ISN’T THIS A BIT INCONSISTENT with earlier stuff that Joe Wilson has said?

It was Saddam Hussein’s information minister, Mohammed Saeed Sahhaf, often referred to in the Western press as “Baghdad Bob,” who approached an official of the African nation of Niger in 1999 to discuss trade — an overture the official saw as a possible effort to buy uranium.

That’s according to a new book Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador who was sent to Niger by the CIA in 2002 to investigate reports that Iraq had been trying to buy enriched “yellowcake” uranium. Wilson wrote that he did not learn the identity of the Iraqi official until this January, when he talked again with his Niger source.

Hmm. Maybe this is why we haven’t heard much on this topic lately.

UPDATE: Matthew Hoy has more thoughts on this.

UNSCAM UPDATE:

April 30, 2004 — WASHINGTON – The State Department’s No. 2 official said yesterday that those guilty of corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program “ought to hang.”

The blunt remarks by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to a House subcommittee were the strongest comments the Bush administration has made since accusations surfaced in January that Saddam Hussein ripped off $10 billion from the program.

This should have some people worrying.

Meanwhile, the U.N.’s reputation has gotten so bad that even the Canadians are jumping ship:

WASHINGTON — With yesterday’s landmark speech, Paul Martin tacitly acknowledged what Canada’s foreign policy establishment has refused to accept for decades: that the United Nations is a failure, for which there is no solution.

The Prime Minister’s proposed alternative is a new international body, the G-20 summit of world leaders, representative of North and South, developed and developing, rich and poor: a working group unfettered by the UN’s bureaucracy and its anachronistic Security Council.

What hath Kofi wrought?

THE NATIONAL DEBATE says that Ted Koppel’s excuses are wearing thin.

I’d still like to see Nightline present the names of all the oil-for-food money recipients. And maybe of a few Iraqi kids who died because of the fraud’s keeping them from getting medicine. And maybe an interview with Kofi Annan’s son, Kojo, about his role. . . .

Just in the name of balance, you know.

MAINSTREAM JOURNALISTS sometimes complain that bloggers don’t do enough original reporting. Well, here’s some. With photos! It would be interesting to see more of this sort of reporting in the mainstream media.

And here’s some more, though I think that this particular specimen is about as reliable as the Bush quotes in a Maureen Dowd column. But it’s more amusing.

HEY, MAYBE IT’S WORKING! Both CNN and the BBC report that terror attacks are at their lowest level in 30 years.

UPDATE: Allen S. Thorpe emails:

I hope somebody is writing a history of the secret war that’s going on now but can’t be reported. You can’t have the same kind of news coverage for a war on terror as you can for a ground war like Iraq, Vietnam or WWII, but we need history.

I keep hearing the press complain that they’re not getting enough information, but when I hear the questions they ask, I’m amazed anybody talks to them at all.

Indeed.

HELP WANTED AD: “Experience in blogging is a plus.” But of course!

SOUTHKNOXBUBBA gets a mention in Sports Illustrated.

LAST NIGHT I finished reading Robert Silverberg’s latest, Roma Eterna, an alternative-history novel in which Rome never fell (Moses got stopped before he reached the Red Sea). An interesting book, tracing two alternative millennia via a series of interleaved short stories, essentially. If you like alt-history, I think you’ll like it.

I DON’T HAVE MUCH TO SAY about the Google IPO. But Venturpreneur has multiple posts on the subject — just keep scrolling.

DANIEL HENNINGER REPORTS on Spirit of America’s fundraising drive, which has exceeded goals 15-fold.

BJORN STAERK NOTES high-level antisemitism in Norway.

ARE WE GOING TOO SOFT IN IRAQ? Some people think so. It seems that way to me, too, though I’m reluctant to make a judgment at this distance. But in my lifetime, at least, the United States has generally erred by not being violent enough, rather than by being too brutal.

UPDATE: “Too soft” seems to be the consensus around the blogosphere. And maybe it’s true — though it’s worth remembering that the daily reports of “explosions in Fallujah” for the past few weeks didn’t involve very much of our stuff being blown up, and that the amount of damage done to the enemy there is probably greater than news accounts suggest — but reader Tucker Goodrich emails:

After reading the article below, one can also interpret this as the Iraqis finally starting to take responsibility for the state of their country.

They don’t like us doing it, but they don’t want these people to succeed. That leaves them with one real choice, and it’s one we have to encourage if our experiment in Iraq is going to succeed. That sounds like the Marines’ attitude.

That’s right. As I say, I’m reluctant to second-guess the Marines on the scene with regard to this sort of thing.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Barbara Lerner says that it was Rumsfeld’s war, but it’s been Powell’s occupation.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Jim Hohnbaum emails:

I was an officer in the military, and I’ve known a lot of Marines, and I don’t believe for a second that letting the Iraquis handle it was the Marines’ idea. I believe if they had their way they would have gone in weeks ago rather than calling it off and letting the insurgents dig in and set booby traps. To me this whole thing stinks of a real Vietnam analogy: the lack of political will in Washington to let the troops win the war. This is supposed to be a war on terror, and we have a lot of terrorists surrounded. Don’t tell me the Marines just want to walk away, because I don’t believe it.

