McCain link to private group in Iran-Contra case

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

McCain link to private group in Iran-Contra case
By PETE YOST Associated Press Writer
Article Last Updated: 10/07/2008 12:23:37 AM EDT


WASHINGTON—John McCain's campaign is criticizing Barack Obama for his ties to a former radical who engaged in violent acts four decades ago, but McCain himself was closely connected to a private group that supplied aid to rebels trying to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua during the Iran-Contra affair.

The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. The group was dedicated to stamping out communism around the globe.

The council's founder, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, said McCain became associated with the organization in the early 1980s as McCain was launching his political career in Arizona. Singlaub said McCain was a supporter but not an active member in the group.

~snip~
Elected to the House in 1982 and at a time when he was on the board of Singlaub's council, McCain was among Republicans on Capitol Hill expressing support for the Contras, a CIA-organized guerrilla force in Central America. In 1984, Congress cut off CIA funds for the Contras.

Read more: http://yorkdispatch.inyork.com/yd/sections/politics/ci_10655363

[struggle4progress]

1. So McCain was a director of a rightwing group that funded terrorism in Central America, supporting

thugs who blew up local health clinics and killed civilians

[endthewar]

3. Reagan supported terrorism in Central America

so this story doesn't surprise me at all.

[Waiting For Everyman]

2. Guns for drugs, put into the 'black economy' here.

A traditional United Fruit kind of operation. The kind General Smedley Butler warned us about (oh, 60-70 years ago) which has been the focus of our military ever since.

Corporatism/Colonialism.

And we have our own version of it right here too - the invisible financial warfare version.


On Smedley Butler, for those unfamiliar with him:

Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, one of the most colorful officers in the Marine Corps' long history, was one of the two Marines who received two Medals of Honor for separate acts of outstanding heroism. General Butler was still in his teens when, on 20 May 1898, he was appointed a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps during the Spanish-American War. In the early part of the last century General Butler led assault troops in Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Haiti. He was a regimental commander in France during World War I and later served in China. On 1 October 1931, he was retired upon his own application after completion of 33 years' service in the Marine Corps. Major General Butler died at the Naval Hospital, Philadelphia, on 21 June 1940, following a four-week illness.

After his retirement General Butler wrote a book WAR IS A RACKET, which begins as follows:

"WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."

And in a speech delivered in 1933, General Butler said:

"I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

General Butler has had a naval destroyer, a military base and a chapter of Veterans for Peace (the 'Smed Butts') named for him. He is loved and quoted not only in the United States, but around the world.

www.warisaracket.org
______________

Oh, and he prevented a coup by the military against FDR.

McCain is all for the kind of military we have had though. He's coming from the same mindset.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Excellent finding an uptodate link

Much more meaningful than old links although doubtless there are some on the subject regarding what that turd has been up to in the past. :hi:

[Democat]

5. Front page Yahoo.com story - here is another DU thread

Maybe the same story, or a related one at least:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7341934&mesg_id=7341934

[NewJeffCT]

8. cool

let's hope this makes the news

[maseman]

11. WE need to make it news

Send this credible AP story to every editor you can find. It is not a left-wing nut story it is real and from the AP. FOlks this is up to us to push.

[customerserviceguy]

22. Don't be surprised

if McCain tries to spin this as some sort of "I helped defeat Communism" story. Iran-Contra is pretty long ago in collective American memory, the public tends to take an all's-well-that-ends-well sort of approach to things from too long ago. We didn't lose American lives in Nicaragua, so it doesn't have the "Vietnam" feeling.

I know how we all feel about Iran-Contra over here, but don't make the assumption that the rest of the American public is going to see it the same way. Sen. Obama's been able to benefit from the fact that the violent protests of the Vietnam War have faded from public memory, with Iran-Contra having even less of a direct effect on the homefront, I would expect that this story does nothing but inflame those of us who already have a million reasons to oppose McLame.

[cal04]

6. Dems hope Singlaub is McCain’s Ayers

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081007/pl_politico/14349

Since the mid-1980s, there’s been almost no attention paid to John McCain’s long-ago association with a controversial group implicated in a secretive plot to supply arms to Nicaraguan militia groups during the Iran-Contra affair.

