John Prados | Washington D.C | August 22

National Security Archive - "White Paper" Drafted before NIE even Requested
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 254

The U.S. intelligence community buckled sooner in 2002 than previously reported to Bush administration pressure for data justifying an invasion of Iraq, according to a documents posting on the Web today by National Security Archive senior fellow John Prados. The documents suggest that the public relations push for war came before the intelligence analysis, which then conformed to public positions taken by Pentagon and White House officials. For example, a July 2002 draft of the "White Paper" ultimately issued by the CIA in October 2002 actually pre-dated the National Intelligence Estimate that the paper purportedly summarized, but which Congress did not insist on until September 2002.

A similar comparison between a declassified draft and the final version of the British government's "White Paper" on Iraq weapons of mass destruction adds to evidence that the two nations colluded in the effort to build public support for the invasion of Iraq. Dr. Prados concludes that the new evidence tends to support charges raised by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan and by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in its long-delayed June 2008 "Phase II" report on politicization of intelligence.

[key findings in left sidebar]

The People, the Press, and the Case for Impeachment

Support for impeachment in the past and on the hearing date. MSNBC, Zogby

House Justice Committee Hears Kucinich Resolution - Part 2

There is no “Left” and “Right” in the mainstream political scene today. There are nuances of liberal thought in the Obama campaign, but that is terribly overshadowed by the “thought police” in his campaign that don’t want to give the McCain people any “talking points” that they can use against him. This particular episode in US history is very unfortunate. The fact that the Democrats must play the role of the quasi-belligerent and bellicose imperialists, in order to thwart the rhetoric of John McCain is a crime in itself. This type of behavior and rhetoric dooms the American people to a campaign that disallows the type of discourse that we so desperately need in this nation.

This is directed to Barack Obama and the people that make up his campaign. The rhetoric from the campaign is that Senator Obama wants to be the President of all the American people. The tone of the campaign is that he wants to be the President of all the American people that blindly accept the current status quo. When I say this I’m talking about the people that blindly accept that this nation’s economy is based on the Military Industrial Complex. Our largest industries are manufacturing airplanes, helicopters, tanks, munitions and weapons of war.

These aren’t the only things that the American people accept as the status quo. The mainstream media that is owned and operated by the corporate entities that fund the majority of politicians campaigns and only let the majority of Americans hear the news tat they want them to hear. The same mainstream media that hyped the Iraqi War and fails to tell us when the government enacts measures to curtail our civil liberties. The same mainstream media that helps to select our candidates for office and keeps them from talking about the issues that many Americans are actually concerned about.

These are the darkest days that I’ve ever seen in this country. There are so many Americans walking around completely clueless about what is really happening in this country. I’ve been wondering why the government has released so many formerly “Secret” files on how we overturned governments around the world and how we forced “regime changes” and how many people we were responsible for helping to massacre since the end of WWII. I think I’ve figured it out. It isn’t that out government “wants to come clean”, rather it wants to inure the American people to bloodshed for economic reasons.

Progressive Americans, that’s a joke. Barack Obama promised change and one of the first things he did after clinching the Democratic nomination, was to continue the rhetoric of the Bush Administration. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel like a knife has been driven through my heart, and I didn’t even support him! The truth is what’s happened to this country? I’m no fool, I know that we have been involved in toppling unfriendly governments and have started imperialistic wars for a long time now. The difference between then and now is that America no longer looks after just it’s “interests”, it wants control of everything.

If there is one thing that Dennis Kucinich has, it’s the courage to tell the truth, even when the deck is stacked against him. In this case he has an entire Congress (or most of them) that seem to want go along to get along. It will be a cold day in hell when the Articles of Impeachment that he delivered in Congress last night, all 35 of them, ever get out of the Committee where they will sit on them until the new elections , mainly because the majority of Democrats in the House have no sense of justice and of course, no spine.

I was glued to C-Span last night. I was mesmerized by the litany of abuses that this sitting President has perpetrated on not only the people of America, but the World. Step by step, Kucinich meticulously brought every charge against George W. Bush and backed those charges up with times, dates and testimony from Administration insiders. This Congressman has done his homework; there was not a single thing I believe he missed. There were a few things that I didn’t even know this President was responsible for, and I follow him like a hawk.

This has been coming for a long time. I’ve been watching the politicians in Washington very closely to see exactly how they intended to manage an administration that is so extremely neo-conservative that they are dangerous to this country and the world. I’ve seen heroic stances by some like Dennis Kucinich, Bernie Sanders, Patrick Leahy, Russ Feingold and even Ron Paul. However, this is not enough. We’ve seen Cynthia McKinney disenfranchised as well as others that have stood up to tyranny and war. Meanwhile, while all of this has taken place, the Democratic Party has been split down the middle and has offered no protection or support to any that oppose the horrendous regime in Washington.

