Neo-Conservatives

Neocon Torture Defense is Melting

Bob Fertik — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:19:10 -0400

The poor neocons - their defenfses for torture are melting away right in front of our eyes.

1. "America Doesn't Torture." That's what George Bush and his administration still insist (Liz Cheney, Dana Perino). Of course we all saw the Abu Ghraib photos. We know roughly 100 prisoners died, and roughly 30 deemed manslaughter by the U.S. Three dozen more have "disappeared". The International Committee of the Red Cross reported the horrifying ordeals of 14 who survived. The Senate Armed Services Committee documented the deliberate bureaucratic spread of "torture" based on SERE from Gitmo to Bagram to Abu Ghraib. Judge Susan Crawford concluded even the combination of "milder" techniques constituted "torture." And we just learned Abu Zubaydah (AZ) and Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) were waterboarded 266 times. ~~Scratch that one~~.

2. "Torture by Americans is Sacred." Pat Buchanan says "there is a higher moral law... That's what Dr. King was all about." Rep. Peter King says Jay Bybee deserves a medal. In other words, whatever brutality America commits out of fear or hatred is by definition sacred. The Nazis believed that too. Go tell it to a judge. ~~Scratch that one~~.

3. "Waterboarding Is Not Torture." (Karl Rove, Condi Rice, Michael Mukasey, Newt Gingrich, Pete Hoekstra, National Review, Federalist Society, David Rivkin, Andy McCarthy, John Eastman, Lamar Smith, Ann Coulter - also see #1) Sure - tell that to the Japanese soldiers we prosecuted for waterboarding after World War II; some were hanged. Or the U.S. soldiers we court-martialed in the Phillippines. Or the Texas sheriff sentenced to 10 years in prison under Reagan. Heck, tell that to the Spanish Inquisition and Pol Pot. Ask John McCain. If it isn't torture, why did the CIA destroy all of the waterboarding tapes? ~~Scratch that one~~.

4. "Torture Prevented Another 9/11 and Saved American Lives." (Liz Cheney, Mark Thiessen) Bush said that as well in 2006, claiming the torture of KSM in March 2003 prevented a 9/11-style attack on the Library Tower in Los Angeles. But that attack was stopped in February 2002, more than a year before KSM was captured. Thiessen says it prevented attacks on the US Embassy in Karache, the Marine barracks in Djibouti, and London's Heathrow Airport. Got proof? ~~Scratch that one~~.

There are serving U.S. flag-rank officers who maintain that the first and second identifiable causes of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq – as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat – are, respectively the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.

- Alberto Mora, Former Navy general counsel

I learned in Iraq that the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked there to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Our policy of torture was directly and swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq. The large majority of suicide bombings in Iraq are still carried out by these foreigners. They are also involved in most of the attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. It's no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in that country have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse. The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. How anyone can say that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me -- unless you don't count American soldiers as Americans.

- "Matthew Alexander", former U.S. military interrogator in Iraq

5. "Torture Gave Us Other Valuable Intelligence." (Michael Hayden, Michael Mukasey) That's Dick Cheney's current defense and his argument for declassifying two memos that allegedly prove his case. But as all Cheney-watchers know, this is simply an exercise in "cherry picking" evidence that he likes while suppressing evidence he doesn't - especially the CIA Inspector General's report concluding torture didn't work. The only valuable intelligence from AZ and KSM was obtained by FBI interrogators without torture, while subsequent CIA torture mainly produced lies. Ask Robert Mueller, Tyler Drumheller, Bob Baer, or "Matthew Alexander". Even Steven Bradbury had to admit it. Besides, if torture "works," why don't we use it for the most serious domestic crimes? ~~Scratch that one~~.

6. "Torture is Legal if We're Scared." (Joe Scarborough, Charles Krauthammer) Wrong! The Convention Against Torture allows no exceptions. Besides, we didn't start torturing for 11 months after 9/11 - just when we needed to manufacture reasons to invade Iraq. And if it was legal to torture foreigners, it would be legal to torture Americans. In any event, torture doesn't produce reliable information - not after 183 sessions, and certainly not after 1.

7. "The Torture Lawyers Interpreted the Law in Good Faith." (George Will, Mara Liasson, David Broder) That assumes they didn't know waterboarding was torture (see #2). It assumes they didn't know torture doesn't work, but Pentagon experts at JPRA told them it was torture and it didn't work. It assumes there were no lawyers who objected, but every JAG did. State Department lawyer Philip Zelikow objected in a memo, but they destroyed every copy. The FBI even tried to prosecute CIA torturers but Attorney General John Ashcroft blocked them. ~~Scratch that one~~.

