Miscellany

There is a big review here of the absurd "600,000 Iraqi deaths" study reported in Lancet. It confirms concerns expressed by myself and others about the lack of basic verification of the raw data and reveals that the "data" was collected by a former Saddam Hussein operative known for large exaggerations! There is in fact no evidence that any survey at all was carried out. The safest assumption is that the whole thing was just made up! A crooked Iraqi simply gave Western Leftists what they wanted.

Media bias against Fred Thompson: "To my best memory, none of the pundits at Fox News Channel had predicted this week that Thompson would rank that high, yet instead of commenting on Thompson doing unexpectedly well, the pundits at Fox -- when they talked about Thompson at all -- joined Mike Allen of Politico in concluding that a third place finish means Thompson's campaign is at death's door. At the same time, Allen and the pundits were very enthused about McCain's possible fourth place finish, stating he was in great position for the future. Say again? As Rush Limbaugh noted today, the media seem to be falling in line behind a "McCain comeback" story, and they're thus shaping the facts to fit that scenario."

Muslims now running the Pentagon? "Stephen Coughlin, the Pentagon specialist on Islamic law and Islamist extremism, has been fired from his position on the military's Joint Staff. The action followed a report in this space last week revealing opposition to his work for the military by pro-Muslim officials within the office of Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England. Mr. Coughlin was notified this week that his contract with the Joint Staff will end in March, effectively halting the career of one of the U.S. government's most important figures in analyzing the nature of extremism and ultimately preparing to wage ideological war against it. He had run afoul of a key aide to Mr. England, Hasham Islam, who confronted Mr. Coughlin during a meeting several weeks ago when Mr. Islam sought to have Mr. Coughlin soften his views on Islamist extremism."

The AP shellacs "Relic" Bill Clinton.: "In a presidential race where the Democratic candidates are competing as agents of change, Hillary Rodham Clinton's most reliable campaign prop is something of a political relic - her husband. The former president was at her side to help put the best face on her third-place finish Thursday in Iowa, and he was beside her again when dawn broke the next day on the final push to Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. "I was never more proud of Hillary in all the days we've been together and all the days of this campaign than when she gave that speech in Iowa," the ex-president told New Hampshire voters. The candidate's husband, meanwhile, tends to ramble on about himself."

Barack Obama wants to end the US "Occupation" of Iraq: "In an 11-minute interview with hometown Chicago radio broadcaster and journalist, Roland Martin, Barack Obama revealed that his first act, if elected president, would be to pull our troops out of Iraq as quickly as possible: "Well, we will call in the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I will give them a new assignment and that is to bring our troops home in a careful, responsible way, but to end this occupation in Iraq".

Obama races to 10-point lead over Hillary: "Barack Obama the 46-year-old senator aiming to become America's first black president, has stormed into a 10-point lead over Hillary Clinton in this week's critical New Hampshire primary, threatening to send her campaign into meltdown. The Rasmussen survey, which was carried out the day after Obama's victory in last Thursday's Iowa caucuses, put his support at 37% in New Hampshire, compared with 27% for Clinton. The poll of 510 likely Democratic voters signalled a further swing away from the 60-year-old former first lady, whose campaign portrayed her as the "inevitable" victor until she was beaten into third place in Iowa".

For sale: America's nuclear secrets: "A whistleblower has made a series of extraordinary claims about how corrupt government officials allowed Pakistan and other states to steal nuclear weapons secrets. Sibel Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator for the FBI, listened into hundreds of sensitive intercepted conversations while based at the agency's Washington field office. She approached The Sunday Times last month after reading about an Al-Qaeda terrorist who had revealed his role in training some of the 9/11 hijackers while he was in Turkey. Edmonds described how foreign intelligence agents had enlisted the support of US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive military and nuclear institutions".



Posted by John Ray