No, it wasn’t Judith “Kneepads” Miller, receptacle for the likes of Chalabi the crook and Mylroie the crank who owes us all an apology that we’re apparently not going to get.
This is a real journalist.
History Repeating
Interesting quote on C-Span last night (from memory):
- In 1964, we had a peace candidate who wasn’t really a peace candidate.
That was a young John Kerry on the Dick Cavett Show, June 1971.
Parsing Rice
Rice, in a prime-time television interview, reiterated the White House argument that the president’s top advisers should not be forced to testify in public.
In other words, testifying in public, Rice says that the president’s top advisers should not be forced to testify in public.
So, all we’re left with are her objections to being “forced” and the one she left out…”under oath.” Since the 9/11 commission has said it is reluctant to subpoena Rice and that it probably wouldn’t do so, the only objection left standing is the “under oath” objection. I think it’s fair to say that Rice will testify whenever and wherever she chooses as long as she can LIE. This is such a transparently indefensible position that even Republicans are urging her to testify for the commission.
The only question left concerning Condoleeza Rice is what is she lying about?
UPDATE: Paul Waldman explains “Why Condoleezza Rice won’t raise her right hand and swear to tell the truth.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Shark at Blogcritics.org piles on: FRIED RICE: ‘Condi’ Lies Again
Insightful: Finally, the White House is reportedly moving to declassify congressional testimony then-White House adviser Richard Clarke gave in 2002. By declassifying this testimony, the White House is breaking the very same “principle” of barring White House adviser’s testimony from being public that Rice is using to avoid appearing publicly before the 9/11 commission!
Chalabi’s Curveball
I wonder if the Moral Clarity crowd will denounce Curveball and his handlers or are they too busy smearing Richard Clarke?
Iraqi “Freedom” Bremer Style
BAGHDAD, Iraq (March 28, 10:23 am AST) – The U.S.-led coalition on Sunday shut down a weekly newspaper run by followers of a hardline Shiite Muslim cleric, saying its articles were increasing the threat of violence against occupation forces.
Hours after the closure of Al-Hawza, more than 1,000 supporters of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr demonstrated peacefully in front of the newspaper’s offices, decrying what they called a crackdown on freedom of expression.
Dozens of U.S. soldiers arrived at the Al-Hawza newspaper offices Sunday morning and closed its doors with chains and locks, sheik Abdel-Hadi Darraja said in front of the one-story house.
Darraja is a representative of al-Sadr, who lives in the southern holy city of Najaf and has been an outspoken critic of the U.S.-led occupation, but has not called for armed attacks.
OK, so Bremer is shutting down an Iraqi paper run by Muqtada al Sadr’s bunch. That seems pretty foolish to me, since it is inviting a retaliation. They really don’t need al Sadr on the warpath right now, do they? But aside from how dumb it is to do this totalitarian dictator act right now, how ridiculous is this?
A coalition spokesman confirmed the 60-day closure, saying several articles “were designed to incite violence against coalition forces and incite instability” in Iraq.
The spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said any violation of the closure could lead to the imprisonment of newspaper employees for up to one year and a fine of up to $1,000.
Now, where did this rule come from? The new “constitution?” Is Bremer making this up as he goes? Is Bremer going to be running the jails in Iraq a year from now, or are the Iraqis just supposed to lock up whoever Bremer says to lock up?
One thing is certain. No one is “inciting violence” in Iraq better than the Americans with their military occupation enforcing Stalinist policies.
“What is happening now is what used to happen during the days of Saddam. No freedom of opinion. It is like the days of the Baath,” said Hussam Abd al-Kadhim, 25, a vendor who took part in the demonstration, referring to the Baath Party that ruled Iraq for 35 years until Saddam Hussein was ousted a year ago.
Well, at least the oil wells that haven’t been blown up got liberated.
Al-Sadr, who lives in the southern holy city of Najaf, is outspoken about the US-led occupation, but has not called for armed attacks.
Yet.
A statement issued by his office on the newspaper’s closure said: “We ask everybody to come to the newspaper and stay there until it is reopened.”
OK, Bremer. Looks like it’s your move.
Eyes on Iraqis
“You can’t escape and you can’t hide … the coalition will find you and bring you to justice.”
This is a leaflet that the Marines have scattered all over Fallujah, according to Iraqis.
In 10 days since the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force relieved the 82nd Airborne in Fallujah, 7 Marines have been killed.
Don’t expect to find out how those Marines were killed. Carol Rosenberg reports for Knight Ridder:
Adopting a new tactic, the Marines have stopped giving information about how Marines have been killed or give any details about the latest battles, saying any information helps the enemy. Instead of explaining how Marines were killed, they say only “due to enemy action.”
I think this flyer is a good illustration of something Senator Rockefeller said today as he was lamenting his “wrong” vote authorizing the invasion of Iraq:
“We had this feeling we could be welcomed as liberators. Americans don’t know history, geography, ethnicity. The administration had no idea of what they were getting into in Iraq. We are not internationalists. We border on being isolationists. We don’t know anything about the Middle East.”
Indeed.