If I Were a Betting Man, I'd Wager that Cheney Was Behind the Anthrax Attacks

THE BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

Mark Karlin

Editor and Publisher

August 9, 2008 (originally posted)

You'd have to be a terribly cautious and willfully blind person not to think that the Bush Administration was capable of orchestrating the anthrax attacks. You'd almost have to be a fool.

Years after the anthrax attacks were aimed at Democratic senators who were necessary to pass the "spy on Americans," cynically named "Patriot Act," suddenly the latest "prime suspect" commits suicide without leaving a note or anything, but then the FBI makes claims about how they "got their man" after how many seasons of incompetence in their investigation had passed?

Anyone who doesn't believe that an administration that had the CIA (or perhaps Douglas Feith's "manufactured evidence" Defense Department office) forge and backdate a letter to link Saddam to Osama to help justify the war with Iraq is not capable of using army-produced weapons grade anthrax, out of a Defense Department facility in Fort Detrick, Maryland ... anyone who doesn't believe that an administration that forged Niger uranium documents to falsely link Saddam to a purchase that could facilitate a nuclear program that had been shuttered ... anyone who doesn't believe that an administration that lied about knowing where WMDs were hidden in Iraq (as Rumsfeld and Cheney claimed), when those weapons didn't exist ... well anyone who doesn't believe that such people who believe that they are "masters of the universe" and above the Constitution and the law would be concerned about "collateral damage" in a domestic anthrax attack is naive and incapable of understanding the heart of darkness that lurks within Cheney and his puppet in the White House. (George W. Bush is ever in need of finding ways to prove his manhood through being indifferent to the deaths of others.)

BuzzFlash was around, as we have said many a time, since May of 2000.

We reported on the suspicious domestic terrorism anthrax attacks when they occurred, and how odd it appeared that the Bush Administration never appeared concerned about domestic terrorism, even after the attacks. In fact, as Ron Suskind's book reports, the Bush Administration pushed ABC News and others to link the anthrax attacks to Saddam Hussein. Suskind reveals much more, including that the WH rejected overtures from Iran to help clamp down on Al Qaeda, who is no friend to them (being a Shiite vs. Sunni match up).

The best analysis on the highly questionable "resolution" of the multi-year Keystone Cops FBI investigation (by design BuzzFlash believes -- how can the Bush Administration investigate itself; it couldn't in the Valerie Plame outing or the Katrina failure, because Bush would have had to find himself guilty) is coming from Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com. Greenwald is taking the Ivins suicide and anthrax attacks on with a sense of detail and passion that is unmatched on the Net or in the corporate press.

But BuzzFlash was online when it happened, and we took note of how ineptly the FBI handled the case of domestic terrorism that not only resulted in the deaths of people, but was aimed at senior Democratic senators (and some "liberal" members of the press). There was something worrisome about an anthrax attack that emanated from a Department of Defense facility -- and there still is.

Just a few days ago, it was the anniversary of Bush receiving a briefing in August of 2001 that bin Laden was determined to hijack planes in the United States. Bush blew it off. He told a CIA briefer at his Crawford ranch who tried to tell him about terrorist threats that the guy had covered his ass and could leave Bush's Hollywood set "regular guy" vacation retreat and leave Bush alone.

9/11 happened on Bush's watch, even though he was warned. We pointed out at the time that the least Bush and Rice could have done was raise a security alert and order airports to take special precautions to prevent hijackings, but they did nothing -- absolutely nothing.

One of the most tragic failings of the corporate press was that when confronted with the August briefing and other warnings of Al Qaeda preparing to launch attacks on U.S. soil prior to 9/11 -- including the pleading of Robert Clarke -- Rice and Bush claimed that if they had been warned of intended efforts to fly planes into buildings that they would have taken precautions. The White House "press corps" stenographers nodded and told us that this excuse made sense.

But we pointed out then, so many years ago, that it made no sense whatsoever. The way to try and prevent airplane hijackings that end up in suicide attacks on buildings is the same way you prevent hijackings in general: you stop them at the airport. You can't construct magic shields around buildings. So Bush and Rice were let off by the mainstream media, even though their incompetence (or worse) resulted in no action being taken to stop the hijackings, even though the title of the August briefing was about planned hijackings, as Rice was forced to concede in Congressional testimony.

So, anyone who doesn't believe that anthrax attacks that originated with U.S. government-created, bio-warfare weapons grade anthrax, could have been part of an effort to move Congress and the American people toward war for oil and empire, as well as toward a tsarist level of "unitary executive" authority, well anyone who doesn't believe that the anthrax attacks might have been part of Dick Cheney's "dark shadow" planning is ready to audition for Pollyanna.

Oh, and did we mention the recent Seymour Hersh revelation that Cheney and some White House staff members recently spent some time brainstorming how to provoke Iran into war, including "false flag" operations? We wrote about that in a recent BuzzFlash editor's blog.

We don't generally get into conspiracy theories, because by their very nature they are theories for which factual evidence doesn't exist. If the corroborating details are there, then it isn't a theory; it's fact.

Saying the WH, particularly Cheney, were likely behind the anthrax attacks may still fall into the category of conspiracy theory. But if I were a betting man, I think that you can probably safely move that conspiracy theory into the column of fact.

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Administration orchestrating the anthrax attacks?

Administration orchestrating the anthrax attacks? Well this is certainly conceivable. I see where Leahy is as of today (9-18-08) calling for an independent lab data investigation and input from the public. May I suggest AMIA Laboratories in Round Rock, Texas. If not for their superb technical chemical analysis expertise at the nuclear and atomic level, we never would have known NASA scientists were mischaracterizing our planetary science research resulting in scientific misconduct on their part.

http://www.bccmeteorites.com/misconduct-planetary.html

SRD-BCCM

Anthrax attacks

From the first report that stated this Dr. working in a military antrax lab was the guilty party, I had strong suspicions he was a scapegoat for the Bush administration. The government is certainly capable of planting evidence and staging a suicide (that's if they didn't drive him into suicide with their accusations knowing what he was up against). One person having problems will see a single therapist, so how is it he got access to and had therapy sessions with several top professionals who were willing to testify. When a therapist hears a patient make viable threats, they are obligated to immediately report the incident that they may cause harm to themselves or others. So why is it that the therapist didn't come forward until after the alleged suicide ... and again, where did all these top of profession therapists come from. The Bush administration wanted war and needed public opinion to help make it a reality ... so why not create the illusion of attacks via anthrax with the appropriate timing. Unnecessary war is just a vehicle for moving massive amounts of tax money and future tax money into the bank accounts of those who supply military supplies including all the oil needed for moving troops back and forth and having our ships out and about burning fuel. And ... of course we need a reality testing ground to check out all the newer versions of weapons and missiles ... another massive transfer of wealth from taxpayer pockets to friends of the Bush administration. Jeff Z coach01@ameritech.net

Anthrax torture confession

Regarding how far they will go, Cheney et al were apparently so eager to link the anthrax scare to Iraq that they had someone tortured to get "evidence" of the link. Per Jane Mayer in The Dark Side, mentioned above, page 135. Detainee al-Libi was rendered to Egypt for interrogation. They pressured him about ties between al-Qaeda and Iraq. "The Egyptian interrogators wanted more, though...they pressed him about Saddam Hussein supplying Al Qaeda with anthrax and other biological weapons." His "evidence" given under torture was "piped into the Vice President's office, among other places, and used by the Bush Administration to buttress its allegations that Iraq was on the verge of supplying Al Qaeda with potentially terrifying weapons of mass destruction." W then began talking about what we have "learned about Iraq", and they seem to have used the torture confession to persuade Powell to give his Iraq/WMD speech to the UN. It's sickening.

Blinded by the lights

It amazes me so many liberals find it hard to believe Cheney is at the core of the anthrax-911-WMD-illegal Iraq war, and now the Russia-Georgia battle. I'd bet most blacks and Native Americans would find it easy to believe.

Why?

Because these long-suffering groups have endured the most atrocious lies, corruption and genocide of this government to keep them in their place, they don't see Cheney through rose-colored glasses. While we're supposed to go strictly with the facts, the body language and nasty demeanor of Cheney says he has little regard for his constituents, let alone humanity. That's enough for me to go on, yet the facts are in your face.

But why single Cheney out as the evil one and the enemy - which he is? There will always be criminals in every society of the world. The real enemy here is ourselves. If the American people themselves weren't such greedy, consuming, arrogant, biased hypocrites, we would not allow a corrupt system to run our country and tolerate criminals like Bush/Cheney/elites to oversee it. We wouldn't allow a madman to get on TV and respond to legitimate questions by answering "So?"

We know what Cheney is. Until we come to terms with what WE are, there will always be Cheney's to enslave us and make us look like fools.

I don't see that happening anytime soon. This is a corrupt nation. It will take years for us to see the light...and we don't have that kind of time.

911

What is it about some people that they can't conceive an evil toady like cheney being capable of orchestrating a crime such as the anthrax attacks-or worse? Are they in such awe of high offices and those who occupy them (even illegally) that they attach demigod status to those individuals? How about the well-documented 2000 "election" fraud? Do they dismiss any posibility of this as well, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary? If this is so, then we're in BIG trouble come November, because you can bet your ass mcloser will take the oath of office on Jan 20th, 2009. My purport? It goes something like this: If the bushies hadn't been successful in stealing the 2000 (and, for good measure, the 2004) "elections", and had Al Gore gained his proper place in the White House, there wouldn't be a 911, an Iraq "war", a "patriot" act, a military commissions act, a huge budget deficit, a suspension of habeas corpus and posse comitatus, etc. etc. Since the bushies got into office by fraudulent means, that means they're there ILLEGALLY, and everything they've done since Jan 20th, 2001 has been ILLEGAL. Think I'm off-base on this? PROVE IT.

411

What is it about some people that they can't conceive that we have real enemies out there who wish us harm and instead contort themselves into believing their own government is attacking them? Are they in such fear of high offices and those that occupy them (illegally if they are Republicans, legally if they are Democrats) that they attach satanic status to those individuals? How about the thoroughly and repeatedly refuted "election" fraud myth? Do they accept any possibility of this as well, despite absolutely zero evidence to the contrary? If this is so, then the Dems are in BIG trouble come November when the base forgets to take their meds and they sleep through election day. My purport? It goes something like this: If Bush had not been successful in winning the 2000 (and, thank God, 2004) elections and had Al Gore somehow occupied the White House, there still would have been a 9/11. Nothing you can say or dream up is ever going to change that simple fact. Anyway, I'm out of here. Have got better things to do. This is your playground, after all, and I shouldn't be interfering in your psychotic ruminations. Have fun...and remember to always where a helmet.

We know which one you are.

There are four kinds of people that refuse to believe that Bush/Cheney have murdered Americans for political gain: 1- Those that will believe anything they say, i.e. Republicans.. 2- those too complacent and ignorant to look into the issues.. 3- Those whose lives are based on having a group to hate and blame all of America's problems on, i.e. Republicans. 4- Those too cowardly and terrified to consider we may have a truly evil govt..

Boo!

There are two kinds of people who believe Bush/Cheney murdered Americans for political gain: losers and idiots. You've managed to be both an idiot and a loser. Congratulations.

ajmurray, Republican troll excrement

aj, you are a disgusted piece of Republican excrement.

