Text 5003, 134 rader
Skriven 2007-08-25 20:58:00 av TIM RICHARDSON
     Kommentar till en text av SOMEONE
Ärende: More neo-con tactics
============================
On 08-17-07, BOB KLAHN said to TIM RICHARDSON:

TR> IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, LIE, LIE AGAIN
TR> August 15, 2007


BK>And Ann Coulter does. I can't believe you actually quoted that
BK>*bitch* on Cleland.


TR> Max Cleland was a war hero who lost his limbs as a result
TR> of Viet Cong grenades, giving him the stature to gleefully


BK>No one ever said Cleland was injured by Viet Cong grenades.


"The president ought to be ashamed" - SalonSearch:    Salon The Web Site

Presented By Wednesday, Aug 22, 2007
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"The president ought to be ashamed"


Former Sen. Max Cleland blasts Bush's "Nixonian" stonewalling of the 9/11
commission, his "lies" about Iraq, and his flight-suit photo op on the USS
Lincoln after "hiding out" during Vietnam.


By Eric Boehlert


During his six years as a United States senator from the conservative state
of Georgia, Max Cleland was known as a moderate Democrat. He drew the wrath
of liberals in 2001 when he broke ranks with Democrats and voted for
President Bush's tax cuts, and last year he backed the resolution authorizing
Bush to wage war with Iraq (though on that vote, at least, he was joined by
some liberals).


Today, though, Cleland has emerged as one of the president's harshest
critics, especially about the war he voted to authorize. Today, he says, it's
a move he deeply regrets, as he scans the headlines from Baghdad. "I feel
like I have been duped, I don't mind telling you," Cleland admits. "Everybody
in the administration was selling this used car. The problem is all the
wheels have fallen off the car and we've got a lemon."


Cleland, perhaps known for being a triple amputee Vietnam vet, lost his
Senate seat last November in a race that has gone down in history as
typifying the GOP's take-no-prisoners approach to politics. The disabled
veteran was smeared as soft on terror because he didn't back Bush's version
of homeland security legislation.


Now, outspoken and blunt, he's furious about the White House's handling of
the war with Iraq, which he calls a disastrous "war of choice." And he mocks
the administration's claims that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were
allies.


"They had a plan to go to war [with Iraq], and when 9/11 happened that's what
they did; they went to war."


Meanwhile, as one of 10 commissioners serving on the independent panel
created by Congress to investigate the 9/11 attacks, Cleland bemoans the
administration's "Nixonian" love of secrecy and its attempt to "slow walk"
the commission into irrelevancy.


At the center of the secrecy debate are sensitive presidential daily
briefings, or PDBs, that the commission wants to examine as part of its
inquiry.


Particularly important is the crucial Aug. 6, 2001 PDB, which warned of Osama
bin Laden's desire to hijack commercial planes in the United States. For
months the White House resisted, and the commission hinted it might subpoena
the document. A deal was finally cut last week, which Cleland opposed,
allowing a handpicked subset of commissioners to be briefed on the PDBs.


"We shouldn't be making deals," Cleland complains. "If somebody wants to
deal, we issue subpoenas. That's the deal."


Republicans say the partisan flavor of Cleland's anti-Bush broadsides are
easy to explain; he's still stinging from his surprise reelection loss last
November.


Cleland denies it, but if he were still bitter, it would be easy to see why,
considering he was the victim of a now-infamous attack ad, which even some
Republicans objected to.


Cleland's opponent, Saxby Chambliss, who sat out Vietnam with a bad knee,
aired a spot featuring unflattering pictures of Osama bin Laden, Saddam
Hussein ...and Max Cleland. Chambliss charged Cleland, the Vietnam vet
amputee, was soft on national security because he'd voted against creating
the Homeland Security Act.


In truth, Cleland co-wrote the legislation to create the Homeland Security
Department, but objected to repeated attempts by the White House to deprive
future Homeland Security employees of traditional civil service protection.
It's hard to imagine any recent Democratic senator less soft on national
security than Max Cleland, a reflection on the unlikely path he took to the
U.S. Senate.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
***In 1967 he volunteered for combat duty. The next year, during the siege of
Khe Sahn, Cleland lost both his legs and his right hand to a Viet Cong
grenade.***
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Two years later, at the age of 28, he became the youngest person ever
elected to the Georgia state Senate. In 1977 President Jimmy Carter appointed
him to head the Veterans Administration. He later became Georgia's secretary
of state. And in 1996, Georgia voters sent Cleland and his wheelchair to the
Senate.





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