Thursday, April 01, 2004
Peter Ustinov, who died on Monday, was known to us as a stage and screen actor, or as a fine narrator of Babar and Peter and the Wolf (!) Less known is his quote re terrorism: "Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich."
Air America premiered yesterday. While it has but 5 outlets at present, it is on the net here http://www.airamericaradio.com/. First impression is that the liberal talk network is a bit tamer than one would want, but it’s early to judge.
9/11 Commission Compromise: Kid Glove Treatment for the Bushies:
Galling compromise that allows Condi to testify on the conditions that no other White House folk can be called. So, no follow-up and she can blame anyone she chooses. Equally absurd was allowing W and Cheney to appear together. I’m hardly the only one to wonder as to the request itself: Is this the most obvious ‘we don’t trust George’, to ensure that they don’t contradict one another? I can’t be the only one to think of how other venues would not allow such. Sopranos fans think of Tony and Christopher (or Silvio) being brought in by the Feds and being questioned together. Likely!
Meanwhile, another piece that recalls that prior to 9/11 the Bush Administration was only focused on strategic defense, not terrorism. In fact, strategic defense was seen as THE response to any and all threats, including terrorism! As Robin Wright notes in the Washington Post Condi Rice was to give a speech on September 11, 2001 that barely referred to terrorism, only criticizing Clinton for OVER-emphasizing transnational terrorism at the expense of missile defense! Case closed…again.
Top Focus Before 9/11 Wasn't on Terrorism
On Sept. 11, 2001, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to outline a Bush administration policy that would address "the threats and problems of today and the day after, not the world of yesterday" -- but the focus was largely on missile defense, not terrorism from Islamic radicals. http://65.54.186.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=342f2a5d09d36e6c9b2f0c23f5a39ab7&lat=1080827790&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fletters%2ewashingtonpost%2ecom%2fW3RH0597201C74672B7593E146203
Dana Milbank and Dan Eggen raised questions re the White House counsel calling a 9/11 panelist prior to Clarke’s appearance, who then made the most vigorous questioning of Clarke.
President Bush's top lawyer placed a telephone call to at least one of the Republican members of the Sept. 11 commission when the panel was gathered in Washington on March 24 to hear the testimony of former White House counterterrorism chief Richard A. Clarke, according to people with direct knowledge of the call.
White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales called commissioner Fred F. Fielding, one of five GOP members of the body, and, according to one observer, also called Republican commission member James R. Thompson. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, wrote to Gonzales yesterday asking him to confirm and describe the conversations.
Waxman said "it would be unusual if such ex parte contacts occurred" during the hearing. Waxman did not allege that there would be anything illegal in such phone calls. But he suggested that such contacts would be improper because "the conduct of the White House is one of the key issues being investigated by the commission."
White House spokesmen were unable to get a response from Gonzales.
Fielding did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Thompson declined yesterday to say whether he spoke with Gonzales. "I never talk about conversations with the White House," he said. Asked about the source of his information for his questioning of Clarke, Thompson said: "I ask my own questions."
During the commission's 21/2 hours of questioning Clarke, Fielding and Thompson presented evidence questioning the former official's credibility. http://65.54.186.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=c4ad2da40d2eb9067bab53714c125eed&lat=1080827790&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fletters%2ewashingtonpost%2ecom%2fW3RH0597203C64672B7593E146203
Maureen Dowd has a fine summary…in her style:
The Vice President will not address any queries about why no one reacted to George Tenet's daily "hair on fire" alarms to the President about a coming Al Qaeda attack; or why the President was so consumed with chopping and burning cedar on his Crawford ranch that he ignored the warning in an Aug. 6, 2001, briefing that Al Qaeda might try to hijack aircraft; or why the President asked for a plan to combat Al Qaeda in May and then never followed up while Richard Clarke's aggressive plan was suffocated by second-raters; or why the President was never briefed by his counterterrorism chief on anything but cybersecurity until Sept. 11; or why the Administration-in-amber made so many cold war assumptions, such as thinking that terrorists had to be sponsored by a state even as terrorists had taken over a state; or why the President went along with the Vice President and the neocons to fool the American public into believing that Saddam had a hand in the 9/11 attacks; or why the Administration chose to undercut the war on terrorism and inflame the Arab world by attacking Iraq, without a plan to protect our perilously overextended forces or to exit with a realistic hope that a democracy will be left behind.
