hello old friends

Caught  Louise Richardson on a BookTV event discussing her book, What Terrorists Want.

WOW!  The synopsis she presented at this bookstore chat struck me as being like the momentous announcement and revelation of a long-sought antidote to a pernicious, widespead, and deadly virus (ie: Bush-think).  Richardson's stunning clarity succinctly explodes the hyterical mythologizing and rank political manipulations (nod to Heir Goering) of Bush & Co. and their GWOT.  Her thesis would have predicted and does reinforce this weekend's NIE revelations.  Paints Dubya and crew into a corner marked "utterly wrongheaded."

She deserves a bigger microphone and a much wider audience.  Future National Security Advisor?

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Spent a couple days recently focused on former Senior Counsel (1998-2005) to The Carlyle Group and Bush-family-fixer, James Baker, III.

Started with Palast's reporting on the 323-page report, "Options for Developing a Long Term Sustainable Iraqi Oil Industry," that was jointly authored by the Baker Institute and the Counsel on Foreign Relations -- here [YouTube video], here, and elsewhere.  The clear implication in Palast's reporting is that this report and Baker's counsel contributed to the invasion and occupation of Iraq.



Another article, Carlyle's Way, begins by painting this very telling picture:

Like everyone else in the United States, the group stood transfixed as the events of September 11 unfolded. Present were former secretary of defense Frank Carlucci, former secretary of state James Baker III, and representatives of the bin Laden family. This was not some underground presidential bunker or Central Intelligence Agency interrogation room. It was the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., the plush setting for the annual investor conference of one of the most powerful, well-connected, and secretive companies in the world: the Carlyle Group. And since September 11, this little-known company has become unexpectedly important.

Recall, too, that Baker spearheaded the December 2000 "judicial coup d'etat" that enthroned this Boy King in the first place.  More from Palast . . .

"I FIXED FLORIDA"

Why is our President so concerned with the wishes of Mr. Baker's clientele? What does Bush owe Baker? Let me count the ways, beginning with the 2000 election.

Just last week Baker said, "I fixed the election in Florida for George Bush." That was the substance of his remarks to an audience of Russian big wigs as reported to me by my somewhat astonished colleagues at BBC television.

It was Baker, as consiglieri to the Bush family, who came up with the strategy of maneuvering the 2000 Florida vote count into a Supreme Court packed with politicos.

Baker's claim to have fixed the election was not a confession; it was a boast. He meant to dazzle current and potential clients about his Big In with the Big Boy in the White House. Baker's firm is already a top player in the Great Game of seizing Caspian Sea oil. (An executive of Exxon-Mobil, one of Baker Botts's clients, has been charged with evading taxes on bribes paid in Kazakhstan.)

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It's the Oil, Stupid, by Johnny Angel

Liberating Iraq: From Cyrus I to George II, by Joseph Mulligan

It's the Oil, Stupid, by Jason Leopold


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