Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Condi and Powell:
Condoleezza Rice, who was named as Colin L. Powell's replacement today, has forged an extraordinarily close relationship with President Bush. But, paradoxically, many experts consider her one of the weakest national security advisers in recent history in terms of managing interagency conflicts. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54261-2004Nov16.html
The Washington Post misses the point(s)- that it makes sense- it’s no paradox- that Condi was weak- and incompetent- AND was close to Bush. It does leave out that she was- and is- a consummate liar, a requirement to work for inveterate liar Bush. As we know, Condi continues to say that al-Qaeda and Saddam had a close tie. Will the Democrats bring that up as well as her being AWOL on so much before and after 9/11?
Powell’s exit deserves no tears. He was the one person who could have stopped the Iraq war, but instead he allowed himself to be used for ‘respectability’, and his UN speech was a pack of lies that sold the invasion. Shame. The public’s generosity is done. Let’s not forget:
"My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence. I will cite some examples, and these are from human sources."
Hadley: All you need to know about the new National Security head:
Mr. Hadley wrote an opinion piece for USA Today in June 2004 arguing that the administration had been right before the war to link Al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq, a claim largely rejected by the commission studying the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Perhaps most significantly, he led the National Security Council's planning for postwar Iraq, which has turned out to be deadlier and far more difficult than anticipated. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/17/politics/17hadley.html?oref=login
Peter Principle: The maddening lack of accountability of the ruling group is followed by promotions for some. Bush will have only staunch loyalists in his coterie. Robert Scheer summarizes, "The screwballs who brought us the Iraq War are failing upward."
"...incompetence begat by ideological blindness has been rewarded. The neoconservatives who created the ongoing Iraq mess have more than survived the failure of their impossibly rosy scenarios for a peaceful and democratic Iraq under U.S. rule. In fact, despite calls for their resignations -- from the former head of the U.S. Central Command, Gen. Anthony Zinni, among others -- the neocon gang is thriving. They have not been held responsible for the "16 words" about yellowcake, the rise and fall of Ahmad Chalabi, the Abu Ghraib scandal, the post-invasion looting of Iraq's munitions stores and the disastrous elimination of the Iraqi armed forces.
"As of today, the neocons on Zinni's list of losers -- Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz; the vice president's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby; National Security Council staffer Elliott Abrams; Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld -- are all still employed even as Bush's new director of central intelligence, Porter J. Goss, is eviscerating the CIA's leadership." http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scheer16nov16,1,375135.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
Backdoor Draft, Ongoing:Potent front page article, for those who don’t get the Times.
The Army has encountered resistance from more than 2,000 former soldiers it has ordered back to military work, complicating its efforts to fill gaps in the regular troops.
Many of these former soldiers - some of whom say they have not trained, held a gun, worn a uniform or even gone for a jog in years - object to being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan now, after they thought they were through with life on active duty.
They are seeking exemptions, filing court cases or simply failing to report for duty, moves that will be watched closely by approximately 110,000 other members of the Individual Ready Reserve, a corps of soldiers who are no longer on active duty but still are eligible for call-up.
In the last few months, the Army has sent notices to more than 4,000 former soldiers informing them that they must return to active duty, but more than 1,800 of them have already requested exemptions or delays, many of which are still being considered.
And, of about 2,500 who were due to arrive on military bases for refresher training by Nov. 7, 733 had not shown up. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/16/national/16reserves.html?ei=5094&en=016cae9e46c75da0&hp=&ex=1100667600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=
Elliot Spitzer: Clear thinking for the Democrats:
But, even as Republicans invoke pleasant-sounding slogans at every turn, they pursue policies that undermine the values they claim to represent. Take the following three recent scandals: conflicts of interest among Wall Street analysts, who duped small investors with tainted research; predatory lending, which imposed illegal and unconscionable mortgages on homeowners; and illegal practices of mutual-fund traders, who skimmed billions from people saving for their kids' college tuitions and their own retirements. In each of these situations, the Bush administration and congressional Republicans not only impeded the investigations but actually proposed legislation that would preempt the ability of state regulators to combat the problems.
With our values and policies, Democrats have been on the right track for a long time. We champion the ideals held most dear by working families, but we simply didn't articulate campaign issues in the context of those ideals. Instead, we let the Republicans employ wedge issues like gay marriage that diverted attention from their failed domestic policies.
