Freeze-Out of the Arabists

Oh, fine, this is all we need. Why not just nuke ourselves and be done with it?

Freeze-Out of the Arabists:

Ronald Schlicher is a senior official in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, an enclave for America's Arab specialists. He is the kind of Middle East expert who would presumably be in the vanguard of officials bound for Baghdad to run the US Embassy there. A twenty-two-year veteran with experience in places like Cairo and Jerusalem, including a six-month assignment in postwar Iraq, Schlicher was this year presented one of the most distinguished honors among foreign-service officers.

Schlicher was awarded the American Foreign Service Association's annual prize for producing the year's best 'dissent channel' cables--tightly written and cogently argued memos to Washington taking issue with particular aspects of US foreign policy. In effect, Schlicher was recognized for his constructive criticism of President Bush's policies in the Middle East, a region Schlicher, a fluent Arabic speaker, knows as well as anyone in government.

But Schlicher, now Iraq desk officer in Washington, is not boasting about his prize. In fact, like the State Department's other Arab hands, he's not even giving interviews. American diplomats, both active and retired, say he is outraged at the way America's most talented Arab experts were until recently blocked from playing any meaningful role in the administration of postwar Iraq.

Mercenary Jackpot

How can anybody be proud to be an American now?

Mercenary Jackpot:


While the Bush Administration calls for the immediate disbanding of what it has labeled 'private' and 'illegal' militias in Lebanon and Iraq, it is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into its own global private mercenary army tasked with protecting US officials and institutions overseas. The secretive program, which spans at least twenty-seven countries, has been an incredible jackpot for one heavily Republican-connected firm in particular: Blackwater USA. Government records recently obtained by The Nation reveal that the Bush Administration has paid Blackwater more than $320 million since June 2004 to provide 'diplomatic security' services globally. The massive contract is the largest known to have been awarded to Blackwater to date and reveals how the Administration has elevated a once-fledgling security firm into a major profiteer in the 'war on terror.'

Blackwater's highly lucrative 'diplomatic security' contract was officially awarded under the State Department's little-known Worldwide Personal Protective Service (WPPS) program, described in State Department documents as a government initiative to protect US officials as well as 'certain foreign government high level officials whenever the need arises.'

Justice Kennedy Warns: "Turning Point in History".

We see a bad moon rising!

Daily Kos: Justice Kennedy Warns: "Turning Point in History".:

In a keynote address at the American Bar Association's annual meeting in Hawaii, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy gave a muted warning to members assembled there:

'We are at another turning point in the history of the law,' Kennedy remarked. Discussing the importance of an independent judiciary, Kennedy added, 'I sense a slight foreboding, I sense that we are not making the case as well as we ought.'

Let the war criminals be held accountable!

Our country and the world depend on it.!

Amnesty International:

Proposed War Crimes Act Amendments Are Administration's Latest Attempt to Protect Failed War on Terror Policy Architects

WASHINGTON - August 9 - Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA's executive director, issued the following statement in response to news reports that the Bush administration has drafted amendments to the War Crimes Act that would essentially remove the possibility of prosecution for American nationals, including political appointees, CIA officers, contractors and former military personnel, accused of humiliating and degrading war detainees:

'This latest administration attempt to provide cover for those who created and implemented its failed war on terror policies that violated U.S. and international law is deplorable. Since the September 11 attacks, the administration has attempted to immunize its people from prosecution for breaching the Geneva Conventions and other laws through crafty legal interpretations. Now that the Supreme Court has affirmed the rule of law and the applicability of Common Article 3 of the Conventions,

President Bush is looking to limit the War Crimes Act through legislation. The administration should stop seeking escape valves for those who have committed crimes and instead use its energy to hold perpetrators accountable.'

Bring The War Home

Yes, it is past time to bring the war home, in the streets of every American capital and the U.S. capital.

Let the streets run red with American blood if necessary!

Bring The War Home:

During the Vietnam War, a favorite slogan of the antiwar movement was: Bring the War Home. It was, of course, a double entendre ; first, of course, it was a play on an earlier, more modest slogan ('Bring the boys home'). But it had a more threatening interpretation: that the Vietnam War had so divided the country that it was time to instigate a political war at home.

