Iran's Rising Star

If you think the saber rattling against Iran is about nuclear weapons - you're wrong.
If you think the war in Iraq is about spreading democracy or about WMD you're wrong.
If you think that the U.S. is about to have one ally left (Israel)- you're right.

I've said this before but I will repeat myself. If you are not reading Jeff Huber over at Pen and Sword then you are missing out on some informed commentary about the current situation in Iraq and the reasons and rationale (or lack thereof) for the run up to the war with Iran. In his latest series Jeff does an excellent job of giving the reader and understanding of the motivations of the Cheney administration and reason why it is doomed to fail. I highly recommend stopping by Pen and Sword often.

Jeff's latest series: Iran's Star Rising in the Next World Order is a must read

Part I examines the underlying motives of the push for war with Iran.

Part II discusses how the run up to a possible Iranian confrontation parallels what we saw with Iraq and examines how, if at all, we can arrive at a better conclusion than we did last time.

Part III discusses why U.S. military action against Iran would be the end of the "world order" as we know it.

Here is a bit from Part III

The ancient Chinese general and philosopher Sun Tzu said, "Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory."

The Dick Cheney neoconservatives who shaped the Bush administration's foreign policy are desperately looking for a victory to justify the defeats from their previous fights. Unfortunately, they don't think like Sun Tzu, so they still believe they can "win" by starting another ill-advised war, and they are unable to understand that they have already lost.

The prize in the next world order is control of global energy. That's what the Iraq invasion was really about. If there were a single enlightened, influential voice in or around the administration, it would tell young Mister Bush to reverse course immediately, and take steps to supplant China and Russia as Iran's energy partner (which is what Bush should have been doing all along).

Unfortunately for America, the influential policy shapers are the likes of Cheney, John Bolton, Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer, and the only thing they have in common with great Asian strategists like Sun Tzu is a fear of losing face. My fear is that if they manage to manipulate America into another act of military lunacy, our country will have squandered its gains of the last century before this one is a decade old.

The neoconservatives seem hell bent for Naugahyde to ensure that the United States goes out not with a whimper, but with a very big, very loud bang. My advice to young Americans who want to succeed in the next world order?

Learn Mandarin and Farsi.

Sumo Recommends

Sumo over at Sumo Merriment has a couple of links to worthwhile posts. The first by Shadow Monkey and the second by Tom Baker. Here is a taste of the two.

A Constant State Of Emergency by Shadow Monkey

"This vast range of powers, taken together, confer enough authority to rule the country without reference to normal constitutional processes. Under the powers delegated by these statutes, the President may: seize property; organize and control the means of production; seize commodities; assign military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and control all transportation and communication; regulate the operation of private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens."

Fight Damn You, Fight by Tom Baker

I hate to say this, but I agree with President Bush that we are at war against an enemy that wants to destroy the very fabric of our civilization. We are at war with people who do not share our values, our ideals, and our morality. We are at war with people who believe that the ends justify the means, no matter how heinous, barbarous or uncivilized the act.

Ourselves.

Security

Athenae over at First-Draft has a good post up about security and how it is really our responsibility overall to insure our safety. It says some good things. I especially like the following two paragraphs. It really cuts to the heart of what I believe as a liberal.

Turn it around, look outward: that national security, true national security, doesn't mean a world in which no one can hurt us. It means a world in which no one wants to.

It means a world in which no one can blame us for the death of their children. It means a world in which the calls of radical fundamentalists to hate us for our privilege fall on deaf ears, because our only privilege is the limitlessness of our generosity and our compassion. It means a world in which we truly are the country even the worst of us, deep down, know we can be: light to the world, hope to the hopeless, give me your tired, give me your poor. It means a world in which that ideal is so undeniably our goal that those who would turn their desperate against us find no audience, find no one to believe. America, America, God shed its grace on all.

Voices Return

We are so lucky! Mandt has returned to the blogosphere at adgitadiaries. These guys were some of the first visitors to fallenmonk and when they went off the air last year we were very disappointed.

They have relocated from California to Vermont and have now decided to bring their much needed voice back on line. Sadly, their faithful companion Harry Hound is no longer with us and his humor and support will be sorely missed.

Please welcome two important voices back to the net. Their current post American Winter: In the Belly of the Beast will give you some idea of the quality of writing and beauty of thought we can expect from them over the coming months.
We have missed you and welcome you back.

I'm So Ashamed

Marty Lederman at Balkinization:

Here’s the language. It’s not subtle at all, and it only takes 30 seconds or so to see that the Senators have capitulated entirely, that the U.S. will hereafter violate the Geneva Conventions by engaging in Cold Cell, Long Time Standing, etc., and that there will be very little pretense about it. In addition to the elimination of habeas rights in section 6, the bill would delegate to the President the authority to interpret “the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions” “for the United States,” except that the bill itself would define certain “grave breaches” of Common Article 3 to be war crimes. [UPDATE: I hear word that Senator McCain thinks the definition of “grave breaches” covers the “alternative” CIA techniques. I hope he can make that interpretation stick somehow, but on quickly reading the language, it still seems to me as if it’s carefully crafted to exclude the CIA techniques. See, most importantly, the limiting language defining “serious physical pain or suffering,” which is carefully drafted to exclude the CIA techniques such as Cold Cell and Long Time Standing. Also, some Senators apparently are taking comfort in the fact that the Administration’s interpretation would have to be made, and defended, publicly. That’s a small consolation, I suppose; but I’m confident the creative folks in my former shop at OLC — you know, those who concluded that waterboarding is not torture — will come up with something. After all, the Administration is already on record as saying that the CIA “program” can continue under this bill, so the die apparently is cast. And the courts would be precluded from reviewing it.]

And then, for good measure — and this is perhaps the worst part of the bill, for purposes going far beyond the questions of torture and interrogation — section 7 would preclude courts altogether from ever interpreting the Geneva Conventions — any part of them — by providing that “no person may invoke the Geneva Conventions or any protocols thereto in any habeas or civil action or proceeding to which the United States, or a current or former officer, employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent of the United States, is a party as a source of rights, in any court of the United States or its States or territories.” [UPDATE: I’ve heard some people argue that this language would retain the power of courts to construe Geneva in a criminal proceeding. That remains to be seen (the language is not clear). But even if that’s so, it’s not at all obvious how or why the question of the meaning and application of Common Article 3 would ever be one that a court would have occasion to resolve in a criminal proceeding.]

If I’m right, and if this is enacted, the only hope would be the prospect of the Supreme Court holding that both the habeas cut-off, and the “no person may invoke Geneva” provision, are unconstitutional.

[UPDATE: In the post above, I tentatively conclude that what’s most alarming and radical about the “compromise” is the statutory definition of “cruel treatment,” and the foreclosure of both judicial review and any judicial consideration of any question dealing with Geneva interpretation.]

There Can Be Only One

Well, the following exchange between Eric Brewer and Tony Snow sure is interesting and goes a long way into explaining the thinking at the Whitehouse when it comes to the Constitution. It basically says we only have one branch of government and that one is President Thumbscrews.

Via Atrios from BTC News

Me: But isn’t it the Supreme Court that’s supposed to decide whether laws are unconstitutional or not?

Tony: No, as a matter of fact the president has an obligation to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. That is an obligation that presidents have enacted through signing statements going back to Jefferson. So, while the Supreme Court can be an arbiter of the Constitution, the fact is the President is the one, the only person who, by the Constitution, is given the responsibility to preserve, protect, and defend that document, so it is perfectly consistent with presidential authority under the Constitution itself.

President Thumbscrews

Charles Pierce at The American Prospect pretty much sums up the events of the last week or so when it comes to the Geneva Conventions and how much we are allowed to violate them.

The New York Times has the right of it here, limning the pathetic gullibility at the heart of the "compromise." There is nothing in this bill that President Thumbscrews can't ignore. There is nothing in this bill that reins in his feckless and dangerous reinterpretation of the powers of his office. There is nothing in this bill that requires him to take it -- or its congressional authors -- seriously. Two weeks ago, John Yoo set down in The New York Times the precise philosophical basis on which the administration will sign this bill and then ignore it. The president will decide what a "lesser breach" of the Geneva Conventions is? How can anyone over the age of five give this president that power? And wait until you see the atrocity that I guarantee you is coming down the tracks concerning the fact that the president committed at least 40 impeachable offenses with regard to illegal wiretapping.

And the Democratic Party was nowhere in this debate. It contributed nothing. On the question of whether or not the United States will reconfigure itself as a nation which tortures its purported enemies and then grants itself absolution through adjectives -- "Aggressive interrogation techniques" -- the Democratic Party had…no opinion. On the issue of allowing a demonstrably incompetent president as many of the de facto powers of a despot that you could wedge into a bill without having the Constitution spontaneously combust in the Archives, well, the Democratic Party was more pissed off at Hugo Chavez.

This was as tactically idiotic as it was morally blind. On the subject of what kind of a nation we are, and to what extent we will live up to the best of our ideals, the Democratic Party was as mute and neutral as a stone. Human rights no longer have a viable political constituency in the United States of America. Be enough of a coward, though, and cable news will fit you for a toga.

h/t to Atrios

The Cowboy Code

I think it is time Gene Autry stepped in to remind our friends in Congress and the President what it means to be an American. This is especially appropriate since “All Hat No Cattle” wants us to believe he is just a good ole Texas boy and just follows “The Cowboy Way”. The following was published in 1939 but it still applies today and for true Americans always will. I keep a framed copy on my office wall.

GENE AUTRY”S COWBOY CODE

The cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.

He must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.

He must always tell the truth.

He must be gentle with children, the elderly and animals.

He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas.

He must help people in distress.

He must be a good worker.

He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits.

He must respect women, parents and his nation’s laws.

The cowboy is a patriot.

Moral Bankruptcy Defined

Another dubious reason for invading Iraq shot to hell. It was always one of those little extra things like "and another thing Saddam tortures his people too!" Did you ever imagine that the US Congress would actually be sitting around and debating how much torture is OK as a matter of policy? I've read the Constitution several times and I don't know how I skipped over the part that allows the President to torture prisoners as long as it is supervised and approved by the Congress and in spite of any international agreements we have signed.

Our government, under the morally bankrupt leadership of the Bush adminsitration and the GOP Congress has squandered every moral standing that we used to have in the world. We are now no longer any better than a third world dictatorship. Read it and weep for what we have become.

Manfred Nowak, the U.N. special investigator on torture, made the remarks as he was presenting a report on detainee conditions at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay as well as to brief the U.N. Human Rights Council, the global body's top rights watchdog, on torture worldwide.

Reports from Iraq indicate that torture "is totally out of hand," he said. "The situation is so bad many people say it is worse than it has been in the times of Saddam Hussein."

Nowak added, "That means something, because the torture methods applied under Saddam Hussein were the worst you could imagine."

Some allegations of torture were undoubtedly credible, with government forces among the perpetrators, he said, citing "very serious allegations of torture within the official Iraqi detention centers."

"You have terrorist groups, you have the military, you have police, you have these militias. There are so many people who are actually abducted, seriously tortured and finally killed," Nowak told reporters at the U.N.'s European headquarters.

"It's not just torture by the government. There are much more brutal methods of torture you'll find by private militias," he said.

h/t to Americablog

You Can Only Torture This Much

According to the NYT the wayward three of McCain, Warner and Graham have reached a compromise with the Whitehouse on the treatment of prisoners. McCain is saying the the Geneva Convention has been protected but Bush is saying that he got what he needs. We'll see.
Evidently the "terrorists" won't be able to see "secret evidence" and I wonder what the grand writ of habeas corpus suffered in the deal.

Frankly, in the current environment and with the last "signing statement" castration of the McCain effort to reign the the torture I won't be surprised to see the same effort on the part of the Whitehouse to use what they can to justify their dirty deeds and ignore the rest.

RFK Jr. Is Raising the Flag Again

Via Raw Story it looks like another episode the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s investigation of electronic voting is going to hit the pages of Rolling Stone tomorrow. This one looks to be a doozy if the teaser is any clue.

In late July, to speed deployment of the new machines, Cox quietly signed an agreement with Diebold that effectively privatized Georgia’s entire electoral system. The company was authorized to put together ballots, program machines and train poll workers across the state – all without any official supervision. “We ran the election,” says Hood. “We had 356 people that Diebold brought into the state. Diebold opened and closed the polls and tabulated the votes. Diebold convinced Cox that it would be best if the company ran everything due to the time constraints, and in the interest of a trouble-free election, she let us do it.”

Then, one muggy day in mid-August, Hood was surprised to see the president of Diebold’s election unit, Bob Urosevich, arrive in Georgia from his headquarters in Texas. With the primaries looming, Urosevich was personally distributing a “patch,” a little piece of software designed to correct glitches in the computer program. “We were told that it was intended to fix the clock in the system, which it didn’t do,” Hood says. “The curious thing is the very swift, covert way this was done.”

Georgia law mandates that any change made in voting machines be certified by the state. But thanks to Cox’s agreement with Diebold, the company was essentially allowed to certify itself. “It was an unauthorized patch, and they were trying to keep it secret from the state,” Hood told me. “We were told not to talk to county personnel about it. I received instructions directly from Urosevich. It was very unusual that a president of the company would give an order like that and be involved at that level.”

According to Hood, Diebold employees altered software in some 5,000 machines in DeKalb and Fulton counties – the state’s largest Democratic strongholds. To avoid detection, Hood and others on his team entered warehouses early in the morning. “We went in at 7:30 a.m. and were out by 11,” Hood says. “There was a universal key to unlock the machines, and it’s easy to get access. The machines in the warehouses were unlocked. We had control of everything. The state gave us the keys to the castle, so to speak, and they stayed out of our way.” Hood personally patched fifty-six machines and witnessed the patch being applied to more than 1,200 others.

BRAD BLOG has more on the new RFK Jr. article

If you will remember 2002 was the year Diebold took over elections in Georgia and six days before the vote, polls showed Sen. Max Cleland, a decorated war veteran and Democratic incumbent, leading his Republican opponent Saxby Chambliss – darling of the Christian Coalition – by five percentage points. In the governor’s race, Democrat Roy Barnes was running a decisive eleven points ahead of Republican Sonny Perdue. But on Election Day, Chambliss won with fifty-three percent of the vote, and Perdue won with fifty-one percent.

Jane On Countdown

Wow! Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake fame was on Countdown with Keith Olberman. Crooks and Liars has the video. Watch it, she's not hard to look at.

She and Keith are discussing her meeting with the "Big Dog" Bill Clinton last week.

Keeping Them Uninformed

If there is any doubt about how we are being manipulated by the Bush misadministration this story by Paul Thacker in Salon out to put the last shred of faith in our current government to rest.

(I know just click through the ad and read it)

In February, there were several press reports about the Bush administration exercising message control on the subject of climate change. The New Republic cited numerous instances in which top officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and scientists at the National Hurricane Center sought to downplay links between more-intense hurricanes and global warming. NOAA scientist Thomas Knutson told the Wall Street Journal he'd been barred from speaking to CNBC because his research suggested just such a link.

At the time, Bush administration officials denied that they did any micromanaging of media requests for interviews. But a large batch of e-mails obtained by Salon through a Freedom of Information Act request shows that the White House was, in fact, controlling access to scientists and vetting reporters.

Don't miss this:

When NOAA press officer Laborde was contacted to discuss the e-mails, he denied that interviews were subject to approval from White House officials. Confronted with his own e-mails, however, he said, "If you already knew the answer, why did you ask the question?"

I don't know maybe we just wanted to confirm that you would lie about something this serious.

Elvis Territory

Here I am in Memphis for the night. My colleague managed to get a flight back home late today but Delta wanted to charge me 180 bucks to change my flight from tomorrow morning to tonight and I decided that wasn't worth it. So here I am.
The Memphis International Airport is only 5 or 6 miles from Graceland so after I checked in I took a quick drive down Elvis Presley Blvd and called Madam Monk as I passed. One must pay homage to the King and so acted as proxy for her. The tourists were still being bused in at 5pm and more in waiting. It really is amazing.
Wolf is talking with Bush on CNN right now and feeding him the scripted questions so that Bush can continue his tirade against Iran. It sure sounds like he is committed to do the war thing again. We really have to figure out a way to put the skids on this but a lot of experts are saying it is a done deal after the midterm elections if the GOP manages to maintain it's hold. This should be the question you ask every likely Bush voter. DO YOU WANT ANOTHER WAR? If you don't then vote Democratic.

Too Late?

It’s getting late and I’m really tired but I think there is something missing from the dialogue about the President’s parade for torture and the resistance of a few Senators and a multitude of military heavy hitters like Colin Powel to permitting “clarification”.

Let’s cut to the chase shall we? There is nothing vague and needing clarification about Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. "Common Article 3 prohibits cruel treatment and humiliation, and is pretty clear on that and as such is a pretty inflexible standard. Ask yourself…why would the Bush cabal object to this? They have admitted to interrogation outside of this standard several times and are, in fact, asking for permission to continue to do so. Bush is saying that he needs Congress to approve and legalize the criminal acts that he and his administration have already admitted to.

Why would it be necessary for Bush to be so adamant and in such a rush to have this illegal behavior legalized?

"Time is running out," Bush said on Friday. "Congress is set to adjourn in just a few weeks." So what's the hurry?

Might it be that the next Congress might not be so amenable to giving Bush legal cover? Would a Democratic Congress with subpoena power be inclined to call Bush on his illegal behavior?

