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
Will Hookergate Swallow The New CIA Chief?
Time will tell if Hookergate was the reason Goss resigned as head of the CIA, but his General Hayden, Goss’s replacement, has links (albeit tenuous in my opinion) to the same scandal. TPM Muckraker got the exclusive scoop.
Republican Priorities
Josh Marshall notes that Sen. Elizabeth Dole has remarkable candor when it comes to expressing Republicans’ priorities lie this year : It all started earlier this evening when TPM Reader HH was on the receiving end of one of Dole’s blast emails begging contributions for the Republican senate committee. Says Dole, in her pitch: "If Democrats take control of the … Read More
Laura Bush Takes A Strong Principled Stand
Her views on the National Anthem in Spanish: Asked her opinion on Wednesday in an interview with CNN’s John King, Mrs. Bush said, "I don’t think there’s anything wrong with singing it in Spanish." She noted that "we are a nation of many, many languages" and that the country has already heard many versions of the anthem "like at the … Read More
Progress In Iraq
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
A Day Without Immigrants
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) imagines a country without illegal immigrants: Youth gangs would see their membership drop by 50 percent in many states… Sure! That’s because there will be no Sharks — just Jets!!
Not So Fast, Senator Alexander
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) proposed a Senate Resolution yesterday to the effect that the Star Spangled Banner should only be sung in English. In his press release, Alexander stated: That flag and that song are a part of our history and our national identity. It declares some of our national ideals, in being the “land of the free and the … Read More
To Everything, Turn, Turn, Turn
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
Why Outing Plame Mattered
Here’s the press release (in its original allcaps): INTELLIGENCE SOURCES SAY VALERIE WILSON WAS PART OF AN OPERATION THREE YEARS AGO TRACKING THE PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS MATERIAL INTO IRAN. AND THE SOURCES ALLEGE THAT WHEN MRS. WILSON’S COVER WAS BLOWN, THE ADMINISTRATION’S ABILITY TO TRACK IRAN’S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS WAS DAMAGED AS WELL. Interesting.
National Security v. Politics
The story will be big tomorrow, but you read about it here first. ABC News Nightline tonight will talk with Clark Kent Ervin, the former Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security. Ervin will talk about how, just before the Presidential elections in 2004, he was confronted by Tom Ridge and intimidated into toning down his criticisms of the … Read More
“Mission Accomplished”: 3 Years Later
Three years ago today, Bush gave his Mission Accomplished speech aboard the deck of the USS Lincoln, preclaiming that "Major combat operations have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.” Think Progress looks at the before-and-after numbers: May 1, 2003 Today U.S. Troops Wounded 542 17,469 U.S. Troops Killed 139 2,400 Size of … Read More
This Isn’t News Anymore
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
Cost Of Iraq War Approaching One Trillion
Juan Cole explains, and reminds us that the Bush Administration originally told us it would cost 50 billion.
Asked And Answered
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
Maureen Down on Rumsfeld
Good stuff: He suggested invading Iraq the day after 9/11. He didn’t want to invade Iraq because it was connected to 9/11. That was the part his neocon aides at the Pentagon, Wolfie and Doug Feith, had to concoct. Rummy wanted to invade Iraq because he thought it would be easy, compared with Iran or North Korea, or compared with … Read More