"(Bush) doesn't have a plan for what to do in Iraq so he wants to keep troops there for the rest of his presidency. That's his plan: stay long enough that it becomes someone else's problem."* ron suskind's book looks terrific. I saw an interview with him on cnni - josh has an astonishing excerpt which basically says everything that we've been saying about the TWOT (and al qaeda). (laura has more) - and i suspect there'll be more to come.
* calipendence points to wonkette which has bilbray's kids misbehaving on myspace.
* tpmm:
"Safavian was charged with two counts of obstructing justice during investigations into the Scotland trip by the GSA inspector general and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. He also was charged with three counts of making false statements or concealing information from GSA ethics officials, a GSA inspector general investigator and a Senate investigator."* tpmm:
"There's one simple thing to take away from the verdict against David Safavian: for a player in Washington, gullibility is no defense... That has to be bad news for future targets of the Abramoff investigation, such as Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), who will eventually find himself, most likely, attempting to explain to a jury how he, in Forest Gump style, just happened to wander his way into a relationship with Abramoff."* tpmm:
"On Sunday night's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) told the world that the NSA's controversial (and mostly secret) domestic spying operation was the real reason (alqaeda's ) deadly (nyc subway) scheme had been disrupted."go to hell, pat roberts.
* tpmm:
"Donald Rumsfeld, explaining why he can't remember approving a $30 billion Boeing tanker lease deal. The deal, which was reportedly pushed for by the White House, has become one of the biggest Pentagon procurement scandals in history:given this is a family publication, i won't describe exactly what it is that i think it's appropriate for him to have..."[P]eople come in and out of this office all the time. Send me memos, half of which. . . are appropriate for me to have, some of which aren't, which I don't read. And call or come in and say I am going to do this or what do you think about that."
3 comments:
I've got something on that tanker scandal somewhere around here. Nice mess it was and still is, Not only has it stunted opportunities for Boeing to sell the plane around the globe (and enabled Airbus to more successfully market theirs), the need to replace 30- to 40-year-old USAF tankers is becoming critical.
Ah, Rummy:
...memos, half of which. . . are appropriate for me to have, some of which aren't, which I don't read.
2 digs here:
1. Can't have facts clouding important decisions, now, can we?
2. What could possibly be inappropriate for the omniscient, omnipotent War Department secretary to have?
Unless... we refer back to that bit Laura pointed to in Kakutani's One Percent Doctrine review:
"Keeping certain knowledge from Bush... meant that the president... could advance various strategies by saying whatever was needed. He could essentially be 'deniable' about his own statements."
Have the immediate subordinates completely briefed, restrict in advance what you want to hear and, voila, deniability. "No, Senator, I didn't know nothin' 'bout no tankers..."
Probably administration policy since 9/11:
...George W. Bush received a presidential daily briefing on Aug. 6, 2001, in which he was warned: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."... Bush listened to the briefing, Suskind says, then told the CIA briefer: "All right. You've covered your ass, now."
I can see it now, immediately afterwards:
Bush: "But Dick, how can we do this so our asses are covered?"
Rove: "We'll use the peons as a shield... human shields, get it?"
Bush: "They'd be in trouble if it gets out, wouldn't they?"
Cheney: "Fuck 'em!"
lol. nice one don.
that boeing thing was a complete disaster. i cant believe only 3 people went to jail.
the other amazing thing was that schmitz decided to cover-up for rumsfeld. what a hack schmitz is (his whole family is a bunch of freaks) - he was also involved with a cover-up re sibel)
schmitz is now at blackwater earning $1.2m p.a.
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