Just when you think they've hit bottom ...

[autorank]

White Paper Justifying Iraq War Written Three Months before Intel Report Arrived
National Security Archive Stunner

The lies about Iraq WMD, the sales of WMD to terrorists, and the threat to the nation have reached a new level. A "White Paper" sent from the White House to Congress (Oct. 4, 2002) as the basis for war was supposedly based on a critical intelligence report received by Bush-Cheney on Oct. 1, 2002. Now we find out that, for all practical purposes, the White Paper was written in July 2002. This is an absolute outrage. It's worse than anyone had ever thought. This story in "Scoop" is just 1,000 words (short for me!). If you find it worthy, please get it around. It simplifies a more complex report referenced within the article and it is easily understood.


http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0808/S00304.htm *** BuzzIT!

Next: THE Smoking Gun & why corporate media ignores it.

[Mike Nelson]

1. Every Democrat speaking should be calling

for impeachment

[maple25]

48. if you think so....

then please, please go to:
www.kucinich.us
(sorry, I'm not quite sure how to link on here yet)

That is Rep. Dennis Kucinich's homepage. Here's the letter he recently sent out.
Please read and go to the link above to sign the petition! Then pass it on!

September 10th: The day before our world changed,
a day to change the world!
Dear Friends,
On August 1st, I delivered to Speaker Nancy Pelosi; a petition bearing the
names of over 100,000 Americans that, like us, feel that the President
must be held accountable for abusing executive power and disregarding his
Constitutional obligations.

Your voices have been heard and your support continues to send a powerful
message to lawmakers. That is why I call on you again to help us in a new
effort to deliver 1 Million signatures to Speaker Pelosi on September 10,
2008.

Together we can:
•Urge real Congressional action to hold President Bush accountable now
•Reinstate the authority of our Constitution
•Document crimes committed by President Bush for historical account
•Facilitate post-Administration law enforcement and prosecution
•Reset the standard for the incoming and future administrations
•Demand justice for the over 3,000 who died on 9/11and whose deaths were
tragically exploited to take us into an illegal war in Iraq
•Demand justice for the estimated 30,324 U.S. military personnel who have
been injured/wounded
•Demand justice for the estimated 4,138 U.S. military personnel who have
been killed or died
•Demand justice for the 1 Million innocent Iraqis who have died*
•Avert another illegitimate looming war – this time against Iran

We need your active participation to deliver 1 Million signatures to
Congress by September 10, 2008.
Please give at least ten of your friends the opportunity to stand up for
our country - the way you and I have, by inviting them to sign the
impeachment petition online at http://www.Kucinich.us. Send your friends
an email invitation to sign the petition by clicking here.

Together we can make September 10, the day before the world changed, a day
we change the world!

Thank you for your active and ongoing citizenship.

Dennis Kucinich

[OwnedByFerrets]

52. Welcome to DU

[maple25]

63. Thanks

I've been reading for ages but just started posting. =o)

[The Wielding Truth]

78. Yes, I did it again!

[autorank]

83. Welcome to DU -

Kucinich is a hero of democracy and the citizens of this country.

Please post this article at the site. I'm a member there but hardly use it and don't know the ropes.

Thanks

[Just-plain-Kathy]

53. Any rep who doesn't call for impeachment should be investigated and tried for treason.

What does it tell us when Paul Pelosi shows up on the Bohemian Grove 2008 Guest List?

[Me.]

2. They Set The Standard

For low. How much further down can one go?

[sabra]

3. National Security Archive has documentary evidence showing this to be true

Pelosi always said she needed "hard evidence"

[EFerrari]

4. Maybe she meant, she needs a library card. n/t

[autorank]

8. Then she's complain she forgot her reading glasses

:)

[autorank]

7. Can you believe this?

The NSA is the source of this. I just focused on "The White Paper" - which is one of two pieces of evidence that make the start of the war a criminal act of truly epic proportions.

Now we know that instead of this -

NIE (10/1/02 => (alternations, distortions) => White Paper (10/4/02, lies to Congress)=> Invasion endorsement

it's this - White Paper prototype (7/02) => Intimidation of intel community (7/02 ongoing) => NIE (10/1) => White Paper (10/4/02) = Invasion endorsement

First, it makes all this much more criminal than suspected when we thought the 10/1 NIE begat the 10/4 White Paper. Second, it suggests very strongly that the prototype White Paper of 7/02 was the road map for pressure on the intel community.

