“Profile in Courage” Open Thread [Updated]

Just pathetic.

Maybe the Barakaramas’ promised to exonerate him when they press criminal war charges against Bush & Cheyney, etc. (They’ll need something to produce smoke when their sorry asses are being investigated).

His reason for the endorsement – negative campaigning — Americans do not want to hear about some guy Bill Aryes…

we don’t? really?

What is up with this endorsement?

I hate the fact that Powell said it’s because of Sarah not being ready.

Obama is ready with what little experience he has?

So are we not going to allow Governors to run for President anymore?

Anyone who believed Colin Powell would endorse anyone other than Senator Government was living in fantasy land.

Colin Powell is a racist. There I said it. The only reason he’s endorsing Obama is because he’s black.

Mr. Powell,

If Mr. Obama is willing to go on national tv and answer these questions honestly, I will agree with you and vote for him… if not, I do not believe he is worthy of anyones vote:

http://www.freedomscost.net/?p=1212

For the Pumas, Powell’s endorsement of Obama will really galvanize them since they didn’t like anything associated with Geo. Bush to begin with.

But for the rest of us (and I was a Bush Republican), I can only see this as rascist.

Powell endorsed Bush, now Powell endorses Obama. Bush II. Bush III.

I am watching the Sunday morning MSM spin machine on this and it is disgusting…They are all predicting this is a win/win situation for Obama having Powell endorse him.
I never had much respect for Powell while he was Sec. of State and now this confirms my beliefs.
Of course..just because he is black we aren’t allowed to accuse him of being a racist.
Another phony brought to the surface !!!

Sue I agree – he endorsed for one reason – he is black.

I saw a brief press conference, and Powell lied about why he endorsed – one reason was the McCain campaign going negative claiming Obama is a Muslim – LIE – never happened.

The big one was Iraq – he put a spin on Iraq that gave Obama full credit for the success.

I am sick to death of the Colin Powell’s –

If you want to endorse Obama to see the first African American President – say that, but to lie about the endorsement is not acceptable.

But, what else do we expect from the people who surround Obama. Disgusting liar and racist!!!!!!!!

I used to respect Powell a great deal, as a matter of fact had he turned out to be a Presidential candidate I would have supported him whole heartedly. I could not be more dissappointed now. Rather than villify the man however let us really look at what he has chosen to support. He has chosen to support perhaps the most divisive candidate to ever enter the national scene in America. Obama has inspired violence, fraud, intimidation, and other violations of the bill of rights across the Nation. We as Americans have a duty to bar this man from higher office. We are all defendants of the constitution it is time we stand up and act like it. Obama has disqualified himself from office by insulting the American people, throwing half the country’s beliefs under the bus to win the other half’s affections. With the help of ACORN, hollywood, and the corrupt leaders of the DNC he hopes to steal the election from the American people. Currently their is a law suit pending against him asserting he is not actually a natural born citizen because he and his mother renouced their citizenship in Indonesia and became Indonesian citizens. RATHER than answer this accusation with fact they filed to dimsiss under the grounds that the individual citizen who brought the charges did NOT have the RIGHT to dispute a candidate’s qualifications for Preidency. If not a voting citizen of the United States of America, then WHO, Mr. Obama? Who has the right to call into question someone’s qualifcations?
If you do not support Obama you are racist, religious zealot, idiot, and do not deserve a voice in thie country. WELL ladies and gentlemen maybe I do not support OBAMA because he is unqualified for office. Because he will lead us into deeper economic tourmoil. And maybe, just maybe because AS and American citizen I AM CONCERNED about his associations. Any citizen who is not, in my mind, is not doing their patriotic duty of making sure the man we elect is going to protect and lead our country into a better future.

Sounds just like the Bill Richardson Endorsement all over again. I swear to God, BO either gets dirt on these people or promises lots of money. Now you Republicans know what it felt like for us Hillary supporters to be stabbed in the back by those party loyals.

And his big reason seems to be Sarah Palin yet I would really like to know Mr. Powell, how in your eyes is Barack Obama qualified to be President on day one?

Seriously what kind of crack is Powell smoking. He talks about a vp candidate thats not ready, and endorses a Presidential candidate who has less experiance than his former boss GWB.. OK sure I’ll buy that logic.

