The truth […] is that the overwhelming majority of the American people probably don’t give a flying fuck whether the war was started under false pretenses, or in violation of international law — or even that impeachable offenses may have been committed under U.S. law. All they know is that Saddam was a bad guy (right out of central casting, in fact) and that we’re always the good guys, which means the United States had every right to invade Iraq and overthrow its government.
Back to Main
June 9, 2005
Downing Street Redux
Comments
As I said before, most people in this country are as dumb as a bag of hammers. The proof gets thicker every day.
I don’t expect this Senate and Congress to impeach anyone. But it would be nice to be wrong on this point.
Posted by: hopping madbunny | Jun 9 2005 17:57 utc | 1
I don’t think they’re dumb; that would be too easy. Sadly, I think they’re “good Germans.” My country can do no wrong.
Posted by: Lupin | Jun 9 2005 18:06 utc | 2
… we’re just ‘Good Germans’ …
AMERICA.
Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,
All, all alike endear’d, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,
Chair’d in the adamant of Time. – Walt Whitman
America and those Americans are lost to time … or are they …
Posted by: Outraged | Jun 9 2005 18:16 utc | 3
It is not only the Downing Street memo that doesn´t get attention. See this dialog between Faux News “journalists” Cavuto and Gibson about Cavuto’s Bush interview:
Gibson: “So, Neil, I got to ask, how did Michael Jackson come up?”
Cavuto: “Well, I have got to be honest. I brought it up.”
Gibson: “Yes.”
Cavuto: “I have a theory on this, John. A lot of people think I’m crazy.
“But the president’s [Social Security] push, soon as he began his second term, times almost to the week with the approach of the Michael Jackson trial. And I have a view — and it could be crazy — and the president readily admitted maybe it was — that this fixation on the Michael Jackson trial, even in your show right now, takes away from the attention that maybe the president wanted afforded his program on Social Security.”
You see, it´s the Jackson trial that even screws up Bush’s effort to kill Social Security. How should anyone talk about dubious memos?
On the “media” segment on the Newshour yesterday, Okrent suggested big coverage of this is on the way.
Posted by: slothrop | Jun 9 2005 18:32 utc | 5
In any case, Blaire’s studious defense against the memo: “but we went to the u.n.” will be reproduced as successfully by bush.
Posted by: slothrop | Jun 9 2005 18:37 utc | 6
A lot of Americans wanted this war, and not just Republicans, either. Who’s to say that the majority of us were surprised , or troubled, in any way, by the violence done to our civil and diplomatic procedures? Democrats still favor the war in principle! How can they possibly regret the support they gave it in 2002-2003? Ignorance of the “Downing Street memo” has nothing to do with this attitude. We all remember Cheney’s speech in Nashville, three years ago, in which he told us the war was in the works. Those of us who hunted for Walter Pincus on page A 18 were given a knowing wink by the Washington media. No surprises, folks, none at all. Opponents of the war in State and CIA were leaking all over the place, and made not the slightest difference. If we can’t get honest about our own bloodthirsty, war-mongering ways, then I fear conversational machinery will continue to roar in neutral.
Posted by: alabama | Jun 9 2005 18:41 utc | 7
If we can’t get honest about our own bloodthirsty, war-mongering ways, then I fear conversational machinery will continue to roar in neutral.
That’s the nub alright. Self-deceit, self-delusion, denial, wilfull ignorance, re-inforced by a lobbysts ‘wet-dream’ of compliant, manipulative, corporate media and a progressively highjacked, corrupted political system …
Posted by: Outraged | Jun 9 2005 18:55 utc | 8
Competition:
Competition from a media outlet;
Competition from an opposition that actually cares about the institutional corruption, which the Demoractic national leadership has run in terror from for fear of being shrill and losing the election of 2000, 2002, and 2004.
There is and has been no competition.
Until there is competition the Crony Herd ain’t doing shit. No one prevents competition from a media outlet or from an opposition. Competitive pressure forced the Herd to turn Watergate into An Issue. Nothing else did.
But, who has time to compete on fundamental issues of process when Dean must be defended from foot in mouth disease, and Kerry, and Rather and on and on and on, when, most in the opposition don’t care about funamental issues of process? Kinda the flip side of the republican Saddam/bad guy non sense, is, the progressive war/bad, and, “core value” non sense, that has become synonym for special interests of Democrat constituencies. To hell with competition on process fundamentals and the virtues of a rigorous encounter with the ground truth. To the barricades to shout core value slogans!
Competition. This site, the Daily Show, the Daily Howler, a one off here and there – competition is not impossible, is in fact astonishingly easy since there is so much material, but competition does assume a common ground based on the integrity of fundamental procedures and no one defends that common ground. Definitely not here, where law and process are reguarly scorned, until they are useful to special interest/core value shoppers.
In Venture Capitalist terms, there is a huge unmet market for competition with relatively low barriers to entry that no one has been willing to enter. Until someone enters the competitive market to meet the demand for truth, it is premature to reach conclusions about what would happen if someone did.
Posted by: razor | Jun 9 2005 19:04 utc | 9
It is interesting that there should be calls and more, e – mail campaigns, from the public to the MSM to prod them to publish something, or more, about the Downing Street memo.
Problemi:
The agitators heard about this first from the MSM, if not their regularly read/viewed one(s). They are complaining about degree or type, fine. But not more.
The very idea that that MSM could be influenced by such actions shows that news is infotainment. E.g: pleas like “please write more about Britney, how could you ignore her marriage”, “please publish more about Bush Bulges” etc. Similar to, please make xzy dress in tiny sizes, please, give me details on the bill. Please please me.
News is no longer news, it is the expression of partisan view point, consumers must have a say and get what they want. — Personal, tailored newspapers, not with all the news that’s fit to print, but the news I want to have.
This makes papers (etc.) into another product to be personally savored. The end point is that there is no news at all but only what people want to hear. Which is pretty much the case already. The MSM knows that, they want to sell and make money. And are doing so.
As for the particular example discussed, it is pathetic pandering to warmongers. Anyone with half a brain (perhaps not in the US) knew all about Saddam and his lack of WMD and his condemnation of Al-Q type organisations. (Though Quday dabbled in links to them with the Russkies, another story..) The Iraq war was planned for 10 years previous at least, and people whining now about the Downing Street Memos are way out of time. Weeping over a corpse. Shoddily excusing themselves after the fact.
What happens if the Downing Street Memo gets traction?
Nothing.
People make mistakes, Duh.
see alabama: Who’s to say that the majority of us were surprised , or troubled, in any way, by the violence done to our civil and diplomatic procedures? Democrats still favor the war in principle! How can they possibly regret the support …
Posted by: Noisette | Jun 9 2005 19:11 utc | 10
I remember a sound bite of Rumsfeld’s back from waaay back (2001, latest early 2002), where he said right up front, that America was going make sure that we could maintain our way of life — that is guzzle gas and other resources.
It really woke me up to what was going on before I heard much about Project for a New American Century, Neo-Cons, Bush’s “fuck Saddam we’re taking him out!”, aluminium tubes, yellow cake and all the other crapola.
I figure Americans really got no problem with sucking the world dry of resources like a goddam giant tick — the only catch is that not be mentioned up front.
Not that other nations are and have been any better, it’s just at this critical juncture we are at the top of the heap and suck the most — we are the “bright city on the hill”, and them lights is fueled by non-replacible resources…
It seems as if some are egaging in a bit of historical revisionism here, perhaps inadvertently.
As I recall, polls taken just before the bombs started falling had a majority opposed to the war.
Posted by: FlashHarry | Jun 9 2005 19:31 utc | 12
By the way
The story is not that Bush lied, that should have been known at the time the same way it should have been known OJ was guilty the day after he killed his ex – the evidence was disputed, but clear.
The story is how the Herd covered for the lie, and, how the big Herd members are all in on it. Now that we have passed from before to after, it is not a matter of opinion or conjecture or biased reading of Bush’s truthfulness. Now there is a record that allows for complete accountability, yet no one in the Herd dare pursue accountability on the record.
This is in sharp, complete, contrast to the lead up to the Iraq adventure, during which Bush and his shills could say: ‘No, he sais he hasn’t decided to go to war and he meant it. Who are you to say that he has? You hate America. You don’t have the good intelligence Bush does and as an American, I trust the president.’
