Ex-CIA analyst: Forged 'yellowcake' memo 'leads right back to' Cheney David Edwards Published: Monday April 30, 2007
A former CIA analyst claims that falsified documents which were meant to show that Iraq's Saddam Hussein regime had been trying to procure yellowcake uranium from Niger can be traced back to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Appearing on MSNBC's Tucker Carlson show, Ray McGovern who served in the CIA for twenty-seven years, said, "the [forged] memo leads right back to the doorstep of the Vice President of the United States."
According to McGovern, former CIA Director George Tenet told his "coterie of malleable managers" at the CIA to create a National Intelligence Estimate "to the terms of reference of Dick Cheney's speech of August 26, 2002, where Dick Cheney said for the first time Saddam Hussein could have a nuclear weapon in a year, he's got all kinds of chemical, he's got all kinds of biological weapons."
McGovern, who at one time chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President's Daily Brief, also claimed to have evidence that the memo leads back to Cheney but he would say what it was, except that the names of the people involved were "in the public domain."
In an op-ed posted at Buzzflash, McGovern argues, "If any good can come out of the intelligence/policy debacle regarding Iraq, it would be the clear lesson that intelligence crafted to dovetail with the predilections of policymakers can bring disaster. The role that Tenet, McLaughlin, and their small coterie of malleable managers played as willing accomplices in the corruption of intelligence has made a mockery of the verse chiseled into the marble at the entrance to CIA headquarters: 'You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'"
McGovern also calls Tenet a "pathetic figure" who is trying to "justify himself for unjustifiable activity." Tenet, in his new book, claims that the Bush administration distorted his use of the term "slam dunk" in reference to intelligence that ultimately led to the Iraq war (RAW STORY's coverage is here).
I miss Sam! I was listening to some of his old podcasts this morning and it just served as a reminder of how funny, entertaining, and informative he is. It's also a reminder of how Air America is going to fade into the sunset if they keep getting rid of their best people. It truly seems like this (destroying Air America) is being done by design. It's easy to do. All you need is for someone with a lot of money to buy a radio station. Then you get rid of the favorite radio personalities and replace them with lackluster ones. You lose the audience, you lose the sponsors, and then the radio station goes bankrupt for real and disappears.
I also think Sam should move to Nova radio. Hopefully, whoever is running that won't sell out.
Ray McGovern: Sorry They've Been So Mean To You, George Submitted by BuzzFlash on Mon, 04/30/2007 - 10:00am. Guest Contribution A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION by Ray McGovern
"If you can't say something positive about someone, don't say anything." My Irish grandmother drummed this into me and, as was the case with most of her admonishments, it has stood me in good stead. On occasion, though, it has been a real bother - as when I felt called to comment on George Tenet's apologia, In the Center of the Storm, coming soon to a bookstore near you.
On the verge of despair, I ran into an old classmate of Tenet's from PS 94 in Little Neck, Queens. Help at last. He told me that George was more handsome than his twin brother Billy, and that his outgoing nature and consummate political skill got him elected president of the student body.
Positive enough, Grandma? Now let me add this.
George Tenet's book shows that he remains, first and foremost, a politician - with no clue as to the proper role of intelligence work. He is unhappy about going down in history as "Slam Dunk Tenet." George protests that his famous remark to President Bush on Dec. 21, 2002 was not meant to assure the president that available intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was a "slam dunk." Rather he meant that the argument that Saddam Hussein had such weapons could be readily enhanced to slam-dunk status in order to sell war on Iraq. Last night on CBS' "60 Minutes," Tenet explained what he meant when he uttered those words - the words he says have now been distorted to blame him for the war in Iraq. What he says he meant was simply:
"We can put a better case together for a public case." (sic)
Tenet still doesn't get it. Those of us schooled in the craft and ethos of intelligence remain in wide-mouthed disbelief, perhaps best summed up by veteran operations officer Bob Baer's recent quip:
"So, it is better that the 'slam dunk' referred to the ease with which the war could be sold? I guess I missed that part of the National Security Act delineating the functions of the CIA - the part about CIA marketing a war. Guess that's why I never made it into senior management."
Reluctant Scapegoat
George's concern over being scapegoated is understandable. But could he not have seen it coming? Not even when then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asked him in the fall of 2002 whether he had created a system for tracking how good the intelligence was compared with what would be actually found in Iraq? The folks I know from Queens usually can tell when they're being set up. Maybe Tenet was naive enough to believe that his friend the president ("President Bush and I are much alike," he writes) would protect him from the likes of Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney even when - as was inevitable - someone would have to take the fall. Or did George actually believe Cheney's insight that U.S. forces would be greeted in Iraq as liberators, and at that point, the absence of the weapons of mass destruction would not matter?
BAGHDAD, April 30 (Reuters) - Up to a dozen loud explosions rocked central Baghdad after nightfall on Monday and smoke was seen rising from the Green Zone government compound, Reuters witnesses said.
The sound of sirens coming from the Green Zone could be heard across Baghdad after the blasts, which sounded like mortar bombs or rockets.
The vast Green Zone complex houses the U.S. and British embassies as well as Iraqi government buildings.
A U.S. military spokesman said he had no immediate information on the blasts. U.S. embassy officials could not be reached for comment.
Insurgents often fire mortars or rockets at the Green Zone, but they rarely cause casualties.
U.S. and Iraqi troops launched in February a major crackdown in the capital to rein in spiralling violence.
Murtha revises: Impeachment is 'on the table' Michael Roston Published: Monday April 30, 2007
Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) revised the much publicized statements he made yesterday and told National Public Radio that impeaching President George W. Bush was 'on the table' late on Monday afternoon.
"I'm just saying that's one of the options that Congress has on the table, I'm getting more and more calls from people about the President on impeachment," the long-time Congressman, who is a veteran of the US Marines, told NPR's Melissa Block on the program 'All Things Considered' Monday afternoon.
