Is Anyone at Guantanamo Guilty?

The United States decided today to drop all charges against Captain James Yee, a Muslim chaplain who had ministered to "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo Bay. Yee was initially accused of espionage, but the charges were later lowered to mishandling classified information, adultery and pornography.

This comes just days after the release of 23 Afghan and four British detainees without the filing of any charges. You have to wonder how the Bush43 administration continues justifying imprisoning these 27 people for two years if after all that time they can't even convict on jaywalking charges. Or how many other prisoners are being detained even though there will never be charges filed, and how long they will be there.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller is the commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, and his rationale for not pursuing Yee further were spelled out by the Army in a statement.

From CNN: "Citing national security concerns that would arise from the release of the evidence, Miller decided to drop these charges," the Army said in a statement. "Miller made his decision after consultation with government lawyers and intelligence officials.."

The only evidence against Yee for the espionage or mishandling classified information charges came from a customs agent who said Yee was carrying a list of Guantanamo prisoners and interrogators when he arrived in Florida from Guantanamo in September.

So is it the prisoners or the interrogators that the army is trying to keep secret?

Quebec Court Approves Gay Marriage

Quebec's top court said that it's legal for same-sex couples to marry.

This follows Ontario and British Columbia's high courts' decision to allow gay marriage, as well. That means that, until the Canadian Supreme Court decides next year, half of Canada now lives in a world where men can marry men, women can marry women, and men and women can marry.

BushCheney Fundraising Reaches $170 million

George Bush has already raised $170 million to continue his right wing assault on the environment, civil liberties, proper use of the military, honesty and our country. Please find a few dollars to give to John Kerry and the Democratic Party to help them answer the charges of the GOP and their foot soldiers.

From the Associated Press: President Bush's fund-raising juggernaut has reached its goal of raising $150 million to $170 million, a record campaign fortune Bush is starting to tap for ads costing millions of dollars.

Bush started March with $110 million in the bank to use against Democratic nominee-to-be John Kerry as Kerry emerged from the primaries. . .

As March began, Bush, with no GOP rival, had raised $159.4 million.

Kerry, emerging from the primaries with his campaign treasury largely spent, plans a 20-city fund-raising tour over the next few months and is aggressively pursuing donations over the Internet to try to counter Bush's fortune. Kerry hopes to hit about $105 million by his party's nominating convention, a total that would include about $80 million in contributions this year and about $25 million last year.

This is not only important because BushCheney is raising all this money, but because the President and Vice President are being used as draws to raise money for other candidates as well.

Same article: Bush is expected to assume a bigger role in the near future, and no one can raise money for the party and its candidates like the president: Bush raised a presidential record $136 million for fellow Republicans in the 2002 election.

So, please, find $10, $20, $50 or $100 to give to the John Kerry campaign and the Democratic National Committee to help elect Democrats to the White House, Senate and House of Representatives this fall.

BushCheney Sells Illegal Clothes

Taegan Goddard and Pandagon catch the BushCheney 2004 campaign selling fleece pullovers on their site that are made in Myanmar, the former Burma, and illegally imported into the United States.

From Newsday:The official merchandise Web site for President George W. Bush's re-election campaign has sold clothing made in Burma, whose goods were banned by Bush from the U.S. last year to punish its military dictatorship.

The merchandise sold on www.georgewbushstore.com includes a $49.95 fleece pullover, embroidered with the Bush-Cheney '04 logo and bearing a label stating it was made in Burma, now Myanmar. The jacket was sent to Newsday as part of an order that included a shirt made in Mexico and a hat not bearing a country-of-origin label.

Of course you would think that Bush43 would support the sale of such campaign items because he supports outsourcing of American jobs again, but as President he signed a law making such imports illegal.

Again from Newsday: Bush last July signed into law the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, saying "The United States will not waver from its commitment to the cause of democracy and human rights in Burma."

Violators of the import ban are subject to fines and jail, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

Oops.

The Rock on Why We Have Due Process for Criminals

One of the basic tenets of my beliefs on what kind of powers a government should have is that it should be granted no unnecessary powers I do not want to see in my worst enemy's hands.

I do not want government-sanctioned prayer in school, because I do not want Satanists -- should they ever become a majority in some school district -- telling Christian, Jewish and Muslim children how to pray. I do not believe in invasion of privacy without court review, because I do not want Nazis coming into my house without my permission even if I did nothing wrong.

Now the Rock, of professional wrestling (update) and movie fame, has perfectly and succinctly described this very philosophy in talking with Maxim Magazine.

"The idea of taking the law into your own hands is something that's always appealed to me. But I was arrested seven times before I was 18, so there were people who probably wanted to take the law into their own hands with me."

-- DWAYNE "THE ROCK" JOHNSON, star of the upcoming vigilante film remake "Walking Tall," in the April issue of Maxim magazine.

The Rock received due process when he was making mistakes, and because he wanted the protections it affords he would grant those same protections to others. Except, of course, in the movies.

Iraqi Reporters Walk Out on Colin Powell

Colin Powell visited Iraq today to mark the one year anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, and held a press conference to address new and lingering issues about the effort. Apparently the security and safety that is often trumpeted by the Coalition of the Willing is not readily evident to the journalists of that country.

From Reuters: Iraqi journalists walked out of a Baghdad news conference given by Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday in protest at lack of security and the killing of two Iraqi journalists by U.S. troops.

"We declare our boycott of the conference because of the martyrs," Najim al-Rubaie of Iraq's Distor newspaper said in a statement read at the start of the news conference as Powell and Iraq's U.S. governor Paul Bremer looked on.

"We declare our condemnation of the incident which led to the killing of the two journalists...who were killed at the hands of the American forces."

More than 30 Iraqi journalists then stood up and walked out.

Employees of Dubai-based satellite television channel Al Arabiya say U.S. soldiers opened fire on a car carrying an Arabiya crew on Thursday evening after another car ran through a checkpoint. Cameraman Ali Abdelaziz was killed and correspondent Ali al-Khatib died in hospital on Friday morning.

After the walkout, Powell said he respected the right of the journalists to express their feelings.

"It is something that would never have happened at an earlier time in the history of Iraq, certainly not in the last 30 years," he said.

This is a fantastic spin. The very people whose job it is to know the most about what is going on on the Iraqi street walk out of a press conference becuase the United States has not provided adequate security 11 months after our President said "Mission Accomplished," and the Secretary of State calls it evidence of the positive changes in Iraq!

No one ever said Colin Powell didn't have guts.

Another Bush Flip-Flop - Funding Iraq

Flip: Before the war, the Bush43 administration asserted that American tax payers would not have to foot the bill for the reconstruction of Iraqi, but that oil production would pay for these humanitarian projects.

From the Washington Post: On April 23, 2003, Andrew S. Natsios, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, laid out in a televised interview the costs to U.S. taxpayers of rebuilding Iraq. "The American part of this will be $1.7 billion," he said. "We have no plans for any further-on funding for this."

AP story: Wolfowitz told a House panel in March that Iraqi oil revenues could be between $50 billion and $100 billion in the next two years.

"We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon," Wolfowitz said in testimony March 27, a little more than a week after the war started.

Flop: The Bush43 administration has asked for $74.7 billion in March 2003, and an additional $87 billion in September 2003. According to the Christian Science Monitor, the costs for fiscal 2004 activities alone in Iraq are $281 for every man, woman and child in the United States. Sort of puts that $400 "tax break" Bush43 gave us in perspective.

When the $87 billion supplemental funding bill was passed last fall, Republican Senator and sponsor Senator Ben Nelson sent a press release that said:

The legislation provides $67 billion in funding for continuing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also provides $20 billion to rebuild Iraq.

That bill alone, which doesn't include the reconstruction portion of the initial $74.7 billion, already costs the American taxpayers $18.3 billion more than we were told by Natsios prior to the invasion.

The costs will increase, as well, as other countries such as Spain, Honduras and Nicaragua pull their troops out of Iraq, countries such as Poland question their future participation, and countries such as South Korea decide not to participate at all. Since we will not "cut and run" and no other country appears interested in helping defray the costs of the reconstruction, the American people will have to pay the freight for this loss of support.

Flip Flop: Bush43 says the American taxpayer will not be picking up the tab at the outset of the war a year ago, and now we are looking at more than a quarter of a trillion dollars already and no exit strategy or future costs estimates.

Doubling the Reward

Congress unanimously doubled the reward for capturing bin Laden to $50 million in an effort to capture the al Queda leader. I'm not sure that the difference between $25 million and $50 million is going to mean much of anything.

Would you cross the largest terror organization in the world for $50 million if you wouldn't do it for $25 million?

Wonkette Plays With Fundrace.org

Ever wonder whether those actors on the West Wing are actually Democrats or not? Well, Wonkette has done the work for you and dishes out the dirt on who they gave money to.

Bradley Whitford--$2,000 each to Dean, Kerry, Gephardt, and Clark (his wife, Jane Kaczmarek, has $2,000 each to Dean and Gephardt)

John Spencer--$2,000 to Gephardt

Martin Sheen--$2,000 to Gephardt (no gift listed for Dean, the candidate he stumped for extensively)

Joshua Malina--$2,000 to Gephardt

Thomas Schlamme (director/producer)--$2,000 each to Dean and Gephardt

Aaron Sorkin (writer/creator)--$2,000 each to Edwards, Clark, and Gephardt, $1,000 to Dean.

