Britain is asking the CIA to interrogate its terror suspects, held at a network of secret detention centres, to help to identify the planners behind the London bombings....(more)

"Radio and television personalities in the United States were hysterical because after last week's bombings in London, too few Londoners were willing to be props for their right-wing ranting. After one stoic Brit, who had blood on the side of his face, calmly described climbing out of a smoke-filled subway station, a Fox anchor exclaimed, "That man's obviously in shock."...(more).

Paul Bremer: "...‘During the course of the audit, we identified deficiencies in the control of cash . . . of such magnitude as to require prompt attention. Those deficiencies were so significant that we were precluded from accomplishing our stated objectives.’ They found that CPA headquarters in Baghdad ‘did not maintain full control and accountability for approximately $119.9 million’, and that agents in the field ‘cannot properly account for or support over $96.6 million in cash and receipts’. These agents were mostly Americans in Iraq on short-term contracts. One agent’s account balance was ‘overstated by $2,825,755, and the error went undetected’. Another agent was given $25 million cash for which Bremer’s office ‘acknowledged not having any supporting documentation’. Of more than $23 million given to another agent, there are only records for $6,306,836 paid to contractors...(more)".

"Jesus what a bland, insipid, anaemic line-up. I will have to try to make the mysterious 'long walk to justice' rally (of which details seem to be secret) just to avoid accidentally hearing any of this mob...(more)."

If I were to suggest one item that everyone should read this week, it would be this:

"...The Blair regime is often attacked for being too focused on the short-term news impact of its policies, but that is too simple an explanation for its intellectual deficit. The deeper reason is that it has a neo-Thatcherite world-view, and sees policy-making as a managerial exercise conducted within parameters set by the market. This is the style of thought associated with Lord Birt, who is in charge of "blue-sky thinking" for Blair, and it is reflected in the innumerable initiatives that pour out of the government. The underlying assumption is that policy-making is a matter of using resources cost-effectively to tackle known problems....(more)".