When Democracy is Theocracy in Disquise

Good news! The Afghan authorities have dropped charges against Abdul Rahman, citing 'lack of evidence'. They haven't quite let him go yet, however. In fact, at the time of this writing he is in Policharki Prison, "a notorious maximum-security prison outside Kabul that is also home to hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida militants." You see, detainees where he was before threatened his life, so one hopes he's in solitary at Policharki. Any Taliban will joyfully slit his throat.

Indeed, it is expected that he will leave the country after his release as "some Islamic clerics had said Rahman would face danger from his countrymen."

If he had gone to trial and found guilty he could have been executed.

Child molester? Cartoonist? Writer? No, something much worse: Christian convert.

It's not illegal to be Christian, you see, but for a moslem to convert to Christianity is a capitol offence under Shari'a law. One may assume, then, that such jurisprudence is part of Afghanistan's constitution.

This situation is something of an embarrassment all around. Hamid Karzai found himself in the middle of a political storm between Western outrage and concern about reactions from Islamic conservatives if he was seen to be caving in to infidel pressure. Eventually one started to hear that Rahman's mental state was in question, a good indication that people were jockeying for a way out. So Rahman's only worry after being released is that someone, at some time, will probably try to murder him.

Please appreciate how bizarre this reads to Western eyes. It is a concrete indication of the profound differences between the various Middle East Islamic cultures and the secular West. There are those who say "liberty is liberty" no matter who you are or where you are. Well, from one perspective that may very well be and if so liberty is severely compromised by religious intrusion in those areas where we are so busily and ignorantly trying to spread liberal democracy.

Here's article two from the Iraqi Constitution: Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation. (LINK)

Hmmm.

I propose that the term "official religion of the state" and democracy are mutually exclusive. The former profoundly attenuates the legitimacy of the latter.

At least that was what the Founding Fathers thought.

Religious law dominated Europe for the better part of a thousand years, and saw its zenith in the various Inquisitions meant to keep the Christian faith pure. Of particular interest is the Roman Inqusition of the 16th century, the purpose of which was partially a reaction to the Renaissance. The Renaissance being that period of unbridled questioning and artistic expression that was a direct result of the rediscovery of classical thought, which had been preserved, ironically, by Islam.

You could have been burned at the stake for saying the sun was the center of the solar system. Just ask Galileo, who declined the invitation and recanted his views. One Giordano Bruno, however, was incinerated for just that in 1600.

Thankfully, the Renaissance was unstoppable and gave birth to the Enlightenment which, in turn, gave us Jeffersonian Democracy. Getting hereditary aristocracy off our backs was only one part of this development. Getting religion out of the halls of government was the other.

As long as a culture looks to the unquestionable dictates of divine revelation for the only definition of society, democracy is not only unlikely but its imposition can only result in reactionary religious conservatism.

Absent their own Renaissance and Enlightenment, liberal democracy in essentially religious theocracies is doomed to bloody failure.

But we don't have to look very far to see the dangers of such medieval magical thinking. We have our own proponents of such a society, although Bible based, right here.

And they are very cheeky lately.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So George Bush signed into law a bill that didn't pass in the House. Wow, I wonder what the Consitution will look like after George is done with his black Sharpie.

He's already blacked out the Fourth Amendment. Seperation of church and state is certainly weakening.

Reminds me, at a Q & A the other day in Cleveland, the President was asked the following question: My question is that author and former Nixon administration official Kevin Phillips in his latest book, "American Theocracy," discusses what has been called radical Christianity and its growing involvement into government and politics. He makes the point that members of your administration have reached out to prophetic Christians who see the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism as signs of the Apocalypse. Do you believe this, that the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism are signs of the Apocalypse? And if not, why not?

Now, I heard his response. One part of his answer was, "First, I've heard of that, by the way." (LINK)

The White House transcript is a bit different: "The first I've heard of that, by the way." (LINK)

I didn't hear him say that.

Cheers,
Clemsy


QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

President Calls on Americans to Show Patience Regarding Iraq
But none regarding Iran. ~Ironic Times

You know, I've lived in somewhere around 15 dictatorships in my life, negotiated and threatened dictators in Africa and the middle east right to their faces. Given that, it's really kind of hard for me to take seriously a trio of clowns named Dick, Karl, and Scooter. I mean, c'mon. ~Joseph Wilson

But what is different is when Shiites get killed by suicide bombs, everyone comes together to fight the Sunni terrorists. When Shiites kill Sunnis, there is no response, because much of this killing is done by militias connected to the government. ~Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi Parliament

Republicans are evoking an obscure Supreme Court ruling from the 1890s to suggest that a bill does not actually have to pass both chambers of Congress to become law. ~Jonathan Weisman (Streamlining government right past the need for a constitution. Isn't that special?)

We have fomented civil war in Iraq. We have probably fomented internecine war in the Muslim world between the Shias and the Sunnis, and I think Bush may well have started the third world war, all for their own personal policies. ~Command Sergeant Major Eric Haney (ret), Delta Force founding member

A Kurdish writer was sentenced to one year and a half in prison on Sunday for accusing Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani of abuse of power. ~Reuters

ACROSS the U.S. capital, lawmakers are scurrying from pillar to post in a frantic effort to put lipstick on a pig. ~Philadelphia Daily News

Last year David Kuo, the White House deputy director for faith-based initiatives, resigned with a statement that "Republicans were indifferent to the poor. ~Sidney Blumenthal

Its a good thing he [Bush] wasn’t President when the Japanese attacked Pearl harbor, we’d still be in Argentina. ~Olephart

The president's apologists rationalize even his most obvious and egregious illegalities, mendacities and bungling with straight faces and earnest demeanor and the rest of us are left posturing for history, trying to make certain that when the official record is written, we are not indicted by our silence. ~Leonard Pitts Jr.

We're beyond the American people buying into public relations offensives. ~Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Chuck Hagel, R-Neb

If this is not civil war then God knows what civil war is. ~former prime minister of Iraq, Ayad Allawi

Some positive signs do not mitigate this administration's gross miscalculations and stunning incompetence in Iraq. ~Rep. Steny Hoyer

The only people who want us in Iraq are Iran and al-Qaida. ~Rep. John Murtha

The president contradicts US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, while the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Peter Pace, and the US commander in Iraq, General John Abizaid, contradict the president. At the same time, secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld blithely contradicts the joint chiefs on the entire strategy. ~Sidney Blumenthal

Don't worry, Mr. President. We have Kansas surrounded. ~FBI Deputy Director Bruce Gebhardt to President Bush concerning "a suspected terrorism threat in Kansas."

Our problem now is that we're not fighting the people who attacked us — they're still running around on the Afghan-Pakistan border while we battle Iraqis who don't like us occupying their country. ~Molly Ivins

In my more than three decades in the government I've never witnessed such restrictions on the ability of scientists to communicate with the public. ~James Hansen, head of NASA's top institute studying climate.

If your starting point for evaluating the world around you is the firm belief that this nation is somehow endowed by Providence with unique qualities that make it morally superior to every other nation on Earth, then you are not likely to question the President when he says we are sending our troops here or there, or bombing this or that, in order to spread our values—democracy, liberty, and let’s not forget free enterprise—to some God-forsaken (literally) place in the world. ~Howard Zinn


QUOTES FROM THE HIVE MIND

This may be what failure looks like. But it may also be what success looks like. If we're going to succeed, it's going to look bad for a while. ~Frederick Kagan, a conservative scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (Oh. My. God.)

Now the Iraqi leaders are working together to enact a government that reflects the will of the people, and so I'm encouraged by the progress. George Bush, trying to keep the lemmings on track.

More Iraqis are dying from the militia violence than from the terrorists. ~Zalmay Khalilzad (sounds like civil war to me)

It continues to improve day by day. Those are the facts on the ground. That's the reality. ~Dick Cheney (...because reality is what I say it is.)

Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis. ~Donald Rumsfeld (That ridiculous Germany analogy again. besides, how many troops were in postwar germany? Millions and millions.)

...a consistent understanding has developed that the president has inherent constitutional authority to conduct warrantless searches and surveillance within the United States for foreign intelligence purposes. ~from "a little-noticed white paper submitted by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to Congress on January 19 justifying the legality of the NSA eavesdropping"

I don't think he's going to do it for political reasons, but if he did do it for political reasons, you'd do it in October. ~Pat Buchanan on invading Iran

The terrorists seem to recognize that they are losing in Iraq. ~Donald Rumsfeld

How many Iraqi women and children have been killed by insurgents who have been emboldened by the American left? ~Rush Limbaugh


PICKS OF THE WEEK:

A Time for Heresy by Bill Moyers

When Dean Bill Leonard asked James Dunn to join him here at Wake Forest’s new Divinity School, my soul shouted “Yes!” These two men personify the honesty and courage we need to meet the challenge of faith in the fundamentalist dispensation of the 21st century as radical interpretations of both Islam and Christianity seek, in the words of C.Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance, “to take over the government and use cause structures to advance the ideology, hierarchy, and laws” of their movement.

Iraqis think U.S. in their nation to stay

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, and other U.S. officials disavow any desire for permanent bases. But long-term access, as at other U.S. bases abroad, is different from "permanent," and the official U.S. position is carefully worded. (Italics mine. 'Long term access' vs. 'permanent'. You say tomato I say tomahto.)

Gestures of conscience bring solace

Late last year, John Conyers Jr., Democratic congressman from Michigan, proposed impeaching the president of the United States. The proposal received scant attention in the media mainstream, though it was picked up with glee by liberal bloggers and provided a rallying point for the president's supporters.

The Letter of the Law

In the dark days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a small group of lawyers from the White House and the Justice Department began meeting to debate a number of novel legal strategies to help prevent another attack. Soon after, President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to begin conducting electronic eavesdropping on terrorism suspects in the United States, including American citizens, without court approval. Meeting in the FBI's state-of-the-art command center in the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the lawyers talked with senior FBI officials about using the same legal authority to conduct physical searches of homes and businesses of terrorism suspects--also without court approval, one current and one former government official tell U.S. News. "There was a fair amount of discussion at Justice on the warrantless physical search issue," says a former senior FBI official. "Discussions about--if [the searches] happened--where would the information go, and would it taint cases.

THE IRAQ WAR: Three years
White House no longer sees quick end to difficult war

When the U.S.-led coalition attacked Iraq three years ago, the Bush administration was brimming with confidence that this would be a war only in the sense that a lot of bombs would be dropped and the military would seize, temporarily, a foreign capital. It was going to be swift, high-tech, clean.


HEADLINES

Bush shuns Patriot Act requirement

When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers.

U.S. War Spending to Rise 44% to $9.8 Bln a Month, Report Says

Spending will rise to $9.8 billion a month from the $6.8 billion a month the Pentagon said it spent last year, the research service said. The group's March 10 report cites ``substantial'' expenses to replace or repair damaged weapons, aircraft, vehicles, radios and spare parts.


Losing Ground

A bitterly divided electorate gives President George W. Bush an approval rating of only 36 percent in the latest NEWSWEEK poll, matching the low point in his presidency recorded last November. His image as an effective leader in the war on terror is tarnished, with less than half the public (44 percent) approving of the way he’s handling terrorism and homeland security. Despite a series of presidential speeches meant to bolster support for the war in Iraq, as well as the announcement of a major military offensive when the poll was getting under way, only 29 percent of the people questioned approved Bush’s handling of the situation in Iraq. Fully 65 percent disapprove.

Iraqi Leaders `Making Good Progress,' Bush Says

President George W. Bush said Iraqi political leaders are ``making good progress'' toward forming a unity government, and that recent violence in the country has spurred them to set aside their differences. (Not very many tunes in his repertoire is there?)

‘Impeach Bush’ chorus grows

THE movement to impeach President George W Bush over the war on terror began with a few tatty bumper stickers on the back of battered old Volvos and slogans such as “Bush lied, people died” on far-left websites. But as Democrat hopes rise of gaining control of Congress this autumn, dreams of impeaching Bush are no longer confined to the political fringe.


BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING

DOJ: NSA Could've Monitored Lawyers' Calls

The National Security Agency could have legally monitored ordinarily confidential communications between doctors and patients or attorneys and their clients, the Justice Department said Friday of its controversial warrantless surveillance program.

Bush Okayed Warrantless Searches - Oregon Lawyer Says His Office Was Illegally Searched

US News says President Bush’s authorization of warrantless domestic spying went beyond wiretapping to include physical searches of businesses and residences inside the United States — an apparent violation of the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits “unreasonable” searches and seizures by the government.


OCCUPATION: IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

US envoy urges crackdown on Iraq militias

The U.S. ambassador urged Iraq's divided leaders to rein in militias on Saturday as political blocs failed again to break a deadlock on forming a unity government that they hope can avert civil war.

At Least 51 Killed in Iraqi Violence

At least 51 people were killed by insurgents and shadowy sectarian gangs, police reported _ continuing the wave of violence that has left more than 1,000 Iraqis dead since the bombing last month of a Shiite Muslim shrine.

Bush Asks U.S. to Look Past Iraq Bloodshed

Beginning the fourth year of an unpopular war, President Bush defended his Iraq record on Monday against skeptical questioning. He said he could "understand people being disheartened" but appealed to Americans to look beyond the bloodshed and see signs of progress.

Before and After Abu Ghraib, a U.S. Unit Abused Detainees

As the Iraqi insurgency intensified in early 2004, an elite Special Operations forces unit converted one of Saddam Hussein's former military bases near Baghdad into a top-secret detention center. There, American soldiers made one of the former Iraqi government's torture chambers into their own interrogation cell. They named it the Black Room.


RELIGION

Apocalyptic President

In his latest PR offensive President Bush came to Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday to answer the paramount question on Iraq that he said was on people's minds: "They wonder what I see that they don't." After mentioning "terror" 54 times and "victory" five, dismissing "civil war" twice and asserting that he is "optimistic", he called on a citizen in the audience, who homed in on the invisible meaning of recent events in the light of two books, American Theocracy, by Kevin Phillips, and the book of Revelation. Phillips, the questioner explained, "makes the point that members of your administration have reached out to prophetic Christians who see the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism as signs of the apocalypse. Do you believe this? And if not, why not?"

Afghan Christian convert could face death

An Afghan man detained for converting to Christianity could face the death penalty if he refuses to become Muslim again, police and a judge said on Sunday.


OPINION

America's Blinders by Howard Zinn

It seems to me there are two reasons, which go deep into our national culture, and which help explain the vulnerability of the press and of the citizenry to outrageous lies whose consequences bring death to tens of thousands of people. If we can understand those reasons, we can guard ourselves better against being deceived.

Bush Didn't Bungle Iraq, You Fools
THE MISSION WAS INDEED ACCCOMPLISHED by Greg Palast

And what did the USA want Iraq to do with Iraq's oil? The answer will surprise many of you: and it is uglier, more twisted, devilish and devious than anything imagined by the most conspiracy-addicted blogger. The answer can be found in a 323-page plan for Iraq's oil secretly drafted by the State Department. Our team got a hold of a copy; how, doesn't matter. The key thing is what's inside this thick Bush diktat: a directive to Iraqis to maintain a state oil company that will "enhance its relationship with OPEC."

The 'Long War'? Oh, Goodie by Molly Ivins

President Bush has once more undertaken to explain to us "Why We Fight," which is also the title of an excellent new documentary on Iraq. According to the president, "Our goal in Iraq is victory." I personally did not find that a helpful clarification.

Who Are These people?

Okay, so Bush's numbers are diminishing nicely pretty much as expected, at least over the long term. He's lost the independent camp, again as expected, as the "we'll give you the benefit of the doubt" folks have gotten pretty well fed up with the three-card monte game BushCo relentlessly plays with the truth.

Without the independents, Bush in particular and the repubs in general, are toast.

The Democrat numbers are as expected, but even though the repub numbers have fallen (by 13 points since March 2005 according to a recent Fox News Poll), approval among Republicans is still a significant 74%.

Ever since the global and economic boredom of the Clinton era ended on 9/11/01 (budget surplus, National Guard and Reserve personnel wearing suits and dresses), one has struggled over the stark disparity in world view between the majority of Republicans and, as of now, mostly everyone else... on the planet.

Given that the facts are exasperatingly obvious for all to see, how can so many people still remain dedicated to this train wreck of an administration? One is tempted to lump them all into one lock-stepping category as they are mostly represented by one bar on the graph. However, we all know Bush supporters. We're related to them (sigh), work with them, live next door to them and for the most part they pretty much all bend their knees when they march, no? So what gives? So many have just thrown up their hands and given up ignoring the elephant in the living room. What's with everyone else?

Succumbing to the habit of categorizing people, I've come up with three groups who are all snugly between the sheets: The Blind Faithers, Willful Ignorants and FDA's.

Blind Faithers: Even though the likes of Jefferson, Madison, et al, warned us quite plainly that trusting political leaders is the greatest threat to the republic, many people find it difficult to not believe in others best intentions even when there isn't a best intention in sight. There is a certain degree of skepticism necessary in the maintenance of a liberal democracy. One must always bear in mind that power does indeed corrupt and that those who tend to desire positions of power usually exhibit behaviors we don't tolerate in children. Remain vigilant, the Founders warned, not of foreign threats, but of our own very human and historically evident tendencies.

Part of the problem with this group is the Myth of America, the symbols and slogans and songs and Superman standing, in black and white, before a dramatically waving Old Glory to a soundtrack of "Truth, Justice and the American way." We don't repeat the mistakes of the past. It could never happen here. We're us. We're better.

But this is a subtle mindset, unwilling to actually admit that we are somehow morally superior to everyone else. There is something arrogant about such an admission, no? Something dangerous. But it's there, and it's magical and it allows one to let go of responsibility in the knowledge that, because he is an American who constantly invokes democratic vocabulary, George Bush is a trustworthy man.

Willful Ignorants: The demarcation between Blind Faithers and Willful Ignorants can be fuzzy. Indeed, one imagines that being willfully ignorant helps maintain blind faith. However, there are those who just don't have much of a clue as to what's going on and are more than willing to let whoever the hell is in charge take care of things. Again, the Founders maintained that in order for the republic to survive, the electorate had to be well informed (as opposed to Fox informed). When the wolf arrives at their own door, of course, they start whistling a different tune.

One assumes the shifting numbers contain reformed Willful Ignorants.

FDA's: As hard as I tried I just couldn't come up with a label that was more viscerally satisfying than this one. But as it is rather crude I will just say that the 'D' stands for 'Dangerous' and leave the 'F' and the 'A' up to your imagination.

You may not know one personally, but they are out there and their knees don't bend when they march. These add the monolithic, dogmatic, "or else" flavor to the Republican stew. Their enemy isn't our enemy. Their enemy isn't terrorism or terrorists. Their enemy is us. These are the folks the left is talking about when they raise the cry of fascism. These are the folks who use the word 'treason' for anyone who dares say something outside the hive mind. They are rhetorically violent and feed those within their ranks who would be more than willing to be physically violent. Make no mistake, they are the Beast. They represent that human element that touches down on earth occasionally to everyone's horror. It's visited Germany. It's visited Rwanda. As any Native American can tell you, it's visited the United States.

The FDA's are bubbling in America. They are threatening the lives of judges including Supreme Court Justices (see below). They refer to any opposition in dehumanizing terms... They've turned 'liberal' into a dehumanizing term. They fill the American ear with bile through talk shows. They sell out auditoriums where they can hear the likes of Ann Coulter 'joke' about assassinating a former president or poisoning a Supreme Court judge, who once proclaimed she "never had much use for the First Amendment."

After all the Blind Faithers and Willful Ignorants finally give it up and desert George Bush, the FDA's will remain staunchly behind him. They are the Bush Administrations true base. George Bush's al qaida.

What amazes me, is that the Blind Faithers and Willful Ignorants can be so blind and so ignorant about who they're sharing their bed with.