Murtha's remark was at variance with Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who has insisted since last year prior to the Congressional election that returned a Democratic majority in the House that impeachment was 'off the table.'
The Congressman's explanation came after he repeated his statement made on CBS News' Face the Nation yesterday that impeachment was one of four options that can be used to hold a President accountable, in addition to elections, polls, and the Congress's control of the executive branch's budgets. In yesterday's appearance, he refused to say whether impeachment was being contemplated, stating only that it was an option.
Murtha later noted that he didn't think impeachment was appropriate at this time. But he also added, "It's just one of the things we always consider, it's a part of the process."
The Congressman, who chairs the powerful Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the House of Representatives noted that holding the president accountable via the budgetary process was the best option for the Democrats to take at this stage.
"Realistically, the power of the purse is most the powerful tool that public has, and we have to exercise that," he explained.
At the beginning of the interview, Murtha made note of the approach he thought would be best for responding to the President's request for more funds for the Iraq War after President Bush vetoes the Defense Supplemental bill that Congress will send to him tomorrow.
Calling for two months of funding, he explained to NPR the Congress should fund "operations, maintenance and personnel costs, particularly for the two month period, and the other things we'd fund for the whole year, health care, the vehicles they need to fight IEDs, and Walter Read."
While noting that he wasn't certain that the Democratic leadership in the House would support this approach, he told Block it was time for the President to make the next step forward.
SAM! Please get back on the radio soon! What's up with Nova M? I don't like listening to most of the rest of who is left at AAR. Please hurry, I need my Sammy fix!
Behind the scenes of the gladiatorial battle that will take place between Paul Wolfowitz and the World Bank Board today are efforts by his lawyer, Robert Bennett, and the Bank staff to negotiate terms of Wolfowitz's departure.
According to some insiders, Wolfowitz wants "some acknowledgment" of the Bank Board's complicity in the messy circumstances surrounding his and Shaha Riza's situation.
Secondly, allegedly on June 1st, Wolfowitz becomes eligible for some large financial bonus -- for performance and time on the job. One estimate puts this figure at about $400,000. Wolfowitz wants to make sure those funds are credited to his private bank account before saying farewell to an institution that has come to despise him.
Both sides have threatened each other with slow, painful, drip-drip approach to the release of damaging information that each side has about the other.
One blast in the battle are revelations that it costs the Bank a whopping $5 million per year to pay for Wolfowitz's security detail. Others have told me of Wolfowitz's failure to discipline aide Kevin Kellems for equally whopping violations of Bank protocol -- particularly while traveling on Bank business.
Wolfowitz is angry at the Bank at all those other than his closest spear-carriers. At one level, he does not want to resign and wants to tear the World Bank apart by forcing escalation in this war. But others -- particularly Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson -- have made it clear behind the scenes that a negotiated outcome that saves some face for Wolfowitz will give all sides an opportunity to push what one Paulson insider calls "the reset button."
After attacking Reid over war "is lost" comment, Broder "doubtful" Iraq victory is possible On the April 30 edition of XM Radio's The Bob Edwards Show, Washington Post columnist David Broder asserted that it was "really doubtful" President Bush would be able "to salvage something that would look like a victory in Iraq." Broder made this statement four days after he attacked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for what he called Reid's "ineptitude," because of, as he wrote in his April 26 Post column, Reid's assertion that the Iraq war "is lost." As Media Matters for America noted, in that column, Broder pointed to Reid's "war is lost" remark to compare him to embattled Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and accuse him of engaging in "inept discussion[s] of the alternatives in Iraq" and of not being "a man who misses many opportunities to put his foot in his mouth." Further, after discussing Democratic strategist Paul Begala's recent column on The Huffington Post, in which he wrote that "Broder, of course, is a gasbag," host Bob Edwards noted, "[W]e're in the world of the blogs and this stuff spreads so fast." Broder responded: "I am not a fan of the blogs, and the blogs are not fans of mine."
As Media Matters has noted, in his April 26 column, Broder asserted that both Reid and Gonzales were "continuing embarrassment[s] thanks to" their "amateurish performance[s]," and he pointed to Gonzales' handling of the controversial dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys and Reid's "war is lost" statement as evidence. In that column, Broder also claimed that "a long list of senators of both parties" is "ready" for Reid's "ineptitude to end" but provided no evidence of any Democrat who holds that position.
But, during his interview with Edwards, Broder himself stated that it "is really doubtful" Bush's "effort to try to salvage something that would look like a victory in Iraq" is "achievable." Broder added that Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, "probably has until August or September to produce something that would be tangible. If he can do it, that would be wonderful, but I think the odds are against him."
The thing that separates the Repub. and Dem. fundraising is the more compassionate platform the Democrats are taking over the Republicans. The sheer amount that has been raised by democratic presidential candidates attests for the need to reform our government. It's definitely time for our leaders to lead us in the world and face the problems that are before us by addressing the international issues that cause them, specifically global poverty.
According to the Borgen Project, just $19 billion annually can end starvation and $23 billion reverses the spread of AIDS and Malaria, yet our government has done little to support the UN Millennium Development Goals to end poverty. Instead, we have misused over $340 billion in Iraq trying to end terrorism. If just a fraction of those funds were focused on attacking the systems that foster extremism (global poverty, health and education), there wouldn't be this mass escalation of conflict today.
Anonymous said... SAM! Please get back on the radio soon! What's up with Nova M? I don't like listening to most of the rest of who is left at AAR. Please hurry, I need my Sammy fix!
