Rice defends Bush policy on Iran as ’successful’, said same about Iraq in 2001

“‘I think this is called a successful multilateral coalition of states that have the same view’ that Iran should be rewarded for its cooperation or isolated for its defiance, Rice said.

She added: ‘I would like to see what other options there are for the international community, given that this policy is one that I think is the best course for us.’”AFP

This can only mean one thing: because everything is working, there needs to be war.

Why? Because she said the same about Iraq:

US postpones first Guantanamo war crimes trial

A military judge on Friday postponed the first war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, saying he wants to wait until the Supreme Court makes its highly anticipated ruling on the right of detainees to challenge their confinement in civil courts.

Navy Capt. Keith Allred ruled the trial for Osama bin Laden’s former driver should be delayed seven weeks, until July 21, in case the Supreme Court ruling affects his case. He scheduled pretrial hearings to begin a week earlier.

A Supreme Court ruling is expected by June 30.”AP

And of course it’s only a mere coincidence that after witnesses attested the timing of the trials was political in nature, they will now postponed and occur even closer to the US election in November. Mere coincidence, I tell you.

Iraq study group: U.S. underreported Iraq violence

Thought it was bad in Iraq? Well, it’s worse:

U.S. military and intelligence officials have systematically underreported the violence in Iraq in order to suit the Bush administration’s policy goals, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group said.

In its report on ways to improve the U.S. approach to stabilizing Iraq, the group recommended Wednesday that the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defense make changes in the collection of data about violence to provide a more accurate picture.

The panel pointed to one day last July when U.S. officials reported 93 attacks or significant acts of violence. “Yet a careful review of the reports for that single day brought to light 1,100 acts of violence,” it said. AP

This should be the wake-up call the Mass Media™ has been “waiting” for. Then again, the media shouldn’t need a wake-up call, they should be doing their job of reporting the news even if it is uncomfortable or invonvenient.

But the absolute kicker is this quote from the report:

“Good policy is difficult to make when information is systematically collected in a way that minimizes its discrepancy with policy goals.”

Translation: It’s bad for the country if its lead by power-hungry, lying bastards.

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)

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.

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.
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Downing Street Memo Mostly Ignored in U.S.

This could be business as usual:

A British government memo that critics say proves the Bush administration manipulated evidence about weapons of mass destruction in order to carry out a plan to overthrow Saddam Hussein has received little attention in the mainstream media, frustrating opponents of the Iraq war.

But since it’s posted on FOXNews.com, its rather interesting. That’s literally the last place I was expecting to see it.

Battle of the bulge

The Web is buzzing with talk about this photo. Just thought I’d share.

White House claims victory

Bush did not personally claim victory. But at 5:45 a.m., his chief of staff, Andrew Card, appeared at Washington’s Ronald Reagan Building to say “we are convinced that President Bush has won reelection . . . This all adds up to a convincing electoral college victory as well as a strong endorsement by his fellow Americans in the popular vote.”

Card said that before Bush makes a statement, he will “give Sen. Kerry the respect of deliberating” on his own position. Wash. Post

Smart move. Now they control the morning shows.

Not over yet, but off to bed

I am so tired it’s not even funny. I also have so many things to say I feel like I am about to burst but I am so physically and mentally exhausted right now that it will have to wait till tomorrow.

Greg over on TalenShow just posted an entry that I can whole-heartedly agree with, so I am quoting it here to speak for at least some of the thoughts I am having right now. I would just like to add that I feel also betrayed by the corporate media, particularly MNBC and NBC (Fox was a given) for calling an election that was nowhere close and still isn’t.

But otherwise I completely agree with Greg:

If my soul-crushing despair were translated into wealth, I’d be rich enough to benefit from Bush’s tax cuts.

Despite the hundreds of reasons to vote against the President, he’s already claimed the popular vote. I still hold out hope that Kerry can sweak by in Iowa and Ohio, but it doesn’t change the fact that the majority of Americans think Bush deserved to be re-elected. John Edwards is right. There are two Americas and they don’t even speak the same language at this point. Regardless of who wins, America is in bad shape.

Around the country, eleven states approved constitutional amendments to ban gay people from getting married. Apparently the mental image of two men in love is too “icky” for Americans to allow them to share the same partnership rights that heterosexual couples have. Never again let a conservative tell you that they want the government to stay out of their lives. It’s a lie and tonight’s results prove it.

The GOP has strengthened their hold on the Senate and the House. Regardless of what happens elsewhere, the legislative agenda of the far right, represented by DeLay, Hastert, and Frist has been given a mandate to get away with anything they want. At the same time, the strength of the current Republican leadership will further marginalize the moderates of the Republican party. link

It’s not over yet, but I simply have to get some rest. More tomorrow.

Florida

What the fuck is going on? There are 1 million uncounted absentee ballots in Florida, a lot of which are likely Democratic as the Democrats were the ones scared of using touch-screen voting. Yet virtually all news organizations have called Florida for Bush.

