Could the Brit Iraq War Inquiry be Expanding?

But probably not here in the states, for we're a Nation of Arrogance and Apathy, but Fear and what we call our Politics rules our critical thoughts and common sense and especially fear of bringing possible extreme criminal leaders, and their support groups, to justice!

The Chilcot Iraq War Inquiry is on a break for the holidays. Holidays of celebrating the birth of the 'prince of peace' from one religious ideology as well as other celebrations from this worlds other religious ideologies, all of these based on a number of religious themes and teachings but one stands out that isn't followed 'tolerance' of each other and even outside of religions the racial and religious makeup of others.

The other holiday will see the end of a very destructive decade! It started out very questionable towards greater world peace, a goal everyone is supposed to want and led by this country, the United States, as we preach our rhetoric of democracy and freedom for all from that once big house on the top of the hill of power, then went rapidly downhill from there! We've possibly created the decades of hate and retaliation from our failed policies and extremely failed moral judgments to come. The death and destruction wrought, the hatreds raised, the feeding of the reality into that which others have described us as really being was the decade passing into the coming decades of possible criminal terror that knows no border and has ghost named groups as enemies!

But the reason for the subject title comes from a little article, one of many, after apparently a radio news announcement in one of the countries of the 'coalition of the willing' that have been coming out after the first couple of weeks of the British Iraq War Inquiry before the break for the afore mentioned Happy Holidays.

JAPANESE LAWMAKERS DEMAND INQUIRY INTO SUPPORT FOR IRAQ WAR

Politicians from Japan’s ruling coalition are to demand an inquiry into Japan’s decision to support the Iraq War.

Lawmakers from the Democratic and Social Democratic parties have criticized the decision by the cabinet of then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to support the United States’ use of force in Iraq...>>>>>

They say they will be seeking a third party inquiry next year.

Why could this be important especially if other countries, who might have changed governments and or feel a guilt from being participants in the death and destruction, come forward seeking answers?

There are an awful lot of questions still needing answers or pieces of the already known to fill in some blanks, we've already seen some filled and now on the record in public testimony as to what was going on within our administration starting even before Sept 11.

One of those questions still out there and rarely mentioned, if at all, was how much did it cost us as a Nation to gather the other countries, some sending handfuls of military troops most not, to support the invasion and destruction of Iraq based of falsified intelligence and a want for regime change of a once friend of this country and control of that country and it's resources. Which in turn caused the abandonment of helping the Afghanistan people after the overthrow of the Taliban and walking away from really seeking out and destroying the perpetrators of the Sept 11th hijacking attacks on this country, the purpose of which is why we went to War in the first place.

What were given to these small countries, many with little power nor military to offer only the support sought by the corrupt administration here in the United States who were collecting and cheery picking intelligence and spin to justify their wants of not only regime change, and possibly hiding the failed policies of the past forever, but control as an added member of an empire with our military based in country for the coming decades.

Did it cost us, from our empty treasury, to garner the British support as well? Probably, but that may never come out as it's already been mentioned in the Inquiry that Iraq was already on a short list, near the bottom, of potential trouble countries as seen by the Blair government at the time and I'm sure they, empire builders of old, were seeking a cut of the lucrative monetary wealth the U.S. was also seeking from the oil and more!

If more of these countries of the 'coalition of the willing' come forward with their own inquiries, or individuals of do same, we may get the answers to what we promised and gave them in return for their support and especially those who sent their own military troops in many sacrificing their lives on our failed whims of total power and control of others and greasing the wheels of the military industrial complex with more enemies to profit off of for years to come.

These Inquiries may just minimize the blowback sure to come from our failed policies, we may have been witness yesterday, Christmas day, of an act of retaliation and blowback, hopefully a singular attempt! But since the past decade began, as we finish it out with the coming year, there have already been many forms of criminal terror in many countries.

Below are a few other picks of articles coming out of the British Inquiry and before they reconvene.

Press TV/News Analysis/Iraq war inquiry/12/11/2009


Blair to Testify Before Iraq Inquiry

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is scheduled to testify before an independent inquiry on his nation's involvement in the Iraq war early next year, United Press International reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 18)...>>>>>

To this decade of deception, goodbye and good riddance

Just over 10 years ago I was waiting on top of the Mount of Olives, notebook in hand, for the end of the world. It was December 1999, and newspapers were peddling the spectre of a catastrophe to mark the dawn of the new millennium.

