U.S. attack on Iran imminent?

According to a source within Russian intelligence, the website India eNews is reporting "a flurry of activity by US Armed Forces near Iran's borders." The article also notes the heightened U.S. Naval presence in the Persian Gulf. A Pentagon official is quoted as saying "the US Naval presence in the Persian Gulf has for the first time in the past four years reached the level that existed shortly before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003."

With abruptly retired Admiral William Fallon now out of the picture, it looks like nothing will stop Bush and Cheney from attacking Iran.

Congress should impeach them both as well as their Neo-Conservative network of traitors. If they don't, we will all pay.

Phantom sniper fire should kill Clinton campaign

Hillary Clinton's repeatedly pushing her bogus story of a hot landing in war-torn Bosnia back in the '90s should drop her campaign dead in its tracks. She did not misspeak as she now claims; she straight-up lied.

At Buzzflash, Dave Lindorff writes:

Clinton, in an Iraq policy speech she gave last week aimed at trying to burnish
her claim of 35 years of Washington experience, recalled a 1996 trip to the
war-torn former province of Yugoslavia, where Serbs and Croats had been
butchering each other and especially Muslims. As she told the tale last
week:

"I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia and ... there was a
saying
around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or
too
dangerous, the president couldn't go, so send the first lady. That's
where we
went. I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to
be some kind
of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran
with our heads down
to get into the vehicles to get to our base"

Former New York Times columnist William Safire was right when he called Clinton a congenital liar. It's too bad the mainstream media is too busy endlessly repeating one righteously heated and out-of-context clip of Rev. Jeremiah Wright and chasing lurid stories of governors gone wild to point out Clinton's Nixonian mendacity.

On Hillary's excellent Bosnian adventure

Today, while reading about Hillary Clinton's big Bosnia-sniper-fire-lie, I was reminded of an experience I had during the Persian Gulf War (probably the spookiest night of the war, for me). It was the night my group flew into Iraq and hit the ground in support of the ground invasion.

Hillary has been quoted multiple times lately in multiple places describing her daring corkscrew landing in Bosnia; and of rapidly disembarking her aircraft (wearing bullet-proof gear) and off the airfield. According to her, when they landed, she was instructed to duck and run off the tarmac due to threat of sniper fire. How scary!

How brave.

Until you see the actual news footage of that event. Peace was at hand. Dignitaries surrounded the first lady and her entourage on the tarmac. A young girl read Mrs. Clinton a poem. Her daughter, Chelsea, was with her as well as comedian Sinbad and singer Sheryl Crow. And no one seemed frightened about sniper fire.

Fast forward to now. Hillary looks straight into the camera, without shame, and lies, just like Condoleeza Rice would. She's repeated this whopper of a story over and over again, now, to unwitting crowds; so this wasn't her misstating something. Her convoluted description of landing in Bosnia is an outright lie. And proof positive that Hillary thinks the American people are stupid.

Hillary, caught in the lie, now claims that she thought she remembered something that did not, in fact, happen.

As a veteran, I can tell you, running off an aircraft and across a tarmac under possible hostile fire is something you do not forget about or confuse with something else. No matter how many countries you've visited.

That night during the war I mentioned earlier was somewhat similar to the story Hillary's been pushing. In Saudi Arabia, my group was crammed into a C-130 and flown to an airfield somewhere in Iraq, under cover of darkness. We didn't pull any corkscrew maneuvers flying in; but when we landed and the bay opened, it was pitch black and someone was directing us to grab our shit quick (not put it on, but drag it) and to run down the flight line and off the airfield.

It was creepy. We didn't know where we were at or who was watching us. We had to assume there was a threat.

And that was real.

That brings me back to Hillary and her bogus Bosnian adventure. Embellishing is one thing, but telling stories like that is despicable. I equate that to losers impersonating war heroes. There's nothing worse.

The Devil in Dick Cheney

When I served in the U.S. Army (1989-1992), Dick Cheney was the Secretary of Defense. For years, even after leaving the service, I had great respect for him. As a soldier, I thought his leadership during the Gulf War was excellent. At one point around 1994, I began to see him as a possible presidential candidate in the next election.

I also saw him favorably as a person. Back in 1990, while at Ft. Campbell, Ky., a friend of mine who was a Crew Chief told me about his experience flying Secretary Cheney around during one of his trips to Europe. He had nothing but good things to say about it. He described Cheney as being friendly and down-to-earth; and said he talked with all of them alike.

I was amazed. And it bolstered my faith in our leadership.

Fast forward to post 9-11 America...

Something terrible happened between yesteryear and now. Something wicked has had its way with Dick Cheney. This man I once thought to be so honorable and skilled in our nation's defense, is now unrecognizable to me.

Along with others, Cheney used the power of his office to knowingly lie this country into war with Iraq. As if that and other aspects of the occupation (torture, indefinite detention, extraordinary rendition)weren't criminal enough, he continues to agitate for war with Iran.

Despite evidence to the contrary, he still claims Iran is in the process of developing nuclear weapons. It's absurd.

Dick Cheney is either pure evil or downright insane. In either case, he's dangerous and needs to go.

"I Am Barack Obama"

Much has been made of Barack Obama's swoon effect on voters of all political stripes. As a Republican (in name only), deeply disgusted by GOP rule these long last years, I am now a strong supporter of the Senator from Illinois. Obama's never blown me away in debates and I havn't heard him speak in a public arena. But I am deeply impressed by him. He speaks the language of my generation (I'm 38); and he speaks to many of us in different and better ways. I identify with him in more ways than I do not; as a veteran, I believe he would make the best commander-in-chief; and I absolutely believe he has our nation's best interests at heart. He has shown a cool temperament, excellent judgement and leadership as a candidate and legislator. Most importantly, though, despite claims that Obama isn't experienced enough for some 3 a.m. emergency, it's important to note that he was one of the few public officials to openly oppose the invasion of Iraq. That kind of courage and independent thinking in a leader is what our nation is now desperately in need of.

Mark Winston Griffith, senior fellow for economic justice at the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, has written an excellent piece on why he supports Obama for president. Here's a taste:

Much has been made of Barack's considerable charisma and the cult of
personality that has grown around his candidacy. Both John McCain and Hillary
Clinton, watching helplessly as audiences swoon for Obama, have tried, without
much success, to undercut his affect on voters by painting him as a candidate
without substance. But when I, as a journalist, interviewed him during his U.S.
Senate campaign tour throughout rural and exurban Illinois in 2004, I wasn't
awestruck. Rather, I identified with him. As I sat in the back of his campaign
car plying him with questions, I couldn't help thinking that he could have
easily been one of my friends. In fact, one of the biggest compliments I can
give Barack is that as impressive as he is, he's not wholly distinguishable from
the many poised, socially dexterous, and eloquent black women and men with whom
I've gone to school.

But what was perhaps most personally intriguing about Obama was that
his unhesitant foray into electoral politics represented the road I had forsworn
years ago. Once upon a time I believed, as a community activist, that I could
become a social-change agent of the highest order by becoming an elected
official. Such was my chosen destiny until working in the sausage factory of
electoral and campaign politics turned my stomach and made me seriously rethink
that path.

While interviewing Obama I realized here was a man who was not
unlike me but who had been walking through the ugly meat grinder of national
politics and had emerged apparently uncynical and with his humanity intact. For
every post-civil-rights child who was promised she or he could become the first
black president, but hasn't been willing to endure the personal and even
spiritual deformity the political process subjects people to, Barack has been a
revelation.

Fox's Chris Wallace Whines Over Obama Snub

Chris Wallace, host of "Fox News Sunday" has been whining that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is refusing to appear on his show for an interview he agreed to "730 days ago." According to Brian Stelter, of the New York Times blog, The Caucus, "Mr. Wallace introduced “The Obama Watch,” a countdown clock borrowed from the Fox show “24″ (complete with the tick-tock noise) that displayed the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds that have passed since Mr. Obama apparently promised to appear."

Boo fucking hoo.

Wallace and Fox "News" have themselves to blame for Democratic candidates refusing to appear on the network. As everyone with a partially functioning brain knows, the network is biased toward the GOP. It shouldn't even be regarded as a legitimate news outlet at this point. Regarding Obama, Fox's talking heads have gone out of their way to distort viewers' impressions of him and have on numerous occasions accidentally conflated his name onscreen with terrorist Osama Bin Laden's. That is, as one of my colleague's would say, subliminal huckery.

