Gates: Congress should find way to shut Guantanamo

Reuters:
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday Congress should look for ways to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay... read on

All Bush Scandals Lead to Rove

Democrats.com:

If you trace any Bush scandal to its source, you'll find yourself eye-to-eye with Karl Rove. To pick just a few out of today's headlines:

The U.S. Attorney scandal? Karl Rove.

The G.S.A. powerpoint? Karl Rove.

The Pat Tillman coverup? Karl Rove.

Of course, these are just the tip of the iceberg.

Follow the E-mails

Sidney Blumenthal:

The discovery of a previously unknown treasure chest of e-mails buried by the Bush administration may prove to be as informative as Nixon's secret White House tapes.

For six years, Bush had a Republican Congress whipped into obedience -- and it provided him his only experience in legislative affairs. The rise of the Democratic Congress, reviving the powers of oversight and investigation, is a shock to his system. read on...

Income Gap Between Rich and Poor has Increased Significantly in U.S.

NY Times:
According to the report, new analyses of 2005 tax data shows thatthe top 300,000 Americans collectively enjoyed almost as much incomeas the bottom 150 million Americans.

Per person, the top group received 440 times as much as theaverage person in the bottom half earned, nearly doubling the gapfrom 1980.

You can read the full article here

White House Linked to Duke Cunningham Scandal

TPM:
Evidence linking the White House directly to the Duke Cunningham scandal. No wonder U.S. Attorney Carol Lam was fired.

From the Duke Cunningham scandal to Jack Abramoff; all of the federal prosecutors that were fired were working on high profile corruption cases involving republicans, many of which lead right to the White House.

News Short from Iraq

CFAP:
Shiite police and militants, "enraged by massive truck bombings," went on a "revenge spree against Sunni residents" in the town of Tal-Afar, killing as many as 60 people.

Operation Bite - April 6 Sneak Attack By US Forces On Iran Planned Russian Military Sources Warn

Russian news source:

General Ivashov Calls For Emergency Session Of UN Security Council To Ward Off Looming US Aggression

WASHINGTON DC -- The long awaited US military attack on Iran is now on track for the first week of April, specifically for 4 AM on April 6, the Good Friday opening of Easter weekend, writes the well-known Russian journalist Andrei Uglanov in the Moscow weekly "Argumenty Nedeli." Uglanov cites Russian military experts close to the Russian General Staff for his account.

You can get more info here and here

How Bush helped the GOP commit suicide

Salon:
A new study shows that unless the Democrats self-destruct, they could walk into the White House in '08 -- and might hold it for years.

To read the full article click here

Dailykos: What's Bush's Game?

Kagro X:

"OK, so George Bush is going to defy Congressional subpoenas in the investigation into the dismissal of the eight U.S. Attorneys.

What does that mean?

Realize that the resolution of this stand-off will determine the extent to which the Congress is able to investigate everything that's still on their plate. If they lose this showdown, they lose their leverage in investigating NSA spying, the DeLay/Abramoff-financed Texas redistricting, Cheney's Energy Task Force, the political manipulation of science, the Plame outing... everything.

And that's why Bush is playing it this way."

Bush Official Admits Censoring Warming Report For Political Reasons

AP:

Philip Cooney, former chief of staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, acknowledged at a House hearing that some of the changes he made were "to align these communications with the administration's stated policy" on climate change.

The extent of Cooney's editing of government climate reports first surfaced in 2005. Shortly thereafter, Cooney, a former oil industry lobbyist, left the White House to work at Exxon Mobil Corp. read on....

Plame: I felt like I had been hit in the gut

AP:

Says White House treated her CIA identity 'recklessly' for political reasons

"It was a terrible irony that administration officials were the ones who destroyed my cover," she told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Full coverage here

The Army is ordering injured troops to go to Iraq

Salon:
At Fort Benning, soldiers who were classified as medically unfit to fight are now being sent to war. Is this an isolated incident or a trend?

As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor, according to medical records. read on...

Iraqi's Fighting Al Qaeda

Guardian UK:

Video: Iraqis themselves are turning on al-Qaida. To watch the video click here

Let us not forget that Al Qaeda was not in Iraq until we invaded. The invasion of Iraq has actually aided Al Qaeda in their pursuit of new recruits.

GOP senator breaks ranks, calls for firing of Gonzales

AP:
WASHINGTON — Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire on Wednesday became the first Republican in Congress to call for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' dismissal, hours after President Bush expressed confidence in his embattled Cabinet officer. read on...

