Scott McClellan: Bush Misled Americans In Order to Go to War

The time has come to indict George W. Bush for murder. One suspects McClellan is setting himself up to 'cop a plea'. Certainly, Bush should be indicted for capital crimes, namely, the waging of naked aggression from which deaths resulted. Bush must have known he was subject to prosecution [See: US Codes, Title 18, Section 2441] Otherwise, he would not have given John Yoo and Alberto Gonzales their marching orders: make war crimes legal!

WASHINGTON — Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated "political propaganda campaign" led by President Bush and aimed at "manipulating sources of public opinion" and "downplaying the major reason for going to war."

McClellan, 40, includes the charges in his book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," that delivers a harsh look at the White House and the man he served for close to a decade. He describes Bush as demonstrating a "lack of inquisitiveness," says the White House operated in "permanent campaign" mode and says he was deceived by some in the president's inner circle about the leak of a CIA operative's name.

He accuses former White House adviser Karl Rove of misleading him about his role in the CIA case. He describes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as being deft at deflecting blame and calls Vice President Dick Cheney "the magic man" who steered policy behind the scenes.

McClellan, who was a tight-lipped defender of administration aides and policy, stops short of saying Bush purposely lied about his reasons for invading Iraq, writing that he and his subordinates were not "employing out-and-out deception" to make their case for war.

But in one chapter, "Selling the War," he alleges that the administration repeatedly shaded the truth and that Bush "managed the crisis in a way that almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option."

McClellan resigned from the White House on April 19, 2006, after nearly three years as Bush's press secretary.

Michael D. Shear, Ex-aide Scott McClellan says Bush misled the US on war

It was several years ago the so-called Lancet study estimated Iraqi civilian deaths as a result of Bush's war at about 655,000. An estimate as of this week is some 1.2 million! Under law, EACH death is one count of murder in the indictment that should be forthcoming against those who would defraud a nation, the world in order to wage a war whose true purpose was the theft of oil.

I've been saying this for years and taking the heat when idiots --inspired by Fox and Limbaugh --were burning Dixie Chick CDs and waving flags from an SUV. Chicken hawks! Lately, I've gotten a lot of support.

George Bush lied to the American public in starting his war with Iraq is that the liberal columnists who have accused him of doing this merely make this point, and then go on to the next paragraph in their columns.

Only very infrequently does a columnist add that because of it Bush should be impeached. If the charges are true, of course Bush should have been impeached, convicted, and removed from office. That's almost too self-evident to state. But he deserves much more than impeachment.

I mean, in America, we apparently impeach presidents for having consensual sex outside of marriage and trying to cover it up. If we impeach presidents for that, then if the president takes the country to war on a lie where thousands of American soldiers die horrible, violent deaths and over 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians, including women and children, even babies are killed, the punishment obviously has to be much, much more severe.

That's just common sense. If Bush were impeached, convicted in the Senate, and removed from office, he'd still be a free man, still be able to wake up in the morning with his cup of coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice and read the morning paper, still travel widely and lead a life of privilege, still belong to his country club and get standing ovations whenever he chose to speak to the Republican faithful. This, for being responsible for over 100,000 horrible deaths?* For anyone interested in true justice, impeachment alone would be a joke for what Bush did.

--Vincent Bugliosi, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

With all due respect, Vince, regulars to this blog know that I've been making that case for years. Welcome to the club. Now --who will take this case to a Grand Jury? An indictment now would be timely.

Critics of 'conspiracy theories', just shut up! Labeling is no substitute for critical thinking skills. We are not talking about 'conspiracy theories'. We're talking about the hard evidence --admissible in court --that will get the arch criminal George W. Bush indicted, tried, convicted and sentenced for the crime of mass murder!

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Evidence That Bush Will Cancel Elections & Declare Martial Law

A 'national emergency' will provide Bush the raw power he needs to cancel the elections and hold on to even greater executive power. Over the course of his criminal and illegitimate regime, George W. Bush has assumed powers that in cases of a 'national emergency' make of him an absolute ruler beyond the powers of the Congress or the Courts. It has all been locked up rather neatly and planned well in advance. A 'decider' by self-proclamation, Bush conveniently 'decides' what is and what is not a 'national emergency. He is the sole arbiter.

