Wes Clark on Bill Maher: 9/11 IS BUSH'S FAULT

If you have any doubt how this is going to play out, whether John Kerry has the guts to finish Bush off, you can put them to rest right here. Right from the mouth of Gen. Wesley Clark:

If George Bush had done his job as Commander in Chief before 9/11 we would never have had the strikes of 9/11....
The guy that had the 9/10 mindset, that was George Bush. The guy who didn't want to listen to the threat of terrorism. The guy who never held a cabinet meeting. Why didn't he call his cabinet together and introduce the Attorney General to the Director of CIA and say gentlemen I'd like you to meet each other, and please I don't want any terrorist attacks?

But wait, there's more! On what it means to wear a military uniform:

But if he wants to wear the uniform, and take the glory of the men and women who are actually risking their lives in that flight suit, then he ought to understand what the command responsibility of being Commander in Chief is. When you wear that uniform, especially in the United States Navy, it's a one strike and you're out system. If you're the captain of the ship and it runs aground, they don't care whether you were on the bridge, eating lunch, asleep, chopping cedars in Texas, they don't care. You're out! They only ask one question, were you the captain on the day it ran aground? You're out.

Incompetent on 9/11, incompetent in Iraq, incompetent in the economy. Please please oh freepers, tell me ANYTHING George Bush has done right.

I'm ready for a fresh start, how about you?
Read the rest of this post...

Thomas Friedman on Bill Maher: BUSH IS BIN LADEN RECRUITING OFFICER

Talking tonight on Real Time with Bill Maher, NY Times columnist Tom Friedman on Bin Laden's video:

This is his version of the October Surprise. It's the jack in the box. We thought Bush was going to produce Bin Laden, but instead Al Jazeera produced Bin Laden.

Bill Maher followed up asking Friedman why wouldn't Bin Laden want Bush reelected, he's been good for him:

He's been his, ah, a big recruiting officer for him, there is no question about it... everything that's happening in Iraq unfortunately has sort of energized the whole Islamist political movement.

Conclusions:

• Bin Laden is alive.
• Bush as U.S. President HELPS Bin Laden.

I, for one, don't need to know any more. Read the rest of this post...

Bin Laden Endorses Bush for Four More Years

This tape is basically a Bin Laden "f-you Bush" and a ringing endorsement for four more years of the same. From Reuters:

We had no difficulty in dealing with Bush and his administration because they resemble the regimes in our countries, half of which are ruled by the military and the other half by the sons of kings. . . . They have a lot of pride, arrogance, greed and thievery.

He's just flipping George Bush the bird. Makes sense. Why? Bin Laden and Al Qaeda have been able to rally the entire Arab world against us. They have used George Bush's ineptitude in Iraq to create more of their brand of terrorists. (Hell even our own Pentagon has argued this point themselves.) And, HE'S STILL ALIVE.

I'm afraid of Bin Laden. He's no fool, and he's successfully killed 3,000 of our fellow citizens right here on our own soil. He's an arrogant man who clearly is mocking the US President in front of the entire world.

That's why the Bush administration begged the government of Qatar to keep this away from the American public before the election.

From AP:

The State Department on Friday urged the government of Qatar, which finances Al-Jazeera, not to broadcast a videotaped speech by Osama bin Laden, a senior State Department official said.

If Bin Laden wants George Bush in office, I sure as hell don't. That's the real story about this tape.
Read the rest of this post...

Oh yeah, Bin Laden is scaring the Republicans BIG TIME

Here's how the Boston Herald-- Boston's "other", conservative newspaper is reporting on the new Bin Laden tape. In their Saturday edition the headline reads "Osama 'ad' may not help either candidate". Hmmm, not so confident, huh? From the article:

``Let me make this very clear,'' Bush said in Ohio. ``Americans will not be intimidated or influenced by an enemy of our country. I'm sure Senator Kerry agrees.''
Indeed, Kerry did agree - at first urging a ``united'' stand against bin Laden.
But he wasted little time trying to earn political capital from bin Laden's reemergence - returning to his argument that Bush wrongly focused on Iraq.
``I believe I can run a more effective war on terror than George Bush,'' Kerry asserted.
Bush responded to an Ohio rally: ``My opponent continues to say things he knows are not true. It's especially shameful in light of the new tape from America's enemy.''

What? Saying he can run a more effective war on terror is partisan? WTF George?

