Where's the Outrage?

I’ve mentioned this before but I think it’s worth mentioning again. I think it illustrates a very important point about Rick Santorum. Data and information do not penetrate his cranium.

Let’s go back to the dark days. We invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003. One of the premier reasons for going to war was that Iraq harbored weapons of mass destruction. We all remember Colin Powell in front of the UN General assembly laying out the case against Saddam Hussein. According to the Bush administration Iraq had tons of weapons of mass destruction this included chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Many people have discussed the frantic in futile search for weapons of mass destruction in 2003. Thomas Ricks has done one of the best jobs at documenting the search in his book, Fiasco. The fact that President Bush and Vice President Cheney personally got involved in the search is critically important. Judith Miller, New York Times reporter and cheerleader for the war, went to Iraq to personally “show” the military where to look. Yet, there were no weapons of mass destruction found. By late 2003 and early 2004, it was clear that there were no weapons of mass destruction to be found in Iraq. By September 2004, the Iraq survey group announced that they did not find any evidence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction at the time of our invasion in 2003. More study and more handwringing by the Bush administration revealed even more evidence that there were no weapons of mass destruction at the time of our invasion. Yet, in June of 2006, then Senator Rick Santorum decided that he had found something that nobody else at found chemical weapons in Iraq. He called a press conference to announce his findings. He was wrong. He showed none of the judgment that one would expect from a Senator. Is clearly not the judgment that we would expect of the president.

Santorum proves that he can't evaluate information [ 3:42 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Elections, Iraq by ecthompson md
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I know that we’ve intermittently talked about this before, but now seems to be a perfect time to discuss our wars with Iraq (our troops are coming home, finally) and Afghanistan. Make no mistake, we were definitely attacked on September 11, 2001. A group of 19 terrorists with the aid of Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda and the Taliban took down the World Trade Center, tore a huge hole in the Pentagon and crashed an airliner into a rural portion of Pennsylvania. We now know that these acts of terrorism set in motion a cascade of events which have cost the American people well over $1.5 trillion. 6200 American soldiers have died. Tens of thousands of American soldiers have been wounded. What did we get in return?

When you invest blood and sweat into a project, you should at least hope to get something out of it. Stability in the Middle East? A thriving economy in Afghanistan? At the time of the Iraq invasion, many Americans believed that we were invading Iraq in order to secure their oil. Do we have secure oil agreements in place? Did we, at least, improve our relationships with other governments in the Middle East?

Some of these questions don’t really have answers. Others of these questions do have answers and the answers, unfortunately, are depressing. We spent a lot of time and effort and nearly destroyed our military in the process. We have simply the death of Osama bin Laden and several of his lieutenants to show for our efforts. Questions like whether we madr terrorism worse still linger. Now is the time for us to figure out what we did wrong. We should also assess what we did right. We need to make sure that we do not repeat the same mistakes which led to the disastrous decisions to invade both of those countries. I would submit that we could have infiltrated Afghanistan with a couple hundred to a couple of thousand troops with appropriate air support and eliminated Osama bin Laden and most of Al Qaeda within a matter of weeks or months. I don’t know. What I do know is that spending $1.5 trillion and losing over 6000 troops, breaking our military and getting almost nothing in return is unacceptable.

Tags: Afghanistan, Bin Laden, Iraq, Terrorism by ecthompson md
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Today, President Obama has announced that all American troops are coming home from Iraq by the end of the year. I’m sure that there is going to be a lot of discussion and finger-pointing over time tables and such. In my opinion, it is past time for our troops to come home. We’ve lost too many Americans. Unfortunately, after much thought and consideration, it is difficult for me to come up with much that we’ve accomplished. We got rid of Saddam Hussein. Everyone will acknowledge that he was a dictator and a mass murderer. As we began what will no doubt be a protracted discussion on what was accomplished and when should we come home, I think it is important for us to remember our goals. I have to smile because our goals have changed over the last 8-10 years. Originally, our goals were to prevent Saddam Hussein from launching an attack on the United States or our allies with weapons of mass destruction (nuclear weapons, chemical weapons or biological weapons). As everyone now knows, we found no weapons of mass destruction – none. There were multiple other reasons placed out there in the ethernet which included securing Iraqi oil for the United States, freeing the Iraqi people from the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, freeing Iraq from the terrorists calling themselves Al Qaeda in Iraq and finally, the domino effect. By taking out Saddam Hussein and instilling democracy in Iraq, democracy would spread throughout the Middle East.

I’m ecstatic that our troops are coming home. I am deeply saddened that we spent over $800 billion (more than our economic stimulus package) and have so little to show for it. Over 4400 Americans have been killed and over 32,000 have been wounded. I know that our troops have fought bravely. I’m in awe of their sacrifice and dedication to duty.

Mister President – let’s bring them home quickly and safely.

Tags: Iraq, Obama administration by ecthompson md
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I’m still recovering over my disappointment… No, that’s not right. Frustration? No, that’s not quite the right word either. I’m still recovering after witnessing the utter collapse of the Dallas Cowboys on national TV. I have no idea how a team that is supposed to go deep into the playoffs loses a 14 point lead in the fourth quarter. More on this later.

Staying on sports, Serena Williams lost to Samantha Stosur on Sunday. (No, that’s not right either. I’m having trouble choosing the right words. Sorry.) Samantha Stosur dominated and embarrassed Serena Williams like we’ve never seen in a grand slam. Serena was never in the match. Rafael Nadal, defending champion, lost to Novak Djokovic in four sets today in the U.S. Open. No matter who you’re rooting for, if you love tennis, there was great tennis played in both of these matches.

The Republican Tea Party debate is going on now on CNN. I have no further comment.

After 30 years of Republicans eagerly cutting and Democrats timidly cutting the safety net, real hardship is returning to the United States.

Speaking of hardship, Americans are on pace to spend a record amount of money on gasoline this year.

Do you remember when you were asked to give up your pensions and pour your money into a 403B or 401(k) in order for you to get “higher returns on your money”? Well, how do you retire when there are these huge market swings? You can lose hundreds of thousands of dollars if you retire on Monday instead of on Friday. These huge market swings and market volatility are excellent examples of why we, the average American citizen, should not be in the market.

There seems to be some mounting evidence that this is the most anti-environmental Congress in history. I’m not quite sure how you measure that, but I can tell you they haven’t been supportive of the environment.

I don’t understand how you vote to rebuild Iraq but for some reason you oppose rebuilding America. How is this possible in an American congressman? I guess you’ll have to ask Eric Cantor.

It appears that Diane Feinstein has got some campaign finance issues. Her campaign appears to be out of money. I’m not sure how that happened. Then again, I’m not supposed to know. The senator is not sure how that happened. I’m pretty sure that she is supposed to know…

So, what’s on your mind this evening?

Tags: Economy, Iraq, Sports by ecthompson md
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• I know I haven’t talked about it. It’s really because I’m extremely nervous that the Dallas Mavericks are going to fumble this opportunity away. During the last 20 years, the Mavericks have had several extremely strong and talented teams. They’ve gone to the playoffs and, for the most part, have played extremely well. Then, they would come up against the Los Angeles Lakers or the San Antonio Spurs and wilt at crunch time. Now, in this NBA playoff run, the Dallas Mavericks have made critical play after critical play during crunch time. They have created turnovers instead of making turnovers. They are one game away from winning the NBA finals. Go Mavericks!
• I don’t understand why politicians just can’t admit when they’re wrong. Sarah Palin was 100% wrong about Paul Revere’s ride and the purpose for it. You can spin it. You can examine it. She was simply wrong. For some reason, there are boxes and boxes of Sarah Palin’s e-mails. Boxes? This is 2011, why won’t they be put on disks? Why is anybody concerned about Sarah Palin’s e-mails?
• Congressman Dana Rohrabacher wants our money back. He believes that Iraq should repay us for invading them. I think he should hold his breath until that happens. Craziness.
• Strenuous exercise may protect the brain against strokes. There are hundreds of benefits of strenuous exercise, which I need to get to, and this is just one of them.
• There’s lots of turmoil and disarray in Yemen.
• Two common substances appear to be linked to cancer. I’m not sure that it’s a surprise to anyone that formaldehyde has been linked to cancer.
• 10 years after the Bush tax cuts (happy anniversary) there’s no evidence that the Bush tax cuts did any of the positive things that the Bush administration claimed. Tax cuts do not pay for themselves.
• The Anthony Wiener saga continues. It appears that he exchanged a series of Twitter messages with a 17-year-old girl. None of the messages appeared to be inappropriate. The problem is, once you open that ugly can of worms the members of the press are all over you.

25 years ago Ferris Bueller’s Day Off debuted. One of the most enjoyable movies that I’ve ever seen. Where are the actors now? If you haven’t seen it, rent it this weekend. If you have, see it again. Pure fun. BTW, I just saw Kung Fu Panda 2. Now that was a ton of fun also. I highly recommend. I took my 7-year-old grandson, but it is fun without the grandson.

Tags: Healthcare, Iraq, Music, Party Politics, Taxes by ecthompson md
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The Nation’s Greg Mitchell reminds us that May first is the anniversary of George Bush landing on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. Remember how the media and the GOP swooned over the swaggering George W. Bush? Now, in retrospect, what exactly did president George W. Bush accomplish? More from Greg Mitchell:

May 1 marks the eighth anniversary of Mission Accomplished Day, or as it might better be known, Mission Accomplished (Not) Day. Coming on a weekend, there werre even fewer mentions of this in the national media than last year, and Keith Olbermann is not on the air to update the once-normal close to his telecast when he marked exactly how many days since Bush declared victory (you do the math).

In my favorite antiwar song of this war, “Shock and Awe,” Neil Young moaned: “Back in the days of Mission Accomplished/ our chief was landing on the deck/ The sun was setting/ behind a golden photo op.” But as Neil added elsewhere: “History is a cruel judge of overconfidence.”

Nowhere can we see this more clearly than in the media coverage of the event. Even today, eight years later, the often “overconfident” reporting from Baghdad and Kabul sometimes takes your breath away. At least two US soldiers have been killed in Iraq this week so far, and over 45,000 or our troops remain there today. (For a full accounting of costs of all sorts, go here.) So let’s return to the days of Mission Accomplished…

On May 1, 2003, Richard Perle advised, in a USA Today Op-Ed, “Relax, Celebrate Victory.” The same day, President Bush, dressed in a flight suit, landed on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared an end to major military operations in Iraq—with the now-infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner arrayed behind him.

Chris Matthews on MSNBC called Bush a “hero” and boomed, “He won the war. He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics.” He added: “Women like a guy who’s president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It’s simple.”

PBS’ Gwen Ifill said Bush was “part Tom Cruise, part Ronald Reagan.” On NBC, Brian Williams gushed, “The pictures were beautiful. It was quite something to see the first-ever American president on a—on a carrier landing.” (more…)

Tags: Bush Administration, Iraq by ecthompson md
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I’m travelling again. Happy Anniversary to my wonderful wife!! If God is willing, and the airlines cooperate, I should be home tonight!!

• I’m sorry, I could care less about the Royal wedding. As far as I know, they aren’t putting any food on my table and aren’t paying any of my bills. Knowledge of the Royal wedding will not improve the job market or stop companies from shipping jobs overseas. Just like with all newlyweds, I wish them well.
• Let’s talk sports for a second – The Dallas Mavericks slid by the Portland Trailblazers. They figured out how to blow a 17-point lead, only to hold on for dear life in the end. BTW, what was the deal with the flagrant fouls?!?!? The Los Angeles Lakers looked like they were simply running through practice drills as they spanked the New Orleans Hornets. The Orlando Magic proved that you need more than a great mobile center in order to advance in the NBA playoffs. Howard was great. The rest of the team was awful. The Atlanta Hawks move on to the second round.
• Speaking of sports – I really, really, dislike the hype over the NFL draft. More than 50% of these guys are going to flame out. The list of over-hyped 20s is nearly endless. The fact that professional NFL coaches, owners and scouts cannot predict future performance is amazing. Just look at five years ago, (the top 10 picks in order) – Mario Williams (great player), Reggie Bush (periods of greatness mixed with average play), Vince Young (classic over hyped player), D’Brickashaw Ferguson (great player), AJ Hawk (one of the reasons the Packers won the SuperBowl), Vernon Davis (great two years ago; not so great last year), Michael Huff (seven ints in five years!!), Donte Whitner (five ints in five yrs and 19 passes defensed), Ernie Sims (one int, four and a half sacks; was traded from original team already), Matt Leinart (much hyped and now out of football). You decide if the pros did a great job at picking future players. Cam Newton was the first drafted yesterday. The second round of the draft is happening now.
• I’m reviewing the People’s Budget. I’m liking what I’m seeing. I’ll have more on the People’s Budget. I like the idea of balancing the budget and having a surplus by 2012.

Click to Enlarge

• ATLS, the standard in trauma care, was started nearly 35 years ago. An orthopedic surgeon crashed his plane with his wife, mother and four kids with him in the plane. His terrible ordeal led for him to push for changes in trauma care. Great story.
• Senator Al Franken has introduced a bill in Congress that will force Congress to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I’m liking this.
• Donald “Birther” Trump continues to prove how classy he is by dropping da F-Bomb on camera.
• As I said yesterday, the birthers were going to say that Obama’s birth certificate ain’t real. I knew it. Whatever. (Btw, note the familiar formula: local conservative blogger types something that makes no sense. Drudge picks up the nonsense and plasters it on his front page. The craziness goes viral from there.)
• Michele Bachmann is dancing away from the GOP plan to end Medicare. Maybe she is smarter than I give her credit for??

What are your thoughts this Friday afternoon? Hate the hype of the draft or the Royal “pain” Wedding?

Catching a plane….

Tags: Afghanistan, Budget, Foreign Affairs, Iraq, Sports by ecthompson md
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This is simply a game to these guys (CNN). The game goes like this – let’s invite somebody big on the show like Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Cheney or former president George W. Bush. The guys at CNN have read their books. We know they are completely unapologetic for a war which was started on false pretenses. We know, from reading their books, that not one of them significantly questioned the intelligence. (There were several books which clearly revealed that the White House was pumping up the intelligence [read the book Hubris for an excellent read].) Instead, they pushed the intelligence. It was Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby who went down to CIA headquarters and personally sifted through raw intelligence. They would find raw snippets of intelligence and then ask the CIA why this or that was not in the official report. We knew Curveball was fabricating at the time. The Germans didn’t trust him or believe him. This is fact. For Donald Rumsfeld to weasel around and say anything different is simply nauseating. But this is the game. The announcer, Candy Crowley in this case, it really doesn’t matter who, will ask the question in multiple different ways trying to “get at the truth.” Yet, we would all have to be born yesterday to think that Donald Rumsfeld did not know the questions beforehand. Donald Rumsfeld is as skilled as anybody at this word game. CNN knows this. Yet, they want to get “great ratings.” So, they book Donald Rumsfeld. They (CNN) get increased ratings. Donald Rumsfeld sells more books and we, the American people, get the shaft. We get absolutely no meaningful information from this interview.

