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7 April 2004
Futures in Balance as Rice Prepares to
Testify
By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent
Reuters, 6 April 2004
EXCERPT: Condoleezza Rice will be defending two futures when she makes an
eagerly awaited appearance before the commission investigating the Sept. 11
attacks on Thursday -- President Bush's and her own. The nation's first
black female national security adviser is widely presumed to be a leading
candidate for secretary of state if there is a second Bush term. How she
performs under intense public scrutiny into the Bush administration's
handling of the pre-eminent 21st century U.S. national security threat will
affect her credibility as well as that of Bush, who is running for
re-election against the presumed Democratic nominee John Kerry. Despite
indications that Rice, 49, might return to California after a
pressure-cooker initial four-year Bush term, Republican insiders said the
secretary of state's job in a second term is hers if she wants it.
White House Withholds Rice Speech
9/11 panel barred from seeing text of pre-attack address MSNBC News,
6 April 2004
EXCERPT: The White House has refused to provide the independent commission
investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with a speech that
national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was to have delivered on the
night of the attacks touting missile defense as a priority rather than al-Qaida,
sources close to the commission said Tuesday.
SEE ALSO:
Stonewalling
(Talking Points Memo)
Evidence Mounts That Bush Focused On
Iraq Not Al Qaeda After 9/11
Former Top British Official Confirms Richard Clarke's Allegations
Misleader.org, 6 April 2004
EXCERPT: In
the latest issue of Vanity Fair, former British Ambassador to the United
States Christopher Meyer says President Bush “made
clear at a dinner” with Prime Minister Tony Blair nine days after the
Sept. 11 attacks that he wanted to confront Iraq. Meyer’s claim
substantiates similar accounts by former Bush counterterrorism chief Richard
Clarke and former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill. But, the White House
continues to deny the charges calling them “revisionist
history” and claiming Iraq
was “to
the side” immediately after
the attacks. The assertion is corroborated by the
Washington Post,
which reported that President Bush personally signed a two-and-a-half page
directive on September 17th, 2001, ordering the Pentagon to begin
drawing up Iraq invasion plans. It is also corroborated by
CBS News,
which reported on September 4, 2002, that five hours after the 9/11 attacks,
"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with
plans for striking Iraq.” As a result of Bush’s preoccupation with Saddam
Hussein, the Administration diverted critical resources to Iraq and away
from the hunt for Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. As
USA Today reported,
“In 2002, troops from the 5th Special Forces
Group who specialize in the Middle East were pulled out of the hunt for
Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to prepare for their next assignment: Iraq.”
Similarly,
Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) reported that in February of 2002 a senior
military commander told him “We are moving military and intelligence
personnel and resources out of Afghanistan to get ready for a future
war in Iraq.”
Rice's Crisis
The 9/11 panel needs to grill Condi on why she learned nothing from
the Clinton administration.
By Michael Tomasky
The American Prospect, 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: I remember hearing the warnings in December 1999 about the
imminent possibility of millennial terrorist attacks on American soil.
And I remember, as most Americans who think back probably would, giving
the warnings about eight seconds' thought. Fortunately for all of us, I
wasn't one of the people being paid to think about such things. And,
fortunately, the people who were being paid to think about such things
were thinking about them pretty obsessively. It's interesting today to
read back over the coverage that December of the arrest of Ahmed Ressam,
the Algerian national who was arrested by U.S. border guards as he tried
to enter Washington state from Canada with a trunkful of explosives. The
press took the matter seriously -- The New York Times ran more than two
dozen stories in December about Ressam's arrest and the potential for
attacks. And so did the Clinton administration. As Richard Clarke tells
the tale in Against All Enemies, Ressam's arrest was a pivotal moment in
the administration's successful thwarting of at least one and possibly
several planned terrorist attacks for New Year's Eve. The State
Department issued two separate warnings. Jordan arrested 13 men who
might have been involved in planning potential attacks. And most of all,
as we know from Clarke, once the warnings from intelligence sources
became more frequent and more ominous, the administration's
highest-level Cabinet and counter-terrorism officials met on a daily
basis, which meant that every day, they had to show up in front of
Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, and report on what
new steps they'd taken in the past 24 hours. All of which is to say: The
government acted. The scope of what it prevented, we may not know for a
long time, until the day that related documents are leaked or
declassified. It must have been painful to Clinton at the time as it
would have been to any pol, knowing that his administration had quite
possibly averted a national tragedy but aware that he couldn't brag
about it for security reasons. But all those who spent years whining
about how Clinton put p.r. ahead of substance should note that his
administration did its job. December 1999 is starkly relevant as
Condoleezza Rice gets set to testify to the 9-11 panel this week.
...Meanwhile, remember two words: Sibel Edmonds. On March 30, Salon's
excellent Eric Boehlert interviewed this former FBI translator, who told
him that she had told the 9-11 commission in closed testimony that clear
warnings were received throughout the spring and summer of 2001 (Bush's
watch, not Clinton's) that a terrorist attack involving airplanes was
being plotted. Her name has not yet crept its way into the major
American newspapers (with the interesting exception of The Washington
Times). But there are many mentions in the international press, so the
Washington bureaus should wake up eventually. If Edmonds's testimony is
credible -- and Republican Senator Charles Grassley has described her
with exactly that word -- it's one more piece of a puzzle that Richard
Clarke began to solve for us two weeks ago. Somehow, his story just
keeps being corroborated. Funny thing.
'Insourcing' Myths: Jobs and
Insourcing
Part one of two
Economic Policy Institute, 6 April 2004
EXCERPT: Outsourcing, the process of U.S. firms shifting work abroad,
has become one of the hottest topics in current trade debates. Some
people, however, have also raised questions about “insourcing,” the
phenomenon by which foreign companies increase their investments and
employment in the United States. Some have suggested that the jobs lost
to outsourcing are offset by the millions of American workers hired by
foreign companies to produce new goods and services. However, the vast
majority of employment associated with new investments by foreign
companies has taken the form of acquisitions of ongoing U.S. companies,
such as Daimler's takeover of Chrysler. As a result of insourcing, 2.78
million U.S. jobs were lost in foreign-owned firms between 1991 and
2001.
Comparisons on the Third Anniversary
Since Recession Started Show Weak Job Growth, High Profits
JobWatch.org, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: March 2004 saw strong job growth after many months of declines
or weak growth. The new March jobs data provide an opportunity to
examine labor market and other economic trends in the three years since
the recession began in March 2001 and to compare these trends to the
same three-year periods in the business cycles of the 1970s, 1980s, and
1990s (see
Table).
As shown in the charts below, this business cycle is the only one since
the 1930s to still be suffering a job loss after three years. The
private sector has lost 2.5% of its jobs (2,792,000), U.S. manufacturing
has lost 15.9% of its jobs (2,704,000), and even when incorporating the
3.1% gain in government jobs (657,000), the labor market on the whole
has still lost 1.5% (2,135,000) of all jobs. In the prior three business
cycles, instead of still being in the hole, the economy had actually
generated 2.7% more jobs after three years.
Bush Uses Taxpayer Resources to
Push Re-Election
By Nancy Benac
Associated Press, 6 April 2004
EXCERPT: The Treasury Department analyzes John Kerry's tax proposals and
the numbers quickly find their way to the Republican National Committee.
The Health and Human Services Department spends millions on ads
promoting President Bush's prescription drug plan. The House Resources
Committee posts a diatribe against Kerry's "absurd" energy ideas on its
Web site. With friends like these - all operating at taxpayer expense -
who needs a re-election campaign? In the time-honored tradition of
presidents past, Bush is skillfully using the resources of the federal
government to promote his re-election. And some critics say the
president is going far beyond his predecessors in using government means
to accomplish political ends. "What this administration has done is
taken trends from the past and then projected them into the
stratosphere," said Allan Lichtman, a presidential scholar at American
University. "We've never seen a political operation like this White
House does, and that includes the maximum use of government resources."
SEE ALSO:
Nader Calls for Bush to be Impeached
(AP)
SEE ALSO:
Acerbic Historian Howard Zinn Comes Not to Praise
Bush
(SLT)
The Mercury Scandal
By Paul Krugman
New York Times, 6 April 2004
EXCERPT: Mercury is heavy: much of it precipitates to the ground near the
source. As a result, coal-fired power plants in states like Pennsylvania and
Michigan create "hot spots" ‹ chemical Chernobyls ‹ where the risks of
mercury poisoning are severe. Under a cap-and-trade system, these plants are
likely to purchase pollution rights rather than cut emissions. In other
words, the administration proposal would perpetuate mercury pollution where
it does the most harm. That probably means thousands of children born with
preventable neurological problems. So how did the original plan get replaced
with a plan so obviously wrong on the science? The answer is that the foxes
have been put in charge of the henhouse. The head of the E.P.A.'s Office of
Air and Radiation, like most key environmental appointees in the Bush
administration, previously made his living representing polluting industries
(which, in case you haven't guessed, are huge Republican donors). On
mercury, the administration didn't just take industry views into account, it
literally let the polluters write the regulations: much of the language of
the administration's proposal came directly from lobbyists' memos. E.P.A.
experts normally study regulations before they are issued, but they were
bypassed. According to The Los Angeles Times: "E.P.A. staffers say they were
told not to undertake the normal scientific and economic studies called for
under a standing executive order. . . . E.P.A. veterans say they cannot
recall another instance where the agency's technical experts were cut out of
developing a major regulatory proposal." Mercury is just a particularly
vivid example of what's going on in environmental protection, and public
policy in general.
SEE ALSO:
Bush Opens Door to More Coal Burning
(BushGreenWatch)
SEE ALSO:
Bush Green Light for Carbon Dioxide May Cost
Consumers Millions (BGW)
Clinton's AIDS Deal Snubs Bush Plan
By Sarah Boseley
Guardian (UK), 7 April 2004
EXCERPT: The former US president Bill Clinton yesterday took a swipe at the
Bush administration's close relationship with American pharmaceutical giants
by announcing a deal to enable poor countries to buy cheap generic drugs and
testing equipment for Aids, rather than the US companies' more expensive
wares. The deal with five generic drug companies will bring the cost of Aids
drugs down to $140 (£76) per person per year and cut the cost of testing
equipment by 80%. Yesterday the UN's Global Fund - which grants money to
poor countries to buy drugs - the World Bank and Unicef signed an agreement
with the Clinton Foundation to provide the cash and assistance. The move
runs counter to the thrust of the Bush administration's $15bn anti-Aids
plan. It has become increasingly clear in recent months that the
administration wants to pay only for drugs made by the big US-based
pharmaceutical companies. It has been accused of trying to undermine
confidence in the generic copies.
CIA Switches from Covert Ops to
Kids' Stuff
Spy agency's website puts on a cheerful
face for youngsters, but contradicts the official White House line on global
warming
By Deborah Campbell and Oliver Burke
Guardian (UK), 7 April 2004
EXCERPT: The Central Intelligence Agency might not immediately strike
outsiders as a workplace full of fun. There is the recent bitter fight with
the White House over Iraqi weapons of mass destruction for a start - not to
mention a sinister history of morally dubious activities, or covert
operatons, around the globe. So it is not before time that the CIA has
launched a webpage for children, guiding potential future spies through the
world of covert operations under the guidance of a cartoon bear named
Ginger. But the CIA's Homepage for Kids may also have opened up a new
battlefield - by supporting a viewpoint on climate change vigorously
disputed by the White House. President George Bush will be pleased that a
large section of the site is dedicated to the war on drugs. But he may be
perturbed by one reason put forward for shunning narcotics. Drug
cultivation, the CIA argues, causes global warming.
6 April 2004
Support for Bush on Iraq Falling, Poll
Shows
Reuters, 5 April 2004
EXCERPT: Support among Americans for President Bush's handling of the
Iraq war has fallen to 40 percent after last week's mutilation killings
of U.S. contractors, according to a new poll issued on Monday. The
president's overall job approval and other ratings were also at or near
record lows. The Pew Research Center survey of 790 adults taken April
1-4 showed that confidence in Bush's handling of the Iraq situation had
fallen 19 points since mid-January and was at its lowest ebb since
researchers first asked the question in October 2002. The poll was taken
after last Wednesday's heavily-publicized murder and mutilation of four
U.S. contractors in Falluja, Iraq, which promoted new questions about
the U.S.-led occupation. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus
four percentage points. Only 32 percent thought Bush had a clear plan of
what to do in Iraq while 57 percent disagreed. Half of those questioned
said U.S. troops should remain in Iraq, down from 63 percent in January.
Bush's ratings on other issues were no stronger. His overall approval
rating was 43 percent -- the lowest ever recorded by the Pew poll. His
approval rating for his handling of the economy was 39 percent and of
energy policy was 29 percent.
SEE ALSO:
Public Support for War Steady, But Bush Job
Ratings Slip (Pew Research Center)
Bush to Stick to June 30 Iraq Handover
By Jeremy Pelofsky
Reuters, 6 April 2004
EXCERPT: President Bush said on Monday he would stick to a June 30 deadline
for handing over Iraqi sovereignty, even as a Shi'ite uprising against the
U.S.-led occupation stirred fears of a civil war. Hours after U.S. Apache
helicopters fired on a Shi'ite section of Baghdad, Bush vowed tough action
against firebrand Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose followers waged
gunbattles against U.S. troops and other coalition forces over the weekend.
Bush Says He Lacked Info on Sept. 11
By HOPE YEN
The Associated Press, 5 April 2004
EXCERPT: President Bush said Monday he will tell the commission
investigating the Sept. 11 attacks that his administration lacked the
information needed to prevent the terrorists from striking. The federal
panel reviewing the attacks plans to meet soon with Bush and Vice President
Dick Cheney in a joint private session to determine whether anything could
have been done to stop the attacks. A date for the meeting has been set but
neither the commission nor the White House has disclosed it. Bush said he
looks forward to "sharing information with them."
Condi Rice's Other Wake Up Call
Former Sen. Gary Hart says he, too,
warned Rice about an imminent terror attack on two occasions before
9/11.
By David Talbot
Salon.com, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: Richard Clarke was not the only national security expert who warned
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld and other Bush administration officials about terrorist threats
before 9/11. Former Democratic Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado also directly told
senior Bush officials loudly and clearly that, in his words, "The terrorists
are coming, the terrorists are coming." Hart was co-chair (with former Sen.
Warren Rudman, R-N.H.) of the U.S. Commission on National Security, a
bipartisan panel that conducted the most thorough investigation of U.S.
security challenges since World War II. After completing the report, which
warned that a devastating terrorist attack on America was imminent and
called for the immediate creation of a Cabinet-level national security
agency, and delivering it to President Bush on January 31, 2001, Hart and
Rudman personally briefed Rice, Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin
Powell. But, according to Hart, the Bush administration never followed up on
the commission's urgent recommendations, even after he repeated them in a
private White House meeting with Rice just days before 9/11.
Bush
'Flip-Flop' on Patients' Right to Sue?
By Charles Lane
Washington Post, 5 April 2004
EXCERPT: On Oct. 17, 2000, in a presidential debate against Democratic
candidate Al Gore, then-Gov. George W. Bush of Texas promised a patients'
bill of rights like the one in his state, including a right to sue
managed-care companies for wrongfully refusing to cover needed treatment.
"If I'm the president . . . people will be able to take their HMO insurance
company to court," Bush said. "That's what I've done in Texas and that's the
kind of leadership style I'll bring to Washington." Today, legislation
for a federal patients' bill of rights is moribund in Congress. And the Bush
administration's Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court to block
lawsuits under the very Texas law Bush touted in 2000. To let two Texas
consumers, Juan Davila and Ruby R. Calad, sue their managed-care companies
for wrongful denials of medical benefits "would be to completely undermine"
federal law regulating employee benefits, Assistant Solicitor General James
A. Feldman said at oral argument March 23. Moreover, the administration's
brief attacked the policy rationale for Texas's law, which is similar to
statutes on the books in nine other states, arguing that the benefits to
patients are outweighed by costs to managed-care companies -- which, passed
on to employers, "could make employers less willing to provide health
benefits." "The big story is the total flip-flop here," said M. Gregg Bloche,
a professor of law at Georgetown University who specializes in health care
issues.
Some Bush Initiatives Languish in Congress
Follow-Up Missing, Lawmakers Say
By Charles Babington
Washington Post, 5 April 2004
EXCERPT: Some of President Bush's splashiest proposals are languishing in
Congress even though his party controls both chambers. The main reason is
not Democratic obstruction but a lack of vigorous follow-through by the
administration once the initial hoopla died down, according to some
Republican and Democratic lawmakers. Proposals to bar gay marriage, rewrite
immigration laws, protect Americans from anthrax bacteria and send
astronauts to the moon and Mars are progressing slowly -- or not at all --
even though Bush initially endorsed them at high-visibility events. The
administration's low-energy approach to these issues contrasts sharply with
its promotion of unquestioned priorities such as tax cuts and educational
accountability, for which the president and his staff relentlessly marshaled
public and congressional support to overcome opposition.
5 April 2004
Preparation for Testimony to 9-11 Commission
For Bushies Being Straight Forward & Truthful
Is A Lot of Work
(Photo by David Bohrer / The White House)
Before Rice Agreed to Testify in Public, 9/11
Commission Executive Director Faxed White House 1945 Photo Showing
Presidential Chief of Staff Appearing Before Pearl Harbor Congressional
Panel
Zelikow Warned White House Counsel That
Unless Rice Testified in Public, Photo Would '...Be All Over Washington
in 24 Hours'
Newsweek Exclusive, 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: Last Monday morning 9/11 commission executive director Philip
Zelikow faxed a photograph to the White House counsel's office with a
note saying that if the White House didn't allow national-security
adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify in public before the commission, the
photograph would"...be all over Washington in 24 hours," Newsweek has
learned. The photo, from a Nov. 22, 1945, New York Times story, showed
presidential chief of staff Adm. William D. Leahy, appearing before a
special congressional panel investigating the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor. The point was clear: The White House could no longer get away
with the claim that Rice's appearance would be a profound breach of
precedent.
Mired in a Mirage
By MAUREEN DOWD
New York Times, 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: By holding back documents, officials, information, images and
the sight of returning military coffins, by twisting and exaggerating
facts to fit story lines, by demonizing anyone who disagrees with its
version of reality, this administration strives to create an optical
delusion. There was always something of the boy in the bubble about
George W. Bush, cosseted from the vicissitudes of life, from Vietnam to
business failure, by his famous name. In the front yard of the
Kennebunkport estate, he blithely announced his run for president
knowing virtually nothing about foreign affairs, confident that Poppy
would surround him with the protective flank of his own Desert Storm war
council. But now Mr. Bush is trying to pull America and Iraq into his
bubble. In briefings delivered in the bubble of their own security
bunkers, Paul Bremer and military officials continue to insist that
democracy and stability are taking root in Iraq. The occupation
administrator travels Iraq surrounded by armed guards while attacks get
scarier, culminating in last week's bestial block party in Falluja.
American commanders in Iraq have claimed the violence is primarily the
work of outsiders, Islamic terrorists with at least loose links to Al
Qaeda. They said, as The Times's John Burns wrote, that "the worst of
the `Saddamist' insurgency was over, its power blunted by a wide
American offensive that followed the former dictator's capture." The
administration does not want to admit the extent of anti-American hatred
among Iraqis. And even if some of the perpetrators are outsiders, they
could never succeed without the active help of Iraqis. Just as they once
conjured a mirage of a Saddam sharing lethal weapons with Osama, now the
president and vice president make the disingenuous claim that Al Qaeda
is on the run and that many of its capos are behind bars. Meanwhile,
counterterrorism experts say terrorism has become hydra-headed, and one
told Newsweek that the spawned heads have perpetrated more major terror
attacks in the 30 months since 9/11 than in the 30 months before.
Experts agree that the nature of the threat has shifted, with more than
a dozen regional militant Islamic groups reflecting growing strength.
Uneven Response Seen on Terror in
Summer of 2001
By DAVID JOHNSTON and ERIC SCHMITT
New York Times, 3 April 2004
EXCERPT: The review shows that over that summer, with terror warnings
mounting, the government's response was often scattered and inconsistent
as the new administration struggled to develop a comprehensive strategy
for combating Al Qaeda and other terror organizations. The warnings
during the summer were more dire and more specific than generally
recognized. Descriptions of the threat were communicated repeatedly to
the highest levels within the White House. In more than 40 briefings,
Mr. Bush was told by George J. Tenet, the director of central
intelligence, of threats involving Al Qaeda. The review suggests that
the government never collected in one place all the information that was
flowing into Washington about Al Qaeda and its interest in using
commercial aircraft to carry out attacks, and about extremist groups'
interest in pilot training. A Congressional inquiry into intelligence
activities before Sept. 11 found 12 reports over a seven-year period
suggesting that terrorists might use airplanes as weapons
SEE ALSO:
NYT Article Reflects Poorly On Rice
(Talking Points Memo)
U.S. Could've Stopped 9/11 Attacks,
Panel Chief Says
By KIRK SEMPLE
New York Times, 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: The terrorist strikes of Sept. 11, 2001, could have been
prevented had the United States government acted sooner to dismantle Al
Qaeda and responded more quickly to other terrorist threats, the
chairman of the commission investigating the attacks said today, even as
the White House sought to dispel the notion that the attacks were
avoidable. Thomas H. Kean, chairman of the commission and former
Republican governor of New Jersey, said that had the United States
seized early opportunities to kill Osama bin Laden in the years before
Sept. 11, "the whole story would've been different." Mr. Kean's comments
on the NBC News program "Meet the Press" echoed statements he made in
December and January. But he emphatically declared that additional
months of testimony and investigation had not altered his view. "What
we've found now on the commission has not changed that belief because
there were so many threads and so many things, individual things, that
happened," he said. "And if some of those things hadn't happened the way
they happened," the attacks could have been prevented.
15 Questions for Dr. Rice
By PETER BERGEN
New York Times, 4 April 2004
Cheney is Running a Shadow
Government, Claims Watergate Aide
By Julian Coman
Telegraph (UK) via Common Dreams, 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: G Gordon Liddy, the former FBI agent who masterminded the
Watergate burglary on behalf of Richard Nixon, once said that he would
like to kill John Dean by shoving a pencil through his neck. This week,
as the cerebral Mr Dean publishes Worse than Watergate: the Secret
Presidency of George W. Bush, the sentiment is likely to be shared by
many in Mr Bush's White House. Thirty-one years ago Mr Dean - Nixon's
legal counsel - began co-operating with prosecutors into the Watergate
burglary, revealing the inner workings of the most secretive and
manipulative administration in American history. Now, in the latest
political blockbuster, Mr Dean "testifies" against President Bush and
Vice-President Richard Cheney, accusing them of trumping his former boss
when it comes to political sharp practice. He accuses them of wilfully
misleading Congress over the nature of the threat posed by Saddam
Hussein before the war in Iraq, and of "stonewalling" over inquiries
into the events of September 11. Much of the blame for the White House
style, he suggests, lies with Mr Cheney, who is "by nature a secretive
man" who "wants to turn the clock back to pre-Watergate styles of
Imperial Presidency". Mr Dean also claims that the administration's
aggressive approach to rebels and mavericks follows a Nixonian pattern,
while being even more ruthless. He cites the "outing" of Valerie Plame,
a CIA officer whose husband, Joe Wilson, rejected administration claims
that Saddam had attempted to buy uranium from Niger.
Powel Blames CIA for Error on
Iraq Mobile Labs
By Christopher Marquis
New York Times via Common Dreams, 3 April 2004
EXCERPT: Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Friday that he had had
assurances from the intelligence community that one of the principal
charges he made in a speech to the United Nations last year ‹ that Iraq
had mobile weapons laboratories ‹ had been multisourced and was solid at
the time. Mr. Powell urged a presidential commission examining
intelligence problems in Iraq to look into what he said was a failure by
the Central Intelligence Agency. Speaking to reporters on a flight home
from Europe, Mr. Powell said he had sought to highlight the laboratory
charge in his presentation to the United Nations in February 2003
because it was especially "dramatic." But he said he included it only
after studying four sources that were used to compile the intelligence.
"I looked at the four elements that they gave me for that one, and they
stood behind them," he said of his intelligence briefers. "Now it
appears not to be the case that it was that solid." The remarks were Mr.
Powell's broadest acknowledgment yet that his United Nations
presentation, which the Bush administration saw as a formal and
comprehensive case for the Iraq war, was based at least in part on
erroneous information. "At the time I was preparing the presentation, it
was presented to me as being solid," the secretary said.
SEE ALSO:
Powell: Some Iraq Testimony Not 'Solid'
Powell spoke to reporters onboard a flight from Brussels to Washington.
CNN, 5 April 2004
EXCERPT: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said his pre-war testimony
to the U.N. Security Council about Iraq's alleged mobile, biological
weapons labs was based on information that appears not to be "solid."
SEE ALSO:
Powell's Alternative Universe
Talking Point Memo comment, 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: Here we are again in this alternative universe in which it's
front page news that Colin Powell has conceded that some of his
testimony before the UN Security Council early last year was based on
intelligence that was not "that solid." ...Since it has been a given for
months that none of the speech's intelligence assessments about current
programs were correct, this would seem to be a rather limited
concession.
The Hidden Agenda Behind Bush Tax
Policy
Newsweek.com, 12 April issue
EXCERPT: Bush has been open about each item he wants: lowering taxes on
capital income, such as dividends and capital gains; creating two big
new income-sheltering investment plans; eliminating the estate tax. But
he's not been at all forthcoming about the ultimate effect of his
program. If Bush gets what he wants, the income tax will become a
misnomer—it will really be a salary tax. Almost all income taxes would
come from paychecks—80 percent of income for most families, less than
half for the top 1 percent. Meanwhile taxpayers receiving dividends,
interest and capital gains, known collectively as investment income,
would have a much lighter burden than salary earners—or maybe none at
all. And here's the topper. In the name of preserving family farms and
keeping small businesses in the family, Bush would eliminate the estate
tax and create a new class of landed aristocrats who could inherit
billions tax-free, invest the money, watch it compound tax-free and hand
it down tax-free to their heirs. By drastically favoring investment
income over salary, fees and other "earned income," Bush would make it
harder for people who start out with nothing to earn their way up the
economic ladder, because they'd pay full taxes on almost everything they
make, but he'd shower rewards on people who have already made it to the
top rungs. With the current rate of spending and tax-cutting, there's no
way the government can even remotely balance its books without huge
spending cutbacks, which are unlikely, or new sources of revenue. Bush
people talk about growing our way out of budget problems, but that just
doesn't seem possible—especially if Bush's two big new proposed tax cuts
are adopted. Private whispering among experts from right to left is that
some sort of national sales tax is inevitable if we continue current
spending patterns, exempt investment income from taxation and try to fix
the AMT. Who would be affected the most by such a "consumption tax"?
People who live from paycheck to paycheck, spending virtually every
dollar that comes in the door.
Bush Attacks Environment 'Scare
Stories'
Secret email gives advice on denying climate change
Antony Barnett
The Observer, 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: George W. Bush's campaign workers have hit on an age-old
political tactic to deal with the tricky subject of global warming -
deny, and deny aggressively.
The Observer has obtained a remarkable email sent to the press
secretaries of all Republican congressmen advising them what to say when
questioned on the environment in the run-up to November's election. The
advice: tell them everything's rosy. It tells them how global warming
has not been proved, air quality is 'getting better', the world's
forests are 'spreading, not deadening', oil reserves are 'increasing,
not decreasing', and the 'world's water is cleaner and reaching more
people'.
3-4 April 2004
Bush Pattern of Secrecy an Attempt to Remain Unaccountable
John Dean appeared on PBS's
NOW with Bill Moyers and
discussed how actions of the secrecy driven Bush
 Administration
are
Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W.
Bush. The conversation with Bill Moyers is Dean’s first
television interview on "the hidden agenda of a White House
shrouded in secrecy and a presidency that seeks to remain
unaccountable." Strange how these news items today
illustrate the problem. (bwusa)
SEE ALSO:
John Dean's columns on FindLaw
SEE ALSO:
More Vicious Than Tricky Dick (Salon.com)
SEE ALSO:
Ex-Nixon Aide Dean Says
Bush Should Be Impeached
NOW with Bill Moyers, 2 April
2004
EXCERPT: Tonight on NOW with Bill Moyers , former counsel to
President Nixon John Dean tells Bill Moyers that he believes the
Bush Administration's secrecy and deception over the war with Iraq
should result in impeachment. "Clearly, it is an impeachable
offense," he says. "I think the case is overwhelming that these
people presented false information to the Congress and to the
American people." It is Dean's first television interview about
his new book Worse than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George
W. Bush. In the interview, taped Friday in New York, Dean compares
the Bush and Nixon White Houses. "There are many things worse than
Watergate," he says. "Taking the nation to war in a time when they
might not have had to gone to war, and people dying."
An explanation of Bush's demand not to have any
additional witnesses from the administration...
The Dogs That Didn't Bark: Why Colin Powell and
George Tenet Aren't Bashing Richard Clarke
By Fred Kaplan
Slate, 31 March 2004
In the short story "Silver Blaze," Sherlock Holmes solves the mystery of
a stolen racehorse by observing that the stable's guard dog didn't
bark—hence, the intruder was not a stranger. The mystery of whether
Richard Clarke is telling the truth about President Bush's
counterterrorism policies might be solved the same way: Which dogs
aren't barking? Amid all the administration officials bombarding the
airwaves with denunciations, who has stayed mum? The answer: Secretary
of State Colin Powell and CIA Director George Tenet, and their silence
speaks loudly. ...Tenet is central to Clarke's case that Bush was
negligent on terrorism. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and
others have said many times—in what they present as a defense against
Clarke's charges—that Bush received an intelligence briefing from Tenet
every morning and was therefore well aware of the threat from al-Qaida.
But Clarke's point is that Bush didn't take Tenet's warnings seriously.
...Powell's implicit support of Clarke is significant. In his book,
Clarke portrays Powell as his ally in the administration's internecine
disputes over terrorism. He writes that when he briefed Bush's
transition team in January 2001, "Colin Powell took the unusual step …
of asking to meet with … the senior counterterrorism officers from NSC,
State, Defense, CIA, FBI, and the military. … When we all agreed at the
importance of the al Qaeda threat, Powell was obviously surprised at the
unanimity" (Page 228).
Bush Blocks Clinton's Papers
from 9/11 Commission, Then Capitulates
By Philip Shenon and David E. Sanger
New York Times, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said on
Thursday that it was pressing the White House to explain why the Bush
administration had blocked thousands of pages of classified foreign
policy and counterterrorism documents from former President Bill
Clinton's White House files from being turned over to the panel's
investigators. The White House confirmed on Thursday that it had
withheld a variety of classified documents from Mr. Clinton's files that
had been gathered by the National Archives over the last two years in
response to requests from the commission, which is investigating
intelligence and law enforcement failures before the attacks.
