R. I. P. Molly Ivins, Aug. 30, 1944-January 31, 2007

George W. Bush has yet to attend a single funeral of the nearly 3100 troops that have died in Iraq and don’t go looking for him to attend Molly Ivins’, either.

This is the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to write since Hunter S. Thompson’s suicide on February 20, 2005. Molly Ivins is dead and with her last breath, the Batman-class criminal enterprise known as the Bush junta breathed a sigh of relief.

What’s there not to like about a columnist who’d once written, “I’m not anti-gun; I’m pro-knife.” Molly’s point was, typically, half serious, tongue in cheek. If you use a gun, you don’t need to be in shape as you would if you had to kill someone running with a knife. Using knives, she said, actually would promote physical fitness.

But there was much more to the life and noteworthy career of a fighter who would’ve stood out even in San Francisco or New York City let alone in a conservative red state like Texas. Just before her too-early death from breast cancer, Molly Ivins had launched what she’d called an old-fashioned “newspaper crusade” to end the war in Iraq.

In Molly’s last column, published just this past month, she’d written a phrase that ought to be put on her headstone: “We are the deciders”, words that were echoed by Sean Penn at the peace rally in Washington, DC last Saturday.

Indeed, Molly’s words were, as always, well-timed and well-written. In its simplicity, it was at once a rebuttal to Bush’s childish “I’m the Decider” rant and, distilling in its elemental perfection, a well-timed reminder to Americans as to who’s ultimately in charge of our national destiny.

A liberal’s liberal, Molly was genuinely home-spun and humble, a genuine product of the Lone Star state. She stood in stark contrast to the faux cowboy currently taking up space and oxygen in the Oval Office, a Connecticut Yankee desperately running away from his Ivy League upbringing and education and, in the process, giving hubris and arrogance an even worse name. Molly not only never ran away from her liberal roots in the one place where liberalism is perhaps the least welcome, she embraced it and let her freak flag fly high and proud.

A life-long gadfly of the conservative and absurd, Molly’s opinions stood in stark contrast to her counterpart on the east coast, Maureen Dowd. There were no French phrases and hyper-cultural references that only a professional Pharisee could understand, as is all too often the case with Dowd. Molly was warm, common and accessible. When Dick Cheney talks about the Iraq war and the war on terror as being existential, Molly showed us how absurd both have become. She was a grownup Alice looking with perpetual wonder down the rabbit hole of American politics.

Molly never wrote her last two columns; she dictated them even as breast cancer had come back “with a vengeance” and had metastasized through her body, embodying that indomitable spirit that led Matisse, when crippled by a stroke, to tell his assistant to “tie the brush to my hand.”

Molly Ivins stood for the best of liberal values with the best of intentions and with the best words, providing a vivid counterpoint to the neocons who never admit defeat or wrongdoing or forgo hubris as much as they finger former accomplices. It’s all too easy to say that Molly will be missed. That is already a meaningless bromide. Molly, especially in our existential day and age, was absolutely indispensable.

(Crossposted at Pottersville.)

Top Five Reasons Why Congress Should Oppose the Surge

Today is the second anniversary of the first elections to be held in Iraq. Since then, Shi’ite death squads are running the streets and slaughtering Sunnis with virtual impunity and the men who run them are also running the government with the aid of a puppet of a Prime Minister who no longer wants the job or the stress. Civil War (or several of them) has not stalled democracy as much as it’s been the default choice of a tribal, sectarian people who are simply not ready for democracy.

Without snark, sarcasm, name-calling or trying to make funny, here’re the top five reasons as I see them for Congress to oppose George W. Bush’s surge of nearly 22,000 more troops. Obviously, I’m not a political scientist or Middle East expert but my necessarily layman perceptions, accrued over the last 24 months, have the heft of common sense that all too often eludes those on the Hill.

1) Contrary to initial fears by liberal bloggers and a small handful of journalists who foresaw an imperial American annexation of Iraq, what we’re seeing, instead, is an increasing firming up of an Iranian Annexation of Iraq.

Bush is publicly advocating diplomacy with Iran but the massive amount of evidence to the contrary proves otherwise. Admiral “Fox” Fallon, Gen. Abizaid’s wouldbe replacement, is a Reagan-era warrior who’s ideally suited to wage an arial/naval war with Iran. We have aircraft carrier groups positioned in the Persian Gulf off Iran’s coast.

By disingenuously ensuring us that the military (not diplomatic) response to Iranian Shi’ites aiding the Maliki government will be contained in Iraq, he’s still producing the very real and almost inevitable possibility that we will follow the thread right back to the Minotaur’s cave in Iran.

Then at least one liberal prophecy will be fulfilled: That our exit strategy will involve going through Iran.

2) Muqtada al Sadr, an ally of Iran, has only been empowered through Bush’s “democracy” in Iraq, Nouri al Maliki may be Bush’s puppet but the Shi’ite cleric holds most of his strings. And because al Sadr’s Shi’ites have a controlling majority in the Iraqi parliament (30 seats, I believe), the Sunnis, aided by al Qaeda, are the victims of this “Now You Know How It Feels”, Charles Bronson style of government. With al Sadr’s and Finance Minister Jabr’s death squads killing US troops as gleefully as they do Sunnis, a greater American presence will only instigate Ahmadinejad, Jabr and al Sadr on the side of the Shias and al Qaeda, who’s now not the main enemy and the Sunni insurgents.

3) It’s increasingly obvious by now that Israel is playing the US like Itzak Perlman. They had a vested interest in not joining the coalition of the willing in Iraq. Knowing their very presence would inflame al Qaeda in Iraq as well as Iran, they stood idly by, conserving their troops and resources to mop up the last pools of Palestinian resistance. They were quite happy to watch us “soften up” the Middle East for their own expansionist agenda.

However, even though they must know by now that our presence has had opposite the desired effect and have only made the Middle East more unstable for them as well as more dangerous for us here at home, increased American troop levels will only further embolden the cowardly and opportunistic Olmert into letting us “soften up” Iran.

4) Rattling 21,500 more sabers at Iran could similarly embolden Iran, embolden them to accelerate their embryonic nuclear weapons program. In 2005, North Korea’s government had publicly stated they were doing the same thing in response to the Bush administration’s belligerence toward them. Whether true or not (and I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t be), both escalations are a legitimate concern. And it would be tragic if an attack on Iran because of nonexistent WMD was actually the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy that couldn’t easily be disproved.

Unfortunately, our diplomatic corps has been tragically miscast and under-utilized the world over. Don’t forget where John Bolton came from.

5) The clerics and Mamoud Ahmedinejad (who does not have absolute power) are even more unpopular in Iran than George Bush and the US (especially among younger, more liberal Iranians). But a beefing up of US troops that are told to engage Iranian factions at the slightest provocation could turn the tide and make a brutally deposed Ahmedinejad a martyr among Iran’s Shi’ite majority.

Sort of the way Saddam was martyred for the Sunnis.

One Good Reason to Bring the Troops Home Now.

One of the few discernible advantages of being 48 is that I remember Vietnam. I was 16 when we’d finally pulled the last of our troops out of Saigon in late April of ‘75. And I don’t recall any national teeth-gnashing at our ignominious defeat at the hands of Charlie.

What I recall was, instead, a national sense of pure relief after 14 years of senseless, brutal warfare, not the sense of defeat that the neocons warn is awaiting us if we pull out of Iraq.

And they may point to the fact that it took 14 years to pull out our troops. Why is that?

Three words: Lack of context. Even in 1961, when Kennedy had sent in the first combat troops, only the very elderly recalled America’s last Yahoo imperial adventurism: McKinley’s Spanish American War of 1898. All succeeding wars and police actions at least had a plausible rationale and specific goal in mind: Stopping the equally expansionist Germans in World Wars I & II, doing the same thing to the red menace in North Korea.

Vietnam and its Kipling-esque White Man’s Burden bullshit had no precedence in most living memory, no context for most Americans. They’d yet to realize the mortal stakes of not heeding the lessons of history.

The neocons can’t say that about Iraq. Many tens of millions of Americans still recall Vietnam and are in prime position to see its lessons going unheeded in Iraq.

We’ve been west of Iran for less than four years and the turnaround time was virtually instantaneous. Remember the people who rallied to Cindy Sheehan’s side in 2005? Many of those old farts were slip-sliding in the mud at Max Yasgur’s farm.

We don’t need to see 55,000 more troops killed in the Middle East before we can reconcile ourselves to the “failure” of withdrawing. There was none of that in ‘75 and there would be none of that in ‘07.

(Crossposted at Pottersville)

A Goode Day for Religious Pluralism

Faithful America, a program of the National Council of Churches, USA, is made up of persons who believe that one’s faith - however broadly or uniquely expressed - has a word to say about our nation’s government and its priorities. Recently they assembled a delegation to call on Representative Virgil Goode (R-VA) to discuss his recent anti-islamic statements in response to representative Keith Ellison’s decision to use a Qur’an for his unofficial swearing-in.

On one wall of Goode’s office is a framed poster that says, "In God We Trust." On the opposite wall is a television turned on to Fox News.

The delegation of Muslims and Christians talked about how disparaging remarks from an elected official fuels anti-American propaganda abroad and reminded the Congressman that his words and actions extend beyond his personal religious views. They even dared to suggest that perhaps Muslims and Christians need one another.

A hair-loss commercial was blasting from the overhead tv and the visitors weren't sure if Goode heard anything. But when they had finished their presentation, Goode thanked them for their remarks, and stated unequivocally that he stands by his earlier statement. “I didn’t say anything that was untrue.”

The group counts this as a Goode day because the Congressman did agree to attend a Muslim service or gathering. So the possiblity for dialogue continues. At least Fox News won't be blaring in the mosque.


TAGS: Religious Pluralism, Islam,

Say Peace

I am so glad I decided to go to DC to remind Congress that I voted for peace and not for more war. It was a great day, the crowd was awesome and the people spoke truth to power.

The rally started out with ecumencal prayers - which I really liked. I thought it was done in a pretty open and inclusive fashion. Certainly there were more Christian religious represented than any other group, but also Jewish and Muslim. Maybe they could think outside the box next time and include wicca or other spiritualist groups.

I think the crux of this spiritual preparation for peace work was the approach that we - as people of one planet and connected one to the other - can counter the present war machine. The Whitehouse answers threats of terror with fear and oppression. But violence begets violence. Spirited people counter terror with care, compassion, and generosity. Rather than conquering evil, we liberate goodness through acts of care, attitudes of compassion and generosity of our selves and our resources so that justice and dignity can be restored and celebrated. In practical terms, we're talking about healthcare, education, and economic opportunities to allow persons to grow and thrive.

All in all, I thought they did a good job of staying on topic. The only tangent was two speakers on ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine. That they had to give a rather convoluted explanation of why these two causes were related makes me think the real answer is they made a donation to the cause. Otherwise, you heard the same message repeated clearly:

Not One More Dollar
Not One More Day
Not One More Death

I particularly enjoyed Tim Robbins speach. He noted that Richard Nixon talked to the walls, but George Bush is talking to God. "But it is not a God I recognize," said Robbins. This God seems to be giving Bush a pass on some commandments. Robbins then went on to outline several of the commandments that God seems to have so graciously given George a pass. It was delightful.

I do wish Jane had stayed home and sent her daughter instead. Her daughter could have carried on the legacy of activism without all of the baggage. I predicted she would be the only soundbite the newsstations would carry. Actually, I was wrong. It was Jane and the Raging Grannies.

I found Rev. Jesse Jackson completely uninspiring.

As for the crowd. To me, the crowd looked like family day. There were so many young people. There were also many families with young children and teens. There didn't look to me to be nearly as many really far out there folks. I thought there were more African-Americans at this rally, but these things continue to be mostly lily white. I was amazed at the large number woman age 30-40 who obviously had never attended a rally before. I never saw so many leather coats and leather boots - with heels!! And perfectly done hair and make-up. Some were with groups of women, others with their yuppy husbands. I suspect that these are the moms and sisters and aunts of those serving in Iraq.

As for the size of the crowd, I couldn't really judge. The "official" count for the September '05 rally was 100,000. I heard CNN say that this crowd was larger. Wapo noted that the crowd was big enough that the march stretched the length of the route from the Mall, up Constitution Avenue to the east front of the Capitol and back to the Mall.


I think protests like this are an important part of the peace movement, but they aren't the only component. Monday is a day of congressional advocacy. Click on the link and find out what United for Peace & Justice is asking of our congresscritters. But just because we're not in Washington Monday, doesn't mean that we can't join in the fun. Please take time to call your representative and senators and tell them we want our troops home now and no more funding for Bushco's illegal and immoral war.

TAGS: Peace Rally, Washington DC, March, People Power,

Anti-war Protests EVERYWHERE

Images from the nationwide protests held yesterday have been popping up online. Here's a sampling of the people taking to the streets. You know, in case the media didn't tell you about it.

San Francisco, Ca.


Washington, D.C.


D.C. again.


Stamford, Connecticut.


Salt Lake City, Utah.

More images at Ice Station Tango and The Walrus Speaks.

TAGS: Iraq War, Protest

Winning Hearts and Minds..

..One Bloody Corpse at a Time

There's not much that needs to be said about this video, other than the fact that this is not something you're likely to see on the corporate-controlled television news channels in the US. If the American people had to watch the unsanitized version of the Iraq war, I'm sure the protest crowds would swell by a factor of ten or more. Kudos and thanks, BTW, to those who endured bad weather to make their outrage visible to the rest of the public.
I got this video through Raw Story, h/t RevPhat for alerting me.

Shia Iraqi soldier beat Sunnis as US trainers watch

Voiceover: "The purpose of these joint patrols is for the Americans to teach their Iraqi protegés how to win hearts and minds and end the bloodletting."

This so emphatically contradicts the official policy of ending ethnic conflict that it boggles the mind. Undeniably, the actions of US forces in Iraq are a concentrated effort to foment violence rather than prevent it. As the audio of US soldiers laughing while witnessing this shows, not only is the training of Iraqi 'friendlies' inadequate, but so too is the training of the US forces themselves.

Words do not exist that could fully express my revulsion at this.

TAGS: Iraq War, Brutality
Atrocities, Ethnic Cleansing

Arar Revisited

The Sad, but True Significance of The Arar Case

There are a number of reasons that I post a fair bit on the case of Maher Arar. One is that as a Canadian, I sometimes get news that isn't reported in the States, or that is under-reported. As a Canadian, I sympathize with a fellow Canadian who has been so egregiously mistreated by the U.S. government, and I am deeply offended by the Administration's arrogant assumption that an American's rights are more significant than someone else's rights. But it goes WAY beyond that.

Up until now, my posts on Arar largely have been limited to reporting the facts. Consider this the consequent outpouring of rage. For a case timeline, read this synopsis by the CBC.

The Arar case is exemplary of the kind of treatment that has been experienced by at least dozens, perhaps hundreds, of others whose names we will never know. The only reason Maher Arar's name ever came to light is that the Canadian government knew from the outset that he was in American government hands when he was kidnapped by the FBI on September 26, 2002. That's right, kidnapped. To dignify what happened as an arrest would misrepresent the facts. Arar was never charged with any crime, never given access to a lawyer, never afforded any of the due process guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and its attendant Bill of Rights. I won't even use the CBC's weasel word 'detained.' He was kidnapped, and the officials responsible should be charged with that crime.

Without the due diligence exercised by the Canadian government to obtain his release, Maher Arar may never again have seen the light of day after having been kidnapped by persons in the employ of U.S. agencies acting under color of authority. And it is my considered belief that dozens, perhaps hundreds, of people in situations not too much unlike that of Maher Arar were simply disposed of (killed) after extensive torture showed them to be innocent. Arar himself has said that this case's significance lies with those whose kidnap was not protested by their government, or whose government never knew they had been kidnapped. His experience is the mere tip of a very large and very ugly iceberg.

Let's look at the facts. The disclosure of photos of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison led to little more than the pitifully weak argument that these were isolated cases attributable to low-ranking individuals who were acting outside of sanctioned guidelines. Lynndie England and a few others were responsible. Hogwash!

Revelation followed revelation. Memos from Rumsfeld, signing statements from Bush, secret flights condemned by the EU. Always accompanied by this idiotic appeal for secrecy from the most secretive government America has ever known. Their message, "No, flat out, never: We. Do. Not. Torture! But, no you can't see the relevant documents because we don't want to give away our techniques to the enemy." Poppycock!

Then, when the truth was revealed beyond a doubt - the most damnable lie possible, "This is nothing new - everyone knew this all along (though we were denying it just last week)." Balderdash!

And as always, "If you oppose our abuses of power (which, by the way, aren't happening) you must want the terrorists to win." Bullshit!

Maher Arar was indisputably 'detained' (kidnapped), inarguably 'deported' (renditioned), and unquestionably 'questioned' (tortured) at the hands of U.S. officials or their surrogates with authorization from the administration. Alberto Gonzales is still perjuring himself to cover it up, more than four years after the initial crime. The facts strongly suggest the program of rendition to be widespread.

---

Steel yourself. What follows is the ineluctable logic that reveals the source of my rage. We are going into a torture scenario that will never be seen on cable television's 24, or in any other corporate media fiction. Where we are going is much more real than that, proven to be real by the experience of Maher Arar, Jose Padilla, and others. We are of necessity going into the mind of those who would torture a fellow human being, and exploring their reasoning, however repugnant that may be. You have been warned.

Here's the thing. You, the torturer, have had someone under your control for some time now. He or she has been waterboarded, beaten repeatedly, their genitals electrocuted, their fingers and toes broken, their teeth extracted one by one, whatever you could think of to extract the desired information about involvement in some heinous act of terrorism against the United States of America. Early on, you got this person to 'give up' friends and acquaintances as co-conspirators. They too were 'detained' and subjected to the same treatment.

But the thing is, none of it panned out. The friends and acquaintances came up with stories of conspiracies too, after sufficient 'persuasion', but no two stories ever matched up. After all the abuse that you, the torturer have inflicted, you must reluctantly conclude that the person is innocent. The ticking time bomb scenario was nothing but an overused dramatic device, a phantom threat with no more basis in reality than the chimera of WMDs that got us in this mess to begin with. As the infamous internet infidel Delos McKown once remarked, "The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike."

So what do you do now? Your victim knows intimately the techniques you used on him. It has been repeatedly stressed to you that allowing these techniques to become known will benefit the terrorists. Your orders must have come from high in the chain of command - black helicopters don't come from nowhere, after all. Any tale this person would bring to the outside world would be an immense embarrassment to the Administration, far more so than if he had been guilty. Should he be released you, the torturer could face trial for human rights violations at least, possibly war crimes. You can't just let him go.

So what DO you do now?

TAGS: Rendition, Torture, Murder
Maher Arar, Human Rights Abuses, War Crimes

Get Some While You Can

The Street Protest Controversy
I suppose that street protesting has always been controversial. I don't know; I missed the 60s. Despite the hugely unpopular yet nonetheless escalating war and occupation in Iraq, some question the effectiveness of street protests. Others liken street protests to "60s nostalgia" and argue that a draft would be far more effective at stopping the war than any protest could be. This debate has got me thinking and also wondering what others think. It's hard for me to link the expression of our political speech now to that of the 60s, not having been there myself, but I do know that what is being debated here in America is the right of free speech and of the People to question our government. We can exercise our right to free speech and to question the government in lots of ways. We can...

Get Music
I love music. Music is speech. Here is a list of some great antiwar songs and their lyrics. Here is evidence that protest music is alive and kicking. And The Nation muses about songs of protest against the failures of the Bush administration (Go Green Day!), here. Good music encourages others to sing along.

