BUSH'S CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE ( Col. Scott Ritter)

[Zlatko Waterman]

( Colonel ( ret.) Scott Ritter, former chief weapons inspector in Iraq, is another of my favorite political commentators. His general knowledge of world affairs and his special insights into the culture, history and political dynamics of Iraq are rarely equaled in print these days. His background in civic, scientific and military affairs makes him an expert analyst of US operations there. From the beginning, he has condemned the madness and poor planning of Bush's attack on Iraq and the subsequent US occupation.)


Published on Saturday, October 29, 2005 by CommonDreams.org



Indicting America


by Scott Ritter

New York -- The indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby by Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald provides the most cogent and visible evidence to date of the criminal mindset that exists inside the Bush administration regarding the decision to invade Iraq.

The indictment is linked to Libby's involvement in illegally revealing the identity of a covert CIA operative, Valerie Plame, in violation of U.S. law, and the resultant conspiracy to deny and cover up the fact that this crime had in fact taken place. But the real crime committed here is the deception leading to war carried out by the Bush administration, in particular the activities of the vice president, Dick Cheney, and his chief of staff, "Scooter" Libby, which is why they felt they needed to go after former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife, Plame.

The outing of Plame was just the tip of this criminal enterprise. The specific charge - making false statements to a grand jury - is in fact the best indicator of the true nature of the crimes committed by Libby and, by extension, the Bush administration.

Acting at the behest of the vice president, Libby was a key figure behind inserting dubious and unverified intelligence data alleging the existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction into the public arena, either by leaking this information to reporters such as The New York Times' Judith Miller, or by having it referenced in high-profile speeches such as the president's 2003 State of the Union Address or Colin Powell's now-infamous presentation to the Security Council in February 2003.

Cheney and Libby were behind the decision to mislead Congress, in particular the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's investigation into the reasons why the U.S. intelligence community had gotten it so wrong about Iraqi WMD capabilities. (Contrary to the much-hyped case made by the Bush administration in justifying the decision to invade Iraq, no WMD were found in Iraq, and the CIA subsequently acknowledged that all Iraqi WMD had been destroyed by the summer of 1991).

To Cheney and Libby, Joseph Wilson had committed the ultimate sin when he publicly challenged President Bush's case for war with Iraq by exposing the fraudulent nature of the administration's very public claims that Iraq had attempted to acquire uranium "yellowcake" from Niger.

If true, the "yellowcake" story would have bolstered the president and vice president's assertions that Iraq had resurrected its nuclear weapons program, thus legitimizing the case for war. But the reality is that the "yellowcake" claim, like all of the Cheney- and Libby-peddled intelligence, was specious, in this case derived from forged documents.

Wilson's exposure of this fraud was seen not only as an act of betrayal, but also rightly recognized as a threat to the entire charade that was the Bush administration's fabricated case for war. If left unchallenged, Wilson's claims could have initiated a process that would have unraveled the entire fabric of deception and lies woven by Cheney, Libby and the Bush administration about the non-existent Iraqi WMD threat. As far as Cheney and Libby were concerned, truth was the enemy, and truth-tellers were to be attacked and destroyed.

And now the lies have come home to roost. But the indictment of Libby must not be the final punctuation in this tragic tale of lies and deception. Instead, it should serve as a much-needed boost for Congress, the media and ultimately the American people to carry out a massive re-examination of the totality of the processes that took place in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq.

The lies of Cheney, Libby and the Bush administration regarding Iraqi WMD did not take place in a vacuum. Congressional checks and balances, especially in the form of relevant oversight committees, were non-existent; the few hearings held served as little more than sham hearings designed to amplify a case for war that was accepted at face value, without question, despite the fact that all involved knew the supporting evidence was either non-existent or paper-thin.

The fourth estate was likewise reduced to little more than a propagandistic extension of the White House and Pentagon, losing any claim to journalistic integrity through its slavish parroting, without question, of anything that painted Saddam Hussein's regime in a negative light, especially when it came to the issue of retained WMD. At the receiving end of this tangled web of lies and incompetence are the American people. Having been duped into a war that has to date cost the lives of over 2,000 members of the armed forces (not to mention hundreds of our coalition partners and tens of thousands of Iraqis), the question now is how the citizenry of the world's most powerful representative democracy will respond.

Void of a major backlash on the part of the American people in response to the deliberate falsification and deceit that has transpired regarding Iraq and the now-debunked case for war, the Libby indictment may prove to be little more than an exercise in damage control.

Already senior Republican officials, such as Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, are calling the Libby indictment a mere "technicality." Right-wing pundits refer to the indictment as the "criminalization of politics," as if lying one's way into an illegal war of aggression is somehow akin to politics as usual.