At this stage it might be too early to say so definitively, but it's clear that the Iraq War finally seems to be coming home, too. At the very least, the victory of Ned Lamont over Joe Lieberman puts the war in Iraq at the very front and center of political debate for the next 12 weeks, until the November elections, and beyond.

The defeat of Lieberman was not, of course, a surprise. It had been anticipated widely among political cognoscenti , who were reading the polls. One by one over the past several weeks, leading Democratic moderates began drifting, like embarrassed Johnny-come-latelies, into, or at least into the vicinity of, the anti-war camp. Perhaps the clearest indication of that process came when, without much fanfare, the entire Democratic congressional leadership inked their names to a letter to President Bush demanding that a 'redeployment' of U.S. forces out of Iraq begin immediately, that is, before the end of 2006. From the letter, which has not, by the way, been widely quoted in the mainstream media:

We believe that a phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq should begin before the end of 2006. U.S. forces in Iraq should transition to a more limited mission focused on counterterrorism, training and logistical support of Iraqi security forces, and force protection of U.S. personnel. ' Mr. President, simply staying the course in Iraq is not working. We need to take a new direction.

Cluster Attacks and International Law

War crimes, again!

Cluster Attacks and International Law:

As if the ruthless air attacks on Lebanese civilians weren't enough, Israel has been using illegal cluster munitions in populated areas of that country. Human Rights Watch researchers working on the ground in Lebanon confirmed that an attack with cluster weapons was carried out on the village of Blida on July 19, killing one and wounding at least 12 civilians, including seven children. According to Human Rights Watch, the use of such munitions in populated civilian areas may violate international humanitarian law.

What makes those munitions particularly lethal is that they consist of a container that breaks open in mid air and disperses smaller sub-munitions. Those weapons are designed to explode on impact, right before and immediately after impact, saturating an area with flying shards of steel. These sub-munitions generally have a higher explosive charge than anti-personnel land mines.

The failure rate for cluster weapons is between 5 percent and 30 percent. Failure to explode on impact doesn't mean they are harmless. On the contrary, they may explode with the slightest touch by a child or an innocent passerby. What makes them even more dangerous is that they become more unstable with each passing year, according to bomb-disposal experts working in Laos.

Human Rights Watch said it has not found any evidence that Hezbollah is using cluster munitions.

Love the Other as Yourself

It is the commandment of The Christ, and it is a wonderful dream, but at the moment, it is only a dream.

Anger and hatred poison in the entire planet.

Love the Other as Yourself:

Thank heavens for Mel Gibson. How could we have a conversation about an important social issue in this country without a celebrity?

As everyone who doesn't live on Mars knows by now, a couple of weeks ago, in a drunken rage, Gibson spewed anti-Semitic venom on some Malibu police officers who were arresting him for driving under the influence of alcohol.

He later 1) apologized to the police officers without mentioning his anti-Semitic remarks; 2) then apologized to Jews everywhere for his anti-Semitic remarks; 3) then promised to make amends for his anti-Semitic remarks; and 4) checked himself into rehab. The only question now is whether he will go on Letterman or Leno when he comes out.

During a time when Israeli troops were hammering Lebanese civilians and Hezbollah fighters, when American generals finally used the words 'civil war' and 'Iraq' in the same sentence, and when Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman lost his Democratic political life as payback for supporting George Bush's war-mongering policies, why should it matter what Gibson thinks about anything?

Because of what his remarks revealed about him: his deep-seated belief in The Other.

For Gibson, The Other is the Jews. 'The Jews started every war in the world,' is his now-famous quote. (I don't think Hitler annexed Poland just to get at its Jews, though, Mel. The Poles would have gladly handed them all over and kept their country.)

Rise of the 'Netroots': Lieberman Upset Hints at Impact of Online Activists

Yes, the netroots have had an impact, but only because others agree with what we say, not because we have some sort of magical power over voters.

Ours is a grass/netroots movement for truth and the re-establishment of Democracy in this country.

Rise of the 'Netroots': Lieberman Upset Hints at Impact of Online Activists:

Ned Lamont's upset victory over incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman in Connecticut's Democratic primary Tuesday is an electoral lesson about the power -- and potential liabilities -- of bloggers and online organizers, a growing liberal political force collectively known as the 'netroots.'

