PBS Now interviews Haj Ali, the man under the hood in the infamous image above, a local mayor picked up in a sweep and tortured. "99% of the people brought in are innocent, but with all the insults and torture, it makes them ready to do just about anything." (story) .   .   . Iraq War Cost (JavaScript Error) More details: click here. .   .   .

King Gyanendra's coup has precipitated a humanitarian crisis in Nepal, according to the UN.

Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen... "Palpatine, who is really Darth Sidious, manipulates the Senate and enlists the Jedi Council's patriotism to "defend" the Republic against a "separatist" army that he secretly directs. The purpose of the orchestrated war is to erode liberty in the name of security. The naive Jedi catch on too late and are decimated. The Republic falls." Is Bush a Sith Lord? by Paul Craig Roberts

A Vet at Bush's VFW speech 8/22/05 [photo:Pizac]

Update: 6/15- Mukhtaran Bibi released...(following Kristoff's piece in the times)... Musharref still holds her passport...(latest 6/19)

"I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged... But it is blindingly clear that judges have no greater capacity than the rest of us to decide what is moral." -Supreme Court Justice Scalia at a Harvard gathering.(...ref)

Dorm: Clothing Optional "There's an exhibitionist part of me. If I feel the need to take off my pants, I take my pants off. It's kind of cool that there is a place you can do that." (NYT ... and here)

U.S. World's Leading Incarcerator 1 of 138 US residents is resident in jail or prison, as of June 2004. More than 12% of black males in their late twenties are in jail (as opposed to 1.7% for same-age whites). The US has once again the world's highest incarceration rate, at 726 per hundred thousand; England is 142, and China 118. France is 91, and Japan is 58 per hundred thousand. (article)

Darwin Student Survey A majority of US students do not believe evolution is a scientific theory... (see full size survey chart)

unretouched photo

Homeland in Security "April 25, Gregory Despres (in photo above) arrived at a U.S.-Canadian border station carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a bloody chainsaw . U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres. Then they let him into the United States. The following day, a gruesome scene was discovered in Despres' hometown of Minto, New Brunswick: The decapitated body of a..." (continue)

"A tormenting thought: as of a certain point, history was no longer real. Without noticing it, all mankind suddenly left reality..." -Elias Canetti

"My view is that Fox News is a propaganda outlet of the Republican Party and that I don't comment on Fox News." Dr. Dean, Chicago, 6/12

"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices." Voltaire

Introducing The DREAD New supergun from Trinamic Technologies, can deliver a stream of custom projectiles at 120,000 rounds per minute, one third of an inch apart, with no recoil. This seems to be more of a targeted demolition engine; or a crowd decapitation device. Yet another testament to the genius confluence of the free-market and the free-fire zone...(story and quicktime)

Cheney Chief of Staff Scooter Libby Indicted
Obstruction of justice, perjury, making false statements
Rove's expected indictment has been delayed following a last minute offer from his lawyer on Tuesday.
First "wave" of indictments announced friday; press conference 2pm EDT
CIA-Leak cast of characters- 23 administration officials, starting with Libby and Rove, who may be implicated in the outing of a CIA covert agent and the roll-up of her cover company and anti-WMD network. Prosecutor Fitzgerald is looking hard at the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), a secret group of aides charged with selling the Iraq war by any means, as well as the Office of Special Plans set up under Cheney. VP Cheney was the overlord of all this, and he and his aides are "deeply emeshed" in the story. Oct 18- there are rumours of his impending resignation... Fitzgerald requested, and received, the unpublished report of the Italian government's investigation into the source of the forged Niger documents. Chalabi and Ledeen? Download the video of the MSNBC report on this here. Justin Raimondo has the latest on the big picture.