But now, with the Republican presidential candidate stepping up his negative blitz against Democratic opponent Barack Obama, some Democrats are hoping that the group – the U.S. Council for World Freedom, and its founder, John Singlaub – will become for McCain what Bill Ayers has become for Obama: a fleeting past association used as ammunition for political broadsides.

Over past few days, a handful of Obama allies – none directly associated with his campaign – have called attention to McCain’s ties to the council to rebut the McCain campaign’s increasing focus on Obama’s ties to Ayers, a founder of the 1960s radical Weather Underground.

“This guilt by association path is going to be trouble ultimately for the McCain campaign,” Democratic strategist Paul Begala said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “John McCain sat on the board of a very right-wing organization, it was the U.S. Council for World Freedom, it was chaired by a guy named John Singlaub, who wound up involved in the Iran contra scandal. It was an ultra conservative, right-wing group.”

(snip)
Singlaub, who did not respond to Politico’s telephone and e-mail messages seeking comment, at the time denied the council was involved with the plane. But he later acknowledged during congressional hearings on the Iran-Contra affair that he was part of a secret program carried out with the knowledge of U.S. military officials that used former intelligence operatives to arm the anti-Communist Contras, circumventing a ban on U.S. military assistance to the rebels.

[Fiendish Thingy]

20. I just gave this story it's first rec at the Yahoo link- c'mon DU! n/t

[Just-plain-Kathy]

7. K&R

[MetaTrope]

9. Ah, such memories McCain is bringing back...

[Judi Lynn]

10. Bonus link: Wanta hear John McCain making that yuckky "Haaaaaa?" sound?

Just found it at You Tube. He croaks, "How about Sarah Palin last night? Haaaaa? How about her? How 'bout the job she did? Haaaaa?"

Whooooo! It's hideous, yet it draws you in to hear it again and again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r8hhShMyZw

[Dollface]

16. I was just wondering why the media hasn't made it his "Howard Dean" moment. EGH!?

[Dervill Crow]

34. Three words for those old enough to remember.

Gladys and Tyrone. :rofl:

[usregimechange]

12. kick

[bos1]

13. state-sponsored terrorism

The Reagan admin like to use the phrase in pointing the finger at the USSR, but that's what they were doing all over Central and South America -- murdering in illegal wars funded by the US taxpayer.

Creepy as hell to hear McCain is connected enough with those guys to have sat on the board. I suppose that is what is called paying your dues to the far right (fascists).

[L. Coyote]

40. Deja DU: George Bush Sr. May Face Charges: Conspiring to Kidnap and Murder Political Activists

Junta Day 2007 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2459135

[bos1]

43. thanks, didn't know about that recent news

though a year has passed now and he hasn't been arrested yet.

Maybe, if the financial crisis leads to a review of the actions of the US gov't, we could get a situation like where Pinochet got arrested. Maybe someone will arrest GHW Bush if he goes to the wrong country at the wrong time...

[pleah]

14. K&R

:kick:

[Dollface]

15. His "base" will think he's a hero. It seems Singlaub is the Moonies link.

"John McCain sat on the board of...the U.S. Council for World Freedom," said Begala, "The Anti-Defamation League, in 1981 when McCain was on the board, said this about this organization. It was affiliated with the World Anti-Communist League - the parent organization - which ADL said 'has increasingly become a gathering place, a forum, a point of contact for extremists, racists and anti-Semites.'"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/06/why-mccains-time-with-cou_n_132470.html

[Democat]

17. His base is already voting for him, but we need swing voters!

We need to show undecided voters that McCain is a terrorist and Nazi supporter!

[SpiralHawk]

18. Republicons love them their Rev. Moonie buddies

I wonder how many Republicon butt-kissers think Rev. Moon is really -- as he claims to be -- the Second Coming of Christ.

Or do Republicons just humor Moon because he gives them so much money for their propaganda and their Black ops?

What would Jesus do?