It is the Fox network that deals dishonestly with the public and with the candidates. Not just Obama, but the entire Democratic party should boycott any and all appearances on the network going forward. There's just no reason to legitimize it with their participation.

Welcome back to Arkansas

Clinton Library Builder's CFO disappears without a trace. Jon Gambrell of the Associated Press writes:

The stress of restructuring the construction company that built the Clinton
Presidential Library gave John Glasgow every reason to run away.

A seven-figure salary, a chance to buy part of a firm jointly
owned by department-store chain Dillard's Inc. and a life lived in good spirits
gave him every reason to stay.

Glasgow has been missing since before sunup Jan. 28; his car was found
abandoned the next day at a state park. Family and police say it's impossible to
tell whether Glasgow killed himself, was abducted or left to start a new life
elsewhere. His family said the easygoing 45-year-old felt overwhelmed and
anxious about a company audit, but the company said it found no money missing.
The police say there is no evidence of foul play, but no clues to his
whereabouts, either.
"He may be under some kind of compulsion ... some kind
of blackmail, that's a scenario you could dream up," his brother Roger Glasgow
said. "We're not suggesting any of these scenarios because we just don't know.
But it does open up a Pandora's box of possibilities."

I can imagine the right-wing bloggers out there are watching this story closely.

Female soldier awarded Silver Star for valor

I was scanning the headlines at Buzzflash.com a while ago and ran across this incredible story:

Monica Lin Brown Brown will become the first woman in Afghanistan and only the second female soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor, and is This Week's BuzzFlash Wings of Justice Award Winner.

From Wingsofjustice.com:

War is hell. Yet, soldiers in combat zones do amazing things for each
other.And they should be honored because they are serving in a war that they
didn't ask for.

Monica Lin Brown is one such person. Serving as an Army medic at 19 years
of age, she will receive the Silver Star later this month for her actions in
Afghanistan in 2007 that saved the lives of 5 soldiers injured by a roadside
bomb.

Bailey's Daily Brief

After a nasty week in Democratic politics, one thing is clear, for the sake of the Democratic party and its newly rallied coalition, Hillary Clinton should depart the race. If she did so now, with the same concern and class shown by Al Gore in 2000, she would become a hero to many. Minus the presidency, she could write her own ticket, politically, going forward. And with her support, Obama could begin a powerhouse campaign against John McCain. When will the party heavyweights have that conversation with her? And will she go quietly into the night?

Based on Hillary Clinton's real experience, it sounds like she'd make a much better Secretary of Health and Human Services than president.

The show's over. Will somebody please tell Hillary?

After word of the results of a Pentagon study proving there was no operational link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, the Bush administration is now refusing to publicly release the report. As if they could put that genie back in its bottle. It should show up online soon. Reporters who request a copy will be given one.

Who will Republican presidential nominee John McCain choose to be his running mate? Mitt Romney has re-emerged and would be delighted to be Big Mac's wing-man. Forget about the fact that they loathe each other. I've heard George W. Bush and crew are pushing McCain to choose Romney. That doesn't surprise me. And we all know what McCain does when Bush says jump. As a Republican, if I were giving the old warhorse campaign advice, I'd tell him to choose former rival Mike Huckabee. He may be a lightweight in certain areas, but he's popular and can carry Southern and evangelical voters like McCain can't.

ABC's "Good Morning America" carried Hillary Clinton's water again Thursday delivering a hit piece on Barack Obama. Backed by a barrage of clips from fiery sermons given by Obama's pastor, Rev. Jeremiah White, the piece's only aim was to give a distorted image of Wright as some kind of wild-eyed, anti-U.S. radical and linking him and his views to Obama. It was an outright smear, and left me scratching my head. I searched the papers and Internet news sites to determine if the story was linked to some bigger happening or event. Nothing. ABC's piece came out of thin air, just about the time former Clinton finance chair Geraldine Ferrarro was being hoisted onto her petard. Shame on ABC for stooping to such degenerate and unfair coverage. It's no wonder the networks are hemorrhaging news viewers. ABC "news" in particular is now about as reliable as The National Enquirer.

Clinton Kicks Ferraro to the Curb

This morning Geraldine Ferraro, former recipient of the VP slot due to her womanage, was on ABC's "Good Morning America" defending racist comments she made about Barack Obama. The appearance did neither her nor Clinton any good. She was defensive of her comments and combative in her responses. She wouldn't let Diane Sawyer get a word in edgewise. I was actually yelling at my TV! "C'mon, Diane!" Later in the day, Clinton dumped the formerly respected trail-blazer from her campaign. Cough. I mean, Fearraro resigned.

Spitzer Resigns, Questions Remain

This morning, disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned for his involvement with a high-end call-girl service. With his wife Silda at his side, he stoically conceded error and stepped down. It was short and sweet. And a strange diversion. But questions remain because of the timing and because of enemies Spitzer has made, notably on Wall Street. Paul Campos, a professor of law at the University of Colorado, discusses this in the Rocky Mountain News, courtesy of commondreams.org.

It’s hardly a stretch to imagine that Spitzer, a man with countless enemies
in the financial world, would be the target of such a vendetta.
This in
turn raises a host of questions about how and why the subsequent IRS
investigation
turned into an FBI sting operation. The story being given out
by the feds is that Spitzer’s financial affairs were investigated initially
because of the possibility the transactions involved bribes or kickbacks of some
sort.That’s pretty unbelievable. Spitzer is an heir to an immense family
fortune, and the amounts of cash in question would almost surely not be large
enough to create a reasonable suspicion of bribery in this instance.

Iraqi Dreams and Clintonian Fantasies

What Do the Iraqis Want?
Having served with the U.S. Army in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, I have often said our biggest problem in dealing with the occupation of Iraq is that most Americans simply have no real concept of the region or its people. Without understanding those fundamentals, there is no way to solve the problems we face there today.

Leaving aside the chatter from U.S. bureaucrats regarding how to proceed, one very important question is rarely considered: What do the people of Iraq want?

In commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, the Friends (Quakers) sponsored a "Speak for Peace Tour" across Michigan featuring Iraqi native Raed Jarrar. A student of architecture, Jarrar found a new purpose in life when his Baghdad neighborhood was bombed in April 2003. After witnessing neighbors fleeing from their homes and being killed by so-called "surgical warfare," he began a campaign to document civilian injuries and deaths during the first four months of invasion and occupation. With the help of 200 volunteers, Jarrar's group conducted a door to door survey in various cities and villages to find out who was hurt and killed. Based on Jarrar's data and experience, he concludes:

What three-quarters of the Iraqis want is a complete U.S. withdrawal. No mercenaries. No permanent bases. No interference. Only complete
withdrawal is the first step toward stabilizing Iraq. After that, we can start
healing the wounds of this occupation.

It's past time for policy makers in Washington to give up their Neo Conservative pipe-dream and start listening to what the people of Iraq want.


There's Nothing Secret About Hillary's Experience
At Huffington Post, Richard Klass writes, "Senator Clinton has based her claim to be a stronger nominee than Senator Barack Obama on her 'thirty-five years of experience' and blithely conflates that to her national security experience." In his post, Klass points out some very inconvenient truths regarding that "experience."

One of her more absurd claims has her being a party to peace negotiations in NorthernIreland. According to someone who was very much involved, Nobel Peace Prize-winner and former First Minister of the province, Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, Hillary's claim is an exaggeration and well, just "a wee-bit silly."

Then there was that "dangerous" trip to Bosnia Clinton made way back... with singer Sheryl Crow, comedian Sinbad and daughter Chelsea. You know, a USO Tour, basically. Sinbad recently had this to say regarding the candidates' exaggerated claims of red-phone moments, possible sniper fire and flying around with the military:

I think the only 'red-phone' moment was: 'Do we eat here or at the next
place.
Threat of bullets? Sinbad doesn't remember that, either.
I never felt that I was in a dangerous position. I never felt being in a sense of peril,
or 'Oh, God, I hope I'm going to be OK when I get out of this helicopter or when
I get out of his tank.