Hello from Durham, NC folks. Listen, I'd just like to vent for a moment as a Christian about the remarks of Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich. I watched, via Cspan.org, the Pat Tillman/Jessica Lynch hearing chaired by Henry Waxman and was agast about so much of what was said there. In particular Pat Tillman's mom saying, and reported more indepth by ESPN, that Kauzlarich said the Tillman family's dissatisfaction with the findings of investigations might be because of the absence of a Christian faith in their lives. SAY WHAT?! I guess all those verses about Jesus' concern about truth, justice, right, honesty, facts, accountability, leadership, compassion and whatnot are just not apart of that devil's understanding of his savior. Elsewhere in the ESPN article he says something to the effect that the Tillman's are not going to heaven anyway so all they have left is trivial pursuits such as truth and justice. Shameful. I thought the 21st century was supposed to be the Age of Enlightenment!? Peace out...
What air ono does not understand is that there are really crazy people on drugs or just plain weird Americans who act just like him so his humor is sort of lost on the blog
“The most worrisome thing is the afternoon commute coming out of San Francisco toward the maze because the traffic from the Bay Bridge fans out from across three freeways,” said Jeff Weiss, a spokesman for the California Department of Transportation. “Taking away two-thirds of the capacity is really going to cause a bottleneck.”
Nearly 75,000 vehicles used the damaged portion of the road every day. But because the accident occurred where three highways converge, authorities said it could cause problems for hundreds of thousands of commuters. State transportation officials said 280,000 commuters take the Bay Bridge into San Francisco each day.
Governor OKs free ferry, bus transit To encourage motorists to switch to public transit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger authorized free passage Monday on ferries, buses and the BART rail system. Extra trains were added and bus and ferry operators also expanded service.
Parking lots at outlying rail stations filled up earlier than usual for the morning commute. Some trains appeared more crowded than usual, but BART officials said overall ridership did not appear greater than normal. Riders likely delayed their morning commute to avoid crowds, or stayed home, BART spokesman Jim Allison said.
Transportation officials said it could take months to repair the damaged interchanges. Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency to speed up cleanup and rebuilding efforts.
I don't like Ono. He is not a liberal. He is not an American. He is not a nice guy. He is not funny. But Ono is offensive. Ono is rude. Ono is divisive. Ono uses drugs. Ono uses buttsex. Ono uses profanity. This blog would be a better place without Ono. This would be a better world without Ono. With all the blogs in the world, why did Ono pick this one?
Rahm’s speech at Brookings: GOP placed party above Country By: John Amato @ 3:02 PM - PDT I received a bunch of emails asking if I could get a copy of Rahm Emanual's speech to the Brookings Institute from last week, so here goes…
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Greg Sargent supplies the transcript
…it's a broad indictment of the Bush administration that argues that all-pervasive partisanship, not incompetence, is the common thread linking all of the administration's manifold failings. Take a look….read on…
You have insulted many people on this blog and some of them have never posted here again. You are like the welcome wagon from hell. Having enablers here to prod you on only makes you worse.
the sun is shinin -- (c'mon get happy), the lord is waitin to take your hand. ♪ shout hallejulah -- (c'mon get happy), we're going to the promise land. ♪ ~judy garland (ex-speed junkie) ♥ bbl... (got much internet too catch up on) •
Iraqi Parliament Planning TWO MONTH Recess By: SilentPatriot @ 1:03 PM - PDT Yes, you read that correctly. The Iraqi parliament - who our brave young men and women are fighting to protect and preserve - is planning on taking a two month vacation during the months of July and August. This is wrong on so many levels. Exactly what are we fighting for again? This doesn't seem like a government committed to getting things done, despite our huge investment and sacrifice. Absolutely shameful. And we thought the 109th Congress was the "do-nothing" champion. It should come as no surprise that Secretary Rice's top priority is the having the Iraqis finish up the oil laws.
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Senator Levin weighs in:
The committee considering amendments to the Iraqi Constitution appears to be as far from completing its work as it has always been. Meanwhile, the Assembly is apparently planning to go on a two month recess at the end of June. Let me repeat that since it is so unbelievable - the Iraqi Council of Representatives is apparently planning to go on a two month recess at the end of June. And incredibly, Hasan Suneid, a lawmaker and adviser to Prime Minister Maliki, was quoted in the paper the other day as saying that “time is irrelevant.” Well time is plenty relevant to us, our troops and their families.
"Time is irrelevant," huh? Tell me again why we should let Bush continue his open-ended, no accountability policy…
Just catching the Dewey call to Thom Hartmann now on podcast down here. Mr. Irritable Bowel hasn't changed. He seems quite obsessed with listening to AAR shows, but the info contained therein has not penetrated his rigid mindset. Too bad Thom treats him seriously instead of "taking the piss" at him the way Sam did.
Hey Ono, how are you going? Your country is a good place to wait out the coming storm. Trouble is, I think it's going to be stormy for the rest of my natural life...
Bill Kristol Blames Clinton, Calls Tenet “Crybaby” By: SilentPatriot @ 10:01 AM - PDT In response to a question on "FOX News Sunday" yesterday about George Tenet's accusation that Bush administration neocons (Cheney, Perle, Feith) were pushing hard for war with Iraq despite Saddam having no links whatsoever to 9/11, Bill Kristol invoked Bill Clinton and said Tenet was not only a "mediocre" DCI, but also a "crybaby."
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Of course, comparing Clinton's Iraq policy to Bush's is the height of hilarity. While it's certainly true that Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 that supported regime change, he did not unilaterally invade the country based on false pretense in defiance of world opinion. Nor did he do so in a reckeless manner that exacerbated the terrorist threat worldwide. Nice try, William the Bloody. Just take responsiblity for your misguided war and demented worldview already. Yea right…like that will ever happen. He'll just continue to use his FNC and TIME platforms to lecture everyone on how stupid they are, despite his being wrong about, well, everything.
CCR - Bad Moon Rising (This tune is dedicated to ToniD, and her observation!) :) The moon is waxing full, it'll be exactly full in a bit over a day, I think.
