The Iraq plan revealed

So, we're in the fifth year of a war that we started. A war that the Administration proclaimed certainly would not last six months. A war that we were falsely led to believe was tied to the 9/11 attacks. A war that was justified because of proof that later proved to be a sack of lies. A war that has had its justification changed several times as each rationale was either achieved or dispelled. A war that is preventing our military from focusing on terrorist networks that are planning additional attacks on the US. A war that the warhawks are starting to admit was designed to bog us down for decades.

Well, at least the Bush Administration has finally stated what we all knew was their long-term plan for Iraq:


Now, do you really want to get sick? Watch these young adults swallow, hook line and sinker, the shallow neocon talking points. Then they spit out excuses why they shouldn't be the ones to do the dirty work:
Max Blumenthal's documentary. For God's sake - can they even understand that Al Qaeda is the enemy, not Americans that don't subscribe to their extremist views?

The Queen in the Colonies

Back in May, Queen Elizabeth of England visited the US. I don't have anything to say about it, as I don't much care. But it did make for a good cartoon:

What was that executive order?

Dubya recently proclaimed a new law, and here's the official order. But what does it mean?

On the surface, it means that if the President decides that someone is "undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people", then they can have all of their stuff taken away. So, in the bad-guy case, if someone tries to kill Iraqi politicians or blow up Iraqi government buildings, the Executive Branch of the US Government can legally seize all of their property.


But, this does not just apply to actions taken in Iraq. If a US citizen runs for the office of President, and part of their platform is to redeploy the troops so they're not in the middle of a civil war, that person can have all of their belongings and campaign funding taken away - at the whim of the current President. That last point is an important part of this equation. There does not have to be any evidence of wrongdoing, any public statement of what happened, or any legal proceedings - this can all be done on a whim with no oversight, and no knowledge of the public.


It also makes it completely legal for the Executive branch to seize your house, car, furniture, and everything you own - if you were to put up a lawn sign saying "no war in my name". Or if you were to push out a blog post explaining this Executive Order down the tubes of the internets.

While these two scenarios have not been played out as far as we know, is there any reason the President has to declare a law making this "legal"? We already know this Administration views itself as beyond the law, was caught calling the Constitution a "goddamned piece of paper", will mandate policy based on political goals even when highly detrimental to the country, and has no qualms about lying to the American public. So why would they put such a law onto the books? You tell me...

See also Wonkette and BoingBoing.