Colin Powell actually tried to give the credit for the turnaround in Iraq to Barack Obama? McCain started criticizing Bush and Rumsfeld back in 2004 because they were screwing up so bad. Bush is such a selfish, stubborn ignoramous that he refused to listen to McCain until after the dems took congress in 2006.

And now Powell tried to say that the turnaround in Iraq is because of Obama?

It’s BS of a particularly offensive nature.

And on ABC just now that other freak NEWT is pretty much giving up the election to Donna and George Will and George Step, etc!

All he can talk about his how much money Barry is raising and we all have to get used to the fact if nothing changes Obama will be the next President (which I’m sure tickled Donna down to her shorts)

BLECH

I can’t watch any of this anymore

LIARS, TRAITORS, FRAUDS it’s like a huge ass MUCK HOLE of MAGGOTS AND FLIES AND TORTURED RABID ANIMALS

I am not surprised that Powell endorsed Obama! What I am surprised about is the lies about Mccain calling Obama a muslim and terrorist. Was watching Fox News when I noticed another report about McCain and Obama teams getting terror reports from the White House!FBI checking out the key people in both campaign for security !I hope they check out Obama’s BC?

“It isn’t easy for me to disappoint Sen. McCain in the way that I have this morning, and I regret that,” Powell said.

****************************

Oh poor you Colin. What an uncomfortable situation for you. You must be so noble to be able to act like this knowing how you are disappointing your friend. wow. But query, is this the same type of REGRET that you have about disappointing your country? All the hundreds of thousands who were killed and wounded in Iraq because of your lies in the UN? The American mothers and fathers of our military who have to bury their children because you lied? The Iraqi mothers and fathers who have to bury their children because you lied? Oh yeah, you regret lying about that wmd stuff in the UN that persuaded our democratic Senators to approve the war and persuaded our allies to join in.
Yes, you wear guilt well Colin, how noble of you.

Had Colin Powell tendered in his resignation as Secretary of State, that alone would have signaled to the world and this country that the basis for going to war with Iraq was a fiction created by the Bush Administration.

Joe Wilson went to Niger and found that Iraq had not attempted to garner yellow cake from Niger. When the Bush administration continued to “sell” that line, Joe Wilson put his ass on the line and wrote and Op-Ed piece in the now defunct NYT to call this administration out on its’ lies. His wife lost her convert status and her career as a result.

What did Colin Powell do? Not a damn thing. Even after he left the Bush administration, his former chief of staff, Larry Wilkerson went on every show and spoke to every news magazine to defend his boss and the untenable situation he had been put in.

What did Colin Powell do? Cut off all contact with Larry Wilkerson and threw his ass under the bus. Larry Wilkerson thought the world of Colin Powell. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t have done for him and this is how Colin Powell repayed his loyalty; cutting him off entirely.

You know, we held the Nuremburg Trials and convicted me who were “just following orders”. We argued at the time that such “logic” did not offer a free pass to being morally unaccountable.

Now look where we are today! Colin Powell can go to hell!!

wasnt going to vote for either obama ever never…

frankly could not stomach voting for a republican i never ever have never ever ever

after may 20…switched a 35 year dem vote to an independent party….

powell makes me sick to my stomach i think i will give mc cain my 2 cents….am still voting down ticket dem…although they are all making me sick to my stomach too….after this election am i going to scrutinize big time….we just have the nastiest republican senator ever in history and we need to DITCH him….this has been the biggest sham election in history after the biggest 8 year nightmare worst fiasco hell in history….maybe with mccain and a dem congress it wont be so bad….maybe…yeah….maybe

Ford

Kudos to your post!

Joe the plumber is more relevant than Powell.

I have always admired Powell as being a person who did not have a race.

Today I see him choosing race over country. Powell, a military man, chose an inexperienced man because of his race. Powell chose his race over a war hero.
Powell chose race instead of democracy.

Today, Powell chose acceptance of domestic terriost, the fact that Obama lied about it, the fact the Obama is involved with his cousin Odinga that caused the death of 1500 people.

Today, my respect for Powell was completely lost.
Shame on Powell who is for race instead of country.

Did people see that Obama is involving the DOJ in ACORN – they want to suppress people coming forward about the fraud. Makes me sick. Fitting for the day they role out a fraud like Obama’s Colon.

It seems it is if you are back and supporting McCain you get attacked…if you are white and supporting McCain you get attacked….

