CNN Breaking News: Russia warned US of Iraq terrorism

[tkmorris]

CNN is reporting that Prime Minister Putin is claiming that Russian intelligence repeatedly warned the US about Iraq plans to commit terrorist acts both inside and outside the United States. Mr Putin said this intelligence was received and passed on to the United States after 9/11 but before the US plans to invade Iraq.

My question is this. Why is Putin attempting to prop up Bush? Clearly this is nonsense IMHO, I just don't understand his motivation. Is there some behind the scenes deal with Russia?

[FlashHarry]

1. October came early this year.

Well, since Bush "looked into Putin's soul" and found him trustworthy, I believe everything he says.
</sarcasm>

[Citizen Daryl]

21. Love that photo, FlashHarry!

"Let me give you a piece of my mind ... whoops! All gone!"

[Geo55]

55. bush pic

[Ilsa]

49. Almost looks like a creature has attached itself

to Shrub's head and is sucking his brains out. I guess the creature would be disappointed and left hungry.

[Cheswick2.0]

2. Of course it is bullshit

The fact that he is making a point of saying it happened after 9-11 and before the war is a dead give away.
I would also like to know why he is propping bush up.

[FlashHarry]

3. If true, why didn't the Admin shout it from the mountaintop?

This stinks to high heaven. If it were true, they would have a fairly presentable casus belli, and they wouldn't have had to dance around the whole WMD/Al Qaeda/Torture issues.

[FlashHarry]

4. Link here

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/06/18/russia.warning/index.html

[Just Me]

57. Maybe Jill Dougherty is a "plant".

:shrug:

[displacedtexan]

5. So why didn't Vlad approve of the invasion?

As I recall, he didn't. Is my memory failing me?



Edited: Here it is...

Mrch 5, 2003

Earlier in the day the foreign ministers of France, Russia and Germany told reporters at a joint news conference in Paris that they would "not allow" passage of a U.N. resolution that authorizes war against Iraq.

http://tokyo.usembassy.gov/e/p/tp-20030307a1.html

[NJCher]

9. no, he did not approve

Some kind of quid pro quo going on here.



Cher

[physioex]

22. Exactly...

And let's entertain the thought that Shrub was warned....It would go to show how incompetent of a leader he is for ignoring such warnings..Not that this hasn't been proven a 1000 times already.

[Jazzgirl]

79. How 'bout a deal between Putin and *shrub

with Putin saying "don't f*** with me about Chechnya and I got your back on Sadam and al Qaeda." Bet money.

[struggle4progress]

78. He kicked and screamed at the time:

No grounds for Iraq attack: Putin
September 8, 2002 Posted: 9:34 PM EDT (0134 GMT)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has told British Prime Minister Tony Blair Friday that he doubts there are any grounds for using force against Iraq.
Putin's comments come as U.S. President Bush launches a concerted effort to push his case internationally for toppling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, with strong backing from Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair.
<snip>
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/09/06/blair.iraq/

Iraq: Can Bush Win Putin Over?
Thursday, Sep. 26, 2002
Russia is playing hard to get, says TIME Moscow bureau chief Paul Quinn-Judge. Moscow's ideal price for backing Washington at the UN would be a green light to invade Georgia.
<snip>
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,355411,00.html

Putin to rally Europeans on Iraq
Sunday, 9 February, 2003, 11:38 GMT
Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a whirlwind tour of Europe to drum up opposition to a possible US-led attack on Iraq.
<snip>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2741617.stm

Putin Turns on US Over War in Iraq
Reuters March 20, 2003
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in some of the harshest words by a world leader so far over the U.S. attack on Iraq on Thursday, said the war was unjustified and must end quickly. Russia had joined France, Germany and China in demanding that United Nations arms inspectors continue their search for banned weapons in Iraq before the countries would back any hostilities.
"This military action is unjustified...there has been no answer to the main question which is: are there weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and, if so, which ones," a grim-faced Putin told Russia's top ministers in the Kremlin.
"Military action...is a big political error,"he said in nationally-televised remarks, adding it flouted world opinion and international law. Iraq has denied having weapons of mass destruction.
<snip>
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack/statement/2003/0320putinturns.htm

