BuzzFlash Mailbag for March 31, 2008

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Subject: Murat Kurnaz

Last night I watched with utter disgust, disdain, and detestation as the story of horror in the life of Mr. Murat Kurnaz was unfolded for us all to see on "60 minutes." Mr. Kurnaz was tortured for 5 years by the US military at the request you can be sure from the highest office in the land and his cabinet. There should be no doubt that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld should be on trial for war crimes at the Hague. All those loud lying statements by George Bush that the United States doe not torture were just a cover up to his crimes. Dick Cheney was the front man begging for the legalization of torture so the gang of 3 could walk the planet free.

These criminals are willing to illegally spy on US citizens, commit treason by outing a covert CIA agent, and mislead us into war for the political gains and ideology of the nazi-like group "The Project for the New American Century." So why not torture an innocent man?

What was the crime of Mr. Kurnaz? He fell in love with a religious woman of the Muslim faith and he went to Pakistan to learn. He was taken off a bus, for which his capture was paid $3,000 as a bounty because he looked different and then spent the next 5 years being beaten, water boarded, electrically shocked, confined in solitary, and forced to live in extreme cold and heat. The US Intelligence knew he was innocent, the German intelligence knew he was innocent, but he was in that secret subversive s**t hole of a cowardice prison system devised and built by George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld.

These 3 cowards and those that follow them don't deserve to be called Americans. They are a disgrace to our good name. They are the ones responsible for torturing innocent people like Mr. Kurnaz and the horror of Abu Ghraib. The reason they don't want any judicial oversight by our legal system that guarantees people a fair trial is not because they fear that evil people will be let go, but rather because they fear that evil people will be caught and sent to prison. The irony is, they are the evil ones.

They have sacrificed our principles because they are evil little men who decided long ago to abandon the foundation of our founding fathers. Perhaps the 2 most courageous towns in our land are those 2 towns in Vermont that have declared Bush and Cheney criminal and subject to arrest.

I cannot believe our Congress has done nothing. I cannot believe that Republicans don't stand up and shout ENOUGH!!! Throw the bastards in jail.

Sadly, I think that as a nation we are only defined by that geopolitical boundary on maps that represents the United States. In principles and culture, and right and wrong, we are at least two nations. To sit and watch these things that have been done and do nothing is criminal as well. Clinton or Obama? Who gives a s**t?

Jim Ridout
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Subject: The Only Way To Get War Coverage From Iraq

Hi BuzzFlash,

I hope readers have had a chance to read two excellent blogs on Daily Kos, about the goings on in Iraq.

The first is by "Soldier Boy". Note his feelings about the "Surge Working," along with "Rummy" and Bill Kristol, to name a few.

... I haven't slept more than three hours in a row all week. Every time I lay down, there's not 4 hours together where the "INCOMING INCOMING INCOMING!" alarm doesn't go off. We bolt out of bed, all of us sprinting for the concrete 'SCUD bunkers' at the end of each row of trailers, most of us barefoot and not fully awake until we're already there. We pile inside, then stand there panting as we count the impact crashes of the usual 107mm rockets, trying to gauge distance and bearing to guess if they've landed on the FOB or off. I get a count of my guys in there with me, then sprint bunker to bunker until I've accounted for them all, and report such to the company CP. Some guys, the lucky ones who were awake and had a second, pull out PSPs or iPods to kill the time. We wait the 45 minutes ... the hour ... however long it takes command to feel that no further rounds are immediately due, before we are released back to our beds. Not to sleep, not for me anyhow. That was the third alert tonight. Or the fourth. I can't tell any more.

Every time I'm on the point of falling asleep, I think I hear the alarm again, and jar awake. The sound of a police siren in the distance transforms into the curiously cartoony 'Zoop!' noise the rockets make as they shoot overhead. Too many months of this. And it's been like this all week, and shows few signs of easing yet. The surge is succeeding. Right. I wish Kagan, or Kristol, or dear Rummy, or any of the other idiots who said this would be easy were here, so I could kick them in the constituency and throw them outside of the bunker. I'd sell my pants for a uninterrupted night's sleep right now. Or an hour with my wife. I haven't seen her since October.

Rockets Overhead, Sprinting For The Bunker....Again by Soldier Boy Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 03:40:30 AM PDT (dailykos)

Then we have the news out of Basra from Brandon Friedman, in which the trained Iraqi Army that is "supposed to be helping us" is instead going over to Al Sadr's side and taking our US Humvees in the process!

Mahdi Army Now Cruising around in American-Issued Humvees (w/update) by Brandon Friedman Sun Mar 30, 2008 at 01:17:30 AM PDT (dailykos)

Great!

Brandon shows us just how screwed-up everything is over there with the so-called allies of each side, by drawing an excellent graph.

See how long it takes you to shake your head in utter disbelief, when you look at the graph in the blog and all the confusion that Bush has created over there with this UNnecessary war!

By the way, I hope if any soldier in Afghanistan is reading this letter, he or she will send us an update to BuzzFlash or Daily Kos regarding the recent happenings over there. The MSM (and citizens) have completely forgotten about you -- and I do mean COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN!

Yup, America -- It's time to "GO SHOPPING" and continue to Ignore The War(S)! The MSM is sure doing their part for us by staying at the shopping malls.

Tom Wieliczka
Windsor Locks, CT

CNN's own bigot puts his foot-in-his-mouth, AGAIN ...

Oops

by Josh Marshall 03.31.08 - 9:47 AM

Racial healer Lou Dobbs explains how he's sick of "cotton pickin'" black leaders tell him how he can and can't talk about race (he catches himself at the last minute -- sorta) ...

video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y0W19-N3Ik

"It couldn't be."

"But it is."

"What?"

"The spectre of John Wayne."

"So as the going gets tough in his election campaign will this candidate end up pleading with us to vote for him so that he can win one for John Wayne?"

"As per Ronald Reagan in his famous Gipper speech?"

"How's that for history repeating itself?"

A BuzzFlash Reader

The Iraq Body Count website counts civilian casualties only, taking great pains to confirm the deaths are, in fact, civilians. When news reports state that IBC's counts are "low," they are not taking this very significant fact into account.

Jordana Lipscomb
Saint Paul, MN

Subject: Obama Erred (Lied, Misspoke, Exaggerated)

Or maybe the headline should read ... Obama adopts Clintonian campaign strategy by weaving a little political yarn for self promotion.

When is a lie a lie ... does it depend on what your definition of is, is? Or, does it depend on which candidate your biased reporting favors?

We should all look closely at where we are and what are our guiding principles ... Country, Party, Principle, Progress. The GOP always picks party over country and it has worked very well for them. The Democrats and the progressives always seem to beat the crap out of each other, and then hand the election (and the country) over. When are we going to be smarter than that?

It used to be that we selected our candidates at the convention. Recently, the media has taken control of process and is basically picking the candidate as in the beheading of Howard Dean with a scream and the swiftboating of Kerry. Now, once again we let the media steer the course and we have taken their bait and are looking to destroy our own candidates. Why do we let them?

It is conceivable that we could enter July with no one candidate having enough delegates to win the nomination outright. A that point, without Florida and Michigan the convention will have to decide the contest. That does not have to be a bad thing.

In the meantime, we have the airwaves to keep the message of hope and change alive. We can pump up the virtues of both candidates and keep a posistive spin in the airwaves. Or, we can choose to repeat history, tear each other down, emerge from the scorched earth resigned to a GOP victory and 4 more years of ignorance and with a lot of rebuilding to do.

Aide says Obama erred on Kennedy tie (Boston Globe)

This week, while Bush and McCain were reassuring the nation that the Surge is working well, Iraq is descending into serious violence. Insurgents managed to strike in the U.S. heavily fortified Green Zone bubble where our leaders and diplomats cower, knocking out electricity in the U.S. embassy. American personnel were ordered into bunkers, wearing combat helmets. The U.S. had to call in air strikes to bolster the Iraqi govt forces in Basra.

Key to understanding our delusional leader is to remember that he was the cheer leader for a school with very mediocre teams in his school days. Cheering and exhorting determinedly from the safety of the sidelines to the bloody end while his teams took pounding after pounding.

Shiite Militias Cling to Swaths of Basra and Stage Raids

News Analysis: In This Shiite Battle, a Marked Shift From the Past (March 30, 2008)

U.S. Airstrikes Aid Iraqi Army in Basra (March 29, 2008)

Violence Flares Across the South

Shiite Rivals

TWIGA

Subject: President Bush Says He Didn't Know That Iraq's Puppet Prime Minister Was Going To Declare War On Shiite Militias

"Yeah, just like he didn't know that there were no weapons of mass destruction."

"And also that he has no idea as to what the war-pimping General David Petraeus is going to tell him in two weeks about the situation in Iraq."

"What it amounts to is that the truth is always the opposite of what he says."

"Always?"

"Count on it."

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Iraqi Police In Basra Shed Their Uniforms, Kept Their Rifles and Switched Sides (timesonline.co.uk)

* Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra. His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers who have spent the past five years schooling the Iraqi security forces would have hoped for. He and 15 of his comrades took off their uniforms, kept their government-issued rifles and went over to the other side without a second thought. [1]

COMMENT: Once again, incompetent neoconservative performance hits home in Iraq in embarrassing fashion in the utterly bizarre world of the Bush administration. Not only did the U.S. trained Iraqi forces reenact the Waterloo cry of, "The Guard recoils! the Guard recoils!" It wasn't only that major problem. The Guard also disrobed and joined the other side during the battle.

Viva la Emperor Bush.

SOURCE: [1] Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides (timesonline.co.uk)

James Scott
Everett

[As I recall, there were millions of people -- I was one -- who understood how tough, as well as wrong and futile, attacking Iraq would be.]

'No one said Iraq would be this tough'

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:46:40 Press TV

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she knew the war in Iraq would be tough but she did not think it would be 'this tough'.

"What we didn't know was how truly broken the society was," Rice told reporters looking back on the last five years of Iraq war.

Rice added that as a result of the United Nations sanctions, Iraq's agricultural sector 'is virtually dead.'

The Secretary of State went on to blame the situation in Iraq on pre-war factors such as 'structural problems' of Saddam Hussein's regime saying that 'authoritarian regimes are not going to create the condition for the emergence of moderate parties [in the Middle East].'

Today, after the fifth anniversary of the invasion, Iraq war supporters are striving to shift the blame for the long-drawn-out conflict onto other factors such as the broken structure of the society and Iraq's neighboring countries.

William Boardman

I am disappointed and wonder why there are so many negative comments and news about Hillary Clinton. Do you not recognize that she is a viable Democratic candidate that may be the next president? Florida primary chose her as their Democratic candidate. There are millions of women that support Hillary Clinton as their choice.

Or are you pandering to your male readers?

I read BuzzFlash several times a day!!!!but am getting weary of the negative comments about Hillary.

Doris V. Brown
Melbourne Florida

[BuzzFlash Note: Thanks for hanging in there. You might prefer these items to some of our others: Chicago Tribune: "In fight for blue-collar voters, Clinton talks the talk" 3/31 and did you catch: Women, History and Art -- and the Fight for Voting Rights in Florida?]

Subject: Clinton/Obama/BuzzFlash

It has been several months since I looked at BuzzFlash. I was a supporter and bought many of your products. I liked BuzzFlash because you were Democratic. I wish you would have stayed neutral on the candidates. Once you began demonizing the Clintons I could no longer support you.

Let readers vent their preferences. I would have felt better knowing you supported Democrats, not which one! I read Mailbag 3/28 and agree with Dominic, Lessick and a BuzzFlash reader who said "we will get what we deserve." I think "we already have." One claimed the corporate media chose McCain, I also claim the corporate media chose Obama.

I detest Fox and Hannity. However, in channel surfing sometime in Jan. 2007, I flipped to Hannity long enough to hear him say "Folks, Hillary is way out in front and we need to have a "fast train to stop Hillary." Well, shortly afterwards they got their train and named it "OBAMA"! Yep, he became the media's candidate to stop Clinton. I would like to see every candidate held to the same scrutiny and standards you use on the Clintons.

A BuzzFlash Reader

[BuzzFlash Note: Watch for our next BuzzFlash Interview -- concerning Hannity -- tomorrow.]

Subject: BuzzFlash And Clinton

Hey, dammit,

I've donated many times to BuzzFlash, but now you are doing something I DO NOT LIKE. You are posting all kinds of anti-Clinton stuff. These are attacks on the one person who has made a genuine effort to enact a change to American health care.

It may well be that Obama is the better candidate, but what you are presently doing is the one thing that has driven me crazy since 1972, the year I jumped into politics as a McGovern delegate. You are lobbing bombs at people on OUR SIDE OF THE DAMNED POLITICAL fence. This is the very thing Monty Python satirized in "Life of Brian" when the question was raised "Who are our real enemies?" And the answer was "the Gallilean Liberation Front."

So cut it the hell out or you'll never see another dime of my money.

A BuzzFlash Reader

I no longer feel the same about your web site ... it is now hard to find anything but endless, breathless praise of Obama or angry rabid scorn towards Clinton. You can prefer Obama of course, but first you're supposed to be progressive. This BuzzFlash is not what made me regard you as a friend and a wise source. It's like you've gone a little loopy. Something like Drudge ... where one scans quickly to pick out the one article of interest. Please, you guys, get back on the track.

A BuzzFlash Reader

I just E-mailed Hillary Clinton the following:

Dear Hillary,

I'm a 60 year old Liberal Democrat. I have voted in every election since 1966, for a Democrat. I have always wanted a Woman to be President. But your handling of this campaign has gotten me so angry at you and how you are campaigning for John McSame-as-Bush. I will not be voting for you but will instead campaign against you, for any seat you will run for. You have betrayed us Democrats and you do not represent this NEW Democratic party. You will lose now and you will lose against McSame. The following article below speaks to how I feel.

I wish you luck in the future and I feel sorry for you. "You could have been a contender."

That is a betrayal of the basest kind.

We, for one, will not defend those who mobilize the vast right-wing conspiracy when it suits their personal goals.

We are progressives. We are Democrats. We believe in decency and integrity.

You won't find us bailing ourselves out by teaming up against "the black man" with Richard Mellon Scaife, or the American Spectator, or Rush Limbaugh.

But the Clinton campaign will, and then ask us to defend them from the very same people.

Maybe a sucker is born every minute, but we're not going to be one of them.

BuzzFlash Editor's Afternote: From the right wing National Review, an item by one Byron York: Hell Has Officially Frozen Over [Byron York]:

"It caught my eye as a flash on Brit Hume a few moments ago, but here is a photo from Hillary Clinton's visit today to the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. In this picture, she is seen talking to none other than Richard Mellon Scaife, the owner of the paper and the man who once said that the death of Vincent Foster was the "Rosetta stone" of the Bill Clinton administration. (He also funded the so-called "Arkansas Project" at The American Spectator.) We've heard reports of a rapprochement between Scaife and the Clintons of late, and the Pennsylvania primary is fast approaching, but this is still a pretty striking picture."

The Clinton Campaign Embraces the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy to Launch Attacks on Obama -- BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

Please stop with all the anti-Clinton stuff. It's hurting you and it's hurting the Democratic Party. The Clintons were the best thing to happen to this country in a very long time. There is no need to take them down. That is what the right wing has been trying to do for years. Now, you are helping. If Obama gets the nomination -- great. If not, then will you vote Clinton?

Keep your head on straight, please!

Hugo
Miami, FL

The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. You can write to Mailbag at http://www.BuzzFlash.com/contact/mail.html. Guidelines for submissions are at BuzzFlash FAQ #18.

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