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November 3, 2006
OT 06-103
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The Republicans know that they are going to lose ground, they are busy putting a good face on it. By letting the Democrats smell a majority, karl Rove knew they would get all flustered and start making some blunders for the Reps to exploit (and Kerry played right into their hands).
So now, if the elections turn out to be anything short of a complete blowout, they can turn to us and say “See! It wasn’t that bad after all, people still have faith in the Republican Message despite the, er, moral shortcomings of an, er, isolated minority of party members!”
Posted by: ralphieboy | Nov 3 2006 7:10 utc | 1
Now that’s a political statement if I ever saw one …
It said in another statement that Iraqi security forces operating about three miles from the Iranian border had “intercepted six heavily loaded donkeys.” The donkeys were hauling 53 Soviet- and Italian-made antitank landmines and one antitank projectile, which the troops confiscated and destroyed. No humans were captured, the statement said, and the donkeys were set free.
Boo!
Video of lawyer arrested for dressing as Bin Laden for Halloween
The lawyer who revealed George W. Bush’s suppressed drunk driving conviction was arrested for dressing up like Osama Bin Laden for Halloween. Here’s a video of the incident.
Also see, amusing story of LAX transit cops: sunglasses = terrorism False Authority Syndrome
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 3 2006 8:09 utc | 3
British believe Bush is more dangerous than Kim Jong-il
The survey has been carried out by the Guardian in Britain and leading newspapers in Israel (Haaretz), Canada (La Presse and Toronto Star) and Mexico (Reforma), using professional local opinion polling in each country.
It exposes high levels of distrust. In Britain, 69% of those questioned say they believe US policy has made the world less safe since 2001, with only 7% thinking action in Iraq and Afghanistan has increased global security.
…
Voters in three of the four countries surveyed also overwhelmingly reject the decision to invade Iraq, with only Israeli voters in favour, 59% to 34% against.
On November 14 a group of lawyers and other experts will come before the German federal prosecutor and ask him to open a criminal investigation targeting Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales and other key Bush Administration figures for war crimes.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 3 2006 9:14 utc | 5
Bernhard:
Have you seen this?
Former Army dog handler returns to Iraq
FORT BRAGG, N.C. – An Army dog handler convicted of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq has returned to the country with his military police unit, a spokesman said Thursday. Sgt. Santos A. Cardona boarded a plane Monday at Pope Air Force Base, which is adjacent to Fort Bragg, for the trip to Iraq.
Cardona is assigned to the 23rd Military Police Company, said Maj. James Crabtree, a spokesman for the 18th Airborne Corps, which is headquartered at Fort Bragg.
Crabtree said it wasn’t known exactly what Cardona’s job would be. The unit will focus on law enforcement, detainee operations and route security and to a lesser extent training Iraqi police.
………
The link is to a dynamic page on yahoo news but I expect googling will find it when it dies on yahoo.
Posted by: markfromireland | Nov 3 2006 10:41 utc | 6
Militants? Sure there were militants 60 or so, no let me see two or so, oh, all escaped …
Israeli troops open fire on women outside mosqueAt least one Palestinian woman was killed and another 10 were reported wounded when Israeli forces today opened fire on a group preparing to act as a human shield for militants in a Gaza mosque.
Dozens of women were gathering outside the mosque in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip this morning after an appeal on a local radio station. Up to 60 gunmen had taken refuge in the building after the Israeli army began its largest Gaza offensive in months in an attempt to stop militants launching rocket attacks on nearby Jewish settlements over the border.
Television pictures showed at least 50 women making their way along a pavement when shots could be heard ringing out. They started to flee in terror and at least two women were left lying on the ground.
Witnesses said one woman, aged about 40, was killed, and 10 others were wounded. Some reports said a second woman had died. The Israeli army said troops spotted two militants hiding in the crowd of women and opened fire.
Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers surrounded the building when militants took refuge there after two days of fighting, the Israeli military and Palestinian security officials said.
A large group of women protesters went on to gather outside the mosque. In the resulting confusion all the militants managed to escape and the building reportedly collapsed.
Uh, you really really should read this*…
Rumsfeld is a ‘neocon hero’: Operation Comeback
Operation Comeback
By Joshua Muravchik
Neoconservatives have the president’s ear, but they also have lots of baggage. To stay relevant, they must admit mistakes, embrace public diplomacy, and start making the case for bombing Iran.
TO: My Fellow Neoconservatives
FROM: Joshua Muravchik ( a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.)
