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There is a very good reason why President Bush’s approval fell 6% percent in one month (the lowest first month rating of a second term Incumbent ever), and why a clear majority of Americans want Donald Rumsfeld ousted - the Bush Apologists don’t have John Kerry and the Democrats to scapegoat anymore.

Very astute observation. I agree. I have seen a few teevee pundits let some jabs at Kerry slip out over the past month, just the low level ones though, the ones they stick on a 5 AM segment.

Good article, Bert.

You’re absolutely right.
These Neo-con bastards don’t care at all about accountability. And we should never expect them to admit they’re wrong or responsible for, or about, ANYTHING.
One of the more outrageous examples: Abu Graib and Guantanamo - clearly breaking the Geneva Conventions by condoning and instructing methods of torture started at the very top of the chain of command - yet idiot Bush was reelected, Gonzales will be the Atty. General, and Rummy’s still there, doing a “superb job”!

With their second term in the bag, approval ratings aren’t going to bother this administration, either.
No, with mainstream media in one pocket, Congress and the Senate in the other, Fox News as their bullhorn, and Rove directing the entire production, accountability is assured to be goose-stepping away from us for the next four years.

Bert
Even though I am against the left vs. right paradigm way of thinking that is evident in your topic and is tearing the US apart, I must say this is a brillant post.
No proof of WMD? It’s now unpatriotic to demand accountability for this mistake.
Kerik? What a black eye that should have been. Whos been held accountable for that?
The Presidents approval stat was nice to see also, thanks.

I give them a pass on Abu G. because terrorists don’t deserve and aren’t entitled to the Geneva Convention, but even those on the right have to start questioning accountability from this administration at some time.
Sadly though, judging by history, the American people will continue to shrug it all off, just because its their “guy” in there.

Very nice post Mr. Caradine, I enjoyed it.

kctim,

I appreciate your sentiments in large part, but I must take issue with the “pass on Abu G. because terrorists don’t deserve…the Geneva Convention,…” By all accounts, only a small number of those imprisoned are terrorists; they’re trying to sort them out at these places. So, until the terrorists are clearly identified, we are denying non-terrorists (in most cases non-combatants) even the most rudimentary rights. They’re not even allowed to provide a defense to accusations.

Mental
Your point is well taken and I respect your view.
For right now, I won’t assume that these prisoners were just gathered up for no reason at all. There has to be a reason they are in there (I hope) and therefore they are prisoners. Prisoners should not be pampered.
But thats not the topic here, sorry to go off subject.

I know its a “crazy” persons website, but there is a very funny and somewhat truthful picture on
www.rense.com if anybody is interested.
Made me think some.

Joseph, Adrienne and kctim,

Sincere thanks for the kudos, offered observations and reassurance my rants can actually make sense.

However, I do believe one last concern for George Bush will become even more of a challenge than winning a second term - his legacy. He and Karl Rove utilized Bush Sr.’s one term tenure as a case study on what not to do, deeming it a failed Presidency. In the political sense, they were right on target. However, in terms of concrete accomplishments that were obscured by the former, they failed to take those facts just as seriously.

As you’re well aware, for Conservatives, it’s winning at any cost - it’s the governing part of the equation, that they suck at. What’s the pride in being a two term President, when history will undoubtedly grade you far below your father? Think about it - what accomplishments so far can George Bush actually fill a Presidential Library with?

Here is where I believe Bush’s approval rating will play a pivotal role. Not only will it become a wake up call/barometer as to what his administration has actually accomplished, but it will also have immediate ramifications for the 2006 mid-terms and the ‘08 General Election.

One last observation. So far, this comment thread is conspicuously free of the usual group of WatchBlog detractors from the Right, who are never bashful in attempting to set me straight. Confident assuming they have read my entry post, their silence is telling.

There’s an old saying, if they’re shooting at you, you must be doing something right. At WB, if they’re not sniping at you, there must be some truth to what you’re writing.

“I do believe one last concern for George Bush will become even more of a challenge than winning a second term - his legacy”

I think this “legacy” notion plays a large role in why our modern day so-called leaders have been so bad.
Seems to me that our greatest leaders “allowed” their actions alone to form their legacy while recent leaders have “based” their actions on forming their legacy themselves.

Bert:
“I do believe one last concern for George Bush will become even more of a challenge than winning a second term - his legacy. He and Karl Rove utilized Bush Sr.’s one term tenure as a case study on what not to do, deeming it a failed Presidency.”

As I’m sure you know Bert, these Neo-con idiots wouldn’t know what success was if it smacked them right in their faces.
They may think of the Bush Sr. years as a failed presidency, but at least he didn’t throw us into a quagmire of a war in Iraq like Dubya did - and at least Sr. actually had Kuwait as a reason to go there in the first place.
A part of Dubya’s legacy will always be that he lied to the American people in order to wage war upon that country, lied before the UN, did not have the support of many of our historic allies, went to war without a plan after the initial invasion and with too few troops who were not properly equipped, broke international law by sanctioning the torture of prisoners, and created an insurgency by letting lawlessness, lack of electricity, lack of clean water, and lack of medical treatment for too many civilian casualties become the daily reality of the Iraqi people.
His legacy of war will be waging it in the most retarded way any American president ever has.

“In the political sense, they were right on target. However, in terms of concrete accomplishments that were obscured by the former, they failed to take those facts just as seriously.”

Yeah, I tend to think of Sr. years as Reagan part three.

“As you’re well aware, for Conservatives, it’s winning at any cost - it’s the governing part of the equation, that they suck at.”

So true.
They also suck when it comes to war. Republican’s don’t win our wars - the Democrats have been much more successful with that.

“What’s the pride in being a two term President, when history will undoubtedly grade you far below your father?

I think that what Dubya is aiming at as far as a legacy goes is a continuation of the neo-con agenda which began with Reagan - first dismantle the Great Society Programs, then destroy the New Deal, followed by doing away with anything that has the word public as a prefix - public education, public assistance, public health programs, public funding for institutions, etc., etc.
But that isn’t enough for him, no, he wants to take us all the way back to the turn of the century, to the days of the robber barons, when the people of his “base” got richer and richer while the poor could only become more miserable.
He’ll leave a legacy of being Robinhood in Reverse, but his friends will always be grateful for the tax cuts and deregulation he gave them as a token of his undying loyalty.
I also think Dubya wants as his legacy to tear down the wall of separation between church and state - as a Christian crusade, and with the Patriot Acts, to rip the constitution to shreds until, to paraphrase Janice Joplin, freedom is just another word for nothin’ left to lose.

“Think about it - what accomplishments so far can George Bush actually fill a Presidential Library with?”

Ah, but thats just the thing Bert. Neo-con’s are not about accomplishments, they’re all about DESTRUCTION.
As far as Dubya’s library goes, no doubt it’ll be an empty building - with all the records sealed for national security reasons. Might be a few bibles there though, and maybe a life-size diarama of him cutting brush at his ranch in Crawford.

“Here is where I believe Bush’s approval rating will play a pivotal role. Not only will it become a wake up call/barometer as to what his administration has actually accomplished, but it will also have immediate ramifications for the 2006 mid-terms and the ‘08 General Election.”

That is, if those elections can be trusted, yes?

“One last observation. So far, this comment thread is conspicuously free of the usual group of WatchBlog detractors from the Right, who are never bashful in attempting to set me straight. Confident assuming they have read my entry post, their silence is telling.”

Actually, I’m kind of curious to know what _they_ think his legacy will consist of.

“There’s an old saying, if they’re shooting at you, you must be doing something right.”

Well, you’ve got my vote of confidence.

“At WB, if they’re not sniping at you, there must be some truth to what you’re writing.”

Uh-oh. Watch out now - you’ve flung the gauntlet! ;^)

Dick Cheney, the VP is an Israeli NEOZIONIST’S MOLE in DC, 20505.

NEW INFOS.

http://www.abcnorio.org/pcgi-bin/boards/housing/robboard.cgi?action=display&num=76

http://www.abcnorio.org/pcgi-bin/boards/housing/robboard.cgi?action=display&num=75

DEC., 2004- On September 15, 2001, just four days after the 9-11 attacks,
CIA Director George Tenet provided President [sic] Bush with a Top Secret
“Worldwide Attack Matrix”-a virtual license to kill targets deemed to be a
threat to the United States in some 80 countries around the world. The Tenet
plan, which was subsequently approved by Bush, essentially reversed the
executive orders of four previous U.S. administrations that expressly
prohibited political assassinations.

