Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), who was on the Senate Intelligence Committee during the run up to the war in Iraq, spills the beans on what was going on behind the intelligence scenes in 2002-2003 and how accurately it matched up with what we were being told publicly. Unfortunately for all of us, he was sworn to secrecy back. But now he can talk. And does he ever!

The fact that we STILL have a Gulf Coast torn to shreds from Hurricane Katrina almost two years later, is one of the things that angers me the most about this administration and congress. While we send billions and billions to Iraq, we can’t even rebuild our own Gulf Coast. And the country has all but forgotten it. Hundreds marched in the Lower 9th Ward today. I wish I could have marched with them.

As the winds and water of Hurricane Katrina were receding, presidential confidante Karen Hughes sent a cable from her State Department office to U.S. ambassadors worldwide.

Titled “Echo-Chamber Message” — a public relations term for talking points designed to be repeated again and again — the Sept. 7, 2005, directive was unmistakable: Assure the scores of countries that had pledged or donated aid at the height of the disaster that their largesse had provided Americans “practical help and moral support” and “highlight the concrete benefits hurricane victims are receiving.”

Many of the U.S. diplomats who received the message, however, were beginning to witness a more embarrassing reality. They knew the U.S. government was turning down many allies’ offers of manpower, supplies and expertise worth untold millions of dollars. Eventually the United States also would fail to collect most of the unprecedented outpouring of international cash assistance for Katrina’s victims.

Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.

In addition, valuable supplies and services — such as cellphone systems, medicine and cruise ships — were delayed or declined because the government could not handle them. In some cases, supplies were wasted.

More at the Washington Post

These guys are so bad, they have to SNEAK in everywhere they go. This may have been a “small group,” but it was effective enough to make him run. Run Gonzo Run!
From YahooNews

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A small group of student protesters, including one wearing a black hood and an orange jumpsuit, heckled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as he posed with old classmates Saturday during their 25-year Harvard Law School reunion.

“When the photographer was getting everybody set up and having people say ‘cheese,’ the protesters yelled: ’say torture, instead,’ ‘resign’ and ‘I don’t recall,’” said Nate Ela, a protester and third-year student.

Law school spokesman Mike Armini said the impromptu protest was so small that some of those attending the photo shoot did not notice it.

Ela said the protesters followed Gonzales into the law school’s library, chanting “shame” and “resign,” before the attorney general’s security detail took him to his motorcade.

Gonzales was at the university to deliver a lunchtime speech, a visit that was unannounced to students. But word spread quickly after his motorcade and security detail were spotted.

Gonzales is resisting pressure to resign as lawmakers question whether he could effectively run the Justice Department amid the controversy over the firings of eight prosecutors.