OK, Can We Call Them French Fries Now?

From The Guardian:

Now the US politician who led the campaign to change the name of french fries to "freedom fries" has turned against the war. Walter Jones, the Republican congressman for North Carolina who was also the brains behind french toast becoming freedom toast in Capitol Hill restaurants, told a local newspaper the US went to war "with no justification".

Mr Jones, who in March 2003 circulated a letter demanding that the three cafeterias in the House of Representatives' office buildings ban the word french from menus, said it was meant as a "light-hearted gesture". But the name change, still in force, made headlines around the world, both for what it said about US-French relations and its pettiness.

Now Mr Jones appears to agree. Asked by a reporter for the North Carolina News and Observer about the name-change campaign - an idea Mr Jones said at the time came to him by a combination of God's hand and a constituent's request - he replied: "I wish it had never happened."

Although he voted for the war, he has since become one of its most vociferous opponents on Capitol Hill, where the hallway outside his office is lined with photographs of the "faces of the fallen".

"If we were given misinformation intentionally by people in this administration, to commit the authority to send boys, and in some instances girls, to go into Iraq, that is wrong," he told the newspaper. "Congress must be told the truth."

From the New York Post:

British politician George Galloway went eyeball to eyeball with Senate investigators yesterday, calling allegations he took oil bribes from Saddam Hussein a "pack of lies" and labeling the U.N. oil-for-food scandal probe "the mother of all smokescreens."

"You have nothing on me, senator, except my name on lists, many of which have been drawn up after the installation of your puppet government in Baghdad."

"I know that standards have slipped over the last few years in Washington, but for a lawyer you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice."

"In these circumstances, knowing what the world knows about how you treat prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison, in Bagram Air Base, in Guantanamo Bay ... I'm not sure how much credibility anyone would put on anything you manage to get from a prisoner in those circumstances."

"As a matter of fact, I met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met with him."

A transcript of Galloway's testimony is available here.

Harlan McCraney, the Genius Behind George W Bush

Steve Nash, 2005 NBA MVP & Anti-War Hero

"I think that war is wrong in 99.9 percent of all cases. I think [Operation Iraqi Freedom] has much more to do with oil or some sort of distraction, because I don't feel as though we should be worrying about Iraq."

"I think that Saddam Hussein is a crazy dictator but I don't think he's threatening us at this point in time. We haven't found any nuclear weapons -- no matter what anyone says -- and that process is still under way. Until that's finished and decided I don't think that war is acceptable."

"Unfortunately, this is more about oil than it is about nuclear weapons."

"I think a lot of what we hear in the news is misleading and flat-out false, so I think it's important for us to think deeper and find out what is really going on."

-- Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns Guard and 2005 NBA MVP

Steve Nash had the courage to speak out against the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq long before doing so had been made somewhat fashionable by artists, activists, politicians and bloggers. At the 2003 NBA All-Star game he wore a t-shirt "that read, 'Shoot baskets not people.'" (Or did it read 'No War. Shoot for Peace'?)

One might think it easy for someone in Nash's position to be politically outspoken, but the opposite is more true. In fact, after Nash caused the t-shirt controversy in 2003, his boss, Dallas Mavericks owner Marc Cuban, wore a shirt that was "red instead of Mavericks blue and bearing the flag-themed message: 'United We Stand.'" One can only speculate as to whether Nash's political views had any bearing on his negotiations with Cuban last summer. Last night, Nash's Suns faced off against Cuban's Mavericks.

Steve Nash, going against the team he left after six seasons when Mavericks owner Mark Cuban refused to come close to the five-year, $65 million he got from the Suns, was presented the league's most valuable player trophy by NBA commissioner David Stern before the game, holding it high above his head for the cheering crowd.

[Update--5/21: After scoring 39 points and leading the Phoenix Suns to a dramatic win in game six to close out the series against Dallas, Nash "thanked the Mavs and their fans for six wonderful years, although he didn't mention team owner Mark Cuban, who came up several years and more than $20 million shy of Phoenix in his last contract offer."]