Senator McCain once said that if the Iraqis asked us to leave, we would have to leave. Those of us who served agree with that. Senator McCain now either has to back off his refusal to set a plan to leave Iraq, as Prime Minister Maliki requested a number of times in the past week, or tell the American and Iraqi people why he would overrule Iraq's government and turn our troops into an indefinite occupying force. Those are his only two options. Our new ad makes that clear.

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McCain · Iraq · War · Freedom · Veterans

This would be the same American middle class whose members voted in substantial numbers for George W. Bush and his Republican and Democratic enablers in Congress.

This would be the same middle class whose members sat in front of their televisions saying not a discernible word in protest as we laid siege to and destroyed a sovereign nation in an aggressive attack built on transparent lies.

This would be the same middle class that has for years declined the opportunity to demand of its leaders that they resolutely stop China from pegging its currency to the dollar at such a ridiculous, disequilibrium exchange rate that tens of millions of American jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in industrial capital disappeared overseas.

This is the same middle class that just gobbles up those nice, fat tax rebate checks without bothering to ask where, exactly, the United States Treasury, which is compelled to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars to pay its regular bills, is getting the money for those pandering rebates. (HINT: it's from the same people to whom we sent that money in exchange for their cheap imports; the rest comes from the American banking system that profits from every cycle of Treasury securities auctions the Federal Reserve prints staggering quantities of money to cover.)

This is the same middle class whose people bitch to High Heaven about our educational system, yet themselves are ignorant of history, economics, and even basic English grammar and who, at any opportunity, stick their own noses and those of their kids in front of mind-rotting television.

This is the same middle class that chose to blubber and wave flags after the attacks of September 11, 2001, rather than scream bloody murder for retributive accountability from the man who was so hard-up to be President that his thugs stole an election less than a year before.

This is the same middle class that now chooses between an addled, corrupted corporate shill and a corrupt, inexperienced, pandering chameleon.

This is a middle class whose members think their civic duty to the body politic is to the extent of maybe voting in this or that election and then washing their hands of further, on-going, vigilant watch and action over the stewards they elect to lead them.

Yes, this American middle class is suffering; and yes, some members of that middle class—especially the young—do not deserve what is happening to them.

Perhaps those who do not deserve it, including the young lambs being led with their parents to the collective slaughter, should take up the matter with the many who do deserve it.

Live like sheep; bleat like sheep.

The silence of the lambs is, nonetheless, deafening.

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economy · recession · inflation · stagflation

Yesterday evening, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) denied that he was wrong in claiming the “surge” policy in Iraq “began the Anbar Awakening.” Pressed by a reporter, McCain argued that the “surge” actually began before more troops were added to Iraq:

[ --see video at link-- ]

But McCain has previously admitted that the surge only entailed the increase in troop levels.

Double Talk Express: [ video 9:19 ]

Which came first, the surge or the surge? Apparently, the surge did. In our fifth story on the Countdown: Senator McCain -- who yesterday wanted you to believe that the surge pre-dated the Sunni awakening in Anbar -- now wants you to believe that the surge started before President Bush said it did. If that is not confusing enough... The presumptive Republican nominee would also have you believe that the surge....and the Anbar awakening... and the counter-insurgency in Iraq... are all the very same thing.

Message for History: [ video 4:50 ]

Senator John McCain...Having been confused about the basic timeline of the surge...Having accused his opponent, basically, of sedition... Tonight, in our fourth story on the Countdown, following that up... by questioning Senator Obama's commitment to preventing another Holocaust.

Last night on Fox, Hannity & Colmes co-host Alan Colmes noted that CBS News chose not to air a portion of its interview with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in which McCain falsely claimed that President Bush’s “surge” policy in Iraq “began the Anbar Awakening.”

[ --see video at link-- ]

But former Bush aide turned Fox pundit Karl Rove would have none of it.

The so-called "dean" of the political punditry, David Broder, basically said McCain can make mistakes and we don't care -- because the insiders all know McCain:

McCain benefits from a long-established reputation as a man who says what he believes. His shifts in position that have occurred in this campaign seem not to have damaged that aura.

And, apparently, all of McCain's recent mistakes haven't damaged that aura either. Hence, this paragraph buried in today's Washington Post:

McCain also made a series of small gaffes this week, referring to the "Iraq-Pakistan border" and later to the country of "Czechoslovakia," neither of which exist. And his mistaken comment yesterday that the troops increase in Iraq began a movement called the Awakening, which started months before the military buildup, forced a day of explanations from his campaign.