If the American people go along with such blatant attempts at obscuring the reality of the criminal conspiracy that has been committed, then it is perhaps time we finally lay to rest this experiment we call American democracy. At the very minimum, Congress should be compelled into action. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and in particular its two senior senators, Pat Robertson, R-Kan., and Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va, should not only complete their investigation into how the Bush administration used (or misused) intelligence to formulate Iraq policy, but also re-open its initial report into the so-called "intelligence failure" regarding the flawed WMD assessments, with the intent to indict any and all who conspired to keep relevant information from, or made false statements to, that committee during the conduct of its original investigation.

There must be a wider investigation into the totality of the criminal conspiracy undertaken by the Bush administration to defraud
Congress and the American people about the issue of war with Iraq, and in particular the case used to justify the invasion of that country. The crime that was committed goes far beyond the outing of a rogue diplomat's CIA-affiliated spouse, as serious as that charge may be. The deliberate and systematic manner in which the Bush administration, from the president on down, peddled misleading, distorted and fabricated information to Congress and the American people represents a frontal assault on the very system of government the United States of America proclaims to champion.

Scott Ritter is a former chief U.N. weapons inspector who participated in 52 missions in Iraq, 14 of which he led. He is the author of the newly released "Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the U.N. and Overthrow Saddam Hussein" (Nation Books).

[gypsyjoker]

Take a couple of aspirin before you read this one Professor.
Unedited.

The outing of Plame was just the tip of this criminal enterprise.

unraveled the entire fabric of deception and lies woven by Cheney, Libby and the Bush administration about the non-existent Iraqi WMD threat. As far as Cheney and Libby were concerned, truth was the enemy, and truth-tellers were to be attacked and destroyed.

I know the war is the number one issue but there are so many other crimes they are involved in. I was under lock and key with a couple of preachers for two weeks. I mean literally. Lots of time to talk politics and religion. Finally one preacher admited to me that the regime in washington is incompetent. But he was holding his ground on them not being corrupt. And at the bottom of his heart I knew that he was aware that they are crooks. He walked around carrying his bible and I I had a copy of The Faith Of A Heretic in my hand.

The people who see this inditment as just a technicallity, just a little white lie about who was on the top of the food chain. I see it as a loose end, a thread to pull on to unravel the whole fabric of lies.

good post
gracias
will try to edit asap
but I am going to be late for work

[Zlatko Waterman]

I couldn't agree more, my gypsy friend:


Scott Ritter is one of the more cool-headed and mellow-toned analysts of the BUSHILIA virus strain that has infected our country.

The self-righteous Christian Bible-thumping gives a bad name to everyone.

Even the Christian Bible-thumpers, by no means all of whom I completely disapprove of.

I'd just like to see ( and hear) the thumps kept out of government, like the Constitution says, have the Fourth Estate do their part ( adversarial, dissenting and skeptical careful investigation . . .) and have Congress wake up to something besides careerism.

Cutting a few hundred lobbyists in Washington wouldn't hurt, either.


Thanks for responding.


--Z

[whimsicaldeb]

The people who see this inditment as just a technicallity, just a little white lie about who was on the top of the food chain. I see it as a loose end, a thread to pull on to unravel the whole fabric of lies.

Yes ... and I keep getting this image of bulldogs tugging and tugging on that thread until finally it all falls down ... and everything thing they done falls down on their heads!

~HEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee!~
(loveit!)

This part of what you wrote doesn't surprise me ...

...I was under lock and key with a couple of preachers for two weeks. I mean literally. Lots of time to talk politics and religion. Finally one preacher admited to me that the regime in washington is incompetent. But he was holding his ground on them not being corrupt. And at the bottom of his heart I knew that he was aware that they are crooks. ...