SEE ALSO:
9/11 Panel Granted Look at Clinton Papers
By Dan Eggen
Washtington Post, 3 April 2004
EXCERPT: The Bush administration agreed yesterday to let the commission
investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks review about 9,000 pages of
documents from the Clinton archives, which the White House had earlier
refused to release, despite the conclusion of federal researchers that
they were relevant to the panel's work. The agreement, announced by
White House spokesman Scott McClellan and confirmed by commission
officials, was aimed at cutting short another high-profile battle
between the administration and the Sept. 11 panel in the midst of the
presidential election campaign.
SEE ALSO:
Clinton Papers 'Denied to 9/11 Inquiry'
(Guardian)
SEE ALSO:
Poll: Bush Credibility Takes Hit
(CBS)
SEE ALSO:
Bush Pulls the Old Switcheroo
By Tom Engelhardt
TomDispatch, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: If anything can be called "amusing" any more, the most amusing
political headline of the week certainly appeared on the front page of
the Wednesday New York Daily News: "Bush Serves Up Rice." It also
captured the focus of media coverage ever since former counterterrorism
"tsar" Richard Clarke appeared on 60 Minutes. The main story we've been
served up has proved a distinctly restricted diet. All rice, no beans.
It's true that the President's national security advisor was set up as
Clarke's opposite and then sallied forth onto every major TV news show
in existence to counter or rebut or attack his book, his testimony, and
his character. And it's true as well that a storm of bad publicity arose
around the President's unwillingness to let her testify publicly and
under oath before the 9/11 Commission. But behind the President's much
ballyhooed reversal there's both less and more than meets the eye.
Prosecutors Are Said to Have Expanded
Inquiry Into Leak of C.I.A. Officer's Name
By DAVID JOHNSTON and RICHARD W. STEVENSON
New York Times, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: Prosecutors investigating whether someone in the Bush
administration improperly disclosed the identity of a C.I.A. officer
have expanded their inquiry to examine whether White House officials
lied to investigators or mishandled classified information related to
the case, lawyers involved in the case and government officials say. In
looking at violations beyond the original focus of the inquiry, which
centered on a rarely used statute that makes it a felony to disclose the
identity of an undercover intelligence officer intentionally,
prosecutors have widened the range of conduct under scrutiny and for the
first time raised the possibility of bringing charges peripheral to the
leak itself. The expansion of the inquiry's scope comes at a time when
prosecutors, after a hiatus of about a month, appear to be preparing to
seek additional testimony before a federal grand jury, lawyers with
clients in the case said. It is not clear whether the renewed grand jury
activity represents a concluding session or a prelude to an indictment.
Slow roll and block, slow roll and block
After 2 Months, Bush's Iraq Panel Starts to Stir
By DOUGLAS JEHL
New York Times, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: Nearly two months after President Bush named a bipartisan
commission to look into intelligence failures on Iraq and weapons
proliferation, the panel is only now beginning its work, a spokesman for
the group said Thursday. Just a handful of staff members have been
appointed, and the newly designated executive director, John S. Redd, a
retired vice admiral, is currently posted in Iraq as a deputy to L. Paul
Bremer III, the chief civilian administrator, and will not begin work
until May, the spokesman said.
Energy Task Force Data Not
Private: Agencies Ordered to Release Papers
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: A federal judge yesterday ordered several federal government
agencies to release documents concerning their work on Vice President
Cheney's energy task force or provide a legal reason for withholding
them. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman rejected arguments by Bush
administration lawyers that employees from the Department of the
Interior and Department of Energy can claim special confidentiality
privileges for the period when they worked for the task force, which
held private meetings with energy industry representatives as it crafted
a national energy policy. Ruling that those employees were not engaged
in a deliberative process and were not temporary employees of the White
House, Friedman said the agencies must search for and produce records of
their employees' task force assignments.
Medicare Secrecy Inquiry Is Silenced
House Republicans stop Democrats from delving deeper into why the
prescription drug bill's true cost estimates were kept from Congress.
By Vicki Kemper
LA Times, April 2, 2004
EXCERPT: House Republicans on Thursday shut down an inquiry by Democrats
into whether the Bush administration acted illegally or inappropriately
last year when it withheld from Congress its estimates of the true cost
of the Medicare prescription drug bill. At issue are allegations that
then-Medicare Administrator Thomas A. Scully threatened to fire his top
actuary if he gave lawmakers his analyses showing the costs would be
much higher than administration officials were saying publicly.
Thursday's conclusion of a Ways and Means Committee hearing all but
ensured that two individuals central to the controversy — Scully and
White House aide Doug Badger — would not testify before Congress.
Separately, the Health and Human Services Department is conducting an
internal investigation into the matter, and Democratic lawmakers have
requested civil and criminal inquiries. Democrats on the Ways and Means
Committee had asked Scully and Badger to answer questions about when
President Bush and top-ranking officials were told that internal
estimates of the Medicare bill's cost were more than one-third higher
than the $400 billion Bush had set aside, and why those analyses had not
been shared with lawmakers. But White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales,
in a letter to committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Bakersfield), cited
"long-standing White House policy" against having White House staff
members testify before Congress as the reason Badger would not appear.
And Scully, now a private consultant, said in a letter to Thomas that he
was unable to appear before the committee because "unfortunately, for
the past ten days I have been traveling."
SEE ALSO:
All the President's Suckers
(Slate)
|
In George W. Bush's America, Defeat is in the
Air
By Daniel N. Nelson
Common Dreams, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: To the degree that ignorance, arrogance, paranoia and greed are all
present, those who make decisions about war and peace will pursue a
capacity-driven strategy, conflate discourses of war and peace, and
incessantly strive for security through strength. Such decision-makers will,
thereby, create enemies from friends, replacing mutual trust with endemic
suspicion and fear. This is George W. Bush's America. With each pre-emptive
step towards global unilateralism, enemies multiply, friendships wane, and
the imbalance between threats and capacities approaches critical. The smell
of defeat hangs in the air.
Washington Animal House: Washington
Press Corps Let Bush Off the Hook
While the frat-boy-in-chief cracked wise
about missing WMD, the Washington press corps guffawed like fawning pledges
-- but the joke's on them.
By Sidney Blumenthal
Salon, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: Within hours of former counterterrorism chief Richard A. Clarke's
testimony before the 9/11 commission, where he discussed how resources spent
on the Iraq war undermined the war on terrorism, President Bush acknowledged
that his rationale for the war -- Saddam Hussein's presumed possession of
weapons of mass destruction -- remained absent. Bush's admission took the
form of a comic monologue before about 1,000 black-tied members of the Radio
and TV Correspondents Association gathered for its annual dinner. The lights
dimmed and Bush presented a slide show of photographs of himself peering out
of windows and looking under furniture in the Oval Office. "Those weapons of
mass destruction have got to be somewhere ... nope, no weapons over there
... maybe under here?" With each gag line the press corps roared. Bush was
acting as the college fraternity house president that he once was, and the
journalists performing as pledges eager for acceptance by the Big Man on
Campus. "I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain -- I do not need
to explain why I say things," Bush told Bob Woodward in "Bush at War."
"That's the interesting thing about being president." Through its laughter
the press corps didn't seem to grasp that the joke was on them. The problem
is not that Bush's jest was inappropriate and tasteless -- the widow of
David Bloom, the NBC reporter who died in Iraq, had tearfully preceded Bush
on the platform. It is not that much of the media, including elements of the
quality press, had been complicit in the carefully choreographed
disinformation campaign in the rush to war stage-managed by Ahmad Chalabi
and the Bush administration. Rather, it is that the press is accepting of
Bush's radical undermining of the long-established arrangements of
Washington, including the demotion of the press's own role, by breaking the
off-the-record rule in order to have a weapon to use against Clarke.
SEE ALSO:
Krugman: Smear Without Fear
(NYT)
SEE ALSO:
Solomon: Media Strategy Memo to George and Dick
(ZNet)
SEE ALSO:
White House Takes Over Access to Yawning
12-Year-Old Boy (Nation)
Bush to New York City: Drop Dead
By Jack Newfield
The Nation, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: The Bush Administration has treated New York City like a battered
wife who still gets displayed for photo-ops and state dinners. George Bush
and the Republicans who control both houses of Congress have starved New
York for three years with fiscal policies that alternate between abuse and
neglect. But now Bush will stage his renomination convention in the city he
has used and abused--sticking his finger in our eye and exploiting our
bereavement. This August, Karl Rove, the kitschy guru of political theater,
will try to convert the crematorium of Ground Zero into a re-election
billboard. One of Bush's first TV ads of the season was another example of
his exploitation of New York. It contained footage of New York firefighters
carrying the remains of a dead co-worker on a gurney draped with an American
flag. The image was an icon of the carnage. Scores of 9/11 widows and
firefighters condemned the ad's poor taste and hypocrisy. As Jimmy Breslin
wrote in Newsday, "In his first campaign commercial, George Bush reached
down and molested the dead." There are many ways in which the Bush
Administration has attempted to strangle New York. The most telling has to
do with its treatment of the city after the September 11 attacks. But there
are others that show the extent of Bush's contempt not just for New York
but, by implication, all of urban America.
Government Warns of Summer Bomb
Plots
By Curt Anderson
AP, 3 April 2004
EXCERPT: Trains and buses in major U.S cities may be targeted this summer by
terrorists using bombs hidden in bags or luggage, federal counterterrorism
officials have told law enforcement and transportation officials in a
nationwide bulletin. FBI and Homeland Security Department officials said
they had received uncorroborated intelligence reports about a plot by
terrorists to target commercial transportation systems. The bulletin, issued
late Thursday, mentioned no specific cities or dates and did not elaborate
on the source of the information.
SEE ALSO:
US to Fingerprint More Foreign Visitors
(AP)
Gotta pay for the war somehow...
Bush Tries But Fails to Stop the
Senate from Increasing Child Care Funds for the Poor
By Robert Pear
New York Times, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: Over strenuous objections from the White House, the Senate voted on
Tuesday for a significant increase in money to provide child care to welfare
recipients and other low-income families. The vote, 78 to 20, expressed
broad bipartisan support for a proposal to add $6 billion to child care
programs over the next five years, on top of a $1 billion increase that was
already included in a sweeping welfare bill. The federal government now
earmarks $4.8 billion a year for such child care assistance. The Bush
administration objected to the increase in child care money, saying it was
not needed.
Dick Cheney's Wife's 1981 Lesbian
Pulp Novel Scheduled to be Reprinted, but Cancelled
By Beth Shapiro
365Gay.com, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: It might have gone unnoticed, relegated to a small corner of the
archives, but with the focus of the nation on gay marriage Lynne Cheney's
past is coming back and it could haunt the GOP through this year's
presidential campaign. Cheney is wife of Vice President Dick Cheney and the
mother of Mary Cheney who is out. But, Lynne Cheney has her own
lesbian past; a 1981 novel she penned called "Sisters". Penguin books is
republishing the book in paperback. It will be out next week.
SEE ALSO:
PUBLISHER CANCELS REISSUE OF BOOK!
(AP)
SEE ALSO:
New Wave of Therapist-Gurus Claim to 'Cure'
Homosexuality (Guardian)
SEE ALSO:
White House Clarifies Stance on Gays
(Washington Post)
2 April 2004
Reversing Pledge, Bush Lets OPEC Bilk
Americans
Daily Mis-lead, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: As a presidential candidate in 2000, George Bush pledged to use
his "political capital" to influence OPEC when gas prices soared, saying
that during a crisis, a president, "ought to get on the phone with the
OPEC cartel and say, 'We expect you to open your spigots". But with gas
prices soaring in the United States, newspapers report the White House
now says the president refuses to "personally lobby oil cartel leaders
to change their minds".With the president refusing to do anything about
the situation, OPEC opted this week to cut supply to further inflate gas
prices and bilk American consumers.
Disappointing Job Growth State-By-State
JobWatch.org, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: State-by-state data show disappointing job growth is widespread. As
of February 2004, 35 states have failed to get back to their pre-recession
employment levels. Furthermore, 49 states have not created enough jobs to
keep up with the natural growth in the number of potential workers, as job
growth has lagged the growth in working-age population since March 2001. As
for the unemployed, 43 states have higher unemployment rates than when the
recession began (see
State data & organizations).
Progress in the War on Counterterrorism!
Bush Blocks Full Funds for Fight
Against Terrorists
The Daily Mislead, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: President Bush has repeatedly said he is committed to doing
whatever it takes to "cut off terrorist finances" in order to win the War on
Terror. But according to a new report, the president is trying to kill a
desperate request by his own officials to increase the number of
investigators needed to disrupt the finances of Al Qaeda. The New York Times
reports the president is trying to eliminate a $12 million request by the
IRS, which says it needs the small injection of new money "to increase by
50% the number of criminal financial investigators" necessary to do its part
in the fight against terrorism. The president could easily fund the program
by reducing the tax cuts he wants to give to the 200,000 millionaires in
America: instead of giving these millionaires an average tax cut of $88,326
he could simply reduce that tax cut by $60, giving them instead $88,266,
while using the savings to fully fund the IRS request. Instead, President
Bush is pushing more than $1 trillion in new tax cuts, while ignoring the
request.
SEE ALSO:
Bush Denies IRS Request for More Terrorism
Investigators
New York Times, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: The Bush administration has scuttled a plan to increase by 50
percent the number of criminal financial investigators working to disrupt
the finances of Al Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist organizations to save
$12 million, a Congressional hearing was told on Tuesday.
SEE ALSO:
FBI Budget Squeezed After 9/11
(Washington Post)
Pressure Mounts on Rice Over 9/11 Speech
Undelivered text adds fuel to row over whether Bush
White House took al-Qaida threat seriously
By Julian Borger
Guardian (UK), 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: The US national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was due to
deliver a major national security speech on September 11 2001. But it dwelt
not on terrorism but on the proposed Star Wars missile defence system. The
White House confirmed the existence of the draft speech, which was first
reported by the Washington Post, but refused to release the full text.
However, a spokesman argued that one speech focusing on missile defence did
not mean the White House was ignoring the terrorist threat. The Rice speech
was never delivered. The hijacked planes struck New York, Washington and
Pennsylvania before she was due to talk. But details of the draft have
quickly become ammunition in a bitter election-year fight over whether the
Bush administration took the al-Qaida threat seriously enough before the
2001 attacks.
SEE ALSO:
Rice to Address 9/11 Panel on April 8
(AP)
'I saw papers that show US knew al-Qa'ida would attack
cities with aeroplanes'
Whistleblower the White House Wants to Silence Speaks to
The Independent
By Andrew Buncombe
Independent, 2 April 2004
Courtesy of The Agonist
EXCERPT: A former translator for the FBI with top-secret security clearance
says she has provided information to the panel investigating the 11
September attacks which proves senior officials knew of al-Qa'ida's plans to
attack the US with aircraft months before the strikes happened. She said the
claim by the National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, that there was no
such information was "an outrageous lie". Sibel Edmonds said she spent more
than three hours in a closed session with the commission's investigators
providing information that was circulating within the FBI in the spring and
summer of 2001 suggesting that an attack using aircraft was just months away
and the terrorists were in place. The Bush administration, meanwhile, has
sought to silence her and has obtained a gagging order from a court by
citing the rarely used "state secrets privilege". ...The accusations from
Mrs Edmonds, 33, a Turkish-American who speaks Azerbaijani, Farsi, Turkish
and English, will reignite the controversy over whether the administration
ignored warnings about al-Qa'ida. That controversy was sparked most recently
by Richard Clarke, a former counter-terrorism official, who has accused the
administration of ignoring his warnings.
Dream-Filled Missile Silos
New York Times, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: The Pentagon is foolishly racing to deliver on President Bush's
grandiose 2000 campaign promise to have a still unproven, money-munching
missile defense system deployed in time for the November election. It's
supposed to provide protection against incoming ballistic missiles. But, so
far, the rush into the old "Star Wars" dream amounts to an extravagant
political shield. The administration's obstinate intent is to fill the first
silos in Alaska as early as this summer, even though the complex project — a
composite of 10 separate systems for high-tech defense — is years from being
fully tested or built. Plagued with cost overruns and technical failures,
the overall missile defense program's main feat of rocketry has been its
price tag: roughly $130 billion already spent, and $53 billion planned for
the next five years. Mr. Bush ought to pay attention to the powerful advice
just offered by a group of 49 retired generals and admirals who say he
should shelve his fantasy start-up plan. They urge that the money for that
project be spent instead on bolstering antiterrorist defenses at American
ports, borders and nuclear weapons depots. As things stand now, the
administration is again looking for showy but questionable ways to reinforce
Mr. Bush's identity as a wartime president, while ignoring sensible and
effective low-tech strategies to reinforce homeland security.
Attorney Says Sept. 11 Commission Isn't
Getting Full Picture of Clinton's Terrorism Policies
By Melissa Nelson
AP, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks isn't
getting a full picture of former President Clinton's terrorism policies
because the Bush administration won't forward all of Clinton's records to
the panel, a lawyer said.
Bruce Lindsey, Clinton's legal representative for records and a longtime
confidant of the former president, told The Associated Press on Wednesday
that only about 25 percent of nearly 11,000 pages have been turned over. "I
don't want (the commission) drawing the conclusion the Clinton
administration didn't do X or Y and then there be a document that
contradicts that and they didn't have access to that document because the
current administration decided not to forward it to them," Lindsey said.
Secrecy, Lies And Credibility
BY WALTER CRONKITE
King Features Syndicate, 31 March 2004
Courtesy of Antiwar.com
EXCERPT: The initial refusal of President Bush to let his national-security
adviser appear under oath before the 9/11 Commission might have been in
keeping with a principle followed by other presidents -- the principle
being, according to Bush, that calling his advisers to testify under oath is
a congressional encroachment on the executive branch's turf. (Never mind
that this commission is not a congressional body, but one he created and
whose members he handpicked.) But standing on that principle has proved to
be politically damaging, in part because this administration -- the most
secretive since Richard Nixon's -- already suffers from a deepening
credibility problem. It all brings to mind something I've wondered about for
some time: Are secrecy and credibility natural enemies?
The Secret of Their Success
by Karen Kwiatkowski
LewRockwell.com, 29 March 2004
EXCERPT: The New York Times has discovered the secret, and
they printed it on the front page! On Monday, 29 March 2004, the Times
reports "American soldiers shut down a popular Baghdad newspaper on Sunday
and tightened chains across the doors after the occupation authorities
accused it of
printing lies that incited violence." Printing lies that incited
violence? Glory be! Say it ain’t so! ...You
may peruse at your leisure the exhaustive "Iraq on the Record: The Bush
Administration’s Public Statements on Iraq." It was requested by
Representative Waxman, and contains the hard facts about current
presidential deceit, including the
237 misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq that were made by
President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary
Powell, and National Security Advisor Rice. These statements were made in
125 separate appearances, consisting of 40 speeches, 26 press conferences
and briefings, 53 interviews, 4 written statements, and 2 congressional
testimonies. Most of the statements in the database were misleading
because they expressed certainty where none existed or failed to
acknowledge the doubts of intelligence officials. Ten of the statements
were simply false.
This
user-friendly document shows how the propaganda campaign worked, and sheds
some interesting light on another issue: why Condi Rice may be a bit
uncomfortable with that oath about the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth.
Outsourcing a good thing? Theory vs. reality.
Office Space
Sure, the working class has been hit hard by the economic downturn. But
so have white-collar workers.
Lawrence Mishel
The American Prospect, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: Worried about outsourcing? Well, you shouldn't be, at least
according to the conventional wisdom; the economy will certainly create
better jobs as we climb higher up the skills ladder. Consider, for instance,
Jagdish Bhagwati, a leading free-trade advocate and Columbia University
professor, who offers these comforting words: "The fact is, when jobs
disappear in America, it is usually because technical change has destroyed
them, not because they have gone anywhere. In the end, Americans' increasing
dependence on an ever-widening array of technology will create a flood of
high-paying jobs." To follow Bhagwati and others in their bold leap of
faith, however, we would have to ignore some exceedingly gloomy facts all
around us. The cheerful prognosis flies in the face of 25 years of eroded
job quality and poor wage growth among non-college-educated workers (nearly
three-fourths of the workforce), not to mention the job problems that have
been facing white-collar workers since the early 1990s.
Can Gay Marriage Strengthen the American
Family?
Brookings Institution, April 1, 2004
EXCERPT: Brookings writer-in-residence Jonathan Rauch voiced his support for
gay marriage today and disputed arguments that gay marriage will weaken the
institution of marriage. Rauch's new book Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for
Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America was the starting point for a
Brookings panel addressing the issue and its affect on American society. The
issue has risen to the surface of the national debate recently because a
number of jurisdictions have sanctioned gay marriages and President Bush has
lent his support to a constitutional amendment restricting marriage to a man
and a woman.
Pentagon tactical spin inadvertently revealed
Note to Eric: U Need 2B More Careful
By Al Kamen
Washington Post, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: Did you hear the one about the guy at Starbucks? No? Okay. A guy
walks into the Starbucks at Connecticut Avenue and R Street NW on Sunday to
get his favorite latte, and sits down at a table. On the table, he spots
four pieces of paper. One is stationery with the heading "Office of the
Secretary of Defense," and right under that "The Special Assistant." It has
a penciled map of directions from the Pentagon to Defense Secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld's house in Northwest Washington. Another sheet says, "Eric's
Telephone Log." Someone has written "Conf. call" at the top and some notes,
some in partial shorthand, on one side. These apparently were taken by Eric.
SEE ALSO:
Found at Starbucks: The Pentagon's Papers
(Center for American Progress)
Sympathetic Eye for the Extreme Guy
by Nan Aron
Center for American Progress, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: Last Sunday, CBS' "60 Minutes" may have provided the first chapter
to a sequel to Eric Alterman's book "What Liberal Media?" with its puff
piece on extremist Mississippi Judge Charles W. Pickering, Sr; a report that
simply omitted the core of the case against Pickering's confirmation to the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and distorted the rest. It is
not the first press mischaracterization of a nominations fight, but it may
be among the worst. Reporters routinely cover the judicial confirmation
issue as though it were a political mud fight with equal merit or demerit to
arguments on both sides. Senate Democrats, they say, have filibustered six
of President Bush's nominees in retaliation for the 60-some Clinton nominees
to whom the Republicans denied hearings, committee votes, or floor
consideration. Couching the debate in this manner ignores the real issue –
President Bush has undertaken a concerted strategy to pack the federal bench
with right-wing extremists, and the Democrats have blocked a handful of the
worst. Bush has responded by blasting the Democrats as obstructionists. He
has also further poisoned the process by giving recess appointments to two
of his most controversial nominees – Pickering, and former Alabama Attorney
General Bill Pryor to the Eleventh Circuit.
1 April 2004
How do we HATE America? Let us count the ways...
The Case Against Democracy, Freedom
and Individual Choice
Ten reasons the fascists of Germany and Italy, as well as the
communists of the Soviet Union, had it right when it comes to
eliminating threats to the societal collective by reducing freedom and
giving greater power to the state
BushWhackedUSA, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: At this point, it seems only appropriate that we, the staff of
BushWhackedUSA, reveal our true agenda: to advance the twin
causes of anti-Semitism and intolerant atheism, while simultaneously
working to erode the basic American values of capitalism, democracy and
the freedom to choose which reality show you'll watch tonight on cable
TV. Karl Marx and Adolph Hitler are not just heroes--they are the
guiding lights of civilization as we know it, and it's time to turn the
clock back and revisit their luminous political and philosophical
paradigms. All corporations MUST be abolished IMMEDIATELY, followed by
the swift execution of those who oppose the new, global regime. Only
when thought-crime and the acquisition of wealth have been eliminated
from human behavior will humanity truly realize its glorious potential.
SEE ALSO: America Should Lay Down Arms and
Surrender to the Terrorists, Today! (BushWhackedUSA)
SEE ALSO: If Ralph Nader Wants to
Help Bush, That's Fine By Us (BushWhackedUSA)
SEE ALSO: Boycott Franken and
Moore: When 'Liberal' Just Isn't Liberal Enough (BushWhackedUSA)
SEE ALSO: Don't Trust Richard
Clarke: He's a Republican!!! (BushWhackedUSA)
SEE ALSO: If Saddam Were Still on
the Loose, the World Would be a Better Place (BushWhackedUSA
Top Focus Before 9/11 Wasn't on
Terrorism
Rice Speech Cited Missile Defense
By Robin Wright
Washington Post, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: On Sept. 11, 2001, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice
was scheduled to outline a Bush administration policy that would address
"the threats and problems of today and the day after, not the world of
yesterday" -- but the focus was largely on missile defense, not
terrorism from Islamic radicals. The speech provides telling insight
into the administration's thinking on the very day that the United
States suffered the most devastating attack since the 1941 bombing of
Pearl Harbor. The address was designed to promote missile defense as the
cornerstone of a new national security strategy, and contained no
mention of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden or Islamic extremist groups,
according to former U.S. officials who have seen the text. The speech
was postponed in the chaos of the day, part of which Rice spent in a
bunker. It mentioned terrorism, but did so in the context used in other
Bush administration speeches in early 2001: as one of the dangers from
rogue nations, such as Iraq, that might use weapons of terror, rather
than from the cells of extremists now considered the main security
threat to the United States. The text also implicitly challenged the
Clinton administration's policy, saying it did not do enough about the
real threat -- long-range missiles.
Bush's Lawyer Called at Least
One Republican on 9/11 Panel Before Clarke Testified
By Dana Milbank and Dan Eggen
Washington Post, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: President Bush's top lawyer placed a telephone call to at least
one of the Republican members of the Sept. 11 commission when the panel
was gathered in Washington on March 24 to hear the testimony of former
White House counterterrorism chief Richard A. Clarke, according to
people with direct knowledge of the call. White House counsel Alberto R.
Gonzales called commissioner Fred F. Fielding, one of five GOP members
of the body, and, according to one observer, also called Republican
commission member James R. Thompson. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, the ranking
Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, wrote to Gonzales
yesterday asking him to confirm and describe the conversations. Waxman
said "it would be unusual if such ex parte contacts occurred" during the
hearing. Waxman did not allege that there would be anything illegal in
such phone calls. But he suggested that such contacts would be improper
because "the conduct of the White House is one of the key issues being
investigated by the commission." White House spokesmen were unable to
get a response from Gonzales. Fielding did not return phone calls
seeking comment.
Emotional Elder Bush Attacks Son's
Critics
Reuters to Yahoo! News, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: An emotional former President George H.W. Bush on Tuesday
defended his son's Iraq (news - web sites) war and lashed out at White
House critics. It is "deeply offensive and contemptible" to hear "elites
and intellectuals on the campaign trail" dismiss progress in Iraq since
last year's overthrow of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites),
the elder Bush said in a speech to the National Petrochemical and
Refiners Association annual convention. "There is something ignorant in
the way they dismiss the overthrow of a brutal dictator and the sowing
of the seeds of basic human freedom in that troubled part of the world,"
he said. The former president appeared to fight back tears as he
complained about media coverage of the younger Bush that he called
"something short of fair and balanced."
Record-Setting Bush Fundraising Drive
Nears Climax
By David Morgan
Reuters to Yahoo! News, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: President Bush's lavish campaign fund-raising drive neared its
record-shattering climax on Wednesday at a Washington hotel where over
1,000 Bush supporters forked over $1.5 million for a salmon dinner.
"He's been in Washington long enough to take both sides of every issue,"
Bush said to guffaws from supporters, who paid $2,000 a plate to attend.
"If he could find a third side, I imagine he'd take that one too." Bush
is expected to wind up a nine-month nationwide fund-raising drive next
week, when he speaks to campaign donors at a Charlotte, North Carolina,
event that had to be postponed from February because of a blizzard.
Analysts believe Bush has already reached or exceeded his $170 million
fund-raising target for the 2004 race -- a level that would shatter
the $100 million record he set during his 2000 contest against Democrat
Al Gore. [bwusa emphasis]
Who Could Have Known the Bush Gang Would Use Misstatements and
Deception As Missiles to Destroy American Democracy?
AUDIO/VIDEO LINK
White House Knew of Airplane
Attack Threat Before 9/11
Democracy Now!, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: "...For the past two years I have testified several times
before the Department of Justice Inspector General, for the Senate
Judiciary Committee, and a few months ago I testified behind closed
doors for the 9-11 Commission, and as I stated before, to just come
out and say -- and state that we had no specific information
whatsoever, that would be an outrageous lie. President Bush, I guess,
he made a smart move, because he also added that they did not have any
specific information stating that the attack was going to occur on
September 11. But Ms. Rice's statement that we had no specific
information is inaccurate." [Includes transcript.]
SEE ALSO:
The Failure to Keep America Safe
By Robert Kuttner
Common Dreams, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: Two pivotal recent events should make a shambles of
President Bush's contention right after 9/11 that a war on terrorism
would be the defining mission of his presidency. In late January David
Kay, the president's own chief weapons inspector, admitted that no
nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons were found in Iraq. That
finally made it respectable to question the wisdom of the Iraq war.
Then, last week, the explosive testimony of the president's former
counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke invited intense discussion about
whether the Bush administration had done enough to avert the 9/11
attack. However, a third and even more important inference is seeping
into public consciousness: The failure to protect the United States
against terrorism is ongoing and directly related to Iraq. The Iraq
detour has set back America's security in at least five mutually
reinforcing ways....
SEE ALSO:
The Real Question on 9/11: Where Was
the Air Force?
By Ted Rall
UExpress via Common Dreams, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: The notion of a hijacked passenger jet meandering over the
northeastern United States, unmolested for more than an hour before
blasting away a chunk of the Pentagon, should appall anyone whose
taxes contributed to the quarter of a trillion dollars spent on
defense that year. And if you stop and think about it, there was
actually two hours in which something could have been done.
SEE ALSO:
Toothless Commission: Holes in the Investigation
(Common Dreams)
SEE ALSO:
Tag-Team Testimony from Bush, Cheney Will
Limit Divergent Answers
(Knight-Ridder)
Bush Puts 'a Cancer on the Presidency'
by Robert Scheer
The Nation, 30 March 2004
EXCERPT: This is an Administration that has been dominated by the
neoconservative ideologues who condemned the logical restraint of the
first Bush Administration on foreign policy as a betrayal of the
national interest. These neocons have made a horrible mess of things,
but that gives them no pause. They went to war with a nation that had no
weapons of mass destruction and few connections to terrorism--but have
coddled Pakistan, which sponsored the Taliban and Al Qaeda and which
recently was revealed as the source of nuclear weapons technology for
North Korea, Iran and Libya. The President's team is wrong to believe
its outrageous lies can continue to lull a gullible public. Nixon's lies
won him a second election, but then he lost the country. Bush smiles
better than Nixon, but when the lies are exposed, the smile turns into a
character-revealing smirk. That happened last week when the White House
released photos of a skit, performed for the amusement of jaded media
heavyweights, in which the President pretended to look under his desk
for the missing weapons of mass destruction. This may have amused his
cynical audience, but to the general public, the carefully lip-synced
policy pronouncements of the man who cried wolf has morphed into a sick
joke.
Spelling it Out: Bush Led
America into the Wrong War
By Matt Bivens
Nation, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: In one sense, the White House has succeeded in fending off
its critics. Because the discussion has quickly centered on
inside-the-Beltway politics and process: Will Condoleeza Rice testify
or won't she? Will Richard Clarke's old testimony be declassified or
won't it? Along the way, we've lost track of the big picture. So let's
look again at the most powerful critique of the war on Iraq: It does
far, far less to prevent terrorism than it does to feed it. This is
Clarke's core complaint and he laid it out eloquently on "Meet the
Press":
MR. RUSSERT: Why do you think the Iraq war has undermined the war on
terrorism?
MR. CLARKE: Well, I think it's obvious, but there are three major
reasons. Who are we fighting in the war on terrorism? We're fighting
Islamic radicals and they are drawing people from the youth of the
Islamic world into hating us. Now, after September 11, people in the
Islamic world said, 'Wait a minute. Maybe we've gone too far here.
Maybe this Islamic movement, this radical movement, has to be
suppressed,' and we had a moment, we had a window of opportunity,
where we could change the ideology in the Islamic world. Instead,
we've inflamed the ideology. We've played right into the hands of
al-Qaeda and others. We've done what Osama bin Laden said we would do.
Ninety percent of the Islamic people in Morocco, Jordan, Turkey,
Egypt, allied countries to the United States -- 90 percent in polls
taken last month hate the United States. It's very hard when that's
the game where 90 percent of the Arab people hate us. It's very hard
for us to win the battle of ideas. We can arrest them. We can kill
them. But as Don Rumsfeld said in the memo that leaked from the
Pentagon, I'm afraid that they're generating more ideological radicals
against us than we are arresting them and killing them. The president
of Egypt said, 'If you invade Iraq, you will create a hundred bin
Ladens.' He lives in the Arab world. He knows. It's turned out to be
true. It is now much more difficult for us to win the battle of ideas
as well as arresting and killing them, and we're going to face a
second generation of al-Qaeda. We're going to catch bin Laden. I have
no doubt about that. In the next few months, he'll be found dead or
alive. But it's two years too late because during those two years,
al-Qaeda has morphed into a hydra-headed organization, independent
cells like the organization that did the attack in Madrid.
SEE ALSO:
Statement of Senator Carl Levin Relating to Public Release of
Testimony of Mr. Charles Duelfer DCI’s Special Advisor for WMD in Iraq
Impeachable Offenses: Bush
Should be Prosecuted
By John Bonifaz
TomPaine.com, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: President George W. Bush --whose own election was dubious--
has seized monarchical powers in sending this nation into war without
any legitimate congressional declaration of war or equivalent
congressional action. He has lied to the United States Congress and to
the American people about the rationale for the war. He has imprisoned
American citizens without charges and denied them access to lawyers
and the courts. He has thus trampled on the United States Constitution
and he has violated his oath of office. This nation is at a
crossroads. These are not simply issues to be debated in a
presidential election. These are "high crimes" in the most profound
meaning of the phrase, and they require the most serious of legal
responses. |
A Greenhorn on the Ranch: Bush Can't
Handle More than One Issue
By Albert Scardino and John Scardino
Guardian (UK), 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: It's a good thing George Bush found a job in the White House.
Though he owns a ranch in Texas, he'd make an inept cowboy. He can't seem to
keep the herd settled in for the night. All those little calves getting lost
in the gullies. One is Valerie Plame, the CIA agent outed by someone hanging
around the White House corral. Another is the Afghan war, orphaned by the
Iraq campaign. A third, the cost of the prescription drug programme, just
keeps bleating from the bushes: $40bn a year as the White House promised
eight weeks ago when the bill was being debated? $53.4bn as they say now
that it has become law? $60bn as the administration's own analyst warned
months ago but which his bosses ordered him not to share with Congress? The
president wouldn't do so well in all those small town saloons either. Too
tempting to get all liquored up and then pick a fight with just about
anybody for no good reason, as he's been doing since he came to Washington.
The world's steel industry had to obtain a protective order to keep Bush
from assaulting it. Who knows why he's taken to beating up on scientists of
every description, not just on global warming but on points that have been
long settled. On evolution, for instance, he believes "the jury is still
out," as he said in the last presidential campaign. Charles Darwin is damn
near pre-deluvian himself, at least in the Christeo-Bush Calendar, the one
that believes time began six thousand years before the birth of Mel Gibson.
Besides, he wasn't even a Democrat.
SEE ALSO:
Al Franken: To the Moon, George, to the Moon
(Common Dreams)
SEE ALSO:
No Faith-Based Attacks on Bush Allowed
(Common Dreams)
Tax Cuts Boost Joblessness,
Encourage Outsourcing
By Theodore Seto
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 29 March 2004
EXCERPT: Almost any business task can be performed using more labor and less
capital or less labor and more capital. We learn in Econ 101 that if
government doesn't intervene, business will choose the most efficient
alternative. But what if government intervenes? What if it puts its heavy
tax thumb on the "more machines, fewer workers" side of the scale? Answer:
Instead of using two workers and one machine to do a given job, business
will use two machines and one worker. This has several consequences. First,
it artificially boosts productivity numbers. Productivity is simply output
per employed worker. In our scenario, we've just induced business to replace
workers with machines, so productivity has to go up, by definition. Most
immediately relevant, we get a jobless recovery. What exactly did the Bush
tax acts do to create this problem? They granted an enormous tax cut to big
business in the form of "bonus depreciation." Under bonus depreciation, the
more corporations spend on equipment, the less tax they have to pay on the
same economic income. And that's exactly what they've been doing. Business
spending on equipment has skyrocketed, corporate tax collections have
plummeted and no one's being hired.
Jobless Rates Rise in Key Election
States
AP, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: Unemployment rates increased in nine of the 17 battleground states
that could decide the 2004 presidential election, with Missouri and Arkansas
showing the biggest increases last month, the Labor Department said
Wednesday. The department's state-by-state survey showed weak job growth in
many parts of the country. Jobless rates fell in six of the most contested
states and held steady in two others, the report said. Polls consistently
show jobs and the economy are the most important issues to voters, and that
a majority think Democrat John Kerry is better suited to improve the
situation than President Bush. The economy is growing, but hiring is near a
standstill. Overall, unemployment rates in February were lower in 24 states
and Washington, D.C., higher in 19 states and unchanged in seven, the report
said. But businesses cut their payrolls in 27 states and increased hiring in
20 states and Washington, D.C. Hiring was unchanged in three states.
SEE ALSO:
350 Ways to Lie About Kerry
(Slate via StAugustine.com)
SEE ALSO:
Dean Blasts Bush over US Losses in Iraq
(AP)
Back to Archive
Back to Front Page
|
7 April 2004
U.S. Hits Mosque Compound; 40 Said
Killed
By BASSEM MROUE and ABDUL-QADER SAAD
AP at Yahoo!News, 7 April 2004
EXCERPT: U.S. Marines in a fierce battle for this Sunni Muslim
stronghold fired rockets that hit a mosque compound filled with
worshippers Wednesday, and witnesses said as many as 40 people were
killed. Shiite-inspired violence spread to nearly all of the country.
...An Associated Press reporter in Fallujah saw cars ferrying the dead
and wounded from the Abdul-Aziz al-Samarrai mosque. Witnesses said a
helicopter fired three missiles into the compound, destroying part of a
wall surrounding the mosque but not damaging the main building. The
strike came as worshippers had gathered for afternoon prayers, witnesses
said. Temporary hospitals were set up in private homes to treat the
wounded and prepare the dead for burial. Until the mosque attack,
reports had at least 30 Americans and more than 150 Iraqis dead in
fighting for Ramadi and Fallujah.
Iraq Situation Prompts Comparisons
with Vietnam
By Alan Elsner
Reuters in FindLaw, 6 April 2004
EXCERPT: As U.S. casualties and general chaos mount, public support for
President Bush's Iraq policy appears to be dropping sharply and some
critics and analysts are starting to make comparisons with the Vietnam
conflict. "You're starting to hear that 'Q' word -- quagmire," said
pollster John Zogby, using a term synonymous to Americans with the war
that tore the country apart politically and socially in the 1960s and
early 70s and drove President Lyndon B. Johnson from office. "The public
seems confused," Zogby said. "How do we get out? Do we send more troops?
How do we cut casualties? It's all becoming a big problem for Bush."
Supporters of the Republican president and his Iraq policy have always
scoffed at Vietnam comparisons, and few things could be more damaging to
his re-election effort against Democrat John Kerry than if Vietnam
imagery took hold in the public mind.
Up To a Dozen US Marines Die in
Iraq Attack
Reuters, 6 April 2004
EXCERPT: As many as a dozen American Marines were killed on Tuesday when
their position was attacked in the Iraqi city of Ramadi near the Sunni
hotbed of Falluja, a U.S. defense official said. The official, who asked
not to be identified, said initial reports indicated that dozens of
Iraqis assaulted the Marine position near the governor's palace in
Ramadi. "There may have been as many as a dozen Marine deaths," the
official said, adding that "a significant number" of Iraqis were killed.
Uprising in Iraq Could Derail
Bush
As US forces suffer another bloody
day, Republicans turn on president
By Julian Borger
Guardian, 7 April 2004
EXCERPT: President George Bush was yesterday struggling to prevent the
escalating violence in Iraq from engulfing his re-election campaign,
after his worst political week this year triggered bipartisan calls for
a rethink of US strategy there. Fighting spread across the country as
the US-led coalition fought a two-front war against Sunni rebels
concentrated in the western town of Falluja and a radical Shia uprising
in south and central Iraq. Thirty American soldiers and 130 Iraqis have
been killed since the weekend in Falluja, where heavy combat continued
last night. Unconfirmed reports said US planes fired rockets yesterday,
destroying four houses and killing 26 Iraqis. US forces confirmed last
night that up to 12 marines had been killed in Ramadi, 36 miles west of
Falluja. Dozens of Iraqis attacked a US marine position near the
governor's palace, a senior US defence official said from Washington.
Early today, the White House responded to the deaths by declaring that
US resolve was "unshakable". Its spokesman Scott McClellan said: "We
will prevail. The president was told that our troops are performing
well. The president is proud of our troops."
SEE ALSO:
Scores Die as Clashes Spread
(Guardian)
SEE ALSO:
Iraq on Brink of Anarchy: US Now Fighting on Two
Fronts
(Guardian)
The War on Terror Misfired:
Blame it All on the Neocons
The legitimate grievances of Muslims
were never listened to by the west
By David Clark
Guardian, 7 April 2004
EXCERPT: It was never going to be easy to keep a sense of perspective in
the face of a terrorist campaign as violent as the one being waged by
al-Qaida; some have found it harder than others. The claim by James
Woolsey, the former CIA director, that we are in the process of fighting
"world war three" stands out as a particularly silly example of the
hyperbolic overdrive that has characterised much of the debate over the
past two-and-a-half years. So does Tony Blair's assertion that the
terrorist threat is "existential" in its scope. Islamist terrorism poses
a threat to the physical existence of those who stand to be killed as a
result of its actions, as yesterday's news of a plot to explode a
chemical bomb in Britain reminded us. But it is not comparable to the
threat posed to western democracy and European Jewry by Nazism in the
1930s and 1940s, let alone the prospect of nuclear annihilation during
the cold war. Policy choices that proceed from that assumption are
almost certain to be wrong.
SEE ALSO:
Moyers: Winning the War on Terror
(Common Dreams)
So much for most-favored ally status...
US Envoy's Threat of Military
Action Angers Pakistan
By James Astill
Guardian (UK), 7 April 2004
EXCERPT: An American ambassador provoked a diplomatic row with Pakistan
yesterday by threatening to send US troops into the north of the country
if Taliban fighters and al-Qaida terrorists were not hunted down.
Pakistan reacted angrily to the remarks from Zalmay Khalilzad, US
ambassador to Afghanistan, saying he was "not aware of the realities on
the ground". But Mr Khalilzad's comments seem to reflect rumbling
discontent in Washington over Pakistan's longstanding reluctance to
confront either Islamist militants in its semi-autonomous northern
regions or the tribal leaders believed to be sheltering them.
Islamist Militants Unsettle
Uzbekistan and Surrounding Regions
By John MacLeod and Galima Bukharbaeva
Guardian (UK), 7 April 2004
EXCERPT: Four days of violence in Uzbekistan last week have shaken the
central Asian state to its core. It is not the first time the country
has seen clashes involving Islamist militants, but previously they were
confined to border regions. The last attacks came in 2001, a few weeks
before September 11 transformed Uzbekistan from a backwater into a key
western ally. These attacks - shootings, gunfights and, reportedly,
suicide bombings, with 47 dead - came out of the blue. It is unclear who
is behind them, but Islamist militants are suspected. The president,
Islam Karimov, appeared on TV to tell the nation that "dark forces" were
afoot. The sense of official alarm shows how hard the attacks have hit a
regime whose mantra is stability at any cost.
Collateral Damage
Why the real harm done by Bush's Iraq policy is found in Afghanistan
By Matthew Yglesias
The American Prospect, 5 April 2004
EXCERPT: The correct moral to draw from al-Qaeda's involvement in
Afghanistan is not the danger of rogue states but the danger of failed
ones where the collapse of the central government allowed a lightly
armed but highly motivated group of fanatics to seize control. Rather
than resolve the problem of Afghanistan's lack of effective authority,
however, Bush simply treated a symptom and left the disease in place.
Now, not only are Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders still
at large, the possibility that they and their allies will gain control
over a substantial portion of Afghan territory remains quite real.
Worse, not only did the Iraq invasion prevent us from eliminating one
failed state, it threatens to actually create another.
6 April 2004
Iraq On the Brink of Anarchy
By Robert Fisk in Fallujah
Independent, 6 April 2004
EXCERPT: Not content with surrounding the largest Sunni city west of
Baghdad with tanks, armoured personnel carriers and heavy machine-guns,
US forces used Apache helicopters to attack the Shia Muslim slums of
Shoula yesterday, sent dozens of their heavy battle tanks into the
hovels of Sadr City and then slapped an arrest warrant on the Shia
cleric Muqtada Sadr - who must dearly have wanted the United States to
do just that.
Protests Unleashed by Cleric Mark a New Front in
War
By Anthony Shadid and Sewell Chan
Wahsington Post, 5 April 2004
EXCERPT: By unleashing mass demonstrations and attacks in Baghdad and
southern Iraq on Sunday, a young, militant cleric has realized the
greatest fear of the U.S.-led administration since the occupation of
Iraq began a year ago: a Shiite Muslim uprising. ...The unrest signaled
that the U.S. military faces armed opposition on two fronts: in scarred
Sunni towns such as Fallujah and, as of Sunday, in a Shiite-dominated
region of the country that had remained largely acquiescent, if uneasy
about the U.S. role. If put down forcefully, a Shiite uprising --
infused with religious imagery, and symbols drawn from Iraq's colonial
past and the current Palestinian conflict -- could achieve a momentum of
its own.
General N. Credible Stupidity Leading the Charge?
US Declares Iraqi Cleric an
Outlaw, Attempts to Pacify Iraqi Uprising
Associated Press, 5 April 2004
EXCERPT: The top U.S. administrator in Iraq declared a radical Shiite
cleric an ``outlaw'' Monday after his supporters rioted in Baghdad and
four other cities in fighting that killed at least 52 Iraqis, eight U.S.
troops and a Salvadoran soldier. The fiercest battle took place Sunday
in the streets of Sadr City, Baghdad's largest Shiite neighborhood,
where black-garbed Shiite militiamen fired from rooftops and behind
buildings at U.S. troops, killing the eight Americans. At least 30
Iraqis were killed and more than 110 wounded in the fighting, doctors
said. Violence broke out Monday morning in another Shiite neighborhood
of the capital, al-Shula, where followers of the cleric clashed with a
U.S. patrol. An American armored vehicle was seen burning, and an Iraqi
man was seen running off with a heavy machine gun apparently taken from
the vehicle. A U.S. helicopter hovered overhead. There were no immediate
reports of injuries. Meanwhile, U.S. troops on Monday sealed off
Fallujah ahead of a major operation code named ``Vigilant Resolve,''
aimed at pacifying the city, one of the most violent cities in the Sunni
Triangle, the heartland of the insurgency against the American
occupation. U.S. commanders have been vowing a massive response after
insurgents killed four American security contractors in the city, west
of Baghdad, on Wednesday. Residents dragged the Americans' bodies
through the streets, hanging two of their charred corpses from a bridge,
in horrifying scenes that showed the depth of anti-U.S. sentiment in the
city. Some 1,200 Marines and two battalions of Iraqi security forces
were poised to enter the city in a raid to capture suspected insurgents,
officials said. They would not say when the sweep would begin.
