The Santa Clause

This is sad, but not unexpected. A large majority of Americans STILL believe that there was a Saddam - al-Qaeda link.

The poll, conducted by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, suggested that months of revelations challenging Bush administration policy had so far had little effect on public opinion. In fact, most respondents seemed unaware of the devastating revelations made by David Kay, the administration's chief weapons inspector who found no weapons, or by Richard Clarke, the former counterterrorism czar whose book "Against All Enemies" has been the talk of Washington for weeks.

A staggering 82 percent of respondents believed most experts supported the notion that Iraq was providing "substantial support" to al-Qaida -- a contention that President Bush himself has been forced to disavow.

Almost 60 percent were unaware that world opinion was overwhelmingly against the war in Iraq, with 21 percent saying the world was behind the U.S.-led invasion and 38 percent saying views were "evenly divided."

The organizers of the poll attributed the confusion -- or ignorance -- to the groundwork carefully laid by the administration before the war and its largely uncritical echo in the mainstream media.

Among those who believed inspectors had found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, 72 percent said they would vote to re-elect Bush in November and 23 percent said they supported his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry. Among those who knew that no WMD had been found, the numbers were almost exactly reversed -- 74 percent supporting Kerry and 23 percent backing the president...[snip]

People are devstatingly mis-informed. I'm shocked by these numbers, and I have a pretty low opinion of Joe six-pack's capacity for critical thinking and reasoning. It's just not something people are taught. I know some people with post-grad degrees that leave me speechless.

If nothing else, this poll explains in frightening terms why Bush has been polling as well as he has been.

We don't deserve this kind of ill-informed populace. I fear for our present. I fear for our future.

UPDATE: I'm not certain that I can recover from this. I'm seeing an analyst on Monday.

It's Official

April is now the deadliest month for American forces in Iraq since the start of hostilities. WaPo is reporting that 7 more soldiers have lost their lives. Two near Basra in an attack by bombers in boats(a new tactic?), and Five in a rocket attack at their base in Taji.

Kimmitt is reported as saying, "Our patience is not eternal." This in regard to the likely resumption of the seige of Fallujah.

Anybody who thinks that:

A. This is worth the as yet unknown cost

B. The Iraq war redux is justified

is experiencing a case of cognitive dissonance that would make a good case study, or is flatly mad.

It's a damned shame. And it's worsening.

Style Sheets

I added a JS style switcher to the blog. If you look to the upper rh corner, you'll see three small elements. They are linked to external style sheet files.

I can immediately see that I'm going to have to write some rules for "blockquotes" for each of the styles. I have another one titled "newspaper" that is nearly ready to go to press(no pun intended).

I'll fix the "blockquote" attribute so that it will display as a light color on the dark style sheet and I'll use the existing colors to define the display on the default "airy" style sheet.

Yeah, I'm really slow at getting to this stuff.

I'll upload updated files sometime later.

UPDATE: Done!

A Week's Worth

Since I have let my blog slide the past week, I am going to attempt to atone for my delinquency. I'm going to use this entry to list a bunch of things that I have noted in past week that fit the blog's anti-bs bias. I'll update this entry for the next 12 hours or so.

No excuses. Just life got in the way. Let's begin.

Condi v. NORAD. NORAD has issued a statement that contradicts Dr. Rice's testimony to the 9-11 Commission.

In the two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the North American Aerospace Defense Command conducted exercises simulating what the White House says was unimaginable at the time: hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into targets and cause mass casualties.

One of the imagined targets was the World Trade Center. In another exercise, jets performed a mock shootdown over the Atlantic Ocean of a jet supposedly laden with chemical poisons headed toward a target in the United States. In a third scenario, the target was the Pentagon — but that drill was not run after defense officials said it was unrealistic, NORAD and defense officials say.

NORAD, in a written statement, confirmed that such hijacking exercises occurred.

"Numerous types of civilian and military aircraft were used as mock hijacked aircraft," the statement said.

A White House spokesman said Sunday that the Bush administration was not aware of the NORAD exercises. But the exercises using real aircraft show that at least one part of the government thought the possibility of such attacks, though unlikely, merited scrutiny.

Again, the Bush Administration claims dumb about matters of national security. I have no knowledge that any Bush Administration had any knowledge of these exercises. But since Bush is running as a single issue candidate, it is another illustration that the Bush Administration may have been 'asleep at the wheel' regarding terrorist threats prior to 9-11.

************************************

King Abdullah of Jordan cancels Washington visit. Widely seen as a moderate in the region, and a U.S. ally, King Abdullah is justifiably concerned about Bush's 'rubber-stamping' of a new 'plan' endorsing an Israeli proposal to withdraw unilaterally from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank but keep Jewish settlements on other West Bank land claimed by the Palestinians.

Kerry also apparently approves of the 'plan.' As he told Tim Russert last Sunday on Meet The Press.

This is sure to win the hearts and minds of the Arab world.

Will we never learn? I mean if you look at how successful Israel has been at stemming terrorism within it's borders, any plan the Israeli's conjure up is by design aimed at inflaming Palestinian's and the rest of the Arab world.

Kerry needs to grow a set, and put up a real alternative to Sharon's plan. This 'Bush-Lite' approach is damned sad.

************************************

Speaking of Israel.

Ha'aretz is reporting that members of the Israeli cabinet are now saying they will begin trying to assassinate leaders of Hamas who live outside Israel and the occupied territories. Hamas's main leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, who lives in the Syrian capital, Damascus, is a top target.

Additionally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair became the latest international leader to condemn Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi. Blair told Parliament Monday, "We condemn the targeted assassination of Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi just as we condemn all terrorism, including that perpetrated by Hamas." (No link)

Of course the U.S. cannot condemn the assassination as we are killing in Afghanistan and Iraq with impunity. No, that's not part of the Ha'aretz article, but it's axiomatic.

************************************

Kerry Using "Old Math"

Although I have not seen this ad - nor any political ad, as I'm again on TV hiatus - I'll wager that the folks at Annenberg's Fact Check have the equation completely correct.

Apparently there is a Kerry ad airing that claims that the SCOTUS is "just one vote away" form overturning abortion rights for humans..women in particular.

What you need to know:

A Kerry ad released April 19 claims the US Supreme Court is "just one vote away from outlawing a woman's right to choose" an abortion.
But the fact is that only three of the current nine judges have ever voted to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

Analysis

The claim that a single Supreme Court appointment could result in overturning the Roe decision was true -- more than a decade ago. In 1992 the court voted by a bare 5-4 majority to reaffirm Roe in a pivotal case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

But one of the four justices who voted to overturn Roe was Byron White, who retired the following year to be replaced by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Roe supporter. White died in 2002. That leaves only three current members -- Chief Justice William Rhenquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas -- who voted to overturn Roe and who continue to say it was wrongly decided.

Lots more at link above.

In this case, I'll offer my totally useless opinion. I don't think that the SCOTUS should have any hand in determining the legality of women's reproductive rights.

Tony Scalia and Clarence Thomas aren't fit to rule on any issue, much less one of such vital importance.

No, I am not giving Kerry a pass. He, or is minders are guilty of obfuscation. That crap doesn't stand here at pbs.

Stuff

Major news updates tomorrow. News from Iraq, NORAD, and lots more.

I apologize for the lack of updates this week.

My daily cycle has been: Work, eat, sleep. Rinse, repeat.

I know that is NO reason to update my blog. Okay, I'm a slacker.

I promise lots of stuff over the weekend.

Meet the New Boss

Same as the old boss.

The Independent is reporting that former generals of Saddam's regime are being recalled to serve in Iraq's 'new(wtf?)' military.

This story illustrates just how little we have accomplished in real terms of bringing change to Iraq.

Additionally, former Ba'athist party officials are being employed in the 'new(honest, it's really new)' government.

The CPA, and the IGC are seen as illegitimate by some 80 percent of the population. That was prior to this new(old?) policy shift.

Read Cockburn's piece.

This is yet another official major policy shift that underscores just how unprepared the COAB(Coalition of the Billing) was in their quest to remake Iraq.

If ever you needed an unequivocal action that affirms the maxim: "The more things change, the more they stay the same," the Bush Administration, and it's collective of neo-con advisors' and minders have provide you a "casus exemplar" of the highest(and humanistically direst) order.

If this latest policy blunder not mark the death knell for the "Bush Doctrine" - which is really just PNAC's principles implemented as policy - humanity is in far worse shape than I ever imagined.

Peace!

Blog News

Over the weekend, I'm going to adding approx. 16K to the site's file size. That's because I'm adding two linked stylesheets, and the little Javascript widget to enable you, my dear readers to switch between the styles. The switcher has a really 'dumb' cookie script enclosed within it's 1.67KB size.

I say the cookie script is dumb because it only 'remembers' but one thing. It remembers which of the alternate styles you last used whilst reading/mocking/shaking fist at/ this site.

If you know Javascript, you'll see that there is nothing nefarious about the cookie script.

Here's the cookie script:

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    date.setTime(date.getTime()+(days*24*60*60*1000));



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    if (c.indexOf(nameEQ) == 0)





 

return c.substring(nameEQ.length,c.length);

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var cookie = readCookie("style");



var title = cookie ? cookie : getPreferredStyleSheet();



setActiveStyleSheet(title);

Nothing to worry about. I was going to offer a 'switch cookies off' function, but I want to keep the code as lightweight as possible to keep page load times to a minimum.

Mo' Money

Since I'm still cheesed off at my fellow countrymen over their alleged support for the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, I'll add some more fuel to the fire.

If you have been following the Bush budget process, you should be aware that his 2004 budget didn't include funds for ongoing operations in Iraq or Afghanistan.

You should also know that it's not a function of the Pentagon planner's inability to come up with figures. It's an election year dodge. Pure and simple.

Now, the Washington Post tells us that "Intense combat in Iraq is chewing up military hardware and consuming money at an unexpectedly rapid rate".

Horse dung. Just because no one can expect to keep their job in the Bush administration if they reveal unpalatable estimates for various programs and activities, does not mean that these estimates haven't been made.

Larry Lindsey was essentially 'shown the door' as Bush's Economic Adviser by claiming that war with Iraq would cost between $100 billion to $200 billion.

Medicare actuary, Richard S. Foster was threatened with termination if he gave a higher cost estimate of Medicare 'reform' to Congress.

Obviously, if you tell the truth about costs in the Bush administration, you'll soon be unemployed.

Lindsey's scurrilously high estimate has proven to be absurdly low. The talk by administration officials at the time shows a stunning lack of leveling with the 'American People' regarding the war's potential costs.

Historical Information

(no, its not like anacondoleezza's 'historical information' - this is the real thing)

This CNN article chronicles a bit of the stunning hubris of the Bush Administration.

I mean, can you believe Bush said this regarding Iraq? : "I want to remind people that Saddam Hussein, the choice is his to make as to whether or not the Iraqi situation [is] resolved peacefully. ... I hope we're not headed to war in Iraq."

"This economy cannot afford to stand an attack. And I'm going to protect the American people. The economy's strong. It's resilient. Obviously, so long as somebody's looking for work, we've got to continue to make it strong and resilient."

01/02/2003 - George Wtf Bush

An attack by Iraq? No one with a functioning organ atop their shoulders took this seriously. Brother.

It's now clear that when Bush made this ludicrous statement about Iraq attacking us, it was already a 'done deal' that Bush was going to attack Iraq. Iraq was the neo-con's 'exemplary action' of the now discredited "Bush Doctrine."

But I digress. Sorry.

Getting back to the military's money woes, WaPo reports, in part:

Intense combat in Iraq is chewing up military hardware and consuming money at an unexpectedly rapid rate -- depleting military coffers, straining defense contractors and putting pressure on Bush administration officials to seek a major boost in war funding long before they had hoped.

Since Congress approved an $87 billion defense request last year, the administration has steadfastly maintained that military forces in Iraq will be sufficiently funded until early next year. President Bush's budget request for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 included no money for Iraqi operations, and his budget director, Joshua B. Bolten, said no request would come until January at the earliest.

But military officials, defense contractors and members of Congress say that worsening U.S. fortunes in Iraq have dramatically changed the equation and more money will be needed soon. This comes as lawmakers, returning from their spring break, voice unease about the mounting violence and what they say is the lack of a clearly enunciated strategy for victory.