Cheers,
Clemsy





QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

State Dept. Report: Democracy No Guarantee of Human Rights
Just a wide choice of breakfast cereals. ~Ironic Times

Soon after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, lawyers in the White House and the Justice Department argued that the same the same legal authority that allowed warrentless electronic surveillance inside the US, could also be used to justify physical searches of terror suspects homes & businesses without court approval. ~U.S. News & World Report

In actuality, the supposed "culture of life" is a culture of disease and death. ~Jeffrey Hart

It's always been a civil war. ~John F. Burns, NY Times Baghdad Bureau Chief

The American people need to wake up now, the evidence is all there. Our president and vice president have started a war of aggression defined by Nuremberg as a supreme international crime. ~Ray McGovern

The nation's three worst counties for child poverty at the time of the last census were all in South Dakota, according to the Children's Defense Fund. Buffalo County, home to the Crow Creek Indian Reservation, was dead last. ~Washington Post (i.e. pro-life concern ends at birth)

You cannot win against an insurgency that springs from the population. There's never been an insurgency that doesn't prevail against a mighty power. ~Jack Valenti, former special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson

How much reform can you do simultaneously with fighting a war? ~Henry Kissinger

It's time for some straight talk about John McCain. He isn't a moderate. He's much less of a maverick than you'd think. And he isn't the straight talker he claims to be. ~Paul Krugman

Senator Russ Feingold is an embarrassment to the US Senate, which makes him an authentic hero of the Republic. ~William Greider

I canÂ’t see a damn soul in D.C. except Russ Feingold who is even worth considering for President. The rest of them seem to me so poisonously in hock to this system of legalized bribery they canÂ’t even see straight. ~Molly Ivins

I'm amazed at Democrats, cowering with this president's numbers so low. The administration just has to raise the specter of the war and the Democrats run and hide... Too many Democrats are going to do the same thing they did in 2000 and 2004. In the face of this, they'll say we'd better just focus on domestic issues... ~Russ Feingold

We have an out-of-control President whose arrogant and, now, illegal behavior is running our country into the ditch. It's time to rein him in. ~Sen. Tom Harkin (Way past time, Senator.)

You cannot in my opinion just impose a democratic form of government on a country with no history and no culture and no tradition of democracy. ~Sen. Chuck Hagel (R)


QUOTES FROM THE HIVE MIND

I had the impression that indicating lack of support for our commander in chief--as congressional Republicans did so conspicuously, and appropriately, during the 1999 Kosovo war--was a constitutional right and sometimes a patriotic duty. ~Steve Chapman

Some of the most powerful IEDs we're seeing in Iraq today includes components that came from Iran. ~George Bush

With respect to people, it's very difficult to tie a thread precisely to the government of Iran. ~Donald Rumsfeld

I do not, sir. ~Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, when asked "whether the United States has proof that Iran's government was behind these developments." LINK

The president believes in open government, and that the presumption ought to be on providing citizens with as much information as possible about their government. ~Scott McClellan (Liar.)


PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Right-Wing Blocks Funding For Port Security, Disaster Preparedness

I kid you not. Read this little ditty from Think Progress. Money for 'Missile Defense' was deemed important. Lots and lots of money.

A Peculiar Politician

Senator Russ Feingold is an embarrassment to the US Senate, which makes him an authentic hero of the Republic. The Wisconsin senator gets up and says out loud what half of the country is thinking and talks about every day. This President broke the law and lied about it; he trashed the Constitution and hides himself in the flag. Feingold asks: Shouldn't the Senate say something about this, at least express our disapproval? He introduces a resolution of censure and calls for debate.

Dictatorship is the danger

A Reagan-appointed supreme court justice voices her fears over attacks on US democracy

He's a right-wing ideologue, not a true conservative By Jeffrey Hart, former speechwriter for presidents Reagan and Nixon

WILLIAM F. Buckley Jr. has defined conservatism as "the politics of reality." Ideology is the enemy of conservatism because it edits, omits or ignores reality. George W. Bush is an ideologue.

Dash to Baghdad Left Top U.S. Generals Divided

The war was barely a week old when Gen. Tommy R. Franks threatened to fire the Army's field commander. (Incompetence defined.)

W.'s Mixed Messages by Maureen Dowd

Homeland Security's protection of the ports is a joke. The goof-off Michael Chertoff is remarkably still in charge. The swaggering of the president and vice president on national security has been exposed as a sham, with millions spent shoring up our defenses wasted, with the Iraq war aggravating our danger, and with anti-Muslim feeling swelling among Americans and anti-American feeling swelling among Muslims.


HEADLINES

House OKs birth control funding ban

The Missouri House voted Wednesday to ban state funding of contraceptives for low-income women and to prohibit state-funded programs from referring those women to other programs. (If the poor stop having babies will the rich cease to get richer?)

Rallies Mark Third Anniversary of Iraq War

Thousands of anti-war protesters marched in Australia, Turkey and Asian countries at the start of global demonstrations Saturday, as campaigners marked the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq with a demand that coalition troops pull out.

32 US Reps Want Bush Impeachment Inquiry

32 US House Representatives have signed on as sponsors or co-sponsors of H. Res 635, which would create a Select Committee to look into the grounds for recommending President BushÂ’s impeachment, Atlanta Progressive News has learned.

Bush Approval Falls to 33%, Congress Earns Rare Praise

In the aftermath of the Dubai ports deal, President Bush's approval rating has hit a new low and his image for honesty and effectiveness has been damaged. Yet the public uncharacteristically has good things to say about the role that Congress played in this high-profile Washington controversy.

Supreme Court Justice Reveals Death Threats

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she and former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor have been the targets of death threats from the "irrational fringe" of society, people apparently spurred by Republican criticism of the high court.

Security Clearance Rules May Impede Gays

The Bush administration last year quietly rewrote the rules for allowing gays and lesbians to receive national-security clearances, drawing complaints from civil rights activists.

Washington Considering 'Pharmacist Refusal' Proposal

Pharmacists who object to Plan B want to be able to deny filling a prescription on moral, ethical or religious beliefs.

Iraq drives Bush's rating to new low

Growing dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq has driven President Bush's approval rating to a new low of 36 percent, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday.

Polls: Public Worried About Gov't Secrecy

Two new polls gauging Americans' views on government openness found a majority believe the federal government leans more toward secrecy than openness, while eight in 10 are convinced that an open government is necessary for an effective democracy.


BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING

Police Memos Say Arrest Tactics Calmed Protest

In five internal reports made public yesterday as part of a lawsuit, New York City police commanders candidly discuss how they had successfully used "proactive arrests," covert surveillance and psychological tactics at political demonstrations in 2002, and recommend that those approaches be employed at future gatherings.

FBI spied on Pittsburgh pacifists, papers show

FBI anti-terrorism agents spied on a peace group simply because it opposed the Iraq war, part of an "unprecedented campaign" to spy on innocent citizens, the American Civil Liberties Union said on Tuesday.


