Six bomb attacks in Baghdad killed at least 17 people and wounded more than 50 Sept. 8, hours before a much-touted ceremony in which the US-led international coalition officially handed over control of the country’s armed forces command to Iraqi authorities. The bombs, including three suicide car attacks, all targeted police patrols and occurred within about three hours of each other. Meanwhile, the nephew of Iraq’s parliament speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, was kidnapped from his home in the Hurriyah neighborhood of north Baghdad. (IOL, Sept. 7)

Far from pursuing ultra-ambitious neocon agendas to dismantle Iraq, Washington appears terrified of a unified Iraqi state under at least some degree of US control breaking down, and sparking a crisis that could engulf the entire Middle East. On Sept. 5, the US harshly criticized the decree by Masoud Barzani, president of Iraq's northern Kurdish region, banning the Iraqi national flag. "Unilateral steps by regions or parties on this issue are inappropriate and do not have the support of the United States," envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said, adding Washington was committed to "Iraq's unity and territorial integrity".

It is a truly appalling spectacle to watch former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman and New York City officials pass the buck for the deadly 9-11 health fallout back and forth like a shuttlecock. Whitman said in a "60 Minutes" interview to be aired this weekend that the EPA did not have authority over the Ground Zero site, and claimed she provided an accurate assessment of the air quality following the attacks. She distinguished between the air in lower Manhattan, which was considered safe, and the air at Ground Zero, which was not. "The readings [in lower Manhattan] were showing us that there was nothing that gave us any concern about long-term health implications," she said. "That was different from on the pile itself, at ground zero. There, we always said consistently, 'You've got to wear protective gear.'" (AP, Sept. 8)

Unable to keep himself from milking 9-11 for all it's worth, Bush is treading, once again, into the realm of Doublethink. At his most recent in a spate of 9-11-themed speeches, in Atlanta Sept. 7, he said:

"Many Americans look at these events and ask the same question: Five years after 9/11, are we safer? The answer is, yes, America is safer. We are safer because we've taken action to protect the homeland. We are safer because we are on offense against our enemies overseas. We are safer because of the skill and sacrifice of the brave Americans who defend our people."

Under the happy headline "Space Probe Slams Into Moon," the shameless techno-boosters at Space.com note Sept. 4:

A European lunar orbiter was purposely slammed into the Moon today.

Carlos Castaño, patriarch of Colombia's far-right paramilitary movement, is confirmed dead at the age of 39. Mario Iguaran, Colombia's chief prosecutor, said a skeleton unearthed from a shallow grave was that of Castaño, the long-missing leader of the feared Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). The government "has the full identification that this is Castaño," Iguaran said, pointing to a 99.99% match between Castaño's DNA and that of the skeleton.

The Popular Peoples Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) has officially announced the replacement of Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz with an alternative government. The organization said the only government they consider legitimate, after 106 days of political crisis which has paralyzed the state, is APPO.

Masked gunmen burst into a nightclub in the west-central Mexican state of Michoacan late on the night of Sept. 4 and flung five human heads onto the dance floor. The "Light and Shadow" club in the city of Uruapan was packed when the men stormed in and ordered clients onto the floor, state police said. Then they pulled the bloody heads from plastic bags and tossed them into the horrified crowd.