"If you are, as I am, pro-Bush, I don't see anything in there that was actionable. If you are a Bush-hater, it mentions hijackings and explosives and it's a great rhetorical tool to score points," said Gary Bauer, a former Republican presidential candidate who now strongly supports Bush.

Well, see, here's the thing; I neither love nor hate the President, but you have to respect him for the difficult job he faces.. Let me just say this about that: it's damn difficult being the leader of the free world.

Now, this fellow Bauer is just an ass-kissing synchophant.. "Bush Hater" my left testicle; it's the responsibility of the electorate to kick the asses of the elected from time to time. Christ, I had my ass kicked rigth out of the Oval Office; and I know;  it hurts like a bitch!  But, it is a necessity of a true Democracy that the President not only take criticism, but be responsive to it.

Being critical of the President and his administration is not 'hating', for God's sake, it's your civic duty!

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&;storyID=4805350&section=news

 

 

5:04:10 PM    

mer·ce·nary

function: noun

etymology: Middle English, from Latin mercenarius

meaning: one that serves merely for wages
       : a soldier hired into foreign service

2:02:02 PM    

Now, you might think it ironic that we study Scripture here in Purgatory, but it is a part of expiation of sin.

Matthew 26:52
Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

 

1:35:56 PM    

There are upwards of 4000 mercenaries working in Iraq, according to some estimates, as it turn out.

Halliburton has a web page where you can search for job opportunities with the KBR division in Iraq: http://www.halliburton.com/careers/careers_kbr.jsp

Here's more helpful information on career oportunities in the field of mercenary services: http://www.sofmag.com/home.do

1:31:17 PM    

Let me make one thing perfectly clear;  the deaths of those four Americans in Fallujah last week was horrific. To see our own boys burned, mutilated, and hung like dogs from a bridge... well, that's just barbaric.

But, you have to wonder why these men are spoken of in the press as "private security contractors," which seems like a very long winded way to say "soldiers of fortune."  I think my former speechwrite, Bill Safire, might be tempted to actually call them what they really are.

Mercenaries.

There. I said it. By golly, I said it out loud, didn't I? Mercenary! See, that wasn't so hard now, was it?

So, let's call things by their rightful names, and then we'll know who the players really are.

 

(CNN) -- Blackwater Security Consulting -- whose four employees were viciously killed and their corpses mutilated by a mob in Fallujah, Iraq -- is one of a growing number of private security contractors that are hiring veterans for jobs previously assigned to the military.

There is another incentive for civilians to head into a war zone.
"It pays quite well. There's a lot of contracts that pay anywhere from $350 a day to $1,500 a day," said Chris Boyd of Kroll-Crucible Security.
Military analysts say the private security arrangement allows regular military troops to concentrate on fighting.

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/01/iraq.contractor/

1:23:46 PM    

Purgatory - Sun Apr 11, 2004 09:17 am ET

"Richard Nixon was reached by cell phone in purgatory, where he is serving an eon to expiate his sins of office.

Asked for his comments on the 'Bush Knew' story, Nixon commented:

"Oh, Hell yes Bush knew! See, here's what really happened: the Saudis were in Washington that week doing pre-emptive damage control. The Bin Laden patriarch knew his black-sheep son was plotting terror attacks on US soil, and was scared shitless about the potential blow-back against his business interests. He had the crown prince use the Saudi secret police to 'interrogate' hundreds of innocent civilians until they stumbled across solid verifiable intelligence regarding the details of the 9/11 plot. So, the black-hearted old goat was schmoozing Wolfowitz and Rummey and Chenney, all the time negotiating for favorable treatment of Saudi capital and investment interests.

"But then, a truly bloodcurdling thing happened, something neither CREEP nor The Plumbers could have pulled off in their wildest dreams; the 9/11 plot was _allowed_ to happen. Rumsfeld and Pearl, both chicken hawks of the first order and, really, you know, huge fans of the Bay of Tonkin ploy, saw the coming attacks as a way to wake up the electorate and rally them around the Bush presidency. Rove was preparing briefings and writing press releases on September 10th, for Gods sake! And, you know, Karen Hughes really is a charming woman, an innocent, a genuine Southern Lady, and she just didn't have the stomach for this. Which is why she went back to Texas and quit her White House post."

"The thing is, no one expected it to be as devastating as it was. I mean, my God, you crash an airplane into the World Trade center, you get a real showy explosion and some collateral damage.. but who knew the whole damn thing would come crashing down! Both of 'em! Oopsey!

And that crash into the Pentagon was intended to rally the troops. 'You come after our home base, and we will hunt you down and fuck you up' was the emotion they wanted to stir. That Karl Rove, he's, you know, a political genius, a really brilliant tactician. Oh, sure, he's as evil as Goebbels, but a certified genius, none the less."

"So, the chicken hawks got more than they bargained for; both towers actually came crashing down, for God's sake! And 3000 dead (instead of the anticipated 30 or so), but, as the saying goes, 'in for a dime, in for a dollar' and so they tucked their chins, quietly flew the Saudis out of the country on a hush-hush military transport, and went forward with the primary objective; a takeover of Iraq to establish a new US base in the Gulf, and take pressure off the House of Saud from the US presence in that country. Kill two birds with one stone, as it were."

"But, now, Bush is screwed. All this crap will come out, too many people know too much. His fate has been sealed ever since Karl Rove leaked that story about Novak's wife being a CIA operative. Rove might have gotten a hard-on from throwing his weight around, but the blow-back will be very, very, bad. You don't fuck with career intelligence people. That's a very tight community, you know, and they have a Band Of Brothers thing that makes the 101st Airborne pale in comparison. So, you can expect a lot of damaging intel on the Bush administration to leak out from old school CIA, FBI, diplomat corps,. military intel, the whole phalanx of deep cover operatives and spooks. They will be out to fuck up the Bush administration, not just to teach the executive branch a little humility, but probably also to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States. That is, after all, their sworn duty.

"And, you know, the Bushies want to just run the Constitution through the shredder. But, they'll implode first. Not that John F. Kerry is a big improvement compared to Bush, but, well, that's another Day In Hell, I guess."

(at this point in the interview, the cellular connection with Purgatory was dropped by Cingular)

11:39:21 AM