G'night, toni. Thanks for all the links! I don't usually watch Tucker because I can't quiet the little voice in the back of my head that says "Twerp!!!" but that video at Raw Story with Ray McGovern was worth a gander. :)
CNN Punks Bill Kristol By: SilentPatriot @ 6:41 PM - PDT In George Tenet's new book, he writes that Richard Perle told him on 9/12, “Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday. They bear responsibility.” Leaping to his fellow neoconservative's defense, Bill Kristol wrote in The Weekly Standard that that couldn't have happened because Perle was out of the country during 9/11 and the days after. Fair enough. But Tenet's point was that Perle (and his neocon ilk) were baselssly tying Saddam to 9/11. On "The Situation Room" today, Wolfie dug up a Perle interview from September 16, 2001, where he explictly links Saddam Hussein to bin Laden, and by extension, the 9/11 attacks.
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PERLE: Even if we cannot prove to the standard that we enjoy in our own civil society they are involved, we do know, for example, that Saddam Hussein has ties to Osama bin Laden.
Leaving aside the FACT that that link has been thoroughly debunked, Faiz notes that Tenet corrected his misstatement on the "Today" show, saying that he may have had the day wrong, but his account is still accurate — something this video seems to prove. He also highlights a September 20, 2001, PNAC letter sent to President Bush urging the ouster of Saddam Hussein, signed by Perle and who other than the Grand Neocon Wizard himself, Bill Kristol.
Obama's momentum is reminiscent of Reagan's late '70s- 1980 "mojo." He has surprised me. 6 months ago I claimed that he probably wouldn't win the nomination. Now I think it's maybe 50%.
...But as for the general election, I continue to think that Hillary has an ice cube's chance in "hell" (nonexistent) and he has a glacier's chance in hell-- slightly better chance... but nothin' doin' in Redneckistan.
"In August 2006, 41 percent of all 18- to 24-year-old American adults correctly identified that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie named their baby Shiloh." _________________________
Holy crap! I missed the changing of the thread again. New one here (over 2 hours ago). SEDER, shame on you for not announcing on the previous thread! Please show a little appreciation and respect for what LTR calls your "rabid following." (I have had my shots, after all!)
Mea culpa for being a drowsy dame. G'night, again, favorite peeps. Two Sleepy People
277 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 277 of 277another Ahole [with a book to sell] that was running our country
April 30, 2007 5:01 PM
I just wanted to tell everyone on this blog what a terrific guy Thorene "Muggles" Muta is.
He is as loyal and trustworthy as he is staunch and resolute.
The fact that he is one of the world's most rugged, good looking men, is only a sidebar on his resume.
You can depend on Thorene
"Muggles" Muta. A man for the ages.
muggles muggridge
... muggines mugging muggins muggish muggles muggleto muggy mugho mughouse mugience ... mustily mustines mustn't mustnt musty muta mutabili mutable mutablen ...
muggletonian muggy mugho mughus mugience ... mustiness mustn musts musty musulmane musulmanes muta mutabile mutabilia ...
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Ex-CIA analyst: Forged 'yellowcake' memo 'leads right back to' Cheney David Edwards
Published: Monday April 30, 2007
A former CIA analyst claims that falsified documents which were meant to show that Iraq's Saddam Hussein regime had been trying to procure yellowcake uranium from Niger can be traced back to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Appearing on MSNBC's Tucker Carlson show, Ray McGovern who served in the CIA for twenty-seven years, said, "the [forged] memo leads right back to the doorstep of the Vice President of the United States."
According to McGovern, former CIA Director George Tenet told his "coterie of malleable managers" at the CIA to create a National Intelligence Estimate "to the terms of reference of Dick Cheney's speech of August 26, 2002, where Dick Cheney said for the first time Saddam Hussein could have a nuclear weapon in a year, he's got all kinds of chemical, he's got all kinds of biological weapons."
McGovern, who at one time chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President's Daily Brief, also claimed to have evidence that the memo leads back to Cheney but he would say what it was, except that the names of the people involved were "in the public domain."
In an op-ed posted at Buzzflash, McGovern argues, "If any good can come out of the intelligence/policy debacle regarding Iraq, it would be the clear lesson that intelligence crafted to dovetail with the predilections of policymakers can bring disaster. The role that Tenet, McLaughlin, and their small coterie of malleable managers played as willing accomplices in the corruption of intelligence has made a mockery of the verse chiseled into the marble at the entrance to CIA headquarters: 'You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'"
McGovern also calls Tenet a "pathetic figure" who is trying to "justify himself for unjustifiable activity." Tenet, in his new book, claims that the Bush administration distorted his use of the term "slam dunk" in reference to intelligence that ultimately led to the Iraq war (RAW STORY's coverage is here).
The following video is from MSNBC's Tucker.
LINK
If you haven't watched that Tucker Carlson interview of Ray McGovern, do it!!
It's very damning to Cheney, and Tucker even said with proof it would be an impeachable offense
I miss Sam! I was listening to some of his old podcasts this morning and it just served as a reminder of how funny, entertaining, and informative he is. It's also a reminder of how Air America is going to fade into the sunset if they keep getting rid of their best people. It truly seems like this (destroying Air America) is being done by design. It's easy to do. All you need is for someone with a lot of money to buy a radio station. Then you get rid of the favorite radio personalities and replace them with lackluster ones. You lose the audience, you lose the sponsors, and then the radio station goes bankrupt for real and disappears.
I also think Sam should move to Nova radio. Hopefully, whoever is running that won't sell out.
Here's more McGovern at Buzzflash:
Ray McGovern: Sorry They've Been So Mean To You, George
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Mon, 04/30/2007 - 10:00am. Guest Contribution
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Ray McGovern
"If you can't say something positive about someone, don't say anything." My Irish grandmother drummed this into me and, as was the case with most of her admonishments, it has stood me in good stead. On occasion, though, it has been a real bother - as when I felt called to comment on George Tenet's apologia, In the Center of the Storm, coming soon to a bookstore near you.
