Who Is Really Destabilizing Iraq?

In making his case against Iran, George Bush often uses the argument that it is the Iranians who are killing Americans in Iraq.

How interesting that new data from our own military, and published in today's New York Times, has revealed that 60% of the foreign fighters who are serving as suicide bombers, and engaging in other attacks in Iraq, hail from Saudi Arabia and Libya. A graphic representation of this, from the New York Times, is pictured above.

In fact, Saudi Arabia, BushCo's business partner, who provided 15 of the 19 terrorists who engineered the 9/11 attacks, provided a whopping 41% of foreign fighters. And, wouldn't you know, the impact of Iranian foreign forces is almost negligible, in comparison.

This begs the question...will Mr. Bush advocate an invasion of Saudi Arabia? Or of Libya, our newfound 'friend?'

Yeah, that will happen about as quickly as Halliburton offering their services at non-price-gouging rates.

It's all about the oil. Always is, and always was.

Bush: The Pro-Lie President

Who knew the Pillsbury Doughboy had the cajones to tell the truth about Dubya?

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, whose press briefings I used to check out more regularly than I should probably admit, was almost a sympathetic figure in that capacity. He always came across to me as somebody who was in way over his head for the task required of him...very much like Mr. Bush himself, actually.

I was not surprised when he left. However, I never expected him to be a newsmaker in retirement.

Imagine my surprise when he leaked a bombshell, from his upcoming book about his White House experience, that essentially blames Bush and Veep Cheney as being part of a cabal of 5 that deliberately misled McClellan on the Plame incident. I am referring to the infamous press briefing where McClellan told reporters he had been assured by both Rove and Libby that they had nothing to do with leaking Plame's identity as a covert agent to reporters.

From a story today in AP,

"In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, McClellan recounts the 2003 news conference in which he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were "not involved" in the leak involving operative Valerie Plame.

"'There was one problem. It was not true,' McClellan writes, according to a brief excerpt released Tuesday. '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.'"

Interestingly, we get no further details on what this means, as McClellan is refusing additional comment. However, if it is indeed true, the repercussions for whatever shred remains of Bush's credibility is enormous.

Forget about allegedly being pro-life, I have already discussed how ludicrous it is for folks like Bush to even use that term. This would solidify the Commander-in-Chief's standing as the first pro-lie president.

It's amazing what the lure of bucks and the marketing of a memoir will do to transform one's character, eh?

Giving Robert Novak Way Too Much Power

Columnist Robert Novak, who will always be a traitor in my eyes for leaking the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, in his role as propagandist for BushCo, is once again back in the news.

It has to do with today's Op-Ed column which starts out as follows:

"Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it. The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed.

"This word-of-mouth among Democrats makes Obama look vulnerable and Clinton look prudent. It comes during a dip for the front-running Clinton after she refused to take a stand on New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's now discarded plan to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

"Experienced Democratic political operatives believe Clinton wants to avoid a repetition of 2004, when attacks on each other by presidential candidates Howard Dean and Richard Gephardt were mutually destructive and facilitated John Kerry's nomination."

After the fiasco of the Plame leak, and the growing lack of credibility for the term 'unnamed source,' this alleged "scandalous information" is weak enough. Coming from Novak, it is downright meaningless, not to mention ludicrous.

So, how absurd is it for Sen. Barack Obama to go ballistic and immediately assume that this is a maneuver by Sen. Hillary Clinton?

According to reports today, an Obama statement released yesterday asserted that,

"her campaign appeared to be either digging for dirt on his personal life or working in conjunction with Novak to intimidate him.

"'If the purpose of this shameless item was to daunt or discourage me or supporters of our campaign from challenging and changing the politics of Washington, it will fail. In fact, it will only serve to steel our resolve,' the Illinois senator said. He urged Clinton to 'either make public any and all information referred to in the item, or concede the truth: that there is none.'"

I am not a supporter of either Obama or Clinton, but I think this maneuver makes Sen. Obama look extremely weak. Why on earth would he give any credence to a story like this from Novak? What, does he think that Clinton will come forth and share the alleged dirt?

We are talking Robert Novak here. Discredited Robert Novak! The man who has demonstrated that he will sell the national security of the U.S. down the tubes to further the neo-con agenda.

What Novak did with his fraudulent news tip was not just attempt to discredit Obama, but also to stir up enmity against Clinton for supposedly having an aide leak the dirt to begin with.

The Clinton camp struck back hard, but it was hardly necessary. Novak, at the behest of GOP operatives, laid out the bait, and a desparate Obama took a great big chomp.

How nice of him to give Novak the credibility he so richly does not deserve.

The Firefighters Talk About The Real 9/11 Rudy

I know that my last post covered much of the same ground, but this video from the firefighters union is a bit longer and should probably be the first video anyone watches when deciding whether or not to vote for Mr. Giuliani.

The only agenda the firefighters have is getting the truth out there.

Hopefully this video helps.