The Bu$h malAdministration has perpetrated many atrocities on a helpless citizenry, just about always enabled by a supine print and electronic media. They have enabled and abetted Mr Bush in his incessant drive to destroy the America envisioned by those who founded this nation, and to deliver its residents into the hands of a corporate fascism that is inconceivable in its lack of compassion and humanity. In the George Bush view of the world, we are all sheep and he wants the wolves to be our shepherds.

Over the years the only weapon that the common citizens used to have was the public outrage of the press pouring light and fresh air on the various scandals and conspiracies of government. And now George Bush, obviously fearing further exposure of the rot and stink of corruption in his rule, has declared war on any member of the press who dares to tell the truth. The NY Times, which has wavered over the last 6 years in its defense of liberty, presents today:

Earlier administrations have fired and prosecuted government officials who provided classified information to the press. They have also tried to force reporters to identify their sources.

But the Bush administration is exploring a more radical measure to protect information it says is vital to national security: the criminal prosecution of reporters under the espionage laws.

Such an approach would signal a thorough revision of the informal rules of engagement that have governed the relationship between the press and the government for many decades. Leaking in Washington is commonplace and typically entails tolerable risks for government officials and, at worst, the possibility of subpoenas to journalists seeking the identities of sources.

Does it need to be said that in George Bush’s world “national security” has come to mean “George Bush’s secrecy”? He has a lot of plans and there is the ever-present fear that revelation of them would bring people out into the streets in millions to protest, to stand up on their hind legs and scream out “No MORE!” Historically it was the print media that functioned as the shield and sword that protected citizens in a democracy from evil and corrupt rulers.

But the Bush administration is putting pressure on the press as never before, and it is operating in a judicial climate that seems increasingly receptive to constraints on journalists.

Freedom of the press in the United States from the actions and trial of a newspaper printer in New York named Pete Zenger. In 1733 he began publishing a broadside paper, the New York Weekly Journal. One of his first targets was the Royal Governor, William Cosby. And he was savage.

In November, 1734, Cosby ordered Zenger arrested, and held for trial on the charge of seditious libel. Zenger was held in prison for about eight months before his trial, probably as a method of softening him up, although the historical record is silent on the delay. Cosby had removed the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and replaced him with someone he knew would be more compliant with his policies and demands.

Zenger was represented by Alexander Hamilton, who found the new Chief Justice, James Delancey so outrageously prejudiced in favor of the Royal Governor that he pled the case directly to the jury. The jury deliberated a very short period and then returned a verdict of not guilty, thereby exonerating Zenger.

One of the principles of law established in American law is that a statement, cannot be considered libelous, no matter how extreme and defamatory, if it can be proven to be true. The writers John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon penned the following editorial:

"But this Doctrine ('A lible [sic] is not less a Libel for being true') only holds true as to private and personal failings; and it is quite otherwise when the Crimes of Men come to Affect the Publick.[sic] .Every Crime against the publick, is a great crime?. The exposing therefore of Publick Wickedness, as it is a Duty which every Man owes to the Truth and his Country, can never be a Libel in the Nature of Things. [I]t has been hitherto generally understood, that there was no other Libels but those against Magistrates and those against private Men. Now to me there seems to be a Third set of Libels, full[y] as Destructive as any of the former can probably be, I mean Libels against the People. I have indeed often wondered that the Inveighing against the Interest of the People, and calling their Liberty in[to] Question has never been made an express Crime. I know not what Reason is if sapping and betraying the Liberties of a People be not Treason. [A]lmost all over the Earth, the People for one Injury they do their Governor, receive Ten Thousand from them. Nay, in some Countries it is made Death and Damnation, not to bear all the Oppression and Cruelties, which Men made Wanton by Power inflict upon those that gave it them."

I have taken the original printed article and cleaned it up slightly, changing some of the archaic word forms in use in the early 18th century. But the words ring true, don’t they? Isn’t this what we’ve been accustomed to?

The NY Times again:

It is not easy to gauge whether the administration will move beyond these efforts to criminal prosecutions of reporters. In public statements and court papers, administration officials have said the law allows such prosecutions and that they will use their prosecutorial discretion in this area judiciously. But there is no indication that a decision to begin such a prosecution has been made. A Justice Department spokeswoman, Tasia Scolinos, declined to comment on Friday.

Because such prosecutions of reporters are unknown, they are widely thought inconceivable. But legal experts say that existing laws may well allow holding the press to account criminally. Should the administration pursue the matter, these experts say, it could gain a tool that would thoroughly alter the balance of power between the government and the press.

The administration and its allies say that all avenues must be explored to ensure that vital national security information does not fall into the hands of the nation's enemies.

Readers will quickly note that it is not a violation of “national security” when George Bush, or one of his minions, releases sensitive or classified information for political advantage, but it is most certainly so when someone whispers a damning bit of truth in the ear of a reporter. And the pro forma ‘no comment’ from a Justice Department representative signals that such a strategy is now being geared up. Above all else Bu$hCo fears loss of the Congressional majority that has allowed him to perpetrate what he has done so far.

"Once you make the press the defendant rather than the leaker," said David Rudenstine, the dean of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York and a First Amendment scholar, "you really shut down the flow of information because the government will always know who the defendant is."

The Bush Personality Cult continues its inexorable march toward totalitarian dictatorship. Obviously he wants a news industry that resembles the Soviet Union, or Hitler’s Germany, circa 1941.

Juan Cole discusses international terrorism, its new cousin, white American hate, and courage in 1776 and 2003 and how they all interconnect. It all has to do with two quotes, Susan Sarandon and John Hancock.

Sarandon recalled how she was labelled a “bin Laden lover” for raising concerns about the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Oscar-winning actress, 59, said the way she and her family had been targeted for her moral stance by newspapers, radio phone-ins, teachers and people on the street was “horrifying” . . .

“I don’t think I ever thought someone would ever really kill me, although there were some people who said ‘I’d like someone to knock her off’ on the radio and stuff like that,” she said. “I don’t think I thought I’d really never work again, but when there is nobody else, when you look out on the field and everybody is quiet and they’re all looking away and nobody’s saying anything,

Here is what John Hancock really did say about his defiance of King George:

' May that magnificence of spirit which scorns the low pursuits of malice, may that generous compassion which often preserves from ruin, even a guilty villain, forever actuate the noble bosoms of Americans! But let not the miscreant host vainly imagine that we feared their arms. No; them we despised; we dread nothing but slavery. Death is the creature of a poltroon's brains; 'tis immortality to sacrifice ourselves for the salvation of our country. We fear not death. '

John would have been mortified that over two centuries later some poltroons among our co[u]ntrymen should have acted like the rowdy redcoats in trying to revoke an American's liberty, and in making death threats against Susan Sarandon.

The war bravery of cowardly George Bush’s Legion of Cowards. I guess that's the 32% base that find their courage in anonymous telephone threats.

In a quick news blurb I just heard on the radio (600 PM) Rush Limbaugh has just surrendered himself to the Palm Beach Counny, Florida, Sheriff's Office in connection with doctor-shopping charges against him that have been made by State's Attorney Barry Krischer. (In FLorida a State's Attorney is the equivalent of a county prosecutor.)

The progressive in me is doing a sort of mental snoopy dance because this would appear to be seriously major news in the case of Limbaugh's drug addiction. (Yes, some progressives have a reptilian side to their personalities.) This man, a hypocrite like all winger talking heads, fulminated for years on the radio, urging stringent treatment of all addicts. It has long been a major platform in Republican philosophy that addicts are in fact criminals, and not sick with a disease. The Party of personal responsibility has demanded strict, and maximum, prison sentences for use of illegal drugs, and Limbaugh was one of the most vocal of those advocating punishment rather than treatment.

The human in me finds the compassion that the wingers pretend to champion. Having been a child in a house of addicts I understand the chemical, mental, and psychological dynamics of addiction. I hope that this time, which I think would be the third time, he gets the help he really needs to kick. I don't expect that, since Florida officially condemns addicition as a crime, and to my knowledge treatment intervention is rare. But I honestly hope he finds peace within himself, and kills that monkey.

UPDATE: Implicit in this announcement, I would think, is the fact that Limbaugh and his attorneys have reached some sort of plea agreement with the State's Attorney's office. Nothing has yet been made public, but that would seem to be the obvious cause of surrendering himself while officially trial pleadings have been ongoing.

There are days when I feel full of fire and sit at my keyboard, the rage and humiliation coursing through me like an electric jolt and I find it hard to even articulate the sense of shame that George Bush and his cabal of cowards, criminals, sadists, hypocrites and bootlickers have created in me. On days like that I pace about my office, struggling to find words to connect into coherent meaning.

This is one of those days.

There is a very remarkable article in yesterday’s WaPo. It’s written by an American lawyer, P Sabin Willett who is representing one of those many faceless human beings imprisoned by George Bush at Guantanamo. The prisoner, Saddiq Ahmad Turkestani, was judged by the military in 2005 to not be an enemy combatant. In fact, he despises Osama bin Laden. Mr Turkestani is a Saudi citizen and because he hates Osama, the Saudi government will not accept his return to his home.

Let’s stop and think about that for a moment. Somehow the guy got into our hands, and he’s a prisoner at Gitmo. I have no idea whether he’s been tortured. Possibly he has because we are quite comfortably torturing prisoners down there, with the express permission of George Bush, Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzalez, Donald Rumsfeld, General Peter Pace, and a whole slew of others who disgrace our flag on a daily basis. He’s innocent. Not a criminal. Not a terrorist. Not an insurgent. Not a “foreign fighter.” But, because he hates Osama bin Laden, the man currently blamed for the deaths of over 3,000 Americans, our best friends the Saudis don’t want him in their country.

And apparently, Saddiq has found some sort of zen tranquility by virtue of gardening.

You really should read the article because it tells a lot about why dictators and totalitarians like Bu$hCo will never be successful in their lust to crush the human spirit. Because Fred Hiatt is still editor at WaPo, I will not link to the article. I refuse to extend a professional courtesy to a newspaper that is as unprofessional and mendacious as the Washington Post. Fred Hiatt lies for a living and is a stain on the mantle of journalism. Someday, Fred Hiatt will be forced to resign in disgrace to atone for the dishonor he has brought to the once-great newspaper that I was proud to read.

