Donald Trump’s reaction to news that some U.S. intelligence agencies believe Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential election on his behalf was to fire back: “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.”
He might have had a point — were it not for the fact that he was being so obviously and ludicrously insincere. Case in point: Trump is said to be on the brink of appointing John Bolton as deputy secretary of state. He is arguably the man most responsible for hiding the truth about Iraq’s nonexistent WMDs.
The Bush administration, with Bolton as undersecretary of state for arms control, arrived in Washington, D.C., in 2001 with the goal of invading Iraq. They weren’t motivated by whatever WMDs Iraq might or might not have, but, as a senior administration official later explained, by the simple and highly galling fact of Saddam Hussein’s “defiance” of the U.S.
When the September 11 terrorist attacks gave them the opportunity, the administration’s conservative wing, including Bolton, had no interest in sending inspectors to Iraq to see if Hussein had WMD. They wanted to simply use WMD as “justification you can jump on” to invade — without bothering to check whether Iraq actually had anything. (It was only in the fall of 2002 that Colin Powell and Tony Blair prevailed upon Bush to go to the United Nations and go through the motions of inspections.)
However, Bolton and company faced an immediate obstacle: the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and its Brazilian diplomat leader José Bustani.
The OPCW had been formed in 1997, and is headquartered at the Hague in the Netherlands. It exists to administer a 1993 arms control treaty prohibiting the manufacture and use of chemical weapons.
Iraq had informed the OPCW in late 2001 that it wanted to sign the treaty. This would require Iraq to provide the organization with a list of any chemical weapons stockpiles it possessed — and submit to intrusive OPCW inspections.
This set off loud alarm bells in the Bush administration, since inspections could not just delay their desired war, but undermine the case for it in the first place. As Bustani put it years later, his willingness to consider inspecting Iraq “caused an uproar in Washington,” and it quickly “became evident that the Americans were serious about getting rid of me.”
According to Bustani, “Everybody knew there weren’t any [banned chemical weapons]. An inspection would make it obvious there were no weapons to destroy. This would completely nullify the decision to invade.”
The U.S. was not about to let this happen. Bolton took the lead in ousting Bustani and replacing him with someone more pliable. After the Bush administration failed to win a March 2002 no-confidence vote from OPCW’s executive committee, it threatened to cut off its funding of the OPCW, which accounted for 22 percent of its budget.
This got everyone’s attention. The next month, with Bolton in the Netherlands to supervise, the OPCW voted to fire Bustani with 48 countries voting yes, seven voting no, and 43 abstaining. A European diplomat commented at the time that “I think a lot of people swallowed this because they thought it was better for Bustani to be removed than have the U.S. pull out and see the organization collapse.”
Bustani could not immediately be reached for comment. In response to an interview request sent to his assistant, Bolton told her to pass along the message: “no comment — he can read my book!”
Bolton’s 2008 memoir, “Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations,” states that Bustani was “a management disaster, whose performance called into question the OPCW’s credibility and indeed the [Chemical Weapons Convention] itself. State’s arms controllers complained repeatedly about Bustani’s incompetence.” Bolton’s book does not provide any details about Bustani’s purported poor performance and incompetence.
While Bolton’s wing of the administration won that round, they were unable to prevent later inspections of Iraq under the auspices of the U.N. Those inspectors then failed to find anything — since Iraq did not actually possess any banned weapons — and the U.S. and its allies went ahead and invaded anyway in March 2003.
Bolton went on to make the bogus case for war in other ways, pushing some of the administration’s key WMD lies. In 2005, he became Bush’s ambassador to the U.N., though it took a recess appointment to do it. Bustani became Brazil’s ambassador to France, and the OPCW won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013.
If Bolton becomes part of the Trump administration, he’ll be an extremely loud voice for war with Iran. In November, he said that overthrowing Iran’s government is the “only long-term solution” to the country’s supposed threat to the U.S., and he subsequently added that he hoped Trump would “move very quickly in the early days of his presidency to abrogate” the Iran nuclear deal.
He doesn’t. It’s a head fake.
Jon,
You’re basing this article on the idea that the President-elect was fundamentally opposed to the war. I’m not so sure I’d agree and I’ll explain why below.
Historically, Trump has adopted the prevailing narrative – whether it be in support or opposition for the war, but has actually never expanded on those reasons. He has never – for instance – spoke beyond generic rhetoric as to the failings within the intelligence community; the role of CIA Director Tenant; the role of Vice President Cheney, or the doubt of European leaders.
His criticism of Hillary Clinton in her role of the Libyan conflict was preceded by ‘support’ for ‘going in’. He has never since, yet again, explained his rationale for either position. In fact, President-elect Trump rarely goes into detail about any of his views, ideological or not which is why John Bolton’s inclusion does not surprise me; there is no contradiction here – he supported a war that Trump remains largely ignorant about, or could care less.
Agreed! I couldn’t have put it in better words.
The fellow who is the most guilty of Iraq WMD story is Colin Powell. Without his fake assertion at the UN no one was going to believe the Bush-Cheney lies. I guess BLM folks should banish him to Ghana.
Blame the black guy. And somehow relate your nonsense to BLM. Quite intelligent right? You hate for BLM will hurt you butt.
Well said Douala! He’s one of a bunch of idiots who post here on everything! Armchair warriors! He’s probably the worst of them all! General Boring!
