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Neither Silent Nor a Public Witness (washingtonpost.com): "Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage contradicted Rice's claim that the White House had a strategy before 9/11 for military operations against al Qaeda and the Taliban; the CIA contradicted Rice's earlier assertion that Bush had requested a CIA briefing in the summer of 2001 because of elevated terrorist threats; and Rice's assertion this week that Bush told her on Sept. 16, 2001, that 'Iraq is to the side' appeared to be contradicted by an order signed by Bush on Sept. 17 directing the Pentagon to begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq.
Rice, in turn, has contradicted Vice President Cheney's assertion that Clarke was 'out of the loop' and his intimation that Clarke had been demoted. Rice has also given various conflicting accounts. She criticized Clarke for being the architect of failed Clinton administration policies, but also said she retained Clarke so the Bush administration could continue to pursue Clinton's terrorism policies. "

Guardian Unlimited Film | Features | Christ, you know it ain't easy: "the director has concocted a film so festive in its lurid, graphic, semi-pornographic, homoerotic violence that not even the most bloodthirsty film-goer could complain about failing to get his money's worth"

Salon.com News | "We should have had orange or red-type of alert in June or July of 2001": "Referring to the Homeland Security Department's color-coded warnings instituted in the wake of 9/11, the former translator, Sibel Edmonds, told Salon, 'We should have had orange or red-type of alert in June or July of 2001. There was that much information available.' Edmonds is offended by the Bush White House claim that it lacked foreknowledge of the kind of attacks made by al-Qaida on 9/11. 'Especially after reading National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice [Washington Post Op-Ed on March 22] where she said, we had no specific information whatsoever of domestic threat or that they might use airplanes. That's an outrageous lie. And documents can prove it's a lie.' "

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Zawahiri tape taunts Pakistanis: "'We have plunged into a war which has no end,' said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, leader of an Islamist coalition that backs Mr Musharraf."

Whether or not the tape is authentic, can there be any doubt that when Colin Powell, two days ago, described Musharraf as a partner in a US "crusade," his purpose was to provoke terrorism or revolt within Pakistan, allowing an expanded US military presence there? 'Crusade' re-enters US lexicon on war Whatever might be said about Bush's use of the word two years ago, Powell is not known for spectacularly ill-considered use of language.

Arms-Control Group Says U.S. Inflated Libya's Nuclear Bid "The administration has distorted what was found in Libya"
You remember this story, we blogged it in January: Libya never got nuclear programme off the ground, say diplomats

Asteroid Scare Prompts NASA to Formalize Response: "For now, there is no established chain of command to the White House in relation to possible asteroid impacts, nor is there any plan for what government agencies should do regarding possible evacuations or emergency preparations."

City Pages: Karl Rove's Moment: "What no one expected was that the worst damage would be inflicted by the White House's own hand."

Government Executive Magazine - 3/24/04 Sept. 11 commission cites intelligence agency failures: "A former FBI translator said Wednesday that the bureau had 'real, specific' information relating to the Sept. 11 attacks before they happened. Sibel Edmonds worked for the agency working from Sept. 20, 2001 to March 2002.
Edmonds said she was hired to retranslate material that was collected prior to Sept. 11 to determine if anything was missed in the translations that related to the plot. In her review, Edmonds said the documents clearly showed that the Sept. 11 hijackers were in the country and plotting to use airplanes as missiles. The documents also included information relating to their financial activities."

The Ratings Mirage: "neither cable news stations nor Nielsen Media Research are primarily in the business of serving the public interest--both are in the business of delivering audiences to advertisers."

Kerry Gets Boost From Surprising Sources (washingtonpost.com): "Kerry's presidential campaign is getting an unexpected boost from an unlikely bunch: former Bush administration officials and congressional Republicans."

Kucinich for President 2004 - Press Release: "Disclosure That Administration Manufactured Crisis to Invade Iraq No Surprise"

Statement -- March 21, 2004

Democracy Now! | The Peace Candidate: Kucinich Vows to Stay in Race

Priorities! -- Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities

News "a war based on lies and misinterpretations from London and from Washington"

State voting worries persist: "[A]ccording to a position paper prepared by the association [of Supervisors of Elections,] 'The issue of creating a paper trail for each voter is unnecessary except to eliminate the paranoia of the critics of these systems.'"

OrlandoSentinel.com: Elections: " 'We showed them our tickets and said we have the right of any other citizen to hear what our president has to say. And they said, 'If you don't leave, we're going to have to arrest you.' "