Lt. Col. Chris Pease said he asked a young Iraqi street cop to give him an honest analysis of what’s going on in the street. “He said to me, ‘Do you want me … to tell you the truth?’” Pease recalled. “His assessment was that the militias are everywhere … and his officers weren’t going to do anything about that because their units are infiltrated, and they know what the cost would be for working against the militias.”
Iran “suiciders” ready for action.
“Iran has formed battalions of suicide bombers to strike at British and American targets if the nation’s nuclear sites are attacked. According to Iranian officials, 40,000 trained suicide bombers are ready for action.”
Shep Smith Embarrassed by O’Reilly’s ‘War on Easter’?
Apparently not everyone at Fox News buys into talk of a ‘War on Easter.’
On Thursday, Fox daytime anchor Shephard Smith seemed barely able to mask his scepticism over the idea that Easter is “under attack.” (He was introducing a segment about a German man who wants to ban chocolate Easter bunnies due to their health risks.) Smith even threw in a subtle dig at Fox culture warrior Bill O’Reilly. Watch it:
VIDEO: Myers Claims Shinseki Was Merely ‘Pulling A Number Out’ Of Thin Air
This morning, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers attempted to defend Rumsfeld from recent criticisms from U.S. generals that we needed more post-war troops in Iraq.
Myers was forced to defend Rumsfeld’s treatment of Gen. Eric Shinseki, who called for “several hundred thousand soldiers” before the war. While acknowledging that Shinseki was “improperly criticized” for speaking out, Myers disingenuously downplayed Shinseki’s courageous act to speak out honestly at the time. (Watch it.)
MYERS: It is significant that in all our discussions leading up to the war on Iraq that…General Shinseki never spoke up again about the number of troops it would take.
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I’m just saying that General Shinseki was forced to make that comment under pressure, pulled a number out.
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Let me go back to General Shinseki for a moment. People have misplayed his comments over and over, and it’s just absolutely incorrect in context. He was forced to make — say a number. He said a number. He was inappropriately criticized I believe for speaking out.
Myers fails to accept that Shinseki’s judgment approximated the view of many military commanders at the time. As Ret. Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who led the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, said this morning on Good Morning America:
You know, there’s a process within the Department of Defense, a very deliberate planning process which goes into each contingency and deliberately analytically develops war plans. It continues year to year. Our senior leadership chose to radically modify 12 years of very deliberate planning with respect to Iraq. Previous planning identified the requirement for three times the level of forces that we committed into Iraq to take down a regime and then build the peace.
The Bush administration’s treatment of Shinseki had the effect of silencing others in the chain of command who agreed with him. Click here to see key facts in the smearing of Shinseki.
Report: Blair refuses to back Iran strike.
“Tony Blair has told George Bush that Britain cannot offer military support to any strike on Iran, regardless of whether the move wins the backing of the international community,” the Scotsman reports. Last week, it was found that in July 2004, “British officers took part in a US war game aimed at preparing for a possible invasion of Iran.”
“A Bad Leak.”
A week after the Washington Post defended Bush’s authorization to selectively disclose the NIE as “a good leak,” the New York Times counters with an editorial that gets it right. “[T]he version of the facts that Mr. Libby was authorized to divulge was so distorted that it seems more like disinformation than any sincere attempt to inform the public.”
