Democrats Abroad New Zealand
11.30.2005
Cheney 'May Be Guilty of War Crime' (Guardian.co.uk)
· Vice-president accused of backing torture
· Claims on BBC by former insider add to Bush's woes
Julian Borger in Washington
Wednesday November 30, 2005
The Guardian
Vice-president Dick Cheney's burden on the Bush administration grew heavier yesterday after a former senior US state department official said he could be guilty of a war crime over the abuse of prisoners.
Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to secretary of state Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005, singled out Mr Cheney in a wide-ranging political assault on the BBC's Today programme.
Mr Wilkerson said that in an internal administration debate over whether to abide by the Geneva conventions in the treatment of detainees, Mr Cheney led the argument "that essentially wanted to do away with all restrictions".
Asked whether the vice-president was guilty of a war crime, Mr Wilkerson replied: "Well, that's an interesting question - it was certainly a domestic crime to advocate terror and I would suspect that it is ... an international crime as well." In the context of other remarks it appeared he was using the word "terror" to apply to the systematic abuse of prisoners.
The Washington Post last month called Mr Cheney the "vice-president for torture" for his demand that the CIA be exempted from a ban on "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment of detainees.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Cheney 'may be guilty of war crime') ¶ 21:17 0 comments
· Claims on BBC by former insider add to Bush's woes
Julian Borger in Washington
Wednesday November 30, 2005
The Guardian
Vice-president Dick Cheney's burden on the Bush administration grew heavier yesterday after a former senior US state department official said he could be guilty of a war crime over the abuse of prisoners.
Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to secretary of state Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005, singled out Mr Cheney in a wide-ranging political assault on the BBC's Today programme.
Mr Wilkerson said that in an internal administration debate over whether to abide by the Geneva conventions in the treatment of detainees, Mr Cheney led the argument "that essentially wanted to do away with all restrictions".
Asked whether the vice-president was guilty of a war crime, Mr Wilkerson replied: "Well, that's an interesting question - it was certainly a domestic crime to advocate terror and I would suspect that it is ... an international crime as well." In the context of other remarks it appeared he was using the word "terror" to apply to the systematic abuse of prisoners.
The Washington Post last month called Mr Cheney the "vice-president for torture" for his demand that the CIA be exempted from a ban on "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment of detainees.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Cheney 'may be guilty of war crime') ¶ 21:17 0 comments
11.29.2005
More Than a 'Mistake' on Iraq (WashingtonPost.com)
By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, November 29, 2005; Page A21
A line is forming outside the Iraq confessional. It consists of Democratic presidential aspirants -- where's Hillary? -- who voted for the war in Iraq and now concede that they made a "mistake." Former senator John Edwards did that Nov. 13 in a Post op-ed article, and Sen. Joseph Biden uttered the "M" word Sunday on "Meet the Press." "It was a mistake," said Biden. "It was a mistake," wrote Edwards. Yes and yes, says Cohen. But it is also a mistake to call it a mistake.
Both senators have a point, of course. They were told by the president and members of his War Cabinet -- Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld -- that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. In particular, those three emphasized Iraq's purported nuclear weapons program. As late as August 2003, Condoleezza Rice was saying that she was "certain to this day that this regime was a threat, that it was pursuing a nuclear weapon, that it had biological and chemical weapons, that it had used them." To be charitable, she didn't know what she was talking about.
As it turned out, neither did Vice President Cheney or Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Cheney said, "Increasingly, we believe that the United States will become the target" of an Iraqi nuclear weapon, and Rumsfeld raised a truly horrible specter: "Imagine a Sept. 11th with weapons of mass destruction" that would kill "tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children." Imagine a defense secretary who thought he was propaganda minister.
(More ... More Than a 'Mistake' on Iraq) ¶ 21:40 0 comments
Tuesday, November 29, 2005; Page A21
A line is forming outside the Iraq confessional. It consists of Democratic presidential aspirants -- where's Hillary? -- who voted for the war in Iraq and now concede that they made a "mistake." Former senator John Edwards did that Nov. 13 in a Post op-ed article, and Sen. Joseph Biden uttered the "M" word Sunday on "Meet the Press." "It was a mistake," said Biden. "It was a mistake," wrote Edwards. Yes and yes, says Cohen. But it is also a mistake to call it a mistake.
Both senators have a point, of course. They were told by the president and members of his War Cabinet -- Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld -- that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. In particular, those three emphasized Iraq's purported nuclear weapons program. As late as August 2003, Condoleezza Rice was saying that she was "certain to this day that this regime was a threat, that it was pursuing a nuclear weapon, that it had biological and chemical weapons, that it had used them." To be charitable, she didn't know what she was talking about.
As it turned out, neither did Vice President Cheney or Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Cheney said, "Increasingly, we believe that the United States will become the target" of an Iraqi nuclear weapon, and Rumsfeld raised a truly horrible specter: "Imagine a Sept. 11th with weapons of mass destruction" that would kill "tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children." Imagine a defense secretary who thought he was propaganda minister.
(More ... More Than a 'Mistake' on Iraq) ¶ 21:40 0 comments
Global Warming Talks Eye U.S. (Reuters.co.uk)
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
MONTREAL (Reuters) - Host Canada urged a wider fight against global warming at the start of 189-country talks on Monday that will try to enlist the United States and poor nations in U.N.-led schemes to fight climate change beyond 2012.
"Let us set our sights on a more effective, more inclusive long-term approach to climate change," Canadian Environment Minister Stephane Dion told the opening of the U.N. conference in Montreal, which lasts until December 9.
"More action is required now," Dion told delegates at the talks, likely to involve up to 10,000 representatives of governments, environmental groups and businesses, charged with working out how to limit emissions of heat-trapping gases from fossil fuels.
The talks will start mapping out what to do after the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, a first step by about 40 industrial nations to curb emissions, runs out in 2012. Negotiations on a successor could take several years.
The Montreal session included actors and video images showing the risks of a changing climate -- including more frequent hurricanes, ice storms, desertification, locust swarms, forest fires, floods and melting ice caps.
Dion said climate change was the single most important environmental issue facing the world today.
(More ... Top News Article | Reuters.co.uk) ¶ 17:32 0 comments
MONTREAL (Reuters) - Host Canada urged a wider fight against global warming at the start of 189-country talks on Monday that will try to enlist the United States and poor nations in U.N.-led schemes to fight climate change beyond 2012.
"Let us set our sights on a more effective, more inclusive long-term approach to climate change," Canadian Environment Minister Stephane Dion told the opening of the U.N. conference in Montreal, which lasts until December 9.
"More action is required now," Dion told delegates at the talks, likely to involve up to 10,000 representatives of governments, environmental groups and businesses, charged with working out how to limit emissions of heat-trapping gases from fossil fuels.
The talks will start mapping out what to do after the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, a first step by about 40 industrial nations to curb emissions, runs out in 2012. Negotiations on a successor could take several years.
The Montreal session included actors and video images showing the risks of a changing climate -- including more frequent hurricanes, ice storms, desertification, locust swarms, forest fires, floods and melting ice caps.
Dion said climate change was the single most important environmental issue facing the world today.
(More ... Top News Article | Reuters.co.uk) ¶ 17:32 0 comments
Were My Captors Worse Than the Guantanamo Jailers? (Guardian.co.uk)
Our leaders' shallowness and short-termism has fuelled the engine of war. We need wisdom to overcome our darker side
Terry Waite
Wednesday November 23, 2005
The Guardian
On my first visit to Lebanon since my release as a hostage in 1991 I visited a refugee camp. I met some young people who were on a computer-literacy course. They had made good progress. "What about your future?" I asked. "What future?" one replied. "To get a job in Lebanon is virtually impossible as jobs go first to Lebanese citizens. We have no right of return to the place our grandfathers came from, and how can we go abroad when we are refugees? We are trapped."
That young man uttered the sentiments of thousands of displaced people in the Middle East and beyond. As I left the classroom I thought it remarkable that more young people did not join "terrorist" groups. The point I want to make is this: war, as well as being a blunt instrument, fails totally to deal with the root issues underlying terrorism. In the political realm it requires statesmen and women; individuals who can think beyond the next election and who have the wisdom that comes from making an attempt to understand cultures other than those of the west.
Western democracy has many attractive features and has brought manifold benefits. It takes no intelligence to recognise that it also has its dark side and that it cannot, nor necessarily ought it to be, exported to all parts of the world. If the optimistic statements made by some British and US politicians before the Iraqi war - when it was stated that the conflict would be concluded in weeks - were truly believed then one can only despair at the level of understanding demonstrated.
The destructive eruption following 9/11 has struck at the roots of democratic freedom. The arguments will continue for a long time about which particular category terrorist suspects belong to. The fact is that on the basis of suspicion alone people have been detained, and in some cases subjected to processes that should not be part of a civilised nation.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Terry Waite: Were my captors worse than the Guant�namo jailers?) ¶ 13:20 0 comments
Terry Waite
Wednesday November 23, 2005
The Guardian
On my first visit to Lebanon since my release as a hostage in 1991 I visited a refugee camp. I met some young people who were on a computer-literacy course. They had made good progress. "What about your future?" I asked. "What future?" one replied. "To get a job in Lebanon is virtually impossible as jobs go first to Lebanese citizens. We have no right of return to the place our grandfathers came from, and how can we go abroad when we are refugees? We are trapped."
That young man uttered the sentiments of thousands of displaced people in the Middle East and beyond. As I left the classroom I thought it remarkable that more young people did not join "terrorist" groups. The point I want to make is this: war, as well as being a blunt instrument, fails totally to deal with the root issues underlying terrorism. In the political realm it requires statesmen and women; individuals who can think beyond the next election and who have the wisdom that comes from making an attempt to understand cultures other than those of the west.
Western democracy has many attractive features and has brought manifold benefits. It takes no intelligence to recognise that it also has its dark side and that it cannot, nor necessarily ought it to be, exported to all parts of the world. If the optimistic statements made by some British and US politicians before the Iraqi war - when it was stated that the conflict would be concluded in weeks - were truly believed then one can only despair at the level of understanding demonstrated.
The destructive eruption following 9/11 has struck at the roots of democratic freedom. The arguments will continue for a long time about which particular category terrorist suspects belong to. The fact is that on the basis of suspicion alone people have been detained, and in some cases subjected to processes that should not be part of a civilised nation.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Terry Waite: Were my captors worse than the Guant�namo jailers?) ¶ 13:20 0 comments
A Journey That Ended in Anguish (LATimes.com)
Col. Ted Westhusing, a military ethicist who volunteered to go to Iraq, was upset by what he saw. His apparent suicide raises questions.
By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer
"War is the hardest place to make moral jodgments."
--Col. Ted Westhusing, Journal of Military Ethics
WASHINGTON — One hot, dusty day in June, Col. Ted Westhusing was found dead in a trailer at a military base near the Baghdad airport, a single gunshot wound to the head.
The Army would conclude that he committed suicide with his service pistol. At the time, he was the highest-ranking officer to die in Iraq.
The Army closed its case. But the questions surrounding Westhusing's death continue.
Westhusing, 44, was no ordinary officer. He was one of the Army's leading scholars of military ethics, a full professor at West Point who volunteered to serve in Iraq to be able to better teach his students. He had a doctorate in philosophy; his dissertation was an extended meditation on the meaning of honor.
So it was only natural that Westhusing acted when he learned of possible corruption by U.S. contractors in Iraq. A few weeks before he died, Westhusing received an anonymous complaint that a private security company he oversaw had cheated the U.S. government and committed human rights violations. Westhusing confronted the contractor and reported the concerns to superiors, who launched an investigation.
In e-mails to his family, Westhusing seemed especially upset by one conclusion he had reached: that traditional military values such as duty, honor and country had been replaced by profit motives in Iraq, where the U.S. had come to rely heavily on contractors for jobs once done by the military.
His death stunned all who knew him. Colleagues and commanders wondered whether they had missed signs of depression. He had been losing weight and not sleeping well. But only a day before his death, Westhusing won praise from a senior officer for his progress in training Iraqi police.
(More ... A Journey That Ended in Anguish - Los Angeles Times) ¶ 11:41 0 comments
By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer
"War is the hardest place to make moral jodgments."
--Col. Ted Westhusing, Journal of Military Ethics
WASHINGTON — One hot, dusty day in June, Col. Ted Westhusing was found dead in a trailer at a military base near the Baghdad airport, a single gunshot wound to the head.
The Army would conclude that he committed suicide with his service pistol. At the time, he was the highest-ranking officer to die in Iraq.
The Army closed its case. But the questions surrounding Westhusing's death continue.
Westhusing, 44, was no ordinary officer. He was one of the Army's leading scholars of military ethics, a full professor at West Point who volunteered to serve in Iraq to be able to better teach his students. He had a doctorate in philosophy; his dissertation was an extended meditation on the meaning of honor.
So it was only natural that Westhusing acted when he learned of possible corruption by U.S. contractors in Iraq. A few weeks before he died, Westhusing received an anonymous complaint that a private security company he oversaw had cheated the U.S. government and committed human rights violations. Westhusing confronted the contractor and reported the concerns to superiors, who launched an investigation.
In e-mails to his family, Westhusing seemed especially upset by one conclusion he had reached: that traditional military values such as duty, honor and country had been replaced by profit motives in Iraq, where the U.S. had come to rely heavily on contractors for jobs once done by the military.
His death stunned all who knew him. Colleagues and commanders wondered whether they had missed signs of depression. He had been losing weight and not sleeping well. But only a day before his death, Westhusing won praise from a senior officer for his progress in training Iraqi police.
(More ... A Journey That Ended in Anguish - Los Angeles Times) ¶ 11:41 0 comments
11.28.2005
In Terror Cases, Administration Sets Own Rules (NYTimes.com)
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: November 27, 2005
When Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales announced last week that Jose Padilla would be transferred to the federal justice system from military detention, he said almost nothing about the standards the administration used in deciding whether to charge terrorism suspects like Mr. Padilla with crimes or to hold them in military facilities as enemy combatants.
"We take each individual, each case, case by case," Mr. Gonzales said.
The upshot of that approach, underscored by the decision in Mr. Padilla's case, is that no one outside the administration knows just how the determination is made whether to handle a terror suspect as an enemy combatant or as a common criminal, to hold him indefinitely without charges in a military facility or to charge him in court.
Indeed, citing the need to combat terrorism, the administration has argued, with varying degrees of success, that judges should have essentially no role in reviewing its decisions. The change in Mr. Padilla's status, just days before the government's legal papers were due in his appeal to the Supreme Court, suggested to many legal observers that the administration wanted to keep the court out of the case.
"The position of the executive branch," said Eric M. Freedman, a law professor at Hofstra University who has consulted with lawyers for several detainees, "is that it can be judge, jury and executioner."
(More ... In Terror Cases, Administration Sets Own Rules - New York Times) ¶ 08:27 0 comments
Published: November 27, 2005
When Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales announced last week that Jose Padilla would be transferred to the federal justice system from military detention, he said almost nothing about the standards the administration used in deciding whether to charge terrorism suspects like Mr. Padilla with crimes or to hold them in military facilities as enemy combatants.
"We take each individual, each case, case by case," Mr. Gonzales said.
The upshot of that approach, underscored by the decision in Mr. Padilla's case, is that no one outside the administration knows just how the determination is made whether to handle a terror suspect as an enemy combatant or as a common criminal, to hold him indefinitely without charges in a military facility or to charge him in court.
Indeed, citing the need to combat terrorism, the administration has argued, with varying degrees of success, that judges should have essentially no role in reviewing its decisions. The change in Mr. Padilla's status, just days before the government's legal papers were due in his appeal to the Supreme Court, suggested to many legal observers that the administration wanted to keep the court out of the case.
"The position of the executive branch," said Eric M. Freedman, a law professor at Hofstra University who has consulted with lawyers for several detainees, "is that it can be judge, jury and executioner."
(More ... In Terror Cases, Administration Sets Own Rules - New York Times) ¶ 08:27 0 comments
11.27.2005
Ohio Scandals May Give Democrats a Lift (WashingtonPost.com)
Republicans' Standing In Key State Endangered
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 27, 2005; Page A05
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The scandal began as a curiosity. Tom Noe, a gregarious businessman and Republican Party leader in northwest Ohio, had been entrusted with $50 million in state money to invest in rare coins, with the idea of winning fat returns for the workers' compensation fund.
It seemed an oddity at most, but like a loose thread on a jacket, the more investigators pulled, the more the garment unraveled, revealing members of Ohio's Republican establishment who had been wined, dined and enriched by Noe.
Gov. Bob Taft (R), heir to the state's most famous political name, pleaded no contest in August to accepting secret freebies from Noe and others and was fined $4,000. Members of his staff admitted borrowing money from Noe or using his Florida Keys vacation home. Millions in state funds proved to be missing from Noe's accounts.
As Republicans raced to distance themselves from Noe, a federal grand jury in Toledo indicted him last month on charges that he illegally funneled $45,400 in campaign contributions to President Bush's reelection campaign. Prosecutors said he circumvented the $2,000 limit on individual contributions by getting 24 friends and associates to make the contributions, and reimbursing them.
(More ... Ohio Scandals May Give Democrats a Lift) ¶ 22:24 0 comments
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 27, 2005; Page A05
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The scandal began as a curiosity. Tom Noe, a gregarious businessman and Republican Party leader in northwest Ohio, had been entrusted with $50 million in state money to invest in rare coins, with the idea of winning fat returns for the workers' compensation fund.
It seemed an oddity at most, but like a loose thread on a jacket, the more investigators pulled, the more the garment unraveled, revealing members of Ohio's Republican establishment who had been wined, dined and enriched by Noe.
Gov. Bob Taft (R), heir to the state's most famous political name, pleaded no contest in August to accepting secret freebies from Noe and others and was fined $4,000. Members of his staff admitted borrowing money from Noe or using his Florida Keys vacation home. Millions in state funds proved to be missing from Noe's accounts.
As Republicans raced to distance themselves from Noe, a federal grand jury in Toledo indicted him last month on charges that he illegally funneled $45,400 in campaign contributions to President Bush's reelection campaign. Prosecutors said he circumvented the $2,000 limit on individual contributions by getting 24 friends and associates to make the contributions, and reimbursing them.
(More ... Ohio Scandals May Give Democrats a Lift) ¶ 22:24 0 comments
Help Wanted: Academic Economists, Pro-Bush (NYTimes.com)
By DANIEL ALTMAN
Published: November 27, 2005
IT'S no secret that hurricanes and wars have swamped the economic agenda that George W. Bush planned for his second term. In the commotion, however, one fact has gone largely unnoticed: much of Washington's expert economic team has disappeared.
The chairmanship of the Council of Economic Advisers will soon be vacant, and two spots on the Federal Reserve Board that were recently filled by academic economists already are. There is no assistant secretary of the Treasury for tax policy, and the director's chair at the Congressional Budget Office, currently occupied by Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin, will soon be empty, too.
The White House and Congress need as many as five academic economists of high caliber, and it's not obvious where they will come from. The Republican Party may be facing something of a shallow bench.
"Bush's reputation in at least the academic community is about as low as you can imagine," said William A. Niskanen, who was a member of the council during President Ronald Reagan's first term and is now chairman of the Cato Institute, a libertarian research group. "A lot of people would not be willing to give up a good tenured position for a position in the White House."
(More ... Help Wanted: Academic Economists, Pro-Bush - New York Times) ¶ 22:20 0 comments
Published: November 27, 2005
IT'S no secret that hurricanes and wars have swamped the economic agenda that George W. Bush planned for his second term. In the commotion, however, one fact has gone largely unnoticed: much of Washington's expert economic team has disappeared.
The chairmanship of the Council of Economic Advisers will soon be vacant, and two spots on the Federal Reserve Board that were recently filled by academic economists already are. There is no assistant secretary of the Treasury for tax policy, and the director's chair at the Congressional Budget Office, currently occupied by Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin, will soon be empty, too.
The White House and Congress need as many as five academic economists of high caliber, and it's not obvious where they will come from. The Republican Party may be facing something of a shallow bench.
"Bush's reputation in at least the academic community is about as low as you can imagine," said William A. Niskanen, who was a member of the council during President Ronald Reagan's first term and is now chairman of the Cato Institute, a libertarian research group. "A lot of people would not be willing to give up a good tenured position for a position in the White House."
(More ... Help Wanted: Academic Economists, Pro-Bush - New York Times) ¶ 22:20 0 comments
Rise in Gases Unmatched by a History in Ancient Ice (NYTimes.com)
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: November 25, 2005
Shafts of ancient ice pulled from Antarctica's frozen depths show that for at least 650,000 years three important heat-trapping greenhouse gases never reached recent atmospheric levels caused by human activities, scientists are reporting today.
The measured gases were carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Concentrations have risen over the last several centuries at a pace far beyond that seen before humans began intensively clearing forests and burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels.
The sampling and analysis were done by the European Program for Ice Coring in Antarctica, and the results are being published today in the journal Science.
The evidence was found in air bubbles trapped in successively older ice samples extracted from a nearly two-mile-deep hole drilled in a remote spot in East Antarctica called Dome C.
Experts familiar with the findings who were not involved with the research said the samples provided a vital long-term view of variations in the atmosphere and Antarctic climate. They say the data will help test and improve computer models used to forecast how accumulating greenhouse emissions will affect the climate.
Some climate experts not involved in the research said the findings also confirmed that the buildup of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping smokestack and tailpipe emissions was taking the atmosphere into uncharted territory.
(More ... Rise in Gases Unmatched by a History in Ancient Ice - New York Times) ¶ 22:05 0 comments
Published: November 25, 2005
Shafts of ancient ice pulled from Antarctica's frozen depths show that for at least 650,000 years three important heat-trapping greenhouse gases never reached recent atmospheric levels caused by human activities, scientists are reporting today.
The measured gases were carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Concentrations have risen over the last several centuries at a pace far beyond that seen before humans began intensively clearing forests and burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels.
The sampling and analysis were done by the European Program for Ice Coring in Antarctica, and the results are being published today in the journal Science.
The evidence was found in air bubbles trapped in successively older ice samples extracted from a nearly two-mile-deep hole drilled in a remote spot in East Antarctica called Dome C.
Experts familiar with the findings who were not involved with the research said the samples provided a vital long-term view of variations in the atmosphere and Antarctic climate. They say the data will help test and improve computer models used to forecast how accumulating greenhouse emissions will affect the climate.
Some climate experts not involved in the research said the findings also confirmed that the buildup of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping smokestack and tailpipe emissions was taking the atmosphere into uncharted territory.
(More ... Rise in Gases Unmatched by a History in Ancient Ice - New York Times) ¶ 22:05 0 comments
11.26.2005
Bad for the Country (NYTimes.com)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: November 25, 2005
"What was good for our country," a former president of General Motors once declared, "was good for General Motors, and vice versa." G.M., which has been losing billions, has announced that it will eliminate 30,000 jobs. Is what's bad for General Motors bad for America?
In this case, yes.
Most commentary about G.M.'s troubles is resigned: pundits may regret the decline of a once-dominant company, but they don't think anything can or should be done about it. And commentary from some conservatives has an unmistakable tone of satisfaction, a sense that uppity workers who joined a union and made demands are getting what they deserve.
We shouldn't be so complacent. I won't defend the many bad decisions of G.M.'s management, or every demand made by the United Automobile Workers. But job losses at General Motors are part of the broader weakness of U.S. manufacturing, especially the part of U.S. manufacturing that offers workers decent wages and benefits. And some of that weakness reflects two big distortions in our economy: a dysfunctional health care system and an unsustainable trade deficit.
According to A. T. Kearney, last year General Motors spent $1,500 per vehicle on health care. By contrast, Toyota spent only $201 per vehicle in North America, and $97 in Japan. If the United States had national health insurance, G.M. would be in much better shape than it is.
(More ... Bad for the Country - New York Times) ¶ 08:26 0 comments
Published: November 25, 2005
"What was good for our country," a former president of General Motors once declared, "was good for General Motors, and vice versa." G.M., which has been losing billions, has announced that it will eliminate 30,000 jobs. Is what's bad for General Motors bad for America?
In this case, yes.
Most commentary about G.M.'s troubles is resigned: pundits may regret the decline of a once-dominant company, but they don't think anything can or should be done about it. And commentary from some conservatives has an unmistakable tone of satisfaction, a sense that uppity workers who joined a union and made demands are getting what they deserve.
We shouldn't be so complacent. I won't defend the many bad decisions of G.M.'s management, or every demand made by the United Automobile Workers. But job losses at General Motors are part of the broader weakness of U.S. manufacturing, especially the part of U.S. manufacturing that offers workers decent wages and benefits. And some of that weakness reflects two big distortions in our economy: a dysfunctional health care system and an unsustainable trade deficit.
According to A. T. Kearney, last year General Motors spent $1,500 per vehicle on health care. By contrast, Toyota spent only $201 per vehicle in North America, and $97 in Japan. If the United States had national health insurance, G.M. would be in much better shape than it is.
(More ... Bad for the Country - New York Times) ¶ 08:26 0 comments
11.25.2005
Replant the American Dream (WashingtonPost.com)
By David Ignatius
Friday, November 25, 2005; Page A37
When I lived abroad, Thanksgiving was always my favorite holiday. It was a chance to scrounge up a turkey, gather foreign and American friends, and celebrate what America represented to the world. I liked to give a sentimental toast when the turkey arrived at the table, and more than once I had my foreign guests in tears. They loved the American dream as much as I did.
I don't think Americans realize how much we have tarnished those ideals in the eyes of the rest of the world these past few years. The public opinion polls tell us that America isn't just disliked or feared overseas -- it is reviled. We are seen as hypocrites who boast of our democratic values but who behave lawlessly and with contempt for others. I hate this America-bashing, but when I try to defend the United States and its values in my travels abroad, I find foreigners increasingly are dismissive. How do you deny the reality of Abu Ghraib, they ask, when the vice president of the United States is actively lobbying against rules that would ban torture?
Of all the reversals the United States has suffered in recent years, this may be the worst. We are slowly shredding the fabric that defines what it means to be an American.
Not so long ago our country really was seen as different. Foreigners queued up outside any institution that called itself an "American university," hoping for a chance at their piece of the dream. My own ancestors were educated at such a college, and their children's and grandchildren's success in the new land was part of a global chain of American affirmation and renewal.
We are eating up this seed corn. That's what I have seen in recent years. We inherited incredible riches of goodwill -- a world that admired our values and wanted a seat at our table -- and we have been squandering them. The Bush administration didn't begin this wasting of American ideals, but it has been making the problem worse. Certainly George W. Bush has been spending our international political capital at an astounding clip.
(More ... Replant the American Dream) ¶ 18:51 1 comments
Friday, November 25, 2005; Page A37
When I lived abroad, Thanksgiving was always my favorite holiday. It was a chance to scrounge up a turkey, gather foreign and American friends, and celebrate what America represented to the world. I liked to give a sentimental toast when the turkey arrived at the table, and more than once I had my foreign guests in tears. They loved the American dream as much as I did.
I don't think Americans realize how much we have tarnished those ideals in the eyes of the rest of the world these past few years. The public opinion polls tell us that America isn't just disliked or feared overseas -- it is reviled. We are seen as hypocrites who boast of our democratic values but who behave lawlessly and with contempt for others. I hate this America-bashing, but when I try to defend the United States and its values in my travels abroad, I find foreigners increasingly are dismissive. How do you deny the reality of Abu Ghraib, they ask, when the vice president of the United States is actively lobbying against rules that would ban torture?
Of all the reversals the United States has suffered in recent years, this may be the worst. We are slowly shredding the fabric that defines what it means to be an American.
Not so long ago our country really was seen as different. Foreigners queued up outside any institution that called itself an "American university," hoping for a chance at their piece of the dream. My own ancestors were educated at such a college, and their children's and grandchildren's success in the new land was part of a global chain of American affirmation and renewal.
We are eating up this seed corn. That's what I have seen in recent years. We inherited incredible riches of goodwill -- a world that admired our values and wanted a seat at our table -- and we have been squandering them. The Bush administration didn't begin this wasting of American ideals, but it has been making the problem worse. Certainly George W. Bush has been spending our international political capital at an astounding clip.
(More ... Replant the American Dream) ¶ 18:51 1 comments
Accelerated Rise in Sea Levels Blamed on Global Warming (Independent.co.uk)
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 25 November 2005
Sea levels are rising twice as fast as they were 150 years ago and man-made greenhouse emissions are the prime cause, a study by scientists in America has found.
Tide lines worldwide are rising by about 2 millimetres a year, compared to 1 millimetre a year in 1850, said Kenneth Miller, professor of geology at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
The rate at which sea levels are rising is probably greater than at any time for thousands of years, suggesting that greenhouse emissions are accelerating climate change, he said.
"Without reliable information on how sea levels had changed before we had our new measures, we couldn't be sure the current rate wasn't happening all along," said Professor Miller. "Now with solid historical data, we know it is definitely a recent phenomenon."
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Environment) ¶ 18:35 0 comments
Published: 25 November 2005
Sea levels are rising twice as fast as they were 150 years ago and man-made greenhouse emissions are the prime cause, a study by scientists in America has found.
Tide lines worldwide are rising by about 2 millimetres a year, compared to 1 millimetre a year in 1850, said Kenneth Miller, professor of geology at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
The rate at which sea levels are rising is probably greater than at any time for thousands of years, suggesting that greenhouse emissions are accelerating climate change, he said.
"Without reliable information on how sea levels had changed before we had our new measures, we couldn't be sure the current rate wasn't happening all along," said Professor Miller. "Now with solid historical data, we know it is definitely a recent phenomenon."
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Environment) ¶ 18:35 0 comments
11.24.2005
War Protesters Arrested Near President Bush's Texas Ranch (LATimes.com)
5:14 PM PST, November 23, 2005
From Associated Press
A dozen war protesters including Daniel Ellsberg were arrested today for setting up camp near President Bush's ranch in defiance of new local bans on roadside camping and parking.
About four hours after the group pitched six tents and huddled in sleeping bags and blankets, McLennan County sheriff's deputies arrested them for criminal trespassing. Many in the group held up signs, including one that said "Give me liberty or give me a ditch."
A dozen or so other demonstrators left the public right of way after deputies warned them they would be arrested.
The protest was set to coincide with Bush's Thanksgiving ranch visit.
The arrests were made by more than two dozen deputies who calmly approached the demonstrators in their tents and asked if they wanted to walk out on their own or be carried. Two chose to be carried. They were to be taken to jail for booking.
Ellsberg, the former Defense Department official who leaked the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam war, estimated it was his 70th arrest for various protests since the 1970s.
"Those of us who finally saw through the Vietnam war saw through this war, and all the actions that were necessary to end the Vietnam war will be necessary here," Ellsberg said today before his arrest. "I think the American people will get us out of this (war)."
(More ... War Protesters Arrested Near President Bush's Texas Ranch - Los Angeles Times) ¶ 21:06 0 comments
From Associated Press
A dozen war protesters including Daniel Ellsberg were arrested today for setting up camp near President Bush's ranch in defiance of new local bans on roadside camping and parking.
About four hours after the group pitched six tents and huddled in sleeping bags and blankets, McLennan County sheriff's deputies arrested them for criminal trespassing. Many in the group held up signs, including one that said "Give me liberty or give me a ditch."
A dozen or so other demonstrators left the public right of way after deputies warned them they would be arrested.
The protest was set to coincide with Bush's Thanksgiving ranch visit.
The arrests were made by more than two dozen deputies who calmly approached the demonstrators in their tents and asked if they wanted to walk out on their own or be carried. Two chose to be carried. They were to be taken to jail for booking.
Ellsberg, the former Defense Department official who leaked the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam war, estimated it was his 70th arrest for various protests since the 1970s.
"Those of us who finally saw through the Vietnam war saw through this war, and all the actions that were necessary to end the Vietnam war will be necessary here," Ellsberg said today before his arrest. "I think the American people will get us out of this (war)."
(More ... War Protesters Arrested Near President Bush's Texas Ranch - Los Angeles Times) ¶ 21:06 0 comments
11.23.2005
Obama: 'Reduce the U.S. Military Footprint' in Iraq (ChicagoTribune.com)
By Jeff Zeleny
Tribune national correspondent
Published November 22, 2005, 9:04 PM CST
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) injected himself Tuesday into the forefront of a growing bipartisan call to reappraise American foreign policy in Iraq, saying the U.S. should begin a gradual withdrawal of its troops next year so Iraqis become empowered to take charge of their country's fate.
As he scolded the White House for what he called "shameful" attempts to silence dissent about the war, Obama urged President Bush to look beyond politics and admit that mistakes were made in Iraq. He said the U.S. should seek to accelerate its training of Iraqi troops and seek political solutions that are more practical than striving to create a "Jeffersonian democracy" in Iraq.
"During the course of the next year, we need to focus our attention on how to reduce the U.S. military footprint in Iraq," Obama said in a luncheon speech to the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, a forum he had requested. "Notice that I say `reduce,' and not `fully withdraw.' "
Obama, who vigorously opposed the war during his Senate candidacy, made his first major foray into the escalating public debate as Congress and the White House wrestle with the past and the future of U.S. involvement in Iraq and as American military deaths in conflict reached 2,100.
"The administration has narrowed an entire debate about war into two camps: `cut-and-run' or `stay the course,' " Obama said. "If you offer any criticism or even mention that we should take a second look at our strategy and change our approach, you're branded `cut-and-run.' If you're ready to blindly trust the administration no matter what they do, you're willing to stay the course."
(More ... Chicago Tribune | Obama: 'Reduce the U.S. military footprint' in Iraq) ¶ 21:54 0 comments
Tribune national correspondent
Published November 22, 2005, 9:04 PM CST
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) injected himself Tuesday into the forefront of a growing bipartisan call to reappraise American foreign policy in Iraq, saying the U.S. should begin a gradual withdrawal of its troops next year so Iraqis become empowered to take charge of their country's fate.
As he scolded the White House for what he called "shameful" attempts to silence dissent about the war, Obama urged President Bush to look beyond politics and admit that mistakes were made in Iraq. He said the U.S. should seek to accelerate its training of Iraqi troops and seek political solutions that are more practical than striving to create a "Jeffersonian democracy" in Iraq.
"During the course of the next year, we need to focus our attention on how to reduce the U.S. military footprint in Iraq," Obama said in a luncheon speech to the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, a forum he had requested. "Notice that I say `reduce,' and not `fully withdraw.' "
Obama, who vigorously opposed the war during his Senate candidacy, made his first major foray into the escalating public debate as Congress and the White House wrestle with the past and the future of U.S. involvement in Iraq and as American military deaths in conflict reached 2,100.
"The administration has narrowed an entire debate about war into two camps: `cut-and-run' or `stay the course,' " Obama said. "If you offer any criticism or even mention that we should take a second look at our strategy and change our approach, you're branded `cut-and-run.' If you're ready to blindly trust the administration no matter what they do, you're willing to stay the course."
(More ... Chicago Tribune | Obama: 'Reduce the U.S. military footprint' in Iraq) ¶ 21:54 0 comments
11.22.2005
How U.S. Fell Under the Spell of 'Curveball' (LATimes.com)
By Bob Drogin and John Goetz, Special to The Times
BERLIN — The German intelligence officials responsible for one of the most important informants on Saddam Hussein's suspected weapons of mass destruction say that the Bush administration and the CIA repeatedly exaggerated his claims during the run-up to the war in Iraq.
Five senior officials from Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, said in interviews with The Times that they warned U.S. intelligence authorities that the source, an Iraqi defector code-named Curveball, never claimed to produce germ weapons and never saw anyone else do so.
According to the Germans, President Bush mischaracterized Curveball's information when he warned before the war that Iraq had at least seven mobile factories brewing biological poisons. Then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell also misstated Curveball's accounts in his prewar presentation to the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003, the Germans said.
Curveball's German handlers for the last six years said his information was often vague, mostly secondhand and impossible to confirm.
"This was not substantial evidence," said a senior German intelligence official. "We made clear we could not verify the things he said."
The German authorities, speaking about the case for the first time, also said that their informant suffered from emotional and mental problems. "He is not a stable, psychologically stable guy," said a BND official who supervised the case. "He is not a completely normal person," agreed a BND analyst.
(More ... How U.S. Fell Under the Spell of 'Curveball' - Los Angeles Times) ¶ 08:17 0 comments
BERLIN — The German intelligence officials responsible for one of the most important informants on Saddam Hussein's suspected weapons of mass destruction say that the Bush administration and the CIA repeatedly exaggerated his claims during the run-up to the war in Iraq.
Five senior officials from Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, said in interviews with The Times that they warned U.S. intelligence authorities that the source, an Iraqi defector code-named Curveball, never claimed to produce germ weapons and never saw anyone else do so.
According to the Germans, President Bush mischaracterized Curveball's information when he warned before the war that Iraq had at least seven mobile factories brewing biological poisons. Then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell also misstated Curveball's accounts in his prewar presentation to the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003, the Germans said.
Curveball's German handlers for the last six years said his information was often vague, mostly secondhand and impossible to confirm.
"This was not substantial evidence," said a senior German intelligence official. "We made clear we could not verify the things he said."
The German authorities, speaking about the case for the first time, also said that their informant suffered from emotional and mental problems. "He is not a stable, psychologically stable guy," said a BND official who supervised the case. "He is not a completely normal person," agreed a BND analyst.
(More ... How U.S. Fell Under the Spell of 'Curveball' - Los Angeles Times) ¶ 08:17 0 comments
Time to Leave (NYTimes.com)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: November 21, 2005
Not long ago wise heads offered some advice to those of us who had argued since 2003 that the Iraq war was sold on false pretenses: give it up. The 2004 election, they said, showed that we would never convince the American people. They suggested that we stop talking about how we got into Iraq and focus instead on what to do next.
It turns out that the wise heads were wrong. A solid majority of Americans now believe that we were misled into war. And it is only now, when the public has realized the truth about the past, that serious discussions about where we are and where we're going are able to get a hearing.
Representative John Murtha's speech calling for a quick departure from Iraq was full of passion, but it was also serious and specific in a way rarely seen on the other side of the debate. President Bush and his apologists speak in vague generalities about staying the course and finishing the job. But Mr. Murtha spoke of mounting casualties and lagging recruiting, the rising frequency of insurgent attacks, stagnant oil production and lack of clean water.
Mr. Murtha - a much-decorated veteran who cares deeply about America's fighting men and women - argued that our presence in Iraq is making things worse, not better. Meanwhile, the war is destroying the military he loves. And that's why he wants us out as soon as possible.
I'd add that the war is also destroying America's moral authority. When Mr. Bush speaks of human rights, the world thinks of Abu Ghraib. (In his speech, Mr. Murtha pointed out the obvious: torture at Abu Ghraib helped fuel the insurgency.) When administration officials talk of spreading freedom, the world thinks about the reality that much of Iraq is now ruled by theocrats and their militias.
(More ... Time to Leave - New York Times) ¶ 08:04 0 comments
Published: November 21, 2005
Not long ago wise heads offered some advice to those of us who had argued since 2003 that the Iraq war was sold on false pretenses: give it up. The 2004 election, they said, showed that we would never convince the American people. They suggested that we stop talking about how we got into Iraq and focus instead on what to do next.
It turns out that the wise heads were wrong. A solid majority of Americans now believe that we were misled into war. And it is only now, when the public has realized the truth about the past, that serious discussions about where we are and where we're going are able to get a hearing.
Representative John Murtha's speech calling for a quick departure from Iraq was full of passion, but it was also serious and specific in a way rarely seen on the other side of the debate. President Bush and his apologists speak in vague generalities about staying the course and finishing the job. But Mr. Murtha spoke of mounting casualties and lagging recruiting, the rising frequency of insurgent attacks, stagnant oil production and lack of clean water.
Mr. Murtha - a much-decorated veteran who cares deeply about America's fighting men and women - argued that our presence in Iraq is making things worse, not better. Meanwhile, the war is destroying the military he loves. And that's why he wants us out as soon as possible.
I'd add that the war is also destroying America's moral authority. When Mr. Bush speaks of human rights, the world thinks of Abu Ghraib. (In his speech, Mr. Murtha pointed out the obvious: torture at Abu Ghraib helped fuel the insurgency.) When administration officials talk of spreading freedom, the world thinks about the reality that much of Iraq is now ruled by theocrats and their militias.
(More ... Time to Leave - New York Times) ¶ 08:04 0 comments
11.21.2005
Powell Aide: Torture 'Guidance' From VP (CNN.com)
Former staff chief says Cheney's 'flexibility' helped lead to abuse
Sunday, November 20, 2005; Posted: 5:18 p.m. EST (22:18 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former top State Department official said Sunday that Vice President Dick Cheney provided the "philosophical guidance" and "flexibility" that led to the torture of detainees in U.S. facilities.
Retired U.S. Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, told CNN that the practice of torture may be continuing in U.S.-run facilities.
"There's no question in my mind that we did. There's no question in my mind that we may be still doing it," Wilkerson said on CNN's "Late Edition."
"There's no question in my mind where the philosophical guidance and the flexibility in order to do so originated -- in the vice president of the United States' office," he said. "His implementer in this case was [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department."
At another point in the interview, Wilkerson said "the vice president had to cover this in order for it to happen and in order for Secretary Rumsfeld to feel as though he had freedom of action."
(More ... CNN.com - Powell aide: Torture 'guidance' from VP - Nov 20, 2005) ¶ 19:15 0 comments
Sunday, November 20, 2005; Posted: 5:18 p.m. EST (22:18 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former top State Department official said Sunday that Vice President Dick Cheney provided the "philosophical guidance" and "flexibility" that led to the torture of detainees in U.S. facilities.
Retired U.S. Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, told CNN that the practice of torture may be continuing in U.S.-run facilities.
"There's no question in my mind that we did. There's no question in my mind that we may be still doing it," Wilkerson said on CNN's "Late Edition."
"There's no question in my mind where the philosophical guidance and the flexibility in order to do so originated -- in the vice president of the United States' office," he said. "His implementer in this case was [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department."
At another point in the interview, Wilkerson said "the vice president had to cover this in order for it to happen and in order for Secretary Rumsfeld to feel as though he had freedom of action."
(More ... CNN.com - Powell aide: Torture 'guidance' from VP - Nov 20, 2005) ¶ 19:15 0 comments
No Way Out, Mr President
STUCK: Bush pulls a face as he tries to duck out of a Beijing news conference via the wrong doors. "I was trying to escape," he joked. (Jason Reed/Reuters) ¶ 18:54 0 comments
STUCK: Bush pulls a face as he tries to duck out of a Beijing news conference via the wrong doors. "I was trying to escape," he joked. (Jason Reed/Reuters) ¶ 18:54 0 comments
President Lacks the Key to His Exit Strategy (LATimes.com)
BEIJING — Irked by a reporter who told him he seemed to be "off his game" at a public appearance here, President Bush sought to make a hasty exit from a news conference but was thwarted by locked doors.
At the end of a day of meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other officials, Bush held a session with a small group of U.S. reporters and spoke at length about religious freedom, the Iraq war and the value of China's currency.
The final reporter he called on assessed Bush's performance earlier in the day when he stood beside Hu in the Great Hall of the People near Tiananmen Square to deliver a statement.
"Respectfully, sir — you know we're always respectful — in your statement this morning with President Hu, you seemed a little off your game, you seemed to hurry through your statement. There was a lack of enthusiasm. Was something bothering you?" he asked.
"Have you ever heard of jet lag?" Bush responded. "Well, good. That answers your question."
(More ... President Lacks the Key to His Exit Strategy - Los Angeles Times) ¶ 18:53 0 comments
At the end of a day of meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other officials, Bush held a session with a small group of U.S. reporters and spoke at length about religious freedom, the Iraq war and the value of China's currency.
The final reporter he called on assessed Bush's performance earlier in the day when he stood beside Hu in the Great Hall of the People near Tiananmen Square to deliver a statement.
"Respectfully, sir — you know we're always respectful — in your statement this morning with President Hu, you seemed a little off your game, you seemed to hurry through your statement. There was a lack of enthusiasm. Was something bothering you?" he asked.
"Have you ever heard of jet lag?" Bush responded. "Well, good. That answers your question."
(More ... President Lacks the Key to His Exit Strategy - Los Angeles Times) ¶ 18:53 0 comments
The Big Thaw (Independent.co.uk)
Global disaster will follow if the ice cap on Greenland melts. Now scientists say it is vanishing far faster than even they expected. Geoffrey Lean reports
Published: 20 November 2005
Greenland's glaciers have begun to race towards the ocean, leading scientists to predict that the vast island's ice cap is approaching irreversible meltdown, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
Research to be published in a few days' time shows how glaciers that have been stable for centuries have started to shrink dramatically as temperatures in the Arctic have soared with global warming. On top of this, record amounts of the ice cap's surface turned to water this summer.
The two developments - the most alarming manifestations of climate change to date - suggest that the ice cap is melting far more rapidly than scientists had thought, with immense consequences for civilisation and the planet. Its complete disappearance would raise the levels of the world's seas by 20 feet, spelling inundation for London and other coastal cities around the globe, along with much of low-lying countries such as Bangladesh.
More immediately, the vast amount of fresh water discharged into the ocean as the ice melts threatens to shut down the Gulf Stream, which protects Britain and the rest of northern Europe from a freezing climate like that of Labrador.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Environment) ¶ 16:53 0 comments
Published: 20 November 2005
Greenland's glaciers have begun to race towards the ocean, leading scientists to predict that the vast island's ice cap is approaching irreversible meltdown, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
Research to be published in a few days' time shows how glaciers that have been stable for centuries have started to shrink dramatically as temperatures in the Arctic have soared with global warming. On top of this, record amounts of the ice cap's surface turned to water this summer.
The two developments - the most alarming manifestations of climate change to date - suggest that the ice cap is melting far more rapidly than scientists had thought, with immense consequences for civilisation and the planet. Its complete disappearance would raise the levels of the world's seas by 20 feet, spelling inundation for London and other coastal cities around the globe, along with much of low-lying countries such as Bangladesh.
More immediately, the vast amount of fresh water discharged into the ocean as the ice melts threatens to shut down the Gulf Stream, which protects Britain and the rest of northern Europe from a freezing climate like that of Labrador.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Environment) ¶ 16:53 0 comments
11.19.2005
A Private Obsession (NYTimes.com)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: November 18, 2005
"Lots of things in life are complicated." So declared Michael Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, in response to the mass confusion as registration for the new Medicare drug benefit began. But the complexity of the program - which has reduced some retirees to tears as they try to make what may be life-or-death decisions - is far greater than necessary.
One reason the drug benefit is so confusing is that older Americans can't simply sign up with Medicare as they can for other benefits. They must, instead, choose from a baffling array of plans offered by private middlemen. Why?
Here's a parallel. Earlier this year Senator Rick Santorum introduced a bill that would have forced the National Weather Service to limit the weather information directly available to the public. Although he didn't say so explicitly, he wanted the service to funnel that information through private forecasters instead.
Mr. Santorum's bill didn't go anywhere. But it was a classic attempt to force gratuitous privatization: involving private corporations in the delivery of public services even when those corporations have no useful role to play.
The Medicare drug benefit is an example of gratuitous privatization on a grand scale.
(More ... A Private Obsession - New York Times) ¶ 10:07 0 comments
Published: November 18, 2005
"Lots of things in life are complicated." So declared Michael Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, in response to the mass confusion as registration for the new Medicare drug benefit began. But the complexity of the program - which has reduced some retirees to tears as they try to make what may be life-or-death decisions - is far greater than necessary.
One reason the drug benefit is so confusing is that older Americans can't simply sign up with Medicare as they can for other benefits. They must, instead, choose from a baffling array of plans offered by private middlemen. Why?
Here's a parallel. Earlier this year Senator Rick Santorum introduced a bill that would have forced the National Weather Service to limit the weather information directly available to the public. Although he didn't say so explicitly, he wanted the service to funnel that information through private forecasters instead.
Mr. Santorum's bill didn't go anywhere. But it was a classic attempt to force gratuitous privatization: involving private corporations in the delivery of public services even when those corporations have no useful role to play.
The Medicare drug benefit is an example of gratuitous privatization on a grand scale.
(More ... A Private Obsession - New York Times) ¶ 10:07 0 comments
11.18.2005
More Than 80,000 Held by US Since 9/11 Attacks (Guardian.co.uk)
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Friday November 18, 2005
The Guardian
The US has detained more than 80,000 people in facilities from Afghanistan to Cuba since the attacks on the World Trade Centre four years ago, the Pentagon said yesterday. The disclosure comes at a time of growing unease about Washington's treatment of prisoners in its "war on terror" and Europe's unknowing help in the CIA's practice of rendition.
The Bush administration has defended the detentions from criticism by human rights organisations, saying the interrogation of suspected militants has been crucial in its attempt to dismantle terror networks. At least 14,500 people are in US custody in connection with the war on terror, Pentagon officials in Washington and Baghdad said yesterday. Some 13,814 people are being held in Iraq and there are approximately 500 at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.
But it was an even less visible aspect of America's detention policy that was causing a furore in European capitals yesterday: the CIA practice of rendering terror suspects for interrogation to secret prisons in third countries. Washington faced mounting pressure yesterday to respond to reports of secret landings by private jets used by the CIA to transport terror suspects in at least six countries. "If these allegations turn out to be true, the crucial thing is whether these flights landed in the member states with or without the knowledge and approval of the authorities," Terry Davis, the Council of Europe's secretary general, said.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | More than 80,000 held by US since 9/11 attacks) ¶ 22:13 0 comments
Friday November 18, 2005
The Guardian
The US has detained more than 80,000 people in facilities from Afghanistan to Cuba since the attacks on the World Trade Centre four years ago, the Pentagon said yesterday. The disclosure comes at a time of growing unease about Washington's treatment of prisoners in its "war on terror" and Europe's unknowing help in the CIA's practice of rendition.
The Bush administration has defended the detentions from criticism by human rights organisations, saying the interrogation of suspected militants has been crucial in its attempt to dismantle terror networks. At least 14,500 people are in US custody in connection with the war on terror, Pentagon officials in Washington and Baghdad said yesterday. Some 13,814 people are being held in Iraq and there are approximately 500 at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.
But it was an even less visible aspect of America's detention policy that was causing a furore in European capitals yesterday: the CIA practice of rendering terror suspects for interrogation to secret prisons in third countries. Washington faced mounting pressure yesterday to respond to reports of secret landings by private jets used by the CIA to transport terror suspects in at least six countries. "If these allegations turn out to be true, the crucial thing is whether these flights landed in the member states with or without the knowledge and approval of the authorities," Terry Davis, the Council of Europe's secretary general, said.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | More than 80,000 held by US since 9/11 attacks) ¶ 22:13 0 comments
Legislation Renewing Patriot Act Stalls (ChicagoTribune.com)
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer
Published November 17, 2005, 8:04 PM CST
WASHINGTON -- Legislation reauthorizing the Patriot Act stalled Thursday as lawmakers worked to satisfy senators upset by the elimination of some civil liberties protections.
Negotiators had worked for days to develop an acceptable compromise and presented a draft to senators and representatives late Wednesday.
But senators on the negotiating committee have yet to agree to the compromise, aware that six Republicans and Democrats are threatening to block the final version of the bill when it comes to the full Senate.
"If further changes are not made, we will work to stop this bill from becoming law," the six wrote the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees.
The senators are Republicans Larry Craig of Idaho, John Sununu of New Hampshire and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Ken Salazar of Colorado.
(More ... href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-patriot-act,1,5620416.story?coll=chi-news-hed">Chicago Tribune | Legislation Renewing Patriot Act Stalls) ¶ 21:18 0 comments
Associated Press Writer
Published November 17, 2005, 8:04 PM CST
WASHINGTON -- Legislation reauthorizing the Patriot Act stalled Thursday as lawmakers worked to satisfy senators upset by the elimination of some civil liberties protections.
Negotiators had worked for days to develop an acceptable compromise and presented a draft to senators and representatives late Wednesday.
But senators on the negotiating committee have yet to agree to the compromise, aware that six Republicans and Democrats are threatening to block the final version of the bill when it comes to the full Senate.
"If further changes are not made, we will work to stop this bill from becoming law," the six wrote the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees.
The senators are Republicans Larry Craig of Idaho, John Sununu of New Hampshire and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Ken Salazar of Colorado.
(More ... href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-patriot-act,1,5620416.story?coll=chi-news-hed">Chicago Tribune | Legislation Renewing Patriot Act Stalls) ¶ 21:18 0 comments
In Loss for G.O.P., House Rejects Spending Plan (NYTimes.com)
By CARL HULSE
Published: November 18, 2005
WASHINGTON, Friday, Nov. 18 - House Republican leaders were dealt a rare defeat Thursday as Democrats and 22 Republicans teamed up to kill a major health and education spending measure.
The 224-to-209 rejection of the $142.5 billion in spending on an array of social programs was the first time since the early days of the Republican takeover of the House a decade ago that the majority had come out on the losing end of such a vote.
The struggle on the measure underlined the divide over spending policy confounding House Republicans as they struggle to provide relief for hurricane victims while placating party members alarmed about growth in federal spending.
It also focused attention once again on the difficulties of a leadership team that has been somewhat off balance since September, when Representative Tom DeLay was forced to step aside as majority leader after he was indicted in Texas.
In rebelling against the spending measure, Democrats and some Republicans said it fell woefully short of fulfilling federal commitments.
They pointed, for example, to $900 million in health care cuts that took a toll on the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and on rural health care. They opposed the elimination of $8 billion to prepare for a potential flu pandemic. And they pointed to a provision that would strip money from a variety of popular education programs and leave Pell Grants to college students frozen, as part of the first reduction in education spending in a decade.
"The Republican bill to fund our nation's investments in health, education and other important programs betrayed our nation's values and its future," Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland said.
(More ... In Loss for G.O.P., House Rejects Spending Plan - New York Times) ¶ 21:07 0 comments
Published: November 18, 2005
WASHINGTON, Friday, Nov. 18 - House Republican leaders were dealt a rare defeat Thursday as Democrats and 22 Republicans teamed up to kill a major health and education spending measure.
The 224-to-209 rejection of the $142.5 billion in spending on an array of social programs was the first time since the early days of the Republican takeover of the House a decade ago that the majority had come out on the losing end of such a vote.
The struggle on the measure underlined the divide over spending policy confounding House Republicans as they struggle to provide relief for hurricane victims while placating party members alarmed about growth in federal spending.
It also focused attention once again on the difficulties of a leadership team that has been somewhat off balance since September, when Representative Tom DeLay was forced to step aside as majority leader after he was indicted in Texas.
In rebelling against the spending measure, Democrats and some Republicans said it fell woefully short of fulfilling federal commitments.
They pointed, for example, to $900 million in health care cuts that took a toll on the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and on rural health care. They opposed the elimination of $8 billion to prepare for a potential flu pandemic. And they pointed to a provision that would strip money from a variety of popular education programs and leave Pell Grants to college students frozen, as part of the first reduction in education spending in a decade.
"The Republican bill to fund our nation's investments in health, education and other important programs betrayed our nation's values and its future," Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland said.
(More ... In Loss for G.O.P., House Rejects Spending Plan - New York Times) ¶ 21:07 0 comments
Clinton: The Big Mistake of the Iraq War (Independent.co.uk)
Ex-President leads the critics
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
Published: 18 November 2005
The dam has burst. Former president Bill Clinton's verdict that the war in Iraq was "a big mistake" is echoing around the world.
The unease, the misgivings, and downright opposition can be contained no longer. From Senate Republicans, to one of the most influential Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday, the message has been the same. The Iraq war has been a disaster, and the sooner American troops leave the better. The alarm was sounded on Capitol Hill on Tuesday when Senate Republicans and Democrats joined forces to demand the White House explain every three months how it intends to "complete the mission" in Iraq.
The next day, Mr Clinton weighed in from the Middle East, saying the war as it unfolded was "a big mistake". It was a good thing Saddam Hussein had gone, the former president said, "but I don't agree with what was done". The administration underestimated "how easy it would be to overthrow Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country".
He said President George Bush had made "several errors, including the total dismantlement of the authority structure of Iraq". He added: "We never sent enough troops and didn't have enough troops to control or seal the borders." Across those porous borders, "the terrorists came in. That was the central mistake, and we're still living with that".
As passions have run higher here this week, the venerable traditions that foreign policy arguments "stopped at the water's edge", seems to have been conclusively discarded. The most recent Democratic president was in Dubai, in the heart of the Arab world, when he delivered his verdict on the war that was launched by his successor in the White House.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > World Politics) ¶ 16:53 0 comments
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
Published: 18 November 2005
The dam has burst. Former president Bill Clinton's verdict that the war in Iraq was "a big mistake" is echoing around the world.
The unease, the misgivings, and downright opposition can be contained no longer. From Senate Republicans, to one of the most influential Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday, the message has been the same. The Iraq war has been a disaster, and the sooner American troops leave the better. The alarm was sounded on Capitol Hill on Tuesday when Senate Republicans and Democrats joined forces to demand the White House explain every three months how it intends to "complete the mission" in Iraq.
The next day, Mr Clinton weighed in from the Middle East, saying the war as it unfolded was "a big mistake". It was a good thing Saddam Hussein had gone, the former president said, "but I don't agree with what was done". The administration underestimated "how easy it would be to overthrow Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country".
He said President George Bush had made "several errors, including the total dismantlement of the authority structure of Iraq". He added: "We never sent enough troops and didn't have enough troops to control or seal the borders." Across those porous borders, "the terrorists came in. That was the central mistake, and we're still living with that".
As passions have run higher here this week, the venerable traditions that foreign policy arguments "stopped at the water's edge", seems to have been conclusively discarded. The most recent Democratic president was in Dubai, in the heart of the Arab world, when he delivered his verdict on the war that was launched by his successor in the White House.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > World Politics) ¶ 16:53 0 comments
11.17.2005
Statement of ABA President Michael S. Greco (ABAnet.org)
Statement of Michael S. Greco, President,
American Bar Association
Re: Denial of habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo detainees
November 14, 2005 -- The U.S. Senate last week adopted with no hearings and with little debate Senator Lindsey Graham’s proposal to eliminate habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo detainees, denying them access to federal courts. The American Bar Association urges the senators to reconsider and defeat that enormous change to our fundamental legal system.
Throughout our nation’s history, starting with the defense by lawyer, later president, John Adams of Massachusetts, of the British soldiers who fired on patriots in the Boston Massacre, it has been our commitment to basic principles of justice, even for the most unpopular among us, that has allowed us to maintain the high moral ground in the world, the most strategically important territory for us to occupy as we struggle with the enemies of freedom.
Our influence in the world is directly affected by our actions with respect to those we detain. The prisoners in Guantanamo have been held there, largely incommunicado, for four years. That fact alone offends our heritage of due process and fairness. The writ of habeas corpus was developed precisely to prevent the prolonged detention of individuals without charge, by allowing those held to petition the federal courts. To eliminate the right of habeas corpus would be shocking to our nation.
As Senator Graham himself has stated repeatedly, in the battle against terrorism we cannot allow ourselves to become like the enemy. Adoption of his amendment would undermine the very principles that distinguish us from our enemies.
(More ... Statement of ABA President Michael S. Greco on denial of habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo detainees) ¶ 22:48 0 comments
American Bar Association
Re: Denial of habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo detainees
November 14, 2005 -- The U.S. Senate last week adopted with no hearings and with little debate Senator Lindsey Graham’s proposal to eliminate habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo detainees, denying them access to federal courts. The American Bar Association urges the senators to reconsider and defeat that enormous change to our fundamental legal system.
Throughout our nation’s history, starting with the defense by lawyer, later president, John Adams of Massachusetts, of the British soldiers who fired on patriots in the Boston Massacre, it has been our commitment to basic principles of justice, even for the most unpopular among us, that has allowed us to maintain the high moral ground in the world, the most strategically important territory for us to occupy as we struggle with the enemies of freedom.
Our influence in the world is directly affected by our actions with respect to those we detain. The prisoners in Guantanamo have been held there, largely incommunicado, for four years. That fact alone offends our heritage of due process and fairness. The writ of habeas corpus was developed precisely to prevent the prolonged detention of individuals without charge, by allowing those held to petition the federal courts. To eliminate the right of habeas corpus would be shocking to our nation.
As Senator Graham himself has stated repeatedly, in the battle against terrorism we cannot allow ourselves to become like the enemy. Adoption of his amendment would undermine the very principles that distinguish us from our enemies.
(More ... Statement of ABA President Michael S. Greco on denial of habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo detainees) ¶ 22:48 0 comments
Spaniard Calls C.I.A. Plane Case 'Very Serious' (NYTimes.com)
By RENWICK McLEAN
Published: November 16, 2005
MADRID, Nov. 15 - Spain's interior minister expressed concern on Tuesday about accusations that planes used by the C.I.A. to transport terrorism suspects had made stopovers at a Spanish airport, saying the charges were "very serious" and would not be tolerated if proved.
In an interview with the Spanish television station Telecinco, the minister, José Antonio Alonso, said he could not discuss the specifics of the case because they were the subject of a judicial investigation.
But he added, "If it is confirmed that it is true, we would be, I insist, facing very serious acts, acts that are not tolerable in any way."
The comments, though hedged, are the clearest expression yet by the Spanish government that the accusations could further strain relations between Spain and the United States, which have been at odds over issues like the fight against Islamic terrorism and the Iraq war since Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero took office in April 2004.
Mr. Alonso said the Spanish government would raise its concerns directly with Washington. "Spain is a sovereign country, and as a sovereign country it has to have full knowledge of what is contained within any means of transport, such as an airplane in this case, that passes through its territory," he said.
(More ... Spaniard Calls C.I.A. Plane Case 'Very Serious' - New York Times) ¶ 22:21 0 comments
Published: November 16, 2005
MADRID, Nov. 15 - Spain's interior minister expressed concern on Tuesday about accusations that planes used by the C.I.A. to transport terrorism suspects had made stopovers at a Spanish airport, saying the charges were "very serious" and would not be tolerated if proved.
In an interview with the Spanish television station Telecinco, the minister, José Antonio Alonso, said he could not discuss the specifics of the case because they were the subject of a judicial investigation.
But he added, "If it is confirmed that it is true, we would be, I insist, facing very serious acts, acts that are not tolerable in any way."
The comments, though hedged, are the clearest expression yet by the Spanish government that the accusations could further strain relations between Spain and the United States, which have been at odds over issues like the fight against Islamic terrorism and the Iraq war since Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero took office in April 2004.
Mr. Alonso said the Spanish government would raise its concerns directly with Washington. "Spain is a sovereign country, and as a sovereign country it has to have full knowledge of what is contained within any means of transport, such as an airplane in this case, that passes through its territory," he said.
(More ... Spaniard Calls C.I.A. Plane Case 'Very Serious' - New York Times) ¶ 22:21 0 comments
Incendiary Weapons: The Big White Lie (Independent.co.uk)
US finally admits using white phosphorus in Fallujah - and beyond. Iraqis investigate if civilians were targeted with deadly chemical
Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Kim Sengupta in Baghdad and Colin Brown
Published: 17 November 2005
The Iraqi government is to investigate the United States military's use of white phosphorus shells during the battle of Fallujah - an inquiry that could reveal whether American forces breached a fundamental international weapons treaty.
Iraq's acting Human Rights minister, Narmin Othman, said last night that a team would be dispatched to Fallujah to try to ascertain conclusively whether civilians had been killed or injured by the incendiary weapon. The use of white phosphorus (WP) and other incendiary weapons such as napalm against civilians is prohibited.
The announcement came as John Reid, the Secretary of State for Defence, faced mounting calls for an inquiry into the use of WP by British forces as well as what Britain knew about its deployment by American troops. Mr Reid said that he would look into the matter.
The move by the Iraqi government and the growing concern at Westminster follows the Pentagon's confirmation to The Independent earlier this week that WP had been used during the battle of Fallujah last November and the presentation of persuasive evidence that civilians had been among the victims.
The fresh controversy over Fallujah, which has raged for a full 12 months, was initially sparked last week by a documentary by the Italian state broadcaster, RAI, which claimed there were numerous civilian casualties. A Pentagon spokesman said yesterday he would "not be surprised" if WP had been used by US forces elsewhere in Iraq.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > World Politics) ¶ 14:49 0 comments
Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Kim Sengupta in Baghdad and Colin Brown
Published: 17 November 2005
The Iraqi government is to investigate the United States military's use of white phosphorus shells during the battle of Fallujah - an inquiry that could reveal whether American forces breached a fundamental international weapons treaty.
Iraq's acting Human Rights minister, Narmin Othman, said last night that a team would be dispatched to Fallujah to try to ascertain conclusively whether civilians had been killed or injured by the incendiary weapon. The use of white phosphorus (WP) and other incendiary weapons such as napalm against civilians is prohibited.
The announcement came as John Reid, the Secretary of State for Defence, faced mounting calls for an inquiry into the use of WP by British forces as well as what Britain knew about its deployment by American troops. Mr Reid said that he would look into the matter.
The move by the Iraqi government and the growing concern at Westminster follows the Pentagon's confirmation to The Independent earlier this week that WP had been used during the battle of Fallujah last November and the presentation of persuasive evidence that civilians had been among the victims.
The fresh controversy over Fallujah, which has raged for a full 12 months, was initially sparked last week by a documentary by the Italian state broadcaster, RAI, which claimed there were numerous civilian casualties. A Pentagon spokesman said yesterday he would "not be surprised" if WP had been used by US forces elsewhere in Iraq.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > World Politics) ¶ 14:49 0 comments
Cheney Says War Critics 'Dishonest, Reprehensible' (Reuters.com)
Wed Nov 16, 2005 8:00 PM ET
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the sharpest White House attack yet on critics of the Iraq war, Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday that accusations the Bush administration manipulated intelligence to justify the war were a "dishonest and reprehensible" political ploy.
Cheney called Democrats "opportunists" who were peddling "cynical and pernicious falsehoods" to gain political advantage while U.S. soldiers died in Iraq.
The comments were the latest salvo in an aggressive White House counterattack on war critics, launched as Democrats step up their criticism of the war and polls show declining public support for the conflict.
Cheney repeated President George W. Bush's charge that Democratic critics were rewriting history by questioning prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction even though many Senate Democrats voted in October 2002 to authorize the invasion.
(More ... Top News Article | Reuters.com) ¶ 14:23 0 comments
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the sharpest White House attack yet on critics of the Iraq war, Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday that accusations the Bush administration manipulated intelligence to justify the war were a "dishonest and reprehensible" political ploy.
Cheney called Democrats "opportunists" who were peddling "cynical and pernicious falsehoods" to gain political advantage while U.S. soldiers died in Iraq.
The comments were the latest salvo in an aggressive White House counterattack on war critics, launched as Democrats step up their criticism of the war and polls show declining public support for the conflict.
Cheney repeated President George W. Bush's charge that Democratic critics were rewriting history by questioning prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction even though many Senate Democrats voted in October 2002 to authorize the invasion.
(More ... Top News Article | Reuters.com) ¶ 14:23 0 comments
11.15.2005
Clark Applies Brakes on US Talks (NZHerald.co.nz)
15.11.05
By Audrey Young
Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday dampened suggestions that New Zealand was willing to take part in a comprehensive review of its relationship with the United States.
The possibility of improving relations with Washington has been talked up by the new Foreign Minister, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, in response to a farewell speech by former ambassador Charles Swindells citing US concerns about a lack of trust in the relationship.
But Helen Clark yesterday made it clear she was not as enthusiastic as Mr Peters in improving the relationship or embracing the "comprehensive dialogue" sought by the Americans.
She dismissed a suggestion last week by incoming ambassador Bill McCormick that in terms of the review, the ball was now in New Zealand's court.
"We responded [to Mr Swindells]. We are always happy to have a dialogue, so the ball's in everybody's court, I guess."
Helen Clark also dismissed a suggestion that what the Americans were proposing was a mutual review of the relationship. She painted it as a one-sided concern, seated in New Zealand's anti-nuclear law.
(More ... Clark applies brakes on US talks - 15 Nov 2005 - National News) ¶ 15:15 0 comments
By Audrey Young
Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday dampened suggestions that New Zealand was willing to take part in a comprehensive review of its relationship with the United States.
The possibility of improving relations with Washington has been talked up by the new Foreign Minister, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, in response to a farewell speech by former ambassador Charles Swindells citing US concerns about a lack of trust in the relationship.
But Helen Clark yesterday made it clear she was not as enthusiastic as Mr Peters in improving the relationship or embracing the "comprehensive dialogue" sought by the Americans.
She dismissed a suggestion last week by incoming ambassador Bill McCormick that in terms of the review, the ball was now in New Zealand's court.
"We responded [to Mr Swindells]. We are always happy to have a dialogue, so the ball's in everybody's court, I guess."
Helen Clark also dismissed a suggestion that what the Americans were proposing was a mutual review of the relationship. She painted it as a one-sided concern, seated in New Zealand's anti-nuclear law.
(More ... Clark applies brakes on US talks - 15 Nov 2005 - National News) ¶ 15:15 0 comments
US Faulted on Handling Nuclear Threat and Detainees (NZHerald.co.nz)
15.11.05 1.00pm
WASHINGTON - The US government is not doing enough to protect nuclear weapons from terrorists and its handling of terrorism suspects is undermining America's image in the Muslim world, members of a commission that investigated the September 11 attacks said.
Although President George W Bush calls arms proliferation the country's biggest threat and al Qaeda has sought nuclear weapons for a decade, the former commission's chairman Thomas Kean said, "the most striking thing to us is that the size of the problem still totally dwarfs the policy response".
'In short, we still do not have a maximum effort against the most urgent threat... to the American people," he told a news conference, noting that half the nuclear materials in Russia still have no security upgrade.
The bipartisan commission was established by the US Congress to investigate the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network that killed nearly 3000 people.
It formally disbanded after submitting its final report in July last year, but members continue working as the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, which tracks implementation of the report's recommendations.
The report recorded little progress on combating weapons proliferation as well as on US foreign policy and public diplomacy issues,
"This kind of grade -- unfulfilled, insufficient, minimal progress -- those grades are failing grades... That is an unacceptable response," Commission member Timothy Roemer said.
(More ... US faulted on handling nuclear threat and detainees - 15 Nov 2005 - World News) ¶ 15:12 0 comments
WASHINGTON - The US government is not doing enough to protect nuclear weapons from terrorists and its handling of terrorism suspects is undermining America's image in the Muslim world, members of a commission that investigated the September 11 attacks said.
Although President George W Bush calls arms proliferation the country's biggest threat and al Qaeda has sought nuclear weapons for a decade, the former commission's chairman Thomas Kean said, "the most striking thing to us is that the size of the problem still totally dwarfs the policy response".
'In short, we still do not have a maximum effort against the most urgent threat... to the American people," he told a news conference, noting that half the nuclear materials in Russia still have no security upgrade.
The bipartisan commission was established by the US Congress to investigate the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network that killed nearly 3000 people.
It formally disbanded after submitting its final report in July last year, but members continue working as the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, which tracks implementation of the report's recommendations.
The report recorded little progress on combating weapons proliferation as well as on US foreign policy and public diplomacy issues,
"This kind of grade -- unfulfilled, insufficient, minimal progress -- those grades are failing grades... That is an unacceptable response," Commission member Timothy Roemer said.
(More ... US faulted on handling nuclear threat and detainees - 15 Nov 2005 - World News) ¶ 15:12 0 comments
Gore Makes Sustainable Investment His Business (TheAge.com.au)
November 14, 2005
As chairman of a British company, the former US vice-president still has global warming and long-term consequences on his mind, writes Peter Weekes.
AL GORE, the man who five years ago won the popular vote but lost the US presidential elections by a few hanging chads, has a stark warning for all investors.
"Capitalism is at a critical juncture," he says, arguing that the focus on short-term results is undermining issues such as the long-term sustainability of profits, how a company relates to the community and its employees, and the environment.
Australia's politicians might prefer to quietly retire after securing lucrative business consultancy deals, but Gore is out to make a noise as co-founder and chairman of British-based sustainable investing company Generation Investment.
"If in the process of proving our business case that it is just good common sense to take these matters into consideration when making investment decisions, we can encourage other investors to do the same and have an impact on the behaviour of the market, then that's all for the good," he says.
Generation was formed when Gore met former Goldman Sachs chief executive David Blood and they began mulling over how to combine conventional equity market analysis with longer-term judgements about sustainability.
(More ... Gore makes sustainable investment his business - Business - Business) ¶ 15:07 0 comments
As chairman of a British company, the former US vice-president still has global warming and long-term consequences on his mind, writes Peter Weekes.
AL GORE, the man who five years ago won the popular vote but lost the US presidential elections by a few hanging chads, has a stark warning for all investors.
"Capitalism is at a critical juncture," he says, arguing that the focus on short-term results is undermining issues such as the long-term sustainability of profits, how a company relates to the community and its employees, and the environment.
Australia's politicians might prefer to quietly retire after securing lucrative business consultancy deals, but Gore is out to make a noise as co-founder and chairman of British-based sustainable investing company Generation Investment.
"If in the process of proving our business case that it is just good common sense to take these matters into consideration when making investment decisions, we can encourage other investors to do the same and have an impact on the behaviour of the market, then that's all for the good," he says.
Generation was formed when Gore met former Goldman Sachs chief executive David Blood and they began mulling over how to combine conventional equity market analysis with longer-term judgements about sustainability.
(More ... Gore makes sustainable investment his business - Business - Business) ¶ 15:07 0 comments
11.14.2005
Fish Numbers Plummet in Warming Pacific (Independent.co.uk)
Disappearance of plankton causes unprecedented collapse in sea and bird life off western US coast
By Geoffrey Lean in San Francisco
Published: 13 November 2005
A catastrophic collapse in sea and bird life numbers along America's Northwest Pacific seaboard is raising fears that global warming is beginning to irreparably damage the health of the oceans.
Scientists say a dramatic rise in the ocean temperature led to unprecedented deaths of birds and fish this summer all along the coast from central California to British Columbia in Canada.
The population of seabirds, such as cormorants, auklets and murres, and fish, including salmon and rockfish, fell to record lows.
This ecological meltdown mirrors a similar development taking place thousands of miles away in the North Sea, which The Independent on Sunday first reported two years ago. Also caused by warming of the water, the increase in temperatures there has driven the plankton that form the base of the marine food chain hundreds of miles north, triggering a collapse in the number of sand eels on which many birds and large fish feed and causing a rapid decline in puffins, razorbills, kittiwakes and other birds.
The collapses in the Pacific are also down to the disappearance of plankton, though the immediate cause for this is different. Normally, winds blow south along the coast in spring and summer, pushing warmer surface waters away from the shore and allowing colder water that is rich in nutrients to well up from the sea bottom, feeding the microscopic plants called phytoplankton. These are eaten by zooplankton, tiny animals that in turn feed fish, seabirds and marine mammals.
But this year the winds were extraordinarily weak and the cold water did not well up in spring as usual. Water temperatures soared to 7C above normal, which delighted bathers but caused the whole delicate system to collapse. The amount of phytoplankton crashed to a quarter of its usual level.
"In 50 years this has never happened," said Bill Peterson, an oceanographer with the US government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, in Newport, Oregon.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Environment) ¶ 19:23 0 comments
By Geoffrey Lean in San Francisco
Published: 13 November 2005
A catastrophic collapse in sea and bird life numbers along America's Northwest Pacific seaboard is raising fears that global warming is beginning to irreparably damage the health of the oceans.
Scientists say a dramatic rise in the ocean temperature led to unprecedented deaths of birds and fish this summer all along the coast from central California to British Columbia in Canada.
The population of seabirds, such as cormorants, auklets and murres, and fish, including salmon and rockfish, fell to record lows.
This ecological meltdown mirrors a similar development taking place thousands of miles away in the North Sea, which The Independent on Sunday first reported two years ago. Also caused by warming of the water, the increase in temperatures there has driven the plankton that form the base of the marine food chain hundreds of miles north, triggering a collapse in the number of sand eels on which many birds and large fish feed and causing a rapid decline in puffins, razorbills, kittiwakes and other birds.
The collapses in the Pacific are also down to the disappearance of plankton, though the immediate cause for this is different. Normally, winds blow south along the coast in spring and summer, pushing warmer surface waters away from the shore and allowing colder water that is rich in nutrients to well up from the sea bottom, feeding the microscopic plants called phytoplankton. These are eaten by zooplankton, tiny animals that in turn feed fish, seabirds and marine mammals.
But this year the winds were extraordinarily weak and the cold water did not well up in spring as usual. Water temperatures soared to 7C above normal, which delighted bathers but caused the whole delicate system to collapse. The amount of phytoplankton crashed to a quarter of its usual level.
"In 50 years this has never happened," said Bill Peterson, an oceanographer with the US government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, in Newport, Oregon.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Environment) ¶ 19:23 0 comments
Fishy Whiff (Scoop.co.nz)
By Rosalea Barker
Monday, 14 November 2005, 1.38pm
"In 1973 he purchased the landmark restaurant 'Jake�s Famous Crawfish' and within the year had partnered with Doug Schmick. While growing the successful restaurant company he attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business, Executive Management Program in 1979. Today there are 56 McCormick & Schmick�s Seafood Restaurants in 24 states. The company went public in July 2004 and is traded on the NASDAQ. Mr. McCormick currently serves as Chairman Emeritus."
The above quote is from the Meet the Ambassador page on the US Embassy's website, and if you do not have alarm bells ringing in your head about the buddy-buddy relationship of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rt Hon Winston Peters, and William P. McCormick, the newly appointed ambassador, then let me spell it out for you.
McCormick, with his proven track record of taking over a small, independently owned enterprise with a valuable trade name, and turning it into just one of a chain of corporately operated restaurants, is the perfect choice for turning NZ into just another soulless outpost of the US Economic Empire. And in my opinion, Peters is just the patsy to help him do it.
(More ... Scoop: Stateside With Rosalea: Fishy Whiff) ¶ 19:20 0 comments
Monday, 14 November 2005, 1.38pm
"In 1973 he purchased the landmark restaurant 'Jake�s Famous Crawfish' and within the year had partnered with Doug Schmick. While growing the successful restaurant company he attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business, Executive Management Program in 1979. Today there are 56 McCormick & Schmick�s Seafood Restaurants in 24 states. The company went public in July 2004 and is traded on the NASDAQ. Mr. McCormick currently serves as Chairman Emeritus."
The above quote is from the Meet the Ambassador page on the US Embassy's website, and if you do not have alarm bells ringing in your head about the buddy-buddy relationship of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rt Hon Winston Peters, and William P. McCormick, the newly appointed ambassador, then let me spell it out for you.
McCormick, with his proven track record of taking over a small, independently owned enterprise with a valuable trade name, and turning it into just one of a chain of corporately operated restaurants, is the perfect choice for turning NZ into just another soulless outpost of the US Economic Empire. And in my opinion, Peters is just the patsy to help him do it.