Iraq war unjustified: Putin
Thursday, 18 December , 2003, 20:08
Cautioning the United States against "imperial ambitions", Russian President Putin today said the US-led invasion of Iraq bypassing the UN Security Council was unjustified.
"Anything done without the sanction of the UN Security Council, cannot be accepted as just and justified," Putin said in an annual live televised question-answer session, adding "this is my very soft judgement."
Putin said: "In all the periods of the history of mankind the countries with imperial ambitions always suffered from a number of problems, which softly speaking, complicated their situation - these were their sense of invulnerability, sense of greatness and sense of infallibility.
<snip>
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13339861

[JM]

6. Hey Vlad? Dubya here...

...Listen. We are about to dump a pile of bullshit that you supposedly said. What do we say you agree you said it and we'll increase those US-Russian oil refining projects that are saving your economy?

JM

[JPJones]

7. If it was credible, wouldn't Colin have used in at the UN

That means it was less credible than the dog shit he did present.

[mindfulNJ]

8. OK Pooty Poot...

what's the evidence?...and how come you didn't come forward before now?...and how come * didn't mention this before?

[tkmorris]

13. Exactly

Of course they will say that they didn't want to endanger sources yadda yadda yadda but that is just pure white noise.

This looks like the sort of trial balloon I've seen floated on oh so many early morn broadcasts only to see them discredited by the afternoon. It just doesn't hold water, there's no logic to it whatsoever. This reeks of desperation. CNN sure is pushing it though, it's playing again now for the third time in 10 minutes.

[leesa]

80. It HAS been mentioned before. This is not new news.

[BootinUp]

10. Preposterous

The question is what did Bush do for Putin.

[salin]

15. offered to share some of the oil

contracts in Iraq with Russian companies? Remember, Russia DID get Iraqi oil - and has been all but cut out of the picture due to bushjr's petulance over the lack of support for the UN Security council resolution per the war - and due to bushjrs outstanding debts to certain US corporate giants who needed their cut of the Iraqi pie, first.

[jpgray]

64. Or not defaulting the massive debt Iraq owes Russia, perhaps? (nt)

[NewHampshireDem]

11. One lies and the other swears to it ...

My question: What vested interest does Pooty have in seeing * re-elected? Hmmm ... let me see ... Chechnya? Oil pipelines through Afghanistan into Russia? Securing the Kaspian Sea oil fields?

I could go on, but I'm starting to scare myself. :tinfoilhat:

[JPJones]

12. Putin warns on Iraq war 3/28/03

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/03/28/sprj.irq.putin/

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Friday that the war in Iraq is the "most serious crisis the world has faced since the Cold War."

Putin said Russia believes the only way out of the situation is to "immediately end military action and re-start the process of political solution within the framework of the U.N. Security Council."

[JPJones]

14. Putin - There were no international terrorists under Hussein

12/19/03
http://www.rense.com/general46/putin.htm

"We do not want the United States to lose their war on terrorism. We are US partners in the fight against terrorism," Putin said.

"But as for Iraq, this is a separate matter. There were no international terrorists under Hussein. This is a separate problem," said Putin.

[phillybri]

40. Great work, JP!!!

:kick:

[jackstraw45]

63. HUGE find...must get that around!

Of course the Corporate Media Whores can't remember this story even though it's their JOB to do so.


COMPLETELY blasts this faux story today out of the water.

Either Putin LIED in December of 2003 or he's LYING now.

Which one is it?

What debt did Bush* just promise to forgive?

[Rose Siding]

66. That makes Putin a lying liar.

I'm sure CNN will be pointing this out momentarily (lol)

[KoKo]

16. Poppy visited Russia last year and made some oil deals. Pooty and

Bush have probably done some more deals. One hand washes the other. Bush calls it "pay back time."

[liveoaktx]

17. G8- Putin said at press conf that Democrats had no moral right to

criticize Bush.

After all, he and Bush have seen each other's souls.

[drfemoe]

18. Great Intelligence!!

NOT!! Ira* did not attack the US. So what do we have? -- ZIP - NADA- .. what is Russian for NOTHING?

[NNN0LHI]

19. The Chimp is calling in the markers from the UN run oil for food scam

The Russians don't want to be dragged through the mud over their part in the scam. Chimpy has Putin and many other world leaders over the barrel on this deal. Betcha.

Don

[0007]

32. There may be something to what your saying, but I wouldn't bet on it!

[Bonhomme Richard]

20. He understands that 4 more years of shrub..........................

would undermine this nation even further. The weaker we become the stronger he gets.

[physioex]

23. Not true...politicians only care about the bottom line....EOM

[teryang]

47. This is exactly right

The second phase of the Chechen conflict was instigated by terrorists on the CIA payroll. This war is a part of strategic American scheme to debilitate and cripple Russia on an indefinite if not permanent basis.

Putin's contradictory volte face regarding Iraq is a de facto recognition that the strategic "masterstroke" of the neo-cons is an unmitigated strategic diaster which is bleeding America white and weakening our country for decades to come. France and Russia are embracing this developement and are more than eager to expedite the American decline with their feigned expressions of friendship designed to get the erstwhile dictator and his incompetent and corrupt crew through November. Russia and France want the bushistas ever more tightly bound to their debilitating war and the American system bound to their greatest mistake in leadership for another four years.

This duplicitous transition is evidence that our former relationships with European powers has entered a new and more dangerous phase of permanent alienation. What has happened with Russia is little more than an undeclared conflict between two corrupt ruling classes dominated by security apparatchiki. Both profit while watching each other bleed.

[Tommy_Douglas]

48. This is bang on...

Russia isn't so high on democracy as they equate it with weakness or more specifically the weakness Russia has experienced.

It's obvious to those of us outside the United States. That America is considerably weaker today then it was before 9/11.

Another four years of Bush and America will be that much weaker. Of course the supporters of Bush will think the exact opposite. Of course they thought the same thing in Ancient Rome when a corrupt army and incompetent caesar after incompetent caesar ran the empire into the ground.

[physioex]

24. Russia was owed money by Saddam.....

Perhaps there is some kind of deal between the two for some partial repayment of this debt.....

[nomaco-10]

28. Must have been some G-8 summit.....

more deals and money changing hands than a whorehouse in Texas on a friday night.

[nomaco-10]

25. Explains the manic episode at the G-8 summit....

I don't think this story is gonna get the boost shitforbrains was hoping for though. FAUX must be in a tail spin trying to figure out which story to fellate for the next few days, Monica or Pooty's claim of Iraqi terrorism aimed at Murika.

[Paradise]

26. Putin lying! CNN swearing! Look here:

"RUSSIA: Russian intelligence clearly warns the US several times that 25 or so terrorists, including suicide pilots, will attack the US, targeting "important buildings like the Pentagon"

August 2001 (D): Russian President Putin warns the US that suicide pilots are training for attacks on US targets. The head of Russian intelligence also later states, "We had clearly warned them" on several occasions, but they "did not pay the necessary attention." A Russian newspaper on September 12, 2001 claims that "Russian Intelligence agents know the organizers and executors of these terrorist attacks. More than that, Moscow warned Washington about preparation to these actions a couple of weeks before they happened." Interestingly, the article claims that at least two of the terrorists were Muslim radicals from Uzbekistan. FTW"

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/foreignwarnings.html

A n d, get a load of the multiple countries, multiple warnings (including this one) in above link!

I've heard and read about Putin's warnings multiple times, multiple media, multiple years. :shrug:

[thinkingwoman]

27. motivation? Oil and money of course!

"Hey Putin, you want in on the post war action? Ok, but first you have to say...."

That would have been the conversation if W could actually string a sentence together. I'm sure his version was much less articulate but hey, oil and money still talks, even when garbled.

[ze_dscherman]

29. Revenge for Afghanistan

Luring the U.S. into the Iraq quagmire would be the ultimate revenge for Afghanistan. :tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat:

[many a good man]

39. Bingo!

What else could it be? Set up: Iraq will be America's Afghanistan, which was the Soviet Union's Viet Nam. Isn't international politics fun! The 21st century is shaping up to be "blowback" for the 20th.

[leftchick]

30. AP Link... This is really pathetic...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040618/ap_on_re_eu/russia_iraq&cid=518&ncid=1480


Putin said he couldn't comment on how critical the Russians' information was in the U.S. decision to invade Iraq. He said Russia didn't have any information that Saddam's regime had actually been behind any terrorist acts.


"After Sept. 11, 2001, and before the start of the military operation in Iraq, the Russian special services, the intelligence service, received information that officials from Saddam's regime were preparing terrorist attacks in the United States and outside it against the U.S. military and other interests," Putin said.


He said the United States had thanked Russia for the information. There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials.


"It's one thing to have information that Saddam's regime is preparing terrorist attacks, (but) we didn't have information that it was involved in any known terrorist attacks," Putin said in the Kazakh capital Astana after regional economic and security summits.

[Jack Rabbit]

31. Link from CNN

From CNN
Dated Friday June 18 8:38 am EDT (5:38 am PDT)

Russia "warned U.S. about Saddam"

Russian intelligence services warned Washington several times that Saddam Hussein's regime planned terrorist attacks against the United States, President Vladimir Putin has said.
The warnings were provided after September 11, 2001 and before the start of the Iraqi war, Putin said Friday, according to the Interfax news agency.
The planned attacks were targeted both inside and outside the United States, said Putin, who made the remarks during a visit to Kazakhstan.
However, Putin said there was no evidence that Saddam's regime was involved in any terrorist attacks.

Read more.

[ewagner]

33. ...and Tenet is no longer there....

to confirm/deny the story..........

I couldn't have dreamed this up in my most tinfoilhat moments......

God help us..........

[geek tragedy]

34. This isn't a tinfoil situation

It's clearly an a quid pro quo. Congress can't subpoena the KGB's (or whatever Russia calls it now) records.

I'll bet no one in Congress ever heard of this.

[dennis4868]

35. The media is full of shit....

and if they were objective and honest and gave a shit about our country they would tell the people that this is all a joke...Putin before the war was saying that the United States fight against terrorism has nothing to do with Saddam...that they were 2 separate issues....now he is talking a totally different story. Problem is that the media loves this cause it helps their GOD Bush...and they therefore will once again not do their fucking job and inform the people of the truth!

[Goldmund]

36. Pootie-Poot to the rescue!

[demgrrrll]

42. I just got back from Florida where the headlines were screaming No Link

Between AQ and Iraq. This is a huge change that I am sure has been discussed here this week. They needed something to knock that
news off the page and provide some cover for the chimp. They aren't complete morons they will do what they have to do to keep their heads above water.

[Just Me]

37. Turn over written proof of this claim.

And, explain why Putin indicated his opposition to the Iraq war and refused to participate.

This is complete and utter bullshit.

I am sick to death of this game. :puke:

[atreides1]

38. "Why Putin Must Prop Up Bush"

Simple, it's easier for Putin to deal with the incompetent, weak minded chimp, then it would be for him to deal with Kerry.

Typical KGB tactics.

Any comment Mopaul?

[AlGore-08.com]

41. Hey, c'mon - - Pooty Poot is obviously telling the truth here

I mean, if you can't trust the word of the former head of the KGB, who can you trust? </sarcasm>

[bluedog]

43. they can't have it both ways

they didn't listen to the warnings pre 9-11 about the planes and the attacks coming to the US from terrorists.....they didn't heed the warning.........now they expect us to believe what Putin says pre Iraq??

[Jack Rabbit]

44. BBC link

From the BBC Online
Dated Friday June 18 13:44 GMT (6:44 am PDT)

Iraq "was planning US attacks"

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that after the 9/11 attacks Moscow warned Washington that Saddam Hussein was planning attacks on the US.
He said Russia's secret service had information on more than one occasion that Iraq was preparing acts of terror in the US and its facilities worldwide.
Mr Putin said he had no information the Iraqi ex-leader was behind any attacks . . . .
Speaking on a visit to Kazakhstan, Mr Putin said Russia had warned the US on several occasions that Iraq was planning "terrorist attacks" on its soil.

Read more.

One might surmise that what Mr. Putin found was something that merited vigilance, but was not urgent. It it had been urgent enough to warrant an attack on Iraq, then Putin would have support America's right to defend herself. He opposed the invasion.

For decades, the BBC has been a trusted source of news and information for those living in countries deprived of a free and independent press. That is why this American living in the age of Bush and corporatism turns to the BBC.

[Gloria]

67. Wasn't this floated ages ago? And didn't some commentators

basically dismiss the idea that Saddam had any means at all to even think about attacks in the US???

This seems to be a retread, brought out again to deflect the "no links to Al Qaeda" stories.........So now, Saddams was going to do it solo????

Ludicrous.

Pooty is doing his KGB thing....deal to compensate Russia for the huge debt Iraq has with them?

A week or so ago, I posted an article on Russia and the US from Asia Times Online....outlining all the positive things Russia has been saying about the US...but still, Russia is very skeptical....esp. about Iraq....

[salin]

45. More discussion (including Boston Globe article):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=630043#630103

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/170/world/Putin_says_Russia_gave_U_S_inf:.shtml

[Lugnut]

46. Yeah, right.

They must think we're really stupid. I believe Putin about as much as I believe *.

[HuckleB]

50. Clearly Bush played his Chechnya card at the last meeting.

Putin is protecting himself. His own military has been terrorizing an entire population for 10 years. Half of that military is made up of released criminals, who Putin knows are just going to terrorize the population. And, of course, they have done so, creating horrific results.

[Octafish]

52. What HuckleB said.

Quid pro quo, Totalitarian style.

[jmcgowanjm]

51. If Khodorkovsky is released from jail in a few days

The consortia of mutually interested elites will have come up
w/ $3.4B to pay taxes owed by Yukos.

Bush and Putin met an hour longer than scheduled at G8.

[tom_paine]

53. Looks like Comrade Putin is right on board with the Age of Totalitarianism

Let us not forget, he has constructed his Totalitarian "Managed Democracy" by using the whole Bushevik Playbook, only his country has no traditions to stop Tyrants, so he is already much farther along in re-enslaving his people than his Soulmate Bunnypants*.

Bunnypants* was right. He IS Comrade Putin's Soulamte.

This is a Soviet Lie. Just anothe Bushevik-Bolshevik-Bunnyoants*-Comrade Putin LIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

[TryingToWarnYou]

54. Why, after a decade of containment....

would Iraq all of a sudden decide "Hey, lets attack.... AMERICA!!!!"?

To what fucking end? An invasion?

The folks tossing this shit out really dont think too much about what they are saying...they hope to just muddy the waters. Interestingly enough, this comes on the heels of Rummy being tied to ghosting prisoners. How convenient....

[not systems]

56. Vote Bush. The KGB and Al Queda can't be wrong...

[xyboymil]

58. The timing on this could not be more obvious and desperate!

What remains such a joke regarding this report is that it comes out NOW!! that Bush's reason for going to war (the non-existent mass WMD and that Iraq was hand in hand with the terrorists) is crumbling right under him.

And doesnt anyone find it just a tad ironic that this report was NEVER mentioned by Bush when he laid out his reasons for going to war or for that matter blasting Russia for not supporting him?

Russia on one hand is saying: Hey, I think Iraq is plotting against you...but no, you shouldn't go to war over it.

What a complete load of shit! :puke:

[Fovea]

59. It goes

An enemy of Soros is a friend of mine.

[daleo]

60. I agree with the poster that mentioned the Yukos matter

That has suddenly been in the paper around here (Globe and Mail) - the Russian government arrested and imprisoned their biggest billionaire on corruption charges. Normally, a full court press would be put on by the western powers at the very idea of arresting a billionaire. Could anyone imagine Bill Gates, for example, being arrested for anything? But Bush is desperate, so a little quid pro quo lie about Iraq by Putin will stop the criticism about arresting a billionaire.

It also seems likely that plenty of other powers wouldn't mind seeing the U.S. suffer under another four years of Bush. The U.S. military is overextended by Bush's Iraq fiasco, which means it cannot be much of a threat to any other serious power. The treasury is being bled by the costs of the Iraq war, which has to weaken the U.S. in the longer run. The political dissension within the U.S. caused by Bush's policies is probably also helpful. So, beware Putins bearing gifts.

[calimary]

61. This is breaking news? I seem to remember seeing many references

to Putin warning bush BEFORE 9/11, also, that something bad was in the works. This one says after 9/11? JEEZ.

[Dover]

62. WHY was this intelligence supposedly passed on AFTER 9/11

but before the US plans to invade Iraq. Particularly when you examine the OTHER intelligence referenced by another poster above
about emminent attacks PRIOR to 9/11?

[Dover]

65. Didn't you just know this was coming, after Bush/Cheney inexplicably

resurrected their lame lies about the Al Qaeda/Iraq connection just this past week?

Whoever choreographs this stuff should be fired for having two left feet. How obvious can they get? How desperate and clumsy...

And what is the Administration giving away to Russia in order to extract such a collaboration of lies, all in the name of political expediency?

[Gloria]

68. June 10 Asia TImes piece on the G8 and the complexities of Russia's

interests with the US..........

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/FF11Ag01.html

Russia chooses to remain skeptical
While Russia, a long-time opponent of the US war on Iraq, has made all the right diplomatic noises over the UN Security Council resolution on that country's transfer to sovereignty, it is not pulling in the same direction as President George W Bush. -Sergei Blagov (Jun 10, '04)

[gasperc]

69. that would have been good to present LAST YEAR

WHAT FUCKING BULLSHIT

[Tellurian]

70. How simple is THIS?

Bush is BLACKMAILING Putin and forcing him to back him, in order for Putin to receive Oil contracts in Iraq and other lucrative Platinum contracts with China..

[GovtMule]

71. The first thing that came to mind this morning when I saw this was

quid pro quo. Check this out:

Saturday, 14 September, 2002, 09:08 GMT 10:08 UK

Analysis: US-Russian 'battle' for Iraq

By Nikolai Gorshkov
BBC's Moscow correspondent

The battle for Iraq has begun.

The first salvo was made by President Putin on the 11 September, who issued an ultimatum to Georgia to root up "international terrorists" or face Russian action.

The salvo was aimed as much at Georgia's President Eduard Shevardnadze, as at the US President George Bush.

It was a pre-emptive strike on the eve of Mr Bush's speech at the United Nations, where he was expected to issue an ultimatum to Iraq.

Moscow was hinting that it would treat Georgia, an American ally, in the same way as Washington was about to treat Iraq, Russia's business partner.

Observers believe a quid pro quo has been in the making.

As a conservative Russian newspaper Trud put it, "Let's swap Saddam for Shevardnadze".

However, the US does not appear to have accepted the offer.

The ubiquitous quid pro quo may be still very much alive, but who wins this tug-of-war remains to be seen.


__________________________________________________________________

It appears now that the desperation has set in with the 9/11 commission's assertion that there were no Iraq/al-Qaeda ties, Putin may have.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2256221.stm

[Tellurian]

73. This mini summary seems to call it in a nutshell...

"The US has just imposed penalties on three Russian companies that are accused by Washington of selling sensitive military technologies to "rogue states".

Almost immediately Russian lawmakers raised the possibility of slapping economic sanctions on America's friend Georgia.

The ubiquitous quid pro quo may be still very much alive, but who wins this tug-of-war remains to be seen."

So, Putin is caving in..
The eco-blackmail is working.

His reinforcement of Bush's statement all makes sense now.

[Tellurian]

74. kick~

[legin]

72. Putin will do what is good for Russia

That's all there is.

Fuck morality. Fuck doing the right thing. Foreign Policy is 'beyond good and evil'.

You just have to hope that he takes a intelligent, long term view of what constitutes Russia's best interests because morality does actually in the end impinge on russia's 'best interests'.

But you would want to worry if bush* offers Putin a 'good short-term deal'.

[FlashHarry]

75. The State Department didn't know (Reuters)

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=880933&tw=wn_wire_story

[KittyWampus]

76. Jamie Rubin, Acting As Wesley Clark's Surrogate, Gave Russia A SMACKDOWN

during a press conference. A VERY DIPLOMATIC one, but still... I remember wondering why Jamie, speaking for Wes, was telling the Russian journalist that if Wesley Clark was President we wouldn't be playing softball.

Wish I had the link.

But this now makes me wonder, if Junior & Putin have a mutual interest in milking terrorism for all it's worth.

Controlling populations, pipelines, black markets....

[Gyre]

77. Just another whore

Obviously having taken a page from Bush(aka little raygun) where you don't need facts to make an assertion that the press won't question.

Putin, having stolen the last election in Russia without much effort really doesn't have a lot to worry about from his "electorate" unless he tells them that vodka is now prohibited.

Gyre