At least.
Juan Cole talks about the Observer report that senior U.S. intelligence people knew since May that there would be no WMD found.
The Observer interviewed someone it identified as "a very senior US intelligence official" who served during the war against Iraq, and knew the WMD issue thoroughly. He said, "We had enough evidence at the beginning of May to start asking, 'where did we go wrong?' . . . We had already made the judgment that something very wrong had happened [in May] and our confidence was shaken to its foundations." The source asserted that the intelligence community had "suppressed dissenting views and intelligence."
This allegation directly contradicts the repeated assertions by the Bush administration and by the intelligence services themselves that no pressure was exerted on analysts.
The account was confirmed by former UN nuclear inspector David Albright: "It was known in May that no one was going to find large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons. The only people who did not know that fact was the public."
Actually, some of the "public" wasn't unaware of at least some of these facts either. See the first entry for the Informed Comment column of June 11 and the March 18 email by moi cited there.
Okay. So, we know that the intelligence about there being any WMD in the first place was disputed roundly. But for the sake of argument - and only for that sake - let's concede that there was reason to believe they were there up until May. That still leaves us nine full months of pouring money down a hole for the investigations that they knew were useless.
There are a bunch of people out there who ought to be rounded up and tossed. And somebody's ass should be in a sling right now instead of out chasing the democrats around the country and cracking stupid jokes and collecting tens of millions of dollars so that he can continue to f*ck every last one of us for four more years.
Don't go squeamish on me now.
How's it feel?
Sunday, February 01, 2004
Meanwhile in Iraq
We are continuing to bring our own special brand of justice to the Iraqis.
From Billmon:
Col. Sassaman probably isn't a bad man. [Christian human rights activist David] Hilfiker didn't seem to think so. But he's trapped in a role (Great White Father) that became obsolete about three generations ago. And, not surprisingly, it's bringing out some of his worst authoritarian instincts -- just as the neo-colonial reality of the occupation no doubt is bringing out some of the worst anarchistic instincts of his Iraqi subjects.
I don't like to argue good and bad. So, I'll just leave it aside. But, if the Great White Father role was ever appropriate, and Colonel Sassaman's actions, as related by Mr. Hilfiker, are appropriate to that role, then I know this isn't my home planet.
"With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them," Colonel Sassaman said.
...The most vociferous complaints, however, concerned nighttime raids and detentions. Military people had previously acknowledged to us a policy of "45 seconds of rage and fury"on entering a house. They consider this necessary to obtain immediate submission and keep their troops safe. Soldiers break down doors, yell commands to lie on the floor, run through the house, and generally try to frighten the occupants into submissive behavior.
"Why do the soldiers break down our doors and smash our cupboards. We would give them the key if they just asked?" was a typical question from the outraged lawyers.
"When Saddam raided," said one, "he took only the person he was after. Now the whole family is taken, even when the soldiers know they have the wrong house."
The treatment of women infuriated some of these men. With embarrassment, one lawyer claimed that US troops had raided a house, found a couple naked in their bed and took them away in that state. "This is not acceptable in our culture," he said."
...It was quickly clear from his body language and his curt responses, however, that he was in no way disposed to listen to these [Iraqi] lawyers. I was shocked some minutes later when he became particularly irritated and, turning to us, blurted out without preface or explanation: "You need to understand that these people are Muslim, and their values are just different from Judeo-Christian values. They aren't for doing things for other people like we are; they're only out for themselves."
...Sassaman then accused the Iraqi lawyers of being "imposters," and told Hilfiker he was being "used" -- by whom was not made clear, but the implication was clear enough: The lawyers were simply mouthpieces for the resistance. When Hilfiker invited the Colonel to a meeting with other local human rights activists, he replied:
"There'll be a meeting, all right, and all the lawyers will be there. And it'll be a humdinger of a meeting."
The meaning of this statement became clear early the next morning, when Sassaman and his men came and arrested one of the Iraqi lawyers who had accompanied Hilfiker to his meeting with the Colonel, and shipped him -- and his five brothers -- off to a Coalition gulag.
In your name. With your money.
The rest of the post.
And the incredible Hilfiker report is here.