Update: With 98 percent of the votes counted in Florida, according to AP, there are about 7 million votes that have been counted so far in the state. How can a state be called if 1/8 of the state is not counted?

more on Ohio, new lawsuit

Forgot to mention earlier today: The Supreme Court ruled yesterday’s decision to allow GOP polling workers inside polling places that will “question” the validity of people’s right to vote stands. Workers have been at the polls since they opened. From what I can tell from reading blogs like Turn Ohio Blue the workers are keeping a low profile though. Can’t blame them because I also hear that people there are mightily pissed the GOP would even try such a thing.

In a related lawsuit, also in Ohio:

Adding to the lawsuits surrounding today’s election, the three major television networks and other news organizations on Monday sued Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell for imposing new restrictions on exit polling.

Last week, his office informed news organizations they would be prohibited from conducting exit polls — brief interviews of voters leaving their polling places about how they voted and why — within 100 feet of the polls.

The restriction limits electioneering and other activities outside polling places, but never before — including as recently as the March primary — has been applied to exit pollers, according to Monday’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. link

There we have it. People going into the polls to exercise their constitutional right to vote can can be harassed, while the ones coming out of the polls cannot. Doesn’t make sense to me, but what else is new.

Ohio GOP poll workers allowed, decision heading to Supreme Court

CRAP. What the hell is wrong with democracy in this country? What the GOP is suggesting to do is to cart a bunch of white folk from suburbia into poor, black neighborhoods to intimidate them at the polls. They even get paid $100 each for the day. Am I the only one who has a problem with that?

The 6th District Court overruled yesterday’s decision to ban such “poll workers” and they will likely be present them the polling places open in a few hours. The decision is now up for the Supreme Court. (NY Times)

The good news is that the projected voter turnout should be able to overcome any shenanigans Republicans are pulling.

But still, how perverse is this? We strut around in the world proclaiming democracy is the highest goal, even (supposedly) wage wars for it and then we disenfranchise minorities that don’t vote the way they are told to. That’s fucked up. There’s really not other way to say it.

And good job on involving the Supreme Court about one hour into election day. Didn’t take long, did it?

Suppressing the vote

One talking point President George W. Bush is very fond of when justifying the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is the need to bring freedom and democracy to the region. Meanwhile, closer to home, Bush?s party is trying to block thousands of voters from casting their vote, either through ?legal? methods or via dirty tricks. (Update: added an image of the flyer. See inside)

In 2000, voters ? predominantly black voters ? were ?purged? from voting rolls in Florida. BBC journalist Greg Palast documented how Gov. Jeb Bush?s office sent a letter to the Texas based company hired to complete such a list and told them not to worry about checking if the names on the list were indeed felons. Estimates about how many voters were disenfranchised that year range from several hundred thousand to one million. Either way, since the overwhelming majority of such voters would have cast their vote for Al Gore, this stunt was instrumental in handing the election to Bush.

This year, while voters purged ?mistakenly? through the list in 2000 are still largely ineligible to vote, a new list was created. Only after a judge ruled that the list must be made public was it discovered that the list again included a large majority of likely Democratic voters that had every right to cast a vote. This is far more than neglect; it appears to be intentional.

Now the GOP has announced they will send thousands of paid poll workers to Ohio to question the right of individuals that dare step into the booth expecting their constitutional right to vote be exercised without any intimidating interrogation.

A person who has had unfavorable experiences with people in authority, as many voters in poorer neighborhoods are bound to have had, will no doubt be intimidated by this and may even choose not to vote altogether. That?s exactly what the GOP is banking on.
Read entire entry

detainees removed from Iraq in violation of Geneva Convention

It never seems to end. The Washington Post is reporting detainees in Iraq where moved out of the country without notification of authorities, a direct violation of the Geneva Convention:

At the request of the CIA, the Justice Department drafted a confidential memo that authorizes the agency to transfer detainees out of Iraq for interrogation — a practice that international legal specialists say contravenes the Geneva Conventions.

One intelligence official familiar with the operation said the CIA has used the March draft memo as legal support for secretly transporting as many as a dozen detainees out of Iraq in the last six months. The agency has concealed the detainees from the International Committee of the Red Cross and other authorities, the official said.

Read the rest at the Washington Post’s site here (registration required) or here at BlueLemur.

The key here is that the Justice Department sanctioned it. It’s undeniably a big deal that one of the nations highest legal authority does not care a great deal about international law. I wonder if they would feel the same way if this was happening to United States POWs. Sets a nice precedent for other countries to follow, doesn’t it?

GOP plans to send thousands to question voters in Ohio

In today’s New York Times we are getting a preview of what election day may look like:

Republican Party officials in Ohio took formal steps yesterday to place thousands of recruits inside polling places on Election Day to challenge the qualifications of voters they suspect are not eligible to cast ballots.

