Saturday, May 01, 2004

That Friedrich Nietzsche-Jaded-Innate Depravity-Fearing Pit In My Stomach

The Military's Making S&M Fetish Porn/ Liberating Iraq The latest scandal involving photos of coalition troops torturing Iraqis comes from Britain, where images of a suspected thief being beated and urinated on by British soldiers are all over the front pages. The Arab press is reporting the American torture at Abu Ghraib as their main story, as in these articles from Al-Jazeera and the Tehran Times. The scandal is also highlighting the use of contracters (AKA mercenaries) for interrogations and intelligence-gathering in Iraq, as in this piece from the Guardian. Back at home, this article from the Baltimore Sun highlights those who are accused of abuse, painting a picture of inept soldiers, unclear orders and power running amok.

Kinda Like Lloyd Dobler Holding Up the Boombox, But Murderous In an attempt to garner US support in its "War on Terror," the country of Macedonia killed seven illegal immigrants from Pakistan in a sick attempt to stage a battle against terrorists.

Why Is the Only Anti-Negroponte Piece I've Read in the Tehran TImes?

Paul Bremer, Thy Name is Cassandra Six months before September 11th, the now puppet head of Iraq, Paul Bremer said in a speech that the Bush administration was asleep at the wheel regarding terrorism. "What they will do is stagger along until there's a major incident and then suddenly say, 'Oh my God, shouldn't we be organized to deal with this."'

Meet the New Boss, Dressed Just Like the Old Boss Why, that Iraqi general entering Fallujah isn't wearing his REPUBLICAN GUARD uniform, is he?
Rinzai Zen and the Bush Administration The most famous Zen koan is the question, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?" Perhaps now we can ask, "If a meeting occurs in the White House and there are no transcripts or cameras and nobody is sworn under oath, did it even happen?" I'm longing long for a time in history when the NY Times couldn't posit conspiracy theories and have them seem probable...

And In Case You Didn't Have Enough End-of-the-World Anxiety UFOs are circling over Iran.

-The Sikh Geek