Source: The Guardian

An Iraqi taxi driver was the source of the discredited claim that Saddam Hussein could unleash weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, a Tory MP claimed today.

Adam Holloway, a defence specialist, said MI6 obtained the information indirectly from a taxi driver who had overheard two Iraqi military commanders talking about Saddam's weapons.

The 45-minute claim was a key feature of the dossier about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction that was released by Tony Blair in September 2002. Blair published the information to bolster public support for war.

After the war the dossier became hugely controversial when it became clear that some of the information it contained was not true. An inquiry headed by Lord Butler into the use of intelligence in the run-up to the war revealed that MI6 had subsequently accepted that some of its Iraqi sources were unreliable, but his report did not identify who they were.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/de...

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I'm speechless. I honestly don't know what to say, except that it is absolutely fucking unbelievable that thousands of people have died for a lie based on what a taxi driver said.

Truth will out, as they say. The sad thing is, even though Britain is way ahead of the US in actually opening an inquiry into the illegal Iraq war, fuck all will come of it. Blair, together with Bush and Cheney, will live out his days in comfort as a rich free man, instead of rotting in a jail cell where he belongs. That makes me angrier than I could ever express.

Honest to goodness offer on Amazon.com:

"Buy Going Rogue: An American Life and get Catastrophe at an additional 5% off Amazon.com's everyday low price."

http://www.amazon.com/Going-Rogue-American...

Notice that Palin's 'book' is already in the bargain bin and being sold at a THIRD of the original price flexible. Also.

The evidence is there, people - the New Testament has a well-known liberal bias, liberals think Obama is the MESSIAH, Jesus is falsely portrayed as a dirty hippie - he has long hair, wears sandals and talks about PEACE and LOVE all the time. It would be irresponsible not to speculate here, therefore I say Bill Ayers wrote the Bible.

http://washingtonindependent.com/62828/yes...

That stuff about the Bible having a liberal bias is genuinely believed by the same crowd. The good folks at the reality-free zone known as Conservapedia are working to rid the Bible of what they see as liberal fabrications. I would say the mind-numbing, headache inducing stupidity of these people shocks me, but I'd be lying.

A look inside the mind of a wingnut - it's more funny than scary.

http://wonkette.com/410493/like-mel-gibson...

The best bits:

"Have you noticed that the liberal media are trying to manipulate our behavior in our townhalls and TPP meetings." Ah, so the same liberal media that's claiming the Dems have 'lost the message war' to these bozos planted microchips in their heads, and then pressed a button to make them all go crazy in unison? I see. And wingnut grammar strikes again - no question mark.

"The secular progressives are trying to shove marxism down our throats." Well, teabaggers would know all about shoving things down people's throats.

"They want us to be nice little boys and girls while they screw our nation, and kill the American spirit, and kill the future for our children and grandchildren." These people were apparently in a deep, deep coma during the Bush Administration.

And the piece de resistance:

"I want to see some Braveheart moments in our townhall meetings. I want to see our men paint their faces blue and shout out freedom, like Mel Gibson playing the character, William Wallace, did." Ummm...ok, if you really want to yell FREEEEDOOOOM while being disembowelled alive, that's your business up to you. It's a free country, after all...until we evil Godless Communist pigs complete our revolution. Better hurry up and do it.

Personally I'm hoping they emulate the part where the Scots yank up their kilts and moon the English, so we can give them a REAL ass kicking. And maybe fire a couple of arrows into their buttocks while we're at it.

Kitchen table debates at my house are not fun. My folks hate paying taxes, believe that the majority of those on welfare are lazy bums, that gays shouldn't be allowed to marry and homosexuality should not be 'promoted' as an 'acceptable lifestyle' (they believe this bullshit about a gay agenda trying to force pro-gay views on them) want the death penalty reintroduced in Britain as they think it would somehow magically end violent crime, and are convinced that Maggie Thatcher is the greatest Prime Minister we've ever had. As far as they're concerned America-wise, Bush did a good job and got a bad rap, Obama is going to kill old people with his death panels, and the US healthcare system is way better than our NHS. And this is just some of their views. If they were Americans, I'm pretty sure they'd be out teabagging.

I argue with them a lot, especially about gay issues because I can't bear the fact my parents are bigoted - I try to explain that people deprived of civil rights are not the ones forcing things on others - and I get to the point where I almost have my mother convinced, but by the next time I pay a visit she's firmly back to square one. My dad won't budge an inch (and really, the fact they both think Bush was a decent president suggests they're beyond all hope). Both wonder how I turned out to be such a 'bleeding heart lib'. It's hard because I love them very much, but they're just so wrong about so much.

I'd like to hear from those on either side of the pond who come from a very conservative family or have right wing family members. It's pretty bad for a Brit, but I imagine it must be a lot worse for American liberals.

This is just to add my two cents on this, as this has really got me hot under the collar. Oh and I've seen the townhall crap going down on the other side of the pond...I've given up trying to comprehend these people as it just makes my brain hurt. It really is incredibly ironic - the people who are all about 'me me me' are acting against their own self-interest.

To put the craziness of the right-wingers in some perspective, David Cameron, the leader of the right-wing Conservative Party here in the UK, loves the NHS because of the incredible support and care it provided his tragic, late son Ivan with. Ivan was born with severe cerebral palsy and was much more severely disabled than Stephen Hawking. Yet the NHS made Ivan's short life as comfortable as possible; emergency services were always on hand he suffered seizures; through the NHS, Ivan became less of a burden and more of a joy to his parents; and the Camerons were able to live an almost normal life with their other children.

Yes, Republicans, our own British right-wingers would not only not even consider tearing down this evil, Orwellian institution but they cherish it. I'm not fond of Cameron, the Tories or their policies, but I'm immensely thankful that they're reasonable conservatives rather than those of the Republican variety. What these wackos in the US also fail to realise is that we in the UK have a private option - BUPA - which, if we find that treatments we need are unavailable on the NHS, we may choose to take up. Our system is basically the opposite of the American one - and vastly superior.

As for my experience with the NHS personally - I've worn glasses since my childhood - the NHS paid for lenses AND frames until I turned 18, and continued to subsidise them while I went through university. I had an operation to remove my appendix - it was done swiftly, I faced no ruinous bills nor an insurance company trying to worm its way out of covering me. When I've been sick, I did not have to pay to go to the doctor, and for years I did not have to pay for my prescription.

I have just one question for Republicans: how, how is having your very health subjected to the whims of greedy crooks who will desperately try to avoid paying your medical bills, better than being guaranteed treatment and good quality medical care for absolutely nothing? In what world other than Bizarro World is having your life held to ransom a good thing? Please explain. Either give me - and the rest of the country you just insulted - a coherent, well-thought out answer, or take the medicine I'm prescribing for you - a nice hot cup of Shut. The. Fuck. Up.

wow: I can't believe someone can basically follow Adolf freaking Hitler's line of thought on television and not get totally ripped apart for it. Then again, since this is on Fox, I can.

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/200... /...

The reason Alzheimer's is a problem in America apparently, is that Americans keep marrying other species and ethnics. Not like the Swedes and Finns, who have 'pure' societies because they only marry fellow Swedes and Finns.

Kilmeade is a disgusting, racist POS that should go and spew his neo-Nazi bile on Stormfront instead of a cable news channel. But of course, this is Faux Noise, and they have no shame. You'll notice from the video that the attempts to call him out are half-hearted, to say the least.

Almost as shocking is the sight of a wingnut citing Finland and Sweden as good examples. I thought they were totally evil and socialist and Marxist and stuff.

From the Shit You Can't Make Up files, we present everyone's favorite racist Pat Buchanan and his merry men.

Crazy Uncle Pat hosted a conference to discuss how best to lure the sane people into the asylum, or how to get people to vote Republican again. Buchanan and his fellow racist, the white nationalist Peter Brimelow put on their tin foil hats and proceeded to warn against the (non-existent) threat of President Obama forcing all Americans to speak Spanish. Championing the cause of English as the only language to be spoken in America, they said, is the way to turn unwary Democrats to the Dark Side. And keep California blue for the next 1000 years.

To be fair to the bigoted asshats, I can see why they have a problem with learning another language. English still presents a challenge for them:





Only one word for these people: Morans. Under this banner Buchanan proceeded to mock Sonia Sotomayor for using children's books to improve her grammar (he gets no irony in his diet).

But what exactly do they mean by English-only? TPM may have the answer.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/...

Terrorism wins the day in Ireland. The journalist's life might not be in specific danger now the verdict has gone her way, but the killers are still free, out there and able to continue their campaign of violence. And the families of those murdered are now further away from getting justice for their loved ones.

I confess to being a little bit torn - I can see where she's coming from re. journalistic integrity, and God knows I wouldn't want her life put in danger, but surely catching murderers who are bound to kill again is equally, if not more important? Maybe I'm missing something here, but I can't understand why she simply couldn't be given police protection if she were to turn over the records.

I've got tired very quickly of the whole Palin/Letterman brouhaha, but this is so damn funny. The right-wing nutters don't need anyone to make fools out of them - as this video shows, they do it just fine by themselves. Way to go Sam!

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/sam...

Warning: do not try to get the pens 'joke'. You'll only give yourself a major league headache.

How any company can get away with this is unbelievable.

A girl was told to work in the storeroom of A&F and had her self-esteem given a good kicking because she has a prosthetic arm. Apparently, it doesn't fit in with their 'look policy'. As we all know, anyone who's not white, stick-thin, and all-American doesn't fit their so-called look. Now we can add handicapped to that list.

http://jezebel.com/5289492/abercrombie-ban... ...

I can't believe they even have a frickin' handbook telling employees what they can and cannot look like. Surely they're breaking some law somewhere? If not, who in their right mind would want to work for a company like that?

A&F have been sued in the past for discrimination - but the problem is that all the cases ended up being settled out of court. People allowed themselves to be bought off. The girl in this case, Riam Dean, is also suing, and I hope she does take it to court and sues their asses off. Maybe getting taken to the cleaners will make these assholes get the message that discrimination of any kind is completely unacceptable.

It may end up making very little sense but this has been annoying me all weekend.

I am sick and tired of this whole hullabaloo over Letterman's ill-advised joke. People either way need to get over it already. Who honestly gives a shit? Compared to the way a GOP insulted Michelle Obama, this is such a NON-ISSUE. I've seen considerably less attention paid to that both in the media and on here, but I think a nasty bit of racism is FAR more deserving of people's outrage and arguments over what constitutes an apology. I can't believe this nonsense managed to push the events in Iran off the networks radar. They were so wrapped up in a petty feud between two relatively unimportant people they missed the start of a potential REVOLUTION. We should be more worried about the state of the media than a airhead governor being offended or a comedian going too far (or not).

That is all.

...it's about the Grand Obstructionist Party. Oh and saving America from Democratic tyranny and the horrors of government-run healthcare and secret union ballots, because clearly, the world will end if any of those 3 things happen. Oh yeah...the people of Minnesota got lost somewhere in all that bullshit.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06...

"If I am in the U.S. Senate, we're not gonna have a government-controlled health care. It's not gonna happen."



Norm, Norm, Norm, you'd be better off hiring yourself out as a roadblock somewhere. Cos you ain't going back to the Hill, buddy.

119 members of the faculty have now quit, including an important figure in the field of electronic engineering. They're now demanding the university's president resign for failing to protect the students.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_...

Something's got to give.

So 41 detainees attempted suicide - 5 successfully - because they couldn't stand the warm and fuzzy treatment any longer? I guess the people who wrote the Red Cross report stating flat out the inmates were tortured were lying. And those photographs of detainees in orange suits bent double on the ground in chains are obviously Photoshopped. And I suppose a lot of prisoners were just really, really thirsty, and we were just being hospitable hosts in giving them all that water.



Guantanamo is humane? If it weren't for the whole 60 seats thing (for when Franken is finally seated)I'd really want Harry Reid to kick Lieberman to the curb. We don't need this kind of 'humanity' in the Democratic Party.