It is ok to cross party lines and vote for the black candidate if you are black as Powell did…

so it is ok to cross party lines and vote for the white candidate if you are white

Thank you Powell because Powell’s excuse are stupid. Palin has more experience that Obama…

Mr.Powell man who was the One who sell to the whole world, the biggest lie in USA politics, now supports another , just like HIM.I respect this man Powell, and now I believe that He is someone I would never trust. Obama can have Him absolutely. Just look at those who are supporting Obama, I am talking about politicians!!! most of them did support war in (occupation) in Iraq. So how this work this time. If Powell was against, He should live His position and Republican Party then. He just betray Republicans a big time.Just as such”loyal Friend” Richardson betray Hillary. I am not talking about Middle Class people regular voters, but I am talking about someone who was a Secretary of Government, holding as such important position and power, and sending USA to unprovocated attack country of Iraq. Remember a story about DAVID and GOLIATE< maybe history will prove again , and prove that that Obama is the Goliate.
Threatnig McCain supporters with riots if Obama loose, is just fireing up those, who are undecided so does Independents.J.Carvill justprove, who those Democratic politician truly are. What happend to this so great Party!!!

typewriterstreaming

David Gergen is a very sick man. During the primaries, he was the CNN analyst that called Hillary’s voters from KY and WV racists. After the last debate, he accused McCain of being erratic.

Gergen and all the CNN analysts remind me of the movie “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”

Yawn. Oh, I see the predictable has happened — Colin Powell endorsed Obama. Yawn.

Obama/Bush III – It depends what the meaning of change is.

I certainly wasn’t surprised. I think I would have been SURPRISED if he had endorsed McCain.

Powell senses how the wind is blowing. accompanied by the pressure from his own community, he gave in. disgraceful!

We need McCain to WIN…Has anyone been watching FOX NEWS this morning in reference to an alert given to the Canidates about suspected Terrorism to hit soon?..They are warning we are very vulnerable between NOW and the next ADMIN. taking office..NY is a hinted target again..WTF!!!

PLEASE. If McCain had gotten the nod from Powell this morning, y’all would be dancing in the streets. Let’s show some consistency here, folks.

Check this out…Drudge Headlines
http://www.drudgereport.com/

Obama vows to ‘change the world’…

Pelosi: ’100% Barack’s Gonna Win’…

rubbing alcohol will take that sticky stuff off your car.Had to do the same thing.I was not surprised about Powell endorsing Obama but surprised at his nasty snipes at Palin and Mccain.Watched Frontline over a year ago and watched as Powell held up the vials and phony pictures of trucks hauling chemicals.He is no hero.The Joe the plumber smears are what happens to any that dare question that one.

I confess this endorsement is not surprising [I heard Powell singing Obama's praises while Hillary was being savaged] but for me at least, it’s still disappointing. Maybe I’m the only one on this board, but I admire Powell, always have. That being said, his moment at the UN was certainly not his finiest moment.

Do I wish he would have stood up and refused to give WMD presentation? Yes. But then, I wish a whole host of folks would have stood up, military and nonmilitary, before we committed ourselves to this endless war. I wish the mainstream media would have done their jobs instead of being the hollow cheerleaders to the neocon folly.

But they didn’t. So, there’s plenty of blame to throw around.

I think the Obama folks were probably holding this endorsement to counter the unforeseen. In this case, Joe the Plumber and last night’s SNL Palin appearance.

So, Powell’s announcement wasn’t surprising. But how anyone who knows about Barack Obama’s background and then can call him a “transformational leader” is beyond me. A mere glance at the Chicago district Obama left behind on his way to glory is a case in point.

This election has been nothing but mind boggling when you the read the tortured reasons people use to explain their support. The Obama folks want us to believe that the election night results are inevitable.

But they’re not.

Great Powell…Endorse a known LIAR !

50 Lies and Counting

1.) Selma Got Me Born – LIAR, your parents felt safe enough to have you in 1961 – Selma had no effect on your birth, as Selma was in 1965.

2.) Father Was A Goat Herder – LIAR, he was a privileged, well educated youth, who went on to work with the Kenyan Government.

3.) Father Was A Proud Freedom Fighter – LIAR, he was part of one of the most corrupt and violent governments Kenya has ever had

4.) My Family Has Strong Ties To African Freedom – LIAR, your cousin Raila Odinga has created mass violence in attempting to overturn a legitimate election in 2007, in Kenya . It is the first widespread violence in decades.