We can't repeat these mistakes in 2008. Starting today, our party must focus on all the difficulties that working people face--from financial scams to job security to health insurance, from day care for our kids to nursing homes for our parents, from the price of gas to the increasing cost of college tuition, from the safety and security of our neighborhoods to the health of the environment. We must address these issues not as antiseptic policy points but as elements of a living mosaic that, together, form a society that rewards hard work and integrity. Our policies and plans will gain traction with the public when we frame them as a reflection of the core values we believe in. https://ssl.tnr.com/p/docsub.mhtml?i=20041122&s=spitzer112204
Fallujah. Senseless. Meanwhile, the national insurgency continues elsewhere. And Margaret Hassan’s execution…awful.
Outside Falluja, the insurgency rages on, amid intelligence reports that the battle has become a big recruiting draw for young Arab men in mosques from Syria to Saudi Arabia. American commanders acknowledge that hundreds of fighters and their commanders, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant whose network has carried out many of the kidnappings, beheadings and bombings, slipped away before the offensive.
American commanders say they expected that the fight for Falluja, coinciding with the end of the holy month of Ramadan, would set off a surge in violence across the country. But the scope and size of the attacks in Mosul last Thursday stunned American officers who were scrambling Sunday to regain the initiative. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/16/international/middleeast/16iraq.html?hp&ex=1100667600&en=eb73c1bf609b3331&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Repubs Move to Protect DeLay: They can anticipate…
House Republicans were contemplating changing their rules in order to allow members indicted by state prosecutors to remain in a leadership post, a move designed to benefit Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) in case he is charged by a Texas grand jury that has indicted three of his political associates, GOP leaders said today.
The rules change, which some leaders said is likely to be adopted Wednesday, comes as House Republicans return to Washington indebted to DeLay for the enhanced majority they won in this month's elections. DeLay led an aggressive redistricting effort in Texas last year that resulted in five Democratic House members retiring or losing reelection. It also triggered the grand jury inquiry into fundraising efforts related to the state legislature's redistricting actions.
House Republicans recognize that DeLay fought fiercely to widen their majority, and they are eager to protect him from an Austin-based investigation they view as baseless and partisan, said Rep. Eric I. Cantor (R-Va.), the GOP's chief deputy whip. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A54572-2004Nov16?language=printer
-R
Condoleezza Rice, who was named as Colin L. Powell's replacement today, has forged an extraordinarily close relationship with President Bush. But, paradoxically, many experts consider her one of the weakest national security advisers in recent history in terms of managing interagency conflicts. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54261-2004Nov16.html
The Washington Post misses the point(s)- that it makes sense- it’s no paradox- that Condi was weak- and incompetent- AND was close to Bush. It does leave out that she was- and is- a consummate liar, a requirement to work for inveterate liar Bush. As we know, Condi continues to say that al-Qaeda and Saddam had a close tie. Will the Democrats bring that up as well as her being AWOL on so much before and after 9/11?
Powell’s exit deserves no tears. He was the one person who could have stopped the Iraq war, but instead he allowed himself to be used for ‘respectability’, and his UN speech was a pack of lies that sold the invasion. Shame. The public’s generosity is done. Let’s not forget:
"My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence. I will cite some examples, and these are from human sources."
Hadley: All you need to know about the new National Security head:
Mr. Hadley wrote an opinion piece for USA Today in June 2004 arguing that the administration had been right before the war to link Al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq, a claim largely rejected by the commission studying the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Perhaps most significantly, he led the National Security Council's planning for postwar Iraq, which has turned out to be deadlier and far more difficult than anticipated. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/17/politics/17hadley.html?oref=login
Peter Principle: The maddening lack of accountability of the ruling group is followed by promotions for some. Bush will have only staunch loyalists in his coterie. Robert Scheer summarizes, "The screwballs who brought us the Iraq War are failing upward."
"...incompetence begat by ideological blindness has been rewarded. The neoconservatives who created the ongoing Iraq mess have more than survived the failure of their impossibly rosy scenarios for a peaceful and democratic Iraq under U.S. rule. In fact, despite calls for their resignations -- from the former head of the U.S. Central Command, Gen. Anthony Zinni, among others -- the neocon gang is thriving. They have not been held responsible for the "16 words" about yellowcake, the rise and fall of Ahmad Chalabi, the Abu Ghraib scandal, the post-invasion looting of Iraq's munitions stores and the disastrous elimination of the Iraqi armed forces.
