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Bush's Middle East Policy In Tatters

Bush's Middle East policy in tatters... and then some!

Technorati Tags: George W. Bush, Middle East, Iran, Israel

Prime Minister Tony Blair And The Case Of The Spilled Soup

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke to a Los Angeles audience on Monday about his new role as Middle East envoy on behalf of the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia. Blair began by illustrating the differences between Israel and its neighboring countries through an anecdote about a waiter spilling soup on then Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. The waiter, according to Blair, was lucky that he spilled the soup in a democratic country where the incident was brushed off rather than in one of other Middle East states where the punishment would likely have been severe. Hence, Blair believes the spread of democracy in the region is key to bringing “peace to the Middle East”:

Actually this isn't simply about Jews and Arabs or people of different religious faiths, it's also about making sure that some values and ideals - which are about democracy and are about democracy not just in terms of your voting system but in terms of attitude, spirit and what's in your mind. That those values are protected in that region so that hopefully one day they can spread in that region.

Why anyone would want to spread our broken democracy is beyond me.

Ron Paul Speaks Truth To Bill O'Reilly Propaganda

Ron Paul takes on Bill O'Reilly and points out, among other things, that the neocons desire a spreading of our current conflicts into Iran. And how 'bout this quote:

“It is our policy of pre-emptive deliberate invasions of foreign countries and occupying these countries that has jeopardized our safety. This blowback principle is what caused 9/11 and we have to come to realize it. If you keep living in this dreamland of saying they attacked us because we are free and prosperous, believe me, we are never going to get our (?) foreign policy.”

Watch it!

CONTEST: Enter The Attack Iran Pool

Another NEOCON hopes for an Iran attack! I'm shocked! Who would have thunk it? Additionally, former CIA agent Robert Baer says the attack will happen within six months. And we know that Dick 'Evil' Cheney has been begging for such an attack for as long as he has been without a heart.  Further, Fox 'News' has been clamoring for an attack since not long after it helped steal the 2000 election. In other words, the decision, like the decision to invade Iraq long before we invaded Iraq, has already been made and the only thing left to figure out is when it will occur.

Thus, the timing seems ripe to start an informal attack Iran pool. Or, for a little more pizzazz, “The Day All Hell Breaks Loose Pool”. No entry fee and the winner (whoever comes closest) will get a subscription to The Nation (note: The Nation has nothing to do with this contest). To enter, leave your date (explanation optional) in the comments section with a real email address so that I can contact you should you win (I will not use your email or give it out under any circumstances). Only one entry per person and only one per day (the first person to choose a day gets it).

My guess: Friday, October 26, 2007

Explanation: We know from Andy Card that, “From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August,” so Iran is definitely safe for the next week. Then Ramadan, Islam's holiest month, runs from September 12 to October 11, 2007. And while the Bushies have repeatedly proven themselves capable of the dastardly and the stupid, one has to believe that they would have the sense to stay away from Ramadan.

By mid-October, however, the White House will be faced with a broken army incapable of sustaining Bush's continued escalation plans. Additionally, once Iraq cools off a bit, Iraqis will begin to escalate their attacks on American troops causing casualty figures to skyrocket.

Finally, the sub-prime mortgage debacle will have reached its pinnacle by October leading to a market free fall and a probable recession. This will likely break the spirit of even Bush's diehard lunatic base requiring Bush to take drastic action.

This Perfect Storm will lead to a Wag the Dog scenario that will push up Bush's timetable for an attack in order to shift the Nation's attention away from all that ails the country.  A couple of table spoons of “Shock and Awe” might just do the trick. Plus, the Bushies will want to avoid putting a damper on Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas or prime shopping months. Thus, the last half of October is a big time Danger Zone. Lastly, the White House loves to release bad news late Friday heading into the weekend.

NOTE: The point of this contest is to illustrate the absurdity that all signs point to an Iran attack while the country sits ideally by. We should all be doing everything within our power to stop this insanity.

NEW TERRORISM INDEX RELEASED

What do 100 of America's most respected foreign-policy experts think?

The “Surge” is failing.

Pakistan is a far greater threat than Iran.

And when it comes to putting the B.S. to Bush administration propaganda, these are only the tip of the iceberg. Get this MUST READ report.

SILENCE IS BETRAYAL!

One hopes that with all the money the wealthiest 0.6% of Americans - who received 75% of $92 Billion in savings from Bush's generous tax policies on capital gains and dividends in 2005 - were able to get themselves a sweet second or third yacht. Of course, this is a double whammy for the other 99.4% of us who not only didn't see much benefit from Bush's tax cuts but now share in the responsibility of making up those lost revenues to the government. Some more fun stats from Citizens for Tax Justice:

*Half of all tax filers (67 million Americans) reported an adjusted gross income of less than $30,000 and received virtually NONE of the benefits from the tax cuts.

*0.6% reported incomes greater than $500,000 and received tax deductions averaging $81,204 and accounted for 73.4% of the total tax savings.

*13,776 tax filers with gross incomes greater than $10 million or 0.1% of all filers, received 28.2% of the total benefits averaging $1,876,280 each!!!!!

Read the two page report from CTJ (PDF)

Meanwhile,

*The number of Americans living in extreme poverty has grown 26% since 2000. In all, 37 million Americans, or about 12% of the country, now live with “low food security,” uh, poverty.

*2 out of 5 elderly Americans live on less than $18,000 a year including social security.

*Low income Americans with disabilities experienced 50% cuts in their housing programs.

*Half of all IRS audits are now conducted on Americans making less than $25,000 per year.

For more dismal statistics on the rich poor divide see one of my earlier BRAD BLOG posts.

Thankfully Bush recognizes a problem when he sees it and before leaving on his month long vacation stressed that we need a new round of corporate tax cuts to make sure US corporations stay competitive!

In all fairness, it takes huge balls and a lot of propaganda to convince anyone that what the country needs is more corporate giveaways to the rich. That is a tall order that will require great effort by Bush. And it will be essential for him to recharge his batteries over a long vacation before the big sell. And if it means that he crushes Ronald Reagan's two term vacation record with 17 months to go in office, so be it.

Plus, nobody wants to be in the Capital during the God awful month of August when temperatures regularly hit a humid 100 degrees. Perhaps it was the heat that allowed Congressional Democrats to pass the new FISA law - which seems to get worse and worse by the day - before leaving on vacation. But Washington heat ain't nothing compared to Baghdad heat, huh, Tony Snow:

“You know, it's 130 degrees in Baghdad in August.”

Which helps explain why the Iraqi parliament is taking the month off as well. Surely our troops, a record 162,000 strong in Iraq, will get the month off too, right?  I mean, one suspects that with all their gear, outdoor work and combat, the misery index (weather, though both work) would be worse for our troops than say an air-conditioned Oval Office, uh, speed boat.

Actually, while George W. Bush smashes records for vacation days our troops are getting tours of duty extended from a year to 15 months. And it is a bit odd that Bush would take off so much time right before the crucial General Petreaus report on Iraq. Especially since we are amidst:

“the inescapable calling of our generation”

Oh, I almost forgot that the greater troop levels were the result of Bush's January “Surge” plan. You might recall that the new plan came after great deliberation and partying during which time hundreds of our troops lost their lives:

Ultimately Bush decided upon following neocon Fred Kagan's (fresh off a “very cool” chinook helicopter ride over the Potomac) “Surge” plan which called for an additional 50,000 troops, uh, 35,000, no, 30,000, wait, 50,000, no, 30,000, hold on,  31,500, stop, 20,000, then 35,000, oh, let's just say more troops.

But here's the thing, while Bush and the lawmakers are getting much needed R&R, our depleted troops are dying in the heat of the Iraqi desert by the droves.  Long time reporters in Iraq write about the grim picture. According to our own ambassador in Iraq, electricity in Baghdad can be counted on for “an hour or two a day” which is down from six hours earlier in the year and 16-24 hours under Saddam. Even the Brits admit the Surge will not succeed.

But none of this or the rising troop deaths can dissuade the Bushies who have already kicked up the propaganda so many notches that Emeril Lagasse must be envious. Sadly, the American people continue to buy into it. And the real big propaganda push will not hit until September.

Sadly, the truth is that there is nothing that Petraeus could say that would change the course of the war. As Eugene Robinson wrote in the Washington Post:

But if you think Bush is going to care what Petraeus's report says in September, get out of the sun immediately and drink lots of water. You're delirious.

Clearly Bush will continue this unjust, horrific war until the end of his presidency. And nothing from escalating American and Iraqi body counts to American geopolitical strategy can change his decision which was made long ago. W. has even stated that his presidency will be judged on the long term outcome of Iraq. And since pulling out or significantly reducing troops is akin to failure, Bush ain't budging. In other words, he's passing the buck to the next president. 

This alone is immoral and it is patently absurd that a decision of this magnitude should rest with a man with such an obvious conflict of interest. And since everyone knows this, it is also immoral for the American people to standby and leave the decision to Bush.

And that would be true even if Bush were a moral person. The fact that he is not just makes the situation that much clearer. Lest we forget that he:

*Continues to push legislation to further enrich the super wealthy at the expense of the most needy in society.

*Imposes anti-condom policies throughout Africa which has led to a remarkable rise in HIV/AIDS.

*Ordered the use of grotesque torture methods capable of causing severe psychological impairment on terror suspects.

*Signed a secret executive order authorizing the policy of “extraordinary rendition” which allows the CIA to kidnap any terror suspect from anywhere in the world and transfers them to prisons to be tortured and sometimes killed in countries like Uzbekistan and Egypt.

*Invades countries under false pretenses to further enrich the military industrial complex and his corporatist cronies.

Sick. Martin Luther King Jr. had it right when he said that “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” How can anyone read that short list of transgressions above and not believe that time is now?

 

More pertinent words of wisdom from Martin Luther King Jr.:

*In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

*When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

*Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

*Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

*The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

We Americans like to think ourselves noble and a country that has done great things for the world. We stopped Hitler for crying out loud. Yes, but that was a couple of generations ago. And by remaining silent, this generation is burying the memory of the “Greatest Generation.”  And our lack of action, for whatever reason, is as immoral as George W. Bush's action.

It is imperative that we wake-up to our faults and correct them before it is too late. For example, a glance at the two pictures below describe a world turned upside down by American military spending and penchant for war and killing:

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Martin Luther King Jr.

More on these at Paulitics

We Americans seem to be the only ones oblivious to our faults. The entire world has been telling us we are ill for some time. The general consensus around the globe is that the US is a greater threat to world peace than even Iran and North Korea! And our best friends, the Brits, believe that only Osama bin Laden is a greater threat to world peace than the United States.

We are a sick country whose leaders continue to exploit our weakness. And our continued silence is immoral. We sit silently while our government exchanged our leader of the free world status with leader of rogue nations lambast. And if the people will not stand up united and force our leaders to listen to our will, we will become the “infamous generation” whose silence enabled George W. Bush and the corporate elite to destroy the Republic.

“Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” (Jared Diamond)

“The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers” (Paul Kennedy)

*Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.“ --Martin Luther King Jr.

STOP THE SILENCE! SPEAK OUT NOW!

US Leadership Of The Rogue World

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is a brutal dictator by any account.  His government just signed into law the Interception of Communications Bill which allows his government to “eavesdrop on phone and Internet communications and read physical mail.” When human rights groups complained about the new law, Mugabe's Communications Minister Christopher Mushowe had his trump card waiting:

Zimbabwe is not unique in the world in passing such legislation, citing electronic eavesdropping programs in the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa, among other countries.

And Afghanis look to Iraq to learn the techniques of suicide bombings. Iran looks to North Korea and Iraq and learns that the key to dealing with the US is nuclear armament. Venezuela and most of Latin America don't like what they see to the north and respond by electing socialist leaders (not necessarily a bad thing but certainly not what our government desires). US support for moderate candidates whenever free elections take place in the Arab world, almost universally result in victory by Islamic militants. These are just some of the repercussions of being a country whose leadership is universally despised by the rest of the world.

But these incidents also put to rest the lie that the US has lost its leadership role in the world. We may no longer be the leader of the free world, but our leadership role in the world of rogue nations, proclaimed enemies and the third world, has rarely been greater.

(h/t The November Blog)

WARRANTLESS SURRENDER & WAR CRIMES

Glenn Greenwald: “It is inconceivable on every level that the Democrats would capitulate in this way and it is disgraceful beyond what can be adequately described.”

Marjorie Cohn: “This is a Congress that has remained terrorized by the Bush administration since 9/11.”

Marjorie Cohn: “It takes the power out of judges hands and puts it in the power of Alberto Gonzales and the Director of Intelligence.” 

Glenn Greenwald: “Two months earlier James Comey testified before the Senate that he and Aschroft and others had discovered that whatever it was that they were doing from 2001 to 2004 was so illegal, so unconscionable, that they had all decided to resign en masse from the government unless that behavior seized immediately.” And Greenwald interviewed Senator Chris Dodd this weekend, “and I asked him whether or not Senators had any idea of how they had been using this secret spying in order to spy on Americans - what these additional programs are, what it was that they were doing that made James Comey and John Ashcroft threaten to resign from the government - he has absolutely no idea nor do the other Senators.”

In other words, Congress passed a law for which it knows nothing about but that we know was so unconscionable that John Ashcroft threatened to resign over it. And if that is not scary enough, the rubber stamp judges of the FISA court have been replaced by Alberto Gonzales.

Marjorie Cohn: “Even though I am a criminal defense attorney, I quite enjoyed writing up a sample indictment of Alberto Gonzales for War Crimes. He's a war criminal because it was memos that he signed and policies that he put into place, that he convinced Bush to put into place, that led to torture of prisoners in US custody.”

“Torture is illegal under our law. It's illegal under three treaties we have ratified -- the Geneva Conventions, the Convention Against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. And notwithstanding the Bush administration's distaste for treaties and so-called international law, our Constitution has a provision called the Supremacy Clause and it says that treaties shall be the supreme law of the land. That means that treaties are US law. And pursuant to those treaties we have enacted two federal US statutes -- the Torture Statute and the War Crimes Act. Under the War Crimes Act, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions constitute war crimes. So torture is illegal, all the time. And, in fact, the Torture Convention says, no exceptional circumstances, even a state of war can ever be used as a justification for torture.”

And yet we torture at Gitmo, Abu-Ghareb, all around Iraq, Afghanistan and at CIA black-sites.

Glenn Greenwald: “The greatest threat, the truly unresolved issue is whether we will have a military confrontation with Iran prior to the end of the Bush presidency.”

Amy Goodman: “And yet your explanation of the Democrats and how they are dealing with the president at his lowest polling ever -- perhaps in modern polling history, still caving in bill after bill.”

Glenn Greenwald: “What is so baffling about it is, i think people forget that immediately before the midterm election in 2006, Karl Rove's strategy was to force a vote on the military commissions act and warrantless eavesdropping.” And Democrats voted against both and the Republicans tried to make a huge deal about Democrats being weak on terror. “And the Republicans got crushed with that strategy. And Democrats refuse to realize that that strategy no longer works. Americans are largely immune to this fear-mongering.”

Marjorie Cohn: “The war was premeditated, deliberate, violation of the law. The UN Charter, also a treaty, also part of US law says the only two instances where a country can use force against another is in self-defense or when the Security Council agrees.  And there was never any evidence that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to us or any other country...and the Bush administration knew that...they intended to invade Iraq since way before 9/11. And now it's really clear why they did that. And that is to install huge permanent military bases, the biggest in the world, and the biggest US embassy in the world in Baghdad. And to privatize Iraq's oil. They are trying to push through this Iraqi oil law that even Congress is touting as a benchmark for Iraqi progress and it would give control of 3/4 of Iraq's oil to foreign oil companies.”

“It is very important not to say that the war was a mistake, the war is being fought incompetently. The war is illegal and it is also immoral. It is killing thousands of US soldiers. It is killing tens of thousands of Iraqis and draining our national treasury. And the majority of American people know this. But Congress has not caught on yet. ”

Pentagon War Games Predictions On Iraq

Video and article are a couple of weeks old but I missed it back then and it doesn't appear to me that many in the MSM picked it up. In the video above, Keith Olbermann discusses the results of the Pentagon wargaming a withdrawal of US troops out of Iraq with Washington Post reporter Thomas Ricks. Ricks article on the subject, from July 17, can be read at WaPo. 

Not surprisingly, the exercises produce a far different result than the dire predictions offered by George the Crazy and Dick the Evil, both of whom love to scare Americans with tall tales of an Iranian takeover of Iraq and Iraq becoming a breeding ground for al-Qaeda (ridiculous on its face since al-Qaeda - think 15 of 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia - and Iran are enemies). Ricks even quotes Bush as saying that al-Qaeda would “be able to recruit better and raise more money from which to launch their objectives” of attacking the US which is again laughable considering nothing is a better recruitment tool than the US occupation of a Muslim country for its oil.

So, just what did the war games find? Iraq is likely to split into three separate countries -- Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish. Iran would likely attempt to exert its influence and “become bogged down in southern Iraq. And al-Qaeda is hardly the threat Bush claims:

U.S. intelligence analysts, however, have a somewhat different view of al-Qaeda's presence in Iraq, noting that the local branch takes its inspiration but not its orders from bin Laden. Its enemies -- the overwhelming majority of whom are Iraqis -- reside in Baghdad and Shiite-majority areas of Iraq, not in Saudi Arabia or the United States. While intelligence officials have described the Sunni insurgent group calling itself al-Qaeda in Iraq as an ”accelerant“ for violence, they have cited domestic sectarian divisions as the main impediment to peace.

W., of course, will not take into account the results of the Pentagon war games because he views Iraq as a game that is to be won or lost. Bush's troubled psyche does not even allow him to  consider the facts, common sense, reason or the lives of Iraqis and US soldiers. The only thing on the line as far as he is concerned is his own disgraceful legacy. Thus, he has absolutely nothing to lose by continuing full speed ahead.

Read the Thomas Ricks article

Don't Believe The Hype - US Not Leaving Iraq Anytime Soon (Updated)

The 104-acre $592 million US Embassy in Iraq will staff more than 1,000 people and cost $1.2 billion per year to operate. 

Norman Solomon writes at AlterNet that no major presidential candidate for either party is seriously speaking about getting our military out of Iraq. Instead, we are witnessing a replay of the same lies designed to placate the populous about an eventual pullout, all the while a military buildup is in the works. Solomon writes:

Scratch the surface of current media scenarios for a U.S. pullout from Iraq, and you're left with little more than speculation -- fueled by giant dollops of political manipulation. In fact, strategic leaks and un-attributed claims about U.S. plans for withdrawal have emerged periodically to release some steam from domestic antiwar pressures.

This is the same playbook, according to Solomon, followed by the Bush administration before the 2004 election:   

Nearly three years ago -- with discontent over the war threatening to undermine President Bush's prospects for a second term -- the White House ally Robert Novak floated a rosy scenario in his nationally syndicated column that appeared on Sept. 20, 2004. “Inside the Bush administration policy-making apparatus, there is strong feeling that U.S. troops must leave Iraq next year,” he wrote. “This determination is not predicated on success in implanting Iraqi democracy and internal stability. Rather, the officials are saying: Ready or not, here we go.”

The embassy will be 6 times larger than the United Nations compound in New York

The hype about leaving Iraq was b.s. then as it is now. What's of particular interest is what Solomon writes is the reason behind the half-hearted calls for withdrawal by Democratic candidates:

Those candidates know that powerful elites in this country just don't want to give up the leverage of an ongoing U.S. military presence in Iraq, with its enormous reserves of oil and geopolitical value. It's a good bet that American media and political powerhouses would fix the wagon of any presidential campaign that truly advocated an end to the U.S. war in -- and on -- Iraq.

The nearly completed US embassy monstrosity.

What this all means for Iraq and our troops in Iraq, in the run-up to the 2008 election, depends on where you sit:

The disconnect between public opinion and elite opinion has led to reverse perceptions of a crisis of democracy. As war continues, some are appalled at the absence of democracy while others are frightened by the potential of it. From the grassroots, the scarcity of democracy is transparent and outrageous. For elites, unleashed democracy could jeopardize the priorities of the military-industrial-media complex.

Unfortunately, the odds of winning the struggle for an Iraq pullout and winning back our democracy are equally bad. See the stolen elections of 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006. Thus, instead of listening to the political rhetoric and media propaganda it is imperative to look at the facts, including:

1. JOINT CAMPAIGN PLAN: recently leaked classified plan which calls for a significant American role in Iraq until at least 2009.

2. KOREA MODEL: Bush has referred to the Korea Model on multiple occasions over the last couple of months. The US has a significant military force in Korea for more than a half century.

3. PERMANENT MILITARY BASES: Despite the recent House Bill banning permanent bases in Iraq, the US continues to build huge multi-billion dollar bases. First, the House Bill only bans new bases which should hardly be a problem since the permanent bases have long been under construction. Second, if need be, the military need only call the bases, some of which are the size of small towns, “enduring” bases. 

4. WHITE HOUSE THINKS PROGRESS IN IRAQ IS SATISFACTORY: Despite missing on 10 of 18 “benchmarks”, the Bushies appear pleased with our progress in Iraq.

