You remember the two jerks, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), getting on TV and claiming that the Holy Grail of the Iraq War, WMDs, had finally been found. And then Senior U.S. intelligence officials saying, "Not even close", that's a paraphrase. And then Santorum and Hoekstra looking all stupid and everything.
Well, the Republicans aren't going to let this thing go, they're determined to try to make something out of this.
Trying to justify the more than 2500 American deaths with pre-first Gulf War degraded, unserviceable junk, just goes to show what a sick bunch of puppies the Republicans really are.
Do the 20-year-old Iraqi chemical munitions found by U.S. and coalition forces
support the prewar contention that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass
destruction, and justify the invasion of
Iraq?
That question divided Republicans and Democrats again this week, this time
at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on the estimated 500 rockets
and artillery shells containing degraded mustard gas or sarin nerve agent.
The Senate Democratic Policy Committee had an unofficial semi-meeting to try to figure out how we got all that pre-war intelligence wrong. It was open to everyone, only three Democrats stayed throughout the meeting and one formerly pro-war, now anti-war, Republican showed up and asked the best questions. Doesn't something sound wrong with this?
The witnesses went over many of the known horror stories of the prewar
intelligence battles: the aluminum tubes cited by the White House as proof
Saddam Hussein was developing nuclear weapons (which actually were for rocket
launchers); the mobile biological weapons labs (which actually were for
producing hydrogen for weather balloons); Saddam's alleged training of al Qaeda
in biological and chemical weapons (which was sourced to an al Qaeda commander
who recanted his story). So after all this, Representative Jones, who had voted
to grant Bush the authority to invade Iraq, had a question. He noted that "my
heart has ached ever since I found out that the intelligence...was flawed and
possibly manipulated." He said that he had written letters to relatives of every
American soldier who has died in Iraq--8000 letters so far. "What perplexes me,"
he said, "is how in the world could [intelligence] professionals see what was
happening and nobody speak out?"
There's even more political foolishness from the GOP. Their latest scheme is to paint anyone, read Democrats, that agrees with the Supreme Court decision that said Bush's military tribunals were illegal, as weak on terrorism.
Democrats, true to form, are tucking their tails between their legs and whimpering. Why don't they just grab a copy of the Constitution and say, "Screw you GOP!"? I'm not impressed with my party.
Mindful of this thinking, Democrats were measured in their comments about how to
respond to the ruling, which held that Bush's policy was not authorized by law
and violated the Geneva Conventions.
Meanwhile in Bush's ongoing war on sanity, five American soldiers are being investigated on rape and murder charges.
BEIJI, Iraq (AP) -- A group of American soldiers in an insurgent-riddled town
allegedly noticed a young Iraqi woman when on patrol and later returned to rape
her, according to U.S. officials Friday. In an apparent cover-up attempt, she
and three members of her family then were killed and her body was set on fire.
Five U.S. troops are being investigated, a U.S. military official told The
Associated Press.
It is the fifth pending case involving alleged slayings of
Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops.
A Marine and three soldiers were killed in separate incidents in Iraq. "Stay the Course" is getting lamer and lamer.
The U.S. military has announced the deaths of a Marine and three soldiers from
fighting in recent days in Iraq. The names of all four were withheld pending
notification of their families.
And 60 Iraqi civilians were killed and 80 wounded by a car bomb in Baghdad.
An explosion has ripped though a busy Baghdad market, killing at least 60
people, officials say.
Nearly 80 others were injured in the car bomb attack in Sadr City, a Shia area frequently targeted by insurgents.
Insanity doesn't require war. In Arkansas, presidential hopeful and Governor Mike Huckabee (R-Religious Right), is railing about the state Supreme Court throwing out the ban on gay foster parents.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Friday he hopes the Legislature considers reimposing a ban on gay foster parents, struck down a day
earlier by the state Supreme Court.
"I'm very disappointed that the court seems more interested in what's good
for gay couples than what's good for children needing foster care," Huckabee
said through his spokeswoman Alice Stewart.
What an idiot, he's the perfect GOP candidate for president.
The Republican that's running to replace Huckabee is disappointed with the decision.
Huckabee is leaving office in 2007 because of term limits. Republican
gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson said he was disappointed by the ruling.
The Democrat that's running for governor says,
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Beebe said Friday he was opposed to
allowing gay people to become foster parents. Spokesman Zac Wright said Beebe
would supporting passing a ban if it was researched and found to be
constitutional.
Arkansas, you're screwed.
Since I live so close to Arkansas, I would be remiss if I left you with the impression that the whole state is made up of ignorant wankers, it's not. The Arkansas Supreme Court in a unanimous decision said,
"the driving force behind adoption of the regulations was not to promote
the health, safety and welfare of foster children but rather based upon the
board's views of morality and its bias against
homosexuals."
Being raised by homosexuals doesn't cause academic problems or gender
identity problems, as the state had argued, the Supreme Court said.
And The Nation salutes true American patriots, librarians. That's right, bless their hearts, our front line against Bushivek tyranny. Way to go, librarians!
Consider America's librarians. Since the enactment of the Patriot Act in 2001,
the American Library Association (ALA) has been at the forefront of the fight to
defend freedom of inquiry and thought from provisions of the act that allow the
Justice Department to subpoena the records of libraries and bookstores. The
librarians succeeded in getting the House to adopt language protecting library
records in 2005--only to have it stripped from the bill to which it was attached
by an Administration-friendly House-Senate conference committee.
Glad you threw in the Arkansas disclaimer, but between the Hutchisons and the Huckabees, the truth isn't that great.
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