i'm too lost for words.

Yahoo! News - U.S.-Led Soldiers Said to Damage Babylon: "LONDON - U.S.-led troops using the ancient Iraqi city of Babylon as a base have damaged and contaminated artifacts dating back thousands of years in one of the world's most important archaeological sites, the British Museum said Saturday.

For example, military vehicles crushed a 2,600-year-old brick pavement, and archaeological fragments, including broken bricks stamped by King Nebuchadnezzar II around the same time, were scattered across the site, a museum report said.

The dragons at the Ishtar Gate were marred by cracks and gaps where someone tried to remove their decorative bricks, the paper said.

John Curtis, keeper of the British Museum's Near East department, who was invited by the Iraqis to study the site, also found that large quantities of sand mixed with archaeological fragments have been taken from the site to fill military sandbags.

"This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain," Curtis said in the report.

In an interview Saturday with Associated Press Television News, Iraq (news - web sites)'s Minister of Culture Mufeed al-Jazairee said coalition troops in Babylon had used "armored vehicles and helicopters that land and take off freely. In addition to that, the forces also set up other facilities and changes."

He added: "I expect that the archaeological city of Babylon has sustained damage but I don't know exactly the size of such damage."

The remains of Babylon have been occupied since the early days of the invasion by U.S. Marines and, more recently, by soldiers from Poland and other countries. Babylon is 50 miles south of Baghdad.

A Polish military spokesman in Iraq said troops were cooperating with Iraqi authorities in efforts to protect the site.

"I have asked our archaeologists to prepare a specific answer to the accusations, but I have to give them some time," Lt. Col. Artur Domanski said.

The city's main sites — the Ishtar Gate, the ruins of Babylon and the Nebuchadnezzar Palace — are in a separate area on the camp's perimeter, run by Iraqi officials as an archaeological park to paying visitors.

The U.S. military says all earth moving has been halted and it is considering moving troops away to protect the ruins.

Lt. Col. Steven Boylan, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said all engineering works were discussed with the head of the Babylon museum.

"An archaeologist examined every construction initiative for its impact on historical ruins," he said.

In the report, Curtis acknowledged that at first the U.S. presence had helped to protect the site from looters.

But subsequent work — including the decision to cover large areas of the site with gravel brought in from elsewhere to provide car parks and helipads — was damaging, he said.

Lord Redesdale, an archaeologist who heads a parliamentary archaeology committee, described the report's findings as "just dreadful."

"Not only is what the American forces are doing damaging the archaeology of Iraq, it's actually damaging the cultural heritage of the whole world," he said.

"

the definition of what democracy means to george dubya boosh:

Times Online - World: "THE plan sounds more like the preparations for war than the holding of Iraq?s first democratic elections. But such is the dire state of Iraqi security today that the authorities in Baghdad are considering a complete lockdown of the country ahead of polls in two weeks? time.
According to Iraqi and Western sources, international borders will be sealed, movement between cities tightly controlled, mobile phone networks switched off and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi security forces and foreign troops deployed in a show of force not seen since the height of the war nearly two years ago.


The draconian measures aim to prove to the estimated 15 million voters that it is safe to cast their ballot, while deterring the insurgents from killing off the election with their campaign of violence and intimidation.
Although details will be kept secret until the last moment, it is clear that Iyad Allawi, the Prime Minister, is planning a countrywide alert similar to the one he imposed during the storming of Fallujah in November by US Marines.
A state of emergency law, granting the authorities sweeping powers, has recently been renewed until the beginning of February to cover the January 30 election date.
That will allow curfews to be imposed, restrict movement between cities, open special courts where police can obtain arrest warrants around the clock and seal off Iraq?s land and air borders to civilian traffic. With that in place the Iraqis are also planning to halt the movement of insurgents, who seem able to strike at will from southern Iraq all the way to the northern capital of Mosul, currently the bloodiest city in the country.
Traffic is expected to be strictly limited to those with special passes and the mobile phone network, which is a patchy service at best, will be turned off to hamper rebel commu"

anybody know how many members are left in this so-called coalition?

Reuters AlertNet - Portugal to withdraw force from Iraq on Feb. 12: "LISBON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Portugal will withdraw its paramilitary force from Iraq on Feb. 12, a government spokesman said on Saturday, after extending its stay to help provide security for the Jan. 30 elections."

there's a brew-haha brewing in iowa over the grocers' refusal to accept returns on bottles & cans. a letter in today's register hits the bullseye.

DesMoinesRegister.com: "Your Jan. 7 story ('Iowa Threatens To Sue Fareway Over Bottles') stated 92 percent of bottles and cans sold are returned and 1.4 billion a year are being returned. Some simple arithmetic shows that the unreturned bottles and cans represent profits to the distributors of more than $6 million. Maybe the distributors should share some of that wealth and set up recycling centers for the grocers that don't want to accept returns.
-Glen Breuer,
Coralville."

from yahoo:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) said he regretted sending the wrong impression of the United States when he used phrases like "Bring 'em on" and "dead or alive" in his first term and pledged to be more diplomatic.

In an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters to be broadcast on Friday, Bush said some of his past remarks were too blunt.

"'Bring it on,' was a little blunt," the president said in a transcript of the interview released on Thursday.

"I remember when I talked about Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), I said we're going to get him dead or alive. I guess it's not the most diplomatic of language," Bush said.

The president in July 2003 used the phrase "Bring 'em on" when speaking of insurgent attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq (news - web sites). The comment was widely interpreted as a challenge to the insurgents but Bush said his intent was to rally U.S. troops.

Days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bush said he wanted to catch Osama bin Laden "dead or alive," a phrase that reinforced the U.S. president's international image as a cowboy.

Bush said his wife, Laura, disapproved and "chewed me out right after that."

"So I do have to be cautious about, you know, conveying thoughts in a way maybe that doesn't send wrong impressions about our country," he said.

Asked about bin Laden, who remains at large, Bush reiterated his vow to "bring him to justice."

Bush's expressions of regret over his use of language contrasted with his comments at a news conference in April 2004, when he struggled for an answer to a reporter who asked him to name his biggest mistake since the Sept. 11 attacks.

In another mea culpa, the president said he felt his administration had done a poor job bolstering its image in the Muslim world.

"Our public diplomacy efforts aren't ... very robust, and aren't very good, compared to the public diplomacy efforts of those who would like to spread hatred and ... and vilify the United States," Bush said.

But he said he thought U.S. efforts to aid victims of the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami would help improve Washington's image abroad.

DISASTER TO THE RESCUE AGAIN! as someone posted on DU observes, the total picture isn't lost.

1. A tape appears in which eevil moslem "terrists" chide Bush for saying "bring it on"

2. Of course, no one knows where the tape came from--and as usual no one questions its authenticity

3. Right on cue, Bush makes this statement: "Gee, I guess I was undiplomatic"... and we're supposed to read into that: "I'm just a rough-hewn man from the back country... kind of a rail-splitter type, like Lincoln... did I ever tell you all how I used to read by firelight in my family's primitive room in the Waldorf-Astoria... I'm just like you people... a real man of the people..."

4. Everyone smiles and thinks, "Gee, he's just one of us... not some guy from the rarefied rich..."

At least when Sam Ervin said "I'm just a little old country lawyer", he knew he was making a joke, and he knew people knew he was making a joke.

the sun-sentinel checking in with the latest lie:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency misrepresented weather data it used this week to justify $30 million in disaster assistance paid to Miami-Dade County residents, according to the government scientists who developed the information.

In a phone conference with reporters Monday, FEMA officials said they had found no evidence of widespread fraud in Miami-Dade and were confident in the legitimacy of the Hurricane Frances claims. As proof, FEMA cited wind speeds of up to 85 mph "in the parts of Miami-Dade County that received our assistance," according to a statement from Daniel Craig, recovery division director.

FEMA backed up its statement by releasing a wind map of the Labor Day storm, citing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Hurricane Research Center as its source.

But NOAA spokeswoman Donna McCaskill told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, "We didn't make this map. It looks like some of [NOAA's] data might have been misrepresented in it."

NOAA atmospheric scientist Mark Powell said he knew of no sustained winds in Miami-Dade as high as FEMA claimed. "I don't know what they did with our data," he said.

The top sustained winds, lasting at least one minute, in Miami-Dade reached 63 mph on Key Biscayne, but were no more than 53 mph elsewhere in the county, according to NOAA's figures.

The only 85 mph winds were three-second "gusts" about a half-mile offshore from Miami Beach northward, the Sun-Sentinel determined using NOAA's method formula for calculating gusts.

blackwell can't be all that dumb. hypocrites generally are. stupid, yes, but dumb? hardly.

toledoblade.com: "Mr. Blackwell, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in 2006, said: 'We fundamentally believe what Patrick Henry believed; that constitutions are not vehicles for the government to restrain the people. To the contrary, constitutions are vehicles for the people to restrain government.'"

a good summation about the bush lies regarding social security.

DesMoinesRegister.com: "Meanwhile, the president claims his tax cuts have put the nation on a path toward sustained, robust economic growth. In its long-term budget projections, the administration assumes 3.1 percent average annual economic growth. Yet the administration paints a doomsday Social Security scenario predicated on only 1.8 percent average economic growth.

