FEITH, on his skewing of Iraq intel: “…and in presenting it I was not endorsing its substance.”

Jeez, the prez (Bush) of the U.S. has surrounded himself with some pretty sorry bastards. Makes me wonder about him. He and his cronies are skanky-like-skunks.

Lizz Winstead, in a Huffington Post blog (“Have a Little Feith in Him”), brings to our attention the fact that the intel we used to sell ourselves on the Iraq (Civil) War was skewed by the Pentagon.

Read the Washington Post Story for yourselves: Official’s Key Report On Iraq Is Faulted

Douglas J. Feith is one of the culprits in this horrendous scandal of lies:

Intelligence provided by former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith to buttress the White House case for invading Iraq included “reporting of dubious quality or reliability” that supported the political views of senior administration officials rather than the conclusions of the intelligence community, according to a report by the Pentagon’s inspector general.

Feith’s office “was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda,” according to portions of the report, released yesterday by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.). The inspector general described Feith’s activities as “an alternative intelligence assessment process.”

and:

At the time of Feith’s reporting, the CIA had concluded only that there was an “evolving” association, “based on sources of varying reliability.”

In a telephone interview yesterday, Feith emphasized the inspector general’s conclusion that his actions, described in the report as “inappropriate,” were not unlawful. “This was not ‘alternative intelligence assessment,’ ” he said. “It was from the start a criticism of the consensus of the intelligence community, and in presenting it I was not endorsing its substance.

Feith, who was defense policy chief before leaving the government in 2005, was one of the key contributors to the administration’s rationale for war. His intelligence activities, authorized by then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul D. Wolfowitz, and coordinated with Vice President Cheney’s office, stemmed from an administration belief that the CIA was underplaying evidence of then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s ties with al-Qaeda.

This is the most evil, baldfaced lying and CYB (cover your bahookie) that America has ever witnessed. Here is my response to Lizz Winstead’s blog on Huffington Post:

“This was not ‘alternative intelligence assessment,’ ” he said. “It was from the start a criticism of the consensus of the intelligence community, and in presenting it I was not endorsing its substance.”

Oh my God! Appropriate words of comment on this statement are simply eluding me. I’m almost speechless upon reading that one short statement from Feith. I suppose the thing for me to do is to cut loose and go feral, in my best native West Texan:

“What a chickenshit son-of-a-bitch!” [my words] I believe this is the lying-est administration in the history of America.

This is how Feith simultaneously admits that he lied about intel, and got us into a stupid war turned civil war, got 3000 US troops killed, bankrupted our country, killed 650,000 Iraqis, forced 3.4 million (3,400,000) Iraqis to flee their homes or country, and is unhinging the entire Middle Eastern region of the world.

I am truly sickened by these disgusting sots – these Publicans, as I call them. They are vile, repugnant, amoral, and totally lacking any conscience. In feral West Texas we call them sorry bastards.

Denny – http://abovethefold.wordpress.com

Gen. Tommy Franks, by the way has called Feith, “the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth.”

_____________________________________________________________________________
Lizz Winstead is a terrifically funny writer, author, and comedienne. Take a look at some of her routines on her MySpace site.
____________________________________________________________________________
As of this moment HuffPo has not yet posted my comment, but they usually do, sometimes hours later.

IRAQ STUDY GROUP REPORT IS RELEASED

Okay here’s my initial thoughts, having downloaded the IRAQ STUDY GROUP REPORT, but not read it, having watched the late morning news, and having watched the Press Conference with Tony Snow. By the way you can download the report, free at the Baker Institute.org – ISG Report Or visit their homepage – BAKER INSTITUTE HOME.

I saw almost none of the presentation to the President, but did see the Tony Snow press conf. He was his typical smug, ape-ish self, stiffarming, denying, and evading nearly every question asked. Judging from Snow, the Bush White House may still be in denial as the the dire situation in Iraq. Snow: “The President believes in the transformational power of liberty.” This is Ideological-Speak for “Hopefully we can find our way through all of this to stay the course.”

Bush is a strongwilled individualist, too much so to rethink this whole scheme of things. Too, putting yourself in Bush’s shoes, this mess is so humiliating and embarassing that it is going to keep him trapped in an angry and defensive mode of thinking. His presidency is not only lameduck, its thought processes are essentially shutdown. This is an embarassment to the United States, that we have one individual so hopelessly out of touch and yet in charge. Hopefully, with some time, he can figure his way out of this funk and move into a mode of dynamic leadership, leading the U.S. into a new diplomatic mode.

Again I’ll say that Snow was definitely stiff-arming the press, as expected, for a President in denial, “We have not been saying, ‘Stay the Course,’ for several months now.” I laughed aloud at this from Snow. They appear to have been living in a parallel universe for some time now. It has been less than one month since we’ve heard, “Stay the Course.” In fact we heard it multiple times from Bush himself only last week on his “diplomatic” trip to the Middle East.

I think it would be helpful to the President for him to stand before the American People in something of an early State of the Union Address on Iraq, and speak some pragmatic, non-ideological truth, apologize, and ask for national cooperation as we try to fix Iraq for the Iraqi People. There is a short window for Bush to seize the day on this mess. Perhaps extend the Iraq Study Group one year at a time, and use some or all of the members as a governing board to oversee the task. He can still pull this thing out of the fire and be a President with an important legacy.

But this President is not a dynamic leader. He’s a Lone Ranger, a unilateralist, a “my way or the highway” cowboy from Texas. Initially, two generals sugested that we need 500,000 troops to invade Iraq. One was fired and one was completely ignored.