Dang. I hope that’s wrong.

UPLOADED SOME NEW PICTURES to the Exposure Manager gallery for anyone who’s interested.

The picture to the right is Ozone Falls, which is less than an hour from my house. It’s a “natural area,” which means there are no trails, and you just scramble down a less-steep part of the cliff to get to the falls. There’s a sign and a pull-off, but I was the only one around the whole time I was there.

I’ve really enjoyed cruising around the backroads with car and camera lately. And it’s reminded me just how terrific this part of the country is. There are lots of hidden gems like this one all over the place, with most people (even people who live around here) barely aware that they exist.

It’s also a pleasure to meet people all over. Everyone I’ve met has been friendly, and happy to chat, or offer directions. Whenever I travel around the United States I’m always amazed at that. Wherever you go, people think that folks elsewhere are less friendly, but they’re mostly wrong.

HUGH HEWITT has advice for Michael Kinsley.

RYAN BOOTS has his weekly roundup of the Iraqi blogs, which he’s calling the Carnival of the Liberated. It’s a must-read.

ART AND TAXES? Some questions for Kerry.

UPDATE: Accountant reader David Walser says something’s wrong here. Click “more” to read his take.

(more…)

MAX BOOT WRITES that Kerry should base his campaign on the muscle gap.

THE BLOGOSPHERE IS MOVING FAST to help the Marines combat Al Jazeera’s propaganda, with the first shipment of television equipment bought with blog-readers’ donations going out just 23 days after it started. It’s enough to outfit eight independent Iraqi television stations. Bravo to the blogosphere!

But the real question is why this is being addressed via private donations a year after Saddam fell?

UPDATE: Reader Joe Zwers offers a positive take:

And the real answer is that central planning always leaves something out. The Soviets five year plans consistently failed. China’s Great Leap Forward was a disaster. North Korea was once the more prosperous and industrialized part of that peninsula. Now it can’t feed its own people, even with massive food aid, while the south prospers.

So, the U.S. did plan many things properly in the Iraq war, but there were clearly some omissions. This is to be expected. In World War II, I believe it was, people were knitting socks for the troops since the Army didn’t have an adequate supply. What this does show, however, is that because this country is not as rigid as other societies, it can quickly respond to needs on a voluntary basis. That is why a free societies triumph over the long run, despite the supposed efficiencies of more structured ones.

Um, okay, but I still think that they should have thought of this sooner.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Gerard van der Leun reports from Camp Pendleton.

And here’s a photo gallery posted by Donovan Janus of Exposure Manager.

SPACE PROPERTY RIGHTS CLAIM DISMISSED: The link is to a District Court opinion. This opinion underscores my position that some sort of actual possession, and not simply the making of a claim, is essential to the creation of a property interest in an asteroid or other space real estate.

STEVEN DEN BESTE IS IRRITATED. As usual, a long and interesting post results.

JAN HAUGLAND says that Al Jazeera is an enemy combatant.

THE 9/11 COMMISSION IS MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING — how else do you explain this:

The commission of five Republicans and five Democrats issued a statement saying Bush and Cheney had been “forthcoming and candid” and their input would be of great assistance as it looks to complete a final report by July 26.

Two Democrats on the panel, Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton and former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, left the session about an hour early. Hamilton, a former congressman from Indiana, was said to have had a prior commitment to introduce visiting Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin at a lunch

If it’s worth ditching the President’s testimony for a luncheon introduction, the whole enterprise can’t amount to much. (Emphasis added).

ROGER SIMON HAS MORE ON UNSCAM, and how even people who admit the existence of the scandal seem unwilling to admit the implications.

Sadly, Tom Lantos, who usually knows better, appears to be among those in denial.

Sorry, but what this scandal reveals is that the United Nations can’t be trusted, on grounds of either integrity or competence, to discharge its alleged mission of promoting human rights and world peace.

IF YOU TOOK VIDEO OF THE “MARCH FOR WOMEN’S LIVES” Evan Coyne Maloney would like a copy.

I GUESS THIS IS ASYMMETRICAL ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE:

Mystery group wage war on Sadr’s militia

In a deadly expression of feelings that until now were kept quiet, a group representing local residents is said to have killed at least five militiamen in the last four days.

The murders are the first sign of organised Iraqi opposition to Sadr’s presence and come amid simmering discontent at the havoc their lawless presence has wreaked.

The group calls itself the Thulfiqar Army, after a twin-bladed sword said to be used by the Shiite martyr Imam Ali, to whom Najaf’s vast central mosque is dedicated.

Residents say leaflets bearing that name have been circulated in the city in the last week, urging Sadr’s al-Mahdi army to leave immediately or face imminent death. . . .

“It has got some of the Mahdi guys quite worried, I tell you. They are banding together more, when normally you would see them happily walking on the streets alone. I think their commanders have ordered them to do that.”

Heh.