Another week, another round of scandal

Sunday was a big news day after all. Colin Powell's press staff tried to cut the interview one question short by making a "technical difficulty."

"Emily, get out of the way," said Powell. Russert then loudly complained that this was unprofessional. Powell then instructed the crew to "bring the camera back." Finally, Powell answered Russert's final question about if Colin lied to the UN in his 2/03 speech "that made America's case for war with Iraq" Powell: "It turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and, in some cases, deliberately misleading."

Also that morning, Sy Herst's New Yorker piece came out. Herst reports that the situation at Abu Ghraib was the result of a highly-secret 'black operation' intended for use against select, high-value al Qaida operatives, which tumbled out of control when expended for use against the Iraqi insurgency -- which Pentagon and administration officials were understandably desperate to get under control.

Wait, but that's not all! Another important article came out, this time by Newsweek which quotes a memo White House Counsel (and potential supreme court nominee) Alberto Gonzales wrote to the president in January 2002, saying the following: "As you have said, the war against terrorism is a new kind of war. The nature of the new war places a high premium on other factors, such as the ability to quickly obtain information from captured terrorists and their sponsors in order to avoid further atrocities against American civilians ... In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions." [emphasis mine] Yes, isn't human rights quaint? Gosh, I mean, they behead our people right, so we can make them do anal sex and wear women's underwear on their heads right?


Sorry wrong again Rumsfeld et al. Maybe as Josh Marshall says "Okay, I think the wheels are now officially off this car" Also on CNN this morning, one of the to be court marshaled soldiers from the photos of Abu Ghraib (he's the guy with his arms proudly crossed behind the human pyramid) also confirms my theory. His lawyer says he was "just following orders" from intelligence officers "which he thought to be lawful." On the question of abuse, the lawyer said "many forms of abuse were already permitted." Sounds like you can't convince the stewards to go down with the ship, captain.

Just like the Titanic while Bush may seem like he is "the unsinkable Molly Brown," he is slowly but surely going to end up at the bottom of ocean of his administration's own lies.