RE: How to Save the Neocons
Having said the above* I suspect more than one over at lukery’s place to be a Blackwater, Poindexter Darpa Gutmenschen but I also suspect MOA’s are smarter than the average bear so I’m not to worried…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 3 2006 11:27 utc | 9
Even Thomas Friedman is pissed at Bush Insulting Our Troops, and Our Intelligence (“liberated” version)
Every time you hear Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney lash out against Mr. Kerry, I hope you will say to yourself, “They must think I’m stupid.” Because they surely do.
They think that they can get you to overlook all of the Bush team’s real and deadly insults to the U.S. military over the past six years by hyping and exaggerating Mr. Kerry’s mangled gibe at the president.
…
Let Karl know that you think this is a critical election, because you know as a citizen that if the Bush team can behave with the level of deadly incompetence it has exhibited in Iraq — and then get away with it by holding on to the House and the Senate — it means our country has become a banana republic. It means our democracy is in tatters because it is so gerrymandered, so polluted by money, and so divided by professional political hacks that we can no longer hold the ruling party to account.
It means we’re as stupid as Karl thinks we are.
I, for one, don’t think we’re that stupid. Next Tuesday we’ll see.
Form Uncle’s link above
Prepare to Bomb Iran. Make no mistake, President Bush will need to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities before leaving office. It is all but inconceivable that Iran will accept any peaceful inducements to abandon its drive for the bomb. Its rulers are religio-ideological fanatics who will not trade what they believe is their birthright to great power status for a mess of pottage. Even if things in Iraq get better, a nuclear-armed Iran will negate any progress there. Nothing will embolden terrorists and jihadists more than a nuclear-armed Iran.
The global thunder against Bush when he pulls the trigger will be deafening, and it will have many echoes at home. It will be an injection of steroids for organizations such as MoveOn.org. We need to pave the way intellectually now and be prepared to defend the action when it comes. In particular, we need to help people envision what the world would look like with a nuclear-armed Iran. Apart from the dangers of a direct attack on Israel or a suitcase bomb in Washington, it would mean the end of the global nonproliferation regime and the beginning of Iranian dominance in the Middle East.
This defense should be global in scope…
Recruit Joe Lieberman for 2008. Twice in the last quarter-century we had the good fortune to see presidents elected who were …
Re: Joshua Muravchik who wrote that MAD memo linked above.
Institutional Affiliations
# American Enterprise Institute: Resident Scholar (1987-current) (1, 4)
# The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs: Member of Board of Advisors (3)
# Committee for the Liberation of Iraq: Advisory Board Member (3)
# Project for the New American Century Statement on Post-War Iraq: Signatory (2003) (5)
# Project for the New American Century Second Statement on Post-War Iraq: Signatory (2003) (5)
# Project for the New American Century Letter on New Defense Strategy: Signatory (2003) (5)
# Project for the New American Century Letter on Israel, Arafat, and War on Terrorism: Signatory (2002) (5)
# Institute of World Politics: Adjunct Professor (1992-current) (1)
# Washington Institute on Near East Policy: Adjunct Scholar (1986-current) (1)
# Coalition for a Democratic Majority: Executive Director (1977-1979) (1)
# World Affairs Journal: Editorial Board Member (1)
# Journal of Democracy: Editorial Board Member (1)
# Orbis: Editorial Board Member (2)
# American Committee for Peace in Chechnya: Member
Government Posts/Panels/Commissions
# U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Member of Maryland State Advisory Committee (1985-1997) (1)
# Commission on Broadcasting to the People’s Republic of China: Member (1992) (1)
Education
# City College of New York: B.A. (1)
# Georgetown University: Ph.D. in international relations (1)
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Nov 3 2006 12:43 utc | 13
Let Karl know that you think this is a critical election, because you know as a citizen that if the Bush team can behave with the level of deadly incompetence it has exhibited in Iraq — and then get away with it by holding on to the House and the Senate — it means our country has become a banana republic. It means our democracy is in tatters because it is so gerrymandered, so polluted by money, and so divided by professional political hacks that we can no longer hold the ruling party to account.
Shorter Tom: Just in case, please believe I was against a one-party, oligarchical raping of America before I was for it. We’ll see in six months.
I don’t know whether to laugh or throw up; if I do either, I have a suspicion I’ll never stop.
