Nice number: Gonzo milestone

100

The number of posts The Gonzo Think Tank reached today.  (Note: It’s OK to buy champagne and party hats to celebrate. Salud!)

In contrast to the big milestone, I will touch on a few small things.

Inspirational speech

Last week, I checked out Randy Pausch’s famous last speech on YouTube. The professor gave the “Last Lecture” on following your dreams as he was dying of cancer.

Here are some great quotes from his lecture:

“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”

“Freedom is a word for nothing left to lose.”

“Brick walls are there for a reason: They let us prove how badly we want things.”

“Don’t complain, just work harder.”

“It’s not about your dreams, it’s how you lead your life.”

Speaking out

Air Force prosecutor Morris Davis recently spoke out against the corrupt military “tribunals” at Guantanamo Bay. He said colleagues told him to cook evidence to make sure the illegally detained suspects don’t see fair trials.

We need more people like Pausch and Davis. Noble people who stand up for what is right when it isn’t easy.

Noxious numbers: pounds of paunch

In 2003, U.S. soldiers lost an average of 15 pounds during their tours of Iraq. Now, they put on 10 pounds.

Burger King has replaced MREs and C-rations.

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New (to me) source

A worldly friend recently told me about Dahr Jamail, an unfiltered and highly-regarded journalist in Iraq.

In an interview with Jeremy Scahill, another strong unfiltered journalist, Jamail said the U.S. is at fault for the Iranian influence in Iraq because Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her British counterpart Jack Straw placed Nuri al-Maliki undemocratically in the Iraqi Prime Minister position.

Maliki, a Shia, has strong Iranian backing.

It’s interesting stuff because the administration routinely talks about the Iranian influence in the region as one of the major reasons the U.S. must not leave, but the administration is, and I know this is shocking, full of shit.

His site is now in the Tank’s blogroll for interested parties to peruse.

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Pandering pansies

The top four American political figures looked like fools this week — and each incident was their own intentional action.

Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain appeared on a WWE wrestling promotion, while Bush had a guest appearance on Deal or No Deal.

Obviously, we know they will sellout for any vote. (Note: Check out Matt Taibbi, one of my favorite writers, and his new Rolling Stone piece on outrageous military earmark for candidates, especially for Clinton.)

But these moves – while Bush became the president with the lowest approval rating EVER — are directed to the lowest, most meaningless denominator.

It’s like going from a Spitzer-esqe prostitute to a street tranny.

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Karma

As a reporter, my job relies on access to do interview citizens, but I was denied that privilege Monday.

It killed the story before a word was written. I was upset, yet remained calm at the free speech injustice I felt victimized to.

Later, I heard on the police scanner that people at that site were stuck in an elevator.

Oh, karma, how sweet the belief.

Too much to carry

 My buddy sent this photo (and the one in the banner) from Greece.

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Meanwhile …

PBS’ Frontline special “Bush’s War” is a profound, inside look into the Iraq War.

I highly recommend watching this program online. It dissects the run-up to the war and its execution with the political infighting and hierarchy in the Bush Administration that turned the situation into a quagmire.

Some of the more interesting points were:

1. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld first raised the idea of invading Iraq on the eve of 9/11. “Bush’s War” showed how Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney had President Bush’s ear, while Secretary of State Colin Powell or National Security Advisor Condeleezza Rice were left on the outside.

2. The rivalry between Rumsfeld and CIA director George Tenet led to an uncoordinated effort at the start of the Afghanistan offensive. Cheney traveled to CIA headquarters to oversee the intelligence gathering before Iraq War. Rumsfeld sets up his own intelligence group inside the Defense Department, therefore ignoring the National Intelligence Estimate members.

3. John Yoo, in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Council, grants Bush wide-ranging war powers, without the consent of Powell or Rice, among many others.

4. Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress, first raised the link between Al Qaeda and Iraq and, as the alias of Curveball, provided “intelligence” of Sadaam Hussien having transportable biological weapons.

5. The renegade practices of the administration. Placing the intelligence around the policy, which is opposite of the right process. Before Bush’s speech to the U.N., hastily placing a line about seeking  U.N. resolutions.

6. After winning in Baghdad, the U.S. didn’t establish order and looting broke out. Iraq reconstruction became the task of the Defense Department, not the State Department.

7. The lack of leadership. Chalabi failed as the hand-picked president. Jay Garner, who helped the Kurds after the Gulf War, had a brief run as a leader with a humanitarian focus. (Garner criticizes Chalabi for working with the Iranians and Chalabi criticizes Garner for wanting to employ the Bathists.) The neocon L. Paul Bremer comes in and wants to shoot the looters to send a message. He finds out he doesn’t have the authority. Meanwhile, 30 miles off the coast of California, Bush speaks under the “Mission Accomplished” banner.

There are many, many more nuggets of vital information in this documentary.

Check it out: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/

The complete fumbling of the Iraq War had a parallel in today’s news from Pakistan, where Al Qaeda fighting continues in tribal areas.

“Senior officials at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, told government auditors that they had received no strategic guidance from Washington on designing, carrying out, financing and monitoring a coordinated American strategy,” a Government Accountability Office study said in the New York Times.

History repeats itself.

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