Ignoring Icebergs

Ken AshfordBush & Co., IraqLeave a Comment

Josh Marshall points to an interesting paragraph in an upcoming Newsweek article:

Analysts at the Defense Intelligence Agency have begun war-gaming scenarios for what might happen in Iraq if U.S. force levels were cut back or eliminated, say counterterrorism and defense sources. The officials, who asked not to be named because of the sensitive subject matter, declined to discuss specifics of the DIA analyses, which they indicate are in the preliminary stages. Some officials say that people in the intelligence community are leery about engaging in speculative exercises for fear of being accused by conservatives of undermining George W. Bush’s administration policy. However, others say that this analysis could support staying the course in Iraq if a U.S. pullout would result in greater insurgent violence or a religious civil war.

The emphasis is Marshall’s/mine.

This indicates something which progressives have noted for some time.  Were there intelligence failures in the run-up to the Iraq War?  Sure, but the failures were partisan — it was the disinclination to marshal and present evidence which is counter to policy.   

Does keeping your superiors in the dark make sense to anyone?

[fuzzy dreamy flashback music]

Frederick Fleet:  Iceberg!  Right ahead!

Reginald Lee:  Where?

Fleet:  Right there!  Call down to the bridge and inform them!

Lee:  The Captain is trying to make it to New York in record time.  Ismay insists.  It sure would be a feather in the cap of the White Star line.  Think of the headlines!

Fleet:  Dammit, man!  There’s an iceberg!  Can’t you see it?

Lee:  Well, it might be an iceberg, I guess.  But it doesn’t make any sense.  Why would an iceberg be in our direct path, thus thwarting our attempts to set a cross-oceanic speed record?  Do you want to be the one to disappoint Ismay?

Fleet:  I don’t follow.

Lee (speaking in microphone):  Uh, hello, bridge?  This is the crow’s nest.  We just want say we think you’re doing a great job, and as far as we’re concerned, there’s nothing but smooth sailing ahead.  End transmission.

Fleet:  Yes, I see your point.  (pause) Damn, it’s cold! (pause) Okay, who’s turn to deal?

Lee:  Are we done?

Fleet:  Huh?

Lee:  Is the flashback over?

Fleet:  Yeah.  I think he made his point.

Lee:  So . . . it was like . . . it was a metaphor thing?

Fleet:  Right.  Shut up and deal.

Lee:  At least he gave us a microphone.  I didn’t even realize those were invented yet.

Fleet:  Are you going to play cards or what?

[*SMASH*]

Remembering 9/11 – Four Years Later

Ken AshfordWar on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

Wtcplane2crash2 From my home state of New Hampshire, in the New Hampshire Union Leader:

Kurt S. Wolz:
We’re no safer today
By KURT S. WOLZ
Guest Commentary

MY CONNECTION with 9/11 is personal. I am a pilot for American Airlines. In September of 2001, I had AA Flight 11 on my flying schedule. As you may recall, AA Flight 11 was the first airplane hijacked. It subsequently impacted the north tower of the World Trade Center. I lost a friend and fellow pilot, Capt. John Ogonowski, that day. I also knew purser Betty Ong and the rest of the cabin crew. I could have been the copilot who perished that day.

On the four-year anniversary of 9/11, I would like to give you my summation as to what progress our leaders have made in ridding the world of terrorism, and in "bringing to justice" the perpetrators of that horrendous terrorist attack on our homeland. And that is — no real progress. The world is now a much more dangerous place and Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida are still "alive and well."

I remember President George W. Bush standing on the pile of rubble that used to be the WTC, with his bullhorn, his arm over a New York City firefighter, proclaiming to all that the United States will get whoever did this to us and bring them to justice. Instead, it became an opportune moment for him, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz to pursue their own agenda, which they had when they came into office and were dying to execute. George W. Bush used 9/11 as an excuse for his personal war in Iraq; and, as it turns out, is not serious about the "War on Terror" at all.

The reason I say this is because his attempt to capture or kill Osama bin Laden has been lame at best. He delegates the enemy (Pakistan) to hunt for the enemy. Instead, al-Qaida has once again "reared its ugly head," this time with subway bombings in London. Let’s face it, our President and all his men have failed the world in bringing these terrorists to justice.

As we have subsequently learned, through the 9/11 Commission Report and from sources no longer inside the White House, George W. Bush, upon taking office, simply refused to heed the warnings from the outgoing administration that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida were the greatest threat America faced. According to Paul O’Neill, at Bush’s first National Security Council meeting, the topic of discussion was Saddam Hussein, who had essentially been "contained" ever since the first Gulf War. And, as Richard Clarke said, as summer approached and reports of an imminent attack on the United States became more frequent, no one did anything!

Condoleeza Rice later testified that there were no specifics — "when, where, who." This is the same person who had the gall to say "we don’t want a smoking gun to become a mushroom cloud" in reference to Saddam Hussein. Not one meeting was held to address the escalation of threats of an attack on our homeland.

As we know now, there was no evidence to back up the "mushroom cloud" statement and proceed with starting the war in Iraq. No WMD, no proof of a purchase of uranium from Niger, no aluminum tubes, no mobile weapons labs, no proof of coordination with al-Qaida, no imminent threat to the United States, and no mission accomplished.

What we are coming to learn, through numerous sources including the "Downing Street Memos," is that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Rice knew this before they started their war in Iraq. They deliberately misled us all into believing them. We would have been at war with Iraq even if 9/11 did not occur. What the war has become is a waste of U.S. lives and taxpayer dollars and a breeding ground for more and smarter terrorists. Also, U.S. companies in Iraq, with close ties to the Bush administration, are engaged in blatant profiteering. Is it just a coincidence that Iraq is said to possess the second largest oil reserves?

All I can say is that I am tired of being lied to by an administration that has zero credibility. I am hoping that in 2006 Democrats win back control of Congress and open their first session with impeachment proceedings of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, because the Republicans refuse to do so.

Kurt S. Wolz of Bedford is a pilot for American Airlines.

Katrina Exercise

Ken AshfordBush & Co., DisastersLeave a Comment

It’s been two weeks now, and they still don’t get it.

As reported here, this is the latest moronic utterance from the Bush Administration:

"There are a lot of lessons we want to learn out of this process in terms of what works," Cheney said.

"I think we are in fact on our way to getting on top of the whole Katrina exercise," he said, but added, "we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us obviously."

An exercise?  This is practice?

Meanwhile, Newsweek has excellent story on Katrina entitled "How Bush Blew It".  But if that’s too long for you, here’s an excellent bullet point-like summary from AmericaBlog, including an expose of the insular bubble that Bush keeps himself in.

What we learn in the Newsweek story.

1. Bush’s aides are SO afraid of telling him bad news that they practically drew straws to see who would have to tell him, on TUESDAY, that the hurricane was so bad he’d need to come home.

2. Even on Thursday AFTER the storm, Bush didn’t realize how bad the storm was:

President Bush knew the storm and its consequences had been bad; but he didn’t quite realize how bad.

The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until Thursday night. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans. Counselor Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One.

So Bush didn’t realize how bad the storm damage was until Thursday night, almost the fifth day AFTER the storm hit. Good God. He was going to watch the weekly news Friday for the FIRST TIME to get a sense of how bad things were.

3. No one wanted to tell Bush the truth

When Hurricane Katrina struck, it appears there was no one to tell President Bush the plain truth: that the state and local governments had been overwhelmed, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was not up to the job and that the military, the only institution with the resources to cope, couldn’t act without a declaration from the president overriding all other authority.

4. Rumsfeld opposed sending in troops as cops.

5. "Bush created a disaster within a disaster."

A NEWSWEEK reconstruction of the government’s response to the storm shows how Bush’s leadership style and the bureaucratic culture combined to produce a disaster within a disaster.

6. Washington just wouldn’t listen

A man in a blue FEMA windbreaker arrived to brief them on his helicopter flyover of the city. He seemed unfamiliar with the city’s geography, but he did have a sense of urgency. "Water as far as the eye can see," he said. It was worse than Hurricanes Andrew in 1992 and Camille in 1969. "I need to call Washington," he said…. The FEMA man found a phone, but he had trouble reaching senior officials in Washington. When he finally got someone on the line, the city officials kept hearing him say, "You don’t understand, you don’t understand."

7. 8pm on Monday, the day of the storm, the governor asked Bush for everything he’s got.

Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, a motherly but steely figure known by the nickname Queen Bee, knew that she needed help. But she wasn’t quite sure what. At about 8 p.m., she spoke to Bush. "Mr. President," she said, "we need your help. We need everything you’ve got."

8. Instead of helping New Orleans Monday night, Bush went to bed.

here are a number of steps Bush could have taken, short of a full-scale federal takeover, like ordering the military to take over the pitiful and (by now) largely broken emergency communications system throughout the region. But the president, who was in San Diego preparing to give a speech the next day on the war in Iraq, went to bed.

9. Wednesday morning, while Bush was STILL on vacation, he wouldn’t take the governor’s call for help

Early Wednesday morning, Blanco tried to call Bush. She was transferred around the White House for a while until she ended up on the phone with Fran Townsend, the president’s Homeland Security adviser, who tried to reassure her but did not have many specifics.

10. FEMA improved under Clinton, then was hurt under Bush

Once a kind of petty-cash drawer for congressmen to quickly hand out aid after floods and storms, FEMA had improved in the 1990s in the Clinton administration. But it became a victim of the Iron Law of Unintended Consequences. After 9/11 raised the profile of disaster response, FEMA was folded into the sprawling Department of Homeland Security and effectively weakened. FEMA’s boss, Bush’s close friend Joe Allbaugh, quit when he lost his cabinet seat.

11. Bush wanted to hear good news, so that’s all they gave him until Friday.

Bad news rarely flows up in bureaucracies. For most of those first few days, Bush was hearing what a good job the Feds were doing. Bush likes "metrics," numbers to measure performance, so the bureaucrats gave him reassuring statistics. At a press availability on Wednesday, Bush duly rattled them off: there were 400 trucks transporting 5.4 million meals and 13.4 million liters of water along with 3.4 million pounds of ice. Yet it was obvious to anyone watching TV that New Orleans had turned into a Third World hellhole.

The denial and the frustration finally collided aboard Air Force One on Friday.

12. It took local officials ripping Bush a new one on Friday for him to finally wake up – a full 5 days after the disaster.

The denial and the frustration finally collided aboard Air Force One on Friday. As the president’s plane sat on the tarmac at New Orleans airport, a confrontation occurred that was described by one participant as "as blunt as you can get without the Secret Service getting involved." Governor Blanco was there, along with various congressmen and senators and Mayor Nagin

“Good People”

Ken AshfordBush & Co.1 Comment

I’ve been having flashbacks all week.

They go back to 2000, when I would often engage in political debates with a conservative co-worker.  I remember one conversation went something like this:

ME:  "But you have to admit that Bush isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer."

HER:  "Yeah, but that alone is not an important qualification to be President.  You have to surround yourself with good people, and appoint them to important positions."

Five years later, we see that Bush has even failed in that regard.  Look at this post at Washington Monthly.  It shows the qualifications of the last four FEMA directors.  Three were appointed under Republican administrations (two under Bush 43, one under Bush 41), and one under Clinton.

Tell me which one is a "good person" for the job of FEMA director, and which three aren’t.

The huge difference between conservatives and progressives is not just their respective stands on certain issues; it is also about their leadership styles, and views about the role of government.  Progressives think government should be smart, and come together for the collective good of the people.  Conservatives simply want a smaller inffectual out-of-the-way government. 

Which begs the question: why would anyone vote for a President who thinks his job is to minimalize his job?  It’s like going to a doctor who doesn’t believe in medicine.  But apparently, many people think and vote that way.  With Katrina, we see those consequences.

Cronyism Update

Ken AshfordBush & Co., DisastersLeave a Comment

I have nothing to say about this, other than "No surprise":

Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration’s first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush’s former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.

Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel’s CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Experts say it has been common practice in both Republican and Democratic administrations for policy makers to take lobbying jobs once they leave office, and many of the same companies seeking contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have already received billions of dollars for work in Iraq.

Halliburton alone has earned more than $9 billion. Pentagon audits released by Democrats in June showed $1.03 billion in "questioned" costs and $422 million in "unsupported" costs for Halliburton’s work in Iraq.

From Reuters — read the whole thing.

U.S. Backs Down: CNN Can Do Its Job

Ken AshfordDisastersLeave a Comment

As reported here:

Rather than fight a lawsuit by CNN, the federal government abandoned its effort Saturday to prevent the media from reporting on the recovery of the dead in New Orleans.

Joint Task Force Katrina "has no plans to bar, impede or prevent news media from their news gathering and reporting activities in connection with the deceased Hurricane Katrina victim recovery efforts," said Col. Christian E. deGraff, representing the task force.

Glenn Reynolds had this to say (echoed by Powerline) about the media’s desire to show photos of dead bodies:

THE PRESS WANTS TO SHOW BODIES from Katrina. It didn’t want to show bodies, or jumpers, on 9/11, for fear that doing so would inflame the public.

