“Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a “thin green line” that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon.” That’s not good. But Rick Santorum has a solution: “What I am asking all of you tonight, is not to put on a uniform. Put on a bumper sticker. … Read More
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before
Today: Rice says time for talking with Iran is over November 2003: The Bush administration publicly refused to negotiate with Saddam. It demanded that he abide by U.N. resolutions that required Iraq to cooperate unconditionally with U.N. arms inspectors and make a full accounting of its illicit biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs. President Bush rejected Saddam’s assertions that he … Read More
Michael Moore? Or James Dobson?
I’ve been amused by Chris Matthews’ comment that bin Laden is like Michael Moore. Others on the right have also said that bin Laden’s rants sound like it comes from lefties. Oh, really? Here are some direct quotes from bin Laden in his recent "Letter to America". Assume, for this thought experiment, that all references to Islam, Allah, and the … Read More
Someone Please Send A Copy Of The Constitution To The U.S. Department Of Justice
From the NYT: Nor does the N.S.A. program conflict, the Justice Department said, with what many legal analysts had regarded as the exclusive authority for intelligence wiretaps under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, passed by Congress in 1978 in response to Watergate-era political abuses. Some presidential powers, particularly in the area of national security, are simply "beyond Congress’ ability to … Read More
Jill Carroll Letter From Baghdad
As you know, today is supposedly the "deadline" set by the captors of Jill Carroll, the American journalist being held hostage in Iraq. I am not optimistic about the outcome of this unfortunate event. This is from Carroll’s "Letter From Baghdad" written last year, about why she went there as a freelance journalist in the first place: Only a story … Read More
The Fatalities You Don’t Hear About
In my right-hand column, I have a little thingee reporting the current number of U.S. soldiers killed and injured in Iraq to date. Don’t be fooled by the numbers, people. The casualty toll is actually higher. The numbers, for example, don’t take into account people like Specialist Douglas Barber, an Iraqi War veteran who suffered from PTSD. Douglas Barber walked … Read More
Bin Laden Offers Threat, Truce
Not sure what to make of this: Al-Jazeera on Thursday broadcast portions of an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden, saying al-Qaida is making preparations for attacks in the United States but offering a possible truce to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan. The voice on the tape said heightened security in the United States is not the reason there have been … Read More
Iran Is This Year’s Iraq
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
Compelling Logic?
2005 Wingnut Of the Year, John Hindrocket gushes over Bush’s speech in Louisville, Kentucky yesterday. Hindrocket writes: You can read it all here. Please, please do. Here are a few excerpts, but they can’t begin to capture the sincerity and the compelling logic that President Bush put forward. Let me briefly address the "sincerity" issue. Nobody is seriously questioning the … Read More
Tobacco And The War On Terror
Light up, everybody. It’s one way to defeat the terrorists.
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.
Bush Critic Ends Up On No-Fly List
Jim Moore is a former TV news correspondent and author. He has an Anglo name, pays tens of thousands of dollars every year in taxes, has never been arrested, has never been late with a credit card payment, and "cries after the first two notes of the national anthem". He’s also a Bush critic. He is best known for the … Read More
Attacking Bush’s Only Weapon: Fear
Everybody’s talking about Glenn Greenwald’s post at Hullabaloo. A taste: And literally for four years, this is what Americans have heard over and over and over from their Government – that we face a mortal and incomparably powerful enemy on the precipice of destroying us, and only the most extreme measures taken by our Government can save us. We are … Read More