Monday, May 31, 2004
The Other Victims of 9/11
On this Memorial Day, we stop to honor all of those who have given their lives for our freedoms and our American way of life—from the 18th Century to today.0 comments
Last week, while waiting for a bus in front of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, here in Manhattan, I actually met an elderly gentleman who was wearing his uniform and medals from the Abraham Lincoln brigade in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s—which is where the world first faced Adolf Hitler's murderous war machine, for those of you too young to have heard of it.
We have also spent this week honoring many of our fathers and grandfathers with the WWII Memorial.
We are still enduring a 40-year-long torturous relationship with our gallant fallen from Vietnam, since we, as a nation, had so much difficulty separating the men in the uniform from the men in the White House—five administrations which engendered so much divisiveness and hatred. Who lied to us, civilian and soldier alike, with such aplomb. And with such consistency.
But what do we say to the men and women who are arriving home today, from Iraq and Afghanistan?
The New York Times: The War at Home—For Soldiers Back From Iraq, Basic Training in Resuming Life
What do we say after we buy them lunch and slap them on the back and say, "Nice job, son!"
"Now, go away?"
The Republicans and the conservative elements in the country (most of whom did not serve during Vietnam, and have no intention of going to Iraq or Afghanistan) have grasped onto "Support the Troops!" as a mantra, and a secret password among "true believers."
Of course, these are the same people cutting combat pay, and ripping the innards out of most Veterans' benefits and healthcare.
As for the good people in this country, however, I truly believe that, as opposed to 40 years ago, we clearly see the difference between the lies emanating from the White House and the service of brave men and women who did what they were told to do.
But how do we best support them as they cope with the horror of all that they were told to do? At the enormous price they've had to pay for carrying out those orders?
How do we look them in the eye and tell them that their service and their sacrifice was in support of a lie? And much of it in vain?
How do we tell them that their friends died or were maimed in support of an insane world view, propagated by religious radicals who have temporarily grabbed control of the White House and much of the rest of the government?
These soldiers enlisted to defend America. Not the wild notions of lunatics.
There is currently, in fact, a serious need to defend America from the al Qaeda horde of equally religious fanatics who were formerly trained and armed by the U.S., but who now have become our sworn enemies, as we continue to align ourselves with their greatest blood enemies, the Royal family of Saudi Arabia.
After correctly going after the murderers behind the 9/11 attacks, we've allowed Afghanistan to revert to its lawless state.
However, no one from this muderous al Qaeda horde happened to have been in Iraq until we took the place over last year. Iraq and its people and its leaders (for all their bluster) posed no threat to life in Altoona, PA or Shreveport, LA or Costa Mesa, CA or—everybody's favorite target—here in New York City.
Today, however, we have opened an Iraqi recruiting office for al Qaeda, the size of California.
So, our country today is grappling with the severely weighty dilemma of just how DO we support our troops?
How do we tell these courageous people they fought and died for a madman and his rabble in order to protect their mutual interests with the Saudis, but not to defend America?
And how DO we fight to end the madness before too many more scores of their comrades lose their lives and limbs?
Actually, we do it in the exact way that these men and women have died to protect through all of these wars and conflicts—WE VOTE.
We exact a huge political price from the arrogant, greedy crowd who wasted the lives of close to a thousand GIs, and tens of thousands innocent Iraqis.
We vote; not to vote them out of office by a simple majority. We vote them out with one of the largest pluralities the history of this great country has ever seen. Afterwards, we remove from them the cloak of respectability, and bring them to trial for their heinous crimes.
THAT is how you support our troops.
posted by Gotham 8:43 PM
Sunday, May 30, 2004
A Janklow Update
Daily Kos reports:0 comments
Personal responsibility, SD GOP style
If former Governor / Representative Bill Janklow had just kept his mouth shut, he could simply do his light sentence for manslaughter and go about living his life.
But, no, he had to shoot his mouth off, demanding a retrial in his case. And, of course, damning memos start to arise about the scum he pardoned as departing governor.
So, now there's a press feeding-frenzy in SD, which not only will make it harder to get his retrial, but it should also prove to ruin his reputation across the board.
Smart move, Mr. Representative.
posted by Gotham 1:03 AM
Saturday, May 29, 2004
Trouble Again in New York South:
Florida's Election Already Stolen
ACLU of Florida: Voting Rights Under Attack Again0 comments
Yes, here we go again.