On the verge of despair, I ran into an old classmate of Tenet's from PS 94 in Little Neck, Queens. Help at last. He told me that George was more handsome than his twin brother Billy, and that his outgoing nature and consummate political skill got him elected president of the student body.
Positive enough, Grandma? Now let me add this.
George Tenet's book shows that he remains, first and foremost, a politician - with no clue as to the proper role of intelligence work. He is unhappy about going down in history as "Slam Dunk Tenet." George protests that his famous remark to President Bush on Dec. 21, 2002 was not meant to assure the president that available intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was a "slam dunk." Rather he meant that the argument that Saddam Hussein had such weapons could be readily enhanced to slam-dunk status in order to sell war on Iraq. Last night on CBS' "60 Minutes," Tenet explained what he meant when he uttered those words - the words he says have now been distorted to blame him for the war in Iraq. What he says he meant was simply:
"We can put a better case together for a public case." (sic)
Tenet still doesn't get it. Those of us schooled in the craft and ethos of intelligence remain in wide-mouthed disbelief, perhaps best summed up by veteran operations officer Bob Baer's recent quip:
"So, it is better that the 'slam dunk' referred to the ease with which the war could be sold? I guess I missed that part of the National Security Act delineating the functions of the CIA - the part about CIA marketing a war. Guess that's why I never made it into senior management."
Reluctant Scapegoat
George's concern over being scapegoated is understandable. But could he not have seen it coming? Not even when then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asked him in the fall of 2002 whether he had created a system for tracking how good the intelligence was compared with what would be actually found in Iraq? The folks I know from Queens usually can tell when they're being set up. Maybe Tenet was naive enough to believe that his friend the president ("President Bush and I are much alike," he writes) would protect him from the likes of Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney even when - as was inevitable - someone would have to take the fall. Or did George actually believe Cheney's insight that U.S. forces would be greeted in Iraq as liberators, and at that point, the absence of the weapons of mass destruction would not matter?
LINK
Loud explosions rock Baghdad - witnesses
30 Apr 2007 18:20:59 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Updates with detail)
BAGHDAD, April 30 (Reuters) - Up to a dozen loud explosions rocked central Baghdad after nightfall on Monday and smoke was seen rising from the Green Zone government compound, Reuters witnesses said.
The sound of sirens coming from the Green Zone could be heard across Baghdad after the blasts, which sounded like mortar bombs or rockets.
The vast Green Zone complex houses the U.S. and British embassies as well as Iraqi government buildings.
A U.S. military spokesman said he had no immediate information on the blasts. U.S. embassy officials could not be reached for comment.
Insurgents often fire mortars or rockets at the Green Zone, but they rarely cause casualties.
U.S. and Iraqi troops launched in February a major crackdown in the capital to rein in spiralling violence.
LINK
Murtha revises: Impeachment is 'on the table' Michael Roston
Published: Monday April 30, 2007
Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) revised the much publicized statements he made yesterday and told National Public Radio that impeaching President George W. Bush was 'on the table' late on Monday afternoon.
"I'm just saying that's one of the options that Congress has on the table, I'm getting more and more calls from people about the President on impeachment," the long-time Congressman, who is a veteran of the US Marines, told NPR's Melissa Block on the program 'All Things Considered' Monday afternoon.
Murtha's remark was at variance with Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who has insisted since last year prior to the Congressional election that returned a Democratic majority in the House that impeachment was 'off the table.'
The Congressman's explanation came after he repeated his statement made on CBS News' Face the Nation yesterday that impeachment was one of four options that can be used to hold a President accountable, in addition to elections, polls, and the Congress's control of the executive branch's budgets. In yesterday's appearance, he refused to say whether impeachment was being contemplated, stating only that it was an option.
Murtha later noted that he didn't think impeachment was appropriate at this time. But he also added, "It's just one of the things we always consider, it's a part of the process."
The Congressman, who chairs the powerful Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the House of Representatives noted that holding the president accountable via the budgetary process was the best option for the Democrats to take at this stage.
"Realistically, the power of the purse is most the powerful tool that public has, and we have to exercise that," he explained.
At the beginning of the interview, Murtha made note of the approach he thought would be best for responding to the President's request for more funds for the Iraq War after President Bush vetoes the Defense Supplemental bill that Congress will send to him tomorrow.
Calling for two months of funding, he explained to NPR the Congress should fund "operations, maintenance and personnel costs, particularly for the two month period, and the other things we'd fund for the whole year, health care, the vehicles they need to fight IEDs, and Walter Read."
While noting that he wasn't certain that the Democratic leadership in the House would support this approach, he told Block it was time for the President to make the next step forward.
LINK
SAM! Please get back on the radio soon! What's up with Nova M? I don't like listening to most of the rest of who is left at AAR.
Please hurry, I need my Sammy fix!
Wolfowitz Resignation Deal in the Works
Behind the scenes of the gladiatorial battle that will take place between Paul Wolfowitz and the World Bank Board today are efforts by his lawyer, Robert Bennett, and the Bank staff to negotiate terms of Wolfowitz's departure.
According to some insiders, Wolfowitz wants "some acknowledgment" of the Bank Board's complicity in the messy circumstances surrounding his and Shaha Riza's situation.
Secondly, allegedly on June 1st, Wolfowitz becomes eligible for some large financial bonus -- for performance and time on the job. One estimate puts this figure at about $400,000. Wolfowitz wants to make sure those funds are credited to his private bank account before saying farewell to an institution that has come to despise him.
Both sides have threatened each other with slow, painful, drip-drip approach to the release of damaging information that each side has about the other.
