Hello Jack, Chalabi Is Back!

Watching the Chuckie movies as a kid I must admit I got scared, but nearly as frightened as seeing Ahmed Chalabi's face around again. Not only is he back on the Iraqi government's stage as a lobbyist for failed reconstruction efforts, he is being praised by our top General in Iraq, none other than General David Petraeus. Now why would anyone object to this guy?

From RawStory:

Before the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Chalabi was a primary merchant of bogus intelligence that inflated the country's weapons capabilities and ties to terrorists. His top customers were the White House, Pentagon and American journalists.

Most surprising, perhaps is his alleged associations with Iran. According to a 2004 report in the UK Guardian, US intelligence has "hard evidence" that Chalabi passed US secrets to Iran.

"Some intelligence officials now believe that Iran used the hawks in the Pentagon and the White House to get rid of a hostile neighbor, and pave the way for a Shia-ruled Iraq," the paper said.

Chalabi is also has been sentenced to 22 years in jail in Jordan for embezzling $300 million at a bank he created.

Not a bad record I must say! He'll fit in perfectly with the rest of the cronies in Iraq, heck, he'd be pretty much at home in Washington too, that must be why Bush's in-country stooge loves him so much...despite all that flawed intelligence and passing U.S. secrets to Iran stuff.

Over 5 1/2 Years Later....

New York City finally has something in the works so that we can have WMD experts based here downstate. The "Civil Support Team" is already based in areas like Boise, Topeka and upstate NY because those are key targets for terrorists, ya know? The two Republican Congressmen from the area, Vito Fossella and Peter King announced at a little press conference to strut their stuff. They claim to have jumped several Congressional hurdles to introduce this, but it seems like a no-brainer to have brought more security to the NYC area immediately following 9/11.

From WCBS-TV:

The key move was an amendment, offered by Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., of Watertown, to the House's 2008 Defense Authorization bill, providing funding for a second team in Gotham. What remains is for Congress to approve adding two CST teams to the 55 now in existence nationwide and add more money for fiscal 2008.

The teams are widely scattered with at least one in every state and territory, in such locations as Indianapolis; St. Paul, Minn.; Santa Fe, N.M.; Boise, Idaho; Phoenix; Topeka, Kan.; Honolulu; Augusta, Ga.; Stark, Fla.; Rapid City, S.D., Tacoma, Wash.; Smyrna, Tenn.; and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.

New York's Congressional delegation has complained vigorously to the Bush administration that funds for homeland security were being funneled to states and small cities where the actual terrorist threat was minimal compared to New York, where planes hijacked by terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center and killed nearly 2,800 people on Sept. 11, 2001.

Why didn't the Republican controlled Congress with Bush flying high at the time swiftly enact this rather inexpensive program? The truth is Bush and his buddies may like to talk tough about terrorism, but in reality do very little about it. Protecting New York City should be priority number one and being the 56th recipient of this program is completely unacceptable.

Weapons Of Mass Distraction

As our troops are being slaughtered in Iraq, our economy is floundering for the working and middle classes and the health care crisis rages on unabated, you would think the media would have plenty of issues to talk about that mattered to Americans. Well think again, when it comes to the media at large, expect nothing but over-hyped stories that effect a minute fraction of the American people.

In case you didn't notice, Anna Nicole Smith mysteriously passed away yesterday at the age of 39. It is a sad tale where a young mother lost a child a few months back and is now leaving a newborn behind with no father to be found. Whatever the case may be, whether suicide, depression or natural causes, it has no place being repeated for hours on end in the mainstream media. Sorry to offend the Smith fanbase, but seriously, the nation has more pressing problems at hand.

It seems like there are always stories that consume hours upon hours of network news that are used to boost ratings based on sensationalism, from the still-missing Natalie Holloway to the Jon Benet Ramsey unsolved murder. The business of journalism is more focused on pleasing their advertisers than doing the business of actual journalism.