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Saturday, August 30, 2003
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Who's Losing Iraq?
Maureen Dowd goes after Super Villain Dick Cheney:
"It has also now become radiantly clear that we have to drag Dick Cheney out of the dark and smog. Less Hobbes, more Locke.
So far, American foreign policy has been guided by the vice president's gloomy theories that fear and force are the best motivators in the world, that war is man's natural state and that the last great superpower has sovereign authority to do as it pleases without much consultation with subjects or other nations.
We can now see the disturbing results of all the decisions Mr. Cheney made in secret meetings.
The General Accounting Office issued a report last week noting that the vice president shaped our energy policy with clandestine advice from "petroleum, coal, nuclear, natural gas, electricity industry representatives and lobbyists."
Favoritism to energy pals led to last week's insane decision to gut part of the Clean Air Act and allow power plants, refineries and other industrial sites to belch pollutants.
Another Bush-Cheney energy crony is Anthony Alexander of Ohio's FirstEnergy Corporation, which helped trigger the blackout after failing to upgrade its transmission system properly since deregulation. He was a Bush Pioneer, having raised at least $100,000 for the campaign.
This logrolling attitude has led to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allowing Halliburton — which made Mr. Cheney a rich man with $20 million worth of cashed-in stock — to get no-bid contracts in Iraq totaling $1.7 billion, and that's just a start.
All this, and high gas prices, too?
When he wasn't meeting secretly with energy lobbyists, Mr. Cheney was meeting secretly with Iraqi exiles. The Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi and other defectors conned Mr. Cheney, Rummy and the naïve Wolfowitz of Arabia by playing up the danger of Saddam's W.M.D.'s and playing down the prospect of Iraqi resistance to a U.S. invasion."
Who's Losing Iraq?
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Policy Lobotomy Needed
Tom Friedman, who still cannot acknowledge that he has blood on his hands for support of the war against Iraq, does recognize the utter incompetency of Bush policy: "I don't know what Mr. Bush has been doing on his vacation, but I know what the country has been doing: starting to worry. People are connecting the dots — the exploding deficit, the absence of allies in Iraq, the soaring costs of the war and the mounting casualties. People want to stop hearing about why winning in Iraq is so important and start seeing a strategy for making it happen at a cost the country can sustain." Sorry Tom, its Mission Impossible
Policy Lobotomy Needed
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Death and Hesitation in Iraq
Death and Hesitation in Iraq
The latest atrocity in Iraq has literarily left the US speechless: "The car bomb that killed one of Iraq's most important spiritual leaders today was apparently met by a political vacuum in the nation's capital, where the Iraqi and American officials charting the country's future seemed unsure who should respond and how.
Ayatollah Muhammad Bakr al-Hakim, a symbol of moderation in this restive land, was dead. Religious leaders called for blood and vengeance, and in some places the ayatollah's mourners took to the streets. Yet here in Baghdad, the Iraqi and American officials charged with shepherding this country toward democratic rule went about their business as if little had changed.
There were no speeches calling for calm and few public appearances by anyone in charge. L. Paul Bremer III, the chief American administrator, was on vacation. Nobody seemed to know when exactly he would return. The American military command here said nothing."
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Friday, August 29, 2003
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The Smoking Gun: Archive
Farcial Arnie in the raw, the raunchy interview that is flying through California political circles
The Smoking Gun: Archive
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Thursday, August 28, 2003
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U.S. Suspects It Received False Iraq Arms Tips/Neocons admit they were wrong
US intelligence is admitting that it received and conveyed false intelligence reports concerning Iraqi weapons; this, of course, helps take some of the pressure off the Bush administration, blaming flawed intelligence for a flawed political agenda
U.S. Suspects It Received False Iraq Arms Tips
In another striking report, neocons admit that they were wrong on appraising the Iraq situation and underestimating Iraqi resistence, these concessions too take the heat off of Bush, making it appear that he was just getting bad advice all around; in fact, Bush was the major enabler of the Iraq policy and believed everything he was told, showing the dangers of having an incompetent and inexperienced president; still, its good to watch neocons eat crow;
U.S. miscalculated security for Iraq
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Blair Says He Would Have Quit if BBC Report Was True
Blair on the Hot Seat
Blair Says He Would Have Quit if BBC Report Was True
Here's a more detailed report:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/story/0,13747,1031152,00.htmlExcerpt: "He declared he was aware of Mr Campbell's ongoing war of correspondence with the BBC to get an apology, although not the "specific points" of his letters.
The prime minister also revealed for the first time that he had an "entirely private" conversation with the BBC chair of governors, Gavyn Davies, but the two men could not come to an agreement over any apology.
On the day of Gilligan's broadcast, May 29, Mr Blair said he had been in Basra but revealed he "may have" got a transcript of the story.
Intriguingly, Mr Blair twice incorrectly claimed that Gilligan's story said his source was "in charge of drawing up the document", an exaggeration of the original claim that he was "one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up the dossier".
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Wednesday, August 27, 2003
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washingtonpost.com: Halliburton's Deals Greater Than Thought
Cheney's Halliburton makes billions, much more than previously announced, the Iraq fiasco is a big-time corporate scam. Obviously, much of the raison d'etre for the lunatic Iraq policy was to get contracts for Halliburton and other Bush clique supporters; to increase military spending and to increase profit of military investment groups like Bush Daddy and James Baker's Carlyle Fund; and to, presumably, increase the power and profits of oil and energy companies by giving them at least partial control of Iraqi oil; the latter agenda seems to be blocked by Iraqi sabotage but note that gas prices are at an all-time high...
washingtonpost.com: Halliburton's Deals Greater Than Thought
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Prime Minister's question time
Blair's going on the hot-seat....
News
Headline= "Today, Tony Blair gives evidence to the Hutton inquiry. Witness after witness has pointed to Number 10's role in events leading to David Kelly's death. Time, then, for answers."
