libby 30 months
he won’t see the inside

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jun 5 2007 16:06 utc | 3

Have a laugh at this Blown-up Swaskita or Lisa Simpson giving a blow-job.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jun 5 2007 16:47 utc | 5

we will see, b
tho i’d dearly love for libby to do some hard time

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jun 5 2007 17:20 utc | 7

secrecynews: Letters on Scooter Libby Released by Court

Letters sent to Judge Reggie B. Walton regarding the sentencing of vice presidential aide Lewis I. “Scooter” Libby, who was convicted of obstruction of justice, were released by the court today.
…
Most of the letters favor clemency for Mr. Libby. Many of them are poignant and heartfelt. Quite a few others are pompous and self-aggrandizing. An angry minority demand the maximum possible sentence.
The full set of letters in alphabetical order by author may be found here (373 pages in an 18 MB PDF file).
Mr. Libby was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and fined $250,000.

Posted by: b real | Jun 5 2007 18:37 utc | 9

definitely was a suggested form letter for libby’s friends to consider. lots of matches for the use of the paraphrase ‘is inconsistent with the libby i know’, some ‘i was stunned when i heard the verdict’, etc…
the letter on page 118 is kinda interesting.

Dear Judge Walton:
I am a citizen of the United States. My primary occupation for the past thirty years is a a businessman. In 1985 I founded a chemical company which is today a multi-national chemical and fertilizer company, headquartered in New York, New York.
Shortly after Mr. Ariel Sharon was elected to his first term as Israel Prime Minister, he had asked me to fulfill the role of a private confidential channel between him and the then the Secretary of State Colin Powell and the White House.[sic]
During the years of 2002 and 2003, I had the responsiblity and privilege to serve in that role. It is during that period that among other high U.S. government officials, I met Mr. Scooter Libby.

you can read the rest. the author is one arie genger, founder of trans resources, inc, and protege of alleged gangster meshulam riklis.

Posted by: b real | Jun 5 2007 19:34 utc | 11

Schlozman, what a show, entertainment for the political junkies to be sure, but not substance.
yeah we’ve sure heard a lot of talk about ” the new sheriff in town.’ when the dems took over. We’re ‘makin’ good progress’. Soon, we’ll be “turnin’ the corner”! Sound familiar?
Yeah, We’ll have another investigation and invite more people to testify. When they decline, we’ll huff and puff and invite them again. When they flick us the bird, we’ll threaten a subpoena. When they announce that they’ll not honor the subpoena, we’ll warn them of dire circumstances. Some will come, most wont recall. They’ll be given immunity in exchange for testimony and then they’ll refuse to turn over documents and then take the fifth on the stand. And still not recall or point fingers; ‘Not me’.
When they stop laughing, we’ll hold our breath until we turn blue in the face. Then stomp our feet and threaten to send the “strongly worded letter”.
What a circle jerk.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 5 2007 23:02 utc | 13

Outgoing pResident will pardon Libby and all the rest; it’s traditional.

Posted by: Anonymous | Jun 5 2007 23:59 utc | 15

Maybe I’m just in a really bad mood, but

Leave it to a Republican Party official, of course, to spelunk our national dialogue into a whole new low. This latest installment for the You-Gotta-Be-Kidding-Me file came on Sunday, courtesy of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, in an interview with that state’s new Republican Party chairman. His name is Dennis Milligan, he runs a water treatment business [emohasis mine — DeA], and he is very much hoping for more terrorist attacks on US soil so the policies of George W. Bush can be vindicated.
Yes, you read that correctly. Here’s the quote:
“At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on (September 11, 2001), and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country.”

footnote
really haunts me.
he thinks another Turrist Event would be a Good Thing for his party and the country; and he runs a water treatment business? oh please, Scotty, beam me up quick.

Posted by: DeAnander | Jun 6 2007 0:04 utc | 17

A Jewish perspective on Sarkozy can be found here. A different in-depth look at who he is and how he became that way.

Posted by: Bea | Jun 6 2007 1:36 utc | 19

Conyers to challenge Bush on Vulture Funds.

Conyers has personally informed George Bush that he expects the President to join the other G8 leaders to put the vultures out of business. “I’m counting on the President to do the right thing,” Conyers told BBC reporter Greg Palast. But if the President doesn’t, Bush can expect another set of investigations and hearings on the Administration’s inaction and ties to vultures.

Posted by: Rick | Jun 6 2007 3:14 utc | 21

rick, good report. i watched the video conyers rocks.

Posted by: annie | Jun 6 2007 5:49 utc | 23

robert dreyfuss: Financing the imperial armed forces

War critics are rightly disappointed over the inability of Democrats in the US Congress to mount an effective challenge to President George W Bush’s Iraq adventure. What began as a frontal assault on the war, with tough talk about deadlines and timetables, has settled into something like a guerrilla-style campaign to chip away at war policy until the edifice crumbles.
Still, Democratic criticism of Bush administration policy in Iraq looks muscle-bound when compared with the party’s readiness to go along with the president’s massive military buildup, domestically and globally. Nothing underlines the tacit alliance between so-called foreign-policy realists and hardline exponents of neo-conservative-style empire-building more than the Washington consensus that the United States needs to expand the defense budget without end, while increasing the size of the armed forces.
In addition, spending on the 16 agencies and other organizations that make up the official US “intelligence community” – including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – and on homeland security is going through the roof.
The numbers are astonishing and, except for a hardy band of progressives in the House of Representatives, Democrats willing to call for shrinking the bloated Pentagon or intelligence budgets are in essence non-existent.
…
How astonishing are the budgetary numbers? Consider the trajectory of US defense spending over the past nearly two decades. From the end of the Cold War into the mid-1990s, defense spending actually fell significantly. In constant 1996 dollars, the Pentagon’s budget dropped from a peacetime high of $376 billion, at the end of president Ronald Reagan’s military buildup in 1989, to a low of $265 billion in 1996. That compares with post-World War II wartime highs of $437 billion (corrected) in 1953, during the Korean War, and $388 billion in 1968, at the peak of the Vietnam War.
After the Soviet empire peacefully disintegrated, the 1990s decline wasn’t exactly the hoped-for “peace dividend”, but it wasn’t peanuts, either. However, since September 12, 2001, defense spending has exploded.
For 2008, the Bush administration is requesting a staggering $650 billion, compared with the already staggering $400 billion the Pentagon collected in 2001. Even subtracting the costs of the ongoing “global war on terrorism” – which is what the White House likes to call its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – for fiscal 2008, the Pentagon will still spend $510 billion.
In other words, even without Bush’s two wars, defense spending will have nearly doubled since the mid-1990s. Given that the United States has literally no significant enemy state to fight anywhere on the planet, this represents a remarkable, if perverse, achievement.

Posted by: b real | Jun 6 2007 18:41 utc | 25

ODNI Document Suggests a Larger Intelligence Budget

Classified budget numbers concealed in an unclassified PowerPoint document suggest that total U.S. intelligence spending is significantly larger than generally assumed, perhaps around $60 billion annually.
…
The data appear to indicate that $42 billion was awarded to contractors in FY 2005. If so, and if that represented 70% of the total budget, as stated in the preceding Power Point slide, it would follow that the total is $60 billion, rather than the $45 or $48 billion usually cited.

(Office of the Director of National Intelligence – ODNI)
Anyone wonders what else is financed with those billions?

Posted by: b | Jun 6 2007 20:30 utc | 27

back in march i linked to a disturbing article on the crazy kenyan internal security minister john michuki’s shoot-to-kill orders for anyone found possessing an unregistered gun — “An illegal weapon in the hands of a criminal has no other purpose than to kill an innocent person. It is therefore justifiable for the law enforcers to take equal measure against such person” — which immediately resulted in several police executions of thieves, a story that never seemed to get much attention outside of kenya, perhaps b/c u.s. officials & contractors have been working closely w/ the kenyan police & civil govt over the years. today i see that michuki’s still taking the fight to the baddies (and those in the way).
Kenya: We Will Wipe Them Out, Warns Michuki

The killings in Mathare came a day after Internal Security minister John Michuki implied that security agents would shoot any suspected Mungiki adherents.
The minister had said in his Kangema constituency, Murang’a District: “We will straighten them and wipe them out. I cannot tell you where those who have been arrested in connection with the recent killings are. What you will be hearing is there will be a burial tomorrow.”
And he added: “If you use a gun to kill you are also required to be executed.”
He spoke after police rounded up more than 400 Mungiki suspects following the beheading of a matatu driver and conductor on Friday morning.
In his Madaraka Day address on Friday, President Kibaki ordered security chiefs to deal ruthlessly with killer gangs.
The President spoke just hours after the killing of two chiefs in Central Province.

“the killings” refered to in the first paragraph is this
Kenya: Twenty Two Shot Dead in Crackdown On Criminal Gang

Twenty two people were shot dead in a sting night-long operation by the paramilitary General Service Unit officers at Nairobi’s Mathare Valley slums on Monday night.
According to official police reports 21 people were gunned down after “hours of shoot out between the law enforcers and violent gangs in the area.”
It excludes two policemen who had been shot dead by a lone gunman earlier, prompting the operation which started at around 9 pm to 8 am yesterday.
But residents claimed 25 people had been killed adding that most of the people shot dead were flushed out of their houses by the police.
The operation was concentrated at Mlango Kubwa and Kosovo sections of the extensive slum and involved more than 100 police officers.
Mlango Kubwa is a well known stronghold for members of the outlawed Mungiki sect. Other residents, who were killed were caught up in the operation as they returned back to their homes in the night.
Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said it was unfortunate that some residents had died in the crackdown adding that not all victims were members of the criminal gang.
He said: “It’s very unfortunate they all had to die but its because they defied a police operation.”
“They attempted to violently obstruct investigations into the murder of two policemen who were also robbed of their firearms.”
Asked how the residents blocked the operation, Mr Kiraithe said: “Some were in groups and fired at police officers. Also anybody who thinks he can stop police from enforcing the law by using pangas is in for a big surprise.”
Police also announced recovery of three pistols and 17 rounds of ammunition, snuff tobacco and machetes after more than 10 hours of operation.

a hundred cops involved in a crackdown/shootout that kills 22-25 people, and all they recover is three pistols, 17 rounds of ammo, & some pangas.
according to accounts by the resident’s, it was very rough night

Tension remained high in Mathare slums yesterday in the aftermath of the shooting to death of two policemen by suspected Mungiki members on Monday night.
Scores of residents have fled from their homes amid claims that they were harassed during a night-long operation mounted by police and General Service Unit officers in the area, following the shooting of the policemen.
…
During Monday night’s operation by the police, scores of residents accused some police officers of “excessive brutality and engaging in a looting spree” by stealing mobile phones, cash, watches and other valuables.
Girls and women who sought anonymity, also claimed that they were raped during the operation. [link]

..some residents say the area was peaceful until two police officers were killed on [Monday] night.
They however say they have been living in fear after leaflets were circulated in the area by Mungiki. According to the leaflets, the[y] wanted 200 human heads from a particular community living in the area.
Residents also say the outlawed group had managed to control thefts and muggings in the area to the extent that people could walk freely in the dead of the night.
However, life has not been the same since the officers were gunned down. At midnight on Monday, a large contingent descended on the slum, clobbering everyone in sight. For the next two hours, those who delayed in opening their doors were beaten senseless as the police demanded they surrender the guns they had.
“I know there are some people who could no wake up to go to work after the beatings. Those who could not open immediately will tell you that they went through,” one of the residents said. [“Slum Dwellers Wary After Harrowing Night“, the Nation, June 06, 2007]

again, the police report they recovered three guns.
wtf?

Posted by: b real | Jun 7 2007 4:11 utc | 29

Jim Lobe (on his new blog!) refers to this bill kristol screed on poor little scooters'”go directly to jail” draw — as a matter of bill kristol slapping george bush with his glove.

I FEEL TERRIBLE for Scooter Libby’s family. Millions of Americans feel terrible for Scooter Libby’s family. But we can’t do anything about the injustice that has been done. Nor can we do anything to avert a further injustice looming on the horizon–Judge Reggie Walton seems inclined not to let Libby remain free pending appeal.
Unlike the rest of us, however, George W. Bush is president. Article II, Section Two of the Constitution gives him the pardon power. George W. Bush can do something to begin to make up for the injustice a prosecutor appointed by his own administration brought down on Scooter Libby. And he can do something to avert the further injustice of a prison term.
Will Bush pardon Libby? Apparently not–even if it means a man who worked closely with him and sought tirelessly to do what was right for the country goes to prison. Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino, noting that the appeals process was underway, said, “Given that and in keeping with what we have said in the past, the president has not intervened so far in any other criminal matter and he is going to decline to do so now.”
So much for loyalty, or decency, or courage. For President Bush, loyalty is apparently a one-way street; decency is something he’s for as long as he doesn’t have to take any
risks in its behalf; and courage–well, that’s nowhere to be seen. Many of us used to respect President Bush. Can one respect him still?

I just had to post this, partly because of the LOL hypocrisy of kristal, and I just can’t get the image of bill kristol with that prissy sneer of his, slapping bush with a white glove.
Lobe also alludes to the fact that this is a language bush might respond to (like he does for cheney) who must go through boxes and boxes of white gloves.

Posted by: anna missed | Jun 7 2007 5:10 utc | 31

Rights Groups Call for End to Secret Detentions

Six human rights groups on Wednesday released a list of 39 people they believe have been secretly imprisoned by the United States and whose whereabouts are unknown, calling on the Bush administration to abandon such detentions.
The list, compiled from news media reports, interviews and government documents, includes terrorism suspects and those thought to have ties to militant groups. In some suspects’ cases, officials acknowledge that they were at one time in United States custody. In others, the rights groups say, there is other evidence, sometimes sketchy, that they had at least once been in American hands.
…

Posted by: b | Jun 7 2007 5:47 utc | 33

No doubt annie, didn’t see it, but the talking heads all had the vapors over how critical of bush the debating debutantes were last night. Trouble is (for them) this gentrified glove slapping says as much about the slapper as the slapped. That it’s all just an inside elitist parlor game.
What I’m not sure of is Lobe’s assertion that bush might be inclined to change behavior because of such criticism (from kristol), or whether it will just make him more obstinate.

Posted by: anna missed | Jun 7 2007 8:00 utc | 35

Official: Cheney Urged Wiretaps

Vice President Cheney told Justice Department officials that he disagreed with their objections to a secret surveillance program during a high-level White House meeting in March 2004, a former senior Justice official told senators yesterday.
The meeting came one day before White House officials tried to get approval for the same program from then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, who lay recovering from surgery in a hospital, according to former deputy attorney general James B. Comey.
Comey’s disclosures, made in response to written questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicate that Cheney and his aides were more closely involved than previously known in a fierce internal battle over the legality of the warrantless surveillance program.
…
Comey said that Cheney’s office later blocked the promotion of a senior Justice Department lawyer, Patrick Philbin, because of his role in raising concerns about the surveillance.

Posted by: b | Jun 7 2007 8:20 utc | 37

with regards to b’s #37:
“Scientia Est Potentia”
Bingo!
and as another commenter says, “The real question of the century: Why would the Democrats hesitate to move against Cheney, unless his first move was to turn his wonderful spying machine against members of Congress and the Senate? Do you think there is any chance that this is what so horrified John Ashcroft?”

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 7 2007 14:55 utc | 39

Fighting for their rights and for Iraq’s future:
Oil strikers met by Iraqi troops

On the third day of an oil strike in southern Iraq, the Iraqi military has surrounded oil workers and the prime minister has issued arrest warrants for the union leaders, sparking an outcry from supporters and international unions.
“This will not stop us because we are defending people’s rights,” said Hassan Jumaa Awad, president of IFOU. As of Wednesday morning, when United Press International spoke to Awad via mobile phone in Basra at the site of one of the strikes, no arrests had been made, “but regardless, the arrest warrant is still active.”
(snip)
The demands include union entry to negotiations over the oil law they fear will allow foreign oil companies too much access to Iraq’s oil, as well as a variety of improved working conditions.
(snip)

Posted by: Alamet | Jun 7 2007 17:27 utc | 41

the extreme police crackdowns/killings in the nairobi slum district mathare are continuing (see #29, 30)
Kenya: Eleven Killed in Mungiki Crackdown

Police shot and killed at least eleven people today in Mathare in the third day of a crackdown against members of the outlawed Mungiki sect. More than 200 people were arrested in the crackdown.
The eleven were killed as the GSU police unit carried out a day-long crackdown on the sect members. A Nation Reporter at the scene counted nine bodies that lay in pools of blood.
The crackdown came two days after two police officers were ambushed and killed by suspected Mungiki adherents.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, the Kasarani OCPD Paul Ruto confirmed that eleven people had been killed and 200 others arrested.
Recovered from the scene were four guns, two whose serial numbers matched those reported to have been stolen from two policemen killed on Monday night.

another rpt puts the number of dead today at 15
Police slay 15 more in Mathare slums

NAIROBI, June 7 – At least 15 people have been killed on Thursday afternoon in a massive mop-up operation in Mathare slum as police officers searched for Mungiki adherents.
Officer in Charge of Operations in Nairobi Julius Ndegwa is leading hundreds of armed police officers conducting a door-to-door search in the slum, which police claim to be a major hub of the murderous Mungiki gang.
Our reporter witnessed youths rounded up, while women and children lay down in groups of between 100 and 200, under police guard, as other officers searched their houses.
Several houses were demolished while others went up in flames.
Kasarani Divisional Police Boss Paul Ruto said they had recovered five firearms so far, including some guns stolen from officers who were killed by Mungiki members on Monday night.
An estimated 1,000 police officers were said to be on site.

some current photos on the first couple of screens

Posted by: b real | Jun 7 2007 19:09 utc | 43

A good piece on Iran by right-winger Peter (brother of Christopher) Hitchens: Past the Paranoia

It concerns me now as I write about a recent visit to Iran, the country that has been designated as the next official enemy of what is still called “The West.” I came away so completely opposed to this silly hostility that I fear I am in danger of stirring up apathy, like the people who spread the myth of the cardboard Panzers. I am a Cold War veteran who believes in deterrence and accepts that there was a genuine Soviet threat. I am an incorrigible Zionist. I think my own country has allowed its armed forces to become lamentably weak. But I think the difference between the official account of Iran as sinister menace and the Iran I experienced is so great that it is a sort of duty to draw attention to it.
…

Recommended!

Posted by: b | Jun 7 2007 20:13 utc | 45

Bernhard @ 44,
Why threaten them with arrest and the military?
Because the union is outspokenly opposed to the occupation’s darling Oil Law. From their statement back in December:

We strongly reject the privatization of our oil wealth, as well as production sharing agreements, and there is no room for discussing this matter. This is the demand of the Iraqi street, and the privatization of oil is a red line that may not be crossed.

(However, I just noticed that the Karl Marx Was Right blog refers to the union as a “puppet”, and says it was established after the US invasion of Iraq and the dissolution of Iraq’s larger union. I never came across any report to that effect, but KMWR is a blog I think very highly of, so best to keep that possibility in mind.)
And, everyone, Badger is back.

Posted by: Alamet | Jun 7 2007 23:28 utc | 47

the new war czar sd ” iraq has a full agenda at the moment”, what intellectual giants, what master of military strategy
they get dumber by the hour

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jun 8 2007 0:34 utc | 49

re b’s post #44 on oil workers strike. Maliki’s attitude is prob. do what we tell you, or fuck you we’ll bust yr. union & bring in the pakistani slaves. Same thing they’ve been doing here at home for 2 decades, substitution latins for pakistanis. Probably work as well as firing the entire army, which freed them up to become full time partisans.

Posted by: jj | Jun 8 2007 4:13 utc | 51

America the Beautiful.
…or what would Jesus Jack Bauer do?

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 8 2007 6:15 utc | 53

Krugman (liberated version) Lies, Sighs and Politics

In Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate, Mitt Romney completely misrepresented how we ended up in Iraq. Later, Mike Huckabee mistakenly claimed that it was Ronald Reagan’s birthday.
Guess which remark The Washington Post identified as the “gaffe of the night”?
Folks, this is serious. If early campaign reporting is any guide, the bad media habits that helped install the worst president ever in the White House haven’t changed a bit.
…

Posted by: b | Jun 8 2007 8:38 utc | 55

re Noirette’s post. The key test to see if it’s Elite policy to create a neo-feudal police state, or the police state component is the expendable flourish of the au courant transient sadists, is to see if JackAss Party plans to laugh off the GWOT. Soros & John Edwards have both urged this. Soros was shipped back to Europe last month to start a European CFR to facilitate the World State of by & for the Predators under cover of “global warming”; Edwards was trashed by others at recent JackAss Party Debate, which tells us that Police State is here to stay, w/minor modifications. They’ll prob. shut it’s Globe Theater, Guantanamo, in favor of a better concealed gulag in more distant lands & do a bit of fine-tuning, but they’re fascists as well….

Posted by: jj | Jun 8 2007 8:47 utc | 57

McClatchy’s Joe Galloway: Bush mantra: Be afraid, be very afraid

The Democrats in Congress wring their hands, gnash their teeth and wail that there was nothing they could do but cave in and vote to continue funding the war in Iraq. After all, that crafty George W. Bush had maneuvered them into a corner and they didn’t have the votes to override his veto.
Horse manure.
…
Enough is enough. We have lived for more than six years in fear of our neighbors, fear of a world turned hostile by the words and actions of our own leaders, fear of a future that once was a bright and shining dream.
What we must do is give up fear for the 600-odd days that remain in this president’s lease on the White House. As those old bumper stickers declared: NO FEAR! We can be, we must be, alert, on guard and observant because there are evildoers in this world. We need not be foolhardy – but we must be clear-eyed and clear-headed and determined that never again will we be manipulated by a crew of cynical politicians who know only how to hate, not how to love.
No fear!

Posted by: b | Jun 8 2007 9:34 utc | 59

David Leigh’s original article on the corruption that is Goldsmith from the front page of today’s Guardian (June 8, 2007).
Plus the Guardian’s BAe feature in full.
Attorney-general Lord Goldsmith, the Brit answer to Abu Gonzales.

Posted by: Dismal Science | Jun 8 2007 11:49 utc | 61

response to jj at 57,
it is all very murky. On the one hand, a police state keeps the peace and solves many problems; it is also expensive and cumbersome; on the other, when the things go west entirely, an Iraq or Palestine ‘model’ is good – let the ppl kill each other. (Say.)
So that is another hesitation, contradiction. What will prevail I suppose nobody knows and those on the top don’t care, or need, to sort it out. Global warming, or climate change, as the new mantra suits everyone, as it distracts from other issues, provides a scary foil, doomerism to latch onto, insuperable problems, etc. etc.

Posted by: Noirette | Jun 8 2007 13:22 utc | 63

speaking of problems in congress, nigerian noble laureate wole soyinka had the deck stacked against him thursday afternoon in the house affairs committee subcommittee on african and global health’s hearing titled “nigeria at a crossroads: elections, legitimacy, and a way forward,” set up to address the issue of how the u.s. should act toward nigeria given the grossly flawed national elections last april.
soyinka was the only nigerian witness. the others were the asst secretary for african affairs jendayi frazer and the presidents of the international republican institute (IRI) and the national democratic institute (NDI), which are “democracy assistance” partners in u.s. efforts to manipulate foreign govts through elections etc.
soyinka clearly stated in his testimony that “[i]t is asking too much of the Nigerian people, who have undergone years of brutal and arbitrary rule to accept, without reservation, this latest assault on their sovereignty under a democratic guise.” since the whole election was a farce, it much cancelled, the electoral commission (which worked closely w/ the “democracy assistance” folks) needs to be dissolved, and a truly independent body must be created to set up new elections. to not do so it sure to lead to widescale chaos, quite possibly a new civil war.

When a grave injustice has been perpetrated – in this case, when unelected governors, senators, assemblymen, local councilors – some of them known gangsters, extortionists and killers on police record – when such elements are imposed on a people, the points of explosion are multiplied, and uncoordinated. I am speaking here of a wildfire effect, each fire feeding off the other from distances, and fuelled by differing sources of combustion, then merging into a major conflagration.

soyinka continues,

The international community must play its role by treating all those implicated in this treasonable conduct – the highest treason being the subversion of a people’s sovereignty – as international pariahs, no matter how high the regard in which they were once held on the international circuit. Of all the forms of corruption that afflict a community, political corruption is the most lethal, since those who violate the sacred mandate of political choice lose regard for human lives and hold the people in contempt. Such vectors of political corruption must be taught that there is a price to pay for the abuse of power and the subversion of political system. Nearly a hundred lives were lost over the Nigerian electoral exercise, needlessly and avoidably. Responsibility for that crime must be assigned, and punishment becomes a responsibility that belongs to all who value democracy and advocate the dignity of peoples as manifested both in the right to choose their leaders painlessly and in peaceful conditions.

unfortunately, as i said, the deck was stacked against soyinka & nigerians.
frazer testified that, instead, discounting the election and setting up an interim govt would fuel conditions for a coup, and the u.s. would work w/ the new govt b/c

…the stakes are too great to walk away from Nigeria. And in our judgment, the best way to nurture Nigeria’s fragile democracy is for the United States to engage with them on the very issues at risk: political reform, regional security, and economic opportunity.
Nigeria remains vitally important to U.S. security, democracy, trade, and energy policy needs and objectives. Its government remains one of our most dependable allies on the continent on a wide array of diplomatic initiatives from such as Darfur, peacekeeping, counter-terrorism, and HIV/AIDS. As an up and coming emerging market of 140 million people, Nigeria welcomes U.S. investment and technology and is one of the world’s largest importers of U.S. wheat. Nigeria accounts for twelve percent of U.S. oil imports and as of March, it passed Saudi Arabia and Venezuela to become the third largest exporter of crude oil to the United States.

she then goes on to talk a bunch of nonsense.
the IRI guy worries about the image problem they’re faced w/ as the make their “way forward”/moveon

As a result, Nigeria, a key strategic partner of the United States, will be run by a man who came to power by questionable means. While the United States must work with President Yar’Adua, we must not repeat the mistakes of 1999 and 2003. The message that Nigeria received following those elections was that the appearance of elections would be enough to satisfy international observers and foreign governments. But, the Nigerian people, and the world, will expect more from the Nigerian government in the elections of 2011. While the public response to April’s travesty has been relatively muted, two failed elections in a row may give rise to greater public hostility in a country that is already a tinderbox poised to blow over ethnic, religious, or economic conflict.

and the NDI guy opines that

Many voices are calling for cancellation and re-run of the elections, but simply organizing new elections within the current electoral framework would likely produce a similar, flawed outcome.

and goes on to outline a few recommendations for the new (not really) nigerian govt to address reform.
it’s obvious that the elections will always be flawed so long as foreign meddlers are allowed more input into the process than the actual people that live & vote there.
but, as frazer said, the u.s. position is that “the stakes are too great to walk away from Nigeria.”

Posted by: b real | Jun 8 2007 19:40 utc | 65

& i laugh like luanda when i hear the media speak of three ringed circuses as if it is not of the whole bent ballet

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jun 8 2007 20:20 utc | 67

[comment deleted b.]

Posted by: slothrop | Jun 8 2007 22:10 utc | 69

Thanks for nothing slotrop, breaking up the page.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jun 8 2007 22:26 utc | 71

the transcripts don’t really do justice to the hearing i mentioned in #65 above. wole soyinka actually got a lot of time to eloquently speak to (better yet, instruct) the members. if anyone’s interested, the webcast video for the entire hearing is avail here, though i’d skip the first 1hr 7 minutes, which consists of the first panel, being only frazer (who takes up quite a bit of space), reading poorly from her written testimony, etc…
though soyinka steals the show, so to speak, unfortunately the premises that much of the discussion was based on provided a good indication that little will come from all this. no mention was made of the $15 million that USAID put into a nigerian “election and political processes support program”; instead members phrased their questions along the lines of “should the u.s. get involved in another country’s elections?” puh-leez! and, other than soyinka, in the end, nobody objected to recognizing the new president as a legitimate leader.

Posted by: b real | Jun 8 2007 22:37 utc | 73

I have been thinking a great deal of nietzsche since my beloved France seems determined to transform itself into bavaria
I have been thinking how much the darkness of our epoch should lead us to the works of nietzsche & of cioran but i maladroitment find myself moving further into marx rather than away from him
I have enormous respect for nietzsche, not so for cioran except perhaps as a stylist but in nietzche i find as i have always found in althusser – the terrible weight of thinking & of the real risk of thinkiing
& how much in the dark times the talentof a philologist is perhaps wasted when the words that pass so easily from the lips of the state’s thinker – whether they are fukuyama or finkelkraut ars o vulgarly wrought & which do not require close reading
the paradox of this is the self elected elite thinkers like strauss schmiit or even karl popper & perhaps a george steiner have wreaked such havoc on words & their meaning that they no longer possess the sacred power as they did when nietzsche wrote
who can ever forget their first reading of old friederich – for me it was at 16 – perhaps at the time of my most maximalist positions where i wrote essays in defence of stalin provocatively but still with a trusting heart – for the organisation i belonged to – niezsche hit me like a perfect storm of reality & conscience. It was twilight of the idols & i think beyond good & evil. I remember it troubled me so much that i sought mild anxiety drug from a doctor comrade. It troubled me deeply because if marxism is what i wanted to believe it is nietzsche who i actually lived
i think i have done battle with that old devil since then
i was never troubled with the charlatan heidegger whom i read only a little later & reread in the 1990’s. for me he was like james joyce – an inevitable conclusion of a series of steps. The western mind & its paralysis & its fascination with that paralysis
nietzsche struck me like malcolm lowry – with the interrogation – how the fuck did a person write that ? – they are essentially surprises – they invite such abyss into thinking that they necessarily disorder it & for good reasons
i was struck too by its beauty – by its incredible beauty & i was struck by how close his thinking is to breathing in the way that great jazz is also very close to a heightened form of listening & breathing
& i think it is that, that in the dark times – when all you want is sleep, yes the sleep of reason – that it is essential to to risk in your listening & breathing
to admit the terrible times we are living in. & they are terrible times. A time of such crudity & violence that seems to destroy naturally any notion of beauty but i am reminded of the art of another poster, anna missed – that were posted here – the ‘ghost rodeo’ – that are at once ‘beautiful’ & ‘truthful
that are at once consolation & an impetus to engage
& i am thinking that that is the role nietzsche has played in my life as a sacred text of consolation but also as a means of rethinking & reworking what engagement is
i am sure that is why i post here at moon – it is something even 10 years ago that i would have thought inimaginable – & i have lived a public life all my life but there is something in the nature of what we do here which is revealing in a way ‘performing’ is not
& there is something in what both nietzsche & vladimir maiakoskïi are said to have done – in turin one day nietzsche this man without pity held the head of a horse that had fallen on the ice in his arms & wept, mayakovskï wrote a poem about his experience which is the same – he holds the horses head in his arms & weeps – it is a simple but extraordinary poem about humanity & wonder, pity & perhaps the necessary violence to change terrible situations
& perhaps that is what i try to do when i post to hold the horses head in my arms

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jun 9 2007 1:17 utc | 75

From the German Press Agency (dpa), via the tiny Backnanger Kreiszeitung in south Germany, via the excellent Andreas Hauss: US agents tested G8 security by “smuggling explosives”.

NEWS TICKER
Americans tested G8 security by “smuggling explosives”.
07.06.2007 10:36
Rostock (dpa)
According to information provided to dpa [Deutsche Presse-Agentur], US security forces tested security at the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm by transporting a small amount of explosive material.
Dpa reports that the plastic explosives were hidden in a suitcase, and were discovered by German officers when they stopped a car at a checkpoint. Although only a “very small amount” of material was involved, the alarm was raised following an X-ray [examination of the suitcase]. The persons in the car, who were dressed in civilian clothing, then disclosed their identity as US security agents.

The perfect alibi. Never to be questioned.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 9 2007 1:43 utc | 77

rick
i think of you as a good friend & i think that is precisely the point – we do meet here – with an intimacy that is perplexing at times

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jun 9 2007 2:29 utc | 79

Oiling the wheels of war: smuggling becomes the real economy of Iraq

The Ashur smuggle oil. For years under Saddam Hussein, they worked as mere guards at Abu Flus terminal at the mouth of the Gulf. But as the state collapsed after the US and British invasion in 2003 and economic anarchy set in, they took over the port and became the quasi-official authority there. Never have the family’s fortunes flourished as in the last three years. They built their own underground oil tanks in their farms, where fuel tankers empty their cargoes to be pumped later into small pontoons. A cousin of the family estimates that they make about $5m (£2.5m) a week from smuggling oil.
When another tribe tried to take over the ports, the family hired gunmen from outside Basra to defend its fiefdom. “We were paying $250,000 every week for gunmen just to make sure that we keep our terminals and preserve our rights,” said the cousin, Abu Harith.
…
To insulate their fortune, the clan uses the protection of Fadhila, the ruling party in Basra, which for more than a year ran the oil ministry in Baghdad. But it also takes care to have good relations with the rival Mahdi army.
Abu Harith described a typical operation: “I took a cleric with me, he was one of Moqtada’s [al-Sadr, head of the Mahdi army] people, we ran into a police checkpoint, he rolled down the window and told the policeman ‘we are on duty, from this car to the last car behind the tankers.’ And that was it. We emptied the fuel into private underground tanks for the Ashur family.

Posted by: b | Jun 9 2007 9:36 utc | 81

In response (tangentially) to Rgiap on France…You all know I suppose that Kouchner (nominally a socialist), ze French Doktor, has been nominated Minister of Foreign Affairs, possibly the most important post after Sarkozy the First himself.
The expat French right wingers around here are very pleased: it shows openness, non party politics, nominating the most competent, Kouchner is a fabulous MAN, experienced, what a loss for the Socialist party (snicker snicker) – it is true he often gets a high rank in the ‘most pop French public figures’ – but he has never been elected to anything. (footnote missing.) When I ask Why not the Ministry of Health? the answer is, oh the specific Ministry itself does not matter, you only need the right people: which made me realize that the French have no expression equivalent to moral compass. !
Diana Johnstone, a historian I respect, has written a profile; for Counter Punch:
Sarko and the Ghosts of May 1968
link
The links I provide are often trivial (eg. wht rlly hppned wrt KSM abv) but this informs about the future.

Posted by: Noirette | Jun 9 2007 12:37 utc | 83

Rgiap: “I have been thinking a great deal of nietzsche since my beloved France seems determined to transform itself into Bavaria”
I worry you will soon prefer Bavaria the way things seem to be headed. To expand on rgaip’s and Noirette’s posts, what follows are somewhat related links that I have come across in the last day or two.
For one thing, and very similar to the U.S. popular political experiences with Bush, often people need to be more careful what they wish for. And of course, sometimes the price of fulfilling one’s wishes is very high indeed.
There is a stark difference of information in Noirette’s link (post #83) of Diane Johnstone’s account of Kouchner than what is found in the BBC article of May 18nth. As usual, Noirette’s insight is very valuable.
Not totally unrelated, yesterday I read that all persons in Dubai, will be iris-scanned for identification.
I worry some here may take offence for me using these words from Jacques Cheminade, but I share such worries of what may come to pass in France:

The labeling and political surveillance of French citizens, by the multiplication of surveillance cameras, the integration of the STIC (local police) and JUDEX (national police) files, the extension of DNA labeling (which is actually contemplated for the case of two kids who are less than 12 years old), the use of biometric passports and the detection of “high risk” children. A man who, in this situation, believes in genetic determinism is a danger to public liberties.

Just as with the Patriot Act here in the States, there is reason for much worry about what the future holds for all of us.

Posted by: Rick | Jun 9 2007 14:47 utc | 85

from the gay science:

In media vita [In mid-life].- No, life has not disappointed me! On the contrary, I find it truer, more desirable and mysterious every year,-ever since the day when the great liberator came to me, the idea that life could be an experiment of the seeker for knowledge-and not a duty, not a calamity, not a trickery!- And knowledge itself: let it be something else for others, for example, a bed to rest on, or the way to such a bed, or a diversion, or a form of leisure,-for me it is a world of dangers and victories in which heroic feelings, too, find places to dance and play. “Life as a means to knowledge”-with this principle in one’s heart one can live not only boldly but even gaily and laugh gaily, too! And who knows how to laugh anyway and live well if he does not first know a good deal about war and victory?

it’s the bit about domination as a virtue that is troublesome in nietzsche.

Posted by: slothrop | Jun 9 2007 16:32 utc | 87

should have read breal’s link before commentin g. sorry. recently saw OTPOR: THE FIGHT TO SAVE SERBIA (2001). really interesting doc available on the intertubes.

Posted by: slothrop | Jun 9 2007 16:49 utc | 89

When will the USA move from a Decidership to a Democracy of the people? (of, by and for)

Posted by: pb | Jun 9 2007 19:15 utc | 91

From debka.com
Produced by the Israel Armament Development Authority Rafael as a defensive system, See-Shoot uses sensors, aerial drones and surveillance aircraft to feed data to fortified command centers which transmit them to towers from which weapons automatically open fire on approaching targets.
I only hope Laura Ingraham doesn’t read about this and get any ideas for the U.S. borders!

Posted by: Rick | Jun 9 2007 21:53 utc | 93

More on DeFreitas as being “trained” at Evergreen for those interested.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jun 10 2007 1:56 utc | 95

Uncle, who was it that owns an airport catering company? Was it Neil Bush …
the JFK story has me thinking about how convenient it would be to have a company that services airliners, say if you wanted to bring things on and off the plane without having to bother with all that security and red tape.

Posted by: jonku | Jun 10 2007 3:44 utc | 97

Who’s Pulling the Strings? Behind Venezuela’s “Student Rebellion”

That the “student leaders” are tied to the opposition is far from controversial: for example, spokesperson Yon Goicochea is a member of Primero Justicia and the aptly-named Stalin González belonged until recently to the strangest of opposition organizations, Bandera Roja. BR is a nominally Marxist-Leninist group which made the unlikely transition from a respectable guerrilla organization to the attack dogs of the far right, claiming to use the opposition as a vehicle to topple the fake communism of Chávez and institute a true dictatorship of the proletariat. But González recently revealed the extent of his opportunism by joining Rosales and Un Nuevo Tiempo.
But the contours of the opposition’s hands-off strategy wouldn’t be fully clear until the revelation of a taped phone conversation in which Un Nuevo Tiempo leader Alfonso Marquina spoke of the need to remain in the background, but to pull the strings regardless: “Let’s mobilize all the kids We have a strategy as an organization Let’s mobilize all the kids, because you know [UCV student leader] Stalin [González] is our vice president here in Caracas Let’s mobilize the kids from the Catholic [University] We’ve decided that the politicians won’t intervene, that we’ll leave it to the kids in their natural environment. We’ll give them support, stick them in trucks If I go out there, they’ll say it’s the politicians that are calling the kids out”
“The only thing that can save us in this situation is if something extraordinary happens,” replies Elías, an advisor to RCTV head Marcel Granier, on the leaked tape. It’s comments like this that lead the Vice President of the National Assembly Desiree Santos to argue that the political opposition to Chávez was “looking for a death” among the students, to “repeat the actions of 2002” in which pre-meditated deaths were inserted into a pre-fabricated media strategy to overthrow Chávez.
Santos continues: “We want to denounce today a campaign which intends to convince the country that these student protests are spontaneous, civil, peaceful, and democratic, but behind them there lies an entire conspiratorial apparatus. They are using these kids as cannon fodder…” It was little surprise, then, that when a student was indeed killed (but under circumstances unrelated to the protests), the opposition press immediately ran with the story, only later rectifying their erroneous reports that she had been shot by police. This convenient misreporting even led to the story reaching the pages of Spain’s El País.

Posted by: b real | Jun 10 2007 4:20 utc | 99