The present British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it was right to go to war, also saying that the United States dismissed warnings of chaos and violence once Saddam Hussein was toppled.  Brown testified for over four hours before a public inquiry panel about Britain’s role in the conflict and its aftermath.

Defending his role in the conflict, but at the same time cautious not to inflame tensions over the unpopular war ahead of a looming national election campaign, Brown said joining the 2003 U.S.-led invasion was a tough call.

“We have got to recognize that war may be necessary, but it is also tragic in the effect it has on people’s lives,” said Brown, who voted – like most British lawmakers – to approve Britain’s role in the war.

“These were difficult decisions. I believe they were the right decisions for the right reasons,” he said.

But he was critical of U.S. planning, saying American officials failed to heed warnings about the need for clarity on how to protect and govern Iraq in the aftermath of the invasion.

Unlike Tony Blair, who defiantly stood by the invasion and argued Saddam was a threat to the entire world; Brown said he believed the war was justified because Baghdad had breached international rules in failing to abide by U.N. resolutions.

If you do some searching, you will find that a number of countries, including the main U.S. ally in the Middle East have also failed to abide by a whole slew of U.N. resolutions. Nevertheless, the “coalition” has not invaded those countries.

Brown insisted that Iraq had posed the first serious test to the post-Cold War world, claiming that any failure to depose the Iraqi leader would have emboldened other dictators and stirred global tensions.

Brown also sought to distance himself from President George W. Bush, suggesting their relations were “amicable” and criticizing the doctrine of some members of Bush’s administration.

“I never subscribed to what you might call the neo-conservative proposition that somehow, at the barrel of a gun, overnight, liberty or democracy could be conjured up,” Brown told the panel.

Hard to believe that either Brown, or Blair could actually believe in the crud they were spewing. It was without a doubt still another case of justifying their crimes and of covering their well-fed asses.

Technorati Tags: Britain, defend, Gordon Brown, Iraq invasion, Tony Blair

Bush’s top aide Karl Rove just wrote a memoir, entitled Courage and Consequence, in which he claims that Bush 43 did not mislead the nation about weapons of mass destruction as a way to “lie us” into a war.

Crap! Remember the memoirs by other neocons, such as Douglas Feith, who has denied any responsibility in the Abu Ghraib prison-abuse scandal and really any responsibility for anything altogether?

While defending the Bush administration’s handling of Iraq, Rove concedes that the failure to find weapons of mass destruction damaged the administration’s credibility. And he blames himself for failing to set the record straight.

Yes, Karl, please DO blame somebody for not finding stacks and warehouses full of WMDs. You might as well blame yourself too for a very different than expected – by people like you – Iraqi reception of our invading troops. After all, some neocons claimed that the Iraqi people would line the streets and welcome us with flowers and tears in their eyes.

“When the pattern of the Democratic attacks became apparent in July 2003, we should have countered in a forceful and overwhelming way,” wrote Rove. “We should have seen this for what it was: a poison-tipped dagger aimed at the heart of the Bush presidency.”

Rove also comes up with all kinds of lame excuses for the administration’s abject failure after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf coast.

We’ll keep this short and succint: Don’t waste your money buying another neocon memoir.

Technorati Tags: bush, Iraq War, justifying, Karl Rove, Katrina, memoir

We’re not sure why the GOP Chairman Michael Steele keeps sending us emails, beginning with “Dear Fellow Republican”, but some of them, including the now seemingly defunct Weekly Trunk newsletter are usually pretty funny.

The GOP’s latest effort is Valentine’s Day greeting e-cards. The mailing says among other things:” This Valentine’s Day, show the most important Republicans, Democrats and Independents in your life how much they mean to you by sending them a GOP Valentine’s E-Card.”

The email continues:” Pass along a special message from Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi that they didn’t craft this Valentine’s card behind closed doors like they did with their government-run health care experiment.

Or let President Obama extend your sincerest wishes to a loved one by claiming he’s saved or created millions of Valentine’s – - (We really hate people, who use the so-called “m-dashes”. Stick to single hyphens, please.) just like his party has claimed that the wasteful, pork-filled stimulus bill has created or saved thousands, 1.5 million or 2 million jobs depending on which Obama Administration official you ask.”

The email of course ends with a plea for money. We wonder what is the money going to be used for…maybe for creating Valentine cards, or for planning to deny everything, blindly criticize and put roadblocks against everything that the president is trying to achieve?

And now let us reward you with a few of the GOP’s loving Valentine “creations”.

We certainly hope that your sweetheart will appreciate these cards, created with the usual, subtle and tasteful Republican touch

Technorati Tags: Cards, gop, Valentine

Although Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez has managed to make himself eligible for re-elections indefinitely, he does of course claim to be a “democratically elected” both the chief of state and head of government.

It appears that he has gotten the majority of votes largely thanks to the unwashed electoral majority, but the fact remains that the better educated Venezuelans are largely in opposition to his de facto dictatorship.

Chavez has closed pretty much every media outlet, that was not going along with his policies and which have refused to broadcast his frequent, multi-hour speeches. Doesn’t that remind you of his hero Fidel?

In any case, one of the strongest, bravest and most determined members of the Venezuelan opposition are the students.

Here’s a little video, portraying their brave struggle.

Technorati Tags: chavez, struggle, students, Venezuela

From top left: Kue Bui for Newsweek; Andrew Hetherington / Redux; James Keyser / Time Life Pictures-Getty Images; Richard A. Bloom / Corbis; Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP-Gettty Images; Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images

Newsweek magazine has a very interesting and lengthy article, entitled “The Return of the Neocons” by David Margolick.

Here’s a short excerpt: “One prominent activist on the libertarian end of the party – who hates what he sees as their costly foreign – policy adventurism and the GOP electoral losses (i.e., the presidency and both houses of Congress) he attributes to them – calls them ‘parasites’: with little electoral power of their own, he claims, they have had to attach themselves to others, like George W. Bush. Comfortably ensconced behind a cloak of anonymity, he bristles, but also marvels, at their endurance and effectiveness, comparing them to ‘an infection that keeps coming back.’ “They’ve perfected this absolutely incredible thing: they announce who they are, how powerful they are, how influential they are, and get people to write articles about them,” he says. “But when their policies are perceived to have caused mass chaos, they don’t exist, they didn’t have anything to do with it, they weren’t there, and they get really snotty. And anyone who attacks them is anti-Semitic.”

Worth a read we think.

Technorati Tags: neocons, Newsweek, return