Paging George Orwell . . . The Pentagon deleted from a public transcript a statement Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made to author Bob Woodward suggesting that the administration gave Saudi Arabia a two-month heads-up that President Bush had decided to invade Iraq. At issue was a passage in Woodward’s "Plan of Attack," an account published this week of Bush’s … Read More
CPA Memo Admits That Iraq Is A Clusterfuck
A newly-surfaced memo, written in March, from an unnamed U.S. government official detailed to the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) in Iraq, is alarming in its honesty. You can read about the CPA memo here. Some highlights from the article: Yet the memo is gloomy in most other respects, portraying a country mired in dysfunction and corruption, overseen by a CPA … Read More
Thanks, GWB. I Feel MUCH Safer Now
Probe Shows Iraq Nuke Facilities Unguarded UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Some Iraqi nuclear facilities appear to be unguarded, and radioactive materials are being taken out of the country, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency reported after reviewing satellite images and equipment that has turned up in European scrapyards. Geez. Full story here.
Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
Based on my thorough research (i.e., scanning a few blogs and catching a few minutes of Rush), the right-wing line du jour seems to be that the media is over-exaggerating the problems in Iraq. Which may or may not be true (who can say??), but I wonder how long that meme will float. Kos goes out on a limb with … Read More
Another Bloody Day?
Sky News out of Britain is reporting that 130 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq. I don’t know how much stock to put in that (it’s a Murduch publication, so . . .). Other (more realistic, but nevertheless tragic) reports are coming out saying "Six U.S. soldiers dead". Let’s hope they’re ALL wrong. UPDATE: As of this entry (6:05 … Read More
Milestones
Well, with the nine Americans(!) killed in Iraq today, we’ve gone over the 600 dead mark(!), and enjoyed the second-deadliest month(!) since the end of major combat eleven months ago. As I saw the AP photos of the four charred American bodies (all civilians!) being hung from a bridge in Fallujah, I was struck by the complete and utter absence … Read More
Outsourcing Torture
The Village Voice has an interesting article on a CIA practice known as "extraordinary rendition". What it basically means is this: we pick up a suspect (i.e., a terrorism suspect) in a foreign country. Then, rather than interrogate him here in the United States, we ship him off to Syria or someplace where the authorities there can practice, uh, more … Read More
New Rule (with Apologies to Bill Maher)
Politicians cannot engage in political humor, if they don’t know what’s funny. At last night’s Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association 60th annual dinner, Bush presented a series of slides: A recurring joke involved photos of the president in awkward positions — bent over as if he’s looking under a table, leaning to look out a window — accompanied by remarks … Read More
Uh . . . Question?
Fox News in August 2002 had an interview with Richard Clarke (then working for Bush White House). Clarke was on background, which is why Fox had to seek permission from the White House to release the transcript yesterday, identifying Clarke as the source. (The White House, of course, granted permission) Apparently, this is how it is done. I have no … Read More
Powell Failed His Own Challenge To Identify Supporting Nations
"And this particular coalition of the willing now has 47 nations; 47 nations are openly members of the coalition, and have asked to be identified with this effort. And there are many other nations that for a variety of reasons don’t want to be publicly identified, but are also a part of the coalition of the willing". – Colin Powell. … Read More
Bush Embarrassment Watch CLXIII
With all the "One Year Later" retrospectives going around, a reader at Atrios’ site posted Bush’s speech of March 13, 2003 — the start of the war. Many of us thought it was a crock then — and now — with benefit of 20/20 hindsight, it clearly was one. This passage particularly struck me: The terrorist threat to America and … Read More
Pew Research – A Year After Iraq War
Even though the headline is "Mistrust of America in Europe Ever Higher, Muslim Anger Persists", there’s tons of other interesting "meat" in this survey — some good and some not-so-good. Personally, I am particularly pleased that Europeans draw a distinction between the American people (who they generally like) and American policies (which they generally dislike and distrust). But in any … Read More
The “Iraq On The Record” Database
The Bush Administration’s deceptions regarding the War on Iraq are so numerous that Rep. Henry Waxman has put them on a searchable database. This Iraq on the Record database contains statements made by the five officials that were misleading at the time they were made. The database does not include statements that appear in hindsight to be erroneous but were … Read More
The War on Terror So Far . . .
Pluses: Saddam Hussein out of power Many dead/captured terrorists or Iraqi resistence Minuses: 550 dead American soldiers 200 dead Spanish citizens Lord knows how many dead innocent Iraqis Lord knows how many wounded No new democracies (just two police states, and a new socialist leader in Spain) Bin Laden still alive al Qaeda still active (obviously) Taliban controls 1/3rd of … Read More
What’s Wrong With The Iraqi “Constitution”
According to the people at Gun Owners of America, the Iraqi interim constitution is flawed because it omits the right to keep and bear arms. Look, I’m more pro-Second Amendment than many of my liberal colleagues, but a bad idea is a bad idea. And freedom to have guns in Iraq is a bad idea. Yes, the report is in … Read More