Barefoot And Naked

Are they F&$%ing Kidding Me?

Apologies to Jon Stewart for stealing his line, but take a look at this section of the recently released 8/6 PDB:

Text of Aug. 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing

We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a xxxxxxxxxx service in 1998 saying that Bin Ladin wanted to hijack a US aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Shaykh" 'Umar 'Abd al-Rahman and other US-held extremists.

Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

Despite this warning, nothing was done.

As many goper shills are pointing out, the PDB does not call for any action by Bush. That's a damn good point, and raises some damn good questions. Why wasn't anybody in the Bush white house making recomendations? A lot of people in the security business see these PDBs, why did noone make any recommendations? Did every singly one of them think this was unimportant?

Why didn't Bush ask for something to be done? Why didn't Bush ask why nobody - not one single person - in his administration had any ideas about what to do about a known terrorist "Determined to Strike in US?"

Are You F&$%ing Kidding Me?

Easter Prayer

I am preparing to head to Good Friday services.

I will probably not post for the remainder of the weekend.

As I prepare for the Easter holiday, I am deeply troubled by what is happening in Iraq. Part of my observances will be fervent prayer, and I encourage any readers who are also religious to pray as well.

Dear Lord, grant your grace and protection to all of our soldiers in Iraq. Keep them safe, and grant comfort to their families. Grant your wisdom to President Bush and our leaders that they may guide our nation through this troubled time; that the current situation in Iraq not deteriorate, but improve. Let peace prevail, for the sake of the Iraqis, that a free and democratic society can be established; and for the sake of the world that terrorism cannot flourish.

To my Christian siblings, have a safe and blessed Easter. To my Jewish siblings, have a safe and blessed Passover. To my Muslim siblings, may the Allah bless you and keep you safe. To everyone else, have a safe and wonderful weekend.

Cracking Terorist Cells

Orcinus linked to a very very good article on the thwarting of the Millenium terrorist plot.

His post details the differences in the way the Bush and Clinton teams dealt with threats. One chilling passage he cites is this:

Condi, Clarke and the Millennium Plot

FBI agents in Minneapolis had questioned Moussaoui on Aug. 15 and asked to read files on his laptop computer. He refused to let them.

The agents needed probable cause to persuade a judge to issue a search warrant to seize the laptop. They contacted Ghimenti in Paris, asking him to find out what the French intelligence service might have on Moussaoui.

From the French, Ghimenti obtained a substantial dossier: The French had been tracking Moussaoui since 1995. He had links to al-Qaida. He had journeyed to Afghanistan several times and had trained at a terrorism camp.

Ghimenti passed the information along to Coleen Rowley, chief division counsel in the Minneapolis FBI office, and it went to the counterterrorism section at headquarters.

Rowley and other Minneapolis agents were convinced Moussaoui was a terrorist threat. So was the veteran Ghimenti. But for reasons still unclear, the counterterrorism section in Washington would not seek the warrant.

[Emphasis Added]

The entire post, as well as the Seattle Times article are worth reading.

As I went through the Times article, one other passage stuck out at me:

The Seattle Times: The Terrorist Within

Ressam confided to his lawyers that he had found the trial surprisingly fair. The judge had treated him respectfully. The experience was not at all what he expected of the country he had been taught to hate.

Ressam also told Oliver he was unsure of the morality of his plan to massacre innocent holiday travelers. He said he needed to study the Quran to see if he had misunderstood passages.

So when Justice Department lawyers offered a deal to reduce his sentence, Ressam was ready to listen. The terms were simple: His minimum sentence would be cut in half, to 27 years. In return, he had to testify against an associate, Mokhtar Haouari, and others. He had to reveal all he knew about al-Qaida's” plots, training, tactics.

Ahmed Ressam became a terrorist turncoat.

Essentially, the US was able to get information out of the suspect, Ressam, because of the integrity of our legal system. We treated Ressam like an American and tried him in the US legal system. The fairness of that system is what convinced him to provide evidence.

Just one more thing to think about when one considers the Bush administration's intention to try such suspects in military tribunals instead.

The Future of Iraq

...it would be the most significant failure of US foreign policy EVER. Think: North Korea with oil money and a pathological desire to attack America.

