BottleOfBlog

Three Years After September 11th, Bush Orders National Security Team To Take All Actions Necessary To Get bin Laden

GRAND RAPIDS , Michigan (CNN) -- President Bush instructed top homeland and national security advisers Saturday to "take all actions that might be necessary" to respond to a new message from Osama bin Laden, the White House said.

Why, if Bush is serious about terrorism, would it even be necessary for Bush to instruct his homeland and national security imbeciles to “take all actions that might be necessary” to respond to bin Laden’s new message???

I mean, you’d think, after bin Laden fucking blew up the Trade Towers, exploded part of the Pentagon and killed about three thousand Americans they’d already have that fucking instruction!!!

Why on earth would it be necessary to instruct them about going after bin Laden now???

Wouldn't you think that's kind of a standing order or something???

[bin Laden] underscored it was U.S. foreign policy that led to the September 11 attacks, saying, "Bush says and claims that we hate freedom, let him tell us then, 'Why did we not attack Sweden?' "

Osama, if you want an honest answer to your question, you’re going to have to pick a different country. Bush, in case you weren’t aware, isn’t quite sure which one is Sweden, and which one is Switzerland.

Try France. He knows that one. That’s the one with that guy he hates.

What An Idiot

ORLANDO , Fla. (Reuters) - President Bush, following new threats by Osama bin Laden, accused Democratic rival John Kerry on Saturday of weakness and inaction and said the election boils down to a matter of "Who do you trust?"

Well, I certainly don’t trust the guy who said he wanted bin Laden “dead or alive” and then completely forgot about him and didn’t even mention him for a couple of years.

I mean, is Bush really saying Americans need to vote for him because, since he failed to capture or kill bin Laden three years after September 11th, the world is still dangerous??? Is he really trying to say only he can keep the country safe from the guy he hasn’t been able to catch for the last three years???

It's a mindnumbingly stupid thing to say.

If we could trust Bush, we’d already have bin Laden by now.

Bush Suddenly Concerned About Halliburton Contracts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' top contracting official on Friday called the government's grant of multi-billion dollar contracts to oil services giant Halliburton the worst case of contracting abuse she has ever seen.

"It was misconduct, and part of that misconduct was blatant," said Bunny Greenhouse, in an interview on NBC's Nightly News program.

Greenhouse has already demanded an investigation into the contracts that last year were granted to Halliburton, the energy services firm run by Vice President Dick Cheney from 1995-2000. According to her attorney, the FBI has since asked her for an interview on the matter.

A spokesman for President Bush on Friday said the president expects a full investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in how Iraq-related contracts were awarded to Halliburton.

"If there is wrongdoing, the president expects it to be investigated fully and dealt with," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters traveling with Bush to New Hampshire.

Oh, please. People--including soldiers in the field--have been screaming bloody murder about Halliburton's contracts and practices for eighteen months and Bush hasn't done dick about it. Neither have Republicans in Congress.

Nothing.

And now these sumbitches are trying to tell us that, if George W. Bush is re-elected, he fully expects Hallifburton to be investigated? Shit, maybe Cheney can head a fact finding commission.

Hey, George, if you're really troubled by all this war profiteering, what the fuck have you been waiting for? Bullshitter.

Military Commanders Outwardly Upbeat About Iraq; Privately Concede A Typical Bush Nightmare

WASHINGTON , Oct. 30 - Senior American military commanders and civilian officials in Iraq are speaking more candidly about the hurdles that could jeopardize their plans to defeat an adaptive and tenacious insurgency and hold elections in January.

Outwardly, they give an upbeat assessment that the counterinsurgency is winnable. But in interviews with 15 of the top American generals, admirals and embassy officials conducted in Iraq in late October, many described risks that could worsen the security situation and derail the political process that they are counting on to help quell the insurgency.

Commanders voiced fears that many of Iraq's expanding security forces, soon to be led by largely untested generals, have been penetrated by spies for the insurgents. Reconstruction aid is finally flowing into formerly rebel-held cities like Samarra and other areas, but some officers fear that bureaucratic delays could undermine the aid's calming effects.

They also spoke of new American intelligence assessments that show that the insurgents have significantly more fighters - 8,000 to 12,000 hard-core militants - and far greater financial resources than previously estimated.

Perhaps most disturbing, they said, is the militants' campaign of intimidation to silence thousands of Iraqis and undermine the government through assassinations, kidnappings, beheadings and car bombings. New gangs specializing in hostage-taking are entering Iraq, intelligence reports indicate.

But Bush and Cheney are still calling Iraq a "remarkable success". Vote these fucking delusional, incompetent clowns out!

Bush Administration Disputes Bush Administration As Source Of Credible Information

WASHINGTON , Oct. 30 - The broadcast of a new videotape from Osama bin Laden prompted Senator John Kerry on Friday to renew his criticism that President Bush had the leader of Al Qaeda cornered in the rugged mountains of Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in December 2001, but "outsourced" the job of killing or capturing him to unreliable Afghan warlords.

