Also:
I'm just catching up on a workday lost to a few setbacks: some snail related, some more personal.
Regarding the Snail: I'm going to go across town to see if I can find a nice refurbished laptop to replace it... later this week.
Lots of catching up to do first!
But my newsletter on McNamara went out this morning to subscribers, with a wee opening essay reflecting on why we can't seem to learn from history, free to read by all.
More soon! Email next.
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/on-foxes-henhouses-and-the-fog-of
@MLClark Re "On Foxes ..."
As the events of the W. Bush administration and Iraq unfolded, I knew it was all bollocks. The White House was relying on members of Congress being too afraid of appearing weak to say no.
The first week of the W. administration in January 2001, Cheney called a cabinet meeting in which he rolled out a map showing Iraqi oil fields. He talked about how the admin would seize the oil fields and turn them over to U.S. oil companies ... (1/x)
@MLClark I know you know this but, for others reading this thread, here is the evidence that the cabinet secretaries were talking about. Judicial Watch used a FOIA and a lawsuit to obtain the map.
https://www.judicialwatch.org/cheney-energy-task-force-documents-feature-map-of-iraqi-oilfields/
@MLClark Also for other readers, here's a September 2007 article in The Nation that recounts what Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said about that National Security Council meeting and Rumsfeld talking about seizing the oil fields.
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/how-bushs-iraqi-oil-grab-went-awry/
Later in the article, it notes that Cheney's former company Halliburton had prepared a document on how to take over operations of the Iraqi oil fields.
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/how-bushs-iraqi-oil-grab-went-awry/