Morally Bankrupt and Perverse

Use it liberally

CLINTON: So we tried to be quite aggressive with them [Al Qaeda]. We got — well, Mr. bin Laden used to live in Sudan. He was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1991, then he went to Sudan. And we’d been hearing that the Sudanese wanted America to start dealing with them again. They released him. At the time, 1996, he had committed no crime against America, so I did not bring him here because we had no basis on which to hold him, though we knew he wanted to commit crimes against America. So I pleaded with the Saudis to take him, ’cause they could have. But they thought it was a hot potato and they didn’t and that’s how he wound up in Afghanistan.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200406220008

Aside from that I’m generally suspicious of ambiguous announcements of this or that without supporting evidence. Recall the Lancet estimate of 100,000 Iraqis dead? That number was later determined to be the median estimate of a possible range of 80 deaths, to 190,000. All based on a handful of “interviews”. We all know what Twain said about statistics.

Sunday’s edition of CBS’ 60 Minutes has Ed Bradley speaking with Tyler Drumheller, the former Chief of the European Division of the CIA. Secretary Rice responded to his claims that the intelligence was worked around policy by saying this:

The White House declined to respond to this charge, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has stated that Sabri [Iraq Foreign Minister] was just one source and therefore not reliable.

However, she must have a bad memory because the Iraq WMD Commission said [taken from page 115 of James Risen’s book]:

Later, the independent WMD commission concluded that “the intelligence community fundamentally misjudged the status of Iraq’s BW [biowarfare] programs†and that the “central basis†for its misguided assessment “was the reporting of a single human source, Curveball,†who proved to be a fabricator. The commission observed that “the Curveball story†is one of the “poor asset validation by our human collection agencies; of a tendency of analysts to believe that which fits their theories; of inadequate communication between the intelligence community and the policy makers it serves; and ultimately of poor leadership and management.â€

[paraphrased from my post at TGS]

Put your address in a form that can’t be read by spam bots who troll the web collecting addresses to sell to spam merchants.

Use the form: name at domain dot com

Rather than: name@domain.com

And your address will be far more invisible. You may still get spam, but it will be far more limited, as it will have to be collected by a human.

I would like to get a group of folks together to harass and shame Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett. Chris Cannon and Ron Bishop too.
Delurk! Delurk! Let’s get active! This what FDL is all about ACTION!

And I STILL wouldn’t support him for another run.

We HAVE to have someone who will speak the truth to the american people: NO good result for us, from the shitmire. Only misery and problems.

That’s how fucked up was the decision to invade and TRY to occupy Iraq; no “plan” will work.

Same old-same old; we are not the solution, we (collectively speaking), caused the problem, and we are still the problem, and staying will not solve it.

It is in the hands of the Iraqis, and holding a gun to the heads of the factions (a gun that is morphing into a foo-foo water pistol, as we speak…) can only enforce (temporarily) the limited level of violence that we see now; sooner or later, the various factions will have to decide for themselves, if they want one country, or several.
The longer we stay, to try to impose the kind of “unity” that bushCo hopes will let them keep those giant bases, and the world’s largest embassy-cum-CIA-station on a permanent basis, the harder it will be to leave.

Which leaves the run-out option, and/or the american voters installing two democratic-controlled houses of congress, to start the withdrawal.

Fitz-gon, Take me away!

If, three years back, someone had gone out to Las Vegas, and made a little book on this guy, who is a staunch islamist hardass, ascending to the purple, while bushCo cheerleads and Condi dances naked, they could have made some serious bling.

I mean, can the “victory” bar get any lower?
The Kurds and the Sunnis, and bush, have expended all this political capital just to change out Jaafari, for one of his top aides.

What a deal. There went their chance to shoehorn into the “security ministries” anyone who will actually try to rein in the Shia militia, AKA the “Payback’s a bitch!” brigades.

I would love to know what Al Sadr got, for this little deal. He’s got the largest single bloc of votes in the assembly, and he wants bushCo gone yesterday. He was kingmaker for Jaafari.

Let’s see what transpires, as the minsterial appointments come into play, along with the oil-divvy.

I foresee some world-class footdragging, as the various factions may actually get together and sing “Kumbayah!”, only, they’ll do it because ALL their hands are on the vise handle that is ratcheting up the pressure on junior’s nads, with the mid-terms getting closer all the time, and the joy of watching him writhe, will be irresistable. :o)

Hell of a summer. :o)

‘

Mostly pointing out – Iraq, not a good idea to begin with, even if handled differently (. . .critics also have neglected the larger lesson that there are certain limits to what military power can accomplish. For certain purposes, like the creation of a liberal democratic society that will be a model for others, military power is a blunt instrument, destined by its very nature to give rise to unintended and unwelcome consequences. Rather than “do it better next time,” a better lesson is “don’t do it at all.”)

And, Iran – won’t be a good idea either, even with many differnt handling possibilities.

Another related article, if I could find it, would be Scheuer’s take on the last Bin Laden tape and what it means for attack here in the US. Not a comforting read.