Just one of the many recent, yet notable, items I was unable to cover over the past week...

On Thursday, Roll Call reported that all three of the major staffers for Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), the lead author/co-sponsor of the disastrous Help America Vote Act (HAVA), are running for the hills.

The departures are described as "the latest sign that Ney’s legal and ethical troubles stemming from the Jack Abramoff scandal are growing worse with each passing day."

Josh Marshall covered the exits of his "troika" --- his Chief of Staff, Legislative Director and Communications Director --- all scramming on the same day.

We first referred to Ney as "the soon-to-be-indicted" back in January when we published our exposé connecting the dots between Ney, Abramoff, Diebold, HAVA and Ney's even-more-former chief of staff, David DiStefano, who became Diebold's main congressional lobbyist. That exposé has been wholly ignored by the mainstream media ever since. (Except for Matt Taibbi who referenced the info, but without attribution, in an April Rolling Stone piece on Abramoff.)

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com

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In Iraq, the month of May saw the largest number of Iraqi civilian deaths since the war began 3 years ago. The Baghdad morgue reported over 1400 dead in May. Over 400 of the dead Iraqis could not be identified. Some journalists, like veteran reporter Robert Fisk, claim that the officials are under-reporting the actual number of deaths. In addition, many more bodies can never be counted because explosions and road side bombs often leave little evidence of human remains.

What's clear is that the violence in Iraq is increasing at a pivotal time for the fledgling Iraqi government. Even the shell-shocked Iraqis are stunned by the new level of violence. For example, over a two day period, 18 severed heads wrapped in plastic have been discovered. The likely cause are the escalating sectarian revenge killings.

In this video, an Iraqi woman cries,

ADDENDUM FROM BRAD: Good timing for David Edward's post here. I was about to do one of my own, pointing out this report that 6,000 Iraqi corpses have been discovered in the last 5 months. Given Iraq's population of appx. 25 million, compared with the US's population of 300 million. The equivalent of 6000 deaths in Iraq over the past five months would be some 72,000 in America. If we had 72,000 murders via "sectarian violence" in America in just five months, would that be considered a civil war? Or would we criticize the media for not reporting all the "good news" in our country?

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com

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Earlier this week, during the trial of David Safavian, photos were released from one of the Abramoff-sponsored golf trips to Scotland. David Safavian is charged with lying to investigators about his relationship with Jack Abramoff.

The photos show Abramoff with some of his "Champions", a term he used to describe people in government who could provide information and assistance to Abramoff's clients. Champions were showered with gifts and trips like the golf trip seen in the released photos.

In the group photo above, Abramoff's Champions are shown prior to boarding the Gulf Stream jet. Neil Volz, pictured on the far left, was chief of staff to Bob Ney. He is considered a star witness for the prosecution. Standing next to Volz is Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition. Congressman Bob Ney is 4th from the left. He is the short guy wearing the grey shirt. Jack Abramoff is on the far right.

This video is from MSNBC's Countdown. David Shuster explains the story behind the photos and the lengths to which Abramoff would go to provide favors for his Champions. Shuster also has an update on the status of the Safavian trial.

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com

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Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha appeared on CNN America Morning where he expressed outraged at the military's handling of the massacre of innocent Iraqis by Marines in Haditha, Iraq. It's been over 6 months since the incident occurred, yet the investigation is still not complete. The Pentagon refused to drop their cover story until Time Magazine published an article in February of this year. If it were not for that article, the military would have never publicly recognized the atrocities in Haditha.

Murtha said that, even now, the Military was trying to spin the report by telling the press that the incident happened during a combat situation. According to Murtha:

CNN's Pentagon official ass-kisser correspondent reviewed the timeline of events originally compiled by Time Magazine. After a roadside bomb killed one soldier, the Marines killed four teenagers in a taxi. The taxi driver was also killed. In the first house, Marines killed 7 people, including women and children. In the next house, 8 were killed, including 6 women. The third house was spared. In the fourth house, however, 4 were killed.

Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director of Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA, formerly OpTruth) sends The BRAD BLOG a few exclusive passages, as read by the author, from his new book Chasing Ghosts --- documenting his extraordinary experiences in Iraq.

Paul was kind enough to send to us a copy of the book recently which we hope to be able to read in full some time this summer, if the gods ever lend us a few quiet hours.

The title of the first chapter alone, however --- "George Bush Had Better Be Fucking Right" --- should highly recommend this book to anyone.

Here's Paul reading a few passages from the book, which we're honored to run on Memorial Day, as just part of our thanks to those American troops fighting on our behalf...whether many of them like it or not. We particularly appreciate those like Reickhoff, and all of the tremendous folks at IAVA, who have had the courage to speak out about where this Administration and this Congress is letting them down and where they are abysmally failing to adequately support our troops.

