The climactic scene of victory plays to an empty theater. Kynn at Shock and Awe demonstrates just how idiotic the Hussein statue-felling was, once you realize that even though zillions saw it on television, almost no one was there in person.

Go look at the pictures for yourself. The event was as staged as any of Junior's painted backdrops.

Another view of the same scene from Information Clearing House. Link via Tom Tomorrow.

And another from CalPundit.

And another from Get Your War On.

{ 5:33 PM }

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Name that loon. Who said, "the wife is to subordinate herself to her husband" and "the woman is to place herself under the authority of the man" in the same way that "the church is to place herself under the protection of Christ"? Choose one:

• Jennifer Lopez
  
• Catherine Zeta-Jones
  
• Hillary Clinton
  
• The Bush administration's latest federal judicial nominee

Here's another maniac nominee from the people who lost the election but won the Supreme Court. James Leon Holmes, former president of Arkansas Right to Life, seeks a seat on the Federal District Court in Little Rock, his hometown.

Link via TalkLeft. See also the comments there.

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"Black files" will never see the light of day. You can be sure that the pathologically secretive Bush Junior administration will never let any of this material out into the open (Asia Times):

When it comes to file-keeping, the Baathists of Iraq were often referred to as the "Prussians of the Middle East". Saddam Hussein's officials kept impeccable and detailed records on virtually all realms of government and society. But as looting grips Baghdad and throngs of civilians rush government buildings to exact retribution in whatever small way they can, the fate of these records is an open question. In post-war Iraq, these documents will prove to be of inestimable value for determining guilt and meting out justice. But it will all depend on whether the prized materials have already been destroyed or disappeared.

Discreet discussion about the status of Iraqi files began long before the start of the war. The United Nations was still in the throes of heated debate back in August of last year when some in the US intelligence community anonymously leaked information about Saddam's so-called "black files". Allegedly, these files contain indications of covert payments to various African countries to procure pro-Iraq votes at the UN. The same sources reported that Morocco in particular was getting nervous.

Others have said that it is US indiscretions that are at root in Washington's concern over the files. These sources point to the incident late last year when the US representative to the UN had several thousand pages removed from Iraq's weapons disclosure report before it was released for general review. These pages were reportedly removed because they contained unflattering disclosures about US corporations and US government agencies that had cooperated with Baghdad over the years.

Why did we send 300,000 people at great expense to central Asia — to find questionable weapons of mass destruction, or irrefutable memos of mass collusion?

UPDATE: Was Saddam the CIA's anti-communist hit man? Link via MaxSpeak.

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Start bombing Lubbock! A smuggled biological weapons cache has been discovered in Texas (BBC).

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Opposition politics. More on Ahmed Chalabi — exiled Iraqi, pal of Dick Cheney, and convicted bank embezzler — from Slate: "Chalabi 'has been entirely ineffective, except in one area, which is undermining other opposition groups,' an anonymous U.S. official told the Philadelphia Inquirer last year. In a war, behavior like that can get you killed. In a democracy, it makes you president."

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The Axis of Execution: "China, Iran and the USA accounted for 81 per cent of all known executions [worldwide] in 2002."

{ 11:45 AM }

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Like a slanderous, miserly neighbor. The legal tactics of State Farm are thoroughly dissected at PLA (look for the April 10, 2003 post), where we are given the following advice:

The next time you hear that an insurance company pays millions of dollars and frivolous claims, remember this case. State Farm refused to pay $50,000 to settle both a wrongful death case and a permanent disability case when its own investigators determined its insured [driver Curtis Campbell] to be at fault.

[...]

Tort reformers tell us that insurance companies routinely pay millions of dollars on frivolous claims. That contention is hard to square with the actions of insurers like State Farm.

State Farm was willing to lie, cheat, defraud, harm its customer, create false documents, destroy evidence, intimidate the weak and slander the dead in order to avoid paying a total of $50,000 on a wrongful death claim and a permanent disability claim when State Farm knew that liability was clear.

Does that sound like a company that would pay millions of dollars on a frivolous claim?

