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Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

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offsite link There?s No Such Thing as ?Green? Industry Sun Mar 16, 2025 07:00 | Ben Pile
The collapse of Swedish battery startup Northvolt shows once more that there is no such thing as 'green' industry, says Ben Pile. Industry needs lots of cheap energy ? something that China has and Europe doesn't.
The post There’s No Such Thing as ‘Green’ Industry appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Sun Mar 16, 2025 01:23 | Will Jones
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Have We Finally Reached Peak Woke? Sat Mar 15, 2025 17:51 | Will Jones
Have we finally reached peak woke? Have we developed a vaccine to the woke mind virus? Like a dying religion, it's certainly in retreat. But some disciples of Wokus Dei are still clinging on.
The post Have We Finally Reached Peak Woke? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Migrant Who Sexually Assaulted Woman Stays in UK After Claiming He is Gay Sat Mar 15, 2025 15:00 | Will Jones
A Pakistani man who was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman and lived in Britain illegally for 11 years was allowed to stay after he claimed he was gay, despite offering no evidence.
The post Migrant Who Sexually Assaulted Woman Stays in UK After Claiming He is Gay appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Reform Would Win Local Elections ? But Angela Rayner Cancelled Them Sat Mar 15, 2025 13:00 | Will Jones
Reform UK would be on course to win in May?s local elections ? except Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has axed key votes. "They're terrified of us. The whole system is rotten," the party said.
The post Reform Would Win Local Elections ? But Angela Rayner Cancelled Them appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

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Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?124 Sat Mar 15, 2025 05:56 | en

offsite link "Kristallnacht" against the Alawites in Syria Sat Mar 15, 2025 05:38 | en

offsite link Is Donald Trump managing the possible collapse of the ?American empire??, by Thi... Tue Mar 11, 2025 06:59 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?123 Fri Mar 07, 2025 14:41 | en

offsite link Arab League summit for Gaza Fri Mar 07, 2025 11:53 | en

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Seymour Hersh's Latest: Did Washington try to manipulate Iraq’s election?

category international | anti-war / imperialism | other press author Monday July 18, 2005 15:44author by redjade Report this post to the editors

America's best investigative journalist comes out with another one...
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Hersh

The January 30th election in Iraq was publicly perceived as a political triumph for George W. Bush and a vindication of his decision to overturn the regime of Saddam Hussein. More than eight million Iraqis defied the threats of the insurgency and came out to vote for provincial councils and a national assembly. Many of them spent hours waiting patiently in line, knowing that they were risking their lives. Images of smiling Iraqis waving purple index fingers, signifying that they had voted, were transmitted around the world. Even some of the President’s harshest critics acknowledged that he might have been right: democracy, as he defined it, could take hold in the Middle East. The fact that very few Sunnis, who were dominant under Saddam Hussein, chose to vote was seen within the Administration as a temporary setback. The sense of victory faded, however, amid a continued political stalemate, increased violence, and a hardening of religious divides. After three months of bitter sectarian infighting, a government was finally formed. It is struggling to fulfill its primary task: to draft a new constitution by mid-August.

Whether the election could sustain its promise had been in question from the beginning. The Administration was confronted with a basic dilemma: The likely winner of a direct and open election would be a Shiite religious party. The Shiites were bitter opponents of Saddam’s regime, and suffered under it, but many Shiite religious and political leaders are allied, to varying degrees, with the mullahs of Iran. As the election neared, the Administration repeatedly sought ways—including covert action—to manipulate the outcome and reduce the religious Shiite influence. Not everything went as planned....

Read the rest...
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/050725fa_fact

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Seymour Hersh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh

author by redjadepublication date Tue Jul 19, 2005 14:06author address author phone Report this post to the editors

• note: 'scrapped before the January vote.' and what about before the election?

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U.S. Says It Did Not Carry Out Plans to Back Iraqis in Election
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/17/AR2005071701046_pf.html

President Bush authorized covert plans last year to support the election campaigns of Iraqis with close ties to the White House, but government and intelligence officials said yesterday the plan was scrapped before the January vote.

Some officials with knowledge of the original proposal said the Bush administration backed down after congressional objections, but others cited concerns within the intelligence community that the effort was likely to backfire.

The White House would not comment on classified matters or confirm whether such a plan existed. But National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones acknowledged in a statement that before the vote, "there were concerns about efforts by outsiders to influence the outcome of the Iraqi elections, including money flowing from Iran."

[....]

"I don't believe we actually did provide covert support in the end, but the gray area may have been did we ever consider it?" said one intelligence official who would discuss the classified proposal only on the condition of anonymity. "Early on, the administration had approved a policy and then, talking to the working level, they saw there was little chance of success and that it was more likely to backfire."

 
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