From Wayne Madsen's website
May 17, 2006 -- LATE EDITION -- WMR can report tonight on more details concerning the confusing reports regarding Karl Rove and Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald from last Friday. WMR can confirm that the appearance of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before the Grand Jury at the US Federal Courthouse in Washington was a formality in which the jury informed the Attorney General of their decision to indict Karl Rove. That proceeding lasted for less than 30 minutes and took place shortly after noon. Gonzales's personal security detachment was present in the courthouse during the Grand Jury briefing. From the courthouse, Gonzales's motorcade proceeded directly down Constitution Avenue to the Department of Justice.
According to sources within the Patton and Boggs law firm, Karl Rove was present at the law firm's building on M Street. WMR was told by a credible source that a Patton and Boggs attorney confirmed that Fitzgerald paid a visit to the law firm to inform Rove attorney Robert Luskin and Rove that an indictment would be returned by the Grand Jury against Rove. Contrary to other reports, some of which may have emanated from the Rove camp in order to create diversions and smokescreens, the meetings at Patton and Boggs did not last 15 hours nor was a 24-hour notice of intent to indict delivered to Rove. In the Scooter Libby case last October, after the Grand Jury decided to indict Libby on Friday, October 21 and the Attorney General personally heard the decision the same day at a meeting with the jury, the actual indictment was issued the following Friday, October 28. Several sources have told WMR that an announcement concerning the indictment of Rove will be made on Friday, May 19 generally following the same scenario from October 28, 2005 -- the posting of the indictment on the Special Prosecutor's web site followed by a press conference at Main Justice.
WMR was also told by a credible source that part of the reason for Fitzgerald's visit to Patton and Boggs was to inform Rove attorney Luskin that he has moved into the category of a "subject" of the special prosecutor's investigation as a result of a conversation with Time reporter Viveca Novak, in which Novak told Luskin that Rove was a source for Time's Matt Cooper. The special prosecutor, who has prosecuted one defense attorney in the Hollinger case, is reportedly investigating whether Luskin, as an officer of the court, may have violated laws on obstruction of justice.
WMR has also discovered that last year Rove, realizing he remained a lightning rod in the CIA Leakgate scandal, made preliminary plans to move into the private sector from the White House to take political heat off the Bush administration. However, as it became clear that he was in over his head legally and his legal bills piled up, Rove decided to remain at the White House.
Posted by suds at May 18, 2006 03:51 AMYou know....
If conservatives read this report they will say that publicizing stuff like this is simply giving aid and support to the enemy. They will say that reports like these sap the will of Americans to win the fight and firm the resolve of the enemy to continue the fight against us.
I don't understand why they will not say that it is the murder of innocent Iraqis, not the reporting of the murder, that weakens America and strengthens our enemies.
I just don't get it.
Posted by michael at May 18, 2006 05:01 AMNot off-topic. This miasma - created by these people - interesting how some of them appear to be "repositioning" themselves with exquisite timing - i.e., just when the "herd" seems to be coming round from the chloroform - anyway, this miasma, whipped up and pumped out by these people, is exactly like London's 19th-century fog. It's everywhere. And given that it wasn't fog - oh no... don't kid yourself, it was the effloresence - hardly the mot juste, but never mind - of everything that was foetid and foul and filthy and horrible. You breathed it you were breathing turds. And corrupt and rotting flesh. Etc. So since they've enveloped us in this filth - their filth...since it's everywhere...no, this isn't off-topic.
It's a grab from something I just put up at Helena Cobban's Just World News site. And Digby's. A heads up about Billmon's latest post...which, like this LC one, is required reading.
Helena,
Billmon (www.billmon.org) has a harrowing and lapidary piece up about Haditha. A piece which should be required reading the length and breadth of the United States...and elsewhere. Should be required reading because it crystallizes what this "war of choice" is doing to our two peoples.
In his words, "now it appears that instead of a symbolic My Lai, we have the genuine article."
Fifteen unarmed Iraqi civilians murdered in cold blood by U.S. Marines. Seven of them children, one of whom was a little three year old girl. Three of the adults were women, one of them the grandmother. Her husband, the grandfather, was one of the adult men.
I think the Boots people should create a special, separate "shrine" there showing fifteen pairs of Iraqi shoes and sandals. Seven of them children's sandals. One of those pairs ever so tiny - to fit the feet of the little three-year-old girl shot in the head at point blank range.
And maybe a Koran should be placed side-by-side with the U.S. Military's Code of Conduct or whatever it's called. The Koran because according to the little girl who survived the massacre her father had taken their Koran and was praying over it. Praying for his family. When the Marines came to their house to liberate them.
Fiends. Moloch. Rough beasts slouching toward...
Bush. Cheney. Perle. Wolfowitz. Rumsfeld. Feith. Munch's The Scream. Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The horror. The horror. Disintegration. Black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand...that which the eye fears to see when it is done. Words not able to express...pressure of reality shredding, fragmenting thought, phrases. Chaos. Darkness. Death. Nothingness.
Pessimist, I'm usually in synch with you, but this incident would have happened whether or not the soliders were DOOM players. This happens in every war where young men lose a comrade in the heat of battle and snap. I suspect the number of such incidents is a lot higher than what the MSM reports...
Posted by Roy Batty at May 18, 2006 05:15 AMI'm with Roy, there's no evidence they did play video games, is there? That's a whole other issue.
It appears the Pentagon had to admit to it, even though they tried to cover up the incident - there's video of the aftermath. This is what war does to people pushed to the limit for no legitimate reason, having listened to their leaders, and Rush on AFR demonizing the Iraqis day in, day out. Games (except the kind Rummy and Cheney are playing with all our lives) had nothing to do with this.
Posted by iamcoyote at May 18, 2006 05:23 AMYes Iraq is like Vietnam. Don't be too quick to blame the marines. This is what happens when you put young men in a place they shouldn't be, a place where most of the population hates them and is trying to kill them. Its's what happened in Vietnam under the same circumstances and they didn't have videogames back then.
Posted by Ron In Portland at May 18, 2006 05:47 AMBt tht's wht t's ll bt, blm th Mrns nd by ssctn mrc bfr ll th fcts r n.
[Editor: ignore=off]What's saddest is that so many turn a blind eye to the fact that war is a horrific mind-fuck for anyone made to participate in one.
George Bush chose this!
George Bush chose it.
Posted by snark at May 18, 2006 06:04 AMHere's the thing: this is what war does to men who are constantly under threat of death by the enemy (or civilians who might resemble the enemy). Hello, Vietnam? If you think you'd react any differently in similar circumstances then you're fooling yourself.
We should fear for our soldiers, for our sons, because they will change after so long away, after seeing the terrible things they see, after not knowing who to trust and who to fear, after being trapped in a situation they can't leave. ANYONE would - you, your son, brother, father. It's not just their lives that are at risk, but their innocence, their minds, and their souls.
When the soldiers can't escape the threat of "maybe today I'll die," when they wake up and realize they have to go back into it again, and again, and again, do you honestly think they can look at the country they're stuck in or its people, after months and years, with anything but dread and ever growing resentment?
Tell me what video game has constant IEDs blowing up around you, without pattern, without reason? What video game might leave you without arms or legs, but you have to continue playing on some other level? Has nothing to do with video games. But it has everything to do with the fact that the soldiers are as human as everyone else. Seems to me that many who lead the military view the soldiers as expendable. Unlike Bush, Cheney, or Rove - men who have never experienced such circumstances - Jack Murtha is calling on troop withdrawal because, I believe, he cares about the welfare of the troops - mentally and physically.
Anyone Think Things will be Better Six Months from Now? Today marks 6 months since I introduced my resolution calling for the redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq. Over these past 6 months things have gotten worse, not better. Those who disagree with me argue "we can't just leave," but they have no plan to make things better. The fact is the success of Iraq is up to the Iraqis.Posted by anonymous at May 18, 2006 06:07 AMThe Iraqis must settle their differences and we must set a timetable for the Iraqis to take complete control of their country.
