Our first head of the Department of Homeland Security has written a tell all and it’s more of the same we’ve heard from insiders about the former administration. They politicized nearly everything and made the wrong decision and nearly every turn.

From US News:

Among the headlines promoted by publisher Thomas Dunne Books: Ridge was never invited to sit in on National Security Council meetings; was “blindsided” by the FBI in morning Oval Office meetings because the agency withheld critical information from him; found his urgings to block Michael Brown from being named head of the emergency agency blamed for the Hurricane Katrina disaster ignored;

Never invited to sit in on National Security Council meetings? The director of the government agency that was created in the aftermath of 9/11?

WTF??????????

So yes, that’s a bombshell, but the one in the title seems to be even more craven…

and was pushed to raise the security alert on the eve of President Bush’s re-election, something he saw as politically motivated and worth resigning over.

Yes, 3 years after the worst terrorist attack in our country’s history, Bush and company were scaring people into voting for him. I think that tells you all you need to know about the guy and his crew.

My question…we finally going to get some mea culpas from the right or will Tom Ridge simply be smeared like Paul O’Neill, Richard Clarke and Scott McClellan?

I’m not holding my breath.

Why?

Well, Beck is really taking advantage of 9/11 with his “9/12″ project and Colbert does what no journalist can.

Flawless victory.

This is Lagan from ANP,

We sat down with James Risen, the New York Times national security corespondent who broke the domestic wiretapping stories, to talk about the dilemmas Obama faces with the unparalleled executive power he will inherit.

Dick Cheney recently said that Obama would appreciate all of the power they are handing over, but Obama has railed against some of the Bush administration’s policies such as the warrantless wiretapping that Risen helped uncover.

A few days after this interview was filmed, one of Risen’s key sources, Thomas Tamm, was featured on the cover of Newsweek as “The Fed Who Blew the Whistle.” Risen spoke with us about the rise in executive power during Bush’s tenure and how the media failed to be vigilant in the wake of 9/11.

From his perch at the New York Times, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist James Risen has been at the forefront of uncovering some of the Bush administration’s worst abuses of power. As a result, he has been hauled before a grand jury and pressured by the government to name his anonymous sources.

On the occasion of the anniversary of 9/11, a digression from the politics of the day and a short meditation on the death and remarkable life of Rick Rescorla. Much has been said about Rick Rescorla, by authors, journalists, film makers, friends and family. It is through those voices and because of 9/11 that I learned about Rick. It is through his voice and the voices of those that knew him best that I find meaning in the tragic events of seven years ago.

His best friend and comrade in arms, Daniel Hill:

“I have vowed to never again to cry over Rick Rescorla and his death. It was not an event to weep over. It was a noble ending for a noble man. I choose to rejoice in that. I will continue to cheer.”

From a conversation with Dan Hill – April 2001:

“God, look at us .. We should have died performing some great deed — go out in a blaze of glory, not end up with somebody spoon-feeding us and changing our nappies.” – Rick Rescorla

From an e-mail to friend Bill Shucart – September 5, 2001

“I have accepted the fact that there will never be a kairos moment for me, just an uneventful Miltonian plow-the-fields discipline . . . a few more cups of mocha grande at Starbucks, each one losing a little bit more of its flavor” – Rick Rescorla

Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam – November 14, 1965

“… during the periods of silence he encouraged talk between the foxholes to ease the tension. When all else failed, Rescorla sang “Wild Colonial Boy” and a Cornish favorite, “Going Up Camborne Hill” – slow and steady tunes, which were answered by shouts of “Hard Corps!” and “Garry Owen!” that told him his men were standing firm…. Rescorla directed his men to dig foxholes and establish a defense perimeter. Exploring the hilly terrain beyond the perimeter, he came under enemy fire. After nightfall, he and his men endured waves of assault. To keep morale up, Rescorla led the men in military cheers and Cornish songs throughout the night… Rescorla knew war. His men did not, yet. To steady them, to break their concentration away from the fear that may grip a man when he realizes there are hundreds of men very close by who want to kill him, Rescorla sang. Mostly he sang dirty songs that would make a sailor blush. Interspersed with the lyrics was the voice of command: “Fix bayonets. – on liiiiine reaaaa-dy – forward.” – We Were Soldiers Once … and Young, Joseph Galloway and Harold Moore

