Bush Jealous: Malaki And Karzai Warm Up To Iran, Watch Out For Cheney

Bush breaks up Iran-Iraq love-in Correspondents in Washington and Tehran
US President George W. Bush yesterday told Tehran there would “be a price to pay” for meddling in Iraq and warned Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki against cosying up to the leaders of Iran.

Amid what Washington sees as unsettling signs of warming Baghdad-Tehran relations, Mr Bush said he was not surprised at pictures yesterday that showed cordial meetings between Mr Maliki and top Iranian leaders in Tehran, but he said he hoped the Shia leader was delivering a tough message.

“You don’t want the picture to be kind of, you know, ducking it out” when on a diplomatic mission, he said, putting up his fists like a boxer.

“If the signal is that Iran is constructive, I will have to have a heart-to-heart with my friend the Prime Minister because I do not believe they are,” Mr Bush said.
Mr Bush’s comments came just days after he disagreed sharply with Afghan President Hamid Karzai about Iran’s influence after Mr Karzai called Tehran a positive force in combating extremists in his country.
Iraq PM calls emergency summit correspondents in Baghdad | August 13, 2007
PRIME Minister Nuri al-Maliki overnight called on senior leaders in Iraq’s bitterly divided communities to hold crisis talks this week in an effort to save his fraying national unity government.
His latest attempt to bring the leaders of the warring communites under one roof came at a time when the American military declared that five more of its troops battling to bring security to war-torn Iraq had been killed.
“I have invited major political leaders to a meeting to discuss substantial matters,” Mr Maliki said in a televised speech.
“Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow could be the first meeting for these leaders to discuss the political program and important strategic problems,”   the embattled Shiite prime minister said.

The last thing King George and Lord Cheney want is for Iraq’s neighbors to kiss and make up. Watch closely while Cheney’s Blackwater/KBR/CIA goons do something to screw this neighbors night out in the Middle East. Cheney has a plan, whether Bush goes along or not. Can’t have peace breaking out before we are through destroying everything in sight. Got to make good on the promises made to our ‘war profiteers’. We must pay them for contracts never met – we only have a short time left before someone demands accountability. INCENTIVE FOR UNSCRUPULOUS BEHAVIOR is what has kept this ‘A-Bomb-A-Nation’ in office. The clock is counting down. Watch out for the UNSCRUPULOUS terrorist production coming to a city near you.

CHENEY – The New Dr. Death, Wants To Strike Iran

Cheney urging strikes on Iran

By Warren P. Strobel, John Walcott and Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON – President Bush charged Thursday that Iran continues to arm and train insurgents who are killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and he threatened action if that continues.

At a news conference Thursday, Bush said Iran had been warned of unspecified consequences if it continued its alleged support for anti-American forces in Iraq. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker had conveyed the warning in meetings with his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad, the president said.

Bush wasn’t specific, and a State Department official refused to elaborate on the warning.

Behind the scenes, however, the president’s top aides have been engaged in an intensive internal debate over how to respond to Iran’s support for Shiite Muslim groups in Iraq and its nuclear program. Vice President Dick Cheney several weeks ago proposed launching airstrikes at suspected training camps in Iraq run by the Quds force, a special unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to two U.S. officials who are involved in Iran policy.

Cheney, who’s long been skeptical of diplomacy with Iran, argued for military action if hard new evidence emerges of Iran’s complicity in supporting anti-American forces in Iraq; for example, catching a truckload of fighters or weapons crossing into Iraq from Iran, one official said.

The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk publicly about internal government deliberations.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice opposes this idea, the officials said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has stated publicly that “we think we can handle this inside the borders of Iraq.”

Lea Anne McBride, a Cheney spokeswoman, said only that “the vice president is right where the president is” on Iran policy.

Bush left no doubt at his news conference that he intended to get tough with Iran.

“My message to the Iranian people is, you can do better than this current government,” he said. “You don’t have to be isolated. You don’t have to be in a position where you can’t realize your full economic potential.”

The Bush administration has launched what appears to be a coordinated campaign to pin more of Iraq’s security troubles on Iran. Until now, some hawks within the administration – including Cheney – are said to have favored military strikes to stop Iran from furthering its suspected ambitions for nuclear weapons.

Patrick Clawson, an Iran specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said a strike on the Quds camps in Iran could make the nuclear diplomacy more difficult.

