Bush Enlists Baghdad Bloggers

The Skinny: President Cites Online Reports From Residents That Say Iraqi Capital Is Safer

(CBS)  The Skinny is Joel Roberts' take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.

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In what may be a first, the New York Times reports President Bush cited bloggers – Iraqi bloggers – in a speech Wednesday to back up claims that his troop buildup in Iraq is working.

"They have bloggers in Baghdad, just like we’ve got here," Mr. Bush said. He then went on quote them directly: "We feel safer about moving in the city now. Our people want to see this effort succeed. We hope the governments in Baghdad and America do not lose their resolve.”

Mr. Bush, who has criticized the use of anonymous sources, did not identify the bloggers, and neither did a White House spokeswoman who was pressed about their identities. They were only revealed later as two brothers, both dentists, who write an English language blog, Iraq.themodel.com.

Bush Wages Two-Front War With Democrats

Two political battles in Washington pitting the White House against congressional Democrats continued to dominate the front pages of the nation's major newspapers Thursday morning.

The increasingly bitter fight between President Bush and Democratic leaders over setting a timetable for a withdrawal from Iraq is featured on page one of the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, and is the top item in the Wall Street Journal's news box.

The Post highlights Wednesday's war of words, with the president charging that Democrats would be blamed if a spending bill for the war is held up, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi firing back that Mr. Bush needs to "Calm down with the threats. There's a new Congress in town."

The Journal says the skirmish is "fast becoming a contest over who will blink first," while the L.A. Times says the White House and Congress are "careening toward their biggest policy confrontation in more than a decade."

The New York Times says the clash with Congress over Iraq, paired with the second big conflict, over the firings of those eight federal prosecutors, "puts Mr. Bush in the difficult position of fighting the new Democratic majority on two fronts."

On the firings flap, the Times reports that Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales faced "blunt criticism" at a private meeting this week with U.S. Attorneys who remain on the job, who complained that the dismissals had undermined morale. The Times says several prosecutors told Gonzales the firings had made them wonder about their own job security and were a distraction to staffers.

That controversy is expected to heat up even more with today's scheduled Senate testimony by Gonzales' former top aide, Kyle Sampson, which the L.A. Times says "is expected to go a long way toward deciding" Gonzales' fate.


The Bill Clinton Factor

There's been much discussion in political circles about how Bill Clinton will impact his wife's campaign for president. Will the former president, and his closet full of skeletons, be a drag on Sen. Hillary Clinton's bid for the White House?

The answer is no, according to a new USA Today/Gallup Poll. The survey finds that 70 percent of Americans think Bill Clinton will do more good than harm to Hillary's campaign.

The poll finds, however, that questions about the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the Clintons' marriage remain close to the surface, and voters expect both Democratic and Republican opponents to make those things issues in the campaign.

But Democratic strategist Susan Estrich says that while Democratic "elites" may be concerned about Bill Clinton, typical voters aren't. "There's all this talk out there," Estrich said, but it won't matter unless "a smoking gun in a blue dress" steps forward.

Bill Clinton remains a popular figure, according to the poll, with an approval rating of 60 percent, versus 38 percent disapproval. That's better than his wife, whose approval rating is split: 48 percent favorable, 48 percent unfavorable.


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I count 243 casualties since the beginning of this year with a very high proportion being in or very near Baghdad. Safer !!!!! ..... you have to have your head deep in the Iraqi sand to believe that. Not only should we remove our troops from a war that was started with totally false pretenses, we should with all haste, start impeachment processes against Mr. Bush, who in my opinion, believes his personal agenda's are exempt from the laws of the Constitution and the Democratic process of the United States. I have a greater fear of Mr. Bush and his policies than any threat posed by Iraq.

[irishbitch1]

Our "president" is a moron!

[realpatriot1]

"We hope the Iraqi and American governments don't lose their resolve"? That's how regular Iraqis talk, with politio-speak catch phrases?

I hope the "surge" works better than the last dozen surges but forgive me if I'm not buying this ***!

How about we declare the surge a success and let the Iraqi Army take over the patrols...that's what will spell success!

[truthword]

Hey Bluestardad, those ALCIADA sites are all hosted at another one of bush buddies company in Houston Texas called "Everyones Internet" owned by Robert Marsh a good friend of the Bush Crime Family. Go do an internet search keywords.. Robert Marsh Terror sites or everyones internet terrorism... etc etc... it's all there... People need to wake up.

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HEY I WONDER IF THIS CREW IS THE SAME WEB BASED CREW THAT RELEASES THE BIN LADEN VIDEOS FROM TIME TO TIME? JUST WHEN BUSHS COOKIES ARE ON FIRE AGAIN!
Posted by bluestardad at 07:35 AM : Mar 30, 2007

[bluestardad]

HEY I WONDER IF THIS CREW IS THE SAME WEB BASED CREW THAT RELEASES THE BIN LADEN VIDEOS FROM TIME TO TIME? JUST WHEN BUSHS COOKIES ARE ON FIRE AGAIN!

