MetaFilter posts tagged with bush and war

Federal prosecutors to investigate abusive interrogation cases

grobstein — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:57:07 -0800

Big Newsfilter: US Attorney General Holder appoints a prosecutor to investigate abusive CIA interrogations in the War on Terror. Obama was reluctant to investigate Bush admin wrongdoing, and he still insists "he thinks that we should be looking forward, not backward" (per his deputy press secretary). But Holder managed to get the go-ahead. Previously.

Sixth generation warfare: boner pills.

mek — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:07:12 -0800

The little blue pill goes to war.

Secret moves against Iran

homunculus — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:00:05 -0800

Preparing the Battlefield: The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran.

Bush sacrifices

CunningLinguist — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:13:34 -0800

Bush interview with Politico: "For the first time, Bush revealed a personal way in which he has tried to acknowledge the sacrifice of soldiers and their families: He has given up golf."

Bin Laden Determined To Strike In U.S. Part 2

homunculus — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:45:43 -0800

"The United States Lacks a Comprehensive Plan to Destroy the Terrorist Threat and Close the Safe Haven in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas" (PDF). A recent GAO report claims that the Bush administration has failed to prevent Al Qaeda's reemergence in Pakistan, and that we're basically right back where we started in 2001.

Can you trust a television military analyst?

Mo Nickels — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:32:25 -0800

Television military analysts are wooed, courted, and privileged by the Pentagon. An in-depth investigative report by the New York Times uncovers logrolling, shilling, touting, back-scratching, and just plain bias on the part of the experts that television networks put on the air to talk about the war. Some of them appear to be as good as owned by the Defense Department. "The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air. Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves."

Bush's War

auralcoral — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:29:01 -0800

In honor of the 5-year anniversary of the Iraq War, PBS' Frontline presented a fantastic 2- part special on the issue this past Monday and Tuesday. It is now available in it's entirety online along with interview transcripts from senior officials, a video timeline of the war, and battlefield stories from soldiers. Bush's War

Tell the Truth nigga'

hadjiboy — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:27:14 -0800

Bin Laden by Immortal Technique
Cowboy (Ode to Dubya) by Peggy Watson
Good Ol' Jesus by Thom Paine, Woody Guthrie and Kevin Kane
Georgie Porgie by Linda Finkle
American Two Step by William Shatner and The Everly Brothers
Holdin' Out by Strangegirl
Girly-Man Rag by Steve Zimmerman
I Don't Like Bush by Brett Eidman
Great Big Lies by Dumb Presidents

(via) more here And India's small contribution to the list.

The Gaza Bombshell

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:33:25 -0800

Vanity Fair has obtained confidential documents, since corroborated by sources in the U.S. and Palestine, which lay bare a covert initiative, approved by Bush and implemented by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams, to provoke a Palestinian civil war.

And So This Is Christmas?

jonp72 — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:25:46 -0800

George W. Bush covers John Lennon's War Is Over (If You Want It) in a collaboration with Wax Audio. Another coverversion of John Lennon's God is included on the B-side of the new limited edition 45. On the other hand, Yoko sez, "Vote Kucinich!" (previously on Mefi)

Al Odah v. U.S. and Boumediene v. Bush

ao4047 — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 06:37:15 -0800

Al Odah v. U.S. and Boumediene v. Bush go before SCOTUS Streaming on C-Span today. The Center for Constitutional Rights (great podcast) will argue before the Supreme Court today:

Immediately after the Supreme Court’s decision in Rasul, The Center for Constitutional Rights and cooperating counsel filed 11 new habeas petitions in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of over 70 detainees. These cases eventually became the consolidated cases of Al Odah v. United Statesand Boumediene v. Bush, the leading cases determining the significance of the Supreme Court’s decision in Rasul, the rights of non-citizens to challenge the legality of their detention in an offshore U.S. military base, and the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

Economic Consequences

homunculus — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 00:35:28 -0800

The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush. "The next president will have to deal with yet another crippling legacy of George W. Bush: the economy. A Nobel laureate, Joseph E. Stiglitz, sees a generation-long struggle to recoup." [Via Firedoglake.]

Iraq was just the beginning.

FeldBum — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:43:13 -0800

Iraq was just the beginning. According to retired General Wesley Clark, a top-secret memo detailed a plan for “taking out” seven countries in five years, ending with Iran. Wesley Clark: I said, “Are we still going to war with Iraq?” And he said, “Oh, it’s worse than that.” He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, “I just got this down from upstairs” -- meaning the Secretary of Defense’s office -- “today.” And he said, “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” I said, “Is it classified?” He said, “Yes, sir.”

Allí, ese 16 de marzo, Bush, Blair y Aznar decidieron sustituir al Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas y usurparon sus funciones para declarar por su cuenta y riesgo la guerra contra Irak.

amberglow — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:50:52 -0800

Bush and Aznar pre-Iraq Invasion-- Transcript of their private conversations in Crawford, Feb 22, 2003: "Quedan dos semanas. En dos semanas estaremos militarmente listos. Estaremos en Bagdad a finales de marzo", le dijo a Aznar. ("2 weeks. In 2 weeks we will be ready militarily. We'll be in Baghdad by the end of March", he told Aznar.) Consider this historical documentation. Full transcript here, and audio clips in first link. PB. Me parece muy bien. Chirac conoce perfectamente la realidad. Sus servicios de inteligencia se lo han explicado. Los árabes le están transmitiendo a Chirac un mensaje muy claro: Sadam Hussein debe irse. El problema es que Chirac se cree Mister Arab y en realidad les está haciendo la vida imposible. Pero yo no quiero tener ninguna rivalidad con Chirac. (Bush: Chirac knows the reality perfectly. Your intelligence services have told it. The Arabs are sending a very clear message to Chirac--Saddam must go. The problem is that Chirac thinks he's Mister Arab and the reality is that he's in a dream world(?). But i don't want to have any rivalry with Chirac. )

How George Bush became the new Saddam

homunculus — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 21:31:07 -0800

How George Bush became the new Saddam. "Its strategies shattered, a desperate Washington is reaching out to the late dictator's henchmen." [Via Firedoglake.]

Death Grip

homunculus — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:45:30 -0800

Death Grip: How Political Psychology Explains Bush's Ghastly Success. Interesting article on the work of psychologists Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon, and Tom Pyszczynski. [Via Disinformation.]

Bonaparte and Bush on Deck

homunculus — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 20:20:27 -0800

Lessons from Past Western Incursions in the Middle East. A speech by Juan Cole at the New America Foundation in which he discusses his new book, Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East, and the relevance and lessons of Napoleon's expedition in Egypt to the current American occupation of Iraq. A shorter version, covering many of the same points, is in this article: Pitching the Imperial Republic.

The Great Iraq Swindle

mr_crash_davis — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 11:00:55 -0800

The Great Iraq Swindle: How Bush Allowed an Army of For-Profit Contractors to Invade the U.S. Treasury

Not with bang?

orthogonality — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 18:55:15 -0800

It's been said before that the US Army is broken: in April, last December by Colin Powell and Pat Buchanan, by the head of the Army Reserve in 2005, by several generals as far back as 2004. But now, even as another Republican senator, Domenici, joins Warner, Voinovich, and Lugar in abandoning support for Bush's War, Joe Klein in Time Magazine says the end is inevitable, regardless of what politicians want:

According to the Broken Army clock, troop levels will begin to wane in March 2008, no matter what Congress decides in September; the current 20 brigade combat teams will be reduced to 15 by August 2008. There is growing speculation in the military that Bush will try to pre-empt the Petraeus testimony by announcing a gradual drawdown from 20 to 15 combat brigades later this summer.

Is it like having a "drug czar" for the war on drugs -- y'know, only it's for the war on war?

pax digita — Wed, 16 May 2007 15:20:29 -0800

"War Czar" -- another term for "highly paid radio operator"? So the Decider in Chief wants to have a War Czar* in the White House. He appointed Douglas Lute after three other general officers turned him down. Note that Lute, a three-star general, is actually inferior in rank to David Petraeus, the four-star who's commanding the Multi-National Force in Iraq. Black Five had some thoughts on this, as did Jules Crittenden.

Democrats Tell President War Is Lost

Second Account For Making Jokey Comments — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:55:27 -0800

"This is the message I took to the President" US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today in response to reporters questions about his meeting with President Bush. "I believe myself that this war is lost and that the surge is not accomplishing anything, as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday."

Steve Jobs introduces his newest product..

empath — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 06:37:15 -0800

Introducing... the iRack! (video, youtube)

The Life and Death of a Warrior in Iraq

digaman — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 08:27:54 -0800

I am sullied -- no more. Colonel Ted Westhusing was a soldier's soldier -- a multilingual West Point graduate, tough as nails, who was committed to the ancient Greek warrior's ideal of ἀρετή ("arete," excellence). He volunteered to go to Iraq, where he was commanded by another outstanding rising-star officer, counterinsurgency expert David Petraeus. (Westhusing's widow, Michelle, recalls that her husband thought his country was doing "a great thing" there.) After working with one of the shadowy contractors the US has relied on to train Iraqi security forces, USIS, Westhusing became increasingly despondent. In May 2005, investigators say, he put a 9mm bullet in his brain after writing a note that said, "Reevaluate yourselves, cdrs [commanders]. You are not what you think you are and I know it." Westhusing died, as was previously discussed here, and his former "cdr" is now running the war. Lots of new information in this article from the Texas Observer.

The Lucifer Effect

homunculus — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 20:34:44 -0800

Retiring psychology professor Philip G. Zimbardo, who ran the Stanford Prison Experiment, gave his final lecture at Stanford this week, criticizing the Bush administration and saying that senior government officials responsible for Abu Ghraib should be "tried for the crimes against humanity." [Via MindHacks.]

The Redirection

homunculus — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 09:22:27 -0800

The Redirection. "Is the Administration’s new policy aiding our enemies in the war on terrorism?" New article by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker.