Adverse Adverts Bring out your dead!
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
March 5, 2004

"There is absolutely no difference between an ad selling chewing gum, and one trying to sell a presidential candidate. None."

Bush Hides White House's Complicity in Haiti
from Daily Mislead
March 3, 2004

"However, while Bush said we need a 'renewed commitment to democracy and freedom in this hemisphere,' a careful look at the White House's behavior shows that the Administration actively took the side of an armed band of 'death-squad veterans and convicted murderers' against a government that had been democratically elected three times."

OPPOSE BUSH'S COUP IN HAITI
from the A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition
March 1, 2004

"The A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) Coalition condemns the U.S.-led coup carried out today against the elected president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, as well as the U.S. occupation of that country. U.S. marines have entered Haiti tonight (February 29)."

Is Daniel Ellsberg Right ... Again?
by Bob Cooper
SF Chronicle
February 29, 2004

"The Pentagon insider-turned-Bay Area activist says the parallels between Vietnam and Iraq are tragic and inescapable. Why, he asks, have our leaders failed to learn from the mistakes of 40 years ago?"

The Gay Divider It's politics and strange bedfellows time
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
February 29, 2004

"The right wing is in a panic. The revolt in San Francisco has now resulted in over 3,500 gay marriages, and it's been cropping up in other parts of the country, including places you wouldn't really expect, such as New Mexico and Idaho."

Nader and Kerry: Things arenšt what they appear
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
February 27, 2004

"My conclusion is that Nader won't get one half of one percent of the vote from the left."

Mother Nature, The Hate Crime More than 60 world-class scientists agree: BushCo just really, really loathes this planet
by Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
SF Gate
February 27, 2004

"Today's question: What do you get when more than 60 of the world's top scientists, 20 Nobel Laureates among them, get together and write one of the most scathing, damning reports in the history of modern science, aimed squarely at BushCo's thoroughly atrocious record of cover-ups and obfuscations and outright lies regarding the health of the planet?"

BUSH PAYS BACK DRUG COMPANIES BY MISLEADING SENIORS
from Daily Mislead
February 25, 2004

"President Bush has done a lot of favors for those who have given him money, but few have benefited so handsomely from their financial ties to him than the drug industry and CEOs like Pfizer's Hank McKinnell - a Bush campaign 'Ranger.'"

W is king of reclassification
by Lenore Skenazy
New York Daily News
February 25, 2004

"Yes, the same administration that promised to deliver us 2.6 million new jobs - and then scaled that back to, uh, 'I'm not a statistician' - has come up with a more foolproof way of creating jobs: Just reclassify the old ones."

INSTEAD OF ADMITTING ECONOMIC TRUTH, BUSH RESORTS TO STATISTICAL MANIPULATION
from Daily Mislead
February 24, 2004

"President Bush, attempting to obscure his record as the worst economic steward since Herbert Hoover, has become so desperate that he is exploring ways to manipulate statistics."

Nader and Bush: Fear them both
by R. J. Crane, editor topplebush.com
February 24, 2004

"Ralph has morphed into the same type of person as George Bush: A person who who can neither admit his mistakes nor take responsibility for them."

'Free ride' to the ballot costly for Nader and Bush
by Thomas Oliphant, Globe Columnist
Boston Globe
February 24, 2004

"PRESIDENT BUSH and Ralph Nader -- allied in the goal of punishing Democrats -- also share political tactics preferences. Neither really likes primaries or other forms of nomination struggle, and each has searched for a route to the ballot this November that involves the least amount of work. Bush's status derives from his position as the incumbent president; Nader's stems from a refusal to face voters along the way."

The Heat is On: Biggest schism yet appears in military/industrial complex
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
zeppscommentaries.com
February 22, 2004

"The report, unclassified and released by the Pentagon, appeared in Fortune with the following lead: 'Global warming may be bad news for future generations, but let's face it, most of us spend as little time worrying about it as we did about al Qaeda before 9/11. Like the terrorists, though, the seemingly remote climate risk may hit home sooner and harder than we ever imagined. In fact, the prospect has become so real that the Pentagon's strategic planners are grappling with it.'"