“As the Bush administration was already privvy to Iraq’s history of acquiring, producing, and possessing WMD, citing its ‘potential’ for possessing WMD as the justification for the US invasion of Iraq was not unfounded.” -Karl
180,000(+) Iraqi civilian casualties to date, all based on a since disproven ‘hunch’. You and your ilk are a ‘stain on humanity’, Karl.
Apparently, you did not follow the link that I provided. It was the Reagan administration that provided Iraq with the mean to produce their own WMD during its war with Iran – and only after the US, England, France, and Israel had been covertly supplying WMD to Saddam for years. I once shared a house with a former military intelligence officer who revealed that special units were tasked to covertly destroy all evidence of WMD in post invasion Iraq because it would implicate the very coalition partners who were using them as a justification for the invasion.
OBTW 180,000 is a severe underestimation of Iraqi casualties. Madeleine Albright copped to half a million without blinking. But hey, thanks for playing.
Karl,
My apologies for presuming that you were in agreement w/ the government’s decision to invade Iraq based on the potential of wmd(s).
I’m well aware of the gov’s actions w/ respect to supplying the wmd(s) to Iraq prior to said invasion, so there was no need to peruse your link.
Lastly, I’m also well aware of the 500,000(+) children that Albright was referring to, the 180,000(+) figure represented is from the start of the invasion, not a lump sum total from the numerous years of the ‘no fly zone’/sanctions..
aloha`
It is very kind of you to acknwolege your errot. Thank you
Has anyone heard an update from Barrett Brown? This summer I remember he was in the jailhouse yelling “Death to the fascist insect that preys upon the people!” Since November that probably gets you interrogated by the Secret Service…
No. But we did finally get a message from Julian Assange. Radio only though. No video confirmation yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFY4NtECsWc
That interview is the first time that I have ever tried to learn any kind of factual data from Hannity. You know when Cornwallis ordered the band to play “The World Turned Upside Down”? It’s that kind of a moment.
Even so, the arguments here are kind of lame. Mullen says he saw a print-out of the emails in Washington, therefore……. WHAT? The emails couldn’t afford the airfare to fly from Moscow to Washington? Assange says he didn’t get the documents from the Russian government, therefore…. WHAT? Unless he personally knows an inside source who had a login on that system, it proves nothing.
But yeah, at least Assange is still kicking. Assuming Hannity didn’t find a good voice actor…
I think that we need to recognize that we are now facing an unprecedented Constitutional crisis with the Nation plunged into a State of Emergency, divided as deeply as during the Revolutionary and Civil War eras and facing unprecedented threats from both without and — with the elevation of the loathsome beast Donald Trump — from within.
The Nation is also at risk with a GOP-weakened and short-handed Supreme Court. It is Christmastime at the KGB….
With every passing day, Trump demonstrates his unworthiness, unfitness and untrustworthiness again and again. His picks are guaranteed to divide the Nation more deeply and his team’s relationship(s) with Russia and disdain for our institutions and the free press are the Clear and Present Danger that cannot be “given a chance” in any respect.
We are standing on the threshold of open rebellion….
He was not really upset about the WMD.
When dividing and conquering, it is a common tactic to speak in reverse rhetoric.
My wife and I were in New York when John Bolton was the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. We spent one afternoon standing outside the U.N. and telling everyone coming and going that we hated Bolton and that he didn’t represent us (my wife’s idea, so points for her!). Of those who responded to us, we got smiles and positive comments from EVERYONE who wasn’t American (no comments either way from Americans that I remember).
this story broke their server. http://www.europhysicsnews.org/articles/epn/pdf/2016/04/epn2016474p21.pdf
Why would Trump? Because bullshit artist. End of.
There was a 47 story sky scrapper that also collapsed directly into its own footprint at nearly free fall speed in less than 10 seconds later that day. watch it fall rememberbuilding7.org There are nearly 200 known witnesses that heard the explosions. These are the only three, steel structure sky scrapers, that have ever collapsed due to fire ever! let alone collapsed at nearly Free Fall speed and directly in their own footprints. Truth Matters! Truth will set us free of this post 911 tyranny! Seek it at ae911truth.org
thanks
and
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/736223/9-11-tower-Building-7-collapse-fire-conspiracy
As the Bush administration was already privvy to Iraq’s history of acquiring, producing, and possessing WMD, citing its potential for possessing WMD as the justification for the US invasion of Iraq was not unfounded.
How Did Iraq Get Its Weapons? We Sold Them
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0908-08.htm
Now, had Saddam followed Saudi Arabia’s lead and dedicated a greater portion of Iraq’s GDP to the purchase of American weapons and technology, with an eye to checking Iranian (Shia) ambitions, then we would all be speaking retrospectively of Iran’s invasion with a Jewish accent.
how clever. all of a sudden saudi arabia has WMD and is guilty of crimes against humanity. or very clever, so when does US attack?
Expensive Weapons of Mass Destruction: As Saudi and Allies Bombard Yemen, US Clocks up $33 Billion Arms Sales in Eleven Months
http://www.globalresearch.ca/expensive-weapons-of-mass-destruction-as-saudi-and-allies-bombard-yemen-us-clocks-up-33-billion-arms-sales-in-eleven-months/5517825
Regarding Bolton and the neocons, Andrew Bacevitch could not have said it any better an excerpt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JgGejxTefQ
“Such humility is in particularly short supply in present-day Washington. There, especially among neoconservatives and neoliberals, the conviction persists that Americans are called up on to serve, in Niebuhr’s most memorable phrase, “as tutors of mankind in its pilgrimage to perfection.”