One of our best friends, Jo Fish at Democratic Veteran can lead you to the article.

I just read this on Steve Gilliard’s News Blog and it really tells the entire story about cowardice and hypocrisy in the Republican Party. It’s actually a repeat of a kos diary by soonergrunt back in May, 2005, and I’m putting it up just because it made me feel good.

I went to the 12:21 AM showing of Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith last night. I got there about 11:00 PM and stood in a long line with people of varying ages and walks of life. I met up with a friend who is on mid-tour leave from Iraq, and we hung out together while waiting for the film to begin. The movie was mostly excellent. There were some uneven moments, but I did enjoy it. To my story, then. I was wearing one of my unit t-shirts for the simple reason that I had slept in it earlier and I didn't care to change--it smelled clean enough anyway.

While waiting in line with my fellow moviegoers, We listened absentmindedly to snippets of some of the conversations taking place around me in the three lines for the various showings as we shot the shit ourselves. The conversations were mostly centered around Star Wars, of course, but also current events and occasionally various personal issues.

One conversation in particular caught our attention, and we listened to it intently. A gentleman of about mid-twenties or so was holding forth on the 'war on terror,' democrats, Jane Fonda, and so on. His listeners appeared to be the same age range as he. "We need to kick these raghead murderers out of the country...kill them wherever we find them...expand Israel all the way to the persian gulf and make Saudi Arabia a subsidiary of Exxon..."

His listeners, two of whom were wearing 'OU Young Republicans' t-shirts, were nodding their heads and making generally approving comments.

My friend just shook his head and muttered, loud enough for them to hear "fucking ignorant assholes."

About my friend, Richard--he volunteered to join a unit from another state because he couldn't find work with he shiny new college degree for almost a year. He accepted a direct commission as a 2nd Liutenant of Infantry as part of the mission. He and I had been together as NCOs during the ground offensive into Iraq, and he's as good a man and a combat leader as they come
.
The guy turned to us and said "I suppose you 'liberals' think we ought to just let the Arabs take over our country and kill all the adults and convert our children to muslim (sic) huh?"

Richie--"Not likely in any event, but we don't have an army worth the name anymore, thanks your lord Bush. I'm halfway through a tour over there and I don't see any way we can prevent a civil war, let alone win anything but what do I know? Back here in the land of SUVs and roses, you have a clearer picture don't you?" (I had always thought Richie was a republican--what's up with this?)

One of the others said something to the effect that Richie was full of shit, which he countered by producing his leave form and ID card from his wallet.

"We're winning. Why else would the insurgents do these large attacks that they know they can't win? It's frustration, or make sure they stay in the news. Things are getting better there all the time, but you probably can't see it at your level."

"If we're winning, how come the insurgents are even able to stage these large attacks? If we had that level of control, they wouldn't have any safe assembly areas from which to attack us in any numbers. All we can do is react to them, which means they have the initiative. That's bad," I said.

"They're attacking mainly Iraqis now," said one. "They're afraid to come out and fight us" she said. "Three things," said Richie, "one, attacking Iraqis is a great way to start a civil war-that's a lovely thought-a three-way civil war with us in the middle, and two," he said, "they're attacking us more than enough as it is, thank you, and three," he asked, "are you in the military?" "No, but I support the troops and our Commander in Chief," she replied. "Then what's this 'WE' shit? It's not your ass over there getting IED'ed and RPG'ed and shot at and mortared, so who the fuck are you to talk about 'we'?" "Come on, I'm sure the young republicans here all have yellow ribbon magnets on the SUVs their daddies bought them-go easy, man. They support us," I said. (One could, in fact, hear the italics in my voice.)

"He's been there, and got the t-shirt," Richie said, making a twirling motion with his finger to me. I turned around so they could see the image on the back of my shirt.

"Well, with attitudes like yours, we won't win," one of them said.

"Then why don't you join up so you can go over there and show us how it's done?" asked Richie. They looked away. "That's what I thought," he said, "so why don't you all shut your fucking yaps since you don't even believe in your own shit enough to stand up for it?"

Boy, these gas prices are killers, eh? Amazing what a down refinery can do to destroy the middle class. One would almost think it’s planned, since it seems to dovetail so precisely with the obvious Bu$hCo strategy of punishing the poor and working middle class. Only a cynical man would believe that,

Over at low and left, idiosynchronic plays around with a couple of maps. Before you look, go get that roll of aluminum foil from the pantry. Yeah, I know your wife was saving it for the turkey at Thanksgiving, but the way things are going you won’t be able to afford that, either. Wrap that roll around your head and enjoy the synchronicity of the maps.

UPDATE: Fixed bad link, thanks to WK.

LTG Jerry Boykin, currently the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence has lost yet another battle. This decorated soldier is known to most Americans for his famous statement during service in the ill-fated expedition to Somalia which he described with the phrase, "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.”

That battle didn’t go so well, as you may remember. Either the false idol won, or the planning was faulty.

He was also involved in the 1980 attempt to rescue the American hostages from the Teheran embassy,

Again, another failure.

He was involved in the hunt to capture the famous drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar, in Colombia and return him to the US for trial.

He failed there, too. Escobar was executed, either by Colombian police during a shootout, or by members of a special unit Boykin set up to capture him. Escobar had been wounded in both legs during a shoot-out, and so obviously could have been taken alive.

But it is for his rah-rah boosterism of the “Christian G_d” that this Evangelical is best known. During a speech in June, 2003, he commented that Muslims hate the US “because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian ... and the enemy is a guy named Satan."

Will Bunch has pointed out that LTG Boykin’s God has a competitor.

George Bush, speaking in Cincinnati on Oct 7, 2002:

Some al-Qaida leaders who fled Afghanistan went to Iraq. These include one very senior al-Qaida leader who received medical treatment in Baghdad this year, and who has been associated with planning for chemical and biological attacks.

Colin Powell, speaking in the UN on February 5, 2005:

Zarqawi's activities are not confined to this small corner of north east Iraq. He traveled to Baghdad in May 2002 for medical treatment, staying in the capital of Iraq for two months while he recuperated to fight another day.

Matthew A. Levitt, senior fellow in terrorism studies at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, National Review Online, Feb. 6, 2003.:

From Iran Zarqawi traveled to Iraq in May 2002, where his wounded leg was amputated and the limb fitted with a prosthetic device. He spent two months recovering in Baghdad, at which time "nearly two dozen extremists converged on Baghdad and established a base of operations there."

Now, we’ve been unable to find this one-legged master criminal of a terrorist. Zarqawi is THE big bad bear of Iraq. He’s been designated again and again as the worst person on earth, apparently even eclipsing Osama bin Laden who once was the #1 evil in the Universe, until Mr Bush decided he had no idea where Osama was and didn’t care very much. It always puzzled me that we couldn’t find bin Laden and Zarqawi. One guy has to drag a dialysis machine around behind himself, the other schleps around on a wooden leg.

Now we know how Zarqawi has managed to elude capture for so long. According to Will:

Miracles really do happen -- especially over in the Holy Land. Because we have just watched the video of Iraq-based terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and, lo and behold, the once-crippled man seems to have grown two healthy legs. The 30-minute video, in which Zarqawi surfaced publicly to rally Sunnis and foreign fighters behind the insurgency, shows Zarqawi running through the desert, crouching to fire a machine gun, even sitting cross-legged in a meeting -- with no hint of the prosthetic limb that he allegedly received with the aid of Saddam Hussein.

As the AP notes:

He seemed healthy, shown in one scene standing and firing a heavy machine gun in a flat desert landscape that resembled the vast empty stretches of western Iraq, where he is believed to be hiding.

There you have it, my friends. Jerry Boykin’s G_d has a competitor who also performs miracles. Allah grew Zarqawi a new leg. The only other answer is that Mr Bush’s crew got it all wrong, and we know they never make a mistake, right?

Right?

The Defense Department announced today that there are plans to return approximately 30,000 troops from Iraq, without replacing them. Now, we knew this was coming, because, after all, that’s part of the game plan to steal the 2006 mid-term elections and protect the Republican majority in both houses of Congress. And, of course, the troops have to start being reduced soon, because that one little item, happening in late October, won’t be enough to swing the election all by itself. And heaven knows, with Mr Bush’s disastrous poll numbers these days, it would be foolhardy to depend only on the corrupted Diebold and ESS machines.

As the top U.S. commander in Iraq suggested today that the United States would soon reduce the number of troops in Iraq, Pentagon planners said to ABC News that they hoped to pull more than 30,000 troops out by the end of the year, and possibly by as early as November.

The reductions depend on political and security progress in Iraq.

In a surprise visit to Baghdad, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld hailed progress toward the formation of a new Iraqi government as a "turning point" that would enable the United States to turn over more responsibility to the Iraqis.

Gen. George Casey, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, called the recent selection of new Iraqi leaders, including incoming Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a major step toward a partial withdrawal of U.S. troops.

So, in a sense, it’s good news for the oxygen breathing side of the universe. This small drop in the bucket certainly won’t be enough to attack, invade, and occupy Iran. But it will have some minor effect on Bu$hCo’s poll numbers for a day or two. Even though we’re not permitted to see troops returning in a horizontal position, watch for lots of film of smiling troops deplaning, and rushing into the welcome arms of their adoring families.

I know I sound cynical, and I am, but goodness, won’t it be nice to see some of them coming home again?

Over at The Left Coaster, Steve Soto has a commentary about the hiring transfer of Tony Snow from Fox News to the White House:

Tony Snow was announced as the new White House press secretary this morning, in a move that gives me less heartburn than probably other people. I'll have more on this later in the morning, but to have a conservative spinmeister and apologist be your new mouthpiece, for an administration that treats the press as nothing more than extensions of their propaganda operation, doesn't seem out of line to me.

Sure, he has little credibility, but when did that matter?

Snow is the perfect choice, as he is better looking, more glib, and likely able to charm a few more dupes in the press corps than Scott McClellan was. The major difference I see is that by some accounts, McClellan was bothered by the lying and spinning that was a part of his daily job, and he actually cared about his integrity.

Snow has no such qualms about the job, as he is a political hack, through and through, and will enjoy bringing the Fox News approach to the this White House, where the line between objective fact and political disinformation has never existed in the first place.

I do agree with Steve about Snow and the WH Press Corpse. Snow has little credibility outside the rather small and diseased world of the mouth-breathing followers of Fascist News. Except for the two Davids from MSNBC, they are brain dead robots so used to taking down stenography as publishing it as “news” that I’m surprised their corporate masters don’t shitcan them and just type their corporate bylines and logos on top of the WH press handout. They could thereby save some bucks, and pay the upper management assholes some larger bonuses. D. Shuster and D. Gregory, however, are well worth the sums they are paid, as well as Helen Thomas, who should be enshrined, like Mother Theresa. The three of them actually spend some time thinking about the questions they pose, and the answers returned are carefully dissected and examined to weed out the fertilizer, which of course, provides the followup question.

Thinking, examination, and followup are unknown techniques in the American news business these days. It’s much more important to have a telegenic face and manageable hair than a brain.

The interesting dynamic here surrounds Snow’s former and future employer, and Snow’s relationship with competitors in the press corps. In essence, Roger Ailes was able to convince Rove and Bush that their problems weren’t with policy, but with packaging and selling those policies.

The White House has formally turned its media operation over to Fox News now, as the state-sponsored media operation, as if this were a banana republic. But if you are CNN or MSNBC, and you have spent the last five years aping Fox News in a stupid attempt to go after the same audience, how much access will you be getting now from the White House? And didn’t your strategy for these last five years just hit the toilet?

Watch for a surge of desperation from Certainly Not News and MSGOP before the rot caused by further loss of ratings gets a few $1 Million suits fired due to the loss of advertising revenue. It’s entirely possible Ted Turner may end up as a “consultant” to CNN, and that will create a barn-burner.

All it takes is someone with the brains and testes to realize how outraged Americans are by this pack of lying, thieving criminals. They’re waiting for a 21st century Howard Beale to lead them out of the desert.

Chidyke, over at CorrenteWire brings us this little bit of good news about the booming Bu$hCo economy:

By THERESA AGOVINO, AP Business Writer Wed Apr 26, 1:48 AM ET NEW YORK - The percentage of working-age Americans with moderate to middle incomes who lacked health insurance for at least part of the year rose to 41 percent in 2005, a dramatic increase from the 28 percent in 2001 without coverage, a study released on Wednesday found.

Moreover, more than half of the uninsured adults said they were having problems paying their medical bills or had incurred debt to cover their expenses, according to a report by the Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based private, health care policy foundation. The study of 4,350 adults also found that people without insurance were more likely to forgo recommended health screenings such as mammograms than those with coverage, and were less likely to have a regular doctor than their insured counterparts.

The report paints a bleak health care picture for the uninsured. “It represents an explosion of the insurance crisis into those with moderate incomes,” said Sara Collins, a senior program officer at the Commonwealth Fund.

Chidyke goes on to make the possibly sardonic comment that when Ms Collins says “moderate” income she’s talking about those of us peons without the biological foresight to have been born into white families with trust funds. Oh yes, there’s a vast mass of us plebes out here in the land – the great unwashed, who are the subjects of much planning in Bu$hCo when they talk about the “ownership society.”

That evil piece of crap that the banks bought from the Republican Party to make every poor American into a pauper through the drastic tightening of bankruptcy laws will see its logical fruition in a few years. The free and easy credit cards they mail-spammed us with for years will lead to massive dispossession, although I can’t even begin to think what the banks will do with all those empty houses. Maybe the plan five years out is to offer “enterprise zones” in agricultural areas, where the 30 or so million new homeless will be able to live in barracks housing built by HalliCheneyBurton at 500% profit, while working for pennies on farms owned by Archer Daniels Midland while the genetically modified corn ADM is forcing on farmers is made into ethanol.

I’m sure the plan is for companies like Blackwater and Custer Battles to provide the necessary internal security to keep the farmhands under control. They’re already supplying that service in the Gulf area, after all. Overseeing field hands is a task that comes easily to men corrupted by money.

I think it’s ironic that the nation that once held patent on the best democracy since ancient Athens has been transformed into the most feared rogue nation in the world in only five years. The step into forced indentured servitude will be much easier.

Crime is a uniquely human problem, evident in all societies and cultures, and has been studied to exhaustion. Invariably the same causes are determined to be at the root time after time. In a nutshell, the primary causes for crime stem from economic need: poverty and greed.

War is really a type of crime, and we’ve written about the economic causes of war, which are far more prevalent among developing and developed countries than race hatred, xenophobia and just sheer meanness. You always want more stuff, or you want the stuff someone else owns.

Hence, we have Mr Bush’s cabal going around the middle east, stealing other peoples’ oil and other mineral resources. True, there is a small sense of taking it before the other guys (China and India) take it, thereby kneecapping two economies with the vitality and potential to overwhelm the US in the international market place of the global community. But basically, the plan is to grab the land that covers the oil, and hang onto it. In this case, the profits will not inure to the benefit of the US, but rather to a very small group of transnationals know as Big Oil. Most of the “American” Big Oil companies are domiciled overseas. Therefore they pay very little tax in the US and thus deliver little to the country in return for the massive profits the death and dismemberment of American soldiers earn.

As Clausewitz famously wrote, “War is the continuation of politics by other means.” I interpret this to mean that what can be gained by war can also be gained by diplomacy. However, to George Bush and his associates, diplomacy requires deftness, subtlety, and nuanced thinking. Those with deep personality problems, including massive insecurities, view diplomacy and compromise as weak. Far more satisfying, psychologically, to be a beserker, to terrify others. Dominance through intimidation is a successful tactic that was noted long ago by zoologists and anthropologists.

Hierarchy & Dominance Displays Among the 50 or so members of a chimpanzee community, one adult male is recognized as the highest-ranking or "alpha" male. While several males may exercise dominance over other males, the alpha male is dominant over all the members of the community, male and female. He attains his high-ranking position through intimidation, strength, and intelligence, often exhibited in "dominance displays." Such a display often begins with spectacular charging, during which a male hurls himself along the ground, sometimes upright, slapping his hands, stamping with his feet, dragging branches, or hurling rocks.

Human sometimes make the same sort of displays, but the display always involves a projected power and symbols of sexual dominance. (Sometimes a rolled up sock is necessary for otherwise inadequate primates.)

So, while we’re very busy as a nation trying to sew up all the oil in the middle east, the Chinese have taken a wiser, more subtle course of action, as might befit a culture schooled by Sun Tzu rather than von Clausewitz.

As londonyank writes in his latest kos diary:

China is racking up bilateral agreements for supply of the minerals, energy and markets China needs to sustain its rapid development. China's sales pitch is security and stability for ruling elites and prosperity for local populations. America demands democratic regime change and threatens war, overthrow and embargoes unless its corporate kleptocrats are given free reign to exploit natural resources.

Americans can hold the moral high ground and say that China doesn't care about human rights or civil rights. That is true, but our performance in Iraq makes our hypocrisy transparent. Americans will find the high ground increasingly cold and dark if we're denied energy for heat and light, so we need to be at least objective in assessing our situation.

Sun Tzu offers 36 strategies for war. Among them are

1) “Watch the fires across the river.” Be alert that the fires do not cross the river. Do not cross the river to put them out. Let those on the other side fight the fires, but be prepared to offer help.

2) “Remove the firewood under the cooking pot.” Control of the firewood gives control of the cooking pot. The US, of course, is trying to use this strategy, too. But the basis of the US thrust for resources is force and exploitation. The Chinese are offering partnership.

The most critical outcomes from Hu Jintao's visit to Saudi include: - Saudi commitment to increase oil exports to China by 37 percent; - A strategic oil reserve of Saudi oil in China; - China's assumption of a key role in mediating peace and security in the Middle East and South Asia; - A defense and security agreement that pledges Chinese weaponry and technology to defend Saudi in exchange for energy security; - Extensive investment plans for Saudi/Chinese joint infrastructure in oil refineries, petrochemicals and other ventures of mutual interest.

3) “Make your enemy work while you wait at leisure.” China and India are this century’s big movers, from an economic standpoint. I’m sure it amuses China to see the US slowly exhausting itself economically to pay for Mr Bush’s war of choice in Iran. And we should always bear in mind that China holds over 20% of our foreign debt. Think of it as a mortgage, that has to be extended, and re-extended again and again, each time sinking deeper in debt to the mortgagor until, on day, he refuses to finance you further, and you default on the mortgage, thereby losing the house in foreclosure.

Agreements on similar themes will be signed in Morocco (ports), Nigeria (natural gas and oil) and Kenya (minerals) as Hu pursues his global charm offensive. These agreements come on top of existing agreements and joint investments in infrastructure throughout Asia, Latin America and Central America.

China is explicitly offering support for ruling elites in exchange for resource security and market access. Part of the package for Nigeria, Sudan and Iran seems to be shielding them from international criticism or sanctions. It is an attractive proposition, especially when China shares the profits with its partners through joint ventures and co-development deals more generously than tax-shy Western corporations ever did. This model has already paid off handsomely in South America where it has contributed to the pro-Chinese sentiment in Brazil and Venezuela in recent years with massive infrastructure and co-development investments.

There seems little that the USA can do to counter China's charm offensive so long as Americans are discredited by their close association with wars of aggression, phoney intelligence, torture and death squads on the political front, and decades of resource exploitation, labour oppression and economic injustice on the social front. Forced to choose between the USA and China one might reasonably argue that at least China offers the hope of stability with its exploitation.

By the time Mr Bush has finished exorcising the ghosts of his mother’s mockery of his masculinity we will have lost our army, our international reputation, all our friends and allies, and even the mideast oil.

Two consecutive stories caught my eye at My Left Wing this morning. They are both about the Air Force, whose motto, IIRC used to be “Fly High.”

Earlier today, a friend of mine who flies for the Air Force sent me an email reporting that sometime in the middle of the day today, the Air Force's IT people put a block on DailyKos. He was on a coffee break and wanted to show a colleague a diary about energy policy, so he told me (probably one of Jerome à Paris'). Although it was possible to do that this morning, by around two o'clock (or however they say that in the Air Force) DailyKos was blocked.

So was Atrios.

So was TalkingPointsMemo, for crying out loud - and they're all policy and minimal invective over there!

On the other hand, Free Republic and Little Green Footballs came through just fine, thank you very much.

Attempts to load any of the "forbidden" sites causes a very scary screen to pop up, warning the user that a regulation or policy or some such has been violated and the address of the computer has been logged.

I can certainly understand a policy that permits airmen to use their computers at work for work reasons only, but that hardly explains why some of the more outrageous examples of high wingnuttery are given a pass.

I’ve written before about the politicization of the military, and about how dangerous this pernicious practice is in a democracy. The US Constitution establishes civilian control over the military, but the intent was to establish primacy of command and not to create a private army to become the tool of political forces. Political parties with private armies invariably lead to a bad end. If you’re uncertain of my meaning, check here. Or here. Or even here.

And when you throw religious fanaticism into the mix it becomes even more alarming. Remember: these are the guys with the “special weapons.” Are you comfortable with them under the control of a church that preaches bigotry and hatred of everyone that doesn’t toe the church line?

It’s nice to know the Air Force has enough time on their hands to censor what its members are permitted to read. I feel better knowing it’s all right to read webpages that preach the eliminationist doctrine against Islam, a religion followed by 20% of the world’s population. But apparently reading about stolen elections, criminal activity in the “Party of God” and the many, many, many Republicans currently either in prison, or shortly to be there, somehow endangers “national security.”

Don't you feel better, too?

The second story is also about the USAF.

Russian military planes flew undetected through the U.S. zone of the Arctic Ocean to Canada during recent military exercises, a senior Air Force commander said Saturday.

The commander of the country's long-range strategic bombers, Lieutenant General Igor Khvorov, said the U.S. Air Force is now investigating why its military was unable to detect the Russian bombers.

"They were unable to detect the planes either with radars or visually," he said.

Khorov said that during the military exercises in April, Tu-160 Blackjack bombers and Tu-95 Bears had successfully carried out four missile launches. Bombing exercises were held using Tu-22 Blinders.

Let’s see now…… making sure no one can read dissenting political opinion on an Air Force computer. Eagerly planning for new nuclear weapons, smaller nuclear weapons, including bunker busters to create earthquake reactions, evangelizing the Tactical strike force, not bothering to protect the nation from military threats from another country. Why it almost sounds like they don’t care if there’s a nuclear war, doesn’t it?

Or is this a little bit like September 11th, when NORAD and the Interceptor force was instructed to stand down?

So, is the Air Force motto “Fly High” or “Low and Slow”?

Today, April 23rd, 2006, we celebrate the 24th anniversary of the founding of the Conch Republic. On this date in 1982 the US Border Patrol set up a checkpoint at the Dade – Monroe County border, at the top of the Florida Keys. Ostensibly, they were checking for illegal immigrants traveling north through the Keys, heading for Miami and points north and northwest. What they effectively did was to block off the Keys from the mainland of Florida.

The mayor of Key West at the time tried to get a Federal Court in Miami to force the Border Patrol to open the blockade, and failed. The only solution, of course, was open rebellion and secession, and the next day, at noon, the Conch Republic was born. At 1201 PM, Key West Mayor (now Prime Minister) Wardlow surrendered the forces of the Conch Republic to the admiral in command at the Key West Naval Base and demanded $1 Billion in foreign aid and reparations.

This was in the heady days before Congressman F James “Cheesebrain” Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin realized that small brown people who spoke Spanish were a terribly dangerous threat to the national security of the country and had to be excluded at all costs. (Said costs to provide a very large and intimidating wall between the US and Mexico, built at unconscionable expense by HalliCheneyBurton.) Considering Mr Sensenbrenner’s tendency to fascist behavior, I’m sure that somewhere back in the lower regions of his reptile brain he realized that a wall built to keep people out can also keep people in.

While DeLay was orchestrating the latest plot turn in the ethics committee, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., continued his chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee as circus act. On June 10, he presided over a morning's hearing on the PATRIOT Act of witnesses invited by the Democratic minority. It was the one occasion the Democrats were allowed under the rules to give critics an official forum on the bill up for renewal. Sensenbrenner, whose routine demeanor is peeved and bilious, was on a hair trigger. He did not permit the ranking Democrat, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., to finish his opening statement. He refused to recognize Democrats on their points of order. Finally, he declared the hearings over. "Much of what has been stated is not irrelevant," he announced. "Point of order," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. "No, I will not yield," said Sensenbrenner. He cut off the microphones of Democrats as their words hung in the air: "Will the gentleman yield?" and "Point of order, Mr. Chairman." Sensenbrenner stormed out the door. Sensenbrenner's highhandedness was hardly exceptional. This spring he barred Democrats from consultation on legislation that made drivers' licenses national identification cards -- in effect backdoor immigration legislation that could lead to sweeps against illegal immigrants with licenses. Indeed, no hearings whatsoever were held before the bill's passage.

By virtue of owning some small shacks at various places down in the Keys I am a proud citizen of the Conch Republic, and take my Republic passport with me when I travel. When I leave the US, of course I also take my “other” passport because these days you just don’t know. There might be another Border Patrol blockade someday.

Passports aren’t cheap these days, and in answer to the occasional protest we always explain that it costs a lot of money to provide the lovely sweet sandy beaches, fabulous fishing, magnificent sunsets, and chickee huts. As I sit on my bar stool, gazing at the sandy beach, I think fondly of my pal, Gordon.

Two different news items caught my eye this morning. In a story from AFP, printed in breitbart.com, Mr Bush talks about the price of gasoline:

US President George W. Bush has warned rising oil prices will mean a "tough summer" for US consumers as the high cost of gasoline (petrol) showed signs of becoming a big political issue. But even as more Americans expressed discontent over the price of filling up their gas tanks, Bush suggested there was little his government could do in the short term about the problem.

"We're going to have a tough summer because people are beginning to drive now during tight supply," Bush said as he toured a California facility developing hydrogen-powered vehicles.

"The American people have got to understand what happens elsewhere in the world affects the price of gasoline you pay here."

Bush spoke after a week of unremitting rises in prices in global crude oil markets and at gasoline (petrol) pumps across the country. Crude topped a record 75 dollars per barrel in New York trading Friday, five dollars up from a week earlier.

At the same time, US retail pump prices were topping an average three dollars a gallon (3.8 liters) in many places in the country, up 60 cents -- 33 percent -- from a year ago.

I love it. The “Most Powerful Man in the World” is helpless in the face of Big Oil and the speculative nature of the spot market.

There’s lots of oil, all over the world, and most of it is easily accessible, but Big Oil is allowed to play fast and loose in the pricing game. The political party with a death hold on the US Government is unable to affect any price controls over a commodity that the country needs desperately.

Our entire society has been geared to use of the personal automobile: people rarely live near their jobs, or the stores where they shop because they have been sold a lifestyle of comfort and ease since the end WWII. Of course, way back then most Americans had good jobs, many of them blue collar unionized manufacturing jobs. Now the unions have been crushed by the Republicans, the factories closed and the jobs sent overseas into the third world in order to create more profit for multi-national corporations. It gotten so bad in the last few weeks that the selling price of a gallon of gasoline is forcing some Americans to pawn their working tools in order to buy gasoline in order to get to work.

Mr Bush is helpless – helpless mind you, in the face of this.
George Bush to Working America’s middle-class: Piss off and die.

The second story that caught my eye was something in the UK’s The
Mail newspaper:

Prince Harry has threatened to quit the Army if commanders refuse to send him to the front line.

He told senior officers before recently passing out of Sandhurst as a Second Lieutenant: ‘If I am not allowed to join my unit in a war zone, I will hand in my uniform.’

Prince Harry, third in line to succeed to the British throne, recently graduated from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and was commissioned as a Cornet (2nd Lieutenant) in the Blues and Royals, the senior cavalry regiment in the Army. As is the custom in Britain, males serve in the military, because that’s the sensible thing to do. Be a leader. Prove you’re a leader. Serve. It’s also pretty classy, I think, to share the fears and dangers with the people you govern, plus it accustoms you to how the “little people” think and live. It takes a brave man to accept responsibility for yourself, and your own and other people’s actions.

Harry, 21, and third in line to the throne, has previously talked of his desire to see action with his comrades and the prospect of him walking out on the Army if he is not allowed on to the front line has turned a theoretical problem into a nightmare for the Palace and Ministry of Defence.

While some bureaucrats in the government worry that his presence might endanger the troops he leads because he is a high value prestige target, his opinion is that he deserves to lead men into danger, precisely because he must lead by virtue of who he is. I have a suspicion that the troops under his command will take some pride in the fact that they’ve got a commander who could have ducked out, gotten a safe berth somewhere, say maybe as a pilot in the reserves, and coasted along. His father served in the Navy, as did his father before him. His uncle Andrew flew Harrier jets in combat during the Falkland Islands war. It’s just a thing, I guess.

It’s noblesse oblige. Style. Class. Character.

Compare and contrast the styles of two different princes. One with balls, and one without.

There's a blogger out there writing about empires:

I almost forgot this one.

Bush is at 33% approval rating, and that's right from the Fox's mouth.

When you consider that 10% of americans would approve of literally anybody with a pulse, that figure starts looking even more dire. When you consider that Bush is, indeed, a "wartime preznit," with concomitant jingoistic popularity pillows, the figure starts looking abysmal.

What I think we're seeing here is the needle sweeping the IQ curve.

Anybody with a brain can see the flagrant spending, the constant abrogation of human rights, the flouting of the constitution that have happened under Bush's watch. From what I hear, it's getting difficult for even hardcore conservatives to support this guy.

