On the same day as the "Soldiers of Heaven" battle in Najaf—and eclipsed from the headlines by it... From The Scotsman, Jan. 5:

7 pupils killed as schools in Iraq are targeted

SEVEN children died and 30 were wounded in Iraq yesterday when one school came under mortar fire and another was hit by a suicide bomb blast.

Last year we noted US plans for new military bases on the Black Sea coast of Romania and Bulgaria. Now a Jan. 28 report in Scotland's Sunday Herald indicates these bases could be used to launch air-strikes on Iran:

President Bush is preparing to attack Iran's nuclear facilities before the end of April and the US Air Force's new bases in Bulgaria and Romania would be used as back-up in the onslaught, according to an official report from Sofia.

Francis Boyle has had some good stuff to say in recent years, but he now seems to be losing it. He is going way overboard here, but this is the stuff that the relentlessly annoying Alex Jones laps up. Yes, Bush wanted Saddam dead, as we have argued. But we do not believe the Bushites orchestrated the unseemly orgy at his execution, which has only inflamed the sectarian slaughter that is making Iraq ungovernable for the occupation. What started as a divide-and-rule strategy has now taken on a life of its own and is working against the interests of its own authors. On a related point, the neocons are no longer strictly in control (as we have also argued), and whatever the neocons are, they are not "neo-nazis." Boyle has in the past pointed to legitimate and frightening parallels between the neocons and the Nazis—most obviously in their hubristic visions of remaking the world and their fetish for aggressive war. But a part of the neocons' hubris is that they think they are spreading democracy. Hitler and the real Nazis had complete contempt for democracy. Failure to grapple with this critical difference—engaging in a sloppy neocon/neo-nazi conflation—will only get us into trouble in several critical areas. First, it will get us dismissed as wingnuts. Second, we'll miss the boat on how the neocons and their allies appeal (or attempt to appeal) to dissidents in places like Iran, Syria and Lebanon who legitimately hunger for democracy. Finally, it will blind us to the threat of real neo-Nazis—which is a particularly ironic and insidious threat given Alex Jones' ongoing embrace of the xenophobe right. From Alex Jones' InfoWars.net, Jan. 5:

Do we laugh or do we cry? From Inter-Press Service, Jan. 29:

Resolving the conflicts in Somalia and Darfur will extend well beyond the two-day African Union (AU) summit, according to academics and civil society activists.

Talk about a vicious cycle: the authorities raid madrassas to crack down on pissed-off Islamists, which inevitably results in—more pissed off Islamists. From Pakistan's Daily Times, Jan. 29:

ISLAMABAD -- Police raided several seminaries in Rawalpindi and Islamabad early on Sunday to arrest clerics "as a pre-emptive measure to maintain peace during Muharram," while a meeting of clerics was underway later in the day to evolve a strategy against the demolition of some mosques by the government authorities and raids on madrassas.

Canada caves in—the US remains intransigent. From This Week of Kamloops, BC, Jan. 28:

Maher Arar is Kamloops' newest millionaire, but in an impassioned speech Friday, his lawyer reminded potential detractors that no amount of money will help Arar and his family to ever lead a normal life again.

In the very first issue of WW4 REPORT, just two weeks after 9-11, we noted the terrifying plunder of post-Soviet nuclear materials by black-marketeers who could presumably sell them to the highest-bidding terrorist group. Just two weeks ago, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight in response to (among other things) "the failure to adequately secure nuclear materials." We'd like to believe Moscow's claim that this latest incident is a set-up, a "provocation" by Georgia (presumably with some degree of CIA support) in the ongoing shadow struggle for strategic control of the Caucasus and its coveted pipeline routes. Anyway you slice it, it's a very dangerous game. From AP, Jan. 27:

So who was behind this one? Takes place near Peshawar's main Sunni mosque, but also near the city's Shi'ite community center, and during the Shi'ite holy month of Moharram. Some people specualte these ongoing outrages are a CIA conspiracy. But if so, the Agency has been very busy indeed—as we have pointed out again and again and again. From the UAE's Gulf News, Jan. 28:

At least 15 people were killed, including two senior police officers, when a parcel bomb ripped through a market in northwestern Pakistan late yesterday, police and officials said.