It's just appalling and has to be addressed in this campaign or our future as little meaning in terms of who we are as a society.

[wvbygod]

65. Is there a link to this document?

I suspect many here would like to see some hard evidence too.

[sabra]

66. here you go:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB254/index.htm

<snip>

We shall offer only a few examples here. First is the case of the CIA white paper, “Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs.” That document is dated October 2002 {Document 1} and was issued on October 4. It has been represented as a distillation of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq published two days earlier, with the most sensitive, secret information stripped out. Posted here today is the major portion of the text of the same paper in draft {Document 2}, as it existed in July 2002. This document demonstrates that the white paper existed long before the NIE was even requested by Congress. In fact the illustrations in the July version are the same as those in the final report. A close comparison of the text shows, further, that much of the argumentation is identical, and that the differences between the two are strictly in the nature of separating text to insert more charges or to sharpen them. The entire product has the character of rhetoric. Little of the text shows the kind of approach characteristic of intelligence analysis. The fact that this document was in preparation at the CIA in July indicates that the Bush administration was actively engaged in a process of building support for war months ahead of the time it has previously been understood to have done so. In fact evidence exists that the CIA white paper was commissioned as early as May 2002. (Note 7)

[Sunnyshine]

71. Thats was I was thinking...

They have no choice but to begin investigating this quietly for the next 3 months. Then file charges on * the week or day before he leaves office. This will condemn them all. They know it, but we are tied up every which way we can be politically. This clears the congress/senate from having voted for IWR and tying that illegal war to their record. Our nation was fooled and justice must served.

[closeupready]

5. I don't understand the significance of this. Can

someone explain to a dummy like me what this means?

[sabra]

9. Congress asked the CIA to give them an NIE (national intel estimate) re: Iraq

in 2002 before the war. A "white paper" was created that summarized the intel. This paper was supposed to reflect the findings from the estimate. However the National Security Archives now has documents showing that the "white paper" was created months before the request from Congress. Meaning they (BushCo, CIA, etc..) already had the "intel" summaries ready and pre-packaged in the early stages of the run up to the war...

[closeupready]

13. thanks, much obliged.

n/t

[sourmilk]

51. Did Congress even ever get to see the NIE?

It was my (admittedly limited) understanding that only the Senate Intelligence Committee got to see it and that everyone else only got a look at the classified summary...

[Breeze54]

20. It means they lied about the reasons to invade Iraq and

that it was pre-planned way ahead of time! :grr:

:hi:

[bdamomma]

62. I thought all of us knew that already, that this was pre planned

before 9/11.

It just never stops, these are outright criminals who are just continuing to kill innocent people and our troops (4,134) how many more bodies do they need, Cheney, Bush and the rest of the cabal need to be arrested and sentenced.

[truedelphi]

6. Excellent work! The OP states:

"In the most supreme of ironies, many members of Congress failed to even review the distorted White Paper before voting overwhelmingly to approve the invasion."

Yep, that is certainly undesirable behavior. But in a Banana Republic, what else would a "citizenry" expect??

K& R'd.

[autorank]

10. My favorite piece of the narrative

They had the chance to study the rationale for war. You'd think that those who hadn't done their
homework would have refrained from voting - it's a DAMN war where people will die, read the report.

But no, they just figured, oh well...

:hi:

[truedelphi]

18. I'm not sure the Congress critters figured, "Oh well."

I think that they were trying to remember where they had hidden the account numbers for that personal Bank account in Lichtenstein. So that some of the missing Pentagon funds could make their way to them.

Not "Oh well." More like, "Come to Momma!"

And in classic totalitarian, double mind fuck-ese, Rumsfeld even hints at that much. He makes a point of letting us, The Public, know that huge sums of monies that belong to the Pentagon are gone and no one knows quite where.

And he makes a point of telling the American public this on Sept 10th 2001.

[Joe Chi Minh]

21. Reading this, on top of all the rest of the seemingly endless stream of

surreal news, Mike, I feel as if I've had much too much to drink, drunk as a Neocon - staggering around, my head spinning, and so on. I marvel that you can still find a place to start, develop your theme and finally conclude the article; separating the threads, editing out this, high-lighting that, from the plethora of material, and synthesising the theme. I think historians in the future, even Americans, are going to have a similar problem.

Maybe you have Departments of American Studies at your universities today, but they'll need to set up a whole 'nother department of of Neocon studies, to try to cover the enormous grotesque phanstasmagoria, peopled and animated by these ever more outlandish-seeming Neocons. What a monument to their wickedness Iraq is now. Keep up the great work, man!

[autorank]

33. "What a monument to their wickedness Iraq is now"

Indeed.

The American Studies folks are as informed as the history and political "science" departments, which is
to say, they're clucless.

Cheers to you!

[truedelphi]

35. Very good point. It's not merely that Autorank writes these

Profoundly disturbing articles, but that he can write them! He has retained the ability to put aside the nightmare and face the jillions of nasty facts, while most of us are becoming numb.

"Oh <sigh> yet another instance of Bush corruption and hatefullness," most people sniff.

"It's too much." So say most of us.

The ability to sort through all this muck remeinds me of Arthur Koestler, who did some absolutely friggin' and brilliant writing from inside a concentration camp in 1938 or '39. And while it is true that we are not yet in those types of camps, our poor tortured spirits are. We cannot find a political party with the will to impeach. We cannot find a nominee for the Office of President that will insist that the troops come home now. We can't and we can't and we can't (Name your biggest grievance here.)

While Mike rolls up his sleeves and gets to work.

Bravo.

[Joe Chi Minh]

47. Bravo, indeed. I'm not sure whether Mike's more like a pathologist or

an undertaker! More people who do a priceless job, just the thought of which is too much for most of us. You need a special gift for that, Mike. A thick hide ... and a wonderful bloody-mindedness. A rottweiler. Go get 'em, Bonzo! By the way, the pirate book you recommended arrived this morning. I shall be reading that first chapter with the keenest anticipation, now.

To continue our theme, Truedelphi... there are some articles on here that I can't even bring myself to scan, once I get the gist of what it's going to be about. And the sad thing is that they're probably some of the most informative and trenchantly analytical posts. In fact, on an instinctive level, I have to confess, I sometimes even momentarily recoil at a fierce criticism of your "Commander-in-Chief". So I understand the bizarre, irrational reaction of right-wing types without a button. It's on a kind of primitive level, and I think something to do with an overload - not being able to cope with it all.

As for our scapegrace villains in no 10, for some reason, I don't ever feel that sorry, primitive instinct. I expect my anger exceeds my sense of "overload". The "mad-house" metaphor in this context could in no way be construed as hyperbole. Indeed, it is too anodyne an image by far to capture even a suspicion of the reality. Maybe I need to keep a little distance from it sometimes to protect my sanity! I'm a sensitive, hot-house flower in these matters, you know.

You know, the people on here - no doubt some trolls but, presumably, some genuine, too - who posted went on about John Edwards' infidelity reminded me this morning of how baneful this conflation of the Flag with the President (Why Commander-in-Chief? It's the national government he's in charge of. Winning the war against injustice at home is far more glorious than any military adventure abroad, which can only be for a just purpose, when the former is sought and achieved. Otherwise, the stated idealism will only be a front for imperialism).

It was clear from tone of Edwards' critics that, to them, choosing a presidential nominee/President bore more of a relationship to a beauty contest, than to an ever more desperate attempt to find a competent and well-meaning leader of the nation. They see it as conferring a gift on the candidate, gracious, personal largesse to him, rather than seeking (while hoping and praying) a competent, shrewd and idealistic, political leader who will have a care for the country as a whole, and not just a rich and powerful elite.

They want a father figure. I would have loved it if my own father hadn't been a chronic womaniser, and my mother hadn't had to divorce him when we were toddlers. But if I had been my father's personnel officer, I would have been only interested in his competence in his job. To run a great nation requires a rather more demanding level of job competence than that of a Customs officer. At any level. Whatever the ballyhoo, even the candidates suggest, you are not conferring a favour, a gift on him/her by voting for them. If you are, it should be entirely incidental. God has his own ways of superintending and rewarding our neighbours' morality or lack of it. This is a case of making sure that Caesar renders unto you. The people in Caesar's day didn't have that opportunity.

