The Political Chase

Who’s not Involved

When Scooter Libby was indicted, I asked the question, who in the Bush administration is not involved in an investigation or an indictment. The White House has a bumpy road ahead; the word impeachment has been expressed a couple of times. Well, the White House may not have to worry about impeachment, because there may not be anybody in Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings.

Jack Abramoff was apparently a very busy man not only with Republicans but Democrats as well. The Washington Post reports this morning that some top Democratic leaders may have been entangled in Abramoff’s web. Tom Daschle (D-SD), Sens. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Bryan Dorgan (D-ND) received substantial campaign contributions from Abramoff’s associates and clients.

Dorgan is the ranking Democrat on the Indian Affairs Committee, which is investigating the Abramoff scandal. Dorgan has previously provided support for legislation that benefitted Abramoff’s clients.

Since Michael Scanlon, Abramoff’s partner was arrested, he entered into a plea agreement, and is obviously letting the information flow. I wonder how many Senators and Representatives have recently seen their physicians because of insomnia problems?

Technorati Tags : Politics, Jack+Abramoff, Congress

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All Day Meeting

I am scheduled for an all-day meeting tomorrow (Monday), therefore things will be slow. I will not be posting until tomorrow night or normal schedules for Tuesday.

CIA or the SS?

Dana Priest has an excellent piece in Sunday’s WP that clearly demonstrates the requirement to contain The USA Patriot Act  enacted shortly after 9/11.

In "Anatomy of a CIA Mistake", Khaled Masri is cited as an example of the CIA capturing individuals based on mere speculation.

Masri was held for five months largely because the head of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center’s al Qaeda unit "believed he was someone else," one former CIA official said. "She didn’t really know. She just had a hunch."

Another example was an individual detained and renditioned simply because his name was similar to another person’s name on a terrorist suspect list. 

In each case, according to allegations by detainees, they were abused and exposed to intolerable conditions.

There is the obvious question of what has happened to the Rule of Law; adherence to the Constitution of the United States. And, then there is this continuing, resounding question – if these acts are legal, why are the detainees always taken to other countries where US law is not applicable?

More fodder for the international community, in the words of Vice President Dick Cheney, to accuse the US of "reprehensible" acts and our enemies to apply equivalent treatment to troops, CIA operatives, diplomatic officials, and the innocent American walking down any street of any country.

Technorati Tags : war+on+terror, CIA, abuse

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Louisiana Governor’s Report to Congress

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco (D) issued her response to Congress for its investigation into the preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina. The report contains more than 100,000 pages of records not previously released.

Obviously, I have not read the 100,000 pages, but I have read the executive summary/cover letter to the report. Combining the contents of the summary with the report from The Washington Post, it is easy to conclude that the Bush administration attempted to place on state and local authorities was not warranted. Coinciding with what the news media portrayed at the time of the situation, President Bush appears to have given little attention to the matter until Friday, after the storm made land fall before dawn on Monday. Once the President focused on the situation, it appears he was huddled with the White House staff reviewing legal matters until just before delivering his regularly scheduled remarks on Saturday morning via radio.

Just before the President delivers his Radio Address on Saturday morning, Governor Blanco speaks to Andrew Card who tells her that she will be pleased with the President’s announcement. The Governor listens intently as the President speaks, and is thankful that he has authorized federal troops to work with the National Guard.

The additional review of legal matters on Friday and Saturday is in stark contrast to Governor Blanco’s report; “who manages what,” was decided in prior conversations between the Governor and the administration. The agreement was the Governor, justifiably, would have authority over the National Guard and federal troops would remain under the authority of the federal government. Each group would be responsible for separate and distinct activities, which supported the agreement. Furthermore, according to Blanco, the federal government had not responded and she was already managing thousands of National Guard troops and did not want to layer on additional confusion by changing the structure currently in place.

One item is quite obvious in the summary report — the absence of communications with then FEMA Director, Michael Brown. Brown and Blanco met just prior to Katrina’s arrival and is not mentioned in her report thereafter. The only possible exception to that are the following passages. If you will remember, Michael Brown testified before Congress, that the State and local officials were out of control.

Much has been said and written about the Governor’s private meeting with the President, and erroneous reports have been circulated that she denied federal troops or delayed help for 24-hours. The facts are clear and evidence confirms that the Governor requests early and often the need for additional military presence, including a federal military presence and assets. At no time does anyone from the federal government tell her that federal troops are withheld because the existing structure was inadequate. In fact, the new proposal is first presented to her aboard Air Force One on Friday, four days after the storm struck on Monday, and the President never suggests that federal troops were reliant on this new structure nor did he convey that the joint command structure is insufficient. She believes that the President is sincere in his pledge to help Louisiana. She is clear about needing that help, particularly in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

Technorati Tags : Katrina, Politics