over the years, i've written about how i feel

about torture. how i feel we (america and it's people) we shamed soiled ourselves by allowing it to happen. how we stomped upon our constitution and the geneva convention. how we almost overnight turned into 'those people', the brutal savages that is.

i can only hang my head (further) if we don't now DO something about this shite. something more than talk that is

In Adopting Harsh Tactics, No Inquiry Into Their Past Use
By SCOTT SHANE and MARK MAZZETTI
WASHINGTON — The program began with Central Intelligence Agency leaders in the grip of an alluring idea: They could get tough in terrorist interrogations without risking legal trouble by adopting a set of methods used on Americans during military training. How could that be torture?

In a series of high-level meetings in 2002, without a single dissent from cabinet members or lawmakers, the United States for the first time officially embraced the brutal methods of interrogation it had always condemned.

This extraordinary consensus was possible, an examination by The New York Times shows, largely because no one involved — not the top two C.I.A. officials who were pushing the program, not the senior aides to President George W. Bush, not the leaders of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees — investigated the gruesome origins of the techniques they were approving with little debate.

Senate report: Bush admin. solicited torture ‘wish list,’ ordered ‘communist’ tactics

By Stephen Webster and Diane Sweet
A report by the Senate Armed Services Committee released Tuesday night says that torture techniques used at Abu Ghraib prison and approved by officials in the George W. Bush administration were applied only after soliciting a “wish list” from interrogators.

President George W. Bush made a written determination that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which would have afforded minimum standards for humane treatment, did not apply to al Qaeda or Taliban detainees. This act, the committee found, cleared the way for a new interrogation program to be developed in-part based on “Chinese communist” tactics used against Americans during the Korean War, mainly to elicit false confessions for propaganda purposes.

The committee’s report was made available in Dec. 2008, but was delayed by the Pentagon’s declassification program. Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) concluded that the findings were enough to warrant serious consideration by the Department of Justice..........

this is sickening

but they've done it before - in wars gone by. an example you ask? agent orange exposure i answer. that's only ONE example of our brave men and women getting the shaft from the good ol' boyz network

again, this makes me want to effing puke

still don't believe the good ol' whiteboy network (the ones that run stuff including our military) doesn't give a flying fuck about our returning heroes? two words for ya

WALTER
(and)
REED

Tale of the secret Army tape

After a soldier taped a psychologist saying he'd been pressured not to diagnose PTSD, the Army launched an investigation. Read the details of how the Army declared itself innocent.

Editor's note: Read about Sgt. X's tape -- and listen to a segment of it -- in the first story in this series, "I Am Under a Lot of Pressure to Not Diagnose PTSD." Read a summary of the Army's internal investigation, in which it determined that it was not exerting such pressure, here.

By Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna

April 9, 2009 | In a story published yesterday, Salon reported on a surreptitious tape recording of an Army psychologist telling a patient last June that he had been pressured not to diagnose soldiers as having post-traumatic stress disorder. The soldier, whom Salon dubbed Sgt. X to protect his identity, recorded the Fort Carson, Colo., psychologist, Douglas McNinch, twice describing pressure to label soldiers with "anxiety disorder" instead of PTSD. The diagnosis of anxiety disorder could result in improper treatment and lower disability payments if the Army discharges a soldier from the military. "It's not fair," McNinch said on the tape. "I think it's a horrible way to treat soldiers."

But neither the U.S. Senate nor the Army apparently agrees with McNinch's assessment of the treatment that returning soldiers are receiving. By early July, news of the tape recording had made its way to both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the upper reaches of the Pentagon. Despite prodding from Sen. Kit Bond, the Senate Armed Services Committee declined to investigate the tape's implications. A veterans' advocacy group then had a combative July 14 meeting at the Pentagon with the Army's vice chief of staff, at which the vice chief was reportedly dismissive. Two weeks later, the Army issued the results of an internal investigation and absolved itself of any wrongdoing.

Today's article describes the contentious meeting at the Pentagon, how the tape got to the Senate and the secretary of the Army in the first place, and which Senate aide determined it was not worth investigating. It also details how the individuals assigned by the Army to investigate the tape were connected both to the individual who had allegedly pressured McNinch not to diagnose soldiers as having PTSD and to earlier questionable in-house investigations of Army medical care............

we know this

they've been telling us about it for a while. so now what are we going to actually DO about it?

Army official: Suicides in January 'terrifying'

From Barbara Starr and Mike Mount
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One week after the U.S. Army announced record suicide rates among its soldiers last year, the service is worried about a spike in possible suicides in the new year.

The Army said 24 soldiers are believed to have committed suicide in January alone -- six times as many as killed themselves in January 2008, according to statistics released Thursday.

The Army said it already has confirmed seven suicides, with 17 additional cases pending that it believes investigators will confirm as suicides for January.

If those prove true, more soldiers will have killed themselves than died in combat last month. According to Pentagon statistics, there were 16 U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq in January.

"This is terrifying," an Army official said. "We do not know what is going on."

Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard, said that the long, cold months of winter could be a major contributor to the January spike......

sure, i believe there is recividism

sure, i believe some (perhaps a lot) of the people we're holding in places like gitmo ARE terrorists and should NEVER in a million years be set free. i ALSO believe in the united states constitution and the other laws we abide by like the geneva convention. i believe we are a free and wonderful nation. i believe we should NEVER torture. i believe all who are incarcerated should be charged, have counsel and be brought to a trial. i believe that rarely happened during the king george years.

i believe our msm should NEVER take the word of anyone without first investigating it. sure, it's ok for a news source to say, 'the pentagon reported 63 acts of recidivism', but then they MUST follow it up by 'however, we have not confirmed that figure' OR 'the pentagon also claimed 2 acts of recidivism two weeks ago'. i want the WHOLE picture not just a pinpoint.

Pentagon's terror 'recidivism' claims blasted as 'propaganda'
David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster
Ever wonder how many of President Bush's terror war detainees were released, only to "return to the fight"?

"Their numbers have changed from 20, to 12, to seven, to more than five, to two, to a couple, to a few, 25, 29, 12, and then 24," quoted Keith Olbermann on Thursday's edition of Countdown.

The latest figure, 61, which was carried unchallenged by CNN, the MSNBC host noted, appears to be nothing but "propaganda."

A study published by Seton Hall Law Professor Mark Denbeaux on Jan. 15 finds the Pentagon wrongly altered its figures on terrorist 'recidivism' 43 times, with the latest figure being "the most egregiously so."
...................

is this true?

did king george's court KNOW a plane was headed straight for the pentagon and if yes, did they not warn those inside the pentagon to evacuate?
i don't believe anything other than a plane flew into it though.
i don't know if it's true or not. i had not heard this before today. if it's true this is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY worse than i ever could have imagined

Career Army officer sues Rumsfeld, Cheney, saying no evacuation order given on 9/11
Stephen C. Webster
A career Army officer who survived the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, claims that no evacuation was ordered inside the Pentagon, despite flight controllers calling in warnings of approaching hijacked aircraft nearly 20 minutes before the building was struck.

According to a timeline of the attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration notified NORAD that American Airlines Flight 77 had been hijacked at 9:24 a.m. The Pentagon was not struck until 9:43 a.m.

On behalf of retired Army officer April Gallop, California attorney William Veale has filed a civil suit against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney and former US Air Force General Richard Myers, who was acting chairman of the joint chiefs on 9/11. It alleges they engaged in conspiracy to facilitate the terrorist attacks by not warning those inside the Pentagon, contributing to injuries she and her two-month-old son incurred.......

i did find this: (again, i do NOT know if it is true or not)
Did Cheney Allow, Or Even Order, 9/11 Attack on Pentagon?
...........Mineta testified "during the time that the airplane was coming in to the Pentagon, there was a young man who would come in and say to the Vice President, 'the plane is 50 miles out, the plane is 30 miles out.' And when it got to 'the plane is 10 miles out," the young man also said to the Vice President, 'Do the orders still stand?' And the Vice President...said, 'Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?"

Since the airplane was not intercepted and destroyed, even though the vice president knew of it, "the orders" may have been to allow the plane to hit the Pentagon. All of this, and more, is contained in the March/April issue of "Tikkun" magazine, "a bimonthly Jewish critique of Politics, Culture & Society." The piece was authored by Dr. David Ray Griffin, a principal debunker of the accepted 9/11 dogma, and published by Rabbi Michael Lerner on grounds, "if his view is true, the position he articulates would provide adequate grounds for impeachment of the president..."..............

and the domestic violence

continues. in many cases with NO consequences to the perpetrator.

do you think it's a good idea to continue to arm this type of person and keep sending them into combat? i don't

Despite Army’s Assurances, Violence at Home
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
On Christmas Day two years ago, Sgt. Carlos Renteria, recently back from his first tour in Iraq, got drunk and, during an argument, began to choke his wife, Adriana. He body-slammed her. He threw her onto the couch, grabbed a cushion and smothered her, again and again — until, finally, he stopped, she told the police in San Angelo, Tex. He was arrested and charged with assault, and she went to the hospital for her injuries, which included bruises and a severely swollen knee. It was his second domestic violence arrest. Assured by an Army officer that the military would pursue the case, the Texas prosecutor bowed out.

Yet Sergeant Renteria has faced no consequences. Instead, since his arrest, he has been redeployed to Iraq and promoted to staff sergeant. ........

that steamin' pile formerly known as da liebs

is outdoing even what i thought he was capable of. now he's personally advising sarevil? wow

and another reminder to the steamin' pile. YOU ARE AN AMERICAN. AMERICA COMES FIRST AND FOREMOST. NOT ANY OTHER COUNTRY. AMERICA. got that steamin' pile?

sarevil? you couldn't possibly find anyone 'better' to advise you than the steamin' pile. you both deserve each other

Experts Helping Palin Brush Up on Foreign Policy

By Michael Abramowitz and Juliet Eilperin

Washington Post Staff Writers
ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 4 -- Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is among several national security experts helping brief Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on foreign policy issues as she prepares to hit the campaign trail while cramming for a debate with her Democratic opponent, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), in less than a month, according to officials from Sen. John McCain's campaign.
Lieberman, who was the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee but is now an independent, has helped introduce Palin to officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the leading pro-Israel lobby. In a meeting Tuesday, the day before she delivered her prime-time address at the Republican National Convention here, Palin assured the group of her strong support for Israel, of her desire to see the United States move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and of her opposition to Iran's aspirations to become a nuclear power, according to sources familiar with the meeting. ...........

hey, just 'cause it's YOUR country

OBVIOUSLY doesn't mean YOU can tell US what to do!
Pentagon rebuffs Iraqis on withdrawal timetable

In a rebuff to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the Pentagon said Monday that any timetable for a US withdrawal from Iraq would depend on conditions on the ground there.

Maliki told Arab ambassadors on Monday he was pressing for such a timetable in negotiations with Washington on an agreement on the status of US forces in Iraq beyond 2008.

Asked about the prime minister's comments, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters: "With respect to timetables I would say the same thing I would say as respects to the security situation -- it is dependent on conditions on the ground.".......

this is the sort of defense contractor

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Grief_leads_father_to_create_bombdefusing_0706.htmli would trust AND we need. not only does he understand our troops need protection, HE ACTUALLY CARES about our troops having protection.

and to the family and friends of army private first class john hart, i am so very sorry for your loss
Grief leads father to create bomb-defusing robot

By MARK JEWELL Associated Press Writer

TYNGSBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -- The knock on Brian Hart's door came at 6 a.m. An Army colonel, a priest and a police officer had come to tell Hart and his wife that their 20-year-old son had been killed when his military vehicle was ambushed in Iraq.

Brian Hart didn't channel his grief quietly. Committed to "preventing the senseless from recurring," he railed against the military on his blog for shortcomings in supplying armor to soldiers. The one-time Republican teamed with liberal Sen. Edward Kennedy to tell Congress that the Pentagon was leaving soldiers ill-equipped..

i've done a few postings

about this already. about us saying to pakistan, 'open wide' then we dump in billions of dollars to their coffers. we don't even care where that money goes. we're not making sure our troops are properly protected. we're not making sure our people who have been subject to natural disasters are adequately housed. we're not making sure our people have adequate health coverage. we're not making sure our children learn PROPER birth control. we're not making sure everyone has equal rights here. we're doing and not doing a LOT of things here where we certainly could use BILLIONS OF DOLLARS. but nope, we're shoving it down the loo

U.S. Funding to Pakistan Plagued With Problems, GAO Report Says

By Robin Wright

Washington Post Staff Writer

The Bush administration has paid Pakistan more than $2 billion without adequate proof that the Pakistani government used the funds for their intended purpose of supporting U.S. counterterrorism efforts, congressional auditors reported yesterday. Their report concluded that more than a third of U.S. funds provided Pakistan since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were subject to accounting problems, including duplication and possible fraud.

The Pentagon paid about $20 million for army road construction and $15 million to build bunkers in Pakistan, but there is no evidence that the roads or bunkers were ever constructed, the Government Accountability Office reported. Islamabad also billed Washington $200 million for an air defense radar system that may not have met a U.S. condition: that reimbursement cover combat or logistical costs supporting U.S. military operations against terrorism beyond what a country would spend on its own needs...........

the posting prior to this one

was satire. this one is not. i swear. it's real

Pentagon Agency Monitors Whiskey of Mass Destruction

By Sharon Weinberger
Weapons inspectors may not have found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but they are closely watching operations at a Scottish distillery. Bruichladdich Distillery Company, which makes single-malt whiskey and allows Internet users to monitor its distillery via webcam, has found that a Pentagon agency has taken an out-sized interest in its operations. It turns out the Defense Threat Reduction Agency was closely watching its operations. ......

while gas is well over 4.00 a gallon

(i don't know where they check when they write stories that say it's APPROACHING 4.00 a gallon, cause it sure as shite has been OVER 4.00 in connecticut for a while) and groceries are outrageously priced, they send us checks for 600.00 (i got less than that i might add) to soothe our souls. fuck that. 600.00 isn't going to pay for one month's heating bill if you use oil.

then we find THIS out Spending On Iraq Poorly Tracked
Audit Faults Accounting for $15 Billion in Work
By Dana Hedgpeth
Washington Post Staff Writer

The inspector general for the Defense Department said yesterday that the Pentagon cannot account for almost $15 billion worth of goods and services ranging from trucks, bottled water and mattresses to rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns that were bought from contractors in the Iraq reconstruction effort.

The Pentagon did not have the proper documentation, including receipts, vouchers, signatures, invoices or other paperwork, for $7.8 billion that American and Iraqi contractors were paid for phones, folders, paint, blankets, Nissan trucks, laundry services and other items, according to a 69-page audit released to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

An earlier audit by the inspector general found deficiencies in accounting for $5.2 billion of U.S. payments to buy weapons, trucks, generators and other equipment for Iraq's security forces. In addition, the Defense Department spent $1.8 billion of seized Iraqi assets with "absolutely no accountability," according to Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), who chairs the oversight committee. The Pentagon also kept poor records on $135 million that it paid to its partners in the multinational military force in Iraq, auditors said.

The Army disagreed with some of the auditors' findings, saying that it is difficult to maintain an adequate paper trail in a war zone and that it has improved its record-keeping and accountability efforts. Robert L. Wilkie, assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs, declined an invitation to testify before from Waxman's committee...........

you know even if WE (the citizens of the us) didn't get that "lost" or "unaccounted for" money, the citizens of burma or bangladesh could have used it

there ARE people with souls

in the government. it's just that no one listens to them
Interrogation Tactics Were Challenged at White House

By Carrie Johnson and Josh White Washington Post Staff Writers
Five years ago, as troubling reports emerged about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a career lawyer at the Justice Department began a long and relatively lonely campaign to alert top Bush administration officials to a strategy he considered "wrongheaded."
This Story
Interrogation Tactics Were Challenged at White House
Thursday, May 22 at 12:30 p.m.: Dana Priest on National Security and Intelligence
Bruce C. Swartz, a criminal division deputy in charge of international issues, repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of harsh interrogation tactics at White House meetings of a special group formed to decide detainee matters, with representatives present from the Pentagon, the State Department and the CIA. ..........

and abc news reports this (if true, it's far far far worse than we can ever imagine). and NOTE the fbi are the one who are reporting these instances of abuse. (sort of makes me feel a BIT better about the fbi)


Report: U.S. Soldiers Did 'Dirty Work' for Chinese Interrogators
Alleges Guantanamo Personnel Softened Up Detainees at Request of Chinese Intelligence
By JUSTIN ROOD
U.S. military personnel at Guantanamo Bay allegedly softened up detainees at the request of Chinese intelligence officials who had come to the island facility to interrogate the men -- or they allowed the Chinese to dole out the treatment themselves, according to claims in a new government report.
Buried in a Department of Justice report released Tuesday are new allegations about a 2002 arrangement between the United States and China, which allowed Chinese intelligence to visit Guantanamo and interrogate Chinese Uighurs held there.
According to the report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine, an FBI agent reported a detainee belonging to China's ethnic Uighur minority and a Uighur translator told him Uighur detainees were kept awake for long periods, deprived of food and forced to endure cold for hours on end, just prior to questioning by Chinese interrogators.
Susan Manning, a lawyer who represents several Uighurs still held at Guantanamo, said Tuesday the allegations are all too familiar. ......

hmmmmmmmmmmm 4,500

is almost the same number as the united states service members who have lost their lives in an unjust, illegal and immoral iraq war
THAT
the american public and lawmakers will NOT demand a halt to

4,500

Military analysts named in Times exposé appeared or were quoted more than 4,500 times on broadcast nets, cables, NPR
....................On April 20, The New York Times published an article by investigative reporter David Barstow that detailed the connection between numerous media military analysts and the Pentagon and defense industries. Barstow reported that "the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform" media military analysts, many of whom have clients or work for companies with an interest in obtaining Pentagon contracts, "into a kind of media Trojan horse -- an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks." A Media Matters review found that since January 1, 2002, the analysts named in Barstow's article -- many identified as having ties to the defense industry -- collectively appeared or were quoted as experts more than 4,500 times on ABC, ABC News Now, CBS, CBS Radio Network, NBC, CNN, CNN Headline News, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, and NPR in segments covering the Iraq war both before and after the invasion, as well as numerous other national security or government policy issues.
A spreadsheet listing each of the analysts' appearances documented by Media Matters is available here...................

it's THEIR war

they created it (out of NOTHING i might add). they send our men and women into harm's way (while most of them either skipped service or were drunk and stoned the whole time they were serving their country in let's say a southern state instead of let's say viet nam). our men and women are coming back (the ones that ARE coming back NOT in a box) with health problems, maimed, with ptsd and OTHER issues.

king george and his court continue not only to spit on our constitution BUT spit on our service men and women as well
Pentagon’s Spin On GI Bill Is ‘Offensive Nonsense’
Posted by Jon Soltz, Think Progress
Yesterday, ThinkProgress highlighted the latest reason from the Bush administration to oppose a real GI Bill for troops, offered by Senators Webb and Hagel. The Pentagon spokesperson said, in part:
[W]e are certainly concerned that this would be eligible to them after only two years of service. We think pegging it to a longer period of service — the number we have in mind, at this point, is six years of service — that the longer you stay in, the sweeter the benefits are to you. Six years would show a commitment to service. … The last thing we want to do is provide a benefit — or the last thing we want to do is create a situation in which we are losing our men and women who we have worked so hard to train.
Wow. There are a few very serious flaws in this logic:
First, the time of service isn’t a measure of commitment to service. What about the troops who served under six years, did a few tours in Iraq, and came back without a limb, and could no longer serve? Have they shown less of a commitment to America? I would love for this spokesperson to go to Walter Reed and tell anyone there who served three years, but now cannot continue their service, that they haven’t shown a commitment.
Second, no one is leaving the military after two years. I’d note that when you sign up, it’s for an eight year contract, most for four years active..........................

i love when the media

(granted it isn't msm) makes 'em sweat, demands accountability AND honesty (well i can dream can't i????????)
White House Blacklist Breakthrough: Online media team up for free press victory
Eric Brewer
I thought it was shameful that 10 days after David Barstow's NY Times article about how the establishment media colluded with the Pentagon to sell the war in Iraq and the "war on terror" to the American people by hiring the Pentagon's "message force multipliers" as military analysts, no one had asked the White House about it.
I'd been trying, but I'd been on Dana Perino's 'blacklist' during my last six visits to the briefing room.
Today she again ignored me (I was sitting in the front row) until the very end of the briefing, when she was forced to call on me thanks to the intervention of Les Kinsolving of WorldNetDaily. Les had noticed at previous briefings that I was being singled out, and he thought it wasn't fair. Today he put Dana on the spot.
A video of this exchange is now available here.
Les Kinsolving: How about this gentleman's question? He's had his hand up all this time.Ms. Perino: Yes. I'm well aware. I'm sure it will be a great question. Go ahead.Me: The NY Times has reported that over the last...Ms. Perino: It's definitely going to be a good question.Me: ...over the last 6 years, the Pentagon conducted a secret operation designed to sell the war in Iraq and the 'war on terror' to the American people. It recruited more than 75 ex-military officers, many with financial ties to the defense industry, provided them with talking points and an extraordinary degree of access not available to ordinary members of the press, including meetings with the Secretary of Defense, and got them hired as supposedly independent military analysts by every U.S. television network. One of its participants described the program...Ms. Perino: Do you have a question?Me: One of its participants described the program as "Psyops on Steroids," and others said...Ms. Perino: Is this your opinion?Me: I'm describing the program.Ms. Perino: What's your question?Me: Others said that if they departed from the Pentagon's talking points, their access was cut off, and my question is: Did the White House know about and approve of this operation?..................

yet another telling episode

that will be ignored by the powers that be AND the american public. i guess they don't realize we have a system of justice in this country. i KNOW they would be outraged (and are outraged) if and when OUR citizens are treated exactly like we are treating some. the democrats in congress and the senate are sitting on their big fat asses. sure, they'll form some committee or another, sure they'll moan and gripe. BUT THEY WON'T DO AN EFFING THING. this has to not only be recognized for what it is (treason, crimes against humanity, crimes against the united states of america) BUT THOSE RESPONSIBLE BE MADE ACCOUNTABLE
From Chief Prosecutor To Critic at Guantanamo

By Josh WhiteWashington Post Staff Writer
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 28 -- The Defense Department's former chief prosecutor for terrorism cases appeared Monday at the controversial U.S. detention facility here to argue on behalf of a terrorism suspect that the military justice system has been corrupted by politics and inappropriate influence from senior Pentagon officials.
Sitting just feet from the courtroom table where he had once planned to make cases against military detainees, Air Force Col. Morris Davis instead took the witness stand to declare under oath that he felt undue pressure to hurry cases along so that the Bush administration could claim before political elections that the system was working.
His testimony in a small, windowless room -- as a witness for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, an alleged driver for Osama bin Laden -- offered a harsh insider's critique of how senior political officials have allegedly influenced the system created to try suspected terrorists outside existing military and civilian courts.
Davis's claims, which the Pentagon has previously denied, were aired here as the Supreme Court nears a decision on whether the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that laid the legal foundation for these hearings violates the Constitution by barring any of the approximately 275 remaining Guantanamo Bay prisoners from forcing a civilian judicial review of their detention. .........

how can king george and his court

claim iran is f**king up iraq and influencing iraq way too much when THEY ARE NOT ONLY DOING IT THEMSELVES THEY F**KING STARTED IT. they wrote the book on the subject. why is it ok for THEM to do it and not for others?

U.S. Weighing Readiness for Military Action Against Iran

By Ann Scott Tyson Washington Post Staff Writer
The nation's top military officer said yesterday that the Pentagon is planning for "potential military courses of action" as one of several options against Iran, criticizing what he called the Tehran government's "increasingly lethal and malign influence" in Iraq. Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a conflict with Iran would be "extremely stressing" but not impossible for U.S. forces, pointing to reserve capabilities in the Navy and Air Force.
"It would be a mistake to think that we are out of combat capability," he said at a Pentagon news conference. Speaking of Iran's intentions, Mullen said: "They prefer to see a weak Iraq neighbor. . . . They have expressed long-term goals to be the regional power." .......

number 4,011

BUT much much much more. and you were meant NOT to know that
to the family and friends of lt col billy hall, i am so very sorry for your loss.



What the Family Would Let You See, the Pentagon Obstructs


By Dana Milbank


Lt. Col. Billy Hall, one of the most senior officers to be killed in the Iraq war, was laid to rest yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery. It's hard to escape the conclusion that the Pentagon doesn't want you to know that. The family of 38-year-old Hall, who leaves behind two young daughters and two stepsons, gave their permission for the media to cover his Arlington burial -- a decision many grieving families make so that the nation will learn about their loved ones' sacrifice. But the military had other ideas, and they arranged the Marine's burial yesterday so that no sound, and few images, would make it into the public domain.
That's a shame, because Hall's story is a moving reminder that the war in Iraq, forgotten by much of the nation, remains real and present for some. Among those unlikely to forget the war: 6-year-old Gladys and 3-year-old Tatianna. The rest of the nation, if it remembers Hall at all, will remember him as the 4,011th American service member to die in Iraq, give or take, and the 419th to be buried at Arlington. Gladys and Tatianna will remember him as Dad. ......














Beyond the yellow rope is a grave that the family of Lt. Col. William G. Hall wanted to show you. (By Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post

further delving into

the pentagon supplying talking heads to msm outlets. this time, it's MORE than television (i posted the link to the original nyt article yesterday)

Pentagon's Media Manipulation on War Extended to Newspapers
By Greg Mitchell
NEW YORK The New York Times today published a massive piece by David Barstow on how the Pentagon for years has secretly deployed a large crew of retired military officers to flood the airwaves – network and cable – to offer pro-war talking points to the unsuspecting viewers (see other E&P articles on this site). The focus is on TV, not print, but Barstow does reveal that the Times itself published “at least” nine op-eds by members of the Pentagon’s military/media cabal, and the Pentagon helped two of them craft a Wall Street Journal piece. What may go overlooked, however, is that all of the leading newspapers also frequently quoted the same cabal members, always in support of the war and the administration.This is not to place the papers in the same category as the TV outlets which used these people 1) regularly 2) gave them true prominence and never asked questions and 3) often paid them per appearance. However, it will be interesting to trace how these same “analysts” got the talking points delivered via newspapers, as well. What follows are just some examples that E&P has identified so far, which happen to emerge from the pages of The New York Times. Other papers widely quoted the retired military officers, but the Times' archives is easier to search for this purpose. And, in fact, most of the "analysts" identified by name in the Barstow article today were never quoted much if at all by the paper previously..........