I can only conclude that this time around, the press thinks it’s a good thing to inflame the public. What could the difference be?

Mmmm.  So when CNN wants to show dead bodies, they are doing it to "inflame the public".  That could be the only possible reason.

Let’s recall what Glenn said on September 13, 2003, when he explained why he posted a photo of a falling WTC "jumper":

"I think it’s important not to let the memory of that day be sanitized."

I’m not sure how 9/11 could ever be sanitized.  Most of us have indelible images in our minds of jets hitting skyscrapers, and the towers collapsing.  If those dramatic images alone don’t make 9/11 hit home, I don’t know what does.  At that point, throwing in photos of jumpers is simply sensationalism.

On the other hand, the Katrina disaster, which will probably claim twice as many lives (even with lowered estimates) as 9/11, already is being sanitized.  People on the right and left have been arguing and debating about the political implications, the issues of race, whether or not to rebuild New Orleans, etc.  We seem to forget (and I include myself) about the tragic loss of life.  Maybe a photo or two will remind us.

So I have a question for Glenn: if you don’t think tragedies should be sanitized, why aren’t you applauding the media for trying to do its job, rather than being critical of them?

Dubya Should Have Read Clinton’s Biography

Ken AshfordBush & Co., DisastersLeave a Comment

Sadly, that would require Dubya to, you know, read.

Because if he had, he might have come across this prescient quote (via Atrios):

"… I went to Florida a few days after President Bush did to observe the damage from Hurricane Andrew. I had dealt with a lot of natural disasters as governor, including floods, droughts, and tornadoes, but I had never seen anything like this. I was surprised to hear complaints from both local officials and residents about how the Federal Emergency Management Agency was handling the aftermath of the hurricane. Traditionally, the job of FEMA director was given to a political supporter of the President who wanted some plum position but who had no experience with emergencies. I made a mental note to avoid that mistake if I won. Voters don’t chose a President based on how he’ll handle disasters, but if they’re faced with one themselves, it quickly becomes the most important issue in their lives." Bill Clinton, My Life (p. 428)

The Islamic State of South Carolina

Ken AshfordRight Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

The manufactured breathless "controversy" about the crescent-shaped Flight 93 memorial (which I wrote about here) continues. 

Liberal Avenger, who graciously linked to me, is on the case.  Read his post, and pay particular attention to the moonbats his comments section.  They’re going ballistic.

The funny think about the right wing here is that they apparently "see" Islam embopied in a simple arc shape, whereas most of us "see" just an arc shape.  It says more about their frame of mind than it does about the memorial planning committee.

This isn’t the first time that the "seeing is believing" right wing sees what they want to believe.  It reminds me when they "saw" Terri Schiavo in the (heavily edited) videos, laughing, singing, playing piano, etc.  They see what they want to see, which is why progressive bloggers have the undisputed claim on being the "reality-based community".

More humorously, the myopia of the right has left them open to ridicule.  For example, some bright individual pointed out that the flag of South Carolina looks like this:

South_carolina_state_flag

Not to mention the "red crescent" that is the logo of . . . wait for it . . . the Christian Coalition of America.

As someone once said somewhere, "Heh".

Mr. 38%

Ken AshfordBush & Co.Leave a Comment

Newsweek has Bush polling at 38% — the lowest of any President in their history of conducting presidential polls.

More importantly, it says:

Reflecting the tarnished view of the administration, only 38 percent of registered voters say they would vote for a Republican for Congress if the Congressional elections were held today, while 50 say they would vote for a Democrat.

New Orleans Photos

Ken AshfordDisastersLeave a Comment

This is a very good slideshow of New Orleans living (and dying) through Katrina, taken by an amateur photographer who lived throught the thing.  You can see how things went from good, to bad, to better, to really bad, to even worse.  Read the captions to get the full experience.

“Go Fuck Yourself Mr. Cheney” — The Rest Of The Story

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Disasters1 Comment

MarblemugRemember the Mississippi local who shouted "Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney" while Cheney was being interviewed on CNN?

His name is Ben Marble.  Doctor Ben Marble.  He’s an emergency room MD who plays in alternative rock bands.  His house in Gulfport, MS was destroyed by Katrina.  He was visiting it on September 8 when he learned that Cheney was down the street doing a photo-op thing.  So he and a freind grabbed a video camera and a still camera, and decided to check it out.

After delivering the message to Cheney (heh!), he returned to his former home to salvage a few things.  That’s when the military police with M-16s showed up.  They cuffed him, detained him for 20 minutes, and then let him go (after all, he did nothing illegal).

You can read his story here.

You can also visit his latest website, www.hurricanekatrinasucks.com.

And (how cool is this?), to raise money to rebuild his life, he is auctioning his video of the Cheney encounter on eBay.  As of this writing, the selling price is $2,036.00.

On Blogging

Ken AshfordBlogging2 Comments

You know, I usually read political blogs, and this blog is pretty much a political blog, too.  I do it to practice writing; I do it because I’m genuinely concerned about the world around me; I do it to kill time.

But it sometimes escapes me that there are people out there who blog about well, themselves.  Their life .  Their innermost thoughts.  Their blogs are like personal diaries, except there’s no lock and key.  It’s published, fer Chrissakes.

See, here’s what happened.  Someone named "SAS" left a comment to a post I wrote.  Out of curiosity (you mean someone actually reads this blog?!?), I followed SAS’s link, and found myself here.  Man, there really are a lot of interesting stories and people in this world.

Not that there’s anything truly remarkable about SAS.  She’s a normally neurotic single person dealing with life’s tragedies, life’s joys, and life’s confusions.  And, you know . . . stuff.  Like me.  Like, I suspect, everybody. 

But the thing is that it’s all out there, presented in some tiny corner (her corner) of the information superhighway.  The doubts, the triumphs, the fears, the joys, the losses — all for anyone to see.

Some might think that is egotistical.  Maybe, but  . . . well, no.  It’s not.  It’s courageous, that’s what it is.  I confess to feeling a little envious, and it causes me to wonder if I should be making better use of my blog time writing about — you know — the stuff of life.  Do I write about the political and cultural world to avoid writing about the inner world?  Should I be doing something different?  Do I even have a life?

Alas, that’s not me.  I’m an enigma — even to myself — and content to remain one — even to myself.   But it is reassuring to see blogs like hers, and be reminded that the entire world is probably made up of people who, to paraphrase SAS, feel like they are "one step behind everybody else" sometimes.  Obviously, if we all feel that way, then nobody is one step behind everyone else.

One thing’s for sure — I need to surf the blog highway more.

So what’s the point of this post?  Beats me.  Just felt like typing something.  What the hell are you going to do about it?

A Day Late; A Dollar Short

Ken AshfordBreaking News, Bush & Co., DisastersLeave a Comment

Breaking news:

FEMA Chief Relieved of Katrina Duties

WASHINGTON – FEMA Director Michael Brown is being removed from his role in managing the Bush administration’s Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and is returning to Washington.

Brown, who has been under fire for the federal government’s slow response to the storm that devastated much of the Gulf Coast region, will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, who was overseeing New Orleans relief and rescue efforts.

Asked if he was being made a scapegoat for a federal relief effort that has drawn widespread and sharp criticism, Brown told The Associated Press after a long pause: "By the press, yes. By the president, No."

Note that he is not being fired (and why not? – I ask); he’s merely being moved out of harm’s way.  Or the media’s.

I love Michelle Malkin’s positive spin.  She asks if Brown’s removal means that Bush is a wimpy pussy responding to public and media pressure.  She then answers her own question:

Answer: No. It makes him someone who has put accountability over cronyism in a time of crisis. Good for him.

In other words, cronyism is okay, but not in times of crisis.  And kudos for Bush for recognizing that cronyism has it’s proper time and place, but not now.

Good Karma, Curt

Ken AshfordDisasters, Red Sox & Other SportsLeave a Comment

From the Boston Globe:

Last autumn, Curt Schilling helped the Red Sox win it all. Now, he and his wife, Shonda, are helping a New Orleans family of nine who have lost almost everything.

Moved by the plight of thousands of Gulf Coast residents whose lives were shattered by Hurricane Katrina, the star pitcher and his wife arranged to fly up a family and to put them up in a Boston-area hotel, where the family has been since Saturday.

The Fields family has seven children, four boys and three girls. They are between the ages of 5 and 12. The family fled its New Orleans home just before the storm, with only a few clothes and groceries.

As they realized the scope of the devastation in New Orleans, the Schillings decided to help, and they chose a personal, immediate gesture rather than a simple contribution of money.

”When we realized how many people had nowhere to go, we didn’t just want to make a donation," Shonda Schilling said yesterday.

”We decided we wanted to bring an entire family here and put them up," she added. ”We all need to take care of each other at a time like this."