The whole thing is a charade. It is a waste of our time. Why isn’t this guy in jail somewhere?

Tags: Bush Administration, Iraq by ecthompson md
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Let’s go back in history. Let’s go back to those dark days of 2001 and 2002. These were days after an airliner crashed in Pennsylvania, an airliner crashed into the Pentagon and, of course, the twin towers fell. America wanted revenge. We wanted blood. Sure, the attacks were launched from Afghanistan but as Donald Rumsfeld said, there aren’t any good targets in Afghanistan. So, the administration decided to go after a long-time nemesis, Iraq. The administration decided that we needed overwhelming evidence that Iraq was not only a threat to its neighbors but a threat to us, here in America. They need to convince us that Iraq was an immediate threat. The Bush administration went after us in a multiple different ways in a coordinated media blitz. First of all, and most scary, they needed a nuclear threat. Iraq was trying to obtain yellowcake uranium from Niger. Secondly, and this dovetails into the uranium story, Iraq was buying these high-grade aluminum tubes which “could only be used to centrifuge high-grade uranium.” Thirdly, an Iraqi official met with Al Qaeda in Prague. This was the Al Qaeda connection. This connected Iraq to our source of rage, the attacks on September 11th. Finally, we had the mobile biological labs. These were all lies, but that’s the beauty of the Bush administration. It wasn’t just one lie, but several lies, which took us years to unravel.

This brings us to Curveball. The first time I remember reading about Curveball was in Richard Clarke’s book, Against All Enemies. Richard Clarke described curveball as a pathological liar. He was an Iraqi citizen in German custody. The Germans didn’t trust his information. The Americans did not have the ability to directly question Curveball. Yet, somehow, this guy’s wild fantasies were uttered as fact by the Bush administration. It appears that Curveball has surfaced. He has admitted, his lies but it is too late now. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people have died. We’ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars and have really nothing to show for it. Saddam Hussein is dead. The sons of Saddam Hussein are also dead. Now, all of this destruction isn’t Curveball’s fault. The Bush administration is to blame for ginned up lies. If it hadn’t been Curveball they would have found someone else’s lies to push onto a gullible American public.

From TPM:

Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed “Curveball” by German and American intelligence officials, now admits he made up tales of mobile biological weapons trucks and clandestine weapons factories in Iraq, information that was used by the Bush White House to press the case for war. He also says he’d do it again.

“Maybe I was right, maybe I was not right,” Janabi told The Guardian. “They gave me this chance. I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime. I and my sons are proud of that and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy.”

In a series of meetings with the Guardian in Germany where he has been granted asylum, he said he had told a German official, who he identified as Dr Paul, about mobile bioweapons trucks throughout 2000. He said the BND had identified him as a Baghdad-trained chemical engineer and approached him shortly after 13 March of that year, looking for inside information about Saddam’s Iraq.”I had a problem with the Saddam regime,” he said. “I wanted to get rid of him and now I had this chance.”

In his crucial speech to the U.N. in the run-up to the war in 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell quoted intelligence information supplied by Janabi as justification for the Bush administration’s case against Iraq. Years later, reports would show that many within the CIA were expressing serious doubts about Curveball’s credibility at the time.

Tags: 9-11, Bush Administration, Iraq by ecthompson md
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For the last several months, I have been invited to be a guest on Local Edge Radio with Blake and Lesley. I’m on a Thursda’s at 4 pm (EST). This week – we discussed how we aren’t moving forward as a country. We get distracted by mosques at Ground Zero and some preacher thinking about burning Korans. What’s up with Iraq? I’m having a problem with the idea that combat operations are over. They aren’t. We take a break then come back and talk about labor and how unions are dying. This show was fun. I hope that you enjoy it.

BTW, next Tuesday (9/14), @ 3 pm (EST) I’ll wipe the dust off of BlogTalkRadio. I’ll be back on the air (really I’ll be on the internet). My guest will be Markos Moulitsas founder of the Daily Kos. We’ll chat about his new book, American Taliban.

Local Edge Radio 9-9-2010 [ 24:39 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Afghanistan, Domestic Issues, Iraq, Media, Podcasts by ecthompson md
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It seems that everyone knows this now except for our president and vice president.  They continue to suggest (and, in Cheney’s case, outright state) that there were links between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.

Countdown - no links found [ 6:31 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I guess I could’ve titled this post, “What is Old is New Again.” (I originally posted the above paragraphs back in 2007.) One of my commenters has made a full throated defense of our invasion of Iraq. I think that everybody’s entitled to their opinion. Everybody is not entitled to their own facts. We did not invade Iraq based on Saddam Hussein’s violations of UN sanctions. The American people would not invade a sovereign country based on Saddam Hussein playing hide and seek with UN weapons inspectors. Nor did we invade Iraq based on some continuum of the first Gulf War – going back to complete the mission. The Bush administration knew that the American people wouldn’t buy this. Yes, Saddam Hussein did fire at our jets patrolling the no-fly zones both in the north and the south. The Bush administration tried to make a lot out of this but the American people were not moved. They needed more. The Bush administration knew that the American people would defend themselves if we were directly threatened. Therefore, this is exactly what the Bush administration cooked up – a direct threat. They looked for not one thing but a combination of things that would frighten the American people into action.

The Bush administration came up with a unique combination of threats to attack the American psyche. Probably the most creative was the bombshell that Cheney dropped on Tim Russert. It was the connection between 9/11 hijacker and Iraqi government and a fictitious meeting in Prague. We can’t forget the aluminum tubes. These “proved” beyond a shadow of a doubt that Saddam Hussein was trying to build nuclear weapons. These aluminum tubes “could not be used for anything else” but for centrifuges used to concentrate uranium. Tony Blair (former British Prime Minister) was a great help when he talked about mobile biological labs which could strike England with less than 30 minutes’ notice. (We can thank Curveball for this.) Don’t forget the Yellowcake from Niger. These are the reasons that were sold to the American people. Whether there are other reasons, like protecting our oil supply and/or stabilizing the Middle East, those were minor reasons. The major reasons that were put forth by the Bush administration are listed above.

All of these reasons fell apart and were found to be untrue. To rewrite history and say that Saddam Hussein had links to terrorists and that’s why we went to war is simply not true. We, the American People, didn’t care that he had links to terrorists. Instead, what the Bush administration sold to the American people was that Saddam Hussein had specific links to Al Qaeda. There was a report that was commissioned by the Department of Defense which looked at thousands of Iraqi documents and found some minor communications between Saddam Hussein and some terrorist organizations. Saddam Hussein was not a state sponsor of terrorism. At least not in 2003 when we invaded. Finally, it should be restated that Saddam Hussein was not an imminent threat to the United States or any of our major interests throughout the world.

Tags: 9-11, Al Qaeda, Iraq by ecthompson md
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As many of you know, I love and admire President Barack Obama. What he has accomplished is truly remarkable. Not only was he elected president but he has also taken over the helm at truly rocky times. We have wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With escalating tensions in the Middle East, Iran and North Korea, the world is looking to us for leadership. Africa, South America and South Asia are in desperate poverty. Our polar ice caps are melting. Here at home, we’re in the middle of the worst economic slowdown since the Great Depression and our political atmosphere is truly toxic. Through all of this, our president has stood tall and managed to pull together coalitions to get significant legislation passed in Congress. Yet I have this uneasy feeling, nausea really, over Iraq.

Before we unwisely invaded Iraq, there was a balance of power in the Middle East. Iraq and Iran hate each other. They would truly like to annihilate each other but after fighting a fruitless war which cost hundreds of thousands of lives and after which there is no clear victor, they were content to scowl angrily at each other. The third point in the Middle East’s triangle was Israel. So when we swooped in and took out Saddam Hussein, we tipped the balance of power. It is really unclear how this will play out in the long run, but for now Iran seems to be the big winner.

Last week President Obama addressed the nation. He told us that combat operations in Iraq had been completed. Our troops were coming home. Cool. Let’s break out the champagne. Then, before I was able to get to the refrigerator, our president stated, “a transitional force of US troops remain in Iraq with a different mission: advising and assisting Iraqi security forces, supporting Iraqi troops and targeted counterterrorism missions and protecting our civilians.” What? Then, just for a moment, our president seemed to transform into President George W. Bush and talked about extremists, terrorist bombings and sectarian strife. We’re leaving 50,000 troops in Iraq to do the exact same job they’ve been doing for the last three years. I was flabbergasted. I began to feel like Fred Sanford, from Sanford and Son, and I grabbed my chest.

As soon as President Barack Obama ended his speech with what I thought was an overly gracious tip of the hat to President George W. Bush, the Republicans, instead of being grateful, went on the attack. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner were two of the first to step up and criticize the president for not praising the surge and George W. Bush. Did we just enter the Twilight Zone? Did the conservatives say that the surge worked? To review, the surge had six key elements. These elements were unveiled to the American public by President George W. Bush, himself. Two of the six elements were to create space for political progress and diversify political and economic efforts. There has been no political progress over the last three years. None. Elections were held. No government was formed. The Sunnis, Shiites and the Kurdish Iraqis in the north continue to argue like school children. The surge did help decrease the sectarian violence but that was only one part of the plan (one out of six is an F, isn’t it?) Iraqis were supposed to form a functional government. That has not happened. We were supposed to create the space for Iraqis to lead. This simply hasn’t happened.

