Antiwar.com Blog

Remember that $9 billion that somehow got “lost” in Iraq? Boxes of cash were shipped from the Federal Reserve to Iraq, where a former Coalition Provisional  Authority official testified that our guys were playing football with blocks of $100 bills and an investigator described the atmosphere as “a free-fraud zone.” The U.S. government was supposed to follow up on that somewhat dismaying discovery with an audit — but that has now been nixed by President George W. Bush, who recently issued a presidential “finding” that heads off an investigation at the pass:

“Title III of the Act creates an Inspector General (IG) of the CPA. Title III shall be construed in a manner consistent with the President’s constitutional authorities to conduct the Nation’s foreign affairs, to supervise the unitary executive branch, and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. The CPA IG shall refrain from initiating, carrying out, or completing an audit or investigation, or from issuing a subpoena, which requires access to sensitive operation plans, intelligence matters, counterintelligence matters, ongoing criminal investiga-tions by other administrative units of the Department of Defense related to national security, or other matters the disclosure of which would constitute a serious threat to national security.”

All power to the “unitary executive” — and let the good times roll!

During the Clinton years, hating Hillary Clinton was a cottage industry on the Right. Now that she is moving toward a presidential run, and trying to position herself as a “centrist,” disdain for the former First Lady is now pandemic on the Left. Her recent appearance at a Washington conference of liberal activists provoked a chorus of boos — especially when she attacked the idea of withdrawing from Iraq. She’s alienating her former supporters, and moving to appease conservatives — who will never vote for her anyway. Where oh where is she getting her political advice? Maybe from this guy? Fire him, Hil — before you blow it completely, and meet the looming fate of Joe Lieberman, aka Sore Loserman — whose pro-war stance has provoked a primary challenge that has the Connecticut Senator down nearly 20 points in the polls.

A four-minute video of a Marine singing a “song” about killing an iraqi family may be a hit with the War Party, but it is provoking widespread disgust — and an investigation. AP reports:

“The singer is shown playing a guitar and singing about meeting an Iraqi woman and then being confronted by her brother and father, who have guns. The lyrics describe the Marine pulling the woman’s little sister in front of him and watching blood spray from her head. He then sings about blowing the father and brother ‘to eternity.'”

The video was originally posted on youtube.com, but was taken down: you can see it here.

This is one aspect of waging a war of aggression that is often overlooked: it not only corrupts our political process, and brings us to the edge of bankruptcy, it also corrupts our souls.

Keeping this in mind, the news that the rest of the world considers us more of a threat to world peace than Iran hardly comes as a surprise. The International Herald Tribune informs us:

“As the war in Iraq continues for a fourth year, the global image of America has slipped further, even among publics in countries closely allied with the United States, a new global opinion poll has found…. All groups except Americans and Germans saw the U.S. presence in Iraq as posing a greater threat to world peace than the threat posed by Iran, which is pursuing a uranium enrichment program that the United States and other Western countries view as a prelude to developing its own nuclear weapons. Russians held that view by a 2-to-1 margin, and even the British did so by a narrow margin.”

Why do they hate us? Just listen to this jerk, and you’ll know the answer to that question….

Matt Drudge is kvetching about the slowness of the left-blogosphere in reacting to the announcement that Karl Rove will not be charged with any crimes in the Plame investigation, but regular readers of Antiwar.com will not be surprised by this turn of events — because we reacted to it last summer. See here, here, and here. As I wrote nearly a full year ago:

“What if Karl Rove isn’t guilty of knowingly leaking Valerie Plame‘s name as a covert CIA agent involved in nuclear proliferation issues? What if Rove’s lawyer, Robert Luskin, is correct when he says that he’s been assured by prosecutors that his client is not a target of the ongoing investigation into Plame-gate? I’m going to swim against the tide, here, and against the expectations of my readers, by suggesting that this investigation isn’t about Rove – and, furthermore, that Rove is a victim, in an important sense, someone who was used and abused by the real culprits. And who are these mysterious culprits? We’ll get to that in a moment …”

And, a few days later:

“It’s not about Rove, Bob Novak, Judith Miller, or any of the other bit players caught up in this maelstrom. It’s about a small group of strategically placed players in the national security bureaucracy who functioned as a two-way transmission belt of treason: feeding the White House, Congress, and the American public a steady diet of lies in the guise of “intelligence,” and, in the other direction, feeding vital U.S. secrets to its foreign sponsors and allies …”

Patrick J. Fitzgerald isn’t done, though: his investigation points in the direction of the Office of the Vice President, and, while I’m not making any predictions, several Cheney aides are no doubt preparing for the worst. Antiwar.com was on to Scooter way before anyone else — and there are others in that crowd who would do well to consult their lawyers. Stay tuned ….

Regarding the Haditha massacre, we have been told by the Pentagon that 99.9 percent of soldiers perform their jobs magnificently. Let’s hope not. What is their job? It is to kill people and break things. The job of U.S. soldiers is to bring death and destruction to people in a country that was no threat to the United States. Some job. It would be better if it was only .1 percent that were doing their job.

Is the death of al-Zarqawi good news for the US military? Or is it good news for al-Qaeda?

Reports from April indicate that Zarqawi had been “demoted” within al-Qaeda. Huthayfah Azzam, son of Abdullah Azzam, the mentor of both Osama bin Laden and Mr. Zarqawi, said Zarqawi was stripped of his political duties two weeks ago due to concerns that his actions were hurting the Iraqi insurgency’s support in the Arab world.

On Wednesday, June 7, a mere 24 hours before the announced killing of al-Zarqawi, this piece was posted on Strategypage.com:

Zarqawi Scheduled for Martyrdom

The relationship between terrorist leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi and and the mainline al Qaeda leadership continues to deteriorate. Zarqawi’s recent audio messages have not only attacked the U.S. and the Shia-dominated government in Iraq, but also Iran. He’s even claiming that the U.S., Iran, and Shia in general, are in cahoots to destroy Islam. He has also called for continued attacks against Shia.

Except for his verbal attacks on the U.S. and the Iraqi government, he is almost totally distanced himself from the central leadership. Other al Qaeda leaders have been trying to down play anti-Iranian and anti-Shia rhetoric, and have been strongly discouraging attacks on civilians.

Given that Zarqawi has become a loose cannon and that his actions are handicapping Al Qaeda’s efforts, it seems reasonable to expect that an accident may befall him at some point in the near future. If handled right it can be made to look like he went out in a blaze of glory fighting American troops or that he was foully murdered. Either way, al Qaeda gets rid of a problem and gains another “martyr.”

General Bill Caldwell has revealed that US forces relied on information that came from within Zarqawi’s own organization.

No doubt the home-grown Iraqi insurgency is glad to see Zarqawi go. But it is also very likely that StrategyPage.com is correct that they have lost a problem and gained a martyr.