[magellan]

11. If this surprises anyone in Congress, they haven't been paying attention

Whether their lack of attention is due to ignorance or not is another question that requires an answer -- just like WHY BushCo is being given a pass on lying this country into war.

================

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050613&s=scahill

The Nation - article | posted June 1, 2005 (web only)
'The Other Bomb Drops'

Jeremy Scahill

It was a huge air assault: Approximately 100 US and British planes flew
from Kuwait into Iraqi airspace. At least seven types of aircraft were part
of this massive operation, including US F-15 Strike Eagles and Royal Air
Force Tornado ground-attack planes. They dropped precision-guided munitions
on Saddam Hussein's major western air-defense facility, clearing the path
for Special Forces helicopters that lay in wait in Jordan. Earlier attacks
had been carried out against Iraqi command and control centers, radar
detection systems, Revolutionary Guard units, communication centers and
mobile air-defense systems. The Pentagon's goal was clear: Destroy Iraq's
ability to resist. This was war.

But there was a catch: The war hadn't started yet, at least not officially.
This was September 2002--a month before Congress had voted to give
President Bush the authority he used to invade Iraq, two months before the
United Nations brought the matter to a vote and more than six months before
"shock and awe" officially began.

At the time, the Bush Administration publicly played down the extent of the
air strikes, claiming the United States was just defending the so-called
no-fly zones. But new information that has come out in response to the
Downing Street memo reveals that, by this time, the war was already a
foregone conclusion and attacks were no less than the undeclared beginning
of the invasion of Iraq.

The Sunday Times of London recently reported on new evidence showing that
"The RAF and US aircraft doubled the rate at which they were dropping bombs
on Iraq in 2002 in an attempt to provoke Saddam Hussein into giving the
allies an excuse for war." The paper cites newly released statistics from
the British Defense Ministry showing that "the Allies dropped twice as many
bombs on Iraq in the second half of 2002 as they did during the whole of
2001" and that "a full air offensive" was under way months before the
invasion had officially begun.

[msedano]

12. when only criminals have power...

that's called a republican administration.

as for the rest of us, shut up and deal.

i'm counting on an obama administration to conduct a tough investigation followed up with a vigorous prosecution of all the criminals currently sitting in the seats of unitedstatesian power.

thanks, sr. collins for your incisive reportage, and mr. autorank for keeping me updated with these posts.

mvs

[ihavenobias]

14. K & R. This is important.

[autorank]

32. The "victory" theme cannot go unanswered.

It is revolting, pure and simple. A monstrous characterization of a profound tragedy.

Obama is looking at a Lloyd Bentsen moment in the debates if this theme is raised.

Thanks!!!

[ihavenobias]

36. The sad thing is I think even many Dems are tired of the Iraq issue

They think "yeah, yeah, we know they lied already", etc.

[autorank]

40. The people aren't

They try to tag us with their b.s. and this will be one instance where they really lay it on.

Oh, we didn't cover it because there wasn't the interest, the news hacks will say. Oh, we know all that but there's no 'traction' for the issue anymore.

The politicians have no idea that a 9% approval rating for Congress has a LOT to do with the 2006
bait and switch on Iraq. They'll find out soon enough but in the mean time, it's our country, they're
not entitled to be in charge except by our will. So, time to shape them up.

[NoFederales]

54. Bugliosi needs to update his book with an appended edition, and some AG

needs to NAIL * & co. after the Obama Inauguration. Treasonous Bastards and Murderers, all of them.

Thanks for your work.

NoFederales

[King Coal]

67. Bugliosi addresses this very thing, I heard him explaining it to Tom Hartman.

[Kurovski]

15. John McCain will take care of this kind of criminality!!

He'll top and surpass it! No more second-banana to Chimpy, no siree-Bob!

[Disturbed]

17. "An Obama administration to conduct a tough investigation...."

I seriously doubt that. I strongly suspect that an Obama Admin. would say that more important priorities are in play;that the US must move forward with more important agendas.

[Kurovski]

28. It's a given.

I don't think anyone can totally out the big boys without paying the price.

It's tantamount to laying down your life for your country, similar to a soldier.

[autorank]

31. He'll just bring on the madness.

What an insult to everybody on the planet - "victory" in sight. The man is not connected to
any reality, none at all.

[hootinholler]

16. We have yet to really scratch the surface.

I have some reading tonight.

-Hoot

[lonestarnot]

19. Isn't it sickening, not even the surface!

[reprehensor]

22. The Never-Ending Lie.

It's almost unbelievable.

Almost.

[Hubert Flottz]

23. Half the people on DU figured it was all a pack of lies before the

invasion. But the folks in congress didn't? Karl said it himself...the GOP needed a "War President" to win in 2004 and bye god they made themselves one!

[magellan]

26. A precious few in Congress saw it for what it was and spoke up against invasion

The rest were complicit one way or another.

[autorank]

34. And bless their hearts forever

They are the truest of loyal citizens. Bucking the tide of indifference to criminal behavior
wrapped in the flag. And great compliments to those who woke up like Rep. Jones of NC, a
Republican who admitted he'd been tricked and is now foursquare against the madness. There's no
end in sight. A time table is not a conclusion, nor is it a reconciliation and judgment of those
who perpetrated this vast crime.

[earth mom]

24. K & R! nt

[Kurovski]

25. Kick. (nt)

[H2O Man]

27. Nominated.

Thank you.

[hfojvt]

29. that's kinda hard to follow

Was the October report doctored? If so, then why does it matter when the White Paper was written? The Bush administration had been making the case for war well before October 2002. So it's not surprising that they would think a new intelligence report confirms their case.

Also, why do you write this?

"In the most supreme of ironies, many members of Congress failed to even review the distorted White Paper before voting overwhelmingly to approve the invasion."

I would not characterize the vote as 'overwhelming'. 296-133 is less than 70%. 77-23 is a little bit higher, but it was Republicans who voted overwhelmingly in both houses 215-6 in the House and 48-1 in the Senate. 61% of Democrats voted AGAINST the war in the House and only 58% voted for the war in the Senate.

[autorank]

30. Nobody else had ttrouble understanding it.

Why write this? Because it's a fundamental concern and few address it. It has to do with criminal
behavior related to a war that's cost over 1.0 million lives.

"Overwhelming" - 77% of Senators endorse war, 70% of House of Reps. members endorse war.

If Obama wins 70-30% or 77% to 23%, as yourself, wouldn't that be overwhelming (that's a rhetorical
question).

[BeHereNow]

37. Recommendation #25... OUTrageous.

Now what?
HOW do we get this criminal congress to act??????

BHN

[autorank]

38. We're going straught to the people. A group that can do something about it

When they get the information, fairly, they're almost always right.

This is a blockbuster. And the last part of the article says it all. Repackage, re-post, repeat, refrain ... get it going.

They're our employees anyway, about time for us to do some serious supervision.

:hi:

p.s. look here;) http://tinyurl.com/5o26pg

[BeHereNow]

41. I got a "Not found" at your "look here" link...

What was it and where'd it go?
True, they are our employees, but the
corporations pay them far more...
That is the problem.
Their public salaries are pocket change
compared to what they take in through the back door.
What to do, what to do...
They don't listen to us, even when presented
with cold hard facts.
Rove is still walking free.
Case in point.
BHN

[autorank]

39. Look at this great reply to the article on OpEdNews.Com - rokken!

This is how we get the message across. I like Conyers, btw, but there needs to be a call to every rep and then another - how the heck can they let this stand?!?!!!

The pile keeps getting deeper
http://www.opednews.com/articles/White-Paper-Justifying-Ira-by-Michael-Collins-080825-667.html

Those of us that are political junkies have known since before this invasion that it was bogus, since that time there has been one piece of evidence after another validating the claims made that this administration war-mongered us into an totally unnecessary war. And in the face of all this, when out so-called representatives should be doing everything in their power to end this tragedy and hold those that got us into this mess accountable, they are instead doing just the opposite.

I just finished getting off the line with Conyers office informing them of this article and asked what Conyers was doing about the many ignored subpoenas, and movement to hold anyone accountable for the seeming many abuses of power? And that because of the inaction to date there is a growing perception that either Conyers was inept or worse.

I was told I was not a "creditable source" and hung-up on.

They now treat us with total disdain. Apparently if you don't call to praise them, you're not a "creditable source".

