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About that Offensive in Afghanistan

By Larry Johnson on August 16, 2007 at 2:58 AM in Current Affairs

by
Larry C Johnson

Remember the offensive I told you about? Here’s the first new blip.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6948829.stm

  • ybnormal

    So what else is happening in Afghanistan?
    While our own U.S. mortgage market goes down the toilet;
    In the side panel on the same web page as the article above there’s this link
    Afghans primed for mortgage revolution
    It seems the Afghan government is planning to build the homes and sell the mortgages to banks who will sell them to homeowners; in a plan to rebuild the middle class, in a new township called New Kabul.

  • liberalbuffet

    Larry, why the sudden interest in getting Osama Bin Laden? Did Bush take his time looking for him so the US would have a “boogy man”? Is the shrub wanting him now to try and save the GOP and his legacy? Or is this all a big dog and pony show to try to take the spot light off Iraq?

  • http://www.reflectivepundit.com Brigitte N.

    too early to catch bin laden and al-zawahiri, next year’s pre-election months or weeks will be the perfect timing.

  • mudkitty

    Expect an October Surprise.

  • taters

    Hey squat boy peuce – don’t you have an appointment to grab your ankles while you’re scrubbing a certain chimperor’s scrotum? You’re just a regular ball washer, aren’t ya?

    Uh, who was it that got the PDF about Bin Laden Determined To Stike? You’re a real dumbass. By the way, does your mom know you’re on her computer?

  • JM

    Zeus,

    It’s true that prominent Democrats and Republicans alike believed, at various stages, that Saddam was in possession of big, bad weapons.

    It’s also true that during the months leading up to the start of Bush’s invasion of Iraq, the UN weapons inspectors were well on their way to showing that Saddam had nothing.

    Even a couple of additional months of inspections would have revealed that Saddam was, in addition to being a brutal, murdering dictator, also a fairly decent poker player.

    But, no, Bush had to get his war on. And, for the record, it was Bush who launched the invasion, not anyone else.

  • mudkitty

    You know, it’s veddy interestink that Zeusless uses nine year old intel in her pathetic attempt to justify the war on Iraq. At the time Bush went to war, that intel was nearly 5 years old. Talk about Keystone Kops!

  • taters

    There is no lightning emanating from Peuce on high, only shrill shrieks of idiotic glee as he espouses more bullshit from the droolin’ dead enders. Of course he/she comes with their tired ass mantra – but.. but.. but.. Clinton.
    So who was president and who so cavalierly dismissed those who read the PDF? One meeting on counterterrorism was called by this admin. on Sept. 4th.

    Your lack of style is familiar Peuce, you’re Gannon/Guckert aren’t ya? How do you like the Spartacus sandals?
    As far as Padilla, he was found guilty in a court of law by a jury. Good riddance. Nobody here has ever defended him. So keep grovelling at the throne of your chimperor, he really loves you and he’ll protect you.
    That’s what cheeleaders do.

  • Marty

    Zeus…have you ever heard of Tyrel Drumheller…our European CIA chief. He TOLD condi and Rummi 6 months before the attack that his spy in Saddam’s cabinet told him there WERE NO WMD. Inspector Ritter said the same thing. Rolf Eckeus interviewed Hassan Kamal….Saddam’s son-in-law who told us that HE…HE himself..had destroyed ALL WMD at Saddam’s orders in 1993….I read of this before the war.Aluminum tubes bullcrap, remote controlled planes bullcrap, Curveball bullcrap…told to us by the German secret police before the attack. And NO ONE but our own liars said that saddam had a nuclear program……no yellow cake purchases…forged documents from Italy..all exposed before the attack.

    Only either a complete slug-toady could write the drivel you spew,or you are a paid liar. Either way you totally disgust me. You are pathetic.

  • http://www.liberaltopia.org RS Janes

    Zeus, did you know that Hussein Kamel, a relative of Saddam and his weapons chief, defected in 1993 and told the CIA that Saddam had gotten rid of his WMD — which we sold him, BTW — right after the first Gulf War since he didn’t want to give the US any pretext for attacking him further.

    What you said about Hans Blix also is a pile of horse pucky — before Bush ordered the UN inspectors out of Iraq, Saddam was cooperating fully with Blix’s people. Blix begged for more time to complete the inspection and Bush turned him down.

  • Jess Wonderin

    Zero – you gotta be funnin’ us po’ fok . . . no one can be that full of crap and not be in a serious medical condition with all those toxins backing up . . .

    thought you were leaving??? . . . say what was your MOS???

  • mudkitty

    Zeusless is not well aware of anything. He comes here, driven by sheer utter contempt.

