Names on Bush's Wall of Shame

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=34029

Tomgram: Failing upward, Bush-style

(Note to Tomdispatch readers: Three weeks ago, Nick Turse wrote a dispatch, The Fallen Legion, Casualties of the Bush Administration, about government officials who resigned or retired in protest, or were forced over a cliff by this administration. It was, in essence, a proposal for a Wall of Honor. At the time, we realized that it should be accompanied by a Wall of Shame. This, then, is the first of two linked pieces that attempt to apportion a little of the shame and honor. Look for Nick Turse's accompanying piece tomorrow.)


Bush's Wall of Shame
By Tom Engelhardt

<snip>
Honored for Catastrophe

Former CIA Director George ("slam dunk") Tenet, who oversaw an "intelligence" program of lies, misinformation, abductions, torture, the disappearing of prisoners, and the setting up of a mini-gulag of private prisons from Thailand to Eastern Europe, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom as his tenure at the Agency ended.

Former Coalition Provisional Authority head L. Paul (I never saw an army I didn't want to disband) Bremer III, under whose leadership in Baghdad the American occupation mis- and displaced more money than is humanly imaginable, and under whose leadership Iraq descended into chaos, awarded the Medal of Freedom.

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard ("Guantanamo is a model facility") Myers, who oversaw the Iraq War and whose claim to fame may have been that he called Dan Rather of CBS to try to suppress the first "60 Minutes II" report on Abu Ghraib, awarded the Medal of Freedom.

Former Centcom Commander Tommy ("we don't do body counts") Franks, who oversaw "victories" in Afghanistan and Iraq in wars that have never ended, retired to great administration praise and became a "paid patriot," awarded the Medal of Freedom.

..Much Much More..

of all the criminals in this cabal. Good reading!

bush has been handing them out to his discredited, "retired", fired and indicted cronies like so much halloween candy. The Medal of Freedom used to be a cherished award with only America's finest civilian recipients so honored. bush has been giving them away to every miscreant within his administration, probably to ensure their silence about their contributions to the bush war and propaganda factory.
In a few years "Medals of Freedom" will be turning up on Ebay by the dozens to help the recipients pay their legal fees after this criminal cabal comes tumbling down.

I am sure it is an insult to any past recipients who actually DESERVED the medal.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=34064

Tomgram: Nick Turse on the War Intel from the Streets

(Note for Tomdispatch readers: This is the second of two Tomdispatch pieces dedicated to shame and honor in the Bush era. The first was Bush's Wall of Shame.)


Get a Clue
Who Had the Real Intel on the War
By Nick Turse

On November 2, 2005, I found myself in a familiar situation -- at a protest. This time, it was the New York version of the World Can't Wait nationwide protest on the first anniversary of George W. Bush's reelection. In some ways the scene was typical. Heavy police presence for the rally. Lots of police vans. The ubiquitous metal barricades. And that vestigial gift of the August 2004 Republican National Convention in the Big Apple: the NYPD scooter brigade -- complete with flexi-cuffs informally used to weaponize the scooters by lashing billy clubs to them.

The police had been called out in force because the kids were out in force. While I saw many of the usual suspects (including my rapidly aging self), the day belonged to throngs of high-school and college kids -- some of whom walked out of class, braving suspensions. Many were too young to vote or buy alcohol, though not to enlist in the military. (Go figure.) It was a fired up, diverse crowd that grooved to the excellent musicianship and furious lyrics of the genre-bending Brooklyn quintet, Outernational, and gave it up for speakers ranging from fiery City Councilwoman Margarita Lopez to former diplomat Ann Wright, who called on the crowd to spend Thanksgiving with her and other hearty activist souls at Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas.

Then they took to the streets. Carrying a creative mélange of signs, clad in "Resist Or Die!" t-shirts, and wearing green stickers bearing the words of their signature chant -- "Drive out the Bush Regime, The World Can't Wait!" -- they commenced a two-mile march through Manhattan to Times Square. They yelled or sang familiar call-and-response chants. "Whose streets? Our streets!" "What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!" They implored passersby to join the march -- and I even saw an elderly man do so. Many drivers in cars smiled or honked horns in support, while office workers in windows above flashed peace signs, cheered, or gave thumbs-up. Then there was the fellow, high above in dress shirt and tie, who held his own home-made sign to a window: "Get a job." He was met by the expected opprobrium and a chant just for him: "Get a clue! Get a clue!"

Finally, he mouthed back -- at least it looked that way to me -- "You, get a clue!" And I was reminded of something that is almost never mentioned anymore. I remember well the huge rallies and marches in New York, Washington, and elsewhere as the Bush administration rushed headlong into war, claiming the need to find weapons of mass destruction that were never there and strangle a threat that never existed. It should make you think about who had a clue, and who needed to get one.

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