Analysts and campaign insiders worried the return of bin Laden could break either way in the closing days of the campaign. For Bush, it helps remind Americans that the world is a scary place and that they might not want to trust a new, untested administration to fight bin Laden.
For Kerry, the tape is a well-timed taunt of Bush's failure to capture bin Laden ``dead or alive.''
``It could well make Americans sit up and say, `Hey, maybe Bush isn't so great on terror, here's nemesis number one right in front of my eyes,' '' said Michael O'Hanlon, a foreign policy analyst at the Brookings Institution.

So there you go, that's how it's going to play in even the conservative media. Not so good for Bush. Read the rest of this post...

CBS News Poll: GO VOTE

CBS has a poll question up - With the election days away, the tape of Osama bin Laden criticizing President Bush - does it help or hurt Bush?

Have at it!

(And you thought that we'd be done with the online polls by now. We rocked them in the debates, let's rock them again! -- Rob) Read the rest of this post...

Yahoo Execs censor ENJOYtheDRAFT.com anti-Bush ads

UPDATE: We ARE running the ads on Monday on Web portal that unlike Yahoo is non-partisan. So please donate to help these adds kick both Yahoo's and Bush's ass.

We just found out that Yahoo's senior management - "the highest levels of Yahoo," we were told - have at the last minute censored our ENJOYtheDRAFT.com ad campaign that was due to go live today.

We had already put our money down, and Yahoo had already approved the ads, but someone, and I quote, "at the highest levels of Yahoo," apparently couldn't stomach a hard hitting ad campaign taking on Dear Leader, so they canceled it at the last minute late on a Friday making it next to impossible for the ads to run until Monday, which very much dilutes their effectiveness.

I have nothing but contempt for Yahoo's management at this point. The last time I had to deal with them at all was a few years back when they were running a Valentine's Day contest and the prize was a stay at the homophobic "Sandals" chain of resorts. The problem, of course, was that the time Sandals banned gay couples, so gay couples couldn't win the prize. Wasn't that nice? When Yahoo was informed, they were the only company we dealt with who didn't do a God damned thing. I had their lawyers calling me, all sorts of stonewalling. Finally we prepared a press release with all the top gay groups signing on, and after one week, Yahoo finally caved. Microsoft, in comparison, pulled their Sandals contest within hours of our contacting them. Yahoo? We had to threaten them for a week. Lovely company.

Anyway, they knew about our ads days ago. They approved them yesterday morning - 36 hours ago. But now, late on a Friday, we find out the "highest levels of Yahoo" don't want us taking on the president, and just in time to screw us. Great company you got there guys. Time to see who Yahoo's "top levels" donate money to.

In any case, we will get ads going with the cash we've raised. Friends are trying right now to find another provider to run them. And if not, we will run them on Monday with some other company that isn't afraid of offending Dear Leader.

Please let folks know about this outrage. And if you care to give to our campaign so we can REALLY blanket the Internet on Monday, please do here. Let's show Yahoo that free speech isn't just for the Bushies.

You can see the ads here.

PS Don't even get me started on another Yahoo homophobia story I'm privvy to. Let's just say the highest levels of Yahoo could use some training in how to respond to homophobic attacks by one Yahoo employee against another. Read the rest of this post...

The World Hates Bush

Hey, Presidential elections actually ARE a popularity contest, so it's interesting to note that if the world were voting, Kerry would win by a landslide. And if you're talking the free world, then it's an even bigger win. Bush has been rejected by the two groups he claims to care about the most: the widowed spouses and children of the 9-11 victims and the people of Iraq. He's also been rejected by almost all of our traditional allies and the democracies of the world, such as Mexico, Canada, France, Germany, the British people, and many, many others.

But some people like him -- namely the dictators and thugs of the world. Islamic terrorists in Spain give him the thumbs up. So does Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Czar Putin of Russia, and Iran. If anyone could get into the Orwellian nightmare that is North Korea, we imagine Kim would vote for Bush too.

"The University of Maryland-based Program on International Policy Attitudes surveyed 34,000 people in 35 countries from May to August. Its finding: In 30 countries, Kerry enjoyed the support of a majority or a plurality; in three countries, respondents liked Bush better; and in two they were tied," says the LA Times.
Read the rest of this post...

Which one do you want in the White House?

From the Yahoo Election Slideshow.

A winner?



Or a loser...



And I thought that this is just a great picture:

Read the rest of this post...

