The Political Chase

SNL Digital Short - ‘I Ran’

From last night’s Saturday Night Live show, an SNL Digital Short poking fun at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad statement “There’s no homosexuals in Iran.” Features Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Andy Samberg.

Enjoy.

Iran Labels US Army, CIA ‘Terrorist Organizations’

The Democrats did a heckuva job when they supported the Liberman-Kyl resolution on Iran. Some may view the U.S. and Iranian resolutions as silly name calling, but Dick Cheney, George Bush and Freedom’s Watch will not.From the AP:

Iran’s parliament on Saturday approved a nonbinding resolution labeling the CIA and the U.S. Army “terrorist organizations,” in apparent response to a Senate resolution seeking to give a similar designation to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The hard-line dominated parliament cited U.S. involvement in dropping nuclear bombs in Japan in World War II, using depleted uranium munitions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, supporting the killings of Palestinians by Israel, bombing and killing Iraqi civilians, and torturing terror suspects in prisons.

“The aggressor U.S. Army and the Central Intelligence Agency are terrorists and also nurture terror,” said a statement by the 215 lawmakers who signed the resolution at an open session of the Iranian parliament. The session was broadcast live on state-run radio.

Gingrich abandons ‘08 White House bid for loftier goals

A spokesman for former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich made it official today — Newt will not run for president in 2008.

While I recognize it is just spin, there is something quite ironic about the reason given for not running. Gingrich does not want to give up his role as chairman of American Solutions (for Winning the Future) because he decided “to continue on raising the challenges America faces and finding solutions to those challenges rather than pursuing the presidency.”

Isn’t that what the President of the United States is supposed to do?

Few would doubt the notion that Gingrich’s decision probably had far more do to with the likelihood of not winning than his desire to continue as chairman of American Solutions. But, the notion that Gingrich or anyone else serving as chairman of a think tank could solve America’s problems more effectively than the President of the United States is profound.

Newt’s posit on his personal capabilities is arguably more narcissistic than real, but not necessarily so for others. The success  Bill Clinton has had with the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) is phenomenal. CGI, with a total membership of approximately 400 people, just completed its third annual meeting — these are a few examples of the group’s commitments for the next year.

• 8.5 million out-of-school children will be enabled to enroll in school for the first time.
• 50 million people will have access to treatment of neglected tropical diseases.
• 170,031,331 acres of forest will be protected or restored.
• 11.2 million people will be empowered with increased access to sustainable incomes.

Based on the success of prior years’ commitments, CGI will likely surpass those goals.

If approximately 400 people can have that much impact, it’s hard to imagine what the U.S. government could do if lead by the right people with the proper perspectives and motivations.

Images of Blackwater Shootings

The Blotter (ABC News) has images of the Blackwater shootings.

Suffer the little children

In today’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino gave about as lame excuse as could possibly be given on why President Bush will veto the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Perino said the bill Congress passed 67-29, did not provide for the neediest children, which to the best of my knowledge is inaccurate. Congress expanded the existing bill instead rather than reducing benefits currently provided.

As evidenced in the video, Perino’s spin is more of a “suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not” speech.

Click To Play

I have to wonder if Bush is somehow floating a trial balloon with this veto; a test run to determine how much control he has over his staunchest supporters. The closer it gets to election day, the greater the risk of defections by GOP members from the administration’s policies on Iraq and Iran. Although the issues are not remotely related, if he is successful here, the chances of Congress overriding his vetoes on future foreign policy matters will certainly be much less.

Top Iraq al-Qaeda leader allegedly killed

The military announced the killing of “a senior leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq who was responsible for bringing foreign fighters into the country and kidnapping U.S. soldiers in 2006,” but don’t celebrate just yet. ThinkProgress says he may have been killed a year ago.

The emerging details of the Blackwater shootings

The New York Times and the Washington Post published separate reports today providing details on the September 16 Blackwater shooting incident, however the two reports are not reconcilable, but that may be directly related to the Post’s more detailed account and the quality of the Post’s reporting, which is one of the poorest written news articles I’ve ever read and is confusing at best.

The New York Times account is derived from multiple third-party sources and seemingly provides a summarized outline of events based on combining the information obtained from all sources. It also seems to coincide more with the details provided by witnesses of the shootings and the Iraq Ministry’s description of the incident.

Considering the relative differences in the two pieces, one would have to conclude there is much we still do not know, however the publishing of these articles from confidential sources can hardly be dismissed as coincidental. Who leaked the information and why?

While the two articles focus on details of the shooting, the Times briefly mentions an issue that may have more significance than the actual details of the September 16 shootings.

The American official said that by Wednesday morning, American investigators still had not responded to multiple requests for information by Iraqi officials investigating the episode. The official also said that Blackwater had been conducting its own investigation but had been ordered by the United States to stop that work. Ms. Tyrrell [a Blackwater official] confirmed that the company had done an investigation of its own, but said, “No government entity has discouraged us from doing so.”

What could possibly be so important that it required the government to order Blackwater end its investigation unless it was a simple matter of ensuring no further contact with the Iraqis? And would that be to mitigate hostilities between Blackwater and Iraq or something more complex? Maybe both?

Furthermore, someone is obviously not telling the truth. Is Blackwater so bold as to defy an order from the government, and if they are, that does not by default mean their reasons are wrong. AT&T and Verizon should have followed Qwest’s refusal to comply with the government’s demands to conduct warrantless eavesdropping.

The Times’ report provides a reasonably understandable, but less detailed outline of the events, however their sources are hearsay and not an official document(s), which means the information may be limited and subjective. The Times cites “an American official who was briefed on the American investigation by someone who helped conduct it, and by Americans who had spoken directly with two guards involved in the episode.”

There are only five notable items that are reconcilable between the accounts given by the Times and the Post:

1. The Iraqi government’s assertion that Blackwater was not provoked;
2. The approximate time the shootings occurred;
3. Individuals were killed in a car that was approaching Blackwater’s security convoy;
4. The location of the shootings;
5. Some Blackwater employees did not stop shooting until forced to do so at gun point by other Blackwater employees.

The Times reports the detonation of an IED in close proximity to a diplomatic meeting resulted in a quick decision to evacuate the facility and a “Blackwater convoy began carrying the diplomats south, toward the Green Zone.” The Post reports, “three Blackwater teams moved to escort one “principal” back to Baghdad’s Green Zone.”

The shootings occurred at Nisour Square, but the details of what happened there are either limited, as is the case in the NYT account, or confusing based on the WaPo account. The Times reports one Blackwater convoy (three to four vehicles per convoy) escorted the diplomat, and one convoy served as an advance team driving to Nisour Square to clear passage for the diplomatic convoy. The advance convoy was apparently the focal point of the shootings — provoked or not.

From the Times:

At least four sport utility vehicles stopped in lanes of traffic that were entering the square from the south and west. Some of the guards got out of their vehicles and took positions on the street, according to the official familiar with the report on the American investigation.

At 12:08 p.m., at least one guard began to fire in the direction of a car, killing its driver. A traffic policeman said he walked toward the car, but more shots were fired, killing a woman holding an infant sitting in the passenger seat.

…After the family was shot, a type of grenade or flare was fired into the car, setting it ablaze, according to some accounts. Other Iraqis were also killed as the shooting continued.

The Post provides multiple accounts — Iraqi ministry, Blackwater’s report to the Embassy immediately after the shootings, and witness interviews — but given how poorly the piece was written, at various points in the article it is not readily discernable which specific activities are derived from what account. This is an attempt to summarize the U.S. Embassy report (Blackwater’s account).

• Three Blackwater teams were dispatched to escort “one ‘principal’ ” back to Baghdad’s Green Zone - Team 4, TST 22, and TST 23. A single team normally consists of three to four armored vehicles.
• The principal/diplomat was in the Team 4 convoy. TST 22 was an additional convoy dispatched to accompany Team 4. It appears the two-team convoy configuration was planned or standard procedure.
• After the car bomb detonated outside the meeting facility, TST 23 was dispatched to provide additional protection.
• Team 4 (includes principal) and TST 22 left the meeting location before TST 23 arrived and returned to the Green Zone unharmed.
• On its way to meet the diplomatic convoy, TST 23 arrived at Nisour Square and became engaged in “small arms fire.” One of the vehicles in the TST 23 convoy became disabled during the shooting.
• After returning the diplomat(s) to the Green Zone, TST 22 was sent back to Nisour Square to assist TST 22, however TST 23 left Nisour Square before TST 22 arrived.
• When TST 22 arrived at Nisour Square, they were “confronted by an Iraqi quick-reaction force” and shortly thereafter, “Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police units arrived and began to encircle TST 22 with vehicles, [and] had large caliber machine guns pointed at TST 22.”
• TST 22 requested help from the U.S. Embassy’s regional security office, which dispatched helicopters from the U.S. Army Quick Reaction Force (QRF) to provide “route reconnaissance and additional coverage.”
• The U.S. Army’s QRF “mediated” the situation, allowing TST to return to the Green Zone.

One point is clear and common to both the Times and the Post, and at face value illustrates Blackwater was out of control. From the Post:

…Participants in the shooting have reported that at least one of the Blackwater guards drew a weapon on his colleagues and screamed for them to “stop shooting.” This account suggested that there was some effort to curb the shooting, with at least one Blackwater guard believing it had spiraled out of control. “Stop shooting — those are the words that we’re hearing were used,” the official said.

Given the recent allegations of corruption in the Iraqi government and the proven history of corruption in the Bush administration, these press accounts have to be accepted for what they are. The Iraqis could easily be motivated by the desire to replace U.S. private contractors with Iraqi contractors, and who knows what motivations the Bush administration may have beyond ensuring Bush cronies put all the money in their pockets.

Late Update: I’m not sure what the accurate spelling of Nisour/Nisoor is. The Times has “Nisoor” and the Post has ‘Nisour.” Go figure.

Senate Passes SCHIP and Hate Crimes Bill

In today’s briefing, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said President Bush stands by his threat to veto the children’s health care bill (SCHIP) that Congress passed yesterday.

Video to follow later.

Hardball plays dumb ball

Tonight on Hardball, Chris Matthews grossly misrepresented the Democratic candidates stated positions on Iraq in the debate last night. Matthews accused the top three candidates — Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Hillary Clinton — of disenchanting the Democratic anti-war base by declaring they would “keep American troops in Iraq all the way through 2013. That will make it a ten year war.”

That is not what Obama, Edwards, or Clinton, said or implied. Last night, moderator Tim Russert, asked each candidate the hypothetical, “Will you pledge, that by January 2013, the end of your first term, five years from now, there will be no U.S. troops in Iraq?” While each candidate had a different response, the consensus was they wanted the war in Iraq, as defined today, to end and to bring the troops home.

The candidates would not “pledge” to have zero troops in Iraq, because (1) they had no idea what they would inherit from George Bush, (2) no one can possibly make an accurate prediction of what events may occur in the Middle East or elsewhere that would require combat troops in Iraq, and (3) if there is a U.S. civilian presence (e.g. U.S. Embassy, humanitarian workers, etc.) they would likely need some level of protection from the military.

Matthews twisted their very logical and appropriate responses into an implied continuation of the war at a level comparable to today’s military operations in Iraq. What did he want them to do, lie? No one can make a promise of zero troops in Iraq, or anywhere else, on January 20, 2013.

I have not included the full answer from each candidate, but this is what each candidate said in their initial response.

Barack Obama:  “I think it’s very hard to project four years from now, and I think it would be irresponsible. We don’t know what contingency will be out there.”

Hillary Clinton: “Well, Tim, it is my goal to have all troops out by the end of my first term. But, I agree with Barack. It is very difficult to determine what we’re going to be inheriting. You know, we don’t know, walking into the White House in January 2009, what we’re going to find. What is the state of planning for withdrawal.”

John Edwards:  “I cannot make that commitment. I - well, I can tell you what I would do as president…I will immediately draw down 40,000 to 50,000 troops, and, over the course of the next several months, continue to bring out combat troops out of Iraq, until all of our troops are in fact out of Iraq.”

I suppose Matthews wanted to hear some screwball answer like Bill Richardson gave. Richardson said he would withdraw all troops immediately and send in Muslim peace-keeping troops.

So, if you did not watch the debate last night and captured Matthews irresponsible and reckless attempt to start a fight between the guests on his panel, don’t believe the crap he was trying to sell.

The Decider’s Integrity

In March 2003, George Bush was emphatic that no decision had been made to go to invade Iraq. Instead he said his administration was employing its now infamous diplomatic efforts to pursue peace.

This is what the Decider said in a March 6, 2003 press conference from the East Room in the White House

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, we’re still in the final stages of diplomacy…we must work together to defeat terror.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, I hope we don’t have to go to war.

PRESIDENT BUSH: We’re calling for [a U.N. Security Council] vote. We want to see people stand up and say what their opinion is about Saddam Hussein.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I’ve not made up our mind about military action. Hopefully, this can be done peacefully.

How odd, because only days earlier, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reveals in a transcript of a meeting between President Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, Bush had already made up his mind to invade Iraq, regardless of what the United Nations Security Council said.

Saddam Hussein is not disarming. We must get him right now. We have shown an incredible degree of patience until now. There are two weeks left. In two weeks’ time we will be militarily ready.

Like any responsible leader, the Spanish prime minister told Bush to “have a little patience.” Emphasizing the importance of international support, the prime minister said, “it would be good to count on the maximum number of people possible.” Disagreeing the Decider replied, “my patience is exhausted. I don’t intend to go beyond mid-March.”

Today, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino danced around the issue, but did not issue a denial.

If you can read Spanish, the transcript is here and an English translation of the transcript is here.

About eight years ago, then Texas Governor George W. Bush and presidential candidate told the American people, “If elected, I pledge to usher in a new era of integrity inside the Oval Office.” Moreover, his nominee for Vice President, then CEO of Haliburton, told the American people, ““On the first hour of the first day [of his administration], George Bush will restore decency and integrity to the Oval Office.”
I suppose its all a matter of what the Decider’s definition of integrity is.

BREAKING: Edwards campaign to accept public funding

Unfortunately, winning a campaign has everything to do with how much money a candidate can raise, instead of the candidate’s capabilities and potential. Furthermore, the majority of campaign funds are spent on 30-second TV ads, which means America decides who is going to be president based on 30-second sound bites. Tragic.

While this doesn’t mean Edwards can’t win, it drastically increases the odds against him.

From The Hill:

In a stunning move that was described by one expert as a “Hail Mary” play, John Edwards’s campaign said Thursday afternoon that the former North Carolina senator will accept public matching funds for the 2008 primary season.

A campaign official told The Hill that the campaign would take in about $7 million for the third quarter that ends midnight on Sunday. This would bring Edwards to about $30 million for the year, or about $10 million shy of the campaign’s $40 million goal to compete in the first four states. All of those totals are well below the record-breaking hauls of Edwards’s rivals, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.). At the end of the second quarter, Edwards had $13.5 million cash on hand. By accepting public funding, the campaign would cap its spending at a sum estimated to be $50 million for the primary.

The decision will give the campaign an infusion of cash that could help win early states. However, if these early results are not achieved, Edwards would not be left with enough money to compete later in the race.

In addition, if he became the nominee, the move could also hamstring Edwards’ fundraising until the nominating convention.

Edwards Distinguishes Himself in Democratic Debate

Former Sen. John Edwards gave his best performance yet in the Democratic presidential debate last night held in New Hanover, New Hampshire. He deftly put Sen. Hillary Clinton on the defensive — distinguishing himself as a clear alternative to Clinton’s current front-runner status.

Edward’s best moment came in an exchange with Hillary Clinton after the candidates were asked if they were elected president, would they still have troops in Iraq at the end of their first term. As
evidenced in the video, Edwards clearly distinguishes himself from Clinton on Iraq primarily with respect to the general election, and in a rare moment for Clinton she resorted to “clarifying” prior statements she made. There is little doubt the presidential election will be the GOP pro-war position versus a Democratic anti-war position. Edwards makes it clear that Hillary’s position has been to continue combat troops in Iraq and thereby disqualifying her as a sound representative of most Democrats wanting to end the war.

I thought Edwards excelled in other areas, such as Iran and Social Security, which I will cover later. I’m not a high school debating judge and can’t quantitatively score the debate, but on a personal level I saw Edwards as the winner in last night’s debate.

Obama’s performance was lacking. He reportedly was sick with a cold, which may have been a factor, but how many people knew that? Few i doubt. He still did not make a concerted effort to knock Clinton off her throne, and some of his answers seemed weak.

More specifics later…

TPC Roundup - Iraq Funding $520M Per Day

HEADLINES

• Washington: Bush Wants $190B to Fund War; Judge Strikes Patriot Act Provisions
• Congress: Senate Approves Biden Plan to Petition Iraq
• Iraq: Bombing Waves Continue
• Nation: GAO Finds Northern US Border Vulnerable
• World: Israelis Kill Seven Palestinians

WASHINGTON

• “Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates asked Congress” on Wednesday “to approve an additional $42.3 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing the Bush administration’s 2008 war funding request to nearly $190 billion — the largest single-year total for the wars so far,” the Washington Post reports. “The move came as Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff and former top U.S. commander in Iraq, warned lawmakers that the Army is stretched dangerously thin because of current war operations and would probably have trouble responding to a major conflict elsewhere.”
• “A federal judge in Oregon ruled Wednesday that crucial parts of the USA Patriot Act were not constitutional because they allowed federal surveillance and searches of Americans without demonstrating probable cause,” the New York Times reports. “The ruling by Judge Anne L. Aiken of Federal District Court in Portland was in the case of Brandon Mayfield, a lawyer in Portland who was arrested and jailed after the Federal Bureau of Investigation mistakenly linked him to the Madrid train bombings in March 2004.”
• “President Bush said Wednesday that Afghanistan is becoming a safer, more stable country, thanks to the efforts of President Hamid Karzai,” AP reports. “‘Mr. President, you have strong friends here,’ Bush told Karzai after they met for about an hour at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel” in New York City. “‘I expect progress and you expect progress and I appreciate the report you have given me today.’”
• Bush and Karzai “agreed Wednesday on the need to work jointly to fight narcotics trafficking, terrorism and a resurgent Taliban, and on the necessity of international help with energy needs,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
• “Seeking to counter international pressure to adopt binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions, the Bush administration has been touting the success of three mandatory programs to curb U.S. energy consumption: gas mileage standards for vehicles, efficiency standards for home appliances and state laws requiring utilities to increase their use of renewable energy sources,” the Washington Post reports. “But for most of the Bush presidency, the White House has either done little to promote these measures or, in some cases, has actively fought against them.”
• “Despite signaling that he wants to see the controversial military prison at Guantanamo Bay shuttered, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that he has been unable to reach agreement within the executive branch on how to proceed with the closure,” The Hill reports. “In response to questions by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) during a Senate hearing, Gates said that disagreement is focused on where the United States should send the prisoners and what kind of legislation would be required to guarantee the rights of the most dangerous prisoners while protecting Americans.”

CONGRESS

• “The Senate found its first bipartisan consensus on the Iraq war Wednesday, dealing a minor rebuke to the Bush administration and a major boost to the long-shot White House run of Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.),” The Hill reports. “Biden’s amendment calling for a decentralized Iraqi government passed 75-23 and won over 26 Republicans, giving the Foreign Relations Committee chairman a shot in the arm as he headed to Wednesday night’s Democratic debate in New Hampshire.”
• “The Senate approved a resolution on Wednesday urging the Bush administration to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization,” the New York Times reports. “Since last month, the White House has been weighing whether to declare the Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group or to take a narrower step focusing on only the Guard’s elite Quds Force.”
• “Deferring a showdown with President Bush, the House on Wednesday approved a stopgap spending bill to finance the operations of the federal government, including the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, through mid-November,” the New York Times reports. “Lawmakers of both parties said the step was necessary because Congress had not finished work on any of the 12 annual appropriations bills for the fiscal year that starts Monday.”
• “House and Senate Democratic leaders insisted Wednesday that no final decision has been made on the timing of the next supplemental spending bill to fund the Iraq War, one day after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told liberal lawmakers that the measure is not likely to reach the House floor until 2008,” Roll Call  (sub. req.) reports. “‘While there has been discussion, there is no decision on that,’ Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said of the supplemental’s timing.”
• “Rep. Terry Everett, an eight-term Republican from an Alabama district with a focus on farming and military bases, said Wednesday he will retire when his current term expires,” AP reports. “Everett, 70, of Rehobeth, a former newspaper publisher and farmer, cited health reasons.”
• “Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho on Wednesday backed away from his earlier decision to resign on Sept. 30 and said he would await a judge’s ruling on a motion to reverse his guilty plea in an undercover sex sting,” the New York Times reports. “Mr. Craig, a Republican, made the announcement after a court hearing on the motion.
• “Senate Democrats are trying to force President Bush to sign hate crimes legislation he has threatened to veto by attaching it to a massive bill funding the Defense Department and the Iraq war,” AP reports. “Writing violent attacks on gays into federal hate crime laws is related to the war because both are strikes against terrorism, according to a Republican senator and other supporters of the measure.”

IRAQ

• “Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki warned the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday that the continued flow of weapons, suicide bombers and terrorism funding into his country would result in ‘disastrous consequences’ for the region and the world,” AP reports. “Al-Maliki, who met with President Bush Tuesday, urged the international community and countries in the region to support Iraq’s national reconciliation process to rid terrorism from the country and bring peace to the region.”
• “A wave of bombings and shootings swept Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 50 people and raising fears that al-Qaida had launched a promised new offensive,” AP reports. “The U.S. military acknowledged that violence was on the upswing and blamed it on the terror movement.”
• Gates “has ordered U.S. military commanders in Iraq to crack down on any abuses they uncover by private security contractors in the aftermath of a deadly shooting involving American guards that infuriated Iraqis,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “Gates took the step after concluding that the thousands of heavily armed private guards in Iraq who work for the Pentagon may not be adequately supervised by military officers.”
• “The American security contractor Blackwater USA has been involved in a far higher rate of shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq than other security firms providing similar services to the State Department, according to Bush administration officials and industry officials,” the New York Times reports. “Blackwater is now the focus of investigations in both Baghdad and Washington over a Sept. 16 shooting in which at least 11 Iraqis were killed.”
• “Pentagon officials suggested” on Wednesday “that U.S. civilian security contractors in Iraq fall under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice and could be prosecuted in military courts for offenses against Iraqis,” the Washington Times reports. “Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters that while U.S. civilians working in Iraq under Department of Defense contracts were not subject to Iraqi law, they could be held accountable under U.S. law.”
• “Iraqi and U.S. special forces have arrested at least 59 army officers and enlisted men accused in killings, bombings and kidnappings in the latest case linking elements of the Iraqi army to sectarian militias and criminal gangs, authorities announced Wednesday,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

NATION

• “A smuggler could easily carry radioactive material or other contraband across the northern border into the United States, government investigators have found,” AP reports. “The Government Accountability Office sent out investigators to test how easily they could transfer large red duffel bags at unguarded and unmonitored spots along the more than 5,000 miles of U.S.-Canada border.”
• “Facing pressure from religious groups, civil libertarians and members of Congress, the federal Bureau of Prisons has decided to return religious materials that had been purged from prison chapel libraries because they were not on the bureau’s lists of approved resources,” the New York Times reports. “The bureau had said it was prompted to remove the materials after a 2004 Department of Justice report mentioned that religious books that incite violence could infiltrate chapel libraries.”
• “More than half a year after disclosures of systemic problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military hospitals, the Pentagon’s promised fixes are threatened by staff shortages and uncertainty about how best to improve long-term care for wounded troops, according to a congressional report issued” on Wednesday, the Washington Post reports. “Army units developed to shepherd recovering soldiers lack enough nurses and social workers, and proposals to streamline the military’s disability evaluation system and to provide ‘recovery coordinators’ are behind schedule, according to the Government Accountability Office report.”

WORLD

• “Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians in an airstrike and ground assault Wednesday in the Gaza Strip, retaliating for a barrage of mortar and rocket fire into southern Israel,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “On the bloodiest day in Gaza since Israel declared it a ‘hostile territory’ last week, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the military was ‘moving closer to a broad and complex operation’ in the enclave ruled by the Islamic movement Hamas.”
• “A year and a half after President Bush told top aides that he feared he might be forced someday to choose between acquiescing to Iran’s nuclear ambitions and ordering military action, the struggle to find an effective alternative — sanctions with real bite — is entering a new phase,” the New York Times reports. “The speech at the United Nations on Tuesday by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran is already being used by American officials in an effort to convince European allies that Iran’s leadership will respond only to a sharp new wave of economic pressure, far greater than anything it has endured so far.”
• “Pakistan’s top judge has ordered the immediate release of dozens of detained opposition supporters who have been taken into custody since the weekend,” BBC News reports. “Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry made the ruling after summoning police and government officials to court. He did so shortly after papers were filed naming” President Pervez Musharraf “to contest presidential elections on 6 October.”

Senate Passes SCHIP and Hate Crimes Bill

The Senate just passed expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in a 69-30 vote. President Bush has promised to veto the bill, however the 69 votes exceed the number of votes required to override a presidential veto (assuming no votes change after the veto).

The Senate passed 60-39 a cloture vote on the expansion of the federal hate crime law.

White House White Out

The White House pulled out its White Out today and corrected the official transcript of Bush’s No President Left Behind remarks.

As yesterday’s positive Report Card shows, children do learn when standards are high and results are measured.

Late Update: The White House has revised the transcript to accruately reflect the President’s remarks.

As yesterday’s positive Report Card shows, childrens [sic] do learn when standards are high and results are measured.