This is the classic denial issue. (imo) The main part of what you wrote is how he's aware that Bush & Co and this administration is corrupt. That you were able to get this guy to admit all that he did ... wonderful! For that's a step in the right direction. The direction away from that mindless and seemingly endless 'deaf, dumb & blind' support that Bush has been able to use to his advantage all along, up until now. Well done and thank you. That couldn't have been easy.

~~~~~

Z ~ I agree, and well said.

[gypsyjoker]

~HEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee!~
(loveit!)

I am trying Deb, but I am so puckered up with fear that it is hard to hope it all comes down on him. jimboloco always got the right words for me when I start to feel like a geezus freak, a little Zenistic technique of his. I don't have much hope for Bush waking up anytime soon. jimboloco's magic word for me was
rapture

I been worried about myself lately, cause I have heard it said that when one sees the world as insane, it is an indication you might be going insane yourself. Deb I think they are all bat shit crazy, they are so sure that these are the end times they doing their got damdest to make it so. Sorry for this ramble, I wish e-dog was around to poke wholes in my arguement. Cause believe me I would much rather be wrong than right about this

here is mnaz's view of this (or so it seems to me, not to put words in his mouth

frost of big money,
coming down on its target.
woe unto you in its path,
tho scramble as you might...
gaze is cast in solid ice...

http://www.studioeight.tv/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=5228

all about greed, pure and simple the noble cause is greed, like John Galt making the sign of the holly $ over the world in Atlas Shrugged.
If its good for General Bullmoose it is good for the USA. I don't guess you are old enough to remember Al Capp

How can you reason with insanity. Reason with irrational thinking. Money is the measure of all things, or did it say man is the measure of all things. Homo ecconomicus, I am sure it all makes sense on some quantum level. I think every man woman and child in the United Snakes incorporates them selves. Cause corporations seem to have so many more rights than mere people

[Zlatko Waterman]

And if you don't ( remember "Li'l Abner") , Deb, here's some help:


http://www.lil-abner.com/



--Z

[gypsyjoker]

I just come back to try and clean up spontaneous gibberish.


Joe Btfsplk

http://www.lil-abner.com/familyalbum2.html
I used that ID on litkicks,

[whimsicaldeb]

Hi gypsyjoker,

I remember the first time I heard about "The Rapture Index"
http://www.raptureready.com/rap2.html

It filled me with with so much fear. How could so many people be 'into' this? Even my own cousin’s into this shit. Which in a way turned out to be a ‘good thing’ because it helped me understand/answer the ‘why’ in that I was able to see how it was serving some warped inner needs of her fear & guilt ... and then I saw my own. And that understanding ended up helping me and I’m no longer scared by those into ‘the rapture’ … or it’s flip side the new age version … ‘our ascension’ and all that they would attempt/want to do because of this. Instead, it now spurs me into action.

I’m not a Polly Anna … what I am is familiar and experienced with knowing what it feels like to be caught up ‘in fear’ like a deer caught in headlights. There is a way out and a better place outside of that frame of mind and thinking - and it can be reached by going through the fear. Where you end up stepped back far enough to see the insanity for what, and where, it is ... and without getting caught back up in all that fear again.

So, give them their ‘rapture’ and let them scare themselves silly! But ... don't buy into it yourself. We need to keep looking at this stuff to stay aware of what people are doing ... chiefly so that we can step in and take away their keys and not let the 'drive' while they're busy 'being insane' from scaring the crap outta themselves.

And how do we do that ... by first greeting the dawn ...

Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence:

The bliss of growth
The glory of action
The splendor of achievement,

For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day!
Such is the salutation to the dawn.
~ Kalidasa


And then gettin' on with our lives, our version ... not theirs.

~~~~
Hi Z ... thanks for the reminder of Li'l Abner. It's as you suspected ... I'm not as familar.

I saw a delicate flower had grown up two feet high, between the horses’ path and the wheeltrack. An inch more to right or left had sealed its fate, or an inch higher; and yet it lived to flourish as much as if it had a thousand acres of untrodden space around it, and never knew the danger it incurred. It did not borrow trouble, nor invite an evil fate by apprehending it. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Keep posting your articles Z … you are helping us all learn how to see what IS – fearlessly. For it is a learned process and each of us is evolving one delicate flower at a time.


Photo: Taken at the top of the Grapevine, Frazier Park Area – Southern California – May 05

[Zlatko Waterman]

The day matters-- this one, right now.

Thanks, Deb


--Z

[whimsicaldeb]

fyi ... about the photo.

I did not take this picture. I have others like it, and I know where this was taken, have seen these flowers and those hills for myself, but this one is not one of my personal photos.

I got this photo because it was being pass around in an email and the email spoke of where and when it was taken, but not by whom. When I tried to find out who had taken it, no one seemed to know ...

If anyone else happened to get that email, and knows who the photographer is, please let me know. Thanks!

[whimsicaldeb]

...The day matters-- this one, right now.

yeah
Z, thank you
what a gift you are


The greatest gift … is the realization that life does not consist either of wallowing in the past or of peering anxiously at the future; and it is appalling to contemplate the great number of often painful steps by which one arrives at a truth so old, so obvious, and so frequently expressed. It is good for one to appreciate that life is now. Whatever it offers, little or much, life is now – this day – this hour. ~ Charles Macomb Flandrau

and sometimes, those hours include looking at the insanity but without the anxiousness ... and instead with a steady eye; and a firm resolve. Ironically, we get that (there) ... by going through.

thank you z

[Zlatko Waterman]

One of my favorite sayings, Deb:


Which you no doubt have seen, is pasted in below.

I am not Jewish, though I love ( and have been influenced by) a bewildering number of Jewish artists.


( paste/ from Rabbi Hillel)




One of his most famous sayings, recorded in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers, a tractate of the Mishnah), is:


"If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?"


--Z