Posted by: Austin Cooper | Nov 3 2006 15:15 utc | 14
Hmmm – somethings is brewing up about North Korea:
Bill Gertz at the Moonie Times writes U.S. speeds attack plans for North Korea. A week a ago Bill Arkin wrote in his WaPo blog Taking Preemptive Action Against North Korea
Arkin and Gertz both have quite good Pentagon connections so this is most likely more than just a rumour.
From Arkin:
In light of North Korea’s nuclear test, the United States and South Korea have agreed to develop a new contingency plan to take military action against North Korea in scenarios short of North Korea attack or in response to a catastrophic “collapse” in the North.
The new revised plan – CONPLAN 5029 -focuses on preemptive action to thwart North Korean moves involving potential export of weapons of mass destruction.
Pentagon sources confirm that the new plan will be the first joint U.S.-South Korean plan to take action against North Korea even if the North does not invade or attack the South first.
Gertz:
The Pentagon has stepped up planning for attacks against North Korea’s nuclear program and is bolstering nuclear forces in Asia, said defense officials familiar with the highly secret process.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the accelerated military planning includes detailed programs for striking a North Korean plutonium-reprocessing facility at Yongbyon with special operations commando raids or strikes with Tomahawk cruise missiles or other precision-guided weapons.
@b#8
Today’s Action in Gaza
See a great snippet of video of the women walking towards the live bullets here: (h/t Helena Cobban – Just World News)
Click on the “Play Video” under “Gaza Women Shot” at left.
Posted by: Bea | Nov 3 2006 18:17 utc | 16
This one is for Uncle. My apologies if it has been posted, but I have not been able to keep up with threads this week.
BEGINNING JAN 14, 2007 WE MAY NEED PERMISSION TO LEAVE THE UNITED
STATES
Date: Thursday, 2 November 2006, 12:04 p.m.
PERMISSION TO LEAVE THE US? 11/02/06
Forget no-fly lists. If Uncle Sam gets its way, beginning on Jan. 14,
2007, we’ll all be on no-fly lists, unless the government gives us
permission to leave-or re-enter-the United States.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (HSA) has proposed that all
airlines, cruise lines-even fishing boats-be required to obtain
clearance for each passenger they propose taking into or out of the
United States.
It doesn’t matter if you have a U.S. passport-a “travel document”
that now, absent a court order to the contrary, gives you a virtually
unqualified right to enter or leave the United States, any time you
want. When the DHS system comes into effect next January, if the
agency says “no” to a clearance request, or doesn’t answer the
request at all, you won’t be permitted to enter-or leave-the United
States.
Consider what might happen if you’re a U.S. passport holder on
assignment in a country like Saudi Arabia. Your visa is about to
expire, so you board your flight back to the United States. But wait!
You can’t get on, because you don’t have permission from the HSA.
Saudi immigration officials are on hand to escort you to a squalid
detention center, where you and others who are now effectively
“stateless persons” are detained, potentially indefinitely, until
their immigration status is sorted out.
Why might the HSA deny you permission to leave-or enter-the United
States? No one knows, because the entire clearance procedure would be
an administrative determination made secretly, with no right of
appeal. Naturally, the decision would be made without a warrant,
without probable cause and without even any particular degree of
suspicion. Basically, if the HSA decides it doesn’t like you, you’re
a prisoner-either outside, or inside, the United States, whether or
not you hold a U.S. passport.
The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized there is a constitutional
right to travel internationally. Indeed, it has declared that the
right to travel is “a virtually unconditional personal right.” The
United States has also signed treaties guaranteeing “freedom of
travel.” So if these regulations do go into effect, you can expect a
lengthy court battle, both nationally and internationally.
Think this can’t happen? Think again…it’s ALREADY happening.
Earlier this year, HSA forbade airlines from transporting an 18-year-
old native-born U.S. citizen, back to the United States. The
prohibition lasted nearly six months until it was finally lifted a
few weeks ago.
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are two countries in recent history
that didn’t allow their citizens to travel abroad without permission.
If these regulations go into effect, you can add the United States to
this list.
For more information on this proposed regulation, see
http://hasbrouck.org/IDP/IDP-APIS-comments.pdf .
MARK NESTMANN, Wealth Preservation &
Tax Consultant on behalf of
The Sovereign Society
assetpro@nestmann.com
http://www.nestmann.com
Posted by: conchita | Nov 3 2006 19:26 utc | 17
A new book by a former staffer in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives details how the much-ballyhooed Bush “faith-based” initiative was cynically manipulated by Republican operatives to help GOP candidates locked in close races.
