BBC's Greg Dyke apologizes

Jan. 29 - BBC's director-general, Greg Dyke, apologizes (actually, in reading the aritcle, the aplogy seems to be followed by challenges to the findings of the Hutton Inuiry) and, according to the scrolling news on the DT's webiste, he has also resigned from the BBC. (The BBC confirms the resignation here.)

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Canadians in Afghanistan

Jan. 29 - The terrorist attack yesterday in Afghanistan that resulted in the death of a British soldier caused the Canadian military to scale back a planned procession to the airport which was to have honoured Cpl. Jamie Brendan Murphy, who was killed the previous day in a terrorist attack, for his final journey home (Farewell to 'a brother'.)

The heightened security concerns have caused the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force to order that foot patrols cease and alll Iltis jeeps to be parked until further notice.

Soldiers and local authorities in Kabul have tightened security and increased police foot patrols as the investigation into the attacks continues.

The US is planning a spring offensive to track down remnants of al Qaeda and the Taliban, according to a senior DoD official.

Never forget those who serve.

UPDATE: The Daily Telegraph story on the bombing death of the British soldier is here.

The soldier was the fourth British serviceman and the 24th member of the Nato-led Isaf to be killed in Afghanistan. Spokesmen for the deposed Taliban claimed responsibility, but gave different names and nationalities for the bomber.

One described him as "Saad", an Algerian-born British national in his twenties. Another said he was 28-year-old Sayed Mohammad Ahmad, a Palestinian with an Algerian passport. Abdul Latif Hakimi, a Taliban spokesman, told a news agency: "It's just the beginning. More such attacks will take place. Hundreds of our men are ready to carry out such attacks."

The soldier's name has not been released yet.

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Blame Paris (Hilton)

Jan. 29 - Blame Paris: the real reason Americans are boycotting Canada is finally revealed: well-known activist Paris Hilton to protest Canada's seal hunting.

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Human rights groups complicit in murder

Jan. 29 - Nobel Peace Prize laureate David Trimble has declared that Human rights groups are complicit in murder:

"One of the great curses of this world is the human rights industry," he told the Associated Press news agency at an international conference of terrorism victims in Madrid.

"They justify terrorist acts and end up being complicit in the murder of innocent victims."

His words drew an angry reaction from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, two of the world's biggest human rights groups, with about 200,000 members in Britain and more than a million worldwide.

I have to admit that his remarks seems a bit harsh, although I agree with the substance of what he is saying. One can, and should, make an effort to comprehend the motivations of people who commit horrendous acts, but there is so slender a line between understanding and justifying as to be indistinct.

The failure of Amnesty International in particular to distinguish between victim and killer has reduced their credbility, which is alarming given their otherwise good record of exposing human rights abuses.

The conference adopted the following declaration:

It said: "We call on NGOs and other civil organisations that stand for the defence of human rights to make a commitment to defend victims of terrorism and to identify terrorist acts for what they are, regardless of their cause or pretext and without striking balances or blurring the distinction between victims and executioners."

Maybe the civil organizations that stand for the defence of human rights consider those points when they frame their reactions to the terrorist bus bombing attack that killed 10 and wounded 45 people in Jerusalem.

UPDATE: The bomber has been identified as a Palestinian police officer from Bethlehem. His left a will with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

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Andrew Coyne web site

Jan. 28 - Technorati seems to be working again, and I was pleased to learn that Andrew Coyne is running a webpage here.

Read it and see what you think.

UPDATE: In truth, I wasn't sure if he was still a columnist with the National Post given the recent shuffles over there but the incredibly intelligent commenters here assure me that he is. /gratuitous flattery

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Precision Guided Humour

Jan. 28 - The latest assignment from The Alliance of Free Bloggers is to determine What jobs should we allow France to do in Iraq?

To be honest, I am not feeling very charitable right now. Of course, the French haven't given me any reason to feel charitably but I usually at least try to make an effort. Fact is I'm too tired, my fingers are cramped and my toes haven't thawed out.

So I'm sticking with "Don't let them in Iraq at all." They can, if they wish to do something useful, come here and help with snow removal. It warmed up just enough to make the snow heavy - very heavy - and there are still some residential areas of the city where it's pretty rough going.

Okay, I'll try to be more charitable.

Toronto got a lot less snow than other areas in the East, so let's send them to harder hit areas and Toronto will cope. Yeah, that's it. And now I don't appear so self-interested.

