Watch what you say…
Special Comment
“I’m playing for October, November,” said President Bush to Mr. Draper.
“To get us in a position where the Presidential candidates will be comfortable about sustaining a presence,” and, he said later, “stay longer.”
From Ron Draper’s Dead Certain
More on Iran
Reading Ken Silverstein over at Harper’s, and he’s been asking his sources about a possible attack on Iran. This is from a former CIA agent who formerly said an attack on Iran was not likely.
It looks like a military strike is in the works and I base that on two things: observable fact and the rhetoric emanating from the White House. There
Truth Testing
Via Kevin Drum, a graph showing U.S. troop fatalities in Iraq for 2007, versus 2006.
As he points out, claims that troop deaths have fallen are simply false.
Juan Cole pulled together the original numbers, from iCasualties.
I saw on CNN this smarmy Bush administration official come and and say that US troop deaths had fallen because of the surge, which is why we should support it. Just read the following chart bottom to top and compare 2006 month by month to 2007. US troop deaths haven’t fallen. They are way up….
Here are the US troop death via Icasualties.org.
8-2007 77 8-2006 65 7-2007 79 7-2006 43 6-2007 101 6-2006 61 5-2007 126 5-2006 69 4-2007 104 4-2006 76 3-2007 81 3-2006 31 2-2007 81 2-2006 55 1-2007 83 1-2006 62
Please be aware that not everything you hear on the news is true. Be particularly skeptical this coming month as Bush tries to sell the country on the idea that somehow things in Iraq have gotten better.
I also heard that CNN report, and if you listened very closely, you would hear them say that “troop deaths are less than they were in the spring”. Which is true this year as it is always true, because in summer when the heat is high there are fewer attacks. That has nothing to do with this year’s escalation though, so don’t be fooled.
Catch 22 in the Mines
Families Of Trapped Miners Rebuffed By Mine Safety Agency
The federal agency tasked with investigating the Utah mine collapse denied a request by the families of six trapped miners that the United Mine Workers represent them in the probe of the matter, the union said Monday.
All six of the families had signed documents designating the union as their representative in the investigation, UMWA spokesman Phil Smith said. The Mine Safety and Health Administration told the union’s attorneys on Monday that the agency would not heed the request.
“MSHA requires that miners sign these papers, but the miners in question were unable because the[y] are trapped inside the mine,” Smith said….
Emphasis added
Another one bites….
UPDATE: Gonzales’s greatest hits:
Pull this out when the Prez starts going on and on about how poor innocent Fredo is being persecuted unfairly.
If you play both videos together, it makes a nice mashup.
More like this, please
Prelude to an Attack
From Robert Baer at Time Magazine, via Glenn Greenwald:
Reports that the Bush Administration will put Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the terrorism list can be read in one of two ways: it’s either more bluster or, ominously, a wind-up for a strike on Iran. Officials I talk to in Washington vote for a hit on the IRGC, maybe within the next six months. And they think that as long as we have bombers and missiles in the air, we will hit Iran’s nuclear facilities. An awe and shock campaign, lite, if you will. But frankly they’re guessing; after Iraq the White House trusts no one, especially the bureaucracy….
And what do we do if just the opposite happens
On Giuliani
From Talking Points Memo reader DC:
Giuliani combines Bush’s foreign policy genius with Clinton’s sexual impulse control.
And that’s all that needs to be said about Giuliani.
Terrorists in Iran
I’ve said before that I’m quite sure Bush and Cheney want, and even intend, to attack Iran. And today’s news that Bush intends to label parts of the Iranian military as terrorists is one more move in that direction.
There’s no way Bush is going to get another Authorization out of Congress, one which would allow him to actually declare war on Iran. But as you can see by reading the AUMF below, which was passed immediately after 9/11, this latest declaration makes it easier to claim Iran is covered by this AUMF, by declaring they are “aiding” those who attacked us at that time. And Iran is harboring them, of course, since they are part of Iran’s military forces. Count on it; Bush is ramping up for more war.
Public Law 107-40
Authorization for Use of Military Force (“AUMF”)Introduction
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday, the third day of January, two thousand and one, a States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States.
Whereas, on September 11, 2001, acts of treacherous violence were committed against the United States and its citizens; and
Whereas, such acts render it both necessary and appropriate that the United States exercise its rights to self-defense and to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad; and
Whereas, in light of the threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by these grave acts of violence; and
Whereas, such acts continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States; and
Whereas, the President has authority under the Constitution to take action to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Section 1 – Short Title
This joint resolution may be cited as the ‘Authorization for Use of Military Force’.
Section 2 – Authorization For Use of United States Armed Forces
(a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.
(b) War Powers Resolution Requirements-
(1) SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION- Consistent with section 8(a)(1) of the War Powers Resolution, the Congress declares that this section is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution.
(2) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER REQUIREMENTS- Nothing in this resolution supercedes any requirement of the War Powers Resolution.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate.