Bush Trots Out Tired Turkey

In today's Presidential Radio Address Bush fed us the stuffing.

Bush:

Many members of our Armed Forces are observing this holiday in places far from home. They are serving with courage and skill in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere to defend our freedom and extend the blessings of freedom to others. In the past year, these brave Americans have continued to fight terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home. And they have helped the people of Iraq and Afghanistan hold historic and successful elections.

Elections are great.

However, the bombings in London, Madrid, and Bali, along with the fact that in excess of three military personnel are dying per day in Iraq alone..Not so good.

More Bush today:

We think especially this week of those military families who are mourning the loss of loved ones. Every person who dies in the line of duty commands the eternal gratitude of the American people. The military families who mourn the fallen can know that America will not forget their sacrifice, and they can know that we will honor that sacrifice by completing the noble mission for which their loved ones gave their lives.

I don't think that this last paragraph requires comment. It is all just very sad.

No Harm, No Foul?

File this one under: "Why do they hate us?"

Remember those US soldiers involved in 'psy-ops' that burned the bodies of two killed Taliban fighters in Afghanistan back in October? No?

Refresher:

[snip]...One soldier uses the smoking corpses to taunt local villagers, describing the Taliban as "cowardly dogs" and "lady boys".

"You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burned. You are too scared to come down and retrieve their bodies," a soldier named as Sgt Jim Baker is seen saying through a loudspeaker.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the allegations were very serious and, if true, very troubling...[snip]

Boy, that really pissed off the entire Islamic world. It didn't make me feel very happy either.

A bit more from then:

[snip]...The desecration appears calculated to cause maximum offence. Cremation is not part of Islamic tradition and the reference to "facing west" seems to be a mockery of the practice of facing Mecca - which lies west of Afghanistan - during daily prayers. "This is against Islam. Afghans will be shocked by this news. It is so humiliating," said Faiz Mohammed, an Afghan Muslim leader.

The film was shot three weeks ago by Stephen Dupont, a freelance cameraman embedded with American soldiers conducting "psychological operations" near the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. The soldiers told him they burned the bodies for hygienic reasons but the taunts appeared to indicate that they really wanted to rile the Taliban, he told SBS.

"They used that as psychological warfare, I guess you'd call it," he said. "They deliberately wanted to incite that much anger from the Taliban so the Taliban could attack them ... That's the only way they can find them."...[/snip]

(much more at link)

That was then, this is now. WaPo via the AP is reporting that while no "criminal wrongdoing" occurred in the above incident, that the soldiers will face disciplinary action.

The goods:

[snip]...The U.S.-led coalition's operational commander, Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, said two junior officers who ordered the bodies to be burned would be officially reprimanded for showing a lack of cultural and religious understanding, but said the men were unaware that what they were doing was wrong.

Kamiya also said two noncommissioned officers would be reprimanded for using loudspeakers to taunt Taliban rebels who were believed to still be lingering in a nearby village after a clash with the troops. The men also would face non-judicial punishments, which could include a loss of pay or demotion in rank.

"Our investigation found there was no intent to desecrate the remains, but only to dispose of them for hygienic reasons," Kamiya said...[/snip]

(more at link)

It's a good thing that we only violated religious law, rather than criminal law. Oh wait, in the Islamic faith criminal(secular) and religious laws are often the very same.

Our loophole: Islamic Law(Shar'iah) only applies to Muslims.

Should you take my word that this is so? Heck no. I have no religious beliefs. I have studied comparative religion a bit as a layperson, but that hardly puts me in a league to make such a statement.

However, these guys have written a document that seems to cover all the major themes.

All of our people serving in any culture markedly different from our own should be taught at the very least, basic principles of said culture(s).

The most important weapon you bring to any confict is your brain.

Let's give our people the proper training that they need. Jebus, these guys were involved in psy-ops - if they're not getting cultural training, then who the heck is?

Saturday Morning Reading Assignments!

I found a couple(mebbe four?) of things worth a read this morning.

Some are a bit stale, but all are tasty.

Not to worry, it's not a long list.

First of all, if you're like me - and if that's the case, offer your parents another box of tissues while they continue to sob - you must be wondering just how is it than Ann Coulter continues to get work.

