Thursday, September 18, 2003
The House Line Keeps Changing: Saddam didn’t do 9/11!
While the NY Times buried it, the Boston Globe, LA Times and many others have headlined Bush’s ‘clarification’ that Saddam had no involvement with the 9/11 attack. Since Cheney spun more conflating, misleading statements last Sunday, Rumsfeld, Cheney and now Bush have admitted Saddam’s non-involvement, and his not being close to attain nuclear weapons. [On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan stressed that Bush administration officials never claimed any Iraq-Sept. 11 link- factually correct, yes.] It seems that the media’s waking up on this issue has forced these clarifications. Bush continues to note that "there's no question that Saddam Hussein had Al Qaeda ties."
Wesley Clark Enters:
The NY Times take was to see Clark as the creature of the Clintons and the Democratic Leadership Council. His goal: to wipe out Dean. Others speculate that he’s there to lose, to set up Hillary for her ’08 run. Richard Cohen in the Washington Post uses the occasion to trash Dean:
The only candidate who has so far generated any excitement is Howard Dean. But if the Bush team could digitally create the perfect patsy candidate it would be Dean. He's gaffe-prone, defensive when criticized and, fairly or not (mostly not), will be characterized as an elitist liberal. Besides, he is the governor of a virtual quilt -- a state (Vermont) with 114 covered bridges and fewer minorities than the DAR .
And, on Clark …the personal qualities that bothered his critics would be intolerable in a president. We like our presidents as we like our morning TV hosts -- comfy.
No shortage of negative press on Clark, including the following from the Progressive Review, which quotes Politicus (www.politicus.com)
As recently as two years ago, he was addressing Republican dinners in his home state of Arkansas amid speculation about a possible future Clark run for office- as a Republican. Speaking on May 11, 2001, as the keynote speaker to the Pulaski County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner, Clark said that American involvement abroad helps prevent war and spreads the ideals of the United States, according to an AP dispatch the following day. Two weeks later, a report in U.S. News and World Report said Arkansas Republican politicos were "pondering the future of Wesley Clark.
Insiders say Clark, who is a consultant for Stephens Group in Little Rock, is preparing a political run as a Republican. Less clear: what office he'd campaign for. At a recent Republican fund-raiser, he heralded Ronald Reagan's Cold War actions and George Bush's foreign policy. He also talked glowingly of current President Bush's national security team. Absent from the praise list – his former boss, ex-Commander in Chief Bill Clinton.
Greater Iraq:
Germany is now willing to join in the training of a new Iraqi police force, joining the French in this endeavor (despite Tom Friedman’s NY Times column blaming the French for our Iraq troubles). French President Chirac seemed to speak for both countries in again asserting that he advocates a speedy transfer of power to the UN and Iraq "in a matter of months, not years."
The Dalai Lama Speaks Out: Unsure Re Iraq War: The NY Times (Laurie Goodstein) noted that the Dalai Lama, who has won a Nobel Peace Prize (as did Henry Kissinger), said that it might be necessary to fight terrorists with violence, and that it was "too early to say" whether the war in Iraq was a mistake. "I feel only history will tell," he said. "Terrorism is the worst kind of violence, so we have to check it, we have to take countermeasures."
No Comment.
Casualties: Multiple, overlapping, conflicting reports. As a result, it's unusually difficult to know what’s happened. The BBC report from early Thursday said that at least 3 soldiers died in an incident in Khaldiyah, west of Baghdad; The Guardian claimed that "up to eight" had died. (more below) Three soldiers were admittedly killed in Tikrit, another in a so-called "non-hostile gunshot" incident and still another killed by a power line. There are also several reports of soldiers being wounded.
The Guardian’s disturbing report:
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said two US tanks and helicopters were guarding a smouldering transport truck, which had apparently been destroyed by rebels.:
The reporter was unable to get close enough to verify the casualty reports and was fired on by one of the tanks with three rounds from its 50-calibre machine gun. It appeared the troops, who were taking fire from unknown positions, were trying to protect themselves until reinforcements arrived.
Earlier, a 14-year-old Iraqi boy was reportedly killed when a US patrol opened fire on wedding guests who were firing celebratory shots into the air.
Residents in the town of Falluja, 32 miles northwest of Baghdad, said the boy was killed and six other people were injured when passing US troops mistook the wedding gunfire for a guerrilla attack
Saudi Arabia: Seeking Nukes! The Guardian ( Ewen MacAskill and Ian Traynor) noted that Saudi Arabia "has embarked on a strategic review that includes acquiring nuclear weapons."
A strategy paper being considered at the highest levels in Riyadh sets out three options:
· To acquire a nuclear capability as a deterrent;
· To maintain or enter into an alliance with an existing nuclear power that would offer protection;
· To try to reach a regional agreement on having a nuclear-free Middle East.
Until now, the assumption in Washington was that Saudi Arabia was content to remain under the US nuclear umbrella. But the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the US has steadily worsened since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington: 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudi.
-R
While the NY Times buried it, the Boston Globe, LA Times and many others have headlined Bush’s ‘clarification’ that Saddam had no involvement with the 9/11 attack. Since Cheney spun more conflating, misleading statements last Sunday, Rumsfeld, Cheney and now Bush have admitted Saddam’s non-involvement, and his not being close to attain nuclear weapons. [On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan stressed that Bush administration officials never claimed any Iraq-Sept. 11 link- factually correct, yes.] It seems that the media’s waking up on this issue has forced these clarifications. Bush continues to note that "there's no question that Saddam Hussein had Al Qaeda ties."
Wesley Clark Enters:
The NY Times take was to see Clark as the creature of the Clintons and the Democratic Leadership Council. His goal: to wipe out Dean. Others speculate that he’s there to lose, to set up Hillary for her ’08 run. Richard Cohen in the Washington Post uses the occasion to trash Dean:
The only candidate who has so far generated any excitement is Howard Dean. But if the Bush team could digitally create the perfect patsy candidate it would be Dean. He's gaffe-prone, defensive when criticized and, fairly or not (mostly not), will be characterized as an elitist liberal. Besides, he is the governor of a virtual quilt -- a state (Vermont) with 114 covered bridges and fewer minorities than the DAR .
And, on Clark …the personal qualities that bothered his critics would be intolerable in a president. We like our presidents as we like our morning TV hosts -- comfy.
No shortage of negative press on Clark, including the following from the Progressive Review, which quotes Politicus (www.politicus.com)
As recently as two years ago, he was addressing Republican dinners in his home state of Arkansas amid speculation about a possible future Clark run for office- as a Republican. Speaking on May 11, 2001, as the keynote speaker to the Pulaski County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner, Clark said that American involvement abroad helps prevent war and spreads the ideals of the United States, according to an AP dispatch the following day. Two weeks later, a report in U.S. News and World Report said Arkansas Republican politicos were "pondering the future of Wesley Clark.
Insiders say Clark, who is a consultant for Stephens Group in Little Rock, is preparing a political run as a Republican. Less clear: what office he'd campaign for. At a recent Republican fund-raiser, he heralded Ronald Reagan's Cold War actions and George Bush's foreign policy. He also talked glowingly of current President Bush's national security team. Absent from the praise list – his former boss, ex-Commander in Chief Bill Clinton.
Greater Iraq:
Germany is now willing to join in the training of a new Iraqi police force, joining the French in this endeavor (despite Tom Friedman’s NY Times column blaming the French for our Iraq troubles). French President Chirac seemed to speak for both countries in again asserting that he advocates a speedy transfer of power to the UN and Iraq "in a matter of months, not years."
The Dalai Lama Speaks Out: Unsure Re Iraq War: The NY Times (Laurie Goodstein) noted that the Dalai Lama, who has won a Nobel Peace Prize (as did Henry Kissinger), said that it might be necessary to fight terrorists with violence, and that it was "too early to say" whether the war in Iraq was a mistake. "I feel only history will tell," he said. "Terrorism is the worst kind of violence, so we have to check it, we have to take countermeasures."
No Comment.
Casualties: Multiple, overlapping, conflicting reports. As a result, it's unusually difficult to know what’s happened. The BBC report from early Thursday said that at least 3 soldiers died in an incident in Khaldiyah, west of Baghdad; The Guardian claimed that "up to eight" had died. (more below) Three soldiers were admittedly killed in Tikrit, another in a so-called "non-hostile gunshot" incident and still another killed by a power line. There are also several reports of soldiers being wounded.
The Guardian’s disturbing report:
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said two US tanks and helicopters were guarding a smouldering transport truck, which had apparently been destroyed by rebels.:
The reporter was unable to get close enough to verify the casualty reports and was fired on by one of the tanks with three rounds from its 50-calibre machine gun. It appeared the troops, who were taking fire from unknown positions, were trying to protect themselves until reinforcements arrived.
Earlier, a 14-year-old Iraqi boy was reportedly killed when a US patrol opened fire on wedding guests who were firing celebratory shots into the air.
Residents in the town of Falluja, 32 miles northwest of Baghdad, said the boy was killed and six other people were injured when passing US troops mistook the wedding gunfire for a guerrilla attack
Saudi Arabia: Seeking Nukes! The Guardian ( Ewen MacAskill and Ian Traynor) noted that Saudi Arabia "has embarked on a strategic review that includes acquiring nuclear weapons."
A strategy paper being considered at the highest levels in Riyadh sets out three options:
· To acquire a nuclear capability as a deterrent;
· To maintain or enter into an alliance with an existing nuclear power that would offer protection;
· To try to reach a regional agreement on having a nuclear-free Middle East.
Until now, the assumption in Washington was that Saudi Arabia was content to remain under the US nuclear umbrella. But the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the US has steadily worsened since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington: 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudi.
-R