In Jerusalem the story was that a fringe Christian sect would commit mass suicide or blast open the Golden Gate in the Old City walls, unleashing a torrent of blood.

Snip

The clearest example is the response of the US after the al Qa’eda attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001. A clear-eyed analysis of the goals of Osama bin Laden shows that his aims were, and always have been, regime change in the Islamic world, starting with Saudi Arabia and Egypt, rather than any grand plan to destroy the United States. But bin Laden was elevated by the US to the status of global threat, unleashing the full force of the US military into a “war on terror”, starting in Afghanistan, which was probably justified, and then moving to Iraq, which was a disastrous sideshow...>>>>>

Grieving mother grills Iraq inquiry

THE mother of an East Bierley soldier killed in Iraq travelled to the capital on Friday to pose questions to the Iraq Inquiry.

In an open letter to the former prime minister Tony Blair, Pauline Hickey asked him to explain the government's reasons for invading Iraq in March 2003.

Snip

Mrs Hickey said Mr Blair had a "moral duty as a renowned committed Christian" to meet the families of the fallen and explain his stance.

The anti-war campaigner has never managed to speak to Mr Blair, but as reported in the Spenborough Guardian last year, she did meet Gordon Brown and Defence Secetary Des Browne, but got "no direct answers."...>>>>>

THE mother of the first woman soldier killed in Iraq has slammed the Government - branding ministers THICK.

She hit out as fury erupted after Gordon Brown was told he will not give evidence to the Iraq war inquiry until AFTER the general election.

Mrs Manning said: "The MoD are not interested. To them, our kids are numbers. If only they would listen to us, answer our questions. We actually went to see Des Browne when he was defence minister, and asked quite a few questions. He came out with a stupid quip like, 'Well I don't know anything until I'm told'. I mean, how thick are these people?"

Her daughter, Staff Sgt Sharron Elliott, 34, died when her boat hit a bomb mounted on a bridge near Basra in November 2006....>>>>>

Tony Blair costs British taxpayers £6m a year to protect

Tony Blair is costing British taxpayers £6 million a year to protect – more than the current Prime Minister, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Snip

Whitehall insiders are becoming increasingly concerned over the security costs as Mr Blair travels the world on lucrative private sector work.

It is feared that Mr Blair’s security will become even more costly next year following his appearance before the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war which could make him more of a terrorist target.

Mr Blair is typically abroad most weeks and the average bill for his close protection team of bodyguards is more than £16,000 a day, according to Whitehall sources. The protection bill is three times higher than previous public estimates....>>>>>

Did you have a 'Merry Christmas'?, well have a 'Happy New Year'? and the years to come!!

Here's hoping the Japanese follow the British lead and that answers are forth coming to the many questions!!

Watch the Inquiry Live when in Session

Written Transcripts by Date

Oral: The Video's by Date

See how the Inquiry is unfolding on the Sky News Timeline

BBC Iraq inquiry - day by day timeline of evidence given

The 'Sycophant' Tony Blair

I really like that descriptive name used as to Mr Blair, fits him well, editorial link for same below along with others.



Will the statements open up what others will say or bring forward as they might try and distance themselves from him?

"Iraq War was right even if there were no WMDs"

Tony Blair would have invaded Iraq even if he had known that there were no weapons of mass destruction in the country, he has admitted.

Mr Blair replied: "I would still have thought it right to remove him. I mean, obviously you would have had to use and deploy different arguments about the nature of the threat."

He added: "I can't really think we'd be better off with him and his two sons still in charge but it's incredibly difficult... and that's why I sympathise with the people who were against it for perfectly good reasons and are against it now but, for me, in the end I had to take the decision."

Snip

At a memorial service in St Paul's Cathedral in October to honour British military and civilian personnel who served in Iraq, Mr Blair offered his hand to Peter Brierley, whose son, Lance Corporal Shaun Brierley, was killed in 2003. Mr Brierley told him: "I'm not shaking your hand, you've got blood on it."..>>>>>

Now what with him coming out and over explaining to spin his side of the story it makes one wonder, what with came out already, will others start speaking their minds as to what really went down as the heat starts boiling under the Blair.

Blair Iraq war admission sparks fresh outrage

Tony Blair's admission that Britain would have backed the Iraq war even if he knew it did not have weapons of mass destruction (WMD) sparked outrage Sunday and calls for his prosecution for war crimes.

The former prime minister, who backed the US-led invasion in 2003, told the BBC it would "still have been right to remove" Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein because of the threat he posed to the region.

Lawyers representing the deposed Iraqi leadership said they would seek to prosecute Blair following his remarks, while one newspaper commentator said it was a "game-changing admission" for the ongoing official inquiry into the war...>>>>>

Not yet scathing enough for you, stay tuned.

'Sycophant' Tony Blair used deceit to justify Iraq war, says former DPP

Tony Blair used "deceit" to persuade parliament and the British people to support war in Iraq, Sir Ken Macdonald, the former director of public prosecutions, said today.

In an article in the Times, Macdonald attacked Blair for engaging in "alarming subterfuge", for displaying "sycophancy" towards George Bush and for refusing to accept that his decisions were wrong.

Macdonald's comments about Blair's decision to go to war are more critical than anything that has been said so far by any of the senior civil servants who worked in Whitehall when Blair was prime minister.

Macdonald was DPP from 2003 until 2008 and he now practises law from Matrix Chambers, where Blair's barrister wife, Cherie, is also based.

Snip

Macdonald wrote: "The degree of deceit involved in our decision to go to war on Iraq becomes steadily clearer. This was a foreign policy disgrace of epic proportions, and playing footsie on Sunday morning television does nothing to repair the damage.

"It is now very difficult to avoid the conclusion that Tony Blair engaged in an alarming subterfuge with his partner, George Bush, and went on to mislead and cajole the British people into a deadly war they had made perfectly clear they didn't want, and on a basis that it's increasingly hard to believe even he found truly credible."

Macdonald said that Blair's fundamental flaw was his "sycophancy towards power" and that he could not resist the "glamour" he attracted in Washington...>>>>>

See I told ya, oh he says much more, it was getting hotter under the blair and this is just the beginning, We Hope!

Who will turn the heat on Tony Blair over Iraq?

If it has achieved nothing else, Sir John Chilcot's inquiry into the Iraq war has at least brought Tony Blair out of the woodwork.

Only two weeks ago, Mr Blair was saying to CNN: "I think the best thing with this inquiry is actually to let us all give our evidence to the inquiry… I think the appropriate place to [go through the issues] is at the inquiry."

Snip

Blair's remarkable pre-emptive strike comfortably overshadows anything so far said to Sir John Chilcot. It goes to the very nub of the issue Sir John is considering: was the war necessary, and was the prime minister's official justification, weapons of mass destruction, merely a pretext for something decided long before?

Mr Blair's statement that he wanted rid of Saddam all along, and would simply have "deploy[ed] different arguments" to do so in the absence of WMD, is his clearest admission to date that the famous weapons were indeed a pretext. His belief that a war on Iraq would have been necessary even without WMD is both significant – and highly questionable.

Snip

The task for Chilcot and his panel is now rather different than it was last week. Mr Blair's game-changing admission gives them a licence to be tougher and more prosecutorial. The question for Sir John and his panel is whether they can match the interrogative skills of Fern Britton; whether they can extract such important confessions of their own from their guests on the Iraq Inquiry sofa...>>>>>

Blair sold Iraq on WMD, but only regime change adds up - Hans Blix

The PM seems to have deployed arguments as they suited him. Our weapons inspections were telling another story

Before the Iraq war was launched in March 2003 the world was given the impression by the US and Britain that the goal was to eradicate weapons of mass destruction. Recent comments by Tony Blair suggest, however, that regime change was the essential aim. He would have thought it right to remove Saddam Hussein even if he had known that there were no WMD, he said, but he would obviously have had to "deploy" different arguments. Must we not conclude that the WMD arguments were "deployed" mainly as the best way of selling the war? Blair's comments do not exclude a strong – but mistaken – belief in the existence of WMD even when the invasion was launched. However, given that hundreds of inspections had found no WMD and important evidence had fallen apart, such a belief would have been based on a lack of critical thinking.

Snip

Many are convinced that the American and UK military plans moved on autopilot, and the inspections were a charade. I am sure that many in the Bush team felt that way. It seems likely that British and American leaders expected that UN inspections would again be obstructed or that Iraqi violation of the draconian new resolution 1441 would persuade the security council to authorise military action to remove the regime. For my part, I tended to think of the war preparations rather as a train moving slowly to the front and helping to make Iraq co-operative. If something removed or reduced the weapons issue, the train, I thought, might stop.

