Update: US military spokesperson Emily Litella says “Never mind” as the Iranians are released.

CNN reports: U.S. detains Iranians in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — U.S. soldiers arrested members of an Iranian government delegation Tuesday at a hotel in Baghdad and took them to an unidentified location, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported.
…

The U.S. military said it detained some “Iranian citizens with Iranian passports” and their Iraqi escorts, who carried Iraqi Department of Energy badges, at a checkpoint in the Abu Nuwas market in eastern Baghdad’s Rusafa district.
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When not trying to be Teddy Roosevelt or Harry Truman, the Shrubbery spends a lot of time fixating on Winston Churchill. It’s too bad he never read anything written by or about Churchill and Iraq. It has a lot of relevance to the current mess in Mesopotamia.

While “Joke Line” mentions some of the history of Iraq in a July 30, 2006 column for Time, he missed the best part: Winston Churchill created Iraq. It was Winnie’s idea to combine the three separate Turkish provinces [one each for Sunnis, Shi’ia, and Kurds] into one nation for administrative purposes and to anoint the Sunnis to rule the new country after World War I.

But, as Dr. Cole points out, Winnie knew a loser when it was staring him in the face: Churchill on When to Throw in the Towel on Iraq.

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At this time two years ago I was sitting at the computer when the first rains from the outer bands of Katrina arrived. My feeling was that we had been spared the main hit, but were still going to experience a tropical storm. The eye came ashore almost 200 miles West of me, but tropical storm force winds were felt 50 miles to the East before the night was over.

Tonight all there is to watch is Invest 94L in the Atlantic, not what was then the fourth most powerful storm on record. I’m content with that.

Different veterans group, same disconnect for the Shrubbery.

The BBC reports: Bush warns Iran over insurgents

In a speech to US war veterans in Reno, Nevada, Mr. Bush renewed charges that Tehran has provided training and weapons for extremists in Iraq.

But he offers no proof of the claim because every time they run a dog-and-pony show with “proof,” they get caught faking it.

He also said:

Mr Bush said Tehran’s pursuit of nuclear technology threatened to put the Middle East “under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust”.

I don’t guess Israel in the West, Pakistan and India on the East, and Russia to the North are considered a threat. No, the possibility that in a decade, if they actually are trying to build a nuclear weapon, Iran which hasn’t attacked anyone in a very long time will be a threat.

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