Just like the OJ is innocent crowd could say, you weren’t there, you don’t know.
But that era of speculation is over and we are down to a fixed record that establishes Bush and the crowd lied lied lied. The story is that the Herd doesn’t care. While events are happening, during their sanctimonious, segments, the media whores talk as if they care, but, now that the results are in, we know for fact they don’t give a damn about truth or accountability. Bolton, one of the big liars, will be UN ambassador. Watch Democrats blow this issue in 06 as well, because, they don’t care either.
A point I realize Sommersby made about the Okrent/Krugman flare up, that the junior press whores lie because, the bottom line, the LIBERAL media just don’t care but they do have careers to advance and telling the truth will piss off their future dream employers.
Posted by: razor | Jun 9 2005 19:44 utc | 13
I heard Billmon say above that the MSM, if only they didn’t have so many other pressing exciting stories to tell, would be gald to jump back into this Downing St. mess. All we have to do is open the story up a little more, drag in some more perps, uncover a few more incriminating details…sorry we of the press don’t have time right now but go ahead, open it up for us.
Lame lame lame. And don’t blame it on the dumb people either, the ones who won’t buy a paper if it doesn’t make them happy.
I have a serious problem with an independent writer who won’t face the fact that the press has no intention of outing the truth and goes to extremes to cover it up. First by refusing to write copy which exposes criminal activity, and second by threading its way thru and around any emarrassing facts. See, we did our job; look at all those column inches.
Sure, I know there is the problem of blowing a perfectly good career by saying the wrong thing, but that’s it huh, sing in tune or the highway for you.
I admit that the mind control thing is more complicated than that but at least lets look at it straight in the eye.
Posted by: rapt | Jun 9 2005 20:04 utc | 14
It is not only the Downing Street memo that doesn´t get attention. See this dialog between Faux News “journalists” Cavuto and Gibson about Cavuto’s Bush interview:
What you didn’t see before the interview was Neil and Bush swapping ties on camera. Someone liked Cavuto’s red tie better. The President, as always, was accomodating.
Posted by: Nasal Nose | Jun 9 2005 20:08 utc | 15
Some activists who opposed Bush’s decision to attack Iraq have been peppering editors with letters and e-mails to push the media into more aggressive coverage. Last week, a group known as Democrats.com offered $1,000 to anyone who can get Bush to answer “yes or no” to this question: Did he or his administration “fix the intelligence” about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and alleged ties to terrorism?
“We want what the Michael Jackson, Paris Hilton and Star Wars stories have gotten: endless repetition until people have heard about it,” says David Swanson, one of Democrats.com’s organizers.
Robin Niblett of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, says it would be easy for Americans to misunderstand the reference to intelligence being “fixed around” Iraq policy. ” ‘Fixed around’ in British English means ‘bolted on’ rather than altered to fit the policy,” he says.
Silly us. We shouldn’t have gotten so confused by the British English those silly Brits speak over there. It doesn’t mean ‘altered to fit the policy’, it means ‘bolted on’.
Now I see.
The rest of this article is here.
Posted by: Voodoo | Jun 9 2005 22:10 utc | 16
Voodoo,
British English is no different to American English.
“Fixed” carries clear implications of change.
Posted by: John | Jun 9 2005 22:30 utc | 17
Speaking of fixed, let’s talk about other stinks that have real legs, that can help cripple the administration’s rep a little more. From Steve Soto on the tobacco gov’t:
The Associate Attorney General who ordered the Justice Department lawyers to tank a racketeering suit against Big Tobacco, Robert McCallum, has an interesting background as we noted yesterday.
First, he is a Yale classmate of one George W. Bush. (As as commenter Lysias noted, a Skull and Bones classmate of Bush, to boot.)
Second, he is the member of Attorney General John Ashcroft’s senior staff who Ted Olson and the White House specifically asked to defend the Administration in the Cheney Energy Task Force/Enron legal proceedings.
Third, he was in charge of the early stages of the Valerie Plame investigation before even Ashcroft concluded that an outside counsel was needed.
He was also the lead attorney in defending the government’s right to prevent news organizations from finding out about terror suspects detained by the US.
And lastly, McCallum used to be R. J. Reynolds’ attorney at Atlanta’s Alston and Bird law firm, which calls into question why the Ashcroft and Gonzales Justice Departments thought a man who worked for the industry should even be heading up this litigation in the first place.
