Rewriting our history in Iraq .

"Only the dead have seen the end of war.” ~Plato~ 

Be careful America, I believe that there will soon be a war coming to a television near you.

"For the last week, liberals and conservatives have been arguing over the Iraq war. They agree that it was a mistake. But where liberals see lies and misinformation—“America invaded Iraq because the Bush administration wanted a war,” writes Paul Krugman—conservatives see an honest error. “[C]learly there were mistakes as it related to faulty intelligence in the lead-up to the war and the lack of focus on security,” said Jeb Bush in one of his four follow-ups to a now-consequential question on the Iraq war last week. “The intelligence was clearly wrong,” said former CEO Carly Fiorina, “And so had we known that the intelligence was wrong, no, I would not have gone in.

Outside of the presidential race, conservative writers have tried to highlight the “honest” part of the mistake by emphasizing the national consensus around Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction. “Though certainly not unanimous,” writes Matt Lewis for the Daily Caller, “the truth is that there was a strong bipartisan consensus that Iraq had WMDs. This included President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, and even Nancy Pelosi.” Lewis ends there, but the intended argument is clear: You can’t accuse Bush of misleading the public when everyone, independent of the administration, also believed that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Except that you can. As Jonathan Chait notes for New York, “misleading the public” into a war of choice isn’t mutually exclusive to having faulty intelligence, especially given the official conclusion that “the administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent.” As Chait writes, “The Bush administration was the victim of bad intelligence, but also the perpetrator. Its defense lies in pretending that those two things cannot both be the case.” And at Mother Jones, David Corn points to the long trail of evidence showing the extent to which Bush officials exaggerated existing evidence and actively deceived the public about Iraq’s threat to the United States. Not only did Vice President Dick Cheney insist there was “very clear evidence” Hussein was developing nuclear weapons (there wasn’t), but he—along with President Bush and other members of the administration—worked to link Hussein to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. “In November 2002,” notes Corn, “Bush said Saddam ‘is a threat because he’s dealing with Al Qaeda.’ ”

 

But there’s more to this dispute than the details of the run-up to the Iraq war. Conservatives don’t just want to avoid the extent to which the invasion was an active decision and not the passive result of “faulty intelligence.” They also want to enshrine the underlying logic of the war. The argument that the Iraq war was an honest mistake from bad assessments is also an argument that the invasion was the proper response to the potential threat of a WMD-equipped Saddam. It’s an endorsement of the Bush-Cheney strategy of “preventive war.”

To that point, Sen. Marco Rubio flatly states that Iraq “was not a mistake” because “the president was presented with intelligence that said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, it was governed by a man who had committed atrocities in the past with weapons of mass destruction.” Hussein’s brutality, in other words, was justification enough for the invasion. Likewise, in an interview with Bloomberg, Elliott Abrams—a former foreign policy adviser in the Bush administration and adviser to Rubio—said that “the proximate cause of the invasion was the intel about WMDs.”

The intelligence, in other words, compelled the invasion. Anyone else would have made the same choice.

But they wouldn’t have. In his speech against the Iraq war authorization bill, then-Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold agreed that Saddam posed “a genuine threat, especially in the form of weapons of mass destruction,” but didn’t think this required a new war:

Mr. President, I believe it is dangerous for the world, and especially dangerous for us, to take the tragedy of 9–11 and the word “terrorism” and all their powerful emotion and then too easily apply them to many other situations—situations that surely need our serious attention but are not necessarily, Mr. President, the same as individuals and organizations who have shown a willingness to fly planes into the World Trade Center and into the Pentagon.

Other opponents, like Al Gore, made similar statements. “It is reasonable to conclude that we face a problem that is severe, chronic, and likely to become worse over time,” said the former vice president of international terrorism in a September 2002 speech, “But is a general doctrine of pre-emption necessary in order to deal with this problem? With respect to weapons of mass destruction, the answer is clearly not.” Millions of Americans—upward of 40 percent—agreed. And to this you can add the scores of analysts, journalists, and wonks who sharply disagreed that a war was needed to keep Iraq from distributing or using nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. Writing in National Review, for example, one Cato Institute scholar made the sensible point that Hussein had no incentive to give away the fruits of a nuclear program: “Baghdad would be the immediate suspect and likely target of retaliation should any terrorist deploy nuclear weapons, and Saddam knows this.” His conclusion? “There’s certainly no hurry to go to war. Nothing is different today from September 10, 2001, or any time since Iraq was ousted from Kuwait.”' [More here]

History will not be kind to the architects of the Iraq war. And it shouldn't be.