It's over folks. Our government hides behind police barricades and stooges and are increasingly removed from a populace they not only do not represent or listen to, but regard with total indifference and lack of respect.

The wars will continue, our economy will collapse, more false-flag attacks will occur, we'll continue to slide rapidly into tyranny unless we have a revolution - an election simply won't cut it.

by Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 1197 comments) on Monday, August 25, 2008 at 8:45:15 AM

[BeHereNow]

42. What that guy said... exactly.

"It's over folks. Our government hides behind police barricades and stooges and are increasingly removed from a populace they not only do not represent or listen to, but regard with total indifference and lack of respect.

The wars will continue, our economy will collapse, more false-flag attacks will occur, we'll continue to slide rapidly into tyranny unless we have a revolution - an election simply won't cut it."

There will be no revolution.
I really don't think so.
More like a long drawn out whimper.

Let's face it- The average American has no clue or courage.

BHN

[autorank]

43. That MrM is doing his duty

With decent information,there are enough citizens to turn things around. Look how the opinion
on Iraq turned and you know that the pollsters are full of it on 66% to 70% opposed.

They get the majority to think nothings wrong and the awake to think it''s hopeless because the
people are informed. It's a very efficient system, well run, with a track record going back decades.
It's the type of control that can have an Operation Northwoods uncovered and just suck it
back into the fabric of dissociated history.

[RedLetterRev]

55. I knew it was bad when

the raygunistas got control and Bush got into the CIA. That's when the Texas Railroad Commission Oil Mafia finally seized the big prize in DC. I was in MI at the time, a-way-back when and witnessed the begnnings of the destruction of the intelligence community from the inside. We knew it was over with then, and the beginning of "tell us what we want to hear" gang was emplaced. That was 30 years ago, and every bit of this madness was predicted. It has gone off absolutely on schedule.

But anyone who tried to speak out then was "a loony".

Just how f'ing loony are we now. :sarcasm:

Knowledge is indeed power. But having knowledge isn't enough. It's just like having data in a computer. It's just "data" until it moves somewhere. Knowledge, or for that matter, data, have to move and become meaningful before they become "information". Face it: right now, "they" have the megaphones and the ears. The big problem we face is getting real information in enough places, before enough willing eyes and willing ears before it begins to fire enough synapses to effect real change.

Until that critical mass of change occurs, we're (in a word) screwn.

I see one of two things happening. Either Americans get enough of being screwed and rise up with nothing more than salad forks (which is about all the weaponry it would take, given the sheer numbers on either side) and take their Constitution back; or alternatively, the huge, inevitable collapse occurs from decades of "tell me what I want to hear so I can steal everything that isn't nailed down" and the Oil Mafia withdraws offshore with our jobs, money, and technology, leaving the gutted economy and infrastructure behind. At that point, we will be so bereft of resources and time (which will be spent on our own recovery) we won't be able to pursue them. They'll just go on to rape the countries in which they've already established footholds.

The first scenario I don't give much of a chance. The second, I do dread. The clues from the last 8 years point toward a mass exodus of the major criminal players, given the huge flow of money to offshore lockboxes and companies headed to non-extraditing countries like Dubai. I'm supposing they'll leave the minor players behind as red meat for a few (well-deserved) token lynchings. But the damage has already been done and there will be some great chaos, in no small part due to decades of disinformation. That will be sufficient to keep us distracted here at home to keep us from persuing them in Dubai, Paraguay, Georgia, etc where they've already got plenty of SOF private police force in place against our broken military and compromised CIA to go extract them.

Things that make ya go hmmm. Just MHO, but all the dominoes are there and in place. Which one will they flick first?

[autorank]

60. Excellent history

It does go back that long and I'm glad you outlined it so well.

They would certainly like to take a powder at the convenient time but I'm a bit more optimistic on the role of citizens. The opposition to Bush-Cheney-et al has arisen in the total absence of what we'd expect to be required for a critical mass - mainstream media coverage of the atrocities. The alternate media and communication paths, internet primarily, have not produced the type of overwhelming majorities of the past, support for voting rights in the 60's, but the hostility toward these folks is huge. The failure to get just about anyone interested in "We're all Georgians today" was a very hopeful sign.

There does need to be a better conversion though. People were ready in 2006 but there was a bait and switch operation on the war. Supposed leaders who claim to express our will but who use that claim to stifle it through inaction once elected are a major menace.

