I know there’s been a lot of Iraq-related news today, particularly in light of the NIE release, but I didn’t want to let this story get lost in the shuffle. It might be the day’s most important piece about the war. The U.S. military drive to train and equip Iraq’s security forces has unwittingly strengthened […]
At a White House press briefing today, NSA Stephen Hadley seemed to believe the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq was favorable to the White House’s war policy. “One of the things you should conclude from this NIE is the best plan is to have this plan succeed,” Hadley told reporters. Look, when it comes […]
What’s the best way to lower the number of casualties in Iraq? Easy, redefine “casualty.” Statistics on a Pentagon Web site have been reorganized in a way that lowers the published totals of American nonfatal casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director of force health protection and readiness at the Defense Department, […]
This is not at all encouraging. There’s so many things wrong with the report, it’s hard to know where to start. The US News Political Bulletin has learned Democrats on Capitol Hill are increasingly concerned that President Bush will order air strikes against targets in Iran in the next few months or even weeks. They […]
I think it’s safe to say that opponents of gays serving in the military are officially out of arguments. A new poll from Harris Interactive found that 55% of Americans think gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military. By comparison, 19% of the 2,337 Americans polled said gays and lesbians […]
Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi, a terrific writer with a biting sense of humor, wrote a piece this week that probably hasn’t generated the attention it deserves. Taibbi watched with some horror this month when right-wing news outlets launched their “madrassa” smear against Barack Obama. It caused him to realize that “even the most outrageous media […]
While positioning on the compromise resolution on the war in Iraq works itself out in the Senate, the Bush/McCain/Lieberman side of the debate is moving forward with a resolution of their own. The White House has reportedly given word that the Bush gang expects some kind of resolution to pass, so they hope to minimize […]
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) announced yesterday that his administration was moving forward with a plan to abandon touch-screen electronic voting machines altogether. The controversial machines, installed after the 2000 debacle, proved […]
So, what are we going to call the new compromise resolution in the Senate criticizing the president’s strategy in Iraq? The far-right Washington Times has a suggestion. A bipartisan majority in the Senate yesterday united behind a firm “stay the course” resolution on the war in Iraq, despite searing public criticism from both sides in […]
Back in September, it appeared that ExxonMobil was beginning to turn a corner. The “Competitive Enterprise Institute,” a propaganda machine for Big Oil that created some unintentionally hilarious ad campaigns, would no longer be funded by the energy behemoth. What’s more, ExxonMobil told the Royal Society, Britain’s premier scientific academy, that the company would “not […]