Sorry.

I don't give organized crime a pass. The evidence about the Republican party and its long history of crookery is simply overwhelming and it goes back to making shoddy shoes for Union soldiers. The worst recent crime was actually the sabotage of the Paris peace talks by Kissinger and Nixon, just so they could win the 1968 election. The surest way to cultivate a bunch of suckers is to make them think that they are special and somehow beyond reproach. Either you understand or you don't. A crook is a crook is a crook.

Oh

I thought you meant the Sopranos type of organized crime. At least they provide a useful product. \ The Republican party should be indicted under the RICO statutes.

That is a forbidden topic!

We must never again hear of Col. Zack. After all, he is a rabid Zionist, so when it appeared that he was the only possible culprit, another man was accused and he was forgotten. Strange that even in those reviews of the case, he isn't mentioned while that impossibly innocent "suspect" is. Wonder why!

We must also never talk about the Assault on the Liberty. We must never note all too many things. We must continue to accept the stories told us.

Have Feith, er, make that faith, folks. Would our great leaders lie to us?

Ridiculous

What a ridiculous "editorial". Seriously, you'd have to be deeply insane to believe the Vice President of the United States orchestrated the 2001 anthrax attacks. Is this what passes for intelligent commentary out there in looney land? The Einstein who wrote this tripe grossly mischaracterizes the August 2001 PDB to make his "case." The August PDB merely reiterated what was already known, that Bin Laden was determined to carry out attacks in the United States. There was nothing remotely actionable in that report. You paranoid goofballs would have been screaming "police state" if Bush had increased airport security on the basis of the vagueness in that PDB. So one would have to be "willfully blind" and a "fool" to not suspect the Bush administration of orchestrating the attacks? Sorry, my little liberal darling. One would have to be a pathetically deluded nutjob to come up with a half-baked cockamamie theory like this one. You're lucky your drooling, paranoid fantasies about the Bush police state are simply the manifestations of your fevered minds or you all would have been shipped off to the gulag a long time ago. How pathetic.

Mission: Accomplished

The American Revolution started with a conspiracy. Something most Americans seem too quick to forget. Conspiracies have changed history many many times. Having said that, let us look at what happened as a result of the anthrax "scare"... The Patriot Act was passed without even being read by most of Congress! And, some real trouble makers in Congress stepped back, shut up, and got "in line" where the White House wanted them. Does anyone remember the "Prayer for America" delivered by Kucinich at USC as a response to the Patriot Act? He details, in it, the kind of changes that had happened to Congress- armed guards, concrete barriers, body searches for elected officials, guard dogs- not the open government that existed the day before the anthrax "attacks". Yeah- they got the message. Loud and clear, almost like they had been shot- personally- in the face with bird shot. Get it? They did. Or, to quote G.W. during the debates with Al Gore, "We will use any means necessary to achieve our objectives!" Obviously, he means what he says- when he isn't lying. To doubt his is to do so at your own peril. 9-11? Don't be fooled... Bush did it!

Uh Huh

And what precious rights have you lost because of the Patriot Act, earthmother? The right to post foolish conspiracy theories on the Internet? Seems you still have that right. Perhaps you can explain why Congress reauthorized the Patriot Act in 2005. Were your Democratic superheroes afraid Dick Cheney was going to shoot them in the face?

Republican troll aj_excrement

We have no idea what dirty tricks have been engineered on us by Bush/Cheney because the Patriot Act makes it a crime to disclose CIA/FBI spying on Americans. But you knew that, aj_excrement.

re "Ridiculous" - some books to read

Let's leave aside, for a moment, the suggestion that Cheney orchestrated the anthrax attacks and conspiracy theories about 9/11.

There is ample, not to say copious evidence, that VP Cheney and his aide David Addington have been busy undermining our Constitution and democracy in the basement of the White House. If you won't accept Jane Mayer's devastating account in her recently published "The Dark Side" then go to Jack Goldsmith's "The Terror Presidency." Goldsmith is a Republican lawyer who worked first in the DOD and then was the head of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Dept after John Yoo returned to his teaching job at the law school at Berkeley. Goldsmith is not a "drooling paranoid" nor does he have a "fevered mind."

If you don't want to go to evidence then keep your fingers off the keyboard.

Colleen Clark
Cambridge, MA

And some others for you to read

You mix metaphors, my liberal friend. The subject was whether the Bush administration orchestrated the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent antrax attacks. Now we're asked to leave that aside for a moment and the subject becomes undermining the Constitution in the basement of the White House. I would not argue that the Bush administration has often gone too far in its interpretation of law. While it's a bit over the edge to say this is undermining the Constitution (or, as some of the more creative nutcases call it, "gutting", "trampling" or "shredding") a case could be made that the administration has over-stepped its bounds. But I do not believe this was part of some sophisticated plot to impose authoritarian rule in this country. Our traditions and our foundations are strong and we are not about to cast off over 200 years of self-rule due to some plot concocted by Dick Cheney in the White House basement. Has the Bush administration over-reacted and over-reached in response to 9/11? I think history will judge that indeed they have. They are human and mortal and flawed. But have they been engaged in some nefarious scheme to overthrow the government, disband the Constitution and impose martial law, as some believe? To believe so is, in my opinion, seriously delusional and paranoid. Bush will leave office this coming January and you can all sip your champagne and breathe a big sigh of relief that you've survived the hated Bush years and have not been shipped off to the concentration camps of your dreams. In the meantime, I would suggest you read "The Looming Tower" by Lawerence Wright or "In His Own Words" by Laura Mansfield to fully understand why a case could be made that Bush may not have over-reacted after all. It's a complex issue, one that cannot simply be drawn in black and white. Sometimes it requires stepping back a little from all the noise to fully comprehend what all the shouting is about.

Mixed metaphors?

The subject of Karlin's blog was whether it was conceivable, given

1.all that we now know about the myriad lies and deceptions of the Bush administration
2.the fact that after nearly 7 years the anthrax case was still unresolved until
3.the suicide of the most recent suspect whom the public had never heard of and had no idea
that the FBI was reported, after his death, to be closing in on him. I don't know about
how these kinds of investigations should proceed, but there are those who have said that
if Dr. Ivins was a prime suspect, the FBI might have taken steps to hold him and make it
unlikely that he would kill himself.
4.the reports of the last few days that others under investigation in the anthrax case drank
themselves to death or otherwise had their lives seriously disrupted or even destroyed

that VP Cheney was behind the anthrax attacks. We do now know that Cheney seriously considered
using our troops as a kind of bait to provoke an Iranian attack so we (or the Israelis) would
have an excuse to attack Iran. This is so cynical that the possibility that he would have
had a hand in the anthrax attacks is not wildly and insanely impossible.

Karlin's blog said nothing about conspiracy theories about 9/11.

So my response to you was to point to some recent books that portray Cheney (and Addington) to be
unrelenting in their not unsuccessful efforts to aggrandize executive power way beyond anything our country has seen before. Whether these efforts can reasonably be characterized as a "plot" I have no opinion. That was not my own language nor my own assertion.

As for concentration camps - no, of course neither you nor I have been shipped off nor are we personally at any risk. But Guantanamo Bay is an off-shore American-run prison where our laws and rules against torture explicitly don't apply. Enough information as leaked out to about inhumane treatment of prisoners and destruction of evidence of that treatment to horrify many of us. The only prisoner actually tried so far was judged guilty only of being bin Laden's driver, a fact about him that no one ever disputed.

And of course, most people in Europe did not end up in Nazi concentration camps, but that is not evidence that the camps were not violent and dangerous, much less that they didn't exist at all.

I think a high index of suspicion about the motives of VP Cheney, in particular, and his possible involvement in treasonous activity is not paranoid. Extreme perhaps, but not insane.

Books - others have recommended "The Looming Tower." I will check it out.

Colleen Clark
Cambridge, MA

History Does Not Lie

In 1998 President and Molester-in-Chief Bill Clinton signed into law the Iraqi Liberation Act which made it the official policy of the United States government to affect regime change in Iraq because, among other reasons, Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the region, possessed weapons of mass destruction and was a danger to the national security of the United States. This was three years before 9/11 and two years before Darth Cheney took control of the US government. So the myriad of lies that Bush told are the same lies that Clinton told to defend the sanctioning of Iraq and, whenever he got the urge, the bombing of it. So if we are to believe that Bush lied about WMD, then surely Clinton must have lied, too. So by Karlin the Confused's logic, does this mean that maybe Clinton was behind the anthrax attacks as well? Or, looked at another way, does this mean that anything that happened during the Clinton years was orchestrated by his vice president, the stupendously evil Al Gore. Did Gore bomb the Murrah Building in OKC? Did he burn down the compound in Waco? After all, his president lied about WMD, too, didn't he? Is this not the same logic employed by Karlin the Clown? How Ivins' suicide points a finger at Cheney is beyond me, but if anything Karlin's rant merely provides a blueprint into a seriously malfunctioning brain, one that has been eaten away for seven years by Bush Derangement Syndrome, one that is consumed with hatred, anger and bile. Karlin the Corny should spend a little less time on the Internet, maybe spend some time at the beach, rest up for a while, try to recuperate from his seven year hate fest. He could also get a job, which would help eliminate his increasingly pathetic fund drives. There is no question that the Bush administration has been aggressive in asserting presidential authority. There is also no question that nearly every president has asserted certain Constitutional powers that Congress is reluctant to accede. It's what presidents do. It's also what Congress does when it objects to presidential fiats. So, too, the SCOTUS, when they attempt to legislate from the bench. It's the way it is supposed to work. It's our system of government. It's called a tripartate system and it has been this way since 1792. The only times Democrats get their panties in a pinch over presidential powers is when a Republican is president. Then all we here about is the "Imperial Presidency" (Nixon and Reagan) and now the "Unitary Presidency" of Bush. The problem the Democrats have is that they controlled two branches of government (SCOTUS and Congress) for 64 years (1932 - 1996). They made all the rules. They effectively usurped presidential powers in favor of congressional and judicial powers. The Dick Cheney you portray stirring the cauldron in the White House basement was merely reasserting presidential authorities which had been quietly and unconsitutionally violated by the Democratic party for much of the 20th century. Rather than undermining the Constitution he was restoring it. Of course, all that will be something you will applaud five months from now if, heaven forbid, that unqualified, narcissistic, racist Barrack Obama should be sworn into office. You'll then want him to have all the powers that you would deny Bush, simply due to the fact that he's a Democrat. All howling and whining about the Constitution will officially end on January 20th 2009 when it will once again become a "living document" to the liberal left, a document which can be changed and distorted at will to please the liberal agenda. Anyway, Colleen, you seem like a reasonable person and so I'll end this by simply suggesting you step back a bit and view these issues through cooler lenses. Bush is not the anti-Christ nor is Obama the new Messiah. Obama, should he be elected, will need some of these newly restored presidential powers and you will want him to have them because Congress is weak, ineffectual and corrupt. I would also suggest you consider Occam's Razor when analyzing events. It's a useful tool and accurate more often than not.

What I did and did not say

This blog was not about Iraq. However, I will say that I agree that the Clinton policy vis a vis Iraq was pretty poor and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children. I believe it was during that period that Saddam did actually dismantle his WMD programs, nonetheless. I think further that Hillary Clinton voted to give GWB authority to invade Iraq because it was a continuation of the Clinton policies.

