Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Syria:
Mr. Ritter asks questions that the corp. media fails to ask.
Democracy Now ! - Scott Ritter: By Releasing Intel, US Endorses Israel's Illegal Bombing of Alleged Syrian Nuke Site
"AMY GOODMAN: Your evaluation of this whole situation, the information that has been presented to Congress on Friday?
SCOTT RITTER: Well, first of all, we have to be concerned about the evidence. We have interior photographs and exterior shots and nothing that links the two. And so, on the surface, I would say that if you’re bringing this evidence to a court of law—it’s a strange dimension, the rule of law, when we speak of American foreign policy lately—you would have trouble having anybody say yes, this is definitive evidence that links the allegations to this specific site in question.
But let’s just assume for a second that the data is in fact accurate. I have to take exception with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he says that the alleged activities are against international conventions. Actually, they’re not. If Syria had in fact been constructing the reactor they’ve been accused of, they were in total conformity with international law. The nonproliferation treaty, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which Syria is a signatory, requires that facilities be declared to the IAEA only when nuclear materials are to be introduced to these facilities, that a facility under construction is not a declarable item. And so, it’s absurd to sit there and say that just because Syria and North Korea were pouring concrete that they are somehow breaking the law.
And this notion that the reactor was on the verge of becoming operational, again, is absurd. You know, there would have to be literally thousands of pounds of pure graphite that would have to be introduced to this facility, and there’s no evidence in the destruction. You know, there were a number of reporters who went to the site after it was blown up. If it had been bombed and there was graphite introduced, you would have a signature all over the area of destroyed graphite blocks. There would be graphite lying around, etc. This was not the case.
I don’t know what was going on at this site. If the images are accurate, it appears that Syria was producing a very, very small research reactor. But it is not a reactor usable in a nuclear weapons program. Syria was not violating the law.
And if there were concerns over this reactor, a simple referring of the material, these photographs, to the International Atomic Energy Agency would have produced an insistence on special inspections that would have had the inspectors on the site actually determining what was going on and a peaceful resolution of the problem. This shows that the United States and Israel have a wanton disregard for the rule of law. And this is especially critical when the United States is holding up the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a standard in which we hold Iran and North Korea accountable to...
...But the bottom line is that it really doesn’t matter what the US government says was going on there or wasn’t going on there; the site was bombed. And the United States government has not condemned this bombing.
We are signatories to the Charter of the United Nations. We are a permanent member of the Security Council. And it is our responsibility to ensure that the sovereignty of member nations is protected. And what occurred in September of last year was that the sovereignty of Syria was violated by Israel in a preemptive, unprovoked attack against a site that was not in any way representative of a threat to Israel or a violation of international law. This is where people should be focused on, not, you know, the to-ing and fro-ing about what was or what wasn’t going on in Syria. What we’re talking about here is the violation of a nation’s sovereignty, an act of war, unprovoked, preemptive, by one nation against another. And the United States is remaining not only silent, but we’re actually siding with the aggressor..."
Mr. Ritter asks questions that the corp. media fails to ask.
Democracy Now ! - Scott Ritter: By Releasing Intel, US Endorses Israel's Illegal Bombing of Alleged Syrian Nuke Site
"AMY GOODMAN: Your evaluation of this whole situation, the information that has been presented to Congress on Friday?
SCOTT RITTER: Well, first of all, we have to be concerned about the evidence. We have interior photographs and exterior shots and nothing that links the two. And so, on the surface, I would say that if you’re bringing this evidence to a court of law—it’s a strange dimension, the rule of law, when we speak of American foreign policy lately—you would have trouble having anybody say yes, this is definitive evidence that links the allegations to this specific site in question.
But let’s just assume for a second that the data is in fact accurate. I have to take exception with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he says that the alleged activities are against international conventions. Actually, they’re not. If Syria had in fact been constructing the reactor they’ve been accused of, they were in total conformity with international law. The nonproliferation treaty, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which Syria is a signatory, requires that facilities be declared to the IAEA only when nuclear materials are to be introduced to these facilities, that a facility under construction is not a declarable item. And so, it’s absurd to sit there and say that just because Syria and North Korea were pouring concrete that they are somehow breaking the law.
And this notion that the reactor was on the verge of becoming operational, again, is absurd. You know, there would have to be literally thousands of pounds of pure graphite that would have to be introduced to this facility, and there’s no evidence in the destruction. You know, there were a number of reporters who went to the site after it was blown up. If it had been bombed and there was graphite introduced, you would have a signature all over the area of destroyed graphite blocks. There would be graphite lying around, etc. This was not the case.
I don’t know what was going on at this site. If the images are accurate, it appears that Syria was producing a very, very small research reactor. But it is not a reactor usable in a nuclear weapons program. Syria was not violating the law.
And if there were concerns over this reactor, a simple referring of the material, these photographs, to the International Atomic Energy Agency would have produced an insistence on special inspections that would have had the inspectors on the site actually determining what was going on and a peaceful resolution of the problem. This shows that the United States and Israel have a wanton disregard for the rule of law. And this is especially critical when the United States is holding up the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a standard in which we hold Iran and North Korea accountable to...
...But the bottom line is that it really doesn’t matter what the US government says was going on there or wasn’t going on there; the site was bombed. And the United States government has not condemned this bombing.
We are signatories to the Charter of the United Nations. We are a permanent member of the Security Council. And it is our responsibility to ensure that the sovereignty of member nations is protected. And what occurred in September of last year was that the sovereignty of Syria was violated by Israel in a preemptive, unprovoked attack against a site that was not in any way representative of a threat to Israel or a violation of international law. This is where people should be focused on, not, you know, the to-ing and fro-ing about what was or what wasn’t going on in Syria. What we’re talking about here is the violation of a nation’s sovereignty, an act of war, unprovoked, preemptive, by one nation against another. And the United States is remaining not only silent, but we’re actually siding with the aggressor..."
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Israel and the Occupied Territories:
Washington Post: Israelis Claim Secret Agreement With US
"A letter that President Bush personally delivered to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon four years ago has emerged as a significant obstacle to the president's efforts to forge a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians during his last year in office.
Ehud Olmert, the current Israeli prime minister, said this week that Bush's letter gave the Jewish state permission to expand the West Bank settlements that it hopes to retain in a final peace deal, even though Bush's peace plan officially calls for a freeze of Israeli settlements across Palestinian territories on the West Bank. In an interview this week, Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weissglas, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed this understanding in a secret agreement reached between Israel and the United States in the spring of 2005, just before Israel withdrew from Gaza..."
On Torture:
CNN: Lawyer fears 9/11 mastermind trial will be 'insanity'
"Prescott Prince is a small-town lawyer who has never taken a death penalty case to trial. Yet he finds himself involved in one of the biggest capital punishment cases this century: He's defending the alleged mastermind of the September 11 terror attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
He readily acknowledges how his client is perceived as 'one of the most reviled people' in the world. But he says it's imperative that America give Mohammed a fair trial, just like anyone else accused of a crime.
No civilian court, he says, would accept confessions obtained after a defendant was mistreated. But the CIA admits Mohammed was waterboarded, a controversial interrogation technique that involves simulated drowning.
'I take the position that this is mock execution. ... Colloquially speaking, at least it's torture,' Prince said.
The fact that whatever Mohammed said during such duress could be used at trial is alarming to Prince.
'That's not the rule of law. That's just insanity,'..."
NYPD:
This will not do anything to improve relations between the police and the black community.
Other names from the past come to mind: Amadu Dialo (shot 41 times for reaching for his wallet), Abner Louima (tortured in a Brooklyn precinct men's room).
NY Times: Three NY Detectives Acquitted in Bell Shooting
"Three detectives were found not guilty Friday morning on all charges in the shooting death of Sean Bell, who died in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a club in Jamaica, Queens..."
The Lies That Took A Fearful Nation To War:
Hopefully, Col. Wilkerson will rebutt this non-sensical attempt to rewrite history.
The Raw Story: Iraq war architect blames Powell for Iraq
"The man who led the office that supplied the Bush Administration with 'raw intelligence' on Iraq now says everyone else is to blame but himself...
...On Thursday, Feith pointed his finger at everyone but himself regarding the war in Iraq. According to the Washington Post's Dana Milbank, at a book-launch party for his new book, 'War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism,' Feith blamed a laundry list of officials for failing 'to challenge the logic of going to war.'
'He argued that former secretary of state Colin Powell and his deputy, Richard Armitage, were the ones who failed to challenge the logic of going to war -- not him,' Milbank wrote. 'He suggested that Powell, Armitage, Franks, former Iraq viceroy Jerry Bremer and even Feith's old boss, Donald Rumsfeld, should be blamed for the postwar chaos in Iraq -- not him. He blamed then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice for the way she operated ('fundamental differences were essentially papered over rather than resolved'). He accused the CIA of 'improper' and unprofessional behavior. And he implicitly blamed President Bush for not cracking down on insubordinate behavior at the State Department,'..."
Energy:
Roger Cohen: Bring on the Right Biofuels
"Fads come fast and furious in our viral age, and the reactions to them can be equally ferocious. That’s what we’re seeing right now with biofuels, which everyone loved until everyone decided they were the worst thing since the Black Death.
Where fuel distilled from plant matter was once hailed as an answer to everything from global warming to the geo-strategic power shift favoring repressive one-pipeline oil states, its now a 'scam' and 'part of the problem,' according to Time magazine. Ethanol has turned awful.
The supposed crimes of biofuels are manifold. They’re behind soaring global commodity prices, the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, increased rather than diminished greenhouse gases, food riots in Haiti, Indonesian deforestation and, no doubt, your mother-in-law’s toothache...
...Right now, the biofuel market is being grossly distorted by subsidies and trade barriers in the United States and the European Union. These make it rewarding to produce ethanol from corn or grains that are far less productive than sugarcane ethanol, divert land from food production (unlike sugarcane), and have dubious environmental credentials.
What sense does it make to have a surplus of environmentally friendly Brazilian sugar-based ethanol with a yield eight times higher than U.S. corn ethanol and zero impact on food prices being kept from an American market by a tariff of 54 cents on a gallon while Iowan corn ethanol gets a subsidy?
'It would make a lot more sense to drop the tariff, drop the subsidy, and allow Brazilian ethanol into the United States,' said Philippe Reichstul, the chief executive of a biofuel company in São Paulo. 'Pressure on U.S. land will be slashed.'
The United States and Europe should maintain their biofuel targets. Pressure to scrap a European plan for renewable fuels to supply a tenth of all vehicle fuel by 2020 must be resisted while rethinking the policies that favor the wrong biofuels..."
Campaign 2008:
Daily Kos: Why Obama Really Lost Pennsylvania
"...The editorial boards of the major papers, a few columnists, and of course talk radio personalities have an influence. But nothing compares to this crowd. They set the tone and the terms of our national discussion. And they can move poll numbers like a toy.
And for the last two months, they have waged an all out assault on Barack Obama. It is unfortunate that the term 'swiftboat', when used as a verb, is attributed to the small group of hacks that made a few videos lying about John Kerry's war record. Because the real swiftboating didn't come from them. It came from the crowd shown above.
There will always be political hacks. People who lie, and try to make mountains out of flag pins. But it is only with the amplification and distortion of the our political discourse, facilitated by the babbling class above, that these hacks are allowed to have an impact.
It is simply incredible to watch now, as pundit after pundit, including some of our allies, act bewildered as to why Obama didn't win Pennsylvania when he spent so much money, as though the last two months never happened. As though the Reverend Wright swiftboating never happened. As though the NAFTA ploy never happened. As though the 'bitter' ploy never happened. As though the ABC 'debate' never happened..."
Washington Post: Israelis Claim Secret Agreement With US
"A letter that President Bush personally delivered to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon four years ago has emerged as a significant obstacle to the president's efforts to forge a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians during his last year in office.
Ehud Olmert, the current Israeli prime minister, said this week that Bush's letter gave the Jewish state permission to expand the West Bank settlements that it hopes to retain in a final peace deal, even though Bush's peace plan officially calls for a freeze of Israeli settlements across Palestinian territories on the West Bank. In an interview this week, Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weissglas, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed this understanding in a secret agreement reached between Israel and the United States in the spring of 2005, just before Israel withdrew from Gaza..."
On Torture:
CNN: Lawyer fears 9/11 mastermind trial will be 'insanity'
"Prescott Prince is a small-town lawyer who has never taken a death penalty case to trial. Yet he finds himself involved in one of the biggest capital punishment cases this century: He's defending the alleged mastermind of the September 11 terror attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
He readily acknowledges how his client is perceived as 'one of the most reviled people' in the world. But he says it's imperative that America give Mohammed a fair trial, just like anyone else accused of a crime.
No civilian court, he says, would accept confessions obtained after a defendant was mistreated. But the CIA admits Mohammed was waterboarded, a controversial interrogation technique that involves simulated drowning.
'I take the position that this is mock execution. ... Colloquially speaking, at least it's torture,' Prince said.
The fact that whatever Mohammed said during such duress could be used at trial is alarming to Prince.
'That's not the rule of law. That's just insanity,'..."
NYPD:
This will not do anything to improve relations between the police and the black community.
Other names from the past come to mind: Amadu Dialo (shot 41 times for reaching for his wallet), Abner Louima (tortured in a Brooklyn precinct men's room).
NY Times: Three NY Detectives Acquitted in Bell Shooting
"Three detectives were found not guilty Friday morning on all charges in the shooting death of Sean Bell, who died in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a club in Jamaica, Queens..."
The Lies That Took A Fearful Nation To War:
Hopefully, Col. Wilkerson will rebutt this non-sensical attempt to rewrite history.
The Raw Story: Iraq war architect blames Powell for Iraq
"The man who led the office that supplied the Bush Administration with 'raw intelligence' on Iraq now says everyone else is to blame but himself...
...On Thursday, Feith pointed his finger at everyone but himself regarding the war in Iraq. According to the Washington Post's Dana Milbank, at a book-launch party for his new book, 'War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism,' Feith blamed a laundry list of officials for failing 'to challenge the logic of going to war.'
'He argued that former secretary of state Colin Powell and his deputy, Richard Armitage, were the ones who failed to challenge the logic of going to war -- not him,' Milbank wrote. 'He suggested that Powell, Armitage, Franks, former Iraq viceroy Jerry Bremer and even Feith's old boss, Donald Rumsfeld, should be blamed for the postwar chaos in Iraq -- not him. He blamed then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice for the way she operated ('fundamental differences were essentially papered over rather than resolved'). He accused the CIA of 'improper' and unprofessional behavior. And he implicitly blamed President Bush for not cracking down on insubordinate behavior at the State Department,'..."
Energy:
Roger Cohen: Bring on the Right Biofuels
"Fads come fast and furious in our viral age, and the reactions to them can be equally ferocious. That’s what we’re seeing right now with biofuels, which everyone loved until everyone decided they were the worst thing since the Black Death.
Where fuel distilled from plant matter was once hailed as an answer to everything from global warming to the geo-strategic power shift favoring repressive one-pipeline oil states, its now a 'scam' and 'part of the problem,' according to Time magazine. Ethanol has turned awful.
The supposed crimes of biofuels are manifold. They’re behind soaring global commodity prices, the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, increased rather than diminished greenhouse gases, food riots in Haiti, Indonesian deforestation and, no doubt, your mother-in-law’s toothache...
...Right now, the biofuel market is being grossly distorted by subsidies and trade barriers in the United States and the European Union. These make it rewarding to produce ethanol from corn or grains that are far less productive than sugarcane ethanol, divert land from food production (unlike sugarcane), and have dubious environmental credentials.
What sense does it make to have a surplus of environmentally friendly Brazilian sugar-based ethanol with a yield eight times higher than U.S. corn ethanol and zero impact on food prices being kept from an American market by a tariff of 54 cents on a gallon while Iowan corn ethanol gets a subsidy?
'It would make a lot more sense to drop the tariff, drop the subsidy, and allow Brazilian ethanol into the United States,' said Philippe Reichstul, the chief executive of a biofuel company in São Paulo. 'Pressure on U.S. land will be slashed.'
The United States and Europe should maintain their biofuel targets. Pressure to scrap a European plan for renewable fuels to supply a tenth of all vehicle fuel by 2020 must be resisted while rethinking the policies that favor the wrong biofuels..."
Campaign 2008:
Daily Kos: Why Obama Really Lost Pennsylvania
"...The editorial boards of the major papers, a few columnists, and of course talk radio personalities have an influence. But nothing compares to this crowd. They set the tone and the terms of our national discussion. And they can move poll numbers like a toy.
And for the last two months, they have waged an all out assault on Barack Obama. It is unfortunate that the term 'swiftboat', when used as a verb, is attributed to the small group of hacks that made a few videos lying about John Kerry's war record. Because the real swiftboating didn't come from them. It came from the crowd shown above.
There will always be political hacks. People who lie, and try to make mountains out of flag pins. But it is only with the amplification and distortion of the our political discourse, facilitated by the babbling class above, that these hacks are allowed to have an impact.
It is simply incredible to watch now, as pundit after pundit, including some of our allies, act bewildered as to why Obama didn't win Pennsylvania when he spent so much money, as though the last two months never happened. As though the Reverend Wright swiftboating never happened. As though the NAFTA ploy never happened. As though the 'bitter' ploy never happened. As though the ABC 'debate' never happened..."
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Iran:
Robert Scheer: Clinton Threatens to ‘Obliterate’ Iran
"...On primary election day in Pennsylvania, even with polls showing her well ahead in that state, Hillary went lower in her grab for votes. Seizing upon a question as to how she would respond to a nuclear attack by Iran, which doesn’t have nuclear weapons, on Israel, which does, Hillary mocked reasoned discourse by promising to 'totally obliterate them,' in an apparent reference to the population of Iran. That is not a word gaffe; it is an assertion of the right of our nation to commit genocide on an unprecedented scale.
Shouldn’t the potential leader of a nation that used nuclear bombs to obliterate hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese employ extreme caution before making such a threat? Neither the Japanese then nor the Iranian people now were in a position to hold their leaders accountable, and to approve such collective punishment of innocents is to endorse terrorism. This from a candidate who attacked her opponent for suggesting targeted strikes against militants in Pakistan and derided his openness to negotiations with other national leaders as an irresponsible commitment on the part of a contender for the presidency.
Clearly the heat of a campaign is not the proper setting for consideration of a response to a threat from a nation that is a long way from developing nuclear weapons. Obviously the danger of Iran’s developing such weapons can be met with a range of alternatives, from the diplomatic to the military, that do not involve genocide and at any rate must be considered in moral and not solely political terms..."
With this move, assuming the Senate continues to impersonate a pushover, The Decider will now have his Yes Man for an attack on Iran before his term ends.
The Raw Story: Gates taps Petraeus to lead Central Command
"Army Gen. David Petraeus, the four-star general who led troops in Iraq for the past year, will be nominated by President Bush to be the next commander of U.S. Central Command, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.
Gates also announced that Bush will nominate Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno to replace Petraeus in Baghdad.
Gates' recommendation must go to President George W. Bush, who will then send the nomination to the U.S. Senate.
If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace Navy Adm. William Fallon, who abruptly stepped down in March after a magazine reported that he was at odds with President Bush over Iran policy...
...Democratic Senator Russ Feingold hailed the news of Petraeus' recommended promotion with a press release hinting that the commander of US forces in Iraq could be facing tough questions during his confirmation hearing.
'During his testimony before Congress, General Petraeus stated that since his focus has been on Iraq, he was unable to comment on why the threat from al Qaeda has increased, specifically in Afghanistan and Pakistan,' Feingold states in a press release sent to RAW STORY. 'As CENTCOM Commander, General Petraeus will be responsible for assessing the entire region, including the impact our presence in Iraq is having on our ability to combat al Qaeda and its affiliates throughout that region,'..."
Media Consolidation:
The purchase of a third New York newspaper by one owner should - but won't - be prevented by the FTC as an anti-competitive move.
NY Times: Murdoch Moving to Buy Newsday for $580 Million
"Rupert Murdoch is moving to tighten his already-imposing grip on American news media, striking a tentative deal to buy his third New York-based paper, Newsday, and getting his first chance to appoint the top editor of The Wall Street Journal, after the resignation of the editor on Tuesday.
His $580 million bid for Newsday and his urgency in remaking The Journal worry his competitors and cause angst in many newsrooms, including his own. And both moves are vintage Rupert Murdoch, a man who operates his sprawling News Corporation like an old-style media mogul, making big bets on old and new media — bankrolling the new Fox Business Network, aggressively pursuing a deal for Yahoo, and buying Dow Jones Company, publisher of The Journal, for far more than analysts thought it was worth. And that was just in the last year..."
The Environment:
Salt Lake City Tribune Editorial: Uranium bonfire: Air Force incinerated radioactive waste
"Officials at Hill Air Force Base inadvertently orchestrated a uranium bonfire in a waste incinerator at Layton.
Over the past eight months, Hill sent a nine-ton batch of obsolete military hardware to the burn plant, unaware that the items contained 'trace' amounts of depleted uranium. And when you're burning nine tons of waste, 'trace' amounts add up. All told, five pounds of uranium went up in smoke.
The Weapons System Program Office at Hill is at fault. The documents spelling out the contents of the materials to be burned, according to a Hill press release, 'were not readily accessible.' So, instead of taking the time to track down the paperwork, officials callously threw it on the fire, and Utahns be damned.
A Hill public affairs officer said that standard safety procedures 'were followed.' But if standard operating procedures somehow allow uranium to be incinerated, those procedures have to change..."
Rovian Tactics:
The Raw Story: Siegelman: Rove 'hijacked' the Dept. of Justice to win elections
"In an extensive interview with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who was released from prison on bond last month pending an appeal of his conviction on corruption charges, laid the blame for his prosecution squarely on Karl Rove's 'hijacking' of the federal Department of Justice...
...Siegelman noted that even before Republican whistleblower Dana Jill Simpson implicated Rove directly, 'I suspected from the circumstantial evidence that Karl Rove was deeply involved in my prosecution. I mean, it was just so obvious that it was easy for me to put two and two together and connect those dots.'
'I grew up with your father being the Attorney General,' Siegelman told Kennedy, 'and the heroic deeds that he did, and you know, you always thought that the Department of Justice was the last place that you could look to for justice and for fair play. But I think Karl Rove learned two things out of Watergate. ... He learned that you didn't have to create a secret plumbers unit within the White House when you had the Department of Justice. If you just appointed the right U.S. Attorneys, you could accomplish the same thing and more. And the second thing I think Rove learned was, you don't leave evidence behind like Nixon did with his tapes. You destroy e-mails,'..."
On Torture:
The Raw Story: CIA has 7,000 documents relating to rendition, detention, torture programs, filing shows
"The Central Intelligence Agency has acknowledged having 7,000 pages of documents pertaining to President George W. Bush's secret rendition and detention programs, according to three international human rights groups.
Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Human Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law made the claim following a summary judgment motion by the agency this week to avoid a lawsuit that seeks to force the nation's top spy outfit to make the documents public under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
'Among other assertions, the CIA claimed that it did not have to release the documents because many consist of correspondence with the White House or top Bush administration officials, or because they are between parties seeking legal advice on the programs, including guidance on the legality of certain interrogation procedures,' the groups wrote in a release..."
Robert Scheer: Clinton Threatens to ‘Obliterate’ Iran
"...On primary election day in Pennsylvania, even with polls showing her well ahead in that state, Hillary went lower in her grab for votes. Seizing upon a question as to how she would respond to a nuclear attack by Iran, which doesn’t have nuclear weapons, on Israel, which does, Hillary mocked reasoned discourse by promising to 'totally obliterate them,' in an apparent reference to the population of Iran. That is not a word gaffe; it is an assertion of the right of our nation to commit genocide on an unprecedented scale.
Shouldn’t the potential leader of a nation that used nuclear bombs to obliterate hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese employ extreme caution before making such a threat? Neither the Japanese then nor the Iranian people now were in a position to hold their leaders accountable, and to approve such collective punishment of innocents is to endorse terrorism. This from a candidate who attacked her opponent for suggesting targeted strikes against militants in Pakistan and derided his openness to negotiations with other national leaders as an irresponsible commitment on the part of a contender for the presidency.
Clearly the heat of a campaign is not the proper setting for consideration of a response to a threat from a nation that is a long way from developing nuclear weapons. Obviously the danger of Iran’s developing such weapons can be met with a range of alternatives, from the diplomatic to the military, that do not involve genocide and at any rate must be considered in moral and not solely political terms..."
With this move, assuming the Senate continues to impersonate a pushover, The Decider will now have his Yes Man for an attack on Iran before his term ends.
The Raw Story: Gates taps Petraeus to lead Central Command
"Army Gen. David Petraeus, the four-star general who led troops in Iraq for the past year, will be nominated by President Bush to be the next commander of U.S. Central Command, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.
Gates also announced that Bush will nominate Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno to replace Petraeus in Baghdad.
Gates' recommendation must go to President George W. Bush, who will then send the nomination to the U.S. Senate.
If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace Navy Adm. William Fallon, who abruptly stepped down in March after a magazine reported that he was at odds with President Bush over Iran policy...
...Democratic Senator Russ Feingold hailed the news of Petraeus' recommended promotion with a press release hinting that the commander of US forces in Iraq could be facing tough questions during his confirmation hearing.
'During his testimony before Congress, General Petraeus stated that since his focus has been on Iraq, he was unable to comment on why the threat from al Qaeda has increased, specifically in Afghanistan and Pakistan,' Feingold states in a press release sent to RAW STORY. 'As CENTCOM Commander, General Petraeus will be responsible for assessing the entire region, including the impact our presence in Iraq is having on our ability to combat al Qaeda and its affiliates throughout that region,'..."
Media Consolidation:
The purchase of a third New York newspaper by one owner should - but won't - be prevented by the FTC as an anti-competitive move.
NY Times: Murdoch Moving to Buy Newsday for $580 Million
"Rupert Murdoch is moving to tighten his already-imposing grip on American news media, striking a tentative deal to buy his third New York-based paper, Newsday, and getting his first chance to appoint the top editor of The Wall Street Journal, after the resignation of the editor on Tuesday.
His $580 million bid for Newsday and his urgency in remaking The Journal worry his competitors and cause angst in many newsrooms, including his own. And both moves are vintage Rupert Murdoch, a man who operates his sprawling News Corporation like an old-style media mogul, making big bets on old and new media — bankrolling the new Fox Business Network, aggressively pursuing a deal for Yahoo, and buying Dow Jones Company, publisher of The Journal, for far more than analysts thought it was worth. And that was just in the last year..."
The Environment:
Salt Lake City Tribune Editorial: Uranium bonfire: Air Force incinerated radioactive waste
"Officials at Hill Air Force Base inadvertently orchestrated a uranium bonfire in a waste incinerator at Layton.
Over the past eight months, Hill sent a nine-ton batch of obsolete military hardware to the burn plant, unaware that the items contained 'trace' amounts of depleted uranium. And when you're burning nine tons of waste, 'trace' amounts add up. All told, five pounds of uranium went up in smoke.
The Weapons System Program Office at Hill is at fault. The documents spelling out the contents of the materials to be burned, according to a Hill press release, 'were not readily accessible.' So, instead of taking the time to track down the paperwork, officials callously threw it on the fire, and Utahns be damned.
A Hill public affairs officer said that standard safety procedures 'were followed.' But if standard operating procedures somehow allow uranium to be incinerated, those procedures have to change..."
Rovian Tactics:
The Raw Story: Siegelman: Rove 'hijacked' the Dept. of Justice to win elections
"In an extensive interview with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who was released from prison on bond last month pending an appeal of his conviction on corruption charges, laid the blame for his prosecution squarely on Karl Rove's 'hijacking' of the federal Department of Justice...
...Siegelman noted that even before Republican whistleblower Dana Jill Simpson implicated Rove directly, 'I suspected from the circumstantial evidence that Karl Rove was deeply involved in my prosecution. I mean, it was just so obvious that it was easy for me to put two and two together and connect those dots.'
'I grew up with your father being the Attorney General,' Siegelman told Kennedy, 'and the heroic deeds that he did, and you know, you always thought that the Department of Justice was the last place that you could look to for justice and for fair play. But I think Karl Rove learned two things out of Watergate. ... He learned that you didn't have to create a secret plumbers unit within the White House when you had the Department of Justice. If you just appointed the right U.S. Attorneys, you could accomplish the same thing and more. And the second thing I think Rove learned was, you don't leave evidence behind like Nixon did with his tapes. You destroy e-mails,'..."
On Torture:
The Raw Story: CIA has 7,000 documents relating to rendition, detention, torture programs, filing shows
"The Central Intelligence Agency has acknowledged having 7,000 pages of documents pertaining to President George W. Bush's secret rendition and detention programs, according to three international human rights groups.
Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Human Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law made the claim following a summary judgment motion by the agency this week to avoid a lawsuit that seeks to force the nation's top spy outfit to make the documents public under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
'Among other assertions, the CIA claimed that it did not have to release the documents because many consist of correspondence with the White House or top Bush administration officials, or because they are between parties seeking legal advice on the programs, including guidance on the legality of certain interrogation procedures,' the groups wrote in a release..."
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Covert Propaganda?
NY Times: Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
"...Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks.
Analysts have been wooed in hundreds of private briefings with senior military leaders, including officials with significant influence over contracting and budget matters, records show. They have been taken on tours of Iraq and given access to classified intelligence. They have been briefed by officials from the White House, State Department and Justice Department, including Mr. Cheney, Alberto R. Gonzales and Stephen J. Hadley.
In turn, members of this group have echoed administration talking points, sometimes even when they suspected the information was false or inflated. Some analysts acknowledge they suppressed doubts because they feared jeopardizing their access..."
Iraq:
Raw Story: Rumsfeld ex-aide calls Iraq war 'major debacle'; whose outcome is 'in doubt';
"A 48-page report written by a former aide to Donald Rumsfeld and issued by the Pentagon's premier military educational institute has called the Iraq war a 'major debacle' whose outcome is 'in doubt.'
'Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle,' the report's opening line reads. 'As of fall 2007, this conflict has cost the United States over 3,800 dead and over 28,000 wounded. Allied casualties accounted for another 300 dead.'
Published by the National Defense Institute's National Institute for Strategic Studies, a Defense Department research center, the report does not reflect the official views of the Pentagon or the Defense Department. But it delivers a scathing indictment from the key educational arm of the US Armed Forces.
The report was written by Joseph Collins, a retired colonel and former senior adviser to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. It's importance cannot be overstated, because it is based in part on interviews on former senior defense and intelligence officials who spoke candidly and played roles in preparations for war..."
Conservative Strategy:
Eric Alterman: Who Are They Calling Elitist?
"...Given the transparent hypocrisy of the 'liberal elitist' charge, coupled with its shifting but always not quite definable content, one cannot help but be awed by the effectiveness with which it is wielded. The simplest explanation is that 'elitism' has come to be perceived as a legitimate attack word by the right, without anyone really being able to define why. Remember: it's not about where you live, how much money you have, how many security guards you regularly employ, where you summer, what you drive, what you drive when you're driving whatever else you drive when you're not driving that, where you went to school or where you think people should have gone to school. Conservatives are as one with the people they so disdain on all of those scores. Rather, 'elitism' has simply become a contentless cudgel with which to beat back one's opponents without the trouble of engaging their arguments..."
NY Times: Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
"...Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks.
Analysts have been wooed in hundreds of private briefings with senior military leaders, including officials with significant influence over contracting and budget matters, records show. They have been taken on tours of Iraq and given access to classified intelligence. They have been briefed by officials from the White House, State Department and Justice Department, including Mr. Cheney, Alberto R. Gonzales and Stephen J. Hadley.
In turn, members of this group have echoed administration talking points, sometimes even when they suspected the information was false or inflated. Some analysts acknowledge they suppressed doubts because they feared jeopardizing their access..."
Iraq:
Raw Story: Rumsfeld ex-aide calls Iraq war 'major debacle'; whose outcome is 'in doubt';
"A 48-page report written by a former aide to Donald Rumsfeld and issued by the Pentagon's premier military educational institute has called the Iraq war a 'major debacle' whose outcome is 'in doubt.'
'Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle,' the report's opening line reads. 'As of fall 2007, this conflict has cost the United States over 3,800 dead and over 28,000 wounded. Allied casualties accounted for another 300 dead.'
Published by the National Defense Institute's National Institute for Strategic Studies, a Defense Department research center, the report does not reflect the official views of the Pentagon or the Defense Department. But it delivers a scathing indictment from the key educational arm of the US Armed Forces.
The report was written by Joseph Collins, a retired colonel and former senior adviser to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. It's importance cannot be overstated, because it is based in part on interviews on former senior defense and intelligence officials who spoke candidly and played roles in preparations for war..."
Conservative Strategy:
Eric Alterman: Who Are They Calling Elitist?
"...Given the transparent hypocrisy of the 'liberal elitist' charge, coupled with its shifting but always not quite definable content, one cannot help but be awed by the effectiveness with which it is wielded. The simplest explanation is that 'elitism' has come to be perceived as a legitimate attack word by the right, without anyone really being able to define why. Remember: it's not about where you live, how much money you have, how many security guards you regularly employ, where you summer, what you drive, what you drive when you're driving whatever else you drive when you're not driving that, where you went to school or where you think people should have gone to school. Conservatives are as one with the people they so disdain on all of those scores. Rather, 'elitism' has simply become a contentless cudgel with which to beat back one's opponents without the trouble of engaging their arguments..."
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Campaign 2008:
The recent ABC debate and how it was reflective of what corporate news men Charlie Gibson and George Stephanapoulos believe the candidates should be asked about, rather than the issues that truly matter to voters: never ending war and the lack of shared sacrifice, veterans' health care vs top-shelf White House and Congressional health care vs for-profit health care for the rest of us, the housing crisis, Fed bail-outs for an unregulated shadow-banking system, an administration that uses a war of choice to trample the Constitution, our non-existent energy policy, or repairing relations with the rest of the world, just to name a few.
David Brooks, of course, defended this on his NY Times blog.
Glenn Greenwald: David Brooks' fictitious defense of his industry's behavior
"As I've noted more times than I can count, the premiere manipulative, deceitful tactic of the Beltway pundit is the pretense that they are the Spokespeople for the Regular Americans, and that the pundits' views can therefore be assumed to be representative of how Regular Americans think, even when there is no evidence remotely suggesting that to be so and ample evidence suggesting that it is false, and the prime practitioner of this corrupt method is David Brooks...
...As always, David Brooks knows how 'they' think and what's important to 'them' -- so much so that no proof is ever needed for his claims. As always, it's not David Brooks and his childish colleagues in journalism who are interested in insipid, Drudge-like storylines. No, not at all. They so wish they could be covering weightier matters. But they can't, because those stunted, unsophisticated Americans out there -- the ones Brooks is able simultaneously to look down upon and understand and speak for -- don't want to hear about any weighty matters. They are capable only of thinking about whether Obama can bowl and whether Edwards likes his hair too much (and, of course, it's the very same media stars who spout this condescension about the Regular Folk who have decreed that Barack Obama -- and Al Gore, John Kerry, Mike Dukakis, etc. etc. -- are elitists because they look down on Regular Americans).
Leave aside the question of whether those who hold themselves out as political journalists ought to report on substantive matters and be guided by objectives other than maximizing profits. Even with regard to what 'Americans' want, David Brooks has no idea whether what he's saying here is true and he also doesn't care. He asserts these matters as fact because his only goal is to defend his 'profession' and his colleagues. Thus, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos and all the rest of them have no choice but to be as petty and vapid as they are because that's what 'Americans' want..."
The recent ABC debate and how it was reflective of what corporate news men Charlie Gibson and George Stephanapoulos believe the candidates should be asked about, rather than the issues that truly matter to voters: never ending war and the lack of shared sacrifice, veterans' health care vs top-shelf White House and Congressional health care vs for-profit health care for the rest of us, the housing crisis, Fed bail-outs for an unregulated shadow-banking system, an administration that uses a war of choice to trample the Constitution, our non-existent energy policy, or repairing relations with the rest of the world, just to name a few.
David Brooks, of course, defended this on his NY Times blog.
Glenn Greenwald: David Brooks' fictitious defense of his industry's behavior
"As I've noted more times than I can count, the premiere manipulative, deceitful tactic of the Beltway pundit is the pretense that they are the Spokespeople for the Regular Americans, and that the pundits' views can therefore be assumed to be representative of how Regular Americans think, even when there is no evidence remotely suggesting that to be so and ample evidence suggesting that it is false, and the prime practitioner of this corrupt method is David Brooks...
...As always, David Brooks knows how 'they' think and what's important to 'them' -- so much so that no proof is ever needed for his claims. As always, it's not David Brooks and his childish colleagues in journalism who are interested in insipid, Drudge-like storylines. No, not at all. They so wish they could be covering weightier matters. But they can't, because those stunted, unsophisticated Americans out there -- the ones Brooks is able simultaneously to look down upon and understand and speak for -- don't want to hear about any weighty matters. They are capable only of thinking about whether Obama can bowl and whether Edwards likes his hair too much (and, of course, it's the very same media stars who spout this condescension about the Regular Folk who have decreed that Barack Obama -- and Al Gore, John Kerry, Mike Dukakis, etc. etc. -- are elitists because they look down on Regular Americans).
Leave aside the question of whether those who hold themselves out as political journalists ought to report on substantive matters and be guided by objectives other than maximizing profits. Even with regard to what 'Americans' want, David Brooks has no idea whether what he's saying here is true and he also doesn't care. He asserts these matters as fact because his only goal is to defend his 'profession' and his colleagues. Thus, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos and all the rest of them have no choice but to be as petty and vapid as they are because that's what 'Americans' want..."
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Our (Fleeting) Civil Rights:
Slashdot.org - FBI Lied To Support Need For PATRIOT Act Expansion
"It probably won't surprise you, but in 2005, the FBI manufactured evidence to get the power to issue National Security Letters under the PATRIOT Act. Unlike normal subpoenas, NSLs do not require probable cause and you're never allowed to talk about having received one, leading to a lack of accountability that caused them to be widely abused. The EFF has discovered via FOIA requests that an FBI field agent was forced by superiors to return papers he got via a lawful subpoena, then demand them again via an NSL (which was rejected for being unlawful at the time), and re-file the original subpoena to get them back. This delay in a supposedly critical anti-terror investigation then became a talking point used by FBI Director Robert Mueller when the FBI wanted to justify their need for the power to issue National Security Letters..."
On Torture:
AP: Pentagon records detail prisoner abuse by US military
"Military interrogators assaulted Afghan detainees in 2003, using investigation methods they learned during self-defense training, Pentagon documents released Wednesday show.
Detainees at the Gardez Detention Facility in southeastern Afghanistan reported being made to kneel outside in wet clothing and being kicked and punched in the kidneys, nose and knees if they moved, according to the documents.
A 2006 Army review concluded that the detainees were not abused but that the incident revealed 'misconduct that warrants further action.'
The documents, which were turned over Wednesday evening to the American Civil Liberties Union, focus on the 2003 death of Afghan detainee Jamal Nasser, who died in U.S. custody at the Gardez facility..."
The 4th Estate:
This move will certainly harm the credibility of the Associated Press.
AP: Murdoch, Zell Appointed to AP Board
"Rupert Murdoch and Sam Zell, two media figures who led major newspaper acquisitions in recent months, are among four new members joining the board of directors of The Associated Press, it was announced Monday at the news cooperative's annual meeting...
...Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer of News Corp., was appointed by the board until the next election of directors to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Jay Smith, who announced earlier this month he was retiring as president of Cox Newspapers..."
