Give a boy a gun, he'll shoot anything

Talk about your collateral damage! The Turkish press is reporting that our lads are shooting, and killing, Iraqi military brass. An Iraqi general, of all things, was shot dead on his way home from work!

RAMADI, Iraq - The deputy commander of the Iraqi army in western Al-Anbar province was shot dead by US troops at a checkpoint Tuesday night, a police officer said.

The US forces opened fire at 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Brigadier General Ismail Swayed al-Obeid, who had left his base in Baghdadi to head home," police Captain Amin al-Hitti said.

"They spotted him on the road after the curfew, which goes into effect at 6 pm," the officer said in Baghdadi, 185 kilometres (142 miles) west of the capital.

No immediate reaction was available from the US military.

When I was in the service, this was considered a no-no.

The Italians are headed for home. This follows on the heels of the attempted assasination of an Italian journalist, fired on by US troops at a Baghdad checkpoint. Of course, they didn't say it outright, and our govm't is claiming that this is just in the normal course of events, but what with a low opinion of the war by Italians anyway, the timing seems a bit suspect.

Bushco, Inc.

In a previous post, I claimed that the Bush administration is a criminal operation. Over on the Crisis Papers site, Ernest Partridge is claiming that the Shrubbery is in reality Bushco, Inc., a for-profit corporation:

03/15/05 "The Crisis Papers" - - George Bush has said that he wants to run the government like a business. He has achieved his objective, for although Bush was allegedly “elected” as President of all the people, Bush, Inc. is in effect, less a government than it is a vast holding company. The firm’s executive officers are Bush, Cheney, and the Bush Cabinet. The Board of Directors are the Republican Party and the GOP Congressional leadership. The stockholders are the contributors to the Republican campaigns. The “accounts receivable” to the firm are the federal tax revenues from 280 million American citizens, who receive, in return, poor if any government services. Finally, the product of Bush, Inc., is regulatory relief, legislation, and government contracts, all designed to benefit the stockholders.

There really has never been any doubt in my mind that the Shrubbery run this country for their own profit, but to equate them with a corporation is to overlook the fact that companies are regulated by government, in the case of the United States, the Department of Commerce, to be precise. In other words, corporations and even mom and pop stores run their businesses by the rule of law. Criminal enterprises by defintion do not. Shrub is outside the law, as can be plainly seen. Hence, his is a criminal enterprise.

On a related note, today's LA Times has an op-ed piece by Robert Sheer on the Bankrupcy Bill, better titled the common man's financial shredding act.

Question: What is the difference between a loan shark and a banker?

Answer: Not much. The former uses hired thugs to enforce repayment from the debtors; the latter employs the feds as paid muscle.