Beyond administration officials, there is the case of Judith Miller, the well-connected NYTimes reporter (her book "Germs" on bioterrorism was released just after the White House started taking Cipro, and just before the anthrax letters were received) responsible for stovepiping White House Iraq Group fabrications and disinformation regarding the supposed Iraq WMD threat directly to the Times front page during the lead-up to the Iraq war. In every case, no sooner had Miller's pieces appeared, than administration neo-cons would hit the TV talk show circuit quoting "reports which have appeared in the NYTimes..." There is no question that her work helped create the desired 'echo chamber' effect around Iraqi WMD fear-mongering. There is no question that these 'reports' provided her by her "confidential sources within the administration" were bogus and untruthful. And there is no question that Bill Keller, the NYT editor in chief, as well as publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. have been strangely indulgent with 'Miss Run-Amok', even to the detriment of the paper's obligation to itself and it's readers to expose the truth. For these three to be posturing as protectors of the press's use of confidential sources- as if we were talking about a whistleblower instead of a criminal conspiracy to mount a war on false pretenses and punish the whistleblower- is far more outrageous than the Jayson Blair scandal over made-up articles. Miller has been part of that WHIG criminal conspiracy, and until Keller and Sulzberger stop lovingly holding hands with her and come clean on the whole affair, I'm sad to say, as a life-long Times reader, the Times cannot be considered separate from that crucial conspiracy.

"Depressed and demoralized White House staffers say working at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is 'life in a hellhole' as they try to deal with a sullen, moody President whose temper tantrums drive staffers crying from the room and bring the business of running the country to a halt. 'It's like working in an insane asylum,' says one White House aide. 'People walk around like they're in a trance. We're the dance band on the Titanic, playing out our last songs to people who know the ship is sinking and none of us are going to make it.'"
-Capitol Hill Blue 9/28

Update: Miers Nomination Withdrawn
Bush nominates an unqualified loyalist to Supreme Court; Harriett Miers once told National Review's David Frum that Bush was 'the most brilliant person [she] had ever met'. (Frum ref) Bush said "She's the best person I could find... trust me". While unqualified, she has two things going for her- first, she's been Bush's personal lawyer- think about that. On the Supreme Court. Hmm. Bush of all people knows how useful that could be. Secondly, she's a Texas evangelical. Her church, "Valley View Christian Church" announces it's beliefs on their website: Man is lost and without hope apart from receiving Jesus Christ. Forgiveness can only come through the blood of Jesus Christ. Those who are forgiven will spend eternity in heaven. Those who are not forgiven will spend eternity in hell. (see VVC beliefs). Bush seemed to think that her church affiliation plus a few strategic winks and nods would be sufficient for his right-wing base. It wasn't. They don't want a stealth candidate- they wanted to trumpet their victory in the culture war with a high profile nominee, make the Dems scream, and triumph with their republican majority.
As for me, the idea of a Supreme Court Justice who thinks everyone on the planet except Christian evangelicals are doomed to spend eternity in Hell is about as nuts as it gets.
The Iraq War booster Christopher Hitchens had this to say: "Either Miers takes her faith seriously, in which case it must be her life's mission to redeem those who have not accepted Jesus as their savior, or she does not, in which case she is a vapid and posturing hypocrite. And either she is nominated in order to gratify a political constituency, whose leaders such as James Dobson of Focus on the Family seem to have had advance notice, or she is not, in which case the president could see no further than his own kitchen Cabinet in searching for merit. So, the whole exercise is a disgusting insult." ("Miers and Brimstone- Let's stop pretending there's no religious test for nominees" - Christopher Hitchens, Slate/MSN)
Meanwhile...Miers Led Law Firm Repeatedly Forced to Pay Damages For Defrauding Investors



