dave3_037

“While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began”.

– Bush 11/11/05

"It's slime and defend," said one Republican aide on Capitol Hill, describing the White House's effort to raise questions about Mr. Wilson's motivations and its simultaneous effort to shore up support in the Republican ranks. "So far so good," the aide said. "There's nervousness on the part of the party leadership, but no defections in the sense of calling for an independent counsel."

-- New York Times 10/2/03

Well, we can see that not much has changed over the years. Just when we think this administration has tested the audacity meter to the extreme, they surprise everybody and push it even further. I wonder how many others are convinced that these people are so far within that stew of their own making they wouldn’t recognize reality if it smacked them over the head like a iron skillet.

What should have been a day to honor and recognize those who have served this country turned into yet another attempt at gross manipulation by the Bush administration of not only the military, but the American people who wanted only to honor their service – starting with the laying of the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

To witness Vice President Marquis de Cheney, the leading administrative advocate for torture placing the wreath at the Tomb was just too much for this particular patriot to bear. Yet, it was only the first slimy slap at the military that would take place this Veterans’ Day. And there would be more – much more.

Later that day – and in the days following – Bush would resort to quoting what resembled some tired old forwarded e-mail the Republicans (and their brethren) have been circulating for quite some time. Well, at least since everything went completely wrong in Iraq . I’m sure you’ve seen it. A long and lengthy list of Democratic quotes regarding the “threat” posed by Saddam Hussein – taken completely out of context and some taken from the days of Operation Desert Fox. Yet that didn’t stop our “War President” from not only reusing the military as a political backdrop; it also – one more time – allowed him to make a complete ass of himself. But who cares? It’s “slime and defend” time in the Bush camp . . . again.

Pity poor King George. The miserable failure can’t even get a decent poll number out of Fox (37% approval) or The Wall Street Journal (35%). To make matters worse, there are members of Bush’s own party who are quite perturbed with him when it comes to all matters Iraq and there are more than a few people of power who are about an inch away from using the “L” word in public. But that obviously won’t stop the Bush Machine.

The main push by these criminals is to claim that “everyone saw the same intelligence that we did.” Bush even likes to point out that he had the same intelligence that Clinton had – without realizing that it makes him sound like he acted on information that was more than five years old. Not to mention the fact that Clinton realized, correctly, that the information did not warrant an invasion of Baghdad years ago. Actually, Bush’s daddy also realized invading Baghdad was a bad idea more than a decade ago.

And when considering the task of the Office of Special Plans, we find the claim that everyone had access to the same intelligence as the White House is simply ludicrous. Here was a shadow operation set up by Rumsfeld and Feith and run by ideological amateurs in a clandestine attempt to “tweak” real intelligence reports on Iraq until they mirrored what the White House wanted.

Members of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG) were well aware that intelligence coming out of Iraq did not stand up to the claims they were making. There was no evidence of WMD or al Qaeda ties no matter how many times certain members of the White House demanded that the CIA go back and try again. There are reports by intelligence staffers of Cheney and Libby making multiple visits to CIA Headquarters – during the run up to war – and demanding a more aggressive interpretation of the supposed threat posed by Hussein.

How interesting that those who rewrote intelligence are now accusing their critics of rewriting history.

The fact still remains, however, that the reasons we are currently hearing from the administration and their supporters for continuing to “stay the course” in Iraq would’ve never allowed them to invade that country in the first place. Liberating the Iraqis being the main course with a side order of honoring those who have already fallen is all that’s left on the Bush menu and quite frankly, a majority of Americans are finding it harder to swallow. We’re being told to put a carton of lumpy, spoiled milk back into the refrigerator because it just might taste better tomorrow.

Congressman John Murtha (D-PA), who has served in the House for over three decades and is senior Democrat and former chairman of the Defense Appropriations Committee, has decided we need to buy a new carton of milk. Murtha was the latest player in DeeCeeVille to jam a stick into the hornets nest when he called for a different approach in Iraq being as the current approach is proving to be a dismal failure.