Science:
Slashdot.org - Schoolboy Corrects NASA's Math On Killer Asteroid
"A German schoolboy, Nico Marquardt, has revised NASA's figures for the chances that the Apophis asteroid will hit earth. Apparently if the asteroid hits a satellite in 2029, its path could be diverted enough to cause it to collide with Earth on the next orbit, in 2036. NASA had calculated the chances as 1 in 45,000 but the 13-year-old, in his science project, made it 1 in 450. NASA agreed..."
Slashdot.org - FBI Lied To Support Need For PATRIOT Act Expansion
"It probably won't surprise you, but in 2005, the FBI manufactured evidence to get the power to issue National Security Letters under the PATRIOT Act. Unlike normal subpoenas, NSLs do not require probable cause and you're never allowed to talk about having received one, leading to a lack of accountability that caused them to be widely abused. The EFF has discovered via FOIA requests that an FBI field agent was forced by superiors to return papers he got via a lawful subpoena, then demand them again via an NSL (which was rejected for being unlawful at the time), and re-file the original subpoena to get them back. This delay in a supposedly critical anti-terror investigation then became a talking point used by FBI Director Robert Mueller when the FBI wanted to justify their need for the power to issue National Security Letters..."
On Torture:
AP: Pentagon records detail prisoner abuse by US military
"Military interrogators assaulted Afghan detainees in 2003, using investigation methods they learned during self-defense training, Pentagon documents released Wednesday show.
Detainees at the Gardez Detention Facility in southeastern Afghanistan reported being made to kneel outside in wet clothing and being kicked and punched in the kidneys, nose and knees if they moved, according to the documents.
A 2006 Army review concluded that the detainees were not abused but that the incident revealed 'misconduct that warrants further action.'
The documents, which were turned over Wednesday evening to the American Civil Liberties Union, focus on the 2003 death of Afghan detainee Jamal Nasser, who died in U.S. custody at the Gardez facility..."
The 4th Estate:
This move will certainly harm the credibility of the Associated Press.
AP: Murdoch, Zell Appointed to AP Board
"Rupert Murdoch and Sam Zell, two media figures who led major newspaper acquisitions in recent months, are among four new members joining the board of directors of The Associated Press, it was announced Monday at the news cooperative's annual meeting...
...Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer of News Corp., was appointed by the board until the next election of directors to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Jay Smith, who announced earlier this month he was retiring as president of Cox Newspapers..."
Science:
Slashdot.org - Schoolboy Corrects NASA's Math On Killer Asteroid
"A German schoolboy, Nico Marquardt, has revised NASA's figures for the chances that the Apophis asteroid will hit earth. Apparently if the asteroid hits a satellite in 2029, its path could be diverted enough to cause it to collide with Earth on the next orbit, in 2036. NASA had calculated the chances as 1 in 45,000 but the 13-year-old, in his science project, made it 1 in 450. NASA agreed..."
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Food:
Vanity Fair: Monsanto's Harvest of Fear
"Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination..."
Iraq:
Democracy Now! - Two Ex-KBR Employees Say They Were Raped by Co-Workers in Iraq
"Another female employee of the military contractor KBR has come forward with allegations of rape in Iraq. The woman, identified by the pseudonym 'Lisa Smith,' says two colleagues raped her at a southern Iraqi military base in January. She says a supervisor told her to 'keep quiet' or face danger. 'Lisa Smith' will be testifying publicly tomorrow before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Last year, former KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones sued KBR and its former parent company Halliburton after she says she was drugged and gang-raped by employees of the company in Baghdad. Today, in their first joint interview, we speak to both of these women, who have bravely come forward with their stories. We also speak with journalist Karen Houppert, who broke the story of 'Lisa Smith' in The Nation magazine..."
Vanity Fair: Monsanto's Harvest of Fear
"Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination..."
Iraq:
Democracy Now! - Two Ex-KBR Employees Say They Were Raped by Co-Workers in Iraq
"Another female employee of the military contractor KBR has come forward with allegations of rape in Iraq. The woman, identified by the pseudonym 'Lisa Smith,' says two colleagues raped her at a southern Iraqi military base in January. She says a supervisor told her to 'keep quiet' or face danger. 'Lisa Smith' will be testifying publicly tomorrow before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Last year, former KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones sued KBR and its former parent company Halliburton after she says she was drugged and gang-raped by employees of the company in Baghdad. Today, in their first joint interview, we speak to both of these women, who have bravely come forward with their stories. We also speak with journalist Karen Houppert, who broke the story of 'Lisa Smith' in The Nation magazine..."
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Domestic Surveillance:
Washington Post: Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.
"The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.
Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has previously said the program will not intercept communications..."
Iraq:
Frank Rich: The Petraeus-Crocker Show Gets the Hook
"...last week’s testimony by Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker was a nonevent beyond Washington. The cable networks duly presented the first day of hearings, but only, it seemed, because the show could be hyped as an 'American Idol'-like competition in foreign-policy one-upmanship for the three remaining presidential candidates, all senators. When the hearings migrated to the House the next day, they vanished into the same black media hole where nearly all Iraq news now goes. If the Olympic torch hadn’t provided an excuse to cut away, no doubt any handy weather disturbance would have served instead.
The simple explanation for why we shun the war is that it has gone so badly. But another answer was provided in the hearings by Senator George Voinovich of Ohio, one of the growing number of Republican lawmakers who no longer bothers to hide his exasperation. He put his finger on the collective sense of shame (not to be confused with collective guilt) that has attended America’s Iraq project. 'The truth of the matter,' Mr. Voinovich said, is that 'we haven’t sacrificed one darn bit in this war, not one. Never been asked to pay for a dime, except for the people that we lost.'
This is how the war planners wanted it, of course. No new taxes, no draft, no photos of coffins, no inconveniences that might compel voters to ask tough questions. This strategy would have worked if the war had been the promised cakewalk. But now it has backfired. A home front that has not been asked to invest directly in a war, that has subcontracted it to a relatively small group of volunteers, can hardly be expected to feel it has a stake in the outcome five stalemated years on.
The original stakes (saving the world from mushroom clouds and an alleged ally of Osama bin Laden) evaporated so far back they seem to belong to another war entirely. What are the stakes we are asked to believe in now?..."
NY Times: Secret Iraqi Deal Shows Problems in Arms Orders
"An $833 million Iraqi arms deal secretly negotiated with Serbia has underscored Iraq’s continuing problems equipping its armed forces, a process that has long been plagued by corruption and inefficiency.
The deal was struck in September without competitive bidding and it sidestepped anticorruption safeguards, including the approval of senior uniformed Iraqi Army officers and an Iraqi contract approval committee. Instead, it was negotiated by a delegation of 22 high-ranking Iraqi officials, without the knowledge of American commanders or many senior Iraqi leaders.
The deal drew enough criticism that Iraqi officials later limited the purchase to $236 million. And much of that equipment, American commanders said, turned out to be either shoddy or inappropriate for the military’s mission.
An anatomy of the purchase highlights how the Iraqi Army’s administrative abilities — already hampered by sectarian rifts and corruption — are woefully underdeveloped, hindering it in procuring weapons and other essentials in a systematic way. It also shows how an American procurement process set up to help foreign countries navigate the complexity of buying weapons was too slow and unwieldy for wartime needs like Iraq’s, prompting the Iraqis to strike out on their own..."
Washington Post: Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.
"The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.
Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has previously said the program will not intercept communications..."
Iraq:
Frank Rich: The Petraeus-Crocker Show Gets the Hook
"...last week’s testimony by Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker was a nonevent beyond Washington. The cable networks duly presented the first day of hearings, but only, it seemed, because the show could be hyped as an 'American Idol'-like competition in foreign-policy one-upmanship for the three remaining presidential candidates, all senators. When the hearings migrated to the House the next day, they vanished into the same black media hole where nearly all Iraq news now goes. If the Olympic torch hadn’t provided an excuse to cut away, no doubt any handy weather disturbance would have served instead.
The simple explanation for why we shun the war is that it has gone so badly. But another answer was provided in the hearings by Senator George Voinovich of Ohio, one of the growing number of Republican lawmakers who no longer bothers to hide his exasperation. He put his finger on the collective sense of shame (not to be confused with collective guilt) that has attended America’s Iraq project. 'The truth of the matter,' Mr. Voinovich said, is that 'we haven’t sacrificed one darn bit in this war, not one. Never been asked to pay for a dime, except for the people that we lost.'
This is how the war planners wanted it, of course. No new taxes, no draft, no photos of coffins, no inconveniences that might compel voters to ask tough questions. This strategy would have worked if the war had been the promised cakewalk. But now it has backfired. A home front that has not been asked to invest directly in a war, that has subcontracted it to a relatively small group of volunteers, can hardly be expected to feel it has a stake in the outcome five stalemated years on.
The original stakes (saving the world from mushroom clouds and an alleged ally of Osama bin Laden) evaporated so far back they seem to belong to another war entirely. What are the stakes we are asked to believe in now?..."
NY Times: Secret Iraqi Deal Shows Problems in Arms Orders
"An $833 million Iraqi arms deal secretly negotiated with Serbia has underscored Iraq’s continuing problems equipping its armed forces, a process that has long been plagued by corruption and inefficiency.
The deal was struck in September without competitive bidding and it sidestepped anticorruption safeguards, including the approval of senior uniformed Iraqi Army officers and an Iraqi contract approval committee. Instead, it was negotiated by a delegation of 22 high-ranking Iraqi officials, without the knowledge of American commanders or many senior Iraqi leaders.
The deal drew enough criticism that Iraqi officials later limited the purchase to $236 million. And much of that equipment, American commanders said, turned out to be either shoddy or inappropriate for the military’s mission.
An anatomy of the purchase highlights how the Iraqi Army’s administrative abilities — already hampered by sectarian rifts and corruption — are woefully underdeveloped, hindering it in procuring weapons and other essentials in a systematic way. It also shows how an American procurement process set up to help foreign countries navigate the complexity of buying weapons was too slow and unwieldy for wartime needs like Iraq’s, prompting the Iraqis to strike out on their own..."
Campaign 2008:
NY Times: For McCain, Little Talk of a Controversial Endorsement
"...Most of the 55 million evangelical adults in the United States believe in the literal second coming of Christ, but Mr. Hagee is one of approximately nine million who are pre-millennial dispensationalists, said John Green of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. By putting together passages from biblical books like Revelation, Daniel, Ezekiel and others, they amass 'a puzzle to produce an amazingly detailed scenario of the end of history,' said Timothy Weber, author of 'On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend.'
For the prophecies to be fulfilled, proponents believe, Jews must control Israel..."
Conveniently, the Times leaves out what the 'pre-millennial dispensationalists' believe happens after greater Israel is under their control. After first destroying all non-Jewish temples in Jerusalem to rebuild their own, Jesus would return and kill all non-Christians, save 144,000 Jews who convert to the 'correct' type of Christianity.
Again, how is McCain seeking Hagee's endorsement not bigger news?
NY Times: For McCain, Little Talk of a Controversial Endorsement
"...Most of the 55 million evangelical adults in the United States believe in the literal second coming of Christ, but Mr. Hagee is one of approximately nine million who are pre-millennial dispensationalists, said John Green of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. By putting together passages from biblical books like Revelation, Daniel, Ezekiel and others, they amass 'a puzzle to produce an amazingly detailed scenario of the end of history,' said Timothy Weber, author of 'On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend.'
For the prophecies to be fulfilled, proponents believe, Jews must control Israel..."
Conveniently, the Times leaves out what the 'pre-millennial dispensationalists' believe happens after greater Israel is under their control. After first destroying all non-Jewish temples in Jerusalem to rebuild their own, Jesus would return and kill all non-Christians, save 144,000 Jews who convert to the 'correct' type of Christianity.
Again, how is McCain seeking Hagee's endorsement not bigger news?
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Campaign 2008:
In the last weeks, the public heard a steady stream of outrage megaphoned by the corporate media about Sen. Obama's minister's 'outrageous' sermons.
Somehow, though, Sen. McCain gets a 'pass' from the corporate media for actively seeking out the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee, to try to gain the support of the evangelical wing of the GOP. The man is the head of a mega-church in Texas, and his views are more than a little disturbing.
Download and listen to a part of the latest KGNU radio Thursday night Call-In show. Start at about 27:50 and listen until about 35:00 or so. I was stunned upon hearing what the Pastor believes and preaches. Again, how is McCain's seeking this man's endorsement not news?
In the last weeks, the public heard a steady stream of outrage megaphoned by the corporate media about Sen. Obama's minister's 'outrageous' sermons.
Somehow, though, Sen. McCain gets a 'pass' from the corporate media for actively seeking out the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee, to try to gain the support of the evangelical wing of the GOP. The man is the head of a mega-church in Texas, and his views are more than a little disturbing.
Download and listen to a part of the latest KGNU radio Thursday night Call-In show. Start at about 27:50 and listen until about 35:00 or so. I was stunned upon hearing what the Pastor believes and preaches. Again, how is McCain's seeking this man's endorsement not news?
On Torture:
The news this week that detainees were tortured as a result of direct planning at the highest levels of government belies the White House statements that what occurred at Abu Ghraib was in any way the work of 'a few bad apples.'
Mother Jones: Exclusive: Who's Behind Abu Ghraib?
"For the first time, one chart shows the scandal's full chain of command from Bush to detainees..."
AP: Cheney, others OK'd harsh interrogations
"Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality, The Associated Press has learned.
The officials also took care to insulate President Bush from a series of meetings where CIA interrogation methods, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning, were discussed and ultimately approved.
A former senior U.S. intelligence official familiar with the meetings described them Thursday to the AP to confirm details first reported by ABC News on Wednesday. The intelligence official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the issue.
Between 2002 and 2003, the Justice Department issued several memos from its Office of Legal Counsel that justified using the interrogation tactics, including ones that critics call torture.
'If you looked at the timing of the meetings and the memos you'd see a correlation,' the former intelligence official said. Those who attended the dozens of meetings agreed that 'there'd need to be a legal opinion on the legality of these tactics' before using them on al-Qaida detainees, the former official said.
The meetings were held in the White House Situation Room in the years immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks. Attending the sessions were Cheney, then-Bush aides Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice..."
Democracy Now ! - The Green Light: Attorney Philippe Sands Follows the Bush Administration Torture Trail
"A new exposé in Vanity Fair by British attorney Philippe Sands reveals new details about how attorney John Yoo and other high-ranking administration lawyers helped design and implement the interrogation policies seen at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and secret CIA prisons. According to Vanity Fair, then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and other top officials personally visited Guantanamo in 2002, discussed interrogation techniques and witnessed interrogations..."
The news this week that detainees were tortured as a result of direct planning at the highest levels of government belies the White House statements that what occurred at Abu Ghraib was in any way the work of 'a few bad apples.'
Mother Jones: Exclusive: Who's Behind Abu Ghraib?
"For the first time, one chart shows the scandal's full chain of command from Bush to detainees..."
AP: Cheney, others OK'd harsh interrogations
"Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality, The Associated Press has learned.
The officials also took care to insulate President Bush from a series of meetings where CIA interrogation methods, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning, were discussed and ultimately approved.
A former senior U.S. intelligence official familiar with the meetings described them Thursday to the AP to confirm details first reported by ABC News on Wednesday. The intelligence official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the issue.
Between 2002 and 2003, the Justice Department issued several memos from its Office of Legal Counsel that justified using the interrogation tactics, including ones that critics call torture.
'If you looked at the timing of the meetings and the memos you'd see a correlation,' the former intelligence official said. Those who attended the dozens of meetings agreed that 'there'd need to be a legal opinion on the legality of these tactics' before using them on al-Qaida detainees, the former official said.
The meetings were held in the White House Situation Room in the years immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks. Attending the sessions were Cheney, then-Bush aides Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice..."
Democracy Now ! - The Green Light: Attorney Philippe Sands Follows the Bush Administration Torture Trail
"A new exposé in Vanity Fair by British attorney Philippe Sands reveals new details about how attorney John Yoo and other high-ranking administration lawyers helped design and implement the interrogation policies seen at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and secret CIA prisons. According to Vanity Fair, then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and other top officials personally visited Guantanamo in 2002, discussed interrogation techniques and witnessed interrogations..."
Thursday, April 10, 2008
The Lies That Took A Fearful Nation To War:
Take anything Team Bush says about Iraq with a healthy dose of skepticism.
They say they want to keep U.S. troops there to 'stabilize' Iraq.
There is nothing about their intentions or actions that communicates anything other than an imperal intent to control Iraq's exportable national resources.
'Push, grab, take, keep' - how very 'Ayn Rand' of them.
William Rivers Pitt: Remember: They Are Liars
"George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice, along with a slew of administration underlings and a revolving-door cavalcade of brass hats from the Pentagon, have been making claims regarding Iraq for many years now..."
Take anything Team Bush says about Iraq with a healthy dose of skepticism.
They say they want to keep U.S. troops there to 'stabilize' Iraq.
There is nothing about their intentions or actions that communicates anything other than an imperal intent to control Iraq's exportable national resources.
'Push, grab, take, keep' - how very 'Ayn Rand' of them.
William Rivers Pitt: Remember: They Are Liars
"George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice, along with a slew of administration underlings and a revolving-door cavalcade of brass hats from the Pentagon, have been making claims regarding Iraq for many years now..."
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Blaming Borrowers, Rather Than Lenders?
Many, many loans were made to people who had no business buying a home or a home of the value they desired. Interest-only and ARM loans were routinely made to people who would never have been able to afford the home in question on the basis of a 30-year fixed mortgage.
How are the lenders not ultimately responsible, given the revelations below?
Is this another failure of the 'voluntary compliance' approach to regulation, designed to protect all parties to a loan.
Gretcen Morgenson: A Road Not Taken by Lenders
"We’ve all heard a great deal in recent months about the greedy borrowers who caused the subprime mortgage calamity. Hordes of them duped unsuspecting lenders, don’t you know, by falsifying their incomes on loan documents. Now those loans are in default and the rapacious borrowers have moved on with their riches.
People who make these claims, with a straight face no less, overlook a crucial fact. Almost all mortgage applicants had to sign a document allowing lenders to verify their incomes with the Internal Revenue Service. At least 90 percent of borrowers had to sign, seal and deliver this form, known as a 4506T, industry experts say. This includes the so-called stated income mortgages, affectionately known as 'liar loans.'
So while borrowers may have misrepresented their incomes, either on their own or at the urging of their mortgage brokers, lenders had the tools to identify these fibs before making the loans. All they had to do was ask the I.R.S. The fact that in most cases they apparently didn’t do so puts the lie to the idea that cagey borrowers duped unsuspecting lenders to secure on loans that are now — surprise! — failing.
Instead, lenders appear to be complicit in the rampant fibbery that is one of the root causes of our continuing mortgage nightmare.
Mike Summers, vice president for sales and marketing at Veri-tax Inc., in Tustin, Calif., knows plenty about this. His company handles the filing of these verification forms with the I.R.S. on behalf of lenders and loan originators. He began selling the service to lenders in 1999 and said he was surprised at the reaction he received — like that of a skunk at a garden party.
'In 2001, I was going around the subprime world trying to get them to sign up,' Mr. Summers recalled. 'Ameriquest, and others I don’t want to name, just didn’t want to know because it would kill the deals. The attitude was don’t ask, don’t tell.'
Ameriquest, just to jog your memory, is now defunct..."
Many, many loans were made to people who had no business buying a home or a home of the value they desired. Interest-only and ARM loans were routinely made to people who would never have been able to afford the home in question on the basis of a 30-year fixed mortgage.
How are the lenders not ultimately responsible, given the revelations below?
Is this another failure of the 'voluntary compliance' approach to regulation, designed to protect all parties to a loan.
Gretcen Morgenson: A Road Not Taken by Lenders
"We’ve all heard a great deal in recent months about the greedy borrowers who caused the subprime mortgage calamity. Hordes of them duped unsuspecting lenders, don’t you know, by falsifying their incomes on loan documents. Now those loans are in default and the rapacious borrowers have moved on with their riches.
People who make these claims, with a straight face no less, overlook a crucial fact. Almost all mortgage applicants had to sign a document allowing lenders to verify their incomes with the Internal Revenue Service. At least 90 percent of borrowers had to sign, seal and deliver this form, known as a 4506T, industry experts say. This includes the so-called stated income mortgages, affectionately known as 'liar loans.'
So while borrowers may have misrepresented their incomes, either on their own or at the urging of their mortgage brokers, lenders had the tools to identify these fibs before making the loans. All they had to do was ask the I.R.S. The fact that in most cases they apparently didn’t do so puts the lie to the idea that cagey borrowers duped unsuspecting lenders to secure on loans that are now — surprise! — failing.
Instead, lenders appear to be complicit in the rampant fibbery that is one of the root causes of our continuing mortgage nightmare.
Mike Summers, vice president for sales and marketing at Veri-tax Inc., in Tustin, Calif., knows plenty about this. His company handles the filing of these verification forms with the I.R.S. on behalf of lenders and loan originators. He began selling the service to lenders in 1999 and said he was surprised at the reaction he received — like that of a skunk at a garden party.
'In 2001, I was going around the subprime world trying to get them to sign up,' Mr. Summers recalled. 'Ameriquest, and others I don’t want to name, just didn’t want to know because it would kill the deals. The attitude was don’t ask, don’t tell.'
Ameriquest, just to jog your memory, is now defunct..."
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Iraq & The 2008 Campaign:
ddayblog: Except John McCain Is A Warmonger, Though
"The latest crack reporting from the 'X Calls Y a Z' school of journalism comes from an event over the weekend for the North Dakota Democratic Party, where radio talker Ed Schultz apparently termed John McCain a warmonger. Which has caused a controversy. Because now words that depict candidates' positions too exactly must be off-limits.
As Digby notes, McCain indeed has advocated, endorsed, and tried to precipitate war, which after all is the textbook definition of a warmonger. And this is not merely true in the case of Iraq and the corollary of Iran; in fact McCain has a long history of warmongering that has basically defined his political career.
In some respects, though, McCain has been a less-than-steadfast supporter of Bush. He, for example, spent most of 1999 and 2000 criticizing Bush for being unwilling to adopt a doctrine of rogue state rollback. Back in 2002 while Bush was unwilling to publicly argue for invading Iraq, McCain was doing it. And while Bush was full of talk about disarmament, McCain was clear from the start that he would settle only for regime change. McCain spent a lot of time criticizing Bush for not sending enough Americans over to Iraq to be killed, and has also been known to criticize Bush for insufficient saber-rattling directed at such countries as Iran, Syria, and Russia. So, really, it's not fair to say that McCain is just like Bush -- he's been a much more consistent proponent of the worst policies associated with the Bush administration..."
Military Recruiting:
Without a draft, and a continuation of U.S. imperial aspirations in the Middle East, the military will need many more people. If the economic situation continues to deteriorate, the military will be one of the only viable 'career' options young people will have.
Let's hope that soon-to-be graduates fully understand that a career in the military isn't 'just like any other job.'
Army Times: Pentagon: Colleges must hand over names
"The Defense Department has announced a new get-tough policy with colleges and universities that interfere with the work of military recruiters and Reserve Officer Training Corps programs.
Under rules that will take effect April 28, defense officials said they want the exact same access to student directories that is provided to all other prospective employers.
Students can opt out of having their information turned over to the military only if they opt out of having their information provided to all other recruiters, but schools cannot have policies that exclude only the military, defense officials said in a March 28 notice of the new policy in the Federal Register.
The Defense Department 'will honor only those student ‘opt-outs’ from the disclosure of directory information that are even-handedly applied to all prospective employers seeking information for recruiting purposes,' the notice says..."
ddayblog: Except John McCain Is A Warmonger, Though
"The latest crack reporting from the 'X Calls Y a Z' school of journalism comes from an event over the weekend for the North Dakota Democratic Party, where radio talker Ed Schultz apparently termed John McCain a warmonger. Which has caused a controversy. Because now words that depict candidates' positions too exactly must be off-limits.
As Digby notes, McCain indeed has advocated, endorsed, and tried to precipitate war, which after all is the textbook definition of a warmonger. And this is not merely true in the case of Iraq and the corollary of Iran; in fact McCain has a long history of warmongering that has basically defined his political career.
In some respects, though, McCain has been a less-than-steadfast supporter of Bush. He, for example, spent most of 1999 and 2000 criticizing Bush for being unwilling to adopt a doctrine of rogue state rollback. Back in 2002 while Bush was unwilling to publicly argue for invading Iraq, McCain was doing it. And while Bush was full of talk about disarmament, McCain was clear from the start that he would settle only for regime change. McCain spent a lot of time criticizing Bush for not sending enough Americans over to Iraq to be killed, and has also been known to criticize Bush for insufficient saber-rattling directed at such countries as Iran, Syria, and Russia. So, really, it's not fair to say that McCain is just like Bush -- he's been a much more consistent proponent of the worst policies associated with the Bush administration..."
Military Recruiting:
Without a draft, and a continuation of U.S. imperial aspirations in the Middle East, the military will need many more people. If the economic situation continues to deteriorate, the military will be one of the only viable 'career' options young people will have.
Let's hope that soon-to-be graduates fully understand that a career in the military isn't 'just like any other job.'
Army Times: Pentagon: Colleges must hand over names
"The Defense Department has announced a new get-tough policy with colleges and universities that interfere with the work of military recruiters and Reserve Officer Training Corps programs.
Under rules that will take effect April 28, defense officials said they want the exact same access to student directories that is provided to all other prospective employers.
Students can opt out of having their information turned over to the military only if they opt out of having their information provided to all other recruiters, but schools cannot have policies that exclude only the military, defense officials said in a March 28 notice of the new policy in the Federal Register.
The Defense Department 'will honor only those student ‘opt-outs’ from the disclosure of directory information that are even-handedly applied to all prospective employers seeking information for recruiting purposes,' the notice says..."
Monday, April 07, 2008
Iraq:
Maya Schenwar: Managing Iraq's Econoccupation
"While the battle of Basra raged last week, a series of talks between the Bush administration and the US-backed Maliki government rolled forward. These negotiations may have at least as many implications for Iraq's future as the violence on the ground.
The discussions, ongoing since November, stem from a 'Declaration of Principles' agreement signed by the two leaders, aimed at establishing a long-term 'friendship' between their countries.
While the portion of the Declaration that suggests a permanent US military presence in Iraq has garnered much attention, the agreement also proposes another goal: to solidify 'economic ties' between the two countries and grant the US preferential treatment in trading with Iraq.
As brought to light by last week's oil price surge during the assault on Basra, economic concerns are inextricably linked to the occupation. When it comes to oil, the coming months may be crucial in determining what kind of 'friends' the US and Iraq are going to be over the long haul.."
MLK:
William F. Pepper: Talk on 'An Act of State', San Francisco, 2/4/03
"...The assassination of Martin King was a part of what amounted to an on-going covert program in which they tried to suppress dissent and disruption in America..."
Maya Schenwar: Managing Iraq's Econoccupation
"While the battle of Basra raged last week, a series of talks between the Bush administration and the US-backed Maliki government rolled forward. These negotiations may have at least as many implications for Iraq's future as the violence on the ground.
The discussions, ongoing since November, stem from a 'Declaration of Principles' agreement signed by the two leaders, aimed at establishing a long-term 'friendship' between their countries.
While the portion of the Declaration that suggests a permanent US military presence in Iraq has garnered much attention, the agreement also proposes another goal: to solidify 'economic ties' between the two countries and grant the US preferential treatment in trading with Iraq.
As brought to light by last week's oil price surge during the assault on Basra, economic concerns are inextricably linked to the occupation. When it comes to oil, the coming months may be crucial in determining what kind of 'friends' the US and Iraq are going to be over the long haul.."
MLK:
William F. Pepper: Talk on 'An Act of State', San Francisco, 2/4/03
"...The assassination of Martin King was a part of what amounted to an on-going covert program in which they tried to suppress dissent and disruption in America..."
Saturday, April 05, 2008
On Torture:
MSNBC Countdown: Yoo Torture Memo Is More Evidence Of Impeachable Crimes
"The now-infamous John Yoo torture memo, which states that torture isn’t really torture unless it kills the suspect, and that President Bush’s wartime authority trumps torture law, is creating quite a firestorm. Constitutional professor Jonathan Turley joined Keith Olbermann on Thursday’s Countdown where he once again repeats his claim that President Bush broke the law and that the Democrats were afraid to pursue charges because they know it would trigger impeachment hearings and that scares them to death.
Turley:'It’s really amazing, Congress, including the Democrats, have avoided any type of investigation into torture because they do not want to deal with the fact that the president ordered war crimes. But, evidence keeps on coming out. The only thing we don’t have is a group picture with a detainee attached to electrical wires,'..."
Sometimes The Truth Slips Out:
Dave Harding: McCain: 'Hundreds Of Thousands' Of Iraqis Dead
"[McCain] gets his usual favorable news coverage of his appearance on David Letterman [April 1st] with all of the media coverage I've seen focusing on his banter with Letterman during the show's opening monologue.
Later in the show during his interview, Letterman asks McCain about Iraq:
Letterman: 4,000 American men and women soldiers dead since we went into Iraq. Another 30,000 wounded. Untold Iraqis dead. We rarely hear that number. What would that number be? A quarter of a million? Half a million?
McCain: It’s hard to make these estimates, but it’s in the hundreds of thousands, obviously and millions more fled the country..."
Economics:
Paul Krugman: The Dilbert Strategy
"...You now understand the principle behind the Bush administration’s new proposal for financial reform, which will be formally announced today: it’s all about creating the appearance of responding to the current crisis, without actually doing anything substantive.
The financial events of the last seven months, and especially the past few weeks, have convinced all but a few diehards that the U.S. financial system needs major reform. Otherwise, we’ll lurch from crisis to crisis — and the crises will get bigger and bigger..."
MSNBC Countdown: Yoo Torture Memo Is More Evidence Of Impeachable Crimes
"The now-infamous John Yoo torture memo, which states that torture isn’t really torture unless it kills the suspect, and that President Bush’s wartime authority trumps torture law, is creating quite a firestorm. Constitutional professor Jonathan Turley joined Keith Olbermann on Thursday’s Countdown where he once again repeats his claim that President Bush broke the law and that the Democrats were afraid to pursue charges because they know it would trigger impeachment hearings and that scares them to death.
Turley:'It’s really amazing, Congress, including the Democrats, have avoided any type of investigation into torture because they do not want to deal with the fact that the president ordered war crimes. But, evidence keeps on coming out. The only thing we don’t have is a group picture with a detainee attached to electrical wires,'..."
Sometimes The Truth Slips Out:
Dave Harding: McCain: 'Hundreds Of Thousands' Of Iraqis Dead
"[McCain] gets his usual favorable news coverage of his appearance on David Letterman [April 1st] with all of the media coverage I've seen focusing on his banter with Letterman during the show's opening monologue.
Later in the show during his interview, Letterman asks McCain about Iraq:
Letterman: 4,000 American men and women soldiers dead since we went into Iraq. Another 30,000 wounded. Untold Iraqis dead. We rarely hear that number. What would that number be? A quarter of a million? Half a million?
McCain: It’s hard to make these estimates, but it’s in the hundreds of thousands, obviously and millions more fled the country..."
Economics:
Paul Krugman: The Dilbert Strategy
"...You now understand the principle behind the Bush administration’s new proposal for financial reform, which will be formally announced today: it’s all about creating the appearance of responding to the current crisis, without actually doing anything substantive.
The financial events of the last seven months, and especially the past few weeks, have convinced all but a few diehards that the U.S. financial system needs major reform. Otherwise, we’ll lurch from crisis to crisis — and the crises will get bigger and bigger..."
Thursday, April 03, 2008
On Torture:
Vanity Fair: The Green Light
"As the first anniversary of 9/11 approached, and a prized Guantánamo detainee wouldn’t talk, the Bush administration’s highest-ranking lawyers argued for extreme interrogation techniques, circumventing international law, the Geneva Conventions, and the army’s own Field Manual. The attorneys would even fly to Guantánamo to ratchet up the pressure—then blame abuses on the military. Philippe Sands follows the torture trail, and holds out the possibility of war crimes charges..."
Vanity Fair: The Green Light
"As the first anniversary of 9/11 approached, and a prized Guantánamo detainee wouldn’t talk, the Bush administration’s highest-ranking lawyers argued for extreme interrogation techniques, circumventing international law, the Geneva Conventions, and the army’s own Field Manual. The attorneys would even fly to Guantánamo to ratchet up the pressure—then blame abuses on the military. Philippe Sands follows the torture trail, and holds out the possibility of war crimes charges..."
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Our (Fleeting) Civil Rights:
Ryan Singel: Harman: It's Not My Fault I Couldn't Figure Out Domestic Wiretapping Was Illegal
"You rise to become the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee. When you get this position you become part of the elite 'Gang of Eight,' and as part of your intel briefings, you are told that under orders from the president, the National Security Agency set up 'unique access points inside the U.S. telecommunications infrastructure.' You are assured that this is legal. You are a trained lawyer.
What do you do?
Well, if you are one particular Congresswoman, you don't think that's its highly suspicious that the NSA is operating inside the United States. You don't find a way to research the legality of the program, by getting hypothetical answers from constitutional and intelligence experts. You don't read the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to see if the program sounds legal.
Instead, you wait until 2004 when a reporter comes sniffing around and then you warn him not run a story.
Then, after the story finally runs some 13 months later, you call for the prosecution of the New York Times for revealing the illegality you thought was legality.
Then you smell a changes in the political winds, perhaps get a little curious. Three years after becoming the top Democrat on the Intelligence committee, you finally decide to learn about the history of FISA and learn that it is the ONLY way for the nation's spooks to spy on Americans. You start stamping your feet a little bit in public.
Then you wonder why Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a fellow Democratic Californian congresswoman, passes you over in 2006 for the chair of the House Intelligence committee.
Then you try to defend yourself online in 2008 saying you were not for the program when it was secret and against it when it was revealed.
You are Jane Harman, (D-California)."
Democracy Now! - Bush's Law: Eric Lichtblau on Exposing the NSA's Warrantless Wiretapping Program and How the White House Pressured the New York Times to Kill the Story
"In a national broadcast exclusive, we speak with New York Times reporter Eric Lichtblau about his new book, Bush’s Law: The Remaking of American Justice. Lichtblau won the Pulitzer Prize for exposing the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program in December 2005. He reveals the inside story of the New York Times’s decision to delay publication of the story for more than a year after intense lobbying from the White House..."
Economics:
The Independent (UK) - USA 2008: The Great Depression
"We knew things were bad on Wall Street, but on Main Street it may be worse. Startling official statistics show that as a new economic recession stalks the United States, a record number of Americans will shortly be depending on food stamps just to feed themselves and their families.
Dismal projections by the Congressional Budget Office in Washington suggest that in the fiscal year starting in October, 28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries, the highest level since the food assistance programme was introduced in the 1960s.
The increase – from 26.5 million in 2007 – is due partly to recent efforts to increase public awareness of the programme and also a switch from paper coupons to electronic debit cards. But above all it is the pressures being exerted on ordinary Americans by an economy that is suddenly beset by troubles. Housing foreclosures, accelerating jobs losses and fast-rising prices all add to the squeeze..."
Information As A Political Tool:
Noah Shachtman: Military Report: Secretly 'Recruit or Hire Bloggers'
"A study, written for U.S. Special Operations Command, suggested 'clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers.'
Since the start of the Iraq war, there's been a raucous debate in military circles over how to handle blogs -- and the servicemembers who want to keep them...
...'Information strategists can consider clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers or other persons of prominence... to pass the U.S. message. In this way, the U.S. can overleap the entrenched inequalities and make use of preexisting intellectual and social capital. Sometimes numbers can be effective; hiring a block of bloggers to verbally attack a specific person or promote a specific message may be worth considering. On the other hand, such operations can have a blowback effect, as witnessed by the public reaction following revelations that the U.S. military had paid journalists to publish stories in the Iraqi press under their own names. People do not like to be deceived, and the price of being exposed is lost credibility and trust,'..."
Ryan Singel: Harman: It's Not My Fault I Couldn't Figure Out Domestic Wiretapping Was Illegal
"You rise to become the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee. When you get this position you become part of the elite 'Gang of Eight,' and as part of your intel briefings, you are told that under orders from the president, the National Security Agency set up 'unique access points inside the U.S. telecommunications infrastructure.' You are assured that this is legal. You are a trained lawyer.
What do you do?
Well, if you are one particular Congresswoman, you don't think that's its highly suspicious that the NSA is operating inside the United States. You don't find a way to research the legality of the program, by getting hypothetical answers from constitutional and intelligence experts. You don't read the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to see if the program sounds legal.
Instead, you wait until 2004 when a reporter comes sniffing around and then you warn him not run a story.
Then, after the story finally runs some 13 months later, you call for the prosecution of the New York Times for revealing the illegality you thought was legality.
Then you smell a changes in the political winds, perhaps get a little curious. Three years after becoming the top Democrat on the Intelligence committee, you finally decide to learn about the history of FISA and learn that it is the ONLY way for the nation's spooks to spy on Americans. You start stamping your feet a little bit in public.
Then you wonder why Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a fellow Democratic Californian congresswoman, passes you over in 2006 for the chair of the House Intelligence committee.
Then you try to defend yourself online in 2008 saying you were not for the program when it was secret and against it when it was revealed.
You are Jane Harman, (D-California)."
Democracy Now! - Bush's Law: Eric Lichtblau on Exposing the NSA's Warrantless Wiretapping Program and How the White House Pressured the New York Times to Kill the Story
"In a national broadcast exclusive, we speak with New York Times reporter Eric Lichtblau about his new book, Bush’s Law: The Remaking of American Justice. Lichtblau won the Pulitzer Prize for exposing the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program in December 2005. He reveals the inside story of the New York Times’s decision to delay publication of the story for more than a year after intense lobbying from the White House..."
Economics:
The Independent (UK) - USA 2008: The Great Depression
"We knew things were bad on Wall Street, but on Main Street it may be worse. Startling official statistics show that as a new economic recession stalks the United States, a record number of Americans will shortly be depending on food stamps just to feed themselves and their families.
Dismal projections by the Congressional Budget Office in Washington suggest that in the fiscal year starting in October, 28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries, the highest level since the food assistance programme was introduced in the 1960s.
The increase – from 26.5 million in 2007 – is due partly to recent efforts to increase public awareness of the programme and also a switch from paper coupons to electronic debit cards. But above all it is the pressures being exerted on ordinary Americans by an economy that is suddenly beset by troubles. Housing foreclosures, accelerating jobs losses and fast-rising prices all add to the squeeze..."
Information As A Political Tool:
Noah Shachtman: Military Report: Secretly 'Recruit or Hire Bloggers'
"A study, written for U.S. Special Operations Command, suggested 'clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers.'
Since the start of the Iraq war, there's been a raucous debate in military circles over how to handle blogs -- and the servicemembers who want to keep them...
...'Information strategists can consider clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers or other persons of prominence... to pass the U.S. message. In this way, the U.S. can overleap the entrenched inequalities and make use of preexisting intellectual and social capital. Sometimes numbers can be effective; hiring a block of bloggers to verbally attack a specific person or promote a specific message may be worth considering. On the other hand, such operations can have a blowback effect, as witnessed by the public reaction following revelations that the U.S. military had paid journalists to publish stories in the Iraqi press under their own names. People do not like to be deceived, and the price of being exposed is lost credibility and trust,'..."