One blast in the battle are revelations that it costs the Bank a whopping $5 million per year to pay for Wolfowitz's security detail. Others have told me of Wolfowitz's failure to discipline aide Kevin Kellems for equally whopping violations of Bank protocol -- particularly while traveling on Bank business.
Wolfowitz is angry at the Bank at all those other than his closest spear-carriers. At one level, he does not want to resign and wants to tear the World Bank apart by forcing escalation in this war. But others -- particularly Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson -- have made it clear behind the scenes that a negotiated outcome that saves some face for Wolfowitz will give all sides an opportunity to push what one Paulson insider calls "the reset button."
-- Steve Clemons
LINK
After attacking Reid over war "is lost" comment, Broder "doubtful" Iraq victory is possible
On the April 30 edition of XM Radio's The Bob Edwards Show, Washington Post columnist David Broder asserted that it was "really doubtful" President Bush would be able "to salvage something that would look like a victory in Iraq." Broder made this statement four days after he attacked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for what he called Reid's "ineptitude," because of, as he wrote in his April 26 Post column, Reid's assertion that the Iraq war "is lost." As Media Matters for America noted, in that column, Broder pointed to Reid's "war is lost" remark to compare him to embattled Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and accuse him of engaging in "inept discussion[s] of the alternatives in Iraq" and of not being "a man who misses many opportunities to put his foot in his mouth." Further, after discussing Democratic strategist Paul Begala's recent column on The Huffington Post, in which he wrote that "Broder, of course, is a gasbag," host Bob Edwards noted, "[W]e're in the world of the blogs and this stuff spreads so fast." Broder responded: "I am not a fan of the blogs, and the blogs are not fans of mine."
As Media Matters has noted, in his April 26 column, Broder asserted that both Reid and Gonzales were "continuing embarrassment[s] thanks to" their "amateurish performance[s]," and he pointed to Gonzales' handling of the controversial dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys and Reid's "war is lost" statement as evidence. In that column, Broder also claimed that "a long list of senators of both parties" is "ready" for Reid's "ineptitude to end" but provided no evidence of any Democrat who holds that position.
But, during his interview with Edwards, Broder himself stated that it "is really doubtful" Bush's "effort to try to salvage something that would look like a victory in Iraq" is "achievable." Broder added that Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, "probably has until August or September to produce something that would be tangible. If he can do it, that would be wonderful, but I think the odds are against him."
LINK
The thing that separates the Repub. and Dem. fundraising is the more compassionate platform the Democrats are taking over the Republicans. The sheer amount that has been raised by democratic presidential candidates attests for the need to reform our government. It's definitely time for our leaders to lead us in the world and face the problems that are before us by addressing the international issues that cause them, specifically global poverty.
According to the Borgen Project, just $19 billion annually can end starvation and $23 billion reverses the spread of AIDS and Malaria, yet our government has done little to support the UN Millennium Development Goals to end poverty. Instead, we have misused over $340 billion in Iraq trying to end terrorism. If just a fraction of those funds were focused on attacking the systems that foster extremism (global poverty, health and education), there wouldn't be this mass escalation of conflict today.
Anonymous said...
SAM! Please get back on the radio soon! What's up with Nova M? I don't like listening to most of the rest of who is left at AAR.
Please hurry, I need my Sammy fix!
April 30, 2007 6:08 PM
sorry, asshole
sam committed suicide...
he ain't never coming back
(so follow suit, too)
your life is over
//a friend of thorene "muggles" muta said... [blerk!] @ April 30, 2007 5:10 PM//
and lo & behold it was neither quirky nor whimsical
(wanker)
oh, wow
i got super cable speed (yes)
last week i forked out an extra $10 for 512 kbs
as they've allocated less bandwidth for 256, because everyone is upgrading
however, no difference (slow-slow)...
so i ring them up...
oops! they forgot to provide me with a new ip address
so they did & man alive!
IT'S FAST!!
so fast i'll have time to do my hair today
: )
It's about time ono...
Maybe you won't complain as much!!
What a nagger you've become :)
//What a nagger you've become//
a thing of the past, miss toni
: )
my puter is now set @ "no gripe" speed
Okay, a new start with warp speed!
:-}
LOL @ toni
: )
ono: my puter is now set @ "no gripe" speed
April 30, 2007 7:28 PM
---------
I predict an avalanche of porn debt.
Hello from Durham, NC folks. Listen, I'd just like to vent for a moment as a Christian about the remarks of Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich. I watched, via Cspan.org, the Pat Tillman/Jessica Lynch hearing chaired by Henry Waxman and was agast about so much of what was said there. In particular Pat Tillman's mom saying, and reported more indepth by ESPN, that Kauzlarich said the Tillman family's dissatisfaction with the findings of investigations might be because of the absence of a Christian faith in their lives. SAY WHAT?! I guess all those verses about Jesus' concern about truth, justice, right, honesty, facts, accountability, leadership, compassion and whatnot are just not apart of that devil's understanding of his savior. Elsewhere in the ESPN article he says something to the effect that the Tillman's are not going to heaven anyway so all they have left is trivial pursuits such as truth and justice. Shameful. I thought the 21st century was supposed to be the Age of Enlightenment!? Peace out...
Article here...
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=tillmanpart1
Oh yeah, protest music here...
http://www.myspace.com/havencredible
check out this snide coward
//Anonymous said...
Check out this NYTimes article on Barak Obama, especially the photo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/us/politics/30obama.html
If this was a Republican candidate in a photo and article like this, Sam would be howling about on the rooftops.
Just goes to show Sam's blatant double standards.
April 30, 2007 2:23 PM//
oh, really
well i got "faith", based on sound reasoning, that mr. obama is sincere
and that, you snide coward, makes all the difference...
sam is a man of faith
of course, if barrack is caught with a chicken...
all bets are off
oh, wow
i made erased a post to correct a tiny error...
IN SECONDS FLAT!!
