Leaky Wiki

Senator Robert Byrd's Speech Opposing Iraq War

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

Still ignoring habeus corpus, still detaining prisoners without trial, still maintaining a notorious prison in Bagram where we continue to torture people, still failing to give more than lip service to reducing our consumption of fossil fuels, and still failing to find Osama Bin Laden while throwing tens of thousands of young American troops at an enemy that never attacked us directly until we invaded their country (and gave them the support to rise up from near oblivion). At least when Carter failed we could blame the Congress or the George H.W. Bush led CIA.

The Blackwater Problem

I have been suspicious of the move to use private contractors for government work (especially military) since the days of Reagan. It appears to be cheaper only on paper. For instance rather than have a buck private drive a truck we pay a private contractor over $100,000/year to do it. Instead of training and deploying army electricians on bases in war zones we hire KBR at outrageous rates who then electrocute our soldiers. Perhaps the most bothersome is that security for the State Department as well as the army (which confuses the crap out of me. Shouldn't soldiers be the best people to provide security?) is provided by the shadowy mercenary company Blackwater (renamed to Xe Services). We are allowing civilians to operate for profit in war zones with fully armored vehicles, automatic weapons, and apparently little or no culpability for their actions.

And now the inimitable Jeremy Scahill has dug up this frightening story:

Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."
...
...the former US marine who worked for Blackwater in Iraq alleges that he has "learned from my Blackwater colleagues and former colleagues that one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information about Erik Prince and Blackwater have been killed in suspicious circumstances." Identified as "John Doe #1," he says he "joined Blackwater and deployed to Iraq to guard State Department and other American government personnel." It is not clear if Doe #1 is still working with the company as he states he is "scheduled to deploy in the immediate future to Iraq." Like Doe #2, he states that he fears "violence" against him for "submitting this Declaration." No further details on the alleged murder(s) are provided. The Nation

Not only are these people war profiteers and mercenaries, they're also religious crusaders and zealots. The damage that the Christian Right has managed to do to the integrity of our government and military during the rein of King George the Shrub is deep and systemic. Can we weed these people out and shut them down? They are at war with the American way of life while claiming to be protecting it. Fascism wrapped in an American flag and carrying a cross...

"Makin' Things Up"

One can only hope that Sarah Palin will now either vanish into momhood, go to prison, or get a talkshow on Fox Noise. Either way I will rarely have to listen to the vapid, blithering idiot whereas if she runs for national office I'll be forced to pay attention to her. Next to her George W. Bush sounds like an intellectual. I'm not sure how anyone can stand up before an audience and just make word-like noises like she does and not be ashamed. Then again, shame is a virtue rarely seen amongst Republicans.

Palin Perpetuates 9/11 Lies

I should've posted this a while back but forgot to. Just to drive home the fact the Republican Presidential campaign keeps telling bald faced lies because they know their followers will believe them despite all the proof to the contrary. Proof like President Bush saying Iraq was not involved in the 9/11 attacks and that they did not have WMD.

They Turned Out the Lights

Hmmph. Here's a little science that most conservatives will ignore because... it's science*:

It is not the military surge that has brought peace to the areas of Iraq where it has "succeeded." It was a surge in sectarian cleansing. The night time lights in Iraqi cities were analyzed and it was found that, starting before our "surge" began, the level of light in various ethnic areas of the cities were dimming. Why? Because as they fled, the victims of this cleansing turned out the lights. We have "achieved success" in Iraq by letting the Sunnis to run the Shiites out and the Shiites to run out the Sunnis. What was that about us not being able to leave because there would be a civil war and horrible bloodshed? Mightn't it have been quicker, cleaner, and a hell of a lot cheaper to have just let them take care of this themselves? They did it anyway, but we were trying to stop them.



*Actually, conservatives will ignore this information (if they ever encounter it as I doubt it will be reported on Fox Noise without a mighty heapin' of venomous scorn) is because they were first told that the "surge" has "succeeded." (Why do I feel it so necessary to put sarcastic quotes around all the key words used by this administration?) I think you should listen to this story from the fantastic radio program On the Media from WNYU for a better explanation than I can give in short here. Here's a short excerpt from the transcript that speaks specifically to why I think conservatives would probably ignore this study of night lights in Iraq:

SHANKAR VEDANTAM: The researchers, Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler, brought in a bunch of Republicans and told them about the Bush Administration’s claims that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the 2003 U.S. invasion. And then they provided the volunteers with essentially a correction of that information.

About 34 percent of conservatives believed that Iraq had either hidden or discarded the weapons of mass destruction before the U.S. invasion, but after they heard both claim and refutation, 64 percent of conservatives believed that Iraq had had the weapons of mass destruction.

In other words, the refutation caused more people to believe in the Bush Administration’s claim than they did before.

There are more studies about that show that conservatives respond differently to the world than liberals (or non-conservatives), specifically in the case of new or contradictory information. Now if I were to hear I was likely to deny the truth this week just because I believed something wrong last week, I would try really hard to correct for that. Conservatives can't work like that, at least not easily.

There is so much about this out there. Odd how Fox Noise (or any major media outside of NPR) has completely failed to report on this. The findings really are quite striking and if you look at the studies, they're very well done. The right wingers are, as always, impuning the messenger and the message but what doubt I've seen has been towards individual tests. It seems odd that so many different studies could reach the same conclusion. If you've ever had any involvement in science you know that one spends a great deal of time removing any external cues or prejudices in the design process of the test. Here is a case where there may be a small bit of doubt as to whether the analysis is biased. I kind of don't think so. (I wonder if that makes me a conservative?)

And I think this is really interesting:

Death Taxes

4000? Crap!

Iraq War Memorial Planners Forced To Revise Length Again

WASHINGTON—In the wake of the 4,000th U.S. military death in Iraq, the American Battle Monuments Commission announced Monday that, for the fifth time in the last 12 months, it will resume construction on the poignant final tribute to the brave men and women who continue to give their lives in the Iraq War.

Endless War... for Six More Months...

McCain/Lieberman

Boy if this doesn't say it all. Did I mention I'm betting McCain takes Lieberman for a running mate?