Sick of the Willful Amnesia

Because of the riots in the Mideast, the attacks on U.S. embassies, Michele Bachmann (R-MN) calls President Barack Obama the "the most dangerous president we have ever had on foreign policy." Where was this woman on 9/11? Did she call President Bush "the most dangerous president we have ever had on foreign policy" then?

As early as May 2, 2001, "the Central Intelligence Agency told the White House of a report that 'a group presently in the United States' was planning a terrorist operation. Weeks later, on June 22, the daily brief reported that Qaeda strikes could be 'imminent,' although intelligence suggested the time frame was flexible." Yet Bush's neo-con advisors pooh-poohed the idea, and the government did not go on high alert. [Kurt Eichenwald,  "The Deafness Before the Storm," New York Times, 10 September 2012; a reason why Eichenwald's reminder matters here--"Why the New Pre-9/11 Disclosures Matter," Alec McGillis, The New Republic, 11 September 2012.]

(I almost laughed aloud in disbelief when a relative of mine told me recently that George W. Bush had "kept us safe." The attacks on the Twin Towers came almost eight months into Bush's first year in office--and then there were the anthrax attacks, in which five people died and at least 22 people were infected with the deadly virus!)

Did Michele Bachman call President George W. Bush "the most dangerous president we have ever had on foreign policy" when:

• A car bomb killed 10 people and injured over 50 others outside the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2002?
• Explosions erupted near the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Uzbekistan in 2004?
• Gunman "stormed the American Consulate" in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, in 2004?
• Armed gunmen attacked the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria, in 2006?
• An antitank grenade was fired on the U.S. Embassy in Athens in 2007?
• Protesters set fire to the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2008?
• Ten people were killed in an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen in 2008? (h/t Media Matters-- When I started looking up information on embassy attacks, I discovered that others had done the work already.) 

How about the 2005 riots in Afghanistan over "a report that interrogators desecrated Iran's holy book at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay"? 

Or how about these Pew Research Findings in 2006, well into George W. Bush's second year in office:

Positive views of the United States have declined sharply in Spain (from 41% to 23%), India (71% to 56%), and Turkey (23% to 12%). Even in Indonesia, where U.S. tsunami aid helped lift America's image in 2005, favorable opinions of the U.S. have fallen (from 38% to 30%). . . .[snip] Majorities in 10 of 14 foreign countries surveyed say the war in Iraq has made the world a more dangerous place. In Great Britain, 60% say the war has made the world more dangerous, compared with 30% who say it has made the world safer.

Did Michele Bachmann think then, "uh, oh, President George W. Bush is falling down on the job in foreign policy"?

Have we forgotten Abu Ghraib?  Whose Mideast policy was responsible for that blot on our nation?

Discussing policy differences is fine and necessary. Willfully forgetting the past in order to propagandize the present is stupid. But even more stupid? Believing those who do this.

Briefly....

So glad this guy's not going to be President: "Gingrich Walks out During Interview with Student Reporter," in Slate. I mean, really, petulance doesn't wear well in a leader. Imagine four years of stunts like this.

But here are the people who disagree with me: The Atlantic's video of the day. Bully for them.

As Kevin Drum says, not much of anything new was added to the George W. Bush and the National Guard story in Joe Hagen's article in the  May edition of the Texas Monthly , but, distilled, it does deliver some cautionary reminders:

• The rich, powerful, politically-connected are not like you and me, and don't forget it. If drafted, their children don't go to war, and they don't have to flee to Canada to avoid deploying. While someone less fortunate serves and dies in their place or lives the rest of his life in a foreign country, they get safe assignments and (finally) grow up to be President.
• Career politicians (often, and selectively, perhaps) look out for other politicians, even those in the competing party. This is how they bargain; this is how they accrue power.
• Powerfully rich and influential people can destroy lives or hinder the aspirations of others more admirable: Walter V. Robinson, Boston Globe reporter: "...the only [2004 presidential] candidate who ended up with a serious credibility problem about his military service was John Kerry, who had absolutely nothing to hide or be ashamed of."

Useful reminders.

Conspiracy? Could Be. . .

Updates below

When I first heard of the fatal plane crash of Mike Connell, I briefly thought, "Well, that's suspiciously convenient for Karl Rove and the Bush administration," but I shook off the thought. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I'm leery of those who are. Yet as I read more and more about the story, I began to get suspicious again. If Dick Cheney can take to the airwaves and openly and confidently announce to the world that he helped instigate torture and that he thinks waterboarding is efficacious and necessary in warfare (when our own government has prosecuted people in the past who waterboarded prisoners), then who knows what these people are capable of doing.

Mike Connell was "a Republican media consultant who was instrumental in the presidential and gubernatorial campaigns of three members of the Bush Family" (CBS News, "Republican IT Guru Dies in Plane Crash," Dec. 23, 2008). He was also the chief IT consultant for Karl Rove. He had a

central role in building the IT infrastructure of the White House and his association with Karl Rove has brought him into the controversy surrounding missing White House e-mails relating to the firing of U.S. Attorneys and other topics, and the fate of e-mail communications sent by Rove and other administration staffers which were sent via a Republican Party Web site, gwb43.com, rather than through a whitehouse.gov address.

Connell had recently been "subpoenaed earlier this year to testify in an Ohio federal court regarding alleged voter fraud in the 2004 election. Despite exit polls showing a lead by Democratic nominee John Kerry of more than 4 percent, Mr. Bush won the state's vote by 2.5 percent, along with its crucial electoral votes" ("Republican IT Guru Dies in Plane Crash").

Evidently, Connell was worried about his safety. One news source reports that

Connell had recently said he was afraid George Bush and Dick Cheney would "throw [him] under the bus." Cliff Arnebeck had also previously alerted Attorney General Michael Mukasey to alleged threats from Karl Rove to Connell if he refused to "take the fall." (Amy Goodman, "Rove's IT Guru Warned of Sabotage before Fatal Plane Crash; Was Set to Testify," posted December 22, 2008).

CBS News reports that "twice in the past two months Connell, who was an experienced pilot, canceled flights because of suspicious problems with his plane" and that Connell "was warned at least twice about flying his plane because his plane might be sabotaged."

While investigators are looking into the causes of the crash, I suspect this story will soon be on the back-burner for lack of media interest. But how convenient for Karl Rove and the Bush administration. The one man who could have spilled all the secrets of those missing e-mails and the internet strategies for the 2000 and 2004 Bush-Cheney campaigns has died in a fire-bomb plane crash, leaving behind a widow and four children.

But some are asking, "Where's the body?"

Updates: Steve Benen weighs in on this subject with some cautionary notes (cautionary about labeling this event as a conspiracy) and more information. He also provides a link to further discussion: "Michael Connell's Death Draws Scrutiny," posted December 26, 2008, on his Political Animal blog at Washington Monthly.