Controlling the Show

Ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern was among the protesters booted from the Petraeus hearings.

“Swear him in.” That’s all I said in the unusual silence this afternoon as first aid was being administered to Gen. David Petraeus’s microphone at the hearing before the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees.

It had dawned on me that when House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Missouri, invited Gen. Petraeus to make his presentation, Skelton forgot to ask him to take the customary oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I had no idea that would be enough to get me thrown out of the hearing.

I had a flashback to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in early 2006, when Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, reminded chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, that Specter had forgotten to swear in the witness, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; and how Specter insisted that that would not be necessary.

Now that may, or may not, be an invidious comparison. But Petraeus and Gonzales work for the same boss, who has a rather unusual relationship with the truth.

  Consortium News

I missed that about Specter and Gonzales.

Petraeus tried to square a circle in his very first two paragraphs.

In the first, he thanks the committees for the opportunity to “discuss the recommendations I recently provided to my chain of command for the way forward.” Then he stretches credulity well beyond the breaking point—at least for me:

“At the outset, I would like to note that this is my testimony. Although I have briefed my assessment and recommendations to my chain of command, I wrote this testimony myself. It has not been cleared by, nor shared with, anyone in the Pentagon, the White House, or Congress.”

Is not the Commander-in-Chief in Petraeus’s chain of command?

As Harry Truman, D-Missouri, would have said, “Does he think we were born yesterday?”

Well, he was talking to Congress.

The Niger Forgeries

Update: May 4, 2007 Cannonfire has more (different) information.

Well, the most intriguing video making the rounds right now is the one above, with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern placing responsibility for the Niger forgeries with the Office of the Vice President.

First, I must point out that McGovern gives the wrong impression: Neither Cheney nor anyone associated with him did the actual forgery. That part of the origin story is well-known: Rocco Martino and couple of old SISMI buds ginned up those docs in order to pull a fast one on the French. The motive was money, and the French weren't buying.

Later, someone else came up with the idea to turn Rocco's bit-O-whimsy into a cause for war. Who?

  Cannonfire post

"The only way to achieve peace is through total war."

"The purpose of total war is to permanently force your will onto another people."

"Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business." [Michael Ledeen]

Go ahead and check out the Cannonfire post, it has a clip of Ray McGovern telling MSNBC that he has evidence people in Cheney's office are responsible....he just won't say who, or what the evidence is.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.