So, one of the targets of the anthrax attacks, Judith Miller, was also the very same reporter who funnelled information from the Iraqi ex-pat resistance to the US media and public?

I keep thinking I can go a whole day without some news-piece bowling me over.....

So let's see....

Iraq, Iran, Uzbekistan, then Syria?.... and Egypt if we have to? Do i have that right?

I could not have said it better myself

God damn the men who put our troops in this situation. God damn the men who brought our country to this pass. God damn Cheney and Rumsfeld and their cadre of little geniuses. God damn the media poodles who obligingly spun the way they were spun. God damn Colin Powell for the narcissistic lie he told himself about how he was needed "inside the system" when he had the chance to blow it all open by publically resigning. God damn George W. Bush for accepting the advice of knaves and dreamers. God damn Tony Blair and the Third Way messianism that sees war as the engine of human progress, damn the cowardly Democrats in Congress for confusing their short-term political viability with the welfare of the country and damn the freelance cheerleaders, with blogs or syndicated columns, who imagined that their September 11-induced post-traumatic stress disorder was clarity and toughness rather than hysteria. Damn every Annie Hall with a keyboard demanding that Woody Allen come over and kill the spider now, and not just the one in her apartment but every spider on earth, dammit, because someday, someday, one of them just might bite her. God damn every fool who decided to support the war just because the protesters were icky.

ok, i'll bite

--bp
“I guess they didn’t like the fact that my shirt was made in Pakistan,” explained the source. “They wanted us to wear shirts that were made in the United States.”
--ep

Really. I'm certain, my eyes are getting blurry.... further.

--bp--
“It just made me sick,” said the source, referring to whatever it was he was talking about. “You can’t believe anything these days anymore.
--ep--

I believe this to be an exercise in phenomenology. The ability of something to be carried into the future for no real reason whatsoever. Try searching for "Andre the Giant has a Posse". Really.

blogs are cool and neat, but it's good to know that farce is spottable. Sadly i followed the link to this article from another noted blog (with many many more readers)

I hope this doesn't ever actaully cause someone concern, it scares me that this is just a believable on first read as anything Joe Scarborough says, to those who hunger to believe

If an Iraqi lawyer can get asylum and a book deal for helping rescue one of our soldiers, the 'anonymous source' could certainly get his 15-minutes by coming forward and sacrificing his job. But he clearly states he thinks bush is doing a good job.... 'nuff said about ~his~ credibility

It makes a bit more sense now, just why this 'soft' target was chosen by bombers last week.

--bp--
Terrorism experts say the compound where Secretary of State Colin Powell witnessed the carnage made a particularly appealing target. It was the home of about 300 employees and family members of the Vinnell Corp., a Virginia subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, which for 28 years has been providing training to the Saudi national guard.

....

He said the complex, referred to on the company's Web site as Camp Vinnell, sprawled over an area of about three city blocks. Apartment and office buildings rise above shade trees and lawns in a combination residential and business area.
--ep--

You know... 'training'.... you know, Vinnell Corp., the company that had 5,000 employees in Vietnam in 1975, the very same year they started working for the Saudi's.

Do the words 'inviting disaster' strike a chord?

--bp--
According to a March 1975 article in the Village Voice that quoted an anonymous Pentagon source, the company did everything from base construction to military operations. The source described Vinnell as "our own little mercenary army in Vietnam."
--ep--

Hmmm, I suppose they must have changed operations when Northrop Grumman bought them, right? The people targeted were clearly non-military targets then, right.

After all, we can blow up a restaraunt to kill one man, what's so big about an apartment building crawling with mercenaries?

Oh, US expatriate mercenaries, well, that clearly changes everything.

Just remember the name Vinnell, You'll hear it again.

it's not what you might think...... I actually wish I was there

--bp--
The town's police station is already surrounded by barbed wire and ranks of riot police. Annemasse police refuse to give details of their security reinforcements but confirm they have set up a makeshift overflow detention centre in a sports centre to cope with mass arrests.
--ep--

--bp--
There is no way to “minimize” the contribution of the USA in removing saddam. The USA waged a friggin’ war, how could you “minimize” a war. I have said this before: if it weren’t for the intervention of the US, Iraq would have seen saddam followed by his sons until the end of time. But excuse me if I didn’t go out and throw flowers at the incoming missiles.
--ep--

--bp--
Lamberth ordered that the plaintiffs in the case -- the servicemen wounded in that bombing and the families of those killed -- have a "right to obtain judicial relief" from Iran. The judge called the October 23, 1983 bombing "the most deadly state-sponsored terrorist attack made against United States citizens before September 11, 2001."
--ep

I had not realized Sept 11 was state sponsored. from where? the bunch of thugs who 'ran' Afghanistan? did we take Afghanistans money afterwards? You know, the money we gave them in the first place...

I sort of view al-Quaeda as multilateral, present everywhere and active everywhere, or so i've been led to believe.

Nothing like a little revisionist history (although I agree that Iran was responsible on some level) to dare the Iranians into responding. Did someone miss the fact that in 1983 the Iranians had just had a revolution to get out from under the US installed shah? You remember revolution, we had one here once to stop our country from being ruled by remote control, and we almost had another one when the southerners thought the federal government was out of control.

Next I suppose we'll sieze some Iranian funds to pay the victims families and in so doing lay down the gauntlet for real.

Damn, who is in charge around here?

Here are some folks who pay close attention

It has begun, keep your eyes open for evidence.

--bp--
"About an hour later, just around midnight, the staff heard an explosion that knocked out the hospital's power. The rescue mission had begun: Outside, a helicopter landed near the hospital while another hovered overhead."
--ep--

It just occured to me that even if the US forces involved in the rescue of Jessica Lynch needed to blow in the doors, and regardles of any percieved risk to their lives, did they really need to cut power to a hospital? I've heard tell that she underwent surgery while under Iraqi medical care as a POW to install a titanium plate in her leg, a job well done according to doctors examining her upon her return.

What if she had been in surgery when the lights went out in the hospital? one can assume that wounded were arriving at the hospital regularly in the days before the raid, many or most were civillians, and lights help you see the shrapnel you're collecting from a wound (Thank you Dr. Hawkeye Pierce). So we specifically targeted and damaged the electricity supply to a hospital, at night, intentionally, and this is OK?

Superior force be damned, that's just not a cool way to operate.

--bp
"There are still some regime thugs," said Major General James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division. "They are not significant and are relatively easy to take out," he said, describing them as ill-trained "scumbags.

..............

