At some point that is hard to predict the American public is going to get disgusted with the non-stop lies they are told by the Bush administration. Yesterday we finally had complete confirmation that Valerie Plame was indeed considered a non-offical cover CIA operative. We also learned that Scooter Libby was authorized to out Valerie Plame’s identity (and to reveal other classified information) by the Vice-President. Today, we have three more enormous lies exposed.
And while [former FEMA Director, Michael] Brown lauded the performance of both Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin and Chief of Staff Andrew Card, he also said he’d told them and the president the day before the hurricane hit that the government was facing a “catastrophe within a catastrophe.” Then on Monday, August 29, the day after Katrina made landfall, Brown said he told staffers at the White House and the Department of Homeland Security that the levies had broken and “our worst fears are coming true.”
“I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” –President Bush, on “Good Morning America,” Sept. 1, 2005.
“It was on Tuesday (August 30th) that the levee–may have been overnight Monday to Tuesday–that the levee started to break. And it was midday Tuesday that I became aware of the fact that there was no possibility of plugging the gap and that essentially the lake was going to start to drain into the city.” -Head of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff [Meet the Press, 9/4/05]
January 26, 2006 Press Conference
Q: Can you say, sir, whether you were lobbied by Jack Abramoff or other lobbyists, and what your policy is about lobbyists meeting with senior staff?
THE PRESIDENT: You know, I, frankly, don’t even remember having my picture taken with the guy. I don’t know him.
“The guy saw me in almost a dozen settings, and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids. Perhaps he has forgotten everything, who knows,” Abramoff wrote in an e-mail to Kim Eisler, national editor of the Washingtonian magazine.
The Bush administration, [Paul R.] Pillar, [the CIA’s national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005] wrote, “repeatedly called on the intelligence community to uncover more material that would contribute to the case for war,” including information on the “supposed connection” between Hussein and al Qaeda, which analysts had discounted. “Feeding the administration’s voracious appetite for material on the Saddam-al Qaeda link consumed an enormous amount of time and attention.”
VICE PRES. CHENEY: Well, I want to be very careful about how I say this. I’m not here today to make a specific allegation that Iraq was somehow responsible for 9/11. I can’t say that. On the other hand, since we did that interview, new information has come to light. And we spent time looking at that relationship between Iraq, on the one hand, and the al-Qaeda organization on the other. And there has been reporting that suggests that there have been a number of contacts over the years. We’ve seen in connection with the hijackers, of course, Mohamed Atta, who was the lead hijacker, did apparently travel to Prague on a number of occasions. And on at least one occasion, we have reporting that places him in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official a few months before the attack on the World Trade Center. The debates about, you know, was he there or wasn’t he there, again, it’s the intelligence business.
Mr. RUSSERT: What does the CIA say about that? Is it credible?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: It’s credible. But, you know, I think a way to put it would be it’s unconfirmed at this point. We’ve got…
Mr. RUSSERT: Anything else?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: There is–again, I want to separate out 9/11, from the other relationships between Iraq and the al-Qaeda organization. But there is a pattern of relationships going back many years. And in terms of exchanges and in terms of people, we’ve had recently since the operations in Afghanistan–we’ve seen al-Qaeda members operating physically in Iraq and off the territory of Iraq. We know that Saddam Hussein has, over the years, been one of the top state sponsors of terrorism for nearly 20 years. We’ve had this recent weird incident where the head of the Abu Nidal Organization, one of the world’s most noted terrorists, was killed in Baghdad. The announcement was made by the head of Iraqi intelligence. The initial announcement said he’d shot himself. When they dug into that, though, he’d shot himself four times in the head. And speculation has been, that, in fact, somehow, the Iraqi government or Saddam Hussein had him eliminated to avoid potential embarrassment by virtue of the fact that he was in Baghdad and operated in Baghdad. So it’s a very complex picture to try to sort out. And…
Mr. RUSSERT: But no direct link?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: I can’t–I’ll leave it right where it’s at. I don’t want to go beyond that. I’ve tried to be cautious and restrained in my comments, and I hope that everybody will recognize that.
If the public ever learns the degree to which they are being spied on, will they finally clamor for the impeachment of the President and the Vice-President?
One of the cable news outfits referred to Pillar, Brown, and Abramoff as “The Three Tenors” because they’re all singing.
I think this is hilarious.
Boo, re the NSA, I fear that, as Hillary Clinton said yesterday, that the Bush admin. is exploiting people’s apprehensions about terrorist attacks, and people who don’t know the issue well will likely feel that only Al Qaeda sympathizers will be bugged. (She said they just play the fear card, which we’ve all known for sometime, of course.)
btw, a friend on the ProgressiveTalk mailing list sent me a DVD of “The Power of Nightmares.” Very cool.
yeah, but what if the public gets even a whiff of what soj is talking about?
If — the big IF — outlets like CBS News or ABC News radio carry it as headline news for AM stations … around here, the only news most people hear is that aired at the top of the hour on the only local AM radio station, which airs ABC’s news. Otherwise, people only hear Rush Limbaugh all morning, and no other political programming the rest of the day.