The Commission must not, under any circumstances, ask the Vice President why American soldiers and civilians in Iraq are being greeted with barbarous infernos rather than flowery bouquets.
Finally, we request that when the President finishes with this painful teeth-pulling visit, the Commission shall offer him a lollipop. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/01/opinion/01DOWD.html
Whoops: Talking Points found at Starbucks
Al Kamen of the Washington Post reported on White House notes, apparently meant to prep Rumsfeld, being left at a Dupont Circle store. They were then dispatched to the Center for American Progress:
"Took threat v seriously and then segue to wh we have been doing. Rise above [ Richard A.] Clarke.
"Emphasize importance of 9/11 commission and come back to what we have been doing.
"[Commission member Jamie] Gorelick pitting Condi [ Condoleezza Rice] v. [Deputy Secretary of State Richard] Armitage
"Our plan had military plans to attack Al Q -- called on def to draw up targets in Afg -- develop mil options."
There's an underlined notation "DR" in the margin and a quotation, apparently from DR, perhaps Rumsfeld, to "Stay inside the line -- we dont need 2 ruff [or puff] this at all. we need 2b careful as hell about it. This thing will go away soon and what will keep it alive will be one of us going over the line."
A third sheet is dated Saturday, 4:30 p.m., and headed "Possible Q's for Sunday Talk Shows," but there are no answers.
A fourth sheet describes actions taken to change a policy of treating terrorism as a law enforcement matter to treating it as war.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37321-2004Mar30.html
Sidney Blumenthal on Bush humor re wmd
The former WCAS newsman (Cambridge AM radio, 1975-80) and Clinton staffer registered his thoughts in the Guardian as to the appropriateness of Bush making fun of the wmd being no where to be found.
With each gag the press corps roared. Bush was acting as the college fraternity house president he once was and the journalists as pledges eager for acceptance by the Big Man on Campus. "I'm the commander - see, I don't need to explain - I do not need to explain why I say things," Bush told Bob Woodward in Bush at War. "That's the interesting thing about being president."
Through its laughter the press corps didn't grasp that the joke was on them…
The Clarke episode is symptomatic of a systematic abuse of power. Reality is raw and dangerous to report - better to laugh along. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1183425,00.html
What’s Happening, Iraq: The killing of 4 security contractors and 5 GIs led to a more downbeat assessment by Paul Bremer, who is now noting that it will be “at least a year” before Iraq’s police could be in control. Jeffrey Gettleman reported on NPR and the NY Times as to the evaporation of recent optimism.
Most of the Sunni Triangle, north and west of Baghdad, has become so unsafe that American forces stick to their bases, their movement usually limited to heavily guarded convoys. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/01/international/middleeast/01IRAQ.html
John Burns notes the perspective of the generals:
But along with the publicly expressed confidence, there are hints that American generals are not as sure as they were only weeks ago that they have turned a corner in the conflict. Nor do the scenes from Falluja on Wednesday — Iraqis mutilating American bodies, and crowds cheering at the sight — appear to fit the theory put forward by the American military that Islamic militants, including foreigners, rather than Iraqi supporters of Saddam Hussein, are increasingly behind terrorist attacks. Falluja, 30 miles west of Baghdad, has been the volatile center of support for the toppled dictator, and a bellwether of the wider war. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/01/international/middleeast/01ASSE.html?hp
Political Strategy: Jonathan Steele notes in the Guardian that the U.S. strategy may be to appoint a Shia technocrat, altering the plan to expand the governing council:
The United States will transfer power in Iraq to a hand-picked prime minister, abandoning plans for an expansion of the current 25-member governing council, according to coalition officials in Baghdad.
