In BushCo's endless quest to debase, corrupt, embarass, ruin and dumb down everything they touch:
The Defense Department directed a private contractor in 2003 to hire Shaha Ali Riza, a World Bank employee and the companion of Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the deputy secretary of defense, to spend a month studying issues related to setting up a new government in Iraq, the contractor said Monday.
The contractor, Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC, said that it had been directed to hire Ms. Riza by the office of the under secretary for policy. The head of that office at the time was Douglas J. Feith, who reported to Mr. Wolfowitz.
Ah Doug Feith , the "stupidest fucking guy on the face of the earth." Everyone has their own favorite Doug Feith story, mine is how Feith tried to force Jay Garner — in charge of Post War resonstruction in Iraq — into the waiting arms of Ahmed Chalabi:
Garner asked Feith for copies of planning documents that had been drawn up in the Pentagon and elsewhere in the U.S. government. Garner said Feith told him that nothing useful existed and that he should develop his own plans. Feith's hope, as articulated to others in the Pentagon, was that without a clear blueprint for political transition, Garner would turn to Chalabi and his band of exiles. Feith would get the outcome he wanted without provoking a fight ahead of time with State and the CIA, both of which regarded Chalabi as a fraud.
So it should go without saying that I, like, totally believe Feith's explanation:
Mr. Feith, the former under secretary of defense, said he had no recollection of any request by his office to have Ms. Riza hired.
[]
In a telephone interview, Mr. Feith said: “It doesn’t ring any bells. I just do not recall any such thing.” He said that the Pentagon policy office had a large staff, budget and number of contracts, and that the SAIC disclosure could mean the contract was arranged by “somebody in the Pentagon or somebody in my office.”
Wolfowitz's squeeze is now being represented by, yes, Victoria Toensing. We anticipate much truthniness to be forthcoming.
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Fwee!
OMG I’m off topic already on my own thread but this is just too funny.
Feith, Foth, Fum–they’re all dumb!
Vicky TOESTINK!!!!!
So glad to have her to kick around again!
These guys aren’t that old. They are going to be around for a long time……..unless they are in jail.
JANE!
And what is it with these stupid fucking fuckheads?
So is Wolfie divorced or not? I’ve seen it both ways.
Jane, Wha’s up?!
I still want to find that Steve Martin “I forgot” skit on YouTube. Didn’t have any luck earlier.
“I got no means to show identification
I got no papers show you what I am
Youll have to take me just the way that you find me
Whats gone is gone and I do not give a damn
Empty stomach, empty head
I got empty heart and empty bed
I dont remember
I dont remember
I dont remember, I dont recall
I got no memory of anything at all
I dont remember, I dont recall
I got no memory of anything
-anything at all”
-Peter Gabriel
eCAHNomics @ 7
Caught wearing socks with holes in them? My own nine-year experience between wives leads me to believe he’s batchin’ it.
Why is it that this reminded me of the Astronaut diaper story?
Feeth, Feith, Foth, Fum, I wish she didn’t look so glum–
given how damn much money she makes for what was it? running a logo contest with Liz Cheney? Is this the only picture available of this vamp for Wolfowitz?
eCAHNomics @ 7
Separated since 2001
Source: Wiki
Jane Hamsher @ 2
Oh my. It seems we have a new measurement — 3 elephants — to go along with 2 Friedman Units, etc.
Noen @9 It’s called the absent minded waiter, and it is one of his best, along with the great flydini!!
Remember Mike McMack Defense Lawyer? I think that’s what it was called.
Let’s all hear it for truthiness
According to yesterday’s NYT article http://www.nytimes.com/reuters…..ref=slogin
Wolfie’s fate depends on Paulson. That will be a good test of my hypothesis that he is one of the few grownups in W admin.
Am I the only one who thinks this woman looks a lot like Jeane Kilpatrick?
amazing how these forgetful GOP clients still remember to pay their lawyers (or so I assume)
Damn. She’s almost as ugly as he is.
Will Victoria’s defense strategy be “there’s no underlying crime, because my client was not an ‘employee’” ??
Paul “licks his comb, hole in the socks” Wolfowitz and his “squeeze” Shaha Ali Riza.
Please, God, flush that mental image out of my mind! I’m going to barf…
Scarecrow @ 23:
Or will it be that there is no underlying crime because I know the intent of the law, and I say so?
Well, it ain’t youtube, but there is this:
“You.. can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You say.. “Steve.. how can I be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes?” First.. get a million dollars. Now.. you say, “Steve.. what do I say to the tax man when he comes to my door and says, ‘You.. have never paid taxes’?” Two simple words. Two simple words in the English language: “I forgot!” How many times do we let ourselves get into terrible situations because we don’t say “I forgot“? Let’s say you’re on trial for armed robbery. You say to the judge, “I forgot armed robbery was illegal.” Let’s suppose he says back to you, “You have committed a foul crime. you have stolen hundreds and thousands of dollars from people at random, and you say, ‘I forgot’?” Two simple words: Excuuuuuse me!!”
Thank you, Steve Martin.
Cozumel @ 14
Thx. Looked there myself after asking the Q. Duh. Hopefully that’s accurate. Wish I could remember seeing where I read that he was divorced; might have been some MSM rag that didn’t do its homework as usual.
Next Q: why has no one interviewed his wife?
