This Failed Presidency

Sometimes I'm completely dumbstruck at what this President has so nonchalantly wrought, how he has destroyed American credibility, broken our military and destroyed Iraq while time and time again letting those who attacked us off Scott Free and criminally neglecting the needs of nation at home.

The full depth of Bush's bullshit is truly staggering if you even try to recount it all, or even the half of it that we know about.

It's a bit like the old adage about the frog and the boiling water. Put him directly in a hot pot and he'll simply leap out, but place him in while the water is still cold then slowly raise the temperate and he'll sit there quietly until his skin peels off and he cooks alive.

That's what has happened to America.

This week we learned that Bush's former White House Counsel, Alberto Gonzales and his Chief of Staff Andrew Card with the direct support and intervention of President Bush ambushed Attorney General John Ashcroft on his sickbed, in order to override his deputy James Comey into implementing an illegal domestic spying program that would shatter the privacy of millions of Americans and that when they refused - Bush and the White House went ahead and did it without them anyway!

What's even more staggering is that ABC and CBS haven't even bothered to report this story.

Imagine if we'd learned of such a thing in the year 2000? Think back to how the press howled at the allegations that the Clinton's had prematurely removed members of the White House Travel Office merely because - they were about to be indicted, and strove to replace them with "someone they could trust."

Y'know, like people who weren't potential felons.

All the White House Press Office does is arrange for the travel by the White House Press Corp to accompany the President and his staff - period. They - unlike the fracking Justice Department - don't have any real power to influence or implement policy.

We also had the "scandal" of some people in the Clinton White House having access to the FBI records of members of the previous administration due to an outdated access list provided by the Secret Service.

"They must have wanted those records for political dirty tricks."

Yeah, sure - the Secret Service does that all the time.

Flip that scenario on it's head in terms of relative political targets and multiply by about 1.2 Million and you have the Bush's Domestic Spying program in a nutshell, albiet a rather l.a.r.g.e nutshell.

Now we have Senate Confirmed U.S. Attorney's being fired for no reason, some reason, mutiple-reasons - all smoke screens to hide the real reason - none of which new Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was aware of or can seem to remember. At one point Gonzales wished that his deputy Paul McNaulty knew more and was more involved, and then he later claimed that McNulty knew everything all along.

Uh huh. And somehow Gonzales still retains the "full confidence" of this President.

This President, who claims to "Support the Troops", yet never fails to use them as props and shields while letting our wounded languish in rat infested squalor, has opposed legislation to have our flags lowered to half-mast in honor of fallen soldiers in the same way that we honored those slaughtered at Virginia Tech. He has oppossed and threatened to Veto raising their pay and death benefits while the price tag for his failed war sky-rockets above $500 Billion.

Despite all the blood and treasure we've spent, not to mention the millions of Iraqis impacted by our sad misguided attempt at "regime change" - Iraq is still on the verge of become a failed state.

The Iraqi's didn't want the Surge, but we surged anyway.

So far, that Surge - like so many Bush initiatives - has failed. And doesn't look like thing will get any better "when September comes", so we can certainly expect Bush's response to be to call for a Super-Surge even though recruitment has become so dismal the Army has been coaching new recruits on how to beat the drug tests.

Addicts with heavy firepower. Great.

That's likely to just hand us more and more Haditha's.

The U.S. Army private accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old Iraq girl "was a high school dropout with three misdemeanors and was accepted into the Army just as the military, desperate for recruits, began issuing more ‘moral waivers.’"

It's gotten so bad even Republicans are starting to say "if the Iraqi government wants to leave - we should"

Here's a newsflash, 83 members of the Iraqi Parliament (about 1/3rd) asked for a timetable for our troops to withdraw - almost two years ago. And just this month, that 1/3 has grown to a Majority of the members of Iraqi Parliament who've now signed a petition ASKING US TO LEAVE.

You think we're gonna leave? Not with this President.

This President, who went golfing and campaiging while an American City Drowned in a toxic stew of piss, raw sewage, gasoline and decaying bodies.

This President and White House, who when Governor Sebelius correctly pointed out that the equipment Kansas needed after a devastating tornado attack has been sent to Iraq, much like the lack of response to Katrina, Blatantly LIED and claims she never asked for any equipment.

What? Did she forget to say "Simon Says?"

This President, who despite all his tough He-man talk about "fighting them over there" (so our soldiers can die much more conveniently) Completely. Totally. Dropped. The. Ball. On. 9-11 when it Counted.

MR. RUSSERT (Speaking to George Tenet): Then in June, a briefer of the CIA named Rich B gave a conclusion saying, based on all the reporting we've seen, that "bin Laden is going to launch a significant terrorist attack against U.S." Israeli "interest in the coming weeks." July 10 you got another briefing so alarming that you picked up the phone, said to Condoleezza Rice, "I want to come see you now," jumped in the car with some of your key advisers, went to see her. Rich B, he gave her a briefing package. Opening line, "There will be a significant terrorist attack in the coming weeks or months!" And then you--and later July, Rich B sitting at the CIA, said, "They're coming here."

This President failed to recognize that Iraq was already disarmed despite being told exactly that by Foreign Minister Sabri, the UN mandated Full Declaration by Saddam and the Weapons Inspectors on the ground.

This President, who shoved a revokation of The Great Writ through a compliant supine Republican Congress simply to cover his own ass and hide his own not entirely secret campaign of terror and torture - to the delight of his ghoulish supporters and the horror of his commanding generals.

This President, who through his VP aided and abetted Treason by allowing the identity of a Covert CIA Operative to be revealed simply to support a lie and a forgery that would have undermined his justifications for an unneccesary war.

This President, who has established a shiny new set of American Concentration Camps for muslim immigrants and their children.

This President, has a VP who busted a cap in some old dudes face and is still hanging around.

This President's "No Child Left Behind" Initiative - has failed.

This President's "Abstinence Only" Initiative - has failed.

This President's "Faith-Based Initiatives" - have failed.

At every level, and in almost every way imaginable the policies and practices of this president have failed the American People.

We - the proverbial frog - have already been well and truly deep fry fucked. It's long past time we hopped out of the pot and began far more than just talk about, and drafting of resolutions for the Impeachments of Rice, Gonzales, Cheney and yes, even Bush himself. It's time to start implementing the tools of oversight of this goverment. Frankly, just impeaching Bush or one of the others is NO LONGER ENOUGH. All of them have to go because at this point I'm afraid that the damage already done just might be nearly permanent.

Iraq and it's people will never be the same again.

How do we get back the trust of the world's nations when we say we need to defend ourselves from this threat, or that threat after we FUBAR'd Iraq this badly?

The Gulf Coast, particularly New Orleans, and the survivors of Katrina will never be the same.

How do we as American people begin to trust our own government when it alternately spies on us, then neglects us when our local resources are overtaxed by flood, fire, hurricanes and tornados? Not after New Orleans and Kansas we can't. How do we trust that they'll ever be able to handle another attempted 9-11 attack?

How do we prevent future Presidents from amasing the same near unlimited power onto themselves via the fiat of quasi-constitutional signing statements, and then completely mismanaging that power as badly as Bush has?

This Presidency has Failed.

We can not afford to let this legacy stand. We can not afford to let this President or his criminal cronies escape their crimes quietly in 2009, they must be held accountable - or else we will see another future President commit them again. If possible, it might even be worse next time.

We have to get out of the pot. It may not be right now, but it has to be soon. The timer is almost about to go off.

And still, even if we do get out, American will never be the same.

Vyan

False Patriotism: Republicans and their contempt for the Troops

pIt's almost enough to make your head explode. Time and time again we see Bush and his cohorts hide behind the flag, and those dumb little "Support the Troops" magnets - for everything they do even everything they don't do to protect this nation.

I for one, am well sick of it.

Last week we had the absolute coup de gras revealed by the Dana Priest at the Washington Post that Walter Reed, the Hospital responsible for taking care of our many thousands of wounded returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, is a rat and roach infested shithole.

But the signs were well displayed on the wall long before this recent report. Long before...

Here's a quote we should all be committing to memory.

Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.

On the worst days, soldiers say they feel like they are living a chapter of "Catch-22." The wounded manage other wounded. Soldiers dealing with psychological disorders of their own have been put in charge of others at risk of suicide.

