Interesting extract. You're right, there would be a limited number of generals who fit that description. But Petraeus got a PhD from Princeton, so the "I didn't even graduate" doesn't make sense ... nor the idea that he 'taught there', as it says, since he didn't.

Not sure it would matter if it *was* Petraeus; it would be natural enough, after they cooked up this little program, to get them in front of Petraeus at some point if he was in the country then. I'm not sure that makes him 'part of the propaganda' program; given everything else, that would have to be one of the more innocent roles.

I think we ought to eyeball Petraeus separately, on the basis of his performances during testimony before Congress about the conduct of the war. He's walked a fine line there between setting expectations, maintaining support for the war, and manipulating the facts in a misleading way. Seems to me he's actually crossed the line, especially last Sept, though this spring he seemed to have reined that impulse in.

Still, if you'll spout the line once for your masters (if that's what he did), then you've shown that you'll do it, and can be made to do it again with the right pressure ..

http://media.smh.com.au/?rid=36833 (short advert intro)

Reminds me of our lovable trolls.

Ha! Actually that looks more like something one would carry your other eyeless 'little fellow' in ...

Thanks, I got my Allerex and jet spray. It isn't actually allergies, something called 'non-allergenic rhinitis', which translates into, 'we don't know what it is but here's some prednisone and a bunch of expensive drugs you can put up your nose'.

There's something funny about the shape of that nostril invader on the tip of the spray cannister, though...

That’s very interesting news about an excellent, true journalist, Charlie Savage. Perhaps because of the savaging by Glenn and the netroots community of the NYT and the numerous idiots that write and comment for them, they decided they had to at least pretend to provide real journalism more than occasionally. Savage has erned and deserves a wider audience.

Petraeus and plagiarism

http://www.counterpunch.org/price10302007.html

That David Price is this fellow:

Threatening Anthropology: McCarthyism and the FBI's Surveillance of Activist Anthropologists

http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2004/SO/BR/gill.htm

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0822333384/counterpunchmaga

Our most effective method of spreading democracy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lNFRLrP014

It's bad enuff that these pundits-by-the-number, or penny-a-word-panderers even get press, but do we have to waste our time talking about them?? Sheesh. Tom Friedman. Joe Klein. David Frum. Holly Martins. Donald Kaufman. Who cares? A rose is a rose by any other name. A hack is a hack. What IS scary is that there is an audience out there that these mofos can pander to. Sir, yes Sir.

[Arne]: We ought to seriously consider licensing satirists

The thing is, you don't have to do satire when you're talking about the Bush Regime. Just report verbatim what they're doing or saying, and it comes out sounding like satire. Or at least it used to, when the world contained more sanity.

Is it morning in America yet? I think someone changed my clock.

Oooops. Forgot to put in my <SARCASM> tags.... ;-)

Cheers,

Thanks. I mean that. I know I can count on the good people here.

Cheers,

A guy spends a few hours with a new chain saw and a tremendous thread breaks out. It's taken me a while to catch up, but I would like to comment on this bit from Klein:

And I believe that the US is abiding by the spirit of the Geneva Convention, despite the casual, ill-considered remarks of our rough-hewn secretary of defence, among others. . . .

Uhm, Mr. Klein, meet the National Lawyers Guild, headed by Marjorie Cohn, who testified last week at a House Judiciary Committee hearing alongside Phillipe Sands. The NLG released a white paper (thanks for the link, Pedinska) which explains the concept of jus cogens in international law and how it applies to the "spirit" of the Geneva Convention:

The prohibition against torture is a jus cogens norm. Jus cogens are defined as norms “accepted and recognized by the international community of states as a whole ... from which no derogation is permitted…” In international criminal law, the legal duties that arise in connection with crimes designated as violations of jus cogens norms include the duty to prosecute or extradite, the non-applicability of statutes of limitations, the non-applicability of any immunities up to and including those enjoyed by Heads of State, the non-applicability of the defense of "obedience to superior orders" and universal jurisdiction over perpetrators of such crimes. Other jus cogens norms include the prohibitions against slavery, genocide, and wars of aggression. Jus cogens norms, like customary international law norms, are legally binding. No affirmative executive act may undercut the force of these prohibitions nor may a legislature legalize crimes designated as violating jus cogens norms or immunizing from prosecution those responsible. Jus cogens norms differ from norms which have attained the status of customary international law by dint of their universal and non-derogable character and the fact that jus cogens norms are peremptory, that is, they trump any other inconsistent international law.

Link: http://www.nlg.org/news/statements/White Paper - Yoo hearing.doc

Now, it's probably not too big a stretch to think that Joe has neither the time nor expertise to analyze Guantanamo, the Geneva Convention, statements by Rumsfeld (and Bush) regarding interrogation techniques and the concept of jus cogens, so I'll put it in terms that he should be able to handle. Mr. Sands has suggested recently that most of those involved in drafting the torture memos and taking part in the high-level meetings at which decisions were made to torture might want to think twice about international travel, as they are at significant risk of arrest and extradition to The Hague.

Got it, Joe? And oh yeah, pay special attention to the part where neither Congress nor Bush can give any of those involved a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.