Maybe they both are trying to hide evidence that they had multiple blow jobs...............from .................................
Hey, you fill in the blank.
Politics, Everyday, All day... morning, noon and night....
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Carmona Says Administration Muzzled Him
Tuesday July 10, 2007 10:31 PM
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press Writer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/s ... 12,00.html
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's most recent surgeon general accused the administration Tuesday of muzzling him for political reasons on hot-button health issues such as emergency contraception and abstinence-only education.
Dr. Richard Carmona, the nation's 17th surgeon general, told lawmakers that all surgeons general have had to deal with politics but none more so than he.
For example, he said he wasn't allowed to make a speech at the Special Olympics because it was viewed as benefiting a political opponent. However, he said was asked to speak at events designed to benefit Republican lawmakers.
``The reality is that the nation's doctor has been marginalized and relegated to a position with no independent budget, and with supervisors who are political appointees with partisan agendas,'' said Carmona, who served from 2002 to 2006.
Responding, the White House said Carmona was given the authority and had the obligation to be the leading voice for the health of all Americans.
``It's disappointing to us if he failed to use his position to the fullest extent in advocating for policies he thought were in the best interests of the nation,'' said Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto. ``We believe Dr. Carmona received the support necessary to carry out his mission.''
Confirmation hearings are scheduled to be held Thursday for Dr. James. Holsinger Jr., the Kentucky cardiologist Bush nominated as the nation's 18th surgeon general. The nomination has been criticized by gay rights groups.
Carmona testified Tuesday at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Also appearing were Drs. C. Everett Koop, who served as surgeon general from 1981-1889, and David Satcher, who served from 1998-2001.
``Political interference with the work of the surgeon general appears to have reached a new level in this administration,'' said committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
Koop is probably the most recognized former surgeon general. He talked about AIDS as a public health issue rather than a moral issue, which won him many admirers and some critics. He said President Reagan was pressed to fire him every day, but Reagan would not interfere.
Koop said that after he left office he had more access to the secretary of Health and Human Services than his successor, Satcher, and that embarrassed him. ``Dr. Carmona was treated with even less respect than Dr. Satcher,'' Koop said.
A report condemning secondhand smoke was a hallmark of Carmona's tenure.
Another report, on global health challenges, was never released after the administration demanded changes that he refused to make, Carmona said.
``I was told this would be a political document or you're not going to release it.'' Carmona said. ``I said it can't be a political document because the surgeon general never releases political documents. I release scientific documents that will help our elected officials and the citizens understand the complex world we live in and what their responsibilities are.''
He refused to identify the officials who sought the changes.
Carmona said he believed the surgeon general should show leadership on health issues. But his speeches were edited by political appointees, and he was told not to talk about certain issues. For example, he supported comprehensive sex education that would include abstinence in the curriculum, rather than focusing solely on abstinence.
``However, there was already a policy in place that didn't want to hear the science, but wanted to quote, unquote preach abstinence, which I felt was scientifically incorrect,'' Carmona said.
Tuesday July 10, 2007 10:31 PM
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press Writer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/s ... 12,00.html
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's most recent surgeon general accused the administration Tuesday of muzzling him for political reasons on hot-button health issues such as emergency contraception and abstinence-only education.
Dr. Richard Carmona, the nation's 17th surgeon general, told lawmakers that all surgeons general have had to deal with politics but none more so than he.
For example, he said he wasn't allowed to make a speech at the Special Olympics because it was viewed as benefiting a political opponent. However, he said was asked to speak at events designed to benefit Republican lawmakers.
``The reality is that the nation's doctor has been marginalized and relegated to a position with no independent budget, and with supervisors who are political appointees with partisan agendas,'' said Carmona, who served from 2002 to 2006.
Responding, the White House said Carmona was given the authority and had the obligation to be the leading voice for the health of all Americans.
``It's disappointing to us if he failed to use his position to the fullest extent in advocating for policies he thought were in the best interests of the nation,'' said Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto. ``We believe Dr. Carmona received the support necessary to carry out his mission.''
Confirmation hearings are scheduled to be held Thursday for Dr. James. Holsinger Jr., the Kentucky cardiologist Bush nominated as the nation's 18th surgeon general. The nomination has been criticized by gay rights groups.
Carmona testified Tuesday at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Also appearing were Drs. C. Everett Koop, who served as surgeon general from 1981-1889, and David Satcher, who served from 1998-2001.
``Political interference with the work of the surgeon general appears to have reached a new level in this administration,'' said committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
Koop is probably the most recognized former surgeon general. He talked about AIDS as a public health issue rather than a moral issue, which won him many admirers and some critics. He said President Reagan was pressed to fire him every day, but Reagan would not interfere.
Koop said that after he left office he had more access to the secretary of Health and Human Services than his successor, Satcher, and that embarrassed him. ``Dr. Carmona was treated with even less respect than Dr. Satcher,'' Koop said.
A report condemning secondhand smoke was a hallmark of Carmona's tenure.
Another report, on global health challenges, was never released after the administration demanded changes that he refused to make, Carmona said.
``I was told this would be a political document or you're not going to release it.'' Carmona said. ``I said it can't be a political document because the surgeon general never releases political documents. I release scientific documents that will help our elected officials and the citizens understand the complex world we live in and what their responsibilities are.''
He refused to identify the officials who sought the changes.
Carmona said he believed the surgeon general should show leadership on health issues. But his speeches were edited by political appointees, and he was told not to talk about certain issues. For example, he supported comprehensive sex education that would include abstinence in the curriculum, rather than focusing solely on abstinence.
``However, there was already a policy in place that didn't want to hear the science, but wanted to quote, unquote preach abstinence, which I felt was scientifically incorrect,'' Carmona said.
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DVD Burner
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Conservapedia
http://www.conservapedia.com/Main_Page
What more can I say?
I just found out from the Daily Show.
http://www.conservapedia.com/Main_Page
What more can I say?
I just found out from the Daily Show.
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DVD Burner
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I know how much Joel loves to trust the CIA, so this one is for him:
The Frank Olson Murder.
Frank Olson was an American citizen, born in 1910 and murdered in New York City in 1953 by the CIA. Here's an outline of the case:
Fort Detrick is the U.S. Army's biowarfare facility, founded in 1943. Frank Olson was one of the first scientists to work there. From the final years of World War II through the Korean War and up to the present time scientists at Fort Detrick developed biological weapons including anthrax.
Following the end of World War II the U.S. conducted "Operation Paperclip", which scoured Germany for Nazi scientists who could be useful. It found some who had conducted experiments on prisoners in Dachau and other Nazi concentration camps, including one Kurt Blome. He was among the defendants in the Nuremberg War Trials, and would have been convicted and hanged but for American intervention. In return for agreeing to provide information to the Americans about his experiments in Dachau, and advice in the development of their own germ warfare program, an acquittal was arranged, and he escaped the gallows.
Frank Olson and Kurt Blome (who had become a protegé of the Americans) later met at Camp King in Germany in the early 1950s when Olson made several visits there to participate in "Operation Artichoke", in which the U.S. Army and the CIA experimented with the use of drugs (including LSD) in interrogation. Olson was present during brutal interrogations by the Americans of Soviet prisoners and suspected double agents, some of whom died under torture. Olson was deeply disturbed by what he had seen.
In the summer of 1953 Olson travelled again to Europe. In Berlin in August he witnessed several brutal interrogations involving torture and the use of drugs. On his return to the U.S. he confided to a friend and colleague at Fort Detrick, Norman Cournoyer, that he was disgusted with what the CIA was doing and was determined to leave.
In November 1953 Olson attended a meeting of a group of CIA agents at a country retreat where they discussed their work. Olson was suspected by the CIA of being a security risk. He was given a drink laced with LSD and when well under the influence of the drug he was subjected to interrogation using Artichoke techniques, probably a very unpleasant experience.
A week later Olson was staying in Room 1018A at the Hotel Statler in New York City under the supervision of a CIA doctor, Richard Lashbrook. The manager of the hotel, Armond Pastore, heard a thump outside and went out to find Olson dying on the pavement, having fallen from the 13th floor. The manager later found that a phone call had been made from Room 1018A to a number in Long Island and the caller had said only, "Olson's gone."
The CIA maintained that Olson had leapt through the closed window to his death. However, an autopsy conducted forty years later on the exhumed corpse revealed an injury to the skull most likely caused by a blow to the head and no evidence of any cuts to the body from broken glass. It seems that Olson, exactly as recommended in a CIA assassination manual, was struck on the head (possibly while drugged) and thrown from the window to his death thirteen floors below.
Olson was working at Fort Detrick during the Korean War and some have speculated that the U.S. developed germ weapons which it used against Korean and Chinese soldiers and civilians. If so then Olson would probably have known about this. The CIA believed that there was the risk that Olson would reveal what he knew about the activities of the CIA during the Korean war and about its brutal experiments in interrogation techniques, so he was murdered.
The fact that Frank Olson had died shortly after being given LSD in a CIA experiment came out in 1975 as a consequence of President Ford's Rockefeller Commission investigation into the CIA's domestic activities. Further investigation was called for, but in a White House memo advisers to President Ford stated that this would risk revealing state secrets (probably meaning, in part, the use by the U.S. of germ warfare in Korea); further investigation was suppressed and the whole matter covered up. The names of those White House advisers were Dick Cheney, current U.S. Vice-President, and Donald Rumsfeld, current Secretary of Defense. They have never been questioned as to what they knew about Olson's death.
A California history professor, Kathryn Olmstead, has discovered documents at the Gerald Ford library which were written by Cheney and Rumsfeld.
They show how far the White House went to conceal information about Olson’s death — and his role in preparing anthrax and other biological weapons. ...
Cheney and Rumsfeld were given the task of covering up the details of Frank Olson’s death. At the time, Rumsfeld was White House Chief of Staff to President Gerald Ford. Dick Cheney was a senior White House assistant.
The documents uncovered by Professor Olmstead include one that states "Dr Olson’s job was so sensitive that it is highly unlikely that we would submit relevant evidence".
In another memo, Cheney acknowledges that "the Olson lawyers will seek to explore all the circumstances of Dr Olson’s employment, as well as those concerning his death. In any trial, it may become apparent that we are concealing evidence for national security reasons and any settlement or judgement reached thereafter could be perceived as money paid to cover up the activities of the CIA".
Frank Olson’s family received US$750,000 to settle their claims against the US government.
http://homepage.eircom.net/~gulufuture/ ... ndeath.htm
The Frank Olson Murder.
Frank Olson was an American citizen, born in 1910 and murdered in New York City in 1953 by the CIA. Here's an outline of the case:
Fort Detrick is the U.S. Army's biowarfare facility, founded in 1943. Frank Olson was one of the first scientists to work there. From the final years of World War II through the Korean War and up to the present time scientists at Fort Detrick developed biological weapons including anthrax.
Following the end of World War II the U.S. conducted "Operation Paperclip", which scoured Germany for Nazi scientists who could be useful. It found some who had conducted experiments on prisoners in Dachau and other Nazi concentration camps, including one Kurt Blome. He was among the defendants in the Nuremberg War Trials, and would have been convicted and hanged but for American intervention. In return for agreeing to provide information to the Americans about his experiments in Dachau, and advice in the development of their own germ warfare program, an acquittal was arranged, and he escaped the gallows.
Frank Olson and Kurt Blome (who had become a protegé of the Americans) later met at Camp King in Germany in the early 1950s when Olson made several visits there to participate in "Operation Artichoke", in which the U.S. Army and the CIA experimented with the use of drugs (including LSD) in interrogation. Olson was present during brutal interrogations by the Americans of Soviet prisoners and suspected double agents, some of whom died under torture. Olson was deeply disturbed by what he had seen.
In the summer of 1953 Olson travelled again to Europe. In Berlin in August he witnessed several brutal interrogations involving torture and the use of drugs. On his return to the U.S. he confided to a friend and colleague at Fort Detrick, Norman Cournoyer, that he was disgusted with what the CIA was doing and was determined to leave.
In November 1953 Olson attended a meeting of a group of CIA agents at a country retreat where they discussed their work. Olson was suspected by the CIA of being a security risk. He was given a drink laced with LSD and when well under the influence of the drug he was subjected to interrogation using Artichoke techniques, probably a very unpleasant experience.
A week later Olson was staying in Room 1018A at the Hotel Statler in New York City under the supervision of a CIA doctor, Richard Lashbrook. The manager of the hotel, Armond Pastore, heard a thump outside and went out to find Olson dying on the pavement, having fallen from the 13th floor. The manager later found that a phone call had been made from Room 1018A to a number in Long Island and the caller had said only, "Olson's gone."
The CIA maintained that Olson had leapt through the closed window to his death. However, an autopsy conducted forty years later on the exhumed corpse revealed an injury to the skull most likely caused by a blow to the head and no evidence of any cuts to the body from broken glass. It seems that Olson, exactly as recommended in a CIA assassination manual, was struck on the head (possibly while drugged) and thrown from the window to his death thirteen floors below.
Olson was working at Fort Detrick during the Korean War and some have speculated that the U.S. developed germ weapons which it used against Korean and Chinese soldiers and civilians. If so then Olson would probably have known about this. The CIA believed that there was the risk that Olson would reveal what he knew about the activities of the CIA during the Korean war and about its brutal experiments in interrogation techniques, so he was murdered.
The fact that Frank Olson had died shortly after being given LSD in a CIA experiment came out in 1975 as a consequence of President Ford's Rockefeller Commission investigation into the CIA's domestic activities. Further investigation was called for, but in a White House memo advisers to President Ford stated that this would risk revealing state secrets (probably meaning, in part, the use by the U.S. of germ warfare in Korea); further investigation was suppressed and the whole matter covered up. The names of those White House advisers were Dick Cheney, current U.S. Vice-President, and Donald Rumsfeld, current Secretary of Defense. They have never been questioned as to what they knew about Olson's death.
A California history professor, Kathryn Olmstead, has discovered documents at the Gerald Ford library which were written by Cheney and Rumsfeld.
They show how far the White House went to conceal information about Olson’s death — and his role in preparing anthrax and other biological weapons. ...
Cheney and Rumsfeld were given the task of covering up the details of Frank Olson’s death. At the time, Rumsfeld was White House Chief of Staff to President Gerald Ford. Dick Cheney was a senior White House assistant.
The documents uncovered by Professor Olmstead include one that states "Dr Olson’s job was so sensitive that it is highly unlikely that we would submit relevant evidence".
In another memo, Cheney acknowledges that "the Olson lawyers will seek to explore all the circumstances of Dr Olson’s employment, as well as those concerning his death. In any trial, it may become apparent that we are concealing evidence for national security reasons and any settlement or judgement reached thereafter could be perceived as money paid to cover up the activities of the CIA".
Frank Olson’s family received US$750,000 to settle their claims against the US government.
http://homepage.eircom.net/~gulufuture/ ... ndeath.htm
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joel the ornery
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DVD Burner
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DVD Burner
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and again:
And if you need some help, try using this:DVD Burner wrote:Actually and seriously,DVD Burner wrote:Got a question for anyone that can give me any kind of answer to this question.
What does Bush and Cheney have to hide by defying the congressional subpoenas the way they are doing?
Can someone answer that for me please?
No.....seriously?
this is something the old wise one, Joel, could probably answer.
Joel knows.
The only reason why I say this is because, Joel knows the mind of Bush and Cheney.
Joel can enlighten me.
DVD Burner wrote:Conservapedia
http://www.conservapedia.com/Main_Page
What more can I say?
I just found out from the Daily Show.
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Archantael
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Big Oil: Coming to a playa near you!
(Could Burning Man theme camps be sharing space with oil derricks?)
[quote]Secretary Kempthorne Unveils Major Initiative to Expand Oil, Natural Gas Production on the Outer Continental Shelf and former Inland Seas
Environmentally sound development would strengthen U.S. energy security, provide economic stimulus to Nation, states
WASHINGTON, NE – Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today announced a major federal initiative to boost oil and natural gas production on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico, the Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada, and the coast of Alaska. The program could produce 12 billion barrels of oil and 48 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over 40 years, generating almost $190 billion, in today’s dollars, in net benefits for the Nation.
“The Outer Continental Shelf and former inland seas are a vital source of domestic oil and natural gas for America, especially in light of sharply rising energy prices and increasing demand for these resources,â€
(Could Burning Man theme camps be sharing space with oil derricks?)
[quote]Secretary Kempthorne Unveils Major Initiative to Expand Oil, Natural Gas Production on the Outer Continental Shelf and former Inland Seas
Environmentally sound development would strengthen U.S. energy security, provide economic stimulus to Nation, states
WASHINGTON, NE – Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today announced a major federal initiative to boost oil and natural gas production on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico, the Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada, and the coast of Alaska. The program could produce 12 billion barrels of oil and 48 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over 40 years, generating almost $190 billion, in today’s dollars, in net benefits for the Nation.
“The Outer Continental Shelf and former inland seas are a vital source of domestic oil and natural gas for America, especially in light of sharply rising energy prices and increasing demand for these resources,â€
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DVD Burner
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Giant badgers terrorise Iraqi port city
Article from: Agence France-Presse
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From correspondents in Basra
July 11, 2007 05:37pm
THE Iraqi port city of Basra, already prey to a nasty turf war between rival militia factions, has now been gripped by a scary rumour – giant badgers are stalking the streets by night, eating humans.
The animals were allegedly released into the area by British forces.
Local farmers have caught and killed several of the beasts, but this has done nothing to dispel the rumour.
Iraqi scientists have attempted to calm things down. However, the story has spread like wildfire in the streets of the city and the villages round about.
Mushtaq Abdul-Mahdi, director of Basra's veterinary hospital, has inspected the corpses of several badgers and tries to reassure Iraqis that the animals are not a new post-war arrival in the region.
“These animals appeared before the fall of the regime in 1986. They are known as Al-Ghirayri and locally as Al-Girta,â€
Article from: Agence France-Presse
* Font size: Decrease Increase
* Email article: Email
* Print article: Print
From correspondents in Basra
July 11, 2007 05:37pm
THE Iraqi port city of Basra, already prey to a nasty turf war between rival militia factions, has now been gripped by a scary rumour – giant badgers are stalking the streets by night, eating humans.
The animals were allegedly released into the area by British forces.
Local farmers have caught and killed several of the beasts, but this has done nothing to dispel the rumour.
Iraqi scientists have attempted to calm things down. However, the story has spread like wildfire in the streets of the city and the villages round about.
Mushtaq Abdul-Mahdi, director of Basra's veterinary hospital, has inspected the corpses of several badgers and tries to reassure Iraqis that the animals are not a new post-war arrival in the region.
“These animals appeared before the fall of the regime in 1986. They are known as Al-Ghirayri and locally as Al-Girta,â€
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DVD Burner
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joel the ornery
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Honey badger Mellivora capensis
This animal is very well known and respected in the African bush. They are very aggressive and have a tendancy to go for the genital area of would be attackers. (oh fuck)There are stories of Honey badgers bringing down an adult wildebeest by attacking the genitals of the animal. They are said to be mainly nocturnal but have also been viewed during the daylight hours, thought to be an adjustment to their needs. They have very loose fitting, tough skin, a combination, which makes them a difficult animal to deal with in a conflict situation. They do, as their name suggests feed on honey and on the larva of bees, but they will also feed on reptiles, baboon spiders and scorpions. The honey badger is thought to breed all year round in the Djuma area, with females thought to have two young per litter.
**In his best Sierra Madra voice**
"badgers we don't need any stinking badgers"
well other that the two who post on eplaya I like them
This animal is very well known and respected in the African bush. They are very aggressive and have a tendancy to go for the genital area of would be attackers. (oh fuck)There are stories of Honey badgers bringing down an adult wildebeest by attacking the genitals of the animal. They are said to be mainly nocturnal but have also been viewed during the daylight hours, thought to be an adjustment to their needs. They have very loose fitting, tough skin, a combination, which makes them a difficult animal to deal with in a conflict situation. They do, as their name suggests feed on honey and on the larva of bees, but they will also feed on reptiles, baboon spiders and scorpions. The honey badger is thought to breed all year round in the Djuma area, with females thought to have two young per litter.
**In his best Sierra Madra voice**
"badgers we don't need any stinking badgers"
well other that the two who post on eplaya I like them
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DVD Burner
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Iraq PM: Country can manage without U.S.
By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 42 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi army and police are capable of keeping security in the country when American troops leave "any time they want," though he acknowledged the forces need further weapons and training.
ADVERTISEMENT
The embattled prime minister sought to show confidence at a time when congressional pressure is growing for a withdrawal and the Bush administration reported little progress had been made on the most vital of a series of political benchmarks it wants al-Maliki to carry out.
Al-Maliki said difficulty in enacting the measures was "natural" given Iraq's turmoil.
But one of his top aides, Hassan al-Suneid, rankled at the assessment, saying the U.S. was treating Iraq like "an experiment in an American laboratory." He sharply criticised the U.S. military, saying it was committing human rights violations, embarassing the Iraqi government with its tactics and cooperating with "gangs of killers" in its campaign against al-Qaida in Iraq.
Al-Suneid's comments were a rare show of frustration toward the Americans from within al-Maliki's inner circle as the prime minister struggles to overcome deep divisions between Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish members of his coalition and enact the American-drawn list of benchmarks.
In new violence in Baghdad on Saturday, a car bomb leveled a two-story apartment building, and a suicide bomber plowed his explosives-packed vehicle into a line of cars at a gas station. The two attacks killed at least eight people, police officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorize to release details of the attacks.
Thursday's White House assessment of progress on the benchmarks fueled calls among congressional critics of the Iraqi policy for a change in strategy, including a withdrawal of American forces.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned earlier this week of civil war and the government's collapse if the Americans leave. But al-Maliki told reporters Saturday, "We say in full confidence that we are able, God willing, to take the responsibility completely in running the security file if the international forces withdraw at any time they want."
But he added that Iraqi forces are "still in need of more weapons and rehabilitation" to be ready in the case of a withdrawal.
On Friday, the Pentagon conceded that the Iraqi army has become more reliant on the U.S. military. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, said the number of Iraqi batallions able to operate on their own without U.S. support has dropped in recent months from 10 to six, though he said the fall was in part due to attrition from stepped-up offensives.
Al-Maliki told a Baghdad press conference that his government needs "time and effort" to enact the political reforms that Washington seeks — "particularly since the political process is facing security, economic and services pressures, as well as regional and international interference."
"These difficulties can be read as a big success, not negative points, when they are viewed under the shadow of the big challenges," he said.
In the White House strategy, beefed-up American forces have been waging intensified security crackdowns in Baghdad and areas to the north and south for nearly a month. The goal is to bring quiet to the capital while al-Maliki gives Sunni Arabs a greater role in the goverment and political process, lessening support for the insurgency.
But the benchmarks have been blocked by divisions among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders. In August, the parliament is taking a one month vacation — a shorter break than the usual two months, but still enough to anger some in Congress who say lawmakers should push through the measures.
Al-Suneid, a Shiite lawmaker close to al-Maliki, bristled at the pressure. He called Thursday's report "objective," but added, "this bothers us a lot that the situation looks as if it is an experiment in an American laboratory (judging) whether we succeed or fail."
He also told The Associated Press that al-Maliki has problems with the top U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus, who works along a "purely American vision."
He criticized U.S. overtures to Sunni groups in Anbar and Diyala, encouraging former insurgents to join the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq. "These are gangs of killers," he said.
"There are disagreements that the strategy that Petraeus is following might succeed in confronting al-Qaida in the early period but it will leave Iraq an armed nation, an armed society and militias," said al-Suneid.
He said that the U.S. authorities have embarrassed al-Maliki' government through acts such as constructing a wall around Baghdad's Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah and repeated raids on suspected Shiite militiamen in the capital's eastern slum of Sadr City. He said the U.S. use of airstrikes to hit suspected insurgent positions also kills civilians.
"This embarrasses the government in front of its people," he said, calling the civilian deaths a "human rights violation."
By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 42 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi army and police are capable of keeping security in the country when American troops leave "any time they want," though he acknowledged the forces need further weapons and training.
ADVERTISEMENT
The embattled prime minister sought to show confidence at a time when congressional pressure is growing for a withdrawal and the Bush administration reported little progress had been made on the most vital of a series of political benchmarks it wants al-Maliki to carry out.
Al-Maliki said difficulty in enacting the measures was "natural" given Iraq's turmoil.
