Friday, March 18, 2005
What’s Happening, Iraq: Progress (?)
As noted previously, the people are getting restless, cynical:
Nothing like a scientific poll is possible yet in Iraq. But as the national assembly's first brief meeting came and went, broadcast into thousands of Iraqi homes on television, a sampling of street opinion in two Iraqi cities found a widespread dismay and even anger that the elections have not yet translated into a new government. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/17/international/middleeast/17voices.html?hp=&pagewanted=all&position=
The LA Times headlined, “Iraqi Leaders Make History, Not Progress’:
In Washington, President Bush called Wednesday's session "a bright moment" in a process that is supposed to lead to the drafting of a new constitution, followed by another national election as early as this fall.
But without a government in place, the assembly cannot move forward on drafting the constitution or work to restore security to a country plagued by violence. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-iraq17mar17,1,1689330.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage
Democracy on the March?: Opinions There’s clearly been a change in (U.S.) public sentiment since the Iraq election. Many struggle with being on the outside, being “negative” about the country and its direction, even if it contradicts their “sense” about the Bush Administration. This change of ‘heart’ is facilitated, if not spawned, by the clear shift in media coverage and by public personalities such as Bill Maher and Jon Stewart who have asserted that, perhaps, Bush was “right” to invade.
So, for balance:
- Juan Cole: "The Lebanese have been having often lively parliamentary election campaigns for decades. The idea that the urbane and sophisticated Beirutis had anything to learn from the Jan. 30 process in Iraq is absurd on the face of it." www.juancole.com
- Seumas Milne in The Guardian:
"The claim that democracy is on the march in the Middle East is a fraud. It is not democracy, but the US military, that is on the march... What has actually taken place since 9/11 and the Iraq war is a relentless expansion of US control of the Middle East, of which the threats to Syria are a part. The Americans now have a military presence in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar…
And,
The anti-Syrian protests, dominated by the Christian and Druze minorities, are not in fact calling for a genuine democracy at all, but for elections under the long-established corrupt confessional carve-up, which gives the traditionally privileged Christians half the seats in parliament and means no Muslim can ever be president. http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1434183,00.html
- Naomi Klein, always a grabber, talks of the re-branding of the Right effort in the Middle East, that “faced with an Arab world enraged by its occupation of Iraq and its blind support for Israel, the US solution is not to change these brutal policies; it is, in the pseudo-academic language of corporate branding, to ‘change the story.’” http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050328&s=klein
- Eric Margolis of the Toronto Sun dismisses the talk of democratic reforms in our ‘client’ states as basically “pure sham.”
Most of these reforms are pure sham. Washington stage-managed Iraq's vote to empower Shia and Kurdish yes-men who will pretend to rule while the U.S. continues to run Iraq and pump its oil. Mubarak, the U.S.-backed military ruler of Egypt, is apparently grooming his son to take over under cover of rigged "open, multi-party" elections. http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Eric_Margolis/2005/03/13/959224.html
Taxes and Medicaid: The headline was of the Senate defeating ($14 million) cuts in Medicaid. Of course, it’s much more complicated than that.
- The House did vote for the cuts; reconciling will be difficult
- The Senate pushed for extensive tax cuts beyond what Bush requested, including repealing a 1993 tax on wealthy seniors’ Social Security. Paralysis is possible.
Key grafs:
"It provided a huge amount of tax cuts," said Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico and one of five Republicans to vote against the provision. "We didn't know what we were doing."
While the tax cuts brought the Senate budget resolution closer in line with the one passed by the House, the Medicaid issue moved the two further apart.
That vote was a rebuke to both the White House and the Republican leadership, and it threatens to prevent Congress from adopting a final budget this year…
The amendment striking the Medicaid cuts, sponsored by Senator Gordon Smith, Republican of Oregon, was by far the most troubling to the Republican leadership. Seven Republicans joined with the Senate's 44 Democrats and one independent to approve the proposal. Mr. Smith, who had been under intense pressure from party leaders to either change or withdraw the measure, said afterward that he thought it sent a strong message that his colleagues were uneasy about the reductions.
"I think a lot of us have trouble just looking at a ledger," Mr. Smith said, "while ignoring some of the most sensitive needs of the poor."
The issue brought forth such passion that Senator Judd Gregg, an ordinarily taciturn New Hampshire Republican who, as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, proposed the $14 billion in spending reductions, addressed Mr. Smith in deeply personal terms on Thursday on the Senate floor. He said Mr. Smith's amendment would "gut the only thing in this budget" that would help tame the deficit and enforce fiscal discipline.
"And it's being done by Republicans," Mr. Gregg added. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/18/politics/18budget.html?hp&ex=1111122000&en=f0605f4f364eb4f6&ei=5094&partner=homepage
If the two chambers cannot reach agreement, they would be forced to go without a plan, as they did last year.
A budget breakdown would be an embarrassment for the GOP leadership, which had expected that the larger Republican majorities in both chambers — and particularly in the Senate — would allow easy passage of the president's proposals.
It also could doom a top energy priority: allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A measure smoothing the way for drilling legislation is included in the Senate's version of the budget and is considered likely to emerge intact from a compromise with the House.
The absence of a budget would also short-circuit the House and Senate budget committees' plans to instruct other congressional committees to write legislation cutting farm benefits, food stamps and other programs…
The education funding was restored on a motion by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). Even Democrats were surprised that Kennedy's amendment prevailed on a vote of 51 to 49, with six Republicans breaking ranks.
The six were Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. The same six Republicans plus Smith sided with the majority on the Medicaid vote.
All Democratic senators, including Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California, voted with the majority on Medicaid and education.
The income tax break for Social Security benefits was a Republican initiative sponsored by Jim Bunning of Kentucky.
Five Democrats — Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, Bill Nelson of Florida, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Ken Salazar of Colorado — voted for the tax rollback, and a like number of Republicans — Chafee, Snowe, Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, Ted Stevens of Alaska and George V. Voinovich of Ohio — voted against it. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-budget18mar18,0,4188870,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Congress Passes on Gannon Investigation. They’re not looking at how a non-journalist (and male ‘hooker’) accessed the White House and Junior for two years despite security and White House protocol. The major media totally ignored the vote.
No surprise, as they’re not investigating treason (Plame), lies that gave us a war, etc. But they’re looking closely at steroids!
The House Judiciary Committee voted against adopting a resolution demanding Bush agencies turn over all credentialing information related to James D. Guckert 21-10, the discredited conservative reporter and prostitute who wrote under the nom de guerre “Jeff Gannon.”
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the ranking Democrat on the committee, said the resolution was imperative to ensuring that the line between reporters and activists remains clear.
“If we don’t investigate this matter thoroughly,” Conyers said, “where and when will be draw the line? I plead with my committee members in the Judiciary to support this very plain but necessary [amendment].” http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=184
Democratic Strategy? DeLay as the head of a corrupt party Sounds reasonable
Using the swirl of controversy surrounding House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) as a springboard, Democrats have ratcheted up their push to convince voters that the GOP has ushered in an era of corruption in Congress.
Democrats are painting the latest news reports concerning DeLay's fundraising practices and relationship with embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff as simply the tip of an iceberg of ethical problems surrounding House Republicans, and indicative of what they say is widespread corruption gripping the party controlling the institution. www.thehill.com (subscription required)
Social Security: Repubs know they’re in trouble, so they’re considering a change in tactics.
To pass Social Security reform this year, top Republican strategists say, President Bush and the GOP-led Congress must redirect the debate by stressing that their plan includes a crucial safety-net protection.
For months, Democrats and AARP have hammered Bush and congressional Republicans on the “risky gamble” of setting up personal accounts in the Social Security system. Frustrated Republicans have acknowledged that the Democrats’ political blows have connected.
Fifty-six percent of Americans oppose Bush’s Social Security plan, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll.
But Republicans are not ready to throw in the towel. They say the key to victory is to emphasize repeatedly that reform legislation would provide current and future Social Security beneficiaries with a guarantee that they will not collect a penny less than the present system allows.
That guarantee, which is included in certain Social Security reform bills, could be used as an effective rebuttal to comparisons that liken private accounts to playing the slots, GOP officials say. http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/031705/reform.html
What’s Happening, Lebanon: So who killed Rafik Hariri? Two reports, from Al Jazeera and the Tehran Times suggest that the White House / Israel were connected with the murder. Why? They speculate that the U.S. had designs on an airbase for northern Lebanon…which is now under ‘discussion’.
According to high-level Lebanese intelligence sources, both Christian and Muslim, the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a sophisticated explosion-by-wire bombing authorized by the Bush administration and Ariel Sharon's Likud government…
It was a well known issue that the pan-Arabist and Lebanese nationalist Hariri was adamantly opposed to the construction of a major U.S. air base in the north of the country.
On its part, the U.S. wants Syrian troops completely out of Lebanon before construction of the base is initiated. While Hariri's meetings with Hezbollah shortly before his death angered Washington and Tel Aviv, according to the Lebanese intelligence sources. http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=3/16/2005&Cat=4&Num=8
What’s Happening, Afghanistan: In Kandahar, some are feeling more vulnerable than under the Taliban. The warlords remain in charge; crime is rife. "Imagine how things are," said one man, "that we are wishing for the Taliban again."
A wave of crime in this southern Afghan city -- including Mohammed's killing two months ago and a bombing Thursday that killed at least five people -- has evoked a growing local nostalgia for the Taliban era of 1996 to 2001, when the extremist Islamic militia imposed law and order by draconian means.
Residents reached their boiling point last week, after a second kidnapped boy was killed. Hundreds of men poured into the streets, demanding that President Hamid Karzai fire the provincial governor and police chief. Some threw rocks at military vehicles and chanted, "Down with the warlords!" Witnesses recalled some adding, "Bring back the Taliban!" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45302-2005Mar17.html
Venezuela: New policy on the way. The DoD assistant secretary, Roger Pardo-Maurer asserts, “Chavez is a problem because he is clearly using his oil money and influence to introduce his conflictive style into the politics of other countries. He’s picking on the countries whose social fabric is the weakest. In some cases it’s downright subversion.”
Love that righteousness!
Senior US administration officials are working on a policy to "contain" President Hugo Chávez and what they allege is his drive to "subvert" Latin America's least stable states, writes Andy Webb-Vidal.
A strategy aimed at fencing in the Chávez government is being prepared at the behest of President George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, senior US officials say. Roger Pardo-Maurer, deputy assistant secretary for western hemisphere affairs at the Department of Defense, said the policy was being developed because Mr Chavez was employing a "hyena strategy" in the region. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/b0fd22ec-942d-11d9-9d6e-00000e2511c8.html
Wolfowitz Exit: Mixed bag. Putting aside his lack of qualifications, this being another thumbing at Europe and the UN, it may be more of a removal than a reward. Rummy and Condi keep solidifying their power- the outspoken- Wolfie and Bolton are either Out or under their thumb; the UN job has not been a plumb in decades, since Adlai Stevenson was given it instead of his sought-after Secretary of State slot in JFK’s Administration.
Fred Kaplan offers:
A few months ago, Doug Feith announced that he would be leaving his job this summer, for personal reasons. Now Wolfowitz heads toward the door. Will the neocon triumvirate's third peg, Stephen Cambone, the undersecretary for intelligence, be the next to fall? And what of Rumsfeld himself? The face-saving has been accomplished. His archrival, Colin Powell, was booted while he stayed on in triumph. He escaped official blame for Abu Ghraib. Having thus emerged from the firestorms unscathed, he too may be working up an appetite to spend more time with his family.
Rumsfeld's fingerprints, which were smeared all over Bush's first-term foreign policy, have thus far left no marks in the second term. There are three possible explanations: Rumsfeld is insinuating himself more subtly than before; Condoleezza Rice shares his views, so he doesn't need to raise a fuss; or, just maybe, the winds are shifting over the Potomac. http://www.slate.com/Default.aspx?id=2114929&
Another concern about Wolfie:
Adding fuel to the controversy is concern within the bank staff over Wolfowitz's reported romantic relationship with Shaha Riza, an Arab feminist who works as a communications adviser in the bank's Middle East and North Africa department.
Both divorced, Wolfowitz and Riza have steadfastly declined to talk publicly about their relationship, but they have been regularly spotted at private functions and one source said the two have been dating for about two years. Riza, an Oxford-educated British citizen who was born in Tunisia and grew up in Saudi Arabia, shares Wolfowitz's passion for democratizing the Middle East, according to people who know her. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45449-2005Mar17.html
A way to remember Wolfowitz: from 3/27/03
“There’s a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people…and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years…We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.” [Source: House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on a Supplemental War Regulation, 3/27/03] http://www.house.gov/schakowsky/iraqquotes_web.htm
-R
As noted previously, the people are getting restless, cynical:
Nothing like a scientific poll is possible yet in Iraq. But as the national assembly's first brief meeting came and went, broadcast into thousands of Iraqi homes on television, a sampling of street opinion in two Iraqi cities found a widespread dismay and even anger that the elections have not yet translated into a new government. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/17/international/middleeast/17voices.html?hp=&pagewanted=all&position=
The LA Times headlined, “Iraqi Leaders Make History, Not Progress’:
In Washington, President Bush called Wednesday's session "a bright moment" in a process that is supposed to lead to the drafting of a new constitution, followed by another national election as early as this fall.
But without a government in place, the assembly cannot move forward on drafting the constitution or work to restore security to a country plagued by violence. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-iraq17mar17,1,1689330.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage
Democracy on the March?: Opinions There’s clearly been a change in (U.S.) public sentiment since the Iraq election. Many struggle with being on the outside, being “negative” about the country and its direction, even if it contradicts their “sense” about the Bush Administration. This change of ‘heart’ is facilitated, if not spawned, by the clear shift in media coverage and by public personalities such as Bill Maher and Jon Stewart who have asserted that, perhaps, Bush was “right” to invade.
