Saturday, July 23, 2005

Under the radar

The ACLU and other groups have sued Rummie and the DoD to release the videos and photos of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, the many that weren't revealed previously. Seymour Hersch said that they were more horrific than the original photos, including screams of detainees audible on the videotapes while they were being sodomized.

The district judge who's handling the case is disgusted with the DoD's repeated delays in production of the material under the Freedom of Information Act, the latest maneuver by the DoD being to claim some law-enforcement restraint on production. (A quickie series of quotes by the judge, Rummie and the DoD can be found here and NYT's take on the DoD's latest ploy to avoid compliance with the District Judge's order, go here.)

Bottom line: Despite Bush/Rummie's assurances that their investigation of the abuse scandal with be so transparent that it will show how democratic and forthright the U.S. is, the administration is doing all it can to obstruct the revelation of the prisoner abuses and to bring to justice those (including Rummie, Gonzales and the generals) who caused them to occur.

Take heart: The District Judge who's handling the case doesn't appear to be cowed by the Bushists. The awful photos and videos will indeed be made public, and not too long from now.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Treasongate

For a succinct and entertaining summary of the Rove/Plame/Niger/Yellowcake-gate affair, check out this story, the conclusion of which is telling: The real story is how Rove's actions reveal the degree to which this administration is dedicated to its lies and its wars.

Mystifying

Check out these recent polling results on various questions relating to the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. While in several polls a large majority of those polled state that they feel Bush has done a poor job of handling the war, to other questions a majority answers that they approve the military operation--even though a majority also believes the invasion/occupation has worsened the terrorist situation around the world and has made the US less safe from terrorism.

These disparities of public opinion tell me that a majority of US citizens are conflicted about our actions and policy in Iraq, but are coming slowly to the realization that Bush has made a gross error by invading Iraq in the first place and has placed our nation in an impossibly costly and strategically disastrous position. As I've said for years, "It's Iraq, stupid!" If we want to have any chance to change the direction of our nation's politics and policies, we must continue--day by day--to hammer home the evil idiocy of that awful war.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Tangled webs after a thousand deceptions

Could it be as simple as this? Karl Rove and Scooty Libby (the two men closest to Bush/Cheney, respectively) indicted for perjury for testifying before a grand jury that they first learned of Valerie Plame's status from news reporters when those same reporters deny same? This testimonial conflict, supported by the implausibility of Rove/Libbys' stories, taken together with today's new account of the State Department memo that was circulated on Bush's Africa-bound airplane (surely a smoking gun on the issue of whether Plame's employment by the CIA was "secret"), may spell the end of Bush's holier-than-thou administration. Just as a "third-rate burglary" wrecked Nixon's reign, this tiny crack in Bush's impervious imperium may bring down the entire structure.

Let's hope--it's just a hope--that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is the Archibald Cox/Leon Jaworski of the new millenium.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

One step backward, one step backward

The "new constitution" in Iraq will likely curtail womens' rights, far more limiting than womens' status under Saddam Hussein's regime. Makes all that killing worth it, eh?

Monday, July 18, 2005

Back in the USSA

In response to the urgent pleas of scores of you devotees, I resume my posting after a month's vacation in NW USA and Alberta/B.C., Canada.

Amazing, isn't it?, how Bush slithers through his lies and treasonous conduct. A month ago, after months of urging by us bloggers, the Downing Street Memos finally made the bigtime, bringing to the fore the "smoking gun" proof of Bush's lies about WMD before the Iraq invasion. At the time, we knew the Bushists would manufacture some detour--a Supreme Court nominee, another war, something--to wipe the Downing Street Memos from our memories. But no--there's been an unexpected detour: The Karl Rove story.

Fact is, however, the latter isn't anywhere near as important the the former, and now Bush's war-inducing lies have disappeared into history, as will the Karl Rove story, as will even the outrageous Iraq war when the Saddam Hussein trial starts. The latter will be carried ad nauseum by the networks, obliterating the war news and Bush will once again escape the fallout from his criminal conduct. Worst president ever, no contest.