Please Vote for Bush 2004!
- Last Real Burner
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Please Vote for Bush 2004!
Before you cast your vote in the 2004 national presidential election please
review the following credentials of a man whose name will definitely be on
the ballot.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
LAW ENFORCEMENT:
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been "lost" and
is not available.
MILITARY:
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.
COLLEGE:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average.
I was a cheerleader.
PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:
I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.
I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas, in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money.
With the help of my father and our right-wing friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS:
I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union.
During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.
I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money. I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.
With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing by over 500,000 votes.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:
I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.
I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.
I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history. I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market.
In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.
I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.
I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.
I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.
My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. History, Enron.
My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.
I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history.
I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.
I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.
I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any President in U.S. history.
MY RESUME:
George W. Bush
The White House, USA
I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States government.
I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.
I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.
I refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. "prisoners of war" detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.
I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).
I set the record for fewest number of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.
I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period.
After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
I garnered the most sympathy for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.
I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. citizens, and the world community.
I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families -- in war time.
In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq, then blamed the lies on our British friends.
I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.
I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD.
I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.
RECORDS AND REFERENCES:
All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view.
All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.
PLEASE CONSIDER MY EXPERIENCE WHEN VOTING IN 2004.
PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERY VOTER YOU KNOW.
"The truth is out there."
politically correctly,
mr smith
review the following credentials of a man whose name will definitely be on
the ballot.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
LAW ENFORCEMENT:
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been "lost" and
is not available.
MILITARY:
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.
COLLEGE:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average.
I was a cheerleader.
PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:
I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.
I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas, in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money.
With the help of my father and our right-wing friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS:
I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union.
During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.
I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money. I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.
With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing by over 500,000 votes.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:
I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.
I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.
I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history. I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market.
In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.
I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.
I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.
I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.
My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. History, Enron.
My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.
I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history.
I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.
I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.
I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any President in U.S. history.
MY RESUME:
George W. Bush
The White House, USA
I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States government.
I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.
I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.
I refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. "prisoners of war" detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.
I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).
I set the record for fewest number of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.
I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period.
After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
I garnered the most sympathy for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.
I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. citizens, and the world community.
I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families -- in war time.
In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq, then blamed the lies on our British friends.
I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.
I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD.
I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.
RECORDS AND REFERENCES:
All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view.
All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.
PLEASE CONSIDER MY EXPERIENCE WHEN VOTING IN 2004.
PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERY VOTER YOU KNOW.
"The truth is out there."
politically correctly,
mr smith
"Do you know what happened to the boy who got everything he wished for? - He lived happily ever after".
- joel the ornery
- Posts: 2657
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Register to vote now.
Please be advised, a non-vote is a vote in favor of George Bush... and the Republican National Committee is counting on your apathy, disinterest and non-participation.
- unjonharley
- Posts: 10434
- Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2003 11:05 am
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- Camp Name: Elliot's naked bycycel repair
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- Last Real Burner
- Posts: 941
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I may not always agree with you, so you must change...
Agreed Upjohnharley.
"Do you know what happened to the boy who got everything he wished for? - He lived happily ever after".
Check out:
Relentlessly Documenting the Failures of the Bush Administration
One Thousand Reasons http://www.thousandreasons.org/
-----------------------------------------------------
Feedback about the resume at: http://www.crikey.com.au/whistleblower/ ... -0004.html
A Crikey reader explains the Ivy League system:
Crikey,
I just read your attempt to amuse readers with George Bush's resume. What is very interesting to me was not the stuff that was included in his resume, but rather the stuff which was left out that a lot of Australian readers would not be aware.
Bush is the holder of two degrees from what most Americans would regard (and probably most people in the world who are aware of tertiary education) the two best and most prestigious universities in the world. His undergraduate degree was from Yale and he later obtained an MBA from Harvard University.
Gaining entry to Yale is difficult to say the least. All prospective students are required to sit for their SAT's, which are a form of aptitude tests and comprise a verbal and numeric examination. Each test is out of 800 and therefore a perfect score is 1600. In addition to the SAT's prospects need to do well in the last 2/3 years of their high school studies, receive numerous recommendations from teachers and eminent people. Prospects are also hauled up for an interview and need to write an essay which answers the reason Yale would be a good match. Bush scored a very credible 1330/ 1600 for his SAT's and would not have got into Yale unless he filled the other rigorous requirements which need to be met.
To get into Harvard MBA school a student prospect also needs to demonstrate a certain mental capacity for higher level problem solving and sit for another aptitude test.
As you can see, all in all these requirements are quite rigorous. I know this because, although we live in Melbourne, we are hoping to get our son into an Ivy league school next year. Just so you understand things a little better, Bush's SAT score would in fact translate into an IQ of about 135. Gore's SAT score were in fact lower than Bush's and he did not complete either a J school or law degree. He flunked out of both course as far a as I know.
This tired old hard left crap about Bush being a dumb fuck is really getting very stale.
JC
Melbourne, VIC
CRIKEY: Apparently Dubya's faux CV has been doing the rounds of the internet for some time now. It was sent into Crikey by a subscriber and we published it as an amusing juxtaposition to Mark Latham's line that George W. Bush was "the most incompetent and dangerous president in living memory." Most dangerous maybe, but clearly not the most stupid.
Some information about GWBs entry into Yale:
An SAT of 1330 is not, in fact, a brilliant SAT score. It's above average, but not by a huge margin (the average in 2003 was 1026. I can't find any data for the average back in 1963/4). Remember, though,
that the fact he took the SAT at all places him in a relatively select group.
Not that Bush got 1330. His Verbal SAT score was 566, and his Maths SAT score was 640 - a total of only 1206.
And he didn't beat Gore, either. Gore scored a total SAT of 1355:
Bush/Gore Grades and SAT Scores
CNN - How affirmative action helped George W
The second of those two references also points out that Bush's SAT score was by no means sufficient to get him into Yale, especially given his previous high school record. The inference presented (with some support) is that his family connections got him there. His academic record while at Yale suggests a similar conclusion.
GWB is likely intelligent - at least more-so than an "average" person with an IQ of 100. He is, however, no genius, and the rest of his resume pretty much speaks for itself - what he has, he seems to have wasted.
Shane
Sydney, NSW
Feedback from the US
To Whom it May Concern:
I think it's great that you published the Bush CV on your site. Here in the States we are counting on your support to get this fool out of office! Now I think the Melbourne resident who wrote explaining the SAT process had a good point; simply calling Bush a moron gets us nowhere.
However this person clearly does not understand the education system here in America. Here, if you have the rudest, most violent, disobedient, inane child in the world they can still attend an Ivy league school. The answer is money my dears, and that's what makes America go!
There have been numerous instances of people buying entire schools just so their child could have a degree from somewhere. It is sad; there was a time being a Harvard grad meant something. Now people are immediately suspicious.
Anyway, I just wanted to make a point about SAT scores in the 1960s. Back then, the only people who took the SATs were people who were expected to attend University. So the roster of test-takers was made up of white, upper-middle to upper-upper class males.
The national SAT average is way down from back then, and understandably so now that millions of Americans--white, black, Hispanic, Asian, male, female, poor, rich, etc.--take the test each year. Bush's SAT score of 1206 is commendable, but for the 1960s it isn't really that great. I have an IQ of 148 and scored 1150 after three attempts...and believe me, I'm no dummy.
Thank you for your time.
AJ in America
Relentlessly Documenting the Failures of the Bush Administration
One Thousand Reasons http://www.thousandreasons.org/
-----------------------------------------------------
Feedback about the resume at: http://www.crikey.com.au/whistleblower/ ... -0004.html
A Crikey reader explains the Ivy League system:
Crikey,
I just read your attempt to amuse readers with George Bush's resume. What is very interesting to me was not the stuff that was included in his resume, but rather the stuff which was left out that a lot of Australian readers would not be aware.
Bush is the holder of two degrees from what most Americans would regard (and probably most people in the world who are aware of tertiary education) the two best and most prestigious universities in the world. His undergraduate degree was from Yale and he later obtained an MBA from Harvard University.
Gaining entry to Yale is difficult to say the least. All prospective students are required to sit for their SAT's, which are a form of aptitude tests and comprise a verbal and numeric examination. Each test is out of 800 and therefore a perfect score is 1600. In addition to the SAT's prospects need to do well in the last 2/3 years of their high school studies, receive numerous recommendations from teachers and eminent people. Prospects are also hauled up for an interview and need to write an essay which answers the reason Yale would be a good match. Bush scored a very credible 1330/ 1600 for his SAT's and would not have got into Yale unless he filled the other rigorous requirements which need to be met.
To get into Harvard MBA school a student prospect also needs to demonstrate a certain mental capacity for higher level problem solving and sit for another aptitude test.
As you can see, all in all these requirements are quite rigorous. I know this because, although we live in Melbourne, we are hoping to get our son into an Ivy league school next year. Just so you understand things a little better, Bush's SAT score would in fact translate into an IQ of about 135. Gore's SAT score were in fact lower than Bush's and he did not complete either a J school or law degree. He flunked out of both course as far a as I know.
This tired old hard left crap about Bush being a dumb fuck is really getting very stale.
JC
Melbourne, VIC
CRIKEY: Apparently Dubya's faux CV has been doing the rounds of the internet for some time now. It was sent into Crikey by a subscriber and we published it as an amusing juxtaposition to Mark Latham's line that George W. Bush was "the most incompetent and dangerous president in living memory." Most dangerous maybe, but clearly not the most stupid.
Some information about GWBs entry into Yale:
An SAT of 1330 is not, in fact, a brilliant SAT score. It's above average, but not by a huge margin (the average in 2003 was 1026. I can't find any data for the average back in 1963/4). Remember, though,
that the fact he took the SAT at all places him in a relatively select group.
Not that Bush got 1330. His Verbal SAT score was 566, and his Maths SAT score was 640 - a total of only 1206.
And he didn't beat Gore, either. Gore scored a total SAT of 1355:
Bush/Gore Grades and SAT Scores
CNN - How affirmative action helped George W
The second of those two references also points out that Bush's SAT score was by no means sufficient to get him into Yale, especially given his previous high school record. The inference presented (with some support) is that his family connections got him there. His academic record while at Yale suggests a similar conclusion.
GWB is likely intelligent - at least more-so than an "average" person with an IQ of 100. He is, however, no genius, and the rest of his resume pretty much speaks for itself - what he has, he seems to have wasted.
Shane
Sydney, NSW
Feedback from the US
To Whom it May Concern:
I think it's great that you published the Bush CV on your site. Here in the States we are counting on your support to get this fool out of office! Now I think the Melbourne resident who wrote explaining the SAT process had a good point; simply calling Bush a moron gets us nowhere.
However this person clearly does not understand the education system here in America. Here, if you have the rudest, most violent, disobedient, inane child in the world they can still attend an Ivy league school. The answer is money my dears, and that's what makes America go!
There have been numerous instances of people buying entire schools just so their child could have a degree from somewhere. It is sad; there was a time being a Harvard grad meant something. Now people are immediately suspicious.
Anyway, I just wanted to make a point about SAT scores in the 1960s. Back then, the only people who took the SATs were people who were expected to attend University. So the roster of test-takers was made up of white, upper-middle to upper-upper class males.
The national SAT average is way down from back then, and understandably so now that millions of Americans--white, black, Hispanic, Asian, male, female, poor, rich, etc.--take the test each year. Bush's SAT score of 1206 is commendable, but for the 1960s it isn't really that great. I have an IQ of 148 and scored 1150 after three attempts...and believe me, I'm no dummy.
Thank you for your time.
AJ in America
- Wind_Borne
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- Contact:
Before his term in office, the resume of our first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, looked rather pitiful, too.
And Bill Gates was a drop-out.
While do nothing HR types study resumes, leaders and visionaries change the world.
I'm just saying that life ain't about SAT scores or degrees; and no one looks at your permanent record.
And Bill Gates was a drop-out.
While do nothing HR types study resumes, leaders and visionaries change the world.
I'm just saying that life ain't about SAT scores or degrees; and no one looks at your permanent record.