‘Loyalty’ to Bush and Gonzales Was Factor in Prosecutors’ Firings, E-Mail Shows

NY Times:
Shortly after Mr. Bush’s second term began in January 2005, Ms. Miers proposed dismissing all 93 serving federal prosecutors, part of a broad review of political appointees. The Justice Department and Mr. Rove rejected that plan as impractical. But her proposal set in motion the series of events that led to December’s smaller-scale housecleaning and a major black eye for the White House. read on...

45,000-member evangelical group breaks ranks with Bush administration on torture

Rawstory:
The National Association of Evangelicals, representing roughly 45,000 churches across the U.S. endorsed a declaration against torture put together by Evangelicals for Human Rights Tuesday - an organization of 17 evangelical scholars, in a striking break from the Bush Administration's policy.

"Tragically, documented cases of torture and inhumane and cruel behaviour have occurred at various sites in the war on terror, and current law opens procedural loopholes for more to continue," the evangelicals' statement declares. read on...

Protests scenes from Bush's Latin American Tour

Truthout:
March 13, 2007 In Bogata, Columbia, a demonstrator kneels in front of riot police during protests against George Bush's visit. About a mile away from the presidential palace that was the site of Bush's meeting with President Alvaro Uribe, some 2,000 protesters chanted "Down with Bush."

White House implicated in firings, Democrats say

CNN:
Democrats are examining e-mails they say prove the White House was far more involved in the firings of U.S. attorneys than it has acknowledged. The e-mails between the Department of Justice and White House were handed on Tuesday to congressional committees investigating the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and whether there was political motivation behind the dismissals. read on...

So you think you live in a democracy?

Guardian UK:
The US and Britain are falling far behind in meeting the conditions of genuine democracy.

You can read the full article here

Firefighters Union Blasts Rudy Giuliani

Indymedia:

In a draft letter, the International Association of Fire Fighters criticize the former New York City mayor for cutting back on the number of firefighters searching the rubble of Ground Zero for the remains of other firefighters.

The letter reads in part: "Many people consider Rudy Giuliani 'America's Mayor,' and many of our members who don't yet know the real story, may also have a positive view of him. This letter is intended to make all of our members aware of the egregious acts Mayor Giuliani committed against our members, our fallen on 9/11, and our New York City union officers following that horrific day."

You can watch the CNN report on this here

General Eaton: “Republican Congress worst thing that’s happened to US Army and Marine Corps”

Eaton:
"We've got this thing that so many military believe that Republican administrations are good for the military. That is rarely the case. And, we have to get a message through to every soldier, every family member, every friend of soldiers that the Republican party, the Republican dominated Congress has absolutely been the worst thing that's happened to the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps."

Click Here to watch the video at C&L

Legal expert: President Bush may have ordered torture of terror suspects

I have two words for you: BYBEE MEMOS! This needs to be investigated. Turley is being careful here, but there is more than enough evidence already public that implicates Bush in authorizing torture. Congress, now that it is actually exercising its oversight responsibilities, should investigate this.

Rawstory:
"It seems likely now that the president may have not only known about the torture program, but may have ordered it," Turley told the AP. "That would be truly otherwordly, where the United States could be accused of running a torture program."

There is an AP Video included in the link above.

NM GOP Chair Implicates Rove In Atty Firing Scandal

McClathy Washington Bureau:
Presidential advisor Karl Rove and at least one other member of the White House political team were urged by the New Mexico Republican party chairman to fire the state's U.S. attorney because of dissatisfaction in part with his failure to indict Democrats in a voter fraud investigation in the battleground election state.

"Is anything ever going to happen to that guy?" Weh said he asked Rove at a White House holiday event that month.

"He's gone," Rove said, according to Weh.

One can only imagine how Rove will escape accountability on this one. He seems very adept at getting himself out of prosecutorial pinches when he's violated the law. There is a black hole where Karl Rove's ethics should be.

NY Times Calls for Firing of Atty General Alberto Gonzales

NY Times:

During the hearing on his nomination as attorney general, Alberto Gonzales said he understood the difference between the job he held — President Bush’s in-house lawyer — and the job he wanted, which was to represent all Americans as their chief law enforcement officer and a key defender of the Constitution. Two years later, it is obvious Mr. Gonzales does not have a clue about the difference.

He has never stopped being consigliere to Mr. Bush’s imperial presidency. If anyone, outside Mr. Bush’s rapidly shrinking circle of enablers, still had doubts about that, the events of last week should have erased them.