The sad thing is, though, that there are still politricksters out there trying to convince the rest of us that going after the madman that ruled over Iraq was the right thing to do. It was not.

By shaking up the hornet's nest that is the Middle East, George Bush and Dick Cheney thought that there were putting their "preventive" war strategy to good use.

Sadly for them, their "preventive" war has only prevented peace in the Middle East.





 

Hopefully it's finally over and other "newsy" stuff.

Oh my, so much news so little time. Where do I begin? Let me start with a shout to my sisters over at Essence for quoting the field and giving a brother some shine. To the haters who questioned my loyalty to my sisters because I ripped that slave catcher last night, *that's my middle finger you are seeing* get over it.

Since he is the HNIC, I am going to start with my Prez. Loved the speech on Iraq O man, and I am glad that nightmare of a war in Iraq is finally winding down. It never should have started in the first place. I mean honestly; what exactly did we "accomplish"? Did folks ever stop to think that all the sectarian violence that took (and continues to) take place have probably (and will) cost more lives than if the evil one was still in power? Of course you didn't. It felt too good to kick some insurgent butt after what happened to us that fall day. Still, his O ness showed some class, he gave W a shout out and called for folks on different sides of the issue to come together. Of course it took the wingnuts exactly three minutes after his speech to rip him a new one over at Radio Rwanda. Unity my ass.

And now, as it turns out, the white MLK was the inspiration for this lovely fellow. Nice.

"Rich, like myself, loved Glenn Beck," Perkovic told me, and in the early months of 2009 the issues that animated Poplawski were increasingly the ones that Beck was talking about he launched his show that January on the Fox News Channel. (The FNC host later confessed: "When we were starting the TV show there are things that I did that I wouldn’t do now because I had to be more of an entertainer.”)

Most famously, Poplawski embraced discussions by Beck in March 2009 about the possibility of FEMA concentration camps -- and the future accused cop-killer even posted a video online of Beck discussing FEMA with U.S. Rep. Ron Paul. But Poplawski also increasingly talked to friends and family members about the possible collapse of the U.S. monetary system and the need to stockpile food and even toilet paper for a possible socital collapse -- also ideas featured on Beck's program and on more fringe right-wing media.

Later in an affadavit, Poplawski's mother claimed that her son "only liked police when they were not curtailing his constitutional rights, which he was determined to protect."

Glenn, in the future, when you are dreaming up those schemes, just remember some of the folks who are dreaming with you.

Moving right along. Some people are too cruel for words, and some people are too dumb.
Humans are getting closer to animals every day. The world is becoming a dangerous place. It doesn't take much to send folks over the deep end.

Take this next story, for instance. Some dude Rodney "Kinged" some guy with wiffle ball bat because he wouldn't put his pants on. Seems my man's girl was coming over and the victim was being disrespectful. Now my first thought after hearing this story was this: How can someone catch a beat down with a wiffle ball bat? Are you serious? Dude, maybe you deserved that beat down. Next time put your damn pants on.

And, finally, because of my profession, I have to end with this story. Can someone say lawsuit?!!!

"Onward Christian Soldiers"

"Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses' hoofs seem like flint, their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind." ~Isaiah 5:28~

I guess, in a way, this all makes sense. I mean those Muslims were fighting a holy war, why shouldn't we?

Seems our former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, was putting "gospel talk" in his memo briefings on the war to his commander "the thief", W. What better way to get the frat boy's attention than to put a little religion into the mix? No wonder it took the frat boy so long to get rid of him. The guy knew how to stoke his boss. Just let him think this war was ordained by god and it's all good. So you kill a few thousand people, what's the big deal? it was all god's will. I guess those Muslims who blew up those tall buildings in New York felt the same way. What's 3,000 or so infidels in the big scheme of things? It was allah's will.

"The cover of an April 10, 2003 Pentagon memo prepared for the president showed the statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled and scenes of grateful Iraqis. Below the images were the words: 'Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him ... To deliver their souls from death.'...The cover of another memo featured the words, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' above a soldier who appeared to be bowing in prayer. Below, were the words, 'Here I am Lord, send me!' Isaiah 6:8."

