Pepe Escobar wonders what Israel REALLY bombed in Syria and I wonder what the hell's going on in D.C.

pepe's up first...



now, HERE'S some questions and concerns even MORE troubling...

ips' jim lobe via alternet...

Are the latest accusations and tough language leveled against Iran, Syria, and North Korea evidence of a resurgence by the remaining hawks in the administration of President George W. Bush hoping for a final confrontation against one or more members of the revised 'axis of evil' before his term next January?

That's the big question here this week, particularly following Thursday's long-awaited intelligence briefings to Congress about alleged North Korean involvement in the construction of a 'covert nuclear reactor' in Syria that was destroyed in a raid by Israeli warplanes in September last year.

According to some interpretations, the briefing's timing and content appeared deliberately designed to raise tensions between Washington, on the one hand, and Pyongyang and Damascus, on the other, potentially derailing ongoing long-running negotiations between the State Department and North Korea and Turkish-mediated peace feelers between Israel and Syria.

That Vice President Dick Cheney, whose opposition to engaging both North Korea and Syria and support for 'regime change' in both countries is both well known and of long standing, had pushed hard for the briefing to take place has added to speculation that a major power play by the hawks to reverse the diplomacy that has dominated Bush's second term is underway.

Rumours that the State Department's point man on North Korea, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill -- whose latest accord with Pyongyang negotiated in Singapore earlier this month has been the target of fierce right-wing attacks led by Cheney chum, former U.N. Amb. John Bolton -- has told associates that he will resign next month have added to concerns that the hawks have regained the initiative, at least on that front.

Add the promotion of Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq who has overseen the past year's 'surge' of U.S. troops, to take over the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) this summer, as well as the increasingly harsh charges against Iran's alleged interference in Iraq that have been coming out of the Pentagon in recent days.

All these developments are seen by some as an answer to the prayers of neo-conservatives, in particular, who had largely given up hopes that Bush could be persuaded to attack Iran's nuclear facilities before leaving office.

speaking entirely for my un-connected, barely-informed self, i have NEVER figured that bush and his criminal compadres had given up on attacking iran...

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HRC has run a textbook DLC campaign – center-right messaging to gain the nomination of her center-left party

and maybe she's goin' down... that would be just hunky-dory with me... i've gone from a mere distaste for hrc to a solid loathing as she has revealed more and more of her true colors... i suppose it's good news that, this early in the campaign, people are getting a clue...

In polls that coursed through the professional community of political consultants in Washington last week, it now appears that Senator Clinton’s presidential candidacy may be buckling under the weight of the burden of messaging against her base.

[...]

There is no doubt that Senator Clinton’s top campaign staff believe they are now out of control of their presidential campaign which has assumed a new and unwanted dynamic. Now some of Senator Clinton’s top staff believe that they are in a dangerous and potentially lethal tailspin.

[...]

Last week, the Clinton campaign made the conscious decision to go ‘negative.’ In this particular case, this is a last ditch attempt to hold her faltering candidacy together. If their desperate measure is not successful, Senator Hillary Clinton’s bold attempt to become the first woman president of the United States of America will collapse.

[...]

At this point in the arc of history, the American public is fed up with the excesses of Republican neoconservativism led by Cheney, Bush, Bolton, Ledeen, Abrams, Pipes, Hadley, Libby and Rice and its stealth faction in the DLC led by Senator Clinton and her husband aided by their merry band of neocons clustered around Al From, Howard Wolfson, Stanley Greenberg and James Carville, all of whom supported the ill-fated wars of the Bush Era. In 2002, encouraged by her husband and their minions in the DLC, Senator Clinton led the charge against Iraq, and she has been at the forefront of the pack calling for another surge of jingoistic bellicosity against Iran.

michael carmichael, the author of this post on global research, and occasional blogger on his own site, planetary movement, i believe, hits the nail on the head... the american public is indeed increasingly fed up, altho' not to the extent i believe they SHOULD be... it's not just the excesses of neoconservatism and its enablers in the dlc that is behind our rapid descent into the the second ring of suburbs of a police state...

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John Bolton uses the Karl Rove tactic on the Iran NIE

you all know the karl rove tactic, i'm sure... that's where, on the biggest public platform you can find, using the biggest megaphone around, you point-blank accuse someone else of doing precisely what you routinely do yourself... it's jaw-droppingly effective because it's the essence of the "BIG LIE..." when you hear it, you can only shake your head and marvel at the incredible chutzpah of someone who could lie like this... here's one of the principal "POLITICIZERS" of intelligence in the entire world, one of the neocon vampires who lied us into an illegal war in iraq, accusing people in the intelligence community of POLITICIZING intelligence... it's breathtaking...