[Dollface]

21. The base the former, the leaders the latter.

[Buenaventura]

27. McPain's base, and even a fair number of Dems & indi's, think Ollie North &

crew were patriotic heroes. only history will get it right - and only when we get to write it.

[BrklynLiberal]

36. I am afraid that is probably right.

[AntiFascist]

48. All about Moon, Singlaub and Contras here....

http://www.luciferia.tv/CIACAmerica.htm

- Interchange Report (Washington, D.C.) Fall 1984 "The Politics of the
Moonies" <"Predating CAUSA, the Unification Church has a long history of
involvement with the World Anti-Communist League
(WACL), an international coalition of conservative and fascist groups
founded and financed by the governments of Taiwan and South Korea. The Latin
American branch of WACL was kicked out of the organization this year after
columnist Jack Anderson revealed that it was an organizer of death squads
all over Latin America, and has had a long record of Nazi associations and
anti-Semitism.">

[Judi Lynn]

50. More from your link:

~snip~
B. SINGLAUB. W.A.C.L.. CAUSA AND CONTRAS

With regard to the Contra affair, the clearest link among the enumerated
organizations appears to be retired Major General, JOHN SINGLAUB He is the
current chairman of the World Anti-Communist League. 48

In Spring 1985, one month prior to the point where Congress cut off CIA
funding for the contras, John Singlaub headed a panel of retired,
high-ranking military officers in a study group at the Pentagon which
produced a classified report on the Central American conflict. The purpose
of the panel was to study Central American strife and make recommendations
to the Reagan Administration. 49

"The eight-member panel issued an eight-page classified report urging the
United States to move away from conventional warfare tactics in El Salvador
and apply the lessons of counterinsurgency warfare learned in Asia,
including increased emphasis on psychological.....

warfare, civic action and small-unit operations." 50

On the basis of this document, Singlaub was asked by the administration to
contribute to the maintenance of the war until Congress could be prevailed
upon to renew the funds. ?Since then, he has been reported to have raised
millions of dollars for the contras, with the aid of other New Right groups
including CAUSA." 51 Singlaub has, in fact, stated that "financial support
from Sun Myung Moon, among others, "has made the difference America]. . . and the freedom fighters have not just continued - they are
expanding." 52/

Singlaub's praise of Moon and CAUSA is underscored by the fact that he is an
advisor to the Council for Inter-American Security (CIS]. The chairman of
CIS, Lt. General Gordon Sumner, Jr. is a special assistant to the secretary
of state for Latin American affairs. The executive vice-president of CIS is
Lynn Bouchey, an active organizer of the Moon organization's CAUSA
operations in Central and South America. 53

It is not too much to conclude that the supplies provided by the Moon
organization to the contras in Honduras were pumped into the delivery system
operated there by retired Generals John Singlaub and Richard Secord. 54

~snip~
The covert agenda which was put in place in Central America reflects a
commitment to a set of values which supercede any commitment to
constitutional process. The value of fighting "Communism" appears to have
preempted respect for the will of the People expressed through this nation's
Senators and Congressmen. When the popular will outlawed aid to the Contras,
those who believed they knew better paid no attention. They believed covert
action is better than no action at all.

By nature, not to mention the effectiveness of mutually convenient
cooperation, there does not seem to be a difference between the
Secord/Singlaub crowd's disregard for federal law and Moon's messianic
imperative which will override all that is labeled Satanic. For whatever
reason, both groups put themselves above the law and appear to have
coextensive interests in Central America.

Public representatives are investigating and seeking to find the facts which
are being currently hidden, as well as those facts which already have
occurred. Such legislators should be alarmed, if not outraged, by the
apparent perpetration of the manipulation of the United States Government
and the concomitant misuse of the image of democracy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Very disturbing, to put it mildly.

[whistle]

19. John McCain is corrupted and tainted from every angle, he needs to be

...renamed to McDump

[KansDem]

23. "Who's the real John McCain?" "Terrorist!" (nt)

[dhpgetsit]

24. Let's not forget that he is also linked to this convicted criminal

Oliver North

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/15/mccain-supporter-oliver-n_n_101943.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/02/12/mccain_camp_touts_ollie_north.html

[JerseygirlCT]

42. It would be interesting to force that one, wouldn't it?

What do you think of Ollie North, Senator McCain? You support what he did?

