"The Neoconservative Style"

The full World Bank Report about Paul Wolfowitz' self-dealing, unethical, and grossly deceptive conduct as president of the World Bank has been released. You can read the full report here.

The NYT's rather more pallid coverage is here. More enlightening is Prof. Juan Cole, who connects all the dots in Salon:

The small morality play unfolding at the World Bank tells us something significant about how the United States became bogged down in the Iraq quagmire when Wolfowitz was highly influential at the Department of Defense. The simple fact is that Wolfowitz has throughout his entire career demonstrated a penchant for cronyism and for smearing and marginalizing perceived rivals as tactics for getting his way. He has been arrogant and highhanded in dismissing the views of wiser and more informed experts, exhibiting a narcissism that is also apparent in his personal life. Indeed, these tactics are typical of what might be called the "neoconservative style."
* * *
Wolfowitz's record of favoritism, ideological blinders, massive blunders and petty vindictiveness has inflicted profound harm on two of the world's great bureaucracies, the U.S. Department of Defense and now the World Bank. He has left both with thousands of demoralized employees and imposed on both irrational policies that pandered to the far right of the Republican Party. He has, in addition, played a central role in destabilizing the Middle East and in leaving one of its major countries in ruins.

Many of his Himalayan-size errors were enabled by his careful placing of close friends and allies in key and lucrative positions. In the end, his career suffered remarkably little from his substantive policy mistakes. But once he moved beyond the forgiving world of high Republican Party politics, his dependence on cronyism finally caught up with him. That he ran into such trouble at the World Bank for behaving in ways that apparently were business as usual for him at the Department of Defense only underlines how corrupt the Bush administration really is.

The Disappeared

HT to Scott Horton:

You were wondering perhaps, how do you completely alienate and infuriate a population under military occupation? Well, this is how.

McClatchy News Service:

Riyadh Juma Saleh, her husband of nearly 15 years, went missing one day nearly three years ago and Kareem has no idea what became of him.

Over the past four years, as sectarian kidnappings and killings have gripped Iraq and U.S. forces have arrested untold numbers in an effort to pacify the country, tens of thousands of Iraqis have vanished, often in circumstances as baffling as that of Kereem's husband, a Shiite Muslim father of three.

There's no accurate count of the missing since the war began. Iraqi human rights groups put the figure at 15,000 or more, while government officials say 40 to 60 people disappeared each day throughout the country for much of last year, a rate equal to at least 14,600 in one year.

What happened to them is a frustrating mystery that compounds Iraq's overwhelming sense of chaos and anarchy. Are they dead? Were they kidnapped or killed in some mass bombing? Is the Iraqi government or some militia group holding them? Were they taken prisoner by the United States, which is holding 19,000 Iraqis at its two main detention centers, at Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca?

Scott Horton, again:

“They may not be enemies when they enter these prisons,” one Army officer told me, “but you can count on it that they are insurgent sympathizers by the time they leave.”

Homemade Mother's Day

According to Hallmark, 96% of American consumers take part in shopping on Mother's Day. Retailers report it as the "second highest gift giving day of the year behind Christmas."

Deplorable commercialization. But do you want a homemade Mother's Day instead?

(CLICK CHART TO READ)

Heart Stopping Music

M & C:

[A]ccording to a study carried out by Jay Thaker, a 17-year-old high school student, which was presented to a selection of heart specialists yesterday, close proximity to an iPod can trigger monitoring malfunctions in cardiac pacemakers due to electromagnetic interference.

Thaker, lead author on the heart-related study and a student at Okemos High School in Okemos, Michigan, revealed that iPod units positioned a mere 2 inches from the chests of patients fitted with a pacemaker caused electrical interference in 50 percent of them. Even when located around 18 inches from a patient's chest electrical interference was registered as disrupting the pacemaker's telemetry equipment, leading the implanted device to misinterpret the pace of the heart. In one test the pacemaker ceased to function completely.

Which Mitt Romney?

"Eye on '08" has a memory. That makes it tough on candidates who don't, like serial liar Mitt Romney:

In the recent Time Magazine story on Mitt Romney:

The closest he has ever come to a personal religious crisis, he recalls, was when he was in college and considering whether to go off on a mission, as his grandfather, father and brother had done. Mitt was deeply in love with Ann, his high school sweetheart and future wife, and couldn’t bear to spend more than two years away from her. He says he also felt guilty about the draft deferment he would get for it, when other young men his age were heading for Vietnam.

Of course and as usual, that’s not what he used to say. Ryan Sager dug up a Boston Herald story from 1994:

Romney, however, acknowledged he did not have any desire to serve in the military during his college and missionary days, especially after he married and became a father. ‘I was not planning on signing up for the military,’ he said. ‘It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam, but nor did I take any actions to remove myself from the pool of young men who were eligible for the draft. If drafted, I would have been happy to serve, and if I didn’t get drafted I was happy to be with my wife and new child.

A spiritual crisis about something he didn’t care about. That’s not plausible. It is not serious. And it is further proof that Romney isn’t either.

Broderism Unclothed

A riveting Internet debate has been going on over the past several days between attorney /blogger /Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald and Joe ("Anonymous") Klein of Time Magazine. At the core of the debate, as we see it, are these two questions:

Is David Broder, the so-called "dean" of American political commentators, a ridiculous doofus? And, if so, What does that say about all of his beltway buddies who profess to hang on Broder's every word?

The debate is not to be missed. Pungent prose, to be sure, but also a compelling examination of whether the popular press is failing America.

The debate began with Greenwald's article, "All You Need to Know About the Beltway Journalist Mind." Long-time political commentator Klein replied. Now, Greenwald has replied to the reply. At every turn, Glenn Greenwald seems to have gotten the best of Klein.

This morning, though, things escalated when Greenwald accepted Klein's challenge to name something "defective" about Broder's work. We hesitate to spoil the ending; then again, this isn't likely to end for a while.

Not after this:

[T]o the extent that Klein is interested in Broder's defective "reporting," he should begin here. That is where Broder, after listening to what he thought was some clever phrasing by George Bush in a couple answers about Iraq which Bush gave at a February press conference, announced: "President Bush is poised for a political comeback."

Broder seems to have absolutely no idea that the country has turned against George Bush and his war to a historic and irreversible degree, and no cute and clever Rove-designed platitudes at a Press Conference will change that. Anyone remotely in touch with the political sentiments of "Americans" would know that.

Klein should also look here, where some of Broder's most out-of-touch and obtuse observations are collected -- including:

* Broder's 2005 canonization of Bush ("the quest for freedom . . . is a central purpose of his administration");

* his November, 2004 criticisms of Bush critics for what he said were misguided concerns that the Bush presidency was radical ("he will have to work within the system for whatever he gets. Checks and balances are still there");

* his November 1, 2004 proclamation that the country likes Bush personally far more than Gore and Kerry and that "the country is truly conservative";

* his April, 2003 decree that "there is little the Democrats can do to shatter the reputation for strong leadership Bush has built, and not much their presidential candidates can do to win equal reputations for themselves";

* his May 2003 confession that "I like Karl Rove" followed by a very moving reminiscence of the quality time he was able to spend with Rove in Austria when (just like the ordinary people): "Tom Mann of the Brookings Institution and I were assembling a cast of American politicians to address a group of 40 emerging political leaders from Western Europe, the former Soviet bloc, Asia and Africa, I suggested we invite Karl Rove to be one of the instructors";

* his October 2002 "report" where he explained how Don Rumsfeld personally invited him to the Pentagon to explain how Iraq is such a grave threat, and at the meeting, Rumsfeld "pulled out a pencil and drew me a simple chart -- a downward sloping line tracing the erosion of Iraq's conventional military strength in the decade since the Gulf War, and an upward sloping line showing its growing store of WMD - weapons of mass destruction." Based on Rumsfeld's crude and condescending scribblings, an obviously flattered Broder pronounced: "Rumsfeld left me with the impression that he is aware of the risks of war with Iraq, but confident they can be handled." And finally:

* his October 2002 attack against protestors trying to stop the Iraq War with meetings in Iraq: "It was all too reminiscent of Jane Fonda in Hanoi or antiwar protesters marching under Viet Cong flags."

In sum, Broder has propped up one of the most unpopular and corrupt presidencies in history, all after he spent years waxing hysteric over a deeply popular President and a sex scandal that Americans by and large thought was petty and inconsequential. Time and again, David Broder is on the wrong side of every critical political issue. His judgment proves again and again to be worthless and misguided. And his opinions could not be any more detached from the "ordinary Americans" he thinks he represents.

One can fairly conclude that George W. Bush, like Castiglione's Prince, could consider Broder "worthye to have him in his servyce." He makes a lovely courtier.

One Third of a Friedman Unit

New York Times:

The difference between mainstream hawks and mainstream doves on Iraq seems to have boiled down to two months, with House Democrats now demanding visible progress by July while moderate Republicans are willing to give White House policies until September, but no longer, to show results.

Two months = one-third of a Friedman Unit.

Brother, Can You Spare a Humvee?

Is anyone in the White House really listening to the "generals on the ground," as The Leader urges?

Last month, almost no one paid any attention when U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) decried what Bush's Iraq war has done to rob readiness from our Florida National Guard, as revealed in this GAO report. This month, the state of Kansas was the first to feel the effect when a tornado devastated Greensburg, Kansas:

Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the state’s adjutant general, said the Kansas National Guard’s equipment had been reduced about one-third from prewar levels, which were already low.

Bunting said that the Guard had the resources to handle the Greensburg cleanup but that the initial response was slowed somewhat by equipment shortages. He added that those resources were being stretched to the limit in Greensburg.

Over the weekend, he said, Kansas officials had real concerns about the potential for more tornadoes and major flooding elsewhere.

“The reality is, we should be able to do two or three (disasters) at the same time,” Bunting said. “Now we can do one and maybe one more small one. It just leaves you pretty tight.”

What do you suppose was the response of the Bush White House? Attack the messenger.

It's a good thing sub-tropical Andrea seems unlikely to test the readiness of the Florida National Guard. The "Commander Guy" has made sure we'll flunk.

Andrea: First Named Storm of the Season

This is not a good sign. The first named storm of the year, Andrea, already has formed off the East coast. That's nearly a month before the official June 1 start of the Tropical Storm Season.

Reports the National Hurricane Center:

POORLY-ORGANIZED SUBTROPICAL STORM MEANDERING OFF THE SOUTHEAST
U.S. COAST...

A TROPICAL STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT ALONG THE SOUTHEAST COAST
OF THE UNITED STATES FROM ALTAMAHA SOUND GEORGIA SOUTHWARD TO
FLAGLER BEACH FLORIDA.  A TROPICAL STORM WATCH MEANS THAT TROPICAL
STORM CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA...GENERALLY
WITHIN THE NEXT 36 HOURS.

In the discussion portion of the mid-day forecast NHC says:

ANDREA WILL PROBABLY CONTINUE TO MOVE SLOWLY...BUT IN THE GENERAL DIRECTION OF THE
NORTHEAST FLORIDA COAST. 

Once upon a time, we knew an Andrea. She was "disorganized," too. Although she wasn't "extra-tropical," a number of her friends suspected her of being extra-terrestrial. She usually moved "slowly," too, but nevertheless was effective at creating trepidation ahead of her and hardship in her wake.

We don't even want to think about the Olga we used to know.

General Calls Down Bush Bull

HT to Digby:


As Digby says:

The situation is now so godawful, so completely coo-coo, and so totally out of control that future historians will shake their heads in amazement trying to figure out why, by the spring of '07, the US politicians and the public haven't demanded the immediate removal of the Bush administration from office and their incarceration in the Hague to stand trial.

We live in very strange times.

They Aren't Dying in Vain

They're dying for the oil.

Just as we said before.

Brits Bash Bush's Blunders

He's done it again.

Riverbend: Leaving Baghdad

Baghdad Burning is a blog from Iraq that's been with us since before Bush started his war of choice. Its anonymous author, almost certainly a woman, has even won several prestigious awards and two book contracts.

After a few choice words about the Wall --

The Wall is the latest effort to further break Iraqi society apart.
* * *
It's time for America to physically divide and conquer- like Berlin before the wall came down or Palestine today. This way, they can continue chasing Sunnis out of "Shia areas" and Shia out of "Sunni areas".
* * *
I remember Baghdad before the war- one could live anywhere. We didn't know what our neighbors were- we didn't care. No one asked about religion or sect. No one bothered with what was considered a trivial topic: are you Sunni or Shia? You only asked something like that if you were uncouth and backward. Our lives revolve around it now. Our existence depends on hiding it or highlighting it- depending on the group of masked men who stop you or raid your home in the middle of the night.

-- now, Riverbend says it's time for her and her family to leave Iraq:

On a personal note, we've finally decided to leave. I guess I've known we would be leaving for a while now. We discussed it as a family dozens of times. At first, someone would suggest it tentatively because, it was just a preposterous idea- leaving ones home and extended family- leaving ones country- and to what? To where?

Read more about the terrible choices confronting her. What to take? What to leave? How to exit? Where to go? Will they ever return?

It's difficult to decide which is more frightening- car bombs and militias, or having to leave everything you know and love, to some unspecified place for a future where nothing is certain.

You can also hear a short piece about the story on Public Radio International's The World.

Who's Right About This?

George Tenet, former CIA director, has written a book. Some say that it's a "tell all" book. Others say it's only a "tell some" book.

Everyone, however, seems to agree that Tenet now agrees that evading Iraq was a terrible mistake. But here's another question: Was it his responsibility to say so 'way back when he finally tumbled to what an idiotic move it was? Or is it fair game to wait until he resigns and lands a $7 million book deal?

Here's Tenet himself:

You know, history will make a judgment. I'm not one at the front end who said, "Don't do this." It wasn't my job to say this.

And here's an alternate view, as expressed by long time Washington D.C. reporter David Corn:

Don't the citizens of the United States deserve to know what happened in the run-up to the war (and to 9/11) for free? Tenet may feel--as he claims--damn lousy about the screwed-up National Intelligence Estimate that helped pave the way to war in Iraq. But he did not feel bad enough to resign--or to disclose earlier what had gone wrong. He sat on the story and now is peddling it for personal profit.

What do you think?

WHEN SHOULD A CIA DIRECTOR TELL THE TRUTH TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?

Never.Only if the prez says it's OK.After he's inked a lucrative book deal.When billions of dollars are at risk of being wasted.When more terrorists are likely to be created.When American lives are at risk of being wasted.Whenever he's under oath.Always. After all, this is a democracy, right?Other (leave a comment, please)

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Wolfowitz' Quid Pro Quo

World Bank hypocrite Paul Wolfowitz is 'hinting" he would discuss whether to resign as bank president if the board cleared him of misconduct," according to the New York Times.

Ain't that sweet? He wants a good Letter of Recommendation.