Angry Crowds Hunt Bush as Protests mark start of Latin American tour

Guardian UK:
· Brazilians take to streets with effigies and abuse
· Presidents cement alliance that many do not want
Some arrived clutching banners telling "Mr Butcher" to go home. Others brought effigies of "The Warlord" dangling miserably from a hangman's noose. A handful dressed up as the grim reaper, while some women paraded through the streets with stickers of George Bush and Adolf Hitler placed tastefully over their nipples.

FBI Repeatedly Violated the Law to Access Phone, Financial Records

Washington Post:
A Justice Department investigation has found pervasive errors in the FBI's use of its power to secretly demand telephone, e-mail and financial records in national security cases, officials with access to the report said yesterday.

Gingrich Admits to Extramarital Affair During Clinton Impeachment

Doesn't impeaching a president over lying about oral sex seem utterly insane, especially now? We currently have a president that lied us into a war, legalized torture, illegally wiretaps citizens, suspended habeas corpus and the list goes on.... and Bush is still in office.

Huffingtonpost:
WASHINGTON — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged he was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group.

Gonzales Yields On Hiring Interim U.S. Attorneys

"One day there will be a new attorney general, maybe sooner rather than later" -Arlen Specter (R-PA)

While you're at it Arlen, why don't you take a look at those torture memo's?

Washington Post:
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales agreed yesterday to change the way U.S. attorneys can be replaced, a reversal in administration policy that came after he was browbeaten by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee still angry over the controversial firings of eight federal prosecutors.

Congressional Hearings Will Be Held on CIA Outing

Firedoglake:
Henry Waxman has just announced that he will hold hearings on the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson's identity. "In addition, the Committee today sent a letter to Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald commending him for his investigation and requesting a meeting to discuss testimony by Mr. Fitzgerald before the Committee." Oh yeah… — JH

Libby Lied, Troops Died

Sidney Blumenthal:
The Scooter Libby verdict is inextricably linked to Iraq: his lies were an attempt to cover up the disingenuous case for war.

Yellowcake Road

Guardian UK/Steve Bell:

The Problem With Pardoning Libby

Newsweek:
President Bush may well pardon Scooter Libby. But he’d have to flout Justice Department guidelines in order to do it.

Compound Used By Nazi's Now Site for CIA Rendition Program

Rawstory:
The complex at Stare Kiejkuty, a Soviet-era compound once used by German intelligence in World War II, is best known as having been the only Russian intelligence training school to operate outside the Soviet Union. Its prominence in the Soviet era suggests that it may have been the facility first identified – but never named – when the Washington Post’s Dana Priest revealed the existence of the CIA’s secret prison network in November 2005

Vermont Votes to Impeach Bush/Cheney

The Nation:
We the people have the power -- and the responsibility -- to remove executives who transgress not just the law, but the rule of law.
The oaths that the President and Vice President take binds them to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." The failure to do so forms a sound basis for articles of impeachment.
The President and Vice President have failed to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" in the following ways:
1. They have manipulated intelligence and misled the country to justify an immoral, unjust, and unnecessary preemptive war in Iraq.
2. They have directed the government to engage in domestic spying without warrants, in direct contravention of U.S. law.
3. They have conspired to commit the torture of prisoners, in violation of the Federal Torture Act and the Geneva Convention.
4. They have ordered the indefinite detention without legal counsel, without charges and without the opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention -- all in violation of U.S. law and the Bill of Rights.
When strong evidence exists of the most serious crimes, we must use impeachment -- or lose the ability of the legislative branch to compel the executive branch to obey the law.
George Bush has led our country to a constitutional crisis, and it is our responsibility to remove him from office.

Privatization Disaster from FEMA to Walter Reed

Paul Krugman nails it in his op ed this week:
"Yet even now it’s not clear whether the public will be told the full story, which is that the horrors of Walter Reed’s outpatient unit are no aberration. For all its cries of “support the troops,” the Bush administration has treated veterans’ medical care the same way it treats everything else: nickel-and-diming the needy, protecting the incompetent and privatizing everything it can."

"[The] Walter Reed scandal is another Hurricane Katrina: the moment when the administration’s misgovernment became obvious to everyone."

Times Select readers can view the full article here

Let's Not Forget the Damage That's Been Done

When officials in the Bush administration outed Valerie Plame, they also outed the entire front company she was working under- Brewster Jennings. This was a huge violation of national security and in my opinion, equivalent to treason.

