Al Qa Qaa Revisited

A quote from my post of 27 October '04:

Not only have we not heard the last of this, I think we have barely heard the beginning. Every time a car bomb goes off, or a Humvee carrying American soldiers gets blown away, think of George W. Bush. Be angry, be very, very angry.

Here's an earlier one:

Don't worry, Bush. Our soldiers will find the explosives. Oh, yes. They'll find them the same way they found missing or "dud" explosives in Vietnam - one piece at a time. Each time they find a little of it, one or more of them will die or be horribly maimed, just like Vietnam. Each soldier, and his family, can thank Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld for his death or lifetime as a cripple.

These explosives may turn up anywhere in the world for many years to come. We won't know where until it's too late to do anything except police up the carnage.

This could have been prevented, but Bush didn't do it. There is absolutely no excuse or reason for not securing these caches. Incompetence doesn't begin to cover it. Criminal negligence is closer to the truth.

Bush, if anything you've ever done consigns you to Hell, this is it. You motherfucker.

Me'n Fixer posted several times in blind rage that month on the theft of explosives and weapons from the cache at al QaQaa. Kindly ignore the predictions of Kerry's victory. We thought reality would trump stupidity. It almost did...

But I digress. Here's from WaPo on the GAO report just out:

The U.S. military's faulty war plans and insufficient troops in Iraq left thousands and possibly millions of tons of conventional munitions unsecured or in the hands of insurgent groups after the 2003 invasion -- allowing widespread looting of weapons and explosives used to make roadside bombs that cause the bulk of U.S. casualties, according to a government report released yesterday.

The GAO report pointed to several critical assumptions underlying U.S. military war plans in 2003 that proved invalid -- including expectations that Iraqi resistance was unlikely and that the Iraqi army would capitulate and continue to provide security.

As a result, widespread looting of munitions took place, including at the majority of Iraqi Republican Guard garrisons as well as 401 other sites, according to the GAO.

Pentagon programs have secured or disposed of more than 417,000 tons of munitions, the report said. But it said an unknown quantity -- ranging from thousands to millions of tons of conventional munitions -- remain unaccounted for.

Our troops are still finding them, a little bit each day, just as we predicted. The Government Accountability Office took their own sweet time to agree with us, but they finally did.

And our Soldiers and Marines and Iraqis are still dying because of Bush, Rumsfeld, and Cheney and his neocons' insanity, evil, and sheer incompetence. May God damn them all.

Update:

The Air Force Times weighs in as well:

But the Pentagon provided no witnesses to the hearing despite repeated requests, much to the chagrin of the chairman, Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass.

"This is troubling at a number of levels," Tierney said. "There are people tasked with having their act together to protect our troops going forward. What does this say, if they don't even have their act together to put forward a single witness to talk to us about these issues?"

Yeah, if you don't talk about it, it'll go away. Might take a while, but the insurgents can only build bombs so fast...

House OKs timetable for troops in Iraq

Yahoo! News

Ignoring a White House veto threat, lawmakers voted 218-212, mostly along party lines, for a binding war spending bill requiring that combat operations cease before September 2008, or earlier if the Iraqi government does not meet certain requirements. Democrats said it was time to heed the mandate of their election sweep last November, which gave them control of Congress.

The bill marks the first time Congress has used its budget power to try to end the war, now in its fifth year, by attaching the withdrawal requirements to a bill providing $124 billion to finance military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the rest of this year.

"If you want peace, stop funding this war," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.

Yep.

Shifts ...

[Welcome to all of Shakes' readers stopping by. ~ F.]

People are starting to get it*.

WASHINGTON -- Public allegiance to the Republican Party has plunged since the second year of George W. Bush's presidency, as attitudes have edged away from some of the conservative values that fueled GOP political dominance for more than a decade, a major new survey has found.

The survey, by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center for People and the Press, found a "dramatic shift" in political party identification since 2002, when Republicans and Democrats were at rough parity. Now, half of those surveyed identified with or leaned toward Democrats, while only 35% aligned with Republicans.

What's more, the survey found the public attitudes are drifting toward Democrats' values: Support for government aid to the disadvantaged has grown since the mid-1990s, skepticism about the use of military force has increased and support for traditional family values has edged down.

Those findings suggest that Republicans' political challenges reach beyond the unpopularity of the war in Iraq and Bush. [my ems]

...

