Richardson: I Will Stop Death!

Bill Richardson needs his hearing tested.

Saint John Edwards finished a coherent statement about ending the war in Iraq, outlining an immediate pull out of 40-50K troops and withdrawal of the rest with in 9-10 months. Richardson then responds, "John, you can't end the war without taking the troops out. As president, I will remove the troops within a year." Um, someone clearly wasn't paying attention!

Richardson continues on, noting that he flies his flag at half-mast each time he hears about a death. He adds, "I will stop that."

Yes, you heard it here first. Bill Richardson will stop death. Fear not the Grim Reaper coming for you, beloved reader. Richardson will ensure that you live forever.

Please Step Aside, Pervez

I'm watching the Dem Debate right now--after a horrible, crushing Redskins loss--and I'm struck by Bill Richardson's optimism.

Charlie Gibson asks what Richardson would do if there were credible evidence of Pakistani awfulness.

Richardson replies, "I would ask Musharraf to step aside."

Um, yeah, that'll work.

RIP Benzair Bhutto

Rather than provide any sort of comment, I offer portions of an article from the Washington Post, located here. Do with it what you will.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for Bhutto's killing, Western leaders immediately pointed to the Islamic extremist groups operating with increasing intensity in Pakistan, including those with links to al-Qaeda.

Yelling "Musharraf is a dog," they blamed him for Bhutto's death.

Bush, whose administration played a key role in arranging Bhutto's return to the country Oct. 18, spoke by telephone with Musharraf hours after her death.

In the narrow corridor outside the operating room, supporters cried out: "Long live Bhutto!" and "Musharraf is a murderer!"

"This is the height of brutality. They have hanged her father. They have killed her brothers. The government has killed all the good people of Pakistan," said Sarfraz Khan. "Please pray for us. Pray for our poor country."

Turkey Attacks Iraq, Lil' Condi Does Standup

You may have heard about Turkey's attack on northern Iraq. Say it with me, kids: Kurds!

I heard this news on the Ed Schultz show on Air America yesterday, and it featured Condoleeza Rice stating that the U.S. is very concerned about loss of innocent civilian lives. What, is she vying for a spot on Whose Line is it Anyway? I didn't realize that the Bush Administration cares about innocent civilian lives. In fact, I'm still not convinced they do.

The Detroit Free Press offers this story, in which Iraqis allege that there is no way Turkey would have attacked Iraq without U.S. sanction. Compelling argument. Kind of like the way the Japanese wouldn't have bombed Pearl Harbor if we hadn't left the boats out for them to bomb. That was a DBQ subject on my AP US History exam back in the day. I read some of those documents. I totally believe Roosevelt was looking for a way to get us into WWII. Just like 9/11.... hmm... but I digress.

No Laws for Halliburton: The Pitfalls of Privatizing Everything

First Blackwater and now this.

I hope you've seen an absolutely shocking allegation from Jamie Leigh Jones, a Texas woman who was gang raped while working in Iraq for Halliburton.

To make her brutal humiliation even worse, when Jones wanted to seek medical help, she was locked in a shipping crate without food and water for over a day. All courtesy of Halliburton.

Jones managed to convince a kind(?) guard to let her use a cell phone, and Jones called her father who, in turn, called the State Department. The State Department sent an envoy from the U.S. embassy in Iraq to extricate Jones from the situation.

Look at these lawless corporations running Iraq. Shooting civilians and raping women. Way to rebuild a country, good sir.

Perhaps Americans don't really think about the Iraqi women who routinely are victims of the same brutality that Jones experienced. But maybe the fact that one of their own has received such abhorrent treatment will galvanize individuals against the free reign given to these corporations by the Bush administration. While I in no way want to minimize the horrors that Jones endured, I can't help but suggest that her experience is a perfect (and terrifying) metaphor of what Bush, Cheney, and their corporate cronies have done to America, Iraq, and the rest of the world.

Saudi, Saudi, Saudi, I Can Let You Go...

This morning, The Washington Post reports that while Gitmo endures, the United States and Saudi Arabia have worked up an extra special plan to "reintegrate" Saudi detainees back into society. Sounds like a little "special buddies" action, no?

According to the Post:

The Defense Department considered more than 90 percent of the transferred detainees to be terrorist threats to the United States and its allies, but sent them home as part of an agreement that Saudi Arabia would mitigate the threat, according to Cmdr. J.D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.

Does this sound fishy to you? "We consider them a threat, but Saudi Arabia will make it aaaaall better." Hmm. Since Saudi Arabia is so adept at prisoner reform, let's just ship our convicts there and watch them rise like phoenixes from the ashes of the U.S. penal system.

From the Saudi perspective:

The Saudi government contends that the reintegration program helps break the terrorist mind-set by linking former detainees with their families, their communities and a stable lifestyle. "No one who has gone through the program, completed it, and been released has presented a threat," said Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

So we're assuming that everyone who was locked in Guantanamo actually was a terrorist? That's news to me.

But, in just six short weeks, your jihadist impulses will be gone:

After a reunion of nearly a week with their families, the former detainees begin a six-week program to "correct their ideas" about jihad and non-Muslims, a government effort to woo them away from al-Qaeda's radical theology in one-on-one discussions with religious scholars, Saudi officials said.

And you'll be living in the lap of luxury, kind of like Britney Spears in rehab:

After completing the course, former detainees begin the second phase at a halfway house, replete with a pool, volleyball courts, video games and table tennis. "It's like outpatient treatment. It's like a camp or resort," said a senior Saudi official familiar with the program, who agreed to be interviewed only if he was not identified.... They receive vocational training, religious classes and counseling to deal with depression or to help them adjust psychologically after lengthy captivities. They can spend an occasional night with their families; during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, they spend a week with relatives.

If you gave me a Wii, I might stop being a terrorist too.

Now, of course, I have no problems with the idea of releasing people from Gitmo. Their incarceration and treatment is nothing short of abysmal. Locking people away in Guantanamo is a pretty naive way for the U.S. to avoid taking responsibility for its own behavior and an evil, calculated way to galvanize public support for a failing war and an economy that is on an express train to recession.

What does bother me, however, is that this repatriation program is just another example of the buddy-buddiness with Saudi Arabia that is so characteristic of a Bush. (Not to mention: Saudi clearly is hamstringing the U.S. because of our oil habit, forcing Bush to leave troops in Iraq.)

In fact, the Post article notes:

U.S. and Saudi officials doubt, however, that the program could be adapted to Yemen, Somalia and other countries that lack appropriate resources or strong central governments.

Ah yes, the old "appropriate resources" and "central governments" debate. Why don't they just say it: "We're pissed off at Yemen, because that's where Osama's from" and "Somalia is filled with Africans so we can't trust them." That's *really* how Bush feels. Why pretend that Saudi Arabia is a happy paradise, an island floating in an ocean of Islamic fundamentalism. And how many of those 9/11 hijackers were Saudi? Exactly. Pot meet kettle meet pot.

Why not just say, "Saudi Arabia has colonized us, courtesy of the Bush family, through our dependence on their oil. That's why we're giving them their citizens back." Or "Al-Saud promised ponies for the president and every member of his administration."

At the very least, the pony bribe makes sense. The narratives of Saudi exceptionalism don't.