Here's an excerpt from a Washington Post article on the matter:

"The leak of a CIA operative's name has also exposed the identity of a CIA front company, potentially expanding the damage caused by the original disclosure...The inadvertent disclosure of the name of a business affiliated with the CIA underscores the potential damage to the agency and its operatives caused by the leak of Plame's identity. Intelligence officials have said that once Plame's job as an undercover operative was revealed, other agency secrets could be unraveled and her sources might be compromised or endangered."

Guardian coverage:
"Here's what one noted American had to say about this kind of behavior: "I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our (CIA) sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors." The speaker was George Bush Sr, in 1999. And that's exactly what his son oversaw."

Libby Guilty on 4 of 5 Counts

MSNBC:
WASHINGTON - Jurors found I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a former White House aide, guilty of four out of five charges in his trial following an investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's identity.

Now if only Fitzgerald can get Libby to roll on Cheney. (A girl can dream)

Poll: Israel, Iran, U.S. have most negative image

MSNBC/AP:
LONDON - Israel, Iran and the United States were the countries with the most negative image in a globe-spanning survey of attitudes toward 12 major nations. Canada and Japan came out best in the poll, released Tuesday

Study: US Has No Case for Redefining Torture

Psychological torture, including some of the techniques reportedly used on Guantanamo Bay detainees, appears to inflict the same kind of long-term mental damage as physical abuse, a study released Monday said.
Researchers who evaluated the mental health of soldiers and civilians tortured during the 1990s Balkan wars found that victims of psychological abuse were just as likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression as victims of classic physical torture methods.

Justice official resigns; Top House Democrat says 'wheels coming off' Bush defense of US attorney firings

Rawstory:
The sudden resignation of a top government official involved in the sacking of US attorneys has raised eyebrows in Congress. The chairperson of a congressional subcommittee investigating the situation said that the official's sudden exit from government service showed that "the wheels seem to be coming off" the administration's defense of its actions.

Attack on Iran would backfire, warns report

Guardian UK:

· UK nuclear expert fears for region after air strikes

· Tragedy and turmoil would follow, says Blix

Any military action against Iran's atomic programme is likely to backfire and accelerate Tehran's development of a nuclear bomb, a report today by a British former nuclear weapons scientist warns.

Normalizing Crazy

Digby:
"When Ann Coulter said "we need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too, otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors," to rapturous applause at the 2002 CPAC, we knew she wasn't just kidding....

...When Limbaugh said, "I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus - living fossils - so we will never forget what these people stood for," we didn't doubt him anymore.

And, yes, when Andrew Sullivan said that we liberals in blue enclaves formed a fifth column, you'll have to forgive us for assuming he was among the people who wished to see us jailed or dead. "

Right wing authoritarianism is plagued by this kind of homicidal rhetoric. The sooner the American people wake up to this, the better. These people are toxic to our society and especially to our politics. They should be held accountable for their sociopathic rantings on the public stage and treated for their psychological ills.

State Dept Promotion of Neocon May Indicate Furthur Escalation with Iran

Glenn Greenwald:
"On Friday, Condoleezza Rice announced that Eliot Cohen has been chosen to be the new Counselor of the State Department. It is not hyperbole to say that Cohen is as extremist a neoconservative and warmonger as it gets. Even The New York Sun's Eli Lake -- in an article claiming that Cohen's replacement of Philip Zelikow signals a more militaristic approach for the administration -- points out that Cohen " intellectually is neoconservative" and that "he was an early supporter of the military intervention in Iraq and came out against recommendations from the Iraq Study Group in December to launch negotiations with Iraq's neighbors," i.e., Iran and Syria -- especially Iran."

Food prices to rise as biofuel demand grows

Financial Times:
Consumers will have to pay more for food in coming years as demand from biofuel manufacturers has pushed up the prices of corn and other grains for the long term, a senior economist of the US government has warned.

Another Day in Iraq...

March 2, 2007 An Iraqi mother comforts her 16-month-old son after a mortar-shell attack on Tuesday. The mother, who had shrapnel wounds to the side of her head, initially refused treatment, rushing from gurney to gurney to each of her injured children in the emergency room.

The Iraq insurgency for beginners

Salon:

A leading expert on the insurgency clarifies who is shooting whom in Iraq, the growing power of al-Qaida, the influence of Iran, and the only thing left for the U.S. to do.