That's where we begin today's reads. We begin in the dark, shallow furrows of Ms. Coulter's grey(or is it brown?) matter. From that leading light of intellectual dialogue, World Net Daily comes the latest from the blonde (can't think of anything remotely balanced to say) pundit. If you can spot all the logical fallacies in this ode to the 750 word Op-ed, you're a more patient person than I am. And, oh yes, I am a patient man ;)

Moving right(pun noted) along, we offer the countervail to Coulter.

Bernard Weiner of The Crisis Papers offers up Extreme Bush: The good, bad & ugly. The way that the piece starts off is so blatantly histrionic that it has the all too familiar ring of baseless Right-wing diatribes. But Bernie settles down, and offers up something like well reasoned discourse. Again, there is a lot of preaching to the choir here. Yet, in the name of good sense, Mr. Weiner finishes the piece off with some helpful hints for disenfranchised lefties.

I know what you're most likely thinking: "Hey, where's the synopsis, man?" or perhaps, "What, no teaser?"

My answer to those questions are nope. You must read, and make up your own minds. If you've been following along, I would hope to come across as something akin to sane in a world too full of people less than sane(I know, GREAT sentence structure, and NOVEL word choice, Todd. But you get what you pay for) So you read! Or else!

Our next item is a good primer on the ever shifting sands of the US/Iraq war policy from the LA Times, onerous registration procedure may be required. Since it's the lead article in today's online version, reg. may not be necessary.

Okay, this time you get a teaser. The three key players quoted are Condi, Andrew Krepinevich( long time bureaucrat and top dog at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments) and that real neo-con's neo-con, Gary Schmitt.

Condi says that the current number of troops in Iraq will probably not be needed much longer. "Fairly soon" were her words.(it's all about polls, and a couple of elections due in the US over then next few years)

Add'l: Bush to speak on Wednesday. Expect drawdown plans(well, maybe less of a plan than an incoherent ramble)

Krepinevich says that our military is too stretched and that 'potential long-term damage to the armed forces, not political pressure, could be the decisive factor for Bush and his advisors.'

Schmitt wants us to stay there forever. "A neo-con you can count on."<- Campaign slogan?

Read. The. Article. There's a lot more there. It's good.

So, you're saying that you will not register with the LA Times? Then read the tea leaves from just three days ago via the Boston Globe. It's not entirely relevant to the LA Times article, but that's what you get for not doing your assignment(s) ;)

All kidding aside, the Globe piece has a couple of quotes from NH's two Reps. and Bush apologists: Jeb Bradley, and Charles Bass. Both Repubs, and both typically party line 'toers.' Yes, I die a little inside every time I hear them speak, or read them quoted.

The Globe piece also adds more color to the whole Iraq war unraveling, and offers an easy segue to our last assignment.

Cindy Sheehan is back in Texas. No matter what anyone says about Sheehan, they must acknowledge that she is putting in a super-human effort.

It's really difficult to place Sheehan, and all her efforts into the pro-peace movement(take that turn of a phrase, you neo-con bastids!) But she kept the spirit alive during the long, hot summer. If and how she will be rembered shall prove interesting. Perhaps only to me, but I'm the one with the blog ;)

I think we can all take away from Cindy's efforts that one strong-willed person can do more for a cause than all the keyboard acivists combined. Something we all need to acknowledge.

Now, if your eyes haven't totally glazed over, you may note that this entry has a layered underlying bit of structure to legitimize its existence(too early for hifalutin French phrases like 'raison d'être' for instance)

If you can follow my line of reasoning for ordering these entries in such a way, please send $20USD in a self-addressed envelope to me. Then seek psychological counseling(but don't forget to send the Andy Jackson first)

If you're still reading, go give your parents a hug. They'll certainly need it(but first that 20 spot!)

807 words! I could be an editorial writer..If I could write *sigh*

Additional unrelated stuff:

1) The blog will be undergoing another template change very soon. It's back to three working columns, and I'm adding a lot of news sources and other avenues for alternative information.

2) I'm looking for guest bloggers with expertise in the field of politics. In exchange, I offer well, pretty much nothing. I am a gate process senior engineer, so if you need tech entries for your blog I'll happily exchange information.

3) Both my mother and a nephew have undergone surgery over the last two weeks. My mom had surgery for hepatic lymphoma, and my nephew for giant cell fibroblastoma. Mom's prognosis is excellent. My nephew is also doing well with the following caveat. I received a call from my sister yesterday, and apparently the surgeon found something 'that he didn't quite like.' So the jury is still kind of out. I only mention these items in case my blogging is interrupted for a time.

Thanks for reading.

Mike Kinsley(WaPo) Downs Dick

It's gotta be a pretty good living doing the 750 word Op-eds. I mean hey, I can blather on for a couple of hundred words or so, and say nothing of import.

However, in this well warranted diatribe against a sitting Dick, Michael Kinsley states what many persons of all political stripes must be feeling to some degree(VP Cheney's disapproval rating is in the 80% range)

Kinsley's take:

"One might also argue," Vice President Cheney said in a speech on Monday, "that untruthful charges against the commander in chief have an insidious effect on the war effort." That would certainly be an ugly and demagogic argument, were one to make it. After all, if untruthful charges against the president hurt the war effort (by undermining public support and soldiers' morale), then those charges will hurt the war effort even more if they happen to be true. So one would be saying in effect that any criticism of the president is essentially treason.

Lest one fear that he might be saying that, Cheney immediately added, "I'm unwilling to say that" -- "that" being what he had just said. He generously granted critics the right to criticize (as did the president this week). Then he resumed hurling adjectives like an ape hurling coconuts at unwanted visitors. "Dishonest." "Reprehensible." "Corrupt." "Shameless." President Bush and others joined in, all morally outraged that anyone would accuse the administration of misleading us into war by faking a belief that Saddam Hussein possessed nuclear and/or chemical and biological weapons.

Interestingly, the administration no longer claims that Hussein actually had such weapons at the time Bush led the country into war in order to eliminate them. "The flaws in the intelligence are plain enough in hindsight," Cheney said on Monday. So-called WMD (weapons of mass destruction) were not the only argument for the war, but the administration thought they were a crucial argument at the time. So the administration now concedes that the country went to war on a false premise. Doesn't that mean that the war was a mistake no matter where the false premise came from?

(much more at link)

Click on over. You'll be glad that you did. The hypocrisy is again amazing. I generally steer clear of overtly angry speech. But given the recent assault by Dick B., I think it's worth reflecting on just how hollow Mr. Cheney's arguments are.

I cannot improve on Kinsley's work. Anger can sometimes be a thing of sublime beauty.

Climate Change Kills The GOP, Too

The NYT is reporting that:

Shafts of ancient ice pulled from Antarctica's frozen depths show that for at least 650,000 years three important heat-trapping greenhouse gases never reached recent atmospheric levels caused by human activities, scientists are reporting today.

The measured gases were carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Concentrations have risen over the last several centuries at a pace far beyond that seen before humans began intensively clearing forests and burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels.

The sampling and analysis were done by the European Program for Ice Coring in Antarctica, and the results are being published today in the journal Science.

The evidence was found in air bubbles trapped in successively older ice samples extracted from a nearly two-mile-deep hole drilled in a remote spot in East Antarctica called Dome C.

(much more at link)

I used to propose to anyone that would listen that I wanted to approach the NAS and propose an experiment. My experiment was simple. I'd propose to dump millions and millions of tons of CO2, methane, and other gases into the atmosphere annually - at an ever increasing rate - just to see what happens. In the best tradition of science, you see.

Imagine the look of horror on the faces of the assembled climatologists as I was making this proposal?

It isn't difficult to see the collective horror on their faces as they had obviously witnessed a colleague gone entirely mad.

But this mad experiment is exactly the one that we are now performing on the earth. Of course in the real world, the rate of greenhouse gas level rise is being compounded by deforestation/desertification - the source of the second largest carbon sink on the planet.

I've been saying for two and a half decades that the way we treat the earth is by orders of magnitude greater than any other possible political issues that confront us. It is the only one that can lead to our extinction.

Everything else is temporal. Economies flow and ebb. The social pendulum swings left and right whilst throughout it all, we are slowly but inexorably making the planet uninhabitable. Particularly uninhabitable for a large bipedal mammal, and the sources of food on which it(we, really) depend.

Will the human race survive?

Perhaps. But the way in which are choosing to ignore this truly transcendent issue makes a good case for our supplantation by another species.

Get active! Decrease your own carbon footprint. Now.

Then go on and change the world.

My next entry will be less cheery, I promise ;)

A Birdday Message

If I Had Blogged..

..Over the plast few days, I'd have been on most of what Democracy Now! reported on yesterday. Lots of good stuff as always, from Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.

Highlights:

- Pentagon Docs: White Phosphorous Is A Chemical Weapon
- Iraqi Leaders Call for Troop Withdrawal Timetable
- Report: Bush Wanted to Bomb Al Jazeera Last Year
- General Motors To Eliminate 30,000 Jobs
- 40 Million Now Infected With HIV; 500,000 Die A Year
- 24 Ethiopian Opposition Leaders Remain In Jail
- Venezuela to Offer Discounted Oil to Mass. Residents

Go give the archived show a listen!

In addition, I subscribe to the NATIONAL JOURNAL where Murray Waas always seems to get the goods. This time another President's Daily Brief(PDB) of 21 Sept. 2001 allegedly stating that Iraq was in no way responsible, or linked to 9/11. A bombshell if accurate.

Lastly, Media Matters sends me more daily updates than I can possibly comment on - and they're typically so well researched that additional commentary is superfluous.

So, I'm adding their feed to the blog. It's easier that way. I'll need to go back to a three column format, unless I use a JS pop-up to display their wealth of material.

It'll look like this. Click it!

When It Rains...Sigh

...Sorry 'Bout the lack of update the last few days. My 12 y.o. nephew had surgery Monday, and what was supposed to be a four hour procedure, turned into an eight hour marathon.

He went in to have a tumor removed form the rear of his head(giant cell fibroblastoma, and it took longer than expected. As this is typically a recurrent tumor, his surgical team went in and removed all traces of the tumor.

He's conscious now, but feeling very sick - possibly due to the narcotics used as an analgesic - but is otherwise doing well.

If I do not make another post today, Happy Thanksgiving all.

I bid you peace,

todd

Meanwhile, In Iraq...

In today's installment of "Meanwhile.." Come three via The Independent.

In the interest of brevity, I'll just offer up the links, with a wee quote from each.

In our first story, we get some additional color on just how violent things are. That more allegations of torture, mutilations and death squads are being reported should come as no surprise.

[snip]...And there are others: the Shia Defenders of Khadamiya - set up under Hussein al-Sadr, a cousin of Muqtada, who is an ally of the former prime minister Iyad Allawi - and the government-backed Tiger and Scorpion brigades. They all have similar looks: balaclavas or wraparound sunglasses and headbands, black leather gloves with fingers cut off, and a variety of weapons. When not manning checkpoints, they hurtle through the streets in four-wheel drives, scattering the traffic by firing in the air. Out of sight they are accused of arbitrary arrests, intimidation and extrajudicial killings.

The US and Britain, which trained many of the forces involved, and which still have ultimate responsibility for them, are implicated. But the pattern of illegality is also the continuation of a process that began with the questionable justification for the invasion. American and British forces have played their own part, from the abuses of Abu Ghraib to deaths in British military custody, from the deployment of white phosphorus as a chemical weapon in the assault on Fallujah to the wild use of overwhelming American firepower, which some have called almost as indiscriminate as the killings caused by Sunni insurgents' car bombings...[/snip]

What seems a new development is that US and British troops are allegedly standing by as interrogations' are taking place. Of particular interest(and sickening) are the allegations of "spray and slay" operations(for a definition see the last paragraph under the heading: 'The Charge Sheet.')

Our second item regards the alleged killing of Iraqi prisoners with electric drills. Gruesome.

[snip]...John Reid, the Secretary of State for defense, admits that he knows of "alleged deaths in custody" and other "serious prisoner abuse" at al-Jamiyat police station, which was reopened by Britain after the war.

Militia-dominated police, who were recruited by Britain, are believed to have tortured at least two men to death in the station. Their bodies were later found with drill holes to their arms, legs and skulls.

