2004

It is being reported (here, and via Juan Cole) that the US Army in Karbala has destroyed half the Al-Mukhayyam Mosque as heavy fighting went on in the city. How stupid is that? This stupid – recent reports have suggested that a political solution between the coalition and Al-Sadr was imminent. There is talk of…

Since the torture scandal broke, we have now seen within the space of two days an American civilian being beheaded and a Hamas member waving a bag of body parts to a furious mob in Gaza. You could despair. If there is a war on terrorism, by the way, it is a war fought in…

Reports are increasing that the Daily Mirror photos have been debunked (BBC link. Further, Mirror Group issued a statement saying that they were confident that the pictures “accurately illustrated” serious abuse – a wording that suggests backtracking. Among other things, I’ve heard that the army’s inventory of trucks was used to trace where they might…

The FT is reporting that friction has developed between the so-called Fallujah Protection Army/1st Battalion Fallujah Brigade (depends on terminology, see below) and the various “notables” who are now to be in charge there. It would appear that they are not happy with the idea of this force co-operating as expected with the Americans, nor…

Washington Post story on conditions in Abu Ghraibh and the internal politics of the Military Police there. “”Detainee care appears to have been made up as the operations developed with reliance on, and guidance from, junior members of the unit who had civilian corrections experience,” Taguba later found. Those members included Staff Sgt. Ivan L.…

I’m not sure I really expressed myself accurately in the last post, so here goes again. I’m beginning to suspect that in the last few years our political systems have been polluted by the possibilities of the networked world. Not that “it’s all the fault of the media” – it’s the fault of politicians. It…

The torrent of filth didn’t stop all week. I didn’t blog – I’m sorry – really because I couldn’t see any useful angle to cover. Torture’s evil. I’m ashamed. That was about it – it’s not very original, is it? Best to wait and let the pressure build….until it has to get out. We have…

The Guardian reported yesterday that the Government wants to introduce an identity card for everyone involved in education. This would carry a Unique Learner Number and a wide variety of information: “such information as a person’s qualifications, course aims, employment situation and possibly income details.” Income details? It gets worse: “The most sophisticated system would…

The Yorkshire Ranter is the only Google result for “the law of goats”. I’m not sure what the nameless netizen from New Zealand was after when they punched that one in, but it nailed my remark that some business types had “all the respect for the law of goats”. I hope they weren’t too disappointed.

So, the US staff sergeant accused of sitting on a prisoner’s head whilst masturbating at a camera has had his lawyer tell the world that he “had not had the opportunity to read the Geneva Conventions before being put on guard duty”. So that makes it all right then? I’m meant to believe that he…