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

[Snuffysmith]

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/sto...1745563,00.html

Comment

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The new definition of military valour - saying no to politicians

The lesson of Iraq is that allied top brass have a duty to dig their heels in when they recognise a fiasco in the making

Max Hastings
Monday April 3, 2006
The Guardian


Francis Fukuyama's Iraq recantation has received keen attention on both sides of the Atlantic. Like many US conservatives, he now distances himself from what has been done in the neocons' name by the Bush administration. Of course, we welcome every sinner that repenteth, but the people who seem most deserving of respect are those clever Americans who got it right in the first place. Most of my US military acquaintances opposed the invasion. They did not doubt the coalition's ability to defeat Saddam's army swiftly and topple his regime. It was uncertainty about what would follow that rang warning bells. They identified from the outset precisely the difficulties that Messrs Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz contemptuously dismissed.

In October 2002, when it became evident that Bush was determined to invade Iraq, the US Army War College's strategic studies institute undertook a study of a prospective occupation. Some bright soldiers and diplomats got together with two military academics, Dr Conrad Crane and Dr Andrew Terrill. The fruits of their labours were published in February 2003, before the first shot was fired.
Re-reading the study today, it seems stunningly prescient. First, it highlighted previous failures to address the problems of occupation, notably after the 1991 Gulf war. A senior commander on the ground, it said, "could get no useful staff support to assess and plan for post-conflict issues like hospital beds, prisoners and refugees, complaining later that he was handed 'a dripping bag of manure' that no one else wanted".

In 2003, the study predicted, after a brief initial honeymoon "suspicion of US motives will increase ... A force initially viewed as liberators can rapidly be relegated to the status of invaders ... Regionally, the occupation will be viewed with great scepticism, which may only be overcome by the population's rapid progress towards a secure and prosperous way of life ... The establishment of democracy or even some sort of rough pluralism in Iraq ... will be a staggering challenge". It warned that exile groups, the focus of Pentagon hopes, did not possess the domestic support to form a credible Iraqi interim administration.

Crane and Terrill forecast the alienation of Sunnis dispossessed of power, and the difficulties of reconciling a society riven by religious and tribal divides. They anticipated an insurgency, and highlighted the importance of training US soldiers in the specialised skills of low-intensity combat against guerrillas in the midst of a civilian population.

They identified suicide-bombing as the insurgents' likely tactic of choice, noting that Israel had been able to stem this threat only by building its security wall, not an option in Iraq: "All Arabs ... are now learning stunning lessons about the effectiveness of suicide bombers."

They cautioned against disbanding the Iraqi army after winning the war: "To tear apart the army ... could lead to the destruction of one of the only forces for unity within the society ... [It] also raises the possibility that demobilised soldiers could affiliate with ethnic or tribal militias."

Crane and Terrill summarised their conclusions thus: "To be successful, an occupation ... requires much detailed inter-agency planning, many forces, multi-year military commitment, and a national commitment to nation-building. Recent American experiences with post-conflict operations have generally featured poor planning, problems with relevant military-force structure, and difficulties with a handover from military to civilian responsibility."

They forecast the need for strong engineer and civil affairs back-up for combat units, and suggested that US forces would face "possible severe security difficulties ... The administration of an Iraqi occupation will be complicated by deep religious, ethnic and tribal differences, which dominate Iraqi society. US forces may have to manage and adjudicate conflicts among Iraqis that they can barely comprehend".

"An exit strategy will require the establishment of political stability, which will be difficult to achieve given Iraq's fragmented population, weak political institutions and propensity for rule by violence."

There is today much criticism of American and British intelligence about Iraq before the invasion. We know that both the CIA and the Secret Intelligence Service got it wrong about weapons of mass destruction. Yet allied commanders had access to a mass of shrewd analysis, of which the Crane-Terrill study, from a respected US army institution, is only the most striking example. All such material was tossed aside, of course, because it did not fit the administration's agenda.

Intelligence and predictive analysis can never be more useful than the political and service chiefs to whom they are submitted. In Afghanistan today, almost all the smart diplomats, soldiers, journalists and intelligence-gatherers agree that Nato plans to deploy a few thousand troops to support reconstruction amount to gesture strategy of the worst sort. The policy survives only because it represents the highest common factor of Nato nations' willingness to act, a pitiful political figleaf rather than a coherent military operation.

Perhaps the most important lesson of Iraq and Afghanistan is that senior soldiers on both sides of the Atlantic should be braver about saying no. Armed forces are the servants of democratic governments. But their commanders should recognise a constitutional duty to dig in their heels when invited by politicians to undertake operations they perceive as militarily unsound. This the 2003 Iraq invasion emphatically was, because of the US government's refusal meaningfully to address "phase IV" occupation planning.

Cobra II, the new book by Michael Gordon and General Bernard Trainor, which was serialised in this newspaper, makes plain that much of America's military leadership was uncomfortable with the operation, and thought the terms set by defence secretary Rumsfeld quite unrealistic. Yet the doubters stifled their feelings, and the dissenters were sidelined. There was enough ambitious, heedless top brass in the mould of General Tommy Franks to do the business.

Britain's service chiefs would have endorsed every word of the Crane-Terrill pamphlet about the requirements for occupation strategy, and were in no doubt that their American partners had done little or nothing towards fulfilling them. British commanders went ahead with doing their part anyway. They perceived this as their duty, just as they are now presiding over the token British deployment in Afghanistan, though almost no one in uniform thinks its objectives attainable with the forces available.

The Blair government ruthlessly stifles expressions of dissent within the Ministry of Defence. Yet the only way to avoid more foreign fiascos is to have an informed, ongoing public debate about what our armed forces are or are not doing. We have learned the painful consequence of dependence for enlightenment on Alastair Campbell and his "mate" John Scarlett.

Iraq has demonstrated what happens when governments are allowed to defy informed opinion and pursue ideologically driven adventures. There will come a time when the west has vital reasons to stage another armed intervention somewhere in the world. When it does, we need to feel confident that the chiefs of staff on both sides of the Atlantic will speak their minds if they are invited by government to execute a policy that they judge ill-conceived.

We ourselves, as citizens, must know enough to exploit our democratic institutions to prevent another such fiasco as Iraq. Any US soldier or civilian who read the Crane-Terrill report back in 2003 should have recognised that refusal to heed its wise strictures promised disaster, and indeed delivered it.

· Max Hastings is the author of Armageddon: the Battle for Germany 1944-1945

[jeffmoskin]

Ngo Dinh Diem was born in Vietnam in 1901.

His ancestors had been converted to Christianity by Catholic missionaries in the 17th Century.

Diem, like previous generations of his family, was educated in French Catholic schools.

After he graduated he was trained as an administrator for the French authorities in Vietnam.

At the age of twenty-five he became a provincial governor.

During the French-Indochina War, Diem left Vietnam for the United States.

While there he met influential Catholics like John F. Kennedy.

He told them that he opposed both communism and French colonialism and argued that he would make a good leader of Vietnam if the French decided to withdraw.