According to high level European intelligence officials, Bush’s counselor,
Karl Rove, used the new presidential authority to silence a popular Lebanese
Christian politician who was planning to offer irrefutable evidence that
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon authorized the massacre of hundreds of
Palestinian men, women, and children in the Beirut refugee camps of Sabra
and Shatilla in 1982. In addition, Sharon provided the Lebanese forces who
carried out the grisly task. At the time of the massacres, Elie Hobeika was
intelligence chief of Lebanese Christian forces in Lebanon who were battling
Palestinians and other Muslim groups in a bloody civil war. He was also the
chief liaison to Israeli Defense Force (IDF) personnel in Lebanon. An
official Israeli inquiry into the massacre at the camps, the Kahan
Commission, merely found Sharon “indirectly” responsible for the slaughter
and fingered Hobeika as the chief instigator.

The Kahan Commission never called on Hobeika to offer testimony in his
defense. However, in response to charges brought against Sharon before a
special war crimes court in Belgium, Hobeika was urged to testify against
Sharon, according to well-informed Lebanese sources. Hobeika was prepared to
offer a different version of events than what was contained in the Kahan
report. A 1993 Belgian law permitting human rights prosecutions was unusual
in that non-Belgians could be tried for violations against other
non-Belgians in a Belgian court. Under pressure from the Bush
administration, the law was severely amended and the extra territoriality
provisions were curtailed.

Hobeika headed the Lebanese forces intelligence agency since the mid- 1970s
and he soon developed close ties to the CIA. He was a frequent visitor to
the CIA’s headquarters at Langley, Virginia. After the Syrian invasion of
Lebanon in 1990, Hobeika held a number of cabinet positions in the Lebanese
government, a proxy for the Syrian occupation authorities. He also served in
the parliament. In July 2001, Hobeika called a press conference and
announced he was prepared to testify against Sharon in Belgium and revealed
that he had evidence of what actually occurred in Sabra and Shatilla.
Hobeika also indicated that Israel had flown members of the South Lebanon
Army (SLA) into Beirut International Airport in an Israeli Air Force C130
transport plane, in full view of dozens of witnesses, including members of
the Lebanese army and others. SLA troops under the command of Major Saad
Haddad were slipped into the camps to commit the massacres. The SLA troops
were under the direct command of Ariel Sharon and an Israeli Mossad agent
provocateur named Rafi Eitan. Hobeika offered evidence that a former U.S.
ambassador to Lebanon was aware of the Israeli plot. In addition, the IDF
had placed a camera in a strategic position to film the Sabra and Shatilla
massacres. Hobeika was going to ask that the footage be released as part of
the investigation of Sharon.

After announcing he was willing to testify against Sharon, Hobeika became
fearful for his safety and began moves to leave Lebanon. Hobeika was not
aware that his threats to testify against Sharon had triggered a series of
fateful events that reached well into the White House and Sharon’s office.

On January 24, 2002, Hobeika’s car was blown up by a remote controlled bomb
placed in a parked Mercedes along a street in the Hazmieh section of Beirut.
The bomb exploded when Hobeika and his three associates, Fares Souweidan,
Mitri Ajram, and Waleed Zein, were driving their Range Rover past the
TNT-laden Mercedes at 9:40 am Beirut time. The Range Rover’s four passengers
were killed in the explosion. In case Hobeika’s car had taken another route

through the neighborhood, two additional parked cars, located at two other
choke points, were also rigged with TNT. The powerful bomb wounded a number
of other people on the street. Other parked cars were destroyed and
buildings and homes were damaged. The Lebanese president, prime minister,
and interior minister all claimed that Israeli agents were behind the
attack.

It is noteworthy that the State Department’s list of global terrorist
incidents for 2002 worldwide failed to list the car bombing attack on
Hobeika and his party. The White House wanted to ensure the attack was
censored from the report. The reason was simple: the attack ultimately had
Washington’s fingerprints on it.

