was most likely in her kitchen.

A metal machete and a melted glass bottle lay nearby.

The remains of another person were found just outside what was probably the front door.

The team included researchers from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the Indonesian Directorate of Volcanology.

[Livyjr]

"Article for Military History Magazine"

http://www.thehistorynet.com/mh/blcarrhae

Roman Disaster at Carrhae (cont'd)

By Brian Dent

Emerging from winter quarters in 53 BC, the Romans were met by an embassy from King Orodes II of Parthia.

The king's message was that if Crassus' army was sent by the people of Rome, Parthia would have no mercy; but if the invasion was Crassus' private adventure, for his own profit, Orodes would "take pity on Crassus' dotage," and allow the army to depart.

Crassus replied scornfully that he would give his answer at Seleucia.

The Parthian ambassador laughed and showed Crassus the palm of his hand, saying, "hair will grow there before you see Seleucia."

GAMESMANSHIP .....

This is what the FABULOUS FLYING BUSHCOS believe that they are good at ...

And the truth is that they are rank amateurs, actually .....

They are too cocky on the one hand ....

And too ignorant on the other, to really be good at this "game" .....

No sublety at all on the part of these BUSHCOS .....

Which is one thing that their "followers" like about them ...

"Oh, you know where that George W. Bush stands, alright ..."

"He don't hide his feelings, no sir, no way ..."

And best of all ...

Both George and Dick are not afraid to lock and load and let fly .....

And people here in OUR America like that ....

It don't really make a difference what George and Dick are firing down on ......

It just makes a difference that they are blazing away ....

And that is all it takes for some people to be satisfied .....

Especially when the people George and Dick are killing don't look like George and Dick's supporters .....

Which is a point that George and Dick capitalize on, by killing brown-skinned peoples in other countries, since by and large, George and Dick's followers like those people to be killed ...

For their pleasure, it seems ...

And so ....

Let the games go on ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

"Article for Military History Magazine"

http://www.thehistorynet.com/mh/blcarrhae

Roman Disaster at Carrhae (cont'd)

By Brian Dent

Things went from bad to worse.

Crassus' Arab guide vanished.

The Romans found themselves stranded in the Mesopotamian desert, not far from a little town called Carrhae.

Some of the army's scouts, now battered and bloodied, came in to report that their comrades were dead, and that they themselves had barely escaped.

The Parthian army was nearby, they said, and ready to attack.

Roman Disaster at Carrhae (cont'd)

By Brian Dent

That revelation, according to Plutarch, left Crassus "struck with amazement" and initially paralyzed.

Then, in something of a panic, he shuffled and re-shuffled his troops, finally settling on a square formation.

Each side of the square was manned by 12 heavy cohorts (roughly 6,000 infantry to a side), with a troop of cavalry between each pair of cohorts.

The baggage train occupied the interior of the square.

The army then blindly and awkwardly marched ahead, and in a rare stroke of good luck stumbled upon the Balissus River.

The parched troops were at least able to refresh themselves before the battle.

Most of Crassus' officers were for staying by the river and awaiting the Parthian attack.

But young Publius Crassus persuaded his father to advance toward the enemy.

The Romans did so and, eventually confronting the Parthians, were pleasantly surprised to find that the enemy did not appear so numerous as they had feared.

Unknown to them, however, Surena hid the main body of his army behind the first rank, and had them conceal the glittering of their armor.

Then, at a signal, the Parthians threw off their cloaks and raised a clamor of kettle-drums that Plutarch described as producing "a hideous noise" that had a psychological impact on the legions.

Surena made the first move, but when a charge by his cataphracts, proved unable to break the Roman line he had them withdraw, feigning disorder and confusion.

His cavalrymen then swiftly surrounded the Roman square.

With his cumbersome infantry formation unable to counter Surena's maneuver, Crassus ordered a cavalry charge, but the Romans were met with a shower of arrows that Plutarch said "passed through every kind of covering, hard and soft alike."

Once they had broken and repulsed the Roman cavalry, the Parthians were easily able to pour arrows into the infantry square, "for, indeed, the order of the Romans was so close, that they could not miss."

To maintain his punishment of the Roman legions, Surena had cleverly arranged for a running supply train of camels to keep his horse archers resupplied with arrows.

Seeing no end to the deluge of arrows that assailed his men, Crassus was compelled to send his son Publius, with 6,500 men, including the Gallic cavalry, on a desperate counterattack.

The sally seemed to succeed at first - the Parthians fled and Publius exultantly detached his cavalry in pursuit.

But that apparent retreat was just another feint, for when the Romans had been lured a sufficient distance from the square the Parthians suddenly turned and reappeared in force.

Plutarch described how they then rode round and round Publius' force, raising "such a cloud of dust that the Romans could neither see nor speak to one another."

Isolated and encircled as his father's square had been, Publius' men were packed in too close, and were easy pickings for the horse-archers.

When Publius tried to rally his troops for a counterattack, "they showed him their hands nailed to their shields, and their feet stuck to the ground."

Publius was able to rally some of his Gallic cavalry, though, and they managed the closest thing to a genuine Roman success in the whole sorry campaign.

The fierce Celts were able to seize the cataphracts' lances and drag them to the ground, where the Parthians' heavy armor rendered them helpless.

Some Gauls dismounted and crept under the Parthian horses, which they disemboweled, unhorsing the riders.

Those tactics, however, could only delay the inevitable.

Publius was severely wounded and was dragged away by some survivors to a nearby hill for a last stand.

Two of Publius' friends urged him to flee with them to Carrhae, but he courageously decided to stay and die with his troops.

When the hill was finally overrun, Publius ordered his armor-bearer to run him through.

Back at the square, Marcus Licinius Crassus had received no word from Publius, because all of the latter's messengers were slain.

Then the horrifying drumming began again, and Crassus finally learned his son's fate.

