Here's a spooky story that tells you why Iraq is related to Christmas toys.  It takes us to Baghdad and China, Washington and Wal-Mart, and ends (or begins?) under the Christmas tree.  It's our 2007 version of the 1925 poem by T.S. Eliot:

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpieces filled with straw

It starts with the scary mercenaries of Blackwater and the evil sorceror Rumsfeld...

Episode 1: The Hollow Military (Read on if you dare...)

As reported on Political Cortex last October, two news articles, including one in Prensa Latina, claimed that the Bush family had purchased a sizeable piece of land in Paraguay.  Although it seemed a bit farfetched, the rumor spread like wildfire across the blogosphere.  Mainstream news media, on the other hand, ignored the story and neither substantiated nor disproved the allegation. A search of the White House website turned up no evidence of an official response.

In fact, a response was issued, through the State Department, on an obscure web page far below the public radar.  This is not the reaction one would expect from public relations experts hoping to squelch a rampant rumor, and it's a highly unusual response for an administration known for aggressive denials of unflattering allegations.  Thus, the administration's limp response, like the rumor itself, is intriguing.

The Center for Constituional Rights will file a suit in Berlin on Tuesday charging Donald Rumsfeld with war crimes for Gitmo and other abuses of the Geneva Convention.

I can understand the rationale for not wanting to impeach Bush, Cheney, et al, but if a sitting President can get away with destroying the Constitution the way Bush has, then why do we even have impeachment proceedings anymore.  We are not talking about covering up a second rate burglary job or fibbing about a consensual sex act in the oval office.  We are talking about the systematic destruction of the document that holds this country together -- what else do you have to do to get impeached.  My question is what will the new Congress do if their investigations/subpoenas turn up evidence of impeachable offenses.  Will they move forward or simply sweep it under to rug?

See the case for impeachment for more information

I listened to President Bush's recent press conference on Iraq and was stunned, once again, to hear him say that something surprised him which should not have. He said "We did not expect the Iraqi army, including the Republican Guard, to melt away in the way that it did."

For over a decade prior to invading Iraq, millions of leaflets were dropped by the United States across Iraq, urging the Iraqi military and police to shed their uniforms and go home once the invasion started. By doing so, and not fighting against coalition forces, these folks were told they would be welcomed later as part of the team building a new Iraq.

A Rob Simmons ad in Connecticut touts Rob Simmons' intervention on behalf of a constituent.  A woman identified as Cathleen Buchanan claims that her son belonged to an army unit that was NOT GOING TO BE ISSUED weapons when being deployed to Iraq!

This narrative of this astonishing claim is that only a call to Simmons' office prompted the military to arm these poor soldiers.

I called to find out more.  

News of the White House's "Change of Course" and a new strategic plan for Iraq should probably not have ended up in the New York Times. After all, while it is a great newspaper, it lacks the best venue for the actual news coming from team Bush. The New York Times carries no comic strips - and most importantly, lacks the strip most appropriate for this particular news.... Dilbert!

For the millions who work in corporations where Dilbert's pointy-haired manager graces every cubicle wall, the Bush administration's corporate-clone plans for Iraq would surely fit right in.

Having worked in corporate America for many years, I can relate. The idiots in one department create a perfectly awful product and the marketing folks create glitzy brochures and plans to sell that perfectly awful product. The salespeople hit the streets trying to sell the perfectly awful product and the customers want nothing to do with it. Corporate leaders discover that their new product isn't selling and ask why. Sales tells them the product is garbage, and without major renovations, they can't sell it.

What does the CEO do?

CLICK TO ENLARGE




"The Camp X-Ray Tango"




[DICK]

Cock.

[SCOOTER]

Fitz.

[DENNY]

Swish.

[GEORGIE]

Uh uh.

[DONNY]

Gitmo.

[TOMMY]

Dipshits!

[ANCHORMAN]

And now the six merry treasonists of the Guantanamo Bay Facility in their rendition of "The Camp X-Ray Tango"...

There's nothing nastier than a cornered animal, and make no mistake, the Republicans are penned in tight.  Poll after poll shows that Bush's bad karma is wearing off on the party that enabled him to drag this country through the mud of Katrina and the blood of Iraq.  They can grin and pretend that they see some movement in their direction, but the truth is that the only Republicans showing any life are those who, like Schwarzenegger, are not just backing away from the neocon gospel, but embracing progressive positions.

Now, like a wounded bear caught in a trap... wait, bear is too nice for them.  Too impressive.  Like a ferret in a cage... um.  Like snakes on a... nah, let's not even go there.

Like skunks penned under a barn, the Republicans are doing the only thing they know -- spraying stink in all directions.