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U.S. Weighs U.N. Command in Iraq, but With a Condition
The Bushites are beginning to capitulate to reality, only a major UN force can begin to prevent total disaster in Iraq and even with a substantial UN presence it might be ungovernable
U.S. Weighs U.N. Command in Iraq, but With a Condition
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Tuesday, August 26, 2003
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Guardian Unlimited | World dispatch | Get real
Neo-cons cannot admit that they blew it in Iraq and are viciously blocking the reasonable solution that the UN come in to administer Iraq
Guardian Unlimited | World dispatch | Get real
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Dust and Deception
Paul Krugman goes after Bush/EPA NY 9/11 coverup of continuing dangers from dust and debris
Dust and Deception
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Monday, August 25, 2003
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Claims about WMD 'may have been excuse rather than reason for war'
Here's a British intelligence chief scathingly attacking Blair misuse of intelligence and correctly stating that Bush and Blair were looking for excuses for a war they'd already chosen to carry out, rather than offering reasons for war. He also notes that the war itself in effect began in Fall 2002:
"In his note to the committee, written on 2 July, Sir John suggests that the change in the no-fly zone operations from defensive to offensive tactics last autumn was because the US and UK had already decided to "prepare the battlefield" by removing threats such as Iraq's Silkworm missiles. "It points to a question that needs to be posed," he wrote. "When was the decision taken to go to war? If this thesis bears examination, then the nation was committed to war in the late summer, early autumn of 2002."
News
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Sunday, August 24, 2003
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An Unpatriotic Act
The NYT goes after Ashcroft and his "Patriot" act "charm offensive" {I have some news for the Bush spinners: Ashcroft is totally devoid of charm and is in fact frightening and off-putting}
An Unpatriotic Act
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Yahoo! News - Experts Doubt U.S. Claim on Iraqi Drones
Another Bush lie on Iraq unmasked [again: when Bush liars first claimed Iraqi "drones" were designed to deliver weapons and a dangerous threat, most arms experts were skeptical]
Yahoo! News - Experts Doubt U.S. Claim on Iraqi Drones
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BBC launches public attack on Murdoch 'imperialism'
The BBC goes after Murdoch's media empire
News
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Saturday, August 23, 2003
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When is Enough Enough?
We've been posting stories the last couple of weeks on blogleft that show many local papers publishing sharp critiques of Bush Iraq policy, a Newsweek poll shows that public opinion is starting to seriously question Bush on Iraq, its about time
When is Enough Enough?
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Revealed: how ministers tried to gag David Kelly
The London Independent today has about ten articles on the David Kelly saga; it is amazing how British journalism pursues a story with such depth and intensity, hopefully there will someday be a similar US media exploration of all the obscenities and crimes of the Bush administration [or global media investigations, until that day we have, of course, Internet sources life blogleft....]
News
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Friday, August 22, 2003
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France demands international force for Iraq
France, once again, is right: "France dismissed an effort by the US to get more countries to provide troops for Iraq yesterday, saying an international force should be dispatched only if it had a UN mandate."
News
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Bush folly in Iraq aids terrorists
Folks in Arizona see the folly of Bush's "war on terror," failing to finish the job in Afghanistan and with al Qaeda and then deflecting to Iraq that made a bigger mess and has created more terrorists and more deadly threats; Bush is a national security and foreign policy disaster and the sooner people wake up to this the better; good that the Arizona Republic is speaking out....
Bush folly in Iraq aids terrorists
More voices of reason from the heartlands
War foes were right
"The French were right.
The liberals were right.
The peaceniks were right.
True conservatives were right.
Veterans opposed to the war - I hear from more of them than you might imagine - were also right. They said this war was based on lies, and it was. They said this war, like most wars, would lead to more chaos and killing, and it has.
Now some in the Bush administration are telling the world that the car bombing of United Nations headquarters in Iraq is evidence that our policy is right.
How illogical can you be? Insurgents blow up oil pipelines and water mains; American soldiers get killed or maimed almost daily. Demonstrations are ongoing. And the biggest blow from the Iraqi resistance so far - destruction of U.N. headquarters in Iraq - is presented by the Bush team as evidence that our policy is correct because - because - because this proves terrorists are really, really bad."
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Conan the Deceiver
Arnie the Barbarian follows Bush, Paul Krugman notes, in pushing "fuzzy math." Arnie whines about taxes, taxes, taxes, but who and how is the $38 billion deficit going to be dealt with?
Conan the Deceiver
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Thursday, August 21, 2003
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Powell Says U.S. Will Ask Other Nations to 'Do More' in Iraq
The US wants other nations to "do more" in Iraq but will not concede power to the UN, this is typical Bush arrogance and a recipe for another piece of failed Bush diplomacy; how can Powell stand pushing the indefensible for Bush in the UN? isn't he getting tired of this role?
Powell Says U.S. Will Ask Other Nations to 'Do More' in Iraq
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Wednesday, August 20, 2003
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9 Afghan Police Officers Are Killed in Attack by Insurgents
Afghanistan is also a mess with several recent attacks not only at Americans but Afghans working with US forces; Bush unilateralism is 0 for 2, it is clear that the US cannot administer or create democratic regimes, there is just too much hostility toward the Bush administration and Pentagon; clearly, the UN and multilateral forces need to come in and the US forces come out [and Halliburton and other sweetheart contracts for Bush allies will have to be cancelled, they are part of the problem...]
9 Afghan Police Officers Are Killed in Attack by Insurgents
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Magnet for Evil
The Bush administration's wish/fantasy is coming true; before the invasion, there was a separation between saddam regime and islamic terrorism; Bush's madness has brought them together and they are wreaking havoc; Bush's policies endanger americans and now all westerners; in the Terror War, Bush is a world-historical disaster
Magnet for Evil
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Tuesday, August 19, 2003
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Salon.com | Big lies--Introduction to new Joe Conason book
In the introduction to his new book, Joe Conason explains how the right-wing propaganda machine demonizes liberals and distorts the common-sense politics of America.
Salon.com | Big lies
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washingtonpost.com: Truck Bomb Explodes at UN Complex in Iraq, Kills 15
Another major terrorist assault in Iraq, this time, ironically, on the UN who the Bush administration have refused to share power with, although they obviously need help. Excerpt: "After splits with heavyweight nations such as France, Russia and Germany over the war, Washington has shown little haste in seeking a bigger role for the U.N. in Iraq. But it would like more countries to share the burden of running Iraq."
washingtonpost.com: Truck Bomb Explodes at UN Complex in Iraq, Kills 15
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FT.com:Saudis in Iraq 'preparing for a holy war'
Now there are Saudis in Iraq carrying out Jihad, the Bush occupation has proven a magnet for terrorism with increasingly fatal results; time to bring in the UN, pull out the US
FT.com Home US
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The Road to Ruin
Paul Krugman sees Bush "faith-based deregulation" taking us down the road to energy disaster; Bush has wrecked the economy, energy system, environment, foreign policy, he is truly Bush the Barbarian, taking the US and much of the world down the Road to Ruin
The Road to Ruin Excerpt: "Whatever the initial cause, however, the current guess is that a local event turned into an epic blackout because the transmission network has been neglected. That is, the power industry hasn't spent enough on the control systems and safeguards that are supposed to prevent such things.
