Daily Archives: April 10, 2009

Latest bombing shows how deadly Iraq remains

April 10, 20091:28 p.m.

iraqsoldiers21The suicide bombing today in Iraq that killed five U.S. soldiers is another example of how deadly and dangerous Iraq remains, despite the success of the surge. Meanwhile, author Thomas Ricks has argued that while the surge improved security, it didn’t achieve a primary goal — creating space for Iraqi political leaders to move forward. “The bottom line is that none of the basic problems facing Iraq have been addressed — the relationship between Shia, Sunni and Kurds, or who leads the Shias, or the status of the disputed city of Kirkuk, or the sharing of oil revenue,” Ricks has said.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Iraq | Comments (18)

When rampage killers are licensed

April 10, 20096:04 a.m.

Binghamton ShootingsGuns and ammo are flying off the shelves related to fears that President Obama and the Democratic Congress will try to curtail gun ownership. Meanwhile, nearly every gunman responsible for the rampage killings of 57 people in the past month was licensed to own firearms, according to Associated Press. Before Jiverly Wong died last week in the attack that also left 13 others dead in Binghamton, N.Y., he even mailed his gun permit and other materials to a TV station. “In retrospect, this is probably not a guy who should have had a gun,” said attorney Jeffrey Chamberlain, a former Rochester prosecutor and chief counsel to the New York State Police. You think?
Gun sales boom aside, Congress is unlikely to roll back gun rights. If guns aren’t part of the problem, what is the solution?

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Crime, President Obama | Comments (296)

Open thread 4/10

April 10, 20096:03 a.m.

thread-comm49

By The Editors | Filed under Open thread | Comments (144)

Doctors helped torture

April 10, 20096:02 a.m.

U.S. medical personnel were involved in torturing terrorist suspects held overseas by the CIA, according to a confidential report by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The medical professionals “condoned and participated in ill treatment,” which the ICRC said was a “gross breach of medical ethics.”

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Terrorism | Comments (9)

Dylan on Obama — huh?

April 10, 20096:01 a.m.

dylan“He’s like a fictional character, but he’s real. First off, his mother was a Kansas girl. Never lived in Kansas, though, but with deep roots. You know, like Kansas bloody Kansas. John Brown the insurrectionist. Jesse James and Quantrill. Bushwhackers, Guerrillas. Wizard of Oz Kansas. I think Barack has Jefferson Davis back there in his ancestry someplace.” — Bob Dylan, telling Britain’s Times Online about part of what interests him about President Obama

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under President Obama | Comments (14)

Late-night laughs

April 10, 20096:00 a.m.

“Michelle Obama was photographed in London wearing clothes from J.Crew, the store is selling out of the clothes she’s been wearing. Now if someone could just get her to drive a Chrysler.” — Seth Meyers on “Saturday Night Live”

“I want to remind any potential Cabinet members you have until April 15th to not pay your taxes, OK?” — Jay Leno

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under President Obama | Comments (2)