Bush Begs Saudi's

There's more...

George W. Bush Sewage Plant

You don't even want to know what this is, er, was.
But people in SF want to name the treatment plant after GWB.

We've Been Cleaning Up Bush's Mess for a Long Time.
People in San Francisco Want to Make it Official.

You've heard of Reagan Airport (used to be called National Airport.)

San Francisco wants to honor our 43rd President.

SFist

Looking to honor the forty-third President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, the recently formed Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is looking to change the name of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility. It seems the group would like to rename the SF Zoo adjacent facility to the "George W Bush Sewage Plant."

Genius.

The local grassroots movement, helmed by "Wayne Pickering," is proposing an ordinance initiative for the November 2008 San Francisco ballot in order to get the poop/pee/vomit plant's title changed. Why? To honor our current leader of the free world with an "appropriate and enduring legacy, for no other president in modern American history has accomplished so much in such a short time.

Check out the diagram.



As you can tell from the diagram (or this more detailed explanation), this plant calls for technical competence.

Ironic, actually, considering it's to honor George W. Bush.

But well, competence is what's needed to clean up messes, piles of steaming crap spread all over the world, not to mention the image of the United States.

Wouldn't it be great if sewage plants, land fills, and failed strip mines everywhere were named in GWB's honor? Or perhaps the GWB oil spill, for a particularly ugly ecological disaster?

Thank you San Francisco. Good work. Good luck in November.

h/t Huffington Post.

There's more...

Children and Others Dying in Iraq Recently

Babies and children reported as killed by U.S. Troops. Hilla, Iraq.
photo found at Gorilla's Guides, March 27, 2008.

How Many Dead Babies Does It Take
To Make Us Quit Killing Them?

Want to know what's REALLY happening in Iraq?

Read Gorilla's Guide. Read Iraq Today.

Hold on to your stomach...and your heart.

Oh... one more note.

I am copying over almost five full days directly over from Gorilla's Guide. This isn't how one normally does these things. In case anyone isn't clear, I have enormous respect for Gorilla's Guide, and for copyright law. (Go read the Gorilla’s Guides For The Perplexed. Their reference articles on Islam, and their briefings on what the frack is going on will blow you away. That's in addition to their daily journalism, to which I am introducing you here.)

Copyright law depends on a balancing test. Among other factors, it requires a transformative effect or usage. If after having been stuck inside of the U.S. media machine (including progressive blogs) you are not transformed out the ass by reading THIS, almost five days of THIS, I urge you to keep reading it till you are. Seriously. (And yes, I know that's almost certainly not what was meant when the law was written. Besides, black-letter law doesn't say “transformative”; it's case-law which does. It was just too good a line to pass up. *smiles*) None the less I am serious in my intent, which is causing a transformation for each of us. And there, GNB Media is allowed to copy the material to facilitate teaching, especially considering the other parts of the traditional four-pronged balancing test.

Consider this a transformative introduction, a genuine education in the amazing breadth and range of non-U.S. sources of journalism. But today isn't only about getting outside of U.S. journalism. I intend to cause a shift in you, you, and you, the lurker over in the corner, such that all of you are left having deeply confronted what I've been confronting, what I keep demanding of myself that I confront over and over again, every couple of weeks...

We are killing children.

Look at that photo. LOOK.

Some nice young man -- the “troops” -- followed orders, and dropped a bomb right into the middle of a crowded housing project or neighborhood.

• Brooklyn.
• Manhattan.
• Houston.
• Detroit.
• San Francisco.
• Little Rock.
• Tucson.
• Los Angeles.
• Chicago.
• Kansas City.
• St. Louis.
• Seattle.
• Miami.
• Portland.
• Atlanta.
• San Diego.
• Tulsa.
• Boston.
• Dallas.
• Salt Lake City.
• Denver.
• Sacramento.
• Reno.
• New Orleans.
• Nashville.
• Palm Beach.
• Or even Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Wait... I said too many places and the horror went away... poof, that fast.

Look at the photo again please.

This happens daily. Nice young men in uniform kill children, kill babies.

Here are the last five days in Iraq, partially represented from one website. All I'm posting up is one photograph. You're not watching the video, not having to listen to the families morn, listen or watch the little ones scream in pain, not seeing the few doctors remaining work frantically to try and keep the kids alive, failing.

As you read through this, please imagine this happening to your family, your children, your brothers and sisters, your mother and father, your aunts and uncles, your best friends, the people you work with if only they weren't all out of work because your office or factory is destroyed, plus it's too dangerous to get to work. Imagine please, it is your family dying, fighting to eat, struggling to stay alive as bombs, missiles and guns go off.

Here are five days in Iraq (one-website, one photo, no sound.)

*breathe*

Gorilla's Guide

March 27

Baghdad:

By midday March 26th 2008 - hospitals in Baghdad reported civilians casualties from the American attacks on Sadr city as 20 dead 239 wounded. Mostly women and children. Such as the boy you see to the left. Many of the wounded are not expected to survive.

The Americans continue to prevent both doctors and ambulances from entering Sadr city.

They are also preventing ambulances from leaving the city.

Normally very reliable sources say the Americans have fired on ambulances and other vehicles trying to take wounded out of the city.

Two Soldiers from the American army still trying to subjugate Irak were killed in Baghdad.

Missile attacks on the green zone wounded 3 or 5 Americans depending on who you believe.

Mortar attacks in Nle and al-Resala killed 7 and wounded 23.

The green zone also is being shelled.

In Karrada 4 were killed and 5 wounded by mortar attacks. Another person was killed by shooting, 5 were wounded in that shooting attack.

UPDATE: Karrada is under curfew and there are very heavy forces to try to stop people attacking it and the homes of the SIIC leadership there.

UPdate: At least 2 further people were killed in ongoing American attacks on Sadr city this afternoon evening reports of wounded vary the minimum number is 8.

There are massive demonstations throughout Baghdad against the Americans and the puppet government in the green zone.

There has been major incidents of violence in the following districts - al-Amil, Fudhailiya, al-Hurriyah, Iskhan, Kamiliya, Mashtal, al-Rustumiyah Sadr, City, al Shula, al-Shurta, Ur, Washash. Many incidents in rest of Baghdad and outlyingh areas also.

UPDATE The Americans and the Badr brigade are trying to stop people getting into or out of Khazimiyah.

Sources: Radio reports & Team members.

Gunmen attacked the home of the commander of logistics for GZG forces and burnt it to the ground, the report says the family were rescued by GZG special forces.

The Guardian is reporting that a British SAS soldier was killed in Baghdad.

In a show of force Mahdi army fighters in the “New Baghdad” area completely cut off the main highway and main roads. Our member who live in area says that this was done as a warning of what they would do if attacked.

UPDATE There is fighting in al-Shula Mahdi army fighters stormed the GZG checkpoint controlling access to the district forcing the GZG “elite” troops and police to flee. The American outpost there is under attack.

UPDATE: GZG spokesmen in Baghdad say that 66 GZG troops and five gzg officers have been killed so far.

UPDATE: The American base in . al-Rustumiyah (SothEast Baghdad) is coming under repeated attack.

UPDATE Local sources confirm Aswat al Irak fighting throughout ALL northest Baghdad. UPDATE 2 Locals confirmed several GZG vehicles seized and set alight. Figfting described by them as “intensifying” contradicting Aswat al Iraks report that heavy American air presence calmed the situation down..

UPDATE Sources in al-Shula say that many police stations and checkpoints have been stormed an overrun we do not have reports of police survivors.

UPDATE GZG is trying to impose curfews they appear to have little success in this.

UPDATE GZG Baghdad spokesman saying 19 dead and 307 wounded.

Babil Governorate:

More than 60 people allegedly all armed were killed in the American aerial bombardment of Al-Askari and Nader in central Hilla but there is a problem:

The problem is that it is a lie. It a STUPID lie. It’s the sort of STUPID LIE that only an American military spokesman would tell.

Were you stupid enough to believe anything the Americans are saying about them knowingly killing women and children?

The attack was by Apache aircraft on al-Askari, Ahmed Nader and Muhaizem neighbourhoods.

Gunmen like the children in the screen grab with caption from the Sadrist site nahrainet [that you see at the top of this post -- Jesse.]

Al Askari, Ahmed Nader, and Muhaizem are all heavily populated areas.

It is physically impossible to heavily bombard a densely populated civilian area without killing a lot civilians.

The Americans killed a lot of civilians.

Civilians like the women and children you see to the left. The caption incidentally cites “dozens” of dead women and children.

Eyewitness accounts speak of seeing 25 bodies, including many women and children. They also talk of 35 people being evacauted as seriously wounded and that again many if not most of these were women and children. Two doctors in the local hospital who refused to be identified said to one of our local correspondents that many of these were expected to die.

According to local people the scale of destruction is enormous, they speak of families being wiped out, there are reports of 6 houses turned to rubble, many other houses rendered uninhabitable and of multiple secondary explosions from the fuel tanks in cars.

It is worth noting that an American base is nearby. It is also worth noting that the local police are members of the Badr brigade and that they have repeatedly been reported as committing serious atrocities in the three neighbourhoods which are very deprived even by present day Iraki standards and are overwhelmingly Sadrist.

UPDATE: The GZG governor is trying negotiate with Sadrist leadership in Hilla. Local sources the fighting is as heavy as ever.

And according to the the American spokesman the people killed were 60 gunmen.

March 27 -- evening

Ali Ibn Laith. Born December 14 1999 - Killed March 27 2008

Son of our much missed colleague Laith and his wife, last remaining brother to our greatly loved colleague Mohammed Ibn Laith and his sister.

O God! Pardon our living and our dead, the present and the absent, the young and the old, the males and the females.

There will be no further postings tonight.

[Note:A Child's Death in Iraq -- Jesse]

March 29

Witnesses to the battle for Basra describe scenes in the city

‘I told her she was mother to a martyr’

As fighting between the Shia Mahdi army and the Iraqi national army continued yesterday, witnesses described scenes in the city to Ghaith Abdul-Ahad.

“Yesterday we were in the street and saw a black car coming. They stopped and two men opened the boot. They dragged out an Iraqi soldier and threw him in the street and they drove away.”

“He was a young soldier dressed in a military uniform, he had a bullet hole in his head and there was blood on his face - even his boots were covered with blood.

“We found his ID card, his name was Ahmad Raad al-Helfy. We went through his mobile phone and found a number marked “mum”, we dialled and an old women answered. I told her that her son had died and that she was the mother of a martyr; she started screaming and wailing.”

Said Abu Saleh, 30

“The situation is very difficult in Basra, all the side streets are controlled by the Mahdi army. Even if the army has lots of tanks, the Mahdi fighters are controlling the streets. The fighters are driving in captured Iraqi Humvees and waving new guns.”

Resident of Hayyaniya, a stronghold of the Mahdi army

“Our fighters are being targeted not by the Iraqi government but by government militias working for Moqtada al-Sadr’s rivals in the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council. They are a executing a very well-drawn plan. They are trying to exterminate the Sadrists and cut and isolate the movement before the September local elections. The Sadrists are the only Shia resistance movement against the occupiers [Americans] and we have wide popularity.

“We are going through a battle of existence. We will fight to the end; we either survive this or we are finished.

“We have captured lots of their vehicles, machine guns and mortars. We have new rocket-propelled grenades we got from their supply trucks. Our fighters know how to use the side streets as their battle space.”

Sheikh Ali al-Sauidi, a senior commander in the Mahdi army speaking in a telephone interview

Source: Witnesses to the battle for Basra describe scenes in the city | World news | The Guardian

See also: We’re fighting for survival, says Mahdi army commander for a fuller account.

March 30

British and US forces drawn into battle for Basra - Middle East, World - The Independent

So far Mr Sadr has not formally ended his ceasefire, declared in August last year and renewed in February. Ever since he fought the US marines in two battles in Najaf in 2004, he has been averse to direct military confrontation with the Americans or his Shia rivals when backed by the US. But as Mr Maliki’s military offensive falters, his commanders are increasingly looking to the US and Britain for support. If US and British forces engage in direct military action on a wide scale with the Sadrist militia, then Mr Sadr could call for a general uprising, which would engulf all of Shia Iraq in war. The Mehdi Army already controls half of Baghdad.

Read in full: British and US forces drawn into battle for Basra - Middle East, World - The Independent

More March 30

Police refuse to support Iraqi PM’s attacks on Mehdi Army - The Independent

US and British forces are increasingly playing a supporting role in the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s stalled offensive against the Mehdi Army militia. American aircraft launched air strikes in Basra yesterday and fought militiamen on the streets in Baghdad while British advisers have also been assisting Iraqi troops in Basra.

Mr Maliki retreated from his demand that militiamen hand over their weapons by yesterday and extended the deadline to 8 April. This is a tacit admission that the Iraqi army and police have failed to oust the Mehdi Army from any of its strongholds in the capital and in southern Iraq. The Iraqi army has either met stubborn resistance from Mehdi Army fighters or soldiers and police have refused to fight or changed sides. “We did not expect the fight to be this intense,” said the officer from a 300-strong commando unit that has been pinned down in the Tamimiyah district in Basra, where the supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Mehdi Army, have strong support.

The officer said four of his men were killed and 15 wounded in the fighting. “Some of the men told me that they did not want to go back to the fight until they have better support and more protection,” he added. The Interior Ministry threatened that the men would be court-martialled for refusing to fight. Government troops arriving in Basra complain that they are being fired on by local police loyal to Mr Sadr. Members of one police unit had fist fights with their officers after they refused to join the battle.

Continue reading ‘Police refuse to support Iraqi PM’s attacks on Mehdi Army - The Independent’

Basrah "surge" update March 29 2008 - March 30 2008

Overview Basrah:

There is extremely intense fighting still going on in Basrah. After a relatively calm morning - 8 people killed and 7 were wounded in an airstrike by the Americans on al-Tak in al-Hussein, an area the GZG said on Friday they had control of - GZG troops assisted by Badr militia and British artillery made efforts to dislodge Mahdi army fighters from their positions. These appear to have failed according to local reports the Mahdi army seem to have withdrawn to prepared defensive positions. The GZG “defence” minister says they cleared Mahdi army fighters from Al-Ashar, Tanouma, Shatt Al-Arab, al-Zubair. The efforts by GZG forces to recapture the bridge at Qurnah also are reported to have failed. This means that the GZG attemts to reinforce are not working which perhaps explains his comment that they were surprised by the weaponry being used by Mahdi army fighters and therefore are bringing up heavier weaponry to try to dislodge the Mahdi army. He and other spokesmen are saying that GZG forces will fight on until they have “cleared Basrah of criminal elements”. Maliki has gone as far as to say that the JAM are “worse than al Qaeda”.

Residents in al Taminmiyah say that GZG forces are making announcements demanding they leave their homes and that afraid of being caught up in an assault many have complied. Other residents report that GZG troops attempted an incursion and are now trapped there are similar reports from Zubair and al-Ashar. There are widespread reports of defections by GZG police and army to the Mahdi army. Mahdi army has also allowed journalists to speak to captured GZG police and army soldiers.

A bombing raid on Sunday night by the Americans seriously wounded 7 people and cause the collapse of two houses. UPDATE: 10 killed 7 wouned

Overview Baghdad:

Political:

In his interview with al-Jazeera al-Sadr made the following key points:

• He would never accept the American occupation of Irak.
• Politics and religion are inseparable this does not mean that the Sadrists are a political party - they will never be that.
• The role of the clergy is to observe and advise the government.
• That all Irakis Sunni and Shia alike should resist the American attempts to occupy Irak.
• That he had rejected and denounced sectarian killings repeatedly.
• That sectarian (and ethnic) killing would always take place for as long as the Americans were in Irak.
• That he personally had told Iranian supreme leader Khamenei that Iranian interference in Irak would not be tolerated.
• That the struggle in Irak was both political and sectarian that it was political at government level and sectarian and street level.
• That at the political level Sadrist representatives in the GZG “parliament” routinely voted with the “Sunni” parties.

UPDATE AL-Sadr has explicitly told his supporters not to give their weapons to GZG forces that they may only give their weapons to a government that expels the Americans.

UPDATE The GZG have sent a delegation to Najaf to negotiate with the Sadrists.

Hospitals in Sadr city said that by noon Friday, 39 people were killed and 389 others injured since the outbreak of fighting and airstrikes on Sadr City. By noon Saturday the casualty levels had gone up to 75 dead and 500 wounded. GZG Health ministry officials update that figure on Sunday morning to 125 dead and 892 wounded.

The spokesman for GZG Baghdad Operations Command finally got around to admitting that the “surge” spokesman has been kidnapped - he was responding to questions about the tape released of him pleading with Maliki to end the current operation.

Fighting broke out after midnight in Abu D’sheer.

The curfew has been tightened and extended indefinitely.

Other Governorates

Fighting continues in Karbala. (Local GZG security forces deny this saying that what is happening is a series of raids.) There is sporadic fighting. The Dawa party HQ in al Salam was attacked by fighters using RPGs. Fighting also continues in Diwaniyah.

Site News: Many of us are running low on fuel for our generators. This means very light or no posting from Monday. The subscribers edition will continue to be produced as normal.

March 31

The big news is the al-Sadr’s “Stand Down” —more accurately termed Maliki’s “climb down” follow this link or click the image below to see the original text of al-Sadr’s declaration. There will be plenty of statements and counter statements and a lot of misinformation especially in the Western media and the pro-government Iraki media. This is my “take” on the matter.

Text of the declaration:

Based upon our responsibilities under the law [shariah] and for the sparing of Iraki blood and for the protection of the reputability of the Iraqi people, and for their unity both in terms of people and in terms of territory, and in preparation for its independence and liberation from the armies of oppression; and in order to put out the fires of fitna which the occupier and his followers wish to keep burning between Iraki brothers, we call upon the beloved Iraki people to measure up to their responsibility and their cognisance of law in sparing bloodshed and preserving peace in Irak, and its stability and independence.