Qualifying Murtha’s remarks are not only his extensive military background, but the fact that he has recently been to Iraq – something Denny Hastert or Jean Schmidt and others in their camp who referred to Murtha as a “coward” cannot claim. But that doesn’t stop the White House Slime and Defend machine – especially when it comes to military experts who disagree with their policies.

Murtha joins the ranks of Gen. Eric Shinseki, Scott Ritter, former Gen. Janice Karpinski, Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, Max Cleland, John Kerry, John McCain and other members of the military who have been assaulted by the Bush Camp for daring not to pat the president on the head saying, “good boy.” This repulsive behavior by the administration is another part of the history that they are attempting to rewrite.

Face it, folks, as far as these war criminals are concerned, the military – like 9/11 – is little more than a useful prop. Whether they are boots on the ground or a television backdrop in fatigues, the military mean little more to these WHIG people than useful tools allowing them to pursue a misguided philosophy of global dominance. And while the bodies continue to fall or return home maimed beyond recognition, the only defense the administration can muster up in the face of plummeting approval ratings and support of this debacle is to attack the patriotism of their critics and accuse them of rewriting history. Interesting enough perspective on their part, especially when one can plainly see that it is they who need a history lesson.

“He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors.” That was Colin Powell on Feb. 24, 2001 speaking on the success of American policies regarding Saddam Hussein.

“We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.” That remark came from Condoleezza Rice on July 29, 2001 regarding the effects of the sanctions imposed on Iraq .

But we know from former White House officials that Bush and the WHIG were predetermined to take out Hussein even before they entered the White House. And we also know that in the wake of 9/11, the same people were desperate to tie Iraq to the attacks that day. We also know that the same month Rice made the above quote, the New York Times described a conversation between Rice and then Director of Policy Planning at the State Department, Richard Haass, who was expressing his misgivings about Bush’s push to invade Iraq . Rice told him "Save your breath - the president has already decided what he's going to do on this." Remember, this was before Bush started what Andy Card described as a “marketing approach” to sell the invasion of Iraq .

We also know from the Downing Street Memos that “Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.” These documents are also from the pre-marketing approach time period.

And the list goes on and on. The infamous “sixteen words” in the 2003 State of the Union and the subsequent attempts to slime anyone who pointed out prior to the invasion (and afterwards) that this administration was simply lying. And they knew it. And I’ve always felt that the sole purpose of the U.N. weapons inspectors sent in prior to the invasion was actually to make sure there were no weapons of mass destruction – kind of like a warped insurance policy. Then they turned around and attacked the findings of those very same weapons inspectors.

This administration has a history of attacking their critics on any level, be it personal or professional. They are capable of unleashing such a coordinated firestorm of vitriol against their enemies in what is usually a successful tactic allowing them to escape accountability one more time. And they are doing now what they have always done when caught with their political pants down – they spin, lie, stone-wall and cover up.

That’s what they did with 9/11, Valerie Wilson, the Energy Task Force, ties to Enron, Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, Operation Able Danger, Sibel Edmonds, Campaigns 2000 and 2004, Rendition and Torture, Cindy Sheehan, the Information Awareness Office, Patriot Act abuses, Guckert/Gannon, Katrina, Bunnatine (Bunny) Greenhouse, Halliburton, the Downing Street Memos and, of course, Iraq and the suppression of intelligence that did not fit their criteria.

That’s quite a list and I’m certain I’ve missed a few examples but when you look back on all of these episodes, you have to wonder how it’s possible that almost a third of the country can still support this administration? Maybe Dr. Joseph Mengele was right when at Nuremberg he stated, "The more we do to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it."

What else would explain how anyone can look upon Cheney in his tuxedo in front of a conservative audience or Bush posing in front of another military backdrop, accusing anyone of rewriting history, knowing what is known, without seeing them as a joke? Think about it.

This administration is in overdrive trying to make people forget that they claimed there were ties between al Qaeda and Hussein (thus “linking” 9/11 to Iraq ) and that Iraq was a threat to America because of WMD. Rumsfeld even went as far as to say on March 30, 2003 , “We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.”

So let’s think for a second, kids. Exactly who is trying to rewrite history here?

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information please review Title 17, Sec. 107 of the U.S. Code. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.