Charles Degelman
OpEdNews.Com
In the execution of its duties, the Bush
administration (and Congress) has gnawed, clawed, slithered, and
sidestepped so far to the Right that a number of mainstream bedfellows are
passing (vociferously) to its Left.
(1) The U.S. Army War College
In a report published in late December, the
staid and honorable United States Army War College calls the hostile
takeover of Iraq "unfocused" and "unnecessary." The
report, written by Jeffrey Record, a former Vietnam war advisor, and
professor at the U.S. Air War College in Alabama, predicts that the war on
terror may launch "open-ended and gratuitous conflict." The War
College report can be found at:
http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ssi/pubs/2003/bounding/bounding.pdf
* * *
(2) Paul O'Neill & The Wall Street
Journal
Former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill
(neither a gadfly nor a revolutionary) was a major source for The Price
of Loyalty, a new book written by former Wall Street Journal (not
exactly a Left-wing rag) reporter Ron Suskind.
In Suskind's "Loyalty," O'Neill portrays the president as "indifferent," and "disengaged," and "carefully insulated" by a "praetorian guard" led by Dick Cheney and Karl Rove.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-bush-oneill-portrait.html
* * *
(3) U.S. Supreme Court Justice William
Rehnquist
The Protect Act, signed into law by your
president last April, threatens judicial independence by suggesting that
judges could be called to account for any variation in sentencing.
Who is slapping Congress' wrist for passing the Protect Act? That old rabble-rousing Leftie, U.S. Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist. In his annual report Chief Justice Rehnquist declared the Protect Act an "unwarranted and ill-considered effort to intimidate individual judges."
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/01/01/rehnquist.judiciary/
* * *
(4) Kevin Phillips, lifetime Republican, chief political strategist for Richard Nixon (not your average muckraker) In his new book, American Dynasty, Phillips describes what he calls "the politics of deceit in the House of Bush." In "Dynasty," Phillips traces the course of Bush's family over the past 100 years, detailing how they sought influence "in the back corridors" of the oil and defense industries, investment banking and the intelligence establishment. Elites, Phillips contends, not elections, put Bush in power.
"Four generations of building toward dynasty have infused the Bush family's hunger for power and practices of crony capitalism with a moral arrogance and backstage disregard of the democratic and republican traditions of the U.S. government."
Source:
* * *
(5) The Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing cooperation
between nations and promoting active international engagement by the
United States. Founded in 1910, it doesn't have much of a history of
blowing off at the mouth about its analysis and recommendations.
In a comprehensive report on post-Iraq war
findings, this venerable old foundation finds that:
+ Iraq WMD Was Not An Immediate Threat
+ Inspections Were Working
+ Intelligence Failed and Was Misrepresented
+ Saddam and Al Qaeda Terrorist Connection
Missing
+ Post-War WMD Search Ignored Key Resources
+ War Was Not the Best-Or Only-Option
Source: Download the report at www.ceip.org/WMD.
* * *
(6) The Central Intelligence Agency (how do
you get to the Right of the CIA?)
At the request of the CIA, the Justice
Department began investigating charges that the White House leaked the
name of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame to the press in retaliation for
remarks by her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, challenging
President Bush's claim that Iraq tried to buy yellowcake uranium in
Africa.
An unnamed administration official told the Washington Post that two White House officials had revealed the agent's identity to at least six journalists. "Clearly," the official said, "it was meant purely and simply for revenge." The White House denied that Karl Rove was responsible for the leak, which was a violation of the Intelligence Protection Act and carries penalties of up to 10 years in prison and $50,000 in fines. »
Source: http://www.harpers.org/CIA.html
* * *
(7) The General Accounting Office
(government bean counters and bureaucrats, not usually litigious)
The General Accounting Office filed suit
against Vice President Dick Cheney to force him to reveal the identities
of energy-company executives who advised him in his drafting of the
administration's energy policy.
Source: http://www.harpers.org/DickCheney.html
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# # #
Charles Degelman, weaselhunter@crf-usa.org
is a Los
Angeles-based writer, editor, and educator with published titles on
media literacy, diversity, terrorism, constitutional issues (1996-2001).
His first novel, A Bowl Full of Nails, was a finalist in the Bellwether
Competition, sponsored by Barbara Kingsolver (1999). Degelman is also
co-founder and executive director of Indecent Exposure, a theater company
creating original, socially relevant work for the stage. Member, PEN
Center USA West; National Writers Union (NWU).
