404

(cont)

Independent-minded Pentagon flag rank officers, from retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni to Iraqi War commander General Tommy Franks, have also been on the receiving end of Rove's torrents of abuse and disinformation; Zinni for being outspoken against the war, and Franks for disagreeing with awarding to Silver Star to Lynch. Army Specialist Clinton Deitz of the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division told ABC News, "If Donald Rumsfeld was here, I'd ask him for his resignation." Deitz and other soldiers opposed to the insane war were then threatened with court martial by the chickenhawks surrounding Rumsfeld, who were undoubtedly egged on by the demonic Rove. Another 2nd Brigade Sergeant was more pointed when he said, "I've got my own 'Most Wanted' list" of senior Bush administration officials." Sarge, it would not be a complete list without Rove's name on it.

It now appears that former Iraqi proconsul, retired General Jay Garner, was tossed overboard because he disagreed with the disbanding of the Iraqi army. Heresy! He was replaced with the much more sycophantic and dapper L. Paul Bremer III, who played emcee for Bush's Turkey Trot at Baghdad airport.

Others have also faced recriminations from Rove's "Matrix" system of political retribution and retaliation. They include State Department diplomats John H. Brown, John Brady Kiesling, and Mary Wright, all of whom resigned over the war. They were described as low ranking malcontents by the White House spinmeisters. Another target was former State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) officer Greg Thielmann who spoke about how intelligence was skewed by the neo-cons.

It is not known whether Thielmann's colleague at INR, John Kokal, also voiced concerns about similar issues. We will never know, because tragically, Kokal's shoeless body was discovered in a 20 feet window well, 8 floors below the top of the State Department building early in the evening of November 7th. Contrary to what the State Department said about Kokal, senior State Department sources report that not only was the diplomat a top Iraq specialist, he regularly briefed Secretary of State Colin Powell. The Kokal incident is too reminiscent of the alleged suicide of British Ministry of Defense weapons of mass destruction expert, Dr. David Kelly (who is said to have committed suicide with a dull pen knife and over the counter drugs). Kokal was the first foreign affairs official found dead at the bottom of a foreign ministry since Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk's body was found in the courtyard below his window in 1948. Masaryk's defenestration preceded the total Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia.

I would hope that Rove would not resort to that kind of political retribution, but in an era when the battle cry is, "If you're not with us, you're against us," who really knows? Would Rove let his Machiavellian attitude dictate more extreme forms of retaliation? Let's hope not, but we shouldn't be surprised if it is otherwise the case.

Because just as the Kokal matter was fading into oblivion, the United Nations headquarters reported that on December 1, an American, Michael Holton, a 16-year veteran of its security police, was found shot to death inside the UN headquarters in New York. It was the first incident of its kind in the history of the UN. The head of the UN security department said there was "no prior indication of psychological problems and that no note was left near the body . . . there were no witnesses and no one was known to have heard anything unusual." Yes, there's a lot of that happening as of late.

It was from Rove's shop that a CD-ROM containing a White House PowerPoint campaign strategy miraculously was "found" in Lafayette Park across from the White House. Ken Mehlman, Rove's accomplice in the planted park CD scam, is now Bush's 2004 campaign manager. A strategy paper from the Senate Intelligence Committee's Democratic minority staff suddenly wound up in the hands of GOP radio demagogue Sean Hannity. A Republican staffer for the Senate Judiciary Committee was caught hacking into sensitive Democratic files. Also, consider the bogus intelligence documents pointing to Iraq trying to obtain uranium from Africa. During the 2000 presidential campaign, Rove accused the Democrats of secretly videotaping a Bush debate practice session. All smoke and mirrors designed by Rove to mask his special brand of political conniving. Rove's brand of subterfuge and chicanery is copied from his Teutonic cousins who practiced it so well in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s.

Was it a coincidence that former Vice President Al Gore (the de jure President of the United States) was subjected twice to special baggage searches at airports during a campaign swing to Wisconsin? No, that was again Rove at work. Just like when Rove and ex-Orkin exterminator Tom DeLay misused Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration, and FBI personnel in a search for absent members of the Texas House of Representatives. Then there was the story that leaked to the press about California Governor Gray Davis physically abusing a female staff member. Gray Davis? The man who was likened to Casper Milquetoast, all of a sudden acting like Arnold Schwarzenegger! More Rove fingerprints -- the Davis story appeared as Schwarzenegger was fending off allegations of groping females over his long movie career.

The late FBI counterterrorism agent John P. O'Neill had a briefcase containing some sensitive documents stolen from him as he was attending a retirement planning session in Tampa. The briefcase was later returned with nothing missing. But soon the news of the "stolen briefcase" was leaked to the press, and O'Neill faced his first FBI investigation in his 30-year career. The incident smells of Rove all over it. O'Neill, who was on to the Bush family relationship with Saudis who, in turn, backed Al Qaeda, ironically died at the World Trade Center on 9/11.

The serpentine Rove has directed his venom against a number of international personages as well -- from French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, to former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohammed El Baradei, to former South African President Nelson Mandela and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. All had opposed the Bush march to war.

I have become aware of journalistic colleagues being mugged (without any theft involved) on the streets of Washington and London. Could these have been warnings to those who have written extensively about the misdeeds of the Bush cabal? Possibly. As the United States continues to sink into a Third World-style dictatorship, we can expect more harassment of journalists and political activists.

Unless, that is, Rove is deep-sixed as a matter of political necessity to shore up Bush's Christian Right base. Washington is awash with stories, including those from the normally pro-Bush conservative Washington Times group, of Rove's Hooveresque off-hours antics (as in J. Edgar Hoover). Gee, Karl, how are you going to square that with the good Reverends Robertson and Falwell?

Stay tuned.

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(b] cheap hmtl programer for hire (/b)