rumsfeld

Remember this?

Well it turns out Bush really doesn't understand sovereignty. A new report in the NYTimes says that Rumsfeld and Bush issued a secret order allowing the military to strike al Qaeda anywhere in the world.

That is is from the Army Times:

Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Medical Hold Unit say they have been told they will wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and have their rooms ready for inspection at 7 a.m., and that they must not speak to the media.

“Some soldiers believe this is a form of punishment for the trouble soldiers caused by talking to the media,” one Medical Hold Unit soldier said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

So these brave soldiers go to Iraq and get injured. When they return they are put in rat-infested rooms while they are supposed to heal. Some soldiers decide that isn't right and talks to the media about the problems, and for this they get this treatment? This is highly FUCKED UP!

The article goes on to say how the Pentagon is even trying to black out the media from this story:

The Pentagon also clamped down on media coverage of any and all Defense Department medical facilities, to include suspending planned projects by CNN and the Discovery Channel, saying in an e-mail to spokespeople: “It will be in most cases not appropriate to engage the media while this review takes place,” referring to an investigation of the problems at Walter Reed.

The Ap-Ipsos put out a new poll featuring elections and terrorism. It has some really interesting results (Full survey here - PDF file).

First, the Democrats still hold a lead in the way of national security

It is interesting that the Republicans boast about this strong stand on national security and the trust the American people have in them with the job. But as the numbers show, they have lost that trust and that was their key issue. Perhaps a major contributing factor to that comes from this response:

While Rumsfeld and Bush are out in Iraq defense mode this week, a vast majority of Americans feel that the war of choice has made our country less safe.

The most interesting part is the demographics involved with this poll. Most respondents were white, married, suburban females. The top age range was in the 18-34. In other words, this survey included a large percentage of "soccer moms". This shows that they feel less safe and a contributing factor is the decision to oust Saddam Hussein. This is a key to the November elections.

Senator John Warner, Chairman of the Armed Services
Committee, said he intends to summons Rumsfeld to Capital Hill to answer
questions about Iraq.  He is doing this because of the rising number of lost
soldiers, the economic cost and the increased insurgency taking place in Iraq.

Mr. Warner is also planning on holding hearings in the next
few weeks to see if the Pentagon is holding top military officals responsible in
the abuse of Prisoners at numerous military facilities, namely Abu Gharib.

This strikes a serious blow to the administration as Warner
is a strong voice in the military operations of Iraq. He joins a slowly growing
list of Republicans who are starting to ask important questions about this war.

The New York Times has more on this developing story. It
will surely make C-Span the hot channel again.