Iraq Corruption By "Western Standards"

Oh, this is rich.... "Premier of Iraq Is Quietly Firing Fraud Monitors" (NYTlimes)

"BAGHDAD — The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is systematically dismissing Iraqi oversight officials, who were installed to fight corruption in Iraqi ministries by order of the American occupation administration, which had hoped to bring Western standards of accountability to the notoriously opaque and graft-ridden bureaucracy here."

Western standards! Western standards! You mean like Wall Street robber barons who Ponzi-schemed trash loans, driving the world into a financial abyss? You mean like lobby-ridden D.C. with legislators on the take and worse.... like Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens convicted of 7 counts of fraud but still in office (for now). Those Western standards?

The Iraq crimes.... "One Iraqi former chief investigator recently testified before Congress that $13 billion in reconstruction funds from the United States had been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft and waste by Iraqi government officials."

This sounds like business as usual, Western standards.

After all, we gave our Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson $700 billion plus dollars to "rescue" our economy. It's estimated he has probably spent half of if, or about $350 billion. Why "estimated?" Because Paulson won't tell anyone how the money was allocated! Even Congress! Western standards.

"...Stuart W. Bowen Jr., who leads an independent oversight office in Washington, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, and who is currently working in Iraq, said he knew of six of the dismissals. He said the inspectors general were vulnerable because once their offices were created, the United States provided little support and training for what was a startling concept for the bureaucracy, which was shaped by the secrecy and corruption of the Saddam Hussein era."

Look, why is anyone surprised that the Bush administration provided little support and training, they can't govern here. After legislating strict oversight for the $700+ billion bailout, that oversight was never made operational.

Secrecy?... you mean like the way Undisclosed Location Cheney and Executive Privilege Bush operate?

Really, what can we expect unless we set the example? Let's just quit throwing good money after bad in Iraq.... let's no longer "occupy" ourselves with their corruption of our billions and concentrate on cleaning up our own act.

No more U.S.-made Baghdad billionaires! Bring our troops home.

GOP's Reality Check

Newly minted GOP wonder woman, Sarah Palin, is living proof why conservative "values" don't work.

Rehka Basu of The Des Moines Register takes aim today at conservative-policy hypocrisy, pointing out that GOP rhetoric doesn't square with life's realities.

Palin is a no-holds barred pro-life advocate who opposes school sex-ed and distribution of condoms in schools. And, John McCain has opposed funding programs for teen moms and supported the Bush administration's lavish spending on their crusade for abstinence-only education.

So Basu notes, "the real question Palin has to answer is how, as chief policymaker, she would reconcile her tough platitudes with other Americans' rights and realities, especially in the face of first-hand evidence such policies don't work.

Ironically, her own 17-year-old unwed, pregnant daughter is the best illustration of that."

And, although VP Cheney's administration and finger-wagging conservatives have promoted harsh policies toward gays.... backing a constitutional amendment forbidding them to marry and at the same time discouraging out-of-wedlock births.... Cheney made an exception for his gay daughter and her child, openly accepting them.

"The Republican Party, and Palin, say sex before marriage is wrong. But Pain's daughter didn't listen. The Republican Party says children should be raised by married couples. But Cheney's granddaughter can't be.," Basu argues.

"So which are we supposed to believe, how these leaders say families should live, or how their own families live? The moral principles they broadcast, or the exceptions they are willing to make for their own? And why won't they offer all Americans that understanding and acceptance?"

The GOP Evangelical Christian base is calling the moral shots for the party, although it's clear their aim excludes their own actions. But take heart, the rest of us don't have to stand defenseless in the crosshairs of their preachy bullseye.... November.

Disasterous Bush Beat Goes On

With the presidential primaries taking all of the oxygen from the room, you may not have heard that:

The Decider again defied Congress, allowing Mexican 18-wheelers to begin traveling freely into the United States after previously being confined at a 25-mile border zone. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who authored the provision that shut down the NAFTA Mexican trucking program, wrote to the Secretary of Transportation saying that the administration's violation of the law is arrogant and wrong.

The Pakistani government announced that it will not allow any country to conduct military operations on its territory after the New York Times reported the U.S. government was considering far more aggressive operations in Pakistan. The lawless tribal belt on the Afgan border is a haven for al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists. The Pakistani forces are engaging these militants, but an alliance with the U.S. in these operations would be deeply unpopular, and viewed by Pakistanis as doing the bidding of the United States... and these are our allies.

The unemployment rate soared and job growth came to a near-halt in December. Just 18,000 net jobs were created, and it takes about 125,000 a month just to keep up with population growth. "We are on the verge of a recession," said senior economist Robert A. Dye. This is just another economic jolt felt from the housing downturn and related crises in the financial markets. So much for The Decider's supply-side economics the NAFTA-ization of our job markets.

And, in an op-ed in the Washington Post today, George McGovern opines: "Why I Believe Bush Must Go..... Nixon Was Bad. These Guys are Worse." His opening salvo.... "As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president."

