Eric Alterman nails it: If you fire a photographer, the photograph you fired her for will get printed again and again, even in the New York Times, which otherwise might have left the whole thing alone. This of course refers to the Pentagon/Bush ban on photos of dead troops in their coffins — an order which was violated by Pentagon … Read More
Say WHAT?!?
In an article entitled AP Poll: More than 30 months after attacks, concerns that the terrorists might be winning comes the following paragraphs: More than 30 months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, two-thirds of Americans acknowledge some concern that terrorists may be recruiting faster than the United States can keep up. A third of those polled feel strongly this … Read More
“If It’s Not On Our Website, It Didn’t Happen”
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
On Winning The Hearts And Minds
"Today there is hatred of the Americans like never before in the region," said Egyptian President (and ally) Hosni Mubarak, speaking of the Middle East. You can read all about his comments here: "Mubarak: Arabs Hate U.S. More Than Ever" (Reuters) Quick! What best describes your reaction? (1) "Who gives a tinker’s cuss about what Arabs think of America?"(2) "I’m … 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
Rice vs. Bush
Apparently, Dr. Rice doesn’t read my posts here. Like this one. Today, before the 9/11 Commission, she characterized the threats that were coming in (during the Spring and Summer of 2001) as: "Troubling, yes. But they don’t tell us when; they don’t tell us where; they don’t tell us who; and they don’t tell us how . . . " … 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
Bush vs. Bush
"Let me just be very clear about this . . . Had we had the information that was necessary to stop an attack, I’d have stopped the attack. … If we’d have known that the enemy was going to fly airplanes into our buildings, we would have done everything in our power to stop it." – Bush, quoted recently here … Read More
Front Burner, My Ass – Pt II
Last one, I promise. (Well, maybe I’ll touch upon it again when Cheney and his chauffeur meet with the 9/11 commission . . .) This, too, is a confirmation of Clarke’s allegations. National Security Adviser Condi Rice was to speak at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She had a major policy speech that was to … 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
Powell Adds Credence to Clark Testimony
Not intentionally of course. Here’s the timeline which tells the story: December 16, 2000 – Powell nominated by Bush to be Secretary of State. December 20, 2000 – Powell meets with CIA, FBI and the State Department for the transition. "We talked about al Qaeda," Powell later admits. January 17, 2000 – Powell testifies at his confirmation hearing. Outlining the … 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
Rice To Testify
The White House is backpeddling. Which is fine. Doing the right thing . . . eventually . . . is the best we can hope for from the Bush Administration. But here’s something that struck me as odd — today’s letter to the 9/11 Commission from the White House counsel, especially this self-serving statement: The President has consistently stated a … Read More