Steve Martin- “Too often we get ourselves in diffucult situations because we didn’t use two simple words…two words in the english language that could keep us out of trouble…I’m talking about ‘I forgot’…The IRS comes to and says you haven’t been paying your taxes, you say I forgot…You’re on trial for armed robbery..You say I forgot armed robbery was illegal…” Gotta love him
or;
not so much
you had me laughing out loud Jane
anyway, about this
this sounds like a joke but it is with no doubt the absolute truth
these people hate government, they want robber baron control and there very purpose was to turn every successful program into a failure
notice social security and tapping those funds to give free money to rich people, notice as well the drug programs, actually forcing us to pay full price, notice blackwater, notice the rebuilding process in new Orleans and in Iraq
these people hate government and they want it to fail, everything they do is to this purpose
mc I was typing when you were posting, but, you got me!!
eCAHNomics @ 27
Cozumel @ 14
eCAHNomics @ 7
So is Wolfie divorced or not? I’ve seen it both ways.
Separated since 2001
Source: Wiki
Thx. Looked there myself after asking the Q. Duh. Hopefully that’s accurate. Wish I could remember seeing where I read that he was divorced; might have been some MSM rag that didn’t do its homework as usual.
Next Q: why has no one interviewed his wife?
Then again!? ; )
Reuters
snip
Riza had been given an external assignment to the U.S. State Department in September 2005, when her involvement with Wolfowitz was made public.
Both are divorced.
http://www.reuters.com/article…..edType=RSS
zig freed by Mod
lectric lady @
24
I was very grateful to the reporters who said “they had been acquainted at least since the 1990s as a result of their joint interest in promoting democracy in the Middle East.” Because the alt image was just too much.
EPUd, somewhat OT:
The Contra Costa Times is reporting Pete McCloskey has (officially) switched parties, and is now a Democrat.
scarecrow @
15
I should say h/t scarecrow, he sent me the article this am.
Off-topic: Good Gawd, the AP has just released their coverage of Shrub in VA. Deb Reichmann is slobbering over the Preznit so bad it’s hard to find the actual story: “Bush rallied the nation after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. One of the most enduring images of his presidency is Bush standing atop a pile of rubble in New York with a bullhorn in his hand. After Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, Bush made repeated trips to the region but wound up criticized for the government’s sluggish response to the storm.”
How dare she!?! Bush rallied the nation after 9/11?!? Bush’s Katrina performance… And then, just to stick the shiv in all the way, her next graph is about how Clinton’s reponse to Oklahoma was somehow all about his re-election. I know, we don’t expect much of AP, but this is really awful stuff.
OT and I have to get back to writing a paper.
Christy, I left you a message on your wonderful Red Flag post at 163.
This topic is near and dear to my heart.
Thanks for writing it.
cozumel @ 32
Thanks. I think that’s exactly where I saw the divorced statement. So which is correct? Wiki or Reuters?
And my other question could stand either way, because he started seeing Riza before he was even separated from his wife, apparently.
Ahem — Just to be clear . . . I sent the NYT article, not the OT.
Sorry Jane,
Didn’t even say hi and I hope you are feeling strong. Wishing you an appetite and a good dinner tonight.
eCAHNomics @ 38
I’ll go with Reuters. Wiki has a rep for being wrong
Hmm. You know, I am a little uncomfortable with the comments on physical appearance.
Comb licking? Holes in socks? Gross. But looks? Not something any of us have a say in when we’re born.
thingwarbler @ 36
Suzanne Malveaux did the same thing on CNN. See digby.
Why does she need a lawyer?
old gold @
20
It’s Kirkpatrick.
I figured that Bush would go heavy on the prayin stuff and repeat his comments about no gun control- but he decided to leave the gun stuff alone today- wise decision. Didn’t see him (stomach can’t stand it) but it sounds as if he did OK politically. If AP thinks that this will be enough to resurrect his presidency though, they’re smokin somethin acrid.
debit @ 42
Especially when there is so much more fertile ground like cronyism, favoritism, and outright criminal behavior.
judyinnm @ 44
It’s part of the GOP full employment plan.
“throw my money down!!!”
Jane, this Wolfie story makes me queasy (mental bleach please) and laugh at the same time. The i-ron-y is just too delicious–and forcing the Wall Street Journal to defend him editorially is just rich! Especially when they’d FRY a government or university leader for doing the same thing using “taxpayer dollars.”
The thing that amazes me is $200k is pocket change to these chumps. Was it worth jeopardizing his job and status over a little squeeze? He could have tossed her his spare change and a flat in the Hamptons and no one would have been the wiser.
“Don’t get too close, you’ll catch her stupid!” – Unknown Fish talking to her daughter on the cartoon show Spongebob Squarepants.
If that spoke somehow got knocked out of the wheel the whole cart would go in the ditch.
Bugboy @ 51
It’s how they keep Wolfie happy. And it is important to keep the inner circle happy.
Another Feith-Based Iniative
I am the Shadout Mapes…. The housekeeper
Mack @ 54
Ah, Punaise. You out there?
smapdi @ 55
Mapes had integrity though. She was a Fremin afterall.
scarecrow @ 43
It must have been in the talking points that Rove gives to the press every day.
TPM
Bugboy @ 51
That’s why they get into trouble. To them it’s such a small potatoes issue. Throw her a job that sounds good on her resume, regardless of how little work is actually involved.
To the rest of us, it’s outrageous that these guys pack organizations with assorted wives, lovers and children, paying them several times the national average to do next to nothing.
Is that a hint?
retirin’ in five @
56
I used the term “Feith-Based Strategy” re the Office of Special Plans in a speech I gave on April 8, 2004.
OT – just finished a lecture with my big, 110-student class. At the end of class, I told them to call their parents if they hadn’t recently, because their parents have been thinking about them constantly for the past 30 hours or so.
