Nice to see the Downing Street memo finally getting reaction. However, the U.S. is in Iraq now and people are still dying there.

According to the Times of London, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told David Frost on BBC's Newsnight that okay, yes, fine, Iraq is "statistically" no safer today than it was at the end of the war. After further prodding, Rummy admitted sure, if you want to get technical, the insurgency was stronger today than when the US took over the country (Rummy said when "the Coalition" took over, but give me a break).

Secret negotions between the insurgency and the Iraqi and coalition officials are taking place as well...

Quote:

The macabre scenes came amid reports that Iraqi and United States officials were trying to coax some insurgents into mainstream politics by floating the possibility of an amnesty. In an interview with the BBC last night, the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, confirmed that "there are continuing contacts" between the Iraqi government and rebels, but gave no details.
As opinion polls show support for the war waning in America, US diplomats and commanders have admitted there can be no purely military victory in Iraq.

US and Iraqi officials are drafting an amnesty policy for those who have not targeted civilians and are willing to renounce violence, the Associated Press news agency reported yesterday.

Iraq and US draft amnesty for insurgents






I was under the impression though that the U.S. doesn't negotiate with "terrorists". Is the U.S. position then that the U.S. is in fact NOT fighting the terrorists "there and not here"? Is the United States now saying that these are resistance fighters that can be coaxed into the Iraqi political manstream and in fact are NOT Al Queda terrorists?

I've also recently read reports that the death toll of American servicemen is far higher than the 1700 approx. officially listed. This on account of the failure to include soldiers who are taken off the battlefield and later die of their wounds in hospitals in Germany or elsewhere. The toll I read was in the neighborhood of 9000.

ABC News is reporting that it has obtained notes from a January 2003 meeting at the Pentagon at which the general counsel of the Navy warned that the interrogation techniques being used at Guantanamo in 2002 would expose the military to criminal prosecution. Minutes from a second meeting in March 2003 show that a group of top Pentagon lawyers concluded that interrogators would need a presidential letter approving their techniques in order for the techniques to be legal. No such letter was ever issued.

So no amount of rice pilaf or lemon chicken is going to excuse torture and indefinate detention with no charges filed.

"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." - George W. Bush State of the Union speech Jan 28, 2003 "mission accomplished" - George W. Bush May 2, 2003 It does not require a majority to prevail but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brushfires in peoples minds". Samuel Adams said that. Pretty deep for a guy that makes beer for a living - The Boondocks "A conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after they're dead" - Leo C. Rosten