LOSING

The Bush gang says the Democrats are traitors to suggest setting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, but guess what? The Iraqi government is about to ask us to do just that. Now what?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-2239088,00.html
THE Iraqi Government will announce a sweeping peace plan as early as Sunday in a last-ditch effort to end the Sunni insurgency that has taken the country to the brink of civil war.

The 28-point package for national reconciliation will offer Iraqi resistance groups inclusion in the political process and an amnesty for their prisoners if they renounce violence and lay down their arms, The Times can reveal.

The Government will promise a finite, UN-approved timeline for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq; a halt to US operations against insurgent strongholds; an end to human rights violations, including those by coalition troops; and compensation for victims of attacks by terrorists or Iraqi and coalition forces. . .

More: http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015155.html
The amnesty would apply to all but those who killed Iraqi civilians. Meaning, it would apply to those who killed U.S. soldiers -- unless they were members of al-Qaeda or similar "extreme group" considered not to be a legitimate resistance group or otherwise "beyond the pale." What does the Bush Administration think of this? They are divided. . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/23/232812/946

Nice summary of where we stand

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/23/91319/9991
[Bill from Portland Maine] 1. The Republican "hawks" love to boast of how quickly and efficiently the Iraqi security forces are getting trained and deployed to defeat the terrorists inside their country. They promise that "as the Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down."

2. The Republicans also love to boast that invading Iraq made America safer because we're "fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here."

3. Yesterday, Dick Cheney blew #1 and #2 all to hell with this jaw-dropping admission that we can never, ever pull our troops out:

"If we pull out, [the terrorists in Iraq] will follow us. It doesn't matter where we go. ... And it will continue---whether we complete the job or not in Iraq---only it'll get worse. Iraq will become a safe haven for terrorists."

The only conclusion that can be drawn from the vice president---the architect of this occupation---is, we're screwed. . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html
[Dan Froomkin] Vice President Cheney yesterday offered an unusually revealing glimpse of his worldview -- one in which a withdrawal from Iraq may have less to do with Iraq, and more to do with the message it would send to the world about the limits of American power.

In Cheney's view, withdrawal from Iraq would first and foremost make the United States look weak. . . Cheney really loathes weakness. . .

“State of emergency” http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7765.html

Great point: people say Bush doesn’t have a plan for Iraq, but that’s not exactly right. He does have a plan, but just doesn’t want to say what it is: permanent bases

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/06/post_665.html
[Matt Yglesias] Bush has a plan for Iraq all right, and it's trouble with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "P," which stands for "permanent bases". That's the reason he won't even make a vague promise to bring the troops home by Christmas (or whatever). That also explains the curious phenomenon by which the administration keeps hinting at troop withdrawals but insisting that the withdrawals must never have an endpoint. The plan is to withdraw troops -- most of them -- and leave the rest there . . . forever.

Oh, by the way, we’re losing the Afghan government too

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/23/13611/8430

Rove 101: when you have a political weakness, portray it as a strength

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=917053

An open letter to the Democrats

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/008830.php
[Josh Marshall] You're really doing a poor job in the public debate over Iraq. . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_digbysblog_archive.html#115110491610966608

Headline madness, part one: the Republicans, led by nothing-to-lose Rick Santorum, dump a load of manure about “finding the WMD’s” in Iraq. NO ONE believes this is true, not even Bush’s own Defense Dept. Right-wing talk radio and Fox, predictably, trumpet this nonsense as “proof” that Bush was right all along. And how does one of the few major outlets to even address this ridiculous lie portray it?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062201839.html
Democrats Criticize Claim on Iraqi Arms

More: http://mediamatters.org/items/200606230008

http://santorumexposed.com/serendipity/archives/175-Weapons-of-Minor-Discomfort.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/23/212013/509

Headline madness, part two: the great Miami terrorist haul. But a few problems. One, they aren’t Muslim and have no connection to Al Qaeda – they’re HOMEGROWN. Two, they had made no significant progress toward even beginning to implement their pipedreams

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/sears23.html
Sears Tower terror plot foiled

. . . . Managers of the Sears Tower, the nation's tallest building, said in a statement they speak regularly with the FBI and local law enforcement about terror threats and that Thursday "was no exception." . . . "Law enforcement continues to tell us that they have never found evidence of a credible terrorism threat against Sears Tower that has gone beyond criminal discussions," the statement said. . .

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/us/22cnd-indict.html

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_06_18.php#008833
[Josh Marshall] It seems the new terrorist cell rolled up near Miami was in such preliminary stages of launching their jihad that they hadn't yet set aside time to become Muslims. . . .

http://www.juancole.com/2006/06/cair-miami-cult-not-muslims-i-just-saw.html

And then there’s this: http://daoureportgrit.blogspot.com/2006/06/sears-tower-terror-plot-demolishes.html
[Peter Daou] The notion that "we're fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here" has been nullified by the news that "a federal indictment against seven men revealed Friday details of what the government said was a plan to "kill all the devils we can" by blowing up Chicago's Sears Tower." . . . Apparently, they are here. Whether or not we're fighting them there.

Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed, about to get their turn in the harsh Abramoff spotlight

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000988.php

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/23/politics/main1746140.shtml

Bob Ney (R-OH): situation hopeless

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062201711.html

The governor of Kentucky is still selectively banning progressive, but not conservative, political blogs

http://www.bluegrassreport.org/bluegrass_politics/2006/06/youre_kidding_r.html

The Bush gang is going to keep hammering the press whenever they publish a story the Bush gang doesn’t want let out – and the press MUST keep on doing it

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/24/washington/24swift.html

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/cheneys-offended.html
[Cheney] "What I find most disturbing about these stories is that some of the news media take it upon themselves to disclose vital national security programs, thereby making it more difficult for us to prevent future attacks against the American people," Cheney said. "That offends me."

[Joe] Is he kidding?

Cheney and his Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby, disclosed vital national security information to the news media for political reasons. They made it more difficult to prevent attacks against the American people. They put partisan politics first -- before national security. . .

More: http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002726989

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/06/23/state_secrets/

Bonus item: Ah-nuld will not send more California National Guard troops to help Bush’s ill-conceived border protection plan

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-guard24jun24_wr,0,5500493.story

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

MAKE THEM PAY

Remember those heady days, not so long ago, when everyone was hinting that Bush would start drawing down troop numbers significantly? That’s not what he’s saying now. . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/008824.php
[Josh Marshall] The president says he wants to stay in Iraq for at least three more years. Virtually every Republican agrees. Three more years. . . They don't have a plan. . .

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_06_18_atrios_archive.html#115101079707623956
[Atrios] Bush is on the record is stating that there is no chance that the war will be over before he leaves office. . .

[NB: When some other poor schmuck will have to make the tough call to bring troops home, and be savaged for it]

Cheney’s lies

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/22/214110/353
[Georgia10] The most infuriating aspect of the administration's "stay the course until we drive off the cliff" strategy in Iraq is this oft-repeated lie: that sacrificing some 2,500 lives and spending billions of dollars in a country that splitting apart at its seams is necessary to secure our safety here at home. The Vice-President repeated this lie again today . . . This is, of course, the most cowardly of lies, meant to lull the American people into a sense of security, as if tethering ourselves permanently in Iraq will somehow keep terrorists quarantined in the Middle East.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_digbysblog_archive.html#115102325862918632
[Gene Lyons] Murtha didn’t say so, but there’s no chance of an Iraqi democracy friendly to the U.S. That’s a delusion. . . [read on!]

