This entry was posted on
Thursday, February 24th, 2005 at
8:59 am and is filed
under Inneresting, It’s War! It’s Legal! It’s Lovely!, The War on Stupid, Tony ‘King Blair, UK General Election 2005.

Yes. Two in a row. Deal with it.

Climate change: Someone’s blowing smoke to hide or compromise the science.

Bush to Putin: “…the Russian government must renew a commitment to democracy and the rule of law.”

Don’t say “Pffft!” yet…. you may want to reserve some of your morning quota for this.

Ever watch those Funny Home Video shows where children are falling over or being mauled by pets, and yet their parents think it’s more important to keep the camera rolling? That’s all I have to say about this.

UK: British soldiers found guilty of abuse
UK: Four face jail after guilty verdicts in Iraqi prisoner abuse court martial
US army conducting 100+ criminal investigations into claims of detainee abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay

Meanwhile…

Majority halved for Clarke’s terror law
Anti-terror Bill wins second reading after Clarke warns of ‘Madrid attack’

Yes, the threat will be greater during the election campaign. That’s been my opinion for quite some time. But I also believe that the threat is greatly exacerbated when politicians manipulate that threat or the public’s perception of it. It compromises readiness, and it encourages the terrorists. After all, Madrid was a big win for the terrorists, but only because Aznar tried to play games with the atrocity.

(UPDATE – BBC – Election ‘could be terror target’)

Speaking of manipulating the terrorist threat for political gain…

UK govt feared Iraq war illegal

Guardian – Transcripts show No 10’s hand in war legal advice: Transcripts of evidence given in private by the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, to an official inquiry suggest that the crucial advice on the legality of war, presented to parliament in his name, was written for him by two of Tony Blair’s closest allies.

So that’s ‘independent’ intelligence backed up by ‘independent’ legal advice. Well, I feel better.

UPDATE – Chicken Yoghurt: Being a novice at Doublethink I’m struggling somewhat with these two statements from the Attorney General over whether he equivocated over his legal advice with regard to the Iraq war and whether his subsequent summary of that advice given in an answer to a parliamentary question was in fact written by Number 10.