Stuff and nonsense

South America - Thailand connection
We just reported the arrest of the global arms trader in World Watch. Emptywheel reports that this arrest in Thailand may be related to the cross-border adventures in South America and the Colombian raid on FARC rebels in Ecuador.

Bout, the target of an international arrest warrant and U.S. sanctions, was picked up at a Bangkok hotel after he entered Thailand on February 29. Police were searching for an associate.

Bout was attempting "to procure weapons for Colombia's FARC rebels", the Thai police said in an arrest report.

Which suggests it ties in some way to the cross-border raid the Colombians staged in Ecuador, for which the US is alleged to have provided intelligence. The Colombians nabbed a laptop from the scene of the Reyes assassination--though already there are disputes about what kind of intelligence the laptop included. This may mean the Colombian/Venezuelan conflict will get bigger before it is resolved.

Avoiding taxes, beating out competition, and screwing employees
We wouldn't be talking about Bush and Cheney's good friends, the folks at KBR would we? Well, yes, we would. Check out their Cayman Islands scam at Emptywheel's blog.

Jack Abramoff, Jeff Gannon, Carl Truscott, George Bush - connect the dots
You can't be sure but the possibilities are fascinating. The White House clearly protected Carl Truscott, former head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms when he committed all manner of misuse of funds and people (the DOJ has never pursued the complaints against him). He came to BATF from the WH where he was in the Secret Service. You know, back in the days when folks like Jack Abramoff and gay manwhore Jeff Gannon used to visit there. You gotta wonder. Read more here.

Rule of Law? Qu'est-ce que c'est?
The Washington Post reported two days ago:

Two former high-ranking Shiite government officials charged with kidnapping and killing scores of Sunnis were ordered released Monday after prosecutors dropped the case. The abrupt move renewed concerns about the willingness of Iraq's leaders to act against sectarianism and cast doubts on U.S. efforts to build an independent judiciary.

The collapse of the trial stunned American and Iraqi officials who had spent more than a year assembling the case, which they said included a wide array of evidence.

"This shows that the judicial system in Iraq is horribly broken," said a U.S. legal adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. "And it sends a terrible signal: If you are Shia, then no worries; you can do whatever you want and nothing is going to happen to you."

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's decision to allow the case to proceed to trial was considered a significant step toward proving his Shiite-led government could hold Shiite officials accountable for sectarian crimes. The case was heard at the multimillion-dollar Rule of Law Complex, protected and supervised by the United States, which has said that the development of an impartial justice system is essential to Iraq's long-term stability.

"Rule of Law Complex"? Is that a psychological condition listed in the DSM-IV? Is it related to Bush's night sweats when he dreams that his crimes will catch up with him? Or does it never even occur to the coddled, entitled New England fratboy (with Texas pretensions) that his crimes might some day catch up with him?

h/t to Swopa at Firedoglake for this one.

Unchecked power gets abused. Who knew?
Glenn Greenwald shares lessons from the forthcoming Inspector General's report. You will be shocked to learn the following:

(1) If unchecked power is vested in government officials, they're going to abuse that power;

(2) If government officials exercise power without real oversight from other branches, they're going to break the law and then lie about it, falsely denying that they're done so, insisting instead that they're only using their powers to Protect Us;

(3) Allowing government officials to engage in surveillance on American citizens with no warrant requirement ensures that surveillance will be used for improper ends, against innocent Americans.

Israel - Palestine
Palestinian gunmen kill 8 in Jerusalem Jewish school
Reuters - 3 hours ago
By Alastair Macdonald JERUSALEM, March 6 (Reuters) - Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire in a Jewish religious school in Jerusalem on Thursday, killing at least eight people and wounding 20, the Israeli emergency service Zaka said.

Alas, altogether too much stuff and not enough nonsense. I will try to bring some levity to us later on.
--the BB