What do the American people want?

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/6/22/19377/0928

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_06_18_atrios_archive.html#115098144817952746
[Atrios] Republicans really believe that by promising to stay in Iraq forever they'll win elections. I do think the politics of Iraq are a bit tricky, even though the press completely ignores polls showing that the Democratic positions are in fact popular, but it's up to Democrats to make the public understand that this is in fact what the Republicans are gloating about.

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/while-you-were-politicking.html
[Joe] The White House has completely failed in Iraq. They can't run a war, but they can run political campaigns. So, the Bush administration is blatantly treating the Iraq war as just another political operation. It's all about politics for them . . . CNN's Dana Bash just said the GOP is "downright giddy" about the current debate. They're all loving it. . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_06/009066.php
[Kevin Drum] Scratch a Republican and I'll bet a lot of them. . . know in their hearts that this administration can't win the war in Iraq, but they can't stand the thought of withdrawing because it seems too much like surrender. So they're stuck supporting a war they know is a losing effort.

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/22/114513/237

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/specialguests/2006/jun/22/gop_on_iraq_more_of_the_same

Mr. Bush, why are the majority of those detainees being imprisoned at Guantanamo?

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_06_18_atrios_archive.html#115101878443186765
[Bush] "there are some that need to be tried in US courts. . .”

First your phone and Internet records, now your financial records – they won’t stop until we stop them

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/washington/22cnd-intel.html

More: http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015148.html

Is the Bush gang considering a pre-emptive strike against North Korea? Hard to get a straight answer on this one

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/22/north_korea/index.html?source=war_room.rss

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7752.html

Rick Santorum, clown

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/06/santorums-discovery.html

Where did he get this WMD information? http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/are-us-intelligence-agencies-trying-to.html

Pat Roberts (R-KS), having forestalled the crucial part of his Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the abuse of prewar intelligence on Iraq, is now prepared to follow the only remaining course of action: shut down that part of the investigation entirely

http://www.prospect.org/horsesmouth/2006/06/post_140.html#002890
[Greg Sargent] It's hard to describe just how ridiculous and transparently corrupt this is. . .

More: http://www.prospect.org/horsesmouth/2006/06/post_141.html#002891

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_06/009063.php

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/004451.html

Apparently, Bob Ney (R-OH) doesn’t know that lying to investigators is a crime whether you are under oath or not (just ask Scooter Libby)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_06_18.php#008827

Speaking of Libby, I am now 100% convinced that Bush will pardon Libby before his case comes to trial. Having exonerated Rove (in their own minds), is there any chance they will let him go under oath and document his full involvement in the plan to out Plame and punish Wilson? Will they ever let the extent of Cheney’s role and knowledge be revealed? I actually believe that this is why Fitzgerald hasn’t pushed marginal cases for perjury or obstruction – because if he can get Rove and Cheney's testimony on record, the main effects (in terms of losing their jobs) will be the same. Or they will have to perjure themselves. I don’t see how Bush ever lets that happen

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_digbysblog_archive.html#115094229623899446

The coming Abramoff “bloodbath”

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_06_18.php#008823

Democratic prospects to retake the Senate?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_06_18.php#008819

Is Ann Coulter losing it?

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/ann-coulter-loses-it-during-radio.html

Bonus item: Oh my, a nasty little dust-up in the progressive blogosphere. I have to let you know about this one. . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/22/townhouse/index.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

REALITY CHECK

Looks like Ron Suskind’s new book is going to be a gold mine of devastating revelations about the Bush gang – if anyone is paying attention, that is

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/21/162612/616
[Salon] We've known for years now that George W. Bush received a presidential daily briefing on Aug. 6, 2001, in which he was warned: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." We've known for almost as long that Bush went fishing afterward.

What we didn't know is what happened in between the briefing and the fishing, and now Suskind is here to tell us. Bush listened to the briefing, Suskind says, then told the CIA briefer: "All right. You've covered your ass, now."

Wow, more: http://yglesias.tpmcafe.com/blog/yglesias/2006/jun/20/things_i_learned_today

http://www.discourse.net/archives/2006/06/the_fountainhead_of_torture.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/06/19/BL2006061900578.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7738.html

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/004443.html

Their priorities: Republicans can’t find a reason to increase the minimum wage, which has been flat for a decade, but they can find time to raise their own salaries and cut the inheritance tax further

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html

http://billmon.org/archives/002474.html

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/08/news/cong.php

Here’s one thing they AREN’T going to be dealing with any time soon – immigration

http://makeashorterlink.com/?F2761205D
[AP] In a defeat for President Bush, Republican congressional leaders said Tuesday that broad immigration legislation is all but doomed for the year. . .

Something else the Republicans don’t want to pass: the renewal of the Voting Rights Act

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/house-gop-stops-voting-on-extending.html

More trouble for Denny Hastert (R-IL)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/21/AR2006062102210.html

The Bush gang BUYS phone records (without a warrant)

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/bush-administration-using-creepy.html

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/20/132736/160

Will Congress look into NSA domestic spying? That would be a definite “maybe”

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/06/serious-rumblings-and-awakenings-in.html

More people with a “mental disorder” – this time working for Rumsfeld’s own Defense Dept

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001499.php

Woo boy: Dusty Foggo, former #3 CIA official and (allegedly) a frequent beneficiary of the Cunningham/Wilkes “hospitality suites,” is “singing like a bird”

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/004441.html

Rick Santorum: proof that any idiot can become a Senator

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/06/21/santorum-wmd/
“Congressman Hoekstra and I are here today to say that we have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq . . .”

More: http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/06/santorums-discovery.html

Defense Dept: Nope! http://thinkprogress.org/2006/06/21/dod-disavows-santorum/



It’s true: they just make stuff up, assuming that the press won’t call them on it – and usually they’re right. Here’s Tony Snow’s latest howler

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_06_18.php#008800

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_06_18.php#008804

Who are all those damn gutless pacifists who support John Murtha’s call for troop withdrawal from the quagmire in Iraq?

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/real-troops-support-murtha.html
[Joe] The traditional media has given great coverage to the attacks on Murtha from the GOP - led by Karl Rove. Yet, the traditional media - like most people in D.C. -- know that Murtha has impeccable sources within the military. He is channeling the voice of the military leaders about the real situation in Iraq. . . . When AP talked to real soldiers from Murtha's district, not DC-based GOP operatives, they found that soldiers were on Murtha's side. . .

David Safavian convicted, and the press gets amnesia about who he worked for

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html

Ernie Fletcher, the utterly corrupt (and stupid) governor of Kentucky, blocks a blog that is critical of his record, then blocks all the blogs that criticize him for blocking it!

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_06_18.php#008803

Ann Coulter’s obsession. . .

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_06_18_atrios_archive.html#115092155506883740

Bonus item: I hope that new constitutional amendment on defacing the flag will put an end to outrages like this

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/did-george-bush-deface-american-flags.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

PARDON ME?

Here’s why Bush is likely to pardon Libby, sooner rather than later: he absolutely can’t afford the testimony that would come out in az trial, and he can’t afford to let his people – especially Rove and even perhaps Cheney, testify there under oath

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/008789.php

Why the media will accept it meekly without question: http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_06_18_atrios_archive.html#115077579613685097

How Cheney became the driving force of U.S. foreign policy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html

And, on the subject of Cheney: what a COMPLETE LIAR he is!

