For those who haven't had the pleasure, I heartily recommend the Band of Brother Iconoclasts at Defense and the National Interest - the ideal antidote to twaddle from the MSM, the War Party, the Democratic "Leadership" and their Council

 A few recent offerings from those Wild and Crazy Guys..(be sure to look for ANYTHING by Werther!)

Lies Have Consequences

Top Secret US Government Documents about Iraq By Fabius Maximus February 11, 2006 With comments by DNI’s Counterintelligence Editor, James Jesus Angleton (CIA, Ret.), who hacked into this page from his secret offsite location. [DNI Editor's note: I hadn't heard from Angleton in a while so I assumed that reports of his passing were true. Several of my Agency contacts, however, assure me that this would not have stopped him from hacking into Fabius Maximus's document. I will provide DNI visitors with further information as it becomes available.]

• 2/16/06 A Short Checklist on Why the Iraq War Will Fizzle, by Bryce Lane.  A martial artist's view.
• 2/14/06 When will oil production peak? 2015? 2025? A leading expert says it was last December.

• 2/08/06 The Fate of Israel, Part two in a series of articles about grand strategy in a 4GW Era. Demonstrating the difficulty of distinguishing strong from weak in 4GW, and that choosing the wrong grand strategy can be terminal for a state. By Fabius Maximus

• 2/08/06 On War #151: The Long War, by William S. Lind.  "There has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited." - Sun Tzu, Ch. II (Griffith)

• 2/5/06 On War #150: The Next Act, by William S. Lind

Concerned about the apparent collapse of Congressional efforts to challenge Bush's assertion of extra-constitutional power in the NSA spy case, a  friend recently asked me:

I don't understand this. Though I only caught a piece of it which may be why I don't understand this, but is the congress now talking about passing a law to make the illegal wiretapping legal? And if so then doesn't that mean that the bushies necessarily broke the law and they're just not going to be prosecuted for it?

WTF is going on in this country? I don't feel very well.

[Senate Rejects Wiretap Probe]
The answer's right here.

Die Fahne Hoc
Paul Craig Roberts (fornerly National Review, WSJ Editorial Page}

Last week's annual Conservative Political Action Conference signaled the transformation of American conservatism into brownshirtism. A former Justice Department official named Viet Dinh got a standing ovation when he told the CPAC audience that the rule of law mustn't get in the way of President Bush protecting Americans from Osama bin Laden.

Former Republican congressman Bob Barr, who led the House impeachment of President Bill Clinton, reminded the CPAC audience that our first loyalty is to the U.S. Constitution, not to a leader. The question, Barr said, is not one of disloyalty to Bush, but whether America "will remain a nation subject to, and governed by, the rule of law or the whim of men."

The CPAC audience answered that they preferred to be governed by Bush. According to Dana Milbank, a member of the CPAC audience named Richard Sorcinelli loudly booed Barr, declaring: "I can't believe I'm in a conservative hall listening to him say Bush is off course trying to defend the United States." A woman in the audience told Barr that the Constitution placed Bush above the law and above non-elected federal judges.

These statements gallop beyond the merely partisan. They express the sentiments of brownshirtism. Our leader über alles.

And as long as we have the likes of Jane Harman in the streets to battle the brown bataillonen, we're gonna get mugged. But then if you don't re-elect the likes of Jane Harman, just wait and see what Bush will do with another "mandate"

You think he's a tinpot dictator in waiting now, just wait and see what happens when Georgie grows up. A real nasty Catch22

A Little Travelin Music Sam 

Die Straße frei
Den braunen Batallionen
Die Straße frei
Dem Sturmabteilungsmann!

Thick as A Brick

And the youngest of the family is moving with authority.
Building castles by the sea, he dares the tardy tide to wash them all aside.

The cattle quietly grazing at the grass down by the river
where the swelling mountain water moves onward to the sea:
the builder of the castles renews the age-old purpose
and contemplates the milking girl whose offer is his need.
The young men of the household have
all gone into service and
are not to be expected for a year.
The innocent young master -- thoughts moving ever faster --
has formed the plan to change the man he seems.
And the poet sheaths his pen while the soldier lifts his sword.

And the oldest of the family is moving with authority.
Coming from across the sea, he challenges the son who puts him to the run.

What do you do when
the old man's gone -- do you want to be him? And
your real self sings the song.
Do you want to free him?
No one to help you get up steam --
and the whirlpool turns you `way off-beam.

LATER.
I've come down from the upper class to mend your rotten ways.
My father was a man-of-power whom everyone obeyed.
So come on all you criminals!
I've got to put you straight just like I did with my old man --
twenty years too late.
Your bread and water's going cold.
Your hair is too short and neat.
I'll judge you all and make damn sure that no-one judges me.

US Attack on Iraq Would Kill 10,000 - Oxford Report (Telegraph UK)

Avoiding War

2307 The fifth commandment forbids the intentional destruction of human life. Because of the evils and injustices that accompany all war, the Church insistently urges everyone to prayer and to action so that the divine Goodness may free us from the ancient bondage of war. [Cf. Vatican II, Gaudium et spes 81, 4] All citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war.

However, "as long as the danger of war persists and there is no international authority with the necessary competence and power, governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed." [Cf. Vatican II, Gaudium et spes 79, 4]

2309 The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:
 - the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
 - all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
 - there must be serious prospects of success;
 - the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.
These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the "just war" doctrine. The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good

The Oxford report says that Britain could be drawn into the conflict if the Prime Minister allowed American B2 bombers, which can carry 40,000lb of precision bombs, to use bases at Fairford, Glos, and on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

Precision bombing could put Iran's weapons programme back five to 10 years but within a month the situation would become "an extremely dangerous conflict", says Prof Paul Rogers, the report's author.

The attack would result in "a protracted military confrontation" involving Israel, Lebanon and some Gulf states.

More than 100 American bombers, many based on carriers in the Gulf, would take part in a huge simultaneous surprise air attack on 20 key nuclear and military facilities, the report says.

If the targets included the nuclear reactor at Bushehr, which will become fully fuelled this year, a radioactive cloud could spread over the Gulf. Iran's small navy, which includes three submarines, would have to be attacked to negate threats to vital shipping lanes in the Straits of Hormuz.

But Iran could still retaliate with suicide speedboats, possibly leading to crippling rises in the price of oil.

Prof Rogers, professor of peace studies at Bradford University, says that American military action would also have a unifying effect on the rule of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and exacerbate anti-American hostility in the Islamic world.

The report says that a ground offensive in Iran would not be feasible, as it would require at least 100,000 troops - and American forces are already over-stretched with 130,000 soldiers in Iraq and 18,000 in Afghanistan.

Iran Prepared to Retaliate Experts Warn [Boston Globe] 
 

Failure of Bush's Iran policy is not an option. It is an accomplished fact.

Bush says that the military option is on the table. If anyone knows the whereabouts of the table let me know.  Will I need a roadmap?

We're not afraid of anything because they can't do anything - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad