Petraeus Sees Our Troops Decompensate!

Decompensate: the inability to maintain defense mechanisms in response to stress, resulting in personality disturbance or psychological imbalance.

Pentagon mental-health advisory team, findings:
Approximately 10 percent of all Army and Marine Corps troops surveyed last September in Iraq acknowledged mistreating civilians (troops “damaged/destroyed Iraqi property … or hit/kicked a non-combatant”). The report found that soldiers who’d experienced the most combat were “nearly twice as likely to mistreat non-combatants.” Nearly half of the Army troops and 60 percent of the Marines told researchers that if someone in their unit were to kill an innocent civilian, they would not report it.
Gen. David Petraeus: “respect human dignity, maintain our integrity and do what is right.” Although “[w]e train to kill our enemies,” Petraeus wrote, [w]hat sets us apart from our enemies … is how we behave.”
The General wrote an open letter to our troops, this Thursday, addressing the unacceptable disregard for civilian and innocent casualties.

Thank you Bonnie Goldstein in her Slate Magazine and Thomas E. Ricks The Washington Post for their articles today

Impeach

Here’s to Friday: Bush vs. Cheney

CBS Fires Gen.Batiste

Yesterday CBS fired Gen. Batiste over his VoteVets.Org ad. Are you outraged? I am. Batiste was fired for speaking against the Bush administration on the war. Batiste was hired by CBS for his military knowledge and experience. But I guess they just wanted him to sit there and just shake his head in agreement.

Batiste’s ad for a non profit organization that has no ties to either party should not have been a threat to CBS or a perceived connection.  It’s obvious that if a consultant speaks out against Bush, the war or this administration, CBS will fire you.

I guess Batiste just didn’t have the audience that Imus had. Heck it took CBS weeks to get around to firing Imus and a nano second for them to fire Batiste. I guess CBS is run by the White House.

Contact CBS and tell them how disgusted you are with Gen. Batiste being fired. Via e-mail scroll to the bottom of the CBS.com homepage and click on the “feedback” link, or call (212) 975-4321.

Will Gonzales Face Perjury Charges?

 

How far into the world of perjury will Alberto Gonzales venture to protect the White House? I think he would go all the way to having criminal charges filed against him. In Gonzales testimony yesterday he was again evasive and at times smirking when committee members were becoming frustrated with his lack of answers or insight.

If perjury charges are filed against Gonzales, I really don’t think he cares. He has the protection of Bush and now the favorable Supreme Court. Bush will use executive privilege to protect Alberto any anyone else swept up in the charges. Bush is loyal to life long friends such as Gonzales and Rove. Both men are safe as long as Bush can protect them and as long as Bush can convince the public that Congress is making this issue political and nothing wrong happened.

Andrew Cohen of the Washington Post has done a wonderful four part series on Gonzales: Rough Justice – The Case Against Alberto Gonzales. Cohen points out in detail Alberto’s loyalty to Bush going back to when Bush was governor to the present.

First, Gonzales’ cronyistic record in both Texas and as White House counsel did indeed presage many of the serious problems Gonzales now faces at the Justice Department. He has run true to form over the past two years and has diverted hardly at all from his long history of dogged obedience to the President, which often has come at the cost of institutional independence and adherence to the rule of law. Second, Gonzales is seen by many legal historians and scholars as an abysmal failure–not quite as bad as the worst attorneys general in our history, but much closer to the bottom than to the top. And, third, given the burgeoning scandal over the dismissal of federal prosecutors at the request of the White House, there appear to be few legitimate reasons why he deserves to stay in office.

Gonzales is not an independent thinker nor is he independent of the White House. The main job of the U.S. Attorney is to be independent from all political affiliations and voices. It is hard to believe that with Gonzales long standing with Bush and Rove that he can perform his duties as a spokesman for the public and not a spokesman for the White House.

Should Gonzales resign? Yes. Will he? No. Gonzales is doing exactly what is expected of him. Gonzales is in step with the White Houses wishes and he truly has the full confidence of the President. He will not resign nor will Bush ask him to resign. So there you have another Bush loyalist protecting the illegal actions of this administration.