The 'mechanism' by which Bush consolidates all his power is called Executive Directive 51 [See: White House, National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/NSPD 51 ]. Signed into law on May 4, 2007, it specifies the 'procedures' to be taken in the wake of a 'catastrophic emergency' --'any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions'.

The Bush administration is prepared to move upon the slightest pretext. What is called the 'TOPOFF' exercise 'games' a Code Red alert. An "actual terrorist attack" of the type envisaged under TOPOFF 3 leads to a Code Red Alert, creating conditions for the suspension of civilian government.

If we simply go to red ... it basically shuts down the country.

--Tom Ridge, CBS News Interview, December 2003

The 'civilian government' would be closed down, taken over by an Emergency Administration.

Long before Bush had signed the measure, FEMA had begun the construction of a 'gulag archipelago' of FEMA concentration camps that were most certainly built with this outcome in mind. They are complete and await a first train load of domestic victims of Bush's Fourth Reich.

Fema: Concentration Camps or Death Camps?

At hearings of a congressional sub-committee in New Orleans, FEMA official Glenn Cannon acknowledged that it had been considering the use of trains to transport large numbers of people to camps and various locations around the United States. The revelation was ominous as this use of trains is associated with Adolph Hitler's hellish Third Reich. The camps and the mass transportation of people to them is a cornerstone in Bush's elaborate and detailed preparations for a declaration of martial law. To every citizen of the US --whether incarcerated in a hellish concentration camp or not --the declaration of martial means but one thing: an absolute dictatorship!

The various scenarios have main points in common: Bush will, upon any pretext, declare a national emergency, cancel the elections, and impose martial law. With martial law comes absolute power, a ruthless crack down on dissent, mass arrests and mass incarcerations. A 'pre-text' is never an obstacle to would-be dictators. With the Reichstag Fire, Hitler proved that 'pretexts' are easily manufactured.

The most likely and most obvious scenario has already been run up the flag pole by GOP's un-official propaganda minister --Rush Limbaugh. What Limbaugh has in mind is a classic Nazi tactic: a riot by agent provocateurs for which 'liberals' and Democrats will be blamed. If the riots are violent, Bush will cite them as the only pretext he will need to declare 'martial law' and, having already placed himself in charge of 'emergency planning', Bush will have completed his coup d'etat. In a state of 'emergency', he will cancel the elections and rule by decree.

One can be certain that if Democrats will not provide Bush the pretext he needs to declare martial law, the GOP will do it themselves and blame the 'left'. A clue to GOP thinking may be found in the history of the GOP convention in New York. Then Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge designated the GOP convention a 'national security special event'. As a result, the security operation was run by the US Secret Service. It took a 'zero tolerance' approach, meaning 'any protest' would be busted up. If Bush's future is on the line, you can count on the GOP to support even more drastic measures.

The 'election' of 2004 was but a harbinger of worse things to come. In a nation that claims to be 'of the people and for the people', a 13-block swath of New York City was closed off to the public. In 2004, the GOP needed only steal key precincts in one or two key states. While the nation escaped an outright declaration of martial law, it did not escape the Bush's continuing assault upon the Bill of Rights and the separation of powers.

In 2004, Democratic politicians issued stern warnings that demonstrators who wished to gather in Central Park avoid confrontations that would facilitate a GOP crack down or feed GOP efforts to 'whip up the right wing base'. Never-the-less, ham-fisted tactics by the Bloomberg administration were seen by many to be the main reasons for protest.

There were fears the election of 2004 would be canceled. For all the good they did, they might as well have been.

It's only reasonable to assume that as the prospects for a Democratic victory in November brighten, the countervailing prospects for a manipulation of the electoral process grow simultaneously more ominous. So?. . . What do we do?

I think the answer is obvious, frankly, and organic. I propose a general strike, to begin immediately concurrent with the announcement of any cancellation, postponement and/or abridgment of the Presidential Elections scheduled for November 2, 2004; such strike to terminate when, and only when, elections are successfully completed and fairly counted.