OCCUPATION: IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

U.S., Iraqi troops press sweep in Operation Swarmer

U.S. and Iraqi troops pressed their sweep through a 100-square-mile swath of central Iraq on Friday in a bid to break up a center of insurgent resistance, the U.S. military said. No resistance or casualties were reported. (Military operation or PR stunt?)

Iraq Edges Closer to Open Civil Warfare

Iraqi authorities discovered at least 87 corpses _ men shot to death execution-style _ as Iraq edged closer to open civil warfare. Twenty-nine of the bodies, dressed only in underwear, were dug out of a single grave Tuesday in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad.

Baghdad Police Find 65 Bodies in 24 Hours

Police found at least 65 bodies in Baghdad in the past 24 hours, including 15 men bound and shot in an abandoned minibus, in a gruesome wave of apparent sectarian reprisal attacks, officials said Tuesday.

Death squads operated from inside Iraqi government, officials say

Senior Iraqi officials Sunday confirmed for the first time that death squads composed of government employees had operated illegally from inside two government ministries.

At least 40 die in Shia ‘safe zone’ in Baghdad

More than 40 people died in BaghdadÂ’s main Shia area on Sunday after a number of bombs and mortar strikes that seemed designed to follow up on last monthÂ’s bombing of a Shia shrine and provoke civil war.


OPINION

The Right's Man by Paul Krugman

The bottom line is that Mr. McCain isn't a moderate; he's a man of the hard right. How far right? A statistical analysis of Mr. McCain's recent voting record, available at www.voteview.com, ranks him as the Senate's third most conservative member.

A blank check for snoops

LIKE THE CAVALRY RUSHING to the aid of the wrong troops, four Republican senators who had earlier declared battle against the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping have now proposed to give the surveillance program five years of near-bulletproof protection.

The Bush Administration: Suddenly Wrong

But it's not like anyone was previously right about BushCo being wrong. Not like some of us won't lose the urge to say "Told ya so" while repressing, just barely, the urge to slap a few heads.

But lets appreciate the ever stark contrast between the true believers and those who seem to have had their nice little faith-based universe overwhelmed by reality.

Let's open with a Rummy quote:

We do know, of course, that al-Qaeda has media committees. We do know that they teach people exactly how to try to manipulate the media. They do this regularly. We see the intelligence that reports on their meetings. Now I can't take a string and tie it to a news report and then trace it back to an al-Qaeda media committee meeting. I'm not able to do that at all. LINK

'Never-Say-Die' Rumsfeld is, if nothing else, at least consistent. However, smokescreens, like the above foolishness, won't hide a damn thing in a strong breeze. So the bad news from Iraq is al-Qaeda propaganda. The mountain of dead bodies in Baghadad morgues are figments of media imagination. We're all bin Laden fools.

Right. General Peter Pace, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a guy who should know a thing or two, says about the Iraqi situation, "I wouldn't put a great big smiley face on it, but I would say they're going very, very well from everything you look at."

But the guy who should know a thing or two certainly also knows what tends to happen to those whose comments don't reflect the party line, so sticking with the fairy-tale reality has its perks.

And when the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq puts a somewhat different spin on the situation: "We have opened Pandora's box and the question is, what is the way forward?"

...One is left wondering if Dr. Khalilzad is just about ready to 'spend more quality time with his family'.

Opened a "Pandora's box"? Letting out what? Ethnic and sectarian tensions that have been building for decades? Really? So now that what smarter people expected to happen is happening, it's up to the stupid people that started it to fix it? Or is Dr. Khalilzad, born in Afghanistan and, one would assume, liable to have a pretty good perspective on the situation, hinting that a 'way forward' would be to clean house in D.C. and start from scratch?

One watches in amazement. Francis Fukuyama, a PNAC (Project for the New American Century) homeboy, jumps ship and now Khalilzad, a signatory to the PNAC Statement of Principles, makes a positively off-the-reservation-comment in direct contradiction to Rumsfeld's and Pace's position.

Conservative and neo-conservative pundits are rethinking their positions and up-for-election Republicans are biting their nails over November elections.

But you won't hear a damn one of them say, "Okay Krugman, Ivins, Blumenthal, Kerry, Kennedy, Kucinich, Hartmann, Pitt, Boxer, Byrd, Dowd, Rich, Herbert, Clarke, O'Neil, Shinseki, Zinni, Scowcroft, etc., etc., lefty and righty ad ininitum, you were right. I was not only wrong but responsible for an unnecessary bloody mess."

Not likely. But I'm sure there are a lot of "buts" following their reversals. Here's one:

But the certainty of some today that we have failed is as dubious as the callow triumphalism of yesterday. War is always, in the end, a matter of flexibility and will. And sometimes the darkest days are inevitable--even necessary--before the sky ultimately clears. ~Andrew Sullivan

"War is a matter of flexibility and will." Fool. War is, in the beginning, the middle and end, a matter of the psychological and physical mutilation of men, women and children.

Regardless, the wind is shifting. There's something to be said for reality, which some are realizing, as Robin Williams once said, is quite a concept.

Cheers,
Clemsy



QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

U.S., India in Atom Pact
We'll supply them fuel for nuclear weapons, they'll help us with our AOL dial-up connection. ~Ironic Times

Born-again Bush-bashers like Mr. Bartlett and Mr. Sullivan, however churlish, are intellectually and morally superior to the Bushist dead-enders who still insist that Saddam was allied with Al Qaeda, and will soon be claiming that we lost the war in Iraq because the liberal media stabbed the troops in the back. ~Paul Krugman

President Bush is great at sales, but he cannot deliver a product — time after time. ~The Seattle Times

[W]hen an envelope with suspicious powder was opened last fall at Homeland Security Department headquarters, guards said they watched in amazement as superiors carried it by the office of Secretary Michael Chertoff, took it outside and then shook it outside Chertoff's window without evacuating people nearby. ~Yahoo News

If the election were held today, it would be a bloodbath for the Republicans, who would probably lose the House. ~said a Republican campaign strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity

He (Bush) is clearly losing some of his base on Iraq. When I looked at the [polling results] last night, he was at 51 percent among born-again Christians, down from 71 percent, and under 45 percent among veterans, gun owners and married voters. ~John Zogby

God, am I tired of having my country being run by an eighth-grader. ~Geov Parrish

We're in a civil war now; it's just that not everybody's joined in. ~retired Army Maj. Gen. William L. Nash

The right-wing hijacking of religion's public role in our political discourse is as undeniable as it is inappropriate, and represents one of liberalism's most serious problems. ~Eric Alterman

85% (of U.S. troops in Iraq) said the U.S. mission is mainly “to retaliate for Saddam’s role in the 9-11 attacks. ~Zogby Poll

‘War on Terror’ is more than just a phrase. It is a carefully constructed concept--a set of magic words--created by highly-paid consultants to help the Republicans claim the mantle of national security. ~Jeffrey Feldman


QUOTES FROM THE SCHIZOPHRENIC HIVE MIND

If Bush were running today against Bill Clinton, I'd vote for Clinton. ~Bruce Bartlett, former aid to Ronald Reagan

If this was a European parliamentary system, it would have been a vote of no-confidence. ~Ed Rollins, a top political adviser to President Ronald Reagan, on House vote on ports deal

What are you benching, buff guy? ~George Bush to Jack Abramoff (according to Abramoff)

I wouldn't put a great big smiley face on it, but I would say they're going very, very well from everything you look at. ~Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Iraq

We have opened the Pandora's box and the question is, what is the way forward? ~U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad ( I guess he should start with a small smiley face.)

Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. ~William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

While the Democrats will impeach Bush for the wrong reasons, I can't deny that in a righteous country that honored and lived up to its Constitution, Bush would surely deserve to be impeached. ~Joseph Farah of Worldnet Daily

A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl, could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life. ~State Sen. Bill Napoli, R-Rapid City on a situation in which abortion can be an option. (If she wasn't a religious virgin, she would just get a great, big scarlet letter, right Bill? Sure, and dunk her a few times for good measure.)


PICKS OF THE WEEK:

The Conservative Epiphany by Paul Krugman

Human nature being what it is, I don't expect Mr. Bartlett to acknowledge his about-face. Nor do I expect any expressions of remorse from Andrew Sullivan, the conservative Time.com blogger who also spoke at the Cato forum. Mr. Sullivan used to specialize in denouncing the patriotism and character of anyone who dared to criticize President Bush, whom he lionized. Now he himself has become a critic, not just of Mr. Bush's policies, but of his personal qualities, too.

Rupert Cornwell: At last, the warmongers are prepared to face the facts and admit they were wrong

It has taken more than three years, tens of thousands of Iraqi and American lives, and $200bn (£115bn) of treasure - all to achieve a chaos verging on open civil war. But, finally, the neo-conservatives who sold the United States on this disastrous war are starting to utter three small words. We were wrong. (Click HERE for some telling quotes.)

Iraq through the prism of Vietnam By William E. Odom

Those who say Iraq is nothing like Vietnam have another guess coming, says retired Gen. William Odom. He lists striking similarities and asserts that only after it pulls out of Iraq can the U.S. hope for international support to deal with anti-Western forces.

Frameshop: The Message Is Not the Frame

[F]raming is not a magic bullet, but a set of tools that empowers progressives to take control of the debate--first by seeing the broad ideas that trap us in a losing position, and then by re-framing the issues in moral terms that speak to ideals of the American people. Framing, in other words, makes us better readers, better listeners, and better participants in day-to-day politics, thereby enabling us to become the kind of citizens that are most effective in the culture of media driven politics.
A key area where the Democrats need to use framing is national security.

Dave Zweifel: Another Iraq story gets debunked

"The story of Saddam training foreign fighters to hijack airplanes was instrumental in building the case to invade Iraq," a detailed report in the March-April issue says. "But it turns out that the Iraqi general who told the story to the New York Times and 'Frontline' was a complete fake a low-ranking former soldier whom Ahmed Chalabi's aides had coached to deceive the media."

America Anesthetized

The new Zogby poll gauging the opinions of American troops in Iraq has drawn attention mostly because it finds that 72 percent believe the United States should withdraw in a year or less and only 23 percent favor George W. Bush’s plan to “stay the course.”

They Came for the Chicken Farmer
A case of mistaken identity's turning an innocent person into a prisoner-for-life was supposed to be impossible. President Bush told Americans to trust in his judgment after he arrogated the right to arrest anyone, anywhere in the world, and toss people into indefinite detention. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld infamously proclaimed that the men at Guantánamo Bay were "the worst of the worst."

But it has long been evident that this was nonsense, and a lawsuit by The Associated Press has now demonstrated the truth in shameful detail.

3/6/06 - Kurt Vonnegut's "Stardust Memory"

On a cold, cloudy night, the lines threaded all the way around the Ohio State campus. News that Kurt Vonnegut was speaking at the Ohio Union prompted these “apathetic” heartland college students to start lining up in the early afternoon. About 2,000 got in to the Ohio Union. At least that many more were turned away. It was the biggest crowd for a speaker here since Michael Moore.


HEADLINES

Poll: Bush Approval Rating Hits New Low

More and more people, particularly Republicans, disapprove of President Bush's performance, question his character and no longer consider him a strong leader against terrorism, according to an AP-Ipsos poll documenting one of the bleakest points of his presidency.

Forty-Four Percent of Americans Strongly Disapprove of Bush

The Feb. 28 to March 1 poll finds 38% of Americans approving and 60% disapproving of Bush's job as president, within a point of his lowest approval rating and tied for his highest disapproval rating.

House Renews USA Patriot Act; Bush to Sign

The 280-138 vote Tuesday evening passed by just two votes more than needed under House rules requiring a two-thirds majority for legislation handled on an expedited basis.

Guards Fault Homeland Security Protection

The agency entrusted with protecting the U.S. homeland is having difficulty safeguarding its own headquarters, say private security guards at the complex.

Bush poll numbers alarm the GOP

President Bush will have to reassure his Republican base that the United States is winning the war in Iraq and the economy is improving before his anemic poll numbers begin turning upward, election pollsters and strategists say.

As Crisis Brews, Iran Hits Bumps in Atomic Path

According to the analysts, the Iranians need to do repairs and build new machines at a prototype plant before they can begin enriching even modest quantities of uranium. And then, for a decade, they would have to mass produce 100 centrifuges a week to fill the cavernous industrial enrichment halls at Natanz. What is more, the gas meant to feed those machines is plagued by impurities.


BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING

Pentagon admits errors in spying on protesters

The Department of Defense admitted in a letter obtained by NBC News on Thursday that it had wrongly added peaceful demonstrators to a database of possible domestic terrorist threats. The letter followed an NBC report focusing on the Defense Department’s Threat and Local Observation Notice, or TALON, report.

Senate Republicans Choose Bush Over Country on Domestic Spying
The GOP-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday voted against a formal Congressional investigation of George W. Bush’s domestic spying program, despite almost-certain knowledge that the White House has violated key provisions of Foreign Intelligence Security Act (FISA) laws over the last four years.

G.O.P. Plan Would Allow Spying Without Warrants

The plan by Senate Republicans to step up oversight of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program would also give legislative sanction for the first time to long-term eavesdropping on Americans without a court warrant, legal experts said on Wednesday.


SCANDAL CORNER

Vanity Fair: Bush Had Ties to Abramoff

Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff says President Bush knew him well enough to joke with him about weightlifting. "What are you benching, buff guy?" Abramoff said Bush asked him. The president has said he doesn't know Abramoff.

