Saturday, August 07, 2004

Baghdad Burning.  Perhaps the real reason for Allawi's one month ban on Al Jazeera.  It’s déjà vu- corpses in the streets, people mourning their dead and dying and buildings up in flames. The images flash by on the television screen and it’s Falluja all over again...  However, this probably won't stop them from getting the footage. 7:56:31 PM    Comment_ Trackback []

WP.  Kerry rides the debate on stem cell research, which has turned into a political steamroller.  "This is an issue with legs," said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who has measured 70 percent support nationwide for embryonic stem cell research. He predicted that Kerry will attract support from disease sufferers and families who otherwise agree with Bush on public policy but feel "alienated" by his decision to restrict federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. "They may be a moderate conservative who doesn't agree with John Kerry on a lot of issues, but they have a relative with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, and they are going through the hammers of hell dealing with this situation and just say, 'This is so central and so personal to me, I can't understand how the president could do this.' " 6:31:47 PM    Comment_ Trackback []

WS.  Interrogation memo yields info on the Zarqawi network. 6:18:35 PM    Comment_ Trackback []

Reuters is reporting that the US orange alert led to a major intelligence blunder.  Last Sunday, U.S. officials told reporters that someone held secretly by Pakistan was the source of the bulk of the information justifying the alert. The New York Times obtained Khan's name independently, and U.S. officials confirmed it when it appeared in the paper the next morning.  None of those reports mentioned at the time that Khan had been under cover helping the authorities catch al Qaeda suspects, and that his value in that regard was destroyed by making his name public.  Juan Cole has more. 5:06:49 PM    Comment_ Trackback []