Or if those who read the local paper see a column by Molly Ivins or Maureen Dowd that gets into it…. but they have to be editorial page readers (which, surprisingly, a lot of people here are because they all love the LTEs.
Yes, but what are the odds that “the public” will ever get that whiff. I have no faith at all that the MSM will contribute much towards it.
It’s when something like this happens – the link is to my recent experience – that one sees what is happening. Or maybe just the possibilities. But things like that won’t happen to “the public” I don’t think.
As soj said
No criticism of the gov’t? Doesn’t apply to you . . .
Right, Janet. And thanks for pointing me to Rumi’s diary. It’s superb.
That’s why I wish we could all get portable TVs with a built-in DVD player that we could set up wherever … and we could play DVDs such as “The Power of Nightmares” and any number of other superb videos — BIllionaires for Bush is great — INN World Report and Democracy Now! are great —
in other words, bring the real media to the people
and have a good copier so we can print out snappy, short info sheets to hand out to passersby
I’m sorry, but this seems to be a very odd response to what has happened to me. Do you think I am overreacting?
A local friend just sent me this:
ok now that was just too cute!
Thanks!! I missed this one and it ties in with something else…
this incident. Is it a warning to you? I wish I knew, but I’m glad that you let all of us know what has happened to you. When I fly now I get the full treatment. For some reason I’m always a “random screening”. The TSA was waiting for me specifically at the Dothan airport the last time I flew and it was terribly obvious……………my husband didn’t go with me but stood watching on the other side of the metal detectors shocked and alarmed. I had been thoroughly searched two other times flying previously and I told him I was beginning to feel harassed. We were running late and I was the last passenger to arrive and I tied up the plane leaving by 10 minutes while I was searched and ALL of my bags were searched.
FYI, my e-mail app is down .. I’ve written to the support forum. Now I just wait until someone replies.
Alternate e-mail: forsusanhu@yahoo.com
And please tell Howie that MSNBC didn’t have a Scarborough show at 7pm tonight, so no Maria Cantwell. They reaired one of their ghastly Dateline shows. Maybe cuz of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics?
FYi, if you’re a Mozilla forum member, here is where I posted. I’ll probably get some help though so don’t go out of your way.
“I will restore honor and dignity to the White House”
(Bush at a GOP fundraiser in April 2000)
PHOTO!
George and Jack sharing a manly “Brokeback” moment.
You are so naughty.
These days, I prefer “seditious.”
I’ve always loved that word … it’s like one is spitting venom when one says the word.
We’re in neo-WWI times, eh?
I’m at a loss of how this is funny? We wouldn’t laugh if we saw a man with a woman so why is it funny when we see a man with a man?
Someome explain that to me?
I think there would be some humor if one of the two were influential power positioned denying the photo and the other was a whistleblower, no pun intended, outing the one denying knowledge of the other.
that’s very true.. and that could be any mix.. man man woman man woman woman. I’m just curious, however, because i usually see this joke as man man and not in any of the other combinations. Not even woman woman, oddly enough. (though I have seen man sheep but that’s more European)
On Atrios or DKos there’s steady stream of these man man pairings so i suppose i was hoping to have it cleared up here 🙂
Ya know what I’d like to find out, (semi-rhetorically) why does all this intrigue and backroom dealing sound like the Court of the Sun King through the lens of some B-movie director (no offense to B-movie directors)? I mean if we can have a popular TV show (West Wing) about government aren’t we really dealing in fiction (well melodrama really) as well. I thought we had an open democracy! Don’t get me wrong here. It is mildly amusing in a perverse sort of way, but just when do these folks have time to govern? Or, are they not the real governors? I sure as shite don’t know.
Think about it. All these rules and laws and regulations and proclamations, whatever are handed down to us peons yet nothing in everyday life seems to change. Weird!
Listen! Are we dealing with real life here?
Maybe its me.
Anyway, peace and prosperity to you all.
Oh for the scorn of a hack?
Brown’s demand for “legal aid or I’ll sing” ignored.
heckuva job Brownie. I like your singing. A bit late but come on over. It’s time for penance
CNN has been repeatedly reporting a story all morning about 11,000 empty trailers that are still sitting in a field in Arkansas. The administration clearly wants to make this all Michael Brown’s fault, but I don’t see how that jibes with the continuing incompetence since he is now out of the government. If it was all his fault, why is FEMA just as fucked up as it was 5 months ago?
This raises the issue of how much blame Brown deserved in the first place. His pleas of being powerless to direct his own agency sounded like ineptitude and blame-shifting, but we are dealing with the Bush administration, which has a history of neutering departments and intentionally preventing them from doing their jobs. If you look at the chain of command after FEMA joined Homeland Security, ultimate authority clearly lay with Chertoff (and Bush but that’s another issue), and I don’t see why he should escape that responsibility simply because he showed no interest in doing his job post-hurricane.
I’m not saying Brown is competent, because there is no evidence of that, but it does seem possible that he really didn’t have any authority to act and the people who did have the authority chose not to waste their time on unimportant issues like keeping people alive.
If it was all his fault, why is FEMA just as fucked up as it was 5 months ago?
Good point!