CNN: US Ambassador to Qatar tried to suppress Bin Laden tape

CNN's State Department reporter just came out and said that the Qatar government gave a copy of the Bin Laden tape to the government. The U.S. Ambassador after viewing the tape asked the Government of Qatar to get Al Jazeera to not air the tape.

And you thought this might spin badly for Kerry? They are so scared of this tape that they tried to suppress it. Read the rest of this post...

Bush Labor Department Using Taxpayer Dollars to Create Propaganda

AP is reporting that instead of working to create jobs and get our economy moving, they are create pro-Bush propaganda.

Labor Department staff, analyzing statistics from private economists, report in an internal memo that President Bush is likely to do "much better" in Tuesday's election than the polls are predicting.

The Kerry campaign said the analysis was an improper use of taxpayer money, and the Labor Department acknowledged Friday, "Clearly, this kind of armchair political analysis doesn't belong in government memos, even if they are entirely internal."

...

The Bush administration blamed midlevel employees for preparing inappropriate government material.

"This appears to be an internal ETA document prepared by midlevel ETA staff," said Labor Department spokesman Ed Frank.

Kerry's campaign contended the Bush administration was wasting taxpayers' money.

"If the Bush administration focused more on the economy and less on politics, George Bush (news - web sites) would not be the first president in 70 years to lose jobs," said Kerry campaign spokesman Phil Singer. "George Bush has turned the government into his own taxpayer-funded political machine."

Unless I see a press release from Labor saying ALL employees involved in this are already packed up and fired, it's time to fire Bush. Read the rest of this post...

BUSH JUST ON MSNBC

And he looks scared shitless. He just asked Kerry to help him by not using this tape to influence the election.

Like the Kerry campaign would unilaterally disarm their campaign in the last four days?

Sorry Chimpy, this ain't Dukakis '88 baby. This is Clinton '92. Read the rest of this post...

Bush campaign accusess Michael Moore of treason

Bush campaign foreign policy adviser Danielle Pletka just told Wolf Blitzer on CNN:

I'm glad to know that Michael Moore is giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

She said that in response to Osama bin Laden refering My Pet Goat in his new video. Wolf Blitzer, of course, led in to the question by suggesting that Osama had been watching Michael Moore - as though the only reason the world knows about My Pet Goat (or more accurately, The Pet Goat) is because of Michael Moore, which is ridiculous.

Nonetheless, never let it past the Bush campaign to call someone a traitor and accuse them of aiding and comforting Osama bin Laden simply becausea they disagree with this piece of shit of a president. Read the rest of this post...

Why are Bush supporters so pitiful

We just got the following two emails at our ENJOYtheDRAFT.com site, and it really saddens me how totally fucked up Bush supporters are. These people literally believe that you never ever question a president when he's at war, and that any war PER SE is a good war, no matter what happens (no word from them about how "great" a leader Hitler was, since he was at war, and they're quite clear that one doesn't question wars).

What this shows is something much more troubling. Folks on the right - way too many people in the military, but also way too many Bush/Fox News types - actually believe that the only way you'd be upset about the war in Iraq is if you're some far-left kook who isn't willing to give your life to Amurika. The thinking is so totally fucked up it's amazing. The irony, of course, is that we get more upset about their own fellow soldiers (or children) getting killed than they do. And somehow that makes us less patriotic and them more.

Read these emails. Absolutely frightening in their stupidity.

To bad we got all these wimps here in the US. Good thing our forefathers had gumption and cared more about the future of our country and their next generations than just their own little world. My kids may not have much of an America to call home in the future, too bad they are not old enough to be drafted. I would be proud to send them.

Kari
A/R

------

I want to know what pain and suffering you personally felt throughout this war. It must have been rough sitting back at your computer composing trash, bringing down the real heros of our country. Its douchebags like yourself that turn their back on the flag while saying the pledge, because "God" is places in there. Are you worried about getting drafted? Are you wetting yourself, YOU P*SSY, you couldnt handle 2 seconds in the military because you are too worried about criticizing those you fight for us. You worthless tool. And i know deep down, you know there isnt going to be a draft, you are being a hypocrite and using scare tactics to elect john ferry. Please, reconsider your existence.

Read the rest of this post...

John Kerry's Closer - New TV Ad

Kerry has what will likely be his closing ad here. It's Kerry talking directly to voters, and I think it's great.

No matter what happens on Tuesday, John Kerry has done what we asked of him. He's held this President's feet to the fire full time since he won the nomination. There were weeks when the media missed the point and got derailed. (Not So Swfit Boats anyone? Doesn't that seem SO long ago?) John Kerry has kept on message.

It's our turn - keep working hard, it's the last weekend. Visit a swing state, help get-out-the-vote.

Check it out the ad and share your comments. Read the rest of this post...

10 MIllion New Voters Are Registered!!

Well, if nothing else, this election (and the fiasco of 2000) have energized Americans into taking their right to vote seriously. USA Today reports that 10 million new voters are on the rolls, almost promising a bit of chaos thanks to the new voters, new machines, new rules and batteries of lawyers and poll watchers spreading out all over the country.

You better get to the polls early -- they're anticipating the highest voter turnout in three decades. Read the rest of this post...

Bin Laden tape: if it's real and he's alive, Bush has lost this election

AP is reporting on the new Bin Laden tape. If it's true, and he's alive, then this President deserves to be fired regardless of what Bin Laden has to say. If Bush hadn't taken his eye off the ball and gone into Iraq, then we might have Bin Laden DEAD instead of on my f'ing TV in October 2004, over THREE YEARS AFTER 9/11. Read the rest of this post...

CIA can't confirm ABC tape

Shock of shock folks, the terror tape that ABC sent to the CIA? Not so real. From CNN:

After a technical analysis, the CIA cannot determine whether a videotape obtained by ABC News in Pakistan featuring a man claiming to be affiliated with al Qaeda is authentic, a U.S. intelligence official said Thursday.

"We have been unable to verify the tape's authenticity," the official said.

Another lie down. Read the rest of this post...

ROTFL

Last minute Halloween costumes. These are only a few on the page.


The Littlest Prisoner at Abu Ghraib
Your child will be the hit of the neighborhood costume parade in this recreation of the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal's most indelible image. As an added bonus this easy-to-make costume will remind everyone on your child's trick-or-treat route of our national shame! Simply roll a cone from a sheet of 24"x38" black cardstock, making sure to cut out a hole for the face. Drape with two yards of black felt, and add leftover wires from your last lamp-rewiring project. Voil?! So easy, so quick, and so terrifying!

Total cost: Under $20.
Total time: Under two hours.



Nancy Reagan
It's never too early to get your daughter into her first little black dress! This elegant approximation of former First Lady Nancy Reagan's moving moment alone with her husband's casket is as touching as it is scary. With just a flag, a casket, a simple black dress, and Grandma's old wig, any little girl can be America's Widow?!

Total cost: Between $25 and $25,000 (depending on the cost of the casket).
Total time: Under an hour.



Lyndie England
Transform Daddy's little girl into America's NEW favorite bad girl, Private First Class Lyndie England. For the costume, simply add an invisible-dog leash from a novelty shop to a pair of camouflage pants and a khaki-colored shirt from your local Army/Navy surplus store. (Candy cigarette optional.)

Total cost: Under $30.
Total time: Under an hour.



Jenna Bush's Liver
Dive inside President Bush's rowdiest daughter with this ingenious re-creation of Jenna Bush's liver. Use old newspapers to stuff a Hefty bag to create the liver, then affix two or three paper-stuffed white bin liners for "diseased" spots. Rifle through the help's recycling bin for an empty Bud can and bottoms up!

Total cost: Under $5.
Total time: Under 30 minutes. Read the rest of this post...

The Chickens Are Coming Home To Roost

Thank God in America you can only get away with indecency and breaking the law for so long before justice begins to prevail again.

First, former British detainees held in Guantanamo Bay are suing Donald Rumsfeld, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and nine other military officials because they say they were tortured in violation of US and international law. I'd love to see Rummy take the stand and explain himself. The men involved say they were initially held in custody by the Taliban on suspicion of being British spies and then sold by an Afghan warlord to US soldiers for $35,000 each. What a nightmare. But that's what happens when you think you're above the law and can throw people into a hole for years on end and never have to justify to anyone who you're imprisoning and why.

Then, USA Today also reports two Navy SEALS are facing court martials for allegedly assaulting a detainee at Abu Ghraib who died in custody.

And finally the UN condemns the use of torture in a pointed rebuke of the US, pointing out the obvious -- that you can't claim the moral high ground and then break all bonds of decency by using the methods of the enemy.

"The absolute nature of the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill treatment means that no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for torture," the report said.

"No executive, legislative, administrative or judicial measure authorizing recourse to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment can be considered as lawful under international law."

