Wednesday, June 23, 2004
What’s Happening, Iraq:
The U.S. authority has warned the fledgling Iraqi government that it cannot carry out its threat to declare martial law, telling them that only the US “Coalition” has that right even after June 30. Ah, “sovereignty.” Following the Watergate script, the Administration is selectively releasing documents that supposedly demonstrate that they haven’t nurtured torture.
Also, Aljazeera notes that beheading, however shocking to us, is a common practice.
As for beheading, that practice continues with US backed Afghan soldiers boasting that they beheaded four Taliban fighters in tit-for-tat executions following the decapitation of a government soldier and an interpreter employed by the US military or so...(Note: human rights groups for years have condemned Saudia Arabia’s practice of using beheading as a form of capital punishment.) http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9BDDA023-7D09-4C0C-9FE7-F6335BB02C06.htm
As to the New ‘Ambassador to Iraq’ I haven’t commented on this ‘distinguished diplomat’; I know we’re supposed to forgive, but we shouldn’t forget.
Negroponte would become one of those incendiary figures -- like Oliver North or Elliot Abrams, both linked to the scandal -- whose name human rights campaigners summon when recalling the deeds done in Central America during the 1980s.
Rumors about human rights abuses centered on Battalion 316, a death squad headed by one Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, chief of the national police force, that eliminated contra opponents. Some American politicians traveled to Honduras to investigate, including Tom Harkin, then a Democratic congressman from Iowa, who thought that Alvarez and Negroponte were too cozy for the ambassador not to know what had been going on with the death squads.
Negroponte has long denied knowledge of the battalion and its activities. His critics have long been bewildered by this conundrum: If Negroponte did know of the abuses and the death squads, why didn't he howl to the highest quarters? If he didn't know, what measure is that of an accomplished diplomat?
"If you look at the cables," says Harkin, now a senator, "Negroponte never protested the human rights abuses. When I visited Negroponte and asked him about Battalion 316, he said all that was communist propaganda."
"His mission," Larry Birns says, "was to convert Honduras into an unsinkable aircraft carrier to supply and maintain the contra cause against the Sandinistas." http://65.54.186.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=5d92f0a6884b7cc650c233c5f601a7df&lat=1087841957&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fletters%2ewashingtonpost%2ecom%2fW5RH05B4A34E4EBA439543FF085AE0
Seymour Hersh:
His latest in the New Yorker addresses how American policy is secretly encouraging the division of the country by encouraging Kurds to move beyond their territory while officially Washington supports Iraqi unity. He also notes:
In early November, the President received a grim assessment from the C.I.A.’s station chief in Baghdad, who filed a special field appraisal, known internally as an Aardwolf, warning that the security situation in Iraq was nearing collapse. The document, as described by Knight-Ridder, said that “none of the postwar Iraqi political institutions and leaders have shown an ability to govern the country” or to hold elections and draft a constitution. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040628fa_fact
Ashcroft Under the Gun
MSNBC’s Lisa Meyers:
The 9/11 commission is busy writing its final report, but is still investigating critical facts, including the conduct of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. NBC News has learned that the commission has interviewed two FBI officials who contradict sworn testimony by Ashcroft, about whether he brushed off terrorism warnings in the summer of 2001. In the critical months before Sept. 11, did Ashcroft dismiss threats of an al-Qaida attack in this country? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5271234
Cheney Lie:
More powerful when viewing the tape, but…
Transcript, CNBC’s “Capital Report,” June 17, 2004
Gloria Borger: “Well, let’s get to Mohammed Atta for a minute, because you mentioned him as well. You have said in the past that it was quote, “pretty well confirmed.”
Vice President Cheney: No, I never said that.
BORGER: OK.
Vice Pres. CHENEY: Never said that.
BORGER: I think that is...
Vice Pres. CHENEY: Absolutely not.
Transcript, NBC’s “Meet the Press,” December 9, 2001.
Vice-President Cheney: “It’s been pretty well confirmed that he did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April.”
Amen. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/
Bush the Uniter:
Seems that he’s bringing together Muslims and Hindus in India. They’re all protesting Bush policy. [Note Allahu Akbar is ‘God is the Greatest’ in Arabic; Har Har Mahadey is the Hindu equivalent.
Thousands of Shia Muslims rallied here Sunday for a rally to protest the US occupation of Iraq, with leaders launching a scathing attack on President George W. Bush for his "inhuman policies" towards Iraq.
Dozens of Shia leaders who addressed a rally at the historic Ramlila ground in central Delhi also called on the UN to intervene in Iraq to end the occupation by US forces and to act against excesses by them
Thousands cheered the emotionally charged speeches and shouted slogans against the US. It was perhaps for the first time that crowds could be seen shouting slogans like "Allah-o-Akbar and "Har Har Mahadev" in the same breath. http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=24274
Bush Fading:
(1) He’s lost the one issue that the public had generously granted him. As the Washington Post story / poll (Richard Morin Dan Balz) headlined, “Bush Loses Advantage in War on Terrorism; Nation Evenly Divided on President, Kerry
Public anxiety over mounting casualties in Iraq and doubts about long-term consequences of the war continue to rise and have helped to erase President Bush's once-formidable advantage over Sen. John F. Kerry concerning who is best able to deal with terrorist threats, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58293-2004Jun21.html
(2) Other polls: They demonstrate a wide swing: The Investors Business Daily has Bush ahead by 3 points, the Washington Post/ABC poll has Kerry more comfortably (8 points) ahead. They and other polls have Bush’s support no higher than 44%. As I often state, history has shown that while incumbents usually remain in the lead at this stage, if they poll below 50%, they are in trouble. The fates of Bush Sr. and Carter illustrate this point.
(3) Kerry held a “brief, secretive meeting” (AP) with Edwards, the favorite of most for VP. The Raleigh News Observer (Amy Gardner) points out that unlike past elections, North Carolina is “in play” and if Edwards is chosen, it could go Democratic.
If North Carolina elected a president today, President Bush would win -- but not nearly by the margin this Republican-friendly state handed him four years ago, according to a new statewide poll.
In the poll, 47 percent of likely voters chose Bush, a Republican, while 42 percent selected Sen. John Kerry, a Democrat.
The divide would narrow further if Kerry selects Sen. John Edwards as his running mate, according to the survey, conducted June 13-16 for a partnership of The News & Observer, WRAL-TV and WUNC radio. http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1358875p-7482121c.html
Evangelicals Endorse Social Action, not Bush:
They may have the usual positions re abortion, gay rights, stem cells et al, but this call has a bit of a balancing affect. From the LA Times (Larry M. Stammer)
The National Assn. of Evangelicals is circulating a draft of a groundbreaking framework for political action that strongly endorses social and economic justice and warns against close alignment with any political party.
Steeped in biblical morality and evangelical scholarship, the framework for public engagement could change how the estimated 30 million evangelicals in this country are viewed by liberals and conservatives alike.
It affirms a religiously based commitment to government protections for the poor, the sick and disabled, including fair wages, healthcare, nutrition and education. It declares that Christians have a "sacred responsibility" to protect the environment. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-me-evangelicals20jun20,1,6103291.story?coll=la-news-politics-national
Happy Summer! The Parks are short of funds The Washington Post (Blaine Harden):
Report Criticizing Bush Administration for Funding Shortage Has Not Been Released to Public
A federal report says that a shortage of operating funds from the Bush administration is crippling this park, where 3.2 million people last year visited rain forests, alpine trails and one of the nation's longest wild coastlines.
"Core operations of the park are not funded sufficiently to meet the basic goals and mission of the park as defined by Congress," says the report, called the Olympic National Park Business Plan. It says the park receives only about half the money it needs.
But the business plan -- a detailed enumeration of the kind of chronic budget shortfalls that are forcing cutbacks in national parks across the United States -- has not been released to the public. Handsomely printed copies are gathering dust here at park headquarters.
A National Park Service official, who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation, said the report has not been released because the Bush administration "doesn't like bad news. They don't like to see or hear about it or fix it. And they punish the messenger."
No order has been issued to withhold the report, according to William "Bill" Laitner, superintendent at Olympic. http://65.54.186.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=2026b883c829a8d46359c2d272cfc9c6&lat=1087841957&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fletters%2ewashingtonpost%2ecom%2fW5RH05B4A32E6EBA439543FF085AE0
HMOs win, patients lose and Congress stays in coma
That’s the Yahoo headline. Can’t disagree…
In the latest tug of war between patients and their HMOs, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court sided Monday with insurers. For the third time since 1987, the court ruled that federal law prohibits patients from suing HMOs in state courts for malpractice. But in handing the insurance industry a victory in this dispute over refusing to pay for care recommended by doctors, the court did the nation a favor. It called attention to Congress' failure to enact legislation that could protect millions of patients from bad medical decisions by cost-conscious HMOs. www.yahoo.com
-R
The U.S. authority has warned the fledgling Iraqi government that it cannot carry out its threat to declare martial law, telling them that only the US “Coalition” has that right even after June 30. Ah, “sovereignty.” Following the Watergate script, the Administration is selectively releasing documents that supposedly demonstrate that they haven’t nurtured torture.
Also, Aljazeera notes that beheading, however shocking to us, is a common practice.
As for beheading, that practice continues with US backed Afghan soldiers boasting that they beheaded four Taliban fighters in tit-for-tat executions following the decapitation of a government soldier and an interpreter employed by the US military or so...(Note: human rights groups for years have condemned Saudia Arabia’s practice of using beheading as a form of capital punishment.) http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9BDDA023-7D09-4C0C-9FE7-F6335BB02C06.htm
As to the New ‘Ambassador to Iraq’ I haven’t commented on this ‘distinguished diplomat’; I know we’re supposed to forgive, but we shouldn’t forget.
Negroponte would become one of those incendiary figures -- like Oliver North or Elliot Abrams, both linked to the scandal -- whose name human rights campaigners summon when recalling the deeds done in Central America during the 1980s.
Rumors about human rights abuses centered on Battalion 316, a death squad headed by one Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, chief of the national police force, that eliminated contra opponents. Some American politicians traveled to Honduras to investigate, including Tom Harkin, then a Democratic congressman from Iowa, who thought that Alvarez and Negroponte were too cozy for the ambassador not to know what had been going on with the death squads.
Negroponte has long denied knowledge of the battalion and its activities. His critics have long been bewildered by this conundrum: If Negroponte did know of the abuses and the death squads, why didn't he howl to the highest quarters? If he didn't know, what measure is that of an accomplished diplomat?
"If you look at the cables," says Harkin, now a senator, "Negroponte never protested the human rights abuses. When I visited Negroponte and asked him about Battalion 316, he said all that was communist propaganda."
"His mission," Larry Birns says, "was to convert Honduras into an unsinkable aircraft carrier to supply and maintain the contra cause against the Sandinistas." http://65.54.186.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=5d92f0a6884b7cc650c233c5f601a7df&lat=1087841957&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fletters%2ewashingtonpost%2ecom%2fW5RH05B4A34E4EBA439543FF085AE0
Seymour Hersh:
His latest in the New Yorker addresses how American policy is secretly encouraging the division of the country by encouraging Kurds to move beyond their territory while officially Washington supports Iraqi unity. He also notes:
In early November, the President received a grim assessment from the C.I.A.’s station chief in Baghdad, who filed a special field appraisal, known internally as an Aardwolf, warning that the security situation in Iraq was nearing collapse. The document, as described by Knight-Ridder, said that “none of the postwar Iraqi political institutions and leaders have shown an ability to govern the country” or to hold elections and draft a constitution. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040628fa_fact
Ashcroft Under the Gun
MSNBC’s Lisa Meyers:
The 9/11 commission is busy writing its final report, but is still investigating critical facts, including the conduct of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. NBC News has learned that the commission has interviewed two FBI officials who contradict sworn testimony by Ashcroft, about whether he brushed off terrorism warnings in the summer of 2001. In the critical months before Sept. 11, did Ashcroft dismiss threats of an al-Qaida attack in this country? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5271234
Cheney Lie:
More powerful when viewing the tape, but…
Transcript, CNBC’s “Capital Report,” June 17, 2004
Gloria Borger: “Well, let’s get to Mohammed Atta for a minute, because you mentioned him as well. You have said in the past that it was quote, “pretty well confirmed.”
Vice President Cheney: No, I never said that.
BORGER: OK.
Vice Pres. CHENEY: Never said that.
BORGER: I think that is...
Vice Pres. CHENEY: Absolutely not.
Transcript, NBC’s “Meet the Press,” December 9, 2001.
Vice-President Cheney: “It’s been pretty well confirmed that he did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April.”
Amen. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/
Bush the Uniter:
Seems that he’s bringing together Muslims and Hindus in India. They’re all protesting Bush policy. [Note Allahu Akbar is ‘God is the Greatest’ in Arabic; Har Har Mahadey is the Hindu equivalent.
Thousands of Shia Muslims rallied here Sunday for a rally to protest the US occupation of Iraq, with leaders launching a scathing attack on President George W. Bush for his "inhuman policies" towards Iraq.
Dozens of Shia leaders who addressed a rally at the historic Ramlila ground in central Delhi also called on the UN to intervene in Iraq to end the occupation by US forces and to act against excesses by them
Thousands cheered the emotionally charged speeches and shouted slogans against the US. It was perhaps for the first time that crowds could be seen shouting slogans like "Allah-o-Akbar and "Har Har Mahadev" in the same breath. http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=24274
Bush Fading:
(1) He’s lost the one issue that the public had generously granted him. As the Washington Post story / poll (Richard Morin Dan Balz) headlined, “Bush Loses Advantage in War on Terrorism; Nation Evenly Divided on President, Kerry
Public anxiety over mounting casualties in Iraq and doubts about long-term consequences of the war continue to rise and have helped to erase President Bush's once-formidable advantage over Sen. John F. Kerry concerning who is best able to deal with terrorist threats, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58293-2004Jun21.html
(2) Other polls: They demonstrate a wide swing: The Investors Business Daily has Bush ahead by 3 points, the Washington Post/ABC poll has Kerry more comfortably (8 points) ahead. They and other polls have Bush’s support no higher than 44%. As I often state, history has shown that while incumbents usually remain in the lead at this stage, if they poll below 50%, they are in trouble. The fates of Bush Sr. and Carter illustrate this point.
(3) Kerry held a “brief, secretive meeting” (AP) with Edwards, the favorite of most for VP. The Raleigh News Observer (Amy Gardner) points out that unlike past elections, North Carolina is “in play” and if Edwards is chosen, it could go Democratic.
If North Carolina elected a president today, President Bush would win -- but not nearly by the margin this Republican-friendly state handed him four years ago, according to a new statewide poll.
In the poll, 47 percent of likely voters chose Bush, a Republican, while 42 percent selected Sen. John Kerry, a Democrat.
The divide would narrow further if Kerry selects Sen. John Edwards as his running mate, according to the survey, conducted June 13-16 for a partnership of The News & Observer, WRAL-TV and WUNC radio. http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1358875p-7482121c.html
Evangelicals Endorse Social Action, not Bush:
They may have the usual positions re abortion, gay rights, stem cells et al, but this call has a bit of a balancing affect. From the LA Times (Larry M. Stammer)
The National Assn. of Evangelicals is circulating a draft of a groundbreaking framework for political action that strongly endorses social and economic justice and warns against close alignment with any political party.
Steeped in biblical morality and evangelical scholarship, the framework for public engagement could change how the estimated 30 million evangelicals in this country are viewed by liberals and conservatives alike.
It affirms a religiously based commitment to government protections for the poor, the sick and disabled, including fair wages, healthcare, nutrition and education. It declares that Christians have a "sacred responsibility" to protect the environment. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-me-evangelicals20jun20,1,6103291.story?coll=la-news-politics-national
Happy Summer! The Parks are short of funds The Washington Post (Blaine Harden):
Report Criticizing Bush Administration for Funding Shortage Has Not Been Released to Public
A federal report says that a shortage of operating funds from the Bush administration is crippling this park, where 3.2 million people last year visited rain forests, alpine trails and one of the nation's longest wild coastlines.
"Core operations of the park are not funded sufficiently to meet the basic goals and mission of the park as defined by Congress," says the report, called the Olympic National Park Business Plan. It says the park receives only about half the money it needs.
But the business plan -- a detailed enumeration of the kind of chronic budget shortfalls that are forcing cutbacks in national parks across the United States -- has not been released to the public. Handsomely printed copies are gathering dust here at park headquarters.
A National Park Service official, who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation, said the report has not been released because the Bush administration "doesn't like bad news. They don't like to see or hear about it or fix it. And they punish the messenger."
No order has been issued to withhold the report, according to William "Bill" Laitner, superintendent at Olympic. http://65.54.186.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=2026b883c829a8d46359c2d272cfc9c6&lat=1087841957&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fletters%2ewashingtonpost%2ecom%2fW5RH05B4A32E6EBA439543FF085AE0
HMOs win, patients lose and Congress stays in coma
That’s the Yahoo headline. Can’t disagree…
In the latest tug of war between patients and their HMOs, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court sided Monday with insurers. For the third time since 1987, the court ruled that federal law prohibits patients from suing HMOs in state courts for malpractice. But in handing the insurance industry a victory in this dispute over refusing to pay for care recommended by doctors, the court did the nation a favor. It called attention to Congress' failure to enact legislation that could protect millions of patients from bad medical decisions by cost-conscious HMOs. www.yahoo.com
-R