For the past six years Americans have been engaged in one such tutorial. After 9/11, the Bush administration announced its intention of bringing freedom and democracy to the people of the Islamic world. Ideologues within the Bush administration, egged on by pundits and policy analysts, persuaded themselves that American power, adroitly employed, could transform the Greater Middle East, with the invasion of Iraq intended to jumpstart that process. The results speak for themselves. Indeed, events have now progressed far enough to permit us to say, with Niebuhr, that in Iraq “the paths of progress” have turned out “to be more devious and unpredictable than the putative managers of history could understand.”
The collapse of the Bush administration’s hubristic strategy for the Middle East would not have surprised our prophet. Nearly fifty years ago, he cautioned that “even the most powerful nations cannot master their own destiny.” Like it or not, even great powers are subject to vast forces beyond their ability to control or even understand, “caught in a web of history in which many desires, hopes, wills, and ambitions, other than their own, are operative.” The masterminds who conceived the Iraq War imagined that they could sweep away the old order and usher into existence a new Iraq expected to be liberal, democratic, and aligned with the United States. Their exertions have only demonstrated, in Niebuhr’s words, that “The recalcitrant forces in the historical drama have a power and persistence beyond our reckoning.”
and the fears and anxieties of losing what we think we have, are accepted as legitimate forces of motivation that allow us to commit pre-emptive strikes against all others who have not acknowledged our self-branded presumption of righteousness by bowing before us or not paying homage by giving us supreme advantage in foreign policy.
That John “the Abomination” Bolton (J-bom, or J-bolt for short) has a home in the American government ought to give you some idea of how far the US has fallen.
it’s very difficult to rectify the wrongs done to American after enemies, foreign and domestic, have caused you to be killed in a war. Foreseeing death and destruction from the fony baloney iraq invasion was not difficult for those who were not eogmaniacally invested. Americans are at risk moreso from maniacs like Jbom than they are of terrorists. Jbom is capable of getting more death and destruction than Usama bin Laden ever was.
Nothing succeeds like failure, at least in the U.S. government nowadays. (War on Drugs, check. NASA ecology studies, nix! Medicare donut hole, check. Medicaid expansion and near-end of unpaid emergency room bills, nix!)
Maybe Bomber Bolton should read about the Milennial Challenge a large war game conducted in the Persian Gulf, and about the US losing its fleet.
In a large Milennial challege war game simulation of a war in the Persian Gulf the US fleet was sunk by General Riper red team.
Red, commanded by retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Paul K. Van Riper, adopted an asymmetric strategy, in particular, using old methods to evade Blue’s sophisticated electronic surveillance network. Van Riper used motorcycle messengers to transmit orders to front-line troops and World-War-II-style light signals to launch airplanes without radio communications.
Red received an ultimatum from Blue, essentially a surrender document, demanding a response within 24 hours. Thus warned of Blue’s approach, Red used a fleet of small boats to determine the position of Blue’s fleet by the second day of the exercise. In a preemptive strike, Red launched a massive salvo of cruise missiles that overwhelmed the Blue forces’ electronic sensors and destroyed sixteen warships. This included one aircraft carrier, ten cruisers and five of six amphibious ships. An equivalent success in a real conflict would have resulted in the deaths of over 20,000 service personnel. Soon after the cruise missile offensive, another significant portion of Blue’s navy was “sunk” by an armada of small Red boats, which carried out both conventional and suicide attacks that capitalized on Blue’s inability to detect them as well as expected.[1]
After the war game was restarted, its participants were forced to follow a script drafted to ensure a Blue Force victory. Among other rules imposed by this script, Red Force was ordered to turn on their anti-aircraft radar in order for them to be destroyed, and was not allowed to shoot down any of the aircraft bringing Blue Force troops ashore.[3] Van Riper also claimed that exercise officials denied him the opportunity to use his own tactics and ideas against Blue Force, and that they also ordered Red Force not to use certain weapons systems against Blue Force and even ordered the location of Red Force units to be revealed.[4]
This led to accusations that the war game had turned from an honest, open, free playtest of U.S. war-fighting capabilities into a rigidly controlled and scripted exercise intended to end in an overwhelming U.S. victory,[3] alleging that “$250 million was wasted”.[5]
Obviously the military didnt implement Gunny Highway’s method of winning; Improvise, Overcome, Adapt.
Those who think outside the box are going to be the ones who will go farthest. Of course, one can hope the military learned from General Van Riper.
Is this ‘thinking outside the box’ enough for you?
