al Qaeda's goal: bankrupt the United States

* RAW:

"HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELAN PRES. (through translator): The hypothesis that is gaining strength, which was said on television last night, and which could soon blow up, was that it was the same U.S. imperial power that planned and carried out this terrible terrorist attack (911), or act, against its own people and against citizens all over the world. Why? To justify the aggression that was immediately unleashed on Afghanistan, on Iraq and the threats against all of us, against Venezuela, too."

* tpmm:

"With less than three weeks left in this session of Congress, the White House has mounted an unusual full-court press on House and Senate Republicans to get its most dubious intelligence programs under some veil of legitimacy. But the unity they once found among the Capitol Hill GOP -- especially on national security matters -- is gone."

* tpmm:

"Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney has agreed with the Justice Department to plead guilty to at least one criminal charge in a deal that could be announced as early as Friday, Capitol Hill sources said Thursday....

Capitol Hill sources close to Ney said the plea agreement was ready to be publicized on Thursday, but an announcement was delayed to avoid influencing a special election in Ney’s congressional district."

* talkleft:

"Michael Chertoff tells us that the goal of al Qaeda is to bankrupt the United States. If so, the President is surely assisting al Qaeda by squandering public resources on the war in Iraq."

* this via rimone:

"Families visiting Disneyland on their holiday this week saw a life-size Guantanamo bay inmate standing inside the Rocky Mountain Railroad ride at Disneyland in Anaheim California.

The sculpture, consisting of an inflatable doll dressed in an orange jumpsuit with its hands and feet manacled remained in place for one and a half hours before Disneyland's security staff shut down the ride and removed it amid fears over public safety."

there are pics.

* jen nix:

"While all of the polls proving Bush’s decline in the eyes of our fellow Americans can certainly not be attributed to just our books and films doing well, there is certainly something to the old saying that success breeds success. People who are not pre-dispositioned to progressive thinking need winning alternative ideas and analysis to turn to, as they begin to realize how much harm George Bush has done to this country. It’s important that we do the hard work of making sure our ideas reach these people. Rarely will they find us simply because we think we are right. But, joining a winning team, whose good ideas are resonating with a majority of the public? That, they’ll do
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So, this week, as you know, I’ve been urging you to support "9/11 Press for the Truth." Please watch this film. If you agree with me, that this film can be instrumental to our efforts to hold government accountable, primarily because of its non-partisan nature and affiliation with the 9/11 Families, then please spread the word. You can still watch the movie for free in various places, such as MediaChannel and on Google. But, buy copies and urge people to go to the screenings, listed on the movie’s web site."

* billmon:

"I realize administration's fear campaign is designed for a domestic audience -- to rally disaffected voters to support the war in Iraq and vote Republican in November (not necessarily in that order). But it's idiotic to believe the fallout can be kept within U.S. borders. So idiotic, in fact, that I have trouble believing even the Cheneyites could fail to understand the potential consequences. Setting billmonesque hyperbole aside for a second, it really does seem sometimes like the Cheney Administration is deliberately trying to set the Middle East in flames. Why? What possible benefit could they or America derive from the bonfire that would justify the costs?

Again, I don't know. But the results of the administration's increasingly hysterical rhetoric could be a windfall for Al Qaeda and the jihadist movement as a whole -- at a time when it is already gaining or expanding crucial toeholds in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan."