DOD LYING AGAIN

Remember how the military lied about Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman? Well, they have been caught lying again:

Gunmen dressed in U.S. gear staged brazen, fatal Iraq raid
By Steven R. Hurst and Qassim Abdul-Zahra
The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.27.2007

The U.S. military confirmed a report earlier Friday by The Associated Press that three of the soldiers were dead and one was mortally wounded with a gunshot to the head when they were found in a neighboring province, about 25 miles from the compound where they were captured. A fifth soldier was killed in the initial attack on the compound.

The new account contradicted a U.S. military statement on Jan. 20, the day of the raid on an Iraqi governor's office, that five soldiers were killed "repelling" the attack.

SHORT AND SWEET

An AP story about the anti-war rally in DC included this comment:


Air Force Staff Sgt. Tassi McKee, 26, an intelligence specialist at Fort Meade, Md., said she joined the Air Force because of patriotism, travel and money for college. "After we went to Iraq, I began to see through the lies," she said.

I AM SURPRISED

KVOI, a local wingnut station, has a show that doesn't parrot the latest talking points from the Bush regime and its enablers. I caught a few minutes of the Bob Ellis Show and I was amazed to hear him say that that Iraq war has been a mess for years AND that all Bush & Cheney are trying to do now is save their legacy.

I would've liked to hear what the callers had to say but it was time for me to do some errands.

FATS ON NPR!!!

NPR has a series called "Crossing the Divide," and here's the description:

Crossing the Divide will explore the pros and cons of bipartisanship in Washington, and feature examples of compromise and cooperation from politics, business and everyday life in America.

Limbaugh was interviewed for the series and you can find audio clips here. So far, there's no transcript so I listened and picked out a few juicy quotes:

"But the one thing I don't do is make things up."

"I am in the arena of ideas."

"In my idealistic universe, you do this with honestly expressed core values and beliefs and principles..."

ONLINE "CHRISTIAN" BOOKSTORE

I just heard an ad on KVOI, a local wingnut radio station, for Christianbookstore.com. I doubt an real Christian store would offer two books by Sean Hannity, two by Fats Limbaugh's little brother, three by Hugh Hewitt and perhaps hundreds of books attacking evolution.

GEN. PETRAEUS, OUT OF TOUCH???

I read Petraeus' testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee and I came away with the impression that he's out of touch. Consider this exchange he had with a noted War Whore:

SEN. LIEBERMAN: And you have said that you believe this new way ahead for Iraq that has been presented, with military, economic and political components, is in fact a new and different strategy for Iraq than what has been tried thus far. Is that correct?

GEN. PETRAEUS: I believe it is, yes, sir. There are cases in Iraq where this has actually been conducted in the past. Fallujah, which remains to this day since it was liberated and has become one of the better gated communities in that region, is an example of that; Tall Afar is another example, although again, we have to continue to watch the hold and build piece of that.

I've noted before that Tal Afar is still a dangerous place and I've found some articles about the situation in Fallujah:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)

January 9, 2007
Tuesday

BOMB KILLS ARMY MAJOR IN IRAQ
CHICO HARLAN, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE

Months before his death, Army Maj. Michael Lewis Mundell said that those around him, the insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq, "will cut your throat just as soon as look at you."


Christian Science Monitor
December 12, 2006, Tuesday
In Fallujah, Marines bring goodwill, but trouble can follow
Scott Peterson Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Death threats - and increasingly murder - are common against anyone seen to be cooperating with the US.

The wariness that greeted this civil affairs unit two weeks ago points to the difficulty faced by US forces as they search for a balance between rebuilding and bringing security to a city where insurgent attacks are on the rise.

The dangerous city has claimed 10 marines' lives in a month from snipers and roadside bombs.

For two years, strategic rebuilding has been complicated by frequent rotation of Marine units. Today, it is made more difficult by increasing violence and insurgent numbers - Iraqi contractors and workers are frequently killed - and a Marine presence that has shrunk to less than 300.