//porn debt//
what is this "porn debt" of which you speak of, master
//i made erased//
(ugh)
the "made" is an imposter -- it doesn't belong there
I ♥ EVERYONE
my "sam is dead" post @ 7:11 PM was made before i received the phone call saying the problem is now fixed
: )
ok, gtg
(bbl)
Shameless blo plug again.
Gonzales gives Extrodinary Powers to Aides
Ono is not really an obnoxious prick
He just plays one on the blog
-conbo
also definitely not on meth
hey, connie ♥
hey, lurker...
you must of been a happy camper between April 30, 2007 7:56 PM until now
now it's "bring out your dead"
(the plague has returned)
lurker, ono is an Aussie and you have to understand the Aussie sense of humor.
They are really fun people!
air-ono's playing to mixed reviews.
Still, for a tough room, not bad.
please, gurls
no need to justify me to an anonymous lurker
if i hurt you guys, then it's a diferent
then i hurt
hahaha
Catchew
What air ono does not understand is that there are really crazy people on drugs or just plain weird Americans who act just like him so his humor is sort of lost on the blog
-conbo
oops i meant hahaha at catchew's pic
-conbo
DailyKos is undergoing some maintenance right now.
It'll be back up just as soon as possible.
Thanks for your patience.
Just some momentary downtime. I'm tweaking some mysql settings that I can't do while the server's running. -ct
this can't be happening to me!
what am I going to do?
-conbo
of course, the "lurker" feels uncomfortable when i'm here
for he receives many smacks in the head when i'm here
that would make anyone uncomfortable
remember, he's fleah & blood
and if he can bleed
he can die
(a line i borrowed from arnie in "the predator")
mmmk
that was pleasant ono
back to the basement!
-conbo
This lurker is not a he and I can't stand you. You give me the creeps worse than Chubby.
miss Anne?
hugs Miss Anne!
-conbo
//this can't be happening to me!//
been there...
and it's a horrible feeling
so remain calm...
it'll pass
: )
[a leaf taken from a book by a serene person (not me)]
//worse than Chubby//
woo-hoo
thanks, dude
Just some momentary downtime
By momentary does does that mean like a moment, because a moment has passed
-conbo
stop tearing pages out of books ono
that is criminal
“The most worrisome thing is the afternoon commute coming out of San Francisco toward the maze because the traffic from the Bay Bridge fans out from across three freeways,” said Jeff Weiss, a spokesman for the California Department of Transportation. “Taking away two-thirds of the capacity is really going to cause a bottleneck.”
Nearly 75,000 vehicles used the damaged portion of the road every day. But because the accident occurred where three highways converge, authorities said it could cause problems for hundreds of thousands of commuters. State transportation officials said 280,000 commuters take the Bay Bridge into San Francisco each day.
Governor OKs free ferry, bus transit
To encourage motorists to switch to public transit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger authorized free passage Monday on ferries, buses and the BART rail system. Extra trains were added and bus and ferry operators also expanded service.
Parking lots at outlying rail stations filled up earlier than usual for the morning commute. Some trains appeared more crowded than usual, but BART officials said overall ridership did not appear greater than normal. Riders likely delayed their morning commute to avoid crowds, or stayed home, BART spokesman Jim Allison said.
Transportation officials said it could take months to repair the damaged interchanges. Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency to speed up cleanup and rebuilding efforts.
oh man, i've died and gone to heaven
it's so fast...
i'm crying tears of joy
I don't like Ono. He is not a liberal. He is not an American. He is not a nice guy. He is not funny. But Ono is offensive. Ono is rude. Ono is divisive. Ono uses drugs. Ono uses buttsex. Ono uses profanity. This blog would be a better place without Ono. This would be a better world without Ono. With all the blogs in the world, why did Ono pick this one?
Rahm’s speech at Brookings: GOP placed party above Country
By: John Amato @ 3:02 PM - PDT I received a bunch of emails asking if I could get a copy of Rahm Emanual's speech to the Brookings Institute from last week, so here goes…
Download (1361) | Play (1308) QT later
Greg Sargent supplies the transcript
…it's a broad indictment of the Bush administration that argues that all-pervasive partisanship, not incompetence, is the common thread linking all of the administration's manifold failings. Take a look….read on…
LINK
Not crazy about Rahm, but this was a good speach and he really pulls down the Bush admin and Corp. America!!
You have insulted many people on this blog and some of them have never posted here again. You are like the welcome wagon from hell. Having enablers here to prod you on only makes you worse.
wow
i don't know what to say
-conbo
daily kos is back !
bbl
im not 'enabling' anyone
im stating my opinion
as you are yours
ok really gone
-conbo
the sun is shinin -- (c'mon get happy),
the lord is waitin to take your hand.
♪
shout hallejulah -- (c'mon get happy),
we're going to the promise land.
♪
~judy garland (ex-speed junkie)
♥
bbl...
(got much internet too catch up on)
•
This blog would be a better place without the trolls.
Sorry you don't like ono, but, many of us here do like him.
Yes he talks crazy sometimes, but, that's for shock value.
You can always scroll past his posts if he bothers you.
I do that with the trolls.
//ono is a shitheal//
LMAO..
thanks, dude
: )
Iraqi Parliament Planning TWO MONTH Recess
By: SilentPatriot @ 1:03 PM - PDT Yes, you read that correctly. The Iraqi parliament - who our brave young men and women are fighting to protect and preserve - is planning on taking a two month vacation during the months of July and August. This is wrong on so many levels. Exactly what are we fighting for again? This doesn't seem like a government committed to getting things done, despite our huge investment and sacrifice. Absolutely shameful. And we thought the 109th Congress was the "do-nothing" champion. It should come as no surprise that Secretary Rice's top priority is the having the Iraqis finish up the oil laws.