State Farm ordered its attorneys to use "mad dog litigation tactics" including "using the company's large resources to "wear out" opposing attorneys by prolonging litigation, making meritless objections, claiming false privileges, destroying documents, and abusing the law and motion process." Tort reformers would have more credibility if they proposed any reform to address those sort of abuses.

If you believe that insurance companies pay out millions of dollars for frivolous cases and that litigation abuse occurs only on the plaintiff’s side, we expect that you would also believe that State Farm acts "like a good neighbor."

The full post is revealing in its detail — State Farm's tactical use of a concocted "pregnant girlfriend" and its Enron-style document destruction, to name just two examples. It's yet another PLA gem you should read.

{ 11:03 AM }

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It's official — Cheney's pimping is extremely effective. The New York Times reports on the $7 billion no-bid contract to Halliburton:

WASHINGTON, April 10 — The Pentagon contract given without competition to a Halliburton subsidiary to fight oil well fires in Iraq is worth as much as $7 billion over two years, according to a letter from the Army Corps of Engineers that was released today.

The contract also allows Kellogg Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary, to earn as much as 7 percent profit. That could amount to $490 million.

The corps released these new details in a letter to Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California and one of the two senior lawmakers who asked the General Accounting Office to investigate how the Bush administration is awarding contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq.

The reconstruction effort could cost up to $100 billion and become one of the most lucrative building programs in decades.

Link via Atrios.

{ 9:30 AM }

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More fuck-ups in the real war on terror. Before the USA decided to invest its formidable resources in toppling statues of Saddam Hussein, there was a completely unrelated terrorist incident known as September 11. But before September 11, there was a pivotal event in the history of terrorist attacks on Americans — the USS Cole bombing that occurred in Yemen in October 2000, less than a year before the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

At the time, US ambassador to Yemen Barbara Bodine obstructed the FBI investigation into al Qaeda's participation in the USS Cole bombing.

And while the world now distracts itself with the spectacle of Iraq unraveling in chaos, the alleged Yemeni terrorists have quietly escaped (Wall Street Journal, sub. req'd.):

SAN'A, Yemen -- Yemeni authorities were hunting for 10 of the main suspects in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole after they escaped from prison Friday [April 11, 2003], officials said.

The fugitives, including chief suspect Jamal Al-Badawi, had been jailed in the port city of Aden since shortly after the destroyer was bombed, killing 17 American sailors.

[...]

Yemen, the ancestral home of Mr. bin Laden, has been a hotbed of terrorist activity. Supporters of al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for several bombings targeting security officials and government offices in the past few months. Yemen committed itself to joining the war on terrorism following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in America and has allowed U.S. forces to enter the country and train its military.

So the real terrorists are running free while we chase down the framed ones in Iraq. Too bad Yemen doesn't have more oil — maybe then our craven leaders would see fit to do something effective against terror beyond color-coding it.

Meanwhile Barbara Bodine, who according to The Observer is "known for a mixture of her expertise in the region and fervent hostility to a politically organised Muslim world," is now on deck to become the viceroy of New Baghdad. She'll step into her new position over the corpses of 17 American sailors and thousands of civilians in southwestern Pennsylvania, Washington DC, and lower Manhattan.

{ 9:03 AM }

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It's not a war. It's a way of life. Other members of the Bush dynasty are living the lifestyle that soldiers (and journalists) are defending with their lives (Houston Chronicle):

Don't count on Sharon Bush to go quietly into the night once her ties to the Bush dynasty are severed by divorce. The ongoing legal action between Neil and Sharon Bush notwithstanding, she continues on her long-established path of community service.

On May 21 Sharon Bush will chair a garden benefit for the prestigious American Ireland Fund with Irish tenor Ronan Tynan as guest entertainer. The Boston-based organization, which works for peace in Ireland, honored former President George Bush here in 1995.

The upcoming benefit should be a slam dunk for Sharon. Paige and Tilman Fertitta will open the verdant gardens of their River Oaks home for the dinner evening, which is limited to 150 guests. Minimum ticket -- $1,000. Bush has already sold eight of the 15 tables.

