The Supreme Court has ruled on three cases involving terrorism detainees. I’ve only browsed the opinions, but one thing is clear: if Bush thinks he can do whatever he wants regarding prisoners by virtue of being a "war president", THAT myth is shattered. That’s not to suggest that Bush got his ENTIRE ass handed to him today. The SCOTUS opinions … Read More
The Image To Remember Bush By
This is Andrew Card telling GWB, on 9/11, about the plane crashing into the World Trade Center. What is remarkable is that Bush had this look for a FULL SEVEN MINUTES before he did anything. Instead, he continued to read to schoolchildren. Many of us have seen the footage of Bush just sitting there, and it is pretty condemning. Hopefully, … Read More
Drum Explains It All
What is a "lie"? What is a "deception"? What is it that the left accuses the Bush White House of doing? Kevin Drum explains the difference here. Now basically, Bush & Co. — technically speaking — don’t lie . . . usually. I’ll let Kevin explain: Let’s take this statement from Dick Cheney on "Meet the Press" last year: "If … Read More
Oh, Yes You DID!
Cheney gets busted in another lie. Transcript, CNBC’s “Capital Report,” June 17, 2004: Gloria Borger: “Well, let’s get to Mohammed Atta for a minute, because you mentioned him as well. You have said in the past that it was quote, “pretty well confirmed.” Vice President Cheney: No, I never said that. BORGER: OK. Vice Pres. CHENEY: Never said that. BORGER: … Read More
Orwellian Memo Discovered
The Washington Post reports about an interesting memo from Republican pollster Frank Luntz. Knowing that how you frame the issues is more important than the issues themselves, Luntz offers Republicans some talking points on phraseology. With voter anxieties about Iraq shadowing this year’s campaign, pollster Frank Luntz has some advice for fellow Republicans: Mind your language. Luntz, according to a … Read More
Cheney Makes Me Sick
Why do many people think that Iraq may have had something to do with 9/11? Cheney provided the answer today. It’s the media’s fault! That’s right. According to Cheney, the anti-Bush liberal media has been making an argument for war against Iraq that the White House never made. THEN, in the same press conference, Cheney goes on to suggest that, … Read More
Gingko Trees?
Jonah Goldberg at National Review Online shows what a total imbecile he is in this article. The nut says, in a nutshell, that the Geneva Convention is like a contract. And since al Qaeda didn’t sign the contract, the Geneva Convention doesn’t apply to them. Which means, he says, we should be able to torture AQ. Goldberg’s words: If you … Read More
Monty Python . . . and the Holy Torture Memos
Python Terry Jones is no stranger to the absurd. I guess that why he is able to provide an excellent legal explanation (in layman’s terms) of what the torture memos say, and in doing so, pointing out how silly they are. "Silly" if they weren’t so serious, that is. Terry Jones.
9/11 Commision — “No Credible Evidence” of Iraq-al Qaeda Link
“You can’t distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror”. – George Bush, September 2002 (from here) Speak for yourself, George. The rest of us — those with a brain, intellectual curiosity, and a desire to be scrupulously accurate — can see some pretty important distinctions.
Today’s WH Press Gaggle
Q Can I ask about Vice President Cheney, because yesterday he repeated what is a very controversial claim. He said that Saddam Hussein had long-established ties with al Qaeda. Does the President believe that Saddam Hussein had long-established ties with al Qaeda? MR. McCLELLAN: We certainly talked about the ties with terrorism between the — between the regime that was … Read More
Hold On To Your Hats . . .
The Telegraph understands that four confidential Red Cross documents implicating senior Pentagon civilians in the Abu Ghraib scandal have been passed to an American television network, which is preparing to make them public shortly. . . . "There are some extremely damaging documents around, which link senior figures to the abuses," said Scott Horton, the former chairman of the New … Read More
Shock & Awe Report Card
Yes, the "Shock and Awe" campaign that opened the Iraqi War was shocking and awesome. But according to this, it was also not very successful. Not only did ALL the airstrikes miss their mark, but they resulted in "significant civilian casualties". What’s to blame? Bad intel. What else?
Torture Memos
More on the torture memos. On this blog, I have been focussing on the Draft Walker Group Memo, but of course, there are others. Discourse.net has a good analysis of the Bybee Memo. It also has a good analysis of the Draft Walker Group Memo. Although, really, all you need to know is that both memos consider torture to be … Read More
Torture Scandel Just Keeps Getting Worse
From here The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, issued a classified order last November directing military guards to hide a prisoner, later dubbed "Triple X" by soldiers, from Red Cross inspectors and keep his name off official rosters. The disclosure, by military sources, is the first indication that Sanchez was directly involved in efforts to hide … Read More
Andrew Sullivan Tells It Like It Is
Conservative-Except-When-It-Comes-To-Gay-Issues, Brit-American, and Bush-Excusing pundit Andrew Sullivan is getting more ornery these days . . . and about Iraq. Here’s what he recently wrote: Take the case of Specialist Sean Baker. He was permanently wounded by other U.S. soldiers in a simulated exercize [sic] where his fellow soldiers assumed he was an Iraqi or a terrorist. Here’s what happened: "They … Read More