Sunday, January 11, 2004
The Bush Family and the Middle East
Kevin Phillips wants us to understand the connections that the four generations of Bush have had in the Middle East, via their “CIA connections, arms shipments, rogue banks, inherited war policies and personal financial links.”
When the U.S. launched a second war against Iraq in 2003 but failed to find weapons of mass destruction that Hussein was purported to have, international polls, especially those by the Washington-based Pew Center, charted a massive growth in anti-Bush and anti-American sentiment in Muslim parts of the world — an obvious boon to terrorist recruitment. Even before the war, some cynics had argued that Iraq was targeted to divert attention from the administration's failure to catch Osama bin Laden and stop Al Qaeda terrorism.
Bolder critics hinted that George W. Bush had sought to shift attention away from how his family's ties to the Bin Ladens and to rogue elements in the Middle East had crippled U.S. investigations in the months leading up to 9/11. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) complained that even when Congress released the mid-2003 intelligence reports on the origins of the 9/11 attack, the Bush administration heavily redacted a 28-page section dealing with the Saudis and other foreign governments, leading him to conclude, "There seems to be a systematic strategy of coddling and cover-up when it comes to the Saudis." But there is certainly enough to suggest that the Bush dynasty's many decades of entanglement and money-hunting in the Middle East have created a major conflict of interest that deserves to be part of the 2004 political debate. No previous presidency has had anything remotely similar. Not one. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-phillips11jan11,1,59027.story
What’s happening, Iraq
The Troops:
There are many stories in the media about the morale of the troops and the unlikelihood of their staying on for another tour. There’s an increasing reliance on National Guard and Reservists, and compared with the army/marine regulars, they are under-equipped. From the Houston Chronicle (Michael HedgesI)
National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers are fighting alongside active-duty troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, but with Vietnam-era rifles, fewer bullet-proof vests, outdated radios and Humvees that lack armor plating, some officials said.
"You would expect the government to give you the best if you were going in harm's way, but the fact is the Guard is not getting the same equipment and training as the active-duty forces," said Mike Cline, executive director of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard. "The Guard and Reserve get what trickles down."
By late spring, nearly 40 percent of the combat forces in Iraq and Afghanistan will be drawn from the reserves and National Guard as the Pentagon spreads the burden from an active-duty military that has shrunk over the past two decades http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/topstory/2345677
From Yahoo (Matthew Rosenberg)
"Man, they can't pay me enough to stay here," said a 23-year-old specialist from the Army's 4th Infantry Division as he manned the checkpoint with Iraqi police outside this city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
His comments reflect a sentiment not uncommon among the nearly two dozen soldiers in Iraq who have spoken with The Associated Press since the Army announced the increased re-enlistment bonuses for soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait on Monday. Other soldiers at home were divided about the offer.
The soldiers in Iraq who spoke about the bonuses were serving in a range of assignments, from training the new Iraqi army at a base east of Baqouba to patrolling some of the most dangerous roads in the country, like those leading north from Baghdad.
Some cited the monotonous routine of a lonely life spent thousands of miles from loved ones. Others offered simpler reasons — such as the fear of an early death. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040107/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_paid_to_stay_1
So, what’s to come? Well, with manpower needs constant and reenlistments down, don’t bet the house against the return of the draft in 2005. A dispatch from the Asia Times (Erich Marquardt)
As a result of the extra strain imposed on US forces due to the length of their deployments, it is becoming harder for the Pentagon to rely on an all-volunteer military force to handle the White House's foreign policy initiatives. Many soldiers in the military originally enlisted during times of relative peace and did not expect to be deployed for months at a time in the Middle East, let alone being placed in a country that is sending body bags and stretchers home on a daily basis.
This current reality has concerned Washington policymakers as there is a justified fear that troop retention rates will decline and that less individuals will sign up for military service. The idea of an all-volunteer military is now being tested in a manner not experienced before. If Washington continues to fail in the pacification of Iraq, and therefore cannot reduce its current troop levels there, it will have to seriously consider how to resolve the present strain on US forces. Two primary options, such as pulling troops out of Iraq prematurely, or reintroducing conscription, are not at all desirable to the administration since the former could result in a dramatic blow to US interests, while the latter would open up a political hornet's nest.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FA10Ak02.html
Iraqi Morale: Also, N.G.
Violent protests about the lack of jobs, shootings by the British and the new Iraqi police. The AP story (Nadia Abou El-Magd)
Waves of protesting Iraqis marched against British soldiers, hurling stones and setting off homemade explosives in the southeastern city of Amarah on Sunday, a day after clashes killed six protesters and wounded at least 11.
think of Hoover's response to the stock market crash in 1929. As awful as the crash was for the economy, it was Hoover's obstinate refusal to do anything that might have limited the economic bleeding that helped accelerate the collapse into the depression. Like the U.S. in 1929, in Iraq you have a catastrophic shock to the economic system (the war and the collapse of the Saddam's Baathist regime) followed by a deliberate policy of governmental non-intervention in the economy.
The military had used cash seized from Baathist offices to employ local workers and distribute to religious and charitable organizations, but that cash dried up in the Fall and hasn't been replaced. (The end of cash payments to local residents coincides, of course,
WMD: Found? No.
The media did their part in providing another “found” report on some old chemical weapons shells. This time the report was of Danish troops finding mortar rounds that contained “blister gas”, vintage 1990 or earlier. Even if the Administration doesn’t seize on it, some of the “public” may latch onto it as further “proof “ of Iraq’s arsenal.
Hunger and homelessness:
The U.S. Conference of Mayors yearly survey found that hunger and homelessness were on the rise in American cities. Requests for emergency food assistance increased by 17% over the past year and requests for emergency helter assistance were up by 13%. http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/news/press_releases/documents/hunger_121803.asp
Jobs: With the anemic 1000 added jobs for the month, many economists were quoted as being “stunned” by the statistic. Also, jobs added in the past months have averaged 13% less than those lost during the recession.
Bill Moyers’ NOW: Snippets from an interview with Chuck Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity:
* Candidate Wesley Clark, when he announced, was a lobbyist for airline and homeland security contracts
* Candidate Edwards attended 175 fundraisers in his first 3 months ‘on the campaign trail.’
*Moyers: Are we becoming a nation of cynical bystanders” in which increasingly small economic groups dominate our government?
Chuck Lewis: Yes; “we have to take back their government.” http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript302_full.html
Moon and Mars: Nuts, yet predictable. Last I heard, some sanity was ruling at NASA, as they talked of developing a lower cost alternative to the p.r. stunt that was the shuttle. Now, with an election year comes the weak imitation of JFK’s pledge to go to the moon. So this was the Inspirational Bush which followed the Compassionate Bush seeking immigration reform.
Still, the announcement, combined with Mr. Bush's call this week to revamp laws regarding immigration, would signal the second major policy initiative put forward by the White House at the beginning of an election year. Both new policy directives would allow the president to be portrayed as an inspirational leader whose vision goes beyond terrorism and tax cuts.
They also would have the added political benefit of diverting attention from the Democratic presidential candidates trudging through the retail politics of the Iowa caucuses.
Paul O'Neill, who was pushed out of the administration as treasury secretary because it was felt he was not a team player, says President Bush was so disengaged during Cabinet meetings that he was like a "blind man in a roomful of deaf people." http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/10/politics/10ONEI.html
Bush in the Media: Elisabeth Bumiller’s portrait of Condi Rice coupled with former Treasury secretary O’Neill’s description of Bush brings us back to Bush as pathetic. Condi has at least somewhat replaced Barbara Bush as a more gentle scold.
"I can't do it with Schröder," Mr. Bush told Ms. Rice, according to a senior administration official who witnessed the exchange. Ms. Rice, who had not directly suggested that Mr. Bush meet with Mr. Schröder, rushed to reassure. "No, no, no, we won't make you do it with Schröder," she said. But Mr. Bush seemed to know what Ms. Rice had in mind. "Wait a minute, you'll get me back with Schröder, I know what you're trying to do," the president said, the official recounted.
Soon enough, a meeting to begin defrosting relations was set up between Mr. Bush and Mr. Schröder at the session last September of the United Nations General Assembly. " `I knew that was going to happen,' " Mr. Bush laughingly told Ms. Rice after the meeting was scheduled, the senior administration official said. Ms. Rice gently bantered back, the official said, but then concluded, " `Now, look, it's the right time to do it.' " http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/07/politics/07COND.html?pagewanted=print&position=
More importantly, the O’Neill interview on 60 Minutes had another illustration of Saddam being targeted from the outset of the Administration, further confirming the stories post 9/11 when Rumseld and Cheney were quoted as saying that this was an opportunity to go after Saddam, then delayed till the all-powerful Taliban were dispatched.
Corporate Corruption- China
A report from China (The Standard, Olivia Chung)
A random inspection of 152 mainland enterprises by the Ministry of Finance has found that every one of them falsified their accounts.
Some of the worst abuses were reported at a dozen privately run companies.
The probe, conducted last year on reporting for the 2002 fiscal year as part of a crackdown, had revealed falsified assets totalling 8.58 billion yuan on the companies' books, the finance ministry said. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/thestandard/news_detail_frame.cfm?articleid=44545&intcatid=2
-R
Kevin Phillips wants us to understand the connections that the four generations of Bush have had in the Middle East, via their “CIA connections, arms shipments, rogue banks, inherited war policies and personal financial links.”
When the U.S. launched a second war against Iraq in 2003 but failed to find weapons of mass destruction that Hussein was purported to have, international polls, especially those by the Washington-based Pew Center, charted a massive growth in anti-Bush and anti-American sentiment in Muslim parts of the world — an obvious boon to terrorist recruitment. Even before the war, some cynics had argued that Iraq was targeted to divert attention from the administration's failure to catch Osama bin Laden and stop Al Qaeda terrorism.
Bolder critics hinted that George W. Bush had sought to shift attention away from how his family's ties to the Bin Ladens and to rogue elements in the Middle East had crippled U.S. investigations in the months leading up to 9/11. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) complained that even when Congress released the mid-2003 intelligence reports on the origins of the 9/11 attack, the Bush administration heavily redacted a 28-page section dealing with the Saudis and other foreign governments, leading him to conclude, "There seems to be a systematic strategy of coddling and cover-up when it comes to the Saudis." But there is certainly enough to suggest that the Bush dynasty's many decades of entanglement and money-hunting in the Middle East have created a major conflict of interest that deserves to be part of the 2004 political debate. No previous presidency has had anything remotely similar. Not one. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-phillips11jan11,1,59027.story
What’s happening, Iraq
The Troops:
There are many stories in the media about the morale of the troops and the unlikelihood of their staying on for another tour. There’s an increasing reliance on National Guard and Reservists, and compared with the army/marine regulars, they are under-equipped. From the Houston Chronicle (Michael HedgesI)
National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers are fighting alongside active-duty troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, but with Vietnam-era rifles, fewer bullet-proof vests, outdated radios and Humvees that lack armor plating, some officials said.
"You would expect the government to give you the best if you were going in harm's way, but the fact is the Guard is not getting the same equipment and training as the active-duty forces," said Mike Cline, executive director of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard. "The Guard and Reserve get what trickles down."
By late spring, nearly 40 percent of the combat forces in Iraq and Afghanistan will be drawn from the reserves and National Guard as the Pentagon spreads the burden from an active-duty military that has shrunk over the past two decades http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/topstory/2345677
From Yahoo (Matthew Rosenberg)
"Man, they can't pay me enough to stay here," said a 23-year-old specialist from the Army's 4th Infantry Division as he manned the checkpoint with Iraqi police outside this city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
His comments reflect a sentiment not uncommon among the nearly two dozen soldiers in Iraq who have spoken with The Associated Press since the Army announced the increased re-enlistment bonuses for soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait on Monday. Other soldiers at home were divided about the offer.
The soldiers in Iraq who spoke about the bonuses were serving in a range of assignments, from training the new Iraqi army at a base east of Baqouba to patrolling some of the most dangerous roads in the country, like those leading north from Baghdad.
Some cited the monotonous routine of a lonely life spent thousands of miles from loved ones. Others offered simpler reasons — such as the fear of an early death. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040107/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_paid_to_stay_1
So, what’s to come? Well, with manpower needs constant and reenlistments down, don’t bet the house against the return of the draft in 2005. A dispatch from the Asia Times (Erich Marquardt)
As a result of the extra strain imposed on US forces due to the length of their deployments, it is becoming harder for the Pentagon to rely on an all-volunteer military force to handle the White House's foreign policy initiatives. Many soldiers in the military originally enlisted during times of relative peace and did not expect to be deployed for months at a time in the Middle East, let alone being placed in a country that is sending body bags and stretchers home on a daily basis.
This current reality has concerned Washington policymakers as there is a justified fear that troop retention rates will decline and that less individuals will sign up for military service. The idea of an all-volunteer military is now being tested in a manner not experienced before. If Washington continues to fail in the pacification of Iraq, and therefore cannot reduce its current troop levels there, it will have to seriously consider how to resolve the present strain on US forces. Two primary options, such as pulling troops out of Iraq prematurely, or reintroducing conscription, are not at all desirable to the administration since the former could result in a dramatic blow to US interests, while the latter would open up a political hornet's nest.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FA10Ak02.html
Iraqi Morale: Also, N.G.
Violent protests about the lack of jobs, shootings by the British and the new Iraqi police. The AP story (Nadia Abou El-Magd)
Waves of protesting Iraqis marched against British soldiers, hurling stones and setting off homemade explosives in the southeastern city of Amarah on Sunday, a day after clashes killed six protesters and wounded at least 11.
think of Hoover's response to the stock market crash in 1929. As awful as the crash was for the economy, it was Hoover's obstinate refusal to do anything that might have limited the economic bleeding that helped accelerate the collapse into the depression. Like the U.S. in 1929, in Iraq you have a catastrophic shock to the economic system (the war and the collapse of the Saddam's Baathist regime) followed by a deliberate policy of governmental non-intervention in the economy.
The military had used cash seized from Baathist offices to employ local workers and distribute to religious and charitable organizations, but that cash dried up in the Fall and hasn't been replaced. (The end of cash payments to local residents coincides, of course,
WMD: Found? No.
The media did their part in providing another “found” report on some old chemical weapons shells. This time the report was of Danish troops finding mortar rounds that contained “blister gas”, vintage 1990 or earlier. Even if the Administration doesn’t seize on it, some of the “public” may latch onto it as further “proof “ of Iraq’s arsenal.
Hunger and homelessness:
The U.S. Conference of Mayors yearly survey found that hunger and homelessness were on the rise in American cities. Requests for emergency food assistance increased by 17% over the past year and requests for emergency helter assistance were up by 13%. http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/news/press_releases/documents/hunger_121803.asp
Jobs: With the anemic 1000 added jobs for the month, many economists were quoted as being “stunned” by the statistic. Also, jobs added in the past months have averaged 13% less than those lost during the recession.
Bill Moyers’ NOW: Snippets from an interview with Chuck Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity:
* Candidate Wesley Clark, when he announced, was a lobbyist for airline and homeland security contracts
* Candidate Edwards attended 175 fundraisers in his first 3 months ‘on the campaign trail.’
*Moyers: Are we becoming a nation of cynical bystanders” in which increasingly small economic groups dominate our government?
Chuck Lewis: Yes; “we have to take back their government.” http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript302_full.html
Moon and Mars: Nuts, yet predictable. Last I heard, some sanity was ruling at NASA, as they talked of developing a lower cost alternative to the p.r. stunt that was the shuttle. Now, with an election year comes the weak imitation of JFK’s pledge to go to the moon. So this was the Inspirational Bush which followed the Compassionate Bush seeking immigration reform.
Still, the announcement, combined with Mr. Bush's call this week to revamp laws regarding immigration, would signal the second major policy initiative put forward by the White House at the beginning of an election year. Both new policy directives would allow the president to be portrayed as an inspirational leader whose vision goes beyond terrorism and tax cuts.
They also would have the added political benefit of diverting attention from the Democratic presidential candidates trudging through the retail politics of the Iowa caucuses.
Paul O'Neill, who was pushed out of the administration as treasury secretary because it was felt he was not a team player, says President Bush was so disengaged during Cabinet meetings that he was like a "blind man in a roomful of deaf people." http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/10/politics/10ONEI.html
Bush in the Media: Elisabeth Bumiller’s portrait of Condi Rice coupled with former Treasury secretary O’Neill’s description of Bush brings us back to Bush as pathetic. Condi has at least somewhat replaced Barbara Bush as a more gentle scold.
"I can't do it with Schröder," Mr. Bush told Ms. Rice, according to a senior administration official who witnessed the exchange. Ms. Rice, who had not directly suggested that Mr. Bush meet with Mr. Schröder, rushed to reassure. "No, no, no, we won't make you do it with Schröder," she said. But Mr. Bush seemed to know what Ms. Rice had in mind. "Wait a minute, you'll get me back with Schröder, I know what you're trying to do," the president said, the official recounted.
Soon enough, a meeting to begin defrosting relations was set up between Mr. Bush and Mr. Schröder at the session last September of the United Nations General Assembly. " `I knew that was going to happen,' " Mr. Bush laughingly told Ms. Rice after the meeting was scheduled, the senior administration official said. Ms. Rice gently bantered back, the official said, but then concluded, " `Now, look, it's the right time to do it.' " http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/07/politics/07COND.html?pagewanted=print&position=
More importantly, the O’Neill interview on 60 Minutes had another illustration of Saddam being targeted from the outset of the Administration, further confirming the stories post 9/11 when Rumseld and Cheney were quoted as saying that this was an opportunity to go after Saddam, then delayed till the all-powerful Taliban were dispatched.
Corporate Corruption- China
A report from China (The Standard, Olivia Chung)
A random inspection of 152 mainland enterprises by the Ministry of Finance has found that every one of them falsified their accounts.
Some of the worst abuses were reported at a dozen privately run companies.
The probe, conducted last year on reporting for the 2002 fiscal year as part of a crackdown, had revealed falsified assets totalling 8.58 billion yuan on the companies' books, the finance ministry said. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/thestandard/news_detail_frame.cfm?articleid=44545&intcatid=2
-R
