Dis-Card

Carol
Someone just sent me the Andrew Card YouTube link and I watched it just before I opened this site and saw your report. It was captioned "Bwahahahaha!" and for a good reason.

& on a tired topic, I am still upset about the 2004 election & someone has a recommended diary about the exit polls! Something was badly wrong.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/26/214251/354
The case should not be closed.

May 27, 2007
Strife Foreseen in Iraq Exit, but Experts Split on Degree
By MICHAEL R. GORDON and ALISSA J. RUBIN
WASHINGTON, May 26 — There is one matter on which American military commanders, many Iraqis and some of the Bush administration’s staunchest Congressional critics agree: if the United States withdrew its forces from Baghdad’s streets this fall, the murder and mayhem would increase.

But that is where the agreement ends. The wrangling in Washington over war financing, still fierce despite the Democrats’ decision to forgo for now withdrawal deadlines, has obscured a more fundamental debate over what Iraq’s future might look like without American troops.

Would the pullback of American forces unleash an even bloodier round of civil conflict that would lead to the implosion of the Iraqi government? Or would it put pressure on Iraqi politicians to finally reconcile their differences? More bluntly: how bad would things get?

Those questions loom as the administration debates how and when to wind down its troop increase in Iraq, as Iraqis weigh the trade-offs between autonomy and security, and as Congressional Democrats, frustrated by this week’s compromise with the White House, vow to hold a tougher line on future war financing.

To address the issue, The New York Times interviewed more than 40 Iraqi politicians and citizens and consulted recent surveys of public opinion in Iraq. The views of a broad range of senior military officials, American intelligence experts, politicians and independent analysts who have recently returned from Iraq were also solicited.

The somewhat surprising verdict of most Iraqis was clear. For all their distaste for the American occupation, many of them fear that a pullback any time soon would lead to a violent chain reaction that would jeopardize the fitful attempts at political dialogue and risk the collapse of the Iraqi government.

“Many militias and terrorist groups are just waiting for the Americans to leave,” said Salim Abdullah, the spokesman for the Iraqi Accordance Front, the largest Sunni Arab group in the Parliament, who lost two brothers this year to attacks by insurgents.

“This does not mean the presence of American troops in Baghdad is our favorite option,” he said. “People in the street say the United States is part of the chaos here and they could have made it better and safer. Still, we need America to make the country more stable and not leave Iraq in the trouble, which they, themselves, have caused.”

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/world/middleeast/27withdraw.html

May 27, 2007
Editorial
War Without End
Never mind how badly the war is going in Iraq. President Bush has been swaggering around like a victorious general because he cowed a wobbly coalition of Democrats into dropping their attempt to impose a time limit on his disastrous misadventure.

By week’s end, Mr. Bush was acting as though that bit of parliamentary strong-arming had left him free to ignore not just the Democrats, but also the vast majority of Americans, who want him to stop chasing illusions of victory and concentrate on how to stop the sacrifice of young Americans’ lives.

And, ever faithful to his illusions, Mr. Bush was insisting that he was the only person who understood the true enemy.

Speaking to graduates of the Coast Guard Academy, Mr. Bush declared that Al Qaeda is “public enemy No. 1” in Iraq and that “the terrorists’ goal in Iraq is to reignite sectarian violence and break support for the war here at home.” The next day, in the Rose Garden, Mr. Bush turned on a reporter who had the temerity to ask about Mr. Bush’s declining credibility with the public, declaring that Al Qaeda is “a threat to your children” and accusing him of naïvely ignoring the danger.

It’s upsetting to think that Mr. Bush believes the raging sectarian violence in Iraq awaits reigniting, or that he does not recognize that Americans’ support for the war broke down many bloody months ago. But we have grown accustomed to this president’s disconnect from reality and his habit of tilting at straw men, like Americans who don’t care about terrorism because they question his mismanagement of the war or don’t worry about what will happen after the United States withdraws, as it inevitably must.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/opinion/27sun1.html

Well, it sure looks like UMass-Dartmouth is trying to make up for its parent school's Andrew Card debacle...

---------------

U.S. Senator John F. Kerry will deliver the main address at UMass Dartmouth's 107th Commencement Exercises to be held Sunday, May 27 at 10:30 a.m. in the Vietnam Veterans Peace Memorial Amphitheater.

Honorary degrees will be conferred upon:
* Teresa Heinz Kerry, chairman of the Heinz Family Philanthropies;
* Edmund Barry Gaither, Director and Curator of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists;
* Robert P. Lawrence, pastor of the First Congregational Church in Fall River; and
* Julie Moir Messervy, landscape designer and author

"We are honored to have Senator Kerry as our commencement speaker this year,'' Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack said. "For four decades he has served the Commonwealth and nation, and has been a stalwart advocate for our university and region. His perspective on the issues that our nation will face in the coming years will be highly valuable to our graduates as they go forth."

http://www.umassd.edu/communications/articles/showarticles.cfm?a_key=1414

---------------

The festivities will be webcast live, so we can all look and listen if we want to:

http://www.umassd.edu/commencement/webcast.cfm

(And we plan to be live-blogging the awards and the keynote speeches over on http://blog.johnkerry.com if you want to drop by and add your two cents over there, too.)

Matthew, the administration has been wrong before. Who knows what will happen if the US leaves Iraq? No one knows. Much of the hate is directed at American forces regardless of how many Iraqis die. Our PM keeps saying well, if we leave, that's surrendering to terrorists. Really? The Iraqis are terrorists? All of them?

I'd be looking much closer to home for terror possibilities, whilst your entire defence forces and National and Coast Guards are trying to stay alive and bring peace to Iraq. We do it in sport all the time - keep em busy over there and run in to score the goal. It's the way humans - ever competetive to be the best - it's the way of the game of life. And we fell for it. Hook line and sinker. And many more of your young people will die for such a game.

When is enough dead young Americans enough? 4,000? 10,000? 100,000? a million? And how long does it continue?

Carol, this is a great story. I just loved my student days at the end of the 60's. Students, colleges, universities - are great at being seen, heard and counted. This is excellent. All graduates could be proud that their university made such an amazing stand on such an important day. Congratulations to them all!

I saw the YouTube video of the demonstraton at UMass off of a link on the previous thread.

I was reduced to tears. Tears of sadness that someone like Andrew Card was even considered for an honorary degree. "You are what your friends are" is an old maxim, but painfully apt in the life of Andrew Card who chose to associate with people who have so dishonored this country. He chose his life; he chose to act dishonorably, he chose to deceive his country, he chose to become a political pawn for the most dishonorable creatures who ever occupied the highest offices in this land. As an adult, he made his choices. His choices were not foisted upon him past the age of consent, so he can't blame anyone but himself, not even the dishonorable people he chose to work for.

And tears of joy...!!! Those young people who booed and jeered Andrew Card "get it." They know Andrew Card is an example of a person whose life has been filled with dishonor, deceit, and dishonesty (by his own choices). The parents of those young people also deserve kudos for raising their children to know the difference between an honorable life and a dishonorable life. May those young graduates choose to live honorable lives themselves, choose to bring honor to the parents who raised them to know the difference....

Posted by: woz at May 27, 2007 07:56 AM

That piece is interesting because it presents a wide variety of opinions, including guys like Cordesman and Zinni who either overtly, or tacitedly, supported Kerry in 2004. It is fair to mention that while the author, Gordon, has written a book that offers a blistering critique of the Bush Administration (Cobra II, The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq), he also is thought to be a realist.

Fred Kaplan | Hyping al-Qaida
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052607G.shtml
"If you tuned in at the end of George W. Bush's press conference Thursday morning, just in time to watch him defend the immigration bill, you caught a glimpse of the leader he might have been, the 'compassionate conservative' of the 2000 Republican Convention - impassioned, inclusive, empathetic, yet practical," says Fred Kaplan. "If you sat through the rest of the conference, which dealt mainly with the war in Iraq, you saw the bedraggled president he has become."

{{{Excellent deconstructive analysis of the last "news" conference, and good questions at the end.}}}

Robert Parry | Grieving Moms vs. Washington Pols
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052607D.shtml
"The unspeakable suffering of the parents of dead soldiers stands in marked contrast to the maneuvering over the Iraq War now underway in Washington. There, George W. Bush appears quietly planning another escalation of the Iraq War - possibly doubling US combat troops by Christmas - and many members of Congress are frightened of the political repercussions if they stand up to him," says Robert Parry.

{{{Did the second "surge" spoken about in this article get much publicity in Lamestream Media? Or are internet news junkies the only ones who know that there has been two troop increases over the last few months, not just the one that got publicity?}}}

Honor is one of those lovely intangible qualities that one has or one does not have. To act honorably, one must tell the truth at all times (even if the truth hurts), and one must act honorably and respectfully and honestly towards one's fellow human beings and the other creatures who share this planet (by not making ourselves and our fellow creatures live on an uninhabitable planet). If one does not know others and wishes to give them a benefit of the doubt before they prove themselves, one accords others honor and dignity and respect (and hope they receive the same treatment in kind). If one is not treated with honor and respect and dignity in return, then it's time to withdraw even token honor and respect and dignity.

If there is honor and respect and dignity and honesty on all sides, one can maintain those qualities on a personal level and extend those same courtesies to others, while still disagreeing about how to achieve objectives, but still achieve those objectives without too much strife. In an ideal world, all work toward the same goals to ensure we leave a better world for our descendants and a habitable planet for ourselves and future generations, and hope those descendants do the same for their descendants. In that sense, honor starts with one's self and one's family and circle of friends and then extends outward.

Because of losses in my family during this month, May has become a month of introspection and looking back for me before turning to look forward again by June. Besides other deaths in the family that happened in May (there are several), yesterday was the anniversary of my maternal grandmother's death (needless death, since she died as a result of carrying a dead fetus inside her for six months), today is the anniversary of my mother's death, and Wednesday this coming week is the anniversary of my father's death. So, besides new beginnings (graduations and the like, which have all happened in May for me), May represents loss to me, and it's become a month of personal introspection. I honor the memory of loved ones by not indulging in self-pity or maudlin grief, but think kindly on them, the love, the honor, and the respect I was unconditionally given.

While I honor the memory of the family members (and friends) who have served in the military, I cannot jump on any false patriotic bandwagons for only a few days of the year when we note military service. Of the people I know who are still alive who have served in the military (one still is in the military), I know and honor and respect them in real time, all year 'round, because in real time they are honorable people on a daily basis. The military is not the sum total of their lives, only one aspect of it, and while the people I continue to associate with are honorable people (I culled the dishonorable people from my life ages ago), I honor them more for the way they conduct their lives outside of the military, because they deal with family and friends in accordance with the honorable and honest values they learned from their families and their extended communty. As the family historian, I know from whom I derive my values; I know they were honorable, decent, hard-working people, and I can document their lives for over four hundred years (longer, in one line). I know why I am who I am, thanks to the example their lives are to me.

Where I was born and raised, it was just 'expected' that people would treat their family and friends in ways that are honorable, honest, respectful, and dignified (and by extension, treat strangers the same way until they become friends and prove the initial courtesy was warranted). Love and gentle humor figure in there, and I have photo albums it takes days to go through that show ample evidence of good times with loved ones (both living and dead). It was 'expected' that treating others honorably and respectfully was part of one's daily life; it was the rule, not the exception, and certainly no cause to label anyone 'heroic.' No philosophizing or retrospection or hindsight thoughts or celebrating one aspect of their lives a few days a year like we do for the military people. Behaving honorably was 'expected' behavior on a daily basis in all interpersonal relationships. It's an example of peer pressure that gets positive results. To choose dishonor risked being alienated by both family and community.

I was shown honor and respect and dignity by my family and friends in my local community before I even grew up enough to earn what I was given unconditionally. It was up to me, as an adult, to earn what had been so freely given to me, without question, from the time I was a child, and then accord others the same honor and respect and dignity I had already experienced. I worked in honorable professions where law-abiding honesty was part of the job. I didn't think about it much, then, because it was 'only part of the job,' albeit the major part.

Consequently, since the SCOTUS decision of 2000, the disillusionment I've experience in observing the dishonorable people who are currently "leading" this country has been a severe blow to my psyche, and to every aspect of 'honorable' I ever learned or was shown to me since I was a child. No amount of brainwashing or condescending false 'heroic' sloganeering on the part of dishonorable, lying, theiving people will ever make that bitter pill go down. The current administration has proved a magnet for every known type of person whose personal ethics do not extend to anything even resembling 'honorable' behavior (those who have any personal integrity or honor have already resigned or been fired). They, as adults, have made their choices, criminal though those choices are, what with "approving" of torture and illegal wars done in *our* names, sans *our* consent, and Congress Critters have chosen not to stop them (mildly censuring speechifying rhetoric against the current administration does not qualify as stopping the illegal activities that continue to be done in *our* names without *our* consent).

Question is: Do we have to live with their dishonorable choices...?

FOCUS | US Deaths Near Grim Memorial Day Mark
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052707Z.shtml
Americans have opened nearly 1,000 new graves to bury US troops killed in Iraq since Memorial Day a year ago. On Saturday, the military reported that eight US soldiers were killed in separate attacks. At least 3,451 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003.

Memorial Day .. remembering my father and father-in-law, both who got hyped into going to war because they wanted to escape the farm and lack of jobs, my friends who survived Vietnam with trauma or died there, and all those not known personally but involved in the machine since then in the great swindle.

One option is to make this go viral:

http://filibusterforpeace.org/index.html

Today is the day to do it.

Subject: HOW TO START EACH DAY WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

Subject: Thought for the day...Computer file

HOW TO START EACH DAY WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

1. Open a new file in your computer.

2. Name it "George W. Bush."

3. Send it to the trash.

4. Empty the trash.

5. Your PC will ask you, "Do you really want to get rid of "George W. Bush?"

6. Firmly Click "Yes."

7. Feel better.

PS: Next week we'll do Dick Cheney.

For the record...

Kerry is not "The Past."

He's just not "The President."

@@@@@@@

For the record...

Then Gore isn't past either!!!

He is just not president...

this is fun

Posted by: Otter at May 27, 2007 07:54 AM

Thanks for letting us know that, Otter. It's good to know that some branches of the UMass administration have some sense.

Of course the bad decision gets all the attention, and the wise one will get little.

Thanks for bringing the honorable decision to our attention!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/26/AR2007052601394.html
U.S. Security Contractors Open Fire in Baghdad
Blackwater Employees Were Involved in Two Shooting Incidents in Past Week

Employees of Blackwater USA, a private security firm under contract to the State Department, opened fire on the streets of Baghdad twice in two days last week, and one of the incidents provoked a standoff between the security contractors and Iraqi forces, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

A Blackwater guard shot and killed an Iraqi driver Thursday near the Interior Ministry, according to three U.S. officials and one Iraqi official who were briefed on the incident but spoke on condition of anonymity because of a pending investigation. On Wednesday, a Blackwater-protected convoy was ambushed in downtown Baghdad, triggering a furious battle in which the security contractors, U.S. and Iraqi troops and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters were firing in a congested area.

Blackwater confirmed that its employees were involved in two shootings but could neither confirm nor deny that there had been any casualties, according to a company official who declined to be identified because of the firm's policy of not addressing incidents publicly.

Blackwater's security consulting division holds at least $109 million worth of State Department contracts in Iraq, and its employees operate in a perilous environment that sometimes requires the use of deadly force. But last week's incidents underscored how deeply these hired guns have been drawn into the war, their murky legal status and the grave consequences that can ensue when they take aggressive action.

{{{Quite a lot more on link. I wondered how long it would be before someone in Lamestream Media started reporting on mercenary activities....}}}

For the record...

Kerry is not "The Past."

He's just not "The President."

@@@@@@@

For the record...

Then Gore isn't past either!!!

He is just not president...

this is fun

Posted by: Ralpheh at May 27, 2007 01:15 PM

No, it's really not fun. The theft of two pResidency's has caused irreparable harm to our nation and our world.

During the last six years, a deeper level of crime and evil have been breeding throughout the infrastructure of our government.

Jesselyn Radack is one of those good people gone while a bad one replaced her. The same is true of Iglesias and 10 other attorney's.

Of course you were being sarcastic. But I'm not.

After the 2000, election McAuliffe promised that what happened in Flordia would never happen again. But in 2002, it happened again. Then in 2004, it happened to an even greater extent. Where was Terry McAulliffe during either of those big elections?

Without a doubt Gore and Kerry won in 2000 and 2004. I've heard Republicans go from gleeful to mournful over the past six years. Even they know they've been had. And even they admit that a disease is on the loose in our government and they're scared by what the heck happened. (Most of these now moournful Republicans didn't even know that the chairpeople of HAVA (the group that was going to ensure fair elections and protect the electorate) wasn't even inaugorated until January 2004. When told that, most peoples' draw drops and they 'get it' in a heartbeat. They know exactly what happened and what was set up to happen.)

Matthew Carnicelli
Thanks for posting the NYT editorial - I just got done reading it and had it in my "cut" to "paste"!

Sparrow
I too believe those elections were stolen. It's undermined my faith in the system. I used to get a good feeling when I went to vote and trust that at least my vote would be counted, that the system was working. No more, not now.

