February 14, 2004

1. Shipping jobs overseas is good for US...
2. Another great Eric Blumrich animation
3. One take on the future of democracy in Iraq  
4.  Why one Marine chose not to re-enlist
5. Senate Intelligence Committee undertaking its own WMD spin probe
6. A little tidbit on US/British spying at the UN before the war

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1. According to the Bush Admin, outsourcing jobs overseas is a good thing for the US economy, despite some short term pains.....tell that to the unemployed, underemployed, and no-longer trying.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0210-04.htm

2. "Thanks for the Memories" is an excellent summary of our history with Saddam Hussein.  Check it out.
http://www.ericblumrich.com/thanks.html

3. In this author's view, democracy may in fact be possible in Iraq, precisely because of Bush's shift to "freeing the Iraqi people" as a justification for war. Good info in this article about how the US is going about the "democratization" (can you say privatization?)  
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1144754,00.html

4. This former Marine explains very clearly why he decided not to re-enlist. He has some interesting points regarding the state of the Constitution, and also the "heresy" of those who proclaim that we have our freedom because of soldiers.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/khan7.html

5. The Bush Administration will be under even more scrutiny, especially regarding their claims about WMDs in the lead up to the war.  The Senate Intelligence Committee voted unanimously to investigate "whether White House officials exaggerated the Iraq threat or pressured analysts to tailor their assessments of Baghdad's weapons programs to bolster the case for war. " Could it be that they are worried about fallout during re-election campaigns?
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0213-01.htm

6. Apparently Chile and Mexico were involved in secret negotiations for a compromise resolution to give weapons inspectors more time to complete their work, but the US didn't like the idea.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0215-01.htm