The following is resolved:

1. Ending armed manifestations in Basra governorate and all the other governorates.
2. Ending of attacks and illegal arbitrary detentions.
3. Demand that the government apply the law on general amnesty, and release all prisoners who have not had charges confirmed against them, in particular prisoners belonging to the Sadrist current.
4. We announce that we will repudiate those who carry weapons and target the government and service agencies and institutions, or the offices of political parties.
5. Cooperation with government agencies to bring about security and to charge criminals, according to due process of law.
6. We reassert that the Sadrist movement does not possess heavy weapons.
7. Efforts [meaningful efforts are to be made] for the return to their residential areas of those who were forced out as a result of security incidents.
8. We demand respect for human rights by the government in all of its security activities.
9. Working [meaningful efforts are to be made] towards the realisation of development and service projects in all governorates.

The first thing that must be said is that these are exactly the same demands that al-Sadr has been making for months. He reiterated them again when the fighting started. Maliki has been forced to accept every single one of them. I wonder how he managed to delude himself that the spectacularly misnamed “Saulat al-Forsan” (Charge of the Knights) would succeed.

Basrah is the country’s economic lung and the Mahdi army, the Badr Brigade, and Virtue (Fadhila) party all have a heavily armed presence there. Politically it is arguable whether it is the Virtue party or the Sadrists who are likely to do best in the forthcoming elections both are likely to do very well indeed, the SIIC is unlikely to do well, they will be lucky if the retain and significant presence.

The Mahdi Army was well-prepared:

The Mahdi army took the lessons of recent events to heart. Since the fighting in Karbala followed by further recent operations to reduce if not eliminate, their presence the Mahdi army have been digging in and preparing a defense in depth in Basrah. They plainly also planned to interdict the arrival of reinforcements for GZG troops once the fighting which everyone could see was coming got underway. They succeeded in their goals:

• They successfully prevented attempt after attempt after attempt to retake the Qurnah bridge.
• Far from being dislodged from their strongholds they successfully carried out a very difficult military operation — a tactical retreat under heavy fire to ready prepared defensive positions.
• They successfully counter-attacked repeatedly.

During several of those counter-attacks they captured and/or destroyed heavy weaponry from GZG forces they also on several occasions cut off and then destroyed attacking forces.

We can now confirm that in regard to al Taminmiyah the reports from residents in this earlier posting “Other residents report that GZG troops attempted an incursion and are now trapped there are similar reports from Zubair and al-Ashar“turns out to have been no more than the truth and that the same is true of Zubair and al-Ashar.

The GZG defense minister admitted that his forces were unprepared either for the ferocity with which the Mahdi army fought or for the sophistication of much of their weaponry. Nor were they prepared for the combination of a simple refusal to fight by many of the soldiers coupled with wholesale defections.

That was not all they were unprepared for. The South erupted. That is a dramatic way of saying that the Mahdi Army successfully opened a number of new fronts in the fighting, Nasiriya, Karbala, Hilla, Diwaniyah, and Kut all saw very fierce fighting. Apart from the benefit to its fighters in Basrah there was the added benefit of reducing the pressure on its fighters in Karbala. They successfully seized Kut - they remain in control of that city for the moment, and in Nasiriyah, Dawa’s heartland, they not only seized ground they laid siege to the governor in his palace and the large number of GZG troops who were protecting him. Every time those troops tried to effect a breakout they were easily beaten back. Desperate negotiations ensued before the final Mahdi army assault, and the governor remains alive, and under siege, - for now.

As to what happens next on these secondary fronts it is hard to tell. My guess, and it is no more than an educated guess, is that the Mahdi army will gradually cede partial control of Kut and the other cities once the local GZG authorities demonstrate good faith. The problem of course lies in those two words “good faith” - at no point have Dawa and SIIC ever done so and I find it difficult to believe GZG officials loyal to those parties will do so now. I hope to be proved wrong in this but I am not optimistic. The fact that operations by GZG forces are continuing in several places including in Basrah makes me even less optimistic.

Let us get back to what we know instead of guesswork. It is clear that the GZG was also unprepared for the ferocity of the fight back in Baghdad. The Mahdi army not only were not dislodged they succeeded in gaining territory and will not lightly give it up. A measure of how desperate the situation was the GZG in Baghdad can be found in the fact that they had to massively reinforce Karrada and prevent all access to Kazhimiya. They had to get the Americans to help them besiege Sadr city. They lost badly in al-Shula. Baghdad did not see the wholesale defections of Basrah but there were enough of them including among elite units - army and police, to make the GZG military leadership very doubtful of their men.

Another measure of GZG desperation is that they used peshmerga forces in Basrah (and in Baghdad). I find it hard to find the words to describe how thoroughly hated the Peshmerga regiments have made themselves in the central and southern governorates. They see themselves as entitled to exact every piece of revenge they possibly can at every possible opportunity and do so. This may be understandable but it is very bad tactics.

What happens next? I do not know. But on past performance we can expect a lot of chest thumping from the GZG and from the Americans. We can also expect a lot of “incidents” of varying severity from the GZG side - probing attacks in other words.

What of Maliki - the man whose arrogance and disastrous lack of judgement has drastically weakened the GZG. What will happen to him?

Who cares …

Saba Ali Ihsaan,
Baghdad,
Irak

Fuck war.

Killing is wrong.

There's more...

Bush Booed By Baseball

h/t Think Progress.

There's more...

The President is a Liar

I know it's no surprise to anyone who doesn't live in the beltway, but.

March 13 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush stepped up his attack on House Democrats who support terrorism surveillance legislation that would deny immunity from lawsuits to telephone companies. The Democratic plan poses a threat to the safety of the U.S., the president said.

The President is a liar and everyone knows it, and Nancy Pelosi just called him one.

QUESTION: Don't you think the president is lying?
PELOSI: Am I saying the president is lying?

QUESTION: Yes.

PELOSI: That's the same question I got in 2001 when they asked me -- when I said the intelligence on Iraq does not support the threat of -- an imminent threat to our country that the administration is contending.

That's what they said to me then. They said, "Are you saying the president is lying?" I said then and I say now, "I am stating a fact."

The president is wrong and he knows it. -- TalkingPointsMemo.com

Question is, will the White House respond? I mean, the Speaker of the House has just called the President a liar. Everyone knows it's true, he is a liar. Will the media report it? Of course the answer is no. I just thought I would point out, this is where we are at. Just a reflection.

There's more...

Boom Chicka Boom: Don't Go Near The Water

Breaking: CentCom CO Admiral William Fallon Resigns

The Iranians will take this as a sign the U.S.A. is going to war.

With nukes.

Against Iranian nuclear facilities, waving the Flag of Christ.

Think Progress

CentCom Commander Fallon: Attack On Iran ‘Will Not Happen On My Watch’

Earlier this year, the Bush administration deployed a second Navy group carrier into the Persian Gulf. Vice President Cheney referred to the move as an attempt to send a “strong signal” about the administration’s commitment to confronting Iran.

In February, Newsweek reported that the Bush administration was planning to ratchet up the pressure even further by deploying a third carrier group into the Gulf. Hillary Mann, the administration’s former National Security Council director for Iran and Persian Gulf Affairs, warned that some Bush advisers secretly wanted an excuse to attack Iran. “They intend to be as provocative as possible and make the Iranians do something [America] would be forced to retaliate for,” she told Newsweek.

IPS reported yesterday that the administration’s attempt to send the third carrier group was vetoed by the new head of the U.S. Central Command Admiral William Fallon:

Admiral William Fallon, then President George W. Bush’s nominee to head the Central Command (CENTCOM), expressed strong opposition in February to an administration plan to increase the number of carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf from two to three and vowed privately there would be no war against Iran as long as he was chief of CENTCOM.

Fallon’s resistance to the proposed deployment of a third aircraft carrier was followed by a shift in the Bush administration’s Iran policy in February and March away from increased military threats and toward diplomatic engagement with Iran. That shift, for which no credible explanation has been offered by administration officials, suggests that Fallon’s resistance to a crucial deployment was a major factor in the intra-administration struggle over policy toward Iran.

One source said Fallon sent a memo that “insisted there was no military requirement for” for an additional carrier. Fallon private conveyed around the time of his confirmation hearing that an attack on Iran “will not happen on my watch.” IPS notes, “Fallon’s refusal to support a further naval buildup in the Gulf reflected his firm opposition to an attack on Iran and an apparent readiness to put his career on the line to prevent it.”

Fallon was recently the subject of an article in Esquire, which suggested he would be relieved of command before his tour was up, over his policy differences with The White House. (READ THE ESQUIRE ARTICLE.)

In announcing Fallon's resignation, Secretary of Defense Gates said:

Think Progress

Fallon resigned because the fall-out from the article. Gates said Fallon told him: “The current embarrassing situation, public perception of differences between my views and administration policy, and the distraction this causes from the mission make this the right thing to do.” Gates said he approved Fallon’s request to retire with “reluctance and regret.”

[Video available at Think Progress.]

Last week, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino downplayed Fallon’s possible retirement, decrying “rumor mills that don’t turn out to be true.”

Fallon opposed the “surge” in Iraq and has consistently battled the Bush administration to avoid a confrontation with Iran, calling officials’ warmongering rhetoric “not helpful.” He rejected the praise in the Esquire piece, calling it “poison pen stuff.”

A reporter noted to Gates there was a “line in that Esquire story that said basically if Fallon gets fired, it means we’re going to war with Iran. Can you just address that?” Gates responded, “Well that’s just ridiculous.”

UPDATE: Sources at the Pentagon said that Fallon was worried the White House would “perceive the magazine piece as a challenge to the president’s authority, and insisted that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

UPDATE II: Last year, Fallon vowed that an attack on Iran “will not happen on my watch.”

UPDATE III: TPM has Fallon’s statement here. The Agonist also has more.

UPDATE IV: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has issued this statement:

I am concerned that the resignation of Admiral William J. Fallon, commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East and a military leader with more than three decades of command experience, is yet another example that independence and the frank, open airing of experts’ views are not welcomed in this Administration.

The Bush Administration said recently:

A reporter noted to Gates there was a “line in that Esquire story that said basically if Fallon gets fired, it means we’re going to war with Iran. Can you just address that?” Gates responded, “Well that’s just ridiculous.”

In other words, yes, we're going to war.

The Bush/Cheney administration lies. Always. About everything.

They won the off-Presidential (2002) election with the Afghanistan War. They won the Presidential (2004) election (okay, they cheated in Ohio, but got close enough the cheating worked) on the blood of the Iraq war and OBL conveniently doing 60 second TV commercials for Bush.

Then the Bush/Cheney administration got their ass kicked in 2006... over the WAR. They didn't have a new product. No fresh blood. People had time to think.

They will not make that mistake again.

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." —George W. Bush, June 18, 2002 (Bushisms - 2002)

"I became totally inebriated with hitting the big one." --George W. Bush, on his oil drilling days, Texas Monthly, May 1994 (Bushisms - 2000.)

We are nuking Iran this summer (peak driving time; lots of opportunity for gas prices to blow SKY HIGH for their oil tycoon friends) or just after Labor Day, when everyone is paying attention, can freak out, and go rushing to the polls for McCain.

LISTEN UP: AIN'T NO ONE GIVING CONTROL OF THE NUCLEAR FOOTBALL TO A BLACK DUDE OR A WOMAN DURING A NUC-LEAR WAR.

The Football is going to the Fighter Jock ex-POW, high-temper and all. Frightened white people will NEVER vote control of launch codes to a nig**r or a gi*l.

“If Bush/Cheney nukes Iran (or starts a war), initially, can a black or woman win?”

No.
Another edition of Short Answers to Foolish Questions:

McCain would win by 10-15%.

Assuming there even is an election, and we're not under martial law due to either radiation, riots, or retribution. (If Bush is stupid enough to cause a State of War to exist between Iran and the United States, for the first time since World War II, the war will end up being fought for DECADES on American soil. Our children's children will be legitimate targets of war, in the viewpoint of the Iranians.)

This entire idea is insanity.

Yet to make certain Dubya lives on through McCain...

If 6.66 million camel-jockeys (and their wives and children) must burn alive in explosions bringing nuclear winter to the world (fuck you, Al Gore and Global Warming) in order to scare shit pouring down the legs of every soccer-mom in America, cause testosterone poisoning in every man 8-80 in the U.S. of A., and put a goddamn yellow ribbon back on the rear window of every SUV on every highway just as Jesus intended (plus $10 gasoline), well by Gawd then we'll nuke the little fuckers into glass like Bush 41 lacked the balls to do.

