Waiting for Santa

A truly great AP photo via BBC World:

Bush (R)

Finally managed to watch The Speech™ after an insanely busy day. So this what all the hoopla was about?

My feelings about the speech that was supposed to outline an exit strategy in Iraq is a bit like the feeling you get when you sit down to watch a TV show you’ve been looking forward to and notice 5 minutes into the episode that it’s a rerun, or worse, a clip show that re-uses footage from old shows.

Bush’s Annapolis gig definitely smacked of both. There was nothing new in there at all, at least as far as I could tell.

And while the production values were good as usual (The Oscar for best dramatic adapted screenplay goes to… Karl Rove!) I doubt very much that this is going to silence the critics or stem Bush’s hemorrhaging approval ratings.

Why would more of the same change anything? Isn’t that what got us into this mess?

Rove’s in trouble

This could be it:

Earlier this month, attorneys say Fitzgerald received additional testimony from Ralston — who said that Rove instructed her not to log a phone call Rove had with Cooper about Plame in July 2003.

Ralston also provided Fitzgerald with more information and “clarification” about several telephone calls Rove allegedly made to a few reporters, including syndicated columnist Robert Novak, the lawyers said. Raw Story

Not only is this illegal, he also lied about it to a grand jury investigation.

White Phosphorous

Well buried in today’s New York Times editorial is this passage:

The United States restricted the use of incendiaries like white phosphorus after Vietnam, and in 1983, an international convention banned its use against civilians. In fact, one of the many crimes ascribed to Saddam Hussein was dropping white phosphorus on Kurdish rebels and civilians in 1991. New York Times

I sure hope that comes up during Saddam’s trial. Would be nice to know who sold these weapons to Iraq, too, since a lot of Saddam’s arsenal used on the Kurds and Iran was sold to him by the U.S.

But it’s also quite poignant in showing how despicable the use of such a horrible weapon in an urban setting is.

Tales of the terror taxi

It’s the stuff conspiracy theories are made of: A seemingly all-powerful agency gets free reign to abduct, transport and torture individuals anywhere in the world it sees fit. But in this case, it’s not some obscure plot featured on the X-Files or some cuckoo loner ranting on an obscure Web site. It’s credible evidence that the United States of America’s very own Central Intelligence Agency is violating international treaties and the laws of sovereign nations — some allies of the United States.

There had been allegations that the CIA had apprehended individuals in violation of the Geneva Convention as early as the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Later, the scandal surrounding Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq, also proved that the CIA was holding detainees without any official record, let alone giving them access to legal representation. At least one of these individuals, nicknamed “ghosts” by the CIA, had died after being tortured at Abu Ghraib.

But a story spread through the European press like a wildfire that puts any such past violation to shame: At least 15 flights were conducted by the CIA this year alone that stopped over or even unloaded prisoners at locations all over Europe. Documents show that between 2002 and 2004, at least 80 such flights landed in Germany alone. All indications point to a massive violation of international law on the part of the United States, not to mention the obvious violation of human rights.

This bleak picture only gains more credibility considering Vice President Dick Cheney’s continued insistence that the CIA should be exempt from a proposed law that would ban torture by American military personnel.

The international implications of this are huge as this revelation comes at a time when the United States simply cannot afford losing face yet again. The international goodwill that was extended toward the United States when the attacks of Sept. 11 occurred has been steadily eroding, mainly due to avoidable diplomatic missteps by the U.S. government. This latest escapade will wipe out any remaining good standing the United States has left, not only in the eyes of the United States’ critics, but also its allies. While the United States cannot afford to stand alone, it may very well be standing alone before long.
Read entire entry

Vietnam 2.0

The U.S. is planning on pulling out troops from Iraq and going for total domination from the sky instead. (link)

That’s pure genius! It’s exactly what was done in Vietnam! It worked perfectly back then, so why wouldn’t it now!

Oh… hmm… crap.

Abuse worse than under Saddam, says Iraqi leader

Human rights abuses in Iraq are now as bad as they were under Saddam Hussein and are even in danger of eclipsing his record, according to the country’s first Prime Minister after the fall of Saddam’s regime.
‘People are doing the same as [in] Saddam’s time and worse,’ Ayad Allawi told The Observer. ‘It is an appropriate comparison. People are remembering the days of Saddam. These were the precise reasons that we fought Saddam and now we are seeing the same things.’ The Observer

Thanksgiving

Graphic and uncomfortable, but sadly true:

Thanksgiving 2003:

President Bush flew in under the cover of darkness on Thursday to dine with U.S. forces at a Baghdad International Airport mess hall. It was the first trip ever by an American president to Iraq — a mission tense with concern about his safety. FOX News
(That turkey he is holding is a fake and the soldiers were awoken to have “dinner” at 5:30 am. An ingenious photo-op, but nothing more than a photo-op no less.)

