Lazy links

* It's lovely how the government can put together a ridiculously large military budget without having to include pesky, minor details. Like, say, the money needed to fight its wars.

* According to Reuters, civilian deaths have fallen again in Iraq, down to 466 in January. In a related piece, Les Roberts says media reports, and the concomitant public discourse, are massively underestimating the death toll.

* Patrick Cockburn reports that Baghdad is better, but still terrible.

* Iraq is full of widows.

* US Wants to Preserve Right to Hunt Foreign Fighters in Iraq As Part of Long-Term Agreement. Apparently the US will have to hunt down its own soldiers. Odd, that.

* WaPo: Soldier Suicides at Record Level.

* Afghanistan -- still a basketcase and likely getting worse, according to two new assessments.

* Reason #948 why the 9/11 Commission Report isn't worth the paper it's printed on. (And if you've bothered to read any 9/11 dissonance, this hardly comes across as a "new" revelation.)

* McClatchy: How Kenya's election was rigged.

* Lenin's Tomb on "The Israel Lobby and its Discontents."

* Orcinus on "Sundown Towns" in America.

* Naomi Klein narrates the unwinding of Bush's much-vaunted "ownership society." Twas a scam from the get-go.

* Capitalism as the Engine of Global Crisis.