I have been at this a long time. Lately I have no desire to write about what I see happening in the world because I’ve already talked about it. I saw the Zeitgeist movie this evening and there was nothing in the movie that I have not already written about. Yes we have been taken for a ride by the people that control this country and that are the International Bankers. Yes the Federal Reserve is robbing us blind and we have known that since Woodrow Wilson told us so. Yes, our education system in this country is producing sub-par graduates without the capacity for critical thing; you know that by just talking to them. We know that the media is controlled by the corporations that are controlled by the bankers who control our government. I know all that.

Baghdad: City of Walls
I watched “Baghdad, City of Walls” on the Real News Network today. I was impressed by the journalist that made the documentary and I wished that the MSM would carry the video. No sooner had I sat down and watched CNN for Barak Obama’s speech, than they broadcast what I had so recently seen on The Real News. http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1171&thisview=item
And http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1170&thisview=item

It’s time that Americans were told the truth about what’s happening in Iraq. Somehow, I had already known about the walls that separate the ethnic neighborhoods in Baghdad, I had read about them on the internet. Nothing surprised me about the video except that CNN had chosen to air it. The story told about the sectarian violence that makes Iraqi’s virtual prisoners inside their enclaves. Sunni and Shiite no longer live together there. To walk outside your “zone” is to invite a bullet to the head or to be taken prisoner and ransomed or killed. In Baghdad there is no “surge”.

We all know by now that the military has lost one of its most respected members, Admiral James Fallon. The circumstances involving his resignation are as many as there are people trying to explain it. Did the Admiral resign because of pressure from the Bush Administration so as the pave the way for an attack on Iran? This seems to be the case from many reports I have read.

Let me be direct and succinct in what I have to say. Having spent almost 21 years in the military myself, I have no regard for an administration that forces good people out of the way to go on more military mis-adventures. An attack on Iran would be a ghastly thing to do at this time, the American people, in my humble opinion will have none of it. This would bring this administration to an end. This would be the death knell of the Bush Administration and end the Republican Party as a political force for many years after.

Things have already changed. The political art of finesse has never been so heightened. Everything has been finessed, all checks and balances seemingly compromised.

From The Hill’s Pundits Blog:

Torture Tapes are the Watergate of Our Times

Brent Budowsky

As I write these words on the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 19, high- and low-level officials of the Bush administration involved in torture, and the destruction of the torture tapes, are consulting their criminal lawyers as The New York Times reports that highest-level lawyers in the administration had discussed the destruction of the tapes.

I predict there will soon be new stories about more torture tapes that were destroyed and new stories about more high-level officials that were either tainted or corrupted by this scandal, and others who opposed this travesty who will ultimately testify about who they approached to attempt to prevent it.

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing


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This film shows a performance artist undergoing, for real, interrogation techniques permitted in the CIA handbook. Warning: Some viewers may find this disturbing. Unsuitable for under 14s. The Directors approached the making of the film in a way that has never been done before, choosing to show the reality of Stress Positions in as authentic a way as possible. They filmed a person being put into Stress Positions over a 6 hour period. There is no acting on the part of the “prisoner” – his pain and anguish is for real.

And to restore Constitutional checks and balances?

Please read LJ's post Why Electing Any Democrat Might Be Utterly Irrelevant about John Dean's new book.

What I am most interested in, is what strategically can be done about this situation?

John Dean states in an interview:

The bottom line for this affair is going to be removing Republicans from the Executive Branch. They have embedded so many people, contrary to the Civil Service laws, that it's going to take not just 2008, but 2012, 2016, and possibly 2020 and 2024 to clear this problem up. If the public ever becomes aware of this, it's going to be a long time before they ever let another Republican back in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

David Swanson talks about U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich's impeachment bill

Johanna Neuman | Washington | November 7

LAT -
A resolution against Cheney gets parked in committee. Republicans sought an immediate vote in order to spark a House floor fight.

House Democrats on Tuesday beat back a Republican attempt to force them to vote on a divisive resolution to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney for "fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction" to justify the war in Iraq.

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing


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Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing


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Gerry Shih and Susana Montes | October 15

The Stanford Daily - ... “Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that,” [former CENTCOM commander Gen. John] Abizaid said of the Iraq campaign early on in the talk.

“We’ve treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations,” the retired general said. “Our message to them is: Guys, keep your pumps open, prices low, be nice to the Israelis and you can do whatever you want out back. Osama and 9/11 is the distilled essence that represents everything going on out back.”...

Nick Juliano | September 29

Raw Story - Rep. Dennis Kucinich says he is so concerned about what he sees as the Bush administration's push for a war with Iran that he is considering using a parliamentary measure to force the House of Representatives to vote on impeaching Vice President Dick Cheney.

"We're preparing for another war, and they're going to destroy America," the Ohio Democrat said Thursday on the Ed Schultz show. "We have a government in place right now that has to be challenged. I'm seriously thinking about calling a privileged resolution on impeachment of the vice president and forcing a vote on the floor of the House." More

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing


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