The American Republic is dead. Does anyone care enough to hold a funeral?

Former CIA analyst and Presidential briefer Ray McDaniel says that Bush and Cheney knew clearly that there were no WMD's in Iraq and Knew that there was no active Iranian nuclear weapons program as early 2005. They were lying to the American public in order to start a war with Iraq, then more recently were lying to start a war with Iran. Here is Ray McDaniel's article:

Former CIA analyst says evidence abounds for impeachment

PORTSMOUTH — The evidence for impeachment of the president and vice president is overwhelming, former CIA analyst and daily presidential briefer Ray McGovern told a room full of people at the Portsmouth Public Library Monday night.

McGovern, who provided daily briefings for former presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush as well as other high ranking officials during his 27 year CIA career, said he has witnessed a "prostitution of his profession" as the Bush administration lied to the American people about the evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"Don't let anyone tell you the President was deceived by false intelligence ... they knew," McGovern said.

For the next 40 minutes, he relayed a series of events leading up to 9/11 which illustrate the President's desire to go to war with Iraq well before 9-11, that reliable CIA evidence showed that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and was presented to the administration and the "facts were fixed" in order to legitimize the invasion.

"The estimate which said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was prepared to the terms of reference laid down by Dick Cheney in a speech on Aug. 26, 2002. It was the worst estimate of intelligence and came to the wrong conclusions, but it was designed to do that," McGovern said.

McGovern has been an outspoken commentator on intelligence-related issues since the late 1990s and since 2002 has been publicly critical of Bush's use of government intelligence in the lead-up to the war.

The recent report detailing Iran's stopping its nuclear weapons program four years ago, is an example of how the administration knows it can no longer hide such "incontrovertible evidence" from the American people in the fallout from the misinformation they received on the Iraq War, McGovern said. He added that he had almost given up on believing their were people still working at the top with a conscious and enough people at the top willing to let analysts do their job and accept independent analysis.

In late 2005, Congress requested an estimate on Iranian nuclear capabilities.
"My former colleagues got really good, incontrovertible evidence that the program, such as it was, has been ordered stopped since 2003. The evidence was such that not even Dick Cheney could deny it. That's why the report was not produced until three weeks ago," McGovern said, adding that the Bush administration has been putting "spin" on their rhetoric ever since.

McGovern also addressed the reasoning he believes is behind the threat of war with Iran. He said he believes Israel thinks they have a pledge from the White House to deal with Iran before Bush leaves office and relayed the story of the U.S.S. Liberty, which was attacked by the Israelis in 1967 and covered up by the United States. Thirty-four U.S soldiers were killed and about 170 were seriously injured.

"It seems to me, that on June, 8, 1967, Israel realized it could literally get away with murder," McGovern said.

McGovern said he also believes Congress will be of little help. Recently House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted to learning about torture and illegal eavesdropping in briefings, but said it was her understanding when briefed, that she will not share the information with anyone else, including other members of the House Intelligence Committee.

McGovern called Pelosi out on violating her oath to uphold the Constitution "against enemies, foreign or domestic" by allowing acts in violation of the Constitution to continue by not saying "diddly."

He added that although an impeachment bill currently in Congress is gaining more support, Democrats are shying away because of the influence of lobbies and political analysts telling them to "wait it out" until the election.

Charges in the impeachment bill sponsored by Dennis Kucinich, are very detailed and "as good as any," McGovern said, and referenced the illegal eavesdropping of American citizens. He added that the President has "admitted" to this "demonstrably impeachable offense."

"The argument for impeachment is overwhelming," Randy Kezar of Kingston said after the event. "Impeachment is constitutionally required."

McGovern's visit was co-sponsored by NH Codepink, Seacoast Peace Response, NH Peace Action, NH American Friends Service Committee, Seacoast 9-11 Questions Group, NH Veterans for Peace and Witness for Peace-N.E.
[Highlighting mine - Editor]

Bush has been a rogue madman in office, and the evidence keeps growing. Yet no leader in government - including the Democrats - has stood up to expose this criminal cabal. Anyone who fails to understand that America's government has failed America completely is either bought off by them, corrupt, or simply stupid.

The Democrats are almost as bad as the Republicans, doing anything to avoid conflict and get their personal graft. Then there is the media which seems seems to be more interested in the entertainment values of the war than in the deaths and financial cost. Oh, and the corruption of getting the government to allow it to consolidate. That's not for profit. It's for power. The media now elects our Presidents.

I wonder how many Romans realized that their Republic had died when it became the militarized Empire? Those of us alive in America today have seen a very similar destruction of the Constitutional government that created our Republic, and everyone seems to be moving on, fat, dumb and happy, whistling past the corpse of the the American Republic and the Constitution which was its core lying dead in the street at their feet.

Will anyone police up the corpse, or will it just be left to lie there and rot?

Bush lied about when he knew Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program.

From Think Progress:

President Bush has said he first learned that there was new intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program “in August” when DNI Mike McConnell told him “we have some new information.” The White House later revealed that Bush was told at that time that Iran’s nuclear weapons program “may be suspended.” Gareth Porter of IPS News writes that “it now appears” that “Bush likely knew about that intelligence as early as February or March 2007,” months before the White House has conceded. December 17, 2007 7:28 pm |

Was there any doubt?

This goes beyond misunderstanding or spin. Bush simply lied because he has been pushing for war with Iran well after he learned that the nuclear weapons program that was allegedly the reason for the war he wanted had been stopped.

So why does Bush really want to start a war with Iran? Does he actually have an objective rational reason, or is he simply an psychotic war-lover?

After the election in November, America needs a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" that has subpoena power and the power to offer immunity from prosecution to those who admit their criminal behavior as part of the Bush administration and tell their stories fully in public.

It's going to take something like that to begin to rebuild the truest Americans have lost in government officials. The refusal to take such a step after Nixon resigned or after Reagan's administration got caught in the Iran-Contra mess has simply allowed the criminals to do it again in the Bush administration.

Huckabee failed - again

How come the Iran NIE came out on Monday morning, and Mike Huckabee didn't know anything about it when he was asked Tuesday night? Kevin Drum makes this point, and says it is a failure that totally disqualifies Huckabee for the job of President. He was uninformed and had no interest in the subject.

If the excuse is that his staff didn't properly inform him, Wrong! A staff reflects the man and their failures are his.

Bush has known for a long time that Iran had no nuclear program

It's taking a while to assemble all the parts of what was known about Iran, and before the public knew what the NIE said, any conclusion from all those parts would only be another conspiracy theory. But it appears now that Washington insiders have known for months that the NIE was not going to be one Bush could use to support his desired war with Iran. Anyone who really thinks that George only just learned that the Iranians had shut down the nuclear weapons program is living in a fantasy world in which drug addicts and alcoholics promise to stop taking drugs or drinking and then really do it. When George said he had only just learned of what the report had to say, he was lying.

One more Lie. Just one more lie, then another and another. Fourteen months to the end of Bush's term, and it's a long time, but he'll get there one lie at a time, just as he has gotten this far.

Josh Marshall has some more information about prior knowledge by Washington insiders that the NIE could not support Bush's desire for active war with Iran.

Larry Johnson: Bush knew of NIE a year ago

If you have read Digby's post yesterday (and which I commented on at Conservative invariably overstate threats to America.) about how the NeoCons always overstate the threat from foreigners and understate the level of American ability to deal with that threat, then you will be able to anticipate the reaction of NeoCons to this new NIE that says Iran shut down its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and is not pursuing nuclear weapons at this time.

You'd be right. Ex-CIA officer Larry describes the great show of shrieking, gnashing of teeth, and rending of clothes that NeoCons are currently making public.

Larry also points out that Bush was briefed on the Iranian nuclear operations a year ago, not last week as he has just said (lied) to public. Here is exactly what Larry wrote:

George Bush tried his moron act again today (i.e., “I didn’t find out about this until last week.”) but this time the turd ain’t floating. The news that Iran ended its nuclear program in 2003 was briefed to George Bush in the Presidential Daily Brief. He has known about this, I am told, for at least one year. George Bush is lying when he insists he had no inkling, until last week, that the intelligence community believed Iran halted its nuke program in 2003.

Larry is stating that his sources inside the Intelligence community have told him this.

Larry Johnson has a much better reputation for honesty and accuracy than George Bush does. Bush, in fact, is a known serial liar. There is no reason to expect that somehow Bush has suddenly decided to change his spots and commit an act of honesty.