26 October 2003

Judge slammed for speaking truth to power

[source, source]
California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, President Bush’s controversial nominee for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, ran into a firestorm of criticism from Democrats […]

In her questioning, Feinstein zeroed in on a speech Brown delivered three years ago to the Federalist Society at the University of Chicago Law School that the senator said was disturbing because of its anti-government tone.

In that speech, Brown said that “where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates, and our ability to control our destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege, war in the streets, unapologetic expropriation of property, the precipitous decline of the rule of law, the rapid rise of corruption, the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit.”

Apparently, to Senator Feinstein, it doesn’t matter whether Brown is right but only if she is anti-government (although, to be fair, those are probably synonymous in Feinstein’s world).
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Missile attack on Baghdad headquarters of US military.

[source]
BAGHDAD, Iraq — An American colonel was killed and at least 16 people were wounded early Sunday when a barrage of air-to-ground missiles from a homemade launchpad slammed into a highly protected hotel where Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz was staying, in what American military officials called a carefully planned attack.

[…]

Half the missiles were 68-millimeter, which have a range of two to three miles; the others were 85-millimeter, with a 3- to 4-mile range, [commander of the 1st Armored Division, Gen. Martin E.] Dempsey said. The smaller ones were French-made and designed for use by helicopters. The others were Russian-made. The French rockets, officers said, were quite new, and likely purchased after the arms embargo was in place.

“They were in pristine condition,” said one military officer who inspected the rocket tubes and assembly.

[…]

Dempsey said he was convinced the attack was linked to the opening of the 14th of July Bridge on Saturday — the trailer was parked on the road leading to the bridge — and to the easing of the curfew in Baghdad, which was lifted by the authorities for Ramadan. Every move to return Baghdad to some level of normality was met by terrorist actions by those who do not want the coalition to succeed, he said.

Can I hear again how it was the US that armed the Iraqi Ba’ath, and how it would be good for Iraq for the US to pull out? Or how Iraq was a paradise because of the wise oversight of the caring and gentle Ba’ath (who always were concerned only with the overall successful of Iraq) so obviously if they’re trying to get the US to leave, that must be good for Iraq.
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