The victims were suspected of collaborating with coalition forces, according to intelligence reports. Despite being pressed "very hard" by Britain, however, the Iraqi authorities in Basra are failing to even investigate incidents of torture and murder by police, ministers admit.

The disclosure drags Britain firmly into the growing scandal of officially condoned killings, torture and disappearances in Iraq. More than 170 starving and tortured prisoners were discovered last week in an Interior Ministry bunker in Baghdad.

American troops who uncovered the secret torture chamber are also said to have discovered mutilated corpses, several bearing drill marks...[/snip]

Hard to add much to that.

"They hate us because of our freedoms."

Maybe our tacit - and sometimes overt - disregard for international law plays a part. Who knows?

Last on our list for today is a good example as to why it is so difficult to get to the facts in time of war. Former US marine Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey has claimed in interviews that he and members of "his platoon killed unarmed civilians during the invasion of Iraq."

Mr. Massey has an autobiography out, titled, 'Kill, Kill, Kill,' and according to The Independent his basic story has never been challenged. But now that 'Kill, Kill, Kill' is being primed for publication in the US, its accounts are being questioned.

[snip]...Earlier this month Ron Harris wrote a series in his newspaper, the St Louis Post-Dispatch, under headlines that included, "Is Jimmy Massey Telling the Truth About Iraq?". The articles seized on minor discrepancies of detail and implied that, because Mr Massey suffers from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, he is less than reliable...[/snip]

[snip]...But when Mr Harris appeared on CNN to accuse Mr Massey of lying, claiming he had witnessed the incidents described by the marine, he in turn was challenged by another journalist. Jeff Schmerker, a reporter for The Mountaineer in North Carolina, said Mr Harris told him that he did not see the events with his own eyes. The St Louis Post-Dispatch man was assigned to a different company in the battalion from Mr Massey's.

The sergeant's main charge is not denied by the reporter or the Marine Corps. "Yes, marines killed civilians," said Mr Harris. "I even reported on the shooting and killing of a British TV crew while I was in Iraq." In December 2004, the Marine Corps spokesman at the Pentagon, Major Douglas Powell, told MSNBC: "We're not saying he's lying, but his perception of what the situation was in relation to the rules of engagement, and what was justified, is different than ours."...[/snip]

The Major was mighty tactful in his wording.

This Harris fellow seems less than entirely forthcoming. Where does the truth lie? I certainly do not know. But it seems plausible that if the USMC did not dispute Massey's accounts at an earlier time, then there may be little to refute. With allegations as severe as these, one must think that the military had at least an impromptu investigation at an earlier date.

As always, much more detail at provided links.

Bush Of The Day

This is just weird.

Which George Am I?

From Terence Hunt(an AP writer I like very much) comes this:

After fiercely defending his Iraq policy across Asia, President Bush abruptly toned down his attack on war critics Sunday and said there was nothing unpatriotic about opposing his strategy.

"People should feel comfortable about expressing their opinions about Iraq," Bush said, three days after agreeing with Vice President Dick Cheney that the critics were "reprehensible."

The president also praised Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., as "a fine man" and a strong supporter of the military despite the congressman's call for troop withdrawal as soon as possible.

Is this a testing of the waters?

More Bush:

"I heard somebody say, `Well, maybe so-and-so is not patriotic because they disagree with my position.' I totally reject that thought," Bush said.

"This is not an issue of who's patriotic and who's not patriotic," he said. "It's an issue of an honest, open debate about the way forward in Iraq."

(more at link)

It's always been part of this White House's policy to welcome dissenting views, thoughtfully review them, and then demonstrating through word and deed that if they can track down the source of these heralded applications of the freedom of speech, honor the person(s) with individualized assistance from one of our more welcomed departments of government. The IRS and FBI being two of their cherished ambassadors of good-will.

Okay, I'm bck now.

Freakin' A?!?! Is W channeling Fred Rogers?

There has been a lot of cross-talk about a schism in the White House - and I'm not referring to W v W - although that's an ongoing concern.

Remember those halcyon days when any criticism of the Bush presidency could be reliably expected to bring a hail of fire and brimstone from the heavens Karl Rove, or maybe Ari Fleischer?

This latest development from that whacky White House must have some nefarious countervail.