"Lucky" Relativity theory
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
zeppscommentaries.com
February 20, 2004

"Hundreds of people had already written about how Cleland got his Silver Star four days BEFORE the accident, how he was, in fact, in a combat zone, if not under immediate fire, and how his action undoubtedly saved lives. I would like to see Ann Coulter race to pick up a grenade and throw it away, not knowing if it was armed and cocked or not."

Come on in -- the mud is fine
by Molly Ivins
Star-Telegram
February 19, 2004

"I think we need a rule calling for at least two paragraphs between spreading nasty gossip and then decrying the spreading of nasty gossip. On television and radio, 24 hours should be required. Standards must be maintained here, team."

The Wrong Side of History
by Daniel Patrick Welch
danielpwelch.com
February 19, 2004

"We were all lied to. We're used to it. If Westmoreland's body counts and Watergate and Iran Contra and the Savings and Loan and the first Gulf War didn't teach some of us, then I guess some of us were never meant to learn."

Body Count Redux
by Ivan Eland
The Independent Institute
February 18, 2004

"The major reason that fighting between the U.S. military and the insurgents has declined is that the American forces have vacated the field of battle. However unfortunate, with a competitive election coming up this year, the White House knows that the only thing in Iraq that matters to the American public is how many U.S. soldiers are killed and wounded there."

KERRY BEATS EDWARDS IN WISCONSIN, BUT CHALLENGE REMAINS
by Joe Shea Editor-in-Chief
The Ameican Reporter
February 18, 2004

"Taking nearly 40 percent of the vote, U.S. Sen. John Kerry turned back a strong last-minute challenge Tuesday night from North Carolina U.S. Sen. John Edwards to capture his 16th primary and caucus victory ahead of the definitive Super Tuesday regional primaries on March 2."

BUSH: SPECIAL INTEREST PROTECTOR-IN-CHIEF
from The Daily Mislead
February 17, 2004

"But a look at the more than $320 million that Bush has raised since 2000 shows that he is the man with the most special interest connections in American history - and that he has rewarded those special interests in kind."

The Fantasy of Democracy in an Arab State
by Robert Fisk
The Independent - UK
February 14, 2004

"Iraq is getting so nasty for our great leaders these days that anything -- and anyone -- is going to be thrown to the dogs to save them."

AWOL Forget Waldo! Where was GEORGE?
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
February 14, 2004

"The White House has a tacit tradition, going back to the days of the Roosevelt administration, of releasing news that they think will have negative political repercussions on Fridays, preferably in the afternoon. The reason for this is that Saturday's newspaper is the one least read."

The New Leader of the Free World
by Brian Christensen Marievej, Svendborg, Denmark
February 13, 2004

"Now, travel across the Atlantic to The Leader of The Free World. How does George W. Bush and his Administration compare to the leadership qualities of Tony Blair and the transparency of the British Government and how do the democratic traditions in America fare compared to the free and democratic political climate in Britain? To me, sadly, it looks like a voyage to Mars."

Before things go down the memory hole
by Molly Ivins
Star-Telegram
February 12, 2004

"Just for the record, since the record is in considerable peril. These are Orwellian days, my friends, as the Bush administration attempts to either shove the history of the second gulf war down the memory hole or to rewrite it entirely."

Only Blind Partisans And Fools Still Back Bush
by Bill Gallagher
Niagara Falls Reporter
appearing on rense.com
February 10, 2004

"For George W. Bush and company, these are good, bad and ugly days -- very little good, a lot of bad and mostly ugly. A series of events are converging. Past lies and flawed polices are now apparent. The administration built on the four Ds -- deception, debt, dirt and deals -- is now in serious disarray and the American people are catching on."

The WMD Inspector No One Heeded
by Harley Sorensen, Special to SF Gate
SF Gate
February 9, 2004

"Scott Ritter is a prophet of sorts, and if we had listened to him and respected his intellect, knowledge and honesty, we could have avoided the war in Iraq and its cost in lives and dollars."

Will the election be hacked? A Salon special report reveals how new voting machines could result in a rigged presidential race -- and we'd never know.
by Farhad Manjoo
Salon
February 9, 2004

"What she found alarmed her. The machines were state-of-the-art products from an Ohio company called Diebold. But the code -- which a friend of Jekot's had found on the Internet -- was anything but flawless, Jekot says. It was amateurish and pocked with security problems."

Fake the Nation: The "interview" between Tim Russert and Putsch
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepps Commentaries
February 8, 2004

"If anyone was expecting NBC's Tim Russert to sink his fangs into Putsch's neck the way he does with Democrats, well, you just haven't seen our Timmy in action. Or 'inaction,' as the case may be."

Two Americas, One Deficit
by E. J. Dionne Jr.
Washington Post
February 6, 2004

"This is an administration that says whatever is necessary to get what it wants. When its claims turn out not to add up, the White House assumes people will just forget what it said earlier and move on. But voters are neither stupid nor indifferent to facts. That is why President Bush has been dropping in the polls. Are Americans who once believed him wondering if they have been played for fools?"

TENET EXPOSES BUSH'S MISLEADING ON WMD
from The Daily Mislead
February 5, 2004

"In a stunning blow to the president's credibility, CIA Director George Tenet said this morning that intelligence 'analysts never said there was an imminent threat' from Iraq before the war. His comments are consistent with various warnings sent to the White House from the intelligence community that specifically told the president his claims that Iraq definitely had chemical/biological and nuclear weapons were unsubstantiated."

Washington Conceals US Casualties In Iraq
by David Walsh
World Socialist Web Site
February 5, 2004

"The largest estimate of the number of medical evacuations from Iraq is to be found in a December 30 article by retired US Army Col. David Hackworth, 'Saddam's in the slammer, so why are we on orange?'"

There Was No Failure Of Intelligence: US Spies Were Ignored, Or Worse, If They Failed To Make The Case For War
by Sidney Blumenthal
The Guardian - UK
February 5, 2004

"Precisely because of the qualms the administration encountered, it created a rogue intelligence operation, the Office of Special Plans, located within the Pentagon and under the control of neo-conservatives. The OSP roamed outside the ordinary inter-agency process, stamping its approval on stories from Iraqi exiles that the other agencies dismissed as lacking credibility, and feeding them to the president."

521 Unlucky numbers for Putsch, all of us
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepps Commentaries
February 5, 2004

"The number 521 showed up twice in the past week in different news stories, and Putsch, who is trying to figure out how to get elected President, is kinda wishing it hadn't."

BUSH SABOTAGES WMD COMMISSION BEFORE IT STARTS
from The Daily Mislead
February 4, 2004

"Over the last two days, President Bush and the White House have claimed that they are going to establish an "independent" commission to promptly investigate the over-hyping of intelligence before the Iraq war. But as details come out about the White House's proposal, it appears the commission will be neither independent nor prompt."

Top Four Reasons Bush And Media Can't Claim They Were 'Misled'
by Sean Gonsalves
Cape Cod Times
appearing on rense.com
February 2, 2004

"Is America safer now that Saddam has been captured? No, America is safer because the D.C. snipers have been captured, as one comedic writer put it recently."

Two US Soldiers ask: "When will we stop dying so senselessly?"
by Jay Shaft
Coalition For Free Thought In Media
North Texas Media Center
February 1, 2004

"Over the Christmas holidays I managed to find two US soldiers who were back from Iraq. They were both somewhat willing to be interviewed and describe their time in Iraq in their own words."

Our country depends on your answer
by Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press columnist
Detroit Free Press
February 1, 2004

"But you should. And if there's one thing we agree on as Americans, it's this: We don't kill for no reason. We don't make war unless it's unavoidable. And our leaders don't take us down a primrose path."

A Scandal Greater Than Watergate
by Eric Margolis, Contributing Foreign Editor
Toronto Sun
appearing on Rense.com
February 1, 2004

"Iraq's nuclear weapons, death rays, vans of death, drones of death, mobile germ labs, poison gas factories, hidden weapons depots, long-range missiles, links to al-Qaida - all were bogus.

The only thing real is Iraq's oil. "

HUTTON REPORT: TOO CLEVER BY HALF
by Jim Rarey
Medium Rare
February 1, 2004

"There simply could not be found a better description of Lord Hutton's manipulation, distortion and omission of evidence in his report on the death of world-class microbiologist David Kelly. But Hutton may have outsmarted himself by providing information that will prove Kelly's body was moved at least twice before police and forensic investigators saw it."

With all deliberate stupidity US self-isolation makes Iraq a virtual non-issue in the elections so far
by Daniel Patrick Welch
February 1, 2004

"The Bush-led extremist puppet show that has hacked and brutalized its way into power is so evil, so corrupt, so completely dangerous down to the cellular and atomic level that it would be unthinkable not to wish them gone whatever the cost."

Shifting the Blame: Is David Kay a Weapon of Mass Deflection?
by Wayne Saunders
Punditman.com
January 31, 2004

"The latest spin surrounding the Bush administration's pre-war intelligence on Iraq comes from outgoing WMD hunter David Kay. After rummaging around Iraq for nine months and coming back empty-handed, Kay says he now believes that no such weapons exist, and haven't since the mid nineties. But instead of drawing the logical conclusion that he's been duped and played for a fool, he chose instead to launch the latest salvo in the Bush administration's undeclared war on the rank and file US intelligence community."

No mystery to untangling WMD puzzler
by Jay Bookman
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 29, 2004

"In reality, it was the president who was wrong. As retiring chief weapons inspector David Kay admitted last week, the trailers that we flaunted before the world to justify our invasion have turned out to be harmless facilities that produced hydrogen to fill weather balloons."

Truth Catching Up To Bush
by Haroon Siddiqui
Toronto Star
as appearing on Rense.com
January 29, 2004

"Not only Howard Dean, the passionate truth-teller about Iraq, but Senator John Kerry, Gen. Wesley Clark and others have found their voices to question almost all aspects of Bush's post-Sept. 11 performance."

BBC At War
M'Lord Hutton Blesses Blair's Attack on BBC's Investigation of Iraq War Claims
by Greg Palast
January 28, 2004

"However, the future for fake and farcical war propaganda is quite bright indeed. Today, Lord Hutton issued his report that followed an inquiry revealing the Blair government's manipulation of intelligence to claim that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass murder threatening immanent attack on London."

BUSH CLAIMS TO NEVER SAY IRAQ WAS "IMMINENT THREAT"
from the Daily Mis-lead
January 28, 2004

"Facing mounting pressure over charges that the White House deliberately misled the American people about Iraq's WMD, President Bush is now claiming that U.N. weapons inspectors were not allowed into Iraq before the war. Yesterday, the pesident said, Iraq 'chose defiance. It was [Saddam's] choice to make, and he did not let us in.'"

Sugar, sugar, sugar Republican disses sweeter than whine
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepp's Commentaries
January 28, 2004

"Folks, meet the Bush administration. They are doing what even Congress wouldn't do, and they are going to bat for the sugar industry to fight the good fight against warning people that sugar is not good for them and they should cut back."

Deeper into debate on Iraq
by Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe columnist
Boston Globe
January 27, 2004

"And most politically damaging of all, David Kay, the former head of the US weapons search in Iraq, said he resigned because Pentagon and CIA officials no longer considered the weapons search -- America's chief justification for war -- a priority."

Water, Sickness And A Brewing Storm
by Dahr Jamail
appearing on Rense.com
January 27, 2004

"Mr. Kadel informed me that he has received help from UNICEF, Red Cross and several others. He told me that even during the war they had running water in every house, and just had the normal problems of needing to replace old pipes and pumps. Now, they are supplying 50% of the water they need for the people of Hilla. The villages have no water, and they don't have the pipes they need to get the work done."

It's All the Democrats' Fault: How John Kerry made Putsch bomb Baghdad
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepps Commentaries
January 27, 2004

"It's always easy to tell when some grandiose scheme or another has blown up in the faces of the right wingers who promoted it in the first place. They not only disown said scheme; they start blaming it on Democrats."

Lighting the Fuse
by Jim Lobe
lewrockwell.com
January 26, 2004

"Retired Gen. Anthony Zinni began warning that ousting Saddam Hussein, let alone invading Iraq, risked destabilizing the entire Middle East back in 1998, when he led U.S. Central Command and testified against the Iraq Liberation Act that made 'regime change' official US policy."

The US is now in the hands of a group of extremists
Fundamentalism has spawned an ideology of American supremacy
by George Soros
The Guardian - UK
January 26, 2004

"The gap in perceptions between America and the rest of the world has never been wider. Abroad, America is seen as abusing the dominant position it occupies; opinion at home has been led to believe that Saddam posed a clear and present danger to national security. Only in the aftermath of the Iraqi invasion are people becoming aware they have been misled."

Stop Bush's Energy Bill
by Robert Redford
SaveBioGems.org
January 26, 2004

"This bill may be the worst piece of legislation you and I will see in our lifetimes. It would pick your pocket, despoil your natural heritage, endanger your family's health and smother your hope for a more secure energy future. We ignore this bill at our own peril."

Are Parallels To Nazi Germany Crazy?
by Harley Sorensen
SF Gate
January 26, 2004

"To make a comparison between Germany in the 1930s and America now, I relied on a Web site called "A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust." The passages in quotations below are taken from the site."

War doesn't cost the moneyed
by Cynthia Tucker, editorial page editor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 25, 2004

"If the war on terror were as important as the president claims -- and the threat of Islamist fanatics a danger that will confront us for at least a generation -- you'd think that military service would have taken on more urgency among Americans of all income brackets. But it hasn't. There has been no marked upturn in military recruitment since the terrorist atrocities of Sept. 11, 2001."

Newspeak SOTU 2004
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Zepps Commentaries
January 22, 2004

"As any third grader can tell you, the best way to lie is to tell the truth selectively. You can completely invert the reality of a description by telling just half the story, which is the basis of Newspeak, and what keeps Faux News and Newsmax and all the rest of the right wing Newspeak apparatus going."

Bank statement for the gullible
by Molly Ivins
Sacramento Bee
January 22, 2004

"My fellow Americans, the state of the union's finances is enough to make an Enron accountant gag."

What's Bush hiding from 9/11 commission? Administration doesn't want truth out before the election
by Joe Conason
The New York Observer
appearing on workingforchange.com
January 21, 2004

"What Mr. Bush understandably chose not to highlight, however, is his administration's continuing determination to undermine, restrict and censor the investigation of the most significant event of his Presidency: the attacks on New York and Washington of Sept. 11, 2001."

NO CHILD'S BEHIND LEFT
The State of the Union's New Educational Eugenics
by Greg Palast
January 21, 2004

"And what you know, Mr. Bush, is this: you've ordered this testing to hunt down, identify and target for destruction the hopes of millions of children you find too expensive, too heavy a burden, to educate."

Media: A Quick Overview
by Robert McChesney
Mediareform.net
January 21, 2004

"Last week, CBS television censored free speech by refusing to sell airtime to the MoveOn Voter Fund for a political ad during the Super Bowl. The ad is critical of the Bush Administration's run-up of the federal deficit."

BUSH PLANS $50B IRAQ SPENDING REQUEST POST ELECTION
from Daily Mis-lead
January 20, 2004

"President Bush and his aides have spent the last year and a half telling the American people that the war in Iraq would cost little. A new report by Defense News, however, says the president will propose another $50 billion, in addition to the $166 billion already spent."

George W Bush And The Real State Of The Union
The Independent - UK
January 20, 2004

"Today, the President gives his annual address. As the election battle begins, how does his first term add up?"

C vs. S Newdow (and America) versus religious tyranny
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
January 20, 2004

"Michael Newdow brought suit on behalf of his young daughter, stating that the school was violating her first amendment rights by subjecting her to a state-sponsored prayer in school. The court will consider two elements of the case; first, if Newdow had standing to bring suit (he is the father, but divorced from the mother and does not have custody) and if the Ninth Circuit was correct in ruling in Newdow's favor."

The sanctity of wasting good money
by Mitch Albom, Free Press columnist
Detroit Free Press
January 18, 2004

"Last week, however, the President George W. Bush and his administration were ready to throw lots of money -- $1.5 billion -- at a problem all the therapists in the world can't fix: marriage."

Terror alert: American tourists are not allowed to pee!
by Jane Stillwater
January 14, 2004

"Instead of our government supporting and protecting us from the world of international terrorism, Americans since 9-11 are being treated more and more like we ourselves are the enemy."

Mars Needs Dim Republicans Dubya dons a shiny spacesuit, dreams of spending billions to meet little green men. The nation cringes.
by Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
SFGate.com
January 14, 2004

"Yes indeed. Leave it to BushCo to try and slap an astronomically expensive, useless balm on the nation's gaping wounds by vainly attempting to recapture some of that droning faux-'50s and -'60s nostalgia no one really asked for."

Putsch: Blame Clinton....blame Canada, blame someone, anyone...
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
January 14, 2004

"In the aftermath of the sensational charges in Ron Suskind's book, "The Price of Loyalty" that Paul O'Neill saw Putsch as little more than a potted plant, Putsch, apparently uncued, told the complaisant media that the allegation that they were planning an attack on Iraq from Day One following the SC coup was no big deal, since Clinton was doing the same thing. Clinton, too, was for "regime change," Putsch announced grandly, or at least coherently."

Paul O'Neill The Tin Man gets a heart
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
January 13, 2004

"I doubt any of my regular readers are going to be shocked by Paul O'Neill's revelation that the invasion of Iraq didn't have a damned thing to do with 9/11, and that the "imminent threat" of "weapons of mass destruction" was a fable designed to rope in the morons and deceive enough otherwise decent people to pull off the oil grab."

More Trouble for Bremer (and Iraq)
by Tommy Ates
January 12, 2004

"As if bombings, industrial sabotage, and coalition casualties weren't enough, Presidential Envoy to Iraq Paul Bremer has more trouble on his hands.

Top Shiite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani repeated his call for early elections before the United States cedes control over Iraq to the U.S. coalition-appointed Governing Council."

Interesting Math In the world of Republicans, two plus two equals twenty two
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
January 11, 2004

"The new labor and unemployment figures are just out, and while the unemployment rate fell in December to 5.7 from 5.9 the month previous, you won't hear the Republicans cheering much about this."

With Friends Like These
by Tommy Ates
January 10, 2004

"The Pentagon report leaked in 02, called The Nuclear Posture Review (regarding American nuclear weapon contingencies), offers a frightening, possible 'end-game' solution for the war on terror from rogue nation states. According the policy review, the United States has identified those nations as Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Syria. However, in that same report, there are countries among which we have normalized relations (Russia and China). The question then is, who are our friends and who are our enemies?"

The House of Bush
Rep. strategist Kevin Phillips on the Bush family's hunger for power
by Eric Bates
Rolling Stone - National Affairs
January 5, 2004

"In his new book American Dynasty, Phillips lays out his almost visceral distaste for what he calls 'the politics of deceit in the House of Bush,' accusing the administration of dishonesty and secrecy that would make Tricky Dick blush. He traces the course of Bush's family over the past 100 years, detailing how they sought influence 'in the back corridors' of the oil and defense industries, investment banking and the intelligence establishment. Elites, not elections, put Bush in power."

America - The Real Danger Lies Within
by Eric Margolis, Contributing Foreign Editor
The Toronto Sun
appearing on rense.com
January 4, 2004

"For America's hard right - a curious farrago of Armageddon-seeking southern Protestants; neo-conservative supporters of Israel's right-wing Likud party; and the military-industrial-petroleum complex - the Bush administration's aggressive foreign policy of world domination, and utter contempt for international laws and old allies, marks a new era of national greatness."

Flip Flop or Distortion? - The Assault on Howard Dean
by Todd Smyth
January 4, 2004

"The mainstream TV news media have used repetitive distortion to create a negative impression of Howard Dean. They take a sound bite out of context, imply there own meaning, blow it out of proportion and hammer the public over and over again. People regurgitate what they hear and pass it on."

Saddam's Capture - A Deal Brokered Behind The Scenes?
The Sunday Herald - UK
January 4, 2004

"When it emerged that the Kurds had captured the Iraqi dictator, the US celebrations evaporated. David Pratt asks whether a secret political trade-off has been engineered."

Salvaging CIA leak investigation - Ashcroft's delayed recusal leaves credibility damage
by John Conyers
tomdispatch.com
January 2, 2004

"By failing to appoint a single special counsel during his tenure, Attorney General John Ashcroft has permitted a pendulum to swing too far in the other direction, and we now have an administration that is unwilling to permit any meaningful independent review of allegations of misconduct against it and its friends."

The Imperial Gong Show Year
by Tom Engelhardt
tomdispatch.com
January 2, 2004

"Still, if the year was bad for the rest of us, it wasn't exactly dazzling for the Bush administration either and perhaps we should count a few modest post-New Year's blessings for that at least."

'Leakgate' Has Legs
by Tommy Ates
January 2, 2004

"U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's decision to recluse himself from the 'Leakgate' investigation involving the outing of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV's wife, Valerie Plame as a CIA operative means one thing.

The potential suspects currently on the table are pretty close to the Oval Office (as in the West Wing)."