Editorial Oct 1
Americans expect that whoever is elected to high office will bring with them the best and the brightest to American governance, of whatever persuasion perhaps, but still the best and the brightest, and we have a lot of bright people in America. It is not the President's prerogative to staff OUR government with hacks and cronies to facilitate crony handouts, slush-funds, political punishment and reward, let alone unnecessary wars of dubious justification.
Throughout the last 5 years we've seen those who participate or lend their credibility to the web of lies and misrepresentations rewarded, even when their actions led to disaster, as long as they stayed loyal and never criticized our Great Leader. But those who, feeling compelled to serve the higher good of our nation and our people, and therefore disagreed, or criticized the Great Leader, well, these people are gone- fired, smeared, or simply resigned in disgust. People whose ultimate allegiance is not to Bushevism, but to America, and the welfare of the American people, are not welcome in this administration. Promotions way beyond ability await scurrilous loyalists; others, like 'slam-dunk' Tenet, or Paul Bremer, who presided over the historic transformation of a successful military campaign into a disastrous and universally unpopular occupation, are even awarded Presidential Medals of Freedom- not for the brilliance of their efforts- what the medals should be for- but because they were willing to carry out the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld program in spite of it's evident madness, in spite of the damage it did to this country, in spite of the destruction of their own credibility and careers. Bad governance: the imposter president handing out our nation's highest awards to those willing to damage American interests and subvert American democracy in loyal support to the person of the president. It doesn't get much worse.
When Hurricane Katrina hit, all eyes turned to FEMA as the federal agency for disaster management.. and discovered that Bush had put a ridiculous midget in charge. Even if his "resume" were true, which it was not, this turkey was by no stretch of the imagination capable of even minimally handling the job, forget about "best and the brightest". Asking how it came that this nobody was 'in charge' of something so crucial cast light on a tentacular network of cronyism and incompetence throughout the federal government. Dozens of important positions are now occupied by crooked loyal hacks all too willing to perform any shenanigans asked of them. Dozens more regulatory positions, entrusted with protecting the public interest, are now held by lobbyists for the very corporate interests opposed to the public good these agencies are sworn to work for. In terms of civic duty, honor, and genuine love of country, It doesn't get much worse than this. This is not only bad governance, it's bad governance with a vengeance. And the Washington establishment has been in the very least complacent, and, to be honest, complicit. Senator Lieberman, for example, the opposition candidate for Vice-President in 2000 after all, eagerly waved Brownie through his confirmation hearings.
Senator Lieberman also waved-through David Safavian, the recently arrested white house official in charge of procurement policy at the Office of Management and Budget. Lieberman's spokesperson: "Based on our extensive review of his qualifications and background, we had no reason to believe that Mr. Safavian had engaged in any wrongdoing." Safavian's experience included lobbying for Pakistan, several corrupt African regimes, and two men accused of links to Islamic terrorism; and most importantly apparently, his insider status with Jack Abramoff, Republican fixer and slush-fund administrator, now held on federal corruption charges. Safavian's wife is the chief counsel for oversight and investigations at the House Committee of Government Reform, which oversees federal procurement policy matters. A tangled web indeed.
As for Pentagon procurement in the age of the hundred billion dollar pre-emptive war, the top IG, Joseph Schmitz, appointed by Bush in 2002, has just left the government for a top job at Blackwater, supplier of 'private security' forces- read mercenaries- to the Iraq occupation, and now to Katrina reconstruction.
When Katrina hit, 'Brownie' Brown had already announced he was appointing Patrick Rhode, one-time advance man for the Bush-Cheney campaign, utterly unqualified, to be deputy director of FEMA. Rhode had been associate administrator of the Small Business Administration. Why the promotion? Well, how about the 9/11 loans scandal- wherein millions in 911 reconstruction loans were given to hundreds of applicants which were not impacted by 911, and who in fact had no idea they were getting loans from the 911 account. Here's the key from Sen. Kerry: "This was a deliberate attempt to cover up White House budget gimmicks that left the SBA's largest loan program underfunded and on the brink of shutting down. The administration asked SBA employees to bend the rules and steer regular loans through the program aimed at helping businesses impacted by 9/11."Ah, how useful these loyal hacks! Bad governance begets nothing but more bad governance.
Bush's first actions following Katrina, apart from flitting around trying desperately to give the impression of capable management, were to appoint Karl Rove in charge of reconstruction (of the administration's credibility, I presume), to award reconstruction contracts to the same crew of corporate cronies which brought us the Iraqi reconstruction disaster, and to suspend minimum wage laws for these federal contractors.
Bad governance isn't only the terrible mistakes made. It's also in what happens when the bad government reacts in response to the messes it makes. For example, Bush, after Katrina, has called for more military-executive authority in time of disaster, instead of looking to the failures in the civil administration he so thoroughly gutted of responsible talent. Imposters who seize the seats of governance, but cannot deliver because of their own mean-spiritedness, eventually either subside in shame, are arrested, or, with enough compliance on the part of the press, the public, and the opposition, actually demand increased executive powers to cover up their own failures. This has happened many times in history, and the framers of our constitution, recognizing that not all people are honorable, did everything they could to reduce this danger. Count the ways their architecture of checks and balances, meant to protect America from conspiracies of abusive incompetence, has been subverted since 2000.

It's been said that in a democracy, a society gets the government it deserves.How did we come to this in the USA, a country with a pervasive and supposedly free media, universal education, and a relatively high average living standard? Clearly a corporatised, compliant, and it must be said, remarkably lazy, shallow, and un-intelligent media goes a long way to providing cover for a well-organized conspiracy of hacks, crooks and fools. Clearly the abysmal level of education in America at the beginning of the 21st century has left the populace exposed to jingoistic manipulation and general bamboozlement. Clearly there has been a failure of the high concepts of statesmanship and public service which prevailed prior to the ascendence of a right-wing media manipulation machine, prior to the unholy alliance of religious extremism, know-nothing imperialism, and corporate kleptocracy, prior to the murder or untimely deaths of many of the leading voices on the left, leaving a neutered and compliant opposition. I suspect that many Americans, exhausted with the media machine, the slime attacks, and the disinformation, and without a sound basis in knowledge of the workings and risks to healthy civic democracy, end up voting for attitude, as in 'I like his attitude'. Many people seem to be proud to have jettisoned concern for factuality in favor of the more exciting attitude. Bush knows this and exploits it; see, for example, a Google search for 'Bush + "my attitude"'.

It seems likely that even though we are all aware of the unfolding disaster of this administration, that our politicians, our press, and even we the people may prefer to remain in denial, or just hunker down, in wait for 2008. But eight years of Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Gonzales-Bolton-Rice, will have utterly disconnected American policy and governance from the best and the brightest we have to offer. By that time, I fear the damage to America's standing in the world, to it's financial health, and to our civic health will be so severe that a generation will be needed to redress it. By that time, the world will have changed, China and India will have risen, other countries will have pioneered alternative energy solutions, and will have surpassed us in general prosperity, and even in graduate level education, and the dream of American world leadership will have evaporated, possibly for ever.

Can this tragedy be avoided? There does seem to be a slim chance- very slim. Here's a scenario: after the uprooting of Abramoff's influence peddling network, after indictments of Senate and House Majority Leaders Frist and DeLay on insider trading and corruption charges respectively, and Rove and several others in the Plamegate leak scandal, Congressional Republicans re-organize around a non-Bushevik figure, Chuck Hagel for example. House speaker Hastert is demoted- possibly charged in the Turkish bribery affair, and is no longer in the presidential succession; Cheney resigns due to health concerns and is replaced by a Republican acceptable to the Congress, again, for example, Chuck Hagel. Rumsfeld is advised to resign, and is possibly charged over prisoner abuse. As investigations, and there are many, close in, Bush resigns, Hagel becomes president. Rice, Bolton, Gonzales, and Rumsfeld- if they are still there- are removed. This could all happen before the 2006 congressional elections, if enough Republicans are afraid of losing their jobs. Maybe it's more likely after many of them have lost their jobs in the mid-terms.
It couldn't happen too soon.

