Peter Galbraith Should Not Get Away With This

Apparently, during the years that hawkish democrat, Peter Galbraith, was promoting war in Iraq, and helping draft the new Iraqi constitution, he had a deal on the back burner brewing which now appears to be poised to score him about $100 million. He sleazily and corruptly kept his oil company involvement secret for years while writing thought pieces for the NYT and others. He was contractually obligated to reveal any conflict of interest, but dishonestly ducked that requirement. For an in depth account, check out Glenn Greenwald's write-up.

We all knew that Cheney and Bush were oil men, and that Cheney's company Halliburton had benefited extraordinarily from the war in Iraq. (I still, for the life of me, can't understand why that connection garnered such a collective yawn from our populace.) Read here how Dennis Kucinich was called a liar for trying to warn America about the corruption leading us into war:

Dennis Kucinich on Meet the Press, February 23, 2003:

MR. RUSSERT: Congressman, you made a very strong charge against the administration and let me show you what you said on January 19. "Why is the Administration targeting Iraq? Oil." What do you base that on?

REP. KUCINICH: I base that on the fact that there is $5 trillion worth of oil above and in the ground in Iraq, that individuals involved in the administration have been involved in the oil industry, that the oil industry certainly would benefit from having the administration control Iraq, and that the fact is that, since no other case has been made to go to war against Iraq, for this nation to go to war against Iraq, oil represents the strongest incentive...

MR. PERLE: It is a lie, Congressman. It is an out and out lie.

Richard Cohen, February 25, 2003:

"Liar" is a word rarely used in Washington...So it was particularly shocking, not to mention refreshing, to hear Richard Perle on Sunday call Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) a liar to his face...

Kucinich himself seemed only momentarily fazed by Perle's sharp right to his integrity and went on, indomitable demagogue that he seems to be, to maintain that the coming war with Iraq will be fought to control that nation's oil...How did this fool get on "Meet the Press"?

[S]omething truly awful has happened. The looming war has already become deeply and biliously ideological. By that I mean that the extremes on both sides -- but particularly the war's opponents -- no longer feel compelled to prove a case or stick to the facts.

—Jonathan Schwarz

A big round of applause for Jonathon Schwarz for finding all those quotes!!!!