Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Iraq's proposed constitution and Valerie Plame




Mike's interviewing Ruth's granddaughter Tracey tonight so I told him I'd try to analyze both items from Democracy Now! and he could just post them at his site if he was tired by the time he got the interview typed up.

Iraqis Agree to Last-Minute Constitution Change (Democracy Now!)
In Iraq, negotiators have agreed to a last-minute change that will effectively allow for the constitution to be redrafted after elections are held in December. The deal was aimed to encourage Sunni support for the draft constitution, which will be voted on in a nation-wide referendum Saturday. The agreement would create a panel in the next parliament with the power to propose broad new revisions to the constitution. U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad took part in negotiating the deal, which the New York Times called "a major victory for American officials."

Everything's a major victory for the New York Times. They pioneered Operation Happy Talk. They pimped the war and they is more than Judy Miller. Tom Friedman was just as bad as Miller only he told boring tales about himself in the middle of his pimp the war columns.

Happiness is always just around the corner at the New York Times. Elections will change everything! Something's always "a major victory for American officials."

Let's do what the paper doesn't, let's think about the Iraqis for a moment. So the constitution changes yet again. You want people to go out and vote on what's expected to be a day of violence. Risk their lives for what exactly?

For a constitution that's not even what it will be in a few months? This is no "treat" for the Iraqis. But it does let Bully Boy keep his timetable.

Report: 'Scooter' Libby Misled Prosecutors In CIA Leak Case (Democracy Now!)
Speculation is growing in Washington that Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby and President Bush's top advisor Karl Rove could soon be indicted by a federal prosecutor investigating the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. Investigative Journalist Murray Waas is reporting in the National Journal that Libby failed to tell the grand jury about a discussion he had with New York Times reporter Judith Miller in June 2003 - weeks before Plame's name first appeared in the press. Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald only learned of the discussion after Miller announced last week that she had discovered a set of notes on the conversation. Fitzgerald, who has been investigating the case for nearly two years, has now asked Miller to testify again today before the grand jury. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal reports Fitzgerald's pursuit now suggests he might be investigating not a narrow case on the leaking of the agent's name, but perhaps a broader conspiracy. The Journal reports at least part of the outcome likely hangs on the inner workings of what has been dubbed the White House Iraq Group which was set up to sell the Iraq war to the American public. Libby and Rove were instrumental in the group. Plame's name was leaked only after her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, publicly revealed that the Bush administration had lied when it claimed Iraq was trying to purchase enriched uranium from the country of Niger in order to build nuclear weapons. Wilson has long accused the White House of outing his wife as an agent in an effort to smear him. We'll speak to Murray Waas in a few minutes.

So it's getting hot for the administration. What did they know? When did they know it? How far up does it go?

Did Miller really discover the notes? Or were they discovered for her? They were "found" by her, supposedly, in the D.C. office of the paper. Did someone find them and inform her they were being turned over?

I like Democracy Now! for many reasons but one thing that stand out from the item above is that they're not doing the dance other papers are doing. They're not saying "Valerie Wislon who sometimes went by the name Valerie Plame."

I also wonder if people have forgotten that CBS put a photo of her out over the airwaves. I believe that was The Evening News under Bob Schieffer. I wonder if CBS regrets that now?
I wondered at the time why they aired it to begin with.

NYT's Bill Keller keeps saying when the time is right, they'll write the story. But when is the time right? It wasn't the right time before the war to write stories stating the obvious fact that we were being lied to. So what's going to be the magical right time for the Times to write their Miller story?

I'm really tired tonight. I was typing while I was sitting up in bed and moved around to type on my stomach and must have fallen asleep. Rebecca phoned to ask me if I was feeling okay since I hadn't posted? I'm fine, just fell asleep. (Hopefully that's all. My left eye looks like I have pink eye but hopefully the redness is just from being tired.)

I guess I must have thought, "Okay, I'll just close my eyes for a second" but ended up fast asleep. Now my nose is stopped up and I'm looking at the time and can't believe how late it is.
Rebecca asked me to feature one of my favorite of Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts in this posts and so I've added the one that immediately came to mind to at the top of this.
Let me do a peace quote and I'll get this up and posted. My three favorite films with Shirley MacLaine are The Apartment, Irma La Duce and Sweet Charity. If you've seen Irma, you'll get a kick out of Irman la Dunce. Also be sure to read C.I. from this morning on 'femnist' Laura Bush.

Instead of a peace quote, I'm going to note something Krista e-mailed to share with the community:

"Viggo Mortensen Interview" (Nina Siegal, The Progressive):
Q: Are you hopeful about political change?
Mortensen: I think most Americans will look back on this period since 1980 as a morally bleak, intellectually fraudulent period of history. There will be a certain amount of shame, a feeling we were part of something wrong. People standing outside of this country can see this because it’s very obvious. It’s like looking at a spoiled brat, a kid who’s totally out of control, but because the parents are really rich and because they own the school, you have to put up with it. America is an empire in decay. But we don’t have to lash out and do damage on the way down. We can reverse some of the damage we’ve done. It’s possible.







Posted by at