Bush Loyalists with GOP Ties
Pack Iraq Press Office
By Jim Krane
Guardian (UK), 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: Inside the marble-floored palace hall that serves as the press
office of the U.S.-led coalition, Republican Party operatives lead a
team of Americans who promote mostly good news about Iraq. Dan Senor, a
former press secretary for Spencer Abraham, the Michigan Republican
who's now Energy Secretary, heads the office packed with former Bush
campaign workers, political appointees and ex-Capitol Hill staffers.
One-third of the U.S. civilian workers in the press office have GOP
ties, running an enterprise that critics see as an outpost of Bush's
re-election effort with Iraq a top concern. Senor and others inside the
coalition say they follow strict guidelines that steer clear of
politics. One of the main goals of the Office of Strategic
Communications -- known as stratcom -- is to ensure Americans see the
positive side of the Bush administration's invasion, occupation and
reconstruction of Iraq, where 600 U.S. soldiers have died and a deadly
insurgency thrives. "Beautification Plan for Baghdad Ready to Begin,"
one press release in late March said in its headline. Another statement
last month cautioned, "The Reality is Nothing Like What You See on
Television." Senor, spokesman for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional
Authority, said his office is guided by ethical "red lines" that prevent
it from crossing into the Bush campaign. "We have an obligation to
communicate with the U.S. Congress and the American people, given that
they're spending almost $20 billion in Iraq and have committed over
100,000 U.S. troops here," Senor said in an interview with The
Associated Press.
EXCERPT: I share Richard Clarke's view that since September 11,
President Bush and his key members of his administration have failed to
keep their eye on the ball on the war on terrorism. Frankly, we had al
Qaeda on the ropes in the spring of 2002. But rather than finishing the
job and crushing the operational command structure of al Qaeda, we
shifted our focus. Let me share a personal story. [U.S.] Central
Command, which has responsibility for our military actions in both
Afghanistan and Iraq, is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, at MacDill Air
Force Base. It has been my practice to periodically visit the Central
Command, to receive a briefing as to what they are doing. I did that in
February of 2002. After the formal briefing with PowerPoint
[presentations] and all that goes with a military briefing, I was asked
by one of the senior commanders of Central Command to go into his
office. We did, the door was closed, and he turned to me, and he said,
"Senator, we have stopped fighting the war on terror in Afghanistan. We
are moving military and intelligence personnel and resources out of
Afghanistan to get ready for a future war in Iraq." This is February of
2002. "Senator, what we are engaged in now is a manhunt not a war, and
we are not trained to conduct a manhunt."
U.S. Relying on U.N.'s Help With Iraq
Exit Plan
By Robin Wright
Washington Post, 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: The Bush administration is scrambling to develop a new Iraq
exit strategy with help from the United Nations over the next two to
three weeks, but the array of political and security challenges is now
so daunting that U.S. officials also quietly acknowledge that the
U.S.-led coalition may end up in an even worse position if the latest
effort fails.
In Haiti, Powell Reassures Interim
Leaders
By George Gedda
Associated Press, 6 April 2004
EXCERPT: Secretary of State Colin L. Powell gave assurances Monday of
full U.S. support for Haiti's interim government but said politically
motivated private armies should lay down their weapons. "Without
disarmament, Haiti's democracy will be at risk," Powell said at a news
conference with Haiti's interim prime minister, Gerard Latortue.
Latortue told Powell that all Haiti's political parties agree that
municipal, legislative and presidential elections, initially planned for
next month, should be held in 2005. Powell said prospects are good for
sending a peacekeeping force sponsored by the United Nations to replace
the U.S.-led multinational force that arrived shortly after the Feb. 29
departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Almost 2,000 U.S. troops
are serving in Haiti and are expected to leave in June, along with
Canadian and Chilean troops. Their combined troop total is about 3,600.
5 April 2004
Iraq Erupts in Violence: 22 Dead, 200+
Injured
Guardian (UK), 5 April 2004
EXCERPT: At least 22 people were killed and as many as 200 injured
yesterday in a three-hour gun battle between coalition troops from
America, Spain and El Salvador and thousands of Iraqi protesters loyal
to a firebrand Shia cleric. Supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr, a stridently
anti-American religious leader, were marching on a military base in Kufa,
close to Najaf, when shooting broke out. At least 20 Iraqis were killed.
Two coalition soldiers, an American and a Salvadorean, died and nine
were injured.
SEE ALSO:
10 More US Troops Killed in Iraq
(AP)
SEE ALSO:
Anti-American Violence Erupts Across
Iraq; Dozens Killed; U.S. Death Toll Leaps Over 600 Mark
By Khalid Mohammed
AP, 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: Supporters of an anti-American cleric rioted in four Iraqi
cities Sunday, battling coalition troops in the worst unrest since the
spasm of looting and arson immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
At least 22 Iraqis, eight U.S. troops and one Salvadoran soldier died.
Hundreds were wounded as fighting raged in Baghdad, Najaf, Nasiriyah and
Amarah. Tanks rolled through the Iraqi capital and two Humvees burned in
the streets of its eastern Sadr City neighborhood. Protesters, some
dressed all in black or waving green banners, raced toward the fighting
in Najaf as heavy gunfire echoed through the city. One man stood on a
bridge, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher at the ready. The riots were
ignited by the arrest on Saturday of an aide to anti-American cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr, known to his reverent followers as 'al-Sayed,' or
master.
War on Iraq 'Has Helped' Bin
Laden
By Gary Younge
Guardian (UK), 5 April 2004
EXCERPT: The Sunni triangle in Iraq has become a base from which Islamic
jihadists can train and test their cadre, senior officials at the CIA
and the US state department have conceded. Speaking to the Washington
Post, officials also admitted that the war on Iraq had widened the
constituency for Osama bin Laden's brand of anti-Americanism among
Islamic militants. The insurgency in Iraq had, the sources said, created
"a new Rolodex of fellow jihadists and people with whom they can work in
the [Persian] Gulf in the future". While the attacks in Afghanistan have
made the al-Qaida network less effective, Islamic organisations in areas
such as north Africa and south-east Asia, which previously focused on
changing their national leadership, have redirected their ire towards
the US, sources told the newspaper. It quoted what it called a senior
intelligence source saying the jihadists "have been caught by bin
Laden's vision, and poisoned by it ... they will now look at the US,
Israel and the Saudis as targets".
SEE ALSO:
Spread of Bin Laden Ideology Cited
(Washington Post)
Blair Told US Was Targeting Saddam
Just Days After 9/11
By Raymond Whitaker
Independent (UK) via Common Dreams, 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: George Bush asked for Tony Blair's backing to remove Saddam
Hussein from power just nine days after the 11 September attacks, over a
private dinner at the White House, a US magazine reported last night.
Sir Christopher Meyer, the former British ambassador to Washington, was
at the dinner table as Mr Blair replied that he would rather concentrate
on ousting the Taliban and restoring peace in Afghanistan. In a
25,000-word article in this month's American edition of Vanity Fair, Sir
Christopher recounts Mr Bush as responding: "I agree with you Tony. We
must deal with this first. But when we have dealt with Afghanistan, we
must come back to Iraq." Mr Blair, Sir Christopher writes, "said nothing
to demur" at the prospect.
White House Sticking to Iraq Timetable
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: Despite escalating violence that killed 10 U.S. service members
over the weekend, the Bush administration is sticking with its timetable
to turn over power in Iraq. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee Sunday raised the prospect of extending the Bush
administration's June 30 deadline for turning over power in Iraq,
questioning whether the country would be ready for self-rule. Sen. Dick
Lugar said security is a shambles in some cities, and Iraqi police
forces are not prepared to take over.
Senators Question Whether Iraq Ready
to Be Turned Over to Its People
JENNIFER C. KERR
AP, 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: The Bush administration's June 30 deadline for turning over
sovereignty of Iraq to its people may need to be extended, the chairman
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Sunday. The security
situation in some cities is in shambles and Iraqi police forces are not
prepared to take over, said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind. Asked whether the
transfer of power is coming too soon, Lugar said, "It may be, and I
think it's probably time to have that debate." Lugar said there are
still far too many questions about what will happen after June 30. He
said the administration has shared no plans with his committee regarding
an ambassador, who the 3,000 embassy staff will be, and how they will be
kept safe. "This is a huge new exposure of Americans," Lugar told ABC's
"This Week." He added, "At this point, I would have thought there would
have been a more comprehensive plan." Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, the
top Democrat on the committee, echoed Lugar's concerns about the
administration's post-occupation plans. Biden told "Fox News Sunday"
that training Iraqi forces will take years, not months. "We're going to
end up with a civil war in Iraq if in fact we decide we can turn this
over, including the bulk of the security, to the Iraqis between now and
then," he said.
Forewarning...
Shiite Militia Marches in Iraq to Back Cleric
Critical of U.S
By REUTERS, 3 April 2004
EXCERPT: Thousands of supporters of a virulently anti-American
Shiite cleric, Moktada al-Sadr, marched through the streets of Baghdad
on Saturday. Many were members of Mr. Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army.
They paraded through Sadr City, the sprawling Shiite slum in the
northeast of the Iraqi capital that is Mr. Sadr's power base. It was the
militia's first major show of strength in months. Some of the marchers
wore black masks, and many carried banners and pictures of the cleric
and of his father, who was assassinated in 1999. They were not armed. An
American and an Israeli flag were set on fire. "We are here to show the
world our might," said Sadiq al-Hashimi, a cleric leading a group of
marchers he identified as members of the Mahdi Army. "This army can be a
striking force at any moment, it's a time bomb that will go off at a
time and place it chooses." A senior military official in Baghdad has
estimated the number of the Mahdi Army in the "high hundreds to
thousands" and said its antioccupation stand "concerns us greatly."
Tracking [or Not Tracking] Terrorist
Bankrolls
New York Times, 4 April 2004
EXCERPT: As the world gropes to fight terrorism, it's hardly reassuring
to discover that the White House spurned a request for 80 more
investigators to track and disrupt the global financial networks of
terrorist groups. Some of the most important breakthroughs against
terrorism have been scored by financial sleuths, including those of the
Treasury Department. The need to expand the present staff of 160
investigators was expressed in a budget request from the Internal
Revenue Service, but cut from the final numbers submitted to Congress.
This was a $12 million item whose value seems beyond dispute,
particularly when measured against the hundreds of millions in domestic
pork spending that now preoccupies Congressional budgeteers. The
administration maintains that a planned 16 percent increase in the
Treasury budget should be enough to adequately fight terrorism and
criminal abuses of the tax law at home. But a panel of outside experts
concludes that the I.R.S. will be underbudgeted across the board. The
spurned request was disclosed almost by accident at a House subcommittee
hearing. Republicans were openly annoyed when the I.R.S. Oversight Board
properly disclosed the original budget request in response to a
lawmaker's question. The board, a bipartisan group created by Congress,
endorsed the need for more terrorism investigators. It was curtly
informed by Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, that antiterrorism was not
part of its duties. Then whose duty is it? Congress's?
3-4 April 2004
AUDIO/VIDEO
Ex-Bush National Security
Council Member: How Bush Bungled the War on Terror
Democracy Now!, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: In March 2002, six months after President Bush announced the
war on terror, an unusual military decision was made: the military's
specialists hunting for Osama bin Laden were reassigned. According to
Flynt Leverett, who was serving in the National Security Council at the
time, the Bush administration pulled off Arabic-speaking Special Forces
and CIA officers from the hunt and gave them a new assignment: Iraq.
Leverett told the Washington Post last week, "[Richard] Clarke's
critique of administration decision-making and how it did not balance
the imperative of finishing the job against al Qaeda versus what they
wanted to do in Iraq is absolutely on the money." He went on to say "We
took the people out who could have caught them. But even if we get bin
Laden or Zawahiri now, it is two years too late. Al Qaeda is a very
different organization now. It has had time to adapt. The administration
should have finished this job." [Includes transcript]
|
Bush's Mess In Iraq
AUDIO/VIDEO
Quagmire in Iraq: US Casualties
Up to 11,700
Democracy Now!, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: News reports and Pentagon briefings emerge daily announcing the
death of another U.S. soldier in Iraq. The number of American soldiers
killed since the beginning of the invasion has now topped 600. U.S.
authorities have not bothered to count the Iraqi dead, but some
estimates put the number as high as 10,000. But what is rarely heard in
the U.S. media or from the Pentagon is the number of wounded U.S.
soldiers. Some figures that have been briefly mentioned in the press
fall in the range of two to three thousand. But the Pentagon is now
reporting that in the first year of war in Iraq, the military made over
18,000 medical evacuations - representing 11,700 casualties.
Broken US Troops Face Bigger
Enemy at Home
Pentagon is sending unfit soldiers
back to Iraq long before they are ready to serve again
By Suzanne Goldenberg
Guardian, 3 April 2004
EXCERPT: The Guardian has uncovered more than a dozen instances in which
ill or injured soldiers were sent to war by a US military whose
resources have been stretched near to breaking point by the simultaneous
fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq. In its investigation, the Guardian
learned of soldiers who were deployed with almost wilful disregard to
their medical histories, and with the most cursory physical
examinations. Soldiers went to war with chronic illnesses such as
coronary disease, mental illness, arthritis, diabetes and the nervous
condition, Tourette's syndrome, or after undergoing recent surgery.
Killing in Iraq: No End in Sight
By Bob Herbert
New York Times, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: We rode into this wholly unnecessary conflict on the wave of
Mr. Bush's obsession with Saddam Hussein and Iraq, and we've made a hash
of it. Hundreds of Americans and thousands of innocent Iraqis have died
for reasons the administration has never been able to coherently
explain. Last May 1, in a fun moment for the commander in chief, Mr.
Bush sat in the co-pilot's seat as an S-3B Viking aircraft landed on the
deck of the carrier Abraham Lincoln. The president was in full flying
regalia: flight suit, parachute, water survival kit. "Yes," he told
reporters, "I flew it." The president's giddily choreographed "Top Gun"
spectacle was designed to take full public relations advantage of his
triumphant announcement that "major combat operations in Iraq" had
ended. He was wrong, of course, just as he was wrong about the weapons
of mass destruction, and about the number of troops that would be needed
to secure Iraq, and so many other things. In fact, the Bush
administration has managed to conceal any and all evidence that it knows
the first thing about what it's doing in Iraq.
