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by Michael W. Stowell – March 25, 2002
In an earnest effort to cloak the nakedness of both justice and law, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has covered two twelve foot statues in the atrium of a Justice Department building. The female figure, Spirit of Justice, is bare-breasted and her partner, Majesty of Law, is short on toga. In Ashcroft’s mind, both are indecent and unchristian.
THE BUILD-UP TO THE IRAQ WAR, INVASION AND OCCUPATION
More to unfold »»
Most Palestinians believe the United States conspired with Israel, withholding ‘peace envoy’ General Zinni until Israel completed its raids. Yasir Abed Rabbo, the Palestinian minister of information asks, “Was it an American-Israeli deal in order to give the Israelis the chance for a few days to occupy Ramallah?”
Palestinians also suspect that the Bush administration was again appearing to intervene in this conflict only to build support for an invasion of Iraq, just as it did before the invasion of Afghanistan. Tony Blair and George Bush are to hold a specially convened summit in April to finalize details of military action to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
- Iraq has sought to embrace the Western model of economics and society.
- Hussein and Osama bin Laden are complete opposites in terms of ideology and motivation. They are natural enemies as opposed to secret allies.
Quote
But America’s thinking is flawed on two counts.
When George Bush recently told Iraq to let in UN weapons inspectors or ‘suffer the consequences,’ Chalabi conveniently produced another ‘defector’. He alleged that Saddam planned to hide biological and chemical weapons.
I spent more than six years investigating the organizations the defector claimed to work for. Elements of his story ring true, but the details used to embellish his tale of weapons of mass destruction are either impossible to pin down or just plain wrong. The UN stopped using Chalabi’s information as the tenuous nature of his sources and his dubious motivations became clear. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the US.
Unquote
<snip>
If humanity continues to wage war to end all war, as in the Armageddon story, it will eventually doom itself to extinction and may extinguish all life on this Earth, our home.
What I Knew Before the Invasion ◊ by Bob Graham
WASHINGTON (WaPo) Nov. 20 — In February 2002, after a briefing on the status of the war in Afghanistan, the commanding officer Gen. Tommy Franks, told me the war was being compromised, as specialized personnel and equipment were being shifted from Afghanistan to prepare for the war in Iraq — a war more than a year away.
Most of the alleged intelligence came from Iraqi exiles or third countries [place a bet third countries are U.K. and Israel – Oui], all of which had an interest in the United States’ removing Hussein, by force if necessary.
The American people needed to know these reservations, and I requested that an unclassified, public version of the NIE be prepared. On Oct. 4, Tenet presented a 25-page document titled “Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs“. It represented an unqualified case that Hussein possessed them, avoided a discussion of whether he had the will to use them and omitted the dissenting opinions contained in the classified version.
Its conclusions, such as “If Baghdad acquired sufficient weapons-grade fissile material from abroad, it could make a nuclear weapon within a year,” underscored the White House’s claim that exactly such material was being provided from Africa to Iraq.
Process yellow cake to nuclear fissile material.
From my advantaged position, I had earlier concluded that a war with Iraq would be a distraction from the successful and expeditious completion of our aims in Afghanistan. Now I had come to question whether the White House was telling the truth — or even had an interest in knowing the truth.
On Oct. 11, I voted no on the resolution to give the president authority to go to war against Iraq. I was able to apply caveat emptor. Most of my colleagues could not.
The writer is a former Democratic senator from Florida. He is currently a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics.
Today’s News That’s Fit to Print
While the House wastes its and the American people’s time, let’s go deeper. Here’s some news that’s fit to print:
The best op-eds today are not so much about last night’s embarrassing shouting and parliamentary trickery in the House (WaPo and NYT), but about the deeper issues behind Bush’s maniacal rush into the Iraq war, the administration’s countless lies and manipulation of both intelligence and the CIA, and Bush’s utter incompetence in administering a war.
Today’s best include “White House plays chicken with a war hero,” written by the Boston Globe‘s Derrick Z. Jackson and Prof. Juan Cole’s “Straw Man Resolution in Congress: Joking around with the Lives of the Troops,” posted at his blog.
And tomorrow’s WaPo carries a must-read op-ed by former Florida senator Bob Graham who was chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence “during the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, and the run-up to the Iraq war.”
“Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency”
«« click on pic for book review
Most of my colleagues voted “Yes” to stay in office and not be voted out by their constituents in November. Sacrificing more than 2,000 American lives and 16,000 diasabled men and women returning from the war of choice.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
1. Conspiracy Indictment Next?! – Josh Marshall TPM Agrees ¶ DoJ Press Release
2. Mr. X Is David Wurmser ME Advisor to VP Cheney ¶ Link to ISA John Bolton
3. White House Awaits Grand Jury News ¶ It’s Rove … Lawrence O’Donnell
4. DeLay :: Gotcha – Fingerprints et al! ¶ Abramoff & Bob Ney
5. Prosecutor Fitzgerald Zeroes In :: Cheney – CIA Feud!
6. CIRCLE CLOSED :: Neocons – AIPAC – Shill Reporter ¶ Laurie Mylroie – Benador Associates
7. As Time Evolves :: Neocon Think – A DEEP THROAT?
8. THIS IS MAJOR! ¶ Our Reichstag’s Fire
9. Israel and AIPAC Accused in Spy Case of Franklin, Pentagon Analyst
10. U.S. District Court Indictment Larry Franklin & AIPAC Directors
11. Judith Miller :: A Need To Know Basis
12. Judith Miller :: Libya – Gaddafi – Poindexter
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In a memo from the meeting marked “Eyes Only, Top Secret Sensitive,” Nixon told his military men to continue doing what was necessary in Cambodia, but to say for public consumption that the United States was merely providing support to South Vietnamese forces when necessary to protect U.S. troops.
“That is what we will say publicly,” he asserted. “But now, let’s talk about what we will actually do.”
He instructed: “I want you to put the air in there and not spare the horses. Do not withdraw for domestic reasons but only for military reasons.”
“We have taken all the heat on this one.” He went on: “Just do it. Don’t come back and ask permission each time.”
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, look, ours is a country where people ought to be able to disagree, and I expect there to be criticism. But when Democrats say that I deliberately misled the Congress and the people, that’s irresponsible. They looked at the same intelligence I did, and they voted — many of them voted to support the decision I made. It’s irresponsible to use politics. This is serious business making — winning this war. But it’s irresponsible to do what they’ve done. So I agree with the Vice President.
The military chiefs, more than their civilian bosses, expressed worry about how the war was going. “If the enemy is allowed to recover this time, we are through,” said Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, the Chief of Naval Operations who two months later would become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Nixon told his aides to plan offensive operations in neutral Laos, continue U.S. air operations in Cambodia and work on a summer offensive in South Vietnam. “We cannot sit here and let the enemy believe that Cambodia is our last gasp.”
The papers also are thick with minute aspects of Vietnam war-making and diplomacy. They show growing worries about the ability of the South Vietnamese government years before it fell but also seek encouragement wherever it could be found.
One May 1970 cable marked “For Confidential Eyes Only” provided national security adviser Henry Kissinger with an inventory of captured weapons, supplies and food. It noted, for example, that the 1,652.5 tons (1450 metric tons) of rice seized so far would “feed over 6,000 enemy soldiers for a full year at the full ration.”
Israel and Middle East
The papers also show concern that superpower rivalry would take a dangerous turn if events in the Middle East got out of hand.
The documents also touch on U.S. actions through other foreign policy issues, including Israel’s secretive nuclear program, which quietly alarmed Washington.
One U.S. official, reporting to Secretary of State William Rogers in 1969, said Israel’s public and private assurances that it would not introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East could not be believed.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
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I have plenty of tid bits collected on Stephen Hadley – John Bolton –
David Wormser – Douglas Feith – Larry Franklin & AIPAC – Likud etcetera …
As reference to the WHIG group, in diaries @BooMan by SusanHu and the ThinkProgress blog.
More Cheney Aides Targeted in CIA Leak Inquiry
Have to priortize some comments and diaries, I’ll try to write some specifics on Stephen Hadley soon.
Thanks for support, motivation, criticism and your excellent contributions.
Tue Oct 25th, 2005 at 10:14:53 AM PST
Wed Oct 26th, 2005 at 01:36:06 AM PST
I actually found a wonderful piece over at Worldnet Daily, believe it or not.
It’s an older article, but tremendously relevant at the moment.
WASHINGTON July 18, 2003 — A photo essay on the White House website shows President Bush had a hands-on role in “revising” January’s State of the Union speech that included a now-disputed allegation about Iraq’s alleged nuclear-weapons program. It also indicates he scribbled notes beside various passages of text in the margins of the speech drafts …
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼▼▼ READ MY DIARY
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I see no chance to write more than a brief comment ::
HOUSTON – The leader of the largest branch of American Judaism blasted conservative religious activists in a speech yesterday, calling them “zealots” who claim a “monopoly on God” while promoting anti-gay policies akin to Adolf Hitler’s.
United Methodists Repent Their Sins for Iraq War
Methodist Judicial Court Homosexuality Ruling Fuels Revolt
The 65 active Methodist bishops in the nation, meeting in Lake Junaluska, N.C., unanimously voted to issue a pastoral letter contesting a 5-3 ruling in Houston by the eight-member Judicial Council. The council’s rulings are the final word on Methodist doctrine.
Dare George to provoke the same on a visit to his oil friends Saudi Arabia and let Laura drive his limousine.
Rice specifically declined to criticize the ban on women driving on her recent visit to Saudi Arabia. In contrast, Hughes took on the Saudi ban on women driving and did so in a nuanced, even artful, way.“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
From your first link:
How do find the time to put all these together, Oui? Thanks.
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I started to write a small comment, got distracted with the last sentence …!
