U.S. General: Civil War Already Underway

From ABC News: Jake Tapper's story "Expert on Iraq: 'We're In a Civil War'

BAGHDAD, March 5, 2006 — - As Pentagon generals offered optimistic assessments that the sectarian violence in Iraq had dissipated this weekend, other military experts told ABC News that Sunni and Shiite groups in Iraq already are engaged in a civil war, and that the Iraqi government and U.S. military had better accept that fact and adapt accordingly.

"We're in a civil war now; it's just that not everybody's joined in," said retired Army Maj. Gen. William L. Nash, a former military commander in Bosnia-Herzegovina. "The failure to understand that the civil war is already taking place, just not necessarily at the maximum level, means that our counter measures are inadequate and therefore dangerous to our long-term interest.

"It's our failure to understand reality that has caused us to be late throughout this experience of the last three years in Iraq," added Nash, who is an ABC News consultant.

This is what happens when the facts become less important than the ideology.


Civil War Iraq Bush

They're Running the War in Iraq Too.

The Dallas Morning News runs the headline, "Bush plans trip to vote in Crawford" but the real reason for the trip at tax payer expense is "to vote in Tuesday's Republican primary after aides apparently forgot to order an absentee ballot."

Mr. Bush hasn't missed a GOP contest since he started voting in Crawford in March 2002. An administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, indicated Saturday that White House staff had slipped up on the paperwork for requesting a mail-in ballot this time.

Early Saturday, with the president at risk of missing the election - including a nomination fight for the local congressional seat -– the White House announced he would fly to Crawford after a meeting with the Russian foreign minister at the White House. He'll arrive at the polls at the Crawford Fire Station before the 7 p.m. closing.

So it takes three days to get any sort of Presidential response to a disaster like Hurricane Katrina - which saw people clinging to their rooftops for days and slowly dying in the Super Dome - but a Republican Primary in Texas is so important that the President will modify his schedule to fly down because his staff is just as good at getting absentee ballots as it is at hitting quails with birdshot.


Bush Texas Primary Priorities

Iran Might Be Next

The Guardian reports that UN Ambassador John Bolton has told British MPs that nuclear sites in Iran can be "taken out." The whole quote came from Eric Illsley, a Labour committee member, who said the envoy told the MPs: "They must know everything is on the table and they must understand what that means. We can hit different points along the line. You only have to take out one part of their nuclear operation to take the whole thing down."

Ok, now we know the position of the Bush Administration. What about people who actually know something about the situation?

The CIA appears to be the most sceptical about a military solution and shares the state department's position, say British MPs, in suggesting gradually stepping up pressure on the Iranians.

I see. Any other organizations that want to put forth a possible solution?

The Pentagon position was described, by the committee chairman, Mike Gapes, as throwing a demand for a militarily enforced embargo into the security council "like a hand grenade - and see what happens".

This just keeps getting better and better!

According to Time magazine, the US plans to present the security council with evidence that Iran is designing a crude nuclear bomb, like the one dropped on Nagasaki in 1945. The evidence will be in the form of blueprints that the US said were found on a laptop belonging to an Iranian nuclear engineer, and obtained by the CIA in 2004. However, any such presentation will bring back memories of a similar briefing in February 2003 in which Colin Powell, then US secretary of state, laid out evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which proved not to exist.

THIS is why you can't lie to get your way in the international community. Now that there really is a possibility that a State with ties to Terrorism could produce a Nuclear Weapon, Dear Leader has squandered our international reputation and our ability to form a strong international consensus for dealing with a crisis like this we're left out in the wind. Because Georgie wanted his war in the sandbox, Iran will become a nuclear power.

Heckuva Job, Dubya.



Bush John Bolton Iran

Torture Ban Doesn't Apply at Gitmo

From the Washington Post:

Bush administration lawyers, fighting a claim of torture by a Guantanamo Bay detainee, yesterday argued that the new law that bans cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody does not apply to people held at the military prison.

This administration must get off on torturing people. That's the only possible explanation.

Torture doesn't work. The Israelis, a people who more than any other have a right to the 'ticking timebomb' argument for extreme interrogation, don't do it because it doesn't work. It gives bad information.

For Bush, it must be Pledge Week Heaven.

New Bush Polls

The Times/Bloomberg poll has Bush at 38% - 58% approval and disapproval, respectively.

The USA Today poll has Bush at 38% - 60%. Strongly approve has fallen to 20%, its lowest ever. Strongly disapprove has risen to 44%, the highest ever.

Quinnipiac has the spit at 36% - 58% and a great breakdown of the approval of Bush's Warrantless Domestic Spying Program examining Red, Blue, and Purple states.

The 20% "Strong Approval" in the USA Today poll probably is the absolute basement that Bush could reach if he continues to freefall. The people in that 20% wouldn't abandon Bush if he ate a baby on national TV (as long as he said grace first.)

Bush Polls Approval Rating

Friday Link Dump

On Yahoo! News, Aaron Bernstein investigates whether Corporate Tax Breaks are Illegal.

News Hounds (We watch FOX so you don't have to.) is reporting on Brit Humes disbelief that her Man has a 34% approval rating.

The San Francisco Gate reports that Pat Robertson lost his seat on the National Religious Broadcasters' board of directors. He was on of 38 candidates for 33 seats.

The Washington Post tells us the Antarctic Ice Sheets are melting rapidly.

And Media Matters calls the MSM for forgetting to mention that Bush lied when he said "Nobody expected the levees to break."

The Tampa Tribune reports that Katherine Harris has hired a high power lawyer as an illegal campaign contribution scandal emerges.

Republican Spyware. I Shit You Not.

Minnesota Public Radio is reporting on a CD that the state Republican Party is distributing mines the users computers for personal data without the knowledge of the user.

On Monday, the Minnesota Republican Party announced that it will send out CD videos on Friday to inform voters about the importance of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. It turns out the CD is also being used to add to the GOP voter database. Officials with the Republican Party say certain voter data is being collected by the party. Internet privacy experts say they're concerned that the party isn't telling the viewer that it's collecting the data and worry where the information will end up.

[...]

There were no disclaimers that the data was being collected and transmitted.

Pretty much typical for the Party that brought you warrantless domestic spying and the Pentagon spying on American Citizens. Rather blatant, though. Either they're getting sloppy or they've Diebolded enough districts to know that the really aren't going to lose anymore elections.


Republicans Spyware

National Journal Calls Bullshit

The National Journal, conservative publication even Rove can't call "Liberal America Haters" has called the Bush Administration on the lies it told to get us into Iraq.

"The president received highly classified intelligence reports containing information at odds with his justifications for going to war."

Of course most Republican Voters don't actually read, let alone read the National Journal, so the impact of this article should be pretty limited.

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 weapons," a view disagreeing with that of other intelligence agencies, including the CIA, which believed that the tubes were intended for a nuclear bomb.

[...]

When U.S. inspectors entered Iraq after the fall of Saddam's regime, they determined that Iraq's nuclear program had been dormant for more than a decade and that the aluminum tubes had been used only for artillery shells.

[...]

On at least four earlier occasions, beginning in the spring of 2002, according to the same records and sources, the president was informed during his morning intelligence briefing that U.S. intelligence agencies believed it was unlikely that Saddam was an imminent threat to the United States.

However, in the months leading up to the war, Bush, Cheney, and Cabinet members repeatedly asserted that Saddam was likely to use chemical or biological weapons against the United States or to provide such weapons to Al Qaeda or another terrorist group.

The Bush administration used the potential threat from Saddam as a major rationale in making the case to go to war. The president cited the threat in an address to the United Nations on September 12, 2002, in an October 7, 2002, speech to the American people, and in his State of the Union address on January 28, 2003.

Pretty damning. At least we can see that the thinking conservatives (both of them!) are beginning to see Bush for what he is.

Bush Iraq National Journal

Gay Man Denied CPR, Dies

Yup, that's right. And no doubt there'll be a 'religious freedom' defense. Seems touching a homosexual 'violates his beliefs' and is therefore forgiven by our homo-bigoted society for letting a young man lay on the ground and die.

From the AP, via SFGate.com:

A small-town police chief was accused in a federal lawsuit Thursday of stopping a would-be rescuer from performing CPR on a gay heart attack victim because he assumed the ailing man had HIV and posed a health risk.

Claude Green, 43, died June 21 after being stricken yards from City Hall in Welch [West Virginia], a community of about 2,400.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of his mother.

Watch for this to be the next 'front' in the culture wars. Denying basic emergency services to homosexuals. And wait until a guy (it never seems to happen to lesbians) who isn't gay dies because he actually knew how to match his shoes and belt...

Bigotry Hate Homosexuality

The New Family Values

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch explains what it means to be Pro-Family:

Olivia Shelltrack finally has her dream home. Her family moved into the five-bedroom, three-bath frame house in Black Jack last month. But now she fears she and her fiance face uprooting their children because of a city ordinance that says her household fails to meet Black Jack's definition of a family.

Shelltrack and Fondray Loving, her boyfriend of 13 years, were denied an occupancy permit because of an ordinance forbidding three or more individuals from living together if they are not related by "blood, marriage or adoption." The couple have three children, ages 8, 10 and 15, although Loving is not the biological father of the oldest child.

"I was basically told, you can have one child living in your house if you're not married, but more than that, you can't," she said.