Mr Wolfowitz also exacerbated Mr Blair’s political trouble at home by telling Vanity Fair magazine that the pre-war hunt for weapons of mass destruction was for "bureaucratic" purposes because it was the one reason everyone could agree on.
--ep--


at least they stopped calling them terrorists

"Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

- Hermann Goering, April 18, 1946, while awaiting the Nuremberg trials.

The talk-show host seemed to gulp, and then replied: "If you really can demonstrate all that, you probably can deny George Bush a second term in 2004."

Good point.

"Too much and for too long we seem to have surrendered personal excellence and community values for the mere accumulation of material things. The Gross National Product is now over 800 billion dollars a year. But that Gross National Product, if we judge the United States by that, counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwoods and the loss of our natural wonders in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts [the killer's] rifle and [the rapist's] knife and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the Gross National Product does not [include] the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry, or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and it can tell us everything about America, except why we are proud that we are Americans."

Robert F. Kennedy
Iowa State University, 1968
(Opening speech of campaign)

I will fully admit that this has nothing to do with politics, but damn, this is no good either!

--bp--
By Ian Browne MLB.com BOSTON -- With a .303 average, 17 doubles and 38 RBIs, it wasn't as if the Red Sox were looking to trade Shea Hillenbrand's productive bat West-bound. But the Sox needed pitching and Hillenbrand was simply their best bargaining chip in a deal that was consummated with the Arizona Diamondbacks Thursday.

The trade, a one-for-one exchange, brings side-winding right-hander Byung-Hyun Kim to Boston. Like Hillenbrand, who can play third and first base, the 24-year-old Kim is a versatile performer.

--ep--

--bp--
"Right now we are really not supposed to talk about that subject, you know," Lynch said at a news conference at the family home in West Virginia. "It is still an ongoing investigation, and we can't talk about nothing like that."

Later Lynch told reporters: "Nobody has told us not to talk about it. Our main concern is to get Jessie back on her feet in good health right now."

The former POW is being treated at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.

When asked about his daughter's memory, Greg Lynch said it "is as good as it was when she was home. She can still remember everything." But, he said, the family has not pressed her for details.
--ep--

AND

--bp--
The commandos burst in.

Al-Jabbar said the soldiers declined an offer of the hospital's master key so they wouldn't have to break down the doors.

``They pointed the gun at us for two hours,'' he said. ``Their manner was very rude. They even handcuffed the director of the hospital. ... Not a single shot was fired at them. They shot at doors - all doors. They broke them, kicked them open.''

Al-Hazbar said he had expected a raid but was surprised by its intensity. Now that there was no Iraqi military around, why so much force? He said he and his family found themselves surrounded by about 20 American soldiers firing their guns.

``They were shooting indiscriminately, everywhere, at windows, between our legs, on the floor. We were terrified,'' al-Hazbar said.

He said it then occurred to him that no one was being hit by bullets. ``They were shooting at me, but nothing happened to me,'' he said.

Al-Hazbar said he concluded the Americans were firing blanks. ``They didn't shoot real bullets because they knew there was no military force in the hospital,'' he said.
--ep--

AND

--bp

The April 1 rescue of prisoner of war Pfc. Jessica Lynch was a huge morale booster for the United States, and a big propaganda victory — that much is certain.

The proof is in the grainy night-vision footage of the raid, and the still picture of Lynch in a rescue helicopter with a folded American flag on her chest.
--ep

AND

--bp--
Interestingly, Bryan Whitman, a “Pentagon spokesman,” confirms that “the US military never claimed that the troops came under fire when they burst into the hospital.”

The best witness, of course, would be Jessica Lynch herself. But after several weeks of total isolation from the media, we are now told that she “remembers nothing” of the “rescue.” Curious! Newsweek reports, to the contrary, that Lynch “did say that she survived for part of her time in the hospital on nothing but orange juice and crackers” (as reported, co-incidentally, by the Iraqi doctors). Sadly, after several weeks incommunicado in Army custody, poor Jessica seems to have lost her memory of events that she is reported to have clearly recalled immediately after her rescue.

...

If the foreign reports are erroneous, then where are the rebutting eyewitness accounts from the soldiers that were involved? (The Defense Department “rebuttal” to the BBC story is astonishingly “tame” and, in fact, corroborates much of the BBC report).
--ep--

AND

--bp--
Yet experts in propaganda say the tale fit all too nicely into the neat story line the Bush administration wanted to push and the American public wanted to hear at a time when the war didn't appear to be going very well.

"I recognized the pattern: She was being made into an important symbol," said Robert Ivie, an Indiana University expert in communication, culture and the rhetoric of war. "She stood for the narrative that the Bush administration was telling."
--ep--

Propaganda you say?

Go figure.

Inch by inch, row by row, we're gonna help fascism grow....

--bp--
The Senate vote was 98-1 with Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., the only dissenter;
...
On nuclear weapons, Rumsfeld won approval from both chambers for repeal of a 10-year ban on research into new "low-yield" weapons with 5 kilotons or less of destructive force, although actual construction of any new weapons would require further congressional approval.
--ep--

In related news.....

--bp--
Also included in the House defense authorization bill -- but not in the Senate version -- was a provision that would allow the Pentagon to sidestep two laws that protect endangered species, migratory birds and marine mammals that reside near or on military installations.
--ep--

You know marine mammals, those pesky whales and porpoises the Navy keeps killing with experimental high power sonar systems. Imagine going out fishing one day, but when you get there someone turns on a siren so loud that your ears literally bleed, and you'll get some idea of how the marine mammals feel.

ATLANTA -- The Coca-Cola Co. plans to launch a milk-based drink this summer, aimed at children and teenage consumers.



mmmmmmmmm.... "milk(R)(TM)"

--bp--
"To live in this process is absolutely not to be able to notice it - please try to believe me - unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us had ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, "regretted," that, unless one were detached from the whole process from the beginning, unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these "little measures" that no "patriotic German" could resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head."
--ep--

--bp--
b) Fascism creates confusion through "facts" . It relies on junk science, revisionism, the elimination of cultural records/treasures and obscuratinism to create its case and gain acceptance. Fascism can also combine Marxist critiques of capitalism or faith based critics of the same to re-define middle class perceptions of democracy and to force its issues, confuse logic and create majority consensus between targeted groups. This is also referred to as creating a state of Cognitive Dissonance, the mental state most human beings are easily manipulated within.
--ep--

--bp--
There are women's bodies scattered in Bunia's main market place; a baby's body on its main road; two priests' bodies inside one church. Last week, a burning corpse was tossed on to the main UN compound's lawn, to show 700 Uruguayan peacekeepers what they were missing while they cowered under fire behind its razor-wire perimeter, unauthorised to intervene in the latest massacre of Congolese civilians.
--ep--


Isn't Osama in the Congo? Let's send in the Marines.

