Bob Woodward, Colin Powell, Prince Bandar, Iraq War, Indian elections in today's headlines


A snub from King Abdullah II-- It's the most recent expression of Arab anger at President Bush. Sorrowfully, Jordan is one of only two of Israel's Arab neighbors to have a peace treaty with Israel. King Abdullah believes Israeli withdrawal from Gaza must be part of the peace plan and not an alternative to it and he is still open to future discussions with the U.S.



Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Washington is denying Bob Woodward's writing about a secret plan to increase oil production (driving down gas prices) to help Bush win the November elections. Hmmmmm--
Let's see..... there's two men with two tales. There's Prince Bandar (representing the nation from which 15 of the 19 Sept.11 hijackers hailed...who was strangely rewarded that fateful morning by being secretly whisked away by airplane--no questions asked---when all U.S. air travel was allegedly suspended-- courtesy of his friend G.W. Bush) and there's trusted journalist Bob Woodward who bravely broke the Watergate story. .Which fellow will I believe? My (easy) decision (and most likely the majority of Americans): Bob Woodward.



The two faces of Colin Powell--

"The question that has arisen seems to be that Prince Bandar received a briefing on the plan, with some suggestion that I hadn’t," Powell told NBC's Andrea Mitchell. "Of course I had. I was intimately familiar with the plan and I was aware that Prince Bandar was being briefed on the plan.”

But Woodward said Monday on CNN's “Larry King Live” that while Powell might have known of the plan, he was not told of the decision to implement it until after the Jan. 11 meeting with Bandar. [link]

Bob Woodward's wry comments about Prince Bandar's flimsy rationalization of being informed (before our own Secretary of State) of the President's intention to attack Iraq:

“Going back to Nixon, I’ve heard all of them... This goes in the hall of fame of dodges and fishy explanations, I think it should get an academy award ... Congratulations, Bandar.”[link]

Citizens of India have shown they have guts and a strong desire to fulfill civic duty. Undeterred by kidnappings, deadly rebel attacks and 113-degree heat, Indians went to the polls and cast ballots Tuesday in the first day of three-week parliamentary elections in their country. 15 Indians are dead today because they tried to vote. The thought of some intelligent-yet-lazy American couch potato sitting at home on U.S. election day fills me with disgust.



In light of the Iraq quagmire, a politically injured Tony Blair is putting a new European Union (EU) constitution to a nationwide vote in the U.K., bowing to demands from opposition Conservatives who say the new charter would threaten British sovereignty.
He once expressed great opposition to such a vote.

"It is time to resolve once and for all whether this country, Britain, wants to be at the center and heart of European decision-making or not; time to decide whether our destiny lies as a leading partner and ally of Europe, or on its margins."

-Tony Blair

Juan Cole comments about the drumbeat of twisted information we hear about Syrian government complicity in infiltration of foreign fighters into Iraq:

Despite the constant drumbeat about alleged Syrian complicity in infiltration of foreign fighers into Iraq, there is not any good proof of it.The fighters that have been captured are mostly Iraqi (some 10,000, I think), with only a few foreigners among them. And, Syria is lambasted for having massacred the Sunni Arab radical fundamentalists, so it is a little unlikely to be supplying them deliberately to Fallujah, which has lots of its own. Rather, if there is infiltration, it is mostly because Syria has a long desert border that can't be controlled (the US should talk--look at its border with Mexico, which is like a sieve). I think this ritual invocation of Syria in connection with infiltration is just a way of attempting to intimidate and bully Syria, which some in the Bush administration would like to topple. If they think Iraqi instability is bad, wait until they see Syria without a proper government in Damascus.

On any possible U.S. attack on Najaf which is being held off by a two-day truce, Juan Cole reports that the spokesman for al-Sadr has said:

"We are prepared for a confrontation, and we believe that this attack will represent the zero hour for the launching of a massive popular revolution."

-- Qeis al-Khaz'ali, spokesman for Muqtada al-Sadr

al-Khaz'ali has also announced his support for sending UN international peace forces to Iraq, but stressed that the "occupation forces should withdraw from the occupied area and release the political prisoners. Then the war will end."

He warned:

" If the Americans continue to move in the field," the war of Vietnam will seem to them easy and simple" in comparison to what is waiting them in Iraq."

Not enough peacekeepers

If you've wondered just how few peace-keeping soldiers the Iraq coalition-supporting nations have sent, read this brief article. I have to admit even I was surprised. The U.S. has 130,000 troops. This article contains the following info:

Poland- 2,400
Albania- 71
Honduras- 370 (soon to pull out?)
Italy- 2,700
Ukraine- 1,650
Slovakia- 105
Portugal- 128 (rumors of pullout)
Great Britain- 12,000

According to a web-based not-for-profit project based in Melbourne, Australia titled Perspectives on World History and Current Events, the statistics read as follows:

Iraq Troop numbers March 2004

1 USA 130,000
2 United Kingdom 9,000
3 Italy 3,000
4 Poland 2,460
5 Ukraine 1,600
6 Spain * 1,300
7 Netherlands 1,100
8 Australia 800
9 Romania 700
10 Bulgaria 480

11 Thailand 440
12 Denmark 420
13 Honduras 368
14 El Salvador 361
15 Dominican Republic 302
16 Hungary 300
17 Japan 240
18 Norway 179
19 Mongolia 160
20 Azerbaijan 150
21 Portugal 128
22 Latvia 120
23 Lithuania 118
24 Slovakia 102
25 Czech Republic 80
26 Philippines 80
27 Albania 70
28 Georgia 70
29 New Zealand 61
30 Moldova 50
31 Macedonia 37
32 Estonia 31
33 Canada 31
34 Kazakhstan 25

More trouble for U.S. public relations in Iraq:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. troops shot to death two employees of U.S.-funded television station Al-Iraqiya on Monday and wounded a third in the central city of Samara, the station said.
Correspondent Asaad Kadhim and driver Hussein Saleh were killed. Cameraman Bassem Kamel was wounded "after American forces opened fire on them while they were performing their duty," the station announced. [link]

Congress' first public hearings on the planned Iraq June 30 transition will soon be underway. Our nation is completely polarized and these Congresspeople know, because of rising violence and casualties in Iraq, that they'll have to go home when Congress recesses and face their angry, disgusted, and/or anxious constituents.

The newly elected Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has ordered his 1300 soldiers to leave Iraq "in the shortest possible time", because there is still no sign of the United Nations becoming involved. Today, Bush warned Madrid against taking further actions which would give "false comfort to terrorists". I asked myself, how is Spain's pullout NOT a real comfort for Iraqi insurgents? What Bush is warning Spain against is giving the insurgents any further real and true comfort. When I thought about it some more, I realized it's been Bush giving the insurgents true comfort by his arrogance. The proud Bush's refusal to accept the U.N. as a relevant partner in all of this has made a miserable failure of his stubborn war plan. The insurgents understand this arrogance. It gives them fuel for their fires. I would recommend to our President that he go back to the U.N. and tell them how very relevant he has come to see they are and that, in a truly multilateral coming together, all comfort to the enemy will be forever dissipated.

Headlines


Iraq Unravels: An Interview with Canada's top war reporter Scott Taylor:

"...I can't say exactly what [the four Americans killed and mutilated in Fallujah] were doing, but nobody just goes driving through Fallujah. They had some other role. But in any case they knew the risk. These guys were making $1,000 a day.....the guys doing the de-mining training for Iraqis and mine-sniffing dogs are making from $14,000-$25,000 a month....They are private citizens, not restrained by any military code of conduct, not well-acquainted with the culture....if they are already on edge and understand neither the language nor the culture, they could end up dusting some Iraqi who was just trying to be friendly.......There is a huge rift between the US Army and the Brown & Root guys. In fact, one soldier even asked me how much I was making to be in Iraq. I tried to explain to him that I was just a journalist, not a contractor, and I got paid by the story. He didn't seem to understand the difference. Referring to one of those guys making $14,000 a month, he scowled, "at least someone's making money out of this sh*t".....the war didn't begin 12 months ago, it began 2 weeks ago (with the US attack on Sadr City). And it's likely to get a lot worse in the hot summer months ahead......"

I highly recommend that you go to John Emerson's site to read about the Bush-Bandar connection which, to my way of thinking, highly stings of anti-Americanism on the part of the Bush family. Our Founding Fathers and our patriot-ancestors didn't fight and die to be controlled by foreign interests. This is not the America I recognize from any of our precious Founding documents.


In his private 9-11 testimony on April 8, former President Bill Clinton testified that he personally warned President George W. Bush after the 2000 election that Osama bin Laden would be his top national-security threat. The Time Magazine article is HERE.

Karen Kwiatkowski: Inside the Neo-Con Pentagon

"I spent time that summer exploring the neo-conservative worldview and wondering what could explain this rush to war and disregard for real intelligence....War is generally crafted and pursued for political reasons, but the reasons given to Congress and the American people for this one were inaccurate and so misleading as to be false. Moreover, they were false by design..."

Newsday's James Klurfeld is still scratching his head about some of the comments President Bush made at his news conference last Tuesday. Bush freezes, Condi equivocates..what's the deal?



9-11 Commission: New information produced by the 9-11 commission so far has prompted six of its 10 members to say or suggest that the attacks could have been prevented. The commission has found new evidence that counterterrorism had become a priority for the Clinton national security team in the 90s. Even during the Clinton administration, Richard Clarke, who led anti-terrorism efforts under both Clinton and Bush, argued for aggressive (military) action against Bin Laden. In mid-August 2001, after the arrest of Moussaoui in Minneapolis, "slam-dunk" George Tenet was sent a briefing paper labeled “Islamic Extremist Learns to Fly.” They took no action on the report. There were missed opportunities in the Moussaoui investigation that might have unearthed his connection to the terror cell in Germany which planned 9-11.


Sept 11 Investigation: In steadfastly refusing to admit any responsibility or blame for the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush and his top officials also may be taking a political risk. They may end up further elevating the report's conclusions about responsibility if any of it falls on their administration. Historian Robert Dallek said that while most Americans are probably more concerned with preventing future attacks, ``I think there is a certain amount of feeling in the country that people should be responsible. No heads have fallen. In the Pearl Harbor business, heads did fall.''



Wake Up America!:

"I feel an affinity for the troops over there in Iraq. They are my comrades in arms. I admire their sense of honor and sacrifice. I understand why some of them believe they should be there. They have neither the experience nor the wisdom to see past the lies they have been told. The truth is, they are not over there protecting our freedoms. Our freedoms are not under attack from Saddam Hussein or the remnants of his Baathist party. Our freedoms are under attack by John Ashcroft. They are threatened by John Poindexter. They are trampled by Donald Rumsfeld. They are disdained by Dick Cheney. And they are not even understood by George W. Bush."
--Dr. Robert Bowman, USAF Ret. [LINK]

Who said:

"Americans are coming to learn that the choice this fall is as dramatic as in any recent election"?

I laughed out loud (albeit heartbroken) when I read that statement considering the Patriot Act, the lies and misleadings, being warned that we have to watch what we say and all the other liberty-stifling which has occurred since Bush got a hold on the Oval Office. Did you know it pains President Bush to renew the assault-weapons ban and he secretly hopes the renewal bill won't make it through Congress? Did we learn nothing from Colombine or Michael Moore's film? At Buzzflash, they say they can prove Cheney supports gun control.


Bob Woodward's book "simply not right". [Condi simply a liar, I suspect] *not even a good one*

Do you think John Edwards will be tapped as VP for Kerry? Do you know that Sen. John Edwards sealed up North Carolina's democratic nomination Saturday in the first-ever N.C. caucus? The turnout was low, but the voters spoke their mind.
I think Bill Richardson would make a fantastic Secretary of State.

DeLay should know...he not only slings the mud, I suspect he IS the mud. Listen to this beauteous line by DeLay:

"The camera-driven tone of the hearings undermines the commission's credibility, distracts the American people from the gravity of the war on terror, and could send dangerous messages to unfriendly eyes and ears around the world."

Camera-driven tone"? (ie: Let's censor). "Unfriendly eyes"? As a rational liberal American, Mr. DeLay, I sit here knowing full well that you look upon the likes of me with destructo-laser-beam eyes, so don't tell us about unfriendly, already.




Frank Rich:

"I didn't come here to watch a tribal bloodbath," says Peter O'Toole, as Lawrence of Arabia, earlier in the movie when first encountering the internecine warfare of the Arab leaders he admired. But the bloodbath continued — and now that we've ended Saddam's savage grip on Iraq, it has predictably picked up where it left off. Only Americans have usurped the British as the primary targets in the crossfire of an undying civil war...

Freedom of Speech: Gannett chain newspaper sacks knowlegeable foreign affairs writer Barrie Dunsmore..motives decidedly point to religious censorship.

It's sickening to hear the The Federal Election Commission is investigating Hillary Clinton (of all people) when we don't even have a trustworthy electoral system in place for this November. More right-wing wasting of precious time..more squandering the people's true opportunity for liberty and justice. The last presidential election was, for all intents and purposes, snatched from the weakened hands of the people. The vote is the people's most powerful voice...nowadays it seems our ONLY voice. Federal Election Commission: Get on the stick and stop fussing around with your petty witch-hunts. Our nation is near civil death and this will divide us further.

A simple man:

Tom Tomorrow nails it. While watching the Bush press conference last week, he posted these all-too-true and so-sad-they're-almost-amusing words:

April 13, 2004

Oh god
He's so awful. He just flounders around until he can dredge up a marginally appropriate sound bite--and when the question doesn't allow for that, he's just utterly lost.

posted by Tom Tomorrow at 09:28 PM | link

Play this game
what are you reading?...

Kevin Jones says - in his Book game post:

"it's the latest info fad, the newest wrinkle in expanding the acoustic resonance of the echo chamber; join in now!"

The book I am currently reading is The Faiths of Our Fathers by Alf J. Mapp Jr. and here is my sentence (it's a long one):

~~~~~~~~~~~~

'In words that seem an anticipation of space-age science fiction, [Benjamin] Franklin says:

"When I stretch my imagination through and beyond our system of planets, beyond the visible fixed stars themselves, into that space which is every way infinite, and conceive it filled with suns like ours, each with a chorus of worlds forever moving round him, then this little ball on which we move seems, even in my narrow imagination, to be almost nothing, and myself less than nothing, and of no sort of consequence."

~~~~~~~~~~

If you would like to play and dip your prose toes into this memepool - here are the rules:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

Headlines


Listen up--this is important:

In his new book, Bob Woodward describes a relationship between Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell that became so strained Cheney and Powell are barely on speaking terms. Cheney engaged in a bitter and eventually winning struggle over Iraq with Powell, an opponent of war who believed Cheney was obsessively trying to establish a connection between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network and treated ambiguous intelligence as fact.
Powell felt Cheney and his allies -- his chief aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby; Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz; and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith and what Powell called Feith's "Gestapo" office -- had established what amounted to a separate government.

A SEPARATE GOVERNMENT. A "Gestapo Office". Strong accusations...made by our Secretary of State.


Clear Channel dumped Howard Stern...and they surely don't want you to hear Howard on Satellite Radio, either. Why? They know you'll flock to Satellite to hear Howard Stern--leaving the boring FCC-suck-ups in the dust.