Once, shame on you; twice, shame on me.
ACLU Urges County Elections Supervisors to Verify State’s Felon Matching Records to Prevent Wrongful Purging of Eligible Voters
The BBC's Greg Palast reports:
"Florida has announced a surprise new purge of its voter rolls targeting 40,000 of its own citizens. Following the 2000 race, my investigative team at BBC Television discovered that tens of thousands of those purged by Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush -- mostly black voters -- were utterly innocent. But this racially-poisoned list of voters represented a mass elimination of the civil rights of voters -- and picked the president by removing mostly Democratic voters. And now it's back. After being caught red-handed erasing black voters illegally (a finding confirmed by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission) before the 2000 election, Florida's viciously partisan voting apparatchiks are back at it again..."
Just what kind of democracy was that that we were supposed to be peddling to the rest of the world?
Millions of Americans scream as one:
"Bring Democracy Home!"
posted by Gotham 12:42 PM
Fact Worse than Fiction, Part II
What Attorney General John Ashcroft was saying this week isn't really scary.0 comments
THIS is scary:
ACLU Unveils Disturbing New Revelations About MATRIX Surveillance Program
This is the Florida ACLU following up on the national ACLU action.
As this update to last week's story shows, the administration is moving fast on this one.
Last week we had a report on this insanity, along with some background on John Poindexter and his Pentagon TIA precursor to this new system, called MATRIX (the Multistate Anti-TeRrorism Information eXchange), which has been funded and run out of the Department of Homeland Security since July of 2003.
Supposedly, this system is already bearing fruit:
This surveillance system combines information about individuals from government databases and private-sector data companies, and makes that data available for search by government officials to comb through the millions of files in a search for “anomalies” that may be indicative of terrorist or other criminal activity. (Clip)
Another document obtained by the ACLU indicated that Matrix operators compiled of a list of 120,000 names of individuals who scored highly on a computerized ‘terrorism quotient,’ and sent that list to federal law enforcement authorities. Seisint, the company that operates Matrix, claimed that scores of arrests resulted from the list.
Thankfully, the Florida ACLU is on the case.
You'll recall from our earlier post that Seisint is the company formed by the former Florida drug smuggler Hank Asher who sold the plan to Florida Governor Jeb Bush for use down there.
Think about it—120,000 names have already been spit out of this computer as having a high "terrorism quotient."
Reports this week peg possible world-wide al Qaeda strength at 18,000.
Who are all those people in that database?
Where did the names come from?
Who has access to these names?
How many of these 120,000 have been arrested?
How many detained?
On what charges?
How many convictions?
How many phones have been tapped, houses searched, life histories scoured?
By whom?
And to what end?
It's paramount that no one be misled by the dopey movie title tie-in. This is not a game or play-acting.
This is deadly serious.
This is the story and the issue that I urge you to keep the closest eye on. It may well prove to be the single greatest threat (foreign or domestic) that we face as a country and as a functioning society.
Pop Quiz:
When's the last time that your representative in Congress,
or your Senator represented YOUR interests?
Get Angry! Have your say.
Write your elected officials now!
Here's the Realtime Iraq Invasion Cost Clock!
posted by Gotham 11:21 AM
Thursday, May 27, 2004
The Boy Who Cried Wolf vs. The Boogeyman
"Be afraid! Be VERY afraid!0 comments
We beg of you. PLEASE! Be afraid!
Have you seen the poll numbers? It's the only shot we have left!"
"Aaaaa-OOOOOOoooo!"
-- Count Floyd Ashcroft
"A-BOOGA-BOOGA-BOOGA! OOOOH, SO SCARRRRRREY!"
Did you get all that?
We repeat:
"A-BOOGA-BOOGA-BOOGA! OOOOH, SO SCARRRRRREY!"
Scared yet, hunh?
"Time for another Monster Chiller Horror Theatre! Tonight's feature:"
CNN.com: FBI urges vigilance, says terrorists may change tactics
So might the Justice Department: They might actually arrest someone who was actually guilty of something.
"Credible intelligence from multiple sources indicates that al Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States in the next few months," Ashcroft said. "This disturbing intelligence indicates al Qaeda's specific intention to hit the United States hard."
And this is different from the last three years, how?
Could Attorney General John Ashcroft be so busy not doing his job that he just got around to reading the Aug. 6, 2001 presidential briefing memo that was all the rage in March?
Actually, Ashcroft has found that there is credible intelligence that the poll numbers of President George W. Bush are in absolute free-fall on their way to the basement. So, it's time to pull a play out of the ol' playbook.
To crib Randi Rhodes' line from Air America:
The Bush/Cheney campaign slogan has become -- "Vote for me, OR DIE!!!!!!!"
But the intelligence -- gleaned from various U.S. intelligence agencies -- does not point to a specific attack plan, U.S. officials said.
Oh, I see... . This is merely a bulletin to let us know that our entire intelligence apparatus says, "I dunno." It's good to know that they all still have jobs and that their incomes have not been caught in Bush's economic cesspool.
The FBI has received more than 2,000 tips from the public in the 24 hours after a news conference asking for help in locating seven people Attorney General John Ashcroft called al Qaeda operatives.
"Many thanks for your help on locating those pictured below," the FBI Web site said Thursday. "Over 2,000 tips were sent by mid-afternoon today on tips.fbi.gov alone. Please keep them coming."
Officials could not provide the number of tips that came in phone calls.
Calls to numbers provided on the "Be on the Look Out" Web pages are being fielded by the Counterterrorism Watch office. Additional calls are being received by FBI field offices, a bureau official said.
"We consider the response promising and encouraging," said an FBI spokeswoman.
This is turning into a poor community theatre production of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible." Everyone finally has the opportunity to point a finger at all those people they don't like. Then, see them carted off, now that the administration has pissed all over Habeus Corpus.
Did your dry cleaner lose your buttons? Call it in: he's gotta be a terrorist.
That little dark-skinned girl short-change you at the Piggly-Wiggly? She's gotta be one of "them." Better call that in.
This is exactly the procedure we created and supported in Afghanistan to "gather intelligence" after we invaded. However, the U.S. merely acted as a handy conduit for old, nasty feud-settlement as scores of Afghans realized they could merely shout, "I accuse!" and have the U.S. cart off people, with which they've had long-standing feuds and disagreements, screaming off into the night, never to be seen again.
Ahhhh, I'm relieved to see that Ashcroft continues to inspire the very worst in the humanity around him. Consistency is key here.
"The face of al Qaeda may be changing," the FBI said. "It is possible al Qaeda will attempt to infiltrate young Middle Eastern extremists into America, as they did prior to September 11.
"Al Qaeda is a resilient and adaptable organization known for altering tactics in the face of new security measures."
"A-BOOGA-BOOGA-BOOGA! OOOOH, SO SCARRRRRREY!"
Are you scared yet?
No?
How about: "AAAAHHHHHHH! A-BOOGA-BOOGA-BOOGA!"
It's like Ashcroft gets his newspapers delivered by boat. He's just a number of months behind the news cycle here.
According to the FBI bulletin, public statements by al Qaeda leaders suggest that plans for a U.S. attack are nearly complete, and that any of several upcoming high-profile events -- such as the G8 Summit in Sea Island, Georgia, the national political conventions this summer in Boston and New York, and the November presidential election -- were possible targets.
Again, these morons prove they have had no idea whatsoever of the Who, How, Why, Where or When of how Al-Qaeda operates.
Or of how a guerrilla war is fought.
This crowd is hanging on to the Cold War ideal of "Come out here, and fight like a Man!" Equals duking it out. Mano-a-mano. Like Manly Men.
And they'll lose -- not just because of their hubris, but for their sheer stupidity.
WE would attack at our main holidays. WE would attack our major symbols on days when everybody is watching, and therefore, fully prepared and armed. Hence, all the major hand-wringing in the newspapers as a holiday is approaching. As EVERY holiday approaches.
Ever see an attack on a U.S. holiday? Think hard, now...
It's just not the Al Qaeda M.O. But, then, these clowns are too arrogant to believe that an enemy might do something differently from how WE would do it.
Maybe Bush was really at the War College last week toborrow some bookstake a class. (Sorry, I forgot he doesn't read anything but stories about Goats.)
Remember anything particularly noteworthy about the second week of September until a group of Saudi Arabian maniacs slammed a couple of planes into the WTC and the Pentagon?
Didn't think so. Maybe your cousin's birthday, but, no, nothing in particular on the world stage.