Snip

Unlike the US, the UK and perhaps other members of the alliance were not ready to claim a right to preventive war against Iraq regardless of security council authorisation. In these circumstances they developed and advanced the argument that the war was authorised by the council under a series of earlier resolutions. As Condoleezza Rice put it, the alliance action "upheld the authority of the council". It was irrelevant to this argument that China, France, Germany and Russia explicitly opposed the action and that a majority on the council declined to give the requested green light for the armed action. If hypocrisy is the compliment that virtue pays to vice then strained legal arguments are the compliments that violators of UN rules pay to the UN charter....>>>>>

Iraq - Phase Four!!

Blair’s critics are asking the wrong questions

All the talk is of WMD, lies and the decision to go to war. But the Chilcot inquiry is uncovering a much bigger scandal

Snip

One is a recollection from my own private meeting with Sir John Chilcot, some weeks ago, as part of his meticulous trawl through the people he thought might have something to add or suggest. He told me then, as he reminds each witness now, that the inquiry team has already received and sifted through thousands of documents, many of them with the top level of classification. This means that some of the questioning is much less innocent than it sounds.

One should recall here that the removal of the sovereign government of Iraq left the invaders with the full moral responsibility for the country in the immediate postwar period, a responsibility given legal force by UN Resolution 1438. What was to happen after the war was no detail to be tacked on after a military campaign, but a major strategic question that would affect that country and the future of the whole region. It was reasonable to expect that massive effort would go into planning that future.

Listening to the questioners at the inquiry, and particularly Sir Roderic Lyne, it seems to me they are asking some uncomfortable questions about the resources and co-ordination that were put into Phase Four...>>>>>

And right the writer is except I wouldn't place it as bigger but very equal to everything connected with this Historic Debacle of Death and Destruction that will affect the coming decades!!

What the British do with what has been coming out of the Chilcot Inquiry, as to their Countries reputation and accountability for those involved are theirs to make. My interest, across the pond here, are the tidbits coming out about what was going on here in the States as to their American Counterparts in our Government and what they were and were not doing in leading to their wanted invasion and occupation of Iraq and regime change of the once good friend of many involved, like these:

Drip, drip, drip, ""He recalled noting that: "the dog didn't bark - it grizzled." Don't forget - this 'grizzling' for regime change was 6 months BEFORE 9/11."". drip, drip, drip, ""But there was a 'sea change' in attitude after the atrocities, with former national security adviser Condoleezza Rice targeting Iraq on the very day of the outrage."", drip, drip, drip, ""George Bush tried to make a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida in a conversation with Tony Blair three days after the 9/11 attacks, according to Blair's foreign policy adviser of the time."", drip, drip, drip, ""There was "a touching belief [in Washington] that we shouldn't worry so much about the aftermath because it was all going to be sweetness and light"."", drip, drip, drip, ""Boyce mentions the "dysfunctionalism" of Washington. He says that he would find himself briefing his American counterparts on what was happening in different parts of the US adminstration. Rumsfeld was not sharing information"", drip, drip, drip...........!

And the Blair statements, along with the earlier ones about what was known, add to the above as it opens the window a crack to what he was being told to do by his counterpart president bush, or is that cheney!!

British Inquiry Into Iraq War

This is what this Country, the United States, should be doing now or had already done during the previous administration, investigating towards Impeachment and possible Indictments, depending on what evidence of crimes and lies surfaced. Especially if we really are what we like to think and demand others to believe we are and if our Constitution still exist as the leading Representative Democracy on this planet. But leave it up to 'Old Europe', hopefully, to seek answers that should be in the light of day and a part of the physical history added to the already known.

But it's never to late for us to try and minimize the blowback from our extremely destructive policies, or is it!

Rose Gentle seeks truth from Iraq inquiry

The Glasgow mother, whose son Gordon was killed in the Iraq War, has been speaking ahead of the opening of Sir John Chilcot’s inquiry.


{this isn't the video from this report, the news video at link}

The mother of a Glasgow soldier who was killed in Iraq has spoken ahead of the inquiry into why the war began.

Rose Gentle, whose 19-year-old son Gordon died in Basra in 2004, spoke to STV News before travelling down to London for the beginning of the inquiry on Tuesday.

