Great post, Taylor.

Nah, say it isn’t so.

Taylor,
Great post. Unfortunately all I have for you is Alka Seltzer.

We all feel that way. Dick Cheney is an evil bastard who should be breaking rocks in the hot sun.

Good morning and thanks, everyone. How the Bush administration can look in the political mirror is beyond me. Virtual Alka Seltzer, CEO, will do.

Just happened to read this on your blog, Taylor, and commented there that I share your feelings. I, too, am sick, sad, angry and disgusted, but take some hope from what appears to be more and more people reaching the limit - they’ve also “had enough” - and it feels to me to be approaching a critical tipping point.

I just do not see how the entire lot of them, from Bush on down through the chain, can continue to function as though they have not - separately and together - committed crimes in their pursuit of power. I do not understand the world that subjects one president to years of investigations and impeachment over a lie told to a grand jury about a sexual affair, but continues to tolerate, and in some cases, even facilitate, the ongoing commission of illegal acts that go to the heart and soul of the country.

Keep fighting the good fight, Taylor - we are all right there with you.

Taylor, you and me both. I’ve been feeling vaguely nauseous ever since I (stupidly) listened to yesterday’s Meet the Press podcast right before bedtime. No sleep for me. Cheney is the Heart of Darkness.

Cheney says, I don’t buy the premature question….That’s because he only thing Cheney buys is expensive bird-hunting guns, extra wide shoes and hydrogen peroxide mouthwash.

Twisted Martini, I hate to disagree with you; the man doesn’t deserve to be out breaking rocks.

He deserves the healthcare that Americans at the poverty line get in this country.

Hi Taylor, Tommy, *ilbo, all,

What a day. What a question. In Japanese martial arts it’s called ‘kuzushi’, a fast strike to surprise the opponent and open their defenses. I’ve see street thugs do it, slammed an old lady into a wall as she got of a bus, then the took her purse and ran. You don’t have to do the slamming yourself, either, cops tell me that people often come home after a funeral to find their house robbed.

Anyone know when the Republicans will be delivering the sequel “Path to Iraq?”

ccmask @ 10

Anyone know when the Republicans will be delivering the sequel “Path to Iraq?”

I hope that’s about the same time the sun cools and expands, enveloping the earth in a still-fiery veil of plasma.

In a just universe, Dick Cheney would be there.

ccmask — you know, I have the feeling we are going to get to see our own production of “Path to Iraq” when Scooter’s trial begins.

Now that I would pay good money to watch.

Thank you Taylor. Mr Cheney, Mr Bush: to the Hague!

Incidentally, American Airlines emailed another response to my concerns about their role on that day five years ago:

Teddy,
Thank you for taking the time to write and find out the facts. We are
getting a lot of response and we appreciate that most people have
checked the facts. Here are the facts: Atta did not check-in at Boston,
he checked in at Portland, Maine. In addition, the carrier that Atta
flew from Portland to Boston was not American Airlines nor American
Eagle. When he got to Boston, he “connected” on American and did not go through an additional check-in or screening process. The writers and producers of this TV show have created a fictional movie based very, very loosely on the facts. American Airlines did not allow Atta through security.

Best,
Tim Wagner
Spokesman
American Airlines

But, MouseHouse couldn’t put it on teevee if it wasn’t true, could they?

On this day of days, the essential character of the George W. Bush Admininstration stands out in all its ugliness:

You ran away and hid!

Abdigo {Abc, Disney, Gop Group}

Thanks for another great post Taylor.
Wrt Russert, imo he could have followed up better yesterday, but I thought his scripted questions were excellent. Of all the tough questions pumpkinhead asked DeadEye, the best may have been, “are we creating more terrorists than we’re killing?” Russert’s tough questions have given all the other political journalists, in DC and out, the cover they need to ask those same questions. Let’s hope they use it. For those who feel as I do, you can send Timmeh a little love here:
Do you have a question, concern or comment for Meet the Press or Tim Russert? Fill in the form below and send us your feedback. We look forward to hearing from you.

General Election all 50 States:
1 month, 26 days, 7 hours, 8 minutes, and 26 seconds

Great Post, Taylor. I feel ill too. It is going to be an uphill battle from here to the polls. If we can’t take the country back now, well - then we’ll feel even worse, knowing we failed when it was so very, very important to the USA and the world to bring a bit of sanity back.

Very good post, Taylor - Let’s also remember that the Anthrax mailer(s) are still out there too

Taylor and others, I don’t know if this will help but I’m reposting a comment i left near the end of the last thread in response to a post by GuitarPlayingBastard:

GPB– I completely get it. Sometimes I despair that America as we know and love it will survive the BushCo assault.

But I also know that a demoralized populace is an easy target for the Totali-barians in the White House.

So when I’m feeling especially bleak, I think of the video clip that was taken of Bush when he was running for governor of Texas where he gives the camera the one finger salute. And I imagine a thought balloon above his pointy little head with the word SUCKERS! in capital letters. And I buck up and go on.

We can’t let the sorry-ass bastards get us down. America needs us.

anyone have the ratings on Path to 9/11 yet? God i am so rooting for them to be in the toilet.

Isn’t the nation getting sick of spending every september 11th rehashing old emotional photographs?

lurkers’r'us @ 20

anyone have the ratings on Path to 9/11 yet? God i am so rooting for them to be in the toilet.

EPU’d from last thread, post 97. Enjoy!

OT, but not really:

FOOTBALL RATINGS DOUBLE ABC ‘911′ FUSS FILM… MORE… 15.1 RATING/23 SHARE FOR NBC ‘SUNDAY NIGHT’ FOOTBALL EASILY BEATS CONTROVERSIAL ABC ‘PATH TO 9-11′ 8.3 RATING/12 SHARE AND CBS ‘9-11′ DOCUMENTARY 8.2/12…

I suppressed my gag reflex and went to the Drudge site to get these, because I saw on Atrios that Couric’s ratings went down after she had Limbot on and was curious, the overnites were a bonus. I expect that they’ll fall even more tonight, esp with a preznitdential address buzzkill in the middle.

Note no difference between ABC’s dreck and CBS’s little hyped repeat.

rwcole @ 21

Isn’t the nation getting sick of spending every september 11th rehashing old emotional photographs?

Kos has some new ones. You won’t like them, but they are symbolically apropos.

TeddySanFran @ 13

Thank you Taylor. Mr Cheney, Mr Bush: to the Hague!

Incidentally, American Airlines emailed another response to my concerns about their role on that day five years ago:

Teddy,
Thank you for taking the time to write and find out the facts. We are
getting a lot of response and we appreciate that most people have
checked the facts. Here are the facts: Atta did not check-in at Boston,
he checked in at Portland, Maine. In addition, the carrier that Atta
flew from Portland to Boston was not American Airlines nor American
Eagle. When he got to Boston, he “connected” on American and did not go through an additional check-in or screening process. The writers and producers of this TV show have created a fictional movie based very, very loosely on the facts. American Airlines did not allow Atta through security.

Best,
Tim Wagner
Spokesman
American Airlines

But, MouseHouse couldn’t put it on teevee if it wasn’t true, could they?

Wonder if the lawyers at the Mouse House are hearing from the folks at American Airlines today? Allbright, Berger, and the Clinton folks may have a new corporate partner in any legal discussions . . .

Peter Bergen did a piece on Afghanistan yesterday in the Wapo. Here’s a couple of key grafs:

But the key to the resurgent Taliban can be summarized in one word: Pakistan. The Pakistani government has proved unwilling or incapable (or both) of clamping down on the religious militia, even though the headquarters of the Taliban and its key allies are in Pakistan. According to a U.S. military official, not one senior Taliban leader has been arrested or killed in Pakistan since 2001 — nor have any of the top leaders of the militias headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, who are fighting U.S. forces alongside the Taliban.

(snip)

The Afghan population remains generally pro-American, and its appetite for more conflict is low after more than two decades of war. However, the risks of a slide into Iraq-style chaos remain. Averting it would require Washington to end the Afghan drug trade and compel Pakistan to crack down on the Taliban warriors’ havens. These are both tall orders, but Washington could gain real leverage in the area of reconstruction. So far, it has appropriated only $9 billion for Afghan reconstruction, as compared with $34 billion for Iraq, even though Afghanistan is larger, more populous and has greater infrastructure needs. And of the appropriated amount, only $2.5 billion, a State Department official told me, has been spent.

In the absence of greater U.S. investments in roads, power and water resources, the Taliban will surely prosper and continue to gain adherents. Unless they take decisive action now, U.S. policymakers may be looking back in a few years, asking themselves why they lost Afghanistan despite the promise the country showed after the fall of the Taliban regime.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01614.html

Great post, I would like to know your opinion on the fact that Cheney bet Tim that they would keep their power in Nov.

Taylor–

Your remarks are spot on and completely appropriate for this day. Another World Trade Center equivalent has been lost in the lives of brave young Americans in Iraq and tens more World Trade Center equivalents have been visited upon the people of Iraq who had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with 9-11.

The memories of lives lost on 9-11 is all the sadder because of the pretext it gave for MORE mourning in a different part of the world. And we CAN at least reduce further loss of American lives there if we learn THAT lesson of 9-11.

Reposted from the last thread, but more appropriate here:

Lest we forget, the only authorization that allowed the President to send troops to Iraq was based on the specific and fraudulent linkage of 9-11. To wit:

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.

(a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

(b) War Powers Resolution Requirements-

(1) SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION- Consistent with section 8(a)(1) of the War Powers Resolution, the Congress declares that this section is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution.

(2) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER REQUIREMENTS- Nothing in this resolution supercedes any requirement of the War Powers Resolution.

Approved September 18, 2001.

I especially like the last part about not superceding the War Powers Act. Bottom line: now that it is admitted by the Administration that there was no linkage between 9-11 and Iraq, our invasion was patently illegal. Even granting the dubious claim that our occupation is merely the result of a mistake, there is clearly no authorization for staying there, since there is no claim even by the Administration that the terrorists who are now in Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11.

At very least, it seems to?me,?a new authorization is absolutely required immediately.

And, as the kids say, good luck with that.

alsways enjoy pics of our first dick headed president out in public with our first lobotomized first lady. Smile Vacantly Laura Belle!

thanks evildrpuma!

And things are going so well in Iraq, except where they aren’t. From today’s WaPo:

Situation Called Dire in West Iraq
Anbar Is Lost Politically, Marine Analyst Says

By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 11, 2006; Page A01

The chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps in Iraq recently filed an unusual secret report concluding that the prospects for securing that country’s western Anbar province are dim and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there, said several military officers and intelligence officials familiar with its contents.

The officials described Col. Pete Devlin’s classified assessment of the dire state of Anbar as the first time that a senior U.S. military officer has filed so negative a report from Iraq.

One Army officer summarized it as arguing that in Anbar province, “We haven’t been defeated militarily but we have been defeated politically — and that’s where wars are won and lost.”

And to think that Bush and Rove pride themselves on being such consistent political winners. Perhaps Rove ought to try winning a political victory in Anbar.

EvilDrPuma @ 23

rwcole @ 21

Isn’t the nation getting sick of spending every september 11th rehashing old emotional photographs?

Kos has some new ones. You won’t like them, but they are symbolically apropos.

Wow, Mr and Mrs President of America stepping on the American flag.

It’s now 9:11-9:11 -06 PST

I don’t think Laura is lobotomized - I think she’s bored stiff by having to listen to Shrub being taught his lines and repeating them for hours on end.

About Cheney not buying the premise: Remember, these people are the ultimate parody of post-modernism. They create their own reality. If Deadsoul Dick doesn’t say it’s real, it ain’t real, and no pile of body bags, no matter how tall, is going to change his mind.

Watertiger remembers, vividly.

http://derenegade.blogspot.com/

Another good question Timmeh asked DeadEye was, “what will ‘victory’ look like?”

Let’s stop navel gazing and frame the fucking question!

NASCAR and WWF don’t want to hear/read analysis. They want to be told how to think. Like this:
OK, you voted for the guy because you’re pissed about the fact that white, blue collar america is fading way too fast. They got you all agitated about gays too. They know your buttons. Pushed em all. It’s politics.
But then they lied to you. And kept lieing to you. And keep on lieing to you. The don’t care about the average guy. The average guy vote for them is just a way to keep making their rich friends richer. And they lie to you. About Iraq, about the price of gas, about crooked, thieving cronies who got even richer off your hard earned and paid tax dollars.

We’ve got to keep the message brutal. Simple. Hammer and hammer again.

9/11 is Kos’s birthday. Go distract him from the sadness.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/11/11735/4271

Taylor–Wonderful post and video. Great work.

On the senate race–good news and bad news–bad news is Missouri- gooper has the lead in the last several polls. Good news is Virginia- Gooper steppin on his dick.

great post,thanks taylor.

riz biz

Yeah- well that message says- “You are a bunch of stupid asses”

Don’t know if that’s the best way to get their votes.

At 25, angie quotes Peter Bergen’s claim that “The Afghan population remains generally pro-American, … .”

After months of reading Christina Lamb (stories and blogging) from Afghanistan for the Times of London, I grant her a good deal more credibility than Peter Bergen.

And that’s not what she says.

I posted this on the end of the last thread but it can go as well here.

froggermarch #62,

You reference the AUMF for Afghanistan of 9/14/01. The AUMF for Iraq of 10/11/02 states

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.
(a) AUTHORIZATION- The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to–
(1) defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and
(2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.

It has the same Wars Powers limitations as the previous AUMF.

rwcole– that VA news is fine indeed! Wonder if Georgie is still wearing those boots seeing as how he’s stepping on it.

GO WEBB!

It’s been a long time since ANYONE offered the average american working person ANYTHING—there are nice little handouts for the non working poor from time to time- and great gobs of freebies for the wealthy- nothing SUBSTANTIAL for the working people pulling down $30K to $50K.

Come on dems- offer em some cash- see what happens!

Great post, Taylor.

“I’ve said all I’m going to say on this subject, Tim”

Three times Darth Vader, that Judas, refused
to answer questions on the CIA leak…

We need to impeach those esteemed lying bunch
of arrogant arsholes…

Jack

Excellent post,

It says something about how psychotic our policies are that our two biggest allies on the war on terror are Saudi Arabia which gave us 15 of the 19 911 hijackers and Pakistan whose ISI created and sponsored the Taleban.

As for the Saddam Hussein connection with al Qaeda, (apologies for repeating myself) a 100 million Arabs knew this was baloney from day one and it is a reason why we have so little credibility with them.

Thanks, JenNix, appreciate everyone’s kind words.

Afghanistan is an important subject today, because the violence is so bad it interrupted a CNN report this morning. Dangerously unstable begins the description.

My latest rant to my papers:
_____

At some point you just have to laugh at the surreal, brazen absurdity and audacity of the Bush administration. On Sunday, September 10th, Vice President Cheney responded to Tim Russert on “Meet The Press.” by claiming that, yes, had we known back then what we know today (that Saddam in fact had no WMD), they’d have invaded anyway. Quoting the MSNBC “Meet The Press” website:

‘…Asked by “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert whether the United States would have gone ahead with the invasion of Iraq anyway if the CIA had reported that Saddam did not, in fact, have such weapons, Cheney said yes…”if we had to do it again, we would do exactly the same thing”…’

[ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14767199/ ]

You almost have to perversely admire the unmitigated narcissistic gall. The simple truth, however, is that, had the public and the Congress known back then, Bush and Cheney et al would simply not have been able to bully the nation into the blank check for their disasterous little adventure that has drained so much blood and treasure, a bungled gambit that is making our nation less secure by the day. Bin Laden could not have paid for more effective accomplices.

The number of troops that GW Clusterfuck has butchered in Iraq and Afghanistan now exceeds the number of americans he allowed Al Queda to butcher on 9/11.

Nice goin dickhead!

Hi there Bobby- good ta see ya!

OT - My business partner in New York ran in to Michael Isikoff at a Barmitzfa over the weekend. He said he tried to press him to see if he knew which way Chris Matthews leans. LOL He didn’t get an answer though.

rwcole -

Likewise. Home today awaiting the plumbers. Water heater blew during the night, inch of water all over the garage floor.

The joys of home ownership.

;)

5 Things I Learned in “The Path to 9/11″

1. Toyota clearly is working with Al Qaeda as evidenced by them only using Toyota pickups for transportation and training.

2. Bill Clinton and his team actually did an excellent job of being vigilant and keeping America safe. America never was attacked by IslamoFascist “whatevers” again after the initial bombing while he had been in office only one month.

3. Bill Clinton had 7 years of the U.S. not being attacked by terrorists, while Bush is bragging about only 5 years.

4. Bill Clinton didn’t keep us fearful of the IslamoFascist “whatevers” or our own government during his time in office.

5. I’ll take oral sex over a war against an undefined invisible enemy anyday.

Thanks for the movie ABC/Disney. I didn’t know how good we really had it back in Clinton’s day.

Peace!

But Hugh, it was OUR money that was used to help the Taliban. Right?

Chicago Sun Times: Accuracy aside, ABC’s ‘9/11′ deserves to bomb
8 September 2006

BY DOUG ELFMAN TELEVISION CRITIC

I once sat in a car forever waiting for my mom to come out of a grocery store. I thought that was the definition of “interminable.” I had no idea “The Path to 9/11″ was in my future…..

Y’all impressed with the gall of Cheney’s performance yesterday on MTP, just wait ’til you hear, see or read any given few lines of his speech at the Pentagon this morning. Just sayin’.

Saddam trial going on. He is being accused of butchering Kurds. His defense is that he was only going after insurgents (which is true) and that the other casualties were collateral damage. If his defense doesn’t work- then GW Clusterfuck has nothing to rely on at the Hague.

Hugh @ 48

Excellent post,

It says something about how psychotic our policies are that our two biggest allies on the war on terror are Saudi Arabia which gave us 15 of the 19 911 hijackers and Pakistan whose ISI created and sponsored the Taleban.

As for the Saddam Hussein connection with al Qaeda, (apologies for repeating myself) a 100 million Arabs knew this was baloney from day one and it is a reason why we have so little credibility with them.

It’s worth repeating yet again, Hugh. We have manipulated, meddled egregiously, and used the entire region in a malicious, self serving way for years.

And thank you for the post, Taylor– Afghanistan has suffered for decades now and is in worse shape than ever thanks to G.W. Bush and the cabal. There is precious little comfort I take in the lack of terror here when we are doing so much to create it there and in Iraq. These goons have succeeded at absolutely nothing positive. Only fools would vote for more of the same…..

Words are escaping me today, and Taylor this quote below from your post sums up how I feel. Thank you.

I can’t help but say I’m sorry for how this day hits me. I don’t intend or desire to make political hay on our nation’s open wound, but I’m simply so furious there is no quarter for those in power who used our deepest collective pain to wage war on an ideological whim, while letting a mass murderer get away.

Fox “News” showed the clip of that weather man freaking out about the cockroach on his leg, and the Fox news “reporter”/host says probably because the cockroach was “Al Gore”.

The last bit of dirt was thrown on the grave of free press ’round here.

one EXCELLENT post

I want to make one thing CRYSTAL Clear though, you are a little too kind;

Our intelligence wasn’t nearly as bad as George W. Bush led us to believe on Iraq

I’m sorry, the intelligence was PRECISE, the president was informed in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that Iraq posed no threat, they were informed in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that saddam and bin laden were enemies, that saddam DID NOT support terrorism

the intel was PERFECT, and our agencies did an INCREDIBLE job

the president was informed he would be making the fight against terrorism harder to win and the advice of the finest military strategists ON THE PLANET were OVERRULED by DRAFT DODGING CIVILIANS WHO HAVE NO MILITARY CLUE

instead of heeding the advice of our trained generals, theY set in motion the maniacal plans of the PNAC

the PNAC IS WHERE WE HAVE TO EXPOSE THE ADMINISTRATION, WE NEED TO PAY MORE ATTENTION TO THIS AND GET THIS ON MAIN STREAM MEDIA

the pnac is a SICK fraternity determined to destabilize the world so they could put the treasure of Iraq in their own pockets, and IN THE PROCESS, empty the coffers of the wealthiest country on planet earth THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Tenet is derelict in duty, changing his report to suit the president’s agenda, and unless he comes CLEAN to protect this nation from these people and TESTIFIES UNDER OATH, he needs to be recorded in history culpable among the principle participants in what was done to this country

Hugh at 44–

Thanks for the clarification and correction on the two AUMFs. In my fury of the moment, I looked at the wrong one.

I would backfill my comments, however, to say that I still believe that based on the Iraqi AUMF the current democratically-elected government of Iraq is not a “continuing threat” and that the United Nations resolutions have been more than fully “enforced”. I still think, in other words, that re-authorization is the least that is called for at this point and that the War Powers Act is still being violated.

Everyone in Washington must have photos of Tenet getting it on with a goat. No other explanation for his willingness to eat gooper shit at the same time they fricasse him.

GW Clusterfuck snuff film debuts in Toronto to a torrent of applause.

me to me @ 63

one EXCELLENT post

I want to make one thing CRYSTAL Clear though, you are a little too kind;

Our intelligence wasn’t nearly as bad as George W. Bush led us to believe on Iraq

I’m sorry, the intelligence was PRECISE, the president was informed in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that Iraq posed no threat, they were informed in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that saddam and bin laden were enemies, that saddam DID NOT support terrorism

the intel was PRES ICE, and our agencies did an INCREDIBLE job

the president was informed he would be making the fight against terrorism harder to win and the advice of the finest military strategists ON THE PLANET were OVERRULED by DRAFT DODGING CIVILIANS WHO HAVE NO MILITARY CLUE

instead of heeding the advice of our trained generals, the set in motion the maniacal plans of the PNAC

a sick fraternity determined to destabilize the world so they could put the treasure of Iraq in their own pockets, and IN THE PROCESS, empty the coffers of the wealthiest country on planet earth THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Tenet is derelict in duty, changing his report to suit the president’s agenda, and unless he comes CLEAN to protect this nation from these people and TESTIFIES UNDER OATH, he needs to be recorded in history culpable among the principle participants in what was done to this country

THX FOR THAT.

rwcole @ 65

Everyone in Washington must have photos of Tenet getting it on with a goat. No other explanation for his willingness to eat gooper shit at the same time they fricasse him.

707 - True dat!

Old Sow @ 56

But Hugh, it was OUR money that was used to help the Taliban. Right?

Actually, no. The Soviets left Afghanistan in 1989 and we rapidly lost interest. The country descended into chaos, warlordism, and civil war. The Taleban was formed in 1994 and had effective control of Afghanistan by 1996, except for a small area in and around the Panshir Valley held by the Northern Alliance. The Taleban government was diplomatically recognized by only 3 countries: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the UAR.

bin Laden is NOT alive. He’s been dead for years.

Zawari’s latest string of videotapes proves it.

If they are both hiding together in the same place, and have been for years, why has Zawari issued so many videotapes, but bin Laden hasn’t appeared on tape a single time?

Both libs and conservatives have something to gain by claiming bin Laden is still alive.

Even al-Qaeda knows that an announcement of bin Laden’s death would be devastating for the radical Muslim world. If they admit “the Great Satan” had succeeded in getting him, they would be acknowledging their weakness and the strength of the US.

In addition, bin Laden’s ego would never allow him to remain silent for all this time.

The $64,000 question is this: who has the balls to make this case? Who wants to be the blog that becomes famous for breaking the news that bin Laden is dead?

There is plenty of evidence out there, for anyone who wants to play detective. The potential for fame is enormous.

And, BTW, I am issuing this challenge to bloggers on both sides of the political aisle. It’s an equal-opportunity gold mine.

Hugh @ 68

Old Sow @ 56

But Hugh, it was OUR money that was used to help the Taliban. Right?

Unocal and the Taliban did business. Laili Helms smoothed some introductions that were probably pretty lucrative. And there was that $43 million that the US handed over- something about poppy eradication?

Thank You Taylor, a great post that expresses my feelings exactly, it usually does take a woman to do that.

I’m of the camp that ‘thinks’ and ‘feels’ that Osama is no longer on this earthly plane, that he really did die in 2003 in a Pakistani hospital of renal failure as was rumored many times. It’s my number one belief of why the Bush administration and the FBI dismisses looking for him, they know. But it serves their purposes to say he’s alive to keep the fear going. Just as it is in Pakistan and Al Qaida’s interests not to confirm it because it keeps America in fear.

I also don’t think they will try to whip out Osama has been captured/killed for the Oct Surprise, they need him “alive” until after the 2008 presidential election. No, they need another major terrorist ‘incident’ instead for this election cycle. Bastards.

That photo over at Kos of Chimpy stepping on disrespecting the flag rug says it all doesn’t it? I thought they outlawed flags on clothing etc? So they put it on a rug for Bush to wipe his feet on? I’m sad enough today, talk about floored.

Everbody’s knows the saying Don’t just get mad, get even. Raw Story has a new report up that could spur you to do just that.

I tried to link to it and couldn’t, so pasted the url.

It’s about a new TV ad from The Center for Security Policy, some offshoot of a right wing think tank. and the ad is pure fear-mongering propaganda. This is what we’re going to be seeing from now till November.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2....._0911.html

PS Can somebody help me do the linking thing?

John Casper @ 57

Chicago Sun Times: Accuracy aside, ABC’s ‘9/11′ deserves to bomb
8 September 2006

BY DOUG ELFMAN TELEVISION CRITIC

I once sat in a car forever waiting for my mom to come out of a grocery store. I thought that was the definition of “interminable.” I had no idea “The Path to 9/11″ was in my future…..

LMAO

Elfman outshales Tom Shales (WaPo TV critic)

Rocket #69,

Bin Laden is not dead. He was kidnapped by the same Martians who bombed the Twin Towers. The planes were holographs and I’m getting really tired of conspiracy theories. The reality is bad enough.

Bush gave money to the Taliban:

Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this nation still takes seriously.

That’s the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that “rogue regime” for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban’s estimation, are most human activities, but it’s the ban on drugs that catches this administration’s attention.

http://www.robertscheer.com/1_.....052201.htm

Never mind. Looks like the link is fine.

Hugh @ 74

Rocket #69,

Bin Laden is not dead. He was kidnapped by the same Martians who bombed the Twin Towers. The planes were holographs and I’m getting really tired of conspiracy theories. The reality is bad enough.

Makes sense to me. Bet Michael Moore could do a great job with that scenario.

The gooer game plan for 2006 is simple “If you vote dem- terrorists are going to kill you and everyone you love.”

Yep- it IS that blatant.

Rocket,

1) There is ZERO evidence to suggest bin Laden is dead. Quite the contrary, fairly recent voice prints etc

2) In my opinion, bin Laden and Zawari aren’t together

rwcole @ 78

The gooer game plan for 2006 is simple “If you vote dem- terrorists are going to kill you and everyone you love.”

Yep- it IS that blatant.

Islamo Terrorists, rw. And Mehlman is their Zarkawi

Excellent post, excellent query - I just heard broadcasts from 911 including an interview with Goss saying that no one believed that state sponsored terrorism was involved with 9/11. And mentioning the three week earlier notice that something was coming (although even then omitting that the notice was given to a vactioning Bush who stayed on vacation).
*******
angie @25, lotus @43

I’m thinking Bergen wants it so badly (I can empathize with that). I generally give a lot of weight to his pieces, but IMO he’s wrong that this is a “one word” *Pakistan* issue or that Afghans remain so generally pro-American.

The problem there, as so many places in Africa and the ME, is that there is a tremendous dearth of government which means a dearth of items like road, electricity, plumbing, food, food distribution, medical care, etc.

Something fills that hole. We haven’t done it or helped Karzai to do it (a bit of his secondary point). If it were not Taliban, it would be something else - without regard to Pakistan. Like Hezbollah that filled the hole in Lebanon. Like Hamas has filled in Palestine.

Not only have we not “filled” the void, we’ve created more void - bombed villages, roads, plants, etc. - and spent outrageous sums for things that were only crony based payoffs with no benefit to the Afghan people.

If I could afford it I would take out a full page ad. in the NYT, WSJ, Wash Post, and as many other newspapers I could, and paste these same conclusions right there for America to see for themselves. Then we could see how the Admin. and pundits would respond.

P.S. Why doesn’t Pres. Clinton, Sandy Beger, and Madeleine Albright, file a defamtion suit and request a TRO on Disney/ABC today? They knowingly published the misrepresentation of a material fact, to a third party (the American Public), which caused injury, by damaging the affected parties’ standing in the community, to their detrement.

It needs to at least be out there to dispute the Bogus nature of the film.

angie @
25

Peter Bergen did a piece on Afghanistan yesterday in the Wapo. Here’s a couple of key grafs:

But the key to the resurgent Taliban can be summarized in one word: Pakistan. The Pakistani government has proved unwilling or incapable (or both) of clamping down on the religious militia, even though the headquarters of the Taliban and its key allies are in Pakistan. According to a U.S. military official, not one senior Taliban leader has been arrested or killed in Pakistan since 2001 — nor have any of the top leaders of the militias headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, who are fighting U.S. forces alongside the Taliban.

Part of the problem is that this bunch believed Francis Fukuyama–that we were in an age of post-history–and also misunderstood that to mean that we no longer had to pay attention to history.

There was plenty of evidence before 2001 of complicity between the Pakistani ISI and the Taliban (of which one can think them religious kindred spirits to bin Laden and particularly Ayman al-Zawahiri). We knew damned well that Pakistan was a conduit of funds to the Taliban because we set up that arrangement in the course of our proxy war in Afghanistan. Saudi Arabia was also kicking lots of money into that pot and the ISI was siphoning off funds to use after the Soviets gave up on Afghanistan–probably on the order of half a billion dollars.

