Where's the Outrage?

Really tired. Spoke at a rally after work. Need to pass healthcare reform now. Call your congressman.

• Russian secrets are for sale.  This is very scary.

From Political Animal:

• Israel: “The discord between the United States and Israel over Jewish building in East Jerusalem deepened Tuesday with Israeli officials rejecting demands by Washington and expressing anger over the public upbraiding of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the Obama administration. On a day of scattered — although, in spots, fierce — disturbances by Palestinians in East Jerusalem, news emerged that Israel was moving ahead with a second building project there.”
• Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. troops in the Middle East and South Asia, had a nuanced answer for the Senate Armed Services Committee on DADT repeal, but he acknowledged for the first time that “the time has come” to consider scrapping the existing policy.
• Don’t expect interest rates to go up any time soon: “The Federal Reserve on Tuesday repeated its pledge to hold interest rates at record lows to foster the economic recovery and ease high unemployment.”
• Nice to see a boost in consumer sentiment, for a change.
• Words of wisdom from Attorney General Eric Holder to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science.
• Important piece on U.S. Central Command and the “Israeli intransigence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” that is jeopardizing U.S. standing in the Middle East.
• There’s a fascinating tale behind the gun used at the Pentagon shooting two weeks ago. The madman, John Patrick Bedell, was able to get the gun without a background check — which would have prevented the sale — at a Las Vegas gun show, taking advantage of the gun-show loophole.
• The burden of higher-ed costs on students and their families in California is pretty extraordinary.
• And demonstrating the kind of dignity we’ve come to expect from House Republicans, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) spoke on the House floor today and said the health care reform legislation should be eaten … and then “passed.” Stay classy, Louie.

Tags: Congress, Education, Israel, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson
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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
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Jeremy Scahill of The Nation has been on the Blackwater story for the last three or four years and has written the definitive work on Blackwater. He is currently breaking the story which suggests that Blackwater chief, Erik Prince, was responsible for smuggling weapons into Iraq. This is illegal. Weapons smuggling was also discussed in his book. Now, the allegation of murder has raised its ugly head.

Watch the video:

From the Nation:

The former employee, identified in the court documents as “John Doe #2,” is a former member of Blackwater’s management team, according to a source close to the case. Doe #2 alleges in a sworn declaration that, based on information provided to him by former colleagues, “it appears that Mr. Prince and his employees murdered, or had murdered, one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information, to the federal authorities about the ongoing criminal conduct.” John Doe #2 says he worked at Blackwater for four years; his identity is concealed in the sworn declaration because he “fear[s] violence against me in retaliation for submitting this Declaration.” He also alleges, “On several occasions after my departure from Mr. Prince’s employ, Mr. Prince’s management has personally threatened me with death and violence.”

In a separate sworn statement, the former US marine who worked for Blackwater in Iraq alleges that he has “learned from my Blackwater colleagues and former colleagues that one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information about Erik Prince and Blackwater have been killed in suspicious circumstances.” Identified as “John Doe #1,” he says he “joined Blackwater and deployed to Iraq to guard State Department and other American government personnel.” It is not clear if Doe #1 is still working with the company as he states he is “scheduled to deploy in the immediate future to Iraq.” Like Doe #2, he states that he fears “violence” against him for “submitting this Declaration.” No further details on the alleged murder(s) are provided.

“Mr. Prince feared, and continues to fear, that the federal authorities will detect and prosecute his various criminal deeds,” states Doe #2. “On more than one occasion, Mr. Prince and his top managers gave orders to destroy emails and other documents. Many incriminating videotapes, documents and emails have been shredded and destroyed.”  (more… )

Tags: Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine), Military by ecthompson
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This is a very interesting development. For some reason, if you set up and independent government they start working independently.

Update:  Clearly I was mistaken.  I used the word independent and (Iraqi) government in the same sentence.   Faster than you can say Iraqi outrage, the Iraqi government seems to be back trackin’.  Blackwater is sort banned.  Like C3PO in the Empire Strikes Back, when he wanders into that room, Storm Troopers, here.  I have to warn the others.  Then he gets blasted.  I’m sure that someone in the White House or State Department or Pentagon or all three called Prime Minister Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.  Consider his jets cooled.

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From CNN.com:

Iraq’s Interior Ministry has revoked the license of Blackwater USA, an American security firm whose contractors are blamed for a Sunday gunbattle in Baghdad that left eight civilians dead.

