By David Swanson

A former member of U.S. military intelligence has decided to reveal what she knows about warrantless spying on Americans and about the fixing of intelligence in the leadup to the invasion of Iraq.

By David Swanson

An interview of Allison Hantschel.

AUDIO 30 Minutes:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/allison.mp3

David: This is David Swanson with Allison Hantschel, the blogger of the blog site, First Draft http://www.first-draft.com , and the author of the book "Special Plans, the blogs on Douglas Feith and the faulty intelligence that led us to war." Allison, it is good to talk to you. How are you doing?

Allison: I’m doing good, thank you so much for having me.

David: And how did you get involved in the topic of Douglas Feith and the intelligence that took us into this war?

Senate: Saddam saw al-Qaida as threat By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
23 minutes ago

Saddam Hussein regarded al-Qaida as a threat rather than a possible ally, a Senate report says, contradicting assertions President Bush has used to build support for the war in Iraq.

Released Friday, the report discloses for the first time an October 2005 CIA assessment that before the war, Saddam's government "did not have a relationship, harbor or turn a blind eye toward" al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or his associates.

Saddam told U.S. officials after his capture that he had not cooperated with Osama bin Laden even though he acknowledged that officials in his government had met with the al-Qaida leader, according to FBI summaries cited in the Senate report.

By David Swanson

Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber have a new book, which is always a good thing; but this one is especially good. It's called "The Best War Ever: Lies, Damned Lies, and the Mess in Iraq." It's 206 pages and you'll read it in one sitting, because it's more entertaining than the corporate media whose infotainment is the book's focus. While this book is every bit as well researched as Congressman John Conyers' 350-page report "The Constitution in Crisis," it's written as a compelling narrative rather than a list of evidence or a draft indictment. I recommend reading these two works together.

A very insightful look at who got us into this war and why and who comes out on top in the end.

Was the Invasion of Iraq A Jewish Conspiracy?

BY GREG PALAST
Tikkun Magazine JULY/AUGUST 2006

June 26, 2006

Did the Jews do it?

The US Congress will open hearings this week on the War in Iraq -- a wee bit late one might think. But one question at the forefront of the minds of many on both the Left and the Right is sure not to be asked: Did the Jews do it? I mean, after killing Jesus, did the Elders of Zion manipulate the government of the United States into invading Babylon as part of a scheme to abet the expansion of Greater Israel?

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"The Project for a New American Century" (PNAC) is the elusive "cabal" that is hardly mentioned in the news, and never called by name. PNAC was co-founded by William Kristol and Dick Cheney & other familiar people. This cabal is the group that is presently in power. Needless to say, our American press has not been reporting all the facts regarding the current Bush Administration , so PNAC is rarely mentioned by them, if ever. If you google PNAC you will find it all over the internet , and many websites attempt to expose and "out" the PNAC. The UK press reports on PNAC all the time now, starting with an article by Neil Mackay in 2002 in the Scottish Sunday Herald:
http://www.sundayherald.com/27735

It's no suprise that Rick Santorum is trailing Bob Casey by 20 points in the latest poll. That's because Santorum just can't stop lying, whether the topic is where he lives or why we're in Iraq.

This morning, Santorum told Don Imus that Saddam was training terrorists from "all over the region" at a training camp in Iraq. Imus was appropriately skeptical, saying Saddam's only real link to terrorism was sending money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. But Santorum insisted Saddam trained terrorists in Iraqi training camps.

This is one of the last rightwing "zombie lies" about Iraq, so here's the truth (courtesy of Media Matters) about Salman Pak:

Kevin Drum writes:

AHMED CHALABI UPDATE....Of the many black marks on Ahmed Chalabi's record, the original black mark, his primal sin if you will, was his 1992 conviction for bank fraud in Jordan. Basically, an audit uncovered the fact that Chalabi's Petra Bank was in the habit of loaning huge amounts of money to his own relatives and never bothering to ask for repayment. He fled the country and was eventually convicted in absentia on 31 charges of embezzlement, theft, misuse of depositor funds and currency speculation. Total cost to the Jordanian government was upwards of $300 million.