Gotham Notes...

Thursday, November 20, 2008

The Bush Legacy II


George W. Bush:

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
0 comments

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Oh My...


The World Reacts

posted by Gotham 2:02 AM
0 comments

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Here We Go...


Well, this is it, boys and girls. The Votes are beginning to be tallied.

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
0 comments

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Web Censorship Spreading Like A Virus


ALERT!

Now, the Brits are the latest to want a little censorship on the Web.

posted by Gotham 9:10 PM
0 comments


Your Bush Administration At Work


This is what they do in the George W. Bush administration.

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
0 comments


The Credit Card Party


From Stephi at ABC:
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
0 comments


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.

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
0 comments


Embarrassing


Frankly, Sen. John McCain, we found your appearance on Saturday Night Live last night, very painful to watch.



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
0 comments

 

Gotham Notes...
This being an ongoing stream of thoughts on issues that affect us all, from the fairest city in the land: New York, NY.

All content © 2009 Gotham Notes.

NEW!
Send e-mail to Gotham Notes...

Photobucket

Subscribe to our Site Feed

 Subscribe in a reader

Subscribe to Gotham Notes... by e-mail!
Enter your e-mail address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

The Big Apple

NYC Nightlife / Live Music

Political Reports

The First Amendment Center
Air America Radio
**The Randi Rhodes Show
The Progress Report
MSNBC's First Read
BuzzFlash
Tom Paine's Common Sense

Blogs of Note

13
Crooks And Liars
AMERICAblog
Raw Story
Huffington Post
Talking Points Memo
TPM Muckraker
TPM Election Central
Altercations
Political Animal / Kevin Drum
Joe Conason / Salon
Joe Conason / N.Y. Observer
Paul Krugman
The Writings of Greg Palast
Juan Cole / Informed Comment
Daily Kos
Eschaton
Firedoglake
Digby / Hullabaloo
David Sirota
MyDD
Swing State Project
Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal
Countdown
I Blame The Patriarchy

gotham

On the Other Hand...

Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish
OpinionJournal / The Wall Street Journal
The Corner / National Review
Matt Drudge
Instapundit

Groups, Organizations

MoveOn.org
TrueMajority

News Outlets

Dailies:
The New York Times
Newsday
New York Daily News
New York Post
The New York Sun

Weeklies:
The Village Voice
New York Observer
New York Press

National:
The Hill
The Christian Science Monitor
USA TODAY

TV / Radio:
NY1 (cable news)
WCBS Channel 2
WNBC Channel 4
WABC Channel 7
WINS 1010 AM radio
(Many more coming soon!)


Here's a calculator to help you get a clearer picture of just how you'd make out under Obama's tax plan, rather than just extending the Bush tax cuts which is all that McCain is proposing.




Stop the heartbreak of catalog glut.
Click here:




Past Is Prologue (GN archives)

April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 August 2006 December 2006 February 2007 August 2007 October 2007 December 2007 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 current