Army to Begin New Probe Into Tillman Death

The Army said Saturday it will launch a criminal investigation into the April 2004 death of Pat Tillman, the former professional football player who was shot to death by fellow soldiers in Afghanistan in what previous Army reviews had concluded was an accidental shooting.


OCCUPATION: IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

Official Says Shiite Party Suppressed Body Count

Days after the bombing of a Shiite shrine unleashed a wave of retaliatory killings of Sunnis, the leading Shiite party in Iraq's governing coalition directed the Health Ministry to stop tabulating execution-style shootings, according to a ministry official familiar with the recording of deaths.

Envoy to Iraq Sees Threat of Wider War

The top U.S. envoy to Iraq said Monday that the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime had opened a "Pandora's box" of volatile ethnic and sectarian tensions that could engulf the region in all-out war if America pulled out of the country too soon.

23 Bodies Found in Iraq; Bombings Kill 4

An American military patrol investigating a report of a suspicious vehicle found 18 bodies late Tuesday in an abandoned minibus in west Baghdad, Iraqi police and U.S. forces said. The victims — all men — had been handcuffed, blindfolded and either hanged or shot to death, police Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq said.

'14,000 detained without trial in Iraq'

US and UK forces in Iraq have detained thousands of people without charge or trial for long periods and there is growing evidence of Iraqi security forces torturing detainees, Amnesty International said today.

U.S. faces latest trouble with Iraqi forces: Loyalty

For much of the war in Iraq, U.S. military commanders have said their most important mission here was to prepare Iraqi security forces to take over the fight against the Sunni- led insurgency. But with the threat of full-scale sectarian strife looming larger, they are suddenly grappling with the possibility that they have been arming one side in a prospective civil war.

Senior Iraqi General Killed in Ambush

The top commander of the Iraqi army division in Baghdad was killed Monday when his car came under small-arms fire while traveling through the capital, the U.S. military said.

Expert on Iraq: 'We're In a Civil War'

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

General's Assessment of Iraq Questioned

"Why would I believe him?" asked Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a major critic of the Bush administration's handling of the war. "This administration, including the president, (has) mischaracterized this war for the last two years."


RELIGION

Praise the Lord and Pass the Petition

If you are waiting for a religious left to emerge to offset the power of the religious right, it may already be in your own neighborhood at a local church or synagogue. I stumbled across a branch of the religious left quite by accident recently, in Texas of all places, though the folks I met would say I was guided to them by the Lord.


MOLLYFEST

Enough of the D.C. Dems by Molly Ivins

Mah fellow progressives, now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of the party. I don’t know about you, but I have had it with the D.C. Democrats, had it with the DLC Democrats, had it with every calculating, equivocating, triangulating, straddling, hair-splitting son of a bitch up there, and that includes Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Progress Myth in Iraq by Molly Ivins

It was such a relief to me to learn we are making “very, very good progress” in Iraq. As the third anniversary of our invasion approaches, I could not have been more thrilled by the news reported by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on a Sunday chat show. Vice President Dick Cheney’s take was equally reassuring: Things are “improving steadily” in Iraq.

The Towering Solons of Abortion By Molly Ivins

South Dakota is so rarely found on the leading edge of the far out, the wiggy, the California-esque. But it has now staked its claim. First to Outlaw Abortion This Century. The state legislature of South Dakota, in all its wisdom and majesty, a legislature comprised of sons and daughters of the soil from Aberdeen to Zell, have usurped the right of the women of that state to decide whether or not to bear the child of an unwanted pregnancy. They will decide. Women will do what they decide.

Dubai Ports World: How Predictable

Let us revisit that wonderful quote from David Frum's The Right Man:

He has many faults. He is impatient and quick to anger; sometimes glib, even dogmatic; often uncurious and as a result ill informed; more conventional in his thinking than a leader should be.

He's talking about George, of course.

Whenever something demonstrably dumb slips out of this administration and splashes itself across the media, I always think of this quote. It really defines the lot of them, doesn't it? As regards 9/11 even Clinton can be lumped under it, but at least his terrorism czar had a cabinet level position. George sent Richard Clarke down a level to staff, where his memos had some difficulty percolating up through the food chain.

A lack of imagination is what the 9/11 Commission called it.

For example...

"My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators," said Dick.

Which wasn't what he said when he was George H.W.'s Defense Secretary. That administration imagined... well, exactly what's happening in Iraq now.

This 'faith-based' reality running the show at the highest levels of our government would be just fine if its 'faith' had the slightest connection to how people will obviously respond to a given situation. Even Francis Fukuyama, the former neo-con darling, is now saying that the policy of spreading liberal democracy through military intervention (which he called a 'bait and switch' operation in terms of Iraq) is ill conceived if not downright Leninist.

Imagine an airline run this way?

"Dang! Lost another one! Stay the course!"

What will eventually prove their downfall is their inability to imagine that the American people can be toyed with for only so long. Too long, maybe, but for only so long.

A recent Fox poll has Bush's approval rating at 39%. This represents a 5 point drop from the previous sample. I wonder why...

The Dubai Ports World deal.

I mean really. The ports are about as naked as can be to begin with, and now port operations on the east coast are offered to an Arab company. Even if there wasn't anything intrinsically wrong with this it still excites a reflexive defense response similar to the one that made it 'okay' to imprison thousands of Japanese-Americans during World War II. We are 'at war' aren't we?

That response should have been anticipated.

Can one say, "Duh!"

Now, on top of this, we receive information like:

The Central Intelligence Agency did not target Al Qaeda chief Osama bin laden once as he had the royal family of the United Arab Emirates with him in Afghanistan, the agency's director, George Tenet, told the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States on Thursday. LINK

And: "[T]he FBI has also concluded that the UAE's banking system filtered much of the money used for the operational planning before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and many of the hijackers traveled to the United States through the UAE (United Arab Emirates). ...the UAE has been regarded as the place for materials used to make a nuclear weapon to be transferred among rogue hands." LINK (That's a Fox News link, folks.)

Additionally, we now know that al Qaida informed the UAE, "You are well aware that we have infiltrated your security, censorship, and monetary agencies along with other agencies that should not be mentioned." LINK

And Dubai Ports World is a state owned company.

Nothing racist about the concern. It just makes about as much sense as offering a Czech company control of American Ports in 1962.

This doesn't mean there isn't a racist response to the deal. We all know where the radical right wing kill-all-the-raghead-Ann-Coulter-for-King loonies stand.

And they are the core of Bush's al qaida... a word that means 'base' in arabic.

Thus those poll numbers.

Couldn't predict the reaction?

Imagine that.