Hayle, Cornwall – May, 2001

“When Rescorla returned to Hayle to visit his mother, he always called on a lonely blind man named Stanley Sullivan at the town’s nursing home. Sullivan loved his pint, and Rescorla always brought him cans of Guinness. Then they would sing Cornish oldies like “The White Rose” into the night, tears streaming down their faces… In some ways, Rescorla seemed more Cornish than his friends who had stayed in Hayle. He knew all the old Cornish songs and the local history. He’d invite people to the pub, throw open the bar, and have them all singing. Rescorla never seemed to forget anyone in the village.” – James B. Stewart, “The Real Heroes Are Dead,” The New Yorker, February 11, 2002

Morristown, New Jersey – September 11, 2001

“…he rose as usual at 4:30 A.M. on the eleventh, and headed into the shower. Susan could hear him in there, singing an English music-hall tune. He sang in the shower almost every morning… When he came out of the shower that morning, he continued singing and broke into a dance routine. Then he launched into an impression of the actor Anthony Hopkins. “I’ve never felt better in my life,” he told Susan. He grabbed her around the waist for a few dance steps before he kissed her goodbye. “I love you so,” he said, and then left for the train station.” James B. Stewart, “The Real Heroes Are Dead,” The New Yorker, February 11, 2002

Stairwell, South Tower, WTC, New York – September 11, 2001

“Hill hurried downstairs, and then the phone rang. It was Rescorla, calling from his cell phone… Hill could hear Rescorla issuing orders through the bullhorn. He was calm and collected, never raising his voice. Then Hill heard him break into song… Rescorla came back on the phone. “…the Port Authority was telling him not to evacuate and to order people to stay at their desks. “What’d you say?” Hill asked.” I said, ‘Piss off, you son of a bitch,’ ” Rescorla replied. “Everything above where that plane hit is going to collapse, and it’s going to take the whole building with it. I’m getting my people the fuck out of here. .. and he sang the defiant Men of Harlech, just as he’d done when the 7th Cavalry was surrounded in the Ia Drang Valley…” – Michael Grunwald, Washington Post, 10/28/01

Defiant Men of Harlech
Men of Cornwall stop your dreaming;
Can’t you see their spearpoints gleaming?
See their warriors’ pennants streaming
To this battlefield.
Men of Cornwall stand ye steady;
It cannot be ever said ye
for the battle were not ready;
Stand and never yield!

“You see, for Rick Rescorla, this was a natural death. People like Rick, they don’t die old men. They aren’t destined for that and it isn’t right for them to do so. It just isn’t right, by God, for them to become feeble, old, and helpless sons of bitches. There are certain men born in this world, and they’re supposed to die setting an example for the rest of the weak bastards we’re surrounded with.” – Dan Hill

“One who is to be a warrior considers it his foremost concern to keep death in mind at all times, every day and every night, from the morning of New Year’s Day, through the night of New Year’s Eve. As long as you keep death in mind at all times, you will also fulfill the ways of loyalty and familial duty … your character will improve and your virtue will grow… if you realize that life is here today and is not certain on the morrow, then when you take your orders from your employer, and when you look in on your parents, you will have the sense that this may be the last time – so you cannot fail to become truly attentive to your employer and your parents. that is why I say you also fulfill the paths of loyalty and familial duty when you keep death in mind.” – Bushido Shoshinshu – The Code of the Samurai, The Way of the Warrior.

Rick Rescorla 1998 interview from a 2003 film by Robert Edwards:

“Terrorist forces can tie up conventional forces, they can bring them to their knees…military power is completely secondary to national will and national morality… The whole of the world would get behind the idea that individual freedoms are important… but they will not get behind actions like Nicaragua often, where we are backing the wrong people, supporting dictators for the thought of economic stability, so foreign and domestic corporations can do business… the residue of hatred this is creating in these foreign countries… we’re doing these things and we are thinking there won’t any repercussions… Things will come home to roost, and they may be 20 years later, of cavalier actions we are taking now out there. And who is directing these cavalier actions? People in command and control that have never seen a shot fired in anger in their life, except hearing a round fired near the White House where someone is mugging a tourist outside. We can’t even straighten out our capital, in terms of crime, and we think we can go out there and be World’s top cop, It’s impossible.” – Rick Rescorla – 1998 interview in 2003 Short Film “The Voice of the Prophet”

NOTE: The film used to be visible at Atom Films, but the link no longer works and I cannot find it now. This Youtube video is a History channel clip on Rick.

^{re-posted from a five year anniversary post at “Divided We Stand United We Fall”}

Without leaners
Obama – 46%
McCain – 46%

McCain’s bounce does seem to be over, as his “with leaners” numbers are dropping today on the 7th anniversary of 9/11.

And speaking of 9/11, Rasmussen takes a look at the direction we headed after that fateful day and finds Americans aren’t happy…

With the seventh anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks this week, over half of Americans (54%) still believe the country has changed for the worse since the events of that day, but this marks the first time the number has fallen in over six years. [...]

Seventy-three percent (73%) of Democrats feel the change in America since September 11 has been for the worse compared to 33% of Republicans. By contrast, 41% of GOP voters think the change has been for the better versus just 10% of Democrats. Unaffiliated voters by a 51% to 23% margin believe the change has been for the worse.

The 5 day w/leaners:
09/11/2008: McCain – 46%, Obama – 48%
09/10/2008: McCain – 47%, Obama – 48%
09/09/2008: McCain – 48%, Obama – 48%
09/08/2008: McCain – 48%, Obama – 47%
09/07/2008: McCain – 48%, Obama – 48%

The 5 day w/o leaners:
09/11/2008: McCain – 46%, Obama – 46%
09/10/2008: McCain – 46%, Obama – 46%
09/09/2008: McCain – 46%, Obama – 46%
09/08/2008: McCain – 47%, Obama – 46%
09/07/2008: McCain – 46%, Obama – 46%

More tomorrow…

On the day before September 11th, supposedly one of the most serious and sober days in this nation’s history, John McCain’s campaign treated us to an argument about the use of a commonly used idiom.

Not only that, they dispatched partisan operatives throughout the mainstream media to push that point, and they did so without even a whiff of irony or acknowledgment of the day to follow. They genuinely and seriously wanted all of us to believe that Obama had called Sarah Palin a pig, when the video clearly and definitively proved the exact opposite.

But no, that didn’t stop them from creating an ad with the comment clipped out of context. It didn’t even stop them from clipping a comment from Katie Couric out of context suggesting that she was responding to Obama’s use of the idiom.

The Washington Post ponders…

It’s hard to think of a presidential campaign with a wider chasm between the seriousness of the issues confronting the country and the triviality, so far anyway, of the political discourse. On a day when the Congressional Budget Office warned of looming deficits and a grim economic outlook, when the stock market faltered even in the wake of the government’s rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, when President Bush discussed the road ahead in Iraq and Afghanistan, on what did the campaign of Sen. John McCain spend its energy? A conference call to denounce Sen. Barack Obama for using the phrase “lipstick on a pig” and a new television ad accusing the Democrat of wanting to teach kindergartners about sex before they learn to read. [...]

John McCain is a serious man who promised to wage a serious campaign. Win or lose, will he be able to look back on this one with pride? Right now, it’s hard to see how.

I think everybody should just take a moment and ask themselves, after 8 years of one of the most openly and unapologetically partisan administrations in modern times, do you really want to elect a guy who will put out the childishly false garbage we’ve seen in the past couple days?

And, do you really think McCain will be able to bring “reform” to Washington when he’s running a campaign like this?

We deserve better.

