The Yorkshire Ranter

washingtonpost.com: “With no chemical or biological weapons yet found in Iraq, the U.S. official in charge of the search for Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction is pursuing the possibility that the Iraqi leader was bluffing, pretending he had distributed them to his most loyal commanders to deter the United States from invading. Such a…

Link: “But on July 22, Newsday reported: ‘Novak, in an interview, said his sources had come to him with the information. ‘I didn’t dig it out, it was given to me,’ he said. ‘They thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it.’ ” It’s uncannily similar…

Blair defiant ahead of Iraq debate Well, they’ve warmed up with a bashing for the government on foundation hospitals this morning…although, mind you, Blair took the super-democratic option and conceded, avoiding TV pix of furious delegates waving their party cards on a card vote.

And blogging whilst they’re at it Appledore Shipbuilders in North Devon is under threat of closure. Receivers were appointed today. For the last few days, the work force has been occupying the yard in a so-called work-in. These are the lot who were demonstrating at the Labour conference yesterday. (Given that the MOD was apparently…

The archives are back.

Data Reveal Inaccuracies in Portrayal of Iraqis (washingtonpost.com) Sorry for the Washpost burst, but I feel I should share with you the fact that 55% of Baghdadis have a good impression of France and only 29% have of the US. Well, it is the cradle of civilisation.

Iraq, 9/11 Still Linked By Cheney (washingtonpost.com) No, “Dead” Dick Cheney won’t admit it – he still keeps talking about mystery meetings between Mohammed Atta and Iraqis in Prague even after the CIA, the FBI and Czech intelligence have admitted they had the wrong man. It’s a curious feature of the world, but one we…

Bush Aides Say They’ll Cooperate With Probe Into Intelligence Leak (washingtonpost.com) “Wilson said that in the week after the Novak column appeared, several journalists told him that the White House was trying to call attention to his wife, apparently hoping to undermine his credibility by implying he had received the Niger assignment only because his…

Of course there was no strategy to belittle Dr. Kelly

Link to report It is reported that many of the ships chartered by the MoD to transport the Army to Kuwait for the war against Iraq were very dodgy indeed – up to and including the one that was detained by coastguards before it could leave on grounds of safety. This is very un-fantastic news:…