The Parthians rode forward with Publius' head on the point of a spear, and, Plutarch wrote, "scoffingly inquired where his parents were, and what family he was of, because it was impossible that so brave and gallant a warrior should be the son of so pitiful a coward as Crassus."

end quotes

And on that note ...

Once again, I shall pause in the narrative .....

To let these words kind of percolate, as it were .....

In the meantime, me, being a veteran of combat, myself ......

What I get from this ...

Each time I read it ...

Is that if you are going to go to war ...

Especially against a "hard people" ....

Meaning ones who will fight back when you invade THEIR lands .....

You shouldn't really be seen crying in public when they do slap you back .....

And there is where this BUSHCO crowd has "failed the test" .....

In my estimation, anyway .....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

Then the horrifying drumming began again, and Crassus finally learned his son's fate.

The Parthians rode forward with Publius' head on the point of a spear, and, Plutarch wrote, "scoffingly inquired where his parents were, and what family he was of, because it was impossible that so brave and gallant a warrior should be the son of so pitiful a coward as Crassus."

And once again zooming forward in time ...

To OUR times ...

We have from George W. Bush's ALLIES IN THE WAR OF TERROR down there in Mexico as follows ......

"Mexican Presidency admits to 'Dirty War'"

By JULIE WATSON, Associated Press Writer

Mon Feb 27, 5:57 PM ET

MEXICO CITY - A leaked draft of a government report on Mexico's "dirty war" alleges that the country's presidency orchestrated an anti-insurgency campaign in which soldiers carried out summary executions, raped women, and set entire villages on fire.

Based partly on declassified Mexican military documents, the report was prepared by a special prosecutor assigned to investigate alleged atrocities by soldiers.

Prosecutors said the report has not yet been officially released and was undergoing changes.

The report was leaked to several prominent Mexican writers and published Sunday in the Mexican magazine, Erme-Equis.

The unedited draft states the alleged crimes were committed during the administrations of presidents Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, Luis Echeverria, Jose Lopez Portillo, and Adolfo Lopez Mateos.

The most brutal period allegedly occurred under Echeverria's rule from 1970-76, when military bases allegedly served as "concentration camps," according to the report, and hundreds of suspected subversives in the southern state of Guerrero were killed or disappeared.

Under Echeverria's so-called "Friendship Operation" launched by the military in 1970 in Guerrero, the report says it has evidence the army conducted "illegal searches, arbitrary detentions, torture, the raping of women in the presence of their husbands, and the possible extrajudicial executions of groups of people."

"With this operation, a state policy was established in which all authorities connected to the military — the president ... the presidential guard, the commanders of Guerrero's two military regions, officers and their troops — participated in human rights violations with the justification of pursuing a bad fugitive," the report said.

"Such an open counter-guerrilla strategy could not have been possible without the explicit consent and approval of the president," it added.

The Washington-based National Security Archive, a private, nonpartisan research group, also posted the report on their web site Sunday, saying it believed all Mexicans should have access to it.

"This is the most extensive documented description of how the state unleashed a savage counterinsurgency campaign that targeted a tiny armed insurgency and swept up thousands of civilians in its wake," said Kate Doyle, director of the research group's Mexico Project.

Jose Luis Contreras, a spokesman for Special Prosecutor Ignacio Carrillo, said Carrillo planned to present the report to President Vicente Fox this week.

But Carrillo first planned to make changes — including erasing the words "concentration camps" from the draft.

"Obviously this does not apply to this country," Contreras said.

The special prosecutor also is revising the report's allegations that Echeverria's presidency was directly behind the abuses, Contreras said.

Carrillo did not return calls seeking comment.

A spokeswoman from Fox's office said the president had not yet received the report and could not comment.

Fox has vowed to prosecute Mexico's past crimes, but has done little so far.

Carrillo's office has unsuccessfully sought to bring genocide charges against Echeverria for mass killings committed during two anti-government protests of mostly university students, in 1968 and 1971.

The former president has denied wrongdoing in both cases.

But until now, there has been little more than witness accounts of what took place in Guerrero's villages.

The report for the first time names soldiers and cites telegrams from the Defense Department describing exactly who would be targeted in Mexico's war against guerrilla leaders Lucio Cabanas and Genaro Vazquez.

It gives a grisly account — during the administration of Lopez Mateos — of soldiers in 1963 mutilation killing of a leader of coffee farmers in the community of El Ticui.

The report states that when Echeverria came to power, the government "implemented a genocide plan that was closely followed during his reign."

During that time, guerrillas were blamed for a series of kidnappings and attacks on soldiers.

The report describes soldiers dressed in civilian clothes gunning down five men in the community of Los Piloncillos in front of their families, friends and neighbors.

After guerrillas ambushed and killed 18 troops in 1972, the army detained at least 90 men in the village of El Quemado and took many of them to three different military bases that served as "concentration camps," according to the report.

Seven of the men died from being tortured, the report states.

[Livyjr]

And IRAQINAM .....

Where true to form ....

George W. Bush is going to "STAY THE COURSE" .....

Even though he hasn't the slightest idea of where that course is taking anyone at all ....

Except further and further from the stability that existed in this world of OURS before George W. Bush came on the scene ...

And pulled the lanyard that fired the salvo .....

That may just set OUR world on fire yet .....

And so ...

"Civil war looms with 68 killed in Baghdad"

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:57 p.m., Tuesday, February 28, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Sunnis and Shiites traded bombings and mortar fire against mainly religious targets in Baghdad well into the night Tuesday, killing at least 68 people a day after authorities lifted a curfew that had briefly calmed a series of sectarian reprisal attacks.

At least six of Tuesday's attacks hit clearly religious targets, concluding with a car bombing after sundown at the Shiite Abdel Hadi Chalabi mosque in the Hurriyah neighborhood that killed 23 and wounded 55.

A separate suicide bombing killed 23 people at an east Baghdad gas station, where people had lined up to buy kerosine.

In addition to those known to have been killed Tuesday, police found nine more bullet-riddled bodies, including a Sunni Muslim tribal sheik, off a road southeast of Baghdad.

It was unclear when they died.

The surge of violence deepened the trauma of residents already shaken by fears the country was teetering on the brink of sectarian civil war, threatened talks among Iraqi politicians struggling to form a government and raised questions about U.S. plans to begin drawing down troop strength this summer.

Iraq began to tilt seriously toward outright civil war after the Feb. 22 bombing of the important Shiite Askariya shrine in the mainly Sunni city of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

President Bush decried the latest surge in sectarian violence Tuesday and said that for Iraqis "the choice is chaos or unity."

In congressional testimony, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said a civil war in Iraq could lead to a broader conflict in the Middle East, pitting the region's Sunni and Shiite powers against one another.

Defense Intelligence Agency chief Lt. Gen. Michael Maples said the sectarian violence stems from a core of Sunni Arab insurgents who can exploit "social, economic, historical and religious grievances."

"Networks based on these relationships remain the greatest threat to long-term stability in Iraq," Maples said.

The sectarian violence has hit Baghdad hardest because the population in the capital is about evenly divided between Shiites and Sunnis, more so than in any other region of the country.

At about the same time as the attack on the Shiite Abdel Hadi Chalabi mosque, a mortar round landed near the Shiite Imam Kadhim shrine in the Kazimiyah neighborhood on the opposite side of the Tigris River, killing one and wounding 10.

Those attacks appeared to have been in retaliation for assaults on Sunni places of worship earlier in the day.

North of Baghdad, a blast badly damaged a Sunni mosque where the father of Saddam Hussein was buried in the family's ancestral hometown, Tikrit.

The Iraqi Islamic Party reported a bomb hit the Sunni Thou Nitaqain mosque in the Hurriyah neighborhood at 8 a.m. Tuesday, killing three and wounding 11.

Gunmen in two speeding cars opened fire on the Sunni al-Salam mosque in the western Baghdad's Mansour district, killing a guard.

Late Tuesday police reported finding the body of Shiite cleric Hani Hadi handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head near a Sunni mosque in Baghdad's notorious Dora neighborhood.

One of the day's bloodiest attacks came when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives vest packed with ball bearings among people lined up to buy kerosine at a crowded filling station in east Baghdad.

The blast killed 23 people and wounded 51, leaving behind the charred and twisted remains of wheeled carts that customers had used to transport fuel canisters to the station.

A car bombing in the same neighborhood targeted a police patrol and killed five people and wounded 17 -- all civilians.

Another car bomb hit a small market opposite the Shiite Timimi mosque in the mostly Shiite Karradah neighborhood, killing six people and wounding 16.

Separately and in an unusual move, the government issued a statement declaring that 379 people had been killed and 458 wounded as of 4 p.m. Tuesday in the sectarian violence tied to the Askariya bombing.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that more than 1,300 people were killed in the reprisal attacks.

The Cabinet statement, however, said "what was reported in a foreign newspaper were inaccurate and exaggerated numbers of victims."

More than 60 relatives of the dead -- many of them women dressed in black and beating their breasts as they wailed in grief -- assembled with empty coffins at the morgue to take away their dead family members.

One young man, who refused to give his name, told an AP reporter that his three brothers had gone out to buy bread Saturday night and were gunned down in a drive-by attack.

National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie, meanwhile, traveled to the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Tuesday to meet with Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the Shiite community's most revered spiritual leader.

Al-Rubaie emerged to tell reporters "the way to forming the government is difficult and planted with political bombs."

"We ask the Iraqi people to be patient, and we expect forming the government will take a few months."

In the south Tuesday, two British soldiers were killed in Amarah, 180 miles from Baghdad, the Defense Ministry reported in London, but gave no other details.

A witness said a car bomb targeted a British patrol and helicopters were seen taking away casualties.

The U.S. military reported a U.S. soldier was killed by small-arms fire west of Baghdad on Monday.

No details were provided.

The death brought to at least 2,292 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an AP count.

The figure includes seven military civilians.

In other violence Tuesday, a roadside bomb targeting the convoy of a defense ministry adviser killed five soldiers and injured seven others in the east Baghdad.

The adviser, Lt. Gen. Daham Radhi al-Assal, escaped unharmed.

------

Associated Press Writer Sinan Salaheddin and Alexandra Zavis contributed to this report from Baghdad

[Livyjr]

And while we are on the subject of IRAQINAM .....

Here is a story which was probably just fabricated and planted in the LIBERAL NEWS MEDIA by the Democrats so as to embarass George W. Bush and the REPUBLICANS ahead of the 2006 congressional elections ...

Yeah, right ....

"Postwar Iraq chaos blamed on poor planning"

By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press
Last updated: 10:06 p.m., Monday, February 27, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Poor prewar planning left the United States without enough skilled workers to efficiently rebuild Iraq's economy and public works, according to a report issued Monday.

The study by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction provided a new explanation for the lagging reconstruction effort.

Surveys by the Bush administration and congressional auditors have blamed insurgent attacks and the high cost of security.

Thanks to inadequate planning, the report said, early occupation officials lacked enough reconstruction staffers who knew what they were doing.

It recommended the government establish a "civilian reserve corps" to deploy around the world for postwar rebuilding.

While reconstruction has cost American taxpayers about $30 billion three years after the overthrown of Saddam Hussein, the country still lacks reliable electricity, water and other services.

Monday's report -- covering the time the country was under control of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority -- said early efforts were greatly affected by personnel problems.

"Pre-war reconstruction planning assumed that Iraq's bureaucracy would go back to work when the fighting stopped," it said.

"When it became clear that the Iraqi bureaucracy was in widespread disarray," occupation authorities "had to find coalition personnel to perform these tasks."

"The U.S. government workforce planning for Iraq's reconstruction suffered from a poorly structured, ad-hoc personnel management processes," the report said, calling hiring practices "haphazard."

At one point, officials asked civilian and military agencies for personnel "but did not prepare detailed job descriptions because of time constraints," the report said.

In late summer 2003, a new recruiting team was set up in the Pentagon's White House Liaison Office, based in part on the "transition team" model used to staff new presidential administrations.

The team quickly hired hundreds of new temporary employees, "but some possessed what proved to be inconsistent skill sets," the report said.

It also criticized the Bush administration for failing to get government employees from outside the State and Defense departments to work in Iraq.

And it said many people who were supposed to work there a year ran up so much overtime that they hit salary caps in six to eight months -- and left.

"You had these 90-day workers getting their tickets punched that indicated, 'I've been to Baghdad,'" said a former senior U.S. official in Iraq who is quoted in the report.

The episode "demonstrated the U.S. government's critical need for a reserve civilian corps of talented professionals, with the proper expertise, willing to work in a hostile environment during post-conflict stabilization and reconstruction periods," the report said.

Legislation to form such a corps was introduced last year but did not pass.

"The United States can deploy military people quite easily," said James P. Mitchell, spokesman for the inspector general's office.

"But when they need to deploy civilians, it's very difficult and complicated and there is no system to do it."

----

On the Net:

Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction: http://www.sigir.mil/

[Livyjr]

And yet more IRAQINAM .....

Where of course ....

Major combat operations have long since been over .....

Because we won ...

And so ....

"Analysis: Iraq crisis propels al-Sadr"

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press
Last updated: 8:55 p.m., Sunday, February 26, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The bombing and bloodshed that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war have propelled anti-American firebrand Muqtada al-Sadr to the forefront of Iraqi politics.

The young Shiite cleric who twice defied America in 2004 now has emerged as a major threat to U.S. plans for Iraq.

Al-Sadr had already managed to carve out a strong position in Iraqi politics.

His followers won 30 of the 275 parliament seats in the December elections, and his support enabled Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to win the nomination of the Shiite bloc for a second term as prime minister.

But the outbreak of Shiite-Sunni violence presented al-Sadr with an opportunity that he was quick the exploit.

An increase in al-Sadr's stature is an ominous development for the United States given his opposition to U.S. influence, his links to radical groups and regimes in the Middle East and his militia that undermines state authority.

Through skillful use of intimidation, first, and then concessions, al-Sadr, 31, has profited more than any other Iraqi figure from the unrest that swept the country after the Wednesday bombing of a Shiite shrine, which triggered reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics.

Many of those reprisal attacks were believed to be the work of al-Sadr's own Mahdi Army militia, which operates in the Shiite slum of Sadr City and in Shiite strongholds throughout the country.

But al-Sadr, who was in Lebanon when the bombing occurred, denied any role in the violence.

He quickly joined moderate Shiite clerics in public appeals to halt the attacks.

The fact that the worst of the violence ended after the clerics' appeal added to al-Sadr's prestige, especially since no major Shiite figure has openly challenged his denial of a role in the reprisal attacks.

The message was clear: al-Sadr controls the streets in much of the country, and no agreement to restore order has a chance of success unless he signs off on it.

No major Shiite figure, including the country's top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani himself, would at this point challenge al-Sadr openly.

In effect, al-Sadr's followers stirred up trouble, and then took credit for stopping it.

Even the Americans, who battled al-Sadr's militia in his two major uprisings, appeared unsure how to deal with the cleric.

During a press conference Saturday, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said sectarian unrest provided the government with "an opportunity to get rid of the militias."

Then Lynch suggested the time was not right for a showdown and that getting rid of the militias will take "a period of time."

Having showed its power in the streets, al-Sadr's movement moved quickly to solidify its political position and broaden its influence among Iraqis at large -- actions that pose a major challenge to both mainstream Shiite parties and to the United States.

Al-Sadr the menacing face of Shiite street power became al-Sadr the voice of religious brotherhood and Iraqi pride.

Returning home to Najaf on Sunday, al-Sadr told his followers that "there is no such thing as Sunni or Shiite mosques."

"The mosques are for all Iraqi people and for all Muslims."

He even offered his Mahdi Army fighters to protect Sunni mosques -- some of which were seized by his followers according to Sunni politicians.

Al-Sadr has also turned to hardline Sunni clerics who share his opposition to the U.S. presence in Iraq.

Even before he returned home, al-Sadr's movement then signed an agreement Saturday with the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars to prohibit killing members of the two sects and banning attacks on each other's mosques.

A joint statement blamed the presence of American and other coalition forces for the sectarian crisis and urged them to withdraw as soon as possible.

The association is believed to have links to at least some of the Sunni insurgent groups.

The agreement thus provides al-Sadr with an opportunity to broaden his influence among the disaffected minority to a greater extent than any other Shiite leader.

All this represents a major challenge both to mainstream Shiite parties and to the United States -- especially if al-Jaafari is confirmed as prime minister and grants al-Sadr's followers major posts in the new government.

That would put supporters of the avowedly anti-American al-Sadr in key decision-making positions in the ministries.

The youthful al-Sadr is likely to remain a powerful force in the Shiite community long after the elderly moderates like Ayatollah al-Sistani have left the stage.

In the short term, al-Sadr is likely to resist pressure to disband his militia, a major U.S. goal.

On Sunday, al-Sadr suggested instead that his militia should be given a formal role to work "in coordination with the Iraqi government, army, police and people."

Militias undercut the U.S. hope of creating a professional Iraqi army that will then secure the country, and allow American troops to begin going home.

