Iraq

Foreign Policy Economics

This entry was posted in bush Economics Iraq US Foreign Policy War on Terrorism on by

I have not seen any statistics on the impact of the many cries to boycot French products we heard during the buildup to the Iraq war and I wonder just how happy the bushies corporate funders will be if current foreign policy has a large negative impact on worldwide sales.

Echoing harvard Professor Business School Professor John Quelch’s April warning:

Selling the American dream has paid off handsomely. Eight of the ten most valuable brands in the world, according to the Interbrand consultancy, are American, and each derives more than half its sales from outside the United States. But now a deepening opposition to American foreign policy is threatening the long-term strength of these brands.

Newsweek reports:

Does the rising tide of anti-Americanism hurt American multinationals? The vocal antiwar protesters would like to think so, but there hasn�t been much evidence for a broader consumer turnoff, until now.

Reporting on the same study the Independent headlines:

Americans are used to resentment of their global dominance. Since the war on Iraq, however, this hostility has begun to hit them where it hurts: in corporate balance sheets.

Countering the gloomy reports Nike and Mcdonalds say that their European revenues are respectiviely either up or flat. It will be interesting to watch these figures over the next 6-12 months.
Via Alternet.

The Iraq Pitch and the Patriot Act

This entry was posted in Constitution Domestic Terrorism Iraq Judiciary Patriot Act War on Terrorism on by

William Rasberry doesn’t want us to be blinded by uraniumgate:

The flap over how the falsehood about uranium purchases from Niger made it into the president’s State of the Union message should not obscure what for me is the most troubling fact: Key members of the Bush administration, convinced in their hearts that America needed to destroy Saddam Hussein, thought it reasonable to exaggerate the threat and deliberately stretch the facts in order to sell the American people on that necessity.

Read his column to see why he thinks this is a pattern of behaviour.
Via Talkleft.

Evil Canadian, Bad Soldiers

This entry was posted in bush Constitution Iraq Patriot Act on by

Jeffrey Kofman wrote this story and on Wednesday Drudge revisited old news identifying Kofman as both gay and canadian which to some, including Kofman, appeared to be new news:

Reached in Baghdad, the Toronto-born Mr. Kofman expressed surprise at being singled out because of his passport.
“I guess my secret is out now,” he said.

As they again use ad hominem arguments to protect themselves the bushies steamroll ahead squashing those who spoke out:

“It was the end of the world,” said one officer Thursday. “It went all the way up to President Bush and back down again on top of us. At least six of us here will lose our careers.”
First lesson for the troops, it seemed: Don’t ever talk to the media “on the record” — that is, with your name attached — unless you’re giving the sort of chin-forward, everything’s-great message the Pentagon loves to hear.

This appears pretty consistent with the bushie view that freedom of speech is ok as long as it speaks the bushie line.

The Coalition of the Misled

This entry was posted in Iraq on by

As this US Independence day weekend comes to a close the leaders of the coalition of the willing continue their transformation into the Misinformers:
From Australia:

Australian Prime Minister John Howard defended himself against accusations on Monday that he had claimed Iraq was developing nuclear weapons to justify going to war, despite being told by Washington the allegation was dubious.

From Britain>:

he Foreign Affairs Select Committee is set to deliver its verdict on whether Downing Street exaggerated the case for war in Iraq.
The MPs’ report is likely to censure Downing Street’s director of communications Alastair Campbell.
He was responsible for the second so-called “dodgy dossier” published in January 2003, which included 12-year-old material from the Internet.
However, the committee is expected to clear Mr Campbell of wrongdoing in relation to the first dossier, published in September 2002.

From the United States:

An envoy sent by the CIA to Africa to investigate allegations about Iraq’s nuclear weapons program contends the Bush administration manipulated his findings, possibly to strengthen the rationale for war.

On the other hand some senators are excited about pending wmd announcements while others are skeptical:

Senators just returned from Iraq differed on whether U.S. officials there had turned up solid evidence of weapons of mass destruction programs.

It will be interesting to see if this is more then another color change in the alert system. Whatever is presented will have to be dramatically stronger then if it had been found and presented prior to or shortly after the fall of Baghdad. Where was the imminent threat?

Still at War

This entry was posted in Iraq on by

This, from today’s NY Times, speaks for itself:

AGHDAD, Iraq, Friday, July 4 � Two months after President Bush declared the end of major combat, the commander of allied forces in Iraq acknowledged on Thursday that “we’re still at war,” and the United States announced a reward of up to $25 million for the capture of Saddam Hussein or confirmation of his death.
The statement from the commander, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez of the Army, came on a day in which 20 American soldiers were wounded and one was killed in five separate attacks.
One American soldier was killed and 10 were wounded in two attacks in central Iraq on Thursday night, the American military said today.