I'm not sure how the conversion process works - converting outrage to action - but there's still more outrage and it takes a while to get around.

Even in the worst case scenario, the crooks flee, it's going to be a lot easier for us to recover (which we can with the right effort) than it is for them to vanish.

Thanks so much for the reminder on the longer history of all this. It's vital.

[RedLetterRev]

68. There's so much more

but several fears have played into not putting too much out, which I'm sure you well understand. I've lived an interesting life that has been an amazing combination of Forrest Gump and Auntie Mame. I've been two or three degrees from some amazing people and have witnessed and heard things that would explode the heads of most folks walking around. But to tell it -- how many would believe it, and who would show up on my doorstep in the middle of the night. And who would miss me? Not very many, trust. J'know? There's a really, really fine line to cut. Moreover, the proof's in my head, not in my hands. You've dug the proof out with your hands. There's the power and all of the difference. My hat's off to your courage, your patriotism, and your tenacity.

What you've laid out in this and previous posts, and the reactions that folks have gotten calling into Conyers' and other Congressional offices isn't surprising. At least not to me. All the facts are there; they're out in plain sight. Bill Clinton was absolutely correct in his statement that there's no vast right wing conspiracy; they're right out in the open with it. And that is absolutely the beauty and the ballsiness of their machinations.

They've made no bones about their intentions to dismantle as much of the Constitution as they can get away with in order to drain as much of the treasury and our resources into their own pockets as possible since the Vietnam era. As I stated before, the first inklings came from within the intelligence communities when the power struggles began at Papi's "reorganizations" and dismantling of the military organs. Many of us left in disgust, realizing where it was heading. When it came to light how Rumsfeld and his select minions had carefully crafted their case for war, I can assure you that the "craftsmanship" (if one can call it that and keep breakfast down) had begun thirty years before.

It is my firm belief that if as many people who are outraged this very moment at how much they think they know, truly understood how deep the rot is and how much damage has been done in our names, just how much shame has been brought upon us, just how much generations-long damage has been done to our environment, just how many American citizens (let alone people worldwide) have been killed, maimed, or otherwise "sacrificed" to serve neocon greed and lust for power, "revolution" wouldn't even be in it. The Mall would be lined with the strange fruit of neocons swinging in the breeze as object lessons for those who would so coldly murder, lie, steal, despoil and damage all for a bit of temporary personal comfort on earth -- worse, in the name of "patriotism" and "national security".

I do wonder if the gig is up. When 70+% of Americans are saying that America is headed in the wrong direction and people I speak with out here in rural America aren't quite as uninformed as M$M are letting on, I do wonder how badly polls are skewed and how "tight" the race really is. There's no telling at this point just how much of Congress is compromised by blackmail and how much will change with the coming in-sweep of fresh, clean Progressives. I smell fear on the part of the right and wonder which of "fright or flight" will take hold. They've demonstrated amply that they have no qualms about icing American citizens to make their point or to hold on to power. OTOH, they've laid up enough money and land elsewhere, they can simply sow confusion and scatter to strongholds with their private armies where we'll pay Hobb trying to get at them whilst trying to patch ourselves up. Quite a chess game coming up, no matter what.

I don't see how they put head to pillow at night, knowing what horrors they put people through just blocks away, let alone in the next city, state, or even across the world. If there is an afterlife, I shouldn't expect that theirs will be very pleasant at all and forever is a long time for one's fat to sizzle in flame. That's little consolation now but I've got to hang on to something to keep going and to keep fighting for Something Good and Something Right.

Just sayin'.

[Overseas]

74. Beautifully said. Thank you. //nt

[autorank]

81. Thank you so much.

It's one thing to speculate about this or observe it and think the you know, it's another to actually hear the coherent narrative in such eloquent and clear terms.

It sounds like the blowback from Watergate contains a lot of unexpected elements, including the cold war revival positioned by Cheney-Rumsfeld before it was even over. How do they put head to pillow is fascinating question. Hopefully, it will be done elsewhere and we'll get a real chance to rebuild and act as we say we do.

On rural America, I suspect, with some evidence, that there is an awareness there (as well as with the rest of the country) that the "storyline" we get is a pack of lies. IN 2000, rural America was 23% of the electorate and put Bush up enough to make the theft doable. In 2004, that segment dropped to 16% of the electorate. They simply stayed home. They decided they'd rather work on the farm or whatever than go in and vote for someone they knew, in their gut, was a liar and a crook. I can't come up with any other reason to explain the massive drop off in 2004 and hardly anybody else has even acknowledged it. But for those who voted by not voting, it was very real.

Thank you very much again for this reminder and dose of real history.

[DemReadingDU]

46. an election simply won't cut it

You are absolutely right. We need thousands of people protesting, every day, everywhere. But the majority of people think nothing is amiss. Why should they...they have mindless passive TV to watch.

I've been hanging out in the finance forums around the blogosphere. It is truly scary reading about our economy collapsing. More people losing their jobs, businesses going bankrupt, limits being lowered on credit cards, and it's going to get worse, a lot worse.

It is sad, but most people are just clueless, about everything important that our country was built on. I guess when they lose everything, they will finally wake up, but then it will be too late.

Thanks for all you do, Mike.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

44. Damn, you're good.

And damn, this mal-administration needs to be castrated for all the evil that they spawn...

Recommended, and posted with links and attributes elsewhere for more exposure.

[AuntPatsy]

45. Justice must be meted out.it's long overdue..thank you for all your work you do.

[autorank]

59. Thanks. It's amazing that the 'leet isn't screaming this from the roof tops.

But they're not so it falls on us. Works better that way. I'm really tired of so called "leaders."
Time for the people to lead, which they can do quite well if they just get honest information.

[democrank]

49. Impeach

That`s where we must start. Impeach Bush and his dangerous, criminal sidekick Cheney. I`ve had enough.

[leftchick]

50. and where did this 'intel' come from???

The Office of Special Plans and Doug Feith et all. Why the fuck are they not in jail???

K&R!

[myrna minx]

56. K&R n/t

[understandinglife]

57. Wish I could give this 100 recommends ....

Peace,
Bob

[Norrin Radd]

58. kr

[Bensthename]

61. Why are our dem leaders so scared to run with this and ram it down the rePubes throats?

This must be one of the worst mistakes in US history going to Iraq. Now the evidence keeps piling up that we were lied to just to get into this mess.. Why wont our leaders rip some republican ass over this? Mainly Bush/Cheney.. I just dont get it. Totally frustrating..

[autorank]

64. Right - next time McCain says 'victory is in sight' knock that down immediately

People do care and the'll care a whole lot more when/if we get the next economic shock.

Nixon fell to 22% (which his probably where Bush is now) with a decent economy though. People have
their standards. They don't get any real information. They're forced to learn over time, glean,
infer - but they get it.

The war was started on calculated lies. The protection of the nation called for no invasion.
The invasion took place. Therefor !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[autorank]

69. Somebody's reading it -

http://www.scoop.co.nz/sections/comment.html

[bleever]

70. People have forgotten how this NIE was hurriedly thrown together

when Congress demanded one before voting to authorize the use of force.

Good think Uncle Dick had that White Paper in his desk, all ready to roll out as a genuine, CIA-produced, NIE.

You're doing incredible work, autorank.

:yourock:

[BrklynLiberal]

72. .....

There is no limit to their despicable evil.

[glitch]

73. ... they start drilling. (kick) nt

[autorank]

76. Did you hear?

Apparently all those "stans" have lousy oil. OMG! What a bunch of goof balls. All this and they get
what, nothing much. Accountability!

:hi:

[glitch]

79. How ironic that dinosaurs should worship oil, eh? nt

[autorank]

80. Haha

How ironic that we have a civilization based on dinosaur remains. You'd think with all the knowledge
and talent, we'd be able to do something. Oops, we did, but nobody is touting that. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html

Go figure. Guess it's all about squeezing every last dollar out of oil and the wars that claim it.

[Overseas]

75. Kick as one more piece of evidence for the impeachment or tribunals. //nt

[truedelphi]

77. Another kick for such good work. n/t

[autorank]

82. I have to say

that I get a real :kick: out of you:)

[Initech]

84. This bullshit war has been planned since day one.

Just one more piece of evidence!

[Kurovski]

85. Kick. (nt)

[autorank]

86. You are ubiquitous

:hi: