I honestly don’t give a crap about Joe Wilson. What he did or didn’t do is irrelevant. It’s certainly not an excuse to out his wife as a covert CIA agent. I know this because I’ve read the statutes and there is no "Joe Wilson Is A Liar" exception. Still, Bush supporters somehow think that Libby’s behavior can be justified … Read More
Ignoring Whig
My jaw dropped when I read this crap from Glenn Reynolds at MSNBC: Perhaps Reid should look at this Senate Intelligence Committee report on Iraqi WMD, which found that errors in intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction didn’t stem from White House pressure, but from groupthink and systematic failure within the Intelligence Community: The Committee found significant short-comings in … Read More
This Is An Important Post Because This Is What It Is All About
Neo-cons were certainly thrown today by Senator Reid’s invocation of a rule calling for a closed session of the Senate. Mostly, they just said that Reid was throwing a "temper tantrum", which is of course, bullshit. Not to mention a childish response to a serious concern. In order for the Senate to discuss matters of intelligence, it is prudent — … Read More
Harry Reid: Kicking Ass
Whaa?!? The hot breaking buzz is on Senator Harry Reid, and his surprise invocation of a rare closed door session of the Senate to discuss Iraq and the faulty intelligence during the run-up. Frist is pissed, talking about the lack of senatorial courtesy (something which Republicans feel they have not been obligated to give, since they have a majority). CNN … Read More
How’s That Homeland Security Thing Coming?
From USA Today: The Bush administration has missed dozens of deadlines set by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks for developing ways to protect airplanes, ships and railways from terrorists. A plan to defend ships and ports from attack is six months overdue. Rules to protect air cargo from infiltration by terrorists are two months late. A study on the … Read More
I Wish I Said That
This item relating to the 2,000 death in Iraq is soooo two days ago*, but it just came across my radar now. I’m speaking of blogwatcher Peter Daou, who critized Michelle Malkin, Little Green Footballs and others for describing the left’s anti-war "vigils" as "parties": "I find this rash of posts suggesting that anti-war activists ‘celebrate’ the deaths of American … Read More
Bush Administration Withheld WMD Intelligence
One of the wingnut talking points re: Iraq is that Congress had access to the same pre-war intelligence as the White House, so they are just as much to blame as Bush for the no-WMD-in-Iraq fiasco. Not true. Not true. That talking point is now officially dead. The Bush Administration not only failed to fully inform Congress of all the … Read More
The La Repubblica Revelations
Crooked Timber has the latest. Key summary: As best as I can piece this together, the timeline that La Repubblica is arguing for goes as follows. Italian intelligence collected [genuine] information that Hussein was trying to obtain raw uranium at the end of the 1980’s, before the First Gulf War. This information was stored by the branch of Italian intelligence … Read More
Operation Yellow Elephant++
I’ve had my share of fun with college-age Republicans for their hypocrisy regarding Iraq. They are all gung-ho about the war and how patriotic they are, but when it comes down to actually fighting the war themselves, they wimp out with lame excuses ("I’m fighting the war at home", etc.) But this story takes the cake. An anti-war college student … Read More
Four Questions
The Liberal Avenger points to a wonderful Salon article which asks "four of the biggest questions Fitzgerald’s investigation may be able to answer". I’ll post the "questions", but seriously, the whole article is worth a read: Did the vice president’s office put pressure on intelligence analysts in the run-up to war? Did pressure from the vice president’s office have anything … Read More
The Pollari-Hadley Connection
Josh Marshall, not one to give in to hysterics and histrionics, points to an article in today’s Italian Daily La Repubblica — an article which, if accurate, could "rock the foundations of official Washington". I strongly urge you to read the whole thing, including Josh’s cautionary caveats, but here is the gist: It’s about the forged Niger/uranium documents. Back in … Read More
2000
There is no earthly logical reason why the 2000th U.S. soldier killed in Iraq is more tragic than the 1999th or, for that matter, the 1998th. These are miles on your car’s odometer — these are individual people. With families. With friends. And with futures which are no more. But still, for some reason, "2000" is viewed as a milestone. … Read More
Iraq Full Of Ingrates
With the U.S. death toll approaching 2,000, let’s take a brief sstop to see exactly how Iraqis feel about their liberation. From Britain’s Sunday Telegram: Millions of Iraqis believe that suicide attacks against British troops are justified, a secret military poll commissioned by senior officers has revealed. The poll, undertaken for the Ministry of Defence and seen by The Sunday … Read More
“I’ll Never Fall For Bush Aga-ai-ai-ain”
You know we live in strange times when anti-war songs are being penned by . . . Burt Bacharach. On his new album, in which he writes lyrics (as opposed to just music) for the first time: the most stridently political number, "Who Are These People?" [is] sung by Elvis Costello. That song, expressing disillusionment with the war in Iraq, … Read More
Manipulated Intelligence
Color me unsurprised: The lengthy account by New York Times reporter Judy Miller about her grand jury testimony in the CIA leak case inadvertently provides a revealing window into how the Bush administration manipulated journalists about intelligence on Iraq’s nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. Whatever the implications for special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s probe, Miller describes a conversation with Vice President … Read More