We've heard that Condoleezza Rice serves as the President's 'tutor' on international affairs. If you're like me, perhaps you've wondered what those lessons are like...

It was Condoleezza Rice, national security advisor, who helped her boss out of the embarassing situation. During a conversation between the two presidents, George W. Bush, 55, (USA) and Fernando Henrique Cardoso, 71, (Brazil), Bush bewildered his colleague with the question "Do you have blacks, too?"

Rice, 47, noticing how astonished the Brazilian was, saved the day by telling Bush "Mr. President, Brazil probably has more blacks than the USA. Some say it's the Country with the most blacks outside Africa." Later, the Brazilian president Cardoso said: regarding Latin America, Bush was still in his "learning phase".

::Der Spiegel (via gwbush.com): Gibt es Schwarze in Brasilien?

In an April interview with The Ithaca Journal at his family's Cayuga Heights home, [Army Private Matt] Guckenheimer, 22, shared his experiences during Operation Anaconda. He was sent on March 6 in a company of more than 100 soldiers to participate in the largest U.S.-led ground engagement in Eastern Afghanistan.

"We were told there were no friendly forces," said Guckenheimer, an assistant gunner with the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum. "If there was anybody there, they were the enemy. We were told specifically that if there were women and children to kill them."

::Kandea Mosley, The Ithaca Journal: Fresh memories of war via Cursor

Some British officers at the Bagram Air Base near Kabul are now taking issue with the US-led strategy. They say that creating more small bases across Afghanistan's volatile Pashtun tribal belt and melding antiterror activities with a more concerted "hearts and minds" campaign would work better than the often futile fight that is being conducted now.

"Afghanistan presents immense challenges, and it is crucial to dispel the impression that many Afghans have that this is an invading force that engages in hit-and-run operations across the country without reaching out to the population," says Royal Marines Lt.-Col. Ben Curry. "Also, if you are stationed on the ground in villages and towns, it is far easier to pick out the enemy in a crowd."

::Philip Smucker, CS Monitor: As US coalition debates tactics, Taliban fight on via Dack

Bush and Blair talk up their 'joint initiative' and their 'shoulder-to-shoulder' stance against terror. But on the ground - in a war with no clear aims, no intelligence to speak of, and no significant operations for soldiers to fight in - there is little to tie US and British forces together in anything resembling comradeship, and instead they are reduced to bickering over who is to blame for the failures of the war.

The war on terror was never a clear military operation with clear goals. It was always driven by political considerations, launched by America in the wake of 11 September in a desperate attempt to galvanise audiences at home and abroad. From day one, it was a war that didn't really know who it was fighting against or what it was fighting for - as reflected in the ever-changing war aims.

::Brendan O'Neill, Spiked: Why the marines messed up

The New York Times is running low on blockbuster premonitions of the September 11th hijackings. It's whooping up this this one now...

In one conversation, in the summer of 2000, the sheik tells the mosque leader, or imam: "In the future, listen to the news and remember these words: 'above the head.'"

The sheik says the action will be "one of those strikes that you never forget." He added that it will be a "terrifying thing, it will move from south to north, from east to west. He who made this plan is a madman, but a genius. It will turn you to ice."

The sheik also says: "Ah, yes, there are big clouds in the sky, there in that country, the fire is already lit and it's just waiting for the wing ... All the newspapers in the world will write about it."

Before Sept. 11, investigators had few clues about what the men might be discussing, Mazza told the AP. "After what happened, it's now easy to draw conclusions ... but before, it was difficult to understand."

You mean you can understand that now? I guess I'm not intelligence agent material...

::AP, via New York Times: Recorded Conversations Reveal Predictions of Attacks

Shining a light for democracy...

President Bush, facing television cameras at a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, announced that the two would meet with media representatives as part of his effort to convince Russia of "the important role of the free press in building a working democracy."

When the meeting happened a while later, it was a Kremlin gathering of a few news media figures who were given four minutes to make presentations to the presidents: two minutes for an American newspaper owner and two minutes for a Russian journalist. Participants said Bush and Putin thanked them without responding to the issues they raised. Although the event was meant to highlight support for a free press, news media coverage was not permitted.

::Dana Milbank and Peter Baker, Washington Post: Bush Wary of Confronting Putin

We use terrorism to fight the war on drugs, might as well use drugs to fight the war on terrorism...

US documents reveal that two years ago the Pentagon commissioned scientists at Pennsylvania State University to look at potential military uses for a range of chemicals known as calmatives. The scientists concluded that several drugs would be effective to control crowds or in military operations such as anti-terrorist campaigns. The drugs they recommended for 'immediate consideration' included diazepam, better known as the tranquilliser Valium, and dexmedetomidine, used to sedate patients in intensive care. The scientists advised that these drugs can 'effectively act on central nervous system tissues and produces a less anxious, less aggressive, more tranquil-like behaviour'.

Far out...

::Linda Panetta, "Plan Colombia ... Plan of Death"
::Antony Barnett, The Observer: US plan to strike enemy with Valium via New World Disorder

Last Friday the old Cold War foes pretended to sign an arms accord. In this scenario, nuclear warheads are not disposed of, exactly, but instead are "warehoused" to ensure "quality control."

"If you have a nuclear arsenal, you want to make sure that they work," [Bush] said.

You are absolutely fucking right about that, Mr. President.