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/06/19/cheney-defends-last-throes-2/

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7727.html

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/06/19/D8IBFKU05.html
"I don't think anybody anticipated the level of violence that we've encountered”. . .

Yep, Bush must be feeling pretty cozy in his position right now – he’s back in hyper-macho, smug frat-boy mode

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_digbysblog_archive.html#115076709383035704

The press: we LIKE being used http://mediamatters.org/items/200606190003

Rumsfeld’s Pentagon classifies homosexuality as a “mental disorder”

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060619/D8IBIJS00.html

More: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/pentagon-document-still-classifies.html

[NB: Someone should ask Cheney if he thinks his daugher has a "mental disorder"]

Gotta give ‘em credit: Truthout stands 100% (well, 99%) behind their original story – an indictment WAS issued for Rove

http://forum.truthout.org/blog/story/2006/6/19/185947/499
[Marc Ash] Our sources continue to maintain that a grand jury has in fact returned an indictment. Our sources said that parts of the indictment were read to Karl Rove and his attorney on Friday, May 12, 2006. Last week, we pointed to a sealed federal indictment, case number "06 cr 128," which is still sealed and we are still pointing to it. During lengthy conversations with our sources over the past month, they reiterated that the substance of our report on May 13, 2006, was correct. . .

That leaves the most important question: If our sources maintain that a grand jury has returned an indictment - and we have pointed to a criminal case number that we are told corresponds to it - then how is it possible that Patrick Fitzgerald is reported to have said that 'he does not anticipate seeking charges against Rove at this time?' . . .

What appears to have happened is that - and this is where Truthout blundered - in our haste to report the indictment we never considered the possibility that Patrick Fitzgerald would not make an announcement. We simply assumed - and we should not have done so - that he would tell the press. He did not. Fitzgerald appears to have used the indictment, and more importantly, the fear that it would go public, to extract information about the Plame outing case from Rove. . .

The electronic communication from Fitzgerald to Luskin, coming immediately on the heels of our Monday morning, June 12 article "Sealed vs. Sealed" that became the basis for the mainstream media's de facto exoneration of Karl Rove was, our sources told us, negotiated quickly over the phone later that afternoon. Luskin contacted Fitzgerald, reportedly providing concessions that Fitzgerald considered to be of high value, and Fitzgerald reportedly reciprocated with the political cover Rove wanted in the form of a letter that was faxed to Luskin's office.

Our sources provided us with additional detail, saying that Fitzgerald is apparently examining closely Dick Cheney's role in the Valerie Plame matter, and apparently sought information and evidence from Karl Rove that would provide documentation of Cheney's involvement. Rove apparently was reluctant to cooperate and Fitzgerald, it appears, was pressuring him to do so, our sources told us. . .

More: http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000941.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_06/009043.php

What a disaster at CIA Porter Goss was. Now they’re trying to fix the things he screwed up

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/18/AR2006061800779.html

More: http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/004426.html

Err. . . .ahem: Dubai still controls those U.S. ports, and Congress has apparently decided to look the other way

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/cnn-dubai-still-controls-22-us-ports.html

Abusing the Constitutional amendment process for purely political purposes: why are we talking about a Flag Burning amendment to the Constitution when no one has been seen burning an American flag in the U.S. for thirty years!?

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=917053

“The Dumbest Law Ever” http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/06/dumbest-law-ever.html

I’ve said it before: eventually Tony Snow is going to put his foot in it in a way he won’t be able to explain away. He has neither the experience nor the disposition to be a good press secretary

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6332

Bonus item: early (VERY early) handicapping on the Democratic race for the 2008 nomination – it’s down to three already

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/19/14253/6791

Or not: http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/6/19/14145/8824

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON

What’s really going on in Iraq: in the heady aftermath of Bush’s showboating trip, an astonishing memo from Ambassador Khalilzad tells what things are really like there

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/16/AR2006061601768.html
“An Arab newspaper editor told us he is preparing an extensive survey of ethnic cleansing, which he said is taking place in almost every Iraqi province, as political parties and their militias are seemingly engaged in tit-for-tat reprisals all over Iraq.". . . [go read it all]

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_digbysblog_archive.html#115065281623062500
[Digby] In a very straighforward descriptive style, Khalilzad writes that Iraqis must hide the fact that they work for the US or face ostracism or worse. Women are being treated only slightly better than if they were living under the Taliban in 1999 --- and they are being asked to wear clothing that Khalilzad admits was not even required by the most repressive Iranian Ayatollahs. They are losing their driving privileges and are considered suspicious if they use a cell phone. . . People are being gouged for electricity, to which they barely have access anyway (in 115 degree heat!) They face kidnappings and violence every day of their lives. Sectarian divisions are showing up in all their social interactions, even among families. They must adopt separate customs, dress and manner of speaking to travel freely through various neighborhoods in Baghdad or risk violence. They cannot trust the security forces, who seem to be getting more hostile to the population, especially those who work for the US. Their anxiety is palpable as they feel their lives are hurling out of control. . .

The country has obviously already spiraled into a state of civil war. It's not surprising that it's taken on this character of secret informants, ethnic cleansing, paranoia and neighborhood militias because the whole society was shaped by an authoritarian police state. But civil war it is, and from the sound of this cable, it's happening on a far more fundamental level than we knew. The whole society is breaking down from inside out. . . [Khalilzad] pretty much says that he doesn't know if he can trust his own employees much longer because they are being driven a little bit crazy by fear and paranoia. . .

More: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002690071

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/yglesias/2006/jun/19/confidentional_memo_from_us_embassy_baghdad
[Matt Yglesias] You'd think this cable might get some more press. For that matter, you'd think some American newspaper editors might want to look into this whole widespread ethnic cleansing question.

Want more? Here are Iraqi military experts, talking about their troops and the war effort

http://www.juancole.com/2006/06/iraqi-military-experts-discuss-iraqi.html

What’s really going on in Guantanamo, from two of the reporters kicked out of there

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015109.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-williams18jun18,0,3393296.story

What’s really going on in Afghanistan: the Bush gang can’t even keep its lies straight

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/19/14324/6768

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/17/AR2006061700784.html

Whoa – don’t mess with Jack Murtha

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/washington/18cnd-cong.html
Representative John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat and Vietnam War veteran pushing for a quick withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, today mocked Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser, for championing the war while "sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big, fat backside." . . . Mr. Murtha, in an appearance on the NBC News program "Meet the Press," was responding to a speech Mr. Rove delivered in New Hampshire last week attacking Democrats for what he called "that party's old pattern of cutting and running."

When Mr. Murtha was asked today for his reaction to Mr. Rove's remarks, he said: "He's making a political speech. He's sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big, fat backside saying, 'Stay the course.' That's not a plan. . . We’ve got to change direction. You can’t sit there in the air-conditioned office and tell troops carrying 70 pounds on their backs, inside these armored vessels hit with IEDs every day, seeing their friends blown up, their buddies blown up — and he says stay the course? Easy to say that from Washington, DC.”

More: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/06/18/murtha-rove/

Meanwhile, the Republicans are more interested in voting on symbolic and politically driven resolutions than a real plan for peace

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/opinion/18sun1.html
[NYT] Rather than engage in a serious debate about America's future course in Iraq, President Bush and the Republican Congress have again opted for sound bites and partisanship. Yet all the choreographed posturing and a one-week flurry of good news cannot blot out the larger picture of dubious trends and dismal prospects. . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/18/22547/4206

Tony Snow follows up his response to 2500 dead US troops in Iraq as just “a number” with this gem . . .

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/06/18/snow-focus-kidnapped/
[Snow] The thing is the way the war is being covered — and we’ve seen it right now, we have two U.S. servicemen, and god bless them, we hope they’re okay. We’re focusing on them and we forget that since Zarqawi was killed, hundreds of bad guys have been rounded up, there has been a lot of intelligence. . . There is a lot going on there. . .

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/white-house-spokesman-tony-snow-says.html
[John Aravosis] [I]f you're a current or former US service member, or the family or friend of a US service member, once again take note. It's the Democrats and the liberals and the traditional media that are concerned about the well-being of US soldiers in Iraq. Whether it's body armor, kidnappings, having sufficient manpower, having a plan for success, it's the folks on the left and the traditional media who are always the one actually concerned about our troops. And it's the Republicans who don't give a damn. . .

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/AR2006061401928.html

More Republican complaints that talking about how badly the war is going is unpatriotic

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/18/175134/046

Denny Hastert’s (R-IL, Speaker of the House) turn on the grill?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0606180254jun18,1,4341439.story

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_06_18.php#008777

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/hastert-shows-america-how-to-make.html

You can’t talk about the problem of immigration without talking about the companies that hire these workers at sub-market wages

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/18/AR2006061800613.html
The Bush administration, which is vowing to crack down on U.S. companies that hire illegal workers, virtually abandoned such employer sanctions before it began pushing to overhaul U.S. immigration laws last year, government statistics show. . .

And did you know that “illegal immigrants,” those lousy parasites, PAY U.S. TAXES (even though they’re not eligible for many public services)?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/19/business/19illegals.html

More: http://www.reason.org/commentaries/dalmia_20060501.shtml

More and more talk about a pardon for Libby

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uspard0618,0,467087.story

More: http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/004425.html

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3060

Karl Rove says Democrats are only using the Internet to spread hate and anger

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/17/223457/969
"I do also think that the Internet has proven to be a more powerful tool on our side than it has been for the other side," Rove told VictoryNH.com, a non-partisan Website founded by a former Ambassador who has raised and contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to strictly Republican candidates. "It has proven to be a tool on our side to sort of unite Conservatives and have a healthy intra-movement dialogue," Rove explained. "But it's essentially been something that has helped us gain in influence and broaden our appeal.". .

"Among Democrats, my sense is that the blog world has tended to strengthen the far Left of the Democratic Party at the expense of liberal, but somewhat less liberal, members of their party," Rove said. . . Instead of "focusing on good ideas," Rove opined that the "Internet for the Left of the Democratic Party" only "mobilize hate and anger."

Back when Democrats didn’t feel the need to apologize for being Democrats -- a brilliant FDR speech from 1932. Don’t miss it

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/18/15236/3491

Can a Senator (from either party) become President?

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/6/18/122411/867

Bonus item: Mission Impossible IV?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_06/009035.php

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_digbysblog_archive.html#115062692617071008

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

OFF THE LEASH

The Pentagon on torture: “oops!”

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3058
[WP] A secretive military Special Operations group in Iraq used several unauthorized interrogation tactics on detainees in early 2004 after it erroneously received an outdated policy from commanders in Baghdad . . . . [read on]

More human rights abuses in Gitmo

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015106.html
[Jeralyn Merritt] As if it's not bad enough that at least one of the Guantanamo detainees who committed suicide last week didn't know he had been cleared for release, now we find out some of them didn't even know they had lawyers. . .

The Department of Homeland Security breeds lobbying scumbuckets

http://www.slate.com/id/2143965
[Joshua Kucera] The top story in the New York Times is the exodus of top Department of Homeland Security officials to the private sector and the loopholes that allow them to lobby the government soon after their departure. . . . While the revolving door from government to industry is old news in Washington, the Homeland Security exodus appears to be unique in its scale: More than two-thirds of the department's most senior executives have moved on to the far bigger paychecks of lobbying and consulting firms, the NYT reports.

The law forbids government officials from lobbying their former department or agency for a year after their departure. Homeland Security officials have shrunk that timeline by a variety of methods, many not unique to that department. But the piece identifies one key rule change, "created in late 2004 at the request of senior department officials, when the first big wave of departures began." The department was divided into seven components for purposes of the lobbying laws, so now a former official can lobby DHS officials right away, as long as the lobbyees are from one of the six components the official did not work for before.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/washington/18lobby.html

Bush’s magical gift for human insight

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/17/AR2006061700662.html
President Bush flew to Baghdad last week to size up Iraq's new leader. "I have come not only to thank you," he told American troops gathered in the Green Zone on Tuesday, "but to look Prime Minister Maliki in the eyes -- to determine whether or not he is as dedicated to a free Iraq as you are."

The presidential determination? "I believe he is," Bush said.

The snap assessment recalled Bush's famous assertion that he had sensed Vladimir Putin's soul and showed how Bush often appears more comfortable with his gut-level assessment of foreign leaders than the one he gets from briefing papers prepared by his intelligence agencies. . .

Oh, yeah, that major White House shake-up sure has brought in new voices and perspectives

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/6/17/16412/5716

A pardon for Libby?

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015107.html

The kind of people they are

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/6/17/125224/071
[Matt Stoller] Jack Burkman is a Republican lobbyist who thinks that gay marriage is 'five times more important than the war on terror and the war in Iraq combined'. He lobbies for the Family Research Council, the far right Christianist hate group, and Caring to Love Ministries, an anti-abortion group in Louisiana. . . I guess it's not a surprise then that Burkman has been soliciting girls in a gay pride parade for prostitution. . .

WP profile on Jason Leopold leaves his credibility in shreds – and I’m sorry for ever giving his “scoops” space here

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/16/AR2006061601754.html

More: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/washington-post-destroys-jason-leopold.html

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015104.html

Jamison Foser’s opus on media accountability

http://mediamatters.org/items/200606160008

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/17/AR2006061700650.html
FOX NEWS SUNDAY: White House press secretary Tony Snow, New Democrat Network President Simon Rosenberg and Center for American Progress President John D. Podesta.

THIS WEEK (ABC): Preempted by World Cup coverage.

FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.); and Snow.

MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), Shell Oil Co. President John Hofmeister, ConocoPhillips Co. Chairman James J. Mulva and Chevron Corp. Chairman David J. O' Reilly.

LATE EDITION (CNN): Sens. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.); Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, former secretary of state Lawrence S. Eagleburger, former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and Snow.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

ISN’T IT IRONIC?

Oh, man, count the ironies here

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/14837174.htm
Pentagon investigators threatened the death penalty and used other coercive techniques to obtain statements from some of the seven Marines and a Navy corpsman jailed for the shooting death of an Iraqi civilian, two defense lawyers say. . .

Jodka was questioned for up to eight hours at a time . . .

"They used some really heavy-handed tactics to extract the information”. . .

[NB: What, no electrodes? No snarling dogs? . . . ]

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/washington/16cnd-formica.html

Is “military intelligence,” as they say, an oxymoron? Read this, and judge for yourselves

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/004416.html

More ironies: hard-line GOPers, who won’t hear of amnesty for illegal immigrants, are falling all over themselves to justify amnesty for insurgents who have been killing US troops

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_06_11_atrios_archive.html#115047916206408186

More: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/make-no-mistake-iraqi-government-does.html

[NB: And we ask, once again, what would happen if the Democrats had proposed such a thing?]