But one of his top aides, Hassan al-Suneid, rankled at the assessment, saying the U.S. was treating Iraq like "an experiment in an American laboratory." He sharply criticised the U.S. military, saying it was committing human rights violations, embarassing the Iraqi government with its tactics and cooperating with "gangs of killers" in its campaign against al-Qaida in Iraq.
Al-Suneid's comments were a rare show of frustration toward the Americans from within al-Maliki's inner circle as the prime minister struggles to overcome deep divisions between Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish members of his coalition and enact the American-drawn list of benchmarks.
In new violence in Baghdad on Saturday, a car bomb leveled a two-story apartment building, and a suicide bomber plowed his explosives-packed vehicle into a line of cars at a gas station. The two attacks killed at least eight people, police officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorize to release details of the attacks.
Thursday's White House assessment of progress on the benchmarks fueled calls among congressional critics of the Iraqi policy for a change in strategy, including a withdrawal of American forces.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned earlier this week of civil war and the government's collapse if the Americans leave. But al-Maliki told reporters Saturday, "We say in full confidence that we are able, God willing, to take the responsibility completely in running the security file if the international forces withdraw at any time they want."
But he added that Iraqi forces are "still in need of more weapons and rehabilitation" to be ready in the case of a withdrawal.
On Friday, the Pentagon conceded that the Iraqi army has become more reliant on the U.S. military. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, said the number of Iraqi batallions able to operate on their own without U.S. support has dropped in recent months from 10 to six, though he said the fall was in part due to attrition from stepped-up offensives.
Al-Maliki told a Baghdad press conference that his government needs "time and effort" to enact the political reforms that Washington seeks — "particularly since the political process is facing security, economic and services pressures, as well as regional and international interference."
"These difficulties can be read as a big success, not negative points, when they are viewed under the shadow of the big challenges," he said.
In the White House strategy, beefed-up American forces have been waging intensified security crackdowns in Baghdad and areas to the north and south for nearly a month. The goal is to bring quiet to the capital while al-Maliki gives Sunni Arabs a greater role in the goverment and political process, lessening support for the insurgency.
But the benchmarks have been blocked by divisions among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders. In August, the parliament is taking a one month vacation — a shorter break than the usual two months, but still enough to anger some in Congress who say lawmakers should push through the measures.
Al-Suneid, a Shiite lawmaker close to al-Maliki, bristled at the pressure. He called Thursday's report "objective," but added, "this bothers us a lot that the situation looks as if it is an experiment in an American laboratory (judging) whether we succeed or fail."
He also told The Associated Press that al-Maliki has problems with the top U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus, who works along a "purely American vision."
He criticized U.S. overtures to Sunni groups in Anbar and Diyala, encouraging former insurgents to join the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq. "These are gangs of killers," he said.
"There are disagreements that the strategy that Petraeus is following might succeed in confronting al-Qaida in the early period but it will leave Iraq an armed nation, an armed society and militias," said al-Suneid.
He said that the U.S. authorities have embarrassed al-Maliki' government through acts such as constructing a wall around Baghdad's Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah and repeated raids on suspected Shiite militiamen in the capital's eastern slum of Sadr City. He said the U.S. use of airstrikes to hit suspected insurgent positions also kills civilians.
"This embarrasses the government in front of its people," he said, calling the civilian deaths a "human rights violation."
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Apollonaris Zeus
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I once saw Badger eat a cow at the Meet and Greet!
So Cheney and Rubself were in on the Olson Murder. I was wondering were that Anthrax came from during the scare in 2001.
Yes the Iraqis can take care of themselves.
And the us may be part of the problem by allowing all fractions to focus on the americans as interfering with the domestic problem. Our present may also be preventing a greater war between al Qeida and Iran causing to also focus their angst against us. That is the war that I want to see. Two terrorist promoting fractions duking it out. Iran can fight them all the way into Pakistan and Afghanistan. But too bad our leader bush can't envision that scenario.
A note on Carmona:
The New Hippocratic Oath
By MICHAEL FELDMAN
Published: July 13, 2007
Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told a Congressional panel Tuesday ... that he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches.
— The Times, July 11
I SWEAR by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and President Bush and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my and President Bush’s ability and judgment this oath and covenant:
To hold President Bush who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art — if they desire to learn it — without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to President Bush and to the sons and/or daughters of President Bush who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.
I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment and that of President Bush; I will keep him from harm and injustice.
Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of President Bush, remaining free of all intentional injustice, mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons.
What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to President Bush, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself.
If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may President Bush grant to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may President Bush’s be my lot.
— MICHAEL FELDMAN, host of the PRI radio program “Whad’Ya Know?â€
So Cheney and Rubself were in on the Olson Murder. I was wondering were that Anthrax came from during the scare in 2001.
Yes the Iraqis can take care of themselves.
And the us may be part of the problem by allowing all fractions to focus on the americans as interfering with the domestic problem. Our present may also be preventing a greater war between al Qeida and Iran causing to also focus their angst against us. That is the war that I want to see. Two terrorist promoting fractions duking it out. Iran can fight them all the way into Pakistan and Afghanistan. But too bad our leader bush can't envision that scenario.
A note on Carmona:
The New Hippocratic Oath
By MICHAEL FELDMAN
Published: July 13, 2007
Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told a Congressional panel Tuesday ... that he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches.
— The Times, July 11
I SWEAR by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and President Bush and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my and President Bush’s ability and judgment this oath and covenant:
To hold President Bush who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art — if they desire to learn it — without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to President Bush and to the sons and/or daughters of President Bush who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.
I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment and that of President Bush; I will keep him from harm and injustice.
Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of President Bush, remaining free of all intentional injustice, mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons.
What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to President Bush, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself.
If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may President Bush grant to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may President Bush’s be my lot.
— MICHAEL FELDMAN, host of the PRI radio program “Whad’Ya Know?â€
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Green Wood
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EvilDustBooger
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More exclusive orders from the "Decider".
The Writing is on the Wall
"We The People" are in the way .
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Old-line Republican warns 'something's in the works' to trigger a police state Muriel Kane
Published: Thursday July 19, 2007
Thom Hartmann began his program on Thursday by reading from a new Executive Order which allows the government to seize the assets of anyone who interferes with its Iraq policies.
