US occupation of Iraq is not only brutal and illegal. It is the dumbest and most idiotic occupation I have ever heard of. It is even more stupid that Israeli occupation of South Lebanon, although US seems to be emulating the Israeli model. A few hours, HOURS, after Donald Rumsfeld lambasted AlJazeera (and AlArabiyya TV???!!), the Iraqi puppet government closes AlJazeera's offices in Baghdad. How dumb is that? How stupid, forget about the considerations of the free press and democracy that mean absolutely nothing to the occupiers and their lackeys in Iraq (Saddam's successors--figuratively and literally). AlJazeera is milking the story for its own end, of course. Who can blame it. They should. They even aired live shots of those thuggish police people kicking the reporters out of the office. Those scenes, and the official announcement of the closure by (the Iraqi puppet prime minister/car bomber/former Saddam's assassin/prisoners' killers/embezzler-in-Yemen) Iyad `Allawi IN ENGLISH are now played as promo segments for AlJazeera. Notice that the Iraqi puppet government does not dare to close down the offices of AlManar TV which is far more anti-American than any other network in Iraq. It is much easier to pick on AlJazeera. AlJazeera brilliantly aired past statements by Saddam's buffoon minister of "information" (Muhammad Sa`id As-Sahhaf) in which he warned AlJazeera and accused it of collaborating with "the Americans." The contrast (or lack thereof) was quite effective. Notice that the Iraqi announcement of the closure was made in the name of "national security committee." `Allawi was a very good student of Iraqi Ba`thist brutality and it shows, and it is showing every day. I used to (objectively) think that Donald Rumsfeld is smart until I read him say this yesterday: "But it has been a terribly damaging thing to have what Al-Jazeera and Al- Arabiyah have done to our country in the Middle East. They have persuaded an enormous fraction of the people that we're there as an occupying force, which is a lie..." How dumb is that? Rumsfeld thinks that if it were not for AlJazeera and AlArabiyya, the Arab public would have considered US forces as liberators and tourists? Do they really believe that? It would be much better if they are insincere. Are there still any Americans left who still believe that US war plans in Iraq are working, and that Bush is making progress?