Delta Force founder says Iraq is a 'debacle'...

Eric Haney, a retired command sergeant major of the U.S. Army, was a founding member of Delta Force, the military's elite covert counter-terrorist unit. He culled his experiences for "Inside Delta Force" (Delta; $14), a memoir rich with harrowing stories, though in an interview, Haney declines with a shrug to estimate the number of times he was almost killed. (Perhaps the most high-profile incident that almost claimed his life was the 1980 failed rescue of the hostages in Iran.) Today, he's doing nothing nearly as dangerous: He serves as an executive producer and technical adviser for "The Unit," CBS' new hit drama based on his book, developed by playwright David Mamet. Even up against "American Idol," "The Unit" shows muscle, drawing 18 million viewers in its first two airings.

Since he has devoted his life to protecting his country in some of the world's most dangerous hot spots, you might assume Haney is sympathetic to the Bush administration's current plight in Iraq (the laudatory cover blurb on his book comes from none other than Fox's News' Bill O'Reilly). But he's also someone with close ties to the Pentagon, so he's privy to information denied the rest of us.

We recently spoke to Haney, an amiable, soft-spoken Southern gentleman, on the set of "The Unit."

Q: What's your assessment of the war in Iraq?

A: Utter debacle. But it had to be from the very first. The reasons were wrong. The reasons of this administration for taking this nation to war were not what they stated. (Army Gen.) Tommy Franks was brow-beaten and ... pursued warfare that he knew strategically was wrong in the long term. That's why he retired immediately afterward. His own staff could tell him what was going to happen afterward.

We have fomented civil war in Iraq. We have probably fomented internecine war in the Muslim world between the Shias and the Sunnis, and I think Bush may well have started the third world war, all for their own personal policies.

Q: What is the cost to our country?

A: For the first thing, our credibility is utterly zero. So we destroyed whatever credibility we had. ... And I say "we," because the American public went along with this. They voted for a second Bush administration out of fear, so fear is what they're going to have from now on.

Our military is completely consumed, so were there a real threat - thankfully, there is no real threat to the U.S. in the world, but were there one, we couldn't confront it. Right now, that may not be a bad thing, because that keeps Bush from trying something with Iran or with Venezuela.

The harm that has been done is irreparable. There are more than 2,000 American kids that have been killed. Tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed ñ which no one in the U.S. really cares about those people, do they? I never hear anybody lament that fact. It has been a horror, and this administration has worked overtime to divert the American public's attention from it. Their lies are coming home to roost now, and it's gonna fall apart. But somebody's gonna have to clear up the aftermath and the harm that it's done just to what America stands for. It may be two or three generations in repairing.

Q: What do you make of the torture debate? Cheney ...

A: (Interrupting) That's Cheney's pursuit. The only reason anyone tortures is because they like to do it. It's about vengeance, it's about revenge, or it's about cover-up. You don't gain intelligence that way. Everyone in the world knows that. It's worse than small-minded, and look what it does.

I've argued this on Bill O'Reilly and other Fox News shows. I ask, who would you want to pay to be a torturer? Do you want someone that the American public pays to torture? He's an employee of yours. It's worse than ridiculous. It's criminal; it's utterly criminal. This administration has been masters of diverting attention away from real issues and debating the silly. Debating what constitutes torture: Mistreatment of helpless people in your power is torture, period. And (I'm saying this as) a man who has been involved in the most pointed of our activities. I know it, and all of my mates know it. You don't do it. It's an act of cowardice. I hear apologists for torture say, "Well, they do it to us." Which is a ludicrous argument. ... The Saddam Husseins of the world are not our teachers. Christ almighty, we wrote a Constitution saying what's legal and what we believed in. Now we're going to throw it away.

Q: As someone who repeatedly put your life on the line, did some of the most hair-raising things to protect your country, and to see your country behave this way, that must be ...

A: It's pretty galling. But ultimately I believe in the good and the decency of the American people, and they're starting to see what's happening and the lies that have been told. We're seeing this current house of cards start to flutter away. The American people come around. They always do.

'Unit's' military expert has fighting words for Bush by David Kronke

Warring Democracies...

I've witnessed this debate on Usenet several times, and it always follows the same pattern:
1. Somebody casually brings up the old factoid about how no two democracies have ever gone to war with one another.