Thanksgiving 2005:

At least 30 people were killed today and 35 injured, among them four US soldiers, in a suicide car bomb attack in central Iraq, Iraqi officials said. The Guardian

You forgot Mongolia!

President Bush has finally found a place where a crowd will cheer him without any catcalls. It’s in Mongolia. link

Angela Merkel becomes first female chancellor of Germany

With 397 of 612 votes Angela Merkel has officially been confirmed as Germany’s first female chancellor and received the title from President Köhler. After weeks of negotiations Merkel will be heading a “grand coalition” between her center-right CDU and the liberal SPD.

The BBC has more here.

Iraqis calling for U.S. withdrawal timetable, say resistance ‘legitimate’

This bombshell is coming in via AP:

Reaching out to the Sunni Arab community, Iraqi leaders called for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces and said Iraq’s opposition had a “legitimate right” of resistance. AP

Sniff, they grow up so fast.

Woodward calls leak source ‘he’

Looks like Woodward slipped:

At one point (Woodward) referred to the source as “he,” in explaining, “And so, I asked about Wilson, and he said this.” Publisher & Editor

No need to ‘rewrite history’

The White House has begun firing back at critics. Vice President Dick Cheney’s attempt last week (full text) to divert attention from his own deception by labeling his critics as liars was a desperate move in that direction. His statement that the opponents of the war in Iraq are the ones trying to “rewrite history” is asinine, but it’s not surprising the administration is trying this route, as it has gotten away with much worse in the past.

Cheney has been instrumental in laying the political groundwork for the war in Iraq since the beginning. He did so, for example, by tying Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq to the attacks of Sept. 11, a connection that simply isn’t there.

Whenever Iraq was mentioned, images of the burning Twin Towers were also invoked. The administration was so successful at tying the two together that a Washington Post poll conducted in September 2003 showed 69 percent of the American public believed there was a link between Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11 attacks. This was a direct result of the administration doing everything it could to exploit a national tragedy to further its own policy.

Then the 9/11 Commission categorically stated there was no connection between the attacks of Sept. 11 and Iraq. Cheney responded, “I never said that” and accused the press of putting words in his mouth. How’s that for rewriting history?

Key administration officials also misconstrued further facts to rally support for war. Cheney said on Aug. 26, 2002, in a speech for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.”

There was more than “doubt.” Some of the ones who were suddenly the most adamant about the fact that Iraq had WMDs and that military action needed to take out the “imminent threat” previously had as vocally professed otherwise.

In 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell said, “We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction (and) is determined to make more.” But only two years prior, Powell had adamantly professed there was no need for a war with Iraq and said Saddam had “not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq.”

What changed in the two years that passed between Powell’s two contradictory statements was not intelligence, it was policy. The administration was suddenly hell-bent on taking out Saddam and was not prepared to let something as small as the truth stand in its way.
Read entire entry

Vatican: Intelligent Design is NOT Science

The Vatican’s chief astronomer said Friday that “intelligent design” isn’t science and doesn’t belong in science classrooms, the latest high-ranking Roman Catholic official to enter the evolution debate in the United States.

The Rev. George Coyne, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, said placing intelligent design theory alongside that of evolution in school programs was “wrong” and was akin to mixing apples with oranges.

“Intelligent design isn’t science even though it pretends to be,” the ANSA news agency quoted Coyne as saying on the sidelines of a conference in Florence. “If you want to teach it in schools, intelligent design should be taught when religion or cultural history is taught, not science.” AP

Massive bid-rigging scam alleged in Iraq

Let’s add this one to the list:

A criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Washington on Wednesday alleges a web of corruption and bid rigging in Iraq by officials who worked with the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-led agency that ran Iraq for more than a year after the 2003 invasion.

The complaint accuses an American-Romanian businessman, Philip H. Bloom, of paying officials from the coalition’s south-central region “bribes, kickbacks and gratuities, amounting to at least $200,000 per month,” in order to obtain reconstruction contracts through a bid-rigging scam.

According to the complaint, Bloom “conspired with United States government contract employees and military officials to obtain fraudulently government contracts.” MSNBC.com

Somewhat related the Wallstreet Journal has a new poll that puts Bush’s approval rating at 34 percent and VP Cheney’s at 30. (link)

Bush plummeting in Florida

Bush’s numbers are in a free fall in most of the nation, but in Florida it’s especially bad:

Florida voters disapprove 61 – 37 percent of the job President George W. Bush is doing, the President’s lowest approval in any Quinnipiac University Florida poll.

Voters disapprove 64 – 31 percent of the President’s handling of the war in Iraq and say 60 – 36 percent that going to war in Iraq was the wrong thing to do. SP Times

Torture cases in Iraq

Torture of more than 170 people at a site in Iraq was allegedly committed by Iraqis on Iraqis. The U.S. government puts out a statement that this is “totally unacceptable” and that it “agree(s) with Iraq’s leaders that mistreatment of detainees will not be tolerated.” (NY Times)

Is it just me or is that a tad bit hypocritical on the U.S. government’s part?