Just as important, al-Sadr's vision for Iraq is markedly different from that of the United States or the Westernized politicians such as ex-Prime Minister Ayad Allawi that the United States has tacitly supported.

Areas under the control of al-Sadr's militia provide insights into what an Iraq run by the Sadrists may look like.

In Basra, al-Sadr's militiamen have reportedly bombed stores suspected of selling liquor or permissive entertainment material, according to residents.

They routinely berate women whose appearance they deem immodest.

More alarming are al-Sadr's links to some of the most radical elements in the Middle East, including the clerical regime in Iran and the hardline government in Syria, both of whom welcomed him on visits this month.

On his visit to Syria, al-Sadr praised Hamas' victory in the Palestinian elections.

"I hope it is the beginning of an Islamic awakening and that it will be the start ... of Islam's triumph in other Islamic countries," he said.

------

Robert H. Reid is correspondent at large for The Associated Press and has frequently reported from Iraq since 2003.

[Livyjr]

And then ...

There is Dick Cheney's beloved Halliburton .....

Halliburton has to get paid ....

And so ...

It will be so .....

Because Dick wants it that way ....

It is his company, after all ....

And so ...

"Army to pay questioned Halliburton costs"

Associated Press

Last updated: 7:56 p.m., Monday, February 27, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The Army has decided to reimburse a Halliburton subsidiary all but $9 million of $222 million in costs that Pentagon auditors questioned for oil industry work in Iraq, Army officials said Monday.

At issue is a $2.4 billion contract awarded to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root to deliver fuel to Iraqis and repair oil industry equipment.

The 2003 contract has come under criticism because it was awarded without competitive bidding and because of the company's links to Vice President Dick Cheney, once its chief executive officer.

The Army did a "lengthy, detailed" review of the $221.9 million in challenged costs and resolved the questions, said Rhonda James, a spokeswoman for the Army Corps of Engineers in Dallas, where the contract is administered.

James said that on some contested costs, Halliburton provided additional documents that erased auditors' questions.

The Army refused to reimburse some of the costs, and Halliburton reduced others, she said.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Committee on Government Reform, called the Army's decision "an insult to taxpayers."

In a letter to Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., the chairman of that committee, Waxman said that typically, the military withholds payment on 55 percent to 75 percent of the costs that Pentagon auditors challenge.

In this case, the Army will withhold payment on only 4 percent of the contested charges.

Waxman urged the committee to subpoena documents explaining compensation for the contract, saying the Army has refused for a year to provide them.

Halliburton is one of the biggest contractors in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq's economy and public works.

In 2003 and 2004 alone, the government has awarded more than $10 billion to Halliburton and its subsidiaries, some of it in no-bid contracts.

The Army decision to pay much of the disputed charges was first reported Monday in The New York Times.

[Livyjr]

And here is an interesting story from OUR times .....

"Political battles in cyberspace"

Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Monday, February 27, 2006

Any seasoned Web surfer takes what's online with a grain of salt.

But when it comes to political research, you might want to have a whole block of salt on hand.

Wiki-pedia -- a communal encyclopedia that allows users to add articles and edit them freely -- has turned into a political battleground in several New York races.

On a sometimes daily basis, opponents of politicians slip less-than-flattering information into their electronic bios, while politician's allies go back and fix things to their liking.

Case in point: U.S. Rep. John Sweeney's Wiki bio has been tinkered with nine times since December, as foes slipped in bits about his personal and family life before someone -- his office isn't saying who -- took them off.

An even more heated exchange is going on in the 19th Congressional District, where Rep. Sue Kelley's Wiki page is being edited daily.

On Thursday, for example, it underwent 16 revisions.

Her allies and foes were waging a virtual tug of war over issues such as her environmental record and whether she's a moderate Republican or allied with the far-right wing in Congress.

Friday's dustup included a back and forth over selective statistics on her League of Conservation Voters rating (her side put up a favorable rating from the 108th Congress; enemies replaced it with a less glowing record from the 109th).

Finally, both sides apparently gave up and moved on to the federal budget.

Kelly's office didn't call back to comment.

It doesn't look as if this has caught on much in major state races.

About the oddest change on Democrat Eliot Spitzer's extensive page was that someone took offense to calling him "The Spitz."

Someone slipped an allegation into Republican attorney general candidate Jeanine Pirro's page about her sexual preference, but her bio has been mostly untouched otherwise.

Rare common ground

"Strange bedfellows" doesn't even begin to describe this one.

Ultra-conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage has railed against Sen. Chuck Schumer on numerous occasions, characterizing the New York Democrat as a racist and a religious bigot for questioning President Bush's Supreme Court nominees, including Miguel Estrada.

But that was all in the past a week ago Friday when there, on Savage's show, was Schumer, and there was Savage, gushing over Schumer's opposition to the deal to have an Arab firm take over operations at six U.S. ports.

Savage was so grateful for Schumer's stance that he said he was revising an upcoming book to "go easy" on the senator.

"I salute you," Savage said.

"Senator Schumer, thank you very, very much, and politics does make strange bedfellows indeed, but at the end of the day we're all concerned with our survival."

A Schumer aide acknowledged it was weird, but said Savage has invited the senator on numerous occasions and he happened to have a few minutes to spare this time.

Got a tip? Call 454-5424 or e-mail jjochnowitz@ timesunion.com. For more Capitol Confidential items on-line, visit blogs.timesunion. com/capitol/.

[Livyjr]

And then ...

There is democracy .....

When will we get some?

"State seeking to avert lawsuit - Threat by U.S. to sue prompts elections board to consider temporary disabled-voter plan"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, February 28, 2006

ALBANY -- The state Monday was working feverishly to avert a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice over failure to comply with voting rights laws, spurring the Board of Elections to consider setting up temporary ways for disabled voters to cast ballots.

"Making sure everybody has the ability to vote is more important than technical compliance," said Douglas Kellner, the board's co-chairman.

One fourth of the board's staff, he said, has been tied up for a week trying to work out an agreement with the Justice Department, which has threatened to sue the state for being far behind in meeting Help America Vote Act deadlines.

A DOJ spokesman did not return a call Monday.

A spokesman for Attorney General Eliot Spitzer confirmed talks to resolve the matter are ongoing.

Kellner said the board doesn't know when the state will meet HAVA requirements to set up a statewide, computerized voter registration list and replace its old lever voting machines with new ones that disabled people can use.

An alternative under discussion, he said, includes expediting certification of machines that allow people with disabilities to fill out ballots, while having other voters use lever machines in 2006.

The systems include a telephone system that would fill in the votes called in by a disabled person.

The board would also set up an "interim" centralized voter registration list that would honor HAVA's terms while a final, more thorough system is devised.

Board commissioners are still working on regulations for machines that would replace the old lever equipment, and for the registration list.

Commissioner Robert Brehm and others said it is better to do it right than to have to redo everything just to meet an "arbitrary" federal deadline.

Counties and machine manufacturers are awaiting the board's decisions.

The state is receiving $220 million to set up new systems by September, the date of the primaries for federal elections.

"We're committed to doing it once and doing it correctly, going beyond the federal standards, so they're not outdated when they're certified," said Brehm, formerly a Democratic Schenectady County Board of Elections commissioner.

The federal government, he said, wasn't penalized when it missed its own deadlines for setting up HAVA requirements.

Kellner, a Democrat who worked as a New York City elections commissioner, added that some states moved too quickly and have certified equipment already out of date.

Also, several states, he said, are trying to adopt the New York standards, which go well beyond HAVA's requirements for a voter-verifiable paper trail.

In January, the Justice Department warned Spitzer that a lawsuit could be lodged against the state but said it would try to negotiate a consent decree.

Kellner said, "If we were to go to court, we would be arguing that the federal government itself delayed HAVA."

The Justice Department can't pull funding from the state because that is not within its jurisdiction, Brehm said.

Over the objections of a reporter, the commission met behind closed doors to discuss its proposed consent deal, arguing private sessions are allowed to discuss litigation and that the Justice Department specifically requested all negotiations be secret.

Kellner promised terms of any deal would be made public for a week before he would vote on a consent agreement.

[Livyjr]

And politics .....

Along with the congressional seats up for grabs this November .....

So too is the office of governor of the State of New York ...

Where New York State Attorney General Eliot "Big EL" Spitzer right now is the man to beat .....

"Big EL", as he is lovingly known up here, has got all kinds of LOBBYISTS standing by him, to keep his pockets pumped up with money ...

Because "Big EL" is just a real nice guy ...

And so ...

"Big EL" is going to be tough to beat ...

BUT ...

"Big EL" is kind of weak when it comes to the subject of cleaning up government corruption in the State of New York ...

And in fact, based on a big win that "Big EL" scored in the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals a bit ago, "Big EL" is emerging as a real CHAMPION of corrupt government in the State of New York ...

And that has politicians and lobbyists alike flocking to his standard .....

And so ...

It is going to be up to the people of the state to decide ......

WHICH WAY WILL WE GO?

And so .....

"Suozzi in for primary challenge - County executive makes official a run against Spitzer in governor race"

By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, February 26, 2006

GLEN COVE -- Casting himself as a political outsider, a reformer and a risk taker, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi on Saturday formally launched a primary challenge to the Democratic front-runner for governor, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Suozzi emphasized his Italian-American roots and his experience as a government executive, something Spitzer, a prosecutor who has never run a municipality, lacks.

He focused on a familiar theme: using the savings from Medicaid reform to lower property taxes, invest in public education and economic development upstate, and build more affordable housing.

"The only way to solve the real problems that the residents here in Nassau face -- and New Yorkers across the state share -- is to stop playing it safe," Suozzi said.

"New York needs a governor who is going to shake things up."

Most Democratic leaders and unions support Spitzer.

Suozzi has tried to turn that to his advantage, saying he'll be better able to change state government because he's beholden to no one.

Suozzi didn't mention Spitzer by name, but he was clearly aiming at the attorney general when he said:

"Unlike my opponent, I don't owe anything to the establishment."

Spitzer's campaign manager Ryan Toohey returned the favor by not mentioning Suozzi in a statement released Saturday.

"Eliot Spitzer is running for governor to continue what he started seven years ago when he was elected to stand-up to powerful interests and fight for those who have no champion," Toohey said.

"His efforts speak for themselves."

The Spitzer camp dispatched a team of surrogates to bash Suozzi, including several Democratic Party county chairs and the heads of the Working Families Party and Citizen Action of New York -- both groups have endorsed Spitzer.

Citizen Action, a coalition of labor and community organizations, denounced Suozzi's reform record because he accepted campaign cash from people who do business with Nassau County and billionaire Republican Kenneth Langone.

Spitzer is suing Langone, a Nassau County resident and Home Depot co-founder, in a case relating to Langone's role as former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange compensation committee.

Suozzi insisted contributions never influenced his policy decisions.

Although he has said Spitzer accepts too much money from lobbyists, Suozzi wouldn't promise not to do the same.

"I have to think about that because none of them are offering anything," Suozzi said.

Suozzi is considered a long shot at best.

He trails Spitzer 72 to 8 percent in statewide polls and in mid-January had $5 million on hand to Spitzer's $19 million.

But Suozzi's supporters cast him as the anti-Spitzer: energetic and likable where the attorney general can come off as reserved and stiff.

Suozzi embraced his underdog status Saturday.

He noted he has bucked the party before.

In 2001, he beat the Democratic favorite for county executive, state Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli.

Two years ago, Suozzi's Fix Albany campaign helped topple several incumbent state legislators.

"Few of the pundits are expecting me to win," Suozzi said.

"And you know what?"

"I like it that way."

Suozzi, 43, announced his campaign in his hometown of Glen Cove on Long Island where he began his political career 12 years ago as mayor, following in the footsteps of his father, a retired state Supreme Court justice and partner in a politically connected law firm.

The event was held in the parking lot of a Roman Catholic church next door to the modest house once owned by Suozzi's grandfather, an Italian immigrant.

Frank Sinatra played over the loudspeakers and free sausage-and-pepper sandwiches were provided to a crowd Suozzi's campaign said topped 1,000.

Suozzi was introduced by his father, Joseph, and his mother, Marguerite, who called the country executive "Tommy," asking crowd to "take good care of him."

Democratic leaders, recognizing Gov. George Pataki's decision not to seek a fourth term has provided them with an opportunity to take back the governor's mansion after 12 years, fear a contentious primary and tried without success to dissuade Suozzi from running.

Suozzi has positioned himself to the right of Spitzer on abortion and gay marriage in what observers see as an effort to appeal to voters like him: white Catholic suburbanites.

But strategists question the tactic, saying it would work better in a general election, but not in a Democratic primary, in which the more left-leaning candidates tend to prevail.

"The Democratic primary classically goes to the liberal, no matter who votes," said Quinnipiac University pollster Maurice Carroll.

"And sure it's a Catholic state, but does that mean Catholics are going to vote for Suozzi and Jews for Spitzer?"

"I don't think so."

Elizabeth Benjamin can be reached at 454-5081 or by e-mail at ebenjamin@timesunion.com.

[jeffmoskin]

And yet, when Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 60BC, against Pompei's orders, he transformed the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

And it lasted nearly 400 years before it collapsed.

Would that we should be so fortunate.

[Livyjr]

And politics .....

Along with the congressional seats up for grabs this November .....

So too is the office of governor of the State of New York ...

Where New York State Attorney General Eliot "Big EL" Spitzer right now is the man to beat .....

"Big EL", as he is lovingly known up here, has got all kinds of LOBBYISTS standing by him, to keep his pockets pumped up with money ...

Because "Big EL" is just a real nice guy ...

And so ...

"Big EL" is going to be tough to beat ...

BUT ...

"Big EL" is kind of weak when it comes to the subject of cleaning up government corruption in the State of New York ...

And in fact, based on a big win that "Big EL" scored in the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals a bit ago, "Big EL" is emerging as a real CHAMPION of corrupt government in the State of New York ...

And that has politicians and lobbyists alike flocking to his standard .....

And so ...

It is going to be up to the people of the state to decide ......

WHICH WAY WILL WE GO?

And so .....

"Reform is in the air - Tom Suozzi enters a gubernatorial primary that will put the Capitol's dysfunction in the spotlight"

Albany, new York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Reform is a word that's almost gone out of fashion in Albany, and just a year after the Legislature was shamed and pressured into taking the first steps toward making state government more open and more representative.

No one thinks those changes, however welcome, went nearly far enough, do they?

It's in places like the Long Island town of Glen Cove where there's still so little tolerance for the Albany political culture.

That's still the essence of Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi's campaign for governor.

His formal announcement of his candidacy made that much clear.

He wants to get the cost of Medicaid under control as well as bring long overdue equity -- which is to say more money for New York City and certain other districts -- to how state school aid funds are distributed.

The demand for change doesn't stop in Mr. Suozzi's hometown or with his quest to be governor, no matter how indifferent the legislative leadership might be.

No sooner was Mr. Suozzi officially in the race than Eliot Spitzer, the state attorney general and his rival for the Democratic nomination, vowed to visit every county and every town in New York in his own campaign to change state government.

Hear, hear -- to both of them.

The Democratic primary for governor has the potential to be an especially constructive affair.

Both Mr. Suozzi and Mr. Spitzer have formidable credentials as reformers.

Mr. Suozzi had the idea, as refreshing as it was radical, a few years ago of subjecting state legislators, who generally enjoy a de facto form of lifetime tenure, to competitive elections.

And Mr. Spitzer?

Anyone who's taken on the corruption of Wall Street, we'd think, is a safe bet to deal with the dysfunction of Albany accordingly.

His running mate, Senate Minority Leader David Paterson, has an impressive record as a reformer.

But there's also this risk in a Suozzi-Spitzer contest, the temptation of one candidate to smear the other.

Here's Mr. Suozzi's suggestion that Mr. Spitzer is beholden to various Albany lobbyists, trial lawyers and special interests on the basis of campaign contributions, or Wall Street executives on the basis of investigations that they never faced.

That raises the question of the source of some of Mr. Suozzi's own campaign money, and even part of his motivation for running.

Here's a candidate for governor who has more than half a million dollars that's been collected by Kenneth Langone, a Nassau County resident and Home Depot co-founder, who just happens to be the defendant in a lawsuit brought by Mr. Spitzer relating to Mr. Langone's role as former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange compensation committee.

To that, Mr. Suozzi insists that Mr. Langone isn't looking for him to do anything except to run the state government the way he's run government in Nassau County.

Let's hope so.

And let's let the campaign begin, cautiously but earnestly.

[Livyjr]

And IRAQINAM .....

Where true to form ....

George W. Bush is going to "STAY THE COURSE" .....

Even though he hasn't the slightest idea of where that course is taking anyone at all ....

Except further and further from the stability that existed in this world of OURS before George W. Bush came on the scene ...

And pulled the lanyard that fired the salvo .....

That may just set OUR world on fire yet .....

And so ...

And once again ....

It looks like a busy "news day" in here ...

And so ....

Jumping right into the fray ...

We zoom over to India ...