5.) My Grandmother Has Always Been A Christian – LIAR, she does her daily Salat prayers at 5am according to her own interviews. Not to mention, Christianity wouldn’t allow her to have been one of 14 wives to 1 man.

6.) My Name is African Swahili – LIAR, your name is Arabic and Baraka (from which Barack came) means blessed in that language. Hussein is also Arabic and so is Obama.

7.) I Never Practiced Islam – LIAR, you practiced it daily at school, where you were registered as a Muslim and kept that faith for 31 years,until your wife made you change, so you could run for office.

8.) My School In Indonesia Was Christian – LIAR, you were registered as Muslim there and got in trouble in Koranic Studies for making faces (check your own book).

9.) I Was Fluent In Indonesian – LIAR, not one teacher says you could speak the language.

10.) Because I Lived In Indonesia , I Have More Foreign Experience – LIAR, you were there from the ages of 6 to 10, and couldn’t even speak the language.. What did you learn, how to study the Koran and watch cartoons.

11.) I Am Stronger On Foreign Affairs – LIAR, except for Africa (surprise) and the Middle East (bigger surprise), you have never been anywhere else on the planet and thus have NO experience with our closest allies.

12.) I Blame My Early Drug Use On Ethnic Confusion – LIAR, you were quite content in high school to be Barry Obama, no mention of Kenya and no mention of struggle to identify – your classmates said you were just fine.

13.)An Ebony Article Moved Me To Run For Office – LIAR, Ebony has yet to find the article you mention in your book. It doesn’t, and never did, exist.

14.) A Life Magazine Article Changed My Outlook On Life – LIAR, Life has yet to find the article you mention in your book. It doesn’t, and never did, exist.

15.) I Wont Run On A National Ticket In 08 – LIAR, here you are, despite saying, live on TV, that you would not have enough experience by then, and you are all about having experience first.

16.) Present Votes Are Common In Illinois – LIAR, they are common for YOU, but not many others have 130 NO VOTES.

17.) Oops, I Misvoted – LIAR, only when caught by church groups and democrats, did you beg to change your misvote.

18.) I Was A Professor Of Law – LIAR, you were a senior lecturer ON LEAVE.

19.) I Was A Constitutional Lawyer – LIAR, you were a senior lecturer ON LEAVE.

20.) Without Me, There Would Be No Ethics Bill – LIAR, you didn’t write it,introduce it, change it, or create it.

21.) The Ethics Bill Was Hard To Pass – LIAR, it took just 14 days from start to finish.

22.) I Wrote A Tough Nuclear Bill – LIAR, your bill was rejected by your own party for its pandering and lack of all regulation – mainly because of your Nuclear Donor, Exelon, from which David Axelrod came.

23.) I Have Released My State Records – LIAR, as of March, 2008, state bills you sponsored or voted for have yet to be released, exposing all the special interests pork hidden within.

24.) I Took On The Asbestos Altgeld Gardens Mess – LIAR, you were part of a large group of people who remedied Altgeld Gardens . You failed to mention anyone else but yourself, in your books.

25.) My Economics Bill Will Help America – LIAR, your 111 economic policies were just combined into a proposal which lost 99-0, and even YOU voted against your own bill.

26.) I Have Been A Bold Leader In Illinois – LIAR, even your own supporters claim to have not seen BOLD action on your part.

27.) I Passed 26 Of My Own Bills In One Year – LIAR, they were not YOUR bills, but rather handed to you, after their creation by a fellow Senator, to assist you in a future bid for higher office.

28.) No One Contacted Canada About NAFTA – LIAR, the Candian Government issued the names and a memo of the conversation your campaign had with them.

29.) I Am Tough On Terrorism – LIAR, you missed the Iran Resolution vote on terrorism and your good friend Ali Abunimah supports the destruction of Israel .

30.) I Am Not Acting As President Yet – LIAR, after the NAFTA Memo, a dead terrorist in the FARC, in Colombia, was found with a letter stating how you and he were working together on getting FARC recognized officially.

31.) I Didn’t Run Ads In Florida – LIAR, you allowed national ads to run 8-12 times per day for two weeks – and you still lost.

32.) I Won Michigan – LIAR, no you didn’t.

33.) I won Nevada – LIAR, no you did not.

34.) I Want All Votes To Count – LIAR, you said let the delegates decide.