Allison Janney, Dule Hill, Janel Moloney, Richard Schiff, and Stockard Channing--No listed gifts

What is missing from this list, of course, is the only cast member to depart: Rob Lowe. I couldn't find anything on the fundrace.org site (though I couldn't find me, either, and I have given to two candidates) but I do remember Rob shilling for Arnold Schwarzenegger for Governor last fall.

Bush Flip Flop, Flippity Flop!

We all know that the BushCheney campaign is working hard to paint Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry as a Flip Flopper and the President as a steady hand in times of change.

Well, the Center for American Progress caught the President in a Flip Flop Flip today.

Flip: In February, Bush43 personally signed his name to a report that said the outsourcing of American jobs is good for the economy.

Flop: Later in February, Bush43 personally disavowed claims in the report issued under his signature that outsourcing of American jobs is good for the economy.

Flip: Bush43 sent Colin Powell to India this week to assure that country that he would work to stop legislation in the United States that would limit outsourcing of jobs to India. Powell said earlier this week that outsourcing was "just a fact of life on this 21st century, global economic environment in which we live."

McCain: Kerry Not Soft on Defense

Arizona Senator John McCain said that Democratic Senator John Kerry is being unfairly characterized by the BushCheney campagin as soft on defense issues on CBS's "The Early Show" and NBC's "Today Show" this morning.

Asked on NBC's "Today" if he thought Kerry was weak on defense, McCain said: "No, I do not believe that he is, quote, weak on defense" . . . When asked on "The Early Show" if Kerry's election would compromise national security, McCain responded: "I don't think that - I think that John Kerry is a good and decent man. I think he has served his country."

McCain also said that he doesn't like the current tone of the campaign.

"This kind of rhetoric, I think, is not helpful in educating and helping the American people make a choice," McCain said on "The Early Show" on CBS. "You know, it's the most bitter and partisan campaign that I've ever observed. I think it's because both parties are going to their bases rather than going to the middle. I regret it."

McCain is the Arizona chair of the BushCheney campaign. Ouch.

Mel Gibson Questions the Iraq War

Mel Gibson questions the Iraq War. That's right, the conservative, pre-Vatican II, darling of the religious right, director of the hugely popular The Passion told Sean Hannity that he is “having my doubts of late” about the Iraq War.

“"I am having my doubts, of late ... It’s all to do with these weapons that we can’t seem to find, and why did we go over there?” he asked.

Now we get to see how loved Gibson truly is by the religious right, which has almost unilaterally supported the war and unilaterally supported The Passion. I suspect that if Gibson keeps it up they will turn on him the way they have turned on the 9-11 families who opposed the use of images from the remains of the World Trade Center in ads for the BushCheney campaign.

He also said that Bush43 has done some good things. This proves that opponents of the Iraq War are not just anti-war or leftists or anti-American or crazy or Bush Haters. In fact, it means that rational people of all political, social and religious stripes can be opposed to the War in Iraq.

Maybe now we can stop the name calling about the war and have a real discussion about whether the Iraq War is really a part of the War on Terror, or it is a distraction which has allowed the Taliban and al Queda to reassemble after we had them in our sights in 2001 and 2002.

Thanks to Cosmic Iguana for the link to this one.

Welcome Conservababes!

Patridiot Watch has made it! A poster named ProudmemberVRWC on Conservababes has warned her colleagues to avoid the site. Yippee!

E-mail Proves White House Hid Medicare Costs

Here is the e-mail that proves Richard Foster – the White House actuary who determine the true cost of the Medicare bill that passed last fall – was threatened by both Jeffrey Flick and Tom Scully in order to keep the dollar cost secret from members of Congress who had requested it.

The email explicitly tells Foster not to give the information he had to anyone but Tom Scully, and then added, "The consequences for insubordination are extremely severe." Since we can be pretty sure that they weren't going to kill him, it is pretty likely that they were threatening his employment and/or career.

Following the GOP theft of Democratic legislators notes, the misinformation campaign to drive the country to war in Iraq, the outing of Valerie Plame as a CIA undercover asset, we now have more evidence that George Bush and his cronies will do anything to get their way regardless of facts, evidence or the truth.

Condoleezza Rice on Bush Failure to Use Predator Drones

Lisa Meyers interviewed Condaleezza Rice regarding the Bush43 administration's failure to use Predator drones in 2001 that had proven effective in finding Osama bin Laden in 2000.

Meyers asks the question that is missing from much of the coverage of this story:

Myers: But can you see how to the American people, here the Predator got us closer to bin Laden then we've ever been. Yet it stays parked for many, many months until it's too late.

Rice answers by saying that the September 11th attacks might have happened even if they had gotten bin Laden, but not why they stopped flying the missions at all.

Rice: Even if you'd been able to get Predator up, even if you'd— you'd been able to kill bin Laden, I think the assessment of the — the retrocycle intelligence was that it probably would not have prevented the attack on September 11th.

