Author: catnip

In a warped effort to minimize the number of US casualties that have died in the illegal war on Iraq, the right-wing blogosphere is buzzing with inane justifications now that the death toll has reached 2000+. I guess that’s what you have to do when you continue to support a president who, without a doubt, lied to everyone about his reasons for the invasion which has also resulted in the deaths and injuries of countless Iraqis – countless because your president refuses to acknowledge the real destruction he’s caused.

Just as CNN did yesterday in a report in which it compared the number of deaths to those in the Battle of the Bulge, wingers are trying to comfort themselves by proclaiming it’s ”only 2000”, after all. “So while we mourn our servicemen and women, and celebrate their heroism, and thank their families for their sacrifice, let’s keep this in perspective,” that blogger writes. This coming from a person who has to use CDC stats on deaths from septicemia to prove that 2000 dead soldiers are no big deal. Pathetic.

One wingnut commenter over at Sister Toldjah’s site chimed in with this:

2000 is a number. The lefties, Bush-haters, and anti-war idiots think a round number is so fearsome.

I don’t see these people recoiling from the round numbers of people killed by the left wing regimes in Vietnam, China, and Cambodia (Pol Pot). I don’t see them counting the number of people killed by al Qaida and demanding that they stop.

Just like their dear leader, when all else fails – lie. No doubt, right-wing nutbars like that don’t think the 2000+ who died on September 11, 2001 counted for much either except when they want to use 9/11 to justify whatever bile they choose to spew on any given day.

Look. You can’t have it both ways. Either a death means something or it doesn’t. If you keep beating the war drums and insist that every single person who died in Iraq to this point died because “freedom is on the march”, either you honour those soldiers or you don’t. And if you choose to minimize the number of soldiers who have died, then you don’t know what it truly means to honour anyone.

So take your smug justifications and stick them where the sun don’t shine. The rest of us “anti-war idiots” will be somberly remembering what those deaths mean today – and every day – until this insane war ends and we will also fight your dear leader who still refuses to give the troops the proper protection and equipment they need. And, we will not hide in our houses or in the halls of government like you. We will stand out in the streets and show you exactly what honouring the dead really means.

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When in Rome, don’t keep your goldfish in those cramped little bowls and make sure you walk your dog…or you might go to jail.

What’s happening in your part of the world?

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Accoring to the LA Times, this has been a very busy day for Patrick Fitzgerald with last minute questions for a Rove “colleague” and an FBI blitz of Valerie Plame/Wilson’s neighbourhood “asking neighbors again whether they were aware — before her name appeared in a syndicated column — that the agent, Valerie Plame, worked for the CIA.”

A deputy prosecutor called Rove’s colleague this afternoon and interviewed him in depth about statements Rove may have made to reporters about the case, a lawyer familiar with the case said.

“It appeared to me the prosecutor was trying to button up any holes that were remaining,” the lawyer said.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Update [2005-10-25 20:55:29 by catnip]: Reuters has more on the questioning of the neighbours. (Thanks RAW STORY!)

Questioned on Monday nite, one of Plame’s neighbours said:

They just asked me if I knew what my neighbor (Plame) did before it came out in the press,” Lefkowitz told Reuters. He said he told the agents: “I didn’t know.”

Two lawyers involved in the case said the line of questioning could be a sign that federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald intends to charge administration officials for the leak itself, in addition to possible charges for easier-to-prove crimes like perjury and obstruction of justice.

[…]

Lefkowitz, Plame’s neighbor, said Monday was the first time he was questioned by the FBI in connection with the case. The agents told him they were talking to other neighbors as well.

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In an explosive article that will further shake the foundations of the White House, Italy’s la Repubblica has released the second installment of their investigative reporting on the Niger document forgeries. The American Prospect gives us a summary in English and confirms that then Deputy National Security Adviser and now current National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley met with the chief of SISMI in 2002 about the documents.

This is very significant because it proves that the WH had its hand on the documents and that the CIA was not the only recipient, as had been previously reported. It also speaks directly to the motive of those in the administration to attack Joe Wilson and his wife.

La Repubblica, investigative reporters Carlo Bonini and Giuseppe d’Avanzo report that Niccolo Pollari, chief of Italy’s military intelligence service, known as Sismi, brought the Niger yellowcake story directly to the White House after his insistent overtures had been rejected by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2001 and 2002. Sismi had reported to the CIA on October 15, 2001, that Iraq had sought yellowcake in Niger, a report it also plied on British intelligence, creating an echo that the Niger forgeries themselves purported to amplify before they were exposed as a hoax.

Today’s exclusive report in La Repubblica reveals that Pollari met secretly in Washington on September 9, 2002, with then–Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Their secret meeting came at a critical moment in the White House campaign to convince Congress and the American public that war in Iraq was necessary to prevent Saddam Hussein from developing nuclear weapons. National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones confirmed the meeting to the Prospect on Tuesday.

Pollari had previously stated that the only US official he had spoken to about the documents was George Tenet. We now know that he was lying.

But La Repubblica also quotes a Bush administration official saying, “I can confirm that on September 9, 2002, General Nicolo Pollari met Stephen Hadley.”

[…]
Yet if anyone knew who was actually responsible for the White House’s trumpeting of the Niger claims, it would seem from the Repubblica report that Hadley did. He also knew that the CIA, which had initially rejected the Italian claims, was not to blame. Hadley’s meeting with Pollari, at precisely the time when the Niger forgeries came into the possession of the U.S. government, may explain the seemingly hysterical White House overreaction to Wilson’s article almost a year later.

No doubt. If the White House knew that one of its own was involved in perpetuating the case of the false Niger/uranium claims, that would definitely explain why they went after Joe Wilson and his wife. They knew that blaming it all on the CIA could not hold up forever and that Wilson’s revelations were a direct threat to their cabal.

* Visit my previous diary on the first installment of la Repubblica’s reporting here.

* The American Prospect’s article also goes into more depth about what was happening in Italy at the time. It’s well worth reading.

Update [2005-10-25 14:39:2 by catnip]:: This also gives context to Rove’s infamous “I didn’t take the bait” e-mail to Hadley regarding Rove’s conversation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.

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Update [2005-10-25 15:34:49 by susanhu]: Larry Johnson is on the Ed Schultz show at 1:05pm PT today. Call-in number: 1-877-934-6833 (Identify yourself as a BooTribber if you get on!)

Times are tense. Will Scotty crack under the pressure? Will he at least break a sweat? Will he finally break down and come over from the dark side? Is that really Adam’s baby that Jill is having? Oh wait…that’s another soap opera…

Join us live at approximately 1 pm ET as we live blog the daily briefing.

Watch or listen at C-SPAN or the WH site.

Highlight:

Helen Thomas to Scotty: you demean all Americans when you support torture.

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