I’m blogwhoring this in its entirety from Steve Soto at The Left Coaster: When Harry Reid shut down the Senate earlier this week due to Pat Roberts and Bill Frist’s stonewalling of a Phase Two investigation over how the Bush Administration used intelligence in making its case for war, many of us wondered why now? What took you guys so … Read More
But Clinton Said So…
The silliest talking point coming out of the right these days is actually a rather old one. It’s the point that "everyone thought there were WMD". To bolster this talking point, winger inevitably offer up statements by President Clinton. I’m not sure this what wingnuts think this appeal to Clinton is supposed to do. Do they think liberals all worship … Read More
Scowcroft On The Iraq War
The online version of The New Yorker carries an interesting article about former NSA chair (under Bush I) Brent Scowcroft, and his recent anti-Dubya criticism. Here’s a taste: The first Gulf War was a success, Scowcroft said, because the President knew better than to set unachievable goals. “I’m not a pacifist,” he said. “I believe in the use of force. … Read More
Worse Than Abu Ghraib
We all know now what happens at U.S. detention facilities — like Abu Ghraib and Gitmo — that are known and work (in theory) within the law. Can you imagine the torture that goes on in the recently-revealed "secret" prisons? The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in … Read More
Smearing Wilson
I honestly don’t give a crap about Joe Wilson. What he did or didn’t do is irrelevant. It’s certainly not an excuse to out his wife as a covert CIA agent. I know this because I’ve read the statutes and there is no "Joe Wilson Is A Liar" exception. Still, Bush supporters somehow think that Libby’s behavior can be justified … Read More
Ignoring Whig
My jaw dropped when I read this crap from Glenn Reynolds at MSNBC: Perhaps Reid should look at this Senate Intelligence Committee report on Iraqi WMD, which found that errors in intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction didn’t stem from White House pressure, but from groupthink and systematic failure within the Intelligence Community: The Committee found significant short-comings in … Read More
I’m Not Buying It
From CNN: A man once considered a top al Qaeda operative escaped from a U.S.-run detention facility in Afghanistan . . . Come on. He just escaped? From a U.S. detention facility? How does that happen? There has to be more to this story. . . . and cannot testify against the soldier who allegedly mistreated him, a defense lawyer … Read More
Science Fiction Double Feature?
As if this planet doesn’t have enough problems already, we now have to contend with those damn aliens: In Washington on Sunday night (registration required – but the "bugmenot" method works): For a few seconds Sunday night, the dark, cloudless north state sky lit up. Not like a lightning strike. And not like a shooting star. Like three seconds of … Read More
This Is An Important Post Because This Is What It Is All About
Neo-cons were certainly thrown today by Senator Reid’s invocation of a rule calling for a closed session of the Senate. Mostly, they just said that Reid was throwing a "temper tantrum", which is of course, bullshit. Not to mention a childish response to a serious concern. In order for the Senate to discuss matters of intelligence, it is prudent — … Read More
Harry Reid: Kicking Ass
Whaa?!? The hot breaking buzz is on Senator Harry Reid, and his surprise invocation of a rare closed door session of the Senate to discuss Iraq and the faulty intelligence during the run-up. Frist is pissed, talking about the lack of senatorial courtesy (something which Republicans feel they have not been obligated to give, since they have a majority). CNN … Read More
How’s That Homeland Security Thing Coming?
From USA Today: The Bush administration has missed dozens of deadlines set by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks for developing ways to protect airplanes, ships and railways from terrorists. A plan to defend ships and ports from attack is six months overdue. Rules to protect air cargo from infiltration by terrorists are two months late. A study on the … Read More
I Wish I Said That
This item relating to the 2,000 death in Iraq is soooo two days ago*, but it just came across my radar now. I’m speaking of blogwatcher Peter Daou, who critized Michelle Malkin, Little Green Footballs and others for describing the left’s anti-war "vigils" as "parties": "I find this rash of posts suggesting that anti-war activists ‘celebrate’ the deaths of American … Read More
Bush Administration Withheld WMD Intelligence
One of the wingnut talking points re: Iraq is that Congress had access to the same pre-war intelligence as the White House, so they are just as much to blame as Bush for the no-WMD-in-Iraq fiasco. Not true. Not true. That talking point is now officially dead. The Bush Administration not only failed to fully inform Congress of all the … Read More
The La Repubblica Revelations
Crooked Timber has the latest. Key summary: As best as I can piece this together, the timeline that La Repubblica is arguing for goes as follows. Italian intelligence collected [genuine] information that Hussein was trying to obtain raw uranium at the end of the 1980’s, before the First Gulf War. This information was stored by the branch of Italian intelligence … Read More
Operation Yellow Elephant++
I’ve had my share of fun with college-age Republicans for their hypocrisy regarding Iraq. They are all gung-ho about the war and how patriotic they are, but when it comes down to actually fighting the war themselves, they wimp out with lame excuses ("I’m fighting the war at home", etc.) But this story takes the cake. An anti-war college student … Read More