Christian Science Monitor
December 6, 2006, Wednesday

Fallujah's city council battles to hold its ground
Scott Peterson Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

...the mayor of Fallujah lashes out at his city council: Insurgent violence is growing, he tells them, and they're not trying to stem the tide. "You haven't done anything," says Jassim Bedawi. "When Sheikh Kamal and Sheikh Hamza got killed, what had you citizens done to prevent their deaths?"

Issues of life and death occupy him and a number of city councilors who meet every Tuesday ...

Two years after US marines invaded Fallujah to force out insurgents who had made the city off limits to US forces, militants are filtering back into the city...Since August, they have waged a campaign of intimidation that has left two key councilmen and the deputy chief of police chief murdered

Petraeus also had a disturbing tendency to say he didn't know to questions I would assume he would have easily known the answers to. Here are a few examples:

SEN. LEVIN: So it's not a disagreement over whether it's important to succeed, whether -- it's not a disagreement whether failure is going to hurt in a whole host of ways. The question is, whatare the Iraqis going to read into increased American presence in their neighborhoods?

What are they -- what will they take from that? Now, my understanding is, the prime minister of Iraq went to Jordan and proposed to the president, our president, that they take over, the Iraqis take over the security of Baghdad. Is that your understanding?

GEN. PETRAEUS: Sir, I've heard press reports of that. I don't have firsthand knowledge of that.


SEN. LEVIN: Have the Iraqis asked us for more American troops? I know they're supporting the president --

GEN. PETRAEUS: Sir, I don't know.

SEN. LEVIN: Okay. You don't know if they've asked us for more --

GEN. PETRAEUS: I do not know, sir.

SEN. REED: But at this point, it seems to you to be progressing rapidly, or --

GEN. PETRAEUS: No, sir, I'm not so sure. And again, it's hard from this distance --

SEN. REED: Right.

GEN. PETRAEUS: -- to get a real feel, or the real granularity of what's going on. There clearly is additional ethnic displacement, soft ethnic cleansing, whatever term you want to use. How prevalent that is is hard to tell, again, for me from this distance.

WW LIES AGAIN

Today, Laura Ingraham applauded Fredo for trying to link Iraq to the war on terror and said he hadn't done enough of that in the past. We all know that Fredo's regime has been doing that for years but Ingraham likes to play stupid sometimes. Here are a few examples from Iraq on the Record:

"The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We've removed an ally of al Qaeda, and cut off a source of terrorist funding. And this much is certain: No terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime, because the regime is no more."
Source: President Bush Announces Major Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended, White House
(5/1/2003).

"He has trained and financed al Qaeda-type organizations before, al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations."
Source: President George Bush Discusses Iraq in National Press Conference, White House (3/6/2003).

"Saddam Hussein has longstanding, direct and continuing ties to terrorist networks. Senior members of Iraqi intelligence and al Qaeda have met at least eight times since the early 1990s. Iraq has sent bomb-making and document forgery experts to work with al Qaeda. Iraq has also provided al Qaeda with chemical and biological weapons training. We also know that Iraq is harboring a terrorist network, headed by a senior al Qaeda terrorist planner."
Source: President Bush: "World Can Rise to This Moment", White House (2/6/2003).

ABOUT ONE YEAR AGO...

Pres. Fredo had this to say:

At the same time, our coalition has been relentless in shutting off terrorist infiltration, clearing out insurgent strongholds, and turning over territory to Iraqi security forces. I am confident in our plan for victory; I am confident in in the skill and spirit of our military. Fellow citizens, we are in this fight to win, and we are winning.

As we make progress on the ground, and Iraqi forces increasingly take the lead, we should be able to further decrease our troop levels..

Why should we believe him now?

RADIO TIDBITS

TAMMY "THE SHRILL" BRUCE claimed that health care is expensive for (only) two reasons: (1) illegal immigrants and (2) high taxes. She repeated the lie that we have the best health care in the world.