**TIME- How Many More Mike Browns Are Out There?
NYT: Cronies at the Till
Second Delay Indictment- Money Laundering
Demotion of a Prosecutor Is Investigated
Deputy White House Counsel Flanagan in Abramoff Probe
Update Oct 7: Flanagan Withdraws.
NYT Ed: Faking the Katrina Inquiry
Boston Globe: Woe to the Whistleblowers
Saudi Arabia says Iraq faces disintegration
Top Ten War Profiteers of 2004By Center for Corporate Responsibility
Bush wants Military takeover disaster efforts
Congress to investigate 9/11 loan abuses
Lt. Cmdr. Sean Kelly: Military Was Ready but Waiting for Bush
Safavian's Dirty Trail
Group Lists 13 'Most Corrupt' in Congress
Frist Stock Sale Raises Questions on Timing
Ethical investigations soiling GOP's image
Abramoff Probe May Threaten Leading Republicans as It Expands
3 Charged in Killing Of Fla. Businessman- Boulis Slain After 2000 Abramoff Deal
GAO: Bush Administration Disseminated Illegal 'Covert Propaganda'
HRW Report: Officer Reveals Systemic Pattern of Prisoner Abuse
Abu Ghraib General Lambastes Bush Administration
21 Administration Officials Involved In Plame Leak
What Fitzgerald may be thinking as he contemplates Plame leak indictments
Salon/Daou Report- Plame Investigation Reaches Bolton
Billion dollars plundered from Iraq's defence ministry
Court upholds power of White House to jail citizens as 'enemy combatants'
Summit failure blamed on US (Sept 18, 2005)
Global warming 'past the point of no return'
** NYTimes Magazine: Taking Stock of the Forever War
Able Danger - Coverup of Atta Pre-911 Knowledge

Family Demands Truth on Killing of Pat Tillman
It turns out Pat Tillman, once trumpeted by Bush and Rumsfeld as a patriotic role model, had become convinced that the Iraq war was illegal, said so openly, and encouraged his buddies to vote for Kerry. An avid reader of Noam Chomsky, he had arranged to meet Chomsky upon his return from Afghanistan. He died in what turned out to have been, after a month of lies and coverup, a 'friendly fire' incident. Tragic mistake. End of story... except he was killed by "three head shots to the forehead in a pattern about the size of a half dollar" (!) according to the medical examiner. Read more on this

"Multimillionaires like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Snow, and Alan Greenspan are exulting in their massive tax breaks over the past four years, saying the economy is just fine. George W's last tax break even reduced the maximum income tax to 15 percent on people who "earn" their livings by sitting around the swimming pool waiting for the dividend check to arrive in the mail.But for those who need a paycheck every month and are willing to work for it, the reality of finding and keeping employment in America is growing increasingly desperate..."
Bait and Switch -new from Barbara Ehrenreich

Meanwhile... Iraq
"The invasion of Iraq I believe will turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history" -Retired Army Lt. Gen. William Odom, a Vietnam veteran, National Security Agency Director during President Reagan's second term, a scholar with a distinguished career in military intelligence now with the Hudson Institute. (story)

1000 dead in Iraqi Shia Bomber-Scare Stampede
Tensions were running high after mortars had fallen among the dense crowds at the Shia celebration; when someone shouted there was a suicide bomber, a stampede began which caused some 1000 deaths, mostly women and children... The worst single toll of the war.

"...a car bomb exploded at an Iraqi-American base in Iraq, killing 10 including an American soldier and a private contractor. American troops responded by accidentally killing three Iraqi National Guardsmen." - News report, August 21, 2005, reported on "Democracy Now".

Seymour Hersh on Jon Stewart, 9/01: Intelligence from Iraq indicates big insurgent offensive coming..(Daily Show)

More Condi Funnies

O'Reilly: The truth of the matter is our correspondents at Fox News can't go out for a cup of coffee in Baghdad.
Rice: Bill, that's tough. It's tough. But what - would they have wanted to have gone out for a cup of coffee when Saddam Hussein was in power?
Unbelievable? Here's the clip

Desperate First Housewife: Mrs. Bush to Invade Wisteria Lane
Laura Bush will make several guest appearances on the ABC hit comedy "Desperate Housewives" this fall. sources close to the First Lady say that she's very excited about making the transition from spokes-model to full-fledged actress. "This is one of her favorite shows and she is just thrilled that the producers have asked her to be part of it," In return, scripts have been rewritten to appeal to focus groups of "traditionalist viewers" (... Story)

American Taliban
Tele-Mullah Issues Death Fatwa
on Venezuelan President
Has the bizarre little hedgehog of the 700 Club gone utterly mad? The press point out his previous fatwas: the 2003 'nuke the state department' and his earlier 'feminism leads to lesbianism and witchcraft'. Say what? He's a Christian Leader? Which Bible are you reading? (latest news) (Download the fatwa film clip here)

Brigadier General Joyce Karpinski Blows the Whistle on Rumsfeld, Miller for Torture at Abu Ghraib
"The truth has been uncovered, but it's been suffocated and it has not been released with the results of the investigation.... McClellan and Rumsfeld can get up on their high horse and say that there've been no fewer than 15 investigations that were conducted. But every one of those investigations is under the control of the Secretary of Defense. And every one of those investigations is run and led by a person who can lose their job under Rumsfeld's fist." (...story)

Harvard Business School Professor Tsurumi: Bush was a Punk
"I don't remember all the students in detail unless I'm prompted by something. But I always remember two types of students. One is the very excellent student, the type as a professor you feel honored to be working with. Someone with strong social values, compassion and intellect -- the very rare person you never forget. And then you remember students like George Bush, those who are totally the opposite." and "...behind his smile and his smirk, ... he was a very insecure, cunning and vengeful guy." ( story..)

Why Not Walken?
With the 911 spell finally fading, the reality of the mad war in Iraq is sinking in, the Busheviks' poll numbers are sinking fast too. With Bush at 36%, but no anti-war democrats in the 2008 lineup, Christopher Walken, at least, has seen an opportunity... and has announced his candidacy.
"Our great country is in a terrible downward spiral. We're outsourcing jobs, bankrupting social security, and losing lives at war. We need to focus on what's important-- paying attention to our children, our citizens, our future. We need to think about improving our failing educational system, making better use of our resources, and helping to promote a stable, safe, and tolerant global society. It's time to be smart about our politics. It's time to get America back on track."(Walken2008.com)

Amnesty Names "High-Level Torture Architects"
Calls on all governments to investigate and, if warranted, arrest and prosecute Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Tenet, Feith, Miller, Sanchez and others
"We have documented that the use of torture and ill treatment is widespread and that the US government is a leading purveyor and practitioner of this odious human rights violation...
"The refusal of the US government to conduct a truly independent investigation into the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and other detention centers is tantamount to a whitewash, if not a cover-up, of these disgraceful crimes...
"The government's investigation must climb all the way to the top of the military and civilian chain of command...
"If the US government continues to shirk its responsibility, Amnesty International calls on foreign governments to uphold their obligations under international law by investigating all senior US officials involved in the torture scandal. And if those investigations support prosecution, the governments should arrest any official who enters their territory and begin legal proceedings against them...
"Foreign governments that are party to the Geneva Conventions and/or the Convention against Torture... have a legally binding obligation to exercise what is known as universal jurisdiction over people accused of grave breaches of the Conventions. Governments are required to investigate suspects and, if warranted, to prosecute them or to extradite them to a country that will. Crimes such as torture are so serious that they amount to an offense against all of humanity and require governments to investigate and prosecute people responsible for those crimes- no matter where the crime was committed...
"Amnesty International's list of those who may be considered high-level torture architects includes Donald Rumsfeld... Douglas Feith... George Tenet, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Major General Geoffrey Miller, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez..."
Amnesty International Statement, May 25, 2005

PBS Frontline exposes Rumsfeld and Miller responsibility for the torture. See the show online: "The Torture Question".