But this isn't the picture that the Bush Administation - who frequently used Walter Reed as a shining example of their "commitment to the troops" - would like to paint.

This world is invisible to outsiders. Walter Reed occasionally showcases the heroism of these wounded soldiers and emphasizes that all is well under the circumstances. President Bush, former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and members of Congress have promised the best care during their regular visits to the hospital's spit-polished amputee unit, Ward 57.

"We owe them all we can give them," Bush said during his last visit, a few days before Christmas. "Not only for when they're in harm's way, but when they come home to help them adjust if they have wounds, or help them adjust after their time in service."

They'd like to keep this ugly little secret hidden - unfortunately the WaPo blew their cover and they've been scrambling like ants under a magnifying glass ever since with Tony Snow first declaring that Bush knew all about it and then that he didn't. Flip-flop much Tony?

But Walter Reed is just the tip of the iceberg.

The issue of equiping our troops with proper armor, aging equipment, helmets and Frag 5 kits has been going on for as long as the war.

Many of those who are in walter Reed with amputations and brain injuries wouldn't even be there if proper precautions had been taken in the first place. (Nor or course, would they be there if we hadn't started a bogus war in the first place - although that fact is beside the point of this post)

The true disgrace here is that even with all of these clear shortfalls in spending and legitimate support for the troops the U.S. has simultaneously wasted over $10 Billion in Iraq in addition to the $8.8 Billion that the Coalition Provisional Authority just plain lost.

The three top auditors overseeing contract work in Iraq told a House committee of $10 billion in spending that was wasteful or poorly tracked. They pointed to numerous instances in which Defense and State department officials condoned or otherwise allowed poor accounting, repeated work delays, bloated expenses and payments for work shoddily or never done by U.S. contractors.

Yet when someone like John Murtha (who visits Walter Reed every week) steps forward to try and truly give the troops the support they deserve and need - including ensuring they receive proper training, proper equipment and proper rest prior to redeployment - he is vilified by the right for attempting to "slow bleed" us out of the war.

What a surprise that is, eh?

We all know about Jean Schmidt accusing a decorated Marine veteran like Murtha of being a "coward" who "cuts and runs". This follows perfectly with thier attacks on John Kerry for simply stating the truth about Vietnam, just as they've tried to White-Wash Abu Ghraib, Haditha and Mahmoudiya.

Should we expect any less after Bush sets up a staged interview with the troops just so they can tell America "everything is going great" - especially the training of the Iraqi Army - which we subsequently learned had been completely botched and fubar'd just like everything else the Bush Administration has tried, and failed to do in this war?

Just as they love to tear down real heroes - they also love to create false stories about them such as the ones about Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman.

Meanwhile they ignore the fact that repeated deployments and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and anti-depressants are leading our troops into record breaking levels of suicide.

Twenty-two U.S. troops committed suicide in Iraq last year, accounting for nearly one in five of all non-combat deaths and the highest suicide rate since the war started, the newspaper said.

Some service members who committed suicide in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite clear signs of mental distress, sometimes after being prescribed antidepressants with little or no mental health counseling or monitoring, the Courant reported. Those findings conflict with regulations adopted last year by the Army that caution against the use of antidepressants for "extended deployments."

"I can't imagine something more irresponsible than putting a soldier suffering from stress on (antidepressants), when you know these drugs can cause people to become suicidal and homicidal," said Vera Sharav, president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection, a New York-based advocacy group. "You're creating chemically activated time bombs."

Yet to them, Murtha is the one who "doesn't support the troops" - if you can believe that.

They call it their 'slow-bleed' plan. Instead of supporting the troops in Iraq, or simply bringing them home, the Democrats intend to gradually make it harder and harder for them to do their jobs.

'Slow-bleed' is exactly the right name for this incredibly irresponsible and dangerous strategy. Cutting and running is bad enough. But the Murtha-Pelosi 'slow-bleed' plan is far worse. It is a cynical and dangerous erosion of our ability to fight the terrorists while we still have men and women on the ground in Iraq. It will put their lives in far greater danger, as resources slowly dry up. How can our troops operate without bases? How can they fight without backup?

But of course, if Democrats were to cut funding or try to put a cap on the troops - the Republicans would scream bloody murder about it wouldn't they? It's not like they didn't seriously entertain doing the exact same thing (impose a cap and cut funding) for President Clinton's campaigns in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Oh wait, they did.

At a certain point you simply have to admit that this is a complete pile of bullcrap.

These guys don't really care about our troops - they simply using them as a political tool to enrich their own positions of power. And even after that has clearly stopped working on the American people - amazingly, they're still doing it. They've been getting away with this shit for so long , they don't when it's time to quit the game and go home.

It truly boggles the mind.

This Sunday 60 Minutes did a report on a number of Iraq Veterans who have now turned against the War.

"It's not about speaking out against the military or speaking out against the war. It's just, we're here four years down the line and there's not an end to it," Sgt. Evans, one of the dissenters, tells Logan.

"What are we trying to accomplish over there? I mean, what is what are we trying to do in Iraq?" another soldier, Sgt. Ronn Cantu asks.

What does he think?

"I don't even know anymore," he tells Logan.

...

"We’re not telling young men and women that it’s not worth it, to serve their country. We’ve served our country. The men and women who have signed the appeal have served their country. So those, we’re not saying it’s not worth it. We’re saying that, if you have reservations about it to communicate it. That’s simply what it is," Hutto says.

"There are gonna be a lot of people who don't like what you’re doing," Logan says.

"By volunteering we've done more than about 99 percent of the population. And anybody who joined after 9/11 when the country was at a state of war, it's my opinion that nobody has the right to question that soldier's patriotism, nobody," Cantu replies.

"There are going to be a lot of people listening to this who say that, 'You're a traitor. You're betraying your uniform. You don't deserve to wear it,'" says Logan.

"I hope there aren't people that think that," says Lt. Commander Mark Dearden.

Oh but they will think that, particularly those in the right-wing state of mind.

In response Hannity practically had an aneurysm, claiming that "CBS is distorting the truth - they're lying." He's promising to expose them and has setup an email address (VictoryInIraq@foxnews.com) for veterans who continue to support this war and the way that it's being fought.

He had "expert" testimony for Oliver North who claimed "I've never heard any troops complain to me" about Iraq. Hm, maybe those that would complain probably don't think it's worth their time to talk to neo-facists like North or Hannity - ya think?

Then again, I think a few Dkos vets might have a thing or too to say to Mr. Hannity.

The good news is that these ploys really are beginning to fail. People don't believe this tripe anymore. 67% of the public currently disapproves of how the Iraq war is being handled. 64% don't think Iraq wasn't worth fighting for. 56% feel we should withdraw our forces before civil order is restored. 67% oppose "the Surge". 58% would support a plan similar to Murtha's requiring better training and more rest time.

They don't believe Cheney when he say's everything is going fine in Afghanistan - not after al-Qaeda attempts to kill him with a suicide-bombing.

They don't believe Laura Bush when she claims "Much Of Iraq Is ‘Stable,’ There’s Just ‘One Bombing A Day That Discourages Everybody’" - while figures show that there are over 185 militia and insurgent attacks a day.

The rights pathological hatred and disgust for the troops welfare is obvious for all to see - which may explain why they fight so hard to over-compensate for it.

They resent the Troops. Possibly because those men and women who serve have either shown the type of courage almost none of them possess or have come from dire financial straights which the pampered blue-bloods of the reich wing will never truly relate too.

Whatever the reason - it's clear that all they really care about is basking in the endless shower of money for defense contracts and sub-contracts that perpetual war will guarantee for generations. As was shown in Robert Greenwald's film "Iraq for Sale" this is all about enabling War Profiteers, nothing more.

The right doesn't want to "Win" this war - they simply want the fighting to go on and on and on...

It's better for the bottom line of Halliburton, CACI and Blackwater, so what if our troops pay for it with their bodies and blood?

And that's why - From DAY ONE - they have shown nothing but contempt for the "poor rubes" who let themselves be suckered into a uniform.

2008 can't come soon enough for their day of reckoning.

Vyan

The Battle for Americas Soul

In 20 days the battle will be joined. A fight to decide exactly what America is destined to become.

Will we become a proto-fascist neo-theocracy where the public is constantly misled by a cowed press, kept under constant electronic surveillence without a warrant, where a well paid informant or an errant Myspace post just might send you (even if you happen to be a U.S. Citizen and West Point Graduate) to Gitmo without a hearing where you could be waterboarded and your coerced "confession" used against you...

or...

Something far more akin to the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independance and Bill of Rights, where the greatest of dangers to the people isn't the people themselves - it is the misuse of the powers of the State? A Nation where the accused, even accused terrorists, are presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.

Does anyone seriously think the other guys are going to fight anywhere near fair?

The past month has been brutal for Republicans.

Starting with the ABC's Path to 9/11 Lie-u-drama, President Clinton clowning Chris Wallace on Fox News, the Senate Intelligence Report revealing that Al Qaeda and Saddam were enemies not allies, the latest NIE stating that the Iraq war has been increasing terrorism rather than making us "safer", Bob Woodward revealing Bush's ongoing State of Denial and Deception on their response to Al Qeada and the status of the Iraq War, Republican Torture-mongerers like John Warner have finally begun jumping off the Iraq Train, Conservative Christian David Kuo has been blowing the whistle on the Faith Based Voter Bribery Scam, not to mention the ongoing adventures of Senator George Macacawitz Allen of Virginia, Congressman Mark Foley the Alcoholic Formerly Molested Pedophilic IM-ing Page Stalker who has wrought Hastert-Gate and of course - North Korea testing a Nuclear Bomb!

So much for winning the war on terror.

As a result of some are expecting as much as a 30 seat gain for Democrats in the House.

I think a 30-seat gain today for Democrats is more likely to occur than a 15-seat gain, the minimum that would tip the majority. The chances of that number going higher are also strong, unless something occurs that fundamentally changes the dynamic of this election. This is what Republican strategists' nightmares look like.

Whether one looks at national or district-level polling data, or a survey like the new Democracy Corps survey that covered the 49 most vulnerable GOP districts, the conclusion remains the same: it is very ugly for Republicans.

Even with all this for some odd, unexplicable reason - both George Bush and Karl Rove remain very upbeat about the November election.

From the Washington Times.

White House political strategist Karl Rove yesterday confidently predicted that the Republican Party would hold the House and the Senate in next month's elections, dismissing fallout from the sex scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley.
At a luncheon with editors and reporters at The Washington Times, Mr. Rove -- who is widely credited as the architect of the party's historic 2002 midterm election gains -- said Republicans are beginning to make significant headway in defining their party's differences from congressional Democrats, especially on national security.
"I'm confident we're going to keep the Senate; I'm confident we're going to keep the House. The Foley matter has impact in some limited districts, but the research we have shows that people are differentiating between a vote for their congressman and a member from Florida,"

From U.S. News:

Some Republican strategists are increasingly upset with what they consider the overconfidence of President Bush and his senior advisers about the midterm elections November 7-a concern aggravated by the president's news conference this week.

"They aren't even planning for if they lose," says a GOP insider who informally counsels the West Wing. If Democrats win control of the House, as many analysts expect, Republicans predict that Bush's final two years in office will be marked by multiple congressional investigations and gridlock.

So just what the hell is going on here?

Is Rove right and have all these scandals and errors still brought us up short - or is there something else occuring in the mix? An October Surprise to end all Octobers?

Former Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter on the Randi Rhodes show Monday postulated that the surprise would be sudden violent conflict between Iran and the Eisenhower Carrier Group, which should be arriving in the area on Oct 21st.

Some have argued that the Rovian confidence stems from the upcoming November 5th announcement of the Saddam Hussein Verdict.

Still others have argued that massive purging of Democrats from the voter rolls have already occured in key states such as Ohio. Purging that will significantly narrow the margins in tight races and ensure that Republicans retain the House and Senate. Although some doubt has arisen on those claims, there are legitimate issues that various states have indeed made voting more difficult. A cursory examination of this years primary elections bears that out.

Hundreds of voters mysteriously "dropped or displaced" from registration rolls when master lists were electronically merged. Absentee ballots invalidated because voters didn't receive a flier telling them not to remove a security stub. Poll workers who didn't show up to work on Election Day. Polling places unable to open on time because computer memory cards for new machines hadn't been installed. Suspicious shortages of machines in precincts that happened to be heavily Democratic. Voters who left the polls in disgust without having cast a ballot, because they just couldn't wait for overwhelmed precinct workers to sort through a monstrous mess of administrative and equipment problems.

Ohio, 2004? Nope. Ohio, 2006

It's clear that the Repulicans are working hard to suppress the Democratic vote, while doing their damnedest to get their vote out. Kos has posted that the Republican Voluanteer Ground Game is currently breaking records in their outreach effort.

And this doesn't even begin to mention just how hackable a Diebold Voting Machine has proven to be - thanks to Princeton.

The best course, naturally, is to assume all the above is basically true.

Even though the polls are overwhelmingly in the favor of Democrats, we can not afford to expect that all the voters will be able to reach the polls, have their registration honored or that every vote will be accurately counted. That's simply not going to happen.

Even though the worst news for Republicans has been coming from Republicans, We can not simply sit back and expect that the Republicans are simply going to scandal themselves out of office. They've grown far too adept at the blame and deflection game and have long since learned that the electorate is much like a jury that's been sequestered in a hot courtroom for six months -- offer them any cockamamie semi-plausible sliver of doubt and they'll jump at it like a starving man and a bowl of freshly steamed calimari.

Therefore Bill Clinton's "tirade" on Fox was just an attempt to "burnish" his legacy and erase his culpability at failing to stop both Bin Laden and Lil Kim in Korea. Bad Bill. Bad. Bad.

Bob Woodard is suddenly a "hack with an agenda".

John Ashcroft admits he was briefed by the CIA on Al Qaeda, but never heard any specific Domestic Warnings before September 11th. (Never mind the fact that as Attorney General he doesn't have jurisdiction anywhere but Domestically, so if there was "No Domestic Warning" why was Tenet and Richard Clarke even bothering to talk to him in the first place?

Ken Mehlman claims the Left is filled with mean spirited name calling "Defeato-crats" who want to "Cut and Run" on our soldiers, stop our listening to terrorists and let them go free.

Rove denies calling Evangelicals "Nuts" and all is forgiven. Let's not pay any attention to the fact that Kuo's claims of disdain for "the Nuts" is exactly what Jack Abramoff's former lobbying partner Mike Scanlon has already displayed:

"Simply put," Scanlon wrote, "we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them. The wackos get their information from the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the Internet and telephone trees."

Kuo stated that the disdainful comments came from Rove's Office, not Rove himself. And look who just suddenly fired retired from Rove's Office? Susan Ralston, Jack Ambramoff's former assistant who no doubt worked very closely and who just may have shared a least a few similar sentiments with Scanlon.

Conincidence? I think not.

No matter how bad the news gets, how sleazy the scandal, these guys will keep coming back - again and again.

We have to recognize just who these people are. The atrocities of Haditha and our troops being provided contaminated drinking water doesn't faze them. A fake Anthrax Terrorist attack on Broadcaster Keith Olbermann is grounds for low comedy.

The Right-Wing Cabal that now control this country is commited, deadicated, resourceful, inventive, relentless and fanatical. Make no mistake, they are the American Taliban. They've been striving for over 30 years, since the fall of Richard Nixon, to arrive at a point where they essentially control all three branches of government. We can not afford to fixate on George W. Bush himself, but recognize that he has a legion of enablers behind him from his filth spewing buddies on Talk Radio (and their audiences) to the Unitary Executive/Signing Statement supporting stagnant pool of Federalist Society nut-balls from the DOJ like Abu Gonzales, Yoo, Bybee, John Roberts and Alito who continue to mangle the Constitution to do one thing - amass greater and greater power in the Whitehouse.

Power that no doubt will be abused.

These people have been lying in wait within the strata of our country for a very long time, decades, the reigns of power will only be wrested from their cold, dead hands. We can not afford to underestimate their cunning or their willingness to take it to the mat.

Nor can we allow ourselves to be frustrated should we fail to prevail in November, or grow overly elated if win back the House and/or Senate.