35.) I Want Americans To Decide – LIAR, you prefer caucuses that limit the vote, confuse the voters, force a public vote, and only operate during small windows of time.

36.) I passed 900 Bills in the State Senate – LIAR, you passed 26, most of which you didn’t write yourself.

37.) My Campaign Was Extorted By A Friend – LIAR, that friend is threatening to sue if you do not stop saying this. Obama has stopped saying this.

38.) I Believe In Fairness, Not Tactics – LIAR, you used tactics to eliminate Alice Palmer from running against you.

39.) I Dont Take PAC Money – LIAR, you take loads of it.

40.) I dont Have Lobbysists – LIAR, you have over 47 lobbyists, and counting.

41.) My Campaign Had Nothing To Do With The 1984 Ad – LIAR, your own campaign worker made the ad on his Apple in one afternoon.

42.) My Campaign Never Took Over MySpace – LIAR, Tom, who started MySpace issued a warning about this advertising to MySpace clients.

43.) I Inspire People With My Words – LIAR, you inspire people with other peoples words.

44.) I Have Passed Bills In The U.S. Senate – LIAR, you have passed A BILL in the U.S. Senate – for Africa , which shows YOUR priorities.

45.) I Have Always Been Against Iraq – LIAR, you werent in office to vote against it AND you have voted to fund it every single time, unlike Kucinich, who seems to be out gutting you Obama. You also seem to be stepping back from your departure date – AGAIN.

46.) I Have Always Supported Universal Health Care – LIAR, your plan leaves us all to pay the 15,000,000 who dont have to buy it.

47.) I Only Found Out About My Investment Conflicts Via Mail – LIAR, both companies you site as having sent you letters about this conflict have no record of any such letter ever being created or sent.

48.) I Am As Patriotic As Anyone – LIAR, you wont wear a flag pin and you dont put your hand over your heart during the Anthem.

49.) My Wife Didn’t Mean What She Said About Pride In Country – LIAR, your wifes words follow lock-step in the vain of Wright and Farrahkan, in relation to their contempt and hatred of America .

50.) Wal-Mart Is A Company I Wouldn’t Support – LIAR, your wife has received nearly a quarter of a million dollars through Treehouse, which is connected to Wal-Mart.
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My neighbor and I both have children serving in Iraq.We have both voted for Mccain/Palin.So have these young men that are there serving our country.Everybody can vote for who they want to,we are not sheep.

QUESTION TO OBAMA SUPPORTERS OLD ENOUGH TO BE DRAFTED INTO THE MILITARY:

How do you think Obama will keep his promise to ENLARGE the military?

How do you think he will add the troop numbers he claims he will add?

Will you all rush off to enlist because he asks you nicely?

I will laugh my butt off when Obama reinstates the draft.

And he will — his community organizer heart tells him it’s the right thing to do. Obama’s site states:

We have learned from Iraq that our military needs more men and women in uniform to reduce the strain on our active force. Obama will increase the size of ground forces, adding 65,000 soldiers to the Army and 27,000 Marines.

However – he never says HOW he will add these numbers. Hmmmm.

Did Colin Powell’s new best friend violate Illinois Ethics Laws?

I agree. Who gives a rats a$$. Lets just keep doing all we can to get McCain elected.
On a lighter note something funny

http://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=RWpU8sX10_4

We could all use a laugh!

I personally couldn’t give a darn about Powell. I think he is a coward. He didn’t accept responsibility and do the right thing when it mattered and played the blame game after the fact when he knew his name was MUD.

And I think most people feel the same way. This latest action just cements the “the man is just a sellout for where ever he might get his next buck” theme that we have witnessed from him.

He doesn’t do the right thing when it matters, gets all he can for his own benefit and then tries to blame others for what was a failure on his part. Sound familiar?

NBC Universal preps for major cuts

Spending slashed by $500 million next year

For Army Mom supporting Obama:

Before Joe the Plumber lost his job thanks to the Obama-loving press, Joe said he was currently earning $40,000

Let’s see how well off he’d be under Obama’s tax plan:

For those earning $38,000-$66,000 per year –
B.O. cuts taxes minus -$1042

That’s $20.03 more in Joe’s pocket each week)

Now let’s see what McCain gives workers in Joe’s earning bracket:

McCain doubles Joe’s child deduction to $7,000 — that’s an additional $3500 which translates to:

McCain gives Joe an extra $67.30 in his pocker per week.