5. NEOCONS & FOX NEWS ALSO PLEASED WITH IRAQ PROGRESS: Watch Fox 'News' on any given day or check out this mashup of neocon Fred Kagan I recently put together.

6. THE OIL: We are not going anywhere until the oil issue is settled. In other words, not until the Iraq legislators we installed feel sufficiently bribed or threatened enough to hand over the vast oil resources of their country to Exxon. 

7. THE BUSH LEGACY: Sure it is a joke. Everything the Bushies have touched over the last 6 1/2 years have gone the same way as Iraq. His so-called greatest achievement, No Child Left Behind, has been disastrous for education. Hurricane Katrina. Squandering the surplus and creating a ginormous deficit. Turning world opinion against Americans. Dividing the country. Torture. Corporate giveaways. Extraordinary rendition. Gitmo. Habeas Corpus. 9/11. Osama. The point being, that Bush will go down as the worst president ever even if we were to find some face saving way out of Iraq. 

But, because everyone says his legacy depends on Iraq and he clearly believes the same, what incentive does he have to throw in the towel? There might be a few people in the world willing to sacrifice their own legacy for the greater good of humanity, but Bush ain't one of them. Hell, it took the mightiest of efforts to get W. to sacrifice a single day of vacation to conduct a fly-over of the gulf region days after Hurricane Katrina hit.

8. THE EMBASSY: Like the permanent bases, the new half billion dollar plus, gigantic, architectural disgrace of an embassy (seen in the three photos above) will cost more than a billion dollars a year to run. 

Thus, the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the White House plans are to continue full speed ahead in Iraq no matter what General Petraeus September progress report brings. And the lame attempts by the leading Democratic presidential candidates to put a stop to the Iraq war does suggest that, as Solomon writes, they fear what upsetting the media and elite power brokers would do to their candidacy and thus will continue to not rock the Iraq boat.

In other words, don't believe the hype heard throughout the mainstream media concerning a troop withdrawal or pullout. Because it's pure and simple propaganda.

Read Solomon's article at AlterNet

UPDATE: Bhc has a must read post on how the Bushies are using the “liberal” media to manufacture the consent necessary for the long term presence of significant American troops in Iraq. While the entire read is a must, I particularly loved this paragraph:

Yes, this is a victorious day for the truth-seekers at Powerline and Captain's Quarters. Michele Malkin is moist. For not only has the truth about Iraq won out, it has done so by the fey hand of “liberals,” from the “liberal” Brookings Institute, and been doled out on the pages of the “liberal” New York Times, sure to be sopped up with gusto by those northeast, latte-slurping liberals. This is good, you see, because liberals run everything, which is why the US is fighting two failing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, agitating and arming for a third with Iran, sending missile defenses to Europe to piss off the Russians in the hopes of ramping up a new cold war, sending arms to Saudi Arabia, backing the brutal actions of Ethiopian government troops in Ethiopia and Somolia, and arming rebels in Darfur. If liberals weren't in charge, why, imagine the bliss. But I digress.

UPDATE II: Pentagon Announces 20,000 more troops headed to Iraq

Nearly 20,000 U.S. troops based in the United States will begin departing for Iraq in December as part of the regular rotation of combat forces there, the Defense Department announced Tuesday.  These Army and Marine Corps units are not related to the buildup of American troops announced by President Bush in January, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

'CHENEY WANTS TO BLOW SOME IRANIAN SHIT UP -- BIG TIME'

Now that I have your attention, click your way over to Anything They Say, where Bhc has returned after a short hiatus with a powerful sweeping piece, PIPELINES AND IMPERIAL MISSIONS, on the Bushies and the Middle East that will take your breath away. I cannot remember an article so breathtaking in its scope and I read Harper's!

Bhc covers all the well-known angles and facts, starting with the now familiar 1992 Defense Planning Guide which outlines the case for American empire. Additionally, he pulls in his unparalleled knowledge of all things oil, from pipelines to the Iraqi Oil Law, which are key to understanding the Bushies foreign policy. And before all is said and done, Bhc takes readers on a tour de force of the ever important currency and commodity markets and the actions and reasoning behind moves from recently emerging powers Russia, China and Iran. And this is but a cursory view of the subjects covered in the post. Like I said, it is truly sweeping.

But, don't let the scope and length of the article scare you away. Where Bhc shines, and has always shined, is in tying so many seemingly disparate facts into one wholly readable story. By the end, what now appears to be a tangled web of unrelated stories, propaganda and political maneuvering, is unraveled into a perfect web that is supported by the facts and common sense. All of which makes it odd that this story will be entirely new to many, if not, most.

With the above in mind, those who get their news solely from the mainstream media are advised to proceed cautiously and prepare themselves to be shocked by the truth. Of course, we Americans don't much like the truth. “We'd rather be lied to about war and then get pissed about the lie than admit to why we really went there.”

Read Pipelines and Imperial Missions!

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOUR PRESIDENCY BLOWS UP? BOMB IRAN!

What do you do when the shit really hits the fan -- Scooter Libby commutation, Crazy Cheney WaPo special coverage, calls intensify for Cheney impeachment, DC Madam, Iraq defections in GOP, Iraq in full throttle Civil War, Iraq government meets no benchmarks, Justice Department is in disarray, no one believes you give a damn about global warming, NSA spying on Americans -- on your presidency?

Bomb Iran, of course!

From Reuters:

The U.S. navy has sent a third aircraft carrier to its Fifth Fleet area of operations, which includes Gulf waters close to Iran, the navy said on Tuesday.

“Enterprise (aircraft carrier) provides navy power to counter the assertive, disruptive and coercive behaviour of some countries, as well as support our soldiers and marines in Iraq and Afghanistan,” a U.S. Navy statement said.

The move comes weeks after a flotilla of U.S. warships sailed through the narrowest point in the Gulf to hold exercises off Iran's coast in a major show of force.

For more bomb Iran coverage on HPM check out:

A Tale Of Two Monsters 6/6/07
Hero Alert: Admiral William Fallon 5/18/07
Gas Prices Set 3rd Consecutive Record 5/17/07
Guess Who Is A State Sponsor of Terrorism 4/4/07
Evidence Pointing Towards Iran Attack 4/3/07
Bush and Cheney or Mickey and Mallory 4/3/07
Operation Bite - This Time Iran 3/28/07
Is Dick Cheney an Iranian Spy & Does It Matter 3/20/07
Stop Iran War Dot Com 3/2/07
US Generals Will Quit If US Attacks Iran 3/1/07
One Of The Most Important Articles In Recent Memory 2/26/07
IRAN 2/15/07
Enjoy the Calm Before All Hell Breaks Loose 2/13/07
An Iran Plan of Action 2/5/07
ABSURD NY TIMES EDITORIAL ON IRAN 2/1/07
Looking Back at Kristol's War 1/29/07
CRAZY AND EVIL 1/26/07
Evil Stalled Investigation and Is Delusional 1/25/07
ENDLESS WAR 1/25/07
WAKE UP! WAR WITH IRAN COMING 1/16/07
Investment Bank Warns of Impending US Attack on Iran 1/15/07
Shock and Awe: The Sequel? 12/21/06

And after Bush bombs Iran the shit will really hit the fan on the planet.

RFK Jr. Gives One Of The Greatest American Speeches EVER

 

UPDATE: Video taken down at YouTube but can still be watched at BRAD BLOG! One of the best speeches you will ever hear. Hat tip to Agent 99. Rough transcript at Brad Blog.

Technorati Tags: ANWR, big oil, bush, coporatism, corruption, democracy, environment, exxon, fascism, foxnews, iraq, middle east, morality, msm, oil, rfk jr, video

US - Russia Heading Towards Cold War?

Can we please fucking impeach these idiots already? Seriously, the damage these guys will do with another year and half is incalculable.  By the way, it's hard to argue with Putin's analysis when everyone knows that our missile defense systems are a joke.  And I wonder which members of the military industrial complex stand to make billions on this deal.

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Quotable: Russian President Vladimir Putin

In a speech honoring Russian veterans of World War II, President Vladimir Putin spoke of the important lessons learned 60+ years ago:

''We do not have the right to forget the causes of any war, which must be sought in the mistakes and errors of peacetime,'' Mr. Putin said.

''Moreover, in our time, these threats are not diminishing,'' he said. ''They are only transforming, changing their appearance. In these new threats, as during the time of the Third Reich, are the same contempt for human life and the same claims of exceptionality and diktat in the world.''

If only George W. knew anything about history. Well, then he probably would not be making the exact same mistakes we saw in Vietnam and he probably would not be following in the same path of the Nazis with claims about American exceptionality. If only...

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