Category Archive

Harper’s has a good article about what happened to CIA field agents who wrote reports that clashed with the Bush Administration blind optimism: A number of current and former intelligence officials have told me that the administration’s war on internal dissent has crippled the CIA’s ability to provide realistic assessments from Iraq. “The system of reporting is shut down,” said … Read More

Then:  My Lai Now:  Haditha Billmon writes: Ugly? That doesn’t even begin to cover it. Dick Cheney is ugly. The Pentagon is ugly. An Abrams tank is ugly. Executing helpless women and children while they’re huddled on the floor, praying to their God, is a war crime committed by terrorists. It’s Lidice and Rwanda and Srebrenica and, of course, My … Read More

On May 27, 2003: The Washington Post reported last month that a U.S. fact-finding mission confidentially advised Washington on May 27, 2003, that two truck trailers found in Iraq were not mobile units for manufacturing bioweapons, as had been suspected. So on May 27, 2003, the U.S. team informed Bush & Co that the two truck trailers were NOT for … Read More

There’s a really good guy in the Bush Administration, who took his job seriously.  His name is Stuart Bowen, and his title is Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.  His job?  He and his staff of 55 auditors make sure there’s no hanky-panky with the money being allocated to reconstruct Iraq. When Bowen was appointed by Bush in January 2004, … Read More

Percent of Americans in April 1968 who said that sending troops to Vietnam was a mistake: 48% Percent of Americans in latest poll who said that sending troops to Iraq was a mistake: 57% Source

A kid with autism?  Wow.  Just . . . wow. Jared didn’t know there was a war raging in Iraq until his parents told him last fall — shortly after a military recruiter stopped him outside a Portland strip mall and complimented his black Converse All-Stars. “When Jared first started talking about joining the Army, I thought, `Well, that isn’t … Read More

BEHIND SCHEDULE: A US Inspector General’s report into reconstruction found that although $22 billion had been spent, water, sewage and electricity, infrastructure still operated at prewar levels Despite “significant progress” in recent months, less than half the water and electricity projects have been completed Only six of the 150 planned health centres have been completed US officials spent $70 million … Read More

Yesterday, with the formation of a permanent government in Baghdad, Bush declared that the War in Iraq was at a "turning point". Another turning point?  From the Gadflyer: May, 2003 – As Bush played soldier aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, while real ones were dying, he proclaimed our "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq and a "turning of the tide" in the … Read More

Just another data point. A former high-ranking CIA officer says that thye Bush administration ignored evidence that Iraq lacked WMDs: Tyler Drumheller, the former highest-ranking CIA officer in Europe, told "60 Minutes" that the administration "chose to ignore" good intelligence, the network said in a posting on its Web site. Drumheller said that, before the U.S.-led attack on Iraq in … Read More

Juan Cole explains, and reminds us that the Bush Administration originally told us it would cost 50 billion.

Melvin Laird (Secretary of Defense under Nixon), and Robert Pursley (who served as Laird’s aide) write an op-ed in the Washington Post about the six or so retired generals now speaking out against Rumsfeld and calling for his resignation. Laird and Pursley’s thesis is summed up nicely in the title of their piece: "Why Are They Speaking Up Now?" Perhaps … Read More

Our government has tons of websites, dispensing all kinds of information.  My favorite sites are the ones geared toward America’s youth. I stumbled upon one today, in which our government tells young girls how to get over being dumped.  My favorite bit: If you’ve just had a break-up and are feeling down, you’re not alone. Just about everyone experiences a … Read More