Get Informed
Knowledge informs speech. I love this site:

Get Listed
Signing petitions is speech. Here's one telling congress to use its power to bring the troops home now.

Get Writing
The Time to Stop a War With Iran Is NOW. Contact the Democratic Congressional Leadership, and give them your Marching Orders! Tell them what your vote meant.

Get Active
Political action is speech. Here's the action alert sign-up for people United for Peace and Justice.

Get Marching
Marching in the streets is speech. It is visible support for a cause. The street march of the day is here:

Solidarity events outside of DC are listed here.

GET SOME WHILE YOU STILL CAN.

The People Have the Power...

---

My own answer to my question about the value of protests on this issue today is that I think that protesting:

1) Will not alter Bush's actions.
2) Will pressure congress to reign Bush in.
3) Will help consolidate opposition to Bush at home.
4) Will soften anti-American feelings abroad.

Maher Arar Update

Item one: Canadian Government Admits Responsibility

This item from CBC news shows that Canada's government accepts responsibility for what happened to Maher Arar, and is trying to make amends.

"Ottawa has reached a $10-million settlement with Maher Arar over Canada's role in a U.S. decision to deport him to Syria, where he was jailed and tortured.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is scheduled to make the settlement announcement on Friday afternoon, when he will also issue a formal apology to Arar on behalf of Canadians. Sources told the CBC the government will also pick up Arar's legal fees."

We have already reported on how Arar was cleared by a Canadian Commission of Inquiry in September, and how U.S. authorities still refuse to take Arar off a terrorist watchlist. Ice Station Tango has video of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales being questioned by Patrick Leahy on the subject of Arar. And I recently posted on how Gonzo's response was a lie.

Item Two: U.S. Authorities Continue to Act Irresponsibly

To recap from the information above;
- A Canadian Commission has found no credible evidence that Maher Arar has had any connection to terrorist organizations or plots.
- The U.S. still refuses to allow Arar into the U.S. -that includes travelling in a plane in U.S. airspace. The evidence they claim supports this policy does no such thing.

So where is the justification for this?

"U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins on Wednesday criticized Ottawa's efforts to have Maher Arar removed from a United States security watch list, saying the U.S. alone will decide who to let into the country.

Speaking in Edmonton after meeting with new Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, Wilkins warned Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to back off, because a U.S. review determined Arar should remain on the watch list.

'It's a little presumptuous for him [Day] to say who the United States can and cannot allow into our country,' Wilkins told reporters Wednesday.

The ambassador reiterated that the U.S. found its own reasons to keep Arar on the watch list.

Day said in a visit last week to Washington that he has seen the information and found nothing new to suggest Arar is a safety risk."

All this is just a continuation of the Bush administration's refusal to ever admit that they could ever make a mistake. Granted, with King Codpiece claiming to be in communication with THE ALMIGHTY, that would be a little problematic. Bush's delusions of grandeur (and for him, feelings of mere adequacy would be delusional) are approaching the level of theories of Papal infallibility.

To say nothing of the John Bolton-like arrogant bluster that the US continues to substitute for diplomacy.

TAGS: Maher Arar, Terrorist Threat, ...NOT!!
Homeland Security

Bush's Credibility..

..File with: Tooth Fairy, Unicorn

Just prior to the Stoat of the Onion address, Keith Olbermann aired this review of Bush's past SOTU speeches, and the veracity of the statements made therein. Of course most prominent were the lies bringing the country into the war in Iraq, but there were also the repeated broken promises. We will catch Osama bin Laden, whatever it takes. We will provide the army with the troops and equipment they need. We will listen to the generals. This administration has been nothing more than an endless string of lies, broken promises, and failures.

Review of Past SOTU statements

As KO concludes, the only goal truly accomplished by BushCo™ is the Orwellian goal of perpetual war against an implacable and undefeatable enemy. Heckuva job, King Codpiece.