Dominoes? Spain is withdrawing its troops from Iraq. Portugal may follow suit.

Guerrilla warfare is becoming a major concern for our U.S. Military. If one hair on faithful soldier Matt Maupin's head is touched, I'm afraid the few Americans who still have faith in Bush's handling of Iraq will change their minds quickly.

In Kosovo (of all places), Jordanian U.N. peacekeeper Ahmed Mustafa Ibrahim Ali has reacted violently to an emotional argument among fellow police officers over the war in Iraq. What a nightmare!

The anti-Islamic-slanted information source MEMRI is asserting that most Muslim intellectuals are 'all for terror' even though they 'talk of love and peace in Islam'. They say it's just a cover for violence. Consider the source. In my opinion, information sources like MEMRI do absolutely nothing to further peace or understanding in this world.

World Net Daily is all-a-twitter because folks like Warren Buffett, George Soros, Bill Gates Sr. and some of the Rockefellers might make some dough if Kerry's elected. I say "Who cares as long as all our boats are lifted?" WND hates 'em because they're liberal. Could it BE more obvious?

The pseudo-holy-rollers at World Net Daily are spreading more hatred toward Muslims in this beauty of an "article". Muslim clerics preach wife-beating. Where did they get this tripe, you ask? Once again, from none other than the Islam-haters at MEMRI.

This banner is running at MEMRI now (pardon the capital letters..it's them..not me):

IN A COMMUNIQUÉ IN RESPONSE TO THE ASSASSINATION OF HAMAS LEADER ABD AL-'AZIZ AL-RANTISI, FATAH'S AL-AQSA MARTYRS BRIGADES STATED: 'BUSH AND SHARON ARE THE HITLER OF THE ERA, AND THEY CONSTITUTE A DANGER TO WORLD SECURITY. ALL THE FIGHTING [PALESTINIAN] FACTIONS ARE CALLED UPON TO CAUSE AN EARTHQUAKE TO THE ZIONIST ENEMY. THE OCCUPATION WILL PAY A PRICE FOR ITS CRIMES, AND EVERYONE IN THE ZIONIST ENTITY IS NOW A TARGET, EVEN CHILDREN. THEY WILL PAY, IN BLOOD, THE PRICE FOR THE TEARS SHED BY THE PALESTINIAN MOTHERS.' (AL-HAYAT AL-JADIDA, PA, 4/18/04)

Here is Haaretz' take on the Israeli-Palestinian situation.
Richard Gwyn of the Toronto Star claims it all boils down to Incurious George.

The next time someone asks the President if mistakes were made, a Real Audio clip has been provided for those pesky "blank-out" moments. It's titled "Mistakes Were Made".

Contrary to popular belief, you cannot get anything you want at Mohammed’s restaurant.

Iraq and the Bush Administration


There are new ideas and opinions about the war in Iraq swirling around the world of politics, journalism and blogging this week.

Stratfor.com has an interesting (free) analysis of President Bush's recent press conference (try to read it soon as it may be replaced shortly). It contains a point-blank political warning for the Bush administration:

We are convinced that the Bush administration has a defensible strategy. It is not a simple one and not one that can be made completely public, but it is a defensible strategy. If President Bush decides not to articulate it, it will be interesting to see whether President Kerry does, because we are convinced that if Bush keeps going in the direction he is going, he will lose the election.

The summary says, in part:

If the primary purpose of the U.S. invasion of Iraq was to bring democracy to Iraq, then enduring the pain of the current crisis will make little sense to the American public. Taken in isolation, bringing democracy to Iraq may be a worthy goal, but not one taking moral precedence over bringing democracy to several dozen other countries -- and certainly not a project worth the sacrifices now being made necessary.

If, on the other hand, the invasion was an integral part of the war that began Sept. 11, then Bush will generate public support for it. The problem that Bush has -- and it showed itself vividly in his press conference -- is that he and the rest of his administration are simply unable to embed Iraq in the general strategy of the broader war. Bush asserts that it is part of that war, but then uses the specific justification of bringing democracy to Iraq as his rationale. Unless you want to argue that democratizing Iraq -- assuming that is possible -- has strategic implications more significant than democratizing other countries, the explanation doesn't work. The explanation that does work -- that the invasion of Iraq was a stepping-stone toward changes in behavior in other countries of the region -- is never given.

We therefore wind up with an explanation that is only superficially plausible, and a price that appears to be excessive, given the stated goal. The president and his administration do not seem willing to provide a coherent explanation of the strategy behind the Iraq campaign. What was the United States hoping to achieve when it invaded Iraq, and what is it defending now? There are good answers to these questions, but Bush stays with platitudes.

We must ask ourselves...why the platitudes? Why the unwillingness? It makes no political sense in a re-election year.

David Brooks has written a NYT op-ed with the ever-confusing philosophy I find common lately when I read the words of centrist-right mainstream journalists who write for what some people would term "corporate media". Basically, Brooks is saying 'Yes..I was for the war...but not this particular war... a war something like it..." As if you could ever have separated the PNAC Utopian ideals from the failures proved in the realistic results of a foreseeable lack of Bush administration's strategy and old fashioned gut-intuition. I just don't buy this philosophy. "Things are all wrong...but I was right". How was it that disbanding the Iraqi army was visionary? How could one say that General Shinseki's sage advice about a large number of troops was not shunned at the great expense of the cause? How can one look back at the virtual snubbing of the U.N. and say we didn't lose something of invaluable importance when it came to diplomacy and building strong coalitions? How could one say that the burden of paying for reconstruction (with non-adequate security to protect the interests such as the oil pipelines which are being sabotaged far too often) should be placed solely on American taxpayers? How could we look back and say Bush's mistaken use of the word "crusade" from the get-go wasn't a warning sign? This was a sheltered leader with little-to-no true knowlege of the workings and/or mindset of the world outside the U.S. How was it we could not see that he didn't understand the importance of great tact..that he simply didn't "get it"?

On the blog of gifted writer Matthew Yglesias, he comments on the Brooks op-ed and adds some introspective thoughts of his own. I think he's correct in stating that, during the Iraq war lead-up, neither the blind Bush-supporters nor the chanting anti-war crowds fully understood (respectively from right and left standpoints) how unrelated, wrong-minded and Utopian the Bush administration's war plans really were as the right cheered on-- and how the generalities and lack of sophisticated dialogue from the left did not help to make the general public understand what was about to happen. Frankly, I don't think either side had a chance to stop the Iraq "rock"...the Bush administration was bound and determined (before 9-11) to get into Iraq and change its regime. Nothing was going to stop them. Both Brooks and Yglesias have exercised a bit of vanity here..and that's what journalists do.

Patriotic Gore


go to NPR interview w/Bob Edwards by clicking photo

I enjoyed Justin Raimondo's review of Gore Vidal's new book Inventing a Nation: Washington, Adams, Jefferson (The article, Patriotic Gore, linked above).

I have not read the entire book to date, but I've read many parts.
One particular part sticks in my memory. I begin with an excerpt from Sterne's "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy"

My uncle Toby was a man patient of injuries;--not from want of courage,--I have told you in a former chapter, 'that he was a man of courage:'--And will add here, that where just occasions presented, or called it forth,--I know no man under whose arm I would have sooner taken shelter;--nor did this arise from any insensibility or obtuseness of his intellectual parts;- -for he felt this insult of my father's as feelingly as a man could do;-- but he was of a peaceful, placid nature,--no jarring element in it,--all was mixed up so kindly within him; my uncle Toby had scarce a heart to retaliate upon a fly.