High level European intelligence sources now report that Karl Rove
personally coordinated Hobeika’s assassination. The hit on Hobeika employed
Syrian intelligence agents. Syrian President Bashar Assad was trying to
curry favor with the Bush administration in the aftermath of 9-11 and was
more than willing to help the White House. In addition, Assad’s father,
Hafez Assad, had been an ally of Bush’s father during Desert Storm, a period
that saw Washington give a “wink and a nod” to Syria’s occupation of
Lebanon. Rove wanted to help Sharon avoid any political embarrassment from
an in absentia trial in Brussels where Hobeika would be a star witness. Rove
and Sharon agreed on the plan to use Syrian Military Intelligence agents to
assassinate Hobeika. Rove saw Sharon as an indispensable ally of Bush in
ensuring the loyalty of the Christian evangelical and Jewish voting blocs in
the United States. Sharon saw the plan to have the United States coordinate
the hit as a way to mask all connections to Jerusalem.

The Syrian hit team was ordered by Assef Shawkat, the number two man in
Syrian military intelligence and a good friend and brother in law of Syrian
President Bashar Assad. Assad’s intelligence services had already cooperated
with U.S. intelligence in resorting to unconventional methods to extract
information from al Qaeda detainees deported to Syria from the United States
and other countries in the wake of 9-11. The order to take out Hobeika was
transmitted by Shawkat to Roustom Ghazali, the head of Syrian military
intelligence in Beirut. Ghazali arranged for the three remote controlled
cars to be parked along Hobeika’s route in Hazmieh; only few hundred yards
from the Barracks of Syrian Special Forces which are stationed in the area
near the Presidential palace , the ministry of Defense and various
Government and officers quarters . This particular area is covered 24/7 by a
very sophisticated USA multi-agency surveillance system to monitor Syrian
and Lebanese security activities and is a ” Choice ” area to live in for its
perceived high security, [Courtesy of the Special Collections Service.]
SCS…; CIA & NSA & DIA….etc.

The plan to kill Hobeika had all the necessary caveats and built-in denial
mechanisms. If the Syrians were discovered beforehand or afterwards, Karl
Rove and his associates in the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans, OSP;
& the VP’s office would be ensured plausible deniability.

“The significance of this masterpiece is not only the divulsion of facts,
but the focus it’s made on the covert cooperation between the parties who
are playing enemies…. ” At the very Least in Lebanon since the 1970s…!!!

http://www.abcnorio.org/pcgi-bin/boards/housing/robboard.cgi?action=display&num=76

Kctim, I award you the Clayton Williams foot in the mouth award. Abu Ghraib don’t deserve the Geneva Conventions.

I suppose the Jews in Germany deserved their fate as well.

I guess as you were echoing Rush you failed to note the rapes, murder, torture and innocent victims engulfed in the Abu Ghraib scandal.

For someone who claims independence you spout partisan clap trap far too often.

I won’t go into your lack of understanding of the moral high ground that the Geneva Convention is designed to accomplish.

By the way, Bert, great post and thanks for the Clayton Williams quote, I had forgotten that gem.

Thanks Greg, its always nice to know that if I disagree with the views of the left that I am automatically a blind partisan follower.
But those of us who put America before a party agenda often get that.
My lack of understanding with the Geneva Convention is all my fault. Having to abide by and enforce it during the early 90’s must have made me less educated on it somehow. My bad.

I also apologize for spouting partisan clap trap all the time. Its just that when I see my fellow “righties” supporting abortion, gay marriage or accountability and talking about how they are against the war, I feel I must add my support for their views.

Oh well, cie la vie!

LOL Kctim, I said far too often, not always.

If you can explain your rant on the Geneva Convention not applying, these please do. I’ll be glad to trash your Claytie.

“terrorists don’t deserve and aren’t entitled to the Geneva Convention, but even those on the right have to start questioning accountability from this administration at some time.”

Greg, the GC does not apply to TERRORISTS, that is what I said.
Terrorists should be shot and killed on site, that is my belief.

The “questioning accountability” that I refered to would apply to any innocent people who may be in Abu G. or Gitmo.

As far as Claytie? sorry, I’m not really that hip of guy, you lost me on that one.

The Claytie was a joke reference to the Clayton Williams quote from Bert.

Well, I guess you will be running on the atilla the hun ticket.

One problem though, who are the terrorists? and who gets to pick them?

If we stoop to their level, why are we any better?