Paul Bremer's Book and Other Stuff

Paul Bremer, our former liar in Iraq- or I mean our former head of the former CPA-, has just realesed a new book in which he makes very clear just had big, how bad, and how opposite the truth the lies were that he was publicly telling all of us, American citizens, while he was head of the CPA. Wolf Blitzer just played an interview with Bremer in which Bremer says that the Administration planned effectively, that we had enough troops, and that we did not need anymore troops. That was obviously a lie because he writes in his book that at the time he told both Donald Rumsfeld and Condi Rice that we did not have enough troops and that we needed more. When confronted with his old clip from that time saying, we had and have enough troops, his response was even more disturbing- he said that he has been in government long enough to know that you tell your bosses exactly what you think but you keep that between you and them, and in public (interviews, press conferences) you support whatever your bosses are doing, and if you cannot support them because you disagree too strongly then you resign. Really? Interesting, to say the least. So, what he is saying is that you tell your bosses what you think, you publicly lie to the American people- even when our soldiers lives are at risk- and the only time you reveal what was really going on is if you are writing a book and need to make money. Interesting concept and a very moral approach. At least he seems to hold the same moral code as his party leaders. He also said in a Wolf Blitzer interview at the time that, Iraq's aftermath was not choatic and we were fully prepared. Again though, in his book he says that, it was extremely chaotic and we were not prepared at all for Iraq's aftermath. What a good-hearted, honest guy. I am sure glad and feel lucky that we had him, as one of Bush's chosen government leaders, representing us abroad. This book writing, truth telling is typical of folks coming out of this administration. It happened with Colin Powell, it happened with Paul O'Neill, now it is happening with Paul Bremer. Some folks did not lie to the public and did just what Mr. Bremer suggested and either resigned or were fired for speaking the truth. General Eric Shinseki was fired for telling the truth about how many troops were needed, Richard Clarke resigned over the utter incompetence of this Administration, and Michael Scheuer- former head of the CIA's Bin Laden Unit- resigned over the incompetence of the Administration and a strong disagreement with their ridiculous plan to attack Iraq. Meanwhile you have Vice President Cheney and CIA leaking national security jeapordizer Karl Rove out trying to get out their blatantly false, stupidly simplistic talking points on the reason's why they broke the law and disregarded the Constitution, and also trying to paint Democrats into a corner with their way off base political rhetoric, that is in the disguise of "protecting Americans" and defending America's "national security". American's should have seen through this deplorable strategy in the 2004 elections, but I think they are well aware of it now and hopefully they can see around it and vote against it, putting our country before their party.

The Irony of Democracy

Have you ever considered the irony of us, at this time- with this President, trying to spread Democracy? We do not even have a Democracy here at home anymore. U.S. CITIZENS have been locked-up for years with no charges filed or being brought, without being able to speak to anybody- including their family or even A LAWYER. Do you remember the diversion of any high ranking blame for Abu Ghraib? Do you remember how this administration said "it was just few rogue soldiers" and "we do not condone torture"? Now, think about how much audacity it has to take for this administration, at this time, to be fighting the US Senate in order to allow tortue. Just a few rogue soldiers huh? Now, imagine how shameful it is to only punish, and throw all blame, on the soldiers who were following orders; orders from all the way up to the President. Very patriotic, I must say. How are there people in our country who do not see this and still support Bush? Aside from this, if any military official speaks out against this President, the Iraq War, or even so much as tell the truth about the number of soldiers and equiptment they need then they are fired (see General Shinseki). Is this the Democracy we are spreading? We now have our President illegally wire-tapping American citizens and not only that but also claiming he has this authority under our Constitution. So the President is now using our Constitution to take away our citizens Constitutional rights, how convenient. Oh, and the President says the Constitution is what gives him the power to bypass laws that he does not like, and officially try to keep it a secret. Is this the Democracy we are spreading? The President does not look for qualifications, other than being his loyal friend, in appointing extremely important government positions. I mean he tried to appoint Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, and I think everyone remembers the consequences of having his Arabian Horse Judging crony as Head of FEMA (see Hurricane Katrina). Michael Brown did nothing, except eat at restaraunts and send e-mails referring to himself as a "fashion god", while people were hurt, starving, dehydrating, and dying. What a good hearted guy, and a great Bush appointment. Do you remember Bush saying, "You're doing a heck of a job Brownie, keep up the good work". The "good work" of sitting back doing nothing, while thousands of poor people suffered. Is this the Democracy we are spreading? How about the corrupt Republican political establishment and their conections with Jack Abramoff. Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay, Ralp Reed (the great moral Christian), were stealing money from American-Indian Tribes in order to fund Republican campaigns for Congress. Now that is some really ethical, moral, democratic stuff to be doing, right? How about Representative Duke Cunningham having to resign over his scandals with money. How about Scooter Libby (and Karl Rove) leaking the identity of a CIA operative- ruining her career, putting countless people in direct danger (all of her contacts and assetts worldwide), giving tips and information to everyone about what jobs and fronts CIA operatives use, and irrepairably damaging our Nations National Security - all because the CIA operative's husband exposed the President as a liar. Is this the kind of Democracy we are spreading? I have so much more to discuss, but I will leave it here for now and ask you who read this to think about it.

Torture

Isn't it ironic? If someone brings up the fact that we, the United States, did not find WMD's in Iraq, then straight from their talking points Republicans will spout something about Saddam being a "bad guy" and say how he "tortured people". It is ironic because, if the justification for overthrowing a government and its leader's is them being "bad guys and condoning torture", then it is fair to say that most (if not all) of our current leaders should step-down now; furthermore, I cannot understand why some Republicans are backing-up and defending our leaders who are taking this highly immoral position. This position, to condone torture, is completely destroying any last threads of decency, respect, and credibility that we have left in the eyes of the rest of the world. Oh, and by the way, I should also mention that experts pretty much agree that torturing a person does not produce credible intelligence because a person being tortured will basically say whatever he has to say (even if it is all lies), in order to stop the pain of the torture. Our leaders who condone these tortorous interrogation methods know that they do not produce reliable intelligence. Then again, these are the same people who led our country to war under false pretenses. I guess it is rather convenient for them to condone torture, even knowing that it does not produce anything truthful because they can just use these methods to get any type of intelligence that they need in order to justify the plans that they already have drawn-up.