(More ... Scoop: Stateside With Rosalea: Fishy Whiff) ¶ 19:20 0 comments
Joe Klein: Why the Democrats Are Happy Warriors (TIME.com)
The Party Tries to Move Forward With Five Big Ideas
Posted Sunday, Nov. 13, 2005
Congressman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois had a nice moment on Meet the Press about a month ago. He said Democrats would run on their "ideas" in the 2006 congressional elections. "But what are the Democratic ideas?" moderator Tim Russert asked skeptically. Emanuel proceeded to rattle off five big ones, which seemed to shock Congressman Tom Reynolds of New York, his Republican debate opponent. "Those are the first solutions that have come out of (any Democrat's) mouth," Reynolds said.
No doubt "solutions" was a slip—but the notion that "Democratic ideas" might not be an oxymoron represented one small step forward for the perpetually benighted Donkey party.
And so, on Election Day of 2005, I checked in with Emanuel at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) offices—he's the current chairman—and asked him to elaborate. He responded with a rat-a-tat of ideas and expletives, a joyousness unknown to Dems in recent years. But then, Emanuel, a former ballet dancer and Clinton White House capo, has always seemed a human amphetamine. I kept asking him to slow down as I took notes. He wouldn't, but here's the general idea:
Expand support for higher education. "Make college as universal in the 21st century as high school was in the 20th"; three out of four jobs in the new, high-tech economy require two years or more of higher education.
Create a National Institute of Science and Engineering, like the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Funding for the nih has quadrupled since the 1980s, from $7 billion to $28 billion. "That's why we lead in pharmaceuticals and medical technology." Funding for science has been stagnant—about $5 billion—during that period. "I'd quadruple it and concentrate on nanotechnology, broadband and energy."
Promote energy independence. Reduce foreign oil by 50% in 10 years. Create a hybrid economy. Use government contracts and tax incentives to boost solar and wind power.
"You got a job, you got health care." Give the uninsured vouchers—"I'm not afraid of vouchers"—for use in the insurance system that covers federal employees. Basic coverage, nothing fancy.
Organize a bipartisan summit on the budget. Balance it.
(More ... TIME.com -- Joe Klein: Why the Democrats Are Happy Warriors) ¶ 18:46 0 comments
Posted Sunday, Nov. 13, 2005
Congressman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois had a nice moment on Meet the Press about a month ago. He said Democrats would run on their "ideas" in the 2006 congressional elections. "But what are the Democratic ideas?" moderator Tim Russert asked skeptically. Emanuel proceeded to rattle off five big ones, which seemed to shock Congressman Tom Reynolds of New York, his Republican debate opponent. "Those are the first solutions that have come out of (any Democrat's) mouth," Reynolds said.
No doubt "solutions" was a slip—but the notion that "Democratic ideas" might not be an oxymoron represented one small step forward for the perpetually benighted Donkey party.
And so, on Election Day of 2005, I checked in with Emanuel at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) offices—he's the current chairman—and asked him to elaborate. He responded with a rat-a-tat of ideas and expletives, a joyousness unknown to Dems in recent years. But then, Emanuel, a former ballet dancer and Clinton White House capo, has always seemed a human amphetamine. I kept asking him to slow down as I took notes. He wouldn't, but here's the general idea:
Expand support for higher education. "Make college as universal in the 21st century as high school was in the 20th"; three out of four jobs in the new, high-tech economy require two years or more of higher education.
Create a National Institute of Science and Engineering, like the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Funding for the nih has quadrupled since the 1980s, from $7 billion to $28 billion. "That's why we lead in pharmaceuticals and medical technology." Funding for science has been stagnant—about $5 billion—during that period. "I'd quadruple it and concentrate on nanotechnology, broadband and energy."
Promote energy independence. Reduce foreign oil by 50% in 10 years. Create a hybrid economy. Use government contracts and tax incentives to boost solar and wind power.
"You got a job, you got health care." Give the uninsured vouchers—"I'm not afraid of vouchers"—for use in the insurance system that covers federal employees. Basic coverage, nothing fancy.
Organize a bipartisan summit on the budget. Balance it.
(More ... TIME.com -- Joe Klein: Why the Democrats Are Happy Warriors) ¶ 18:46 0 comments
Roberts: Iraq Will Affect Future War Votes (WashingtonPost.com)
Experience With Faulty Data Has Made Senators More Wary, Panel Chairman Says
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 14, 2005; Page A04
The Republican chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said yesterday that one lesson of the faulty prewar intelligence on Iraq is that senators would take a hard look at intelligence before voting to go to war.
"I think a lot of us would really stop and think a moment before we would ever vote for war or to go and take military action," Sen. Pat Roberts (Kan.) said on "Fox News Sunday."
"We don't accept this intelligence at face value anymore," he added. "We get into preemptive oversight and do digging in regards to our hard targets."
He said that agreement has been reached on the Phase 2 review that the intelligence panel is doing to look into whether the Bush administration exaggerated or misused prewar intelligence. The review may not be finished this year, he said.
The intelligence panel vice chairman, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), also appearing on Fox, called the review "absolutely useful" because "if it is the fact that they [the Bush administration] created intelligence or shaped intelligence in order to bring American opinion along to support them in going to war, that's a really bad thing -- it should not ever be repeated."
(More ... Roberts: Iraq Will Affect Future War Votes) ¶ 18:40 0 comments
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 14, 2005; Page A04
The Republican chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said yesterday that one lesson of the faulty prewar intelligence on Iraq is that senators would take a hard look at intelligence before voting to go to war.
"I think a lot of us would really stop and think a moment before we would ever vote for war or to go and take military action," Sen. Pat Roberts (Kan.) said on "Fox News Sunday."
"We don't accept this intelligence at face value anymore," he added. "We get into preemptive oversight and do digging in regards to our hard targets."
He said that agreement has been reached on the Phase 2 review that the intelligence panel is doing to look into whether the Bush administration exaggerated or misused prewar intelligence. The review may not be finished this year, he said.
The intelligence panel vice chairman, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), also appearing on Fox, called the review "absolutely useful" because "if it is the fact that they [the Bush administration] created intelligence or shaped intelligence in order to bring American opinion along to support them in going to war, that's a really bad thing -- it should not ever be repeated."
(More ... Roberts: Iraq Will Affect Future War Votes) ¶ 18:40 0 comments
Health Economics 101 (NYTimes.com)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: November 14, 2005
Several readers have asked me a good question: we rely on free markets to deliver most goods and services, so why shouldn't we do the same thing for health care? Some correspondents were belligerent, others honestly curious. Either way, they deserve an answer.
It comes down to three things: risk, selection and social justice.
First, about risk: in any given year, a small fraction of the population accounts for the bulk of medical expenses. In 2002 a mere 5 percent of Americans incurred almost half of U.S. medical costs. If you find yourself one of the unlucky 5 percent, your medical expenses will be crushing, unless you're very wealthy - or you have good insurance.
But good insurance is hard to come by, because private markets for health insurance suffer from a severe case of the economic problem known as "adverse selection," in which bad risks drive out good.
To understand adverse selection, imagine what would happen if there were only one health insurance company, and everyone was required to buy the same insurance policy. In that case, the insurance company could charge a price reflecting the medical costs of the average American, plus a small extra charge for administrative expenses.
But in the real insurance market, a company that offered such a policy to anyone who wanted it would lose money hand over fist. Healthy people, who don't expect to face high medical bills, would go elsewhere, or go without insurance. Meanwhile, those who bought the policy would be a self-selected group of people likely to have high medical costs. And if the company responded to this selection bias by charging a higher price for insurance, it would drive away even more healthy people.
That's why insurance companies don't offer a standard health insurance policy, available to anyone willing to buy it. Instead, they devote a lot of effort and money to screening applicants, selling insurance only to those considered unlikely to have high costs, while rejecting those with pre-existing conditions or other indicators of high future expenses.
(More ... Health Economics 101 - New York Times) ¶ 18:07 0 comments
Published: November 14, 2005
Several readers have asked me a good question: we rely on free markets to deliver most goods and services, so why shouldn't we do the same thing for health care? Some correspondents were belligerent, others honestly curious. Either way, they deserve an answer.
It comes down to three things: risk, selection and social justice.
First, about risk: in any given year, a small fraction of the population accounts for the bulk of medical expenses. In 2002 a mere 5 percent of Americans incurred almost half of U.S. medical costs. If you find yourself one of the unlucky 5 percent, your medical expenses will be crushing, unless you're very wealthy - or you have good insurance.
But good insurance is hard to come by, because private markets for health insurance suffer from a severe case of the economic problem known as "adverse selection," in which bad risks drive out good.
To understand adverse selection, imagine what would happen if there were only one health insurance company, and everyone was required to buy the same insurance policy. In that case, the insurance company could charge a price reflecting the medical costs of the average American, plus a small extra charge for administrative expenses.
But in the real insurance market, a company that offered such a policy to anyone who wanted it would lose money hand over fist. Healthy people, who don't expect to face high medical bills, would go elsewhere, or go without insurance. Meanwhile, those who bought the policy would be a self-selected group of people likely to have high medical costs. And if the company responded to this selection bias by charging a higher price for insurance, it would drive away even more healthy people.
That's why insurance companies don't offer a standard health insurance policy, available to anyone willing to buy it. Instead, they devote a lot of effort and money to screening applicants, selling insurance only to those considered unlikely to have high costs, while rejecting those with pre-existing conditions or other indicators of high future expenses.
(More ... Health Economics 101 - New York Times) ¶ 18:07 0 comments
Evolutionary Voting (WashingtonPost.com)
EDITORIAL
Saturday, November 12, 2005; Page A24
IF YOU LIVE BY politics, you can die by politics, too. That's the lesson of the school board vote on Tuesday in Dover, Pa. All eight of the board's Republican incumbents were defeated. And all of the defeated incumbents had supported a policy -- the first in the country -- requiring the teaching of "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution in ninth-grade biology classes. The board had been sued by a group of parents who argued that intelligent-design theory is a thinly veiled cover for creationism and that it is therefore unconstitutional to force teachers to teach it in public school classrooms. A federal judge is still pondering the case, but in the meantime eight Democrats campaigning against the intelligent-design policy have thrown out the school board.
That vote is a fitting end to the Pennsylvania chapter of this saga. Because advocates of intelligent design have never been able to convince scientists that their theory has scientific merit, they've relied on political methods to get it into school curriculums. They've marketed their ideas to politicians using Web sites, news releases and free textbooks. Although the more nuanced proponents of intelligent design, such as the Discovery Institute in Seattle, frequently claim that their intent is not to promote a literal interpretation of the Bible, many of the politicians they win over are in fact creationists and do in fact deny that evolution took place. That certainly appears to have been the case in Dover. Now the limitations of promoting a theory through politics are clearly visible: The voters can vote the undercover creationists out.
(More ... Evolutionary Voting) ¶ 07:59 0 comments
Saturday, November 12, 2005; Page A24
IF YOU LIVE BY politics, you can die by politics, too. That's the lesson of the school board vote on Tuesday in Dover, Pa. All eight of the board's Republican incumbents were defeated. And all of the defeated incumbents had supported a policy -- the first in the country -- requiring the teaching of "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution in ninth-grade biology classes. The board had been sued by a group of parents who argued that intelligent-design theory is a thinly veiled cover for creationism and that it is therefore unconstitutional to force teachers to teach it in public school classrooms. A federal judge is still pondering the case, but in the meantime eight Democrats campaigning against the intelligent-design policy have thrown out the school board.
That vote is a fitting end to the Pennsylvania chapter of this saga. Because advocates of intelligent design have never been able to convince scientists that their theory has scientific merit, they've relied on political methods to get it into school curriculums. They've marketed their ideas to politicians using Web sites, news releases and free textbooks. Although the more nuanced proponents of intelligent design, such as the Discovery Institute in Seattle, frequently claim that their intent is not to promote a literal interpretation of the Bible, many of the politicians they win over are in fact creationists and do in fact deny that evolution took place. That certainly appears to have been the case in Dover. Now the limitations of promoting a theory through politics are clearly visible: The voters can vote the undercover creationists out.
(More ... Evolutionary Voting) ¶ 07:59 0 comments
Analysis: Bush Slump May Hobble World Role (WashingtonPost.com)
By TOM RAUM
The Associated Press
Sunday, November 13, 2005; 11:26 AM
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's slumping popularity at home may be taking a toll on his ability to exert influence overseas.
Just a few years ago, rival and allied nations alike fretted that a cocky Bush administration was attempting to impose its will around the world.
Such swagger is harder to find these days.
As Bush prepares to depart Monday on a trip to Asia, questions abound about the global consequences of a U.S. president hobbled by domestic setbacks.
In recent weeks, his administration has:
*Seen its proposal for a Western Hemisphere-wide free-trade pact torpedoed during Bush's trip to Latin America. Several other of his trade initiatives are in jeopardy, too.
*Failed to persuade the U.N. nuclear watchdog to refer Iran's suspect nuclear activities to the Security Council for possible penalties.
*Ran into more obstacles in six-country talks over North Korea's nuclear agenda.
*Clashed with major European allies which, for the first time, joined other countries in supporting a move to wrest administrative control over the Internet from the United States.
(More ... Analysis: Bush Slump May Hobble World Role) ¶ 07:58 0 comments
The Associated Press
Sunday, November 13, 2005; 11:26 AM
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's slumping popularity at home may be taking a toll on his ability to exert influence overseas.
Just a few years ago, rival and allied nations alike fretted that a cocky Bush administration was attempting to impose its will around the world.
Such swagger is harder to find these days.
As Bush prepares to depart Monday on a trip to Asia, questions abound about the global consequences of a U.S. president hobbled by domestic setbacks.
In recent weeks, his administration has:
*Seen its proposal for a Western Hemisphere-wide free-trade pact torpedoed during Bush's trip to Latin America. Several other of his trade initiatives are in jeopardy, too.
*Failed to persuade the U.N. nuclear watchdog to refer Iran's suspect nuclear activities to the Security Council for possible penalties.
*Ran into more obstacles in six-country talks over North Korea's nuclear agenda.
*Clashed with major European allies which, for the first time, joined other countries in supporting a move to wrest administrative control over the Internet from the United States.
(More ... Analysis: Bush Slump May Hobble World Role) ¶ 07:58 0 comments
11.13.2005
'We Do Not Torture' and Other Funny Stories (NYTimes.com)
By FRANK RICH
Published: November 13, 2005
IF it weren't tragic it would be a New Yorker cartoon. The president of the United States, in the final stop of his forlorn Latin America tour last week, told the world, "We do not torture." Even as he spoke, the administration's flagrant embrace of torture was as hard to escape as publicity for Anderson Cooper.
The vice president, not satisfied that the C.I.A. had already been implicated in four detainee deaths, was busy lobbying Congress to give the agency a green light to commit torture in the future. Dana Priest of The Washington Post, having first uncovered secret C.I.A. prisons two years ago, was uncovering new "black sites" in Eastern Europe, where ghost detainees are subjected to unknown interrogation methods redolent of the region's Stalinist past. Before heading south, Mr. Bush had been doing his own bit for torture by threatening to cast the first veto of his presidency if Congress didn't scrap a spending bill amendment, written by John McCain and passed 90 to 9 by the Senate, banning the "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of prisoners.
So when you watch the president stand there with a straight face and say, "We do not torture" - a full year and a half after the first photos from Abu Ghraib - you have to wonder how we arrived at this ludicrous moment. The answer is not complicated. When people in power get away with telling bigger and bigger lies, they naturally think they can keep getting away with it. And for a long time, Mr. Bush and his cronies did. Not anymore.
(More ... 'We Do Not Torture' and Other Funny Stories - New York Times) ¶ 19:32 0 comments
Published: November 13, 2005
IF it weren't tragic it would be a New Yorker cartoon. The president of the United States, in the final stop of his forlorn Latin America tour last week, told the world, "We do not torture." Even as he spoke, the administration's flagrant embrace of torture was as hard to escape as publicity for Anderson Cooper.