In either case, we have long, hard work ahead of us reclaiming true patriotism from the gingoist who would distort and misuse it as a tool of fear-mongering. Reclaiming America's International Honor and Intregrity from those who have wiped it off their Jackboots like freshly trampled mud - will be dirty, difficult work.

Fortunately, the actions of some of our current Democratic Leaders have finally begun to show signs of life as they as last discover - The L Word.

John Kerry:

"Bob Woodward says the Administration is in a state of denial. It's worse than that. The lying needs to end and the incompetents who gave us a Katrina foreign policy have to go. The Administration has a stand still and lose policy in Iraq which isn't the center of the war on terror, and a cut and run policy in Afghanistan which is the center of the war on terror. The only clear thing about the president's policy is that it's clearly not working.

American troops are coming home without arms and legs, for a strategy our military and our leaders know won't work, and a policy that worsens terrorism. The repetition of presidential platitudes in daily speeches only compounds the immorality of a policy that is reckless with young Americans' lives, and leaves America's moral authority in tatters.

We have seven times more troops in the crossfire of a civil war in Iraq, which our intelligence agencies confirm fuels terrorism, than we have in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda roams free. Rhetoric about providing money to rebuild Afghanistan is hollow from an Administration that has cut aid to Afghanistan by 30% this year, and even requested 67% less than that for next year. Even Don Rumsfeld acknowledged yesterday we need more troops in Afghanistan, but President Bush remains stuck in a state of denial.

This administration cut and run from the truth, and every day this administration refuses to face reality is another day they play into the hands of the terrorists. President Bush needs to start telling the truth, and acting on it."

Kerry is correct that we need to change course in Iraq and Afghanistan, even some of the Wing-nut Brigade is starting to realize that fact - but more importantly we need to change the direction of this country. We have to stop living in fear and apathy. We have to stop following empty rhetoric and start expecting actual results, results that demonstrably improve the quality of life not just for the Paris Hilton's set - but for all of us.

Certainly we can donate money to worthy candidates, we can continue to get the truth out through blogs and continue to press the media to do their freaking jobs - but that isn't going to be enough.

We have to Act, particularly those of us in Battleground States and Districts, we have to get up out of our chairs and from behind our PC, canvass our neighborhoods and ask everyone we meet "are you registered to vote yet?" We have to voluanteer to work at the polls or schedule a vacation day on November 7th to watch the polls - take note of how long the lines are, how easily or often people have been mistakenly left off the rolls or redirected into voting provisionally, read the Street Index Roster (which must be updated each hour during an election by poll workers to indicate who has voted and who hasn't), bring your cell phone and call people at home to remind them - "Have you voted yet?", go knock on their doors and make sure they have a ride to the voting location. Don't just sit their in front of your computer whining, get off your ass and make a difference.

It's not enough to simply vote yourself, we have to do what we can to protect each others vote too.

We don't have to wait for the DNC, the DSCC or the DCCC to get this done and we shouldn't. We are the voters, we are America - it's our responsibility to make sure this country is one we can be proud of. It's our responsibility to do what's neccesary to take our best hopes and dreams for brighter, less mean-spirited, less terror crazed America and make them part of the reality-based world.

Yes, they will lie, they will most definately try to steal the vote from us - but we can't let them get away with it. Not again.

I expect this battle will leave battered, bloodied and far from unscarred but if we honestly join in the fight on the web and on the ground - win, lose or draw - it will be well worth it.

And also, it will only be the beginning.

Vyan

Through the Looking Glass...

I had a dream the other night - nightmare actually. It was absolutely horrible. Terrifying.

Everything seemed normal. People went to work. Lived their daily lives. They seemed oblivious, but something was deeply, sickly wrong. It hung like a thick invisible cloud over me, my friends, family - over the country. I looked around to see what it was, but I could only see glimpses. Awful images in the corner of my eye that were far too devastating to face directly. An awful tragedy. The screaming of jets overhead followed by thousands dead in thunderous column of smoke, fire and dust. Bodies crushed into powder.

I turn away, but everywhere I look - it's worse.

The sounds of machines, tanks, explosions, far over the hill - out of sight - out of mind. Cordite burns my nose. Blood trickling into the gutters. Getting thicker every hour. Not too quickly so that the people walking by notice. They still shop, and dine alfresco - they still laugh - but they can smell it. I know they can.

I can see a TV. The News doesn't explain the blood. They speak of weapons not found. Urgent Memos ignored. Meetings not held. Desperate requests for assistance and a change in strategy unheeded. The President talks about our enemies and their relentlessness. He says that we are in the midst of a great stuggle of civilizations, one we can not afford to lose. He rails at those who disagree with him, even within his own party and says it's "Unimaginable to think"...anything other than what he tells us to think. He says that the opposing party has grown weak, would "appease" that enemy. His Secretary of Defense warns of their "Moral Confusion". The Speaker of House says they want to coddle terrorists.

War heroes are accused of being cowards if they dare criticize the President and his policies. Diligent CIA operatives working to uncover the missing weapons have their covers blown for the sake of political expediency. Jobs to help the public and reconstruct the destruction of war are doled out based on someones political leanings, not their qualifications.

A young woman walks into a shopping center, opens her jacket to reveal blocks of some substance taped to her body and then disappears in a flash of light and smoke. The screams are deafening. It happens again. And again... and again.

Through the thickening smoke I see children being raped by soldiers with our flag on their shoulder.

I see innocent men, women and children being rounded up - hooded, freezing, doused in cold water, nearly drown while held upside-down, buffetted by loud noises - unable to sleep for days, weeks even - some are sexually assaulted, but no one hears their cries. No one can move to aid them.

No judge will take their case. No trial is scheduled. No charges filed. No relief is possible. Habeaus Corpus is obliterated, like in the country of some third-world tin-pot dictator. But that country is now our home.

The sound becomes background noise against the sound of the traffic, everyone is too busy... in too much of a hurry to worry about that nagging inch on the back on their ear. So they shove the earphones of an IPOD into them. 2000 songs in your pocket - more than enough to cover up the smoke, the stench, the blood. It's too much trouble to scratch that inch, too dangerous. And when the IPOD stops working they keep themselves too busy to be concerned by watching the unfolding mystery and saga of a latest lone single missing blonde teacher/cheerleader/bride/debutante/pagentress/ex-model/stripper.

Shocking Bread. Aweful Circuses.

Our leaders bleat about a "Culture of Life" yet hundreds of thousands are slaughtered by warring tribes in Africa and our government does nothing, then vows to stay the course on that plan of inaction.

A massive storm approches and leaves a devastated American city in it's wake. Those who promised to protect us, to shelter us from such storms - stand by and withhold supplies while the city drowns in it's own sewage. More thousands die. Some claim the survivors are better off living as homeless "refugees" than in poverty. Only a few are offended by the crassness of the remark.

I feel like I'm being watched. I want to call someone, but I'm afriad. The phones are tapped. All of them. No warrants are issued, none are needed the President claims. Our emails are being tracked. Our libraries are being monitored.

We have to be afraid of what we say, who we talk too, how we think. I refuse, knowing that it puts everyone I love at risk. But the real truth is - no one is listening. Not anyone that counts. Not the public, they've gone voluntarily deaf and blind to the carnage.

One lone broadcaster dares to speak up, only to become the target of a mock domestic terrorist attack.

Allegations of voter fraud abound, but aren't taken seriously. We try to fence ourselves off from the world, but the real dangers are from inside the walls, not outside.

Yet -- at the same time, a male prostitute pretending to be a reporter can walk in and out of the White House a hundred times and no one notices. Congressmen are taking bribes from one of the White Houses best friends, Cavorting with hookers, even soliciting from the male teenage pages who attend them. No one in Congress asks what happened to the armor our troops were supposed to receive, no one asks why their water is contaminated, no one asks why civilian contractors receiving 5-times their pay for doing the same job, while the red-ink side of the ledger is starting to cover the entire page and flow directly into the torrent of blood filling the gutters. American blood and Iraqi blood. Our blood. Our treasure. Wasted.

It seems there's no way to staunch the flow. No way to end the suffering. Even with the ruling party now in complete, total disgrace and failure it still seems that they just might retain control, barely - How is that even possible? How is that even conceivable?

And still from the people there is no outcry - oh, surely in some corners I can hear the frustration, the rage building - but only on the so-called "lunatic" fringes. The average person, living the Walmart-life, feeling safe and secure in their ignorant bliss - I hear nothing, until I wake up screaming.

At which point I realize, as of course you well know if you've read this far, it was no dream.

But it is indeed, a nightmare.

Vyan

Coming off the rails for Rove

This week the President's plan to "reinterpret" the Geneva Conventions ran into a bit of a snag - three snags - named McCain, Warner and Graham. But there's a subtext to this story of Republican vs Republican, if the President, Vice President and Secretary Rumsfeld's claims that anyone who disagree with them is "confused", "aiding the enemy" or an "appeaser" -- does that also apply to their Republican critics such as Colin Powell?

In opposing the President's plans Senator McCain stated Sunday on This Week.

"When in our custody Al-qaeda deserve nothing - except the fundamental rights that all prisoners under the Geneva Conventions. The Vietnamese treated us rather badly, but that didn't mean that responded by altering the Geneva Conventions".

"I believe this has nothing to do with politics," McCain said. "No matter what the political impact is, this is a matter of conscience."

But can McCain truly be taken seriously after his recent rightward turn and embracing of old foes such as Jerry Falwell? He seems to be the epitome of an opportunist, last year he fought hard to implement a torture ban, despite fierce Administration opposition only to have that ban implemented with a poison pill (the Graham/Levin Amendment) which denied detainees access to the courts and effectively rendered the entire bill moot and unenforceable. What is the point of banning torture if you also gag anyone who might have been tortured and deny them access to lawyers or the courts?

This is merely an exercise in political theater. But along the way McCain may have just step seriously on not just the President's shoes - but Karl Rove, the clear architect of the current"Democrats are weak" strategery.

The money quote however was this one:

"We have to hold the moral high ground. We're the nation that people look up to. We can't lower our standards simply because others do. We hold no respect for al-Qaeda. We don't think al-Qaeda will observe those Conventions - but we're going to be in other wars. And there's two reasons why all these retired military guys - who are not soft on terror or al Qaeda - are coming down vehemently against modifying the Geneva Conventions. 1) is the Moral High Ground. We are not like al Qaeda. There's a war on the battlefield and a psychological/idealogical war going on and 2) They are very worried about American forces who will fall into the hands of nations who will "reinterpret" or modify the Geneva conventions."

I would argue that there is a third reason that we shouldn't modify Geneva, because it can be considered a War Crime. And as I diaried on Dkos the other day, a country that sets and maintains a standard of treating it's captives well - has a greater chance for ultimate victory than one that mistreats them and provides further motivation for their opposition. This was made clear to us during WWII in Europe as Italian and German forces were far more likely to surrender to us, rather than the Russians and face their Gulags. And it was also made clear during the first Gulf War when most of Saddam's forces were more than eager to give up rather than be slaughtered. Now - partly because of Abu Ghraib and many other abuses such as Haditha and Fallujah - we face an enemy that would much rather die than be defeated and surrender.

However, the devil is in the details. Listening to Laura Flanders this weekend, she made the point that this isn't a case of three-card Monty with our rights. They aren't hiding under the House Bill, the Senate bill or the WhiteHouse Bill. All of these bills, like the Graham/Levin Amendment to the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, essentially toss habeas corpus out the window.

We may formally acknowledge that we will not violate Geneva. Fine. But if persons such as Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, who was apparently kidnapped by the CIA in Italy and sent to Egypt where he claims to have been tortured until they discovered he knew nothing and was released - would have no legal recourse. Olbermann has speculated about what happens when Khallid Sheik Mohammad, who has now been transfered to Gitmo begins talking to the Red Cross -- but the answer to that is nothing. He has no ability to sue under Graham/Levin, and that is likely to remain true under any bill that exits Congress before the Election.

Further, there is still the issue of evidence gathered using coercive means being introduced secretly at trial - where they would not be subject to a fruits of the poison tree challenge and the fact that Bush continues to claim special super-dooper executive powers that allow him to fore-go and ignore laws which he disagrees with (such as FISA). So what exactly is there to stop him from continuing to ignore Geneva no matter what Congress decides?

In the end, all the bluster, strum and drang between Powell, McCain and Bush is likely to amount to big hill of nothing. Bush will - must - do everything in his ability to protect himself from possible War Crimes prosecution, and if he has to use this ex post facto method of covering his tracks while giving a tacit nod to the continuance of Geneva - he will. But that doesn't mean he'll abide by the law. In the meantime, McCain's words that those who oppose the President - ARE NOT SOFT ON AL-QAEDA - should not go unrepeated.

Say it with me now - John McCain is not soft on Al Qaeda. John Murtha is not soft on Al-Qaeda. Neither is John Kerry or Russ Feingold.

The big loser in all of this - is Karl Rove - as it appears that some Republicans have not only abandoned the President, they've chosen to completely undercut the insult politics that this Administration thrives on. How do they now repeat the kinds of attacks we've seen on decorated veterans - who happen to be Democrats- such as Murtha, Max Cleland or Kerry?

How can they continue to argue that these guys are "traitors" or "appeasers" when their standing shoulder to shoulder with Powell, McCain, Graham and Warner?

I don't think they can.

Less than 60 days to the election and Rove has already played his trump card and had it fail. The Republicans are going to lose Congress, probably both Houses. Rove probably knows this well, as does the RNC. Their next likely strategy is to let the Democrats take control -- and then play the "see, look at what they do once their in power" game and argue for retention of the Presidency in 2008 by a Republican - an "independent" Republican (with Jerry Falwell's hand in his pocket) like McCain. A strategy that might prove very effective if Democrats attempt to impeach George Bush without first laying the groundwork and making the need for such an action clear in the minds of the American people.

Although the ranting of John Yoo in the New York Times Post should make the grave danger of the Bush Administration to the fabric of our Democracy obvious, it still hasn't sunk in yet. Glenn Greenwald shines a spotlight on it:

Why is it even necessary to point out that the U.S. President does not have the power to violate laws which he thinks are "wrongheaded or obsolete," or that Presidents have no authority to disregard "wrongheaded or obsolete judicial decisions" (whatever that might mean)? And what permits a "law professor" to claim otherwise on the Op-Ed page of the NYT? Under this administration, there is no notion too radical or authoritarian to be off limits not only from being subject to debate, but from being implemented.

Just look at the things we're debating -- whether the U.S. Government can abduct and indefinitely imprison U.S. citizens without charges; whether we can use torture to interrogate people; whether our Government can eavesdrop on our private conversations without warrants; whether we can create secret prisons and keep people there out of sight and beyond the reach of any law or oversight; and whether the President can simply disregard long-standing constitutional limitations and duly enacted Congressional laws because he has deemed that doing so is necessary to "protect" us.

It should be obvious that the people who are "confused" are inside BushGov. The ones who have further "emboldened the enemy" with their tactics aren't Kerry or Murtha, it's Bush and Cheney with their torture fetish. Unfortunately, I don't believe most of the American people truly realize just how fucked-up we've really become over the last five years - or that they'll finally figure it out over the next two.

But one can always hope.

Vyan

Crossroads for America:To Torture or Not

We live in interesting times. The center of a watershed moment where America will either stand true to it's own core values, or slide down the slippery slope toward torture and totalitarianism that the President desperately desires.

With little time left before a very likely Democratic Congress and Senate come into power - the President's desperation to avoid culpability for his own War Crimes grows more palpable.

As I outlined on July 1st, the Hamdan decision has effectively sealed this President's fate and legacy as a War Criminal, his last gasp is to end-run Common Article 3, if he can.

To this end the President has pursued the enactment of New Detainee Torture Act, which would effectively make the treatment they've already been using, essentially legal.

Q Thank you very much, sir. What do you say to the argument that your proposal is basically seeking support for torture, coerced evidence and secret hearings? And Senator McCain says your plan will put U.S. troops at risk. What do you think about that?

THE PRESIDENT: This debate is occurring because of the Supreme Court's ruling that said that we must conduct ourselves under the Common Article III of the Geneva Convention. And that Common Article III says that there will be no outrages upon human dignity. It's very vague. What does that mean, "outrages upon human dignity"? That's a statement that is wide open to interpretation. And what I'm proposing is that there be clarity in the law so that our professionals will have no doubt that that which they are doing is legal. You know, it's -- and so the piece of legislation I sent up there provides our professionals that which is needed to go forward.

Vague? Vague?!! Common Article III has been in existence for 50 years and this is the first time that I know of that someone has claimed it is - Vague! "No" means "NO" Asshole! Zero. None. Zilch. That statment is not open to interpretation, it's pretty clear and obvious. Those who oppose the Administration on this point, such as Colin Powell are not "confused", they are not "appeasers" -- or let's be honest because we know what they're really thinking - they are not "girly men".

Even Tony Snow has sheepishly begun to admit that he'd gone over the line (via Glenn Greenwald) when he reflexively bashed Powell.

Tony Snow yesterday had to retract his statement calling Colin Powell "confused" all because Gen. Powell thinks the U.S. should continue to abide by the Geneva Conventions, and as part of that retraction, Snow oh-so-generously added: "I know that Colin Powell wants to beat the terrorists, too." They exploit terrorism for political gain so reflexively that accusations of being sympathetic to terrorists just comes pouring out of their character-smearing mouths even when the targets are individuals who have devoted their adult lives to service in the American military.

More from Yesterday's Rose Garden Press Conference:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, former Secretary of State Colin Powell says the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. If a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Secretary of State feels this way, don't you think that Americans and the rest of the world are beginning to wonder whether you're following a flawed strategy?

THE PRESIDENT: If there's any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it's flawed logic. I simply can't accept that. It's unacceptable to think that there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective, Terry.

Bush may find it "Unacceptable" - but thinking that the United States has an obligation and a duty to abide by it's own law and it's own treaties - is exactly what much of the world thinks. This line of arguement by Bush effectively ducked the question - and follows the path the Administration has been following for quite some time -- attack the critic, not the argument.

Four years ago, then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales urged the President to deny Geneva protections to terrorist detainees, not because they didn't deserve them - but because he expected that doing so would leave The President Vulnerable to War Crimes Prosecution Under U.S. Law

When the President talks now about "providing clarity" such as in this passage:

...the Court said that you've got to live under Article III of the Geneva Convention, and the standards are so vague that our professionals won't be able to carry forward the program, because they don't want to be tried as war criminals. They don't want to break the law. These are decent, honorable citizens who are on the front line of protecting the American people, and they expect our government to give them clarity about what is right and what is wrong in the law. And that's what we have asked to do.

The truth is - that HE doesn't want to be tried for War Crimes because the President, after denying Geneva, has long ago authorized measures which clearly violate the "human dignity" of detainees, and he knows this.

As I stated in July the ACLU has found a paper trail leading directly from Bush to Gitmo and Abu Ghraib.

In January 2002 Gonzales argues that Geneva shouldn't apply to "Enemy Combatants" because it would make "U.S. Officials" vulnerable to Federal War Crimes violations.

In February, the Administration announces that al Qaeda and Taliban are "not included" in Geneva (although they conduct no tribunal as required by Geneva to determine this).

In August of that same year the Bybee memo is written which redefines what "Torture" is.

In October 2002 Gitmo commanders request "that additional techniques beyond those in the field manual be approved for use.""

In December of 2002 SecDef Rumsfeld allows for "stress positions," hooding, 20-hour interrogations, removal of clothing, exploiting phobias to induce stress (e.g., fear of dogs), prolonged isolation, sensory deprivation, and forced grooming. These techniques soon spread to Afghanistan and later to Iraq." according to documents obtain by the ACLU.

Also in December the FBI begins complaining to the Defense Department about the conditions at Gitmo, and in Afghanistan some detainees are "killed during interrogation" at Bagram AFB.

To date we have had 26 Deaths-in-Custody, which have been ruled as "Homocide" due to mistreatment. Those deaths, as well as those of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis, lay directly at the feet of George W. Bush.

Everything he is doing right now - trying to push the Geneva redefinition through Congress - is meant to do nothing more than cover his ass, Period.

If he fails, and I'm certain he doesn't intend to fail - he can't afford too - he will face a Democratic Congress with subpeona power and one John Conyers as head of the Impeachment Committee - Judiciary. A man who has already called for Special Prosecutor to investigate War Crimes by the Bush Administration. If that call is ever answered in the wake of Hamdan, Bush is Doomed.

This is his last chance, and I for one expect to see him pull out all stops.

But he MUST. NOT. SUCCEED.

America can not openly go down the road he is headed. We can not turn our backs on Geneva, and begin to play around with the margins human decency, pretending that the use of extreme cold and/or loud music is an acceptable method of treatment - whether you like Red Hot Chili Peppers or not - these can never acceptable methods for how we treat people who haven't been put on trial yet.

Never mind Geneva, the 4th and 8th Amendments makes this clear.

It's not just a matter of protecting American soldiers who may be captured, there is also a military case for this. During WWII many Italian and Germany soldiers surrendered to U.S. - rather than the Russians - because they knew they would be well treated.

The Germans committed Genocide, but not only that they commited War Crimes against American soldiers at Malmedy. U.S. soldiers held by the Japanese were regularly tortured, starved and murdered. Geneva was intended to put an end to this, and the U.S. was at the forefront of creating Geneva.

Even during the first Gulf War, Iraqi military units were very willing to surrender when outmatched rather than fight to the death -- and thus the bloodshed was minimized and victory achieved in a fairly short time. Colin Powell, who command our troops during Gulf War I understands this - George Bush who protected the Texas Skies from the Vietcong - doesn't.

And so came Abu Ghraib.

After which we suddenly we faced an enemy - actually several enemies - that would absolutely do anything - but surrender.

Since then we've had Task Force 6-26 a U.S. Special Forces Unit who used Saddam's old torture chambers to continue the exact same work, Haditha (where 24 civilians were gunned down in cold blood), Fallajah where the U.S. used chemical warfare on the population and the rape and murder of a teenage Iraqi girl and her entire family by U.S. soldiers.

Clearly, we're sliding down the slope - not climbing upwards. Meanwhile, the insurgency and impending Civil War in Iraq continues to get stronger. Going the way we have been - even if we do achieve "Victory", capture and/or kill Osama bin Laden and break up the Al Qaeda Network, we will still have lost and disgarded far more than we will have gained.

This is what Human Rights Watch has to say about it.

Following the terrorist attacks [of September 11], many Americans understandably wanted their government to do anything possible that might protect them from terrorism. The Bush administration exploited that fear to push through various measures with scant regard to international human rights standards. Systematic prisoner abuse, widespread detention without trial, and proposed kangaroo courts were the result. Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, and secret CIA prisons became the unfortunate symbols of U.S. counterterrorism efforts. Even within the United States, the rights of many Muslim men were compromised through the misuse of laws such as those on detaining immigrants and "material witnesses." Governments around the world, in turn, exploited the U.S. government's example to launch or defend repression of their own.

These abuses are wrong as a matter of fundamental rights. Though done in the name of protection from terrorism, they are also counterproductive. Fighting terrorism effectively requires not just stopping existing terrorists but also preventing the generation of new ones. By all accounts, U.S. abuses in the name of fighting terrorism have been a boon to terrorist recruiters. The loss of the moral high ground has made it harder to dissuade angry young men from resorting to the deliberate killing of civilians.

This Country has to make a choice: Will we honor the sacrifices made to fight fascism and totalitarianism made by our forefathers by remaining true to the ideals of the 8th Amendment and Bill of Rights -- or will we fail them?

Bush has made it clear which way he intends to go, and it's also clear that this path has made us less safe, not moreso.

Contact your Senators and Congressmen at let them know which fork in the road to take. Congressional Operator Toll Free: 888-355-3588

Vyan

In Our Name: My Lai, Haditha and Beyond

his past Sunday the LA Times did a lengthy story on 3000 pages of declassified documents which reveal that the My Lai Massacre of Vietnam was far from an isolated incident.

The records were declassified in 1994, after 20 years as required by law, and moved to the National Archives in College Park, Md., where they went largely unnoticed.

The Times examined most of the files and obtained copies of about 3,000 pages -- about a third of the total -- before government officials removed them from the public shelves, saying they contained personal information that was exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

In addition to the 320 substantiated incidents, the records contain material related to more than 500 alleged atrocities that Army investigators could not prove or that they discounted.

The appalling thing is that these crimes were committed - In Our Name - under the color and flag of the United States. They occured with the tacit approval of the American People, granted by their ignorance of commonality of these events. But were we truly clueless then - or now?

MaryScott O'Connor posted an excellent diary on this story which displayed with great personal anguish as her own father was killed in Vietnam on the very same day that some of these atrocities occured.

But shouldn't all Americans take this personally?

Our tax dollars paid for this. Our sons and daughters were asked to perform a near impossible task, placed under intolerable conditions - to recall the recent comments of Sen Chuck Hagel it was a "Hopeless, Unwinnable" situation - how could we not expect this kind of result to occur not just once, but hundreds of times?

Abuses were not confined to a few rogue units, a Times review of the files found. They were uncovered in every Army division that operated in Vietnam.

How can we turn a blind eye when history has so clearly begun to repeat itself?

The Article recounts the Story of Pvt James D. Henry as a witness to these events.

Then B Company entered a hamlet to question residents and search for weapons. That's where Henry set down his weapon and lighted a cigarette in the shelter of a hut.

A radio operator sat down next to him, and Henry was listening to the chatter. He heard the leader of the 3rd Platoon ask Reh for instructions on what to do with 19 civilians.

"The lieutenant asked the captain what should be done with them. The captain asked the lieutenant if he remembered the op order (operation order) that came down that morning and he repeated the order which was 'kill anything that moves,' " Henry said in his statement. "I was a little shook ... because I thought the lieutenant might do it."

Henry said he left the hut and walked toward Reh. He saw the captain pick up the phone again, and thought he might rescind the order.

Then soldiers pulled a naked woman of about 19 from a dwelling and brought her to where the other civilians were huddled, Henry said.

"She was thrown to the ground," he said in his statement. "The men around the civilians opened fire and all on automatic or at least it seemed all on automatic. It was over in a few seconds. There was a lot of blood and flesh and stuff flying around....

"I looked around at some of my friends and they all just had blank looks on their faces.... The captain made an announcement to all the company, I forget exactly what it was, but it didn't concern the people who had just been killed. We picked up our stuff and moved on."

Henry didn't forget, however. "Thirty seconds after the shooting stopped," he said, "I knew that I was going to do something about it."

What Henry did after he was discharged was go to the Press. He was later interviewed by Army investigators and eventually became even more vocal.

In 1971, Henry joined more than 100 other veterans at the Winter Soldier Investigation, a forum on war crimes sponsored by Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

The FBI put the three-day gathering at a Detroit hotel under surveillance, records show, and Nixon administration officials worked behind the scenes to discredit the speakers as impostors and fabricators.

Although the administration never publicly identified any fakers, one of the organization's leaders admitted exaggerating his rank and role during the war, and a cloud descended on the entire gathering.

"We tried to get as much publicity as we could, and it just never went anywhere," Henry says. "Nothing ever happened."

One of the other attendents of that forum was Lt. John Kerry - who later recounted the testimony he heard to Congress.

His statements were immediately attacked by Nixon supporters such as John O'Neill, his words were twisted and contorted into a vicious smear of our troops, their patriotism and their honor. He was accused of "aiding the enemy" - a cry which has continued even today as documented by Factcheck.org.

From the ad "Sellout" Produced by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004:

John Kerry (from Senate Testimony in 1971): They had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads...

Joe Ponder: The accusations that John Kerry made against the veterans who served in Vietnam was just devastating.

John Kerry: ...randomly shot at civilians...

Joe Ponder: ...and it hurt me more than any physical wounds I had.

John Kerry: ...cut off limbs, blown up bodies...

Ken Cordier: That was part of the torture, to sign a statement that you had committed war crimes.

John Kerry:...razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan...

Paul Galanti: John Kerry gave the enemy for free, what I and many of my comrades, in the North Vietnamese prison camps, took torture to avoid saying. It demoralized us.

John Kerry: ...crimes committed on a day to day basis...

Ken Cordier: He betrayed us in the past, how could we be loyal to him now?

John Kerry: ...ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam...

Paul Galanti: He dishonored his country, and more importantly, the people he served with. He just sold them out.

Kerry spoke the truth as it was reported by those involved in the Winter Soldier Event, he placed the blame for these events not on the soldiers themselves, but on their superiors "I think clearly the responsibility for what has happened there lies elsewhere. I think it lies with the men who designed free fire zones. I think it lies with the men who encourage body counts", a comment which he repeated on Meet The Press in 1971. "the men who designed the free-fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas".

He held the command structure responsible for giving the orders, and creating the situation which led to clear and obvious War Crimes. HE DID NOT BLAME OR BETRAY OUR TROOPS. Kerry did the honorable thing, he told the truth - while those who oppose the truth and prefer that America continue to use methods like those described at the Winter Soldier event continue to Smear him.

Today with the Supreme Courts clear decision in Hamdan that the Geneva Conventions do apply to those being held in Gitmo -- rather than do their best to avoid the repeat of what Pvt Henry witnessed and Lt. Kerry recounted we have Alberto Gonzales doing his best to make War Crimes Legal. Meanwhile Rep. Duncan Hunter claims were too soft on detainees, and Sen. (and former JAG Officer) Lindsay Graham wants to override the Supreme Courts authority to require that the President abide by the law and the consitution.

All this is being done - In our Name.

The problem here must be made clear - it's not simply that War Crimes and Atrocities occured - the issue is in the willful failure of the Army and Pentagon to properly investigate and address the wrongdoing. A failure which clearly led to further atrocities occuring with impunity. When the brass turns a blind-eye, they might as well be shining a big bright green light. It's not just the crimes, it's the lies.

We've seen this again and again...

The Pentagon lied to us about the true circumstances of Pat Tillman's death by friendly fire.

They lied about the circumstances of Jessica Lynch's rescue.

We've seen it with failure and delay in investigating Haditha where 2 dozen Iraqi Civilians were killed. This investigation languished for months (Although this case has just recently been handed over to prosecutors).

Rep. John Murtha was quick to speak out on Haditha.

Murtha, a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq, said at a news conference Wednesday that sources within the military have told him that an internal investigation will show that "there was no firefight, there was no IED (improvised explosive device) that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

Military officials say Marine Corp photos taken immediately after the incident show many of the victims were shot at close range, in the head and chest, execution-style. One photo shows a mother and young child bent over on the floor as if in prayer, shot dead, said the officials, who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity because the investigation hasn't been completed.

One military official says it appears the civilians were deliberately killed by the Marines, who were outraged at the death of their fellow Marine.

From the Guardian.

In recent weeks, 16 soldiers have been charged with murders in Iraq - more than during the first three years of the war. No Marines have been charged so far in the worst alleged atrocity, the killing of 24 Iraqis at Haditha, but that has been overshadowed by the Mahmudiya episode.

In Mahmudiya, a 14-year-old Iraqi girl was raped, then murdered along with her entire family by U.S. Soldiers. Like Haditha, this investigation has been delayed - and so far remains incomplete.

At Gitmo, Bagram AFB and Abu Ghraib there have been 26 Deaths in Custody which have been ruled "Homocide as the Result of Torture".

We've not yet had a modern day My Lai, where over 500 civilians were brutally gunned down -- but it seems to me that on the path were headed, it's only a matter of time.
Yes, I know that all of this is sickening - it's disheartening. It's numbing.

Is this what America stands for? Is this how we spread Democracy, how Freedom Marches Forward on the backs of the broken bodies and crushed bones of those oppose us? We lie to ourselves with Propoganda about how heroic we are, how are "Cause is Noble" - while (some of) our soldiers commit rape and murder and the higher-ups turn away and play "blame the messenger" with anyone who dares to step forward?

I say - "NO".

It has to stop. We have to bring this to an end - we have to begin not just spouting talking point versions of our ideals - we actually need to live up to them.