A Donald Rumsfeld cutout makes an appearance at a memorial service for 3 servicemen killed in Iraq

Washington, DC (APE) - Taking a cue from the Maine National Guard's successful "Flat Daddy" program, the White House today revealed its successful ongoing "Flat Leader" program. In a time of war, when resources and manpower are scarce, the White House stated that it was proud to add to and expand its support for the Maine National Guard's program as well as all servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The program has placed life-size cardboard cutouts of key American leaders within each and every regiment currently serving in both countries.

In 1972 the United States Congress ratified the http://www.cdi.org/... 1972 Biological Weapons Treaty. To make the world a safer place, here we are three decades later, and we are spending money as a nation hand over fist to break this treaty, in the words of our President "trust me".  

I might trust him that it is for our nations own good, except the history of the two men next to him, scares the hell out of me, given their involvement in "human experiments" with chemical weapons and drugs and Rumsfled's prior concurrence in Nixon's cabinet prior to 1972 in the biological human tests at Fort Detrick, Maryland. They have shown they have no regard for the "volunteers' lives. They refuse to do complete health studies of the Cold War veterans  today and still ignore the dead and disabled veterans and widows from Edgewood Arsenal and Fort Detrick.  http://www.dailykos.com/...

I am a TEST VET.

We took an oath of secrecy.  Honorable men keep their oaths.  But there is no honor in protecting the predators who used us and then abandoned us.  It is time for the TEST VETS to speak out.

On August 25th, I will be 51 years old.  I have had a stroke, 7 heart attacks, a failed triple bypass, heart ejection fraction of 25%, COPD, skin abnormalities, foot fungus and rashes.  This all started in 1992 when I was 36.  I am in contact with 11 other "test vets" and we all have heart problems and multiple health issues. We are all ignored by the VA

Why the hell won't anyone ask Cheney and Rumsfeld about their Chemical Weapons and drug experiments in 1974 and 1975?   While they were in the Ford Administration, Cheney and Rumsfeld, violated the Nuremberg Codes of 1947 by using enlisted men as human test subjects for chemical warfare.   From 1952 thru 1975, they used 7120 enlisted men in these experiments.  

The health study contacted the participants in 2000 and found that 75% of them were either dead or disabled.

I am a TEST VET.
 

We took an oath of secrecy.  Honorable men keep their oaths.  But there is no honor in protecting the predators who used us and then abandoned us.  It is time for the TEST VETS to speak out.

On August 25th, I will be 51 years old.  I have had a stroke, 7 heart attacks, a failed triple bypass, heart ejection fraction of 25%, COPD, skin abnormalities, foot fungus and rashes.  This all started in 1992 when I was 36.  I am in contact with 11 other "test vets" and we all have heart problems and multiple health issues. We are all ignored by the VA

Why the F**k won't anyone ask Cheney and Rumsfeld about their Chemical Weapons and drug experiments in 1974 and 1975?   While they were in the Ford Administration, Cheney and Rumsfeld, violated the Nuremberg Codes of 1947 by using enlisted men as human test subjects for chemical warfare.   From 1952 thru 1975, they used 7120 enlisted men in these experiments.  

The health study contacted the participants in 2000 and found that 75% of them were either dead or disabled.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld seen immediately after being assaulted with a dictionary


Washington, DC (Rotters) - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld yesterday agreed to appear before a senate hearing on the war in Iraq after being assaulted by a thirty pound Dictionary lobbed by a pool reporter whose name was withheld by pentagon security. Rumsfeld had been engaging in one of his tried and true choreographed rhetorical question sessions over the growing civil war in Iraq when the reporter apparently snapped, throwing the dictionary at the Secretary. Rumsfeld's glasses were broken in the spontaneous assault, but he quickly produced a pair of sunglasses and continued.

The Congress, both houses, have failed the veterans used in hazardous substance  experiments from WW2 thru the end of human experimentation in 1975, when after public outcry and congressional investigations, by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and then the Church Commission, exposed the depth of violations by the CIA and DOD of the Nuremeberg Codes of 1947 on American military personnel.

Senator Jay Rockefeller conducted the Rockefeller Commission of 1994 that delved into all of the programs, nuclear, radiation, chemical and biological. It is now 2006 and the federal government refuses to find these veterans who were harmed in these experiments  why? Why hasn't our Congress, our elected officials ever forced them to deal with a six decades long problem?

Even the British are being made to answer for their version of Edgewood Arsenal, it is called Porton Downs, the difference is in Britian the  public did not learn of the testing until six years ago, they have compensated one family and know they have to compensate hundreds more.

How does this differ from the tests the American Governmnet did at Edgewood Arsenal Maryland, nothing except the amount of men used, the British used 700 men from 1939 thru 1989 The American government used 7120 men from 1952 thru 1975 in the Cold War experiments and another approximate 4000 men in the WW2 era experiments.