Wow! These people are truly crazy. Thing is, I don't even think Rumsfeld is particularly religious, (I think he belongs to the 4th Presbyterian Church USA, look it up) which just goes to show you what a snake and slime ball the guy was. That's not me,field, saying that, that's his former colleagues putting him out there. And the hits just keep coming. How much more will we learn about this bunch before it's all said and done?

I guess this Pelosi dust up couldn't come at a better time for the repubs. But we can count on the main stream media to keep Lady Nancy on the front page and this little gem of a story buried way in the back.

Oh, that's right, we can't inflame the Muslim world; they might actually start thinking that their religion is better than ours.

PLEASE JUST GO!

As I watched the frat boy defiantly give his final press conference and try his best to rewrite history, I must confess that I almost felt pity for the man. (Almost) There he was today trying to save his legacy, and trying to hold on to what slither of dignity he has left. As he took questions from the press corp, you had the feeling it was more like a trial than a standard White House news conference.

Some of the questions were tough: reporters asked him about our tarnished image abroad, his fuck up with the Iraq war, his declaration on an aircraft carrier that our mission was accomplished, when clearly it was not, and his handling and response to hurricane Katrina.

Of course he refused to own up to his mistakes. Sure he said he could have done a few things differently here and there (like actually landing his plane in Louisiana after one of the most devastating natural disasters in our country's history) but he never really owned up to the mess that he has left his successor. As has been the case with the frat boy from day one, he was right and everyone else was wrong.

"I think it's a good, strong record.... You know, presidents can try to avoid hard decisions and therefore avoid controversy. That's just not my nature."

Of course not, your "nature" is to stubbornly go into an unnecessary war with a country that had nothing to do with 911 in order to expand the powers of the executive branch and hold on to political power. And it didn't hurt that you had your trusty henchman, Dead eye Dick, riding shotgun to carry out your dastardly deeds every inch of the way.

"The question is, in the long run, will this democracy survive, and that's going to be a question for future presidents.."

He was talking about Iraq, but he might as well have been talking about A-merry-ca. Because after eight years of his awful and detestable administration, I think our democracy is on life support.

Thursday night he will be on prime time giving his final address to the nation. It will be more of the same: Defiance. Denial. Prevarication. One more go round with the frat boy as he tries to win our hearts and make us forget how miserable he has made our lives. It won't work. We will all look at that cocky walk to the podium, that irritating little smirk, and every single one of us will wish it was the year 2000 all over again.

DICK CHENEY IS A BAD PERSON!

Just when I started to feel sorry for the frat boy, I read some transcripts from his number two man, the devil incarnate himself, Dick Cheney. Seems now that we are just days away from the frat boy's final farewell the evil one has finally decided to talk. Oh he talked before, which is kind of how we know he is the evil one. Remember this interview back in 2005 with Terry Moran of ABC News?

Moran: "Don't you have to have a court give permission for that in any other circumstance -- to eavesdrop on communications in America? "
Cheney: "Terry, these are communications that involve acknowledged or known terrorists -- dirty numbers, if you will. And in fact, it is consistent with the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief. It's consistent with the resolution that was passed by the Congress after 9/11. And it has been reviewed repeatedly by the Justice Department every single time it's been renewed, to make certain that it is, in fact, managed in a manner that's fully consistent with the Constitution and with our statutes. "

That was the evil one on domestic surveillance.

Moran:" How so, when it comes to cruel, inhuman-- What's the president's prerogative in the cruel treatment of prisoners? "

