Campaigns Boiling Down to a Dwindling Swing Vote

Interesting that it appears many of the swing voters have already decided. I love the one woman's description of Bush's war in Iraq as "a huge, horrible mess." Perhaps that, along with "incompetent," should be the buzzwords of this campaign. Read the rest of this post...

Saudi Qaeda Raid Kills 16, Including 7 Foreigners

Reuters:

Suspected al Qaeda militants wearing military uniforms killed at least nine Saudis and seven foreigners in the Saudi oil city of Khobar on Saturday before holing up with hostages in a housing compound.

The U.S. Embassy reiterated a call to its citizens to leave the kingdom after the attack.

Two points:

1) Poetic justice for the Saudis. Yes, no one wishes harm to anyone, but... they've been screwing around on the terrorism issue for years and now their little Frankenstein is biting them in the ass.

2) Poetic justice for the Bush administration. They've been screwing around on the energy issue for years, and now their determination to keep our country dependent on oil is biting them in the ass. Unfortunately on this last one, it's also biting all of us in the ass too. So is losing Saudi Arabia to Islamic fundamentalists, and losing their oil supply to the world, going to be the legacy of the Bush administration? Stay tuned. Read the rest of this post...

FBI issues and retracts urgent terrorism bulletin

Is this incredible or what? Has anyone in Washington learned anything over the past few years? If the subject wasn't so serious this would be funny.

"A law enforcement official at another city, who insisted that he and the city not be named, said authorities there had received a call late in the day from the Federal Bureau of Investigation alerting them to the possibility of an "imminent" attack there. Later, however, the FBI called to withdraw the warning.

The official, citing recent questions about the credibility of the terrorist intelligence from the bureau, said, "It's getting harder and harder to defend them." - NY Times

OK President MBA, what kind of executive decision are you going to make on this one? Are you running the country like a CEO or are you leaving it to incompetent directors? Sounds like just another failed business venture by Bush. November can not come soon enough. Read the rest of this post...

Krugman on Bush: To tell the truth

In case you missed it, this column by Paul Krugman is spot on about Bush and the press. Not living in the US, I used to wonder why the US press had become such a bunch of cowards, giving Bush an awfully long leash. Being both an insider (an American) but also an outsider (an ex-pat) it seemed impossible to me that Bush was treated so delicately, considering his lack of results and twisted logic. During my visits to the US my criticisms were often met with surprised stares and some people questioned my patriotism. They looked at me like I was part of the looney left, so far out that I was beyond reason. Thank god that era is now over and the press is finally rediscovering it has a backbone. The Bush administration smear & fear tactics just are not giving the same results anymore. America has woken up and is doing the patriotic thing of asking questions and demanding answers. Read the rest of this post...

Iraq and Geneva: lies, disorganization or incompetence?

It sounds like all three at the moment. Putting aside the legal issue of Geneva not applying in Guantanamo and Afghanistan for a moment, the Bush administration publicly is telling the world that Geneva does apply in Iraq. However, it is increasingly clear that it was policy to transfer non-Geneva interrogation tactics to Iraq which was supposed to be covered by Geneva. Remember the denials that Abu Ghraib was "Gitmo-ized"? What kind of professionals are running this effort and what kind of professionals are running the country? Don't we deserve some honesty here?

"The teams were sent to Iraq for 90-day tours at the urging of Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, then the head of detention operations at Guantánamo. General Miller was sent to Iraq last summer to recommend improvements in the intelligence gathering and detention operations there, a defense official said.

But one member of the 377th Company said the fact that prisoners in Afghanistan had been labeled as "enemy combatants" not subject to the Geneva Conventions had contributed to an unhealthy attitude in the detention center.

"We were pretty much told that they were nobodies, that they were just enemy combatants," he said. "I think that giving them the distinction of soldier would have changed our attitudes toward them. A lot of it was based on racism, really. We called them hajis, and that psychology was really important." - NY Times

After months of demonizing Iraq, how surprised should we be that racism has played a role in this mess? Read the rest of this post...

Is Bush now vote rigging in Iraq as well?

And I thought that the whole Ashcroft-Ridge fight was a mess but this one is another real winner. While some of the press is reporting that the decision to promote Alawi to the position of Premier of Iraq as an independent decision made by the Iraqi Governing Council, the New York Times is saying otherwise. Contrary to the hyped "surprise and confusion" that someone is suggesting is coming out of Washington, this was clearly a US decision.

"...Iyad Alawi, is the secretary general of the Iraqi National Accord, an exile group that has received funds from the Central Intelligence Agency. His ties with the C.I.A., and his closeness to the United States could become an issue in a country where public opinion has grown almost universally hostile to the Americans.

"When we first heard the news today, we thought that the Iraqi Governing Council had hijacked the process," said a senior United Nations official...

United Nations officials said any misgivings that Mr. Brahimi had about Dr. Alawi were not about the man himself but about his past associations and how they might play with the Iraqi public, because of Dr. Alawi's ties with the C.I.A." - NY Times

Being under such a microscope, does Bush really think that he can trick Iraq and the world into accepting another US lackey? Read the rest of this post...

New Aschroft terror warning based on dubious source

My blood is really boiling now with the campaign of fear spokesman Ashcroft. It becomes clearer and clearer every day how this guy lost an election to a dead man because he is such a completely incompetent clown. His new source for the terror threat is the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which is known for its own propaganda. In a crowded field of liars and fear mongers, this guy really is taking it to a new level.

“This particular group is not really taken seriously by Western intelligence,” said terrorism expert M.J. Gohel of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, an international policy assessment group. “It does not appear to have any real field operational capability.

The group has claimed responsibility for the power blackout in the Northeast last year, a power outage in London and the Madrid bombing. None of the claims was found to be credible.

"The only thing they haven't claimed credit for recently is the cicada invasion of Washington,” said expert Roger Cressey, former chief of staff of the critical infrastructure protection board at the White House...

A senior U.S. intelligence official previously told NBC News that this group has no known operational capability and may be no more than one man with a fax machine.Friday, Ashcroft's spokesman blamed the FBI..." - NBC News

Meanwhile, CNN leads with the story, Out of sync on warning. Out of sync on warning? They must be joking! CNN is out of sync on picking up a political scam. Read the rest of this post...