SEE ALSO:
Fisk: It's Getting Worse in Iraq
(ZNet)
Bremer Has Destroyed My Country
Even the pro-US manager of Iraq's
Pepsi plant feels betrayed by an occupation which has spawned fear,
hatred and chaos
By Naomi Klein
Guardian (UK), 3 April 2004
EXCERPT: Unfortunately, the Iraqi people recently saw another version of
press freedom when Bremer ordered US troops to shut down a newspaper run
by supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr. The militant Shia cleric has been
preaching that Americans are behind the attacks on Iraqi civilians and
condemning the interim constitution as a "terrorist law." So far, al-Sadr
has refrained from calling on his supporters to join the armed
resistance, but many here are predicting that closing down the newspaper
- a nonviolent means of resisting the occupation - was just the push he
needed. But then, recruiting for the resistance has always been a
specialty of the presidential envoy to Iraq: Bremer's first act after
being tapped by Bush was to fire 400,000 Iraqi soldiers, refuse to give
them their rightful pensions, but allow them to hold on to their weapons
- in case they needed them later.
US General Vows to Pacify Fallujah
After Attack
By Sameer N. Yacoub
Associated Press, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: A U.S. general vowed an ''overwhelming'' response to the murder
and mutilation of four American contractors, but U.S. troops stayed out
of this anti-American city Thursday and fearful Iraqi police took no
action. Residents said they were ready to take on the Americans if they
try to enter Fallujah, where schools and shops remained open a day after
insurgents ambushed the contractors' SUVs and mobs strung up two of
their charred corpses on an iron bridge spanning the Euphrates River.
SEE ALSO:
Fallujah Braces for US Reprisal
(The Age)
SEE ALSO:
No Iraqi Shock After Slaying of Americans
(Reuters)
Iraq Hawks Down
Is Fallujah Iraq's Mogadishu?
By Fred Kaplan
Slate, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: If Bush officials can devise a response that can be all
that—without inflaming and enlarging the ranks of insurgents in the
process—they will prove themselves more agile than they've otherwise
shown the past year. If there is a way to deal with the insurgents, it
will be fundamentally political—and it will have to take shape in the
next few months. Two things are necessary. First, the occupying
"coalition" must be broadened, and the occupation authority must be
turned over to some international body. The Bush administration seems to
realize this—hence Bremer's recent urgent calls for the United Nations
to mediate internal disputes in Iraq. Will an international
organization—the U.N., NATO, the Arab League, or whatever—be more
effective than the U.S.-led CPA? Maybe, maybe not. But it would be more
legitimate. Second, somebody—the U.S., the U.N.—must devise a policy
toward the Sunnis.
|
Bush Stands Between Poor
Countries and AIDS Relief
TomPaine.com, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: The global effort to combat the three deadliest infectious
diseases‹ AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria‹had a rare celebration 14
months ago when President Bush pledged in his 2003 State of the Union
speech to donate $15 billion to fight AIDS over three years. Since then,
U.S. outlays have been a fraction of the promised amount. And the United
States is refusing to fund AIDS programs that use generic drugs, which
cost far less than brand-name drugs. A generation from now, history is
likely to judge world leaders as much on what they have done to keep
these diseases in check as on their efforts against terrorism, as
destructive as that scourge is. Leaders of governments and
nongovernmental organizations in the developing countries most afflicted
by these diseases must do their part to improve the health
infrastructure needed to reduce the toll. AIDS kills 3 million a year;
TB, 2 million; and malaria, 1.2 million.
Sound familiar?
Indonesia's Democracy is Hanging
by a Thread
The forces of darkness are ready,
waiting in the wings
By Martin Jacques
Guardian (UK), 3 April 2004
EXCERPT: Indonesia, an archipelago of 13,000 islands and the world's
fourth most populous country, is rarely given the attention its size
deserves. Its wider influence is dissipated by its own internal
complexity. In terms of population, Indonesia may tower over south-east
Asia, but this is not matched in terms of its power and authority.
Compare this with China, whose size similarly dwarfs north-east Asia,
yet whose growing power is rapidly casting a shadow over the entire
region. Of course, the two could hardly be more different. While
Indonesia is extremely heterogeneous, China is remarkably homogeneous,
dominated as it is by one ethnic group. China is so old no one really
knows when it started. Indonesia, in its ethnic and religious diversity,
could only be a product of European colonialism.
From the
Bush corporate board room
White House Undermined Chemical Tests, Report Says
By ELIZABETH BECKER
New York Times, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: A report released by a House committee on Thursday describes
how the Bush administration worked with the United States chemical
industry to undermine a European plan that would require all
manufacturers to test industrial chemicals for their effect on public
health before they were sold in Europe. The administration had said
publicly that the proposal last year would threaten the $20 billion in
chemicals that the United States exports to Europe each year because the
cost of testing would be prohibitive. Five years in the making, the
proposal, which was revised and is still under consideration, would
shift the burden to prove the safety of chemicals onto manufacturers
instead of governments. Behind the scenes, the administration was
working with the chemical industry to devise a plan to undermine the
proposal, according to e-mail messages and documents released in the
report. ...European officials said the testing plan was necessary
because of an increase in health problems like allergies and male
infertility. The costs of cleaning up damage from chemicals like
asbestos is already in the billions of dollars, they said.
2 April 2004
Global Mess
Republicans are utopian thinkers when it come to geopolitics, and
they've turned much of the world against us.
Robert Kuttner
The American Prospect, 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: Two pivotal recent events should make a shambles of President
Bush's contention right after 9/11 that a War on Terrorism would be the
defining mission of his presidency. In late January David Kay, the
president's own chief weapons inspector, admitted that no nuclear,
chemical or biological weapons were found in Iraq. That finally made it
respectable to question the wisdom of the Iraq war. Then, last week, the
explosive testimony of former counter- terrorism chief Richard Clarke
invited intense discussion about whether the Bush administration had
done enough to avert the 9/11 attack. However, a third and even more
important inference is just now seeping into public consciousness: The
failure to protect the United States against terrorism is ongoing, and
directly related to Iraq.
The Iraq detour has set back America's security in at least five
mutually reinforcing ways. First, the war distracted top
officials from domestic preparedness, which remains in organizational
chaos. No senior White House official is coordinating anti-terrorism,
which sprawls across the CIA, FBI, NSA, and the hapless Department of
Homeland Security. Second, the war diverted resources -- regular
troops, commandos, Arab speaking analysts, and Predator missiles, which
otherwise might have been deployed to tighten the noose around al-Qaeda
in Afghanistan. Two precious years have been lost. Third, Iraq
replicated the very scene that triggered Osama bin Laden's holy war in
the first place -- the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, after
the first Gulf War. Iraq repeats a direct American occupation of a
Muslim nation, helping recruit new young Jihadists unknown to western
intelligence agencies. Fourth, despite blather about a "forward
strategy" to advance democracy, the Iraq war significantly reduced
American leverage against Syria and Iran (who really do harbor terrorist
organizations like Hezbollah) because we need their military cooperation
to secure Iraq's borders. We've also lost leverage with Saudi Arabia,
breeding ground of al-Qaeda. Finally, the war undermined foreign
cooperation against terrorists. "It used to be that when relations
became testy with our friends, at least the intelligence cooperation
continued to work," says a former CIA station chief in a Mideast post.
"I used to be able to walk into a president or a prime minister and say,
'Look, here's the deal.' I guarantee, today they'd say, 'Sure, get out
of here.'" A former ambassador told me, "Cooperating with the United
States starts being seen as a political liability. It becomes repugnant
to the political class."
Further proof the Bush administration lied about
Iraq
Germans Accuse US Over Iraq
Weapons Claim
Guardian (UK), 2 April 2004
An Iraqi defector nicknamed Curveball who wrongly claimed that Saddam
Hussein had mobile chemical weapons factories was last night at the
centre of a bitter row between the CIA and Germany's intelligence
agency. German officials said that they had warned American colleagues
well before the Iraq war that Curveball's information was not credible -
but the warning was ignored. It was the Iraqi defector's testimony that
led the Bush administration to claim that Saddam had built a fleet of
trucks and railway wagons to produce anthrax and other deadly germs. In
his presentation to the UN security council in February last year, the
US secretary of state, Colin Powell, explicitly used Curveball's now
discredited claims as justification for war. The Iraqis were assembling
"mobile production facilities for biological agents", Mr Powell said,
adding that his information came from "a solid source". These "killer
caravans" allowed Saddam to produce anthrax "on demand", it was claimed.
US officials never had direct access to the defector, and have
subsequently claimed that the Germans misled them. Yesterday, however,
German agents told Die Zeit newspaper that they had warned the Bush
administration long before last year that there were "problems" with
Curveball's account. "We gave a clear credibility assessment. On our
side at least, there were no tricks before Colin Powell's presentation,"
one source told the newspaper.
Let's Make Enemies
Paul Bremer has unveiled a slew of tricks
that allow the US to hold on to power in Iraq after June 30.
The Nation, 19 April issue
EXCERPT: While US soldiers were padlocking the door of the newspaper's
office, I found myself at what I thought would be an oasis of
pro-Americanism, the Baghdad Soft Drinks Company. On May 1 this bottling
plant will start producing one of the most powerful icons of American
culture: Pepsi-Cola. I figured that if there was anyone left in Baghdad
willing to defend the Americans, it would be Hamid Jassim Khamis, the
Baghdad Soft Drinks Company's managing director. I was wrong. "All the
trouble in Iraq is because of Bremer," Khamis told me, flanked by a
line-up of thirty Pepsi and 7-Up bottles. "He didn't listen to Iraqis.
He doesn't know anything about Iraq. He destroyed the country and tried
to rebuild it again, and now we are in chaos." These are words you would
expect to hear from religious extremists or Saddam loyalists, but hardly
from the likes of Khamis. It's not just that his Pepsi deal is the
highest-profile investment by a US multinational in Iraq's new "free
market." It's also that few Iraqis supported the war more staunchly than
Khamis. And no wonder: Saddam executed both of his brothers and Khamis
was forced to resign as managing director of the bottling plant in 1999
after Saddam's son Uday threatened his life. When the Americans
overthrew Saddam, "You can't imagine how much relief we felt," he says.
Chief Planner Says Bush Cabinet
Rejected All Plans for Iraq Occupation
By Steven Rosenfeld
TomPaine.com, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: The Bush administration planned for the invasion of Iraq, but
not for its post-war occupation. That assertion has been repeated so
often by the president's critics that it has become a political cliché.
But it is not correct. There was plenty of planning for the post-war
occupation at senior levels throughout government, says Col. Tom Gross,
who was chief planner for Lt. General Jay M. Garner, director of the
Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, and then-chief of
staff for Ambassador Paul Bremer, Coalition Provisional Authority
administrator. "There was a plan," said Gross, who is retiring from the
military. "The administration chose not to accept it. Their plan was to
put [Iraqi exile] Ahmed Chalabi in charge and run with it." Indeed, as
former Clinton and Bush administration anti-terrorism czar Richard A.
Clarke's recent testimony to the 9/11 commission revealed, the top
staffers at the National Security Council and at the departments of
State and Defense do almost nothing but plan, strategize, evaluate
contingencies and sometimes get orders to act. But what people who were
riveted by Richard Clarke's testimony may not realize is that the most
powerful figures in the Bush administration --from its earliest days--
dispensed with the interagency planning process prior White Houses used
to evaluate threats, make decisions to go to war, and plan and carry out
those actions. "The interagency process is dead," said Ehsan Ahrari, an
independent strategic analyst based in Alexandria, Virginia, who follows
military affairs.
Driven by National Pride, US is
Creating its own Gaza in Iraq
By Jonathan Steele
Guardian (UK), 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: The architecture of the Iraqi town of Falluja bears little
resemblance to the narrow alleys of Gaza's impoverished refugee camps.
Detached two-storey homes with palm trees and small shaded gardens
behind their sand-coloured front walls stand along wide streets, looking
as comfortable as suburbs anywhere. But as residents ushered reporters
into their homes a few days ago, shortly before this week's attack on
four American security guards (though mercenaries might be a better
term), it was clear that deep communal anger was lurking here, and had
reached boiling point. They wanted to show the results of several US
incursions over four days and nights last week. Rockets from helicopter
gunships had punctured bedroom walls. Patio floors and front gates were
pockmarked by shrapnel. Car doors looked like sieves. In the mayhem 18
Iraqis lay dead. On the American side two marines were killed. It was
the worst period of violence Falluja has seen during a year of
occupation. So this week's retaliation comes as no surprise.The cycle of
violence that US troops unleashed looks and feels increasingly like
Palestinian rage in the face of excessive force by an occupying power.
SEE ALSO:
Army Vets, Ex-SEAL Among Four Killed in Iraq
(AP)
SEE ALSO:
Interview with Soldier Who Went AWOL in Iraq
for Moral Reasons (CBS)
Coalition of the Mercenaries:
Occupiers Spend Millions on Private Army of Security Men
By Robert Fisk and Severin Carr
Independent (UK) via ZNet, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: An army of thousands of mercenaries has appeared in Iraq's
major cities, many of them former British and American soldiers hired by
the occupying Anglo-American authorities and by dozens of companies who
fear for the lives of their employees. Many of the armed Britons are
former SAS soldiers and heavily armed South Africans are also working
for the occupation. "My people know how to use weapons and they're all
SAS," said the British leader of one security team in southern Baghdad.
"But there are people running around with guns now who are just cowboys.
We always conceal our weapons, but these guys think they're in a
Hollywood film."There are serious doubts even within the occupying power
about America's choice to send Chilean mercenaries, many trained during
General Pinochet's vicious dictatorship, to guard Baghdad airport. Many
South Africans are in Iraq illegally--they are breaking new laws, passed
by the government in Pretoria, to control South Africa's booming export
of mercenaries. Many have been arrested on their return home because
they are do not have the licence now required by private soldiers.
Casualties among the mercenaries are not included in the regular body
count put out by the occupation authorities, which may account for the
persistent suspicion among Iraqis that the US is underestimating its
figures of military dead and wounded. Some British experts claim that
private policing is now the UK's biggest export to Iraq--a growth fueled
by the surge in bomb attacks on coalition forces, aid agencies and UN
buildings since the official end of the war in May last year.
SEE ALSO:
Private Contractor Tests New Illegal Ammo by
Killing an Iraqi
(Army Times via ICH)
Scared Half to Death, Security
Forces Lock Themselves Behind Barricades
By Rory McCarthy
Guardian (UK), 2 April 2004
EXCERPT: It was the most gruesome attack against Americans in Iraq since
the war last year, and a horror whose images clash conspicuously with US
talk of progress and rebuilding. None of the town's 900 defence corps
troops went to intervene, nor did the Iraqi police, whose headquarters
is even closer, nor did the thousands of better-armed, better-trained
troops from America's 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based on the
outskirts of town. "We were only told about it when it had finished,"
Col Jasim, 38, a former Iraqi army officer, offered by way of
explanation. "By the time we arrived there was no one there." It should
come as no surprise that the Iraqi security forces in Falluja are scared
half to death.
Iraq War Fed Terror Threat, Says
UN Official
By Brendan Nicholson
April 1, 2004
The Age, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: The Iraq war increased the danger of global terrorism by
alienating moderate Muslims and diverting resources from the hunt for
terrorists, Australia's most senior official at the United Nations said
yesterday. Assistant Secretary-General Ramesh Thakur told a seminar in
Federal Parliament that far from dealing with terrorism, the war had fed
the threat by estranging large parts of the Islamic world from the US.
Professor Thakur said the war had damaged US relations with the UN and
with Europe and left the world's most powerful nation more isolated than
at any time in recent memory. The links between terrorism and Saddam
Hussein were tenuous and the war had diverted US resources that should
have been used to deal with terrorism. Professor Thakur said the
invasion of Iraq did not fit the formula for legitimate humanitarian
intervention because the coalition's main motivation was clearly not
humanitarian. In contrast, the interventions in East Timor and Kosovo
had been humanitarian.