Cheney: "There's a definition that's based on prior Supreme Court decisions and prior arguments, and it has to do with the Fourth, Thirteenth, and -- three specific amendments to the Constitution. And the rule is whether or not it shocks the conscience. If it's something that shocks the conscience, the court has agreed that crosses over the line.
Now, you can get into a debate about what shocks the conscience and what is cruel and inhuman. And to some extent, I suppose, that's in the eye of the beholder. But I believe, and we think it's important to remember, that we are in a war against a group of individuals and terrorist organizations that did, in fact, slaughter 3,000 innocent Americans on 9/11, that it's important for us to be able to have effective interrogation of these people when we capture them.
And the debate is over the extent to which we are going to have legislation that restricts or limits that capability. Now, as I say, we've reached a compromise. The president signed on with the McCain amendment. We never had any problem with the McCain amendment. We had problems with trying to extend it as far as he did. But ultimately, as I say, a compromise was arrived at, and I support the compromise."
Moran: "Should American interrogators be staging mock executions [and] waterboarding prisoners? Is that cruel? "
Cheney: "I am not going to get into specifics here. You're getting into questions about sources and methods, and I don't talk about that, Terry."
Moran: "As vice president of the U.S., you can't tell the American people whether… "
Cheney: "I don't talk about-- "
Moran: …or not we would interrogate… "
Cheney: "I can say that we, in fact, are consistent with the commitments of the United States that we don't engage in torture. And we don't. "
Moran: "Are you troubled at all that more than 100 people in U.S. custody have died -- 26 of them now being investigated as criminal homicides -- people beaten to death, suffocated to death, died of hypothermia in U.S. custody? "
Cheney: "No. I won't accept your numbers, Terry. But I guess one of the things I'm concerned about is that as we get farther and farther away from 9/11, and there have been no further attacks against the U.S., there seems to be less and less concern about doing what's necessary in order to defend the country. "

That was the evil one on torture.

Moran: "Does the United States maintain secret prisons around the world?
Cheney: "I'm not going to talk about intelligence matters.
Moran: Secret prisons?"
Cheney: "I'm not going to talk about intelligence matters."
Moran: "Does the International Red Cross have access to everyone in U.S. custody, as we are obliged?"
Cheney: "Terry, with all due respect, I won't discuss intelligence matters. I shouldn't.
Moran: I'd like to put this personally, if I can. You're a grandfather. I'm a father. When we look at those girls and we think that the country we're about to pass to them is a country where the vice president can't say whether or not we have secret prisons around the world, whether waterboarding and mock executions is consistent with our values, and a country where the government is surveilling without the warrant of a court, is that the country we want to pass on to them?"

Cheney: "I want to pass on to them a country that is free, that is not plagued by terrorist attacks, doesn't see a repeat of the terrible events of 9/11 when we lost 3,000 of our people that morning to a handful of terrorists who had no justification at all for what they do.
I can guarantee you that we do do as a government, as an administration, is to support and uphold the Constitution of United States, that we do, in fact, take extraordinary steps to make certain we maintain our constitutional obligations and responsibilities, which includes both defending the country as well as defending individual liberties and protecting the rights of all Americans. "

That was the evil one on secret prisons.

Fast forward to 2008, and the evil one is still talking to ABC.

KARL:"Did you authorize the tactics that were used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?
CHENEY: I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, as the agency, in effect, came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn't do. And they talked to me, as well as others, to explain what they wanted to do. And I supported it.
KARL: In hindsight, do you think any of those tactics that were used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others went too far?"
CHENEY: I don't. "

Okaaay.

KARL: "And on KSM, one of those tactics, of course, widely reported was waterboarding. And that seems to be a tactic we no longer use. Even that you think was appropriate?
CHENEY: I do."

Okaaay.

KARL: "You probably saw Karl Rove last week said that if the intelligence had been correct, we probably would not have gone to war."

CHENEY: "I disagree with that. I think -- as I look at the intelligence with respect to Iraq -- what they got wrong was that there weren't any stockpiles. What we found in the after-action reports, after the intelligence report was done and then various special groups went and looked at the intelligence and what its validity was. What they found was that Saddam Hussein still had the capability to produce weapons of mass destruction. He had the technology, he had the people, he had the basic feed stocks.

They also found that he had every intention of resuming production once the international sanctions were lifted. He had a long reputation and record of having started two wars. Of having brutalized and killed hundreds of thousands of people, some of them with weapons of mass destruction in his own country. He had violated 16 National Security Council resolutions. He had established a relationship as a terror-sponsoring state, according to the State Department. He was making $25,000 payments to the families of suicide bombers.

This was a bad actor and the country's better off, the world's better off, with Saddam gone, and I think we made the right decision, in spite of the fact that the original NIE was off in some of its major judgments. "

So waterboarding is cool, and we would have gone to war whether we found WMDs in Iraq or not."

"This was a bad actor and the country's better off, the world's better off, with Saddam gone, and I think we made the right decision, in spite of the fact that the original NIE was off in some of its major judgements."

