President Bush, 1/13/06: Iran, armed with a nuclear weapon, poses a grave threat to the security of the world. President Bush 10/7/02: Tonight I want to take a few minutes to discuss a grave threat to peace…The threat comes from Iraq…It is seeking nuclear weapons.
Another Cronkite Moment
Too bad he doesn’t have the clout with America that he had 40 years ago: Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, whose 1968 conclusion that the Vietnam War was unwinnable keenly influenced public opinion then, said Sunday he’d say the same thing today about Iraq. "It’s my belief that we should get out now," Cronkite said in a meeting with reporters. … Read More
No Sense At All
Josh Marshall: Says Cheney … "And Steve Hayes is of the view — and I think he’s correct — that a lot of those documents that were captured over there that have not yet been evaluated offer additional evidence that, in fact, there was a relationship that stretched over many years between Saddam Hussein and the al Qaeda organization." …So … Read More
80%
That’s the percentage of marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body who could have survived if they had had better body armor, according to a secret Pentagon study.
Those Who Can’t Do, Teach
Bush, today, apparently with a straight face (from the White House website): First, we’re going to work with the Iraqi government to increase the training Iraqi police recruits receive in human rights and the rule of law, so they understand the role of the police in a democratic society. Yup. The Bush Administration is going to teach Iraqis about human … Read More
Further Proof That Things Are Getting Better In Iraq
U.S. soldier death toll for 2005: 844 U.S. soldier death toll for 2004: 849 [Source]
Military Not As Crazy About Bush
From the Military Times: Support for President Bush and for the war in Iraq has slipped significantly in the last year among members of the military’s professional core, according to the 2005 Military Times Poll. Approval of the president’s Iraq policy fell 9 percentage points from 2004; a bare majority, 54 percent, now say they view his performance on Iraq … Read More
Do These People Vote?
I’m constantly amazed by the incredible ignorance of a relatively large segment of Americans: Forty-one percent (41%) of U.S. adults believe that Saddam Hussein had "strong links to Al Qaeda." Twenty-two percent (22%) of adults believe that Saddam Hussein "helped plan and support the hijackers who attacked the United States on September 11." Twenty-six percent (26%) of adults believe that … Read More
Note On Bush’s Primetime Speech
(1) Bush said: Reconstruction efforts and the training of Iraqi Security Forces started more slowly than we hoped. … At this time last year, there were only a handful of Iraqi army and police battalions ready for combat. And here’s what Rumsfeld said "at this time last year" (12/8/04, to be specific): Their security forces, as I mentioned earlier, are … Read More
Congress Not Informed Of All Intelligence Issues Relating To Iraq
The non-partisan Congressional Research Service has issued a report explaining specifically the areas in which intelligence was not shared with Congress. Key graf: The executive branch generally does not routinely share with Congress four general types of intelligence information: the identities of intelligence sources; the "methods" employed by the Intelligence Community in collecting and analyzing intelligence; "raw" intelligence, which can … Read More
29 Months – The Reality Gestation Period
George Bush, 12/14/05: It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. George Bush, 7/14/03: I think the intelligence I get is darn good intelligence and the speeches I have given are backed by good intelligence. Rule of thumb: Next time Bush assures us about something, don’t take it to the bank — wait at least … Read More
McCarthyism
It’s alive and well. A year ago, at a Quaker Meeting House in Lake Worth, Fla., a small group of activists met to plan a protest of military recruiting at local high schools. What they didn’t know was that their meeting had come to the attention of the U.S. military. A secret 400-page Defense Department document obtained by NBC News … Read More
1000 Days of the Iraq War
Here’s the stats so far: $204.4 billion: The cost to the U.S of the war so far. 2,339: Allied troops killed15,955: US troops wounded in action98: U.K troops killed30,000 : Estimated Iraqi civilian deaths0: Number of WMDs found66: Journalists killed in Iraq. 63: Journalists killed during Vietnam war8: per cent of Iraqi children suffering acute malnutrition53,470: Iraqi insurgents killed67: per … Read More
SCOTUS Update: Rumsfeld v FAIR
This is arguably one of the most important cases of this term, and I simply didn’t have time to summarize it before oral arguments today. Below is a summary from the folks at SCOTUSblog. Before I begin, I want to make a prediction that the Solomon Amendment will survive this case. The Court is simply too conservative to let it … Read More
The State of Iraqi Troops
Last week, President Bush explained how the Iraqi troops were getting better trained, which meant good news for U.S. troops’ withdrawal (because as Iraqi troops stand up, our troops will stand down). As I pointed out before, what Bush said was a lie. And now he is being flatly contradicted . . . by the Iraqis: The training of Iraqi … Read More