Countdown: "Strikingly Negative" GAO Iraq Report Leaked To Keep Bush From Watering It Down
By Logan Murphy Wednesday Aug 29, 2007 10:01pm
On Countdown, Keith Olbermann reveals that the latest, damning GAO report on Iraq was leaked by government officials who were afraid that much like previous negative reports, would be watered down by the Bush administration. As usual, chaos rules the day as Olbermann talks with retired Gen. Wesley Clark about President Bush's impending $50 billion request for continued operations in Iraq and reports that the Pentagon wants to re-write parts of the GAO report to fit their view of conditions on the ground in Iraq.
FRIST IMPEACH!
Bush is "outed" before he can get his gremlins to change truth to lies. Gotta love it! Truth prevails once again.
Tony Snow makes me want to vomit blood and feces.
Keeping out front of Bush's propaganda machine. Worrisome when our own government is afraid of being censored.
Leaked hmm...?
I expect there will be a DOJ investigation to get to the bottom of this.
Hmm. The Pentagon that wants to censor the GAO report is the same Pentagon that Brian Baird belives when they say the surge is making progress.
Let's skip impeachment. Straight to the Hague for Bush and Cheney. May the war criminal trials begin!
If Bush/Cheney are not worthy of impeachment, then from here till the end of the USA, no President will be.
Everyone who has ever stood up and lied for this most criminal of administrations needs to be tried for war crimes and face equal punishment as Bush/Cheney.
veritas @ 2:
Truth with its well known left wing bias.
Petraeus will still report that the escalation is showing "mixed progress" in September. The problem is, it's mixed with 3/4 absolute failure. That's one stiff glass of Kool-Aid. Even if it is half full (of it).
Enjoyed hearing Keith and Wes Clark discuss the situation in Iraq. This administration thinks the military is the only tool the US has, and refuses to use diplomacy to get our troops out of the mess they are in.
Have a drink on me, GAO!
Snowball @ 5:
Exactly. Those who leaked the identity of a secret agent (ie: Plame) such that she can not work again, and her sources might get killed, get off scott free... but dollars to the donuts those in the GAO who leaked this report will be shipped off to Gitmo by next month.
50 million dollars, eh?
Does anyone know... could federal marshalls or the f.b.i. arrest these lunatics?
A draft copy clearly leaked.
Inside the White House, the ghost of Richard Nixon whispers...
"people have gotta be put to the torch for this sort of thing…"
and bush-league crawls under his rug.
*whoops, billion.
CheneyBush and Petreus may betray us, but thank God for the GAO and conscientious leakers!
Surprised? No.
Shocked? No.
In awe? Of course not.
Thankfully this world has some hope left that hasn't been drained by the patriotic police and freedom of both information and speech is also alive.
Thank you Keith, for doing the service all Americans need you to do.
What is Tony Snow's plan? Is he going to keep lying until his last breath? Is he so deluded that he actually believes what he is saying? I always figured him for a liar; I never thought that he could be just that dumb. Tony, please, spend your last months with your loved ones.
Their seems to be two Pentagons. A reality based Pentagon and a faith based Pentagon at war with each other, and that is cause both relief and concern. The reality based Pentagon remains loyal to its oath of allegiance to defense of the nation and the will of legitimate civilian authority as represented by the dictates of the American people. The other is a disgraced political appendage of the Republican Party enthralled to neoconervative war mongers and corporate profiteers. On balance, the situation is dire.
Karl Rove would accuse the report as being from the "reality-based" community. Bush creates his own reality, always has.
Wes Clark rocks. Obama/Clark. Gore/Clark. Gore/Obama. Obama/Dodd. Obama/Richardson. Clark/Richardson.
I don't see how any of these can lose. Clinton, I can see losing. I like her. I'd vote for her. I think she's more liberal than her husband. But, I could see her campaign going the wrong direction.
I was playing America the Beautiful on piano the other day, trying to re-voice some of the chord changes and it hit me like a ton of bricks. This is a song I've loved since childhood. This is a song that represented my pride and love for this country. Lots of memories started flooding through my mind. My first band/choir concert when I heard it. Ray Charles' version when I really "heard" it. It's a shame, no, a crime that this song no longer represents my country anymore.
It just breaks my heart when I read stories like this.
Just my opinion.....
Old Billy @ 22:
Gore/Clark is the strongest ticket...although I prefer Gore/Obama (still an almost certain winner), with Clark as sec of Defense. Dodd would make a great Supreme Court Justice (while our other CT Senator, LIEberman, would make a great public men's room undercover investigator). If Gore wants in, expect the media perculation to begin next week!
RUN, WES, RUN!!!
Help Wes and VoteVets.org STOP IRAN WAR! before it starts! Use the "Take Action" link and the "Supplies" link and spread the word!
Old Billy @ 19:
Maybe he doesn't have any. He's such a cold-hearted lying bastard he may not particularly care about anything except his rhetorical pimping and whoring.
It's supposed to be gauche to think ill of the terminally ill but Snow is such a repulsive piece of human filth, and he's been such a horrid enabler of the Bush Admin who have caused such horror, pain and misery in this world. Frankly he can fuck off and die.
Clinton won't dialogue with Cuba. WTF? Are we really so afraid of an impoverished country that puts our health care and education systems to shame?
slippytoad @ 26:
It's supposed to be gauche to think ill of the terminally ill but Snow is such a repulsive piece of human filth, and he's been such a horrid enabler of the Bush Admin who have caused such horror, pain and misery in this world. Frankly he can fuck off and die.
I think you should take the gloves off, stop feeling sorry for Tony, and let us know what you really think.
wesisbest @ 23: Wow. That was a very sad post. Don't worry. Our America is still here... it's just currently covered by a layer of hypocrites and criminal filth. She may never be as strikingly beautiful to us as she was in youth, but with time, she'll be back.
BoilThemInTheirOil @ 24:
A Gore/Obama or Gore/Clark would be a damn strong ticket.
Snowball @ 27:
maby her war dicks sore
"The American people want to hear what General Petraeus has to say." Wesley Clark is full of shit.
Old Billy @ 22:
Billy why did you leave out Dennis Kucinich? He is the only one who isn't a sell out to big money and pandering. AND he has good ideas health care, the war, gay rights... he's the best choice! I hope he gains momentum. It's very sad that the TV medium has such power over the way the sheeple think. (Not that you are one of the Sheeple, Billy... I'm just sayin'...)
why did you leave out Dennis Kucinich?
I love Dennis and I think he is a great man, but unlike most great leaders he doesn't have mass charisma or resonance which is a shame because he is usually on point. He reminds me of Carter, every thing Jimmy has said about energy independence has come to pass. I think Dennis should get a new cabinet position - Secretary of Human Rights.
Looking good, Tony.
w. smith,
I feel better just from your response. Thank you.
I have always thought that America the Beautiful should be our national anthem.
OT: My moniker isn't about Wesley Clark (an honorable man), It's my tribute to Wes Montgomery, my favorite jazz musician. :)
uuummmm....how about we don't split the vote....that's a good forumla to get four more years of Republican rule.
V V
There's nothing the junta won't try to memory hole while they have their tin cup out asking for another 50 bill
I remember Carter, and I also remember people saying that he'll never win. People were so dismay with Nixon and the Republican scandals, that Carter was ripe for the picking. More things change, more they stay the same.
According to the polls that ABC did twice showed Kucinich in the lead and 2 to 1 over Clinton. I think Kucinich has a real chance on winning, but until you see a polls in the media and let it get publish or carry the story, then your going to led like a sheep and think that he is not even in the picture.
That was good news to see that GAO report in the news. I guess it's not good news to think Iraq isn't able to meet goals set by the occupiers of their own country. But it is good news that this came out before Bush could sugarcoat what he considers "progress" in Iraq.
Would congress required to vote to endorse another $50 billion for the war?
Discussing "accountability" for education results in New Orleans yesterday, President Bush reiterated one of his favorite sound bites, "It's what I call challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations." Alas, not when it comes to the President himself and certainly not when the subject is the progress in Iraq.
For the details on why the White House wants the GAO to grade Bush's Iraq surge on a curve, see:
"White House: Bush Deserves 'Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations' on Iraq."
Good to know there are still real patriots in the government.