Tony says 2500 US troops dead in Iraq is just “a number.”

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/harry-reid-blasts-white-house-over.html

[NB: And we ask, again once again, what would happen if a Democrat said this?]

Lying for political advantage: when the media won’t point it out, what’s the cost?

http://www.prospect.org/horsesmouth/2006/06/post_124.html#002820

The Democrats get their hands on a briefing book for Congressional Republicans, prepared by the PENTAGON, to give them guidelines on how to play the Iraq issue (and it might be illegal)

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7707.html

Beyond cynical

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/17/washington/17cong.html

How Donald Rumsfeld is ruining the nation’s military

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6313

Total Information Awareness: despite the fact that Congress pulled funding for it, you never really thought the Bush gang would give it up, did you?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_06_11.php#008767
[Justin Rood] The ill-conceived datamining effort is back, and worse than ever -- they've stripped privacy protections and abuse safeguards from the system . . .

More: http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/004413.html

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000924.php

What does the announcement that Rove won’t be indicted mean for Truthout, which published a report that he already was?

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015098.html

How did Rove get away with it?

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3057

What questions about Rove should the media be pressing now?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/06/13/BL2006061300764.html

What will happen when all of Bush’s recess appointments need to come back for formal approval?

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6320

The 2004 election theft: does anyone care any more? (thanks to Susan Madrak for the links)

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mark_cri_060616_some_might_call_it_t.htm

More: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_greg_pal_060616_african_american_vot.htm

Credit where credit is due. I like Hillary’s Privacy Bill of Rights

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/hillary-calls-for-privacy-bill-of.html

Bonus item: Groundhog Day? Please wake me

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7709.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

ENOUGH!

OK, I’m ticked off about the Rove situation and extra-grumpy tonight. I am SICK AND TIRED of. . .

. . . of the media acting like hired help to the WH public relations machine

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6301
After the release of a picture depicting White House counselor Dan Bartlett and press secretary Tony Snow wearing helmets and flak jackets while riding in a helicopter in Iraq, CNN chief national correspondent John King reported that President Bush also wore protective gear during the helicopter ride, but that members of the media "did not get to photograph" Bush . . .


. . . of the callous dismissal of US troop casualties by the people who put them in harm’s way

http://makeashorterlink.com/?L2051594D
[AP] American deaths since the invasion of Iraq have reached 2,500, marking a grim milestone. . . "It's a number," White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters at the White House. . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7698.html

. . . of the pretense that we are in Iraq at the request of the government there

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060615/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_troop_withdrawal_1
Iraq's vice president has asked President Bush for a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq, the Iraqi president's office said. . . Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni, made the request during his meeting with Bush on Tuesday, when the U.S. president made a surprise visit to Iraq.

"I supported him in this," President Jalal Talabani said in a statement released Wednesday. . .

Bush made it clear during his visit that the U.S. military presence — now at about 132,000 troops — would continue. . .

. . . of Republicans, oh-so-tough on the war, who are prepared to throw every principle overboard if it will get the troops out and save their hides in the fall election

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_06_11_atrios_archive.html#115040777237169630
[DSCC] This afternoon on the Senate floor, several Senate Republicans are DEFENDING the proposal to give amnesty to terrorists who have killed or wounded American troops. . .

More: http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_06_11_atrios_archive.html#115040866727974101

. . . of Arlen Specter’s double-talk and cowardice

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/06/specter-falsely-denied-proposing_15.html

. . . of the Bush-appointed judiciary, which endorses police-state activities

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015092.html
The police have little incentive to obey the constitutional requirement to knock and announce their presence before busting down doors to serve search warrants, thanks to a 5-4 Supreme Court decision issued today. Justice Alito provided the tie-breaking vote. . .

. . . of Donald Rumsfeld’s assault on human rights

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015087.html
So much for freedom of the press. Journalists have been forced to leave Guantanamo in the wake of the suicides. . .

. . . of the Bush gang’s obsession with secrecy and keeping information from the public

http://susiemadrak.com/2006/06/16/07/06/under-the-rug/
[LAT] Senate Democrats on Thursday accused the Bush administration of withholding key details about toxic waste sites that present risks of exposure to nearby residents. . .

. . . of the inability of the press to ask, and get answers, for the simplest of questions about Rove’s firing offenses

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015083.html
Did Karl Rove lie to investigators in the fall of 2003? . . .[read on]

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/15/rovespin/index.html

. . . of Tony Snow’s Me Big Dummy style of dodging questions

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/15/snow/index.html
Question: Tony [Snow], the investigation of Karl Rove is now over. Why is it, then, inappropriate for the president or the White House, three years later, to finally give us some sort of explanation or assessment, judgment, of Karl Rove's actions when it had nothing to do with the Libby trial?

Snow: Because, as you know, there is -- well, they may have. There is talk that he may be called --

Question: Scott McClellan has nothing to do with the Libby trial ...

Snow: Well, that's fine. I will continue my statement first. I can't give you any texture or background on the Scott/Karl stuff, because I wasn't here. But the president made it pretty clear that a lot of this stuff -- and as you know, Peter, once you get up on the stand, and Karl may be called to the stand -- they can ask about anything. And so it is our view that we're simply not going to get involved in making comments on something that may be brought to trial, when Scooter Libby is still under indictment and is going to go to trial with the special prosecutor. The other thing is that Karl, apparently, the prosecutor found nothing untoward in what Karl has done, there is no indictment. But we're just not going to go into it. You could go at it 58 different angles, I'm still not going to give you an answer.

Question: Let me ask a general question then. In 2000, the president said it wasn't enough to simply not be indicted in the White House, that he had a higher ethical standard. Is that, in fact, still the ethical standard --

Snow: Yes.

Question: -- or, in fact, should we interpret from his comments yesterday that as long as you're not indicted, everything is fine?

Snow: Apparently, you've indicted Karl.

Question: No, I'm asking a question.

Snow: And yes, the answer is, the ethical standard still applies.

Question: And what is the ethical standard?

Snow: You tell me. I mean, the president said the higher ethical standard -- you were reciting a thing. You know what the president says is: You serve honorably, you serve well, you obey the law.

Question: And the reality is --

Question: Did Karl Rove serve honorably and serve --

Snow: Like I said, don't try to get me to bite on it because I'm not going to do it ...

Question: ... Is the vice president's office worried about what that may -- how intrusive [the Libby trial] could be, in terms of the inner operations of his office?

Snow: I don't have any idea. You'll have to deal with his office on that ...

Question: Tony, yesterday the president said that he's made the comments he's going to make about the Karl Rove matter, and now he's going to move forward. A year ago, he told us at least twice that he would be more than happy to comment further once the situation, the investigation was completed. Does this mean that despite telling us that he would comment further that now he isn't going to? Or does it mean that he will comment further and be happy to at a later date?

Snow: Well, I'm going to let his comments yesterday suffice. I'm not going to get beyond what he said yesterday, and we'll see what happens. That would be a why-don't-I-figure-it-out -- what the president said yesterday is he's not going to comment because the Libby trial is upcoming. I don't know if he has any plans --

Question: Has he made the comments he's going to make?

