You Can't Eat it or Drink it...

But you can get invaded if there's corruption in the program where you trade it for consumbles. Hullabaloo issues a correction regarding his assertion that Bush had no "definitive and believable reason for the need to invade Iraq." Turns out, it was all about the food. There was "no doubt" that Saddam Hussein and his cronies were accepting kickbacks from the UN (let the John Bircher paranoids commence salivation), and, um, well, Poland and Russia, among others (like--francophobes, take your marks--France). But don't forget Poland. You didn't forget Poland, did you?

Meanwhile, in the real world, beyond justifying invasion of a country because of the serious crime of bribery, the ongoing crisis in the Middle East continues apace. Juan Cole notes explosions today in Egypt, Pakistan, and, of course, Baghdad (isn't that truly sad, and I don't mean that cynically. These days, an explosion on Baghdad hardly qualifies as news). Kenneth Bigley, the British kidnapping victim, was finally killed--Tony Blair, and, to be fair, Michael Howard (Tory party leader) all but requested that the kidnappers carry out their threat. Consider how that must make Mr. Bigley's family feel--the life of their loved one became, well, an inconvenience to the British government. I know that individual lives aren't considered quite as sacred during wartime, but this really was awful.

Finally, here something from Axis of Logic: A History of the Iraq War, Told Entirely in Lies. As the subtitle notes: All text is verbatim from senior Bush Administration officials and advisers. In places, tenses have been changed for clarity.

There are lies, damn lies, and statistics,--and then there are Bush lies.