The American people probably should be outraged about this, but there’s just so little of that in supply these days.
The Sept. 11 commission’s executive director had closer ties with the White House than publicly disclosed and tried to influence the final report in ways that the staff often perceived as limiting the Bush administration’s responsibility, a new book says.
Philip Zelikow, a friend of then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, spoke with her several times during the 20-month investigation that closely examined her role in assessing the al-Qaida threat. He also exchanged frequent calls with the White House, including at least four from Bush’s chief political adviser at the time, Karl Rove.
Shenon, a New York Times reporter, says Zelikow sought to intimidate staff to avoid damaging findings for President Bush, who at the time was running for re-election, and Rice.
How many times in the past 7 years have we read something along the lines of, "Loyal Bushie X tried to intimidate Civil Servant Y into Z to protect the political interests of BushCo"? It’s almost become a cliche.
Reached by the AP, Zelikow provided a 131-page statement with information he said was provided for the book. In it, Zelikow acknowledges talking to Rove and Rice during the course of the commission’s work despite a general pledge he made not to. But he said the conversations never dealt with politics.
Highly credible. Why would anyone be talking to Karl Rove about politics?
More here.
Related posts:
- Jim Cooper and Karl Rove Talking Health Care in Nashville This Saturday
- Washington Post: Rove More Involved in US Attorney Firings Than He Claims
- Karl Rove May Not Care About Muslims’ Opinion of the US, But We Should
- David Kris: Our Only Military Commission Convictions May be Illegal
- Karl Rove: That’s Why They Call It a Limited Hang-Out
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OT:I watched 30 Rock for the first time yesterday (Netflix) and I thought the episode with Alec Baldwin dating Condi was pretty funny.
Did anyone think this was NOT occurring?
Isn’t that how a conservative, small government operative is supposed to behave?
Another despicable cog in the Bush machine.
-G
Hi Blue Texan!
And I suppose there’s no way to get Mme. Pelosi a new table, with impeachment on it, is there?
Mayhap, there’s some whose wits and ‘elbows’ ain’t so sharp?
Oh, and BTW, where were the Ds on the committee who should have been stopping this nonsense? Don’t answer that.
Apparently the way votes are counted in NY, NJ, CT is complicated. Listening on WNYC.org.
I’m fresh out of outrage. Not because Bush has done it yet again, but because they’ve done it with impunity, enabled by an all-bark-no-bite Congress. Every time I get my hopes up that accountability is just around the corner, the Dem leadership pulls the football away.
Wake me up in November.
Yeah. Bob Kerrey apparently threatened to walk, and never did. Nice.
Why that don’t even bear thinkin’ aboot.
Oh, hell. They don’t even bark. They purr and roll over to have their tummies scratched.
So, this guy was the Fred Thompson of the 9-11 Commission.
The American people might not have the outrage that one would expect because of the “scandal fatigue”…
Mr. Purple
***DING!***
They don’t consider conversations like this to be politics, simply reality. Unfortunately, their reality, of growing power over the rest of us.
From the link in the first line of post:
Pretty damn convenient to have a hundred plus page statement just layin’ around to try and cover yer ass.
Cough Bullshit Cough.
Hmmmm. ‘Fat – i – gue’. Gosh, I’m so tired and weary, I can’t even ‘go’ there.
We are only 11 months away from an accountability awakening. The Democrats in Congress will hold the Democratic president to standards that they would never dare to have tried with Bush.
The media will be infused with new vigor in holding the Democratic president up to scrutiny because they will have realized that they have been terribly lax int he past 8 years.
The GOP will reluctantly shelve their promises of bi-partisanship in order to hold the new Democratic president to standards too…….The will rigorously scrutinize spending bills and will become watchdogs of the Constitution.
They’ll stymie and hamstring the new Democratic president into a catatonic state.
All to the jeers of a newly invigorated right wing radio and blogosphere.