In his televised address 2 days before invading Iraq, Bush warned Iraqis:

War crimes will be prosecuted, war criminals will be punished and it will be no defense to say, “I was just following orders.”

8. "A Torture Investigation Would Paralyze the CIA." (Porter Goss, Mark Thiessen, Michael Scheurer) Those who really care about the CIA (The unanimous Senate Armed Services Committee, DNI Dennis Blair, David Boren, Bob Baer, Mel Goodman) insist torture caused immense damage to the CIA. Before Bush-Cheney, the CIA was never in the interrogation business - that was the job of skilled interrogators at the FBI and the Defense Department, who will now be back in charge. The CIA's primary job is to recruit willing spies (primarily through bribes), not unwilling prisoners (through torture), because the CIA believes information given willingly is infinitely more reliable. So the CIA is delighted to be out of the torture business. Also very few CIA agents were involved in torture; most agents are true patriots. The torture scandal scared the best recruits away; cleaning house will bring them back. ~~Scratch that one~~.

9. "A Torture Investigation Will Help The Terrorists." (Porter Goss, Bill Kristol) The idea that U.S. torture was secret became moot after the Abu Ghraib photos were published in April 2004. Bush promised a "full investigation" to Al Arabiya TV. When torturers are taking photos and videos, such disclosures are inevitable - just ask Bob Gates. And torture victims don't need the U.S. media to describe their horrific treatment to the Arabic media, they can tell the stories all around the world. The world knows what happened; the only question now is whether the U.S. will hold the Torturers accountable and prove "America Doesn't Torture." ~~Scratch that one~~.

10. "New Presidents never investigate the crimes of their predecessor." Gerald Ford prosecuted Nixon's Watergate cronies, including John Mitchell. The last new president to investigate his predecessor was ... George Bush! He investigated White House staff for allegedly stealing W typewriter keys, and President Clinton for his completely legal pardon of Marc Rich. Bushlover Sean Hannity wanted to prosecute Clinton and Janet Reno. ~~Scratch that one~~.

11. "Only banana republics prosecute previous administrations." (Karl Rove, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Mark Steyn, Chris Wallace, Bob Schieffer) No, only banana republics allow political elites to commit crimes with impunity. Democracies insist that no one - including political elites - are above the law. ~~Scratch that one~~.

12. "Key Democrats approved torture." (Porter Goss) Speaker Pelosi was one of only four Democrats who received secret CIA briefings. She adamantly insists they were never told prisoners were being tortured. Marcy Wheeler has the details. ~~Scratch that one~~.

13. "Congressional Democrats funded torture in 2007-08." First, they didn't know much about Bush's waterboarding program until the Torture Memos were finally released in April 2009, because the Bush Administration refused to answer Congressional subpoenas. But if they had tried to cut funds without knowing the facts, Bush would have vetoed the bill, nullified it with a signing statement, or ignored it. ~~Scratch that one~~.

14. "A criminal investigation of torture would tear America apart." Then why do solid majorities of Americans support investigations not only for torture, but also wiretaps and politicization of the Justice Department? Let the rightwing chorus scream all it wants, even Teabag for Torture - the American people couldn't care less. ~~Scratch that one~~.

15. "A criminal investigation would be nothing but blind vengeance." (Karl Rove, David Broder, Matthew Dowd) No, it's the only form of accountability under the law. ~~Scratch that one~~.

16. "A criminal or Congressional investigation would be nothing but a farcical show trial." (Brit Hume) As opposed to the FOX-led impeachment of Bill Clinton? ~~Scratch that one~~.

17. "Congressional investigations would suck all the air out Congress and block action President Obama's legislative agenda." The only inexhaustible resource in Congress is hot air. ~~Scratch that one~~.

18. "If Democrats investigate, Republicans will shut down Congress." Republicans shut down Congress in 1998 to investigate Monicagate. They shut down the entire government in 1994 because Newt Gingrich had to sit at the back of Air Force One. The American people understand Republican temper tantrums and couldn't care less. ~~Scratch that one~~.

19. "Yes we tortured but we're really really sorry so don't prosecute us." This is the last refuge of scoundrels - a pre-emptive apology. Jay Bybee was the first to try this (through anonymous friends) and he won't be the last. If Bybee really has regrets, he should resign and voluntarily testify to Congress and the Attorney General for prosecution of Dick Cheney and George Bush - and tell Rep. Peter King to stick his "medal" where the sun don't shine. ~~Scratch that one~~.

20. "Yes we tortured but the U.S. and Britain committed war crimes in World War II." This is a bizarre and unique obsession of Bill O'Reilly, but he's wrong. ~~Scratch that one~~.

21. "Yes we tortured but we're Real Men and you're just pussies." (Bill Kristol, Ann Coulter) In that case, let's waterboard Cheney to find out why he tortured - and whether the draft-dodger is a Real Man. (Bradley Whitford) ~~Scratch that one~~.

Blame the Neocons for Torture

Bob Fertik — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:38:48 -0400

Thanks to the unsung but heroic journalism of McClatchy's Jonathan Landay, we now know who is to blame for the Bush System of Torture - the Neocons who worked for Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.

"Cheney's and Rumsfeld's people were told repeatedly, by CIA . . . and by others, that there wasn't any reliable intelligence that pointed to operational ties between bin Laden and Saddam, and that no such ties were likely because the two were fundamentally enemies, not allies."

Senior administration officials, however, "blew that off and kept insisting that we'd overlooked something, that the interrogators weren't pushing hard enough, that there had to be something more we could do to get that information," he said.

David Swanson has a full list, all of whom deserve a Citizens' Arrest for war crimes when they appear in public. (The Most Wanted cards are useful for this purpose.) Most of them belonged to the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) and/or were represented by the p/r firm Benador Associates, which seems to have vanished.

The Neocons who worked directly for Cheney included Scooter Libby, David Addington, John Hannah, and Cathie Martin. Those under Rumsfeld included Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, Stephen Cambone, William Haynes, John Bolton, and David Wurmser. But there were many more Neocons in other key positions, including Elliott Abrams (National Security Council) and Richard Perle.

They relied on authorizing memos drafted by scheming lawyers like John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, Jay Bybee, Steven Bradbury, and John Rizzo. The evil work of all these lawyers was directed by David Addington.

Of course George Bush was The Decider who had to sign the ultimate authorizations to nullify the Geneva Conventions and thereby legalize war crimes.

President George W. Bush made a written determination that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which would have afforded minimum standards for humane treatment, did not apply to al Qaeda or Taliban detainees. This act, the [Senate Armed Services] committee found, cleared the way for a new interrogation program to be developed in-part based on “Chinese communist” tactics used against Americans during the Korean War, mainly to elicit false confessions for propaganda purposes.

The actual torture was directed by George Tenet, whose infamous "slam-dunk" remark about Iraq's WMD's now has a double meaning: head-slamming and head-dunking. His henchment were:

former director Michael Hayden; the agency’s no. 2, Stephen Kappes; Michael Sulick, the director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service; and let’s not forget John O. Brennan, former CIA Director George Tenet’s deputy, now an Obama advisor in the White House

The whole War on Terror enterprise, including torture and the insane invasion of Iraq, was masterminded by the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), led by founder Andy Card and chair Karl Rove. The other key members were: Karen Hughes, James Wilkinson, Mary Matalin, Nick Calio, Stephen Hadley, Condi Rice, and Ari Fleischer. The invisible powers behind the scenes were Henry Kissinger (who met regularly with Cheney), his partner Paul Bremer (who was chosen by the Neocons to destroy Iraq), oil superlawyer James Baker, weapons supercontractor Frank Carlucci, and media superbaron Rupert Murdoch.

And they worked with a powerful Neocon network inside the Corporate Media, including Bill Kristol, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Charles Krauthammer, and Fred Barnes (FOX, Weekly Standard, National Review, Washington Post), Judith Miller and Michael Gordon (NY Times), the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, and Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan, and Col. Jack Jacobs (MSNBC).

One pundit who deserves special infamy is William Safire of the NY Times, who did more than anyone else to create the myth of the Prague Conspiracy between Al Qaeda and Iraq, based entirely on the lunatic fantasies of Laurie Mylroie, Meyrav Wurmser, Frank Gaffney and Michael Ledeen.

Scary Sarah Graduates Neocon 101

Bob Fertik — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:43:35 -0400

In her interview with Charlie Gibson, Sarah Palin revealed some gaping holes in her knowledge of foreign affairs, including her "Moose in the Headlights" ignorance of the Bush Doctrine.

And even more revealing was her absolute certainty that she has the knowledge, experience, and credibility to be President on Day 1, based on the fact that you can see Russia from the remotest Alaska island. (And has she ever been there? Never mind.) Charlie Gibson rightly called that Hubris, and it was truly scary.

But even scarier was her near-command of neocon ideology, after just one week of coaching by McCain's neocon-in-chief, Randy Scheunemann. There was no hesitation in her delivery of neocon talking points, indicating she became a true believer under Scheunemann's tutelage.

Josh Marshall has been warning for months that McCain's devotion to neocon ideology (a.k.a. naked imperialism) is even greater than Bush's. Josh reminds us that McCain was even closer than Bush to Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi con man and neocon cats-paw who tricked us into invading Iraq by promising we would be greeted with candy and flowers, instead of a deadly insurgency. And Josh has written extensively about Randy Scheunemann, McCain's top foreign policy advisory, who was a paid agent of Georgia and seems determined to drag us into World War III.

Adding Sarah Palin to McCain's ticket clearly did nothing to make McCain face reality - in fact the opposite. The idea of a McCain-Palin administration with its fingers on The Bomb is truly terrifying.

Update 1: This video provides an excellent warning about McCain's warmongering, especially towards Iran.

Update 2: Andrew Sullivan nails it:

I'm not sure how to respond because I believe the entire last two weeks have been a farce, and ABC News is now an integral, enabling part of that farce...... All I have learned thus far is that a McCain administration would be prepared to go to war with Russia over Georgia and will never, ever criticize or oppose any decision made by the government of the state of Israel. And I knew that already.

The Neocon Plan for Georgia

Bob Fertik — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:46:10 -0400

The neocon solution to every geopolitical problem is the same - the U.S. should send bombs and troops, regardless of the consequences, because anything less is "surrender to Hitler."

Unfortunately the neocons used up all our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, so we're in no position to join Georgia's fight against Russia - even if that made any sense in a nuclear world, which it certainly doesn't.

This LoLcat pretty much sums up the empty posturing of our little would-be napoleons...

How to Get a Job By Shooting Up a Church

davidswanson — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:00:27 -0400

By David Swanson

Imagine being so angry that you couldn't find a job that you were able to decide, as a man in Tennessee just did, that the way to solve your problems was to attack liberals - the people who support (albeit ineffectively) workers' rights, union rights, and fair trade, who oppose NAFTA, oppose tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas, support investing in job creation at home rather than wars abroad, and want to tax corporations and the super-rich rather than small businesses and working people.

And imagine deciding that the way to attack the people who stand for everything that might help you is to go shoot up a bunch of men, women, and children. And then imagine telling those damn liberals: "You see, you were wrong at least about gun policies, because if angry desperate people who believe everything they hear on the radio weren't allowed to get mad and go buy guns I never could have shot up your children's play! And why are you showing a dumb play about poor kids, anyway? You never put on plays about people like me, potential billionaires down on their luck who've been threatened by Muslim terorists and mistreated by blacks and gays and women and liberals!"

And imagine the Associated Press report completely playing along with your delusion, and writing:

"Although individual Unitarian churches can vary dramatically in outlooks, most congregations retain a deep commitment to social justice, which has led many to embrace liberal stances on the ordination of women, civil rights and gay rights."

What if labor rights had been mentioned?

And then imagine that the Knoxville News Sentinel gives your heros credit for deranging your mind and filling you up with bizarrely misdirected rage:

"Inside the house, officers found 'Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder' by radio talk show host Michael Savage, 'Let Freedom Ring' by talk show host Sean Hannity, and 'The O'Reilly Factor,' by television talk show host Bill O'Reilly."

And what if you were then given decades behind bars, without ever a word of thanks from your heros, to think about what in the world you might have been thinking? What would your advice end up being for others in the same sort of trouble you were in?

I like to think you'd eventually recommend selling your radio and television and spending some time talking to real people.

Speaking as a liberal who supports a sustainable full-employment economy with guaranteed education, income, and health care, I'm sorry that we have failed you and so many others so drastically, in fact failed so badly that you don't even have the slightest idea who we are. I suspect that if you knew us you would find us to have goals you approve of but to be grotesquely and despicably timid, hesitant, and easily compromised in how we go about trying to accomplish anything. And you'd be right.

We'll tell your story, for a week or so, both as an example of the effect of hatemongering propaganda and as an example of desperate economic stress and lack of community. But will we DO anything to improve those situations? I seriously doubt it. This is an election year, after all.

Paul Singer: Giuliani's Neocon Billionaire

Bob Fertik — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:20:54 -0500

Who is Paul Singer? Despite his vast wealth, he's so secretive that the NY Times had to ambush him to get his photo, and he clearly was not pleased.

this year Mr. Singer became one of the biggest supporters of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s presidential campaign, making his jet available to Mr. Giuliani, while Mr. Singer and workers at his companies have donated $200,000 to the campaign. And he became the largest individual backer of a California ballot initiative that many Democrats believe could sink their chances of winning the presidency.

Suddenly, the normally low-profile Mr. Singer, a New Yorker, found himself singled out by Democrats intent on beating back the California effort before it gained any steam.

Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, questioned “Paul Singer’s involvement in this dirty trick aimed at stealing the White House.” A group of Democrats filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission charging that Mr. Singer had been acting on behalf of Mr. Giuliani in his efforts to change the California law — which Mr. Singer and the campaign deny. And the Democratic National Committee drew attention to the part of Mr. Singer’s business that involves buying the debt of poor countries at a discount and then seeking repayment in full — prompting an article in The Times of London labeling his firm, Elliott Associates, a “vulture fund.”

Although Singer describes himself as a "libertarian conservative," he has a long neocon resume:

He is a trustee of the Manhattan Institute, a conservative research organization that provided Mr. Giuliani with a number of policy ideas when he was mayor, and has served on several boards, including the board of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, which advocates a close military alliance between the United States and Israel, and Commentary Magazine.

He donated $250,000 to the Club for Growth, a group that promotes free-market policies and tax cuts, and which has praised Mr. Giuliani this year.

Over the years, Mr. Singer has been a major donor to Republican causes. He gave $1.5 million to the Progress for America Voter Fund, an advocacy group set up in 2004 to advance the policies of the Bush administration. The group ran commercials during the 2004 presidential campaign in Midwestern battleground states featuring the smoky ruins of the World Trade Center, while portraying Senator John Kerry as weak on military budgets. Mr. Singer was also a donor to the Swift Vets and P.O.W.’s for Truth, which ran advertisements attacking Mr. Kerry’s Vietnam War record.

Of course Singer isn't Giuliani's only neocon supporter. Giuliani's most notorious advisor is Norman Podhoretz, the author of "World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism" and “The Case for Bombing Iran.”

Podhoretz has argued that “if we were to bomb the Iranians as I hope and pray we will…we’ll unleash a wave of anti-Americanism all over the world that will make the anti-Americanism we’ve experienced so far look like a lovefest.”

In which case, God help us all.

Republican Congressman Blames His Gay Sex on His Fear of Black Men

davidswanson — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:39:42 -0400

According to news reports, Florida Representative Bob Allen (Republican) was arrested last July 11 for soliciting sex from an undercover black male cop. The reason he gave was his fear of black men...

Now many will quickly ask what rational person would believe such a cockamamy story ?

But hold on, now.. READ THE REST

Ambassador Joe Wilson Reacts: "Corrupt to the Core...Congress Should Investigate;" Bush: "Tell Truth, Or Be Held Accountable"

Chip — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 03:15:39 -0400

The career of Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, ended when her cover was blown as retribution for Ambassador Wilson's exposing the falsity of the Niger yellowcake story as a premise for the Iraqi war. Ambassador Wilson spoke tonight with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann about Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence. You can watch it here.

In giving the commutation, Bush said: "... a jury of citizens weighed all the evidence and listened to all the testimony and found Mr. Libby guilty of perjury and obstructing justice. They argue, correctly, that our entire system of justice relies on people telling the truth. And if a person does not tell the truth, particularly if he serves in government and holds the public trust, he must be held accountable. They say that had Mr. Libby only told the truth, he would have never been indicted in the first place...The Constitution gives the President the power of clemency to be used when he deems it to be warranted. It is my judgment that a commutation of the prison term in Mr. Libby's case is an appropriate exercise of this power."

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

WHEREAS Lewis Libby was convicted in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in the case United States v. Libby, Crim. No. 05-394 (RBW), for which a sentence of 30 months' imprisonment, 2 years' supervised release, a fine of $250,000, and a special assessment of $400 was imposed on June 22, 2007;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, pursuant to my powers under Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, do hereby commute the prison terms imposed by the sentence upon the said Lewis Libby to expire immediately, leaving intact and in effect the two-year term of supervised release, with all its conditions, and all other components of the sentence.

IN WITNESS THEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand and seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first.

GEORGE W. BUSH

Ambassador Wilson also spoke with Keith Olbermann when Libby, who had been assigned Inmate No. 28301 - 016 by the US Board of Prisons, was convicted of 4 out of 5 of the felonies with which he was charged.

You can check the status of the civil case against Defendants' Cheney, Libby, Rove and Armitage at: http://www.wilsonsupport.org/.

Keith Olbermann, visibly angry, promised a special comment tomorrow, the eve of our national Independence Day, to suggest that Bush and Cheney resign.

Your congressional representatives are in their home districts for the holiday. Let them know your opinion!

Libby IS Bush’s Legacy

Tom Ball — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 13:25:55 -0400

As record high fuel prices, category 5 hurricanes, and drowning polar bears have helped slap some sense into the reluctant minds of many science-denying troglodytes, so to must the record hubris, category 5 incompetence, and drowning integrity of this administration slap some sense into the reluctant minds of the remaining reality-denying Bush supporters.

Oddly enough, you'd think that pardoning a traitor would be the last straw -- even for these people. You'd be wrong. In fact, acting as savior for the American betrayer known as I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby might be the only thing that can salvage Bush's remaining barrel-scum protectorate. That is what they find important. So too must he.

And so, this single act of apologist, vicarious treason will be the defining moment in Bush's presidency -- encompassing within it all the lies, bullying and incomprehensible ineptitude that was the hallmark of this administration. This will be Bush's legacy.

He has no choice... and essentially nothing to lose.

That's the way it is. The chorus of prideless conservatives -- also known as Bush's remaining base -- are relentlessly pressuring Bush to Pardon Libby with nary a moment of time served. Heck, even Paris served a couple days.

They dismiss the irony that "the judge that gave Libby the 2 ½ year sentence was "one of the first appointments that Bush made to the federal bench" and fail to note that Libby's judge was known as a 'Tough Guy'. "That's Why Bush Appointed Him."

The Los Angeles Times notes, "That Walton would put the Bush administration in an uncomfortable position of having to consider a politically charged pardon for Libby is highly ironic."

Yes, being held accountable for your trespasses to humanity is always an 'uncomfortable' activity. And a Bush appointee respecting the rule of law is truly 'ironic'. Still, I can't help but feel that President Bush should be suffering far more discomfort than his widely televised, smirky, smirk-faced smirk suggests he is.

Seems 'discomfort' is something for which Bush and his beloved 29% must have little time. According to the New York Times, "a conservative with close ties to the administration" said, "Letting Scooter go to jail would be a politically irrational symbol to the last chunk of the 29 percent upon which he stands."

Irrational indeed. Bush has pandered to the AEI 29% with untouchable integrity over the last 7 years. Thus the royal screwing administered to the other 71% of us.

Maybe that's because Bush's 29% are an influential bunch -- people like potential future convict Tom Delay. Tom recently noted, "The President should pardon Scooter Libby. I mean, what -- what's he worried about? Is it his ratings? I mean, his approval ratings? ... This -- this is a travesty of justice."

Yes, like the 'travesty of justice' that will no doubt bare its ugly face if Mr. Delay fails to garner a Bush pardon when he's sized for an orange jumpsuit.

And then there are blind loyalists like former Justice Department official Victoria Toensing who offered a spin sure to be embraced by conservative traitor-lovers across the nation, "Patrick Fitzgerald abused his prosecutorial powers when he indicted Scooter Libby for a faulty memory. The only remedy is a presidential pardon."

"Faulty memory"? "Only remedy"? "Abused his prosecutorial powers"?

No matter. It's the 'conservative movement' that matters now. The New York Times opines, "a decision not to pardon Mr. Libby would further alienate members of Mr. Bush's traditional base of support in the conservative movement, a group already angry about his proposed immigration policy, his administration's spending and his approach to Iran."

Tim Russert concurs, "A lot of conservatives are saying to the President, you are antagonizing the base about immigration. This is the way to reach out to your base."

Reach the base, eh? Hmmmm. Who else is trying to reach this magic 29%?

The Libby pardon issue "has thrown a twist into the race for the Republican presidential nomination, forcing candidates to make an awkward choice between loyalty to a party stalwart and reverence for the rule of law."

Ohhhhhh. So that's it. Well, we all know which choice will be made here.

And that, my friends, will establish the legacy for the next generation of the conservative movement.

Guest Commentary: Not Your Father's Party

Chip — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:51:52 -0400

Do you think you couldn't possibly have anything in common with a Republican, a former Reagan White House counsel? Then read on:

When I began asking questions about what I saw going on at Colorado Springs in 2004 I never expected that the inquiry would lead me to the horrifying conclusion that our country had been taken over by people who have used our own freedoms to enslave us. But that is what happened. When I began I, like most people, was focused on the personal. I believed that what was happening at the United States Air Force Academy, the harassment of cadets and staff with unwanted evangelism, was limited in scope. As the months passed, however, I found myself forced to constantly reassess my basic assumptions. The logic of events was stark and undeniable. Promises of an open inquiry were ignored; decent and courageous people like former Air Force Chaplin MeLinda Morton were intentionally muzzled to ensure the truth would not be heard and the wrongs righted.

As a Republican and an Academy graduate I find myself in head on conflict with my own oath to protect the Constitution. As a Jew I confronted a situation through ears that still hear the cries of my people walking silently into the brick buildings that would reduce them to ash. I cannot stand still and let that happen to my country.

You know about the law suit we filed; that suit took on the issue directly, based on the 1st Amendment Right of members of the military to choose their own spiritual paths, unhampered by those placed in positions of authority and on the basis of the Establishment Clause and Clause Three of Article Six, which prohibit the existence of a national religion. That is what has happened. America now has a national religion whose tenets extend to a foreign policy that sees war in the Middle East as the fulfillment of its core mission. The power block responsible for the take over are now, effectively, in charge of the mightiest weapon the world has ever known, the United States Military.

My law suit was one element in the larger battle to take back America . That might seem excessive or alarmist; I only wish that was the case.