That country (Zaire?) had something going on at some point, and now it is chaos.

Something was in fact a military ditatorship, and that's never pretty. They can be so ugly that we've made a point of knocking a few over recently. So why stop. I can think of a few places in the world I'd be damn proud to see the US Marines 'restoring order'. Keep the legions busy and out of Rome.

--bp--
Mr Makelo, a delegate to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which is meeting at UN headquarters in New York, said: "Pygmies are being pursued in the forests ... People have been eaten."
--ep--

Ugly.

I wouldn't lie to you

--bp
Mr. Murdoch told lawmakers that he will improve DirecTV by offering more local television stations and faster Internet access if the News Corp. deal is approved. He also ruled out going on a buying spree if the ownership rules are relaxed, telling the lawmakers that he has "no plans for anything other than [the deal] I have before you."
--ep

Mind you, this man owns FOX news, home of the no-spin zone

He understands freedom of the press as Ben Franklin did, and I don't trust him.

And he's a foriegner, thppppppppt!

The new chief defense lawyer, Air Force Col. Will Gunn, said his team will work vigorously to ensure that detainees are given the best legal assistance possible.



I'm not kidding, the name of the air-force lawyer who will defend prisoners in Military Tribunals, should they ever occur, has been given. And for real, his name is Will Gunn.

Let's Roll!

Here we go again
File this under the more good news department. Doublespeak, Dodge, and Deception, hard at work.

--bp--
State and national Democrats have raised questions for nearly two weeks about whether DeLay used his political position with federal agencies in the search for the Democrats. Until Thursday, DeLay had refused to respond to the allegations, which he called "untruths."

...cut some stuff

On Wednesday, the Texas DPS said one of its commanders had ordered the destruction of all documents and photographs dealing with the search for the legislators.

"It sounds like a bureaucratic screw-up to me," DeLay said of the document destruction.
--ep--


I wonder.........


--bp
As a Texas congressman, Mr DeLay was at the forefront of raising funds from Enron, bringing in money both for himself and the Republican party

According to his political opponents, Mr DeLay repeatedly intervened on Enron's behalf with administration officials, and enjoyed a relationship with the firm far closer than that of congressman to constituency employer.
--ep

Hmmmm..... how many times can one man blame others for screwing up under and around him, and still claim that he's done nothing wrong. And what does it say about the Republicans that he's currrently the Majority Whip of the US Senate.

Maybe I should move to a less left wing state and maybe make a difference by getting lefties to vote.... Maybe I should start with Texas. Or maybe they should just secede.

Not much to say today, but i do have one question:

Why have I not seen anyone yet mention that a land route from Afghanistan / Iran to Syria / Lebanon has just been basically closed. After all, Iraq spans a geography from the Persian Gulf in the south to Turkey in the North, and is Hundreds of miles across for most of that distance... and it's not run by a sympathetic regime (not neccesarily friendly to Al-Quaeda, etc....) any longer.

Hell, If Bush had said that up front, that he was afraid that WMD and terrorists were passing through Iraq to threaten Israel and Palestine, I would have been a bit more sympathetic.

For the record. The war did need to happen. I profoundly dislike the way it was played though.

And played is the key word.

I was played, you were played, the UN was played, and even Britain was played.

We're all pretty smart, smart enought to get angry when we're lied to, and I hope smart enough to recognise the truth when we see it.

Whichg is why when Germany and so manyother security counsel didn't sign on (France and Russia I expected to give us a hard time), it meant that insufficient evidence was presented to back up the way we wanted to do business. It's the Security Council. You can trust most of them with the evidence I am sure... ot at least some of the strong evidence... and when none of them were convinced (before the offer of multi-billion dollar US aid packages), I was unconvinced.

"But after a few days, she began to relax. And she really bonded with Khalida. She told me, `I'm going to take her back to America with me."

Not likely now Khalida, your ticket to Disneyland was punched when you told a reporter what you saw.

What troubles the staff in Nasiriya most are reports that Lynch was abused while in their case. All vehemently deny it.

Told of the allegation through an interpreter, nurse Shinah wells up with tears. Gathering herself, she responds quietly: "This is a lie. But why ask me? Why don't you ask Jessica what kind of treatment she received?"

But that is easier said than done. At the Pentagon last week, U.S. Army spokesman Lt.-Col. Ryan Yantis said the door to Lynch remains closed as she continues her recovery at Washington's Walter Reed Army Medical Centre.

"Until such time as she wants to talk — and that's going to be no time soon, and it may be never at all — the press is simply going to have to wait."


noyt:
Whomever is in charge of any charitable donations made to Ms. Lynch should consider buying that hospital a new bed, at least.

Want to know why i don't trust the DARPA 'Terrorist (total) Information Awareness' program? Because you can't convince me that the FBI (at least) isn't for sale to some degree.

Judi Bari is someone i never met, and wish I had. A treehugger and activist who lived in a town I used to live in. She convinced EarthFirst! to stop damaging logging equipment and creating working conditions for the loggers that threatened their lives. Instead EF!'rs started sitting in trees, using only climbing equipment and passive-resistance techniques. And someone tried to blow her up.

--bp--

Here's the background on the Bari case : On May 24, 1990, a bomb exploded in Bari's car, injuring her and Cherney. The FBI immediately accused Bari and Cherney of transporting the bomb and arrested them, even though both had recently received death threats, which they had reported to the police. The government dropped its charges against Bari and Cherney for lack of evidence six weeks later, but it had already illegally searched their homes, and it continued to say they were the only suspects.

--ep--

also check judibari.org

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has a history of funding unusual and esoteric projects. Recently, however, they have concocted a plan that is perhaps more ambitious than any yet devised by the agency. DARPA wants to compile an extensive database on every American.

These "innovative new sources" would be an individual's most private information, information that until now has been legally protected by privacy laws. Other DARPA proposals are even more invasive, and would attempt to compile a psychological profile of every American.

It's not all bad news

Picture the back of Bush's head, with a small band aid on his neck, seated in the oval office

MARSELLUS

Now the night of the fight, you may
fell a slight sting, that's pride
fuckin' wit ya. Fuck pride! Pride
only hurts, it never helps. Fight
through that shit. 'Cause a year
from now, when you're kickin' it in
the Caribbean you're gonna say,
"Marsellus Wallace was right."

BUTCH

I got no problem with that.

