Big News Dump

Too much big news this morning to keep up with. Here's the biggest stuff:

Iraq Transfer-of-Sovereignty: Mission Accomplished

Seeking to pre-empt terrorists' attempts to derail the transfer of sovereignty, the coalition wisely transfers sovereignty today. At least one coalition goal the terrorists sought to scotch is now a fait accompli.

Fox's take, which mentions that Paul Bremer will depart Iraq today.

The surprise move has the dollar gaining against most currencies:

``The fear was that there may have been some kind of disruption to the transition on Wednesday,'' said Kamal Sharma, a currency strategist in London at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. ``By moving the process forward, the coalition may have put the rebels on the back foot, taken them a bit by surprise.''

Shiite tribes gathering for war on Fallujah:

Washington threw up its hands and said Iraq's new interim government could fix Falluja. But even before he formally takes control at midnight on Wednesday, the Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, is confronted with another declaration of war on Falluja - this time from the massed Shiite tribes of southern Iraq.

At a council of war after Friday prayers at Baghdad's Baratha mosque, the sheiks - or chiefs - of more than 40 of the tribes issued a declaration: they would destroy Falluja, along with neighbouring Ramadi, unless the insurgency leaders they hold responsible for the Shiite deaths are handed over to them - for execution.

Ahhhh... the dreaded Iraqi Civil War we've been hearing so much about. Except this isn't to be dreaded. If the terrorists do not stop terrorizing, there is no other choice.

Fred Barnes just made a point on Sunday that I made some time ago: The Americans have actually been protecting the Sunnis from the natural consequences of their actions. Name another Arab country where a vastly-outmanned minority gets to murder the majority without getting a little taste of genocide.

If the Sunnis do not stop supporting terrorists, they will reap the whirlwind, and I hope they do not actually believe that America will come running to save them from what will be, for many, their just desserts.

The French and the liberal world press will whine. But America will not be provoked into fighting the Shia's on behalf of the Sunnis who butcher our people. And the liberal world press has not had much success in bullying Arab governments (to the extent it's even attempted to do so).

I hope the Sunnis understand what may be coming, and make the wise decision in favor of peace. If not-- we've saved enough Iraqis. We don't need to save any more.

NATO will provide training for Iraqi soldiers and police, and may take additional steps to improve Iraq's security.

Since it's all about the oil, this is a good time to note that the price of gas has been consistently falling, and will fall further.

It turns out that Joe Wison, international bon vivant and sweet mint-tea afficianado, might not have been quite so dilligent an investigator as his nepotist wife boasted. Niger was in talks to sell yellowcake uranium to a whole slew of countries, including, yes, Iraq:

However, European intelligence officers have now revealed that three years before the fake documents became public, human and electronic intelligence sources from a number of countries picked up repeated discussion of an illicit trade in uranium from Niger. One of the customers discussed by the traders was Iraq.

These intelligence officials now say the forged documents appear to have been part of a "scam", and the actual intelligence showing discussion of uranium supply has been ignored.

Wait-- the press is ignoring evidence that helps makes the case for war as well as for Bush's re-election? I simply cannot believe such a thing.

While all this change is going on, it's comforting to know that some things don't change. For example, Jacques Chirac is still a fucking prick. He's trying to block his major rival within his party, and his party is in disarray due to his jackass maneuverings.

But Tony Blair has gotten some good news. He seems to have prevailed in his choice for head of the EU-- the free-trading, pro-capitalist, America-friendly PM of Portugal, Barroso.

Most of the above was found on Free Republic. Thanks for their newshawking efforts.

Update: The Tony Blair link is now corrected, thanks to Jim.

posted by Ace at 04:25 AM

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