A US pull-out is not in our interests at this point because the resulting power-vacuum will allow terrorist groups like Al Qaeda the opportunity to flourish where they were unable to do so prior to the invasion. On top of that, the arms, material and expertise formerly employed by the Baathist regime would also be available to these terrorists.

Terrorist groups flourish in places without an effective rule of law. Sudan and Afghanistan in the late ‘90s are prime examples. Combine a lawless Iraq, the out of work Iraqi scientists, and the remaining Iraqi industrial infrastructure with the organization of Al Qaeda, and we will have created exactly the destabilizing terrorist threat we allegedly went to war to destroy.

Let us set aside the question of who and what got us here, and look at what options are available to the US right now. I think there are three outcomes worth investigating here: Democratic Iraq, Theocratic Iraq, and Civil War Iraq.

Civil War Iraq

This is the likeliest outcome should the US abruptly pull out. It is also a possibility even if we stay in. There is the possibility that US military action against the radical factions could rally the population around them. This is essentially what happened to the French in Algeria - which was highlighted by the film The Battle for Algiers. Incidentally, the US Army is very concerned about this. They even went so far as to screen the film for its field commanders. The US Military and civilian leadership needs to be very careful in its response to attacks on US forces and “contractors” and not let the “kill ‘em all and let Allah sort it out” crowd decide our response.

In the Civil War scenario, the current violence perpetrated by extremist factions of the Shiite and Sunni groups escalates into a general uprising. The moderate (moderate is a relative term) Shiite factions, such as that led by Al-Sistani, begin an armed effort to take control of the country.

At first this would likely spark a bloody civil war primarily between Shiites and Sunnis. But the Kurds could easily take the opportunity to declare an independent state and begin an armed effort to consolidate control over the northern part of the country. Such a civil war would be very destabilizing in the region and could easily draw other countries such as Turkey, Iran and, God forbid, Pakistan into the conflict.

(Think about that last possibility for a moment. Pakistan has nuclear weapons. Should Pakistan be destabilized by this conflict, we could be looking at a source of nuclear expertise and materiel that could become available to terrorists.)

In such an environment, terrorist groups would thrive. The US would lose any credibility in the region - and by that I mean that anti-US forces would come to believe that the US is incapable of effectively prosecuting an asymmetric war against them. Whatever regime finally did establish itself would likely be both ideologically opposed to the US and unafraid of US military deterrence. Should this scenario come to pass, it would be the most significant failure of US foreign policy EVER. Think: North Korea with oil money and a pathological desire to attack America.

As much as I do want to see the US extricate itself from Iraq, this scenario needs to be avoided at all costs - and that means we have to stay in for now.

Letter From Iraq

Chris Lehman has posted a sobering letter from a friend serving as a "contractor" in Iraq.

It's today's must read.

A View from the Classroom -- Lehmann's Log: A Letter From Iraq

I know about the news. We need Collin Powell back in charge. Discipline is slipping in the forces and it reminds one of the Viet-Nam pictures of old. Instead of a professional military outfit here we have a bunch of cowboys and vigilantes running wild in the streets. The ugly American has never been so evident. Someone in charge needs to drop the hammer on this lack of discipline, especially that which is being hown by the Special Forces, security contractors, and "other government agencies". We won the war but that doesn't mean we can treat the people of this couotry with contempt and disregard with no thought to the consequences.

Check it out.

W is for Wonka

Too political to be a Brain Cracker, but this is funny in a hypnotically annoying way. Be sure to click "more" after the first song, because the Oompa Loompa song is the better of the two.

Work safe, unless you work for Gopers...

iwantitnow

Kerry Takes the Fight to Bush

Right on John!

Yahoo! News - Kerry: Iraq a Great Failure of Judgment

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) on Wednesday called the situation in Iraq (news - web sites) "one of the greatest failures of diplomacy and failures of judgment that I have seen in all the time that I've been in public life."

"Where are the people with the flowers, throwing them in the streets, welcoming the American liberators the way Dick Cheney (news - web sites) said they would be?" Kerry said in an interview with American Urban Radio Networks.

"Since I fought in Vietnam, I have not seen an arrogance in our foreign policy like this."

Check it out.

Iraqi Security Forces Refusing to Fight With U.S.

