We’re Harry Too (+ Open Thread)
By NoQuarter on May 12, 2007 at 12:56 PM in Uncategorized
There’s no news from Iraq that chills me quite as much as hearing that three of our soldiers are missing, possibly two soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter, and that there’s a massive search ongoing in the “Triangle of Death,” a Sunni insurgent stronghold about 20 miles south of Baghdad. Five U.S. soldiers were killed in the attack.
We don’t know yet who these soldiers are but it’s instinctive to feel an immediate, anxiety-filled bond with them. Much as Prince Harry’s fellow soldiers have bonded over debate that Harry’s tour in Iraq would endanger others in his cavalry regiment because he’s such an obvious target. Last night, Bill Moyers poignantly told the story of Harry’s comrades, at the beginning of his remarkable program that ranged from Condoleezza Rice’s lies and half-truths about Iraq, to comparisons of the Iraq war with Vietnam, to a devastating essay on the cost of the war.
There’s angst that other members of his regiment will be put at graver risk because of his celebrity. So guess what his comrades — his fellow soldiers — are doing? Rather than petition the Queen to keep the young man home, they have gotten shirts printed up with the words across them: “I’m Harry.”
In other words, the commoners and the Prince are in this together: one for all and all for one. What a notion — that war should be the great equalizer, that no one’s son or daughter is privileged from duty or danger.
I wonder how the last four years might have been different if only our president had asked sacrifice from everyone. Instead, mostly folks from the working class and professional soldiers are doing the dying, while the rich spend their tax cuts. War on the cheap, except for those fighting it.
I found the site that is selling the t-shirts: ImHarry.com.
The New York Times has a couple important stories today:
- “Billions in Oil Missing in Iraq, U.S. Study Says“: “The report reinforced longstanding suspicions that smugglers, insurgents and corrupt officials control significant parts of the country’s oil industry.”
- “Majority of Iraq Lawmakers Seek Timetable for U.S. Exit.”
(It should be noted that Alternet reported this story on Wednesday, pointing out that the rest of the media was ignoring the report: “More than half of the members of Iraq’s parliament rejected for the first time on Tuesday the continuing occupation of their country. The U.S. media ignored the story.”)
Because it’s so astonishing, I have to add the beginning of Bill Moyers’ interview last night of historian Marilyn Young whose new book is “IRAQ AND THE LESSONS OF VIETNAM: OR, HOW NOT TO LEARN FROM THE PAST.”
Moyers showed excerpts of Charlie Rose’s interview this week of Condoleezza Rice, with this observation:
My friend and colleague Charlie Rose conducted a remarkable interview this week with Condoleeza Rice. It was mesmerizing because as Charlie pressed her with questions about an endgame in Iraq, Secretary Rice’s language seemed as removed from reality, as it was four years ago before all the blood and chaos that has followed America’s invasion.
Among Rice’s jaw-dropping claims were these:
SECRETARY RICE: America’s credibility remains, I think, strong. Yes, people are concerned. For instance, the issues about the intelligence in Iraq, that’s been somewhat difficult to overcome. I’ll be very, very straightforward with you on that.
CHARLIE ROSE: On weapons of mass destruction?
SECRETARY RICE: Yeah, yeah, because people now say when you give them a brief, “Are you sure?” And yes, that’s an issue and you say, well, it wasn’t just America’s intelligence services, of course, that thought that he had weapons of mass destruction; this was a worldwide intelligence problem, because the UN thought he had weapons of mass destruction.
SECRETARY RICE: The United States is in Iraq because the Iraqi Government asked us to be there and they asked us (inaudible) a UN Security Council mandate. Now, everybody understands the Iraqis are not yet able to secure themselves. And no one — I can tell you, when you go into the region and you talk to people, the first thing they say to you is: You’re not leaving, are you? Because they are concerned that if the United States withdraws precipitously and leaves a vacuum there, that it’s going to filled by al-Qaida, it’s going to be filled by extremists from Iraq and it’s going to be filled by neighbors playing games against one another.
SECRETARY RICE: our friends in the neighborhood need to know and the Iraqis need to know that we are not looking to leave Iraq. That’s not why this President went into Iraq and it’s not how –
CHARLIE ROSE: Ever?
SECRETARY RICE: Charlie, we are not going to leave an Iraq that is not capable of defending itself and with a foundation for future reconciliation.
CHARLIE ROSE: Do you believe you’ll have the support of the American people to do that?
SECRETARY RICE: I think that.
