Wrong About Hurricane Katrina

Go away already W! It had nothing to do with where you landed Air Force One, it was about how you handled the disaster. You complimented Brownie for doing “a helluva job” while people were clinging on the edge of despair with no water, no food and no way out of New Orleans. Everyone else seemed to know what was going on but you, Brownie and FEMA. That is and remains one of the worst disasters in modern times and you were in the thick of it.

The fact that you’ve had years to reflect on it you still couldn’t come up with anything better is pathetic. Yes, the ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner was a bad idea and we find ourselves still bogged down in Iraq years after your victory declaration. More than 4,000 American soldiers are dead and you don’t regret the needless loss of human life for your self-aggrandizing mission!?

You leave the country worse off than when you took office eight years ago and you only have a handful of regrets?

P.S. Africa is still not a country

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Democracy, Iraqi Style

Iraqi journalist Mantadar al-Zaidi

Photo: BBC

Iraqi journalist Mantadar al-Zaidi has been lauded in some parts of the Arab world as a hero for throwing his shoes at our beloved president. Hurling one’s shoes at someone is said to be the ultimate insult in Iraq. BBC News is reporting that he has sustained injuries at the hands of the Iraqi police. Al-Zaidi is to have a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding from the beating he took after he was wrestled to the ground and taken into custody.That’s what I call instant justice. Don’t all fledging democracies take suspects into custody and beat the crap out of them?

Al-Zaidi’s anger toward our current president is certainly justified. Even I tire of American arrogance, paternalism and elitism when dealing with the developing world, particularly in Iraq. It’s like moving in to someone’s house uninvited and telling them when to eat and sleep and how to decorate. People don’t take kindly to it and eventually you become an unwelcomed annoyance even if you are overthrowing a hated dictator.

In spite of what the evil Vice President Cheney says, we invaded Iraq for all the wrong reasons. Wait Saddam had WMDs, didn’t he? Or did he just pose a threat to our friends in the Middle East? No, no, no, it was related to 9/11, somehow Saddam was mixed up in it; working with Osama bin Laden. And you wonder what made al-Zeidi throw his shoes at W.? We overthrew Saddam Hussein and the country has been a heaping incubus for sectarian violence, jihadi nihilists and turmoil ever since.

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W Gets An Early Goodbye

Outgoing President George W. Bush showed some agility at a press conference today with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Looks like his visit to Iraq wasn’t the only surprise. Muntadar al-Zeidi, an angry Iraqi journalist threw not one of his shoes but both at W. while shouting “This is a goodbye kiss, you dog.” Loves it! I’m only jealous I didn’t get to do it first.

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Dick Cheney, the Arrogant

Vice President, his lordliness Dick Cheney emerged from his secret bunker last week to do some bitch-slapping. He made visits to Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel spewing his ‘it’s my way or the highway’ diplomacy to all of our minions. His timing was perfect; we’re going into year six in Iraq, our 4,000th soldier has been killed in combat and more than 80,000 others have died there.

In spite of the fact that we live in a democracy, he has done everything in his power to circumvent the checks and balances that are supposed to prevent one branch of government from becoming too powerful. He doesn’t care that the majority of Americans think the war in Iraq was a mistake.

If you’re not outraged about this, you should be. Cheney’s detached arrogance is beyond comprehension. Am I the only one who can’t wait for him, George W. Bush and the rest of their administration to get the hell out of office?

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Scott McClelland in Wonderland?

Although I have no intentions of reading his new book, former White House Press Secretary Scott McClelland finally admits that he was mislead about Iraq by President Bush, Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby and Karl Rove. Well, I’ve got news for McClelland, he wasn’t the only one. Bush and his band of merry men, deceived the American people.

I know McClelland (and the rest of the media) isn’t going to call President Bush a liar, but I will. Why are people are afraid to hold the president accountable for his lies? Obviously no one because rarely do you see anyone challenging his shifty position on Iraq or anything for that matter. When Bill Clinton was president, everybody called him a liar and an adulterer. President Bush certainly has more blood on his hands than President Clinton; his lies have cost many people their lives in Iraq, Afghanistan and even Louisiana.

In excerpts from his upcoming book, What Happened, McClelland comes off like a naive, idealistic sap but I’m not buying his carefully, crafted naivete; he’s just trying to sell some books. One of the funniest quotes in the book is about the outing of Valerie Plame as a C.I.A. agent to the press. When questioned about the source of the leak, he says:

I’ve known Karl for a long time, and I didn’t even need to go ask Karl, because I know the kind of person that he is, and he is someone that is committed to the highest standards of conduct.

Not only was Rove involved but so was the President, Vice President and Scooter Libby. If I recall, President Bush promised to hunt down the blabbermouth and have their head on a stick or something like that. If what McClelland said is true, we need to start with the deceitful, duplicitous President first. I’m tired of his lies and hypocrisy. He’s played us (the American people) like a bunch of bobble-headed saps with his $4.00 a gallon gasoline, phony patriotism and unhealthy obsession with all things O.J.

The countdown to the 2008 Presidential elections has begun, at least for me anyway.

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Link of the Day: Rumsfeld Indicted in France

Former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld was recently indicted by the French government for torture for his role in authorizing torture at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and in Iraq. That’s some of the best news I’ve heard in awhile but it remains to be seen whether he will actually go to trial. Whether he does or not, it’s a step in the right direction. Rumsfeld along with the rest of the Bush administration cronies need to be held responsible for their decisions. Lying about the facts shouldn’t absolve Rumsfeld, Bush or Cheney of anything.

