"We need a respected competent intelligence professional who can respect and manage this growing agency. Based on what I know so far, General Mike Hayden appears to fit that bill."

-- Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein on the Nomination of Michael Hayden as CIA Chief

Think again senator.

1. Hayden oversaw the illegal Domestic Spying Program

2. Hayden obeyed illegal orders:

It's a military officer's sworn duty to refuse to obey illegal orders. As an auther wrote in the Navy Times (warning: doc file):

According to military legal studies, a lawful order must be reasonably linked to military needs, be specific and not be contrary to established law -- the Constitution, United States or other laws -- or be beyond the authority of the person issuing the command.

In other words, Hayden had a legal, Constitutional, and moral obligation not to conduct the illegal spying that's characterized his recent career. He's a disgrace to his uniform, and unworthy of any position of public responsibility. Someone who betrays the Constitution as Hayden has done deserves the label "un-American."

3. And Hayden displayed gross ignorance of the Constituion that he has sworn to protect. Surely, the next CIA Chief should know that "probable cause" is the legal standard that protects Americans from "unreasonable searches and seizures."

CLICK TO ENLARGE New CIA Director Michael Hayden standing outside the new CIA Super-Spy Center scheduled to open at the newly renovated CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia

Washington, DC (APE) - President Bush this morning made it official by announcing Air Force General Michael Hayden as the new head for the CIA, ending a weekend of speculation. Hayden stepped forwards today to aggressively promote his ideas for a new direction for the CIA. He admitted to the press that his ideas were not entirely original, and based upon a year's worth of groundwork laid by former director Porter Goss. Hayden announced that the CIA would now be striving towards developing the human intelligence factor, or HUMINT, worldwide, which was one of the CIA's founding goals. He stated that in order to pursue this goal in the most cost effective manner possible, the CIA would be partnering with Wal-Mart Inc. worldwide thanks to its innovative human resources practices.

Myth: A traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the worldview of a people.

Myths are as old as humanity. Some provide useful insights.  Some provide comforting notions. Some are merely entertaining.  Some are downright dangerous.  Rulers have relied on the power of myths to lead and mislead people since time immemorial.

Misleading myths (aka "Mything the Point"), like all lies, beget more lies. That is why we need to weed them out on a routine basis.  If we let them go unchallenged, they will run riot and eventually choke us in our sleep.  

Which brings me to a myth that needs to be uprooted:

RESTORING HONOR AND DIGNITY TO THE OVAL OFFICE

On March 25th, 2006, Scott Ritter, Ray McGovern, Faiza Al-Araji, and Medea Benjamin spoke to a crowd of about 300 people at the First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto. The title for the evening was Iraq: The Power of Truth in A War Based on Lies. It was an incredible evening, hearing from people with unparalleled experience in the events leading up to this war and the ongoing results. The attendees learned a lot, had many things they already believed to be true affirmed, got some provocative and controversial new perspectives, and heard some of the anger and frustration from the presenters and each other. At times fingers were pointed, tears were shed, hackles were raised, conspiracy theories were floated, objections were shouted, a few laughs were chuckled and some chords of Kum Ba Ya were sang.

In all, it was an amazing evening.

The following morning, during worship at First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto, I shared a prayer for Scott Ritter. Because of that prayer, several people asked that I write up my reflections on the evening, and what prompted my prayer for Scott, so that others who had been there that evening could understand my interpretation of what happened. Plus, for those who were not there, a lot of important information and ideas warrant discussion.

The following represents my reflections on the Power of Truth In A War Based On Lies, and the people who made that evening come to life.

Is this why I haven't noticed Larry Johnson posting around the liberal blogosphere much any more?

A news item from the last hour (or the Friday news dump).

Well, as if we didn't already know, it's a small, small BushWorld.  Here's your teaser:

A stunning investigation of bribery and corruption in Congress has spread to the CIA, ABC News has learned.

The CIA Inspector General has opened an investigation into the spy agency's executive director, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, and his connections to two defense contractors accused of bribing a member of Congress and Pentagon officials. Foggo is the number 3 man at the CIA

Just for fun, see if you can pick up all the Bush threads in following bit of tapestry:

As executive director of the CIA, Foggo oversees the administration of the giant spy agency. He was appointed to the post by CIA director Porter Goss after working as a mid-level procurement supervisor, according to former CIA officials.

While based in Frankfurt, Germany, he oversaw and approved contracts for CIA operations in Iraq.

Foggo is a longtime friend of Brent Wilkes, listed as unindicted co-conspirator No. 1 in government documents filed in the Cunningham investigation. The two played high school football and were in each other's weddings.

Even by BushWorld standards, the Cunningham/Wilkes scandal is mind-boggling:

According to government documents, Wilkes gave Cunningham $630,000 in cash and gifts in exchange for help in getting government contracts.

Wilkes was the founder of ADSC, Inc, in 1995. Under Wilkes, the company obtained more than $95 million in government contracts.

snip>
Cunningham is involved in what prosecutors call a corruption case with no parallel in the long history of the U.S. Congress. He actually priced the illegal services he provided.

Prices came in the form of a "bribe menu" that detailed how much it would cost contractors to essentially order multimillion-dollar government contracts, according to documents submitted by federal prosecutors for today's sentencing hearing.

"The length, breadth and depth of Cunningham's crimes," the sentencing memorandum states, "are unprecedented for a sitting member of Congress."

snip>
The card shows an escalating scale for bribes, starting at $140,000 and a luxury yacht for a $16 million Defense Department contract. Each additional $1 million in contract value required a $50,000 bribe.

Go read the whole thing.  

In this long, long, five-year tapestry of corrupt capitalism running amok, the threads continue to unravel.

loosely knit group of Arab royalty control of our ports.
Shouldn't We Bring Democracy To the UAE Before We Let Them Manage Our Ports?

President Bush and some of his supporters are saying that opposition to this sale is racist and anti-Arab. I decided to learn more about the United Arab Emirates. Most of the following was obtained from the websites of the U. S. State Department and the CIA World Fact Book.

The United Arab Emirates is a loosely knit group of seven rulers. They do not have political parties or any form of Democratic government. Each ruler holds power on the basis of their dynastic position in their tribes. Yes--dynasty, tribes. Doesn't sound very American does it? Unless you are Bush.

There are not clear borders between the U. A. E. and its' neighboring countries of Saudi Arabia and Oman. That sounds pretty unstable.

Here is what the CIA site says: "Location and status of boundary with Saudi Arabia is not final, de facto boundary reflects 1974 agreement; no defined boundary with most of Oman, but Administrative Line in far north."
  An erratic perimeter in a volatile region. They can't keep their own borders safe. Yet we are handing them the keys to ours.

As soon as I think the Bush administration can go no lower, it does it again. The Bush administration is taking so-called terror suspects from Eastern Europe to Morocco where the Moroccans are cutting their penises. This is a new low for an administration which has already been guilty of firing White Phosphorus into Fallujah and melting ths skin off of people.

Temara itself already has a fearsome reputation among former inmates. Binyam Mohammed, an Ethiopian-born Briton later sent to Guantanamo Bay, told Amnesty International that interrogators there cut his chest and penis when he refused to answer questions.

Mohammed said he was held at Temara for 18 months before being flown to another "black prison" in Afghanistan in January 2004, and then on to Guantanamo Bay.

Now, the Bush administration is building a new facility in addition to Temara. Details are below.

The "End of the Spear" is a religious hyped movie that opens in Theaters on the 20th of January, 2006. A propaganda fest movie from the missionaries.

Political stories, be it in Iraq or South America start with small lies. Then they become "true" history.

This is a piece from history back decades ago, when these missionaries were working in South America. Now it is a movie being fed to those who don't know the history involved. Repackaged we call it. Will anyone challenge this history being fed to young people?

From Jurist Paperchase @ Pitt.edu:

Thursday, January 12, 2006
European Parliament opens CIA secret prisons inquiry
Joshua Pantesco at 4:23 PM ET

The European Parliament Thursday opened an official investigation into allegations that several European countries allowed the CIA to secretly detain prisoners within their borders and airspace as part of the US "war on terror".

Background, more information in story.

Dana Priest has done it again. The covert action is code named GST and Bush has spared no illegality in authorizing it.

Covert CIA Program Withstands New Furor Anti-Terror Effort Continues to Grow

The headline seems understated compared to the story.

How does she do this?

MI6 and CIA 'sent student to Morocco to be tortured

An Ethiopian claims that his confession to al-Qaeda bomb plot was signed after being tortured in a Moroccan jail and claims torturers used scalpel on his chest and penis as he was hung, 'strappado' from his wrists from the ceiling. The British government and CIA are now facing complicity in the affair due to the Extraordinary Rendition program.

Agencies said he was part of a plot to buy uranium in Asia, bring it to the US and build a 'dirty bomb' in league with Jose Padilla, a US citizen. Funny enough, now that the torture allegations used against Mohammed came out, the claims against Padilla were subsequently dropped. He now faces a civil charge of supporting al-Qaeda financially.

He was stripped naked, photographed, given an enema and put on a plane with shackles, earphones and a blindfold.

Crossposted at Empire Burlesque

by Chris Floyd,

The only defense for the indefensible is to be offensive, it seems. The Bush Faction has obviously decided to stop refuting allegations about torture and just openly embrace the heinous practice instead. You've got Bush vowing to veto torture restrictions, you've got Cheney twisting arms on Capitol Hill to preserve the Faction's inalienable right to beat people to death -- and now you've got Condi Rice traipsing off to Europe to tell America's allies to stop all their whining about extraordinary rendition, secret prisons and the CIA kidnapping people in their countries.

In a remarkable display of brass, Rice tried to have it both ways, both denying that the U.S. tortures anyone then saying that American "interrogation techniques" have saved European lives by thwarting terrorist plots.

Being reporting on JURIST, the ever-watchful folk @ U. Pitt Law School:

Secret CIA flights landed in Germany, magazine reports  

Jaime Jansen at 4:04 PM ET

[JURIST] German magazine Der Spiegel has reported that the German government has a list of at least 437 flights [Der Speigel report, in German] it suspects the US CIA [official website; JURIST news archive] operated in German airspace, landing in Berlin, Frankfurt, and US Air Base at Ramstein. The list, however, does not indicate what the CIA-operated planes carried.

Bad CIA.  Go to your room.

lies, lies and more lies...

murray waas, as usual, breaks some key information in an excellent article just released in the national journal online...

Ten days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush was told in a highly classified briefing that the U.S. intelligence community had no evidence linking the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein to the attacks and that there was scant credible evidence that Iraq had any significant collaborative ties with Al Qaeda, according to government records and current and former officials with firsthand knowledge of the matter.