Back in February there was much consternation and gnashing of teeth that somehow Canada was getting short shrift when Obama only visited Canada for 6 hours. The National Post was practically weeping at the thought of Obama not even leaving the customs area of Ottawa Airport.

Well, rest assured fellow hosers, by the same measure, the US cares about Iraq even less than us. He spent a measly 4 hours in Baghdad, and no, he didn’t even leave the Airport.

This is of course meant all in jest. Obama will do what Obama feels it is right to do and frankly I don’t think it matters one iota how much time he spends in one place vs. another. That said, honestly, if I was the Iraqi President or PM, I would be a *little* miffed at the missed opportunity for a photo-op… but really… they couldn’t get to the Airport within 4 hours?

Given the choice which would you leave, Baghdad or Ottawa International?

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It’s because we take them to McDonalds because they love it and will stop whining at us, right?

Wrong.

According to my 4 year old (going on 54)… she only wants to go because of the cool little toys.

So I asked her, if other stores had cool toys for kids, would she go there instead of McDs. “Ya! Of Course!” she replied.

So there you go… require all vegetarian and healthy food restaurants to have give away fun little kids toys with every kids size meal and obesity problem solved…

While you’re at it, every time you buy a broccoli or a bag of carrots, you should be given a toy at the register.

My daughter will be Prime Minister one day.

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It is a day that should go down into history, but likely won’t at least not with any fanfare.

On January 1, 2008, Erich Kastner, the last remaining soldier who fought for the German Imperial Army during the First World War died. (CBC)

Unlike the “winning” side… Germans don’t celebrate or even commemorate their war veterans… for obvious social issues.

However, at this point almost 100 years later… I think it’s safe to say what happened during WWI was simply the worlds greatest tragedy. And those veterans, on all sides, deserve our respect for having fought in such terrible, horrifying conditions.

And so, goodnight, Mr. Kastner. You are the end of a generation. We hope never again to repeat the bloodshed that you were a part of.

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Because clearly… given past actions… if he has, then it really seems inevitable. (either by the US or it’s effective proxy, Israel which just practiced the first 1/4 of the run across northern Syria towards Iran when it was shot at by Syrian Air Defenses.).

What past actions? Well Iraq obviously, but not for the reasons we thought we know… but for the reasons we now know for sure.

Both the French intelligence service and the CIA paid [Naji] Sabri [-- Saddam's foreign minister --] hundreds of thousands of dollars (at least $200,000 in the case of the CIA) to give them documents on Saddam’s WMD programs. “The information detailed that Saddam may have wished to have a program, that his engineers had told him they could build a nuclear weapon within two years if they had fissile material, which they didn’t, and that they had no chemical or biological weapons,” one of the former CIA officers told me.

The next day, Sept. 18, Tenet briefed Bush on Sabri. “Tenet told me he briefed the president personally,” said one of the former CIA officers. According to Tenet, Bush’s response was to call the information “the same old thing.” Bush insisted it was simply what Saddam wanted him to think. “The president had no interest in the intelligence,” said the CIA officer. The other officer said, “Bush didn’t give a fuck about the intelligence. He had his mind made up.”

I wonder if that is the simple explanation why there was such a sudden about-face by France in late-summer of ’03 when Chirac was at one point rallying his own troops for war… and then a few weeks later the largest obstacle to Bush and Blair.

Perhaps it’s as simple as… Chirac trusted his own Intelligence Agency… Bush, chose not to listen… who is Bush listening to now?

The Presidential Elections simply can’t come fast enough.

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There is so little good news from Iraq, this should be the top story on every newcast and blog around the world.

The Iraqi National Soccer team (The Lions) has won the Asian cup in a major upset. They beat Australia, South Korea and finally Saudi Arabia today in the final. (See the link for great pictures).

The team is made up of all Iraqis, Sunni, Shia and Kurd.

All of Iraq rejoiced today, even as bombs went off.

This is the type of thing that can truly revive a nation and allow it to remember the pride it always had.

May Iraqis revel in this victory.. and may it help them continue being strong in the face of terrible, terrible circumstances.

(It was so very special today, to see my RSS feed for Iraqi blogs, and every single one was positive and cheering… wonderful wonderful day)

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