McGovern's reasons: "Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of the people around the world. these are truly 'high crimes and misdemeanors,' to use the constitutional standard."

He then talks about some of these "high crimes and misdemeanors," a sad recital of "killing, immorality and lawlessness."

Still, McGovern thinks impeachment is unlikely although he insists we must still urge Congress to act. All the more reason the primaries and general election are so important.... we must cleanse our government of these criminals and those who would try to follow in their shoes.

Support change. It matters.

Keeping the Faith Honest

If you have nothing to hide....

Despite vigorous protests from the secretive White House, "Secret Service Logs of White House Visitors Are Public Records, Judge Rules."

Administration lawyers have been arguing that the logs recording visitors to the White House or the vice president's residence are presidential records and outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act. But the decider on this issue is U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth who ruled they are "agency records" subject to disclosure.

Records of the visits of nine conservative Christian leaders including James Dobson, Jerry Falwell and Gary Bauer are ordered to be released.... and Lamberth will also rule on visits by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Now, Judge Lamberth, how about the names of the attendees at VP Cheney's stealth energy policy gathering....

Bush and the French Revolution

Francois Furstenberg in his piece in today's New York Times.... "Bush's Dangerous Liaisons"..... draws fascinating parallels between The Decider's administration and the Jacobins who emerged from the French Revolution of 1789.

Does this sound familiar? An ideology that divides the world between the defenders of liberty versus its enemies... "a crusade for universal liberty." Appropriating the rhetoric of patriotism to promote political programs.... insisting partisan views are identical to the national will and opponents are treasonous. Expansion of government's police powers at the expense of civil liberties because "the homeland was in danger."

It was the French Terror. "No liberty for the enemies of liberty" was the Jacobin battle cry eventually taken as a mantle by a radicalized Robespierre.

So, what became of Robespierre? By July of 1794 personal hostilities and political differences divided members of France's powerful Committees of Public Safety and General Security.

A month before a leading member of the Committee of General Security.... annoyed that Robespierre and his group were abusing their powers.... ridiculed Robespierre's religious views by arresting an eccentric prophetess, Catherine Theot, who proclaimed Robespierre as the new Messiah.

And, Robespierre's virtual assumption of the role of high priest at the Festival of the Supreme Being (I'm not making this up) aggravated several deputies. These disagreements proved fatal to Robespierre's followers who were conquered by the opposition in the Convention on July 28.

It was the Jacobian worldview, their "my way or the highway" mentality, that was responsible for the term "terrorist".... "A terroriste was, in its original meaning, a Jacobian leader who ruled France during la Terreur."

Since the members of our current "Convention".... Congress.... seem unable to stop the excesses of the current Jacobinist administration, it will fall to the voters a year from November to end the reign of terror of the enablers of "Supreme Beings" Bush and Cheney and their neocon lackeys.

Iran: Reason and Recklessness

At last, a voice of sanity on the subject of Iran, "Stalin, Mao And... Ahmadinejad?" (Newsweek)

If ever there was a must-read article about the current White House saber-rattling against Iran, it is this one-pager in the current issue of Newsweek.

Written by someone who understands and rejects fear-based policies on terrorism, Fareed Zakaria brings reason to the emotion-charged subject of our danger from oil-rich Iran.

Zakaria, born in India to a Muslim family, has been Newsweek's International editor since 2000 and has a rich grounding in foreign affairs including a PhD in Political Science from Harvard. Soon after the 9/11 attacks he wrote a seminal cover-story essay for Newsweek entitled "The Politics of Rage: Why Do They Hate Us?"

In it, he argued that Islamic terrorism has its roots in the stagnation and dysfunctions of the Arab world with decades of failure under tyrannical regimes who claimed to be Western-style modernizers.

Of course, these regimes only produced violent opposition to those Western values. Since the Mosque is the one place where people can gather in an Arab country, that is where the opposition to these tyrannies grew.

Zakaria, as a political "realist" advocates that the United States should help Arab countries to modernize their economies and societies as the path to liberty rather than forcing elections and democracy.

And, while as a Muslim he has a depth of understanding of the religion and culture, Zakaria's is a political moderate who believes the world needs an open and confident United States.

In this week's article, Zakaria exposes the war-mongering wizard behind the curtain. He points out that Iran has an economy the size of Finland's, while the U.S. has a GDP that is 68 times larger, and defense expenditures that are 110 times greater. What's more, Israel and every Arab country (except Syria and Iraq) are quietly or actively already allied against Iran.

But, the most chilling observation Zakaria makes: "We're on a path to irreversible confrontation with a country we know almost nothing about.... Iran is a black hole to us--- just as Iraq had become in 2003."

Remember the "Alice in Wonderland" prediction last year by Princeton scholar, Bernard Lewis.... a close adviser to The Decider and Darth Cheney.... that on August 22, 2006, Iran's President Ahmadinejad was going to end the world.