Ned Lamont, addressing supporters in Meriden, Conn., says he will push for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Reuters photo by Mike Segar

From the initial support of Lamont by influential bloggers like Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos to the cash and volunteers supplied by the online progressive hub MoveOn.org to the 11th-hour accusations on Tuesday that vandals had hacked into Lieberman's campaign Web site, the netroots have been a driving force in the campaign.
The netroots pushed voters to challenge Lieberman's support for the Iraq war and raised the national profile of Lamont, a previously unknown candidate.

While some observers say the election's outcome should be seen as a milestone for how the new media is reshaping politics, few suggest that online liberal activists were entirely responsible for Lamont's victory. Rather, the netroots amplified the political debate already rumbling in liberal Connecticut: Lieberman was a vulnerable incumbent with ties to an unpopular war in Iraq and to President Bush; Lamont is a multimillionaire cable television executive with an anti-war stance and next to no political record other than serving on local boards.

Nagasaki Warns against Nuclear Arms on A-bomb Anniversary

The people of Nagasaki are frustrated and furious. (So are we, our friends.) as nuclear non-proliferation collapses.

This is insanity, pure and simple!

Perhaps the human race does not deserve to survive. It is too hateful, stupid and barbaric.

Nagasaki Warns against Nuclear Arms on A-bomb Anniversary:

The Japanese city of Nagasaki has mourned the 61st anniversary of the world's second and last nuclear attack, with its mayor voicing anger that non-proliferation efforts were 'collapsing'.

UN Asked to Investigate Massacre of 17 Aid Workers

UN Asked to Investigate Massacre of 17 Aid Workers:

UNITED NATIONS - A prominent international humanitarian organization is calling for the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the killings of a group of aid workers in Sri Lanka.

Last Friday, 17 humanitarian workers, four of them women, were killed in the northeastern Sri Lankan town of Muttur, where government forces are engaged in heavy battle with the rebel Tamil Tigers.

The deceased workers were associated with the Paris-based international organization Action Against Hunger (ACF), which has been operating in the strife-torn country for the past 27 years.

They were found dead, lying face-down in their office compound, according to local aid activists. All of them--sanitation experts, engineers, agronomists, and project managers--were involved in post-tsunami relief and could not be evacuated due to the fighting.

Since both the Sri Lankan army and Tamil fighters have denied involvement in the incident and have laid the blame on each other, the group's officials say they have no option but to turn to the UN for help.
'
It's baffling to us. We don't understand why it happened,' Cathy Skoula, the group's top official in New York, told OneWorld.

Skoula said the aid workers employed by her organization had no tensions, whatsoever, with either side involved in the armed conflict in Sri Lanka.

'We are transparent,' she added. 'We don't hide anything.'

Antiwar Challengers Across US Get a Vote of Confidence

It's about time!

Those who do not listen to the people are in danger, period.


Antiwar Challengers Across US Get a Vote of Confidence:

"WASHINGTON -- In October 2002, lawmakers in Congress were presented with a preelection test about where they stood on Iraq, and most answered it by siding with President Bush, voting to authorize his use of force against Saddam Hussein and promising an anxious electorate that they would be protected against a potential threat from Iraq.

Joe's fall from grace

Translation: Lieberman is a Schmuck.

Joe's fall from grace Salon:

Joe Lieberman's fall from grace appears straightforward. In Connecticut, where George W. Bush and his war are intensely disliked, Lieberman stationed himself as the president's defender. But Lieberman's precipitous descent from nomination as vice president to rejection by his home state partisans is also something of a mystery.

Lieberman was once the most attractive and promising Democrat in his state, his grasp of political realities subtle and sinuous. But he became scornful of disagreement, parading himself as a moral paragon to whom voters should be privileged to pay deference. The elevation of his sanctimony was accompanied by the loss of his political sense.

Did US want Israel to attack Syria?

Dumb question. Ofcourse they did.

We, the people, should declare war on these SOBs

Did US want Israel to attack Syria? csmonitor.com:

The White House, and in particular White House advisors who belong to the neoconservative movement, allegedly encouraged Israel to attack Syria as an expansion of its action against Hizbullah, in Lebanon. The progressive opinion and news site ConsortiumNews.com reported Monday that Israeli sources say Israel's 'leadership balked at the scheme.'

