Medical journal The Lancet last week reported the number of dead in Iraq since the 2003 invasion as 655,000. I treated this figure with suspicion upon its release. I’m no expert on statistics, but a very similar study concluded that…
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Beware the tide of marchers
In addition to my esteemed visit, Manchester also played host on Saturday to an anti-war march. 60,000 protesters (at least, according to the organisers – the police put the figure more at 20,000) walked through the city to oppose, oooh,…
Knock me down with a feather, Clever Trevor
I had the pleasure this morning of listening to John Humphrys interviewing Abu Izzadeen on the Today programme. Abu Izzadeen (also known as Omar or Trevor Brooks) was the protester who on Wednesday heckled Home Secretary John Reid during a…
At last, something good happens in Iraq
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the serial beheading, Islamofascist barbarian leader of the Iraqi franchise of al-Qaeda, has been killed in a US air strike. This is great news for the Iraqi people, their fledgling government and anyone who wants to see…
Clarity versus incoherence in the Iraq debate
Two very different viewpoints on Iraq today. Firstly, an unapologetic piece by the essential Oliver Kamm: We were right to invade Iraq. (This article also appears in today’s Guardian.) Kamm is always an intriguing read, being a self-declared left-wing supporter…
Tagged with: Iraq
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Hunger strike cancelled due to extreme hunger
Couldn’t let this pass without comment: Saddam Hussein has ended his hunger strike after 11 days. For “health reasons”. In other words, he was fucking starving. That’s the trouble with deliberately denying yourself food – it does tend to be…
Stuck between Iraq and a hard place
There seems to be a never-ending stream of stories about bad news in Iraq: every day there’s another suicide bomb and the impression that the whole country is descending further and further into violent anarchy with every passing hour. Maybe…
Tagged with: Iraq
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More fuel on the fire
As if tensions with the Middle East were not strained enough, the new pictures of abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib should add several gallons of paraffin to an already raging fire. This comes only days after the shocking footage…
2005: Looking back. In anger.
It’s not easy, condensing 365 days and one second into a concise, readable post. But what the hell, I’ve got nothing going on this afternoon, so I’ll have a go. Here, for your enjoyment dear reader, are some of the…
Tagged with: Catholic Church, Conservative Party, David Cameron, George W. Bush, Iran, Iraq, Labour Party, Terrorism, Tony Blair
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That was the week that was
Yet another week flashes by. Oh, December 12th to December 18th! What news nuggets have you thrown up for me to digest? The futility of the death penalty. Over in California, big Arnie, still somehow governor of California (well, they…
Citizen Sane 