Rose has been an outspoken critic of the Iraq conflict and helped set up the group Military Families against the War...>>>>>

Tuesday 24 November 2009 - Opening of Inquiry

Iraq Inquiry Opens Amid Whitewash Claims

The chairman of an official inquiry into the Iraq war has used his opening remarks to rebuff claims it will be a whitewash and insisted it will be a "fair and frank" investigation.



Sir John Chilcot said he will not will not shy away from being critical in his wide-ranging, televised probe into how the UK came to invade the country in 2003...>>>>>

Chilcot inquiry told UK did not consider Iraq regime change before 9/11

Whitehall refused to engage in talks about toppling Saddam but shared US concerns that containment policy was failing



British officials decided not to get involved in talk about regime change in Iraq in 2001 even though some parts of the new Bush administration began to discuss the possibility two years before the invasion, the opening hearing of the UK inquiry into the war heard today.

But Whitehall was, like Washington, concerned that the policy of containing Saddam Hussein was failing before the September 11 attacks on the US, senior civil servants said....>>>>>

Saddam options 'discussed a year before Iraq war'

British officials privately discussed the prospect of "regime change" in Iraq in late 2001 - more than a year before the invasion - the Iraq War inquiry was told today.

Giving evidence on the first day of public hearings, Sir William Patey, a senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office official, said the idea of ousting Saddam Hussein had been discussed in an internal FCO paper...>>>>>

Iraq Inquiry Digest Everything about the Chilcot Inquiry in one place

Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war Follow the action as inquiry into one of the most contentious decisions of modern times begins hearing evidence

Iraq Inquiry: Day 1

Well, after just six hours of evidence at an Inquiry that will last over a year and, already, some interesting disclosures.

The top lines are these:

1. There were "drum-beats" of war with Iraq coming from elements of the Bush Administration in early 2001

2. The UK discussed regime change in an internal Foreign Office "options paper" in 2001 but quickly dismissed it as illegal.

The focus of today was context: an effort to establish what the UK's position on Iraq was in 2001 - prior to the 9/11 attacks...>>>>>

"We were conscious that there were other voices in Washington, some of whom were talking about regime change," Ricketts said, citing an article written by National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice warning that nothing would change in Iraq until Saddam was gone."...>>>>>

William Rivers Pitt | The Mess Left Behind

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Text at Truthout Perspective

William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of two books: "War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know" and "The Greatest Sedition Is Silence." His newest book, "House of Ill Repute: Reflections on War, Lies, and America's Ravaged Reputation," is now available from PoliPointPress.

Krakauer Explores Pat Tillman's Death And Cover-Up

I did a post the other day about Jon Krakauer and his new book: "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman" with a video report from ABC's Good Morning America and from the ABC World News Tonight.

He's since been on at least two NPR shows one being All Things Considered which is about a seven minute discussion of the book and the Pat Tillman military service story that was propagandized by both the cheney/bush administration, the pentagon and the military!

Krakauer talks to NPR's Melissa Block about his investigation into Tillman's death by friendly fire — and the Army's subsequent effort to cover up the circumstances of that death.

A Spray Of Bullets

At least half the members of a platoon traveling through Afghanistan on April 22, 2004, had never been in a firefight before. But on this day, the enemy attacked. In response, the American soldiers sprayed thousands of rounds from their machine guns, M4s and grenade launchers..........Read Rest Here

The second show was the Diane Rehm show, with a much more indepth discussion and some call in's, on Sept. 16th, he was the second half hour.

Jon Krakauer: "Where Men Win Glory" (Doubleday)

Pat Tillman walked away from a multi-million dollar N-F-L contract to fight with U-S special forces. He was killed in Afghanistan two years later. How the Army tried to keep his family and the public from learning the truth about his death.

Guests
Jon Krakauer, author of "Into the Wild", "Into Thin Air", and "Under the Banner of Heaven," "Eiger Dreams," and editor of Modern Library Exploration series.

You can listen in with Your Real Player or with the Windows Media Player

Jon Krakauer's book: "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman"

Pat Tillman "Where Men Win Glory"

This was just reported on ABC World News and apparently ABC Good Morning America also had a report this morning, video from that below.

EXCERPT: Jon Krakauer's 'Where Men Win Glory'
Krakauer Investigates the Life and Death of American Football Hero Pat Tillman

Patrick Tillman, former NFL player, made national headlines when he gave up his lucrative sports career to join the U.S. Army Rangers.

Tillman, one of the most potent symbols of post-9/11 patriotism in America, was gunned down by friendly fire in 2004.

Revelations abound in Krakauer's new book, coming from interviews with friends and relatives, and Tillman's personal journals.

Read an excerpt of the book below:

Excerpt From the Prologue

Ever since Homo sapiens first coalesced into tribes, war has been part of the human condition. Inevitably, warring societies portray their campaigns as virtuous struggles, and present their fallen warriors as heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for a noble cause. But death by so- called friendly fire, which is an inescapable aspect of armed conflict in the modern era, doesn't conform to this mythic narrative. It strips away war's heroic veneer to reveal what lies beneath. It's an unsettling reminder that barbarism, senseless violence, and random death are commonplace even in the most "just" and "honorable" of wars. Consequently, and unsurprisingly, when soldiers accidentally kill one of their own, there is tremendous reluctance to confront the truth within the ranks of the military. There is an overwhelming inclination to keep the unsavory particulars hidden from public view, to pretend the calamity never occurred. Thus it has always been, and probably always will be. As Aeschylus, the exalted Greek tragedian, noted in the fifth century b.c., "In war, truth is the first casualty."

Jon Krakauer's book: "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman"

Although it wasn't Tillman's intention, when he left the Cardinals to join the Army he was transformed overnight into an icon of post-9/11 patriotism. Seizing the opportunity to capitalize on his celebrity, the Bush administration endeavored to use his name and image to promote what it had christened the Global War on Terror. Tillman abhorred this role. As soon as he decided to enlist, he stopped talking to the press altogether, although his silence did nothing to squelch America's fascination with the football star who traded the bright lights and riches of the NFL for boot camp and a bad haircut. Following his death on the battlefield, the public's interest in Tillman shot through the roof. The posthumous media frenzy shed little light on who he really was, however. The intricate mosaic of personal history that defined his existence was obscured by the blizzard of hype.

In the interview video above, from ABC's "Good Morning America" we find out he was also in Iraq, but not only that he was involved in the operation to rescue Jessica Lynch. Even this author didn't know about that untill he was going through the papers and reports preparing the book. Tillman apparently knew it was a bogus operation and that he might be used in similar manner if something happened, He Was Right!!

He also could have gotten out of the Army and never have gone to Afghanistan, but choose to stay and finish his commitment!!

Read the Rest Here

More on Failed and Criminal Government {UpDated w/video's}

More of the cheney/bush/republican congress incompetent criminality coming to light, especially out of the VA, while Two Occupations were still ongoing and troops were returning for the care needed, as their brothers and sisters were returning in Flag Draped Coffins!!

IG reports detail abuses in hiring, travel, bonuses at VA technology office

Former high-ranking information technology officials at the Veterans Affairs Department gave preferential treatment to certain contractors, engaged in nepotism in hiring and, in one case, took advantage of a relationship with a supervisor for personal gain, according to a new report from the department's inspector general...............Rest Here

First Report-PDF

Second Report-PDF

As vets await checks, VA workers get $24M bonuses

The inspector general accused one recently retired VA official of acting "as if she was given a blank checkbook" as awards and bonuses were distributed to employees of the Office of Information and Technology in 2007 and 2008. In some cases the justification for the bonuses was inadequate or questionable, the IG said.

The official, Jennifer S. Duncan, also engaged in nepotism and got $60,000 in bonuses herself, the IG said. In addition, managers improperly authorized college tuition payments for VA employees, some of whom were Duncan's family members and friends. That cost taxpayers nearly $140,000................

These weren't the rank and file VA workers, who do what they can and is needed for the Veterans, these are the political appointee's and hired contractors, padding their pockets while denying what is Owed To Those Who Serve!!

And then we have this, though known or suspected strongly at the time, book review by the author that's hitting all over, just before the weekend political shows, of which the country will just yawn at but will enhance sales, may even drive it to number one on the best sellers lists, under Not Fiction!!

"National Security"

Ex-DHS chief links politics to terror alerts

TREASON IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE

Advancing Political Agenda at dangerous expense of the public good is a criminal act

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge claims in a new book "The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege...And How We Can Be Safe Again" that he was pressured by other members of President George W. Bush's Cabinet to raise the nation's terror alert level just before the 2004 presidential election.

