Building nicely:
Diplomats’ plea takes front pages
“Like being slow hand-clapped by the Women’s Institute.” 
Former diplomats’ attack on Blair is off the Richter scale, says Cook
Revolt grows as MPs and military back diplomats’ fears
(That’s 108 out of 680 or so)
Thanks for the links Squink !
CNN, MSN and NYT sites still don’t have it in their front covers or international news covers.
And God knows we don’t want anybody who knows what he’s talking about sticking in his tuppence worth. Those damned “experts” will screw you every time. :rolleyes:
Freakin’ experts.
There were reports of a similar letter circulating in certain circles in the US; it just hasn’t officially surfaced yet as they attempt to get more (important and credible) signatures to attach to it before publishing.
Anyone have further details on it?
The problem is that in an election year anyone signing that letter will be tagged as “partisan” or “liberal”. Of course many in fact will sign it for partisan reasons… the rest just get smeared along.
Here it is:
Former U.S. diplomats slam Mideast policy
Perhaps the signatories of the mythical US letter are also on the payroll of Arabic regimes or employed by companies seeking lucrative Middle East contracts?
*"If an MP had made statements like these without declaring an interest in the subject they would have been before the standards and privileges committee we would have had their guts for garters.
This casts a very different light on what the former diplomats have said."*
Andrew Dismore, Labour MP, Hendon
Pretty serious stuff, huh? Like being un unpaid director of the Egyptian-British Chamber of Commerce, or unpaid chairman of the Anglo-Omani Society, or an unpaid member of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce.
One of the guys actually gets paid, too. 4000 pounds for being a consultant on the middle east. Wow. Amazing.
Not.
Not really no, it is however the principle of appearing to be something which you’re not. Anyway, what the heck does “guts for garters ” mean?
Literally it means that the standards and privileges committee is in the habit of disembowelling people that they don’t like, and using said people’s intestines to hold up their fishnet stockings. Figuratively, it means that the standards and priveleges committee would take some unspecified action, like maybe slandering them in a newspaper owned by the publishers of the Jerusalem Post. 
"Two years from now only the Brits may be with us… At some point, we may be the only ones left. That’s okay with me. We are America."
GWB on the War on Terrorism in Woodward’s Bush at War
Well compared to the links Bush, Cheney, Rice and just about everyone in the Bush Government has with the oil business... I hardly find these consultancy links something to worry about. These British are all specialists in their areas... and lo and behold they actually work in their areas of expertise !
Now you can close your eyes and pretend they are corrupt and vile...Oh. You mean like how Bush, Cheney, Rice’s oil links don’t worry you a bit. Ok. Got ya.
Don’t have to close my eyes for that - and you forgot mean, sadistic and sexually depraved. Probably they all shag sheep too and fart in their sleep.
I think that the point of the comparison was that the Bush Admin’s connections to the oil industry are more pervasive and troubling to RM rather than that they didn’t “worry” RM.
I could be wrong…
You say these as if they’re bad things
Yep, I’m thinking of the more pervasive oil connections… and they are bad for sheep those “things”.