ABC News: The Dubai-owned company that promised to surrender its U.S. port operations has no immediate plans to sell its U.S. subsidiary’s interests at Miami’s seaport, a senior executive wrote Monday in a private e-mail to business associates. But why should we care? It’s not like Florida could become a hotbed for terrorist cells, right?
Not Again
WaPo headline: "Bush Goes On Offensive To Explain War Strategy" Yup. Another series of speeches to hand-picked audiences. Again. “Bush supporters cite Iraq speeches as start of rebound” [AP, 12/13/05] “Bush vows victory, not retreat; Speech gives strategy for winning Iraq war, rejects exit timetable” [Toledo Blade, 12/1/05] “Bush Goes on the Offensive Against Critics of War in Iraq” [Los … Read More
What Matt Says
This really is one of the most pig-ignorant dumb things that Rumsfeld has said. Matt Yglesius explains: "The U.S. military will rely primarily on Iraq’s security forces to put down a civil war in that country if one breaks out, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told lawmakers yesterday," thus emerges the dumbest thing I’ve heard today. Iraq’s security forces are … Read More
Poll Spin
Instapundit cites a new Harris poll for the proposition that the military is the most "trusted" institution in America. I didn’t know what Instapundit meant by that (the military is trusted how?), so I followed his link. It took me to this United States Department of Defense website, where I read the first line of the press release: The military … Read More
Bush Is Worried Abouted Offending Arab Non-Democracies
This is "breaking news" at CNN, but apparently Bush is "worried" that the failed Dubai Ports deal will send a bad message to our "Arab allies in the war on terrorism". Come again? Isn’t the message that countries like the United Arab Emirates better work harder to disassociate themselves from people like al Qaeda and bin Laden? Do you have … Read More
Update On Historical Documents
The nation’s chief archivist of the National Archives has put a "moratorium" on the re-un-de-re-classicification of prevously declassified documents, following complaints from historians. Full story here. By the way, how cool is it to have the title Chief Archivist of the United States?
Paying Down Your Debt Can Raise A Red Flag With The Department Of Homeland Security
Go ahead. Read that headline again. We’ll wait. Done? Yup, it’s true. Under certain circumstances, an attempt to pay down your debt triggers a concern with the Department of Homeland Security, as Walter and Deana Soehnge found out. The story is quite simple. The Soehnges had run up a huge debt on their JC Penney Platinum MasterCard. So, as reasonable … Read More
Bush Was Told “No Imminent Threat” Before Iraq War
Murray Waas at the National Journal reports today that Bush was specifically told in advance of the Iraq war, via two reports, that: (1) There was disagreement about the aluminum tubes/nuclear program issue: Among other things, the report stated that the Energy Department and the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research believed that the tubes were "intended for conventional … Read More
Neil Cavuto – Suffering From Mental Illness?
I’m not saying he is — I’m just asking. You have to laugh at Fox’s Neil Cavuto. Apparently, his show is the trial balloon output portal of the Republican wingnut noise machine (which runs on KoolAid). Just last Friday, they were having a discussion in which the following issue was discussed: Note the question mark. That’s the Fox News way … Read More
Quote Of The Day
"OK, big boy, I’ll just vote to override your veto." – Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) on Bush’s threat to veto any legislation related to the Dubai port deal.
Bush Ignored Intelligence (Again)
The party line from the right is that faulty intelligence is what screwed things up in Iraq. And, no doubt, there were many incorrect intelligence assessments regarding Iraq prior to the war. (There were also, as neocons ignore, many intelligent assessments casting doubt about Saddam’s capabilities). But that "faulty intelligence" argument presumes that the Bush Administration would have listened to … Read More
Tinkerbell Is Dying
… but Bush is still clapping as hard as he can: Bush told ABC News he had spoken to leaders of all Iraqi sects after last week’s bombing of a major Shi’ite mosque and "I heard loud and clear that they understand that they’re going to choose unification, and we’re going to help them do so." AP: A series of … Read More
Other Poll News
A first-ever survey of U.S. troops on the ground fighting a war overseas has revealed surprising findings, not the least of which is that 72% of American troops in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year. Gadflyer Paul Waldman comments: Man, our troops really don’t support our troops. How can our troops be expected to … Read More
Yup, It’s Civil War
Some conservatives latched on to heartening news in the past few days that the violence we saw last week in Iraq following the Golden Dome bombing has subsided. The daytime curfew, no doubt, did quelch some violence, but now that the curfew has been lifted, the violence continues once again. Furthermore, we are now discovering that the prior spate of … Read More
Blame Game
Glenn Greenwald’s thesis here is pretty straightforward. First, Glenn notes that conservative Bill Kristol pointed the finger at the U.S. military, as an explanation of the Iraqi debacle. Kristol got the blame game started, and now that it’s in full swing, Glenn plays it himself. Glenn then turns to blogger Jeff Goldstein, who "shared this blame-shifting gem with us yesterday": … Read More