Posted by: citizen | Jun 9 2005 22:45 utc | 18
Its very simple. The memo shows clearly the public agenda is not the real agenda of the administration. This administration has now been shown beyound a shadow of a doubt to be untrustworthy to the core. Laws have been broken. The cost continue to rise without bounds. The bill must be paid. Bush must be impeached.
This news is popular and profitable. Bush & Co need to be impeached. News cycles are irrelevant. Editors are irrelevant. The reality is that the bill must now be paid.
Posted by: patience | Jun 9 2005 23:12 utc | 19
Exactly right Patience. Now shall we work on why the bill is not being paid. Very simple is not enough I’m afraid.
Posted by: rapt | Jun 10 2005 1:13 utc | 20
When George W Bush became President the whole world changed. But, Congressional Democrats still don’t get it. The President and all his political appointments just flat out lie. Smarter reporters know this but Corporate Media is either an Enabler or scared Shitless due to fear of retaliation or blacklisting. Bush continues to lie because there simply have been no repercussions. Combined with their megalomania, there are no restraints on what they will do next.
Posted by: Jim S | Jun 10 2005 1:15 utc | 21
@Jim S
Quite right. And that is what far too many fail to understand … the world HAS changed … the domestic political ‘game’ HAS changed.
Civil, Criminal, Military and International Law, treaties and conventions mean nothing to these 21st century Fascists advancing the New American Empire.
They act with total impunity yet the debate continues re yesterdays ‘fluff’ … IIRC one of the WH cabal said words to the effect” … discuss it, debate it all you like, in the meantime we create new realities and you can debate them too …”
Goering and his fellow travellers would have been proud of the current administrations achievements:
“Naturally the common people don’t want war. But after all, it is the
leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it’s always a
simple matter to drag 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. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are
being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and
for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every
country.”
— Hermann Goering, Hitler’s Reich Marshall, at the Nuremberg
Trials after World War II
Posted by: Outraged | Jun 10 2005 1:32 utc | 22
@voodoo:
I think the Guardian covered “fixed”, and it’s implications. Presumably its writers and editors appreciate the nuances of British phraseology
Silly us indeed.
Posted by: FlashHarry | Jun 10 2005 1:39 utc | 23
If the Downing Street Memo couldn’t bring down Blair or bring home British troops from Iraq, then it’s unlikely to bring down Bush or bring an end to the American troop casualties either. This war/administration is going to have to play itself out the old fashioned way.
Meanwhile the Dems keep waiting for the MSM to do the Dems job. Not gonna happen.
Posted by: gylangirl | Jun 10 2005 2:57 utc | 24
razor @ 3:04pm said–
“Competitive pressure forced the Herd to turn Watergate into An Issue. Nothing else did.”
Fair enough. And I guess it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest that competition was part of the motivation for the NYT bringing Sy Hersh into the picture. But would you not agree that it took an initial act of courage by Bradlee and even Ms. Graham to go after it in the first place?
__
(come to think of it, wasn’t Hersh’s own initial work on the My Lai thing a lone wolf act that was peddled to the heavy-hitters by way of a small time syndicate when he couldn’t find any initial takers?)
RokkK
Sure do.
Competition can come from anyone in a position to compete. Though, Watergate was still a gift from the Gods. Bradlee and Graham went forward with what was given to them.
Posted by: razor | Jun 10 2005 4:15 utc | 26
The American people would give a “flying fuck” if they
learned that the 9/11 attacks were part plan
to justify an American invasion of Iraq, as I believe to be the case. The Downing Street Memo and all the merely verbal duplicity are trivialities by comparison. The Kean-Hamilton-Zelikow cover-up commission probably has served its sponsors by “taking 9/11 off the table”, but
many have neither forgotten nor forgiven. (By the way,
I have no doubt that most of the 9/11 commission staffers
worked honestly and with a committment to find the truth, but I think that, as the Kerry committee investigation
in Iran-Contra showed, highly placed gatekeepers can mold commission findings to their liking.)
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jun 10 2005 6:13 utc | 27
The second line above should be
“learned that the 9/11 attacks were part of a plan to justify…”
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jun 10 2005 9:29 utc | 28
Jesus! I combed this whole thread looking for one honest man who would say the word “oil.” Nearest was some guy who mentioned “resources” or unrenewable same, but he wouldn’t say “oil” either. Billmon won’t say it, and Dan Perkins (Tom Tomorrow) hasn’t said it for two years or so . . . when he said:
“Of course it was about the goddamned oil. Anyone who fails to comprehend this now desperately needs to take a refresher course in Basic Distinctions Between One’s Ass and a Hole in the Ground.”
I suppose Perkins has removed it from his archives by now, but believe me the quote is the same one that I copied and pasted from his blog.
Why don’t we want to talk about oil? Two reasons: (1) means we have to admit to coveting, lying, murdering, and stealing; (2) means we have to talk about WHY we are reduced to stealing oil, a discussion you won’t see soon in Krugman’s columns either.
Posted by: Sam Snedegar | Jun 10 2005 12:49 utc | 31
@ SAM S
Fair enough, it is about oil. There
still remain questions like “Was it only about oil?” and “Oil for whom?”. Am I mistaken
in thinking that the U.S.’s honeymoon with Saddam came to an end just after a Bechtel-built pipeline project to Eilat was killed? Maybe April Glaspie can answer that one. Is it not a Likudnik oily-wet-dream to re-establish the trans-Syria pipeline to Haifa? Doesn’t civil war in Iraq and partition of Iraq into ministates coincide to a tee with long term Israeli strategic planning? Who would have been better able to put together the operative Arab arm of a high-tech false flag operation like 9/11 than the various Israeli secret services? And maybe the reason why we never hear any of this from the captive media is precisely because they are linked by a double wire to both halves of the 9/11 conspiracy. But of course, to broach such possibilities without “actionable” evidence is to accept relegation to the Abraham Lincoln Tin-foil Hat Brigade. The latter is, I believe, still accepting volunteers.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jun 10 2005 13:21 utc | 32
Sam- I think the oil issue is a given among many here. As is the issue of Peak Oil, tho not all agree on anything here, including this one.
Recently I wondered if the Pentagon’s release of the “imaginary” scenrio of “the future” about wars for oil and other things related to climate change was not also another leak to use against BushCo…and it doesn’t seem that it was greatly covered in the media either, tho I could be wrong, it was so long ago.
Cheney also said that the American way of life is non-negotiable. I assume that means the right to drive hummers to the air-conditioned ex-urban office park. In fact, the statement should read that the American entrenchment in an oil-based energy world is non-negotiable,, while oil cos still have the ability to reap huge profits.
…I think a recent survey said 66% of Americans thought conservation, as in driving a fuel efficient vehicle, as patriotic. BushCo, etc. do not, and never did want to call upon Americans to react in a positive manner to the issues surrounding terrorism and oil and the rest.
but then, I’m also of the mind that they must have let it happen, esp. since Rummy and Wolfie were in a conference and were not available, Bush was left to stare blankly into space and hide while Cheney ran the show, and then all the photo-ops of Rummie with a stretcher, Bush looking out of the plane, etc. etc.
And why would they let it happen? To control the ME’s oil. The side issue of Israel, for some, simply makes for a bigger coalition to rally the troops to plunder and destroy instead of fix the problems within this country…not to mention the total absence of any recognizable effort to get Osama once Saddam’s head was in the sites.
Posted by: fauxreal | Jun 10 2005 13:24 utc | 33
“I think the oil issue is a given among many here. …”
but an UNMENTIONABLE given?
of course it is a given; what is not given with it is the ADMISSION that we coveted the oil, we lied to go to war to steal it, we murdered countless innocent people, and we STOLE the goddamned oil. So all of us benefit after a fashion, if you can call living under the heels of the Bushitters a benefit, because we get to keep our untenable standard of living for a few more years. It’s okay to kill a few hundred thousand arabs to keep us paying 500 dollars a pop to see a bad play or hear a cacaphony at some concert, and hush, hush, sweet Charlotte, let no one admit our shame.
That the kind of “given” we have around here?
