Anonymoses on the nobility of Richard Clarke

Excerpt:

A Renaissance of Conscience?

But I think there will be a renaissance of conscience, if you will. And that those who know things will come forward, and realize that their loyalty too has been abused. And that lives are being lost needlessly, and because of incompetence, greed perhaps, and pressures which simply should not have been allowed to enter into the decision-making process, while those that should have been...were ignored.

NYT Magazine
Al Franken, Seriously

..He wants to have Paul Krugman, Kevin Phillips and the Clintons as guests. Also Gary Bauer, G. Gordon Liddy, Chris Rock and Michael Moore. He wants to feature national-security experts. He wants it to be in part a homage to old-time radio. He plans to have Bob Elliot, one of his radio heroes, come on to revive an old character.........Though he says he is interested in sticking around, Franken has reportedly signed only a one-year contract. ''I'm doing this because I want to use my energies to get Bush unelected,'' he told me. ''I'd be happy if the election of a Democrat ended the show.''.......... Franken, who is 52, was born in New York City, but he was raised in the heartland of liberalism: Minnesota. He counts the Minnesotans Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy and Paul Wellstone among his political heroes......

What we knew about Pakistan-one year ago and what we're doing today

To the Bush administration:
Don't ever try to tell the American public that you didn't know what Dr. Khan and the Pakistani government were doing.
The big story broke on February 2 of this year. Talk about late-breaking news.

A year ago on Iddybud:

The UN has documented that in October 1990, i.e. just two months before the US-led Operation Desert Storm to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait, Dr. Khan allegedly offered Iraq through an unnamed intermediary the technology to "manufacture a nuclear weapon". Baghdad said it rejected the offer fearing an American trap, and Pakistan denied the offer as a fraud. But the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) listed it as a key unresolved issue in a 1999 report to the UN on Iraqi arms programs. In light of the potential for further radicalization in Pakistan - and especially after the experience of after Sept. 11, 2001 – it is only to be expected that the US will want to become physically involved in the safekeeping of Pakistani nuclear weapons; reports suggest it may already have some kind of guardianship role. If acknowledged, of course, any such development could have a devastating effect on Musharraf's rapidly deteriorating domestic credibility.

Sunday Herald UK: "Ask No Questions"

The US press may finally be realising it was hoodwinked over the war … but the coverage of Madrid proves it hasn’t learned

I consider this opinion to be close to all I've been believing and stating about the American media since I premiered this blog over a year ago. When you read the summary of editorial positions of the principal Scottish and UK newspapers in the run-up to war in Iraq, you may see a startling variance in opinion from what we saw in the American press.

Excerpt:

Headlines have told their story. “Iraq’s arsenal was only on paper” admitted the Washington Post recently. “So, what went wrong?” Time magazine wanted to know. Even the right-wing Wall Street Journal was obliged to report that: “Pressure rises for probe of pre-war intelligence”. The cat was out of the bag: they’d been had. Yet why had publications with vast editorial resources been such easy marks? And why had sceptics and dissidents been silenced?

The answer to the second question is simple: the great American newspapers censored themselves. They became, if you like, patriotically deaf. In the post-9/11 atmosphere they had no editorial strategy for coping with George Bush’s moral authority, and no editorial will to devise one..

_________________________


This is my own statement from March 25, 2003:

I think we need to carefully consider the daily-changing reasons, fabrications and innuendo our own government has thrown out into the ether in order to justify this war.
The visions of cheering, dancing sugar-plums and Iraqis waiting with open arms and open hearts for their liberation.
People were led to believe this would be the case. The media reinforced that vision every day.

It just isn't so.

A lot of things the government has been telling us haven't turned out to be "so".

When we fail to question, we fail as a democracy.

We just can't assume a sense of blind loyalty and think our best interests are at the heart of all this.

Op-Ed News: Why are we in Iraq? Stupidity? Bad Judgement, Lies? Deceptions?

Richard Clarke, the former counterterrorism chief to President Bush, has released new information on how the Bush White House failed to heed the warnings of national security officials, were slow to act on these warnings, were quick to blame Iraq and were unable to make the long sought after connection between Iraq and al Qaeda.

Independent: Rumsfeld 'wanted to bomb Iraq' after 9/11


Did you know?

Could the devastation of September 11 been diminished in any degree had the government’s information been made public in the summer of 2001?

On July 5th, the government’s top counter-terrorism official, Richard Clarke stated to a group gathered at the White House, “Something really spectacular is going to happen here, and it’s going to happen soon.”

The group included the FAA, the Coast Guard, the FBI, the Secret Service, and the INS. Clarke directed every counter-terrorist office to cancel vacations, defer non-vital travel, put off scheduled exercises and place domestic rapid response teams on much shorter alert.

“Frankly, I find it outrageous that the president is running for re-election on the grounds that he’s done such great things about terrorism. He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something.”

--Richard Clarke [Sunday Herald]

Newsday: 100,000 at NYC rally as protests gather nationwide


AP photo-NYC 3-20-04

In the early afternoon, [Mayor] Bloomberg estimated the crowd at about 30,000. But organizers said later that number had grown to more than 100,000 people, stretching for more than a dozen blocks through Manhattan.

One year on, and still the hard core march the world over. [Independent UK]


See a wonderful summary of the day's events in New York at Hanging Out With the Duchess

Norman Solomon asks

"And henceforth, the only honorable course will be to stake everything on a formidable gamble: that words are more powerful than munitions."

--Albert Camus

Excerpt from a new, insightful article by Mr. Solomon:

Key questions of the past are also crucial for the future.

** For instance, can the United States credibly wage a "war on terrorism" by engaging in warfare that terrorizes civilians? (Close to 10,000 Iraqi civilians have died because of the war during the past year.)


** Does the mix of mendacity and deadly violence from the Oval Office really strike against terrorism, or does it fuel terrorist cycles?


** And, in the realm of news media, how many journalists are willing and able to go beyond reliance on official sources enough to bring us truth about lies that result in death?

Wishing for a less cloudy forecast-
John Kerry Needs to Clear Up

This dischord in the pact of things,
This endless war 'twixt truth and truth,
That singly held, yet give the lie
To him who seeks to hold them both...

- Boethius

Re: AP: Dean nod mixed bag for Kerry
By Nedra Pickler

The same brutal honesty that Howard Dean brought to the political forefront is recommended, by some political advisors, to be publically shunned by John Kerry. I'm all for honesty. Until we can all be brutally honest about matters, liars and media-manipulators will continue to prevail in these horse races. A Dean-shunning by Kerry would be a vote for Bush, in my estimation. Kerry needs more political clarity. He's being pegged as a waffler on key issues...and let's face it, to the non-trained political ear, he comes off sounding like one. I may not love his message, but GOP Campaign Chairman Ed Gillsepie's not lying when he drags out his political ammo. All the GOP has to do is show the clip of Kerry saying he voted for the $87 billion for the troops before he voted against it....or display Kerry's statement upon voting "YES" to the Iraq resolution in October 2002. I have a trained political ear. Even I failed to glean a clear message or direction from that statement.

President Bush may be an overly simplistic simpleton in some eyes, but we must remember that most Americans want their messages as simple and clear as they can get them. I trust John Kerry supports our troops and I know he voted "No" on the $87 billion because he was demanding accountability from the Bush administration. However, all many Americans will see is that silly statement he made about "for-before-against". There are often two or more rationally acceptable sides to our stories...even relativity is a two-faced Janus...but humans tend to need to be reassured with straightforward consistency when the message is pitched over their home-plate.

--Howard Dean is clear and straight. He's been excoriated for it in the media..even by the likes of Democrats like Bruce Reed of the DLC. What a shame upon the DLC. The AFSCME boss called Dean "nuts".