Call Bush's newest attempt at faux diplomacy "The Peking Duck."

Be very afraid.

Russert 'Meets' Murtha

Tim had Rep. Murtha on MTP today. The exchange was pretty good. Transcript here.

Teaser here:

(Videotape, November 16, 2005)

VICE PRES. DICK CHENEY: The president and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory or their backbone. But we're not going to sit by and let them rewrite history.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: "Losing your memory or your backbone." What would you say to the vice president?

REP. MURTHA: Well, I tell you, Cheney's a friend of mine. We work very closely together. He was a good secretary of Defense, but he's wrong. They should have fired people. The president should be furious with this--the people that work for him giving him bad intelligence. We spend more on intelligence than any country in the world. We spend more on intelligence than the whole world spends together and our intelligence was wrong. There's no question we're going in the wrong direction and we're not winning. The incidents have increased and the economic indicators--oil, which was supposed to pay for all of this, is below prewar levels. There's nothing that's happening that shows any sign of success.

And the biggest problem is this illusion that--I remember going to Iraq a month or so after the invasion when they said it was all over. And one of the members said to Ambassador Bremer, "What do you think about this cleric named Sistani?" And he turned to his expert, and you know what she said? She said, "Oh, he's just a minor cleric." Now, two weeks later that guy had 100,000 people in the street. That's the kind of information they were acting on. They've been overly optimistic and illusionary about their policy. We got to--this is not a war of words, this is a real war where people are getting killed. Fifteen thousand people have been wounded, and half of them are desperately wounded, blinded, without their arms.

I mean, it breaks my heart when I go out there and see these kids. I see wives who can't look at their husbands because they've been so disfigured. I saw a young fella that was paralyzed from the neck down and his three children were standing there crying with his wife and his mother. So this is a real war, which--we have to find a solution. We--and since there's no progress, we've got to find a way to let the Iraqis take over.

I don't know what kind of resolution would be best for all concerned over the Iraq debacle. From all accounts, what we're doing is simply not working. Some change in strategy is obviously needed.

I'll admit that whilst I had thought Murtha had 'a set,' I thought he was ranting about matters of which he knew not. I no longer feel that way.

He may be wrong in calling for an immediate troop withdrawal to the periphery of the conflict, but he's certainly on target that something major needs to be done.

Dick Cheney is a sweet man. Glad to see he's in charge. Cough *chickenhawk* cough.

Fact Checking Fact Check

I de-linked Annenberg's FactCheck.org some time ago over an entry that was more editorial than fact.

In another case of error by omission, Fact Check drops the ball here: hxxp://www.factcheck.org/article358.html(again, no link)

The point Fact Check attempts to make is that there is evidence that both sides(Bush and DNC Chair Howard Dean) are both misrepresenting the facts about Iraq pre-war intel. Read the piece for more color.

It seems clear that Dean did indeed mis-speak when he said that Lawrence Wilkerson had claimed that Iraq possessed no WMD. In fact, while Wilkerson has penned many things that the White House must cringe at reading, this is a false statement as far as I can tell.(Google, Nexis - no dice)

I think a strong case can be made that an incomplete case that leads a country into war is a few magnitudes of order worse than a mis-statement about what some official said. I am however, aware that mis-statements of any kind are damaging to one's credibility. Dean should have known better.

Putting aside the as yet incomplete Robert's Senate Intelligence Committee report(Caution: Do not hold your breath waiting for part 2 of this report) on intelligence manipulation, there was plenty of information that a properly functioning, skeptical Congress should have questioned.

In the interim, you can sift through these two documents from former DIA intelligence officer, Patrick Lang and 27 year CIA veteran Ray McGovern(Caution: .pdf), and make up your own mind(s).

It is clear that unless the White House shared what both of the intelligence professionals provide the reader with - including timelines - of not only intelligence omissions, but also publicly available documents that demonstrate the Administration's plans for Iraq, that Bush and Co. committed the greater of the two errors.

McGovern and Lang provide compelling evidence that the Bush administration produced policy, and then adjusted statements to support their policy, did not gather current intelligence information, as well as engaged in a few other questionable practices that would have undermined their case for war.

But I'll leave that up to the reader to decide ;)