Values are only values when they are put in practice. Rethug 'values' are nothing more than a 'do as I say, not what I do' load of bullshit and Americans are seeing that in a big way now.

By the way, as Spring arrives, do you catch a faint scent of Watergate on the breeze lately? Heh ...

*Great thanks to the inimitable Oliver Willis for the link.

Quote of the Day

Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Big Brass Balls):

"What we're told we can get is nothing ... Nothing ... Nothing," complained Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) growing visibly hot under the collar about a "take-it-or-leave-it" offer the White House has made about Karl Rove and others appearing before Congress in its investigation of the firings of federal prosecutors.

"The White House will determine what the agenda is," the chairman complained today. "That to me is nothing."

"Fuck me? No, fuck you!"

Oops...

Got this by e-mail from Mrs. G:

A drunk man who smelled like beer sat down on a subway next to a priest. The man's tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket.

He opened his newspaper and began reading. After a few minutes the man turned to The priest and asked, "Say Father, what causes arthritis?"

The priest replies, "My Son, it's caused by loose living, being with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol, contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes and lack of a bath."

The drunk muttered in response, "Well, I'll be damned," then returned to his paper.

The priest, thinking about what He had said, nudged the man and apologized. "I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?"

The drunk answered, "I don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does."

Bada-Bing!

They have to be Republicans

Only they would put the lives of beloved family pets second to profits. I'm sure most folks' pets nowadays are like our Princess Shayna, more children than pets.

The Canadian pet food giant, Menu Foods, knew about problems with pet illness and death for nearly one month before they ordered the products recalled from store shelves, and instead conducted their own tests resulting in pet illness and deaths before making a decision to order a public recall of the products.

Fresh evidence proves that back as far as February 20, 2007, Menu foods knew about problems with at least some of their 88 brands of cat and dog food, and instead of taking immediate action to remove the dangerous products, began a series of tests on animals instead. Only after a number of animals, mostly cats died, then Menu decided that perhaps they should take some stronger action. Normally most companies that find glass or some other foreign material in a line of products will isolate what run of foods has been compromised, and immediately order a recall of that run of foods to protect the public. Why Menu waited for days while more animals became sick and some died, leaving their owners with big vet bills or loss of animal companionship is a very good question. But corporations don't like taking huge financial hits, and recalling around 60 million cans of food is a huge loss for a company. [my ems]

...

Heartless bastids.

Scary ...

When you look at how your taxes are spent by the federal government, not in dry accountant-speak or eye-glazing spreadsheets, but for guys like me, it really hits home. Karlo has graphs!

Belarus invades Ukraine!

Sort of ...

You know you're in trouble ...

When your coworkers know where you blog.

Get 'im, Babs!

Think Progress

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) has said Al Gore is "full of crap" and compared people who believe in global warming to "the Third Reich." During today's Senate hearing, Inhofe used a considerable amount of time to attack Gore's use of carbon offsets and try to convince him to sign a sham "energy ethics pledge." (Find the real facts on Gore's energy usage HERE and HERE.)(Links at site - G.)

Inhofe asked Gore for his reaction, but then quickly cut him off saying Gore had taken up too much time. When Gore tried to go on, Inhofe repeatedly interrupted, adding, "I don't want to be rude, but from now on, I'm going to ask you to respond…in writing." Inhofe said Gore could respond verbally only if it was a "very brief response."

Committee chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) finally intervened. "Would you agree to let the Vice President answer your questions?" Inhofe said Gore could respond when he was done talking, but Boxer wouldn't have it: "No, that isn't the rule. You're not making the rules. You used to when you did this. Elections have consequences. So I make the rules." The hearing audience applauded loudly. Watch it:

By all means watch it! Check a few of the comments, too. Heh.

Yo, Inhofe: Babs ain't a bitch, but she bitch-slapped the fuck outta you, asshole! 'Bout fuckin' time somebody did, oil-whore.

I ♥ Barbara Boxer! I'd like to ♣ Inhofe.

All Three And Then Some

Here's a post at Designated Import about Walrus Man's appearance on The Daily Show:

While discussing the current president's penchant for surrounding himself with people of a like mind, Jon Stewart suggested that it's actually a benefit to have members of the president's cabinet who don't actually agree with him. He used the example of Abraham Lincoln, who had men in his cabinet who were not only rivals but who in some cases actively disliked him.

In response, John Bolton said that Jon Stewart was historically in error, basically stating that Jon Stewart's characterization of Lincoln was wrong. It was at this point that I let out a stream of expletives. The nicest word I used was "bullshit"!