2. Somebody jumps in and lists a dozen or so wars which have been fought between democracies.

3. Somebody else points out that those countries weren't democratic, not really.

4. Everybody gets into arguments over who was or was not democratic.

5. The argument fizzles out except for two guys continuing to argue over whether the American Civil War was about slavery.

In any case, here is the traditional list of wars which may or may not have been fought between democracies:

War Between Democracies by Matthew White

Economic Ignorance...

I strongly recommend that every American acquire some basic knowledge of economics, monetary policy, and the intersection of politics with the economy. No formal classroom is required; a desire to read and learn will suffice. There are countless important books to consider, but the following are an excellent starting point: The Law by Frédéric Bastiat; Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt; What has Government Done to our Money? by Murray Rothbard; The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek; and Economics for Real People by Gene Callahan.

The Perils of Economic Ignorance by Ron Paul

Open letter to Rush...

Dear Rush:

I started listening to you way back in the early years of the first Clinton administration. I couldn’t stand Bill and Hil or any of their associates, and hearing you and the other conservative talk-radio jocks light into them made their eight years in the White House a little more bearable for me. I even bought your books for my elderly mom, who was a big fan of yours and listened to you regularly until my elderly dad became more dependent on her and made it difficult for her to do so. While I didn’t agree with you on everything back then, we were generally on the same page and when we weren’t I wasn’t particularly bothered. That hasn’t been the case since George W. Bush took office, and particularly since 9-11 and his administration’s atrocious response to that atrocity.

...

An Open Letter to Rush Limbaugh by William R Tonso

The "bird flu" scare...

Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu. The US Defence Secretary has made more than $5m (£2.9m) in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu, the drug being bought in massive amounts by Governments to treat a possible human pandemic of the disease...

Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug by Geoffrey Lean and Jonathan Owen

America builds concentration camps...

KBR announced today that its Government and Infrastructure division has been awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to support the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in the event of an emergency. KBR is the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL).

With a maximum total value of $385 million over a five-year term, consisting of a one-year based period and four one-year options, the competitively awarded contract will be executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District. KBR held the previous ICE contract from 2000 through 2005.

“We are especially gratified to be awarded this contract because it builds on our extremely strong track record in the arena of emergency operations support,” said Bruce Stanski, executive vice president, KBR Government and Infrastructure. “We look forward to continuing the good work we have been doing to support our customer whenever and wherever we are needed.”

The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs. The contingency support contract provides for planning and, if required, initiation of specific engineering, construction and logistics support tasks to establish, operate and maintain one or more expansion facilities.

The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other U.S. Government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency, such as a natural disaster. In the event of a natural disaster, the contractor could be tasked with providing housing for ICE personnel performing law enforcement functions in support of relief efforts.

ICE was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of four integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

KBR is a global engineering, construction, technology and services company. Whether designing an LNG facility, serving as a defense industry contractor, or providing small capital construction, KBR delivers world-class service and performance. KBR employs more than 60,000 people in 43 countries around the world.

Halliburton, founded in 1919, is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the petroleum and energy industries. The company serves its customers with a broad range of products and services through its Energy Services Group and KBR. Visit the company's World Wide Web site at www.halliburton.com.

Official Halliburton press release

The lies are unraveling...

Now here we are again, contemplating the seemingly unthinkable events of September 11. An official explanation has been offered up: The nation was attacked by the forces of radical Islam led by Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda jihadists. Again, this narrative has been accepted by many.

But not all.

The Ground Zero Grassy Knoll by Mark Jacobson

Just Say No...

Americans who are not in a self imposed coma are aware that Congress has once again shredded the Fourth and Fifth Amendments with their recent vote to extend certain provisions of the un-Patriot Act. The only problem is, the Constitution must be amended, not changed, altered or nullified depending on the vicissitudes dictated by political corruption.

Tell Your Sheriff: No Enforcement of the "Patriot" Act by Devvy Kidd

Elections are a Scam...