[truthword]

hosted by hotbasket.com which appears to be a place that simply sells overpriced domain names, and not very good ones. Fact is this "blog" is ran by that media company Start Media based in Northern Virginia... ahh northern virginia, I wonder if they have an office in the pentagon? lol..

[truthword]

Company Description

We are StartMedia, an Interactive Media Agency specializing in online solutions for small and medium sized businesses. We consult and collaborate with our clients to build corporate image branding, internet sites, intranets and extranets, and other interactive products. Originally founded in 1998 in historic Charlottesville, the company now resides in the Information Technology Corridor of Northern Virginia.


Web References

Web design solutions, interactive multimedia solutions, marketing solutions: StartMedia.
www.startmedia.com/classic/about/index.htm
Last Visited: 1/7/2004

We are StartMedia, an Interactive Media Agency specializing in online solutions for small and medium sized businesses. We consult and collaborate with our clients to build corporate image branding, internet sites, intranets and extranets, and other interactive products. Originally founded in 1998 in historic Charlottesville, the company now resides in the Information Technology Corridor of Northern Virginia.

It's sad they aren't even good liars lol, even I could have covered my tracks better than these guys did hehe.... I'll show you where it's hosted at in a minute... all the Al CIADA "terror" sites are hosted on a server in houston texas at a company called EVERYONES INTERNET owned by a bush crime family friend.

[truthword]

lol the site is ran by a media company

Registrant:
Startmedia nv
Oeverstraat 11
Lokeren, OVL B9160
BE

Domain Name: THEMODEL.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Startmedia nv
Christoph De Vos
Oeverstraat 11
Lokeren, OVL B9160
BE
[phone]
[phone] [fax]
http://www.emailaddressprotection.com [email]

Domain created on 14-Jul-1997
Domain expires on 13-Jul-2007
Last updated on 08-Apr-2006

Domain servers in listed order:

BUYDOMAINS1.DOMAINDISCOVER.COM
BUYDOMAINS2.DOMAINDISCOVER.COM

[truthword]

Check out the Iran article, they got a fake Iranian holding up a sign in well written english, that says to execute those brits they caught trespassing. First of all why would an Iranian be holding up a sign in english over in Iran? That's like Rush Limbaugh outside a "Terror trial" in the USA holding up a sign in arabic... 2nd of all whoever made up the phony sign prints in english a lot better than I do and I've been printing in english all of my life. 3rd of all it's one of those one or two man "crowds", the deception runs deep folks, don't believe anything the mass media or government tells you, they're known and proven liars.

[bvckvs-2009]

Most of the population of Baghdad is either dead or on the run as refugees. The ones who remain are either too sick or poor to leave, or are collaborating with the various insurgent and occupation forces.

Furthermore, Bush and Rumsfeld said from the very beginning that they were using disinformation campaigns. To top that off, several of his paid journalists have already been exposed as such.

So, the idea that Bush's bloggers are legitimate is difficult to impossible to accept.

[truthword]

Military research indicates that %u201CWinning CNN wars%u201D requires leaders and the public to play out political fantasies on a stage of televised realities. In other words, if you watch TV news during a CNN war, you%u2019re putting yourself inside %u201Cthe Matrix%u201D. According to published military research, funded by the American taxpayers:

The use of images, cultural symbols, even fantasies to create or reinforce the realities that they signify has strong psychological roots as well as significant political efficacy.

In the era of CNN wars, leaders and the public play out political fantasies on a stage of televised realities. Late-breaking video news sustains our involvement and opportunities to interact with the images (if only vicariously) and thus maintains our participation. We decide our loyalties and commitments against image backdrops of ongoing events: testimony of Iraqi soldiers stealing incubators and leaving Kuwaiti babies to die, Patriot missiles destroying Scuds, Yeltsin atop a Soviet tank, dead Ranger heroes being desecrated. We can fancy ourselves in our own TV versions of Casablanca, living amidst wars, coups, and revolutions, and we decide to support (or not) real heroes, causes, and sides. To use the dialogue of images in the operations of future CNN wars, then, is to lead with image-filled stories, shaped around the TV scenes we all see--to provide compelling pictures formed with persuasive signs and symbols.

[truthword]

"Some $400 million in media consulting contracts has been awarded during the past few years by the Pentagon, for the purpose of helping 'to effectively communicate Iraqi government and Coalition goals with strategic audiences,'" Alvin Snyder pointed out. "Thus far both the Pentagon and its contract psy-op journalists have experienced a painful learning curve, but the most recent contract award will show how much each has learned. The outlook is not promising."

