We don't get fooled again

So, we have an ever growing list of retired generals calling for Rummy's head. At last count, we now have seven, including Gen. Wesley Clark. Bubbleboy, the guy who "listens to the generals on the ground" (who really doesn't) says that Rummy is doing a heckovajob.

Report: Rumsfeld May Be Liable for Torture - TalkLeft:

A new report by Human Rights Watch finds that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld may be criminially liable for torture of a Guantanamo detainee in late 2002 and early 2003. HRW says Rumsfeld could be prosecuted for his actions.

Yes, he is "exactly what is needed", an irresponsible, incompetent war criminal.

Aside from the speculation that the reason Bush hasn't fired Rummy is because doing so would be an admission of failure and would possibly open the flood-gates to other cabinet-level blood-letting, there is truth in Bush's endorsement. Rummy is exactly what Bush needs; an insane war criminal running the department of defense. With his poll numbers plumeting, and the prospects for the GOPers in November diminishing with each passing day, the administration that places politics over everything, including national security, has only one option remaining to preserve its stranglehold on power. Start another war. Who else but Rummy would be party to such folly?

Fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice... we don't get fooled again.

I returned disillusioned by what I saw. I participated in the second battle of Fallujah in November 2004. We crushed the insurgents in the city, but we only ended up scattering them throughout the province. The dumb ones stayed and died. The smart ones left town before the battle, to garner more recruits and fight another day. We were simply the little Dutch boy with our finger in the dike. In retrospect, we never had enough troops to firmly control the region; we had just enough to maintain a tenuous equilibrium.

I now know I wrongfully placed my faith and trust in a presidential administration hopelessly mired in incompetence, hubris and a lack of accountability. It planned a war based on false intelligence and unrealistic assumptions. It has strategically surrendered the condition of victory in Iraq to people who do not share our vision, values or interests. The Bush administration has proven successful at only one thing in Iraq — painting us into a corner with no feasible exit.

I will never trust any of them again.

Christopher H. Sheppard is a former Marine captain who served two tours of duty in Iraq as a combat engineer. He currently is finishing his master's degree in mass communication and lives in Marysville.

Thank god for guys like Chris Shepard having the guts to call bullshit on the administration.

We also have the NYT finally awakening from its coma, in an editorial that takes a direct swipe at the Washington Times Post, calling for investigation into the administration's misuse of intelligence in the run-up to the war in Iraq.

This messy episode leaves more questions than answers, so it is imperative that two things happen soon. First, the federal prosecutor in the Libby case should release the transcripts of what Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney said when he questioned them. And the Senate Intelligence Committee must report publicly on how Mr. Bush and his team used the flawed intelligence on Iraq. Senator Pat Roberts, the committee chairman, says the panel will meet this month to discuss three of the report's five sections. That's a step. And it has taken only two years to get this far.

Fortunately, some members of congress are also seeing the déjà vu all over again and are preemptively speaking out.

No one concerned about U.S. national security wants Iran to obtain a nuclear weapons capability. It would be a destabilizing force in the Middle East and throughout the world. That's exactly why we need strong American leadership, working toward a verifiable diplomatic solution.

Instead, the administration reportedly is intent upon relying on the failed doctrine of preemption and new Pentagon planning that stokes the prospect of military conflict. If this is true, Americans ought to be deeply concerned.

Indeed. We should all be deeply concerned.