David Kuo’s forthcoming book, Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction, also asserts that applications for federal faith-based funds were sometimes rejected by reviewers because they came from non-Christian applicants, that civil rights rollbacks sought by the administration were unneeded and that Bush’s conservative Christian allies were derided behind their backs and bought off with White House cufflinks and other trinkets.
Also see, Olbermann Exclusive: Dissecting new Book: Tempting Faith
This is my surprised face…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 3 2006 19:28 utc | 18
In Beit Hanun, ‘the whole town is being punished’

By Avi Issacharoff, 3 nov 2006
Haaretz
Gaza – Ma’an 2 nov 2006 –
Israeli forces have, on Thursday afternoon, transferred the males of Beit Hanoun aged between 16-45 in a convoy of large trucks to unknown destinations.
(!!…??)
Ma’an
Posted by: Noirette | Nov 3 2006 19:33 utc | 19
the little scribble under IN of the title is not fancy handwork on my part ..I couldn’t make it go away!
Posted by: Noirette | Nov 3 2006 19:35 utc | 20
Addendum:
Also see, Kevin Phillips in American Theocracy
Kevin Phillips, author of the book American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century, talks to Lou Dobbs about the disturbing trend in American politics where the seperation of church and state is vanishing and religion is increasingly playing a dominant role in policy making.
from Kevin Phillips in American Theocracy . . .
* Is an economic system geared to the needs, not of the people, but of the wealthy elite.
* It is a republican form of government.
* It features extreme forms of nationalism.
* While Nazism is a form of fascism, fascism is not Nazism.
* Fascism creates “enemies of the fatherland” in order to gain public support. These “enemies” usually include liberals, socialists, trade unionists, and conspicuous minority groups.
* Fascism is not conservative, although it often claims to be traditional.
* Fascism will replace a free press with propaganda.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 3 2006 19:42 utc | 21
neocons: bush incompetent
I sort of admire their inability to experience shame.
Posted by: slothrop | Nov 3 2006 22:59 utc | 22
kevin phillips should do a bit more to impress his readers what he writes is mea culpa for his own role in creating the republican southern strategy. he bears much responsibility for what passes as our neofascism.
Posted by: slothrop | Nov 3 2006 23:04 utc | 23
Evangelist Ted Haggard admitted Friday that he bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a gay prostitute who claims he was paid for drug-fueled trysts by the outspoken gay marriage opponent.
Talking to reporters outside his house Friday, Haggard denied the sex allegations but said that he did buy meth from the man because he was curious.
“I bought it for myself but never used it,” he said. “I was tempted, but I never used it.”
Haggard, a married father of five, said he never had sex with Mike Jones, a 49-year-old male prostitute who sparked the scandal when he told a radio station he had had a three-year sexual relationship with the minister. He said he did get a massage from Jones after being referred to him by a Denver hotel.
He denied allegations of sexual misconduct with Mr.Jones’ dog.
ok, i made up that last sentence 😉
Posted by: annie | Nov 4 2006 0:21 utc | 24
haditha – a us armed forces creation
this is a basic report on haditha tho it is written in that writerly atlantic style – that for me – robs the victims of their certain humanity
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Nov 4 2006 2:33 utc | 25
slothrup:
A bit about the Vanity Fair artticle is here : Neo Culpa
If I’m the Democrats I’m on the phone to the Republican electorate saying, “Maybe you should look and see the neocon scum, who put is in the hole we’re in in Iraq, are now pinning the blame on your all-American, Born-Again, Blue-Eyed boy, while they’re trying to whip up your enthusiasm for taking on another war against their enemies this time in Iran!’
But wait… the Democrats are long gone leaving only their Demoplican smile hovering above the bough.
And basically, they’re laying blame in the same direction for the same reason… “our war has been mismanaged!”
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Nov 4 2006 2:56 utc | 26
My spanish isn’t worth shit does
VIVA OAXACA LiBRE
work?
Posted by: Debs is dead | Nov 4 2006 5:06 utc | 27
debs – oaxaca live free!? just thinking about oaxaca this moment. worrying about my friends and what is happening to this beautiful place deep in mexico. the mexicans have such fierce pride.
Posted by: conchita | Nov 4 2006 5:12 utc | 28
Conchita
That’s pretty much what I meant to say. Most of us have been looking at the ME plus amerikan political scene to the exclusion of much else.
I came across this Reuters story reprinted in my local fish wrap and though “I wonder if many other people are watching Beit Hanoun and Oaxaca and for those of us in the South Pacific, Suva?”
When Lebanon held the world’s attention the Israelis did some of their most evil shit in Gaza. Now that Gaza plus US elections are taking up the consciousness allocated to ‘news’ by most humans has Mexico’s ruling elite decided to go for it and take back the little they were forced into conceding a few years ago?
Posted by: Debs is dead | Nov 4 2006 7:13 utc | 29
r’giap, i read that article a few weeks ago and didn’t link to it because i had issues w/the reporting. the online version includes many portraits not available in the print addition worth a glance
Posted by: annie | Nov 4 2006 10:42 utc | 32
sheesh annie, those are some interesting pictures.
if you were to change the clothing on those photos and replace the military uniforms with prison uniforms you could easily imagine seeing portraits of deathrow inmates.
kinda scary for me to look into those cold eyes.
Posted by: dan of steele | Nov 4 2006 10:53 utc | 33
Someone recently posted Peter Dale Scott’s art. on building of concentration camps in xAmerica. If anyone’s interested in what provided the cover for this, anyone interested in how a police state gets built in a former Republic should listen to this prog. when it’s on this wkend.
It’s an interview w/a chap named ~Peter Schwartz of Global Business Network. He provides the cover. He was asked by the War Dept. to give them a worst case scenario of “national security” effects of Global Warming. But he’s an astute prostitute, like everyone else who serves the Pentagon, which is why you need to listen to this to believe it. He states that he knows that there are no implications whatever in the next 10 yrs, which he states is their planning horizon. But if he stopped there, he wouldn’t earn his money, or get invited back to the party. Hence he says in a curious mixture of embarrassed realism, hell in a worst case scenario, countries could get inundated, causing hundred of millions to flee their countries of origin….hence the need for/rationale for the War Dept. to build camps here now!! (He also mentions exploding nukes to prevent mass-migrations. Not sure if that’s being done by home country, or country that fears it’ll be invaded.)
Posted by: jj | Nov 4 2006 12:24 utc | 34
“We keep introducing the idea of a transparent government, of a free and open society,” said Col. Nelson McCouch, the spokesman for Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq.
Transparent government eh? From the gang of unnacountable thugs running this country? That’s rich.
Elizabeth Williamson writes in The Washington Post: “Open-government advocates are howling this week over a newly released transcript of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in April on topics including domestic wiretapping and surveillance, treatment of potential terrorists, and the president’s power to declassify information.
“During the session, Gonzales evaded most of the four dozen questions asked by Republican and Democratic members by claiming ignorance, or telling the committee — which oversees the Justice Department — that the answers were too secret to share.”
Posted by: ran | Nov 4 2006 16:54 utc | 35
twalls, twalls, twalls – Neurotic Iraqi Wife has some interesting videos and some stories to tell: link
Negroponte proposes putting Saddam-era intelligence officials back to work under the new US strategy
missing links
The Bush administration is in the process of changing sides in the Iraqi struggle, but it is an embarrassing process, and as you would expect, the smoke-machines are going full blast.
Posted by: annie | Nov 4 2006 21:40 utc | 37
November 4, 1979. Beginning of the infamous saga of the American embassy hostages in Teheran. I was headed straight for Teheran that day with a bunch of other people driving to India. We were outside of Ankara when we heard some news that there was trouble. Camped outside of Ankara for a couple of weeks waiting to see if it would all blow over.
I never in my wildest dreams back then could have imagined that the U.S. would invade and occupy any country in that region 25 years later. It was only a few years after we had so ignominiously left Viet Nam, and my attitude at the time was “we’ll never be that dumb again.”
Just a memory.
Posted by: Maxcrat | Nov 5 2006 4:17 utc | 38
News Flash! Diebold Machines Already Screwing Up 2006 Election Results in Ohio! Country Demands Accountability! Millions Protest!
Or not. In other news, it turns out that the Earth actually circles the Sun and not vice versa.
And it also turns out that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy works out nicely for torturers.
A suspected terrorist who spent years in a secret CIA prison should not be allowed to speak to a civilian attorney, the Bush administration argues, because he could reveal the agency’s closely guarded interrogation techniques.
Human rights groups have questioned the CIA’s methods for questioning suspects, especially following the passage of a bill last month that authorized the use of harsh but undefined interrogation tactics.
In recently filed court documents, the Justice Department said those methods, along with the locations of the CIA’s network of prisons, are among the nation’s most sensitive secrets. Prisoners who spent time in those prisons should not be allowed to disclose that information, even to a lawyer, the government said.
They are, apparently, using some new definition of the word “secret” that I had not been previously aware of. Unless the CIA has discovered a heretofore unknown way to break a human body, the only “secret” a released prisoner could reveal might include what’s on the lunch menu at the Gitmo cafeteria.
The article frames the argument this way: “If “terrorists” discover our proprietary methods for extracting legally useless confessions and inactionable intelligence, they might tell their buddies who will proceed to have their central nervous systems removed so as to withstand McWaterboarding™, SleepDep 2.0© (now, with hypothermia!), and CIA-tastic Kneecappings®.”
Posted by: Monolycus | Nov 5 2006 7:50 utc | 39
Another TOTALLY SURPRISING TALE to follow Mono’s of DieBold’s coming electoral Debacle…Saddam Found Guilty…nighty night all…
Posted by: jj | Nov 5 2006 9:24 utc | 40
Update – AP is reporting that although Prison Baghdad is in lockdown, clashes have broken out w/police in heavily Sunni areas. Anyone know anyone who wants to lose their child in fighting over that verdict?
Posted by: jj | Nov 5 2006 9:44 utc | 41
I’ve been looking for a source to that story that conchita posted about a blanket “no-fly” policy slated to be enacted on 14 January, 2007. I think I’ve finally traced it back to the earliest point of origin I am likely to discover… a blog called Friends of Liberty. The source cited in this article is a dead link for me.
This does not mean the story is entirely illegitimate, but is definitely unverified… and if it is a DHS proposal as the article suggests, it is unverifiable (it is my understanding that FOIA requests regarding DHS initiatives are routinely denied citing national security concerns).
My take at the moment is this: It probably has crossed a few desks, but in all likelihood will not be implemented. House and Senate bills proposing mandatory military service get written up fairly frequently and always fuel talk about a draft being “imminent”… but the representatives and senators who propose these bills usually do so to make a rhetorical point and in the knowledge that they will die in committee.
This may be a similar event, except that the DHS is an executive body. Someone along the lines might have written it up as a contingency policy or for some power point presentation and it got leaked. Unless I hear more about it or am able to find a primary source, I am going to presume this got jumped on and false alarmed.
Posted by: Monolycus | Nov 5 2006 10:12 utc | 42
Where Plan A Left Ahmad Chalabi long Dexter Filkins NYT piece on Chalabi – and it’s good.
If it’s to long for you, jump to chapter 5 and 6 – Chalabi in Teheran and Chalabi in the last Iraqi election are the jucy stuff.
@Monolycus – there must be something to that story – Defense Tech has some links to it.
@Monolycus et al…
Washington Post : U.S. Plans to Screen All Who Enter, Leave Country
Civilian Inmate Labor Program (pdf)
U.S. ARMY REGULATION 210-35: CIVILIAN INMATE LABOR PROGRAM
This regulation provides guidance for establishing and managing civilianinmate labor programs on Army installations. It provides guidance onestablishing prison camps on Army installations.
*In a coming column I will carefully, avoiding paranoia and reverse agitprop, examine-in the case of another 9-11-the prospects for treason trials of Americans under the resumptions of guilt embedded in the new law for “supporters” of terrorists. Included will be the history, since 2002, of preparations for the internment camps here-as reported on August 8, 2002, by the Wall Street Journal, and not denied, at the time or since by the Bush Justice Department. *
– Nat Hentoff 10-28-06
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 5 2006 10:52 utc | 45
Thanks b (#44) and Unca (#45).
Using b’s Defense Tech link, I was able to find a primary source for the rumour. The good news is that it is not quite the hysterical scenario that was outlined in the blog rumours. The bad news is that it isn’t much better.
According to the DHS disclosure form, it is a joint action by the DHS and the Treasury Department to implement an “Automated Targeting System” as an extension of 19 U.S.C. 482, 1461, 1496, and 1581-1582, 8 U.S.C. 1357, Title VII of Public Law 104-208, and 49 U.S.C. 44909 (essentially, the Privacy Act of 1974). This system uses a logarithm program to assess a “terrorism score” to all travelling Americans based upon a wide variety of data (compiled and maintained for every individual for a period of forty years).
There is no provision to contest this data and is only accessible on a “need-to-know” basis:
“Since this system of records may not be accessed, generally, for
purposes of determining if the system contains a record pertaining to a
particular individual and those records, if any, cannot be inspected,
the system may not be accessed under the Privacy Act for the purpose of
contesting the content of the record.”
The document was authorized for release on 27 October, 2006 by Hugo Teufel III,Chief Privacy Officer (Department of Homeland Security). German speakers may feel free to note the irony.
Posted by: Monolycus | Nov 5 2006 11:06 utc | 46
German speakers may feel free to note the irony
for those who aren’t, Teufel = Devil
Posted by: dan of steele | Nov 5 2006 12:25 utc | 47
Thought you info and news junkies (like myself) would appreciate and find this useful: Research Beyond Google: 119 Authoritative, Invisible, and Comprehensive Resources
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 5 2006 14:20 utc | 48
in real terms, there is no difference from th ‘jurisprudence’ of those baghdad & those of the nazi judge dr roland freisler, where the ‘guilty’ were brought into court with their trousers falling down & where the judge sreamed & ranted at the participants that they were criminals for not being national socialists. there are a number of books on this man & i’m surprised if people would not see resonances today
the defence lawyers (a cruel, cruel joke) are correct that now the doors to hell are open & will stay forever so
if saddam has to go, why not the vicious videla, why not somoza, why not pinochet, why not all the hoods in argentina, why not suharto in indonesia, why not marcos, why not sharon, why not begin, why not mobutu, why not bokassa, why not andreotti – on & on there are those amongst the living & the dead are criminals more venal, more autocratic, more corrupt than hussein ever was
why not the murderers who have been in charge of state policies in thos united states – whose crimes are of a proportion that make whatever saddam hussein did look like small potatoes
fuck godwin – th us empire is the nazi dream transformed to ur time & their ‘jurisprudence’ is worthy of a thousand year reich
Posted by: r’giap | Nov 5 2006 14:59 utc | 49
brought ‘democracy’ to iraq. fuck me
the only thing they have brought is a new strain of fascism that we too shall be become familiar with
i have no brief for saddam hussein but as a leader he gave a security that will be forever absent in iraq & aacross the middle east
i have never thought that the phrase ‘ opening the gates of hell’ was rhetoric – i understood it to mean exactly what we are seeing across the middle east with murder being the common currency
the u s empire is the principal responsable whether we are talking or iraq, of lebanon, of the occupied territories – of the repression in both jordan & egypt – of the medieval royaumes of the gulf states
the cruelty of the american joke is without measure
if they were not so stupid you could see something more than sinister but their stupidity has no limits & we shall forever be living in the results of that stupidity
they do not know whatthe fuch is happening from one day to the next – yes perhaps chaos serves them well but i am reminded of what bob dylan sd in 1966, “it is not a question of whether i embrace chaos, but of whether chaos will embrace me”
we need a wm blake today to understand the darkness of our era & not the emphemeral stupidities of either a salman rushdie, amartin amis or an amos oz
Posted by: r’giap | Nov 5 2006 15:55 utc | 52
In researching the above, I kept running across hysterical Christian “Revelations”-type references… “Mark of the Beast” and all that apocalyptic crap. So when I found a key player with the surname “Teufel”, I thought it was a bad joke. It seemed like something a hack writer would have come up and imagined themselves clever by doing. So I wanted to see if there actually is such a person.
Holy crap, there is.
And it turns out that he is a member of the Federalist Society… and fanato-fascism is what the Federalist Society does. How did I manage to get this far without running across these nasty little vipers before now? (Incidentally, it particularly galls me that many of the members describe themselves as “Libertarian”, when, in practice, this group is anything but.)
This whole line of inquiry is getting more surreal to me.
Posted by: Monolycus | Nov 5 2006 16:25 utc | 54
@Monolycus #46
English speakers may also note the irony of serving as “Chief Privacy Officer” in the “Department of Homeland Security.” Sounds to me as if a more apt title for what he is tasked with would be “Chief Invasion of Privacy Officer.”
@Uncle#45 & #48
Thanks for the great links.
@r’giap #49
Excellent questions, all.
Posted by: Bea | Nov 5 2006 16:56 utc | 55
@Bea
Noticed that as well, but that is just classic Orwellian newspeak… like calling it the Office of Homeland Security when it only exists because of, and to fuel, the homeland’s insecurities. Or calling a bill that prevents people from escaping their debt a “consumer protection act”. I guess it does qualify as irony, though.
