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I voted for Margaret Beckett as Labour party leader in 1994, and given the same choice I would do so again today. No great radical, she nevertheless had roots in the party and the labour movement that Tony Blair never had.

However, she is quite wrong to claim, in her interview with Zoe Williams (Margaret Beckett on Blair, the Iraq war and half a century in politics, 17 May), that everybody in the world believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Williams rightly corrects her on this, citing the examples of Robin Cook and Clare Short. But there were stronger and earlier voices against the war on Iraq.

At the Labour party conference in 2002, the former US weapons inspector Scott Ritter stated that most of Saddams weapons, and his capacity for producing them, had been destroyed. A letter from the late Mundher Al-Adhami (Other lives, 2 May), co-signed by 99 other Iraqi exiles, totally opposed to both Saddam and to the threatened war, was published by the Guardian on 5 September 2002. Hans von Sponeck, a former humanitarian aid coordinator for Iraq, wrote in your columns on 22 July 2002 that the US Department of Defence and the CIA know perfectly well that todays Iraq poses no threat to anyone in the region, let alone in the United States. And I myself followed that up by suggesting an independent team of inspectors raised by the peace movement and civil society.

So, Margaret, please do not try to whitewash the tragedy the crime that was perpetrated on Iraq in 2003, and all the subsequent horrors. Frank JacksonFormer co-chair, World Disarmament Campaign; Harlow Labour party

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Margaret Beckett is still wrong about the Iraq war and WMD claims - The Guardian

Pat Ellis' 2015 Dodge Hellcat

After purchasing this 2015 Dodge Hellcat, owner Pat Ellis is interested in learning more about a tribute under the hood.

The Herald-Times

I've worked at this newspaperwith Pat Ellis for a long time, more than 15 years probably. And during that time, the man has owned a lot of cars. I'm pretty sure all of them have been red, my not-so-favorite vehicle color.

There was the 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible, more orange than red, that I wrote a column about years ago. Then he had a 1984 Pontiac Fiero, followed by a 2008 Pontiac Solstice GXP Turbo.

Others followed: a 2004 Chevrolet Corvette ("I never liked Corvettes, but it was such a good deal," Ellis said), a 2016 Ford Mustang GT convertible with a Whipple supercharger ("a race car you could drive on the road but probably shouldn't") and a 400-horsepower 2014 Z51 Corvette convertible.

Last week's My Favorite Ride: How have Corvettes evolved? 'Car show' offers two examples to compare

The last 'Vette was not a smooth riding automobile, and it was difficult to climb in and out of after Ellis suffered a leg injury last year. One day in November, while looking online at cars for sale in the area, he saw a 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat parked at Community Chrysler in Bloomington.

"It really caught my attention," Ellis said. He drove down to take a look, and fell for the classic muscle car style, the six-speed manual transmission stick shift and the 707-horsepower engine.It's as powerful as a Lamborghini Aventador.

Edmunds reported in 2015 that the new Challenger "boasts a rare mix of talents, combining the power and attitude of a muscle car with the refinement of a luxury coupe."

Goodbye 2014 Corvette.

When you look under that Hellcat hood, it's not the supercharged V8 engine that catches your attention. It's the air-brushed All-American tribute honoring the late John W. Engeman you see first.

According to news and military reports, Engeman was a chief warrant officer in the U.S. Army when he died in May 2006 at the age of 45. Stationed out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, he was killed inBaghdad during the Iraq War when a improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.

He was awarded the Legion of Merit award, a Bronze Star and a PurpleHeart for his service.

Ellis, the car's third owner, hopes to learn more about Engeman and his connection to the car, which was manufactured nearly a decade after his death. An Owen County man had the car before Ellis, buthe apparently wasn't the one who added the patriotic embellishments.

More My Favorite Ride: A timely 2,200-mile father-son road trip in an old Ford truck

It would have been the car's first owner who had the tribute painted on the inside of the hood and a vinyl wrap applied inside the trunk lid.

Ellis said ofthe 30 or more cars he's owned, this is his favorite. Fast and flashy and right up his alley. The Hellcat has two key fobs that control the engine output: the black one sets the engine at 500 horsepower, and with the red one, it's up to 700.

"It's not just a cool car," Ellis said. "There's more to it. It's like a shrine."

He said the story he got was that the first owner had served in the Army with Engeman and had customized the car as a tribute to his friend.

My Favorite Ride gets published and read far and wide. Maybe I'll hear back from someone who knows the full story.

