Digby's Hullabaloo Posts

Sunburned Partisans

A new group called Scumbags for Truth is going to issue a letter at a press conference tomorrow:

Hundreds of former commanders and military colleagues of presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry are set to declare in a signed letter that he is “unfit to be commander-in-chief.” They will do so at a press conference in Washington on Tuesday.

“What is going to happen on Tuesday is an event that is really historical in dimension,” John O’Neill, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Navy as a PCF (Patrol Craft Fast) boat commander, told CNSNews.com . The event, which is expected to draw about 25 of the letter-signers, is being organized by a newly formed group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

“We have 19 of 23 officers who served with [Kerry]. We have every commanding officer he ever had in Vietnam. They all signed a letter that says he is unfit to be commander-in-chief,” O’Neill said.

John O’Neill, of course, is the Nixon stooge who’s been paid to come out of character assassination retirement to destroy Kerry’s military record. Here’s a picture of him with his mentor the convicted felon Chuck Colson and his hero the disgraced and pardoned Dick Nixon:

Haldeman: — crew cut, real sharp looking guy who is more articulate than Kerry. He’s not as eloquent; he isn’t the ham that Kerry is. But he’s more believable. [edit]

Haldeman: This guy now, is gonna, he’s gonna move on Kerry.

The White House encouraged O’Neill to challenge Kerry to a debate. Kerry agreed and before the event, President Nixon called O’Neill into the Oval Office for a pep talk. “It’s a great service to the country,?”declared the president.

Nixon: Give it to him, give it to him. And you can do it, because you have a pleasant manner, too, because you’ve got and I think it’s a great service to the country. [edit]

Nixon: You fellows have been out there. You’ve got to know, seeing the barbarians that we’re up against, you’ve got to know what we?re doing in that horrible swamp that North Vietnam is. You’ve got to know from all our faults of what we have in this country that, that what we’re doing is right. You’ve got to know too, people are critics. Critics of the war, critics of [unint], run America down. [edit] You’ve gotta know that you’re on the winning sthat, that you’re on the right side.

Two weeks later, the veterans squared off on the popular Dick Cavett show:

O’Neill: Mr. Kerry is the type of person who lives and survives only on the war weariness and fears of the American people. This is the same little man who on nationwide television in April spoke of, quote, crimes committed on a day to day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.

Kerry: We believe as veterans who took part in this war we have nothing to gain by coming back here and talking about those things that have happened except to try and point the way to America, to try and say, here is where we went wrong, and we’ve got to change.

(Amazing isn’t it? Same bullshit, different war. After the events of the last week, it looks as if we have merely refined our methods. The sadistic sexual humiliation techniques are truly a step forward.)

As for the Scumbags For Truth, (aka SoFT) John O’Neill proudly consorted with felons and liars to smear John Kerry then and is doing the bidding of their heirs still today. One would hope that his picture and the Nixon tapes would feature heavily in any rebuttal. They haven’t quite managed to finish the full Uncle Joe Stalin historical airbrush on Tricky Dick just yet. Their hands are full for the moment with keeping Bozo from going off the reservation and turning Dizzy Ron into a saint.

I hear a lot of complaining that Kerry talks too much about Vietnam and that it’s all in the past and we should move on and deal with more pertinent issues. I can understand that sentiment, particularly among those who are too young to have a stake in the argument. (It’s the way I used to feel about “who lost China” arguments.) But, as you can tell from the strangely familiar arguments above, Vietnam is just a proxy for a particular worldview that continues to be debated even 30 years later.

Progress is slow when viewed from the perspective of one life. Sometimes it’s one step forward, two steps back. A lot of things have changed since O’Neill and Kerry first squared off 33 years ago, but the argument about blind patriotism, government transparency and what constitutes a just and unjust war rages on.

I would suggest, however, that with 20/20 hindsight we know that John Kerry was not the one who was the liar in those conversations recorded so long ago. And we know who ended up as convicted felons and who did not. And we also know that unlike Kerry, in the 33 years since that confrontation on Dick Cavett that Nixon’s house boy John O’Neill has done nothing of note. Indeed, his only claim to fame in his entire life is as a GOP Swift Boat Stooge against Kerry.

It seems pretty obvious who holds the high ground on this one. I am betting this thing is going to backfire.

Catch ‘O The Millenium

Whiskey Bar: An Iraq Prison Diary

The diary is a fascinating read – not least because it documents the fact that as of last Sunday, one of the private contractors identified in the Army’s own internal investigation of the torture scandal was still at Abu Ghraib, and may still have been supervising or conducting interrogations.

The contactor’s name is Steven Stephanowicz, and he works for CACI International – one of two firms that have been publically linked to the abuses in Abu Ghraib’s high-security cell block.

The few, the proud, the mercenary sadists.

Guantanamo Warden to Oversee U.S. Iraq Prison Rules

Boy, that’s a relief. Well, except for this :

“One of the five Britons recently returned to the UK from Guantanamo Bay has claimed that he was subjected to cruel and sadistic treatment by US authorities.

Jamal al Harith, from Manchester, told the Daily Mirror today that detainees of Camp X-Ray and Camp Delta had to face frequent beatings, prolonged periods of isolation and traumatic psychological torture.

The 37-year-old was held at Guantanamo Bay for just over two years after coalition forces brought about the fall of the Taleban regime in Afghanistan. The divorced father-of-three said that the behaviour of prison guards was a deliberate affront to Islam and exacted to offend and terrorise the detainees.

Jamal told the Daily Mirror: ‘The whole point of Guantanamo was to get to you psychologically. The beatings were not as nearly as bad as the psychological torture – bruises heal after a week – but the other stuff stays with you.’

Mr al Harith said that religious practises were often disrupted or even banned in order to punish and antagonise prisoners.

The most extreme of these claims centres around how guards would bring prostitutes into the camp to pose naked in front of prisoners, who were used to veiled women, and counter to Islamic practice.

He said: ‘It was a profoundly disturbing experience for these men. They would refuse to speak about what had happened. It would take perhaps four weeks for them to tell a friend – and we would shout it out around the whole block”

Hey, at least they didn’t force the prisoners themselves to pose naked and simulate fellatio for the camera. That we know of, anyway.

When I read this account last March, I thought it was bullshit. It seemed so nuts, especially the psycho-sexual sadism. But, since pictures prove that it happened at Abu Graib prison under the Americans and we now have pictures of it happening in southern Iraq under the British, I’m inclined to think this sick behavior might just be happening in Gitmo, too. There is either a common illness or a common method to their madness.

On the other hand, Colin “My Lai Cover-Up” Powell assured us that it was impossible:

“We have watched Guantanamo Bay very carefully knowing of the interest of a number of nations, including the United Kingdom, and knowing that we have responsibilities under the Geneva Convention and because we are Americans, we don’t abuse people who are in our care.”

Mr Powell said it was “not in the American tradition to treat people in that manner”.

There you have it.

Coalition Of The Chilling

Britian probes torture claims in Iraq:

“I am aware of the allegations which have been made today of the abuse of prisoners by British soldiers in Iraq,’ Britain’s most senior army officer, General Sir Michael Jackson said, referring to pictures published in the Daily Mirror.

‘All allegations are already under investigation.’

US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have today condemned disturbing pictures showing the reported abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers at a prison west of Baghdad.

In a fresh blow to the image of the US-led coalition, new pictures to be published in Saturday’s Daily Mirror show British soldiers apparently beating a detainee, a suspected thief, with rifle butts, and urinating on him.

According to the newspaper, the prisoner was allegedly threatened with execution during an eight-hour ordeal, which left him bleeding and vomiting, with a broken jaw and smashed teeth.

The Daily Mirror said it was given the pictures by serving soldiers from the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, who were horrified at the act depicted and concerned that ‘rogue elements’ in the army were undermining attempts to win the hearts and minds of local people in British-administered southern Iraq.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the soldiers told the paper that the unnamed captive, against whom no charges were brought, was driven away and dumped from the back of a moving vehicle after his ordeal.

It was not known whether he survived, the newspaper said.”

URINATED ON: A British soldier urinates on an Iraqi prisoner in a vile display of abuse. The captive was beaten and hurled from a moving truck. Army chiefs are investigating.

The brutality of the repression – the death and torture camps, the barbaric prisons for political opponents, the routine beatings for anyone or their families suspected of disloyalty are well documented.

Just last week, someone slandering Saddam was tied to a lamp post in a street in Baghdad, his tongue cut out, mutilated and left to bleed to death, as a warning to others.

I recall a few weeks ago talking to an Iraqi exile and saying to her that I understood how grim it must be under the lash of Saddam.

“But you don’t”, she replied. “You cannot. You do not know what it is like to live in perpetual fear.”

And she is right. We take our freedom for granted. But imagine not to be able to speak or discuss or debate or even question the society you live in. To see friends and family taken away and never daring to complain. To suffer the humility of failing courage in face of pitiless terror. That is how the Iraqi people live. Leave Saddam in place and that is how they will continue to live. Tony Blair 3/18/03

Martin Luther Bush

Atrios and Josh Marshall note this new Orwell Jr talking point about critics of the Iraq war being racists because they don’t believe that “brown people” can govern themselves.

There’s a lot of people in the world who don’t believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern. I reject that. I reject that strongly. I believe that people who practice the Muslim faith can self-govern. I believe that people whose skins aren’t necessarily — are a different color than white can self-govern.

I don’t know what color “our” skin is, but I’m sure the other “people in the world” are relieved to know that the U.S. president, at least, thinks that people whose skins are a different color than white can self-govern. It’s just a little embarrassing that he has the mind of a 12 year old and actually thinks it’s such a huge insight that the leader of a multi-racial, pluralistic society believes such a thing. What’s next? Is he going to announce that he doesn’t agree with all those people in the world who think that slavery is good?

But, he is right about one thing. There are people who think this way. And they are the same people who persist in believing that Iraq and al-Qaeda were in cahoots on 9/11. And it’s not just Iraq, apparently:

Hey, Hosni [Mubarek, of Egypt]…until Arabs attacked us, most Americans’ feelings about y’all were pretty neutral. Now that you b*st*rds have invaded us and spilled the blood of our innocent brothers and sisters on our own soil, you’ll be finding out soon what destruction your hatred will bring upon those cesspools you call countries.

Taliban, Saddam, Next???

—

I do hate Arabs as well!

I feel pity for a people who let some self-appointed cult leaders do their thinking for them. A mind is a terrible thing to waste!

—

What Islamists of any persuasion don’t seem to get, their days are numbered. No more Madrasa’s, No more Bin Laden, no more oil money, no more 72 virgins, no more religious spider holes, no more Islam.

—

If they don’t like it they need to renounce Islam or renounce their American citizenship and move back to an Arab country, so Americans don’t have to worry about them. They will be much safer. If another 9/11 kind of a terror attack happens, I’m afraid some Americans might start shooting Arabs out of fear for the safety of their families.

Yes. It would appear that some people don’t believe that those of “brown skin” should be self-governing. They are the same ones who don’t think those of brown skin should be allowed to vote. In fact, they are the same people who have a pronounced affection for brown shirts — the racist base of the Republican Party who look old Georgie right in the eye and see into his soul. No matter what happy horseshit he spews about self-governing brown people, they know he’s one of them.

The Line

“Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people. That’s not the way we do things in America. I didn’t like it one bit,” Mr. Bush said.

Was I supposed to be horrified by the report of Iraqi prisoners being positioned in “pornographic” positions and humiliated by American soldiers? I was not. During your report, all I could think of was the murder, torture, maiming, burning and beheading of innocent civilians, women and children included, carried out by terrorists and supporters of Saddam Hussein. At least these men were men of war.

They had to pose for pornographic pictures? So what. We cannot imagine sitting at home on our couches the horrors our soldiers must face every day. Why not focus your attention on the unfair practices of our enemy?

–Sally Ainsley

Woman soldier points at genitals of hooded and naked Iraqis

The little bit I have read about, it seems to me that it is being completely blown out of proportion,” said Roger Krueger, who served in Vietnam and is the chapter’s president. “When a person is in combat, they have to do whatever they have to do to stay alive.”

Two US troops pose with Iraqi prisoners piled on top of each other.

I’m sure there is more than one side of the story”:, and we don’t know all the facts,’ said Robert Hutcheson, a Cumberland resident and Allegany County commissioner. ‘In my mind, this is no blemish on their record.

Iraqi PoWs are forced to parade before their jeering captors

America has some good things to offer the world. Our Bill Of Rights may be the biggest advance in modern political history. We have tended to embrace progress, however painful, with more enthusiasm than many other hide bound cultures.

But, the character of our people is just as bad and good as any other. When Crusader Codpiece lectures the world about the justice of our cause being based upon our “goodness” he proves his simplemindedness once again.

These sickening pictures taken by some Americans and the pathetic rationalizing words of some other Americans show once again that the line between good and evil is not drawn between “America” and “the enemy.” It is drawn

inside the heart of every human being.

Rub It In

TBOGG told me:

Via Southpaw, we see that a Left Coaster commentor had the line of the day about President Senor Wences’ Fist appearance before the 9/11 commission.

