About those weapons of mass destruction….
The secret source who convinced U.S. officials and President George W. Bush that Saddan Husein was had a huge WMD program told The Guardian (UK) that he made it all up (“Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war“). The Guardian reports German intelligence officials were unable to confirm some of the source’s statements in 2000, and the source then said he had been wrong. But U.S. officials continued to hype his statements, despite their questionable nature. Now he admits the allegations were fabricated. Anyway, it’s a good bit of reporting.
And while you’re at it, you should check out “The Age of Wikileaks”, available as an e-book from Amazon.com (see the ad to the right). I just downloaded a copy. A print edition is also available from Blurb.com. It draws from author Greg Mitchell’s ongoing reporting in The Nation on the Wikileaks disclosures.
Let me see…8:01 a.m. and the State Capitol web site isn’t loading. Neither is the State Ethics Commission. It looks like some larger state computer issue. Too bad for folks trying to look up info on bills set for hearing today.
Meanwhile, the city’s web portal has a bright new look, although it hasn’t really been streamlined from a user’s point of view.
And here’s a Valentines Day entry from The Daily Dish in The Atlantic (“Why Are Islanders The Fattest People? Ctd)”.
Some startling findings from a 1991 study:
“The results of a recent study showed that obesity is more common among Native Hawaiians than in other groups in Hawaii; 18 percent of the people living in Hawaii were reported to be overweight (20 percent or more over their ideal body weight), while 42 percent of Native Hawaiians were overweight. The results of a study performed between 1982 and 1987 showed that Native Hawaiians have the highest mortality of any ethnic group living in the US. Native Hawaiians have death rates from heart disease, diabetes, and cancer that are 44 percent greater, 22 percent greater, and 39 percent greater, respectively, than the entire US population.”
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Two decades after that study and the statistics are the same. Native Hawaiians die earlier, still have the highest mortality rates for heart disease, cancer and diabetes among major ethnic groups, have the highest rates of obesity and smoking, are less likely to have routine checkups, are more likely to be uninsured or covered by government programs and more likely to defer medical treatment for financial reasons. Westernism has not been good for the Kanaka Maoli.
$526 billion in direct costs based on faulty intelligence, not to mention over 4,000 American lives lost.