George Bush, Traitor and Liar in Chief

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Wednesday November 21, 2007 · 10:59 AM PST

2007/11/21 · 10:59

By L C Johnson (bio/blog)

Former Presidential spokesliar, oops, I mean spokesman, Scott McClellan, reminded us this week that the fish rots from the head. McClellan drops the truth bombshell that implicates George Bush and Dick Cheney in the sordid outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson. CNN reports that:

Amid a swelling controversy about the leak of Valerie Wilson's name, McClellan went to the White House podium in October 2003 and told reporters that Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, and Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff, had not been involved. . .

There was one problem. It was not true," McClellan writes in his new book, "What Happened," which is to be released in April. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff and the president himself."

L C Johnson

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Tuesday November 20, 2007 · 11:14 AM PST

2007/11/20 · 11:14

If Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Hillary Clinton’s campaign told him that they had some dirt on Obama, would Obama’s staff react as they did to the Robert Novak column of November 17? And yes, I am putting Novak in the same category as the crazy Iranian leader. Novak has damaged U.S. national security as much as Ahmadinejad with his exposure of Valerie Plame and the subsequent destruction of her clandestine intelligence network.

Why has Senator Barack Obama kept the Novak story alive through repeated statements for days? Is he just naïve or is he misinformed? Is he really so unfamiliar with the journalistic incest of Washington and Novak’s status as a Republican hit man? Why would Obama focus his campaign on unfounded “smears” circulated by Novak? Why would Obama, the candidate of “hope,” pump up the claims of Novak, “the prince of darkness”?

L C Johnson

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Monday November 05, 2007 · 7:56 AM PST

2007/11/05 · 07:56

PREFACE:

A group of distinguished intelligence and military officers, diplomats, and law enforcement professionals delivered an urgent message this morning to the chairman and the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling on them to hold the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey until he takes a clear position on the legality of waterboarding.

Their message strongly endorses the view of former judge advocates general that waterboarding "is inhumane, is torture, is illegal.” The intelligence veterans added it is also a notoriously unreliable way to acquire accurate information.

They noted that the factors cited by the president and Mukasey as obstacles to his giving an opinion on waterboarding can be easily solved by briefing Mukasey on waterboarding and on C.I.A. interrogation methods.

L C Johnson

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Wednesday October 31, 2007 · 6:07 AM PDT

2007/10/31 · 06:07

By L C Johnson (bio/blog)

More than six years since the terrorist attacks on 9-11 the intelligence community continues to employ a substandard analytical practice that virtually guarantees shoddy and inaccurate analysis. What am I talking about? An analyst within the CIA (or DIA or INR) who writes an article for the Presidential Daily Brief or other community wide daily intelligence brief is not currently required to coordinate with analysts outside of their organization. What's so bad about that? The failure to coordinate and obtain the clearance of other analysts prevents policymakers from getting the best analysis and information available. Perhaps this helps explain the mess we encountered with the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq.

Sorry to sound like an old guy, but I need to explain what I mean in talking about "coordination". When I was an analyst I was required to coordinate any article I wrote for the National Intelligence Daily and the Presidential Daily Brief with my counterparts at the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). For example, I was the Honduran analyst.

L C Johnson

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Sunday October 21, 2007 · 6:15 PM PDT

2007/10/21 · 18:15

Valerie's problem is her decency and humanity. She has reasons most Americans don't know to be really angry with George Bush and George Tenet but she has contained her rage. In a new tasty nugget in her book, Fair Game, she gives some details on the 2004 Al Qaeda threat to kill her. The response of the Administration, or more accurately, the lack of any response, is enough to make the Pope curse. What the Bush Administration failed to do and what George Tenet, CIA Director, failed to do, goes beyond cowardice.

L C Johnson

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Tuesday October 09, 2007 · 4:09 PM PDT

2007/10/09 · 16:09

By L C Johnson (bio/blog)

The third time can be a charm or an out. When it comes to the Bush Administration's mishandling of security information the jury is in--throw the bums in jail. Today's news detailed in Leslie's post -- "Bushies Tip Off al Qaeda…Again!" -- describes how the Bush Administration's eagerness to brief Faux News resulted in blowing a private sector operation to track Al Qaeda. But this ain't the first time. And on what basis can any reasonable person believe that Bush and company actually give a rat's ass about protecting classified info or punishing those who compromise secrets?

Valerie Plame Wilson anyone? The Bush Administration tossed around her name and the identity of her cover company--Brewster Jennings--as part of a deliberate strategy to discredit her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, for having the audacity to tell the American people the truth about the lies George W. Bush told in ginning up a case for war in Iraq. Security be damned. They had some politicking to do.

L C Johnson

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Friday October 05, 2007 · 2:54 PM PDT

2007/10/05 · 14:54

By L C Johnson (blog/bio)

Call me Don Quixote, but we may have a chance to get US policy towards Iran and Iraq back into the realm of sanity despite the Bush Administrations' suicidal tendencies. I base this in part on the results of briefing on consecutive days this week two very diverse groups of members of Congress. I will not tell you whether they were Senators or Representatives or both. Nor will I divulge the full details of our closed door discussions. (And, I did not get paid anything nor am I asking any member of Congress to do anything other than act in the best interest of the people of the United States).

