Loose cannons

Evil genius I

"Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a nice way to operate, actually." — US Vice-President Dick Cheney, quoted in USA Today, January 19.

Evil genius II

"In a well-reported piece last Sunday, Washington Post correspondents Glenn Kessler and Walter Pincus wrote that one year ago, the CIA prepared the first draft of Powell's UN speech and sent it over to Vice President Cheney's office, where it was massively changed." — Capital Hill Blue web site, February 3.

'Truth' bears no relation to reality

"The Hutton report inquiry's demonstrated that in the presentations about Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction, both the British government and the Australian government were telling the truth." — Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer, January 29.

Hans Blix flushed down the memory hole

[US Secretary of State Colin] Powell "told the Washington Post in an interview published Tuesday that he did not know whether he would have recommended an invasion of Iraq had he been told there was no evidence of stockpiles of banned weapons there." — Associated Press, February 3.

Not entirely

"I somehow feel I'm not being entirely persuasive in certain

quarters." — British PM Tony Blair responding to heckles of "Murderer" and "Liar" from the House of Commons public gallery on February 4 while he defended his decision to go to war in Iraq.

From Green Left Weekly, February 11, 2004.

Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

From GLW issue 570