And the cause of that neglect is faith-based deregulation."
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Monday, August 18, 2003
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The e-mails, the rewritten dossier and how No 10 made its case for wa
a tremendous amount of information concerning details of Blair gang's deception of the public and false info on Iraq is coming out in email, testimony, and media leaks; would it be so that similar revelations would emerge concerning far greater amount of Bush lies and deception on Iraq
News
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Bush blamed for chaos which led to blackouts
Bush policies blamed for energy blackout, deregulation obviously doesn't work, more and better regulation needed as well as a new high-tech and new energy source infrastructure
News "
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Sunday, August 17, 2003
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Attacks in Iraq May Be Signals of New Tactics
The situation continues to deteriorate in Iraq, Mission Impossible; recall that last week the Bush Administration refused to let UN in to help administer Iraq, an obviously foolish decision; the Bush neocons are the Stupidest and the Worst....
Attacks in Iraq May Be Signals of New Tactics
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Los Angeles Times: Team in Liberia Sought Fast Aid
THe Pentagon nixed a plan advocated by State that would have saved many Liberian lives and alleviated much suffering, obviously they were overextended in Iraq, or Cheney didn't have any economic interests to pursue
Los Angeles Times: Team in Liberia Sought Fast Aid
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BuzzFlash: Halliburton Has a Friend in Dick Cheney:
More antiCheney material from buzzflash, time to go after Cheney, BiG-Time
BuzzFlash
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Why the energy blackout? JUST ASK CHENEY
In May 2001, Dick Cheney was put in charge of three Bush administration task forces on terrorism, energy, and global warming. On terrorism, he put aside Hart-Rudman reports and other govt studies calling for strengthened measures to protect the US against terrorist attacks, ignored all the reports indicating that al Qaeda was on the move and the result was 9/11-- with no one holding Cheney accountable for this.
Obviously, Cheney put all of his energy into writing the energy report; public interest groups have sued for the minutes of these meetings as everyone suspects that Enron and the energy companies wrote Bush/Cheney energy policy. Now the question emerges: Did Cheney and gang discuss infrastructure and do anything to protect it? Now MORE THAN EVER, it is necessary to get the notes of Cheney's meetings so hopefully those investigating the blackout will summon Cheney and demand his notes. Here's Maureen Dowd's satirical commentary: "You would think that the first White House team from the energy bidness — the Houston Oilers, as they were dubbed during the campaign — would have jumped all over that.
But all Dick Cheney's secret meetings with unnamed energy officials were, sadly, not about saving us from this day. The White House has been too busy ensuring that Halliburton has no competitors for rebuilding Iraq to worry about rebuilding our own threadbare grid"
Batteries Not Included
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Saturday, August 16, 2003
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Many theories, few answers
Why did Bush and Ridge immediately claim blackout was not caused by terrorist attack? Why did they then blame it on lightning over Niagra Falls? Why then battle between US and Canada over the blame? why now, Ohio? what's really going on and what's up? will bush gang use this event to push through their BAD energy policy? will the media and the Dems go along again, so they can wreck the energy system along with the economy and environment? This is getting to be a very hot summer....
Printer Friendly
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Friday, August 15, 2003
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Experts Asking Why Problems Spread So Far
It's unbelievable that US energy infrastructure is so vulnerable to massive breakdown. It's also interesting that the initial response was that the power meltdown was not terrorism related and that today the FBI said that it is looking into sabotage. While obviously US energy infrastructure needs a lot of work Richard was correct in his comments today that it is not time to just throw away money at building up what might be an intrinsically flawed system of energy production whereas more decentralized and renewable energy sources like solar power could be superior. Indeed, Bush's quick call for looking at rebuilding infrastructure created suspicion that the Bush/Cheney/energy industry gang saw a good opportunity for some capital realization schemes.... and to push through their terrible energy policy, now stalled in Congress
Experts Asking Why Problems Spread So Far
And what's up with the US/Canada blame game that played out in the early hours of the meltdown?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1020088,00.html
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Zogby Sound Bites!
Bush losing support, latest polls say that a small majority think its time for a change
Zogby Sound Bites!
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Twilight Zone Economics
Economy Zoned out with Bush gang, the best Bushies can say is that economy is getting worse more slowly according to Krugman
Twilight Zone Economics
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Salon.com News | The toxic fallout of 9/11
9/11 fallout from destruction in NYC was much more lethal than indicated, with EPA and Bush administration covering up its dangers
Salon.com News | The toxic fallout of 9/11
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Thursday, August 14, 2003
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U.N. Official: Iraqis Ready to Turn on U.S. Troops (washingtonpost.com)
UN Official warns that US blunders are turning Iraqis against US:
Excerpt: "Salameh warned that ordinary people, frustrated by the lack of basic services four months after the fall of Saddam, could rally behind ideological opponents of the occupying forces.
"In reality, the population is very surprised. They don't understand how such a level of efficiency during the war could be followed by such a lack of efficiency in 'peace,"' he said.
Salameh accused the U.S. government of promoting an ideological agenda and of making "errors of judgment."
U.N. Official: Iraqis Ready to Turn on U.S. Troops (washingtonpost.com)
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Big-Time Sleazoids Behind Farcial Arnie
Salon.com | Joe Conason's Journal: "Joe Conason's Journal
The GOP strategists behind the California recall include some fairly unsavory characters. No doubt they'll be eager to help Arnold 'clean house' if he wins"
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Putsch in the Pentagon
It appears that the Rumsfeld gang in the Pentagon is carrying out a putsch: "In the guise of "selecting a new team," it can be said that Rumsfeld, Roche and Schoomaker have carried out a putsch to enforce their vision of change on the Army."
