We all know that this administration had no post-war plans for Iraq. What we didn’t know is that Donald Rumsfeld had threatened to fire anyone who wanted to propose post-war plans. In the linked article, Brigadier General Mark Schied, elected to be chief of logistics war plans on September 10, 2001, notes that he and other Iraq planners, placed on the task by Rumsfeld not long after the Afghanistan invasion, tried to write what was called “Phase 4,” the post-invasion operations like occupation.

Even if the troops didn’t stay, “at least we have to plan for it,” Scheid said.

“I remember the secretary of defense saying that he would fire the next person that said that,” Scheid said. “We would not do planning for Phase 4 operations, which would require all those additional troops that people talk about today.

“He said we will not do that because the American public will not back us if they think we are going over there for a long war.”

Scheid stops short of condemning Rumsfeld in the article, and basically says the Secretary of Defense was one man with one opinion.

Elsewhere, gaining more attention, is the final report concluding that Saddam Hussein had no relationship with anyone in al Qaeda. The report refutes statements made by Dick Cheney and George Bush, including statements made by Bush as late as a week ago. Why would he continue lying when he knew that this report existed, never mind that it was going to become declassified? Easy. He’s a man of his principles. If you’re caught in a lie, just repeat the lie and hopefully enough people will believe it’s the truth. The right-wing continues to claim the report is partisan, and that it’s being used as an election-year tool, but the fact remains that this administration lied us into war, and this is just another piece of the overall story coming to light.

Recently, of course, when Bush was asked by a White House reporter, “what was the relationship between Iraq and 9/11,” Bush said, “nothing.”

However, just to refresh your memories, here’s an article from June 18, 2004 where Bush repeated his accusations that Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda were working together.

“The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al Qaeda: because there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda.” — George W. Bush

“What the New York Times did today was outrageous. The fact of the matter is, the evidence is overwhelming. The press is, with all due respect, and there are exceptions, oftentimes lazy, oftentimes simply reports what somebody else in the press said without doing their homework.” — Dick Cheney on the NY Times Headline, Panel Finds No Qaeda-Iraq Tie

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If you’re planning on watching ABC’s new $40 million miniseries on 9/11, be prepared to be stunned by the inaccuracies.

According to Joe Conason’s analysis of the piece, it seems as if Bill Clinton is portrayed merely as a stereotypical John Hughes-type buffoon character, while Bush appears to be a hero who will do anything he can to thwart terrorism. Plainly, this is the truth as we know it, right?

Under pressure from those concerned that events in the film might actually be taken as truth by its audience, ABC has already made changes to the program, although the show will still claim that its content is “based in part on the 9/11 commission’s report.” Ugh.

If you really want to know exactly what Clinton did to combat terrorism, check out this article at truthout.org. Cribbed from the article, here are the proposals offered in Clinton’s 1996 omnibus anti-terrorism bill (which was watered down by the Republican Congress):

• Screen Checked Baggage: $91.1 million
• Screen Carry-On Baggage: $37.8 million
• Passenger Profiling: $10 million
• Screener Training: $5.3 million
• Screen Passengers (portals) and Document Scanners: $1 million
• Deploying Existing Technology to Inspect International Air Cargo: $31.4 million
• Provide Additional Air/Counterterrorism Security: $26.6 million
• Explosives Detection Training: $1.8 million
• Augment FAA Security Research: $20 million
• Customs Service: Explosives and Radiation Detection Equipment at Ports: $2.2 million
• Anti-Terrorism Assistance to Foreign Governments: $2 million
• Capacity to Collect and Assemble Explosives Data: $2.1 million
• Improve Domestic Intelligence: $38.9 million
• Critical Incident Response Teams for Post-Blast Deployment: $7.2 million
• Additional Security for Federal Facilities: $6.7 million
• Firefighter/Emergency Services Financial Assistance: $2.7 million
• Public Building and Museum Security: $7.3 million
• Improve Technology to Prevent Nuclear Smuggling: $8 million
• Critical Incident Response Facility: $2 million
• Counter-Terrorism Fund: $35 million
• Explosives Intelligence and Support Systems: $14.2 million
• Office of Emergency Preparedness: $5.8 million

And here (thanks to the Huffington Post is a 1996 article from CNN that shows Republican leaders of the day saying, “what, me worry?” to the threat of terrorism:

President wants Senate to hurry with new anti-terrorism laws
July 30, 1996
Web posted at: 8:40 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Clinton urged Congress Tuesday to act swiftly in developing anti-terrorism legislation before its August recess. (MP3 Audio Clip)

“We need to keep this country together right now. We need to focus on this terrorism issue,” Clinton said during a White House news conference.

But while the president pushed for quick legislation, Republican lawmakers hardened their stance against some of the proposed anti-terrorism measures.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, doubted that the Senate would rush to action before they recess this weekend. The Senate needs to study all the options, he said, and trying to get it done in the next three days would be tough.

One key GOP senator was more critical, calling a proposed study of chemical markers in explosives “a phony issue.”

Taggants value disputed

Clinton said he knew there was Republican opposition to his proposal on explosive taggants, but it should not be allowed to block the provisions on which both parties agree.

“What I urge them to do is to be explicit about their disagreement, but don’t let it overcome the areas of agreement,” he said.

The president emphasized coming to terms on specific areas of disagreement would help move the legislation along. The president stressed it’s important to get the legislation out before the weekend’s recess, especially following the bombing of Centennial Olympic Park and the crash of TWA Flight 800.

“The most important thing right now is that they get the best, strongest bill they can out — that they give us as much help as they can,” he said.

Hatch blasts ‘phony’ issues

Republican leaders earlier met with White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta for about an hour in response to the president’s call for “the very best ideas” for fighting terrorism.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, emerged from the meeting and said, “These are very controversial provisions that the White House wants. Some they’re not going to get.”

Hatch called Clinton’s proposed study of taggants — chemical markers in explosives that could help track terrorists — “a phony issue.”

“If they want to, they can study the thing” already, Hatch asserted. He also said he had some problems with the president’s proposals to expand wiretapping.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, said it is a mistake if Congress leaves town without addressing anti-terrorism legislation. Daschle is expected to hold a special meeting on the matter Wednesday with Congressional leaders.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Interesting, huh? Democratic leadership calling it a mistake to leave town without addressing anti-terrorism legislation, and Republican leadership saying “we’re just heading out for recess,” and “these are controversial provisions that the White House wants.” Amazing how they changed their tune when it’s their guy in office.

I wonder if all this funding had been approved how it would’ve affected the events of 9/11? Guess we’ll never know. The one thing for sure is that the $1.097 billion requested for funding here is quite a bit less than the $1 trillion this Iraq venture is expected to cost us before it’s over. Wonder what we could’ve done with the other $999 billion? Universal healthcare? Shore up Social Security? Maybe reduce taxes on the working class? Maybe provide incentives for people to get continuing education? The list goes on…

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I don’t know how I missed hearing about this one. Check out Keith Olbermann’s lambasting of O’Reilly for the ultimate spin — taking horrific war crimes attributed to the SS in WWII and turning the story around so that AMERICANS are the criminals. True to form, when O’Reilly is backed into a corner about his outright lies (or, if you feel like giving him the benefit of the doubt, his “on-air mistakes”), what is his claim? “I never said that.” Indeed, FOX News has gone so far this time as to have the show transcripts scrubbed. What is so astonishing is that O’Reilly claims his assertion is correct in two different shows, and then again when he is confronted about the error by a viewer. Amazing stuff. Olbermann’s point-by-point account is stunning. After viewing the initial video, check out this update, where Olbermann notes that FOX News has changed the transcript back to the original show content.

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One of the greatest radio moments of the past few years was when a liberal caller (a real liberal caller, not one of those fake ones that right-wing hatemongers put on their shows every day) got on the Rush Limbaugh show and asked Rush about how he managed to dodge the draft. Rush gets very flustered when confronted on this issue. See, he dodged the draft because of an “ingrown hair on his backside“, and he’s quite self-conscious about it, particularly since he gave Bill Clinton such a hard time about draft dodging.

And now, after claiming that it would be “a shame if Katie Couric were hit by a bus,” he is going to appear on her new show. Why? Because he was given ninety seconds to say whatever he wanted. According to Media Matters, Rush said that he had certain conditions for being on Katie’s show, and one of them was that Rush could say whatever he wanted, “without debate, without somebody coming on afterwards to refute it.”

This is how scared the conservatives are. They are scared to death of being challenged on anything. This is how America got to the point it finds itself after six years of the Bush administration. After six years of a sitting president surrounding himself with “yes men.” After six years of a sitting president not wanting to hear any bad news.

Rush is so scared of confrontation and being called on his lies that the only way he’d appear on Katie’s show is if he doesn’t have anyone there to challenge him. Nice little spot Rush has worked himself up to over the last 18 years right?

Shameless.

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The number of brave Americans who have died fighting Bush’s so-called “war on terror” has now surpassed the number of civilians who died on 9/11. And still, the only line we hear from this administration is “stay the course.” Yes, those were Bush’s exact words from last Thursday: “”If we leave the streets of Baghdad before the job is done, we will have to face the terrorists in our own cities. We will stay the course, we will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed, and victory in Iraq will be a major ideological triumph in the struggle of the 21st century.”

It didn’t have to be this way.

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