When the Geneva conference took place in 1954, the United States delegation proposed Diem's name as the new ruler of South Vietnam.

FDR had been a great admirer of Ho Chi Minh. In 1944, FDR assured Ho that he would personally tell deGaulle that the era of French Colonial Rule in Indochina was OVER. And deGaulle owed him bigtime. Ho would be able to rule a united Vietnam after WWII was over.

Death got in the way. ANd because FDR thought Truman to be as dumb as a post, he never briefed him on anything. So when Truman was sworn in, not only did he know nothing about the Manhattan Project; he also knew nothing about the post-war promise to rid Indochina of French Colonial Rule.

Sad.

[Livyjr]

Good to see you back, jeffmoskin .....

When you are gone for long periods of time .....

We train our spy satellites on the coyote population out there ...

To see if one of them looks like he might have been eating something a bit more substantial than a poodle .....

And so .....

On this particular scan ....

We caught one that looked a little too well-fed ...

And so .....

But here you are ...

Back safe and sound ....

And so .....

[Livyjr]

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

And coyotes eating poodles ....

Let's drop in and see ....

What is happening to George W. Bush's "best buddy" ......

Kenny "BOY" Lay .....

Of ENRON fame ....

"Hey, Kenny Boy, what's the haps, eh?"

"Heard anything from George lately?"

"You don't say!"

"How about that, will you now!"

"Lay, Skilling Lawyers Launch Their Defense"

By KRISTEN HAYS, AP Business Writer

Mon Apr 3, 1:36 PM ET

HOUSTON - Lawyers for former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling launched their case Monday with the two men's former assistant, who said she believed a key prosecution witness lied about his involvement in company-related crimes.

As they did during the first 2 1/2 months of the fraud and conspiracy trial of the two former chief executives, defense lawyers sought to erode prosecution testimony with their first witnesses.

Joannie Williamson served as an assistant at various times to Skilling, Lay and former investor relations chief Mark Koenig, a key prosecution witness.

Koenig pleaded guilty in August 2004 to aiding and abetting securities fraud and testified for the prosecution that he lied to investors about Enron's finances.

During more than seven days in the witness chair in February, he denied claims that he had told Williamson he pleaded guilty to a crime he didn't commit.

The defense teams maintain that most ex-Enron executives who admitted to crimes did so out of fear of prosecution and in hopes of receiving lenient punishments rather than because they broke the law.

Williamson said Koenig, whom she described as a close family friend as well as a former boss, called her the day he pleaded guilty.

"I said, 'You're not guilty,' and he said, 'I know that, but in order for this to work, everyone needs to believe that I am.'"

She added she did not believe he was guilty, even though Koenig told jurors in February, "I pled guilty because I am guilty."

Williamson said yes when prosecutor Kathryn Ruemmler asked if she thought Koenig lied during his testimony, which implicated Lay and Skilling in a string of falsehoods.

"Did he tell you he was pressured?" Ruemmler asked.

"No, he did not," Williamson replied.

Skilling lawyer Daniel Petrocelli said Monday that Skilling could testify as early as Wednesday afternoon, depending on how long the first few defense witnesses take on the stand.

Lay's testimony will come later.

Lay's lead lawyer, Michael Ramsey, was absent from the trial Monday, undergoing outpatient tests on a stent he had inserted in his chest on March 24.

Lay spokeswoman Kelly Kimberly said the attorney will have "an invasive procedure" Tuesday during which doctors can evaluate the stent.

"We are hopeful that he will be back at the trial soon," Kimberly said.

The trial will continue despite Ramsey's medical condition.

Other defense witnesses who testified Monday included:

_Scott Stoness, a former analyst for Enron's retail energy unit, Enron Energy Services.

He was called to counter prosecution testimony from former unit Chief Executive David Delainey, who told jurors that in March 2001 he reluctantly agreed to a Skilling-approved plan to move part of the failing retail unit into a larger profitable division to hide $200 million in losses.

Stoness said Enron didn't know until May whether it would have such losses, and they reached $170 million.

_Diann Huddleson, another former EES analyst.

Skilling's legal team called her to show that EES wasn't in disarray as Delainey and other government witnesses have said.

She said she persistently chased California utilities to pay Enron for energy deliveries during that state's power crisis of 2000-2001 despite testimony from a former in-house accountant about a drawerful of uncashed checks for amounts that Enron's books claimed had been collected.

The defense also sought to counter prosecution testimony that Enron wrongly raided reserves to pad earnings by showing through Huddelson that the company had another purpose for those funds.

Huddelson noted Enron had reserves of up to $400 million to cover any losses from California utilities that failed to pay their bills.

The government contends that Skilling and Lay repeatedly lied to investors and employees about Enron's strength when they knew the energy trading company was struggling with weak ventures and massive losses.

The defendants say no fraud occurred at Enron other than that committed by a few executives who skimmed millions from secret side deals.

They say bad publicity and lost market confidence drove what was once the country's seventh-largest company into bankruptcy proceedings in December 2001.

Prosecutors rested their case last week.

Skilling faces 28 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors, while Lay faces six counts of fraud and conspiracy.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake approved prosecutors' request to drop three counts against Skilling and one count against Lay to streamline their case.

end quotes

The defense teams maintain that most ex-Enron executives who admitted to crimes did so out of fear of prosecution and in hopes of receiving lenient punishments rather than because they broke the law?

Now ...

Wouldn't that be slighty irrational?

HOPING to receive a lenient punishment .....

For something you know you did not do?

If you know you didn't do something ...

Then why would you hope for a lenient punishment?

Why wouldn't you accept no punishment at all as the only viable outcome .....

For not having violated the law?

These lawyers sound like a dim-witted pack of fools ...

If you ask me ...

Making cock-a-mamie statements like that one ....

And so ...

[Livyjr]

And then ....

The weather ....

"Severe storms kill 27 in south, Midwest"

By KRISTIN M. HALL, Associated Press
Last updated: 7:25 p.m., Monday, April 3, 2006

NEWBERN, Tenn. -- Tornadoes shredded homes to their foundations, hail tore holes in the rooftops and high winds toppled even freight cars as a line of violent storms cut zigzagging paths of destruction that killed at least 27 people across the nation's midsection.

The worst damage from Sunday night's storms occurred along a 25-mile swath of rural western Tennessee, where 23 of the deaths occurred and state troopers using dogs searched for more victims amid the rubble of brick buildings and toppled trailers.

"Most of the houses, you can't count."

"They're just gone," said Roy Childress, who was part of a church relief crew that was delivering food and water to survivors Monday.

The dead included an infant and the grandparents who had been babysitting him.

A young couple and their two sons, ages 5 and 3, were also killed, their bodies found 800 yards from their house.

"It basically took my life away."

"I don't really care if I see daylight tomorrow," said Larry Taylor, the boys' grandfather and the only funeral director in rural Bradford.

He was planning to bury the family in two separate caskets, with each child alongside one of his parents.

"I'd give everything I had for that not to have happened," he said through tears.

"Those little boys were my life."

Severe storms also struck parts of Iowa, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana.

Strong winds were blamed for at least three deaths in Missouri.

A clothing store collapsed in southern Illinois, killing one man.

In Arkansas, Logan Hawley tried to escape by driving with a group of other people to a tornado shelter.

"We couldn't see anything," Hawley said.

"It was just brown in front of us."

The car crashed at an intersection, so the six people inside had no choice but to sit terrified as the tornado passed.

"I just closed by eyes and hoped it was a dream," he said.

The brunt of the storms, some packing softball-sized hail, blasted an area between the small town of Newbern, about 80 miles northeast of Memphis, to Bradford.

Twenty-three people were killed, including an infant and the grandparents who had been babysitting him.

A family of four was also killed.

Officials estimated 1,200 buildings were damaged in Gibson County, where eight people were killed and 17 others hospitalized in critical condition, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

Gov. Phil Bredesen asked President Bush to declare Dyer and Gibson counties federal disaster areas.

"Our first priority is helping those impacted to get back on their feet quickly and to bring back a sense of normalcy at a time when they need it most," said Bredesen, who planned to visit the area Tuesday.

The Tennessee Valley Authority estimated that more than 15,000 customers were without power at midday Monday.

The storms developed after a cold front approaching from the West slammed into a mass of warm, humid air, said Memphis meteorologist Jody Aaron.

A tornado in Dyer County apparently had winds of 158 to 206 mph.

The weather service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said it had preliminary reports of 63 tornadoes.

About a half-dozen tornadoes struck Arkansas and one destroyed nearly half the town of Marmaduke, according to a fire department official.

Authorities cordoned off the town after a gas line ruptured, and three people remained unaccounted for Monday.

"Almost every single structure in Marmaduke has minor to moderate damage but almost 50 percent of it is totally destroyed," acting fire commander Chris Franks said.

Much of the town also was damaged by a tornado in 1997.

Brick shells were all that remained at some houses, while corrugated metal used as roofing stood draped around several trees.

The storm rolled railroad cars onto their sides, several feet away from the nearest track.

Hail 4 inches in diameter slammed right through the roof of one mobile home in Arkansas, weather service meteorologist Newton Skiles said.

About 30 miles from Newbern, a tornado caused extensive damage to the southeast Missouri city of Caruthersville, although Mayor Diane Sayre said there were no known deaths in the city of 6,700.

In southern Illinois, a man died when a clothing store collapsed in the St. Louis suburb of Fairview Heights.

An off-duty police officer survived for nearly an hour in the store's debris before he was pulled to safety.

"I'm so blessed," Doug Young said Monday from his hospital bed in Belleville, where he had a bruised chest and 10 stitches in a knee.

"I was thankful to God that he delivered my prayers."

In downtown Indianapolis, tornado-force winds shattered dozens of windows in an high-rise office building.

The storm hit just after thousands of people had left a free outdoor concert by John Mellencamp held as part of the NCAA men's Final Four basketball tournament.

------

On the Net:

Storm Prediction Center: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/

[jeffmoskin]

Good to see you back, jeffmoskin .....

When you are gone for long periods of time .....

We train our spy satellites on the coyote population out there ...

To see if one of them looks like he might have been eating something a bit more substantial than a poodle .....

And so .....

On this particular scan ....

We caught one that looked a little too well-fed ...

And so .....

But here you are ...

Back safe and sound ....

And so .....

In keeping with the BushCo doctrine of survival of the fittest, I AM BACK.

The coyote is not.

[Snuffysmith]

Injustices of the West Against The Arab World

Lecture By Robert Fisk

Fisk is more determined than ever to prosecute a case against the injustices of the west against the Arab and Muslim world. Agree with him or not, his presentations are suffused with passionate belief in change for the better. This talk was recorded recently in Sydney, as part of the Sydney Ideas 2006 public lecture series organised by the University of
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12611.htm

===
America's war on the web

By Neil Mackay
Investigations editor

IMAGINE a world where wars are fought over the internet; where TV broadcasts and newspaper reports are designed by the military to confuse the population; and where a foreign armed power can shut down your computer, phone, radio or TV at will.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12609.htm

===
Government in secret talks about strike against Iran

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent

It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is "inevitable" if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12603.htm

[Snuffysmith]

[quote=Livyjr,Apr 2 2006, 01:49 PM]
I am an older American myself ...

Or at least I believe I am, since I don't know exactly what age you must be to qualify as one .....

In any event ...

I was born at the close of WWII .....

Which war a lot of young people in OUR America today ....

Know absolutely nothing about .....


Power!

That is what this forum gives us here in America!

Power.

For the first time in my life, at least, I am able to stand up in a public forum, without having a one minute or three minute time limit imposed upon me, and state my own piece about our America, and where it might be going, and why.

For the first time in my life, I am able to stand up in a public forum that is not owned and controlled by the political "powers that be", and I am able to exercise my First Amendment right to speak out on what I consider to be matters of public importance in America, regardless of how uncomfortable that might make the political "powers that be" feel.

In fact, with this forum, this might be the very first time that we have had real true democracy here in our Republic of America!

SO!

How about that?


Back in those days when I was a tad younger, we used to call it Power to the People! Hasn't changed. And God forbid it ever will. But today's youngins are still clueless.

[Snuffysmith]

And then there are the Republicans:

How the GOP Became God's Own Party

By Kevin Phillips

Now that the GOP has been transformed by the rise of the South, the trauma of terrorism and George W. Bush's conviction that God wanted him to be president, a deeper conclusion can be drawn: The Republican Party has become the first religious party in U.S. history.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12617.htm

[Livyjr]

In keeping with the BushCo doctrine of survival of the fittest ....

I AM BACK.

The coyote is not.

That's it, jeffmoskin .....

SHOCK AND AWE, BABY!

Hosta La Vista, coyotes .....

PRE-EMPT THE HELL OUT OF THEM, jeffmoskin .....

They are nothing but mangy curs ...

Likely TAY-RISTS ....

Or at least ....

They are providing material support for TAY-RISTS ....

If you listen to Rush Limbaugh tell the story anyway ....

Oh, those coyotes are up to no good at all out there in California ....

And that is something that the GEORGE W. BUSH WHITE HOUSE JUST WILL NOT TOLERATE ....

Very subversive ...

Always going around with a smile on their faces ....

Something definitely wrong with that alright ....

All that smiling ....

As if they know something ...

That George W. Bush does not ....

Always plotting something or other, but no one ever can quite tell what that is ...

BECAUSE .....

Unlike this Al Q. Aida guy ...

THE COYOTES KNOW GEORGE W. BUSH IS LISTENING IN ...

And so ...

They are very circumspect indeed with the use of cell phones to communicate with each other ...

Preferring instead to rely upon the more primitive mode of simply howling back and forth to each other in some kind of code that as of yet ...

George W. Bush has been unable to break ...

Because there are too many polysyballic words in it ....

As opposed to the monosyballic kind ...

Which are still causing poor dim-witted George so much consternation ....

Words like NU-Q-LAR .....

Or is it NU-Q-LEE-ARE?

And so ....

