Let's start a conspiracy theory!

By Edward Copeland 

The first two times Wikileaks unloaded their document dumps, there seemed to be a clear motivation: Uncovering untold facts about what the U.S. did or still is doing during both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. There seemed to be an overriding public service in the publishing of the classified documents, not that it seemed as if many paid any attention. The part that bothered me about that was how piss-poor our nation's cybersecurity must be if, as they expect us to believe, a single Army intelligence officer was able to download hundreds of thousands of documents, if not millions, and pass them on to Wikileaks.

The case with the latest Wikileaks document dump though is murky. What purpose can be served by telling world leaders what our various diplomats and leaders in the State Department say about other world leaders behind their backs. What is this high school? Given what is being revealed in the lustiest batch of leaks, it is difficult to discern a political agenda other than to ruin our relations with various nations and leaders around the world, and not just the Obama Administration since some of the leaks date back to actions taken in previous administrations, with particular mention of actions taken by both Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice.

The part of the story that immediately makes me smell a rat is that they are again attributing this leak to Bradley Manning, the same 23-year-old Army intelligence analyst who was based in Iraq but who has been held in a prison cell in Quantico, Va., for the past few weeks. Was he able to find time to download what could have amounted to millions of documented without getting caught? Even if he did do the Iraq and Afghanistan ones, what possible interest would he have had in snooping into the State Department to find out what we were saying about world leaders and other things? Could this be another case as when they tried to say that Abu Ghraib was because of a couple of low-ranking "bad apples" and they didn't go higher up?

Now here comes my conspiracy theory. Who hates everybody, in this administration, most of the Bush administration and especially foreign leaders? Someone who would have had access to a lot of this older information and I'm sure could find his way in to find stuff since he left office.

Dick Cheney, that's who. Sure, I have no proof. I'm making pure speculation, but there has to be one for this latest document dump. Otherwise, the true story is that Wikileaks has no sense of what really matters and doesn't care about repercussions. The other leaks were important. These are mostly trivial and, more importantly, could prove hurtful to U.S. foreign policy for who knows how long just as Obama and his team were making strides to repair the damage that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the gang left.

The Condi-for-Veep non-story story

By Michael J.W. Stickings

There isn't much to it, but it isn't going away. I wrote about it a couple of weeks ago, thinking that that would, for the time being, be that, but, well, that wasn't that.

Here's what we know: Condi went to Grover Norquist's weekly morning gathering for right-wing crackpots and wowed the head crackpot himself. Over the weekend, pro-Condi flack-hack Dan Senor told George Stephanopoulos that "Rice has been actively, actually in recent weeks, campaigning for this," a campaign that has included cozying up to the Norquist crowd. In response to Senor, Foggy Bottom mouthpiece Sean McCormack said that "if she's actively seeking the vice presidency, then she's the last one to know about it," a too-cute evasion by far.

For his part, Norquist seems now to be pro-Condi himself: "If her goal was to convince everyone she would be a good president and, therefore, a good vice president -- she hit it out of the ballpark," he told WaPo's Sleuth. "Is she campaigning for it? I don't know. But if she is, she's doing it the right way." Not quite a full-out endorsement, as the misleading headline suggests, but not too shabby.

And what does Condi think: "Let me just say, first of all, that Senator McCain is an extraordinary American, a really outstanding leader, and obviously a great patriot. That said, I'm going back to Stanford or back to California, west of the Mississippi. I very much look forward to watching this campaign and voting as a voter."

Uh-huh. Sure. That's what they all say. Sounds to me like she wants the job.

And like we'll have to put up with more of this non-promotional self-promotion for quite some time to come. After all, she's got the buzz, she'd be a "sexy" pick, and she's got a whole group of Condistas behind her.

But will she get it? WaPo's Fix thinks not: "Putting Rice on the ticket would remind all of those voters about the war -- and McCain's stance on it. It would also provide a tangible link between the Bush administration and McCain's campaign. With Bush's approval numbers as low as they are (and have been for several years), being portrayed as seeking a third Bush term is a stone-cold loser for McCain... McCain is far more likely to opt for a big-state governor with chief executive experience rather than another candidates with strong ties to Washington and a long record of advocacy for an unpopular war."

Plus, she's pro-choice and, in some ways, even more un-Republican than McCain. At least McCain is trying to turn himself into a crackpot -- or to unleash the crackpot within. Even with Norquist's approval, is Condi crackpot enough for the Republicans? I suppose it's possible that she is, or could be. Besides, standing loyally by Bush and being one of the key architects of the Iraq War and Occupation suggest deep-rooted crackpottery within.

Condi may or may not want the job, but crazier things have happened than McCain-Rice '08.

Hillary Camp livid: "They look at his passport, but not ours!"

Breaking News: Bias Charged; Hillary Wants Florida and Michigan To See Her Passport

By J. Thomas Duffy

Brushing aside the breaking news, that State Department employees breached the passport file of Senator Barack Obama, opening it., at least, on three, separate occasion, Howard Wolfson, Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, lambasted the media traveling with the candidate, claiming more bias.

"With the big wins in Texas and Ohio, the widening lead in Pennsylvania," Wolfson barked, clearly agitated, "Now, everyone is running off looking at his passport".

"Why wasn't Hillary's passport breached? ... Why wasn't Hillary's passport looked at?"

'They look at his passport, but not hers? ... It's just like the debates... I'd say something fishy is going on here."

Clinton, apparently still out campaigning as the news broke, quickly integrated the news into her stump speech, offering the voters of Florida and Michigan the opportunity to look at her passport.

"I don't want to see these voters, of two of our most largest, and significant states, being left out of seeing my passport ... That's just not fair."

Reports are still breaking, that three contract employees at the State Department opened and looked at the passport file of Barack Obama.

The dates of the breaches are January 9th, February 21st and recently, on March 14th.

Josh Marshall, from TPM, notes that the dates coincide with "the day after the New Hampshire primary, the day of the Democratic debate in Texas and the day the Wright story really hit."

The Senate office of Obama was notified this afternoon of the breaches.

Two of the contract employees were fired, the third suspended.

It's not clear when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice became aware of the security infractions.

Sources tell The Garlic that Secretary Rice was exercising on her elliptical trainer when she first learned of the problem.

Another source contacted The Garlic, indicating they worked in the State Department and stated they were surprised this news didn't come out sooner.

"Half the department had his [Obama] passport up as a screensaver," said the State Department source.

"If we worked late, we played drinking games with it ... You had to name the date and country he visited, and if you got it wrong, you chugged."

More as this story develops

**********

Bonus Links

Attytood: UPDATED: Breaking Obama passport scandal

Pale Rider - Blue Girl/Red State: Obama's Passport File ALREADY Searched by GOP

Hilzoy - Obsidian Wings: This, On The Other Hand, Is Serious

Jeff Fecke/Shakesville: I am So Surprised...Not

Brilliant at Breakfast: You aren't paranoid if they really are out to get you

Hillary's Smelling Burning Rubber! Or: The Garlic Was Right - Hillary Has Built Her "Field of Voices"





















(Cross-posted at The Garlic.)

Does he get a new girlfriend with this job too? ... Does the job "pay for itself"?

By J. Thomas Duffy

Maybe it's the clarion call of his old colleague, Donald Rumsfeld, that tugs at his heartstrings of public service.

Wolfowitz Returns to U.S. Government as Adviser:

As we said when the job offer was reported in December, the board meets quarterly to provide advice to the secretary of state and one of her deputies based on classified intelligence on some of the most important issues in United States foreign policy today, from Iran to North Korea."

Egad!

The Wolf Man, back, prowling the corridors of State.

Hmmm, Rumsfeld calling for a new Propaganda Agency... Wolfowitz, back at the State Department, advising, among other things, on Iran ...

Do we smell a build-up here? ... Get the old team together, for the final run down the stretch, putting their considerable prevarication skills to use for a push into Iran?

Does the girlfriend get a gig, too?

Are we gearing up to go after the Filipino Monkey?

Will we soon here the rhetoric, from the Wolf Man, or, perhaps the Madam Secretary herself, that a preemptive, offensive entry into Iran will "pay for itself"?

From The Lede, back in December:

"Another official called the reported appointment “amazing.” That comment alluded to Mr. Wolfowitz’s staunch support for the Iraq War when he was deputy secretary of defense under President George W. Bush. He hasn’t won much good will since then, either during a relatively quick rise and fall as World Bank president, or in his current post at a conservative think tank in Washington.

But if nothing else, Mr. Wolfowitz really needs no introduction, especially to his detractors on the blogs, who are a puzzled, angry lot today:

The Next Hurrah: “Condi, is it a coincidence that so many people responsible for gaming the intelligence to get us into Iraq are on your advisory board?”

The Brad Blog: “In Bushworld, incompetence must be rewarded.”

Arms Control Wonk: “Andrew Sullivan has a better line than I can muster.”

Andrew Sullivan: “He’s advising Condi on WMDs. Curveball wasn’t available?”

So far, The Lede has not turned up any bloggers weighing in to support Mr. Wolfowitz."

On the downside, with the protracted, ugly, almost never-ending saga of his resignation from The World Bank, will the next President be able to get him out of this position?

Stay tuned Wolf Fans, this one is surely to be a ever-giving gift!

**********

Bonus Wolfie Whoppers

Yes, Wolfie, People Will Be Talking, For Years, About You ... The Results - The Garlic Weekly Poll

Larisa Alexandrovna - Scott Ritter: Neocons as Parasites

"Hillary 1984" Video Blogger Takes On Wolfowitz

Andrew Cockburn: The Puppet Who Cleared the Way for Iraq's Destruction

Developing Story! White House Giving World Bank, Wolfowitz Green Light To Blame McNulty; New Strategy Of Leveraging Scandals; Cheney Says Embattled Hero "Definitely In Final Throes" At World Bank

Yeah, it's a head-scratcher for us, too, Wolfie...

(Cross-posted at The Garlic.)

United Nations associated with Middle East news

By Carol Gee

President George W. Bush has never been an ardent supporter of the United Nations. He has only used the organization when it has been convenient, or as "cover" for his military adventure in Iraq. I am not sure why the administration now welcomes its presence at the Hamdan military tribunal proceedings now going on at Gitmo. The United Nations Office at Geneva is reporting that a special UN expert on human rights from Finland was invited to a December 5 military hearing at Guantanamo Bay

Martin Scheinin, issued the following statement today:

Geneva, 3 December 2007: -- The Special Rapporteur welcomes the invitation extended by the Government of the United States of America for him to attend and observe military commission hearings scheduled to commence on 5 December 2007 at Guantanamo Bay.

...The Special Rapporteur’s mission report on the United States is expected to be presented and considered by the resumed sixth session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 12 December. In addition to the presentation of his reports, the Special Rapporteur will report orally on his observations regarding his trip to Guantanamo Bay.

"Witnesses to Take Stand for First Time in Guantanamo Detainee Prosecutions," reports Fox News. After six years of detention the big news is about a long awaited tribunal hearing for the man suspected of being a driver for Osama bin Laden. Coincidentally at the same time, yesterday's Supreme Court session was on the rights of the Guantanamo detainees:

Witnesses are expected to take the stand Thursday for the first time since the U.S. government began attempts to prosecute terrorism suspects at Guantanamo.

An expert in Middle Eastern affairs is expected to testify for Salim Ahmed Hamdan to support the defense argument that he could have been a driver for bin Laden without being a hardcore Al Qaeda member with knowledge of terrorist attacks.

Prosecutors are expected to present about five witnesses to back their case that Hamdan should be charged as an unlawful enemy combatant, in the second day of pretrial hearings to determine whether the military tribunal at this isolated Navy base has jurisdiction over the case.

Evidently signals got crossed between Israel and the U.S. State Department recently. Again it was about on what use to make of the United Nations, not how to see them as partners with any standing. From JTA.org, "the global news service of the Jewish people," comes the interesting headline, "Envoy: Israel asked U.S. to pull draft":

Israel asked the Bush administration to pull a resolution hailing the Annapolis peace parley, said the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Zalmay Khalilzad was on the hot seat this week after the Bush administration pulled a draft resolution on Nov. 30 hailing the peace conference that he had submitted to the U.N. Security Council.

Khalilzad told Reuters Tuesday that he believed the decision to pull the resolution came from “the highest level” of the Israeli government. Israeli and Palestinian officials said last week they had seen the draft resolution. Though the Israelis told the press they had no objection to the text, they argued that a Security Council resolution was an inappropriate measure.

The U.N.'s efforts to eradicate cluster bombs are back in the news. I wrote a post about these horrible weapons in September of 2006. Today's headline reads, "Conference on Cluster Munitions," to be held in Vienna, Austria, 5-7 December, 2007. The story came from Crisis Prevention and Recovery:

This third Conference on Cluster Munitions within the Oslo Process is another important step towards an intended international ban on cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. Some 118 countries are so far registered to participate in the Vienna conference which is an increase from the 68 states that attended the second conference in Lima in May 2007.

The UN has, on numerous occasions, appealed to the international community to address the inhumane effects of cluster munitions. On 17th September 2007, the UN established a position calling on Member States to address immediately the horrendous humanitarian, human rights and development effects of cluster munitions by concluding a legally binding instrument of international humanitarian law.

Examples of the impact of cluster munitions on civilians in the Middle East -- From the same organization, here is a summary of the cluster bomb impact on Afghanistan:

As a result of this 'area-contamination', the impact of cluster munition use extended beyond the immediate threat to personal security and safety. Cluster munitions destroyed homes and prevented their reconstruction until clearance could be undertaken. Agriculture was affected, as contamination extended over vineyards, walled gardens and wheat fields. Livestock was killed, and areas available for gathering vital resources, notably firewood, were restricted due to the presence of unexploded cluster munitions. 11 As has been noted in other locations, civilians were left with a choice between suffering a loss of livelihood and severely deprived living conditions, or risking their safety in order to generate income and gather resources.

To conclude today's post I quote from an earlier piece that sounds eerily familiar. It also addressing the U.S. vs. the United Nations and the Middle East. The title and entire concluding section I used then are still just as appropriate:

• Views from a parallel universe -- July 17, 2007
  There is reality, and then there is "Bush reality." Many of us responded with a big yawn to the recent news of a call for peace by OCP...
  
  U.S. Middle East view trumps that of the U.N. -- Our State Department reports on OCP's "briefing" meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon, as if he were a beginner needing to learn a thing or two:
  
  

  President Bush (July 17): "...One of the things I briefed the Secretary on was my views about extremism and these radicals that will do anything to disrupt the goals set by the United Nations and/or disrupt the advance of democracy in peaceful societies. Al Qaeda is strong today, but they're not nearly as strong as they were prior to September the 11th, 2001, and the reason why is, is because we've been working with the world to keep the pressure on, to stay on the offense, to bring them to justice so they won't hurt us again; to defeat them where we find them."

  
  So that is the Bush Middle East reality. And then we have the rational reality for which we can only wish -- intelligent, non-delusional, realistic about the facts, respectful of other Western leaders, honest and fair, consistent and timely, reasonable. I am not holding my breath for peace to break out in the Middle East any time soon.

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)

The return of Paul Wolfowitz

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Newsweek's Michael Isikoff reports:

Don't ever say the Bush administration doesn't take care of its own. Nearly three years after Paul Wolfowitz resigned as deputy Defense secretary and six months after his stormy departure as president of the World Bank -- amid allegations that he improperly awarded a raise to his girlfriend -- he's in line to return to public service. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has offered Wolfowitz, a prime architect of the Iraq War, a position as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, a prestigious State Department panel, according to two department sources who declined to be identified discussing personnel matters. The 18-member panel, which has access to highly classified intelligence, advises Rice on disarmament, nuclear proliferation, WMD issues and other matters. "We think he is well suited and will do an excellent job," said one senior official.

No, children, it doesn't matter how badly you mess up, how badly you get things wrong, how dangerous your views are, how corrupt you may be -- in the end, as long as you remain loyal, as long as you remain ideologically friendly, there'll be a place for you somewhere in the lofty echelons of Bushworld.

The previous chairman of the ISAB was, of all people, Fred Thompson, current Republican presidential snoozer -- hardly a Bush loyalist, even more hardly a great mind. One suspects that Wolfowitz will bring a tad more vigour to the job, much to the detriment of, well, the whole damn world.