One Israeli source said [US President George] Bush's interest in spreading the war to Syria was considered 'nuts' by some senior Israeli officials, although Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has generally shared Bush's hard-line strategy against Islamic militants.

After rebuffing Bush's suggestion about attacking Syria, the Israeli government settled on a strategy of mounting a major assault in southern Lebanon aimed at rooting out Hizbullah guerrillas who have been firing Katyusha rockets into northern Israel.

In a July 30 story about Israel being prepared for a possible attack by Syria in response to its attacks in Lebanon, The Jerusalem Post noted the White House interest.

The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] was also concerned about a possible Syrian attack in response to the ongoing IDF operations in Lebanon. It was also known that Syria had increased its alert out of fear in Damascus that Israel might attack.

Defense officials told the Post last week that they were receiving indications from the US that America would be interested in seeing Israel attack Syria.

Rice's Hurdles on Middle East Begin at Home

NeoCons ride herd on Condi, for Cheney.

Rice�s Hurdles on Middle East Begin at Home - New York Times:

On her recent trips to the Middle East, Ms. Rice was accompanied by two men with very different outlooks on the conflict: Elliott Abrams, senior director at the National Security Council, and C. David Welch, a career diplomat and former ambassador to Egypt who is assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs.

Mr. Welch represents the traditional State Department view that the United States should serve as a neutral broker in the Middle East. Mr. Abrams, a neoconservative with strong ties to Mr. Cheney, has pushed the administration to throw its support behind Israel. During Ms. Rice's travels, he kept in direct contact with Mr. Cheney's office.

One administration official described how during the trip, including a July 29 discussion in Ms. Rice's Rabin suite at the David Citadel Hotel, with its panoramic view of Jerusalem's Old City, Mr. Welch and Mr. Abrams served as counterfoils, with Mr. Welch arguing the Arab view and Mr. Abrams articulating the Israeli stance.

Ms. Rice selected Mr. Abrams for the National Security Council staff in 2002 when she was national security adviser. His return to government service was unexpected. After President George H. W. Bush pardoned Mr. Abrams in 1992 for his role in the Iran-Contra affair during the 1980s, Mr. Abrams said he would never work as policy maker again.

Cheney: Nutmeggers egg on Al Qaeda

Cheney just gets more insane by the day. Could we please have a battery of psychological tests done?

Even the Intelligence community knows that Al Qaeda prefers the dumbasses in the Bush administration!

New York Daily News - Politics - Cheney: Nutmeggers egg on Al Qaeda:

WASHINGTON - Sen. Joe Lieberman's loss to an anti-war upstart will only encourage Al Qaeda and other enemies of the U.S., Vice President Cheney said yesterday.
'
The thing that's partly disturbing about it is the fact that, [from] the standpoint of our adversaries, if you will, in this conflict, and the Al Qaeda types, they clearly are betting on the proposition that ultimately they can break the will of the American people,' Cheney said.

White House spokesman Tony Snow echoed him, saying that giving in to the anti-war left and leaving Iraq means waving 'a white flag in the war on terror.'

President Bush's political guru Karl Rove reportedly called Lieberman about his loss, but Snow said the President wasn't offering help in a Democratic contest that GOP campaigners are licking their chops over.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee capitalized yesterday by firing off releases demanding to know whether a slew of Democratic candidates would back 'fringe candidate Ned Lamont or the 2000 VP nominee, Joe Lieberman?'

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid countered, saying, 'Americans aren't buying the same old, tired, Republican line that being strong on national security means being wrong on Iraq.'

Bush Would Lose to Gore and Kerry Today: Angus Reid Consultants

But he already lost to both of them!

Bush Would Lose to Gore and Kerry Today: Angus Reid Consultants:

Adults in the United States would vote differently in a rerun of the last two presidential elections, according to a poll by Scripps Howard News Service released by Ohio University. 46 per cent of respondents would support Democrat John Kerry in a repeat of the 2004 ballot, while 40 per cent would vote for Republican George W. Bush.

The survey asked Americans to ponder their options in every U.S. presidential election held since 1964. Democrat Al Gore would receive the support of 46 per cent of respondents in the 2000 rerun, while Bush would finish second with 38 per cent.

Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan remain extremely popular. The Democrat would receive 52 per cent and 56 per cent of the vote in the 1992 and 1996 races, while the Republican would win with 56 per cent and 64 per cent in the 1980 and 1984 presidential contests.

Democrat Jimmy Carter maintains a 17-point edge over Republican Gerald Ford in the 1976 race, while Republican George H. Bush keeps a 20-point lead over Democrat Michael Dukakis in the 1988 contest. Democrat Lyndon Johnson reaches 50 per cent in a rerun of the 1964 election.
Republican Richard Nixon barely defeats Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey in the 1968 race, and trails rival George McGovern in the 1972 contest.

Exclusive Survey: Brown Leads Incumbent DeWine

Please, Please, Ohioans!

Get Dewine out of there!

Exclusive Survey: Brown Leads Incumbent DeWine:

A SurveyUSA poll taken this weekend shows Democrat Sherrod Brown defeating incumbent Republican Mike DeWine in the race for one of Ohio's Senatorial seats.
Brown, who represents Ohio's 13th District in Congress, unseats DeWine, 49% to 41% in a vote today, statistically unchanged from an identical SurveyUSA poll released two months ago.

Though there is volatility among age groups - Brown is up among the youngest voters, down among middle-aged voters - the overall outcome is unchanged.

The two candidates are tied among male voters.

Brown's overall 8-point advantage comes entirely from his 15-point lead among female voters.

Counterintelligence Officials Resign

Can Washington GET any more corrupt?

Seems we need to forget the rest of the world, and clean up our own house.

Growing up in the South, I've seen a lot of political corruption in my life, but never anything this bad or all pervasive.

I am afraid my country has lost all sense of decency.

Counterintelligence Officials Resign:

David A. Burtt II, director of the Counterintelligence Field Activity, the Defense Department's newest intelligence agency whose contracts based on congressional earmarks are under investigation by the Pentagon and federal prosecutors, told his staff yesterday that he and his deputy director will resign at the end of the month.

In an internal message, Burtt said, 'I do not make this decision without trepidation, but the time is right to move on to the next phase of my career.' He said he had been privileged to serve as CIFA director and was 'especially proud of all of you and what you have accomplished for the CI counterintelligence] community and for the overall CI mission.'

Israel: Ceasefire plan halts new push

Well, this is a waste of time, but if it prevents another loss of innocent life, we are all for it.

We have the feeling it is just a PR move.

New York Daily News - World & National Report - Ceasefire plan halts new push:

JERUSALEM - Israel has decided to hold off on plans for a massive new ground offensive into southern Lebanon to give diplomats working on a ceasefire agreement more time, an Israeli cabinet minister and senior officials said today.
Israel's security cabinet approved an expanded ground offensive in Lebanon yesterday, a decision that came on the deadliest day of the war for Israeli troops in Lebanon, with 15 soldiers killed.

But Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to put the campaign on hold for two or three days to see whether diplomatic efforts will produce results, a senior Israeli official said this morning on condition of anonymity.

Top Democrats drop support of Lieberman - Yahoo! News

61% in poll say Lieberman should not run as an independent.

But does that matter to the egotistical Soreloserman? Hell no.

Any Democrat who votes for Lieberman in November is a fool. He will get Republican support, that's for sure.

Top Democrats drop support of Lieberman - Yahoo! News:

Even so, top Senate Democrats, including John Kerry and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Harry Reid of Nevada, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Chuck Schumer of New York, said they supported Lamont as the duly elected choice of Connecticut's Democratic voters.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton stopped short of calling on Lieberman to quit the race but urged the senator to 'search his conscience and decide what is best for Connecticut and for the Democratic Party.'

Lieberman said he was not bothered by losing the support of his colleagues, noting he lost the primary even with their backing. 'In the end, the people make up their own minds, and this is going to be a people's campaign,' he said.

The defeat put Lieberman in the familiar role of a go-it-alone politician. He was the first prominent Democrat to openly criticize President Clinton's conduct with Monica Lewinsky. His support for the Iraq war and his defense of President Bush also have made him unpopular with members of his own party and gave Lamont a powerful platform on which to run.