Everyone paying attention after 9/11 - Knew

[kpete]

He Is Heavy. He’s My Brother.

by Maureen Dowd (tee hee hee...)

WASHINGTON — IT isn’t about what we know now.

It’s about what we knew then.

It is simply not true, as Republican presidential aspirant Scott Walker said on Friday, that “any president would have likely taken the same action Bush did with the information he had.”

That’s not giving enough credit to W. and his frothing band of Reservoir Dogs.

Everyone paying attention after 9/11 knew that the Bush crew had crudely and cynically switched villains, diverting America’s fury and fear from Osama, whose address was unknown, to Saddam, a reliable Bush family punching bag. They used patriotism like brass knuckles.



more Maureen:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/opinion/sunday/maureen-dowd-he-is-heavy-hes-my-brother.html

[Cooley Hurd]

1. "frothing band of Reservoir Dogs."

Modo nailed the description of the Bush crew.

[madokie]

3. Love it

I remember when I actually looked forward to modos columns. That's been a while back though I must say.
"frothing band of Reservoir Dogs."

[kpete]

4. thus, my tee hee hee

I just wish someone would forcefeed MoDo hashish brownies for the next 18 months.

"frothing band of Reservoir Dogs."

a keeper for sure!


peace,
kp

[madokie]

9. She already overdosed

poor girl bout did her in too LOL

You are right about force feeding her some hashish brownies for a while cause she can have a very caustic way of using our written english language if she was still on our side that is. If she hadn't gone over to the dark side I'd still be searching her columns out

Peace

OT: We have such a beautiful Sunday morning, It rained an inch last night and everything is fully leafed out and many flowers blooming. The air is so clean makes for me one proud and happy old hippie. Without us we wouldn't have the environmental laws we have today I'm sure and its those laws that makes it possible for me to experience this most beautiful morning this morning.
You know how sometimes you feel so good that you just can't hold it in well that's where I am right now

Life could be so wonderful for all living creatures if not for a few cretin who feel the world is theirs and they're just letting us live on it. Personally I'm sick of those people and the ones who support them even when its not in their better interest to do that

Education is the Answer to all our Problems, though out the world that is true too.

Have a wonderful 'tripping through the tulips' kinda' day

[kpete]

10. madokie

I am SO glad I stepped into your world, if only for that comment

I KNOW YOU!!!!!

peace to you and yours,
kp

[Jack Rabbit]

7. The sad part is that's all that left of the GOP

"frothing band of reservoir dogs."

That includes one dog crossed with a snapping turtle.

You know, the elephant really is too gentle a creature to be the mascot for people who try to starve poor children in Wisconsin with cruel and oppressive legislation. Maybe they need a new one . . .
[center]
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[/center]

[lastlib]

35. Too gentle and INTELLIGENT!!

On the R-side, mean and stoopid sells, and the more of each, the better. Too many of those "reservoir dogs" need their rabies and distemper shots BADLY!

[Art_from_Ark]

38. How about this as a new mascot

[SusanCalvin]

17. I like

"Using patriotism like brass knuckles" even better.

[Art_from_Ark]

37. It's too bad she maligned Al Gore during the 2000 campaign

I'll never forgive her for her hit pieces on Gore.

[Lodestar]

51. junk yard dogs is more like it.....

[edhopper]

2. Just as anyone can see

Jeb is just as much a moron as his brother.

The MSM will do whatever they can to obscure this fact.

[Gore1FL]

18. I honestly had no idea until he really started making himself prominent.

I heard he was the "smart" one, and I took that as "smart" as opposed to "not quite as incredible stupid as his brother, but damn close."

[edhopper]

34. it's like

Moe is the smart Stooge.

[FlatBaroque]

5. W = Jeb - Several DUI's

[MH1]

6. True, except I think you meant Jeb = W - several DUIs.

Or does Jebbie have DUIs I didn't know about?

[FlatBaroque]

11. Thanks. Pre-coffee post.

[bbgrunt]

8. a good one worth reading.

[Fritz Walter]

12. Priceless quote

"You know you’re in trouble when the Germans tell you that you’re too militaristic."

[kpete]

13. I am embarrassed to admit

i loved the whole thing


peace,
kp

[jwirr]

15. Don't be embarrassed. I have read her off and on since I was a teen. Sometimes she hits one

out of the ball park.

[66 dmhlt]

14. Jeb Bush Campaign Slogan: "Mistakes Were Made"

And I like Krugman's description of the Bush brothers as "The Fraternity of Failure"

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/15/opinion/paul-krugman-fraternity-of-failure.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. MoDo often irritates me, but I have to say

"frothing band of Reservoir Dogs" is about the best description of the Cheneyites I've ever heard.

[JDPriestly]

19. Excellent op-ed/report.

As I have predicted and am not again predicting, if this turns out to be a Hillary vs. Jeb fight, we are in for a rehashing of history. It will set us back a generation if one of them is elected.

We need to focus on the future and deal with the problems of today. We do not need either a Clinton or a Bush in the White House.

This is the nightmare of a declining empire. The emperors live in the insanity of the past rather than facing the present.

Let's don't go that route.

I am supporting Bernie Sanders. He will at least bring some new ideas we can look into. Hillary and/or Jeb, more of the past we don't need.

Bernie Sanders will bring new ideas. He can actually look at the problems of today without the need to hide the errors of the past.

[dreamnightwind]

36. It's either Bernie or BOHICA!

[wiggs]

20. Germany and France knew, and said publicly. nt

[wiggs]

21. 'Pre-emptive' war was legal. Iraq war was 'preventative' and illegal. Plenty

of people said this at the time.

At the time, there was a LOT more skepticism about war with Iraq and about the flimsy evidence than is being recognized currently.

[wiggs]

22. Suskind's book about Paul O'Neill is worth a read for insight into the players

in the administration who pushed war.

And IIRC, RFK Jr's book Crimes Against Nature touches on the war resolution passed by congress which required 'proof' given to congress that there be an imminent threat to the US AND a link to 9/11 before going to war. The proof was a criminally short 1 page letter containing no facts...submitted shortly before the first bombing run I believe.

[wiggs]

23. Don't forget...some congressmen genuinely voted for the IWR as a negotiating tool, not

to give GWB a hall pass for an illegal war. GWB was supposed to provide proof of a link to 9/11 and of an imminent threat to the US...and such was never provided.

I remember the GWB administration presenting info to senators in private one-on-one meetings in which they lied about nuclear programs and threats of drones from Iraq striking the US or US bases within 45 minutes.

These fraudulent, criminal, and heinous actions should be mentioned anytime any of the PNAC neocons open their mouths (this includes Jeb, Judith, Dick, et al). The Iraq war should haunt the GOP for generations.

[Fumesucker]

31. And those who voted for that reason should be forced to wear a sign...

^^^^^^ When I was in the Senate I believed this man was telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about Iraq.

[hughee99]

41. Do you think having the VP, Secretary of State and our 2016 frontrunner wearing a sign

will help make the case that this is a GOP issue? I don't.

[Fumesucker]

43. Interesting position we find ourselves in, isn't it?

Go back and read your post again and think about the implications of your words.

Worst. President. Ever.

A ventriloquist's dummy as POTUS with a character straight out of Dr Strangelove as VP not to mention Rumsferatu and some people were fooled.



God help us all.

[Exilednight]

52. It's an issue for everyone who voted and/or publicly supported this

War. The handful of elected House and Senate officials who did not vote for the war actually bothered to read the intelligence.

So no, it's not just a GOP issue.

And when it comes to Democrats who voted for it, I am especially pissed off. They should all be voted out of office and flushed down the toilet with the rest of the shit.

They failed the American people becaused they refused to read a document, and they should be held politically accountable while Bush and Cheney and company should be held criminally accountable.

[hughee99]

53. I agree completely.

It's bad enough if they were fooled by bushes lies, but it's even worse if they knew he was lying and voted for the war based on a political calculations.

[n2doc]

24. Dowd copying from Krugman?

See
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026681895

Exact same framing of question. 1 day earlier.

[LiberalLovinLug]

25. Maureen...

Brilliant writer. Excellent piece.

I wonder if her appearance and subsequent evisceration on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show was what finally pushed her to clearly admit what she, and millions of Americans and people around the world, knew at the time as well...as some kind of penance for her role as Mrs Pink during that heist of America.

[Fla Dem]

46. Are you thinking of Judy Miller? I know he chewed her up and spit her out last month.

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/extended-interviews/xjg4x6/exclusive-judith-miller-extended-interview

[LiberalLovinLug]

47. Oops

You're right. My mistake.
I'll use the Canadian excuse.

[stopwastingmymoney]

26. Interesting that we finally have cons admitting what we all knew at the time

Those that are anti-Jeb anyway. I can't wait to hear what my Dad's right wing buddies have to say.

Heads exploding I'm sure, how delicious...

[daleanime]

27. K&R.....

[YoungDemCA]

28. Meanwhile...as the 9/11 Comission (and others) followed the money...

Al Qaeda appears to have relied on a core group of financial facilitators who raised money from a variety of donors and other fund-raisers, primarily in the Gulf countries and particularly in Saudi Arabia. Some individual donors surely knew, and others did not, the ultimate destination of their donations. Al Qaeda and its friends took advantage of Islam's strong calls for charitable giving, zakat. These financial facilitators also appeared to rely heavily on certain imams at mosques who were willing to divert zakat donations to al Qaeda's cause.

Al Qaeda also collected money from employees of corrupt charities. It took two approaches to using charities for fund-raising. One was to rely on al Qaeda sympathizers in specific foreign branch offices of large, international charities-particularly those with lax external oversight and ineffective internal controls, such as the Saudi-based al Haramain Islamic Foundation. Smaller charities in various parts of the globe were funded by these large Gulf charities and had employees who would siphon the money to al Qaeda.

In addition, entire charities, such as the al Wafa organization, may have wittingly participated in funneling money to al Qaeda. In those cases, al Qaeda operatives controlled the entire organization, including access to bank accounts. Charities were a source of money and also provided significant cover, which enabled operatives to travel undetected under the guise of working for a humanitarian organization.

It does not appear that any government other than the Taliban financially supported al Qaeda before 9/11, although some governments may have contained al Qaeda sympathizers who turned a blind eye to al Qaeda's fundraising activities. Saudi Arabia has long been considered the primary source of al Qaeda funding, but we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization. (This conclusion does not exclude the likelihood that charities with significant Saudi government sponsorship diverted funds to al Qaeda.)

Still, al Qaeda found fertile fund-raising ground in Saudi Arabia, where extreme religious views are common and charitable giving was both essential to the culture and subject to very limited oversight. Al Qaeda also sought money from wealthy donors in other Gulf states.

http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch5.htm

In spite of the fact that it had almost immediately become known that 15 of those implicated in the attacks had been Saudis, President George W. Bush did not hold Saudi Arabia’s official representative in Washington at arm’s length. As early as the evening of September 13, he kept a scheduled appointment to receive Prince Bandar at the White House. The two men had known each other for years. They reportedly greeted each other with a friendly embrace, smoked cigars on the Truman Balcony, and conversed with Vice President Dick Cheney and National-Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

There is a photograph of the meeting, which has been published in the past. This year, however, when the authors asked the George W. Bush presidential library for a copy, the library responded in an e-mail that the former president’s office was “not inclined to release the image from the balcony at this time.”

It would soon become evident that, far from confronting the Saudis, the Bush administration wanted rapprochement. The president would invite Crown Prince Abdullah to visit the United States, press him to come when he hesitated, and—when he accepted—welcome him to his Texas ranch in early 2002. Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice were there, along with Secretary of State Colin Powell and First Lady Laura Bush.