If you work, simply don't go in. If you're a student, simply don't go to school. If you're a stay-at-home mom or dad, simply stay-at-home with your kids. Don't shop, don't drive, don't eat at restaurants. Don't do anything, except subsist. Unless another person's life is in your immediate professional hands, cease doing what you normally do until such time as the powers-that-be come to their senses and remember that whatever power they claim necessarily derives from the people.

--What to do if the election is cancelled or postponed, AudieMcCall

Keep in mind that the passage above was written before the elections of 2004. We know now that Bush stole 2004, as, in fact, he stole the White House with a felonious, riotous assault in Florida organized and paid for by the Bush for President campaign.

There is a greater chance that Bush will simply cancel the elections this time around. Bush doesn't have the luxury of stealing the election; his name will not be on the ballot. The US is caught in the circular logic by which the GOP/right wing justifies a panoply of atrocities. Having left the nation no peaceful means by which it might express the popular will, Bush will cite 'violence' as justification for even more extreme measures. This is the death cycle of Democracy.

Bush will need a 'riot' in order to declare martial law and will require martial law to justify his crackdowns on dissent and 'civil disturbance'. The right wing's relationship to dissent mirrors that of Bush's relationship to 'terrorism'. Bush, in fact, is nothing without terrorism and his policies can be shown to be the cause of it. Thus --he will and does manufacture it! [See: Terrorism is always worse under GOP regimes.]

Meanwhile, Bush pushes forward on a broad front --conducting 'martial law exercises', conveniently putting himself in charge of 'emergency planning'. Kellogg/Brown and Root has built a 'gulag archipelago' of concentration camps across America as Rush Limbaugh calls for 'riots' at the Democratic Convention.

Mark Crispin Miller: Endgame -- Bush & Cheney's desperate measures -Parts 1 and 2

The GOP, adrift since the end of the McCarthy era, nevertheless managed to hold on to power due to the timely assassinations of key Democratic leaders --primarily those named Kennedy, those of color, those who opposed a crooked establishment. LBJs decision not to seek a second term brought the 'Great Society' to an end. Jimmy Carter was effectively nullified with troubles in Iran and a GOP focus group word which stuck: 'stagflation'. In fact, Carter's economic record was better than ANY GOP President since World War II. The GOPs hold on power defies science and statistics. It is best explained by a few well-chosen words. 'Crookery' and 'thuggery' are among them.

By the time Bush Jr sought the White House, it was clear that the GOP needed an external threat equal to that of 'communism'. Wars on porn, drugs and Murphy Brown paled compared to the hysteria that could be fanned with something like 'communism'. The convenience and timing of 911 defies statistics. It remains yet another highly improbable 'catalyzing event' that had been wistfully desired by NEOCONS in the Project for the New American Century paper entitlted 'Rebuilding America's Defenses'.

Homeland security is one piece of a broader strategy [which] brings the battle to the enemy... But while one key to defense is offense, it is not the entirety of our security picture. For we also need a “defense in depth” as part of the strategic whole. That means even as we pursue terrorists overseas, we work at home to prevent infiltration by terrorists and their weapons; to protect our people and places if infiltration occurs; and to respond and recover if an attack is carried out. This is embodied in our strategy of building multiple barriers to terrorist attacks.

[Transcript of complete March 2005 speech of Secr. See:Michael Chertoff]

Thus, Bush will cite an 'external threat' as the pretext to assume the powers he needs and will use to wage war --not on terrorists --but upon dissent here at home. There is a word for this: tyranny!

Additional resource

• Ray McGovern | The Constitution: Checking a Would-Be King
• The Idiot Son of an Asshole

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Karl Rove: Best at the Worst

Karl Rove's reputation for 'slick' seems undeserved in retrospect. Rove, after all, had been the best at 'bad'. A sultan of slime, Rove has slipped-up on slick. Interviewed recently by ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Rove betrayed his guilt as he bungled his own tactics. Rove did a ham-fisted job of 'staying on message'. The maven of 'bridging' i.e, 'changing the subject' without appearing to be 'changing the subject', Rove just --flat out --changed the subject. A perpetrator of 'cover stories', Rove was caught flat-footed and stumbling.