There are broken promises Olbermann omits: No child will be left behind, but no funding will be provided. We will strive towards energy independence, but no funding will be provided for that either. I'm sure I missed some too. But the biggest broken promise of all came in January, 2001; the promise Bush made on assuming office. When he swore to uphold the constitution and the laws of the United States of America.
TAGS: Bush, SOTU, Keith Olbermann, Tooth Fairy

The War on Drugs People

The Empire Turns Its
Guns on the Citizenry

I always said the War on Drugs was about buying off police departments. Some snips from Paul Craig Roberts about SWAT teams:

Today 17,000 local police forces are equipped with such military equipment as Blackhawk helicopters, machine guns, grenade launchers, battering rams, explosives, chemical sprays, body armor, night vision, rappelling gear, and armored vehicles. Some have tanks. In 1999, the New York Times reported that a retired police chief in New Haven, Conn., told the newspaper, "I was offered tanks, bazookas, anything I wanted." Balko reports that in 1997, for example, police departments received 1.2 million pieces of military equipment.

With local police forces now armed beyond the standard of U.S. heavy infantry, police forces have been retrained "to vaporize, not Mirandize," to use a phrase from Reagan administration Defense official Lawrence Korb. This leaves the public at the mercy of brutal actions based on bad police information from paid informers.

Much of the police's drug information comes from professional informers known as "snitches" who tip off police for cash rewards, dropped charges, and reduced sentences, names and addresses are often pulled out of a hat. Balko provides details for 135 tragic cases of mistaken addresses.

In 1995 the Boston Globe profiled people who lived entirely off the fees that they were paid as police informants. Snitches create suspects by selling a small amount of marijuana to a person whom they then report to the police as being in possession of drugs [accounting for 87% of all drug raids]. Many police informers are themselves drug dealers who avoid arrest and knock off competitors by serving as police snitches.

As long as the war on drugs persists and as long as it produces financial rewards to police departments, local police forces, saturated with military weapons and war imagery, will continue to terrorize American citizens.

And our heavily funded and armed SWAT teams are mainly serving drug warrants. A circular nightmare of corruption and death. Kind of reminds me of another war based on a lie, that is killing civilians needlessly and making a select group very rich...

~Cross-posted at Ice Station Tango~

Another One Bites the Dust

Watergate Burglary Planner, Dead at 88

E. Howard Hunt, the CIA officer who planned the Watergate breakdown, has died at the age of 88. He served a mere 33 months for his act of treason against the principles of democracy. Even so he was bitter that he should have been punished at all when his boss, Richard Nixon, got off scot free.

From BBC News:

"From 1949 to 1970 he worked for the CIA, and was involved in the operation that overthrew Jacobo Arbenz as Guatemala's president in 1954, and the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961."

Like the CIA-backed coup which deposed Salvador Allende in Chile during the Nixon presidency, the overthrow of Arbenz was a war crime - for which Hunt got off scot free. Arbenz and Allende were BTW both popular, elected leaders. Their hand-picked successors were bloodthirsty dictators - preferred by the GOP leadership for their friendly relations with US business interests, and their brutal repression of workers' rights. So much for promoting democracy outside the US. This 'secret government' has no more respect for democracy within America's borders either.

Probably the most controversial story associated with Hunt is the theory that Nixon stacked the CIA with Gopper-friendly agents while he was Eisenhower's Veep, and this cabal pulled off the assassination of John F. Kennedy and later his brother Bobby. It is a certainty that bad intel led to JFK's embarrassing involvement in the Bay of Pigs incident. Photos taken in Dealy Plaza on the day of JFK's assassination are reputed to show E. Howard Hunt and fellow Watergate conspirator Frank Sturgis.

Some people will tell you that conspiracy theories surrounding the Kennedy assassination or connecting it to Watergate are pure flights of fantasy. Magic bullet theories on the other hand - missing brains, two widely conflicting autopsies, dozens of witnesses dying shortly after the event, the elimination of Lee Harvey 'fallguy' Oswald before trial...

..."Nothing to see here folks, move along."







TAGS: Howard Hunt, Watergate Conspiracy, CIA Operative
War Crimes, GOP Coup, Paranoia