(“Look Daddy, I'm more of a man than you!”)

Ain't nobody stopping this here permanent Republican revolution, no Sir. More importantly, ain't nobody nailing Dick Cheney or George W. Bush for war crimes. Nobody named President John McCain, that is. That's the deal. [Video at the link.] McCain already said clearly and publicly he won't be going after them: “I do not agree with your sentiment that there has been widespread corruption. I just don't accept that.” So no justice for what's happened, and how would he have time? Not when he's busy fighting a Global War on Terror with weekly attacks in huge LIBERAL cities all across the United States by actual terrorists major league pissed 'cause we fucking turned Iran into a glass parking lot.

Nothing like a weekly 9/11 attack to cause Americans to Rally Round the Flag, Boys, Rally Round the Flag like nothing else on earth. The flag of Jesus Christ, the United States of America, Purity Balls for Daddy's Little Girls to keep her sacred [you know] safe from everyone but Daddy, and the triumph of Republican Party for 1,000 years, Amen and Amen.

And if you think Bush/Cheney won't nuke anyone, remember...

No one including their parents and the Draft Board has ever told these folks "NO" and made it stick.

They are going to set the Middle East on fire.

• Get your passports ready.
• Prepare to get your families out of the United States. Fast.
• We are about to become targets.
  

1. AF nukes got "lost" & were "discovered" headed for the Middle East.
2. Russia upgraded its ballistic weapons systems in support of Iran.
3. Admiral Fallon had vowed an attack on Iran "will not happen on my watch".

With Fallon gone, nothing stands between Iran and Cheney but water.

(Except Chairman of the JCS Mike Mullen.)

Boom Chicka Boom.

There's more...

Bush: All Your Mail Are Belong To Us

Ford Tri-Motor Mail Passenger plane circa 1930. photo USPS archives. Click for LARGE.

Bush "Signing Statement" Claims Warantless Mail Searches Legal

On December 20, 2007, President Bush signed routine postal legislation. In a "Signing Statement", the President claims Executive Power to search the mail of U.S. citizens inside the United States without a warrant, in direct contradiction of the bill he had just signed.

The Seattle Times

The move, one year after The New York Times' disclosure of a secret program that allowed warrantless monitoring of Americans' phone calls and e-mail, caught Capitol Hill by surprise.

"Despite the president's statement that he may be able to circumvent a basic privacy protection, the new postal law continues to prohibit the government from snooping into people's mail without a warrant," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the incoming House Government Reform Committee chairman, who co-sponsored the bill.

"You have to be concerned," a senior U.S. official agreed. "It takes executive-branch authority beyond anything we've ever known."

Yet, in his statement, Bush said he will "construe" an exception, "which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection in a manner consistent ... with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances."

White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore denied Bush was claiming new authority.

"In certain circumstances — such as with the proverbial 'ticking bomb' — the Constitution does not require warrants for reasonable searches," she said.

Bush, however, cited "exigent circumstances" that could refer to an imminent danger or a long-standing state of emergency.

I feel safer already.

If you were wondering what Keith Olbermann was going to talk about tonight, we've got you covered... This.

The only real question is, will Keith have video of The President actually wiping his ass with The Constitution, or are those films Top-Secret Presidential -- like the list of people Dick Cheney has shotgunned, then made to apologize?

Reading our mail? Letters from soldiers to their boyfriends and girlfriends. Strategy memos from Fortune 500 Companies to strategic partners including how they'll bid on government jobs. Whistle-blower memos. Letters to criminal defense lawyers, priests and rabbis.

If the U.S. Mail isn't private, next thing you know the Feds will be listening to our damn phone calls! Reading our emails! Restricting our ability to travel or arresting us for trying to get into a political event if we're not assimilated.

Worst. President. Ever.

Update 4:30 PT:

Correction: President Bush issued the signing statement in late 2006, not 2007, as we initially said.

There are actually TWO programs for opening people's mail.

Raw Story

The US postal service approves more than 10,000 requests from US law enforcement each year to record names, addresses and other information from the outside of packages, according to information released through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The warrantless surveillance mail program -- as it is known -- requires only the approval of the US Postal Inspection Service Director, and not a judge.

Since 1998, the inspector has approved more than 97% of requests during criminal inquiries, new documents show. According to USA Today, which filed the request, "In 2004, 2005 and 2006, the most recent year provided, officials granted at least 99.5% of requests."

Officials would not disclose how much mail was monitored in national security or "terror"-related investigations. Under the PATRIOT ACT, those who received letters notifying them that they were being investigated often were gagged from even reporting their being targeted.

Responding to a USA Today request for the national security-related data, "inspection service counsel Anthony Alverno wrote that even revealing the frequency of the surveillance would undermine its effectiveness "to the detriment of the government's national security interests."

That's the first, the legal program.

Over 10,000 pieces of mail opened without a warrant, and that does NOT include national security investigation. It's just run-of-the-mill criminal inquires.

However that isn't enough for the lawless Bush/Cheney Administration.

Having the ability to search any mail they want 99.5% of the time, not having to report any searches remotely related to national security, and being able to legally issue gag orders to the people searched... All that is not enough.

President Bush claims the executive branch has the legal power to open ANY mail without a warrant.

Raw Story

The signing statement accompanied H.R. 6407, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, which reiterated a prohibition on opening first class mail without a warrant.

"In 1996, the postal regulations were altered to permit the opening of First Class mail without a warrant in narrowly defined cases where the Postal Inspector believes there is a credible threat that the package contains dangerous material like bombs," the ACLU said in a press release at the time. "Instead of referencing the narrow exception in the postal regulations, the president’s signing statement suggests that he is assuming broader authority to open mail without a warrant."

As the ACLU said in their press release issued at the time:

America Civil Liberties Union

“The President’s signing statement raises serious concerns that the Administration’s warrantless surveillance of telephone calls and Internet communications extends to the U.S. mail, as well,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. “Given the President's dismal record of violating the privacy rights of Americans, we must question whether he is authorizing the opening of mail without a warrant in violation of the Constitution and laws enacted by Congress.”

The statement accompanied H.R. 6407, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, which states, among other things, that First Class Mail cannot be opened without a warrant. Postal regulations have long prohibited the opening of First Class Mail without a warrant, according to the ACLU. In 1996, the postal regulations were altered to permit the opening of First Class Mail without a warrant in cases where the Postal Inspector believes there is a credible threat that the package contains dangerous material like bombs. In passing the new statute, Congress reiterated the express prohibition in existing law against opening First Class Mail without a warrant. The regulation authorizing an exception where there is a credible threat that a package may contain a bomb still exists, but is quite narrow.

Romero said the Bush signing statement does not specify whether there are special circumstances beyond those already established in the law that would allow him to open mail without a warrant and if so, what they may be. For example, the ACLU questioned whether the “exigent circumstances” would include the singling out of mail addressed to or from people on government watch lists, which are notoriously flawed. Such deliberate ambiguity, Romero said, “raises a red flag because of President Bush’s history of asserting broad powers to spy on Americans.”

Romero also noted that the signing statement was issued by President Bush during the Congressional recess and a year after revelations that his administration was claiming authority to secretly wiretap Americans without a warrant.

The ACLU is currently challenging the Bush administration’s illegal wiretapping program, which made international headlines when it was disclosed in December 2005. Last August, in a landmark ruling, a federal district judge in Detroit declared the program unconstitutional, saying “There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution.” The Bush administration has appealed that ruling; a hearing before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled for January 31. For more information on that case, ACLU v. NSA, go to www.aclu.org/nsaspying

There's more...

The Clown Presidency

19%

Among all Americans, 19% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 77% disapprove. When it comes to Bush's handling of the economy, 14% approve and 79% disapprove.

-- arg poll

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3,963

There's more...

Punxsutawney Phil predicts

Six more weeks of winter
Given the nature of this year, I am not the least bit surprised.


11 Months, 18 Days to go...

There's more...

Because you're Special

Enjoy...

There's more...

Chris Dodd (D-CT): Man of the Constitution

Chris Dodd and daughter at Labor Day Parade, Milford, NH. Sep 4, 2007.
photo marcn. Click for LARGE photo.

What a Mensch

If not for Senator Chris Dodd, Bush would have already pulled it off.

It ain't over yet.

What stones the man has.

“I will continue to fight retroactive immunity with all the strength any one Senator can muster.”

Damn.

Why can't someone who is, like, actually running for President, demonstrate leadership like this? Instead of using the Presidential Voice? Or telling us about their preparation?

How about some honest-t0-God LEADERSHIP on something before the United States Senate?

Perhaps demonstrating that the Constitution matters? Without having to have damn near every progressive group in America and every liberal blog call your ass out?

Without Chris Dodd, this fight would have been lost last month.

Dodd is a stand-up guy.

Chris Dodd, United States Senator for Connecticut

January 28, 2008

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) today rose again to speak on the Senate floor in opposition to a vote to end debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reform legislation that would grant immunity to telecommunications companies who cooperated with the Bush Administration’s secret wiretapping program. The full text of his remarks as prepared appears below:

VIDEO OF FLOOR SPEECH


Mr. President:

We find ourselves this afternoon in the midst of a parliamentary nightmare.

So much hinges on the bill before us; so many of my colleagues have come to this floor to tell us just how vitally important it is. It will set America’s terrorist surveillance policy well into the next presidential term, and beyond. Depending on the outcome, it has the power to bring that surveillance under the rule of law—or to confirm the president’s urge to be a law of his own. It has the power to bring the facts of warrantless spying to light and to public scrutiny—or to lock down those facts as the property of the powerful. It has the power to declare that the same law applies to all of us, rich or poor, well-connected or not—or to set the precedent that some corporations are too rich to be sued, that immunity can effectively be bought.

Wherever you come down on those choices, you cannot be neutral. None of us can be neutral. This is one of the most contentious pieces of legislation we will debate in this session, or in any session.

And yet—the Senate is frozen today. I’ve objected passionately to retroactive immunity—but I did not shut out debate. Republicans have frozen the Senate since debate began last week. And they unwittingly created a perfect microcosm of retroactive immunity right here in this body. Because both flow from the same impulse: shutting down the organs of government—the courts, or the Senate—when you are afraid you won’t get your way. That’s why President Bush wants his favored corporations saved from lawsuits. And that is why the Republican Party wants this bill saved from any and all amendments—saved from serious and thoughtful discussion.

As a committee chairman myself, I wish I had that privilege! I sometimes wish the bills we passed could be swept through without a single amendment. But that’s not how this body works—that’s not how its Founders intended it to work.

Now, amendments are not entitled to pass. But they are entitled to a fair hearing, a fair debate, and a fair vote. The minority can object as strenuously as it wants—but it must do so fairly. I accept that principle, even when it does not go my way; even on immunity itself, I understand that a minority cannot stand forever. Is it too much for Republicans to extend us the same courtesy?

On a bill as important as this one, it would be ridiculous to curtail debate, shut out new ideas, and rush to a conclusion—without even extending the Protect America Act for a month, to give us the time we need. Because whether you agree with them or not—and some I disagree with, myself—the amendments offered by my Democratic colleagues are serious proposals from serious members.

Shouldn’t we debate whether this new surveillance regime ought to stay inflexible through the next presidential term, and into the one after that?

Shouldn’t we debate whether we’re going to categorically outlaw unconstitutional reverse targeting, or indiscriminate, vacuum cleaner bulk collection?

Shouldn’t we debate whether Congress even gets to see the secret rulings of the FISA Court?

Those are just a few of the well-intentioned proposals we need to consider before we vote on this bill in good conscience. But across the board, the Republican answer to those questions is: No, no, and no.

I disagree, Mr. President. I will vote against cloture, because we haven’t done our job yet.

I will also vote against cloture because I cannot support the bill as it now stands. First, it still contains the egregious provision for corporate immunity. I’ve already made my objections to immunity many times: It puts the president’s chosen few above the law; it endorses possibly illegal spying on Americans; and it strikes a harsh blow against the rule of law. I will continue to fight retroactive immunity with all the strength any one senator can muster.

But I also strongly object to many of the intelligence-gathering portions of this bill. This bill reduces court oversight of spying nearly to the point of symbolism. It could allow the targeting of Americans on false pretenses. It opens us up to new, twisted rationales for warrantless wiretapping, which is exactly what it ought to prevent. It could allow bulk collection of the communications of millions of Americans, as soon as an administration has the wherewithal to build such an enormous dragnet. And it sets all of these deeply flawed provisions in stone for six years, depriving us of the flexibility we need to fight terrorism.

For those reasons, as well, I will vote against cloture.

Tonight, President Bush will come to Congress to speak to us, and to the American people, about the state of the Union. I hope he will use that opportunity to realize that the Senate needs more time to do its constitutional duty to debate and consider this important legislation.

However, I am concerned he will instead continue to threaten to veto this legislation unless it includes retroactive immunity for the telecommunications companies.

The President has said that this bill is essential to ‘protecting the American people from enemies who attacked our country.’ So why is he trying to stop it? Why did he promise to veto it? Why would he throw it all away to protect a few corporations from lawsuits?

I fear that if we give the President what he wants, we risk weakening the rule of law and placing the rights of some of the President’s favored corporations over the rights of ordinary American citizens.

I hope my colleagues will join me in opposing cloture today on the substitute amendment and allow the Senate the time it needs to debate and improve the FISA Amendments Act. This issue is too important to our security and our civil liberties to do otherwise.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

-30-

There's more...

US: Iraqi Bombs Rise In Iraq

EFP - Explosive Formed Projectile
I am re-titling the piece I just saw on CNN.

U.S.: Iranian bombs rise in Iraq -- CNN.com

Attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq with bombs believed linked to Iran -- known as explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) -- have risen sharply in January after several months of decline, according to the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

The Military itself has said these are being made in Iraq not Iran. They have found manufacturing sites for them in Baghdad. Its a simple process. They are heavy and expensive to ship. I know we keep trying to gin up reasons to attack Iran since the Monty Python-esque Speedboat Liars for Truth were exposed, but why are we re-running this old bunch of crap?

Gen. David Petraeus disclosed the reversal to reporters after a meeting with President Bush who was visiting troops in Kuwait.

"In this year, EFPs have gone up, actually, over the last 10 days by a factor of two or three, and frankly we're trying to determine why that might be," Petraeus said.

Ah... Thats why. Bush is making Petraeus say it in order to increase tensions with Iran. Its incredible that CNN just gobbles these stories up. Is it possible that someone at CNN could use google just once before buying hook, line and sinker into one of these bullshit fantasies fueled by Dick Cheney's imagination and war lust.

These devices are very simple to manufacture. The Iraqi's rebuild Mercedes Benz's, I think creating a copper disk isn't that much of a stretch and why ship something a 1,000 miles when you can make it in Uncle Ahmed's machine shop down the street?

There's more...

Guzzle It

Man Drinks Liter Bottle of Vodka in Airport Line to
Defy Airport Security Rules -- Almost Dies of Alcohol Poisoning.

The word MAN is redundant is the above sentence.

Seattle PI

BERLIN -- A man nearly died from alcohol poisoning after quaffing a liter (two pints) of vodka at an airport security check instead of handing it over to comply with new carry-on rules, police said Wednesday.

The incident occurred at the Nuremberg airport on Tuesday, where the 64-year-old man was switching planes on his way home to Dresden from a holiday in Egypt.

New airport rules prohibit passengers from carrying larger quantities of liquid onto planes, and he was told at a security check he would have to either throw out the bottle of vodka or pay a fee to have his carry-on bag checked as cargo.

Instead, he chugged the bottle down - and was quickly unable to stand or otherwise function, police said.

Thursday in I Must Be Right Even When I Know I'm Wrong, I said

Group News Blog

People need to be right.

People need to be right so badly we (me too) will stick with being right even when we know we're wrong.

People need to be right no matter what it costs them. And it costs them. Their reputation, love, money, their health. People die in order to be right.

Bush is unengaged.

By every account I've heard, he believe history will vindicate him.

US News and World Report

In a recent meeting at the White House, Bush told visitors how Lincoln (whose portrait he has installed in the Oval Office) persevered in the Civil War despite many defeats on the battlefield, tens of thousands of casualties, and doubts among Northern voters that the conflict could ever be won. As the campaign of 1864 approached, Bush related, Lincoln admitted privately that he didn't think he would be re-elected, but pursued his policies anyway. Bush also described how Lincoln pressed on despite his grief when his beloved 11-year-old son Willie died in February 1862. The visitors came away with the conviction that Bush sees himself in Lincoln's mold more deeply than ever.

To Bush's critics, the incident is unsettling. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, noting that the president has also compared himself to Harry Truman, told U.S. News: "This is delusional-comparing the equivalent of Warren Harding to two of our greatest presidents!" Adds presidential historian Robert Dallek, author of Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power: "He may come across to some people as a man of principle, but a great majority see him as stubborn and unyielding. ... And everything he touches turns to dust."

This is all nonsense, according to senior White House officials. They say that Bush isn't delusional at all and that history will vindicate him, just as it vindicated Lincoln and Truman. "He believes the correctness of his policies-including the war in Iraq-may not be recognized for 10, 15 years," says a Bush adviser. Adds another confidant: "If something reaches his level, it tends to be bad news, but he keeps it all in perspective, and there's no equivocation."

Equivocation.

Equivocation?

Hmmmm. Google is our friend.

Wikipedia

Equivocation, also known as amphibology, is classified as both a formal and informal fallacy. It is the misleading use of a word with more than one meaning (by glossing over which meaning is intended at a particular time).

Equivocation is the use in a syllogism (a logical chain of reasoning) of a term several times, but giving the term a different meaning each time. For example:

A feather is light.

What is light cannot be dark.

Therefore, a feather cannot be dark.

In this use of equivocation, the word "light" is first used as the opposite of "heavy", but then used as a synonym of "bright" (the fallacy usually becomes obvious as soon as one tries to translate this argument into another language). Because the "middle term" of this syllogism is NOT one term, but two separate ones masquerading as one (all feathers are indeed "not heavy", but is NO