[dhpgetsit]

25. The cast of characters involved in the Iran-Contra crimes

There are lots of people named in this document. It's almost a "Who's Who" of the PNAC crowd.
http://www.pinknoiz.com/covert/stip.html

[otherlander]

26. I KNEW IT!!!

I FUCKING KNEW IT!!!

[Overseas]

28. K&R -- for McLiar's support of right wing death squads,

[Octafish]

29. John Sidney McCain, BFEE

You can't get any lower than a mass murderer.

Except maybe warmonger, traitor and their reaction: genocide.

[progressivebydesign]

30. The Dems are no longer afraid to play hardball with the repubs.

What's good for us is good for them. Trying to tie Obama to a casual acquaintances activities (occurring 40 something years ago), and seeing McCain involved in a group that was doing things wrong WHILE he was involved, are two separate things entirely.

McKeating shouldn't dish it if he can't take it.

[tblue]

35. Bingo! We'll see your unconvicted terrorist association and raise you one Iran-Contra connection.

[valerief]

31. keeeek!

:kick:

[WhiteTara]

32. is that pig f*er still alive?

Wherever Singlaub goes, war is sure to follow.

[starroute]

37. Singlaub hasn't been very visible lately -- must be getting old

Last I know of that he was making public statements was in 2001, when he tried to blame the Chinese for 9/11:

http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/11/20/202544.shtml

An Urgent Message from General John K. Singlaub, U.S. Army, (Ret.)

Dear Fellow American:

While decent people throughout the world recoiled in horror as they saw two airliners crash into the twin towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the reaction of official state media in China was joy and celebration.

That's your first clue to the existence of a secret war against America that has been going on for decades. Even more disturbing was my discovery that Chinese military planners had proposed bin Laden's bombing of the World Trade Center - and after 9/11 even took credit for it! . . .

Before you say I'm a crazy old coot and throw this letter in the trash, please read on for the undeniable evidence.

Singlaub is also the guy who was in charge of the special forces operation in Vietnam that included the assassination squads of Operation Phoenix -- but he'll sue you if you suggest he knew anything about that. Quite a history, even aside from his fling with the World Anti-Communist Leage -- and it's fascinating to find out that he and McCain's father were buddies.

[WhiteTara]

54. he was in Fiji just before the coup

and war. Can you imagine a war in paradise? Leave it to the repukes and singlaub

[lonestarnot]

33. K & R

[mcg]

38. McCain supported this terrorist group, Obama never supported what Ayers did,

in fact Obama has condemned Ayers' past. McCain's connection is real.

[L. Coyote]

39. McCain worked for and with terrorists!

These are the people who murdered Americans Ben Linder and Linda Frazier.
They still need to be brought to the courts for trial.

I personally experienced the terror they wrought in Central America.
While investigating the illegal aid to the Contras, just before Iran-Contra broke,
I was stabbed nine times, and saved to write about it by quick actions of the locals.

We have to bring the killers to justice still!!

[starroute]

41. Here's a fascinating little something I ran into recently

That memo mentioned in the quote below, which outlined plans for technology transfers to include China, makes Singlaub's more recent rants about the Chinese sound somewhat incongruous. But then there were some very strange activities going on in the early-mid 80's -- not least being Jack Abramoff's involvement with the South African government and its Israeli ties at just the same time that Singlaub was discussing related matters with Ollie North. It's a period of history that never ceases to reveal new and amazing surprises -- along with significant connections to current events.

http://www.thewebfairy.com/911/constantine/part19d.htm

"Many of those involved in the Reagan Administration's war against Nicaragua shared a common desire to consolidate support for right-wing guerillas....

"Gen. John Singlaub set up committees within the World Anti-Communist League for eight different guerilla groups.... Singlaub also drafted a memo outlining a contra international of sorts with its own arms company, financed by a series of technology transfers among Israel, South Africa and China. Once this flow of technology was in place, they wrote, 'The United States then has at its disposal a large and continuous supply of Soviet technology and weapons to channel to Freedom Fighters worldwide.' ... <The Singlaub memo> was later found in Oliver North's safe.