--Go--says he, one day at dinner, to an over-grown one which had buzzed about his nose, and tormented him cruelly all dinner-time,--and which after infinite attempts, he had caught at last, as it flew by him;--I'll not hurt thee, says my uncle Toby, rising from his chair, and going across the room, with the fly in his hand,--I'll not hurt a hair of thy head:--Go, says he, lifting up the sash, and opening his hand as he spoke, to let it escape;-- go, poor devil, get thee gone, why should I hurt thee?--This world surely is wide enough to hold both thee and me.

I was but ten years old when this happened: but whether it was, that the action itself was more in unison to my nerves at that age of pity, which instantly set my whole frame into one vibration of most pleasurable sensation;--or how far the manner and expression of it might go towards it;--or in what degree, or by what secret magick,--a tone of voice and harmony of movement, attuned by mercy, might find a passage to my heart, I know not;--this I know, that the lesson of universal good-will then taught and imprinted by my uncle Toby, has never since been worn out of my mind: And tho' I would not depreciate what the study of the Literae humaniores, at the university, have done for me in that respect, or discredit the other helps of an expensive education bestowed upon me, both at home and abroad since;--yet I often think that I owe one half of my philanthropy to that one accidental impression.


Reading this section of the book where Uncle Toby spares the life of a fly, Aaron Burr (who lived to a ripe old age) is said to have remarked, "Had I read Sterne more and Voltaire less, I should have known the world was wide enough for Hamilton and me."

Coming Soon to a 9-11 Commission Near You...




THE DICK CHENEY AND DUBYA MCBUSHY SHOW!

Leonid's the world's tallest.
Better a veterinarian than a proctologist...
yowzers!

At Critical Viewer, A Busy Person's Guide to the Bush Press Conference


If you don't have time for the original, (so much campaign slogan schlock to wade through), this one's to-the-point.

By the way, this has been tough weeks in that country.

My prize for the weirdest (and most horrifying) answer to a question about the FBI: "We are an instrument of God to deliver freedom to the people of the world."

Oh...please repeat after Cal....It's all Don Gonyea's fault...it's all Don Gonyea's fault...

A particularly 'DUH-ful' moment: "And they were happy — they're not happy they're occupied. I wouldn't be happy if I were occupied either..."

Most unconvincingly delivered line: "I feel incredibly grieved when I meet with family members, and I do quite frequently. I grieve for, you know, the incredible loss of life that they feel, the emptiness they feel." Maybe it was just the delivery, but I wasn't swayed in the least.

Second most unconvincing line: "I wanted Tenet in the Oval Office all the time."
*For PDB threat assessments history lessons, perhaps? Is our children our Presidents learning?*

With Glen Este and the Maupin family and friends...




Here at Iddybud, our prayers are with all of you.



Matt, come home safely.

Have you seen....
"The Front-Runner’s Fall"

The Dean implosion up close, from the vantage point of the candidate's pollster

The night of the Iowa caucus:

We tried hard to cheer him up, and we explained the importance of seeming confident in those interviews. He did beautifully in each of them. But nobody had bothered to write up a concession speech or even a few lines to use when he faced the crowd waiting in the Val Air Ballroom, many of them Stormers. It was as if we were all in shock, and didn't even consider the importance of his first election-night appearance in front of a national television audience.

Report From Fallujah -- Destroying A Town In Order To Save It (News) Rahul Mahajan

Blogs in the Heart of the War Zone

by Rahul Mahajan, EmpireNotes.org
April 15, 2004
Rahul Mahajan's sobering, evocative weblog that he updates several times a day from the heart of the war zone completely dispels the Bush administration's stance that only a handful of mujahadeen are behind the uprisings in Fallujah and elsewhere in Iraq. If you're looking for a lighthearted account that justifies the presence of American troops in Iraq and foresees a quick solution, look elsewhere. But if you crave a street account of the quagmire that sheds light on why many normal Iraqis are rising up against the invaders even though they hated Saddam Hussein, then check out EmpireNotes.org."

Will Cheney's secret energy meetings see the light?

Will Cheney's secret energy meetings see the light?

In These Times | The Task at Hand"The Bush administration has until June 1 to turn over secret documents involving Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force or provide the legal grounds to withhold them."

Headlines


Seattle Post Intelligencer: Footage shown of slain Westerners in Iraq
Are the slain (alleged Americans) intelligence agents? Mercenaries? We really don't know. The article leads us to think they're probably "contractors". We are having to "pacify" Iraqi cities because of depraved killings of "contractors". Some of these "contractors" may not even be American citizens...they may be soldiers of (pretty decent) fortune. Our troops risk all for meager pay. What's happening, really?

Yahoo News: Iraqi Civilians Flee Falluja as Truce Takes Hold
Consider the contrasting information between the reported facts and the White House spin:

Grabbing their chance, desperate families fled battle zones in the town of 300,000. Sunni Muslim fighters, who have been battling U.S. Marines from street to street, remained inside. In Falluja, overnight clashes gave way to calm by dawn after intense efforts to arrange a cease-fire. International relief groups say 470 Iraqis have been killed there and 1,200 wounded, including 243 women and 200 children, in the past week.

Now information disseminated by the White House:

Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and the neo-conservatives maintain that this upsurge of violence was expected, and that the insurgents are a small minority.

Americans want to know why we are expending so much blood and treasure on something so illegitimate. Bush spent the Easter weekend on his Texas ranch and officials insisted there is "no major combat" in Iraq.

Charles Krauthammer says Hubert Humphrey was an over-idealistic schlump...the secret to curing hunger and poverty is capitalism and free trade. To hell with human rights, true democracy, UNICEF, the U.N. We see how the Iraqis love the idea of our bastardized gift of "democracy".

History Repeats


The Philadelphia Inquirer article begins:

It was fitting that Condoleezza Rice testified to the 9/11 commission on the day before the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

In both cases, information was available to the White House that might have prevented disaster - the attacks on the twin towers and Pentagon and the postwar chaos. In both cases, the information wasn't used.

We need to know why.

Could it be a willful rejection of inconvenient facts?

On Meet the Press:
John McCain states he supports re-election of Bush

Blah.
Just blah.

*Why has the DLC been dancing with this fellow? At the end of the ball, he's leaving with the village idiot.*

Here's the August 6, 2001 PDB Text

Do you think this document should have given Bush enough warning to push for more intelligence information about possible domestic hijackings? Read for yourself.

Related Stories:

MSNBC: White House releases intelligence memo

Washington Post: Bush seemed unworried in Aug. 2001

Whip It Good

Whip it good

Actors Whip Easter Bunny at Church Show

GLASSPORT, Pa. (AP)--First, the Passion of the Christ. Now, the torment of the Easter Bunny?

It may not have been as gruesome as Mel Gibson's movie, but many parents and children got upset when a church trying to teach about Jesus' crucifixion performed an Easter show with actors whipping the Easter bunny and breaking eggs.

People who attended Saturday's show at Glassport's memorial stadium quoted performers as saying, ``There is no Easter bunny,'' and described the show as being a demonstration of how Jesus was crucified.

Melissa Salzmann, who brought her 4-year-old son J.T., said the program was inappropriate for young children. ``He was crying and asking me why the bunny was being whipped,'' Salzmann said.

Patty Bickerton, the youth minister at Glassport Assembly of God, said the performance wasn't meant to be offensive. Bickerton portrayed the Easter rabbit and said she tried to act with a tone of irreverence.

``The program was for all ages, not just the kids. We wanted to convey that Easter is not just about the Easter bunny, it is about Jesus Christ,'' Bickerton said.

Performers broke eggs meant for an Easter egg hunt and also portrayed a drunken man and a self-mutilating woman, said Jennifer Norelli-Burke, another parent who saw the show in Glassport, a community about 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

``It was very disturbing,'' Norelli-Burke said. ``I could not believe what I saw. It wasn't anything I was expecting.''

Hearts and Minds: Colonel Pittard's job made tougher by insurgents' rage

Is this a recipe for another never-ending battle (like Israel/Palestine)? Colonel Dana J.H. Pittard sees places like eastern Diyala in Iraq becoming a "future battleground between Arabs and Kurds'' as the Kurds will try to regain land and homes snatched away by the former regime during its campaign of Arabization. The region harbors 53,000 displaced people, and serves as a corridor for illegal movements out of neighboring Iran. What on God's earth has Bush gotten our country into? I feel badly that most of the hard work Col. Pittard has done has been derailed by this Iraqi citizen uprising. I know people like the Colonel cannot or will not say it, but I blame the Pentagon and the Commander-in-Chief for rushing into this unnecessary and cruel war without a decent plan. I am not surprised it has turned out as it has. I pray for the safety of Col. Pittard's Brigade and hope he will truly be supported soon by his own Commander. My heart breaks for all of the people touched by this awful experiment.

What did I just say yesterday?


.....more important, many critics believe, Bush should have listened to former Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, who said a postwar occupying force in Iraq would have to number in the hundreds of thousands.....

Praying for the Miners


The dead, the trapped, the injured.



When that sun comes up each morning and I walk down into that cold dark mine
I say a prayer to my dear saviour, please let me see the sunshine one more time.

--Dwight Yoakam

Operation Hero Miles: The Troops Need Your Help

Operation Hero Miles provides a way for you to help our troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan by donating your unused frequent flyer miles. Efforts are underway to make the donated miles more broadly available to all U.S. military personnel.

Gurdjieff: The
Sunnite and the Shiite

This prescient wisdom was quoted in February by my guest-blogger Anonymoses:

Gurdjieff quote on psychic hatred and organic hatred...



"These two schools of the Mohammedan religion are called there the "Sunnite" and the "Shiite".
It is very interesting to note that the psychic hatred of each other formed in the psyche of the beings who belong to these two independent schools of one and the same religion has, on account of their frequent clashes, now been transformed completely into an organic hate.
Beings of certain European communities have during recent centuries greatly contributed to their incitement to the rise of this particular transformation on that strange being-function.
And they have employed and continue to employ this incitement in order that the animosity between the beings who follow these two independent schools of one and the same religion, should increase and that they should never unite, since if that were to happen, there might soon be an end there for those European communities.
...
And hence it is that accidentally arisen "newly baked" communities always rub their hands and rejoice when sparks fly between these Sunnites and Shiites, because they then count on a long and secure existence for themselves."
-G. Gurdjieff, "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" circa 1950

Fröhliche Ostern

The disquieting Iraq ruins won't ruin George's vacation

Speaking about the June 30 transfer of power in Iraq in relation to ongoing U.S. military support, Colin Powell said: "This will be a new government that is still getting its sea legs, that is still developing institutions of democracy, that has not yet finished a constitution and has not yet held an election to give it full legitimacy."

Sea legs? If it's a sea of blood, then sea legs it is, I suppose.

Powell says the growing casualties in Iraq are "disquieting", which means robbing one of peace/tranquility. Now he knows how the citizens of Iraq are feeling.

The Prez is back there again..on his 33rd visit to his Crawford ranch since becoming president. According to the Washington Post, he has spent all or part of 233 days on his Texas ranch since taking office, according to a tally by CBS News. Adding his 78 visits to Camp David and his five visits to Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush has spent all or part of 500 days in office at one of his three retreats, or more than 40 percent of his presidency. MUST BE NICE.

Bush was on his ranch on Aug. 6, 2001, when he ignored received a certain crucial intelligence briefing historical document called "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US". "Historical" my hot-cross buns! The Bush White House is saying the "historical document" primarily focused on recounting al Qaeda's past efforts to attack the United States. It is only the most ignorant, non-curious of leaders and advisors who would have missed so many obvious threats, especially about plane hijackings....assuming the hijackings would be just the "traditional kind" and leave it at that.

On the campaign trial, John Kerry recently quipped that when Bush 'takes days off he totally relaxes: He doesn't watch television, he doesn't read the newspapers, he doesn't make long-term plans'. I guess he doesn't read CIA briefings historical documents, either. Gosh, let's hope he doesn't get any important correspondence this week.

The President's Dan Bartllett made an astoundingly damaging political retort about Kerry (NOT) .....Bartlett said that Bush is "not skiing" in Texas, as Kerry did on a recent vacation in Idaho. Oooooooo, tough stuff there, Dan.

I just read today that the repulsive government of North Korea has said the standoff over its atomic ambitions has put them on the brink of nuclear war against the U.S. I do not want Bush at the helm when and if push comes to shove. He's the last one I'd trust to see America through without the possibility of a nuclear exchange. I think he's brought us to this brink and I'm sickened by the thought.

I am already convinced our President isn't a natural at being incredibly intelligent. I've seen his dull-witted statements at press-conferences and on shows like Meet the Press.

Now I'm beginning to wonder if he has a conscience.

Happy Easter

A teaching tale on love

Secularist friends, pardon the diversion. I wish to share a teaching tale on love from the book: A Teaching Story from The Unveiling of Love: Sufism and the Remembrance of God by Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak.

Jesus (a.s) and the young man



"Jesus, on him be peace, one day saw a young man watering the garden and he greeted him with peace. The young man recognized Jesus, on him be peace, and said:

'" 'O Messenger of God! Pray for me to the almighty that He may grant as my portion one atom of His love.'

"Jesus replied: 'Know for sure that you could not bear as much as the one atom of God's love you so desire.'

"But the young man insisted: 'In that case, let Him grant me just half an atom of His Love.'

"Jesus, the Spirit of God, raised his hands once in supplication to the Divine Unity: 'O Lord! Grant and bestow upon this youth just half an atom of Your love.' Then he went on his way.

"Sometime later, Jesus, on him be peace, passed that way again; he could not see the young man who had begged him for just half an atom of God's love, so he asked where he was. They said:

" 'O Prophet of God! That young man went away to the mountains and wandered into the deserts. We have no news of how he is and what has become of him.'

"Jesus, on him be peace, prayed to the Almighty and asked for that young man to be shown to him. By divine inspiration, Jesus, on him be peace, was told the young man's whereabouts and he went straight there. Seeing the youth sitting on a steep rock, immersed in contemplation, he called out to him. Far from responding, the young man did not even turn his head and look. Jesus, on him be peace, called out again, identifying himself this time, but again he got no response. It was then that God, the Lord of Majesty and Perfection, vouchsafed to Jesus, on him be peace, this inspiration:

" 'How can one with even half an atom of My love in his heart be expected to hear the voices of men? O Jesus! For the sake of My Might and Majesty, do not suppose that he heard your voice and yet gave you no answer. If they were to cut that young man up with a saw, he would feel no pain. If they threw him into the fire, the fire would not burn his body, and he would not even notice the heat of the flames.' "

Humorous Bloggers inspired by the Kos fiasco






Mad Kane's delightful Kos-ditty is linked here.

Headlines

Houston Chronicle- Former President Carter takes president Bush to task: "President Bush's war was ill-advised and unnecessary and based on erroneous statements, and has turned out to be a tragedy."

Yahoo News- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says: "The lid of the pressure cooker has come off [in Iraq]. Some of the tensions and pressures which were there, and would have come out in any event, have to a degree been directed towards the coalition."
*My comment: To a degree!? How about the fullest degree? We knew this would come to pass..any fool would know. Why weren't we prepared? Why are we not involving the world community..the U.N? Who can look at the sutuation and truly say we have not been blunderous and foolish... with little regard for the lives and safety of coalition troops? We should have listened to General Shinseki.*

Russian Foreign Ministry report- Russia invoking Resolution 1483, adopted by the UN Security Council- They say the U.S.-led occupation forces should comply with international humanitarian law.