This laughing about Feith being TSFGOTFOTH makes me queasy. Who’s had the last laugh (and who is that redneck bootlicker Tommy Franks to gauge someone’s brains)?
The citation Jane Hamsher offers indicates a person who thinks a few steps ahead:
“Feith’s hope, as articulated to others in the Pentagon, was that without a clear blueprint for political transition, Garner would turn to Chalabi and his band of exiles. Feith would get the outcome he wanted without provoking a fight ahead of time with State and the CIA, both of which regarded Chalabi as a fraud.”
That Feith failed in his shenanigans here doesn’t mean he and Wolfowitz failed in their larger end, which was for the United States to permanently occupy Iraq with an attack on Iran another part of the long view. In fact Feith and Wolfowitz’s biggest success is often cited here and elsewhere as if it were some kind of fuckup on Paul Bremer’s part. These two disbanded the Iraqi army, thereby creating the vacuum that has supposedly necessitated our stay: http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..ge=printer
Feith runs a spy ring out of his office, wrecks the Iraqi state and gets a sinecure at Georgetown University. Why are we laughing?
noen @ 61
On a serious note, half the CIA has been there something like 5 years or less. Wanna bet on what schools they were hired from? I’ll betcha it’s no longer a Yale bastion.
Ed*ard Teller @ 62
Does it really rise to the level of “strategy”?
Joe Klein’s conscience @
45
Or maybe she looks like James Kilpatrick.
Mack @
54
Maybe Feith had a faith based faith in the Feith-based Initiative.
If you don’t laugh, you kill yourself.
Too much of this in one day and you walk around looking at people and wondering if they know that we are in Nazi Germany in the 40’s and if it’s a dream, we can’t WAKE UP!
Well that narrows it down. How many people work at the pentagon? 50,000?
They can’t remember anything except their bank account numbers and their lawyers phone number.
scarecrow @ 15
Isn’t it 3 elephants = 1 big donkey?
Ed*ard Teller @ 62
Ed. that was a very nice thing (your suggestion to call home) to do. thanks.
dakine01 @ 65
I’m thinking she bears an uncanny resemblance to Dr. Evil’s love interest in the Austin Power’s movies.
noen @
64
Brendan’s #62 equates Feith’s actions at the time I was referencing in my speech to a “strategy,” one formulated in conjunction with Feith and Wolfowitz’s meetings in the run-up to the war with Richard Perle and a number of unnamed Israeli generals who visited Feith’s office during the same time period. The dismantlement of the Iraqi army and civil service was perhaps the single most important contribution to the growth of the insurgency in late 2003 and early 2004, leading up to the First Battle of Falluja.
(sarcasm)
All I can say is thank goodness she never gave him a blow*ob!
(/sarcasm)
edited * by Mod
Quzi @ 71
DONG!DING!Pictures in the press of the “war memorial chapel” at Virginia Tech… A church lined with american flags– pretty creepy sight for those who value separation of church and state.
You really really really couldn’t make it up.
Hubris! Hubris! Hubris!
Beth @ 72 says:
LOL! And you’re absotively correct.
OT: TPM –
sick.
Ed*ard Teller @ 73
Do you believe that they knew that and deliberately set Iraq up to become a seething cauldron so that we could justify our presence? Or am I being too cynical?
…standing atop a pile of rubble, holding a bullhorn …
actually, that is about the opposite of heroic
Bugboy @ 51
Good headline up at antiwar.com: Wolfie’s Piggy Bank.
rwcole -I’m always uncomfortable with the prayer and patriotism thing at events like the convocation and remember a bit too well Al Gore’s preaching at the Columbine memorial …
but the VT event also had Nikki Giovanni who said it all in a very short piece … the poet teaches at VT and delivered a mix of it’s ok to cry with undrstand this tragedy fits within a world full of tragedies and finish with a cheer for the VT community. No gods but tons of genuine spirit.
Jane – so glad you linked to the Juan Melli piece – had me laughing hysterically … way to go!
And poor Wolfie squeeze who is issuing “I am the victim” statements … can’t wait to see how Vicki represents her.
best illustration yet of the perniciousness of “some say”
rwcole @ 76
I suspect that the “war memorial chapel” was done in memory of those who died in WWII. The town of Bedford, Virgina lost almost all of its young men in the first attack on the beaches at Normandy. It would seem pretty strange (and be against military honors) not to have the Flag there.
If you’ve never done so, the next time you are in DC go to the National Cathedral and check out the War Memorial Chapel there.
rwcole at 76—While I respect your reaction, I think there are a lot of people who feel that their patriotism is something honorable and a higher feeling, in the way that honoring God is a higher feeling. To have the flag in your church is to say they are both very important. This happens in parts of the country that disproportionately send their boys to die in wars of dubious wisdom.
I grew up in a church with the American flag in it, was ok with it then and now. It does not mean we were trying to impose anything on anybody, simply a way of honoring both God and country. You know, like the Boy Scouts?
Senator Webb’s book on the Scots-Irish has more about our sacrifice, our religion, and our patriotism.
Siun @ 83
I thought the Republics were SUPPOSED to be the party of teh adults and were too strong to let themselves be considered victims? /snark off/
Siun @ 83
hope someone can show her on the tubes tonight. missed it. raven said it was worth seeing.
Could someone clarify something. Did Volfie get a job for Riza in the State Department? And isn’t she not a US citizen? And what is a non US citizen working in the State Department? Wouldn’t being a citizen be a requirement to hold a high position… or any policy or management position in the State Department.
Am I wrong?
punaise @
85
Replaces “When did you stop beating your wife” quite nicely doesn’t it?