I said nothing about Obama. I do hope, however, that if he wins the White House that he dismantles much of the worst of the Bush era aggrandizement of executive power, but I'm not too hopeful. One of the dangerous long-range results of Cheney and Addington's activities is that the next executive won't have much incentive to give up power. I don't think this is good for the country.

Nor did I say that I agree with Mark Karlin's suspicions about the anthrax, only that it's not a crazy idea. (It is the case that Cheney was heard once on the Senate floor telling Sen. Leahy, one of the anthrax targets, to f*** off or to f*** himself.)

I think we may never know what happened, why Ivins or whoever it was sent anthrax letters and why the particular targets were selected. We can say now that it was not al Qaeda or some outside groups. Maybe someone will figure it out 20 years from now. Was Ivins' suicide really a result of the FBI closing in on him? Was he really a psychological basket case? We can't know now whether he was being framed or finally uncovered as the culprit.

But here are some almost incredible facts about the first year of the GWB administration.
1. The new administration was not the least bit interested in or worried about terrorism. We have many knowledgeable people confirming that.

2. The Aug 6 PDB did not set off any response. Bush didn't call Tenet. Tenet didn't call Bush. Coleen Rowley of the FBI couldn't rouse any interest in her suspicions, etc etc etc etc.

3. Invading Iraq was on the neo-con agenda pre 2000. It was discussed in at least one Cabinet meeting in the winter or early spring of 2001 and was also talked about on the afternoon of 9/11.

4.For all the "hair on fire" reaction of the whole country post-9/11, the role of Saudi Arabia just was never pursued, at least not publicly, although 15 of the hijackers were Saudis. Amb Prince Bandar was Bush's first WH guest a day or 2 later. Before the airways were reopened to public aviation members of the large bin Laden family were allowed to leave the country by private jet without even being debriefed. There was a bin Laden who was a grad student at Harvard or MIT so it was locally reported here at the time. In the preliminary interviews for the 9/11 commission (which, by the way, was initially opposed by the Bush administration, and that's another fact that is not explicable) I saw an interview with 2 consular officers from our embassy in Riyadh. They said basically, that they were encouraged to approve visas for Saudis without too many questions asked.

You don't have to be paranoid to think that there are a lot of questions that haven't been publicly addressed.

I agree about Occam's Razor but it's not always useful in trying to understand complex political and social events when we never have all the information we would like. It works better for science than history.

If you haven't read "The Terror Presidency" I highly recommend it. Goldsmith did not change his political stripes but he writes about the Yoo memos and Cheney and Addington in ways that any American could find as disquieting as he did.

And before this administration the US did not torture. I was just reading in Mayer's book this afternoon how the CIA, which had 0 experience in interrogation, no one who knew Arabic etc, was assigned the task of interrogation, much to the dismay and even horror of the FBI. When do we get our national soul back?

Colleen Clark
Cambridge, MA

I Really Have To Go, But...

You're an intelligent, respectful person so I am not going to take issue with every point you make simply to take an opposing point of view. The original reason I was compelled to post on this site is that I found the "editorial" accusing Dick Cheney of orchestrating the anthrax attacks to be ridiculous. And it is, in fact, ridiculous, the sort of mad ranting we expect to hear from street corner lunatics. I honestly feel this Karlin fellow has become so consumed by BDS he simply cannot think straight. You seem more rational in your flow of logic, although I cannot see the connection between Cheney telling Leahy to f*** off and Cheney mailing out anthrax laced letters. I'd like to tell Leahy to f*** off as well. He's a leftist, obstructionist a**hole. But that doesn't mean I'm about to launch an anthrax attack. You are correct that the Bush administration was lax about terrorism during its first seven months in office, just as the Clinton administration was lax on terrorism for its entire eight years in office. An unfortunately lazy mindset had developed throughout the entire apparatus of government that "it can't happen here." Oddly, though, the very things the administration did after the attacks are the things it should have been doing before the attacks, yet the left screams loudly whenever it does anything to prevent another attack. Which way do you want it? Do you want the government to do everything in its power to prevent another attack or do you want to complain that they haven't done enough should another attack occur? The point you make about the embassy officials approving Saudi visas is a case in point. You do know that the fast track visa program was a Clinton policy, don't you? The left seems to have developed historical amnesia when it comes to the Clinton years, as if all history just began in January 2001 when Bush took office. It most assuredly did not. I say these things not to defend Bush. I believe his has been a failed presidency, that a unique opportunity to unite the world against the existential threat of Islamic terrorism has been forever squandered. But I do not feel it appropriate to rewrite history, alter timelines or make baseless accusations that the Bush administration has been covertly waging war on its own people. There is much to criticize Bush for, but saying appallingly stupid things like 9/11 was an inside job or that Cheney orchestrated the anthrax attacks merely diminishes and discredits any legitimate arguments the left may wish to make. Finally, I have to say that if you believe we can retrieve our national soul by electing a racist huckster like Barrack Obama, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.

History most certainly does lie.

When it's written by people like you.

How intelligent......

....and persuasively written, as well. You have such a commanding turn of phrase, such an artful grasp of the facts, such soaring rhetoric - Shakespearean, even, in its poetry - that it is self-defeating to try to counter you. You are a magnificent and gifted debater and I bow down before you. I shall tonight say a prayer for poor Betty who, through no fault of her own, ended up with an idiot for a dad.

FYI - "Betty" is a dog ...

... with an IQ somewhat higher than that of her "father".

And don't confuse him with facts.

