Buck Naked Politics

Administration Says bin Laden was Not the 9-11 Mastermind, Meanwhile Bush Gives "Secret" Orders for Raids in Pakistan

  Posted by Damozel | To see where John McCain learned that the falsity of a statement doesn't matter, we need look no further than the Ministry of Misrepresentation (i.e., the Bush Administration).  mIt's seven years after 9/11, and Bush still hasn't caught bin Laden.  After seven years of failure, the Bush Administration now says that Osama bin Laden wasn't really the 9/11 mastermind after all.

Bush's Liar-in-Waiting, Dana Perino announced:  "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind of 9/11, and he’s sitting in jail right now." (Think Progress)   

In other words, the mission was already accomplished a while ago -- meaning that the long "pursuit" of bin Laden was futile (or fake).  Will these guys ever stop moving the goal post? 

Cross-Border Missile Attack in Pakistan Aimed at Prominent Taliban Family Kills 23 Civilians

by Damozel | According to The New York Times, a pilotless aircraft dropped five missiles on a compound belonging to one of Pakistan's most prominent Taliban leaders.  The missile attack was in North Waziristan.

The strike hit  the compound run by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, whom the United States has accused of organizing some of the most serious recent attacks in Afghanistan against American and NATO forces and of masterminding a failed assassination attempt against the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai.

American Forces Kill Civilians in Pakistan

American forces took helicopters into Pakistan yesterday and raided a village near the Afghanistan border.  It was reportedly "the first publicly acknowledged case of United States forces conducting a ground raid on Pakistani soil."  The New York Times reports:

Olbermann Calls Out McCain for VFW Remarks, Opposition to Pro-Troop Bills, the Cone of Silence and Much Else

Posted by Damozel | I'm not that fond of  at all fond of Keith Olberman and I haven't forgotten his really vile misogynistic treatment of Hillary Clinton---though I can see the point of him if I think of his show as a really well-produced and often useful vlog rather than news. But never mind that; this special comment is a pretty good summary of certain recent events, as well as McCain's voting record on bills affecting the troops or vets.

McCain Claims Credit for "Improving" the Webb-Hagel Pro-Vet GI Bill?

Posted by Damozel | Back in the day, we gave Obama a bit of stick for overstating his legislative credentials and contributions.  How about McCain's insisting to the VFW National Convention that his opposition to the Webb/Hagel GI Bill ended up as a net benefit to the troops?

Sudan Ignores its Starving Masses

by Deb Cupples |   Yesterday's New York Times printed a sadly outrageous article:

"Even as it receives a billion pounds of free food from international donors, Sudan is growing and selling vast quantities of its own crops to other countries, capitalizing on high global food prices at a time when millions of people in its war-riddled region of Darfur barely have enough to eat."

The Hamdan Sentence

by Damozel | I previously discussed commentary by legal and policy experts on the terror detainee procedures used in the Hamdan case.  Shaun Mullen has background here.  Hamdan has been sentenced to 5 1/2 years, which—as The Washington Post says—is a relatively light sentence.  Prosecutors wanted him to get 30 years, if not a life sentence.   (WaPo)

The Hamdan Conviction: Bad Procedure

by Damozel | "The White House said the trial was fair and looked forward to more tribunals." (BBC News)   I'm sure.

Salim Hamdan, who has been in custody since 2001, was acquitted of conspiracy, but convicted of providing material aid to terrorism.  (New York Times)  He was convicted by six senior military officers, who deliberated for over eight hours.(New York Times)  Shaun Mullen succinctly sets out the background at The Moderate Voice. 

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft: Waterboarding Isn't Torture

by Damozel | Do you know what evil looks like when it finds a voice?  It looks like an upstanding member of the religious right arguing perfectly damn seriously that the end (national security) justifies the means (torture) if you truly believe that the nation is craven enough to sell out its principles and decency and that torture works.  It speaks through the mouth of a family man in a sober suit on sitting on a big pile of good intentions with the flag in one hand and a Bible in the other, earnestly arguing there are times when it's right -- even courageous -- to do wrong.  It uses him and his education, family values, patriotism, and other virtues to make its case.