If the idea of a Constitution and a Democratic form of government is to have any appeal to the rest of the world - we need to show that this form of government has the ability to defeat Totalitarianism not just overseas - but right here at home. Not through violence, but the the power of ideas. Not through force, but with the promise of genuine hope - instead of the false hope and false promises we now see in Iraq. We fight in the courts - we fight at the ballot box. We have to lead by example, not at the barrel of a gun.

Vyan

23% of us are Fucked

Tonight former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean discussed his intriguing new book "Conservatives without Consciences" as the lead story on Keith Olbermann. In it he described how his discussions with the late Barry Goldwater, the nominal father of the modern conservative movement, evolved from talking about just how far afield that movement has grown to a discussion of how authoritarianism has crept in and taken over the Republican Party.

Sparked by Goldwater, Dean continued to research on the subject with various scholars looking into the psychology of authorianism and found a wealth of information on the subject.

Acording to his findings, a vast majority of Conservatives are drawn into the Leader/Follower archetype, where the Leaders are considered infallable, and the loyalty of the Followers is completely unshakable. About "23% of the populace falls into the follower category" said Dean. "These people are impervious" to fact, rationality and reality. And their "Numbers are growing".

Let's just face it, 23% of us are basically fucked in the head.

Video and Transcript of the Segment.

I'm looking forward to reading Dean's book in full, but just the glimmers presented on Olbermann were both shocking and at the same time, quite familiar. We've seen this story before in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. There is always the patsy, the scapegoat - the one true source of all of societies ills. In those societies it was the jews or those greedy imperialist Americans.

Now, it's the Liberals.

Liberals and all the other societal hangers-on and scum they try to protect. Gays who insist on the "special" right of marrying the consenting adult of their choice. Uppity Women in the workplace, who won't remember their place in the kitchen and bedroom. Blacks who want hand-outs in order to jump to the head of the line, immigrants who simply can't seem to wait their turn to be exploited for ridiculously low wages and lack of health-care. And lastly weak-kneed bleeding hearts who think dirty terrorist slime deserve the equal protection of the laws. Hmph.

Also tonight while Olbermann was speaking with Dean on the issue of just how close to full-on Totalitarianism this country is gradually tipping - Bill O'Reilly was speaking with two Fox's heavily fact-challenged Military Analysts, Gen. McInerny and Col David Hunt who proclaimed that both Bob Herbert of the NY Times and California Senator Barbara Boxer were "blatantly lying about our troops in Iraq". Herbert had written an Op-ed which indicated that Neo-Nazi's and Skinhead have begun infiltrating the Military, while Boxer had stated that incidents of PTSD have increased in our Military and that incidents of soldiers taking anti-depressents being sent into combat have increased, as have the number of suicides among our troops.

Unfortunately for O'Reilly, McInerny and Hunt the source of the Neo-Nazi and Skinhead has been the Military itself as document by the Southern Poverty Law Center via the New York Times.

July 7, 2006 -- Before the U.S. military made Matt Buschbacher a Navy SEAL, he made himself a soldier of the Fourth Reich.

Before Forrest Fogarty attended Military Police counter-insurgency training school, he attended Nazi skinhead festivals as lead singer for the hate rock band Attack.

And before Army engineer Jon Fain joined the invasion of Iraq to fight the War on Terror, the neo-Nazi National Alliance member fantasized about fighting a war on Jews.

"Ever since my youth -- when I watched WWII footage and saw how well-disciplined and sharply dressed the German forces were -- I have wanted to be a soldier," Fain said in a Winter 2004 interview with the National Alliance magazine Resistance. "Joining the American military was as close as I could get."

And the source of the anti-depressant and suicide story is also problematic for O'Reilly and his cohorts since it's also the military via ABC News.

The Hartford Courant, citing records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act and more than 100 interviews of families and military personnel, reported numerous cases in which the military failed to follow its own regulations in screening, treating and evacuating mentally unfit troops from Iraq.

Twenty-two U.S. troops committed suicide in Iraq last year, accounting for nearly one in five of all non-combat deaths and the highest suicide rate since the war started, the newspaper said.

Some service members who committed suicide in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite clear signs of mental distress, sometimes after being prescribed antidepressants with little or no mental health counseling or monitoring, the Courant reported. Those findings conflict with regulations adopted last year by the Army that caution against the use of antidepressants for "extended deployments."

"I can't imagine something more irresponsible than putting a soldier suffering from stress on (antidepressants), when you know these drugs can cause people to become suicidal and homicidal," said Vera Sharav, president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection, a New York-based advocacy group. "You're creating chemically activated time bombs."

To O'Rielly, this is all just defeatist talk designed to undermine the morale and willpower of our troops. To him, it's ridiculous to point out that our troops morale is already in the shitter - because then you'd have to actually do something about it. To Hunt, "This is the finest fighting force America has ever had, over 2/3rd of our troops are re-enlisting and our National Guard are gaining invaluable field experience and expertise". One wonders just what they might plan to do with that expertise in the future?

According to O'Reilly the killing of 25 civilians in Haditha is just a "random" occurance - it's just the way "War is fought" - sometimes civilians get hurt and somethings "War Crimes Happen". O'Reilly has yet to either apologize or set the record straight for his Malmedy misnomer - where he tried to white-wash Haditha by claiming that U.S. Soldiers in WWII murdered unarmed SS Soldiers even though the truth is that the U.S. Soldiers where the ones unarmed and murdered in cold blood.

And although he has spent incredible level of energy promoting Jessica's Law in an apparent effort to protect children from sexual predators, he's said precious little about the rape and murder of 15-year-old Iraqi girl, and her entire family.

To O'Reilly everyone is a liar.

"I can't base my opinion" about the Iraq war "on anything" other than "what my military analysts, people paid by Fox News, say to me." O'Reilly added that he could trust only Fox military analysts because "[t]he newspapers ... all have an agenda" and "only give you a snapshot of the war."

How's this for a snapshot.

Iraq in Turmoil

More soldiers charged with murder and Nic Robertson reports on the violence that is sweeping through Iraq.

Video -WMP Video -QT

Well over a hundred civilian casualties today…

Other authoritarian boot-lickers like Fred Barnes continue the drum beat of happy talk.

THERE'S JOY at the White House again and less anxiety among Republicans in Congress. The excesses of the press and Supreme Court are bringing Bush and rebellious conservatives closer together. Iraq is better off. The American economy is humming. The White House has made no harmful missteps. And the president's job approval rating is rising.

The war is unpopular, but it has nonetheless helped the Bush recovery in three ways. First, the killing of the terrorist Zarqawi and the formation of a permanent Iraqi government were encouraging developments. Second, the president punctuated his support for the new government with a surprise visit to Iraq, and he's gone on the offensive again in speeches defending his policy. On July 4, he told soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, he won't allow the death of 2,527 troops in Iraq "to be in vain by pulling out before the job is done." Third, Democrats have fumbled the Iraq issue.

The point here is that these people have no serious interest in fact or reality. As Lt. Col Karen Kwaitkoski stated - neo-cons "have a collective contempt for fact". Facts get in the way of all their big plans. Simply pointing out the failures of few soldiers is somehow attacking everyone in the military - and rather than addressing these problems, the authoritarian neo-cons would prefer that we just shut-up about them. Silence is Golden, in their world. And anyone who breaks the silence and spoils the Happy Talk Parade, deserves to be savaged and shown no mercy. Cue right-wing attack bitch Mann Coulter

And 23% of us are their willing partners in their flights of fancy. 23% of us not only don't question all the nonesense they spew, they welcome it. They desperately want to believe the New York Times simply hates America, that's why it's so desperate to "hurt our troops". The idea that a lack of armor, proper helmets, health care cuts, drinking contaminated water and being sent into a War zone based on bad policy, bad faith and lies might be somewhat more harmful than anything the New York Times might do or so - doesn't even enter the equation.

23% of us don't even begin to make the connection and never will. They're addicted to this shit, it doesn't matter how much the facts smack them in the forehead - they simply shake it off and keep propping up their little tin gods.

Dean suggests that the best we can do is recognize these people for who and what they are, but I think that's the least we can do. I think we need to confront these people at every turn, to face up to there puffed-up Alpha-male bully bullshit and take them down.

Bullies can be beaten, they can be stopped - particularly when the other 77% of us finally decide to get off the fence, stand up and do something about them.

Vyan