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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lurqer who wrote (35260)	1/16/2004 1:07:36 AM
From: lurqer	Respond to of 89467

Think of it this way Tony, it will all be over soon. 24 hours in the life or death of a premiership Tony Blair was last night presented with the prospect of 24 concentrated hours of nail-biting that may decide the fate of his premiership when Lord Hutton announced he will unveil his report on the Kelly affair the day after MPs vote on student grants and fees. The law lord ended weeks of speculation and delay when he confirmed that he will publish his findings - still unfinished - at lunchtime on January 28, giving the six main players in the drama, including Downing Street, the BBC and the family of David Kelly, copies in strict confidence 24 hours before. Though the 72-year-old Lord Hutton's fierce independence of the machinery of government is not contested, it was authoritatively said that he brought forward plans to publish on February 4 because of persistent speculation about his intentions by MPs and the media. Michael Howard has made Mr Blair's "lies" a major issue. The Hutton report will go, possibly under armed guard, to unidentified printers on Monday. Not even the security services will know where, since they are one of the interested parties in last summer's conflict over the events leading to Dr Kelly's suicide. The timing means the prime minister will spend the afternoon of January 27 absorbing the details of Lord Hutton's judgment as the debate on top-up fees rages at Westminster, culminating in a vote he is far from certain to win. Labour MPs in both camps in the biggest threatened revolt of the Blair era concede that Lord Hutton's timing will probably help rather than hinder the beleaguered Mr Blair. "If Hutton had reported on January 15, as expected, and been hostile to Blair, any appeal to loyalty by playing the confidence vote card might have backfired. Now the whips will be able to say 'don't rock the boat just before Hutton'," one rebel MP said. A veteran loyalist said: "If the vote and the report are both OK for Tony it will draw a line under all this. And, if they're not, it will draw a line as well." In the worst-case scenario, Mr Blair could be forced to resign. If, as expected, Lord Hutton makes a statement, summarising his executive findings at 12.30 in the Royal Courts of Justice - as Mr Blair's weekly Commons question time ends - the prime minister will have to come back and make his own statement to MPs later that afternoon. The expected "spin wars" between the parties will already be under way and - in theory - he may have to speak in the shadow of a crushing policy defeat the previous night. After dithering enough to allow critics to accuse him of "cowardice", Mr Blair confirmed at his monthly No 10 press conference yesterday that he will, after all, lead the subsequent two-day Commons debate on the report, probably within a week, as Lord Hutton hopes. But last night Downing Street gave its Tory and tabloid tormentors another headline opportunity. It refused to say that it will give opposition parties at Westminster at least as much time to peruse the report in advance as John Major's government allowed over the Scott report into arms to Iraq: a three-hour "lock-in" at the Department of Trade and Industry in 1996. That decision belongs to No 10. But Lord Hutton has reserved to himself any decisions regarding advance access to reports for the media, highly partisan over the Iraq war and Dr Kelly's death. A decision was being made overnight. If Lord Hutton does not condemn Mr Blair over the "dodgy intelligence dossier" and the naming of the weapons expert, he can expect to be attacked by much of Fleet Street. Mr Blair hopes - perhaps rashly - he will survive both the top-up vote and the report. At yesterday's press conference he said: "The purpose of being in government is to take difficult decisions which you believe to be right in the interests of the country and to see them through." Mr Blair also said he favoured the option of allowing poorer students to take their £1,200 worth of deferred tuition fee - part of the education secretary Charles Clarke's compromise plan - "upfront" as part of a more attractive package for poorer families. He denied a split between Mr Clarke and Gordon Brown on the issue, as does the Treasury. But Mr Clarke has been warned there will be no extra money to finance the change. Decisive days Monday January 19 Lord Hutton sends his report to a secure printer at an undisclosed destination after making final amendments over the weekend Tuesday January 27 Tony Blair, the BBC, the Kelly family, the Speaker's counsel, Andrew Gilligan and Susan Watts get copies at 12.30pm Tuesday January 27 Tony Blair faces crucial vote on tuition fees at 7pm Wednesday January 28 Lord Hutton publishes his report and makes a statement, around 12.30pm Wednesday January 28 Tony Blair makes a statement to the Commons, probably at 2.30pm. A two-day debate begins the following week politics.guardian.co.uk lurqer

To: lurqer who wrote (35260)	1/16/2004 7:59:30 AM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 89467

Mad Chattel..? Zippty do DUH........<g> T

To: lurqer who wrote (35260)	1/16/2004 11:51:52 AM
From: lurqer	Respond to of 89467

One of the best barometers of the "way things are going" in a Muslim society is women's rights. Last night, I posted two articles on the recent surreptitious decision by the IGC (Iraqi Governing Council) to curtail Iraqi women's rights that they have had for generations. Here's the situation in Afghanistan. For Afghan Women, Supreme Injustices In his Jan. 6 op-ed column, "Afghanistan's Milestone," Zalmay Khalilzad noted the role of women in the constitutional process in Afghanistan. The new constitution articulates the equal rights of men and women before the law, but reality and vision diverge. The courts in Afghanistan will be instrumental in determining whether the constitutional provision on equality is enforced. Yet the chief justice of the supreme court, Sheik Hadi Shinwari, appointed by President Hamid Karzai, has restored many of the Taliban measures of gender oppression. Afghan women are in jail for the "crime" of running away from home to escape sexual abuse or forced marriage, according to a lawyers association for Afghan women. Legal measures passed or upheld by President Karzai's administration ban married women from high school classes, restrict women's travel without the company of a male guardian and prohibit women from singing in public. The constitutional provision on equality requires the elimination of these and many other legal provisions, provisions that the country's chief justice has been instrumental in creating, upholding and defending. Unless a new chief justice is appointed, the new constitution will be no more than a symbolic victory for women. JESSICA NEUWIRTH President Equality Now New York washingtonpost.com >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The glaring discrepancy between reality and the pronouncements of the liberal hawks (Christopher Hitchens, Thomas Friedman, Kenneth Pollack, et al) is increasingly difficult to mask. No amount of claiming it's just Bush's incompetence can hide the fact that the policy was an arrogantly, ill conceived boondoggle ab initio. JMO lurqer