IF YOU'LL ONLY VOTE FOR US ONCE AGAIN.....



--Maybe we won't attack and take over more countries.
--Maybe we won't draft your kid into a chaotic mess of a war.
--Maybe we won't contribute more to the biggest deficit in history.
--Maybe we won't beat out an already-standing record for the most personal bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
--Maybe Bush won't try to beat his standing all-time record for the most days on vacation by any president in US history.

--Maybe Bush won't beat the record for his own presiding over the worst security failire in US history.
--Maybe Bush won't beat his standing record for most campaign raising trips by an president in US history.
--Maybe we'll find the 2 million jobs Americans lost and stop the habit of cutting unemployment benefits (as we did for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in US history).
--Maybe Bush will allow press conferences freely (without Dick Cheney as a puppeteer).
--Maybe Bush will stop mocking the glorious strength of the U.S. Constitution and stop proposing unnecessary amendments to the Constitution (as he's done more than any other US president in history when there's a law he doesn't care for).


--Maybe we won't cut health-care benefits for war veterans.
--Maybe we won't give more reason for inciting people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest us. (Like those 15 million people in February, 2003)
--Maybe we won't dissolve more international treaties (are there any left, anyhow?)
--Maybe we won't continue the most secretive and unaccountable presidency of any in US history. What more do we have to prove? We've already "out-creeped" the Nixon presidency.
--Maybe we won't name another oil tanker after Condi.

--Maybe we won't directly bankrupt all 50 states.
--Maybe we won't listen to NeoCons and go off half-assed and order US attacks and military occupations of more sovereign nations.
--Maybe we'll stop rendering the entire U.N. irrelevant and actually show humility and respect toward other nations of the world. (you've got to admit, though, it was cool to have compelled the U.N. to remove the US from the Human Rights Commission and Elections Monitoring Board.)

--Maybe we'll admit we created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the U.S.
--Maybe we won't remove more checks and balances and stop the continuum of having the least congressional oversight of any presidential administration in US history.
--Maybe we'll recognize the World Court Of Law.
--Maybe we'll stop calling anti-war protesters "focus-groups" and recognize them as equals to monied lobbyists.
--Maybe, in the event we're attacked again, maybe Bush won't run and hide.

--Maybe we'll see how, even after the tragedy of 9-11, the U.S. got to be the most resented country in the
world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
--Maybe we'll reverse Bush's systematic removal of more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
--Maybe we'll truly heal our divided country because we see that as it stands now, we're the most divided since the Civil War.



THEN AGAIN.....MAYBE WE WON'T FEEL LIKE IT.
WE WON'T WORRY--WE HAVE DIEBOLD TO HELP US STEAL THE NEXT ELECTION.
SCREW YOU, LEFTIES AND LIBERTARIANS!

Arianna loves the blogosphere!

Excerpts:

I've got a confession to make. I've got a big-time crush. I'm talking weak-in-the-knees infatuation. But it's not Brad or Orlando or Colin or any of the cinematic hunks du jour who have set my heart aflutter. No, it's Atrios and Kos and Josh Micah Marshall and Kausfiles and Kevin Drum and Wonkette. Bloggers all. Yes, when it comes to the blogosphere, I'm a regular cyberslut. And I don't care who knows it. Bring on the fines, Michael Powell!

...........When bloggers decide that something matters, they chomp down hard and refuse to let go. They're the true pit bulls of reporting. The only way to get them off a story is to cut off their heads (and even then you'll need to pry their jaws open). They almost all work alone, but, ironically, it's their collective effort that makes them so effective. They share their work freely, feed off one another's work, argue with each other, and add to the story dialectically.

And because blogs are ongoing and daily, indeed sometimes hourly, bloggers will often start with a small story, or a piece of one -- a contradictory quote, an unearthed document, a detail that doesn't add up -- that the big outlets would deem too minor. But it's only minor until, well, it's not. Big media can't see the forest for the trees. Until it's assembled for them by the bloggers...............

.............I also love the open nature of the form -- the links, the research made visible, the democratic back and forth, the open archives, the big professorial messiness of it all. It reminds me of my schoolgirl days when providing the right answer wasn't enough for our teachers -- they demanded that we "show our work." Bloggers definitely show their work. It's why you don't just read blogs -- you experience them.

All of which has made the blogosphere such a vital news source in our country -- and has made me besotted with blogs. It's a crush that I'm betting will quickly progress to going steady.

-Arianna Huffington / Salon On Line

Democracy Now
Iraqi citizens confused and terrified in Sadr City

"... if you drive around Sadr City, you walk around Sadr City, you see posters everywhere......it would be almost difficult to imagine how many posters there are of Muqtada Sadr, and not just in Sadr City, in Shia neighborhoods all over Baghdad. I haven't been down south for a few weeks, but they're certainly also in the mostly Shia cells of Iraq. There's a considerable number of people who ...either support Muqtada... or they support Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the other senior religious leader here for the Shia, the most senior religious leader here for the Shia -- but they will say they condemn the [American] attacks which have been happening....and, you know, the Mehdi army has been -- people can see with their own eyes that they have been conducting exercises -- not with guns, mainly marching and -- because it's a religious festival here at the moment for 40 days, and they're often seen on the streets. We know they are well armed...."

--Michael Birmingham, currently in Iraq with the group Voices in the Wilderness

Major Events in Iraq since the beginning of the war

More bad news: Iraq's Interior Minister steps down

In an interview last month Iraqi Interior Minister Nuri Badran, who held one of the key internal security portfolios, had told Reuters he didn't believe his ministry was ready to take over responsibility for security after the 30 June handover in Iraq.

Today he quit.

Clear Channel Drops Howard Stern

The FCC proposed $495,000 in indecency fines against Clear Channel Communications today for broadcasts by Howard Stern. Clear Channel dropped Howard. They can't have any of that tittie-talk.

Clear Channel loves those pro-war rallies, though.



The Dixie Chicks were unpatriotic whores who deserved to have their CDs burned and banned by Clear Channels.

The same folks who wouldn't allow DJs to play John Lennon's song "Imagine" on 9-11, held pro-Iraq-war rally after pro-Iraq-war rally.

Howard's response:

"This is not a surprise. This is a follow up to the McCarthy type "witch hunt" of the administration and the activities of this group of presidential appointees in the FCC, led by "Colin Powell Jr." and his band of players. They and others (a senator from Kansas City to a congresswoman from New Mexico) are expressing and imposing their opinions and rights to tell us all who and what we may listen to and watch and how we should think about our lives. So this is not a surprise. It is pretty shocking that governmental interference into our rights and free speech takes place in the U.S. It's hard to reconcile this with the "land of the free" and the "home of the brave". I'm sure what's next is the removal of "dirty pictures" like the 20th century German exhibit in a New York City Museum and the erotic literature in our libraries; they too will fall into their category of "evil" as well.
---Howard Stern, April 8th 2004

A quote to beat all current quotes

If you've seen this Harold Meyerson quote already, it may have been at Eschaton or Josh Marshall's Talking Points site. It's making the rounds. It's so true, though, that I just feel compelled to repeat it here...sweet and simple:

"The only unequivocally good policy option before the American people is to dump the president who got us into this mess, who had no trouble sending our young people to Iraq but who cannot steel himself to face the Sept. 11 commission alone."

Speaking of Eschaton, I'm glad Atrios points to the suspicion that Howard Fineman's a bit of a whore. I hated the bandwagon denigrating he chirpingly joined to rip away at Howard Dean's integrity in the post-Yee-ha(!) days. Haven't trusted him since.