Moving on…

Declaring, “it is time for a change,” the party is committing itself to comprehensive immigration reform as well as a strong and unequivocal support for Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion. In addition, the party insists it will not continue the intrusive Bush policing actions based on post 9/11 world.

“We will restore our constitutional traditions, and recover our nation’s founding commitment to liberty under the law,” the draft platform states.

While the platform has a little something for everyone, it is the strong, broad approach to education, one that mixes support with accountability, that has us continuing to back Barack Obama’s candidacy for president of the United States.

Democratic platform educational planks.

Usually it’s the cartoonist that is tortured, but the CIA got a hold of my cartoon and it disappeared for awhile.  Thank god it survived and I was able to recover it.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t like to talk much and tends to curl up in the corner of my studio. Wash Post article

Here are the number of times, according to NEXIS, that various topics have been mentioned in the media over the past thirty days:

“Yoo and torture” – 102

“Mukasey and 9/11″ — 73

“Yoo and Fourth Amendment” — 16

“Obama and bowling” — 1,043

“Obama and Wright” — More than 3,000 (too many to be counted)

“Obama and patriotism” – 1,607

“Clinton and Lewinsky” — 1,079

It really can’t be said enough…for all that you do…thank you media!

If you haven’t seen Frontline’s documentary about how we got into Iraq and how it all went wrong, you need to. It’s probably the most well researched piece I’ve seen so far, and the interviews with insiders are simply stunning. Many saw this train wreck coming, but Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld just didn’t listen.

In particular, this doc details how much influence Cheney and Rumsfeld had over our foreign policy. They actually wanted to go into Iraq FIRST! Amazing.

Go here and watch.

Here’s the gist…

In the March 14, 2003 memo, Yoo says the Constitution was not in play with regard to the interrogations because the Fifth Amendment (which provides for due process of law) and the Eighth Amendment (which prevents the government from employing cruel and usual punishment) does “not extend to alien enemy combatants held abroad.”:

The memo goes on to explain that federal criminal statutes regarding assault and other crimes against the body don’t apply to authorized military interrogations overseas and that statutes that do apply to the conduct of U.S. officials abroad pertaining to war crimes and torture establish a limited obligation on the part of interrogators to refrain from bodily harm.

It also defines the United States’ obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and other international treaties prohibiting torture to be confined to ensuring that interrogators do not apply “cruel and unusual punishment” as defined by American constitutional law, regardless of differing international standards.

And it restates the oft-repeated view held by administration officals that the Geneva Conventions, which governs the treatment of prisoners of war, does not apply to members of al Qaeda and the Taliban.

This policy was abandoned about a year later.

Here are the pdfs. Remember, you can enlarge the print by clicking over and going to SlideShare.

Part One:

| View | Upload your own

Part Two:

| View | Upload your own

The DVD also includes a documentary called Outlawed: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture, and Disappearances in the “War on Terror.” This films details the rendition tales of two men, one of which we’ve talked about at a couple times here, Khaled el-Masri. The other is Binyam Mohamed. el-Masri was released a few months after he was detained. Mohamed has not yet been released.

Thankfully, you don’t have to rent the DVD to watch it, as the filmmakers have provided it free of charge on Google Video. It’s only 27 minutes long so please watch the whole thing.

This is what happens when we allow blind fear to steer our actions. The results are devastating for everybody except the terrorists, who welcome such policies as evidence that we are exactly who they say we are. But we are better than this, and the only way we can prove it is to stop the policy extraordinary rendition now.

In any event, the Pentagon has decided they’re not going to release the study online. You can only get it by mail.

They just don’t get it…

The Bush Administration apparently does not want a U.S. military study that found no direct connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda to get any attention. This morning, the Pentagon cancelled plans to send out a press release announcing the report’s release and will no longer make the report available online. [...]

Asked why the report would not be posted online and could not be emailed, the spokesman for Joint Forces Command said: “We’re making the report available to anyone who wishes to have it, and we’ll send it out via CD in the mail.”

Another Pentagon official said initial press reports on the study made it “too politically sensitive.”