I bet having that report leaked is gonna really torque Bush up...think he'll witch hunt?
[...] playing thumping it the background, but he might as well have done that. You can watch it here – a chat with retied General Wesley Clark about that devastating GAO report on Iraq – the one [...]
I hear the triangle of death is a great place to vacation this time of year. My advice is to get the f%^k out there ASAP. No charge for that advice.
The recent trip of those Republican Congressmen that had their plane shot at when leaving the Dog and Pony show onn taxpayer money. They should be able to attest how fun it is and safe. That the deal you can get on the price of a rug is worth the risk of life and limb.
I have to admit. If Congress is giving Bush this next lump of money. We will be there for at least another 6 months. and another six months and six months. Its all about delaying extentions design to buy 30 years in Iraq. That is what the President said, 30 years......................
This is your war, Bush. Go fight it yourself, chickenhawk.
[...] Putin Countdown: “Strikingly Negative” GAO Iraq Report Leaked To Keep Bush From Watering It Down »... This Summary is from an article posted at Crooks and Liars on Thursday, August 30, 2007 This [...]
You can argue that Iraq casualty figures are down, but how is reduced violence consistent with the vast surge in Iraq refugee?
What would have been great is if the real report (this one) was leaked within 24hrs of the Whitehouse report on Sept 15th, and it just being blatantly obvious what's been spun, what's been dropped, and would have been downright lies...
Not to be the perpetual naysayer, but even though it was leaked early to prevent it from being watered down, it hasn't received hardly any significant traditional (television/cable) coverage....well at least compared to what Bushie's "things are improving in Iraq" campaign rollout has received to date from the world of punditry and a select few congresscritters. It's one thing to have this report, it's another to have it covered and broadcast far, wide, and repetitively by the media.
General Petraeus has a moral decision to make. If Bush ends up putting words into his mouth that general Petraeus never intended be spoken, he will be obliged to correct the lie. Failure to do so will be an act of abeting Bush's criminality as Bush once again defrauds the American People.
Petraeus should have his resignation/retirement ready to submit with the intent of correcting the public record as soon as he is a civilian. Alternately he should make ready to go the protected whistle blower route.
The lies Bush is preparing to foist will cost many lives and give rise to yet more misery should those lies succeed in their intent. Given the ever dependable, absolutely reliable moral cowardice of a significant faction of the Democratic majority - a majority that can be counted upon to latch onto any semi-plausible excuse to continue wallowing in their cowardice, it's a sure bet Bush's impending fraud will succeed.
If Petraeus holds his silence, he will bear - second only to Bush - the largest protion of guilt for the fraud and its consequences. He needs to talk to Colin Powell and ask Powell if the shame and dishonor that will forever be associated with his name was worth whatever he thought he was going to gain by doing what he knew to be the wrong thing. Powell will never live down the disgrace he now wears because of the lies he helped foist upon the world at the UN. He could have chosen to do the right thing, but refused.
Now it Petraeus's turn to choose.
There's nothing wrong with America The Beautiful. There's not only Ray Charles' rendition, but one on Neil Young's Living With War.
Remember, the fascist thugs in the White House made it very clear they are all about the Homeland. Homeland this, Homeland that, protect the Homeland ... when not one of our most revered patriotic songs calls America the homeland. Not the National Anthem, not America the Beautiful, not My Country Tis' of Thee, not God Bless America. None of our founding documents call it the Homeland.
That the term 'Homeland Security' bears echoes not only of Nazi Germany but Communist Russia should give everyone the creeps. That we had, within a month, a spiffy new law with a convenient acronym called USA PATRIOT is just suspicious - and even with 'revisions' and 'improvements,' our elected representatives are still being blindsided by this pig-in-a-poke.
We have/had an Attorney General who doesn't know the Constitution, thinks torture is acceptable, and lied before Congress. He is joined by an NSA chief who doesn't know the difference between probable cause and reasonable suspicion, but nonetheless assures us our civil liberties are safe.
And there's the anecdote that Bush regards the Constitution as nothing more than a 'goddamned piece of paper,' and joked, following the outcome of a contested election, that things would be easier in a dictatorship.
Sure, we can brush it off as patriotic zeal. We can dismiss Bush's antics as frat-boy down-home Middle America charm. (Ha.)
