Iraqi Police being trained by Americans in proper treatment of prisoners ...

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq police accused of torture

The return to torture and killing by the security forces is another embarrassment for the American and British governments, which have partly justified the invasion of Iraq on the grounds of ending the kind of abuses committed by Saddam Hussein's regime.
[...]
What is also a major concern is that the minority Sunni Muslim community who used to control Iraq believe they are now being deliberately targeted by the Shia-dominated police force.
The insurgency is led by militant Sunnis whereas the government is now led by the majority Shia.
In their brutal campaign of violence, the insurgents have focused their attacks on Shia and members of the Iraqi security forces in order to provoke sectarian conflict.
If the security forces respond with torture and extra-judicial killings, it could lead to exactly what the insurgents want - full-blown sectarian war.

Why I Am Not A Democrat.

"Liability Shield for Gunmakers Near Passage" Washington Post, 29 July 2005:

"Supporters believe they have the votes in the Senate to pass as early as today a bill making it virtually impossible for victims of gun violence to file civil suits against the industry -- a testimony to the political clout of gun manufacturers, which have become increasingly vulnerable to civil lawsuits in the District and several states. Twelve Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), are joining with the Republicans to support the legislation."

My son, a Philadephia Eagles fan, just called because a player on his team was shot in Jeb Bush's gunnut paradise. Thank the mythical-bearded-father-of-jeebus-who-lives-in-the-clouds that he and/or his survivors, won't be able to sue a gun manufacturer.

True Blue Liberal

WHIG of the Week -- Karen Hughes, our brand new Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs

Click here for the Buzzflash article:"Karen Hughes, Queen of the Spin-Doctors and Captain of the White House Smear Campaign", which has a short summary (with references) of her involvement in fulfilling the goals of the Downing Street Memo by helping to sell fixed Iraq intelligence and attacking war critics Richard Clarke and Joe Wilson.

But this week I guess we should wish her well in her new job. While fellow WHIGs Rove and Card and Libby and Hadley were getting raises this week, she was getting a new title:

Only two senators were in the room when Karen Hughes testified at her confirmation hearings. When it came time for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to vote on her nomination yesterday, she was easily approved. And thus with no discussion and no debate, Hughes takes over the least noticed, least respected and possibly most important job in the State Department. Her formal title is undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. In plain English, her job is to fight anti-Americanism, promote American culture and above all to do intellectual battle with the ideology of radical Islam, a set of beliefs so powerful that they can persuade middle-class, second-generation British Muslims to blow themselves up on buses and trains.
Presumably, President Bush selected Hughes for this task because she was very good at running his election campaigns. And indeed, in the testimony she gave last week to a nearly empty room, she sounded like she was still running an election campaign. ... (Anne Applebaum / Washington Post / 27 July 2005)

".... with no discussion and no debate ...." Thanks again Congress, for proving once more that it's not only the mainstream media that's at fault when it comes to sweeping the truth of our current crisis under the rug ...

crossposted at Whiggate Update

Tags:WHIG;WHIGgate;Karen Hughes

Whiggate update. Is it possible that there were members of the White House Iraq Group working undercover in the press?

And is it possible that one of these outside, informal members of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG) is already in jail for her key role in the fixing of intelligence and selling of the current quagmire to the American public?

from The Crisis Papers "Rove-Plame Scandal Leading to Deeper White House Horrors?" By Bernard Weiner, 19 July 2005:

"Why Judith Miller is not testifying apparently goes to the heart of Fitzgerald's case. There are reasonable grounds for wondering whether Miller might have been aiding, inadvertently or consciously, Rove and the rest of the WHIG to help move the country toward war with Iraq. For example, she may have been told by Administration officials about Plame and her CIA job, and helped spread that word to other journalists, who then contacted Rove and I. Lewis Libby, Cheney's chief of staff. Cooper over the weekend revealed that it was Libby who was the second of the 'two senior administration officials' who leaked Plame's identity.

The New York Times already has apologized for running several of Miller's pre-Iraq War stories that were based on faulty weapons-of-mass-destruction intelligence; much of that concocted intel was provided by Ahmed Chalabi, the sleazy Iraqi exile leader who hitched his wagon to the Pentagon neo-cons to get his forces back into Iraq in the wake of a U.S. invasion. Those Miller stories helped provide the imprimatur of New York Times prestige that other media outlets then picked up on, helping create a nationwide zeitgeist of imminent threat from Iraq.

Indeed, Dick Cheney squared the circle by using Miller's stories as 'evidence' that even the hallowed New York Times had determined that Iraq had, or soon would have, nuclear weapons of mass destruction. [emphasis added]

The Times owes it to the nation to go far beyond apologizing for the fact that they were hijacked by WHIGs and Chalabi to sell the Iraq War with false intelligence. It needs to fully investigate and clearly tell the story of the White House Iraq Group. Their silence on this issue is more deafening than that of others. A search of their website today still shows zero hits for the phrase "White House Iraq Group". I'll keep checking and let you know on the big day when they finally catch up with the Washington Post (August 2003) and Newsday (March 2004).

True Blue Liberal

crossposted at Whiggate Update

Imagine the outcry if the Democrats or MoveOn or Michael Moore were to offer a cash reward leading the the indictment and conviction of Rove or Cheney

CNN.com - Chicago mayor subject of controversial reward offer - Jul 27, 2005: "The Cook County Republican Party is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an indictment and conviction of Mayor Richard M. Daley, whose administration has been buffeted by scandal...."

But they didn't mean it in a mean way, or a partisan way. They're just trying to perform a public service for the people of Illinois.
I'm not up on Chicago politics. I still think the current mayor's father was a prick based on my memory of the way he treated his Yippie visitors in 1968, but no political party should be putting a bounty on the head of one of their opponents. This sounds very much like my local New Jersey Republican Party, which, being similarly devoid of ideas (except to line the pockets of its corporate friends and sponsors), is screaming about nonexistent "scandals".
It is amazing that a party so afraid of leaks on a national level is trying to bribe (or create) leakers who have no interest in justice or the truth, but might be willing to share (or create) a story in order to be able to pay their rent.

True Blue Liberal

The so-called "Global War on Terror®" is now the so-called "Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism®"

"U.S. Officials Retool Slogan for Terror War"
- 26 July 2005 - New York Times:

The Bush administration is retooling its slogan for the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, pushing the idea that the long-term struggle is as much an ideological battle as a military mission, senior administration and military officials said Monday.
In recent speeches and news conferences, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the nation's senior military officer have spoken of 'a global struggle against violent extremism' rather than 'the global war on terror,' which had been the catchphrase of choice. Administration officials say that phrase may have outlived its usefulness, because it focused attention solely, and incorrectly, on the military campaign.

Note how badly they want to control the language of the present apocalypse, and how supine we and our media sources of information have been in accepting their language. The international media almost always called attention to the abstract entity the Bush Administration up until recently called "the war on terror" by placing it in quotation marks or prefacing it with the "so-called" label that pointed out that wars on abstract concepts are doomed to fail. Note how when their language isn't working, they do not change their actions, they just change the phrase that has garnered unfavorable attention or poll numbers (Social Security Privatization anyone?). Or at least they try to. We can't let them. If they control the language (Death Tax, Partial Birth Abortion, Hillarycare), then we lose.
We need to control the language of the current scandal too. We can't let it be reduced to "Rovegate" or "Plamegate," because that story will end when Karl is frogmarched from the West Wing. "Iraqgate" belongs to Reagan and Bush Senior and their arming of Saddam, "Wargate" is too general (and probably a video game) .... I still like Whiggate, because I think that as soon as you start explaining who the WHIGs are (they make Nixon's Plumbers looks like penny-ante thieves in comparison), you've linked the aims of the Downing Street Memo, the White House Iraq Group's conspiracy to falsify the reasons for war, and the outing of Valerie Plame to cover up those falsifications, in one narrative. "Rovegate"suggests a deceptively simple isolated story, which ends when the long-awaited frogmarch finally takes place. Whiggate forces you to ask, Who's next? Card, Libby, Cheney ... ? It has the feel and power of Watergate to reach farther and farther up the ladder, with the end target being obvious. Also, we can make up t-shirts that say "W stands for Whiggate."

What do you think?
True Blue Liberal

Catapulting the Propaganda again

CNN.com - U.S. military admits error in news releases - Jul 25, 2005:

The U.S. military expressed regret Monday for issuing news releases about two separate attacks in Iraq that included almost identical quotes attributed to an unidentified Iraqi.
[...]
From July 24:
''The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the ISF and all of Iraq. They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists,'' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified.
From July 13:
''The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the children and all of Iraq,'' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified. ''They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists.''

The one-Iraqi-who-prefers-not-to-be-identified sure gets around, and sure sounds like he gets his talking points from Karl Rove. Although he should be reprimanded for forgetting to point out that "they hate our freedom".

But no one is stupid enough to believe a press release from Rumsfeld's Pentagon, are they? It should now be clear that they have all the credibility of Baghdad Bob (or any official department of war propaganda catapultation).

But don't worry, because soon we'll all join our
Dear Leader in proudly saying
"Mission Accomplished" and we'll thank him
for his wonderful prescience & shepherding skills.
Baa Baa.
Bah.
TBL

"Here's the Church, Here's the Steeple, Open the Doors and See all the . . . .

. . . . Sheeple!"

The Culture Ghost makes the point in his most recent post that it's helpful when commenting on some of the less perceptive religious, political, and cultural opinions of our fellow citizens to have a picture of zombies or the undead on hand for illustrative purposes.

Might I make another suggestion?
Sheep.
Especially a flock of sheep behind a locked gate waiting for the arrival of their shepherd,
who will tell them where to go, and how to think.

Three cheers for the Downing Street Memo's third birthday!!

Little George Jr., saddled with the adulterer's sweater and megaphone and forced to play the role of school clown sez:

Hip Hip Hooray
(Please look the other way ..)
Yay Yay Yay
(..make the "Memo" go away)





Happy Birthday little Downing Street Memo, and thanks for all your help. We'll try to make you proud.

True Blue Liberal

Richard "Dick" Cheney in Staten Island NY on Monday. Out of his secret bunker and bringing his special brand of fun to the blue states!

Peace Action of Staten Island is inviting people in the New York area to join them this coming Monday as Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at a fundraising event for Rep. Vito Fossella. Here are the details: Monday, July 25th at 6 pm at the Excelsior Grand, 2380 Hylan Blvd. in New Dorp, Staten Island (if you are coming from the Staten Island Ferry, take the S78 bus to Otis Ave. and Hylan Blvd).