You bet your sweet ass. Karl Rove and the rest of his minions have told Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld that under present American law and International law they are all war criminals and that there is a mountain of evidence to support that claim. The Hamdan decision, if nothing else, was a statement by the court that the current and past behavior of the President has not been legal.

If they lose the cover of a rubberstamp GOP Congress then they are in heavy trouble. They have publicly admitted to war crimes and if their actions are not legalized by Congress before the wind changes then they can and will be tried as war criminals.

All the talk of “needing the tools to fight the GWOT” and “clarification” so that our interrogators know what is within bound is bullshit and the President is just trying to prevent his ass from being tried as a war criminal. He knows he is a guilty as sin and his only cover is to get his past actions “legalized” before it is too late.

He knows the axe could fall and is in a rush because he knows his only chance is when he has the entire Congress in his corner. It's now or never.

Worser and Worser

Lies and more lies. George Bush is telling us on a daily basis what progress we are making in Iraq and we get regular forecasts of troop reductions in Iraq but the head cheese in Iraq is telling us that it likely we will have to send even more troops to Iraq before too long.

Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said military leaders would consider adding troops or extending the Iraq deployments of other units if needed. Until sectarian violence spiked early this year, Bush administration officials had voiced hopes that this election year would see significant U.S. troop reductions in what has become a widely unpopular war.

If you think sending more troops into the hellhole of Iraq is a super good and really keen idea then why not vote Republican in the fall and show them Muslims what it is all about. They are probably getting ready to board their troop transports and head this way. Jeebus, they could interupt the Xmas shopping season.
If you think this is not such good news or good idea then maybe you should vote Democratic pretty soon. You have a chance to change things you know.

In the Country

At least I am in the country and mean "in the country". Two hours north of Memphis. Travel and meetings all day yesterday and into the night so no time to play here. Up early and off again. Not sure of access until I am back here at the hotel tonight.

Everybody play nice and keep a light in the window.

False Choice

Don't be lulled into believing that the McCain-Graham bill is actually a "better" solution than what the President is asking for. It suspends habeas corpus. The foundation of our “free” society.

Let’s be very clear. The McCain Graham Warner Bill will suspend habeas corpus for these detainees. It will allow the US to hold these prisoners indefinately without compelling them to be put on trial. It will bar these prisoners from any legal recourse for actions against their treatment including torture.

This bill should be titled the John McCain Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Torture Program, because, while maintaining the current interpretation of the Geneva Conventions, it bars victims of torture from any recourse.

When McCain says he can accomplish the same thing as the Bush approach without reinterpreting the Geneva Conventions, he is talking about revoking habeas corpus.

The American people are being presented a false choice. Both the Bush and McCain bills will not end torture by the US. They will BOTH effectively legalize it.

The question that this country has to ask is: “Are these times so dire that we need to throw away the cornerstone of US liberty and justice? Are we in such danger and do we trust this President so much, that we are willing to topple more than seven hundred years of hard won human rights and hand these protections over to him?”

Nine former federal judges sent a letter to Congress detailing their opposition to the legislation

For two hundred years, the federal judiciary has maintained Chief Justice Marshall’s solemn admonition that ours is a government of laws, and not men. The proposed legislation imperils this proud history by abandoning the Great Writ to the siren call of military necessity. We urge you to remove the provision stripping habeas jurisdiction from the proposed Military Commissions Act of 2006 and to reject any legislation that deprives the federal courts of habeas jurisdiction over pending Guantanamo detainee cases.

H/T to Susie

New Week

Off to Memphis in the morning to begin a new engagement. Should be doing the weekly round trip there for the next 5 or 6 weeks depending on how fast we can wade through the business definition and figure out how to get all the data we need.
Hope everyone had a great weekend and has an exciting week planned.

Spinach Update

Update on the spinach. It is not just Spinach labeled Natural Selection Foods but a whole bunch of brands, not all of which are listed below. Trust none and be careful of all these salad blends available today. I would trust nothing leafy in a bag. A lot of this stuff is probably packaged using the same equipment. Of course, there is always the chance of getting some bad bugs from fresh produce but in this case it might be prudent to avoid all this stuff. It is convenient but it is not very economical and you'll save some money if you buy your lettuce and leafy veggies "on the hoof" as it were.

From CNN

Meanwhile, Natural Selection Foods voluntarily recalled its products containing spinach and is cooperating with federal and state health officials to identify the source of the contamination. Its products are sold as Rave Spinach, Natural Selection Foods, Dole, Earthbound Farm, Trader Joe's, Ready Pac and Green Harvest, among other brand names.