MARSELLUS

In the fifth, your ass goes down.

Butch nods his head: "yes."

MARSELLUS

Say it!

BUTCH

In the fifth, my ass goes down.



Whitman had a history of clashing with the White House, starting with the president's abrupt decision to withdraw from the international global warming treaty. She had been the administration's point person in rolling back environmental protections initiated by previous administrations.

Seriously though, If Iraq had transferred all of it's arms to Syria and that's why we can't find them, Wouldn't you think that they would have pictures of the weapons, ya know, moving across the border?

And where the heck is Syria going to hide all this stuff that we won't see it, or have seen in being moved, at all? We have been looking for weapons, labs, research facilities, and "industrial" facilities for more than a decade, right? We've also maintained air superiority over most of the country for 12 years, had hundreds of thousands of boots on the ground since April, and collected literally ~billions~ of surveillance photo's of the region from radar invisible aircraft and satellites, many pictures with resolution sufficient to tell if a dime is heads or tails from miles and miles away. Heads, heads, heads, heads, heads, heads,...

I say get the UN Weapons Inspectors back in there, Give them a lot of Military Police (from NATO nations, probably) as escorts, complete the mandate of the sanctions, and thus lift them, by insuring that that the country is indeed free of WMD.

Find out Why. I'm actually pretty certain we are trying, and that a lot of effort is being used to find a lot of this stuff, but it makes me nervous when i hear we are also not guarding some it properly despite the fact that we clearly knew generally what sort of materials was at least rougly where. I undestand not quarding the museums quite as well as we could have, but was there any real pkan for what to do once they gave up? or were we actually trying to start a REAL war?

^BU_SH^LL _IT

One reason I am glad he's gone (and a link to all the absurdities that are fit to print)

Q What has he done in the last 12 years? And why do you keep subliminally linking up 9/11 with the Iraqi thing? Do you have an actual link? Can you really prove it?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, the point the President makes about 9/11 is that prior to 9/11 it was much easier for the American people to sit back and think that terrorism was something that affected maybe our embassies abroad or people in other countries in faraway lands. After 9/11 it became very clear that there are people who have a clear desire, and they will do it again if they can, to attack the United States.

Q Iraqis?

MR. FLEISCHER: They can be any number of people. And what we do worry about is them getting their weapons from the Iraqis, and then coming to the United States to commit more crimes.

Q But could they get them from the Chinese, the Russians, the United States, Russia?

MR. FLEISCHER: They can get them from any number of places. I think it's far likely --

Q So why the focus?

MR. FLEISCHER: Because I think, in the President's judgment, based on intelligence, it's far less likely that they will get them from, as you just said, Helen, the United States than it is Iraq.

Took a few days off,

Fortunately for everyone who can still think for themselves, Ari Fleisher resigned while I was away.
--bp--
"Asked Tuesday to cite his biggest mistake, Fleischer said there have been a few, but said he would leave it to the media to tell them."

"You know, it's a hard job. The press is great at trying to lure you out on to a platform that they can saw off underneath you," he said. "Being the briefer is kind of like playing intellectual chess ... That's part of the attraction of the job too, though."
--ep--

Intellectual chess, remeber, always keep your eye on what they're NOT talking about. When the knight is just sort of sitting there for you to capture, look carefully. It's usually a ploy. Which is to say that this mans job was to talk about the secondary issues and obfuscate the truly important questions that good reporters asked him.

Maybe I should start picking on John Ashcroft more... that'd be great if he'd quit.

Then Rumsfeld, and by then, we get to vote again

It strikes me that everything this man says is a freebie

"The gravest danger to freedom lies at the perilous crossroads of radicalism and technology."

Who would Jesus Smart Bomb? Who's freedom and which radical?

"When the spread of chemical and biological and nuclear weapons, along with ballistic missile technology -- when that occurs, even weak states and small groups could attain a catastrophic power to strike great nations. Our enemies have declared this very intention, and have been caught seeking these terrible weapons. "

We have the reciepts, and that's enough evidence.

"Deterrence -- the promise of massive retaliation against nations -- means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend. Containment is not possible when unbalanced dictators with weapons of mass destruction can deliver those weapons on missiles or secretly provide them to terrorist allies."

Comparing Apples and Osama's again. Where is that Unbalanced dictator anyhow? And what about his weapons?

"We cannot put our faith in the word of tyrants, who solemnly sign nonproliferation treaties, and then systemically break them."

Democratically 'elected' leaders who pull out of Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaties and Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaties are better than 'tyrants'. OK then.

"If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long."

Remember this next time you can vote.

"Homeland defense and missile defense are part of stronger security, and they're essential priorities for America. Yet the war on terror will not be won on the defensive."

Nor will it be won by calling Homeland Security people to track down legislators on the lam. We don't want you to win this battle because too much of it is waged agains US here in the homeland, we want you on the defensive Mr. Bush.

"We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans, and confront the worst threats before they emerge. In the world we have entered, the only path to safety is the path of action. And this nation will act."

This Nation will act Superior. We will act Brutsh. And we will act like Rabid Nationalists. Heil!

Reverse security and freedom (switch them) in these sentences coming from Ari Fleischer and his comments sound so much more American. And like someone i could vote for.

Maybe I could make it a Drinking Game? How many times does he say security in a single press conference? (this isn't all of them) Any Suggestions?


MR. FLEISCHER: Terry, the President's focus is on bringing security to
the people of Iraq. And that's an area of marked progress in much of
Iraq. There are still pockets inside Iraq, inside Baghdad, for
example, where there is more room for more progress. And the President
leaves it up to the, still, commanders in the field to determine the
exact tactics to employ to preserve security. And that way the Iraqi
people know they can go about living their lives with as great a
resumption of freedom as is possible. And this continues to increase
on a day- by-day basis.



MR. FLEISCHER: Well, the President believes that it's best to leave
these matters up to the people on the ground who are in the
life-and-death situations where they know what level of force must be
used to protect the security of people there.



Q: Is the President troubled at all that members of his own political party, at a time of war, days after Americans were killed in a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia, would have the gall to use federal resources designed to protect the country against terrorists in order to pursue partisan political objectives?


MR. FLEISCHER: Well, again, I think that the facts and the circumstances involving any contacts that took place will be explored by the appropriate agency, in which this case is the Department of Homeland Security. They are doing that.



MR. FLEISCHER: You remember in the State of the Union, the President stated that he had two top priorities, and they are economic security and national security. And in the principal actions the President takes that's exactly what you're seeing.

