All this fuss about British troops pulling out of Iraq. "Oo-er! What will the Americans say?" "Is there a split in the Coalition?" Who do they think they're fooling? Does nobody remember that not long ago Bush told Blair to send 4000 extra troops to Afghanistan? Then the cry went up that the British military are "overstretched", and Bush gives his poodle permission to pull some troops out of Basra.
Anyway Bush is getting tired of trashing Iraq and has his sights set on Iran. I believe he's ordered a dossier on the Islamic Republic from Downing Street.

Meanwhile, on the domestic front, the media are wetting themselves over a petition on road charges - two million plus signatures! I think Ms. Catherine Bennett put that in perspective in last Thursday's Guardian -

A large figure, but one that should, perhaps, inspire only limited awe in a
country where eight million people watched Jade flop out of Big Brother. And
where, in 1989, 4.5 million people put their names to a real, paper, petition,
in support of the ambulance workers' wage claim. It seems to have been ignored.

Then there were the two million (?) who demonstrated their opposition to the invasion of Iraq on the streets of London. I note with interest that the figure of two million was used on last evening's ITN News. When the media refer to this protest the figure they give is a million or "over a million". Two million was the organisers' figure. It seems that ITN have turned against the war, asking what British troops have died for, and if anything has been achieved. Better late than never I suppose. Of course ITN has never been as supine as the BBC. The killing of Terry Lloyd would have done nothing to raise their enthusiasm for official versions of the conflict's progress. The words "so-called war on terror" were also used in the same report.