Where the folks in that country, one of George W. Bush's ALLIES in his WAR OF TERROR, are turning out in droves to express not only their adulation of George W. Bush, but their eternal love and devotion as well to the one man in the history of the world who finally has the power in him to unite the world in common cause .....

"Tens of Thousands Protest Bush India Visit"

By NIRMALA GEORGE, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 16 minutes ago

NEW DELHI - Tens of thousands of Indians waving black and white flags and chanting "Death to Bush!" rallied Wednesday in New Delhi to protest a visit by President Bush.

Surindra Singh Yadav, a senior police officer in charge of crowd control, said as many as 100,000 people, most of them Muslim, had gathered in a fairground in central New Delhi ordinarily used for political rallies.

"Whether Hindu or Muslim, the people of India have gathered here to show our anger."

"We have only one message — killer Bush go home," one of the speakers, Hindu politician Raj Babbar, told the crowd.

Bush arrives in India later Wednesday for a three-day visit focused on strengthening the emerging strategic partnership between India and the United States.

Dozens of protests have been planned by Islamic leaders and communist politicians.

While Bush remains more popular in India than he is in many other countries, some here object to U.S. policies, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.

India, an overwhelmingly Hindu nation of more than 1 billion people, has the world's second-largest population of Muslims.

Wednesday's protesters carried placards that read: "Bully Bush, Go Home," and "Death to America, Death to Bush."

Police, some of them armed with rifles, were heavily deployed around the fairground.

As the rally grew, protesters charged a stage where about 200 Muslim leaders were waiting to speak, knocking over television cameras.

On Tuesday, about 1,000 Muslims demonstrated in Bombay, some waving placards reading "Devil Bush Go Back," with caricatures of Bush as a cross between Superman and Satan — dressed in the superhero's red-and-blue costume with devil's horns and clutching a missile.

Some mosques in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, where Bush will visit Friday, have already unfurled banners protesting his arrival and plan to chant verses from the Quran in hopes that it will drive him away.

Muslim groups also have called for a daylong strike to protest Bush's visit to Hyderabad, a key center of India's booming information technology industry.

Muslims account for nearly 40 percent of the city's 7 million people.

Members of the leftist Students Federation of India and the Communist Party of India burned effigies of Bush at three intersections in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

The communists, who are key allies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government, also plan to protest Thursday at India's Parliament in New Delhi, a few miles from where Bush and Singh will meet.

"Up to 50,000 people will take part in the march, and we have the police permission to express our feelings," said Pushpender Grewal, secretary of the Communist Party of India.

"We will protest against the U.S. policies, especially the inhuman atrocities in Afghanistan and Iraq, a likely invasion of Iran and its continuing support to Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine."

Communists and Muslim groups have criticized New Delhi for backing a U.S. move to report longtime ally Iran to the International Atomic Energy Agency over allegations Tehran is developing nuclear weapons.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

They also oppose a deal that the two countries are working out under which India would buy nuclear fuel from the United States in return for opening its civilian nuclear facilities to international inspectors.

It was not clear whether the deal would be sealed during Bush's visit.

"We want the government not to sign the nuclear deal as it undermines our sovereignty and integrity," said Mohammed Saeeduddin, a spokesman of the Students' Islamic Organization.

[Livyjr]

And yet, when Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 60BC, against Pompei's orders, he transformed the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

And it lasted nearly 400 years before it collapsed.

Would that we should be so fortunate.

Well ...

Good morning, jeffmoskin .....

And it seems that in the noise, haste and confusion and what-not of yesterday evening ...

I completely missed your post above here ....

SO ...

Shame on me ...

And your point is an interesting one, jeffmoskin ....

Interesting indeed ...

For a lot of reasons .....

And I guess those are all context dependent ...

Depending on your standpoint in the matter ....

Which for me, is from the point of view of a common, ordinary human being down here on this earth of ours .....

I read a lot about that period of time, and right now, in fact, I am reading a book entitled The Last Generation of the Roman Republic by Gruen .....

And I have to say ...

In my mind, there remains a lot of uncertainty about exactly what did happen to the world, when Caesar did come south that day .....

Suffice to say ...

From the standpoint of the common citizen ...

Or me, anyway ...

Not much good came out of that for the rights of the citizens of Rome ...

But then, had Caesar not come south ...

SO ...

Whoever does really know?

And as to what came after, it is true that the EMPIRE of Rome was perhaps solidified for a period of time, especially under Octavianus, or Augustus, the first real EMPORER ......

But then ...

The EMPIRE bifurcated into EAST and WEST .....

And then ...

IT DIED ...

And whether that process of decay took four weeks, four months or four years or four centuries is to me not the relevancy here ...

To me, the relevancy is that it died .....

At the hands of those whom the high and mighty Romans considered to be BARBARIANS ......

There is the lesson to me, as a combat veteran in a war against alleged barbarians in Viet Nam ......

Or one of them, anyway ..

And another point has to do with this "concept", and it is only a concept, of being "civilized" .....

Whatever that is to mean to any of us down here on this earth of OURS .....

If I travel to someplace else, be it to your home to visit, or to some other place here in the United States, or out there in the world, especially, I always consider myself to be a guest in another place ...

Which implies to me that I ought to be polite, and I ought to pay some attention to what this new place is like, and what its people are like, and what its customs might be, and its history, as well ...

BEFORE I start running off at the mouth about how much I have "back home" ...

And how much better my stuff is than the stuff is in that place where I am visiting ...

And on and on and on .....

And whether that is called "having class", or "being cultured", or "sauveness", or whatever .....

As a human being ...

That is what I would want and expect from anyone who proposed to me that they would be "my leader", and that I would then allow them to speak for me out there on the world stage .....

Where we now appear to have a pack of rank barbarians in charge of the whole show .....

Whatever may be said for Julius Caesar and Pompeii, they certainly were no George W. Bush's ......

And so ....