[Livyjr]

And then there are the Republicans:

"How the GOP Became God's Own Party"

By Kevin Phillips

Good morning, Snuf .....

And thanks for bring that thought into here this morning ...

For it is something that has been floating around in my mind lately ...

This BID-NESS of GOD wanting George W. Bush to RULE IN GOD's NAME down here on this earth of OURS ...

Because that is what GOD specifically created George W. Bush to do ...

And be .....

A world ruler .....

And because GOD wanted George to be a RULER ...

Instead of a thinking man ...

Or a working man ...

God was able to save quite a bit on the "construction costs", so to speak ...

Especially with respect to a "central processing unit", or "BRAIN" .....

And associated "memory" ......

All of which were apparently deleted from George ...

To save money of course .....

So that at the end of the quarter .....

Like ENRON ...

GOD could post an operating surplus ....

To keep the investors happy ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

And speaking of the PARTY OF GOD, here in OUR America .....

Which is the REPUBLICAN PARTY ...

And none other .....

Here is some good news for the few honest folks here in OUR America who still remain .....

NO MORE TOMMY ......

At least in Washington, D.C. .....

And that should make you breathe a bit easier down there, Snuf .....

A bit less "WHIFF OF STINK" in the air .....

And so ....

"DeLay to Announce Resignation From House"

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent

10 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Succumbing to scandal, former Majority Leader Tom Delay intends to resign from Congress within weeks, closing out a career that blended unflinching conservatism with a bare-knuckled political style.

DeLay is scheduled to appear on Fox News Channel Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. ET.

Republican officials said Monday night they expect the Texan to quit his seat later this spring.

He was first elected in 1984, and conceded he faced a difficult race for re-election.

"He has served our nation with integrity and honor," said Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who succeeded DeLay in his leadership post earlier this year.

But Democrats said the developments marked more than the end to one man's career in Congress.

"Tom DeLay's decision to leave Congress is just the latest piece of evidence that the Republican Party is a party in disarray, a party out of ideas and out of energy," said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

A formal announcement of DeLay's plans was expected Tuesday at a news conference in Houston.

In a video statement made available to television news networks late Monday, DeLay blamed "liberal Democrats" for making his re-election campaign largely a negative one.

"I refuse to allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative personal campaign," DeLay said.

"The voters of the 22nd district of Texas deserve a campaign about the vital national issues that they care most about and that affect their lives every day and not a campaign focused solely as a referendum on me."

DeLay is under indictment in Texas as part of an investigation into the allegedly illegal use of funds for state legislative races.

Separately, the Texan's ties with lobbyist Jack Abramoff caused him to formally surrender his post as majority leader in January, within days after the lobbyist entered into a plea bargain as part of a federal congressional corruption probe.

More recently, former DeLay aide Tony Rudy said he had conspired with Abramoff and others to corrupt public officials, and he promised to help the broad federal investigation of bribery and lobbying fraud that already has resulted in three convictions.

Neither Rudy, Abramoff nor anyone else connected with the investigation has publicly accused DeLay of breaking the law, but Rudy confessed that he had taken actions while working in the majority leader's office that were illegal.

DeLay has consistently denied all wrongdoing, and he capped a triumph in a contested GOP primary earlier this year with a vow to win re-election.

In an interview Monday with The Galveston County Daily News in Texas, DeLay said his change of mind was based partly on a poll taken after the March Republican primary that showed him only narrowly ahead of Democrat Nick Lampson.

"Even though I thought I could win, it was a little too risky," the paper quoted him as saying.

In a separate interview with Time Magazine, DeLay says he plans to make his Virginia condominium his primary residence, a step that will disqualify him from the ballot in Texas and permit GOP officials there to field a replacement candidate.

It was not clear Monday night whether Texas Gov. Rick Perry would call a special election to fill out the unexpired portion of DeLay's term, or whether the seat would remain vacant until it is filled in November.

Either way, DeLay's concern about the potential loss of a Houston-area seat long in Republican hands reflected a deeper worry among GOP strategists.

After a dozen years in the majority, they face a strong challenge from Democrats this fall, at a time when President Bush's public support is sagging, and when the Abramoff scandal has helped send congressional approval ratings tumbling.

Until scandal sent him to the sidelines, DeLay had held leadership posts since the Republicans won control of the House in a 1994 landslide.

At first, he had to muscle his way to the table, defeating then-Speaker Newt Gingrich's handpicked candidate to become whip.

But DeLay quickly established himself as a forceful presence — earning a nickname as "The Hammer" — and he easily became majority leader when the spot opened up.

He sat at the nexus of legislation, lobbying, political campaigns and money.

And while he was a conservative, he raised millions of dollars for the campaigns of fellow House Republicans regardless of their ideology, earning their gratitude in the process.

He supported tax cuts, limits on abortions, looser government regulation of business and other items on the conservative agenda, and he rarely backed down.

DeLay was the driving force behind President Clinton's impeachment in 1999, weeks after Republicans lost seats at the polls in a campaign in which they tried to make an issue of Clinton's personal behavior.

His trademark aggressiveness helped trigger his downfall, when he led a drive to redraw Texas' congressional district boundaries to increase the number of seats in GOP hands.

The gambit succeeded, but DeLay was soon caught up in an investigation involving the use of corporate funds in the campaigns of legislators who had participated in the redistricting.

He attacked prosecutor Ronnie Earle as an "unabashed partisan zealot," and said numerous times he hoped to clear himself of the charges quickly and renew his claim to the majority leader's office.

The trial has yet to begin.

end quotes

"He has served our nation with integrity and honor," said Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who succeeded DeLay in his leadership post earlier this year?

Well, John boy .....

That is a LOAD OF PURE BULL ****, straight up from Texas ...

And you know it ....

Tommy DeLay DID NOT SERVE OUR NATION ...

Tommy served himself ...

And the REPUBLICAN PARTY ...

And that is that ...

And what is this crap we always here from the REPUBLICANS about HONOR ....

Or INTEGRITY ....

When a REPUBLICAN has been indicted or convicted of crimes?

IS AN INDICTMENT FOR CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR THE REPUBLICAN STANDARD FOR WHAT HONOR AND INTEGRITY SHOULD BE TO A REAL REPUBLICAN?

IF YOU BELIEVE CRIMINAL CONDUCT IS THE MEASURE OF HONOR AND INTEGRITY IN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT .....

And many do, here in OUR America .....

THEN YOUR CHOICE IS VERY SIMPLE ....

YOU ARE A REPUBLICAN ....

And so ...

YOU CAN SIMPLY VOTE A STRAIGHT TICKET ...

Without the necessity of having to think about what you are doing ....

Which also makes you a good REPUBLICAN ...

The "not thinking" part ...

Which is what the REPUBLICANS want ...

Not only here in OUR America ...

But in the world as well ....

And so .....

As for the rest of us ....

Well ....

[Livyjr]

And while we are on the subject of REPUBLICAN CORRUPTION ...

And GROSS INCOMPETENCE .....

Let's take a jump over to IRAQINAM ....