TiredFed…you’re in my thoughts. You’ve been on a rollercoaster the past 24 hours I daresay.
Jane @ Top: “Everyone has their own favorite Doug Feith story, mine is…”
Ah, yes. Mine is the time Feith recommended, in response to the 9/11 attacks, that we invade… Venezuela. Under the astonishing strategic reasoning that the terrorists would never see it coming. The idea being it would throw the them off-balance, or something like that.
If anyone can find a confirming link to the story, please post it. I think it comes from Lawrence Wilkerson, but it might be from one of the anti-Iraq-policy books that have come out lately: Risen, or Corn, or etc.
(On the other hand, I suppose it was really no stupider than invading Iraq.)
Jane Hamsher @
2
They finally took it down — but it took two hours of being Atriosed before they figured it out. More than long enough for Blue Jersey to get screen shots. :-)
The best comment I’ve seen on this sordid affair comes from http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/17/riza-iraq/
Can’t beat THAT snark… not with a stick…
egregious @ 87
No, I don’t like it. It conflates God and country too much in my view. And when that happens the likely hood of “very ugly things” happening only increases. “Got undt Fatherland” sends a chill down my spine. And I’m of German heritage.
Okay, let’s see how many of Natasha Toensing’s recent Plame-related comments are contradicted by her Riza-related comments. This oughta be FUN.
debit @
41
True as a matter of principle, but it is hard to resist when we are talking about people who are so hideously ugly on the inside.
That godawful perpetual sneer on Cheney’s mug, for example…..maybe it’s not his fault, but it SO perfectly sums up the utter vileness that is him.
Brisingamen @ 86
There is a stone engraved with the word “GITMO” at the National Cathedral, at the entrance to the men’s room (placed there before the current infamies). I once asked why they didn’t remove it, given its current associations, and met with a peevish and defensive response. It’s a nice church regardless. A tour guide once told me you could build two for the price of an F-16.
Siun @ 85
I can’t wait for piece of lawyerism. Outta be just stupendous or stupid…time will tell.
egregious @ 88
Egregious
It is always great to hear your sage advice. Wishing you safe journeys.
This is fucking hilarious. We’re beyond the Coen Brothers and into Preston Sturges territory now. Miracle at Morgan’s Creek looks serious compared to the Wolfowitz/Toensing files.
Edw*d Teller at #73
I’m thinking that Feith and company determined to disband the army in order to remove a rival power center to the dictatorship they had planned to set up under Chalabi or, if necessary, some other willing tool. The problem with the army wasn’t that it was Baathist, it was that it was organized, and as the Neocons intended to draw the army down to 30,000 by September, that organization could have mounted a coup against their puppet, leaving the US with a fait accompli.
That’s how they think.
scarecrow @ 15
Scarecrow, you’re too funny!
oddmommy @ 98
And it also explains why Wolfowitz — who has been ’separated’ from his wife since 2001 — would feel a need to make sure his GF got a six-figure income. (I suspect that if he looked like Pierce Brosnan, she wouldn’t require such inducements.)
Thanks Jim. I am en route at present, yay wifi.
Noen I very much respect what you have to say and especially with your German connection. I can only say that for our congregation, it wasn’t a matter of doing anything for the country no matter how extreme; rather, honoring those boys who were willing to sacrifice their lives to defend the rest of us. But I definitely hear you about how it can go too far. For the record I am half German and have cousins who fought for them in WWI.
My childhood church with the American flag, though, was Scots-Irish Presbyterian.
So who’s got dirt on the bimbo in question, Shaha Ali Riza?
Good f*cking gravy, Wolfowitz has to tie Feith for the dumbest man on earth title, if Riza is his selection for “trophy girlfriend”, apparently unable to comprehend the concept of “arm candy.”
Really, if you were going to trash your reputation by demanding a job for your girlfriend, wouldn’t you do it for something more more than the person in the photo? I don’t hear folks on the wingers’ side of the aisle moaning on about what a catch Riza is, and how they’d sacrifice anything for her…jeepers, even Fred Thompson got it right.
Which suggests to me there’s a backstory here. Somebody is getting bought off or there’s another motive in play that we’re missing. And there are folks out there who are clearly suspicious of Wolfie’s motives for doing anything. Blecchhh…
Meant to say that will be a historical piece of lawyering. Jeebus.
I have to say that I’m more than a little amused that she’s his “companion”. It’s odd to be using the 1980’s term for “gay lover” when describing a heterosexual relationship in the 2000s. I realize that “fuck buddy” is probably over the line, but I think that she is correctly referred to as his “mistress” (if he’s still married) or his “girlfriend” (if he’s divorced).
DefJef @ 90
it is a requirement in my agency (not the State Dept.), and it sure should be one at State. can you imagine foreign agents just lining up for steno jobs? sheesh. if it’s not cronies, it’s incompetents.
martha @ 92
thanks hon. still on it. the boy comes home tomorrow. mom will be happier.
TiredFed @ 112
That’s good news.
noen @ 80
One of the study groups formed during Benjamin Netenyahu’s conference and report on the future of Israel in the Middle East, called A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm (1996), broke into two study groups on what might happen after Baghdad fell to US forces. One group worked on the problem thusly:
In the section on Iraq, and the necessity of removing Saddam Hussein, there was telltale ‘intelligence’ from Chalabi and his old Jordanian Hashemite patron, Prince Hassan: ‘The predominantly Shi’a population of southern Lebanon has been tied for centuries to the Shi’a leadership in Najaf, Iraq, rather than Iran. Were the Hashemites to control Iraq, they could use their influence over Najaf to help Israel wean the south Lebanese Shi’a away from Hizbollah, Iran, and Syria. Shi’a retain strong ties to the Hashemites.’ Of course the Shia with ’strong ties to the Hashemites’ was the family of Ahmed Chalabi.
Another study group, which also included Feith, looked at dividing Iraq up into the three sub-states which have so often been suggested in the intervening eleven years since the Feith-based strategy was cooked up in Tel Aviv.
But, on your, question, there is no doubt that from day one the list of unintended consequences of this war has been incredibly enormous. The growing anarchy was predicted by many on both sides of the pre-war opinion fences. Some, including me, thought it would be even worse than it is by now.
Knut Wicksell @ 103
I argue they are trying the same thing here.
Knut Wicksell @ 104
Annals of Last Laugh. From Cockburn’s book on Rummy, Baathist army planned insurgency before U.S. invaded. And to add a twist of irony, I am told by another source that the insurgency plan was modeled off of the one devised by the Brits, in case the Germans managed to invade during WWII. Apparently that plan was studied by Iraqis who attended Sandhurst. Take that, Mr. Blair.
brendan @ 100
Actually, the walls of the National Cathedral contain stones from other sacred buildings/places from all over the world, which are identified by carvings or plaques next to them. I suspect the “Gitmo” stone is from a church there.
My favorites are the brick from the first church in Jamestown and the Moon rock in the Space Window.
This may seem like a snarky comment, but I’m actually serious. Given that the administration’s defense du jour seems always to be variations on the passive “who could foresee, I don’t recall, I was so, so busy” I’m wondering if they’ve done some sort of focus group testing on that message.
When the Bushies came to town the overriding message was the party of “Responsibility” is taking charge. Now, they all seem to evade responsibility for anything that’s happened over the past seven years.
The stubborn case of iforgetitis that’s infecting Washington is extraordinary. What explains it?
Besides guilt, I mean.
egregious @ 106
Sure, I understand your position too. I guess it goes to how one is raised. I was raised ELC Lutheran, pretty liberal. Though we would visit my fathers aunts and uncles in Iowa, right around the Amana Colonies. All heavily German. They would get together and play Schafkopf and talk in German so we couldn’t understand them. Their churches just seemed really oppressive to me.
Read an apologetics story this morning claiming that Wolfie was only doing what the ethics committee at the World Bank instructed him to do. He wanted to recuse himself from any decisions- and they said “no”- they recommended the transfer and a higher salary to compensate the squeeze fer gettin canned.
Sounds like bullshit- but it should be addressed- it’s what the conservatives are gonna believe.
Good gravy. The bimbo in question worked for Cheney’s daughter, later got a short-term gig at what looks like a think tank for the neo-con wingers who aren’t Christian fundies.
In other words, she’s used to drawing winger welfare — but for what?
noen at #80 askes Ed*ard Teller:
“Do you believe that they knew that and deliberately set Iraq up to become a seething cauldron so that we could justify our presence? Or am I being too cynical?”
Think of it this way. There was an optimal outcome (flowers, secular democracy, exclusive American oil rights and pipeline through Haifa, that sort of Israeli flag) and an acceptable one. The “seething cauldron” is the acceptable one and satisfies two important interests in the political coalition for war: the Israeli right and the war profiteers. For oil interests I imagine it’s a kind of wash — they won’t see the oil, but the volatility always redounds to their benefit; others here may be qualified to analyze how they’ve profited and what their plans might have been.
Pay attention, also, to anyone who advocates the breakup of Iraq into three parts out of supposed concern for the Iraqis (Joe Biden comes to mind). That’s another Israeli desire, a state smashed irreparably. Kurdistan is also a major platform for Israeli intelligence operations, and I suspect this goes all the way back to our establishment of the no-fly zones; it’s good to recall that all the seeds for the neoconservative project for Iraq and Iran were planted in the Clinton administration. Wolfowitz, for example, was always a promoter of the humanitarian and democratic concerns of Kurdistan. In itself, it seemed worthy at the time, but in retrospect it was about “regime change” all along, and therefore, about invasion, occupation, and ultimately, something approaching American-sponsored genocide(s).
only good news of the day:
Due to the Virginia Tech tragedy, Obama cancelled the foreign policy speech he was supposed to give in Chicago. As a result, there was not a single political event today.
(not a dig at Obama)
rwcole @ 120
Huh? How does one recuse one’s self from demanding improperly position and payment for one’s mistress?
Damn, Clinton should have used that one.
Brisingamen at #116.
No, I asked. It’s from the base.
(((((TiredFed and son)))))
My heart goes out to you. As a Vienna resident with kids who graduated from TJ we are still waiting to hear.
I think it’s better to have the flag in the church, than the church in the flag, which is where these so called “Christian” maniacs want to plant it.
Thank you ET. Still absorbing that.
mc @117
I think guilt covers it quite well. Humans are pretty simple in a way. We react to pain and fear. Guilt is just anticipated pain.
Yay Ya:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..104318/408
egregious @ 125
thanks. you are en route? coming or going (hard to keep track of your travels)? good luck either way.
brendan @ 125
Ok, now why would they have done that — oh, wait, Spanish-American War(!) could be the connection.
Strangely enough, my use of the term “Feith-based strategy” back in April, 2004, was as part of a defense of a musical setting of Psalm 137 I had recently composed.
Paul Kiel at TPM:
Sounds like the smart ones got out early. What a cesspool!
noen @ 80
Not too cynical, but you’re not thinking the way these guys (Wolfowitz, Feith, Cheney, et. al.) think, using the term loosely.
It’s much more likely that they didn’t think Iraq would turn into a seething cauldron but considered it as a possibility. And then asked themselves, “Would that be a *bad* thing?”
Then they would have answered their own question with, “Not really, as long as it foments chaos in the Middle East and requires us to maintain a presence there.”
*That* is how these guys think. No responsibility, no care or concern for others, no sense that the consequences of their actions may make the cost of their goals too high or the goals themselves unacheivable. No sense, period. Consequences be damned, as long as they get what they want, done the way they want it done, and don’t have to pay the price themselves.
Off Highway 17, in Highlands County, Florida; there is a porta potty that someone spray painted (in red) BUSH THINK TANK. A coworker saw it yesterday.
From Waxman:
Schedule Change: Committee Will Consider Transportation Amendments on Wednesday
Tomorrow’s Oversight Committee business meeting for consideration of a subpoena to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been postponed. It will now take place on Wednesday, April 25.
TiredFed—hospital work is finished for trip # 30 [eleven year anniversary coming up] and so returning to the U.S. We saved several lives; demoted a senior employee who was hurting patients; and fought off the usual attempts to close down our department [= just evil, no other explanation].
Just heard from one egrChild that no friends were among the slain. There are two wounded from our small town, and I haven’t heard from my other kids yet. One is a TJ grad who knew a lot of people who went to Tech.
The living nightmare, I can only envision, for parents. Show your love today while you can…
ccmask @ 134
Oh, gawd, there needs to be a picture of THAT fast!
JGabriel @ 133
I can’t think like that, it makes my brain hurt. I can see myself thinking “Iraq could blow up, that can’t be good. We should try to think of a different way around this problem.” At least I like to think that is how I would react.
from Tim Grieve’s Salon War Room column:
Number of days that passed between the shootings at Virginia Tech and George W. Bush’s expected arrival for a convocation there: 1.
Number of days that passed between the levee breach in New Orleans and George W. Bush’s arrival there for a series of photo opportunities: 4.
Ed*ard Teller @
73
Thorstein Veblen, famous economist and critic of the American economy, said that –
there is more profit in chaos.
Ed*ard Teller @ 140
Friggin’ sickening!
dakine01: If its still there next week I’ll go by. I’m going away for a couple of days toward the end of the week so I have a lot of work to do, but I’ll try.
Rayne @ 107
Isn’t this the same thing Republicans were saying about Clinton and Monica circa 1998?
This goes hand in hand with the discomfort someone expressed above about making fun of Riza’s appearance. I agree. We’re literally repeating Republican talking points here.
Besides, there’s plenty else about Wolfie and Riza to snark at. Logo contests, anyone?
kdh22 @ 141
Tim Grieve seemed to like Bush’s speech today, though.
I didn’t hear it…..can’t stomach him either, even at his, uh, “post 9/11 best.”
ccmask @
142
Let’s hope it is. That would be a great viral visual. Truth in operation.
LOL!!
Paw Lickers
Wolfie treats!
dakine01 @
137
This is maybe even better, just did it in Photoshop.
LOL!
:)
Does one of you know anyone at the World Bank — someone senior, just in case they haven’t got this? Those folk could then send it on to their Ministerial Board members.
Yet again the total absence of knowing there is Right and there is Wrong amazes me. I think they
seriously do not think they are doing anything illegal.
A few notes to ponder:
The Foundation for the Future (which Ms. Riza is being paid so well to run) has made no grants (although it has been given $35 million from US funds and another $21 million from other countries). It has a posted Request for Applications (RFA) on its website, that says that the application forms are also on its website; they aren’t. So no grants, no application forms. (Maybe they don’t need application forms because they already know where the money is going to go.)
So where is this money going?
Well, let’s see who the one and only listed staff person is on their website: Bakhtiar Amin. Mr. Amin is one of the Iraqis who supported the US invasion and was the Minister for Human Rights during the interim government (not now). He is also the person who said Abu Ghraib was looking much improved. So, exactly how much is the Foundation paying him? And for what?
And could this be the reason that Ms. Riza went there? To help steer some more millions in soft money to Iraqi war apologists and friends of the Bush Administration? That would explain why she and Mr. Wolfowitz would find this a worthwhile risk.
Just curious.
See foundationforfuture.org
BankSkeptic
maunga @ 148
Oh I think they know, they just don’t think they’ll get caught.
brendan @
62
I am just re-posting Brendan in hopes more people read it!
bankskeptic @ 149
Which also suggests her total income is significantly higher than $200,000.
bankskeptic @ 149
It takes a lot of money to keep all the players happy. I am sure that if Amin became unhappy he would have a tale to tell.
Bobby G @ 147:
Cute but I think seeing a real-life spray painted porta-potty from Florida sends a far better message. Then it’s not just a bunch of DFH but the Bushie Pseudo-base.
dakine01 @ 154
Yeah, I went Googling for a porta potty jpeg, but when I saw that kiddie thing I just couldn’t resist.
Be easy to do the other, even replete with faux- “spray painted” text.
LOL!
The royal porta-potty
bankskeptic @ 149
Sandra Day O’connor is on the Borad of Directors. Do you suppose she knows that she is?
oddmommy @
98
You know how your mom always used to tell you that your face might freeze that way? Cheney shoulda listened to his mother.
Ed*ard Teller @
73
noen @
64
I have often wondered, however, Edward and Brendan, if the Israeli generals had no idea that the United States Armed Forces would be so incredibly incompetent at running the Occupation, and thus left with the resulting potentially massive strategic disaster of a succeeding utterly unstable Iraq Territory, whoever and however it is when we leave. Whatever the Bush Baby thinks, we shall have to leave anyway because we cannot afford to stay!
Ed*ard Teller @ 139
Bush learned a difficult lesson from New Orleans: being Preznit means showing up sooner rather than later.
bobby g at 147
a throne fit for a boy king!!!!!!!!!!
maunga @ 159
I have often wondered, however, Edward and Brendan, if the Israeli generals had no idea that the United States Armed Forces would be so incredibly incompetent at running the Occupation, and thus left with the resulting potentially massive strategic disaster of a succeeding utterly unstable Iraq Territory, whoever and however it is when we leave. Whatever the Bush Baby thinks, we shall have to leave anyway because we cannot afford to stay!
Neocons think alike no matter what country. Do you suppose Israeli neocons thought they’d have any trouble bombing Hizballah out of So. Lebanon?
new thread
JGabriel @
143
Ok. Credit where credit is due: At least Riza is in his age demographic.
OK, ‘nuther try.
Brendan @ 121
I really cannot believe the neocons wanted the possible exposure that the present failure was likely to attract eventually.
It was known in 1920 already that historically the Kurds, Sunni and Shi’a constantly raided each other, and the ?first british controller Sir Arnold Wilson’s long report said the three were ungovernable as a unit. I should havr thought Israel would like three less powerful separate units…. The Kurds are wily bastards and their Israel Connection will be gone the second it no longer suits them, not least because they know that Turkey and Israel have been cosy for years. I had a Turkish visa issued in Tel Aviv in 1957!
DefJef @ 90
I understand that she is a “naturalized” British citizen of Libyan birth.
cinnamonape @
167
Naturalized makes her a regular citizen.
I wonder who is spoying on whom….. Wolfie’s a Mossad man, and I cannot but be sure that Ms Riza is reporting somewhere….
OT & EPU’ed re: Opera browser
To Christy:
Thank you Christie, got the e-mail and got it here. I think it was sitemeter running slow (whatever sitemeter is :) and I think the cookie and/or image I mentioned came from their site directly while loading FDL. Whatever, Opera is up & running great. I think the multiple pagewidth reformats have ended too, now that I think about it.
Thanks so much to all involved!
[arrrrr! trapped in the EPU timewarp]
The State Department letter “requesting” Ms. Riza makes it clear that she is not entitled to any classified documents. There are also widespread rumors on the web (none confirmed that I can tell) that, when Mr. Wolfowitz was at the Pentagon, his wife (Claire) wrote to Mr. Bush to say that his (Mr. Wolfowitz’s) relationship with Ms. Riza might pose a security risk. Mrs. Wolfowitz (and they are still married, but separated) has declined to confirm or deny this.
One of their own, eating their young… From Newshog:
Good one, Andrew!
And, it turns out, that Mr. Amin (he being the only staff person of the Foundation for the Future) is married to Safia Taleb al-Suhail. She was the invited guest to sit with Mrs. Bush during the 2005 State of the Union, when she had a blue thumb to show that she’d voted in the Iraqi elections. This is a well-connected group of folks.
And, Safia Taleb al-Suhail (i.e., Mrs. Amin) is the advocacy director of the International Alliance for Justice, of which Mr. Amin is the executive director. And yes, the US gives money to the International Alliance for Justice, too.
JGabriel @
143
But is there really even a logo contest? As I’ve pointed out, the website says that there are application forms on the website–and there aren’t.
Wherein Republican Bush-bot heads explode. They are taught to unflinchingly support every action of the King, yet they are also taught to reflexivley assume all people of Arab decent are terrorists and cannot be trusted.
Quite the dilemma.
-GSD
maunga @
148
Do a google search… even the Arab press has been on this (calls by bank for his departure) since 2005… this photo comes from a 2005 article
Jane Hamsher @
32
‘Joint Interest’?
Were, they, like, you know, doing the Lennon/Ono thing for a piece, er, for peace?
Man, those were the days, when you could stay in bed, screw yer brains out for days on end, and claim it was for whirled peas and all that.
‘Hand me some more champagne, and pass the strawberries and cream, will ya, honey? And let’s do it again, for Angola, this time . . . . wanna be on top?’
Man, I wish I had thought to use that line on some BRILLIANT, LOVELY and DESIRABLE women I knew back then . . before I met my wife and became eternally monogamous, that is. (whoops)
Uh, just to clear up any male fantasy stuff I mighta laid out there that slipped out . . . wouldn’t wanna AROUSE any suspicions about my political intent . . . :whistlin:
Ahhhh… rounding up the Usual Suspects!
How about an American Traitor competition, in which we get to vote for the top 500 perps who actually BELONG in Gitmo? It might encourage them to “sunset” certain “Patriot” provisions, say, as of early 2009!
I found this on the official World Bank site
“Shaha Riza, Manager, External Affairs and Outreach Middle East and North Africa Region, The World Bank Group. Shaha Riza was appointed the Manager of the World Bank’s External Affairs and Outreach for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in May 2001. Prior to that she worked in the MENA Social and Economic Development Group. She originally joined the Bank in 1997 as consultant to MENA, Office of the Regional Vice President.She has also held positions at the Iraq Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the International Forum for Democratic Studies.”
Her first position in the US in 1991 was with the Iraq Foundation, heading [drumroll] by Ahmed Chalabi! She then got a job in the NED as Middle East woimens rights consultant.
Apparently Riza’s prior marriage to Turkish-Cypriot Bulent Ali Riza [a member of the CSIS think-thank who specializes in promoting Caspian Sea oil- and Natural-Gas- pipelines] began to fall apart about 2001… coincidently at the same time that Wolfowitz and his wife became estranged.
Wolfie and his new lovebird were seen consoling each other soon thereafter.
Clare Wolfowitz apparently warned Bush about the entanglements and potential conflicts of interest of Ms. Ali Riza in 2001. Still she was given a State Department job while STILL collecting a World Bank pay check. Her double-dipping made her the highest paid State Department employee… surpassing even Condoleeza Rice!
Who’s that a picture of Wolfowitz or his girlfriend. I can’t tell them apart. Oh, Wolfowitz is the one with the bigger chicken breasts. Ok, I got it now.
Peace!
cinnamonape @
178
CHALABI!!! Now it all begins to make sense–in an internally consistent to psychosis kind of way. Wolfowitz, R.Cheney Shaha, E. Cheney, Chalabi, Amin…
So it goes like this: Dick Cheney and Wolfowitz (then at the Pentagon) back the invasion of Iraq largely using Chalabi’s made-up facts, then Wolfowitz orders SAIC to send Shaha (a Chalabi protege) to Iraq and come back and brief the Bank about how well it’s going. Then Wolfowitz gets R. Cheney’s help to go to the Bank and he sends Shaha to the State Department (to be reporting to Elizabeth Cheney) who assigns her to form the Foundation for the Future, where she pays Amin (former Human Rights Secretary for the interim Iraqi government ) to … to do what? I lost the thread again.
But I see the pattern here: People who pay each other to promote the war in Iraq–from wherever they sit and with whatever money they can lay their hands on or direct other people to spend.
You can’t make this stuff up. Even John LeCarre can’t make up stuff this complicated. And even Tom Clancey can’t make up stuff this improbable.
Love is not “a” grand but about 194 grand for this bimbo for wolfie.
Last night Steven Colbert announced that
Shaha Riza got a high paying job at the
State Department as a “reward” from Paul
Wolfowitz. . . .adding “as if dating Paul
Wolfowitz wasn’t enough of a reward by itself!”
JGabriel @
143
Do I strike you, based on my comments here at the Lake and elsewhere, as a winger sycophant?
And snark is simply not enough. There is something else far more than an expensive mistress going on here. We’ve got a man with a track record of inappropriate behavior towards females of lesser rank, leaving a clearly more attractive wife, for a woman who has ties to Chalabi and Cheney, with experience collecting money at a right-wing think tank.
A very stupid man. An opportunistic woman with some rather interesting background.
I think Wolfie has been set up and is too stupid to know it, or he’s deliberately allowing himself to be used for purposes that are counter to America’s interests.
Seems rather interesting, too, that bit about Riza’s marriage to Turkish-Cypriot Bulent Ali Riza who promoted Caspian Sea oil- and Natural Gas pipelines…didn’t Valerie Plame’s work as an “energy analyst” for Brewster and Jennings cover that area of the world specifically?
Yeah. I’d say that Wolfie has done quite a bad job of picking a classic piece of “arm candy.”
p.s. I think cinnamonape and bankskeptic are all over it…
The Plameologists here should take note. The administration and its allies attacked Valerie Plame by accusing her of nepotism and setting up a junket for her husband. It never made sense to any of us in the reality based world that one would consider a trip to Niger a junket. Who would think that?
Well, a neocon or a wingnut would, because they have serious problems with projection. In other words, they would send their lover on a junket to the third world.
milo @ 184
Exactly, milo…Projection Central = White House and OVP.
And jeepers, wasn’t Wolfowitz the guy who leaked the NIE content to WSJ? Talk about projection.
eCAHNomics @
27
A bunch of media outlets have reported ‘both are divorced’. ABC Jake Tapper/
NYTimes has reported “divorced”
Daily Mail (2005) covers the divorced/not divorced: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pag…..ge_id=1770
In a telephone interview, Mr. Feith said: “It doesn’t ring any bells. I just do not recall any such thing.” It’s called Republican Alzheimers, or the I Do Not Recall or Silence of the Bells Syndrome. It’s incurable with no hope for recovery. Treatment is impeachment.
/www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-wedgwood17apr17,0,7950703.story?coll=la-opinion-center
Does the press have this one wrong?
The New Yorker has a good article on what Paul is doing wrong, but they are uncertain about this scandal, as well.
I do remember Paul denying he had anything to do with her promotion, and that has since been found to be false, I think he even apologized for it? (But if he was order to do it?)
Wedgwood (she of the LATimes op-ed) is an old Wolfowitz pal, going back to SAIS at Hopkins. She was also appointed to the Defense Policy Board by Rumsfeld. She’s an interested party.
The other press seems less sympathetic, and it ranges from the NYTimes to the Washington Times (a wide range).
See: http://select.nytimes.com/2007…..wd.html?hp
And see: http://washingtontimes.com/op-…..-3803r.htm
SAIC used to be (say 30 years ago) a reputable firm dealing with hard physical science. Now they have evolved into bottom-feeding Beltway parasites.
Gads. Why isn’t Toensing in jail for perjury or at least a mental institution for trying to frame everything as if it happens in her own little window of perception as it pertains to some congressional bill she participating in the writing of.
scarecrow @ 38
But you read it here first. Honesty, 4/17, comment # 156.
“plainjane says:
April 17th, 2007 at 7:01 am
To change the subject a little: what NYT article today contains these four words?
Feith, Wolfowitz, Riza and Toensing
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04…..owitz.html “
Feith’s “I don’t recall” brings to mind a comment made by a retired C.I.A. Case Officer who said, in regards to basically the same comment made by Condolezza Rice, “she’s either lying, or suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s”. Seems like the whole bushocracy is suffering from the same thing.