Trina e-mails asking that we highlight Scott Ritter's "Semper Fraud" (which he discussed with Randi Rhodes on her show Wednesday). From the article:
Such questions were fraught with political implications, and when raised within months of a national election for the presidency, both Senator Roberts and Senator Rockefeller decided that any investigation into how the Bush administration used this flawed intelligence – the so-called "Phase Two" of the Select Intelligence Committee's report – would wait until after the election was done. The need for "Phase Two" was underscored by the recent release of the Presidential Commission on Intelligence and WMD, which found that the U.S. intelligence community was "dead wrong" on Iraq. However, the chairman of that Commission noted that it wasn't in his mandate to investigate how the bad intelligence was used by policymakers. This is not surprising, given the fact that it was President Bush himself who set that mandate. But the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, charged with conducting appropriate oversight as a separate but equal branch of government, has no such limitations. In fact, to not go forward with the "Phase Two" investigation would represent a gross dereliction of duty on the part of those senators so charged.
But avoidance of responsibility to the American people, and to the American military – Marines included – seems to be what Senator Roberts is all about lately. On April 10, in an appearance on NBC News' Meet the Press, Roberts was as slippery as he was disingenuous when dealing with the issue of investigating how policymakers made use of the bad intelligence on Iraqi WMD. "I'm more than happy to finish this, and I want to finish it, but we have other things that we need to do," he said when asked about the "Phase Two" report. "I don't know what that accomplishes over the long term. I'm perfectly willing to do it, and that's what we agreed to do, and that door is still open … so we will get it done, but it seems to me that we ought to put it in some priority of order, and after we do get it done I think everybody's going to scratch their head and say, 'OK, well, that's fine. You know, let's go to the real issue.'"
The real issue is the over-1,550 American military personnel who have lost their lives based upon the decision to invade Iraq. The more than 11,000 wounded Americans. Tens of thousands of dead Iraqis. Every one of these tragic casualties represents a reason to ask the hard questions, and demand honest and complete answers. The men and women who are fighting in Iraq are doing so because they took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. As the chairman of the Senate Committee responsible for the oversight of one of the largest failures of intelligence in American history, Senator Roberts is walking point for everyone who has been touched by this war, combatant and noncombatant alike.
Rachel Maddow's radio show debuted this morning on Air America. It was a strong first hour and Kent Jones came on near the end to provide many laughs. If Air America wants to get behind this show, the smart thing to do is to repeat it directly after The Mike Malloy Show.
Those who want to listen via radio (or who have no choice in the matter) but can't catch the show at such an early hour (five a.m. to six a.m. eastern time) might be able to catch the hour long show at night. If you missed The Rachel Maddow Show, remember that Air America Place is archiving episodes.
I'm sure Maddow was nervous on the first day of her solo show but she didn't show it. It was a strong show that was focused and didn't meander this way and that. If you were a fan of Unfiltered, I'd recommend that you check it out. (It's not Unfiltered. You can't have Unfiltered with just one person. Rachel Maddow, Lizz Winstead and Chuck D made Unfiltered what it was.
Guests such as Mike Papantonio helped out as well. But The Rachel Maddow Show is a strong show and if you were an Unfiltered fan, I think you'll enjoy it. Maddow's doing her own thing here and she's off to an incredible start.)
E-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