As in every election we’re now being bombarded with propaganda about how “your vote makes a difference” and associated nonsense. According to the official version ordinary citizens control the state by voting for candidates in elections. The President and other politicians are supposedly servants of “the people” and the government an instrument of the general populace. This version is a myth. It does not matter who is elected because the way the system is set up all elected representatives must do what big business and the state bureaucracy want, not what “the people” want. Elected representatives are figureheads. Politicians’ rhetoric may change depending on who is elected, but they all have to implement the same policies given the same situation. Elections are a scam whose function is to create the illusion that “the people” control the government, not the elite, and to neutralize resistance movements. All voting does is strengthen the state & ruling class, it is not an effective means to change government policy.

...

Elections are a Scam

Distinguishing chattel from human life...

The notable Dred Scott Case brought before our courts in 1856-57 addressed the right of a Negro slave and his child born in free territory to become citizens of the United States. Scott sued for citizenship on the ground that he was taken from Missouri to live in the free territory of Minnesota, where his child was born, before being brought back to Missouri. The lower courts ruled that he had no standing before the court. On March 6, 1857, the United States Supreme Court upheld the lower court decision that Negro slaves and/or their descendants could not be citizens and that they had no rights before the court.

The written majority opinion was of more concern than the decision of the court. The opinion contended that Scott was mere chattel which might be dealt with by its owner as any other property. That historic opinion did much to widen the breach between North and South and to hasten the Civil War.

A present-day case which also began in the courts of Missouri was decided by the United States Supreme Court on January 22, 1973. In effect, the decision of the Roe vs. Wade Case declares that the unborn child has no rights before the court and that it may be dealt with as nothing more than chattel.

Now, fortified by that decision, the abortionists raise the popular cry that the unborn child is a part of the woman's body, that she has the right over her own body, and that she can deal with it as she pleases, even to the termination of its life.

With their humanitarian views, the Abolitionists pressed for the human rights of slaves at a time when many of the citizens of our country denied that a Negro had a soul. He was not considered to be a human being.

Strangely, now those who contend for the equal rights for women, minorities, and the blacks both in America and South Africa are denying that the unborn child has a soul or human rights. It is not considered to be a human being.

Although it is said to be a part of the woman's body, the fetus is not even esteemed as highly as an eye, a hand, or a finger. It would be considered inhuman to destroy one of those parts for any reason short of necessity. The fetus is given about the same consideration as a tumor or an inflamed appendix. To sterilize a woman as a preventative to pregnancy is considered to be a destruction of her human rights, but to terminate her pregnancy is thought to be neither inhuman nor destructive of the infant's rights.

We hear little from the abortionists about the sins of fornication and adultery. Rather, they contend that freedom of sexual activity of the unwed is another human right which we dare not discourage. Promiscuity is encouraged by our society as a whole. With the abandonment of sexual morality has come a disregard for the life that results from the lack of sexual restraint. When we abandon the concept of sin, we deny responsibility.

Slave owners were "pro-choice," contending that the choice of whether to own slaves or not was a private and personal matter and that one's personal values should not be pushed onto others. The "pro-choice" ideology was urged to protect slavery then, and it is designed to destroy life now. God is "pro-choice," demanding that we choose to refrain from the sexual activity that might result in a an unwanted pregnancy.

Both the slave and the fetus are human in essence, an essence which is not measured by degree of maturity, legal standing, or possession.

Who would have thought that, more than a century after the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War, we would hear the infamous decision of the Dred Scott Case revived so loudly and adamantly? Once it was the slave and his child who had no rights or soul; now it is the unborn child who has neither rights nor soul. In those times a master could deal with his slave as chattel; now the unborn is regarded as a disposable property possessed by the mother___a part of her body which she can destroy without conscience.

Human Chattel by Cecil Hook

Asserting sovereignty...

The New Hampshire State House recently...

...passed a bill prohibiting New Hampshire from participating in the federal Real ID Act, which would require state driver's licenses and ID cards to meet a federal standard.

The bill said the state finds the policy established by Congress in the Real ID Act of 2005 to be "contrary and repugnant" to the New Hampshire Constitution. Supporters of the bill called the Real ID Act a government attempt to put more restrictions on people without actually making them safer.

Concord Monitor Online

The gloomy neocons...

According to Fred Barnes:

The paleocon message is not an electoral winner--unless you believe voters are eager to hear ideas that are gloomy, negative, defeatist, isolationist, nativist, and protectionist.