The propaganda I saw at the front page of the WaPo site - all the captives suddenly freed - that were held by Al Quaida - in Iraq - proof that if we don't get them over there, they will chase us back to America and scare us to death. Then there are the over-the-hill Rolling Thunder biker wannabees who are from my generation but I don't claim them - don't see a big difference with the Swift Boat crew. The pulled up at Mr. Fabulous's drive and he came out to greet them - he who falls off a bike or Segway, gets pooped on by birds, pretends to land on an aircraft carrier, chokes on a pretzel, goes to bed by 9 AM, only showed up at Airman school for dental appointments, wiped his glasses on a woman's coat, had a prompting box in his back during debates, read Pet Goat like a deer in the headlights, massaged Angela, got familiar with the Queen - consorts with the bikers in their fraudulent effort to muster up some true masculinity, revering in the testosterone.

This is spot on. If more joined in, maybe it'd stop.

Bush Supporters Insult the Troops on Memorial Day

Soon, we’ll doubtless see many instances of somber "respect" shown for our troops by Republican politicians and bloggers in their Memorial Day statements. These statements will contain the usual "this holiday weekend, we all must take time to honor the memory and legacy of those who have served us"—type comments from hypocrites who soil the meaning of Memorial Day by continually supporting an unjust war and occupation that has done nothing but needlessly cost American lives.

Well, as an Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran myself, I have a message for these war supporters from the majority of the troops: We don’t want your bullshit messages of empathy and support on Memorial Day.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/27/14235/0811

More text and graphics at the link. I am going over to give this some love.

Posted by: not my president at May 27, 2007 11:16 AM

Thanks for that suggestion! I will follow that when I return home. I'll feel heck of a lot better!

Greetings from the Apple Store on Chicago's Magnificent Mile.

Chicago has been crazy this weekend - heavy rain last night, crystal clear skies now.

In the rain, they had a Memorial Day parade yesterday on State Street in the Loop. Lots of "Support the Troops" mantra - glad to see it, not so glad to see that many of these people are Kool-Aid drinkers who glorify warfare instead.

Met with madame defarge last night. Thanks to the rain, we couldn't put the top down on her convertible. But we tried to sing along the best we could, to Dixie Chicks, anyway. :)

We had a lot of great talk over four hours, over dinner, regarding our family affairs, and current events in general. As always, her insights give me a fresh perspective on current events... and I appreciate that.

It's a shame that Ellen and oncall are out of town, and couldn't join our fun last night.

We talked about many of you as we spent our dinnertime, as well as the future direction DCP needs to take. madame is really looking forward to seeing some of you this coming August, when Yearly Kos comes to Chicago. (I won't be back for that one, unfortunately.)

I want to publicly thank madame for being such a gracious host and making my Chicago visit that much better.

Hello everyone.

My family met with the State Police this weekend, and I finally have the answer to a question that's been bugging me.

Kerwin Brown was Red River Parish Sheriff for 28 years and was sheriff when Faye Aline Self disappeared. The rumor was he left 26 unsolved murders in his 28 years. It was not 26, the rumor was wrong..

We now know it is actually 29.

In a parish that still has a population of LESS THAN 10,000.

Yes, I said 29.

And, did I mention I have the current Red River Parish Sheriff on tape saying he only knows of FOUR....?

I will be posting it online shortly.

I will tell you all about the highly unusual family reunion that has taken place here at my house that just broke up when I get some more energy.

My cousin Karrie has now seen her sister again after 22 years. What an amazing weekend.

29 under Browns admin. and only God knows how many since. It makes me sick to my stomach to think what we don't yet know.

WTF is going on down here?

Don't know, but it don't feel real.

Regarding the New York Times (mediocre) reporting on Iraq and WMD etc., Cobra II and Michael Gordon, here is a review I put on the Amazon.com website regarding the book (Cobra II)

review cobra

I have just read through the section of the book dealing with the "pre-war intell" on Iraq's WMD and find it wanting and, frankly, inaccurate. The authors do a woefully inadequate job of covering the "nuclear weapons" claim by the Bush administration. They do not mention, for example, that the claim of Iraq's attempting to purchase Niger uranium had been removed - at the request of the CIA (George Tenet, I believe) - from a speech that Bush gave in October 2002. Nor do the authors mention Ambassador Joseph Wilson's trip to Niger to attempt to verify the claim. The authors make no effort at trying to explain why the Niger claim magically "resurfaced" in the 2003 State of the Union speech or why the claim had not been corroborated by the C.I.A. but was attributed, in the speech to "British intelligence". It is my understanding that neither the State Department nor the C.I.A. ever believed that a purchase took place or even an attempted purchase took place.

Needless to say, the book makes no mention of the Italian forgery of the Niger "purchase" which was, almost immediately, rejected by the IAEA. And, amazingly, the book does not mention the Downing Street Memo of July 2002, which stated that Bush had decided to go to war with Iraq, regardless of the reasons and, in fact, there was not a compelling reason to go to war with Iraq. AUTHORS; PLEASE SEE "DOWNING STREET MEMO", and read it....

Posted by: Christy at May 27, 2007 04:45 PM

I feel the frustration. How worse could it possibly get? They don't even know the number of the dead!

madame and I had you - and Aline - in our thoughts, as we discussed DCP last night. We both hope for justice in Aline's case.

"How worse could it possibly get? "

I can not tell you everything I was told, but I can totally say it is about to get much much worse.

I thought I was ready to hear anything...I wasn't read for what I heard.

My family is in one hell of a situation and open hostility is about to pit cops against cops again very soon. It is unavoidable.

And it will be very public.

It is far from over.

If they just gave us her body back, we might could have just moved on and let her rest.

All they had to do was give her back to us.

I do not trust any of these cops... But Allen is different from the ones before.

It is about to get seriously ugly.

I wish it would just stop.

More bad news about Michael Gordon, he co-wrote articles with Judith Miller!!!!!!!!!!

new york times 9 8 2002
September 8, 2002 New York Times U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts By Michael R. Gordon and Judith Miller. WASHINGTON, Sept. ...
www.realdemocracy.com/abomb.htm - 23k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
The Blog | Joseph A. Palermo: Michael Gordon Outdoes Judith Miller ...
I thought I read somewhere that "Michael Gordon" was a joke on the part of Bill ... NY Times knew Judith Miller was a war hyper. Gordon IS MUCH more ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/michael-gordon-outdoes-ju_b_41097.html - 48k - May 25, 2007 - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

BTW,

Too bad about the Chicago rain, if you ever make it to Louisiana, look me up.