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Wednesday, August 13, 2003
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U.S. Abandons Idea of Bigger U.N. Role in Iraq Occupation
The Bush administration has made a VERY, VERY STUPID decision in not letting in the UN to play a bigger role in Iraq showing their STUPID and deep commitment to unilateralism and a fantasy that the US can control the world; as Vietnam showed, there are limits to US hegemony and Iraq is an impossible situation for the US that could only be administered and the problems solved by the UN
U.S. Abandons Idea of Bigger U.N. Role in Iraq Occupation
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Arianna Attacks Arnie and Bush
Arianna Huffington is attacking special interests behind both Farcical Arnie and the Bush gang; both were very cozy with Enron and energy interests that screwed California, this could take Arnie down....
Salon.com | Joe Conason's Journal
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Sonar Tests Linked to Porpoise Deaths
 This story was one of the hot stories earlier this summer, but the media appears to have lost interest (this is the only citation i've found): After a naval destroyer, in eyesight of porpoises and killer whales, was caught by a tourist boat and other fishing outfits blasting a sonar so loud it could be heard above water (something that existing law prohibits it from doing), the porpoises and whales were so visibily distressed that they were seen desperately fleeing the scene. We have no idea about the effects of such sonar on the marine ecology altogether but there is every reason to believe that such extreme noise pollution not only kills and injures cetaceans like whales but also fish and the environment generally. Following this incident, first the Navy issued the lie that it did not see the whales, but this case was rare in as much as so many people viewed directly what happened, and so the military changed its tune. Thus, next the Navy issued an apology saying that it was perhaps a mistake and was being "looked into." This remains ongoing, apparently...
Meanwhile, porpoises soon washed ashore in the region dead as the Navy denied any connection despite the fact that naval sonar has been linked to such cetacean beachings and deaths the world over. Now, an autopsy on the porpoises has finally revealed what common sense knew from day one -- yes, indeed this horrible naval sonar is literally blasting whales and other species out of existence. How would you like it if a thrash metal concert went on perpetually in your house at 230 decibels? Get the picture...
Meanwhile, the Bush administration is looking to get another historic environmental law -- the Marine Mammal Act -- cut down so that it doesn't pose any limits to such things as naval sonar whatsoever. The media needs to pick up on this story and not allow the Senate to cave in and roll over on this one. This is a travesty and another place where Bush militarism should be outed and disgraced.
Via: Canada.com
Necropsies were done on the porpoises to try and learn whether sonar testing in the strait could be linked to their deaths.
The porpoises had severe internal bleeding.
Necropsy results implicate the U.S. Navy in the deaths of several marine mammals on the West Coast, some animal experts say.
Days after a U.S. Navy ship passed through the Haro Strait in May, dead porpoises began washing up on shore.
The USS Shoup had been conducting sonar testing in the strait. Whales were seen fleeing the area and acting erratically during the tests. Soon afterwards, porpoises began washing up on the shores of the San Juan Islands.
The porpoises were frozen, checked under a CT scanner and necropsied.
Photos from the necropsies show trauma that some animal experts say is clearly the result of the sonar testing.
Ken Balcomb of the Centre for Whale Research says the photos show very severe hemorrhaging.
"This is another smoking gun for me," Balcomb says of the necropsy results.
Marine mammal expert Anna Hall agrees.
"What that tells us is that there was enough energy in that sound to actually rupture membranes and cause internal bleeding and perhaps death," Hall says.
Hall says it is impossible to be absolutely sure that the piercing sound of the sonar testing caused the porpoises' deaths, but in her opinion there is "a high probability."
The U.S. government is investigating the deaths, but the final results of the inquiry aren't expected for another couple of months.
A decision is expected from Congress next month on whether to exempt the U.S. Navy from the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
"I'm concerned that the design of the way this whole investigation has gone on is intended to slow things down," Balcomb says.
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U.S. Envoy in Indonesia Warns Americans of Future Attacks
Al Qaeda attacks threatened against American throughout the world, Bush policies have made the world a much more dangerous place for all living beings and have created legions of enemies of the US. In Indonesia:
U.S. Envoy in Indonesia Warns Americans of Future Attacks
A British-Indian arms dealer so hates Americans that he sought to sell missiles to blow up planes
US Holds Briton on Arms Charge
And its still a mess in Afghanistan, thanks to failure of unilateralist US military policies there that cut deals with War Lords and failed to bring in an international force; now, that UN has taken over security, finally, no one wants to go there to try to stablize the country because it is so dangerous and out of control due to flawed US occupation policies
Bus bomb kills at least 36 in Afghan violence
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Tuesday, August 12, 2003
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Nuclear protest blooms again at lab
Thanks to Roger Waldinger for sending article:
1,000 in Livermore demonstrate against new buster bomb
Diana Walsh, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, August 11, 2003
©2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/08/11/LAB.TMP
It's been two decades since the largest anti-nuclear protests took place outside Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory during the presidency of Ronald Reagan.
On Sunday, protesters returned, and returned strong. Revitalized by anti-war demonstrations this spring, an estimated 1,000 people joined hands to protest the lab's role in producing new-generation nuclear warheads.
"Nuclear weapons didn't go away, they just went off the public radar," said Tara Dorabji, who helped organize the protest with a local organization that calls itself Tri-Valley CAREs.
Although conventional weapons research has continued at the lab since the '80s, the once-regular protests had subsided to a trickle, and instead of thousands strong -- and hundreds of arrests -- the demonstrations had been reduced to quiet vigils and sunrise ceremonies, attended by only a few die-hard peaceniks.
Dorabji credited the renewed interest in the anti-nuclear movement to the anti-war demonstrations that turned out thousands of protesters in the streets of San Francisco, Berkeley, Palo Alto and elsewhere in the country this spring.
"It is the 100th day of (U.S.) occupation (in Iraq), and they still haven't found weapons of mass destruction," she said, referring to the Bush administration's efforts to turn up large weapons in Iraq. "The people of the United States are realizing that those weapons are right here in the Bay Area."
Organizers had hoped to turn up enough protesters Sunday to link "hands around the lab." But they fell far short of that goal -- even with the help of a few thousand paper hands that had been gathered by peace activists in the weeks and days preceding the demonstration.
"We didn't make it, but it was a valiant effort," said Tim Pulta, who was one of nearly 100 military veterans who arrived on buses from San Francisco for the protest.
Demonstrations have been held at federal weapons labs -- including the Los Almos National Laboratory in New Mexico -- in other parts of the country over the last 10 days. Timing of the protests -- all scheduled between Aug. 1 and 11 -- is no accident. The two most devastating nuclear bombings occurred 58 years ago this month in Japan -- the first on Aug. 6 in Hiroshima, the second Aug. 9 in Nagasaki.