Bush will adhere to ideology and refuse a change of course in regards to the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Iraq mess, and probably won’t attempt diplomatic talks with either Iran or Syria.

Based upon Bush’s history as an ideologue, and upon his inept grasp of reality, I am only mildly hopefully for our success in Iraq, or in the recovery of Bush’s administration. This is a failed administration whose only note of accomplishment is the stock market, but this comes at the expense of: 1. a record national debt 2. record national personal debt 3. record trade deficit 4. immigration problems 5. a failed war on terror 6. a failed war in Iraq 6. Bin Laden is still on the loose 7. Al Qaeda is growing 8. global warming 9. American jobs and wages

And finally, short of a totally self-reinvented George W. Bush, we are in dire need of a regime change in the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. We don’t have the luxury of waiting two years for a new administration. Iraq demands our immediate attention, as do other serious problems.

Please, please, please Mr. President, please prove me wrong.

RUMSFELD MEMO: Iraq — Illustrative New Courses of Action

On the day before elections 2006, Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld wrote this memorandum entitled: Iraq — Illustrative New Courses of Action. Bush interviewed Robert Gates the day before this and Rumsfeld resigned two days later. It isn’t known whether Rumsfeld knew of Bush’s interview of Gates at the time of this memo. This is the text of the classified memo:

Nov. 6, 2006

SUBJECT: Iraq — Illustrative New Courses of Action

The situation in Iraq has been evolving, and U.S. forces have adjusted, over time, from major combat operations to counterterrorism, to counterinsurgency, to dealing with death squads and sectarian violence. In my view it is time for a major adjustment. Clearly, what U.S. forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough. [emphasis added] Following is a range of options:

ILLUSTRATIVE OPTIONS

Above the Line: (Many of these options could and, in a number of cases, should be done in combination with others)

¶Publicly announce a set of benchmarks agreed to by the Iraqi Government and the U.S. — political, economic and security goals — to chart a path ahead for the Iraqi government and Iraqi people (to get them moving) and for the U.S. public (to reassure them that progress can and is being made).

¶Significantly increase U.S. trainers and embeds, and transfer more U.S. equipment to Iraqi Security forces (ISF), to further accelerate their capabilities by refocusing the assignment of some significant portion of the U.S. troops currently in Iraq.

¶Initiate a reverse embeds program, like the Korean Katusas, by putting one or more Iraqi soldiers with every U.S. and possibly Coalition squad, to improve our units’ language capabilities and cultural awareness and to give the Iraqis experience and training with professional U.S. troops.

¶Aggressively beef up the Iraqi MOD and MOI, and other Iraqi ministries critical to the success of the ISF — the Iraqi Ministries of Finance, Planning, Health, Criminal Justice, Prisons, etc. — by reaching out to U.S. military retirees and Reserve/National Guard volunteers (i.e., give up on trying to get other USG Departments to do it.)

¶Conduct an accelerated draw-down of U.S. bases. We have already reduced from 110 to 55 bases. Plan to get down to 10 to 15 bases by April 2007, and to 5 bases by July 2007.

¶Retain high-end SOF capability and necessary support structure to target Al Qaeda, death squads, and Iranians in Iraq, while drawing down all other Coalition forces, except those necessary to provide certain key enablers for the ISF.

¶Initiate an approach where U.S. forces provide security only for those provinces or cities that openly request U.S. help and that actively cooperate, with the stipulation being that unless they cooperate fully, U.S. forces would leave their province.

¶Stop rewarding bad behavior, as was done in Fallujah when they pushed in reconstruction funds, and start rewarding good behavior. Put our reconstruction efforts in those parts of Iraq that are behaving, and invest and create havens of opportunity to reward them for their good behavior. As the old saying goes, “If you want more of something, reward it; if you want less of something, penalize it.” No more reconstruction assistance in areas where there is violence.

¶Position substantial U.S. forces near the Iranian and Syrian borders to reduce infiltration and, importantly, reduce Iranian influence on the Iraqi Government.

¶Withdraw U.S. forces from vulnerable positions — cities, patrolling, etc. — and move U.S. forces to a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) status, operating from within Iraq and Kuwait, to be available when Iraqi security forces need assistance.

¶Begin modest withdrawals of U.S. and Coalition forces (start “taking our hand off the bicycle seat”), so Iraqis know they have to pull up their socks, step up and take responsibility for their country.

¶Provide money to key political and religious leaders (as Saddam Hussein did), to get them to help us get through this difficult period.

¶Initiate a massive program for unemployed youth. It would have to be run by U.S. forces, since no other organization could do it.

¶Announce that whatever new approach the U.S. decides on, the U.S. is doing so on a trial basis. This will give us the ability to readjust and move to another course, if necessary, and therefore not “lose.”

¶Recast the U.S. military mission and the U.S. goals (how we talk about them) — go minimalist.

Below the Line (less attractive options):

¶Continue on the current path.

¶Move a large fraction of all U.S. Forces into Baghdad to attempt to control it.

¶Increase Brigade Combat Teams and U.S. forces in Iraq substantially.

¶Set a firm withdrawal date to leave. Declare that with Saddam gone and Iraq a sovereign nation, the Iraqi people can govern themselves. Tell Iran and Syria to stay out.

¶Assist in accelerating an aggressive federalism plan, moving towards three separate states — Sunni, Shia, and Kurd.

¶Try a Dayton-like process.

Whew! Sounds like Rumsfeld is fed-up and frustrated with the slow progress in Iraq, and with his boss, Mr. Bush! They should have implemented many of these strategies over 2 years ago.