A 4th Grader Does A Better Job Than The Traditional Media

Misha Lerner may only be in the fourth grade, but he is years ahead of many who consider themselves professional journalists. Throughout most of this decade, the press was reticent to ask tough questions of Bush Administration officials, especially those who were high up and had been involved with making the United States into a country that tortures, even if the glorious leader denies it. What only a few press credentialed individuals have done, so too has Bethesda, Maryland's young Misha Lerner.

From The Washington Post:

Then Misha Lerner, a student from Bethesda, asked: What did Rice think about the things President Obama's administration was saying about the methods the Bush administration had used to get information from detainees?

Rice took the question in stride. saying that she was reluctant to criticize Obama, then getting to the heart of the matter.

"Let me just say that President Bush was very clear that he wanted to do everything he could to protect the country. After September 11, we wanted to protect the country," she said. "But he was also very clear that we would do nothing, nothing, that was against the law or against our obligations internationally. So the president was only willing to authorize policies that were legal in order to protect the country."

She added: "I hope you understand that it was a very difficult time. We were all so terrified of another attack on the country. September 11 was the worst day of my life in government, watching 3,000 Americans die. . . . Even under those most difficult circumstances, the president was not prepared to do something illegal, and I hope people understand that we were trying to protect the country."

It's too bad that Misha couldn't do a follow-up question, because not only did Rice lie to Misha about breaking the law, she used the horrible tragedy of September the 11th to reinforce a terrible justification for torturing other human beings. Misha was only two years old when it happened, but I hope he understands (or his parents make mention of it to him) that you can't trust all grown-ups, especially those that have worked for George W. Bush.

Ex-Sec. Rice Says President Is Above The Law

Although the ex-Secretary of State tried to word her statement carefully, she failed terribly in her answer to a student concerning torture and her involvement in it. Cenk Uyugr helps publicize the exchange where she pretty much has a Frost/Nixon moment declaring the President is above the law.

Time To Indict Condi Rice For Torture

Jay Bybee, John Yoo and other senior Bush Administration figures have already been fingered for their roles in making torture "legal" for the government. Whether they had written the memos or passed them along, they played a part in shaming our once proud nation by committing those despicable acts. Cheney has been called out before too, but for the most part the upper echelon of Bush's people have not been touched. Now though, it looks like former Secretary of State Rice had intimate knowledge and approval of, torturing terrorist suspects.

From RawStory:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The CIA first sought in May 2002 to use harsh interrogation techniques including waterboarding on terror suspects, and was given key early approval by then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, a US Senate intelligence document said.

The agency got the green light to use the near-drowning technique on July 26, 2002, when attorney general John Ashcroft concluded "that the use of waterboarding was lawful," the Senate Intelligence Committee said in a detailed timeline of the "war on terrorism" interrogations released Wednesday.

Nine days earlier, the panel said, citing Central Intelligence Agency records, Rice had met with then-director George Tenet and "advised that the CIA could proceed with its proposed interrogation of Abu Zubaydah," the agency's first high-value Al-Qaeda detainee, pending Justice Department approval.

Though Rice was the first of the inner circle to approve of torturing suspects, Ashcroft, Cheney and Gonzales were all there with her on this from the beginning. Since we have this declassified report out in the open, the only and natural next step is for Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor and draw up charges for every single man and woman that decided to spit on the honor of our country and disregard the basic tenets of decency and morality for humankind.

Colbert Exposes Nelson Mandela, The Terrorist

As only Stephen Colbert can, taking a Nobel Prize winner and well, you know:

Condi Must Go!

I couldn't agree more!

Just How "Independent" Was That 9/11 Commission?

After the shock began to subside after the devastating attack on the World Trade Center, the nation began to clamor for an independent investigation into what went wrong on September 11th. At first the Bush Administration fought against having a task force outside the White House conduct an investigation, but public pressure was just too great. Nonetheless, Bush and his cronies managed to stymie efforts to find out all of the facts that commission members wanted to know.

From RawStory:

Two recent segments delve into a new book that accuses the head of the ostensibly independent 9/11 Commission, Philip Zelikow, of being beholden to the Bush Administration during his tenure.

The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation, by New York Times reporter Philip Shenon, indicts Zelikow on his ties with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and his frequent contact with senior political adviser Karl Rove, during what was touted as an independent investigation into the events surrounding the 2001 World Trade Center attack. This seeming conflict of interest, the book says, led Commission staffers not to trust Zelikow.

"We found him to be very fair-minded," counters co-chair Lee Hamilton, "quite impartial, very rigorous in his searching out of the facts; and he certainly did not try to protect the Bush Administration, or to protect anybody else."

9/11 Commission member John Lehman goes on to tell MSNBC that it was impossible not to go through Karl Rove when documents such as presidential daily briefings were needed. Many Commission members, he says, pressed the White House to provide more information and lift restrictions on a regular basis.

Lehman and Hamilton's support of Zelikow definitely helps his case, but the fact that many more people in the Commission had trouble with him is disconcerting. The question is...is this book coming out tomorrow a important addition to the discussion of the responsibility of the Bush Administration in 9/11 or simply a red herring?

What Attracts Flies Again?

Hmmm?

Dana Perino Doesn't Know What "Despicable" Means

Dana Perino called the Code Pink protesters despicable for getting in Condi's face about her being a war criminal. What is really despicable is that she continues to get away with it.

Condi Relents Over Blackwater

In a 180 degree maneuver, Secretary of State Rice overhauled the policy of how diplomatic convoys are guarded in Iraq. No longer will her pets at Blackwater have the right to guard visitors alone as they speed through town. Public and Congressional pressure was so overwhelming that the most stubborn Administration of all time has agreed to a change that gives more authority to our troops and less to mercenary groups, particularly Blackwater.

From The Los Angeles Times:

Under Rice's order, all convoys will be accompanied by official monitors from the department's Diplomatic Security Bureau, and video cameras will be mounted in vehicles. In addition, radio communication will be recorded and will be archived along with the video and electronic tracking data so diplomats can better review Blackwater's performance.

The order marks a sharp reversal for Rice and the State Department, which for weeks has maintained it has adequate controls in place to monitor Blackwater contractors, who accompany U.S. diplomatic officials as they travel in Iraq.

As recently as last week, John D. Negroponte, the department's second-highest official and the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, defended the embassy's oversight of Blackwater, saying the contractor operated under strict standards monitored with "close" supervision by State officials.

Of course the State Department denies that supervision was inadequate before, so this must all just be a grand coincidence that the change is occurring now. The Pentagon has been up in arms (no pun intended) about the mercenary groups and soldiers talk about them as no other. The problem has been that there is no accountability when things go wrong. Often when there is an "unfortunate" incident, the State Department has covered up the tracks of Blackwater and others, such as the case of Andrew Moonen, who killed an Iraqi bodyguard while being intoxicated.

Things are FUBAR in Iraq, but when there is enough of an outcry, little bits of progress can be made. Though if it took that much effort to have a bit of supervision of Blackwater, what will it take to get the hell out of Iraq?

Condi Hearts Murderers Of Civilians

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote a letter to Rice yesterday to stop interfering with his work and that of Congress. Specifically she is hindering the investigations into Iraqi government corruption and the infamous Blackwater USA.

In case you don't know, Blackwater was almost thrown out of Iraq a few days back for an unprovoked attack on civilians, killing several. The Iraqi people are furious, but the U.S. (i.e. Condoleezza Rice) is pressuring them not to expel Blackwater from their large mercenary contracts. Blackwater is one of many "contractors" that make up an international force that outnumbers our troops in Iraq (roughly 180,000).

Rice does not want all this business to end, draining our treasury seems to be a prerogative of hers. Not only that, but many day to day operations would cease to exist because Blackwater does so many jobs. So she must have to work pretty hard with that political savvy of her in order to trick Congressman Waxman. So how is that going?

From The Washington Post:

"The scope of this prohibition is breathtaking," Waxman wrote to Rice, describing yesterday's staff interview with Vincent Foulk of the State Department's Office of Accountability and Transparency as "virtually worthless." The committee has scheduled a hearing for tomorrow on Iraqi government corruption.

A separate hearing, on Blackwater, is scheduled for next Tuesday. After reports last week that Blackwater employees guarding a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad had killed 11 Iraqi civilians, the committee asked the company for documents and requested the testimony of Erik Prince, chairman of Blackwater's parent company.

In a Monday letter, Blackwater attorney Stephen M. Ryan told the committee that the State Department had directed the company "not to disclose any information" regarding its Iraq security contract without prior department authorization in writing. "This contractual direction from the DOS is unambiguous," Ryan wrote.

Ryan enclosed a Sept. 20 State Department letter to Blackwater reminding that "all documents and information generated in the course of performance" of its contract "are fully subject to the control of the State Department."

Calling the department's position "wholly inappropriate," Waxman wrote that "unless the President is prepared to make an assertion of executive privilege over the Blackwater documents, the State Department has no authority to prevent their transmission to Congress."

Well technically thats true. Rice has no authority to pull this shit. Nevertheless, we don't really live in a democracy anymore. No matter how much kvetching Henry does, I doubt Condi or the White House will ever let him see the documents he (and the American people) desire.

Iraqi Gov't Does One Good Thing

The Iraqi government has done next to nothing in the first years of its feeble existence. Of course they just aren't unified on much of anything. Muqtada al-Sadr continues to waffle on his support of the parliament and that ever-so-important oil deal keeps being elusive to all the parties involved. One good thing that did happen today was the expulsion of Blackwater USA. The U.S. mercenary group is hereafter banned from any operations within the country. Hooray!

From The Huffington Post:

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government said Monday that it was revoking the license of an American security firm accused of involvement in the deaths of eight civilians in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion near a State Department motorcade.

The Interior Ministry said it would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force in the Sunday shooting. It was the latest accusation against the U.S.-contracted firms that operate with little or no supervision and are widely disliked by Iraqis who resent their speeding motorcades and forceful behavior.

Underscoring the seriousness of the matter, the State Department said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice planned to call Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to express regret and assure him that the U.S. has launched an investigation into the matter to ensure nothing like it happens again.

This is serious for Rice because a continued U.S. presence does not solely rely on the regular Army. There are so many mercenary groups like Blackwater operating in Iraq that provide essential security services for those in the upper-echelon in the Pentagon and for elected officials. Not only that, but the contracts that the Pentagon doles out to them consists of serious money. The neo-cons are on a never-ending quest to drain our economy into a larger pit of debt, so this must be terrible news for them.

Enough about Condi and the neo-cons. This is fantastic news for Iraqis. No longer will they be terrorized by Blackwater's abusive and aggressive "employees." The locals fear and loathe them, so at least there will be a little more peace from now on, at least from the Americans.