‘Whenever Kerry publicly demands debates with George, he should be sure to insist that Cheney can’t come.'”

This is a great idea, but the punch line is exactly backward.

He should say:

“I’ve challenged George Bush to weekly debates, mano a mano, and he’s refused. Now, I understand the president doesn’t like to face tough questions all by himself. So, if he needs to bring Dick Cheney with him that’s ok by me.”

Like all glass jawed bullies, Crusader Codpiece is sensitive about that kind of thing. Rub It In His Face.

Moving Heaven And Earth

More Agents Track Castro Than Bin Laden

The Treasury Department agency entrusted with blocking the financial resources of terrorists told Congress that at the end of last year it had just four full-time employees dedicated to investigating Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein wealth while nearly two dozen were working on Cuban embargo violations.

Hello?

There is something seriously wrong on this side of the equation in the WOT and it would be a good issue for Kerry to exploit, I think. For reasons we can only speculate upon, the Bush administration and the Republican Party are totally unwilling to do what is necessary to block the funding of terrorists.

Toss out habeus corpus like a piece of rotting garbage, flush due process down the toilet, use the Patriot Act to try to bring Laurie Mylroie’s fevered wet dreams to life — but Gawd help us, we will never let the Stalinist jackbooted thugs invade the sanctity of private banking transactions.

If Those Walls Could Talk

Bush said it was important for him and Cheney to appear together so that commission members could “see our body language… how we work together.”

What kind of body language could possibly give that information? I mean, we all know that the Oval Office has seen some hot action, but somehow the thought of Junior and Unka Dick revealing their work style through their body language brings some very disturbing visions to mind. Does Dubya reach out and grab Cheney’s hand from time to time and give it a little pat? Does Dick rub Junior’s back lovingly during stressful moments? Ruffle his hair? Give his earlobe a little nip?

Maybe so:

“There was some laughter from time to time. The president is a bit of a tease,” Mr Thompson told the Associated Press news agency.

“There were no tense moments. I thought the president gave a five-star performance. I wish the American people could have seen it.”

No thanks. If I wanted to see that I’d just download “Bigtime Dick’s Tease” from Ooohlala Video. Bigger production values.

WWBD?

The best writer in America has some good advice for John Kerry:

Kerry has not been anywhere near quick enough on his feet so far. I mean, honestly, here’s the president talking about having a high father — as opposed to a lowdown brother, which would be Neil. (Back in the steamer trunk, Neilsie!) Here’s the president’s favorite policy hot-cha gal comparing abortion-rights demonstrators to terrorists. (Ten Minutes From Normal, indeed. And several miles beyond its sister city, Sane.) These are very big fish in extremely small barrels here.

I know part of the problem: Kerry has brought aboard some career hacks from the commonwealth, God save it. Some of these guys worked for Michael Dukakis back in 1988, and they’re only now getting back in the game because it’s taken them 14 years to get back those parts of their respective anatomies that were still lodged between Jim Baker’s teeth. Nice to see these guys back at the helm of another campaign. It’s like spotting Captain Joe Hazelwood a pitcher of martinis and another oil tanker.

What is abundantly clear is that Kerry’s hired the wrong guys from Massachusetts. There’s only one man, only one true leader, who’s fit for the kind of battle in which Kerry has found himself.

His name is Belichick. Bill Belichick.

Quite simply, we here in Massachusetts believe in Bill, who has led us out of the wilderness and through two Super Bowls. We believe in Bill with a constant faith that makes Tim LaHaye read like Jacqueline Susann. Our devotion is whole. It is complete. In Bill we trust.

[…]

Admittedly, Bill’s politics are a bit of a mystery. He’s a Wesleyan man, so he’s got that small, New England, liberal-arts-college thing going for him. In addition, Belichick has hinted more than once that he’s a Democrat, and Rush Limbaugh once called the Patriots “socialists,” because they were introduced as a team before the Super Bowl in 2002. And he’s a Bon Jovi fan, which can mean anything at all. But he’s driven and focused, and he’s coldly maniacal about winning. That’s all that’s needed for the moment.

Do I overstate? In a political culture in which Fred Barnes is a thinker and Tom Brokaw a historian? Please. It’s time for John Kerry’s campaign to join the faithful. We, too, follow our higher father. I suggest it’s time for the junior senator to adopt the first public expression of faith shared by all New England since the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, beginning our long historical march toward jobs our uncles can get for us on the county-road crews.

WWBD?

What Would Bill Do?