What is it exactly about the "neocon" message that invokes positive thoughts of prosperity and success in the geopolitical arena?

The neocons tell us that American businesses need cheap labor in the form of illegal immigrants to sustain our supposedly cutting edge economy. They tell us that American companies aren't even interested in government contracts to run port operations, that we should instead opt to pay foreigners to do the work "Americans don't want to do". In fact, the neocons emphasize the legitimacy of the opinion that certain work is beneath that which Americans should expect to be provided.

They tell us stories about international rings of "terrorists" who are plotting nuclear attacks against America with the aid of various governments around the world. The only solution to these threats, they tell us, is to relinquish our civil rights and invest our collective trust in the decision making of a President able to defeat Al Gore and John Kerry by the slimmest of margins. We are to recognize his Constitutional authority to operate outside of the limits of the document which creates his authority in the first place. In the end, we are told that a 50-70 year war fought in every corner of the globe represents optimism while diplomatic non-interventionism represents defeatism.

They tell us that a federal budget with revenues of $2.4 trillion is not enough, that our children's futures must be mortgaged in order to sustain and expand necessary social programs while creating and implementing new ones. We are told that massive foreign debts and trade deficits are necessary in the "new economy" dominated by international corporations whose constituencies consist of small handfuls of powerful stakeholders. Exploding unfunded liabilities on the brink of surpassing the established debt ceiling are optimistic, while fiscally responsibile policies of pay as we go are pessimistic.

They tell us that smaller government is preferrable, but somehow they always manage to justify each proposed expansion of federal scope on some basis or another. A political movement once led by men who believed in individual sovereignty and inalienable liberties has fallen prey to marxists who masquerade their way to power under cover of supporting traditional social values through the appropriate use of government force. Bigger and more powerful government is optimistic if it pretends to advance the social agenda of the religous right, smaller government which protects the rights of all individuals to choose the course of their own lives is pessimistic.

I just don't see the optimism in the neocon platform. Probably because I'm too busy preparing for the coming armageddon that I am told is just around every corner.

We were wrong...

The application of a doctrine built upon the supposed boundlessness of US power has succeeded only in exposing its limits.

At last, the warmongers are prepared to face the facts and admit they were wrong by Rupert Cornwell

Frightful despotism...

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.

George Washington

Mr. Bush, meet Mr. Bush...

“We’ll never back down, we’ll never give in, and never accept anything less than complete victory in the war on terror.” – President Bush, Republican National Committee dinner, October 25, 2005.

Q: Do you really think we can win this war on terror?….

A: I don’t—I don’t think we can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the—those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in part of the world, let’s put it that way.” – President Bush in an exchange with co-host Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Today” show, August 30, 2004.

Source...

Some good reading...

Richard N Haass is president of the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of 'The Opportunity: America's Moment to Alter History’s Course'.

For 350 years, sovereignty — the notion that states are the central actors on the world stage and that governments are essentially free to do what they want within their own territory but not in the territory of other states — has provided the organising principle of international relations. The time has come to rethink this notion.

Halfway to Heaven

The 5,000-acre tomato field in southwestern Florida sure doesn't look like heaven. Bulldozers scrape the land flat while clusters of Porta Pottis signal an undeniable earthiness. But soon a massive cathedral will rise from this barren spot. Reaching 100 feet in the air behind a 65-foot crucifix, the Oratory will anchor Ave Maria, a whole new town and Roman Catholic university 30 miles east of Naples. Ground was officially broken last week, and the plan is to build 11,000 homes—likely drawing families who already hold the church at the center of their lives.

ACLU opposes creation of 'Catholic town'

There‘s one group standing in the way of Monaghan‘s lifelong dream, the American Civil Liberties Union, of course. Howard Simon is the executive director of Florida‘s ACLU. He joined Tucker Carlson from Miami.

2006 Vermont State Sovereignty Resolution

What if the Neighbors Get Nasty?

Bush says only some people get to acquire certain knowledge, for others no.

Secondly, Iran must not have a nuclear weapon. The most destabilizing thing that can happen in this region and in the world is for Iran to have a -- develop a nuclear weapon. And so the world is speaking with one voice to the Iranians that it's okay for you to have a civilian power -- nuclear power operation, but you shall not have the means, the knowledge to develop a nuclear weapon.