After Pat's Birthday

Pat Tillman's brother, Kevin, has written a powerful, must-read piece over at TruthDig.com:

It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we got out.

Much has happened since we handed over our voice:

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that. Read more...

Iraq Study Group To Rule Out Iraq Victory

A leaked draft of the Iraq Study Groups likely recommendations -- that won't be released until after the election to avoid coming off as a "political document" -- rules out the possibility of American victory in Iraq.

From the NYSun:

WASHINGTON — A commission formed to assess the Iraq war and recommend a new course has ruled out the prospect of victory for America, according to draft policy options shared with The New York Sun by commission officials. read more..

I can just see it now: the ISG releases it's report after the election that says Iraq is a complete disaster, American troop presence is fueling the problem and that the best policy adjustment is a "manged withdrawal" to put pressure on the Iraqi government to step up while at the same time getting American troops out of the way. In other words, what the Democrats have been saying for over a year now. Then Bush will be seen as the serious and open-to-suggestions leader who abides by the advice of the glorious bi-partisan committee. As Digby and John noted a few weeks ago with the Military Commissions Act, this is just another kabuki dance.

Sweet Subpoena: Nine Tough Questions for Congress

Mother Jones:

Capitol Hill is way overdue for a blockbuster investigation. Here are nine questions to get Congress rolling—if it has the guts.

1. Who lost Iraq?
2. Did Rumsfeld order torture (and if not, who did)?
3. Who blew 9/11?
4. What did the airlines know, and when did they know it?
5. How wide is the domestic surveillance net?
6. Is Big Oil pulling an Enron?
7. Who's making money off your retirement?
8. Why is the morning-after pill not at your 7-Eleven?
9. Grounds for impeachment?

...In the past six years, congressional investigations of such bold, searching nature have disappeared. In a post-9/11 environment of silence and fear, the mood inside Congress has mirrored the bunkers and barriers outside: No one dares question the military or the intelligence services too closely, or to push the president too far. The Caucus Room continues to be used for party meetings and social events, and every so often there is a potted inquiry, as in the case of the 2003 hearings on the space shuttle. But on issues of war and peace, of corruption and graft, of civil rights, civil liberties, and constitutional breaches, meek questions are the rule, answered by dull assurances from the White House...read more

In a Democratic House, John Conyers would chair the Judiciary Committee and he's already told Amy Goodman of Democracy Now that he would seek the creation of a select committee to investigate the Administration's misdoings and, if necessary, recommend impeachment hearings.

Bill Maher on Foleygate

Bill Maher joined Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room today to talk about Foleygate and hits the nail on the head when he points out that Republican/conservative repression and self-righteousness always seems to manifest itself in supreme hypocrisy. He gives the examples of Foley with internet predator legislation, Rush Limbaugh with drug abuse demonization and compulsive gambler Bill Bennett who wrote a book on virtues and morality.



GlennGreenwald has a great post today about the real face of the Republican party that this scandal is exposing to all of America.