Evidently Karl Rove drummed into Dubya’s brain the admonition that admitting a mistake is a sign of weakness. Changing direction is for sissies, “girly-men.” Never say you’re sorry. Never look back.

He’s as blind as he can be,
Just sees what he wants to see,
Nowhere man can you see me at all?

When George W first ran for President, Texas writers, such as Molly Ivins, warned America that beneath Bush’s public veneer of bonhomie lurked a churl. That the private Dubya was an arrogant, intractable, surly guy.

They noted that his actual persona was a lot like that of his running mate, Dick Cheney, “Fuck you, buddy, I’m doing it my way.”

Voters didn’t want to believe this. They bought the Bush public image that had been carefully manufactured by Karl Rove. They thought that he was a regular guy, a good Christian, a man of the people. Someone they could talk to. Someone who would listen to them.

Five years have taught us that the President snuck into office with an ultra-conservative agenda and stuck to it. He only listens to himself and, he claims, God.   more »

On the edge of the West Bank, Jericho is normally a sleepy town where Palestinians go to get away from the Israeli occupation. Now, this prison is surrounded on all sides, Israeli bulldozers are breaking down the walls. Israeli troops killed a prisoner and a guard; youth are throwing rocks and molotov cocktails. Despite the international agreement keeping US and British observers there, Israeli forces seek to arrest jailed resistance leaders held over the assassination of a right-wing Israeli minister who openly called for the assassination and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The observers stepped out because of "security concerns" before the Israelis began bombarding it. No word on whether they continued observing. On March 7th, Abu Mazen flirted with the idea of releasing PFLP head Ahmed Saadat. He said the same thing last year. Nothing happened then. This time, he happened to say it leading up to the elections. Seeing the chance for some good old fashioned political spectacle, Israeli PM Olmert ordered the break-in. Israel's chief propagandist told public radio: "We are committed to the murderers of minister Rehavam Zeevi remaining behind bars." Of course, the murderers of the murderers of Zeevi will be heroes.   more »

The Iranian nuclear issue “has not reached the point of crisis, and therefore other motivations must be sought for the Bush administration’s breathless warmongering."

The biggest issue between Iran and the United States that might explain the escalating rhetoric over nonexistent nukes is Iraq. The U.S. is bogged down in a quagmire there, fighting militant Sunni Arabs.

But it has also seen its political plans for Iraq checked on several occasions by the rise of powerful Iraqi Shiite parties, such as the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the Dawa Party, and the Sadr Movement.

Iran hosted SCIRI and Dawa in exile in the Saddam years, and has close relations with them. There are allegations that it gives them money.

To any extent that Iran has helped these parties win elections and maintain their paramilitary forces, it has undermined the American hope of installing a relatively secular figure as a Karzai-like ruler.

The U.S. would very much like to limit Iranian influence in Iraq, and aggressiveness on the nuclear issue is a way for the Bush administration to enlist European and other countries in the effort to put pressure on Iran and make it cautious about intervening too forcefully in Iraqi affairs.   more »

Of all the unhappy trends I have witnessed--conservative swings on television networks, dwindling newspaper circulation, the jailing of reporters and "spin"--nothing is more troubling to me than the obsequious press during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. They lapped up everything the Pentagon and White House could dish out--no questions asked. Reporters and editors like to think of themselves as watchdogs for the public good. But in recent years both individual reporters and their ever-growing corporate ownership have defaulted on that role. Ted Stannard, an academic and former UPI correspondent, put it this way: "When watchdogs, bird dogs, and bulldogs morph into lapdogs, lazy dogs, or yellow dogs, the nation is in trouble." The naïve complicity of the press and the government was never more pronounced than in the prelude to the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The media became an echo chamber for White House pronouncements.   more »

The tribunal itself was established and financed by the very same powers that launched the illegal war against Yugoslavia and carried out what are clearly war crimes—the bombing of civilian targets—during that intervention.

That the US has been a principal organizer of this trial exposes the fraud of the entire enterprise. Washington itself accepts neither international law nor the jurisdiction of any international court over its own actions on the world arena.

It has boycotted the International Criminal Court and strong-armed governments around the world into signing waivers exempting US officials and US troops from any liability for war crimes carried out against their peoples.

If, moreover, the trial of Milosevic were really about human rights and international justice, the obvious question is: Why has the UN not put George W. Bush in the dock?

There is no question that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and others in the current US administration are responsible for far greater war crimes and a far greater loss of innocent human life in waging an unprovoked and illegal war against Iraq than anything perpetrated by Milosevic.

The strongest charge that can be made against Milosevic—presented in Cohen’s commentary in the Times—is that he resorted to war as a means of achieving political ends.

How immensely greater the guilt, then, of the current US president?   more »

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Remember when psychologists analyzed Richard Nixon near the end of his White House stint? What about Bush? Could those nearly 40 years of heavy drinking have caused some of the bad judgement in Bush's decision-making?

The White House is a glass house that everyone can see through. And what has happened to the U.S.A. ever since George Bush set foot in the White House is a terrible track record that no Republican, Democratic or American citizen can be proud of.

At last Americans have begun awakening to this tragic reality. We've got a big time loser chasing around the world in Air Force One, leaving a tragic tale of riots and death.

The trip to India, where he welcomed the nation to the Nuclear Club and praised outsourcing American jobs there, was outrageous. This is Bush's first love, big business. Big business' primary concern is profits, and with the average wage in India $2 a day, dream profits are there for the asking.

If any American objects, Bush and his big business buddies will hurl the accusation they are "Protectionists". They should instead be for "free trade". This translates to ripping off American labor.   more »

How often have you seen the headline, "US Slams ***** Over Human Rights Abuses"? Put the country of your choice - Russia, China, Iran, Iraq, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, wherever.

Next time some 'patriot' waves the headline in front of you and says, "See, America cares about these things. It is our duty to save the world from these abuses", give him this article to read.

Talk about turning the tables! Three screams for America: Hip, Hip, Hypocrite! Below you'll find an article summarizing the China Report. I've also included a link to the full report from "China Daily". Something for your 'patriot' friends to digest. [Ed Strong]

BOMBSHELL FROM CHINA

"The U.S. government frequently commits wanton slaughters of innocents in its war efforts and military operations in other countries," said a report titled "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2005.

Issued by the Information Office of the State Council of China, the equivalent of the Presidential Cabinet, the reported noted continuing racist discrimination, alarmingly high poverty rates, and human rights abuses committed under the authority of the Bush administration.   more »

Senior British diplomatic and military staff gave Tony Blair explicit warnings three years ago that the US was disastrously mishandling the occupation of Iraq, according to leaked memos.

John Sawers, Mr Blair's envoy in Baghdad in the aftermath of the invasion, sent a series of confidential memos to Downing Street in May and June 2003 cataloguing US failures.

With unusual frankness, he described the US postwar administration, led by the retired general Jay Garner, as "an unbelievable mess" and said "Garner and his top team of 60-year-old retired generals" were "well-meaning but out of their depth".

That assessment is reinforced by Major General Albert Whitley, the most senior British officer with the US land forces.

Gen Whitley, in another memo later that summer, expressed alarm that the US-British coalition was in danger of losing the peace. "We may have been seduced into something we might be inclined to regret. Is strategic failure a possibility? The answer has to be 'yes'," he concluded.   more »

13 MARCH

Paul Krugman on John McCain: A Hard Right-Winger Masquerading as a Moderate

Noam Chomsky: America's Diminishing Global Power

One Fat Man's Protest: "Walking Across America to Regain My Life"

Supreme Court Judge: "America Heading Towards Dictatorship"

Bob Herbert: Backward Mississipi...Appalling Levels of Child Sexual Abuse

Raging Racism: Muslims 'Cause' the New Plague - Terrorism

"Democracy" in Iraq: America's Puppet Regime Executes 13 Political Prisoners

War on Iran? Just Bluff and Sabre-Rattling?