Isn't it shocking that this is directed at the US instead of Saddam Hussein, North Korea, Saudi Arabia or some other nightmarish country?
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FBI investigating Halliburton no-bid contract

Halliburton would like us to believe that there's nothing to see here, but in fact, the FBI is expanding its previous investigation which was focused on Halliburton overcharging taxpayers.

FBI agents this week sought permission to interview Bunnatine Greenhouse, the Army Corps of Engineers' chief contracting officer who went public last weekend with allegations that her agency unfairly awarded KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, no-bid contracts worth billions of dollars for work in Iraq, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Asked about the documents, Greenhouse's lawyers said Thursday their client will cooperate but that she wants whistle-blower protection from Pentagon retaliation.

Read the rest of this post...

This is just such bullshit

I'm watching this Pentagon bullshit right now on the news. First off, the briefing was managed by Rumsfed's political guy. He brings up this obviously nervous soldier who says NOTHING. NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING. He grabbed all the loose materials in the Al-Qaqaa facility and that's IT. Oh, and it was on April 15th, and the tape was made on April 18th!

The media is playing this story pretty well so far. CNN's Pentagon Reporter Barbara Starr has pointed out all the problems with the story and said that after half an hour briefing we know NOTHING more.

She got it right. They just said NOTHING. Read the rest of this post...

Republican National Committee uses 9/11 dead for political gain

Yep, it's come to this. Now the 3,000 people who died on Bush's watch are fair game for Bush to exploit in a new attack mailing on John Kerry. Almost makes you think John Kerry was president when the biggest terrorist attack and intelligence screw up in recent history occurred.

Read the rest of this post...

IT'S ALIVE, IT'S ALIVE - OUR MEDIA, IT'S ALIVE!!!

I'm watching the Pentagon's live press conference about Qaqaa-gate and the media is ripping them to shreds. It's amazing. They actually know their facts and are catching the Pentagon briefers in all sorts of mix-ups. Read the rest of this post...

Times of London Rips Bush A New One

Who better than the Brits to go all medieval on Bush? The Times of London delivers a fiery denouncement of Bush that makes clear how low we've sunk in the eyes of the world. A little taste of their brimstone:

"The primary function of democracy is not to elect good leaders, since nobody can predict in advance how a politician will perform. It is to eject leaders who have manifestly failed. The ability to remove leaders who turn out to be corrupt, dangerous, outrageously dishonest or manifestly incompetent is the primary privilege and duty of any democracy. And if any leader in our lifetime deserved to be ejected by voters, regardless of their ideology or political persuasion, it is surely President Bush," writes the Times of London.

"To make matters worse, Mr Bush has failed in all these tasks, while breaking every promise he made about his character and leadership style. Instead of running a bipartisan government of national unity, he has been the most ideological, divisive and extremist leader America has ever seen. Instead of showing humility in his international dealings, his punitive and aggressive foreign policies — not only against Iraq but also against North Korea, Venezuela, Iran and even Germany and France — have transformed America into the most hated country on earth. Instead of respecting the primacy of the US Constitution, he has imprisoned thousands of people without trial or charge — many no doubt dangerous terrorists, but some presumably just ordinary people caught in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Thanks to Mike in Texas for the heads-up on this item.
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George Bush's Fuzzy Math Makes Comeback!

So Drudge is reporting that a soldier said he was ordered to destroy 200 tons of explosives in Al-Qaqaa. Talk about grasping at straws. First, Al-Qaqaa was home to not just the UN inspected high explosives, but others as well. And secondly, and more obviously:

360 - 200 = 160

160 is NOT = 0

Where are the other 160 tons? So now we're talking about blowing up only 320,000 aircraft like PanAm 103. I feel a LOT safer now.

They are getting SO desperate. Read the rest of this post...

Oops - accidentally deleted Rob's post!

Boy, after Rob posted a bazillion times in his excitement, you'd think I could save ONE copy. Oops. Here's what Rob wrote:

Pack it up baby, this one's done! From AP:

or this one:

Oh yeah, those look like explosives to me. Oh yeah, that man looks like a member of the U.S. Army to me. Hey, is that a Humvee at Al-Qaqaa?

Now if we can just get through all the voter suppression the Republicans are throwing up against our voters, WE WILL WIN! Read the rest of this post...

