Thanks to a tip from JimW., via Captain's Quarters (who has additional commentary), this siren-worthy article detailing the covert movements of Saddam's nuclear weapons scientists:

Syria's President Bashir al-Asad is in secret negotiations with Iran to secure a safe haven for a group of Iraqi nuclear scientists who were sent to Damascus before last year's war to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

Western intelligence officials believe that President Asad is desperate to get the Iraqi scientists out of his country before their presence prompts America to target Syria as part of the war on terrorism.

The issue of moving the Iraqi scientists to Iran was raised when President Asad made a visit to Teheran in July. Intelligence officials understand that the Iranians have still to respond to the Syrian leader's request.

A group of about 12 middle-ranking Iraqi nuclear technicians and their families were transported to Syria before the collapse of Saddam's regime. The transfer was arranged under a combined operation by Saddam's now defunct Special Security Organisation and Syrian Military Security, which is headed by Arif Shawqat, the Syrian president's brother-in-law.

The Iraqis, who brought with them CDs crammed with research data on Saddam's nuclear programme, were given new identities, including Syrian citizenship papers and falsified birth, education and health certificates. Since then they have been hidden away at a secret Syrian military installation where they have been conducting research on behalf of their hosts.

Growing political concern in Washington about Syria's undeclared weapons of mass destruction programmes, however, has prompted President Asad to reconsider harbouring the Iraqis.

American intelligence officials are concerned that Syria is secretly working on a number of WMD programmes.

They have also uncovered evidence that Damascus has acquired a number of gas centrifuges - probably from North Korea - that can be used to enrich uranium for a nuclear bomb.

Relations between Washington and Damascus have been strained since last year's war in Iraq, with American commanders accusing the Syrians of allowing foreign fighters to cross the border into Iraq, where they carry out terrorist attacks against coalition forces.

"The Syrians are playing a very dangerous game," a senior Western intelligence official told The Sunday Telegraph.

"The Americans already have them in their sights because they are doing next to nothing to stop foreign fighters entering Iraq. If Washington finds concrete evidence that Syria is engaged in an illegal WMD programme then it will quickly find itself targeted as part of the war on terror."

Or at least one would hope.

As Captain Ed underscores:

Let's recall that Syria is a member of the UN Security Council, supposedly a member of the body that Kofi Annan says has to approve our actions in defense of our own security ...

Maybe we can send John Kerry over on some sort of ad hoc bipartisan charm offensive and see if he can't give Assad to give up the Iraqi nuclear-weapons scientists, as well as its own indigenous WMD programs, with some persuasive arguments and the occasional strongly-worded warning.

Posted by: Ace at 09:42 PM | Comments (2)
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The PowerLine guys are thoroughly demolishing the credibility of part-time reporterette/full-time Democratic advocate Jennifer Loven in this post showing her utter determination to call Bush a liar, despite the facts to contrary, and her earlier work once again deliberately and baldly mistating the "famous 16 words" in Bush's SOTU address.

Perhaps the press should stop calling them the "famous 16 words." If the words are so famous, why is the liberal press consistently unable to quote them correctly, even with acess to Lexis/Nexis (and, of course, a transcript of the speech right in front of them).

Ms. Loven's husband is, you will not be surprised to learn, an environmental activist and a major Kerry supporter. Which, as the PowerLine guys note, is quite fine-- it's Ms. Loven's covert employment by the DNC while posing as an independent AP "reporter" that rankles.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: These people all quite plainly want to work at the DNC. Why not just be honest about that fact and just work for them, already?

If you want to be an astronaut, don't go to law school. And if you want to be a paid "partisan political operative," don't do by "reporting the news" at an ostensibly nonpartisan news organization.

Posted by: Ace at 05:09 PM | Add Comment
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Blaster's Blog has the Catch of the Day.

For years, we've been hearing conspiracy theories involving Harken Energy's purchase of Bush's failed oil concern Spectrum 7.

Turns out that Harken's biggest investor was...

George Soros-- the man keeping Oliver Willis rolling in battered fish and tartar sauce.

Posted by: Ace at 01:51 PM | Comments (6)
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I can't believe this can possibly be true, but it turns out that John Forbes Kerry said he visited Safwan, Iraq for the signing of the armistice in 1991, and it appears that the actual record disputes that.

I can't believe this can be true.

If Kerry has once again lied about his James-Bond-by-way-of-Walter-Mitty globe-trotting, this campaign is over.

Note: Captain Ed's post begins by expressing doubt that Kerry made this claim. An update confirms he did-- I actually happened to watch O'Reilly for once and I saw the repeat of this interview this past week.

The only question is whether he actually was in Iraq when he said he was, and it appears, at least based on his Senate voting, that he wasn't.

Posted by: Ace at 12:30 PM | Comments (16)
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Great, great stuff from Protein Wisdom.

Posted by: Ace at 06:45 PM | Comments (7)
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John Kerry says Bush missed his opportunity to capture Osama Bin Ladin; the "refreshing, candid," courageous billionairess Terezzza says we've already captured him.

Look, call it fifties sexism or whatnot, but there was a reason Ricky wouldn't let Lucy in the band.

Posted by: Ace at 03:55 PM | Comments (11)
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Dan Rather has Britney Spears' marriage certificate. He's quite insistent that it's accurate if not authentic.

If he's been duped, he'd really like to break that story. I mean, "break it" after it having been widely reported by US, People, the National Enquirer, Drudge, a couple of aboriginals operating a surfboard shop/outback newsletter in Perth Australia, etc.

Posted by: Ace at 09:56 AM | Comments (4)
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Figures. As Bill Clinton was responsible for the rising of the sun and the fruiting of the vines, it must also be the case that the gods are angry that George Bush won't endorse the Kyoto Accords. Poseidon, God of the Oceans, is in a particular snit over this matter.

Thanks to Jim for the link:

SPARTANBURG, SC (Talon News) -- Attempting to take political advantage of the devastating hurricanes that have hit Florida and the southeastern section of the United States in the past few weeks, liberal political action group MoveOn.org is saying that President George W. Bush is to blame for "making extreme weather stronger."

In an e-mail to supporters, MoveOn.org rhetorically asks "why such extreme weather" has taken place with Hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Ivan causing billions of dollars in property damage and loss of life.

"Scientists agree that global warming makes sea levels rise and makes storms stronger, because temperature shifts disrupt the normal balance," MoveOn.org explained. "Warmer water makes more violent hurricanes."

The group added that insurance companies such as Swiss Re and Munich Re say "global warming is causing more losses."

...

"By writing to our local papers, we can reach out to neighbors who are concerned about the extreme weather but don't yet know the connection to President Bush protecting the polluters," MoveOn.org argued.

The e-mail concluded, "And best of luck coping with the weather."

In related news, Ares, God of War, just announced that he "really like the cut of Don Rumsfield's jib."

Posted by: Ace at 09:24 AM | Comments (24)
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I actually think I posted this before, but it bears repeating:

John Forbes Kerry, 1997: "We know we can't count on the French. We know we can't count on the Russians. We know that Iraq is a danger to the United States, and we reserve the right to take pre-emptive action whenever we feel it's in our national interest."

The link to the CNN interview in which he said this -- undoubtedly "misled" into making this arrogant, unilateralist warmonger remark by the sitting Governor of Texas at the time, George W. Bush -- at Alarming News.

Posted by: Ace at 09:15 AM | Comments (1)
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Goodness gracious but MeTooThen is fast. He's sent along the winners of the Haiku Contest -- as he sees it and he decrees it -- and I'll be posting them sometime today.

Posted by: Ace at 09:10 AM | Comments (11)
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