-G
Unfortunately I fear you’re being prophetic here…
Couple that w/this from today’s TP-
Rove eats & excretes politics. For Zelikow to insist that hothead political machinator Rove did not talk politics w/him brands Zelikow as an obvious liar. It’s depressing to think how, except maybe for KO, this will not be covered in the MSM.
Ding.
This is hardly news to any of us, but let’s see if it gets any traction in the MSM.
Tell ya what, I’ll lay odds.
Nah. It’s more like a gigantic ’shop cloth’ fer when things get a bit messy, you know, grease all over the place, stuff like that there.
It’s kinda like plannin’ a-head.
Mornin’ Busted…
You betcha he’ll talk about it tonight…
I think it’s too late for impeachment, but I liked what Thom Hartmann had to say here the other day at the book salon. Come November, after the election, we should work hard to push the “impeachment” movement into a “war crimes prosecution” movement and try and move the newly elected president and congress to hold these bastards to account.
Yet, I’m afraid there is river of outrage waiting to erupt if there is any hint that Bill Clinton may have done anything else we don’t want our little children to know about.
In NJ, if you voted by absentee ballot for a candidate who subsequently withdrew, you have until noon today to file an affadavit to that effect & you can revote by absentee ballot. True in CT too.
In NY, you can appear at the polls even if you voted absentee, and your more recent vote will be counted.
Perhaps they were talking about the math.
Zelikow was put there to steer the investigation away from discovering the truth so an “acceptable” conspiracy theory pinning it on a bunch of incompeteant Arabs could be used for other political objectives.
The investigation allowed most of the evidence to be destroyed and closed down any inquiries that raised doubts about the “conventional” theory they were tasked to justify.
There was no investigation of the odd put options or the fact that it was impossible to place cell phone calls, or the absence of evidence of the planes at any of the crash sites which could be positively identified as the supposed high jacked planes. No explanation of the fact that none of the 19 were on any manifest, and that 7 are reported to be still alive today.
911 commission was a snow job if ever there was one.
NYS will send an equal number of male & female delegates to the convention, except for the 49/281 superdelegates.
3 polling places are in Giants ticker tape parade location.
I can relate! In fact, that’s exactly the way I’ve been feeling lately.
Impeachment now is just not gonna happen. But there is a strong argument for a Truth and Reconciliation type investigation and/or commission from the new administration and Congress. We cannot just brush under the rug what’s happened in the last seven-plus years.
Our national legacy to our children and future generations demand it. And our honor and standing in the world demand it. And there’s the moral obligation of restoring integrity to the word “Commission.”
Prairie’s Kibble: Tidbits to Chew Over
If anything that should GOTV.
Software on NJ DRE machines has never been tested. No paper ballot backup. AG didn’t make deadline to make machines auditable. Contact Gov & SecState of NJ about concerns.
IIRC, all the states do that. Another one of the results of the McGovern commission in the early ’70s (besides proportional representation for the candidates) was a requirement that the delegate mix reflect the mix of the Dem party. I.E., not just a bunch of old white males.
If it doesn’t get any coverage in the MSM, I stand by my new label:
TweetyBeard Media
OT–(apologies for an early one)
It’s splitsville for Rupert and Hill:
According to the guests, that is not the case for NJ & CT. Though it’s possible it is the case, and they don’t know it, I suppose. But they sound pretty knowledgeable.
Unfortunately, I think you’re absolutely right!
Do you really think there will be an ‘effective’ demand for such a thing?
‘Effective’ meaning that the serious people, them wid gravitas, as opposed to all the rest of us, are going to ’support’ such a ‘divisive’ backwards-looking notion as that?
A fair and bipartisan 9/11 Commission?
Then Hamilton (D) would have been co-chair alongside Kean (R) instead of vice chair.
Sorry for the OT, but I thought in light of the large number of delegates at stake in tri-state area, the voting info would be of interest.
Philip PNAC Zelikow?
44 and 45 — if there’s the will there’s a way… channeling Margaret Mead this morning about small groups of people….
And that’s exactly why we need to restore the integrity of government on election day, we must hold accountable those who’ve violated laws, and restore the inegrity of functions of government such as commissions.
OT a bit, I see folks are getting down/frustrated/ticked about how slow progress seems, but we really have done some amazing things as far as getting info out and everyday folks getting pissed off/scared and coming out in record numbers to be heard, and we should hold onto and build on that. :)
This probably already may have shown up here. :)
People Power
by Aimee Allison and David Solnit
‘We need a strategy to end the occupation of Iraq and stop the next invasion, in Iran or elsewhere. One reason it’s been hard to mobilize people since the invasion of Iraq is the absence of a clear logic as to where our efforts are headed.’
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=2107
When the Commission was formed I wrote several emails to op-ed pages of newspapers to that very effect. I’ve had other LTEs printed, but those were ignored…
Finally have to go in to work. Look forward to reading you all later.
Back to the regularly scheduled post. D’ya suppose there’s any chance of reopening the 9/1 investigation? What happened to the widows’ group?
Just a thought. I’m not gonna hold my breath.
Why is Zelikow’s name ringin’ a bell?
There is something else but my CRS is acute this A.M. .
Of course they had to fix the commission, they never wanted it to start
with, so Zelikow covers for Condi, who flat did not do her job because
Dick was. Ultimately it is a cover for Dick’s operations on 911 that
Zelikow and Hamilton covered for, cherry-picked evidence and testimony
to create a synthetic version of the event. Bad business, Zelikow needs
to break some rocks in the hot sun.
Gotta go. But thanks BT. This, like all the other W & R corruption, is important.
Instead of Turdblossom, would’nt sh*t-stain be a better description for Rove?
And a gay cog at that.
OK. Fair enough. Margaret’s thesis embraced.
Now, for the specifics:
Where have Clinton and Obama addressed the ’specifics’?
Quite possibly I missed that in all the feel-’good’ and ‘tough’talk rhetoric that has been swarming about.
I agree with you wholeheartedly, completely and to a ‘t’.
But, do our ‘leaders’?
I’m not certain. And I would like just a smidgeon of that, please.
Sorry about the language, but the fact that none of these POS are serving time behind bars is just mind-boggling.
None whatsoever. Like Bush’s super powers, Nancy has the power to make certain articles of the constitution optional.
I don’t remember who it was, but one of our folks encountered a Bush person and her first thought was, “Shouldn’t you be in jail for…something?”
You’ll have to live with the fact that none of them will serve time. Presidential pardons will prevent that. However, this all may lead to the effective destruction of the Republic Party, so there could be a silver lining.
Are we talking gold-plated AIPAC membership card, here?
The bush regime is like the “Grand Canyon” of presidencies. When you see the Grand Canyon you are astounded by it’s size and scope. But you can’t stay astounded for long. Your brain accommodates. And pretty soon you’re numb. Then you get astounded by another view of the Canyon… and the numb sets in again.
So we’re outraged. But over and over… like the canyon… we’ve been gouged so many times… it’s hard to even put your arms around all the scandals.
Ask Hugh.
Yea, and what do you figure will replace it that will be so swell?
Presidential pardons will not prevent the World Court from going after them (at least some of them), with some encouragement from the new president and congress, not to mention We The People.
Not sure, but the end of the Republics would be a great Bush legacy.
Was it Clinton or Bush that decided the world court didn’t apply to the US? I have to check but I kinda think it was Clinton…
Perhaps, but this country will never turn them over to the World Court.
OK, here it is. Looks like Obama is nipping at Hill:
28
In response to Marion in Savannah @ 6
I think it’s too late for impeachment, but I liked what Thom Hartmann had to say here the other day at the book salon. Come November, after the election, we should work hard to push the “impeachment” movement into a “war crimes prosecution” movement and try and move the newly elected president and congress to hold these bastards to account.
________________
last night i was called “rude”. i was rude. with that in mind,
please tell me which president will hold these bastards to account?
1. mr. work together?
2. ms. triangulator?
3. mr. hundred more years in eye rack?
it will all be conveniently forgotten. that’s where i would put my money.
if there’s no impeachment on the table now there will be no holding to account next year. you can take that to the bank.
My 69 filed by AP today:
Thanks Marie, wish I had been more awake at the time. Since then, really awake. Oh and thanks BT for this post and good morning all. Sorry but a real sore point here.
Jeesh BT,
Anger Level already maxed out and my pressure relief valve is stuck, so me and the son are going to ride some sleds in winter wonderland.
Thx for the post you always do a great job.
Nice analogy.
I had favored ‘a huge, endless swarm of of gigantic mosquitos. We chase after each and every one, after they’ve nail us, and are sore amazed when we get nailed again; never once thinking about mosquito-netting, bug-spray or draining the !@#$$$$$ $wamp.
Oh, comr on! When will we stop demonizing this person or that? What we have here are the worker bees for corporate feudalism, nothing more, nothing less. Get your eye off individuals who “should” be in prison and become aware of the descent into slavery. That’s what is going on. None of the political personalities acknowledge this because it is so much a part of their goals that they do not recognize it. Corporate feudalism has assumed the position of a holistic. Just likee your leg, which is being pulled by the likes of the two major political parties. Clinton and Obama are the anchors of the Corporate Feudalism Show. Edwards didn’t make the cut. Not even as weatherman.
There can be no other explanation.
we’re not there yet. it will probably not happen in your lifetime, much less mine.
missed you downstairs as had to leave to work on an off-with-your-head deadline.
re SuperB and SuperT ad buys.
In BlueBayState market, when we were truly blue from defeat, we had an Obama advert.
People I know who live downtown were very concerned about not getting to polling places that were on the parade route.
Small consolation for the loss, but on balance, Super T is more important than Super B.
Unfortunately, Romania is now Exhibit A for post-Communist crony-Capitalism.
besides, i thought you were a peaceful buddhist kind of guy ……
Um, that was actually a reply to sangemon@68.
If you call it a ‘peoples’ credit union, I’ll join with you.
Even if you don’t, I don’t consider that it would be worth gambling against your ’sense of the leadership’ and their grasp of what’s needful or necessary.
No. We don’t need to convince them, they need to convince us that they not only ‘get it’ but deliberately intend to do something about ‘it’.
Still waiting …
I’m sure Blackwater would be more than happy to put down a “revolution”. After all, the participants would be terrorists…. ….right?
Hell, by the current “definition”, wasn’t our Revolutionary war fought and won by “terrorists”?
The destruction of the Repug Party, as currently constituted…to be replaced by perhaps a more humane one…This is possible.
What would a bhuddist(sp) do when he’s had enough.
Well I am, but these SOB’s make my blood boil.
Purty damn good! Excellent, in fact.
Medieval sensibilities, arise!!
um, yeah, that was supposed to be to sangemon@76… no idea how #1 showed up.
“GregB February 4th, 2008 at 7:14 am 21
We are only 11 months away from an accountability awakening. The Democrats in Congress will hold the Democratic president to standards that they would never dare to have tried with Bush.
The media will be infused with new vigor in holding the Democratic president up to scrutiny because they will have realized that they have been terribly lax int he past 8 years.
The GOP will reluctantly shelve their promises of bi-partisanship in order to hold the new Democratic president to standards too…….The will rigorously scrutinize spending bills and will become watchdogs of the Constitution.
They’ll stymie and hamstring the new Democratic president into a catatonic state.
All to the jeers of a newly invigorated right wing radio and blogosphere.”
And yet Obama thinks he can make nice with the Republicans if he’s elected?
Well, ‘insurgents’ da Brits called us ….
I’m not saying we wouldn’t get our hair mussed, but I do say no more then ten to twenty million killed, tops. Depending on the breaks.
