Far Too Late For Any Debate

Move along Dubya, you should try sitting in on the Scooter Libby trial for a while.

My, my the sights one would see up on the big screen marked as government exhibits.

Handwritten notes between all the big boys, with the bottom line being not only did they know Valerie Plame worked for non-proliferation bureau of the CIA-they even knew she was working on WMD. What else can one say about these vultures except oh dear God?

Prissy knows because she sat in on the trial for a couple of days...and if I was Libby's team defense-he wouldn't be allowed to get anywhere near the witness stand.

He's done more than enough damage to himself with the "evidence" of testimony he's already given.

Why it was so obvious he was lying, Scooter couldn't fool a four-year-old...he should sue for bad legal advice-any half way intelligent person would have said to plea in the beginning. Scooter will do at least 2-5 years; it will be a gift if he isn't convicted on all counts.

With a jury that comes back from courtroom breaks with questions of their own for witnesses, Prissy didn't get the impression they were feeling very generous!

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and his team of talented lawyers have another plus on their side-the truth. The truth is something Scooters three hired law firms cannot change, only confuse. But Prissy did not see anyone in the courtroom (except Scooter, maybe) who will be easily confused.

Some of the "defense" put on, was so incredulous that observers would look at each other with mirth upon hearing it...

Once people of all political persuasions see the handwritten collusion (the defense does not dispute their authenticity) of a campaign designed to out a covert CIA spy working on non-proliferation of WMD's, they will be screaming for Bush/Cheney/Rove/Hadley's clearances,etc...though we have all long suspected treason, to see it their own writing is truly breathtaking.

The message from the top was clear. Disagree with our policy and methods? Bush and company will go after you and yours, until someone gets caught-maybe even killed.

Hot Links

ZMAG Talk at Ehren Watada rally

What about a bloodbath if the U.S. withdraws? It is already happening. The U.S. military occupation makes it worse daily. Let Iraqi groups who are concerned about Iraq negotiate with each other for a peaceful Iraq. The U.S. withdrawal will isolate those involved in sectarian killing. Moreover, a major cause of violence —the attacks on the U.S., and U.S. aggression and returning massive firepower to these attacks will end. There are no easy answers but the U.S. continued presence makes the situation for Iraqis more dangerous and deadly daily. We cannot be part of the solution,

The war is wrong; winning should not be the goal. For the most part, the Democrats, the Iraqi study group disagree with the Bush administration only on tactics, how to maintain some control—e.g., of oil, they ask the wrong questions. Our principled position must be like Ehren Watada—the war is wrong and immoral. Our demand is for total U.S. withdrawal, before May Day, and support for military resisters. So the war is more than just bad policy.

Support the U.S. troops-must mean also calling for U.S. withdrawal and ending the War—otherwise our only concern is U.S. lives and we are not valuing Iraqi lives as equal to U.S. lives, 700,000 plus Iraqis dead by now. Let us mourn each one of these Iraqis and also mourn the more than 3000 U.S. soldiers and the hundreds of their allies killed and many times that number on both sides wounded for life.

Lt. Watada is taking a principled stand, it certainly is not the easy way out! The judge is an area of concern, as he is refusing to allow evidence into trial that will assist in Lt. Watada's defense-thus, that the war in Iraq is illegal and an order to participate would be the same.

War under "Dubya's law of pre-emption" tells us this is OK:

Let's say Prissy's neighbor tells another neighbor, "that Prissy and her political ideas really angers me-I should do something about that someday." The neighbor hearing this relays this to Prissy. Prissy, now hearing from someone else leaving an anonymous note, said the neighbor making the vague threat is known for slashing tires. Then Prissy gets a signed note from the neigbor stating he wants to "work to resolve our differences."

Yet under Dubya's law, Prissy just knows this neighbor will eventually "do something" (since he most likely owns a knife) and runs over there with her letter opener and slashes his tires first.

When the police officer driving by catches her because slashing tires takes longer than she thought-she uses Dubya's pre-emptive force law as her defense.

However, the police officer and the judge are not buying this as a defense - saying "Prissy what did he actually say or do to you?", and now Prissy is the one who is seen as the threat...

Yahoo Waxman raps Ex-Iraq chief over aid funds

The hearing presented two divergent views of what financial controls were possible in an Iraqi capital with no functioning national government.

Waxman and a hearing witness, special inspector general for Iraq Stuart Bowen Jr., criticized Bremer for failing to install accounting systems that would have forced Iraqi ministries to account for up to $12 billion in Iraq's funds. The money came from a United Nations oil-for-food program and seized Iraqi assets, but fell under Bremer's control.

"Without strong standards, we have no way of knowing whether the cash could end up in enemy hands," said Waxman.

Bremer countered, "I arrived in Baghdad at a time when much of the city was burning. Looting was still widespread. My responsibilities were to kickstart the economy."

The Guardian Bush slashes aid to poor to boost Iraq war chest

Mr Bush's $2.9 trillion (£1.5 trillion) budget, sent to Congress yesterday, includes $100bn extra for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for this year, on top of $70bn already allocated by Congress and $141.7bn next year. He is planning an 11.3% increase for the Pentagon. Spending on the Iraq war is destined to top the total cost of the 13-year war in Vietnam.

The huge rise in military spending is paid for by a squeeze on domestic programmes, including $66bn in cuts over five years to Medicare, the healthcare scheme for the elderly, and $12bn from the Medicaid healthcare scheme for the poor.

Mr Bush said: "Today we submit a budget to the United States Congress that shows we can balance the budget in five years without raising taxes ... Our priority is to protect the American people. And our priority is to make sure our troops have what it takes to do their jobs."

Although Democrats control Congress and have promised careful scrutiny of the budget over the next few months, Mr Bush has left in them in a bind, unwilling to withhold funds for US troops on the frontline. Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, said the days when Mr Bush could expect a blank cheque for the wars were over but she also insisted the Democrats would not deny troops the money they needed. Democrats could block Mr Bush's proposed cuts to 141 domestic programmes.

Electronic Iraq Bombs over Baghdad: The Pentagon's Secret Air War in Iraq

But the number of cannon rounds and rockets fired by U.S. aircraft is not an insignificant matter, according to Les Roberts, formerly an epidemiologist for the World Health Organization in Rwanda during that country's civil war and an expert on the human costs of the war in Iraq. According to Roberts, who was last in Iraq in 2004 (where, he says, he personally witnessed "the shredding of entire blocks" in Baghdad's Sadr City by aerial cannon fire), "rocket and cannon fire could account for most coalition-attributed civilian deaths." He adds, "I find it disturbing that they will not release this [figure], but even more disturbing that they have not released such information to Congressmen who have requested it."

Non-CENTAF military officials were equally tight-lipped about such munitions -- at least with me. A Public Affairs officer from U.S. Central Command told me that the Command didn't track such information. When I questioned a coalition spokesman in Baghdad about the number of rockets and cannon rounds fired by Army and Marine Corps helicopters in Iraq in 2006, I was told, "We cannot comment on your inquiry due to operational security."

I then pointed out that just last month, in National Defense Magazine, Col. Robert A. Fitzgerald, the Marine Corps' head of aviation plans and policy, was quoted as saying that, in 2006, "Marine rotary-wing aircraft flew more than 60,000 combat flight hours, and fixed-wing platforms completed 31,000. They dropped 80 tons of bombs and fired 80 missiles, 3,532 rockets and more than 2 million rounds of smaller ammunition."

When asked if this admission had endangered operational security, the spokesman responded, "I cannot comment on the policies or release authority of a Marine colonel."

Note to military: Now is not the time in history to lie...

The Hill Legislation to require White House disclosure of military contracting

She said Congress lacks evidence that contractors report to the appropriate military commanders in such regions.

“This legislation will shed light on the war business, so that Congress and the American people can determine when and where the outsourcing of our security to private firms is warranted,” Schakowsky said.

The Iraq and Afghanistan Contractor Sunshine Act would require the departments of Defense, State, and the Interior and the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide Congress with descriptions of both contractual work performed in Iraq and Afghanistan and task orders in excess of $5 million.

The agencies also would have to report the number of contractors and subcontractors employed in Iraq and Afghanistan and the total costs of contracts there. The agencies would have to inform Congress about the number of wounded and killed contractors as well as disciplinary actions taken by the U.S. government against contractors who break the law.

Palestine News Network Israeli government destroys Moroccan Gate and parts of Al Aqsa Mosque area amid outcry

Israeli forces demolished the entrance to the Al Aqsa Mosque after destroying the Moroccan Gate bridge leading to the Muslim holy site. Chief Palestinian Justice Sheikh Taysir Tamimi said that the timing of the destruction in the Old City of East Jerusalem was purposeful as all eyes are on the meeting in Mecca and political leaders are enroute.

The Sheikh told a press conference in Ramallah this afternoon that the Israeli government is continuing with its plan to demolish the historic road at the Moroccan Gate with a major threat to the western side of the Mosque.

Israeli forces expelled all Arab workers and journalists Monday, increased the military presence in the face of nonviolent protests over the past two days, and closed all roads on Tuesday.

The British are attempting to garner a peace settlement between Israel and Palestine. Of course our own administration is too busy trying to defend itself to take care of diplomatic matters abroad...

Hidustan Times France calls for US troops to leave Iraq in 2008

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said, "setting a timetable for complete withdrawal, and handing "full sovereignty" to Iraqis, was a prerequisite for any political solution. Only after a timetable was set could the Iraqis move forward with national reconciliation and regional dialogue.".

"The US have failed in Iraq," Villepin told the Financial Times in an interview posted on its website late on Tuesday.

"If you do not say that in one year there will be no more American or British troops in Iraq, nothing will happen in Iraq except more deaths and crises," he added.

And the French know- because they failed first in that region.

Quotes of the Day

No wise man ever thought that a traitor should be trusted. [Lat., Nemo unquam sapiens proditori credendum putavit.]--Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero)

Treason and murder ever kept together, As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose, Working so grossly in a natural cause That admiration did not whoop at them; But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in Wonder to wait on treason and on murder; And whatsoever cunning fiend it was That wrought upon thee so preposterously Hath got the voice in hell for excellence.--William Shakespeare

We are a rebellious nation. Our whole history is treason; our blood was attained before we were born; our creeds were infidelity to the mother church; our constitution treason to our fatherland.--Theodore Parker

Fitzgerald's Libby strategy? Rebellion must be managed with many swords; treason to his prince's person may be with one knife.--Thomas Fuller

Prissy's strategy...Write on my gravestone: "Infidel, Traitor." --infidel to every church that compromises with wrong; traitor to every government that oppresses the people.-- Wendell Phillips