How George Bush used a dead soldier to his political advantage

What would Ken Mehlman say about this? Using our soldiers - dead ones at that - as propaganda tools, and lying to their families to boot.

"All I asked for is what happened to my son, and it has been lie after lie after lie," said Mr. Tillman...

All of it, her former husband said, has even left him suspicious of the military's central finding in their son's case so far: that the killing was a terrible but unintentional accident.

"There is so much nonstandard conduct, both before and after Pat was killed, that you have to start to wonder," Mr. Tillman said. "How much effort would you put into hiding an accident? Why do you need to hide an accident?"

Read More......

He's a liar and no one likes him

As my mother always said, what goes around, comes around. It just took awhile with Bush who has lied to the American people about Iraq for over three years. On this one, the people were way ahead of the media and the Congress. It is about time that someone in the media actually reported on the fact that Bush's lies have done him in with the American people:

Three years of upbeat White House assessments about Iraq that turned out to be premature, incomplete or plain wrong are complicating President Bush's efforts to restore public faith in the military operation and his presidency, according to pollsters and Republican lawmakers and strategists.

The last two weeks have provided a snapshot of White House optimism that skeptics contend is at odds with the facts on the ground in Iraq.

Read More......

Vote in the DailyKos Leadership Polls

DailyKos is doing a series of poll asking if you approve of the way Democratic leaders are doing their job. So here's a chance to weigh in. Go over to Kos and vote:

Howard Dean

Harry Reid

Nancy Pelosi

Read More......

FBI agent: Bush's FBI and Justice Dept refused to take Moussaoui seriously pre-9/11

This is possibly the biggest untold, or at least not yet fully tapped, story in Washington. The Bush administration had one of the September 11 terrorists in their hands, before September 11, and refused to listen to local FBI agents' warnings that this guy was planning something big.

In the four weeks leading up to September 11, the Bush administration refused to listen to their own agents' warnings that Moussaoui was up to something big.

Bush could have stopped September 11 with this information, yet his administration simply let it go, and 3,000 Americans died.

Bush likes to cite September 11. Fine, lets cite September 11.

He had the power to stop it, and didn't. He had one of the hijackers in his custody, and ignored him.

Imagine what the response would be from the mainstream media and from the Republicans had Bill Clinton done nothing while possessing the key to an imminent attack that would take down the World Trade Center and kill 3,000 Americans? Read More......

More trouble brewing for Bush over supposed Iran connection to IEDs in Iraq

Via Newshog. Read More......

US Marines under investigation for war crimes

Nice.

After a roadside bomb killed a U.S. Marine in western Iraq, American troops went into nearby houses and shot dead 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old-girl, residents told The Associated Press on Monday.

The military says about 12 Marines are under investigation for possible war crimes by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service following the Nov. 19 insurgent attack in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Honestly, what do we expect? Their commanders, from Bush and Rumsfeld down, have lied to them from day one. They've told them to go nuts on people, only to deny it when the torture and abuse goes public. So seriously what do we expect? Our soldiers have been put in an impossible position by an incompetent president, a lying cheerleader of a secretary of defense, and a lapdog chairman of the joint chiefs. They have been given no plan for victory, are told the Geneva Conventions are quaint and irrelevant, and then we're surprised when things go horribly wrong.

Who could have ever imagined the Iraq war would get out of control? Read More......

Open thread

Just saw my sweatheart Ken Mehlman on CNN. Ken is saying how terrible it is that any political party would plan to use soldiers as props at political events.

Of course, Ken's chutzpah is astonishing as this is the White House plan, announced only a few weeks ago. But this is a regular plan of attack from the Republicans - attack the Democrats for things they're not doing and the Republicans are.

Ken is kind of a closet hypocrite. It'd be nice if he'd just come out. Read More......

Aghan Faces Death Penalty for Converting to Christianity

Look at the bright side, at least they didn't publish a cartoon.

Despite the overthrow of the fundamentalist Taliban government and the presence of 22,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a man who converted to Christianity is being prosecuted in Kabul, and a judge said Sunday that if convicted, he faces the death penalty.

Abdul Rahman, who is in his 40s, says he converted to Christianity 16 years ago while working as an aid worker helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Relatives denounced him as a convert during a custody battle over his children, and he was arrested last month. The prosecutor says Rahman was found with a Bible.

Read More......

Timeline of the Iraq mess

ThinkProgress has the detailed timeline of the horror. I've chosen a few select elements below. Note that we're almost at the 3 year anniversary of Mission Accomplished, and the one year anniversary of "the last throes":

MARCH 30, 2003: Donald Rumsfeld: We know where the WMD are

We know where [the weapons of mass destruction] are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat. [ABC This Week, 3/30/03]

MAY 1, 2003: Mission Accomplished

[M]y fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. [Bush, 5/1/03]

MAY 29, 2003: Bush: We found the WMD

We found the weapons of mass destruction. [Bush, 5/29/03]

JULY 2, 2003: Bring ‘Em On

There are some who feel like — that the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring them on. [Bush, 7/2/03]

OCTOBER 5, 2004: Paul Bremer: Never had enough troops

We never had enough troops on the ground. [CNN, 10/5/04]

OCTOBER 25, 2004: The New York Times reports that about 380 tons of powerful explosives disappeared from military installation called Al Qaqaa sometime after the U.S.-led war began in March 2003 [NYT, 10/25/04]

DECEMBER 8, 2004: Donald Rumsfeld: You go to war with the Army you have

As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They’re not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time. [Rumsfeld, 12/8/04]

JANUARY 12, 2005: WMD search in Iraq is declared over - nothing found

U.S. inspectors have ended their search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in recent weeks, a U.S. intelligence official told CNN. [CNN, 1/12/05]

MAY 30, 2005: Dick Cheney: Insurgency in its “last throes”

I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency. [CNN Larry King Live, 5/30/05]

FEBRUARY 2, 2006: Rumsfeld doubts “long war” in Iraq

“Is Iraq going to be a long war?” Mr. Rumsfeld answered, “No, I don’t believe it is.” [Washington Times, 2/2/06]

MARCH 19, 2006: “Complete victory”

On the eve of the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion, President Bush yesterday promised to “finish the mission” with “complete victory,” urging the American public to remain steadfast but offering no indication when victory may be achieved. [Washington Post, 3/19/06]

Read More......

Ken made a funny

Republican party chair Ken Mehlman is apparently running against himself in the upcoming elections:

"If you are someone who favors small government," Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman said, "you're going to have a clear choice between someone who has cut taxes every year in office, who believes you ought to own your own health care . . . and who plans to cut the deficit over five years versus people who have consistently supported more spending, have opposed tax cuts and who oppose patients owning their own health care. The question is, who's on your side for reducing the size of government?"

Yes, Ken Mehlman promises you that the long national nightmare can soon be over. Just vote for the same people who have controlled the White House, the US House and the US Senate for the past five years, the Republicans, and next time things will be different.

Vote Republican: Last time they were just kidding. Read More......

Open Thread

Bush wants the word of the day to be "progress." Your thoughts on what the actual word of the day should be? Read More......

The Bush White House at work

And people wonder why the Bush White House is such an incompetent operation. This tidbit, which showed up over the weekend, explains the mindset of the Bush team:

The White House said it would discipline two government employees who impersonated journalists in advance of a trip by U.S. President George W. Bush to the Gulf Coast, The Washington Post said on Saturday.

The Post quoted a Gautier, Mississippi couple whose home was wrecked by Hurricane Katrina as saying two men identified themselves as journalists during a visit to the couple's home.

Elaine Akins told the newspaper she and her husband Jerry were initially told by the two men that they were Fox News journalists, but that they later identified themselves as Secret Service agents.

What a big joke, huh? They can't rebuild the gulf region, but they sure can get a good laugh at the expense of people who suffered from Katrina and its aftermath. Read More......

From Bush, a new buzzword, another speech, but no way out of Iraq

The Bush administration has a buzzword for Iraq, they just don't have a plan for Iraq:

Progress is the buzzword at the White House as Bush headlines a campaign tied to the war's anniversary to buck up public support of the mission.

The president continues yet another series of speeches on Iraq - there have been several similar blitzes in the last year - Monday at the City Club of Cleveland. He planned to take questions about his war policy and other topics from the audience in the heavily Democratic city.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush would update Americans on his vision for Iraq - highlighting the progress being made while acknowledging that not everything has gone perfectly.

Just because they say "progress" doesn't mean it's happening. Actually, when Bush says "progress," it means failure. But just watch how many times the spin machine says "progress" this week. Read More......

GOP in-fighting bubbling over

They're fighting among themselves as they try to find a message. But it's really not that complicated. The message is: The Republicans are the party of incompetence...dangerous incompetence:

Republican efforts to craft a policy and political agenda to carry the party into the midterm elections have stumbled repeatedly as GOP leaders face widespread disaffection and disagreement within the ranks.

Anxiety over President Bush's Iraq policy, internal clashes over such divisive issues as immigration, and rising complaints that the party has abandoned conservative principles on spending restraint have all hobbled the effort to devise an election-year message, said several lawmakers involved in the effort.

They less they accomplish, the better off Americans are. But you gotta love it when they're bad-mouthing each other. Read More......

Open thread

What lies await us this week... Read More......