When asked to explain himself in the light of day, as he was on This Week, Rove stumbled badly. His attempts to parse and twist words, so effective from behind the scenes in the Bush White House, don’t play as well when the heat’s on him.

Commenter: “By answering the imaginary question, Rove in no way answers the real one”

Stephanopoulos: You were subpoenaed this week by the House Judiciary Committee to give testimony on any involvement you may have had with the prosecution of the former Alabama Gov Don Seigleman. He’s claiming there was selective prosecution. He’s out on bail now, even though he was convicted. He says your fingerprints were all over it.

Here’s what the House report said. It said, ‘In May, 2007, a Republican attorney from Northern Alabama named Jill Simpson wrote an affidavit stating that in November, 2002 she heard a prominent Alabama Republican operative named Bill Canary say that Karl Rove had contacted the Justice Department about bringing a prosecution of Don S. The question for Mr. Rove is whether he directly or indirectly discussed the possibility of prosecuting Don Siegelman with either the Justice Department or Alabama Republicans.’ Did you?

Rove: Let me say three things. First of all, I think it’s interesting, everybody who was supposedly on that telephone call that Ms. Simpson talks about says that the call never took place.

Stephanopoulos: Although she’s produced a cell phone record, according to the committee.

Rove: Well, I would say three things. First of all, uh, I learned about the Don Siegelman prosecution by reading about it in the newspaper.

Second of all, this is really about a constitutional question of separation of powers. Congress, the House Judiciary Committee, wants to be able to call presidential aides, on its whim, up to testify, violating the separation of powers. Executive privilege has been asserted by the White House in a similar instance in the Senate. It will be probably asserted very quickly in this, in the House.

Third, the White House, has agreed — I’m not asserting any personal privilege. The White House has offered, and my lawyer’s offered, several different ways in which, if the House wants to find out information about this, they can find out information about this. And they’ve refused to avail themselves of those opportunities. We didn’t say, ‘Close off any option to do what else you want to do about this in the future.’ We said, ‘If you want to hear about this, let’s sit down and talk about this, and then if you, you know, you’re entitled to do what you want to do in the future.’ This is now tied up in court, it’s going to be tied up in court, and probably settled in court. And frankly, the House last week, you know, doing this is duplicating what the Senate’s already done. It’s already found its way into the courts.

Stephanopoulos: But to be clear, you did not contact the Justice Department about this case?

Rove: Uh, I read about — I’m simply going to say what I’ve said before, which is I found about Don Seigleman’s investigation and indictment by reading about it in the newspaper.

Stephanopoulos: But that’s not a denial.

Rove: Uh, I’ve uh, you know, uh, um, I read about it in the newspaper. You know, I read about, heard about it, learned about it for the first time by reading about it in the newspaper.

Stephanopoulos: Mr. Rove, thank you very much.

--Rove Shows His Hand — and His Guilt — in Siegelman Case, Pensito Review: Politics and Media

Why was Rove so feared? At the age of nine, Rove openly supported Richard Nixon and because of it, he got into a fight with a girl who beat him up! Perhaps trying to live that down, Rove took up less physical forms of political expression. His reputation as a 'master debater' goes back to his adolescence. He was elected president of the student council at Olympus High School in Salt Lake City and became 'skilled in debate'.

"I was the complete nerd. I had the briefcase. I had the pocket protector. I wore Hush Puppies when they were not cool. I was the thin, scrawny little guy. I was definitely uncool.

--Karl Rove

Hey, Karl! You still are! And you are also as guilty as sin.

Rove can be depended upon to take a low road. Addressing a fund-raiser in New York, Rove said:

Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.

In response, 'Families of September 11', demanded that Rove "stop trying to reap political gain in the tragic misfortune of others". But, in fact, Rove's career is built around that and every other vile and slimy GOP tactic. Rove may not be the source of every thing vile about the GOP, but the record puts Rove in association with the likes of Donald Segreti and Nixon's other 'dirty tricksters'. When it came to bad politics, Rove was simply the best of the 'rottenest'.

Red State Update: Sayonara Karl Rove

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