As the needle sweeps lower, watch the voices coming from the shrinking Bush brigade get shriller and more aggressive. Watch the chestbeating and nastiness reach a fever pitch. Oh, and make sure to savor the true hallmark of that crowd: the complete inability to form a complete sentence. Oh yes, the needle is sweeping.

And now we're getting down to the dregs.

Occam's Hatchet - great handle, BTW - has a fascinating and frightening post over at Maryscott O'Connor's My Left Wing:

Yesterday, a group of 12 eminent physicists sent an open letter to President Bush warning him of the dangers of using nuclear weapons in Iran.

This is a very bad sign. How bad? Well, consider what has happened after some of the other warnings Our Fearless Leader has received:

On August 29, 2005, the National Weather Service issued this advisory about a hurricane that was approaching the Gulf Coast:

By all means hit the link, go over there and read this post. It's text and graphic intensive, but the impact is powerful.

NB: Photographs not necessarily work safe, and definitely not for smaller children.

Hu Jin-tao is visiting the US to protect his country’s investment in our future, what with holding 25-odd percent of our debt. Because the visit is all about business he went to see America’s premier business man, Bill Gates, first, before going on to see his Chief Debtor, George Bush.

President Hu and Mr Gates allegedly reached some sort of agreement regarding software piracy, which is a huge money maker in China, where intellectually property rights seems to mean that intellectuals have the right to be owned by the Chinese People’s government. It’s an open secret in China and among those who make their living selling over-priced beta test software like Windows XP and its new replacement Windows Vista, that the Chinese Red Army has the major franchise in China for Windows software piracy, and don’t try to set up an independent shop to compete against them, because they also have the national concession on human organs for export.

IBM sold off their hardware manufacturing last year to Lenovo, a domestic Chinese company, for a reported $1.2 Billion, and now President Hu and Mr Gates have arranged a face-saving gesture wherein China will pay Microsoft for the licensing rights to manufacture and pre-install Windows on the PCs that used to be made by Americans, and will now be made overseas. Sad news for the US citizens who will now move on from their well-paid high tech jobs into the new and exciting field of pizza delivery, though.

President Hu also made a deal to buy 80 planes from Boeing for a reported $5.2 Billion. This is a good deal because it means that at least some Americans will keep their jobs for a few years more. At the present time the Chinese don’t have a really strong airplane manufacturing industry, although they do make some fairly decent military models.

In a combination of military concern and a slowly wakening realization that China will be the most serious economic and political threat to the US through the first half of the 21st century, the US has begun another “transformation” (yes, one of those Rumsfeld things) of their military in the Pacific.

WASHINGTON - The United States is equipping its forces for high tech expeditionary warfare, in part as a hedge against the uncertainties posed by China's military build-up, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.

"It is US policy to encourage China to emerge as a responsible international partner," said Bryan Whitman. "However, there is also a lack of transparency and some uncertainty surrounding China's future path."

"Therefore, we and others have to naturally hedge against the unknown," he told reporters here.

His visit is playing out against a backdrop of US concern about China's intentions as it pursues a major military build-up that the Pentagon believes threatens the military balance in region.

The United States also has been modernizing and reorienting its military forces in recent years, shifting its weight from Europe to the Asia-Pacific region and south Asia.

It has revamped its military alliance with Japan, and moved to strengthen military ties with India and countries in southeast and central Asia.

Well, we’ve been seeing how well that forward positioning in the south Asia region has been going. But of course, that’s a land war and just not much in it for the Navy. China, on the other hand, will not be a land warfare opponent. For now, the US has been trying to isolate China from as much fossil fuel as possible by stealing protecting the middle east oil resources.

Guam is being transformed into a hub for long range bombers, intelligence and surveillance aircraft, and logistics support. The military plans to move 8,000 marines to Guam from Okinawa by 2012.

The US Navy is adding a sixth aircraft carrier to the Pacific Fleet and has decided to home port 52 attack submarines -- 60 percent of its fleet -- in the Pacific theatre by 2010.

The navy also is changing the way it maintains and mans its warships to be able to deploy four aircraft carrier battle groups in the Pacific at a time.

Billions of dollars are being invested to acquire costly F-22 fighter aircraft capable of cruising at supersonic speeds and develop a new long range bomber, all with an eye on China.

A cynical man would think Bu$hCo expects China to want to fight for oil.

We used words to try to move men’s minds. Sometimes it’s just self-validation because, like the mustard seed, our words must fall on fertile ground. There are times when we can actually hit a homerun and enjoy the sweet pleasure of having successfully lifted the blinders from someone’s eyes and brought that person to enlightenment. It’s what I live for: the chance to wake up just one person to the evil and lying hypocrisy of today’s Republican Party. Each day I sit down at the keyboard and hope to assemble some words to express the idea that Corporate Fascism is evil and is destroying the America I grew up in.

But one can use images, as well as words. Some of the most familiar art known to Americans of a certain age stems from the huge ideological poster art of the Communist era, circa 1920s through- well, through today, since this sort of work is still visible in China, where the Party hasn’t yet surrendered to the capitalist blandishments. One doesn’t have to believe in the subject to admire the message of the artwork. I have less regard for Communism than I do for 21st century Republicanism, if that’s even possible. Ah, but some of the artwork is grand, noble, meant to inspire the proles to greater efforts, dedicating themselves to brighter tomorrow for their children.

This school of art is generally termed social realism and one of the greater named artists was Diego Rivera, for whom one can find examples on the web. His work in the Mexican Mural movement was a strong influence on the Federal Public Works of Art Project of the 1930s. Some more examples are here.

The Russians did it well. See here. As did the Chinese, magnificently heroic figures challenging the future.

The cartoonist Kirk Anderson has worked in this style, too. His political cartooning was just graced with an Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism. But he did some of the Communist poster art style of work, and it’s worth a visit here.

Jane over at Firedoglake has read through Sidney Blumenthal’s commentary regarding the recent changes at Bu$hCo: Scott McClellan to spend more time with his family, and Karl Rove stepping down from the fraud post of Deputy Director for Policy.

And I have a feeling, thoroughly unprovable, that this is why we’re seeing a shakeup today. The administration wants a new dodge for those hectoring questions from the press; McClellan repeatedly saying "I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation," after having put what little integrity he had behind the innocence of both Libby and Rove, was no doubt starting to grind. And as for Rove assuming "lesser" duties — I can’t imagine it’s actually true, but it does appear that there are a few changes going on with regard to the arrangement of the White House deck chairs. They probably don’t have much more idea than we do as to Fitzgerald’s timetable or what he has in his bag of tricks, but just in case he’s been waiting to free himself up from the Ryan situation before getting busy I’m sure they’re anxious to look like they’re cleaning house and position themselves for whatever may befall them.

Well, it was time for Scott to go. It’s embarrassing to get up there day after day after day and vomit out the same lies over and over again. Plus, I think the Press Corpse actually got to resent the shabby treatment these animals have handed out to Helen Thomas all these years. No, that wasn’t a misspelling, the tradition of a free independent press that asks probing questions is now seriously dead, like General Franco. During the last couple of weeks David Gregory has taken to causing a lot of flop sweat on poor Scoot, asking inconvenient questions, rather than just writing down the lie du jour. Save Ms Thomas and Mr Gregory and the ever-entertaining wingnut Les Kinsolving, the malAdministration has had it really good.

Of course the game of musical chairs is guaranteed to attract the rest of the presstitutes in Washington; they’re easily attracted by shiny things, just like all magpies. It amazes me that these people went to college and are supposedly professionals and yet they fall for the same shell game, time after time.

Andy Card is gone! Josh Bolten in! New changes! Everything is different! Look! Scotty McClellan is leaving! Karl Rove steps down from his Deputy Policy post! We have to babble about this for three days and can’t pay attention to the planned nuclear war against Iran!

Andy Card certainly didn’t leave out of a sense of shame. We have all seen the memorable video of George Bush sitting in that schoolroom in Florida as Card eases in, and whispers in his ear that a second plane just crashed into the World Trade Center and the man never even twitched. Was he drunk? In a trance? Not surprised? I don’t know – what do you think? But Card stayed for 5 years because power is the best aphrodisiac.

Josh Bolten is a good replacement because he’s truly dedicated to the cult of Bush. His main hobby is carefully taking, and displaying photographs of Mr Bush’s hands. I can’t think of a comment sufficiently snarky to discuss this appalling hobby.

Karl Rove steps down from the post of Deputy Director of Policy, of course, because that post requires a codeword national security clearance. He’s going to be forced off that security clearance soon, since Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has now finished with Illinois Republican criminal Jim Ryan, and has time to focus fully on dealing with Mr Rove’s treason and Mr Libby’s felonious lying and obstruction. But he stayed in the position, with the classification, until he either learned what he needed to know about his future, or until they all just figured it’s time to get him to focus on what he does best: lying about political opponents and stealing elections.

In the near future we will hear about Mr Rove being indicted. Simultaneously, Mr Rumsfeld will resign, when Bu$hCo realizes he too is an anvil around their necks.

Speaking of necks, the chattering classes will quickly develop whiplash as they try to decide which story is the more meaningful. They will completely miss the news of another four million Americans without jobs, health insurance, or hope.

Thanks to Atrios for pointing us to Maureen Dowd's invaluable contribution to the testosterone-fueled inadequacies of Mr Rumsfeld:

He suggested invading Iraq the day after 9/11. He didn't want to invade Iraq because it was connected to 9/11. That was the part his neocon aides at the Pentagon, Wolfie and Doug Feith, had to concoct. Rummy wanted to invade Iraq because he thought it would be easy, compared with Iran or North Korea, or compared with finding Osama. He could do it cheap and show off his vaunted transformation of the military into a sleek, lean fighting force.

Cloistered in a macho monastery with W. ("The Decider"), Dick Cheney and Condi Rice, Rummy didn't want to hear dissent, or delve into worries about Iraq, the tribes, the sects, the likelihood of an insurgency or a civil war, the need for more troops and armor to quell postwar eruptions.

"He didn't worry about the culture in Iraq," said Bernard Trainor, the retired Marine general who is my former colleague and the co-author of "Cobra II." "He just wanted to show them the front end of an M-1 tank. He could have been in Antarctica fighting penguins. He didn't care, as long as he could send the message that you don't mess with Hopalong Cassidy. He wanted to do to Saddam in the Middle East what he did to Shinseki in the Pentagon, make him an example, say, 'I'm in charge, don't mess with me.' "

The stoic Gen. Eric Shinseki finally spoke to Newsweek, conceding he had seen a former classmate wearing a cap emblazoned with "RIC WAS RIGHT" at West Point last fall. He said only that the Pentagon had "a lot of turmoil" before the invasion.

Just as with Vietnam, when L.B.J. and Robert McNamara were running the war, or later, when Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger took over, we now have leaders obsessed with not seeming weak, or losing face. Their egos are feeding their delusions.

Asked by Rush Limbaugh on Monday about progress in Iraq, Rummy replied, "Well, the progress has been good." He said that if you always listened to critics about war, "we wouldn't have won the Revolutionary War" or World War I or World War II, and America would have been a different country "if it existed at all."

But the conscience-stricken generals are not critics of war. They are critics of having a war run by a 73-year-old who thinks he's a force for modernity when he's really a force for fantasy. It's time to change the change agent.

Those who have been watching the disgraceful cabal of criminality that is the Bu$h malAdministration over the years have grown very delicate instincts. We hear a story, reflect, and say, "Yup. I believe they would do that." Or, occasionally, it's more suspicions confirmed. "Yeah, I knew that was coming." Now and then we react in complete disbelief. "Naw! Good grief! I never thought they'd be that brazen!" Sadly, this last is becoming more scarce than honesty from Senator Joe, as they overtop one atrocity after another.

I remember very distinctly a college professor discussing the causes of war many years ago. We talked about the racial, economic, and political causes for a while and then he advanced the theory that a lot of wars get started by impotent old men precisely because they are impotent. Psychologically, you see, being impotent produces a great deal of rage in them, and jealousy of younger, functional, virile men, and they seek to destroy these individuals who remind them of when they were also young, and breeders.

I remember rolling my eyes at hearing this theory, but then I was only 20 years old and couldn't possibly understand - how can I put this without giving offense? - being "ineffective." But as my hair greyed out, and I gained physical and psychological scars over the years, I saw more and more actions by "leaders" that made me wonder just what was boiling over in the subconscious pot of rice of their psyches.

It would ironic, and horrendously tragic, if we're in Iraq because Mr Rumsfeld wanted to prove he could still get it up, symbolically.

Brad at Sadly No! channels Dr Seuss on the Rumsfeld conundrum and the Decider-in-chief.

Down by the Pentagon, where the crickle grass grows,
Where for years the insurgents have been in their "last throes"
Old Donald Rumsfeld relaxed and kicked back
And thought of the fine job he'd done in Iraq

But despite Rummy's feelings of omnipotent might
Lots of people were dying, with no end in sight
So several old generals rose up in a rage
And their mad diatribes made it to the front page

All of them wanted poor Rummy to quit
Since 'twas under his watch that Iraq went to shit
But just as old Rummy was about to resign
Bush came along and said "You're doing just fine!"

He was tallish and oldish and grayish and chimpy
And his face looked cartoonish, like a Ren or a Stimpy
He rolled up his sleeves, slammed the floor with a "bang!"
And then bellowed out in his fake Texas twang:

"I'm the decider! I decide what is best!
And all my decisions, they come Jesus-blessed!
I don't read the views of the MSM paparazzi
I need Rummy's help stopping Muslamonazis!

"To all you old generals whose anger won't yield,
Why won't you think of the troops on the field
They want Rummy to stay, they say that they need him
What's wrong with you bastards, do y'all just hate freedom?"

And with that all the critics looked shamed and afraid
For providing al-Qaeda with comfort and aid
They wept and covered their faces with bags
And said, "We're sorry for being such traitorous fags!"

Sometimes when rage doesn't appease me, sarcasm will.

There's a lot that's been said in the last week about Mr Rumsfeld and his precarious or solid hold on the Defense Department. We’ve got six retired general officers, most likely speaking out publicly not for themselves but for the “voiceless ones” still in uniform. Knowing how the military works, these men are not just speaking for General Officers, but also expressing the thoughts, feelings, and fears of Colonels and probably even Majors. And be sure that the Majors are speaking on behalf of the Company grade officers who just don’t normally get asked their opinions by generals.

Two things about this topic today:

CNN has a piece today with Mr Bush speaking in the Rose Garden while announcing Rob Portman, the US trade representative to be the new White House Budget Director. The speech was officially about Mr Portman, but like all Presidential speeches, it was really about Mr Bush, in these days of the Bush personality cult.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush sharply defended Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday, saying the embattled Pentagon chief is doing a "fine job" despite calls for his resignation from six retired military generals. Bush already had interrupted his Easter vacation at Camp David, Maryland, on Friday to release a public statement of support for the defense secretary. Despite a practice of not usually commenting on personnel moves, the president told reporters Tuesday that his vote of confidence for Rumsfeld was an effort to stamp out speculation about his status.

Having observed Mr Bush, I am confident he is extremely annoyed that mere citizens dared to question his decisions. Having to actually take time out from one of his countless vacations to actually conduct US business must wrinkle his brow. And for a guy who pretends he doesn’t comment on personnel moved, he seems to love the cameras, doesn’t he?

You can understand why, because we've got people's reputations at stake," Bush said of his aversion to speculation about personnel matters. "And on Friday I stood up and said, 'I don't appreciate the speculation about Don Rumsfeld; he's doing a fine job; I strongly support him.'"

Pressed to respond to critics who say he is ignoring the advice of respected former military commanders, Bush vigorously stood by Rumsfeld.

"I listen to all voices, but mine is the final decision," he said. "And Don Rumsfeld is doing a fine job. He's not only transforming the military, he's fighting a war on terror. He's helping us fight a war on terror. I have strong confidence in Don Rumsfeld.

There you have it. People’s reputations are important, and must be protected. Just ask John Kerry, and Richard Clarke, and Ambassador Joe Wilson, and Valerie Plame, and Cindy Sheehan.

And Mr Bush doesn’t appreciate the little people questioning his personnel decisions, so just stop the speculating, get back down there in steerage, and man the oars. Although it appears more and more of us have to man the pumps as well.

Pressed to respond to critics who say he is ignoring the advice of respected former military commanders, Bush vigorously stood by Rumsfeld.

"I listen to all voices, but mine is the final decision," he said. "And Don Rumsfeld is doing a fine job. He's not only transforming the military, he's fighting a war on terror. He's helping us fight a war on terror. I have strong confidence in Don Rumsfeld.
"I hear the voices, and I read the front page, and I know the speculation. But I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."

The Decider-in-Chief has decided, after hearing the voices, and gazing at the front page.

The second observation on all this comes from Josh Marshall:

It's sad the state we've gotten to where, apparently, even firing incompetent executive branch appointees amounts to a win for the terrorists. Back in '04 we were still enough of a superpower that only turning out a president amounted to a win for the terrorists. That suggests that the terrorists truly have us over a barrel. We are so intimidated by them that we have to hold on to a failed defense secretary presumably forever. Or until there are no more Muslims with a beef with us. Whichever comes first. It's cool that we're standing so tall.

Senator Joe Lieberman, erstwhile Vice Presidential candidate and every Republican’s favorite “tame” Jew, went to Israel to celebrate Pesach. It’s actually a very spiritually rewarding thing, to have seder in the land promised by YhWh, and the dream of many. I envy him the experience. Not all are comfortable wearing the cloak of religion in public, but Senator Joe, like “Reverends” Robertson, Falwell, Phelps and Dobson is very happy to declare his undying loyalty to a country, people, and government other than the one that pays his salary. I’m not trying to imply that he isn’t loyal to the US, because he is, sort of. Or at least loyal to George Bush and the Republican Party. I’ve always been a bit astounded that he can publicly kiss on the lips the one man who most symbolizes a political party and religious philosophy that despises his own religion, but the nice thing about America is that we’re a big tent society that will always encourage a few brown people, and non-“Christians” to hang around in order to be pointed to as examples of how “they’re not quite like us.”

The indefatigable Steve Gilliard points us to an article in the Jerusalem Post wherein Senator Joe speaks about things beloved in his heart: George Bush, the destruction of Israel’s strategic enemies and nuclear war.

The US is probably incapable of completely destroying the Iranian nuclear program, but as a last resort it could attempt to knock out "some of the components" in order to "delay and deter it," Senator Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic vice presidential candidate and a serving member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told The Jerusalem Post.

Speaking at a time of almost daily declarations from Teheran concerning both progress in the nuclear program and inimical hostility to Israel, Lieberman said he knew of no "set war plans" being drawn up by the Bush Administration and, "I don't think anyone's yearning for military action against Iran."

I can’t understand why Senator Joe is being so disloyal to Mr Bush. After all, if you’re going to let another man put a liplock on you in public it sends a certain message, even more so when it’s a guy who stole, lied, and cheated you out of an honest election. But then, I have trouble defining my own message and it would be the height of arrogance to try to measure Senator Hoe’s Joe’s shoes. [ed: that was most likely a typo.]

Senator Joe is a “serving member of the Senate Armed Services Committee” and says he knows of no set plans to attack Iran. I dunno, Senator Joe, the guy who cuts my grass for me was discussing it with me today. He’s quite well briefed on weaponry, bunker buster options, warhead kilotonage and some grasp of seismic shock wave effects and English isn’t even his first language. Are you sure Mr Bush is being fully and completely candid with the Senate Armed Services Committee? You know, Senator Joe, it would be a shande to lie during Pesach.

Nonetheless, he said, there was skepticism in Congress about the likelihood of the UN Security Council taking "economic or diplomatic action." As a next step, that left the option of an "economic coalition of the willing," outside the UN framework, to try and deter the Iranians. And failing that, the only two remaining courses of action were intensified efforts "to encourage the reformist and opposition elements in Iran" to the regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and a resort to military force, he said.

Military action was "probably the last choice, but it has to be there," stressed Lieberman, who has been visiting Israel over the Pessah festival. He said there was now "active discussion" of the options for such action.

I could be wrong, Senator Joe, but I think one of the problems the UN Security Council may have that is causing that skepticism is this. As Joe Bob Briggs would say, “Check it out.” Those world-weary diplomats have seen this movie before, and the popcorn, as well as the plot line, is stale.

And let’s be realistic here. Economic action, sanctions, against Iran might not be the best idea. Have you seen the price of gasoline lately? Most of that gas comes from oil that comes through the straits of Hormuz. That piece of land north of the straits is Iran. The place with the silkworm missiles and the 200 mph underwater rocket shipkillers. Now, I know some in your circle scoff at the idea that they actually have any of these missiles, claiming the technology is too advanced for such a scientifically primitive country. How does it come to be that claim is laughed at, yet the unsupported claim that they are almost a nuclear power is accepted without thought?

A dead US aircraft carrier or submarine in the straits is going to put a big hurt on the world’s economy for a lot of years, Senator Joe. There won’t be any oil going through the straits. $150 oil? Europe’s gonna be happy. The US taxpayer is gonna be thrilled. And the Chinese and Japanese will just be ecstatic. And an attack on Iran might well cause that to happen. Just ask Felipe, my yard man. Get in touch with me, I’ll give you his number and he’ll sit down and school you on reality.

Lieberman indicated that the US had learned a lesson, from both Osama bin Laden and from Adolf Hitler, to the effect that "sometimes when people say really extreme things, which at some level a lot of people don't want to even believe... they may actually mean it. They may intend to do it. So I do think that the statements of Ahmadinejad are taken very seriously, both with regard to [speaking of a world without] the US and with regard to Israel."

Asked what last-resort military option was available, Lieberman said: "I don't think anyone is thinking of this as a massive ground invasion, as in Iraq, to topple the government." Rather, he said, he envisaged "an attempt to hit some of the components of the nuclear program," primarily from the air, with some potential for covert ground assistance.

Senator Joe talks about lessons, citing Osama bin Laden and Adolph Hitler. According to Godwin’s Law, the game is now over, and he lost. But I think the point to be made here is in Senator Joe’s own words: “Sometimes when people say really extreme things, which at some level a lot of people don't want to even believe... they may actually mean it. They may intend to do it. So I do think that the statements of Ahmadinejad are taken very seriously, both with regard to [speaking of a world without] the US and with regard to Israel."

Is the corollary also true? When George Bush says Iran must be attacked, he should be taken seriously? I’m just curious about how partisan you are, Senator Joe.

It's a serious miscalculation to consider that the attack on Iran (which has already been decided upon) is solely about Israel. It is true that Israel must be defended to the last American, and that has been seen often enough.

An armed Iran is a danger to Israel. But then so is an armed Syria, and armed Jordan, an armed Lebanon, and an armed Egypt .The Gulf States and UAE are not serious military threats to Israel at this point, since their military forces are far to weak to be considered dangerous. Limited population in those countries obviates against their status as mid-term threats. The fact that this entire area is rich in mineral and fossil fuel resources is just an added incentive for the Republican Party and their Corporate partner clients.

There are two issues involved in the 1998 decision to attack Iran. One is long-term: to protect Israel by minimizing the strategic threats. A corollary of this requires a solid projection of American military power in the entire middle east, in order to control the oil supply, in order to be able to control supplies to India and China/Japan, long term economic adversaries. By controlling the mineral assets in the region the US will remain an economic power in the world, despite no longer being a manufacturing state. If you don't make things that people want to buy you're kind of incidental, unless you own or control something other states want, and need to buy. Despite many denials, the US long term strategic plan is to corner the world market in dead dinosaurs.

The short-term issue of course, is to provide a solid emotional flag-waver issue before the 2006 mid-term elections. Even though the Republican Party can be confident of holding most of the seats they now control through loyalty of the states' voters and by virtue of where the NEXT election stolen by Diebold voting computers will occur. (Hint: California's Secretary of State just illegally certified Diebold machines, without the testing and examination required by law.)

So, in the near-term, the Iran must be attacked in October, 2006 so as to provide a patriotic issue to demand compliance from a Democratic Party too fractured and co-opted by bribery to function as an effective Opposition Party.

Recently we wrote about Mary Scott O’Connor, who faced down that cheesebrain John Gibson on his hour of power on Faux News. She appeared with Bob Beckel a strategist for the Democratic Party, and Gibson, loyal slave to Rupert “Greencard” Murdoch, destroyer of newspapers, savager of societies, sought to set O’Connor and Beckel to arguing with each other. You see, Faux News takes their directions from Karl Rove, soon to be featured in multiple indictments from a Grand Jury investigating the filth and corruption, crime and diseased sociopathy that is the Republican Party. This is the preferred method of dealing with Democrats, people who love their country, pay their taxes, accept being drafted into the Armed Forces or enlist voluntarily, and die when necessary to preserve a union that has been watered with the blood of patriots for over two centuries.

Not the Republicans, of course. Those smart guys who cluster around Mr Bush and Mr Cheney, two cowards who shirked their duties when it was time to answer their country’s call, are too smart to actually stand up and fight for anything. The silent slither in the shadows, the practiced stab with the stiletto in the back is more their style. Then the quick fumble for the victim’s wallet, taking out the cash and credit cards.

Surprisingly, Mr Gibson had a rude awakening. Both Ms O’Connor and Mr Beckel were the souls of conviviality and mutual support. Mr Gibson strived as hard as he could to incite a catfight, but was ineffectual. There was a moment of unease when Ms O’Conner described a comment of Mr Beckel’s as “spoken like a Democratic strategist.” She redeemed herself at the end when she said her dream is to see Mr Bush and Mr Cheney impeached, tried, convicted and jailed for crimes against a nation.

There was no screaming, railing, gnashing of teeth, foaming at the mouth. Mr Beckel has a kind of folksy delivery, and seems to smile a lot. Ms O’Connor is sweet-voiced, carefully enunciating each word in a measured tone, with a calm melodious delivery that was so enchanting.

Sadly, she’s married, and yet another dream of mine crashes in flames.

Mrs O’Connor is featured in today’s WaPo. As always, no links to WaPo until Fred Hiatt resigns in disgrace. Go find the article yourself. It portrays Mrs O’Connor as a raging demon, consumed with anger over the many crimes of George Bush and his cabal of international criminals. Harsh words, harsher emotions and an impotent rage portray Mrs O’Connor in this five page article. The tone of the article completely disagrees with her public presentation on Gibson’s show and I was surprised. I’m not sure which is her real personna. She writes a darn fine blog, and I think it would be a good jolt of adrenalin if we all read it now and then. I can’t help think that the story was a bit of a hatchet job, since those of us on the oxygen-breathing side of the internet understand that WaPo is now, ideologically, an wholly-owned subsidiary of the Republican Party.

Rage happens. We are creatures of emotion. The trappings of civilization fall from us easily and we become the wild beasts we once were, millions of years ago. I see that as a deplorable thing, but I’ve felt the red heat of rage myself, and understand how little civilized we really are. I think Mary Scott O’Connor’s writings stem from a deep well of disgust, anguish and anger at what has been done to destroy our nation, our society. Those who despise America the institution are in charge right now, and work every day to separate us into small, easily manipulated groups and factions.

It’s much easier to steal when your victims are distracted, and that’s part of what’s happening. The Treasury has been looted, the proceeds handed out to Corporate political clients, who will in turn hand cash back to the thieves. But more than money has been stolen from us. The blood of our youth, some of the finest of us, has been shed on foreign soil in a lie so big, so outrageous that words are hard to find, but the rage does come easily.

Politics should be the realm of reason and logic. Words should be laid in the public discourse with care, measured tempo and logic for the best effect.

But sometimes the rage just bubbles up.

We wrote about Flight Lt Malcolm Kendall-Smith before, a RAF doctor who had refused to return to Iraq for a third tour of duty, claiming the war on Iraq was illegal. Now this even occurred in 2005. Some might say Flight Lt Kendall-Smith had done his duty to God, Queen and Country by serving two tours there. Admittedly he probably saw less carnage and maimed bodies than American military doctors have, since the UK has suffered far fewer casualties. That, of course, is not the issue at hand.

Flight Lt Kendall-Smith has been variously described as “an intense and thoughtful individual with a very informed conscience," [having] a very informed conscience, and [as] a thoughtful individual, quite intense in some ways. One felt like saying to him 'lighten up'." He claimed he had developed a conscience after his second tour in Iraq and refused orders to prepare and to deploy for a third tour. He was found guilty of refusing to obey orders, sentenced to eight months confinement and dismissal from the RAF.

Well, maybe he just thought two tours were enough. I can’t say that I blame him. A cynical man would say those UK troops are over there because their country needs the oil, and their Prime Minister, Mr Blair, likes tagging along behind Mr Bush’s heels. Eight months, though. That’s certainly a generous sentence. He was very fortunate.

In the same article we also mentioned Trooper Ben Griffin, of the UK’s SAS regiment. Mr Griffin also refused to return to Iraq and apparently was allowed to resign. This was a bare bones announcement, and no further inquiries were responded to, since the British Ministry of Defense is extremely close-mouthed about their Special Operations personnel.

The UK has suffered only 103 reported deaths in Iraq, compared to a reported figure of 2,389, as of the end of March. There have been at least 33 reported US deaths in April. And there’s no real point in believing this figure, nor in discussing it, because US personnel wounded in Iraq who die in Germany or the US are not included in this total.

A cynical man would say there’s no point in believing the figures because they come from Mr Bush’s malAdministration.

And our Army is dying, the death of a thousand cuts.