What’s silly about all this is if the Pentagon DID publish it online they could track who they send it to and who’s downloading it. Instead, they’ve given that power over to the people. Look for the media and a bunch of bloggers to get those CDs and publish the study online in its entirety.

But given what I’ve just said, is it preferable for us bloggers to have the Pentagon operate this way? After all, the traffic will be going to somebody who takes the time to publish it. And the Pentagon won’t have any idea who’s downloading it (well, at least I HOPE they won’t have any idea).

Thoughts?

I second Sully.

The thing that makes Coverfield endlessly watchable is the fact that it repackages a very political event without being political. Because what makes the story and the conceit of the “one camera perspective” so effective is 9/11. Sure, this film could be made in a pre-9/11 world, but it wouldn’t be nearly as powerful or terrifying.

But 9/11 is really just the cultural backdrop, and the film never delves into that territory long enough to take away from the ride that some of the most believable special effects work in the history of filmmaking delivers. I’m not being dramatic. Cloverfield is so realistic that days later I’m still myself, “How in the hell did they do that?”

One last bit of praise for the film, there are some subtle hints toward the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, and anybody who has read his work knows where this all could be going in the next film. And yes, there will be a next film since it cost roughly $25 million to make and grossed $47 million over the weekend.

Seriously. Go see it. Even if you think you might get motion sickness from all the shaky camera work. Odds are you won’t, and instead you’ll find yourself enjoying the hell out it.

Oh, and if you have seen it, drop your review in the comments section.

Polling at 8-11% in New Hampshire (a state where an independent-minded fellow like Giuliani should do well) is a bad sign. Sure, he didn’t spend a lot of time campaigning there, but his poll numbers in the state are slipping and, in fact, his national poll numbers have been declining since even before his terrible showing in Iowa. What’s gone wrong?

The 9iu11iani name says it all. In an election where “change” is the buzzword and both parties are looking to the future, Giuliani has campaigned almost exclusively on one signature moment that happened six years ago. We all should have great admiration for the mayor’s leadership on that terrible day, but a president needs more than just the ability to operate in a crisis. A president needs a vision for the nation’s future. Giuliani hasn’t communicated his.

That’s a shame. He had great and numerous successes as a mayor. He has a unique political compass that balances a strong will with real compassion. He is charismatic. He is bold. But he has come across as a dictator wannabe, way overplaying his tough-guy image and allowing the 9/11 moment to hogtie him in an awkward “the past is our present” pose. That’s the wrong strategy in a year when the majority of voters want to escape our nation’s recent past and blaze anew into the future.

It’s too bad Giuliani has made so many missteps. He coulda been a contender.

Yeah, the part where they zoom in on his lips and make him sound like a robot is a bit dramatic, but the point is clear. We’re being lied to and our country is not being made safer by subverting the Constitution.

You have been warned.

Rudy recommended “America’s Cop” for the top job when the Department of Homeland Security first opened shop. Bush nominated him, but Bernie’s past soon caught up with him and he withdrew. Now we know why. He was just indicted.

From NY Times:

The grand jury voted to indict Mr. Kerik on conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, and substantive counts of wire and mail fraud, under a statute often used in corruption cases, according to people briefed on the vote. The panel also voted to charge him with lying on a mortgage application and his homeland security application and with several counts of tax fraud.

Democrats and rival campaigns are already looking at the indictment as a way to call Mr. Giuliani’s judgment into question, and to try to cloud his reputation in areas in which he is seen as strong: on fighting crime and corruption.

That was apparent after Mr. Giuliani held a question-and-answer session with students here Thursday afternoon at Iowa State University: as the crowd left the hall, they were greeted by a man in a suit and a Giuliani mask holding aloft a sign that read “Free Bernie Kerik!”

So it stands to reason that this does not bode well for Giuliani’s credibility, right? Well…will it really matter to anybody who wants him to run because he’s “America’s Mayor?” Especially if it becomes apparent that Rudy is the only guy who has a chance at carrying the GOP to victory? I obviously think the answer to both is “no” because ultimately people want to win.