Let’s recap:

Under Obama’s plan – Joe gets an extra $20.03 in his pocket each week.

Under McCain’s plan – Joe gets an extra $67.30 in his pocket each week.
Now who’s really looking out for Joe?

I was at birthday party for a quick gift giving then get out. Anyway there was a young girl there dressed like a princess. Actually teenager with prom dress on.

One of the women at the party asked her who would she vote for if she could. She looked right at her and said McCain. I yelled WOW, guess I was load too. They asked her why ? She said she likes his BELIEFS in this country. We had a fascinating conversation. NOT all the young are for Obama.

by the way, notice the name of the cafe from this dirty harry clip. is this the original or did someone doctor it for impact?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6-Snl4a1RI

I only hope that when american women check out the misoginy and support between good old black boys they will finally react.

Colin Powell lied us into war..he lied our soldiers into a war..he lied our soldiers and over 100,000 Iraqi’s to their deaths..he is no citizen or General who should be held up to any high esteem..any military man who would send our troops to war based on lies is guilty of treason…in my book!!

These article I have held in my files..in case this filthy liar Colin Powell were to try to do anything to clear his name..let alone endorse a democratic candidate for the highest office in this nation..

I keep trying to post with the links and they won’t post so i will try this way..
…………………………………………….

UK war dossier a sham, say experts
British ‘intelligence’ lifted from academic articles

Michael White and Brian Whitaker
Friday February 7, 2003

Guardian

Downing Street was last night plunged into acute international embarrassment after it emerged that large parts of the British government’s latest dossier on Iraq – allegedly based on “intelligence material” – were taken from published academic articles, some of them several years old.
Amid charges of “scandalous” plagiarism on the night when Tony Blair attempted to rally support for the US-led campaign against Saddam Hussein, Whitehall’s dismay was compounded by the knowledge that the disputed document was singled out for praise by the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, in his speech to the UN security council on Wednesday.

Citing the British dossier, entitled Iraq – its infrastructure of concealment, deception and intimidation in front of a worldwide television audience Mr Powell said: “I would call my colleagues’ attention to the fine paper that the United Kingdom distributed… which describes in exquisite detail Iraqi deception activities.”

But on Channel 4 News last night it was revealed that four of the report’s 19 pages had been copied – with only minor editing and a few insertions – from the internet version of an article by Ibrahim al-Marashi which appeared in the Middle East Review of International Affairs last September.

Though that was not the only textual embarrassment No 10 seemed determined to tough it out last night.

Dismissing the gathering controversy as the latest example of media obsession with spin, officials insisted it in no way undermines the underlying truth of the dossier, whose contents had been re-checked with British intelligence sources. “The important thing is that it is accurate,” said one source.

What Whitehall may not grasp is the horror with which unacknowledged borrowing of material – the crime of plagiarism – is regarded in American academic and media circles, even though successive US governments have a poor record of misleading their own citizens on foreign policy issues at least since the Vietnam war. On a special edition of BBC Newsnight, filmed before a critical audience last night, Mr Blair stressed that he was willing to forgo popularity to warn voters of the dangers of weapons of mass destruction: “I may be wrong, but I do believe it.”

With trust a critical element in the battle to woo a sceptical public the first sentence of the No 10 document merely states, somewhat cryptically, that it “draws upon a number of sources, including intelligence material”.

But Glen Rangwala, a lecturer in politics at Cambridge University, told Channel 4: “I found it quite startling when I realised that I’d read most of it before.”

The content of six more pages relies heavily on articles by Sean Boyne and Ken Gause that appeared in Jane’s Intelligence Review in 1997 and last November. None of these sources is acknowledged.

The document, as posted on Downing Street’s website at the end of January, also accidentally named four Whitehall officials who had worked on it: P Hamill, J Pratt, A Blackshaw and M Khan. It was reposted on February 3 with the first three names deleted.

“Apart from passing this off as the work of its intelligence services,” Dr Rangwala said, “it indicates that the UK really does not have any independent sources of information on Iraq’s internal policies. It just draws upon publicly available data.”

Evidence of an electronic cut-and-paste operation by Whitehall officials can be found in the way the dossier preserves textual quirks from its original sources. One sentence in Dr Marashi’s article includes a misplaced comma in referring to Iraq’s head of military intelligence during the 1991 Gulf war. The same sentence in Downing Street’s report contains the same misplaced comma.

A Downing Street spokesman declined to say why the report’s public sources had not been acknowledged. “We said that it draws on a number of sources, including intelligence. It speaks for itself.”

Dr Marashi, a research associate at the Centre for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, said no one had contacted him before lifting the material.

But on the regular edition of Newsnight he later gave some comfort to No 10. “In my opinion, the UK document overall is accurate even though there are a few minor cosmetic changes. The only inaccuracies in the UK document were that they maybe inflated some of the numbers of these intelligence agencies,” he said.

Explaining the more journalistic changes inserted into his work by Whitehall he added: “Being an academic paper, I tried to soften the language.

“For example, in one of my documents, I said that they support organisations in what Iraq considers hostile regimes, whereas the UK document refers to it as ’supporting terrorist organisations in hostile regimes’.

“The primary documents I used for this article are a collection of two sets of documents, one taken from Kurdish rebels in the north of Iraq – around 4m documents – as well as 300,000 documents left by Iraqi security services in Kuwait. After that, I have been following events in the Iraqi security services for the last 10 years.”

Iraq’s decision last night to let weapons inspectors interview one of its scientists for the first time without government “minders” signalled that Baghdad may be bending under international pressure.

But diplomats will be trying to determine over the next few days whether it is a token gesture or a real shift away from what they describe as Iraq’s “catch us if you can” approach to inspections. Hours before the announcement, a Foreign Office source in London signalled that this was the kind of change of heart that Iraq would have to make to avoid war.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008

………………………………………………………
from the guardian..

Downing St admits blunder on Iraq dossier
Plagiarism row casts shadow over No 10’s case against Saddam

Michael White, Ewen MacAskill and Richard Norton-Taylor
Saturday February 8, 2003

Guardian

Downing Street yesterday apologised for its failure to acknowledge that much of its latest dossier on Iraq was lifted from academic sources, as the affair threatened to further undermine confidence in the government’s case for disarming Saddam Hussein.
MPs and anti-war groups were quick to protest that other features of Whitehall’s information campaign are suspect at a time when MI6 and other intelligence agencies are privately complaining at the way No 10 has been over-egging intelligence material on Iraq.

It emerged yesterday that the dossier issued last week – later found to include a plagiarised section written by an American PhD student – was compiled by mid-level officials in Alastair Campbell’s Downing Street communications department with only cursory approval from intelligence or even Foreign Office sources.

Though it now appears to have been a journalistic cut and paste job rather than high-grade intelligence analysis, the dossier ended up being cited approvingly on worldwide TV by the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, when he addressed the UN security council on Wednesday.

Downing Street yesterday toughed it out, insisting that what mattered was that the facts contained in the document were “solid” and helped make the case Tony Blair rammed home on BBC Newsnight. But the middle section of the dossier, which describes the feared Iraqi intelligence network, was taken, much of it verbatim, from the research of Dr Ibrahim al-Marashi without his knowledge or permission.

“In retrospect we should have acknowledged [this]. The fact that we used some of his work does not throw into question the accuracy of the document as a whole, as he himself acknowledged on Newsnight last night, where he said that in his opinion the document overall was accurate,” the No 10 spokesman conceded. “We all have lessons to learn,” he added. The four officials originally named on the website version of the 19-page dossier include Alison Blackshaw, Mr Campbell’s senior assistant, and Murtaza Khan, described as a news editor on the busy Downing Street website.

Professor Michael Clark, director of the International Policy Institute at King’s College London, said presenting such intelligence material “invalidates the veracity” of the rest of the document. The shadow foreign secretary, Michael Ancram, called for a cabinet minister to oversee government information on Iraq.

Even before the latest row some Whitehall officials were protesting that MI6 and other intelligence material was being used selectively by Downing Street. A well-placed source made it clear that the dossier had been the work of Downing Street and the Coalition Information Centre, the body set up after September 11 to put the US-British case on the war against terrorism. The source dismissed a key section of the dossier as full of “silly errors”.

Glenda Jackson, the Labour former minister, was one of several MPs to protest that the government was misleading parliament and the public. “And of course to mislead is a parliamentary euphemism for lying,” Ms Jackson told Radio 4’s Today programme.

Dr al-Marashi expressed “surprise” at the lack of a credit for his work, as did other authors whose research was quickly identified. One anti-war group, Voices in the Wilderness, identified a passage from No 10’s September dossier directly traceable to Saddam Secrets, a book by Tim Trevan published in 1999.