The Downing St. Memo
Here's The Memo in pdf - and here in html

This story is growing as it's ramifications sink in... Follow the logic: War crime numero uno is the premeditated invasion of another country which posed no threat. Iraqi troops were not menacing our borders, nor did Iraq have any means of attacking America by sea or air. In order not to be war criminals, Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld needed to conjure a comparable "imminent threat" to claim justification for a pre-emptive attack. The supposed convergence of Saddam's stockpiles of WMD and his alleged contacts with Al Qaeda provided the scenario. After the invasion and occupation, once it was clear there never were any WMD, or contacts with Al Quaeda, the Bush administration claimed to have been misled by faulty intelligence, but insisted they'd acted in good faith. The significance of the Downing St. Memo is that it puts the lie to the 'faulty intelligence' alibi; they had decided to invade Iraq, facts and intelligence would be "fixed" to create support for this objective. There it is, clear as day, in a top-secret eyes-only minutes of a meeting of Blair, Jack Straw et al, where the head of MI6, Dearlove, summarized the situation in Washington, from where he had just returned. This is the 'smoking gun' which underpins and assembles all the fragmentary reports we have had over the last two years. So Bush made a deceitful case to Congress, asking them to 'trust' him, though he knew he was lying, in an official request for war authorization in Oct 2002? Uh-oh. Can you hear the "i" word?...

Latest news and documents: AfterDowningStreet.org
Also: DowningStreetMemo.com
Rep. Conyers: Mens Rea and WMD

"Abundant evidence now exists in the public domain to convict George W. Bush of the crime of the century... This memo is the mother of all smoking guns... Why isn't Bush in the dock?"- Paul Craig Roberts, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration, once Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. (article)

9/11 Update

Bush Insider Suspects World Trade Center Demolition
( (Washington, DC, Jun. 13 By John Daly UPI International
(A former Bush team member during his first administration is now voicing serious doubts about the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9-11. Former chief economist for the Department of Labor during President George W. Bush's first term Morgan Reynolds comments that the official story about the collapse of the WTC is "bogus" and that it is more likely that a controlled demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and adjacent Building No. 7. Reynolds, who also served as director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas and is now professor emeritus at Texas A&M University said, "If demolition destroyed three steel skyscrapers at the World Trade Center on 9/11, then the case for an 'inside job' and a government attack on America would be compelling." Reynolds commented from his Texas A&M office, "It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate over the cause of the collapse of the twin towers and building 7. If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either. The government's collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only professional demolition appears to account for the full range of facts associated with the collapse of the three buildings." (reference)

"Bin Laden does not want U.S. troops out. He wants to suck America in deeper in order to create revolutionary insurgency throughout the Middle East.The Bush administration is moronic enough to oblige bin Laden..."The neoconservatives are the greatest threat America has ever faced and they control the Office of the President, the Office of the Vice President, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the police-state apparatus known as 'Homeland Security.'... Any day now, the neocons may orchestrate a scenario that will suck the U.S. into a wider war that America has no possibility of winning. If the American people had the slightest sense of their danger, they would demand immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and accountability for the liars who orchestrated the ill-fated U.S. invasion." (article)
Paul Craig Roberts, John M. Olin Fellow at the Institute for Political Economy, Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, and a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury.

Iraq: Election Honeymoon Very Over
FOX News Sunday : "[Can] the Bush administration fairly be criticized for failing to level with the American people about how long and difficult this commitment will be?"
Condoleeza Rice: "The administration, I think, has said to the American people that it is a generational commitment to Iraq." (story)
Really! I remember something quite different... for example:
"...my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators... I think it will go relatively quickly...weeks rather than months." Vice President Dick Cheney, 3/16/03
"It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." Sec.Def. Donald Rumsfeld, 2/7/03

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) of the Foreign Relations Committee told U.S. News and World Report: "Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality. It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq."

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