Moyers On Iraq, War And Big Oil: A “Must” Watch Or Read.

PBS has posted streaming video as well as a transcript of this week’s Bill Moyer’s Journal where he indicts the Bush administration and its BFF’s, big oil, for being the root cause of the Iraq war.

You can watch or read it here http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06272008/transcript3.html

Moyers says, in part:

James Hansen, who 20 years ago alerted us to the dangers of global warming, compared the chief executives of big oil to the tobacco moguls who denied that nicotine is addictive or that there's a link between smoking and cancer. Hansen said these barons of black gold should be tried for committing crimes against humanity and nature in opposing efforts to deal with global warming.

Perhaps those sweetheart deals in Iraq should be added to his proposed indictments. They have been purchased at a very high price. Four-thousand American soldiers dead, tens of thousands permanently wounded for life, hundreds of thousands of dead and crippled Iraqis plus five million displaced, and a cost that will mount into trillions of dollars. The political analyst Kevin Phillips says America has become little more than an "energy protection force" doing anything to gain access to expensive fuel without regard to the lives of others, or the earth itself.

Bill Moyers remains one of a tiny handful of mainstream journalists who actually does what a reporter is supposed to do: Uncover facts and tell the unvarnished truth.

Another Flip-Flop From Grandpa Munster aka John McCain

There’s been barely a whisper in the mainstream media today about its former BFF Ahmad Chalabi, who met yesterday in Tehran with Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Ali Larijani. According to an English language Iranian news report, Chalabi commented on the Status of Forces Agreement being negotiated by the Bush administration with the Iraq government:

The INC's Chalabi retorted that granting immunity to US military personnel from prosecution under Iraqi law is baldly unacceptable. “The vast majority of Iraqi people and authorities oppose the security treaty and regard it as contradictory to Iraq's sovereignty and security.” Chalabi stated the treaty is counterproductive for Iraq in the long term and what the US is seeking is a binding bilateral agreement for the ongoing presence of its forces in Iraq whose UN mandate expires on Dec. 31.

Then Chalabi sat there while Larijani warned the US against "adventurism."

What is Chalbi doing discussing a bilateral US-Iraqi agreement with Larijani in Tehran? Let's see, I'm trying to remember whose idea it was for the US public to give Chalabi tens of millions of dollars and to try to put him in power in Baghdad

Oh, I remember: It was our very own Mr. Foreign Policy Experience, Grandpa Munster:

McCain welcomed Ahmed Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), to Washington and pressured the administration to give him money. When General Anthony Zinni cast doubt upon the effectiveness of the Iraqi opposition, McCain rebuked him at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

In 2003, McCain joined four other Republican senators in asking Bush to “personally clear the bureaucratic roadblocks within the State Department” that stood in the way of increased funding for the Chalabi’s group. McCain also said of Chalabi, “He’s a patriot who has the best interests of his country at heart.”

The Confession Of A Former Hillary-ista

A close friend and colleague who first supported John Edwards and then gave her heart to Hillary is still upset about how the Democratic primary race ended up. She continues to refer to Barack Obama as “Obambi” because she remains convinced that he lacks the experience to be president. But in an e-mail to me this morning, she admitted that “whenever McCain opens his mouth, I start chanting ‘Yes, we can!’”

Given the poll numbers released last week – 60% of women who backed Clinton in the primaries are now supporting Obama – I suspect a lot of not just women but voters generally are doing the same thing.