"A practical question is whether psy-ops journalism can work at all. It is a cross between what is accepted as the mainstream journalism of print and TV (and many journalists now blog) and what is known as psy-ops, or psychological operations, those engaged in mind control warfare, to gain military advantage by fooling the enemy."

Over the past three-plus years, the Pentagon has initiated an endless stream of public relations efforts aimed at stemming the tide of negative news from Iraq. As "The Best War Ever" points out, "much of the U.S. propaganda effort" -- from manipulating events, such as the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein after the U.S. marched into Baghdad, creating heroic stories for domestic consumption, sitting on negative information as evidenced by the slow initial response to torture at Abu Ghraib prison -- "is aimed not at tactical deception of enemy combatants but at influencing morale and support for the war in the United States."

[waynabq]

"While the White House continues to insist it did not manipulate intelligence before the Iraq war, it sure seems that it hired John Rendon and his group to do just that.
Posted by truthword at 02:23 AM : Mar 30, 2007"

Why am I not surprised? You can't put anything pass these slimey, corrupt bast*ard*. Most of the Bush supporting chickenhawks probably can't even find Iraq on a map. The typical American voter is fat, lazy, gullible and stupid, the fact Bush was able to "win" two terms is proof positive.

[waynabq]

When Bush and Cheney were eligible for Vietnam, Bush used his father's connections to get ahead of others to get into the Air National Guard to avoid combat service and Cheney applied for five deferments. Now these M*therF*uk*rs aren't hesitating to send our service men and women in harm's way to prop up a puppet government to fight a bogus "War on Terror" so big oil and Halliburton can swoop in and suck up U.S. tax dollars as corporate profit. Bush supporters are dimwitted morons.

[truthword]

The Rendon Group personally set up the Iraqi National Congress and helped install Ahmad Chalabi as leader, whose main goal %u2014 %u201Cpressure the United States to attack Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein%u201D %u2014 Rendon helped facilitate. Pentagon documents show that Rendon has the highest level of government clearance (above Top Secret), which helped it with its INC work %u2014 %u201Ca worldwide media blitz designed to turn Hussein%u2026into the greatest threat to world peace.%u201D

While the White House continues to insist it did not manipulate intelligence before the Iraq war, it sure seems that it hired John Rendon and his group to do just that.

[truthword]

Another organization to keep your eyes on. Worth recalling, also, the Hill & Knowlton orchestrated psyops about "babies ripped out of incubators" in Kuwait that facilitated a vote on the first Iraq war in Congress (and TRG was involved in that, as well, despite the denials on their site). The Rendon Group is just the latest example of a corporate PR entity paid by the U.S. to stoke the flames of war.

From Think Progress:
From %u201CSaddam Hussein%u2019s Development of Weapons of Mass Destruction%u201D [White House website]:

In 2001, an Iraqi defector, Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri, said he had visited twenty secret facilities for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. %u2026 Mr. Saeed said Iraq used companies to purchase equipment with the blessing of the United Nations - and then secretly used the equipment for their weapons programs.

None of al-Haideri%u2019s claims were true. Today%u2019s Rolling Stone reveals that the administration%u2019s use of al-Haideri%u2019s lies to justify the Iraq war were %u201Cthe product of a clandestine operation%u2026that had been set up and funded by the CIA and the Pentagon for the express purpose of selling a war.%u201D

At the center of this operation was John Rendon and The Rendon Group, %u201Ca controversial, secretive firm that has been criticized as ineffective and too expensive,%u201D paid more than $56 million by the government since the 9/11 attacks. (Taxpayers are paying Rendon himself $311.26/hour.)

[waynabq]

If Bush, Cheney, McCain, Limbaugh, Hannity O'Reilly, and Coulter think Baghdad is making so much progress, why don't they all take a vacation there for a month in downtown Baghdad outside the "Green Zone".

Only the thickest numbskull still believe the *** these SOB's spew. Another 122 people died in violence today, and 25 more tortured and bullet riddled bodies collected. Heckuva of a job Bushie!!!

[rharrin1]

Bush also said that these bloggers told him one of the signs of progress is there is an increase in activity in the markets around the city. I see today that more then 100 people have been killed by suicide bombers in Iraq (just TODAY), most of them in the markets. I wonder if Bush thinks that's what they meant by increased activity?
Posted by RandalDS at 02:50 PM : Mar 29, 2007

122 less bloggers after today.

Think we can get bush to go shopping in Baghdad?

[rharrin1]

Bush will say anything in order to keep the oil connections for his comrades. Isn't that what this really is all about?
Posted by j4401 at 05:12 PM : Mar 29, 2007

Yes it is

[rharrin1]

Well today there is 122 less bloggers for bush if it keeps up at this rate bush will have to move to Baghdad to see for himself.