And it makes me sad.  I look at the tape of Ashcroft (after the jump) and I just feel so bad for him.  Not as bad as I feel for the victims of torture, the Constitution, the reputation of our nation, and our honor as a people, but still:  pretty bad.  He may be a man who aspires to do the right thing -- I believe this --- but the ideas speaking through him are so wrong. They've been around since the human race evolved and they've always been wrong and they won't go away.

Bush Signs Supplemental Spending Bill

by D. Cupples |   Yesterday, President Bush signed a $162 billion spending bill that will fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The bill also includes a new GI bill, an expansion of unemployment benefits, and $2.7 billion for states struck by disasters -- which doesn't sound like much, given how costly natural disasters can be. The Hill has the story.

Um...Gen. Wes Clark Challenges McCain's Military Credentials?

by Damozel |   Huh. Wouldn't it be better and more persuasive to focus on Obama's strengths, i.e., the fact he's right about Iraq and McCain is wrong?  I'm starting to think I would be an ace campaign strategist, if the problem with the following isn't apparent to Obama's advisers when it is so apparent to me. (Barack: Call me!)

Wes Clark is arguing that McCain's military credentials don't necessarily qualify him to be Commander-in-Chief.  I like Gen. Clark, but I think this was tactically a mistake.  According to Josh Kraushaar, this is what he said:

Clark said that McCain lacked the executive experience necessary to be president, calling him “untested and untried” on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”...

Bush's 11th Hour Hunt for bin Laden; McCain --- Right for a Change --- Says 'We Need Better Human Intelligence'

by Teh Nutroots | Seven years later, Bush is finally back to chasing Osama bin Laden.   Remember him?  He's the guy who orchestrated the 911 attacks.  Bush got distracted by Saddam Hussein's non-existent 'weapons of mass destruction' and the job of de-stabilizing Iraq, but he's got OBL in his cross-hairs again. 

Defence and intelligence sources in Washington and London confirmed that a renewed hunt was on for the leader of the September 11 attacks. “If he [Bush] can say he has killed Saddam Hussein and captured Bin Laden, he can claim to have left the world a safer place,” said a US intelligence source. (Times Online)

"[The hunt] involves the use of Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles fitted with Hellfire missiles that can be used to take out specific terrorist targets...." (Times Online)  '“Bush is swinging for the fences in the hope of scoring a home run,” said an intelligence source.'(Times Online)

Another Reason to Vote for the Democrat: Guantanamo Decision to Become a Hot Button Topic in the Election?

by Damozel | The Guantanamo decision, illustrating that certain principles on which the Bill of Rights is based are hanging by a thread, may well become a 'hot button' issue in the election.  The GOP is apparently planning to make it a 'rallying point' in its campaign.  Democrats, on the other hand, will point out --- as indeed I've already done --- that the bare 5-4 majority indicates that civil liberties are hanging by a thread, and that we must not allow Republicans, including --- or especially --- John McCain, to pick any more judges. 

As always, Scalia was supplied plenty of grist to the GOP political mill:

McCain Weighs in on Bush's Failed Detainee Policy

by Damozel | McCain has weighed in on the Supreme Court's decision in Boumediene v. Bush.  He doesn't like it.

The United States Supreme Court yesterday rendered a decision which I think is one of the worst decisions in the history of this country. Sen. Graham and Sen. Lieberman and I had worked very hard to make sure that we didn't torture any prisoners, that we didn't mistreat them, that we abided by the Geneva Conventions, which applies to all prisoners. But we also made it perfectly clear, and I won't go through all the legislation we passed, and the prohibition against torture, but we made it very clear that these are enemy combatants, these are people who are not citizens, they do not and never have been given the rights that citizens of this country have. And my friends there are some bad people down there.

5 of 9 Justices Support Basic Human Rights for Detainees

by Damozel | Lynn Denniston at SCOTUSblog calls it 'a stunning blow to the Bush Administration in its war-on-terrorism policies.'   The New York Times reports on the disposition of Boumediene v. Bush:

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts.

In its third rebuke of the Bush administration's treatment of prisoners, the court ruled 5-4 that the government is violating the rights of prisoners being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The court's liberal justices were in the majority.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, said, ''The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.'' (NYT)

It's a step or two in the right direction for those of us who believe that the US has an obligation to set an example in humane treatment even of enemy combatants.

