Why are we not surprised
“In mounting [a court] challenge to an Internal Revenue Service ruling that branded a certain tax shelter abusive and illegal, a promoter of the shelter has had to provide a rare glimpse of the investors who bought into it. The list of those investors, disclosed in filings in federal court in San Francisco, reads like a who’s who of rich Americans ... [Tax shelter promoter] Presidio arranged 69 partnerships for its wealthy clients, which shielded income totaling as much as $2.4 billion from taxes.” — New York Times, June 10.
Clearly
“Asked on BBC television whether Iraq was safer since the US-led invasion ended with the ouster of Saddam [Hussein] in April 2003, [US defence secretary Donald] Rumsfeld replied: ‘Well, statistically no. But clearly it has been getting better as we’ve gone along’.” — Agence France Presse, June 14, the day after the number of US troops who have died in Iraq exceeded 1700.
Model of democracy I
“The experience in Kurdistan is appropriate as a model for the hoped-for democracy in Iraq”. — Pro-US Iraqi President Jalal Talabani addressing Iraqi Kurdish regional parliament, June 14.
Model of democracy II
“KIRKUK, Iraq — Police and security units, forces led by Kurdish political parties and backed by the US military, have abducted hundreds of minority Arabs and Turkmens in this intensely volatile city and spirited them to prisons in Kurdish-held northern Iraq, according to US and Iraqi officials, government documents and families of the victims.” — Washington Post, June 15.
From Green Left Weekly, June 22, 2005.
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