Thursday, June 15, 2006

MORE GOP EVIL DOING LIES, SMEAR TACTICS AND FABRICATION

ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS LIED ABOUT CHENEY’S INVOLVEMENT WITH HALLIBURTON CONTRACTS

Found on Raw Story.com

A conservative watch dog group found the documents suggesting Cheney’s involvement with the Halliburton no bid contracts and the Army. Are you shocked? I wouldn't think so. LS

RAW STORY.COM: ARMY LIED ABOUT CHENEY’S INVOLVEMENT WITH HALLIBURTON CONTRACTS

More on this can also be found on Firedoglake.com

GOP ARTICULATES ITS STRATEGY OF LYING, SMEARING, FAKING AND PERSONAL ATTACKS IN WRITING.

Ken found this unbelievable and despicable piece of work on Think Progress.org

Excerpt:

Think Progress has obtained a “Confidential Messaging Memo” from Boehner instructing his caucus to conduct a very different kind of deliberation. Here’s a quick summary:

1. Exploit 9/11. The two page memo mentions 9/11 seven times. It describes debating Iraq in the context of 9/11 as “imperative.”

2. Attack opponents ad hominem. The memo describes those who oppose President Bush’s policies in Iraq as “sheepish,” “weak,” and “prone to waver endlessly.”

3. Create a false choice. The memo says the decision is between supporting President Bush’s policies and hoping terrorist threats will “fade away on their own.”

I sent a PDF copy of the memo to the Houston Chronicle this morning. Let’s see if they cover it. LS

THINK PROGRESS.ORG: “Confidential Messaging Memo – Floor Debate on Iraq and the Global War on Terror”

The Washington Post.com covers the House debate today and mentions part of Boehner’s memo, but not in sufficient detail. LS

Excerpts:

"As a result of our efforts during this debate, Americans will recognize that on the issue of national security, they have a clear choice between a Republican Party aware of the stakes and dedicated to victory, versus a Democratic Party without a coherent national security policy that sheepishly dismisses the challenges America faces in a post-9/11 world," Boehner wrote.

But the day-long debate will also give voice to some GOP lawmakers' misgivings about Bush administration policy -- and years of congressional support for it -- in an election year in which Iraq will be a central issue. The news of recent days has buoyed Republican spirits, but the party is still saddled with a war that remains deeply unpopular and is imperiling its continued control of Congress. Some House Republicans have complained that their party has taken flight from its responsibility to debate and oversee administration policy.

"I can't help but feel through eyes of a combat-wounded Marine in Vietnam, if someone was shot, you tried to save his life. . . . While you were in combat, you had a sense of urgency to end the slaughter, and around here we don't have that sense of urgency," said Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest (Md.), a usually soft-spoken Republican who has urged his leaders to challenge the White House on Iraq. "To me, the administration does not act like there's a war going on. The Congress certainly doesn't act like there's a war going on. If you're raising money to keep the majority, if you're thinking about gay marriage, if you're doing all this other peripheral stuff, what does that say to the guy who's about ready to drive over a land mine?"

”GOP Measure Forces House Debate on War”

THE REAL LOW DOWN ABOUT OIL

George, a volunteer for the Radnofsky for US Senate campaign, found yet another extraordinary and thought provoking article written by Mr. Greg Palast.

Mr. Palast argues that the powerful owners of the world’s oil supplies, whether government or privately controlled, are highly motivated to keep Iraq's oil in the ground . You can guess why. Mr. Palast provides footnotes exposing a history of the suppression of Iraq’s oil over the years. LS

Excerpt:

It began with a character known as "Mr. 5%"-- Calouste Gulbenkian -- who, in 1925, slicked King Faisal, neophyte ruler of the country recently created by Churchill, into giving Gulbenkian's "Iraq Petroleum Company" (IPC) exclusive rights to all of Iraq's oil. Gulbenkian flipped 95% of his concession to a combine of western oil giants: Anglo-Persian, Royal Dutch Shell, CFP of France, and the Standard Oil trust companies (now ExxonMobil and its "sisters.") The remaining slice Calouste kept for himself -- hence, "Mr. 5%."

The oil majors had a better use for Iraq's oil than drilling it -- not drilling it. The oil bigs had bought Iraq's concession to seal it up and keep it off the market. To please his buyers' wishes, Mr. 5% spread out a big map of the Middle East on the floor of a hotel room in Belgium and drew a thick red line around the gulf oil fields, centered on Iraq. All the oil company executives, gathered in the hotel room, signed their name on the red line -- vowing not to drill, except as a group, within the red-lined zone. No one, therefore, had an incentive to cheat and take red-lined oil. All of Iraq's oil, sequestered by all, was locked in, and all signers would enjoy a lift in worldwide prices. Anglo-Persian Company, now British Petroleum (BP), would pump almost all its oil, reasonably, from Persia (Iran). Later, the Standard Oil combine, renamed the Arabian-American Oil Company (Aramco), would limit almost all its drilling to Saudi Arabia. Anglo-Persian (BP) had begun pulling oil from Kirkuk, Iraq, in 1927 and, in accordance with the Red-Line Agreement, shared its Kirkuk and Basra fields with its IPC group -- and drilled no more.

MR. GREG PALAST: “KEEPING IRAQ’S OIL IN THE GOUND”

BUSH AND THE GOP ARE BEING TRICKED INTO GOING TO WAR WITH IRAN BY AL-QAEDA

Ken sent this article from the Associated Press today. Documents found on one of Al Qaeda’s safe house computers in Iraq suggest the Al Zarqawi wing of Al Qaeda wanted to foment a conflict, i.e. WAR, between the US and Iran. Apparently Iraq’s Al Qaeda needed to find a way to distract the US in order to take the heat off of its weary and perhaps weakened insurgency. Pathetic Bush and his incompetent rubber stamping GOP were (are?) about ready to fall into Al Zarqawi’s Al Qaeda trap. Imagine that. LS

FROM USA TODAY: “Al-Qaeda in Iraq sought war between United States, Iran”

JUST WHEN YOU THINK THE GOP COULD NOT GET ANY WORSE, WELL, THEY ACTUALLY GO THE EXTRA MILE AND DO

From the Huffington Post: GOP SENATORS DEFEND PROPOSAL THAT GIVES AMNESTY TO TERRORISTS WHO KILL U.S. TROOPS

We can finally know for a fact where the hearts ands minds of the Bush GOP reside. LS

”GOP SENATORS DEFEND PROPOSAL THAT GIVES AMNESTY TO TERRORISTS WHO KILL US TROOPS: ‘IF THAT'S AMNESTY, I'M FOR IT’...”

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