Also from the esteemed Philip Zelikow, state dept flunk, and confidante of Ms.Condi…
IRAQ War Launched to Protect Israel – Bush Adviser
WASHINGTON, Mar 29 (IPS) – Iraq under Saddam Hussein did not pose a threat to the United States but it did to Israel, which is one reason why Washington invaded the Arab country, according to a speech made by a member of a top-level White House intelligence group.
snip
the remarks by Philip Zelikow, who is now the executive director of the body set up to investigate the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001 — the 9/11 commission — in which he suggests a prime motive for the invasion just over one year ago was to eliminate a threat to Israel, a staunch U.S. ally in the Middle East. …
snip
Just in case anyone was looking for confirmation.
Oh, just 20 million?
Well you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few million eggs…
Ya think?
But on whom will the yoke be?
You are more correct than you realize, My fear for my children staggers me.
Some of those 10 – 20 million people are likely to include people that I love. There has to be a better way.
Let’s not be so casual about the mass loss of life please? I spend most of my day working to save lives one by one. The idea that you could advocate anything of this magnitude is a horror.
Looks as if at the end of the night tomorrow, McCain will schedule a coronation and the dems will slog on. Could be a LONG slog.
Son of a bitch!
You guys have seen Dr Strangelove, right?
They think people will believe a story that Israel can’t protect itself? Come on. Lie better than that.
Everyone, a black comedy or epic proportions, that is why we fight, to mitigate that result.
Ditto!
That actually is something that I have given thought to, as horrific as it may be.
What do I love more, my country or my family? ‘Cause at some point if you really love this country you might have to fight to keep it – I mean REALLY fight. Do I still love my country enough to fight my government, knowing that me and my family would most likely become one of those put down by Blackwater?
I’m just not sure anymore.
You will note that I said ‘yoke’ not yolk.
Consider the difference …
And that SUCKS.
In many ways this is becoming a central question for thoughtful souls …
GW Clusterfuck has been fighting on valiantly for the love, affection, and respect of the American people- an unrequited effort apparently.
Job Approval at 27% according to CBS- matching his career low from that poll.
That and the question of moving out of the country….
Myself, I have too many ties, elderly parents, three adult kids and grand kids…. so for me… it is fighting for the future for the young ones and helping the parents have a comfortable end to their lives.
A buddhist would observe that he/she had the thought that he/she had enough.
Not there yet? Look around.
And then, I wonder; would a large number of ‘Murkans’ be welcomed as ‘immigrants’? Anywheres?
The yoke is on us!
Uh huh:
World Targets in Megadeaths
At what point does fighting for the future of our young ones mean taking them somewhere safe and free?
Will the parents have a comfortable end watching their once great nation crumble?
Precisely so!
Also, precisely so!!
It is not just ‘this’ election, it is whether there is sufficient spine in the people to do what might well be necessary.
Our ‘founders’ knew this.
Do we, as a people?
That is the question.
By the time enough ‘resolve’ has arisen it may be. too. late.
The saddest words, ‘If only ….’
It is outrage which is in short supply. If anyone saw Waxman on Moyers last week, it was all incredulous head shaking, but no hint that there was anything congress could (or would) do about it. It was like a benighted parent dealing with the fait accompli antics of a second grader.
I like this idea:
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/02/hbc-90002302
Hey, I got a zed on Janes new post upstairs.
But my heart wasn’t in it.
I may be mistaken and some things might have changed but that was one of the biggest areas of heartburn with the party bosses when I was a McGovern delegate in ‘72 – that it required the delegate mix to reflect the registered women, blacks, etc. I doubt if that rule has been changed in the decades since.
This is not the place to discuss armed insurrection against the US government.