Transcript: White House Press Briefing, May 16, 2003

Q: And on a second subject, there were reports in the British press
this weekend alleging that the Jessica Lynch affair was used by this
administration, was manipulated in some ways, and that even, perhaps,
the conduct of the rescue of Jessica Lynch was manipulated in some way
for public consumption.

MR. FLEISCHER: I haven't seen those reports. And I don't comment on
things I haven't seen, especially -- there's all kinds of different
tabloids.

I love it when Ari Fleischer calls the BBC a tabloid.

I would trust Mr. Flescher and FOX to the ends of the earth, provided i got to throw them off of it when we got there.

"During the course of his reprehensible tenure as the dictator of Iraq, Saddam attacked four countries, used chemical weapons against his own people, committed genocide, forced the relocation of ethnic groups, and launched a campaign of environmental destruction."

I'm aware of how dark this sounds, but this mans complaints about Saddam sound like a condensed version of the first hundred years or so of our own US History. Except of course that chemical weapons didn't exist yet. But giving guns and liquor to the natives may qualify as chemical weapon equivalents of the day.

Who elected us gods and protectors, anyway?

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

-Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US president, architect and author (1743-1826)

Here's an idea from someone who clearly trusts nothing he hears from the media.

Good for him

FOX News vs. The Guardian


Fox sez:


"That night, a team of U.S. Navy SEALs, Army Rangers and other commandos helicoptered to the hospital while troops engaged Iraqi soldiers in another part of the city. Rescuers entered the hospital and persuaded an Iraqi doctor to lead them to Lynch."



the Guardian sez:


"We heard the noise of helicopters," says Dr Anmar Uday. He says that they must have known there would be no resistance. "We were surprised. Why do this? There was no military, there were no soldiers in the hospital. "


"It was like a Hollywood film. They cried, 'Go, go, go', with guns and blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show - an action movie like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan, with jumping and shouting, breaking down doors." All the time with the camera rolling.




and This Guy gets the bigger picture perfectly.


"Three years from now, when Bush gets reelected on a there's-still-more-work-to-be-done platform and invades North Korea to rid the earth of another evildoer, someone from MSNBC will recruit Private Lynch - you all remember Jessica Lynch, don't you? Doesn't she look so different now, in a suit and with her face all made up? - to stand in front of some big-ass computer screen and point to places where troops are, and give the "private's perspective" on the war from that angle. What it's like to be in the trenches. The kinds of things endured as a POW. Hour long specials, hosted by Jessica Lynch as long as she's still cute, on the "Real Heroes" of the North Korean conflict. Or the Cuban one two years later. Or our big Syrian liberation party. Or our crackdown on Columbia (no pun intended)."

This is so believable

BBC News, Saving Private Lynch story 'flawed'

--bp--

Witnesses told us that the special forces knew that the Iraqi military had fled a day before they swooped on the hospital.

Dr Anmar Uday
Dr Uday was surprised by the manner of the rescue
"We were surprised. Why do this? There was no military, there were no soldiers in the hospital," said Dr Anmar Uday, who worked at the hospital.

"It was like a Hollywood film. They cried 'go, go, go', with guns and blanks without bullets, blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show for the American attack on the hospital - action movies like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan."

There was one more twist. Two days before the snatch squad arrived, Harith had arranged to deliver Jessica to the Americans in an ambulance.

But as the ambulance, with Private Lynch inside, approached a checkpoint American troops opened fire, forcing it to flee back to the hospital. The Americans had almost killed their prize catch.

--ep--

How the greens have impacted national elections

To the closing line:

"The Green Party did not win any Congressional seats.
Green votes put Republicans in office and served no other purpose. "

I must add, 'except to make y'all as pissed off as we are'

Not that i think it's anything more than whining on the part of those that lost... after all, Ralph Nader only got so many potential democratic (or potential non-voter) votes because Al Gore refused to stand up and show any backbone

just my opinion

I LOVE THIS MAN!

"I don't bring God into my life to-to, you know, kind of be a political person."
--Interview with Tom Brokaw aboard Air Force One, April 24, 2003

***Who Would Jesus Bomb

"I think the American people--I hope the American--I don't think, let me--I hope the American people trust me."--Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 2002

***Don't count your chickens


"The law I sign today directs new funds and new focus to the task of collecting vital intelligence on terrorist threats and on weapons of mass production."--Washington, D.C., Nov. 27, 2002

***According to wall street, your mission has been successful


"You see, the Senate wants to take away some of the powers of the administrative branch."
--Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002

***Did he read the job description before he ran?

"I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn't here."
--Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

***This message will self destruct........


"Do you have blacks, too?"
--To Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001

***Yes, I'm afraid he did mean that


Entirely stolen from Bushisms

Testimony of Testimony of John C. Varrone, Assistant Commissioner - Office of Investigations United States Customs Service

"The Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center (AMICC). AMICC, located in Riverside, California, provides command, control, communications and intelligence for counter-narcotics and designated homeland defense operations. It utilizes a wide variety of civilian and military radar sites, aerostats, airborne reconnaissance aircraft and other detection assets to provide 24-hour, seamless radar surveillance along the entire southern tier of the U.S., Puerto Rico and into the Caribbean. "

"designated homeland defense operations".... did I mention that under the USA PATRIOT ACT being designated as person of interest means you can be stripped of all normal arrest rights and held indefinitely without access to a lawyer/ And that the proposed "PATRIOT ACT II", by which your citizenship (even native born) can be stripped from you if someone accuses you of terrorist activity, no trial, no lawyer, no phone call, Just an arrest and deportation to points unspecified.

Who does this designation?

Tom DeLay? (gahd, i love his name) (what's the opposite of progress??)

John Ashcrost? (Lost an election to the senate to a DEAD man)

Rep. Craddick of the Texas House? ("we will not negotiate")

Has Mr McCarthy really left the building??

From: US Treasury Press Release 4/24/01

--bp--

How does Customs coordinate its Air and Marine interdiction efforts?
The U.S. Customs Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center (AMICC) in Riverside, Calif., assimilates information from a wide array of civilian and military radar sites, aerostats, and other detection assets to provide 24-hour radar surveillance along the entire southern tier of the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. AMICC provides communications and control to U.S. Customs air, marine and ground units on patrol or engaged in special operations. It also integrates information systems with other domestic and international counter-drug centers and law enforcement agencies and serves as a focal point for tactical coordination between agencies.

Are Customs pilots and marine officers law enforcement officers?
U.S. Customs air and marine crews are federal law enforcement officers who receive extensive training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga. U.S. Customs pilots are experienced aviators who have the minimum of 1,500 hours of flight time. Aviation and Marine Enforcement Officers operate high-performance boats and sophisticated sensor equipment.

--ep--

FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT!

NOT State law enforcement.

whoever called the AMICC should be fired, or at least demoted for misappropriation of federal resources.

http://www.pe.net/~eric545/pg20.html

--bp--

365 days a year the AMICC's Detection Systems Specialists (DSS's) utilize sophisticated color presentations of live radar data overlaid on highly detailed topographical maps and aviation charts, extensive databases, and a complex communications network to detect, identify, track and support the apprehension of violators throughout the region.

With a total manning of only 47 DSS's, the AMICC performs an assortment of complex, uniquely demanding missions. Locating, identifying, and tracking suspect aircraft requires operations personnel to develop an intimate knowledge of air and marine smuggling organizations, traffic patterns, potential terrorist targets, terrain features, drug trafficking routes and transshipment points. Utilizing this knowledge, AMICC personnel process an average of 2,600 aircraft a day, over 80,600 per month both domestic and foreign, separating legal traffic from potential violators.

...skipped a paragraph...

The AMICC provides Customs Service aircraft with initial target acquisition, directed headings, and other vital information to facilitate the covert interception, identification, and apprehension of violators. AMICC DSS's have a variety of federal and state law enforcement computer systems at their fingertips allowing them to provide detailed information on the movement, registration and criminal histories of aircraft, vessels, vehicles, and individuals. A complex communications network gives AMICC personnel the ability to speak directly with local, state or federal law enforcement agencies ensuring a carefully coordinated response whether investigating suspicious activity or securing support for Customs interdiction teams in the field.

--ep--

violators of Texas State Law? the smuggling of legislators? the trafficking of quorum-busting votes? transshipment of idealists? It's my understanding that the rep's who ran broke no federal law, and commited no crime, and had the legal right to leave the state of Texas when they did. Once they left (and one of them went to Mexico), the state had to suck it up.

So why call in the feds? Why involve an office, which exists to support the field teams of the Customs and Immigration office, in a search for non-criminals? For non-terrorists? for POLITICIANS???????

A note to the Texas Republicans and Tom Delay, this tempest in a teacup isn't going to stop any of us from noticing that things in Iraq have gone awry.

According to the house of representatives : http://reform.house.gov/cj/reports/APa.htm


--bp--

AMICC Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center, located near Riverside, California; Customs-led program to track flights into and within the U.S. to prevent illegal smuggling by air.

--ep--

AND, accoring to the department of the treasury: http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/contacts/amid_program_contacts.xml

--bp--

Customs Air and Marine Interdiction Program

Established by Congress in response to the growing number of airborne smugglers bringing illegal drugs and other contraband into the United States, the Customs Aviation Interdiction Program became operational in 1971. In 1973, the Marine program began operations. In 1999, the Air and Marine programs merged, creating the Air and Marine Interdiction Division.

The mission of the Air and Marine Interdiction Division (AMID) is to protect the Nation's borders and the American people from the terrorist threat and the smuggling of narcotics and other contraband, with an integrated and coordinated air and marine interdiction force.

...cut out some phone numbers...

Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center (AMICC)
U.S. Customs Service
AMICC
March ARB, CA
Phone: (909) 656-8000

--ep--

So they (Texas Republicans or Rangers) called an air force base, to an office whice exists to "protect the Nation's borders and the American people from the terrorist threat and the smuggling of narcotics and other contraband, with an integrated and coordinated air and marine interdiction force.", in order to track a state representaives whereabouts....???

eek.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/5868602.htm

--begin paste--

The Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center in Riverside, Calif., confirmed that it had tried to find Laney's Piper Cheyenne at the request of Texas law enforcement. The agency could not find the plane, but state officials eventually did.

Craddick said it was Laney's plane that led to the discovery that the Democrats had fled to Ardmore.

"It's a matter of great concern," Doggett said in an interview. "When you have a man as powerful as Tom DeLay saying he has a U.S. attorney researching it and that the FBI ought to be involved and Homeland Security tracking aircraft, there's reason to raise the alarm."

The letter was signed by 16 of the 17 U.S. Texas Democrats. Rep. Ralph Hall, D-Rockwall, a conservative Democrat close to the White House, did not sign it.

On Tuesday, DeLay, the architect of the map that would give the GOP five to seven additional Texas seats in redrawn districts, told reporters that he would like the federal agencies to be involved "because this is a federal issue, these are congressional seats."

"If it's legal, it would be nice for them to help them out -- help out the Texas Rangers and Texas troopers," DeLay said.

--end paste--

Heck, even if it's illegal it would be 'nice' of them to help.... but I heard of no drug smuggling, illegal immigrant smuggling, or terrorist activity associated with the missing plane. So this smells like an abuse of authority..... since Craddick sayus they did find the plane, and someone at the AMICC seems to be playing a good game of CYA.

and if it turns out not to be an abuse of authority.... it should be made one.

... letter from a friend, and he makes a good point


GUEST POST


*****

The U.S.S.R. had the Committee for State Security...
We have the Department of Homeland Security:

One federal agency that became involved early on [in the hunt for the
missing Texas Democrats] was the Air and Marine Interdiction and
Coordination Center, based in Riverside, Calif. -- which now falls
under the auspices of the Homeland Security Department.

The agency received a call to locate a specific Piper turboprop
aircraft. It was determined that the plane belonged to former House
Speaker Pete Laney, D-Hale Center.

The location of Laney's plane proved to be a key piece of information
because, [House Speaker Tom] Craddick said, it's how he determined that
the Democrats were in Ardmore.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/5858118.htm

Since it's only the beginning right now, the abuse was only minor -- it
appears that the AMICC only provided some information to a caller about
the plane, and was not actually used to provide the law enforcement of
Texas law. Needless to say, though, this was clearly a partisan use of
an overly powerful police organ of the Federal government. I thought
Republicans were for smaller government?

I see bad things arising. Please, for the sake of democracy, help
ensure that there is an election in 2004, that it is fair, and that the
bad guys (who think they're oh-so-good) are shown that they don't
actually have the mandate they acted they had. For the sake of the
nation and the world.


******

END GUEST POST

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56952-2003May14.html

--begin paste--

Rumsfeld assured the senator that "the president has said publicly that the United States and coalition forces will put [in Iraq] whatever number of forces are needed for as long as they are needed." But he called for patience, saying of Iraq: "We can't make it like the United States in five minutes, and we know that."