FOAMER LEVIN repeated the lie that health care in Canada and Britain is horrible, another version of Bruce's above claim. He also railed against government-funded partial birth abortions and neglected to tell his audience about the Hyde Amendment. Foamer is still 110% behind the Iraq War, going so far as to claim it is "righteous." He's no longer 110% behind Fredo and is against taxing people who have "gold-plated" health care plans.

WAR WHORE is also against Fredo's plan to increase taxes on people who have deluxe health care plans. Just like Foamer, she's still 110% behind Fredo's Fiasco and again tried to combine 9-11 with Iraq.

SHAMMITY slammed Patrick Fitzgerald, claiming that he was another "out of control" prosecutor and claimed again that Plame wasn't an undercover agent. He also doesn't like Fredo's plan to tax people with terrific health plans.

MONKEY SEE, MONKEY SAY

I noted below how Hannity parroted Drudge and now (via Atrios) The Cunning Realist shows that McCain parroted SECDEF Gate's absurd poll number about the public's attitude about Gulf 1. A suspicion person might suggest that Gates & McCain got the same blast fax from Karl Rove.

RADIO TIDBITS

Sludge brought up the apparently unseasonal background of Hilary Clinton's announcement ad and on Monday, like a good monkey, Shammity repeated Sludge's question in his show's intro monologue.

Sludge played the audio of a satirical skit from Saturday Night Live that mocks Hilary and I wondered how he can turn around and claim that Hollywood is "all leftist, all the time."

John Fund was a guest on Sludge and claimed that the Obama/Madrassa story didn't have any GOP fingerprints on it, even though the story first appeared in a wingnut magazine.

ABU AL GOES TO THE SENATE

Alberto Gonzales, a former attorney for Enron, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, January 18th and contradicted what the Bush regime and its allies in the wingnut media had been saying for months: The FISA Court process is too slow for us to defend the American people.

(From Lexis-Nexis)

Copyright 2007 Federal News Service, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Federal News Service
January 18, 2007 Thursday

[NOTE: this is from his prepared opening remarks]

GONZALES: Court orders issued last week by a judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court will enable the government to conduct electronic surveillance -- very specifically surveillance into or out of the United States where there is probable cause to believe that one of the communicants is a member or agent of al Qaeda or an associated terrorist organization, subject to the approval of the FISA court.

We believe that the court's orders will allow the necessary speed and agility the government needs to protect our nation from a terrorist threat.

Later on, Al affirms that this change will not affect our national security:

ATTY GEN. GONZALES: And let me say one thing in response to some stories that I read. The president of the United States would not have authorized the action that was disclosed yesterday if there was any doubt in his mind that it would make the United States any less safe. He had been advised by the director of National Intelligence, by the director of the NSA, that this is something that we can do and still maintain the same level of safety and security for the United States of America. I mean, that is his number one priority, and that's -- that is what we kept in mind as we tried to find a way to bring this program under the -- under FISA.

[snip]

ATTY GEN. GONZALES: Your characterization that the program is terminated -- the country is no less safe today. I mean, the fact that the program will be -- that there will be electronic surveillance of the enemy during a time of war will continue. The country will not be any less safe. It will be conducted under the FISA court. I just want to -- I don't want the American people to think that somehow the -- you know, the president has backed off in any way from his commitment to doing what he can do under the law to protect America.


Al repeatedly claims that the previous decision by Pres. Fredo to bypass FISA was legal:

ATTY GEN. GONZALES: Senator, I must -- I must just say that we continue to believe that what's happened in the past, the president's actions, were, of course, lawful.

ATTY GEN. GONZALES: We still believe - we believe - my belief is that the actions taken by the administration, by this president, were lawful, in the past.

ATTY GEN. GONZALES: Quite the contrary: We believed and believe today that what the president is doing is lawful.

Abu Al seems to lie to Sen. Leahy about opening mail:

ATTY GEN. GONZALES: What I'm saying, Senator, is that, to my knowledge, there is no ongoing physical searches of mail under the authority we've claimed under the authorization to use military force or under the president's inherent authority under the Constitution. As I far as I know, that's not going --

SEN. LEAHY: None ongoing. Has there been some?