"Even the Saudis got into the act, with a proposal to establish offshore companies to serve a multiplicity of purposes. Palestinian-American businessman Sam Bamieh says he was approached by Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, and at a separate time, by a member of the embassy's staff, and asked 'to set up a company, an offshore company, whereby we will supply goods and services to different anti-communist movements in different parts of the world. ...'

"Bamieh said that the offshore company would buy the oil from Saudi Arabia - which nominally adheres to the UN oil embargo against the apartheid regime - and resell it to South Africa at a markup of 75 cents to one dollar a barrel. He said while he was discussing this with Bandar in Cannes in February 1984, Bandar sought to reassure him it was in line with U.S. policy by telling him that CIA Director Casey and King Fahd were at that very moment discussing the same topic in a yacht in the Mediterranean . (This was later confirmed.) Bamieh said he refused the request, even though Bandar told him such a company could make $50 to $100 million in annual profits."

Jane Hunter, "Tricontranental," Report on the Americas, September-October 1988, p. 15.

[Judi Lynn]

44. US presidential debate: John McCain faces Watergate threat before second showdown

US presidential debate: John McCain faces Watergate threat before second showdown
John McCain will take to the stage for the second presidential debate with Barack Obama dogged by threats by Democrats to publicise his links to a central figure in the Watergate break-in and the head of a shadowy Right-wing group.

By Alex Spillius in Washington
Last Updated: 7:35PM BST 07 Oct 2008

All eyes are on Mr McCain after his aggressive approach in the first debate two weeks ago failed to pay any dividend in the polls.

Economic turmoil has since pushed the Republican nominee further behind, with new polls in four swing states - North Carolina, Colorado, Wisconsin and New Hampshire - showing a gain of two to three points for his rival Senator Barack Obama.

The McCain campaign has turned more hostile with vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin making repeated attacks on Mr Obama's limited association with a 1960s radical.

Mr McCain himself has accused Mr Obama of lying about his supposed failure to support greater regulation of the mortgage industry. "I guess he believes if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough it will be believed," said Mr McCain.

Unlike recent Democratic candidates, Mr Obama has fought back strongly.

More:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/presidentialdebates/3153984/US-presidential-debate-John-McCain-faces-Watergate-threat-before-second-showdown.html

[kath]

51. Oh, YES -- G. Gordon Liddy! It's definitely time to go there.

WOOT!

And it's past time to get into the witch-hunter pastor, all the Joel's Army connections with Palin's churches, etc.

[Judi Lynn]

45. US election: Democrats threaten to hit McCain on Iran-Contra link

US election: Democrats threaten to hit McCain on Iran-Contra link
John McCain tied to group that helped fund right-wing guerrillas during the 1980sElana Schor in Washington guardian.co.uk, Tuesday October 07 2008 16:08 BST

As Republicans take aim at Barack Obama's past links to a 1960s radical activist, some Democrats are threatening a tit-for-tat assault by noting John McCain's ties to a group that helped fund right-wing guerrillas during the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal.

The latest round of attacks came as the presidential hopefuls geared up for their second debate in Nashville tonight. With his fortunes fading in many key states, McCain has made no secret of his plans to question Obama's character – and Obama allies have fired right back.

After Republican No 2 Sarah Palin condemned Obama for attending a political event hosted by Bill Ayers, a former leader of the 1960s radical group the Weather Underground, Democratic pundits and bloggers began chiding McCain for his time on the board of the US Council for World Freedom (CWF).

The CWF was used as a conduit for arms sales and other aid to the Contras, a right-wing guerrilla group in Nicaragua that also got backing from the CIA under Ronald Reagan.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/07/uselections2008.johnmccain2

[Judi Lynn]

46. McCain linked to group in Iran-Contra affair

McCain linked to group in Iran-Contra affair
By PETE YOST – 16 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama has his William Ayers connection. Now John McCain may have an Iran-Contra connection. In the 1980s, McCain served on the advisory board to the U.S. chapter of an international group linked to ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America.

The U.S. Council for World Freedom aided rebels trying to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua. That landed the group in the middle of the Iran-Contra affair and in legal trouble with the Internal Revenue Service, which revoked the charitable organization's tax exemption.

The council created by retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub was the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League, an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. After setting up the U.S. council, Singlaub served as the international league's chairman.

McCain's tie to Singlaub's council is undergoing renewed scrutiny after his campaign criticized Obama for his link to Ayers, a former radical who engaged in violent acts 40 years ago. Over the weekend, Democratic operative Paul Begala said on ABC's "This Week" that this "guilt by association" tactic could backfire on the McCain campaign by renewing discussion of McCain's service on the board of the U.S. Council for World Freedom, "an ultraconservative right-wing group."

In two interviews with The Associated Press in August and September, Singlaub said McCain became associated with the organization in the early 1980s as McCain launched his political career. McCain was elected to the U.S. House in 1982.

More:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jzQtw1kATj1xCqPcAmwgCKDtNpDQD93LRD980

[Judi Lynn]

47. Why McCain's Time With Council Of World Freedom Matters

Why McCain's Time With Council Of World Freedom Matters
October 6, 2008 11:58 PM

Since Sunday, Democrats have been buzzing about the re-revelation that during the 1980s, Sen. John McCain served on the board of a far-right conservative organization that had supplied arms and funds to paramilitary organizations in Latin America.

Democratic strategist Paul Begala lit the fire when, during an appearance on Meet the Press, he warned that this relatively obscure detail from McCain's past could draw him into a guilt-by-association game he was bound to regret.

"John McCain sat on the board of...the U.S. Council for World Freedom," said Begala, "The Anti-Defamation League, in 1981 when McCain was on the board, said this about this organization. It was affiliated with the World Anti-Communist League - the parent organization - which ADL said 'has increasingly become a gathering place, a forum, a point of contact for extremists, racists and anti-Semites.'"

But McCain's involvement in the U.S. Council for World Freedom, which extended from 1981 through, possibly, 1986 is significant -- not merely because it ties him to unsavory characters but because it firmly associates him with a foreign policy that was, at the time and still, controversial.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/06/why-mccains-time-with-cou_n_132470.html

~~~~~~~~~~
Short clip Paul Begala from Meet the Press, reference to the World Anti-Communist League:

John McCain Tied to Ultra-Right-Wing "World Anti-Communist League"
http://www.raisingkaine.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=16465

[intheflow]

49. This is on page 1 of my "My Yahoo" page but

Yahoo has disabled the rating system for it. :grr:

[AntiFascist]

52. Yay ! Keith Olbermann is covering this on Countdown n/t

[starroute]

53. Y'know, I was pointing this connection out last June

I'm saying this not to congratulate myself, but because I get so frustrated that it seems like I can yell at the top of my lungs about something for months, and until the Democrats or MSM catch up in their own sweet time, I might as well be talking to the wall.

Does anybody else feel that way? We've got a great system here at DU for getting the word out about certain things -- once it attains critical mass -- but yow do you get to that critical mass?

That June thread, by the way, is here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=6370317#6371497

blogslut started it, it was titled "Meet: The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq," and it had some really good stuff in it about the CLI, which was founded in November 2002 in order to promote the invasion of Iraq, had McCain advisor Randy Scheunemann as executive director and McCain and Joe Lieberman as honorary co-chairs, and was primarily devoted to the fabulation of Ahmed Chalabi.

And you know what? McCain's CLI connection *still* hasn't been taken general notice of -- even though it would be very relevant to the question of how we got into the damn Iraq War and why McCain seems so allergic to discussing events involving Iraq at any time prior to 2007.

[Zhade]

55. Iran-Contra - the Dems' OTHER great moral failure.

Not impeaching and arresting those involved is why THOSE EXACT SAME PEOPLE wound up in this b*s* administration.

pelosi isn't the first coward to let criminals walk - she learned from her elders.

[OakCliffDem]

56. Kick