A new Pentagon report found that nine officers, including a three-star general, mishandled the investigation into the "friendly fire" death in Afghanistan of Pat Tillman, the pro-football player turned Army Ranger, a senior defense official said Friday night.
The report will not mete out specific punishments to the officers, who include four generals in all. But the Army will begin its own review of what action should be taken.
"We are going to move quickly," an Army official said. "We found out mistakes were made. We've already made fixes. We are going to make more."
Is there anyone who is associated with this lying, corrupt administration who can say anything other than "mistakes were made"? Is the Pentagon getting their PR flack assist from Abu Gonzales?
The family of Pat Tillman has to finally feel vindicated and more than a little used by the 1600 Crew in their cynical exploitation of the tragic death of their son and brother to further the propaganda efforts of the war effort. I hope they can have some small solice now in knowing that the Army finally owned up to lying.
Those fuckers stand there and say it's all about "Duty, Honor, Country". Where were those traits when they were talking to the Tillman's after his death?
Abu Gonzales we hardly knew ye. No really... we didn't. I guess fixing jury duty for the boss pays off when you're a mediocre lawyer who hitches his wagon to the right star.
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales met with senior aides on Nov. 27 to review a plan to fire a group of U.S. attorneys, according to documents released last night, a disclosure that contradicts Gonzales's previous statement that he was not involved in "any discussions" about the dismissals.
Justice Department officials also announced last night that the department's inspector general and its Office of Professional Responsibility have launched a joint investigation into the firings, including an examination of whether any of the removals were improper and whether any Justice officials misled Congress about them.
Chuck Shumer said on Countdown the other night that there are enough career DoJ folks who know enough pieces of this to bring it all together for Congress eventually, Executive Privilege or no. The game might look more like Chess than Blackjack, (as the 1600 Crew desperately tries to play 3-card monte) as it oozes along in sequential moves, but there will be an end-game and it's not going to be pretty.
Of course, I don't think any claims of "Executive Privilege" could survive an impeachment inquiry, do you?
Interesting column by John Dean. Most telling sentence right at the end about the Harriet Miers.
In short, all those who have wanted to see Karl Rove in jail may get their wish, for he will not cave in, either -- and may well be prosecuted for contempt, as Gorsuch was not. Bush's greatest problem here, however, is Harriett Miers. It is dubious he can exert any privilege over a former White House Counsel; I doubt she is ready to go to prison for him; and all who know her say if she is under oath, she will not lie. That could be a problem.
Say what you will, I think he's on the mark there.
Rove took four trips to the Plame Grand Jury before he got his story straight, which makes me think that he's not inclined to tell the truth under oath if he thinks he's not going to get caught out. If, as Dean asserts, Miers won't lie, Rove has nowhere to hide but under the conjured shield of "Executive Privilege". And if that fails, he might be sharing living quarters with Duke Cunningham. Except perjury does not seem to be a particularly heinous crime if you are a republican in the adminstration.
I wonder if the House or Senate is planning to subpoena the email records from the RNC server? Surely they are not protected by any privilege.
Well, well. Beloved Leader's nephew is off to become an Intel Weenie in the Navy. Good for him. At least there is one member of the family willing to put on the uniform during the Global War on Terra™.
He's going to be a "direct appointment", apparently in the Naval Reserve, which means that like his uncle he won't have a fucking clue about things like how an Officer behaves. He's off to "Knife and Fork" school for a few weeks (it used to be in Pensacola, Fl) of rudimentary education on how to keep his gig-line straight and his brass shined. He's not going to go through a commissioning program like NROTC, or the Academy or OCS/AOCS. He just walks in one day a civilian, and walks out as an Ensign, USNR for his weekend a month and two weeks a year. Gee, how Bushian.
If I sound a bit "down" on direct appointment officers, well I am. I had one in my unit, and he was not worth much. He kept thinking he actually knew shit (because someone told him how special he was to get a commission that way), and would really annoy my XO with all his "suggestions". We wrote it off to Ensign-itis, but later found that he was just as bad when he got promoted. We were glad to be rid of him, and felt sorry for his "gaining command"; all of them.
I had heard once upon a time that G.P. Bush had political ambitions, so I guess this is his way of getting that ticket punched. In future years he can always claim to have served in the Navy during the Iraq conflict. Kinda like his uncle kept the North Vietnamese Air Force away from Houston, huh? No reported bombings of downtown Houston by NVAF MIG's while Preznit Incompetant was manning the air defenses, were there?
The trick will be to see whether or not George P. Bush can top his uncle and and make it past LT(jg) (1st Lt), which was the highest rank that Beloved Leader could achieve at a time when you only had to have a minimal pulse if you were an rated aviator to make Captain.
I hear desertion, no to mention drug use runs in the family though ...
The Congressional Democrats have finally exhibited a little bit of spine by standing up to Preznit Fuckup A. Wetdream. Woo-fucking-hoo.
Now, let's see them do it without passing a spending bill that will bury our country further into debt. If they are so all-fired up to spend money, let's see them spend it directly on the troops, and helping them readjust to the world, once they get home.
If you did not watch Richard Engle's excellent Diary, by all means do so. He interviewed several GI's who basically spouted the all-Rove line about "You can't support us but not the mission here". Believe that the republicans will try to turn that logic into a major hammer to crush the Democrats with on matters of national security that anyone will listen to them on (helloooo, New York Times; calling the New York Times, official house [print] organ of the 1600 Crew).
The resolution is a great first step, but it's not time to conflate appropriating money for courthouses and shrimp-sexing research with getting our troops home. The republicans have been politically successful in part, because they could deliver unity at key moments based on what small principles they believed in (mostly worship of St. Ronnie of the Tax Cut); their overall strategy of corruption, greed and naked lust for power for the sake of power undid them.
But it's foolish to overlook the power of doing the right thing, for the sake of doing the right thing. Democrats need to understand the rewards for that will be greater longer than just delivering a courthouse or highway project in the next two years. There's a country to be saved, and it's not located between Iran and Syria.
Yes, the Orwellization continues. Four Years ago today Preznit Tortillas K. Bueno! invited himself into our homes to declare with his customary smirk that he had ordered the invasion of Iraq to begin.
As we swam in a sea of yellow magnetic ribbons, had discourse stifled and were outright lied to by the institutions of government and the fourth estate we expected at least an ounce of honesty from we did not know the terrible path that the half-assed incompetant bastards had set us on. Well, we sure never expected it to be as bad as it's gotten.
Interestingly, as I sat down to write this, I have tried to find quotes from some of the right-wing war-floggers, like the infamous Rich Lowry "We're Winning!" cover on the National Review. One of the biggest loudest low-lifes on the intertubes, Andrew Sullivan no longer has any linkage to any of his work from 2003 that work. I'm sure he'll blame that on his move from being an independant, August-off blogger to his associations with Time and now the Atlantic. I wanted to find a couple of his better quotes ascribing the caution and the diplomacy preferred by most of the sane progressive bloggers to treasonous and seditious behavior, because back then The Duchess of Dupont was real big on that kind of rhetoric.
If I knew how to make my blog pages be white-on-black for the day, I'd do it in honor of the fallen, and the men and women who have given everything only to return to places like Walter Reed and be used for photo-ops by Chickenhawk politicians who passed through and then left them to their moldy, rat-infested rooms.
The republicans, so fast to claim the mantra of the party of "National Security" claim it because they are willing to give big bucks to defense contractors for "outsourcing" and all kinds of whiz-bango hi-tech battlefield crap that never comes in at the prices bid. They are not the party of supporting the VA or the families of enlisted men and women who are left to work other jobs while stateside to support their families or perhaps get food-stamps or other public assistance to make ends meet.
During the early days of the war, while the 1600 Crew was telling us all how evil Saddam was, and that we had 'fight them over there ..blah blah blah" they were taking money away from the VA to pay their rich benefactors off in tax cuts. Now that butchers bill is coming due, and we have senior Pentagon officials telling us that paying for VA care "takes money away from National Defense". Are we getting the picture now, four years later? In what way do republicans give a shit about troops?
The "surge" is not going to end at whatever mythical number Preznit Drunk on Duty lied about a few months ago... his vague number then included no support troops; and I suspect that both escalation in numbers and deaths will continue to occur until he's removed from office via either impeachment (not likely) or the next election.
Today is really a day to remember the men and women whose lives ended for the lies of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their NeoCon cabal. This is also the day to remember the families of those men and women and the men and women who have come back and need our help as a nation to become whole again after their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They gave us their all, and now we as a country owe them the same, no excuses. If we can afford one of Beloved Leaders mythical tax cuts, we can afford the all too real cost of giving them the care they don't just need, but deserve.
And oh, by the way ... is it just me or do I see far, far fewer of those magnetic yellow ribbons these days?