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
-- George Washington
-- George Washington
- Apollonaris Zeus
- Posts: 3716
- Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2003 11:17 am
Who needs to vote!
He'll be annoited Emperor by the supreme court anyway!
A II Z
A II Z
The real truth about Georgie Porgy
If you all want to know the real truth from a person who has seen it all from the inside out. Go to your computers and type in Ray Mcgovern. thats it!. youll find out what Bush realy knew and was planning way befor 9-11. Bear 
Bearsnest.... Be here now!
- BlueBirdPoof
- Posts: 627
- Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 11:44 am
- Location: SF Bay Area
Just want to say that the SAT is heavily biased to the white upper middle class experience and that the only thing it predicts is an ability to do well in the testee's first year at Princeton. IT makes a lot of money for the people who administer it.bgirl wrote: Anyway, I just wanted to make a point about SAT scores in the 1960s. Back then, the only people who took the SATs were people who were expected to attend University. So the roster of test-takers was made up of white, upper-middle to upper-upper class males.
The national SAT average is way down from back then, and understandably so now that millions of Americans--white, black, Hispanic, Asian, male, female, poor, rich, etc.--take the test each year. Bush's SAT score of 1206 is commendable, but for the 1960s it isn't really that great.
Also, apparently 50 years or so ago Harvard at least wasn't really considered a school for the brillient so much as a school for the rich.
- unjonharley
- Posts: 10434
- Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2003 11:05 am
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- Camp Name: Elliot's naked bycycel repair
- Location: Salem Or.
Bearsnest ,you mean this Ray Mcgovern?
Ray McGovern, Former CIA Analyst:
“We're Trying to Spread a Little Truth”
By Dan ChapmanAtlanta Journal Constitution
December 7, 2003
Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years, serving seven U.S. presidents and routinely presenting the morning intelligence briefings at the White House. Angered by what he deems the politicization of intelligence information, McGovern helped found Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity earlier this year. McGovern, 64, is also co-director of the Servant Leadership School, an outreach ministry in inner-city Washington. He spoke with students and faculty at Georgia State, Emory and Georgia Tech earlier this week. He also talked with reporter Dan Chapman. Excerpts, edited for brevity, are below.
Q: What's your latest mission?
A: We're trying to spread a little truth around. I've just been watching very, very closely how intelligence has been abused in the lead up to the Iraq war and, now, after the war. I fear for what this will mean for a very crucial part of our government. If the president can't turn to the CIA for straight answers, whether he knows it or not, he's in bad shape. He has nowhere to turn for a straight answer. He can't expect [Deputy Defense Secretary Paul] Wolfowitz or [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld to tell him, "Sorry boss, we didn't think of A or B or C. We thought it would be a cakewalk." He's getting slanted advice from the people running the policy toward Iraq.
Q: Who's to blame?
A: Rumsfeld and [Vice President Dick] Cheney primarily. And then George Tenet, the head of the CIA. He's not making any waves. This is an abnegation of responsibility because the CIA is supposed to make waves. The CIA [should be] completely objective. It should not promote or defend any particular policy. So, once the CIA loses its reputation for complete objectivity, it has nothing special to offer and you might as well just close it down.
[McGovern says Tenet and Cheney should resign.]
Q: What are the most egregious examples of "sexed-up" intelligence?
A: The report that Iraq was seeking uranium from the African country of Niger was false on its face and has to be at the top of the list. That was the most obvious and crass lie and the only report they had in September and October of last year to raise the specter that Saddam Hussein might get nuclear weapons. The other main thing, of course, was the alleged tie between Iraq and al-Qaida. CIA analysts spent a year and a half poring through each and every report and found none to be persuasive or reliable. Then [Secretary of State] Colin Powell made his speech to the United Nations on Feb. 5, where he produced some cockamamie evidence suggesting that al-Qaida types were roaming around Iraq with Saddam Hussein. In the period leading up to the war, the president would say that we have to go after Iraq because of 9/11. That is the way that the president played on the trauma of 9/11 to persuade the American people that we couldn't take a chance on Saddam Hussein.
Q: Do the American people care that they were misled on Iraq? Does Congress? The press?
A: There's still a lot of torpor, but there are two new elements now. No. 1: The men and women who are being killed every day in Iraq. No. 2: The fact that no one --- not even the press --- likes to be lied to. I'm an American, and I never thought the president would lie so often and so demonstrably. The Bush administration's reasoning went like this: "We'll deceive Congress. We'll have our war. We'll win handily. The folks in Iraq will meet us with cut flowers and open arms, and who will care at that point whether the [war's premise] was based largely on a forgery?" But there's zero chance that Congress will establish an independent judicial commission to investigate how we got into Iraq. Both houses of Congress are controlled by the president's party. There are no statesmen to rise above party affiliation and say, "We were lied to." No one will do that.
Q: Do you honestly believe the Bush administration is the first to politicize intelligence information for its own geopolitical endeavors?
A: No. I've seen some pretty terrible stuff. We did a very careful job of analyzing how many enemy [soldiers] there were in Vietnam in 1967, and we found out that there were twice as many as the military in Saigon would admit. We put that into the National Intelligence Estimate for the president, and CIA Director Richard Helms caved in to the military and went with their numbers. Two months later, with the Tet Offensive, our numbers proved to be correct. That was bad. The Gulf of Tonkin [misinformation] was equally bad. But what makes this different is that it was knowingly calculated over a period of a year and a half. The public relations was masterful --- just think back to Colin Powell's speech. Not one charge has been borne out and yet it persuaded the country that the war in Iraq was a good idea.
Q: What's the danger?
A: I see us in a particularly critical period now, a period very much akin to the early stages of Vietnam. Key decisions need to be made. Do we commit more troops? The president is under great pressure to do that. But if he does, the situation will just get worse and worse and the troops will be the lightning rods. We need to go to the United Nations and say, "Look, we really need your help and in return we'll be willing to surrender power to you."
Q: What role should U.S. citizens play?
A: It's really essential that Americans take an interest in learning about how this war began. That's really their citizenship duty; otherwise they may see their sons and daughters coming home in pine boxes. At the end of the day, though, it's the November elections that will determine the course of the war.
Ray McGovern, Former CIA Analyst:
“We're Trying to Spread a Little Truth”
By Dan ChapmanAtlanta Journal Constitution
December 7, 2003
Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years, serving seven U.S. presidents and routinely presenting the morning intelligence briefings at the White House. Angered by what he deems the politicization of intelligence information, McGovern helped found Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity earlier this year. McGovern, 64, is also co-director of the Servant Leadership School, an outreach ministry in inner-city Washington. He spoke with students and faculty at Georgia State, Emory and Georgia Tech earlier this week. He also talked with reporter Dan Chapman. Excerpts, edited for brevity, are below.
Q: What's your latest mission?
A: We're trying to spread a little truth around. I've just been watching very, very closely how intelligence has been abused in the lead up to the Iraq war and, now, after the war. I fear for what this will mean for a very crucial part of our government. If the president can't turn to the CIA for straight answers, whether he knows it or not, he's in bad shape. He has nowhere to turn for a straight answer. He can't expect [Deputy Defense Secretary Paul] Wolfowitz or [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld to tell him, "Sorry boss, we didn't think of A or B or C. We thought it would be a cakewalk." He's getting slanted advice from the people running the policy toward Iraq.
Q: Who's to blame?
A: Rumsfeld and [Vice President Dick] Cheney primarily. And then George Tenet, the head of the CIA. He's not making any waves. This is an abnegation of responsibility because the CIA is supposed to make waves. The CIA [should be] completely objective. It should not promote or defend any particular policy. So, once the CIA loses its reputation for complete objectivity, it has nothing special to offer and you might as well just close it down.
[McGovern says Tenet and Cheney should resign.]
Q: What are the most egregious examples of "sexed-up" intelligence?