Before launching such a strike, “We better be prepared to go public with very detailed and very convincing intelligence,” Clawson said.

What the hell is this guy thinking? Expanding his war to Iran is a solution to his sinking ship? Mayday, Mayday! We must do something to stop this insanity. Lieberman, Tancredo and Darth Cheney are trying to assure a lifetime of war – no winners! Is this the ploy the Bush A-bomb-a-nation will perpetrate to declare the ‘state of emergency’ required to insure calling off elections? Can you spell ‘civil war’ in America between the ‘lemmings’ and the enlightened? We cannot allow any more world atrocities committed in the name of America! We either evacuate or fight. Pick your poison. I personally don’t want to abandon this great experiment to the awful corruption we have been prisoner to for the last eight years. I prefer to stay and fight. Is anyone with me? We are not subjects to a despotic dictator, we are Americans. We are supposed to have a voice, which means we a have a responsible for protecting our freedom!

Fleas Jumping Off The Dead Administration – Lets Prosecute

Bush’s Muse Stands Accused

Speeches Weren’t His, Colleague Says By Peter Baker Washington Post Staff Writer

He has been hailed as the best White House speechwriter since Kennedy’s Theodore Sorensen, the muse behind President Bush‘s most famous phrases, the moral conscience of the West Wing. But now Michael J. Gerson is accused by a former colleague of taking credit for words he did not write.

According to Matthew Scully, who worked with him for five years, Gerson is not the bard of Bushworld but rather a “self-publicizing” glory hog guilty of “foolish vanity,” “sheer pettiness” and “credit hounding.” In Scully’s account, Gerson did not come up with the language that made him famous. “Few lines of note were written by Mike,” Scully says, “and none at all that come to mind from the post-9/11 addresses — not even ‘axis of evil.’ “

Scully’s blistering portrait of one of the president’s most prominent former advisers, in the new issue of the Atlantic, touched off an intense pushback by the White House yesterday as top Bush aides jumped to defend Gerson as the victim of a jealous associate. But the internecine feuding may signal something broader than pride of authorship. Scully’s 10-page indictment represents the sort of classic Washington tell-all once rare in an administration known for discipline and loyalty.

This is a great illustration of ‘rats jumping ship’, ‘fleas jump off dying animals’.  The impenetrable armor that has protected this most despicable monster, is melting away.  The insiders and kamikazes are seeking safe refuge and last minute advantage.  When you know a cause is lost, you turn ‘states witness‘ to protect your own ass.  Watch the coming months as former ‘unknowns’ emerge to ‘tell all’ about the greasy workings they participated in or witnessed.   Just like someone who ‘rats’ on a mafia boss, these whistleblowers are seeking asylum from the ‘Republican Dons’ who would hurt them very much …

This country needs a Nuremberg Trial for these criminals. There is no excuse. They are the guilty fringe of the most dangerous administration this country has ever produced. The definition of America was edited and re-written to serve the agenda of corporate greed. The crime of taking the emotional tragedy of 9/11, and skewing it to serve their prime agenda of invading Iraq instead of pursuing the “perpetrators” is a ‘high treasonous crime’ against this country. We should be set up to start our own Nuremberg Trial as soon as these guys evacuate the highest positions in this land!

Bush Ability to “Strike Fear” Trumps The Bill Of Rights

House Approves Wiretap Measure

White House Bill Boosts Warrantless Surveillance

By Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick Washington Post

The Democratic-controlled House last night approved and sent to President Bush for his signature legislation written by his intelligence advisers to enhance their ability to intercept the electronic communications of foreigners without a court order.

The 227 to 183 House vote capped a high-pressure campaign by the White House to change the nation’s wiretap law, in which the administration capitalized on Democrats’ fears of being branded weak on terrorism and on a general congressional desire to act on the measure before an August recess.

If BushCo can strike fear into the hearts of our elected representatives, forcing them to enable illegal and unconstitutional acts, then we have elected nothing! This is now a ghost democracy fraught with Black Ops and Shadow Government. Civil war or revolution is no longer an option … because every move we make is scrutinized. Americans are all suspects now. Americans are the enemy. Americans will become the zombies from George Orwell’s ’1984′ where hidden microphones and informers in order to catch potential “thoughtcriminals” who could endanger the security of the Dystopian GOP Party.

The original statute was enacted after the revelation of CIA abuses in the 1970s, and it required judicial oversight for most federal wiretapping conducted in the United States.

Privacy and civil liberties advocates, and many Democratic lawmakers, complained that the Bush administration’s revisions of the law could breach constitutional protections against government intrusion. But the administration, aided by Republican congressional leaders, suggested that a failure to approve what intelligence officials sought could expose the country to a greater risk of terrorist attacks.

Democrats facing reelection next year in conservative districts helped propel the bill to a quick approval. Adding to the pressures they felt were recent intelligence reports about threatening new al-Qaeda activity in Pakistan and the disclosure by House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) of a secret court ruling earlier this year that complicated the wiretapping of purely foreign communications that happen to pass through a communications node on U.S. soil.

 

King George Wins Wiretapping For All Foreigners

Associated Press
House Approves Foreign Wiretap Bill

WASHINGTON –

The House handed President Bush a victory Saturday, voting to expand the government’s abilities to eavesdrop without warrants on foreign suspects whose communications pass through the United States.

The 227-183 vote, which followed the Senate’s approval Friday, sends the bill to Bush for his signature. He had urged Congress to approve it, saying Saturday, “Protecting America is our most solemn obligation.”

Oh well.  What did you really expect?  FISA  neutered,  the 4th Amendment a memory.

The administration said the measure is needed to speed the National Security Agency’s ability to intercept phone calls, e-mails and other communications involving foreign nationals “reasonably believed to be outside the United States.” Civil liberties groups and many Democrats said it goes too far, possibly enabling the government to wiretap U.S. residents communicating with overseas parties without adequate oversight from courts or Congress.

The 227-183 vote, which followed the Senate’s approval Friday, sends the bill to Bush for his signature.

10:38 P.M. –

On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to without objection.

10:37 P.M. –

Considered as privileged matter. On approving the Journal Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: 205 – 187 (Roll no. 837).

S. 1927:

to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to provide additional procedures for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence information and for other purposes

(Click here to see how everyone voted) 

Many congressional Democrats wanted tighter restrictions on government surveillance, but yielded in the face of Bush’s veto threats and the impending August recess.

“This bill would grant the attorney general the ability to wiretap anybody, any place, any time without court review,  without any checks and balances,”  said Rep. Zoe Lofgren,  D-Calif.,  during the debate preceding the vote.   “I think this unwarranted, unprecedented measure would simply eviscerate the 4th Amendment,”  which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.

The House of Faux Representatives must have a VERY good reason to appease the King.  I am sure the Sunday morning talk shows will be filled with excuses and explanations.  This bill is a great tool not bound by accountability.  Gonzales  will be the decider when and where to use his expanded powers.  Woe, I mean Wow,  I feel safer already.  Time to learn sign language.  I think I’ll wear moccasins, too.  They make no sound as you tiptoe across the border into Canada.

Following The Yellow Brick Road Makes Enemies Stronger

The Pashtun time bomb

The alarming growth of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the Pashtun tribal region of northwest Pakistan and southern Afghanistan is usually attributed to the popularity of their messianic brand of Islam and to covert help from Pakistani intelligence agencies.

But another, more ominous reason also explains their success: their symbiotic relationship with a simmering Pashtun separatist movement that could lead to the unification of the estimated 41 million Pashtuns on both sides of the border, the breakup of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the emergence of a new national entity, “Pashtunistan,” under radical Islamist leadership.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are fragile, multiethnic states. Ironically, by ignoring ethnic factors and defining the struggle with jihadists mainly in military terms, the United States is inadvertently helping Al Qaeda and the Taliban capture the leadership of Pashtun nationalism. (entire article)

I could while away the hours
Conferrin’ with the flowers
Consultin’ with the rain
And my head, I’d be scratchin’
While my thoughts were busy hatchin’
If I only had a brain.

Are we living in OZ?  Are we Munchkins running toward the Land of Oz: a fantasy region containing four countries under the rule of one monarch?  The United States is on a collision course with reality.   Other countries that occupy the same planet, are holding their breath to see if America will return from the alternate reality imposed on the American population and the world.   The USA has emboldened the occupants of that nether world between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In the conventional wisdom, either Islamist or Pashtun identity will triumph, but a more plausible possibility is that the result could be what the former Pakistani diplomat Hussain Haqqani has called an “Islamic Pashtunistan.”

Pashtuns being the largest single ethnic group in Afghanistan, bitterly resent the disproportionate influence enjoyed by the Tajik ethnic minority in the Karzai regime, a legacy of U.S. collaboration with Tajik militias in overthrowing the Taliban.  Pashtunsalso feel that they have been the main victims of U.S.-NATO bombing attacks on the Taliban, who are largely Pashtuns and operate almost entirely in Pashtun territory. In one authoritative estimate, civilian casualties have numbered nearly 5,000 since 2001.

So, what does the US do?  It promotes further conflict that insures the “terror” threat does not fade.  The Republican Administration is fearful that their grip on World Domination remains justifiable.  Without a Terror Threat could we accidentally slip back into stability?.  Without a Terror Threat,  Republicans would loose their grip on the gullible voters.   After all,  there is a lot of taxpayer money money money to be pocketed. 

The Minnesota bridge is a fine example of where taxpayer dollars should be going,  not into the pockets of corrupt war profiteering buddies.  The billions of dollars that are wasted, lost or unaccounted for since the Terror War was hi-jacked to Iraq,  could be applied to countless US projects to protect our own infrastructure.  Take a VERY close look at what Congress is spending on right now!   They are appropriating money to fix that Minnesota Bridge.    Great afterthought, huh?

 

Tough Choices: Who Should We Fear, Them Or Us

Maliki: timetable for US withdrawal not possible

Iraqi PM says neither Baghdad nor Washington can set timetable for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

Collapsing Bridges vs. War in Iraq

The Bush administration’s spending priorities – including an estimated $1 trillion for an unnecessary war – will cost the lives not only of US soldiers and Iraqi civilians but American citizens who will die from a decaying infrastructure and other government neglect, argues Stephen Crockett.

Daily demonstrations of corporate corruption, political corruption, missing cash, misused assets, and general bribery reminiscent of third world dictatorships. Corruption is an epidemic in the United States of America. Why? The ‘shock and awe’ of America’s decline is overwhelming. Republicans and Democrats share this disgusting tragedy. Republicans currently hold center stage and are too arrogant about being entitled to break every law this country has. Why? Aren’t tired of the word “FREEDOM” being used for everything from War to Viagra? What exactly are Americans FREE to do? Free to be lazy and complacent? Free to be led by the nose into total chaos by self-serving politicraps? America’s passion has been hi-jacked and is held hostage by political marketing!

Does anyone remember Nikita Khrushchev:

“Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.”

He was the instigator of Soviet missile forces in Cuba and the Cuban missile crisis, the builder of the Berlin Wall, launched Sputnik and started the Cold War and the space race.  Nikita was a comic but worthy enemy.  His uneducated wisdom does ring true today.

We are victims of our own success and will be hung by our own rope, so espoused Nikita Khrushchev.

 

Letter From An American Muslim

As American as you are

Pious Christian and Jewish values are not inherently in conflict with American civic life, as secular folk tend to forget. Devout immigrant Muslims don’t belong? That ship has sailed. This is a letter to your beautiful heart: We are your blood, says Mohja Kahf.

Fayetteville, Arkansas – A certain Middle Eastern religion is much maligned in this country. Full of veils and mystery, it is widely seen as sexist. Often violent, sometimes manipulated by demagogues, it yet has sweetness at the core, and many people are turning to it in their search for meaning.

I’m talking about Christianity.

This Muslim squirms whenever secular friends – tolerant toward believers in Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam and Native American spirituality – dismiss Christians with snorts of contempt. “It’s because the Christian right wants to take over this country,” they protest.

That may be, but it doesn’t justify trashing the religion and its spectrum of believers. Christianity has inspired Americans to the politics of abolition and civil rights, as well as to heinous acts. Christian values have motivated the Ku Klux Klan to burn houses, and Jimmy Carter to build them. You can’t say that when Christianity informs politics, only bad things happen.

This may strike you as odd coming from a Muslim. But it’s true: people of faith do not signify the apocalypse for democracy. And that goes for believing Muslims as much as for other religious folk. Muslims, in a very specific way, are not strangers in your midst. We are kin. Not just kin in the lovely way that all humans are. We carry pieces of your family story. (see entire letter)

This story is poignant because we do not hear from enough centrists.

All faiths have something to contribute to our spiritual well being, but lately the centrifuge has spun so fast that organized religion has been flung to the edges. It is refreshing to hear from someone who espouses a more thoughtful demonstration of their faith. This letter is so correct that middle eastern religions grew from the same root. The family tree whose limbs fight each other is no more than sibling rivalry. All those siblings appear to be trying to get special attention from the same parent.