The military already has identified unmet funding needs, including initiatives aimed at providing equipment and weapons for troops in Iraq. The Army has publicly identified nearly $6 billion in funding requests that did not make Bush's $402 billion defense budget for 2005, including $132 million for bolt-on vehicle armor; $879 million for combat helmets, silk-weight underwear, boots and other clothing; $21.5 million for M249 squad automatic weapons; and $27 million for ammunition magazines, night sights and ammo packs. Also unfunded: $956 million for repairing desert-damaged equipment and $102 million to replace equipment lost in combat.

The Marine Corps' unfunded budget requests include $40 million for body armor, lightweight helmets and other equipment for "Marines engaged in the global war on terrorism," Marine Corps documents state. The Marines are also seeking 1,800 squad automatic weapons and 5,400 M4 carbine rifles.

Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, charged that the president is playing political games by postponing further funding requests until after the election, to try to avoid reopening debate on the war's cost and future........[snip]

Remember, the Republican's 'support the troops.' Until they ask for a few bucks.

There. I feel better now. Please read the information contained in the links. It's all very important to provide my gentle readers with a fuller picture of Bush's mis-handling of anything with a "$" sign in front of it.

If you only read one of the articles, the WaPo article is a must for today.

I've a lot more to say, but in the interest of brevity, I'll end here. :) Read. Learn. Know stuff.

Better Late Than..

Never. In These Times' Frida Berrigan, interviews Karen Kwiatkowski.

I really like Karen K. She is anti-bs. Hence, she is anti-neocon, anti-Bush and pro-democracy.

Different Planet?

New WaPo - ABC poll shows Bush in lead. Okay, I can buy that, but as to the 'why', I am having a hard time wrapping my head 'round this one.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush has overtaken his Democratic rival John Kerry by a 48-43 percent margin, as Americans rate Iraq and the war on terrorism more important than the economy and jobs, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

I must be living on a different planet. Iraq is an illegal action, having NOTHING to do with terrorism. Yet it's costing thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars.

Terrorism? WTF?

People still buy into the pressing of the fear button. Damn sad. Pavlov's pooches had a leg up on these polled people.

I like Larry C. Johnson, former CIA analyst and deputy director of the State Department's Office of Counterterrorism's take:

"I call the color-coded system the 'terrorism mood ring.' Security isn't green, yellow and purple. This is a public relations ploy, run by people who are making decisions on security who don't really know what they're doing. They make statements that aren't backed up by any real data or empirical evidence. It's faith-based security.

"They continue to insist that this is the greatest threat we've ever faced, and that's just ludicrous. I don't want to minimize the terrible losses of 9/11, and we have to take the terror threat seriously. But let's be real: We've heard the likes of Gen. [Richard] Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, say that terrorism is the greatest threat we've faced perhaps since the Civil War. Are you kidding me? There were more than a half million deaths in that war. There were nuclear missiles pointed at us by the Soviet Union during the Cold War that could've incinerated millions instantly. Terrorists on their best day can't kill millions."

Who in their right mind - that has a working knowledge of the material - thinks Iraq was/is a good idea? Illegal wars built on lies are what the 'American people' want? Not this American.

Terrorism? Johnson nails it. Now, how do we get Joe and Josephine six-pack to put down their remote controls and learn enough about the real threat of terror, and Bush's mis-steps, to be able to make an informed decision? An informed voter is the GOP's worst nightmare.

Wake Da F*** Up, America!

Fallujah Gets a Pass

The BBC is reporting that the U.S. is going to be easing up a bit in Fallujah.

Of course, this is a 'deal.'

In exchange for:

• Better access to local hospitals so the wounded could be treated, as well as for retrieving and burying bodies



• Amnesty for people who hand in their weapons



• Easy access for ambulances



• Shortening the curfew by two hours



• Regular joint patrols between US forces and local Iraqis



• Reforming police and the Iraqi defense corps - which will be able to take over and pledge to eliminate "foreign fighters, criminals and drug users in Falluja", said Mr Senor.

The Iraqis in Fallujah must "turn in all illegal weapons."

He[U.S. spokesman Dan Senor] said the US would not resume offensive operations "if all persons inside the city turn in the heavy weapons". "Individual violators will be dealt with on individual basis," Mr Senor said.

At this juncture, collectively punishing the Iraqi people for the actions of the few that committed the atrocity of the killing and subsequent display of the four U.S. contractors is absurd. It will do nothing more than cause others to pick up arms against the coalition forces.

Dealing with individuals on a case by case basis is the only rational way to proceed. As far as the Iraqis in Fallujah giving up their 'illegal' arms, I don't know how that will play out. It seems a rather grand scheme for a city under siege. I'm sure the Iraqis - at least some of them - feel that their weapons are the only things keeping them from the grave.

We'll have to wait and see how the next few days play out. The U.S. needs to exercise patience here. I fear patience is in short supply.

The Shell Game

It's always interesting to compare and contrast the differences between ways the business press and the popular press cover corporate malfeasance.

In the CBS MarketWatch story, it seems a bit troubling. In the story in The Independent, the title: "Lies, cover-ups, fat cats and an oil giant in crisis" cuts to the bone. I like that.

Shell has been very bad.

Given that corporate 'book cooking' is still happening, you'd think that champion of everyman: G. W. Bush, would be taking a tough stance on corporate tax cheats. You'd be wrong.

From the NYT:

Since taking office, the Bush administration has repeatedly promised to get tough with tax cheats, saying it has ended a long slide in enforcement of tax laws.

But an independent analysis of new Internal Revenue Service data released today shows that tax enforcement has fallen steadily under President Bush, with fewer audits, fewer penalties, fewer prosecutions and virtually no effort to prosecute corporate tax crimes. The audit rate for the 11,200 largest corporations, which pay nearly all corporate income taxes, has fallen by almost half over the last decade, as has the audit rate for unincorporated businesses.

Link.

Ken Lay remains free. Astonishing. Maybe we can get Kenny Boy labeled an 'enemy combatant' and send him to Gitmo sans any charges whatever. :) I won't be holding my breath.

706

706 American 'casualties' in Iraq per the Pentagon. Wounded in excess of 3600.

Mordechai Vanunu

I know what you're thinking: 'Who the heck is Mordechai Vanunu?'

Mordechai Vanunu is one of the heroes of the peace and disarmament movements. He has been locked up in an Israeli prison for the last 18 years for providing the London Times with evidence of Israel's nuclear weapons program.

If you're not reading the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on a regular basis, you're missing out on some of the very finest in accessible literature concerning all things nuke related and not. My use of the word 'accessible' in the last sentence refers to the fact that one needn't be an atomic physicist to grasp the material.

Their members' list reads like a who's who in nuclear sciences. More Nobel laureates than ought to be legal. Always fascinating reading.

Click on over and give the Vanunun article a read(I know that the links are in .pdf form, but worthy of your time).

UPDATE: The Independent is reporting that Vanunu is repeating his call that Israel's nuclear weapons be destroyed. Maybe not the most tactful thing to do while still captive. He is due to be released from prison this Wednesday.

"Casualties"

Iwas just at Lunaville's official Iraq war casualty site, and I see that thus far this month, that the U.S. has had at least 101 deaths. The previous monthly high for U.S. troops was 82 in Nov. 2003.

I see we're making real progress.

Who knows how many Iraqis have lost their lives since the beginning of hostilities?

In Fallujah this month alone there have been well in excess of 600 deaths reported. And I fear that the last half of this month may yet be bloodier.

The on-again, off-again nature of the "ceasefire" in Fallujah - which seems to mean that coalition forces won't use AC130s, tanks and attack helicopters, while marine snipers continue to shoot ambulances and TV crews - doesn't bode well for future peace.

It's unclear what role Negroponte will play, as it's reported that Bremer cannot control the 'police operations' in Iraq.

On Edit: The always resourceful Knight-Ridder Washington Bureau adds some historical perspective on the Iraqi death toll.

[snip]...The last time U.S. troops experienced a two-week loss such as this one in Iraq was October 1971, two years before U.S. ground involvement ended in Vietnam.

There are 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Nearly 700 American troops have died since the beginning of the war. As of Sunday, 503 had been reported killed in action. At least 3,630 more have been wounded.

The Vietnam War started with a slower death rate. The United States had been involved in Vietnam for six years before total fatalities surpassed 500 in 1965, the year President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a massive buildup of forces. There were 20,000 troops in Vietnam by the end of 1964. There were more than 200,000 a year later.

By the end of 1966, U.S. combat deaths in Vietnam had reached 3,910. By 1968, the peak of U.S. involvement, there were more than 500,000 troops in the country. During the same two-week period of April that year, 752 U.S. soldiers died, according to National Archives records....[snip]

Link

Johnny's In, Paul's Out

ABS News is reporting that it's now official, John Negroponte is going to replace Paul Bremer as the top civilian in Iraq.

For lovers of democracy everywhere, this is a sad turn of events(not that I had any warm, fuzzy feelings for Bremer).

Negroponte of Iran-Contra infamy, Ambassador to Honduras under Reagan, and all around denier of human rights seems the right man for the job(heavy sarcasm).

Disinfopedia has a crash course on Negroponte.

Hearts and Minds

Go. Read. It's only a couple of paragraphs. Important ones, though.

Woodward: The Oil

On 60Minutes last night, Woodward got to the issue that everyone knew was at least on the periphery of the Iraq war equation. No surprise, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia knew what all of us should have known.

Here's a bit:

....But, it turns out, two days before the president told Powell, Cheney and Rumsfeld had already briefed Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador.

"Saturday, Jan. 11, with the president's permission, Cheney and Rumsfeld call Bandar to Cheney's West Wing office, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Myers, is there with a top-secret map of the war plan. And it says, ‘Top secret. No foreign.’ No foreign means no foreigners are supposed to see this," says Woodward.

"They describe in detail the war plan for Bandar. And so Bandar, who's skeptical because he knows in the first Gulf War we didn't get Saddam out, so he says to Cheney and Rumsfeld, ‘So Saddam this time is gonna be out, period?’ And Cheney - who has said nothing - says the following: ‘Prince Bandar, once we start, Saddam is toast.’"

After Bandar left, according to Woodward, Cheney said, "I wanted him to know that this is for real. We're really doing it."

But this wasn’t enough for Prince Bandar, who Woodward says wanted confirmation from the president. "Then, two days later, Bandar is called to meet with the president and the president says, ‘Their message is my message,'" says Woodward.

Prince Bandar enjoys easy access to the Oval Office. His family and the Bush family are close. And Woodward told 60 Minutes that Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election - to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on election day.

Woodward says that Bandar understood that economic conditions were key before a presidential election: "They’re [oil prices] high. And they could go down very quickly. That's the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly."......[snip]

Well. That's a tidy little bit of covert diplomacy. Tsk, tsk.

My favorite part is this:

“And there's this low boil on Iraq until the day before Thanksgiving, Nov. 21, 2001. This is 72 days after 9/11. This is part of this secret history. President Bush, after a National Security Council meeting, takes Don Rumsfeld aside, collars him physically, and takes him into a little cubbyhole room and closes the door and says, ‘What have you got in terms of plans for Iraq? What is the status of the war plan? I want you to get on it. I want you to keep it secret.’"

Woodward says immediately after that, Rumsfeld told Gen. Tommy Franks to develop a war plan to invade Iraq and remove Saddam - and that Rumsfeld gave Franks a blank check.

"Rumsfeld and Franks work out a deal essentially where Franks can spend any money he needs. And so he starts building runways and pipelines and doing all the preparations in Kuwait, specifically to make war possible," says Woodward.

"Gets to a point where in July, the end of July 2002, they need $700 million, a large amount of money for all these tasks. And the president approves it. But Congress doesn't know and it is done. They get the money from a supplemental appropriation for the Afghan War, which Congress has approved. …Some people are gonna look at a document called the Constitution which says that no money will be drawn from the Treasury unless appropriated by Congress. Congress was totally in the dark on this."

I hate to use the "I" word, but this does reach the level of an impeachable offense. I expect a lot of the Bushies to get "Reaganitis' over this.

It Woodward's assertions can be shown to be reasonably accurate, anyone that stands by Bush after this, is mired in cognitive dissonance.

I still think Woodward's a putz. But he did do something of import here. For that he is to be congratulated.

Oh. the link ;)

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