Who starts wars at 8:30 a.m. on a beautiful and lazy, fall Tuesday morning? No one.
Exactly.
And since everything has been sealed up tight to protect ourselves, who would give ANY thought at all to BALI?
Didn't you have the same reaction when you heard the news?
BALI?
Who the hell would blow up BALI?
But that's exactly the point that Ashcroft is too stupid to adjust to: Al Qaeda strikes blows when you don't expect them, and where you wouldn't expect them and in ways you'd never have conceived of.
Who in their right mind could grasp the possibility of a few nut jobs quietly paddling up to the side of a LARGE AMERICAN WARSHIP in a dingy, smiling sweetly and blowing themselves to kingdom come, along with seventeen U.S. sailors, creating a giant hole in the side of the ship, almost sinking it?
This is the ground on which both the Justice Department and the Defense Department show their true incompetence. All law enforcement and legal system work is predicated on looking intently to find patterns in a suspect's behavior, in order to catch and convict the right bad guy.
So far, this bad guy is consistently committing crimes on Maple Lane, while sending you tapes, and everything. And all the cops are waiting for him over on Main Street, insisting that he'll hit there next, or at least, eventually. 'Cause that's where WE"D attack next!
This is how people lose their jobs.
While others lose their lives.
posted by Gotham 9:09 PM
Monday, May 24, 2004
New York, pre-Burst
I've basically been a believer in the power of free markets to regulate themselves.0 comments
However:
NYTimes: For Home Sales, Spring Fever
Oh, yeah, there's a LOT of incentive to build low-to-moderate housing in THIS market, boy...
The mayor and city council basically would have to strap developers on a gurney, and beat them repeatedly with a ballpeen hammer to get them to build anything other than cheaply made high-rises with the "luxury" label slapped on them, in order to jack up the price.
But even after Abu Ghareib-style torture, they'd go right back to selling any cardboard box on the street as modular studio living arrangement. They'd go right back for the money.
This week's New Yorkerv cover is required viewing: This sums up the new gameplan.
Gordon Gecko runs New York.
"Greed is good."
New York is now God's way of telling you that you have too much money.
posted by Gotham 10:51 PM
Saturday, May 22, 2004
America's Osama Bin Laden
It's now wise for all Americans to stay alert and to keep an eye on a certain Diane Knippers and her Institute for Religion and Democracy. They are in the process of attempting to infiltrate mainstream religions and pull them to the Fundamentalist Right.0 comments
NYTimes: Conservative Group Amplifies Voice of Protestant Orthodoxy
and
Renewing the Church by Diane Knippers
This is another right-wing pack of jackels who will pull us straight to the Gates of Hell.
Which is precisely what Bin Laden has been doing with Islam.
Can you say Eternal War, boys and girls?
posted by Gotham 1:34 AM
Even Howie Starts to Crack
Yikes! Is nothing sacred?0 comments
Washington Post: Media Notes Extra: Mounting Setbacks
posted by Gotham 1:05 AM
Friday, May 21, 2004
The MATRIX, The Prequel (How It All Began...)
Having to take your shoes off and being cavity-searched at the airport while flying to see your aunt in Altoona is now the least of your worries. Oh, and you should also get accustomed to it.0 comments
Meet Big Brother: John Poindexter and the Iran Contra Reunion Tour
As many of you know, John Poindexter is one of the many Ronald Reagan-era slimes who were up to their asses in the illegalities of Iran-Contra mess who got off scot-free, were conveniently pardoned or did country-club jail time, and who have popped up again to serve our country in the administration of George W. Bush.
To this juncture, Bush can correctly assert, "I am not a crook! -- But my friends are!" But his window for being able to say this is quickly closing.
James "The Fixer" Baker, Shadow President Dick Cheney, mega-sleaze Richard Perle, Secretary of Torture Donald Rumsfeld and John Negroponte (who oversaw the Death Squads of Honduras in the 'Eighties) are all Iran-Contra-mates who are now happily part of George's political family.
In case you've been busy watching "Survivor" or Fox News, or somesuch, here are a couple of sites to bring you up to speed:
Tracking John Poindexter
Who is John Poindexter?
and info about Poindexter's Information Awareness Office in the Pentagon (complete with disavowed logo):
Information Awareness Office Website (mirror)
OK.
Now that you're up-to-speed on the background to our story, let me run this by you—the administration's latest squirrelly attempt to turn you into chattel:Red Pill or Blue Pill?
What if I were to tell you a far-fetched story about a wealthy drug smuggler from Boca Raton, Florida named Hank Asher, who was incensed after the WTC & Pentagon were whacked and set out on a crusade to "save America"?
And what if Hank took all the drug money he had and created a database with all the personal information he had on thousands of unsuspecting people from various commercial datatbases he could hack into, and cross-referenced it with criminal records he obtained from cop friends of his, and created something beyond John Poindexter's wild imaginings?
What if I then told you he gained Florida Governor Jeb Bush as a mentor, who set up the system for the police in his state, then fast-tracked this drug dealer's "anti-terrorism" plan straight into the Roosevelt Room of the White House home of a close family member?
What if this family member's flaks, assistants and supporting players, such as Shadow President Dick Chaney, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary-disignate Tom Ridge fell all over themselves while watching a demo of this toy in action? Complete with Ridge elbowing Cheney in the ribs in excitement?
What if I said these men were jumping and drooling over this toy because it contained long reports on a screen which included names, addresses, driver license photos, any links to associates and the person's ethnicity?
And what if I said these guys squeezed an $8 million "cooperative agreement" out of the DHS budget to link this drug dealer's toy to the police departments of Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, with more on the way?
You'd say I was nuts, right? Maybe, paranoic?
Au contraire.
You can't make this shit up!
Anti-Terror Database Got Show at White House
This has been quietly developed over the course of a year. Here's this from last August ...
U.S. Backs Florida's New Counterterrorism Database
Thankfully, the American Civil Liberties Union is on the case:
ACLU Unveils Disturbing New Revelations About MATRIX Surveillance Program
and
New Matrix Documents Raise Troubling Questions
ACLU Letter to DHS About MATRIX
Just so that you can check it out for yourself, here's the link to the project:
The Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange (MATRIX)
BUT WHAT IF THIS ALL FELL INTO THE WRONG HANDS?!?
Trust me, these already ARE all the wrong hands.
Pop Quiz:
When's the last time
that your representative in Congress,
or your Senator
represented YOUR interests?
Get Angry! Have your say.
Write your elected officials now!
Here's the Realtime Iraq Invasion Cost Clock!
posted by Gotham 11:40 PM
On the Banks of the River Hubris...
One of the worst elements of this entire Bush-Iraq debacle—aside from the 700 dead GIs, the ten thousand dead Iraqis, the many tens of thousands of maimed Iraqis and GIs, the 37 confirmed Iraqis and Afgans who've been tortured to death at the hands of U.S. captors, the total depletion of the United States Treasury, the dismantling of the Bill of Rights and the full disintegration of simple human decency within the White House and the administration—yes, aside from all that, one of the sadder components has been the sad moral dissolution of one Secretary of State Colin Powell.0 comments
That the story below should appear on the day the Pentagon confesses to the torture deaths of approximately 37 Iraqis and Afghans in U.S. custody, and at a time when investigations into the 2002 mass murder of upwards of 3,000 Taliban prisoners of war by Afghan rebels and U.S. troops at Kurdun is heating up, is enough to make even the most disinterested watcher of "The Batchelor" vomit.
Washington Post: U.S. Hears of Uzbekistan Torture Reports
From others who are not American, it's called "torture." If it's from us, it's merely "hazing," or perhaps, "abuse."
WASHINGTON - The State Department expressed concern Friday about reports that an Uzbek man was tortured before dying while in police custody.
The United States "expects to see a swift, transparent and professional investigation" into the death of Andrei Shelkavenko, a department statement said.
He is reported to have died on Tuesday in a detention center in the town of Cazalkent, 30 miles northeast of the capital Tashkent.
You've noticed, of course, that there is no mention of this being a "terrorism" story. The man simply was an Uzbek citizen arrested in Uzbekistan for a murder. In a country that still reportedly boils its guilty, you can understand that Mr. Shelkavenko faced dire straits.
"The recurrence of unresolved and unpunished deaths in detention in Uzbekistan is unacceptable," the State Department said.
However, Powell feels that it's perfectly acceptable, and even applauded, in U.S.-run detention centers.
[Our friends at State] said that the Uzbek government recently signed a national action plan to combat torture and promised to implement United Nations recommendations on fulfilling that commitment.
