Trump lies. Is it compulsive? Bernie disappoints. Kentucky, Oregon split for Clinton, Sanders. 70 dead in Baghdad bombing. First openly-gay person confirmed to job as Secretary of the Army. Why now? Because that nice Senator Pat Roberts dropped his “hold” on the nomination after blackmailing the Administration into promising it wouldn’t move any Guantanamo prisoners …
Thank you, Ben Sargent!
Remember neo-cons Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz from the early days of the Iraq War debate? Perle was chair of the Defense Policy Board and used that position to push hard for war, advocating for Ahmad Chalabi’s installation as the new President of Iraq after the US toppled Saddam Hussein. Wolfowitz was Deputy Secretary of …
Stealing a concept from Charlie Pierce, here is optional music for this post. A whole bunch of Republicans and neo-cons and other people who have very short memories seem to think we should do something about Iraq. Personally, I think Iraqis should do something about Iraq. Its leader, Nouri al-Maliki, has spent his entire time …
Ten years ago I wrote that Bush’s Iraq adventure was the wrong war against the wrong enemy. I expressed doubt that he and his team would manage it well. I was right. Unfortunately. Charlie Pierce is more eloquent than I as he takes on the NYT, Richard Perle, David Frum, and the rest of the …
Writing about the assassination of al-Awlaki, Kevin Drum makes the point that no American government would kill an American citizen if he resided within the borders of the country without due process. As part of his post he slaps down the always appallingly authoritarian Max Boot, one of the last of the public neo-cons. Boot …
WaPo: Petraeus said he has “recommended a drawdown” of U.S. forces starting later this month with the withdrawal of a Marine unit. Further “redeployments” should continue into next year, with U.S. troop strength reaching its pre-surge level of about 130,000 troops by mid-July 2008, he said. We revert to what was status quo as of …
I don’t want to award Presidential Medals of Freedom (have those things lost their value, after being given to the likes of Paul Bremer, Tommy Franks, and George Tenet?) to these Senators, but at least they showed a little guts today in voting against Bush’s escalation. Yeah, we fell four votes short, but seven Republicans …
Senators who met with Bush said the president made it clear that he is planning to add as many as 20,000 U.S. troops to help quell violence in Baghdad. They also said the president is arguing that his new plan has a better chance for success than past plans because of a greater willingness of …
Talking about news that Saddam Hussein may be executed within days, Josh Marshall says: The Iraq War has been many things, but for its prime promoters and cheerleaders and now-dwindling body of defenders, the war and all its ideological and literary trappings have always been an exercise in moral-historical dress-up for a crew of folks …