    And yes, the FBI, et. al, is stupid for changing the Wiki entries. We all think that, and as for vitriol, that’s Zeusless’ job.

  • taters

    We’d better hope Bush doesn’t pardon Padilla, he’s already commuted – and rather likely to pardon - a treasonous, criminal SOB that was found guilty in court by a jury of his peers. Certainly any reasonable person would agree that Libby damaged our country and security much worse than Padilla and his cronies did.
    Uh, if convicting a low level person like Padilla is a benchmark of success – then the standard for success in this WH is pretty friggin’ low.
    I can’t imagine the treasure trove of info Padilla coughed up.

    And as far as the bamboozlement of those that voted for the war, in the end 23 senators voted nay. And it was retired star generals Clark, Zinni and Shalikashvili – all decorated combat veterans who testified before the the House and Senate who were cited by some of those who voted nay. (As if any of the regulars here don’t know this stuff.)

    Sen. Paul Wellstone–
    “As General Wes Clark, former Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe has recently noted, a premature go-it-alone invasion of Iraq “would super-charge recruiting for Al Qaida.” http://www.wellstone.org/news/news_detail.aspx?itemID=2778&catID=298

    Sen. Carl Levin
    “General Clark, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, who testified at the same hearing, echoed the views of General Shalikashvili and added “we need to be certain we really are working through the United Nations in an effort to strengthen the institution in this process and not simply checking a block.”
    http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/10.05B.levin.dont.p.htm

    [The Bush administration] “had to create a false rationale for going in to get public support.” Zinni said that “the books were cooked, in my mind. The intelligence (that supported the claims made to support the need for war) was not there.”

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Zinni

    And as my informed fellow NQ readers know, how we got to Iraq is excellently chronicled by Col. W. Patrick Lang’s definitive article on the subject, Col. W Patrick Lang’s Drinking The Kool Aid.

    http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol11/0406_lang.asp

    “I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.”
    - G.W. Bush, 3/13/02
    “I am truly not that concerned about him.”
    - G.W. Bush, repsonding to a question about bin Laden’s whereabouts,
    3/13/02 (The New American, 4/8/02)

    But let’s forget about the troll, he’s just trying the hijack Larry’s thread which in LJ reaffirms what he told us a few days ago.

  • Leslie

    While we’re strolling down quotesville memory lane, here’s an oldie but a goodie:

    At a press briefing February 24, 2001, Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, “We will always try to consult with our friends in the region so that they are not surprised and do everything we can to explain the purpose of our responses. We had a good discussion, the Foreign Minister [Amre Moussa, Egypt] and I and the President and I, had a good discussion about the nature of the sanctions — the fact that the sanctions exist — not for the purpose of hurting the Iraqi people, but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein’s ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction. We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they are directed toward that purpose. That purpose is every bit as important now as it was ten years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq, and these are policies that we are going to keep in place, but we are always willing to review them to make sure that they are being carried out in a way that does not affect the Iraqi people but does affect the Iraqi regime’s ambitions and the ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction, and we had a good conversation on this issue.”

  • Shirin

    Speaking of Jose Padilla, there is an interesting interview with a Psychiatrist who spent some 22 hours with him here http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/16/1416242

    Whether he was actually guilty or not, the treatment he received, and the probably irreversible consequences are simply inexcusable. All humans have certain rights, whether they are good, bad, guilty, or innocent.

  • Shirin

    “the sanctions exist — not for the purpose of hurting the Iraqi people”

    That is a lie. One of the purposes of the sanctions, as explicitly stated in 1990-91 was to inflict harm on the Iraqi people. The idiotic notion was that this would spur the people to act against Saddam Hussein (as if the sanctions did not put the Iraqi people into survival mode, thus disabling them from revolting, and as if Bush’s first urging the people to rise up against Saddam, and subsequently enabling the brutal squashing of the revolt did not teach the Iraqi people that it was useless to try to overthrow the regime).

    “we are always willing to review them to make sure that they are being carried out in a way that does not affect the Iraqi people”

    Another flat lie. That the sanctions had a devastating effect on the Iraqi people and at the same time strengthened Saddam Hussein was obvious even to the likes of Colin Powell.

  • lidia

    Shirin, are you going to expose EVERY lie of Powell? It would be a long long list :(

  • Marty

    Zeussy…..Tyrel Drumheller was the HEAD of the CIA in Europe. He was someone only an ass like you would diminish in importance. Tenet…was a craven coward and a bigger toady than Colin Powell.

    Who besides the US via talk by Condi of mushroom clouds, aluminum tubes that “could only be used for centrifuges”( a huge lie that she knew was a lie, being told that by our own bomb makers), fraudulent Niger documents, Cheney being certain that Saddam had “reconstituted” his nuclear program, who else claimed there was evidence that Saddam was making a nuclear bomb…so we had to act. It was a blatant lie, and I knew it then. Go ahead you collossal idiot….give us a copy and paste quote from another intel agency, or some democratic politician that proves that “everyone believed” what the whig group of war criminals put out as propaganda. And thus we have the treasonous exposure of a CIA spy so as to protect these lies that led to this disaster. Wilson was correct..he told the truth….and Tenet..your hero initiated the criminal investigation that led to the conviction of Scooter.

  • Shirin

    “Tenet…was…a bigger toady than Colin Powell.”

    I would dispute that. The whiner Colin (I was deceiiiiiiiiiiiiived!) Powell was a toady when he participated in the My Lai coverup, and he remained a toady when he KNOWINGLY took his bosses’ pack of lies in front of the world and lent his (completely unearned) good name to that patently ludicrous dog an pony show in front of the UN.

  • http://www.liberaltopia.org RS Janes

    Bush family loyalist Powell, when reading his speech to the UN that was carefully crafted by Cheney’s office, reportedly through the papers up in the air and yelled “Bullshit!” But he gave the speech anyway. I knew a couple of people at that time who didn’t believe Junior or Dick, but they thought Colin Powell had some integrity, and the UN photo-op was the clincher for them.

    Now Powell is desperately trying to reclaim a shred of integrity he once had.

  • Shirin

    “Now Powell is desperately trying to reclaim a shred of integrity he once had.”

    I would put it slightly differently. I would say he is desperately trying to reclaim the ILLUSION of a shred of integrity he once had. I don’t believe he ever actually had integrity, just that he managed to make a lot of people think he did.

    And his indignant cries of “I was deceeeeiiiiiived!” do not ring true – not even remotely.

    • http://www.liberaltopia.org RS Janes

      I stand corrected, Shrin, but many thought he was a man of integrity. I agree; I don’t think he was deceived either, just paying back the Bush family for all they’ve done for his career over the years.

      • Shirin

        Yup! A lot of people did think he had integrity – why, I never understood since even a brief look at his history should have at least made them question.

        For sure he was a careerist – like Tenet, and like Petraeus. “My career uber alles, and if it requires people to die, and entire countries to be destroyed, I can live with that as long as I continue to advance.”

  • Marty

    So where is my little lying Zeussy…answer the question. Who claimed that Saddam was “reconstituting” his nuclear bomb program except the liars of the Bush administration. What….silence??? That is a reason to put them on trial as war criminals for starting an unprovoked war…a crime according to the Nuremburg court.

    Also little liar Zeussy…explain the import of the damning Downing Street Memos.

    • http://www.liberaltopia.org RS Janes

      Marty, I think Toga Party Boy is too busy being “Fair, balanced and unafraid” to answer any questions. Seems this Greek God runs when under fire.

      • Marty

        Zeussy represents the brainwashed and stupid 20% of Americans called the “authoritarians.”.read John Dean’ book Conservatives without Conscience, and he cannot see that he can ever be wrong, or that his dear leaders could ever mislead him. He is a willing colossal dupe,and a scared pathetic loser…so he copies and pastes bullcrap he has seen on other rightwingnut blogs…..because he needs to feel part of the “superior” group who espouse war, torture and power.

        • http://www.liberaltopia.org RS Janes

          Right, and they are becoming increasingly unglued and incoherent in their arguments as their goofy ideas are proven failures.

          Notice how Zeusaphone changes the subject when pressed or gives information that takes up space but is inappropriate or misleading? That’s treading water when you can’t swim anymore

  • Rob

    Don’t blown your connection on the way out…..

  • Jess Wonderin

    dang . . .
    By the way is that the SAME Harris Poll #81, August 15, 2007 that in the report also said:

    “Also, over half (53%) of Liberals say they strongly like learning about U.S. political issues compared to two in five (41%) of Conservatives and just one-third (34%) of Moderates.” hummmm . . . ?

    and:
    “One reason Americans may not be knowledgeable about U.S. political issues is that they do not really like learning about these issues. Four in ten adults say they strongly like learning about political issues in the U.S. compared to just over one-quarter (28%) who like learning about these issues and one-third (32%) who do not like learning about them. Again, men are more likely to say they strongly like learning about these issues than women are (50% versus 30%).” another hummmmm . . . ?

    Gonna miss you Lord . . . but being “you gone”, leaves room for another “knowledgeable” 32%er . . .

  • Centrocitta

    Ha! I saw the handwriting on the wall in 2000 when I left Texas for the European Union (dual citizenship DOES have it’s advantages). At least now, I can dispute a charge with the postal clerk without fearing arrest.

    But if I hadn’t acted in my own best interest seven years ago, I could be in a similar position as a friend of mine from Florida. While visiting her son’s school, she chastised the lunch monitor for grabbing a child’s tray and dumping his food in the trash bin because he was taking too long to eat. Sure enough, the police entered the cafeteria WITH GUNS DRAWN and arrested this caring mother.

    Things have now gone WAY over the line in the USA. Don’t blame the people for being dissatisfied.

  • Leslie

    Lord Randolph,
    What are you lord of?

  • Leslie

    Zeus,
    Your comment contradicts itself. You state that our judicial system works because it just convicted Padilla, and in the next sentence you state that the judicial system is for Moonbats. You probably missed American history 101 in grade school, but our entire nation was built on the Bill of Rights. Our justice system has worked for over 200 years, what reason is there to believe it would stop working in the case of terrorists [or terrorist wannabes] as opposed to any other type of criminal?

  • http://www.liberaltopia.org RS Janes

    Glad you can rejoice at an American citizen who was illegally denied his right to due process for 3 and a half years while he was kept incommunicado in a Navy cell 9′ X 7′ feet, without access to the outside world. It’s also said he was tortured as well, and you may have noticed he was not convicted of the charges that then-AG Ashcroft originally hung on him.

    Perhaps, if Hillary Clinton is elected president and decides to go after the ‘vast right-wing conspiracy’ for hampering her ability to do her job, your own toga-wearing ass will be hauled off Mount Olympus (or is that Mole Hill?) and tossed in jail. Such an experience might give you an appreciation for why we have constitutional rights for all Americans, no matter what crime they’re charged with.

  • http://www.liberaltopia.org RS Janes

    It would be nice if you sourced these quotes — or did you simply make them up?

  • Jess Wonderin

    God Guy – thought you said you were “done” here . . . what a fuck tard – . . . say did you ever tell us what your MOS was???

    You brother Hades called – said your shit is weak, come home . . .

  • Jess Wonderin

    YO MUSHE – you cherry picked the Harris Poll #81, 15 August 2007 . . . or did the Faux News version and read only what you wanted -as noted in the Report only – POST or READ ALL of it -www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/ – especially the part about “. . . over half (53%) of Liberals say they strongly like learning about U.S. political issues compared to two in five (41%) of Conservatives and just one-third (34%) of Moderates. . .”
    Jess blames Zeus for the stupid incident . . .

    . . . hey numbnuts, what WAS your MOS?

  • Leslie

    Zeus probably never read the 6th and 8th Amendments to the Constitution.

  • http://www.liberaltopia.org RS Janes

    Zeus, this wasn’t just a “handful of Iraqis” it was Gen. Hussein Kamel, who was the head of Saddam’s nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programs for 10 years and his son-in-law. BTW, Newsweek had an article by John Barry on Kamel in the March 3, 2003 edition entitled “The Defector’s Secrets.” (Incidentally, I had the date of his defection wrong in my post above. He defected in 1995, not 1993.)

    Glad you mentioned Scott Ritter — he turned out to be amazingly prescient regarding Saddam’s WMD and the course the war has taken. A smart president, realizing Ritter had been right all along, would bring him into the White House for advice instead of continuing to ignore him.

    If the CIA had full confidence in the intelligence Bush was using to support the case for his invasion, why did he have to quote British intel in his 2003 SOTU? You might also answer why the Bushies ignored both George Tenet and his own counter-terorism chief, Richard Clarke, when they were trying to warn him pre-9/11 of terrorist attacks. That, and the CIA PDB “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” that the vacationing Bush accepted with the strange comment, “Okay, you’ve covered your ass now.”

    “Decisions about war and peace cannot be based on the views of a single individual, nor can the views of a few retrospectively render a decision inappropriate.”

    The decision to invade Iraq was made by the Project for a New American Century before Bush ever took office. A letter from PNAC was sent to Bill Clinton in 1998 urging him to invade and remove Saddam from power. Among the signators to the letter were Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, James Woolsey, Elliott Abrams, Richard Armitage, John Bolton, Zalmay Khalilzad and Bill Kristol.

    The plan to invade Iraq was in the works, and it had nothing to do with terrorism, Al-Qaeda or 9/11. It was intended to create an American imperial presence in the Middle East, similar to the one the British Empire enjoyed in the 1920s. The purpose was to secure the oil reserves and make money for GOP campaign contributors, such as Halliburton and Blackwater.

    So stop trying to kid people that there was any other goal to this needless war than to enhance the profits of the Bush family, Dick Cheney, and their wealthy cronies.