God is supposed to be over ALL those who believe in God as their spiritual parent. What the hell, then, is an Army of God?   The idea that an army can battle in the name of God is an oxymoron. Religions should not to be used as weapons! What is the point? The world conflict we find ourselves in is NOT religious but political economics driven by marketing geniuses.

We are so naive to have fallen for the oldest magic trick, sleight of hand. They hand you a cat but call it a dog. The words of our political leaders when they talk about religion are designed to appeal to your inner-most beliefs so you don’t look at the facts. If you fall for this, then you contribute to the destruction of this world through ignorance. Politicians use marketing to get your vote and approval for their decisions. This is a marketing ploy. See it for what it is. Learn the facts, even if you have to dig for them. But don’t distort those facts through a religious filter.

Red Mosque Redux, Taliban or Al Qaeda – Pakistan At Risk

Fresh paint on the shrine’s outer wall reads Lal Masjid, meaning Red Mosque

Pro-Taliban fighters have seized control of a mosque and shrine in the Mohmand area of Pakistan’s North West Frontier province and renamed it the Red Mosque. The tribesmen have expressed support for Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the leader of Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, killed in a government assault last month.

Before he was killed in the raid on Lal Masjid, Ghazi warned that after his death there would be many more Red Mosques.

Obama willing to invade Pakistan in al-Qaeda hunt

Standing in front of a Stars and Stripes flag, Mr Obama said: “There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again . . . If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won’t act, we will.”

“Because of a war in Iraq that should never have been authorised and should never have been waged, we are now less safe than we were before 9/11. It is time to turn the page. It is time to write a new chapter in our response to 9/11,” he said.

Whether or not the US gets to resume it’s original mission to hunt down the operatives of 9/11, the game has changed. Obama’s attempt to bring attention to our failing to pursue Osama may be out of sync with our current situation. If he had only addressed relocating troops to home or to Afghanistan first, I would be much more impressed. His statements were too transparent as a response to Hillary’s war agenda. If we allow Musharraf to be dethroned, we had better have someone in the wings to replace him. As much as I want Osama and gang caught, this will doom Musharraf and the safety of his nukes.

Saber rattling does not become you Mr. Obama. Please resume your role to be above it all and find common ground to become the uniter we so desperately need. Accountability is what is missing from our world. Arrogance is no longer fashionable. Abuse of privilege must be outlawed. The GOP cannot be defeated if Democrats take their eyes off the ball.

Clinton Demurs On Obama’s Nuclear Stance

She Says It Is Unwise to Rule Out Using the Arms Against Terrorists

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton drew another distinction between herself and Sen. Barack Obama yesterday, refusing to rule out the use of nuclear weapons against Osama bin Laden or other terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Clinton’s comments came in response to Obama’s remarks earlier in the day that nuclear weapons are “not on the table” in dealing with ungoverned territories in the two countries, and they continued a steady tug of war among the Democratic presidential candidates over foreign policy.

Where are we going with this?

 

 

Bush Terror Production Impending – News Max Breaking News

Breaking from NewsMax.com

U.S. General: Terror Attack Could ‘Happen Any Day,’ Need
to Prepare for Nuclear Threat

Special: Bin Laden Targets 7 U.S. Cities: NY, D.C., Vegas, More

Special: Terror ‘Chatter’ Extremely High, Prepare Your Family

Experts Praise TSA’s Airport Security Warning

Special: 6 Days of Hell: the Coming War With Iran

Important: Homeland Security Has Advised Every Family to Have an Emergency Radio — and one not dependent on electric outlet power. Please check out our free offer for one of the best emergency radios available — Go Here Now.

I hate to plug a Reich Wing rag, but, here it is. Rumors that BushCo is preparing a “terrorist” incident to enable their plan to put the US under Marshal Law are getting a lot of play right now. Be prepared for Bush to arrange some awful disaster he can blame “on the enemies of American Freedom”. This will be the excuse he will use to postpone or cancel 2008 elections and suspend the Constitution. A national crisis will be the distraction. He is counting on America to be enraged and vulnerable and ready to strike back at whoever is in reach. Bush will then become the righteous dictator of biblical proportions that he was told he would be, by those who control his mind. We will officially become his subjects – as we seem to be right now.  All these Reich Wing warnings are seeping through the floorboards now, so they can stand proudly and say “I told you so”.

BossKitty is updating that passport!