He then introduced old-line conservative Paul Craig Roberts -- a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan who has recently become known for his strong opposition to the Bush administration and the Iraq War -- by quoting the "strong words" which open Roberts' latest column: "Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran."
"I don't actually think they're very strong," said Roberts of his words. "I get a lot of flak that they're understated and the situation is worse than I say. ... When Bush exercises this authority [under the new Executive Order] ... there's no check to it. It doesn't have to be ratified by Congress. The people who bear the brunt of these dictatorial police state actions have no recourse to the judiciary. So it really is a form of total, absolute, one-man rule. ... The American people don't really understand the danger that they face."
Roberts said that because of Bush's unpopularity, the Republicans face a total wipeout in 2008, and this may be why "the Democrats have not brought a halt to Bush's follies or the war, because they expect his unpopular policies to provide them with a landslide victory in next year's election."
However, Roberts emphasized, "the problem with this reasoning is that it assumes that Cheney and Rove and the Republicans are ignorant of these facts, or it assumes that they are content for the Republican Party to be destroyed after Bush has his fling." Roberts believes instead that Cheney and Rove intend to use a renewal of the War on Terror to rally the American people around the Republican Party. "Something's in the works," he said, adding that the Executive Orders need to create a police state are already in place.
"The administration figures themselves and prominent Republican propagandists ... are preparing us for another 9/11 event or series of events," Roberts continued. "Chertoff has predicted them. ... The National Intelligence Estimate is saying that al Qaeda has regrouped. ... You have to count on the fact that if al Qaeda's not going to do it, it's going to be orchestrated. ... The Republicans are praying for another 9/11."
Hartmann asked what we as the people can do if impeachment isn't about to happen. "If enough people were suspicious and alert, it would be harder for the administration to get away with it," Roberts replied. However, he added, "I don't think these wake-up calls are likely to be effective," pointing out the dominance of the mainstream media.
"Americans think their danger is terrorists," said Roberts. "They don't understand the terrorists cannot take away habeas corpus, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution. ... The terrorists are not anything like the threat that we face to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution from our own government in the name of fighting terrorism. Americans just aren't able to perceive that."
Roberts pointed out that it's old-line Republicans like himself, former Reagan associate deputy attorney general Bruce Fein, and Pat Buchanan who are the diehards in warning of the danger. "It's so obvious to people like us who have long been associated in the corridors of power," he said. "There's no belief in the people or anything like that. They have agendas. The people are in the way. The Constitution is in the way. ... Americans need to comprehend and look at how ruthless Cheney is. ... A person like that would do anything."
Roberts final suggestion was that, in the absence of a massive popular outcry, "the only constraints on what's going to happen will come from the federal bureaucracy and perhaps the military. They may have had enough. They may not go along with it."
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Oldline_R ... _0719.html
...........................................................................................
The Writing is on the Wall
"We The People" are in the way .
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Old-line Republican warns 'something's in the works' to trigger a police state Muriel Kane
Published: Thursday July 19, 2007
Thom Hartmann began his program on Thursday by reading from a new Executive Order which allows the government to seize the assets of anyone who interferes with its Iraq policies.
He then introduced old-line conservative Paul Craig Roberts -- a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan who has recently become known for his strong opposition to the Bush administration and the Iraq War -- by quoting the "strong words" which open Roberts' latest column: "Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran."
"I don't actually think they're very strong," said Roberts of his words. "I get a lot of flak that they're understated and the situation is worse than I say. ... When Bush exercises this authority [under the new Executive Order] ... there's no check to it. It doesn't have to be ratified by Congress. The people who bear the brunt of these dictatorial police state actions have no recourse to the judiciary. So it really is a form of total, absolute, one-man rule. ... The American people don't really understand the danger that they face."
Roberts said that because of Bush's unpopularity, the Republicans face a total wipeout in 2008, and this may be why "the Democrats have not brought a halt to Bush's follies or the war, because they expect his unpopular policies to provide them with a landslide victory in next year's election."
However, Roberts emphasized, "the problem with this reasoning is that it assumes that Cheney and Rove and the Republicans are ignorant of these facts, or it assumes that they are content for the Republican Party to be destroyed after Bush has his fling." Roberts believes instead that Cheney and Rove intend to use a renewal of the War on Terror to rally the American people around the Republican Party. "Something's in the works," he said, adding that the Executive Orders need to create a police state are already in place.
"The administration figures themselves and prominent Republican propagandists ... are preparing us for another 9/11 event or series of events," Roberts continued. "Chertoff has predicted them. ... The National Intelligence Estimate is saying that al Qaeda has regrouped. ... You have to count on the fact that if al Qaeda's not going to do it, it's going to be orchestrated. ... The Republicans are praying for another 9/11."
Hartmann asked what we as the people can do if impeachment isn't about to happen. "If enough people were suspicious and alert, it would be harder for the administration to get away with it," Roberts replied. However, he added, "I don't think these wake-up calls are likely to be effective," pointing out the dominance of the mainstream media.
"Americans think their danger is terrorists," said Roberts. "They don't understand the terrorists cannot take away habeas corpus, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution. ... The terrorists are not anything like the threat that we face to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution from our own government in the name of fighting terrorism. Americans just aren't able to perceive that."
Roberts pointed out that it's old-line Republicans like himself, former Reagan associate deputy attorney general Bruce Fein, and Pat Buchanan who are the diehards in warning of the danger. "It's so obvious to people like us who have long been associated in the corridors of power," he said. "There's no belief in the people or anything like that. They have agendas. The people are in the way. The Constitution is in the way. ... Americans need to comprehend and look at how ruthless Cheney is. ... A person like that would do anything."
Roberts final suggestion was that, in the absence of a massive popular outcry, "the only constraints on what's going to happen will come from the federal bureaucracy and perhaps the military. They may have had enough. They may not go along with it."
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Oldline_R ... _0719.html
...........................................................................................
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Apollonaris Zeus
- Posts: 3716
- Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2003 11:17 am
that's just another good point to vote out all republicans from office.
Here's another not to vote them into office:
Mitt Romney, Republican Governor of Massettcuits, oversees an education program that teachs Sex education as early as Kindergarden:
the state where he served as governor from 2003 to 2007 -- has a decidedly progressive sex education curriculum. Under the state's non-binding framework, school districts can begin working towards the state's sex education goals as early as pre-kindergarten.
By the end of the fifth grade, it not only encourages schools to teach children the basics about puberty and the reproductive system, it also encourages them to know how to define "sexual orientation using the correct terminology (such as heterosexual, and gay and lesbian)." Before the end of fifth grade, the Massachusetts framework also aims to teach children about inappropriate touching.
Well how are those (Kinde) gardens going to get pollinated anyway?
AIIZ
Here's another not to vote them into office:
Mitt Romney, Republican Governor of Massettcuits, oversees an education program that teachs Sex education as early as Kindergarden:
the state where he served as governor from 2003 to 2007 -- has a decidedly progressive sex education curriculum. Under the state's non-binding framework, school districts can begin working towards the state's sex education goals as early as pre-kindergarten.
By the end of the fifth grade, it not only encourages schools to teach children the basics about puberty and the reproductive system, it also encourages them to know how to define "sexual orientation using the correct terminology (such as heterosexual, and gay and lesbian)." Before the end of fifth grade, the Massachusetts framework also aims to teach children about inappropriate touching.
Well how are those (Kinde) gardens going to get pollinated anyway?
AIIZ
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Green Wood
- Posts: 197
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Yep, Mitt is a Mormon and you know about that Mormon guy, Joe Smith, he was a pedophile and married a 14 year old girl. He'd be in jail with the rest of those pedo-mormons today. No wonder they taught that while he was the Gov of Mass he was eyeing them for future teen brides.
I might be green, but I can burn brite with the help of my playa friends!
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mdmf007
- Moderator
- Posts: 5340
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- Camp Name: ESD
- Location: my computer
That was also in 1830 - whan a man was a man at 15, and dead by 30. marriage by 14 was as common as marriage by your mid twenties now.Green Wood wrote: Yep, Mitt is a Mormon and you know about that Mormon guy, Joe Smith, he was a pedophile and married a 14 year old girl. He'd be in jail with the rest of those pedo-mormons today. No wonder they taught that while he was the Gov of Mass he was eyeing them for future teen brides.
not defending Mitt here, and what kind of name is "Mitt" anyways? but dont like it when a sect is singled out for something everyone was doing at the time.
besides just about any person would have to be a better President than the Asshat i voted for 7 years ago. I now must go writre "Im sorry" 1500 times. on the blackboard.
later
One of the Meanie Greenies (Figjam 2013)
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DVD Burner
- Posts: 11031
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Rice's Star Fading: Newspapers Wouldn't Even Print Op-Ed By Secretary Of State
WANING INFLUENCE: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice finds that her star is fading
Joel Brinkley
Sunday, July 22, 2007
SF Chronicle
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... 1UV512.DTL
I remember the heady days for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
About 2 1/2 years ago, when she was new in office, I accompanied her on her first trip around the world, with stops in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, South Korea, Japan and China. Crowds gathered to see her limousine drive past; people whistled, waved and cheered. Interviewers routinely asked her whether she was planning to run for president. One TV reporter in India told her she was "arguably the most powerful woman in the world." She chuckled but did not exactly agree -- or disagree.
How things change.
A few months ago, she decided to write an opinion piece about Lebanon. She enlisted John Chambers, chief executive officer of Cisco Systems as a co-author, and they wrote about public/private partnerships and how they might be of use in rebuilding Lebanon after last summer's war. No one would publish it.
Think about that. Every one of the major newspapers approached refused to publish an essay by the secretary of state. Price Floyd, who was the State Department's director of media affairs until recently, recalls that it was sent to the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and perhaps other papers before the department finally tried a foreign publication, the Financial Times of London, which also turned it down.
As a last-ditch strategy, the State Department briefly considered translating the article into Arabic and trying a Lebanese paper. But finally they just gave up. "I kept hearing the same thing: 'There's no news in this.' " Floyd said. The piece, he said, was littered with glowing references to President Bush's wise leadership. "It read like a campaign document."
Floyd left the State Department on April 1, after 17 years. He said he was fed up with the relentless partisanship and the unwillingness to consider other points of view. His supervisor, a political appointee, kept "telling me to shut up," he said. Nothing like that had occurred under Presidents Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush. "They just wanted us to be Bush automatons."
Does that sound familiar? Earlier this month, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona told Congress that Bush administration officials had repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports because they clashed with administration dogma. He said he was ordered to mention Bush three times on every page of his speeches. Floyd's experience shows that the same close-minded zealotry afflicting many departments of government under Bush has descended on the State Department, too. In effect, as Rice's power and influence has waned along with Bush's, intolerance and monomania have taken its place.
Rice did have her moment. But little came of it. Under her predecessor, Colin Powell, major foreign policy decisions were made at the White House or Defense Department. The neo-conservative heavyweights -- Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, among others -- set the policies in Iran and Iraq, North Korea and Israel.
Powell left frustrated. But Rice came into office with Bush's inarguable support; she wore their close relationship on her sleeve. And, for awhile, that worked for her. She called mini-summits on Iraq, Israel and other topics. Everyone showed up. In many countries, she met with the president instead of her bureaucratic counterpart, the foreign minister. Wherever she went, she was a star.
But what has she accomplished? Iraq has slid far downhill in the past 2 1/2 years. Iran is no closer to giving up its nuclear weapons than when she took office. Even though the Bush administration has done more than any other country to help the victims in Darfur, the carnage there continues unabated. Last week, the Sudanese government began bombing Darfur civilians again.
Relations with Russia, her area of speciality, have steadily worsened; a week ago, Russia dropped out of a key arms control treaty. Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, has evolved from an irritant to a menace as he moves to nationalize Venezuela's oil industry. Despite many visits to Israel and the Palestinian territories, she has had no appreciable impact on events there.
North Korea has shut down its nuclear reactor. That's an accomplishment. But I give most credit to Christopher Hill, the assistant secretary of state who continued pushing for a diplomatic solution even as administration hardliners disparaged his work. Hill despised them, and ultimately outlasted them.
From his new position at the American Enterprise Institute, John Bolton, the former U.N. ambassador, continues to call for "repudiation of the Feb. 13 deal" that Hill negotiated. But now Bolton is powerless.
Where does that leave Rice?
"I think there is nothing they can do now," Floyd argues. "It's too late. The negatives," primarily Iraq, "are too big. They take all the oxygen out of the room."
(Joel Brinkley is a professor of journalism at Stanford University and a former foreign policy correspondent for the New York Times.)
WANING INFLUENCE: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice finds that her star is fading
Joel Brinkley
Sunday, July 22, 2007
SF Chronicle
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... 1UV512.DTL
I remember the heady days for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
About 2 1/2 years ago, when she was new in office, I accompanied her on her first trip around the world, with stops in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, South Korea, Japan and China. Crowds gathered to see her limousine drive past; people whistled, waved and cheered. Interviewers routinely asked her whether she was planning to run for president. One TV reporter in India told her she was "arguably the most powerful woman in the world." She chuckled but did not exactly agree -- or disagree.
How things change.
A few months ago, she decided to write an opinion piece about Lebanon. She enlisted John Chambers, chief executive officer of Cisco Systems as a co-author, and they wrote about public/private partnerships and how they might be of use in rebuilding Lebanon after last summer's war. No one would publish it.
Think about that. Every one of the major newspapers approached refused to publish an essay by the secretary of state. Price Floyd, who was the State Department's director of media affairs until recently, recalls that it was sent to the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and perhaps other papers before the department finally tried a foreign publication, the Financial Times of London, which also turned it down.
As a last-ditch strategy, the State Department briefly considered translating the article into Arabic and trying a Lebanese paper. But finally they just gave up. "I kept hearing the same thing: 'There's no news in this.' " Floyd said. The piece, he said, was littered with glowing references to President Bush's wise leadership. "It read like a campaign document."
Floyd left the State Department on April 1, after 17 years. He said he was fed up with the relentless partisanship and the unwillingness to consider other points of view. His supervisor, a political appointee, kept "telling me to shut up," he said. Nothing like that had occurred under Presidents Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush. "They just wanted us to be Bush automatons."
Does that sound familiar? Earlier this month, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona told Congress that Bush administration officials had repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports because they clashed with administration dogma. He said he was ordered to mention Bush three times on every page of his speeches. Floyd's experience shows that the same close-minded zealotry afflicting many departments of government under Bush has descended on the State Department, too. In effect, as Rice's power and influence has waned along with Bush's, intolerance and monomania have taken its place.
Rice did have her moment. But little came of it. Under her predecessor, Colin Powell, major foreign policy decisions were made at the White House or Defense Department. The neo-conservative heavyweights -- Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, among others -- set the policies in Iran and Iraq, North Korea and Israel.
Powell left frustrated. But Rice came into office with Bush's inarguable support; she wore their close relationship on her sleeve. And, for awhile, that worked for her. She called mini-summits on Iraq, Israel and other topics. Everyone showed up. In many countries, she met with the president instead of her bureaucratic counterpart, the foreign minister. Wherever she went, she was a star.
But what has she accomplished? Iraq has slid far downhill in the past 2 1/2 years. Iran is no closer to giving up its nuclear weapons than when she took office. Even though the Bush administration has done more than any other country to help the victims in Darfur, the carnage there continues unabated. Last week, the Sudanese government began bombing Darfur civilians again.
Relations with Russia, her area of speciality, have steadily worsened; a week ago, Russia dropped out of a key arms control treaty. Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, has evolved from an irritant to a menace as he moves to nationalize Venezuela's oil industry. Despite many visits to Israel and the Palestinian territories, she has had no appreciable impact on events there.
North Korea has shut down its nuclear reactor. That's an accomplishment. But I give most credit to Christopher Hill, the assistant secretary of state who continued pushing for a diplomatic solution even as administration hardliners disparaged his work. Hill despised them, and ultimately outlasted them.
From his new position at the American Enterprise Institute, John Bolton, the former U.N. ambassador, continues to call for "repudiation of the Feb. 13 deal" that Hill negotiated. But now Bolton is powerless.
Where does that leave Rice?
"I think there is nothing they can do now," Floyd argues. "It's too late. The negatives," primarily Iraq, "are too big. They take all the oxygen out of the room."
(Joel Brinkley is a professor of journalism at Stanford University and a former foreign policy correspondent for the New York Times.)
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From wide reading , the consensus of opinion seems to be that the Dems don't want to impeach Bush. They want him to crash and burn so badly that the dems will have a cake-walk in 08.
What does that say about the Dems,,, about partisanship? The Dems appear to be willing to risk war with Iran, total destruction of the economy, the formation of a police state, millions of dead in Iran, Iraq and the US,,,, all in the name of winning a majority.
Assuming that the Dems sweep in 08,,,, what will they do? What can they do? The Medicare drug plan is a complete budget buster. Will the Dems institute universal health coverage? How will they fund it? Foreign investors are the only ones who have kept Gov afloat, They're leaving in a mad rush and the dollar is falling like a turd in a punchbowl.
Our debt is 300% of our GDP. If we raise interest rates to attract foreign investment, we kill the domestic economy. How are the Dems going to fund programs if they can't sell bonds?
The Reps don't see any possibility of victory so they're bleeding the country white as they exit.
Screw the people,, screw the economy,, screw the country,,, as long as the party persists. The Ship of State sinks while the officers argue over who's in charge.
What does that say about the Dems,,, about partisanship? The Dems appear to be willing to risk war with Iran, total destruction of the economy, the formation of a police state, millions of dead in Iran, Iraq and the US,,,, all in the name of winning a majority.
Assuming that the Dems sweep in 08,,,, what will they do? What can they do? The Medicare drug plan is a complete budget buster. Will the Dems institute universal health coverage? How will they fund it? Foreign investors are the only ones who have kept Gov afloat, They're leaving in a mad rush and the dollar is falling like a turd in a punchbowl.
Our debt is 300% of our GDP. If we raise interest rates to attract foreign investment, we kill the domestic economy. How are the Dems going to fund programs if they can't sell bonds?
The Reps don't see any possibility of victory so they're bleeding the country white as they exit.
Screw the people,, screw the economy,, screw the country,,, as long as the party persists. The Ship of State sinks while the officers argue over who's in charge.
I don't post things because I believe that they are the absolute truth. I post them because I believe that they should be considered.