The post-Sept. 11 era has led the Department of Defense to conduct a whole new review of the nation's nuclear stockpile. With a recently overturned congressional ban on the development of "mini-nukes" and the Bush administration calling for "more usable" nuclear weapons, research and development of nuclear weapons is on the rise at Lawrence Livermore and other labs.
Marylia Kelley, an organizer of the rally, said protesters were concerned about the lab's development of Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator bomb, a nuclear buster bomb that burrows into the ground and destroys targets, leaving radioactive fallout. Kelley said she hoped the series of protests would be heard by Congress, which is set to decide on several nuclear funding issues when they return from their summer recess in September.
Sunday's protest cost the lab more than $40,000 in security costs, a lab spokesman said.
"We have a disagreement in tactics, not objectives," said lab spokesman David Schwoegler. "Both sides would like to see a world that is safe and never see the use of nuclear weapons again.
"Our position is that we believe in a strong, safe and reliable stockpile to give us nuclear deterance -- theirs is nuclear abandonment." But Joanne Haller, who was among a group of about three dozen protesters who arrived from Davis aboard environmentally friendly, bio-diesel buses, doesn't want her taxpayer money spent on weapons.
"I would prefer we put our resources, money and people into more positive research and into ways that we can sustain life on earth," said Haller, 62.
Thirteen-year-old Rane Stark was one of the few youngsters in the crowd made up of mostly graying baby boomers. Stark, who arrived with her mom and dad from Concord, said she thought maybe she'd spend the day at the mall shopping, but decided to take a stand for her future instead.
"At first I wasn't going to come, but then I remembered what it was all about," said Stark. "If kids don't care right now, then there's no hope at all."
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AOL Time Warner Considers Cutting 'AOL' From Name
If AOL is removed from media conglomerate name, this would be a major recognition of end of the dot.com ascendency and recognition of the con job AOL did on Time Warner
AOL Time Warner Considers Cutting 'AOL' From Name
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washingtonpost.com: Rebuilding Iraq Likely to Top War's Cost
Expenses in Iraq keep exploding as budget deficit skyrockets out of control, people are hurting and Bushonomics is bringing down the economy. Iraq was surely a boondoogle for Cheney and the military-industrial establishment, an albatross for everyone else
washingtonpost.com: Rebuilding Iraq Likely to Top War's Cost
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When Arnold Schwarzenegger gets around to attacking Gov. Gray Davis for the state's energy fiasco, someone should ask why he appointed Pete Wilson his
the Republican establishment in California has made itself a sick joke by endorsing Farciial Arnie
Salon.com | Joe Conason's Journal
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Monday, August 11, 2003
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The dossier is damned again
Inquiry into David Kelly death shows serious contestation of Blair use of intelligence reports on Iraq within British intelligence service [as there was opposition to Bush misuse of intelligence by some in the CIA]
News
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Thanks for the M.R.E.'s
Paul Krugman comments on abuse of US troops in Iraq, (Bush and Rumsfeld should go on an MRE diet) general incompetency of Bush/Rumsfeld military policy, and negative impact of privatization of military affairs (which bring fat profits to Cheney's Halliburton but poor service to US military personnel)
Thanks for the M.R.E.'s
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For Vanity Fair, Bushes Are Exception to Royal Rule
Vanity Fair goes after Bush dynasty with NYT article mentioning how Bush Daddy and Son messed up the economy with record deficits, but fails to note how Vanity Fair also had an issue apothesizing the Bush War Team; still, its good that any publication goes after the Bushes
For Vanity Fair, Bushes Are Exception to Royal Rule
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Sunday, August 10, 2003
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Bush's Task in California: Avoid Recall Fray
Bush and Arnie: Birds of the Same Feather, Featherheads who are sound-bited, managed, totally unqualified, and masters of media spectacle who manipulate vidiots into voting for them [though both could self-deconstruct, everytime either goes before the media their feet could go into their mouths; they might also delegitimize each other: Arnies' blabbering may suggest to the public that Bush too is a cartoonish figure and lead Bush to be perceived in the farcical albeit dangerous mode]
Bush's Task in California: Avoid Recall Fray
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A call to arms, a troubled scientist and the unravelling of a mysterious death
Indepth look at Kelly death, the British papers are keeping this issue burning, continuing to go after Blair administrations lies and deceit
News:
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158 File Papers for Recall Election
Circus in California
158 File Papers for Recall ElectionExcerpt: "'This recall has become a circus,' Garamendi said outside the secretary of state's office in Sacramento. 'Every day that goes by, we move toward more chaos and further from serious contemplation of the fundamental reforms necessary to restore our governmental systems and the reputation of the state of California.'"
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Iraq Seen as Terror Target
Reports that al Qaeda is infilitrating Iraq to attack US troops
Iraq Seen as Terror Target
Excerpt: "'What we're seeing now is jihadis coming in from all over, from Albania to Algeria,' said Vincent Cannistraro, a former CIA counter-terrorism chief.
'They're answering the call from [Osama] bin Laden ... not to defend Saddam, but to defend Islam,' he said, noting that U.S. and allied intelligence officials believe that 500 to 600 of these foreign fighters have entered Iraq."
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Two Howard Dean as The anti-Bush articles
First, Robert Novak: The anti-Bush
Robert Novak: The anti-Bush
and then Kevin Phillips,
"The Anti-BUsh
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Lying -- a Bush Family Value
Family Values, for the Bushes, its lying as Robert Parry argues
The Consortiumnews.com
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Geoff Hoon to take blame for David Kelly's death: Report : HindustanTimes.com
British Defense Minister Hoon reportedly will be fall guy for David Kelly's death; who in the Bush administration will be held responsible for all the Iraq lies and the disastrous policies? The Bush administration takes no responsibility for anything, they are a post-responsibility administration....
Geoff Hoon to take blame for David Kelly's death: Report : HindustanTimes.com
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Saturday, August 09, 2003
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US admits it used napalm bombs in Iraq
The Pentagon is still using Napalm after all these years and documentation of its environmental lethality and toxic aftermath; Iraq is clearly a replay of Vietnam destroying the village to save it; there are also treaties outlawing napalm which seem to have been circumvented by calling the substance something else; there should be an inquiry into this, another US war crime
News
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Salon.com | Joe Conason's Journal
Good critique of Repugs who scream and rant at Hollywood Left everytime a celebrity takes a progressivist position, yelling that celebrities should stay out of politics, that they are not qualified, and then cheer on Farcial Arnie. shall we say hyprocisy?
Salon.com | Joe Conason's Journal
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Depiction of Threat Outgrew Supporting Evidence (washingtonpost.com)
Major and very detailed story in the WP detailing Bush administration lies leading up to the Iraq fiasco; the article documents a veritable campaign of lies and disinformation, interesting that WP is putting this out now, is it prelude to major media assault on Bush's Iraq policy and Bush himself?
Depiction of Threat Outgrew Supporting Evidence (washingtonpost.com)
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The Niger Timebomb
More bad news for Bush and Blair as the source of the Niger-Iraq uranium story speaks out: "This is the Iraqi diplomat Britain accuses of trying to buy uranium for Saddam. If what he has told us is true, his evidence will blow apart one of Mr Blair's main justifications for war"
News
NB: there are several other stories on the Niger lies in today's London Independent
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Friday, August 08, 2003
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Bush Misuses Science, Report Says (washingtonpost.com)
Another report on Bush administration misuse of science: "The Bush administration has repeatedly mischaracterized scientific facts to bolster its political agenda in areas ranging from abstinence education and condom use to missile defense, according to a detailed report released yesterday by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.)."
Bush Misuses Science, Report Says (washingtonpost.com)
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Bush Says Schwarzenegger Would Make 'A Good Governor' (washingtonpost.com)
Bad joke Bush gets behind Farcical Arnie, highlighting that both of them are tragic jokes of the weltgeist. Excerpt: "-- President Bush declared today that Arnold Schwarzenegger would make "a good governor," despite the White House profession of neutrality in California's recall election.
"I'm interested in the process -- it's fascinating to see who's in and who's out," Bush said as he met reporters in the heat outside his ranch house. "And, yes, I think he'd be a good governor."
Bush Says Schwarzenegger Would Make 'A Good Governor' (washingtonpost.com)
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Billionaire launches get-out-the-vote effort against Bush
It's very clear that Bush is an anti-globalist taking instead a unilateralist ultranationalist position, in the service of chosen corporations and sectors of capital, so it is not a surprise that global capital would begin to oppose Bush; it's surprising in a way how long its taken; I predict a strong move against Bush in the next election by big global capital
More on the group that is organizing to defeat Bush
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31042-2003Aug7.html
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Thursday, August 07, 2003
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Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Profile: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Will US democracy enter the farcial stage after the tragic? Or is the farce part of the tragedy? Or will the Arnie frace help make people aware of the farcical nature of W [it would be high comedy if it wasn't high tragedy]
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Profile: Arnold Schwarzenegger
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washingtonpost.com: Rice Touts Democratic Hopes for Iraq
It is DISGRACEFUL that Condi Rice is comparing US imposition of govt on Iraq with the heroic civil rights struggles where the oppressed themselves struggle for their freedom, hopefully she will be called on this, it is truly an outrage
washingtonpost.com: Rice Touts Democratic Hopes for Iraq
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Gore on Bush and Iraq
AL GORE presents hard-hitting attack on Bush and his Iraq and other policies AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY Thu Aug 07 2003 11:48:22 ET
Thank you. It's great to be here and I appreciate your presence. Thank you so much for being here and for what you do on a regular basis.
OK.
I want to especially thank MoveOn.org for sponsoring this event and NYU for letting us use this beautiful facility and the NYU College Democrats for co-hosting it, cosponsoring it. I appreciate it very much.
Thank you, Michael Phillips (ph) and Eli Pariser (ph). A special thanks to my former colleague John Brademas (ph). I appreciate your kind words and Tipper and I are delighted to be with you today.
Some of you may remember that the last time I talked formally on the topics that we're here to talk about today was a little less than a year ago in San Francisco, when I argued that the president's case for urgent and unilateral preemptive war in Iraq was less than convincing and needed to be challenged more effectively by the Congress.
In light of developments since then, you might assume that my purpose today is to revisit the manner in which we were led into war, and to some extent that will be the case, but only as part of a larger theme that I feel very strongly needs to be explored on an urgent basis.
The direction in which our nation is being led now is deeply troubling to me, not only in Iraq, but also here at home, on economic policy, social policy and environmental policy.
Millions of Americans now share a feeling that something pretty basic has gone wrong in our country and that some important American values are being placed at risk. And they want to set it right.
The way we went to war in Iraq illustrates this larger problem. Normally, we Americans lay the facts on the table and talk through the choices before us and make a decision. But that didn't really happen with this war, not the way it should have.
And as a result, too many of our soldiers are paying the highest price for the strategic miscalculations, serious misjudgments and historic mistakes that have put them and our nation in harm's way.
I'm convinced that one of the reasons we did not have a better public debate before the Iraq war started is because so many of the impressions that the majority of the country had back then turned out to have been completely wrong.
Now, leaving aside for the moment the question of how these false impressions got into the public's mind, I think it might be healthy to take a hard look at the ones that we now know were wrong and clear the air so we can better see exactly where we are now and what changes might need to be made.
In any case, what we now know to have been false impressions before the war, include the following.
Number one, Saddam Hussein was partly responsible for the attack against us on September 11th, 2001, so a good way to respond to that attack would be to invade his country and forcibly remove him from power.
Number two, Saddam was working closely with Osama bin Laden and was actively supporting members of the Al Qaida terrorist group by giving them weapons and money and bases and training, so launching a war against Iraq would be a good way to stop Al Qaida from attacking us again.
Number three, Saddam was about to give the terrorists poison gas and deadly germs that he had made into weapons which they could use to kill lots of Americans. Therefore, common sense alone seemed to dictate that we should send our military into Iraq in order to protect our loved ones and ourselves against a grave threat.
Number four, Saddam was on the verge of building nuclear bombs and giving them to the terrorists, and since the only thing then preventing Saddam from acquiring a nuclear arsenal was access to enriched uranium, once our spies found out that he had bought the enrichment technology he needed and was actively trying to buy uranium from Africa, it seemed like we had very little time left.
Therefore, it seemed imperative during last fall's election campaign to set aside less urgent issues like the economy, and instead focus on the congressional resolution approving the war in Iraq.
Number five, our GIs would be welcomed with open arms by cheering Iraqis who would help them quickly establish public safety, free markets and representative democracy, so there wouldn't be that much of a risk that U.S. soldiers would get bogged down in a guerrilla war.