In the 18 months before the invasion, however, the Bush administration had persistently seeded the notion that there was an Iraqi connection to 9/11. While never alleging a direct Iraqi role, President Bush had linked Saddam Hussein’s name to that of Osama bin Laden. Vice President Cheney had gone further, suggesting repeatedly that there had been Iraqi involvement in the attacks.

Polls suggest that the publicity about Iraq’s supposed involvement affected the degree to which the U.S. public came to view Iraq as an enemy deserving retribution. Before the invasion, a Pew Research poll found that 57 percent of those polled believed Hussein had helped the 9/11 terrorists. Forty-four percent of respondents to a Knight-Ridder poll had gained the impression that “most” or “some” of the hijackers had been Iraqi. In fact, none were. In the wake of the invasion, a Washington Post poll found that 69 percent of Americans believed it likely that Saddam Hussein had been personally involved in 9/11.

None of the speculative leads suggesting an Iraqi link to the attacks proved out. “We went back 10 years,” said Michael Scheuer, who looked into the matter at the request of director Tenet. “We examined about 20,000 documents, probably something along the lines of 75,000 pages of information, and there was no connection between al-Qaeda and Saddam.”

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/08/9-11-2011-201108

[dreamnightwind]

39. great post - eom

[99Forever]

29. Yes we did, but ...

... we are just dumbass, far left liberals, not nearly as well informed as The Geniuses who were in Congress who voted to send our troops to their death based on lies and made certain we could have the wonderful group, commonly known as ISIS, to help us out today.

[lonestarnot]

30. And Kooky Roberts is still on TV box.

[pansypoo53219]

32. amerika was bullshitted and 9/121 was used as the bloody flag.

[malaise]

33. They knew before 9/11

The plan to attack Iraq was part of the PNAC agenda and Jeb Bush knows that very well.

Amazing how Cheeeeeeeeeeeeney, the war criminal of a dick, has suddenly gone silent.

[Yorktown]

40. I have never seen a real explanation for the Iraq madness

I have never heard or read a solid reason of why GW decided Iraq.

I am not asking for a reasonable reason, Iraq was a dumb decision from the start.

It's just that I can't even see what reason they thought they had.

(knowing that Powell knew the WMD reason was bogus)

[PowerToThePeople]

48. Gawd

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/oct/07/iraq.usa

George Bush: 'God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq'

George Bush has claimed he was on a mission from God when he launched the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a senior Palestinian politician in an interview to be broadcast by the BBC later this month.

Mr Bush revealed the extent of his religious fervour when he met a Palestinian delegation during the Israeli-Palestinian summit at the Egpytian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, four months after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

One of the delegates, Nabil Shaath, who was Palestinian foreign minister at the time, said: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I am driven with a mission from God'. God would tell me, 'George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan'. And I did. And then God would tell me 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq'. And I did."

[Yorktown]

49. I don't buy it. God was to keep Laura and to get votes.

I suppose not even the barrels of whisky GW drank up to his late 30's could fry brain cells so much as to turn someone into a gawd vegetable.

[treestar]

44. I don't think a Democratic President

Would have cynically used it to get people up for wars that he wanted beforehand. Or anything he'd wanted beforehand.

[yellowwoodII]

45. Pat Buchanan. A Gem. Please read.

I'm not even a fan of Pat Buchanan's, but I read this way back in 2001, and I even kept a copy.

http://buchanan.org/blog/pjb-whose-war-is-this-384

It was so prophetic.

Also on his webpage is another cautionary note: Who Wants War with Iran?. 2012.
"What we do know is that “Bibi” Netanyahu is desperate to have the United States launch air and missile strikes to stop Teheran from becoming the world’s ninth nuclear power. And he is echoed not only by U.S. neocons, but GOP candidates save Ron Paul."

[woo me with science]

50. K&R