From Billmon:
Col. Sassaman probably isn't a bad man. [Christian human rights activist David] Hilfiker didn't seem to think so. But he's trapped in a role (Great White Father) that became obsolete about three generations ago. And, not surprisingly, it's bringing out some of his worst authoritarian instincts -- just as the neo-colonial reality of the occupation no doubt is bringing out some of the worst anarchistic instincts of his Iraqi subjects.
I don't like to argue good and bad. So, I'll just leave it aside. But, if the Great White Father role was ever appropriate, and Colonel Sassaman's actions, as related by Mr. Hilfiker, are appropriate to that role, then I know this isn't my home planet.
"With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them," Colonel Sassaman said.
...The most vociferous complaints, however, concerned nighttime raids and detentions. Military people had previously acknowledged to us a policy of "45 seconds of rage and fury"on entering a house. They consider this necessary to obtain immediate submission and keep their troops safe. Soldiers break down doors, yell commands to lie on the floor, run through the house, and generally try to frighten the occupants into submissive behavior.
"Why do the soldiers break down our doors and smash our cupboards. We would give them the key if they just asked?" was a typical question from the outraged lawyers.
"When Saddam raided," said one, "he took only the person he was after. Now the whole family is taken, even when the soldiers know they have the wrong house."
The treatment of women infuriated some of these men. With embarrassment, one lawyer claimed that US troops had raided a house, found a couple naked in their bed and took them away in that state. "This is not acceptable in our culture," he said."
...It was quickly clear from his body language and his curt responses, however, that he was in no way disposed to listen to these [Iraqi] lawyers. I was shocked some minutes later when he became particularly irritated and, turning to us, blurted out without preface or explanation: "You need to understand that these people are Muslim, and their values are just different from Judeo-Christian values. They aren't for doing things for other people like we are; they're only out for themselves."
...Sassaman then accused the Iraqi lawyers of being "imposters," and told Hilfiker he was being "used" -- by whom was not made clear, but the implication was clear enough: The lawyers were simply mouthpieces for the resistance. When Hilfiker invited the Colonel to a meeting with other local human rights activists, he replied:
"There'll be a meeting, all right, and all the lawyers will be there. And it'll be a humdinger of a meeting."
The meaning of this statement became clear early the next morning, when Sassaman and his men came and arrested one of the Iraqi lawyers who had accompanied Hilfiker to his meeting with the Colonel, and shipped him -- and his five brothers -- off to a Coalition gulag.
In your name. With your money.
The rest of the post.
And the incredible Hilfiker report is here.
The Hutton "whitewash"
Billmon quotes Max Hastings:
How could the reporters have been so wrong?
There'll be more to this story.
Billmon:
The MO is the same here in the states. Having manipulated and bullied the intelligence community into progressively hyping its own assessment of the Iraq threat -- and then creating its own pet intelligence assessment office within the Pentagon to say what the CIA would not -- the Bush administration and it defenders have now fallen back on the narrowest possible definition of wrongdoing: Did they, in fact, tell "lies" -- statements they knew to be completely false when they uttered them?
This leaves the press -- or that part of it that actually seeks to get at the truth -- in a classic Catch-22. It is difficult, and usually impossible, for journalists to prove definitively that a public official is lying, in the specific sense that the White House or 10 Downing Street now want to frame the debate. The obstacles are particularly formidable when the government is completely controlled by one party -- which is all the time in Britain and presently the case in America. The government, quite simply, has the field tilted almost entirely in its favor...
More
Lord Hutton seems unable to grasp a simple truth: all journalism is conducted against a background of official obfuscation and deceit, which does much to explain our blunders and omissions. It seems remarkable not how much journalists get wrong -- a great deal -- but that we are able to retrieve from the Whitehall swamp fragments of truth, and to present the waterlogged and bedraggled exhibits to readers and listeners.There's more to this than meets the eye. As always. But, while I haven't been posting on the Hutton inquiry (into the death of David Kelley and the connection to Blair's involvement in the WMD fiasco), I have been catching bits and pieces about it since its instigation. All along, the reports coming out of Great Britain were that the Hutton report was going to knock Tony Blair on his ass. The excitement was nearly palpable the closer it came to the report's release. And, Whammo! It was exactly the opposite. Hutton gave Tony a flying pass and nailed the BBC. And journalism will be a long time recovering, I imagine. (Read Greg Palast's post.)
How could the reporters have been so wrong?
There'll be more to this story.