This is way beyond the scope of anything anybody who was talking about [an upsurge in violence] expected

War zones erupt again in Iraq

WASHINGTON – US officials warned for months that violence could rise in the weeks before the planned June 30 turnover of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government, as rival sectarian and political groups angled for power and extremists tried to disturb the installation of functioning institutions.
But what is sweeping over Iraq is different from anything the US had anticipated, experts say, both in intensity and in terms of who is doing the fighting - which increasingly appears to be a possible unifying of radical Sunnis and dispossessed Shiite factions.

As fighting blazes in various parts of Iraq and increasingly involves formerly quiescent groups, war has in fact roared back. With prospects for more violent conflicts eroding the envisioned scenario of Iraq's stabilization and orderly transition, a host of new political and military risks are cropping up for the Bush administration.

"This is way beyond the scope of anything anybody who was talking about [an upsurge in violence] expected," says Patrick Lang, a retired Defense Intelligence Agency officer who specialized in the Middle East.

Shiites taxing thin US forces | csmonitor.com

BAGHDAD - Until now, the US-led coalition plan for securing transitional Iraq had hinged on training new Iraqi forces. The coalition says it has 70,000 Iraqi police officers and 20,000 members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps equipped and on duty.

In February, Gen. Martin Dempsey, who is in charge of coalition troops in Baghdad, decided that Iraqis were ready to take over some security operations in the city. He began moving US troops from forward positions in Baghdad to bases on the outskirts of the city.

But reports are coming in from around the country that Iraqi security forces are refusing to confront the new challenges head on. Analysts now say the best military solution to the rising tide of Sunni and Shiite attacks - and unexpected alliances - is a major increase in US forces.

"We have to live here, so we're not going to go up against the Mahdi army [the militia loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr],'' says a detective at the Habibiya police station in Sadr City, who would only identify himself as Abu Kassem. "We're in an incredibly dangerous and difficult position."

The Habibya station was one of at least seven in Sadr City that surrendered to the Mahdi army last Sunday, and its stockpile of 80 AK-47 assault rifles was confiscated by Mr. Sadr's men. Now the Iraqi cops are unarmed, out of uniform, and determined to stay out of harm's way. "The Americans came here so they'll have to deal with it,'' says Abu Kassem.

----Snarky Aside
12 US Marines died in this fighting yesterday, but Glen Reynolds seems to think that a mere eight security "contractors" would have done a better job.
-----/Snarky Aside

The President's Applause Track

Keep in mind that Missouri, where Bush threw out the first pitch at the Cardinals home opener, is a battleground state....

STLtoday - News - Columnists

A somewhat hostile crowd complained mightily about the problems the presidential motorcade caused with regular fans trying to get into the park. A Cards employee tipped moi that the team was so concerned about Bush being booed that they piped in fake applause when he strode out to the mound.

Via Atrios.

Racist Anti-Immigrant Group Lies About Frost

Take action! Martin Frost needs money and support to counter this inaccurate and offensive media blitz by white supremacist hate groups! Please Donate or Volunteer!

Frost says Sessions should denounce immigration ads

The ads, which feature ominous photos of dark-skinned people, are not factually correct either. For example, CFAW cites H.R. 1684 and H.R. 3271 as sources for claims that the legislation would "import 250,000 more workers to take jobs and drive down wages." However the bills cited apply only to the legal status of immigrants already in the USA and their spouses and children.

(If you think reading congressional legislation is fun, here is the complete text of H.R. 1684 and H.R. 3271)

Pete Sessions has declined to distance himself from the Coalition for the Future American Worker despite the fact that CFAW receives a substantial portion of their funding from the Pioneer Fund, which the Southern Poverty Law Center categorizes as a white supremacist hate-group. Here is what SPLC says about Pioneer Fund:

With an original charter to pursue "race betterment" for those "deemed to be descended predominantly from white persons who settled in the original thirteen states prior to the adoption of the Constitution," the Pioneer Fund was founded in 1937 in New York.