Reuters has details that will make this story even more uncomfortable for the U.S.:

Hadi al-Amery, the head of the Badr Organisation, a militia group that is tightly allied to SCIRI, a powerful Shi’ite Muslim political party in the government, denied any involvement.

“This bunker is run by the Interior Ministry, the Americans are there every day,” he said.

“Badr has nothing to do with this, why would Badr be involved in the first place?” he told Reuters. “If there was torture we ask for an investigation.” Reuters

The money quote in the Reuters article is this line:

A guard at the bunker showed no remorse on Wednesday over reports prisoners were abused, saying they were “terrorists”.

Does that sound familiar, Mr. Cheney?

Woodward knew Plame’s identity a month before ‘leak’

Bob Woodward acknowledged the identity of Valerie Plame was leaked to him over a month before it was first published by Novak. (Washington Post)

If Woodward is going to be involved in the downfall of the Bush administration I am going to laugh until I pee my pants. Seriously.

napalm-like substance used by US military in Iraq

The Pentagon has confirmed that US troops used white phosphorus during last year’s offensive in the northern Iraqi city of Falluja.

“It was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants,” spokesman Lt Col Barry Venable told the BBC - though not against civilians, he said.

The US earlier denied it had been used in Falluja at all.

Col Venable denied that the substance - which can cause burning of the flesh - constituted a banned chemical weapon. BBC

Of course eye-witness accounts in the Independent sound a bit different. Civilians were definitely injured.

Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force

Not that I ever doubted that this happened, after all Cheney has been adamant about not releasing the names of those that he met with, but it’s nice to finally have official confirmation:

A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney’s energy task force in 2001 — something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.

The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being debated. Washington Post

Ahmad Chalabi meeting with Cheney, Rumsfeld

Ahmad Chalabi (entry) is back in the fold:

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, once embraced and then shunned by the Bush administration, held talks with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday but the Pentagon did not allow television cameras to record the event.

He also held a private meeting at the White House with Vice President Dick Cheney after his 45 minutes of talks with Rumsfeld, but Cheney’s office would not provide details.

(…) The Pentagon did not allow television cameras to record Chalabi’s arrival. His visit to Washington ahead of Iraqi elections next month comes amid a bitter U.S. debate over President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and Bush’s conduct of the war in which more than 2,060 Americans have died. Reuters

For those of you who don’t remember: he was the one who told the Bush administration whatever it wanted to hear in turn for a shot at power in the “new” Iraq.

Bush in worse position than Nixon during Watergate

I’ve always wondered what it must have been like to watch the Watergate scandal unfold. Now, as it looks as though a similar fate may be store for President George W. Bush, it turns out I was flat out wrong about how I presumed it would feel.

The Watergate scandal was already in full swing in the summer of 1973, yet Nixon’s approval rating was at 39 percent, higher than Bush’s latest numbers. Polls by both FOX News and Newsweek magazine saw President Bush score an abysmal 36 percent this weekend, even though Bush managed to pull off an election campaign in 2004 that was squarely built on his perceived leadership skills.

By July 1973, former Nixon aides G. Gordon Liddy and James W. McCord had been convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping in the Watergate incident. Three other White House staffers had resigned, and the White House counsel had been fired.

The scandal was front and center in the nation’s consciousness, yet Nixon’s numbers held steadier than Bush’s. One can only imagine what will happen to Bush’s numbers when the investigation gains more traction in the public’s awareness, let alone when other national crises arise.

On Friday, Bush felt compelled to hold a speech that was aimed at quelling questions concerning the way in which the war in Iraq was started. Bush said it was “deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how the war began” and those that said he had manipulated intelligence engaged in “revisionism.”

Coming from an administration that changed the reasoning behind the war more times than I switched majors, this was less than believable. Nevertheless, it was an attempt to persuade the nation that increasingly sees the war in Iraq as both pointless and lost that he had done the right thing.

In November 1973, Nixon stood in — of all places — Walt Disney World and told the nation, “I am not a crook.” Bush’s speech on Friday tried to do this without coming out and saying it.
Read entire entry

Al-Quaida: Iraqi husband and wife brought to Jordan for suicide bombing

Bound to make some waves:

A husband and wife team blew themselves up at one of the Jordanian hotels attacked on Wednesday, al-Qaida said yesterday. In its third statement posted on the internet, al-Qaida in Iraq said that it had sent four Iraqis to Jordan to launch suicide attacks, including the wife of one of the bombers. Guardian

‘Al-Qaeda’ claims Jordan attacks

The BBC is reporting Al-Quaida is claiming the attacks in Amman, Jordan, that killed at least 57 people and injured more than 300 yesterday. BBC