Analytical, magical skills

British American Tobacco has been testing yummy chocolate-flavored cigarettes. On rats.

North Korea bans mobile phones, possibly because the mysterious train bombing was set off by one.

Debate continues in the UN over authorizing the US to continue occupying Iraq. A major concession: permission won’t be open-ended, with the US able to veto a retraction. The Russians want to know who will be responsible for continuing the search for WMDs.

So the CIA installs its own puppets at the top of the Iraqi fully-sovereign-we-mean-it-why-don’t-you-believe-us government, finally winning one over Rummy, and the DCI is forced out a few days later. For personal reasons, said Bush. So many reasons for Tenet to have been forced out (fewer than the reasons for doing the same to Rumsfeld, Powell, Wolfowitz, Rice, but comparing your level of incompetence to those clowns is like saying your torture wasn’t as bad as Saddam’s torture), trust Bush to claim he’s leaving for none of those reasons, but to spend more time hanging out with his son (did you hear Tenet’s speech, it was an intentional parody of such resignation speeches, a big fuck-you to Bush, I think: “Anyway, the point is, John Michael is going to be a senior next year. I'm going to be a senior with him in high school. We're going to go to class together. We're going to party together. I'm going to learn how to instant message his friends--that would be an achievement!”). Because Bush couldn’t admit an error to save his life. Of course, as Juan Cole notes in his blog, there are any number of reasons why Tenet should have resigned in protest long before now, if he had had any honor.

Uh, huh. And on the same day, Rumsfeld blames 9/11 on Tenet.

In fact, it’s not worth my effort to find the transcript (my back hurts), but I think when Bush said today that he’d never been angry with France and Chirac could come to the ranch and see some cows, he had completely forgotten that last year he’d testily announced that Chirac was banned from that edenic paradise.

Bush himself is going to Paris and Rome, requiring only that both cities be totally shut down and no demonstrations of any kind be held. Because if he doesn’t see people who disagree with him, they must not exist.

A WaPo headline shows what happens when reporters are allowed to see the Harry Potter movie, even though it gets them all over-excited: “CIA's New Acting Director Is Known for His Analytical, Magical Skills.”