Well, now! I hope someone brings this to the attention of the Justice Department (I know, I know, only kidding!). No, I hope someone files a RICO case against the Chamber of Commerce:

Earlier this month, Richard Clarke, who served for both Democratic and Republican Presidents, including a stint as the cyber security czar for the Bush administration, denounced the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for plottingwith a group of military contractors to hack into progressive groups. Clarke was in DC speaking at a cyber security conference hosted by Symantec. Although Clarke focused his remarks about the growing threat of global cyber terrorism, ThinkProgress spoke to the longtime public servant about the ChamberLeaks story we originally broke.

According to documents first reported by ThinkProgress, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s attorneys began working with three military contractors — Berico, HB Gary, and Palantir — to come up with a proposal to discredit groups like ThinkProgress, the SEIU, StopTheChamber.com, MoveOn.org, and others. The tactics proposed included spying on families, using malware computer viruses to steal private information, using fake documents to embarrass liberals, and creating fake identities to infiltrate their targets.

Clarke denounced the scandal in no uncertain terms. Noting accurately that the Chamber “took foreign money in the last election,” a story also uncovered by ThinkProgress, Clarke said the Chamber’s attorneys had conspired to commit a “felony”:

FANG: Hi. You talked a lot about classifying and recognizing cyber security threats, but you mostly focused on foreign threats. I’m curious about a story that broke last month, that the US Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest trade association, based here in DC, had contracted or attempted to contract military defense firms like HB Gary Federal, Palantir, and Berico, to develop proposals to use the same type of cyber warfare tactics normally reserved for Jihadi websites against left-wing activists, trade — labor unions, and left of center think tanks here in America. What do you think about that type of threat from a lobbyist or a corporation targeting political enemies, or perceived enemies here in the US?

CLARKE: I think it’s a violation of 10USC. I think it’s a felony, and I think they should go to jail. You call them a large trade association, I call them a large political action group that took foreign money in the last election. But be that as it may, if you in the United States, if any American citizen anywhere in the world, because this is an extraterritorial law, so don’t think you can go to Bermuda and do it, if any American citizen anywhere in the world engages in unauthorized penetration, or identity theft, accessing a number through identity theft purposes, that’s a felony and if the Chamber of Commerce wants to try that, that’s fine with me because the FBI will be on their doorstep in a matter of hours.

A 2007 re-dub from Nick Park's "Creature Comforts" series, featuring George W. Bush as a house fly. Also appearing are Britney Spears, Tony Blair, Richard Clarke, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Gerhard Schroeder, and Condoleeza Rice.

Open thread below....

This really was a close call and even though I can't stand the thought of any more seemingly pointless anti-terror flying rules, I suppose it's inevitable:

Officials now say tragedy was only averted on Northwest flight 253 because a makeshift detonator failed to work properly.

Bomb experts say there was more than enough explosive to bring down the Northwest jet, which had nearly 300 people aboard, had the detonator not failed, and the nation's outdated airport screening machines may need to be upgraded.

"We've known for a long time that this is possible," said Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism czar and ABC News consultant, "and that we really have to replace our scanning devices with more modern systems."

Clarke said full body scans were needed, "but they're expensive and they're intrusive. They invade people's privacy."

Al Qaeda, said Clarke, is aware of this vulnerability in the U.S. airport security system. "They know that this is a weakness and an Achilles' heel in our airport security system and this is the second time they've tried it."

THE DAILY DELAY: A site entirely devoted to the most corrupt politician in Washington.

King of Zembla: In the November Atlantic, Richard Clarke, counterterrorism chief under Clinton and (briefly) under Bush, raises the distressing possibility that Michael Chertoff is not the only one who has learned a thing or two from his mistakes. Terrorists have televisions as well.

Petrelis Files: Fox News Reporter Plays Lesbian Matchmaker for Condi Rice?

Brave New Coffee Pot: Where is Pat Tillman's Journal?

firedoglake says Libby is the perfect villain. Nobody is going to have sympathy for some smirking, Ivy League, summer-in-the-Hamptons silver spoon clown named Scooter.
",0] ); D(["ce"]); D(["ms","ec36"] ); //-->Brave New Coffee Pot: Where is Pat Tillman's Journal?

firedoglake says Libby is the perfect villain. Nobody is going to have sympathy for some smirking, Ivy League, summer-in-the-Hamptons silver spoon clown named Scooter.

October, 2001: Iraq War Planning

I found this through Atrios. Richard has the goods: "This afternoon, the National Security Archives at George Washington University released some stunning documents, that seem to further corroborate the Downing Street Minutes, as well as buttress the argument that there was precious little post-war planning in the rush to topple Saddam. Among them is this State Department powerpoint slide...read on"

No surprises there really. Who doesn't know that the Bush administration planned this war from the beginning? Well...maybe some of the right wing apologists, but that's because they refuse to admit the truth. This new/old information only further validates Richard Clarke's assertion that the Preznit had Iraq in mind all along.

(Update)-Michael Scheuer's opinion on The Factor today was that Richard Clarke knew more about Bin Ladin then he let on his book and bashed Clinton over it as well.

AmericaBlog has his own thoughts on the "Blaming of Clinton"

"going back to just after 9/11"

Lott on Meet the Press with David Gregory admitted that President Bush had Iraq in his cross-hairs long before the "last resort" comments were made.

Download | play -WMP

He talked about the intelligence failures, but Trent made it very clear that Bush had targeted Iraq early on which had been said a long time ago by Richard Clarke.

Roundtable on Iraq and Terrorism

On THIS WEEK, there was an intersting discussion group including Richard Clarke and Martha Radditz.

Download | play -WMP

As Americablog says: The roundtable is pretty damning.

CNN: Did Bush/Blair blatantly lie about Downing Street Memo?

In a joint press conference today, Bush and Blair were asked if they had "fixed the intelligence to fit the policy" as the Downing Street Minutes has shown.

I listened for the truth but never heard it.

Download | play -WMP

Download | play -Real Audio

NewsHounds has their view from FOX: Comment: No reasonable explanation given, just denial and patriotic-sounding babble. We all know, from Richard Clarke, that the Bush administration was fixing to go into Iraq even before 9/11. Hopefully Americans will start to see this mountain of evidence for what it is, evidence, and take action against the perpetrators.

is out pimping for the White House with another press conference today. At the time of the briefing, Ridge said he will not raise the terror alert levels. Do we need to have a press conference about that? He makes repeated statements about how well the administration is protecting us from Osama, but we might raise the idiot color code, if it suits us.

Watch Video

Another partisan appointee without a clue! Richard Clarke was right as usual. Make sure the people keep Osama in their minds.

Watch this animated spot called "Minister of Fear" about the bogus terror alerts!

In an unusually critical campaign for a government employee, Mike Scheuer has spent much of the last three months publicly criticizing his agency. Most government officials wait until they retire, as former National Security Council aide Richard Clarke did.

In July, Scheuer, head of the CIA's bin Laden unit until 1999, published his best-selling book Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror. Then, he was only identified as "Anonymous