Tonight, Jon Stewart took up this point. He had, via telephone, a talk with Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals, an excellent book about Abraham Lincoln's presidency. As she pointed out, Jon Stewart was right and hundreds of historians would agree with him. Amen!

I watched on both nights. I had a hunch Stewart wasn't going to let Bolton's whopper pass, and he didn't disappoint.

Ms. Goodwin used LBJ's quote, "It's better to have yer enemies inside the tent pissin' out, than outside the tent pissin' in".

Doris! Sich langwidge! I think I love her.

This is a classic example of what's wrong with political discourse in the United States. John Bolton was clearly, demonstrably wrong. If he honestly believed his position, Bolton is woefully ignorant on Lincoln's presidency. If he didn't know whether or not Stewart's comment was wrong, but stated categorically that Stewart was wrong, then he is incredibly arrogant... and ignorant. On the other hand, there's the possibility that Bolton knew Stewart was right, but said he was wrong anyway in order to toe the party line; lying his teeth out in order to make a political statement in favour of the current president.

So Bolton is either ignorant, arrogant, a liar, or all three.

See title of post.

The Dead-Enders

This is an article at AntiWar.com about neocons and Christopher Hitchens, subtitled "Being a neocon means never having to say you're sorry". Here's a coupla quotes I found interesting:

Yet Hitchens doesn't concede an inch. "Was the terror connection not exaggerated?" he asks, and, like some crazed homeless guy wandering down the street muttering imprecations at invisible demons, he answers himself:

"Not by much. The Bush administration never claimed that Iraq had any hand in the events of Sept. 11, 2001. But it did point out, at different times, that Saddam had acted as a host and patron to every other terrorist gang in the region."

I have to say I agree with him on this point, if only to a limited degree. While Hitchens has absolutely no evidence to show links between the Iraqi government and Islamists of the al-Qaeda type – the author is, as usual, linkless as well as clueless – he is right that Saddam did harbor one terrorist group. The Mujahedin-e-Khalq, or MeK, is a weird neo-Marxist cult made up largely of Iranian women – at least in the top leadership – who are followers of Maryam Rajavi, the self-proclaimed president of "liberated" Iran. The MeK participated in the 1979 revolution that overthrew the shah and installed the Khomeini regime, but fell out of favor and went into violent opposition, launching terrorist attacks (including against U.S. interests and personnel) in Iran from Iraqi soil. Saddam gave them Camp Ashraf, where they remain to this day – under the protection of the U.S. military, which is reportedly using them for expeditions into Iran, the scene of several recent terrorist attacks.

Ohmigod! There must be something in the Geneva Conventions about using a PMS Brigade! Oh, the horror!

And this chiller:

The problem for Perle and Hitchens is that few are listening. Even in Washington, where both parties collaborated in bringing this disastrous war about, the ranks of the War Party are noticeably thinning. In the country at large, the war is wildly unpopular. The electorate longs for an antiwar presidential candidate like evangelicals pining for the Messiah's return. Deliver us from evil! appears to be the general sentiment, although what sort of evil the American public is just beginning to learn.

It's turning out to be a very hard lesson about accountability, oversight, and complacency in the face of power-mad warmongers of whatever stripe. The rest of us are gonna lose before we win.

Good article. Many links.

Bushland Über Alles

Available as a fridge magnet.

The E-mail The White House Doesn't Want Us To See

From Don Davis

From: Karl Rove

To: Alberto Gonzales

Fredo, if we don't fire this Gang of Eight, it's only a matter of time before they put us behind bars.

Ya got that one right, Turdblossom. It's still just a matter of time, and time's runnin' out...

Saddam Has the Last Laugh

Robert Scheer on the latest poll of Iraqis.

Yep, you did it, George - mission impossible accomplished. Unbelievably, four years of a bungled occupation have managed to make Saddam Hussein's tyranny look good in comparison with "liberated Iraq."

At least, that is the view of the Iraqi weightlifter made famous through a video of him taking a sledgehammer to Saddam Hussein's statue. "I really regret bringing down the statue," Kadhim al-Jubouri said on British television this week. "The Americans are worse than the dictatorship. Every day is worse than the previous day."

I can relate to that guy. Scroll down at the link for his story. He was also a mechanic, and Uday threw him in prison when he complained about not getting paid for fixing Uday's motorcycle. I'm sure he realizes now that he should have stayed quiet and just "fixed" it again so the wheels would do interesting things at speed, like come off...