James Lileks on John Kerry, MTV, and Diplomacy

I love James Lileks' writing style. He's delightful to read, even if I disagree with his outlook on U.S. foreign policy much of the time. I got a charge out of his commentary about Sen. John Kerry's appearance on MTV. He provided his own imaginary Kerry replies and I sensed he was having plenty of fun with Kerry's real replies. I was particularly amused by this part:

MTV Question: "Any writers or musicians that you think would do a good job serving in office?"

Kerry's reply: Sure there are. Of course there are people, absolutely. I mean, I'll tell you. Carole King, who has been out campaigning for me hard in Iowa, New Hampshire and various places, is as knowledgeable about the issues as anybody I have ever seen.

About which James comments: Carole King. Carole King? Look, this doesn’t exactly connect with the MTV audience. This connects with the guys in the Obligatory Rectal Examination demographic, and they’re not watching MTV.

I really think James seems to be missing something essential in the following sequence of his rumninations:

Kerry commented: This administration has been arrogant. I think they have been reckless. They have been overly ideological. They have pushed our allies away. I will bring our allies back to us.

James comments: By “allies,” of course, he means Germany and France. And perhaps our deep long-standing ally Russia. Kerry’s statement indicates that either he doesn’t know about the French government’s vested financial interests in Iraq, or he does know and thinks we don’t. Or he dismisses the story as irrelevant to the larger goal: building a body of international resolve that will meet any challenge by sending diplomats to exchange Frank and Honest Views in conference rooms, with that nice lemon tea they serve. Do they use a zest, or a peel, or just run the lemon along the rim of the cup? Whatever they do, it’s quite delicious.

My first thoughts upon reading this were about the greater wisdom behind the action of re-engaging allies while sitting around the table. "Allies" don't mean the same as "trusted friends"...it means coalescing for the greater good for citizens of all involved nations. We do not approach the table as a model of perfection...how can we say that we have no vested governmental interest in Iraq...presently/in the past/future? If we're going to be Frank and Honest, then let's lay it all out. Not only are we imperfect..we're in a major jam over there in Iraq.



We have bungled the Dick Cheney-Hearts-n-Roses/Hearts-n-Minds 2004 tour.

France has their great faults, but if you ask any Frenchman if he loves terror, I doubt you'd find many who'd admit it. If we can spread the greatness of our ideas with honey rather than bombs, I say why the heck not? We just might provide a new way for some of our U.N.-based totalitarian allies. (Totalitarian allies? Can you imagine? These are two words which sound scary together...but our example of humility-in-greatness could carry us a long way in diplomatic world influence.......the question is: are WE sincere?)



If our common challenges can be met by sipping tea, I've got to say it's a sweeter scenario than seeing babies and soldiers (our sons and daughters) with their limbs blown away and heads sheared off at the neck with no apparent strategy or honest reason for the war in which we're engaged. We should be on our knees by now begging those allies to take us back..like a sappy B-movie. Instead, our leaders' pride will cost more blood, more lives. France schmance. Stop being stupid. Tea's good. Pass the friggen tea. Let's get a solution with our best buddies' allies' help and involvement.

Thomas Friedman-
once again a bitter disappointment

"...Iraqi "insurgents" opposing the U.S. today cannot plausibly claim to be the authentic expressions of Iraqi nationalism.."
--Thomas Friedman

Bullshite, they can't. Unless the smothering of the Chalbi nationalists combined with the overwhelming force of American military dominance (and Thomas Friedman) TELL the Shia they have no right to express their 'Iraqi-ness' or stake their claim as citizens in a democracy. Just wait until the reality of popular Iraqi opinion steamrolls over Mr. Friedman's opinion. It may not be heard in stacked polls. It will be heard in Viet Nam-esque battles to come. Hello? We bombed a mosque yesterday. Sunni or Shia..bombing a mosque (whether being used as shelter for insurgents or not/whether it was "just a compound wall" or not) is the one rare thing that will bring Sunni and Shia together in a common cause. Billmon mentioned Friedman "picked a really bad day to stop taking his thorazine". I couldn't have said it better. I think Mr. Friedman may have the Utopia in his head confused with the fact that we've already lost the hearts and minds of the Shia in Iraq. And it's only going to get worse from here.

*I'm an optimist, honestly! Alas, reality prevails.*

You've Got to love that Jimmy Breslin!

"Always, I wonder how the poor readers get through these books by bone conservatives. Conservatives cannot write. Yet they sell many books. I am always glad when a writer can make $40 on a book. But I'm shocked at their sentences. I intend to give the National Book Award to a reader...."

George W. Bush FAILED War President
No Lincoln No Roosevelt No Eisenhower No Truman No natural curiosity No Intuition No news-reader No effective pretzel-chewer
No Nuthin'

Elect him again and hide your sons and your daughters in the closet, because the failed WAR PRESIDENT will be coming for them. He's got more 'terr-ists' to bring to justice. He needs to bring them on. He will need our kids to do it. I am sick about what he's already done to our trusting and loyal troops. This Iraq war is wrong, wrong....and either the administration is LYING about representing these Shia uprisings as "minority factions" or they're just plain incompetent! Either way, we cannot trust them with our sons (or daughters). In my opinion, we need a leader we can trust. I recently heard it said that backbone isn't a transplantable organ...and Howard Dean brought the spirit of his own backbone to Democratic politics. I am still shocked that our Democrats allowed Bush to carry out this Iraq war. They dropped the ball. Dean brought conscience and courage back to the discussion. I'm watching Kerry. He voted for the Iraq resolution. It was irresponsible...and most Democrats did it. They also let our Constitution be weakend these past three years. Awful lessons have been learned. I believe, if we don't shift leadership, the future of America's democracy may be destroyed and our world standing will be framed in a state of mockery. A one-party state will emerge. So can we trust Democrats to turn it around? I think it's our only choice. I believe it will be the most truly patriotic choice. If our children are tapped to serve our good nation, let it be for an honest, transparently clear, intelligently upright cause! I trust John Kerry is a man of courage (consider what he did in Viet Nam) and conviction (look at what he did when he returned from Viet Nam). I'm hoping he and the Democratic party find a way to convey that to greater America.

As if, Condi....AS IF!

Today's tesimony from Rice was filled with filibustering spin and quick blame-casting...no humility, no accountability, no responsibility, no apology. Richard Clarke was not afraid to express his apology to the 9-11 families. It was the most powerful moment of the 9-11 hearings. It was also a political salvo...and could have been a great opportunity for Rice. Condi's greatest mistake today was not having the emotional intelligence to politically match or neutralize that powerful statement. One panel member, Thompson, acknowleged and confirmed that the Bush administration is at war with the people of the United States when he said that the Bush administration was not "retreating or surrendering" by Condi's appearance. What is that supposed to mean? This woman works for us..the people of the United States. 3000 Americans died on her watch. This administration's blatant hostility to citizens who resist their cultism is going to lose them the next election. (If the realization that Iraq was the biggest blunder in American history doesn't lose it for them first).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The overwhelming bulk of the evidence was that this was an attack that was likely to take place overseas."

- White House National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, May 16, 2002

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US."

- CIA's August 6, 2001 briefing memo to President George W Bush

*Condi says this was "only a historical document" and not a warning. As if that matters in the least.*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon, that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile."

- Condi Rice, May 16, 2002 press conference


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...reading Condoleezza Rice where she said, 'we had no specific information whatsoever of domestic threat or that they might use airplanes'... That's an outrageous lie! And documents can prove it's a lie."

--Sibel Edmonds, former FBI wiretap translator

These things and more!

Chaos In Iraq


President Bush: Show some humility! If you truly love our troops, go to the U.N. now. If you can't do it, then bring our troops home!

*please note, in this article, that it is the Republican senators making public political mud for the U.N. at a time when our troops need the good-faith support of the world. This partisan mudslinging for the cult of the Bush foreign policy is not American, not patriotic, and not in good faith for our most precious commodity...our troops. Wake the hell up, Senator Lugar!*

Fierce street battles are raging in Falluja between resistance fighters defending the town and US occupation forces.
It's not for the faint of heart, but look at the photo feature on the right when you go to this article.

Please read Juan Cole's summary. I promise you'll learn a lot.

Some of our soldiers may be captured per this report. We don't know nowadays..it may be private security personnel, too. There's no way for us to know unless we're told directly by our government. (Fat chance).

The title of this article is: 'US may need to delay Iraqi power transfer'. Considering we don't have a friggen clue as to WHO the "power" will be turned over to, I guess that's a good idea.

When 40 people are killed inside a mosque by our forces, we've lost the hearts and the minds. You know we have. Stop fooling yourselves! This report states that "in the third day of a battle to pacify (that's an all-too-familiar Viet Nam-era code word) this Sunni Muslim city fired rockets that hit a mosque compound Wednesday, and witnesses said as many as 40 people were killed.... The strike came as worshippers had gathered for afternoon prayers...."

Al Jazeera has a video of the situation.

Paul Findley, WWII vet and former Republican Congressman from Illinois, says he believes President Bush’s decision to initiate war on Iraq will be the greatest and most costly blunder in American history.

Is Iraq like Viet Nam? Many people are comparing/contrasting.

Australians are losing their taste for this war. Australia's opposition leader Mark Latham's recent statements show there's a bruising debate over when to bring Australian troops home from Iraq.

Here's an article worth reading. From the Asia Times, it discusses the unreality of the June 30th handover date.

Bush is hoping to stem the tide of deleterious spillover effects from his decision to invade Iraq for his prospects of reelection. But the Middle East has proven through centuries that it operates purely on the basis of its own logic, or, as some say, the lack thereof.

The Pentagon said today that there will soon be a big increase in the number of American troops in Iraq to quell the violence there. McCain and Biden are hawking for it. I remember McCain hawking for ground troops in Kosovo in 1999, which would have been disastrous. God, what are they getting our troops into? Senator Robert Byrd seems to be one of the few with conscience, memory, and true wisdom:

"Surely I am not the only one who hears echoes of Vietnam in this development. Surely, the administration recognizes that increasing the U.S. troop presence in Iraq will only suck us deeper into the maelstrom of violence that has become the hallmark of that unfortunate country. Starkly put, at this juncture, more U.S. forces in Iraq equates more U.S. targets in Iraq."
--Sen. Robert Byrd

The Reverend Jesse Jackson says: We all pay for Bush's mistakes.

Jonathan Schell speaks to Syracuse audience

Jonathan Schell spoke to a welcoming crowd at May Memorial church in Syracuse last night. He blasted away the flimsy facade of semantics used by the Bush administration to make this war in Iraq patriotically palatable.
He used some of senior civilian administrator Paul Bremer's own words [this is not exact]-"Today, in the new Iraq, the power should not be with the guy who's got the guns." This sounded rather silly when you really thought about it. I mean, who's got the biggest guns, really?

As in his new book The Unconquerable World, Mr. Schell made the point that the lesson of the last two centuries is that all people of the globe refuse to be ruled from afar-imperially. People do not like to be taken over by other countries and ruled. It's mere folly to believe people want to be occupied or will long stand for occupation. He gave an example. You knock at someone's door and tell them you have a gift for them. They say they don't want it and slam the door. You try again. They slam the door harder. Do you bomb them to get them to accept your gift? (Think of the basics..all you learned in Kindergarten, my friends).

Mr. Schell spoke of how Bush's foreign policy move toward imperialism is bound to fail for historical reasons and pointed out the terrible cost both in the U.S. and around the world. Empire is the embodiment of force. It's bound to backfire. No supporter of freedom can support it. Mr. Schell pointed out that imperialism is especially contrary to the founding principles of our nation. Making force the mainstay of our foreign policy is our biggest mistake. Coercion over cooperation/force over peace...these policies have never shown success over time. Empires have gone under the way throughout history. He used James Madison's words:

The veteran legions of Rome were an overmatch for the undisciplined valour of all other nations, and rendered her mistress of the world.

He noted that the Bush administration and their chosen group of thinkers (ie: the Project for a New American Century) are extremely radical and revolutionary in their desire to see regime-change (an anodyne...a numbing word for violence brought upon a people) with absolute miltary dominance. He invoked the words of John Hobson:

It is partly the dupery of imperfectly realised ideas, partly a case of psychical departmentalism. Imperialism has been floated on a sea of vague, shifty, well-sounding phrases which are seldom tested by close contact with fact.

As in his Tikkun article titled Power and Cooperation, Mr. Schell stated that the United States has greatly overestimated the usefulness of force and hugely underestimated the usefulness of forms of action that do not employ violence. He spoke of Ghandi's success in non-violence-based activism. He raised the belief that al-Sistani's collecting of 10,000 Iraqi signatures of protest by petition is far more democratically and politically productive in its effects than the violent anarchy we're seeing.

He intimated that Iraq is a mistake that will be hard to morally correct. As he said in his article titled "The Importance of Losing the War":

The United States must learn to lose this war-- a harder task, in many ways, than winning, for it requires admitting mistakes and relinquishing attractive fantasies. This is the true moral mission of our time..

When Bloggers Attack

At Reason, Julian Sanchez writes an article about the Daily Kos situation. He asks:

Now that it's possible for bloggers to make it big, will the most ambitious of them rein in the very un-journalistic recklessness that made the form so much fun to begin with? More importantly, will the potential political leverage provided by the link between politicians and bloggers give partisans even more reason to ensure that every molehill grows to Everest-like proportions?

It reminded me of my own statement on Monday: "If politicians wish to distance themselves from the bloggers, then let them do so. The same goes for advertisers. My hope is that Kos would not let the loss of a few bucks break his honesty. I think the most important thing is being unencumbered to freely speak."

Blogging has been fun...but it's also been important in keeping our leaders honest by displaying thoughts of the people where they could not before be heard...or hidden. Turning up the volume of democracy has been blogging's greatest gift to America. I don't think we've yet seen the true and full effect of people like Kos and Atrios and Instapundit. They've been a wonderful inspiration to others out here. They've made headway by popping a pin-hole in the mainstream.

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I don't usually speak this way, so let my "outrage" be known. I firmly believe the person who came up with the following headline is an ignorant a*shole.

From FrontPageMag.com: "Democrats Cheer Falluja Outrage"

I swear these days (no pun intended), there is a cult of Bushism and all the foreign policy trimmings that come with Bushism. These are not patriotic Americans, my friends. They wish to put a trap on your yap. We citizens have a right to question the use of privately paid warriors in any way we choose without fear of censorship or the intimidation of self-censorship. Freedom is far more precious and meaningful than a nagging worry about being politically appropriate. F*ck the advertising money. Everything in America doesn't have to be about "what's in it for me".

Some people simply have a burning lust for truth and American patriotism that demands such truth.

The world is changing on these cultists and the harsh language and frustrated sarcasm of their ideological enemy is all they have to fight against. It's decidedly pitiful and nearly hilarious. I'd laugh if my heart wasn't broken over the lies, violence, death, destruction, chaos, anarchy in Iraq. The truth is going to betray their every move from here on in. One thing about the technology of blogging...you can read and decide for yourself. The cultists hate that. They are pushing for censorship. Screw themTo heck with them.