It is getting very warm here but still almost perfect days.

I have a bumper crop of yellow squash and no idea what to do with it.

My first garden in a decade. It is a great place to drink Merlot. Come on down.

LOL!!!

Judith Miller and Michael Gordon's sourcing:

U.S. Says...United States intelligence asserts...reflects broad agreement among American intelligence agencies...civilian and military officials from a broad range of government agencies provided...military officials say...The officials said...The assessment was described in interviews over the past several weeks with American officials...Administration officials said...according to the intelligence...According to American intelligence...Some American intelligence experts believe...they assert...notes a still-classified American intelligence report...a senior administration official said...according to Western officials...Officials said...An American intelligence assessment described to The New York Times said...Other officials believe...American military officers say...American officials say...According to American intelligence agencies...Assessments by American intelligence agencies say...Marine officials say...American intelligence agencies are concerned...Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week.

from:

http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/001315.html

So Ralph, do you think Gordon just made up the quotes from Cordesman or Zinni?

So Ralph, do you think Gordon just made up the quotes from Cordesman or Zinni?

Posted by: Matthew Carnicelli at May 27, 2007 05:46 PM

@@@@@@@@@

I know that the pre-war section of the book is inaccurate, woefully inaccurate. If the Downing Street Memo is not mentioned; if Joe Wilson and his trip to Niger is not mentioned; if the retraction of the 16 words in the 2003 State of the Union speech by the Director of the CIA is not mentioned; if the fact that Gordon's and Miller's articles were retracted by the New York Times and that Miller was subsequently fired (the Times gently says "retired"); the whole book, in my mind, is tainted.

I got to about page 150 of the book and was so disgusted that these huge controversies and events were not even mentioned, I put the book down. As a school kid's report, it gets a failing grade.

That Gordon co-wrote with Judith Miller gives him even less credibility... The book may contain much truth... I just don't have the time to ferret the truth out.

Ralpheh
Thanks for the book review - you summed up important stuff when you posted
(see this timeframe) Posted by: Ralpheh at May 27, 2007 016:46
Book shouldn't be on the shelves if it ignores that - it's criminal.

Christy
Glad you're getting to the bottom of things about Aline but sure sickens me how cops ignore murders of women sometimes, as happened in our area with the Green River killer and Pickton in BC who sold bodies to be made into items like lipstick!

Ally, Madame
Great meeting of minds! Looking forward to Chicago and meeting some of you in person, along with Suz coming. I haven't been in Chicago for so many years, I can't imagine it.

Other
I was at the Apple Store myself, as I need a computer. Coming out, I wished I'd brought my camera. There was a bright yellow HUMMER with a canoe on top and a bicycle on the front. What a set of confused values - probably from across the lake.

Ralpheh
The more I read .. that's government propaganda, that book!

I did take a peek at Gore's book - very bright & eye catching, simple title, no distracting graphics, 20% off. Hope it sells.

Check out this little ditty from the UK:
Oh what a beautiful morning..down in Guantanamo Bay
http://eclectech.co.uk/guantanamobay.php

Go to http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/27/14235/0811
and read the Iraq/Afghanistan combat vets piece about Memorial Day & scroll down & read the poem in one of the comments, posted by RevBludge

emorial Day verses, 2007 (7+ / 0-)
The Last of Bush's Volunteers
[To the tune of "Barrett's Privateers"]

Oh the year it was two thousand two
I wish they were in Gitmo now!
A story all forged, a tale untrue
From the scummiest crew I ever knew,
God Damn them all! I was sold
On the smoking gun Saddam did hold
Now I'm a broken man with PTSD,
The last of Bush's volunteers.

Oh Cheney and Rice cried "mushroom cloud",
I wish they were in Gitmo now!
And the War President stood there and vowed
A lie to the Congress right out loud,
God Damn them all! "He has WMDs
That are aimed at the heart of our fair countree!"
Now I'm a broken man in Walter Reed,
The last of Bush's volunteers.

Oh, Colin Powell was a plausible tool.
I wish he was in Gitmo now!
A-talking of tubes and yellowcake,
And Tenet behind him to support the fake
God Damn them all! Those aluminum tubes;
And we swallowed it all like a bunch of rubes,
Now I'm a broken man all scarred and seared,
The last of Bush's volunteers.

Oh the year it was two thousand three,
I wish they were in Gitmo now!
When I rode in armorless Humvee
And we hit that motherfucking IED
God Damn them all! I was sold,
And the missiles flew and the tanks they rolled
Now I'm a broken double amputee,
The last of Bush's volunteers.

The HumVee bucked and pitched on her side.
Oh I wish they were in Gitmo now!
The Sergeant was smashed like a bowl of eggs,
And the bomb blast carried off both my legs.
God Damn them all! They sent me a bill
For my missing gear; twas a bitter pill
Now I'm a broken man and it appears,
I'm the last of Bush's volunteers.

So we searched for a year through the heat and sand
Oh I wish Bush was in Gitmo now!
But their "smoking gun" never came to hand
Now the Army says I owe them eight grand
God Damn them all! They knew, they knew
But they got their war and the missiles flew
Now I'm a broken man and it appears,
I'm the last of Bush's volunteers.

So here I sit in my twenty-third year.
I wish they were in Gitmo now!
It's been four years since we sailed away.
They just closed my hometown VA.
God Damn them all! Sometimes I dream
Of the Humvee exploding and hear Sarge scream
And I wake up cold and full of tears,
I'm the last of Bush's volunteers.

