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

To: lurqer who wrote (36755)	2/2/2004 6:10:45 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

yeah but it kind of calls into question the NFL's claim of "no place for tittilation", no? The NFL was the sponsor of the event, you would assume they knew the gist of the content of Nelly and P Diddy when they hired them.

To: lurqer who wrote (36755)	2/2/2004 6:12:03 PM
From: lurqer	Respond to of 89467

Death toll in Iraqi blasts climbs above 100 The death toll from a pair of suicide bombings in the offices of two Kurdish political parties rose to at least 110 on Monday as politicians began to debate whether the violence would further unravel U.S. plans for a unified Iraq. Workers washed blood and body parts from the floors and ceilings of the rooms where the explosions occurred in the middle of holiday receptions Sunday with dozens of Kurdish political figures and their followers. Dakhil Khuder, who supervises the Irbil morgue, said his workers stopped counting the dead at 67. "We started putting bodies on the ground outside, and families would come by and put them in a car," he said. Interviews with administrators at three of the city's five hospitals indicated that 110 people were confirmed dead and more than 200 were injured. Standing outside the regional governor's office, a spokesman said there were no local senior officials to interview. They all died in the blasts, he said. The explosions, almost certainly the deadliest in postwar Iraq, came as Iraqi and U.S. officials in Baghdad are trying to meet a Feb. 28 deadline to hammer out a law to guide the formation of an interim government. A key sticking point has been the amount of autonomy to be granted to the Kurdish territory in northern Iraq. Leaders of the two parties whose offices were hit by the blasts, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), released statements saying they were resolved to work together for the future of Iraq. But Peter Galbraith, the former U.S. ambassador to Croatia who's been in the region consulting with Jalal Talabani, the head of the PUK, and Massoud Barzani, of the KDP, said the blasts provided powerful incentives for the groups to isolate themselves from a central Iraq authority. Galbraith said the Kurds have expressed fears to him since the fall of Baghdad that the "Iraq disease" of chaos and violence would follow to the Kurdish areas. "Now it has," he said. The bombings came on the Muslim holiday Eid al Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, which commemorates Abraham's willingness to obey God by sacrificing his son. "Right now, the Kurdish leaders are in too much shock to think it through, but of course it's going to have an impact," Galbraith said. "This is going to make the Kurds more reluctant to come under control of Baghdad. ... You cannot preserve the unity of a democratic state where part of the population in a geographically defined area doesn't want to be a part of the state." Spokesmen for Barzani and Talabani didn't respond to calls for comment Monday. Barzani was ushered in and out of a funeral service for the bombing victims surrounded by dozens of gunmen, none of whom let reporters near him or his entourage. Salem Chalabi, a nephew of Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi and a framer of the transitional law, agreed the bombings were substantial setbacks. "It's sad - the mess that's in Iraq has entered this region," he said. "We're in a very delicate phase in negotiating the transitional administrative law. ... Events like this make it much more difficult." The Kurdish region was cut off from the rest of Iraq and former dictator Saddam Hussein after the 1991 Gulf War when the Americans established a no-fly zone and threatened heavy force in the event of incursion. The specter of an independent Kurdish state has met with strong opposition from surrounding countries. Turkey, Syria and Iran have sizable Kurdish populations that they fear would secede if there were an autonomous homeland just across the border. Chalabi said he'd been told by U.S. military officials that the suicide bombers, who detonated devices strapped to their bodies, used very high-grade plastic explosives. That, Chalabi said, suggested that they were "getting support from other states." He declined to be more specific. Tensions about the region's future have flared in recent months - with Turkmen, Kurds and Arabs jostling for power in an area that sits on billions of dollars in oil reserves. Almost all Irbil residents and victims interviewed Monday, though, blamed Ansar al Islam, a radical Islamic terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida. Ansar was pushed out of the area early last year by U.S. Special Forces and local paramilitary forces. Zexto Mohammad was in the PUK office at the time of the explosion. His right eye was burned and swollen shut Monday, and his hands were covered with blisters. He said he knew exactly who was responsible: "It was the terrorist fighters. They do not want us to have peace." There were many among the injured who couldn't speak at all. Sami Sulaiwa's throat and stomach were ripped open by shrapnel, and his arms were burned badly. His wife, Hiam, stood at his bedside and said she couldn't guess "what evil men would do such a thing." Most of the mourners outside an Irbil mosque on Monday agreed with the Ansar assumption. Thousands walked between long lines of men, relatives of bombing victims, who were holding their hands up in greeting. A gruff voice called out verses of the Quran over the speaker system. One of them, in particular, seemed well suited to today's Iraq: "No one knows when he will die or where." realcities.com lurqer

