Loose cannons

Boom years

"More than 60% of all US companies paid no federal tax at all during the boom years of 1996 to 2000, the [US Congress's] General Accounting Office reports." — MSN Money website.

Like the glove puppet invites in the hand

"And so [US-appointed Iraqi] Prime Minister Allawi and his government ... are working with our generals on the ground... We will work closely with the government. It's their government, it's their country. We're there at their invitation." — Emperor George Bush II, November 4.

By killing off the Iraqi public

"I don't know how many weeks or how many months it will take to reach a point where the weight of public opinion favours the new Iraqi government instead of the insurgents." — US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, November 9.

Opinion changers at work

"Jump out. Kick in door. Spray machine-gun fire... Jump back into armored vehicle. Move to new location. Repeat. So goes the battle for Fallujah as experienced Friday by the exhausted and bewildered soldiers of the 3rd Brigade of the [US] Army's 1st Infantry Division." — From a Knight Ridders Newspapers report, November 10.

From Green Left Weekly, November 17, 2004.

Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

From GLW issue 606