Bush vetoed the $124 billion bill to fund the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan Tuesday, rejecting provisions of the bill calling for a partial withdrawal of some US troops from Iraq.

Democratic Party leaders have already begun circulating drafts of a bill that will fully fund the Iraq war, without the restrictions that the White House opposes.

In a statement following the veto, Bush voiced his contempt for the views of the majority of the American population who oppose the war in Iraq. He said that the legislation “substitutes the opinion of politicians for the judgment of military commanders”.

That is one of the most laughable lies dished out by Bush - that he simply follows and implements the decisions of his generals on the ground.   more »

Ségolène Royal last night surprised France and her rightwing opponent Nicolas Sarkozy by coming out all guns blazing to attack him during their much awaited live televised head-to-head debate.

The moment of high emotion and fireworks came out of the blue, in a surprise clash over the seemingly inoffensive subject of schooling for handicapped children.

Ms Royal accused the presidential frontrunner of hypocrisy and immorality, saying his government had scrapped measures he now claimed as his own.

"I'm scandalised!" she fumed. "It's the height of political immorality," He in turn told her, "Calm down, and don't wave your finger at me", suggesting she had "lost her nerve" whereas a presidential figure must learn how to stay calm.

"No I won't calm down in the face of injustice!" she snapped back, before the pair exchanged a quick-fire volley over exactly how angry she was.   more »

So it has come to this. All those bodies, all those photographs of dead children - more than 1,400 cadavers (we are not including the 230 or so Hizbollah fighters and the Israeli soldiers who died) - are to be commemorated with the possible resignation of an Israeli prime minister who knew, and who cared, many Israelis suspect, little about war.

Yes, Hizbollah provoked last summer's folly by capturing two Israeli soldiers on the Lebanese-Israel border, but Israel's response - so totally out of proportion to the sin - produced another debacle for the Israeli army and, presumably now, for its Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert.

Looking back at this terrifying, futile war, with its grotesque ambitions to "destroy" the Iranian-supported Hizbollah militia, it is incredible Mr Olmert did not realise within days that his grandiose demands would founder.   more »

Bush's relentless ideology

emerges from the shadows

The tale adds importantly to the disturbing story

of the Bush Regime's program to politicize

every nook and cranny of the federal government

   more »

Keywords: dogma, fundamentalist, bush, ideology, capitalism, rightwing

Richard Clark, the Bush administration’s then counter-terrorism chief, reported that in the evening after the 9/11 attacks, Bush told his top staff:

“Everything is available for the pursuit of this war. Any barriers in your way, they’re gone... I don’t care what the international lawyers say, we are going to kick some ass.”

In 2002 the military survival schools’ interrogators were sent to Guantanamo Bay to teach the interrogators their techniques. The knowledge was outsourced and people started using the methods all over the place.

The techniques have now become so commonplace that interrogators later charged with murdering detainees have successfully defended themselves in court by claiming that their actions were no worse than what US soldiers themselves endure during training.   more »