Rice Audtioning For New Role of Aricept Spokesperson

As far as legacies go, I guess, you go with the one ya brung ...

And Condi Rice has a death grip on hers, and her work husband, The Commander Guy

Condoleezza Rice Says She's `Proud' of Decision to Invade Iraq

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she's ``proud'' of the U.S. decision to wage the Iraq war and insisted that the world is not more dangerous than it was when George W. Bush took office.

And, from Think Progress;

“We tend to forget very quickly what Saddam Hussein meant. … In the post 9/11 environment, you couldn’t let a threat to international peace and stability like that remain.” She added:

Yes, it’s been very, very tough. But I know that great historical events go through difficult phases and often emerge with the world left for the better. And I am proud of the decision of this administration to overthrow Saddam Hussein. I am proud of the liberation of 25 million Iraqis.

You can go over to Think Progress to see how forgetful Rice has become.

How's about that "liberation" ... How's that coming?

Key Iraqi Leaders Deliver Setbacks to U.S.; Premier Rejects Terms of Proposed Pacts; Cleric Reactivates Militia

And the guy that wants to pick up the Court-Appointed President's (h/t Barry Crimmins) third term;

McCain defends '100 years in Iraq' statement

A country in shambles and a guy that wants to keep it in shambles for another century

Yeah, that's some legacy, alright ...


Bonus Condi Gems

Top Ten Cloves: Ways White House Is Thinking About To Help Condoleezza Rice Remember Meetings She Attends

Our Girl Condi Gets A Theme Song - Neocons and Lovers

The Condoleezza Rice Ballroom Dancing & Charm School; Or: Shopping For A Legacy on Cyber Monday

Happy 5th Anniversary of "Suck On This" Day!

We would be remiss today, if we didn't let the bubbly flow ...

Raise one up to one of our favorite, flat-headed pundits.

Yes, the title honoree of the "Friedman Unit", Thomas Friedman, celebrates today his bold foreign policy observation, as to our illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Or, as Atrios puts it;

Five years, or 10 F.U.s, ago today, America's leading foreign affairs public intellectual explained the Iraq war to us.

From Think Progress;

FRIEDMAN: You don’t think, you know, we care about our open society. You think this bubble fantasy, we’re just going to let it grow? Well, suck on this, ok. That Charlie, is what this war was about. We could have hit Saudi Arabia, it was part of that bubble. Could have hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq because we could. That’s the real truth.

Jane Hamsher, over on Firedoglake, writes of future "Suck On This Days";

Folks of Middle Eastern descent will still be pissed that Americans thought it was acceptable to invade their country on false pretenses, slaughter their people and continue to revere a pundit who thought "Suck on this" was an appropriate expression of America's foreign policy.

Thomas Friedman Sums Up the Iraq War: "Suck. On. This."



What made Sammy run was shoes ...

What makes The Friedman Unit man tick? ... Who knows, although The Garlic did have one possible inkling;

"Thomas Freidman, Clearly, Is Eating Lead-Painted Toys From His Flat World Economy!"

Anyway ...

Happy Suck On This Day!


Bonus Friedman Suck On This Day Links

Charlie Rose: May 30, 2003

Barry Crimmins: Time's up for Thomas L. Freepass

David Rees: Thomas Friedman "Suck-on-this" Anniversary Celebratory Book Excerpt!

Lest We Forget ... Memorial Day 2008

"Impeachment is off the table," said Pelosi, D-Calif. "Democrats are not about getting even. Democrats are about helping people get ahead."
...
She used the word "bipartisan" at least eight times in her few minutes before the media, and said that she had promised the president that she would cooperate with him as much as possible.

-- Two days after the 2006 midterms, by Bill Myers, National Examiner, November 09, 2006



H/T to Edgar for this great post.