Party officials say their effort is necessary to guard against fraud arising from aggressive moves by the Democrats to register tens of thousands of new voters in Ohio, seen as one of the most pivotal battlegrounds in the Nov. 2 elections. link

Hm, that’s odd, I thought it was a Republican who oversaw the actions when they were throwing out voter registration cards in Ohio. And how odd that they would focus on regions that are voting overwhelmingly Democrat. Surely there is no malicious intend here, right? Maybe the Democrats should do the same and help their Republican friends out? It’s only fair to help.

Pentagon knows where bin Laden is, won’t get him

This is outright insane:

Bin Laden’s exact location is known, says 9-11 panelist
By Jim Mohr
Staff Writer

CLAREMONT — The Pentagon knows exactly where Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan, it just can’t get to him, John Lehman, a member of the 9-11 commission, said Thursday.

Lehman’s remarks echoed those made Tuesday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who asserted that the al-Qaida leader was alive and operating in the western part of Pakistan.

Bin Laden is living in South Waziristan in the Baluchistan Mountains of the Baluchistan region, Lehman told The San Bernardino Sun after delivering a keynote speech on terrorism at Pitzer College in Claremont.

In the exclusive interview, Lehman noted, “There is an American presence in the area, but we can’t just send in troops. If we did, we could have another Vietnam, and the United States cannot afford that right now.”

“We’ll get (bin Laden) eventually, just not now,” he said. Asked how bin Laden was surviving, Lehman said he was getting money from outside countries, such as the United Arab Emirates and high-ranking ministers inside Saudi Arabia.

Department of Defense spokeswoman Capt. Ronnie Merritt confirmed that the U.S. military believes bin Laden is in Pakistan. However, she would not comment on Lehman’s remarks, except to say that he normally didn’t speak about these issues, and that she was surprised he had.

Lehman, former secretary of the Navy under President Reagan, was one of the 10 members of the bipartisan commission that examined the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. link (via TalkLeft)

We know where he is. We don’t get him. Yet Bush says he is the better choice in fighting the war on terror.

Not to mention, as TalkLeft points out, another Vietnam? What do you call Iraq? And Saddam never had ties with al Qaida (I think it’s time to print that on T-shirts). Talk about getting your priorities wrong.

Or is this just a way to fight an effective campaign? The fear factor is the only thing the Bush team has going for them right now. Problem (for them, at least) is people are getting really tired of it.

Lying to Congress

Expect this to be a huge deal. In today’s New York Times:

As recently as January 2004, a top Defense Department official misrepresented to Congress the view of American intelligence agencies about the relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda, according to a new report by a Senate Democrat.

The report said a classified document prepared by Douglas J. Feith, the under secretary of defense for policy, not only asserted that there were ties between the Baghdad government and the terrorist network, but also did not reflect accurately the intelligence agencies’ assessment - even while claiming that it did. link

It will be interesting to see if the White House is able to keep a lid on this and the CIA 9/11 report (entry) until the election.

The weird thing about this is that even if Bush wins the election (which he will not) this would be grounds for an impeachment if it can be proven he had something to do with it. Maybe I was right after all when i wrote a column with the headline “Is Iraq Bush’s Watergate?” back in March. Either way, Bush is in trouble.

Bush administration suppressing CIA report on 9/11

The blogs have gone wild about this but since it’s not hitting the “real” media so far I’ll point it out here too. Column in yesterday’s LA Times:

The Bush administration is suppressing a CIA report on 9/11 until after the election, and this one names names. Although the report by the inspector general’s office of the CIA was completed in June, it has not been made available to the congressional intelligence committees that mandated the study almost two years ago.

“It is infuriating that a report which shows that high-level people were not doing their jobs in a satisfactory manner before 9/11 is being suppressed,” an intelligence official who has read the report told me, adding that “the report is potentially very embarrassing for the administration, because it makes it look like they weren’t interested in terrorism before 9/11, or in holding people in the government responsible afterward.” link

In-fucking-credible.

The facts ad up though. I have no doubt the report exists. Now let’s make some noise so we’ll see it before the election.

Bush wired during second debate?

Photos showing a “box” underneath Bush’s jacket during the first debate are still being discused. But now these photos of the second debate surfaced. (AP photos via german magazine Der Spiegel)

There are two possibilities: There is nothing to this but Bush should definitely switch tailors. Or he indeed has something underneath the jacket.

That could of course be a some sort of bullet proof vest, which according to regulations no spokesman, either from the White House or the Bush campaign, let alone secret service, would be allowed to even acknowledge.

Or it’s a wire. Who knows. One thing that makes me wonder about this whole affair is that CNN reportedly picked up a feed when Bush was speaking in France during a D-Day celebration. Television viewers reportedly could hear not only the exact same lines Bush was saying seconds later, the “voice” also supposedly told Bush which reporters to call on before he did.

Not convinced either way. It’s all hearsay. But I have to admit I find it a bit fishy.