I understand that everybody would like to find what was the silver bullet that would have kept September 11th from happening. What we were doing in Afghanistan, the ability to fly Predator, the ability to fly armed Predator — an instrument that we all wanted very much was not going to stop the attacks of September 11th. Probably the only thing that wo — in retrospect, when you look back and you ask, "What was really the problem?" You look at the fact that — most of this plot was hatched early in 2001.

I agree that 9-11 might not have been stopped if bin Laden had been captured or killed, and even wrote that in my piece yesterday wondering if Al Gore would have continued flying the drones as Bush43 did not.

However, the Bush43 administration knew that al Queda was a threat to the safety and security of the United States and failed to use a tool that had proven able to keep track of its leader. There is no question in anyone's mind – regardless of the impact on 9-11 – that if we had captured or killed Osama bin Laden then the world and the United States would have been a safer place.

The new rationale for why the Iraq War was a net positive even though it was based on misinformation and a non-existent threat to the United States is that capturing Saddam Hussein made the world safer. Rice can't deny that if they had launched the drones and kept track of bin Laden it would have made it easier to capture or kill him, and made the world safer.

The incoming Republican administration knew that bin Laden was being successfully tracked by the Predator drones developed by the outgoing Democratic Clinton administration. They knew that bin Laden's terror network had attacked the United States in 1993 with the truck bombing at the World Trade Center. They knew that bin Laden's terror network had attacked the United States Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and killed 213 people in 1998. They knew that bin Laden's terror network had attacked the United States war ship USS Cole in December, 2000. They knew that no other threat to the United States was greater than al Queda and its leader Osama bin Laden.

Yet still the Bush43 administration refuses to answer the question: Regardless of whether capturing or killing bin Laden would have stopped 9-11, why did you stop flying the drones and keep track of the number one enemy of the United States?

Dean Launches Democracy for America

Thanks to Taegan Goddard: Howard Dean is launching his new organization today, calling it Democracy for America. Here's a little of the stated purpose of the new organization:

To defeat George Bush, the Democratic Party and its nominee must stand up strong for our principles, not paper over our differences with the most radical White House in our lifetime. We must directly expose the ways in which George Bush’s policies benefit the privileged and right-wing ideologues.

To win, we must confidently advance an agenda rooted in hope and real American values –opportunity, integrity, corporate responsibility, and community. People want back the country they believed in, a fair country where middle-class people could make a decent living and send their kids to college. That is not only the right way to take on George Bush; it is also the most effective way to succeed with voters who might be tempted to support independent or third-party candidates.

$10 Million in 10 Days for John Kerry

As we have all seen, John Kerry is under a concerted attack from the right wing nuts not for his policies, but for slips of the tongue. The BushCheney machine isn't talking about the failures of the Iraq War to stop terror, three years of economic decline or their assault on environmental protection. They can't focus on this, because when their record is held up to the light they are shown for the mistake-ridden embarrassments they are.

Unfortunately, BushCheney has the bully pulpit of the Presidency, a $100 million advantage and a media that is too lazy to investigate the accuracy of the ridiculous assertions coming from the right wing nuts.

John Kerry needs your help. They are trying to raise $10 million in 10 days online in an effort to offset the financial imbalance of this campaign. Please give $10, $25, $50 or $100 to the John Kerry campaign by visiting https://contribute.johnkerry.com/index.html?source_code=00015404 .

It is up to us to fund the campaign. We are not corporations, specific issue groups, PACS or other moneyed interests that try to influence campaigns. We are just ordinary folks who work for a living and $25 from one of us sends a big message to the powerful – we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!

al Queda Linked Group Endorses Bush

No, this is not a joke. Reuters is reporting that Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which has claimed credit for the bombings in Spain last week and has been linked to al Queda, wants BushCheney to beat John Kerry in November.

The statement said it supported President Bush in his reelection campaign, and would prefer him to win in November rather than the Democratic candidate John Kerry, as it was not possible to find a leader "more foolish than you (Bush), who deals with matters by force rather than with wisdom."

In comments addressed to Bush, the group said:

"Kerry will kill our nation while it sleeps because he and the Democrats have the cunning to embellish blasphemy and present it to the Arab and Muslim nation as civilization."

"Because of this we desire you (Bush) to be elected."

If this weren't so scary, it would be funny.

Two New TV Ads by The Media Fund

The Media Fund, a 527 issue advocacy organization run by former Clinton Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, is launching two new television ads in 17 states according to the AP. On their site I can't figure out what 17 states it's showing in, but if they aren't playing where you live you can see the ads on the web.

The first ad, called "It's All About Jobs," and is about the Bush43 jobs record and focuses on the Bush policies that have led to a loss of three million jobs in the past three years. They have fact sheets for download and sharing that supplement the ad and you can watch it in Real Player, Media Player or Quicktime.