Billmon:
The MO is the same here in the states. Having manipulated and bullied the intelligence community into progressively hyping its own assessment of the Iraq threat -- and then creating its own pet intelligence assessment office within the Pentagon to say what the CIA would not -- the Bush administration and it defenders have now fallen back on the narrowest possible definition of wrongdoing: Did they, in fact, tell "lies" -- statements they knew to be completely false when they uttered them?
This leaves the press -- or that part of it that actually seeks to get at the truth -- in a classic Catch-22. It is difficult, and usually impossible, for journalists to prove definitively that a public official is lying, in the specific sense that the White House or 10 Downing Street now want to frame the debate. The obstacles are particularly formidable when the government is completely controlled by one party -- which is all the time in Britain and presently the case in America. The government, quite simply, has the field tilted almost entirely in its favor...
More
Treason by any other name...
I thought obstructing the business of national security was treason.
The serious matter of the state of our intelligence, and thus our national security, is being weighed (ultimately by both parties) into campaign strategy.
President Bush has agreed to support an independent inquiry into the prewar intelligence that he used to assert that Saddam Hussein was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, Republican and congressional sources said Saturday.
The shift by the White House, which previously had maintained that any such inquiry should wait until a more exhaustive weapons search has been completed, came after pressure from lawmakers in both parties and from the former chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq.
...The White House long objected to an independent inquiry into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, ultimately relenting under congressional and public pressure.
Bush insisted on tight control over the intelligence material to be viewed by the commission, causing a constant struggle with the panel and leading to a dispute last week over whether commission members would have access to their own notes.
Like you thought they had some integrity or something? Like you thought that maybe when it came to our national security these people would all work toward the same goal - which would be national security?
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
The serious matter of the state of our intelligence, and thus our national security, is being weighed (ultimately by both parties) into campaign strategy.
President Bush has agreed to support an independent inquiry into the prewar intelligence that he used to assert that Saddam Hussein was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, Republican and congressional sources said Saturday.
The shift by the White House, which previously had maintained that any such inquiry should wait until a more exhaustive weapons search has been completed, came after pressure from lawmakers in both parties and from the former chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq.
...The White House long objected to an independent inquiry into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, ultimately relenting under congressional and public pressure.
Bush insisted on tight control over the intelligence material to be viewed by the commission, causing a constant struggle with the panel and leading to a dispute last week over whether commission members would have access to their own notes.
Like you thought they had some integrity or something? Like you thought that maybe when it came to our national security these people would all work toward the same goal - which would be national security?
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
Oh, for the love of Pete
ALBUQUERQUE, Jan. 31 — Senator John Edwards of North Carolina had a penknife confiscated Saturday as part of a stepped up security search that caused a one-hour delay for the Democratic presidential candidate and others boarding his chartered plane.
Airport security officials in Albuquerque also gave extensive screenings to those traveling with Mr. Edwards.
"We must look dangerous," joked Mr. Edwards, who was forced to go through a metal detector along with other passengers, and to have all his bags X-rayed before being allowed to board his campaign plane.
A small knife was confiscated from Mr. Edwards's luggage. "It was a pocketknife," he said. "I didn't even know it was there." Mr. Edwards said he was told it would be returned to him later.
A pair of scissors, tweezers and assorted small tools used by photographers and television cameramen also were confiscated. The extra scrutiny, which was not explained, caused Mr. Edwards to be an hour late for his next scheduled appearance.
About three dozen people were traveling on Mr. Edwards's plane, most of them members of the news media. article
Cartoon world.
Idiots.
What were these people going to do? Have a personal grooming appliance war on board the plane? Attack the pilot with tweezers and force him to crash the plane into the White House?
We scare me sometimes.
Mr. Edwards, if you can joke about that, and not find in the incident an opportunity to take a whack at the nation's looming crisis of insanity, then you've confirmed my opinion of your worthlessness as a Presidential candidate.
You know, I bet there was more than one person on that plane wearing a pair of metal frame glasses they could have broken an earpiece off of and stabbed somebody. As a matter of fact, any one of them could have used their index finger to poke somebody else's eyes out.
I propose all planes be outfitted with handcuffs and leg irons like a federal marshall's transport plane. Only then can we truly feel safe.
...but hey, do what you want....you will anyway....