Well, we're still here. But so are the administration's Middle East ambitions. Secretary of State Rice today breathlessly announced, "U.S. Imposes New Sanctions Against Iran." (WaPo)

Unilateral sanctions.... designating Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and of the elite Quds Force as a supporter of terrorism.

It's all too terrifyingly familiar....

Fighting Them Where?.....

The Decider and his course-whisperer Darth Cheney keep telling us to be very afraid....a Middle Eastern country wants nuclear weapons.... fight Islamic militants there so we don't have to fight them here.

They are describing the next country in their cross hairs, Iran.

But.... Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons, and isn't a base for Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda or the Taliban.

What they won't tell you because it doesn't fit their "axis of evil" mentality.... is that arguably the most dangerous country in the world, one "Where the Jihad Lives Now," and, "Islamic militants have spread beyond their tribal bases, and have the run of an unstable, nuclear-armed nation"....is Pakistan. (Newsweek)

Just ask Benazir Bhutto how dangerous Pakistan is. Upon her return from exile in Dubai last Thursday, suicide bombers unleashed explosions that killed at least 134 bystanders and police, and injured 450 more on her motorcade's parade route in Karachi.

You see, Pakistan created militant Islamist groups for their own purposes.... originally recruited, trained and armed by the Inter-Services Intelligence agency.... who have now become a rampaging monster, twice nearly succeeded in assassinating the country's autocratic leader, General Pervez Musharraf.

Al Qaeda doesn't have to look to Iran or any other country for its nuclear bomb, it's right in their Pakistan backyard where the "Taliban and Qaeda elements have now turned much of the country, including some cities, into a base that gives jihadists more room to maneuver, both in Pakistan and beyond."

Dozens of Taliban commanders have moved their wives and children to Pakistan from Afghanistan. Islamist fighters now operate relatively freely in cities like Karachi after lying low in remote mountain villages since 2001. The Taliban work closely with Qaeda leaders in the tribal regions, "planning attacks together and pooling their skills."

Meanwhile.... the dastardly D.C. duo, led by Cheney, are pounding the war drums on Iran, echoing the same drumbeat that justified the attack on Iraq. Sunday Cheney called Tehran, "the world's most active state sponsor of terror" and vowing "serious consequences".... and The Decider uttered the "W" word last week.... WW III.

So while our reckless leaders go charging after old scores to settle in Iran, the deadly jihadist cancer spreads in Pakistan.... nuclear-armed unstable Pakistan.

Revoltin' Bolton

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell had a plan.

He tried to wage peace.

But the neocons in the White House, and the political machinations of former U. N. ambassador John Bolton, torpedoed Powell's efforts to forge an agreement with the G-8.... whose members include Britain, France and Germany.... that would have enticed Iran to rein in their nuclear ambitions with a package of "carrots."

Now Bolton is bragging about killing this diplomatic initiative.... in fact he says he used every possible bureaucratic and diplomatic maneuver to kill Powell's plan in his forthcoming book, "Surrender Is Not an Option." (WaPo)

It's thanks to loose cannons like Bolton, and the conniving of shadow president "Darth" Cheney, that we now seem about to hurtle over the precipice of what The Decider recently called World War III.

Bolton's book further proves that the White House neocons' worldview has been criminally reckless.... an arrogant sense of entitlement to squander the lives, treasure and good name of our country.

And what's more, that those who could, and should, have stopped this Constitution-shredding administration, like Powell and Rice, either meekly faded away or became enabling legacy hounds.

Bush's Dirty Bottom Line

It's a small win against the Bush administration's unyielding resistance to improving the quality of the air we breathe.... "Temporary Victory on Clean Air" NYTimes

After having spent eight years fighting a suit brought by the Clinton administration against American Electric Power....the nation's largest utility.... to force them to clean up the dirty air spewing on millions downwind of their plants, there is reason to celebrate.... kind of. AEP was told to clean up its act to the tune of $4.6 billion.

But.... the Clean Air Act has been in Darth Cheney's scope since 2001 and you know about his itchy trigger finger.... he wants to bring it down so his corporate utility buddies won't have to be responsible citizens, so they can continue raking in the cash while fouling the air.

Various courts have upheld the CAA law that says if companies significantly upgrade a plant in order to generate more power they must install state-of-the-art controls to deal with the increased pollution.

But, the utilities have resented and resisted the law and the Bush administration has paid scant attention to its enforcement. Indeed, they are doing everything they can to torpedo the law by administrative means.

Just how is the White House enabling utility companies to sidestep the law?

The administration's latest assault on the rule would "exempt plants from having to install new controls as long as their hourly rate of emissions does not increase as a result of any plant upgrade," even if by running a plant longer and harder emissions skyrocket.

So.... here's the hard reality. How can we, the lowly taxpaying electorate who must breathe the air they regulate, expect any consideration from this White House on anything if their only standard is.... the bottom line. Period.

For the bottom line.... the White House is trashing the air, the water, and our land in the name of profits. They have neglected to regulate the quality of our food, drugs and even the toys of our children.

They have raped the economy and run up deficits and debts our grandchildren will labor to pay while dragging the standard of living down to a third-world oligarchy.... but hey, the Friends of George and Dick are getting rich.

This must end in November 2008.... that's our bottom line.

Slouching Toward the Presidency

It was promoted as the much heralded debut of Fred Thompson as the GOP presidential candidates gathered in rust-belt Michigan to debate the economy yesterday.

But, there were no questions on the impact on the economy of the flood of mortgage foreclosures, or the collapse of the housing market bubble.... no questions on the pitiful state of the U.S. dollar....no questions on the ramifications of illegal immigration on Social Security and the economy in general, although Tom Trancedo tried mightily to interject the subject into the debate.

It was an uninspired lobbing of soft balls, and even then, no one knocked a question out of the park.

For the nebulous nine GOP candidates, there were just three solutions to every problem..... cut taxes, cut taxes, and, cut taxes. Oh, and of course cut spending. But, there were no questions asked of any of the candidates on exactly where they would cut spending.... it was just the usual GOP political magic act, voo doo economics.

We were told that Thompson's late entry into the race wouldn't hurt him because he would dazzle us with his charisma and Reaganesque stature. That Fred stayed home. The laconic Fred that showed up was a has-been actor reading his podium notes. John McCain's propped-up Bernie has more pizazz.

But Fred's handlers are selling. Thompson has in his corner hawking his campaign not only former Virginia senator "Macaca" Allen, but Cheney's daughter and Cheney's right-hand-gal.... "Mary, Mary quite contrary" Matalin.

So, listen up. If you loved the Darth Vader hand of Cheney on the Bush presidency you'll love Fred too. The debate yesterday was actually the first real step in the making of the next Cheney presidency. Luckily, the chosen vessel, Freddie the Unready, makes the continuing plague of Cheney upon our country highly unlikely.

The second tier candidates threw off the occasional spark, but it was quickly extinguished by moderators who had no follow ups and seemingly not much interest in the proceedings.

The most the GOP can hope for from this slouch toward the presidency is that not many voters tuned in.

Fred's Debate Debut

His spinners have set the bar so low for Fred Thompson in tomorrow's GOP debate that his performance expectations are below a limbo bar on the final pass. Just showing up is enough.... appearances are more important than substance the whirly-giggers imply....

Really? Do voters really want another dimwitted Cheney pawn leading us down the road to perdition?.... doing Cheney's bidding as in Thompson's role as legal fund cheerleader for Cheney's convicted perjurer chief-of-staff in the "free Scooter" campaign.

It seems Republicans are looking to Thompson as the great caped hope of the GOP and that is why in the Register's recent survey of likely Iowa GOP caucus goers he finished second to the smooth Mitt Romney who has been covering the state like a warm bath.

But, the debate tomorrow night actually sets the bar very high for those looking to Thompson as the savior of the Republican party, a Ronald Reagan on steroids. And, if his performance at his fundraisers is any barometer of the heat Thompson will generate in the debate, his "Law and Order" fans, and those who have only read his press releases, are in for a loooooong night.

So..... wha' happened to allow Thompson to oust Rudy Giuliani and John McCain from the second place tie they held in Iowa last May? McCain is probably the easiest to figure out, his advocacy for comprehensive immigration reform.... amnesty.... hurt him among conservative GOP Iowa voters.

Giuliani's position on abortion makes him unappetizing to these same voters, but the fact that he hasn't campaigned much in Iowa further cools the reception of the used-to-being-wooed caucus goers. Maybe the Judi-pecked Rudy stayed away because he thought cellphone reception wouldn't be up to snuff in rural Iowa...... he might miss a "Yes dear" speech interrupter.

It would appear that the support for Thompson is more a message of "none of the above," and Iowa GOP voters are hoping he will emerge as their go-to guy

If Thompson makes a poor showing in the debate tomorrow this wide but undoubtedly shallow support may leak to Romney or Mike Huckabee who finished second in the Iowa Straw poll in Ames this August.

Forget the spin.... tomorrow's debate performance could make or break Thompson's run for the presidential sun.

Greenspan Goes Public

The impact on the U.S. economy of Alan Greenspan, who was the Federal Reserve chairman for 18 years and the leading Republican economist for the past three decades, was best summed up by candidate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) during his bid for the 2000 presidency.

When drilled by a reporter about what he would do if something happened to Greenspan, McCain responded, "Well, I'd put sunglasses on him and prop him up like that guy in Weekend at Bernies."

"Bernie" retired in 2006, however, leaving the economy and President Bush to go it alone. The party's over.

In Greenspan's new memoir, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," reviewed by Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, Greenspan praises president Bill Clinton's mind and tough anti-deficit policies, calling the president's 1993 economic plan "an act of political courage."

Not surprisingly for those of us aghast at the monstrous deficit accumulating under the current administration, The Decider doesn't get such rave reviews. Greenspan is frustrated that Bush didn't veto out-of-control spending by the Republican Congress who, Greenspan writes, "..swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither."

Greenspan strongly chastised both Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and Tom Delay (R-TX) because "House Speaker Hastert and House majority leader Tom Delay seemed readily inclined to loosen the federal purse strings any time it might help add a few more seats to the Republican majority."

Even his friend and former colleague in the Ford administration, VP Cheney, was criticized for coining the GOP mantra.... "Reagan proved deficits don't matter." Greenspan rails that "deficits must matter" because uncontrolled government spending and borrowing can produce high inflation "and economic devastation."

Greenspan writes, "The hard truth was that Reagan had borrowed from Clinton, and Clinton was having to pay it back." During Clinton's second term, Clinton proposed devoting extra money to "save Social Security first. I played no role in finding the answer, but I had to admire the one Clinton and his policymakers came up with."

But, all of Clinton's gains were squandered, Greenspan writes, as the large, anticipated federal budget surpluses "were gone six to nine months after George W. Bush took office."

And, Greenspan curtly notes, "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."

Observing the ruins of our economy today, Greenspan writes with some bitterness that Washington is "harboring a dysfunctional government... Governance has become dangerously dysfunctional."

And, of course, that is the trouble with a "Bernie" as chairman of the Federal Reserve. He didn't speak up when it mattered, and instead allowed himself to be used as a prop on the White House's macabre economic stage.

Bush's Muddy Mess

Yesterday, President Bush mourned the resignation of Attorney General Gonzales, charging that Gonzales's... "good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons." (WaPo)

So, let's review why it was past time for Gonzales to go.

"There have been no verified civil liberties abuses in the four years of the act's existence." December 15, 2005, op-ed piece by Gonzales, urging Congress to reauthorize the USA Patriot Act.

FACT: Internal FBI documents show that Gonzales had been informed of at least a half-dozen instances of legal or procedural violations of the Patriot Act. In May 2007, Gonzales's former deputy, James B. Comey, disclosed that he and several colleagues had concluded that the program was so illegal that he and other officials at Justice and the FBI were ready to resign unless it was altered.

"There has not been any serious disagreement, including -- and I think this is accurate -- there's not been any serious disagreement about the program that the president has confirmed." Gonzales, February 6, 2006, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on warrantless wiretapping by the National Security Agency.

FACT: There was a nighttime showdown over the program in March 2004 in the hospital room of then Attorney General Ashcroft.... Gonzales, as White House counsel, tried to get an ill and "barely articulate" Ashcroft to certify that the program was legal.

"We never had any intent to ask anything of him if we did not feel that he was competent." Gonzales, July 24, 2007, Senate testimony about the visit to Ashcroft's hospital room.

"I have not been involved, was not involved in the deliberations over whether or not U.S. attorneys should resign." Gonzales, March 26, 2007, interview on "NBC" Nightly News.

FACT: Three days later, Gonzales's former chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, testified that he had conferred with Gonzales at least five times about the plan to remove federal prosecutors and that Gonzales had attended the final meeting on the topic.

"I haven't talked to witnesses because of the fact that I haven't wanted to interfere with this investigation and department investigations." Gonzales, April 19, 2007, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the U.S. attorney dismissals.

FACT: Gonzales's former senior counselor, Monica Goodling, testified before Congress that in early April, Gonzales ..."laid out for me his general recollection" of the "process regarding the replacement of the U.S. attorneys... and then he asked me if he thought - if I had any reaction to his iteration.... I did not know if it was appropriate for us to both be discussing our recollections of what happened...."

"I don't recall - I don't recall exactly when the decision - I made the decision." Gonzales, April 19 Senate Judiciary hearing on the firings, at which Gonzales said nearly 70 times that he did not know, could not recall or was unsure about various information.

So...although Gonzales repeatedly insisted.... 70 times.... that he could not recall key events in the prosecutor dismissals including a meeting he held with Bush and adviser Karl Rove..... and, although Gonzales testified that there were no internal Justice Department disagreements over a domestic surveillance program, even though top Justice and FBI officials had judged it illegal and threatened to resign unless it was altered.... it was all just dirty politics according to Bush.

Even the conservative National Review in March said of Gonzales, "We have never seen evidence that he has a fine legal mind, good judgment, or managerial ability.... Nor has his conduct at any stage of this controversy gained our confidence." (WaPo)

Gonzales legacy will be that he lied before Congress, interpreted the law to match his boss's political wishes and the White House perception that the Constitution gives the president much more authority than Congress or the judiciary.

He contended that international treaties like the spurned Geneva Convention are subject to "situational" adherence, and signed off on harsh treatment of U.S. detainees. He crafted legal memos that allowed for torture and authorized military tribunals that the Supreme Court later ruled weren't legally authorized, and defended transfers of detainees to harsh interrogation nations.