A: The report that Iraq was seeking uranium from the African country of Niger was false on its face and has to be at the top of the list. That was the most obvious and crass lie and the only report they had in September and October of last year to raise the specter that Saddam Hussein might get nuclear weapons. The other main thing, of course, was the alleged tie between Iraq and al-Qaida. CIA analysts spent a year and a half poring through each and every report and found none to be persuasive or reliable. Then [Secretary of State] Colin Powell made his speech to the United Nations on Feb. 5, where he produced some cockamamie evidence suggesting that al-Qaida types were roaming around Iraq with Saddam Hussein. In the period leading up to the war, the president would say that we have to go after Iraq because of 9/11. That is the way that the president played on the trauma of 9/11 to persuade the American people that we couldn't take a chance on Saddam Hussein.
Q: Do the American people care that they were misled on Iraq? Does Congress? The press?
A: There's still a lot of torpor, but there are two new elements now. No. 1: The men and women who are being killed every day in Iraq. No. 2: The fact that no one --- not even the press --- likes to be lied to. I'm an American, and I never thought the president would lie so often and so demonstrably. The Bush administration's reasoning went like this: "We'll deceive Congress. We'll have our war. We'll win handily. The folks in Iraq will meet us with cut flowers and open arms, and who will care at that point whether the [war's premise] was based largely on a forgery?" But there's zero chance that Congress will establish an independent judicial commission to investigate how we got into Iraq. Both houses of Congress are controlled by the president's party. There are no statesmen to rise above party affiliation and say, "We were lied to." No one will do that.
Q: Do you honestly believe the Bush administration is the first to politicize intelligence information for its own geopolitical endeavors?
A: No. I've seen some pretty terrible stuff. We did a very careful job of analyzing how many enemy [soldiers] there were in Vietnam in 1967, and we found out that there were twice as many as the military in Saigon would admit. We put that into the National Intelligence Estimate for the president, and CIA Director Richard Helms caved in to the military and went with their numbers. Two months later, with the Tet Offensive, our numbers proved to be correct. That was bad. The Gulf of Tonkin [misinformation] was equally bad. But what makes this different is that it was knowingly calculated over a period of a year and a half. The public relations was masterful --- just think back to Colin Powell's speech. Not one charge has been borne out and yet it persuaded the country that the war in Iraq was a good idea.
Q: What's the danger?
A: I see us in a particularly critical period now, a period very much akin to the early stages of Vietnam. Key decisions need to be made. Do we commit more troops? The president is under great pressure to do that. But if he does, the situation will just get worse and worse and the troops will be the lightning rods. We need to go to the United Nations and say, "Look, we really need your help and in return we'll be willing to surrender power to you."
Q: What role should U.S. citizens play?
A: It's really essential that Americans take an interest in learning about how this war began. That's really their citizenship duty; otherwise they may see their sons and daughters coming home in pine boxes. At the end of the day, though, it's the November elections that will determine the course of the war.
Theories about how much Bush knew before 9-11 aside (and I do think he was less ignorant than he'd like us to think; we know that there were warnings Al Queda was planning something major, and that terrorist organizations were likely to try and use airplanes as weapons), I certainly agree that intelligence has been greatly politicized under Bush, and that the overthrow of Saddam was a goal of the Bush administration from the get-go. That's made clear everywhere from the website of the Project for the New American Century to Paul O'Neil's new book.
Actually, I'm curious. Is there anyone out there who doesn't think that Bush wanted to go to war with Iraq before 9-11?
Actually, I'm curious. Is there anyone out there who doesn't think that Bush wanted to go to war with Iraq before 9-11?
"Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings?" -Diogenes
Watch the ad that Bush and CBS Television don't want you to see on Super Bowl Sunday.
http://www.moveon.org/cbs/ad/
http://www.moveon.org/cbs/ad/
I love George W. Bush
he makes the world come together with all the banning of the gay marrige and all.
DOH!!!
DOH!!!
Grand Whopping Bastard.
- unjonharley
- Posts: 10434
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- Burning Since: 2001
- Camp Name: Elliot's naked bycycel repair
- Location: Salem Or.
- joel the ornery
- Posts: 2657
- Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2003 3:28 pm
- Burning Since: 1998
- Location: i'm the snarky one in your worst fucking nightmares
- Contact:
My voices tell me that I really, really need the new .50 magnum.joel the ornery wrote:Funny, the voices remind me to clean my weapons.unjonharley wrote:Pat Robertson said: " the lord told him bush would be relected " I hear things too. Nine out of ten of the voices say " don't shoot "
And the dyes to re-load that caliber.
middle-aged, wannabe-hipster, dilettante
- Last Real Burner
- Posts: 941
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- Location: Heaven
- Contact:
What the Fuck...

"If you don't vote people like Bush/Chaney get elected."
politically correctly,
mr smith
"Do you know what happened to the boy who got everything he wished for? - He lived happily ever after".
- Last Real Burner
- Posts: 941
- Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2003 9:34 am
- Location: Heaven
- Contact:
...And now for something completly different...
Let's help Bush get dressed.
http://www.democracymeansyou.com/bushdressup

"What Liberal Media?"
convincingly,
mr smith
http://www.democracymeansyou.com/bushdressup

"What Liberal Media?"
convincingly,
mr smith
"Do you know what happened to the boy who got everything he wished for? - He lived happily ever after".
Re: What the Fuck...
I dont know about that. Chaney, the bush family, wolfawitz, rumsfeld, those connected with these people along with a shodow government that the average person still does not understand exists in a really big way, and so on, are some really really nasty people that will do anything to stay on course and in power.Last Real Burner wrote:
"If you don't vote people like Bush/Chaney get elected."
politically correctly,
mr smith
the course of rulling the world with new world order of democracy and mine the minerals of this world and others at all cost.
voting is just a passifyer to the masses.
KellY wrote:It always makes my brain ache when I find myself agreeing with Joel...
Hey LRB, is there a accessible source for W's resume? It seems to be getting updated fairly regularly.
Well I put that up on the thread "War, what is it good for" months and months ago. why is it you guys never catch what i post till months later or never at all. Reality can be a bitch sometimes and just too much to handle sometimes I guess.
Anyhoo,
and the addendum goes like this.
>An addendum:
>
>Also, I am a continuos notorious liar:
>
>At my news conference today (10/28/03) I stated unashamelessly "I did not
>place or have anything to do with the banner", "Mission accomplished " atop
>the mast of that air craft carrier, " the Navy did it."
>
>(Documented and stated on NBC's Pat Buchannan's afternoon show, "when
>George
>Bush flew and landed in a borrowed flying suit on the carrier, he did do
>it.
>His Advance Staff, for a photo opt shoot, placed the banner atop the
>aircraft carrier.) . . . and the lies continues! He (Bush) also said the
>statement was the navy's "what they meant was, their mission had been
>accomplished!"
>
>Dad
>
>I watched him, I watched him, I watched him . . 11:00 AM!
>
http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... highlight=
http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... &start=405
- Apollonaris Zeus
- Posts: 3716
- Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2003 11:17 am
Yes Bush is running again reincarnated and in the form of McCain: a military brat who has claim he will stay in Iraq for one hundred years if necessary seems Bush will try to get elected reincarnating every eight years to do so. But will McCain do it for over a thousands years. I don’t think he will do it because there will be no army to help. No recruits, No reenlistments!
We made a big mistake and it a mistake that we can’t fix. The massive build up only quieted things for a while. But it never stopped the slaughter that was happening behind the scenes. No bombing markets or bases, but a constant killing in abductions of people. Of the street and into your home. But it could not prevent the inevitable, Iran wants Iraq and as long as America stays in the country Iran gets closer to winning one dead sunni at a time.
Now the conflict is coming back to the streets! Bush has failed! The Iraq war has failed! The build up has failed! And we have higher gas prices to show for it!
Don’t vote for McCain. A military person should only run the war, not the country!
Don’t believe me: read “The Republicâ€
We made a big mistake and it a mistake that we can’t fix. The massive build up only quieted things for a while. But it never stopped the slaughter that was happening behind the scenes. No bombing markets or bases, but a constant killing in abductions of people. Of the street and into your home. But it could not prevent the inevitable, Iran wants Iraq and as long as America stays in the country Iran gets closer to winning one dead sunni at a time.
Now the conflict is coming back to the streets! Bush has failed! The Iraq war has failed! The build up has failed! And we have higher gas prices to show for it!
Don’t vote for McCain. A military person should only run the war, not the country!
Don’t believe me: read “The Republicâ€