Well, if Hillary did nothing else, she gave us a few good lines, which seemed appropriate to go with the spanking the Times Editorial Board has given President Bush and the Senior Senator from Arizona, John McCain.
President Bush’s penchant for slash-and-burn politics, learned at the feet of Karl Rove and the late Lee Atwater, is unseemly when practiced at home. It is shameful for the president and damaging for the country when put on display abroad.
So it was especially distressing to hear Mr. Bush’s barely veiled attack against Senator Barack Obama in front of Israel’s Parliament. . . .
[T]he White House press secretary, Dana Perino, insisted the president’s remarks had nothing to do with Mr. Obama and slyly suggested that the Democratic senator was being narcissistic. Mr. Bush’s counselor, Ed Gillespie, then expressed surprise that no one had interpreted the president’s words as a rebuke to former President Jimmy Carter — which he said, sort of, that it wasn’t.
No one bought that — including, we suspect, Mr. Gillespie and Ms. Perino. Senator John McCain certainly had no trouble decoding the remark. He spent much of his week running away from Mr. Bush but endorsed this language enthusiastically. He also said that it was Mr. Obama’s responsibility to explain why he was willing to talk with Iran.
Senator Obama has called for talking with Iran and Syria, as have this editorial page and scores of foreign-policy experts from both political parties. None have suggested surrendering to these countries’ demands, which is, after all, what appeasement is.
Diplomacy is simply good sense. There is no guarantee that it will change anyone’s mind. But Mr. Bush’s refusal to talk has made it far easier for North Korea to churn out plutonium, Iran to meddle in Iraq and indulge its nuclear appetites and Syria and Iran to back Hamas and Hezbollah. The list goes on.
Those failed policies are one reason we yearn for the coming change of administration and for the next president to reject Mr. Bush’s bullheadedness.
We also yearn for a more civilized and respectful political dialogue. That is essential for a healthy democracy. It is also essential for regaining the world’s respect.
If there were any doubts that John McCain is George III, McCain removed them in his response to Obama’s speech today. Be afraid — be very afraid of Barack Obama.
Watch it.
McCain is definitely going to continue the fear-mongering that has been the foundation of George Bush’s presidency and dominated every election since 2000.
This is what McCain said about Obama before the NRA today.
"It would be a wonderful thing if we lived in a world where we don’t have enemies. But that is not the world we live in, and until Senator Obama understands that reality, the American people have every reason to doubt whether he has the strength, judgment, and determination to keep us safe."
“This is bullsh**t. This is malarkey. This is outrageous. Outrageous for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, sit in the Knesset…and make this kind of ridiculous statement,” Biden said angrily in a brief interview just off the Senate floor.
Every day George Bush continues to be president is just another day of him demonstrating to the world that he has no intellect, ethics, morals, or respect for the American people. Bush’s attack on Obama today was insulting, disrespectful, and without merit. He stooped so low as to equate Obama to Neville Chamberlin and terrorism to Adolph Hitler’s Nazism, which ultimately led to the death of 70 million people.
Bush mockingly said Barack Obama could not persuade terrorists with some “ingenious argument.” Just a minute. George Bush is not capable of anything ingenious, period. Therefore, how does he know what superior intellect and creativity may bring about? Not by experience, that’s for sure.
Moreover, George Bush is the last person that should be criticizing anybody for negotiating with terrorists. What about his negotiations with Muammar Gaddafi?
And where exactly does George Bush get the idea that Obama intends to break ties with Israel? Obama, to my knowledge, has never said he intended to break ties with Israel. In fact, this is as lame an argument as Bush could possibly make.
First, Bush makes the terrorist statement based on a twisted and distorted version of Obama’s foreign policy, that when reduced to Bush’s level is not Obama’s foreign policy at all. The Bush Redux is, Obama will establish ties with anybody (including terrorists), but then contradicts his Redux and says Obama will break ties with Israel. Assuming the Bush Redux is correct, which it is not, he cannot have it both ways – ties with terrorists and no diplomatic ties with Israel.
Bush just proved he has no critical thinking skills and that his genius is anything but that.
The American people can’t stand Bush – only 15 percent believe he has the country headed in the right direction. Does he really think people believe anything he has to say?
Clinton has made three very serious threats against Iran in less than one week. This is serious and dangerous stuff, and it needs to be stopped in the election booths ASAP. She’s making Cheney look like a teenager with sparklers.
Clinton did an interview today that will air on ABC’s Good Morning America tomorrow morning. When ABC’s Chris Cuomo asked Clinton what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, Clinton responded:
"I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran," Clinton said. "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."
Hillary Clinton’s response in ABC’s Democratic debate last week on what she would do if Iran attacked Israel was anything but a knee-jerk reaction. She confirmed her "massive retaliation" answer tonight to Keith Olbermann on Countdown and added the U.S. should return to "Cold War" foreign policies.
OLBERMANN: Can you clarify…which hypothetical Middle East conflicts would incur massive retaliation by this country and what constitutes massive retaliation?
CLINTON: What we were talking about was the potential for a nuclear attack by Iran. If Iran does achieve what appears to be a continuing goal of obtaining nuclear weapons. And I think deterrence has not been effectively used in recent times. We used it very well during the Cold War when we had a bipolar world. And what I think the president should do and what our policy should be is to make it very clear to the Iranians that they would be risking massive retaliation were they to launch a nuclear attack on Israel.
At the moment, I can’t decide which is worse, Clinton’s desire to return to Cold War foreign policies or her blatant brinkmanship with respect to the Middle East.
The Arab world is not buying into the Annapolis Middle East peace talks. Their opinion? Photo-op.
Arab commentators on Wednesday dismissed the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian talks as a U.S.-staged media event unlikely to lead to Middle East peace.
Some argued that U.S. President George W. Bush’s real aim in convening Tuesday’s conference in Annapolis, Maryland, was to rescue his image after failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, or to persuade Arab states their deadliest foe was Iran, not Israel.
What else are they supposed to believe when George Bush committed a measly three hours of his time, which include a meal?
Update:Analysis from the Washington Post. Maybe Mr. Bush has finally found something more compatible with his capabilities. Answering the phones.
The outcome of Bush’s new effort, in the twilight of his presidency, will depend greatly on the personal commitment he is willing to invest in the unfolding process, according to officials and experts on the Middle East.
"At this point, he’s come to an event and he’s made a speech," said Dennis Ross, the Middle East peace envoy of Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush. "The investment will come if he starts engaging in serious diplomacy."
White House officials reject the frequent criticism that Bush has been disengaged from the Middle East peace process, while waging war in Iraq and focusing on other issues. In an Associated Press interview yesterday, Bush described himself as "very engaged, up to the moment” in bringing Israelis, Palestinians and the representatives of more than 40 countries to Annapolis to launch his most serious attempt at Middle East peacemaking.
"I work the phones, I listen, I encourage, I have meetings. I do a lot of things," Bush said in the White House interview, shortly after returning from Annapolis.
Mr. Bush, the self-proclaimed Uniter, has turned his focus to Middle Eastern diplomacy and is moving full speed ahead in an effort to do something, anything that may change his legacy from being totally void of any achievement (Taking more vacation than any other president does not count.) I hope I am proven wrong, but due to his obsessive, compulsive, recalcitrant nature, Mr. Bush has already postured himself for yet another failure.
From the first day George Bush became the 43rd President of the United States, he has carried out flawlessly a policy that has a greater priority than any other throughout his presidency. Iraq, terrorizing the nation with perpetual fear-mongering, declaring all Democrats terrorists, outing CIA agents. Whatever it may be, none of them exceed Executive Order No. 1 - If Bill Clinton did it, it had to be wrong. Executive Order No. 2 - Whatever Bill Clinton did, do the opposite.
So, Mr. Bush trots off as the Masterhood Middle East Peace Mediator. Excalibur in hand, adorned in Clinton-legacy-repellant armor,and a take-advice-from-no-one shield. Indeed, the only man in the world capable of laying to rest 1,300-year-old Middle Eastern conflicts. That is of course with the provision that his anti-Clinton armor retains its effectiveness.
With eyes shifting from side to side, the Mediator skillfully offers a nudge.
It might seem, after nearly seven years of deliberate detachment from Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, that President Bush has plunged into Middle Eastern diplomacy with Clintonesque energy.
He met with the Israel and Palestinian leaders at the White House on Monday and will do so again on Wednesday. On Tuesday, he will meet them at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., along with delegations from 46 countries and international organizations (including, after an arm-twisting by phone last week, Saudi Arabia).
In fact, Mr. Bush and his aides still deplore what they view as President Clinton’s disastrously hands-on involvement in the peace process in 2000. And they insist that Mr. Bush does not intend to negotiate personally the two-state peace he has pronounced as his vision, just as they insist that this is not an 11th-hour effort to forge a legacy other than the one left by the Iraq war.
It is not necessary to document George Bush’s patent failure in foreign policy. Instead, I’ll just handle it this way. Tell me something he has achieved that did not result in catastrophic consequences, and we’ll go from there.
In almost seven years as President, Mr. Bush has been to the Middle East only four times. Two trips were to Iraq, and both of those were photo-op’s. The first trip he served turkey to a few of the troops. On another trip in September 2007, he staged a peaceful photo-op within the safety of a U.S. base many miles away from Baghdad, presenting the facade of how safe Iraq was.
Sep. 3, 2007 - President Bush makes brief stop in Iraq on way to Australia
I suppose the president is far better off by simply adhering to the orders advice of Mr. Cheney, who has obviously demonstrated considerably more successes than Bill Clinton ever imagined.
Money statement of the day?
“The United States cannot impose our vision,” Mr. Bush told the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, in the Oval Office on Monday, before saying, and sounding, again, Clintonesque, “but we can help facilitate.”
George Bush’s warmongering rhetoric, which is derived from Dick Cheney’s insatiable desire to attack Iran is counter-productive at best. Pounding their chests at Ahmadinejad is one thing, but when Putin serves as his proxy, the conflict enters another dimension — a very serious one.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday repeated his opposition to any military action against Iran because of that country’s nuclear program.
No Caspian Sea country should let its territory be used by other countries “for aggressive or military operations against another Caspian state,” said Putin, who is attending a meeting in Tehran of the leaders of the five countries that border the inland sea.
The leaders of the countries, which also include Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, jointly made a similar statement, signaling the opposition of Iran’s neighbors to any military action by the United States or its allies.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said: “The Caspian Sea is an inland sea, and it only belongs to the Caspian states. Therefore only they are entitled to have their ships and military forces here.”
The five countries also declared that any country that is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty can “carry out research and can use nuclear energy for peaceful means without discrimination.” Iran says that all its nuclear work is peaceful.
Vladimir Putin’s warnings against military action against Iran deserve to be taken very seriously. Since we’re not contemplating actually conquering Iran and trying to occupy its territory, people need to understand that the post-strike diplomatic environment is going to be much more important to the future of the Iranian nuclear program than is any damage that bombing Iran with our on-the-table options might or might not do. If Russia decides to just send some scientists with schematics and materiel over to Iran and show them how to build a nuclear bomb, then — bam — nuclear bomb.
Conversely, at the moment not only is Iran under some diplomatic pressure to stop short of weaponizing, many countries around the world are taking direct measures to prevent the Iranians from just easily going and buying the stuff they need. Insofar as an unprovoked American military attack convinces other countries that the real dangerous lunatics live in DC rather than Teheran, countries around the world could cut back on their vigilance and make it much easier for an Iranian nuclear program to succeed.
Cheney will never willingly abandon his imperialistic ideology as outlined in his 1992 manifesto (pdf). His obsession has to be bridled by a more powerful or authoritative figure. Bush 41 stopped him in 1992, but George W. has obviously exercised little control over Cheney, and the last thing we need is for Vladimir Putin to assume the controlling role.
North Korea has agreed to “disable key nuclear facilities by the end of the year and start disclosing details of its nuclear programs,” but is this just another promise they will break?
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 Republicans” on Wednesday “rejected a bipartisan proposal to lengthen the home leaves of U.S. troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, derailing a measure that war opponents viewed as one of the best chances to force President Bush to accelerate a redeployment of forces,” the Washington Post reports. “The proposal, sponsored by Sens. James Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), failed on a 56 to 44 vote, with 60 votes needed for passage — a tally that was virtually identical to a previous vote in July.” See TPC related post.
“A Republican filibuster in the Senate” on Wednesday “shot down a bipartisan effort to restore the right of terrorism suspects to contest in federal courts their detention and treatment, underscoring the Democratic-led Congress’s difficulty with terrorism issues,” the Washington Post reports. “The 56 to 43 vote fell short of the 60 needed to cut off debate and move to a final vote on the amendment to the Senate’s annual defense policy bill.” See TPC related post.
“The Food and Drug Administration would gain new authority to ensure the safety of prescription drugs, including the power to mandate label changes that warn of newly emerging risks, under a bill passed Wednesday by the House,” AP reports. “The bill, heralded as the most significant drug safety legislation in more than 40 years, passed on a 405-7 vote.”
“A bill to offer legal status to illegal immigrant students who have graduated from high school was revived this week in the Senate, the first effort to advance a piece of broad immigration legislation that failed in June,” the New York Times reports. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., “who is an author of the student measure, said Wednesday that he would try this week to offer it as an amendment to the military authorization bill under debate in the Senate.”
“The House on Wednesday passed a 15-year extension of a program to aid the insurance industry in the event of a terrorist attack,” AP reports. “The measure, passed 312-110, is aimed at ensuring that developers can get insurance against losses from potential attacks.”
“House Republican leaders will launch a new offensive in the fight over earmark reform” this morning, “seeking to expand earmark disclosure requirements to tax and authorization bills,” The Hill reports. “Currently, only earmarks in appropriations bills are subject to new transparency requirements.”
WASHINGTON
“President Bush said Wednesday he wants Congress to expand and make permanent a law that temporarily gives the government more power to eavesdrop without warrants on suspected foreign terrorists,” the Washington Post reports. “Without such action, Bush said, ‘our national security professionals will lose critical tools they need to protect our country.’” See TPC related post.
“U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns is expected to resign” today “to clear the way for a Senate campaign in 2008, giving Republicans a welcome dose of good political news,” the Washington Post reports. “President Bush plans a White House announcement” this morning “with Johanns, a senior administration official said Wednesday. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement has not been made, would not confirm that Johanns is resigning.”
“The Bush administration, acknowledging a moral obligation, intends to sharply increase the number of Iraqi refugees it will admit to the United States next year, a senior State Department official said Wednesday,” AP reports. “So far this year, 900 have been given refuge in this country, Ellen Sauerbrey, an assistant secretary of State, told the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom at a hearing on Capitol Hill.”
“The Bush administration on Wednesday appointed two senior officials to clear bureaucratic roadblocks blamed by Washington for the painfully slow pace of admitting Iraqi refugees to the United States,” Reuters reports.
IRAQ
“In another sign of U.S. struggles in Iraq, the target date for putting Iraqi authorities in charge of security in all 18 provinces has slipped yet again, to at least July,” AP reports. “The delay, noted in a Pentagon report to Congress on progress and problems in Iraq, highlights the difficulties in developing Iraqi police forces and the slow pace of economic and political progress in some areas. ”
“Violence in Iraq has fallen to its lowest level since before a 2006 mosque attack which unleashed reprisal sectarian killings, the number two commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said” today, Reuters reports. “Lieutenant-General Raymond Odierno said attacks in Baghdad had also fallen about 50 percent since January, just before Washington began pouring 30,000 extra troops into Iraq to try to drag the nation back from the brink of civil war.”
“A suicide car bomber blew himself up Wednesday and wounded four civilians while trying to hit an Iraqi army base in the northern city of Mosul, an Iraqi army officer said,” AP reports.
“Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki proposed on Wednesday forming a cabinet of technocrats to replace his splintering national unity government and called for greater powers to push through his nominations,” Reuters reports. “Maliki’s 16-month-old government, which included Sunni and Shi’ite Arabs, Kurds, Islamists and secularists, has unravelled since a dozen Sunni and Shi’ite ministers quit.”
“The United States and Iraq will form a joint commission to look into allegations that private guards protecting American diplomats killed Iraqi civilians and to review the U.S. Embassy’s security practices,” AP reports. “The size and composition of the commission have yet to be determined but its members are charged with assessing the results of both U.S. and Iraqi investigations of Sunday’s incident.”
“The shooting incident involving private security guards in Baghdad on Sunday that left at least eight Iraqis dead has revealed large gaps in the laws applying to such armed contractors,” the New York Times reports. “Early in the period when Iraq was still under American administration, the United States government unilaterally exempted its employees and contractors from Iraqi law… thus the thousands of heavily armed private soldiers in Iraq operate with virtual immunity from Iraqi and American law.”
“U.S. soldiers detained an Iranian” today “who was part of a commercial delegation visiting the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniya, an Iraqi government official in Baghdad said,” Reuters reports. “The official said U.S. forces detained the man at his hotel in Sulaimaniya, a city in Iraq’s largely autonomous region of Kurdistan.”
NATION
“Leaders of the agency responsible for protecting consumers from faulty products said Wednesday that Congress should increase their budget and power in the wake of huge recalls of lead-contaminated toys,” AP reports. “The testimony from Consumer Product Safety Commission officials came as Mattel Inc., producer of 1.5 million of the 13.2 million toys recalled in the past month, said its tests found lead levels in paint in recalled toys as high as 200 times the accepted safety ceiling.”
“Federal authorities are expected to file civil charges against current or former employees at several brokerage firms in connection to a years-long investigation into abusive stock lending, people familiar with the matter said,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The civil complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which also may involve the filing of criminal fraud charges, could come as soon as today, these people said.”
“Spurred by the Internet and a popular disc jockey’s nationwide urban radio program, tens of thousands of people are expected to descend on a sleepy rural Louisiana town to protest what they say are excessive criminal charges against six black teenagers involved in a schoolyard brawl,” the Washington Post reports. “About 500 tour buses bearing thousands of riders were scheduled to depart from cities across the United States in the wee hours today for Jena, La., about 230 miles northwest of New Orleans.”
“At the close of a two-day hearing on charges that Special Forces soldiers murdered an Afghan man near his home last October, it is increasingly evident that the Army is also examining itself and how it is fighting the war in Afghanistan,” the New York Times reports. “A Special Forces colonel presiding over the hearing must determine whether sufficient evidence exists to recommend courts-martial for the two soldiers accused of killing the man, Nawab Buntangyar, who had been identified as an ‘enemy combatant,’ while he walked unarmed outside his home near the Pakistan border. ”
WORLD
“Palestinian leaders sought details” today “from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the goals of what they hope will be a breakthrough Mideast peace conference, but the talks were overshadowed by Israel’s declaration of Hamas-run Gaza as ‘hostile territory,’” AP reports. “The Palestinians want the conference, tentatively set for November, to yield an outline for a peace deal, complete with timetable, while Israel wants a vaguer declaration of intent.”
“A powerful car bomb in a Christian neighborhood just east of Beirut killed a Christian lawmaker from the governing coalition and six others Wednesday evening,” the New York Times reports. “It was the latest in a deadly string of bombings that have rocked Lebanon’s teetering political order as the country prepares to select a new president.”
“President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will seek a new five-year term in a presidential election set for Oct. 6, officials said” today, “even as opponents urged the courts to stop him from running and vowed to quit Parliament in protest,” AP reports. “After the U.S.-allied leader signaled his plan to resign as army chief if re-elected, the Election Commission announced that the ballot by federal and provincial lawmakers would be held Oct. 6.”
“Al Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri urged Sudanese Muslims in a video posted” today “to fight a force of African Union and U.N. peacekeepers set to deploy to Sudan’s volatile western region of Darfur,” Reuters reports. “In an 80-minute compilation video that touched on a several conflicts, Zawahri criticised Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s decision to accept a U.N. resolution that lays the ground for a 26,000-strong joint AU-U.N. operation.”
SCANDALS
“Besieged Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) is expected to announce as early as today that he is retiring from Congress, weeks after a Chicago newspaper exposed potentially questionable land deals in Central America,” Roll Call (sub. req.) reports. “Republican sources confirmed late Wednesday that Weller will not seek an eighth term but were uncertain as to when he would announce his decision…Earlier this month, the Chicago Tribune published an investigation into Weller’s Nicaraguan land deals, suggesting that Weller has bought and sold several beachfront properties that he did not disclose on his financial disclosure forms. Weller was a strong advocate of the Central America Free Trade Agreement, which critics note provides protections to land investors in Central America — including Weller.”
“The House Ethics Committee announced an investigation Wednesday of” California Rep. Bob Filner’s (D) “run-in with a baggage worker at Dulles International Airport last month,” AP reports. “The incident resulted in misdemeanor assault and battery charges against the congressman.”
“Howard J. Krongard, the State Department’s inspector general, has repeatedly thwarted investigations into contracting fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan, including construction of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and censored reports that might prove politically embarrassing to the Bush administration, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform charged” on Tuesday “in a 13-page letter,” the Washington Post reports. See TPC related post.
“The National Security Agency has not conducted wiretapping without warrants on the telephones of any Americans since at least February, the nation’s top intelligence officer told Congress on Tuesday,” the New York Times reports. “Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, told the House Judiciary Committee that since he took office that month, the government has conducted electronic surveillance only after seeking court-approved warrants.” See TPC related post.
“President Bush, cheered on by Iraq war veterans and their familieson the White House’s South Lawn, urged lawmakers Tuesday to back his plan to withdraw some troops from Iraq but keep at least 130,000 through next summer or longer,” AP reports. “‘I ask the United States Congress to support the troop levels and the strategies I have embraced,’ Bush said, to loud cheers and chants of ‘USA! USA!’”
“President Bush defended himself Tuesday defended himself from criticism by former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, who said Bush has not been a good shepherd of the economy,” according to a FOX News interview with the president. “Our fiscal record is admirable and good. After all, the deficit as a percentage of GDP is low relative to the 30-year average. It’s about 1.5 percent of GDP which is good, and we submitted a budget that shows we can get to balance.” See TPC related post.
“Internal discord in the office of U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose has led to an investigation of complaints that she retaliated against dissenters,” the Star-Tribune reports. “The internal upheaval that roiled the upper ranks of the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota last spring has prompted an investigation by an independent federal agency that looks into whistleblower and discrimination complaints involving federal employees.” TPC reported on Ms. Paulrose back in April as the DOJ scandal was unfolding.
CONGRESS
“Unable to garner enough Republican support, Senate Democratic leaders said” on Tuesday “that they are abandoning a bipartisan effort to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq by next spring,” the Washington Post reports. Instead, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid, D-Nev., “will again push for a firm deadline, this time June 2008, along with a stronger effort at cutting off war funding.” See TPC related post.
“Four new Senate Republicans signaled Tuesday that they may vote for a Democratic amendment aimed at giving U.S. troops in Iraq more time at home between deployments, helping Democrats inch closer to a rare victory on the conduct of the Iraq war,” The Hill reports. “The talks came amid tense backroom negotiations over the terms of the Iraq debate in the Senate, which is expected to dominate the floor schedule during the next two weeks. ”
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., “and 11 other members of Congress have been subpoenaed to testify in the trial of a defense contractor charged with bribing jailed” former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif.,, USA Today reports. “All of the lawmakers said they do not intend to comply with the subpoenas.”
“Even as Senate Democrats on Tuesday softened demands that the White House provide thousands of documents in advance of a hearing to confirm Michael Mukasey as attorney general, they warned that it remained highly improbable that a vote on his installation would occur before the October recess,” Roll Call (sub. req.) reports. “The White House has asked Democrats to complete the confirmation process by Oct. 8 — a date on which Democrats said they are unlikely to meet.”
The House Federal Workforce Subcommittee split along party lines yesterday “over proposed legislation that would ban discrimination against federal employees and job applicants based on sexual orientation.” the Washington Post reports. “Republicans asked for a roll call, and Democrats, as the majority party, prevailed, 5 to 3.
“Twelve years after conservative Republicans in Congress were blamed for shutting down the government, they are introducing legislation to ensure that government continues to function no matter what,” The Hill reports. “Anticipating a showdown with Democrats that could force government offices to close, President Bush is backing the legislation.”
IRAQ
“The top two American military and diplomatic officials in Iraq sought to play down differences over Iraq policy as they met with senior British officials on Tuesday, at a time of mounting pressure here for the withdrawal of Britain’s remaining 5,200 soldiers from southern Iraq,” the New York Times reports. “At a news conference with Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, Gen. David H. Petraeussought to ease strains that developed this month when British commanders withdrew the 500-man contingent that comprised their last remaining troops in central Basra.”
“The U.S. military has introduced ‘religious enlightenment’ and other education programs for Iraqi detainees, some of whom are as young as 11, Marine Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, the commander of U.S. detention facilities in Iraq, said yesterday, the Washington Post reports. “Stone said such efforts, aimed mainly at Iraqis who have been held for more than a year, are intended to “bend them back to our will” and are part of waging war in what he called ‘the battlefield of the mind.’ ”
“A preliminary Iraqi report on a shooting involving an American diplomatic motorcade said Tuesday that Blackwater security guards were not ambushed, as the company reported, but instead fired at a car when it did not heed a policeman’s call to stop, killing a couple and their infant,” the New York Times reports. “The report, by the Ministry of Interior, was presented to the Iraqi cabinet and, though unverified, seemed to contradict an account offered by Blackwater USA that the guards were responding to gunfire by militants.”
“A vast internal migration is radically reshaping Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian landscape, according to new data collected by thousands of relief workers, but displacement in the most populous and mixed areas is surprisingly complex, suggesting that partitioning the country into semiautonomous Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish enclaves would not be easy,” the New York Times reports. “In Baghdad alone there are now nearly 170,000 families, accounting for almost a million people, that have fled their homes.”
NATION
“About 1,000 highly skilled legal immigrants, carrying placards and wearing T-shirts emblazoned with American flags, rallied Tuesday at the Capitol to protest long delays and vast bureaucratic backlogs in the immigration system,” the New York Times reports. “The immigrants, including doctors, medical technicians and computer engineers from India and China, came from as far as California and Washington State to call on Congress to provide more permanent visas for highly educated immigrants and more resources for the overburdened immigration system.”
“Video of police Tasering a persistent questioner of Sen. John Kerry became an Internet and TV sensation Tuesday, generating fierce debate about free speech and the motives of the college student involved — a known prankster who often posts practical jokes online,” AP reports. “University of Florida President Bernie Machen said Monday’s takedown, in which the student loudly yelled, ‘Don’t Tase me, bro’ was ‘regretful.’”
“Advocacy groups sued the FBI and the Department of Justice on Tuesday for failing to turn over records they requested on surveillance in the Muslim-American community,” AP reports. “The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Muslim groups, alleges that the FBI has turned over only four pages of documents to community leaders, despite a Freedom of Information Act request filed more than a year ago. The documents were not related to surveillance.”
WORLD
“U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice scolded the U.N.’s atomic watchdog agency” today “over its Iran strategy and called for diplomacy with ‘teeth’ to end Tehran’s nuclear plans,” Reuters reports. “While repeating the U.S. stand that ‘all options’ remained on the table — a reference to military action against Tehran — Rice sought to ease fresh concerns over talk of war.”
“A multinational force commanded and led by British troops has launched a major offensive against the Taleban in the southern Afghan province of Helmand,” BBC News reports. “The operation involves about 700 men, mostly infantry and engineers. ”
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan “refused on Tuesday to rule out the possibility of military operations into northern Iraq to root out armed Kurdish separatist groups that he said had taken refuge in the border region,” the New York Times reports. “Mr. Erdogan also criticized some Western countries for what he called their increasingly hawkish stance against Iran.”
“Pro-Taliban militants in northwest Pakistan attacked a military checkpost” today “and captured seven paramilitary soldiers,” Reuters reports. “The raid was the latest in a series of bloody militant attacks on security forces and abductions of soldiers since July, when a pact with militants broke down and commandos stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad.”
“Two Senate Democrats warned Monday that the Judiciary Committee would delay confirmation of President Bush’s choice for attorney general unless the White House turned over documents that the panel was seeking for several investigations,” the New York Times reports. “Mr. Bush announced the selection of Michael B. Mukasey, a retired federal judge from New York who has presided over several high-profile terrorism trials, during a morning Rose Garden ceremony.”
“The White House on Monday rejected demands by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that the administration release thousands of documents related to the U.S. attorneys scandal and other Justice Department controversies before hearings begin on” Bush’s nomination of Mukasey, Roll Call (sub. req.) reports. “A showdown between Leahy and President Bush over largely procedural matters could turn what is widely seen as a relatively noncontroversial nomination into a political lightning rod for both parties.”
“The White House in recent days told nearly a dozen Cabinet secretaries to send letters to Capitol Hill rejecting Democrats’ proposed new funds for their agencies, escalating a confrontation between lawmakers and President Bush over domestic spending priorities,” the Washington Post reports. “The Democratic Congress is considering 2008 spending bills that increase funding for politically popular programs including health care for veterans, education, medical research and infrastructure improvements.”
“The top U.S. intelligence official is asking Congress for even more changes to a law that he says limited the government’s ability to eavesdrop, not just on terrorists but also on more traditional potential adversaries,” AP reports. “Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, says China and Russia are aggressively spying on sensitive U.S. facilities, intelligence systems and development projects, and their efforts are approaching Cold War levels.”
“The White House threatened on Monday to veto a bill that would add 15 years to a post-Sept. 11 government insurance program that supporters say is critical for major projects like the new World Trade Center,” the New York Times reports. “The legislation, known as the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, was originally passed by Congress after the 2001 attacks. It is due to expire this year, and the House had planned to vote this week on a 15-year extension.”
CONGRESS
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday “unveiled a proposal to provide health insurance to all Americans, placing herself at the center of an issue that provided perhaps the greatest setback of her political career,” the Washington Post reports. “In a speech in Des Moines, the Democratic front-runner said she would expand insurance to the 47 million people who do not already have coverage and would attempt to reduce costs for others without spawning a massive new bureaucracy.”
“Key lawmakers in the House and Senate negotiated into the night” on Monday “on a deal that would expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over the next five years,” the Washington Post reports. “That would set up a clash with President Bush, who has promised to veto such a plan.”
“Three senators who are considered potential swing votes on war policy said Monday that a weekend visit to Iraq left them discouraged about prospects for political reconciliation there and convinced that the United States must quickly shift more responsibility for security to the Iraqi Army,” the New York Times reports. “‘We must take decisive action to force the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people to secure the peace for Iraq,’ said Senator Ken Salazar, Democrat of Colorado, as the Senate opened a pivotal debate on the war.”
“Sens. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) are among the biggest winners in the 2008 Appropriations defense bill, according to data gathered by The Hill and the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS),” The Hill reports. “Senate appropriators disclosed about 936 earmarks worth a combined $5.1 billion in the 2008 defense-spending bill, with top committee members in both parties securing the highest dollar amounts.”
IRAQ
“At least 12 people were killed and 37 wounded today after Baghdad was hit by two parked car bombs and two roadside bombs, police said,” the Guardian reports. “A car bomb blew up in the centre of the Iraqi capital at 9.30am in a car park near the health ministry and the so-called Medical City complex of buildings, which includes several hospitals and a forensic institute.”
“Blackwater USA, an American contractor that provides security to some of the top American officials in Iraq, has been banned from working in the country by the Iraqi government after a shooting that left eight Iraqis dead and involved an American diplomatic convoy,” the New York Times reports. “A spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, said Monday that authorities had canceled the company’s license and that the government would prosecute the participants.”
“Despite efforts by U.S. forces to recruit and train women for jobs in the Iraqi security forces, just over 1,000 have been trained, many have quit and those who remain say they are struggling for acceptance,” the LA Times
Every day George Bush continues to be president is just another day of him demonstrating to the world that he has no intellect, ethics, morals, or respect for the American people. Bush’s attack on Obama today was insulting, disrespectful, and without merit. He stooped so low as to equate Obama to Neville Chamberlin and terrorism to Adolph Hitler’s Nazism, which ultimately led to the death of 70 million people. 
