Saturday, October 21, 2006

Bush administration violates the separation of powers, issues fiat robbing court of judicial power

by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

Bush seems to be scrambling to consolidate dictatorial powers before his administration comes crashing down around him. According to the Washington Post, Bush has moved to implement the recent bill that abrogates habeas corpus, authorizing military trials of so-called "enemy combatants". The US District Court in Washington has been summarily notified that it no longer has jurisdiction in such cases and may no longer consider "... hundreds of habeas corpus petitions filed by inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba."
Habeas corpus, a Latin term meaning "you have the body," is one of the oldest principles of English and American law. It requires the government to show a legal basis for holding a prisoner. A series of unresolved federal court cases brought against the administration over the last several years by lawyers representing the detainees had left the question in limbo.

Court Told It Lacks Power in Detainee Cases, Washington Post

Bush's move may put the US in unchartered waters. Clearly —the bill demanded by Bush and duly passed by the obeisant Congress is unconstitutional on its face. Even the stodgy Wall Street Journal said that the law was "... a stinging rebuke to the Supreme Court", stripping the courts of all jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus claims filed by so-called "enemy combatants" anywhere in the world.

Why is this issue still on the table? Two years ago, Rasul v. Bush decided in favor of the Guantanamo detainees, giving them the right to challenge their detentions. More recently, Hamdan v Rumsfeld ruled decisively in favor of the detainees. The decision was blunt and precise, unequivocal. Clearly —Bush's position is un-American yet the issue persists with congress giving Bush an unconstitutional authority to try detainees before military commission while denying courts all judicial review of habeas corpus claims.

Outrageous!

Tyranny!

The question is raised amid rumors of intervention: will the Supreme Court strike down the law?

The terror legislation set to be signed into law Tuesday by President Bush sits atop an ideological fault line that sharply divides the US Supreme Court and highlights the emerging power of Justice Anthony Kennedy.

The new law rejects at least five key holdings by the liberal wing of the court and sets the stage for what many analysts believe will be yet another historic showdown between the courts, the president, and Congress.

Mr. Bush's authorization of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 will trigger a barrage of challenges asking judges to strike down the law as illegal, unconstitutional, or both. And it has sparked a heated debate among legal scholars and lawmakers.

Will the Supreme Court shackle new tribunal law?

It would appear that despite Bush's order, the case will go to the Supreme Court where a decision to strike down the bill may be a 5-4 decision with Justice Kennedy the swing vote against Bush's bill.

According to the Post, Vincent Warren of the Center for Constitutional Rights representing many of the detainees has promised to challenge the bill and filing a motion for dismissal of all of the cases that are at the heart of Bush's order to the court.

"We and other habeas counsel are going to vigorously oppose dismissal of these cases," Warren said. "We are going to challenge that law as violating the Constitution on several grounds." Whichever side loses in the upcoming court battles, he said, will then appeal to the Supreme Court.

Court Told It Lacks Power in Detainee Cases, Washington Post



159 comments:

daveawayfromhome said...

Let's hope that the conservative anti-abortion Supreme court agenda didnt contain a hidden poison pill. And that no more justices leave before 2009.

doomsy said...

Absolutely, and in addition to violating basic principles of judicial decency, it also endangers our troops who may be captured by nations or organizations of one type or another who may decide to do the same thing we're doing.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Len, you wrote:
“ Bush's move may put the US in unchartered waters.”

“unchartered waters.”? Not according to the latest Keith Olberman video you posted; in which Keith demonstrates that yet quite a few American presidents have had to apologize for the implementation of various odious bills that former prez had written or signed, resembling this recent bill that abrogates habeas corpus.

“[…] despite Bush's order, the case will go to the Supreme Court […]”

Maybe it won’t. Let’s say detainees get held indefinitely without a trial: thus, no trial means no appeal, no appeal means no court of appeal, no court of appeal means no High Court, if no High Court no Supreme court. Bush wins!

The problem again is not how the Bushies intend to use that law. After finishing “state of denial” this week, I realize even more that Bush is really too weak-minded to even contemplate becoming a dictator. Despite calling himself the “decider”, the record shows that he had barely decided anything on anything. In Woodward’s book, even the ousting of Andrew Card as White house Chief of staff, in spring 2006, was decided – even begged – by… Andrew Card himself! How’s that for a decider! Going to Iraq was decided by Rummy and Dick, while Paul Wolfowitz handed them a sketch of a plan of attack and all three of them gave Powell and his doctrine a middle finger.

The Two States axiom in the middle-east is Condi’s baby. The Patriot Act I and II are Ashcroft’s un-aborted fetuses… and I’m not even talking of all these domestic fake issues cooked by Karl Rove. Bush has never, ever decided anything… only to run in 2000.

The head of Rummy, for example, was – and is still – asked by absolutely everybody, from Condi to all the generals. Even Bush had doubted the competence of his secretary of defense since 2005; the whole Bush administration knows all too well the source of the debacle in Iraq: it is Rumsfeld’s insane micromanagement, lack of strategy and ego. However, Dick Cheney remains Rummy’s only shield (Still a powerful one, if perhaps less powerful now with the ousting of Libby – literally sent out to the street by the White House security on the day of his indictment! – was a major lobotomy on Cheney: Dick, now, hides more than ever, too afraid to sound stupid without his beloved speech writer).

I need to reiterate something I’ve said in a previous post, which Keith Olberman, toward the end of the latest video Len posted, expresses similarly: The danger does not come from Bush or his extremely dysfunctional administration (more on that soon, on my coming review of “State of denial”), but from the next asshole who might be tempted to use the dangerous body of law that Bush just signed – couple with a never sun-setting Patriot Act. These individuals are indeed out there ready for the taking: just tune up tomorrow on NPR, you’ll hear Rick Santorum drumming the war drum on Iran!

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Fuzz:

"Cheney did say last week that everything in Iraq is hunky dory, which leads one to believe that after James Baker's devastating report and the escalating mass destruction of the war, Dickey-boy has simply lost it."

Read why on my commentary right above.

Vierotchka said...

As I keep saying, someone ought to remind Bush about the fundamental and principal Christian Golden rule: "Torture others as you would have them torture you" (or words to that effect).

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Funny, Fuzz; since my computer is back in operation, I was about to add up another toon on Diebolt this way: Since i am taking C++ classes, I am about to create a simple program that get the Repug winning no matter what a voter enters. My professor will help me to load the .EXE file into my blogger, but he said it won't be easy. I'll keep you in touch on that.

Anyhow, I don't really buy the whole Armaggedonian aftermath, but I do agree that Diebolt is up to no good: Hey, no one has loudly complained - or simply boycott this election - for the most anti-democratic and outrageous invention ever: The no paper trail voting machine.

The golden age of despotism, i'm tellin' ya: Even Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and J.P.Morgan, in their respective grave, all wish they could be reborn in this wonderful 21th century!

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Hilarious:


Ex-CIA chief Tenet joins "James Bond" research firm


What a waste! I saw Tenet as a basketball coach instead... you know... he's such an expert in "slam dunk[ing]" and all.

I can also see plenty of carrier opportunity for this administration after 2008...

Let's see: Donald Rumsfeld in the meat packing industry. Condi must have her fashion talk show - tremble Oprah! -. Bush will host "who wants to be a millionaire?"... and Karl Rove, it goes without saying, will surely be begged to host "Fear Factor"...

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Iran condemns US Gulf exercises

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Fuzz, I missed that one. What Rush said about MJF?

Anonymous said...

Dante, just as your cmputer is back on line, mine is offline. But I hope to be back online soon.

I have missed this forum over the last several days...and reading over breifly today the great comments from Fuzzflash, Dante Lee, rurikid et al, makes me feel at home on this forum again even thought it bears my name.

Keep up the great work all...the next two weeks are going to be decisive, a dangerous oppertunity, indeed!

Victory is not yet ours, but, most certainly, events are NOT on the side of repressive Republicans and the Bush regime of lies, delusion, and wishful thinking.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

My wife and I already voted. Absentee ballots, baby. Beats any Diebolts...

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Fuzz:

"Does anyone think this idea has got legs?"

It's a beautiful idea, Fuzz. Unfortunately Dems nowadays got the legs to win but not much ideas...

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Hey, Len (Where the heck is he, BTW?), you remember my yearlong prediction on the looming disaster for an economy running on equity loans, well there you have it:

The cooling housing market sent a chill through the economy in the third quarter, helping to slow growth to its weakest pace in more than three years, the government said yesterday.

... And that's only the beginning: welcome to our biggest recession ever! Tight your belt and enjoy the slide...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the friendly invite Fuzzflash. There are some unavoidable distractions for me at the moment. Like MacArthur, I shall return. (This quiet before the electoral storm is a concern, I must say). Cheers to all.

Anonymous said...

Oh, OK, just one tidbit....Rolling Stone quotes a nice prison letter from Randy Cunningham (former chairman of the House Subcommittee on Human Intelligence Analysis and Counterintelligence) to reporter Marcus Stern:

Each time you print it hurts my family And now I have lost them Along with Everything I have worked for during my 64 years of life...I am human not an Animal to keep whiping [sic]. I made some decissions [sic] Ill be sorry for the rest of my life...As truth will come out and you will find out how liablest [sic] you have & will be. Not once did you list the positives. Education Man of the Year...hospital funding, jobs, Hiway [sic] funding, border security, Megans law my bill, Tuna Dolfin [sic] my bill...and every time you wanted an expert on the wars who did you call. No Marcus you write About how I died.

I am not an animal!

Anonymous said...

Those 9/11 conspiracy nuts sure are a wacky crowd. There's Robert Steele, a former Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer for twenty years who was the second-ranking civilian (GS-14) in U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence from 1988-1992. Steele is a former clandestine services case officer with the Central Intelligence Agency. and has an AB in Political Science, an MA in International Relations, and an MBA in Public Administration. He resigned from the military in 1993.

Steele says: I am forced to conclude that 9/11 was at a minimum allowed to happen as a pretext for war... and I am forced to conclude that there is sufficient evidence to indict Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and others of a neo-conservative neo-Nazi coup d’etat and kick-off of the clash of civilizations.

Another nut job trying to sell a book. Where the hell do they get these people?

benmerc said...

I like that; fuzzflash sez: "High-functioning sociopathic stupidity"

I think that description pretty much sums up the whole bunch, although there certainly are a few "low" to "medium" thug types as well. Also, the no remorse part pretty much cinches your label. Just a few more days to go...

Anonymous said...

Fuzzflash, re "Another nut job trying to sell a book. Where the hell do they get these people?" - I was practising my ironing. He's one of the good guys.

Hopsicker keeps getting better and better. Is there anybody that Wally Hilliard doesn't know?? Saudi princes travelling illegally in the US, senior US politicians, Russian mob bosses, international drug traffickers, 9/11 terrorists....it just goes on and on.

Apparently Sibel Edmonds has been denounced on the front page of every Turkish newspaper for smearing the Turkish name. In the US, of course, everything about her has been classified Top Secret: her place of birth, date of birth, mother tongue, languages spoken, university background, and previous employment. US Congressman have been ordered to remove any references to her from their websites.

Is there anything, absolutely anything, of consequence that the US press is prepared to report on? They have everything but signed confessions that Hastert has been taking bribes. The Hilliard drug connections are unbelievable. I am expecting the mad hatter to appear at any minute. It's nutsville.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Dear Fuzz, here’s my thoughts for Tuesday:

First thought:

An election held in the middle of the week is de facto engineered to keep blue collars away from the voting booth.

The rest of the world holds their respective election on week-ends … This makes the Republic of Congo, for instance, a lot more democratic than the United States, since they held their election this last Sunday.

Second thought:

Another thing I just realized: wi-fi technology just got a lot better.
Beware of the guy fucking around with his Blueberry, parked across the street from the electronic voting booth.

Third:

Even if Dems take over Capitol Hill, we’re in Iraq for the long haul. Why?
Read Alexis de Tocqueville and his take on how democracy wages wars.
A king can pull out his knights out of a quagmire whenever he desires.
“Democratically” elected government is invariably pressured to win wars at all coast; because the mothers will held leaders accountable for having their sons and daughters dying in vain. De Tocqueville called it: “dictatorship of the mass”.

The secret of winning war in a democracy: Never start one.

Fourth:

I hear all those democrats going like: “people should not think that when we’ll win the majority, we’ll rush in to investigate this administration and ask this president to be impeached.”

That’s a big problem for me: I staunchly crave to get this administration thoroughly investigated and I dream to have this president impeached. We need to kill the chicken in order to scare the future monkeys.

Five:

Who need Democrats when Schwarzenegger just passed the highest minimum wage in the nation - $8.00/hr - , came up with the most radical bill against carbon emission in the world and he can’t stand Bush? The terminator has my vote, alas. Of course, I’ll make sure he’s surrounded by dems. Madame la Senator Diane Fenstein has my vote, it goes without saying.

Six:

Fucking Joe Lieberman is invited by the DNC to re-apply for his membership. He’s been offered to keep all his seniority status within the party. Makes me want to vomit!

Did you know that, according to Bob Woodward, his name was flying around in the Oval office in 2004, as to replace Donald Rumsfeld already unpopular within the Bush administration? “A personal friend of mine,” said Karl one day, talking about his Joe.

Watch for Lieberman in charge of trying to pull us out of Iraq: My cartoon blog will run out of space!

Seven:

Where the hell is Len?

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Bush's hits the campaign trial with this new line: "The Democrats don't have a plan for Iraq... either!"

Anonymous said...

Apparently the Repugs have been told to run on the positive issue of the economy. How pathetic can it get that the American people should believe this nonsense -

*Former World Bank Vice President, Chief Economist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz has predicted a global economic crash within 24 months - unless the current downturn is successfully managed. Asked if the situation was being properly handled Stiglitz emphatically responded "no"....Discussing the warning signs of plummeting real estate prices in the U.S., Stiglitz stated that a global economic depression could only be avoided if a correction was made but at the moment all the indicators are that the situation is not being well managed.*

Come 2008 the Dems will be taking charge of a global economic depression and a firestormed Middle East following Bush attacks upon Iran. Wake up America. Get these guys out!

Anonymous said...

UPDATE: H.R. 6166: Military Commissions Act of 2006
Military Commission Act Not Lawfully Passed


Pat Shannon: "The U.S. Constitution [Art 1 Sect 7] requires the President to sign or veto any legislation placed on his desk within ten days (not including Sundays). If he does not, then it becomes law by default. The one exception to this rule is if Congress adjourns before the ten days are up. In such a case, the bill does not become law; it is effectively, if not actually, vetoed. Ignoring legislation, or “putting a bill in one’s pocket” until Congress adjourns is thus called a pocket veto.

Congress passed 6166 on September 29th, presented it to the President on October 10th, and adjourned on October 13th. Bush signed it on October 17th, the week after Congress had adjourned, thereby rendering it “vetoed” by constitutional standards."

Any thoughts?

Anonymous said...

dante lee - il est bien arrivé et se repose. C'est bon de l'avoir enfin près de moi pour de bon!

Sebastien Parmentier said...

T'aurais pus m'envoyer un e.mail pour me le dire!!!
D'ailleurs, j'ai n'ai que ton e.mail de ton site.
J'ai demander a Len depuis des lustres que ton m'ecrives personellement... mais bon. Il est occuper.
Mais il est chez toi. Comme je suis heureux pour lui!

Vous aurez peut'etre une surprise en Decembre....

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Pardon pour mon pauvre orthographe: j'ai tape' trop vite...

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, I'm not a French mathematician Fuzzflash so you're on your own I'm afraid. And you can't be just another "low rent conspiracy theorist". I've cornered that title for myself and I'm not letting anyone take it from me. Who knows what's in the mind of the repugs? I managed to sneak a post in at sistertoldjah just to test the waters, so to speak. All I can say is it's pretty murky. They don't let logic or facts ever stand in the way of being in the right. After my first post I got canned. They're a funny crowd; they hand around the cognitive dissonance as if it's going out of style. What are the dark forces up to?

Anonymous said...

I've found a new game! I go to the wingnut sites and complain about DU and DailyKos on the basis that they're too Right wing, that they're really just "Fascist enablers". The commentators there have a lot of trouble with the idea of anything to the Left of DU and Daily Kos so it kinda throws 'em. But, I agree, it's a short-lived game, when there's nothing much on the TV.

Pastor Swank is not confused about a Dem win in November:

"It's going to be horrific if Dems get control of government. In fact, there are no words to describe how horrible it will be to live in America if the irreligious Dems gain the driver's seat. Dems are anti-God, anti-family, anti-morality, anti-Judeo-Christian heritage, anti-unborn children, anti-decency, anti-reason. They are, in short, basically demonic. Not all of them, of course, but that's the definition of the Dem agenda from a biblical study.Therefore, for Dems to get the upper hand in the United States will spell more doom for this nation. Dems will strut their ugly stuff from coast to coast."

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Damien:

It's going to be horrific if Dems get control of government.

It sure is all heaven right now... for... well... for who actually?
Alright, Wall Street, perhaps, masturbating on that 12000 Dow Jones mark.

Reminds me about a great hip hop song I heard last time:
"I give a f*** about that Dow Jones exchange,
when my n***** hassle and struggle to get change!"

Well, sure, they aren't the greatest poets. But they nailed it on the head anyway.

............................................................................

Dick Cheney thinks that it is "all natural" to force bath foreign detainees.
Expect Bush to defend his VP by claiming that what we call torture is in fact just a form of Evangelical baptism.

............................................................................

I got news from Len. He is alright, and justified in his absence. I can't tell you what he is doing and where he went and all. That's not my place to do so. I just wanted to reassure my fellow deck mates.
All right, I'll offer a gossip to Fuzz and Damien ( forgive me Len!): Len found love.

............................................................................

Back to Pastor swank and his "anti-Judeo-Christian heritage". Gee, if you guy know a bit about history, does it remind of another cleric asshole, Josiah Strong, who in 1885 published a hugely popular version of Mein Kampf, "Our Country"; so popular in fact that the pamphlet was one of the excuse Imperialists used to push poor McKinley to seize the Phillipines?

A quote from the guy is de rigueur here:

"This powerful race [ Anglo-Saxon ] will move down upon Mexico, down upon Central and South America, out upon the Island of the sea, over upon Africa and beyond!"

... And the moon , and Mars, and the all Universe!... As long as we do not pronounce the word "Europe", of course, for the sake of diplomacy and good business of course.

............................................................................

An old quote from Kissinger, for the hell of it:

"To be an Empire in denial means resenting the cost of intervening in the affairs of foreign peoples and underestimating the benefits of doing so."

With folks like this one still haunting the White house, we're in good shape!

Anonymous said...

Don`t worry, all. I am alive and well, among wonderful people and with my very special lady, exploring a wellspring of Western Democracy and culture. My main computer, however, is most certainly in the cargo hold of a ship. Talk about existentialist choices! Rather than fearing the dissolution of Western civilization, I have found its wellspring and watch from afar the imminent demise of the GOP. All you regulars who post, my friends and comrades, are always in my thoughts. More articles are in the works as are some original videos and audio feeds. The cowboy will ride again...yeeeeeeee hawwwwwwww (as I ride into the sunset of another continent)!

SadButTrue said...

Fuzzflash, I am always clicking to see if your user profile includes a blog that I can visit. It's frustrating that there isn't one. Your comments are full-blown posts in and of themselves, and beautifully written.
With Richard Perle and Andrew Sullivan calling the President dysfunctional who is still on his side? Rummy and Laura, but rumors have Laura staying in the Mayflower hotel most nights. And which is better, the 'fantastic' job that Darth and Skeletor are doing, or the 'heckuva' job that Brownie did? Anybody got a chart?

For a totally awesome list of GOP scandals of the past year or so, check out my recent post at Les
Enragés.org.

Growing GOP List of Shame

It's good to hear you've got something in the works Len, and even better to know you're in that part of the world where human rights still hold sway. I hope to have something more substantial to contribute soon.

sharon said...

Congress passed 6166 on September 29th, presented it to the President on October 10th, and adjourned on October 13th. Bush signed it on October 17th, the week after Congress had adjourned, thereby rendering it “vetoed” by constitutional standards."

Any thoughts?


We don't really expect these people to obey the law, do we? Not at this point in the game?

I'm relieved to hear that Len is all right. I was beginning to wonder. I'm jealous. I think he must be in the country that I've been thinking of retreating to.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Sharon,

I think he must be in the country that I've been thinking of retreating to
.


No, Len did not retreat in Burkina Faso.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

NEW YORK In a move that no doubt sent a shiver through several candidates in his own party, President Bush, in a special interview with wire service reporters in the White House, today guaranteed a job for his Pentagon chief for two more years, adding that both Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney "are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly support them."

“Like… duh!”, would say my young brother-in-law. If the Bush administration is utterly incompetent, they are not stupid – they stole the White House twice, just to remind you. They are not about to clean the house after November Seven , and see the democrats getting all the credit if this administration gets to place the right men and women to finish the job in Iraq.

First, as the Washington Post correctly pointed two weeks ago, Rummy must stay because Bush and Cheney need a scapegoat in the next two or three month, when Iraq will finally descent to chaos, according to today’s trend.

Two, Karl had probably figured that if the Repugs are to lose next week, the plan B is none other that the 2008 presidential election. I bet Karl sees the next two years under a Democrat majority as just a bump on the road in his Republican’s “Manifest destiny”…

Brace yourself for this administration to really toss a wrench in the Iraqi situation, and to get that country in such bad shape during the next two years in order to accuse the Democrats as accountable for making this worse.

Better, despite what they say, I believe that the Bush administration will come up with the “bi-partisan surprise” and replace Rummy with Lieberman, so the Repugs can “machiavellically” look like some fucking uniters. How’s that to shake Hillary’s confidence!

sharon said...

I never thought of Burkina Faso as one of the cradles of civilization, but then I don't know much about it.

No, I was thinking of a large, but relatively remote, Greek island.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

I was kidding, of course, Sharon.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Another Keith Olberman masterpiece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Yk6PKuUS0&mode=related&search=

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Better than the gossip magazine at your local Supermarket:

AP Exclusive: Pa. congressman paying ex-mistress about $500,000

MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Associated Press

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A Republican congressman accused of abusing his ex-mistress agreed to pay her about $500,000 in a settlement last year that contained a powerful incentive for her to keep quiet until after Election Day, a person familiar with the terms of the deal told The Associated Press.

Rep. Don Sherwood is locked in a tight re-election race against a Democratic opponent who has seized on the four-term congressman's relationship with the woman. While Sherwood acknowledged the woman was his mistress, he denied abusing her and said that he had settled her $5.5 million lawsuit on confidential terms.

The settlement, reached in November 2005, called for Cynthia Ore to be paid in installments, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal is confidential. She has received less than half the money so far, and will not get the rest until after the Nov. 7 election, the person said Thursday.

A confidentiality clause requires Ore to forfeit some of the money if she talks publicly about the case, according to this person and two other people familiar with elements of the case.

It is common in settlements for payments to be made in installments and for the parties to be held to confidentiality.

Sherwood admitted no wrongdoing, a standard provision in such agreements, this person said.

Sherwood, a 65-year-old married father of three who is considered a family-values conservative, had one of the safest seats in Congress until Ore sued him in June 2005, alleging he physically abused her throughout their five-year affair.

Reached by telephone Wednesday, the congressman and successful car dealer said: "I can neither confirm nor deny because this was a private settlement. If I'd like to talk to you about it, I can't."

The Associated Press has been trying for months to find out the terms of the settlement.

According to a police report, Ore called 911 on her cell phone from the bathroom of Sherwood's Capitol Hill apartment in 2004 and reported that Sherwood had choked her while giving her a back rub. Sherwood admitted having an affair with the woman, but vehemently denied ever hurting her, and criminal charges were never filed. But Ore, now 30, sued for damages.

Sherwood's challenger, Chris Carney, has hammered the congressman over the affair in TV ads, calling Sherwood a hypocrite who brought "Washington values" to his rural northeastern Pennsylvania district.

Sherwood responded with his own ad, in which he looked directly into the camera and apologized for his conduct. Last month, his wife mailed a letter to voters that accused Carney of "needlessly cruel" campaign tactics.

Although GOP voters greatly outnumber Democrats in his conservative district, many people have said they would not vote for him again because of the affair.

Even before Ore settled, the congressman tried to keep a tight lid on the case. His lawyer asked a judge to prohibit disclosure of materials from the case, warning that Sherwood's opponents might try to use the information to harm him politically.

The lawyer, Bobby Burchfield, was especially adamant that any videotaped deposition of Sherwood not be released, saying the footage could be used against him in negative political ads.

Ore's attorney, Ning Ye of New York, declined to say where she is living now or how she can be reached.

Anonymous said...

Yep, the Repugs have form all right-

Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd was arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex with an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.

Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.

Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.

Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls.

Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.

Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.

Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls.

Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.

Republican Committeeman John R. Curtain was charged with molesting a teenage boy and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.

Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.

Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran

Church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered.

Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.

Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.

Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.

Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.

Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.

Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was charged with molesting his 9-year old step-daughter after including her in an anti-Gore television commercial.

Republican activist Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.

Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.

Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.

Republican activist Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child.

Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.

Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.

Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline was placed under house arrest for child molestation and possession of child pornography.

Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.

Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.

Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.

Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.

Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.

Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.
Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.

Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

Republican politician Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).

Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl.

Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.

Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.

Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.

Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.

Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.

Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.

Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.

Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.

Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.

Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.

Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Republican president of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Russell Harding pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer.

Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency.

Republican serial killer Ted Bundy was hired by the Republican Party
Republican activist Matthew Glavin, who preached family values, was caught masturbating in public and fondling an undercover park ranger

Republican Party Chairman Sam Walls, who is married, was urged to drop his candidacy for Congress when it was found he likes to dress up in women's clothing

Republican Congressman Edward Schrock resigned from Congress after he was caught searching for sex on a gay telephone service

Republican Mayor Jim West Republican voter Timothy McVeigh bombed Oklahoma City championed an anti-gay agenda, but was later found to be gay himself

Republican preacher Jimmy Swaggart preached fidelity, but cheated on his wife with a prostitute

Republican Congressman Bob Livingston was about to vote for impeaching President Clinton for sexual improprieties until it was disclosed he was an adulterer

Republican Congressman Henry Hyde denounced President Clinton's extramarital affair, but was later found to be an adulterer himself

Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.

Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.

Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.

Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.

Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.

Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.

Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girl.

Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.

Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.

Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.

Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.

Republican activist Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.

Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.

Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.

Republican activist Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child.

Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.

Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.

Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger allegedly had sex with a 16 year old girl when he was 28.

Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.

Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.

Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.

Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.

Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.

Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.

Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.

Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.

Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

Republican politician Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).

Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was charged with sexual misconduct involving a 15-year old girl.

Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.

Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.

Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.

Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.

Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.

Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.

Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.

Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.

Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.

Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.

Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was charged with rape for allegedly paying a 15-year old girl for sex. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.

Republican Mayor John Gosek, 58, of 275 West 7th Street, Oswego, was arrested for the federal offense of "using a facility in inte-state commerce (a telephone) to knowingly attempt to persuade, induce, entice, and coerce an individual under the age of 18 years to engage in sexual activity for which he could be charged with criminal offenses, that is, rape in the third degree and criminal sexual act in the third degree" in violation of the New York State Penal Code.

Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.

Republican activist Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.

Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a minor and sentenced to one month in jail.

Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges.

Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.

Republican activist Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child.

Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a minor working as a congressional page.

Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.

Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.

Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a juvenile and one count of delivering the drug LSD.

Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks, an advisor to a California assemblyman, was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.

Republican preacher Stephen White was arrested after allegedly offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

Republican talk show host Jon Matthews of Houston was indicted for indecency with a child, including exposing his genitals to a girl under the age of 17.

Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling confessed to molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.

Republican Party leader Paul Ingram of Thurston County, Washington, pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.

Republican St. Louis Election Board official Kevin Coan was arrested and charged with trying to buy sex from a 14-year-old girl whom he met on the Internet.

Republican politician Andrew Buhr, former committeeman for Hadley Township Missouri, was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

Republican politician Keith Westmoreland, a Tennessee state representative, was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to minors under 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).

Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was charged with sexual misconduct involving a 15 year old girl.

Republican legislator, Richard Gardner, a Nevada state representative, admitted to molesting his two daughters.

Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.

Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.

Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.

Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.

Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation. Of course it's no contest! How could he even get a fair fight against those activist judges!

Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor. - That's the culture of life we all know and love!

Defense contractor, Mitchell Wade, admitted that he paid California Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (republican) more than $1 million in bribes in exchange for millions more in government contracts.

Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his 9 yr old daughter.

Republican Mayor Philip Giordano serving a 37-year sentence for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.

Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge sentenced to 3 years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl. I'm sure he had a good explanation.

Republican racist pedophile and esteemed US Senator Strom Thurmond fathered a chiled with a 15-year old black girl.

Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to sexual relations with a juvenile. Praise George!

Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having inappropriate relations with a 13-year-old girl.

Republican activist Lawrence E King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens found guilty of sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.
Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.

Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on 6counts of child sex crimes.

Republican activist Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child. Look, he didn't actually do anything. He only TRIED! You can't fault a republican for trying!

Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.

Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter. Prai$e the lord!

Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger allegedly had sex with a 16 year old girl when he was 28. I love this country!

Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar. Now I'm sure he can give us a good explanation for this.

Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped. Obviously a liberal conspiracy!

Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD. He was obviously trying to help this woman!

Legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography. Look! It was his own son.

Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media. He was trying to explain to her what NOT to do when in a difficult situation!

Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl. She could have turned away.

Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her. Liberal jury of course.

Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison. Now how could anyone rape their daughter 6 times!

Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.
Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

Republican politician Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).

Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was charged with sexual misconduct involving a 15-year old girl.

Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child. He pleaded guilty only to keep his family out of the liberal media's spotlight.

Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.

Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.

Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Great post, anonymous!

Sebastien Parmentier said...

More Juicy gossips!

Anonymous said...

Re anonymous said

Great post...has anyone been able to read this list of infamy in one breath yet? On a related subject, CNN International is doing a much better job covering the US than the US version of CNN. What gives? Must one leave the US in order to get the truth about how the GOP has deliberately and across the board betrayed the trust of the American people, its own principles, and the Constitution?

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Pastor Ted is just another flickering candle(and what a BIG ONE it is too) on top of the corrupt GOP layercake. And a Constitutionally empowered mob called ,We The People, get to blow them all out come Tuesday.

Wonderful post Fuzz. And please, get me a copy of your dictionary... I'm jealous of this vocabulary of yours. Any book in mind?

Regarding the "layercake", let's hope Diebolt does not have a recipe for a souffle' instead...

Sebastien Parmentier said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Sebastien Parmentier said...

Dante lee said...

From the great edito, you can find this morning in the New York Times:

This election is indeed about George W. Bush — and the Congressional majority’s insistence on protecting him from the consequences of his mistakes and misdeeds. Mr. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 and proceeded to govern as if he had an enormous mandate. After he actually beat his opponent in 2004, he announced he now had real political capital and intended to spend it. We have seen the results. It is frightening to contemplate the new excesses he could concoct if he woke up next Wednesday and found that his party had maintained its hold on the House and Senate.

What’s more frightening is not what Bush would feel entitled to do, but who – or what - he would be tempted to become. The day after Bush won in 2004 with a nano advantage in vote counts, he thanked for the “great capital of action” which he felt he received from the American People. Now, think what a hold on the House and Senate might do to his ego.

If by Karl proves to be a David Copperfield and the GOP retain the Congress next week with dark magics, don’t get surprise, if Bush goes to ask for Saddam Hussein to be flown alive, to Washington DC, in order to celebrate his official Triumph on Wednesday.

And, like Cesar presiding the strangulation of Versingetorix King of the Gauls, on a public place, to justify to the citizens the endless wars and an empty treasury, perhaps the GOP has in mind to thank the folks with a live show of their own.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

The excerpt of the edito of the NYT, finshes at,"...Wednesday and found that his party had maintained its hold on the House and Senate."

I apologize for missing the quote!

Anonymous said...

My aussie mate Luke at wotisitgood4 is comprehensively underwhelmed by the NYT conversion on the road to Damascus. He's been blogging this for years. I must say, I agree with him. Nearly two years ago the NYT had Conyers' Report and this:"In many cases, these irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio." They sat on the fence.

They also uncritically published a lot of lies from Judy Miller about the kurds, WMDs in Iraq and Plamegate.

Then there were the more explicit propaganda exercises. On 10 April 2006 a Washington Post article by Thomas E. Ricks described how the Pentagon had concocted FAKE al Zarqawi letters which had been leaked to Dexter Filkins of the NYT. The NYT published one of the letters despite having good reasons to believe it was fraudulent. All of this resulted from a specialist propaganda program of the US Defence Dept targetted at the US domestic population and designed to ramp up the importance of al-Zarqawi and to publicly tie the Iraq war to al-Qaeda and 9/11. The NYT just went along. (link) (link)

Taken as a whole, I think the NYT has lousy journalistic credentials.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

I agree plentifully, Damien. But the NYT is like a monitor plugged straight to the core of the DNC. NYT's complacency of the past years mirrors the one from the majority of Democrats who have supported this administration in full, or at least added their signature on the blank check(s) for war.

But now an election is coming? Who are you going to vote fro, Damien? Independents?

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Bush finally stopped lying three days before the election

Anonymous said...

I'm not voting Dante Lee (a little thing to do with not being a Yank and living outside the US). But in return for free beer and some baksheesh I could be talked into voting for anybody (except, of sourse, the Bush gang). Dems are the way to go, I agree. It's interesting that both within the US and outside it there appears to be a growing recognition of the fundamentally criminal nature of the Bush regime. Not before time. Joe Wilson has stated that under this administration "there are no tinfoil hats anymore." I'm still concerned about that Iran attack, but let's take one hurdle at a time.

On a more serious note there is a truly excellent article by scott ritter on why the public thinking on Iran is all wrong. Here's some quotes:
------------------------------------------------------
...For all the attention the Western media give to Ahmadinejad's foreign policy pronouncements, the reality is that his effective influence is limited to domestic issues...The real authority is indeed the Ayatollah Sayeed Ali Khamenei, successor to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. According to the Iranian Constitution, the Supreme Leader has absolute authority over all matters pertaining to national security, including the armed forces, the police and the Revolutionary Guard. Only the Supreme Leader can declare war.

...There is no evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Furthermore, the enrichment program is plagued with technical problems that prevent any rapid progress.

...In our haste to lash out at those who attacked us on September 11, 2001, we forget that Iran not only condemned the attacks, as did its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, but that it nearly fought a war against Afghanistan's Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies in the late 1990s.

...Curiously, while the Western media have replayed Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel statements repeatedly, very little attention has been paid to the Supreme Leader's pronouncement--in the form of a fatwa, or religious edict--that Iran rejects outright the acquisition of nuclear weapons, or to the efforts made by the Supreme Leader in 2003 to reach an accommodation with the United States that offered peace with Israel. While Ahmadinejad plays to the Iranian street with his inflammatory rhetoric, the true authority in Iran has been attempting to navigate a path of moderation.

------------------------------------------------------
It's quite clear that none of these ideas will be acknowledged publicly by the Bush admin or the MSM. The US foreign policy disaster rolls on....

Anonymous said...

Thanks Fuzzflash. As you know Cup Day payouts are huge which makes some of these betting strategies viable. Because the Melbourne Cup has a large field, it may be less than optimal to expect 1st,2nd,3rd from 5 choices (where you have 125 combinations). An alternative strategy is to have ranked choices 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and box 1,2,3 for first place and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 for second and third places (174 combinations). Here you are expecting one of the top 3 favourites to win, but you get to include an extra 3 horses (over your selection of 5) to come in the 2nd or 3rd places. Good luck FF!

-ps. thanks for the tips.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Jimmy Cater on a NPR interview, Monday Night:

"But there's no doubt in my mind that the United States electoral system is severely troubled and has many faults in it. It would not qualify at all for instance for participation by the Carter Center in observing. We require for instance that there be uniform voting procedures throughout an entire nation. In the United States you've got not only fragmented from one state to another but also from one county to another. There is no central election commission in the United States that can make final judgment. It's a cacophony of voices that come in after the election is over with, thousands or hundreds of lawyers contending with each other. There's no uniformity in the nation at all. There's no doubt that that there's severe discrimination against poor people because of the quality of voting procedures presented to them. Another thing in the United States that we wouldn't permit in a country other than the United States is that we require that every candidate in a country in which we monitor the elections have equal access to the major news media, regardless of how much money they have. In the United States, as you know, it's how much advertising you can by on television and radio. And so the richest candidates prevail, and unless a candidate can raise sometimes hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, they can't even hope to mount a campaign, so the United States has a very inadequate election procedure."

Anonymous said...

We won on the politics but lost on the horses, Fuzzflash. I can live with that.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

The senate is won by dems! Rumsfeld is out. Shit, I feel drunk...

Anonymous said...

Vierotchka and I are celebrating the reprieve, watching a new American dawn from afar. But dont believe for a minute that the battle is won. As Churchill would have put it: this is not the end or even the beginning of the end. It is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Democrats must now step up to the plate and lead. The Constitution must be healed, respect for the rule of law restored, Democracy affirmed anew. Bush is still lying. He feigns a new role, that of working with Democrats. How convenient that is for him now. Rove is discredited and most certainly reviled now by the party that most benefited from his born again Machievellianism.

The danger now is that Democrats will botch Iraq, a tar baby of Bush creation that were he intelligent, he would be happy to be rid of. As Vierotchka has warned, the GOP is now positioned to blame Democrats for a failure in Iraq thus paving the way for Jeb Bush in 2008.

So...for now...enjoy. Sabre the champagne and drink a toast to Sartre and another for Voltaire. But keep your powder dry. The GOP is never so dangerous as when it is out of office and out of sight.

Anonymous said...

Not bad, Len, considering our lingering hangover from all that champagne! :D

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Bush does not get the message from the Americans people: and, on the same day President Bush promised a new bipartisan Washington, he's forcing two of his most controversial decisions to be approved before Dems take over Congress.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

PARIS (Reuters) - French peacekeeping troops in Lebanon recently came within two seconds of firing missiles at Israeli fighter jets that approached as if to attack them, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said.

Speaking to the lower house of parliament on Wednesday night, she said it was the latest in a string of incidents in which Israeli warplanes had "adopted a hostile attitude" to French and German forces and added it was "not tolerable".

"A catastrophe was narrowly avoided by our troops," Alliot-Marie said, according to a transcript of her comments. A foreign ministry spokesman said the events occurred on October 31.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy summoned Israel's ambassador in Paris and told him Israel should ensure such incidents did not happen again, the foreign ministry said.

Israeli F-15s descended rapidly and then rose quickly as if they were dropping bombs or firing at the French ground forces, which are part of U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL, she said.

"In legitimate defense, our soldiers removed the covers from the missile battery and were two seconds away from firing at the planes that were threatening them," she said.

Anonymous said...

Since Robert Gates is in the news we might also like to consider his connections to Diebold. Diebold has now taken steps to use an outside organization, Scientific Applications International Corporation (SAIC) of San Diego, to take responsibility for security issues within their software. But this presents yet another conflict of interest. A majority of officials on the board are former members of either the Pentagon or the CIA, many of whom are closely allied with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Members of the board of directors include:

Army Gen. Wayne Downing, former chief counter-terrorism expert on the National Security Council;

Former CIA Director Bobby Ray Inman;

Retired Adm. William Owens, who served as former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and now sits on Donald Rumsfeld's Defense Policy Board;

Robert Gates, former director of the CIA and veteran of the Iran Contra scandal. (link)

And, of course, Wayne Downing is an interesting guy in himself: "The Waco affair was disguised as a law-enforcement action gone wrong, but it was a Special Operations junket from start to finish. Who was the commander of the Special Operations Command in April 1993 at Waco? It was Gen. Wayne Allan Downing."

'Waco' Wayne's best buddy of forty years, Jim Kimsey, founded America-On-Line.

Less than a month after 911, Downing came out of retirement to become the national director and deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism. He reports directly to Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge.

The program to hijack the US electoral system by corporate and military interests is real, systematic and supported by people at the highest levels of the US government. Robert Gates is in on it. Links : 1 2

Anonymous said...

1st Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion....
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The U.S. Congress officially recognized the Noahide Laws in legislation which was passed by both houses. Congress and the President of the United States, George Bush(snr), indicated in Public Law 102-14, 102nd Congress, that the United States of America was founded upon the Seven Universal Laws of Noah, and that these Laws have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization. They also acknowledged that the Seven Laws of Noah are the foundation upon which civilization stands and that recent weakening of these principles threaten the fabric of civilized society, and that justified preoccupation in educating the Citizens of the United States of America and future generations is needed. For this purpose, this Public Law designated March 26, 1991 as Education Day, U.S.A.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
You weren't aware that the USA was founded on the laws of Noah? It's here in the library of Congress and it's discussed here. Well, you live and learn every day. (Don't ask me about my emotional response on this one. It's fucking unprintable.) THERE.IS.NO.LOBBY.

Anonymous said...

Fuzzflas, Bush is still operating under the illusion of "unitary executive". He also sees himself as a misunderstood, Churchillian figure, a visionary charting the course of the nation to success against the doubts of the masses. He still thinks signing statements are valid. I wouldn't be surprised if he makes a series of out-of-session appointments to avoid Congress. I would also not put it past him to try to bring on an Iran conflict and seek to present Congress with a fait accompli. He may not get the authority or finances to start a war. But, dammit, he is the Commander in Chief who is authorised to defend the US and he doesn't need permission for that. Look for the mother of all constitutional crises sometime early in the new year.

Dante Lee, it's a well trod path of Israeli aggression. If you haven't already found it, WakeUpFromYourSlumber covers a lot of the Israeli issues quite well.

SadButTrue said...

My formative theory, purely speculation:
The top military brass confronted Bush days, maybe even hours before the polls opened, with evidence compiled by DIA (military intelligence) that he was going to fix the election via massive Diebolding. They also pointed to existing Pentagon contingency plans for using military assets within the country to suppress dissent.

They reminded him gently that they had sworn to uphold the constitution, and not Bush. They quoted the phrase, "all enemies foreign and domestic." They declared that they would not be his Gestapo, and would refuse any order they felt to be against their oath. When Bush answered that he had no plans to create a police state, they pulled out the numerous executive orders he had signed that could have NO OTHER PURPOSE but to do exactly that.

Bush, swaggering jackass that he is, refused the generals' demand that the election be run fairly. They reminded him, not so gently this time, that the Secret Service was neither trained nor equipped to stop mortar rounds or Hellfire missiles. Their ultimatum: if even one district showed a Republican win that was not in agreement with the exit polls, Bush would be forcibly removed from office and charged with treason.

As I say, pure speculation, but not entirely without precedent. Wikipedia: The Business Plot How else do you explain the Republican smugness on the eve of the election? Why else would they have fired Rummy the day after the election instead of weeks or months before, when it would have done them some political good?

Happy Veterans' Day. You know, there are some countries where the military starts coups, and declares martial law. Few where they do the opposite.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3803/334/1600/RushingJob.jpg

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Bah... Just click the link "Toons by Dante Lee", on Len's favorites...

Yeah, I got my new scanner. I'm back tooning now...

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you're probably right Fuzzflash. Pelosi et al are promising to pull their punches with the admin - what an idiocy! They will doing exactly what the admin wants. Much better to go after them aggressively, if not with impeachment, then congressional inquiries as soon as they get in. And tell Bush and Cheney to provide all the documents and answers immediately, or else! Of course, I take it as a given that impeachment of these guys should take place, but only after the damning evidence is laid out on the table. The Dems should talk sweet but definitely kick heads.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Don't worry Damien. Bush will try so hard to push his ultra-partisan bills before January, like the eave-dropping program and the other asshole for UN ambassador, that Dems will grow so sick of this shit, they'll come up with some ultra-partisan stuff of their own...

Anonymous said...

The Dems should walk and talk tough. As Hitler knew only too well, people talk consensus but they are really very responsive to bouts of chest thumping, however irrational. Make no mistake, bullying is sexy to many people. The Dems are still trying to 'reason' with the lunatics. Never going to work. Declare the country defunct and aggressively install a new policy agenda. At every opportunity declare the Bush program to have 'failed' and righteously declare the need to fully investigate possible criminal activities. For sure, express reluctance ("forced by circumstances etc...") but kick heads and go for the jugular every time. Bring 'em down.

The Dems have got to understand that 'play nice' and 'consensus' will not work.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

http://cartoonbydantelee.blogspot.com/

SadButTrue said...

Quoth Damien, "The Dems are still trying to 'reason' with the lunatics. Never going to work."

"To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, is like administering medicine to the dead."
-- Thomas Paine

Some things never change.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

I have a better one, Sadbuttrue :

"You can't teach a crab to walk straight."

Sebastien Parmentier said...

... which gave me a great idea for a cartoon:

http://cartoonbydantelee.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Some quick observations until I can get back online with a new article.

That Bush is stunningly irrelevent is consistent with Sadbuttrue's scenario. Supporting that conclusion is the crack --becoming a chasm --between Tony Blair who is running away from Bush as fast he can and still maintain the appearance of British reserve. Additionally, Bush, literally forced by the so called Iraq Study Group, to reach out in desparation to Syria and Iran, has no leverage with either.

Events have the appearance of a coup. Stay the course is dead --but, unfortunately, there is no graceful exit. ISG --the smiley face put on Dad's old cronies --cannot do otherwise but prove Junior irrelevant. Daddy's cronies can only put lipstick on a pig. The best they can do is salvage the precious little that can be saved.

Bush has lost Iraq. His Presidency is an utter failure ...or as Fuzzflash put is so eloquently: "The Imbecile is fucked, and he knows it."

BTW -- Vierotchka says hi to all.

Anonymous said...

There could easily have been more Dems in Congress. Wayne Madsen has the story:

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) chairman, Israeli Defense Force vet, and ballet dancer Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois withheld campaign financing from several Democratic House candidates who were running on platforms that were not "vetted" and approved by his coterie of the Democratic leadership.

...There were a few exceptions to Emanuel's attempt to put pro-business shills in the House.

...It is clear that the DLC did not want certain issues brought to the Democratic House caucus, including 911 Truth (Bowman), pre-911 screw ups (Rowley), voting machine fraud (Curtis), and congressional pederasty (Patty Wetterling, 6th Minnesota district). One can only wonder why the DLC would want to eschew candidates who the Bush administration would find extremely uncomfortable. The answer is simple -- the Republicans and DLC are basically one and the same. Similar foreign and domestic policy goals put them in bed with one another. Its no more complicated than that.


I think Madsen's is correct on this one. The Dem leadership is still steering needlessly to the Right. Colleen Rowley was Time Person of the Year following 9/11 with her whistleblowing on the FBI failures on 9/11. Curtis, a computer programmer, was facing a congressionl opponent Tom Feeney who had tried to get Curtis to write a program to flip votes on voting machines. Yet the Dems refused support to these people who would likely have won seats with any reasonable support. A wasted opportunity.

Anonymous said...

CIA Acknowledges 2 Interrogation Memos
Papers Called Too Sensitive for Release

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 14, 2006; A29

After years of denials, the CIA has formally acknowledged the existence of two classified documents governing aggressive interrogation and detention policies for terrorism suspects, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

But CIA lawyers say the documents -- memos from President Bush and the Justice Department -- are still so sensitive that no portion can be released to the public.

The disclosures by the CIA general counsel's office came in a letter Friday to attorneys for the ACLU. The group had filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New York two years ago under the Freedom of Information Act, seeking records related to U.S. interrogation and detention policies.

The lawsuit has resulted in the release of more than 100,000 pages of documents, including some that revealed internal debates over the policies governing prisoners held at the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Many other records have not been released and, in some cases, their existence has been revealed only in media reports.

Friday's letter from John L. McPherson, the CIA's associate general counsel, lists two documents that pertain to the ACLU's records request.

The ACLU describes the first as a "directive" signed by Bush governing CIA interrogation methods or allowing the agency to set up detention facilities outside the United States. McPherson describes it as a "memorandum." In September, Bush confirmed the existence of secret CIA prisons and transferred 14 remaining terrorism suspects from them to Guantanamo Bay.

The second document is an August 2002 legal memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to the CIA general counsel. The ACLU describes it as "specifying interrogation methods that the CIA may use against top al-Qaeda members." (This document is separate from another widely publicized Justice memo, also issued in August 2002, that narrowed the definition of torture. The Justice Department has since rescinded the latter.)

The ACLU relied on media reports to identify and describe the two documents, but the CIA and other agencies had not previously confirmed their existence. McPherson wrote that neither document can be released to the public for reasons of security and attorney-client privilege.

"The documents are withheld in their entirety because there is no meaningful non-exempt information that can be reasonably segregated from the exempt information," McPherson wrote. A spokesman for the CIA declined to comment yesterday.

Amrit Singh, one of the ACLU's attorneys on the case, said the disclosures may make it easier for the group to argue in favor of releasing the documents.

"For more than three years, they've refused to even confirm or deny the existence of these records," Singh said, referring to the group's initial document request in October 2003. "The fact that they're now choosing to do so confirms that their position was unjustified from the start. . . . Now we can begin to actually litigate the release of these documents."

_____________________

This is most certainly the smoking gun that places heinous war crimes (torture) squarely on Bush's head. If any procedure ordered by Bush resulted in death to the victim (and there is such evidence) then Bush may find himself not only in the dock with Donald Rumsfeld but also charged with capital crimes in US federal courts. Again, as Fuzzflash put it: "The Imbecile is fucked, and he knows it."

Fuzzflash, thanks for the good wishes and stay tuned. Things are progressing on this end and I will be announcing some interesting developments soon.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

you've got to love Bush's gut sometimes.
Today, Bush felt like reassuring Asia allies after election blow...

I think after seeing the election results, they already are...

Sebastien Parmentier said...

For those who may be thinking that the democrats are about to do nothing...

Anonymous said...

Dante, it is good news indeed that Dodd has at the very least begun what will most certainly be the long process of restoring American democracy and re-aligning America with a Democratic heritage that goes back to Magna Carta. Dodd, it must be recalled, is the son of a distinguished member of the US prosecution team at the Nuremberg War Crimes trials. That bodes well despite American excesses by Gen. George Patton and instances of indiscriminate US fire in Okinawa. Indeed, the US could still claim a bit of the moral high ground and while nostalgia about World War II is sorely misplaced, it was in any case a more moral struggle than various instances of blatant war crimes, naked aggression, and death by torture that Bush has deliberately carried out and ordered in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Meanwhile, Bush has learned nothing. Bush, in Hanoi, dares to compare his stupid, aggressive war against Iraq with the American debacle in Viet Nam. Bush declares with a straight face "Today the Vietnamese people are at peace and seeing the benefits of reform." NO BLOODY THANKS TO THE US. NO BLOODY THANKS TO BUSH AND HIS MURDEROUS ILK. Whatever was his stupid point?

Asked if the experience in Vietnam offered lessons for Iraq, Bush said, "We tend to want there to be instant success in the world, and the task in Iraq is going to take awhile." In other words, we are gonna be stuck in the Iraq quagmire for another freakin ten years only to be forced to leave with our tales tucked between our legs or fleeing via helicopter while under fire by the enraged citizens of yet another sovereign nation reduced to penury, anarchy and utter lawlessness by the utter stupidity and the criminal, ruthless ambition of the American right wing.

A final shot -- how bloody stupid for an American president (lower case chosen deliberately) to dare go to Hanoi, home to Ho Chi Minh snubbed and forced into the communist camp by John Foster Dulles --yet another example of American hamfisted stupidity --and compare the American debacle in Iraq to the seemingly endless, ongoing blunder in Viet Nam.

What a bloody, stupid and utterly incompetent ass is Bush.

BTW -- Vierotchka says Hi y`all

Anonymous said...

Len, I know you're out there. Taking a break. Good for you. Just thought I'd draw your attention to what I consider to be the most detailed and fair-minded account I've seen re Flight 93. The guy has done his HW. (link). Hope you haven't gone off and become a Republican, or something...

Anonymous said...

Guys and girls, if you get the chance this will blow your mind. It opens up what happened on 9/11 like nothing I've ever seen.

Anonymous said...

Damien, fuzzflash and anyone I might have left out....

I have tried to take it easy but the last several weeks have been very hectic, indeed. Stay tuned for an article about my adventures and the political implications. A hint: the cowboy will, indeed, get updated --but other ventures are in the works. Hate to be cryptic but that is about all I can say for now. A hint and prediction: Bush will not serve out his term.

Thanks for the links, Damien. I am on a short string right now and will check them out shortly. In the meantime, some quick observations on the latest GOP absurdity. The GOP is now blaming the Iraqis for the turmoil in Iraq. As I recall, Iraqi were not killing one another by the hundreds per day before Bush invaded Iraq. But, of course, the GOP would have you to believe that all is the fault of the Iraqi people.

It is hard to see how, at this point, Iraq can avoid an irrevocable descent into chaos and Bush is the very cause of it all. Blood is on his hands.

As this community well knows, I consider the GOP to be not merely a crime syndicate but also party in which the leadership has conspired with one another and major corporations to overthrow the Constitution and the legitimate government, and, in other ways, install a fascist dictatorship.

Hang in there everyone...Bush may very well get his sorry ass investigated and subpoened. The truth will out. The world knows the truth about Bush. Soon --even Americans will be forced to face the truth.

Sebastien Parmentier said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Sebastien Parmentier said...

If I get this straight, pro-Islamist Shiites insurgents, financed by Iran and led by Moqtad Al Sadr are fighting Sunnis led by former Baatists, who feel segregated from the official government. They are also fighting pro-secular /American style democracy Shiites, and al Qaeda trained Sunnis. These last ones shoot Shiites of all kind but are getting specialized in blowing Shiites mosques and Shiite dominated city markets.

Shiites of all kinds retaliate, of course, by blowing Sunni mosques. But they enjoy even more mass killing Shiites law enforcement trainees, or going on a shouting spree in the front of police recruitment centers. The Iraqi police and the Iraqi military forces are themselves mostly all corrupted; they are infiltrated by informers of all kinds spying for all parties, while they keep on routinely torturing ordinary Iraqis inside Iraqi military and civilian prisons. Meanwhile, “common” crimes have reached stratospheric numbers, including rapes, mass murders, and money driven kidnappings.

Meanwhile, Democrats and republicans alike can not find any common strategy in order to get out of this mess; and Army generals feud with the Marine corp. Wow.

“Regular” civil wars have always been fought between distinctive foes; furthermore, contrarily to Bush’s rhetoric, even elections can be held during a civil war, such as the presidential election held in 1861 that had elected Abraham Lincoln.

Thus, for those who keep on debating about what to call this Iraqi nightmare, they must consider that this conflict is no way a “civil war”. Well, it used to be. Not anymore.

Today, this conflict is no more to be called "a war" but just a plain anarchy. The kind of anarchy our grand-fathers have always warned us against but we had never believed it could happen because of the stupid faith the young have toward the human spirit. The young believe that a state of lawlessness can only externalize the kind of utopian paradise imagined by John Lennon. But history has shown relentlessly that humans in general remain extremely dangerous animals - and even more lethal toward their very own specie - once freed from the leash of the law.

The American Civil war gave birth to the concept of “Total wars”. That trend lasted throughout the twentieth century. Today, the hell in Iraq is a kind of war that deserves a whole new category: “a generalized war”: a war on everybody by everybody. I have looked really hard, but in all human history, I can not yet find a past war that is comparable to the hell going on in Iraq.

A blunder of this magnitude, for which the Bush administration is wholly responsible, reaches a whole new level of human misery. Frankly, such a foreign policy fiasco deserves the admiration of future historians.

History is full of disastrous battles. However, this war, conducted as it has been, resulting in those Faustian outcomes, sets a new bar of human stupidity and evil. And we must believe George W. Bush when he admits not believing in the theory of Evolution, for the giant leaps back to the dark ages he has taken this humanity.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

I came out with my own Bush jokes...

1,

Bush just did an official visit to an asylum. The facility went with the great idea to welcome (back) W. with a banner that says, "Mission accomplished!".

2,

What's the difference between a book and you private life?

Bush never looked inside a book.

3,

Where does Laura hides money from Bush? In the History section of the Library.

4,

In America, there is two ways to participate in a Democracy: One is to vote, two is to run for office.

In Iraq, there is also two ways to participate in a Democracy: One is to vote, two is to run for cover.

5,

The Iraqis are so thankful to Bush for bringing them democracy, they have decided to put on a perpetual firework show.

6,

Donald Rumsfeld had finally achieved dramatic changes in the Pentagon: He will leave a Pentagon without a Donald Rumsfeld.

7,

Napoleon obtained parole from hell: While he was living eternal shame and remorse for Waterloo, the devil came and announced Napoleon that George W. Bush had jut invaded Iraq.

8,

Karl Rove's fear tactics worked so well in 2006 that not a single hurricane dared to land in the United states's coasts.

9,

The same Karl got a job after the November election: Scare crow.

Once placed in the middle of the field, one can even observes birds returning the seeds.

10,

Bush has lied more than O.J. Simpson.

11,

The first thing the devil had prepared for Bush is six hours of security screening.

12,

you know why we haven't heard of any heart attack on Cheney since 2001? it is because, right after his last attack, the doctors have just removed the whole thing.

13,

A journalist asked Bush for a strategy in Iraq. Bush responded, "We will not leave. Nor we will stay. All in the contrary!"

Anonymous said...

Some quick observations relative to the imminent fall of America. The fall of America is related to the Bush quagmire in Iraq, which even Henry Kissenger calls unwinnable. As Iraq falls so too --America. The root cause is nothing less than an institutionalized psychosis in the form of the GOP mentality. Put another way: the Iraq quagmire is but a symptom; the right wing is the disease.

First, Bush -stood up by his own puppet -still mouths "stay the course", repeating a failed strategy, expecting a different outcome. Madness! The worst of it is this: Bush has not merely failed, his policies have had effects opposite those intended. Hugo Chavez is cheered when he calls Bush the "devil"; thousands demand the resignation of the pro-American government in Lebanon; Talibani is literally driven into the arms of Iran --a country reviled and demonized by Bush. Nevermind! Just stick out your jaw and demand that we stay until the job is done.

What job?

If by job Bush means utter chaos and civil war, he has succeeded. It's time to get the hell out. If by getting the job done Bush means bringing to the Middle East "Democracy" --forget about it! Anti-American feeling has never been greater, never more widespread, never deeper, never stronger, never more united against us.

In summary: Bush has not advanced the cause of Democracy, America, or peace. He has brought the entire world to the brink of global environmental disaster even as the Middle East erupts into several civil wars sure to continue to be characterized by inummerable human tragedies for generations to come. Compounding the descent into chaos, Bush has become irrelevant. At one time, I would have cheered that development. But now it's too late. What rational and empathatic human being could cheer the downfall of one evil idiot as the flames of his own Goetterdammerung take our world to the brink of nuclear disaster?

Anonymous said...

Fuzzflash, the Australian Labor Party - at least at the Federal level - is a circular firing squad. The newbies will win on Monday and a decent and moderately capable Beazley will be defeated. Score another victory for the Australian-Idol mentality that sees leadership as making people feel endlessly good about themselves, never mind the substance or the policies.

I'm doing my bit by getting letters published in the Aussie press and blogs about the war crimes of John Winston Howard. It's a way to go, but at least the idea, the evidence and the arguments are getting a run where previously there was nothing. Don't let anyone tell you the Lancet figures on the 655,000 deaths in Iraq are not well supported scientifically. Point them here.

There's also been this whole thing with the Australian Wheat Board (AWB). Were you aware that the AWB hired the US Cohen Group as part of its strategy to deal with the UN inquiry headed by Paul Volcker? The Cohen Group is not a law firm, but a PR firm.

The Cohen Group gets a prominent mention by by USA whistleblower Sibel Edmonds in the second of her two part expose of the high level drugs and arms trafficking network that appears to run between the USA through Turkey to the Middle East. Edmonds argues that massive illegal arms trafficking (including nuclear components) has proceeded for years through Turkey to Israel, South Africa, North Korea, the former Russian states etc by the use of falsified end-user certificates. Turkey is widely recognised as responsible for processing 90% of the heroin that ends up in Europe and the US (1/4 of Turkish economy = $60B per year), and the belief is that some of those illicit profits make their way back to al Qaeda. The principal Turkish lobby group in the US is the American Turkish Council (ATC).

The Cohen Group is a 'fixit' group connected to the highest levels of the US administration whose board members are strongly represented on the ATC and major US defence industries such as Lockheed Martin. The Cohen Group also acts as a paid lobby group for the ATC in Washington, although why exactly this high powered US corporate group should be so closely associated with the ATC as to have board membership with them is anybody's guess - facilitating illegal arms trafficking through Turkey perhaps?

Sibel Edmonds claims that in her work as an FBI translator (until she was sacked for reporting on espionage) that she overheard tapes of phone conversations of Turkish agents in the US claiming they had paid bribes to US Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, in order to get him to vote against a US resolution condemning Turkey for the Armenian genocide. So this Turkey (ATC)-Cohen Group connection is no small potatoes. (link)

Once again, Australia has had an official inquiry (Cole Inquiry) into the payment of bribes to Saddam Hussein by our monopoly wheat exporter, the Australian Wheat Board (AWB). Now it happens that the AWB was earlier called before the Volker Inquiry into these illegal Iraq payments and was advised by our US ambassador to seek the services of the Cohen Group. (This is despite the fact that they are a PR firm, rather than a legal firm). I suppose it's just an accident that our Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is a close friend of former US defence secretary, William Cohen, founder of the Cohen Group. In any event, the Cohen Group also went on to assist the AWB when they fronted before our Cole Inquiry. Which is kind of over the top because (a) we're far away, and (b) the Inquiry was basically a study of AWB documents that could have been handled by any competent law firm. And then there's Frank Miller. This is the former Senior Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control at the National Security Council, VP of the Cohen Group, who served for thirty one years at senior levels of the US government on things like nuclear deterrence, strategic arms reduction, national space policy, defense trade reform, and transforming the American and NATO militaries. This is a VERY senior guy. Yet he flew to Australia to handle "the day-to-day work" for the AWB before the Cole inquiry. What gives? What's a Frank Miller doing handling "the day-to-day work" in a pissy little wheat corruption inquiry here in Australia? The AWB has since been denounced as corrupt by the Cole Inquiry and the Federal Government has generously declared itself to be free of any wrongdoing. My suspicion is that Frank Miller and the Cohen Group were acting as damage control agents, not for the AWB, but for Downer and the Federal government all along.

In effect, the AWB had the criminal back room boys of the US government handling their defence at the Cole Inquiry on behalf of Downer and Co. Says a lot about who runs our foreign policy, doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

Len, I didn't want to go past your comments about "the imminent fall of America." You're correct. The world will be picking up the pieces for fifty years and a once proud beacon of democracy will be asking how it came to pass that it gave away so much of it's political capital, it's economic resources and it's dignity. Very sad. The world doesn't hate America, of course, only the crimes that Bush and his team have so outrageously pursued. So here's cheering the principled Americans, like yourself, who have to survive all of this. We can only hope for the best.

The public sentiment on all of this, Len, may be turning dramatically. It has previously been accepted wisdom that no matter how egregious the failings of any President, they are accorded a nominal respect upon leaving office. With Bush, however, the Iraq debacle has a long way to go and the pending economic downturn promises to be severe. These huge kicks to the pride and pockets of the American people will change the political landscape I think. While it might be ok with some that he trash New Orleans through negligence, trashing the whole of the US in the same way will be seen very differently. I don't rule out a full scale public backlash against him as the effects of his failures become more apparent. People are starting to think and say the unthinkable. Here is Mark Shields on The Lehrer Hour:

But unaddressed throughout this whole debate, by the Democrats as well as the Republicans, is: What is our moral obligation to the Iraqis and to the Iraqi nation?

I mean, we went to war without world support, without the support of the world community, without a valid rationale for going to war, with either wrong assumptions or false pretenses. Having secured that victory, we were unprepared and made bad decisions. And we took a brutal, repressive, stable, secular Iraq and turned it into a brutal, unstable, theocratic, and unlivable Iraq. And what is -- I mean, as we talk about leaving, what is our responsibility?


I don't think Mark Shields would have trouble with the phrase "war crimes". It was left to David-Bobo-Brooks to defend the indefensible and he did it with his usual manner of deception and defamation:

Well, there I'm differing. Listen, no one's minimizing the U.S. failure here. You take a country, you take away all their police, you let everybody out of jail. If we did it in this country, it would be ugly. So nobody's minimizing that.

Nonetheless, to say that the Iraqis are not partially to blame for their own country is wrong. This is a government that has not been able to cut a deal on oil. This is a government that has not been able to reach out. These are people, like Sadr, who have brutally committed, want to commit acts of genocide.
...yadda, yadda, yadda.

Bobo won't have to wait too long. I think the US, in its search for scapegoats, is getting ready to drag out all those unused, free-gift steak knives and reach for the guy with the fingerprints on everything. A failure is one thing. A sustained program of unmitigated disaster is another matter altogether.

Anonymous said...

I've had a resurgence of my conspiracy genes through my alter ego kenj about Flight 93. The official story is nonsense.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Even Santa had a thought for Bush:

http://cartoonbydantelee.blogspot.com/

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Quoted by Damien:

This is a government that has not been able to cut a deal on oil.

If I get this straight, if, in the beginning, the Iraqis would have cut us a generous deal with their oil, say, let Exxon taking over the whole drilling business there, then Bush would have sent 600,000 troops to secure the land, uh?

Anonymous said...

Dante....always great to get your comments. Indeed, but not for unbridaled, unrestrained greed in harness with the very face of evil, the US would have had a sweet deal for years to come. We have witnessed the high price of hubris, indeed, the result of having sold the soul of a nation.

Damien, your observations are on the mark. The tide has turned. I am hearing more and more sober, thoughtful mainstream people talking not only about impeachment for GWB but also about putting him on trial for heinous war crimes. And then there is the Kofi Anan interview on BBC in which the Secretary General himself states what has been taboo to speak in America, that is, the evil chaos in Iraq is worse than civil war. Bush was warned but would not listen --an accusation shot sqarely at Bush by Diane Feinstein of the House Judiciary Committee. It must be remembered that impeachment procedings must always being in that committee. Then there is a rising chorus of outrage with regard to torture, that has now been linked directly to an order from Bush himself.

When he is impeached, found guilty, and removed from office, Bush should be turned over to the international court for war crimes prosecution.

The question has been asked recently --is Bush the very worst President in American history? I made my opinion known on that score some time ago. I am alarmed that it has taken so long for the question to reach the MSM. Of course Bush is the worst President in American history. What`s worse is that Bush will also find his place in a short list of arch villians: Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Pinochet, and, more recently Slobadan Milosevic.

A final obersavtion: one of the reasons Bush may serve out his term is simple. It`s now clear to everyone that his policies have made the world and American less safe and terrorism (however you define it) worse. He has drivem Iraq`s Shiites into Iran`s bosom while rallying the Chavez faithful in Venezuela. Bush had hoped to rally the faithful against a boogeyman -world terrorism. He has failed in that goal primarily because his opposition abroad have been more successful in rallying the specter of George W. Bush. Given a choice of giving Bush greater influence in Venezuela or supporting Chavez, what intelligent voter would not have voted for Chavez?

Worst pResident ever!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Well, this just in. Bolton has resigned.

Let`s hope this is the beginning of a trend that goes all the way up to the arch criminal who still dare to call himself President.

A new broom sweeps clean.

Anonymous said...

The Surreal Politics of Premeditated War

Anonymous said...

Re: typos above. "unbridaled" should have been "unbridled". Of course.

And father down, I had intended to write "A final obersavtion: one of the reasons Bush may NOT serve out his term is simple."

Anonymous said...

I recently spoke with one of my activist friends in Houston, TX --which was not too long ago the very worst place in the world to be if you opposed Bush. My how times have changed! Bush is now openly denounced in the very belly of the beast. And I am also told that you should not take seriously statements by democrats that Bush will not be impeached. After all, Nancy Pelosi was not making nice nice when she coldly reminded: "Yes, we have the power of the subpoena". My friend tells me that Bush has much to fear --investigations, truth! What, after all, is to be said of anyone who fears truth?

Pelosi may not intend to impeach Bush. But if the investigations are fair and thorough, Democrats will have no choice. Bush is a war criminal, a felon, a liar, a fraud and a conspirator in a heinous plot to hoax the American people and the world. His intention from the day of his inauguration was to wage a war of naked aggression. Bush is personally and criminally responsible for every death of every innocent in Iraq. He bears personal responsibility for the death of every soldier hoaxed into joining our hijacked military, every child who got innocently caught in the cross fire. Those hoaxed may given the benefit of doubt that is given idiots, fools, and children. All his other supporters are culpable co-conspirators. Democrats, meanwhile, are duty bound to restore legitimacy to the US.

In the great film "A Man for All Seasons", Thomas More (brilliantly portrayed by Paul Scofield) on trial observes the seal of office recently granted his accuser --Richard Rich. "Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to lose his soul for the whole world... but for Wales?" We might well ask Bush: "But for oil??" By the way, Paul Scofield's portrayal of Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt`s great screenplay (directed by Fred Zinneman) is often said to be the *...greatest lead dramatic performance EVER in cinematic history." In that assessment, I concur.

And that set up takes me to this: Leahy: Bush Should be "Terrified"

Keep the heat on, guys and gals. As Churchill would have put it: "This is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Anonymous said...

As for Kimbo being decent, well mate, he lost me when he went to water on reffos. Far better he lost the 2001 election after 9/11 by making a principled stand for the 400 desperate human beings rotting in the hot sun on the deck of MV tampa.

I can accept that Fuzflash. I'd forgotten about the Tampa. Labor went along with the Iraq invasion when it was already established that Bush stole the 2000 election and that therefore anything he said about WMDs in Iraq ought to have been rejected. So they're all a pretty sorry lot in many ways. In the general scheme of things - and in comparison to the Libs - I've found Beazley to be fundamentally decent.

Here's Bushie before his public tune changed (25 October 2006): “Our security at home depends on ensuring that Iraq is an ally in the war on terror and does not become a terrorist haven like Afghanistan under the Taliban.”

Go Big,Go Long,Go Home? Nah. Go Nuclear.

Anonymous said...

Bush is worse than "lame duck." He's pate de foie gras. Who cares what the hell comes out of his pie hole anymore, as if anything that wasn't lies and idiocy ever did. No respect. None whatsoever. The tsunamis of disrespect and deserved abuse are just beginning to roll in. Stand there, Georgie - watch the pretty ocean waves.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

for Fuzzflash:

http://cartoonbydantelee.blogspot.com/

Sebastien Parmentier said...

sure!

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Bush's catch-phrase of the week:

http://cartoonbydantelee.blogspot.com/

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Partying like 2004...

http://cartoonbydantelee.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Fuzzflash wrote: "It's the kind of thing you'd expect to hear on Pacifica Radio, not in a speech by a Republican senator."

You are right on, Fuzzflash. The new numbers are out. Bush approval rating down to 31 percent; disapproval of his conduct of the war crime against Iraq is up to 71 percent. Bush is to the GOP what Iraq is to Bush. An ugly tar baby.

Bush can no longer govern.

anonymous wrote: "Bush is worse than "lame duck." He's pate de foie gras." Indeed! It would appear that it is the more radical right wing nuts and ideologues who are most aggrieved by the Junior Bush. Given the utter ruthlessness of this cabal, Bush should, indeed, be terrified. It is not only Iraq that has destablized.

Thanks for the links to the toons, Dante. Stay tuned folks. This blog will eventually become a team effort.

Anonymous said...

United States v. George W. Bush et al.

Anonymous said...

Fuzzflash, "That is absurd. It may even be criminal" is said in relation to US soldiers being placed in harm's way. There's no mention there of the criminality of placing Iraqis in harm's way. Still, it's a start.

There's a fantastic new article out by Peter Dale Scott tracking the drug-trafficking links between the Russia mafia, Islamic terrorists and US interests that include Haliburton, Khashoggi and Neil Bush. This is a key article, if people can get the chance to read it, on the political powers that are controlling the international drug trade.(link)

Briefly, there is a Russian transport company, Far West, that:

"specializes in consulting work on questions of security in conducting business in regions of the world with unstable environments and hiring personnel for foreign private military companies."

"...connected with the secured transport of commercial shipments from Afghanistan, where we have an office, to ports on the Black Sea. In Afghanistan there is a well-known U.S. air base in Bagram. It is connected by an aerial bridge with a number of other US air bases. For example, with the largest base in Frankfurt-on-Main, that's in Germany, with an intermediary landing in Chkalovsk, in the Moscow area. But the most commercially attractive route seems to be that from Bagram to the US air base in Magas, in Kyrgyzstan."

Far West is connected to these companies: Meteoric Tactical Solutions (in Angola); KBR Halliburton(in Colombia, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Georgia, and Iraq); Diligence Iraq LLC (in Iraq).Far West's cooperation with these companies began in the end of 1994 in Angola on the initiative of Russian arms trafficker Victor Bout. Bout, you may recall, is the one Condoleeza Rice advised the CIA about: "You can look, but don't touch." Protected species. Drugs and arms trafficking. You get the idea. Notice, however, the use of US airbases by these private companies and the officially sanctioned co-option of the US Defence Dept in organized crime. Even if Bush goes, these guys will stay.

Anonymous said...

An excerpt:

Smith's war critique cracks wall of support
Reversal - Analysts say the senator's speech on Iraq could signal a falloff in GOP backing for the president
Saturday, December 09, 2006
JEFF MAPES
The Oregonian

Sen. Gordon Smith's sudden about-face on the Iraq war -- in a Senate speech, he said the war was "absurd" and "may even be criminal" -- reverberated throughout Washington and across Oregon on Friday.

The Oregon lawmaker, who had been a largely quiet supporter of President Bush's war policies until his floor speech Thursday night, became the first Republican senator to suggest that the United States quickly pull out many of its troops from the violence-racked country.

"I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way being blown up by the same bombs day after day," said Smith. "That is absurd. It may even be criminal. I cannot support that anymore."
....


The link:

OregonLive.com


My comment:

It has been the cowboy`s position that the Iraq war is itself an act of overt criminality from the get go. It violates numerous international laws and conventions as well as US criminal codes. Donald Rumsfeld may eventually feel the heat...and so, too, Bush. Other cabal members who may find themselves facing charges are Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, Dick Cheney and even the repentent Colin Powell, an enabler whose rehearsed and scripted lie to the United Nations was most surely known by Powell to be a bald faced lie at the time.

Smith`s statement may indeed signal the loss of still more GOP support for Bush. But it`s a case of rats deserting the ship. Where were the dissenting GOP voices when men of conscience might have prevented a debacle which is -- as we post and write --destablizing the middle east raising the specter of a regional if not world conflagration? Why has it been necessary to wage a war longer than WWII? When Bush Sr boasted that the viet nam syndrome had been put to rest, he was most surely setting the stage for Jr to put his proposition to the test.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Wouldn't it be funny if the republicans, in order to regain some chances in the next presidential election, work faster than democrats and come up with a bill to impeach the one who had tarnished their party? ( "Yes, George H. W. Bush, we have understood your tears!")

History is never greedy of surprises...

Anonymous said...

Dante, that`s a plausible scenario. It was, after all, GOPPERS who convinced Richard Nixon to resign. Ancient Romans --similarly disgraced --would be urged to fall on the sword.

In the meantime, however, the right wing has learned nothing. The religious right is raising and spending billions to literally re-write American history. In the GOP version, Thomas Jefferson did not urge a "wall of separation" between Church and State but a "one way wall". Presumably, a fundie theocracy can dictate what religion an individual may profess but individuals may not agitate for freedom of religion. Fundies are ingenious. They have managed to to absolve Bush from blame with regard to Iraq by blaming liberals for being so wicked that the rest of the nation had no choice but to support the "Godly" Bush. It just keeps getting more and more absurd in America.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to JesusLand!

Anonymous said...

Pinochet, like Bush today, divided his country. The video is compelling --celebrations amid crocodile tears. Bush, meanwhile, divided his own wing --still further divided by the ISG. Like the Pinochet hangers-on, the radical right still indulge the dangerous delusion that "staying the course" will somehow bring "victory". Reality check: there is no victory; there is no graceful face-saving exit. The radical right and the junta they supported will never admit that they were not merely wrong but dead wrong. They claim the ISG amounts to surrender --never understanding that there is simply NO desirable outcome in Iraq. None! The US cannot even surrender with any assurance that it will have, in any way, a positive effect. Having no good options is an ignomious defeat. Stay or leave, there are no more lives to be saved.

Anonymous said...

You always did know more than me Fuzzflash :)

Sebastien Parmentier said...

yep. Allons D'Artagnan! Un petit effort! Dis "merde" a ce vieux Richelieu et postes donc un article, nom de dieu!

Anonymous said...

Some good news on this end...I hope to be back online soon. With all my old hard drives, cookies, and passwords. I never though that this would take so long.

In the meantime, an observation: Nancy Pelosi is still showing some Democratic teeth. Having already made it clear that Democrats have the power of the subpoena while implying strongly that they will use it to fully investigate the Bush admin and, specifically, the deliberate lies told in the run up to aggressive war. Secondly, it was Sen. Leahy who had said that Bush should be "terrified". More recently, Peolosi has chimed in that the new Demodratic congress will work to end the war in Iraq. Impeaching Bush and removing him so that he might be turned over for war crimes prosecution might do just that.

Again on the theme of no good outcomes whether we stay or leave....

In the event of a US pullout, Saudi Arabia will ally itself with Sunnis in Iraq, presumably in a wider conflict againt Shias in Iran and elsewhere. Is this a recipe for WWIII or the recipe for a disatrous conflagration that will engulf the entire Middle East? I had dealt with this issue in a previous article about Bush`s Shi`ite Theocracy".

Anonymous said...

The entire Middle East is in the process of erupting --yet Bush, a new Nero, fiddles. He takes his time considering the ISG, contemplates sending more troops, says a new "strategy" will not be announced until next year. What`s the rush? he seems almost to be saying. Most Americans think the US has either lost the war or is in the process of losing it. But Washington muddles on and on into the endless quagmire of Bush`s making. The mounting deaths and chaos have but negligible effect in the new Rome.

It`s inconceivable that Bush would entertain sending more troops now when it is clear to the world that it will have only one effect: hastening the deteriorating situation. But it is to be expected from an administration that repeatedly tried to justify the aggressive war on Iraq ex post facto. In GOP land, when everthing else has failed, repeat the failed strategy and hope for a different outcome. Madness!

Secondly, at a time when more Americans than ever are pessimistic about Iraq, Bush`s plan to send more troops is hardly a way to get this miserable failure out of the dog house. He`s not helping his own case. The BBC announced this AM that only about 21 percent of Americans support US policy in Iraq; over 71 percent disaprove of Bush`s handling of Iraq; some 61% think invading Iraq was a big mistake to begin with. Most Americans want the US to get out now. Sixty one percent say the war was not worth fighting. Sixteen percent think the US is winning. That sixteen percent is the idiot vote.

Meanwhile, ISG critics are crawling out of the wood work. If there is any good news to be had it is this: ISG seems to have had a more devastating effect on the GOP than on the Democrats. Iraq is, after all, Bush`s tar baby. While Hilary may be crippled for having stayed too long at the Iraq fair, it is hard to see how any other Democrat would be harmed by distancing him/herself as far as possible from Iraq. Let Iraq stick on Bush. With any luck, it will neuter the GOP. I am not proposing a one party domination by Democrats. What I would really like to see is an end to a two party dominance --especially when there is often not a dime`s worth of difference between the two parties.

The New York Times writes that the ISG is not the received wisdom of an age. To be sure. It is, however, the first open and well-publicized crack in the dike. For all its shortcommings menioned often in previous "Cowboy" articles, the ISG may eventually inspire future historians to write that it was the beginning of the end of the Bush administration. I suggest that those historians start work now. As the NYT correctly points out: the nation is in a crisis but Bush is most certainly in a snit --upstaged, bypassed, lectured to! So what if he proposes a new strategy? Congress has the power of the purse. With any luck, Congress will simply stop financing folly as Pelosi has so strongly hinted. Bush may be out of busiess; it is hard to see how this weakened and reviled "President" could possibly generate --at this point --the kind of broadbased support that any change of strategy might require.

Rather --it is more probable that the new Congress will convene amid a growing an outcry for impeachment. And, yes, there is a plethora of high crimes and misdemanors to work with. Bush has been generous, providing his detractors with enough incriminating material to fill volumes. Aggressive war, torture, lies --all charges must be investigated and aired. Not only the deliberate lies to war but the billions looted in its execution will bring Bush, Inc down. Iraq was not merely destroyed by Bush, his minions looted the billions that might have rebuilt Iraq or, in other ways, papered over the evil handy work. As Brent Budowsky writes: "This has been an immoral, unpatriotic abuse of American taxpayers, American troops and American national security interests."

Impeachment, of course, is not enough. I do not support war crimes trials for the lot of them out of mere vindictiveness. I am, rather, an idealist. Perhaps a romanticist. I believe and support the ideals of Nuremberg. I choose the higher path of Due Process of Law. I believe that valid laws applies to all equally. Whatever critics (Goering among them) may say about Nuremberg, it was, I am convinced, a good faith attempt to codify the conduct of war. It was hoped, perhaps naively, that because of Nuremberg, WWII-like atrocities might never happen again.

Alas, however, they have and Goering`s ghost must be laughing. It was his position that despite US Prosecutor Robert Jackson`s finest rhetoric, Nuremberg was merely "victor`s justice". The losing side, he said, will always pay with it`s lives. There is, therefore, no justice, no right, no wrong. In this cynical view, war is without rules and justice is merely decreed by the strong and armed. That Bush may get away with war crimes would prove Goering correct. And, in my view, serving up vindication to Goering would be a lasting tragedy for humankind. Is mankind to be forever haunted by Goering`s evil grin, laughing from his special Nazi hell where he jeers and mocks our finest aspirations, our humanity, our nobler motives? Indeed, all seem sucked into oblivion in Iraq --a hell of Bush making.

Anonymous said...

I wrote the following almost a year ago on this blog:

"Bush has a tragic flaw; it will either be the end of his failed Presidency or it will be the end of us, that is, our Constitutional democracy.

And like fine Greek Drama, that flaw is his unchecked hubris born of a spoiled, privileged childhood. His is an immature personality that never learned, as did the rest of us, the limits of sheer, self-absorbed and immature will.

Tragically, Bush never learned that he is NOT omnipotent; that he is NOT the law; that he is NOT the arbiter of who is a terrorist and who is not; that he is NOT above the law; that he is NOT the interpreter of our Constitution."

Anonymous said...

My biggest worry at this point is that the Bush cabal might stage yet another major and lethal "terrorist attack" on American soil in which thousands more Americans will be killed, in the hope that it will allow Bush to play the strong (cheer)"leader" yet again and justify his unconscionable and illegal war of agression and pillage against the people of Iraq... This time, of course, the "evil terrorists" would come from Iraq.

Anonymous said...

Fuzzflash, it will be my pleasure to meet you on my next trip north. I'll get back to you on that one.

Len, the Bush-Greek drama analogy has some points to it, but it fails overall. There's no fall from grace of a noble person with a character flaw; rather, it's wall to wall baseness. There's no tragedy, just bathos and farce. Tragedy for everyone else, of course. I expect that as the extra troops start moving we'll see Bush's low ratings drive straight through the floor. There is a groundswell of public sentiment, including in the media, in favor of withdrawal. That's not going to abate. I also suspect that Bush is being driven largely by Saudi statements to Cheney that a US withdrawl would guarantee the Saudis stepping in to assist their sunni brothers in Iraq. (link). The hurried exit from the US of ambassador Turki al-Faisal is an unexplained but significant marker of changes to come. (1, 2).

For anyone interested, there's a nice article just out on the 9/11 anthrax attacks (link).

I'm starting to agree with you one thing, Len: Bush won't see out the next two years.

Anonymous said...

Impeachment, of course, is not enough. I do not support war crimes trials for the lot of them out of mere vindictiveness. I am, rather, an idealist. Perhaps a romanticist. I believe and support the ideals of Nuremberg. I choose the higher path of Due Process of Law. I believe that valid laws applies to all equally. Whatever critics (Goering among them) may say about Nuremberg, it was, I am convinced, a good faith attempt to codify the conduct of war. It was hoped, perhaps naively, that because of Nuremberg, WWII-like atrocities might never happen again.

You should never settle for idealism or romanticism on this one, Len. 655,000 Iraqi dead are entitled to justice. And the lesson MUST be sheeted home fiercely, in a world where all war damage is felt globally and the weapons are so devastating, that war merchants are not statesmen, just mass murderers who need to be dealt with. Otherwise the next 'statesman' will go nuclear. Pol Pot, Hitler and Bush is the appropriate grouping. Maintain your rage.

Anonymous said...

Damien wrote: "Iraqi dead are entitled to justice."

Indeed! By repudiating --in fact --all that was achieved at Nuremberg, Bush may very well have plunged the world into a new dark age in which might makes right. It is the law of the jungle, the law of savage bands of ruthless warriors, the law of every tin horn dictator for whom the law is an inconvenience. You are right. Mass murderers must be dealt with --under the law.

SadButTrue said...

Just checking in on how the old crowd is doing with Len in Europe. It's good to see that even though the front page hasn't changed in some time, the 'four existentialist musketeers' are still keeping the porch light lit with great comments. Len, when I compared Bush to Hitler, Caligula et. al. I think I left out Nero. I just finished watching a segment on TV of Bush talking about the ISG report, and his level of disconnection from the disaster he has precipitated is staggering. It's as if the captain of the Titanic had ordered the ship to keep ramming the iceberg repeatedly.
The rest of the Republican party turning on Bush is predictable in that it is just following their cynical wish to cling to power. They're pissed off at him in the same way that a gang of bank robbers would be with a getaway driver who ran out of gas. A failure in every other respect, Iraq has been the most successful conduit of corruption in all of history. The investigations looming in the Democratic-controlled House promise to be very entertaining indeed, but in a more tragic than comedic sense.
Of all the statements here, I think Damien's resonates the most with me, "And the lesson MUST be sheeted home fiercely, in a world where all war damage is felt globally and the weapons are so devastating, that war merchants are not statesmen, just mass murderers who need to be dealt with."
Impeach. Convict. Then turn the bastards over to international war crimes tribunals.

Oh, and it's great news to hear that Len will be able to post again soon. ;-D

Anonymous said...

Here's a terrific article in the Independent - it is a vindicating bombshell inasmuch as it has made "official" and open what most of us stated years ago:

Diplomat's suppressed document lays bare the lies behind Iraq war
By Colin Brown and Andy McSmith
Published: 15 December 2006

The Government's case for going to war in Iraq has been torn apart by the publication of previously suppressed evidence that Tony Blair lied over Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

A devastating attack on Mr Blair's justification for military action by Carne Ross, Britain's key negotiator at the UN, has been kept under wraps until now because he was threatened with being charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act.

In the testimony revealed today Mr Ross, 40, who helped negotiate several UN security resolutions on Iraq, makes it clear that Mr Blair must have known Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction. He said that during his posting to the UN, "at no time did HMG [Her Majesty's Government] assess that Iraq's WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests."

Mr Ross revealed it was a commonly held view among British officials dealing with Iraq that any threat by Saddam Hussein had been "effectively contained".

He also reveals that British officials warned US diplomats that bringing down the Iraqi dictator would lead to the chaos the world has since witnessed. "I remember on several occasions the UK team stating this view in terms during our discussions with the US (who agreed)," he said.

"At the same time, we would frequently argue when the US raised the subject, that 'regime change' was inadvisable, primarily on the grounds that Iraq would collapse into chaos."

He claims "inertia" in the Foreign Office and the "inattention of key ministers" combined to stop the UK carrying out any co-ordinated and sustained attempt to address sanction-busting by Iraq, an approach which could have provided an alternative to war.

Mr Ross delivered the evidence to the Butler inquiry which investigated intelligence blunders in the run-up to the conflict.

The Foreign Office had attempted to prevent the evidence being made public, but it has now been published by the Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs after MPs sought assurances from the Foreign Office that it would not breach the Official Secrets Act.

It shows Mr Ross told the inquiry, chaired by Lord Butler, "there was no intelligence evidence of significant holdings of CW [chemical warfare], BW [biological warfare] or nuclear material" held by the Iraqi dictator before the invasion. "There was, moreover, no intelligence or assessment during my time in the job that Iraq had any intention to launch an attack against its neighbours or the UK or the US," he added.

Mr Ross's evidence directly challenges the assertions by the Prime Minster that the war was legally justified because Saddam possessed WMDs which could be "activated" within 45 minutes and posed a threat to British interests. These claims were also made in two dossiers, subsequently discredited, in spite of the advice by Mr Ross.

His hitherto secret evidence threatens to reopen the row over the legality of the conflict, under which Mr Blair has sought to draw a line as the internecine bloodshed in Iraq has worsened.

Mr Ross says he questioned colleagues at the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence working on Iraq and none said that any new evidence had emerged to change their assessment.

"What had changed was the Government's determination to present available evidence in a different light," he added.

Mr Ross said in late 2002 that he "discussed this at some length with David Kelly", the weapons expert who a year later committed suicide when he was named as the source of a BBC report saying Downing Street had "sexed up" the WMD claims in a dossier. The Butler inquiry cleared Mr Blair and Downing Street of "sexing up" the dossier, but the publication of the Carne Ross evidence will cast fresh doubts on its findings.

Mr Ross, 40, was a highly rated diplomat but he resigned because of his misgivings about the legality of the war. He still fears the threat of action under the Official Secrets Act.

"Mr Ross hasn't had any approach to tell him that he is still not liable to be prosecuted," said one ally. But he has told friends that he is "glad it is out in the open" and he told MPs it had been "on my conscience for years".

One member of the Foreign Affairs committee said: "There was blood on the carpet over this. I think it's pretty clear the Foreign Office used the Official Secrets Act to suppress this evidence, by hanging it like a Sword of Damacles over Mr Ross, but we have called their bluff."

Yesterday, Jack Straw, the Leader of the Commons who was Foreign Secretary during the war - Mr Ross's boss - announced the Commons will have a debate on the possible change of strategy heralded by the Iraqi Study Group report in the new year.

The Government's case for going to war in Iraq has been torn apart by the publication of previously suppressed evidence that Tony Blair lied over Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

A devastating attack on Mr Blair's justification for military action by Carne Ross, Britain's key negotiator at the UN, has been kept under wraps until now because he was threatened with being charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act.

In the testimony revealed today Mr Ross, 40, who helped negotiate several UN security resolutions on Iraq, makes it clear that Mr Blair must have known Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction. He said that during his posting to the UN, "at no time did HMG [Her Majesty's Government] assess that Iraq's WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests."

Mr Ross revealed it was a commonly held view among British officials dealing with Iraq that any threat by Saddam Hussein had been "effectively contained".

He also reveals that British officials warned US diplomats that bringing down the Iraqi dictator would lead to the chaos the world has since witnessed. "I remember on several occasions the UK team stating this view in terms during our discussions with the US (who agreed)," he said.

"At the same time, we would frequently argue when the US raised the subject, that 'regime change' was inadvisable, primarily on the grounds that Iraq would collapse into chaos."

He claims "inertia" in the Foreign Office and the "inattention of key ministers" combined to stop the UK carrying out any co-ordinated and sustained attempt to address sanction-busting by Iraq, an approach which could have provided an alternative to war.

Mr Ross delivered the evidence to the Butler inquiry which investigated intelligence blunders in the run-up to the conflict.

The Foreign Office had attempted to prevent the evidence being made public, but it has now been published by the Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs after MPs sought assurances from the Foreign Office that it would not breach the Official Secrets Act.

It shows Mr Ross told the inquiry, chaired by Lord Butler, "there was no intelligence evidence of significant holdings of CW [chemical warfare], BW [biological warfare] or nuclear material" held by the Iraqi dictator before the invasion. "There was, moreover, no intelligence or assessment during my time in the job that Iraq had any intention to launch an attack against its neighbours or the UK or the US," he added.

Mr Ross's evidence directly challenges the assertions by the Prime Minster that the war was legally justified because Saddam possessed WMDs which could be "activated" within 45 minutes and posed a threat to British interests. These claims were also made in two dossiers, subsequently discredited, in spite of the advice by Mr Ross.

His hitherto secret evidence threatens to reopen the row over the legality of the conflict, under which Mr Blair has sought to draw a line as the internecine bloodshed in Iraq has worsened.

Mr Ross says he questioned colleagues at the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence working on Iraq and none said that any new evidence had emerged to change their assessment.

"What had changed was the Government's determination to present available evidence in a different light," he added.

Mr Ross said in late 2002 that he "discussed this at some length with David Kelly", the weapons expert who a year later committed suicide when he was named as the source of a BBC report saying Downing Street had "sexed up" the WMD claims in a dossier. The Butler inquiry cleared Mr Blair and Downing Street of "sexing up" the dossier, but the publication of the Carne Ross evidence will cast fresh doubts on its findings.

Mr Ross, 40, was a highly rated diplomat but he resigned because of his misgivings about the legality of the war. He still fears the threat of action under the Official Secrets Act.

"Mr Ross hasn't had any approach to tell him that he is still not liable to be prosecuted," said one ally. But he has told friends that he is "glad it is out in the open" and he told MPs it had been "on my conscience for years".

One member of the Foreign Affairs committee said: "There was blood on the carpet over this. I think it's pretty clear the Foreign Office used the Official Secrets Act to suppress this evidence, by hanging it like a Sword of Damacles over Mr Ross, but we have called their bluff."

Yesterday, Jack Straw, the Leader of the Commons who was Foreign Secretary during the war - Mr Ross's boss - announced the Commons will have a debate on the possible change of strategy heralded by the Iraqi Study Group report in the new year.

SadButTrue said...

Vierotchka: Britain has the Official Secrets Act. The US has guaranteed freedom of the press under the first amendment. How is it that the information available in the UK is of so much higher quality than that in America? (purely rhetorical question, of course)

Anonymous said...

Mr Ross, 40, was a highly rated diplomat but he resigned because of his misgivings about the legality of the war.

terrorist enabler!

Anonymous said...

Sadbuttrue, welcome back and thanks for the great comments (as usual).

Thanks to Vierotchka for posting the great article. Yet more evidence that Bush and Blair conspired to defraud the world with a pack of malicious lies. The result has been catastrophic and tragic in terms of innocent lives lost, the destabilization of the Middle East, and the increased danger of nuclear exchanges in the future. I am urging an international movement to bring Bush and Blair to justice in the international court. I urge everyone to write letters and agitate.

GOP complicity in these and other crimes is at the heart of a groundswell of anti-GOP sentiment --a sweep which did not end on Nov. 7. Recently in Texas, Ciro Rodriguez upset Republican Henry Bonilla --evidence that an anti-GOP wave is taking hold and gaining strength. Should South Dakota GOP governor appoint a Republican replacement to Senator Tim Johnson --as even the European media speculates -a backlash may finish off the GOP.

As I have written numerous times: the GOP is not a political party; it`s a crime syndicate, a subversive criminal conspiracy. Such a conspiracy was described by St. Thomas More in the time of Henry VIII: "I can perceive nothing but a certain conspiracy of rich men procuring their own commodities under the name and title of the commonwealth." Certainly, in modern America, rich men have conspired to commit mass murder in the name of the state in order to enrich themselves with booty. Oil! As the American mass media is largely a product of this "class", it is easy enough to conlude -in the wake of some 20 years of media de-regulation beginning in the Reagan era -that the dominant media outlets are complicit. More here.

With respect to the US/British war against Iraq ...

Kofi Anan, as well, said that the war itself was and is illegal. That`s also the position of the "Cowboy". If there is any good news to be found, it is this: not only has the GOP proven itself on the wrong side of history, there is a growing willingness to bring war criminals to trial, the recent death of Pinochet, who is seen to have cheated justice, notwitstanding. The trial of Slobodan Milošević is credited by The Ecopnomist with having breathed new life in the movement for international justice. You`ll find some recent developments at the Harvard Human Rights Journal.

Meanwhile, the Economist sums up Pinochet`s sorry legacy: "The Pinochet story raises two uncomfortable questions for liberals. If the coup did indeed rescue Chile from an elected government that was Marxist-dominated—and thus anti-democratic—was it justified? The answer is no. The Allende government generated economic chaos and extreme political tension and would probably have imploded. But the intention of the junta was to crush democracy, not just communism. --The Economist".

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, two posts above, wrote: terrorist enabler!

What pure, unadulterated bollocks!

Anonymous said...

Len, you wrote: Should South Dakota GOP governor appoint a Republican replacement to Senator Tim Johnson --as even the European media speculates -a backlash may finish off the GOP.

As far as I know, the man is still alive, so as long as he hasn't died, hasn't resigned, hasn't committed a crime or hasn't retired, even if he remains two years in hospital, he remains a Senator and retains his seat until he is due for re-election, and since in America, even dead men have been known to get elected in all legality.... Both the American and the European media seem to ignore this basic rule: the only way an elected Senator can be replaced through an appointment by that Sentator's State's Governor is if that Senator had died, has resigned, has committed a crime or has retired (few ever do retire, even should they live a hundred years or more).

So, as a consequence (and to my barely veiled delight), the Repugs have speculated and prematurely gloated on a highly unlikely event. They must be very disappointed, poor little pitiful things! Heh heh!

Anonymous said...

New York Times reports "...a major “surge” in troop strength is gaining ground as part of a White House strategy review, senior administration officials said Friday." The number mentioned in dispatches is 20,000.

Does any sane people believe for one minute that another 20,000 troops make any difference at all save adding to the death toll among US troops? Madness!

Bushco has already committed capital crimes by waging an aggressive war that has clearly failed. Another 20,000 only aggravates the crime, increases the risk to US troops, makes of the US a bigger target. There is NO upside to this idiotic strategy --only an incremental increase in the downside risk. It the GOP mentality at work. Keep on repeating a failed stategy in hopes of achieving a different outcome; keep on doing whatever it is that`s making you sick. Keep banging your head against a wall and hope you headache goes away.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, two posts above, wrote: terrorist enabler!.....What pure, unadulterated bollocks!

"terrorist enabler" = irony

Anonymous said...

Here is a great extract from a recent interview by Orin Kerr of Brigadier General Mark Scheid, chief of the Logistics War Plans Division after 9/11, and one of the people with primary responsibility for war planning. Shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan, he says, Donald Rumsfeld told his team to start planning for war in Iraq, but not to bother planning for a long stay:

"The secretary of defense continued to push on us ... that everything we write in our plan has to be the idea that we are going to go in, we're going to take out the regime, and then we're going to leave," Scheid said. "We won't stay."

Gen. Scheid said the planners continued to try "to write what was called Phase 4," or the piece of the plan that included post-invasion operations like occupation. Even if the troops didn't stay, "at least we have to plan for it," Scheid said.

"I remember the secretary of defense saying that he would fire the next person that said that," Scheid said. "We would not do planning for Phase 4 operations, which would require all those additional troops that people talk about today. He said we will not do that because the American public will not back us if they think we are going over there for a long war."

...."In his own mind he thought we could go in and fight and take out the regime and come out. But a lot of us planners were having a real hard time with it because we were also thinking we can't do this. Once you tear up a country you have to stay and rebuild it. It was very challenging." (link)

The comments are also mostly excellent.

Anonymous said...

Doppler argues (convincingly, I believe) that "there was obviously a non-public Phase IV plan."

This fits in with Greg Palast's ideas about Gen.Jay Garner.

It looks very much as if the neocons were operating just as corporate raiders, focusing on PR and asset stripping with no real idea of the military management of the occupation. They really did expect to be welcomed with open arms, and the did expect to be able to just get the oil and go on quickly to attack Iran and Syria.

Rumsfeld and Co.are incompetent corporate raiders. But to have an admission from a senior US military officer that Rumsfeld refused to allow military planning for the occupation is damnable. It's like selling a car without brakes. Total liability for the damage that follows.

Anonymous said...

Some bon mots from the master --Fuzzflash:

"...the Rasputinesque persistence of this Oct. 21 post, despite my yenting for a freshie;"

"That Jack-in-the-box, Juniorphilic jerk-off, Joey Liebermann could jump erratically on this one too. He's fucken uncontrollable..."

"I love it when you write dirty."

"Dante Lee, just caught “A Scanner Darkly”. Essential viewing for all Philip K. Dick heads, as well as any who willingly forego their personal liberties in the phoney war on CIA supplied drugs"

Above quotes are reasons I love my own blog. Where else does one find such great literature ...and I am not kidding. Thanks, Fuzzflash.

Damien wrote: "The secretary of defense continued to push on us ... that everything we write in our plan has to be the idea that we are going to go in, we're going to take out the regime, and then we're going to leave," Scheid said. "We won't stay."" Funny how things work out in practice. I also agree that the US military was hijacked, turned into "corporate raiders". Not the first time that`s happened, however, Read the transcript of Heydrich`s meeting at Wannsee where plans were made for the Final Solution with corporate like efficiency. As I recall, Heydrich even made a reference to the Nazi`s good friends at I.G. Farben.

Some observations on Bush.

1) I am at last hearing the word "criminal" in reference to Bush`s "...splendid little war." This blog called it criminal when the pundits wouldn`t touch it.

2) It is now admitted by many talking heads that there are no good options. Chaos if we stay; chaos if we leave; chaos if we send in more troops. It was predicted by all but the GOP.

3) Iran would not have the regime it has now had not Bush attacked and invaded Iraq. We said it first.

4) Iraq is partitioning itself already. The Shiite south has allied with Iran; the Kurds have sent up checkpoints on their border; Sunnis are pouring into neighboring states. And what is to be said of Baghdad? Well, if you tried to partition Iraq by drawing lines around ethic neighborhoods, it would pass for a Jackson Pollock. But Bush has never heard of Jackson Pollock. He was busy reading three Shakespeares.

5) The US is now seen by all the world as a paper tiger and worse --incompetent.

And, as Monty Python would put it: now for something completely different.