Bush Sics IRS on NAACP

Yep, Catholic bishops roam the country attacking Kerry and Bush smiles. Other churches collaborate with Bush by sharing their private registration roles for the purposes of campaigning and Bush nods. But when the NAACP's Julian Bonds gives a speech carefully crafted to criticize Bush but stay well within the guidelines of a non-partisan speech (a speech similar to many he and other NAACP leaders have delivered over the years) and suddenly the I.R.S. is investigating whethey they've blown their non-profit status. And it lets them know just a month before the election? What won't Bush do to win?
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Death Toll Among Iraqis -- 100,000 and Mounting

You may remember that the Iraqis stopped offering up dead and wounded figures because it was proving inconvenient for Bush. And of course the Pentagon doesn't you want to ever remember that while 10000+ soldiers have died, many more have been wounded, losing arms and legs and being otherwise disabled. That figure -- the wounded -- is a dirty little secret as far as the Pentagon is concerned.

But now The Independent is reporting that the first scientific study attempting to detail how many Iraqis have died during and since the invasion has come out. The total? 100,000 and rising.

"More than half of those who died were women and children killed in air strikes, researchers say. Previous estimates have put the Iraqi death toll at around 10,000 - ten times the 1,000 members of the British, American and multi-national forces who have died so far. But the study, published in The Lancet, suggested that Iraqi casualties could be as much as 100 times the coalition losses. It was also savagely critical of the failure by coalition forces to count Iraqi casualties."
Read the rest of this post...

Bush's Brain -- Fill 'Er Up!

A fun online game where you try to drop some brains into Bush's empty skull. Score a hit and you get to hear some of his misunderestimated humor. Damn we're good at this online guerrilla warfare.
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Letting Our Troops Down

That's Bush we're talking about, of course. Bob Herbert details the low morale of US troops in Iraq. He then quotes the work of NYT reporter Edward Wong, who interviewed many soldiers, who are bleak about Bush's claim that Iraqis being trained will soon be ready to take over major responsibilities.

"They said the Iraqi police and National Guard are unhelpful at best and enemy agents at worst, raising doubts about President Bush's assertion that local forces would soon help relieve the policing duties of the 138,000 American troops in Iraq. The marines said they could use better equipment from the Pentagon, and they feared that the American people were ignorant of the hardships they faced in this dessicated land."
Read the rest of this post...

Bush Screw-ups -- Those Missing Explosives Are Just The Latest

Paul Krugman of the New York Times does a nice roundup of recent Bush screwups, reminding everyone that the massive pile of explosives Bush let fall into the hands of terrorists (who likely turned around and used it to attack our sons and daughters) is just the latest sign of incompetence.

He covers letting Osama get away, letting Zarqawi get away and needing to request another $70 billion but waiting till after the election.

Jon Lee Anderson has an even better opinion column in the LA Times depicting the looting and chaos he observed in Iraq after the fall of Baghdad. It's clear the missing cache of explosives in Al Qaqaa are merely the tip of the iceberg and far, far from the only example of incompetence in this area.

"For myself and other reporters who were on the ground in Baghdad during those days, this oversight does not seem surprising. Coinciding with the arrival of the Americans, Baghdad succumbed to an orgy of looting and, eventually, to wholesale sabotage, all of which took place under the tolerant and overwhelmed gaze of the newly arrived U.S. soldiers," writes Anderson in the LA Times.

"That U.S. troops could have visited Al Qaqaa, inspected the explosives and then moved on without securing them — evidently unaware of the high-level importance of the site — seems completely in keeping with the extraordinary lack of coordination between senior commanders and their troops in the field that we witnessed on a daily basis." It's filled with fascinating, horrifying detail.

But even Krugman and Jon Lee Anderson fail to bring up the scandal from just two weeks ago: insurgents stripped clean NUCLEAR FACILITIES in Iraq, taking away equipment that -- much like the tons of explosives now missing -- took days to dismantle and cart off with heavy trucks to do the lifting. This needs to be repeated again and again. Those missing tons of explosives are just the tip of the iceberg. Because Bush refused to listen to his generals, there weren't enough troops to secure the many, many sites where we knew dangerous equipment and explosives were located. And there weren't enough troops to secure the borders so terrorists came into the country, teamed up with local insurgents and carted off equipment that had been under the watchful eye of the UN but was now missing and likely to cause havoc somewhere in the world.

The VERY REASON we invaded Iraq -- Bush claimed (It was reason now #17 I believe) was the danger of WMDs. And yet the basic materials that we knew about have been carted off on Bush's watch.
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NASA Scientist: Bush DID have a device on during the debate

This is amazing. From Salon.com. This is a must-read.

Read the rest of this post...