Guest blogged by David Edwards

PBS Newshour invited several journalists with experience reporting in Iraq to comment on the kidnapping of Jill Carroll. Carroll is a freelance reporter that was working on a story for the Christian Science Monitor when she was abducted and her translator was killed on January 7th.

CBS journalist Lara Logan was asked how the lack of security in Iraq effected the ability to gather news. Logan responded to a complaint, often made by the Bush Administion, that positive stories are not reported as often as negative news.

Since the beginning of the war in Iraq, 39 journalists have been kidnapped and 60 journalists have been killed. About 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in total.

Jill Carroll's kidnappers have given authorities 72 hours to release the 8 women that have been detained by security forces in Iraq. The deadline expires Friday night.

In the meantime, the security situation in Iraq is not improving. Just this morning, bombings in Baghdad have left 23 people dead.

See Lara Logan's comments about the dangers of reporting in Iraq in the following PBS Newshour video.

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Guest blogged by David Edwards

While a number of Democrats spoke with high aspirations, Louise Slaughter's speech may have presented the strongest indictment of Republican ethics:

Here is the full transcript of Representative Slaughter's speech.

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Some California counties are becoming a bit nervous about whether they will be able to use their voting machines in upcoming elections. At the same time, the talk in Northern California is about Vote-By-Mail. Meanwhile in Bucks County, PA activists have brought suit against the county to stop them from going to paperless voting. ...

Yesterday, I wrote about the suicide of Specialist Douglas Barber, an Iraq War vet who suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) upon returning home from fighting on behalf of this country. A man who put his life on the line for this country, but who was unable to receive adequate help from the Veteran's Administration as run (and facing deep cutbacks) by George W. "Support the Troops" Bush.

Here is an email posted on SCOOP, from Barber, as written in January of 2005.

He had a difficult time getting people to listen to him while he was alive. Perhaps some of us can try to listen to him now that he's dead, so that perhaps his death will not be in vain.

In his email, Barber describes what many families go through when they witness their sons and daughters coming home in flag-draped coffins, hidden from view by the Bush Administration. And, even more telling in this case, some of the horrors veterans suffering from PTSD face once back on the homefront. Here's a few grafs...

See his full post for some of the specific personal issues that Barber faced as he wrestled with his PTSD demons.

But then, he goes on to finish with some words for all of the Wingnuts out there who make this sort of disaster possible. Those who, from the comfort of their million dollar homes and multi-million media contracts, distort the cost of this war to sell it as "a noble cause," as if it's a Made-in-America product we can all be proud of and ought to promote to every corner of the earth. Those who bang on a political drum to give the death and destruction of others a "positive" spin for their own personal benefit. Those who gain from the nameless, faceless deaths of real heroes who --- unlike the media-politico scoundrels --- will never benefit by having their contracts renewed, their books promoted to the Best-Seller lists, or see offers for multi-thousand dollar speaking fees. Those who haven't the first clue of what heroes like Barber faced in order to make the lives of such Chickenhawks so cozy and swell. Those like Rush and Sean and O'Reilly who, in Barber's own words are "nothing but dirt under every soldier's boots!"

All of that, even as Barber's death, along with countless others, won't even rate to make the Pentagon's ever-growing list of U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, or even seem themselves added to the scores of thousands listed on the Injured Lists.

I'll let Barber finish out this post...

(Please consider supporting Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), formerly OpTruth.org --- Unlike Rush and Sean and O'Reilly, these guys were actually there...and they actually give a damn.)

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Last November, The Daily Mirror published details of a "top secret" U.K. memo revealing that President Bush wanted to bomb headquarters for the al-Jazeera news network. At the time, The Mirror quoted its' source saying:

While the story has gone largely unnoticed in the U.S., British media and al-Jazeera have continued investigating. Check out this earlier Brad Blog report for more backstory.

Political pressure to release the memo increased this week when British lawyers retained by the al-Jazeera network announced a lawsuit filed against the U.K. that requests the leaked memo be made public. Soon after, Downing Street officially denied that the memo has anything to do with the bombing of al-Jazeera. But the Downing Street spokesperson would not reveal what the memo did say.

In the following video, Sky News reports on the new lawsuit and the mounting political pressure.

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Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

The rhetoric is escalating in Arizona and a hearing will follow soon. Maricopa County may be the 'poster child' for election fraud and it's not something that will be fixed by voter ID cards. The California SoS seems to have taken a hard-line against the Registrars as he has told them that he won't just certify voting systems to make them happy. And to keep with today's emphasis on the Southwest corner of the country, New Mexico's governor has pledged $11M for a new, paper-based voting system....

RAW STORY has an early release of Gore's full statement replying to the attempted obfuscation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in reply to Gore's speech yesterday.

Letting you know here, since the Mainstream Media will likely ignore it --- as they did with Gore's speech yesterday. Or misrepresent it and twist its facts. As they did with Gore's speech yesterday.

I'll leave others to embarass the Trolls when they try to retread the Gorelick "Blackbag" physical search nonsense (not covered by FISA!) here in comments. I'm taking a few hours off...

I'm on the road for a few days, currently near Palm Springs (or, as I like to call it, the Hollywood Old Folks Home), so unable to blog as around-the-clock as normal. But a couple of points today have really got me upset.

One is the spin-meister Bill O'Reilly's unpardonable apologies for the criminal George W. Bush administration. His remarkable rationalizations and attempts to excuse what noted constitutional attorney Jonathon Turley just called "an open and shut criminal case" against Bush (at the bottom of the first hour of O'Reilly's radio show today), are simply appalling.

O'Reilly's reasons why none of these broken rules of law or corruption of the U.S. Constitution rises to impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors? Because the American people don't support the impeachment of Bush. (Never mind the new Zogby poll showing that 52% of Americans would support such action for illegal, warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens. And never mind that no more than 30% of Americans ever supported the impeachment of Clinton!). But more on that, hopefully, later or tomorrow as my stomach, and time-away allows it.

For the moment however, a very disturbing story...just another one of far too many similar ones, I'm afraid...pointing up why this son-of-a-bitch who sits in the White House needs to be held accountable for the horrific actions of which I don't believe he actually has a clue. Or, at least, has insulated and lied to himself so much, that he can't even conceive anymore of the pain he has caused the citizenry of this country which he once swore to protect and defend. That, on top of the cynical claims of looking after the armed forces which he (fallaciously) claims at every opportunity to support.

I received some very disturbing email messages this morning, which have, by now, become all too familiar...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

NBC's Today Show reports that the president is demanding that critics "disagree responsibly" about Iraq. Bush says that criticism of the Iraq war is "defeatism" that is hurting the troops morale.

Paul Hackett is a veteran of the Iraq war who is running for the Senate in Ohio. Hackett disagrees with the president's accusations. Hackett says that the troops debate the war just like other patriotic Americans. The troop morale in Iraq remains high.

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Guest blogged by David Edwards

C-SPAN has the entire video up in Real Media format.

Crooks and Liars may post our extended highlights clip in other video formats later today.

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

In Virginia today, Omnibus election bills requiring voter verified paper records, mandatory hand counted audits, and public disclosure of voting system software have been introduced in both chambers of the state legislature. Virginia Verified Voting and The New Electoral Reform Alliance for Virginia together with VoteTrustUSA have launched a citizen action in support of legislation introduced in the Virginia legislature. Concerned citizens in Virginia are urged to visit the Virginia Action Page where you can send a message to your state legislators calling on them to support accurate and verifiable elections....

The BRAD BLOG has obtained a statement from "Gag Ordered" FBI Whistleblower, Sibel Edmonds, Founder and Director of the National Security Whistleblowers Coaltion, in response to Al Gore's just completed speech earlier today in Washington D.C.

Gore's address, sponsored by a bi-partisan coalition, warned that our "constitution is in grave danger" and called for, amongst many other things (highlights of speech here), the creation of new Whistleblower Protections for members of the Executive Branch and others.

Edmonds, due to a rarely invoked "State Secrets" privilege by the Dept. of Justice, is legally barred from discussing remarkable and troubling findings she made as an FBI translator after 9/11, in regard to a number of explosive matters of national security.

She emailed the following statement to The BRAD BLOG moments ago:

In a Guest Blog of her own here at BRAD BLOG in late December, Edmonds called for whistleblowers from within various national security agencies to step forward and reveal illegal activities by the agencies, as a "patriotic duty" to the country.

Several days later, NSA whistleblower, Russell Tice, revealed to ABC News that he was one of the New York Times' sources who had provided the paper with information concerning the alleged illegal, warrantless wire-tapping of U.S. citizens in apparent violation of the Foreign Intelligence Security Act of 1978. Tice is also a member of Edmonds' National Security Whistleblowers Coalition.

Al Gore's speech, to a bi-partisan audience, on our "Constitutional Crisis" has just concluded. UPDATE: We've posted extended video highlights from the speech here...

Gore was to have been introduced by former Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA), but Barr's live video feed broke down at the last moment. We are told by the Liberty Coalition's Michael Ostrolenk (who jumped up to introduce Gore in an improvised statement), that Barr will be appearing on CNN's Situation Room later this afternoon.

An early highlight from Gore's address: "The President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently."

MORE HIGHLIGHTS...

Much more in the extraordinary full speech, for which RAW STORY now has the complete prepared text.

UPDATE: FBI Whistleblower, Sibel Edmonds issues an exclusive statement to BRAD BLOG in reply to Gore's speech...

Crooks and Liars has video highlights.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Guest blogged by David Edwards

In an interview with 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace, Rep. John Murtha says that Iraqis are already in the middle of a civil war. He says that the political reality of U.S. elections will be one of the reasons that most troops will be redeployed from Iraq by the end of this year.

Video in Streaming Flash format...

Crook and Liars has other video formats.