***Operation Infinite Freedom - Situation Room

That museum director is a piece of work. He had several weeks to correct people's misapprehensions about the looting, but didn't. Then when our guys got in there and finished the accounting that proved it was bogus, THEN he starts backpedaling.

"No, no," he says. "170,000 is the number of the items in the whole museum, not what was looted."

Meanwhile, he sat back and watched us be excoriated by the world.

He is a liar.

Blair, Chirac seek to turn page on Iraq row

PARIS (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) and French President Jacques Chirac expressed agreement on Europe and the Middle East, showing the desire to turn a page on their quarrel over the war in Iraq.
The two leaders met in Paris ahead of next week's European Union (news - web sites) summit for talks that focused on a draft EU constitution and postwar Iraq.
After a tete-a-tete dinner at the Elysee presidential palace lasting more than two hours, Chirac and Blair sought to show that they were now ready to work together despite their past differences over Iraq.
"Whatever the differences that have been over Iraq, I have no doubt at all that it is vitally important for the future of both our countries and for the future of Europe that Britain and France work closely together," Blair declared standing next to Chirac at a press briefing.

Israeli Helicopter Gunship Fires Missiles at Car in Gaza City
At Least 7 Killed in Attack, at Least 29 Wounded

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -— In the third airstrike against Hamas in 24 hours, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a car carrying activists of the Islamic militant group, killing seven people, including a young child, and wounding 29, doctors said.
Israeli helicopters fired rockets at two cars carrying Hamas activists Thursday in Gaza, the latest strikes after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon swore to hunt Palestinians militants in response to a suicide attack on a bus that killed 16 people and wounded 100.
Hamas said the car belonged to one of its activists. A leader of the Islamic militant group, Mahmoud Zahar, said those killed in the airstrike were Yasser Taha, a member of the Hamas military wing, Taha’s wife, and the couple’s two small children. A baby bottle was among the items pulled from the burning car.
The first strike early Thursday killed two low-level Hamas activists, ages 22 and 24, from a unit that guards city streets. The Israeli military said the target was a cell of Palestinians who were about to fire a mortar shell at the nearby Netzarim settlement.

US Fighter Jet Crashes in Iraq; Pilot Ejects Safely

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter plane crashed on Thursday southwest of Baghdad, but the pilot managed to eject safely, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
The cause of the crash was under investigation, it said. The pilot was rescued about an hour after the plane came down and taken to a medical facility for treatment.
"The aircraft was flying from a forward-deployed air base in Southwest Asia supporting operations in Iraq."

Wedding Boom Hits Baghdad, but No Divorces

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The good news for Baghdad residents is that it is possible to get married legally once again, after a two-month hiatus during the U.S.-led war.
The bad news is that they can't get divorced.

Adhamiya civil court, the only functioning civil court in the Iraqi capital, began registering marriages again on May 22. Since then, chief judge Jamal al-Rawi has approved more than 800 marriage contracts.

Before the court system collapsed during the war that deposed leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), he processed around 20 a month.

Sitting behind a desk piled high with papers as young couples and their families crowded outside his office waiting to get their marriages approved, a weary Rawi said that he was working as fast as he could. But rebuilding the legal system will take a lot of time and effort, he said.

"All the other civil courts in Baghdad were looted or set ablaze," he said. "This is the only one left. Everybody who wants a marriage contract has to come here now. And there was a backlog of weddings because of the war. It has been very busy."

The court is so overwhelmed and under-resourced that the only service it currently provides is approving marriages. Rawi says he hopes to restart hearing divorce cases and settling family disputes later this month.

"Divorces can take a long time," he said. "It's fine if both parties agree, but usually there is a disagreement and they are quarrelling and there are all sorts of things to resolve. We can't handle that sort of thing at the moment."