To: lurqer who wrote (36755)	2/2/2004 6:29:46 PM
From: Rascal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Is this a Freudian Slip by the President? "What we don't know yet is what we thought and what the Iraqi Survey Group has found, and we want to look at that. whitehouse.gov For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary February 2, 2004 Remarks by the President in Photo Opportunity After Meeting with Cabinet Cabinet Room 9:55 A.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank the members of my Cabinet for their service to our country. I'm proud of the team I've put together to serve our citizens. These are good, honorable people who have come to Washington, D.C. to put the nation's interests above their self-interest. We had a good discussion today about our nation's priorities. Secretary Powell briefed us on the alliances, the strong alliances we have around the world, a deep desire to continue to work with nations to bring freedom and peace around the world. The Secretary of Defense briefed us on the progress we're making in Afghanistan and in Iraq. Appreciate the briefing I got from Tom Ridge about homeland security efforts. And we've got a lot of really fine people in the country who are working overtime, long hours, to protect the American people and they're doing a really fine job. And, finally, Josh Bolten gave us a briefing on our budget. This administration is putting together -- has put together a budget and will be submitting it to Congress, which sets clear priorities: winning the war on terror, protecting our homeland, making sure our children get educated, making sure the seniors get a modern Medicare system. And at the same time we're calling upon Congress to be wise with the taxpayer's money. We look forward to working with them to bring fiscal discipline to the appropriations process so we can cut the deficit in half over a five year period of time. Again, I'm proud of the Cabinet, appreciate your work. I'll be glad to take a couple of questions. Terry, you might have a question. Q Yes, Mr. President. I'd like to ask you about this intelligence investigation that you're going to order. Do you think that the country is owed an explanation about the Iraq intelligence failures before the election, so that voters have this information when they elect a new President? THE PRESIDENT: Well, the -- first of all, I want to know all the facts. We do know that Saddam Hussein had the intent and the capabilities to cause great harm, we know he was a danger. And he was not only a danger to people in the free world, he was a danger to his own people; he slaughtered thousands of people, imprisoned people. What we don't know yet is what we thought and what the Iraqi Survey Group has found, and we want to look at that. But we also want to look at our war against proliferation and weapons of mass destruction, kind of in a broader context. And so I'm putting together an independent, bipartisan commission to analyze where we stand, what we can do better as we fight this war against terror. Before I move forward with the commission, I want to sit down with Mr. Kay. I appreciate his service. I've invited him to come down to the White House. I'll be doing so soon. I do want to get a briefing from him. Steve. Q Sir, do you worry that your budget passes along problems to future generations? You often say you don't want to do that. THE PRESIDENT: No, I'm confident our budget addresses a very serious situation, and that is, we are at war, and we are -- had dealt with a recession. And our budget is able to address those significant factors in a way that reduces the deficit in half. We propose, the Congress disposes. And so we look forward to working with the appropriators to meet our priorities and to reduce the deficit in half. We're confident we can do so. The reason we are where we are, in terms of the deficit, is because we went through a recession, we were attacked, and we're fighting a war. And these are high hurdles for a budget and for a country to overcome, and yet we've overcome them, because we've got a great country, full of decent people. And the economy is getting better. And as the economy gets better, it enables us to send up a budget to the Congress that does cut the deficit in half. Q What part of the Super Bowl did you like the best? The half time or the ending? (Laughter.) THE PRESIDENT: I don't want to admit it, but because this White House starts early, I missed it -- again. Saw the first half, did not see the half time -- I was preparing for the day and fell asleep. But you all can tell me about it. (Laughter.) END 10:00 A.M. EST Rascal @HeIsOnlyHalf-Time.com