Bushus Mandatus - Securing the Empire

- Anti-abortion and privacy abridgment in the "omnibus" budget

- Republicans rewrite rules to keep DeLay in charge

- A Supreme Court Justice calling for government-backed religion

- Congress strong arming nations on the International Court

- Full sweep at the CIA

Welcome to Bushus Mandatus - Securing the Empire

How bizarre that supposedly the most "moral" of men and the party ruled by christian mujadeen, are so eager to abuse power and remove accountability.

It is all over the news - Goss is "reshaping" the CIA. Bush loyalist Porter Goss is cleaning house at the CIA. He brought with him a team of Republican Aides from the Whitehouse to do the job. The entire focus of the Central Intelligence Agency from the purported CIA Mission Statement that in part reads:

Vision

We will provide knowledge and take action to ensure the national security of the United States and the preservation of American life and ideals.

Mission

We are the eyes and ears of the nation and at times its hidden hand. We accomplish this mission by:

* Collecting intelligence that matters.

* Providing relevant, timely, and objective all-source analysis.

* Conducting covert action at the direction of the President to preempt threats or achieve United States policy objectives.

To:

... "Porter J. Goss, the newly appointed Director of Central Intelligence, wrote an internal memorandum to all employees of his agency telling them, "[Our job is to] support the administration and its policies in our work. As agency employees, we do not identify with, support, or champion opposition to the administration or its policies."" Johnson, Mother Jones, 11/24/04

In an excellent article by Chalmers Johnson, he argues that Bush and Goss are creating a Worthless CIA. I guess that depends on what you want the CIA to be. If you believe that the job of the CIA is to act as an international intelligence agency purportedly protecting the US from an array of threats, then indeed the current approach undermines that mission. If you believe that you need to create an organization similar to Hitler's SS, then the administration is off to a running start.

It started with the appointment of Goss to head the CIA, and the removal (sorry "retirement") of a growing number of long term CIA directors, and operatives. The shift is reinforced by the Goss memo noted above. Less obviously is the .

The shift is reinforced by the naming of Gonzales to head the Department of Justice. In a truly Orwellian move, the man who counseled Bush that torture was acceptable in the "war on terrorism," and that such actions could be taken by Bush with both national and international impunity, becomes the guardian of "justice."

I read this that the move is on to strictly enforce imperial rule at home - not just in the halls of government, but on the streets and in the homes of the populace. Meanwhile, making sure that the US can carry out its global conquest with no accountability to the world by manipulating protection for US decisionmakers and personnel from the International Criminal Court (see extended quote below).

I sit here in supposedly the most "democratic" nation in the world and watch Ukrainians protesting their election en masse, and Italy's judges and magistrates going on strike against Berlusconi's rule changes which would strip them of judicial discretion and protect high class criminals. The contrast is too stark for me. With examples of both ordinary people and those with power taking a stand to protect their democracies, I look at what is happening in my own nation. No, we are not a nation of "sheep." We have protesters, and brave souls who take to the front line to protect our rights and freedoms. The difference is the minimalization of such voices as "conspiracy theorists," "sore losers," "unpatriotic," and "terrorist sympathizers." What a tremulous place we have come to.

Colum Lynch, Wa. Post, 11/26/04, Congress Seeks to Curb International Court:

UNITED NATIONS -- The Republican-controlled Congress has stepped up its campaign to curtail the power of the International Criminal Court, threatening to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid to governments that refuse to sign immunity accords shielding U.S. personnel from being surrendered to the tribunal.

The move marks an escalation in U.S. efforts to ensure that the first world criminal court can never judge American citizens for crimes committed overseas. More than two years ago, Congress passed the American Servicemembers' Protection Act, which cut millions of dollars in military assistance to many countries that would not sign the Article 98 agreements, as they are known, that vow not to transfer to the court U.S. nationals accused of committing war crimes abroad.

A provision inserted into a $338 billion government spending bill for 2005 would bar the transfer of assistance money from the $2.52 billion economic support fund to a government "that is a party" to the criminal court but "has not entered into an agreement with the United States" to bar legal proceedings against U.S. personnel. The House and Senate are to vote on the budget Dec. 8.