A cynic might suggest that this pseudo-event was more about saving money and saving face than it was about saving the planet. But say what you want about the treaty, Bush did give a good speech about it:

"That's good. It's good for the people of Russia; it's good for the people of the United States. . . . For decades, Russia and NATO were adversaries. Those days are gone, and that's good. And that's good for the Russian people, it's good for the people of my country, it's good for the people of Europe, and it's good for the people of the world."

As if this production wasn't triggering Dr. Strangelove flashbacks on its own, the President starts speaking like Merkin Muffley. Uncanny echoes of Peter Sellers' fine riff on a U.S. President calling up his Soviet counterpart...

Hello? Hello, Dimitri? Listen, I can't hear too well, do you suppose you could turn the music down just a little? Oh, that's much better. Yes. Fine, I can hear you now, Dimitri. Clear and plain and coming through fine. I'm coming through fine too, eh? Good, then. Well then as you say we're both coming through fine. Good. Well it's good that you're fine and I'm fine. I agree with you. It's great to be fine

::Dan Plesch, London Observer: Why Bush's deal with Putin doesn't make the world safer
::Bob Deans, Austin American-Statesman: Hailing a new era, Bush, Putin sign arms accord
::Margaret Dowd, New York Times: W.'s Grand Tour

Alexander Cockburn makes an intriguing point about my three favorite staple foods...

Optimism of the will, optimism of the intelligence. I reminded the Spokane Greens of some of the less trumpeted legacies of the Sixties. Better food. The visionary radical hippies had a lot to do with that, touting organic food and the grains that now find their way into the health pages of the Sunday papers. Good coffee was promoted by radicals . . . Beer too. The backlot brewers who began Sierra Nevada beer in Chico, who ultimately beat back Budweiser's efforts to destroy them and thus sealed the victory of the microbrews, came out of the Sixties alternative culture.

Bread, coffee and beer. It's up there with the Bolsheviks' old slogan of Peace, Land and Bread.

Alexander Cockburn: Counterpunch: You Can Thank the Left for Bread, Coffee and Beer!

They said this war would be fought on many fronts, at home and abroad...

Jacksonville, Fla., police arrested a Fort Stewart soldier Saturday after finding him armed, wearing black clothes and leaving a power plant where he allegedly left an explosive.

Spc. Derek Lawrence Peterson, 27, is being held on a $5 million bond by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Department of Corrections. He has been charged with attempting to detonate an explosive device.

Peterson belongs to B Company, 1st Battalion, 64th Armor and has been stationed at Fort Stewart since March, said Dina McCain, a Fort Stewart spokeswoman.

McCain said she did not know whether Army investigators were involved with the case and referred all questions about it to Jacksonville police.

An officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office stopped Peterson at 11:15 p.m. Saturday for speeding. The officer found Peterson wearing all black clothing and black, plastic pads on his knees and elbows, according to a sheriff's department report. He also had a pistol in a shoulder holster.

The officer recognized Peterson's black 2002 Chevrolet Silverado pickup because he had noticed it backed up to the Florida Power and Light station's main gate 30 minutes earlier as he drove to assist another officer.

The officer searched Peterson's truck and found a 12-inch knife, a six-inch knife, a 12-gauge shotgun, shotgun shells, .45-caliber bullets, four ammo magazines, a six-volt battery, duct tape, speaker wire and plastic from an explosive device, the report said.

After being informed of his rights, wrote arresting officer D.F. Valiante, "the suspect advised me that he was on the power plant property to practice recon tactics."

Police followed footprints on a dirt road at the power plant and found an explosive device underneath the power lines, the report said.

Peterson allegedly told police he had placed a Hoffman explosive device, equal in power to a half-stick of dynamite. He had planned to detonate the explosive but was worried that he would be injured in the blast, the report said. Instead, Peterson removed a six-volt battery and threw it into the woods.

A bomb squad disposed of the explosive.

Peterson's next court date is June 4. He is not allowed visitors at the jail, according to the corrections department.

::Noelle Phillips, Savannah NOW: Fort Stewart soldier jailed in Florida on $5 million bond

(A note on those conspiracy theories: if Bush knew it was all coming, why did he look--in the words of one man-on-the-street interviewee I saw after he gave his first talk to the country after Sept. 11--like such a "scared little mouse" that day? Why did he spend the day flying from one hidey-hole to another? If he knew it was going to happen, wouldn't he have been prepared to stride forth like John Wayne and impress us all with his forceful leadership?)

(I know, I know--a lot of people were impressed by his forceful leadership. What can I say? The human capacity for self-deception is truly a wondrous thing to behold.)

--Tom Tomorrow

The Joint Chiefs of Staff have waged a determined behind-the-scenes campaign to persuade the Bush administration to reconsider an aggressive posture toward Iraq in which war was regarded as all but inevitable. This included a secret briefing at the White House earlier this month for President Bush by Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks, who as head of the Central Command would oversee any U.S. military campaign against Iraq.

During the meeting, Franks told the president that invading Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein would require at least 200,000 troops, far more than some other military experts have calculated. This was in line with views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who have repeatedly emphasized the lengthy buildup that would be required, concerns about Hussein's possible use of biological and chemical weapons and the possible casualties, officials said.

..."I think all the chiefs stood shoulder-to-shoulder on this," said one officer tracking the debate, which has been intense at times. In one of the most emphatic summaries of the direction of the debate, one top general said the "Iraq hysteria" he detected last winter in some senior Bush administration officials has been diffused.

Gotta wonder what Smilin' Dick and Rummy think about this fighting spirit among the rank and file...

::Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post: Military Sees Iraq Invasion Put on Hold