--Bush is clear and misleading...and he's been rewarded and honeymooned by the same media that destroyed Dean's candidacy...and will destroy Kerry's if he's not smart. Stop shunning the honesty of Dean. Dean has stuck by the Democrats and has greatly furthered their case against Bush. In my opinion, they'd be lost in the woods without him.

This isn't "Dean-lost" sour grapes. I'd really love to see straight and clarifiying messages from Kerry.
He needs to change or face a loss in November.
This is not a Kerry-bash. This is tough love.

By the way, I think Howard Dean would be a tremendous representational asset to the spirit of the American people by serving as John Kerry's Vice President. He's the eidetic 21st-Century Paine or Jefferson, never losing sight of the fact that America is only as good as each individual in whom our Creator gifted those certain unalienable Rights.

They're coming at you firecely, Senator. Kerry. There has never been a more important time to embrace and incorporate the honesty of those who are your political friends.

See:
Weekly Standard: Kerry's Uncommon Touch
Besides the flip-flops, John Kerry has another big problem: how his life in the Senate has prepared him for connecting with ordinary Americans

ALTERNATIVE HEADLINES

Poland Says It Was 'Misled' On WMD

Twilight of the Neocons- Richard Perle has begun to panic

Independent: Arab journalists walk out on Powell over US shootings

Reason interview: Meet Hizbollah-
The Party of God's MP talks about Islam, Iraq, and the war on terror

Ecnomist.com- The next American empire- George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld have pledged to change the way America's armed forces are distributed around the globe. What do they have in mind?

NYT: For Children of Gays, Marriage Brings Joy

Prague Post: Deconstructing a president- Citizens regard Czech President Vaclav Klaus' image as more vital than his political views

Paul Krugman: "...Most Americans, I suspect, still don't realize how badly this apparent exploitation of the world's good will — and the subsequent failure to find weapons of mass destruction — damaged our credibility..."

Today in history...

1860- William Jennnings Bryan born in Salem, Illinois.
Related site: The Scopes Trial
Related current Events: County that was site of Scopes Trial Wants to Charge Homosexuals


Battle of Bentonville

1865- Civil War, Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina.

Have you seen The Gadflyer ?


The Gadflyer is a new progressive Internet magazine. At their website, they promise it will be provocative, critical, and iconoclastic. It will cover politics and public affairs from a fresh perspective, offering journalism, analysis, and commentary from a new generation of writers.

I recommend Amy Sullivan's article on getting tough with progressive constituencies, Paul Waldman's article on getting tough with the Right, and Sean Aday's article on getting tough with the press.

The age of the wimpy liberal is over! Who knew?

Know this: Vote for Bush and we'll be going after Iran soon
*It's just a knowing thing*

Listen to Michael Ledeen and Richard Perle. They aren't just suggesting a possibility of future war with Iran. They are telling you it shall be unavoidable from their points of view. Unfortunately, the thesis they've wrapped their foreign policy ideas around has been warped by a pesky thing called REALITY.

But who cares about reality, right? I mean, it didn't make a hill o'beans of difference to our President.

I hope the Balkans don't explode again. Milosevic is gone, but hate lives on

This time the Serbs are the victims of Albanian agression. Turn, turn, turn....
If KFOR can't get a grip on the situation, we may want to see a comeback of General Wesley Clark in some capacity. Vice President or Secretary of Defense, perhaps? Clark knows the Balkans. He'd be invaluable to the effort it's apparently going to take to get this situation lined up in America's best interests. I wish it weren't so, but there is no one in the Bush administration I trust anymore to handle such a volatile situation.

Slice o'life






I'd vote for Mickey Mouse if he was running against George Bush - anyone but Bush."

--May Duke





*Be careful what you wish for, May!*

Howard Dean will officially announce his new advocacy group Democracy for America tomorrow.

A great Central New York resource for information on Howard Dean is at NYCO's blog.

Seen Shakespeare's Will? Want to?

HERE

Are there any descendants of Shakespeare alive today?

Shakespeare had three children: Susanna (1583), twins Hamnet and Judith (1585). Hamnet died in 1596, aged eleven. Susanna married John Hall in 1607, and had one child, Elizabeth, born in 1608. Elizabeth was married twice, to Thomas Nash in 1626, and to John Bernard in 1649. However, she had no children by either husband. In 1616 Judith married Thomas Quiney, by whom she had three sons, Shakespeare Quiney, who died in infancy, and Richard and Thomas, who both died unmarried, early in 1639 within a month of each other. Legitimate descent from Shakespeare is therefore impossible. It is possible, however, to claim a relationship through his sister, Joan. She married William Hart some time before 1600 and there are many descendants of this marriage alive today, in both male and female lines.

Donald Rumsfeld-
Caught on tape

A year ago today, the Bush Administration was making its final push toward war in Iraq. We know now that much of what we were told about the threat that Iraq posed was untrue. And rather than own up to their distortion of the facts, Bush administration officials are denying they ever said such things. But this Sunday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld got caught blatantly contradicting his past statements, and MoveOn.org has the video clip. Click the link on the title above in order to see it.

ONE Year Ago--
TWO Views Ago on IDDYBUD..

Read these two points of view. Consider all that has occurred over the past year. Draw your own conclusions.


"We will not defeat or even contain fanatical terror unless we can carry the war to the territories from which it is launched. This will sometimes require that we use force against states that harbour terrorists, as we did in destroying the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

The most dangerous of these states are those that also possess weapons of mass destruction. Iraq is one, but there are others. Whatever hope there is that they can be persuaded to withdraw support or sanctuary from terrorists rests on the certainty and effectiveness with which they are confronted. The chronic failure of the security council to enforce its own resolutions is unmistakable: it is simply not up to the task. We are left with coalitions of the willing. Far from disparaging them as a threat to a new world order, we should recognise that they are, by default, the best hope for that order, and the true alternative to the anarchy of the abject failure of the UN."

--Richard Perle
NeoConservative, former Pentagon warhawk (was chairman of defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld's Defense Policy Board). Mr. Perle was the who said last November to an audience in London:
"I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing."
Mr Perle is the co-author of "An End to Evil-How to Win the War on Terror"
[ American Conservative Review HERE ]

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


"Many of you believe this must happen because you have been told, time and again, that Saddam Hussein possesses an awesome arsenal of mass destruction weapons that he will gladly give to terrorists for use against us. Your belief that this is so stems from your loyalty – the President has told you it is true, and so it must be true. It is fearful indeed to consider weapons like this in the hands of terrorists.
You must know, however, that no proof of either prohibited weapons possession or connections to terrorism on the part of Saddam Hussein has been offered by the administration. They have made many accusations, and offered chunks of evidence, but over the last weeks and months each and every bit of evidence put forth has been debunked. Sometimes, the press has proven them wrong, sometimes the weapons inspectors in Iraq proved them wrong, and sometimes our own intelligence services proved them wrong. No proof offered by the Bush administration has stood up.
None."

--William Rivers Pitt, columnist, addressing Americans who may have been "on the fence" about the right and wrong of the just-begun pre-emptive war on Iraq.


TODAY'S HEADLINE: Bush warms to new UN resolution on Iraq
*would Mr. Perle see this as 'giving in'
to the terrorists?*

In the news

-> Bomb Destroys Baghdad Hotel, Kills Dozens



-> On St. Patrick's Day:
'Religion and Politics - Separate or Inseparable' - John Bruton

Politics, therefore, involves compromise in a way that religious teaching never does. But at what point must the necessity of compromise be made subject to principle, principle based on religious belief? My own view is that matters involving the taking of life are ones where politicians should always vote on principle, principles that for many politicians will derive from their religious beliefs. Other less serious, less irreversible, matters of social and economic policy are ones where the necessity for compromise can be given equal or even greater weight...

-> Bush aide disclaims 2 GOP lawmakers' remarks on Cuba

-> "NBC News has obtained, exclusively, extraordinary secret video, shot by the U.S. government...."


Video here

**OK---How did they they obtain this "exclusively, extraordinary secret
video"?? I wonder if it's as authentic as this one was?

-> Reuters: Democrats Tally 'Misleading' Iraq Statements

-> ThousandReasons.org Opinion re: Presidential Campaign: George Bush: Liar

-> NYT: Powell Reassures India they'll keep getting American jobs.

-> Bank of America Plans Job Cuts of Up to 13,000

-> Washington Post: Spain Campaigned to Pin Blame on ETA
Despite Evidence to Contrary, Basque Group Was Focus in Blasts
*You cannot get caught in a lie of this magnitude on an issue of this importance, and expect to get reelected.*

-> "SPAIN"- Dave Ross Commentary/Seattle, WA

Al Qaeda wants to scare Europe into keeping its distance from the United States.

But that's crazy! You can't give into terrorists! Spain should know that -- heck, Spain DOES know that - they've been fighting Basque terrorists for years.

So how is it that the United States, a victim of terrorism itself, is suddenly like Kryptonite?

We won the war in Iraq! We continue to rebuild the place! We killed Uday and Qusay! We captured Saddam! A new poll in Iraq says 70% of Iraqis expect things to be better off a year from now! By any definition that is a victory!

The only possible explanation is... that the people of Spain decided winning in Iraq ... has nothing to do with stopping terrorism.

And saw last week's attack as the final proof.

-> Judge Denies Al-Arian Free-Speech Claims

A Florida Federal district judge says fund-raising does not have constitutional First Amendment protection and rejects defense motions to strike the words "terrorism" and "terrorist" from Professor Sami Al-Arian's indictment. In a case where an American citizen gives to a charity, do the very words "terrorist" not ring loudly of wildly prejudicial treatment? I can see this one going to the Supreme Court. I have observed shades of similar questionable judicial treatment given to a highly-respected and beloved oncologist here in upstate New York, Dr.Rafil Dahfir, who chose to give to Iraqi charity...certainly no terrorist.

-> Electronic (ES &S) Voting Machines are sure to bring about a democratic disaster this fall
*Even if Bush (or Kerry) lose by narrow margins in any given district in the nation, think about how the GOP (or the Dems) may use information like this to contest voting results. Look at what happened in just two parishes in Louisiana in the most recent (November 5, 2003) elections..

In Louisiana, the two parishes (counties) that paid more than $3 million for 700 ES&S Votronic touch-screen voting machines suffered “countless problems” with the new machines, ac cording to The Advocate of Baton Rouge. The ES&S machines “plagued voters and the clerks of court staffs in Ascension and Tangipahoa, the only parishes that use the new machines other than for absentee balloting.”

Ascension Parish Clerk of Court Hart Bourque said Wednesday that more than 200 machine malfunctions were reported.

“A mechanic would fix a machine, and before he could get back to the office, it would shut down again,” Bourque said. “Unless we find a solution, next fall there’s no way we can vote.”

Tangipahoa Parish Clerk of Court John Dahmer said: “I can’t say every precinct had a problem, but the vast majority did.” Dahmer said at least 20 percent of the machines malfunctioned.

-> David Corn/The Nation: The Best--or Worst--of Bush's Iraq Whoppers

-> AP: 9/11 Panel Calls Bush, Clinton Officials
Hell, no..Condi won't go.

-> AJC: Trust in U.S. erodes abroad
Survey of foreign nations shows many doubt intent of anti-terror campaign

What's going on in Iraq?

I just read the strangest story: U.S. Unloading WMD in Iraq reports an Iranian News Agency

A reliable source from the Iraqi Governing Council, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Mehr News Agency that U.S. forces, with the help of British forces stationed in southern Iraq, had made extensive efforts to conceal their actions.

I would hope we would not plant phony evidence.