Living in denial

AJ, let us take one small piece of this puzzle and see if you can cope with the facts: Condileeza Rice, National Security Advisor at the time of the September 11th attacks, made a well known statement to the press about knowing there was chatter about possible highjackings prior to the attacks, yet stating :" If we had known they would use airplanes as weapons, we would have moved heaven and earth to prevent them." Now break this down with me AJ. Dr Rice, the current Secretary of State, and the former National Secuity Advisor, had never heard of kamikaze pilots in WWII? Never heard of the threats by known terrorists to fly airplanes into CIA headquarters at Langley? Nevr heard about the threats to GWBush during his first G8 summit, threats of airplanes being used to crash into the G8 meeting site?!? Now please, AJ, do you really enjoy having the wool pulled over your eyes and living in the state of denial for the past 7 1/2 years? I guess ignorance is bliss.

Living in delusion

Another ridiculous comment. Is that the prevailing specialty around these parts? There has never, ever, ever, ever in the history of mankind been a precedent for the 9/11 attacks. Never have hijackers steered passenger planes into buildings. To compare the 9/11 attacks with kamikaze pilots during World War II is the height of absurdity. Is that the best you can come up with? Although you seem to favor hypothetical threats that never occurred rather than focusing on actual events that really happened, perhaps you can tell me when in the history of this earth hijackers ever crashed passenger jets into buildings. Not some rumor you heard about on the Internet, not some delusional theory you and the rest of the inmates have concocted but some actual,factual precedent for 9/11. Can't do it, can you? The wool hasn't been pulled over my eyes, my little dummy. It's been pulled over yours. You believe in half-baked conspiracy theories because the truth is too difficult for you to cope with. You believe the the entire apparatus of the United States government has successfully covered up the fact that 9/11 and the anthraz attacks were inside jobs but only you and your fellow detectives, dogged in your determination to expose the "truth" (at least that which you can find on the Internet) have uncovered the secret and everyone else on the planet is ignorant. I guess insanity must be blissful as well.

Factual Precedent

Here's some light reading for you, from NORAD to the CIA. Enjoy: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-04-18-norad_x.htm http://www.justiceblind.com/airplanes.html

Speculation

From your own USA Today story: "We have planned and executed numerous scenarios over the years to include aircraft originating from foreign airports penetrating our sovereign airspace," Gen. Ralph Eberhart, NORAD commander, told USA TODAY. "Regrettably, the tragic events of 9/11 were never anticipated or exercised." There is no precedent for 9/11. No matter how hard your fevered mind works, you'll never find another instance when hijackers crashed passenger planes into buildings.

2004 County Level Election Rebellion

Charges have been filed in federal court in Columbus that many county level republicans were crucial to the theft and the destruction of ballots in the 2004 elction. Contempt charges were filed with Judge Marbley and a motion to intervene in the lawsuit by the unpaid author and one of the main investigators (still investigating) of the King Lincoln vs. Blackwell/Brunner lawsuit contesting the election results. The case can be found at the Moritz college of law Ohio State Univ. website. The eight individuals filing the suit, part of a group called Ohio Election Justice Campaign, were frustrated by the lack of movement in the case and with their continued investigation turned up further evidence that is essential to the case.

MOritz site

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/klbna.php

If Only......................

If Only I had a dollar for every time that I have been called a nutcase for saying that this was an inside job I could be sitting poolside in a villa in the South of France sipping a cool one.

One only had to look at Bush's face in that classroom on 9-11 to know that this slimeball was scared senseless .....not because of the attack but because he thought he was about to be exposed for his part in Operation 9-11.

That's the reason that when he collected his wits he hopped aboard AF One and was heading out of the country. My guess was that pRes Dick ordered him sedated and returned to DC!

Chicken George is the reason I adopted the Abby Hoffman quote below as a signature line shortly thereafter.

Just wait till Jesus gets his hands on you, you little bastard.... Abbie Hoffman

Wellstone, of course. ...but don't forget JFK JR.

JFK JR was about quit his job at "George" and run for senate. If he had not got down in a familiar small-aircraft accident, does anyone doubt that he would have been our president by 2004?

Well written

Needs to be kept in mind when any of us start thinking that the two party system serves us well.

No big leap of faith, just a small logical conclusion.

If someone would lie to start a war that kills 100s of 1000s including their own country's citizens; they would be able to rationalize the Anthrax attack as necessary; they would be able to rationalize other even larger "false flag" attacks to cover a staged building demolition with thermate, thermite and explosives. No big leap of faith in that. Create the disaster and fill the void with their policy and cronies.

Put them where they belong, in hell

Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld should be in prison awaiting execution for war crimes, treason, torture, violations of international law, and violations of the U. S. Constitution.

It doesn't matter

What matters is that we take back the government from the Republicans NOW! We have to set aside our shock and outrage for the moment. We have to BELIEVE we have the power of numbers and that we WILL get rid of these Republicans. We have a leader in Obama who will help us get there. We MUST work hard with him and not give in to fear or despair along the way. And we have to have HOPE - based on nothing but a love of FREEDOM that has empowered the people of this country from the beginning.

I think the betting odds are

I think the betting odds are about 100 to 1 that Cheney had something to do with it!

What's so hard to understand

This is what these people do. Of course they are involved and is why the only things our side can is accomplish is to talk angry and send nasty letters. This is the lull before the storm. LTFO!