So, for balance:
- Juan Cole: "The Lebanese have been having often lively parliamentary election campaigns for decades. The idea that the urbane and sophisticated Beirutis had anything to learn from the Jan. 30 process in Iraq is absurd on the face of it." www.juancole.com
- Seumas Milne in The Guardian:
"The claim that democracy is on the march in the Middle East is a fraud. It is not democracy, but the US military, that is on the march... What has actually taken place since 9/11 and the Iraq war is a relentless expansion of US control of the Middle East, of which the threats to Syria are a part. The Americans now have a military presence in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar…
And,
The anti-Syrian protests, dominated by the Christian and Druze minorities, are not in fact calling for a genuine democracy at all, but for elections under the long-established corrupt confessional carve-up, which gives the traditionally privileged Christians half the seats in parliament and means no Muslim can ever be president. http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1434183,00.html
- Naomi Klein, always a grabber, talks of the re-branding of the Right effort in the Middle East, that “faced with an Arab world enraged by its occupation of Iraq and its blind support for Israel, the US solution is not to change these brutal policies; it is, in the pseudo-academic language of corporate branding, to ‘change the story.’” http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050328&s=klein
- Eric Margolis of the Toronto Sun dismisses the talk of democratic reforms in our ‘client’ states as basically “pure sham.”
Most of these reforms are pure sham. Washington stage-managed Iraq's vote to empower Shia and Kurdish yes-men who will pretend to rule while the U.S. continues to run Iraq and pump its oil. Mubarak, the U.S.-backed military ruler of Egypt, is apparently grooming his son to take over under cover of rigged "open, multi-party" elections. http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Eric_Margolis/2005/03/13/959224.html
Taxes and Medicaid: The headline was of the Senate defeating ($14 million) cuts in Medicaid. Of course, it’s much more complicated than that.
- The House did vote for the cuts; reconciling will be difficult
- The Senate pushed for extensive tax cuts beyond what Bush requested, including repealing a 1993 tax on wealthy seniors’ Social Security. Paralysis is possible.
Key grafs:
"It provided a huge amount of tax cuts," said Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico and one of five Republicans to vote against the provision. "We didn't know what we were doing."
While the tax cuts brought the Senate budget resolution closer in line with the one passed by the House, the Medicaid issue moved the two further apart.
That vote was a rebuke to both the White House and the Republican leadership, and it threatens to prevent Congress from adopting a final budget this year…
The amendment striking the Medicaid cuts, sponsored by Senator Gordon Smith, Republican of Oregon, was by far the most troubling to the Republican leadership. Seven Republicans joined with the Senate's 44 Democrats and one independent to approve the proposal. Mr. Smith, who had been under intense pressure from party leaders to either change or withdraw the measure, said afterward that he thought it sent a strong message that his colleagues were uneasy about the reductions.
"I think a lot of us have trouble just looking at a ledger," Mr. Smith said, "while ignoring some of the most sensitive needs of the poor."
The issue brought forth such passion that Senator Judd Gregg, an ordinarily taciturn New Hampshire Republican who, as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, proposed the $14 billion in spending reductions, addressed Mr. Smith in deeply personal terms on Thursday on the Senate floor. He said Mr. Smith's amendment would "gut the only thing in this budget" that would help tame the deficit and enforce fiscal discipline.
"And it's being done by Republicans," Mr. Gregg added. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/18/politics/18budget.html?hp&ex=1111122000&en=f0605f4f364eb4f6&ei=5094&partner=homepage
If the two chambers cannot reach agreement, they would be forced to go without a plan, as they did last year.
A budget breakdown would be an embarrassment for the GOP leadership, which had expected that the larger Republican majorities in both chambers — and particularly in the Senate — would allow easy passage of the president's proposals.
It also could doom a top energy priority: allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A measure smoothing the way for drilling legislation is included in the Senate's version of the budget and is considered likely to emerge intact from a compromise with the House.
The absence of a budget would also short-circuit the House and Senate budget committees' plans to instruct other congressional committees to write legislation cutting farm benefits, food stamps and other programs…
The education funding was restored on a motion by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). Even Democrats were surprised that Kennedy's amendment prevailed on a vote of 51 to 49, with six Republicans breaking ranks.
The six were Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. The same six Republicans plus Smith sided with the majority on the Medicaid vote.
All Democratic senators, including Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California, voted with the majority on Medicaid and education.
The income tax break for Social Security benefits was a Republican initiative sponsored by Jim Bunning of Kentucky.
Five Democrats — Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, Bill Nelson of Florida, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Ken Salazar of Colorado — voted for the tax rollback, and a like number of Republicans — Chafee, Snowe, Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, Ted Stevens of Alaska and George V. Voinovich of Ohio — voted against it. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-budget18mar18,0,4188870,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Congress Passes on Gannon Investigation. They’re not looking at how a non-journalist (and male ‘hooker’) accessed the White House and Junior for two years despite security and White House protocol. The major media totally ignored the vote.
No surprise, as they’re not investigating treason (Plame), lies that gave us a war, etc. But they’re looking closely at steroids!
The House Judiciary Committee voted against adopting a resolution demanding Bush agencies turn over all credentialing information related to James D. Guckert 21-10, the discredited conservative reporter and prostitute who wrote under the nom de guerre “Jeff Gannon.”
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the ranking Democrat on the committee, said the resolution was imperative to ensuring that the line between reporters and activists remains clear.
“If we don’t investigate this matter thoroughly,” Conyers said, “where and when will be draw the line? I plead with my committee members in the Judiciary to support this very plain but necessary [amendment].” http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=184
Democratic Strategy? DeLay as the head of a corrupt party Sounds reasonable
Using the swirl of controversy surrounding House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) as a springboard, Democrats have ratcheted up their push to convince voters that the GOP has ushered in an era of corruption in Congress.
Democrats are painting the latest news reports concerning DeLay's fundraising practices and relationship with embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff as simply the tip of an iceberg of ethical problems surrounding House Republicans, and indicative of what they say is widespread corruption gripping the party controlling the institution. www.thehill.com (subscription required)
Social Security: Repubs know they’re in trouble, so they’re considering a change in tactics.
To pass Social Security reform this year, top Republican strategists say, President Bush and the GOP-led Congress must redirect the debate by stressing that their plan includes a crucial safety-net protection.
For months, Democrats and AARP have hammered Bush and congressional Republicans on the “risky gamble” of setting up personal accounts in the Social Security system. Frustrated Republicans have acknowledged that the Democrats’ political blows have connected.
Fifty-six percent of Americans oppose Bush’s Social Security plan, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll.
But Republicans are not ready to throw in the towel. They say the key to victory is to emphasize repeatedly that reform legislation would provide current and future Social Security beneficiaries with a guarantee that they will not collect a penny less than the present system allows.
That guarantee, which is included in certain Social Security reform bills, could be used as an effective rebuttal to comparisons that liken private accounts to playing the slots, GOP officials say. http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/031705/reform.html
What’s Happening, Lebanon: So who killed Rafik Hariri? Two reports, from Al Jazeera and the Tehran Times suggest that the White House / Israel were connected with the murder. Why? They speculate that the U.S. had designs on an airbase for northern Lebanon…which is now under ‘discussion’.