I undertook this campaign to oppose those who were violating the principle of separation of Church and State head on and to make the public aware. I now understand that to undo the damage done Americans must come together to organize the dispersed elements opposing these forces that have gone so far in converting America into a theocracy that substitutes one parochial world view of the Bible as law, displacing the democratic foundation of our nationhood.

Every American should be awake to the real and present threat that the take over of America's military poses to our national security and to each of us personally. America is poised today on the brink of a disaster of global proportions. This situation has been moving towards its own logical conclusion while nearly all of us overlooked the clear and present danger signs posed by the coalition of unlikely forces who have come together in a voracious grab for power. Even those of us who have understood some parts of the larger problem have failed to see the connections. That is the past. Today we need to take action.

Those who have carried out this stealth operation, an imperious fascistic contagion growing for the last 30 years, have an agenda. That agenda demanded their patience. They have been. We must not be patient as we fight back. We must act now.

In late 2005 I founded the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. As I studied what was happening I began to hear from our own noble and honorable sailors, soldiers, marines and airmen from all religious traditions at military bases in the US and all over the world. They all told the same horrifying story; my concerns grew.

Here is what we face.

First, the corporate interests: These for profit businesses have worked to ensure their streams of income, focusing on augmenting their own profits and avoiding liability for the damage they well understood they inflicted on America and to people around the world. To accomplish those ends they developed a collation of think tanks and not-for-profits that justified their actions, using ideas cauterized to make their actions seem plausible.

They knew they needed to change the institutions and expectations of Americans to ensure they would keep control. To that end they employed political operatives to build up the facade of respectability those ideas needed. Think of the Heritage Foundation and the words of such as Ann Coulter, John Fund, and Robert Novak. That facade is what we today know as the NeoConservatives or “NeoCons.” You can think of it as the public relations firm presently employed by those rapacious corporations which work through our government.

The third element, funded in large part by the corporate interests but acting from their own agenda, are those who are now coming out of the shadows. As their power grows their need to remain unseen diminishes. Paul Krugman and others identify these as the Theocons. It was the action of the Theocratic agenda that awakened me to what is happening. These elements are the broad strokes that bring into the light the behind the scenes action that is destroying our nation and the hope for peace and prosperity that has always been so present for Americans.

It is not simple until you understand who and why it has happened. The corporations wanted power and money; the NeoCons were willing to make it happen for power and money. The Theocons, a tool made up of elements from a formerly marginalized and unrespected segment of the Christian community, were able to realize their dreams of power and money by becoming the tool that made the whole possible.

Today the man with his finger on the button, those who will receive the order to strike; many of those who will then be expected to put their lives on the line to carry out American policy; have been molded by the influences of these elements. A power conversion has taken place that has nothing to do with freedom or religion. Many thinkers and writers saw the potential for such a threat over the last several generations. But it is our generation and those who follow who now have no choice but to take action.

Corporate interests and the patient and long range plan of Christian Reconstructionists have made this possible with the cooperation and coordination provided by the NeoCons If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would think it was bad science fiction. But when I wake up the nightmare continues. The threats to my family, the rising tide of violence aimed at me and those I love, and those whose courage has drawn them to stand with me affirm the truth of what we confront.

It began in the early 70s with the thought by a small group of Republicans that control of the GOP could be guaranteed by taking advantage of the newly disenfranchised Southern Democrats through elements in the Evangelical churches there. You will recognize the names of those whose plans have been drawn so large today. Karl Rove, Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell, James Dobson, D. James Kennedy, John Hagee and Jack Abramoff were among them.

Largely credulous and uneducated the evangelical elements that became their raw material contained strains of thinking from individuals like R. J Rushrooney and Gary North. Margaret Mead once said that only a small determined group ever changes things. Ms. Mead was thinking of positive change; she could not have imagined the vision and motives that moved a small group of Baptists to take over the Southern Baptist Convention by stealth to achieve first a power base and to move on from there to apply the same methods to civil government and our military. But that is what happened.

Today the platform of the Republican Party in Texas reflects their goals. These are consistent and explicit, including the substitution of the Bible for the rule of law in America. In their world capital punishment for sodomy, adultery, for unruly children, and the end of free speech are desirable goals mandated by God. Lying to achieve the ends they believe are appointed by an unimaginable vision of God are entirely acceptable.

Paul Krugman said in his article, For God's Sake, “In 1981, Gary North, a leader of the Christian Reconstructionist movement - the openly theocratic wing of the Christian right - suggested that the movement could achieve power by stealth. "Christians must begin to organize politically within the present party structure," he wrote, "and they must begin to infiltrate the existing institutional order."