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Canadian named as recipient of oil vouchers

Jan. 28 - According to a story in today's Globe and Mail, a Canadian businessman was named as one of those who received free oil for backing Saddam. Arthur Millholland, president of Calgary-based Oilexco Inc., is said to have received one million barrels of oil.

The allegations of bribery were published in an Iraqi newspaper, Al-Mada, which cited documents obtained from the former State Oil Organisation, or Somo, which the Daily Telegraph (UK) describes as the commercial arm of Saddam's oil ministry.

The Daily Telegraph article focuses on the international nature of the scandal

Saddam Hussein bribed his way around the world, buying the support of presidents, ministers, legislators, political parties and even Christian churches, according to documents published in Iraq.

The list of those who allegedly benefited from Saddam's largesse spans 46 countries.

According to the newspaper al-Mada, one of the new publications that have emerged since the removal of the dictator, Saddam offered each of his friends lucrative contracts to trade in millions of barrels of Iraqi crude under the United Nations oil-for-food programme.

The 270 individuals and organisations alleged to be in his pay included the sons of a serving Arab president, Arab ministers, a prominent Indonesian leader, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, the party led by the Russian nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and even the Russian Orthodox Church.

There's more, so read the whole thing.

Will this latest allegation force the UN to open the books of the Oil for Food program?

Roger L. Simon has been in the forefront of those urging the books be opened. He posts on this latest development, Naming Names, and also links to Merde in France which in turn links to the Le Monde article about the French connection, so those with working French might want to check it out.

Tim Blair links to the complete list and the translation of the complete list. No Australians have been named but some Austrians (which might explain why initial reports were conflicting) but George Galloway's name appears several times.

One cautionary reminder: we've been down this road of documents recovered in Baghdad provide evidence of corruption and perfidy only to see it fizzle when the documents turned out to be forgeries, so handsprings and whoops of joy are postponed until confirmation.

But, as Capt. Sheridan said, You can't kill the truth. (And yes, I know what his follow-up was, but work with me here, okay?)

UPDATE: Enter Stage Right has more, including a good memory back to an earlier rumour about Swiss bank accounts. Maybe the deal wasn't for actual oil after all, but for the proceeds of undocumented oil sales.

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Kay testimony before Senate Armed Services Committee

Jan. 28 - I watched David Kay's testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee and kept wondering if the US will ever be able to get away from the overwhelming politicization of each and every issue. Kay said WMD search showed intelligence weakness and pointed out that those failures began during the Carter Administration (echoing the president's Whitehall speech in that blame can be placed equally on both parties and over decades, not years.)

Kay pointed out (and I agree) that an inquiry might be useful, but a witchhunt wouldn't. I'm weary of the witchhunt mentality of the past 10 years which overshadowed the bombing of the WTC early in the last decade as well as the escalating terrorist attacks on US interests which, by our inability or unwillingness to respond, culminated on Sept. 11.

I've don't fault the Clinton administration so much for not responding to the attacks so much as I fault the leaders of both parties for being incapable of understanding which issues are fair partisan game and which aren't. There has got to be continued recognition that, when a national crisis occurs, responsibile leadership dictates that we drop the partisan games. It's hurting us that some still haven't reached that understanding.

The problem is that criticisms based on partisanship are too easily dismissed (which was similar to the findings of the Hutton Inquiry - see post below) and that problem, more than anything else, threatens our ability to properly assess and respond to events.

David Kay has pointed out that the strategies employed during the war indicate how strongly we believed in the existence and willingness of Saddam to use WMD on our troops and many of the criticisms being raised now about securing sites and offices fail to take that into account. That's something so glaringly obvious that I have to conclude that even those who criticize those failures know it to be so.

(UPDATE: CNN's wrap-up of Kay's testimony is here and Fox's coverage is here.)

(UPDATE: The transcript of David Kay's opening statement to the committee is here. Note it doesn't include the questions and answers, unfortunately.)

During Sen. Kennedy's questions I found myself reflecting on the Cuban Missile Crisis as well as the Bay of Pigs mess and wondered if he had thought about those events lately. (I'm not saying there are grounds for analogy. I'm just saying.)

There has to be points at which partisan interests, which are by definition narrow and selfish, are set aside for the common good. I'm baffled that we evidently haven't reached that point yet, although I suspect the American people are considerably farther ahead in that respect than some political leaders.

The president has thus far stood above the chatter and clatter, but he hasn't begun to campaign as of yet (at least to the same degree as the Dems, which in all fairness, is due to the primaries) so the Republicans are still holding the higher moral ground but it will be a delicate balancing act once the Democrats select a candidate and the presidential campaign begins in earnest.

I was sorry to see that Sen. Lieberman couldn't break the 10% barrier in the New Hampshire primary. Do the Dems have any special awards for principled consistency? I believe the senator is preserving the future of the Democrats which is also true for Bill Clinton also but not true for Gore.

Maybe I should make a full disclosure: I voted for Nader in 2000. When Gore decided to endorse Dean, it confirmed for me the main reason I didn't vote for him: he's an unprincipled opportunist. (I didn't even consider voting for Bush because I had never voted Republican. In 2000, some things were sacrosanct, but it's not 2000 any more and I'm not in Kansas any more - or Georgia or California.)

I think what irritates me the most is the heightened rhetoric. For example, does Sen. Kerry truly believe that the Bush administration is a regime? Of course he doesn't. Do those who say that the US has become a police state actually believe that? Of course they don't. (They are as aware as I that they aren't in jail.)

I also didn't believe that Dean's speech after the Iowa caucus was as dreadful as CNN in particular insisted (although that may be because I lived in Georgia, have seen other politicians behave similarly, and recognized his speech for what it was - a boisterous effort to raise the spirits of his supporters and redirect their temporary disappointment to the future. Were I such to have been in that crowd, it would have raised my spirits!)

Anyway, I think the sound bite approach to leadership is just plain irresponsible.

Americans are facing unanticipated challenges these days which go to the heart of who we are, where we are headed and what we aspire to be. We need to find solutions that are based less in partisanship and more to determining "the common weal." I get that, most Americans get that, and anyone who would be our leader needs to get that.

It's stopped snowing for now. The snow plow did its usual damage, so I'm going to finish clearing up out there.

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The Hutton Inquiry Findings

Jan. 28 - From the Daily Telegraph (UK) Blair 'cleared' by Hutton which links directly to the website for the Hutton Inquiry where the report is posted. The report is said to be a .pdf file ( didn't check) but the Summary of Conclusions appears in standard text.

The Summary itself is fairly straightforward and well-worth reading. Section 2.i. notes that

Therefore the allegations reported by Mr Gilligan that the Government probably knew that the 45 minutes claim was wrong or questionable and that it was not inserted in the first draft of the dossier because it only came from one source and the intelligence agencies did not really believe it was necessarily true, were unfounded.

The Report also criticizes the BBC management for not recognizing that Gilligans's own notes did not support his accusations about the dossier and, although it recognizes that the BBC Board of Governors properly recognized that they had the obligation to protect the independence of the BBC, it notes that they failed to distinguish between defending that independence and addressing the specific government complaints about the May 29 broadcast that alleged the government had deliberately inserted doubtful information and therefore should have made their own investigations.

On the question of whether the government or government officials behaved dishonourably by allowing Dr. Kelly's name to be know, the inquiry acknowledges (Section 4.A) that keeping Dr. Kelly's name secret was not "a practical possibility" given the media scrutiny, so confirmation after a reporter put his name forward was the only reasonable response. It does criticize the government's failure to inform Dr. Kelly that they would confirm his identity as the source (4.B.) and for not setting up a procedure by which Dr. Kelly would have been informed immediately once his name was released to the press but also noting that there were individual attempts by MoD officials to be supportive and helpful.

As noted by Expat Yank (if blogspotted, Ctrl+F "What is needed is an investigation"), the response from the Conservative Party has been to call for an inquiry. That's right, an inquiry into the inquiry.

UPDATE: BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies resigns in the wake of the Hutton Inquiry's finding that the BBC had "defective" editorial controls.

Does anyone else remember the Washington Post retraction of their erroneous stories about Jessica Lynch capture or how the NY Times handled the Jayson Blair firing? It's sad to see the BBC fail to remember their primary responsibility to the public like this.

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British in Afghanistan

Jan. 28 - Two bombs were detonated nearly simultaneously in Kabul yesterday. The first exploded during a memorial service for Cpl. Jamie Brendan Murphy (the Canadian soldier who was killed yesterday by a homicide bomber) killing a British soldier and injuring 4 others.

According to the Sun (UK) the MoD confirmed that the explosion involved a British vehicle and occured during the memorial service, but if I'm judging correctly the location of the attack was not at the memorial service.

In the second attack, five "non-Afghans" were injured by a homicidal bomber in a taxi. The explosion happened near the German peacekeeping base to the east of Kabul. The victims have not been identified.

The Taliban has taken responsibility for today's bombings as well as yesterdays, and the Sun notes that the attacks occured in the same week as Afghan President Karzai signed the constitution into law.

Never forget those who serve.

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Dear Voters: You're fired

Jan. 27 - From Boston Globe coumnist Brian McGrory Dear voters, You're fired:

... So you can vote any way you want and make us look like idiots?

I don't mean to pile on, but didn't you realize that we dismissed Kerry's candidacy with a steady stream of bitterly snide and snarky jokes many months ago. Did you fail to see that the firing of his campaign manager in November was the biggest story of the decade and that his appearance on Leno showed that he couldn't possibly win?

Likewise, did you miss the whole Dean coronation we held? Didn't you know that with all that Internet money and all those kids in orange, he couldn't possibly lose? Did you ignore how often the news magazines had him on their cover?

How do you think all this makes us feel in the news business? ...

Go read and enjoy.

(Link via On the Third Hand

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Toronto Affairs

Jan. 27 - Things are not sweet and lightness here: today's Toronto Sun lists 8 gun-related incidents including the two homicides that occured from Friday to Monday in Toronto the Good: Deadly danger.

City Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti is calling on Mayor David Miller to declare Gun violence an emergency and have it foremost on the three-day council meeting which began today. He's calling on the mayor to hire 600 more police officers.

The fact that the courts do not seem to see gun-related violence as deserving of more stringent sentences is still the bigger part of the problem, though, and is probably the main reason witnesses are reluctant to step forward.

Lorrie Goldstein points out that This is a way a city dies, First with a bang, then a whimper.

Look, folks. I'm an American. I've seen too many American cities writhe in death convulsions because those purporting to be our leaders were too easily intimidated by accusations of racism and too happy to distract attention to "root causes of gang violence" rather than take action. Do the families of the dead care much about our solicitude for "root causes" while making funeral arrangements?

Does a baby have to be killed in cross fire before people wake up?

I think Canadians could handle learning from our mistakes. IMO.

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Flags of unilateral power

Jan. 27 - Murdoc has a striking post Flags of the unilateral power. (I highly recommend standing during this display -- as a sign of respect.)

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Canadian KIA in Afghanistan

Jan. 27 - Bomber kills Canadian in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide bombing in Kabul has killed one Canadian soldier and wounded three others, a spokesman for the NATO-led security force said.

One Afghan civilian also died, and eight other people were treated for injuries at local hospitals, police and doctors told The Associated Press.

The suicide bomber reportedly threw himself on a vehicle that was part of a small International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) patrol convoy operating in the Afghan capital.

The attack happened about 2 km from Camp Julien.

The Globe and Mail is calling it a suicide attack, as is the the CBC.

Corporal Jamie Brendan Murphy, 26, of Conception Harbour, Nfld., was killed while on patrol in Kabul in an Iltis. Lieut. Jason Matthew Feyko, 30 of Peterborough, Ont., Cpl. Jeremy Gerald MacDonald, 30, of Burnt Islands, Nfld. and Cpl. Richard Michael Newman, 23, of Heartland, N.B., were injured. The injuries are said not to be life-threatening.

Never forget those who serve.

UPDATE: I just finished watching the press conference on CBC Newsworld, and just in case anyone besides the reporters missed this point, the bomber jumped on top of the Iltis. I doubt the vehicle they were in made a difference. I'm not even going to comment on some of the other probing questions.

And to any Canadians who are irritated that CNN television is ignoring the death of the Canadian soldier, I agree! but heck, no one has ever claimed that CNN would prioritize actual news events over a day full of celebrity lawbreakers or idle speculation (ref. the story of the bombing in Bali which was pretty much ignored so they could interview armchair experts and listen to their (inaccurate) profiles of the Washington sniper. Aargh.)

UPDATE: Canadian Comment doesn't mince words:

Last night Corporal Jamie Brendan Murphy of Newfoundland was killed while on patrol in Kabul. A murderer jumped on their vehicle strapped with explosives killing Jamie and injuring Lieutenant Jason Matthew Feyko, Corporal Richard Michael Newman, and Corporal Jeremy Gerald MacDonald.

I'm thinking that messages of condolences should be left on Canadian sites like Canadian Comment.

UPDATE: This speculates that the homicide attack was payback for the recent nightime raid on suspected terrorists and drug lords. (See here for the link describing the raid.)

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Freeport TX BASF plant shooting investigated by FBI

Jan. 26 - The Friday shooting of a security guard in Freeport, Texas, by the man he questioned as to why he was lingering in the vicinity of a multi-story ammonia tank at a BASF ammonia terminal is being investigated by FBI, state and local law enforcment personnel and, according to sources, considered possibly connected to a terrorist reconnaisance operation. This is according to an item from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin (subscription only) and carried by WorldNetDaily: Texas coast eyed by terrorists.

A major feature of this article is the retelling of the 1947 Texas City (located only a few miles from Freeport) disaster at which a French ship filled with ammonium nitrate exploded at the dock setting off a chain reaction of explosions which killed the towns entire fire department and destroyed their 4 firetrucks. Volunteers fought the fires and assisted in rescue work. Over 500 people were killed.

(Via Jack's Newswatch

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Afghan war halted al Qaeda CBW programs in Malaysia

Jan. 26 - Al-Qaida program to make chemical, biological weapons halted by Afghan war according to Malaysian officials from information gathered from captured terrorist suspects in Southeast Asia:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - An al-Qaida program to develop chemical and biological weapons was in the early "conceptual stages" when it was cut short by the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, U.S. and Malaysian security officials told the Associated Press.

The information on the state of Osama bin Laden's weapons plan came from interrogations of terrorist suspects captured in Southeast Asia and from clues gathered in the Afghan battlefield, the authorities said.

The project was being developed in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Officials believe the program was being run by Yazid Sufaat, a former Malaysian army captain and U.S.-trained biochemist, under the direction of Riduan Isamuddin, or Hambali, an Indonesian accused of heading al-Qaida's operations in Southeast Asia.

Both men are suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist group.

They are also both in custody. Hambali is a major operative in Jemaah Islamiyah and was implicated in the Bali bombing.

Read the article; it has a lot of information about Yazid, including his involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks.

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Pakistan to release Abdulkareem Khadr

Jan. 26 - Pakistan to release wounded Abdulkareem Khadr for return to Canada

OTTAWA (CP) - Pakistani authorities are prepared to release a 14-year-old Canadian boy wounded in combat alongside al-Qaida fighters, a source said Monday, but it could take officials in Ottawa and Islamabad two weeks to work out the logistics.

Abdulkareem Khadr was hit in the spine by a bullet Oct. 2 and is paralysed from the waist down. He is being held at a hospital near Islamabad. "The young man has expressed a wish to come back here," said a Foreign Affairs official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

[...]

The official said Canada will issue a passport to the young Khadr, who has family in Toronto. But there remain at least 20 questions that must answered before he can be repatriated, not the least of which is: who's going to pay for his transport?

It is likely Khadr is a stretcher case who will need medical escort and possibly a private plane or air ambulance, the official said, estimating transport alone at more than $30,000.

"Is it going to be automatic medical coverage by OHIP?" he said. "It's going to be an expensive operation.

"That kind of money - I don't know where it's going to come from. The family will have to be canvassed."

My assumption is that once he is in Canada, his medical costs will be covered by the health care system. The issue of who is going to pay for the costs incurred in transporting him to Canada is somewhat sensitive because the father had been given money by the Canadian government for purported charity work which turned out to be used to fund terrorism. He was a money man for al Qaeda and they called him "Al Kanadi" (the Canadian.) (Use Ctrl+F " Ahmed Said Khadr" in October archives for more information.)

To recap: Ahmed Said Khadr, the father, was killed last October in a firefight with Pakistan security forces.
Omar, 17, a brother, is being held at Guantanamo for killing a US media in Afghanistan.
Abdurahman, 20, was captured in Afghanistan, held at Guantanamo, released and eventually returned to Toronto last December.
Abdullah, 22, is believed to have operated an al Qaeda training camp and his whereabouts are unknown.

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Calls for inquiry into Arar case

Jan. 26 - The politicians in this country are a wonder: MPs call for Arar inquiry:

OTTAWA -- MPs of all stripes called for a sweeping review of post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism legislation yesterday, and a public inquiry into Maher Arar's deportation to Syria. Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish said MPs of all federal parties will work together when Parliament resumes next week to take on the RCMP for raiding Ottawa journalist Juliet O'Neill.

Parrish blames Canada's anti-terrorism laws passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks for giving the Mounties the powers to conduct the surprise raid on O'Neill.

Parrish said those laws were hastily drafted and deserve a "slow second look."