According to high-level Lebanese intelligence sources, both Christian and Muslim, the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a sophisticated explosion-by-wire bombing authorized by the Bush administration and Ariel Sharon's Likud government…
It was a well known issue that the pan-Arabist and Lebanese nationalist Hariri was adamantly opposed to the construction of a major U.S. air base in the north of the country.
On its part, the U.S. wants Syrian troops completely out of Lebanon before construction of the base is initiated. While Hariri's meetings with Hezbollah shortly before his death angered Washington and Tel Aviv, according to the Lebanese intelligence sources. http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=3/16/2005&Cat=4&Num=8
What’s Happening, Afghanistan: In Kandahar, some are feeling more vulnerable than under the Taliban. The warlords remain in charge; crime is rife. "Imagine how things are," said one man, "that we are wishing for the Taliban again."
A wave of crime in this southern Afghan city -- including Mohammed's killing two months ago and a bombing Thursday that killed at least five people -- has evoked a growing local nostalgia for the Taliban era of 1996 to 2001, when the extremist Islamic militia imposed law and order by draconian means.
Residents reached their boiling point last week, after a second kidnapped boy was killed. Hundreds of men poured into the streets, demanding that President Hamid Karzai fire the provincial governor and police chief. Some threw rocks at military vehicles and chanted, "Down with the warlords!" Witnesses recalled some adding, "Bring back the Taliban!" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45302-2005Mar17.html
Venezuela: New policy on the way. The DoD assistant secretary, Roger Pardo-Maurer asserts, “Chavez is a problem because he is clearly using his oil money and influence to introduce his conflictive style into the politics of other countries. He’s picking on the countries whose social fabric is the weakest. In some cases it’s downright subversion.”
Love that righteousness!
Senior US administration officials are working on a policy to "contain" President Hugo Chávez and what they allege is his drive to "subvert" Latin America's least stable states, writes Andy Webb-Vidal.
A strategy aimed at fencing in the Chávez government is being prepared at the behest of President George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, senior US officials say. Roger Pardo-Maurer, deputy assistant secretary for western hemisphere affairs at the Department of Defense, said the policy was being developed because Mr Chavez was employing a "hyena strategy" in the region. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/b0fd22ec-942d-11d9-9d6e-00000e2511c8.html
Wolfowitz Exit: Mixed bag. Putting aside his lack of qualifications, this being another thumbing at Europe and the UN, it may be more of a removal than a reward. Rummy and Condi keep solidifying their power- the outspoken- Wolfie and Bolton are either Out or under their thumb; the UN job has not been a plumb in decades, since Adlai Stevenson was given it instead of his sought-after Secretary of State slot in JFK’s Administration.
Fred Kaplan offers:
A few months ago, Doug Feith announced that he would be leaving his job this summer, for personal reasons. Now Wolfowitz heads toward the door. Will the neocon triumvirate's third peg, Stephen Cambone, the undersecretary for intelligence, be the next to fall? And what of Rumsfeld himself? The face-saving has been accomplished. His archrival, Colin Powell, was booted while he stayed on in triumph. He escaped official blame for Abu Ghraib. Having thus emerged from the firestorms unscathed, he too may be working up an appetite to spend more time with his family.
Rumsfeld's fingerprints, which were smeared all over Bush's first-term foreign policy, have thus far left no marks in the second term. There are three possible explanations: Rumsfeld is insinuating himself more subtly than before; Condoleezza Rice shares his views, so he doesn't need to raise a fuss; or, just maybe, the winds are shifting over the Potomac. http://www.slate.com/Default.aspx?id=2114929&
Another concern about Wolfie:
Adding fuel to the controversy is concern within the bank staff over Wolfowitz's reported romantic relationship with Shaha Riza, an Arab feminist who works as a communications adviser in the bank's Middle East and North Africa department.
Both divorced, Wolfowitz and Riza have steadfastly declined to talk publicly about their relationship, but they have been regularly spotted at private functions and one source said the two have been dating for about two years. Riza, an Oxford-educated British citizen who was born in Tunisia and grew up in Saudi Arabia, shares Wolfowitz's passion for democratizing the Middle East, according to people who know her. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45449-2005Mar17.html
A way to remember Wolfowitz: from 3/27/03
“There’s a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people…and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years…We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.” [Source: House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on a Supplemental War Regulation, 3/27/03] http://www.house.gov/schakowsky/iraqquotes_web.htm
-R
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Social Security: Victory? Even the smug David Brooks seems to be throwing in the towel, blaming the Democrats intransigence, foolishness / selfishness of a stubborn public, Republican miscalculation. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/15/opinion/15brooks.html?hp
The Washington Post poll showed that the support dropped a bit further for the Right’s Social Security plan. One should note the bad news in the poll, that the incessant talk of crisis, broke, etc. has resulted in 71% now agreeing that the program is headed for a “crisis,” and two-thirds of that number believe that the system requires a major overhaul. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A35231-2005Mar14?language=printer
Senate Amendment Vote. To express the sense of the Senate that Congress should reject any Social Security plan that requires deep benefit cuts or a massive increase in debt.
A 50-50 vote. In addition to all 44 Democrats and Independent Jeffords, the amendment also garnered votes from five Republicans -- Collins, Snowe, Dewine, Specter, and Graham. It’s helpful that with these exceptions, the Republicans are now on record as favoring deep cuts in Social Security as well as massuve debt. http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00049
What’s Happening, Iraq: Looting of weapons sites: Unfortunately, no public figures announced that this admission was further evidence that we never did care about wmd; why else would we allow weapons to be carted off and, assumedly, doled out / sold to the highest bidder? Do note that the looted material included "equipment that could be used to make missile parts, chemical weapons or centrifuges essential for enriching uranium for atom bombs."
Still another reason for impeachment.
Italy Withdraws: The Shrinking Coalition of the Drilling
Italy will begin withdrawing its 3,000 troops from Iraq in September, the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, announced today.
"We will begin to reduce our contingent even before the end of the year, starting in September, in agreement with our allies," he said in an interview on state television RAI.
Withdrawing Italian troops "will depend on the capability of the Iraqi government to give itself structures for acceptable security," the ANSA news agency quoted Mr Berlusconi as saying. "I've spoken about it with Tony Blair, and it's the public opinion of our countries that expects this decision."
The move will be a blow to the US, which has struggled to find countries willing to contribute troops following a wave of kidnappings and beheadings of foreigners in Iraq and an ongoing bloody insurgency. Italy's 3,000 troops, deployed in Nasiriyah, southern Iraq, constitute the fourth largest contingent after the US, Britain and South Korea. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1438372,00.html
Non-Combat “Ailments” Increase. Not surprising that there is more chest pain, back pain, hernias, as "We've never gone to war with guys as old as this before." http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=26839&archive=true
Halliburton: Houston Chronicle on the overcharges; excess over billing 108 million.