Number six, even though the rest of the world was mostly opposed to the war, they would quickly fall in line after we won, and then contribute lots of money and soldiers to help out, so there wouldn't be that much risk that U.S. taxpayers would get stuck with a huge bill.
Now, of course, everybody knows that every single one of these impressions was just dead wrong.
For example, according to the just-released congressional investigation, Saddam had nothing whatsoever to do with the attacks of September 11th. Therefore, whatever other goals it served--and it did serve some other goals--the decision to invade Iraq made no sense as a way of exacting revenge for 9/11.
To the contrary, the U.S. pulled significant intelligence resources out of Pakistan and Afghanistan in order to get ready for the rushed invasion of Iraq, and that disrupted the search for Osama at a critical time. And the indifference that we showed to the rest of the world's opinion in the process undermined the global cooperation we need to win the war against terrorism.
In the same way, the evidence now shows clearly that Saddam did not want to work with Osama bin Laden at all, much less give him weapons of mass destruction, so our invasion of Iraq had no effect on Al Qaida other than to boost their recruiting efforts.
And on the nuclear issue, of course, it turned out that those documents were actually forged by somebody, though we don't know who.
And as for the cheering Iraqi crowds that we anticipated, unfortunately--very unfortunately--that did not pan out either, so now our troops are in an ugly and dangerous situation.
Moreover, the rest of the world certainly is not jumping in to help out very much, the way we expected, so U.S. taxpayers are now having to spend $1 billion every week.
In other words, when you put it all together it was just one mistaken impression after another, lots of them.
And it's not just in foreign policy, because the same thing has been happening in economic policy, where we've also now got another huge and threatening mess on our hands.
I'm convinced one reason we've had so many nasty surprises in our economy is that the country somehow got lots of false impressions about what we could expect from the big tax cuts that were enacted, including: one, the tax cuts would unleash a lot of new investment that would create lots of new jobs; two, we wouldn't have to worry about a return to big budget deficits, because all the new growth in the economy caused by the tax cuts would lead to a lot of new revenue; three, most of the benefits would go to average middle-income families not to the wealthy, as some partisans claimed.
Unfortunately, here, too, every single one of these impressions turned out to be wrong. Instead of creating jobs, for example, we are losing millions of jobs: three years in a row of net losses. That hasn't happened since the Great Depression.
As I've noted before, I was the first one laid off.
And you never forget something like that.
And it turns out that most of the benefits of the tax cuts actually are going to the highest-income Americans, who, unfortunately, are the least likely group to spend money in ways that create jobs during times when the economy is weak and unemployment is rising.
And, of course, the budget deficits are already the biggest ever, with the worst still due to hit us. As a percentage of our economy, we have had bigger deficits, but these are by far the most dangerous we've ever had for two reasons. First, they're not temporary; they're structural and long-term. Second, they're going to get even bigger just at the time when the big baby boomer retirement surge starts. Moreover, the global capital markets have begun to recognize the unprecedented size of this emerging fiscal catastrophe.
In truth, the current executive branch of the U.S. government is radically different from any since the McKinley administration 100 years ago.
The 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics, George Akerlof, went even further last week in Germany when he told Der Spiegel, and I quote, ``This is the worst government the U.S. has ever had in its more than 200 years of history.''
I didn't say that. That's the winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics.
He said, ``This is not normal policy.'' In describing the impact of the Bush policies on America's future, Akerlof added, quote, ``What we have here is a form of looting,'' end quote. Now again, that's the Nobel Prize winner in economics.
Ominously, the capital markets have just pushed U.S. long-term mortgage rates higher soon after the Federal Reserve Board once again reduced discount rates. Monetary policy loses some of its potency when fiscal policy just comes unglued, and after three years of rate cuts in a row, Alan Greenspan and his colleagues simply don't have much room left for further reductions.
This situation is particularly dangerous for our economy right now for several reasons. First, because home buying, fueled by low rates, along with car buying, also fueled by low rates, have been just about the only reliable engines that have been pulling the economy forward.
Secondly, so many Americans now have variable rate mortgages, so the increases hit people quickly and hard.
And third, it comes at a time when average personal debt is at an all-time record high. A lot of Americans are living on the economic edge.
It seems obvious to me that big and important issues, like the Bush economic policy and the first preemptive war in U.S. history, should have been debate more thoroughly in the Congress and covered more extensively in the news media and better presented to the American people before our nation made such fateful choices. But that didn't happen. And now in both cases, reality is turning out to be very different from the impressions that were given when the votes and the die were cast.
Since this curious mismatch between myth and reality has suddenly become commonplace and is causing such extreme difficulty for the nation's ability to make good sensible choices about our future, maybe it's time to focus on how in the world we could have gotten so many false impressions in such a short period of time.
At first, I thought maybe the president's advisers were a big part of the problem.
Last fall, in a speech on economic policy at the Brookings Institution, I called on the president to just get rid of his whole economic team and pick a new group. And a few weeks later, damned if he didn't do just that.
And at least one of the new advisers had written eloquently about the very problems in the Bush economic policy that I was calling upon the president to fix.
But now, a year later, we still have the same bad economic policies and the problems have, if anything, gotten worse. So obviously I was wrong: Changing all of the president's advisers didn't work as a way of changing the policy.
I remembered all that last month when everybody was looking for who ought to be held responsible for the false statements in the president's State of the Union Address. And I've just about concluded that the real problem may be the president himself and that next year we ought to fire him and get a new one.
But whether you agree with that conclusion or not--and I see some of you here, do--whether you're a Democrat or a Republican or an independent, a Libertarian, a Green or a Mugwump, you have got a stake in making sure that representative democracy works the way it is supposed to.
I wanted to speak to this Internet-based organization of people who become active in representative democracy because I think this methodology represents one way of trying to fix things.