With Republicans giving each other high fives and congratulating themselves on the surge, I feel uneasy. With President Obama slipping into a George W. Bush-type trance and telling us that combat missions have ended when they really haven’t, I feel uneasy. This may be my whole problem with the Middle East — my feeling of uncertainty. I’m not sure it’s clear who our friends are (with the exception of Israel) and I’m not sure who our enemies are. We are embracing the Iraqi people as our friends but does that include all of the Iraqi people, including the Sunnis? I just feel that nobody has any good answers.

Tags: Afghanistan, Iraq, Newsletter, Obama administration by ecthompson md
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President Barack Obama told us in prime time that combat missions have ended in Iraq. More than 100,000 troops have been pulled out of Iraq. Then he kind of slipped in that troops still remain in order to train Iraqi forces and help hunt down terrorists. Isn’t hunting down terrorists what we have been doing for last two or three years? Haven’t we been training Iraqi security forces for more than three years? What’s changed?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Tags: Iraq by ecthompson md
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Steve McCurry's famous 1984 photo

• When Kodak gives you the last roll of Kodachrome film, what do you do with it? Famous photojournalist Steve McCurry tells us exactly what he did with the last roll. Sometimes, I am really amazed at how things have changed.
• Another no-hitter? It seems like 15 years ago we couldn’t keep the baseball in the park (tons of home runs). Now, pitchers rule. What happened?
• I’ve never been a fan of Tom Tancredo. I think he is reckless and dangerous. I think he is taking the politics of divide and conquer to a new level. When he decided not to run for reelection, there was the question of whether he was going to run for president. That lasted about 10 minutes. Now he’s running for governor of Colorado, sort of. The craziness continues.
• It appears that a minor military contractor is up to his luxury cars in trouble.
• I guess there was a time when I was more enthusiastic about Afghanistan than I am today. I thought that continued military engagement was necessary. I also thought it was critically important that we help them build infrastructure and an economy (not based on poppy seeds). It looks like thousands of pages of secret documents have been leaked to the press. There is a suggestion of a link between the Taliban and some within the Pakistani military force. No surprise there.
• BTW, are we still in Iraq? Militants stealing blood?
• I’m not sure that Elizabeth Warren is the right person to head up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It isn’t that she isn’t smart enough. She’s plenty smart. I’m afraid that putting her in charge of a minor agency buried deep within the bowels of a Department of the Treasury will give her little or no opportunity to really speak up for the American people. She needs a bigger stage. Then again, maybe she can make that stage bigger.
• More Americans are moving. This does not look to be a good thing.

Anything to add?

Tags: Afghanistan, Economy, Iraq, Party Politics, Sports by ecthompson md
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As a trauma surgeon, I find Monday to be a relief. By Monday afternoon, you have an opportunity to look around and see how bad the weekend truly was. So, unlike most Americans, I like Mondays.

• 15 years ago, I was working at LSU Medical Center in Shreveport. The bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people lost their lives, continues to be shocking. I remember wanting to help, but not knowing exactly what to do.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

• I’ve been working on a small research project. One of my readers challenged my assumption that Senator Charles Schumer did not cause the failure of IndyMac. I contend that there was a run on the bank but that the bank was failing long before that run started. I should have a post ready by tomorrow at this time.
• One of the reasons that I did not believe that IndyMac was solvent had to do with the fact that they were handing out these loans like free candy. Something just smelled rotten. And it’s not just with this particular institution. The more you read about the financial industry in the mid-2000s, the more you get this foul stench. Look at Countrywide. Look at AIG. Look at Bear Stearns. Now look at what we’re learning about Goldman Sachs. Several people have pointed out that there was a extremely cozy relationship between the rating agencies (Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s) and some of the big financial institutions like Goldman Sachs. The Senate is investigating. The California Attorney General has been looking into this for a year or so. He held a press conference today announcing that he was going to court to force Moody’s to comply with a subpoena. The SEC, which seems to have been dormant for over a decade, has now been awakened. They charged Goldman with fraud. This is starting to get good.
• BTW, leading economic indicators seem to be heading in the right direction.
• It appears that Europe will be flying again, starting tomorrow.

• Interesting accounting practices seem to be popping up. It appears that in 2008 Lehman Brothers may have been cooking the books.
• I guess Representative Darrell Issa never heard about living in glass houses.
• A top Al Qaeda leader in Iraq has been killed. Yet again, top American official in Iraq stated this could’ve been a potentially “significant blow” to the insurgents. Where we heard that before? Where’s Bin Laden?
• There appears to be a huge scandal brewing in India that involves cricket and politics.

Tags: Al Qaeda, Bin Laden, Economy, Iraq, Rachel Maddow Show, Senate, Sports by ecthompson md
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Over the next several days I’m going to try and talk about what’s next after healthcare reform.

Rachel Maddow had to take out a full page ad in the Boston Globe to combat rumors that she was running for Senate in Massachusetts. It seems that former model and newly minted Senator Scott Brown thought would be a great idea to say that somebody liberal and famous was gunning for his position. I guess he thought would be a great way to rake in campaign funds. Of course, the other thing he could do would be to shout at the president during a joint session of Congress. That seemed to work for Joe Wilson.

Since I didn’t post a music video last night, I thought that I would post one this morning.

Artist: Al Jarreau
Tune: Morrnin’

From PA:

• Election results in Iraq: “The former interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, a secular Shiite once derided as an American puppet, galvanized the votes of Sunnis who sat out Iraq’s first national elections and clawed his way back from political obscurity. But his wafer-thin edge of 91 to 89 over his nearest rival, the incumbent prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, falls far short of the majority of 163 of the 325 seats in parliament that he needs to form a government.” (Ed. I think that it is interesting that Sunnis are coming back to the table.)
• Uh oh: “A South Korean naval ship sank early Saturday after an explosion tore a hole in its bottom near a disputed sea border with North Korea. The cause of the explosion was not clear, and the Seoul government did not blame North Korea for the incident.”
• Campaign-finance ruling: “A federal appeals court on Friday handed another victory to conservative opponents of campaign-finance restrictions, striking down limits on individual contributions to independent groups who want to use the money for or against candidates in federal elections.”
• Welcome changes to the Home Affordable Modification Program and the Federal Housing Administration program: “The Obama administration announced new ways Friday to tackle the foreclosure crisis, in part by requiring lenders to temporarily slash or eliminate monthly mortgage payments for many borrowers who are unemployed.”
• Senate Republicans did what they do best: they blocked an extension of unemployment benefits.
• House Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) spokesperson tries to explain why the GOP leader got the story of the magic bullet so very, very wrong this week. [Read more →]

Tags: Elections, Iraq, North Korea, Party Politics, Rachel Maddow Show, Senate by ecthompson md
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I’m on call tonight and the beeper is seizing, so I will not have time to post anything else today.  I will say that I’ll definitely have more on healthcare. I’m not sure that I agree with the Political Animal when he gives a thumbs down to Dennis Kucinich. I think that healthcare needs to be about something. I have mentioned multiple times that I wanted a bill that will be cost effective, be portable and increase access to healthcare. I’m not sure that the current version really does any of that. I think that Keith is right:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

From Political Animal:

• The potency of Iraq’s insurgency seems to be waning: “Defying a sustained barrage of mortars and rockets in Baghdad and other cities, Iraqis went to the polls in strength on Sunday to choose a new Parliament meant to outlast the American military presence here.”
• On a related note: “Iraqi forces are on track to assume control of the country’s security and the United States is on course to draw down its troops to 50,000 by President Obama’s August deadline, U.S. officials said today.”
• Incredible bloodshed in Nigeria: “Officials and human rights groups in Nigeria said Monday that about 500 people had died in weekend ethnic violence near the central city of Jos, considerably more than what had initially been reported.”
• Vice President Biden travels to Jerusalem today, hoping to kick start Israeli and Palestinian talks. Negotiations have been on a hiatus for 14 months.
• U.S. troops begin their withdrawal from Haiti.
• A new TSA nominee: “President Obama has chosen a retired army intelligence officer, Maj. Gen. Robert A. Harding, to head the Transportation Security Agency, a job that officials call the most important unfilled position in the administration.”
• Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), still prepared to vote with right-wing Republicans to kill health care reform.
• Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) is urging the state’s public colleges and universities not to extend discrimination protections to LGBT employees.
• CNN’s Wolf Blitzer never should have aired that ridiculous “Dept of Jihad?” segment, but I was glad to see him apologize.
• Jon Chait 1, Mike Allen 0.
• Fact checking the Sunday shows.
• Can online schools simply purchase legitimacy?
• The unintentional humor of The Weekly Standard.
• If I thought the National Review‘s Mark Stein had any idea what he was talking about, I might not like health care reform either.
• Sullivan: “Halperinism really is part of what’s deeply wrong about Washington.”
• Anti-gay California Republican admits that he’s gay.
• Maybe someday racists will realize that their ugly emails can and should have consequences.

