Top Scoops: Comment & Opinion Digest Dec. 11-13

Wednesday, 13 December 2006, 11:13 am
Article: Alastair Thompson

SCOOP COMMENT & OPINION:
History: Who Gained From Old Europe's Self-Destruction?
Kids: Jackie Little Receives A Call Out Of The Blue
UQ Wire: The Spy Who Was Let Go In The South Pacific?
Iraq: Dahr Jamail On Iraq As A Living Hell
Iraq: Bush Stumbles As ISG Proposes Pullout & Piratisation
Iraq:.. Meanwhile, Cynthia McKinney Proposes Impeachment
Chile: Augusto Pinochet In Neverland
MORE SCOOP COMMENT & OPINION:

History: Who Gained From Old Europe's Self-Destruction?

- The Bush Dynasty has reached the end of the line. The family name may go down in history along with the Romanovs as the embodiment of Imperial squander and ill-advised military bungling. George W. Bush is America's Nicholas the Last. See... M.G. Levey: The History of Dirty-Tricks (Part III) [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00194.htm

Kids: Jackie Little Receives A Call Out Of The Blue

- Forgive me if this piece is not entirely coherent, but my heart rate has only just slowed to approximately 3 trillion beats per second and my hands are still a tad on the shaky side. You see, it only happened about half an hour ago: The phone call that every parent dreads. See... Jackie Little: The Phone Call [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00172.htm

UQ Wire: The Spy Who Was Let Go In The South Pacific?

- Wolfgang Bohringer , the German pilot who was one of Mohamed Atta's closest associates in Florida and the subject of an FBI terror alert in the South Pacific, was apprehended and taken into custody recently, but then almost immediately released after he told authorities responsible for his capture that he works for the CIA. See... UQ Wire: The Mystery Of Fanning Island [1] & UQ Wire: Mohamed Atta Associate in South Pacific [2] MORE UQ WIRE:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00182.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0611/S00326.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00145.htm

Iraq: Dahr Jamail On Iraq As A Living Hell

- The situation in Iraq has reached such a point of degradation and danger that I've been unable to return to report - as I did from 2003 to 2005 - from the front lines of daily life. Instead, in these last months, I have found myself in a supportive role, facilitating the work of some of my former sources, who remain in their own war-torn land, to tell their hair-raising tales of the new Iraq. While relying on my Iraqi colleagues to report the news, which we then publish at Inter Press Service and my website, I continue to receive emails from others in Iraq, civilian and soldier alike. See... Dahr Jamail: "Today Is Better Than Tomorrow" [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00186.htm

Iraq: Bush Stumbles As ISG Proposes Pullout & Piratisation

- While the Washington press corps chased the nine wise men (and one wise woman) of the Iraq Study Group as they scampered from the White House to Capitol Hill to press conferences to a multitude of talk show appearances in their efforts to pull Dubya's chestnuts from the Iraq fire, some journalists seem to have missed some of its most important findings. See... William Fisher: Three Years Too Late [1] MORE REACTION TO THE ISG REPORT:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00187.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00177.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00191.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00164.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00159.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00171.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00150.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00144.htm

Iraq:.. Meanwhile, Cynthia McKinney Proposes Impeachment

- Political questions are tricky and complicated. Sometimes causes that are just and good must take a backseat to other priorities or long-term strategies. Setting all such perfectly reasonable considerations aside for a moment, I'd like you to ask ... See... The Best Reasons Not to Impeach, Why They're Wrong [1] MORE:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00154.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00161.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00160.htm

Chile: Augusto Pinochet In Neverland

- Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, Tinker Bell and General Augusto Pinochet had much in common. All three performed magical good deeds. In the case of Pinochet, he was universally credited with the Miracle of Chile, the wildly successful experiment in free markets, privatization, de-regulation and union-free economic expansion whose laissez-faire seeds spread from Valparaiso to Virginia. See... Tinker Bell, Pinochet And The Miracle Of Chile [1] MORE:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00188.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00139.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0612/S00215.htm

MORE SCOOP COMMENT & OPINION:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00192.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00173.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00193.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00156.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00190.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00189.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00185.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00184.htm
[9] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00183.htm
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00143.htm
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00181.htm
[12] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00180.htm
[13] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00179.htm
[14] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00178.htm
[15] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00169.htm
[16] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00168.htm
[17] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00167.htm
[18] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00166.htm
[19] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00165.htm
[20] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00163.htm
[21] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00162.htm
[22] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00158.htm
[23] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00157.htm
[24] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00153.htm
[25] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00151.htm
[26] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00149.htm
[27] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00148.htm
[28] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00147.htm
[29] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00146.htm

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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