Mr. Kerry's accusation has elements of truth, but is also somewhat exaggerated, military commanders and Pentagon officials say. Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the commander of American forces in Afghanistan at the time, said this month that Mr. Kerry's "understanding of events doesn't square with reality."

Really? Mr. Kerry is exaggerating? And Tommy Franks and military commanders and Pentagon officials dispute Kerry’s account?

The Bush administration has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle for Tora Bora late last year and that failure to commit U.S. ground troops to hunt him was its gravest error in the war against al Qaeda, according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge.

Intelligence officials have assembled what they believe to be decisive evidence, from contemporary and subsequent interrogations and intercepted communications, that bin Laden began the battle of Tora Bora inside the cave complex along Afghanistan's mountainous eastern border. Though there remains a remote chance that he died there, the intelligence community is persuaded that bin Laden slipped away in the first 10 days of December.

After-action reviews, conducted privately inside and outside the military chain of command, describe the episode as a significant defeat for the United States. A common view among those interviewed outside the U.S. Central Command is that Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the war's operational commander, misjudged the interests of putative Afghan allies and let pass the best chance to capture or kill al Qaeda's leader. Without professing second thoughts about Tora Bora, Franks has changed his approach fundamentally in subsequent battles, using Americans on the ground as first-line combat units.

Amazing, isn’t it? Kerry is basically quoting the Bush administration and the Bush administration is saying Kerry’s “understanding of events doesn’t square with reality”.

And the fucking New York Times prints it.

More Americans Dead For No WMDs, No Terrorist Ties, No bin Laden

BAGHDAD , Iraq, Oct. 30 - Eight marines were killed and nine others wounded west of the capital on Saturday when a suicide car bomb rammed into their convoy, military officials said, making it the deadliest day for the American forces in half a year.

Here in Baghdad, insurgents staged their first major assault on a news media organization by detonating a car bomb outside the offices of a popular Arab news network, killing at least 7 people and wounding about 19 others, police and hospital officials said.

Well, At Least It Was A Football Score This Week

COLUMBUS , Ohio (AP) — Ted Ginn returned a punt 67 yards for a touchdown and Tyler Everett ran back an interception for another score to lead Ohio State to a 21-10 win over Penn State on Saturday.

…

Penn State ran 16 plays in Ohio State territory in the opening half (twice as many as the Buckeyes did on the Nittany Lions' side of the field), had a 13-4 upper hand in first downs and a 157-63 advantage in total yards. Yet the Buckeyes led 21-7 thanks to two Penn State turnovers, a long kick return by Maurice Hall and Ginn's big punt return.

…

Ohio State ran a total of six plays and netted just 12 yards in the first quarter but led 14-0.

How the fuck can you score ten points and have your defense only give up seven--on a short field, to boot--and still fucking lose?

Don't answer. It's rhetorical. I saw it.

Any other team in the country with the Lion's defense would be undefeated.

GOP Celebrates Bush's Failure To Capture Or Kill bin Laden, Call Terrorist's Threats Against America "A Little Gift"

With his typical flair for drama, Osama Bin Laden inserted himself directly into the presidential election yesterday, and both parties believed it would boost President Bush's reelection hopes.

Bin Laden popping up like a malignant jack-in-the-box four days before the balloting may bolster John Kerry's argument that Bush should have finished wiping out Al Qaeda before turning his attention to Iraq.

But it also refocused the nation on terrorism, which polls show helps Bush. And it reminds voters of their horror on Sept. 11 and Bush's well-received response, as well as obliterating the recent flood of bad news for Bush.

"We want people to think 'terrorism' for the last four days," said a Bush-Cheney campaign official. "And anything that raises the issue in people's minds is good for us."

A senior GOP strategist added, "anything that makes people nervous about their personal safety helps Bush."

He called it "a little gift," saying it helps the President but doesn't guarantee his reelection.

I don’t know. I’m trying really hard here to be a “good” American, like this “senior” GOP strategist, but try as I might, I just can’t get excited about the fact that bin Laden is still alive and on the loose and threatening further terrorist attacks against the United States.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I was kind of hoping the sumbitch was dead.

I guess that’s why I’m a democrat. I just don’t understand this kind of war.

Because, to me, that's seriously fucked up that a "senior GOP strategist" cares more about the re-selection of George W. Bush than catching or killing the man who killed three thousand Americans.

To me, anyone who calls bin Laden's survival and re-emergence "a little gift" is an asshole.

Oh, Brother

Question: Some Iowa players and some of your players said that the Iowa defense often called out your plays when the offense lined up Saturday. Does that concern you?

Paterno: It does, if they are right. Yes, it should concern me. It concerns me if it is accurate. Let’s leave it at that.

Hey, Joe, my mom calls out your plays when your offense lines up. Sometimes from the laundry room.

Friday Cat Blogging

Dean, Sammie, Frank--hep cats, man.