Tags: Healthcare, Iraq, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson md
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From Political Animal:

• Case closed: “After seven frustrating years probing the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings, the FBI closed the case Friday, concluding a mentally unhinged government researcher acted alone in the attacks that killed five people and unnerved Americans nationwide.”
• The mortgage crisis isn’t over: “President Barack Obama used a campaign push for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Friday to announce a new fund to support homeowners in five states hit hardest by the housing crisis.”
• In fact, the mortgage crisis may be shifting: “A mortgage crisis like the one that has devastated homeowners is enveloping the nation’s office and retail buildings.”
• Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) has a cancerous stomach tumor, but is expected to make a full recovery. He may miss some Senate votes, but intends to keep working throughout his treatments.
• Operation Iraqi Freedom becomes Operation New Dawn.
• When it comes to analysis of the federal budget, deficits, and government spending, Peggy Noonan is almost comically confused.
• The estimable Harold Pollack reminds us how truly ridiculous the Wall Street Journal‘s editorial page is on health care policy analysis.
• At CPAC, it’s apparently not too soon to tell jokes about anti-government radicals flying airplanes into buildings.
• In tough times, states put Medicaid on the chopping block.
• Time for concealed weapons at college?
• In a depressing sign of the times, former Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) was booed at a CPAC panel today when he described waterboarding as torture.

Tags: Congress, Iraq, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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• The snow has stopped for now. Yesterday, there were estimates of 2-5 inches of snow in the Asheville area. The weatherman stated that there would be more in higher elevations. It appears that most of the Asheville region has received 7-10 inches of snow. The snow was expected to crank up again before it finally moves out of the area sometime tomorrow afternoon.
• Pres. Obama went to a Republican caucus today. He thought he would keep the lines of communication open. One thing I have to say, I do admire our president. He gave a short speech then took questions from the audience. Some questions were civil. Others tried to make political points. The president did a fabulous job answering the questions and not being cornered. He also pointed out when some congressmen were trying to make cheap political points at the expense of the president. Many major networks carried this event. When it appeared obvious that Pres. Obama was not going to make some major gaffe, FOX News cut away and began running with the story that Obama was lecturing Republicans. I guess it was more important to FOX to stay within their narrative as opposed to actually cover the event in its entirety.
• A really interesting thing went on in England today. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was grilled for about six hours over his decision to take Britain into war with the United States in Iraq. I think it is no surprise that Tony Blair was unapologetic about his decision. Although there were no breakthroughs and as far as I know, and nothing of substance will come from this, I think the exercise is interesting. Can you imagine a congressional committee calling President Bush or VP Cheney to answer questions about the invasion of Iraq? On one level, it would be political theater. On another, it would be nice for us, the American people, to get specific answers to specific questions. I know, I’m dreaming. One thing is clear, with the neoconservatives in charge at that time, I don’t see how we will get any other answer after 9/11. These were not just war hawks. They were hawks on steroids. With Bush and Cheney in the White House, I don’t see how Saddam Hussein could ever avoid war. They asked for, and wanted complete and unfettered access to Iraq in order to search for weapons of mass destruction. No sovereign nation would submit to that. Plus, what Bush, Cheney and the CIA didn’t know was that the Saddam Hussein regime depended upon the threat of weapons of mass destruction in order to stay in power. Saddam Hussein had the Kurds in the north, the Shiites in the south and Iran to worry about. In 10 or 20 years, when we look back upon this mess that we created in the Middle East, we’ll ask ourselves how we let this happen. We don’t have to look any further than allowing neocons in the White House.
• 47-year-old former NFL star Herschel Walker is fighting whom? Why?
• New FOX news contributor and former Gov. Sarah Palin thinks that the GOP and the tea baggers need to merge in one big party of love. (I added that party of love. She just wants them to merge into one party.)
• It took the jury less than 40 minutes to find Scott Roeder guilty of murdering Dr. George Tiller.
• The Errington Thompson Show has been moved to 4 PM on Saturday afternoons. You can still listen to my show through my blog whenever you want to. My guest this week will be Grammy award-winning bassist Larry Fulcher. I have given Larry the following scenario — you know that you’re going to be stranded on a tropical island. You can take your stereo and 20 CDs with you. You’ll be stranded for one year. What CDs would you take? I think you like Larry’s answers. This is a great show.

Tags: Iraq, Legal, Music, Party Politics, Sports by ecthompson md
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This is why we need to keep fighting to get Senators and Congressmen fighting for us and NOT the corporations. You can’t tell me that the average person in Oklahoma wants their Senator standing up for rape.

From the Daily Show:

From HuffPost:

An amendment that would prevent the government from working with contractors who denied victims of assault the right to bring their case to court is in danger of being watered down or stripped entirely from a larger defense appropriations bill.

Multiple sources have told the Huffington Post that Sen. Dan Inouye, a longtime Democrat from Hawaii, is considering removing or altering the provision, which was offered by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and passed by the Senate several weeks ago.

Inouye’s office, sources say, has been lobbied by defense contractors adamant that the language of the Franken amendment would leave them overly exposed to lawsuits and at constant risk of having contracts dry up. The Senate is considering taking out a provision known as the Title VII claim, which (if removed) would allow victims of assault or rape to bring suit against the individual perpetrator but not the contractor who employed him or her.

Tags: Afghanistan, Congress, Iraq, Party Politics by ecthompson md
1 Comment »