Musafir's Musings

Commanders in Chief, Current and Previous

The news broke yesterday that the decision to smear ex-diplomat Joseph Wilson and leak the name of his wife,Valerie Plame,an undercover CIA officer, came down from the very top. "The court filing by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald for the first time places Bush and Vice President Cheney at the heart of what Libby testified was an exceptional and deliberate leak of material designed to buttress the administration's claim that Iraq was trying to obtain nuclear weapons. The information was contained in the National Intelligence Estimate, one of the most closely held CIA analyses of whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before the war." Faced with lack of evidence to support their arguments for the war the Bushies were mad and struck back as they know how. Today the print media covered it on front page but just as another item. There is no sense of surprise and there is an absence of indignation. There is no firestorm.....not yet. What does that say about us?

The President's supporters argue that he has the right to declassify information. The Washington Post:

• Legal scholars and analysts said yesterday that the president has the authority to selectively declassify intelligence reports But they also said it was highly unusual for senior officials at the White House to take such an action so stealthily, without notifying Cabinet officials or others in the administration, including the CIA authors of the National Intelligence Estimate.

The War (G.W. Bush) and the Intern (William Jefferson Clinton)

William Jefferson Clinton faced impeachment for diddling with Ms Lewinski and lying about it. The circus put up by Ken Starr and the Republicans (some of them probably drooled thinking about cigars and buxom females) cost the country about $30 million according to a CNN report. No one died although attempts were made to create a mystery around the suicide of Vince Foster.

George Bush and the neocons engaged this nation in an unjust war. 2345 American soldiers have lost their lives, the number of severely injured is estimated to be 17469; number of Iraqi civilians killed: Minimum 33821 Maximum 37943, most of them from military action,i.e. "collateral damage". Based on estimates of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO),cost in dollars could exceed one trillion ($1,000,000,000,000). See left margin of this page for running costs.
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