Chemical Imbalance
By Thomas JeffreyArticle Posted: Tuesday April 22, 2008
Ali Hassan al-Majid, a first cousin of Iraq’s former head honcho Saddam Hussein and better known around the world by the moniker “Chemical Ali”, has suffered a heart attack while in U.S. custody according to officials.
Ali Hassan became infamous for his use of mustard, sarin, VX, and tubun chemical gas agents in 1998 against Kurdish civilians in Northern Iraq. He was later convicted of that and other crimes by an Iraqi court after his capture in 2006 by the U.S. military and was sentenced to hang by the neck until dead. Mr. Ali continues to appeal his conviction.
Ali Hassan, who apparently unhappy with the fact that he needed to share a bathroom with 3 other inmates, joined a hunger strike against such indignities just last Friday. It is unknown what affect Mr. Ali’s self-imposed starvation stunt played in his subsequent myocardial infarction.
Sources:
‘Chemical Ali’ is hospitalized in Iraq after hunger strike —Associated Press via Google News
Hussein Henchman Has Heart Attack — New York Times
Ali Hassan al-Majid — Wikipedia.org
Bad News
By Thomas JeffreyArticle Posted: Sunday August 5, 2007
A man who this Leftwing Nutjob considers to be among the most honest within the Bush Administration has returned from Baghdad with yet another blunt assessment of Iraq War progress.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated that the Bush Administration may have underestimated the inherent vitriol between the two warring factions in Iraq, and that reconciliation between the Sunnis and the Shiites may be more difficult than originally hoped.
Mr. Gates spoke just hours after the Sunni delegation to Iraq’s Parliament announced that they were resigning, adding insult to injury as the entire parliamentary body choose to ignore international pleas to stay in session last week and instead recessed for a month-long summer vacation.
But Mr. Gates did offer his optimism that an accommodation could eventually be reached between the two parties, with a political reconciliation in regards to long-stalled legislation becoming obtainable if the administration’s security goals for the country could be reached.
Iraqi progress ‘disappoints’ US — BBC News
Running On Empty
By Thomas JeffreyArticle Posted: Sunday July 15, 2007
The US Army announced on Tuesday that it failed to enlist enough recruits to meet it June recruitment goal of 8,400 — the second straight month that it has failed to do so. Both the National Guard and Army Reserves were able to meet their goals, however, as well as the US Marine Corps.
The two-month slide has some within the Pentagon swigging Maalox as the summer months are traditionally the strongest when it comes to enlisting young men and women into the ranks of the military. And even though some within the Defense Department acknowledge that the war in Iraq may be a factor — including the recently mandated 15-month tours of duty in either the Iraq or Afghanistan theater — they maintain that the Army is on still track to meet its goal of enlisting 80,000 new recruits by the end of the year.
This Leftwing Nutjob hopes that the recent activity that he’s noticed in his server logs regarding Google searches by the US Government for the Area Office Mobilization Prototype Exercise — which is used to test the Selective Service System — is just another drill and not a sign of things to come.
Army misses recruiting goal for second month — MSNBC.com
End of the Line
By Thomas JeffreyArticle Posted: Saturday June 30, 2007
The United Nations Security Council finally put the kibosh on the futile attempt to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq by voting to close down those units within the international agency that had been charged with the snipe hunt before the US invasion.
The resolution passed on Friday effectively dissolves the group and directs that any remaining funds left unspent, which some estimate to be in the neighborhood of $60 million, be reprimanded to the Iraqi government for deposit into the black hole known as the Development Fund for Iraq.
America’s ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, was not above stating the obvious when he remarked following the passage of the resolution that “There is no longer any reason to believe significant quantities of Saddam-era weapons of mass destruction remain undiscovered in Iraq.”
Well, no sh*t, Sherlock.
UN closes Iraq WMD inspectorate — BBC News
To the Curb
By Thomas JeffreyArticle Posted: Sunday June 10, 2007
In a surprising move that has the beltway’s tongues a-wagging, General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will not be re-nominated to continue at that post, this according to White House officials and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Mr. Pace’s ouster appears to be the latest in a long string of casualties related to ongoing disaster that is the Iraq War — a war the good General helped plan from the beginning. But observers note that is may also be indicative of the growing cache of Mr. Gates, who is seeking as General Pace’s replacement someone who matches the Defense Secretary’s low key, pragmatic approach to stopping the bleeding in Iraq — an Admiral by the name of Michael Mullen.
Listeners to this program as well as newshounds will recall that it was General Pace who made waves a few months back when he called homosexuality immoral and tantamount to adultery. It now appears that Mr. Pace will have even more time to delude himself in that sentiment.
Gen Peter Pace goes — The Times of Pakistan
Podcast #117
By Thomas JeffreyArticle Posted: Tuesday April 15, 2008
Leftwing Nutjob Podcast, Episode 117, for Sunday, April 13, 2008
Penn hits the bricks, Iran in the spotlight again, the Obama money machine, al Qaeda’s rising star and more!