Cheers,
Clemsy



QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

Administration Reclassifies Thousands of Historical Documents
Move meant to thwart terrorist time travelers. ~Ironic Times

Despite significant progress on the political front, the Taliban-dominated insurgency remains a capable and resilient threat. ~Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples

That President George W. Bush comes to power with the intention of invading Iraq is a fact not open to dispute. ~Lewis H. Lapham

...[T]he show reveals an essential truth about Washington: being humiliated on national television can be better than not being on national television at all. ~The NY Times on the Colbert Report

Is the law a law or is it a piece of toast? ~Garrison Keillor


QUOTES FROM THE HIVE MIND

Dubai cannot be trusted. ~Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.)

Paul [Wolfowitz] was always of the view that Iraq was a problem that had to be dealt with, and he saw this as one way of using this event [9/11] as a way to deal with the Iraq problem. ~Colin Powell to the 9/11 Commission

I think actually these attacks on Shia shrines can be attributed to the potential success of the Bush strategy. ~Terry Jeffery, editor of the conservative weekly Human Events,

As long as I serve on the Supreme Court I will keep in mind the trust that has been placed in me. ~Samuel Alito in a letter to James Dobson

We are telling you that Saddam is gone and it is not regrettable because he was a tyrant and enemy to God and his prophet. He was gone at the hands of his American masters, but we ask God that you will be eliminated by our hands and swords. And we hope this will be soon. ~Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi to Iraqi Shi'ites

MR. RUSSERT: The Washington Post asked the American people about Saddam Hussein, and this is what they said: 69 percent said he was involved in the September 11 attacks. Are you surprised by that?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: No. I think it’s not surprising that people make that connection.

MR. RUSSERT: But is there a connection?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: We don’t know. ~Meet the Press, 9/14/03

I believe that a prosperous, democratic Pakistan will be a steadfast partner for America, a peaceful neighbor for India and a force for freedom and moderation in the Arab world. ~George Bush (Unfortunately, Pakistan is not an Arab country. Sheesh.)


PICKS OF THE WEEK:

The Case for Impeachment By Lewis H. Lapham.

On December 18 of last year, Congressman John Conyers Jr. (D., Mich.) introduced into the House of Representatives a resolution inviting it to form “a select committee to investigate the Administration's intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, retaliating against critics, and to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment.”

Francis Fukuyama on Neo-Cons, Foreign Policy

Fukuyama talks with Steve Inskeep about the legacy of neo-conservatism and its impact on U.S. foreign policy. He says the promotion of democracy abroad has become far too militarized. (Listen to the interview. The "bait and switch" comment on Iraq is particularly interesting.)

Pillar to press: Don't get fooled again

The 9/11 Commission established as its goal the generation of enough public support to enact a reorganization of the intelligence community. Pursuit of that goal led it to produce a selective and misleading account of strategic intelligence on terrorism, obscuring the actual reasons US counterterrorist policy took the course it did prior to 9/11. The press was remarkably acquiescent in this; as Judge Richard Posner noted in his critique of the commission's work, a combination of political circumstances paralyzed criticism of the commission and led its report to be accepted unquestioningly as "holy writ." The politics of the Congressional intelligence committees have led them to delay repeatedly any public appraisal of how the administration used intelligence on Iraq (in the case of the Senate committee) or not even to attempt to address the subject (in the case of its House counterpart). The commission investigating intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction produced an otherwise useful report, but its White House provenance constrained it from exploring all the ways in which policy preferences affected the intelligence.

What Bush Was Told About Iraq

Two highly classified intelligence reports delivered directly to President Bush before the Iraq war cast doubt on key public assertions made by the president, Vice President Cheney, and other administration officials as justifications for invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein, according to records and knowledgeable sources.


HEADLINES

Gallup: 2 Out of 3 Americans Want U.S. Pull Out from Iraq

While newspaper editorials remain virtually silent on the subject, the American public seems to have made up its mind. A new Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll out tonight shows that 2 out of 3 adult Americans now want U.S. troops to start to come home from Iraq. And 55% call the decision to attack Iraq in 2003 a "mistake."

Report: Bush thinks bin Laden tape helped re-election bid

President Bush said his 2004 re-election victory over Sen. John Kerry was inadvertently aided by Osama bin Laden, The Washington Examiner newspaper reported Tuesday.

Poll: Bush Ratings At All-Time Low

The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush's approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high.

Plan B Battles Embroil States

More than 60 bills have been filed in state legislatures already this year, and that follows an already busy 2005 session on emergency contraception. The resulting tug of war is creating an availability map for the pill that looks increasingly similar to the map of "red states" and "blue states" in the past two presidential elections -- with increased access in the blue states and greater restrictions in the red ones.


BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING

Gonzales Seeks to Clarify Testimony on Spying

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

When Big Brother Gets Under Your Skin

"Can a microscopic tag be implanted in a person's body to track his every movement? There's actual discussion about that. You will rule on that -- mark my words -- before your tenure is over." -- Sen. Joseph Biden, to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Sept. 2005.


OCCUPATION: IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

Baghdad official who exposed executions flees

Faik Bakir, the director of the Baghdad morgue, has fled Iraq in fear of his life after reporting that more than 7,000 people have been killed by death squads in recent months, the outgoing head of the UN human rights office in Iraq has disclosed.

Ex-Official: Iraq Abuses Growing Worse

Human rights abuses in Iraq are as bad now as they were under Saddam Hussein, as lawlessness and sectarian violence sweep the country, the former U.N. human rights chief in Iraq said Thursday.


Toll in Iraq's Deadly Surge: 1,300

Grisly attacks and other sectarian violence unleashed by last week's bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine have killed more than 1,300 Iraqis, making the past few days the deadliest of the war outside of major U.S. offensives, according to Baghdad's main morgue. The toll was more than three times higher than the figure previously reported by the U.S. military and the news media.

Intelligence agencies warned about growing local insurgency in late 2003

U.S. intelligence agencies repeatedly warned the White House beginning more than two years ago that the insurgency in Iraq had deep local roots, was likely to worsen and could lead to civil war, according to former senior intelligence officials who helped craft the reports.

Growing Threat Seen In Afghan Insurgency

The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency told Congress yesterday that the insurgency in Afghanistan is growing and will increase this spring, presenting a greater threat to the central government's expansion of authority "than at any point since late 2001."


Iraq's death squads: On the brink of civil war

Hundreds of Iraqis are being tortured to death or summarily executed every month in Baghdad alone by death squads working from the Ministry of the Interior, the United Nations' outgoing human rights chief in Iraq has revealed.


OPINION

The Most Dangerous Days By William Rivers Pitt

Vice President Dick Cheney spoke at the 46th Annual American Legion Washington Conference on Tuesday to let everyone know that all is well in Iraq. "This nation has made a decision," said Cheney. "We will stand by our friends and engage our enemies with the goal of a victory. And as the president said in the State of the Union, 'We are in this fight to win, and we are winning.'"