Posted by: Sam Snedegar | Jun 10 2005 14:48 utc | 34
The average person who thinks about this knows the war is wrong and gets that we are deep trouble, but not that many “think” about it enough to get to that point – just yet. We are in the denial & ignore stage. The wingnuts avoid the issue or mutter about the world being better off without Saddam.
The war is still distant and not impacting our lives in a tangible way. In the end Bush, like LBJ and Nixon, is going to drown in Iraq and drown us in the process. The war ends when the Army breaks down in the third year and a draft becomes a real possibility. Quite unfairly it is the poor and middle class who pay with lives & limbs and a “tax and inflation” cycle – Bush will just leave office and make a fortune. The poor Iraqis get the counyry back broken.
Posted by: DC | Jun 10 2005 14:49 utc | 35
Billmon,
Here I go, picking nits… my favorite activity.
complaints also should be directed to the offices of Sen. Pat Roberts, R-KA, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee
There is no such state as KA. Kansas is KS.
GardenNinja – University of Kansas grad.
Posted by: GardenNinja | Jun 10 2005 15:05 utc | 36
For what it’s worth as a possible caution
sign with regard to what one “knows” from
“reliable sources”.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jun 10 2005 15:37 utc | 37
“Outraged”: Yes, those Walt Whitman / Abe Lincoln Americans of yore are indeed lost in time, like tears in the rain.
It is easier for a rich man to dance with 1,000 angels, than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, in today’s America.
The media has totally locked US down. Beginning with Survivor then American Idol then Apprentice, and now it’s growing like wildfire next season, a brutish double-elimination, gut-your-opponents, 24×7-for-options kind of will-work-for-fame crap that brought US the Net Bubble (and for those of us old enough to remember it: cigarette smoking, bathtub gin, speakeasies, and marathon-dance contests during the Great Depression.)
What if Germany had won WWII? Ask yourself, how would American today look any different from how it would if the Nazi’s had assumed world power? It’s not about being “good Germans” at all, it’s about “I know nothing”, and keeping your head down and move along before you get shot or RIF’d
and end up homeless and unable to buy back in.
We are already in a Great Depression, only this time the media is looking up instead of down.
Praise God-uh, and ignore those poor rabble.
Like the kid on the bus yesterday, “I can’t sell her a rock, I might need it later to dick her.”
That’s reality in America.
New Math: Invisible+Unreported=Never Happened.
Pass the collection plate, drink your Kool-Aid.
Posted by: tante aime | Jun 10 2005 17:41 utc | 38
Sam- you can go back and search the archives where people have talked about this issue. No, it’s not an unmentionable given. I don’t know how long you’ve been around here, but there are all sorts of povs and discussions here that have nothing to do with what Billmon posts.
Jérôme has covered Exxon’s admission of peak oil, and many other oil and energy issues, Bernhard predicts the issue of fuel prices, based upon American oil usage (and others) vs extractable, affordable oil, and the war that didn’t give the oil-i-garchs what they want. Rgiap regularly stands on the barricades and defends his alternative to his detested capitalism–and oil wars are definitely tied into that–DeAnander can explain various scenarios concerning alternative energies, and will not drive a car and is postively engaged in a one-woman drive (ahem) for mass transit, Annie and Stoy and others talk about (as in how to make it happen) an alternative to the consumptive American life…and there are many more who absolutely mention this issue…Juannie also comes to mind.
I think the tilt to fascism is directly related to energy issues…look who controls the govt…who gets access at energy task force meetings, who gets to change reports to alter evidence of scientific reports of global warming, who pretends that global warming is not known problem…
Anyway, go back and do a word search, if that’s possible here, or maybe Bernhard has things sorted to give you a clue as to various discussions that have gone on, ad infinitum, concerning the current situation.
The christian right gets to control moral policing in return for providing fodder among the poor (while their leaders are criminals just like any other asshole). Likudniks get to destablize threats to them, and Halliburton and friends lose 9 billion (was it in the billions?) in Iraqi reconstruction money.
The Pentagon talks about wars over resources, famine, a new era of horrific death and dislocation…and Bush says we need to look into that issue of global warming (without mentioning the adjoining issue of fossil fuel consumption.)
Anyway, feel free to state your pov, link to graphs, articles, etc. that reinforce your point, and people will thank you for the information.
Posted by: fauxreal | Jun 10 2005 17:47 utc | 39