Instead of trying to match American spending on its military, even on a proportional basis, Iran decided to see what it could cut, and still have a military that could put up a fight against any invasion. First thing to go – the military industrial complex, and the procurement process designed to write the requirements so that only one provider’s products could meet the requirements. So, you don’t see the Iranians building vast quantities of munitions (especially munitions with electronic components) that then get stuffed in warehouses while advances in materials and manufacturing techniques makes them obsolete. You also don’t see them designing from scratch, with every part built to purpose and only for the weapon. If an Iranian antiship missile is supposed to cruise towards its target mere inches above the water until it’s basically in the shadow of the hull, then climb or dive so that its explosion has maximum effect (just above the deck to take out what’s on deck, or below the waterline so it starts to sink) they don’t put a radar on board to measure how close the missile is, then have to put electronic countermeasures on board it too so that the radar can’t be used as a homing beacon for defensive fire, then have to put another radar system in to keep it skimming just above the waves, then the electronic countermeasures for that, then put exotic materials into the frame and skin for strength and stealth, because of all the weight and vulnerability of the electronics, then, because of the costs of all that, and the need to sound deadlier than the competition, add the radars and electronics to home in on the enemy ship, and to keep it from accidentally locking onto a friendly ship. They simply put a set of fins on it that’ll spin in direct relationship with how far the missile has traveled, and something that will, when the fins have spun often enough, turn the missile up or down, then, after a few more spins, detonate the missile. And because it is cheap and light, and invulnerable to electronic countermeasures and attacks, the whole system is mechanical, and you can compensate for 10% misses by firing a salvo of ten missiles which combined together, cost a fraction of the radar guided, radar navigated, radar detonated stealth ‘ship killer mark12′ that has a theoretical (higher, in real life) missile that the US munition. And what do they do when they pick that cheap but effective missile? They make the molds, dies, etc that are needed to make the few bits that aren’t off the shelf, thousand uses, being made by the millions for the civilian market pieces, set up one or two factories to build enough of the missiles for training exercises and a week or two of war, and put a dozen or so sets of the molds into warehouses scattered throughout industrial hubs, ready to be put into a factory if, and only if, someone actually concentrates/mobilizes enough forces to seriously attack Iran, while engineers and technicians and scientists go about the task of coming up with better materials, better designs, better processes to make cheaper, more effective, fleet destroying missiles.
I’m sure those women and children in Aleppo will be happy to know they are being brutalized in a cost effective manner.
So you think that women and children who have spent years without any protection from, and completely dependent on, armed thugs and extremists who have made east Aleppo (and every other ‘rebel held area’) so dangerous that those reporters who walked the mountain trails of Afghanistan alongside alQe….oops, Mujahideen fighters and rode the mountain roads in Russian military trucks, in the middle of the bloody, barbaric, no holds barred, no prisoners taken, war there won’t even think about spending a few hours there trying to find someone who’ll talk are being brutalized by the people giving them a chance at getting free of the thugs and extremists.
Well, that makes where you’re coming from perfectly clear.
John Bolton is part of the reason government can’t be trusted to tell the truth.
Investigate 9/11. Investigate PNAC.
building 7
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/736223/9-11-tower-Building-7-collapse-fire-conspiracy
ecommcon
Looks like Trump is setting up his chess board. He needs some strategically placed power pieces and a few pawns to sacrifice.
We’ll find out which is which as time goes by.
John Bolton is a war criminal. He would be arrested if he leaves the continental US!
correction: It’s not broken, it’s fixed!
Donald Trump Calls on Russia to Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-clinton-emails.html?_r=1
Russia had nothing to do with our election, our government shows its incompetency regardless of NSA, Homeland Security, FBI and CIA. We cannot function without screwing something up and blame someone else. Remember our government also blamed the Russians for JFK killing.
We are showing the world that we are no leaders and Russians are not involved in the whole wide world of election oversights areound the globe, we made sure Karzai, a guy from Houston having a car dealership was voted in Afghanistan as their leader.
“russia had nothing to do with our election”
if you say so, I guess that settles it.
Did the Russians make you change your vote? It’s all in your belief system. Who you choose to believe. Nothing can be made clear in an age of information saturation.
You fail to recognize an entire set of compromised players and factors.
I don’t get the impression that you’d pay any heed to an enumeration of those that can easily be cited.
Russia sought and got a candidate with as yet undeclared business and other ties to Russia….and whose emails they withheld from disclosure.
That may not trouble you.
There are millions of others who are deeply concerned.
The more agencies and bureaucracy we add, the worse it will get. Wars aren’t won by guys sitting in offices in white shirts. But they are invariably started by them.
the irony here is that the corrupt US of A has to call upon it’s declared enemies to do what American cannot but should do. Goes to show you how far the US has fallen.
To Donald and his minions:
“You sit on a throne of Lies!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBZk6JZwJCU
To Hellary’s cluster of whores:
“You sit on a clutch of deception!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCGW033-82c
>i>”You disgust me!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBZk6JZwJCU
Nice link there barabbas, quality sources, I tip my hat!
The Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton is a 1994 film that accused Bill Clinton of a range of crimes. The video, directed by Patrick Matrisciana, was characterized by The Washington Post as a “bizarre and unsubstantiated documentary.”[1]
The New York Times reported that it was a poorly documented “hodgepodge of sometimes-crazed charges.”[2] It helped perpetuate a conspiracy theory known as the “Clinton Body Count” about a list of associates Clinton was purported to have had killed.[3] The deaths listed in the film have largely been discredited due to deliberate bias, weak circumstantial evidence, and coincidence.[3]
The film was produced by Citizens for Honest Government, a project of a Westminster, California organization named Creative Ministries Inc., partially funded by Larry Nichols, a long-time Clinton opponent, and distributed with help from the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who also appears in the film.[1] Over 300,000 copies of the film were put into circulation[2] with perhaps half that being sales.[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clinton_Chronicles
To promote the film, Falwell aired an interview with Matrisciana, who was silhouetted to conceal his identity as he pretended to be a journalist who was afraid for his life.[4] Matrisciana later acknowledged that he was not in any danger, but that the interview was staged for dramatic effect at Falwell’s suggestion.[4]
barabbas? you’re one of the doonaald’s minions?
I would never have guessed.
By the way, nice investigative sources. Tip o’ the hat!
(smiley face)
I trust the FBI- who has responsibility for cybersecurity (NOT the CIA) and counterespionage (also NOT the CIA)- more than the CIA. Perhaps they can raid Langley and charge whoever puts these assessments forward with violating the Hatch Act?
More misleading requires more misleading.
This is the democrat/republican game of which Schwarz and
so many other liberal delusionists are a part.
Yes, Bolton is a lousy, arrogant, piss-for-brains predator, but
he is typical of both the republicans and the democrats.
It is also lousy, arrogant and piss-for-brains thinking to portray
the horrors of the criminal Iraq war as if it was something the
Bush administration alone forced into being.
In fact, the march to war was ardently supported and
guaranteed by the democrats as well. The role played by
Joe Biden was especially significant. He restricted the
Senate’s fake investigation into the allegations of WMD’s
to those voices which supported the lies they used for war.
Biden was then rewarded with his current position.
Two other democrats who had leading roles in bringing about
the horror of the war were Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.
They have both been rewarded with more power.
Bolton did what Hillary Clinton wanted as much as he did what
Bush wanted. The main difference is that Bolton wasn’t
promoted to be a candidate for president because of his crap.
If Trump favors Bolton it is because Bolton represent what
Trump and Hillary have always had in common.
Schwarz remains a misleading manipulator of history.
Bolton is the most ignorant of sycophants to power. He would nuke his own family !
As a general rule, taking counsel only from like-minded people creates an echo chamber. The current hysterical behavior of the press offers an excellent example.
Getting a lot of decisively different points of view on important issues isn’t something new or alarming. Most smart decision makers do that deliberately to ward off intellectual monoculture which encourages stagnant groupthink agreement to dangerously stupid and failed policies. Obamacare comes to mind, although it is hard to believe it wasn’t deliberately intended to fail.
The single most valuable voice in decision making is often the single voice of dissent. Even if it never carries the day, it does increase the likelihood that the majority view is better informed — and more fully warned — about risks of its failure.
That lack of tolerance for any dissent from orthodoxy inspires stupid decisions which lead to stupid disasters.
Case in point. The last time we heard the CIA promoting an alarmist threat assessment with “high confidence” was about WMD. Now we are hearing the same assurance of “high confidence” about Russian “involvement” in the US elections. And there aren’t even any photos as evidence. It’s all smoke and mirrors. And neither the FBI nor the DNI will underwrite it.
One might want to hit the pause button before rolling the tanks and hear out dissenting points of view. Wars have always begun with a lie to incite the people. They always proceed in tragedy.
But there are more mundate examples.
Case in point. Michael Moore was completely ignored by the passionate Hillary “believers” (including the entire press corp) who later cried themselves to sleep for a fortnight after they lost because they never imagined any other possible outcome than one of assured victory.
Imagine people so blinded from stark staring reality that they literally cannot conceive any possible outcome but the one they passionately wish for. And their lack of ability to identify themselves as the cause of that loss.
Now imagine those same people empowered to direct the fate of a nation.
“mundane”, not “mundate”
Are you suggesting John Bolton has been chosen as a “voice of dissent”? Trump’s picks are generally horrendous. If there’s any dissent in that group, it will be in deciding which horrible thing takes priority. Rationalize it all you want, but this is not good at all.
I would never want Bolton in charge of singularly formulating policy (which of course he can never do and it’s silly to propose such a possibility). But I would certainly hear him out to understand his analysis and conclusions, even if I didn’t agree with either. As an experienced diplomat, his knowledge of that territory is valuable.
Why? Every point of view has value because each opinion will be grounded in differing experience. If that isn’t obvious to you…
Let me offer you an example of what happens when a sole dissenting opinion is ignored because it goes against the prevailing “consensus” among really smart people (the kind of people who habitually fall into the trap of believing “consensus” among themselves is a reliable measure of reality).
The recent election was just lost, almost surely because the loosing candidate couldn’t be troubled to visit some “for-sure-blue” states she and her genius campaign staff took for granted. Cuz their computers told them it wasn’t necessary.
Who was the sole dissenter who argued that HRC should physically campaign in those states to assure she would carry them?
Bill Clinton. The only person in the room who had ever actually won a national presidential election. Twice.
Meanwhile, all the partisan whiz kids tweaked their algos and databases and celebrated their just unbeatable smartness. They believed they had it in the bag. All the talking heads totally agreed. What could possibly go wrong?
Then the real world crashed in and this entire crowd of bed-wetters (and their never-coronated candidate) spent the next fortnight crying themselves to sleep. Now they are throwing their toys in protest. Unbelievable.
“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.” — William Buckley
Mr. Trump is unable to find a sane person to serve. Any self-respecting rational individual will refuse to serve a narcissist egotist corrupt person. So, Mr. Trump has to scrape the bottom of the barrel.
There is an additional benefit. Mr. Trump will feel right at home with these half-wit, corrupt characters. After all, he is , kind of smart!
If Trump is so upset about WMD lies why would he want to hire Bolton?
What makes everyone think Trump is doing the hiring in the first place?
Isn’t there some recently leaked doc revealing Obama didn’t choose his cabinet either?
You’re falling for the same trick, over and over and over.
Trump’s go-to trick is to ask for the stars, and then accept the moon. He throws out these horrible selections, because he knows that that then allows him to pick virtually anyone he wants, and they’ll seem like a dream candidate in comparison.