I'm so disgusted with this war and the damage it's doing to both the civilian population and the soldier's that I can't comment on it coherently.
This is a retaliation attack for their buddy.
A group of young guys with automatic guns got out of hand. I can imagine the trauma of seeing one of my friends getting blown up then trying to be rational. They lost their professionalism, plain and simple. Now it will cost them.
Of course it won't cost Crummy, bu$h or darth cheney but the simple soldier, who has to face danger everyday. Those who deal with life or death sitiuations on day to day basis.
Like Abu Gharib, those placed in a sitution they shouldn't be in the first place.
My hearts go out to the Iraqi's and the soldier's in bu$hworld!!
What a fucking mess. Period.
And, pess, what are you thinking? You've jumped directly into the logical head-up-your-ass twittery that blamed Columbine and other school shootings exclusively on violent video games and TV.
Posted by idiosynchronic at May 18, 2006 06:41 AMI met an intallligence officer who served in Vietnam. He said that the decision to go to war has to come with the understanding that horrible things will happen. I believe that civilian ledership is always responsible for the conduct of troops in the field.
Posted by Killer at May 18, 2006 06:50 AMYeah, I can spell "intelligence".
Posted by Killer at May 18, 2006 06:55 AMBendito, the facts ARE in, you fool!
The Pentagon official report will conclude that the marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood". What about this is provisional, or awaiting further inquiry? How are you able to balance a checkbook? Or make a left turn?
And, yes, these marines ARE blameworthy, whatever "pressure" they were under. (Sounds more like brutal retribution than "pressure", but whatever). They knew exactly what they were doing: killing defenseless civilians, including children. It wasn't an "accident".
Our gallant generals assure us constantly of the troops extreme "professionalism" that guarantees a bare minimum of civilian casualties.
Like all militarist apologetics, it's complete bullshit: soldiers kill alot of people, it's what they're equipped to do. It's not "collateral damage"; It's what soldiers do.
We must get out of our insane militarist mindset! War is invariably clumsy, brutal and filled with egregious, deadly human errors. It is not "professional", "surgical" or "technical", no matter how much we are deceitfully told it is.
Conservatives want more war, not less.
Posted by euzoius at May 18, 2006 07:12 AMThe dogs of war are loose. Videogames may or may not have contributed, but the dogs of war have always left the same result in their wake.
Posted by Mike at May 18, 2006 07:18 AMThis is what happens when you claim to be "liberating" a people from--themselves. You end up not knowing, or caring, who you shoot. For the consumption of the american people, our soldiers are liberating the real iraqis from foreign fighters, terrorists, and insurgents from the baath party. As for our soldiers, they are still being told (or permitted to believe) thatthey are avenging 9/11 and that all Iraqis are the enemy, or the potential enemy. There is no excuse for this, but there is also no surprise. It was only a matter of time before an incident such as this was revealed--I urge everyone to read the recent times account of the mentally unstable young soldier who just killed himself. One of the signs of mental trouble--or the reality in which he found himself-was endlessly watching footage of dead abnd mutilated bodies in iraq, including women and children. When his sister challenged him on the morality of looking at these pictures recreationally he responded "what difference does it make, they're already dead."
The iraqis are already dead to our soldiers, they are dead as a people and as individuals as long as some iraqis keep fighting for freedom from the occupation. The entire country will become a killing ground in which our forces are just some of many who have lost all moral compass.
aimai
Posted by aimai at May 18, 2006 07:25 AMGlad others have picked up on the silly "video games" reference. As if war were nice before Id Software got into the act.
I'd add that in a lot of videogames, even some of the more sociopathic ones, you are penalized for shooting the wrong person, up to and including immediate mission failure. Sometimes it's a pity real life isn't more like a game.
Posted by sagesource at May 18, 2006 07:47 AMeuzoius and aimai - shut the fuck up. Your passivist / agressive finger pointing, as usual, helps no one. Not the Iraqis, not the soldiers, not "our own moral compasses."
You and you alone are the small bright candles in a dark time with your "inner knowledge of peace and morality," right? Mental masturbation.
Go smoke another joint.
Posted by anonymous at May 18, 2006 07:50 AM"pacifist" "passive/agressive" who knows?
Posted by webster at May 18, 2006 08:25 AMCAn't think of anything more aggressively passive agressive than to post anonymously. At least people here, and on other forums, always know "who" I am, and that I stand behind my comments and am responsible for them. And yeah, I've got a moral compass--too bad you have thrown yours away.
aimai
Posted by aimai at May 18, 2006 08:37 AMaimai, There was this discussion just the other day about how great a poster you were and are.
Keep up the good work.
This kind of shit is why war is a last resort.
These Iraqis are murdered, these marines are morally destroyed, and meanwhile the agitators of these horrific crimes sign themselves more tax cuts.
Justice must come soon, and come brutally.
Posted by God Of War at May 18, 2006 08:59 AMaimai, my sentiments exactly. It was just another angry, angry, drive-by troll. Fuggeddaboutit.
And SOS is right, we think you're the best!
Posted by iamcoyote at May 18, 2006 09:00 AMI'll eagerly await your well-considered condemnation of this action, "anon", after the Marine Corps itself issues its report. Unless you'd care to offer an actual argument (now) justifying the Marine actions as reported.
It appears you are irritated with, and would like to censor, dissenting views. Do you just wish with all your heart that such views could be silenced?
An important universal component of extreme militarism is veneration of the nation's soldiers; they can never, ever be in the wrong or behave badly. To condemn the action of any soldier is to condemn the fatherland, oops.....homeland.
And as though only two posters on this little blog are condemning these actions. There's an ocean of candles out there, even in the Prussia of the 21st Century.
If you don't like it, hasten yourself to another blog, or make an actual argument in support of your views, whatever they might be on the subject.
Posted by euzoius at May 18, 2006 09:07 AMAlmost forgot to mention that I'm a fan of euzoius, as well. We love ya, man!
Posted by iamcoyote at May 18, 2006 09:51 AMI love this la-la fingers in the ears, dont talk about anything bad and rain on my parade and "empower the enemy" bull sh*t. As if we didnt see all of this coming. Anon, your anti-citizenship, anti-diplomacy, anti-rites of civilisation delusions are so irredeemably arrogant and morally bankrupt as to be beyond comprehension. You enabled this nightmare and now you cant effing deal with the realization. Fucking asshole.
Posted by jondee at May 18, 2006 12:03 PMDon't be too quick to blame the marines.
What the fuck are you talking about? THEY MURDERED CHILDREN. There is nothing in military training that suggests lining up women and children noncombatants and shooting them in the head is an appropriate response to any situation. This is not a case where children got caught in the crossfire or an errant bomb. How can you be an apologist for such an act?
Iraq - It just isn't like Grand Theft Auto, Quake, or Doom, is it?
I like the metaphor. Rather than take it as meaning these video games somehow resulted in the murders, I think it suggests that the consequences of murder and death in video games are not the same consequences faced in reality. These are real people who died, not images. The blood was real, not a graphic.
blame the Marines and by association America before all the facts are in
And you. Please believe me, I most sincerely blame this on people like you. Without a doubt, you supported this shit in its entirety. I'll be glad when people like you are scrubbed from this society. And the NSA tools you are leaving us will allow just that to happen.
Posted by phidipides at May 18, 2006 12:07 PMthese soldiers, and their officers should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, this is a war crime and while extenuating circumstances of the stress of this shitty war should enter, these marines in this case deserve more than 6 months in the brig and a DH discharge...
having said that ...I would not indict all Marines or all of the grunts that as many on this post have said, are in a bad situation that they should not be in....
I agree with "killer" ...hold the civilian "leadership" fully responsible for this atrocity...
"Truth lives on in the midst of deception." Johann Friedrich Von Schiller
And these psychopaths have the balls to try to push that Iran shit..
Posted by jondee at May 18, 2006 01:53 PM