A series of small gaffes? On foreign policy? McCain's alleged strong suit?

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Doubletalk · McCain · History · Denials

My newest video features John McCain talking about the Iraq war from 2002 through the present, exposing -- in his own words -- the lie behind his claim that he was the war's "greatest critic." It demonstrates his chilling commitment to fighting this war no matter what the people of America -- or Iraq -- want.

It is long -- nine minutes, thirty seconds -- but much of the material it contains will likely be new to you... and devastating to McCain.

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McCain · Iraq · War

Retired General Antonio Taguba, the officer who led the Army's investigation into Abu Ghraib, recently wrote in the preface to the new report, Broken laws, Broken Lives:

"There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."

Should those who ordered war crimes be held to account? With the conclusion of the Bush regime approaching, many people are dubious, even those horrified by Administration actions. [snip]

Meanwhile, the evidence confirming not only a deliberate policy of torture, but of conspiring in an illegal war of aggression and conducting a criminal occupation, continues to pile ever higher. [snip]

Despite the reluctance to open what many see as a can of worms, there are fresh moves on many fronts to hold top U.S. officials accountable for war crimes.

Courts: U.S. courts have issued a barrage of decisions against the Administration's claim that they can do anything and still be within the law...

Congressional investigation: ...Senate hearings in June revealed that treatment of Guantánamo captives was modeled on techniques allegedly used by Communist China to force false confessions from U.S. soldiers.

Impeachment: ...Rep. Dennis Kucinich for the first time brought an impeachment resolution to the House floor that incorporated a devastating, thirty-five article indictment spelling out Bush Administration war crimes and crimes against the Constitution. Now Rep. Conyers has announced that the Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on the charges July 25.

Truth commission: In response to General Taguba's accusations, New York Times Op-Ed columnist Nicholas D. Kristof has just called for the establishment of a truth commission -- like that of post-Apartheid South Africa -- with subpoena power to investigate the abuses in the aftermath of 9/11 and "lead a process of soul searching and national cleansing."

International: In May, Vanity Fair magazine published an article by British human rights attorney Philippe Sands, in which he described the reasons Administration lawyers face a real risk of criminal investigations if they stray beyond U.S. borders. The British parliament is about to launch an investigation of Washington's lying to the British government about its use of its facilities for "extraordinary rendition." Constitutional lawyer Jonathan Turley recently said, "I think it might in fact be time for the United States to be held internationally to a tribunal. I never thought in my lifetime I would say that."

Prosecution: ...Americans of all political stripes overwhelmingly support the appointment of an independent prosecutor to investigate both the destruction of the CIA's interrogation tapes and the possible use of torture by the agency. Every segment of the electorate -- including majorities of Democrats (82 percent), independents (62 percent), and Republicans (51 percent) -- want to hold this administration accountable for its role in the destruction of the torture tapes.

Vincent Bugliosi, the former Los Angeles County Prosecutor who has won twenty-one convictions in murder trials, including Charles Manson's, has just published The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, which argues that there is overwhelming evidence President Bush took the nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses and must be prosecuted for the consequent deaths of over 4,000 U.S. soldiers.

Dean Lawrence Velvel of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover is planning a September conference to map out war crimes prosecutions against President Bush and other administration officials. Velvel says that "plans will be laid and necessary organizational structures set up, to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the Earth."

Citizen action: Voters in Brattleboro and Marlboro, Vermont this spring approved a measure that instructs police to arrest President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for "crimes against our Constitution," should they venture into those precincts.

All these developments suggest approaches that might be used to hold Bush Administration war criminals accountable. Establishing accountability for U.S. war crimes in the Iraq war era is the sine qua non for initiating a new era on different principles. Here are nine reasons why we must not let bygones be bygones:

1. World peace cannot be achieved without human rights and accountability.

2. The rule of law is central to our democracy.

3. We must not allow precedents to be set that promote war crimes.

4. We must restore the principles of democracy to our government.

5. We must forestall an imperialist resurgence.

6. We must have national consensus on the real reasons for the Bush Administration's failures.

7. We must restore America's damaged reputation abroad.

8. We must lay the basis for major change in U.S. foreign policy.

9. We must deter future U.S. war crimes.

As Rep. Wexler put it, "We owe it to the American people and history to pursue the wrongdoing of this Administration whether or not it helps us politically or in the next election. Our actions will properly define the Bush Administration in the eyes of history and that is the true test."

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Bush · Administration · War · Crimes · Justice