Another Grand Jury for Leak Case
WASHINGTON WaPo Nov. 19 — In anticipation of a lengthy and expensive court fight, a number of Republican former senators, former ambassadors and fundraisers are planning to raise $250,000 each and a total of $5 million for Libby’s legal fund, according to people familiar with the plan. In a private conversation earlier this week, Republicans such as former ambassadors Melvin Sembler and Howard Leach promised to raise at least $250,000. Former senators Fred D. Thompson (Tenn.) and Alan K. Simpson (Wyo.) and former congressman Bill Paxon (R-N.Y.) are also part of the fundraising campaign, the sources said.
“Good lawyers are expensive,” said Barbara Comstock, a spokeswoman for the Libby legal team. A few Democrats, including R. James Woolsey, a former CIA director, are also involved.
Justice is blind when money tips the scale!
Why did Ashcroft cloak the statue of Justice?
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼▼▼ READ MY DIARY
Oui, you are one of my favorite diarist. I have said this before and I mean it totally!
I am so thankful for your faithfullness in researching thing and presenting them to us. Hugs and please keep up the very good work.
I second the motion!
Third!
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≈ Cross-posted from diary by jimstaro ::
U.S. War Crimes VIDEO PROOF ≈
Italian RAI report covering for the n
thtime since November 2004, the illegal use of munitions and the wasting of opposition warriors and civilians, is definitely a war crime. History will judge event as another black page of military power abusing the rights of Fallujah residents, a city of 250,000 souls before U.S. attack.The U.K. provided backfill for U.S. forces near Baghdad, and is certainly complicit in many cruelties of detainee abuse and offenses against Geneva Conventon rules in time of occupation of a sovereign nation.
Today on CNNi, a spokesperson of RAI television made the comparison with fascist bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica.
Revisiting Guernica
The horror of U.S. forces attacking Fallujah ::
Fallujah: Napalm By Any Other Name ◊ by Avila @dKos
Sun Nov 21, 2004 at 01:29:37 AM PDT
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼▼▼ READ MY DIARY
I’ll tell you what is indecent:
The need for a statement like this:
Well, now, isn’t that an interesting commentary on what the U.S. media lets us see? Until I read the first story in this diary, I didn’t know that there was a companion piece, “short on toga.” It’s OK to show a female statue sans blouse, but apparently not OK to show a male statue sans toga, or trousers.
Anyone less stupid than Ashcroft would have solved the “problem” by moving the lectern from which he spoke to the press, thereby eliminating embarrassing pictures. Instead, he spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on unnecessary drapery.
We should have realized, even then, that such carelessness with our money was indicative of how this administration operates.
Immortalized in song:
Minnie Lou
The Hall of Justice vestibule in front of your pedestal
Mr. Ashcroft did commence with his weekly press conference
The Attorney General boiled cause his photo ops were spoiled
By sight of statues’ lewd alabaster pulchritude
(chorus)
Oh, Oh, Minnie Lou
There was nothing we could do
Cops won’t let you drive about
With one of your headlights out
Now Grecian statues tend to be known for taking liberties
When it comes to togs and frocks and yet the General was shocked
“Fix that statue” Ashcroft cried,” It makes me look undignified
Some decorum is a must… By George, it’s dignity or bust”
(chorus)
He said “Our eyes should not absorb this statue’s pert alfresco orb
A little modesty is best. Please someone cover up the breast!”
And so they got somebody sharp, eight thousand dollars and a tarp
That someone found in the garage to obfuscate the décolletage
(chorus)
Now photos show no marble globe perched there behind ol’ John’s ear lobe
The message couldn’t be more clear… No milk of human kindness here
But art is ours for treasuring so if it makes blood pressure sing
Cut back some on the sodium move the freakin’ podium
(chorus)
-John Flynn
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Reading by Claire Braz-Valentine :: A Boob in the Hall of Justice
The brand-new floor-to-ceiling curtains, whose existence was revealed by ABC News.com correspondent Beverly Lumpkin, also conceal ‘Spirit of Justice’s’ equally imposing but modestly togaed male companion, ‘Majesty of Law’.
The sculptures, created by Prix de Rome winner C. Paul Jennewein, cost the taxpayers a total of $7,275 when they were commissioned in 1933. The statues have stood in the Great Hall since the Justice Department headquarters building opened in 1936. The blue drapes, seven decades later, cost a cool $7,900.”
Lloyd Grove, The Washington Post, January 29, 2002
To be objective, I searched for the other statue. I did find a site with some beautiful photos of our Capitol!
Plus many statues and paintings catalogued in order of alfabeth – The Capitol Project.
This is as close as I could find — coincidental?
The Majesty of The Law ◊ by Sandra Day O’Connor
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Oui, awe-inspiring work as always, Thanks.
You may want to check this out:
http://www.boomantribune.com/comments/2005/11/20/164517/77/13#13
He couldn’t find a Burkha in her size.
I say it was due to a guilty conscience.
or too attracted?
from “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats
Remember…you’re talking about a guy who “annoints” himself with Crisco! He’s about a thousand miles past “weird”.
…and then subsequently lost an election to a deceased candidate.
Maybe he grabbed the wrong jug of holy oil. He’s teaching at some faith based school now, I think.
I had to doublecheck the Crisco reference…sleazers that they are.
Why…well, he’s terribly threatened by Boobs, of course.