Senate Report : CIA Told White House Before US Invasion That Iraq War Would Go Bad, Create a Haven for Al Qa'ida, and Embolden Iran

An Update on the "So-called War on Terror"^TM

According to a report released Friday (that hole-in-the-newscycle when no one is paying any attention) by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the CIA warned the White House as early as January 2003 that a US invasion would ignite sectarian violence, give al Qa'ida an opportunity to gain a foothold in Iraq, and embolden Iran to assert its influence further in the middle east.

Are you listening, Howie?

So let me get this straight: the White House knew beforehand, according to the Pentagon, that there was no evidence of WMDs, no evidence that al Qa'ida was operating in Iraq, and that there was no evidence of Iraqi complicity in 9/11; we also knew that an invasion would break Iraq into pieces, spread terrorism, and widen Iran's influence. Do I have that correctly?

So I have two questions:

1] What are we doing there?
2] When are we going to have the courage to IMPEACH BUSH???

More than 100 US Dead in Iraq in April

That brings the total US Death toll to 3,351. Add to that an estimated 394 American mercenaries (or, as they're euphemistically called, "contractors"), and you've got a total of 3,745.
Just like the war itself, the "surge" is working nicely. Don't you think?

The Decider

An update on the "WORST PRESIDENT IN US HISTORY"^TM
Now that both houses of Congress have passed a bill authorizing continued spending for the war in Iraq, President George W. Bush has to come through on his promise to veto that bill when it reaches his desk, probably next week on the fourth anniversary of his "mission accomplished" skit. Americans United for Change suggests you write to the President urging him to sign the legislation.

I think they're dreaming. But it certainly doesn't hurt to write, call, or e-mail. Even though 66% of Americans disapprove of his handling of the war, 64% of Americans believe Congress is right in setting a timetable for withdrawing, 57% think Congress should "have the final say about troop levels" in Iraq (as opposed to 35% who think Bush should), and 61% disapprove of the overall job he is doing as President, George W. Bush has decided to ignore us, ignore the will of the people, and listen to the elites who benefit most from civil war in Iraq.

He has decided, again, against democracy.

I long for the day when this long, national (and international) nightmare will finally be over. I long for the day when all Americans can say,
GOODBYE, BUSH!!!

ABC : US Sponsors Terror Group in Pakistan

An Update on the "So-called War on Terror"^TM

According to a report from ABC News, the US is aiding, advising, and -- through a network of Iranian exiles throughout Europe and the Gulf states -- funding a group that is crossing the border into Iran and kidnapping and executing Iranians.

The Jundullah is led by Abd el Malik Regi who has maintained close ties with the CIA since 2005. ABC News terrorism consultant and senior fellow on counterterrorism at the Nixon Centre Alexis Debat describes Regi:

He is essentially commanding a force of several hundred guerrilla fighters that stage attacks across the border into Iran on Iranian military officers, Iranian intelligence officers, kidnapping them, executing them on camera. He used to fight with the Taliban. He’s part drug smuggler, part Taliban, part Sunni activist.

This is the latest in a number of suspicious circumstances involving our "new best friend," Pakistan, led by despotic tyrant and dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Those circumstances center on Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI, the CIA, Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban, once allies in the jihad against Soviet occuption of Afghanistan, all living quite comfortably now in Pakistan.

The situation mirrors the circumstances of Latin America in the 1980s. Proxy wars against left wing governments and guerilla armies were funded through back-channels contacts (Saudi Arabia for one) and drug smuggling (via our friends in Colombia). The same thing seems to be happening today, with the CIA using its back-channel contacts, and the likelihood of profits from the sale and processing of Afghanistan's record opium-poppy harvests going to groups like the Jundullah.

Winning the hearts and minds of the east to "freedom and democracy?" It doesn't seem so. The word on the Afghan street is "We want the Taliban back."

Jury : Libby the "Fall Guy" for Cheney

The jury is in and (righties like Howie will never agree) they have found Vice President Dick Cheney and Special Assistant to the President Carl Rove guilty of leaking the name of a covert CIA agent -- Valerie Plame -- to the press.

The jurors who huddled around two pushed-together conference tables for 10 days, meticulously filling 34 pages of facts from the trial on a large flip chart, believed that Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff had been "pilloried" for a CIA leak that other top White House aides had committed along with him, according to one member of the panel.

"We're not saying that we didn't think Mr. Libby was guilty of the things we found him guilty of," said the juror, Denis Collins. "But it seemed like he was . . . the fall guy."

You don't say? Wow. What a shock that piece of news is. The fall guy, though, for whom?

During the jury's days of methodical deliberations, "it was said a number of times, 'What are we doing with this guy here?' " Collins told reporters on the steps outside the federal courthouse. "Where's Rove, where's -- you know, where are these other guys?" Collins said, referring to Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, and Richard L. Armitage, a former deputy chief of staff who testimony showed had been the first person to leak Plame's name.

Moreover, Collins said, jurors believed that Libby had been carrying out a directive by his immediate boss, Cheney, to "go out and talk to reporters" to tarnish Wilson's reputation. But Collins said jurors stopped short of discussing whether the vice president specifically urged Libby to tell journalists about Plame's CIA job.

More than three years ago, President Bush promised not to allow this type of leaking to go on in his White House.

"If there's a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is," Bush told reporters at an impromptu news conference during a fund-raising stop in Chicago, Ilinois. "If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of. "

Here's your chance, Mr. President. For once, make your words mean something.