Blackwater, one of many security firms contracted by the U.S. government during the Iraq war, provides protection for American diplomats.

Sunday’s firefight took place near Nusoor Square, an area that straddles the predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Mansour and Yarmouk. (more…)

Tags: Bush Administration, Iraq, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson
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In the Monday, New York Times, there was a full page ad by MoveOn.org.  I’m not sure what the big deal was except that Republicans wanted to take the focus off of Petraeus and his report.  MoveOn has been a favorite whipping organization of the Right so, why not.

Here’s the ad.  I posted something on this earlier.  TCR has some thoughts here.

Tags: Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine), Party Politics by ecthompson
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It’s a cluster. That’s what they said, I paraphrased a little. This op-ed article in the New York Times needs to be read. These GI’s acknowledge what the Bush Administration and those Fox guys will not. We aren’t doing any more good over there. Period.

This is a GREAT Op-ED which will be denounced by the Right and Praised by the Left. Please note that the Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin and John Warner, former Chairman, have just returned from Iraq. They had a lot to say but the purpose of the surge was to allow for an Iraqi political settlement. That hasn’t happened. It also doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon.

Update:  Tucker weighted in on this issue.   Tucker has 2 points.  First, he’s not sure if it is “right” for active military to comment on the war.  Second, the soldiers have the nerve to suggest that they have a clue what Iraqi’s think.

Tucker forgets that this is still a free country.  Anyone should be allow to express their opinion.  To Tucker’s second point, we have no idea how many Iraqis these soldiers came in contact with.  We don’t know if they spoke with other GI’s in other parts of Iraq to get a broad cross section of opinion.  As we have seen in the our own national polling, you don’t have to have a huge sample size in order to get a good sense of what is happening.  Really, none of this matters to Tucker, he give the viewer the impression that GI’s should shut up and fight.

Of course, Tucker is wrong. Enjoy the video.

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From NYT:

VIEWED from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal. Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population. To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched. As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day. (Obviously, these are our personal views and should not be seen as official within our chain of command.)

The claim that we are increasingly in control of the battlefields in Iraq is an assessment arrived at through a flawed, American-centered framework. Yes, we are militarily superior, but our successes are offset by failures elsewhere. What soldiers call the “battle space” remains the same, with changes only at the margins. It is crowded with actors who do not fit neatly into boxes: Sunni extremists, Al Qaeda terrorists, Shiite militiamen, criminals and armed tribes. This situation is made more complex by the questionable loyalties and Janus-faced role of the Iraqi police and Iraqi Army, which have been trained and armed at United States taxpayers’ expense.

A few nights ago, for example, we witnessed the death of one American soldier and the critical wounding of two others when a lethal armor-piercing explosive was detonated between an Iraqi Army checkpoint and a police one. Local Iraqis readily testified to American investigators that Iraqi police and Army officers escorted the triggermen and helped plant the bomb. These civilians highlighted their own predicament: had they informed the Americans of the bomb before the incident, the Iraqi Army, the police or the local Shiite militia would have killed their families. [Read more →]

 

 Tucker - GI's speak out [6:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Bush Administration, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine), Military by ecthompson
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Update: Bohammer noted that Dick Cheney was a part of the Project for a New American Century (a radical neocon think tank). You can find his signature here. Thanks for the heads up! Again, the question remains when did he change his tune and why? Did it have something to do with Halliburton and profits? Or was he lying then?

It seems that there is this clip of Dick Cheney back in 1994. He is asked if he believes that we should have invaded Iraq. He says no. He lists all of the reasons that he now rejects. What changed? I know the official line from the neocons is that 9/11 changed everything but Cheney changed before 9/11. He wasn’t was a part of the Project for a New American Century but all of his pals (Wolfowitz, Perle, Rumsfeld) were.

Ain’t recording devices cool!

 

 Cheney did not want to go into Baghdad in 1994 [1:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Domestic Issues, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson
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What more do we need? Al-Maliki says we can go. Look for the Bush Administration to spin this on the Sunday talk shows. Again, I would point out that George doesn’t want to go. That’s the deal.

——

From CNN.com:

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki shrugged off U.S. doubts of his government’s military and political progress Saturday, saying Iraqi forces are capable and American troops can leave “anytime they want.”

One of his top aides, meanwhile, accused the United States of embarrassing the Iraqi government by violating human rights and treating his country like an “experiment in a U.S. lab.” (more…)

Tags: Iraq, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson
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Yep.  The Daily Show has made up another word.  I have no idea what it means.   Remember when Condi was telling us that the violence in the Middle East was birth pains?  Aasif Mandvi is reporting from Gaza.

The Daily Show continues to be funny and topical.  Jon Stewart has done a GREAT job at turning a segment that had grown old and tired on Saturday Night Live into a popular long running TV show.  Just look at their opening graphics and set.  Now, compare it to 3 or 4 years ago.  The Daily Show has come a long way.

 

 TDS - Warportunity [5:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Iraq, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine), The Daily Show by ecthompson
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You knew that this was coming. With all of our resources in Iraq, we can’t effectively respond to disasters here at home. According to Keith Olbermann, 50% of the Kansas National Guard’s equipment is over in Iraq. This war is costing us in ways we haven’t even begun to calculate.

 

 Countdown - Where's the National Guard [5:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Afghanistan, Countdown, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson
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C&L has the debate between Rocky Anderson the outspoken critic of the Bush Administration and Sean Hannity of Fox News.

Tags: Iraq, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson
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Jessica Lynch testified on Capital Hill that she was not a hero and that the Military made up more than half of the stuff about her.  Her rescue video has surfaced.  It seems that CNN hasn’t figured out how to capture internet video so it looks like they video’ed the video.

 

 Lynch rescue [2:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Bush Administration, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine), Military by ecthompson
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Wow, what is going on here? Are the Saudis trying to strengthen their position in the Middle East? Are they trying to align themselves with the Sunni Iraqis? There is clearly a back story. (Remember that Cheney was called to Saudi Arabia for a tongue lashing back in December.)
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From CNN.com:

King Abdullah’s harsh — and unexpected — attack on the U.S. military presence in Iraq could be a Saudi attempt to signal to Washington its anger over the situation in Iraq and build credibility among fellow Arabs.

The White House, in a rare public retort Thursday, rejected the king’s characterization of U.S. troops in Iraq as an “illegitimate foreign occupation,” saying the United States was not in Iraq illegally. (more…)

Tags: Iraq, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson
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Many liberals are PO’ed. They want more. When you are blogging or chatting with friends it is very easy to state your demands. When you are on the floor of the House of Representatives it is an entirely different matter. You have to get about 250 of your colleagues to agree with you. That doesn’t include the Senate where another 50 – 60 colleagues need to agree and then the president.  An immediate pullout just ain’t in the cards right now.  So, what’s the next best thing?  Place constraints on the spending bill.  That’s it.  The Dem’s have tried several other avenues.  This one was open.
With the War in Iraq the Republicans will tell you in private what a disaster the war is but on the floor of the House they continue to vote with the president. The president will never admit defeat unless it is in his political interest. With approval rating between 29 – 34%, what does the president have to lose?

 

 Countdown - Iraq War Vote [3:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Countdown, Iraq, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson
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We start off and say a few words about Art Buchwald and Michael Brecker who both died this week. The White house backs off domestic wiretaps. Why? They swore that the president had the right to tap anyone’s phone without any oversight. As soon as the Democrats take control of the House, the White decided that they will go thru the FISA courts. For the majority of the show, we discuss what’s going on in politics for the last couple of weeks with Bill Scher of the Liberal Oasis. We start off with an excellent discussion on what’s going on with Bush’s policy. Surge. Why has Bush decided to go against the Generals and the Congress and the American people? We have the nerve to mention the word – civil war! The US likes some militias and don’t like others. We believe that there should not be any militias if we really believe that we are trying to start a democracy in Iraq. Can the Democratic Congress really stop the Iraq War? Nope. We review history. Iran-Contra. Vietnam. Excellent example of how little power Congress has in directing a war.

Political landscape is discussed. We talk about Hilliary getting into the race. We talk about the Democratic candidates. I think that everyone has already made up their minds about Hillary. Bill disagrees. Bill does point out the most important thing is not the candidate but instead these guys need to understand and articulate progressive ideas. This is the most important thing that can happen. Here, Here!!!
In honor of Martin Luther King Day I play a portion of Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech.

Remember I’m on iTunes and several other podcasting services.