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Protecting Bush's pals: Immunity for Iraqi oil dealings raises alarm
Bush buds get immunity for Iraq oil deals, can do want they want without impunity
The Smirking Chimp
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Wednesday, August 06, 2003
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Two Army Teams Investigating Puzzling Outbreak of Pneumonia
mysterious deaths from flulike symptoms in Iraq, could this be another Gulf War syndrome? more than one-quarter of original 600,000 plus troops in Gulf War I are dead or on disability
Two Army Teams Investigating Puzzling Outbreak of Pneumonia
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Tuesday, August 05, 2003
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Neocon Coup at the Department d'?tat
Maureen Dowd takes the line I suggested yesterday in Blogleft, that the Powell resignation story might have be a Neocon hit attempt.... or as she puts it coup [I wouldn't use the latter term as they already have most of it]
Neocon Coup at the Department d'?tat
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A sorry, sorry affair
The ferocity in which the London INDEPENDENT is going after the Blair gang is exemplary; would it be that there were a journalistic institution in the US that would go after the Bush cabal in the same way and spirit; this is just one of about five articles today attacking Blair et al
News
Ditto the Guardian kicking in with several stories including http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/story/0,13747,1012927,00.html
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Monday, August 04, 2003
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Everything Is Political
Krugman goes after Bushonomics again and the rightwing and opportunistic politics that drive their economic policy; how can the economy survive this systemic abuse?
Everything Is Political
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washingtonpost.com: Powell Calls Resignation Report 'Gossip'
Powell denies the WP report, that we posted yesterday, that he is resigning. So what to believe and what does this mean? If the story was false, who planted it, a neocon who wanted Powell and his clique out? If this is the case, the story is a warning to Powell that he is not wanted, should leave, etc. It seems therefore that this is more evidence of a deep split and continuous battle within the Bush administration itself....
washingtonpost.com: Powell Calls Resignation Report 'Gossip'
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"Downing St accused of new low after 'Walter Mitty' smear of Kelly"
Blair thugs compare to Bush smear doctors in attempts to discredit the honorable and tragically dead David Kelly....
News:
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What: Mob Scene. Who: Strangers. Point: None.
This is the third article in the last couple of days I've read on "the mob scene" a new mode of using email to associate crowds for situationist-type performance art/political action; it demonstrates how Internet can be used to mobilize people anyplace, anytime, for a variety of types of action
What: Mob Scene. Who: Strangers. Point: None.
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The Complete Bushisms - Updated frequently. By Jacob Weisberg
Here's latest Bushism: "We had a good Cabinet meeting, talked about a lot of issues. Secretary of State and Defense brought us up to date about our desires to spread freedom and peace around the world."—Washington, D.C., Aug. 1, 2003 (Thanks to Tanny Bear.)
The Complete Bushisms - Updated frequently. By Jacob Weisberg
And another slam on Bush as worst president ever by former Nobel Prize winner:
"US Nobel Laureate Slams Bush Gov't as "Worst" in American History
By Matthias Streitz
Der Spiegel
Tuesday 29 July 2003
George A. Akerlof is a 2001 Nobel prize laureate who teaches economics at the University of California in Berkeley.
BERLIN - American Nobel Prize laureate for Economics George A. Akerlof lashed out at the government of US President George W. Bush, calling it the "worst ever" in American history, the online site of the weekly Der Spiegel magazine reported Tuesday.
"I think this is the worst government the US has ever had in its more than 200 years of history It has engaged in extraordinarily irresponsible policies not only in foreign policy and economics but also in social and environmental policy," said the 2001 Nobel Prize laureate who teaches economics at the University of California in Berkeley.
"This is not normal government policy. Now is the time for (American) people to engage in civil disobedience. I think it's time to protest - as much as possible," the 61-year-old scholar added.
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Sunday, August 03, 2003
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UK may back new UN move on Iraq
Hints that Brits see the utter and abject failure of Bush-Blair Iraq policy and need the UN to come in and clean up the mess
FT.com Home US
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Afghan Political Violence on the Rise (washingtonpost.com)
Bush policies also failing in Afghanistan as violence and lawlessness intensifies, the only way to deal with such problems are a multilateral response, Bush militarism and unilateralism has failed everywhere
Afghan Political Violence on the Rise (washingtonpost.com)
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The Observer | Politics | MI6 chief to quit after split on Iraq
In Britain, you mess up, you resign, so M16 chief goes down; who would resign in US for all the al Qaeda blunders and Iraq lies/blunders: Cheney, Tenet, Rice, Bush himself? The latter by the way takes responsibility for everything he says but nothing in particular
The Observer | Politics | MI6 chief to quit after split on Iraq
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Saturday, August 02, 2003
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G.O.P. Senator Criticizes Bush on Liberia Case
Republican Senators are starting to break with Bush, criticizing his policy of secrecy and refusal to discuss his policies with Congress
G.O.P. Senator Criticizes Bush on Liberia Case
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Friday, August 01, 2003
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The Hutton inquiry: A government in the dock
Unlike the Bush administration, the Blair gang is being made accountable for their atrocious Iraq policies in British media and parliament
News
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Salon.com | The poseur in chief
Salon article correctly argues that Dems need to strongly attack Bush as a fake and fraud to win election
Salon.com | The poseur in chief
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U.S. Shifts Rhetoric On Its Goals in Iraq (washingtonpost.com)
The Neocon crackpots are arguing now that Iraq is not only lynchpin in war on terror but model to remake the Middle East! As we've argued, Bush policies create more enemies and potential terror against the US and if the mess in Iraq is a model for the Middle East, I've got an election to sell you....
Some excerpts: "Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz said on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday that "the battle to secure the peace in Iraq is now the central battle in the global war on terror, and those sacrifices are going to make not just the Middle East more stable, but our country safer."
And Vice President Cheney, in a speech last week, said Iraq "will stand as an example to the entire Middle East" and thus "contribute directly to the security of America and our friends."
In an interview yesterday, a senior administration official expanded on that theme, saying the United States has embarked on a "generational commitment" to Iraq similar to its efforts to transform Germany in the decades after World War II." The Bush aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, outlined a long-term strategy in which the United States would spread its values through Iraq and the Middle East much as it transformed Europe in the second half of the 20th century. As outlined, the U.S. commitment to Iraq and the Middle East would be far more expansive than the administration had described to the public and the world before the Iraq war.
"The great goal for the United States after 9/11 is worthy of a country of the importance and the power of the United States," the adviser said. "That goal is to see the spread of our values and to understand that our values and our security are inextricably linked, much as they were in Europe, but they are also linked in the Middle East."
DK comments: The goal of overthrowing Middle Eastern regimes and trying to impose US system on the region is a recipe for disaster and puts on display the arrogance and hubris of the Bush neocons
U.S. Shifts Rhetoric On Its Goals in Iraq (washingtonpost.com)
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