Iraq needed fuel. Halliburton Co. was ordered to get it there — quick. So the Houston-based contractor charged the Pentagon $27.5 million to ship $82,100 worth of cooking and heating fuel. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3085603
The LATimes also had a piece on corruption in the reconstruction projects. A U.S. contractor repeatedly warned a top U.S. general overseeing a reconstruction project for the Iraqi army that a Lebanese middleman might be funneling kickbacks to the Iraqi defense ministry, noting this past November, "If we proceed down the road we are currently on, there will be serious legal issues that will land us all in jail," the contractor wrote in November. Eight days later he was killed in an ambush near Baghdad. The FBI is supposedly investigating the killing. The U.S. military is still working with the middleman. $24 million is still missing. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-contract15mar15,0,4285507.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Vanity Fair has a report on a Halliburton subsidiary’s [KBR] excessive billing for living expenses and more.
"If the administration shares our concern about not wasting taxpayers' money, you would think they would want to learn from the auditors and whistle-blowers what has gone wrong," Congressman Waxman says. Instead, the government has ignored its own auditors—both at the Pentagon and at the G.A.O.—who found glaring irregularities in KBR's books on Iraq. "Why has the administration turned away?" Waxman says. "I don't know as I have an answer to that question." http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/050307roco02?print=true
Prisoner Abuse / Murder Those “few bad apples” certainly were everywhere.
At least 26 prisoners have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002 in what Army and Navy investigators have concluded or suspect were acts of criminal homicide, according to military officials.
The number of confirmed or suspected cases is much higher than any accounting the military has previously reported. A Pentagon report sent to Congress last week cited only six prisoner deaths caused by abuse, but that partial tally was limited to what the author, Vice Adm. Albert T. Church III of the Navy, called "closed, substantiated abuse cases" as of last September. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/16/politics/16abuse.html?hp&ex=1111035600&en=943ed6fbc944e7de&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Same Sex Marriage Ruling; Two ways to look at this: (1) Progress, and (2) an issue for Junior and his successor
A trial court judge ruled Monday that California's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, comparing it to archaic laws that once blocked interracial marriage and promoted "separate but equal" segregation.
If upheld on appeal, the decision could lead to California becoming the second state in the nation -- after Massachusetts -- in which gay men and lesbians have the same access to marriage licenses as heterosexual couples. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34254-2005Mar14.html
Fake News: The Bushies won’t abide by the finding of the General Accountability Office (formerly the General Accounting Office, if you’re confused) that fake news ain’t kosher. The legal advice that such is perfectly legal comes from and, then note, should come from the Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. This is the very office that issued the opinion that the president can defy federal law in the name of national security (torture, yes!), and then retracted that memo when Gonzales was being confirmed.
The Bush administration, rejecting an opinion from the Government Accountability Office, said last week that it is legal for federal agencies to feed TV stations prepackaged news stories that do not disclose the government's role in producing them. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35010-2005Mar14.html
Fair and Balanced ?
Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reports on a new study of TV news. No surprise: Fox News is much more opinion than news.
"In covering the Iraq war last year, 73 percent of the stories on Fox News included the opinions of the anchors and journalists reporting them, a new study says. By contrast, 29 percent of the war reports on MSNBC and 2 percent of those on CNN included the journalists' own views. These findings -- the figures were similar for coverage of other stories -- 'seem to challenge' Fox's slogan of 'we report, you decide,' says the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Bill O'Reilly, host of the "no-spin zone," is a bona fide leader in dialing in the spin: "As for the most popular prime-time shows, nearly every story -- 97 percent -- contained opinion on Fox's 'O'Reilly Factor'; 24 percent on MSNBC's 'Hardball with Chris Matthews'; and 0.9 percent on CNN's 'Larry King Live.'" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/nation/columns/kurtzhoward/?nav=pq
CBS After Dan Rather: Liberal CBS? Examples are terribly numerous
Recall:
* In late September, CBS postponed a prepared report questioning one of the Bush administration's rationales for invading Iraq until after the election, noting that it didn’t want to influence the election.
*Media Matters for America reviewed three months of CBS Evening News broadcasts and found that the program featured Republicans and conservatives far more often than Democrats and progressives.
* Last month, Bob Schieffer, Rather’s replacement, downplayed the costs of Bush's plan to privatize Social Security, claiming that "critics" say the plan would cost trillions of dollars and would do nothing to extend the solvency of the program. Of course, that isn't just something "critics" say -- it's the truth as Bush administration itself has admitted. Schieffer’s brother is a former co-owner with Bush of the Texas Ranger baseball team.
* As Media Matters notes, ‘Schieffer introduced a segment about Chile's privatized Social Security system that downplayed the serious problems the system caused. While acknowledging that some critics say the program has flaws, CBS' Trish Regan concluded: "Still, most people who consistently contribute to their accounts, like Hector Espinoza, says the system works." In January, The New York Times explained that problems with Chile's system are far deeper than the CBS report indicates.’ http://mediamatters.org/items/200503110008
Arctic Drilling: Critical vote today/tomorrow. Predictions are for a very close vote, as some Republican moderates will join Democrats. The key, as noted in today’s WaPost article, was the Repubs changing the rules.
Because the refuge drilling provision is attached to the budget, supporters need only a 51-vote majority for approval. If opening the refuge were considered as separate legislation, a 60-vote majority would be needed to block a filibuster, a delaying tactic that has previously been used to defeat drilling. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38235-2005Mar15.html
Bush the Comic…or Idiot. Seems that Junior has been turned loose so as to allow his inner frat boy to take center stage. Prepare to grimace…or worse
The crowd is silent. Bush's face freezes in a guess-you-had-to-be-there smile.
Laughter comes eventually, in deference to the president's game effort, if not his joke (showing that it's possible to hate the joke but love the jokester). There are smiling grimaces and shaking heads, looks of amused disbelief that ask:
Did the Leader of the Free World really just go off on such a goofball digression?
In fact he did, and has been doing so often during otherwise sober discussions on Social Security, energy policy and foreign affairs. Like many politicians, Bush has always used humor as an icebreaker or all-purpose tool of endearment. But he has recently been unleashing (or inflicting) his inner-laugh-riot to a point where he is resembling a Texas auctioneer pitching private accounts on the Borscht Belt.
Last Wednesday Bush began a speech in Columbus, Ohio, by mentioning the international body-building competition that was held there the previous weekend. "When the vice president heard I was coming, he asked me to pick up an application form for next year's competition," the president joked, and what better image to begin a speech on energy policy? http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32281-2005Mar13?language=printer
-R
The Washington Post poll showed that the support dropped a bit further for the Right’s Social Security plan. One should note the bad news in the poll, that the incessant talk of crisis, broke, etc. has resulted in 71% now agreeing that the program is headed for a “crisis,” and two-thirds of that number believe that the system requires a major overhaul. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A35231-2005Mar14?language=printer
Senate Amendment Vote. To express the sense of the Senate that Congress should reject any Social Security plan that requires deep benefit cuts or a massive increase in debt.
A 50-50 vote. In addition to all 44 Democrats and Independent Jeffords, the amendment also garnered votes from five Republicans -- Collins, Snowe, Dewine, Specter, and Graham. It’s helpful that with these exceptions, the Republicans are now on record as favoring deep cuts in Social Security as well as massuve debt. http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00049
What’s Happening, Iraq: Looting of weapons sites: Unfortunately, no public figures announced that this admission was further evidence that we never did care about wmd; why else would we allow weapons to be carted off and, assumedly, doled out / sold to the highest bidder? Do note that the looted material included "equipment that could be used to make missile parts, chemical weapons or centrifuges essential for enriching uranium for atom bombs."
Still another reason for impeachment.
Italy Withdraws: The Shrinking Coalition of the Drilling
Italy will begin withdrawing its 3,000 troops from Iraq in September, the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, announced today.
"We will begin to reduce our contingent even before the end of the year, starting in September, in agreement with our allies," he said in an interview on state television RAI.
Withdrawing Italian troops "will depend on the capability of the Iraqi government to give itself structures for acceptable security," the ANSA news agency quoted Mr Berlusconi as saying. "I've spoken about it with Tony Blair, and it's the public opinion of our countries that expects this decision."
The move will be a blow to the US, which has struggled to find countries willing to contribute troops following a wave of kidnappings and beheadings of foreigners in Iraq and an ongoing bloody insurgency. Italy's 3,000 troops, deployed in Nasiriyah, southern Iraq, constitute the fourth largest contingent after the US, Britain and South Korea. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1438372,00.html
Non-Combat “Ailments” Increase. Not surprising that there is more chest pain, back pain, hernias, as "We've never gone to war with guys as old as this before." http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=26839&archive=true
Halliburton: Houston Chronicle on the overcharges; excess over billing 108 million.
Iraq needed fuel. Halliburton Co. was ordered to get it there — quick. So the Houston-based contractor charged the Pentagon $27.5 million to ship $82,100 worth of cooking and heating fuel. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3085603
The LATimes also had a piece on corruption in the reconstruction projects. A U.S. contractor repeatedly warned a top U.S. general overseeing a reconstruction project for the Iraqi army that a Lebanese middleman might be funneling kickbacks to the Iraqi defense ministry, noting this past November, "If we proceed down the road we are currently on, there will be serious legal issues that will land us all in jail," the contractor wrote in November. Eight days later he was killed in an ambush near Baghdad. The FBI is supposedly investigating the killing. The U.S. military is still working with the middleman. $24 million is still missing. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-contract15mar15,0,4285507.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Vanity Fair has a report on a Halliburton subsidiary’s [KBR] excessive billing for living expenses and more.
"If the administration shares our concern about not wasting taxpayers' money, you would think they would want to learn from the auditors and whistle-blowers what has gone wrong," Congressman Waxman says. Instead, the government has ignored its own auditors—both at the Pentagon and at the G.A.O.—who found glaring irregularities in KBR's books on Iraq. "Why has the administration turned away?" Waxman says. "I don't know as I have an answer to that question." http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/050307roco02?print=true
Prisoner Abuse / Murder Those “few bad apples” certainly were everywhere.
At least 26 prisoners have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002 in what Army and Navy investigators have concluded or suspect were acts of criminal homicide, according to military officials.
The number of confirmed or suspected cases is much higher than any accounting the military has previously reported. A Pentagon report sent to Congress last week cited only six prisoner deaths caused by abuse, but that partial tally was limited to what the author, Vice Adm. Albert T. Church III of the Navy, called "closed, substantiated abuse cases" as of last September. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/16/politics/16abuse.html?hp&ex=1111035600&en=943ed6fbc944e7de&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Same Sex Marriage Ruling; Two ways to look at this: (1) Progress, and (2) an issue for Junior and his successor
A trial court judge ruled Monday that California's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, comparing it to archaic laws that once blocked interracial marriage and promoted "separate but equal" segregation.
If upheld on appeal, the decision could lead to California becoming the second state in the nation -- after Massachusetts -- in which gay men and lesbians have the same access to marriage licenses as heterosexual couples. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34254-2005Mar14.html
Fake News: The Bushies won’t abide by the finding of the General Accountability Office (formerly the General Accounting Office, if you’re confused) that fake news ain’t kosher. The legal advice that such is perfectly legal comes from and, then note, should come from the Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. This is the very office that issued the opinion that the president can defy federal law in the name of national security (torture, yes!), and then retracted that memo when Gonzales was being confirmed.
The Bush administration, rejecting an opinion from the Government Accountability Office, said last week that it is legal for federal agencies to feed TV stations prepackaged news stories that do not disclose the government's role in producing them. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35010-2005Mar14.html
Fair and Balanced ?
Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reports on a new study of TV news. No surprise: Fox News is much more opinion than news.
"In covering the Iraq war last year, 73 percent of the stories on Fox News included the opinions of the anchors and journalists reporting them, a new study says. By contrast, 29 percent of the war reports on MSNBC and 2 percent of those on CNN included the journalists' own views. These findings -- the figures were similar for coverage of other stories -- 'seem to challenge' Fox's slogan of 'we report, you decide,' says the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Bill O'Reilly, host of the "no-spin zone," is a bona fide leader in dialing in the spin: "As for the most popular prime-time shows, nearly every story -- 97 percent -- contained opinion on Fox's 'O'Reilly Factor'; 24 percent on MSNBC's 'Hardball with Chris Matthews'; and 0.9 percent on CNN's 'Larry King Live.'" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/nation/columns/kurtzhoward/?nav=pq
CBS After Dan Rather: Liberal CBS? Examples are terribly numerous
Recall:
* In late September, CBS postponed a prepared report questioning one of the Bush administration's rationales for invading Iraq until after the election, noting that it didn’t want to influence the election.
*Media Matters for America reviewed three months of CBS Evening News broadcasts and found that the program featured Republicans and conservatives far more often than Democrats and progressives.
* Last month, Bob Schieffer, Rather’s replacement, downplayed the costs of Bush's plan to privatize Social Security, claiming that "critics" say the plan would cost trillions of dollars and would do nothing to extend the solvency of the program. Of course, that isn't just something "critics" say -- it's the truth as Bush administration itself has admitted. Schieffer’s brother is a former co-owner with Bush of the Texas Ranger baseball team.
* As Media Matters notes, ‘Schieffer introduced a segment about Chile's privatized Social Security system that downplayed the serious problems the system caused. While acknowledging that some critics say the program has flaws, CBS' Trish Regan concluded: "Still, most people who consistently contribute to their accounts, like Hector Espinoza, says the system works." In January, The New York Times explained that problems with Chile's system are far deeper than the CBS report indicates.’ http://mediamatters.org/items/200503110008
Arctic Drilling: Critical vote today/tomorrow. Predictions are for a very close vote, as some Republican moderates will join Democrats. The key, as noted in today’s WaPost article, was the Repubs changing the rules.
Because the refuge drilling provision is attached to the budget, supporters need only a 51-vote majority for approval. If opening the refuge were considered as separate legislation, a 60-vote majority would be needed to block a filibuster, a delaying tactic that has previously been used to defeat drilling. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38235-2005Mar15.html
Bush the Comic…or Idiot. Seems that Junior has been turned loose so as to allow his inner frat boy to take center stage. Prepare to grimace…or worse
The crowd is silent. Bush's face freezes in a guess-you-had-to-be-there smile.
Laughter comes eventually, in deference to the president's game effort, if not his joke (showing that it's possible to hate the joke but love the jokester). There are smiling grimaces and shaking heads, looks of amused disbelief that ask:
Did the Leader of the Free World really just go off on such a goofball digression?
