CNN: The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and anti terrorist efforts abroad could cost the country $2.4 trillion over the next ten years, according to a report Wednesday. The money, over 70 percent of which would go to support operations in Iraq, includes the estimated $600 billion spent since 2001, Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag said in testimony before the … Read More
Fox News Blames California Wildfires On Al Qaeda
Seriously, will these guys ever shut up? UPDATE: Glenn "I Should Be On Fox" Beck should shut up too. UPDATE: More silly speculation with this head-banging-against-the-wall evoking statement: Although a new Osama bin Laden video was issued at almost exactly the same time these fires began, and might have contained a coded command to his operatives to carry out planned … Read More
I Have No Complaints About Bush’s AG Nominee
Especially if he means what he says: Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey said Wednesday the president doesn’t have the authority to use torture techniques against terrorism suspects, a stance not taken by predecessor Alberto Gonzales and considered key to the nominee’s confirmation. Mukasey repudiated a 2002 memo by then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee that said the president has the power to … Read More
U.S. Soldiers Say “Institute A Draft Or Leave Iraq Now”
In the Washington Post today, 12 former Army captains declare that “five years on, Iraq is in shambles,” and that “short” of a military draft, “our best option is to leave Iraq immediately“: As Army captains who served in Baghdad and beyond, we’ve seen the corruption and the sectarian division. We understand what it’s like to be stretched too thin. … Read More
White House Leaked Secret Surveillance Info To Fox News; Tipping Off al Qaeda
From the Washington Post: A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had … Read More
Shorter Rich Lowry
On Iraq: Fuck if I understand what’s going on! Of course, Lowry blew his Iraq commentary cred in the May 9, 2005 issue of National Review: More about Lowry from an old Greenwald post.
It’s Official: The Surge Has Failed
Yglesias: As you’ll recall, when the "surge" was announced in January, its stated purpose was to create the conditions for progress toward the goal of national reconciliation. We were promised a report in September on the surge’s results. What we got in September was a very, very, very quiet admission that, in terms of its stated goals, the surge had … Read More
Public Morality
Globe columnist James Carroll defines the wrong track we’re on: If this nation followed the pattern of its own historic reckoning with the ever unfinished work of public morality, political discourse would be defined by the dual-project of eliminating nuclear weapons and building international structures of peace. Instead, we are paralyzed by a war that no one wants, unable to … Read More
The Torture Regime
Todya’s New York Times covers how the Bush Adminstration covered its ass about torture by changing the definition of torture, telling nobody about the change, and then assuring the American public that it wasn’t breaking any laws. You see, if you get to define the law, then you can’t break it. That was the shell game. But if the Times … Read More
Couric’s Comments Spark National Debate
Couric spoke. Then Goldberg spoke. And then lots of people (including me) spoke. The people at the New York Times blog cover it all. I think these commentors have nailed it: I too experience a profound uneasiness (for all the reasons stated so well above) with the jingoism that too often passes for patriotism these days. As John Prine would … Read More
Rush Vs. The “Phony Soldiers” – Day 3(?)
Rush Limbaugh responded to an actual war hero who confronted him for his smears of soldiers who disagree with Bush’s war was to by saying that the Purple Heart vet was a dupe being used by liberal "terrorists" to attack Rush in a suicide bombing. "This is such a blatant use of a valiant combat veteran, lying to him about … Read More
Shorter Jonah Goldberg
"America, fuck yeah!" UPDATE: Sorry, I can’t just leave it at that. In this thinly-veiled "liberals hate America" article, Goldberg writes this: The dirty, embarrassing secret is that this sort of multiculturalism has made Europe a wellspring of Islamic radicalism and terrorism, but America’s Muslim community has remained overwhelmingly peaceful. Why? Well, if the answer doesn’t lay in President Bush’s … Read More
Oh, Iceland. Why Have You Forsaken Us?
In a speech a couple of weeks ago, Bush referred to the "36 countries" that were in Iraq. That left many people scratching their heads — who were these 36 coutnries? As you might expect, most of the countries had — shall we say — negligible involvement in the invasion of Iraq. One such country was Iceland. And as it … Read More
Oh, Blackwater…..
You know, I have a lot to say about this whole Blackwater thing. But I’m busy. Maybe tomorrow. Or maybe I’ll just outsource my post to Blackwater and hope they don’t go killing innocent people in drive-by shootings, investigate themselves as their own oversight committee, clear themselves of any wrongdoing, and then overcharge me for their services (which I could … Read More