(with apologies to Green Day)

Springtime has come and passed
Claims like these can never last
Wake me up when Fitztember ends

Leopold is passing gas,
While Wayne Madsen talks out his ass.
Wake me up when Fitztember ends.

Here come the claims again
Falling from their jaws
A “source close to the case” again,
What fools they think we are!

As my champagne goes flat
I’ll never forget just what they spat
Wake me up when Fitztember ends.

Springtime has come and passed
Claims like these can never last
Wake me up when Fitztember ends.

Wring out your claims again,
Like you did when “Plame” began.
Wake me up when Fitztember ends.

Here come the claims again
Falling from their jaws
A “source close to the case” again,
What fools they think we are!

As my champagne goes flat
I’ll never forget just what they spat
Wake me up when Fitztember ends.

Springtime has come and passed
Claims like these can never last
Wake me up when Fitztember ends

Leopold is passing gas,
While Wayne Madsen talks out his ass.
Wake me up when Fitztember ends.
Wake me up when Fitztember ends.
Wake me up when Fitztember ends.

Washington Times: Rumsfeld makes surprise visit to Iraq

Has anyone else asked the question, “how can these things be surprises anymore?” I’ve been wondering this for weeks, now…it seems not a week goes by and if it’s not Dubya, it’s Condi or it’s Rumsfeld, someone is always on their way over there to make a “surprise visit”.

How many “surprise” visits does it take before they turn “mundane”? How come these haven’t been called “routine” visits to Iraq? They occur often enough.

I want to know the real purpose… andI don’t mean that in a particularly conspiratorial sense. Let’s look at the options.

If it’s to pep-talk the troops, then they’re bound to have already run into the law of diminishing returns. If this administration is dropping the phrase “war on terror” due to the notion that most Americans, now war-weary, think the war was a mistake, I can only imagine that a quick BJ from BushCo. wouldn’t have that much of an effect for those on the front lines.

On the other hand, in the first article linked, it’s mentioned that Rumsfeld met with the Iraqi Prime Minister. For a meeting like that, one would think you’d call ahead for tea time, you know? You don’t just “drop in” to hang out with the local officials.

In my mind, it’s pretty evident the WH is fairly upset at the prospect that, after everything has been said and done, Iraq is looking more and more like it’s going to be another Islamic theocracy. Rumsfeld is over there to have a friendly little “WTF” talk with the PM. Smile, wave to the camera! Surprise! Look who daddy brought home!

Listen here, buddy, we expected a little more from you all than this.

Not that I think it will do much good… the war is going worse than everyone thought it would, and the task of “nation building” is going worse than everyone expected too. In fact, the only thing over there in a better state than initially expected is the status of WMDs. Sure aren’t any of those, buster!

Oh, wait. The WH knew that well in advance, too.

From the bizzaro files… one part of me says this can’t possibly be true, but it’s a sad state of affairs that another part of me wouldn’t be surprised at all. According to the Sunday Mirror, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles will be considered personae non grata at the White House, due to their status — or at least hers — as divorcees:

The unprecedented snub has effectively sabotaged Charles’s plan to take his bride on a Royal tour of America later this year.

The trip would have been the pair’s first official tour as a married couple.

But the US President – a notoriously right-wing Christian and reformed alcoholic – told aides it was “inappropriate” for him to be playing host to the newly-weds, who are both divorcees.

The decision was made even though the late President Ronald Reagan was divorced.

A Government insider said: “It was relayed to us from Washington that Mrs Parker Bowles would not be welcome at the White House.

Maybe they should just try to pose as journalists, and get day passes, instead.

So remember last month’s “high value” terrorist bust of “computer whiz” Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan? Yeah, what about that… turns out that he was a double agent, one of which Britain’s MI5 and Pakistan’s ISI were well-aware. His “outing” by the DHS was blasted as premature by these agencies, which are now worried that the early narc has left remnants of the terror cell on the run.

Whether the sense of outrage exhibited by these agencies at the DHS’s actions is justfied, only time will tell. I must admit, though, it seems like “deja vu all over again”.

Further reading:
“How the Pakistani double agent was ‘burned’ by the US” (Daily Times, Pakistan)