And, lest we forget, it was Gonzales's U.S. attorney who prosecuted and imprisoned two border agents trying to apprehend a drug runner from Mexico.... giving the drug smuggler immunity to testify against the agents.

A perversion of justice Bush refuses to overturn, although he commuted the sentence of VP Cheney's chief of staff, "Scooter" Libby even before Libby had served a day of his sentence for what passes at the White House as business as usual.... perjury and obstruction of justice.

Gonzales excuses lawbreaking and violent Latino gang members as "individuals who have run into a spell of tough luck," and approved immigration reform legislation that included putting them on the fast track to citizenship on their word that they had renounced gang activity.

While our president mourns the loss of his legal political enabler Gonzales.... we mourn that Bush's Justice Department, the safeguards of our Constitution and the rule of law lay broken at his feet.... trampled into the mud by the actions of his own administration.

At Last... Bedtime for Gonzo

The resignation of our disgraced Attorney General Gonzales feels like a hollow victory.... just like it will feel when we at last rid ourselves of The Decider and the rest of his toxic administration. Because, even with their leave taking, the destruction they wrought will remain far, far into the future....

.... The politicizing of the law. The breaking down of Constitutional safeguards. The distrust of government. The sullying of our reputation around the world. The backbreaking debt. The unbridled rise of corporate influence and corruption. The gutting of our manufacturing base. The weakening of the middle class. The trashing of our the environment.... and the reckless, unwinnable, deadly, costly war in Iraq.

The thought most expressed about the "legacy" of this administration is, "will our country survive?"

No, there's no joy in Gonzo's departure. Especially when the first name mentioned for his replacement is the head of the department as discredited as Justice, Michael Chertoff, who heads the bloatedly-inept political creation of this administration, the Department of Homeland Security.

As the old saying goes, you can tell a lot about a person by his friends, or in the case of a president, by those he trusts and with whom he surrounds himself. The Decider's first-named ally was Vice President Cheney, the demented wizard behind the curtain. The cabal surrounding the deadly duo allowed no justice to escape their power-grabbing black hole.

Thus Gonzo, as the most powerful law enforcer in the country, was the perfect tool for this administration, placing his loyalty to the White House and their political agenda above and beyond the very law he took an oath to uphold, and was himself the object of congressional investigations into misconduct.

Goodbye Gonzo. We desperately hope we'll never see your like again.

The Contemptable White House

We're finding out that the Justice Department evidently works best at night.

We already know about the nighttime bedside visit to the very ill attorney general, now we hear of another after-dark arm twisting... "U.S. Attorney Became Target."

"John L. Brownlee, the U.S. attorney in Roanoke, testified that he was at home the evening of Oct. 24 when he received the call on his cellphone from Michael J. Elston, then chief of staff to the deputy attorney general and one of the Justice aides involved in the removal of nine U.S. attorneys last year." (WaPo)

This wasn't a social call. It was the night before the government secured a plea of "guilty" from Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of the addictive painkiller OxyContin "that was the direct or partial cause of 146 deaths in 2000 and 2001 and possibly 318 others during that period."

Elston, at the behest of the drugmaker, urged Brownlee to "slow down."

To his credit, Brownlee didn't slow down.... and, eight days later Brownlee's name appeared on a list compiled by Elston of prosecutors that officials suggested be fired.

You can be sure Attorney General Gonzales if asked about this episode will don his baby-seal-being-clubbed face and say he didn't know this was going on in his Justice Department.

But, as we are starting to find out, someone does know what is going on.

The prince of darkness, Vice President Cheney.

When Gonzo was queried by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) about who sent him on the nighttime visit Ashcroft's bedside, he would only respond he was "acting on behalf of the president".... a catchall phrase meaning he wouldn't say.

But, according to The New York Times op ed piece of July 29, when Gonzales was still the White House counsel and the Justice Department refused to endorse a continuation of the wiretapping program because it was illegal, that..... "Unwilling to accept that conclusion, Vice President Dick Cheney sent Mr. Gonzales and another official to Mr. Ashcroft's hospital room to get him to approve the wiretapping."

There it is, flat out. Dirty Dick behind the devious trick.

When asked by Larry King two nights later about the NY Times editorial and his involvement in hospitalgate, Cheney replied.... "I don't recall....."

We need to have a Letterman list of ways the White House gets around accountability.... "executive privilege" would be high on the list, followed by "I don't recall."

While Gonzo has proven himself to be the White House political lackey, and The Decider a reckless punk using the country as his fiefdom.... the real black hand propelling events is Dirty Dick. Congress needs to impeach this lawless White House crew.... starting with the chief instigator and manipulator.... Cheney.

Replanting the Olive Branch

In the thoughtful article in WaPo today "Why Do They Hate Us," by Pakistan writer, Mohsin Hamid.... who has spent almost half of his life in an America he believes has unlimited potential for good.... he confronts the Muslim hate for the U.S. today, and the healing path forward.

Hamid proposes the cause for the hatred. "Simply because America has - often for what seemed good reasons at the time - intervened to shape the destinies of other countries and then, as a nation, walked away."

It adds a knowledgeable voice to the argument that we can't just "walk away" from Iraq.... an idea the GOP falsely accuses the Democrats of proposing.

And, he reinforces the only sane solution, that we must find a way to safely withdraw our troops from the middle of the Mad Max, generations-old tribal conflict that our presence is only aggravating, but, without "abandoning" the country.

If ever there was a "Mission Impossible," this is it. A dizzying moral and geopolitical tightrope to successfully navigate.

Aside from the bloody cost and havoc for Iraqis, this misbegotten war is decimating our military, taking the focus away from stopping terrorist attacks in our own vulnerable country, and draining our Treasury of funds desperately needed for our own domestic well being.

The Cheney-Bush neocons stampeded us into this post-9/11 war for their own ends.... to secure an oil supply for the U.S., establish military bases in Iraq, and enhance Israel's security.... all of which have not succeeded. Indeed, it has had an opposite, and exceedingly disastrous, result.

Which brings me to another astute observation in Hamid's article, the solution for stopping future foreign misadventures by agenda-driven leaders of our government.

"Americans need to educate themselves, from elementary school onward, about what their country has done abroad. And they need to play a more active role in ensuring that what the United States does abroad is not merely in keeping with a foreign policy elite's sense of realpolitik but also with the American public's own sense of American values."

Values.... lately, a very over-used political sloganeering word, we need to reacquaint ourselves with its true meaning.

Hamid concludes, "The challenge that the United States faces today boils down to a choice. It can insist on its primacy as a superpower, or it can accept the universality of its values. If it chooses the former, it will heighten the resentment of foreigners and increase the likelihood of visiting disaster on distant populations - and vice versa. If it chooses the latter, it will discover something it appears to have forgotten: that the world is full of potential allies."

Bush, the King of Trumps

While recent events in Pakistan and D.C. may seem unconnected, they actually have a common theme... political power.

In Pakistan, the "Supreme Court Reinstates Judge". (WaPo)... Chief Justice Chaudhry, that is, who President Musharraf had accused of misconduct and removed.

The timing was.... well, suspect. When Chaudhry was removed, he was "reviewing and preparing to rule on several cases challenging Musharraf's plans to orchestrate a new five-year term for himself before upcoming parliamentary elections."

The Supreme Court ruled that the removal was illegal and Chaudhry was reinstated today.

The legal struggle has been framed as between the two branches of government. Bowing to the ruling, Pakistan's Prime Minister Aziz said, "We must all accept the verdict with grace and dignity reflective of a mature nation, this is not the time to claim victory or defeat. The Constitution and the law have prevailed and must prevail at all times."

Now, let's contrast this rather stirring outcome with the White House dispute with our legislative branch of government.

Invoking a new assertion of Bush's executive authority Thursday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys.... "Broader Privilege Claimed" is the latest White House maneuver.

Bush's executive branch doesn't worry about the judicial branch slapping their hand since their grip on that branch is so total.... the "Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege." (WaPo)

Allowed?

And, the reason they are so arrogantly confident?

As it turns out, House and Senate contempt citations must be submitted to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia... the legal branch.... Attorney General Gonzales is Bush's boy and will do his bidding, and the majority on the Supreme Court is in the White House pocket.

This latest administration move is such a sweeping negation of the separation of powers it is important to quote fully a senior White House official on their consensus opinion: "A U.S. attorney would not be permitted to bring contempt charges or convene a grand jury in an executive privilege case, and a U.S. attorney wouldn't be permitted to argue against the reasoned legal opinion that the Justice Department provided. No one should expect that to happen."

Mark J. Rozell, professor of public policy at George Mason University calls the White House policy "astonishing."

"That's a breathtakingly broad view of the president's role in this system of separation of powers, Rozell said. "What this statement is saying is the president's claim of executive privilege trumps all.

Trumps the Constitution.

Trumps Congress.

Trumps the rule of law.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said the administration is "hastening a constitutional crisis." And Henry Waxman (D-CA) added, that the administration "makes a mockery of the ideal that no one is above the law.... I suppose the next step would be just disbanding the Justice Department."

It's shocking to realize that the "mature" democracy of strife-torn Middle Eastern Pakistan is functioning and protecting its separation-of-powers government, while above-the-law Bush and Cheney's unholy alliance is ripping the guts out of ours.

A ruthless, unprincipled power grab orchestrated by shadow president Cheney. Congress must act, NOW.... while they still are the third branch.

Bush Spins in Tennessee

Bush rebuffed a question today at a town-hall-style meeting in Nashville about a possible pardon for border agents Ramos and Compean....

"I know the prosecutor very well, Johnny Sutton. He's a dear friend of mine from Texas. He's a fair guy. He is an evenhanded guy and I can't imagine, well, you know....."

Yes, we do know. Another friend of George.... that's enough for The Decider.

While George found the 30-month jail sentence of Cheney's chief-of-staff "Scooter" Libby "excessive," he evidently doesn't find anything excessive about the 11 and 12-year federal prison sentences for the border agents who fired at a fleeing Mexican drug smuggler... trying to escape from his van loaded with illegal drugs.... who was given blanket immunity by U.S. Attorney Sutton, even a border pass, to testify against them.

The drug smuggler's still free and suing U. S. taxpayers for $5 million.

It was the border crashing smuggler's word against the agents, the prosecutor took the smuggler's word. There are other outrageous actions by George's dear-friend Johnny, but that fact alone shows how the deck was stacked against the agents.

When asked at this same forum about his stalled immigration-overhaul bill, "Bush Defends His Immigration Proposals," (WaPo) and dipped into his bottomless well of fear warning, without that legislation and with stricter enforcement of the border, "I can make you a prediction.... that pretty shortly people are going to be knocking on people's doors saying 'Man we're running out of workers.'"

Oh, perish the thought that we might have stricter border enforcement.... thereby going against Gonzo's Justice Department's policy of ignoring the rule of law.... then employers might have to pay U.S. citizens a living wage to do a job.

The Decider also defended his failed Iraq policy, and tried once again to link the current Islamic militants in Iraq with those who planned 9/11.... the big "boo!"

But, he can no longer emotionally stampede his propaganda-weary audience.

As the woman who asked about the pardon for the border agents informed The Decider.... the Tennessee General Assembly has passed a resolution asking for such a pardon.

Will Someone Wake Me Up?

Here's the nightmare.... al Qaeda is Sunni. Saudi Arabia is Sunni... and supposedly our friends, even though Osama bin Laden and most of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudi nationals.

Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's powerful Mahdi Army is a Shiite militia. Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is Shiite. Iran is majority Shiite.

Shiite militia has been infiltrating Iraqi police units, and the Iraq military.

"Mahdi Army, Not Al-Qaeda, is Enemy No. 1 in Western Baghdad." It's no longer the case that the "Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq is the city's most formidable, the Mahdi Army has transformed the composition of the district's neighborhoods by ruthlessly killing and driving out Sunnis...." (WaPo)

There has been an ethnic cleansing of Sunnis in the 10-square mile district of West Rashid, home to about 700,000.... the Shiites have taken over.

The Shiites already control Iraq in the east on the Iran border, and in the south.

Although the bloody toll continues to rise in attacks across Baghdad, and in the Kurdish north, we heard Maliki assert on Saturday that Iraqis were ready to take over security operations "any time" American forces choose to leave.

How?.... because the Shiite militias with Iran's help will be the ones taking over, with Maliki's blessing?

Oh sure, today we hear lots of backtracking and explaining by Maliki over his comment, and not unsurprising really, the main thrust of his clarification is a defense of al-Sadr as being good for Iraq. Is anyone in Washington listening to this?

Meanwhile, our troops are still dying in the 103 degree heat while the Iraqi government takes an August vacation. So, between now the the September report from Gen. Petraeus, nothing much will happen from Maliki's government to bring the factions together, there will be more cleansing, and the Shiites will grow even stronger.

And, the Sunni al-Qaeda.... "Pakistan Truce Appears Defunct." (WaPo) A peace deal between the Pakistani government and tribal leaders in the north where al-Qaeda is known to be regrouping is over. Last weekend, 70 mainly soldiers and police were killed after the Taliban fighters announced an all-out guerrilla war against the Parkistan army.

So, this is the effect of what Bush and Cheney have wrought with their misbegotten Middle East adventure.... they are handing Iraq to the Shiites, and thus to Iran, while al-Qaeda is gathering strength in Pakistan.... a country with nuclear weapons and a weakened President Musharraf.

It's too late for what they should have done after 9/11.... gone after Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and made THAT country a bastion of freedom from terror.

What we should be doing now is strengthening our own borders and ports, and aggressively rebuilding our military.... not because Homeland Security's chief Chertoff's gut is rumbling.... but because while we're over there, the terrorists will show up here, "Big Time."

It's Still "Stay the Course"

One can just imagine Dicko Cheney bucking up George, telling him he must be "resolute." It's so easy for Dicko to manipulate George's megalomaniac vision of his destiny.

That is why it is well to heed Eugene Robinson's note of caution about George of Arabia's willingness to take a sane approach to the tragic war in Iraq.... "Resolute Amid the Wreckage." (WaPo)

After all, White House spokesman Tony Snow told us just yesterday where George's presidential advisers are coming from.... "There is no debate right now on withdrawing forces right now from Iraq."

So, the public may be debating, the media may be debating, the Senate may be debating.... but George has gone bike riding.

Oh, George will tell us about a new plan, maybe even a draw down to the levels before the surge, or shuffle the troops that are on deck.... but, listen to what Snow also said.... "The conversation is always about what do you do to succeed in Iraq."

"Being 'resolute' is all that matters."