The Hollywood Liberal

AP
Murtha Cheered by Troops Returning Home.

Excerpt: congressman was calling the war a lost cause. Sixteen-term Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), a decorated Vietnam veteran and military hawk, has become the face of the Democrats’ anti-war movement since he called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops last fall. His oft-repeated criticism of the Bush administration’s war policies also has earned him the wrath of Republicans. In Murtha’s southwest Pennsylvania district, however, many share the war critic’s views. At a welcome home ceremony this week for Myers and other troops from the Johnstown, Pa.-based 876th Engineer Battalion, the crowd cheered when a Murtha aide welcomed the troops on the congressman’s behalf. Myers said he backs Murtha, an opinion echoed by a number of other troops and their families. Several share his frustration with the conflict. “I’m not sure we’re doing a whole lot of good,” Myers, 46, said of the U.S. presence in Iraq.

AP
Frist: Surrender in Iraq ‘not a solution’

Excerpt: WASHINGTON (AFP) – Some Democrats are having second thoughts about Hillary Clinton as their 2008 presidential candidate, wracked by doubts about her cross-party appeal, and disappointed by her position on US troops in Iraq. Those reservations were given expression last week at a forum in Washington of liberal Democrats, where the New York senator was roundly booed when she expressed her opposition to setting a date for withdrawing US troops from Iraq.

Truthdig
Robert Scheer: Hillary’s Shameful Straddling on Iraq

Excerpt How do you triangulate among death, hypocrisy and stupidity? Not at all logically, which is why Hillary Clinton’s dissembling on Iraq has become a fatal embarrassment not only for her but for anyone who hopes she can provide progressive leadership for the nation. If she has still not found the courage to reverse course on this disastrous war, why assume that as president she would behave any differently? It is unconscionable that those who can accurately measure the true cost of the Iraq folly in wasted lives and resources — more than 2,500 Americans, tens of thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of billions of dollars — dare prefer her to potential 2008 presidential election rivals John Kerry, Al Gore, Russ Feingold and John Edwards, who have all come to speak honestly of this quagmire and our need to extricate ourselves from it.

Soldiers For The Truth
Haditha And My Lai – No Comparison

Excerpt: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE HORRORS OF IRAQ BECOME TOO MUCH FOR A SOLDIER TO BEAR? BY NEIL MACKAY
When the news broke on allegations of Marine misconduct at the Iraqi village of Haditha, It did not take today’s generation of mass media morons even half a news cycle to vaguely recall that something bad had happened at a Vietnamese village called My Lai…. It is in this current PR campaign being waged by the political factions — those for and those against the current policies — that My Lai and Haditha most closely resemble each other. “Pro-war” and “Anti-war” faced off over My Lai, and the same is happening today. What is best and fairest, i.e., justice for the troops involved, does not seem to be a factor…. To save Defense Watch readers from having to do their own research on My Lai, although it is strongly encouraged, here’s some of the most pertinent data to keep in mind as the Haditha case slowly plays itself out… On March 16, 1968, an infantry company under the immediate command of Task Force Barker (named after Lt, Col Frank Barker, the TF commander) of the American Division’s 11th Light Infantry Brigade entered an undefended hamlet in central Vietnam near the South China Sea. In the space of four hours, members of the company murdered around 500 Vietnamese non-combatants — old men, women and children. At the time the actual butchery was underway, there was no pretense that these victims were collateral casualties who were dying as the consequence of legitimate military actions…. The company commander, Captain Ernest Medina, knew, or should have known, that mass murder was erupting all around him…. The principal subordinate “executioner,” Lieutenant William Calley not only knew full well that mass murder was occurring, but actively participated in the slaughter. As one book put it, “It was Calley who, seeing a baby at My Lai crawling away from a ditch already filled with dead and dying villagers, seized the child by the leg, threw it back in the pit, and shot it.” (From an excellent book, “Four Hours in My Lai,” by two British authors who also did a riveting television documentary that aired in the UK and on PBS here.) In an aspect little noted until decades later, the misconduct at My Lai included numerous sexual assaults, both rape and sodomy. Additionally, mutilations and other barbaric acts bespoke a unit totally without appropriate leadership. Good order and discipline, such as it existed, focused on ensuring that the innocents died.

Washington Post
New Book Reveals Inner Workings of Bush Administration.

Excerpt: Here’s another telling tale: “The book’s opening anecdote tells of an unnamed CIA briefer who flew to Bush’s Texas ranch during the scary summer of 2001, amid a flurry of reports of a pending al-Qaeda attack, to call the president’s attention personally to the now-famous Aug. 6, 2001, memo titled ‘Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US.’ Bush reportedly heard the briefer out and replied: ‘All right. You’ve covered your ass, now.’

MSNBC
7 Marines, 1 sailor charged with murder Excerpt: The case is separate from the alleged killing by other Marines of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha last November. A pair of investigations related to that case are still under way and no criminal charges have been filed.

Here’s a Dick Cheney Video where he says that No one anticipated Insurgency Strength, but he also says that he still believes the insurgency is in its final throes. So which is it Dick-boy. Typical lying as usual from The Prince of Darkness

Dick Cheney Speaks

News Items: Bill: If Hilary is Elected Pres. I’ll “do anything she wants”

See The Rest of The Strip Here

H.L. in Association with Special Ops. Media is giving away 4 Road to Guantanamo Prize Packs. You get 2 Tickets to the movie which opens on June 23rd, you also get a Road to Guantanamo Poster, like the one you see here. Check out my review of the film Which got the entire Right Wing Spin Machine in a Tizzy. I also did an Audio Interview with Director Mat Whitecross You have to live in a city that is showing the film to get the prizes, or be willing to go to one. (They are N.Y., L.A., S.F, Washington D.C., and Boston) This is a very important movie you don’t want to miss, and thanks to The H.L. you don’t even have to pay. email me at mail@thehollywoodliberal.com if you would like to go. First 4 that write in get the Tix.

Think Progress.org
Snow: There Is Too Much Focus on Kidnapped U.S. Soldiers

On Friday, two U.S. troops were kidnapped at a checkpoint in Iraq. They remain missing. This morning on Fox News Sunday, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow criticized the press for spending too much time covering their plight. Watch it:

Last week at a White House press briefing, Snow was asked for a reaction to the death toll for U.S. troops in Iraq reaching 2,500. Snow responded: “It’s a number.”

Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rummy Hate him because he spent 37 Years in The Military. They spent a combined total of 0.

 Another One from Think Progress.

Murtha on Rove: ‘He’s Sitting in His Air-Conditioned Office on His Big, Fat Backside, Saying Stay the Course’

 Karl Rove attacked Rep. John Murtha during a speech last week in New Hampshire. Rove described Murtha’s Iraq plan as “cutting and running,” and suggested that the 37-year Marine combat veteran would “be with you at the first shots” but not “for the last, tough battles.” Murtha defended himself this morning on Meet the Press:

 

 

Watch it MURTHA: He’s in New Hampshire. He’s making a political speech. He’s sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big, fat backside, saying stay the course. That’s not a plan. … We’ve got to change direction. You can’t sit there in the air-conditioned office and tell troops carrying 70 pounds on their backs, inside these armored vessels hit with IEDs every day, seeing their friends blown up, their buddies blown up — and he says stay the course? Easy to say that from Washington, DC.

Newsday

 Pardon talk for Libby begins

Excerpt: WASHINGTON — Now that top White House aide Karl Rove is off the hook in the CIA leak probe, President George W. Bush must weigh whether to pardon former vice presidential aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the only one indicted in the three-year investigation. Speculation about a pardon began in late October, soon after Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald unsealed the perjury indictment of Libby, and it continued last week after Fitzgerald chose not to charge Rove.

  The Information Clearinghouse

 FBI says, it has “No hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11

 Excerpt: In the e-mail, the question is asked, “Why doesn’t Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted poster make any direct connection with the events of September 11, 2001?” The FBI says on its Bin Laden web page that Usama Bin Laden is wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998 bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. According to the FBI, these attacks killed over 200 people. The FBI concludes its reason for “wanting” Bin Laden by saying, “In addition, Bin Laden is a suspect in other terrorists attacks throughout the world.” On June 5, 2006, the Muckraker Report contacted the FBI Headquarters, (202) 324-3000, to learn why Bin Laden’s Most Wanted poster did not indicate that Usama was also wanted in connection with 9/11. The Muckraker Report spoke with Rex Tomb, Chief of Investigative Publicity for the FBI. When asked why there is no mention of 9/11 on Bin Laden’s Most Wanted web page, Tomb said, “The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11.” Surprised by the ease in which this FBI spokesman made such an astonishing statement, I asked, “How this was possible?” Tomb continued, “Bin Laden has not been formally charged in connection to 9/11.”

Observer U.K.

How US hid the suicide secrets of Guantanamo Excerpt After three inmates killed themselves, the Pentagon declared the suicides an act of ‘asymmetric warfare’, banned the media and went on a PR offensive. But as despair grows within the camp, so too does outrage mount at its brutal and secretive regime

 Think Progress

 Snow Declares Resurgence of Taliban ‘Predictable,’ Bush Previously Said It Was ‘No Longer…In Existence’ Excerpt: BLITZER: Let’s move on and talk about some other issues. I know your time is limited. Afghanistan. Is the Taliban making a serious comeback right now? SNOW: I think what the Taliban is doing — and it’s predictable — is that they are trying to test in the south, where the U.S. forces are handing over to NATO…But A, it’s predictable, and B, in the encounters, as you know, the Taliban fighters have overwhelmingly been losing. Now, I think it is predictable…you can expect there to be pushback by the Taliban.

 USA Today

 Bill Clinton decries ‘divisive’ politics

Excerpt: LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton said Saturday that, if he returns to the White House in 2008 because his wife becomes president, his role would be to “do whatever she wants” because that’s what a good citizen would do. Clinton said he didn’t know if U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democrat from New York seeking re-election this year, would run for president in two years as some have speculated, but he predicted a woman could win the most powerful office in the world.

Washington Post

Relative of Republican Hill Panel Chairman Scrutinized.

 Excerpt: A stepdaughter of Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has a second Washington job, working for a lobbyist who has business before the committee. Julia Willis-Leon, who lives in Las Vegas, is a “strategic partner” in Potomac Partners DC LLC, President Richard Alcalde said in a recent interview. Alcalde said he has paid Willis-Leon $40,000 to $50,000 over the last year for advice on several clients.

Washington Post

The world’s most powerful military failed to provide the armor that would have saved scores of American lives. One father wouldlike to know why Excerpt Now, talking on the phone with his young warrior, Brian tried to understand what he was hearing. Don’t believe spinmeisters on TV, Brian recalls his son saying; the Iraqi insurgency is real and building. John and his buddies in Charlie Company of the 508th Infantry Regiment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade were patrolling ever longer distances in thin-skinned Humvees suited for hauling cargo, not for carrying soldiers under fire. This was not the first time John had confided that the U.S. military was failing to provide him with essential equipment. In previous calls home, Brian recalls, John recounted a bewildering array of shortages and snafus. Before landing in Iraq that scorching July, John told his father, he’d been issued a winter-weight camouflage suit, body armor with protective plates too small to shield his broad chest, and a broken rifle. An expert marksman and former co-captain of the Bedford High School shooting team, John had been told to conserve scarce bullets by not taking practice shots to sight his weapon, he said. Summertime water rations were so inadequate that guys were passing out in the Iraqi heat.

 Brad Blog

Declare ‘NO CONFIDENCE’ in Reported Busby/Bilbray Election Results!

Excerpt: Join PDA, The BRAD BLOG, Tribune Media’s Bob Koehler, VelvetRevolution.us and thousands of Americans so far, in declaring NO CONFIDENCE in the reported results of the Busby/Bilbray special U.S. House of Representative run-off election last week in California’s 50th congressional district! See how poll workers taking the voting machines home for overnights days before the election rendered them uncertifed and illegal for use by both State and Federal standards, leaving the announced results wholly unverifiable at this time.

From a Bush Fan.

“”Do we really need 6 multi million dollar F16 Attack Hornets”” What the hell is this? If u want F-16 that’s called Falcon, Hornets are F/A
18 u moron.
So I sugest u check what a hell u talking about u bitch before u start
publishing that crap.
By the way do u know that I hate liberals. U f**king b*****s thing that u
are the best and u can do whatever u want? what a f**k? U suckers are just
complaining about mr president George W. Bush, but I’ll tell u something u
are NOt even from one hundreth as good as he u f**kg assholes. Liberalism
is just selfdestructive crap, which causes more dmage than good. And u
should know it u liberal idiots. Do u know that even newborn is capable of
better sugestions than u are.
Why don’t u all pack ur f***ing asses ang go to russia, thats where u belong
u f***ing morons, U still think that u can cause problems to America, go to
hell u f****ing bastards. Even a diarrhea is more pleasant than u f****ing
liberals.
I’ll tell u something just go to hell u f***ing bastards, U are nothing but
just a bunch of lousy assholes.
I would like to tell u to kiss my ass but I’m not gonna do that because,
detest u, f***ers

H.L. Responds
In the first place, the first sentence about Attack Helicopters, I have no idea what you are talking about. How about specifying what it is you think I said. I don’t remember ever talking about Attack Hornets; I wouldn’t know what they are anyway. As for the rest of your note, I hate you and all Bush lickers just as much as you hate me. You people are the reason this country is so screwed up. I can tell by your writing that you are an educated man. Why is it that everyone that loves Bush writes like a 5 year old. You obviously are a clueless moron, so of course I am going to take what you say to Heart.
Oh, and I love America, that is why I fight to save if from you people who wouldn’t know an original idea if it bit you in your fat ass. If you don’t like it, why don’t you move to Iraq? By the way if you love Bush so much why aren’t you over there fighting his war for him you chickenhawk. I guess you don’t mind that 2,500 soldiers are dead, as long as it isn’t you. Liberals are here to stay, better get used to it. Now go watch Fox news so you can get more of your Scholarly Education