The American Revolution was conceived and executed by men who were traitors, criminals, and terrorists, by any definition. What has evolved is peoples understanding of terrorism versus perspective: whether one is a “terrorist” or a “freedom fighter” depends on who is doing the naming, and where they stand.IRT Raven’s question @ 64: Nothing. The Republican Party is, and has been for some time, undergoing an evolutionary change from the traditional party of small government and wealth protection to a party of imperialism abroad and police-state methods at home, undergirded by a mixture of propaganda, religious entitlement, and ruthlessness. Sometimes the devil you know is better than the one you don’t. IMHO.
IMHO, rage and outrage are the only sane responses to the scandalous events unfolding in U.S. politics. Harmony and bipartisanship are fucking crazy.
Truly excellent linkerage, thank you.
Should be required reading for all at the lake.
Indeed.
A more appropriate place would be a symposium on the Declaration of Independence.
I whole heartedly agree!
rwcole @ 122 – You are right, of course. What is typed in frustration will be used against us all. Over and over.
1watt @ 119 – Your link gives me hope. (not a lot, mind you, but I will take what I can get)
got it, definitely.
So is that what drives sticking around? Get to be “zed” on another thread?
Are we supposed to congratulate the poster?
It is a sad statement, but It made me laugh. I am sick sick sick.
I think is it the only way forward with violence in this country… I don’t to see violence but to protect our children and thier children Impeachment is the way to hold all future administrations by example to uphold the constitution
What is so suprising about the members of the 911 commision, if they were picked by Bush/Cheney they were “BUSHIES”. All yuo had to do was look at the Top Democrat on the commission, Lee Hamilton, He is the guy that let Reagan off the hook on Iran/Contra. End of story.
Bush took an oath of office to faithfully execute the law, He’s confused the meaning of execute however…
Thanks 1 Watt
the left wing blogs are also responsible for not getting this info out earlier. there’s so much more to disclose but nobody wants to touch it. that’s the reason we’re in shit up to our ears right now. i say this to that, fuck it, just hang back and don’t look behind the curtain.
I wonder how many of the missing emails were addressed between these two?
Look! Up in the sky! It’s pigs flying and Boy! does my ass hurt!
( As a card carrying desperate optimist, I’m with you. )
Upon further review, cancel that last comment. It never happened, just like those conversations with Rove.
my “Impeach-Bubba-4-A-BlowJob” conspiracy theory is proven more CORRECT every day !
Somewhere in the fetid bowels of some secretly fascist , but publicly right-of-center think-tank , the plan that brought this about was put down on paper . . .
> The Clinton WitchHunt caused the US people/Congress to be adverse to impeachment again . Without a dead girl or a live boy that is , , ,
>> A corporate media overwhelmed by their compliance in getting us into the Iraq W-ar combined with their historical revisionism re: “How 911 Happened” could not chew gum and protect America’s democracy at the same time or in two different centuries . Many perverse manifestations of this allowed :
>>> the current occupant of 1600 Penn. Ave , controled by his VP; to do so much to harm the US Constitution , in so many ways and with so many hair-brained variations that once again ; America’s 4th branch was overwhelmed to the point where real news like “Hardball” and “Meet the Press” or the “SituationRoom” were laughing about trivia like Edwards’ haircut while X , Y and Serious Zed were done to shred freedom and American values in order to knee-jerk reflect the Republican Party’s wish-list of dominance and perpetual Power .
At this point , it seems there is Nothing that the Bushit Liar could do that would grab the Corp-Whore Media’s attention .
Unless he were a missing white girl or sumpin’ like dat , , ,
Two interesting facts about Zelikow that are not in the book but very informative. Both facts are easily verified by an internet search.
1) Zelikows College thesis addressed how the creation of Public Myths could be used to advance a political agenda. It included how myths could be justified in the face of clearly, contrary facts. Hence we get a 9-11 report written like a action thriller with a specific point of view. Who could of guessed his college studies were tailor made for his future postion?
2) In a paper he co wrote in the early 90s for the Kennedy School Of Government, he argued how governments could use catastrophic terrorist events to support a political agenda. Humm… http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/vis…..rorism.htm