Outta the Cornfield

cheney et al & anthrax

I always thought the below was strange & would love to know more about it. Note the date. Clarivoyance? Motivation? Follow up?
Guardian Unlimited
original: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/sep/10/internetnews.worlddispatch
archieved: http://web.archive.org/web/20010917025501/http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,549590,00.html
US pulls the plug on Muslim websites
Islamic groups have condemned a government crackdown on a Texan telecoms company as part of a "witch-hunt", writes Brian Whitaker
Monday September 10, 2001
Five hundred websites - many of them with an Arab or Muslim connection - crashed last Wednesday when an anti-terrorism taskforce raided InfoCom Corporation in Texas.
The 80-strong taskforce that descended upon the IT company included FBI agents, Secret Service agents, Diplomatic Security agents, tax inspectors, immigration officials, customs officials, department of commerce officials and computer experts.
Three days later, they were still busy inside the building, reportedly copying every hard disc they could find. InfoCom hosts websites for numerous clients in the Middle East, including al-Jazeera (the satellite TV station), al-Sharq (a daily newspaper in Qatar), and Birzeit (the Palestinian university on the West Bank).
It also hosts sites for several Muslim organisations in the United States, among them the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim Students Association, the Islamic Association for Palestine, and the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
In addition, InfoCom is the registered owner of ".iq" - the internet country code for Iraq.
A coalition of American Muslim groups immediately denounced the raid as part of an "anti-Muslim witch-hunt" promoted by the Israeli lobby in the United States.
Mahdi Bray, political adviser to the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said: "We have deep concerns that this once again is an attempt to rush to judgment and to marginalise the American Muslim community. There is a pattern of bias that often permeates all of these types of investigations."
The FBI, meanwhile, insisted the search had nothing to do with religion or Middle East politics. "This is a criminal investigation, not a political investigation," a spokeswoman said. "We're hoping to find evidence of criminal activity."
go, read.

Remember the 'dangerous mixing of the liquids story'??

I just happened to be reading a Houston paper online, while Bush and Blair were out of office on vacation.
This is about a week to 10 days before that new 'terrorist plot' confiscated all fluids before boarding any aircraft several years ago.

The Houston article caught my eye when it said something like "FBI blows apt building", "kids weren't nationalist insurgents". (paraphrased)
I've forgotten the key words used, but the article was about several men trying to mix dangerous chemicals of the same type mentioned in the 'terorist plot'. One of the men died in a small explosion. The FBI had to destroy the building because the chemicals were to dangerous to touch. Officials wrote the 'young white men off as harmless "not the activist types' or words to that effect.

When I saw the exact same storyline with the same 'mixing of specific chemicals' appear in a new airline disaster plot between the UK and the US, I instantly knew what happened and had the vision of Bush and Blair sitting poolside somewhere, laughing their asses off as thousands of scared passengers threw away good money and products.

Nationalism is not terrorism. And an adversary is not an enemy.

Only one person can correct this!

Only Nancy Pelosi can do anything about this situation.

All of us can scream and bitch and complain about the corruption of this administration, but only one person can actually make a difference and do anything about it.....but she for some odd reason took accountability and impeachment off the table.

So complain all you want to Buzz Flash and elsewhere....but it is Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that has done absolutely nothing to correct this.

She is just as liable as Bush

Read Vince Bugliosi's, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. Co-Conspirators are just as guilty. Nancy is covering her own butt.

Her book is not selling. I wonder how large an advance Bush's buddies gave her?

"In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying."
- Bertrand Russell -

Not gonna happen

Neo-con Nancy is too busy servicing Bush to do anything to harm him. Help end her reign - www.cindyforcongress.org

Pelosi

Neo-liberal, not neo-con is Nancy - not as bad, but almost.

LOW LEVEL

The phalanx of clever sociopaths who underpin the GOP don't need higher guidance to perform such actions ......... which is much the more scary.

You're so right

They're on a low level - guided by their baser desires and identifications - power, money, dominance, egotism, ethnocentrism (racism, sexism, homophobia, et al).

re premeditated Anthrax attacks, and 9-11 dereliction of duty...

Terrific commentary, Mark. It is sad in America today, that any knowledgeable and responsible editor or writer could lay out such terrible accusations - but find those accusations backed up by reams of documents, evidence, and motivation.

For example, you didn't even mention Vice President Cheney's infamous, well-known scorn and contempt for Senator Leahy, long _after_ then Ranking Judiciary member(now committee Chairman) Leahy's office had been the target of those anthrax letters. (I am of course refering to Cheney's vulgar "go f*** yourself" spoken to Senator Leahy, on the Senate floor, a "blinking red" illustration of Cheney's repressed hatred and contempt for a Democratic Senator if ever there was one.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3699-2004Jun24.html

More importantly, THESE LINKS should be on EVERY patriotic American's "Favorite LINKS" list or computer desktop:

#1. Bush and Cheney weren't merely warned "Osama bin Laden DETERMINED TO ATTACK IN AMERICA" by that August 6, 2001 CIA "presidential daily briefing" ("PDB"), because CIA DIRECTOR GEORGE TENET HAD GONE TO THE WHITE HOUSE on JULY 10, 2001, SPECIFICALLY TO WARN the president, vice-president, and anyone who would listen that "AL QAIDA WAS IN ADVANCED STAGES OF PLOTTING ATTACKS IN AMERICA," they already had cells in America, including potentially PILOT TRAINING CELLS.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/02/AR2006100200187.html

The NY Times also had a story covering Tenet's _JULY 10, 2001_ urgent visit to the White House to dicuss the LOOMING TERRORIST THREAT to Americans, a meeting that should NOT have been necessary, because for 7 long months, Bush and Cheney had done NOTHING to punish Al Qaida for the OCTOBER 2000 suicide-bomb attack on the USS Cole in a Yemen harbor, despite all their Republican campaign bragging about Republicans being the "better party" for America's national security concerns!

