judgment day

Blumenthal recalls Iran-contra.

Richard Clarke calls for a different approach and a better public sphere.

I think they'd like a Constitutional amendment that says only Republicans can be Commander in Chief.

but Rush is still a major idiot:

"But even if the president had decided to go to war against Saddam in January 2003, what's the big deal? Congress knew full well that war was imminent, as did the rest of us. In October 2002, Congress voted overwhelmingly to give President Bush the authority to use military force against Iraq. The Senate approved the measure 77-23, the House by 296-133. In November 2002, the Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1441 giving Iraq 'a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations.' There's nothing secret about these public acts, which were deliberate and debated. Saddam remained belligerent, making war unavoidable. If he'd opened his country to unencumbered inspections, there would have been no war."

Uh, Rush, he did. Then again, you can see why Rush would get confused about that (other than residual effects of the drugs), since his hero, Dubya, repeatedly has told that same lie. Is it that Dubya and Rsuh can't remember what happened just over a year ago, or that they assume only "elite" circles can? All of this is in addition to the point that Alterman makes: Woodward is a conservative Republican who fawned all over Bush in his last book.

Iraq war may require more money soon, and it's not just Democrats who are outraged by the absence of funds for Iraq in the President's 2005 budget:

"Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, charged that the president is playing political games by postponing further funding requests until after the election, to try to avoid reopening debate on the war's cost and future.

Weldon described the administration's current defense budget request as 'outrageous' and 'immoral' and said that at least $10 billion is needed for Iraqi operations over the next five months.
'There needs to be a supplemental, whether it's a presidential election year or not,' he said. 'The support of our troops has to be the number one priority of this country. . . . Somebody's got to get serious about this.'"

From a letter by the Family Steering Committee (9/11 families):

"Two areas not investigated by the JICI [Congressional Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry] include the National Security Council and the Presidential Daily Briefings, the daily intelligence reports written for the President.

While the JICI attempted numerous times to access the minutes of the NSC meetings, the articles contained in the PDBs, certain budgetary information, and to interview National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, the Joint Inquiry’s dogged requests were wholly refused and/or denied by the White House on separation of powers grounds.

Rep. DeLay insinuates throughout his letter to Governor Kean that commissioners (including Commissioner Gorelick) are acting in contravention to the nation’s best interests. Rep. DeLay decries the ‘partisanship’ and ‘self-promotion’ that he claims threatens the commission’s credibility. Yet one must question Rep. DeLay’s motives in seeking the removal of Commissioner Gorelick.

Interestingly, after eleven months of negotiation with the White House, Jamie Gorelick is the only Commissioner that was given ‘full’ access to relevant highly classified Executive Branch information "including PDBs and NSC notes" regarding our Nation’s ability to defend itself against 19 hijackers on the morning of 9/11 "information that was never before examined by any non-Executive Branch investigative entity.

The resignation of Ms. Gorelick would cause this information to remain un-investigated and un-addressed by the 9/11 Independent Commission in its Final Report. And, thus, our nation will not gain the benefit of this Executive Branch information in order to carry on the dialogue and debate regarding our ability to effectively and successfully fight the war on terrorism.

Here is a story about Kerry's campaign releasing military records with this response from the Bushies: "Ken Mehlman, President Bush's campaign manager, accused Kerry's campaign of waffling on the release of his military records, saying the campaign's position on Tuesday to release the records in 'due diligence' is contrary to Kerry's comments on 'Meet the Press' that the records would be made public immediately.

'Senator Kerry's record of nondisclosure and his flip-flop on this issue should concern voters,' Mehlman said."

I really don't get these people. It's like they've arrived from another planet or something. Kerry asked to go to Vietnam, volunteered for a saecond tour, was wounded on three occasions, and the manager for the guy who had a hard time finding his Guard unit wants to make an issue of this? Please explain their thinking.

Through the Looking Glass is right, just not the way she thinks it is. Sheesh, these people are scary.

US set to reduce troops outside Najaf: "The US-led force in Iraq offered a gun amnesty to Sunni insurgents in Falluja today as it unveiled a range of measures aimed at ending the two-week standoff in the western city.
Meanwhile, a White House official confirmed tonight that John Negroponte, will become the US ambassador to Iraq. "

The Washington Times brings quoting out of context to new lows here. The "news" story's claim: that Kerry said that the war on terror is "primarily" a law-enforcement matter. Of course, the context from which they pluck "primarily" is in the third graf, and doesn't say that at all. But then, I'm being picky.

Here is the senator's precis. Tide you over until you read the original -- which is well worth the time.

We can only hope: "Rumsfeld and Franks work out a deal essentially where Franks can spend any money he needs. And so he starts building runways and pipelines and doing all the preparations in Kuwait, specifically to make war possible," says Woodward.

"Gets to a point where in July, the end of July 2002, they need $700 million, a large amount of money for all these tasks. And the president approves it. But Congress doesn't know and it is done. They get the money from a supplemental appropriation for the Afghan War, which Congress has approved. . . . Some people are gonna look at a document called the Constitution which says that no money will be drawn from the treasury unless appropriated by Congress. Congress was totally in the dark on this."