Airport security officials in Albuquerque also gave extensive screenings to those traveling with Mr. Edwards.
"We must look dangerous," joked Mr. Edwards, who was forced to go through a metal detector along with other passengers, and to have all his bags X-rayed before being allowed to board his campaign plane.
A small knife was confiscated from Mr. Edwards's luggage. "It was a pocketknife," he said. "I didn't even know it was there." Mr. Edwards said he was told it would be returned to him later.
A pair of scissors, tweezers and assorted small tools used by photographers and television cameramen also were confiscated. The extra scrutiny, which was not explained, caused Mr. Edwards to be an hour late for his next scheduled appearance.
About three dozen people were traveling on Mr. Edwards's plane, most of them members of the news media. article
Cartoon world.
Idiots.
What were these people going to do? Have a personal grooming appliance war on board the plane? Attack the pilot with tweezers and force him to crash the plane into the White House?
We scare me sometimes.
Mr. Edwards, if you can joke about that, and not find in the incident an opportunity to take a whack at the nation's looming crisis of insanity, then you've confirmed my opinion of your worthlessness as a Presidential candidate.
You know, I bet there was more than one person on that plane wearing a pair of metal frame glasses they could have broken an earpiece off of and stabbed somebody. As a matter of fact, any one of them could have used their index finger to poke somebody else's eyes out.
I propose all planes be outfitted with handcuffs and leg irons like a federal marshall's transport plane. Only then can we truly feel safe.
...but hey, do what you want....you will anyway....
Weapons of Mass Deception
Eli has a post over at Left I that bears further coverage, so...
More phantom weapons of mass destructon
Tom Brokaw and Joe Lieberman in last night's Democratic debate:
More phantom weapons of mass destructon
Tom Brokaw and Joe Lieberman in last night's Democratic debate:
BROKAW: Senator Lieberman, do you think that Libya would have given up its weapons of mass destruction if the United States had not invaded Iraq?Just one (or two) little problem(s). Libya did not have any weapons of mass destruction to "give up" (they did renounce their intention to have any in the future). And Iran did not have any "nuclear weapons sites," they have nuclear power plants (under construction, not yet functioning). Rather a different thing, to put it mildly.
LIEBERMAN: It's a very important question. I seriously doubt whether Libya would have given up its weapons of mass destruction if we had not overthrown Saddam Hussein. I seriously doubt if the Iranians would have allowed international inspectors come in and looked at their nuclear weapons sites if we had not done that.
What to do about Pakistan - redux
Things are getting a little tangly.
We say we are going to use Pakistan as staging grounds for a strike into Afghanistan in the spring (to get Osama - please, no smart-ass cracks). And Pakistan says we are not. So far, that's what Pakistan says. Musharraf is having a little trouble at home.
He's not exactly the most popular man in Pakistan, and now he's got a little matter of a nuclear scientist who's just been sacked and is supposedly holding some damning information over the heads of Musharaff and Bush. They say the guy was a "rogue" who gave nuclear information to Iran and Libya. He says he was acting with the full complicity of the Pakistani government. He's disappeared from public view. Imagine. His daughter claims to have a tape proving his claims which she will release if anybody's thinking about making him a "scapegoat".
And you thought you had headaches dealing with all your family over the holidays.
What to do. What to do.
Meanwhile, in Iran...
More than a third of Iran's reformist parliamentarians have submitted their resignations, saying they cannot serve in a government that holds unfair elections and doesn't represent the will of the people.
Hmmm. Democracy. What an intriguing idea.
The resigning officials include more than 80 sitting members of parliament who were banned by the hard-line Guardian Council from seeking re-election.
The resignations came two days after the conservative Guardian Council announced it had reinstated only a third of the 3,600 mostly reformist candidates it disqualified from Iran's coming parliamentary election.
But thank god for Libya. Libya, oh Libya.
Libya is responsible for many deaths resulting from acts of terrorism over the years and for much regional instability...The issue now facing the United States is whether we can disregard the outrageous track record of the Libyan regime for the past 3-1/2 decades. article
Oh, hell yeah. Fuhget about it.
When the U.S. flag flies over our embassy in Tripoli once more, we will have demonstrated yet again our commitment to a more peaceful and stable world.
That's what I'm talkin' about.
We say we are going to use Pakistan as staging grounds for a strike into Afghanistan in the spring (to get Osama - please, no smart-ass cracks). And Pakistan says we are not. So far, that's what Pakistan says. Musharraf is having a little trouble at home.
He's not exactly the most popular man in Pakistan, and now he's got a little matter of a nuclear scientist who's just been sacked and is supposedly holding some damning information over the heads of Musharaff and Bush. They say the guy was a "rogue" who gave nuclear information to Iran and Libya. He says he was acting with the full complicity of the Pakistani government. He's disappeared from public view. Imagine. His daughter claims to have a tape proving his claims which she will release if anybody's thinking about making him a "scapegoat".
And you thought you had headaches dealing with all your family over the holidays.
What to do. What to do.
Meanwhile, in Iran...
More than a third of Iran's reformist parliamentarians have submitted their resignations, saying they cannot serve in a government that holds unfair elections and doesn't represent the will of the people.
Hmmm. Democracy. What an intriguing idea.
The resigning officials include more than 80 sitting members of parliament who were banned by the hard-line Guardian Council from seeking re-election.
The resignations came two days after the conservative Guardian Council announced it had reinstated only a third of the 3,600 mostly reformist candidates it disqualified from Iran's coming parliamentary election.
But thank god for Libya. Libya, oh Libya.
Libya is responsible for many deaths resulting from acts of terrorism over the years and for much regional instability...The issue now facing the United States is whether we can disregard the outrageous track record of the Libyan regime for the past 3-1/2 decades. article
Oh, hell yeah. Fuhget about it.
When the U.S. flag flies over our embassy in Tripoli once more, we will have demonstrated yet again our commitment to a more peaceful and stable world.
That's what I'm talkin' about.
Speaking of intelligence
Let me ask you this...why is our intelligence about possible attacks on the U.S. "vague", but intelligence on whether Syria or Cuba are developing WMD good?
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has said the U.S. government consistently receives intelligence that al Qaeda is still interested in using aircraft for attacks.
INTELLIGENCE VAGUE
The Washington Post cited intelligence officials as saying attackers could try to hijack a plane by releasing a chemical agent to incapacitate the crew and passengers or smuggle a radiological device in luggage.
The newspaper said the intelligence on a possible attack with a weapon of mass destruction was vague. Reuters article
Of course it's vague. It's bullshit. Al-Qa'ida is no smarter than to insist on using aircraft when that is the one place we have increased security? They are just mindlessly fascinated with airplanes I guess.
If another aircraft attack actually happens, it's not going to be al-Qa'ida. No matter what they tell you.
For cyring out loud. They have operatives in the states already. This ridiculous insitence that they can only get in from other countries is fear-mongering for children. Keep it up and one day you won't be able to leave the country. And nobody you know will be coming to visit, either.
Everybody, remind your fear-addled friends and neighbors to...
U.S. officials had demanded enhanced security precautions that some airlines were unable to take, so "it became easier to just cancel the flights," an administration official told the paper.
Since the flights were scrapped, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security decided against deploying crews to detect hazardous materials, the newspaper said.
U.S. authorities also asked foreign airlines to put armed marshals on some flights and dispatched fighter jets to escort some incoming planes.
Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Portugal were firmly against the air marshal proposals, EU officials have said. But France and Britain said they were ready to accept them in some cases.
"We have been for several months in an extremely tense international environment," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told France's TF1 TV station.
Created by whom?
"Dispatched fighter jets to escort some incoming planes." But didn't dispatch any in the 25 minutes after the transponder of flight 11 which crashed into the World Trade Center was shut off and 15 minutes after flight controllers heard a hijacker say, "We have some planes," and during the 23 minutes flight attendant Betty Ong was on the phone saying they were hijacked, couldn't get into the pilot's cabin, and people had been stabbed. And didn't dispatch any within the 45 minutes from when flight 77 went off course and the time it crashed into the Pentagon after the towers had been struck.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has said the U.S. government consistently receives intelligence that al Qaeda is still interested in using aircraft for attacks.
INTELLIGENCE VAGUE
The Washington Post cited intelligence officials as saying attackers could try to hijack a plane by releasing a chemical agent to incapacitate the crew and passengers or smuggle a radiological device in luggage.
The newspaper said the intelligence on a possible attack with a weapon of mass destruction was vague. Reuters article
Of course it's vague. It's bullshit. Al-Qa'ida is no smarter than to insist on using aircraft when that is the one place we have increased security? They are just mindlessly fascinated with airplanes I guess.
If another aircraft attack actually happens, it's not going to be al-Qa'ida. No matter what they tell you.
For cyring out loud. They have operatives in the states already. This ridiculous insitence that they can only get in from other countries is fear-mongering for children. Keep it up and one day you won't be able to leave the country. And nobody you know will be coming to visit, either.
Everybody, remind your fear-addled friends and neighbors to...
U.S. officials had demanded enhanced security precautions that some airlines were unable to take, so "it became easier to just cancel the flights," an administration official told the paper.
Since the flights were scrapped, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security decided against deploying crews to detect hazardous materials, the newspaper said.
U.S. authorities also asked foreign airlines to put armed marshals on some flights and dispatched fighter jets to escort some incoming planes.
Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Portugal were firmly against the air marshal proposals, EU officials have said. But France and Britain said they were ready to accept them in some cases.
"We have been for several months in an extremely tense international environment," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told France's TF1 TV station.
Created by whom?
"Dispatched fighter jets to escort some incoming planes." But didn't dispatch any in the 25 minutes after the transponder of flight 11 which crashed into the World Trade Center was shut off and 15 minutes after flight controllers heard a hijacker say, "We have some planes," and during the 23 minutes flight attendant Betty Ong was on the phone saying they were hijacked, couldn't get into the pilot's cabin, and people had been stabbed. And didn't dispatch any within the 45 minutes from when flight 77 went off course and the time it crashed into the Pentagon after the towers had been struck.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
The party of fear
President Bush will visit Charleston next week, two days after the Democratic presidential primary, to discuss homeland security in a state where the Democrats running for the White House have been attacking him on the stump. Charleston.net article
And in the history books, he will be the President who campaigned on a platform of fear. What a legacy.
President Bush blew into New Hampshire on Thursday, less than 48 hours after the Democrat competitors left, to try to dig out from the piles of invective that those candidates had heaped on him in a presidential primary that White House officials said Mr. Bush was too busy to notice....[and] touched on the major themes of his re-election campaign: national security, tax cuts, jobs. NY Times article
Running around after the Democrat primaries. Hysterical.
In New Hampshire, he breezed into a chocolate shop.
"They started their business last year, had a dream, living their dream, and they're making good product," Mr. Bush said in his usual staccato of the shop's owners, Michael and Theresa Anderson. "And I expect people in the national press corps to leave some cash behind."
I guess this is going to be his sub-theme - trying to make the press look like the hard-hearted skinflints. What a sleeze. A hard-hearted one.
Mr. Bush was not as talkative about testimony on Wednesday from David A. Kay, who said that the prewar intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs was wrong, or about Senator John Kerry, who has won the first two states to vote on a Democratic nominee. Mr. Bush ignored questions on both subjects.
In the evening, at a lucrative drop-by in Old Greenwich, Conn., the state of his birth, Mr. Bush raised $1.1 million for his re-election campaign. The checks brought his fund-raising total to more than $130 million, an amount that dwarfs the $40 million raised and mostly spent by the next-biggest fund-raiser of the 2004 campaign, Howard Dean.
I guess, if it comes down to it, his campaign fund could pay for the next terror attack. That would cinch the deal.
The major no-show at the event was Gov. John G. Rowland, a Republican who is enmeshed in a corruption scandal over free renovations to his lakeside cottage. Bush campaign officials did not say whether they had asked Mr. Rowland to stay away.
Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a Republican, said the decision to stay home had been Mr. Rowland's.
"He just wanted to let the president have this evening for himself," Ms. Rell told reporters at the fund-raiser.
Yeah. Sure. When in history has the governor of a state stayed away from a presidential visit to let him have the evening "for himself"?
In Merrimack, Mr. Bush's event consisted of seven people sitting with him on a stage saying cheerful things about how his tax cuts or his stewardship of the economy had improved their lives. The White House said one of the seven, Louise Hickey, a senior executive secretary at Fidelity, had saved $1,100 from Mr. Bush's tax cuts.
"Now, that may not sound like a lot to some of the people who are rolling in cash," Mr. Bush said, to laughter, but adding: "That's a lot. It made a difference."
Oh, hahahahaha. Isn't that just too cute. Funny, funny, funny - the poor people's pathetic lives.
Louise, you silly campaign whore. They're using you to screw the nation. And you're getting $1,100. Which will be taken away from you in health care costs or increased utility costs - or something like.
Mr. Bush recalled his years at Yale as well as members from his class of 1968 who had turned up to see him.
"They were the ones who invented shock and awe when they heard I was president," Mr. Bush said, alluding to his average grades. "They're all fine lads. They themselves were C students."
There's an old standard joke about the horrifying thought that you might be under the knife of a surgeon who only got a C average. And this is funny stuff that your President, the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, was a C student?
Paraphrasing Mark Twain: The man who doesn't read has no advantage over the man who can't.
And in the history books, he will be the President who campaigned on a platform of fear. What a legacy.
President Bush blew into New Hampshire on Thursday, less than 48 hours after the Democrat competitors left, to try to dig out from the piles of invective that those candidates had heaped on him in a presidential primary that White House officials said Mr. Bush was too busy to notice....[and] touched on the major themes of his re-election campaign: national security, tax cuts, jobs. NY Times article
Running around after the Democrat primaries. Hysterical.
In New Hampshire, he breezed into a chocolate shop.
"They started their business last year, had a dream, living their dream, and they're making good product," Mr. Bush said in his usual staccato of the shop's owners, Michael and Theresa Anderson. "And I expect people in the national press corps to leave some cash behind."
I guess this is going to be his sub-theme - trying to make the press look like the hard-hearted skinflints. What a sleeze. A hard-hearted one.
Mr. Bush was not as talkative about testimony on Wednesday from David A. Kay, who said that the prewar intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs was wrong, or about Senator John Kerry, who has won the first two states to vote on a Democratic nominee. Mr. Bush ignored questions on both subjects.
In the evening, at a lucrative drop-by in Old Greenwich, Conn., the state of his birth, Mr. Bush raised $1.1 million for his re-election campaign. The checks brought his fund-raising total to more than $130 million, an amount that dwarfs the $40 million raised and mostly spent by the next-biggest fund-raiser of the 2004 campaign, Howard Dean.
I guess, if it comes down to it, his campaign fund could pay for the next terror attack. That would cinch the deal.
The major no-show at the event was Gov. John G. Rowland, a Republican who is enmeshed in a corruption scandal over free renovations to his lakeside cottage. Bush campaign officials did not say whether they had asked Mr. Rowland to stay away.
Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a Republican, said the decision to stay home had been Mr. Rowland's.
"He just wanted to let the president have this evening for himself," Ms. Rell told reporters at the fund-raiser.
Yeah. Sure. When in history has the governor of a state stayed away from a presidential visit to let him have the evening "for himself"?
In Merrimack, Mr. Bush's event consisted of seven people sitting with him on a stage saying cheerful things about how his tax cuts or his stewardship of the economy had improved their lives. The White House said one of the seven, Louise Hickey, a senior executive secretary at Fidelity, had saved $1,100 from Mr. Bush's tax cuts.
"Now, that may not sound like a lot to some of the people who are rolling in cash," Mr. Bush said, to laughter, but adding: "That's a lot. It made a difference."
Oh, hahahahaha. Isn't that just too cute. Funny, funny, funny - the poor people's pathetic lives.
Louise, you silly campaign whore. They're using you to screw the nation. And you're getting $1,100. Which will be taken away from you in health care costs or increased utility costs - or something like.
Mr. Bush recalled his years at Yale as well as members from his class of 1968 who had turned up to see him.
"They were the ones who invented shock and awe when they heard I was president," Mr. Bush said, alluding to his average grades. "They're all fine lads. They themselves were C students."
There's an old standard joke about the horrifying thought that you might be under the knife of a surgeon who only got a C average. And this is funny stuff that your President, the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, was a C student?
Paraphrasing Mark Twain: The man who doesn't read has no advantage over the man who can't.
Meanwhile in Iraq
As Georgie would tell you, things are getting better and better.
Two suicide bombers strapped with explosives blew themselves up in nearly simultaneous attacks on offices of two Kurdish parties in Iraq Sunday, killing and wounding as many as 200 people, officials said.
...The blasts hit the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PUK, the main factions in Iraq's Kurdish north, at about 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) as officials received visitors for a Muslim holiday.
..."The significance of this is devastating to the leadership of the Kurdish Democratic Party, one of the U.S.'s biggest allies in the war."
Many senior officials of the KDP, which controls a part of Iraq bordering Turkey, and the PUK, controlling the east of the region, were present when the bombers struck.
...Several senior PUK officials have been targeted in assassination attempts in recent years, attacks they blamed on the Muslim militant Ansar al-Islam group.
Ansar had a stronghold in PUK territory ahead of the war that ousted Saddam Hussein, and U.S. officials say the organization has regrouped and was involved in several attacks in recent months. Reuters article
Well, at least the Kurds aren't fighting each other again. Yet.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
Two suicide bombers strapped with explosives blew themselves up in nearly simultaneous attacks on offices of two Kurdish parties in Iraq Sunday, killing and wounding as many as 200 people, officials said.
...The blasts hit the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PUK, the main factions in Iraq's Kurdish north, at about 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) as officials received visitors for a Muslim holiday.
..."The significance of this is devastating to the leadership of the Kurdish Democratic Party, one of the U.S.'s biggest allies in the war."
Many senior officials of the KDP, which controls a part of Iraq bordering Turkey, and the PUK, controlling the east of the region, were present when the bombers struck.
...Several senior PUK officials have been targeted in assassination attempts in recent years, attacks they blamed on the Muslim militant Ansar al-Islam group.
Ansar had a stronghold in PUK territory ahead of the war that ousted Saddam Hussein, and U.S. officials say the organization has regrouped and was involved in several attacks in recent months. Reuters article
Well, at least the Kurds aren't fighting each other again. Yet.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
I'm getting a little sick of all the waffling
So, what it boils down to perhaps is that I can go back to ignoring the world....
What about al-Douri? That's the question I didn't want to ask again already this morning.
From the Daily Star:
Al-Sabah (Baghdad)
The daily published a denial by interim Governing Council member Ibrahim al-Jaafari of claims that he said US forces in Iraq have arrested former Vice-President Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri. Jaafari was quoted in a Saudi newspaper as having said Douri, a top official of Saddam Hussein’s regime, was captured, but that US forces did not want to reveal his arrest while still questioning Saddam. The daily quoted Jaafari as saying the comments, which were carried by other Arab media outlets, were “groundless and media fabrications.”
Of course they have him. Whatever. Just tell me what you want me to believe. I'll believe it. Change your story. I'll believe that, too. I don't care. There is no Dana, only Zul.
Last post on al-Douri, complete with explanation, is here.
Everybody's starting to sound like George Bonehead Bush. Either they make no sense at all, or they keep changing their story.
I know a nice beach down near Galveston where the fish and dolphins come to play with you. And another nice one over on the Outer Banks with rolling surf (but maybe a little too much wind). Still, I think maybe I'm looking for something in the Caribbean. I'll be getting out the maps. If you're going to ignore the world, there's no better place to ignore it from than an ocean beach in a warm climate.
....but hey, you do what you want....you will anyway.
What about al-Douri? That's the question I didn't want to ask again already this morning.
From the Daily Star:
Al-Sabah (Baghdad)
The daily published a denial by interim Governing Council member Ibrahim al-Jaafari of claims that he said US forces in Iraq have arrested former Vice-President Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri. Jaafari was quoted in a Saudi newspaper as having said Douri, a top official of Saddam Hussein’s regime, was captured, but that US forces did not want to reveal his arrest while still questioning Saddam. The daily quoted Jaafari as saying the comments, which were carried by other Arab media outlets, were “groundless and media fabrications.”
Of course they have him. Whatever. Just tell me what you want me to believe. I'll believe it. Change your story. I'll believe that, too. I don't care. There is no Dana, only Zul.
Last post on al-Douri, complete with explanation, is here.
Everybody's starting to sound like George Bonehead Bush. Either they make no sense at all, or they keep changing their story.
I know a nice beach down near Galveston where the fish and dolphins come to play with you. And another nice one over on the Outer Banks with rolling surf (but maybe a little too much wind). Still, I think maybe I'm looking for something in the Caribbean. I'll be getting out the maps. If you're going to ignore the world, there's no better place to ignore it from than an ocean beach in a warm climate.
....but hey, you do what you want....you will anyway.
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