Visit, bookmark, sign-up, donate to, and/or join the Out Of Iraq Bloggers Caucus


And check this out, to see how the Bush Grindhouse is "supporting the troops";

Bill Moyers and Michael Winship: Memorial Day

Once upon a time, kids asked their fathers, "What did you do in the war, daddy?" It's a question the next generation could ask all of us who stood by as our government invaded Iraq to start a war whose purpose and rationale keep shifting and whose end is nowhere in sight, and who look now with nonchalance upon the unseen scars of those who are fighting it.

Or Barry Crimmins' "Forward Observance"

This Memorial Day is the first we will observe since losing a hero who was also a military veteran. His name was Bruce Phillips. You might have known him better as "Utah." Bruce may or may not have behaved heroically during his duty in Korea. His return home, according to his official obituary, was anything but heroic -- until misfortune led him to a providential destination.

Top Ten Cloves: Reasons U.S. Military Used Koran For Target Practice

News Item: U.S. soldier in Iraq used Koran for target practice

10. Thought they would score some points with John McCain's endorser, Rev. John Hagee

9. Didn't realize it was a Koran; Got disoriented and sick after drinking some KBR water

8. "You shoot at the Koran you have—not the Koran you might want or wish to have at a later time ..."

7. With bullet holes, easier to hang on a nail in the cells of captured terrorists

6. Just trying to work out all sides of the theory behind Woody Allen's "Bullet In My Breast Pocket"

5. Planned on giving it to Jenna Bush, as a wedding present

4. Flushing it down the toliet was screwing up the plumbing

3. Was told it was the Koran that Barack Obama took his Senate oath on

2. Getting in last target practice; Following President's lead, will give up shooting Korans as long as there is war going on

1. They had already shot up their supply of Bibles

Bonus Links

"What If Spartacus Had To Account For 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols ..."

Top Ten Cloves: Reasons How Air Force Mistakenly Flew 5 Nuclear Warheads Across Country

Top Ten Cloves: Ways Military Recruiters Didn't Realize They Were Recruiting Gays

"They will have flies walking across their eyeballs"

Don't Tell The Lincoln Group About This ...

Oh boy, I smell trouble ...

The Wired's Danger Room had this yesterday;

Military Report: Secretly 'Recruit or Hire Bloggers'

A study, written for U.S. Special Operations Command, suggested "clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers."

This 2006 report for the Joint Special Operations University, "Blogs and Military Information Strategy," offers a third approach -- co-opting bloggers, or even putting them on the payroll. "Hiring a block of bloggers to verbally attack a specific person or promote a specific message may be worth considering," write the report's co-authors, James Kinniburgh and Dororthy Denning.

And this;

Information strategists can consider clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers or other persons of prominence…to pass the U.S. message. … On the other hand, such operations can have a blowback effect, as witnessed by the public reaction following revelations that the U.S. military had paid journalists to publish stories in the Iraqi press under their own names. People do not like to be deceived, and the price of being exposed is lost credibility and trust.

An alternative strategy is to “make” a blog and blogger. The process of boosting the blog to a position of influence could take some time, however, and depending on the person running the blog, may impose a significant educational burden, in terms of cultural and linguistic training before the blog could be put online to any useful effect. Still, there are people in the military today who like to blog.

Don't the different branches of the Bush Grindhouse talk to each other?

Someone ought to wake up these military people, as what they are proposing is already in place.

It's called Fox News.

Along with those like Matt Sludge, Michelle "Stalkin" Malkin, Dennis Miller, Ann Coulter and a whole bevy of other Right Wing, Freakshow bloggers and pundits who echo Fox News, simply recite the Bush Grindhouse talking points, or just make up their own stories.

And there's The Lincoln Group.

You remember them, don't you? ... The propaganda company the Pentagon hired to plant pro-USA stories in the Iraqi newspapers and media?

Is this a turf fight in-the-making?

Will the propaganda pro's have to compete against the pajama-clad, basement dwellers?

Holy Baghdad Bob, what a bubbling bruhaha, Batman!

Wait a minute!

How do we know this story, this study, isn't a planted piece?

Yikes!

They're trying to flush something out .... Or maybe, its to see how many of the previously-referenced Right Wing, Freakshow bloggers and pundits raise their hands, salivating at the opportunity to start shoveling it for the government.

Cuts down on the recruiting costs, I suppose.


Bonus Spiked Media Riffs

The Carpetbagger Report: The military plan to ‘clandestinely’ put bloggers on the payroll

Jeff Fecke/Shakesville: Working Undercover for the Man

When A Michelle Malkin Quits The O'Reilly Factor, And No One is Around To Hear it, Does It Make A Sound?

White House "Embarrassed"; Bush Victory Strategy Speech Written By PR Agency; Gave President Wrong Folder; Iraqi Newspaper Prints Slams Against Murtha, Kerry, Pelosi

Rumsfeld Blames Contractor, If Media Plant Stories True, But Defends Outsourcing Program; Says "Still Gathering Facts"; If It Turns Out Positive, Will Be Adopted Into New 'National Victory Strategy' Plan

Secretary Says No Reflection That We Don't Know What's Going On; More Bush Troubles As Rice Backtracks, Corrects Comments, Blames Lincoln Group; Meant To Say Was Surprised Levees Breached, Not By Hamas Election Victory; Backs Pace That There's No Civil War

Retro Garlic - What Waters?

"And what in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?" Rains asks Bogart.

"My health," Bogart answers. "I came to Casablanca for the waters."

"What waters?" asks Rains. "We're in the desert."

"I was misinformed."

The movie, Casablanca (1942)

Well, flash forward over 60+ years and a lot of soldiers, and the U.S. Military were "misinformed" about the water they were provided with in Iraq - thanks to our Vice President's former company, Halliburton, via their offshoot, KBR.

This, today from the International Herald Tribune;

AP Exclusive: US troops may have become sick in Iraq from contaminated water

Some choice gems;

"Dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq fell sick at bases using "unmonitored and potentially unsafe" water supplied by the military and a contractor once owned by Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, the Pentagon's internal watchdog says.

The Defense Department's inspector general's report, which could be released as early as Monday, found water quality problems between March 2004 and February 2006 at three sites run by contractor KBR Inc., and between January 2004 and December 2006 at two military-operated locations."

Apparently, it wasn't enough for the Bush Grindhouse to hand out no-bid contracts, they had to release these greedheads from basic quality standards as well.


The Retro Part, from The Garlic Tuesday, 15 August, 2006

Breaking News! Report Slams Seeds Of Democracy Currently Used “Worthless”; Stunning IG Reports Cites Use Of Cheap, Mail-Order Seeds Of Democracy For Iraq, Middle East; Spotlight On White House, Rumsfeld For Low-Cost Military Vision; Dirty Halliburton Water Also Cited

God, we can't be done with these thugs soon enough


Bonus Riffs

FILM; You Must Remember This . . .

Breaking News! Analyst: President May Soon Need To Deny He Has Troops In Iraq; White House Plunges Into New Iraq Strategy; Moving From ‘Keystone Cops’ To ‘Marx Brothers’; Denials Of “Stay The Course” Signal Major Shift; Possible Complete Erasing Of Iraq May Come In Time For MidTerms

Breaking News! With DisneyBaghdad, Bush Says “Nobody Wins Hearts and Minds Better Than Disney; Disney, With Secret Contract, Working With White House, Military On Building Baghdad Moats; ‘Pirates of the Caliphate’, Other Attractions To Mask Security Measures; State Dept. Touts “DisneyBaghdad Will Pay For Itself”

Top Ten Cloves: Difficulties DC Comics' Batman May Have Fighting Osama bin Laden

Developing Story - Polar Bears Added To Iraq Options; Bush Administration Wavering On Polar Bears; Considering Employing In Iraq, War Against Terror; Rove Claims He Also Has “The Science”, Says Bears “Will Do Fine In Desert Heat”

