Saturday, September 09, 2006

Tom Hayden on RadionNation with Laura Flanders today

Kat here and first off, C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Friday can be seen easily by clicking here. There are a lot of entries here today. That's going to disappear when this goes up so I thought I'd note it.

Let's also note the fact that the Senate Intelligence Committee report proclaims no link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, despite Bully Boy and others serving under him claiming otherwise for years. (Most recently on August 21st, from the mouth of the Bully Boy himself.)
(Or was it from his ass?) There is no connection, there was no connection. A "blot" is the least of Collie Powell's worries. If you missed that 'performance' in real time, read Ava & C.I.'s commentary on it "TV Review: Barbara and Colin remake The Way We Were" (The Third Estate Sunday Review) and, from the Washington Post, let's note Jonathan Weisman's "Iraq's Alleged Al-Qaeda Ties Were Disputed Before War:"

But Republican attempts to paint the findings as a partisan rehash were undercut by intelligence committee members from the GOP. The committee report's conclusions are based on the Democrats' findings because two Republicans -- Sens. Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.) -- supported those findings.
"After reviewing thousands of pages of evidence, I voted for the conclusions that most closely reflect the facts in the report," Snowe said in a written statement. "Policy-makers seemingly discounted or dismissed warnings about the veracity of critical intelligence reports that may have served as a basis for going to war."
Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) was emphatic this week that Iraqi exiles did not fundamentally shape the critical assessment of the Iraqi threat in the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate.
But, as Snowe emphasized in her statement, the report concluded that information provided by an INC source was cited in that estimate and in Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's February 2003 speech to the United Nations as corroborating evidence about Iraq's mobile biological weapons program. Those citations came despite two April 2002 CIA assessments, a May 2002 Defense Intelligence Agency fabrication notice and a July 2002 National Intelligence Council warning -- all saying the INC source may have been coached by the exile group into fabricating the information.



RadioNation with Laura Flanders? Laura's got enough in this weekend to last the month. Listen so you'll be able to say more than "Huh?" when everyone's talking about the show on Monday. (But if you miss it, an archived broadcast, that's a best of both Saturday and Sunday's shows, will go up mid-week here.) RadioNation with Laura Flanders airs from seven to ten p.m. EST Saturday and Sunday online and over Air America Radio stations in traditional broadcast and XM satellite radio for those with satellite radio:

What have Americans learned on the 5th anniversary of 9/11? That the White House always has tricks up its sleeve. We'll talk to former Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg on Bush's war against the Geneva convention.
Anti-war campaigner Tom Hayden on how we're going to get out of Iraq. Nation Institute muckraker Jeremy Scahill is exposing the criminals privatizing our military.And there's more than one Ned Lamont ! We'll talk to progressives with primary races September 12th including New York's Jonathan Tasini and Maryland's Donna Edwards. Plus our roundtable: has the media learned anything these past five years? It's all on RadioNation with Laura Flanders this weekend on Air America Radio.

Tom Hayden is on today's show. Juan Gonzalez will be on tomorrow night's show. Again, Monday, if you hang in the informed circles, people will be talking about the show. Be prepared to offer more than, "Yeah." Listen.

Something else you shouldn't miss is Ava and C.I.'s TV commentary at The Third Estate Sunday Review tomorrow. It's not on Iraq but it should be hilarious (they were trading one-liners on it again this morning -- it's always nice to see a Repube get what's coming to them and that's all I'll say other than "Read it!").

Power to Peaceful Festival is today! If you're in the San Fancisco area (it's at Golden Gate Park) and are a fan of good music you should be there (free to the public, but they won't turn down donations). Andrea Lewis interviewed Michael Franti about this yesterday on KPFA's The Morning Show so you can check that out (either for reasons to go or because you don't live in the area) and you can also pick up Michael Franti & Spearhead's Yell Fire! [which I reviewed in
"Kat's Korner: Michael Franti & Spearhead Yell Music! (Are you listening?)"]. Power to Peaceful Festival has already started but events last all day (five o'clock in the evening is when it's supposed to start winding down).