The Bushies: Arrogant and gullible?

Quote of the Day.

“When the story ultimately comes out we’ll see that Iran has run one of the most masterful intelligence operations in history. They persuaded the US and Britain to dispose of its greatest enemy.”

– Former State Department counter-terrorism official Larry Johnson, quoted in The Guardian. According to the article: “Some intelligence officials now believe that Iran used the hawks in the Pentagon and the White House to get rid of a hostile neighbour, and pave the way for a Shia-ruled Iraq.”

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Like an alcoholic

One of the tell-tale traits of alcoholism is denial, a refusal, often quite belligerent, by the alcoholic to admit there is a serious problem.

That’s what Bush did yesterday in his Iraq speech. He refused to accept there were serious problems, and instead play-acted like the US had just hit a few speed bumps or something instead - with certainly nothing requiring a change in tactics and absolutely nothing implying he’d made idiot decisions or was in any way responsible for anything.

Along with denial comes a disconnect from reality.

“The terrorists and Saddam loyalists would rather see many Iraqis die than have any live in freedom. But terrorists will not determine the future of Iraq.”

George, George, George. It’s the Iraqi people who are fighting back. They want the invaders out. Capece? And give up with the Saddam stuff, I doubt even the neo-cons believe you on this anymore.

More unreality

The U.S. will build a new prison to replace Abu Ghraib prison as a “fitting symbol of Iraq’s new beginning.”

A better new beginning would have been no torture by US soldiers. Bush barely mentioned the tortures except to blame others and absolve himself. This is another classic sign of denial, refusal to face up to reality and to never apologize.

Denial. George Bush is deep in denial. Denial about how badly the invasion is going, denial about the tortures - and denial about his plummeting ratings.

Sixty-five percent of Americans — the highest in 10 years - - said the U.S. is on the “wrong track,” CBS News reported. The president’s approval rating is 41 percent.

If Bush genuinely understood why his ratings are tumbling, he’s might take action to change things. But instead, unable to admit error (another classic trait of denial), he’s locked in on his disastrous plans, determined to “stay the course” and thus is leading the country off a cliff.

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General Zinni says Iraq invasion a “failure”

Retired General Anthony Zinni is one of the most respected and outspoken military leaders of the past two decades. From 1997 to 2000, he was commander-in-chief of the United States Central Command, in charge of all American troops in the Middle East.

He says senior officials at the Pentagon are guilty of dereliction of duty — and that the time has come for heads to roll.

“There has been poor strategic thinking in this,” says Zinni. “There has been poor operational planning and execution on the ground. And to think that we are going to ’stay the course,’ the course is headed over Niagara Falls. I think it’s time to change course a little bit, or at least hold somebody responsible for putting you on this course. Because it’s been a failure.”

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‘Gaps and Discrepancies’

In a letter obtained by NEWSWEEK, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence committee questions the ‘candor and accuracy’ of Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller’s testimony about Iraqi prisoner abuse

Things
may be heating up in the prison abuse scandal for Maj. Gen. Geoffrey
Miller, the former Guantanamo Bay commander who is now in charge of
detainees in Iraq. In a harshly worded letter, the senior Democrat on
the House Intelligence committee questioned the “candor and accuracy”
of Miller’s responses in a classified briefing to the committee last
week.

The
May 21 letter to Miller from Rep. Jane Harman, the ranking minority
member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,
chastises the general for “gaps and discrepancies in your presentation”
and for selectively withholding information.

Harman
is a firmly centrist Democrat who moves cautiously and prides herself
on hugging the middle and in having Republican allies. This is an
unusual move for her to make.

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Green Party presidential nomination

Nader wants Green Party endorsement — but not nomination

Nader complained that the Greens are riven with “these unbelievable schisms” and that “they are not exerting themselves enough” in recruiting candidates for federal, state and local offices around the country.

People on Green listservs are howling at this, but, as one who spent considerable time active in the GP, I can only say - Nader is correct. Too much infighting, too little organizing.

“It’s too slow,” he said. “There comes a point when they have to look at themselves and say: If we are concerned about the state of the country and the world, why are we not commensurately serious in terms of our willingness to raise money and to field candidates and to support those candidates?”

Nader says he would not accept the Greens’ presidential nomination if it were offered to him, but he would accept its endorsement, a less formal expression of support.

A well-placed Green Party (GP) source tells me there will be three choices at the GP nominating convention in June. 1) No nomination, no endorsement, 2) No nomination, Endorse Nader, 3) Nominate David Cobb.

He believes, and I agree, that Cobb’s entire rationale for running is to attack Nader and this will further split the GP as Cobb publicly attacks Nader (as he is already doing.) Also, Cobb is, by many accounts, inept at campaigning, is nowhere close to being “Presidential”, and thus could well be a serious embarrassment, should he get the nomination. And what is the rationale for a Green Presidential candidate to base his campaign on attacking Nader? None that I can see. Especially coming from a nonentity Green. I question his avowed motives for running.

Two other twists.

Any delegate to the GP convention must sign a statement stating they will not work against the GP candidate, should there be one. This means if Cobb gets the nomination, they can not publicly support Nader. Thus a Cobb nomination could trigger resignations by hardcore activists from the GP so they can support Nader.

Also, here in California (where 50% of the Greens in the country are), the hugely respected and popular Peter Camejo, twice candidate for governor, is on the “very very very short list” to be the Vice President candidate for Nader. A Nader/Camejo ticket would be hugely popular with progressives and Greens and would also render Cobb and the Green Party irrelevant.
 
Best bet right now. No nomination, endorse Nader.

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2,000 pages missing from report by Taguba to Senate

At least 2,000 pages might have been missing from the copy of the Army report on soldiers’ abusive treatment of Iraqi prisoners that was delivered to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

They must have fallen in the wastebasket or something, huh?

He said he understood there may have been a computer glitch that made some of the electronically stored pages difficult to open, but the problem was resolved.

“Certainly, if there is some shortfall in what was provided, it was an oversight,” Di Rita said in a statement.

Golly, I certainly believe them, don’t you?

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Saudi envoy: Iraq war was ‘colonial’ and about oil

The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq (news - web sites) was a colonial war and there were some in the United States who saw it as a means of getting their hands on Iraqi oil, a senior Saudi ambassador was quoted as saying Monday.

 ”No matter how exalted the aims of the U.S. in that war, in the final analysis it was a colonial war very similar to the wars conducted by the ex-colonial powers when they went out to conquer the rest of the world …,” Prince Turki said.

Not convinced?

Iraq should get back full control over its vast oil resources in July, but only with continued international monitoring of how it spends the oil money, the United States and Britain said Monday.

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