Pass the tinfoil:

*  The State Department gave Russia the green light to go into South Ossetia if Georgia made a big move, thinking that the Russians had made an implied commitment to stay out of Georgia proper.  But they never told the Georgian government

*  Knowing that the Russians were baiting Saakashvili, State kept telling the Georgians to keep cool.  Nonetheless, no one who works for the U.S. government had any advance warning of Saakashvili's decision to advance on Tskhinvali.  The U.S. advisers attached to the Georgian Army were kept in the dark, and Saakashvili didn't give Washington a heads-up about his big gamble.  

*  Our satellites were so busy watching Pakistan that we didn't notice Russian tanks massing in North Ossetia.

Yes, you read all of that right.

I wasn't planning on posting anything today, have to much to do and other thoughts on my mind.

But yesterday I watched, as many have seen by now, someone who should have a much better understanding, above that of it's citizens, what this countries policies are and their implementation.

McClatchy  has a couple of reports  that hit on a couple of the Points of the 'surge':

Once again McClatchy shows that it is the only print media on the ball for stories of actual significance.  In their Sunday edition, in a piece called Suspect Soldiers: Did Crimes in US Foretell Violence in Iraq? (via Common Dreams) Russell Carollo pens an in depth piece studying the links between waivers issued by the military to applicants whose background would "otherwise prevent them from serving."

follow me through the jump for the details...

McClatchy has started a series today on our 'War on Terror'.

McClatchy tracked down 66 men released from Guantanamo in the most systematic survey to date of prisoners held there. Many had no connection to terrorism, but their experience turned them against America.

McClatchy is reporting that Barack Obama has joined several of his congressional colleagues in criticizing the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement. Details over the jump.

I was a guest last night on BIll Moyers Journal along with two stalwarts from McClatchy (formerly Knight Ridder), John Walcott and Jonathan Landay, famed for repeatedly raising doubts about the Bush case for war back in 2002 and 2003.    The subject was the lack of media self-criticism on the war in the wake of the McClellan book, what the press is still getting wrong, and the rising chances of an attack on Iran.  

Bill was his usual thoughtful and welcoming self, his wife is a joy, and it was kind of a thrill to hang out in the Green Room with the McClatchy guys on Thursday morning as the new Senate report on the cooked Bush evidence against Saddam came in over their blackberries.  Of course, they had reported almost all of it first, long ago.  

I've linked to the full video and transcript below. I am also blogging and answering questions at the PBS site.  

Tonights Bill Moyers Journal was one of the best broadcasts I've seen in some time.  His opening remarks about the nomination of Barack Obama, the second segment with Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Dr Ronald Walters and finally the cherry on top, the segment on Scott McClellen's book and the medias role in the run up to the Iraq War and beyond with DKos's Greg Mitchell and McClatchy's Jonathan Landay and John Walcott.

Must See TV.

I will be featured tonight --  with two of the few journalistic "heroes" of prewar Iraq coverage from Knight Ridder/McClatchy -- on Bill Moyers Journal on PBS stations tonight.

The lengthy segment probes the press reaction (mainly denying wrongdoing) to Scott McClellan's new book What Happened, the new Senate report on cooked intelligence in the runup to the attack on Iraq in 2003, and the possible threat of a U.S. move on Iran.

Many of us have long hailed the McClatchy guys -- Washington bureau chief John Walcott and ace reporter Jonathan Landay  -- for being among the most persistent, and accurate, in questioning the administration's evidence in the runup to the war.

McClatchy Newspapers is reporting today that its analysis reveals "hundreds of people who gave at least $200 to Bush's 2004 campaign have donated to Obama."

Many conservative names are on the list.

Among them are Julie Nixon Eisenhower, the granddaughter of the late GOP president Dwight Eisenhower; Connie Ballmer, the wife of Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer; Ritchie Scaife, the estranged wife of conservative tycoon Richard Mellon Scaife and boxing promoter Don King.

Here's the full story:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/...

I applaud McClatchy for digging into the records and doing some real reporting/analysis. Money quotes (pun intended) are after the jump.

The one newspaper chain that got it right about the foolish Iraq War policy, is now showing to what extent the Bush administration, and fellow journalist are still trying to cover there asses. America was willfully propagandized in the lead up to the Iraq War.

Even some of McClatchy's own newspaper chains carried articles written by the likes Judy Miller, and Michael Gordon rather than articles written by McClatchy's own Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel, who got it right.

Michael Gordon, the military writer for The New York Times who contributed false stories about Iraqi WMD in the runup to the U.S. attack on Iraq in 2002, has written several articles in the past year about Iran's alleged training of Iraqi insurgents -- or supplying them with weapons to kill Americans.  He produced another major report on this subject for Monday's Times -- based solely on unnamed sources -- which is quite at odds with an account from McClatchy's Baghdad bureau.  

Gordon asserted that "Militants from the Lebanese group Hezbollah have been training Iraqi militia fighters at a camp near Tehran... An American official said the account of Hezbollah's role was provided by four Shiite militia members who were captured in Iraq late last year and questioned separately.  The United States has long charged that the Iranians were training Iraqi militia fighters in Iran, which Iran has consistently denied, and there have been previous reports about Hezbollah operatives in Iraq.

Over the years I've had occasion to praise a handful of reporters employed by the corporate media; good ones do exist. Strangely enough, outside of the BBC's Orla Guerin, most of the rest have all been part of the McClatchy organization - Dion Nissenbaum, Hannah Allam, and Leila Fadel.

The latest McClatchy/Mason-Dixon poll (pdf) shows the primary race in Pennsylvania continuing to tighten with only a 5-point spread, Clinton, 48% and Obama 43%.

Both Clinton and Obama backers seem equally committed; for each candidate, 92% say they are likely to stick with their choice and not change their mind.

Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. conducted this poll from
April 17-18, 2008. A total of 625 registered Pennsylvania
voters were interviewed statewide by telephone. All stated they
were likely to vote in the April 22nd primary election. The
margin for error is +/-4%. (embargoed until this morning)

Clinton has slightly higher favorables:
Hillary Clinton 57% (1% didn't recognize her name...who ARE they?)
Barack Obama 52%

Clinton  snags the Catholic vote, 63-30%, and Obama takes Protestants by almost the same margin: 60-31%. Clinton wins the Jewish vote 73-17%.

Obama wins big with those who care about change (68%) and Clinton wins on the experience factor with a whopping 91%.

"It's times like this I realize the duality of war," he said. "The guys upstairs are shooting at people, and we're trying to figure out how to shove poop down a hole."

That statement from Lt. Adam Bowen encapsulated not only the plight of his platoon hunkered down in Sadr City but also the entire U.S. endeavor in the Iraq fiasco.

Two days ago Brandon Friedman, of Vote Vets and Vet Voice posted this: Congressman McHenry Violates OPSEC; Endangers Troops and followed with this: McHenry Endangers Troops; Tries to Hide Evidence

There's been numerous posts/diaries here and elsewhere highlighting the many gaffes of Senator McCain.  In this case on Iraqi sects but on others as well.

Now, I don't want to get anyone too excited, but me thinks the MSM might be catching on...

Yes, Virginia, Hillary really would do anything to win the nomination - even LIE about her level of "experience" in the area of International Affairs.

Who says so?  None other than Leon Panetta, Bill Clinton's White House chief of staff, Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton's national security adviser, David Trimble, co-winner of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in brokering peace in Northern Ireland, and Ivo Daalder, a former NSC official under President Clinton who was responsible for the Balkans.  Oh, and for the record, comedian/actor Sinbad weighed in as well.

Kitchen Sink my ass.  This is pure, hard-core Desperation.

You can read what all of these people had to say about Mrs. Clinton's major claim to enormous Foreign Affairs experience in the link provided below the fold.

The proverbial cork is about to pop in Mesopotamia.

(And, it won’t be coming out of a champagne bottle either.)

Looks like vacation time’s over in Iraq, folks. The hierarchy of the Mehdi Army is becoming increasingly frustrated with both the American occupiers and al-Qaeda in Iraq, and is now exerting unified pressure on cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to forego reinstating the ceasefire that’s been in effect for his Mehdi Army for the past six-months. Despite being given little credit until recently by the Bush regime and the U.S. press for its substantial role in the overall reduction in violence across the country, the ceasefire has no doubt enabled the U.S. military to take undue credit for success with the so-called "surge."

Depending on whom you listened to back then about when the surge was actually fully in place and operational, it’s pretty likely that the start of the substantial reduction in overall violence throughout the country coincided with Sadr’s August 29 announcement of a six-month freeze of all operations by his feared Mehdi Army.