Trump supporters abhor Romney. But Trump let them think for weeks that Romney was the choice. As a result, his supporters think Tillerson is the best thing since sliced bread. And Trump used Giuliani to the same effect for non-Trump supporters.
He won’t pick Bolton. But whomever he does pick will seem like the greatest choice in history. Believe me, folks. It’ll be a tremendous choice.
look at that. it’s so true, so true. telling it like it is, it’s huge.
Why smart guys from TIC cannot figure it out. It is simple. Don as in every successful mafia chooses leutenants in a way that conflicts their egos and himself remains as an arbiter of what is right course of action or opinion. It keep him firmly in charge while different factions fighting themselves staying weak enough to be controlled.
Analyse his appointments and see for yourself.
John Bolton wants regime change in Iran, A major problem would be how Saudi Arabia could survive a US war with Iran. Saudi Arabia who are dependent on oil exports transiting through the Stait of Hormus and who look to the Godfather [uncle Sam for protection]. Need to think of this..”An assault on Ras Tanura, however, would be vastly more serious. As much as 80% of the near 9m barrels of oil a day pumped out by Saudi is believed to end up being piped from fields such as Ghawar to Ras Tanura in the Gulf to be loaded on to supertankers bound for the west”. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jun/03/saudiarabia.oil Iran and the other members of the ‘Arc of resistance’ could wreck the Saudi economy with several commando teams making the Saudis ‘an offer they can’t refuse’ with the instructions ‘close Ras Tanura’ the Saudis would soon learn that ‘people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones’ . Of course the US could not regime change Iran, It is many times the size of Iraq with 80 million people and a vast well equipped military, some of whom go into battle wearing their shrouds. No US warship would get near Iran since they have sophisticated missiles [supplied by China] and S400 anti aircraft defence systems [bought from Russia]. Iran is aligned with Iraq, Syria, Hezbollah in the ‘arc of resistance’ with support from Russia and China [the silk road] If the US wants to regime change Iran it would cause the Middle East to explode and make the combined and projected costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq of 6 Trillion dollars [Linda Bilmes Kennedy Law School Harvard University] look like chump change.
Bolton is a psychopathic loon and should be institutionalized, not working for the US govt.
Trump knows better but is apparently trying to sooth the neocons that are left.
Totally agree on the Bolton assessment. The neocons and Israeli firsters in Congress have done irreparable damage – to the gallows with the whole lot!
Quite the unexpected story, Jon Schwarz,
I thought I knew all the angles, but I don’t remember this one.
I read Hubris – certainly – but I don’t think they mentioned the OPCW story.
We intimidate countries so thoroughly, it’s disgusting. The other 150 nations couldn’t vote on principle and gather the US’s 22%? Couldn’t let us walk or couldn’t let our money walk? It is no small wonder that Fidel Castro was such a hero.
What a bunch of complicit pussies.
Did anybody read the outrageous NYT piece? It says nothing w/many words and it didn’t allow comments. Likely that could have opened up an anonymous discussion about why Mr Bustani was fired. We might have had a chance to stop the march to war.
Well, we already know Mr Trump lies about everything.
We already know the CIA lies often. When not lying, they are often hiding their failures while exaggerating their successes.
Just this morning, Sen Cardin was condemning Russia’s propaganda, while acting puzzled that we issue propaganda here. Some caller asked about a July bill which okayed the use of propaganda in the US and he said he couldn’t remember.
https://asweetdoseofreality.com/2016/12/11/senate-quietly-passes-the-countering-disinformation-and-propaganda-act/
“If Donald Trump Is So Upset About Iraq WMD Lies, Why Would He Want to Hire John Bolton?”
if jon schwarz is so upset about john bolten, why would he write such a stupid headline?
Since you apparently missed the memo, let me catch you up.
Journalists rarely write their own headlines. Since like, ever. Copyeditors have been known to fight to the death for the privilege, and as a professional society grant themselves beautiful statues in recognition of their most esteemed work.
Bad headlines therefore cannot be criticized since other people do them. Yes, this is good. Joint responsibility is impossible. Make it so. Let’s keep everything dumb.
Ermmmm…
I was simply informing OP that the odds of Mssr Schwarz writing the headline are slim. No one’s telling anyone not criticize anything.
That said criticism is generally more effective when gobbed in the proper direction. Carry on.
“ermmm” all you want, your comment is dopey, and you are backing down from the snotty tone to act like you were “simply informing” anybody of anything.
There is only one place to comment on an internet article – the comments section of an internet article. As close as we get to “gobbed in the proper direction.” They don’t have a separate section to complain about headlines.
Okay, let’s be clear. Headlines in general suck. Terrible. They have never been worse than they are now. Clearly a wheat/chaff problem in the post journo-school pipeline.
But that’s not OP’s complaint. Instead, OP asks why would Schwarz write such a stupid headline. Well, funny enough, another commenter in this lonely hole of the internet has an answer for him! Doubly odd, it’s actually the correct one- Schwarz did not write the headline at all! So what if it was, in your opinion, a “dopey” attempt at sarcasm?
I read that John Bolton will be running the “day to day” State Department operations while Tillerson does all the meet and greets around the globe.
Aw-oh…..
what could possibly go wrong?
I used to work in a Detox Centre in Toronto, which meant part of my job involved listening to sobering up drunks ‘justify’ why they were there, again. Sometimes they could actually do it (like the guy who’d been a Mount Kashell boy). But other times, not so much.
There was one guy, a regular, who said that the problem (this time) was that though yes, he’d gone into the usual bar, at the usual time, and started drinking beers as usual, this time, some strange guy had sat down at the bar and started buying him drinks. And it was this guys fault, not his, that he ended up passed out drunk (like the two times three months before, and another time or two three months before that) and having to be assisted in leaving by the cops.
Now, do you buy that?
No?
Then why do you believe that Americans ending up with a Republican President, despite him losing the popular vote, after an election campaign marked by ‘false news’, ‘leaks’, and pandering to racists and sexists was the fault of the stranger buying a few rounds of them, when three (and four) elections ago, and also a couple further back than that, the same thing happened without the stranger’s involvement?
The lethal mutation of our species is strong in that Bolton.
The dickhead James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis (Trump’s idiotic choice for Secretary of Defense) is obsessed stupidly with Iran, also, claiming that Iran is the biggest threat to Middle East stability – ahead of the real threats of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism, ISIS and the CIA.
Please, Maisie, can you show Mattis the respect he deserves for his military service. Address him as James ‘Butcher of Fallujah’ Mattis. On the matter ‘dickhead’, well, that’s an expression of opinion, but he earned that ‘Butcher of Fallujah’ title risking his life for America, and you should respect that.
Of course! I mean he said he enjoyed murdering people, describing it as “fun,” but you’re right, he did all his butchering
for multinational energy corporations and the military-industrial complexfor America.I shall henceforth give him all the respect he’s due (if I can find enough rotten tomatoes to throw).
Maisie–don’t worry about respecting the butcher. Richard’s real concern is about the word “dickhead”. For some reason, boys on this site just can not stand that word. Or maybe it’s just that they can’t stand women using that word. Whatever, I got a whole bunch of man-splaining and shocked correcting the last time I used it here at free speech inc. , regardless of the righteousness of my content. Keep using it! ????
Well, I thought the sarcasm was thick enough to come through, even to someone who, unlike Maisie, isn’t familiar with my political views and love of repurposing a meme to its opposite intention. Now, occasionally I do get caught up ‘man-splaining’ something to someone of whatever sex, but that’s a side effect of being a polymath, not my being predisposed to testosterone poisoning.
PS, at the risk of being guilty of mansplaining, the number of people who would see someone as given to bad acts and lieing if they associate them with ‘Butcher of…’ as opposed to ‘Mad Dog’ is significant, which is why ‘we’ (the West) so freely bestow the Butcher label on military and civilian leaders of nations ‘we’ want to overthrow or bully into alignment with ‘us’, but NEVER, no matter how greatly deserved that label is, use it for one of our own. And, if you want to call me Dick, go right ahead, strangely it is considered an acceptable truncation of my name.
A continuation of Hitler’s world conquest carried out by Washington’s politicians . . . ARE YOU SOFT ON DEFENSE?.? What are we doing in the middle east?? WHERE IS THE PEACE??
The WAR OR TERROR and we now have terrorist drills in New York City – – WE will go there to prevent them from coming here?? And people think Trump’s soundbites are bad !
I keep trying to remember the lyrics to this song. I do NOT have long to get it right:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT-tFOXdwSI
The right-wingers think they’re going to go have a cakewalk in Iran, or at least, a crooked muddle lucrative to some like in Iraq. What they don’t get is that Iran is a bigger country and most importantly it is a country that has an organic self-organization, a culture in alignment with itself. I don’t believe in that culture but I have to recognize it exists. Their army is not going to fall apart like Hussein’s, their people aren’t going to fall victim to simple tricks to make them kill each other in sectarian squabbles. To the contrary, I fear they are going to find out quite abruptly that a seemingly permanently divided Islam can come together and unify against them, all the way from Syria to Pakistan.
What they also fail to realize is that a country with a higher morale can think further outside the box. I have a feeling that the Iranians are going to get way out of the box, find container ships loaded with “munitions” like Apple laptops that all civilized people say Iranians shouldn’t have, and make legitimate attacks on these munitions. You know what happens if four or five gigantic and very expensive container ships get blown up on the way to Long Beach? Yeah. Everything in the U.S. gets scarce as hen’s teeth once the shipping companies stay away. Americans don’t know how to make a hammer or a nail and couldn’t afford to if they did. Then China and friends go in and defies regulations to facilitate shipping between American “possessions” in the Pacific… and if Washington throws a hissy fit, that’s just one more reason why they part ways for good in 2024.
So when I say the U.S. is going to lose, I don’t just mean they fail to conquer, or they lose troops, I mean the country loses TERRITORY to the Iranians. God knows what they have to do for a peace.
absolutely.
and with the trade alliances between iran and china and russia and others, attacking iran will have the US shooting itself in the other foot and then getting msm wmd media propagandising that russia did it.
The reason he wants Bolton is pretty easy to guess. After all, someone who was so involved in creating evidence of a WMD program when there isn’t any is exactly what he needs if he’s going to ‘rip up the Iran deal ‘.
The reason he’s upset about the agencies that created the sense of certainty that Saddam had WMDs minutes from launch using the same techniques to delegitimize his Presidency before he can take the oath should also have been easy to guess.
John Bolton was on Hardball and proclaimed he is NOT a Neocon:
http://crooksandliars.com/2007/11/21/john-bolton-on-hardball-im-not-a-neoconservative
So now we know he is a Neocon AND a liar too!
I don’t think Trump cares whether Bolton is a Neocon, a Neoliberal, or a Neonazi, and imagining he cares about whether someone lies or not seems far fetched (to put it politely).
What he does care about is if he’s unscrupulous and immoral enough to do anything that is asked of him by his boss, and smart enough to run a con job on people and not go to jail for it. And Bolton has the resume that shows he not only passes those two tests, he aces them.
I think it is that the Donald is every bit as impressed that anyone could have a chinchilla living in the middle of his face as the rest of us.
2002 fell? Holy crap!
Sorry; capitalize those seasons, Jon.
It’s quite possible the only conflicts Tillerson will see as profitable will involve pipeline access, somewhere, which won’t be any big change really. I sort of doubt a neocon reject like Bolton, harshing their buzz daily endlessly screaming “Iran” in their ears, will get off the bench much. I admit it’s a long time to keep the fingers crossed though.
Yeah, where was my head?
FYI: My stupidest coding mistakes also happened whenever I ignored pain or exhaustion. Looked at a day or three later all I can do is laugh at myself.
It’s quite refreshing if somewhat unnerving to see Trump take on the liars at the CIA even before he is sworn in and he is showing no fear. It’s also telling to watch the Clintonites rally around the CIA in a number of ways from direct praise parroting unverified conclusions to seemingly neutral denial/non-denial reporting.
just how inattentive have you been? The ONLY reason Trump is going after CIA is that they aren’t kissing his ass and agreeing with him. If Idi Amin was alive and sucking up to Trump he’d have a job…
fuck off with those opening sentences, Jon.
Just because Trump said those people are assholes
does not absolve them. The enemy of my enemy is….mmmm,
probably an asshole too.
Maybe more than one kind of dumb fuck corrupt
government official is possible in this world.
This tactic does not work. This is a problem for the dems since it is all they have.
Bolton as SoS would have been a red flag but he remains a lesser figure rewarded for his support. He’ll make no policy but carry out his bosses’ policies just as he did under Bush.
The idea that he could push Trump into ‘war’ with Iran is just stupid or even do much about the Iran Nuke deal which is a European deal mostly and will remain so.
he’s just a houseboy for that casino guy.
Yes, but that ‘casino guy’ happens the be the Hegemon now. Bolton reminds me of Yosemite Sam and he may be useful when a blowhard is needed.
yeahbut-
real successes are built on truths, not lies like the obsessive -compulsive mentally aberrant disorders of pathologically disturbed persons like JBolt. Rule of thumb – if you cant trust him to run your business, dont hire him. JBolt is only loyal to delusions and fantasies and that does not fit Trumps operational scenario.
I doubt we will hear much from JB in the future while he runs the office at State like a good pencil pusher.
If you want to see lies and obsessions just look at the Company Clintonites and many others in DC who seem bent on destruction to get their post-truth agenda enacted. Now the Fed is sabotaging any chance for improvement in the economy to thwart the dastardly Donald.
This is not a case of “keep your enemies closer”. JBolt is like the guy in school who set cats on fire. He seems demented. He tries to mask his crazy with crazy facial hair but thinks of himself of the wacky professor. He is more like all Hyde, no Jeckyl.
with or without bolton iran will be a target. the trump campaign spewed the nonsense line about them being “the top supporters of terrorists” without laughing as they said it which proves they’re stupid and/or delusional.
they’ve also – as is required to get anywhere these days – licked israeli boots and we all know how those folks feel about iran. or does anyone think israel would actually fight its own battles against a capable opponent? bolton won’t change that dynamic either way but who knows what hijinks he’ll unleash when things get uglier with china. i think he’ll find american-made staplers aren’t as cheap or aerodynamic as the chinese ones. that could really mess with his throwing arm.
Jon, not to worry. According to self proclaimed serious thinkers® the little people need only concern themselves with the odiosities, grotesqueries and malicious machinations of all things with a D.
Trump, his appointees and the Rs are of no concern. Tut tut!
What democrats? We no longer have to waste time on the deposed Red Queen or any of her quislings still hanging on trying to disrupt the transition of power. They are marching in lockstep into the dustbin of history.
When we see how Trump’s appointees actually begin serving their new master then criticism may be necessary or maybe not.
Way out–you are so right. I collapsed at the end of the the campaigns and voted for Killary, but when T-rump won, I could not find it in myself to want it overturned. I was strangely relieved that we weren’t going to be in a shooting war with Russia on Jan 22. Then the 3rd way, corporate neo lib dems started this Cold War crap–something I remember well from my teen years in the 50’s– and now I’m so totally disgusted with them and their CIA lies, that I might join the Socialists. Unless Keith gets the DNC chair.
I’m not too worried about this, as I see very little evidence that Mr. Trump ever listens to any of his advisors. In fact, Mr. Trump seems to deliberately give jobs to people he dislikes, so he can have the pleasure of firing them later.
Except for Ivanka. He’s installing her in the First Lady’s office. It is unknown what Melania Trump thinks about this state of affairs, or what she will be doing instead.
Melania is probably wondering how she lucked out so hard. The Donald at the White House, jetting around the world, or anywhere but around her for the vast majority of four years? That’s probably manna from heaven for her.
Everybody with a formal job title will be fired. Ivanka is safe for now.
John Bolton’s mustache makes me hungry for Quaker Oats, and a gruff lesson of some sort.
The Bolton nomination makes no sense given Trump’s general repudiation of neocons. But it could be the case of “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”.