Snow: Victoria, I don't know if he has any plans. I just don't know. I can't give you an answer.

Question: Will that include appeals? How far can we stretch this?

Snow: I don't know, Peter. But I'll tell you what. It's obviously really important to you guys. I'll try to find out ...

Question: I have one other one on Karl Rove working in the White House, and the "honorable standard" question, which is that he's not being indicted, apparently. But three years ago -- I say "apparently" because I don't think anyone has seen the letter yet -- but three years ago he was asked about whether he has spoken to any reporter about whether Valerie Plame was --

Snow: OK, I'm not going to -- I can't get back into that question, because, frankly, I'm totally incompetent on it, and I'm not going to get in the middle of the Karl Rove thing. That all predates me.

Question: I can't even finish the question?

Snow: You can finish the question. I'll give you the same answer.

Question: ... Scott McClellan was asked whether in fact he had spoken to any reporter about whether Valerie Plame worked for the CIA. And the reply was that he had assured Scott McClellen that he wasn't involved in any of this.

Snow: Right. As I said, thank you for getting me in the middle of an old fight that I have no part in and I'm not -- I'm just not going to play on it. But thank --

Question: It seems clear, however that he spoke with Matt Cooper, Judith Miller and Robert Novak, so it would seem that the two answers don't match.

Snow: OK, thank you.

. . . of the Fox News/Bush Gang Mutual Stroking Society

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/15/cheney/index.html
Hannity: Well, I got to admit, these are good times for the administration. You got -- Zarqawi is dead, revenues are up significantly, the deficit has been cut significantly, the president's trip. And I'm also told there's some breaking news that a high-value insurgent has again been captured in Iraq just now.

Cheney: Well, you're ahead of me on that one. I knew about all the other stuff, Sean, but I hadn't heard that one yet.

Hannity: See, that's why I'm here, to bring you good news.

Cheney: That's right. (Laughter.) I got to tune in every day to find out what's really going on in the world.

Hannity: Three hours a day, Mr. Vice President, is all we ask. . . .

. . . of the media’s refusal to draw a clear contrast between the Democrats, who act to oust their own crooks, and Republicans, who bend over backwards to excuse theirs

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/008760.php
Tonight, the House Democrats voted to strip Rep. Bill Jefferson of his seat on the House Ways & Means Committee. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi pushed very hard for this. And it's created a lot of controversy and tension within the Democratic caucus. . .

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060616/ap_on_go_co/democrats_jefferson_8

. . . of Ann Coulter, period

http://www.qando.net/Details.aspx?Entry=4060
John Hawkins: How about dashing off a quick sentence or even just a word or two about the following individuals... [John Murtha]

Ann Coulter: The reason soldiers invented "fragging."

More: http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_06_11_atrios_archive.html#115042874917163279

Bonus item: in the Fall 2006 elections, the issue is Bush

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_digbysblog_archive.html#115040559807807714

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

YOUR ROVING REPORTER

Man, I’m away from the Internet for a day and all hell breaks loose. OK, what does the Rove news mean?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/washington/14leak.html
Mr. Fitzgerald announced in a letter to Mr. Luskin on Monday that he would not indict Mr. Rove, who had testified on five occasions to a federal grand jury about his involvement in the disclosure of an intelligence officer's identity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/13/AR2006061300267.html
Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald told Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, in a short letter delivered Monday afternoon that he "does not anticipate seeking charges" against Rove in the case, Luskin said. . .

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/06/13/some-things-to-contemplate/
[Christy Hardin Smith] What exactly does the phrase "doesn’t anticipate bringing charges" mean? . . . [read on]

Rove’s lawyer (not Fitzgerald) says he’s off the hook

http://www.crisispapers.org/essays6w/rove-skate.htm
[Bernard Weiner] Rove's lawyer won't release the text of Fitzgerald's letter that reportedly gives his client a walk. It's possible there are hints in the actual text indicating why Rove is free to go: on condition that he cooperate with the ongoing investigation, that sort of thing. . .

Is it significant that Fitzgerald hasn’t made any announcements?

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/06/13/dodging-cipa-graymail-bulletsand-other-legal-notes/
[Christy Hardin Smith] I’ve said this before, and I will say it again: unless and until I hear it from Patrick Fitzgerald, the investigation continues to be ongoing. Which means that there are still potential developments down the road, should the evidence (like handwritten marching orders on the Wilson op-ed in Dick Cheney’s handwriting) lead there. . . [read on]

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/13/rove3/index.html

Does this mean Rove cut a deal?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/13/corallo/index.html
[Tim Grieve] Rove spokesman Mark Corallo says no. In an e-mail message, Corallo tells us: "There is no deal. Period."

In a follow-up interview, we asked Corallo if he could provide us a copy of the letter -- and he says there was a letter -- that Luskin says he received from Fitzgerald. He declined to do so, saying it has been the Rove team's long-standing policy not to release written communication from the special prosecutor. He insisted, however, that the letter says nothing at all about Rove's continuing cooperation with Fitzgerald's investigation. "There is nothing, there are no conditions, there were no discussions of any conditions or deals or anything of the sort," Corallo said. . .

Plame and Wilson may still sue him

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/valerie-plame-and-joe-wilson-may-sue.html

So, then, why exactly can’t the White House answer ALL the questions now about Rove’s role in outing Plame’s identity – which Bush set as the standard for getting fired?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/008732.php
[Josh Marshall] The question going back three years ago now is whether Karl Rove knowingly participated in leaking the identity of a covert CIA operative for the purpose of discrediting a political opponent who was revealing information about the White House's use of intelligence in the lead-up to the Iraq War.

That was the issue. From the beginning, Rove, through Scott McClellan, denied that he did any of that. There weren't even any clever circumlocutions. He just lied. From admissions from Rove, filings in the Libby case, and uncontradicted reportage, we know as clearly as we ever can that Rove did do each of those things.

So he did do what he was suspected of and he did lie about it. . .

Rove and OJ: http://boilingmad.blogspot.com/2006/06/rovebush-pull-oj-today.html
Just as O.J. was cleared because of a jury decision, Rove was cleared for lack of a special counsel to investigate the Bush crimes. Also like O.J., Bush has promised to find the real leaker. . .

Bush says?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/AR2006061402160.html
President Bush yesterday reaffirmed his trust in White House strategist Karl Rove, and GOP allies said the longtime presidential adviser has no reason to apologize for his role in the disclosure of a CIA officer's identity three years ago.

"Along with others in the White House, I took a sigh of relief" when the news broke this week that Rove would not be charged in the CIA leak investigation, Bush told reporters in a Rose Garden news conference. "I trust Karl Rove." A senior White House official said Bush and his staff are eager to "put this behind us" as quickly as possible.

But while Rove appears out of legal jeopardy, partisans are already pressing a question that is likely to hound him and Bush for some time: Should Rove be held to account outside the legal system for his part in unmasking CIA officer Valerie Plame and initially telling the nation he was not involved?

The three-year investigation of the Plame leak did not result in criminal charges against Rove, but it did raise questions about his early denials. In 2003, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said he consulted Rove and was assured that the senior aide played no role in the leaking of Plame's name to the media. The White House left the clear impression that Rove knew nothing of the leak and certainly did not participate in it.

The subsequent federal investigation determined that Rove talked with at least two reporters about Plame before her identity was disclosed by columnist Robert D. Novak in July 2003, and that he relayed word of those conversations to other White House officials. . .

[NB: See, it’s just the “partisans” who are concerned that Bush stick to his own words, just the “partisans” who wants answers about what Rove’s role actually was. What a sorry excuse for an independent press]

More partisans: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/karl-rove-dreyfus-or-val_b_22894.html

http://mediamatters.org/items/200606130002

So now Rove is back on the case, crafting the message for 2006. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: cowardly Democrats will get you and your children killed

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/13/15236/5608
Rove, one of Washington's most powerful and polarizing figures who is under investigation in the leak of a CIA covert operative's name, chided Democrats for floating the idea of troop reductions in Iraq.

He specifically targeted Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha.

"Like too many Democrats it strikes me they are ready to give the green light to go to war, but when it gets tough, they fall back of that party's old platform of cutting and running. They may be with you for the first few bullets but they won't be there for the last tough battles," he said. . . [read on]

The internal GOP memo: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/06/14/boehner-memo/

Other ways Rove is spending his time

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/jun/13/mr_rove_is_ready_for_his_close_up
[Mark Schmitt] Now I’m sure plenty of people here will be appropriately outraged by the fact that an official paid by taxpayers is out there raising money for a felon’s legal fees. . .

Yet despite Bush’s showboat trip to Iraq, this much-needed Rove news, and other good breaks, Bush’s popularity surge amounts to . . . 1%

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/media-cant-believe-it-bush-isnt-moving.html
[Joe] The media can't believe it, Bush isn't moving in the polls. . .

Ann Coulter, plagiarist

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/For_new_book_Coulter_cribs_adult_0613.html

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2006/06/why-ann-coulters-plagiarism-matters.html

Bonus item: Bush chides blind reporter for wearing sunglasses

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/06/14/bush-reporter-shades/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

MEGHAN-IZED

Happy talk? If you want to know why we have such a screwed-up situation in Iraq, just read this

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/washington/12osullivan.html
At the end of each day, President Bush gets a three-to-four-page memo from the National Security Council staff about developments over the previous 24 hours in Iraq. The document, said to be written in the crisp, compelling style that the president prefers, can cover a range of issues — the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, new nominees for cabinet posts or the progress, or lack of it, in ending the three-year insurgency.

The person responsible for the memo is someone who is largely unknown outside the administration, but who colleagues say is instrumental in shaping Mr. Bush's views: Meghan L. O'Sullivan, the 36-year-old deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan, and the most senior official working on those nations full time at the White House. . .

Ms. O'Sullivan, who was crisp and wary in a recent interview in her office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, would say little more about her conversations with Mr. Bush. But people who have seen her brief the president say she has been succinct, unpretentious, full of facts and cheerful — exactly what Mr. Bush likes. . .

In Baghdad, American Embassy officials sometimes use the phrase, "Let's not Meghan-ize the problem," meaning, let's not try to impose order on the chaos of Iraq with one of her five-point presentations. . .

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/06/post_569.html
[Matt Yglesias] Elisabeth Bumiller's profile of White House Iraq aide Meghan O'Sullivan is another reminder that, though it's impolite and possibly politically counterproductive to say so, the man in charge of this country seems to be a bit dimwitted. His Iraq briefing memos are only three pages long and "written in the crisp, compelling style that the president prefers." O'Sullivan is praised for her ability to "distill a complex mass of developments into something more penetrable" and for being "succinct, unpretentious, full of facts and cheerful — exactly what Mr. Bush likes."

The other thing is that even though the whole article's about Iraq, this isn't her exclusive focus. Instead, her job is "deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan." Is there any reason to combine those two jobs? They're different wars happening in different countries. Surely each is important enough to have a separate mid-level staffer as coordinator. The only rationale for collapsing the two jobs would seem to be maintaining the fiction that invading Iraq was, like toppling the Taliban, a straightforward response to 9-11.

Scapegoat? http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3045

Early indications coming out of Bush’s big two-day Iraq retreat are less than inspiring

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/12/AR2006061200271.html
Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top U.S. commander in Iraq, "will be making those assessments, as he told us today via the teleconference," Bush said. "He says he will make these proper assessments and come back to us and make recommendations to us. Whatever we do will be based upon the conditions on the ground. And whatever we do will be toward a strategy of victory”. . . “I thought your assessment of the situation in Iraq was very realistic," Bush told the officials in Baghdad when reporters were briefly allowed into the room. "I think your recommendations to us on how to win in Iraq, to have an Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself are -- your recommendations are valid."

But some things never change: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/13/washington/13prexy.html
It came as Republicans began a new effort to use last week's events to turn the war to their political advantage after months of anxiety, and to sharpen attacks against Democrats. On Monday night, the president's top political strategist, Karl Rove, told supporters in New Hampshire that if the Democrats had their way, Iraq would fall to terrorists and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would not have been killed. . . "When it gets tough, and when it gets difficult, they fall back on that party's old pattern of cutting and running," Mr. Rove said at a state Republican Party gathering in Manchester.

Tom Friedman, enabler

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/06/post_577.html
[Ben Adler] The Tom Friedman column mocked ‘round the world (in which he boldly declared for the umpteenth time that "the next six months are crucial in Iraq") just gets funnier as Friedman goes on the defensive. . .

More: http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_06_11_atrios_archive.html#115013580415816716

Serious people across the political spectrum are sounding pretty pessimistic about our prospects in Iraq

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7666.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_06/009001.php

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/12/apology/index.html

Permanent bases in Iraq? The Bush gang’s doubletalk

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=917053
"It is not only our plan but our policy that we do not intend to have any permanent bases in Iraq," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt -- the Central Command deputy commander for planning and strategy in Iraq -- promised in January. The following month, Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes was asked if the U.S. planned to keep permanent military bases in Iraq. "No," Hughes responded, "we want to bring our people home as soon as possible." But the New York Times reported yesterday that officials have begun to "look at the costs of maintaining a force of roughly 50,000 troops there for years to come, roughly the size of the American presence maintained in the Philippines and Korea for decades after those conflicts." This is not the first signal the administration has sent on a permanent military presence in Iraq. When asked if "U.S. forces could be in Iraq five or even 10 years down the road," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would not deny the possibility. Newsweek reported on the administration's efforts to build up military installations in Iraq with $1.1 billion in military construction. And despite unanimous agreements against permanent base funding in both the House and Senate Iraq spending bills, conservatives quietly killed the provision last week. Researchers have "found a link between support for attacks and the belief among Iraqis that the United States intends to keep a permanent military presence in the country."

Copious documentation of their lies, c/o Billmon

http://billmon.org/archives/002465.html
The United States is planning a long-term military relationship with the emerging government of Iraq, one that would grant the Pentagon access to military bases and project American influence into the heart of the unsettled region, senior Bush administration officials say.
New York Times
Pentagon Expects Long-Term Access
To Four Key Bases in Iraq
April 20, 2003

The impression that's left around the world is that we plan to occupy the country, we plan to use their bases over the long period of time, and it's flat false.
Donald Rumsfeld
Press Conference
April 21, 2003

From the ashes of abandoned Iraqi army bases, U.S. military engineers are overseeing the building of an enhanced system of American bases designed to last for years.
Chicago Tribune
14 `enduring bases' set in Iraq
March 23, 2004

"Is this a swap for the Saudi bases? I don't know . . . When we talk about enduring bases here, we're talking about the present operation, not in terms of America's global strategic base. But this makes sense. It makes a lot of logical sense."
Brig. Gen. Robert Pollman,
chief engineer for base construction in Iraq
Chicago Tribune interview
March 23, 2004

This proposal will allow the Army to provide temporary facilities, and in some very limited cases, permanent facilities . . . These facilities include barracks, administrative space, vehicle maintenance facilities, aviation facilities, mobilization-demobilization barracks, and community support facilities.
U.S. Army
Supplemental Appropriation Request
February 14, 2005

U.S. military commanders have prepared plans to consolidate American troops in Iraq into four large air bases . . . The officers said a master plan for the positioning of U.S. forces in the Middle East, maintained by U.S. Central Command, did not envision keeping U.S. forces in Iraq permanently.
Washington Post
Commanders Plan Eventual Consolidation
Of U.S. Bases in Iraq
May 22, 2005

Initially referred to as "enduring bases" in 2004, these four bases were redesignated as "Contingency Operating Bases" in February 2005.
GlobalSecurity.org
Iraq Facilities
Date unknown

Any attempt to find out whether the US is, or is not, constructing permanent military bases meets with frustration. The few who have attempted to get a direct answer to this question are met with evasion and purposeful confusion over what is or is not "permanent".
Former Sen. Gary Hart
Financial Times op-ed
January 4, 2006

We want Iraq to stand on its own feet, we have no goal of establishing permanent bases here.
Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to Iraq
Interview with Iraq television
March 11, 2006

The policy on long term presence in Iraq hasn't been formulated. And I don't imagine that it will emerge until a government of national unity emerges.
Centcom Commander Gen. John Abizaid
House appropriations subcommittee hearing
March 14, 2006

The House . . . gave anti-war Democrat Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland a rare victory by accepting her proposal to bar permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq. Lee's amendment, which would bar the use of any funds in the new spending bill to establish permanent bases, passed on a voice vote, with no one speaking in opposition.
San Francisco Chronicle
House OKs bill to pay for Iraq war
March 17, 2006

Yesterday, the Senate unanimously passed an amendment to the Iraq supplemental spending bill . . . that would require the Bush administration not to use any appropriated funds for the construction of permanent bases in Iraq.
Think Progress
Congress Has Spoken:
No Permanent Military Bases In Iraq
May 4, 2006

I've told the American people I'd like to get our troops out as soon as possible.
George W. Bush
Press Conference
June 9, 2006

Congressional Republicans killed a provision in an Iraq war funding bill that would have put the United States on record against the permanent basing of U.S. military facilities in that country . . . Senate aides said Republican staffers removed the provisions from the bills before House and Senate negotiators convened this week in a late-night work session to write a compromise spending bill.
Reuters
Iraq war bill deletes US military base prohibition
June 10, 2006

Mr. Bush on Friday made clear that the American commitment to the country will be long-term. Officials say the administration has begun to look at the costs of maintaining a force of roughly 50,000 troops there for years to come, roughly the size of the American presence maintained in the Philippines and Korea for decades after those conflicts.
New York Times
U.S. Seeking New Strategy
For Buttressing Iraq's Government
June 11, 2006

To achieve lasting peace in Iraq, America will have to make concessions, including an explicit commitment not to seek permanent military bases in Iraq. Perhaps no issue in the coming years will more clearly expose the real purpose of the Bush administration's postwar mission in Iraq: to build democracy or to obtain a new, regional military platform in the heart of the Arab world.
Larry Diamond
The seeds of insurgency
June 30, 2005

John Bolton, un-approved UN representative, finishes his first year on the job. How’s he doing?

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/06/post_575.html
[Mark Leon Goldberg] As John Bolton approaches the one-year mark of his recess appointment, it is clear that his tenure has been defined by the waning of American influence at the United Nations. His preference for zero-sum games in a forum that has advanced beyond those kinds of negotiating tactics has backfired, and has done so to the detriment of American interests at the United Nations. . .

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/11/AR2006061100765.html

Must-read. Where would we be if the press DIDN’T publish government secrets?

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/06/publishing-secrets.html

Brilliant! Bush gang argues in court that their domestic spying is legal, but they can’t explain WHY it is legal, because that would betray national security

http://crookedtimber.org/2006/06/12/we-could-tell-you-why-its-legal-but-then-wed-have-to-kill-you/

More: http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015071.html

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/06/orwellian-doublespeak.html

Damn them. Damn them all to hell

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015058.html
One of the three detainees who committed suicide at Guantanamo had been scheduled for release and not yet told. . .

Violent crime rate rises under Bush (and this isn’t even counting Abu Ghraib and Gitmo)

http://makeashorterlink.com/?U1C43104D

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/crime_control_/2006/06/bad_news_on_the_crime_front.php
[Mark Kleiman] This seems like a lousy time to be reducing Federal aid to local law enforcement . . .

Awww. . . .

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/06/when-bush-goes-from-35-to-33-its-not.html
Zarqawi's killing hasn't helped President Bush with the public, either. His overall job approval rating remains just 33 percent — down slightly from 35 percent last month . . .

How stupid is Rick Santorum (R-PA), to think that people wouldn’t catch this?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7663.html
English-language visitors to www.ricksantorum.com encountered a home page filled with concern about the "amnesty-ridden proposal" the U.S. Senate adopted to deal with illegal immigration.

But a section of the site for Spanish readers made no mention of amnesty in its discourse on immigration. Nor did it refer to "rewarding criminal behavior" of illegal immigrants, as the English version did.

Jim Hoefler, a professor of political science at Dickinson College, noted: "The English version is kind of the Rick Santorum we know - no amnesty, law and order, tough guy. The Spanish version is a lot softer - we need to find a balance, that sort of approach."

More: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2006/06/12/santorums_mixed_messages.html

The Lieberman Problem

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/06/12/the-lieberman-problem/

More: http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_06_11_atrios_archive.html#115014208414964195

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/13/21853/4271

Uh-huh, riiiight: House crooks now claim to have gotten “clearance” from the increasingly-misnamed “Ethics” committee

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_06_11.php#008720

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_06_11.php#008723

Truthout tries to explain its “Rove indicted” story by suggesting that his indictment was issued, but sealed

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/12/rove/index.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_06/009002.php

More: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061206Z.shtml

But after further review. . . http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/12/rove2/index.html

This is hilarious

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2006/06/12/libby_to_plead_bad_memory.html
Scooter Libby's defense team is "considering calling a memory expert to testify at his trial early next year" to help prove that the "any erroneous statements made to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents or the grand jury were the result of a faulty memory, and not intentional lies," Washington Wire reports.

More: http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015064.html

Digby on YearlyKos and the future(s) of progressive blogging

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/06/12/take-a-bow/

Hype? http://www.slate.com/id/2143502/fr/rss/

Rewriting history. Fox News (after all this!) says it’s going to investigate and clear up the question of WMDs and a possible Saddam/Al Qaeda link once and for all. Does anyone doubt what their conclusions will be?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7665.html

[NB: Aided, no doubt, by selective leaks and hints from the Bush foreign policy team]

I know, I know it’s too soon to predict the decline of Ann Coulter’s influence, but. . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_digbysblog_archive.html#115017687147737423

Bonus item: Why does the (so-called) “Christian” Right refuse to denounce this violent video game?

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_06_11_atrios_archive.html#115012175734145002

http://billmon.org/archives/002466.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***