Where the REPUBLICANS are instilling this TRAIT OF THEIRS into the IRAQINAMIS .....

Who George W. Bush and "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice and their sycophants Blair and Straw ......

Wish us to believe .....

Are ready to defend their nation ....

Against something anyway ...

So long as that defense does not require them to have to shoot a gun .....

Perhaps George and Rumsfeld should consider arming these guys they are training over there with rocks to throw .....

It sounds like that would be a lot safer for all involved ....

"Many Iraqi Soldiers Wounded by Own Guns"

By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press Writer

Mon Apr 3, 1:38 PM ET

BIDIMNAH, Iraq - The two bloodied, wincing Iraqi soldiers — bandages wrapped around their legs — hobbled onto the waiting ambulance, wounded during a house-to-house search near this farming town.

The culprit was a common one: not insurgents, but gunfire from fellow soldiers.

U.S. trainers who mentor Iraqi troops say a lack of gun safety, or what they call "muzzle discipline," has led to many injuries and deaths across the country.

And while the Americans say it is slowly getting better, it remains a major problem for a U.S. military trying to train more than 200,000 Iraqis to defeat the insurgency.

"When we first got here, it was a little scary," said Army Capt. Steven Fischer, a trainer from Washington, Pa.

"We have to correct it."

"It's something that's got to be better."

In the Bidimnah case in late January, insurgents first fired on Iraqi and U.S. troops patrolling the rural area about 50 miles west of Baghdad.

That prompted more than a minute of wild, continuous gunfire from the Iraqi troops.

The two Iraqi soldiers were wounded while the militants escaped unharmed.

Other examples are rife and often startling:

• In December in the town of Adhaim north of Baghdad, an Iraqi soldier stepped out of a vehicle with his safety lever turned off and accidentally shot himself point-blank in the chest.

Minutes later, as a U.S. helicopter carried the dying man away, an Associated Press reporter saw a frustrated American soldier storm up and lecture another Iraqi soldier, who also did not have his safety on.

• During a large-scale operation last summer in Baghdad, an antsy Iraqi soldier took aim at what he thought was an insurgent, prompting several other Iraqi soldiers to drill hundreds of rounds into an empty home.

No one was injured.

Iraq had a million-man army under Saddam Hussein, but soldiers who served in the old army said they were given only a few bullets a year — apparently a way to prevent coups.

That practice left Iraqi troops untrained in the most basic of soldiering skills.

Iraq now has tens of thousands of rookie soldiers who only recently learned how to use a weapon.

And misfires have led to dozens of military deaths.

Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, distributed a letter in October saying more than 75 coalition troops had been killed by misfires.

He did not specify if the victims were Iraqis, Americans or others, and he also did not say who the shooters were.

"The failure to properly clear weapons and maintain muzzle awareness led to these unnecessary losses," Casey wrote in the letter, which was posted at bases across Iraq and viewed by an AP reporter.

Warning signs also are posted at U.S. bases across Iraq, such as one at Camp Ar Ramadi that instructs U.S. soldiers to be alert to the threat.

"Recently there have been several negligent discharges that have resulted in non-battle injuries to our personnel," read the sign.

"Hold our partnered Iraqi forces to these same standards," it warns, after listing safety rules.

The problem is hardly unique to Iraq: armies across Africa and the Third World are notorious for their lack of safety procedures.

But the problem is particularly acute in Iraq, where thousands with automatic weapons are on alert for insurgents.

Roadside bomb blasts that target Iraqi patrols are often followed by aimless gunfire from the Iraqis, usually useless since most attackers hide before they detonate bombs.

And Iraqi soldiers sometimes clear traffic from roads by firing into the air.

In comparison, U.S. soldiers pride themselves on gun discipline, stressing the preservation of ammunition until a target is identified.

U.S. misfires can lead to demotions or serious reprimands.

U.S. trainers say Iraqi safety procedures have improved, but only after constant reminders.

"They've gotten better."

"It's gotten so they know they need PID (positive identification) to shoot," said Army Sgt. Joseph Neary of Altoona, Pa.

Trainers drill Iraqi soldiers to keep their weapons on safe and pointed downward.

"We've pounded it into their heads," Neary said.

But many American trainers have stories to tell.

"It's kind of scary to see a PKC gunner doing a 360 (degree-turn) in a turret and painting his name in the air," Neary said.

Cultural issues also exacerbate the problem.

Many Iraqi soldiers swagger with their guns and neglect to use safety levers as a sign of manliness.

In western Iraq, Col. Daniel Newell, who heads a team of Marine trainers there, estimates his Iraqi trainees suffer about one accidental shooting a week, but stresses they have improved.

Safety problems are also rampant among thousands of armed Iraqi civilians who increasingly carry personal weapons as civil strife has spread.

Iraqi laws allow civilians one AK-47 rifle and a full magazine per household.

In January, Sheik Fewaz al-Jerba, a member of the Iraqi parliament, was shot in the leg — by his own bodyguard.

And in December, after a soccer match between Iraq and Syria, bursts of celebratory gunfire briefly put U.S. troops on alert — and demonstrated that the tradition, common across the Mideast, is still part of Iraqi life.

The same thing occurred after Iraqi troops successfully completed a mission in the Syrian border city of Husaybah in February.

After he realized the gunfire wasn't hostile, one Marine could only mutter:

"I'll strangle them if they do that again."

end quotes

Many Iraqi soldiers swagger with their guns and neglect to use safety levers as a sign of manliness.

SO .....

Slowly ...

Ever so slowly ...

The truth filters out here .....

As to why George W. Bush ....

And the REPUBLICAN PARTY ...

"GOD's OWN PARTY", of course ....

Wanted to invade IRAQINAM ....

Like Hitler invaded the Sudatenland ....

All those years ago ...

And it is because they apparently feel ....

Based on this propensity that many Iraqi soldiers have to swagger around with their guns and neglect to use safety levers as a sign of manliness ....

That this is the famed BIBLICAL LOST TRIBE of TEXAS REPUBLICANS that REPUBLICAN RELIGIOUS SCHOLARS have been searching the earth for ...

And so ...

A HOME-COMING of sorts .....

For all of these cowboys ....

And so ...

As for the rest of us ...

The NON-REPUBLICANS out here in the world ...

This looks like it is going to be one long war ....

Run by a pack of fools ....

With another pack of bigger, more incompetent fools taking orders from the ruling pack of fools ...

And so .....

[Livyjr]

A lot of the time ....

When I am posting these various news items in here .....

I refrain from expressing myself ...

Because this thread is really not about me ......

Or my thoughts ...

It is about the "FLOW" of life, not only directly here in OUR America ...

But also in the world ...

As it affects or impacts us ...

Here in OUR America ....

Which is where I just happen to reside ...

As a human being on this earth of OURS .....

And so ...

America is what I am concerned with ...

And so .....

But every now and then .....

I do put in my own two cents worth ....

And so .....

I define myself as well ....

And so be that ...

Since that to me is a real part of what this FORUM is all about .....

COMMON GROUND ......

And can it even exist?

Which is something that I do wonder about .....