The Middle East Review of International Affairs, from which Dr al-Marashi’s work was lifted, is based in Israel, which makes it a suspect source to even moderate Arab opinion, and another reason why the origin of the information should have been listed.
………………………………………………….
from the Sydney Morning Herald..

Colin Powell defends US policy on Iraq
January 9, 2004 – 9:46AM

Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged today that he saw no “smoking gun, concrete evidence” of ties between Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaeda terror network, but insisted Iraq had dangerous weapons and needed to be disarmed by force.

At a State Department news conference, Powell openly disagreed with a private think tank report which maintained that Iraq was not an imminent threat to the United States, and defended the case he made before the United Nations for a US-led war to force Saddam from power.

“My presentation … made it clear that we had seen some links and connections to terrorists organisations over time,” Powell said.

“I have not seen smoking gun, concrete evidence about the connection, but I do believe the connections existed.”

Three experts at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said in a report today that the Bush administration systematically misrepresented a weapons threat from Iraq, and US strategy should be revised to eliminate the policy of unilateral preventive war.

(ahhhhhhhhhhhh but Powell testified to a smoking gun..and sent our kids to die in a hell hole based on his testimony to the world..which was all a pile of bullshit lies…)

(Noooooo Powell your presentation was a pile of lies and plagarism.. and you knew it Powell!You should be in prison Powell..not endorsing anyone!)

Sooooooo, I’m confused. You’re against the war in Iraq? Or you’re against Powell being for the war in Iraq? But you’re not against McCain being for the war.

Obama is the Anti-Christ.

Actually, no. Today’s polls show Independents shifting BACK to McCain. Obama has lost 8 points with that group this week.

Reuters is the source.

And Gallup traditional is showing a 2 point lead. That’s essentially tied, and maybe even reflective of a McCain actual lead.

So no, you’re wrong.

I can’t see the Powell will make a difference except to the usual WA insider boyz.

There’s the reason why that word stupid is tattooed to your forehead. I was wondering.

Sir Troll:

Why don’t you make a case for voting FOR your Messiah. Name his accomplishments. Name his outstanding legislature. Give it a try.

LOL, this moron thinks Powell was secretary of defense. Shows the great intellect we are up against here eh?

omg where the HELL was he when rummie was running MAD as a HATTER?

low information for sure

Joe The Plumber can’t work now thanks to his audicity of asking Obama a question.

So, actually, there is news. Thanks to the Obama-loving press, Joe the Plumber is unemployed.

I bet that makes you feel good.

Oh – by the way — my stepson has served two tours in the middle east, away from his baby boy, born while he was in Afghanistan 1.5 years.

I don’t trust Obama making decisions with our miltary. He’s going to invade Pakistan? This will ignite WW3.

soooo…. are you saying Obama would like Joe to stay in the news? LOL Joe is going to take Obama down and become a hero for it!

No you are wrong — the press played the Joe clip starting a week ago. This caught McCain’s attention.

I was watching the Joe the Plumber clip on TV BEFORE McCain ever mentioned his name.

Don’t rewrite history.

lol. how dumb can an obamabot get???

Do you suppose Senator Obama knew this before he stopped in front of Mr. Wurzelbacher and asked his thoughts about this election? Despite the fact reporters taped BO’s walk through Joe’s neighborhood, curiously, I am now unable to find any videos on-line which contain the first few seconds of the encounter between these two men, showing BO approached Joe; all I could find were videos showing these 2 men already engaged in conversation. Also missing was evidence that the men shook hands.

So you’re the troll god. They do have othere before you, don’t you know–like Oblockhead.

Now the obamalobotobots blaspheme, too.

Just makes Powell’s endorsement of Obama that much more damning for Powell. McCain has always shown himself to be a man of honor.

Powell on the other hand presented “evidence” to the UN, which he later claimed was faulty. if the thought it was faulty, he should have just said, No.

Actually, he sounds like he’s about 10 years old (sorry for the insult, all you ten-year-olds out there). Can’t even spell the name of his candidate.

“Take your God, Guns, and Religion attitude and shove it – we are done with you.”

**

Typical Obama supporter. These very words are WHY we should FEAR an Obamination tryanny, dictatorship….

God, and guns – all part of our constitution but Obama supporters DON’T want any of us to have these ‘rights’ – God or guns.