libertango | Entries tagged with incompetence

Talking Points Memo has a feature they've been doing for a while using videos, called "The Day in 100 Seconds." It's usually a pretty good executive summary of the political events of the day.

Today's, though, rises above that, as it shows edited versions of Mr. Obama's speech, and Mr. Cheney's.

Not unlike seeing breakdowns of Mr. Obama's body language and Mr. McCain's during the campaign, seeing Mr. Cheney this way is highly revealing. I'd say even he doesn't appear to believe himself.

*^*^*

"1 in 7 Detainees Freed Returns to Terrorism, Pentagon Says," reads the headline.

So the alternate headline (studiously avoided): "6 out of 7 Detainees Freed Either Don't Return to Terrorism, Or Were Never Terrorists From Start, Pentagon Says."

Also buried well into the article:

"Terrorism experts said that a 14 percent recidivism rate was far lower than the rate for prisoners in the United States, which, they said, can run as high as 68 percent three years after release. The experts also said that while Americans might have a lower level of tolerance for recidivism among Guantánamo detainees, there was no evidence that any of those released had engaged in elaborate operations like the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks."

So to recap:

* Joe Criminal from the US, let out of jail: more than 2 out of 3 times, goes back to crime.

* Alleged "worst of the worst" Guantánamo detainee: goes back to crime only 1 out of 7 times. Or almost 5 times less often.

{blink}

This must be some new-found definition of "worst" I wasn't previously aware of.

That was what Casey Stengel used to ask, watching the hapless Mets play baseball.

I've used it before, when talking about Los Amigos Arbusto.

Well, there's reason to bring it out again. In the new (to me) blog firedoglake, they have a post pointing out the Pandora's Box opened by the NSA wiretaps, when it comes to prosecutions.

Brief summary: Just about every defense lawyer for any terror-related suspect can now at least claim the evidence against their client was obtained illegally. This may or may not be true, but it essentially puts the various US Attorneys in question on the defensive in every single case.

Had the Bushies just, you know, followed the rules, this wouldn't be a problem at all. But, as it is...

So I guess there's no real reason for the administration to be upset about the lack of an extension to the USA PATRIOT Act. Turns out the NSA wiretaps are a stealth repeal of the act, for all practical purposes.

It's almost enough to make you Google the term "failure", with "I Feel Lucky" turned on.

US News and World Report has a new piece today. Some choice quotes:

On the evening of February 1, two dozen American officials gathered in a spacious conference room at the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Va. The time had come to make the public case for war against Iraq. For six hours that Saturday, the men and women of the Bush administration argued about what Secretary of State Colin Powell should--and should not--say at the United Nations Security Council four days later. Not all the secret intelligence about Saddam Hussein's misdeeds, they found, stood up to close scrutiny. At one point during the rehearsal, Powell tossed several pages in the air. "I'm not reading this," he declared. "This is bullshit."

Right up there with, "Fuck Saddam. We're taking him out," don't you think?

OTOH, Colin, you did do your reading, didn't you?

In September 2002, U.S. News has learned, the Defense Intelligence Agency issued a classified assessment of Iraq's chemical weapons. It concluded: "There is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons . . . ." At about the same time, Rumsfeld told Congress that Saddam's "regime has amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons, including VX, sarin, cyclosarin and mustard gas."

Mr. Arnaz, he say, "Rummmmmy?! You got some 'splainin' to do!"

I hope the Judiciary Committee has that chamber properly air conditioned for the summer... Looks like we may be getting some hearings...

From USAToday:

On March 17, before he delivered a 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam, Bush summoned congressional leaders to the White House. They expected a detailed briefing, but the president told them he was notifying them only because he was legally required to do so and then left the room. They were taken aback, and some were annoyed.

Note that "congressional leaders" would include House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist -- both fellow Republicans.

But then, as John McCain knows, Jorge isn't really big on the party loyalty thing.

From an article in Time magazine:

""Fuck Saddam. We're taking him out." Those were the words of President George W. Bush, who had poked his head into the office of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. It was March 2002, and Rice was meeting with three U.S. Senators, discussing how to deal with Iraq through the United Nations, or perhaps in a coalition with America's Middle East allies. Bush wasn't interested. He waved his hand dismissively, recalls a participant, and neatly summed up his Iraq policy in that short phrase. The Senators laughed uncomfortably; Rice flashed a knowing smile. The President left the room."

Note the date. 2002, not 2003.

Which means Bush has been lying for 51 of the last 52 weeks, with his whole, We-haven't-made-a-final-decision line.

But it mostly shows my previous post was not rhetorical hyperbole.

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Hal O'Brien

Slipping on the fatal floor.

Entries tagged with incompetence

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Another tug at the yarn

(no subject)

Closer to the bone than I thought...

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