#2. Bush and Cheney gave Tenet THE COLD SHOULDER on that URGENT CIA Director's journey TO THE WHITE HOUSE to raise an urgent warning about possible TERRORIST ATTACKS ON AMERICA... BUT there is PROOF that Tenent's warnings were not ENTIRELY _ignored_, for less than two weeks later, ATTORNEY GENERAL ASHCROFT _STOPPED FLYING ON PUBLIC AIRLINERS_, citing an "FBI THREAT ASSESSMENT."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml

Now neither you nor I nor any other American could say "THREAT ASSESSMENT" without asking, "Just WHAT KIND of 'threat'?" and of course the FIRST word that would spring to mind, especially regarding NOT FLYING PUBLIC AIRLINERS due to some vague "threat" - would be a TERRORIST threat.

From these three links, ALONE, the probability is well over 50%, that the Cheney-Bush administration KNEW that terrorists were on the way to execute attacks IN AMERICA, but that American passengers and airline crews were LEFT EXPOSED TO THAT THREAT, like sitting ducks.... like so much bait.

"BAIT" for what? Why, that, too, is easy: In June of 1997 (four long years before 9-11) then Halliburton Chairman Dick Cheney signed the Kristol-Kagan "NewAmericanCentury.org" manifesto, CALLING FOR THE INVASION OF IRAQ at the EARLIEST POSSIBLE MOMENT" to secure America's 'national security' in context of Mideast 'vital national security interests' (i.e "regime change" and a permanent US military presence in Iraq.)

Because Bill Kristol no longer is paying for the web-hosting of the now disgraced PNAC, you have to go to an archive site to see Cheney's signature (along with Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Jeb Bush, and his future Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby among others) on that document.
(Note: After the 2004 elections, VP CoS Libby would be CONVICTED by a sympathetic Washington jury of PERJURY and OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE re the "CIA outing scandal" - everyone at that trial understanding that Libby was the "fall guy" carrying out orders for his superiors; just another illustration of VO Cheney's contempt for laws and America's genuine national security.)
http://web.archive.org/web/20070810113753/www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm

That attacking, invading, and occupying Iraq by force of US military were Bush administration policy goals long before 9-11(and pinning blame for 9-11 on Iraq after the terror attacks) has been established by many other writers, including former Secretary of Treasury Paul O'Neill (who was quoted in his biographical book "The Price of Loyalty" as saying " Bush planned Iraq invasion before 9/11")
(note: under terrific Republican/media pressure, O'Neill has since recanted some of his comments, and blamed "miscomments" on book co-author Ron Suskind)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/10/oneill.bush/

and as well then US "counter terrorism czar" Richard Clarke has confirmed that not only did President Bush and VP Cheney IGNORE _repeated_ urgent warnings that Al Qiada had gone UNPUNISHED after the 2000 attack on the USS Cole and was PLANNING NEW TERROR ATTACKS AGAINST AMERICANS, but that immediately after 9-11 and the anthrax attacks, the Cheney-Bush White House sought to pin the blame for those attacks on Iraq. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/politics/12clarke.html

And finally, one last link that exposes the dark, morbid, sinister nature of the nation's "second-in-command" (VP) chief executive: all through the 1990s, then Halliburton Chairman and CEO DICK CHENEY was ENGAGING IN TRADE with SADDAM HUSSEIN, the internationally loathed and reviled Iraqi dictator, BEHIND THE BACK of the multi-billion dollar US-enforced UN SANCTIONS ON IRAQ, Cheney using Halliburton European subsidiaries to sell some $70 million of oil drilling technology to Iraq after Gulf War-1 had established Saddam as an "enemy of or threat to America."

Cheney's undercover, behind-back of US sanctions dealings with Iraq were all the more despicable, because, #1. US aircraft were actively BOMBING Iraqi positions in the "no-fly-zone" at the time; and, #2. that PNAC manifesto that Cheney had signed in June, 1997, DECLARED IRAQ TO BE AN INTERNATIONAL THREAT to America's security, precisely because those dastardly Europeans were helping Saddam evade and undermine the costly US embargo! http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/iraq1/oilforfood/2001/0627chen.htm

A final note to Democrats, patriots, and independents: all through the late 1990s, the Clinton-Gore administration REFUSED TO PUT A STOP to Cheney's HALLIBURTON DEALINGS WITH IRAQ, BEHIND BACK of costly US military sanctions on that country! This was not only a huge SQUANDERING of American tax-dollars, but was a case of political NEGLIGENCE if not dereliction of duty!

Democratic voters, activists, and donors worked their tails off to support Democratic candidates, but Republicans spent the entire decade of the 1990s trying to portray Clinton and Gore as being "TREASONOUS!" for dealing with China on nuclear spying and other issues... while the Democratic leaders LOOKED THE OTHER WAY on a far more substantive issue that for the average American (dealing with Iraq behind back of US military embargo on Iraq) would indeed carry the label of "TREASON"!

This was a horrible SQUANDERING, by Pres. Clinton AND VP Gore, of BOTH US taxpayer dollars, AND Democratic donor dollars. Because the Clinton-Gore administration was TACITLY COMPLICIT with Cheney's HALLIBURTON DEALINGS WITH IRAQ, Gore could NOT MAKE AN ISSUE of Cheney's treacherous double-dealings with a dictator HE, Cheney, had declared a "threat" to America's national security!

Well written

Well written. Again these need to be kept in mind, especially when we begin to believe the 2 party system has worked well for America. Pelosi's failure to act aggressively with a full blown investigation has proven that she is in the bag too along with other powerful forces. I believe the Kucinich rumor regarding Pelosi - AIPAC was fact based. http://www.impeachthem.com/?q=node/1736

Paul Wellstone's death in Minnesota

I would not put anything past this bunch of criminals. They are mobsters!!! I have always said that I believe these people were responsible in sabotoging Paul Wellstone's plane that went down in Minnesota. Remember he was against the Iraq war. That death was very, very suspicious to me as far as the timing goes. I don't believe it was a coincidence. Why? Because this bunch will stop at nothing!!!!