Uzbekistan would lose a portion of its U.S. assistance unless Secretary of State Colin Powell certifies that the country is making progress in protection of human rights.
Powell has not made a decision on the subject.
Nor has he made a decision on the proposed cutting off of financial aid to the regime in the White House in Washington, D.C. for the same reasons.
At one time, Colin Powell was the man everyone wanted. And wanted to be.
Now, he merely makes you wince.
By his cowardice on the battlefield of the world stage of the last few years, he has rendered himself impotent and morally rudderless to the point that political groups no longer want or respect him.
Even his slimy son, Michael Powell of the FCC, has more credibility at this point—at least Michael steadfastly stands by his sliminess. You can confront and/or deal with a man who stands by his principles—even if they're slimy. You at least know who Michael Powell is.
But, today, no one knows who Colin Powell is anymore.
Today, Colin Powell is a man without a party; a man without a country.
A man without values.
Sadly, a man who has squandered his very life.
posted by Gotham 10:43 PM
Thursday, May 20, 2004
It's Not Good ...
0 comments... When your friends jump to the other side on you.
This was passed on to me by my good friend, B. B. I thank him.
In contrast, consider the administration's friends at UPI:
Army, CIA want torture truths exposed
By Martin Sieff
UPI Senior News Analyst
Published 5/18/2004 7:16 AM
WASHINGTON, May 18 (UPI) -- Efforts at the top level of the Bush administration and the civilian echelon of the Department of Defense to contain the Iraq prison torture scandal and limit the blame to a handful of enlisted soldiers and immediate senior officers have already failed: The scandal continues to metastasize by the day.
Over the past weekend and into this week, devastating new allegations have emerged putting Stephen Cambone, the first Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, firmly in the crosshairs and bringing a new wave of allegations cascading down on the head of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, when he scarcely had time to catch his breath from the previous ones.
Even worse for Rumsfeld and his coterie of neo-conservative true believers who have run the Pentagon for the past 3Â1?2 years, three major institutions in the Washington power structure have decided that after almost a full presidential term of being treated with contempt and abuse by them, it's payback time.
Those three institutions are: The United States Army, the Central Intelligence Agency and the old, relatively moderate but highly experienced Republican leadership in the United States Senate.
None of those groups is chopped liver: Taken together they comprise a devastating Grand Slam.
The spearhead for the new wave of revelations and allegations - but by no means the only source of them - is veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. In a major article published in the New Yorker this week and posted on to its Web-site Saturday, Hersh revealed that a high-level Pentagon operation code-named Copper Green "encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation" of Iraqi prisoners.
He also cited Pentagon sources and consultants as saying that photographing the victims of such abuse was an explicit part of the program meant to force the victims into becoming blackmailed reliable informants.
Hersh further claimed in his article that Rumsfeld himself approved the program and that one of his four or five top aides, Cambone, set it up in Baghdad and ran it.
These allegations of course are anathema to the White House, Rumsfeld and their media allies. In a highly unusual step for any newspaper, the editorially neo-conservative tabloid New York Post ran an editorial Monday seeking to ridicule and discredit Hersh. However, it presented absolutely no evidence to query, let alone discredit the substance of his article and allegations.
Instead, the New York Post editorial inadvertently pointed out one, but by no means all, of the major sources for Hersh's information. The editorial alleged that Hersh had received much of his material from the CIA.
Based on the material Hersh quoted, his legendary intelligence community contacts were probably sources for some of his information. However, Hersh has also enjoyed close personal relations with many now high-ranking officers in the United States Army, going all the way back to his prize-winning coverage and scoops in Vietnam more than 30 years ago.
Indeed, intelligence and regular Army sources have told UPI that senior officers and officials in both communities are sickened and outraged by the revelations of mass torture and abuse, and also by the incompetence involved, in the Abu Ghraib prison revelations. These sources also said that officials all the way up to the highest level in both the Army and the Agency are determined not to be scapegoated, or allow very junior soldiers or officials to take the full blame for the excesses.
President George W. Bush in his weekly radio address Saturday claimed that the Abu Ghraib abuses were only "the actions of a few" and that they did not "reflect the true character of the Untied States armed forces."
But what enrages many serving senior Army generals and U.S. top-level intelligence community professionals is that the "few" in this case were not primarily the serving soldiers who were actually encouraged to carry out the abuses and even then take photos of the victims, but that they were encouraged to do so, with the Army's well-established safeguards against such abuses deliberately removed by high-level Pentagon civilian officials.
Abuse and even torture of prisoners happens in almost every war on every side. But well-run professional armies, and the U.S. Army has always been one, take great pains to guard against it and limit it as much as possible. Even in cases where torture excesses are regarded as essential to extract tactical information and save lives, commanders in most modern armies have taken care to limit such "dirty work" to very small units, usually from special forces, and to keep it as secret as possible.
For senior Army professionals know that allowing patterns of abuse and torture to metastasize in any army is annihilating to its morale and tactical effectiveness. Torturers usually make lousy combat soldiers, which is why combat soldiers in every major army hold them in contempt.
Therefore, several U.S. military officers told UPI, the idea of using regular Army soldiers, including some even just from the Army Reserve or National Guard, and encouraging them to inflict such abuses ran contrary to received military wisdom and to the ingrained standards and traditions of the U.S. Army.
The widespread taking of photographs of the victims of such abuses, they said, clearly revealed that civilian "amateurs" and not regular Army or intelligence community professionals were the driving force in shaping and running the programs under which these abuses occurred.
Hersh has spearheaded the waves of revelations of shocking abuse. But other major U.S. media organizations are now charging in behind him to confirm and extend his reports. They are able to do so because many senior veteran professionals in both the CIA and the Army were disgusted by the revelations of the torture excesses. Now they are being listened to with suddenly receptive ears on Capitol Hill.
Republican members in the House of Representatives have kept discipline and silence on the revelations. But with the exception of the increasingly isolated and embarrassed Senate Republican Leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee, other senior mainstream figures in the GOP Senate majority have refused to go along with any cover-up.
Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Pat Roberts of Kansas and John Warner of Virginia have all been outspoken in their condemnation of the torture excesses. And they did so even before the latest, most far-reaching and worst of the allegations and reports surfaced. Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, lost no time in hauling Rumsfeld before it to testify.
The pattern of the latest wave of revelations is clear: They are coming from significant numbers of senior figures in both the U.S. military and intelligence services. They reflect the disgust and contempt widely felt in both communities at the excesses; and at long last, they are being listened to seriously by senior Republican, as well as Democratic, senators on Capitol Hill.
Rumsfeld and his team of top lieutenants have therefore now lost the confidence, trust and respect of both the Army and intelligence establishments. Key elements of the political establishment even of the ruling GOP now recognize this.
Yet Rumsfeld and his lieutenants remain determined to hang on to power, and so far President Bush has shown every sign of wanting to keep them there. The scandal, therefore, is far from over. The revelations will continue. The cost of the abuses to the American people and the U.S. national interest is already incalculable: And there is no end in sight.
Copyright © 2001-2004 United Press International
As most already know, United Press International is currently owned by the Unification Church of Rev. Sun-Myung Moon, which also owns the Washington Times.
Rev. Moon has always been counted on to be as solidly behind President George W. Bush's administration on any issue, policy or sound-bite as any Ruppert Murdoch rag or tabloid news show has been.
So, when a Moon Senior Editor passes on the stream (now flood) of leaks, confessions and "heads-up" whispers from senior military and intelligence community sources pouring into newsrooms around the world, Karl Rove starts looking for hazardous duty pay.
The poor Bushies.
First, former administration types and Cabinet members like Richard A. Clarke and Paul O'Neill turn on them; then, Bob Woodward, then a number of Republican Senators, then a growing number of Representatives; then Bill Kristol and Andrew Sullivan, fer crissakes!; now, Murdoch and Moon flaks are throwing bricks at the White House.
What could be next?
No! ... Not Wolf Blitzer?!? ... That's too horrible to imagine!
posted by Gotham 9:17 AM
Bless Me Father, for You Have Sinned...
Washington Post: 48 House Catholics Warn Bishops' Stance Could Spark Bigotry0 comments
I say, let these bishops continue their fight to refuse Communion and other sacraments to U.S. politicians who are just doing their jobs.
Of course, I'd also probably say that this seems to be as good a time as any to finally have Congressional hearings into all that history of little boy grabbing and little girl grabbing going on as all those priests and bishops were just doing their jobs.
