10 February 2004

EU confirms its money used to fund terrorists

[source, source]

The German newspaper Berlin Morgenpost reported Sunday on the initial results of the European Commission’s Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) investigation into suspicions that $1.1 billion in EU aid to the Palestinians was used in an illegal manner.

The initial report indicates that Arafat transferred much of the European aid money to various Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terror groups and to Palestinian officials.

I’m actually stunned that there was physical evidence of that left around.

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Alert! President Clinton was part of the VRWC oil gang too!

[source]

Okay, well, outtakes: went back to the microfilm today to February 1998, when the Clinton adminstration was making the case for attacking Iraq. How things change. Clinton was arguing that Saddam not only had WMD, but that one day he might want to make more WMD, and this wasn’t acceptable. Interesting to read between the lines - the Clinton administration seemed to be arguing that the potential for future production was itself a valid reason to strike. Military force is never “the first answer,’ Clinton said, “but sometimes it’s the only answer.” “If Saddam isn’t stopped now,” the AP story said, quoting Clinton,“’He will conclude that the international community has lost its will. He will then conclude that he can go right on and do more to rebuild an arsenal of devastating destruction. And someday, someway, I guarantee you, he’ll use that arsenal.’” Thus spake Clinton in 1998. He went on to note that the strikes planned could not possibly destroy Saddam’s arsenal, because A) they didn’t know where everything was, and B) they didn’t want to kill Iraqis by unleashing clouds of toxins. And it gets better: a sidebar noted that this war plan – Desert Thunder – had been prepared weeks before, in case Saddam stiffed in the inspectors.

Bill Clinton had a plan to go to war before the crisis flared! What does that tell you? Obviously, he was looking for any excuse! Halliburton! We all know about the ties between Clinton and Halliburton – he gave them a sweet no-bid contract after his Balkans war, you know.

The song remains the same. But this will be great bon mot to drop in the next conversation about the Cheney administration.

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It's OK for guys to do that now

[source, source]

A political tale from down under:

t’s the way Mark Latham keeps misremembering his boyhood that shows us what makes him dangerous. Take his recent speech to [Australian Labor Party’s] national conference.

“When I was young, my mum used to tell me there were two types of people in our street — the slackers and the hard workers,” he thundered.

In fact, his mum thought we were all either no-hopers or hard workers, as Latham explained in the draft of speech.

But then his shadow treasurer, Simon Crean, checked the draft, took out his red pencil and turned all those no-hopers into slackers — presumably because he knew Labor delegates hate such judgmental language.

And that’s what Latham ended reading out — Crean’s version of what Latham’s mother said, and not the truth.

It’s not fake, it’s just an implant - improving over what nature gave him.

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