--end paste--

As I may have mentioned, a friend of mine is going to Iraq in about 6 months to install American cell phone towers for Bechtel. Be patient Iraq, you'll be like us someday soon.

hmm, doesn't seem to be working today?

Here they are. The real ENEMY

http:///www.newamericancentury.org

New Bumper sticker

Keep Your FEAR
off my CIVIL
RIGHTS

I don;t even think i need to comment on this one any further...

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030513_1040.html

---begin paste--

The defiant Democrats in Oklahoma said they would stay away until Republicans agreed to drop the redistricting plan.

"It's totally up to Craddick, and he has been so advised," one of the Democrats told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. "If he'll get redistricting off the calendar, we'll be right there bright and early."

Craddick said he was not interested in negotiating.

...cut some stuff...

Republicans constructed signs and gimmicks ridiculing their colleagues. They plastered the Democrats' faces on milk cartons, and state Republican chair Susan Weddington, borrowing from the "most wanted Iraqi" cards, announced she had playing cards featuring the missing legislators.

...cut some stuff...

"They're legislative terrorists and their leaving today is a weapon of mass obstruction, blocking hundreds of pieces of legislation," Republican Rep. Dan Branch said Monday.

...cut some more stuf....



Let's Nuke 'em!

lifted, word for word, from: http://www.scn.org/news/newspeak/

--begin paste--

Term Paper Enhancements

The British government was forced to admit that large sections of their "up-to-date" report on IraqÕs deception had been lifted word for word from an article by a postgraduate student in California named Ibrahim al Mirashi. The plagiarism was so blatant that even spelling and punctuation errors from the original articles had been repeated. However, our English colony deserves praise for a number of key improvements upon Mr. MarashiÕs prose. Where the student described the Iraqi intelligence agency as "monitoring foreign embassies in Iraq," the British upgraded that to "spying on foreign embassies in Iraq." Much better. And where Marashi referred to Iraq "aiding opposition groups in hostile regimes," British Intelligence improved this to "supporting terrorist organizations in hostile regimes." Same evidence, just more "up-to-date" conclusions, which is undoubtedly why Colin Powell relied on it in his U.N. speech.

--end paste--

this looks like it needs some looking into. It sounds possible, but i don't want to believe it.

Quoted from: http://www.gopusa.com/news/2003/may/0513_texas_standstill.shtml

--begin paste--

Wendy Wright, Senior Policy Director of Concerned Women for America, characterized the Senate standstill saying, "Democratic senators are standing in the doorway of the Senate voting booth, forbidding the majority of senators from voting."

Wright pointed out that a minority of senators, by filibustering, "is attempting to throw out the results of the last Senate election, and replace majority rule with minority rule."

--end paste--

Ummmmm..... filibustering is a time honored tradition, much like changing your party affiliation to prevent them from using the majority to stifle opposition when you think your party is way off base, as is the jase of senator Jeffords, former republican from Vermont.

Furthermore, majority rule is not supposed to be absolute. This country is a constitutional republic. Our very constitution is written to prevent the tyranny of the majority, thus, the filibuster.

more from the same article

--resume paste--

The strategy has been so successful in Washington, DC that Texas Democrats are employing a similar strategy to stop the legislature from conducting business. A group of 53 Democrats went into hiding on Monday to prevent a quorum. Texas law requires at least two-thirds of the 150 House members be present to take a vote. Yesterday's action is intended to block approval of a congressional redistricting bill that is said to favor Republicans.

...cut some irrelevant stuff out...

State police were dispatched to arrest the fugitive legislators, but it is being reported that that they have left the state to Oklahoma to avoid capture. Democrat staffers claimed to not know the whereabouts of the truants.

--end paste--

Now ~this~ is a new tactic, quite different from a filibuster. The issue at hand is that Texas is trying to redistrict it's house and senate seats, and the Democrats in question clearly felt that their viewpoint was being ignored and that a compromise, the key to politics, was not being worked toward by the Texas Republicans.

So the Republicans sent out the Texas Rangers (*not the baseball team) to track down, arrest, and return the wayward legislators. I guess don't mess with Texas works for both sides of the fence.

The moral of this story?

Democracy at gunpoint is not Democracy at it's finest.

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=7AB6A5CA-6B47-4523-87D66DD76BAEB69D

here's the link to that page i quoted a moment ago

here's where it all started. April 30. Here's a quote from the Voice of America

--begin paste

The White House has asked U.S. television networks to carry the president's speech live from the deck of the aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is returning from more than nine months at sea, part of which was spent participating in the war in Iraq.

Because the ship is still so far off the coast of California, President Bush will fly to the aircraft carrier Thursday morning and visit with the crew before his speech. He will then spend the night on board and leave the carrier by helicopter before it arrives in the port of San Diego so as not to interfere with families' reunions.

-- end paste

So as not to interfere with their reunions. yeah. ok.

I understand fullt that ships usually know quite a while (weeks) ahead of time what time they arrive in port. They are not early and not late. period. But to say that they were so far off shore, and not to clarify at the time, is disingenuous at best.

damn this makes me grumpy. I recognise it as a small point, but not so small as to be completely inconsequential. At least the carrier wasn't in 'an undisclosed location', and he would land 'at the time and place of his choosing'.

Submitted as Letter to the Editor, Boston Globe

The heart of the issue regarding the recent trip to the USS Lincoln by President Bush is not that our civilian president was transported 30 miles to the carrier to experience a tailhook landing and have an exuse to put on a flightsuit. The issue is that at the time of his landing the US public was informed that, due to logistics, the ship was too far offshore to use Marine Corps One, the presidents personal helicopter. As Ari Fleisher indicated yesterday in a press conference, the Lincoln was actually 30 miles offshore and that the tailhook landing was actually the presidents preference. I don't feel the need to request a refund for the difference, but why tell the American people, who paid for both this war and that fantastic photo-op, other than the full truth about the tailhook landing while it happened? why divert the truth? why bait and switch? why lie and retract? Give it to us straight, we can handle it.

I further wonder if the Bush campain, ahem, administration considered that the photo-op generated by his speech aboard the returning carrier could have been significantly more powerful if Bush had met the carrier in port, arriving as he chose, and addressed those on board and their families who sacrificed and suffered to make the mission possible? A large crowd was present to greet the ship. Oh, but then protesters might have shown up.

can't have protestors.

Just re-read the Press Conference questions...

wouldn't the photo-op have been 1,000 times greater if Bush HAD met the carrier in port and thanked THE FAMILIES who sacrificed to make the mission possible? After all out military has a lot of men and women serving.... but every one of theose men and women may have a couple people waiting at the yard to greet them and welcome them home.