ATTY GEN. GONZALES: Not that I'm aware of. No, sir.

[snip]

ATTY GEN. GONZALES: Senator, I'm not prepared to answer that question. I think for purposes of today's hearing, I think it's important for everyone to note that as far as I know, there is no ongoing physical searches of mail under the authorization to use military force.

SEN. LEAHY: And there hasn't been?

ATTY GEN. GONZALES: And there - to my knowledge, there hasn't been any kind of authorization in that manner.

SEN. LEAHY: Would you know if there was?
ATTY GEN. GONZALES: I suspect that I would know, sir; yes, sir.

I guess Al missed this story:

Homeland Security opening private mail
Retired professor confused, angered when letter from abroad is opened
By Brock N. Meeks
Chief Washington correspondent
MSNBC
Updated: 5:55 p.m. ET Jan. 6, 2006

WASHINGTON - In the 50 years that Grant Goodman has known and corresponded with a colleague in the Philippines he never had any reason to suspect that their friendship was anything but spectacularly ordinary.

Last month Goodman, an 81-year-old retired University of Kansas history professor, received a letter from his friend in the Philippines that had been opened and resealed with a strip of dark green tape bearing the words “by Border Protection” and carrying the official Homeland Security seal.

The letter comes from a retired Filipino history professor; Goodman declined to identify her. And although the Philippines is on the U.S. government’s radar screen as a potential spawning ground for Muslim-related terrorism, Goodman said his friend is a devout Catholic and not given to supporting such causes.

Here's a tidbit about the FISA Court that I didn't know:

SEN. SCHUMER: -- that we don't know what type of warrants are being approved by the FISA court. Is it two? Is it 10? Is it 20, and whether it's individual? And third, we don't know what type, what brought this all about - how long the negotiations took, the way it came about, et cetera. Remember, the FISA court is a secret court. The FISA court has no Supreme Court review. Now that's not your doing; that's established by statute.

Finally, here's Abu Al on a 800 year-old legal tradition, Habeas Corpus:

ATTY GEN. GONZALES: I meant by that comment the Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States, or every citizen, is hereby granted or assured the right to habeas. It doesn't say that. It simply says the right of habeas corpus shall not be suspended except by --

Al expands on this later:

SEN. LEAHY: Of course.
Mr. Attorney General, let me just make a short observation, and it's -- and I wish Senator Specter was back here -- but you made a comment with him when you were speaking about habeas corpus, and it troubles me. You argued that the Constitution doesn't guarantee a right to habeas corpus because of the negative construction. What it literally does is prohibits the Congress from suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus except in cases of rebellion or invasion. Well, many of our most cherished rights are guaranteed by the Constitution in much the same way. For example, the First Amendment is also a negative construction. It prohibits Congress from making laws infringing on religious freedom and our freedom of speech, but you wouldn't -- you wouldn't say that it doesn't guarantee free speech and religion. Fifth Amendment is negative. It prohibits government from overreaching in the deprivation of life and liberty and property without due process of law. And, I mean, I could go into the Second Amendment and the Fourth Amendment. But you see what I'm doing. They don't lay out a right. They prohibit you from taking away a right. So why wouldn't that apply -- the same thing -- to that writ of habeas corpus?

ATTY GEN. GONZALES: I don't disagree at all, Mr. Chairman. I was just simply making an observation that there isn't an express grant. My understanding is that in the debate during the framing of the Constitution there was discussion as to whether or not there should be an express grant, and the decision was made not to do so. But what you see in the language is a compromise. I think the fact that in 1789 by the Judiciary Act that they passed statutory habeas for the first time may reflect, maybe, I don't want to say a concern, but why pass a statutory right so soon after the Constitution? Perhaps because it wasn't an express grant of habeas. believe that the right of habeas is something that's very, very important, one of the most -- our -- one of our most cherished rights. And so I was simply making an observation as to the literal language of the Constitution.