So, all of a sudden, Pakistan is devoted to our interests after 9/11? This bunch of people never considered the fractures and divided loyalties inside the Pakistan establishment and simply assumed that shoveling money to Musharraf would accomplish their ends, nor did they contemplate, for a moment, recent history, especially where the radical religious Saudis who supported fundamentalism in Pakistan and Afghanistan was concerned.

But, this sort of black/white, reductive thinking is their hallmark. Zawahiri and bin Laden are on the loose today because there are factions inside the Pakistan government (and probably in the Saudi hierarchy, as well) that don’t want them captured, and want the Taliban to succeed.

When the Iraqis staind up- americans will stand down- and come home.

Well 300,000 Iraqis or so have “stood up”- so how many americans have “stood down”? It’s a negative number. How can that be? Did GW Clusterfuck LIE again?

The trouble is that the Iraqis don’t have authority- so give em guns and BADGES- then we can leave- they need stinkin badges!

Australian Industry Minister doesn’t take advice (on the environment) from smart people like Gore. Well… he sure as hell takes advice along with the PM (Iraq) from idiots like the Bush crowd.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20.....NlYwM3NTM-

This is what Bergen isn’t fully factoring IMO - Pakistan has little to do with these failures -

Top soldier quits as blundering campaign turns into pointless war

“All those people whose homes have been destroyed and sons killed are going to turn against the British,” he said. “It’s a pretty clear equation — if people are losing homes and poppy fields, they will go and fight. I certainly would.

“We’ve been grotesquely clumsy — we’ve said we’ll be different to the Americans who were bombing and strafing villages, then behaved exactly like them.”

THen there’s Sudan, Somalia - Feingold is about the only politician who mentions them.

Dru @ 70

Hugh @ 68

Old Sow @ 56

Unocal and the Taliban did business. Laili Helms smoothed some introductions that were probably pretty lucrative. And there was that $43 million that the US handed over- something about poppy eradication?

There was a competition between Bridas and Unocal to build a pipeline through Afghanistan. Bridas first made contact with the Taleban in August 1996. In September 1996, the Taleban took Kabul and the following month Unocal expressed support for the government, something it later denied. In November 1996, Bridas signed a deal with the Taleban for the pipeline but there was continued competition between the two until Clinton’s cruise missile attack in August 1998 as a result of which Unocal suspended its Afghan operations.

http://www.worldpress.org/spec.....meline.htm

It is also important to note that the Taleban were exceptionally inept at governance. Something like 30% of the population was dependent on international food aid and while disdainful they were almost always willing to accept aid from others while ignoring the conditions that accompanied it.

Peter Bergen’s piece was pretty clear in indicating that “the generally pro American” support is not at all a given. I do fault the Pakistanis and the Coalition forces primarily for this entire debacle– there’s a lot of history there!
MFI pointed out our military failings in Afghanistan quite viscerally many times. We abandoned the people a long, long time ago and have done little to no reconstruction. Cluster bombs and landmines litter the now destroyed landscape and the poverty is undiminished.

Good to have this conversation, though.

montag (#83)

i guess the Cheney Administration never read this poem:

Now it is not good for the Christian’s health to hustle

the Aryan brown,

For the Christian riles and the Aryan smiles and

he weareth the Christian down,

And the end of the fight is a tombstone white with the name

of the late deceased.

And the epitaph drear: “A fool lies here who tried

to hustle the East.”

R. Kipling - “The Naulaka”

Found it in a Hunter Thompson book……..

fahrender @ 77

Hugh @ 74

Rocket #69,

Bin Laden is not dead. He was kidnapped by the same Martians who bombed the Twin Towers. The planes were holographs and I’m getting really tired of conspiracy theories. The reality is bad enough.

Makes sense to me. Bet Michael Moore could do a great job with that scenario.

Which ‘reality’ would you be referring too? Fox News/9ll Commission/Disney/ABC/GWB-WH? Stop me if I’m getting warm.

I understand how much it hurts: http://www.learningandteaching.....onance.htm

Inform yourself…you owe it to those we remember today. If the Jersey Girls can put up with the smear and swift-baoting by the likes of Coulter, we can at least listen to what they have to say.