Israeli Officials Boast of Power
to Pull Unwanted Stories from CNN
By Chris McGreal
Guardian (UK) via Common Dreams, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: CNN sources say the network has bowed to considerable pressure
on its editors. Israeli officials boast that they now have only to call
a number at the network's headquarters in Atlanta to pull any story they
do not like. The network's former Middle East correspondent, Jerrold
Kessel, who was widely respected for his informed and nuanced reporting,
said that while doubtlessly there was pressure on his editors to get him
to modify his coverage, he regarded it as irrelevant. "The less notice
one takes of pressure, the less pressure one invites on oneself," he
said. "If you get into a mind where the pressure is a factor, you get
into the mind of worrying about what the effect of the pressure is going
to be."
SEE ALSO:
Sharon Threatens Action Against Arafat
(Guardian)
SEE ALSO:
Diplomats Press Palestinians on Terror
(AP)
The Assssination of Sheik Yassin and
Israel's Push for US Support of Annexation of Settlements
Talking Points - US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation
Phyllis Bennis
Institute for Policy Studies, 29 March 2004
EXCERPT: The assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin marks a serious
escalation in Israeli occupation tactics. While Israel had (in earlier
assassination attempts) already crossed the "red line" that once defined
some limits in aggressive acts, its message in the Yassin murder was
that there are no limits, that Israel's military attacks face no
restrictions. Counting accurately on Washington's unwillingness to
challenge its aggression, the assassination also ushers in a new Israeli
campaign to win official U.S. support for wide-spread annexation of
major West Bank settlements as part of Tel Aviv's "unilateral withdrawal
from Gaza" plan. "Targeted assassination" is murder; it stands in clear
violation of international law. The Israeli action and the U.S. refusal
to condemn it make a mockery of international law. Killing is an
absolute prohibition; international law does not allow exceptions for
"ticking bombs," or anything else. Article 3(I) of the Geneva
Conventions of 1949 "prohibits at any time and in any place" (a)
"violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds" and (d)
"the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by
a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees
which are recognized as indispensable by civilized people." ...There is
no indication anyone in the Bush administration is concerned about the
illegality, under international law or existing UN resolutions, of
endorsing the annexation of illegal settlements built on stolen land.
Haiti's Occupation
by AMY WILENTZ
The Nation, 19 April issue
EXCERPT: the American occupation of Haiti has begun again, now that
Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been neatly pushed out. Again, there are
3,000 foreign troops on Haitian soil. Again, the Haitian premier has
been handpicked by outsiders. And again, the Haitian people have been
excluded from their own governance. Gérard Latortue, hastily chosen by a
team of US-approved Haitian "wise men," is a modern-day Phillipe Sudre
Dartiguenave. Dartiguenave, who presided over Haiti during the first
phase of the Marine occupation of 1915-1934, was a foreign-imposed
caretaker and figurehead who, like Latortue, had almost no power to
govern his own country. (The last time American troops were in Haiti was
in 1994, when they restored Aristide, a democratically elected
president, to the office from which he had been ousted three years
earlier in a military coup.) Latortue does not seem to mind the by now
almost comic place he will hold in Haitian history--that of a stock
figure, his position of cheerful, outside-imposed leader having become
part of the formula whenever Haiti changes regimes. Latortue's jolly
face is everywhere. Recently, he made a special trip up to Gonaïves, the
first town taken over by anti-Aristide forces, and was photographed
hugging various thugs who led the small but very effective rebellion. He
called them "freedom fighters," although among their ranks are many
well-known human-rights abusers.
1 April 2004
Americans Are Jolted by Gruesome
Reminders of the Day in Mogadishu
By MONICA DAVEY
New York Times, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: The grisly television news images from Iraq left David J.
Rogers shaking his head in sadness on Wednesday evening and turning
away. In a quiet bar here, Mr. Rogers learned of American bodies, beaten
and dragged through streets in Iraq, body parts hanging from a bridge,
crowds cheering and taunting. ...For Americans reacting to the scenes
they saw on Wednesday from Iraq, there was a crucial difference from
their memories of 1993. By October 1993, Somalia had largely receded
from public view, while images of deaths of soldiers and others in Iraq
have continued, week by week, for a year. ..."You hear about four or
five deaths and it's not really news anymore," said Pat Bowland, of
Detroit. His companion at a Chicago bar, David Mousseau, had his back to
the television news Wednesday night. "I'm so anesthetized to `This is a
bad day in Iraq' that I don't pay attention to the details," he said.
"Where or when does it end?"
Twenty-First Century Gunboat
Diplomacy
By Tom Engelhardt
TomDispatch, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: What should immediately come to mind are our military bases,
liberally scattered like so many vast immobile vessels over the lands of
the Earth. This has been especially true since the neocons of the Bush
administration grabbed the reins of power at the Pentagon and set about
reconceiving basing policy globally; set about, that is, creating more
"mobile" versions of the military base, ever more stripped down for
action, ever closer to what they've come to call the "arc of
instability," a vast swath of lands extending from the former Yugoslavia
and the former SSRs of Eastern Europe down deep into Northern Africa and
all the way to the Chinese border. These are areas that represent, not
surprisingly, the future energy heartland of the planet. What the
Pentagon refers to as its "lily pads" strategy is meant to encircle and
nail down control of this vast set of interlocking regions -- the
thought being that, if the occasion arises, the American frogs can leap
agilely from one prepositioned pad to another, knocking off the "flies"
as they go. Thought about a certain way, the military base, particularly
as reconceived in recent years, whether in Uzbekistan, Kosovo, or Qatar,
is our "gunboat," a "platform" that has been ridden ever deeper into the
landlocked parts of the globe -- into regions like the Middle East,
where our access once had some limits, or like the former Yugoslavia and
the 'stans of Central Asia, where the lesser superpower of the Cold War
era once blocked access entirely. Our new military bases are essentially
the 21st century version of the old European warships; the difference
being that, once built, the base remains in place, while its parts --
the modern equivalents of those 16th century cannons -- are capable of
moving over land or water almost anywhere.
Bush Team keeps misinformation going and going...
Statement of
Senator Carl Levin Relating to Public Release of Testimony of Mr.
Charles Duelfer DCI’s Special Advisor for WMD in Iraq
30 March 2004
EXCERPT: Following Mr. Charles Duelfer’s testimony to the Senate Armed
Services Committee this morning, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the senior
Democrat of the committee, said the following:
I am deeply troubled by the contents of the declassified testimony of
Mr. Charles Duelfer, the Director of Central Intelligence’s Special
Advisor for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that has been released
by the CIA this afternoon. The public statement, in a number of
instances, contains material that, when compared to the contents of the
underlying classified status report from Mr. Duelfer that was submitted
to the Armed Services Committee for the hearing this morning, includes
material that suggests that Iraq had an active weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) program while leaving out information that would lead
one to doubt that it did.
I am therefore calling for the CIA to declassify, to the extent
possible, the whole report so the public can reach their own
conclusions. Mr. Duelfer’s public statement is written to express the
author’s “suspicions” as to Iraq’s activities relating to possible
weapons of mass destruction programs or activities while leaving out
information in the classified report which points away from his
suspicions. Mr. Duelfer’s statement raises the same issues of selective
use of information in public statements of the CIA that have been such a
problem for the credibility of the Intelligence Community’s pre-war
estimates related to Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.
Chalabi's Road to Victory
By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE
UPI, 29 March 2004
Courtesy of Talking Points Memo
EXCERPT: With only three months to go before L. Paul Bremer trades in
his Iraqi pro-consul baton for beachwear and a hard-earned vacation, the
country's most controversial politician is already well positioned to
become prime minister. Ahmad Chalabi, the Pentagon's heartthrob and the
State Department's and CIA's heartbreak, has taken the lead in a
yearlong political marathon. Temporary constitutional arrangements are
structured to give the future prime minister more power than the
president. The role of the president will be limited because his
decisions will have to be ratified by two deputy presidents, or vice
presidents. Key ministries, such as Defense and Interior, will be taking
orders from the prime minister. Chalabi holds the ultimate weapons --
several dozen tons of documents and individual files seized by his Iraqi
National Congress from Saddam Hussein's secret security apparatus.
Coupled with his position as head of the de-Baathification commission,
Chalabi, barely a year since he returned to his homeland after 45 years
of exile, has emerged as the power behind a vacant throne. He also
appears to have impressive amounts of cash at his disposal and a say in
which companies get the nod for some of the $18.4 billion earmarked for
reconstruction. One company executive who asked that both his and the
company's name be withheld said, "The commission was steep even by
Middle Eastern standards." Chalabi is still on the Defense Intelligence
Agency's budget for a secret stipend of $340,000 a month. The $40
million the INC has received since 1994 from the U.S. government also
covered the expenses of Iraqi military defectors' stories about weapons
of mass destruction and the Iraqi regime's links with al-Qaida, which
provided President Bush with a casus belli for the war on Iraq.
Credibility problem?
U.S. Worried as Caribbean Nations Defer on Haiti Leaders
By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
New York Times, 2004
EXCERPT: The Bush administration, still seeking more foreign troops to
help stabilize Haiti, voiced concern on Monday over a refusal by
Caribbean leaders to recognize that country's American-backed interim
government. At a summit meeting last week in St. Kitts, leaders of the
15-nation Caribbean Community, or Caricom, withstood American pressure
to embrace the new Haitian government led by Prime Minister Gérard
Latortue and deferred a decision until July on whether to formally
accept its legitimacy. At the same time, the Caribbean leaders, who act
by consensus, called for a United Nations investigation into the
circumstances that led to the American-assisted exile last month of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Mr. Aristide, who is currently in
Jamaica as a guest of the government, insists that his departure was
coerced by American forces. The skepticism of the Caribbean nations
toward United States actions in Haiti is the latest obstacle for
American policy makers seeking to quell political violence in the
country and return it to a sense of normality.
Democracy assured...
British Public Relations Company to Advise on Promoting Iraqi Elections
The Associated Press, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: The company run by Margaret Thatcher's favorite public
relations man is advising Iraq's interim leadership on promoting the
country's transformation to a democracy, officials said Wednesday. Bell
Pottinger, headed by Lord Tim Bell, is one of the first British
companies to win a major contract from the Coalition Provisional
Authority, the U.S.-led administration that has run Iraq since President
Saddam Hussein was toppled a year ago. Officials refused to comment on
reports that the contract is worth more than $5 million.
Bin Laden Hunt Hurt by US
Disrespect of Afghans, Experts Say
By Stefan Lovgren
National Geograhic News, 30 March 2004
EXCERPT: By disrespecting Pashtun tribal culture in Afghanistan, the
United States may have failed to gain a vital ally in its search for al
Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to experts, including National
Geographic Adventure magazine's Robert Young Pelton.
World Court Orders US to Review
Cases of Mexicans on Death Row
By Anthony Deutsch
AP, 1 April 2004
EXCERPT: The world court ruled Wednesday that the United States violated
the rights of 51 Mexicans on death row to receive diplomatic help, and
ordered Washington to review their cases. The ruling by the
International Court of Justice could mean a reprieve or another chance
of appeal for the inmates, including one scheduled to die May 18 in
Oklahoma. It also could have implications for other foreign citizens in
U.S. prisons who were not told they could receive help from their
governments. The order raised questions from the eight states holding
the inmates, but no assurances that the states will try to address the
court's concerns. Some states were seeking advice Wednesday from the
U.S. State Department, but several officials said they doubted the
ruling would affect their execution plans. Officials in Oklahoma and
Texas, where three of the Mexican inmates are on death row, said no
immediate action was being taken in those cases. "I don't see the world
court as being the same as the U.S. Supreme Court, where we'd
immediately have to jump and say we'll do it," said Nevada Deputy
Attorney General Dave Neidert. Texas officials also downplayed the World
Court ruling. ...Although the court dealt specifically with the cases of
52 Mexicans, it cautioned the principle should apply to all foreigners
imprisoned for serious crimes. There are 121 foreign citizens on U.S.
death row, 55 of whom are Mexican, according to the Death Penalty
Information Center.
Guantanamo Prisoners: Maybe None
of Them are Terrorists
By Isabel Hilton
Common Dreams, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: Consider this theoretical possibility: if no weapons of mass
destruction have been found in Iraq, is it also possible that there are
no al-Qaida terrorists in Guantánamo? It seems far fetched, put so
bluntly. If only by chance, it would seem likely that some of the
detainees might be terrorists. The US secretary of defense, Donald
Rumsfeld, argues that the inhumane incarceration, the secrecy and the
abuse of any principles of justice are all justified by the fact that
these prisoners are the hardest of hard cases. But given what we know of
those who have been released, the refusal of the US to open the evidence
to challenge, and the secrecy that surrounds the prison and all who
languish there, the proposition is worth considering. And since none of
us have been allowed to know much, it is worth listening to those who
know a little more.
SEE ALSO:
Guantanamo Holds Family at Bay
(Christian Science Monitor)
Why the Media Owe You an Apology
on Iraq
By Rick Mercier
Common Dreams, 28 March 2004
EXCERPT: The media are finished with their big blowouts on the
anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and there¹s one thing they forgot
to say: We¹re sorry. Sorry we let unsubstantiated claims drive our
coverage. Sorry we were dismissive of experts who disputed White House
charges against Iraq. Sorry we let a band of self-serving Iraqi
defectors make fools of us. Sorry we fell for Colin Powell¹s performance
at the United Nations. Sorry we couldn¹t bring ourselves to hold the
administration¹s feet to the fire before the war, when it really
mattered. Maybe we¹ll do a better job next war. Of course it¹s absurd to
receive this apology from a person so low in the media hierarchy. You
really ought to be getting it from the editors and reporters at the
agenda-setting publications, such as The New York Times and The
Washington Post. It¹s the elite print media that failed you the most,
because they¹re the institutions you have to rely on to keep tabs on the
politicians in Washington (television news cannot do the kind of
in-depth or investigative reporting that print media can do‹when they¹re
doing their job properly). In the past several months, the Times, the
Post, and other print media have gotten around to asking questions about
the quality of prewar intelligence on Iraq and about whether the
administration might have misused that intelligence to sell the war to
Americans and the rest of the world. Most of these media outlets,
however, also need to conduct self-examinations. From the horrendously
distorted coverage of Times reporter Judith Miller (her sins in many
ways were far worse than those of plagiarist/fabricator Jayson Blair) to
the bewildering (and biased?) news judgment of the Post¹s editors,
journalists at America¹s most influential publications helped ensure
that a majority of you would be misinformed about Iraq and the nature of
the threat it posed to you.
SEE ALSO:
The Troubling Arc of Media Concentration
(Seattle Times)
SEE ALSO:
Who Counts Civilian Casualties in Iraq?
(Christian Science Monitor)
OPEC Agrees to Cut Output Target;
Analysts See Higher Oil Prices Ahead
By Susanna Loof
AP, 31 March 2004
EXCERPT: With fuel costs already at uncomfortable levels for consumers,
OPEC took a step that could push prices even higher by announcing
Wednesday that it would cut its crude oil production target by 4
percent.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries hopes the cut, which
takes effect Thursday, will prevent a slide in prices this spring, when
the global demand for oil usually slips to a seasonal low. Some analysts
said the cut could soon push crude prices above the psychologically
important threshold of $40 per barrel, though futures markets fell on
Wednesday. The decision could also worsen the pain for U.S. motorists,
who have been paying the highest prices in recent years for gasoline.
OPEC, which pumps about a third of the world's oil, agreed in talks at
its headquarters in Vienna to reduce its output target by 1 million
barrels per day. Although it had announced plans for the cut when its
members met last month in Algiers, Algeria, a subsequent surge in prices
led a few of the group's 11 members to suggest postponing the decrease.
OPEC had to balance concerns that high prices could choke off economic
growth with its own fears that swelling inventories and a seasonal lull
in springtime demand could reduce cause prices to plunge.
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