Presssured? Is this a bad joke?

Ridge says he objected to raising the security level despite the urgings of former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, according to a publicity release from Ridge's publisher. He said the episode convinced him to follow through with his plans to leave the administration; he resigned on Nov. 30, 2004.

While these Machevellian acts are NOT unexpected by this terror group, what is unexpected is watching the American public continue to be hypnotized into thinking this is just some news story that is quaint to be read in a book. It's not. This is freakin scary!.........The Rest Here

The Nexus of Politics and Terror

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Did bush Deceptions Break the Law

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

When is this Country going to Wake Up and realize we are looked at as "Crap" on the World Stage, an Arrogant and Apathetic society sinking faster in it's own waste!!

I just hope, and that's slim, that the present Justice Department, and Justice Departments to come, even with the politically embedded incompetent lawyers from the previous, are taking these reports seriously. As an older adult, trying to be what we all should be 'responsible' and trying to leave a 'better world' behind, like our folks did for us till it all collapsed through no fault of theirs, I would really like to see some Accountability for the many many crimes committed, in the name of ideologies instead of as a nation trying, are brought under the Laws we have, and should be respected and followed. Or we can do what some would really like, tear up our Constitution and Flush this Nation into the History Books as Failed!!

ceney/bush Quit al Qaeda Hunt

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

And now Liz Cheney has been coming out trying to explain this potential illegal issue and misuse of executive power. Now that she opened her mouth, prior to today, about this issue, It Would Behoove Us To Add Her Name To Any Investigation!

What did daddy's little girl know, she was trying to explain it yesterday, especially not being an employee of nor attached to the CIA, and when did she know it, and if she knows enough to be the spokesperson for this then why does she know Anything while our Representatives don't and it took a few months later before the new Director of the CIA found out, is she Now playing the dangerous coverup game and thus another possible witness to a possible crime against our Laws!!!!

Look Back, Barack!

A YouTube video to President Obama



A video plea for President Obama and Attorney General Holder, asking them to hold Bush Administration officials accountable for torture and other heinous crimes. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of non-violent prisoners in jail for drug offenses. Why do Bush, Cheney, and others get off without even a slap on the wrist?

Where is HE Now?

Does Obama have a back room deal in place to protect George W. Bush from criminal prosecution? If not, why is Bush flaunting his escape from justice so brazenly? This shocking montage contrasts gushing footage from CNN about the life of luxury Bush has mapped out for himself, with the trail of bodies he leaves in his wake.

Gold Star Dad, 4th of July

John Scripsick Comments on Bush's July 4th Visit

Former President Bush visits Oklahoma for the 4th of July, 2009. John Scripsick, who lost his son in the Iraq war, wrote an op ed piece saying "I wonder what Bush will say in his 40 minutes speech. I'm sure it will be sprinkled with patriotism, independence and how we were only attacked once during his presidency."

The REALITY: Will We Get It Now!!

We already know that those that Ordered what went on don't and won't Get It, nor care, just as they've accused others for same!!

Ex-inmate recalls days of abuse at Abu Ghraib

"But, at the end, the American people are responsible for everything that happened," Abu Ahmed said, referring to the war that he believes turned his life upside down.

Abu Ahmed spent a total of 20 months in U.S. custody, between Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca, outside Basra in southern Iraq.

He then returned home, where he spent less than five months with his family before being arrested again, this time by the Iraqi army in yet another sweep through his neighborhood.

He says his treatment inside Iraqi facilities was even worse than what he faced at the hands of the U.S. military. His Iraqi captors, Abu Ahmed says, beat him with cables and pipes; he even had a cement block hung from his genitals.

Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi


RIP Abeer and your family, saying Sorry is not enough for what you were put through that ended your precious life, RIP!!

Iraqis unhappy about life for U.S. rape soldier

"What the American soldier did is a terrorist act and he deserves execution," said Ahmed Samir Jaber, 27, a mechanic, from underneath the bonnet of an old car he was fixing in Mahmudiya, a dusty trading town on the edge of the desert.

"The court has not delivered justice. If I killed an American girl, the American court would have executed me."..........

Will we as a Country Now Finally Get It, I Doubt It, but remember this word "Blowback!"!!!

We Are All To Blame

Coming Soon:

Declassified Bush-Era Torture Memos

Over objections from the U.S. intelligence community, the White House is moving to declassify—and publicly release—three internal memos that will lay out, for the first time, details of the "enhanced" interrogation techniques approved by the Bush administration for use against "high value" Qaeda detainees. The memos, written by Justice Department lawyers in May 2005, provide the legal rationale for waterboarding, head slapping and other rough tactics used by the CIA. One senior Obama official, who like others interviewed for this story requested anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity, said the memos were "ugly" and could embarrass the CIA. Other officials predicted they would fuel demands for a "truth commission" on torture.>>>>>>

Inside Guantanamo


Guantanamo Detainee: Freedom Feb '09:

“I Want Some TARP”

A song for our times:

A Hilarious Parody of the government bail out and the 700 Billion dollar Tarp bailout stimulus by Bill Zucker. Go to www.billzucker.com and Amazon or itunes to download song...To become a Tarphead, pickup Tarphead gear (tees, hats, bumper, sticker buttons etc) download MP3s and watch the video. Please share this video with anyone you think would appreciate it or needs to laugh during these crazy times....

Convict Bush and Cheney and ...

Add this tool kit to your website by clicking on the word "Share"



Click on each individual link in graphic to visit and click on 'play' button to listen to "Lock Them Up" from a brother 'Nam Vet, Pat Scanlon.




This is a video I put together, last year, using Pat's Song, Enjoy!

Guantanamo

The video is a combination of three BBC News reports on Guantanamo from Dec. '08 to Jan '09, it's about 141/2 minutes long, the links to each individual video at their site found below.

Guantanamo "Abandoned Our Values and Defiled Our Constitution!"


Guantanamo 'a stain on US military' Dec 3rd '08

Guantanamo closure plan ordered Dec 19th '08

Former guard on Guantanamo 'torture' Jan 9th '09

The Special Prosecutor Petition

In the bush Exit Speech 1-12-09

"The most urgent threat that he'll have to deal with and other presidents after him will have to deal with is an attack on our homeland," Bush said. "You know, I wish I could report that's not the case, but there's still an enemy out there that would like to inflict damage on America."

For once I agree with this incompetent,immoral, unrepentant little man, he's created tens of thousands that didn't exist before, who now wish this Country and It's Citizens Harm, "Mission Accomplished"!!

Yoo and Bybee war memos revealed

Marisa Taylor of McClatchy's D.C. bureau reports:

Former Justice Department attorneys John Yoo and Jay Bybee are known for their memos on torture, but little was known about their role in the lead-up to war with Iraq. Until now.

Memo Use of Military Force PDF


UN Security Council Resolution PDF


Further Material Breach PDF


Protected Persons PDF

If We Don't Prosecute Torture...............

If Obama Doesn't Prosecute Bush's Torture Team, We'll Pay a Big Price Down the Road

"How did it come about that American military personnel stripped detainees naked, put them in stress positions, used dogs to scare them, put leashes around their necks to humiliate them, hooded them, deprived them of sleep and blasted music at them? Were these actions the result of 'a few bad apples' acting on their own? It would be a lot easier to accept if it were. But that's not the case."

-- Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, June 17, 2008

***

It was a short but significant report in Newsweek last week, and it began like this:

Despite the hopes of many human rights advocates, the new Obama Justice Department is not likely to launch major new criminal probes of harsh interrogations and other alleged abuses by the Bush administration. But one idea that has currency among some top Obama advisers is setting up a 9/11-style commission that would investigate counterterrorism policies and make public as many details as possible. "At a minimum, the American people have to be able to see and judge what happened," said one senior adviser, who asked not to be identified for talking about policy matters. The commission would be empowered to order the U.S. intelligence agencies to open their files for review and question senior officials who approved "waterboarding" and other controversial practices.

The article, written by Michael Isikoff, came at the heels of another report by the Associated Press, which quoted a pair of anonymous Obama advisors as saying that there was little-to-no chance that an Obama Justice Department would try to prosecute Bush-era officials for torture. The same report quoted Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., as saying that members of the Bush administration would not face war crimes charges in the United States. "These things are not going to happen."

SNIP

Announcing capUSAwc.org

capUSAwc.org the Coalition for the Arrest & Prosecution of U.S./Allied War Criminals

for more info, please visit: capUSAwc.org

HatTip to carol

Over at ePluribus Media for this post with just this Great Pic:


Bush Shatters the Myth of White Supremacy