With fewer than 100 days before the US occupation authorities are due to transfer sovereignty, fear of wrangling among Iraqi politicians has forced Washington to make its third switch of strategy in six months.
The search is now on for an Iraqi to serve as chief executive. He will almost certainly be from the Shia Muslim majority, and probably a secular technocrat. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1179077,00.html
Kerry Surgery:
His generally lower profile and the ongoing negative ads have eliminated his recent lead in polls and driven up his negatives. The Franklin and Marshall Keystone Poll also has him now trailing Bush in Pennsylvania. But, it’s only April…
Republican Ethical Lapse
Still another: The Wall Street Journal reported on the Treasury calculating the cost of Kerry’s ostensible tax plan and posting its analysis on the Treasury web site. Then, the RNC issued a press release that cited the Treasury’s ‘finding.’ Yet, a federal law bars government officials from working on political campaigns. The White House quickly seized the offense through its accusations that the Dems are illegally raising funds through sympathetic web campaigns.." http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108069824631269856,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
Uzbekistan Violence:
Important to note, especially in view of its geography…
As many as 23 people were reported dead on Tuesday in bombings and gun battles in Uzbekistan during a third day of violence in a strategic ally of the United States that borders Afghanistan.
The government immediately blamed local Muslim militants with ties to international terrorism. Human rights groups and independent analysts said they feared a new crackdown in a nation that already holds an estimated 7,000 political prisoners.
Human rights groups and other analysts say the Muslim organization blamed by the government, Hizb ut-Tahrir, does not have a record of violence and has been the target of repression for years. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/31/international/asia/31UZBE.html
Woodward Contrition?
Rumors that Bob Woodward will make up for his overly laudatory account of Bush at War by being much more critical of the Administration in his Plan of Attack, an account of the “war on terrorism”. The book will be released later this month and he will be interviewed by 60 Minutes on April 18.
-R
Air America premiered yesterday. While it has but 5 outlets at present, it is on the net here http://www.airamericaradio.com/. First impression is that the liberal talk network is a bit tamer than one would want, but it’s early to judge.
9/11 Commission Compromise: Kid Glove Treatment for the Bushies:
Galling compromise that allows Condi to testify on the conditions that no other White House folk can be called. So, no follow-up and she can blame anyone she chooses. Equally absurd was allowing W and Cheney to appear together. I’m hardly the only one to wonder as to the request itself: Is this the most obvious ‘we don’t trust George’, to ensure that they don’t contradict one another? I can’t be the only one to think of how other venues would not allow such. Sopranos fans think of Tony and Christopher (or Silvio) being brought in by the Feds and being questioned together. Likely!
Meanwhile, another piece that recalls that prior to 9/11 the Bush Administration was only focused on strategic defense, not terrorism. In fact, strategic defense was seen as THE response to any and all threats, including terrorism! As Robin Wright notes in the Washington Post Condi Rice was to give a speech on September 11, 2001 that barely referred to terrorism, only criticizing Clinton for OVER-emphasizing transnational terrorism at the expense of missile defense! Case closed…again.
Top Focus Before 9/11 Wasn't on Terrorism
On Sept. 11, 2001, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to outline a Bush administration policy that would address "the threats and problems of today and the day after, not the world of yesterday" -- but the focus was largely on missile defense, not terrorism from Islamic radicals. http://65.54.186.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=342f2a5d09d36e6c9b2f0c23f5a39ab7&lat=1080827790&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fletters%2ewashingtonpost%2ecom%2fW3RH0597201C74672B7593E146203
Dana Milbank and Dan Eggen raised questions re the White House counsel calling a 9/11 panelist prior to Clarke’s appearance, who then made the most vigorous questioning of Clarke.