Our thanks to Paul for all of the above. Please enjoy the audio clip, and please consider buying the book. The Chasting Ghosts website is right here...

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ADDENDUM... Rieckhoff recently appeared as a guest on Steven Colbert's show, just days after Colbert's infamous appearance at the White House Correspondent's Dinner. He talked about the book, and otherwise held up under Colbert's "nailing" as well as I've ever seen anybody. Check out the video of Rieckhoff's appearance on Colbert if you didn't catch it when it aired.

UPDATE: Broken links in this item now corrected. Sorry about that!

We first met Karen Meredith in Crawford, Texas last Summer where she was one of many Gold Star family members standing with Cindy Sheehan who'd also lost her only son in Iraq. We interviewed Karen live [mp3] from Camp Casey on The BRAD SHOW about her son, Kenneth Michael Ballard, and her courageous stand against this war. We continue to both wear and cherish the duplicate dog tag of Ken's that she gave us while we were there, and think of both of them often.

On September 9, 2005, nearly a year and a half after she learned of the death of Ken in Najaf, the Army informed her that her son's death was an accident. They had known for a year, but failed to tell her. We blogged about that here.

What follows, is a letter Karen shared with us, as written to mark the occasion of yet another Memorial Day spent without her son. We're pleased to share it with you on yet another Memorial Day as our troops continue to fight and die by the thousands in this continuing, senseless war...

One of our favorite tunes to come out of Camp Casey in Crawford, TX last summer was Jesse Dyen's "Sons & Daughters". We interviewed Jesse [MP3], who sang it for us live on air when we were there for our special "Project Noble Cause" broadcasts of The BRAD SHOW. The moment Jesse began singing, a mighty wind blew through the big tent, perhaps on the leading edge of Katrina, on one of our last days there, on August 29, 2005. As ever, the mighty denizens of Camp Casey swung into action during the live broadcast with trashcan lids and cardboard and bodies to protect Jesse, and the live microphone, from the sudden gust during his song. Yet another memorable moment.

Anyway...Jesse recently let us know about a video of the song that's just been released on the Internet, using footage taken at Camp Casey by videographer Chun Pan.

We never tire of the song and, of course, the footage brought back memories for us. Memorial Day Weekend seems an apropos time to share the link with you. Please give it a look, a listen, and enjoy...

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com

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The Special Prosecutor investigating the outing of CIA officer, Valerie Plame-Wilson, has indicated in a court filing that Vice President Cheney is likely to be a witness in the Libby trial.

The New York Times quotes Fitzgerald writing, "Contrary to defendant's assertion, the government has not represented that it does not intend to call the vice president as a witness at trial." (see: Muckraker). Cheney's testimony is expected to reflect the state of mind in the Office of the Vice President during the organized attack on Joe Wilson's credibility and the outing of Plame-Wilson. The testimony will likely show that Libby had motive to leak selective information to reporters to smear Wilson and bolster the Administration's justification for war on Iraq.

Fingering Cheney as a possible witness may lead to questions about a conspiracy secret illegal scheme planned and executed within the Vice President's office.

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com

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Yesterday, The New York Daily News reported that two top CIA officials discussed Valerie plame with Cheney's former Chief of Staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. If true, the CIA officials' testimony will show that Libby knew of Valerie Plame's status at the CIA at least a month prior to Robert Novak's column which first publicly exposed Valerie Plame's undercover status. The testimony of the two top CIA officials is expected to bolster the charge of perjury against Libby. Libby has previously testified that he first learned about Plame from a reporter.

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann takes notice that this story had been originally reported 2 months earlier by Jason Leopold, an internet journalist writing for Truthout. On May 13th, Leopold reported that Karl Rove, like Libby, had been served with an indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice. This report has not been confirmed by other media sources, triggering a fierce debate on the internet about the accuracy Leopold's report that Rove has been served with an indictment. Truthout editor, Marc Ash, is defending the accuracy of the report.

New pre-trial filings by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in the Scooter Libby perjury trial related to the outting of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, seem to draw Dick Cheney still closer to the center of the scandal, MSNBC's David Schuster is now reporting.

In the newly released documents, defendant Libby denies having seen Cheney's handwritten notes on the margins of a 2003 NY Times op/ed, in which Cheney raises questions about Plame's involvement in former Ambassador Joe Wilson's fact-finding trip to Niger. In the op/ed, Wilson exposes what he didn't find on that trip --- evidence that Saddam was attempting to purchase uranium from Niger.

(See BRAD BLOG's report, as filed last week by David Edwards, with video and other details as the NY Times marginalia was disclosed.)

From Schuster's report this evening:

RAW STORY has the text transcript and reports that Rove's legal team expects a decision on his indictment "at any time".

Here's the video, just out from MSNBC's Hardball, including the new details as reported by Schuster...

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High-larious. From last Saturday's SNL. Courtesy of Crooks & Liars...

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com

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During a Wednesday press confernce, Representative Jack Murtha (D-PA), a former marine, revealed that an ongoing military investigation will show that Marines killed innocent women and children "in cold blood". The incident happened in Haditha, Iraq on November 19, 2005.

While the Pentagon's investigation has not been completed, Murtha reported:

At the time of the incident, a Marine spokesman said that 15 innocent civilians had been killed in a roadside bomb explosion and 8 insurgents were killed by U.S. Marines in a related gun battle.

Outraged locals reported a very different version of events. The Marines forcefully entered a home and murdered 15 unarmed civialians. There had been no explosion from a roadside bomb. There were no insurgents in the area. The Pentagon flatly denied the Iraqi's version of events.

We first reported on this incident on March 22, 2006 with video evidence (see our flash video or wmv video) that the Pentagon's version of events were largely a fabrication. The Haditha video evidence, shot by an Iraqi film student, showed the aftermath of the murders in Haditha. Unarmed bodies of women children were seen slain in praying positions. The walls were covered with blood and bullet holes.

A 9 year old girl survived the Haditha massacre and was able to provide an eyewitness account of the crimes. In the video at the beginning of this article (pictured at left), the 9 year old girl describes what she witnessed, "The American's came into my room where my father was praying. They went to my grandmother and killed her too. I heard an explosion. They threw a grenade under my grandfather's bed."

The Haditha video evidence was eventually obtained by Time Magazine and broadcast on Arab television. The Pentagon gave way to public pressure and opened an investigation into the killings at Haditha. We can't help but wonder how many other atrocities have been ignored or covered-up due to a lack of public evidence and public pressure?

This video contains yesterday's report from the UK's Channel 4 News. Then, in an interview on MSNBC, Rep. Jack Murtha can barely contain his frustration with Bush Administration's Iraq "policy" which he blames for creating overwhelming stress on American soldiers. The playing time is about 8 minutes.

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com

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Hidden amongst the smoke and mirrors of Bush's plan to boost sinking poll numbers, pander to his base enact immigration reform, the media largely missed revelations that Vice President Dick Cheney has been directly implicated in the CIA leak case.

MSNBC's Countdown managed to sneak in this short report about the new details of Cheney's involvement. My apologies for not posting this video sooner but the issue is still relevant and deserves further scrutiny.

A recent court filing by Patrick Fitzgerald includes Cheney's handwritten notes on a copy of Joe Wilson's July 6, 2003 New York Times op-ed. According to Fitzgerald, the handwritten notes show "the contemporaneous reaction of the vice president". In his notes, Cheney writes talking points that are later leaked to the press and used to smear Joe Wilson.

Christy Harden Smith of Firedoglake writes,

In an interview on MSNBC, Richard Wolfe of Newsweek, went even further by leaving no doubt that Cheney's notes on Wilson's opinion article were actually "an order" directing his staff to push Cheney's loaded questions to friendly journalists...

As longtime BRAD BLOG commenter, Czaragorn asked for some red meat today, and as we've been conflicted on whether to "report" anything on this or not, we'll just toss it out there and say, oh well, Czaragorn asked for it. And we aim to please.

Surely, you've all heard the many and various rumors and speculation of late about a Karl Rove indictment being handed down from the Grandy Jury in the Valerie Plame TreasonGate case. Either that, or you've read Jason Leopold's article from Friday reporting that Rove has informed the White House he's about to be indicted. Or the follow-up story yesterday, in which he reports that it's a done deal, Rove's attorneys have been served with the indictment and that Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald has spent Friday and Saturday with Rove's attorneys in pursuit of some sort of plea deal.

While we can't independently confirm or deny any of Jason's specific reporting, we have received various bits and pieces of note from sources that we have more than a fair bit of confidence in, while at the same time noting a few other interesting signs and tea leaves worth pondering...at least for Cazaragorn's sake...

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com

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MSNBC's David Shuster has followed the Plame leak case as closely as any reporter working for the corporate media. Last night on MSNBC's Countdown, Shuster reported on the possible indictment of Karl Rove.

Lawyers familiar with the case say that Rove would have been notified that he was no longer a subject of the investigation if Fitzgerald were not pursuing an indictment. Fitzgerald referred to Karl Rove as "official A" in the indictment of Scooter Libby. Shuster reports that in every case where Fitzgerald has referred to a person as "official A", that person was eventually indicted...