The inevitable end result of our last 56 years

[Joe Bauer]

Jared Kushner nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.

Huh?  What?  Come again?  

Your thoughts?

 

 

 

[Andrew Prutsok]

2 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

What Ulysses Grant Can Teach Joe Biden About Putting Down Violent Insurrections

By CASEY MICHEL 01/30/2021

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/30/what-ulysses-grant-can-teach-joe-biden-about-putting-down-violent-insurrections-463976

“The deadly siege of the Capitol in Washington, which sought to overturn a legitimate election by targeting lawmakers with assassination, was not the first attempted insurrection in American history.”

“Grant’s approach relied on a combination of brute military force and a drastic curtailment of civil liberties, yet it nevertheless has relevance for the current moment and contains lessons for lawmakers who fear that January 6 might have been only the first of widespread attacks on the government and elected officials at all levels, across large swaths of the nation.”

Steve Thomas

I know it's harsh, but revolution and insurrection are rough games and if you are going to play them you need to be prepared to do what is necessary and to accept the consequences. The only way to effectively deal with such situations is for the winning side to publicly try and execute every leader on the losing side and their financiers, seizing their assets and exiling or imprisoning their families. If you don't, they and their descendants will cause trouble in perpetuity. Lincoln's failed response to the end of the Civil War is the prime example of it.  These were the people storming the Capitol Jan. 6. 

[Douglas Caddy]

Rumsfeld Lacked Intel on Who The Enemies Were Two Years After Afghanistan Invasion

 

On September 9, 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wrote to Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Steve Cambone expressing concern about information from interrogations at military sites in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Secretary wrote, “The lack of clarity as to who the enemies are, and what the problems are from an intelligence standpoint in Afghanistan and Iraq is serious.” Six weeks later, on October 23, 2003, Rumsfeld followed up: “I have no visibility into what kind of intelligence we are getting from the interrogations of the 35 or 40 of the top 55 Iraqis we have captured. Please get me some information.”

 

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/foia/2021-02-01/rumsfeld-lacked-intel-who-enemies-two-years-after-afghanistan-invasion-newly-published-snowflakes?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=63d51ed5-9a5d-49f4-975f-871d45c4ced6

[David Andrews]

7 minutes ago, Douglas Caddy said:

Rumsfeld Lacked Intel on Who The Enemies Were Two Years After Afghanistan Invasion

 

On September 9, 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wrote to Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Steve Cambone expressing concern about information from interrogations at military sites in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Secretary wrote, “The lack of clarity as to who the enemies are, and what the problems are from an intelligence standpoint in Afghanistan and Iraq is serious.” Six weeks later, on October 23, 2003, Rumsfeld followed up: “I have no visibility into what kind of intelligence we are getting from the interrogations of the 35 or 40 of the top 55 Iraqis we have captured. Please get me some information.”

 

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/foia/2021-02-01/rumsfeld-lacked-intel-who-enemies-two-years-after-afghanistan-invasion-newly-published-snowflakes?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=63d51ed5-9a5d-49f4-975f-871d45c4ced6

What CIA was doing in Afghanistan and Iraq was rolling up and criminalizing its own former assets, plus any loose cannons who joined "Al Qaeda" or other groups in the wake of 9/11.  They didn't care to clean house in front of Rumsfeld or other oversight.

[W. Niederhut]

2 hours ago, David Andrews said:

What CIA was doing in Afghanistan and Iraq was rolling up and criminalizing its own former assets, plus any loose cannons who joined "Al Qaeda" or other groups in the wake of 9/11.  They didn't care to clean house in front of Rumsfeld or other oversight.

David,

      In Iraq, Rumsfeld was following the Wolfowitz/PNAC plan from the late 1990s.  (And Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Condoleeza Rice participated in PNAC prior to George W. Bush's election in 2000.) Wolfowitz and his PNAC associates theorized that the U.S. military could depose Saddam Hussein easily and inexpensively.  Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz also insisted on implementing their de-Baathification plan for Iraq-- firing General Jay Garner in May of 2003 and appointing Kissinger Associates'  L. Paul Bremer as a military governor of Iraq. At the time, Garner told Rumsfeld that, "It will take 50 years to stabilize this country, if you disband (de-Baathify) the Iraqi Army."   Garner was right.  The Iraqi civil war ensued.  (Was that the point all along?)

     In retrospect, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz's Iraq War plan seemed to be part of the broader PNAC plan to destabilize and Balkanize Israel's Muslim neighbor states-- Iraq and Syria, along with Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, and, ultimately, Iran.  (Doug Feith had also outlined a version of this plan-- a version of the original "Oded Yinon Plan"-- in a white paper that he wrote for the Netanyahu regime in the 90s.)

     General Wesley Clark was briefed about these Pentagon (Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz/Feith) war plans for the Middle East in late September of 2001-- shortly after the 9/11 attacks.

 

[David Andrews]

1 hour ago, W. Niederhut said:

David,

      In Iraq, Rumsfeld was following the Wolfowitz/PNAC plan from the late 1990s.  (And Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Condoleeza Rice participated in PNAC prior to George W. Bush's election in 2000.) Wolfowitz and his PNAC associates theorized that the U.S. military could depose Saddam Hussein easily and inexpensively.  Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz also insisted on implementing their de-Baathification plan for Iraq-- firing General Jay Garner in May of 2003 and appointing Kissinger Associates'  L. Paul Bremer as a military governor of Iraq. At the time, Garner told Rumsfeld that, "It will take 50 years to stabilize this country, if you disband (de-Baathify) the Iraqi Army."   Garner was right.  The Iraqi civil war ensued.  (Was that the point all along?)

     In retrospect, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz's Iraq War plan seemed to be part of the broader PNAC plan to destabilize and Balkanize Israel's Muslim neighbor states-- Iraq and Syria, along with Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, and, ultimately, Iran.  (Doug Feith had also outlined a version of this plan-- a version of the original "Oded Yinon Plan"-- in a white paper that he wrote for the Netanyahu regime in the 90s.)

     General Wesley Clark was briefed about these Pentagon (Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz/Feith) war plans for the Middle East in late September of 2001-- shortly after the 9/11 attacks.

 

William: I'm speaking to the reluctance of CIA in releasing data and metadata from the rendition interrogations.  I understand that there was a war on, to DoD's own purposes, and the White House's.

Edited February 2, 2021 by David Andrews

[Douglas Caddy]

U.S. under Trump was the big loser in the trade war with  China.

 

https://www.axios.com/trump-trade-war-china-failure-6111a412-9458-438e-ab2f-a4b7481f89e3.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiospm&stream=top

[Douglas Caddy]

[James DiEugenio]

5 hours ago, Joe Bauer said:

Jared Kushner nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.

Huh?  What?  Come again?  

Your thoughts?

 

 

 

They were nominated by Dershowtiz.  No mystery as to why.  Worst choice since Obama, who won. On nothing.

[Douglas Caddy]

4 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said:

They were nominated by Dershowtiz.  No mystery as to why.  Worst choice since Obama, who won. On nothing.

Obama was afraid of his own shadow. This is why McConnell had contempt for him and then torpedoed legislation sponsored by Obama. Obamacare was the sole exception to what happened in the eight years Obama was president.

[Cliff Varnell]

46 minutes ago, Douglas Caddy said:

Obama was afraid of his own shadow.

And yet he negotiated the Iran nuke deal, the opening to Cuba, removal of 93% of Syrian chemical weapon stockpiles, the Paris climate accord, the START nuclear reduction treaty with Russia.

The Iran nuke deal alone was Nobel worthy.

Quote

This is why McConnell had contempt for him and then torpedoed legislation sponsored by Obama.

McConnell didn’t become Majority Leader until 2015.  Republican total-war on Dem legislation started with Gingrich in ‘95.

Quote

Obamacare was the sole exception to what happened in the eight years Obama was president.

Net neutrality, gay marriage, strong bottom 20% income gains, auto industry salvation, getting the economy out of recession, a measure of banking reform.

 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2021 by Cliff Varnell

[W. Niederhut]

1 hour ago, Douglas Caddy said:

Obama was afraid of his own shadow. This is why McConnell had contempt for him and then torpedoed legislation sponsored by Obama. Obamacare was the sole exception to what happened in the eight years Obama was president.

Let's not forget about that leaked 2010 RNC memo from David Needham and the Heritage Foundation outlining the Congressional Republican strategy for sabotaging President Obama.  It said, "Close ranks and discredit the President."

And how can we forget Mitch McConnell's infamous statement at an October, 2010 GOP/Koch fund raiser-- "Our number one priority is to limit Obama to a single term?"  How's that for responsible governance?! McConnell said it when the country was still recovering from the depths of the Great Bush-Cheney Recession!

[Ron Bulman]

Should McCarthy be indicted for insurrection as well?  Do not be quiet, do not be silent.

'Kevin McCarthy, You Did This': Lincoln Project Ad Blames House Minority Leader for Riots (msn.com)

Then there's our big red state's juinor senator.   Man I wish Molly Ivins was still around.  She'd have a field day roastin his ass.  Beto got so close.  She might have pushed him over the edge.

Ted Cruz Slammed For Saying Trump Impeachment Is 'Vindictive' | HuffPost

Edited February 2, 2021 by Ron Bulman

[Kirk Gallaway]

Ron , I see the articles just talking about the Lincoln Project piece on Kevin Mc Carthy, but doesn't have the link. Here's the link.

 

[Joe Bauer]

4 hours ago, Douglas Caddy said:

Absolutely.