The Blood on George Bush’s Hands
By Larry Johnson on January 13, 2009 at 10:17 PM in Current Affairs
Vanity Fair is setting off a bomb this week that rivals metaphorically Israel’s attack on Gaza. The Gaza Bombshell, written by David Rose, tells the story of a secret U.S. program that is at the root of the fighting now underway:
After failing to anticipate Hamas’s victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, the author reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever.
It is no mere coincidence that when it comes to running a secret weapons program that Elliott Abrams is in the middle of the activity. How so? Rose explains:
The administration went back to Congress, and a reduced, $59 million package for nonlethal aid was approved in April 2007. But as Dahlan knew, the Bush team had already spent the past months exploring alternative, covert means of getting him the funds and weapons he wanted. The reluctance of Congress meant that “you had to look for different pots, different sources of money,” says a Pentagon official.
A State Department official adds, “Those in charge of implementing the policy were saying, ‘Do whatever it takes. We have to be in a position for Fatah to defeat Hamas militarily, and only Muhammad Dahlan has the guile and the muscle to do this.’ The expectation was that this was where it would end up—with a military showdown.” There were, this official says, two “parallel programs”—the overt one, which the administration took to Congress, “and a covert one, not only to buy arms but to pay the salaries of security personnel.”In essence, the program was simple. According to State Department officials, beginning in the latter part of 2006, Rice initiated several rounds of phone calls and personal meetings with leaders of four Arab nations—Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. She asked them to bolster Fatah by providing military training and by pledging funds to buy its forces lethal weapons. The money was to be paid directly into accounts controlled by President Abbas.
The scheme bore some resemblance to the Iran-contra scandal, in which members of Ronald Reagan’s administration sold arms to Iran, an enemy of the U.S. The money was used to fund the contra rebels in Nicaragua, in violation of a congressional ban. Some of the money for the contras, like that for Fatah, was furnished by Arab allies as a result of U.S. lobbying.
But there are also important differences—starting with the fact that Congress never passed a measure expressly prohibiting the supply of aid to Fatah and Dahlan. “It was close to the margins,” says a former intelligence official with experience in covert programs. “But it probably wasn’t illegal.”
Legal or not, arms shipments soon began to take place. In late December 2006, four Egyptian trucks passed through an Israeli-controlled crossing into Gaza, where their contents were handed over to Fatah. These included 2,000 Egyptian-made automatic rifles, 20,000 ammunition clips, and two million bullets. News of the shipment leaked, and Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, an Israeli Cabinet member, said on Israeli radio that the guns and ammunition would give Abbas “the ability to cope with those organizations which are trying to ruin everything”—namely, Hamas.
No wonder no one in the Middle East takes us seriously. We engage in amateur hour shenanigans and then lie to the American people. There is a bright side to this for those of you who love Obama–George Bush and company have set the bar so low that Barack Obama need only walk from the White House and board the helicopter without banging his head and he will immediately be more competent than W. We only are saddled with the bozo from Texas for six more days. Unfortunately, he has set in motion wars in the Middle East that will haunt us for years to come.
(Release: November 13)
on sale for only $16.95.
has a spatula.)
8% Off at $11.95, with a rare five-star ranking by 294 customers: 
And check out these: 
("This crazy redhead is on to something. Her pink Rambler story alone is worth the price of the book," writes 
- “Richard Sale’s reportage on Washington, the CIA, the American armed forces, and foreign intrigue has created a perfect background for this account of the steady growth of President Clinton as a master of the game of nations.”--W. Patrick Lang, former head of Middle East Operations, DIA
"Anne C. Heller's stunning biography of Ayn Rand" uses a "plethora of newly unearthed research and fresh insight."
Another Interesting Article Larry..
Sometimes when I think of BUSHCO Policy…along With the mysterious Condi the Condor..I think To Heo Cons set out to Do as much damage as they could on Purpose…
Or bush was so stupid he did what ever Dick, Condi, or that Rummy Guy and other Clowns around suggested Bush ought to do…
One thing is obvious about his Mind set…NO REGRETS..especially over IRAQ..Yes Sir Got ER Done..
Yep yep..teheehee..
WELL…Old Bush was a Good Skull and BONER GUY…Ya know…”I Swear f I get the Opporunity to Start a War and create another “Democracy” somewere in the World I Will..”
Well Let me count my Lucky Texas Star Dudes…Oh Bin Laughin gave me the Opportunity..Yep..and uncle Dicky and Donny The Rummy told me to go get him…
Yep and I did ever thing His DICK told him to Do..No Morning after regrets..
SLAM….BAM..THANK YOU..
Yep..I also arranged to get 30 000 poeple off Roofs After Ktrina…and I Uh..Uh..I I..
Made Sure SADDAM got Hung..Like a Texas Outlaw..and and..
Well..You get the Drift..
Condi..?? I still wonder whose side she was on…with All the damage she did..
Oh..and those Skull and Boners Guys..
I been thnking.Only Priates.. (Robbers and Thiefs)
and the NAZI SS Featured the Skull and Bones..as a Symbol of Mind Set..
SO..?? Whats with that George..??
Anyhow..Old George, Barney..and all the rest of the Dogs of War have Insured that they did thier Part to Keep the Cold War Alive and well…Everyone around the World Pissed off and Disliking the United States..and opened New Fronts everywhere..
Can’t wait to sit which board GEORGEwill be sitting
sitting on Next..and No..I didnt say whiuch Board he will Be Shitting Through..
He should be just about out of that by Now..
I shudder to think what he might do in the next six days, or what he might have done since the election, which we are not yet aware. I’m frightened. The Bush years are a desperate, bloody nightmare, perdition a la W…
Thanks for bringing this article to our attention. Hmm, precise analogy of the instant competence bestowed on Obama, as long as he doesn’t stumble and hit his head. How pathetic is that?
The sad thing is that Israel armed Hamas before that. Then the US goes and tries the exact same thing with Fatah.
Think OIL–and all will become infinitely more clear. Now plug in Iran, a formidable and intransigent block to OIL delivery.
Arab fury=chaos=escalating unrest in Middle East=
strike on Iran. And Israel, as usual, will be the villian in this sorry, engineered scenario if that comes to pass. Keep your fingers crossed. But don’t expect Obama to bring a new direction. His handlers have their own agenda.
Like Iran/Contra we were giving arms to Iran – while they were fighting a war with Iraq – and we were also helping Saddam.
Go figure.
Not to mention that those arms we gave to Iran, were shipped to them through ISRAEL.
And we are now told that the US keeps “weapons stockpiles” in Israel, too.
Well, well, well.
Obama need only walk from the White House and board the helicopter without banging his head and he will immediately be more competent than W.
ROFL … Larry you kill me.
Is David Rose updating this article “The Gaza Bombshell?”
Vanity Fair couldn’t write an article about the outgoing President’s manipulations of Middle East relations in their NEXT issue? With 6 days to go, what about exposing the illegal takeover of OUR country by BO in concert with the DNC, now?
Perhaps they prefer factual content.
This, from the article Larry quoted, by David Rose.
If covert ops are really this far out of control, this ineffective, in fact HARMING American interests (a long way from Afgahnistan, v the USSR) shouldn’t we take a closer look at why these disparate groups are allowed to function with no oversight, whatsoever?
The whole thing just seems to be run by a bunch of clueless American amateurs — no abilty whatsoever to understand the greater plan and no abilty to really RUN a war, and win.
Fight terrorism with terrorism: seems kind of stupid, and it shows.
They wanted to start a civil war. Israel would arm Hamas and the US would arm Fatah. Things didn’t go as planned when Hamas rounded up over 100 Israeli informers and had them shot. This is when Hamas was seen as a terrorist organization. But the US kept arming Fatah in the hopes that civil war would ensue anyhow, and also to make sure that Hamas did not win the election. But even if Hamas did win, Israel would now have the perfect excuse for not accepting peace in that Hamas has been declared a terrorist organization and that they want the destruction of Israel in their charter.
Well said, Mr. X.
They played one side against the other. Divide and conquer, just like the Nazis did.
Except that Americans weren’t ever supposed to know.
OOPS.
This is not the half of it, I fear.
Incoming======================!
Wonder what Sir Scud would say?
You Rock Teak…!!
The amazing thing about this story is how easily they went from one blunder to another. Is it the idelogy which brings on the blindness or ego? They had no idea Fatah could lose the election?
They said, if we do this, that is going to be the outcome. When that is not the outcome, instead of learning they can’t control the situation, they go to Plan B which is, if we do this. they will do that. If you don’t understand the culture or history, have tunnel vision and make invalid assumptions, the result is unpredictable.
This has happened with so many covert activities, one would think when they are in the planning stage as many outcomes as possible would be considered.
Thank you for this information and for your previous post, “Is the US Exacerbating Palestinian Suffering?” Knowledge is power and it’s past time for objective reporting.
“After failing to anticipate Hamas’s victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House”
This was a little hard to believe when first read, because, after all, aren’t all possible scenarios worked out…then I thought of the first three years of Iraq and realized it must have been a pattern with the Bush team. A colossal failure to anticipate, again and again.
Well..
Wasn’t that Condi the Condors Favorite Line..??
“WHO COULD HAVE ANTICIPATED”…??
Well Condi…You Unqualified Amateur…
LARRY JOHNSON and Several of His Friends and Associates Like Colonial LANG Anticipated…Ahead of every Move You and Your “TEAM” Made…
But Then Condi Dear..You Got away with It..because You were a MEDIA STAR…and besides a WAR would make good news…
And Larry and his friends..Just The PROFESSIONALS who Knew BETTER..
President elect Obama would do well to have all of Larrys Team in some Support Role..
Things are past the point of Sticking a Plunger in the Toilet for all this SHIT..
Does anyone here imagine that Iran might be involved anywhere in all this–or are the only bad guys the U.S. and Israel? Are there no larger geo-political and -strategic issues than bad U.S. and Israel?
One reason the U. S. is in the shape it’s in is because so many Americans simply can’t stand any critical analysis of our country. It’s just like the maturation process for humans, if you can’t look at yourself at critical times in your life and say, I was probably wrong to do that, or I was wrong to think that, then you never change and grow. That’s pretty much what’s happened to our country. I don’t think people should be constantly dissing the country, but if you can’t look at the warts, you’ll never fix the problems.
The U. S. has stagnated over the last 150 years because people like George W. Bush and his supporters just want to cover up all the wrong things the U. S. has done–and we have done wrong-headed things. In Europe, they’ve managed to come to terms with the wrongness of imperialism and colonialism, etc. but in the U. S., the Powers That Be are still trying to figure out how they can carry on like their Robber Baron forebears. So we just keep making the same mistakes. We’ll stand by Israel if they bomb the whole world because a lot of Israelis are now the U. S. Powers That Be (Rahm Emanuel comes to mind–wealthy Israeli banking family).
Larry, didn’t some analyst predict a couple of months ago that this was going to happen? That Israel was going to start a war before Bush’s term ended?
Yes.
It is public knowledge now, that Israel wanted to bomb/raid Iran a year ago, asking US permission to use Iraqi airspace to do so.
If it hadn’t been for Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff refusing approval of that request—because our troops in Iraq could have suffered reprisals—–lil ole Georgie would have said yes, cowboy that he is.
And it is also public knowledge in Jerusalem papers that this Gaza invasion/slaughter was planned a year ago, meaning that the few Hamas rockets fired after Israel killed 6 Palestinians in November, was the EXCUSE they used to implement the plan they already had.
So there you are: Israel, before Bush was gone, wanted to bomb Iran, and invade Gaza.
Bush denied the right to bomb Iran, but he reassured Israel that he had approved COVERT operations inside Iran to achieve the same end.
Any guesses what our own covert operations have done inside Iran?
I’m guessing the former FBI guy that has been missing for over 2 years in Iran may know a little.
One Other thing that Sticks in My CRAW (FORD)..
George..I just gotta tell You ..You may be a New England Transplant to texas..But I dont care how much poop you get on your Cowboy Boots…You are still a world Class Bull Shitter..and that Texas ranger deal that Made you your first Fifty Million Dollars…still Stins to me..
I resent the fact that You and your PR Team..
(Perverted Reality) keep telling the American People that You Kept America safe from another Terrorist Attack after 9/11…
One was enough george..Got you and your NEO~CON
Friends what you wanted didn’t it…Life would have been so Boring for all you High Energy ambitious Guys with that..wouldn’t it..??
“igh Energy”..Must have been a Freudian Slip..
Wow…! Did YOU Really Do that George..all by yurself..??
Well…The way I read the PDB’s and the NEWS…9/11 happened on Your Watch because YOUR TEAM..(Thanks Condi) and the Guys in the basement..ingnored the Intel and You failed to put in Place the Policys and Directives (Hello…George Tenant) Goodby Mr.Clark..Can anyone tell me whats going on over at the Bureau..Oh..Just some Terrorists taking Flying lessons..stuff like that GEORGE…
God…what a Great eight years ..George..What a legacy..No matter how you spin it..YOU make Dick Nixon look Good..and Rnald Regan look like a Democrat..
Wow..and Thanks to your economic team and Scretary of the Treasury…Ha..(Thats an OxyMoron..) Kind of like you George..for finishing up Yur Eight year Gig by Ruining Our economy..Failure of Oversight on Wall Street..Creating Trillions of Dollars (non existant ) of Debt and burden on the American people…now about $28,000 for every man ..woman and child..
Oh Well…Must be a buying opportuinity in there somewhere. huh..
Thanks George for all those Lies and Alibis huh..
Maybe you could show a token of Bi partisanship and leave barney for the Obamas.
Thanks to you..Barack… has lots more to deal with than Finding a dog…Like Cleaning up all Your Dog Shit..off the White House Lawn and Airing out the White house…
Be sure to remind Obama to Pay attention to his PDB’s too…
Yep…
Is there anyone besides me that Wonders of 9/11 was not just another “Intelligence Failure..” (well…I guess thats true cause look who was in the White house)
But also another COVERT Operation that went Bad..??
Or people who were stupid enough to be thinking..” hey I got a great Great Idea..(Brain fart)..lets let the terrorist go ahead and hijack and see what happens…
The Bureaucrats are just Humans you know..
God, what Interesting material for a Spy Novel..Sadly…
.
Right? You just can’t make this stuff up.
Dossier that is titled “osama wants to stike inside the US” and BushCo thiks nothing of it.
Our allies telling us they got intel about it….and BushCo thinks nothing of it.
We give millions of dollars to Afghanistan a month before. Powell says we’re not giving it to the taliban, just the people who were in charge, and stopped the poppy growing. Taliban was in power back in May when they blew up those statues, and they are the ones who curtailed the poppy growing. How could they have put a ban on growing if they weren’t in power?
I think the people we had in power then were just reckless and greedy.
Yep..
But..Thanks to george Bush and the Border in His Great State of Texas..The people of the united States are allot more SECURE and SAFE now…
Heck of a Job George..You make Govenors and Presidents Proud every where…and to think there are actually people that think you and that Nice govenor blogovich (sp0belong in Jail..when all you did was your typical DUTY..
To the best of your typical Ability and desire to serve..
Shameful..Downright shameful…
Oh…and George..(no relation to washington
I assume..??)
On the great List of Items on your “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED LIST”…Why don’t you and your Friend in congres Brag about hoe You have made merica safeer from Drug gangs and drug cartels..and JUNK JOCKEYS..??
You are so Modest..
Well…Anybody…Larry..Olson Brothers..??
Was it another Covert operation gone bad..??Or did we waste all thse tax Dollars on Intelligence just to give it to STUPID Guys..??
Ones who can’t recognize CAT 5 Hurricaines..or Dump Trucks from missle launchers..or Terrorists from a bunch of Saudis playing with 747’s..on a rich uncles Dime..??