The second ad is called "Remember the American Dream" that focuses on cultural issues like economic security, education, health care and ending special interests power. The idea is to contrast the feel-good commercials the republicans have been running lately. They have fact sheets for download and sharing that supplement the ad and you can watch it in Real Player, Media Player or Quicktime.

Send these ads to your friends.

If Gore Had Won, Would 9-11 Have Happened?

This one goes into an extremely speculative realm. However, something struck me after I followed Atrios' direction to an June 24, 2003 article about the US failure to kill Osama bin Laden in 2000 and 2001.

The Associated Press article is headlined Officials: Drones Spotted Osama and details the use of Predator drones by the Clinton administration to track the terrorist leader. The article reports the drones located bin Laden three times in eleven successful flights from September 2000 through January 2001.

Though these drones were successful in locating bin Laden in 2000, the Bush43 administration did not launch one Predator drone to track bin Laden from the time they took office until the attacks of 9-11. Bush43's people were briefed during the transition and afterward about the success in locating bin Laden, but the incoming team did not make the effort a priority. Instead, they shelved the flights until they could figure out how to launch weapons from the drones themselves.

However, experts have stated that the drones did not need to be the weapons delivery device in order to get bin Laden. Retired military personnel have criticized the Clinton administration for not launching submarine based missiles in time, and the Bush43 military argued that it should be given the right to decide the best way to launch an attack.

From the AP article: "Generally it was understood (inside CIA) that aircraft firing weapons is the province of the military. This was a discussion about what the appropriate agency was to carry out the mission, but it was not a matter of the technology," said one official familiar with Tenet's comments at the meeting.

Defense officials suggested they be given an objective, kill bin Laden, and be left to make their own decisions about whether to use a drone or other weapons like cruise missiles and B-1 bombers, officials said.

There were, according to the military, other options than weaponizing the drones but the internal wrangling over responsibilities and the decision to stop the Predator spying missions allowed bin Laden to get away. In other words, the policy and internal politics of the Bush43 administration lost the leader of the terrorists who attacked the United States and killed almost 3,000 people.

On the eve of the millennium, Clinton's anti-terrorism forces caught terrorists with ties to al Queda coming over the border from Canada at the Port Angeles Ferry Dock with explosives, and attacks against Americans abroad were averted by international cooperation. Had this attack on Seattle been successful during the New Year's Celebration it could have been as bad or worse than 9-11. Even though the Mayor cancelled the major event at the Space Needle, there were still thousands of people out that night.

From a May 18, 2000 CNN article:

"Last December, working with Jordan, we shut down a plot to place large bombs at locations where Americans might gather New Year's Eve," [President] Clinton said. "We learned this plot was linked to terrorist camps in Afghanistan, and the organization created by Osama bin Laden."

The counterterrorism plan [Clinton proposed] would expand on activities already under way drawn from lessons learned in the millennium efforts. The president's fiscal year 2001 budget already allocates $9 billion for counterterrorism, 40 percent more than three years ago.

The $300 million proposed to Congress on Wednesday would be in addition to that. It would include $89 million for the Justice Department and $87 million for the Treasury Department to supplement their staffs with new personnel, increase joint operations, and invest in new equipment and infrastructure.

None of these facts above are in dispute. I have not colored them, nor have I selectively picked the facts. The Clinton administration knew where bin Laden was and missed him. They also blew a chance to get bin Laden in 1998. However, the Clinton administration made killing or capturing bin Laden and the fight against terrorism a major policy goal. They increased counterterrorism funding by 40 percent over three years, and intended to increase it more.
The Bush43 administration focused on other issues. On September 10, 2001 -- one day prior to the attacks on our country -- Attorney General John Ashcroft proposed cutting counterterrorism funds by $58 million or 60 percent. Prior to 9-11, the Attorney General's published Strategic Plan did not list terrorism as one of its seven priority, while on November 8, 2001 it added an eighth priority in the number one spot: "Protect America Against the Threat of Terrorism."

The horse had left the barn, and Ashcroft decided to close the door.

By canceling the drone flights over Afghanistan which had been successful in locating bin Laden leaders and by proposing cutting counterterrorism and intelligence funding, the Bush43 demonstrated that al Queda and the war on terror was not a point of interest to them.

The Clinton administration, on the other hand, developed the drones and the program to locate bin Laden. They were able to avoid their own major terrorist attack on New Year's 2000. Their counterterrorism budget increased by 13.6 percent in the fiscal year 1999, 7.1 percent in 2000 and 22.7 percent in 2001. They failed to kill bin Laden, but fighting al Queda was a major priority of the administration and there were other successes.

All that is fact. Now comes the speculation.

Had Al Gore won the election in 2000, we can assume that he would have continued the Clinton efforts on attacking al Queda and tracking bin Laden in Afghanistan, and we would not have had the eight months of missed surveillance that occurred under Bush43 prior to 9-11.

Gore would have continued flying the Predator drones upon taking the Oval Office in January 2001, but instead Bush43 cancelled the use of the unmanned aircraft to track bin Laden. Gore would have continued the focus on fighting terrorism and not sought to cut taxes by gutting the counterterrorism budget by 60 percent, as Bush43's Attorney General did. When an FBI agent in Arizona reported that "several Middle Easterners were training at a U.S. aviation school and recommended contacting other schools nationwide where Arabs might be studying" the warning might not have been missed if there was a focus on counterterrorism.

For all we know, none of this would have stopped the September 11th attacks. Al Queda works on a cell basis and killing or tracking bin Laden might even have accelerated the attacks. However, we do know that the Clinton administration was on a path towards fighting terrorism and al Queda, and that the Bush43 administration took our country off that path.

The Bush43 administration proved that it did not take the threat of terror seriously prior to the September 11th attacks. Al Gore proved as Vice President during the Clinton administration that he did take al Queda and bin Laden seriously.

Do the math.

McClellan Enters The Political Fray

Keith Berry tracks White House Spokesman's exit from doing his job and entrance into using the White House to make political points.

Wolfowitz Just Lied, CNN Ignores It

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz just said, "Iraq had ties with terrorists and was developing weapons of mass destruction." John King, the CNN talking head interviewing him on "Lou Dobbs tonight," just let the two lies in one sentence pass.

They lie, lie, lie and the media just lets it pass.

Henry Waxman Catalogues Bush Lies

Courtesy of Atrios, Henry Waxman put together a report and website of all the Bush43 administration's misstatements, exagerations and lies about the Iraq War. You can search all 237 statements by speaker, subject or date, or you can read them all in one PDF Report. It's got charts!

Here are some of the examples of misleading statements:

Vice President Cheney stated on August 26, 2002: “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.” (There were "doubts" in the DoE, CIA, FBI and Pentagon to say nothing of the general populace.)

On November 14, 2002, Secretary Rumsfeld stated: "Now, transport yourself forward a year, two years, or a week, or a month, and if Saddam Hussein were to take his weapons of mass destruction and transfer them, either use them himself, or transfer them to the Al-Qaeda, and somehow the Al-Qaeda were to engage in an attack on the United States, or an attack on U.S. forces overseas, with a weapon of mass destruction you’re not talking about 300, or 3,000 people potentially being killed, but 30,000, or 100,000 . . . human beings.” (P.S. This is the guy who denied anyone called Iraq an "immediate threat" last weekend on Face the Nation.)

Secretary Rumsfeld denied on July 13, 2003, that there was “any debate” about Iraq’s nuclear capabilities within the Administration, stating: “We said they had a nuclear program. That was never any debate.” (CIA Director Tenet disagrees.)

Secretary Rumsfeld was even more specific, claiming that the Iraqis were “moving them to different locations as often as every 12 to 24 hours and placing them in residential neighborhoods.” He also made this tatement: “We know where they are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat.” (This one is kind of funny -- wouldn't east, west, south and north somewhat consist of everywhere?)

Colin Powell said: “The more we wait, the more chance there is for this dictator with clear ties to terrorist groups, including al-Qaida, more time for him to pass a weapon, share a technology, or use these weapons again.” (What al-Qaida ties?)

Colin Powell also said: “So far, we have found the biological weapons vans that I spoke about when I presented the case to the United Nations on the 5th of February, and there is no doubt in our minds that those vans were designed for only one purpose, and that was to make biological weapons.” (No, they really didn't find any biological weapons vans.)

The report itself is a good read and educational to say the least.

"Coalition of the Willing" Unravels

After the Socialists won in Spain they announced that they will not be replacing their 1,300 troops in Iraq once the agreed service ends on June 30. It was the first time one of the members of the "Coalition of the Willing" has become unwilling to continue the war.

Now Honduras has followed suit and decided to withdraw its 370 soldiers from Iraq. Though this may seem momentus, Honduras had only intended to keep soldiers there for 12 months after sending them last August.

El Salvador intends to keep its 360 troops in Iraq for the time being, though last week's elections are in dispute and that could change. Nicaragua has not replaced its 115 soldiers, though not for any opposition to the way the war is being prosecuted or to George Bush. They simply do not have the cash to continue.

The Solution to the Bush Jobs Problem

Laid-off factory worker wins $89 million lottery

Colin Powell Marginalized

In the same article referenced below where Colin Powell challenged John Kerry on the "foreign leaders" assertion, he also questioned John Kerry's allegation that Powell had been a voice of reason but marginalized in the Bush43 administration.

"Name a specific issue where it looks like I have been marginalized," Mr. Powell said.

The Kerry campaign seems to be ignoring this one, so I figured I'd take a crack at it.

• From the Time Magazine, September 10, 2001: In a particularly rough first 100 days, Powell went against Administration grain on Iraq and North Korea. He wanted American armed forces to continue Balkans peacekeeping; others thought it needlessly stretched the military too thin. Powell was blindsided when the Administration, without warning, disavowed the Kyoto protocol on global warming. Other officials stressed do-it-our-way; Powell sought cooperation . . . America could lead, he said, "not by using our strength and position of power to get back behind our walls but by being engaged in the world." Others in the Administration see the world through a different lens.


• From Asia Times, July 31, 2002: As Secretary of State Colin Powell continues an extended trip through Asia, he is no doubt reflecting upon the difficulties he faces in an administration that has granted the Pentagon pride of place in defining and shaping US policy in the region. Awash with funds and a global mandate to combat terrorism, the Pentagon has marginalized Powell and the State Department, entrenching itself as the dominant player in Asia after September 11. A reflection of this weakness is that Powell's trip is being met with more enthusiasm in the region than in Washington, where his trip is largely being greeted with a yawn.


• From Business Week, September 9, 2002: The problem for Powell is that the respect doesn't translate into results. For much of his tenure in Foggy Bottom, the nation's top diplomat, a pragmatic multilateralist, has been butting heads with conservatives in the White House and the Pentagon. As often as not, he loses the internal battles. And even when he wins, he bears the scars of combat behind closed doors. His Administration colleagues may respect him, but they don't necessarily heed his advice. How bad are things for Powell? When he represented the U.S. at the just-concluded Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, he was heckled and jeered by some of the left-wing delegates in attendance.
• From the New York Times, February 4, 2004: Powell and the State Department staff have clashed repeatedly with Rumsfeld and his team at the Pentagon over Iraq and other issues. And Powell is known to be deeply resentful over the large role that Cheney and the vice-president's influential staff play in foreign policy, and feels that he has been undercut and marginalized on major issues. Powell has told associates that he has never before seen a vice president with so large a voice and so powerful a staff, and that it has created enormous problems for an administration that has never been able to speak with one voice on foreign policy.

That's 20 minutes on Google. I'm sure the Kerry War Room can do better.

I'll Show You Mine if You Show Me Yours

The BushCheney campaign, including the non-political Secretary of State Colin Powell, are demanding that John Kerry name the "foreign leaders" who Kerry suggested would prefer to see Bush43 lose the election in November.

I suggest that the Kerry campaign offer to name the leaders if Bush will provide John Kerry quote that he will raise taxes by $900 million in the first 100 days of his presidency. Since Bush can't do that, Kerry won't have to 'fess up.

Stop Messing With My Solar System

OK, at one point there were nine planets. Then there were eight because a bunch of astrologers decided Pluto was not a planet.

Now there are ten because someone found a big-ass snowball way the hell out there where the comets come from and named it after an Inuit goddess named Sedna.

I heard some astronomer on NPR yesterday, though I forget his name, saying that there could be 500 of these big-ass snowballs out there and each one of them should be considered a planet.

It's like listening to Donald Rumsfeld try to explain that he didn't say what he said and if he did he was right anyway thought he facts are different. Dammit.

Bush Homeland Security Photo-Op of the Month

Courtest of Pandagon, news from Time Magazine that George Bush intends to stage a "Photo-Op Of The Month" courtesy of the Department of Homeland Security.

Administration sources tell TIME that employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been asked to keep their eyes open for opportunities to pose the President in settings that might highlight the Administration's efforts to make the nation safer. The goal, they are being told, is to provide Bush with one homeland-security photo-op a month.

Sharpton Endorses Kerry

Presidential candidate Al Sharpton endorsed John Kerry today in Washington D.C. Sharpton said, however, that he is not ending his own campaign for delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August.

"We're not ending the campaign; we're going to the next step in the campaign," Sharpton said in defining his position after his endorsement of Kerry was reported. "We've resolved who the nominee is," Sharpton said. "We must resolve now what the party will stand for."

I'm thinking that Kerry is having a little trouble with his endorsements. Howard Dean endorsed Kerry last week, sort of, and sent out an e-mail to the Deaniac list saying that Kerry was the man. What Dean offers most is access to his incredible fundraising list, but the e-mail did not ask anyone to give to Kerry.

Two days later Howard Dean sent out another e-mail to the list supporting Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and asked for money. Jackson was there early for Dean, and strong for Dean, but he is in a pretty safe district.

Stem Cells Could Cure Baldness

OK, now we know that the federal ban on funding stem cell research will be lifted! Read more.

Right Wing Spanish Election Meme a Lie

Right wing nuts are already out there saying that the Spanish electorate are not taking the "War on Terror" -- which mean's the way Bush43 wants to prosecute it -- seriously and are sticking their head in the sand instead of fighting. And the mainstream press are already starting to pick it up.

Update: Right Wing Nut and Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth said on Imus this morning, "If you want to see a victory for the terrorists, it happened yesterday in Spain … It will encourage more terror. maybe not in Spain, but elsewhere in Europe where we have allies. You can't sugar coat it."

Atrios catches the New York Times following the conservative line regarding the Bush43 administration's reaction to helping Spain after their terrorist bombing.

This morning Evan Thomas, Newsweek's hot shot investigative reporter, said on Imus, "I was disappointed in the Spanish voters. I would have thought that this attack would have made them realize that this war on terror is a serious thing, but instead they hate America so much that they voted for the leftists and turned their back on the United States." This is an effort to be accurate but was typed a minute or two after he quit talking. The idea and many of the phrases are accurate.

This is a misreading of the situation. Who said the election means Spaniards do not take terrorism seriously? Who said that the Bush43 response to being attacked is the only one that is "serious" and all other options are not? Who said the Spanish electorate is so obsessed with America that the only reason they would vote for the Socialists is because of the United States?

Much of the world opposes terrorism and will do whatever they can to put an end to this barbaric practice. This does not mean that opposing terrorism means invading Iraq or following the Bush43 script, and the Socialists in Spain made the withdrawal of their 1300 troops from Iraq a major platform plank.

But that doesn't mean they are not going to fight terrorism. Incoming Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero said yesterday, "My top priority is fighting all forms of terrorism. My first initiative will be seeking the political support to focus all our resources in this direction.''

Somehow Thomas went on the air without the facts, and then spread misinformation about the new Spanish leader's opinions and intentions. More Americans heard Thomas than will read the Bloomberg article I cited above.

It is disturbing that major American reporters such as Evan Thomas are approaching these stories from a perspective that America's tactics are the only way to go. The impact on the coverage or BushCheney and John Kerry could be staggering.

Medicare Promoters Hire Fake Journalists

Just last week, we found out that the Bush43 administration used fake numbers to promote the Medicare bill to legislatiors, and now we find out that they are fake journalists to promote its Medicare plan. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Health and Human Services has distributed videos touting the new Medicare law use actors "to pose as journalists praising the benefits of the new Medicare law."

I guess if the facts don't match what you want and no one will stand up and say what you want, you just change the facts and pay people to say what you want. At least that's what you do if your name is George Bush.

Does Bush43 Know Who Writes Headlines?

I was checking out Pandagon earlier today and he repeated a famous quote from Bush43's interview with Fox News' Brit Hume on September 22, 2003 where Bush says he gets his news unfiltered. Here's the quote:

I glance at the headlines just to kind of a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves. But like Condoleezza, in her case, the national security adviser is getting her news directly from the participants on the world stage.

I used to write for a newspaper back when I was in graduate school, and have been a PR guy for a living for quite a while, and I have to wonder if Bush43 knows that it is 22 year old interns or discredited and soon-to-be-fired reporters who write the headlines? If that is where he is getting his information, that could pretty much explain the decisions coming out of the Oval Office.

Spain Attacks Put Western Intelligence in Doubt

A Guardian article from England is headlined "Tape find that casts doubt on west's spy network" and quotes Spanish, British, German and European Union officials expressing concern.

Last Thursday, as terrorists killed 200 Spaniards and wounded 1500 more, I wrote the same thing.

Poppy: My biggest question -- whether ETA or al Queda committed this crime -- is how could this get totally missed by the European intelligence agency or the CIA? During the end of 2003 Orange alert a dozen or more flights were cancelled on rumors and caught snippets of conversations, but this was never suggested. And if this got missed, what else are they missing? The CIA doesn't have a good track record over the past six years.

This is a bigger concern after the Socialists won in Spain on a platform of exiting the "Coalition of the Willing" in Iraq and the U.S.-led war on Terror. Suspicions after the attack thought that this might rally Europeans around the United States flag, but in the most impacted European country has already rejected the Bush43 effort. Spain was one of the three industrialized countries -- the USA, Britain and Spain -- to say Iraq was part of the war on terror but now their people have made it clear they disagree.

It also makes clear the need to repeal the Bush43 administration's claim that it has the right to engage in preemptive war. The United States failed to predict or stop 9-11, catch the senders of the anthrax letters in 2001 and 2004, account for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, get the reaction of the Iraqi people right, or know anything ahead of time about the attacks on Spain last week.

If the United States' and other Western intelligence agencies can't be counted on to have accurate data or even a whisper of an attack of the scale of the Spanish attacks, then how can they possibly justify another preemptive war like the one on Iraq which has already been demonstrated to be on faulty intelligence?

Calpundit and Atrios have excellent commentary on the Spanish elections and the terrorist attack.