Don't fuck with yer bike mechanic, even if you think you own the joint. Your life is in his hands way more than it is in your car guy's.

What Bush has managed to do is to place the United States in a no-win position as the most likely target for failed Iraqi expectations, which he did so much to raise. He is asking Iraqis to take his word for it that the invasion was not post-9/11 posturing or a grab for oil or a blow undertaken on behalf of Israel, yet he has nothing tangible to show as proof of his sincerity.

Bush? Sincerity? Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Sincerity is important - when you can fake that, you've got it made, and Bush is the biggest fake I've ever seen. I can see his fakery by looking at him and listening to him and knowing about him, but he's fooled a lot of people. They're catching on, albeit a little slow, but you gotta be a little slow to fall for his shit.

Of course, the coffers of a handful of American mercenary, construction and energy corporations have swelled, despite this lack of credible achievement. More than $20 billion in "reconstruction" contracts were given to Vice President Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton, alone.

It would have been a hell of a lot cheaper to just give them the money.

Go read about the poll numbers.

I might not be Shakespeare ...

Maybe a male Jackie Collins, but if you quote a line from one of my 14 novels, I'm gonna recognize it. I certainly won't deny what I put on paper. Hell, quote me something from one of the 7500 posts at the Brain and I'll recognize it. Seems Ol' Bugman forgets what he wrote about his former colleagues. So how much of his own writing did he actually do?

Hey ... wait a minute

The great TRex makes us think about this whole law and order thing ... twice:

...

Given that the Republican Party has roughly the same prognosis as Terri Shiavo in the upcoming elections and that we may see the GOP brand sullied and disgraced for a generation as a result of the Bush Administration, I think we may be acting a bit hastily on this proposed roll-back of Executive Powers. No, no, seriously, I mean it. Just think what President Obama could do with those powers.

Ah, yes. Now you're with me.

Or let's say President John Edwards has just been sworn in and he decides it's time for a little payback. He picks up the phone and calls his people at the NSA and says, "I need to see all of Bill Donohue's cell-phone records, taxes, credit card transactions, and checking account records for the last ten years. Oh, and freeze his assets. I think he may be involved in terrorist activity."

See, if you throw in the T-word, all those provisions of the Patriot Act come into play. No need to go to a judge. No need for a subpoena. That stuff's for sissies. Let's just get his records, find the data we need (or not!), change his status to "Enemy Combatant", and off he goes to our secret interrogation facilities in Romania. Ta-daaaaaaah!

"But please!" Donohue would beg, "Let me speak to an attorney! Let me at least know what charges are being brought against me!"

Nope. Too bad, so sad, but all that went out the window when the Bush administration gutted habeas corpus.

...

How loud you think the whiny Rethugs would scream? Would we hear the old chants of 'rule of law! rule of law!' begun when Clinton was in the hot seat? Would we hear 'misuse of the executive'? Of course we would, and of course it would be nice to turn the tables on them ... as a fantasy. It would be even nicer if we could make this nation work the way it was supposed to.

Thank God this is still America. Thank God I'm not a Rethuglican. It's how I know I'm on the right side.

Quotage

Senator Harry Reid (D-Testicles):

... After telling a bunch of different stories about why they fired the U.S. Attorneys, the Bush administration is not entitled to the benefit of the doubt ...

Great thanks to Maru for the link.

Just a thought . . .

Before I run out to dinner with Mrs. F.

Since the Rethugs are whining about the subpoenas and executive privilege, let's turn their other whine around on 'em. Instead of "it's Clinton's fault". Just tell 'em "hey, you did it to Clinton".

See yas later ...

Wounded Warrior Bill Passes Committee

Army Times

A bill aimed at making immediate improvements in the treatment - medical and otherwise - of wounded combat veterans passed the House Armed Services Committee by a 59-0 vote Tuesday, with some concerns that lawmakers may be moving too fast.

The bill, called the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act of 2007, is a blueprint for fixing many of the problems that have surfaced for outpatients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, but it also does more.

Michael Higgins, an armed services committee staff member, described the bipartisan bill as representing solutions - some of them only temporary - to problems uncovered over several years of studying the care for wounded service members. Cutting red tape, or at least getting help for wounded service members and their families in reducing the snarl, is a key part of the package.

A step in the right direction. We'll see how well it is implemented.