Loose Cannons

Only makes imperial sense

"[Following] American Ambassador to Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad's statement that 'Turkey should refrain from interfering in the domestic affairs of Iraq', [Turkish] Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: 'So the United States will come to Iraq from 10,000 kilometers away, intervene in Iraq and nobody will say anything, but we will not have the right to voice our views on a neighbor country with which we have a 350 kilometer border. Does this make sense at all?'" — Turkish Daily News, January 16.

Working hard to raise it

"There is distrust in Washington ... And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it." — Emperor George Bush II, January 29.

Accuse first, invent 'evidence' later

"Bush administration officials acknowledged Friday that they had yet to compile evidence strong enough to back up publicly their claims that Iran is fomenting violence against US troops in Iraq." — Los Angeles Times, February 3.

Body-bag surge

"More American troops were killed in combat in Iraq over the past four months — at least 334 through Jan. 31 — than in any comparable stretch since the war began, according to an Associated Press analysis of casualty records." — Associated Press, February 7.

From GLW issue 698