Just a little off Dick? Thousands of lives lost, countless wounded, and approaching a trillion dollars in cost, and yet we made the "right decision"?

You know what Dick? The world might be better off without Saddam. But here is the irony of it all; pretty soon, you will get a chance to spend a whole lot of time with him.

Shame on all of us.

So this is what it has come to. After almost eight years of the most inept, corrupt, venal, and morally deprived administration in the history of these divided states; we have finally reached the point where we cannot be shocked by anything they do. Because, let's be honest folks, if this story doesn't shock you, I don't know what will.

Ron Suskind is a well respected journalist, and he has taken the time to write a serious book with credible sources, to tell us what we already know about the thugs who ran our country for the past seven plus years. Of course, as is always the case, the wingnuts are in full fight back mode. He is just another political hack who has issues with our president. It's all lies. Don't believe a word of it. He is not credible. But we know better don't we. And I think most A-merry-cans (even the republicans) know better too. Still, we are all past the point of being shocked at anything the Bushites do now. We are all just hoping this long nightmare will end, and that the frat boy and his minions will just go off into the Texas sunset. ----If you don't believe that this country has issues with race, ask yourself: How in the hell could any candidate who can walk and chew gum at the same time only be up a couple of points on the candidate from the frat boy's party?----

Come on field, do you really think our president would order papers forged in order to link al-Qaeda to Sadaam in order to justify a war with Iraq? Yes I do! And every A-merry-can with half of a brain should too. But we can't can we. We refuse to believe that the man we elected twice to lead our great nation can be capable of such nefarious and scurrilous things. But he is. If I was on a jury and I let a killer go free, and he went out and killed again, I would feel bad too. In the fall of 2000 we let the killer go, because maybe we didn't know. But then we had our chance, and we tried him a second time [in 2004], and we let him go again. Now, the proof is in, and we are faced with the reality that he is the killer, and we feel so bad about ourselves that we just choose to block it all out.

Well I voted against the son of a bitch. Twice! So I feel no guilt, and I have a clear conscience. And it gives me great joy to say: I told you so.

What I Remember!

It's one day away from the 911 anniversary [why do we say anniversary, as if it was a good day we want to remember?] and I, like every other American, have quite a few memories of that day and its aftermath.

I remember, that it was probably weather wise, the most beautiful morning that I have ever seen in all of my years on earth. The weather was particularly meaningful to me, because although we were at a court conference in Harrisburg Pennsylvania, we were supposed to play a full round of golf that day. I remember, as I was changing in my hotel room, listening to the news report on television about a "small" plane flying into one of the Twin Towers. I didn't pay much attention to it. In fact, as I went downstairs to meet my colleagues for breakfast, and I even joked to them about some guy in a Cessna or something who couldn't get his bearings straight, and crashed his plane into one of the Twin Towers. Boy was I wrong. As we stood in the lobby of that hotel, I will never forget how surreal it was watching the other plane crash into the second tower.

The looks on the faces of every one in that room, the mad dash to go home by people with young children, and families at home was something I will never forget. I suppose being at a conference and in a hotel, made those initial moments even more tense and horrifying to the people that were there with me. Most people were away from home, and most people, seeing the other stories of multiple planes being hijacked, one crashing into the Pentagon, and one of the hijacked planes heading right to us across Pennsylvania, could not help but think that we were under attack, and were at war.


Total strangers were crying with each other, and comforting each other in any way that they could. I called my significant other, who was working in a high rise building in Philadelphia on the seventeenth floor, to make sure she was OK. She said she was, and I told her that no matter what her company said to get the hell out of there. She said she would because she was scared, and that there was allot of talk in the office about America being under attack. I told her that the people in her officer were right. I will never forget the middle aged white lady who came up to me and said: "Can you believe this is happening in our country?" "Well", she said, "we are all together now" As if we weren't together before. Of course she was right, we weren't together before. And not only blacks and whites, but democrats and republicans, rich and poor, red staters and blue staters, you name it. We were just coming off Gore v. Bush, remember that? So in a way, I guess you couldn't blame us. But this incident, this moment, made us all realize how vulnerable we were. As Americans, we always viewed wars and terrorist attacks on our T.V. sets. We never thought that such things could happen to us in our beloved America, insulated in our bucolic Ozzie and Harriet worlds. But it did, because a bunch of religious fanatics wanted to bring the fight to us. So it united us for awhile. For awhile we were together as one America, united against the evil that invaded our peaceful existence.

This is why the war in Iraq really sets me off. Because rather than use a moment when we as citizens, were all ready to unite to defeat a common enemy. Our president, guided by the neocons in his party, used one of the most tragic moments in American history, to score political points, to settle old scores, and to push forth an agenda in the Middle East. It upset me, because of what I saw on the faces of the people in Harrisburg that day, and the bravery and selflessness of a lot of great people who gave their own lives to save others. It upsets me thinking about it now, because we are right back to where we were pre 911, if not worse. We are even more divided, and our president is still trying to score political points from this tragedy. [See his most recent political tour] It upset me, because the NBA sized terrorist, Osama Been Forgotten [that's classic] is still hiding out in Afghanistan somewhere and shaking his d%#k at us. I get upset thinking about people like the camel neck lady, aka Ann Coulter, attacking the widows of the horrific attacks to sell her book, and throw red meat to her fellow conservatives. Unfortunately, thanks to the behaviour of certain individuals, allot more than the Twin Towers collapsed that day. These individuals have led the collapse of decency and civility as well.

So yeah, I remember a lot of things about 911 and the horror that surrounded that day. But the most painful memory I have of 911 and the months and now years after, is the blown opportunity by our president to truly unite us, and show the world that we were going to stand up to the murdering zealots and their ilk, as one people. Not just republicans who need the war on terror to push their agenda. But as Americans who want nothing more than to protect our families, and on a beautiful day, be able to play a round of golf.

The field-negro again would like to thank all the first responders who put their butts on the line that day. And the field would like to give a long middle finger to our vice president, AKA Darth Vader, who was no where to be found, and who is still leading the charge to get the wrong enemy.

The field is out.

Searching For Colin Powell

People think the field is all jokes and sarcasm. But sometimes in the true spirit of journalism, the field gets serious and attempts to do some real investigative work. (Like the time I interviewed frat boy for instance) So anyway, with the mid term elections fast approaching, and the politicians preparing to get back to Washington. The field was thinking about just what a mess we are in with this Iraq war situation. If the GOP loses the house or the senate; they will have frat boy and his 36% approval rating and an unpopular war to thank for it. And given the countries mood right now, I can see the GOP going down, kind of like the democrats did in 1994 when Newt's revolution took them out.

So as I sit here thinking about this very unpopular war, and all the s#$% it has stirred up. I start to think about my homey Colin. (Yes he is my homey because his parents, like the fields, are Jamaican) Colin Powell, remember him? He was the guy that was going to be the first black president. Straight out of central casting for the role too. If ever white folks were going to vote for a black man to be president it was Colin. And they weren't afraid to show it. Poll after poll showed that if he were to run, regardless of who he ran against, the good general would win. According to white folks, he spoke well, (Don't you love that one, like someone can get to be a five star general by speaking ebonics) He was so handsome and distinguished (Translated light skinned non threatening), and he embodied all the great American values that we so love: Hard work, pulling yourself up, and putting God and country first.

And he has all the right credentials too: National Security Advisor, Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of State. According to Wikipedia, he was the highest ranking non-Caucasian government official in American history. He is, or was, the poster boy for the republican party and the U.S. Army, representing what can be achieved in America through hard work. Now that's impressive!

So after all that, I am thinking, just where the f%#@ has he been lately? Trust me, if he wasn't my homey I wouldn't care. But somehow it doesn't feel right what happened to Colin, and I think it's been sad to see someone fall so far so fast. I suspect that it all has something to do with this war we have going in Iraq right now.

Anyway, the field has been searching all over for the good General to get his side of the story, but with no luck. Finally, I caught a break. I hooked up with some yawdies who knew where the general was hiding out on the rock. (It seems my man went back to the land of his roots to hide out, and clear his head) So anyway, after a flight down to Mo-Bay on the "love bird" (That's Air Jamaica for all of you who aren't in the know) , I hooked up with my man Spragger Ranks, who promised to drive me to the parish of St. Ann to find where the the good general was hiding out these days.

So after about three hours on the winding Jamaican roads and into the hills and mountains of St. Ann's parish. We finally enter a Rastafarian compound hidden and tucked away in the side of the mountain. For those of you familiar with the rock, we are about a thirty minute drive from a town called Runaway Bay. (How ironic is that?)

OK, so we enter the compound, and my man Marley is blasting on the sound system. "Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior, is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned every where is war..." damn I am thinking, this is some appropriate sh#%, they are playing "War" from the "Rastaman Vibration" album. Dreads are everywhere, fruits on the table, and the unmistakable smell of the St. Ann collie weed is in the air. Over in a corner, seated by a picture of Haile Sellasie, is the man I came to see. Obviously deep in thought and reflection, I hardly recognize him. He looked a lot smaller, his skin was a lot darker, and his hair was growing out. Spragger Ranks told me it was cool, so I headed over to where the general was sitting, introduced myself, turned on my tape recorder, and started my interview.

FN: Hi general, my name is field-negro, I came to interview you for my blog. Spragger and some of the boys said it was cool. That you would talk to me since we are both yawdies, and you want the folks in the fields to know how you really feel about all the sh#* that's been going on with you.
CP: Yeah field it's cool I heard you were coming. I am just a little messed up right now, the way this whole Iraq thing went down. I have a lot on my conscience and on my mind these days.
FN: I can't say I blame you with the war going the way it is. What is it now, 2,652 American troops dead, and over 19,000 injured so far. Not to mention over 45,000 dead Iraqi civilians, and almost 500 billion dollars in tax payer's money.
CP: Hey field, you don't have to remind me, I know it's bad. I can't even stand to watch the news anymore. That's one reason I came down here, for some peace and quite.. and.. " every where is war me se war" Hey you guys turn off that sh%*. Damn Marley all day long that's all they play in this place.
FN:Wasn't Bob Marley born in this parish?
CP:Yeah, I think he was. Damn field, you are pretty up on your history.
FN: Well speaking of history, I want you to watch this clip on my little video camera. This was you at the U.N. on February 5, 2003, making a case for the war in Iraq:

"This is important day for all as we review the situation with respect to Iraq and its disarmament obligations under U.N. Security Resolution 1441....Last November 8, this council passed Resolution 1441 by a unanimous vote. the purpose of that resolution was to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has already been found guilty of material breach of its obligations, starting back over 16 previous resolutions and 12 years..."

FN:Should I keep playing it, you don't look so good.
CP: Yeah field, go on, I will be fine.
FN: OK if you insist.

"I might add at this point that we are providing all relevant information we can to the inspection teams for them to do their work. The material I will present to you came from a variety of sources. Some are U.S. sources. And some are those of other countries. Some of the sources are technical, such as intercepted telephone conversations and photos taken by satellites. Other sources are people who have risked their lives to let the world know what Saddam Hussein is really up to. I cannot tell you everything that we know, but what I can share with you, when combined with what all of use have learned over the years, is deeply troubling..."

CP:Stop! That's enough field, I can't look at that anymore. It was all lies, intel that was cherry picked to make a case for war. I mean I can't believe I let those little weenies in the White House play me like this. They knew how popular I was, and they knew that if I sold this war, the American people would buy it, hook, line, and sinker. I am telling you field, the intel crap they gave me, looked like a damn Chinese menu. You could just pick what you want from it.
FN: Well, it looked like it worked general.
CP: Please, call me Colin, I don't feel like a general anymore. A real general would have stood up to those chicken hawk neo cons and told them the real cost of war. A real general would not have allowed almost 3,000 fine American young men to give their lives for an unnecessary war. Pretending to defend freedom, when in truth, they were defending a political strategy to hold on to power for this bunch, and their defense contractor friends.
FN: Colin, one of your former aides, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, says that you told him that the speech at the U.N. was the lowest point in your life, is that true?
CP: Yeah it's true.
FN: He said you spent four days and nights locked in the CIA conference room leading up to that speech. And that George Tenet was there, and he expressed some reservations about the intel that they were giving you for the speech. Is that true Colin?
CP: Yeah it's true. And that's when they gave me that crap that looked like a Chinese menu.
FN: And didn't David Kay say that one of the sources you quoted in your speech to the U.N. was a lier and a fabricator. His words sir.
CP: Yeah field you are right about that too. Hey, do you think the American people know all of this?
FN: Yes Colin I think they do, more than you think. More and more people are saying the war was unnecessary and has no connection to 911, or the war on terror.
CP: So then I good out in time then huh? I mean are people associating me with this bunch?
FN: Yeah Colin, I would pretty much say they are. I mean the republicans don't like you anymore, because they think you came out against the president, and democrats don't like you because they think you were less than honorable with the entire lead up to the war fiasco. And the most important people, those in the middle, who would have pulled the lever for you for president before. Now see you as a political opportunist just like the other folks in Washington.
CP: Yeah but, I mean I wasn't that definitive about the war was I? I mean I did leave some wiggle room in case we decided not to attack.
FN: Well not actually Colin, here I Will play some more tape for you. This is you at the U.N, again.

