Coming Fall 2009…

Bin Laden driver knew 9/11 target: prosecutor
Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:33am EDT
By Jim Loney

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden’s driver knew the target of the fourth hijacked jetliner in the September 11 attacks, a prosecutor said on Tuesday in an attempt to draw a link between Salim Hamdan and the al Qaeda leadership in the first Guantanamo war crimes trial.

Hamdan’s lawyer said in opening statements that the Yemeni, held for nearly seven years before his trial, was just a paid employee of the fugitive al Qaeda leader, a driver in the motor pool who never joined the militant group or plotted attacks on America.

But prosecutor Timothy Stone told the six-member jury of U.S. military officers who will decide Hamdan’s guilt or innocence that Hamdan had inside knowledge of the 2001 attacks on the United States because he overheard a conversation between bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

“If they hadn’t shot down the fourth plane it would’ve hit the dome,” Stone, a Navy officer, said in his opening remarks.

The tribunal’s chief prosecutor, Col. Lawrence Morris, later explained that Stone was quoting Hamdan in evidence that will be presented at trial. Morris declined to say if the “dome” was a reference to the U.S. Capitol.

“Virtually no one knew the intended target, but the accused knew,” Stone said.

United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania. U.S. officials have never stated it was shot down although rumors saying that abound to this day.

(My emphasis added.)

(H/T) Peter of LoneTree @ BlondSense.

This stuff has happened before. And it’ll happen again. Happy Fourth of July.

Via TJ’s Anti-Contrarian Blog:

“This news sort of flew under the notice of the Lame Stream Media, and I fear the only way the American People will hear of it is through Bloggers:

Saddam Harbored Al-Qaeda according to a Democrat Senate Investigation!!!

The Democrat-run Senate Intelligence Committee, while trying to find wrongdoing by the Bush Administration in their Phase Two Report, actually proved something that I proved long ago in this blog –

Iraq harbored Al-Qaeda before our invasion of March 2003.

Here is the full report: LINK. Now, go and read Conclusions 10 and 11 on Page 71.

Hey libs, told ya’ so…“

So what does conclusion 10 and 11 say?

There one problem with TJ’s claim, and that’s Abu Musab al-Zarqawi didn’t join al-Qaeda untill late 2004, well after the invasion and occupation of Iraq. His claim is just another in a long line of rubbish. Even the pResident knows that:

In 2001, coalition forces destroyed Zarqawi’s Afghan training camp, and he fled the country and he went to Iraq, where he set up operations with terrorist associates long before the arrival of coalition forces. In the violence and instability following Saddam’s fall, Zarqawi was able to expand dramatically the size, scope, and lethality of his operation. In 2004, Zarqawi and his terrorist group formally joined al Qaida, pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden, and he promised to “follow his orders in jihad.”

Soon after, bin Laden publicly declared that Zarqawi was the “Prince of Al Qaida in Iraq” — and instructed terrorists in Iraq to “listen to him and obey him.” It’s hard to argue that al Qaida in Iraq is separate from bin Laden’s al Qaida, when the leader of al Qaida in Iraq took an oath of allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

In 2004.

Muddying the water is what the right-wing blogosphere does oh so well. And TJ is tops at that. To illustrate let’s take a look at the next two conclusions that seemed to have been glossed over:

Ya.

So to sum up…was Iraq a bad place with bad people prior to 2003? Yes. Did it harbor al Qaida? No. Did pResident Bush, Vice pResident Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and numerous other villains lie this country into a war for their own perceived benefit? Yes.

“A liar needs a good memory.”

“Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.”

…and in other absurdities:
New G.I. Bill Proposes ‘Patriot Tax’
by Brian Naylor

All Things Considered, May 15, 2008 · Congressional Democrats are pushing forward with plans for a new G.I. Bill to give veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan money to go to college for four years. House Democrats want to pay for it with what they’ve dubbed a “patriot tax” on people earning more than $500,000. In the Senate, one Republican who notably isn’t on board is John McCain, a Vietnam veteran who says the proposal is too expensive and could encourage service members to leave the military.

He’s A Pander Bear Too…

In stark contrast to his 100 years in Iraq McCain now says he wants out of Iraq. What’s more, McCain is now even saying his is for time tables. I seem to remember a time in recent history when calling for timetables got one branded as a traitor.

The Occasional Restatement of Principles

You know, most Americans are imperialists. One of the reasons–the reason–that it so amuses me to find the occasional commenter here ask me why I offer no practical solutions to “our” problems, why the closest I ever come to advocating for direct action is to propose minor acts of cultural vandalism. Being an anti-imperialist in America is like being a Zionist in the Third Reich. I am a fringe radical. If you agree with even a tenth of what you read on this site, you too are a fringe radical. Your beliefs and opinions are not reflective of those of your countrymen. The question, “How do we stop being imperialists?” bears as much practical import as, “How do we live without breathing?” We don’t. The United States of America is an empire. Maybe you think it’s on the downhill slide? I certainly hope so. But it is what it is, nevertheless. The notions that within the body of empire lurks the heart of an egalitarian, constitutional republic, or a libertarian minarchy, or a parliamentary social democracy are the purest forms of political self-flattery. The subjects here may be largely political, but the program is purely perceptual. I am not a reformist.

What more can I add? I’ve been trying to tell myself I have an answer why I no longer feel protesting the war in Iraq is worthwhile. I’ve been trying to explain, when questioned, why I feel the way I feel. The quoted paragraph above comes close. Maybe even more so the following passage critiqued at Whiskey Fire:

I find it fascinating that liberals have no problem advocating “redistribution of wealth” but are blind to the real wealth –that biologically underpins and motivates all the other kinds of competition/ wealth aquiring[sic].

Now, Whiskey Fire is a fine blog, as far as the Progglesphere goes. And they rightly call out the preceding text prior to the part I sited as idiotic. But it was that little bit at the end that caught me as more than ringing with a little truth. You can’t escape it. This is what it comes down to. Human nature. Everyone is trying to build their nest. Even if it means with your bones. You are too.

Starts now…

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Wal-Mart Vendor Scorned
by Scout Finch
Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 04:53:00 PM PDT

For decades, Wal-Mart has used Flagler Productions, a small company based in Kansas, to record their internal meetings. In 2006, Wal-Mart suddenly stopped using their services - wiping out about 95% of their total business. As a consequence, Flagler is struggling to stay afloat and recently made the decision to open its archives to attorneys, unions, activists, and anybody else with a few bucks in their pocket. Needless to say, Wal-Mart is not happy.

I’ve been pretty quite on this front lately, stuck to my promise, fought the impulse time and again (three weeks is a long time in blog years). But it’s pretty much all over and that’s that. PA may still go her way, but it will be within a hairsbreadth. Let it bleed.

See Also:

• Hillary in 1991: “So proud of Wal-Mart”
• Hillary Clinton and Wal-Mart: A Love Story
• As a Director, Clinton Moved Wal-Mart Board, but Only So Far

• Webb: McCain Refuses To Co-Sponsor GI Bill For Post-9/11 Veterans
• Bush, McCain “gaffes” on Iran echo Iraq war lies
• McCain Blows by Public Spending Cap

Bicker, backbite, and squabble all you want. As long as you accept the consequences. I think we’ve just about hit the envelope. I know this might seem an overestimation of how much influence my little blog holds, but, in the style of Blue Gal’s Blog against Theocracy, how about committing to a moratorium on Clinton and Obama posts (at least the negative kind)? Or how about for every post you do concerning Hillary or Barack, you write two about McCain? You can join by leaving a link to your post in the comments.

The 10 Worst Presidents:
5. Millard Fillmore (1850-1853)
By Jay Tolson
Posted 2/16/07

The 13th president came to office on the coattails of a popular war hero, Zachary Taylor, who died in office a little over a year after becoming president. Born in a log cabin in central New York, Fillmore made his way to politics and the Whig Party via school teaching and the law. A largely ignored vice president, he got Taylor’s attention when he told him he would support the Compromise of 1850 if the Senate came to a deadlock. Consisting of five separate acts (including the Fugitive Slave Law, compelling the federal government to return fugitive slaves to their masters), the compromise stood for everything Taylor opposed. When the ailing president died, his successor became an even more vigorous champion of the compromise measures. Fillmore’s actions may have averted a national crisis and postponed the outbreak of the Civil War, but it was peace bought at an unconscionable price. Two decades after the notorious deal, the New York Times opined that it was Fillmore’s “misfortune to see in slavery a political and not a moral question.” Misfortune might now seem too kind a word.

-Good ol’ compromise and bi-partisanship…