Plus, the Church is fairly well-heeled, we'd all agree; they probably won't miss those tax breaks much, will they?
Pop Quiz:
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your representative in Congress,
or your Senator
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YOUR interests?
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Here's the Realtime Iraq Invasion Cost Clock!
posted by Gotham 1:58 AM
Bill from South Dakota Still Doesn't Seem to Get It ...
... Just Like His Friends
AP: Janklow Appeals Conviction in Fatality0 comments
I'd like to say I'm shocked, but I'm not. But I am disgusted.
AP pulls their stories down after a brief time, so here it is:
Janklow Appeals Conviction in Fatality
By JOE KAFKA
Associated Press Writer
May 19, 2004, 7:02 PM EDT
PIERRE, S.D. -- Former congressman Bill Janklow, fresh from 100 days in jail, asked the South Dakota Supreme Court on Wednesday to overturn his convictions in a fatal traffic crash last summer.
His lawyers said in written arguments that Janklow did not get a fair trial because the judge allowed prejudicial evidence about his bad driving record. They also said that Janklow's diabetes was a factor in the accident.
Janklow was convicted in December of second-degree manslaughter and reckless driving in the August death of a motorcyclist at a rural intersection.
Janklow's lawyers want his convictions set aside and the charges dismissed, or for a new trial to be held. The attorney general's office has until July 7 to respond to the appeal.
Circuit Judge Rodney Steele ruined Janklow's chances of acquittal by allowing introduction of highly prejudicial evidence of Janklow's history of bad driving, his lawyers argue.
Janklow, who was diagnosed with diabetes in 1998, did not stop or slow down for the highway crossing 10 miles south of Flandreau because his judgment and driving skills were impaired by low blood sugar, lawyer Melissa C. Hinton said.
Janklow sped through a stop sign, and Randy Scott's motorcycle plowed into the side of Janklow's car.
Prosecutors said Janklow had a long habit of speeding, characterizing his driving as "awful and menacing."
Janklow, a Republican who also served four terms as governor, resigned from Congress just hours after his conviction. He was later sentenced to 100 days in jail and placed on probation for three years. He was released Monday.
The remaining seven months of the U.S. House term will be filled in a June 1 special election.
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press
Think of this as the "I didn't have any Twinkies on me" defense. This insults the intelligence and honor of diabetics worldwide.
Considering the heights of power and dominion they enjoyed by dancing to the tune of Neo-Cons these past four years, nowadays it's just damned embarrassing to be a Republican.
It's not too early to entertain the notion that the GOP may be hurtling headlong towards its most horrid election whacking since Reconstruction. From president down to PTA monitor.
When you figure that no one in this version of the Grand Old Party can take responsibility for any of their actions whatsoever—and that that particular fact has led to horrific loss of life, here and across the globe—this is probably being kind.
posted by Gotham 12:22 AM
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Wolfie: Oops, My Bad...
Washington Post: U.S. Faces Growing Fears of Failure0 comments
Under tough questioning from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, a leading administration advocate of the Iraq intervention, acknowledged miscalculating that Iraqis would tolerate a long occupation. A central flaw in planning, he added, was the premise that U.S. forces would be creating a peace, not fighting a war, after the ouster of Saddam Hussein.
"We had a plan that anticipated, I think, that we could proceed with an occupation regime for much longer than it turned out the Iraqis would have patience for. We had a plan that assumed we'd have basically more stable security conditions than we've encountered," Wolfowitz told the senators.
They said the Titanic was "unsinkable," too.
I think we can safely ascribe this entire catastrophe to "pilot error."
In the coming weeks, pay particular attention to the run for the lifeboats, as members of the military, the intelligence community, the administration and, lastly, the whole "corps de Republican" in Congress start fighting for the few remaining seats in the boats.
posted by Gotham 9:37 AM
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
'Til Defeat Do Us Part
MSNBC - The Political Fallout: Bush's New War Plan0 comments
Things have gotten so bad at Camp Bush, that they're finally reduced to trotting out ol' Laura Bush, the Shy, Reticent First Lady, in an attempt to save her imbecilic husband's ass.
This is because she's the only one left in the administration who's not already going to jail when this is all over.
Just as with every other point in his life, George W. has to look to someone he knows to come bail him out of some giant mess he's made.
Consider this a Love Test.
posted by Gotham 7:54 PM