Thank the Lord for Sharon Bush and Tilman Fertitta. Peace in Ireland will be restored by the near-ex-wife of the president's banking criminal brother and a Rolls-Royce dealer:

Typically one step ahead of the game, Tilman Fertitta, owner of Post Oak Motorcars and chief of Landry's Restaurants, has landed the first Rolls-Royce Phantom to be seen in Texas. The astronomically pricey new generation Rolls debuted in the Post Oak showroom last week and will be on display this week during the River Oaks International Tennis Tournament.

Fertitta beat out Dallas in securing the Lone Star premiere of the car that is custom-crafted to the owner's specifications. Price tag: $350,000. And, yes, Post Oak Motorcars is receiving orders. Who said economic downturn?

But then economic downturns don't matter much to your family — intact or divorced — if you can wage war using a phony morality and a facade of Christian piety to cover up corporate fraud, media manipulation, and gated communities of the affluent dedicated to "peace."

The fuel tank of the Rolls-Royce Phantom has the capacity to hold 26.4 gallons of liberated Iraqi petroleum products. Gas mileage has not yet been determined.

{ 11:31 AM }

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Billionaires plan their next conquests. The rich are not like you or me — they want to become world conquistadors. From FindLaw/Reuters:

Emboldened by the U.S. military's apparent quick rout of Iraqi forces, conservative hawks in America are setting their sights on regime change in Iran and Syria.

"It's time to bring down the other terror masters," Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute* wrote on Monday -- two days before U.S. troops swept into the heart of Baghdad -- in a piece entitled "Syria and Iran Must Get Their Turn."

"Iran, at least, offers Americans the possibility of a memorable victory, because the Iranian people openly loath the regime, and will enthusiastically combat it, if only the United States supports them in their just struggle," he added. "Syria cannot stand alone against a successful democratic revolution that topples tyrannical regimes in Kabul, Tehran and Iraq."

[...]

Frank Gaffney, a senior Pentagon official under former President Ronald Reagan, said he believed that regime change should be the U.S. policy toward Iran and Syria and said the United States could not rule out the use of force.

"If the threat metastasizes in such a way that we consider it to leave us no choice but to use military force then that would have to be an option," he said.

Gaffney, head of the Center for Security Policy* think tank, said many Iranians would like to see their government change and the United States should help them through information flows, economic assistance and possibly covert activity.

"The use of military force is probably genuinely the last resort here, but I certainly think it's like that we're going to see efforts made to bring about change in Iran as well as Syria ... and perhaps elsewhere in the region as a matter of the natural progression of this war on terror," he added.

*These institutes and think tanks are endowed by the likes of Richard Mellon Scaife and the Bradley Foundation in what amounts to an attempt at a plutocratic global coup under the twin Trojan horses of "democracy" and a "war on terror."

Media Transparency has profiled the American Enterprise Institute, the Bradley Foundation, the Center for Security Policy, and many other fronts set up by the affluent right to slake their power lust.

Also valuable in understanding how the world was bought by billionaires is Commonweal Institute's information resources on the funding of right-wing ideology.

{ 9:01 AM }

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Cheney's priorities become clearer. While soldiers are being pummeled with flowers in Baghdad, Dick Cheney isn't wasting any time celebrating. This story came out at noon Eastern Time today (Yahoo/Reuters):

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Iraq's oil production could rise as much as 50 percent from 2002 levels by the end of the year if the country is given outside help in restoring its fields' capacity to pump crude, Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday.

Cheney, speaking to a meeting of U.S. newspaper editors, made his remarks in response to a question about Iraq's oil capability. He said production could hit 2.5 million to 3 million barrels per day by the end of this year.

Last year, Iraq was producing about 2 million barrels of oil per day, down from a high of about 3 million barrels in 1988, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

Even though the country will need outside help, Cheney said Iraqis will have to "make decisions on how much they want to reinvest" in their oil sector.

The country controls more than 112 billion barrels of oil, second only to Saudi Arabia in proven reserves.

Sketching out a postwar scenario now that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein appears to have lost power, Cheney, a former oil company executive, spoke of "an organization to oversee the functioning of their oil ministry."

That body, he said, "will be composed primarily of Iraqis*. It may have international advisers from outside."

Revenues from the oil sales, Cheney said, "will then flow to the Iraqi government," which he said will provide a "resource base" to rebuild the country.

But he added that the United States was prepared to provide help.

*Oversight of the oil ministry will be led by Iraqis named Ahmed Chalabi, if his carefully-stoked post-9/11 relationship with Dick Cheney bears any fruit.

"International advisers from outside" could include, oh, I don't know, Halliburton maybe. What do you think?

{ 11:30 AM }

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The GOP Congress: frauds, charlatans, and liars. "After spending years (in the '90s) fetishizing about Bill Clinton's failure to state consistently the number of years it would take to balance the budget [link], and after spending months (last year) making a strong, principled stand about what an outrage it was that the Daschle Democrats in the Senate couldn't pass a budget blueprint [link] , the Republican-controlled Congress is having trouble living up to its own standards." — ABC News, The Note, April 9.

The bitter irony is that Clinton did keep his promises, unlike the Republicans.

{ 10:37 AM }

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Hurry up and plunder! Don't miss the 20% early bird discount on the $1,100 admission price to the Rebuilding Iraq business convention in Washington DC on May 1. Mark your calendar now — you can save big if you register before April 14!

From the convention description:

U.S. government officials, experts from key international agencies, and experts in the post-conflict reconstruction field will discuss the likely political situation and legal environment businesses will face.

Speakers with specific private sector expertise in structural issues faced in post-conflict environments will address priority questions, such as risk mitigation for contractors, insurance, sanctions, Iraq’s existing contracts and financial obligations.

Particular sectoral opportunities in post-war Iraq will be analysed through the prism of the security and political challenges that will exist. How will the security environment affect the delivery of key goods and services? How will businesses interact with the security presence on the ground?

Best part of all? IT'S SECRET!

Participate in a not-for-attribution session that will permit a dynamic, frank exchange of views on the opportunities and challenges businesses will face in post-conflict Iraq.

Who should attend? The usual suspects: "Senior executives who will be involved in the strategy and execution of supporting the reconstruction of Iraq," and "Service firms (law firms, financial institutions, accounting and consulting companies) who will be supporting the prime contractors in Iraq." Dick Cheney's Rolodex is working 24/7.

The registration form doesn't mention if there will be goodie bags with badges and T-shirts that say, "I killed the US surplus to kill Saddam — and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

Link via Cryptome.

{ 8:54 AM }

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What's an Army private worth? In Sunday's New York Times:

Private [Diego Fernando] Rincon, whose family moved to the United States from Colombia when he was 5, mailed a letter to his mother at the end of February. His unit was preparing to roll off in its Bradley fighting vehicles, he told her, and he might not be able to write soon. He told his mother he loved her. He also told her of his fears, the jarring flashes he had of what might come next.

What came next was that he died on March 29, 2003. He was nineteen years old. For his first full year of service he would have earned what every private earns, a little over $15,000.

Elsewhere in the Times we notice a special report on executive compensation. There we learn that Edward D. Breen, the new CEO of disgraced Tyco International, was very well compensated in 2002 — to the tune of $65,034,965. (Ironically enough, Tyco is suing its former officers for "looting" the company.)

What's a CEO worth? That's easy — Tyco CEO Edward D. Breen is worth 4,335 Private Rincons.

It takes over four thousand American war casualties to match the dollar value of a single CEO.

Welcome to George W. Bush's America.

{ 9:36 AM }

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War profiteer Halliburton's PR flack tells yet another lie. As reported in today's Wall Street Journal (sub. req'd.):

Wendy Hall, a Halliburton spokeswoman, declined to comment specifically on the demonstration [against Halliburton war profiteering], but said the decision to go to war wasn't made by Halliburton, adding that, "We live in a country where people have fought so that others may peacefully demonstrate."

Wendy Hall, you are so very wrong.

The decision to go to war was indeed made by Halliburton, in the form of a certain famously hawkish Dick Cheney who served as Halliburton's CEO in 2000, the same year he campaigned to become the vice president.

It is precisely this confluence that makes every word, every action, and every policy out of the White House suspect whenever the scent of oil or energy services or Iraqi reconstruction is in the air.

If you want to, here's how you can reach Wendy Hall to set her straight with the facts.

{ 11:30 AM }

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