The GOP is still thinking "backward" about Iraq, which has now become a tragic scandal. Even the GOP senator who used the word "criminal" to describe Bush`s conduct of this atrocity, waxes politico-poetic when he says that, in retrospect, removing Saddam was a good thing. Was it? Was it so? In fact, more and more are now saying that the situaiton is worse now than under Saddam. Vendication should be sweet but isnn`t. If I were just a bit more callous, perhaps I could learn to enjoy Schadenfreude. But there is no joy in mudvillle.

Someone should do some accounting over the next few weeks. How many will die because Bush will not be hurried into a decision? HIs faux caution is odd. Prudence never stopped him before. The heady days when one was either for him or against him are over. But it is odd that when everyone now is against him, he becomes cautious.

Shakespeare`s King Lear said: "Nothing will come of nothing."

Anonymous said...

Bush hopes to pull his fat out of the fire with yet another "surge". Against whom will he surge? The Shiites? The Sunnis? The mis-named insurgents about whom nothing said by Bush is true? The Kurds who have all but set up a separate state? The people of Iraq --whom Bush said we liberated? Al-Qaeda whose presence in Iraq is unlikely, unproven, improbable, mythical?

Just WHO is the enemy against whom we "surge"? Now that Iraq is clearly a multi-faceted civil war, whose side is Bush on? Who gets targeted by some 20,000 fresh troops who wouldn't know Al Qaeda from Al Jazeera? Most certainly, the American military made that mistake in the past, targeting Al Jazeera because it dared tell the truth.

That's the problem with most Bush plans. Bush never understood the problem, never identified an enemy save a mythical "evil doer" whom Bush and most Americans identify with turbans, baggy pants, and falafels. Bush committed an insidious treason: he committed his nation to a war against a mere slogan, a phantom demon, a monster product of his own Id.

Colin Powell has a lot of problems with a so-called surge. He reminds that the last time it was a complete failure. He says that a surge will fail unless there is some kind of mission beyond throwing more troops at a phantom. But even Powell has not stated the problem succincly. In fact, Bush took this nation to war upon his psyhotic delusions of grandeur, blackhearted lies, and stupid, utterly meaningless platitudes, slogans, and jingoistic claptrap.

Video-WMP

From the video:

POWELL: Let’s be clear about something else, Bob, that gets a little confusing. There are really no additional troops. All we would be doing is keeping some of the troops who were there longer and escalating or accelerating the arrival of other troops.

SCHIEFFER: Let me just ask you about that because… do we have the troops? You seem to be suggesting that we don't.

POWELL: I'm suggesting that what general Shoemaker said the other day before a committee looking at the reserve and national guard, that
the active army is about broken. General Shoemaker is absolutely right. All of my contacts within the army suggest that the army has a serious
problem in the active force. Think Progress

So --there it is. The mighty US military is --as they would say in Texas --up Shit Creek without a paddle. It most certainly lacks the moral high ground.

It's one thing to arm the military against real enemies. It's the very height of incompetent criminality to place troops in harm's way with mere slogans and without a mission.

Anonymous said...

How can Bush fail? Let us count the ways. Some un-intended consequences from the Bush man:

1) North Korea is a now a nuclear power that might not have felt the need to hasten its nuclear program has it not been lumped into the Axis of Evil. It`s never a good idea to bluff without a back up. But with North Korea --that is precisely what Bush did. The result is that NK is now nuclear and there is absolutely nothing that Bush can do about it.

2) Iran under the Ayatollah may have been more radical but under Ahmadinijad it is more dangerous. This rise of this radical regime owes its ascension to Bush just as Bush owes his ascension to the spector of terrorism that he exploited so effectively for a while. See how fear feeds upon itself!

3) The US military is now said by none other than Colin Powell to be broken. We know that Powell lied to the UN. Is he lying now? Probably not. Powell was compromised then but is not now. At the time of his UN presentation, he was not his own man; since that time, Powell seems to have tried to redeem himself --even apologizing for his shameful performance at the UN. Additionally, Powell has much to gain by lying then; he has nothing to gain by lying now. But that the hell? America has become nation in which people lie to themselves.

4) The world is a more dangerous place, though Bush had promised to make us safe from terrorists. No consideration was given to the flip side: while Americans indulged an erstwhile feeling of security under our loudmouthed bully President, billions all over the world were made to feel less safe. Bush, thus, made the threat of terrorism worse and made Americans less safe. Bush, of course, does not do nuance; nor does he foresee or understand consequences, responsibility, limits to power.

5) Former President Jimmy Carter wrote in his memoirs that many Americans "deeply resented that the greatest nation on the earth was being jerked around by a few desert states." In fact, however, the US always enjoyed a cozy relationship with Middle Eastern oil barons. The so-call Arab oil embargo of the early seventies might have been a wake up call but more nearly resembled a family fight. In fact, the Saudi/Texas axis was never in jeopardy and, as if to prove it, the US reviled and continues to revile and demonize several objectives that less privileged nations might find prudent. To wit: energy independence, alternative energy sources, more fuel efficient or alternative modes of transportation. All those things --along with French Fries and fine wines --are loathed in America. Big oil and mendacious Texans have long had incestuous relations with Middle Eastern oil barons.

Formerly staunch allies are distancing themselves from the US. At one time, it might have been comforting to indulge the cozy feelings that accompanied close US/Europe ties. No more. The EU now openly competes with the US for influence and markets. Who will win when US prestige takes a nose dive? Who wins when the US is now seen to be a paper tiger with a "broken army"?

Who will profit when Tony Blair succeeds in distancing himself from Bush, refusing to be the Bush man`s lap dog? How will the US react when the dollar is no longer propped up by China? How will Europe treat its post WWII "rescuer" when a prosperous EU competes toe to toe with the US for resources and trading partners. A case in point is the Middle East. A weakened US may have to get in line while European interests cut their own deals with OPEC.

6) The Reagan, Bush I and Bush II administrations so aggressively pursued Iraq`s oil economy that one would have thought the world oil reserves were ours. They are not, of course. Despite some strong rhetoric by President Jimmy Carter, the US managed to conceal the more egregious aspects of overt imperialism. It was left to Bush II, however, to give the game away. Bush literally laid claim to resources rightly owned by other countries. But --to pull off the ruse --Bush needed the cover he found in the exploitation of "terrorism". The competition for Middle East oil reserves is a dangerous game played by all the world`s powers. Zbigniew Brznzinki called it the "Grand Chess Board", a cynical, dangerous game in which the nations of the world compete and wage war for a dwindling resourcee: oil. Oil is, in fact, the very centerpiece of the PNAC/Neocon outline for US world domination in which the nation`s oil producing nations are relegated to mere vassel status. Two nations opposing this cynical game are --not surprisingly --Iran and Venezuela. And, as the left wing finds its voice, expect more push back in Mexico --another oil producing state that might have been in danger of becomming a US vassel.

Why have Americans fallen for the propaganda? Why do Americans feel so entitled to Middle Eastern oil? There are several reasons but prominent among them are simple provincial selfishness made acceptable by Ronald Reagan. Reagan promised that wealth would trickle down if the rich were given preferential treatment tax wise. Part of the package was cheap oil. Americans lined up for the tax cuts and the gas stations. Wealth from tax cuts, of course, never trickled down; meanwhile, world oil reserves will eventually dwindle into unprofitability. Reagan was a snake oil salesman. The American people were duped. Under Reagan the rich got richer and the poor much, much poorer. The middle class will deny this as they believe themselves to be among the GOP elite in suburbia. But for a short respite under Clinton, the number of people claiming to be among this elite continues to shrink.

7) Bush will have ushered in the demise of American prestige everywhere --even in its own back yard. US relations with Mexico, for example, were coyy when Vicente Fox and George W. Bush could agree on borders, immigration, and oil. Eventually, a left-leaning President will rise to power in Mexico by addressing that nation`s horrible income inequalities. A Hugo Chavez in Mexico might have precipitated a Bush war against Mexico instead of Iraq. Indeed, much of the too-close-to-call nature of the Calderon-Obrado contest can be seen as a groundswell of resentemnt of the US that is felt through the working and poorer classes in Mexico.

8) Bush has ushered in a new atomic weapons race. Not much need be said about this sorry drama that is being played out in Iran and North Korea except to say that whatever Bush mouths seems always to have the opposite effect.

9) What are the consequences of a destablized, broken Iraq, an Iraq that now descends into Civil War before the entire world? Before answering that question, it must be pointed out that Bush cannot pull a rabbit out of hat. A final surge is better called a last gasp. It is doomed to fail and will only worsen a situation that has been lost for some time. The media seems only recently to covered that aspect of the story, only recently have they bothered to ask the question.

The army is said to be broken. The more poignant question is this: having lost the "Grand Chessborad" will Bush lose America itself? Indeed, a weakened US will survive so long as it is in the interests of China to prop up what has become its biggest consumer of cheaply made and artificially inexpensive crap. America will survive --but as a cow to be milked by China and the Pacific Rim.

The American Century is over.

Anonymous said...

As it is my turn on my computer and on the web, Len asked me to post the following link:

PINOCHET: A Declassified Documentary Obit

Anonymous said...

A must link about Pinochet. US hands are bloody.

Anonymous said...

Indeed, Fuzzflash, ISG exhibits the characteristics of a scam. Still --it has had the effect of isolating the Bush man. Can you imagine how much more devastating the ISG might have been? The strongest parts of the ISG are those stating the nature of the quagmire. The weakest parts are those that outline what is to be done. ISG, like Bush and the GOP, are long on getting us into quagmires with reckless and meaningless rhetoric but they are tragically short on "reality^based" remedies.

During the Viet Nam war, the distinguished "liberal" economist John Kennth Galbraith wrote a short treatise entitled How to get out of Vietnam 1967.

Iraq will prove to be harder to exit than Viet Nam. Viet Nam might have been unified much earlier but for America`s hamfisted support of a string of faceless generals. None of them had legitimacy or widespread support. Viet Nam was divided --but not because Ho Chi Minh lacked support in the south. The promised national elections might have unified Viet Nam some ten years before Nixon began talk of "winding down" the war.

Richard Nixon sought peace with honor. ISG seeks defeat without shame and utter humiliation. The GOP had best learn to live with shame and humiliation. Drawing out the process in the vain hope of saving face will only make it worse. Unlike Viet Nam, there is no "government" waiting in the wings to pick up the pieces. There is no "North Iraq" with a ready made constitutency in the South. Tragically, Iraq`s fate is America`s fate.

BTW there is no friction with regard to computer time : ) My own near super computer is enroute.

Anonymous said...

Bush has literally thumbed his nose at the ISG report. It's an admittedly imperfect report but infintely better than the bile that issues forth from the belly of the beast. Now --Bush flouts the opinion of his own generals and numerous polls indicating that the American public has no faith in the war and less faith in the commander-in-chief.

Bush leads America down the road to ruin, promising that more sacrifices will be made in 2007. In other words, Bush doesn't care what anyone thinks; he will prosecute this ruinous war crime though it has already claimed at least 600,000 innocent Iraqi lives, some 3,000 US troops and the billions of dollars that it sucks up each year.

This is more ruinous than Viet Nam. It is folly not matched since Adolph Hitler insisted upon attacking the Soviet Union. The whole rotten edifice would come crashing down, he said. Americans, having grown up with the images of "The Longest Day" and, more recently, "Saving Private Ryan" have a much harder time imagining the nature of the German v Russia struggle played out over a shifting and bitter winter front of some several thousand miles, from Lenningrad (now St. Petersburg, it's original name) to the Black Sea.

Bush will stay in Iraq --though it is already lost and has been for some time now. More will die needlessly to satisfy the bloodlust of a war criminal not seen since Adolph Hitler. Where is the outrage in America? The reality seemingly lost amid the headlines is simply this: the so-called commander-in-chief flouts the opinions of his own generals, a panel of infinitely more intelligent and competent people from both sides of the political spectrum, some 70 percent of the American people who are now fed up with this utter stupidity, this ruinous catastrophe.

Is a coup d'etat in the works? When even the Pentagon lacks faith in Bush, how are his orders to be obeyed by men of honor? Gates must already regret having agreed to replace Bush's sacrificial lamb: Rumsfeld. Gates had indicated that more troops were not the answer. Now Gates is expected to implement that very policy.

A question was put to me just today: What is citizen to do when his/her own country embarks upon a disastrous and immoral course? Why is the lesson of Viet Nam so easily forgotten? Perhaps they were never learned! Indeed, the architects of this American defeat --the most humiliating since Little Big Horn or the Tet Offensive --all seem to have cut their teeth on the many failures of Richard Nixon. Later, this cast of characters were seen hanging around the Reagan White House.

I suggest that the US identify the real "evil doers", the hangovers from Nixon, Reagan, and now Bush, and sweep these lying bastards into the dustbin of history. It is our only hope. Otherwise, a free nation is lost.

Another question put to me today: Can America find its way back? Probably not. Whose constituency will have the stomach to restore the many lost liberties when a recent poll indicates that most Americans oppose the First Ten Amendments to the Constitution, i.e. the Bill of Rights? It is safe to say that those nations losing their liberties never restore them. An early case: Octavian who took the title Augustus. He pledged to restore the Republic of Rome but never got around to it. By the time Claudius assumed the mantle, the Republic was just a distant memory; emperors ruled like Oriental despots. At last, of course, the Empire broke apart and fell. By the time Rome pulled its legions out of Britain, the fall was swift and a swath of destruction and scorched earth was evident from the shores of the English Channel all the way to Rome.

The American Century is over.

Anonymous said...

While I am only an intermittent reader of this site, I do read with interest most of what's posted here in the comments. But can anyone tell me why there hasn't been a new post in two months? I guess I'm out of the loop, but I'm curious as to what's going on.
Thanks.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

“I’ve had Bin Laden inside my scope!”

Anonymous said...

Shane, there has been no new article for some two months because I had underestimated what was involved in relocating to a new continent. I have access to a computer until my own arrives, but, somehow in the mad melee, I had lost my cookies et al. I can make comments from this `puter but until my own arrives, I cannot post full articles. I am, essentially, locked out of my own blog. All will be well soon. And the Cowboy will be updated. In the meantime, however, I have made some interesting friends in Europe. I also hope that some of the regular contributors to the comments section will agree to have their articles spotlighted. Please stay tuned, shane. The Cowboy will one day be better than ever.

Fuzzflash, thanks for the kind words...and, of course, your observation: "When US forces inevitably leave Iraq, like the Greeks and the Ottomans and the British and all the other loco conquistadors before them, the Eagle will become an Albatross..." Indeed, Fuzz, fallen empires are like Norma Desmond waiting in vain for another close up. (See: Memorable Quotes from Sunset Blvd) It will be sad to watch America don a cheap wig, paint her thinning lips, descend the stairs and declare pathetically, in the dark: "I'm ready for my close-up."

Anonymous said...

Upstaged by the ISG: Eye on Iraq: The other Iraq report

An excerpt from UPI:

"Ever since Shiite militias across Iraq erupted into a frenzy of retaliatory random killings of Sunnis following the bombing of the al-Askariya, or Golden Mosque in Samara -- a cherished Shiite shrine -- on Feb. 22, 2006, we have charted and predicted in these columns the California-sized nation of 28 million people's rapid descent into a state of violent chaos. In the words of the great 17th century English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, life in Iraq has become nasty, brutish and short."

The new report, entitled "Iraq's Sectarian and Ethnic Violence and Evolving Insurgency: Developments through mid-December 2006" is by Anthony H. Cordesman, who holds the Arleigh A. Burke chair in strategy at the center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank."

Cordesman is often seen as a talking head on cable, PBS, et al.

We can only hope for sanity in these strange times. +

Anonymous said...

Bush is delusional....(click the link)

Scarborough Sees The Light—Barnicle: “Bush is delusional” (WMV)

Scarborough Sees The Light—Barnicle: “Bush is delusional” (QT)

At last --the mainstream seems to have come around to what this blog and its contributors have been saying for quite some time now. Bush is out of control; he`s certifiably insane, delusional and dangerous. These are dark days not just for America but darker still for the innocent people of Iraq and the entire world.

A mad man occupies the White House having brought America to its nadir.

Anonymous said...

Len, thank you for your effort to wise up the USA - and the rest of the world. Your posts are too good, so I steal them all the time (but I always give credit!) Thank you especially for extending to me the opportunity to post here, especially since I hit on a range of topics. It's appreciated. To all those here who have given me such pleasure and shared company this year I send my warmest regards. To Len, Fuzzflash, Dante Lee, Vierotchka, SadButTrue, Benmerc and all the others - and to your families! - have a very happy Christmas!

Anonymous said...

There's also an addendum on Iran.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Damien. I do believe the world is growing wise to Bush. Here`s an interesting excerpt from Buzzflash`s review of a great new book:

"What is Bush's "free trade?" It's an economic model that argues that by removing restrictions on multinational corporations, these companies will be freed to become engines of economic growth in countries around the world, but in fact bring vast wealth of a small number of global elites while entire populations suffer dislocation, poverty and violence, creating a perfect Petri dish for breeding terrorists. The instruments for this takeover include such corporations as Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, ChevronTexaco, Halliburton, and many others." --Buzzflash review of The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time

In other words, the chaos in Iraq is deliberate. It`s a part of the Bush plan to make of the entire world a fascist empire benefiting Bush cronies, robber barons and other GOP co-conspirators.