"I think the review is inevitable," Parrish told CTV's Question Period. "It's time for it to be reviewed and dumped."

Firstly, yes, that Carolyn Parrish.

Secondly, too bad they didn't take that slow, second look before voting for it, but for heaven's sake, why pretend to review it if you really plan to dump it? Stop.Wasting.Our.Time. Will the Canadian electorate readily accept the "we're too incompetent to know what we're doing" excuse? (Probably.)

Thirdly, there was the equivalent of an Official Secrets Act in Canada before the Security of Information Act. Every country has such legislation. We don't exactly know the nature of the documents she is said to possess, but there is a process by which materials can be reviewed and, unless they are deemed to it compromise investigations or national security, be released for publication. Therefore, the possibility remains that she possessed documents that contained sensitive material beyond what she released about Arar.

It's too bad that the media feel victimized, but maybe they should have focused on the provisions of the Security Act instead of indulging in whining about legislation in another freaking country.

Fourthly, that other freaking country I'm referring to has had more leaks from intelligence and military sources to the media than I would even begin to try to count, and as of yet no reporter has been served with a search warrant at work or home. Canadian pundits haven't pulled any punches in declaring the USA is a totalitarian, fascist regime. Will this shut them up?

Two words: Robert Novak. He published the name of a CIA employee and/ or operative and hey! he still has his rolodex.

Second to the lastly, the inquiry into the detention and deportation of Arar should be interesting because he has sued the US, Jordanian and Syrian governments. IANAL, but wouldn't testimony in one tend to prejudice testimony in the other? Which gets priority when there's an inquiry and pending lawsuits?

Lastly, it may be a mistake to try to post during commercials for the Dennis Miller show on CNBC. It seems to heighten my proclivity for snarkiness.

The Dennis Miller Show has some things to work on (he even said that in closing) but I'm going to give it a chance. His feature guest tonight was Arnold Schwarzennegger, and the discussion group was Naomi Wolf, token liberal, David Horowitz (no intro necessary) and David Frum (ditto.) By the way, they discussed "David Kay said there were no WMD in Iraq" and didn't bring up any "they were transported to Syria" speculations, so that last may be a case of too much dot connecting.

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What are Americans like?

Jan. 26 - Steven den Beste has an essay, Americans are unalike, in which he answers the question "What are Americans like?" primarily with this:

There is not a single substantive question you can ask about Americans or ask of Americans that you would find a single answer to. On any political question you'll find disagreement, and there is no single substantive characteristic we share as a people.

I would only add that there are a few minor, unsubstantive characteristics: contariness, and a refusal to bow down to anyone.

Discount Blogger's take, though, in What Americans are like was right on the money:

So, to answer Den Beste's reader's question, Americans are people who live their lives. They don't feel superior. Yet they certainly do not feel inferior to you.

Read both "whole things."

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Syria, Dr. Kay

Jan. 26 - I got a really late start today, but want to begin by pointing to some more observations from Roger L. Simon in his post Roshamon on possible Syrian involvement with Saddam's WMD. He also links to more analyses of David Kay's interviews at JunkYardBlog and Dust in the Light.

There needs to be some major snow shoveling here. Mark's brother lives in Sault Ste. Marie so I would normally be downright embarassed to complain about the average snowfall in Toronto, but I think today might just qualify as the exception, but there's no point complaining until it actually stops snowing.

I screwed up my courage earlier to go into the Blogger template and update the blogroll. Two blogs have not only changed urls but names as well, so Moving Target is now Autonomous Source and Too Much to Dream is now Twisted Spinster. I also updated the link for Random Thoughts and added Just Between Us Girls and Let It Bleed, two fine Canadian bloggers.

The Canadian Election Blog has a lot of contributors from the Canadian political spectrum and will prove particularly relevant as everyone assumes an election will be called at some point this year (by the way, I'm going with the name I first saw on Jay Currie's blog for now, although the title "E-Group Election Blog" is on the web bar.)

au currant is an American blogger in London who I discovered through Peaktalk.

Two additions who serve: Neptunus Lex in in the Navy, and Rantings of a homicidalManiak is an army medic stationed in Germany. One of them is actually seeing the world: guess which one!

I thought that The Owner's Manual and Iraq 2.0 were already on the blogroll, but they were evidently among the links lost in cyberspace when blogger went down completely during one of my recent forays into the Blogger Template (and you wonder why I'm reluctant to venture in there.)

Usual request: if I screwed up something, let me know so I can fix it. To err is human, and I'm human.

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