Struck dumb

Mikaela says:
Today's headlines absolutely floor me. I'm so blown away, the only comment I can offer is !#%^*&:

VP Cheney "Offended" By Comparison of Guantanamo to a "gulag"
Vice President Dick Cheney told CNN that he was "offended" by Amnesty's description of Guantanamo Bay as "the gulag of our times". Cheney said "For Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly just don't take them seriously." Cheney also attempted to dismiss the widespread reports of mistreatment of detainees. He said "Occasionally there are allegations of mistreatment. But if you trace those back -- in nearly every case -- it turns out to come from somebody who had been inside and been released to their home country and now are peddling lies about how they were treated." Condoleezza Rice also weighed in on Amnesty's report - describing the group's findings as ''absurd."

[He's offended by a report that shows American mistreatment of 68,000 prisoners held since 9-11? I'm offended at the treatment. Classic manipulation and misdirection. Unbelieveable.]

CIA Creates Front Groups to Fly Suspects Around the World
The New York Times is reporting today that the CIA has created a new generation of shell companies to make it easier for the Bush administration to secretly fly suspects around the world. . . .The CIA appears to own 26 planes all of which are owned by a web of seven shell corporations that appear to have no employees. The planes are then operated by real companies that are either controlled by or tied to the CIA.

[We'll transport whoever we want however we want, covering our tracks with classic accounting fraud, while at the same time, we refuse to hand over known terrorists in our control to countries we don't happen to like. That's freedom American-style.]

Report: U.S. & UK Increased Bombing Raids Over Iraq in 2002
The Sunday Times of London is reporting that it has uncovered new evidence that the U.S. and British governments significantly intensified bombing raids over Iraq in the year before the 2003 invasion in an attempt to provoke Saddam Hussin into giving the allies an excuse to attack. By August 2002 - seven months before the invasion began -- the strikes were so frequent that the Times described it as a full air offensive. At the time, the U.S. and British governments justified the bombings by claiming they were simply enforcing the no-fly zones.

[This report comes on the heals of the Downing Street memo. See our post below from May 10...What will Bush & Co. say about this? Hmmm, let me guess: nothing. How will they get away with it? Most likely because our media won't pick this one up, either. See today's Sirota post for more.]

Three-Star General Demoted For Warning of Overstretched Military
A group of 40 retired military personnel - including many retired generals - are campaigning for the Pentagon to reverse last year's demotion of General John Riggs. The three-star general was demoted after he warned that the U.S. military was overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan. In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, he said that the Army would need to be substantially increased in order to meet its global commitments. This made him the first senior active-duty officer to publicly urge for a larger Army. Within months he was demoted. According to the Pentagon, he was demoted because he allowed outside contractors to perform work they were not supposed to do. But many believe the motivation behind his demotion was politics and the fact that he publicly disagreed with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The Baltimore Sun points out that a senior officer's loss of a star is a punishment seldom used, and then usually only for the most serious offenses. In recent years generals and admirals faced with far more serious official findings including the scandals at the Navy's Tailhook Convention, the Air Force Academy and Abu Ghraib prison have continued in their careers or retired with no loss of rank.
[More on this outrage from truthout.org]

Army Analysts Receive Awards Despite Errors in Iraq Analysis
Meanwhile the Washington Post is reporting two Army analysts who played a key role in the intelligence failure on Iraq have received job performance awards in each of the past three years. The analysts had inaccurately concluded that Saddam Hussein was seeking to buy aluminum tubes in order to bolster the country's alleged nuclear weapons program. The tubes turned out to be for ordinary rockets. But the Bush administration used the nuclear claim as a justification of war. No major reprimand or penalty has been announced publicly in connection with the intelligence failures on Iraq. George Tenet resigned as CIA director but was later awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Bush.

[Ditto the Cheney playbook above. How many times will this little ploy work?]

U.S. Refuses To Extradie Luis Posada Carriles
The United States has officially refused to extradite a Cuban man to Venezuela to face terrorism charges. The man -- Luis Posada Carriles -- is wanted to stand trial for the 1976 bombing of a commercial airliner that killed 73 people. Posada is a U.S.-trained Cuban exile who has been trying to violently overthrow Fidel Castro's government for the past 40 years. He snuck into the United States two months ago and is seeking political asylum. The Cuban and Venezuelan government have accused the Bush administration of harboring a terrorist.
[I don't even know what to say about this one. I'll leave it for Marjorie. This brings to mind one of m-pyre's most prolific commentors, who asked me why I seem to hate America so much. This would be one reason. Our hypocrisy. Plain and simple.]

Wages Fall But Number of Millionaire Homes Soars
New studies show that the number of households in the country with a net worth of one million dollars rose by about 20 percent last year. There are now 7.5 million so-called millionaire households in the country. Meanwhile the Economic Policy Institute is reporting that real wages for non-management employees are falling at their fastest rate in 14 years. The last time salaries fell this steeply was at the start of 1991.

[Woo-hoo. Let's throw a party. Ooops. Wait a minute. Party's not for us. And our house isn't big enough. And we pay taxes on it. Yep, that takes us out of the running for THIS celebration. Maybe next millenium.]