Or we can realize that we have a small man with a fragile ego in charge of the country. A rich boy and a bully who has nuclear arms (and isn't that what we are supposed to be standing against in Iraq, North Korea, and Iran?), and no true convictions or moral fiber that we can see. The God thing? According to David Kuo, Bush detests the evangelicals, uses them only for political gain (which means his talk of finding Jesus and getting sober is a line of shit, as well).
Scratch away the 'character' and the 'values' that aren't really there to begin with, and we have a sad little boy who really doesn't belong in the Oval Office.
Shadowgm @52,
Hear, hear!
A couple of things...
1. shrub co. wouldn't care if we had live 24/hr street cameras in Iraq showing us all the horrors in full color with surround sound. He'd still stand up in front of the country and LIE because he's an evil worthless piece of shit chimp brained moron who has no morals, no conscience and no cares about the pain and suffering he's caused during his reign of stupid.
2. Tony snow looks like ten kinds of shit. There is no doubt in my mind that his tenure at the shrub co. whore house has eaten him alive from the inside. Being exposed to pure evil for that long will do that. It's like plutonium. For those who are already corrupted on the inside it merely makes you fat, bald and even more stupid.
3. Does anyone doubt for a second that govt will just roll over and hand shrub co. the blood money he's going to demand for the next few months of his favorite game... murder and mayhem? You know they will. The only question is how long will it take them to capitulate or will they even pretend to object this time.
Old Billy @ 22:
Don't forget DENNIS!
Shadowgm @ 53:
So he's not ALL bad.
:)
"Hans! Kommen here!"
"Ja, mein Fuhrer! Vas ist?"
"These "facts"! Was is los? Dis is making us look BAD! Ach du Leiber! If ze people actually SEE vot is goink on, zey vill nicht giff us der money so ve can getten rich off der Halliburton stockers! Ve must fix zis! But HOW? How?"
"Mein Fuhrer, is simple...ve must use Rove's Law!"
"Ach, Karl! Vere is you ven ve need you? Vot is dis law, Hans?"
"Mein fuhrer, der great Rove said "Ven der facts do not conform to der theory, zey must be DISPOSED OF!"
"Ya! Brilliant! Make it Happen, Hans!"
"Jawohl!"
Former general and Nato Commander Clark calls out neocon chickenhawk Joe Lierberman for being one of the main obstacles in this chickenhawk initiated war and for ending it. Hopefully in the next election cycle we can pick up at least one more Democratic seat in the senate so Lieberman can be stripped of his committee chair and he can slither to the other side of the aisle where he belongs without tipping the balance of the senate to the GOP.
Paul @ 52:
Congress will have the opportunity to keep this from happening. They need to ask clear precise questions. They need to box him in so if he contradicts himself he'll committing perjury. They need to use their time to actually ask questions, and forget about their tendency to use up their time making a long speech leaving only enough time to ask just one question without follow up.
That said, they'll probably just be beguiled by his goofy grin and folksy manner, and give him a pass.
Living with this President in office is like Living with a giant boulder in the road ahead of us... he is CONSTANTLY IN THE WAY of progress... if he were NOT THERE we would be so much better off.
The GAO is a government agency and is required to report to Congress, but the report once on record is a public document. You can go to http://www.gao.gov/ and get any report they have generated.
There is no reason to go through the filter of the MSM.
tyree @ 31:
To open dialogue with Cuba, is to say to Cuba,"You Win".
Their is a valuable commodity in the Cuban-American vote that MUST NOT be jeopardized in the interests of ~common sense~.
I suppose United Fruit (or whatever they are called now: ) is still angry at Cuba too. And therefore, that anger carries over to our 'elected officials'.
I think I'll smoke a Cuban cigar (in another country that doesn't have a boycott against Cuba) like a true Patriotic Republican or Conservative Radio Show Host.
Can a person be banned for not spelling correctly and messing up website links? I submit my application for banning with the example of my above post of such an atrociously incompetent manner....
Samck_dab @ 8:
You said it!! And you said it well. This is exactly what's required for this cabal of thieves. Bu$h and his brigands are no better than those put in jail for robbery, fraud, and murder. They belong there with the rest... Damn the elite! They're just like everyone else... no better. And this bunch of losers is a hell of a lot worse than most people I know.