I really think the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have to look at how this NIE was put together because there are a lot unexplained points in here. […]

I think there is a risk here, and I raise this as a question, whether people in the intelligence community who had their own agenda on Iran for some time now have politicized this intelligence and politicized these judgments in a way contrary to where the administration was going. I think somebody needs to look at that.

so, WTF does having "their own agenda" mean...? is that an agenda that calls for NOT wanting to go to war...? NOT bombing another country back into the stone age...? does "contrary to where the administration is going" mean "contrary to death and destruction"...?

please, dear lord, spare me from this kind of man and this kind of thinking...

(thanks to think progress...)

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“Because life is about choices, I think we have to consider the use of military force”

could someone PLEASE put this guy out of my misery...?

from the jerusalem post via think progress...

“Because life is about choices, I think we have to consider the use of military force,” Bolton said. He added that any strike “should be followed by an attempt to remove” the “source of the problem,” Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

if there was any justice in this world, he and debra cagan (see previous post) would be seized in an extraordinary rendition, spirited away to a cia black site, and forced to watch endless repeats of the daily show...

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The face of diplomacy: John Bolton in drag

where does bush come up with these people...?


Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition
Affairs to Defence Secretary Robert Gates

Britsh MPs visiting the Pentagon to discuss America's stance on Iran and Iraq were shocked to be told by one of President Bush's senior women officials: "I hate all Iranians."

And she also accused Britain of "dismantling" the Anglo-US-led coalition in Iraq by pulling troops out of Basra too soon.

The all-party group of MPs say Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary Robert Gates, made the comments this month.

The six MPs were taken aback by the hardline approach of the Pentagon and in particular Ms Cagan, one of Mr Bush's foreign policy advisers.

i don't indulge in personal attacks, but i can't help but observe that the outfit she's wearing seems somehow totally inappropriate to any situation where she would be representing her country... on a personal night out to, let's say, a dance club, well, maybe...

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Turning to the U.N. for Iraq help

oh, man... after dissing the u.n. before, during and AFTER the illegal invasion of iraq, lying to the security council about iraq wmd, sending john "raging bull" bolton to take it down from the inside, and, in general, choosing to impugn the opportunities to engage in multilateral, global efforts, bush NOW wants u.n. help to fix the unparalleled disaster HE created...?

The Bush administration is developing plans to "internationalise" the Iraq crisis, including an expanded role for the United Nations, as a way of reducing overall US responsibility for Iraq's future and limiting domestic political fallout from the war as the 2008 election season approaches.

The move comes amid rising concern in Washington that President George Bush's controversial Baghdad security surge, led by the US commander, General David Petraeus, is not working and that Iran is winning the clandestine battle for control of Iraq.

actually, i think this is the first iraq option i've heard that actually makes some sense, if and only if it is accompanied by u.s. withdrawal... do i think it is going to happen...? read this and then ask the question again...

[A] former senior administration official who is familiar with administration thinking, predicted Mr Bush would instead ask Congress to agree a six-month extension of the surge after Gen Petraeus presented his "progress report" in early September.

and now that bush has a blank check, why would we expect anything different...?

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One way of rebalancing the balance of powers is to kill those goddam recess appointments

and reducing the frequency of THIS...



i wish reid had put this in place BEFORE the last three were slipped through in april...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a little trick up his sleeve that could spell an end to President Bush's devilish recess appointments of controversial figures like former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton. We hear that over the long August vacation, when those types of summer hires are made, Reid will call the Senate into session just long enough to force the prez to send his nominees who need confirmation to the chamber. The talk is he will hold a quickie "pro forma" session every 10 days, tapping a local senator to run the hall. Senate workers and Republicans are miffed, but Reid is proving that he's the new sheriff in town.

i know hindsight is 20-20, but this should have been implemented immediately upon congress convening in january and at least attempted prior to that...

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Rats that leave the sinking ship first are usually the best swimmers

sure enough, there's more... add dina habib powell to zoellick, tobias, zelikow, krasner, bolton, joseph, and lowenkron...

damn...! they can't get away from condi fast enough... you better not be standing near the door, you'll get trampled in the rush...

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lost yet another senior aide on Wednesday when Dina Habib Powell, the highest-ranking Arab-American in the US government, announced her resignation to join a Wall Street investment bank.

The departure of Powell, key architect of a Rice initiative to improve the United States' image abroad, was the third senior diplomat to quit in the past five days and the sixth so far this year -- an exodus that is expected to continue in the final 20 months of the Bush administration.

as i posted on monday, here's what they would LIKE you to think...

"It's only natural as you get towards the end of the second term that people are going to be moving on," [a senior State Department official] said. "The secretary understands."

it's a proven fact... the rats that leave the sinking ship first are usually the best swimmers...

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What do Zoellick, Tobias, Zelikow, Krasner, Bolton, Joseph, and Lowenkron all have in common?

they all worked for condi and they've all left the state department since january... but, not to worry...

A senior State Department official indicated that the spate of resignations could continue as Bush nears the end of his mandate in January 2009.

"It's only natural as you get towards the end of the second term that people are going to be moving on," he said. "The secretary understands."

translation: yes, we know it's a shitload of senior people, and, yes, we know some of the circumstances surrounding their departures are questionable, but, hey, it's all to be expected, dontcha know, and, oh, btw, don't be surprised if there are more, maybe even a LOT more...

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The U.S. doesn't give a shit about Iraq

i'm talking about the people of course...

i've maintained all along that the u.s. really could care less if the iraqis slaughter each other down to the last man... we never went there to install democracy, despite the insistence otherwise, any more than we went there to topple a cruel dictator, or to rid ourselves of those pesky (non-existent) wmd's... now, somebody is actually telling the truth, and who better to do that for us than john bolton...



sully reacts...

Bolton's point-blank view [is] that the US had no responsibility to impose order after the invasion, and no responsibility for security within the country. Bolton actually says that the only error Bush really made was not giving the Iraqis "a copy of the Federalist papers and saying, 'Good luck.'" Yes, he says he's exaggerating for effect, but he is conveying the gist of the policy. The casual recklessness and arrogance of these people never cease to amaze. The world is theirs' to play with - and the victims of predictable and predicted violence are left to help themselves...

we went to iraq for two reasons, the very same reasons why bush and his criminal posse have been so intent on dismantling the u.s. constitution, creating a one-party, authoritarian state, and installing their litmus-tested, unswervingly loyal cronies throughout the executive branch - power and money... in iraq, the power is represented by an attempt to seize middle east hegemony and the money is represented by - what else? - oil... both of those reasons are also why the bush administration will never leave iraq and is also why it is very likely that, even if dems take the white house in 2008, they will find a way to stay on in iraq as well, it just may not look like full-tilt war... nobody, democrats or republicans, will be dismantling those permanent bases or tearing down the new green zone taj mahal u.s. embassy... if the leadership of our country has their way, we will be in iraq forever...

(thanks to think progress...)

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Is Wolfie going to bite the big one...?

steve clemons, never too far off the mark, thinks it may be sooner rather than later...

Paul Wolfowitz's tenure at the World Bank may end in the next day or two. Rumors are spreading like wild fire at the Bank that he plans to resign tomorrow.

I have no official information confirming this -- other than that several senior staff in two specific Executive Directorships at the World Bank and some other senior staff at the IMF and other staff are reporting to me that Wolfowitz's resignation is imminent. I'm not sure, however, that there views are not collective speculation.

this would truly be a wonderful turn of events... wolfowitz is a despicable human being who was placed in his world bank position for the precise same reason alberto gonzales was placed at the department of justice, and the precise same reason john bolton was placed at the u.n. - to extend the power and leverage of the criminal, neocon cabal into every aspect of domestic and international organizations...

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Cheney is an enemy of the United States

there is a relatively small group that has done an unbelievable amount of damage to the core structure of our country... some of them, like dick cheney, are very visible and well-known... likewise, karl rove, alberto gonzales, and, even though he is now gone, donald rumsfeld (although i think gates has picked up right where rummy left off)... less visible are the hard-core members of the white house staff, people like stephen hadley and david addington, and there are undoubtedly others i am either forgetting or am unaware of... then there are the extremely influential neocons, both inside and outside the government - feith, wolfowitz, kristol, norquist, cohen, armitage, bolton, and their ilk...

"Cheney has become the administration's enemy within, the man whose single-minded pursuit of ideological goals, creaking political instincts, and love of secrecy produced an independent operation that has done more harm than good," Michael Duffy writes in the forthcoming edition of Time.

it is THESE people, along with cheney, who are the real "enemies within..." they are not just enemies of the administration... if there's to be a purge, and let's fervently hope and pray that there will be, THESE are the ones that have to go... until then, blabbing about darth's waning influence is just that - blab...

NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell noted that while the White House maintains "that the vice president remains the president's most trusted counsel," many are now questioning how badly Cheney's image has been damaged.

like i said... it's just blab...

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