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Cost of the War in Iraq: $500,000 A Minute

That cliched often used idea that “freedom isn’t free” has been borne out. According to the American Friends Committee, this ever-changing war in Iraq is costing us a bunch of money. For all those people who are advocating that we maintain a presence in Iraq indefinitely need to be slapped upside the head. They are the same people who would rather squander our tax dollars in places like Iraq so that their buddies at Blackwater, KBR and the rest of those profiteering from the war can make millions. It really isn’t about our freedom or security here in America, it’s about them getting R-I-C-H. If you aren’t angry about this, you should be.

I’m with the “cut-and-run” crowd, we need to get the heck out of Iraq. I can’t think of anything more patriotic than ending our involvement in Iraq and spending some of that $500,000 on treatment for those brave soldiers injured in Iraq. They face years of inadequate, under funded medical care from ill-equipped Veterans Hospitals. To me, it’s unpatriotic to fund the war but not take care of those who fight it. Am I the only one?

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Let’s Arm the Terrorists

The endless war continues to escalate in Iraq. The latest plan from the morally challenged Bush administration is to arm the same Sunni militias who were responsible for killing innocent Iraqi civilians and our own soldiers. Partnering with any militia in Iraq, whether Sunni or Shi’a isn’t such a good idea but it does highlight the desperation of the Bush people.

How you can concurrently fight global terrorism and arm the very people who are responsible for terrorist attacks against you? It’s beyond my realm of understanding but I don’t expect the media to take President Bush or the rest of his war-mongers to task for this. I would LOVE to hear what kind of justification Vice President Cheney would give for this foolishness. He’s spent the majority of his time trying to scare the crap out of everyone with warnings about terrorists and terrorist plots. Times like this make me miss the inept but comical Donald Rumsfeld press briefings on the war in Iraq.

The Bush people are the most unscrupulous, inept bunch of politicians I have seen in my lifetime. This decision to partner-up with the terrorists is the ultimate in disrespect to those soldiers and civilians who have needlessly lost their lives in Iraq. There are bound to be consequences and repercussions for this ill-fated partnership. Giving the terrorists weapons and ammunition so that they can kill American soldiers, the Bush people probably missed reading the five rules for jihad that were published in the New York Times last week.

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What Are They Smoking?

Lots of crazy stuff going on this week which leads to me select more than one person for my occasional posts entitled “What Is (I fill in the blank) Smoking?”

President George Bush for reasons other than being autocratic and pompous, he’s planning to arm the Sunni insurgents in Iraq as long as they promise not to attack American soldiers. With the troop surge that took place earlier this year, all I know is the insurgents have more American soldiers to attack. Send more troops to Iraq and arm Iraqi insurgents? Nothing about this idea makes sense but coming from an indignant man who routinely ignores public opinion about Iraq and has forgotten that America is still a democracy; it makes perfect sense.

My other candidates are Hamas and Fatah, the Palestinian political groups who have turned their guns on each other again. This time they’re fighting for control over Gaza. Although both groups are Palestinian, their ideologies differ. Fatah under the leadership of Abou Mazen (aka Mahmoud Abbas) lost control of the Palestinian government last year when Hamas won the popular vote. Abbas is a political moderate and the only acceptable representative of the Palestinian people as far as Israel and the U.S. are concerned. Hamas, an Islamist militant party, won the popular vote but was designated a terrorist group and cut off from foreign aid after the elections. Don’t know where this one is headed, all I know is that innocent people are being killed while these two groups fight it out.

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Link of the Day: Amnesty International’s Report 2007

If you don’t believe fear is being used as justification for more military spending, arming our allies and fighting against al-Qaeda and other extremist groups, think again. All you need to do is listen to any speech by Dick Cheney and you’ll get the picture.

Ever since 9/11, fear has permeated our society, culture and politics. Lies on top of lies have been used to justify our invasion and occupation of Iraq and our invasion of Afghanistan. Since we declared our war on terror, we’ve used this as an excuse not adhere to the Geneva Convention protocols. We hold alleged enemy combatants in Guantanamo for years on end while they have no opportunity to know what the charges are against them. I’m not even going to talk about the CIA black sites in Europe where alleged terrorists are held or our newest outpost in Ethiopia where we detain, question and sometimes torture suspected terrorists.

Amnesty International has published a report about the politics of fear being used by democracies, despots and belligerents alike. If you don’t think the US is waging a war against Islam, think again. If you don’t think al-Qaeda is waging a war against innocent people and the heathens in the West threatening Islam, you’d better ask somebody. If you don’t think fear is used by governments in China, Zimbabwe and Sudan to control, brutalize and frighten their own citizens, you haven’t been keeping up.

Fear is a pervasive part of our culture now but for all the wrong reasons. Instead of finding ways to get along, we find ways to antagonize each other. While all of the posturing and chest-beating is going on, it is the innocent citizens who are paying the cost for the politics of fear. We’re the ones getting blown up, displaced, murdered and who knows what else while Cheney gives another speech and those al-Qaeda nitwits issue another communique.

I’m done talking about this but you can check out Amnesty International’s Report 2007 here.

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