Because that is a part of who I am, I suppose ...

And because that is also a part of how I was brought up .....

To consider things like that ....

For what I believe to be the "good of society" .....

As "cornpone" as that might sound ...

In this day and age of fast talkers .....

And glib politicians ....

And cheap plastic crap ....

To keep the "CONSUMERS" of America happy ...

For the next ten seconds anyway ....

And so ...

[Livyjr]

With that said ....

Back to it ....

With "SMILING TOMMY" DeLay ....

And REPUBLICAN CORRUPTION in Washington, D.C. .....

Which the pundits apparently believe ....

Will survive handily ...

Even though Tommy is not there to nurse it along ....

And so ....

"DeLay's fall won't end corruption issue"

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

1 hour, 52 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rep. Tom DeLay's fall from power amid a widening scandal robs Democrats of "Exhibit A" in their allegations of Republican corruption, but analysts said on Tuesday it was unlikely to put the issue behind Republicans before November's elections.

With control of Congress at stake in November, DeLay said he was dropping his bid for re-election so the party would have a better shot at keeping the Texan's Republican-leaning seat in the southern suburbs of Houston.

"I think I could have won the seat, but it would have been nasty."

"It would have cost a fortune to do it," DeLay told Fox News.

He said left-wing groups had made his race against Democratic challenger Nick Lampson a rallying point.

The former House Republican leader, indicted in Texas on campaign finance charges, also plans to resign from Congress.

The move came after his former deputy chief of staff last week became the second DeLay aide to plead guilty to corruption charges in a probe of disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Republicans hoped the resignation of DeLay, who has denied any wrongdoing, would also help them get past a series of scandals.

Those include the indictment of top vice presidential aide Lewis Libby in a probe into the leaking of a CIA operative's identity, and the guilty plea of Rep. Randy Cunningham in a bribery case.

But analysts said the move would do little to help Republicans escape the corruption issue as they fight to keep Democrats from capturing the 15 seats needed to regain control of the House of Representatives.

"The Republicans are whistling past the graveyard," said Cal Jillson, a political analyst at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

"Democrats are going to prop DeLay up in his chair and keep him alive for voters."

"They are going to play the Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff card until November."

Democrats said there were many other opportunities to make a case about Republican corruption and abuse of power.

"DeLay may be gone, but nothing has changed," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the Democratic House campaign committee.

He cited the Congress' failure to pass ethics and lobbying reforms.

Democratic consultant Jenny Backus said DeLay's departure robbed Republican conservatives of a leader and weakened an image of discipline and competency House Republicans had honed under DeLay.

"If DeLay is indicted it will be a huge blow to Republicans whether he is in Congress or sitting in Virginia," she said.

DeLay survived a primary last month by winning 62 percent of the vote against three little known Republican challengers, but faced a much tougher test in November against Lampson.

"This is probably the worst day of his campaign because he knows that any Republican who replaces me on the ballot will win this seat," DeLay said of Lampson, a former congressman whose battle with DeLay would have been one of the most expensive and closely watched House fights in the country.

DeLay's district gave President George W. Bush 64 percent of the vote in the 2004 White House race, but DeLay won in 2004 with only 55 percent.

DeLay's retirement "gives us a much better opportunity to win this seat," House Republican campaign committee spokesman Carl Forti said.

"He did what was best for the party and stepped aside."

Lampson's campaign manager, Mike Malaise, said the Democrat already had raised nearly $2.5 million and was in good shape to take on any Republican entrant.

"A lot of the folks who are saying that Republicans are in better shape in this race with DeLay out of it are the same people who were saying two days ago that Tom DeLay couldn't be beaten," Malaise said.

[Livyjr]

And from "Smiling TOMMY" the REPUBLICAN ....

We take a jump over to Iran ...

Where they seem to be saying to the BUSHCO PRIME ...

"BRING IT ON, CHUMP, WE'RE WAITING ...."

SO ...

Will America's George do it?

Will he "CUSTER" his way into Iran next ...

The way he "HITLERED" himself into IRAQINAM .....

Or will the boy finally get some sense in his head ...

So that next time ...

Before he leaps like a damn fool right into the fire ....

Totally missing the frying pan in the process ...

Might he learn to look, instead?

Stay tuned and see ...

"Iran Says It Can Handle Any Invasion"

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

2 hours, 33 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran - A top Iranian military official said Tuesday the country can now defend itself against any invasion originating from outside the region — a clear reference to the United States — as it tested a second new radar-avoiding missile.

The new surface-to-sea missile is equipped with remote-control and searching systems, state-run television reported.

It said the new missile, called Kowsar after the name of a river in paradise, was a medium-range weapon that Iran had the capability to mass-produce.

It also asserted that the Kowsar's guidance system could not be scrambled, and it had been designed to sink ships.

Shortly after the test, the chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, warned that Iran was now able to "confront any extra-regional invasion," referring to the United States without mentioning it by name.

"The missile command of the Guards' naval force ... via positioning various types of surface-to-sea missiles, is able, while defending the coastlines and islands, to confront any extra-territorial invasion," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Safavi as saying.

Safavi also called for foreign forces to leave the region.

The U.S. 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain, from where it patrols the Gulf.

"Iran wants durable peace in the Persian Gulf and it can't be achieved without foreign forces and those which invaded Iraq leaving (the region)," IRNA quoted Safavi as saying.

On Friday, the country tested the Fajr-3, a missile that it said can avoid radars and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads.

Iran also has tested what it calls two new torpedoes.

The second torpedo, unveiled Monday, was tested in the Straits of Hormuz, the narrow entrance to the Gulf that is a vital corridor for oil supplies.

That seemed to be a clear warning to the United States that Iran believes it has the capability to disable oil tankers moving through the Gulf.

The Revolutionary Guards, the elite branch of Iran's military, have been holding their maneuvers — code-named the "Great Prophet" — since Friday, touting what they call domestically built technological advances in their armed forces.

But some military analysts in Moscow said it appears the high-speed torpedoes likely were Russian-built weapons that may have been acquired from China or the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan.

Others have questioned just how radar-evading the missiles are.

Iran's radars are not as advanced as those of Israel, for example — meaning that perhaps the new weapons can avoid Iran's radar but not more advanced types.

The United States said Monday — after the second torpedo test — that while Iran may have made "some strides" in its military, it likely is exaggerating its capabilities.

"We know that the Iranians are always trying to improve their weapons system by both foreign and indigenous measures," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said in Washington.

"It's possible that they are increasing their capability and making strides in radar-absorbing materials and technology."

But "the Iranians have also been known to boast and exaggerate their statements about greater technical and tactical capabilities," he said.

It has not been possible to verify Iran's claims for the new armaments.

But the country has made clear it aims to send a message of strength to the United States amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program.

The U.N. Security Council has demanded Iran give up uranium enrichment, a crucial part of the nuclear process.

Washington is pressing for sanctions if Tehran continues its refusal to do so, though U.S. officials have not ruled out military action as an eventual option, insisting they will not allow Iran to gain a nuclear arsenal.

In Russia, a Kremlin-allied lawmaker on Tuesday criticized the recent torpedo and missile tests as a counterproductive show of might at a time when it should be trying to allay fears that it is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

"It is clear that Iran is demonstrating its muscle in order to forestall any discussions of a possible operation using force against Iran," Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, was quoted as saying according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

On Tuesday, state-run television also said the elite Revolutionary Guards had tested what it called a "super-modern flying boat" capable of evading radar.

TV showed a brief clip of the boat's launch.

"Due to its advanced design, no radar at sea or in the air can detect it."

"It can lift out of the water," the television said.

It said the boat was "all Iranian-made and can launch missiles with precise targeting while moving."

The television showed the boat, looking like an aircraft, taking off from the sea and flying low over the surface of the water.

It said the craft can fly with a speed of 100 nautical miles per hour.

Iran said the torpedo tests were conducted Sunday and Monday.

The torpedo — called a "Hoot," or "whale" — is able to move at 223 mph, too fast for any enemy ship to elude.

Iran has routinely held war games over the past two decades to improve its combat readiness and test locally made equipment such as missiles, tanks and armored personnel carriers.

Iran launched an arms development program during its 1980-88 war with Iraq to compensate for a U.S. weapons embargo.

Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and a fighter plane.

[Livyjr]

One who would guide a leader of men ...

In the uses of life ....

Will warn him against the use of arms for conquest ....

Weapons often turn upon the wielder ....

An army's harvest .....

Is a waste of thorns .....

- Lao Tze, Tao Te Ching

[Livyjr]

IRAQINAM .....

When we ....

Or more properly ...

George W. Bush's followers were getting ready to invade IRAQINAM .....

I had all these younger folks ...

In their thirties ....

Born after Viet Nam was over ...

Telling me ...

A Viet Nam combat veteran ...

That IRAQINAM was not going to be another Viet Nam ....

Because of how smart George W. Bush really was ....

And when people like me would question that assertion ...

Especially the one that implied George W. Bush even had the sense to get in out of the rain ....

Let alone prevent IRAQINAM from becoming another Viet Nam ...

I at least ...

Was dismissed as nothing but an old fool ...

And a real loser ..

Because, of course ...

I was a Viet Nam veteran ...

And EVERYBODY knows about them .....

And that is alright with me ....

That these people have their opinions ....

Because it doesn't really change anything ....

And so ....

Viet Nam ......

And Ngo Dinh Diem .....

Who, if he had a brain in his head ...

This IRAQINAMI politician, al-Jaafari .....

Should be considering the fate of ...

Now that "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice is over there in IRAQINAM ....

Selling him out .....

And looking for his head on a platter ...

To appease some other faction over there ...

In IRAQINAM .....

JUST LIKE WAS DONE IN VIET NAM .....

By America ...

And so ....

Ngo Dinh Diem .....

Got led out of the presidential palace in Saigon, Viet Nam ...

After he proved to be useless to American "interests" ....

And was put into an armored personnel carrier ...

Where, as I recall ...

He ended up with a bullet in his head ....

So as to render him VERY USELESS INDEED ....

And over there in IRAQINAM .....

This al-Jaafari dude is looking at the same fate ...

So far as I can see, anyway .....

Life through the eyes of a man who is going to be found, faceup on top of a trash heap over there somewhere in IRAQINAM ...

Which thanks to the incompetent George W. Bush ....

Has a plethora of such trash heaps now ....

There al-Jaafari will be ....

Dead eyes open and staring ....

A neat round ring of powder burn on his forehead ....

Surrounding the great big hole ...

Where the bullet entered to blow his brains right out the back of what was once his head .....

And al-Jaafari must be the very first to know that ...

As he and "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice do their TANGO OF DECEIT AND ULTIMATE DEATH ...

For all to see ....

Out there on the world stage ...

Where "CON-JOB CONNIE" is not only asking ....

Or telling al-Jaafari actually .....

To "lose a lot of face" .....

But likely ..

Most of the head as well .....

And right now ...

It appears that al-Jaafari is not going to go to his death that willingly ...

And so ....

What will "CON-JOB" and the FABULOUS FLYING BUSHCOS do next?

Has al-Jaafari been given the "BOX" yet, I wonder?

The rosewood box with the inlaid cover that contains the pistol and bullet that al-Jaafari is supposed to pump into his own head ...

For the good of IRAQINAM and George W. Bush and the REPUBLICAN PARTY OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD AS WELL ....

The DOMINANT PARTY ....

And I wonder what the Las Vegas morning line odds are on al-Jafaari lasting another day ...

Or week ...

With his latest announcement ...

That he won't step down ....

"Iraqi PM Rejects Call to Step Aside"

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

30 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said in an interview with a British newspaper published Wednesday that he was refusing to abandon his bid for a second term to break the deadlock over a new government, and some Iraqi leaders said parliament may have to decide his future.

However, Shiite officials said they are reluctant to dump the issue on parliament until there is a comprehensive deal among all ethnic- and religious-based parties, including an agreement on who will be the new president.

That indicated little or no progress has been made in resolving the standoff over the new government since Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw flew to Baghdad last weekend and insisted that Iraqis agree on a new leadership quickly.

U.S. officials believe a broad-based government of Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds offers the only hope for reversing Iraq's slide into anarchy.

Without such a government, the Americans cannot begin withdrawing their troops.

Talks on a new unity government stalled after Sunni Arab and Kurdish officials said they would not accept al-Jaafari, who won the nomination of the dominant Shiite bloc in balloting among Shiite lawmakers last February.

Al-Jaafari told the British newspaper The Guardian that he was rejecting calls to give up the nomination of his Shiite bloc "to protect democracy in Iraq."

"There is a decision that was reached by a democratic mechanism and I stand with it," he told the newspaper.

"We have to respect our Iraqi people."

Al-Jaafari added that the Iraqi people "will react if they see the rules of democracy being disobeyed."

"Everyone should stick to democratic mechanisms no matter whether they disagree with the person."

During an interview Tuesday with the British Broadcasting Corp., Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi said he met with al-Jaafari the day before and urged him to give up the nomination to break the logjam.

But Abdul-Mahdi said al-Jaafari refused, insisting he wanted to take his case to parliament, which must approve the new prime minister and his Cabinet by a majority vote.

President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd and an al-Jaafari opponent, referred to the parliamentary option in an interview published Wednesday by the Saudi daily Al Madina.

"Consultations are taking place quickly," Talabani said.

"We hope they will not take much longer than this, and if the (Shiites) stick by their stand on nominating Ibrahim al-Jaafari, then we will resort to parliament."

However, it was unclear how parliament could legally resolve the standoff.

The constitution states that the president must nominate the candidate of the largest bloc — the Shiites.

The prime minister-designate then presents his Cabinet to parliament for approval by a majority of all 275 members.

Under the constitution, however, parliament must first elect a new president and two vice presidents by two-thirds vote.

With Talabani's term also ending, it is unclear whether he would have the authority to appoint a prime minister, and the Shiites could block his re-election.