Our Army is being broken. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

It’s not just first-term enlisted men refusing to stay in the Army. The loss of trained, motivated, troops affects tomorrow’s Army, because that is the recruiting pool for the mid-level and senior NCOs of the Army of the 2010’s. For many of them, two tours in Iraq in 40 months is enough. They're tired of "stop loss" programs extending their terms of enlistment. In an effort to replace this valuable pool of soldiers the Army has reduced their entrance requirements, lowering both the mental and “moral” qualifications. Where once a high school diploma, or GED was required in support of a demanded AFQT score, they Army is now accepting enlistees both without a diploma or certificate, and lower test scores. They’ve also announced they will accept soldiers with minor drug offense records, as long as they test clean. (I’m sure such troops will be periodically tested throughout their service.)

Lower level NCOs, E-5s and E-6s with 10 or 12 years service are also pulling the pin, prompted by the idea of third, and undoubtedly fourth deployments in “the sandbox” of Iraq, Afghanistan, and wherever Mr Bush decides to go next in his desperate floundering to maintain a Republican majority in Congress. Another concern for these older, seasoned soldiers is family obligations. Many are married, with children and the wives of some have to make hard decisions about watching their man go off every 14 months for another years of daily fear every time they see an officer in an Army sedan. Army wives don’t like Mr Bush and Mr Rumsfeld announcing a “long war” or “never-ending war of cultures.”

And it’s not just the enlisted men, either.

Why the US Army Is Losing Its Lieutenants by James Dunnigan May 29, 2005

The U.S. Army is losing its lieutenants and captains at the rate of 8.7 percent a year. Indications are that this rate will increase. The main reason is the prospect of constant overseas assignments, without their families, for the duration of the war on terror. This causes problems with the officers families. Then there is the pull of better job prospects in an improving economy. The prospect of losing over ten percent of your junior officers a year is compounded by the fact that a disproportionate number of these will be those with the most combat experience.

A third factor in the exodus is the dislike of the army’s “force protection” fixation. The army puts a lot of emphasis on keeping casualties down. But a lot of the combat commanders interpret this as doing as little as possible. This, despite the fact that those commanders who get outside their camps a lot, reduce enemy activity and American casualties. But these aggressive tactics come with some risk, and many battalion and brigade commanders (lieutenant colonels and colonels) are more risk averse than the captains and lieutenants (company and platoon commanders). Once you hit lieutenant colonel, you are making the army a career, and are less inclined to take chances. But captains and lieutenants can afford to take chances, and are put off when their bosses are not.

Make no mistake about it. Bu$hCo has told the senior generals to keep casualties down. In the White House, this is not compassionate concern for the troops. Over there, everything is analyzed for its political potential. And they know flag-draped coffins lose votes. That’s a major reason why photography is prohibited when the dead come home. Their families are even prohibited from standing on the ramp to see their beloved’s “transfer tube” unloaded. They also don’t want anyone to take photos of the daily planes arriving from Landstuhl, filled with stretchers of limbless and brain-damaged troops.

Those who know, who lead, and have led, know the problems, and are finally speaking out.

CNN is reporting that a fifth retired general is calling for Rumsfeld’s resignation.

“I really believe that we need a new secretary of defense because Secretary Rumsfeld carries way too much baggage with him. … Specifically, I feel he has micromanaged the generals who are leading our forces there,” said retired Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack, former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division.

Actually, this may be the sixth general. Generals Newbold, Eaton, Zinni, and Batiste have gained prominent attention in calling for Rumsfeld’s resignation. But another less-noticed general, Ret. Army

Gen. John Riggs, told the Washington Post recently:
[Riggs] believes that his peer group is “a pretty closemouthed bunch” but that, even so, his sense is “everyone pretty much thinks Rumsfeld and the bunch around him should be cleared out.”

Given the inability of Bush to do what needs to be done, it’s time to revisit one of “Rumsfeld’s Rules” pertaining to presidential staff:
Be able to resign. It will improve your value to the President and do wonders for your performance.

Don’t think for a second that these six General Officers are the lone dissenters. We will see more and more retired Generals and senior Colonels speaking out over the next two months. They have many supporters, still in uniform. These men are prominent citizens. They have proven themselves in war and peace, and their numbers as well as their records of service will force the corporate media to discuss them. Karl Rove doesn’t have enough hours in the day, nor enough backroom operators skilled enough to swiftboat all of them. And if he tries, he will be shocked. These men kept quiet when Senator Kerry was slimed as a traitor and coward. They will speak out, and they will fight back in the press. And their friends and comrades still in uniform will support them as much as possible.

Look for more revelations like Seymour Hersh’s exposes of sadistic torture and child rape at Abu Ghraib prison, and now the revelations of the upcoming plan to destroy Iran’s technical plants with nuclear attack.

And once Mr Rumsfeld is driven from office, these men will start in on Mr Cheney and Mr Bush. They know the clock is ticking. There is a timetable, and it is geared to the November mid-term elections. Bu$hCo must strike Iran about a month before those elections if they are to preserve the Republican majority and prevent the impeachment of both Mr Bush and Mr Cheney.

Kanye West had it almost right at NBC’s concert for Hurricane Katrina relief. “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” Actually, George Bush doesn’t care about the troops either. George Bush cares about George Bush, and about Barbara Bush, because for his entire life she has derided him, belittling him, comparing him unfavorably to his father who actually had the courage to fly in combat, an assignment George moved heaven and earth to avoid himself. Maybe she though she was inspiring him, giving him a goal to look to, and to aspire to beat. If that was her goal, she failed to make him into a man.

Peter Baker writes in the WaPo [no links to Washington Post ever until Fred Hiatt resigns in disgrace]

President Bush dismissed [Monday] talk of military action against Iran as "wild speculation" and emphasized that his doctrine of preempting threats does not necessarily mean the United States has to use force to stop other countries from developing weapons of mass destruction.

Bush did not deny reports that his administration has studied airstrikes as an option if Iran does not agree to abandon its alleged nuclear-weapon development program. He said he still considers the country part of an "axis of evil." But he emphasized that he wants to find a diplomatic solution to the standoff with Tehran and played down his policy of reserving the right to launch first strikes against potential enemies.

Note to future historians: he’s lying. Again. This is the same fertilizer he shoveled out of the White House ever since January 20, 2001. He lied about Iraq. He lied about Social Security. He lied about Medicare. He lies. It's what he does best. A cynical man would say he learned it from his mother's milk.

Answering a wide range of questions, Bush also said he declassified a version of an intelligence report in 2003 to address public doubts about why he went to war in Iraq. "I wanted people to see the truth and thought it made sense for people to see the truth," he said. "And that's why I declassified the document."

Note to future historians: He’s lying. More fertilizer. He did not declassify the document. The official story (the first lie) is that he declassified parts of it in order to enable Mr Cheney to instruct Mr Libby to attack Mr Wilson’s credibility by uncloaking his wife’s employment at the CIA where she worked as a covert operative investigating Iran’s search for nuclear weaponry. This is now the backup lie; the second position, because the first lie lasted no more than 24 hours. It has already been revealed that the actual, official declassification happened after the fact.

But he did not address whether he authorized then-White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to secretly disclose disputed allegations in the National Intelligence Estimate to a New York Times reporter 10 days before the report was released to the public. Libby, who faces perjury and obstruction-of-justice charges, has testified that Bush gave him permission through Vice President Cheney to provide the information to the reporter.

Note to future historians: He’s lying. He never told Mr Cheney, "It’s all right to tell Libby to smear this guy." Most likely it happened something like history tells us about King Henry II of England, complaining about Thomas Becket. Henry is reported to have cried out, “Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?” because Becket would not agree to Henry’s plan to try priests in a secular court of law for crimes. Mr Bush did not address the issue of Libby’s disclosing disputed issues in the NIE because THAT would show he lied to Congress by falsely stating that Iraq had pursued yellowcake uranium ore from Niger, which was a prime reason for Mr Bush’s illegal attack on that helpless country. Article II, Section 3 of the US Constitution requires the President to make reports to Congress on the state of the union. There are Constitutional scholars who maintain that lying to Congress in a State of the Union speech would be an actionable crime, since it is specifically delineated in the Constitution. This is a line even George Bush dare not cross in his mendacity.

We all are aware of how tough our troops have it in Iraq. They're in constant danger from IEDs outside the wire, have inadequate armor, are threatened with disciplinary measures if they try to buy and wear Dragon Skin armor (that's only for General Officers, troop!) and inside they get filthy, non-potable water from HalliCheneyBurton. They're served inedible food, spoiled meat, and sleep when they can.

But at least they do get in-country R&R.

Or, at least the Nevada Air Guard does.

Thanks to the fine folks at Military.com

Neil was unable to post this Glossary of acronyms and passed it along to me.

Lurch et al:

Thanks for the 2nd chance.....the consonants come spewing off the keyboard when I'm ticked. And, yeah, this tactical stupidity has me ticked....

Ok, definition time. Disclaimer: folks, I'm Medical Department, so my perspective is most certainly subject to alteration or outright dope smack correction by others....;)

Coalition Forces Land Component Command – (CFLCC) the big bosses in Kuwait, They oversee Multi-National Command-Iraq (MNC-I), as well as the ground forces in Kuwait and other areas.

TRANS BN & CO: Transportation Battalion and Company. A Company 120-150 folks with a specific mission task. Trans companies have specialties like medium trucks, Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants (POL), bridging, and several others. A Battalion is 5-6 companies and/or detachments, sometimes task organized with other companies. 7th Trans BN at Anaconda in 2004 was command and control for something like 8 TRANS (trucking) companies which I can recall.

USAR: Army Reserve. We work for the President (the Guard works for their governors.) Yeah, oversimplification, but it gets the main idea across.

CSC: Combat Stress Control (sometimes COSC – Combat and Operational Stress Control). My specialty, Mobile teams of Army mental health specialists and officers whose mission is to educate, identify, and treat incidences of combat stress experienced by individual soldiers and groups of soldiers. During 2004 my CSC teams at Anaconda/Balad did a lot of work with TRANS companies when they suffered casualties.

WTF: Uh, Lurch… I think they know this one.

All that said, I cannot believe someone expects logistic convoys to stop and fight. I only hose some experienced company commander takes the new guy aside during the left seat/right seat handover and patiently what a great way to get killed this new “tactic” is. As if us medics need more work….

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