Imagine when HER book comes out in, what, 2010? (And if publishers decided George Tenet was worth $4 million, what do you think Rice will get? Double that?)
Larry Johnson and his friends had better keep their pencils sharpened.
You can read Marilyn Young’s reactions to Rice’s remarks at the Bill Moyers’ Journal site (which features full transcripts, video, and a blog). And you can see the video of the entire interview of Condoleezza Rice at Charlie Rose’s site.
How about some dirt on the Wayne Madsen story that Cheney is on the DC madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey’s phone list, an allegation confirmed by three different sources?
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
And let’s revisit Jeff Gannon, the male whore who made 196 visits to the White House. Who was he servicing…or who was servicing him?
The activities of the peripheral players of this corrupt, criminal administration have been exhaustively explored, conveniently taking the focus off the heart of the cancer.
Damn, 10,000 phone records of the madam, and nobody is interested. HUH?
Bill Clinton got a blow job and the christian right in this country went berserk, hundreds of millions of our tax dollars were spent “investigating” this matter, and we all know the outcome.
Yet the christian right appears to be turning a blind eye to the apparent, grossly sinful sexcapades of the perverts running our government. Talk about Devil worship.
Why is nobody digging into this dirt, which has all the signs of being a bigger gold find than the California Gold Rush? Is everybody afraid of Cheney? Will he gun down all the little people if we ask questions?
Crackers, you’re right … and there’s what ABC News did last week. They heavily promoted a BIG, shocking disclosure about the DC madam for Primetime or 20/20 (not sure which) … then, when it aired, there was, uh, nothing. They CHICKENED OUT.
That said, I’d never take anything Madsen reports to the bank. He has a bad rep. But I’d sure like to know what ABC’s Brian Ross knows, and what kind of heat he got to not report what he knows.
(Somehow my brain can’t picture Cheney in bed with anyone, let alone a call girl. And I have to wonder if, with his heart condition, he can even, um, engage in such activity.)
Are Iraqis so naive (?) that they would generously spoon feed hefty shares of their oil profits into always open mouths of the Greedy Hogs (BP, Shell, Exxon, Chevron) which basically just financed the electing of an adminstration which just sowed the seeds of a never ending internecine battle in the ME?
Is this a bogus capitulation, a non-binding resolution, which would be reversed forcefully once the Iraqi Parliament orders the US out of Iraq?
From Bablyon to Babylon?
What is going on?
Tomgram: Michael Schwartz, The Prize of Iraqi Oil
http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=192709
Row over Iraq oil law
http://www.egyptguide.net/Business/showArticle.aspx?ArticleID=1652
Blood and oil: How the West will profit from Iraq’s most precious commodity
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132574.ece
The New Iraqi Oil Law
http://www.petroleumworld.com/SF07042901.htm
Josh Marshall is wondering why the MSM hasn’t picked up on THIS story:
“You heard Greg Sargent’s story about the Iowa farm couple, Jerry and Deb VonSprecken, that Rudy Giuliani snubbed because they ended up not being as rich as his campaign thought.”
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/014092.php
+ If a Republican presidential candidate snubs some working-class farmers, and the media doesn’t report it, does it really make a sound?
When Greg Sargent first noted on Thursday that Rudy Giuliani’s campaign cancelled an event at Deb and Jerry VonSprecken’s family farm because they’re not millionaires, he asked in his first paragraph, “[W]ill the haircut-obsessed political media cover it?” … READ ALL:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/014098.php
Susan- THANK YOU for this post. I caught Bill Moyers show last night, and it was exactly as you described. Beautifully crafted, structured and delivered. A collection of summaries, clearly pointing to some major ISSUES which the public ought to pay attention, and should really take a long hard look at- whether they want to or not. And, the ending, well…it was pretty devastatingly on point.
True, all of it was nothing new to those who are active in this community, and regular blog readers, but I kept thinking - what would it take for this to be on primetime television?
Would the network geniuses argue, “no one would watch”- as if ALL anyone can follow is deal or no deal? Or, “we just couldn’t anger our dear friends in DC”?
What of those bloody soldiers’ boots the camera lingered on, then?
WHEN will the American people speak up for the soldier?
(I’ve been at it for five years now, and I am tired, but I just can not quit…some days my psyche is truly aching, exhausted to examine what this nation has become…excuse me, while I go sob now)
This chills me
Urgent: occupation forces are planning to destroy “Samara Dam”
Haq Agency received serious information indicates that occupation forces preventing vehicles from crossing “Samara Dam” bridge [see it on Goolge maps], claiming there is a truck loaded with explosives on the bridge.
Rumors spreading around Samara city saying that the occupation forces intend to bomb the dam and claiming that it is done by a suicide car bomb.
Iraqirabita reported earlier that there are suspicious activities by team of divers in Al-thrthar lake under the base the Samara Dam, No one knows what they are doing or planning.
Destroying the Dam will flood most of Baghdad, surrounding cities will be totally under water [Fallujha, Samara, Haditha, and hundreds of small villages….military plan???].
http://www.roadstoiraq.com/2007/05/10/urgent-occupation-forces-are-planning-to-destroy-samara-dam/
Uppity gal, you described the show perfectly: “Beautifully crafted, structured and delivered.”
And we didn’t even mention the segment on Pat Robertson’s college and law school, which shocked me — I didn’t know the school has been gaining respect and accreditation, and winning big legal competitions.
The segment on the libertarian and Reason magazine was okay, although I think libertarians are nuts to assume that “free trade” will work things out … the latest food safety crisis shows that we need strict federal procedures for imported foods. We can’t all have laboratories in our backyards to inspect every imported ingredient for harmful contamination.
In part, though, his argument has some weight in that I’m seeing more and more blog posts by individuals who advocate no longer shopping at WalMart, which is loaded with unregulated imports. WalMart’s April earnings were very disappointing … maybe there is a way that consumers can directly affect big corporations. But, these now-saavy consumers would have never known about the dangers of imported foods without FDA alerts and inspections, and the loud protests of Sen. Dick Durbin, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, and other Congressional heroes. (The FDA is doing a poor job, but at least it’s doing something.)
When was the last time anyone heard a Bushie say “we’re all in this together. One for all and all for one”? Or that war is a shared sacrifice? Just asking.
Condi defends the intelligence leading up to invasion of Iraq: “And yes, that’s an issue and you say, well, it wasn’t just America’s intelligence services, of course, that thought that he had weapons of mass destruction;”
That’s rich, coming from the woman who said that the aluminum tubes Iraq was attempting to purchase were “only really suited for nuclear weapons programs.”
To revisit the incident, in actuality the tubes were not suited for use in centrifuges (they were apparently perfect for use as missile body replacements for Iraq’s aging and corroded quiver of 81mm rockets).
It was conceded that it would be technically possible that the tubes could be made to serve as uranium enrichhment centifuge parts, but only by remachining them extensively, under which logic you could argue that a hammer might be a wrench.
The White House was asked about this and said it had other intelligence which supported their contentions but never said what that was, and it’s fair to assume that they never had any.
My point is that this isn’t something over which reasonable people might diasagree; Condi’s claim is one only a fool or a liar could make, and characteristic of the entirety of the argument– if you can call it that– which the administration employed to present its case that Saddam was an imminent danger sufficient to justify invasion of Iraq.
And these are facts which were known well before the invasion and the argument cannot be made that they were “wrong” or “mistaken.”
They were lying. They “knew or should have known,” to use the polite language which would surely be heard if and when they stood in the dock at the ICC in the Hague.
Were I the ICC, I’d convict the lot of them in absentia and be done with it.
Lesilie writes: “When was the last time anyone heard a Bushie say ‘we’re all in this together. One for all and all for one’?”
Well, they _say_ it often enough…
Chris,
According to the information I have the Aluminum tubes would still have been useless for uranium enrichment even after extensive (and very expensive) remachining because they were made of anodized aluminum, which, according to my information cannot be used in uranium enrichment. If my information is correct, then not only is this the case, Colin Powell’s own experts told him this before his ridiculous U.N. dog and pony show.
I did not see his show - could not force myself to listen silently to the lies - but I do recall reading parts of the speech, and noting that he actually said the exact opposite - that the fact that the tubes were anodized aluminum was proof positive that they were intended for uranium enrichment.
If anyone has information about this that either confirms or disputes what I have, I would appreciate hearing about it.
Shirin, you’re right about the inappropriateness of anodized aluminum for the centrifuge application, and I omitted specific reference to it only out of brevity. It’s one of a number of things which render the tubes useless for the centrifuge app.
Incidentally, FYI, anodization is a coating– an electroplating process, actually, and could of course be stripped though abrasive or corrosive process, but again, what’s the point of requesting anodized aluminum, as Saddam did when specifying requirements to potential vendors, if you require unplated stock?
And Colin actually presented the argument at the UN gig that the tubes were inappropriate for use as missile components because the specs for the tubes and the anodization were so demanding (Saddam is supposed to have reverse engineered an existing conventional rocket, so he wouldn’t really know what was crucial and what wasn’t).