Many involved in the early years of the fund, including its first president Harry H. Laughlin, maintained "contacts with many of the Nazi scientists whose work provided the conceptual template for Hitler's aspiration toward 'racial hygiene' in Germany," according to an Albany Law Review article by Paul Lombardo. In The Funding of Scientific Racism, scholar William Tucker reveals how Pioneer board members and grantees sought to block the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

In recent decades, the Pioneer Fund has funded most American and British race scientists, including a large number cited in The Bell Curve. According to Barry Mehler, the leading academic critic of the fund, these race scientists have included Hans Eysenck, Robert A. Gordon, Linda Gottfredson, Seymour Itzkoff, Arthur Jensen, Michael Levin, Richard Lynn, R. Travis Osborne, Roger Pearson, J. Philippe Rushton, William Shockley and Daniel R. Vining Jr.

Last year, Rushton became the fourth president of the fund. He disavows the terms "inferior" and "superior" but, as psychologist Andrew S. Winston points out, Rushton has produced a chart in which blacks "are said to have, on average, smaller brains, lower intelligence, lower cultural achievements, higher aggressiveness, lower law-abidingness, lower marital stability and less sexual restraint than whites, and the differences are attributed partially to heredity."

Pioneer grantees have also included white supremacist Jared Taylor. According to Hold Your Tongue, a book by education expert James Crawford, the Pioneer Fund also "aided the Institute for Western Values — the same group Cordelia May [Scaife, sister of Richard Mellon Scaife] paid to distribute [the racist book] The Camp of the Saints — in publishing the autobiography of Thomas Dixon," whose racist novels helped spark the Klan's rebirth in 1915.

Pioneer also has given grants to the American Immigration Control Foundation*, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, Roger Pearson's Institute for the Study of Man, Jared Taylor's New Century Foundation* and Project USA, an anti-immigration group run by a FAIR board member.

Pete Sessions has declined to distance himself from the Coalition for the Future American Worker despite the fact that their website links to American Immigration Control [Foundation], another group that has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Here is what SPLC says about American Immigration Control Foundation:

The American Immigration Control Foundation, founded in 1983, has been headed since 1990 by John Vinson, a conspiracy-oriented Christian nationalist. Vinson wrote the AICF-published Immigration and Nation: A Biblical View, in which he claims that it is against God's will to weaken the "divinely unique" character of every nation.

In the case of America, Vinson makes clear in the booklet, that character belongs to English-speaking white Anglo-Saxon Protestants. In fact, Vinson attacks Catholics who came to America in the 19th century, claiming that because they did not understand God's plan, they foolishly supported a strong federal government and high taxes.

He says that assimilating "the races of the world" is "an impossible task," and argues that current immigration patterns may "destroy our nationhood." Vinson also attacks the "spiritual Balkanization" he says immigration of non-Christians promotes.

Closely tied to AICF is the lobbying group Americans for Immigration Control*, publisher of the newsletter Immigration Watch and distributor of an array of anti-immigrant books including the grotesquely racist French novel, The Camp of the Saints.

Bush Blames Iraq Problems on Clinton

Okay, he hasn't really blamed Clinton.... Yet.

However, I have been writing over the last few weeks about how badly Bush handled the planning for Iraq. His deputies kept telling us we would not need very many troops in the country to maintain the occupation - a word they steadfastly avoided using then and still avoid now.

Billmon has assembled a very nice selection of quotations that elaborate on this theme. It is today's must read article:

Whiskey Bar: Boots Per Square Inch

Let me also say that I enjoy making fun of W as much as the next blogger, but we need to keep in mind where the buck stops. George W. Bush is the Commander in Chief. Any error in judgement regarding troop levels are his responsibility.

As much as he avoids taking responsibility (blaming Clinton for the economy, or Democrats for his failure to pass an energy plan while his party controls both houses), he cannot escape this one.

The blame for over-ruling the military's request for more troops is his. The blame for believing his own hype about how Iraqis would lay palm branches beneath US feet as we entered the cities is his.

(Come to think of it, the palm branch analogy is a good one, because in the biblical reference the same people who laid the branches then turned on the honoree)

According to news reports today 12 or more US Marines have been killed just today in fighting with those who Cheney said would welcome us as liberators.

Not only was Bush's planning seriously flawed, he just won't take responsibility for it - and that is really infuriating. It's time for Bush to be a leader and take responsibility for this mess - but he won't because he is a coward and a fake.

NCAA Hoops Contest

Well, the winner of the first annual BAN Hoops contest was Texas Blogger Antinome, who was the only participant to correctly pick UConn as the winner. As the winner, Antinome will receive the grand prize: a John Kerry for President cap.

For the record, yours truly came in second, and Bob-Harry finished tied for third with Kuff reader, and Texas Blogger, Pete of A Perfectly Cromulent Blog.

Kuff managed to demonstrate his in-depth knowledge of baseball by finishing third from the bottom - that's 7 out of 9 for those who care.

Thanks for playing, and thanks for reading.

NOTE: Antinome, in order to claim your prize, please contact me at the address listed at the top right of the blog - the address you provided to yahoo does not work, and you do not provide an email address at your blog.

The Cynical Politics of Deaths in Iraq

Kos made some comments about the deaths of U.S. mercenaries in Iraq that has touched off a tempest in a teapot. As a result, the right has been howling with cynical indignation designed to paint liberals as uncaring about the fate of US soldiers and citizens in Iraq.

Several other bloggers have already commented on this: Stoller (whose comments are particularly good), Max, and Kuff - to name but a few.

The comments from the right are cynical because they avoid the real issue: Bush prevented the military from prosecuting the war and the occupation with sufficient troops to maintain a stable environment.

War is hell, and people die horrible deaths, as did the four U.S. mercenaries (we call them "contractors" when they are on our payroll) in Iraq last week. These men did not deserve this death, but the blame for the deteriorating situation which allowed their deaths can be laid squarely at the feet of George Bush. If the Army had been allowed sufficient troops, as General Shinseki wanted, then we would probably have a much more stable situation. While it is conceivable that unfortunate deaths such as these would still occur, they would be a lot less likely.

But then, the right doesn't really care about policy or strategy, they are only concerned with lowering Kerry's approval ratings enough to maintain the current regime in Washington.

Kerry, unfortunately, played into their hands by de-linking Kos in the face of this cynical, right wing snit. This was a mistake. Not only did Kerry implicitly validate their claims, he also sent the message that his campaign is somehow connected with Kos' blog. This action will lend credence to the goper charge that Kerry's campaign is coordinating with liberal blogs and with the independent Democratic 527 committees.

Here is my suggestion for what the Kerry should announce, and if his speech writers are reading this, they can use it without attribution:

Earlier this week, my campaign de-linked Kos over some insensitive remarks he made on his website. I don't agree with his opinion, but believe that he has a right to express it.

Kos has served his country in the armed forces, and, like me, is dedicated to restoring honesty, integrity, and responsibility to our government. On the whole, I think his writing has been a force for good - and I have directed my staff to re-link his site.

More importantly, Kos is not affiliated with my campaign. I do not believe it is my job to police every single website on the internet, nor is it my responsibility to force all of my supporters to conform exactly to my position. My campaign can tolerate differences of opinion among our supporters.

I care about the fate of all Americans, and as President, I will work to ensure the safety of every person in Iraq. The real issue is why the security situation has deteriorated so badly in Iraq. I believe that President Bush made a serious error by not allowing the Army the troops they wanted to ensure a safe and stable occupation. If elected, I will offer more than expressions of sympathy and outrage - I will take actions to ensure the safety of our troops and civilians.

That's what this election is about: Correcting the mistakes that left our troops in such a dangerous situation; correcting the mistakes that have saddled our children with record deficits and debt; and taking actions to secure the physical safety of our troops; and taking actions to secure economic safety of our citizens. Every person who wants to work toward a truly secure America is welcome in my campaign, and together we can create a better, more secure America.

Thanks you.

Update:

Jeff Seeman has the response I so wish Kerry would have taken. I also see Billmon is very disheartened by Kerry's response. If Kerry wants to keep his base - and build on it - he needs to take the fight to Bush and the right and not back down.

Jeff Seemann For U.S. Representative

Our campaign has decided that because of the recent events we will step in and advertise on www.dailykos.com. We have made this decision for two reasons:

1) We firmly believe in the First Amendment and everyone's right to say whatever he or she chooses on their own website.

2) We refuse to allow our campaign to be bullied by the right wing like they bullied Kos' previous advertisers.