Wait for it, instead of discussing the undiluted GAO report, the reichwing will insist on investigations to investigate the leak.
Gay Republican sex in bathrooms, and now leaks, maybe all the Publicans belong in a penile institution.
cap'n mike.. now that I 've stopped laughing, may I say right on!
BoilThemInTheirOil @ 7:
"Zum Wohl!"
I am so sick and tired of knowing without question that our government at it's highest levels is nothing but a crime family. The "surge" is clearly a transparent attempt to keep the money flowing out of the treasury and into the hands of corrupt war profiteers.
And with all the bitching and hand wringing absolutely nothing of substance is ever done about it. The crimninals in charge ask for more money and they keep getting it meanwhile our troops die, tens of miillions have no health coverage, million or more will lose their homes (to more of the samne government sponsered corporate criminals), the infrastructure is crumbling, the victimns of katrina are told to fuck off and our country continues it's sad and seemingly inevitable decline.
Either impeach these fuckers or STFU.
As a side note...
How many other "preliminary reports" HAS Snow made comments on or gone a step further and totally pimped as the backdrop for an entire propaganda campaign? There has to be numerous news conference records of that.
That would be an interesting little video montage for Keith or YouTube.
I wonder where "preliminary report" fits in Karl's playbook, fill in the blank, list of obfuscation options for this pat line:
Options A:
1.) ongoing investigation
2.) preliminary 'draft' report
3.) Executive privilege matter
4.) a. State secrete, b. National security, c. Classified matter
5.) military operations
Options B:
1.) the trial / Judge / SCOTUS ruling or outcome
2.) the final version
3.) the Generals 'on the ground'.
4.) DOJ's ruling on that.
5.) it's declassified in 35 years
6.) mission accomplished
7.) hell to freeze over... Go Cheney yourself
Another interesting video would be the countless times this administration’s press spokesperson used any variation of this line.
And the blowhards on the right wonder why so many of us hate this man.
Look at Wes' face when your player stops.
It says it all.
I've often learned more from that frozen frame than
what they actually say.
If the Dems cave to Bush's demands for an additional $50 billion -- and it's possible they will -- will there be any reason at all to think of them as anything other than the weaker of 2 evils?
"Congress will have the opportunity to keep this from happening. They need to ask clear precise questions. They need to box him in so if he contradicts himself he’ll committing perjury. They need to use their time to actually ask questions, and forget about their tendency to use up their time making a long speech leaving only enough time to ask just one question without follow up.
That said, they’ll probably just be beguiled by his goofy grin and folksy manner, and give him a pass."
- Carmikl @59
Carmikl ,
I think you're right.And in giving him a pass, they'll give Bush another green light. And Bush will give America the finger.
bob h @ 50:
Read Juan Cole today, casualty figures are up. http://www.juancole.com/ "The average number of Iraqis killed in 2007 per day exceeds those killed in 2006. Independent counts by news organizations do not agree with Pentagon estimates about drops in civilian deaths over-all. Nation-wide attacks in June reached a daily all-time high of 177.5. True, violence in Baghdad has been wrestled back down to the levels of summer, 2006 (hint: it wasn't paradise), but violence levels are up in the rest of the country. If you compare each month in 2006 with each month in 2007 with regard to US military deaths, the 2007 picture is dreadful. Here are the US troop death via Icasualties.org.
8-2007 77 8-2006 65
7-2007 79 7-2006 43
6-2007 101 6-2006 61
5-2007 126 5-2006 69
4-2007 104 4-2006 76
3-2007 81 3-2006 31
2-2007 81 2-2006 55
1-2007 83 1-2006 62
I mean, how brain dead do the Bushies think we are, peddling this horse manure that US troop deaths have fallen? (There are always seasonal variations because in the summer it is 120 F. in the shade and guerrillas are too heat-exhausted to fight; but the summer 2007 numbers are much greater than those for summer 2006; that isn't progress.) And why does our corporate media keep repeating this Goebbels-like propaganda? Do we really live in an Orwellian state?"
congress need shut the spikot off....and not pay haliburton anything....they are not an american company