Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Bush Legacy II
George W. Bush:0 comments
Nothing. Is. Ever. Our. Fault. Or. Responsibility.
Ever.
This sad tale is a Two-for-One Shot of Bush-led ugly. And of what America has been reduced to in GeorgeBushWorld.
If their Commander-In-Chief can tell lies, and happily tell jokes and dance around and cover his ass, and make everything everybody else's fault, why shouldn't the entire Officer and Noncom Corps of the U.S. Military do the same? You follow your leader, period. Right?
This seems to cover friendly fire situations, as well.
With possible negligent homicide, dereliction of duty or assault charges hanging in the air, and facing possible jail time, certain demotion or separation from service penalties—depending on the outcome of any judicial review that might have taken place if things were reported correctly at the time—the command structure overseeing the friendly fire attack that befell 2nd Platoon in Ramadi, Anbar Provence, Iraq, in Dec. 2006, had every motive in the world to lie out their asses and simply say, too bad, kids, you're already dead, my getting screwed won't bring you back now.
This horrific saga appears before us now in Two Acts:
First, here is last month's original report, released on October 14, 2008 by Salon's Mark Benjamin (who should easily walk away with a Pulitzer for his effort to get this story out):
Salon: Friendly fire in Iraq—and a cover up
WARNING: Whether reading the story above, or watching Benjamin's video evidence of the events below, be prepared to have your heart broken. And your fury unleashed. [This video is an edited 12 minutes; Benjamin offers this, plus a full, unedited 52-minute version on the Salon site.]
It is important to note that these events may well have been fully and totally accidental—stemming from mis-identification of the men in "building #2" in the heat of a confusing and terrifying full fire fight. If these events had been allowed a full judicial hearing, it's possible we may have been left with two dead soldiers, and a tank crew and any number of possible commanders who would be haunted by this for the rest of their lives, but who may not actually have been criminally negligent. If so, it might well have been chalked up to: That's warfare. That is the risk you take when you enlist. Shit happens, and so on.
But, no. Even in the chaos, while trying to get the info of his wounded and dead to HQ over his radio, the Sergeant was being told the Official Story of what had just happened. Even if no one there saw that at all, THAT is what happened. Got it? There was NO tank shell, OK? Two insurgent rockets came from two entirely different directions and, as Tinkerbelle guided them, just happened to land together at the EXACT SAME SPOT at the EXACT SAME SECOND on the roof of "building #2" and blew up a number of GIs, killing two. OK? Got it? THIS IS THE STORY. And we're sticking to it.
All official records following the incident follow the Tinkerbelle theory.
Now, here's where Act I turns truly ugly. In expert Bush/Cheney fashion, the lies told to the mother of Pfc. Mark Nelson of Philadelphia about her son's death explain why Americans no longer believe a frickin' thing anyone in Bush's government tells us, about anything, at any time.
But, of course, you knew it wouldn't end there.
As Richard Nixon found out, it's never the crime, it's the cover-up that really fucks people up. And, like any poison, it spreads.
Now, in today's Salon, we have this:
Salon: New friendly fire cover up: Army shreds files on dead soldiers
So disgusting.
On the day the Benjamin piece appeared in Salon last month, 2nd Platoon's battalion commanders met at Fort Carson, Colorado, to discuss Benjamin's exposé. They basically agreed to panic. Their first reaction, as with any criminal conspiracy, is to go through the ranks, fruitlessly attempting to ferret out the rat who talked to the press.
Gosh! And no one copped to it. I'm amazed!
Later that day, coincidentally mind you, all the files containing any and all info on the two soldiers killed by U.S. tank fire in Ramadi on Dec. 6, 2006 (along with those of anyone with similar names, just to be sure) were pulled from the base's files, boxed up and slated for destruction.
They're now covering up the cover up. The scenario which proves the Nixon point.
Now, there is a clear number of noncoms and officers who can be targeted in the original cover-up. But, now two years later, back on the platoon's base in Colorado, any number of additional officers and noncoms who were not privy to the initial cover up, some of whom may have had no idea the original events ever occurred, are trying to step in and help out their comrades who were involved on the battlefield but who are now long removed from that unit. So now they, themselves, are implicated in malfeasance. And at risk of prosecution.
As we said above, "like any poison, it spreads."
As one of the soldiers who were ordered to shred the evidence realized that night:"People go to jail for this kind of shit."
Also, as with most people who go to jail on merit, it's usually one thoughtless moment or gesture that trips them up, and exposes them to prosecution.
With this second cover up, Gotham wonders who had the bright idea to assign three soldiers to perform the actual shredding that night—two of whom were on-site during the original friendly fire incident, were friends of the two killed Americans and were eyewitnesses to events there. Or, even worse in terms of exposing the ineptitude of command forces in George Bush's Army today, why did no one who wanted these explosive, incriminating files to disappear think of the simple step of assuring that no witness connected with the original crime was assigned to the file shredding.
It's mind-boggling that no one had this simple thought:Assigning two soldiers who were eyewitnesses to the original events—and who, along with the rest of the platoon, had been bullied and ordered into accepting an official cover up that ran counter to the facts of their friends' deaths as they knew them—to destroy the evidence that would confirm for the world the horror that these men had lived with for two years, might conceivably pose a problem.
And yes, the "people go to jail" quote came from one of the eyewitnesses as he realized what they'd bee instructed to do.
I'm not certain these commanders are the people I'd want ordering around men with large guns. Or tanks.
Aside from the fools at the very top who should stand to account before a World Court for all of this mess, this entire affair is heart wrenching in the extreme. A Greek Tragedy for our time.
But everyone here is simply following Bush's lead.
Nothing. Is. Ever. Our. Fault. Or. Responsibility.
Ever.
Pass it on.
posted by Gotham 3:21 PM
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Oh My...
The World Reacts0 comments
posted by Gotham 2:02 AM
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Here We Go...
Well, this is it, boys and girls. The Votes are beginning to be tallied.0 comments
How furiously do you think the GOP minions are getting these votes flipped and/or rerouted through their favorite GOP vote-cleaning shop in Tennessee?
So, do we go for the champagne or the torches?
You knew some kind of fix was in when you saw the stories about the Ohio police forces gearing up for riots.
That can only mean one thing...
posted by Gotham 7:13 PM
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Web Censorship Spreading Like A Virus
ALERT!0 comments
Now, the Brits are the latest to want a little censorship on the Web.
posted by Gotham 9:10 PM
Your Bush Administration At Work
This is what they do in the George W. Bush administration.0 comments
They corrupt every principle of governance, and stand it on its head, in order to wrest and control power for its own sake. For as tight a closed circle of privileged people as it possibly can.
Homeland Security may have outed Obama's aunt
Can ANYONE please school me on ANYTHING the minions of Dick Cheney and Bush have done in eight years that was actually aimed at improving the lot of the average American? Anything?
Plus, is Bush actually trying to reach a 15% Approval Rating before Tuesday's election?
posted by Gotham 9:03 PM
The Credit Card Party
From Stephi at ABC:0 comments
GOP goes further into hock to avoid clean sweep
Going into debt is all anyone in the modern Republican Party knows how to do. They did it to the country; they're doing it to the Party; has anyone checked any balance sheets of people hanging out at the Country Club lately? The Country Club may want to start charging its fees and dues in cash. It's not too clear just how solvent its members might be.
posted by Gotham 8:47 PM
What If?
Since 2000, people have been tracking the Republican misuse and abuse of the voting system (i.e., actual "Voting Fraud"), both with paper and electronic ballots, and through the actions of state political operatives who have climbed into positions of power over the running of the elections in various states.0 comments
With a story like this one:
Documents reveal how Republican Ohio SoS Blackwell routed 2004 voting data through servers that hosted illegal external Bush Administration email accounts—it brings to mind the ever-nagging question that confronts us today.
"If Barack Obama's apparent lead across the country disappeared on election day, and scores of counties that were solidly Democratic 'flipped' and showed up as Republican by late Tuesday, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?"
Would you question it, oppose it, sue everyone in sight? Would you heat up the tar and gather the feathers? Would you heap vengeance on anyone wearing a red tie? Would you take to the street with torches and pitchforks?
Or would you just hang your head and say, "Gee, willikers, those darn bastards stole another one from us."
At what point do you rise in righteous anger and take back your country?
Hmmmmmm?
posted by Gotham 8:28 PM
Embarrassing
Frankly, Sen. John McCain, we found your appearance on Saturday Night Live last night, very painful to watch.0 comments
Poking fun at oneself is a topnotch political quality, but would have been set up better earlier in the campaign when the campaign had vitality, when it was still defining its story, and could control its image. Then, the skits would assist your campaign in defining its message.
To have it come on the last desperate weekend of the campaign, when you're struggling to push the boulder up the mountainside, leaves you with only the conventional unflattering picture of the moment. This, of course, does nothing but reinforce the negative image at a time when you dearly need every moment of the day to shine a positive light on your quickly sinking ship.
The idea of joking about the Titanic while water is lapping at the ship's conning tower only reinforces the idea that you're bereft of ideas on how to fix your immediate crisis. And proves that you're not very fast on your feet, Mr. McCain. It's rather akin to if Michael Dukakis had started laughing about those "wacky" tanks on the last weekend in 1988.
It's not clear how the message that you're broke enough to only afford air time on the QVC channel hurts Barack Obama. It says nothing about him; it says you're underfunded and cannot compete, whether you are or not. You end up looking like one of those whiners that your financial guru Phil Gramm complained about. Gramm may be your long-time friend, Senator, but he's made it clear, he's got no room for whiners.
Then, allowing Tina Fey to insert an aside to the camera about how your running mate has already written this election off and is already pushing PALIN 2012 tee shirts, is something that your staff should have put the kibbosh on by midweek at the latest. You're already having enough trouble with the revolt by Palin forces trampling on your message in the mainstream press, without having comedy shows place that idea in concrete in the public's mind.
I'm afraid, Senator, last night's stint on SNL only proved that, while you may be adept at comedy, your campaign may border on being a joke.
posted by Gotham 6:56 PM