Because of those legal uncertainties, several Shiite officials said they were reluctant to take the issue to parliament.

One described the current standoff as a crisis and said "nobody sees a way out."

They all spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

With the political process stalled, the violence was continuing.

Two car bombs exploded Wednesday in northern and eastern Baghdad.

One woman was killed and four people were injured in a car bombing in a religiously mixed area of eastern Baghdad, police said.

Thirteen people were injured in the other car bombing in the Shiite area of Shulah in the north of the city.

Two Sunnis — a professor and an ambulance driver — were killed Wednesday in the mostly Shiite southern city of Basra, police said.

In Baghdad, police said they found the bodies of two men dumped in separate areas of the city late Tuesday.

Police also found a body — handcuffed, blindfolded and shot — early Wednesday in Iskandiriyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad, according to police Capt. Muthana Khalid.

Elsewhere, U.S. and Iraqi troops freed three Iraqi kidnapping victims in the northern city of Tikrit, U.S. officials said.

Also Wednesday, U.S. and Iraqi troops raided several buildings in Youssifiyah southwest of Baghdad, killing one insurgent and capturing nine others, the U.S. command said.

The raid occurred three days after a U.S. Apache attack helicopter was shot down near Youssifiyah, killing the two crew members.
__

Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Sameer N. Yacoub and Bushra Juhi in Baghdad contributed to this report.

end quotes

A day in the life ...

Of OUR world ...

In the day and age of BUSH THE INCOMPETENT BUFFOON .....

And so .....

[Livyjr]

And speaking of BUFFOONS ....

And incompetence ....

And a lack of integrity in government that is being forced upon HONEST AMERICA by the Bush REGIME ...

And the CORRUPT REPUBLICAN PARTY OF NOT ONLY ALL OF AMERICA ...

BUT THE WORLD AND UNIVERSE AND GALAXY AS WELL ....

We have yet another BUSHCO HERO to salute in here this morning ...

And so ....

When the BUSHCOS are in town ...

Keep your children locked up for their own safety ...

And so ....

"Homeland Deputy Arrested in Seduction Case"

By MICHELLE SPITZER, Associated Press Writer

2 hours, 2 minutes ago

MIAMI - The deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was charged with using a computer to seduce a child after authorities said he struck up sexual conversations with an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl.

Brian J. Doyle, 55, who is the fourth-ranking official in the department's public affairs office, was expected to be placed on administrative leave Wednesday.

Authorities said they arrested Doyle on Tuesday at his Silver Spring, Md., home as he was online with the "girl."

The undercover detective had called Doyle at work and said she got a Web camera, as he had asked her to do, and wanted to test it out, said Carrie Rodgers, Polk County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.

"He said he would get on the computer when he got home from work so we knew he would be on," Rodgers said.

"When (police) went to his door, he was on the computer in the middle of a conversation with the girl."

Doyle found the teenager's profile online and began having sexually explicit conversations with her on the Internet on March 14, the sheriff's office said in a statement.

He sent the girl pornographic movie clips, as well as non-sexual photos of himself, officials said.

One of the photos, released by the sheriff's office, shows Doyle in what appears to be DHS headquarters.

He is wearing a Homeland Security pin on his lapel and a lanyard that says " TSA."

The Transportation Security Administration is part of the Homeland Security Department.

During online conversations, Doyle revealed his name, who he worked for and offered his office and government-issued cell phone numbers, the sheriff's office said.

On several occasions, Doyle instructed her to perform a sexual act while thinking of him and described explicit activities he wanted to have with her, investigators said.

He was booked into the Montgomery County Detention Center, where he was waiting to be extradited to Florida, the sheriff's office said.

Doyle also faces a charge of transmission of harmful material to a minor.

There was no immediate response to messages left on Doyle's government-issued cell phone and his e-mail, and he could not be reached by phone at the jail for comment.

Homeland Security press secretary Russ Knocke in Washington said he could not comment on the details of the investigation.

"We take these allegations very seriously, and we will cooperate fully with this ongoing investigation," Knocke said.

end quotes

If you are for this kind of conduct by high-ranking government officials in the "IF IT FEELS GOOD, JUST GO AHEAD AND DO IT AND LAWS TO THE CONTRARY BE DAMNED" REGIME of REPUBLICAN CONSERVATIVE George W. Bush .....

Vote REPUBLICAN in the November 2006 CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS to keep these REPUBLICANS and their brand of perversion in power here in OUR America ....

And for you ...

Life will be simple indeed ...

[Livyjr]

And we have rising water ...

SO ...

It must be spring ...

Somewhere, anyway ...

And so ....

"Rivers Near Cresting Threaten Minn. Town"

By GREGG AAMOT, Associated Press Writer

48 minutes ago

HENDRUM, Minn. - The Red River and Wild Rice River crept toward flood crests Wednesday near this small northwest Minnesota town, but a stout earthen dike kept the community mostly dry, allowing flood-fighters to focus on sandbagging around farmhouses.

Workers pumped away water that seeped through the levee forming a square around Hendrum, one of many towns that beefed up flood protection after the disastrous flood of 1997.

"We are still sitting pretty dry in town," said Mike Smart, who serves as both police chief and flood coordinator in the town of about 315 people.

Melting snow and heavy rain pushed the Red River quickly above its banks this spring, causing anxiety all along the river that serves as the state line between Minnesota and North Dakota.

Hendrum sits in a precarious spot in the broad valley, sandwiched between the Red River a mile to the west and the Wild Rice River a mile to the east.

The Red River had been rising steadily at Fargo, N.D., but the National Weather Service said it had crested and by Wednesday morning was just over 37.1 feet; flood stage is 18 feet.

It was expected to start slowly receding later in the day, but meteorologists said it would not drop below 30 feet until next week.

It's still too early to "pass the champagne and cigars," said Fargo's public works director, Dennis Walaker.

He said it would take at least six days before the city reaches a comfort level.

Cass County's emergency manager Dave Rogness estimated flood damage to roads and bridges in the county surrounding Fargo could total more than $1 million.

Downstream from Fargo, in Grand Forks, the Red was expected to crest Wednesday afternoon at 47.7 feet — about 20 above flood stage, but not above the city's levee protection level.

Showers were forecast in the southern fringe of the Red River basin that could prolong the high water river levels but weren't expected to cause new problems, said Lynn Kennedy, a hydrometeorological technician with the National Weather Service.

At Hendrum, the Wild Rice River was at 32.32 feet early Wednesday and is expected to crest at 33.4 feet Thursday afternoon.

The town's levee, which was raised 3 feet after the 1997 flood, protects to 36.8 feet.

Some 16,000 sandbags were stockpiled in the middle of town, though they were being used primarily to protect farmhouses.

On Tuesday, Jon Grothe and friends stacked sandbags onto a dike protecting his farmhouse from the rising water.

Nearly a decade ago, his house, sheds and corn bins were all inundated by the flood.

"I heard about (possible flooding) Saturday, then spent Sunday trying to digest whether that was realistic or not," he said.

"Then I decided it was silly not to take this seriously."