President Bush's top lawyer placed a telephone call to at least one of the Republican members of the Sept. 11 commission when the panel was gathered in Washington on March 24 to hear the testimony of former White House counterterrorism chief Richard A. Clarke, according to people with direct knowledge of the call.
White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales called commissioner Fred F. Fielding, one of five GOP members of the body, and, according to one observer, also called Republican commission member James R. Thompson. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, wrote to Gonzales yesterday asking him to confirm and describe the conversations.
Waxman said "it would be unusual if such ex parte contacts occurred" during the hearing. Waxman did not allege that there would be anything illegal in such phone calls. But he suggested that such contacts would be improper because "the conduct of the White House is one of the key issues being investigated by the commission."
White House spokesmen were unable to get a response from Gonzales.
Fielding did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Thompson declined yesterday to say whether he spoke with Gonzales. "I never talk about conversations with the White House," he said. Asked about the source of his information for his questioning of Clarke, Thompson said: "I ask my own questions."
During the commission's 21/2 hours of questioning Clarke, Fielding and Thompson presented evidence questioning the former official's credibility. http://65.54.186.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=c4ad2da40d2eb9067bab53714c125eed&lat=1080827790&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fletters%2ewashingtonpost%2ecom%2fW3RH0597203C64672B7593E146203
Maureen Dowd has a fine summary…in her style:
The Vice President will not address any queries about why no one reacted to George Tenet's daily "hair on fire" alarms to the President about a coming Al Qaeda attack; or why the President was so consumed with chopping and burning cedar on his Crawford ranch that he ignored the warning in an Aug. 6, 2001, briefing that Al Qaeda might try to hijack aircraft; or why the President asked for a plan to combat Al Qaeda in May and then never followed up while Richard Clarke's aggressive plan was suffocated by second-raters; or why the President was never briefed by his counterterrorism chief on anything but cybersecurity until Sept. 11; or why the Administration-in-amber made so many cold war assumptions, such as thinking that terrorists had to be sponsored by a state even as terrorists had taken over a state; or why the President went along with the Vice President and the neocons to fool the American public into believing that Saddam had a hand in the 9/11 attacks; or why the Administration chose to undercut the war on terrorism and inflame the Arab world by attacking Iraq, without a plan to protect our perilously overextended forces or to exit with a realistic hope that a democracy will be left behind.
The Commission must not, under any circumstances, ask the Vice President why American soldiers and civilians in Iraq are being greeted with barbarous infernos rather than flowery bouquets.
Finally, we request that when the President finishes with this painful teeth-pulling visit, the Commission shall offer him a lollipop. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/01/opinion/01DOWD.html
Whoops: Talking Points found at Starbucks
Al Kamen of the Washington Post reported on White House notes, apparently meant to prep Rumsfeld, being left at a Dupont Circle store. They were then dispatched to the Center for American Progress:
"Took threat v seriously and then segue to wh we have been doing. Rise above [ Richard A.] Clarke.
"Emphasize importance of 9/11 commission and come back to what we have been doing.
"[Commission member Jamie] Gorelick pitting Condi [ Condoleezza Rice] v. [Deputy Secretary of State Richard] Armitage
"Our plan had military plans to attack Al Q -- called on def to draw up targets in Afg -- develop mil options."
There's an underlined notation "DR" in the margin and a quotation, apparently from DR, perhaps Rumsfeld, to "Stay inside the line -- we dont need 2 ruff [or puff] this at all. we need 2b careful as hell about it. This thing will go away soon and what will keep it alive will be one of us going over the line."
A third sheet is dated Saturday, 4:30 p.m., and headed "Possible Q's for Sunday Talk Shows," but there are no answers.
A fourth sheet describes actions taken to change a policy of treating terrorism as a law enforcement matter to treating it as war.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37321-2004Mar30.html
Sidney Blumenthal on Bush humor re wmd
The former WCAS newsman (Cambridge AM radio, 1975-80) and Clinton staffer registered his thoughts in the Guardian as to the appropriateness of Bush making fun of the wmd being no where to be found.
With each gag the press corps roared. Bush was acting as the college fraternity house president he once was and the journalists as pledges eager for acceptance by the Big Man on Campus. "I'm the commander - see, I don't need to explain - I do not need to explain why I say things," Bush told Bob Woodward in Bush at War. "That's the interesting thing about being president."
Through its laughter the press corps didn't grasp that the joke was on them…
The Clarke episode is symptomatic of a systematic abuse of power. Reality is raw and dangerous to report - better to laugh along. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1183425,00.html
What’s Happening, Iraq: The killing of 4 security contractors and 5 GIs led to a more downbeat assessment by Paul Bremer, who is now noting that it will be “at least a year” before Iraq’s police could be in control. Jeffrey Gettleman reported on NPR and the NY Times as to the evaporation of recent optimism.
Most of the Sunni Triangle, north and west of Baghdad, has become so unsafe that American forces stick to their bases, their movement usually limited to heavily guarded convoys. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/01/international/middleeast/01IRAQ.html
John Burns notes the perspective of the generals:
But along with the publicly expressed confidence, there are hints that American generals are not as sure as they were only weeks ago that they have turned a corner in the conflict. Nor do the scenes from Falluja on Wednesday — Iraqis mutilating American bodies, and crowds cheering at the sight — appear to fit the theory put forward by the American military that Islamic militants, including foreigners, rather than Iraqi supporters of Saddam Hussein, are increasingly behind terrorist attacks. Falluja, 30 miles west of Baghdad, has been the volatile center of support for the toppled dictator, and a bellwether of the wider war. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/01/international/middleeast/01ASSE.html?hp
Political Strategy: Jonathan Steele notes in the Guardian that the U.S. strategy may be to appoint a Shia technocrat, altering the plan to expand the governing council:
The United States will transfer power in Iraq to a hand-picked prime minister, abandoning plans for an expansion of the current 25-member governing council, according to coalition officials in Baghdad.
With fewer than 100 days before the US occupation authorities are due to transfer sovereignty, fear of wrangling among Iraqi politicians has forced Washington to make its third switch of strategy in six months.
The search is now on for an Iraqi to serve as chief executive. He will almost certainly be from the Shia Muslim majority, and probably a secular technocrat. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1179077,00.html
Kerry Surgery:
His generally lower profile and the ongoing negative ads have eliminated his recent lead in polls and driven up his negatives. The Franklin and Marshall Keystone Poll also has him now trailing Bush in Pennsylvania. But, it’s only April…
Republican Ethical Lapse
Still another: The Wall Street Journal reported on the Treasury calculating the cost of Kerry’s ostensible tax plan and posting its analysis on the Treasury web site. Then, the RNC issued a press release that cited the Treasury’s ‘finding.’ Yet, a federal law bars government officials from working on political campaigns. The White House quickly seized the offense through its accusations that the Dems are illegally raising funds through sympathetic web campaigns.." http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108069824631269856,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
Uzbekistan Violence:
Important to note, especially in view of its geography…
As many as 23 people were reported dead on Tuesday in bombings and gun battles in Uzbekistan during a third day of violence in a strategic ally of the United States that borders Afghanistan.
The government immediately blamed local Muslim militants with ties to international terrorism. Human rights groups and independent analysts said they feared a new crackdown in a nation that already holds an estimated 7,000 political prisoners.
Human rights groups and other analysts say the Muslim organization blamed by the government, Hizb ut-Tahrir, does not have a record of violence and has been the target of repression for years. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/31/international/asia/31UZBE.html
Woodward Contrition?
Rumors that Bob Woodward will make up for his overly laudatory account of Bush at War by being much more critical of the Administration in his Plan of Attack, an account of the “war on terrorism”. The book will be released later this month and he will be interviewed by 60 Minutes on April 18.
-R