Thanks again to Damien for the good wishes ...and may I join him in extending those good wishes to all. This is, indeed, a Christmas quite unlike any in recent memory. Nevertheless, we must not merely wish for "peace on Earth", we must work for it daily. The future of the entire world depends upon it. The very survival of millions, perhaps billions depend upon the removal of GWB from office followed swiftly by war crimes prosecutions.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Merry Christmas to you as well, Fuzz, and to all of you, Damien, Vierotchka, SadButTrue, Bemerc and the anonyms who have taken turn in giving the bouche a' bouche to the cowboy while len deseparatly waited for his CPU to be shipped from Terrrras...

I can't wait for Len to be back on board, I know it will be soon.

For now May Santa plant a massive reindeer turd under Bush's Christmas tree and may peace chose Earth as a vacation spot for 2007.

Love'y'all.

benmerc said...

Hope you all are doing well here at the Cowboy. My job and my music have drawn down on my time online, but I shall certainly be around to some degree.

Best wishes and Holiday Spirit to everyone this new year, it was great to hear all the voices and have this outlet to share and learn from. Thanks Len, and to all the insightful regulars and co-horts that have offered their ideas and dialog. Have a good Holidays all; Damien, Dante Lee, Sad, Fuzz, Vierotchka & others.

Anonymous said...

Great posts all! Fuzzflash, I share your aspirations for 2007. We know that Bush and company have deliberately created chaos in Iraq, though I suspect that the theft of Iraqi oil might have been done without the chaos, without destabilizing the entire Middle East and possibly the world.

I am again thinking of the Roman Empire. It was Tiberius, I believe, who ruled the empire during the time of Christ. Over the next 200 years, the new religion would oppose the evil empire itself. It was Rome which was "the Beast". By the time Constantine inherited an endangered and over-stretched empire, Christianity itself posed the greatest "internal+ threat. Constantine, ruthless and political, very nearly neutralized the church by legalizing the new religion. Smart move. As it turns out in retrospect, having made of Christianity a "Roman" institution, the Church of Rome remaains the most enduring, viable relic of the Roman empire.

Bush, by contrast, is no Constantine but, like Constantine, he leads an "evil empire". Bush has, rather, ensured the continued demise of American interests throughout the world. His hamfisted handling of Iraq will prove to have unintended consequences. Iraqi oil might have been stolen the old fashioned way --not that I would advocate that for one moment. Instead, even NEOCONS now rue the day they advocated such global grand larceny and mass murder. Instead of gaining all, they will lose all. Now witness the slow slide into oblivion that characterizes the decline and fall of empire.

Dante wrote: "...len deseparatly waited for his CPU to be shipped from Terrrras..." Indeed --something so simple has become so complex. You have no idea. Still --I see light at the end of the tunnel.

Welcome back, benmerc and thanks for the very kind comments. I will work hard over the next year to restore the Cowboy and make it once again worthy of all the wonderful regulars who grace this comments section.

Hope everyone had a happy holiday and will embark upon a happier New Year free of war criminals out to take over the world.

Anonymous said...

If George W. Bush expects you to believe that thousands of American troops who have died in Iraq have done so in order to bring "democracy" to what is left of that nation, he is as stupid as he looks. And he looks stupid. See: U.S. Troop Deaths In Iraq Exceed 9/11 Toll.

What kind of "democracy" has Bush brought to Iraq? Saddam Hussein will now hang in about thirty days --his appeal having been rejected out of hand. What democracy? What justice? Is this what US troops --more Americans than died in 911 --have died for in the deserts of Iraq? Saddam may or may not be guilty of the crimes charged him, but the kangaroo court that convicted had its mind made up from the get go. The kangaroo court, presided over by idiots and partisans, does not know the meaning of justice. The trial, the conviction, and now the sentencing of Saddam Hussein has further made a mockery of every ideal that the US has said it upholds.

What a kangaroo court! What a travesty of justice! What a farce! What biased justices!

I know of at least one would-be world dictator who has blood on his hands, who has flouted international law, who has cynically used up for venal ends the lives of US soldiers. Why has he not been charged, arrested, tried and sentenced? Bush, rather, has proven Hermann Goering correct; Saddam`s trial is mere victor`s vengence; it is NOT justice. And proving Goering correct should be, in itself, a heinous crime.

I still support the ideals of Nuremberg. And may a dank cell await EVERY war criminal --not just those disliked by oil barrons like Bush. Sen. Chris Dodd, meanwhile, says that the US should withdraw from Iraq. See: Sen. Dodd argues for Iraq withdrawal DoDD, by the way, is the son of Thomas Dodd who help Justice Robert Jackson prosecute Nuremberg. See: Thomas J. Dodd Papers

Anonymous said...

An expose of just one of the Bush admin`s many memory holes:

Keeping Iraq attack numbers under wraps

Still another:

On the trail of the Taliban's support

Obviously, the Taliban was never really defeated. Bush blunders again...and lying about it.

You won`t hear the Bushies bragging about this one.

On the trail of the Taliban's supportSome 12,000 Iraqi policemen have been killed since the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the country's interior minister said Sunday, as "clashes, a suicide bomber and weekend explosions killed more than a dozen Iraqi officers and six American soldiers."

And on a completely different topic --it is not only Bush who has busy rewriting history, it`s also the Christian Right. Check out a recent issue of Harper`s. In a sentence, the RR is trying to write everyone else OUT of history. In their version, Thomas Jefferson`s "wall of separation" between church and state is but a "one way wall" from which the religious right can meddle and dominate the secular affairs of state but government may not prohibit them from doing so. God, of course, is on their side. See: How the Christian Right is Reinventing U.S. History, Harper`s, Dec 2006. Also see:
Why are atheists becoming revisionists? in which the recent religious fallacies with regard to our nation`s founding are thoroughly refuted. For example: "...the federal constitution is nonetheless quite secular." Another great source of refutation is E.L. Doctorow`s Jack London, Hemingway, and the Constitution: Selected Essays ...In his essay on the Constitution, Doctorow makes the irrefutable point that the Constition never uses the word "God". Nor does it use the name of any other deity. The US Constitution was and remains an utterly secular instrument.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the links, Len. I'll follow them up. I pointed previously to Peter Dale Scott's article about organised drug and arms trafficking with a company Far West having ties to Haliburton. Now Joseph Cannon has found links between Far West, and Alexander Litvinenko. (here and here) Mohammed Atta and Adnan Khashoggi are involved! There's a way to go on this but it is fascinating to note the essentially criminal nature of the upper echelons of US and Russian politics.

Anonymous said...

Sorry guys... corrected link here.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the links, Damien. I suggest that readers here follow them up. It is indeed, as you suggest, a tangled web.

More links. There`s more to Ford`s legacy than the Nixon Pardon, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. This link deals specifically with Ford`s personal involvement with what remains, arguably, the most blatant cover up and white wash in history: The Warren Commission Report. Here`s the link from Attytood: Gerald Ford's other contribution to American history: The single bullet theory .

An excerpt: "In the non-stop roller coaster ride that is the media's coverage of the death of Gerald Ford, our 38th president, it is amazing what still gets left behind. For example, this interesting post shows how Ford -- overridden, thank God -- vetoed the Freedom of Information Act, at the urging of three guys who you may have heard of, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Antonin Scalia.

But amazingly. not one article has mentioned the contribution of Gerald Ford that still resonates today, more so than his "Whip Inflation Now" buttons or his military triumph over Cambodia. It was ultimately Ford's handiwork, on the 1964 Warren Commission, that gave us the single bullet theory, the last line of defense for the belief that President John F. Kennedy had been killed not by a conspiracy, but by a lone nut.

To be sure, as most Pennsylvanians, Attytood readers and Oliver Stone fans
know, it was another prominent politician, Sen. Arlen Specter, a staff attorney for the Warren Commission, who developed the idea -- also known as "the magic bullet" -- that one bullet caused seven different wounds in the president and Texas Gov. John Connally and still ended up on a hospital stretcher in pristine condition. If Kennedy and Connally had been struck by separate bullets, there would not have been enough time for just one gunman to have fired all of the shots in Dealey Plaza that day."

Because of the GOP the old scandals are covered up or spun while new ones are spawned. There is a body of evidence to indicate that Bush and Blair deliberately schemed to make legal --after the fact --the aggressive war against Iraq. The following link, however, may be as close to a smoking gun as one is likely to find: Ministers were told of need for Gulf war ‘excuse’.

An excerpt:

"MINISTERS were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a way of making it legal.

The warning, in a leaked Cabinet Office briefing paper, said Tony Blair had already agreed to back military action to get rid of Saddam Hussein at a summit at the Texas ranch of President George W Bush three months earlier.

The briefing paper, for participants at a meeting of Blair’s inner circle on July 23, 2002, said that since regime change was illegal it was “necessary to create the conditions” which would make it legal.

This was required because, even if ministers decided Britain should not take part in an invasion, the American military would be
using British bases. This would automatically make Britain complicit in any illegal US action."

My own comment on the "single bullet" theory: utter nonsense!! Anyone who has seen the Zapruder film must conclude that the fatal bullet came from the front. See frame 313! So much for the Warren report. Posner tried to explain frame 313 away by claiming a "jet effect" caused by an exiting bullet caused JFK`s head to fall backward. Nonesense! Anyone who has ever shot anything --animal or human --knows that whatever is shot falls away from the source of the shot.

Moreover, there are to be found on the internet, aerial black and white photos of Dealy Square on November 22, 1963. A couple of observations. Oswald never had a clear shot. By the time JFK was hit by the fatal bullet on frame 313, Oswald`s view of JFK was almost completely obscured; he did not have a clear shot. Secondly, by that time, he was perhaps three times the distance from JFK than would have been a shooter firing from behind the picket fence on the grassy knoll. Check out frame 313. There is no jet effect as Posner had said. JFK has slumped forward before the fatal shot on frame 313. The head is driven backward by the dramatic and gory hit on frame 313.

JFK was murdered. The idea that it was the work of a lone hit man is absurd and just downright stupid.

SadButTrue said...

Amazing that they would even try to sell something as clearly poppycock as the Magic Bullet Theory, as divorced from common sense as the virgin birth and God creating the universe in seven days. I was convinced by Zapruder as well, and the fact that the rifle supposedly used had an inconveniently long cycle time from taking one shot to chambering another round and being ready to fire again. That didn't even take into account the added time needed to reaquire the target and take aim. I believe the fatal shot was probably fired at close range from a pistol disguised by the CIA to look like a movie camera. The shots fired by Oswald were just to get everybody either ducking for cover or looking the other way.

Anonymous said...

Indeed, sad! The assassination of JFK was clearly the beginning of the weird stuff for America. Nixon`s resignation --back in the news with Ford`s passing --was another watershed event. The cast of characters around both events is very, very weird and beyond coincidence. Without going into the specifics of multifarious conspiracy theories, it is fair to conclude that the right over the years became increasing reactionary, leaning more and more toward totalitarianism and the dicatatorship of the corporate state. Magic bullet and jet effects, my ass!

Anonymous said...

As I write this, various news outlets are saying that the Americans have already turned Saddam over for an "imminent" execution. It`s hard to imagine how executing anyone convicted by a kangaroo court advances the cause of justice. It`s hard to imagine how anything good can come of this travesty of a "trial". There may have been a legitimate case against Saddam. There may have been legitimate accusations. But they were not heard in this court where the rules of evidence clearly did not apply, where the presumption of innocence was abandoned, where defense objections were dismissed out of hand, where the fix was in.

From Information Clearing House:

"Saddam Hussein was a secular leader and a staunch friend of India, who consistently supported India on Kashmir and other issues. US corporate and British government media outlets have already tried to convict Saddam by playing up the Halabja massacres and other accusations which are not even part of this trial. When unsubstantiated allegations were made that Iraq was behind the plot to kill former US President George H.W Bush in Kuwait , father of the current US President in 1993 , President Bill Clinton had hit Iraq with missiles. Why no charges against him!"

Swiss legal expert Prof Marc Henzelin, Professor of international law at Geneva University had declined to defend Saddam Hussein. He put it this way in the same article: "Wonderful material for a US television series but nothing to do with a fair trial. I think it is all about justifying the United States' invasion of Iraq and to string Saddam Hussein up sooner rather than later without asking too many questions.”

The nature of the war --called illegal by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan --raises doubts about the legitimacy of Saddam`s trial itself --let alone the suspicious conduct of it. When Saddam --guilty or not --is executed by the illegitimate government of Jawad al Maliki, the US will have committed another war crime in a string of war crimes not matched since Adolph Hitler.

Is subverting the very concepts of western justice what Bush meant when he said that we were fighting for Democracy in Iraq? Of the many lies told by Bush to justify his war of naked aggression, this must surely be the most egregrious. America, under Bush`s criminal regime, proves itself not merely incapable but unwilling to support the very ideals of our founding.

Anonymous said...

From an excellent article by Robert Fisk:

"what about the other guilty men?"

"No, Tony Blair is not Saddam. We don't gas our enemies. George W Bush is not Saddam. He didn't invade Iran or Kuwait. He only invaded Iraq. But hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians are dead - and thousands of Western troops are dead - because Messrs Bush and Blair and the Spanish Prime Minister and the Italian Prime Minister and the Australian Prime Minister went to war in 2003 on a potage of lies and mendacity and, given the weapons we used, with great brutality."

"In the aftermath of the international crimes against humanity of 2001 we have tortured, we have murdered, we have brutalised and killed the innocent - we have even added our shame at Abu Ghraib to Saddam's shame at Abu Ghraib - and yet we are supposed to forget these terrible crimes as we applaud the swinging corpse of the dictator we created."

"Who encouraged Saddam to invade Iran in 1980, which was the greatest war crime he has committed for it led to the deaths of a million and a half souls?"

The hypocrisy referred to by Fisk is nothing less than Herman Goering`s "victor`s justice"! Bush is Goering`s vengence, proving the cynical position that only the strong can proscecute the defeated while the strong escape prosecution for having committed the same crimes.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Talk about an amazing justice system we've just exported to Iraq!
Instead of waiting for all the cases against Saddam Hussein to be finalized and wrapped before carrying any sentencing,
Saddam Hussein is quickly executed for the case in which he ordered the execution of 148 Shiites... leaving the Anfa case unresolved and finalaly close forever. This is the case where Saddam gassed Kurdes with American made weapons, with the green light of Papa Bush.
Ooooh, that would be too much to disclose in the front of the world's camera! Quick: let's hang him before he can slip something devastating to the Bush Family!

Trust me: History books will notice.

And also, my cartoon (and article) blog address has changed:
My blog is now called "Bouche a Bush" at:
http://boucheabush.blogspot.com/

Thank you for paying a visit there!

And happy new year to you all.

Anonymous said...

Dante, you are correct. Bush brought SOMETHING to Iraq ...but it was not justice nor was it Democracy. The fix was in. A dead Hussein cannot further implicate the Bush crime family and the various American oil "capitalists". Clearly --things in Iraq are worse under Bush than under Saddam, where, at least, there was water and lights. As I recall, most people could go to work without fearing being shot dead or blown up in the streets.

You are correct, Dante. The history books have already noticed. Bush hopes to salvage his dubious legacy with a "surge". The "surge", however, will confirm the verdict that`s already. Bush is a war criminal who has himself escaped prosecution because he is protected by a modern day Praetorian guard. Part of Bush`s horrible legacy is that while subverting American democractic ideals, i.e. those of our founders, he has vindicated a notorious Nazi: Hermann Goering.

In the meantime, the execution of Saddam Hussein has proven to the Sunnis that Bush has already taken sides in the civil war that the Bush has denied is going on. It can only make matters worse by further exacerbating the sectarian nature of Irai violence. Moreover, efforts by the right wing to blame Iraqis is not merely ludicrous and stupid, it`s a cynical, right wing spin not based on fact. It is the ghost of of Karl Rove, typical of the right wing "blame the victim" mentality that has all but poisoned American politics. Iraqi citizens did not ask America to bomb the hell outo f them, destroy their infrastrusture, poison the water supply, loot the museum, and, in other ways, murder at least 600,000 civilians in a war of naked aggression.

check out Psychiatrist says Bush needs to be impeached for the good of "we the people"..

Also --do a google and check out the comments of Zbigniew Brzezinski on CNN with Wolf Blitzer. Brzezinski says that Bush is delusional.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

WWJH?

Gracie said...

Hey Len,

Stopping by to wish you a Happy New Year! Be safe.

Peace!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, Gracie and Dante...

Here`s the correct link to: Ministers were told of need for Gulf war ‘excuse’ An excerpt:

"MINISTERS were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a way of making it legal."

The warning, in a leaked Cabinet Office briefing paper, said Tony Blair had already agreed to back military action to get rid of Saddam Hussein at a summit at the Texas ranch of President George W Bush three months earlier."

The briefing paper, for participants at a meeting of Blair’s inner circle on July 23, 2002, said that since regime change was illegal it was “necessary to create the conditions” which would make it legal."

In other words, Bush and Blair are war criminals. These violations of the Nuremberg Principles are prohibited by US Codes, Section 2441 which prescribes the death penalty for war crimes resulting in death.