So, we know those claims are greatly exaggerated. Big surprise.

What most destroys her claim to national security experience is that during her husband's presidency, she never held a security clearance, let alone a top Secret clearance. That means she was never privy to the President's Daily Brief, to classified programs, meetings of the Cabinet or meetings in the situation room where classified topics are discussed. She has only held a clearance since landing on the Senate's Armed Services Committee. Therefore, she has no more real foreign policy experience than her rival, Barack Obama. To state otherwise is a total fabrication.

CENTCOM Commander Fallon Resigns

It's official. Today CENTCOM chief, Admiral William Fallon resigned. He was the one officer, the one person standing in the way of a conflagration with Iran. It will be interesting to see how things on that front develop. I wouldn't be surprised if we suddenly become embroiled in some situation involving conflict with the Persian nation.

Lies, Smears and Tears

Note to Dick and George An "exhaustive" study by the Pentagon, including the examination of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents captured after the 2003 invasion, shows there were no operational links between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda. McClatchy reporter Warren P. Strobel points out that in September 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld claimed that the United States had "bulletproof" evidence of cooperation between the terrorist group and Hussein's government. It's time to call Rumsfeld to congress to testify about just what exactly that evidence was.

It's a black thing According to Clinton surrogate and former Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, Barack Obama wouldn't be poised to take the Democratic nomination if he weren't a black man. She has deduced that the country is just into that right now. This is yet another attempt by the Hillaroids to inject the issue of race into this campaign. At this point, it isn't surprising. It's just way past old; and that kind of gutter politics should be beneath both Clinton and Ferraro.

Say What? The revelation of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's alleged involvement in a prostitution ring was a stunner. Based on his his crime-busting history and Elliot Ness image, he's the last guy in New York I would have thought would be involved in such activities. Still, I'm not inclined to join the rush to judgement about the situation until some curious questions can be answered. Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake points out that some things in this case don't pass the smell test. Read it here.

Fallon out of Bush's Favor

Esquire has written an excellent article on CENTCOM chief, Admiral William Fallon and the possibility that George W. Bush may be thinking of replacing him sooner rather than later.

Right now, Fallon may be the only thing standing in the way of war with Iran.

From the article:

And so Fallon, the good cop, may soon be unemployed because he's doing what
a generation of young officers in the U. S. military are now openly complaining
that their leaders didn't do on their behalf in the run-up to the war in Iraq:
He's standing up to the commander in chief, whom he thinks is contemplating a
strategically unsound war.

ABC News Does Hillary's Bidding

On Friday I was yelling at my TV listening to ABC news. Mark Halperon did a shiteous piece on the so-called Obama/Nafta/Canada scandal. He covered every bit of known ground in the case (repeating Clinton's charges, of course) while leaving out the latest development in the story. That being the fact that it was actually the Clinton campaign giving the old wink and nod to Canada's government regarding trade policy vs. campaign spin.

Unbelievable.

I don't know what's worse; the Clinton campaign so brazenly falsifying reality or ABC news doing Clinton's bidding on the psy/op front.

It was nice to learn that I was not the only one yelling at ABC onTV Friday. Steven G. Brant at Huffington Post made some noise about it today:

I am watching ABC's World News Tonight. George Stephanopoulos is filling in
for Charles Gibson. I say that to possibly excuse Mr. Gibson for his program
continuing to propagate a story line that has now been proven to be totally
false: The story line that the Obama campaign said one thing to the Canadian
government while saying something else to the voters in Ohio.

This story is not true. In fact the opposite is what is true. And there have been reports to this effect since March 5th, as best as I've been able to track the
reporting.

Fake scandal alert: Obama and Rezko

With her campaign in desperation mode, Hillary Clinton keeps pushing the notion that rival Barack Obama's past ties to Tony Rezko indicate wrong-doing. The two were involved in a land deal that Obama has called "boneheaded" on his part. Rezko also donated campaign money to Obama in the past. Obama has since returned the money or donated it to charity.

Of all people, one would think the Clinton's would be the last people to cast such stones. If one word comes to mind thinking of the 90's it would be Whitewater. And then there's all the shady players who have donated to their campaigns through the years. Norman Hsu, anyone?

Glenn Greenwald at Salon takes a look at the Rezko-Obama "scandal" and finds it to be much ado about nothing.

Some scary news

This is not good. President George Bush is thinking about relieving CENTCOM Commander, Admiral William Fallon from his job. Apparetnly he's not pliable enough. Bush is looking for a confrontation between the U.S. and Iran. As soon as possible. Fallon stands between Bush and his objective.

Fallon has said, "an attack on Iran “will not happen on my watch.”

I was initially wrong about Admiral Fallon. I thought he was just another 'pliable' candidate for the job given to him. But after hearing his words and his thinking, I was won over by his courage (in speaking his mind). He seemed to be imminently reasonable.

If Bush removes Fallon, all hell might break loose.

Today's Menu

Keep dreaming: Marc Cooper at Huffington Post explains that even though Hillary Clinton won the Ohio, Rhode Island and Texas primaries last night, she's dreaming if she thinks she can win the Democratic nomination. It's a simple matter of delegate math. For Clinton to secure the nomination, democratically, she would have to win all remaining primaries by at least 20 points each.

Another take: Dylan Loewe, also at Huffington Post, gives his take on the unreality of a Clinton nomination. He goes so far as to call her the "new Huckabee."

Speak of the devil: Mike Huckabee finally threw in the towel last night on his bid for the Republican nomination.

Kill Bill: At The New Republic, Marty Peretz notes that since Hillary Clinton put the muzzle back on Bill, her fortunes have improved. I totally agree with that assessment. Think back to those pre-South Carolina primary days; Clinton's campaign was doing fine until Bill went rhetorical renegade in the Palmetto State. After shooting his mouth off and offending most everyone in sight, the missus got the biggest electoral shelacking of her career. And it was downhill from there. If I were her, I'd use him as sparingly as possible.

Down but not out: John Hood, chairman and president of the John Locke Foundation doesn't buy Team Obama's assertion that it's mathematically impossible for Hillary Clinton to win the nomination at this point. He may be right and points out that the "Clintons fight hard, they fight dirty, and they're used to winning."

Walking anachronism alert: Another indication that Hillary Clinton's judgement is seriously flawed is that she has Gloria Steinem campaigning for her.

Deal with the devil

I'm waiting on the Texas and Ohio returns from the primaries.

I just got the scariest thought: what if Hillary dropped out of the Democratic race all nice like and then wound up joining a nice, bi-partisan McCain ticket as VP?

Limbaugh hearts Clinton

I don't know who is worse:
Matt Drudge for outting Prince Harry in Afghanistan for a shot of attention
or Rush Limbaugh who is urging his listeners in Texas to vote for Hillary Clinton (to prolong the race).

Limbaugh is a sadistic man. He cares not a bit for this country; only for his own twisted ambition and aims. Division and ratings.

He wants Clinton to be the Democratic nominee because he knows McCain cannot beat Obama. And if Obama is elected, his show will vanish into obscurity.

Yes, Republican strategists are dying for Clinton to be the Democrats' pick. The question is, will Texas and Ohio Democrats do the right thing or fall for the old lines? My gut says they will carry Obama to victory; my head says Clinton could somehow pull off a showing that saves her. For another day, anyway.

I'm going to get a good laugh at Limbaugh's expense if the race winds up being Obama vs. McCain. El Rushbo will be gnashing his teeth.

Welcome to Bizarro World

This morning, as I read the paper and watched "Good Morning America," I was struck by how the media was playing tomorrow's primaries. They're buying into and pushing the Clinton PR, as usual.

You'd think after getting everything wrong the entire primary season, the talking heads would stop listening to them. Nope.

Its gone from Hillary Clinton's do-or-die contests in Texas and Ohio to Barack Obama's got to win or people will start to question his campaign's validity.

If I remember correctly, Obama has won 11 straight contests, all over the country, by huge margins. And he's ahead in the delegate count.

The spin is outrageous. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Clinton went and hired Karl Rove (Dick Morris 2.0). It's the very same no means yes Bushspeak.

If Texas and Ohio choose Obama tomorrow, I pray to God Clinton does the right thing and bows out. If not, it's gonna be ugly.