Really good personalized article on the Andy Card fiasco discussed in the current threader here:

http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/2007/05/marked-card.html

Frank Rich | Operation Freedom From Iraqis

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052707C.shtml
"Iraqis are clamoring to get out of Iraq. Two million have fled so far and nearly two million more have been displaced within the country. (That's a total of some 15 percent of the population.) Save the Children reported this month that Iraq's child-survival rate is falling faster than any other nation's. Yet for all the words President Bush has lavished on Darfur and AIDS in Africa,
there has been a deadly silence from him about what's happening in the country he gave 'God's gift of freedom.'
It's easy to see why," says Frank Rich.

Ralpheh
The more I read .. that's government propaganda, that book!

I did take a peek at Gore's book - very bright & eye catching, simple title, no distracting graphics, 20% off. Hope it sells.

Posted by: not my president at May 27, 2007 08:55 PM

@@@@@@@@

The huge red flag is that Gordon wrote articles with Miller.... and the NY Times was pushing the country into war with its screaming frontpage articles.

Do you want to see a shocking indictment of the media - print and TV? See Bill Moyers' "Buying the War" at http://www.pbs.org . WARNING it might put you in a very foul mood. Even Moyers is shocked at how poorly the media covered the whole unfolding story of the Iraq War. (Judy Miller is featured, of course, for her poor and slanted reporting but not Gordon.)

There are some bright spots: Walter Pincus of the Washington Post (whose stories always got buried); Bob Simon of CBS News (who had spent much time in the Middle East and Iraq, knew the region and the players, had many contacts etc...); Phil Donahue on MSNBC tried to bring opposing views or doubters on his program but was hampered by management; the McClatchy Newspapers and their Washington reporters.

Ironically the Moyers video concludes that reporters being away from Washington - in Simon's case in the Middle East and the McClatchy newspapers being based outside Washington - was an advantage in covering the story - they got better, less biased information.

Posted by: Ally McRepuke in Chicago at May 27, 2007 04:38 PM

No thanks necessary. It was truly an honor to meet you in person. Namaste.

Posted by: Christy at May 27, 2007 05:14 PM

Christy, I wish any or all of us could take away any of the pain you've had to deal with.

As Ally & I were discussing last night, we are a small community of unique people, all here to support each other through the personal & political events in our lives. This is what a progressive community of people -- many of whom have never met in person -- can do: to reach out to others, to be compassionate, to be accepting, to appreciate who we are & what we can do individually & collectively.

We are not alone.

(Don't make me start singing "We Are Family"...I can't sing for sh*t & it's a goofy song anyway.)

Posted by: Ralpheh at May 27, 2007 08:18 PM

Everybody tells a different story, often from their own unique perspective, biases and all. This is as true on the left as it is on the right. I'd recommend renting, and viewing, Rashomon - if you haven't seen it.

Cobra II is NOT seen as complementary to the Bush Administration - even if it does offer a military reporter's window into the Iraq war.

Now, my real question is: can you offer any credible argument that the Sunday piece was slanted? There was a wide variety of opinions, from both Iraqis and Americans, from both supporters of this Administration and critics, from both Iraqis and Americans who want us the US out. Where's the bias? Or are you a mirror image, interpolated for the left, of the neo-cons - who want to cherry pick information, and praise and condemn candidates, based on a narrow and highly subjective, if not unrealistic, ideological agenda?

This is an excerpt from the NY Times review of Cobra:

*****

It makes for unsettling reading. In richly detailed, almost dispassionate prose, the authors present a damning indictment of the Bush administration's national security team.

Mr. Gordon and General Trainor recount in granular detail the behind-the-scenes maneuvering as the invasion plan came together, making it clear not only that by the end of 2001 the administration's focus had shifted from Afghanistan to Baghdad, but also that planning for an invasion was already at an advanced stage.

The authors contrast the feverish preparations for war with Iraq taking place in 2002 at the Pentagon and the United States Central Command under Gen. Tommy R. Franks with the misleading statements emanating from senior officials. "I have no war plans on my desk," President Bush told a May 23, 2002, news conference. Given that planning for the war had been under way for six months, "the president's statement was true in only the most literal and trivial sense," the authors write. General Franks, the authors note, went even further. When a radio reporter asked him that same month how many troops he would need to invade Iraq, he replied that Secretary Rumsfeld "has not yet asked me to put together a plan to do that." If even half of what Mr. Gordon and General Trainor report about the state of planning by late May 2002 is true, this was a lie.

Obsessed with minimizing the size of the invading force, Secretary Rumsfeld dismissed advice from experts inside and outside government who argued for a larger contingent than the 140,000 or so troops sent into Iraq. His efforts "played havoc" with the military's preparations, according to the authors, and sowed the seeds for the anarchy that followed the fall of the Hussein regime. The plan that Central Command wrote under Secretary Rumsfeld's close supervision was also based on hopelessly optimistic Central Intelligence Agency predictions that Iraqi units would capitulate — i.e. not merely surrender but also change sides. "Rarely has a military plan depended on such a bold assumption," the authors write.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/28/books/28nayl.html

And here's a review from the Council on Foreign Relations:

"Cobra II, by Gordon, of The New York Times, and Trainor, a retired Marine Corps general, is a worthy successor to their excellent account of the 1991 conflict, The Generals' War. The research is meticulous and properly sourced, the narrative authoritative, the human aspects of conflict never forgotten. Cobra II focuses on the rushed and haphazard preparations for war and the appalling relations between the major players -- with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld contemptuous of military views and the compliant Generals Richard Myers, of the Joint Chiefs, and Tommy Franks, of Central Command, showing scant interest in exactly where they were leading their forces. As they faced a sullen population and Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen, it soon became apparent that the optimistic assumptions on which Iraq had been entered were fallacious. Saddam remained the victim of his own illusions, which his frightened advisers dared not challenge, and the regime was quickly overthrown. But there were insufficient coalition troops to maintain civil order, even if there had been plans to do so. The occupying forces soon came to be seen as a menace to the local people rather than as their liberators. This set the scene for growing chaos. The one disappointment here is that the post-2003 story is only sketched: hopefully, the authors will make that the third book in the series."

- more -

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060901fabook85526a/michael-r-gordon-general-bernard-e-trainor/cobra-ii-the-inside-story-of-the-invasion-and-occupation-of-iraq.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2086737,00.html
A drive for global domination has put us in greater danger

Moral authority, which is our greatest source of strength, has been recklessly put at risk by this wilful president

Al Gore
Thursday May 24, 2007
The Guardian
The pursuit of "dominance" in foreign policy led the Bush administration to ignore the UN, to do serious damage to our most important alliances, to violate international law, and to cultivate the hatred and contempt of many in the rest of the world. The seductive appeal of exercising unconstrained unilateral power led this president to interpret his powers under the constitution in a way that brought to life the worst nightmare of the founders. Any policy based on domination of the rest of the world not only creates enemies for the US and recruits for al-Qaida, but also undermines the international cooperation that is essential to defeating terrorists who wish to harm and intimidate America. Instead of "dominance", we should be seeking pre-eminence in a world where nations respect us and seek to follow our leadership and adopt our values.

With the blatant failure by the government to respect the rule of law, we face a great challenge in restoring America's moral authority in the world. Our moral authority is our greatest source of strength. It is our moral authority that has been recklessly put at risk by the cheap calculations of this wilful president.

The Bush administration's objective of attempting to establish US domination over any potential adversary was what led to the hubristic, tragic miscalculation of the Iraq war - a painful misadventure marked by one disaster after another, based on one mistaken assumption after another. But the people who paid the price have been the American men and women in uniform trapped over there, and the Iraqis themselves. At the level of our relations with the rest of the world, the administration has willingly traded respect for the US in favour of fear. That was the real meaning of "shock and awe". This administration has coupled its theory of US dominance with a doctrine of pre-emptive strikes, regardless of whether the threat to be pre-empted is imminent or not.

The doctrine is presented in open-ended terms, which means that Iraq is not necessarily the last application. In fact, the very logic of the concept suggests a string of military engagements against a succession of sovereign states - Syria, Libya, North Korea, Iran - but the implication is that wherever the combination exists of an interest in weapons of mass destruction together with an ongoing role as host to, or participant in, terrorist operations, the doctrine will apply. It also means that the Iraq resolution created the precedent for pre-emptive action anywhere, whenever this or any future president decides that it is time. The risks of this doctrine stretch far beyond the disaster in Iraq. The policy affects the basic relationship between the US and the rest of the world. Article 51 of the UN charter recognises the right of any nation to defend itself, including the right to take pre-emptive action in order to deal with imminent threats.

By now, the administration may have begun to realise that national and international cohesion are indeed strategic assets. But it is a lesson long delayed and clearly not uniformly and consistently accepted by senior members of the cabinet. From the outset, the administration has operated in a manner calculated to please the portion of its base that occupies the far right, at the expense of solidarity among all Americans and between our country and our allies. The gross violations of human rights authorised by Bush at Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay and dozens of other locations around the world, have seriously damaged US moral authority and delegitimised US efforts to continue promoting human rights.

{{{More on link. The fact that this is in a British, not US, newspaper is what I find 'interesting.' There is a long, long list of comments, and some are quite thought-provoking.}}}

May 28, 2007
As Allies Turn Foe, Disillusion Rises in Some G.I.’s
By MICHAEL KAMBER
BAGHDAD — Staff Sgt. David Safstrom does not regret his previous tours in Iraq, not even a difficult second stint when two comrades were killed while trying to capture insurgents.

“In Mosul, in 2003, it felt like we were making the city a better place,” he said. “There was no sectarian violence, Saddam was gone, we were tracking down the bad guys. It felt awesome.”

But now on his third deployment in Iraq, he is no longer a believer in the mission. The pivotal moment came, he says, this February when soldiers killed a man setting a roadside bomb. When they searched the bomber’s body, they found identification showing him to be a sergeant in the Iraqi Army.

“I thought: ‘What are we doing here? Why are we still here?’ ” said Sergeant Safstrom, a member of Delta Company of the First Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division. “We’re helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us.”

His views are echoed by most of his fellow soldiers in Delta Company, renowned for its aggressiveness.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/world/middleeast/28delta.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/26/politics/main2855251.shtml?source=mostpop_story

Chaos In Texas House Over Speaker Fight
Embattled GOP Leader Faces Skirmishes From "Insurgents" Within Own Party To Remove Him From Post

Tensions in the Texas House boiled over in a parliamentary showdown between Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick and some GOP and Democratic insurgents.

{{{Say W-H-A-T?!?!? [Shaking head, rattling marbles around.] The Democrats at the Texas House battle are labeled as "Democratic insurgents"?!?!?!?!?!?!? The term 'insurgent' is used more than once in this article (I found the link at C&L). Texas sure seems to have more than its share of crackpot politicians (ironically, the guy's from Crawford, TX - must be something in the water there).... However, whichever CBS snooze writer labeled the Democrats in TX as "insurgents" needs to have his/her head examined, since the word "insurgent" equates to "terrorist" in modern word symbolism in all the propaganda that is issued from the White House and Pentagon!!!}}}

May 28, 2007
Editorial
Fixing the Alternative Tax
When lawmakers return from their Memorial Day recess, fixing the alternative minimum tax, once and for all, should be at the top of their agenda.

The A.M.T. is supposed to tax tax-avoiding multimillionaires. But over the last decade, the code has been distorted in such a way that multimillionaires hardly ever pay the alternative tax. Instead, it now falls hardest on people who make between $75,000 and $500,000 a year. Unless Congress changes the rules, about 20 million such taxpayers will be hit in 2007, with an average additional tax of nearly $3,000.

That’s unfair. For upper-middle-income taxpayers, the big write-offs are for children and for state and local taxes, hardly aggressive shelters.

True reform must lift the alternative-tax burden from wrongly afflicted taxpayers while enacting a fair way to raise tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue that will be forgone. President Bush has long promised a real fix but has never taken action. The truth is, Mr. Bush needs the alternative tax because the revenue it’s projected to generate masks the drain from the tax cuts he has lavished on millionaires. So reform will be up to Congress.

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has come up with a plan that deserves lawmakers’ careful attention. It would get rid of the alternative tax altogether, and in its place impose a new 4 percent tax on income above $200,000 a year for married couples and above $100,000 for single taxpayers.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/opinion/28mon1.html

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich: "Privatizing Iraq's Oil is Theft!"
7 Minute Video
Rep. Kucinich explained how the proposed Bill, now pending before the U.S. Congress, via its benchmarks, will provide for the privatization of Iraqi oil. It requires the regime in Iraq to pass a law called, "The Hydrocarbon Act." If they refuse to do so over a billion dollars in reconstruction funds will be blocked by the Bush-Cheney administration, he claimed. - Unless the scheme is stopped, Rep. Kucinich predicted, we will be looking at an Iraqi War "going on forever!"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17769.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6694227.stm
US 'opposes' G8 climate proposals

The US appears to have rejected draft proposals by Germany for G8 members to agree tough measures in greenhouse gas emissions, leaked documents have shown.

Excerpt (more on link):
US 'isolated'

Correspondents say the document hints at a looming struggle over the issue of climate change at the G8 summit, to be held on 6-8 June in Heiligendamm, Germany.

Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to use Germany's presidency of the G8 to secure a major climate change deal, including:

Agreement to slow the rise in average temperatures this century to 2C

A cut in global emissions by 50% below 1990 levels by 2050

A rise in energy efficiency in power and transport by 20% by 2020.
Greenpeace Director John Sauven described the US position as "criminal".

"The US administration is clearly ignoring the global scientific consensus as well the groundswell of concern about climate change in the United States," he said.

Mrs Merkel should make it clear the US was isolated on the issue among G8 members, he added.

NonnyO
The United States of Exxon/Halliburton wouldn't want to cut emissions by 50% because it might cut into their profit.

Glad you reposted Kucinich's caution about the oil grab/bribe benchmark & just read a story recently about the huge contracts Blackwater has with the US State Department in Iraq.

Here is an excerpt from an Op-Ed that nails it. The father has lost a son who was a year old than my son. He states reality in the way that I have feared it exists.

I Lost My Son To A War I Oppose: We Were Both Doing Our Duty

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/25/AR2007052502032.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Excerpt:

Money buys access and influence. Money greases the process that will yield us a new president in 2008. When it comes to Iraq, money ensures that the concerns of big business, big oil, bellicose evangelicals and Middle East allies gain a hearing. By comparison, the lives of U.S. soldiers figure as an afterthought.

Memorial Day orators will say that a G.I.'s life is priceless. Don't believe it. I know what value the U.S. government assigns to a soldier's life: I've been handed the check. It's roughly what the Yankees will pay Roger Clemens per inning once he starts pitching next month.

Money maintains the Republican/Democratic duopoly of trivialized politics. It confines the debate over U.S. policy to well-hewn channels. It preserves intact the cliches of 1933-45 about isolationism, appeasement and the nation's call to "global leadership." It inhibits any serious accounting of exactly how much our misadventure in Iraq is costing. It ignores completely the question of who actually pays. It negates democracy, rendering free speech little more than a means of recording dissent.

This is not just some great conspiracy. It's the way the system works.

Good op-ed @ NYTimes

What the History of Memorial Day Teaches About Honoring the War Dead

--snip--
When Memorial Day began, the war dead were placed front and center. The holiday’s original name, Decoration Day, came from the day’s main activity: leaving flowers at cemeteries. Today, though, we are fighting a war in which great pains have been taken to hide the nearly 3,500 Americans who have died from sight. The Defense Department has banned the photographing of returning caskets, and the president refuses to attend soldiers’ funerals.

Memorial Day also began with the conviction that to properly honor the war dead, it is necessary to honestly contemplate the cause for which they fought. Today we are fighting a war sold on false pretenses, and the Bush administration stands by its false stories. Memorial Day’s history, and its devolution, demonstrates that the instinct to prettify war and create myths about it is hardly new.

But as the founders of the original Memorial Day understood, the only honorable way to remember those who have lost their lives is to commemorate them out in the open, and to insist on a true account.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/opinion/28mon4.html?

It makes for unsettling reading. In richly detailed, almost dispassionate prose, the authors present a damning indictment of the Bush administration's national security team.

Mr. Gordon and General Trainor recount in granular detail the behind-the-scenes maneuvering as the invasion plan came together, making it clear not only that by the end of 2001 the administration's focus had shifted from Afghanistan to Baghdad, but also that planning for an invasion was already at an advanced stage.

@@@@@@@@

Does the behind-the-scenes maneuvering include selectively leaking classified information to the New York Times which then ended up on page 1? Does the behind-the-scenes maneuvering include the Neo-Cons from the Project for a New American Century who were miraculously transplanted to the Pentagon? Did any of the information on the behind-the-scenes maneuvering in the Bush administration make it into the front section of the New York Times or was ALL of this information learned YEARS after the fact???

Actually Gordon could write an even more interesting book which might be called "The Articles I Wrote With Judith Miller and how they got on page 1".

Perhaps Mr. Gordon got it right in his book (getting the truth 4 years too late is better than never getting the truth) . He certainly didn't get it right as a reporter....

"...I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma ..." --

President George Bush,

Ok that does it. I am not observing official holidays.

1. The United States of American admitted ONE Iraqi immigrant
last year.

2. Not ONE of the Republican or Democratic candidates running
for President in 2008 ever served in the military and at least
three of them do not believe in evolution.

In the four-minute clip you show here, there are at least two young folks, one a dark-haired young man and another a young woman who talked about it being "a free Ph.D. basically." the young man was so on target....I almost cried then, "an unnecessary war, unnecessary war."

Just in case anyone is still checking this, the link to the Fitz speech is here:

http://www.amherst.edu/commencement/2007/conversations/index.html