Like we needed evidence? What else is new?
Pentagon had no detailed plans for postwar Iraq: report
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Pentagon planners failed to develop detailed plans for postwar Iraq because they were convinced Iraqis would welcome US troops and that a hand-picked exile leader would replace Saddam Hussein and impose order.
The exclusive report in Knight Ridder Newspapers quoted more than a dozen current and former senior government officials, many of whom linked a lack of US planning to the current chaos in Iraq.
"There was no real planning for postwar Iraq," said one former senior official. Most of those interviewed requested anonymity...
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Saturday, July 12, 2003
What a night! This Niger story and its many threads of lies and cover-ups is unraveling so fast I can't put the stories up fast enough. The Sunday morning news programs are going to have a field day over this! The dam has broken and there's a $#!^storm coming. Man, I don't know what will happen first. Bush falls off the wagon or Cheney has a heart attack. I wonder what the religious right is going to make of all this. How do they explain God's wrath when it's directed at their own false prophet?
Blair ignored CIA weapons warning
Intelligence breakdown after Britain dismissed US doubts over Iraq nuclear link to Niger
Kamal Ahmed, political editor
The Observer/Sunday July 13, 2003
Britain and America suffered a complete breakdown in relations over vital evidence against Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction, refusing to share information and keeping each other in the dark over key elements of the case against the Iraqi dictator.
In a remarkable letter released last night, the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, reveals a catalogue of disputes between the two countries, lending more ammunition to critics of the war and exerting fresh pressure on the Prime Minister.
The letter to the Foreign Affairs Committee, which investigated the case for war against Iraq, reveals that Britain ignored a request from the CIA to remove claims that Saddam was trying to buy nuclear material from Niger, despite concerns that the allegations were bogus. It also details a government decision to block information going to the CIA because it was too sensitive.
As diplomatic relations between America and Britain become increasingly strained over Iraq's WMD, Straw said that the Government had separate evidence of the Niger link, which it has not shared with the US.
The revelations come just four days before Tony Blair travels to America for his toughest visit there since he came to power in 1997. As well as WMD, the Prime Minister will also raise Britain's 'serious concerns' over the treatment of British citizens held at Guantanamo Bay.
Straw's letter reveals:
· That evidence given to the CIA by the former US ambassador to Gabon, Joseph Wilson - that Niger officials had denied any link - was never shared with the British.
· That Foreign Office officials were left to read reports of Wilson's findings in the press only days before they were raised as part of the committee's inquiry into the war.
· That when the CIA, having seen a draft of the September dossier on Iraq's WMD, demanded that the Niger claim be removed, it was ignored because the agency did not back it up with 'any explanation'.
Although publicly the two governments are trying to maintain a united front, the admission two days ago by the head of the CIA, George Tenet, that President Bush should never have made the claim about the Niger connection to Iraq, has left British officials exposed...
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Blair ignored CIA weapons warning
Intelligence breakdown after Britain dismissed US doubts over Iraq nuclear link to Niger
Kamal Ahmed, political editor
The Observer/Sunday July 13, 2003
Britain and America suffered a complete breakdown in relations over vital evidence against Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction, refusing to share information and keeping each other in the dark over key elements of the case against the Iraqi dictator.
In a remarkable letter released last night, the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, reveals a catalogue of disputes between the two countries, lending more ammunition to critics of the war and exerting fresh pressure on the Prime Minister.
The letter to the Foreign Affairs Committee, which investigated the case for war against Iraq, reveals that Britain ignored a request from the CIA to remove claims that Saddam was trying to buy nuclear material from Niger, despite concerns that the allegations were bogus. It also details a government decision to block information going to the CIA because it was too sensitive.
As diplomatic relations between America and Britain become increasingly strained over Iraq's WMD, Straw said that the Government had separate evidence of the Niger link, which it has not shared with the US.
The revelations come just four days before Tony Blair travels to America for his toughest visit there since he came to power in 1997. As well as WMD, the Prime Minister will also raise Britain's 'serious concerns' over the treatment of British citizens held at Guantanamo Bay.
Straw's letter reveals:
· That evidence given to the CIA by the former US ambassador to Gabon, Joseph Wilson - that Niger officials had denied any link - was never shared with the British.
· That Foreign Office officials were left to read reports of Wilson's findings in the press only days before they were raised as part of the committee's inquiry into the war.
· That when the CIA, having seen a draft of the September dossier on Iraq's WMD, demanded that the Niger claim be removed, it was ignored because the agency did not back it up with 'any explanation'.
Although publicly the two governments are trying to maintain a united front, the admission two days ago by the head of the CIA, George Tenet, that President Bush should never have made the claim about the Niger connection to Iraq, has left British officials exposed...
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Hell, I just had to run this whole piece by Dowd as she lays it out so clearly that a three-legged, blind, GOP elephant could follow it.
National House of Waffles
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
More and more, with Bush administration pronouncements about the Iraq war, it depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is.
W. built his political identity on the idea that he was not Bill Clinton. He didn't parse words or prevaricate. He was the Texas straight shooter.
So why is he now presiding over a completely Clintonian environment, turning the White House into a Waffle House, where truth is camouflaged by word games and responsibility is obscured by shell games?
The president and Condi Rice can shuffle the shells and blame George Tenet, but it smells of mendacity.
Mr. Clinton indulged in casuistry to hide personal weakness. The Bush team indulges in casuistry to perpetuate its image of political steel.
Dissembling over peccadillos is pathetic. Dissembling over pre-emptive strikes is pathological, given over 200 Americans dead and 1,000 wounded in Iraq, and untold numbers of dead Iraqis. Our troops are in "a shooting gallery," as Teddy Kennedy put it, and our spy agencies warn that we are on the cusp of a new round of attacks by Saddam snipers.
Why does it always come to this in Washington? The people who ascend to power on the promise of doing things differently end up making the same unforced errors their predecessors did. Out of office, the Bush crowd mocked the Clinton propensity for stonewalling; in office, they have stonewalled the 9/11 families on the events that preceded the attacks, and the American public on how — and why — they maneuvered the nation into the Iraqi war.
Their defensive crouch and obsession with secrecy are positively Nixonian. (But instead of John Dean and an aggressive media, they have Howard Dean and a cowed media.)
In a hole, the president should have done some plain speaking: "The information I gave you in the State of the Union about Iraq seeking nuclear material from Africa has been revealed to be false. I'm deeply angry and I'm going to get to the bottom of this."
But of course he couldn't say that. He would be like Sheriff Bart in "Blazing Saddles," holding the gun to his own head and saying, "Nobody move or POTUS gets it." The Bush administration has known all along that the evidence of the imminent threat of Saddam's weapons and the Al Qaeda connections were pumped up. They were manning the air hose.
Mr. Tenet, in his continuing effort to ingratiate himself to his bosses, agreed to take the fall, trying to minimize a year's worth of war-causing warping of intelligence as a slip of the keyboard. "These 16 words should never have been included in the text written for the president," he said, in 15 words that were clearly written for him on behalf of the president. But it won't fly.
It was Ms. Rice's responsibility to vet the intelligence facts in the president's speech and take note of the red alert the tentative Tenet was raising. Colin Powell did when he set up camp at the C.I.A. for a week before his U.N. speech, double-checking what he considered unsubstantiated charges that the Cheney chief of staff, Scooter Libby, and other hawks wanted to sluice into his talk.
When the president attributed the information about Iraq trying to get Niger yellowcake to British intelligence, it was a Clintonian bit of flim-flam. Americans did not know what top Bush officials knew: that this "evidence" could not be attributed to American intelligence because the C.I.A. had already debunked it.
Ms. Rice did not throw out the line, even though the C.I.A. had warned her office that it was sketchy. Clearly, a higher power wanted it in.
And that had to be Dick Cheney's office. Joseph Wilson, former U.S. ambassador to Gabon, said he was asked to go to Niger to answer some questions from the vice president's office about that episode and reported back that it was highly doubtful.
But doubt is not the currency of the Bush hawks. Asked if he regretted using the Niger claim, Mr. Bush replied: "There is no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein was a threat to world peace. And there's no doubt in my mind that the United States, along with allies and friends, did the right thing in removing him from power. And there's no doubt in my mind, when it's all said and done, the facts will show the world the truth."
I'm happy that Mr. Bush's mental landscape is so cloudless. But it is our doubts he needs to assuage.
_______________________________________________________________
National House of Waffles
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
More and more, with Bush administration pronouncements about the Iraq war, it depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is.
W. built his political identity on the idea that he was not Bill Clinton. He didn't parse words or prevaricate. He was the Texas straight shooter.
So why is he now presiding over a completely Clintonian environment, turning the White House into a Waffle House, where truth is camouflaged by word games and responsibility is obscured by shell games?
The president and Condi Rice can shuffle the shells and blame George Tenet, but it smells of mendacity.
Mr. Clinton indulged in casuistry to hide personal weakness. The Bush team indulges in casuistry to perpetuate its image of political steel.
Dissembling over peccadillos is pathetic. Dissembling over pre-emptive strikes is pathological, given over 200 Americans dead and 1,000 wounded in Iraq, and untold numbers of dead Iraqis. Our troops are in "a shooting gallery," as Teddy Kennedy put it, and our spy agencies warn that we are on the cusp of a new round of attacks by Saddam snipers.
Why does it always come to this in Washington? The people who ascend to power on the promise of doing things differently end up making the same unforced errors their predecessors did. Out of office, the Bush crowd mocked the Clinton propensity for stonewalling; in office, they have stonewalled the 9/11 families on the events that preceded the attacks, and the American public on how — and why — they maneuvered the nation into the Iraqi war.
Their defensive crouch and obsession with secrecy are positively Nixonian. (But instead of John Dean and an aggressive media, they have Howard Dean and a cowed media.)
In a hole, the president should have done some plain speaking: "The information I gave you in the State of the Union about Iraq seeking nuclear material from Africa has been revealed to be false. I'm deeply angry and I'm going to get to the bottom of this."
But of course he couldn't say that. He would be like Sheriff Bart in "Blazing Saddles," holding the gun to his own head and saying, "Nobody move or POTUS gets it." The Bush administration has known all along that the evidence of the imminent threat of Saddam's weapons and the Al Qaeda connections were pumped up. They were manning the air hose.
Mr. Tenet, in his continuing effort to ingratiate himself to his bosses, agreed to take the fall, trying to minimize a year's worth of war-causing warping of intelligence as a slip of the keyboard. "These 16 words should never have been included in the text written for the president," he said, in 15 words that were clearly written for him on behalf of the president. But it won't fly.
It was Ms. Rice's responsibility to vet the intelligence facts in the president's speech and take note of the red alert the tentative Tenet was raising. Colin Powell did when he set up camp at the C.I.A. for a week before his U.N. speech, double-checking what he considered unsubstantiated charges that the Cheney chief of staff, Scooter Libby, and other hawks wanted to sluice into his talk.
When the president attributed the information about Iraq trying to get Niger yellowcake to British intelligence, it was a Clintonian bit of flim-flam. Americans did not know what top Bush officials knew: that this "evidence" could not be attributed to American intelligence because the C.I.A. had already debunked it.
Ms. Rice did not throw out the line, even though the C.I.A. had warned her office that it was sketchy. Clearly, a higher power wanted it in.
And that had to be Dick Cheney's office. Joseph Wilson, former U.S. ambassador to Gabon, said he was asked to go to Niger to answer some questions from the vice president's office about that episode and reported back that it was highly doubtful.
But doubt is not the currency of the Bush hawks. Asked if he regretted using the Niger claim, Mr. Bush replied: "There is no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein was a threat to world peace. And there's no doubt in my mind that the United States, along with allies and friends, did the right thing in removing him from power. And there's no doubt in my mind, when it's all said and done, the facts will show the world the truth."
I'm happy that Mr. Bush's mental landscape is so cloudless. But it is our doubts he needs to assuage.
_______________________________________________________________
Now, these facts will get raked over the coals and added to the flames surrounding the burning Bush.
20 Lies About the War
Falsehoods ranging from exaggeration to plain untruth were used to make the case for war. More lies are being used in the aftermath. By Glen Rangwala and Raymond Whitaker
1 Iraq was responsible for the 11 September attacks.
A supposed meeting in Prague between Mohammed Atta, leader of the 11 September hijackers, and an Iraqi intelligence official was the main basis for this claim, but Czech intelligence later conceded that the Iraqi's contact could not have been Atta. This did not stop the constant stream of assertions that Iraq was involved in 9/11, which was so successful that at one stage opinion polls showed that two-thirds of Americans believed the hand of Saddam Hussein was behind the attacks. Almost as many believed Iraqi hijackers were aboard the crashed airliners; in fact there were none.
2 Iraq and al-Qa'ida were working together...
_________________________________________________________
20 Lies About the War
Falsehoods ranging from exaggeration to plain untruth were used to make the case for war. More lies are being used in the aftermath. By Glen Rangwala and Raymond Whitaker
1 Iraq was responsible for the 11 September attacks.
A supposed meeting in Prague between Mohammed Atta, leader of the 11 September hijackers, and an Iraqi intelligence official was the main basis for this claim, but Czech intelligence later conceded that the Iraqi's contact could not have been Atta. This did not stop the constant stream of assertions that Iraq was involved in 9/11, which was so successful that at one stage opinion polls showed that two-thirds of Americans believed the hand of Saddam Hussein was behind the attacks. Almost as many believed Iraqi hijackers were aboard the crashed airliners; in fact there were none.
2 Iraq and al-Qa'ida were working together...
_________________________________________________________
While I don't think Americans especially care to dig into the details (and learn of the devil lurking there) of this Niger story I believe the media is whole hog for it. They smell blood on the wounded beast known as Bush and will be presenting all sorts of follow-up stories and interviews beyond the Tenet mea cupa. This, the lingering perceptions of the lying and manipulation by the Bush White House presented in the media (with an election coming up), will be what continues to cling to this administration. If more breakthroughs on lying come to light and the White House has to constantly create a new house of cards around each story, eventually some are going to collapse and their stacked deck will be revealed. All it takes is one big lie proved and everything else is tainted by it. So I actually think there is a silver lining to all this in that Bush will be painted by scandal going into the next election. We've got the ongoing public 9/11 investigation (which is being stonewalled by Bush). We've got the Congressional investigation on 9/11 about to come out with their "secured" report (which will end up with some juicy leaks). I'd say the waters are about to get very muddy around Bush and attempts to pass off the dirt as soap won't wash.
Doubt is rising very quickly about the man in the minds of the American people. Gawd, the majority are slow to think the worst but once they do, it's over. American deaths in Iraq are only going to grow. It's going to get ugly before it gets better over there and Bush is going to get the blame. Add this in with the damage being done by his attempt to control the Niger story and it suddenly looks very bad for this inarticulate president who will be grilled now at every public appearance. If he quits talking to the press, he'll be crucified. If he talks to the press he'll be crucified. No body in the office ever had such a fall coming to him and so richly deserved.
This isn't over. It's just beginning.
CIA Got Uranium Reference Cut in Oct.
Why Bush Cited It In Jan. Is Unclear
By Walter Pincus and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 13, 2003
CIA Director George J. Tenet successfully intervened with White House officials to have a reference to Iraq seeking uranium from Niger removed from a presidential speech last October, three months before a less specific reference to the same intelligence appeared in the State of the Union address, according to senior administration officials...
__________________________________________________________________
Doubt is rising very quickly about the man in the minds of the American people. Gawd, the majority are slow to think the worst but once they do, it's over. American deaths in Iraq are only going to grow. It's going to get ugly before it gets better over there and Bush is going to get the blame. Add this in with the damage being done by his attempt to control the Niger story and it suddenly looks very bad for this inarticulate president who will be grilled now at every public appearance. If he quits talking to the press, he'll be crucified. If he talks to the press he'll be crucified. No body in the office ever had such a fall coming to him and so richly deserved.
This isn't over. It's just beginning.
CIA Got Uranium Reference Cut in Oct.
Why Bush Cited It In Jan. Is Unclear
By Walter Pincus and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 13, 2003
CIA Director George J. Tenet successfully intervened with White House officials to have a reference to Iraq seeking uranium from Niger removed from a presidential speech last October, three months before a less specific reference to the same intelligence appeared in the State of the Union address, according to senior administration officials...
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The Austrailan Prime Minister apologised to his country about lying over the Niger story. It doesn't excuse the lie but he got up and said it like a man and didn't try to hide behind his intelligence director like a spoiled child who runs from his responsibilities as a leader.
Howard apologises over Iraq claim
By Dominic Hughes
BBC correspondent in Sydney
The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, has apologised for using false intelligence reports to justify sending troops to Iraq as part of the US-led coalition.
Mr Howard cited the now discredited claims that Iraq tried to buy uranium from the African country of Niger when he was making the case for sending troops to Iraq during an address to Parliament.
Howard committed 2,000 troops to the US-led war effort.
In fact, the Office of National Assessments - which directly advises Mr Howard on intelligence matters - knew the information was doubtful, but failed to tell the prime minister...
____________________________________________________________
Howard apologises over Iraq claim
By Dominic Hughes
BBC correspondent in Sydney
The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, has apologised for using false intelligence reports to justify sending troops to Iraq as part of the US-led coalition.
Mr Howard cited the now discredited claims that Iraq tried to buy uranium from the African country of Niger when he was making the case for sending troops to Iraq during an address to Parliament.
Howard committed 2,000 troops to the US-led war effort.
In fact, the Office of National Assessments - which directly advises Mr Howard on intelligence matters - knew the information was doubtful, but failed to tell the prime minister...
____________________________________________________________
The storm is building to find out why Bush is avoiding responsibility for saying false statements in a State of the Union address. Is Bush showing his true colors as a spoiled rich kid, son of a major corporate insider and former head of the CIA and President of the nation, who walks away from his responsibilities when caught in some sort of trouble? Like the way he walked out of his National Guard duties during his last year. Or such as when he quit flying jets because he couldn't pass the physical due to his alleged drug use. Or like the mysterious public service work he did in a Houston ghetto that he NEVER brings up when mentioning doing volunteer work because most say it was a deal brokered to keep him out of jail on a drug or a drinking incident caught by the law.
It's time to learn the truth. Write and call your congress and senate representatives and demand a full PUBLIC accounting.
"The continued finger-pointing, charge-countercharge and bureaucratic warfare within the administration do nothing to make this country safer and will simply further erode the confidence of the American public and our allies around the world," said John Kerry.
"Everyone is trying to evade responsibility," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said in a telephone interview from Detroit. "There is to me very disturbing evidence of deception somewhere. Where the deception is we don't know, but there is an inquiry going on."
Analysis: Bush Admin. Backpedals in Flap
_________________________________________________________________
It's time to learn the truth. Write and call your congress and senate representatives and demand a full PUBLIC accounting.
"The continued finger-pointing, charge-countercharge and bureaucratic warfare within the administration do nothing to make this country safer and will simply further erode the confidence of the American public and our allies around the world," said John Kerry.
"Everyone is trying to evade responsibility," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said in a telephone interview from Detroit. "There is to me very disturbing evidence of deception somewhere. Where the deception is we don't know, but there is an inquiry going on."
Analysis: Bush Admin. Backpedals in Flap
_________________________________________________________________
I support a full and public investigation of the false statements by President Bush in a State of the Union Address to go to war.
Here's a copy of my letter that I just sent to my senators and House representative. Please contact your public servants in congress and demand they pursue an investigation into what may be severe and immoral manipulation of the public's trust by this administration. ---Sam F. Park
Senator,
George Tenet did not close the books on Bush's false statements in a State of the Union address. Get that straight. This wasn't a slip of the tongue at a press conference. It was a STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS. If anything Tenet's mea cupa has blown the hole wider on the issue. Only a full investigation will quell how this Niger story could have happened in the first place. We went to war based upon these allegations. Innocent Iraqi people and American soldiers died because of it and we still haven't found any WMDs or "uranium". Bush may desperately want the issue closed but it's not going away. This reeks of a cover-up on the CIA's part (afterall, Bush's dad used to run the CIA and their damn new building is named for the man who pardoned CIA members from the Iran Contra scandal). Only a full and open investigation will put this issue to rest and prove who is ultimately responsible.
I'm putting you on notice. This is THE ISSUE that I'm watching you about concerning if I choose to support you in the future. I want to see some guts on pursuing what the hell is going on in this secretive White House and if you'll work to open it back up to the people of the United States of America. Join with others in the Senate and Congress to call for a full and open investigation of this matter.
http://howardbealesghost.blogspot.com/
____________________________________________________________________
Here's a copy of my letter that I just sent to my senators and House representative. Please contact your public servants in congress and demand they pursue an investigation into what may be severe and immoral manipulation of the public's trust by this administration. ---Sam F. Park
Senator,
George Tenet did not close the books on Bush's false statements in a State of the Union address. Get that straight. This wasn't a slip of the tongue at a press conference. It was a STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS. If anything Tenet's mea cupa has blown the hole wider on the issue. Only a full investigation will quell how this Niger story could have happened in the first place. We went to war based upon these allegations. Innocent Iraqi people and American soldiers died because of it and we still haven't found any WMDs or "uranium". Bush may desperately want the issue closed but it's not going away. This reeks of a cover-up on the CIA's part (afterall, Bush's dad used to run the CIA and their damn new building is named for the man who pardoned CIA members from the Iran Contra scandal). Only a full and open investigation will put this issue to rest and prove who is ultimately responsible.
I'm putting you on notice. This is THE ISSUE that I'm watching you about concerning if I choose to support you in the future. I want to see some guts on pursuing what the hell is going on in this secretive White House and if you'll work to open it back up to the people of the United States of America. Join with others in the Senate and Congress to call for a full and open investigation of this matter.
http://howardbealesghost.blogspot.com/
____________________________________________________________________
George Tenet did not close the books on Bush's false statements in a State of the Union address. Get that straight. This wasn't a slip of the tongue at a press conference. It was a STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS. If anything Tenet's mea cupa has blown the hole wider on the issue. Only a full investigation will quell how this Niger story could have happened in the first place. We went to war based upon these allegations. Innocent Iraqi people and American soldiers died because of it and we still haven't found any WMDs or "uranium". Bush may desperately want the issue closed but it's not going away. This reeks of a cover-up on the CIA's part (afterall, Bush's dad used to run the CIA and their damn new building is named for the man who pardoned CIA members from the Iran Contra scandal). Only a full and open investigation will put this issue to rest.
Bush Considers Iraq Uranium Issue Closed
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) said Saturday he had confidence in CIA (news - web sites) Director George Tenet despite his agency's failure to warn Bush against making allegations about Iraq (news - web sites)'s nuclear weapons program later found false.
"Yes I do, absolutely," Bush said. "I've got confidence in George Tenet. I've got confidence in the men and women who work at the CIA and I look forward to working with them as we win this war on terror."
The president spoke in Abuja, Nigeria, at the end of a five-country trip through Africa.
Bush asserted in his State of the Union address in January that Iraq had sought nuclear materials from Africa. Nearly six months later, the White House acknowledged the charge was false, and the tempest that followed has shadowed Bush on his five-country trip through Africa.
Bush considers the matter closed, said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites). "The president has moved on," he said...
__________________________________________________________________
Bush Considers Iraq Uranium Issue Closed
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) said Saturday he had confidence in CIA (news - web sites) Director George Tenet despite his agency's failure to warn Bush against making allegations about Iraq (news - web sites)'s nuclear weapons program later found false.
"Yes I do, absolutely," Bush said. "I've got confidence in George Tenet. I've got confidence in the men and women who work at the CIA and I look forward to working with them as we win this war on terror."
The president spoke in Abuja, Nigeria, at the end of a five-country trip through Africa.
Bush asserted in his State of the Union address in January that Iraq had sought nuclear materials from Africa. Nearly six months later, the White House acknowledged the charge was false, and the tempest that followed has shadowed Bush on his five-country trip through Africa.
Bush considers the matter closed, said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites). "The president has moved on," he said...
__________________________________________________________________
Friday, July 11, 2003
Go read this story from the L.A. WEEKLY on how Bush's corrupt FERC members erred on the side of the cabal of energy corporations in the ruling on the CA energy "crisis". Here's just a piece of it. Hope you can hold your dinner down after reading this disgusting piece on greed and the immoral manipulation of the public's trust.
Bush Moves California Cash to Texas
Fri Jul 11, 6:15 PM ET
...The real news was FERC's 2-1 vote holding California to long-term energy contracts signed in a desperate attempt to control electricity rates in 2000 and 2001 while Enron and other power hustlers squeezed obscene profits out of California ratepayers.
Dissenting FERC Commissioner William Massey couldn't believe what his colleagues had done. Massey, the only Clinton holdout on the commission, told New York Times reporter Richard A. Oppel Jr. that the decision made no sense. "These contracts contained absolutely unprecedented prices that were negotiated in an environment that was horribly tainted by epidemic market manipulation. And they are simply not entitled to be respected by the commission."
That view is seconded by Robert Bryce in Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron . "The contracts were fraudulent," he said in an interview.
Nor did the contracts pass the Department of Justice smell test. In early June, the feds indicted John Forney for allegedly designing the schemes that rigged the California power market. The same John Forney credited with devising Forney's Perpetual Loop, which allegedly moved electrical current in a circle and cash in a straight line from California to Texas.
In upholding the contracts, FERC Chair Patrick Wood III and Commissioner Nora Brownell ruled that the state of California failed to meet the high standard of proof that would justify releasing it from the high-dollar deals. That's no surprise considering where these two commissioners came from. Pat Wood is a former Texas public-utilities commissioner who had worked with Enron for years and was Lay's handpicked candidate for the commission...
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Bush Moves California Cash to Texas
Fri Jul 11, 6:15 PM ET
...The real news was FERC's 2-1 vote holding California to long-term energy contracts signed in a desperate attempt to control electricity rates in 2000 and 2001 while Enron and other power hustlers squeezed obscene profits out of California ratepayers.
Dissenting FERC Commissioner William Massey couldn't believe what his colleagues had done. Massey, the only Clinton holdout on the commission, told New York Times reporter Richard A. Oppel Jr. that the decision made no sense. "These contracts contained absolutely unprecedented prices that were negotiated in an environment that was horribly tainted by epidemic market manipulation. And they are simply not entitled to be respected by the commission."
That view is seconded by Robert Bryce in Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron . "The contracts were fraudulent," he said in an interview.
Nor did the contracts pass the Department of Justice smell test. In early June, the feds indicted John Forney for allegedly designing the schemes that rigged the California power market. The same John Forney credited with devising Forney's Perpetual Loop, which allegedly moved electrical current in a circle and cash in a straight line from California to Texas.
In upholding the contracts, FERC Chair Patrick Wood III and Commissioner Nora Brownell ruled that the state of California failed to meet the high standard of proof that would justify releasing it from the high-dollar deals. That's no surprise considering where these two commissioners came from. Pat Wood is a former Texas public-utilities commissioner who had worked with Enron for years and was Lay's handpicked candidate for the commission...
__________________________________________________________________________
Idle hands are the devil's playthings.
Teen Summer Jobs Market is Worst Since World War II
WASHINGTON, July 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- New data on employment rates show the proportion of teenagers who have summer jobs has fallen so dramatically it is now lower than any year since the end of World War II, making the summer of 2003 the worst in nearly 60 years, according to Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies and the National League of Cities.
The employment figures, just released by the U.S. Department of Labor, confirm predictions made in a report published a month ago by Northeastern's Center for Labor Market Studies and the National League of Cities.
Only 36.4 percent of all young people between the ages of 16 and 19 were employed in June 2003. This seasonally adjusted U.S. teen employment rate, the lowest since 1948, has plunged by more than nine percentage points over the past three years. The comparable rate for teens in June 2000, at the peak of the labor market boom, was 45.8 percent.
"At a time when the wealthiest Americans are enjoying unprecedented prosperity, how can we allow the job market for our young adults to unravel before our eyes?" said Charlie Lyons, National League of Cities first vice president and selectman of Arlington, Massachusetts. "If we allow such inequalities to persist and continue to grow, we almost certainly are endangering America's future..."
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Teen Summer Jobs Market is Worst Since World War II
WASHINGTON, July 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- New data on employment rates show the proportion of teenagers who have summer jobs has fallen so dramatically it is now lower than any year since the end of World War II, making the summer of 2003 the worst in nearly 60 years, according to Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies and the National League of Cities.
The employment figures, just released by the U.S. Department of Labor, confirm predictions made in a report published a month ago by Northeastern's Center for Labor Market Studies and the National League of Cities.
Only 36.4 percent of all young people between the ages of 16 and 19 were employed in June 2003. This seasonally adjusted U.S. teen employment rate, the lowest since 1948, has plunged by more than nine percentage points over the past three years. The comparable rate for teens in June 2000, at the peak of the labor market boom, was 45.8 percent.
"At a time when the wealthiest Americans are enjoying unprecedented prosperity, how can we allow the job market for our young adults to unravel before our eyes?" said Charlie Lyons, National League of Cities first vice president and selectman of Arlington, Massachusetts. "If we allow such inequalities to persist and continue to grow, we almost certainly are endangering America's future..."
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From BuzzFlash. A president lying during a State of the Union address can be impeached.
Making statements about sexual affairs in sleazeball investigations is not a duty of the President. Yet, when President Clinton lied about a sexual affair, he was impeached.
On the other hand, the State of the Union IS a presidential duty. In fact, it says so in the Constitution:
Article 2, Section 3
Duties of the President
He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the Union...
Bush blatantly lied while performing this duty.
So now we'll see...is lying to Paula Jones' attorneys an impeachable offense, but lying to Congress and the American people, while performing one of the few explicitly enumerated duties of the president, in order to build support for a war on false pretenses is NOT an impeachable offense?
But he wasn't under oath...
unless you count the "I do solemly swear to faithfully execute the duties..." part of the swearing in ceremony...)
Yes, he was under oath. The Oath of Office.
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Making statements about sexual affairs in sleazeball investigations is not a duty of the President. Yet, when President Clinton lied about a sexual affair, he was impeached.
On the other hand, the State of the Union IS a presidential duty. In fact, it says so in the Constitution:
Article 2, Section 3
Duties of the President
He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the Union...
Bush blatantly lied while performing this duty.
So now we'll see...is lying to Paula Jones' attorneys an impeachable offense, but lying to Congress and the American people, while performing one of the few explicitly enumerated duties of the president, in order to build support for a war on false pretenses is NOT an impeachable offense?
But he wasn't under oath...
unless you count the "I do solemly swear to faithfully execute the duties..." part of the swearing in ceremony...)
Yes, he was under oath. The Oath of Office.
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The wrangling, back pedaling and the flip-flop.
What the Hell is going on with CBS?!
WHO is LYING? What happened in Mere Hours to change their headline?
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What the Hell is going on with CBS?!
WHO is LYING? What happened in Mere Hours to change their headline?
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Bush is passing the buck like the spoiled rich kid whose dad got him out of serving in Viet Nam.
"The President--whoever he is--has to decide. He can't pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That's his job."
---Harry Truman
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"The President--whoever he is--has to decide. He can't pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That's his job."
---Harry Truman
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Are we stuck with a pig in a poke? Bush and his GOP elites pissed upon, crapped on and spit in the eye of the UN concerning invading Iraq but now that their post-war occupation is crumbling, they are whining about getting the UN's help. If I were a member country of the UN I'd say clean up your own mess President Bush. We aren't helping America until there is a new "regime change".
Senate Pushes for NATO, U.N. Help in Iraq
By Vicki Allen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Thursday to encourage President Bush to reach out to NATO and the United Nations for help in peacekeeping and rebuilding in Iraq, reflecting mounting worries in Congress that the post-war operation is stumbling...
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Senate Pushes for NATO, U.N. Help in Iraq
By Vicki Allen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Thursday to encourage President Bush to reach out to NATO and the United Nations for help in peacekeeping and rebuilding in Iraq, reflecting mounting worries in Congress that the post-war operation is stumbling...
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Big GOP Brother is watching you.
Report: FAA Searched 8 Hours for Tex. Rep
By SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) spent eight hours looking for a Texas legislator's plane in May, and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's staff called four times to get details on the aircraft's whereabouts, a Democratic congressman says.
The plane belonged to state Rep. Pete Laney, who had left the state with 53 other Democrats to prevent a vote on a redistricting bill supported by DeLay.
An investigation by the Transportation Department's inspector general found that at least 13 FAA employees were involved in the search, which lasted over an eight-hour period, said Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas. Green was briefed by a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which will hold a hearing on the matter Tuesday...
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Report: FAA Searched 8 Hours for Tex. Rep
By SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) spent eight hours looking for a Texas legislator's plane in May, and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's staff called four times to get details on the aircraft's whereabouts, a Democratic congressman says.
The plane belonged to state Rep. Pete Laney, who had left the state with 53 other Democrats to prevent a vote on a redistricting bill supported by DeLay.
An investigation by the Transportation Department's inspector general found that at least 13 FAA employees were involved in the search, which lasted over an eight-hour period, said Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas. Green was briefed by a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which will hold a hearing on the matter Tuesday...
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Typical Bush/GOP elite behavior. Money for the sick and poor is used to promote the President. Remember when Bush was the "compassionate conservative"? I'm waiting for the head of the CIA to stand up and admit this was his fault too.
Bush Used HHS Budget for National Events
By LAURA MECKLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from its health and welfare budget to stage presidential events around the country last year — most of which coincided with campaign appearances for Republican candidates.
A report released Friday by the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, identified 15 trips where the White House asked the Department of Health and Human Services to pick up the tab.
Agreements reached between the White House and HHS allowed for charges totaling about $523,000. So far, the White House has sent HHS bills for eight of the 15 trips totaling just over $250,000. The GAO could not find invoices or other records to explain specifically how the money was spent...
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Bush Used HHS Budget for National Events
By LAURA MECKLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from its health and welfare budget to stage presidential events around the country last year — most of which coincided with campaign appearances for Republican candidates.
A report released Friday by the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, identified 15 trips where the White House asked the Department of Health and Human Services to pick up the tab.
Agreements reached between the White House and HHS allowed for charges totaling about $523,000. So far, the White House has sent HHS bills for eight of the 15 trips totaling just over $250,000. The GAO could not find invoices or other records to explain specifically how the money was spent...
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How will morale be among soldiers spending years overseas while their families are becoming unglued at home? Imagine what it's going to be like trying to get people to join the military in the next few years as these incidents become a part of the fabric of our society?
Spouses, kids endure own agonies of war
Fri Jul 11, 5:55 AM ET
Deployments taking their toll on the families of U.S. troops
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- After Lydia Teutsch puts her two daughters to bed each night, the young captain's wife tidies up her home. Her husband, Christian, is in Iraq, and she knows that at any hour, a casualty officer and chaplain could arrive with terrible news. Somehow, it seems better knowing everything is neat and in its place.
Ten soldiers of the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division, which is based here, have died in Iraq since the war began. Recently there have been almost daily attacks on U.S. forces. For the 10,000 families left behind at Fort Campbell, the specter of bad news never lifts. Preparing for death eases the fear of it.
''If we didn't have a picture in our head of what we would wear, what we would say, what we would eat, we'd lose it,'' Lydia Teutsch says.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with longer and more dangerous deployments, have made military life even tougher for families left behind. Children's grades suffer. Schools counsel students on anger management. Base therapists are busier than ever consoling spouses. Wives ''at their wit's end'' call counseling hotlines at all hours, says Chaplain Maj. David Giammona, director of family counseling here.
''I'm seeing a lot of our spouses stretched very thin emotionally, and I'm seeing a lot of them just hanging on,'' Giammona says.
With their soldiers constantly in harm's way, families learn not only that plans for death never go away, but that plans for new life often go awry....
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Spouses, kids endure own agonies of war
Fri Jul 11, 5:55 AM ET
Deployments taking their toll on the families of U.S. troops
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- After Lydia Teutsch puts her two daughters to bed each night, the young captain's wife tidies up her home. Her husband, Christian, is in Iraq, and she knows that at any hour, a casualty officer and chaplain could arrive with terrible news. Somehow, it seems better knowing everything is neat and in its place.
Ten soldiers of the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division, which is based here, have died in Iraq since the war began. Recently there have been almost daily attacks on U.S. forces. For the 10,000 families left behind at Fort Campbell, the specter of bad news never lifts. Preparing for death eases the fear of it.
''If we didn't have a picture in our head of what we would wear, what we would say, what we would eat, we'd lose it,'' Lydia Teutsch says.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with longer and more dangerous deployments, have made military life even tougher for families left behind. Children's grades suffer. Schools counsel students on anger management. Base therapists are busier than ever consoling spouses. Wives ''at their wit's end'' call counseling hotlines at all hours, says Chaplain Maj. David Giammona, director of family counseling here.
''I'm seeing a lot of our spouses stretched very thin emotionally, and I'm seeing a lot of them just hanging on,'' Giammona says.
With their soldiers constantly in harm's way, families learn not only that plans for death never go away, but that plans for new life often go awry....
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The CIA, whose new building is named for the father of the President, decides after weeks of mounting bad press, to take on the responsibility for allowing Bush to use false evidence to go to war. The CIA's director, George Tenet, finally had to step in and take a bullet for his boss because, well, that's what they do for the Bushies. Bush the First pardoned all the CIA guys involved with Iran/Contra (and now they are working for Bush II in his administration). It is still on the records as being the top CIA officials charged and convicted of criminal activities in U.S. history. Bush I claimed he was "out of the loop" on everything going on with the CIA-run Iran/Contra scandal. Now, let's think about that a second and what we know about Bush I. He was a CIA agent for years before becoming head of the agency. Even today he receives more DAILY CIA briefings (three) than any other president in history. The Iran/Contra operation was a major CIA operation operating out of the White House. And yet, nobody in the CIA told Poppy what was going on. Oh, don't you know that some wanted so badly to spill the beans over martinis to their old boss about this hot gun/money running deal they had going with former Iranian enemies and Columbian coke dealers fighting communisim but jeez, he was the Vice President at the time and they just couldn't compromise telling him because, well, Reagan was so on top of it all anyway...
So is Bush finally going to fire Tenet over this disgraceful lack of professional behavior (tacked on to the 9/11 screw-ups to be revealed in an upcoming report) and which left poor ol' Bush II "out of the loop" on this serious matter which led to his sending Americans to their death in needless war?
What do you think? Does anyone believe this horse$#@*?
CIA Chief Admits Iraq Uranium Claim Error
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - CIA Director George Tenet acknowledged Friday his agency wrongly allowed President Bush to tell the American people that Iraq was seeking nuclear material from Africa when analysts had doubts about the quality of the intelligence...
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So is Bush finally going to fire Tenet over this disgraceful lack of professional behavior (tacked on to the 9/11 screw-ups to be revealed in an upcoming report) and which left poor ol' Bush II "out of the loop" on this serious matter which led to his sending Americans to their death in needless war?
What do you think? Does anyone believe this horse$#@*?
CIA Chief Admits Iraq Uranium Claim Error
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - CIA Director George Tenet acknowledged Friday his agency wrongly allowed President Bush to tell the American people that Iraq was seeking nuclear material from Africa when analysts had doubts about the quality of the intelligence...
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A "grunt" weighs in on the war in Iraq.
07-08-2003
Bring What On?
By David H. Hackworth
On May 1, George W. Bush landed in a military jet on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln with all the pomp and ceremony of Caesar returning to Rome after conquering Gaul . In the background – as our commander in chief proclaimed "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" – was a huge banner reading “ MISSION ACCOMPLISHED,” probably conjured up by White House flacks.
There was just one problem: No one told the guerrilla enemy the war was over.
Since the president played Top Gun, hundreds of our troops have been killed or wounded, and dozens of major combat operations have been launched or are ongoing all over that unfortunate country.
A lesson presidents JFK, LBJ and RMN learned the hard way was not to jive the people when they found themselves stuck in the Vietnam quagmire – because all the double talk in the world won't disappear the truth of the casualty lists.
But we’re still not getting much straight talk about what’s really going down in Iraq , especially from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who recently announced that we weren’t facing a guerrilla war there.
Hello?!
Whatever Rummy wants to call it, we’re still stuck in a classic Phase I Guerrilla War (G-War)...
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07-08-2003
Bring What On?
By David H. Hackworth
On May 1, George W. Bush landed in a military jet on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln with all the pomp and ceremony of Caesar returning to Rome after conquering Gaul . In the background – as our commander in chief proclaimed "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" – was a huge banner reading “ MISSION ACCOMPLISHED,” probably conjured up by White House flacks.
There was just one problem: No one told the guerrilla enemy the war was over.
Since the president played Top Gun, hundreds of our troops have been killed or wounded, and dozens of major combat operations have been launched or are ongoing all over that unfortunate country.
A lesson presidents JFK, LBJ and RMN learned the hard way was not to jive the people when they found themselves stuck in the Vietnam quagmire – because all the double talk in the world won't disappear the truth of the casualty lists.
But we’re still not getting much straight talk about what’s really going down in Iraq , especially from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who recently announced that we weren’t facing a guerrilla war there.
Hello?!
Whatever Rummy wants to call it, we’re still stuck in a classic Phase I Guerrilla War (G-War)...
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They can't wipe this away by blaming the CIA. There is too much evidence that Bush and his wranglers (especially Cheney) were informed of the false Niger uranium story and they used it anyway in spite of the CIA's warning. From today's L.A. TIMES:
EDITORIAL
Double Talk and Doubts
July 11, 2003
Gen. Tommy Franks appeared Thursday before the House Armed Services Committee with a large map showing the trouble spots in Iraq. He pointed to a small triangle and a few dots indicating where troops were coming under attack, with the vast rest of Iraq shaded safely green. A quick-witted Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Pleasanton) pointed out that the triangle and spots "represent 70% of the Iraqi population." And most of the green-colored area was unpopulated desert. Oh.
The murkiness surrounding the Bush administration's Iraq policy before and after the war continues. Traveling through Africa, President Bush has steadfastly rejected charges that the administration manipulated intelligence on Iraq as nothing more than critics attempting to "rewrite history." But it isn't the critics who are doing the rewriting. To justify a quick intervention, Bush asserted in his Jan. 28 State of the Union speech that Iraq had an active nuclear program and was seeking to buy uranium in the African state of Niger. If Iraq wasn't trying to buy uranium, then its nuclear program was merely theoretical.
Joseph C. Wilson IV, former ambassador to Gabon, was sent to Niger last year by the CIA to investigate the report that Iraq was trying to procure uranium. He returned and said it was bogus. His report was buried, a matter now under investigation by the CIA inspector general. Greg Thielmann, a former high-ranking official in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, said Wednesday that the administration issued "inaccurate formulations" and "misleading summaries" about Iraq's weapons-of-mass-destruction programs. He described the approach as "We know the answers; give us the intelligence to support those answers."
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld told Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) Wednesday that he had learned only "within recent days" that the report alleging uranium purchases was false. If true, that statement indicts the intelligence being sent to the highest security official in the land. If the administration turned a deliberate blind eye to the uranium falsehood, other evidence used in justification of the war will come under a darker cloud. These questions aren't about the past, as Bush argues, because they are intimately linked to the CIA's and Pentagon's intelligence assessments of postwar Iraq and their continuing real-world consequences.
By all accounts, the administration relied heavily on rosy scenarios peddled by exiles like Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress. Now that American soldiers are being picked off by snipers and Iraqi resentment over foreign invaders is boiling over, the administration and the intelligence community should start trying to understand what happened and stop throwing sand in critics' eyes.
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EDITORIAL
Double Talk and Doubts
July 11, 2003
Gen. Tommy Franks appeared Thursday before the House Armed Services Committee with a large map showing the trouble spots in Iraq. He pointed to a small triangle and a few dots indicating where troops were coming under attack, with the vast rest of Iraq shaded safely green. A quick-witted Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Pleasanton) pointed out that the triangle and spots "represent 70% of the Iraqi population." And most of the green-colored area was unpopulated desert. Oh.
The murkiness surrounding the Bush administration's Iraq policy before and after the war continues. Traveling through Africa, President Bush has steadfastly rejected charges that the administration manipulated intelligence on Iraq as nothing more than critics attempting to "rewrite history." But it isn't the critics who are doing the rewriting. To justify a quick intervention, Bush asserted in his Jan. 28 State of the Union speech that Iraq had an active nuclear program and was seeking to buy uranium in the African state of Niger. If Iraq wasn't trying to buy uranium, then its nuclear program was merely theoretical.
Joseph C. Wilson IV, former ambassador to Gabon, was sent to Niger last year by the CIA to investigate the report that Iraq was trying to procure uranium. He returned and said it was bogus. His report was buried, a matter now under investigation by the CIA inspector general. Greg Thielmann, a former high-ranking official in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, said Wednesday that the administration issued "inaccurate formulations" and "misleading summaries" about Iraq's weapons-of-mass-destruction programs. He described the approach as "We know the answers; give us the intelligence to support those answers."
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld told Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) Wednesday that he had learned only "within recent days" that the report alleging uranium purchases was false. If true, that statement indicts the intelligence being sent to the highest security official in the land. If the administration turned a deliberate blind eye to the uranium falsehood, other evidence used in justification of the war will come under a darker cloud. These questions aren't about the past, as Bush argues, because they are intimately linked to the CIA's and Pentagon's intelligence assessments of postwar Iraq and their continuing real-world consequences.
By all accounts, the administration relied heavily on rosy scenarios peddled by exiles like Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress. Now that American soldiers are being picked off by snipers and Iraqi resentment over foreign invaders is boiling over, the administration and the intelligence community should start trying to understand what happened and stop throwing sand in critics' eyes.
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Just like his dad, he was "out of the loop". Of course his dad used to run the CIA and they named that new headquarters after him. This is why it should be made a law that anyone who worked within the CIA can NOT be allowed to run for president. Too sticky. This wild finger pointing (I like how Rice says "I am really not blaming anybody.") only points out how clearly afraid the White House is over the admission that it lied, er, used a false charge to go to war. Evidence of their lying is piling up and so they are trying to shift the blame on the CIA. Will Daddy's favorite organization take a bullet for his son?
White House Points at CIA Over Iraq Uranium Charge
By Randall Mikkelsen
ENTEBBE, Uganda (Reuters) - The White House pointed the finger at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency on Friday over a false accusation that Iraq tried to buy African uranium.
President Bush said his charge Iraq tried to buy nuclear material from Africa was approved by his "intelligence services," and U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said the specific wording was approved by the CIA...
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White House Points at CIA Over Iraq Uranium Charge
By Randall Mikkelsen
ENTEBBE, Uganda (Reuters) - The White House pointed the finger at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency on Friday over a false accusation that Iraq tried to buy African uranium.
President Bush said his charge Iraq tried to buy nuclear material from Africa was approved by his "intelligence services," and U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said the specific wording was approved by the CIA...
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And while the GOP elites and corporate energy supporters are making obscene money off the public in dire times, they've decided to take away paying for overtime.
Dems Blast GOP As House Backs Overtime
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Democrats and union leaders are lambasting President Bush (news - web sites) for a proposal they say would cost at least 8 million workers their overtime pay after the House backed his drive to overhaul decades-old rules determining who qualifies for the extra money.
The Republican-led chamber voted 213-210 on Thursday to defeat a Democratic effort to derail the proposed regulations, clearing the way for the administration to impose changes in overtime rules as early as the end of this year...
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Dems Blast GOP As House Backs Overtime
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Democrats and union leaders are lambasting President Bush (news - web sites) for a proposal they say would cost at least 8 million workers their overtime pay after the House backed his drive to overhaul decades-old rules determining who qualifies for the extra money.
The Republican-led chamber voted 213-210 on Thursday to defeat a Democratic effort to derail the proposed regulations, clearing the way for the administration to impose changes in overtime rules as early as the end of this year...
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The economy is not getting better and people aren't spending. They are worried. It's the ol' Bush Economy Redux.
Poll: Consumer Confidence Still in Rut
Wed Jul 9,12:13 PM ET
The consumer comfort index rose two points to negative 18 in the week ended July 6, from negative 20 a week earlier. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three points.
This marks the seventh consecutive week that the index has been unable to break out of a narrow range between negative 17 and negative 21...
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Poll: Consumer Confidence Still in Rut
Wed Jul 9,12:13 PM ET
The consumer comfort index rose two points to negative 18 in the week ended July 6, from negative 20 a week earlier. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three points.
This marks the seventh consecutive week that the index has been unable to break out of a narrow range between negative 17 and negative 21...
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It's great to have such an astute business man as Bush running the country.
Wholesale Prices Up, Trade Gap Near Record
By Tim Ahmann
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Surging energy costs pushed up U.S. wholesale prices at a steeper-than-expected rate last month but a closely watched gauge of core inflation eased, the government said on Friday.
In a separate report, the government said the U.S. trade deficit held near record levels in May as U.S. exports struggled to show growth, underscoring the weak global economy...
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Wholesale Prices Up, Trade Gap Near Record
By Tim Ahmann
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Surging energy costs pushed up U.S. wholesale prices at a steeper-than-expected rate last month but a closely watched gauge of core inflation eased, the government said on Friday.
In a separate report, the government said the U.S. trade deficit held near record levels in May as U.S. exports struggled to show growth, underscoring the weak global economy...
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Here's the results of that great new energy plan at work by Bush and Cheney. Wait until winter when natural gas prices go up (like they did in CA during its "energy crisis").
Wholesale Prices Up 0.5 Percent in June
By JEANNINE AVERSA, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - After dropping for two months in a row, wholesale prices went up by 0.5 percent in June, largely reflecting sharply higher costs for gasoline and other energy products...
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Wholesale Prices Up 0.5 Percent in June
By JEANNINE AVERSA, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - After dropping for two months in a row, wholesale prices went up by 0.5 percent in June, largely reflecting sharply higher costs for gasoline and other energy products...
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Remember a few things about ENRON. Its owner, Ken Lay, was Bush's LARGEST (and one of his longest) political donors. Along with that, the company had a "squeeze play" system set up down the line to solict donnations from employees for Bush and the GOP. No one had to give but it was encouraged under those working at the top with lots of pressure so not just Kenny Boy gave dough. Every top ENRON exec gave huge amounts of dough to Bush and all their spouses and family did, too (as much as the law would personally allow). There are many warm letters of meetings and "Kenny Boy" name-slapping exchanged between Bush that has been made public. Despite what Bush claims now, he and Kenny Boy were tight.
The point is the company was run by slime and got sweetheart deals from Bush. Kenny Boy and other energy industry lobbyists met personally with Cheney (Who is fighting in the courts to keep those meetings and who met with him SECRET. Is this the way to create public policy in American democracy?) to craft a "new energy policy". Seen a reduction in your energy bills lately? And note how the company lied about its financial health while covering up huge debt. Sound like the way that Bush is running the operating of the government. It's costing us 3.9 BILLION DOLLARS A MONTH alone just to maintain troops in Iraq (and we still have troops propping up Afghanistan). Bush is the Kenny Boy President of America and he's running the country into huge debt so he can cut taxes for his pals and thus eventually cause the destruction of social programs provided by the government by starving off their money (sort of like those pension plans that invested in Enron under its false advertising).
Why isn't Lay and other top Enron executives in jail? Why are they reorganizing and paying investors off in pennies on the dollar? The same reason former Iran Contra leaders were pardoned by Bush I and now are working in Bush II's administration. THE FIX IS IN.
Enron Files Reorganization Plan
By KRISTEN HAYS, AP Business Writer
HOUSTON - Enron Corp.'s thousands of creditors will get a fraction of what they are owed when the scandal-ridden energy conglomerate emerges from bankruptcy as two newly named pipeline and international power companies...
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The point is the company was run by slime and got sweetheart deals from Bush. Kenny Boy and other energy industry lobbyists met personally with Cheney (Who is fighting in the courts to keep those meetings and who met with him SECRET. Is this the way to create public policy in American democracy?) to craft a "new energy policy". Seen a reduction in your energy bills lately? And note how the company lied about its financial health while covering up huge debt. Sound like the way that Bush is running the operating of the government. It's costing us 3.9 BILLION DOLLARS A MONTH alone just to maintain troops in Iraq (and we still have troops propping up Afghanistan). Bush is the Kenny Boy President of America and he's running the country into huge debt so he can cut taxes for his pals and thus eventually cause the destruction of social programs provided by the government by starving off their money (sort of like those pension plans that invested in Enron under its false advertising).
Why isn't Lay and other top Enron executives in jail? Why are they reorganizing and paying investors off in pennies on the dollar? The same reason former Iran Contra leaders were pardoned by Bush I and now are working in Bush II's administration. THE FIX IS IN.
Enron Files Reorganization Plan
By KRISTEN HAYS, AP Business Writer
HOUSTON - Enron Corp.'s thousands of creditors will get a fraction of what they are owed when the scandal-ridden energy conglomerate emerges from bankruptcy as two newly named pipeline and international power companies...
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This is the top headline on YAHOO/REUTERS...at 1:48am Los Angeles time.
U.S. Said to Doubt British Intel on Iraq
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Before and after President Bush ( news -web sites ) claimed in January that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa, U.S. intelligence officials expressed doubts about the British intelligence report that Bush cited to back up his allegation, senior U.S. officials said.
Those doubts were relayed to British officials before they made them public and across several agencies of the federal government before Bush gave his State of the Union speech, the officials said.
CBS, ABC and CNN reported Thursday that CIA officials who saw a draft of Bush's speech even questioned whether his statement was too strong given the quality of the British intelligence. But the remark was left in, provided it was attributed to the British...
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U.S. Said to Doubt British Intel on Iraq
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Before and after President Bush ( news -web sites ) claimed in January that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa, U.S. intelligence officials expressed doubts about the British intelligence report that Bush cited to back up his allegation, senior U.S. officials said.
Those doubts were relayed to British officials before they made them public and across several agencies of the federal government before Bush gave his State of the Union speech, the officials said.
CBS, ABC and CNN reported Thursday that CIA officials who saw a draft of Bush's speech even questioned whether his statement was too strong given the quality of the British intelligence. But the remark was left in, provided it was attributed to the British...
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This was seventh down on the list of TOP STORIES at Yahoo/Reuters at 1:44am Pacific Coastal Time. Wonder where it will be by morning and afternoon?
White House Ignored CIA Over Iraq Uranium Claim-CBS
Fri Jul 11,12:39 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House ignored a request by the CIA to remove a statement in President Bush's State of the Union address that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa for its nuclear weapons program, CBS Evening News reported on Thursday...
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White House Ignored CIA Over Iraq Uranium Claim-CBS
Fri Jul 11,12:39 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House ignored a request by the CIA to remove a statement in President Bush's State of the Union address that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa for its nuclear weapons program, CBS Evening News reported on Thursday...
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Yeah, what happened to all those conservative experts on lying? Are they hanging out at the bar with Novak or gambling with Bennett? Where are those paragons of virtue and why aren't they foaming at the mouth for impeachment?
Josh Marshall/ The Hill
A rose is a rose is a rose.
But a lie is, well … that’s really more an exaggeration. Unless, of course, it’s a misstatement. Except in cases involving weapons of mass destruction, when often it’s simply a matter of “over-hype.”
Actually, it’s all fairly hard for me to keep up with. All I know is that under George W. Bush the pundits who had no trouble calling Bill Clinton a liar have suddenly decided lying is a very subtle, hard-to-define, complex matter.
But let’s zoom in on one case of possible deception which is starting to look more and more clear-cut.
Last January, in his State of the Union Address, President Bush told the American people that Iraq had recently tried to purchase uranium from Niger. Later, of course, we discovered that the documents in question were forgeries — a low-budget hoax that the head of International Atomic Energy Agency’s Iraq inspections unit, Jacques Baute, was able to debunk with a few quick Google searches.
So when did the White House discover they were fakes?
On June 8th, Condi Rice conceded that the documents were fraudulent but told Tim Russert that the White House hadn’t known before the speech. “Maybe someone knew down in the bowels of the Agency [i.e., the CIA], but no one in our circles knew that there were doubts and suspicions that this might be a forgery.”
But Rice wouldn’t have had to look too far down into the “bowels of the Agency” since just about everyone in the intelligence community — and at least some people on her own National Security Council staff — had known the documents were phonies for almost a year. . . .
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Josh Marshall/ The Hill
A rose is a rose is a rose.
But a lie is, well … that’s really more an exaggeration. Unless, of course, it’s a misstatement. Except in cases involving weapons of mass destruction, when often it’s simply a matter of “over-hype.”
Actually, it’s all fairly hard for me to keep up with. All I know is that under George W. Bush the pundits who had no trouble calling Bill Clinton a liar have suddenly decided lying is a very subtle, hard-to-define, complex matter.
But let’s zoom in on one case of possible deception which is starting to look more and more clear-cut.
Last January, in his State of the Union Address, President Bush told the American people that Iraq had recently tried to purchase uranium from Niger. Later, of course, we discovered that the documents in question were forgeries — a low-budget hoax that the head of International Atomic Energy Agency’s Iraq inspections unit, Jacques Baute, was able to debunk with a few quick Google searches.
So when did the White House discover they were fakes?
On June 8th, Condi Rice conceded that the documents were fraudulent but told Tim Russert that the White House hadn’t known before the speech. “Maybe someone knew down in the bowels of the Agency [i.e., the CIA], but no one in our circles knew that there were doubts and suspicions that this might be a forgery.”
But Rice wouldn’t have had to look too far down into the “bowels of the Agency” since just about everyone in the intelligence community — and at least some people on her own National Security Council staff — had known the documents were phonies for almost a year. . . .
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"From the brief time that we did spend occupying Iraqi territory after the war, I am certain that had we taken all of Iraq, we would have been like the dinosaur in the tar pit -- we would still be there, and we, not the United Nations, would be bearing the costs of the occupation. This is a burden I am sure the beleaguered American taxpayer would not have been happy to take on."-- Norman Schwarzkopf, from his 1993 autobiography, It Doesn't Take a Hero
"We should not march into Baghdad. To occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us and make a broken tyrant into a latter-day Arab hero. Assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight in what would be an unwinnable urban guerilla war, it could only plunge that part of the world into ever greater instability." - George H.W. Bush, A World Transformed, 1998
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"We should not march into Baghdad. To occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us and make a broken tyrant into a latter-day Arab hero. Assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight in what would be an unwinnable urban guerilla war, it could only plunge that part of the world into ever greater instability." - George H.W. Bush, A World Transformed, 1998
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Thursday, July 10, 2003
We can NOT win an election against Bush (and continue to keep the White House in the future) without a seasoned candidate and one who has the guts and stamina AND A COOL HEAD UNDER PRESSURE to take on the vicious political machine of the GOP elites. This will be a brutal and bloody campaign for the White House (Bush has tons of money and corporate pals willing to put huge amounts of money out for attack ads at a moment's notice. McCain knows from those six "energy pals" of Bush's that funded the attack ad against him in the NY Primary). After winning an election, our candidate must be able to smoothly and EFFECTIVELY take over the reins of government. KERRY IS THE ONLY MAN THAT CAN DO THIS.
Op/Ed - Richard Reeves
WHY I AM AGAINST HOWARD DEAN -- AND JOHN EDWARDS, TOO
Thu Jul 10, 8:01 PM ET
By Richard Reeves
WASHINGTON -- Hooray for Howard Dean, I say. The former governor of Vermont, which I didn't know needed all that governing, is the new hottie in the crowded field of Democrats panting after the party's 2004 nomination for president. He made his media mark last week when it was reported that he raised more money than all his opponents between April and June -- collecting $10.1 million from 59,000 donors, many of whom he found with the help of the Internet.
So, at least for now, he has replaced John Edwards, who got hot when he raised the most money in the first quarter of this year, a great deal of it from fellow trial lawyers.
Leaving aside the sad fact that begging skills are so central to the process of becoming president, there is something to be said for ambitious and attractive unknowns getting the chance to tell their stories. I have never met Governor Dean, but I agree with him on many issues and like the idea of someone willing to admit he is a liberal these days. Senator Edwards, from South Carolina, has something to say, too: The Democratic candidate has to have some appeal in Southern states to win back the White House.
But I am against both these fine men. They are both unwitting examples of what went wrong with the Democratic Party and American liberalism in general. I don't think either of them is experienced enough or capable enough to effectively govern the vast enterprise that is the United States of America....
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Op/Ed - Richard Reeves
WHY I AM AGAINST HOWARD DEAN -- AND JOHN EDWARDS, TOO
Thu Jul 10, 8:01 PM ET
By Richard Reeves
WASHINGTON -- Hooray for Howard Dean, I say. The former governor of Vermont, which I didn't know needed all that governing, is the new hottie in the crowded field of Democrats panting after the party's 2004 nomination for president. He made his media mark last week when it was reported that he raised more money than all his opponents between April and June -- collecting $10.1 million from 59,000 donors, many of whom he found with the help of the Internet.
So, at least for now, he has replaced John Edwards, who got hot when he raised the most money in the first quarter of this year, a great deal of it from fellow trial lawyers.
Leaving aside the sad fact that begging skills are so central to the process of becoming president, there is something to be said for ambitious and attractive unknowns getting the chance to tell their stories. I have never met Governor Dean, but I agree with him on many issues and like the idea of someone willing to admit he is a liberal these days. Senator Edwards, from South Carolina, has something to say, too: The Democratic candidate has to have some appeal in Southern states to win back the White House.
But I am against both these fine men. They are both unwitting examples of what went wrong with the Democratic Party and American liberalism in general. I don't think either of them is experienced enough or capable enough to effectively govern the vast enterprise that is the United States of America....
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CBS NEWS. A major news organization gets the story and has the guts to put it out there. The White House KNEW they were lying about the Iraq info. The CIA told "them" to take out the false evidence in the State of the Union speech and Bush used it anyway. This is what a democracy is all about and why I hate this secretive White House which treats us all like children and like they can do ANYTHING as long as they stick a flag in our faces and cry 9/11. You can NOT LIE to the American people to justify starting a war. All while your oil/energy/construction friends and financial supporters are making billions off the blood of that lie. It's immoral and it is not how America works. AMERICA. This is what IMPEACHMENT is supposed to be about because we live in a DEMOCRACY. It's time to stand up as a citizen and do the right thing and contact your representative and tell them you will not allow such a cabal of mendacities to color the leadership of our nation. Small men and women running our government are willing to forfeit YOUR honor and pride in our system of government for personal gain and under the guise of "they know better." It's time to show them who is the real boss in this country and speak through your representative.
Rep. Henry Waxman has introduced legislation to create an independent commission to investigate the Bush administration's distortion of evidence. Please ask your Representative to pledge his or her support at:
http://www.moveon.org/wmdpledge/
A President may make no more important decision than whether or not to take a country to war. If Bush and his officials deceived the American public to create support for the Iraq war, they need to be held accountable.
Bush Knew Iraq Info Was False
(CBS) Senior administration officials tell CBS News the President's mistaken claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa was included in his State of the Union address -- despite objections from the CIA.
Before the speech was delivered, the portions dealing with Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were checked with the CIA for accuracy, reports CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin.
CIA officials warned members of the President's National Security Council staff the intelligence was not good enough to make the flat statement Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa.
The White House officials responded that a paper issued by the British government contained the unequivocal assertion: Iraq has ... sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. As long as the statement was attributed to British Intelligence, the White House officials argued, it would be factually accurate. The CIA officials dropped their objections and that's how it was delivered.
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa", Mr. Bush said.
The statement was technically correct, since it accurately reflected the British paper. But the bottom line is the White House knowingly included in a presidential address information its own CIA had explicitly warned might not be true...
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Rep. Henry Waxman has introduced legislation to create an independent commission to investigate the Bush administration's distortion of evidence. Please ask your Representative to pledge his or her support at:
http://www.moveon.org/wmdpledge/
A President may make no more important decision than whether or not to take a country to war. If Bush and his officials deceived the American public to create support for the Iraq war, they need to be held accountable.
Bush Knew Iraq Info Was False
(CBS) Senior administration officials tell CBS News the President's mistaken claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa was included in his State of the Union address -- despite objections from the CIA.
Before the speech was delivered, the portions dealing with Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were checked with the CIA for accuracy, reports CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin.
CIA officials warned members of the President's National Security Council staff the intelligence was not good enough to make the flat statement Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa.
The White House officials responded that a paper issued by the British government contained the unequivocal assertion: Iraq has ... sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. As long as the statement was attributed to British Intelligence, the White House officials argued, it would be factually accurate. The CIA officials dropped their objections and that's how it was delivered.
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa", Mr. Bush said.
The statement was technically correct, since it accurately reflected the British paper. But the bottom line is the White House knowingly included in a presidential address information its own CIA had explicitly warned might not be true...
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Kerry shows the steel needed to win against Bush! Nobody can fault this war hero's honorable military record or his long and distinguished service in government at the national level.
Kerry Calls on Bush 'To Tell the Truth' About Iraq
By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic White House contender John Kerry called on President Bush on Thursday "to tell the truth" about Iraq -- including the fact that "the war is continuing and so are the casualties."
The Massachusetts senator also urged Bush to acknowledge that "we lack sufficient forces to do the job of reconstruction in Iraq, and withdraw in a reasonable period," and need more help from allies.
Kerry's critique was arguably the toughest so far by any of the four Democrats in the U.S. Congress who voted to authorize Bush to use force, and are now seeking their party's 2004 presidential nomination.
The senator delivered his remarks shortly after the number of U.S. soldiers killed by hostile fire in Iraq since Bush declared the end to major combat on May 1 rose to 31...
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Kerry Calls on Bush 'To Tell the Truth' About Iraq
By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic White House contender John Kerry called on President Bush on Thursday "to tell the truth" about Iraq -- including the fact that "the war is continuing and so are the casualties."
The Massachusetts senator also urged Bush to acknowledge that "we lack sufficient forces to do the job of reconstruction in Iraq, and withdraw in a reasonable period," and need more help from allies.
Kerry's critique was arguably the toughest so far by any of the four Democrats in the U.S. Congress who voted to authorize Bush to use force, and are now seeking their party's 2004 presidential nomination.
The senator delivered his remarks shortly after the number of U.S. soldiers killed by hostile fire in Iraq since Bush declared the end to major combat on May 1 rose to 31...
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If anyone wants to send me an email to let me know that somebody is out there reading my rants, please do. The lights in my eyes don't let me see who is sitting out there in the darken auditorium. I'd give you my home address but momma didn't raise no fool. But Barbara Bush did.
Sam Park can be reached at:
modpro@hotmail.com
Please put something about HOWARD BEALE'S GHOST (just "Ghost" is fine) in the subject heading so I don't dump your email before reading it. Thanks!
Sam Park can be reached at:
modpro@hotmail.com
Please put something about HOWARD BEALE'S GHOST (just "Ghost" is fine) in the subject heading so I don't dump your email before reading it. Thanks!
Remember how Bush and Cheney ran for office on being crack Bid'ness Men? Oh, that California Energy Crisis is just a market problem and deregulation and the market will solve it they said (and since then we've seen it was trumped up by massive fraud among their largest corporate energy financial supporters, who also happen to be among their old pals). Well, another sign that the spin and the reality don't mix is the spinning door at the Treasury department. You can't run for office again when your economic people are overseeing a rotten economy, you need new faces. Time to cut bait and tell the public the fish just weren't biting that old stuff but now we've got a magical new lure that is blessed by God (It wouldn't surprise me that they start saying something like that they are so deluded) and so ----tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts--- Goddamn that scratched record! Somebody buy a new one!
US Treasury Gets New Deputy, Fisher Quits
Wed Jul 9, 5:45 PM ET
By Glenn Somerville and Jake Keaveny
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration on Wednesday tapped an academic to take over the No. 2 job at the U.S. Treasury in the latest shuffle at the department that included the resignation of its top debt management expert.
The White House announced that Susan Schwab, dean of the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs, was its choice to become deputy Treasury Secretary, filling a job left vacant since Feb. 27 when Kenneth Dam left it.
In a series of changes, Treasury also said Peter Fisher, the undersecretary of domestic finance, was quitting in October and that he will be replaced by 45-year-old Kenneth Leet, a managing director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS -news ).
Treasury has become a revolving-door for top officials in the past year, with former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill resigning under fire late last year. O'Neill was replaced by current Treasury Secretary John Snow, who has been without a deputy since he took office five months ago.
Rebuilding at Treasury occurs as President Bush ( news -web sites ) begins his run at re-election in November 2004, aiming to seize whatever credit he can for a limping economy that has shed more than two million jobs since he took office in 2001...
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US Treasury Gets New Deputy, Fisher Quits
Wed Jul 9, 5:45 PM ET
By Glenn Somerville and Jake Keaveny
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration on Wednesday tapped an academic to take over the No. 2 job at the U.S. Treasury in the latest shuffle at the department that included the resignation of its top debt management expert.
The White House announced that Susan Schwab, dean of the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs, was its choice to become deputy Treasury Secretary, filling a job left vacant since Feb. 27 when Kenneth Dam left it.
In a series of changes, Treasury also said Peter Fisher, the undersecretary of domestic finance, was quitting in October and that he will be replaced by 45-year-old Kenneth Leet, a managing director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS -news ).
Treasury has become a revolving-door for top officials in the past year, with former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill resigning under fire late last year. O'Neill was replaced by current Treasury Secretary John Snow, who has been without a deputy since he took office five months ago.
Rebuilding at Treasury occurs as President Bush ( news -web sites ) begins his run at re-election in November 2004, aiming to seize whatever credit he can for a limping economy that has shed more than two million jobs since he took office in 2001...
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When factories and businesses cut back on inventory it tells the real story about the economy. Yet somehow major businesses and the wealthiest people in America are giving money to the Bush re-election campaign in astronomical and record numbers. "Wall Street economists" expected a GAIN in inventory, not a decrease. Hmmmm, if only I were a smarter guy and could figure it all out like President Bush...I'd be a rich man.
Wholesale Inventories Dip 0.3 Pct in May
Wed Jul 9, 6:03 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Inventories at U.S. wholesalers unexpectedly fell for a second straight month in May, the government said on Wednesday, as sales also sagged.
The Commerce Department said wholesale stocks dipped 0.3 percent in the month, as inventories of durable goods -- those meant to last three or more years -- and non-durable products slipped. Wall Street economists had expected inventories to post a 0.2 percent gain after a revised 0.3 percent slide in April.
Wholesale sales also slid. They fell by 0.5 percent after a revised 2.5 percent decline in April, the biggest drop in Commerce's records.
The wholesale inventories report provides a look at the supply situation in one of three major sectors of the economy. Factory inventories fell by 0.1 percent in May, Commerce reported earlier in the month. Inventories at retailers will be reported in the business inventories report on July 16.
Mickey Levy and Peter Kretzmer, economists with Banc of America Securities in New York, said the numbers showed businesses remain wary of being caught with too much inventory on hand.
"The behavior of inventories indicates continued caution on the part of businesses, uncertain about the path of demand and unwilling to hold ... stocks of goods," the economists said in a note to clients...
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Wholesale Inventories Dip 0.3 Pct in May
Wed Jul 9, 6:03 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Inventories at U.S. wholesalers unexpectedly fell for a second straight month in May, the government said on Wednesday, as sales also sagged.
The Commerce Department said wholesale stocks dipped 0.3 percent in the month, as inventories of durable goods -- those meant to last three or more years -- and non-durable products slipped. Wall Street economists had expected inventories to post a 0.2 percent gain after a revised 0.3 percent slide in April.
Wholesale sales also slid. They fell by 0.5 percent after a revised 2.5 percent decline in April, the biggest drop in Commerce's records.
The wholesale inventories report provides a look at the supply situation in one of three major sectors of the economy. Factory inventories fell by 0.1 percent in May, Commerce reported earlier in the month. Inventories at retailers will be reported in the business inventories report on July 16.
Mickey Levy and Peter Kretzmer, economists with Banc of America Securities in New York, said the numbers showed businesses remain wary of being caught with too much inventory on hand.
"The behavior of inventories indicates continued caution on the part of businesses, uncertain about the path of demand and unwilling to hold ... stocks of goods," the economists said in a note to clients...
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Ah, if you go to the BUSINESS section on Yahoo/Reuters they frame the story correctly but in the TOP STORIES section you get the "highest level since May" take. HIGHEST NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED AMERICANS IN OVER 20 YEARS. Let me repeat that.
HIGHEST NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED AMERICANS IN OVER 20 YEARS.
One more time.
MORE AMERICANS ARE OUT OF WORK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 20 YEARS.
Boy that few hundred dollars in tax cuts is really going to help the...
LARGEST NUMBER OF AMERICANS WITH NO JOBS IN 20 YEARS.
Continuing Jobless Claims at 20-Year High
By Tim Ahmann
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of jobless Americans receiving benefits hit its highest point in over 20 years last month, and new claims for jobless aid unexpectedly rose again last week, the government said on Thursday...
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HIGHEST NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED AMERICANS IN OVER 20 YEARS.
One more time.
MORE AMERICANS ARE OUT OF WORK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 20 YEARS.
Boy that few hundred dollars in tax cuts is really going to help the...
LARGEST NUMBER OF AMERICANS WITH NO JOBS IN 20 YEARS.
Continuing Jobless Claims at 20-Year High
By Tim Ahmann
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of jobless Americans receiving benefits hit its highest point in over 20 years last month, and new claims for jobless aid unexpectedly rose again last week, the government said on Thursday...
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The jobless rate continues to match the historic lows of the first Bush's ONE TERM in office yet we don't see that angle mentioned in this story. Now remember. Summer usually sees an upswing in jobs concerning seasonal employment due to tourism. If jobs aren't traditionally increasing to cope with tourism then that means people aren't going on trips, meaning they are staying home to either save their money OR they don't have any extra to spend. Yet Treasury Secretary Snow says the "economy is poised to take off" due to those coming tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts---- Whoops! The record got stuck.
Jobless Claims at Highest Level Since May
By JEANNINE AVERSA, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - More American workers signed up for unemployment benefits last week, fresh evidence that businesses are keeping work forces lean and playing it safe until the economy shows clear signs of improvement.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that for the work week ending July 5, new claims filed for unemployment insurance rose by a seasonally adjusted 5,000 to 439,000, the highest level since the week ending May 31...
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Jobless Claims at Highest Level Since May
By JEANNINE AVERSA, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - More American workers signed up for unemployment benefits last week, fresh evidence that businesses are keeping work forces lean and playing it safe until the economy shows clear signs of improvement.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that for the work week ending July 5, new claims filed for unemployment insurance rose by a seasonally adjusted 5,000 to 439,000, the highest level since the week ending May 31...
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Ted Rall, who actually WENT to Afghanistan during the conflict there to learn and report upon it, lays it out. Bush has commited an act worth the price of impeachment (if you only apply the craven standard the GOP did concerning Clinton; much more so the loss of American and innocent Iraqi lives!). Any self-respecting conservative who railed against Clinton for lying to protect a private affair which had NOTHING to do with running the country, has the blood of thousands upon their hands and carries a growing blackness in their heart if they support Bush and his cabal of liars who lied, twisted and manipulated the truth to enter a war. A war in which its aftermath has proven grossly inept by its planning (if ever it WAS planned) and shown that major financial supporters and friends of the President and his administration are making billions of dollars off of sweetheart deals concerning the rebuilding of Iraq and the pumping of its oil. Historians in the future will be aghast at the audacity of the greed and lack of human empathy expressed by this callous, reckless and opportunistic administration.
A CRACK IN BUSH'S FACADE
Mon Jun 30, 5:08 PM ET
By Ted Rall
Growing WMD Scandal Could Lead to Impeachment
MINNEAPOLIS--Bush lied about the weapons of mass destruction. He lied to us, the United Nations, and the soldiers he sent to die in Iraq. Bush's apologists defend his attempts to sell this obscene war as mere spin, but claiming certain knowledge of something that doesn't exist is hardly a question of emphasis. It's time to stop wondering where the WMDs are. Even if nukes and gases and anthrax turn up in prodigious quantities, it won't matter. Proof of Bush's perfidy, unlike his accusations that Saddam had something to do with 9/11, is irrefutable.
Before he ordered U.S. forces to kill and maim tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi soldiers and civilians, Bush and Co. repeatedly maintained that they had absolute proof that Saddam Hussein still possessed WMDs. "There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction," Dick Cheney said in August. In January, Ari Fleisher said: "We know for a fact that there are weapons there." WMDs; not a "WMD program" as they now refer to it. WMDs--not just indications of possible, or probable, WMDs.
Absolute proof...
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A CRACK IN BUSH'S FACADE
Mon Jun 30, 5:08 PM ET
By Ted Rall
Growing WMD Scandal Could Lead to Impeachment
MINNEAPOLIS--Bush lied about the weapons of mass destruction. He lied to us, the United Nations, and the soldiers he sent to die in Iraq. Bush's apologists defend his attempts to sell this obscene war as mere spin, but claiming certain knowledge of something that doesn't exist is hardly a question of emphasis. It's time to stop wondering where the WMDs are. Even if nukes and gases and anthrax turn up in prodigious quantities, it won't matter. Proof of Bush's perfidy, unlike his accusations that Saddam had something to do with 9/11, is irrefutable.
Before he ordered U.S. forces to kill and maim tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi soldiers and civilians, Bush and Co. repeatedly maintained that they had absolute proof that Saddam Hussein still possessed WMDs. "There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction," Dick Cheney said in August. In January, Ari Fleisher said: "We know for a fact that there are weapons there." WMDs; not a "WMD program" as they now refer to it. WMDs--not just indications of possible, or probable, WMDs.
Absolute proof...
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Where's the story on American deaths about to MATCH that of the Gulf War? It just hit 146. You'd think this would be closely watched but notice how the spin is applied today. Obviously the White House has its guard up and the word out to its media contacts not to mention the "Gulf War" total to keep the story muted after it was brought up on Tuesday. Watch for how this is treated when the number does meet or exceed the American deaths from the Gulf War as it will be telling.
Two More U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq
By Andrew Gray
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - One U.S. soldier was shot dead and another was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Iraq ( news -web sites ), the U.S. military said on Thursday, as President Bush ( news -web sites ) acknowledged Washington had a "security issue" here.
The deaths raised to 31 the number of U.S. soldiers killed by hostile fire in Iraq since May 1, when Bush declared major combat over in the war that ousted president Saddam Hussein...
And here's from Tuesday:
U.S. Toll in Iraq Nears '91 War Deaths
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon on Tuesday raised its count of Americans killed by hostile fire in Iraq since the war began in March to 143, a figure that approaches the 147 killed in the 1991 Gulf War.
When President Bush declared major combat operations had ended on May 1, the number killed in action stood at 114. Since then, guerrilla-style attacks have taken another 29 American lives, and Bush as well as U.S. military commanders have said the war is not yet over...
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Two More U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq
By Andrew Gray
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - One U.S. soldier was shot dead and another was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Iraq ( news -web sites ), the U.S. military said on Thursday, as President Bush ( news -web sites ) acknowledged Washington had a "security issue" here.
The deaths raised to 31 the number of U.S. soldiers killed by hostile fire in Iraq since May 1, when Bush declared major combat over in the war that ousted president Saddam Hussein...
And here's from Tuesday:
U.S. Toll in Iraq Nears '91 War Deaths
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon on Tuesday raised its count of Americans killed by hostile fire in Iraq since the war began in March to 143, a figure that approaches the 147 killed in the 1991 Gulf War.
When President Bush declared major combat operations had ended on May 1, the number killed in action stood at 114. Since then, guerrilla-style attacks have taken another 29 American lives, and Bush as well as U.S. military commanders have said the war is not yet over...
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This report on the economy and the job losses is from something I posted below and earlier. Stick with me and read what follows.
Jobless Rate Surges to Nine-Year High
By Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment rate shot up in June to a fresh 9-year high while the economy lost 30,000 jobs, the government said on Thursday in an unexpectedly gloomy report on the labor market.
The jobless rate climbed to 6.4 percent last month from May's 6.1 percent, the Labor Department ( news -web sites ) said, a much worse reading than the 6.2 percent forecast by U.S. economists in a Reuters survey. The rate reached the highest level since a matching 6.4 percent in April 1994.
"It's ugly on the surface and uglier when you look inside," economist Stuart Hoffman of PNC Financial Services Group said about the jobs report. "You now have declines in private-sector jobs for five straight months. And the hemorrhaging of manufacturing continues, there doesn't seem to be any abatement."
// posted by Sam @ 8:37 AM
Now look at this piece of propraganda cranked out in response by PRIVATE economists (meaning they are paid off for their opinions and paid off by the huge corporations fueling all that campaign election dough into Bush's Vicious Political Machine).
Analysts More Optimistic About Economy
Thu Jul 10,12:01 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Private economists have nudged their forecasts for the U.S. economy slightly higher for the second half of the year, according to the latest poll from Blue Chip Economic Indicators.
The closely watched Blue Chip newsletter said its panel of 50 economists projected U.S. gross domestic product would advance by 3.6 percent in the third quarter and 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter. That forecast, made in early July, was up from the June projection. In June, analysts forecast third-quarter growth of 3.5 percent and fourth quarter growth of 3.7 percent...
Okay, so Big Bid'ness put its story out and had the spin applied. Here's the White House coming out with its damage control by the new Treasury Secretary Snow as he parades the same ol' record and spins it about tax cuts, the economy is primed to "take off", blah, blah, blah. The only Snow that I see is here is a SNOW JOB!
Snow Optimistic About Economic Growth
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newly enacted tax cuts combined with low interest rates have put the U.S. economy on a path toward growth, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said in an interview published on Thursday.
Snow told USA Today he expected U.S. growth to top three percent in the second half of the year. But he said he would like to see growth of around four percent to bring the unemployment rate below six percent.
"The economy is beautifully aligned for takeoff," Snow told the newspaper, noting the stimulative effect of the Bush administration's latest $350 billion tax-cut program and historically low interest rates...
How can these guys stomach looking at themselves in the mirror when they get up in the morning after repeating this line of bull over and over endlessly?
_________________________________________________________________________
Jobless Rate Surges to Nine-Year High
By Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment rate shot up in June to a fresh 9-year high while the economy lost 30,000 jobs, the government said on Thursday in an unexpectedly gloomy report on the labor market.
The jobless rate climbed to 6.4 percent last month from May's 6.1 percent, the Labor Department ( news -web sites ) said, a much worse reading than the 6.2 percent forecast by U.S. economists in a Reuters survey. The rate reached the highest level since a matching 6.4 percent in April 1994.
"It's ugly on the surface and uglier when you look inside," economist Stuart Hoffman of PNC Financial Services Group said about the jobs report. "You now have declines in private-sector jobs for five straight months. And the hemorrhaging of manufacturing continues, there doesn't seem to be any abatement."
// posted by Sam @ 8:37 AM
Now look at this piece of propraganda cranked out in response by PRIVATE economists (meaning they are paid off for their opinions and paid off by the huge corporations fueling all that campaign election dough into Bush's Vicious Political Machine).
Analysts More Optimistic About Economy
Thu Jul 10,12:01 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Private economists have nudged their forecasts for the U.S. economy slightly higher for the second half of the year, according to the latest poll from Blue Chip Economic Indicators.
The closely watched Blue Chip newsletter said its panel of 50 economists projected U.S. gross domestic product would advance by 3.6 percent in the third quarter and 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter. That forecast, made in early July, was up from the June projection. In June, analysts forecast third-quarter growth of 3.5 percent and fourth quarter growth of 3.7 percent...
Okay, so Big Bid'ness put its story out and had the spin applied. Here's the White House coming out with its damage control by the new Treasury Secretary Snow as he parades the same ol' record and spins it about tax cuts, the economy is primed to "take off", blah, blah, blah. The only Snow that I see is here is a SNOW JOB!
Snow Optimistic About Economic Growth
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newly enacted tax cuts combined with low interest rates have put the U.S. economy on a path toward growth, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said in an interview published on Thursday.
Snow told USA Today he expected U.S. growth to top three percent in the second half of the year. But he said he would like to see growth of around four percent to bring the unemployment rate below six percent.
"The economy is beautifully aligned for takeoff," Snow told the newspaper, noting the stimulative effect of the Bush administration's latest $350 billion tax-cut program and historically low interest rates...
How can these guys stomach looking at themselves in the mirror when they get up in the morning after repeating this line of bull over and over endlessly?
_________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
Great news! Greg Palast has a blog! Note the addition of the link to his site right under the Kerry links to your right.
I highly suggest you stick your head in over there and catch his astute and knowing analysis and indepth reporting of the facts that our national media is NOT giving you on the crimes and cover-ups of Bush and his "cabal" (their words) of neo-coms.
Wednesday, July 9, 2003
Note: It’s getting mighty expensive replacing every television I throw through the window when Mr. O’Reilly appears. And ripping up the New York Times leaves me without the news I need to pick up after Pluto, my retriever. There’s only one thing to do: write the darn news myself. I am, I’ve heard, a journalist – but it’s only a rumor in the USA where my reports for BBC Television and the Guardian papers are stopped by the electronic Berlin Wall. So this missive today inaugurates Greg Palast’s Radio Free America, a web log of samizdat rants, raves and most important, hard-core must-know facts from my investigative stories appearing abroad. Three times a week at www.gregpalast.com you’ll find the news not in your news.
_________________________________________________________
I highly suggest you stick your head in over there and catch his astute and knowing analysis and indepth reporting of the facts that our national media is NOT giving you on the crimes and cover-ups of Bush and his "cabal" (their words) of neo-coms.
Wednesday, July 9, 2003
Note: It’s getting mighty expensive replacing every television I throw through the window when Mr. O’Reilly appears. And ripping up the New York Times leaves me without the news I need to pick up after Pluto, my retriever. There’s only one thing to do: write the darn news myself. I am, I’ve heard, a journalist – but it’s only a rumor in the USA where my reports for BBC Television and the Guardian papers are stopped by the electronic Berlin Wall. So this missive today inaugurates Greg Palast’s Radio Free America, a web log of samizdat rants, raves and most important, hard-core must-know facts from my investigative stories appearing abroad. Three times a week at www.gregpalast.com you’ll find the news not in your news.
_________________________________________________________
Blowing up stuff and taking over countries sure costs lots of money! No wonder the GOP so wants to cut social spending. It puts a crimp in satisfying their bloodthirsty appetites for conquest. And now after spitting, crapping and stomping all over the UN Rumsfield and the Bushies are crying for it and other countries to clean up their mess.
Rumsfeld Estimates U.S. Monthly Costs in Iraq at $3.9 Billion
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
International Herald Tribune
WASHINGTON, July 9 — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld estimated today that the cost of United States operations in Iraq were $3.9 billion a month — a figure considerably higher than previous estimates — as he testified today before senators who want other countries to absorb more of the coalition's human and financial costs.
The $3.9 billion monthly figure covers January through September of this year, reflecting an average cost for the final months of military buildup, the Iraq war itself and postwar military costs.
Mr. Rumsfeld agreed with senators that a greater NATO role in Iraq made sense, and said that he would support troop contributions from France and Germany, despite their opposition to the war.
Democratic senators said they were troubled at Mr. Rumsfeld's vagueness on what approaches had been made to NATO.
And General Tommy R. Franks, the outgoing head of the United States Central Command, indicated at the same hearing that he anticipated no reduction in the United States' force level for the foreseeable future.
In addition to the cost figure for Iraq, which Mr. Rumsfeld provided after repeated, pointed requests from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the defense secretary said that operations in Afghanistan were costing $900 million to $950 million a month...
_________________________________________________________________________
Rumsfeld Estimates U.S. Monthly Costs in Iraq at $3.9 Billion
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
International Herald Tribune
WASHINGTON, July 9 — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld estimated today that the cost of United States operations in Iraq were $3.9 billion a month — a figure considerably higher than previous estimates — as he testified today before senators who want other countries to absorb more of the coalition's human and financial costs.
The $3.9 billion monthly figure covers January through September of this year, reflecting an average cost for the final months of military buildup, the Iraq war itself and postwar military costs.
Mr. Rumsfeld agreed with senators that a greater NATO role in Iraq made sense, and said that he would support troop contributions from France and Germany, despite their opposition to the war.
Democratic senators said they were troubled at Mr. Rumsfeld's vagueness on what approaches had been made to NATO.
And General Tommy R. Franks, the outgoing head of the United States Central Command, indicated at the same hearing that he anticipated no reduction in the United States' force level for the foreseeable future.
In addition to the cost figure for Iraq, which Mr. Rumsfeld provided after repeated, pointed requests from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the defense secretary said that operations in Afghanistan were costing $900 million to $950 million a month...
_________________________________________________________________________
The experts are anxiously speaking up. Not only did Bush NOT plan effectively for occupying Iraq, he's crapped all over the UN and the world and told them we don't need their cooperation and help to create a democracy in Iraq. What a marooooon!
U.S. Military Scholars Warn of Wider Iraqi Insurgency
By David Morgan
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - With guerrilla-style attacks escalating in Iraq, the United States may have to begin turning over peacekeeping duties to an international force within a year, or risk a wider insurgency, military analysts warned on Wednesday.
A wave of attacks that has killed 29 U.S. troops since President Bush ( news -web sites ) declared major combat operations over on May 1, appears to stem from a resurgence of Iraqi nationalism among both Sunnis and Shi'ites in the face of U.S. occupation, said scholars at the U.S. Army War College.
"If U.S. forces are still there a year from now, individuals who suggest the United States is there for bad motives will feel more comfortable stirring up problems," said W. Andrew Terrill, research professor at the Carlisle, Pa.-based War College's Strategic Studies Institute.
"Even the (Shi'ites) are saying you need to think about leaving, and they're the ones we're getting along with at the moment," he added...
_________________________________________________________________
U.S. Military Scholars Warn of Wider Iraqi Insurgency
By David Morgan
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - With guerrilla-style attacks escalating in Iraq, the United States may have to begin turning over peacekeeping duties to an international force within a year, or risk a wider insurgency, military analysts warned on Wednesday.
A wave of attacks that has killed 29 U.S. troops since President Bush ( news -web sites ) declared major combat operations over on May 1, appears to stem from a resurgence of Iraqi nationalism among both Sunnis and Shi'ites in the face of U.S. occupation, said scholars at the U.S. Army War College.
"If U.S. forces are still there a year from now, individuals who suggest the United States is there for bad motives will feel more comfortable stirring up problems," said W. Andrew Terrill, research professor at the Carlisle, Pa.-based War College's Strategic Studies Institute.
"Even the (Shi'ites) are saying you need to think about leaving, and they're the ones we're getting along with at the moment," he added...
_________________________________________________________________
The $#@* just keeps piling up at the White House door.
U.S. Gave Inaccurate Iraq Picture, Ex-Intel Official
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration gave an inaccurate picture of Iraq ( news -web sites )'s military threat before the war, a recently retired State Department intelligence official said on Wednesday, saying intelligence reports showed that Baghdad posed no imminent threat.
"I believe the Bush administration did not provide an accurate picture to the American people of the military threat posed by Iraq," said Greg Thielmann, who retired in September from his post of director of the strategic, proliferation and military affairs office in the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research.
"Some of the fault lies with the performance of the intelligence community, but most of it lies with the way senior officials misused the information they were provided," he said at a press conference held by the Arms Control Association.
President Bush ( news -web sites ) justified going to war based on the threat from Iraq's alleged biological and chemical weapons and nuclear weapons program.
"As of March 2003, when we began military operations, Iraq posed no imminent threat to either its neighbors or to the United States," Thielmann said...
________________________________________________________________________
U.S. Gave Inaccurate Iraq Picture, Ex-Intel Official
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration gave an inaccurate picture of Iraq ( news -web sites )'s military threat before the war, a recently retired State Department intelligence official said on Wednesday, saying intelligence reports showed that Baghdad posed no imminent threat.
"I believe the Bush administration did not provide an accurate picture to the American people of the military threat posed by Iraq," said Greg Thielmann, who retired in September from his post of director of the strategic, proliferation and military affairs office in the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research.
"Some of the fault lies with the performance of the intelligence community, but most of it lies with the way senior officials misused the information they were provided," he said at a press conference held by the Arms Control Association.
President Bush ( news -web sites ) justified going to war based on the threat from Iraq's alleged biological and chemical weapons and nuclear weapons program.
"As of March 2003, when we began military operations, Iraq posed no imminent threat to either its neighbors or to the United States," Thielmann said...
________________________________________________________________________
Sure, we're blowing people up but are we losing the greater war for hearts and minds?
Experts: U.S. Needs Int'l Image Makeover
By LAURENCE ARNOLD, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The United States is less vulnerable to terrorism today because of heightened vigilance but must improve its international relations in order to starve terrorist groups of new recruits, experts said Wednesday.
Scholars on terrorism and al-Qaida told the independent commission studying the Sept. 11 attacks that the United States badly needs an image makeover in the eyes of the world.
"Although we are winning the war against the organization called al-Qaida, we seem to be losing the cultural war," said Mamoun Fandy, senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace...
Now there has been talk that we did nothing for a decade to stop the rise of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism. Funny, I remember Clinton giving the order to fire a Tomahawk missile and try to kill Osama Bin Laden and the GOP railed against this as political grandstanding at the time. Gee, I remember Clinton and Gingrich giving the okay for a bipartisan three year study on national security (the Hart/Rudman Commission) presenting a detailed history of Islamic terrorism and the threats it poised to the U.S. and what did Bush do when presented with the results of the study? He dumped it and said Cheney was on top of it. And I seem to remember that Clinton had weekly meetings concerning al-Qaida and Bin Laden (with the top expert in Islamic terrorism intelligence handling the briefing) but when Bush took over he dropped the meetings and updates. This is a MAJOR FAILURE on the Bush watch concerning judgement and the pursuit of national security. Here's the actual report.
The Hart/Rudman Commission Report
Here's a quick overview of the report and how the Bush administration dumped it (from SALON).
"We predicted it"
A bipartisan commission warned the White House and Congress that a bloody attack on U.S. soil could be imminent. Why didn't anyone listen?
By Jake Tapper...
And here's the executive summary from the report.
31 January 2001
Executive Summary of U.S. Commission on National Security Report
A bipartisan commission set up to evaluate the current national security climate and propose changes needed to meet new threats has issued a report that calls for major changes in governmental structures and processes.
Included in the report released January 31 by the United States Commission on National Security/21st Century are a proposal for a new, cabinet-level National Homeland Security Agency that would combine the Federal Emergency Management Agency with several other agencies, and a prescription for recasting a "crippled" State Department and the Department of Defense.
The 14-member commission, headed by former Senators Gary Hart (Democrat, Colorado) and Warren Rudman (Republican, New Hampshire), includes other former legislators, Executive Branch officials, military leaders and representatives from business, academia and the news media.
Following is the text of the executive summary of the 140-odd page report: The complete report can be accessed at www.nssg.gov.
___________________________________________________________________
Experts: U.S. Needs Int'l Image Makeover
By LAURENCE ARNOLD, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The United States is less vulnerable to terrorism today because of heightened vigilance but must improve its international relations in order to starve terrorist groups of new recruits, experts said Wednesday.
Scholars on terrorism and al-Qaida told the independent commission studying the Sept. 11 attacks that the United States badly needs an image makeover in the eyes of the world.
"Although we are winning the war against the organization called al-Qaida, we seem to be losing the cultural war," said Mamoun Fandy, senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace...
Now there has been talk that we did nothing for a decade to stop the rise of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism. Funny, I remember Clinton giving the order to fire a Tomahawk missile and try to kill Osama Bin Laden and the GOP railed against this as political grandstanding at the time. Gee, I remember Clinton and Gingrich giving the okay for a bipartisan three year study on national security (the Hart/Rudman Commission) presenting a detailed history of Islamic terrorism and the threats it poised to the U.S. and what did Bush do when presented with the results of the study? He dumped it and said Cheney was on top of it. And I seem to remember that Clinton had weekly meetings concerning al-Qaida and Bin Laden (with the top expert in Islamic terrorism intelligence handling the briefing) but when Bush took over he dropped the meetings and updates. This is a MAJOR FAILURE on the Bush watch concerning judgement and the pursuit of national security. Here's the actual report.
The Hart/Rudman Commission Report
Here's a quick overview of the report and how the Bush administration dumped it (from SALON).
"We predicted it"
A bipartisan commission warned the White House and Congress that a bloody attack on U.S. soil could be imminent. Why didn't anyone listen?
By Jake Tapper...
And here's the executive summary from the report.
31 January 2001
Executive Summary of U.S. Commission on National Security Report
A bipartisan commission set up to evaluate the current national security climate and propose changes needed to meet new threats has issued a report that calls for major changes in governmental structures and processes.
Included in the report released January 31 by the United States Commission on National Security/21st Century are a proposal for a new, cabinet-level National Homeland Security Agency that would combine the Federal Emergency Management Agency with several other agencies, and a prescription for recasting a "crippled" State Department and the Department of Defense.
The 14-member commission, headed by former Senators Gary Hart (Democrat, Colorado) and Warren Rudman (Republican, New Hampshire), includes other former legislators, Executive Branch officials, military leaders and representatives from business, academia and the news media.
Following is the text of the executive summary of the 140-odd page report: The complete report can be accessed at www.nssg.gov.
___________________________________________________________________
The more the Right tries to knock her down...the more books she sells.
Clinton's Book Sales Top 1 Million
WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (news - web sites) has sold more than 1 million copies of her memoir "Living History," in almost exactly a month, her publisher announced Wednesday...
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Clinton's Book Sales Top 1 Million
WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (news - web sites) has sold more than 1 million copies of her memoir "Living History," in almost exactly a month, her publisher announced Wednesday...
________________________________________________________________
"Things Are Going Very Well In Iraq"
Click on the quote to see the Pew Research Center Poll's results in graph form.
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Click on the quote to see the Pew Research Center Poll's results in graph form.
__________________________________________________________________
What those unenlightened local residents didn't understand about when Bush comes to call you are ushered to what we Americans would call a "First Amendment Zone". All this while he delivers his rousing denunciation of slavery and the benefits of a free democracy (Thanks to Agent Sham for the link and quotes).
On Goree Island, Bush Visit Sparks Anger
Tue July 08, 2003 12:00 PM ET
By Clar Ni Chonghaile
GOREE ISLAND, Senegal (Reuters) - President Bush made an eloquent speech but did not win many friends during his brief visit to Goree Island off Senegal on Tuesday.
"We are very angry. We didn't even see him," said Fatou N'diaye, a necklace seller watching dignitaries file past to return to the mainland at the end of Bush's tour.
N'diaye and other residents of Goree, site of a famous slave trading station, said they had been taken to a football ground on the other side of the quaint island at 6 a.m. and told to wait there until Bush had departed, around midday.
Bush came to Goree to tour the red-brick Slave House, where Africans were kept in shackles before being shipped across a perilous sea to a lifetime of servitude.
He then gave an eloquent speech about the horrors of slavery, standing at a podium under a sizzling sun near a red-stone museum, topped by cannon pointing out to the sea.
The cooped-up residents were not impressed.
"It's slavery all over again," fumed one father-of-four, who did not want to give his name. "It's humiliating. The island was deserted." ...
___________________________________________________________________________
On Goree Island, Bush Visit Sparks Anger
Tue July 08, 2003 12:00 PM ET
By Clar Ni Chonghaile
GOREE ISLAND, Senegal (Reuters) - President Bush made an eloquent speech but did not win many friends during his brief visit to Goree Island off Senegal on Tuesday.
"We are very angry. We didn't even see him," said Fatou N'diaye, a necklace seller watching dignitaries file past to return to the mainland at the end of Bush's tour.
N'diaye and other residents of Goree, site of a famous slave trading station, said they had been taken to a football ground on the other side of the quaint island at 6 a.m. and told to wait there until Bush had departed, around midday.
Bush came to Goree to tour the red-brick Slave House, where Africans were kept in shackles before being shipped across a perilous sea to a lifetime of servitude.
He then gave an eloquent speech about the horrors of slavery, standing at a podium under a sizzling sun near a red-stone museum, topped by cannon pointing out to the sea.
The cooped-up residents were not impressed.
"It's slavery all over again," fumed one father-of-four, who did not want to give his name. "It's humiliating. The island was deserted." ...
___________________________________________________________________________
NIXON'S GHOST DRIVES THE BUSH MACHINE AND ITS SPIN
Okay, here's how the spin is working from the White House on the fact that Bush lied about the Nigeria "evidence" to go to war. I have noticed a pattern of releasing info on this story from the White House. They come out with a statement late at night so that the morning headlines can push it off the front page (say like the amazing story that Bush has finally gone to Africa and is speaking about slavery, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz). The info I posted late last night (and that you can read below) was top of the heap on the Yahoo/Reuters TOP STORIES section around 1:30 am Pacific Coastal Time. So was the Bush drop in the polls story. Where is it now? I can't find anything but the 9/11 investigation story and it's buried in with the sub-group headlines.
What I see is both the White House playing this "put it out late" game and Reuters happy to join in (along with the rest of the news services). I've written their editors and asked why do they let them be sucked into this? Why? Because if they don't, the White House causes them grief on confirming other stories and info (and also subtly rewriting those stories to put a spin on the selling of the White House when they return them to their reporters).
I'm posting Joe Conalson's whole piece from his view of some of the White House spin and here's the BIG SPIN. The White House and Bush are now pushing that the lying didn't matter and that the BIG PICTURE is that Hussein was a bad man and needed to be taken out and that this will be proven some day, some where in the future ...and in a galaxy far, far away probably. They are AVOIDING the fact that either their intelligence was faulty or they didn't care or they lied to go to war. They are hoping like hell this story dies and as mentioned above they are doing everything they can to sweep it under the rug.
Joe Conason's Journal
The White House finally comes clean on one devastating WMD deception -- but it is still spinning the full story.
July 8, 2003 | Fleischer's modified limited hangout
Even in the Bush White House, the truth will seep out -- but only when the preferred lie can no longer be sustained. From last March, when the International Atomic Energy Agency exposed documents supposedly proving Iraq's attempt to acquire uranium from Niger as "crude" forgeries, until yesterday, the White House resolutely ignored the growing evidence that the president had misled the public about this crucial issue.
Perhaps when he first mentioned the alleged attempted uranium purchase in his State of the Union address, that was an honest if inexcusable error; since then, no such excuse has been plausible. And over the past few days, two things happened that forced a strangled confession from the White House press office.
On July 6, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV revealed in a New York Times Op-Ed essay that he is the previously "unnamed" envoy dispatched to Niger last year by the CIA -- and that he reported upon his return in February 2002, nearly a year before Bush's State of the Union speech, that the uranium story was false. "Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat," wrote the respected career diplomat.
Almost immediately following Wilson's devastating account came the release of the investigative report of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, which cast additional doubt on the British government's promotion of the Niger uranium story last September (and much more).
Yet as of early yesterday morning, Ari Fleischer was still attempting to "contain" the embarrassing truth. "There is zero, nada, nothing new here," he told Times reporter David Sanger. In his blandly deceptive way, Fleischer claimed that "we've long acknowledged" that the Niger uranium tale "did, indeed, turn out to be incorrect." He went on say, "We see nothing that would dissuade us from the president's broader statement." Hours later, after the president and his entourage had left Washington for Africa, the White House issued " a statement in Mr. Fleischer's name that made clear that they no longer stood behind Mr. Bush's statement."
Around the same time, Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus received a similar statement from a "senior Bush administration official." As "authorized" by the White House, it said: "Knowing all that we know now, the reference to Iraq's attempt to acquire uranium from Africa should not have been included in the State of the Union speech."
"Knowing all that we now know"? What about the facts they knew last spring, long before Bush, Cheney and Rice uttered all their frightening, baseless statements about the Iraqi nuclear threat? What about the facts they've known since no later than the eve of the war, when the IAEA informed them that the Niger documents were fake?
Yesterday's feeble admissions constitute what an earlier White House used to call a "modified limited hangout." The Bush crowd, improving on what they learned from the Nixon gang, has consistently excelled at lowering expectations of all kinds -- and this occasion is no different. Now even the briefest, most grudging and partial acknowledgment of an obvious fact qualifies as extraordinary candor.
______________________________________________________________
Okay, here's how the spin is working from the White House on the fact that Bush lied about the Nigeria "evidence" to go to war. I have noticed a pattern of releasing info on this story from the White House. They come out with a statement late at night so that the morning headlines can push it off the front page (say like the amazing story that Bush has finally gone to Africa and is speaking about slavery, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz). The info I posted late last night (and that you can read below) was top of the heap on the Yahoo/Reuters TOP STORIES section around 1:30 am Pacific Coastal Time. So was the Bush drop in the polls story. Where is it now? I can't find anything but the 9/11 investigation story and it's buried in with the sub-group headlines.
What I see is both the White House playing this "put it out late" game and Reuters happy to join in (along with the rest of the news services). I've written their editors and asked why do they let them be sucked into this? Why? Because if they don't, the White House causes them grief on confirming other stories and info (and also subtly rewriting those stories to put a spin on the selling of the White House when they return them to their reporters).
I'm posting Joe Conalson's whole piece from his view of some of the White House spin and here's the BIG SPIN. The White House and Bush are now pushing that the lying didn't matter and that the BIG PICTURE is that Hussein was a bad man and needed to be taken out and that this will be proven some day, some where in the future ...and in a galaxy far, far away probably. They are AVOIDING the fact that either their intelligence was faulty or they didn't care or they lied to go to war. They are hoping like hell this story dies and as mentioned above they are doing everything they can to sweep it under the rug.
Joe Conason's Journal
The White House finally comes clean on one devastating WMD deception -- but it is still spinning the full story.
July 8, 2003 | Fleischer's modified limited hangout
Even in the Bush White House, the truth will seep out -- but only when the preferred lie can no longer be sustained. From last March, when the International Atomic Energy Agency exposed documents supposedly proving Iraq's attempt to acquire uranium from Niger as "crude" forgeries, until yesterday, the White House resolutely ignored the growing evidence that the president had misled the public about this crucial issue.
Perhaps when he first mentioned the alleged attempted uranium purchase in his State of the Union address, that was an honest if inexcusable error; since then, no such excuse has been plausible. And over the past few days, two things happened that forced a strangled confession from the White House press office.
On July 6, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV revealed in a New York Times Op-Ed essay that he is the previously "unnamed" envoy dispatched to Niger last year by the CIA -- and that he reported upon his return in February 2002, nearly a year before Bush's State of the Union speech, that the uranium story was false. "Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat," wrote the respected career diplomat.
Almost immediately following Wilson's devastating account came the release of the investigative report of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, which cast additional doubt on the British government's promotion of the Niger uranium story last September (and much more).
Yet as of early yesterday morning, Ari Fleischer was still attempting to "contain" the embarrassing truth. "There is zero, nada, nothing new here," he told Times reporter David Sanger. In his blandly deceptive way, Fleischer claimed that "we've long acknowledged" that the Niger uranium tale "did, indeed, turn out to be incorrect." He went on say, "We see nothing that would dissuade us from the president's broader statement." Hours later, after the president and his entourage had left Washington for Africa, the White House issued " a statement in Mr. Fleischer's name that made clear that they no longer stood behind Mr. Bush's statement."
Around the same time, Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus received a similar statement from a "senior Bush administration official." As "authorized" by the White House, it said: "Knowing all that we know now, the reference to Iraq's attempt to acquire uranium from Africa should not have been included in the State of the Union speech."
"Knowing all that we now know"? What about the facts they knew last spring, long before Bush, Cheney and Rice uttered all their frightening, baseless statements about the Iraqi nuclear threat? What about the facts they've known since no later than the eve of the war, when the IAEA informed them that the Niger documents were fake?
Yesterday's feeble admissions constitute what an earlier White House used to call a "modified limited hangout." The Bush crowd, improving on what they learned from the Nixon gang, has consistently excelled at lowering expectations of all kinds -- and this occasion is no different. Now even the briefest, most grudging and partial acknowledgment of an obvious fact qualifies as extraordinary candor.
______________________________________________________________
Read the whole NY TIMES editorial on why Bush has acted like a shameless despot to prevent a comprehensive PUBLIC 8/11 investigation. This isn't about politics. It's about the nation's security for its citizens and future generations!
Wrestling for the Truth of 9/11
The Bush administration, long allergic to the idea of investigating the government's failure to prevent the Sept. 11 terror attacks, is now doing its best to bury the national commission that was created to review Washington's conduct. That was made plain yesterday in a muted way by Thomas Kean, the former New Jersey governor, and Lee Hamilton, the former congressman, who are directing the inquiry. When these seasoned, mild-mannered men start complaining that the administration is trying to intimidate the commission, the country had better take notice...
___________________________________________________________
Wrestling for the Truth of 9/11
The Bush administration, long allergic to the idea of investigating the government's failure to prevent the Sept. 11 terror attacks, is now doing its best to bury the national commission that was created to review Washington's conduct. That was made plain yesterday in a muted way by Thomas Kean, the former New Jersey governor, and Lee Hamilton, the former congressman, who are directing the inquiry. When these seasoned, mild-mannered men start complaining that the administration is trying to intimidate the commission, the country had better take notice...
___________________________________________________________
Doubters? I was one of 'em! My conservative friends called Clinton "Slick Willie". My nickname for Bush (besides the "idiot bastard") is "Dubya D-40", the slickest liar who ever held a public office. Only he killed thousands of innocents and continues to cause the death of American soldiers because of his twisted lying.
Bush Charge on Iraq Arms Had Doubters, House Told
By DAVID E. SANGER and CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, July 8 — The State Department told a Congressional committee today that seven days after President Bush gave his State of the Union address, in which he charged that Saddam Hussein was trying to purchase uranium in Africa, American diplomats warned the International Atomic Energy Agency that the United States could not confirm the reports.
The State Department letter, provided to Representative Henry A. Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Government Reform, confirms that there were deep misgivings in the government about some intelligence Mr. Bush cited in his January speech.
On Monday the White House said for the first time that the evidence that Iraq sought nuclear fuel in Africa was not credible enough, and should not have been included in the president's remarks...
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Bush Charge on Iraq Arms Had Doubters, House Told
By DAVID E. SANGER and CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, July 8 — The State Department told a Congressional committee today that seven days after President Bush gave his State of the Union address, in which he charged that Saddam Hussein was trying to purchase uranium in Africa, American diplomats warned the International Atomic Energy Agency that the United States could not confirm the reports.
The State Department letter, provided to Representative Henry A. Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Government Reform, confirms that there were deep misgivings in the government about some intelligence Mr. Bush cited in his January speech.
On Monday the White House said for the first time that the evidence that Iraq sought nuclear fuel in Africa was not credible enough, and should not have been included in the president's remarks...
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The NY TIMES take on the Bush stonewalling.
9/11 Commission Says U.S. Agencies Slow Its Inquiry
By PHILIP SHENON
WASHINGTON, July 8 — The federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks said today that its work was being hampered by the failure of executive branch agencies, especially the Pentagon and the Justice Department, to respond quickly to requests for documents and testimony.
The panel also said the failure of the Bush administration to allow officials to be interviewed without the presence of government colleagues could impede its investigation, with the commission's chairman suggesting today that the situation amounted to "intimidation" of the witnesses.
In what they acknowledged was an effort to bring public pressure on the White House to meet the panel's demands for classified information, the commission's Republican chairman and Democratic vice chairman released a statement, declaring that they had received only a small part of the millions of sensitive government documents they have requested from the executive branch...
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9/11 Commission Says U.S. Agencies Slow Its Inquiry
By PHILIP SHENON
WASHINGTON, July 8 — The federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks said today that its work was being hampered by the failure of executive branch agencies, especially the Pentagon and the Justice Department, to respond quickly to requests for documents and testimony.
The panel also said the failure of the Bush administration to allow officials to be interviewed without the presence of government colleagues could impede its investigation, with the commission's chairman suggesting today that the situation amounted to "intimidation" of the witnesses.
In what they acknowledged was an effort to bring public pressure on the White House to meet the panel's demands for classified information, the commission's Republican chairman and Democratic vice chairman released a statement, declaring that they had received only a small part of the millions of sensitive government documents they have requested from the executive branch...
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