"We have no indication that Saddam has ever abandoned his nuclear weapons program.
Saddam already possesses two out of three key components needed to build a nuclear bomb.
Saddam is determined to get his hands on a nuclear bomb..."

CP: OK Stop! I get it, so maybe I did make a case to go to war based on what I said. Boy do I feel stupid. I thought George was my friend. He must have saw how popular I was , and he knew that if he went down for this war, he would take me with him. Damn, he and that little weasel that sits on his shoulder all the time, are always scheming.
FN: You mean Karl Rove?
CP: That's exactly who I mean.
FN: But Colin, I gotta ask you, what were you thinking? Right before your speech, Hans Blix, and Muhammed El Baradei told the U.N. that disarmament was taking place in Iraq, and they specifically asked for more time. And Dr. Baradei even said your statements about a uranium transfer between Iraq and Niger was not authentic. And they said that they found no evidence or plausible indication of WMD's in Iraq. So again, I ask you, what the F%&* were you thinking?
CP: I will tell you what I was thinking field. I was thinking I could trust those slime balls like Rommey and Cheyney in the White House. I was following the advise of Cheyney and the CIA. What else can I tell you? I trusted them, and they burned me. It's as simple as that FN: Boy did they ever.
CP: Hey, if you remember, I said it in Cairo Egypt back in February of 2001, that Saddam was not a threat, so I knew even then, and I still let them talk me into this mess. That's why I resigned. Oh I gave Ms. Thing my letter of resignation as soon as Georgie boy won another term.
FN: Who is Ms. Thing?
CP: You know, Condi, the resident house negro now that I am gone.
FN: Yeah. but in your letter you said: "I will always treasure the four years that I have spent with President Bush and the wonderful men and women of the Department of State"
Didn't you mean those words?
CP: Did Anna Nicole really love her old ass husband? Of course I didn't mean it. But what else was I going to say?
FN: Well you could have been a little more honest with the American people. CP: I was honest with the American People.
FN: No you weren't, not when some of the very people who worked for you, basically said you were lying. People like Scott Thielmann for instance. And there is no doubt that your speech to the U.N. legitimized the case for war.
CP: Yeah, and you know what field, I live with that every day. The human lives lost, the cost, the total destruction of that country, and the entire Middle East going to hell in a hand basket. Do you know that over 72,000 people world wide have lost their lives to terrorist attacks since Georgie boy announced his war on terror. Not to mention the fact that 3,000 Iraqis a month are now dying. That's why I just sit here and smoke the good collie weed all day. It's too f#$%*g depressing man. That damn Rumsfield, he gets my goat up too. Here is a guy who actually went to Iraq in the eighties when he worked for Reagan, and gave the guy -Saddam- all types of support including military, and intelligence, and now he goes to Salt Lake City of all places and compares the guy to Hitler. Boy that's priceless. That takes some big ones, doesn't it?
FN: Yes it does Colin, yes it does.

"Never let a politician grant you a favor they will always want to control you forever..."

CP: Damn, they are playing that Marley again. Hey cut dat mon cut dat. Yu nu si me a talk to mi brethren field negro. Sorry field, every now and then I have to go there with these niabingies.
FN: That's cool Colin. You just hang in there OK, I will report this on my blog, and let the rest of people in America know that you are still alive and kicking. They were all just a little worried about you that's all.
CP: Field, make sure you let the American people know that I was set up, and I didn't want this to happen. It's not my fault.
FN: I hear you Colin.
CP: You want a hit off of this? It's lamsbread wrapped in tobacco leaf, it's the best weed in the world.
FN: No thanks Colin, I don't get high, but thanks for the offer. Besides, I think you need it more than I do, you need all the escape you can get.

"Of good over evil, of good over evil, Good over evil"

Damn Colin, no one listens to you anymore.