Wednesday night I participated in the briefing of 14 members of Congress, a majority of whom would be labeled as liberal Democrats by most Republicans (but a couple of classy Republicans did attend that session). The following day I briefed 12 Republican legislators, who by Democratic standards, are considered libertarian to ultra conservative. The topic was the same--Is War with Iran Inevitable and What are our Options?

L C Johnson

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Sunday September 30, 2007 · 4:54 PM PDT

2007/09/30 · 16:54

By L C Johnson (blog/bio)

George W. Bush and his neocon buddies love to hype the "WAR" on terrorism and talk tough. Their basic premise is that we must "fight" terrorists using military force rather than that wimpy law enforcement stuff. This is neither new nor news. John Kerry made this point, unsuccessfully, during his ill-fated 2004 Presidential campaign. Opening a can of military whoop ass on terrorists resonates in the hearts of red blooded Americans, but it is largely patent nonsense. Once you get past the rhetorical excess and political posturing, it turns out that the U.S. military really does not have much of a role to play in combating terrorism.

It is not a lack of desire. The problem is that the capabilities inherent in the military do not match up with organization and behavior of terrorists. The U.S. military, even the most highly classified special operations forces, are not good at precise, limited use of force.

L C Johnson

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Tuesday September 25, 2007 · 12:24 PM PDT

2007/09/25 · 12:24

Certainly not an earth shattering headline, but disturbing nonetheless. The lack of love between George Bush and the United Nations is an old "dog-bites-man" story. Having put haters like John Bolton at the helm of the U.S. delegation, Bush's in-your-face "go fuck yourself" hostility to all things UN is no secret.

But today's performance in New York set a new low even for the Bush Administration. Except for tepid applause when Bush was introduced and when he left the podium, no one clapped. Not even our allies. The world has caught on to the George Bush propaganda game and declines to show him a modicum of respect.

Bush's efforts to wrap himself in the aura of AIDS prevention, feeding hungry children, rescuing refugees in Darfur, and restoring freedom in Myanmar fell flat. There was a time when the United States could stand proudly before countries like Cuba, Myanmar, Sudan, and Iran and lecture them on human rights and democracy. But in the wake of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, secret renditions and kidnappings of innocent Arab men, flaunting the UN Declarations on Human Rights, the creation of a million-plus refugees in Iraq (and the deaths of hundreds of thousands), and the suspension of habeus corpus, America has pissed away its credibility.

L C Johnson

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Monday September 17, 2007 · 11:47 AM PDT

2007/09/17 · 11:47

Depending on whether the Blackwater security firm stays in Iraq will inform us whether Prime Minister Maliki has any power or is just a U.S. puppet. My money is on the puppet. Over the weekend Blackwater contractors escorting a State Department/US Embassy Baghdad convoy got into a shoot out. Spencer Ackerman at TPM reports that:

Yesterday's incident involved an insurgent attack on a State Department convoy in the Sunni neighborhood of Mansour in western Baghdad. Blackwater personnel guarding the motorcade returned fire -- "to defend themselves," according to a State Department official quoted by The Washington Post. A Post reporter on the scene in Mansour witnessed Blackwater's Little Bird helicopters "firing into the streets." Almost immediately, an Interior Ministry spokesman said the company's license to operate in Iraq would be revoked.

First problem. Blackwater does not have a license to operate in Iraq and does not need one.

L C Johnson

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Saturday September 15, 2007 · 9:05 AM PDT

2007/09/15 · 09:05

By L. C. Johnson (bio/blog)

So where are we headed in Iraq? The fawning over General Petraeus by the most of the politicians and the media was so sickeningly sweet that diabetics were in danger of a coma. Petraeus was relatively low key and pulled off the pretense that his remarks were crafted without the input or coordination of the White House.

The earnest school boy mien of Petraeus defused MoveOn.org's clumsy attempt at painting the General as a traitor. But the error of MoveOn does not mean that Petraeus is a reincarnation of General Douglas MacArthur, at least militarily. Many would agree that, in terms of ego, he shares common bonds with MacArthur, but in terms of his actual record the hype does not match the actual performance. Brent Budowsky's piece published on this blog last week presents chapter and verse on Petraeus' so-called illustrious career.

But Petraeus is the side show. Where are we headed in Iraq and how do we get out? Pat Lang weighs in with the following:

L C Johnson

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Friday September 07, 2007 · 3:56 PM PDT

2007/09/07 · 15:56

By L. C. Johnson (bio/blog)

Sorry. If you're looking for some breathless analysis about another lame videotape, which allegedly contains the latest ramblings of the man behind the 9-11 attacks, this ain't it. It is meaningless bullshit. Why? Because the United States, and the Bush Administration in particular, is not serious about finding and eliminating Bin Laden.

Frankly it would not surprise me to learn that the person appearing as Bin Laden is someone else. What's with the beard dye? Is Bin Laden buying Grecian formula for facial hair? This video just does not make sense in either a strategic or tactical realm. It is simply a fuck you to the West.

Now let's go back to why I insist the Bush Administration is not serious about finding Bin Laden.

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The Bin Laden Video Nonsense