"As of today, the neocons on Zinni's list of losers -- Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz; the vice president's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby; National Security Council staffer Elliott Abrams; Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld -- are all still employed even as Bush's new director of central intelligence, Porter J. Goss, is eviscerating the CIA's leadership." http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scheer16nov16,1,375135.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
Backdoor Draft, Ongoing:Potent front page article, for those who don’t get the Times.
The Army has encountered resistance from more than 2,000 former soldiers it has ordered back to military work, complicating its efforts to fill gaps in the regular troops.
Many of these former soldiers - some of whom say they have not trained, held a gun, worn a uniform or even gone for a jog in years - object to being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan now, after they thought they were through with life on active duty.
They are seeking exemptions, filing court cases or simply failing to report for duty, moves that will be watched closely by approximately 110,000 other members of the Individual Ready Reserve, a corps of soldiers who are no longer on active duty but still are eligible for call-up.
In the last few months, the Army has sent notices to more than 4,000 former soldiers informing them that they must return to active duty, but more than 1,800 of them have already requested exemptions or delays, many of which are still being considered.
And, of about 2,500 who were due to arrive on military bases for refresher training by Nov. 7, 733 had not shown up. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/16/national/16reserves.html?ei=5094&en=016cae9e46c75da0&hp=&ex=1100667600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=
Elliot Spitzer: Clear thinking for the Democrats:
But, even as Republicans invoke pleasant-sounding slogans at every turn, they pursue policies that undermine the values they claim to represent. Take the following three recent scandals: conflicts of interest among Wall Street analysts, who duped small investors with tainted research; predatory lending, which imposed illegal and unconscionable mortgages on homeowners; and illegal practices of mutual-fund traders, who skimmed billions from people saving for their kids' college tuitions and their own retirements. In each of these situations, the Bush administration and congressional Republicans not only impeded the investigations but actually proposed legislation that would preempt the ability of state regulators to combat the problems.
With our values and policies, Democrats have been on the right track for a long time. We champion the ideals held most dear by working families, but we simply didn't articulate campaign issues in the context of those ideals. Instead, we let the Republicans employ wedge issues like gay marriage that diverted attention from their failed domestic policies.
We can't repeat these mistakes in 2008. Starting today, our party must focus on all the difficulties that working people face--from financial scams to job security to health insurance, from day care for our kids to nursing homes for our parents, from the price of gas to the increasing cost of college tuition, from the safety and security of our neighborhoods to the health of the environment. We must address these issues not as antiseptic policy points but as elements of a living mosaic that, together, form a society that rewards hard work and integrity. Our policies and plans will gain traction with the public when we frame them as a reflection of the core values we believe in. https://ssl.tnr.com/p/docsub.mhtml?i=20041122&s=spitzer112204
Fallujah. Senseless. Meanwhile, the national insurgency continues elsewhere. And Margaret Hassan’s execution…awful.
Outside Falluja, the insurgency rages on, amid intelligence reports that the battle has become a big recruiting draw for young Arab men in mosques from Syria to Saudi Arabia. American commanders acknowledge that hundreds of fighters and their commanders, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant whose network has carried out many of the kidnappings, beheadings and bombings, slipped away before the offensive.
American commanders say they expected that the fight for Falluja, coinciding with the end of the holy month of Ramadan, would set off a surge in violence across the country. But the scope and size of the attacks in Mosul last Thursday stunned American officers who were scrambling Sunday to regain the initiative. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/16/international/middleeast/16iraq.html?hp&ex=1100667600&en=eb73c1bf609b3331&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Repubs Move to Protect DeLay: They can anticipate…
House Republicans were contemplating changing their rules in order to allow members indicted by state prosecutors to remain in a leadership post, a move designed to benefit Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) in case he is charged by a Texas grand jury that has indicted three of his political associates, GOP leaders said today.
The rules change, which some leaders said is likely to be adopted Wednesday, comes as House Republicans return to Washington indebted to DeLay for the enhanced majority they won in this month's elections. DeLay led an aggressive redistricting effort in Texas last year that resulted in five Democratic House members retiring or losing reelection. It also triggered the grand jury inquiry into fundraising efforts related to the state legislature's redistricting actions.
House Republicans recognize that DeLay fought fiercely to widen their majority, and they are eager to protect him from an Austin-based investigation they view as baseless and partisan, said Rep. Eric I. Cantor (R-Va.), the GOP's chief deputy whip. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A54572-2004Nov16?language=printer
-R
