His body had already acted

Brattleboro, Vermont’s ban on public nudity has not been renewed and will expire next month (one may not, however, expose one’s genitals; bare butts and breasts in Brattleboro, however, will be bitchin’). Plan your vacations accordingly.

Must-read: the NIE on Iraq (4 pages). Not a lot of false optimism.

Turkey is demanding that Israel pressure the Anti-Defamation League to reverse its decision to recognize the Armenian Genocide as an act of genocide. I’m not sure how you un-recognize a genocide.

In a statement misrepresented in pretty much every headline about it, John Warner has suggested that we must take “some decisive action” in Iraq. The decisive action he recommends: possibly reducing the American military presence 3% by Christmas. But of course, he hastened to add, it is entirely up to George Bush whether he cares to do this or not. Still, many people hang on Sen. Warner’s every word. Fuck if I’ve ever known why.

The investigating officer in the case of Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, one of the participants in the Haditha Massacre (for more on Tatum, see these previous posts) wants the charges against Tatum dropped. Sure he killed a bunch of civilians, including children, Col. Paul Ware says, but “Tatum’s real life experience and training on how to clear a room took over and his body instinctively began firing while his head tried to grasp at what and why he was firing. By the time he could recognize that he was shooting at children, his body had already acted.” So that’s okay, then.