Top Iraq official shot and killed BBC NEWS:

Gunmen have killed a senior official in Iraq's communication ministry as he was driving to work in central Baghdad.

Kassim Imhawi was hit by gunmen who pulled up beside him as he travelled into the city from a western suburb.

Mr Imhawi was director-general of the ministry and a senior adviser to the interim Iraqi government.

The killing comes days after interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi warned that insurgents were expected to increase attacks ahead of elections in January.

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- david | 1:04 AM 0 comments

  The Onion, Ever The Paragon of Truth, Virtue, and Honor The Onion:

"'Man, all the troops do these days is bitch, bitch, die unnecessarily, and bitch.'"

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- david | 2:27 PM 0 comments

  Neo-Cons Say the Darnedest Things! Rumsfeld:

"'As you know, you go to war with the Army you have ... not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time.'"

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- david | 6:05 PM 0 comments

  Yahoo! News - New York Art Shuttered After Bush Monkey Portrait Oh, good. Censorship. I love it.

A portrait of President Bush (news - web sites) using monkeys to form his image led to the closure of a New York art exhibition over the weekend and anguished protests on Monday over freedom of expression.

"Bush Monkeys," a small acrylic on canvas by Chris Savido, created the stir at the Chelsea Market public space, leading the market's managers to close down the 60-piece show that was scheduled to stay up for the next month.

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- david | 2:37 PM 0 comments

  Osama Redux

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that Osama bin Laden is 'definitely' in the region and eventually will be caught, even though American and Pakistani generals admit the trail is cold."

I don't know... Correct me if I'm wrong, but we've been saying this for, like, ever. And we still haven't caught him, dead or alive. I'd like to see him in jail just as much as the next reasonable liberal, but he's starting to lose his appeal. Maybe the mainstream media should bring him up a little more often and, you know, scare me a little bit again.

From Daily Kos:

Apparently one of the biggest problems we have in battling al Qaida and capturing Osama bin Laden is the strained relationship the U.S. has with Pakistani security forces:

Hunting for Osama bin Laden, the C.I.A. established a series of small, covert bases in the rugged mountain frontier of northwest Pakistan in late 2003. Mr. bin Laden, the terrorist leader, was being sheltered there by local tribesmen and foreign militants, the agency had concluded, and controlled a group of handpicked operatives dedicated to attacking the United States.

But since the bases opened, the C.I.A. officers stationed there have been strictly supervised by Pakistani officials, who have limited their ability to operate and have escorted them wherever they travel in the Pakistani border region. As a result, it has been virtually impossible for the Americans to gather intelligence effectively, say several officials familiar with the operation who would only speak anonymously.

I don't know. What makes everyone so sure he'll be caught? We had our chance, maybe it's time to move on. Even if we were to catch him, it's not like that would really damage Al Qaeda. They've got quite the powerful infrastructure, and enough fact-based propaganda to publish recruiting materials for years to come. Why don't we go after more dangerous targets? Taking out Osama bin Laden would be like taking out the Queen of England... Sad as hell for the people that loved him, but essentially meaningless to the organization or effectiveness of the whole. In fact, it seems to me that there would be a really powerful backlash, one we don't necessarily want to provoke, even if it means we've got bin Laden's head.  ¶
- david | 11:07 PM 0 comments

  Dems got dem dollas

"Tax-exempt pro-Democratic groups raising big checks for this year's election collected almost twice as much money as their Republican rivals in the presidential race, a study shows. The financial advantage comes in addition to record fund raising by Kerry and the Democratic Party.

In all, the nonparty political groups, known as 527s because of the tax code section that covers them, raised about $534 million and spent roughly $544 million in the 2003-04 election cycle, the analysis by the nonpartisan Political Money Line campaign finance tracking service found."

Did I hear someone say SkidPAC?  ¶
- david | 3:33 PM 1 comments

  Star Wars Missile Defense Shield... Doesn't Work!

"The first flight test in nearly two years of a planned U.S. missile-defense shield has been scrapped two days in a row this week because of bad weather, the Pentagon said on Friday."

As Oliver Willis so cleverly points out, we may have to delay actual attacks until the weather's nice, as well...  ¶
- david | 1:48 PM 0 comments