In fact he did, and has been doing so often during otherwise sober discussions on Social Security, energy policy and foreign affairs. Like many politicians, Bush has always used humor as an icebreaker or all-purpose tool of endearment. But he has recently been unleashing (or inflicting) his inner-laugh-riot to a point where he is resembling a Texas auctioneer pitching private accounts on the Borscht Belt.
Last Wednesday Bush began a speech in Columbus, Ohio, by mentioning the international body-building competition that was held there the previous weekend. "When the vice president heard I was coming, he asked me to pick up an application form for next year's competition," the president joked, and what better image to begin a speech on energy policy? http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32281-2005Mar13?language=printer
-R
Monday, March 14, 2005
Our Infrastructure: The American Society of Civil Engineers did their first report in 3+ years. Do we care about our water, buildings, bridges, etc?
With new grades for the first time since 2001, our nation's infrastructure has shown little to no improvement since receiving a collective D+ in 2001, with some areas sliding toward failing grades.
http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/index.cfm
Culture Wars: Evolution under the gun: Bush said ‘the jury is still out’ as to the ‘theory’, and the Right is pushing policies in 19 different states that seek to take us back to pre-Enlightenment days, i.e. to question the science of evolution and to teach “intelligent design.”
The growing trend has alarmed scientists and educators who consider it a masked effort to replace science with theology. But 80 years after the Scopes "monkey" trial -- in which a Tennessee man was prosecuted for violating state law by teaching evolution -- it is the anti-evolutionary scientists and Christian activists who say they are the ones being persecuted, by a liberal establishment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32444-2005Mar13.html
DeLay’s Troubles: Even Republicans are getting queasy as to his future
"The situation is negatively fluid," said one consultant. "If death comes from a thousand cuts, Tom DeLay is into a couple hundred." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32389-2005Mar13.html
Anonymous’ Take on Extraordinary Rendition: Michael Scheuer, the former CIA asset, asserts that Gonzales, Bush et al knew what the policy meant- that suspects were being sent to countries where they were likely to be tortured.
Because it makes clear that in dealing with detainees in 1998, and today as well, the C.I.A. is following orders from the president and his National Security Council advisers. Likewise, in 1998 and today, the agency is executing operations under those orders only after they are approved by a vast cohort of lawyers at the security council, the Justice Department and the C.I.A. itself.
I know this because, as head of the C.I.A.'s bin Laden desk, I started the Qaeda detainee/rendition program and ran it for 40 months. And in my 22 years at the agency I never a saw a set of operations that was more closely scrutinized by the director of central intelligence, the National Security Council and the Congressional intelligence committees. Nor did I ever see one that was more blessed (plagued?) by the expert guidance of lawyers. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/11/opinion/11scheuer.html?
Israel’s Plans to Attack Iran? The Times of London has a report that an air and land attack is drawn up. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’ll happen…More likely is a drawn out “diplomatic” game where the Bushies appear to be supportive of European efforts, then the issue is referred to the UN and, once again, the Organization is stymied and the Bushies can say “Told ya!” What happens then…?
Israel has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear programme.
The inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave “initial authorisation” for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert.
Israeli forces have used a mock-up of Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the desert to practise destroying it. Their tactics include raids by Israel’s elite Shaldag (Kingfisher) commando unit and airstrikes by F-15 jets from 69 Squadron, using bunker-busting bombs to penetrate underground facilities. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1522978,00.html
Filibuster Threatened: The time is approaching when the Republican Right could effect the big change in the Senate, the so-called “nuclear option”. Will “moderate” Republicans resist?
Though the nuclear option was ostensibly designed to overcome Democratic filibusters of George W. Bush’s appellate-court nominees—twelve of whom he recently, defiantly renominated—it would apply to Supreme Court appointments, too. With Rehnquist on his way out and more justices soon to follow, Republicans, with nothing more than a bare 51-vote majority (as opposed to the 60 needed to halt a filibuster), could confirm anyone they pleased. “I keep saying to people, ‘I know you care about the Supreme Court,’ ” says People for the American Way president Ralph Neas. “But in the next four to eight weeks, there could be a vote that would render moot all the future votes on Supreme Court nominees. The right knows this is its 45-month window to shape the Court for the next 30 to 40 years. If Republicans win on the nuclear option, they could get John Ashcroft confirmed as chief justice, or Pat Robertson.” http://www.nymetro.com/nymetro/news/politics/columns/nationalinterest/11263/index.html
NY Times piece on Bush Propaganda machine. Kudos to the Times for a thorough review of the $254 million spent on public relations.
It is the kind of TV news coverage every president covets.
"Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.," a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A second report told of "another success" in the Bush administration's "drive to strengthen aviation security"; the reporter called it "one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history." A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration's determination to open markets for American farmers.
To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The "reporter" covering airport safety was actually a public relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department's office of communications.
Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?ei=5094&en=13c49ccf73932e2e&hp=&ex=1110690000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=
Left Disaffection: Can’t We Just Get Along…and work together?
Danny Schechter reports on his tiff with Moveon.org, that MoveOn has moved Right, dropping withdrawal from Iraq as one of its positions. Norman Solomon’s post on the internecine strife is on Danny’s web site:
Making Peace With the War in Iraq
Groundbreaking group not pushing for U.S. withdrawal
Sadly, it has come to this. Two years after the invasion of Iraq, the online powerhouse MoveOn.org— which built most of its member base with a strong antiwar message — is not pushing for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
With a network of more than three million “online activists,” the MoveOn leadership has decided against opposing the American occupation of Iraq. During the recent bloody months, none of MoveOn’s action alerts have addressed what Americans can do to help get the U.S. military out of that country. Likewise, the MoveOn.org website has continued to bypass the issue—even after Rep. Lynn Woolsey and two dozen cosponsors in the House of Representatives introduced a resolution in late January calling for swift removal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. http://www.newsdissector.org/blog/
What’s Happening, Iraq; We Had the Elections; So? Iraqis, much praised for voting, are wondering when the voting will affect security.
That leaves Iraqis, frightened by two large suicide bombings this month that killed nearly 200 people, wondering why they braved insurgents' threats to go to the ballot box.
Shopkeeper Mohammed Saddoun stood in front of his storefront grocery last week with several friends, lamenting the delay.
"I am not only frustrated, I am ready to burst with anger," Saddoun said. "We put our souls in the … palms of our hands and went to the ballot centers. You remember the threats there were that they would kill people who voted.
"Well, if they cannot form a government, then I think they are not qualified to manage the country's affairs. This vacuum of power increases the number of terrorist acts, it opens the way for the terrorists." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-frustrated13mar13,0,4558088,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Europeans Investigate Rendition Policy They’re not happy w/ possible law-breaking.
Although the CIA usually carries out the operations with the help or blessing of friendly local intelligence agencies, law enforcement authorities in Italy, Germany and Sweden are examining whether U.S. agents may have broken local laws by detaining terrorist suspects on European soil and subjecting them to abuse or maltreatment.