 

 The Errington Thompson Show 1-20-07 [48:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Domestic Issues, Domestic Spying, Election 2008, Iraq, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine), Podcasts by ecthompson
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What does it say about us when we are so intent on bringing a Western-style democracy to Iraq that we will invade, depose their leader, destroy the infrastructure (with a lot of help from them, admittedly), and generally stir things up so badly that their country falls into a civil war.

But at the same time, we will let practically none of the refugees from that war-torn country come into our bastion of democracy?

According to a story I heard on NPR this morning, since 2003, the United States has only accepted 466 refugees from Iraq. That’s less than ten per month (or maybe it’s 13 per month, if they are counting since the end of 2003). Regardless, it’s pathetic.

But wait, you might say, we wouldn’t want to let just any Iraqi refugees into our country. Some of them could be agents saboteur, intent on bringing havoc to our shores. Well, we aren’t even letting in the Iraqis who have demonstrated their alliance to our troops by serving as interpreters or helping in other crucial roles. The door is equally slammed shut for this category of Iraqis, many of whom are seeking refuge because they’ve been subsequently targeted for reprisal violence.

To date, we’ve issued only 50 visas to people in this category.

I guess we’re not quite the warm, welcoming country that we like to picture ourselves as, are we?

Tags: Immigration, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by desertbug
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Latest poll from the Pew Research Center (Jan 11-15):

“Do you favor or oppose Bush’s plan to send (21,000) more U.S. troops to Iraq?

31% Favor

61% Oppose

8% Don’t Know/Refused to Answer”

You know where I stand on the issue.

Over 100,000 wrongs don’t make a right (U.S. military deaths + non-fatal casualties + Iraqi military/police deaths + Iraqi civilian deaths)

Tags: Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by desertbug
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Updated below 

The fine folks at the American Enterprise Institute. It’s a pro-business, right-wing think tank that promotes free-enterprise capitalism and is the home of many of the prominent neo-conservatives that currently influence our nation’s actions.

It is the landlord for the Project for the New American Century, the group co-founded by William Kristol and Robert Kagan in 1997 that pushed so hard for a war in Iraq with regime change as a goal. The PNAC seems to be the war-mongering arm of the AEI, with a policy document entitled, “Rebuilding America’s Defenses”, that advocates for global military domination. Project co-chairman for this document? Donald Kagan, father of the aforementioned Robert Kagan, and also the father of the yet-to-be-mentioned Frederick Kagan.

Josh Micah Marshall at Talking Points Memo pointed me towards this article from the Times of London. In the closing paragraphs, reporter Sarah Baxter highlights the degree of influence that this Kagan family has had on the Iraq war.

“Frederick Kagan, 36, is the author of Choosing Victory, a blueprint for the surge adopted by President George W Bush. Just as everybody had begun writing off the influence of the neocons at the White House, genial, chubby-faced Frederick gave the muscular intellectuals a lease of life.

It was at Camp David last June that Kagan, a military historian and fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, outlined his plans for pouring more troops into Iraq to Bush and his war cabinet.

Donald Rumsfeld, the then defence secretary, was unimpressed, but Kagan’s views got another hearing when Bush was searching for ways to ditch the seemingly defeatist recommendations of James Baker’s Iraq Study Group. “Wow, you mean we can still win this war?” a grateful Bush reportedly said.”

[Read more →]

Tags: Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine), Military by desertbug
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CNN does a nice job at getting at the costs of the Iraq War.

 

 Costs of War [2:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Budget, Iraq, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson
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Senator Feingold does have an excellent point.  We need a plan to bring the troops home.  If there’s no plan, then our soldiers are going to stay and stay.  As I have said before, Iraq is a problem that President Bush and the neocons created.  It is a huge problem.  It is my belief that if we pull out now, Saudi Arabia will invade to protect they Sunni brothers.  Iran could not allow that to happen.  So they will invade to help the Shea.  The Kurds in the North may try to take advantage of the chaos and declare themselves an independent nation which Turkey opposes.  Turkey would then get involved.  Now, this is a huge regional battle that would pull in other players like Syria.

On the other hand what does staying do if we are stabilizing the country?

 

 Countdown: Senator Russ Feingold [5:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Countdown, Domestic Issues, Foreign Affairs, Iran, Iraq, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine), Military by ecthompson
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