Posted by: Monolycus | Nov 5 2006 17:30 utc | 56
MYTHOLOGY: “If we come to Baghdad, Damascus and Tehran as liberators, we can expect overwhelming popular support.”
– – Michael Ledeen, 2002
REALITY: Call-Ups For Marines
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,117198,00.html
Marines to Recall Battalions
WASHINGTON – The Marines are drawing up plans to send back to Iraq at least some reserve combat battalions that have already served one tour there, officials said Wednesday – the first time such units would be returned to the war … The Army, which is organized differently than the Marine Corps, has not sent any of its National Guard combat brigades back to Iraq for a second tour … The Marines have decided to take this unusual step in order to alleviate a problem that both the Marines and the Army are wrestling with as the Iraq war rages on unabated: wear-and-tear on the active-duty troops, who are getting far less time at home to recuperate and retrain than military leaders would like.
REALITY: Call-Ups For TheArmy
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4311235.html
Nov. 5, 2006, 12:55AM
Army reserves brace for more call-ups
WASHINGTON — The Army’s National Guard and Reserves are bracing for possible new and accelerated call-ups — spurred by high demand for U.S. troops in Iraq — that reserve leaders caution could undermine the citizen-soldier force as it struggles to rebuild.Sweeping shift considered
A more sweeping policy shift is under consideration that would allow the Pentagon to launch a new wave of involuntary mobilizations of the reserves, as a growing proportion of guard and reserve soldiers are nearing a 24-month limit on time deployed, they said.
One Army official said no decision had been made on the politically sensitive topic, and another official said action is likely after this week’s elections.
Senior Army leaders have made clear that without a bigger active-duty force, the only way they can maintain the intense pace of rotations in Iraq and Afghanistan is by relying more heavily on the reserves, which make up 52 percent of the Army’s total manpower.
A change to the 24-month rule will be a big issue for military families.
Posted by: sysprog | Nov 5 2006 18:34 utc | 57
Iran bans Arab party for inciting unrest
And, right on cue,
Little-known Arab group in Iran faces persecution
Ahwazis call occupation of their land a plight worse than that of Palestinians
Expect news of unrest from Khuzestan, and be prepared for a whole lot more of naked propaganda. Khuzestan will make or break the imperialist strategy.
Posted by: Alamet | Nov 6 2006 0:24 utc | 58
almet..
Benn reports: “Negroponte met with Olmert and the heads of the intelligence services, and asked them for their assessments of Iran’s domestic situation and how to influence it. He was reportedly particularly interested in ideas on how to use Iran’s domestic policies to weaken the regime, and whether it was possible to influence Iran via minorities such as the Azeris, who have ethnic affiliations with other states. The issue of Iran’s nuclear program, in contrast, received less attention during these talks.”
Somehow I feel we can expect human-interest feature writing in the NYT about the colorful and interesting Azeri people and their “complex relationship” with the ethnic Persians, maybe in the Sunday magazine.
Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 6 2006 0:59 utc | 59
@59, I’m sure the Azeris are colorful and interesting people, but they aren’t sitting on 90 % of Iran’s oil so they won’t be more than a sideshow. Watch Khuzestan (Ahwaz). And notice especially how recent writing always slips in a mention of an Arab majority while older documents refer to a minority.
Posted by: Alamet | Nov 6 2006 1:43 utc | 60
Riverbend: When All Else Fails…
… Execute the dictator. It’s that simple. When American troops are being killed by the dozen, when the country you are occupying is threatening to break up into smaller countries, when you have militias and death squads roaming the streets and you’ve put a group of Mullahs in power- execute the dictator.
Everyone expected this verdict from the very first day of the trial. There was a brief interlude when, with the first judge, it was thought that it might actually be a coherent trial where Iraqis could hear explanations and see what happened. That was soon over with the prosecution’s first false witness. Events that followed were so ridiculous; it’s difficult to believe them even now.
The sound would suddenly disappear when the defense or one of the defendants got up to speak. We would hear the witnesses but no one could see them- hidden behind a curtain, their voices were changed. People who were supposed to have been dead in the Dujail incident were found to be very alive.
Judge after judge was brought in because the ones in court were seen as too fair. They didn’t instantly condemn the defendants (even if only for the sake of the media). The piece de resistance was the final judge they brought in. His reputation vies only that of Chalabi- a well-known thief and murderer who ran away to Iran to escape not political condemnation, but his father’s wrath after he stole from the restaurant his father ran.
Posted by: Fran | Nov 6 2006 6:40 utc | 61