Krugman does not cite the documentation of this, though it exists in a letter written by Dr. Steven Hortzel dated March 13, 1990. The letter exhorts the recipients on how to take over their local Republican precinct. The back of the letter lays out the Platform which includes ending minority status for homosexuals, an end to the right to abortion, the sovereignty of the family instead of having that status rest with individuals, as intended by the rights theory on which America is founded. And most frightening, in their view the Church will control what is and is not a crime. The same letter sports the direction to, “Vote twice on election day.” So much for respect for our law and the institutions of America.

Today the Platform of the Republican Party of Texas reflects that agenda. The goal of the Texas Republican Party is to "dispel the myth of the separation of church and state."

Organizing and planning far in advance with funding provided by corporations through those we now know as NeoCons, they laid out the stealth plan that has been followed until the present day. You can hear this admitted in clips of a tape assembled recently by Dr. Bruce Prescott. The voices of J. R, Rushrooney, now deceased, and Gary North, his son-in-law, say it all.

No rogue elements were responsible for what took place at the Air Force Academy. Funding provided by those major corporations who put us in Iraq to augment their profits and ensure control of oil funded the NeoCons who wrote the orders taking us to the Middle East against all truth; through the same funding source grew the 'religious' institutions that have taken control of our military. To them the separation of Church and State, the first amendment of the Bill of Rights, is a myth like Bigfoot and Paul Bunyan to be dispelled, by their own words.

We can expect violence. The head cleric of St. David's Episcopal Church of Topeka, Kansas came out to support me; five hours later his church was burned to the ground. A synagogue where I spoke was desecrated. My home has been targeted by feces and beer bottles; our tires slashed; dead animals have twice been placed on our front porch. The death threats come in ceaselessly. It is not convenient and safe to confront and defy those in power; I know that but I refuse to back down. They may try to harm me but I will not go quietly; I will be a Jew from the Warsaw Ghetto, not Berlin. I will be an American from Lexington and Concord, not an American from Halliburton and Blackwater.

With all the bad news it is heartening to note that some people are standing up and fighting back. Every day we are joined by more Americans who hear, understand, and come prepared to take action.

Dr. Bruce Prescott moved to Norman, Oklahoma three years ago and started an organization called, “Main Stream Baptists,” that is challenging the primacy of Christian Reconstructionists in the Baptist faith in the same town that supplied those who carried out the take over of the Southern Baptist Convention. When Bush hosts 'religious leaders,' it is those people who receive the invitations.

Next January between 20,000 and 30,000 Baptists from all races will gather. They will be representing hundreds of thousands of Baptists who affirm the original belief that brought Baptists to America, the freedom to worship as they pleased. Together they will forge a New Baptist Covenant making them the largest Baptist group in the United States. The group includes former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton; the announcement took place in Atlanta, Georgia in January of 2007.

Others, secular and religious, for instance the Methodists who stood up to oppose the Bush Library at SMU stand with us.

I cannot emphasize strongly enough that this is not a partisan battle. I am a Republican who had the honor of serving as Assistant General Counsel in the Reagan White House and as General Counsel to two time presidential candidate H. Ross Perot. I am a Jew proud to stand with Christians, Muslims, agnostics and atheists, and others who, like those I just mentioned, are committed to the vision of an America for which generations have laid down their lives. Stand with me on this and you stand with men and women who dreamed a freedom that the real Jesus would have recognized. At the end of the day, it's simply all about just one thing; our beautiful United States Constitution. Each of us free; each of us equal, living lives where we confront not the dead words of the past but the living truth that is tomorrow.

That is America and it is worth dying for. As a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, the father of two graduates as well as one current Academy cadet, the brother-in-law of yet another graduate, and the son of a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy I believe in the vision that is America with every fiber of my being.

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Mikey Weinstein is an attorney and businessman who served 10 years active duty as an Air Force Judge Advocate (JAG) at military installations from California to Washington, D.C. The former federal prosecutor spent three years in the Reagan White House and served as the Air Force's first Chief of Telecommunications and Information Systems Procurement Law.

Mikey's family has deep and distinguished military-academy roots spanning nearly 60 years: His father is a Naval Academy graduate; and Mikey, his brother-in-law, eldest son and daughter-in-law are all graduates of the Air Force Academy (from where his youngest son is scheduled to graduate in 2007). Mikey and his wife of almost three decades, Bonnie, reside in Albuquerque, N.M.

Mikey Weinstein, former Reagan White House counsel, president and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and author of the new book, With God On Our Side: One Man’s War Against an Evangelical Coup in America’s Military discusses his background and attempt to prevent the American Taliban from taking over the Armed Services and the firing of his friend David Iglasius, one of the fired U.S. attorneys.

Hear Charles Goyette interview Mikey Weinstein. (34:22)