Month: May 2006

On May 11, 1973, charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the Pentagon Papers case were dismissed by Judge William M. Byrne, who cited government misconduct.

The “misconduct” was revealed by White House Counsel John Dean (under questioning in the Senate Watergate Hearings) that White House operatives had broken into Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office as part of a plan to blackmail Ellsberg. Nixon Special Counsel Charles Colson went to prison for his involvement in the break-in.

Ellsberg worked on the Top Secret McNamara study of U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-68, which later came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. In 1969, he photocopied the 7,000 page study and gave it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; in 1971 he gave it to the New York Times, Washington Post and 17 other newspapers. Before the dismissal, he faced twelve felony counts posing a possible sentence of 115 years. The events led to the convictions of several White House aides and figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon.

A few years ago, Pat Buchanan blamed (credited?) Ellsberg for America’s loss in Vietnam.

Thanks to Jack Dean for pointing this out.

Tuesday afternoon I spoke with former CIA analyst and founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, Ray McGovern, about his confrontation last Thursday with “Defense” Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about his lying us into war with Iraq, Lt. Gen. Hayden’s appointment to run the CIA, the fight between the CIA and Pentagon over covert operations, the likelihood of war with Iran and why government employees ought to rat on their bosses.

Download mp3.

Last year’s interview.

I’m a little sick of hearing how Iran is to blame for rising oil prices.

This week we’ve gotten a crystal clear indicator of the true cause, and it can be summed up elegantly over the past two trading days.

Yesterday: Iranian President Ahmadinejad sends a concilliatory letter to the Bush administration, suggesting possible solutinos for the current dispute. The price of oil drops precipitously. The article of the day is Crude Eases on Possible Iran Progress.

Today: The price of oil spikes back up. What’s the reason?

If the AP headline is to be believed, Oil Prices Rise Above $71 on Iran Worries. So what did those pesky Iranians do? They brought the market down yesterday and brought it up today… shouldn’t that prove the case that the high oil prices are largely Iran’s fault?

Actually, no. The answer to what Iran did today was “nothing at all”. The last thing we’ve heard out of Iran is still that letter that drove prices down. The actual cause is that the US rejected any notion that this letter might be a positive step. In short, the Iranian President offered the US an olive branch, and Condi just slapped it out of his hand.

Ultimately, nothing Iran has done is causing the price of oil to rise, it’s the Bush Administration’s saber-rattling that’s largely to blame for any “war premium” oil and gasoline are seeing. Let’s face facts: if another war happens, it’s not going to be Ahmadinejad that starts it.

Monday afternoon I spoke with Aaron Glantz, author of How America Lost Iraq, reporter for Pacifica Radio and contributor to Antiwar.com, about the situation in Iraq with particular attention on Kurdish separatism.

Also discussed were the border clashes with Iran, oil politics, ethnic divisions and why the US needs to get out now.

Download mp3.

If you, like me, are appalled at the plight and number of noncombatants in Iraq whose lives are destroyed or rendered unbearable by war-engendered violence, you might want to make a donation to GiveMeaning.com on behalf of two Iraqi women wounded at a U.S. checkpoint. Oh but wait, did I say “wounded”? More like devastated. Both their husbands and children were killed. So, bad enough that sectarian violence is continuing and continuing — but can’t the U.S. at least help those innocents it violates?

In the words of CIVIC Worldwide (Washington-based advocacy organization whose purpose is to mitigate the harm caused to civilians in war) “the women, Manal and Aliya, were seriously injured when their family’s minivan passed a U.S. checkpoint near the Ba’aquaba airport last November. Troops opened fire, as often happens when Iraqis are unsure of what new rules apply to where and when to fully stop. Five people were killed, including Manal and Aliya’s husbands and two children. The two women now need urgent medical care outside of Iraq so they may continue caring for their families in the wake of tragedy. The amount of money needed for Manal and Aliya’s treatment is small, but time is very short. Their injuries will soon be irreparable – a devastating end to the already heartbreaking ordeal of losing their families.”

Really.

“Douglas J. Feith, the former Pentagon policy chief who was an architect of the administration’s war on terrorism, is joining the faculty of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. In an announcement Monday, the university said Feith will teach a course on the Bush administration’s strategy for the war on terror and also will conduct seminars as a visiting professor and distinguished practitioner in national security policy. He will start this fall.

“‘I think it’ll be enjoyable and useful to teach Georgetown students about the administration’s national security policies and policy making,” Feith said in an interview. ‘I may be able to shed some light on little-understood topics that have generated enormous heat in the public debate.”’

Isn’t this guy still under investigation by the FBI and DoD inspector general?

For those not familiar with Feith, try this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this.