The couple appealed the denial of an occupancy permit last week at a hearing before Black Jack's board of adjustment. Shelltrack said board members asked her and Loving personal questions about their relationship, their children and their previous home in Minneapolis, from where they moved, for nearly an hour. Then the board denied the couple's appeal. The case now goes before Black Jack's municipal court.

At the hearing, Shelltrack said, one board of adjustment member, Norma Mitchell, even pointed at her and asked, "I don't understand why you as a woman didn't exercise your right to marry that man," before being hushed by another board member.

Mitchell refused to comment. She referred all calls to Black Jack Mayor Norman McCourt, who defended the ordinance.

"This is about the definition of family, not if they're married or not," he said. "It's what cities do to maintain the housing and to hold down overcrowding."

Overcrowding? Bullshit. Definition of Family? Right on. If you don't fit what the Wingnuts think is the appropriate definition of 'family' they'll do everything they can to force you to accept their model. At its root, this is about conformity. Everybody must fit the mold that they say is the 'right way to be a family.' And the 'right' way to be a person. And to love, and think, and feel. And if you don't, you'll suffer their wrath.

Pro-Family Conformity Right Wing

Even I Didn't Send Emails During the Sermon

Stolen, word for word, from the Political Wire because I don't have a subscription to Roll Call.

Congressman Caught Working in Church

It's fairly obvious that Rep. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) will not be giving up his cell phone for Lent. According to Roll Call, while celebrating an Ash Wednesday ceremony at St. Peter'’s Catholic Church, the Congressman “spent a great deal of time on his BlackBerry during service and prayer, both reading emails and sending emails."

Said the informant: "I guess Rep. Jindal couldnÂ’t sacrifice his BlackBerry for God."”

Of course not! For Republicans, Christianity is just like patriotism. All you need is the symbols. Show up in a church on Sunday and use the right code words the rest of the week. Put a flag pin on your lapel and a ribbon on your SUV. It's the same thing. No need to actually think about what's the best way to support the troops or investigate the run-up to the war they are fighting. No neeactuallytally live the way Christianity (real Christianity) teaches, what with the helping the poor, the imprisoned and loving thy neighborhboor and all.


Bobby Jindal Faux Christianity Republicans

Bush Wouldn't Sign S.D. Compulsive Uterus Control Act

Or at least he "differs" with it. Reuters has the quote:

Bush told ABC News in an interview that he has not paid close attention to the South Dakota bill but said his position would allow three exceptions to a ban on abortion, as opposed to one in the state law.

"I haven't paid attention to ... this particular issue," Bush said. "I can tell you I will put people on the court without a litmus test. In other words, I haven't said to these judges, you know, 'Give me your opinion on this case if it would be coming your way,"' he said.

Asked about the provisions in the state law, Bush replied, "Well, that, of course, is a state law, but my position has always been three exceptions: rape, incest and the life of the mother."

Ignoring the obvious lie about not paying attention to the issue (ok, maybe he assigned someone else to pay attentino) Bush's claims about litmus tests have to be patently false. Bush owes both of his elections to the fundies. If this goes to the Supreme Court and fails, there are going to be a lot of Christianist nut-jobs angry with Dear Leader. And with a 34% approval rating, he can't afford to lose what's left of his 'base.'


South Dakota Abortion Bush

Pay to Say on the Internet?

The End of the Blogosphere? By Mitchell Szczepanczyk.

It's Bigger Than He Admitted

My local rag, the Washington Post, has something today that I could have predicted months ago...

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales appeared to suggest yesterday that the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance operations may extend beyond the outlines that the president acknowledged in mid-December.

This is standard practice for kids admitting to their parents that they screwed up. Break it to them easy - admit to a small part of your offense. Fill in the details later after the anger has subsided. Bush would probably know this strategy pretty well.

In a letter yesterday to senators in which he asked to clarify his Feb. 6 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gonzales also seemed to imply that the administration's original legal justification for the program was not as clear-cut as he indicated three weeks ago.

At that appearance, Gonzales confined his comments to the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, saying that President Bush had authorized it "and that is all that he has authorized."

But in yesterday's letter, Gonzales, citing that quote, wrote: "I did not and could not address . . . any other classified intelligence activities." Using the administration's term for the recently disclosed operation, he continued, "I was confining my remarks to the Terrorist Surveillance Program as described by the President, the legality of which was the subject" of the Feb. 6 hearing.

Oh, so by 'clarifying' you mean you want to change your testimony so you don't get caught having essentially lied to Congress if the rest of this shit comes out? I thought so.

n his letter, Gonzales revisited earlier testimony, during which he said the administration immediately viewed a congressional vote in September 2001 to authorize the use of military force against al-Qaeda as justification for the NSA surveillance program. Bush secretly began the program in October 2001, Gonzales's letter said.

On Feb. 6, Gonzales testified that the Justice Department considered the use-of-force vote as a legal green light for the wiretapping "before the program actually commenced."

But in yesterday's letter, he wrote, "these statements may give the misimpression that the Department's legal analysis has been static over time."

Fein said the letter seems to suggest that the Justice Department actually embraced the use-of-force argument some time later, prompting Gonzales to write that the legal justification "has evolved over time."

Evolution is a great thing when it involves warantless domestic spying, but shouldn't be taught in our classrooms. Gotcha.


Domestic Spying Alberto Gonzales Bush

Fox Propaganda Corp.

If this is the analysis that Fox 'News' is going to push on its viewers, it has crossed a line from partisan news provider to outright propaganda purveyor. Oh, and just so Fox knows, we still remember this:


Which is it, boys? I guess the talking points changed... And I'm sure the families of the hundreds killed in the last few days in Iraq, Sunni, Shiite, or American would probably disagree.

Fox News Propaganda Right Wing Lies

Surprise! Bush Knew and Didn't Care

Via The AP:

WASHINGTON - In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned
President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

The footage — along with seven days of transcripts of briefings obtained by The Associated Press — show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.

Yesterday, Bush wainterviewedwd by Elizabeth Vargas and dropped this gem of a lie:

Listen, here's the problem that happened in Katrina. There was no situational awareness, and that means that we weren't getting good, solid information from people who were on the ground, and we need to do a better job.

At some point, the Bush Administration'incompetencece begins to border on malfeasance. For the President to be so uninterested in the potential suffering of thousands of (poor, minority,) residents of a city under his protection as to fail to ask a single question borders on evil.

Watch it on Crooks & Liars.


Bush Katrina Incompetence Evil

Negroponte: This Could Get REALLY Bad

Via The AP, we learn that National Intelligence Director John Negroponte thinks that a full scale civil war (as opposed to the low grade civil war now being waged) could lead to a larger conflict enveloping the entire Middle East in a war dividing along sectarian lines.

"If chaos were to descend upon Iraq or the forces of democracy were to be defeated in that country ... this would have implications for the rest of the Middle East region and, indeed, the world,"

That sounds bad. A civil war could be a "serious setback." Bush Told us in his State of the Union Speech that "we are winning." Negroponte doesn't seem to be so convinced. "And if we continue to make that kind of progress, yes, we can win in Iraq," said a hedging Negroponte.

I'm not entirely sure that we have the ability "To make that kind of progress."

So the end result of King George's great March into the Desert could be a large scale destabilization of the region holding the largest petroleum reserves just as China and India begin to stretch their muscles?

Heck of a job, Dubya.


Negroponte Civil War Iraq

Dad's-yer-Uncle

I Blame the Patriarchy.

Quick! Name the Five Freedoms!

Via the Political Wire, a survey by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. Twice as many people could name more than one member of the Simpsons family.

One in five (22%) of those sampled could name all five (Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie) but only 1 in 1000 could name all five freedoms (speech, religion, assembly, press, petition for redress of grievances.)

Here's the breakdown:
Freedom of Speech: 69%
Freedom of Religion: 24% (Ha!)
Freedom of the Press: 11%
Freedom of Assembly: 10%
Freedom to petition for redress of grievances: 1%

This is the reason Republicans can so easily take them away. People didn't know they had them to begin with. I'm tempted to blame our public education system but it really isn't that. People don't want to know. Our society reveres ignorance. Seriously. What other society could possibly see a kid teased by calling him or her "Einstein?"


Ignorance Freedoms McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum

Bill O'Reilly is a Fucktard

I can't believe that people actually listen to the shit this guy says for anything other than laughs.

"They won't even tell you in the statement what intelligent design entails. They won't mention a creator, a deity, a God. You know why? Because the ACLU then can haul them into court and cost them $100,000 to defend themselves. Fascism, fascism, fascism. Okay? Ah, drive me nuts! Hitler would be a card-carrying ACLU member. So would Stalin. Castro probably is. And so would Mao Zedong."
--Bill O'Reilly, January 19, 2005 broadcast of The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly

"Finally, the ACLU -- we talked about this yesterday and I -- and, you know, I have to pick on the ACLU because they're the most dangerous organization in the United States of America right now. There's by far. There's nobody even close to that. They're, like, second next to Al Qaeda."
--Bill O'Reilly, June 2, 2004 broadcast of The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly

OK, no more posts of quotes from Idiot Wingnuts or Christianist Gas-Bags for a while. I got it out of my system.

Moronic Bill O'Reilly Quotes