U.S. Air Strikes Kill 11 Pakistani Soldiers

Via Memeorandum, the New York Times reports:

"American air and artillery strikes killed 11 Pakistani paramilitary soldiers during a clash with insurgents on the Afghan border on Tuesday night, a development that raised concerns about the already strained American relationship with Pakistan.

"The strikes underscored the often faulty communications involving American, Pakistani and Afghan forces along the border, and the ability of Taliban fighters and other insurgents to use havens in Pakistan to carry out attacks into neighboring Afghanistan....

"Although Pakistani government officials softened their response through the day, the Pakistani military released an early statement calling the airstrikes 'unprovoked and cowardly.'”

Bush Regrets Gun-Slinging Rhetoric

by Damozel | Did you know that George W. Bush is still president?  It's true.  And it turns out that Scott McClellan isn't the only Bush Administration official who didn't work out the ramifications of Bush's implacable determination to go to war with Iraq till it was too late.  Bush himself seems not to have fully understood them. 

According to The Times of London --- follow me closely here --- 'President Bush has admitted to The Times that his gun-slinging rhetoric made the world believe that he was a "guy really anxious for war"€ in Iraq. He said that his aim now was to leave his successor a legacy of international diplomacy for tackling Iran.' (ToL)  In other words, he now realizes that he shouldn't have lied and manipulated Congress --- and therefore you and me --- into war with Iraq when in sober reality he really just wanted encourage the rest of the world to use diplomacy to sort out Iran.  All along, he's been a 'man of peace.'  He's really sorry about any rhetoric he used that suggested otherwise.

Um---?  Um----?  Um----?    I'm sorry; I just can't get my head around this.  Here, read this:

Bush Opposes New GI Bill of Rights?

by Deb Cupples |   The more I watch him, the less he seems to care about ordinary Americans.  Apparently, President Bush thinks that giving billions to government contractors (and not holding them accountable for waste, fraud or abuse) is a better way to spend tax dollars than giving soldiers who survive their tour of duty money to attend college.  A New York Times editorial states:

"President Bush opposes a new G.I. Bill of Rights. He worries that if the traditional path to college for service members since World War II is improved and expanded for the post-9/11 generation, too many people will take it.

"He is wrong, but at least he is consistent. Having saddled the military with a botched, unwinnable war, having squandered soldiers’ lives and failed them in so many ways, the commander in chief now resists giving the troops a chance at better futures out of uniform.

"He does this on the ground that the bill is too generous and may discourage re-enlistment, further weakening the military he has done so much to break."

Yep, that sounds like the President Bush we’ve come to know and… well, know.  Why any military folks ever perceived Bush as truly military-friendly is beyond me. (Story via Memeorandum.)

Iraq Contracts: $7.8 billion Spent, Little Evidence or Oversight or Completed Work

by Deb Cupples |   As much as government-contractor fraud bothers me, our government's failure to properly prevent or deal with said fraud bothers me even more.  We taxpayers pay their salaries, but whose side are our bureaucrats on?  Via CBS, the Associated Press reports:

"An internal audit of some $8 billion paid to U.S. and Iraqi contractors found that nearly every transaction failed to comply with federal laws or regulations aimed at preventing fraud, in some cases lacking even basic invoices explaining how the money was spent.

"Of the money paid during a five-year period - from 2001 through 2006 - $7.8 billion in payments skirted billing rules with some violations egregious enough to invite potential fraud, warned the Defense Department's inspector general....

"'There is something very wrong when our wounded troops have to fill out forms in triplicate for meal money while billions of dollars in cash are handed out in Iraq with no accountability,' said Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. " (See the rest of the story here)

Something very wrong, indeed!

Pentagon's Manipulation of Media & Public Opinion

Salon's Glenn Greenwald is doing a fine job of battling Pentagon spokesperson Larry Di Rita, who continues to deny that the Pentagon had used military "analysts" to manipulate the media (and public opinion) during the Iraq war lead-up.

There's too much to quote, so I'll just give you the link instead.  Memeorandum has commentary.