Thursday, Nov 20th
Last update03:25:18 AM GMT
Despite strong evidence to the contrary, it has become established conventional wisdom among mainstream Washington journalists that the “surge” was the singular reason for the recent decline in Iraq’s violence. It’s also agreed that McCain deserves great credit for pushing the “surge” idea early.
As we’ve reported previously, other brutal factors – that the Washington press corps almost never mentions – help explain the decline in violence:
The U.S. plans to sell Israel 1,000 buster-bunker bombs which Israeli military experts said Monday could provide a powerful new weapon against underground arsenals in Lebanon or Gaza. The experts said they doubted, however, that the bombs could be used to deliver a crippling blow against Iran's nuclear program.
In announcing the proposed $77 million deal, which still needs Congressional approval, the U.S. Defense Department said the sale of the Boeing GBU-39 smart bombs would be consistent with the U.S. interest of assisting Israel "to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability."
Widely prescribed, newer-generation antipsychotic drugs are no more effective for the treatment of schizophrenia in children and teens than older, cheaper drugs, a government-funded study shows.
Under the direction of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), researchers compared two of the newer drugs, known as atypical antipsychotics, to an older-generation antipsychotic. They found no major differences in treatment outcomes, but big differences in side effects among young patients taking the newer and older drugs.
The internet needs a way to help people separate rumour from real science, says the creator of the World Wide Web.
Talking to BBC News Sir Tim Berners-Lee said he was increasingly worried about the way the web has been used to spread disinformation.
Sir Tim spoke prior to the unveiling of a Foundation he has co-created that aims to make the web truly worldwide.
It will also look at ways to help people decide if sites are trustworthy and reliable sources of information.
TVNL Comment: No such concerns over the disinformation spread in the broadcast media? How interesting that they want to fact check the fact checkers...but the establishment sources are free to create and maintain a false reality.
The Fed on Monday said it would begin accepting equities as collateral for emergency loans for the first time as it tried to ease the spiralling crisis. The steps would likely help surviving financial institutions to find cash but may not do much to boost global confidence in the U.S. financial system.
"The mere fact that they are forced to do this -- and they may still yet do some more -- indicates the breadth and depth of the trouble that the system is in," said V. Anantha Nageswaran, head of investment research, Asia-Pacific with Bank Julius Baer in Singapore.
The Information Commissioner ordered civil servants to release undisclosed emails and memos about a draft of the dossier which supposedly set out the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.
Richard Thomas flatly rejected Government claims that the comments - kept under wraps during a three-year legal battle - could jeopardise national security.
He said it was clearly in the public interest to know what alterations to the dossier were proposed in the days before it was published.
This was because the undisclosed material could provide 'evidence that the dossier was deliberately manipulated in order to present an exaggerated case for military action'.
Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly heard that last-minute changes to the draft were suggested by Tony Blair's spin supremo Alastair Campbell, and subsequently adopted by intelligence chiefs.
Vice President Cheney convened a meeting in the Situation Room at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, March 10, 2004, with just one day left before the warrantless domestic surveillance program was set to expire. Around him were National Security Agency Director Michael V. Hayden, White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales and the Gang of Eight -- the four ranking members of the House and the Senate, and the chairmen and vice chairmen of the intelligence committees.
U.S. Gen. David Petraeus said Sunday that experience in Iraq shows it will take political and economic progress as well as military action to tackle increased violence in Afghanistan.
"You don't kill or capture your way out of an industrial strength insurgency," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. His comments come as a debate over the need to redeploy troops from Iraq to Afghanistan has become a central issue in the U.S. presidential campaign.
As President George W. Bush nears the end of a mostly disastrous eight-year term, he too should be given credit for public appearances overseas.
Traveling by air — er, compressed air, that is — and landing on everything from brick walls to telephone poles to the doors of trash chutes, Bush boasts a presence in just about every last nook in the world.
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