Have a story to tell about a car or truck? Contact reporterLaura Lane at llane@heraldt.com, 812-331-4362 or 812-318-5967.

Originally posted here:
Dodge Challenger Hellcat conceals tribute to officer killed in Iraq - The Herald-Times

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday promised a strong response after a senior member of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was gunned down on the previous day.

"I insist on the serious pursuit (of the killers) by security officials, and I have no doubt that the blood of this great martyr will be avenged," Raisi said.

IRGC Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei was killed by unidentified gunmen outside of his home in Tehran on Sunday. Iranian state television reported that security forces are pursuing the assailants behind the killing.

Khodaei was a member of the Quds Force, a shadowy arm of the IRGC specialized in covert military operations outside of Iran.

Iran has pinned the killingon "global arrogance," a term typically used to refer to the US and its allies such as Israel.

Both the US and Israelhave accused the Quds Force of traininggroups such as Hezbollah in Syria and Shia militias in Iraq.

Israel has conducted extensive air operations targetingIran-linked targets in Syria. Iranresponded in March by launching a barrage of missilesinto northern Iraq, with the region being home to a US consulate.

The IRGChas referred to Khodaei has a "defender of the sanctuary," which refers to members of the armed forces who work on behalf of the Islamic Republic in Syria or Iraq.

Khodaei's death is the latest high-profile attack on an Iranian official since the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November 2020. Fakhrizadeh was one of the key architects of Iran's nuclear program, which is strongly opposed by Israel.

Another major assassination occurred in January 2020, when Quds Force General Qassem Soleimani was killed by a US drone nearBaghdadInternational Airport in Iraq.

The move, which was ordered by former US President Donald Trump's administration, caused tensions to skyrocket between Washington and Tehran, with the IRGC firing missiles at an American airbase in western Iraq in retaliation.

wd/dj (AP, AFP)

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Iran vows retaliation over killing of Revolutionary Guard colonel - DW (English)

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President George W. Bush mistakenly described the invasion of Iraq as "brutal" and "unjustified" before correcting himself to say he meant to refer to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Bush made the comments in a speech during an event in Dallas on Wednesday, while he was criticizing Russia's political system.

"The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq, Bush said, before correcting himself and shaking his head. "I mean, of Ukraine."

He jokingly blamed the mistake on his age as the audience burst into laughter.

In 2003, when Bush was president, the United States led an invasion of Iraq over weapons of mass destruction that were never found. The prolonged conflict killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced many more.

Bush's remarks quickly went viral on social media, gathering over three million views on Twitter alone after the clip was tweeted https://bit.ly/3wwrZwy by a Dallas News reporter.

The former U.S. President also compared Ukranian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Britain's wartime leader Winston Churchill, while condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin for launching the invasion of Ukraine in February.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

Read more from the original source:
'I mean Ukraine': Former U.S. president George Bush calls Iraq invasion ...

There are Freudian slips, and then there are what former President George W. Bush said Wednesday.

Speaking in Dallas at an event at Southern Methodist Universitys Bush Center, Bush praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyas a modern-day Winston Churchill, but it was the slip of the tongue that his speech will be remembered for.

While speaking about the repressive regime of Russias Vladimir Putin, Bush said:

The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq.

I mean, of Ukraine, he immediately corrected himself.

Video of the speech showed a moment of silence from the crowd, then chuckles as Bush realized his blunder and quipped about his age Anyways. Im 75, drawing more laughs.

Bushs invasion of Iraq in 2003 based on unfounded U.S. claims of weapons of mass destruction and leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths, according to some studies has been called unjustified and brutal by some critics.

Key Words (October 2021): Colin Powell scrubbed from U.N. testimony in 2003 all but 2% to 5% of flawed intelligence on Iraqs weapons, longtime ally estimates

In his speech, Bush hailed Zelensky as a cool little guy, according to the Dallas Morning News, and called him the Churchill of the 21st century, noting his strength comes from his electoral legitimacy another comment that detractors might consider ironic, in light of Bushs disputed electoral victory over Democrat Al Gore in 2000.

Read on:

House votes to repeal 2002 Iraq war authorization

Trump reacts to Colin Powells death: But, anyway, may he rest in peace!

Why Trump thinks Barbara Bush was nasty to him: Look what I did to her sons

The rest is here:
George W. Bush condemns one mans unjustified invasion of Iraq. He ...