Which is it? If the president is right about his economic policies ushering in an era of prolonged growth, then he is wrong about Social Security being in trouble.
The administration cannot assume low economic growth for Social Security purposes and high economic growth for everything else. It cannot tout the benefits of personal savings accounts based on historic rates of return in the market while claiming Social Security will be bankrupted by less-than-historic rates of economic growth."

FARPOINT.FACTOID:

DesMoinesRegister.com: "Greetings newborns: Your birth tax (your share of the national debt) is $30,000 and counting.
-Mary Voorhees,
Ames."

nobody should have to endure lesbian sisters at a reading of the father's will. it's punishment bordering on torture.

if, as bush likes to scream every other line, that it's "YOUR MONEY", and that "YOU KNOW HOW TO SPEND IT BETTER THAN THE GOVERNMENT", has one serious fundamental flaw. IT'S OUR MONEY THAT'S PAYING HIS SALARY AND ALL THE PERKS HE'S GETTING FOR HIM AND HIS FRIENDS.

'sides, if it really and truly was 'YOUR MONEY', then why is it a crime to burn it?

today's voting in palestine was on the top five of the local newscast. using the term 'exit polls showed'. just like they used the same phrase during the ukraine elections, and even with their 'it was all about morals' depiction of our own 'exit polls'.... about the only thing the 'exit polls' were wrong is who was favored for president.

surprised? i'm not.

i wish i could find a .swf file of a huge red flag that waves wildly so i could headline this post properly.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) admitted he is worried about the future of Iraq (news - web sites) but said the United States could consider its mission there accomplished once a representative government and an Iraqi security force are in place.

WaPo

American Army soldiers are deserting and fleeing to Canada rather than fight in Iraq, rekindling memories of the thousands of draft-dodgers who flooded north to avoid service in Vietnam.

An estimated 5,500 men and women have deserted since the invasion of Iraq, reflecting Washington's growing problems with troop morale.

U.K. Telegraph

Several US officials have privately admitted that it may be better to keep Bin Laden pinned down on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan rather than make him a martyr or put him on trial. But Krongard is the most senior figure to acknowledge publicly that his capture might prove counter-productive.

London Times

PARIS, Jan 7 (AFP) - French President Jacques Chirac on Friday warned journalists to stay out of Iraq, two days after a reporter went missing in Baghdad and two weeks after the release of two correspondents held hostage for months.

Expatica

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a leading architect of the Iraq war, said on Friday he had been asked to remain in the Bush administration and will do so.

NY Times

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has still only spent a small portion of the $18.4 billion it set aside for rebuilding Iraq, a new government report shows.

According to a copy of the Bush administration's latest quarterly update to Congress on Iraq obtained by Reuters on Thursday, as of Dec. 29 only $2.2 billion of the funds has actually been spent.

This is up from $1.2 billion in the previous report that detailed reconstruction spending as of Sept. 22.

The portion of the money promised to companies for projects has risen to $10.5 billion from $7.1 billion in the previous report.

NY Times

NEW YORK As Iraq moves closer to its first democratic elections later this month, the number of news organizations requesting embedded slots with military units there is on the rise, according to officials. But those new embeds better watch their step. E&P has learned that five journalists have been kicked out of embed slots in the past three months for reporting secure information.

"They were all for operational security reasons, (revealing) something that would have been of use to the enemy," Maj. Kris Meyle, who runs the embed program, told E&P from Baghdad this morning. "Generally, it gets done very quickly. Usually it was something that was not done intentionally by the reporter."

Meyle would not disclose the identities of those who were "disembedded" or the news organizations for which they worked. But she did not recall any from newspapers. "I remember them being broadcast," she said.

She also warned that those seeking slots in an effort to get close coverage of the Iraqi elections later this month may be wasting their time. "We are telling people who request an embed during elections that they will not necessarily be near a polling place," Major Meyle said. "That is not our role."

Editor & Publisher

and now we hear that george is going to spend $50,000,000.00 on his coronation. disgusting to all hell.

and they wonder why we compare bush to hitler? let them wonder no longer.

The New York Times > New York Region > Public Lives: Warning From a Student of Democracy's Collapse: "FRITZ STERN, a refugee from Hitler's Germany and a leading scholar of European history, startled several of his listeners when he warned in a speech about the danger posed in this country by the rise of the Christian right. In his address in November, just after he received a prize presented by the German foreign minister, he told his audience that Hitler saw himself as 'the instrument of providence' and fused his 'racial dogma with a Germanic Christianity.' "

to all the critics on foxnewz who cant stop whining about the oil-for-food programme at the U.N., will have sad faces today as they find the audits recedntly done because of the scandal, 'don't prove a thing' and fail to lay charges of bribery or corruption.

too bad the same conclusion couldn't be made about this administration's business practices. gao recently made the claim that the united states' accounting is as shameless as arthur andersen's practice over at their old stomping grounds, enron.