Dec 11, 2005 at 10:36 PM by Political Chase
Viveca Novak (no relation to columnist Bob Novak) told Robert Luskin, Karl Rove’s attorney, about Rove’s communications with Matt Cooper of Time magazine, many months before Rove corrected/disclosed the information to the grand jury.
Rove disclosed the information after Matt Cooper was subpoenaed and ordered to testify before the grand jury.
Luskin declined to comment on Novak’s testimony. That’s a bit telling, because Luskin can’t find a reporter’s microphone fast enough when he has positive comments to make regarding Rove’s status.
Viveca Novak is a reporter for Time magazine. Her first person account is on Time’s Web site.
—–
Dec 11, 2005 at 10:08 PM by Political Chase
George Bush got his way at the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Unlike virtually every industrialized nation on terra firma, the US will not participate in binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions. The US would agree to “open and non-binding†dialogue that would not lead to any “new commitments†to the reduction of bad Bush gases.
That “non-binding†statement/agreement is the equivalent of executives from major oil companies appearing before Congress a few weeks ago and not required to testify under oath. It has since been proven that some (all?) of the executives flat out lied to the committee.
Why did the US even bother to send representatives to the conference? I suppose the only good news for those attending was that Montreal is upwind from Washington, DC.
—–
Dec 11, 2005 at 8:53 PM by Political Chase
FBI agents are expressing frustration due to the Justice Department’s “tight” control on agents demanding records and other extreme methods of investigation.
There is a delicate balance between protecting civil rights and providing law enforcement officers adequate access to prevent acts of terrorism or capture terrorists. Frankly, I’m surprised to see that a high level of control truly exists.
I suppose the question remains, is the control applied equitably and with objectivity?
Trust is at the root of this issue. Unfortunately, there have been too many reasons, current and historical, for the American people to place blind faith in the federal government. How would Valerie Plame Wilson respond to this issue?
—–
Dec 11, 2005 at 6:36 PM by Political Chase
It is a well and long established fact that George Bush and his administration are just flat out liars. I know using the L word is strong, but given the elements behind it, it is certainly appropriate to use in this post; a case for a stronger word is easily justifiable. In his column today, Frank Rich nails President Bush (sub. req.) for his perpetual diversion from the truth. Rich refers to many examples of the administration’s blatant efforts to mislead the people of this country; most of them I knew about and I’m sure you do as well. But, there was one I was not aware of and it is a shining example of George Bush, the quintessential liar.
Bush recently released his “Plan for Victory,” which was no more than a marketing tool; it had nothing to do with military strategy. Previously, I suggested Bush probably had a Madison Avenue firm to write the worthless document. Well, I wasn’t too far from hitting the bullseye.
As breathlessly heralded by Scott McClellan, this glossy brochure was “an unclassified version” of the strategy in place since the war’s inception in “early 2003.” But Scott Shane of The New York Times told another story. Through a few keystrokes, the electronic version of the document at whitehouse.gov could be manipulated to reveal text “usually hidden from public view.” What turned up was the name of the document’s originating author: Peter Feaver, a Duke political scientist who started advising the National Security Council only this June. Dr. Feaver is an expert on public opinion about war, not war itself. Thus we now know that what Mr. McClellan billed as a 2003 strategy for military victory is in fact a P.R. strategy in place for no more than six months. That solves the mystery of why Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey of the Army, who is in charge of training Iraqi troops, told reporters that he had never seen this “National Strategy” before its public release last month.
Still believe “The Plan for Victory” was an unclassified version of the “long standing classified version?” Hiring a consultant is the best strategy for accomplishing many tasks or projects, but not for this task and especially when the consultant is not a subject matter expert.
Incompetent people hire unqualified or incompetent people.
Dec 11, 2005 at 5:50 AM by Political Chase
George Bush, President of the United States of America, threatened the United Nations if former president, Bill Clinton, spoke at the Climate Change Conference.
I refuse to lower my standards or the standards of this site to the level of George Bush and provide equitable commentary on this reprehensible act. Bush’s actions speak more than adequately for and about Bush.
From New York magazine:
Bush-administration officials privately threatened organizers of the U.N. Climate Change Conference, telling them that any chance there might’ve been for the United States to sign on to the Kyoto global-warming protocol would be scuttled if they allowed Bill Clinton to speak at the gathering today in Montreal, according to a source involved with the negotiations who spoke to New York Magazine on condition of anonymity.
Bush officials informed organizers of their intention to pull out of the new Kyoto deal late Thursday afternoon, soon after news leaked that Clinton was scheduled to speak, the source said.
Read the entire article.
Dec 11, 2005 at 1:41 AM by Political Chase
I have said before, I thought Tony Blair was too smart to be duped by George Bush. Wrong again.
According to the Times Online, Blair’s been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The CIA is using the UK’s airports for stop-overs when transporting detainees to CIA black sites. There have been at least 210 private jets carrying detainees that have stopped in the UK since September 2001.
(ed. note: Liberty is a human rights group in the UK)
Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, today told the BBC: “The allegations, the suspicions and the circumstantial evidence gives serious enough concern that we are asking chief constables to do their duty and investigate.
Liberty said that the practice was in breach of British and international law, and European and United Nations human rights conventions, which forbid complicity in torture.
Ms Chakrabarti said: “What distinguishes democrats from dictators and terrorists, including the people who are holding a British hostage in Iraq today? What distinguishes us is ultimately our abomination of torture. That’s why we, as democratic people who believe in human rights, will not tolerate it.”
Chris Mullin, the Labour MP who is a member of the all-party parliamentary committee on rendition, told the BBC that while he was not aware that the British Government was knowingly complicit in the practice, it displayed a “lack of curiosity”.
He said: “There’s no doubt some sort of secret gulag exists which is controlled by the Americans into which people disappear for months at a time. And there’s also no doubt that the Americans have for some time been franchising out torture to countries that are rather less scrupulous than ourselves, and indeed the Americans, about the use of torture.”
Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden have already opened investigations into the operations.
George Bush would define that as a coalition of the willing.
Almost two months ago, I pointed out the president’s shenanigans were the reason Bush pulled out of the International Criminal Court. He doesn’t want to be tried for crimes against humanity.
Tags : CIA, secret+prisons, black+sites, detainee, rendition, abuse, investigation
Dec 11, 2005 at 12:40 AM by Political Chase
Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz has ordered an investigation into allegations the CIA renditioned detainees to secret US prisons within Poland.
According to CNN,
More than a half-dozen investigations are under way into whether European countries may have hosted secret U.S.-run prisons in which prisoners were tortured, and whether European airports and airspace were used for alleged CIA flights transporting prisoners to countries where torture is practiced.
When was the last time (if ever) the United States government was under criminal investigation by European allies? Think about it.
Tags : CIA, secret+prisons, black+sites, detainee, rendition, abuse, investigation