The CIA has kept details of rendition cases a closely guarded secret, but has defended the controversial practice as an effective and legal way to prevent terrorism. Intelligence officials have testified that they have relied on the tactic with greater frequency since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Bush administration has received backing for renditions from governments that have been criticized for their human rights records, including Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan, where many of the suspects are taken for interrogation. But the administration is getting a much different reception in Europe, where lawmakers and prosecutors are questioning whether the practice is a blatant violation of local sovereignty and human rights. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30275-2005Mar12.html
-R
With new grades for the first time since 2001, our nation's infrastructure has shown little to no improvement since receiving a collective D+ in 2001, with some areas sliding toward failing grades.
http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/index.cfm
Culture Wars: Evolution under the gun: Bush said ‘the jury is still out’ as to the ‘theory’, and the Right is pushing policies in 19 different states that seek to take us back to pre-Enlightenment days, i.e. to question the science of evolution and to teach “intelligent design.”
The growing trend has alarmed scientists and educators who consider it a masked effort to replace science with theology. But 80 years after the Scopes "monkey" trial -- in which a Tennessee man was prosecuted for violating state law by teaching evolution -- it is the anti-evolutionary scientists and Christian activists who say they are the ones being persecuted, by a liberal establishment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32444-2005Mar13.html
DeLay’s Troubles: Even Republicans are getting queasy as to his future
"The situation is negatively fluid," said one consultant. "If death comes from a thousand cuts, Tom DeLay is into a couple hundred." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32389-2005Mar13.html
Anonymous’ Take on Extraordinary Rendition: Michael Scheuer, the former CIA asset, asserts that Gonzales, Bush et al knew what the policy meant- that suspects were being sent to countries where they were likely to be tortured.
Because it makes clear that in dealing with detainees in 1998, and today as well, the C.I.A. is following orders from the president and his National Security Council advisers. Likewise, in 1998 and today, the agency is executing operations under those orders only after they are approved by a vast cohort of lawyers at the security council, the Justice Department and the C.I.A. itself.
I know this because, as head of the C.I.A.'s bin Laden desk, I started the Qaeda detainee/rendition program and ran it for 40 months. And in my 22 years at the agency I never a saw a set of operations that was more closely scrutinized by the director of central intelligence, the National Security Council and the Congressional intelligence committees. Nor did I ever see one that was more blessed (plagued?) by the expert guidance of lawyers. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/11/opinion/11scheuer.html?
Israel’s Plans to Attack Iran? The Times of London has a report that an air and land attack is drawn up. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’ll happen…More likely is a drawn out “diplomatic” game where the Bushies appear to be supportive of European efforts, then the issue is referred to the UN and, once again, the Organization is stymied and the Bushies can say “Told ya!” What happens then…?
Israel has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear programme.
The inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave “initial authorisation” for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert.
Israeli forces have used a mock-up of Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the desert to practise destroying it. Their tactics include raids by Israel’s elite Shaldag (Kingfisher) commando unit and airstrikes by F-15 jets from 69 Squadron, using bunker-busting bombs to penetrate underground facilities. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1522978,00.html
Filibuster Threatened: The time is approaching when the Republican Right could effect the big change in the Senate, the so-called “nuclear option”. Will “moderate” Republicans resist?
Though the nuclear option was ostensibly designed to overcome Democratic filibusters of George W. Bush’s appellate-court nominees—twelve of whom he recently, defiantly renominated—it would apply to Supreme Court appointments, too. With Rehnquist on his way out and more justices soon to follow, Republicans, with nothing more than a bare 51-vote majority (as opposed to the 60 needed to halt a filibuster), could confirm anyone they pleased. “I keep saying to people, ‘I know you care about the Supreme Court,’ ” says People for the American Way president Ralph Neas. “But in the next four to eight weeks, there could be a vote that would render moot all the future votes on Supreme Court nominees. The right knows this is its 45-month window to shape the Court for the next 30 to 40 years. If Republicans win on the nuclear option, they could get John Ashcroft confirmed as chief justice, or Pat Robertson.” http://www.nymetro.com/nymetro/news/politics/columns/nationalinterest/11263/index.html
NY Times piece on Bush Propaganda machine. Kudos to the Times for a thorough review of the $254 million spent on public relations.
It is the kind of TV news coverage every president covets.
"Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.," a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A second report told of "another success" in the Bush administration's "drive to strengthen aviation security"; the reporter called it "one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history." A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration's determination to open markets for American farmers.
To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The "reporter" covering airport safety was actually a public relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department's office of communications.
Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html?ei=5094&en=13c49ccf73932e2e&hp=&ex=1110690000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=
Left Disaffection: Can’t We Just Get Along…and work together?
Danny Schechter reports on his tiff with Moveon.org, that MoveOn has moved Right, dropping withdrawal from Iraq as one of its positions. Norman Solomon’s post on the internecine strife is on Danny’s web site:
Making Peace With the War in Iraq
Groundbreaking group not pushing for U.S. withdrawal
Sadly, it has come to this. Two years after the invasion of Iraq, the online powerhouse MoveOn.org— which built most of its member base with a strong antiwar message — is not pushing for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
With a network of more than three million “online activists,” the MoveOn leadership has decided against opposing the American occupation of Iraq. During the recent bloody months, none of MoveOn’s action alerts have addressed what Americans can do to help get the U.S. military out of that country. Likewise, the MoveOn.org website has continued to bypass the issue—even after Rep. Lynn Woolsey and two dozen cosponsors in the House of Representatives introduced a resolution in late January calling for swift removal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. http://www.newsdissector.org/blog/
What’s Happening, Iraq; We Had the Elections; So? Iraqis, much praised for voting, are wondering when the voting will affect security.
That leaves Iraqis, frightened by two large suicide bombings this month that killed nearly 200 people, wondering why they braved insurgents' threats to go to the ballot box.
Shopkeeper Mohammed Saddoun stood in front of his storefront grocery last week with several friends, lamenting the delay.
"I am not only frustrated, I am ready to burst with anger," Saddoun said. "We put our souls in the … palms of our hands and went to the ballot centers. You remember the threats there were that they would kill people who voted.
"Well, if they cannot form a government, then I think they are not qualified to manage the country's affairs. This vacuum of power increases the number of terrorist acts, it opens the way for the terrorists." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-frustrated13mar13,0,4558088,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Europeans Investigate Rendition Policy They’re not happy w/ possible law-breaking.
Although the CIA usually carries out the operations with the help or blessing of friendly local intelligence agencies, law enforcement authorities in Italy, Germany and Sweden are examining whether U.S. agents may have broken local laws by detaining terrorist suspects on European soil and subjecting them to abuse or maltreatment.
The CIA has kept details of rendition cases a closely guarded secret, but has defended the controversial practice as an effective and legal way to prevent terrorism. Intelligence officials have testified that they have relied on the tactic with greater frequency since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Bush administration has received backing for renditions from governments that have been criticized for their human rights records, including Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan, where many of the suspects are taken for interrogation. But the administration is getting a much different reception in Europe, where lawmakers and prosecutors are questioning whether the practice is a blatant violation of local sovereignty and human rights. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30275-2005Mar12.html
-R