This Just In! White House Applying Katrina Strategy To Med Center Neglect; To Gauge Neglect, Problems, President Set To Fly Over Walter Reed, Bldg. 18 Today; Bush Promising Action, "To Press Face Against Window"; Recommends DOD Follow Katrina Strategy

Flutie Sends "Cease-and-Desist" Letter To Media Over 'Hail Mary' References Regarding Surge; Diminutive QB Longtime Copyright Holder; "It Still Feeds My Family"; Says Open To Negotiate On Usage

Good Post Alert - Edward Copeland's Review of 'No End In Sight'

Certainly, not unrelated to the above-post of The Commander Guy swooping into Anbar Province, in Iraq, for a victory lap, we want to point you to a good post today, over on Edward Copeland on Film (and he also writes the blog Copeland Institute for Lower Learning).

Copeland reviews the new documentary, "No End In Sight", a tale of those early, heady days of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

"No End in Sight is remarkable for its "Just the facts, ma'am" approach. There's no need for ratcheting up the rhetoric: The film's recitation of the facts, many of which are well known, are assembled in such a way that viewer provides his or her own sense of outrage or disbelief without any prompting from the filmmaker. Interviewing a wide assortment of officials involved in the initial invasion as well as journalists, troops and others, what's so astounding about this Iraq documentary, and there certainly have been no shortage of documentaries on the subject, is that those involved believed in the mission. They wanted to succeed and they wanted to leave an Iraq that was better than the one they invaded. Unfortunately, the people making the decisions either because of arrogance, incompetence, indifference or some combination of all three, let the opportunity for a success story to slip through their fingers and everyone is paying the price to this very day."

Of interest, Copeland opens his review with a great quote from former Ambassador Barbara Bodine, who appears in the film.

Bodine was also just on 'Real Time with Bill Maher last Friday, who offered some of flavor of what's in "No End In Sight";

BODINE: I don’t – I honestly don’t think that they were trying to egg on the insurgency. But I do think that they were so blinded by their ideology, so convinced of their – their right, their ability and their right to transform a society. They basically approached Iraq as if it was a blank slate. And there were – there were some in the reconstruction – the political side of the reconstruction – who actually said that they thought that the looting of the entire infrastructure was good, because it was a way of downsizing the government.

GRAVEL: I heard that.

BODINE: And – well, it did.

MAHER: Right. It seemed like they were trying to—[laughter]

BODINE: It did. It did. I mean, it zeroed everything out, brought it down to, you know, that sort of basic Stone Age level of no electricity, no water, no sanitation, no law and order. Sort of, you know, a “Lord of the Flies” almost kind of a thing. And – but the problem was – it wasn’t that they wanted the chaos. I think even the worst of them did not want the chaos. They didn’t understand the kind of forces that they were unleashing. And they had this—

MAHER: But, they—

BODINE: [overlapping]—arrogant idea that the Iraqis would be passive to all of this; that we could go in with our ideas and our plans and our way of doing things, and that the Iraqis would just simply sit there and wait for us to come forward with our plans. And it was going to be this Petri dish of every single one of their political philosophy ideas – you know, flat taxes, complete privatization—

And there was this gem, as well;

MAHER: And they had free health care over there.

BODINE: They did.

MAHER: Right. And when the guy—

BODINE: [overlapping] But it was – but – but—

MAHER: [overlapping]—the Bush people put in there, he was aghast at that because, you know, we don’t have that here and our system works so good. [laughter]

BODINE: Well, it – the health – the health system in Iraq was a disaster, but there were ways of fixing it. The guy who came in wasn’t a doctor, had never done public health. And the very first thing that he decides that has to be done on public health in Iraq is a “no smoking” campaign. [laughter] This is the major threat to the Iraqis, is cigarettes! Not guns, not bombs, not anything, but cigarettes.

Links

Take a spin over and read Edward Copeland's "A confederacy of dunces"

Visit the website for "No End In Site"

Barbara Bodine - IF WE LEAVE: Iraqis Will Learn to Deal

Ambassador Barbara Bodine