Baghdad: Iraq's first Boy Band Hopes For Stardom

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - They call themselves "Unknown To No One", but the five Iraqis bidding to become the world's next chart-topping boy band are not exactly famous. Yet.
Despite being so short of places to rehearse that they often have to practice their singing while driving around the bomb- scarred streets of Baghdad crammed into an old Volkswagen Passat, the five young men have attracted the interest of a British pop consultant who thinks they can make it big.
The toppling of Saddam Hussein has given them the chance to chase their dream. But militant Muslim groups are growing in influence in Iraq -- and the last thing they would want to see is an Iraqi boy band singing and dancing in matching outfits.
Cinemas, breweries and alcohol stores have been threatened and attacked by militant groups, and in many areas women have been told not to walk outdoors without a veil. But Unknown To No One say they won't let extremists get in their way.
"We lived under dictatorship for 35 years. I'm not prepared to go through that again, and I don't think anybody is," said lead singer Nadeem Hamed, a 20-year-old biology student. "If people attack us for being in a band, that's terrorism."
The band's members -- they chose five as it is the standard boy band size -- span Iraq's religious and ethnic spectrum.
Founders Art Haroutunian, 25, and Shant Garabedian, 24, are Armenian Christians. Diyar Diler is a 21-year-old Sunni Muslim Kurd. Hamed and 21-year-old Hassan Ali al-Falluji are Shi'ite Arabs.
"We are all brothers here," said Haroutunian, who writes the band's songs. "There is no racism. No civil war."

Hee. Rock on.

Morning, nully. Thanks again for the new thread.

Here's Jacque behaving badly:

Chirac and wife face inquiry over food bills (millions of dollars worth of fraud)

A Paris investigating magistrate has overruled a senior public prosecutor and set up a formal inquiry into a multi-million-dollar grocery bill claimed by Jacques Chirac and his wife during eight of the 18 years that the President spent as mayor of the French capital.

Judge Philippe Courroye said on Wednesday that the alleged crimes of fraud and misuse of public funds were not subject to a 10-year statute of limitations, as the chief Paris prosecutor, Yves Bot, argued, because they may have been committed "by a person in a position of public authority".

While Mr Chirac cannot be prosecuted, or questioned, as long as he remains in office, the decision could affect his wife, Bernadette, who may have to explain how the couple could consume up to 1000 francs ($270) of fruit and veg and 357 francs of tea and coffee a day, mostly paid for in cash and justified with receipts which, in many cases, appear to have been doctored.

The inquiry follows a complaint filed last year by the current Socialist Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, after a damning report by town hall accountants.

From 1987 to 1995 the Chiracs were reimbursed 1.45 billion francs for personal food bills.

About two-thirds of the bills, which are entirely separate from the mayor's annual 10 million-franc entertainment budget, were paid in cash apparently taken from the proceeds of the town hall's staff bar. The money was reimbursed in exchange for receipts that "in many instances give rise to suspicions of substantial fraud", the report says.

One 1994 bill was reimbursed "four times that year, and then once the following year, on the basis of carbon copies of different colours and a modified date", the auditors said.

The corners of many receipts had been cut off to remove the date, the report adds, while receipts from the luxury Paris delicatessen Fauchon "appear purely and simply to be fakes".

Army chief retires with parting shot at Rumsfeld

FORT MYER, Va.--''And so I say one last time, my name is Shinseki and I am a soldier--proud of it.''
With that trademark expression from an Army chief of staff who defined himself as a simple soldier, Gen. Eric K. Shinseki on Wednesday bade farewell to a career that spanned five decades, from the jungles of Vietnam, where combat cost him part of a foot, to the halls of the Pentagon, where he fought bureaucratic wars until his final hours as chief of staff.
The White House has not nominated a Shinseki successor, but officials let it be known the day before his retirement ceremony that it would be Peter Schoomaker, who retired from the Army in 2000. Never before has an Army chief of staff been chosen from the ranks of the retired.
In his parting remarks, Shinseki made no specific mention of his boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, with whom he had a sometimes tense relationship.
But Shinseki alluded to the tensions, which some have attributed to a belief by Rumsfeld that Army leaders resisted a basic principle of democracy: that they must answer to civilian authority.
''We understand that leadership is not an exclusive function of the uniformed services,'' Shinseki said to an audience that included members of Congress and military officers from countries across the globe. ''So when some suggest that we in the Army don't understand the importance of civilian control of the military, well, that's just not helpful--and it isn't true.
''The Army has always understood the primacy of civilian control,'' he added. ''In fact we are the ones who reinforce that principle with those other armies with whom we train all around the world. So to muddy the waters when important issues are at stake--issues of life and death--is a disservice to all those in and out of uniform who serve and lead so well.''
Shinseki is the only officer of Japanese descent to rise to the top post in the Army.

Brussels could lose Nato HQ

BRUSSELS – Brussels-based Nato headquarters may move to another member country following a cost-benefit analysis ordered by the US House of Representatives.
In an amendment to the Nato defence budget, congressmen say that it may be more beneficial financially to move the Alliance headquarters to an alternative base.
In further cost-saving initiatives, defence ministers are currently considering the closure of smaller military headquarters across member states.
The move comes at a time when Belgium has fallen out of favour with the US on the politico-diplomatic front.
After joining Germany and France in a stance against the Iraqi conflict without UN approval, Belgium’s controversial law of universal competence further stressed relations.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell and former US President George Bush Senior were both targeted under the law with charges of crimes against humanity during the 1991 Gulf War.
Universal competence allows for the trial of a person or persons for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity — although jurisdiction had allowed for cases of foreign origin to be tried, the law was amended following US pressure so as to avoid it being used for political means.
Most recently, US army commander General Tommy Franks faced a series of war crimes allegations under the law, including the bombing of a market and non-action in the face of pillaging in Baghdad. The Belgian government stepped in and returned the case to the US to be dealt with domestically.

Snip:

The US defence secretary yesterday tapped into deepening international concern about a clandestine nuclear programme in Iran, warning that Tehran was actively working to develop a bomb.

Donald Rumsfeld's remarks, delivered during a visit to Germany, appeared aimed at exerting pressure on Tehran and the UN's nuclear monitoring agency, which meets next week in Vienna to decide how to respond to Iran's failure to honour nuclear safeguards.

His intervention also appeared to advance the next project of Pentagon hawks: regime change in Tehran.

Told'ya.

Iran is next. After Iran is "taken care of," Saudi Arabia will shut up, at least about the euro. Then maybe a nice anti-royalty, anti-western revolution, and we are in Saudi Arabia, too.

OPEC will need to be renamed to "OPEAC" (Organization of Petroleum Exporting American-ruled Countries).

Again: Not that the Iranian nuclear threat isn't real. It is. But it is in fact the perfect excuse that allows the US to justify its intervention. Without terrorism or rogue nations' WMD cravings, we'd be up a creek.

Question remains: How long can we keep this up?

There is an easier solution.

Research "Euro vs Dollar".

Good morning all, I see the world is still turning .

N. Korea plays nuclear chicken

Published: June 12, 2003, 07:20:42 AM PDT The crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, aggravated by its repeated threats to use force in response to U.S. pressure to dismantle the program, may be moving toward a turning point. But Pyongyang's bellicose and unpredictable behavior makes it impossible to know what that might be.

The Bush administration, fearing the spread of nuclear weapons on the global black market, has sought, with some success, to form a consensus with China, Japan, Russia and South Korea to pressure Pyongyang. Even South Korean President Roh Moon Hyun, who favors a conciliatory approach, now says a nuclear-armed North Korea is not acceptable.

The U.S. idea is to keep holding out the prospect of a diplomatic solution that could include economic aid, security assurances and the normalization of North Korea's relations with the outside world. At the same time, concerted economic pressure would be exerted,which could succeed only if China, impoverished North Korea's economic lifeline, joined in. U.S. officials say they have no plan to use force but do not rule it out as a last resort.

So far, the North's response remains hostile. Now it says publicly for the first time that it has nuclear bombs and plans to build more, citing the need to deter a U.S. attack and to cut spending on conventional military forces.

Where this game of nuclear "chicken" will lead is anyone's guess. However, the United States has no choice but to take North Korea seriously and to work patiently to find compromise solutions. What's most heartening is that Washington appears to have persuaded North Korea's neighbors that the crisis must be addressed, and that all of them -- not just the United States -- must be part of the solution.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.