Washington and London governments embroiled in lies over Iraq

“The CIA and the U.S. and British governments are embroiled in contradictions over lies concerning the aggression against Iraq and are now publicly disputing the issue.”

By now it’s obvious that, despite White House protestations, the CIA did not tell Bush they believed Iraq was getting uranium from Niger. Instead, CIA said it was a factual statement that the Brits believed this was true, something the White House pressured them to do.

However, the CIA itself never believed that Iraq was doing this.

“CIA Director George J. Tenet successfully intervened with White House officials to have a reference to Iraq seeking uranium from Niger removed from a presidential speech last October, three months before a less specific reference to the same intelligence appeared in the State of the Union address, according to senior administration officials.”

Again we have the mysterious reference to “senior administration officials.” Who are they, and why are they leaking information damaging to Bush? Most unusual, especially for the Bushies, who pride themselves on lock step obedience. Sounds like there’s open warfare at high levels in the ruling class.

Meanwhile, in Britain, Tony Blair is in trouble.

“Tony Blair made a “fundamental mistake” when he claimed Iraq’s Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes, according to the former head of UN weapons inspectors Hans Blix.

He added the government’s September dossier on Iraq weapons seemed “pretty far off the mark”

May Blair fall, and may Bush follow him. And yes, I think both events can and quite possibly will happen.

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Camblogging

Mural for a Cadillac parts and restorations store. San Fernando Valley, L.A.. Photo taken with my cellphone. It just seemed oddly surreal to me…

I’ve updated the PoliZeros camblog with new titles and descriptions for all photos.

While looking at other camblogs, I found this remarkable entry by a photojournalist working the Arizona / Mexico border. The sign is meant to discourage immigrants from crossing over.

On I-5 near San Diego, there’s a sign showing a man, woman, and child in silhouette running hurriedly. It means watch out for immigrants running across the freeway. Next time I’m down there, I’ll camblog it.

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Upcoming L.A. actions

Sat July 19. 7 pm
Peace vigil
Hollywood & Highland. 
In opposition to the Patriot Act and the continued repression aimed at immigrants. Called by South Asian Network. Co-sponsored by ANSWER, NION, Refuse & Resist.

Fri-Sat, Aug 22-23 (time tba)
Occupy the occupiers
Westwood Federal Bldg
NION and Refuse & Resist are pumping up the volume. They plan a protest at the Federal Bldg. However when the permit is over, everyone who wishes will camp out on the lawn and stay there. In other words, major and massive civil disobedience.

“We will occupy the lawn in the afternoon, and in the evening share with the world our resistance through speakers, musicians, and artists.  When the permit expires, for those ready to cross the next line, we will engage in a mass act of civil disobedience and occupy the lawn for the entire night.  We invite those who can’t or aren’t ready to cross that line to stay on the sidewalk, offer support, and bear witness to this act of resistance”

First planning meeting
Wed July 16 7 pm
NION Office
1601 N. Gower St. Ste. 201-202
L.A.

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L.A. We’re number one!

The 10 Least Drivable Cities

1. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
“Los Angeles was very clearly the least drivable city studied. L.A. has the nation’s worst mobility; the highest travel time index (1.9), the highest annual delay per peak road traveler (136 hours), and the highest roadway congestion index”

2. San Francisco, CA
3. Chicago, IL
4. Denver, CO
5. Boston, MA
6. Oakland, CA
7. Detroit, MI
8. New York, NY
9. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
10. Washington, D.C

Why is L.A. traffic so evil? Well, welcome to Hell and take a look at the L.A. freeway traffic map. Red dots indicate stopped traffic. Yellow dots mean very slow traffic. Green is anything over 35 mph, not exactly zipping along, is it? L.A. has, by my quick count, at least twenty freeways, any of which can be jammed for no apparent reason most any time including 4 am Sunday morning.

And if you’ve been wondering how interstates get their numbers…

• One- or two-digit even- numbered Interstates are always east-west routes. The numbers increase from south (I-10) to north (I-94).
  
• One- or two-digit odd-numbered Interstates are always north-south routes. Numbers increase from the West Coast (I-5) to the East Coast (I-95).
  
• Interstate highways with three-digit numbers connect to other major highways.
  
  
  
  • If the first of the three digits is an even number, the highway usually connects to another Interstate at both ends - often in a circular “beltway” or loop.
    
  • If the first of the three digits is an odd number, the highway is usually a “spur” route that connects with an Interstate at only one end, sometimes going into a city center.

Also the last two numbers of a three digit interstate indicate which interstate it branches splits off. For example, here in L.A., the 605 loops around the 5 while the 710 splits off the 10. Got all this? We’ll have a test next week…

To further add to the fun, freeways in L.A. usually have names, and the names do not always correspond to the numbers. The Ventura Freeway is Hwy 101, then Hwy 134. Wheee.

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