Dead-Eye's Tortured Lie

Anyone who would believe a single word out of Dead-Eye Dick Cheney's mouth at this point would believe anything. His frequent lie that "enhanced interrogation" methods -- torture -- produced a ton of valuable intelligence has been contradicted by former senior government officials who followed the interrogation of terrorist Abu Zubaida:

"The methods succeeded in breaking him, and the stories he told of al Qaeda terrorism plots sent CIA officers around the globe chasing leads. In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions. . ."

Confessions or intelligence coerced by torture are notoriously unreliable, as any intelligence or military professional would tell you.

As Iraq was a diversion that ended up bleeding our military efforts against al Qaeda and weakening our position in the Middle East by empowering Iran, torture was a diversion that produced little or no useful intelligence, despite the chest-beating claims of Dead-Eye and the neocons. Maybe this was all about Dead-Eye and crew just wanting to have a little vicarious "fun."

"The Nexus of Terrorism and Nuclear Weapons"

That would be Pakistan, al Qaeda's main prize. Iraq is now "a rear guard action," according to Marine Corps General James Conway, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Pakistan has all the ingredients that were lacking in Iraq: nuclear weapons, an unstable government, and large frontier areas controlled by Islamic fundamentalists allied with al Qaeda and the Taliban. Preznit Dumbya's war was everything al Qaeda could ask for: a diversion so that they could rebuild their forces and bleed ours, and a recruitment poster throughout the Muslim world.

Today's deadly attacks in neighboring India on Mumbai's hotel and commercial district was likely carried out by forces allied to al Qaeda to provoke a military reaction by India toward Pakistan. Chaos is their ally; sadly, so was Dumbya.

Divorced From Reality

By now, the vast majority of Americans have written Dumbya off as either a dunce, or delusional, especially when it comes to his failed efforts to defeat al Qaeda. In Tuesday's press conference, the Presidunce's scripted message on the economy was interrupted by a question on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. Dumbya insisted that we were winning the conflict in Afghanistan, despite the recent assassination attempt on Afghan leader Hamid Karzai and stepped up attacks.

If the Presidunce only knew what his own State Department was going to say the day after his statement: their annual country report on the situation in Afghanistan saying that al Qaeda was getting stronger, had gained back some of its pre-9/11 operational effectiveness, and had greater mobility in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region.

Faux News, Your 'Terrist' Network

Why are we not surprised that Faux News is actively promoting the scenario that the California fires were set by al Qaeda? And for two days straight, and without any evidence! Citing an FBI memo from four years ago, the Foxies don't seem to notice that the memo doesn't list California as a possible al Qaeda arson target. Authorities believe two of the more than dozen fires appear to be arson, but that didn't stop Fox and Friends, including the excitable Steve "Douche" Doocy, and others from leaping on the story as if it were a second 9/11. Expect the same nonsense to be trotted out as the 2008 elections approach, with Faux News doing its best to elect "homeland security" Rethugs.

Pakistan, Again

This is getting to be a daily alert, but today's NY Times article describing Pakistan's precarious state should scare the bejesus out of us all. Pakistan has all the ingredients of disaster: political unrest, nuclear weapons, key areas dominated by al Qaeda and Taliban supporters, growing hostility of the people to U.S. policies in the Mideast. Meanwhile, the Bush Assministration is bogged down chasing a relative handful of "al Qaeda" in Iraq, while beating the drums of war against . . . .Iran.

Figures.

Bush Assministration Leak Undermines Intelligence Source

Well, the Bushitters have loaded up and shot themselves in the feet with both barrels. The Washington Post reports that a recent Bin Laden tape was provided to the White House by a private intelligence company in advance of its release by al Qaeda. The private company told the Assministration not to divulge the tape before al Qaeda released it, so as not to compromise their source. Of course, within hours Assministration officials had disseminated the tape to its favorite outlets, prominently Fux News. In doing so, they compromised an intelligence source, and allowed al Qaeda to tighten its security (and probably execute someone).

Heckuva job, Bushitters!

Brit Report: "War on Terror" Failing; Iraq a "Disastrous Mistake"

The Oxford Research Group has issued a report , according to Reuters, saying the "GWOT" is failing and producing more al Qaeda recruits. As if more confirmation of the Bush Assministration's catastrophic decision to go into Iraq rather than destroy al Qaeda were needed, Paul Rogers, the report's author, said the invasion had helped establish a "most valued jihadist combat training zone," and that even if recommended actions were taken to reverse course, it would still take "at least 10 years to make up for the mistakes made since 9/11." So much for the Rethugs being the party that can be trusted to fight the war on terror. The report, entitled "Alternatives to the War on Terror," also warns against the Assministration's apparent drift toward war with Iran, saying it would make matters "far worse." Given Dumbya's proclivity for choosing exactly the wrong path, what's the betting that we'll be attacking Iran in the near future?

Morning Cup of Irony

Headlines of seperate stories on page A10 of this morning's Washington Post (no link):

Iran Frees U.S. Scholar From Prison

And right below it:

Al-Qaeda Suspect Released by Pakistan

Don't Say 'Insurgents', Say 'al Qaeda!'

More in the annals of spin from the Bush Assministration. Clearly, they're thinking that by conflating the broad sectarian insurgency in Iraq with al Qaeda, they stand to score more points with the portion of the American public that's 1) not been paying attention or 2) is deeply invested in neocon fantasies. Thus, the 5% representing al Qaeda becomes 100% of the insurgency (nevermind the Shiite Mahdi Army, Baathists, etc.). Preznit Bushit strikes again.

Bin Laden's Recruiters

Most experts and most Americans (51%, CNN) have concluded that the occupation of Iraq has created more terrorists hostile to the U.S. Even more (54%, CNN) agree that there was no moral justification to invade Iraq. A Gallup poll indicates that 71 percent of Americans want our troops home by next April. This article by Timothy Ash, an Oxford University professor and fellow at the conservative Hoover Institute, illustrates how this Assministration fell into Bin Laden's trap to involve us in a disastrous land war in the Middle East, while he and al Qaeda's leadership bide their time in the frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Dumbya and Dead Eye have been Bin Laden's best recruiters.