Oh, but then protesters might have shown up.

can't have protestors.

Please note, i don't want the GOP to pay for the difference in using the Jet vs. the Helocopter, I just want to be played straight.

I don't think we have been...

that's why i like this internet thing

My dad, a 30 year navy vet (retired commander) defended the accuracy of the 200+ mile number originally quoted when this photo-op was carried (no pun) out. He swore to me up and down that it was not unreasonable to take a jet to the carrier. I said that the Marine Corps provide the president with a very nice helocopter for these things, and he said no, they were too far off shore.

Hmmm, 30 miles offshore? Is that too far for a helocopter? no. Pres Bush wanted to land via tailhook. Cool. No problem really, It's just that THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY TOLD ~US~

Who bought the original answer? well, every mass media news outlet did, and reported it as such. I did, at first. Then i began to wonder.

then someone said 30 miles and everyone said "Nooooooooo, he used the jet because they were so far away and the president didn't want to hold up the ship by waiting until they were closer to shore"

Well, here's what Are Fleisher had to say today

http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/latest&f=03050701.tlt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml

Here's my (edited to fit your screen, not for content) version with the non-topic questions removed.

May 7, 2003

PRESS BRIEFING BY ARI FLEISCHER

..took some stuff out...

Q: Ari, was it the Vice President's idea to have the President land in
the plane on the Abraham Lincoln?

MR. FLEISCHER: The Vice President pointed out to the President that
he, himself, had done it. So it was a variety of different people --

Q: He choppered.

MR. FLEISCHER: Pardon me?

Q: He choppered.

MR. FLEISCHER: No, he has also landed on an aircraft that was caught
by a tailhook. I don't know if it was a Viking specifically, but he
flew on an aircraft onto the aircraft carrier in the past.

...took some more stuf out...

Q: About the Lincoln. About how -- when was this decided? When
hostilities started diminishing, or what? When was this whole decision
decided for him to fly in on the Lincoln aircraft carrier?

MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, I think I answered all that in the gaggle on the
way out to the Lincoln, so you've got a record of all of that. This
was as the President decided he wanted to address the nation and to
give a speech to sum up to the country where we were as the conflict
wound down. There were discussions of the best venues, the various
venues for the President to talk to the American people. And the
President thought the very best venue would be in a place where he
could thank the men and women who helped make it possible in person.

Q: Last week you said the speech was significant because, one, we
found out that he started rehearsing in the theater for this, and you
said it was significant. But tell me this, because of the significance
of this, did he need drama to emphasize the significance of this
speech?

MR. FLEISCHER: I think that the suggestion -- the President wanted to
go out somewhere to thank the men and women who made this possible in
person. They deserve nothing less. These are the men and women who
fought a war to keep us free, to protect us and to save us. They
deserve no less.

... took some more stuff out...

Q: One quick note on the carrier. This is not my question, but some of
my Navy pilot friends that the pilot that flew the President out is
lucky he didn't have to swim home, because he caught the #4 wire
instead of the #3. (Laughter.) Anyway, my question --

MR. FLEISCHER: Ivan, I would remind you they have the ability to
precisely target a lot of different places, and they have coordinates
for that seat. I would not want to say anything about Navy flying
skills. They all appear excellent to me.

...took some more stuff out...

Q: Can I just clear something up? My understanding is that the Lincoln
was about 30 miles off shore.

MR. FLEISCHER: That's correct.

Q: Which is, about -- given transit speed, piloting speed, about two
hours away from the dock. If the President wanted to meet the sailors
where they were, why didn't he meet them in San Diego? Why was the
ship kept at sea for an extra afternoon and evening and a night?

MR. FLEISCHER: It was not kept at sea for an extra afternoon, evening
or a night. The carrier was always, always, always scheduled to come
back on May 2nd. And could you imagine what would have happened if it
arrived earlier? Sailors would have gotten off the ship without their
family being there. People made plans to attend a May 2nd arrival from
different parts of the country. They don't necessarily arrive, ready
to go, on the 1st, if they're told it's the 2nd. That was an issue
that we talked about on the ship. The date always was May 2nd, and
they keep the date that they promised the sailors and their families.

Q: Ari, a follow-up on that please, a follow-up on that?

MR. FLEISCHER: Go ahead, Lester.

Q: Considering Senator Byrd's charging the President with flamboyant
showmanship on the Lincoln, what is the President's reaction to what
an editor of West Virginia's Charleston Gazette noted this morning are
so many dozens of buildings, roads, statues, bridges, locks, dams,
hospitals and even a river named by Robert C. Byrd, that there have
been signs posted, the Robert C. Byrd telephone poll and the Robert C.
Byrd parking meter? And I have one follow-up.

MR. FLEISCHER: Why don't you ask your follow-up first. (Laughter.)

Q: Doesn't the President -- don't you have some reaction to this
showmanship business?

MR. FLEISCHER: I think we've exhausted that topic.

Q: The Dixie Chicks -- (laughter) --

MR. FLEISCHER: Speaking of topics that have not been exhausted.
(Laughter.)

... i'll just stop here.....

So i guess I can collect on a few bets now.


Home > News > Business News > Article
Click here to find out more!
Click here to find out more!
Halliburton's Role in Iraq Is Expanded
Wed May 7, 2003 04:39 PM ET
By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Halliburton (HAL.N), the oil giant once run by Vice President Dick Cheney, will now be involved in operation and distribution of oil products in Iraq, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, indicating a more direct role in Iraq's energy business than originally believed.

New orders given to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root a few days ago included the operation of oil facilities and the distribution of products, said a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Scott Saunders.

'We did not think that operation and distribution (of oil products) would be needed and that that would be handled by a follow-on contract,' said Saunders.

'But the needs of the Iraqi people dictated otherwise and we had to exercise that option as they are about to run out of gas and propane,' he told Reuters.

Details of the role of the Halliburton subsidiary came to light via letters made public between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman from California.

In a letter sent on Tuesday to the Army Corps of Engineers, Waxman said originally the contract had been described as one to extinguish oil well fires and do related repairs, but Halliburton now appeared to have a more lucrative and direct role in rebuilding Iraq's oil industry.

'It now appears however, that the contract with Halliburton -- a company with close ties to the (Bush) administration -- can now include 'operation' of Iraqi oil fields and 'distribution' of Iraqi oil,' wrote Waxman to Lt. Gen. Robert Flowers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Found this creepy thing out there on the ether, it sends a chill up your spine, that's for sure.

I doubt the story.

http://www.av1611.org/sound/misc/dighell.ram

hello world