Download (1163) | Play (876) Download (509) | Play (587)
Senator Levin weighs in:
The committee considering amendments to the Iraqi Constitution appears to be as far from completing its work as it has always been. Meanwhile, the Assembly is apparently planning to go on a two month recess at the end of June. Let me repeat that since it is so unbelievable - the Iraqi Council of Representatives is apparently planning to go on a two month recess at the end of June. And incredibly, Hasan Suneid, a lawmaker and adviser to Prime Minister Maliki, was quoted in the paper the other day as saying that “time is irrelevant.” Well time is plenty relevant to us, our troops and their families.
"Time is irrelevant," huh? Tell me again why we should let Bush continue his open-ended, no accountability policy…
(transcript below the fold)
(Read the rest of this story…)
LINK
Funny or not funny ... that is the question all over the world
Some Aussies are funny but v. few can pull off the Aussie humor like Hogan
Some Aussies only think they are funny and insist on boring the rest of us like all the other not funny people
Some Aussies are just creeps plain and simple
" With all the blogs in the world, why did Ono pick this one?"
Good question.
Just catching the Dewey call to Thom Hartmann now on podcast down here. Mr. Irritable Bowel hasn't changed. He seems quite obsessed with listening to AAR shows, but the info contained therein has not penetrated his rigid mindset. Too bad Thom treats him seriously instead of "taking the piss" at him the way Sam did.
Hey Ono, how are you going? Your country is a good place to wait out the coming storm. Trouble is, I think it's going to be stormy for the rest of my natural life...
I'm glad to find other fellow lurkers
We must come out of the shadows
Death to Air Ono
Let Us Unite
Behind the Banner of Anti-Air Ono
It is time my lurkers
It.is.time
How Long Will Air Ono be permitted to oppress the six bloggers who post here?
How can we in good conscious allow this?
Sounds good to me!
Where can I send cash?
air-ono, was that you trying to provoke shmoopy responses from the wimmens? Not working.
An oldie, but a goody.
("Oldie but a goody" reminds me...
Surf City, Jan and Dean, .ra stream)
ITA
only the desperados would respond
Almost a full moon here. Explains alot!
not a full moon here today
where are you?
Illinois, Chicago area
Bill Kristol Blames Clinton, Calls Tenet “Crybaby”
By: SilentPatriot @ 10:01 AM - PDT In response to a question on "FOX News Sunday" yesterday about George Tenet's accusation that Bush administration neocons (Cheney, Perle, Feith) were pushing hard for war with Iraq despite Saddam having no links whatsoever to 9/11, Bill Kristol invoked Bill Clinton and said Tenet was not only a "mediocre" DCI, but also a "crybaby."
Download (2278) | Play (2266) Download (937) | Play (1372)
Of course, comparing Clinton's Iraq policy to Bush's is the height of hilarity. While it's certainly true that Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 that supported regime change, he did not unilaterally invade the country based on false pretense in defiance of world opinion. Nor did he do so in a reckeless manner that exacerbated the terrorist threat worldwide. Nice try, William the Bloody. Just take responsiblity for your misguided war and demented worldview already. Yea right…like that will ever happen. He'll just continue to use his FNC and TIME platforms to lecture everyone on how stupid they are, despite his being wrong about, well, everything.
LINK
CCR - Bad Moon Rising
(This tune is dedicated to ToniD, and her observation!)
:)
The moon is waxing full, it'll be exactly full in a bit over a day, I think.
G'night, toni.
Thanks for all the links!
I don't usually watch Tucker
because I can't quiet the little voice in the back of my head that says "Twerp!!!"
but that video at Raw Story with Ray McGovern was worth a gander. :)
Good night Cat Chew!
CNN Punks Bill Kristol
By: SilentPatriot @ 6:41 PM - PDT In George Tenet's new book, he writes that Richard Perle told him on 9/12, “Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday. They bear responsibility.” Leaping to his fellow neoconservative's defense, Bill Kristol wrote in The Weekly Standard that that couldn't have happened because Perle was out of the country during 9/11 and the days after. Fair enough. But Tenet's point was that Perle (and his neocon ilk) were baselssly tying Saddam to 9/11. On "The Situation Room" today, Wolfie dug up a Perle interview from September 16, 2001, where he explictly links Saddam Hussein to bin Laden, and by extension, the 9/11 attacks.
Download (658) | Play (618) Download (252) | Play (442)
PERLE: Even if we cannot prove to the standard that we enjoy in our own civil society they are involved, we do know, for example, that Saddam Hussein has ties to Osama bin Laden.
Leaving aside the FACT that that link has been thoroughly debunked, Faiz notes that Tenet corrected his misstatement on the "Today" show, saying that he may have had the day wrong, but his account is still accurate — something this video seems to prove. He also highlights a September 20, 2001, PNAC letter sent to President Bush urging the ouster of Saddam Hussein, signed by Perle and who other than the Grand Neocon Wizard himself, Bill Kristol.
LINK
Obama's momentum is reminiscent of Reagan's late '70s- 1980 "mojo." He has surprised me. 6 months ago I claimed that he probably wouldn't win the nomination. Now I think it's maybe 50%.
...But as for the general election, I continue to think that Hillary has an ice cube's chance in "hell" (nonexistent) and he has a glacier's chance in hell-- slightly better chance... but nothin' doin' in Redneckistan.
"In August 2006, 41 percent of all 18- to 24-year-old American adults correctly identified that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie named their baby Shiloh."
_________________________
"Who is Alberto Gonzales, yo?"
Holy crap! I missed the changing of the thread again.
New one here (over 2 hours ago).
SEDER, shame on you for not announcing on the previous thread!
Please show a little appreciation and respect for what LTR calls your "rabid following." (I have had my shots, after all!)
Mea culpa for being a drowsy dame.
G'night, again, favorite peeps.
Two Sleepy People
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