Some news and the afternoon’s open thread.
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Merry Christmas from George W. Bush.
According to the AP, Bush makes holiday calls to troops. “Bush made Christmas Eve calls to 10 U.S. troops serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other spots around the world, thanking them for their sacrifice and wishing them a happy holiday even though they’ll be far away from their families and friends. The president made his calls Monday from the Camp David presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains, where he is spending Christmas. He spoke with members of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard, including seven serving in Iraq… Among those joining the president at the wooded compound in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains are Mrs. Bush’s mother, Jenna Welch; and the first couple’s twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna; the president’s sister, Doro Bush Koch and her family; and the president’s brother, Marvin, and his family.”
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Merry Christmas from Iraq.
The AP reports Suicide attacks in Iraq kill at least 34. “Two separate suicide attacks, including one apparently targeting workers in a northern oil hub, killed at least 34 people on Tuesday… A suicide truck bomb exploded outside a residential complex belonging to a state-run oil company in Beiji, home to Iraq’s largest refinery, killing 25 people and wounding 80… Most of the dead were civilians, and at least four were children… In Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, 10 people were killed and five people were wounded in a suicide bombing… Local officials said a bomber wearing an explosives vest targeted a funeral procession for two members of an Awakening Council group – fighters who have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq – who were accidentally killed by U.S. troops during a dawn raid.”
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Merry Christmas from Afghanistan.
The Canadian Press reports Christmas in Kandahar not quite the same without snow and family. “It’s beginning to look a bit like Christmas in Kandahar, but without a speck of snow in sight, Canadian troops say it just doesn’t quite feel like it… Carols, festive fare, dance parties, and king can beer rations have even been plentiful this Christmas Eve, but for family men like Capt. Patrick Hannan, it just isn’t the same without his wife and 10-year-old daughter.” Stories in the American press about U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan? Not a one that I could find, but France’s AFP reports on A Christmas far away from home for troops in Afghanistan.
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Merry Christmas to Pakistan.
According to The New York Times, American aid may help the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Weeks before it is to begin, an ambitious American aid plan to counter militancy in Pakistan’s tribal areas is threatened by important unresolved questions about who will monitor the money and whether it could fall into the wrong hands…
Weeks before it is to begin, an ambitious American aid plan to counter militancy in Pakistan’s tribal areas is threatened by important unresolved questions about who will monitor the money and whether it could fall into the wrong hands…
The region remains so dangerous that it is virtually off limits even to American military officials and civilians who would oversee the programs. The Pakistani authorities have ruled out using foreign nonprofit groups, known as NGOs, shorthand for nongovernmental organizations. But neither do they approve the American choice of private contractors. They would like the money to go through them…
Concerns about corruption are so severe, however, that the first grants will be held to only about $25,000 each, to finance small projects like repairing water wells and small sewage plants…
Because the United States is viewed with such opprobrium, it will not be identified on any of the aid, preventing any possible flow of good will. The aid will instead be presented as Pakistani. That, said a senior United States Embassy official, would help the Pakistanis feel like owners of the effort. “This is about teaching them how to get smart about how to run the country and win people’s support,” the official said.
May there be peace on Earth.