Again, this is my point. An expert would be someone familiar with the process, not someone who agrees with you that Saddam has to go. If you don’t know a photon from a futon, you ask a physicist about the requirements of the process.
Why they no do that?
You might well ask.
Chris, what I was told could be wrong, of course, but I was told, and also read from quite a credible source that Powell’s own nuclear experts did tell him that the tubes were inappropriate, and that one of the reasons they were inappropriate is because they were made from anodized metal. It was based partly on that information that I concluded that without question Powell was lying.
Great post. I think that Harry has a lot of spunk, willing to serve despite the fact that he no doubt could have gotten a ’school’ deferment or somesuch… I am sure his comrades in arms are proud to serve with him, and by the show of their solidarity so early on, I know he has not asked him for it, but deserves it. Too bad we couldn’t send the bush girls off with that team… might learn more from them than from daddy and mommy dearest…
I rant on…
Too all the mothers out there, I wish you my best. May the love you show to others as either a Mother, a Daughter, a Sister, be returned to you a thousand times… To those special women in our military, my heart is especially heavy for you if you are separated from those you love at this special time. May God’s Light shine on you and protect you until you return to those you love, and love you.
I want to thank you Susan, esp for the articles on food contamination, both in our pet as well as food supply itself. It is indeed scary, and the more I read and study about it, the more angry I am becoming…
So very much these days it seems I am angry about… I diverse… anyway, I found a great new website, new to me at least, with a bunch of great videos most two to 3 minutes… here is a link, hope some others will try going green a bit more. if everyone starts doing a little something more each day, we might still save the environment, and perhaps the world… it has lots of info.
http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenguide
I wonder what Harry’s mom would be thinking and feeling about him taking part in this odious so-called war if she were alive. I have a hunch she is spinning in her grave right now.
I’ve linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms.blogspot.com/2007/05/re-were-harry-too-open-thread.html
Iraqis resist U.S. pressure to enact oil law
It has not even reached parliament, but the oil law that U.S. officials call vital to ending Iraq’s civil war is in serious trouble among Iraqi lawmakers, many of whom see it as a sloppy document rushed forward to satisfy Washington’s clock.
[snip]
The problems of the oil bill bode poorly for the other so-called benchmarks that the Bush administration has been pressuring Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s government to meet. Those include provincial elections, reversing a prohibition against former Baath Party members holding government and military positions and revision of Iraq’s constitution.
[snip]
But Iraqi lawmakers show little sign of bending to accommodate Bush on an issue as crucial as oil.
[snip]
The objections are as vast and technical as the measure itself and reflect the wider problems facing Iraq: regional distrust of the Shiite-led central government; wariness of foreign interest; and anger toward the United States, which many Iraqis believe invaded Iraq solely to get its hands on the oil.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-oil13may13,1,755681.story?track=rss
Al-Dawa: Now and Then
NOW: Cheney in Saudi Arabia Seeking Iraq Help
Abdullah also has signaled that he sees al-Maliki as a weak leader with too many ties to pro-Iranian Shiite parties to be effective in reaching out to Iraqi’s Sunni minority. http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/05/13/ap/washington/d8p3ar3o0.txt
THEN: Message From Iran Triggered Bombing Spree In Kuwait, The Washington Post, February 3, 1984
Al Dawa, for example, is no household name in the United States.
But it is a name important to this story.
It leads us back to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the ruling figure in Iran; to Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the militant Lebanese Shiite leader who has been implicated–despite his denials–in the Marine and French bombings in Beirut; to Hussein Musawi, Fadlallah’s strong-arm lieutenant; to the Hakim brothers in Iran and their connections to the Middle East terrorism industry.
THEN: 10 Pro-Iranian Shiites Held in Kuwait Bombings, The Washington Post December 19, 1983
Kuwait announced yesterday the arrest of 10 Shiite Moslems with ties to Iran in terrorist bombings that killed four people and wounded 66 last Monday at the U.S. Embassy and other targets.
“All 10 have admitted involvement in the incidents as well as participating in planning the blasts,” Abdul Aziz Hussein, minister of state for Cabinet affairs, told reporters after a Cabinet session, United Press International reported.
Hussein said the seven Iraqis and three Lebanese were members of the Al Dawa party, a radical Iraqi Shiite Moslem group with close ties to Iran.
Chris,
Condi and the rest of the WHIG group continue to spin the propaganda that”all…or 7 other intelligence agencies thought Iraq had WMDs too”. This has been effective as a silly excuse for her own errors.But…is it true. Where has that been published except out of the mouths of lying neocons. Other agencies might have “suspected ” there were chemical an/or biological weapons, but none “knew”. I wager the whole set of memes are false anyways.
HOWEVER….it is clear that NO country but the US and the neocons stated that Iraq….without even a nuclear institution anywhere(Iran has obvious and huge labs), with their previously purchased yellow-cake under UN seal and unuseable, had an”ongoing nuclear program” as Cheney and Condi…and all of the principles lied to us.
Aluminum tubes???utter bullsh..t, and it was pointed out at the time, but not publicized by the complicit MSM.
Does anyone think Condi or Tenet will testify under oath in front of Waxman. Ohhhh what a sight that would be. Only a little better than Val Plame’s testimony, but not the feast that Rove and Miers would provide.
Shirin: “It was based partly on that information that I concluded that without question Powell was lying.”
Well, that and the several other easily debunked lies, so no argument here.
I didn’t get a chance to see the presentation until the following weekend, so it was only after reading the MSM’s glowing reports of the presentation that my jaw– and respect for Powell– dropped lower, and lower, and lower as I watched.
I actually started laughing when he got to the allegation of mobile chemical weapon labs and buttressed his claim with an “artist’s conception” of what such a vehicle might look like.
“Good lord, what is this, one of Wile E. Coyote’s blueprints?” I recall wondering, and started hunting for an anvil to drop on the TV.
Powell saw himself, more than anything else, as a loyal soldier, and I suppose he gulled himself into believing that it was his duty to lie in service to his country.
Sadly, he neglected a higher duty to the truth, and he’s as culpable as the President himself for this obscenity. I’m long past wishing that any of them rot in hell, but it remains absolutely necessary, for the continued health of this country, that they be brought to book for what they have done.
‘Does anyone think that Tenet or Condi will testify under Oath”— I am beginning to have my doubts. i thought I heard on one of the synopsis videos that Gonzo wasn’t under oath the other day. Does anyone know if that is true?
If Waxman can get them under oath, and hit them hard, we might have a chance to save what they have not yet destroyed of our constitution and government. I can’t seem to see and end to any of this, unless we Impeach them all.
Chris, like you, I gave Powell the benefit of the doubt, at least initially, because of his strong military background. However, he was wrong from the moment he uttered those false words. I do give him some credit however, in that he came forward soon (not soon enought tho) and told the truth. And resigned. An honorable act there, and should serve as a role model for the rest of the PNAC and WHIG members who continue to run our country into the ground…
And I still hope they all rot in hell…
Prchr Lady writes: “I do give him some credit however, in that he came forward soon (not soon enought tho) and told the truth. And resigned.”
I recall the resignation all right, but I seem to have missed the mea culpa. When was this? Did he issue a statement of some sort?
Chris, PrchrLady,
I don’t recall Powell’s resignation having anything whatever to do with honour, and I don’t remember hearing him take a scintilla of responsibility for anything at all. All I can recall is a lot of whining about him being the innocent victim who was deceived into making all those statements, and anyway he still thinks attacking Iraq was the right thing to do and America should stay the course. The guy is a whining, dishonourable loser.
And he never did have any honour. I seem to recall that he was involved in the My Lai coverup, so why so many people have been shocked - SHOCKED! - at his failure to be stand up over Iraq is beyond me. Once a cowardly whining weasel, always a cowardly whining weasel.
RE: Powell
Powell said that a white paper regarding UBL and 9/11 would be publicized.
That never materialized.
Am I right or am I right?
See:
Interview on Meet the Press
Secretary Colin L. Powell
Washington, DC
September 23, 2001
QUESTION: Will you release publicly a white paper, which links him and his organization to this attack, to put people at ease?
SECRETARY POWELL: [snip]
And I think, in the near future, we will be able to put out a paper, a document, that will describe quite clearly the evidence that we have linking him to this attack.
http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/powell/remarks/2001/5012.htm
I believe I stand corrected, thank you. I might have confused the statement about the white paper, or something like that, but I thought he did apologize… for all it would do after the fact anyways… I do think I remember something about the Mi lai incident too, but will have to go back to check some files… some were lost when one of several crashed, when they got overloaded… might have it someplace in back up, or caqn google, i GUESS…
Opening post> Wayne Madsen of waynemadsenreports are the fraudes and the Hugh Hewett’s of the left and on a level with Alex Jones of the far removed and confused.
oubodomoupas