The vice president, not satisfied that the C.I.A. had already been implicated in four detainee deaths, was busy lobbying Congress to give the agency a green light to commit torture in the future. Dana Priest of The Washington Post, having first uncovered secret C.I.A. prisons two years ago, was uncovering new "black sites" in Eastern Europe, where ghost detainees are subjected to unknown interrogation methods redolent of the region's Stalinist past. Before heading south, Mr. Bush had been doing his own bit for torture by threatening to cast the first veto of his presidency if Congress didn't scrap a spending bill amendment, written by John McCain and passed 90 to 9 by the Senate, banning the "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of prisoners.
So when you watch the president stand there with a straight face and say, "We do not torture" - a full year and a half after the first photos from Abu Ghraib - you have to wonder how we arrived at this ludicrous moment. The answer is not complicated. When people in power get away with telling bigger and bigger lies, they naturally think they can keep getting away with it. And for a long time, Mr. Bush and his cronies did. Not anymore.
(More ... 'We Do Not Torture' and Other Funny Stories - New York Times) ¶ 19:32 0 comments
Is this the man to put the Democrats back in the White House in 2008? (Guardian.co.uk)
Sunday November 13, 2005
The Observer
A company of redcoat drummer boys signals the entry of Mark Warner, his Excellency, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to Richmond's annual folk music festival. In this state, with its dense history, the drums echo defeat for the British forces, but not so for Warner, its popular outgoing governor.
Last week Warner emerged as a new darling of the Democratic party and the man some are saying has a chance of winning the presidency in 2008. Compared with other hopefuls in the race, such as Hillary Clinton, he is a virtual unknown, but there is a discernible political excitement that this former hi-tech venture capitalist is the Democratic party's dream: a southern governor who appeals to moderate southern Republicans.
The latest poll of Democrats shows that 41 per cent of party members presently back Hillary as their contender for the next election. John Edwards has 14 per cent of the support, John Kerry has 10 per cent, Senator Joe Biden has five per cent and Wesley Clark four (Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are the favoured candidates for the Republicans).
But such early polls rarely predict the future accurately, and the chatter in Washington is that the next presidential election could be an all-Virginia derby between Mark Warner, the governor, and John Warner, the state's powerful Republican senator, who was once married to Elizabeth Taylor.
Mark Warner himself is still guarded about his White House ambitions, but there is little doubt he will make a run for the nomination. The victory last week of his designated successor, Tim Kaine, was as much a blow to Bush (who campaigned for Kaine's rival) as to Hillary Clinton, who many feel can never swing Republican states to Democrat. Mostly, the Virginian result reveals what politics professor Merle Black calls the 'rather astonishing popularity of Mark Warner'.
(More ... The Observer | International | Is this the man to put the Democrats back in the White House in 2008?) ¶ 19:29 0 comments
The Observer
A company of redcoat drummer boys signals the entry of Mark Warner, his Excellency, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to Richmond's annual folk music festival. In this state, with its dense history, the drums echo defeat for the British forces, but not so for Warner, its popular outgoing governor.
Last week Warner emerged as a new darling of the Democratic party and the man some are saying has a chance of winning the presidency in 2008. Compared with other hopefuls in the race, such as Hillary Clinton, he is a virtual unknown, but there is a discernible political excitement that this former hi-tech venture capitalist is the Democratic party's dream: a southern governor who appeals to moderate southern Republicans.
The latest poll of Democrats shows that 41 per cent of party members presently back Hillary as their contender for the next election. John Edwards has 14 per cent of the support, John Kerry has 10 per cent, Senator Joe Biden has five per cent and Wesley Clark four (Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are the favoured candidates for the Republicans).
But such early polls rarely predict the future accurately, and the chatter in Washington is that the next presidential election could be an all-Virginia derby between Mark Warner, the governor, and John Warner, the state's powerful Republican senator, who was once married to Elizabeth Taylor.
Mark Warner himself is still guarded about his White House ambitions, but there is little doubt he will make a run for the nomination. The victory last week of his designated successor, Tim Kaine, was as much a blow to Bush (who campaigned for Kaine's rival) as to Hillary Clinton, who many feel can never swing Republican states to Democrat. Mostly, the Virginian result reveals what politics professor Merle Black calls the 'rather astonishing popularity of Mark Warner'.
(More ... The Observer | International | Is this the man to put the Democrats back in the White House in 2008?) ¶ 19:29 0 comments
Bush Contends Partisan Critics Hurt War Effort (NYTimes.com)
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
Published: November 12, 2005
TOBYHANNA, Pa., Nov. 11 - President Bush on Friday sharply criticized Democrats who have accused him of misleading the nation about the threat from Iraq's weapons programs, calling their criticism "deeply irresponsible" and suggesting that they are undermining the war effort.
With scores looking on, Vice President Dick Cheney participated in a Veterans Day wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
In a Veterans Day speech at an Army depot here, Mr. Bush made his most aggressive effort to date to counter the charge that he had justified taking the United States to war by twisting or exaggerating prewar intelligence. That line of attack has deepened his political woes by helping to sow doubts about his credibility and integrity at a time when public support for the war is ebbing.
"The stakes in the global war on terror are too high, and the national interest is too important, for politicians to throw out false charges," Mr. Bush said. "These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will. As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them to war continue to stand behind them."
Mr. Bush's comments, using language far more direct and provocative than in his previous efforts to parry the criticism, brought an angry response from Democratic leaders in Congress, who said questions about his use of prewar intelligence were entirely legitimate and proper.
"Attacking those patriotic Americans who have raised serious questions about the case the Bush administration made to take our country to war does not provide us a plan for success that will bring our troops home," Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the minority leader, said in a statement. "Americans seek the truth about how the nation committed our troops to war because the decision to go to war is too serious to be entered into under faulty pretenses."
(More ... Bush Contends Partisan Critics Hurt War Effort - New York Times) ¶ 04:27 0 comments
Published: November 12, 2005
TOBYHANNA, Pa., Nov. 11 - President Bush on Friday sharply criticized Democrats who have accused him of misleading the nation about the threat from Iraq's weapons programs, calling their criticism "deeply irresponsible" and suggesting that they are undermining the war effort.
With scores looking on, Vice President Dick Cheney participated in a Veterans Day wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
In a Veterans Day speech at an Army depot here, Mr. Bush made his most aggressive effort to date to counter the charge that he had justified taking the United States to war by twisting or exaggerating prewar intelligence. That line of attack has deepened his political woes by helping to sow doubts about his credibility and integrity at a time when public support for the war is ebbing.
"The stakes in the global war on terror are too high, and the national interest is too important, for politicians to throw out false charges," Mr. Bush said. "These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will. As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them to war continue to stand behind them."
Mr. Bush's comments, using language far more direct and provocative than in his previous efforts to parry the criticism, brought an angry response from Democratic leaders in Congress, who said questions about his use of prewar intelligence were entirely legitimate and proper.
"Attacking those patriotic Americans who have raised serious questions about the case the Bush administration made to take our country to war does not provide us a plan for success that will bring our troops home," Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the minority leader, said in a statement. "Americans seek the truth about how the nation committed our troops to war because the decision to go to war is too serious to be entered into under faulty pretenses."
(More ... Bush Contends Partisan Critics Hurt War Effort - New York Times) ¶ 04:27 0 comments
11.11.2005
US Trade Deficit Hits New Record (Wikinews.org)
The United States trade deficit hit a new record in September to $66.1 billion, up $5.7 billion from August. The trade deficit so far this year totals $529.8 billion.
A large part of the deficit is attributed to Hurricane Katrina.
Some of the increase is attributed to energy imports that were needed after Hurricane Katrina slowed down domestic oil production. Crude oil imports dropped $350 million due to shut down refineries, yet natural gas imports increased $3.7 billion. Fuel oil and petroleum products increased by $6.8 billion.
Also affected by Katrina, food exports fell $296 million from transportation delays caused by the shutdown of the port of New Orleans. The total decrease in all exports was $2.8 billion.
The largest trade deficit is with China is up $1.6 billion to $20.1 billion more dollars imported than exported.
Wikinews: US trade deficit hits new record - Wikinews ¶ 22:22 0 comments
A large part of the deficit is attributed to Hurricane Katrina.
Some of the increase is attributed to energy imports that were needed after Hurricane Katrina slowed down domestic oil production. Crude oil imports dropped $350 million due to shut down refineries, yet natural gas imports increased $3.7 billion. Fuel oil and petroleum products increased by $6.8 billion.
Also affected by Katrina, food exports fell $296 million from transportation delays caused by the shutdown of the port of New Orleans. The total decrease in all exports was $2.8 billion.
The largest trade deficit is with China is up $1.6 billion to $20.1 billion more dollars imported than exported.
Wikinews: US trade deficit hits new record - Wikinews ¶ 22:22 0 comments
Televangelist Robertson Warns Town of God's Wrath (Reuters.com)
By Alan Elsner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative Christian televangelist Pat Robertson told citizens of a Pennsylvania town that they had rejected God by voting their school board out of office for supporting "intelligent design" and warned them on Thursday not to be surprised if disaster struck.
Robertson, a former Republican presidential candidate and founder of the influential conservative Christian Broadcasting Network and Christian Coalition, has a long record of similar apocalyptic warnings and provocative statements.
Last summer, he hit the headlines by calling for the assassination of leftist Venezuelan Present Hugo Chavez, one of President George W. Bush's most vocal international critics.
"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city," Robertson said on his daily television show broadcast from Virginia, "The 700 Club."
(More ... US News Article | Reuters.com) ¶ 22:11 0 comments
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative Christian televangelist Pat Robertson told citizens of a Pennsylvania town that they had rejected God by voting their school board out of office for supporting "intelligent design" and warned them on Thursday not to be surprised if disaster struck.
Robertson, a former Republican presidential candidate and founder of the influential conservative Christian Broadcasting Network and Christian Coalition, has a long record of similar apocalyptic warnings and provocative statements.
Last summer, he hit the headlines by calling for the assassination of leftist Venezuelan Present Hugo Chavez, one of President George W. Bush's most vocal international critics.
"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city," Robertson said on his daily television show broadcast from Virginia, "The 700 Club."
(More ... US News Article | Reuters.com) ¶ 22:11 0 comments
Memo to Poor Countries: Stand Fast (NYTimes.com)
EDITORIAL
Published: November 11, 2005
Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim, put it bluntly after the collapse of the latest round of trade talks in London and Geneva this week: unless the European Union finally stops dithering and cuts farm subsidies to help farmers in poor countries, the negotiations to open up trade in manufactured goods and services - to help big companies in Europe and America - would take "not one month, two months, one year or two years." The talks, he said, "just won't move."
For Mr. Amorim, and the other negotiators from developing countries that have been run over by the rich world in trade talks for the past 50 years, this page has two words: Stand fast. Do not give a single additional concession until the European Union cuts its farm subsidies. It's better to let the talks collapse and send the big guns home empty-handed than to be fooled again by Europe's hypocritical blather about free trade when clearly its countries, led by France, believe in free trade only when it suits their narrow interests.
For the last half-century, the World Trade Organization and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, have aggressively dismantled barriers against trade in industrial goods and services, areas in which rich countries in Europe, along with the United States and Japan, hold a comparative advantage. But when it comes to areas where poor countries could flourish, like textiles and agriculture, it has been a different story.
Published: November 11, 2005
Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim, put it bluntly after the collapse of the latest round of trade talks in London and Geneva this week: unless the European Union finally stops dithering and cuts farm subsidies to help farmers in poor countries, the negotiations to open up trade in manufactured goods and services - to help big companies in Europe and America - would take "not one month, two months, one year or two years." The talks, he said, "just won't move."
For Mr. Amorim, and the other negotiators from developing countries that have been run over by the rich world in trade talks for the past 50 years, this page has two words: Stand fast. Do not give a single additional concession until the European Union cuts its farm subsidies. It's better to let the talks collapse and send the big guns home empty-handed than to be fooled again by Europe's hypocritical blather about free trade when clearly its countries, led by France, believe in free trade only when it suits their narrow interests.
For the last half-century, the World Trade Organization and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, have aggressively dismantled barriers against trade in industrial goods and services, areas in which rich countries in Europe, along with the United States and Japan, hold a comparative advantage. But when it comes to areas where poor countries could flourish, like textiles and agriculture, it has been a different story.
The developed world funnels nearly $1 billion a day in subsidies to its farmers; that encourages overproduction, which drives down prices. Poor nations' farmers cannot compete with subsidized products. Four years ago, in Doha, Qatar, poor countries finally won a promise that Europe, Japan and America would slash agricultural subsidies, in addition to further liberalizing world trade in services and manufactured goods.
The United States has stepped up to the plate. Last month, the United States trade representative, Robert Portman, made a substantial offer: the United States will slash allowable farm subsidies by 60 percent if Europe and Japan cut their subsidies by 83 percent. There's a difference in the numbers because European countries and Japan have higher subsidies.
(More ... Memo to Poor Countries: Stand Fast - New York Times) ¶ 22:06 0 comments
Frist Concerned About Leak, Not Secret Prisons (USATODAY.com)
Posted 11/10/2005 1:02 PM Updated 11/10/2005 1:45 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he is more concerned about the leak of information regarding secret CIA detention centers than activity in the prisons themselves.
Frist told reporters Thursday that while he believed illegal activity should not take place at detention centers, he believes the leak itself poses a greater threat to national security and is "not concerned about what goes on" behind the prison walls.
"My concern is with leaks of information that jeopardize your safety and security — period," Frist said. "That is a legitimate concern."
He noted that the CIA has also called for a federal criminal investigation into the leak of possibly classified information on secret prisons to The Washington Post. A Nov. 2 Post article touched on a number of sensitive national security issues, including the existence of secret CIA detention centers for suspected terrorists in Eastern European democracies. The Bush administration has neither confirmed nor denied that report.
Frist was asked if that meant he was not concerned about investigating what goes on in detention centers.
"I am not concerned about what goes on and I'm not going to comment about the nature of that," Frist replied.
(More ... USATODAY.com - Frist concerned about leak, not secret prisons) ¶ 21:59 0 comments
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he is more concerned about the leak of information regarding secret CIA detention centers than activity in the prisons themselves.
Frist told reporters Thursday that while he believed illegal activity should not take place at detention centers, he believes the leak itself poses a greater threat to national security and is "not concerned about what goes on" behind the prison walls.
"My concern is with leaks of information that jeopardize your safety and security — period," Frist said. "That is a legitimate concern."
He noted that the CIA has also called for a federal criminal investigation into the leak of possibly classified information on secret prisons to The Washington Post. A Nov. 2 Post article touched on a number of sensitive national security issues, including the existence of secret CIA detention centers for suspected terrorists in Eastern European democracies. The Bush administration has neither confirmed nor denied that report.
Frist was asked if that meant he was not concerned about investigating what goes on in detention centers.
"I am not concerned about what goes on and I'm not going to comment about the nature of that," Frist replied.
(More ... USATODAY.com - Frist concerned about leak, not secret prisons) ¶ 21:59 0 comments
Thou Shalt Not Destroy the Center (NYTimes.com)
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: November 11, 2005
Dear God in Heaven: Forgive me my sins, for I have been to China and I have had bad thoughts. Forgive me, Heavenly Father, for I have cast an envious eye on the authoritarian Chinese political system, where leaders can, and do, just order that problems be solved. For instance, Shanghai's deputy mayor told me that as his city became more polluted, the government simply moved thousands of small manufacturers out of Shanghai to clean up the air.
Forgive me, Heavenly Father, because I know that China's political system is hardly ideal - not even close - and is not one that I would ever want to emulate in my own country. But at this time, when democracies, like India and America, seem incapable of making hard decisions, I cannot help but feel a tinge of jealousy at China's ability to be serious about its problems and actually do things that are tough and require taking things away from people. Dear Lord, please accept my expression of remorse for harboring such feelings. Amen.
Well, you get the point. At a time when we are busy lecturing others about the need to adopt democratic systems, ours and many others seem to be hopelessly gridlocked - with neither the left nor the right able to generate a mandate to tackle hard problems. And it is the yawning gap between the huge problems our country faces today - Social Security reform, health care, education, climate change, energy - and the tiny, fragile mandates that our democracy seems able to generate to address these problems that is really worrying.
(More ... Thou Shalt Not Destroy the Center - New York Times) ¶ 21:52 0 comments
Published: November 11, 2005
Dear God in Heaven: Forgive me my sins, for I have been to China and I have had bad thoughts. Forgive me, Heavenly Father, for I have cast an envious eye on the authoritarian Chinese political system, where leaders can, and do, just order that problems be solved. For instance, Shanghai's deputy mayor told me that as his city became more polluted, the government simply moved thousands of small manufacturers out of Shanghai to clean up the air.
Forgive me, Heavenly Father, because I know that China's political system is hardly ideal - not even close - and is not one that I would ever want to emulate in my own country. But at this time, when democracies, like India and America, seem incapable of making hard decisions, I cannot help but feel a tinge of jealousy at China's ability to be serious about its problems and actually do things that are tough and require taking things away from people. Dear Lord, please accept my expression of remorse for harboring such feelings. Amen.
Well, you get the point. At a time when we are busy lecturing others about the need to adopt democratic systems, ours and many others seem to be hopelessly gridlocked - with neither the left nor the right able to generate a mandate to tackle hard problems. And it is the yawning gap between the huge problems our country faces today - Social Security reform, health care, education, climate change, energy - and the tiny, fragile mandates that our democracy seems able to generate to address these problems that is really worrying.
(More ... Thou Shalt Not Destroy the Center - New York Times) ¶ 21:52 0 comments
The Deadly Doughnut (NYTimes.com)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: November 11, 2005
Registration for Medicare's new prescription drug benefit starts next week. Soon millions of Americans will learn that doughnuts are bad for your health. And if we're lucky, Americans will also learn a bigger lesson: politicians who don't believe in a positive role for government shouldn't be allowed to design new government programs.
Before we turn to the larger issue, let's look at how the Medicare drug benefit will work over the course of next year.
At first, the benefit will look like a normal insurance plan, with a deductible and co-payments.
But if your cumulative drug expenses reach $2,250, a very strange thing will happen: you'll suddenly be on your own. The Medicare benefit won't kick in again unless your costs reach $5,100. This gap in coverage has come to be known as the "doughnut hole." (Did you think I was talking about Krispy Kremes?)
One way to see the bizarre effect of this hole is to notice that if you are a retiree and spend $2,000 on drugs next year, Medicare will cover 66 percent of your expenses. But if you spend $5,000 - which means that you're much more likely to need help paying those expenses - Medicare will cover only 30 percent of your bills.
A study in the July/August issue of Health Affairs points out that this will place many retirees on a financial "roller coaster."
(More ... The Deadly Doughnut - New York Times) ¶ 21:49 0 comments
Published: November 11, 2005
Registration for Medicare's new prescription drug benefit starts next week. Soon millions of Americans will learn that doughnuts are bad for your health. And if we're lucky, Americans will also learn a bigger lesson: politicians who don't believe in a positive role for government shouldn't be allowed to design new government programs.
Before we turn to the larger issue, let's look at how the Medicare drug benefit will work over the course of next year.
At first, the benefit will look like a normal insurance plan, with a deductible and co-payments.
But if your cumulative drug expenses reach $2,250, a very strange thing will happen: you'll suddenly be on your own. The Medicare benefit won't kick in again unless your costs reach $5,100. This gap in coverage has come to be known as the "doughnut hole." (Did you think I was talking about Krispy Kremes?)
One way to see the bizarre effect of this hole is to notice that if you are a retiree and spend $2,000 on drugs next year, Medicare will cover 66 percent of your expenses. But if you spend $5,000 - which means that you're much more likely to need help paying those expenses - Medicare will cover only 30 percent of your bills.
A study in the July/August issue of Health Affairs points out that this will place many retirees on a financial "roller coaster."
(More ... The Deadly Doughnut - New York Times) ¶ 21:49 0 comments
US Criticised for Use of Phosphorous in Fallujah Raids (Independent.co.uk)
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 09 November 2005
A leading campaign group has demanded an urgent inquiry into a report that US troops indiscriminately used a controversial incendiary weapon during the battle for Fallujah. Photographic evidence gathered from the aftermath of the battle suggests that women and children were killed by horrific burns caused by the white phosphorus shells dropped by US forces.
The Pentagon has always admitted it used phosphorus during last year's assault on the city, which US commanders said was an insurgent stronghold. But they claimed they used the brightly burning shells "very sparingly" and only to illuminate combat areas.
But the documentary Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre, broadcast yesterday by the Italian state broadcaster, RAI, suggested the shells were commonly used and killed an unspecified number of civilians. Photographs obtained by RAI from the Studies Centre of Human Rights in Fallujah, show the bodies of dozens of Fallujah residents whose skin has been dissolved or caramelised by the effects of the phosphorus shells. The use of incendiary weapons against civilian targets is banned by treaty.
Last night Robert Musil, director of the group Physicians for Social Responsibility, called for an investigation. He told The Independent: "When there is clear testimony that use of such weapons has done this, it demands a full investigation. From Vietnam onwards there has been a general condemnation of [the use of white phosphorus] and concern about the injuries and consequences."
The 1980 UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons bans the use of weapons such as napalm and white phosphorus against civilian - but not military - targets. The US did not sign the treaty and has continued to use white phosphorus and an updated version of napalm, called Mark 77 firebombs, which use kerosene rather than petrol. A senior US commander previously has confirmed that 510lb napalm bombs had been used in Iraq and said that "the generals love napalm. It has a big psychological effect."
John Pike, director of the Washington-based military studies group GlobalSecurity.Org, said the smoke caused by the bombs could confuse or blind the enemy or mark a target. "If it hits your clothes it will burn your clothes and if it hits your skin it will just keep on burning," he said.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Americas) ¶ 21:27 0 comments
Published: 09 November 2005
A leading campaign group has demanded an urgent inquiry into a report that US troops indiscriminately used a controversial incendiary weapon during the battle for Fallujah. Photographic evidence gathered from the aftermath of the battle suggests that women and children were killed by horrific burns caused by the white phosphorus shells dropped by US forces.
The Pentagon has always admitted it used phosphorus during last year's assault on the city, which US commanders said was an insurgent stronghold. But they claimed they used the brightly burning shells "very sparingly" and only to illuminate combat areas.
But the documentary Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre, broadcast yesterday by the Italian state broadcaster, RAI, suggested the shells were commonly used and killed an unspecified number of civilians. Photographs obtained by RAI from the Studies Centre of Human Rights in Fallujah, show the bodies of dozens of Fallujah residents whose skin has been dissolved or caramelised by the effects of the phosphorus shells. The use of incendiary weapons against civilian targets is banned by treaty.
Last night Robert Musil, director of the group Physicians for Social Responsibility, called for an investigation. He told The Independent: "When there is clear testimony that use of such weapons has done this, it demands a full investigation. From Vietnam onwards there has been a general condemnation of [the use of white phosphorus] and concern about the injuries and consequences."
The 1980 UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons bans the use of weapons such as napalm and white phosphorus against civilian - but not military - targets. The US did not sign the treaty and has continued to use white phosphorus and an updated version of napalm, called Mark 77 firebombs, which use kerosene rather than petrol. A senior US commander previously has confirmed that 510lb napalm bombs had been used in Iraq and said that "the generals love napalm. It has a big psychological effect."
John Pike, director of the Washington-based military studies group GlobalSecurity.Org, said the smoke caused by the bombs could confuse or blind the enemy or mark a target. "If it hits your clothes it will burn your clothes and if it hits your skin it will just keep on burning," he said.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Americas) ¶ 21:27 0 comments
11.06.2005
Audit Says US Should Repay Iraq (BBC.co.uk)
The US should reimburse Iraq up to $208m for work done by a US contractor, a UN watchdog agency has said.
The International Advisory and Monitoring Board said the work by Halliburton had been either overpriced or insufficiently documented.
Its recommendation came after it conducted an audit on contracting work by Halliburton's KBR unit in 2003-04.
In response, the energy firm denied overcharging and insisted it had co-operated with the audit.
The IAMB has been set up to monitor the spending of Iraq's oil revenues, following the US-led invasion in 2003.
It can make recommendations but not decisions on whether reimbursements are made.
(More ... Audit Says US Should Repay Iraq | Americas | BBC News)
FBI's Secret Scrutiny (WashingtonPost.com)
In Hunt for Terrorists, Bureau Examines Records of Ordinary AmericansWashington Post Staff Writer
By Barton Gellman
Sunday, November 6, 2005; Page A01
Christian refused to hand over those records, and his employer, Library Connection Inc., filed suit for the right to protest the FBI demand in public. The Washington Post established their identities -- still under seal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit -- by comparing unsealed portions of the file with public records and information gleaned from people who had no knowledge of the FBI demand.
(More ... FBI's Secret Scrutiny | Nation | Special Reports | Washington Post ¶ 17:48 0 comments
Governors Balk at Bigger Role for Military (NYTimes.com)
HELENA, Mont., Nov. 5 (AP) - Several governors have been critical of a Bush administration suggestion that the active-duty military take a greater role in disaster response, calling it an attempt to usurp state authority over National Guard units.
Governors in Washington, Mississippi, Michigan, Arkansas, West Virginia, Delaware and Alabama are among those who have panned the idea, questioning whether it would even be constitutional.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, among the harshest critics, said the issue promised to be a major topic at the Western Governors Association meeting in Phoenix next week.
"I'm going to stand up among a bunch of elected governors and say, 'Are we going to allow the military without a shot being fired to effectively do an end-run coup on civilian government?' " said Mr. Schweitzer, a Democrat. "We're going to have a little civics lesson for some leaders who are apparently out of touch in the military."
President Bush suggested in September that the active military ought to have a greater role in responding to disasters. He said its training, command structure and resources put it in a better position to lead recovery efforts. Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander for the United States Northern Command, has endorsed the idea as well.
Some in Congress and the Pentagon have been lukewarm to the idea, and governors of both parties have said the administration will be overstepping if it follows through.
(More ... Governors Balk at Bigger Role for Military | National | New York Times)
Closing Arguments Made in Trial on Intelligent Design (NYTimes.com)
HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 4 - The nation's first trial to test the constitutionality of teaching intelligent design as science ended Friday with a lawyer for the Dover school board pronouncing intelligent design "the next great paradigm shift in science."
His opponent, a lawyer for the 11 parents suing the school board, dismissed intelligent design as dishonest, unscientific and based entirely on "a meager little analogy that collapses immediately upon inspection."
The conclusion of the six-week trial in Federal District Court on Friday made it clear that two separate but interconnected entities are actually on trial: the Dover school board and the fledgling intelligent design movement.
The board in Dover, a growing town south of Harrisburg, voted last year to read to ninth-grade biology students a four-paragraph statement saying that there are "gaps" in the theory of evolution, and that intelligent design is an alternative they should explore.
At the trial, board members repeatedly said they wanted to "encourage critical thinking." But the parents presented evidence that the board's purpose was religious and that the intelligent design statement was a compromise that the board settled for after learning it could not teach creationism.
Operating on another plane in the case were the dueling scientists, those who argued that intelligent design is an exciting new explanation, versus those who testified that it does not deserve to be called science.
The case, Kitzmiller et al v. Dover, will be decided by Judge John E. Jones III, who says he hopes to issue his ruling before the end of the year, or early January at the latest.
(More ... Closing Arguments Made in Trial on Intelligent Design | Science | New York Times)
11.05.2005
Pakistan Puts Off Warplane Purchase to Aid Quake Relief (Guardian.co.uk)
Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Saturday November 5, 2005
The Guardian
Pakistan will postpone the purchase of a fleet of F-16 warplanes to prioritise emergency aid for earthquake survivors the president, Pervez Musharraf, said yesterday.
The announcement came days after the military leader was criticised for refusing to cut Pakistan's massive defence budget in the wake of the disaster that has killed more than 73,000 people.
"We want to bring maximum relief and reconstruction efforts," General Musharraf said during a tour of the devastated city of Muzaffarabad at the start of the Islamic Eid al-Fitr holiday.
The US agreed to sell the F-16 fighters to Pakistan in March after intense lobbying from Gen Musharraf. Washington blocked an original deal in the 1990s in protest at the development of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme.
Local media reports suggest Islamabad plans to buy 25 F-16 jets at an estimated cost of $25m (£14.2m) each.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Pakistan puts off warplane purchase to aid quake relief) ¶ 15:32 0 comments
Saturday November 5, 2005
The Guardian
Pakistan will postpone the purchase of a fleet of F-16 warplanes to prioritise emergency aid for earthquake survivors the president, Pervez Musharraf, said yesterday.
The announcement came days after the military leader was criticised for refusing to cut Pakistan's massive defence budget in the wake of the disaster that has killed more than 73,000 people.
"We want to bring maximum relief and reconstruction efforts," General Musharraf said during a tour of the devastated city of Muzaffarabad at the start of the Islamic Eid al-Fitr holiday.
The US agreed to sell the F-16 fighters to Pakistan in March after intense lobbying from Gen Musharraf. Washington blocked an original deal in the 1990s in protest at the development of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme.
Local media reports suggest Islamabad plans to buy 25 F-16 jets at an estimated cost of $25m (£14.2m) each.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Pakistan puts off warplane purchase to aid quake relief) ¶ 15:32 0 comments
Bush Feels Hand of God as Poll Ratings Slump (Guardian.co.uk)
· President's popularity in US reaches all-time low
· Maradona leads angry protests in Argentina
Julian Borger in Washington and Uki Goni in Buenos Aires
Saturday November 5, 2005
The Guardian
America's faith in George Bush and in his decision to go to war in Iraq has plummeted in the wake of a White House intelligence scandal that went to court this week, according to a new poll.
As the president encountered violent protests in Argentina at the start of his Latin America tour yesterday, a survey published by the Washington Post and ABC News showed that public confidence was eroding rapidly back home.
Nearly six in 10 Americans, 58%, said they had doubts about the president's honesty, a 13% rise in 18 months. Only 32% believed Mr Bush was handling ethical issues well, a significantly worse score than Bill Clinton achieved in his last scandal-besmirched year in office. His overall popularity has plunged to 39%, a new low for the Washington Post/ABC survey.
Mr Bush is no more popular in Argentina, where a protest by several thousand demonstrators turned ugly. In the coastal city of Mar del Plata, where he is attending a regional summit, protesters set fire to a bank, looted stores and battled riot police.
Earlier, the tone was struck by the former football star Diego Maradona, who wore a "Stop Bush" T-shirt to an anti-Bush "counter-summit" that drew some 4,000 protesters from around the world and easily eclipsed the official summit in the public's attention. "I'm proud as an Argentine to repudiate the presence of this human trash, George Bush," said Maradona.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Bush feels hand of God as poll ratings slump) ¶ 15:29 0 comments
· Maradona leads angry protests in Argentina
Julian Borger in Washington and Uki Goni in Buenos Aires
Saturday November 5, 2005
The Guardian
America's faith in George Bush and in his decision to go to war in Iraq has plummeted in the wake of a White House intelligence scandal that went to court this week, according to a new poll.
As the president encountered violent protests in Argentina at the start of his Latin America tour yesterday, a survey published by the Washington Post and ABC News showed that public confidence was eroding rapidly back home.
Nearly six in 10 Americans, 58%, said they had doubts about the president's honesty, a 13% rise in 18 months. Only 32% believed Mr Bush was handling ethical issues well, a significantly worse score than Bill Clinton achieved in his last scandal-besmirched year in office. His overall popularity has plunged to 39%, a new low for the Washington Post/ABC survey.
Mr Bush is no more popular in Argentina, where a protest by several thousand demonstrators turned ugly. In the coastal city of Mar del Plata, where he is attending a regional summit, protesters set fire to a bank, looted stores and battled riot police.
Earlier, the tone was struck by the former football star Diego Maradona, who wore a "Stop Bush" T-shirt to an anti-Bush "counter-summit" that drew some 4,000 protesters from around the world and easily eclipsed the official summit in the public's attention. "I'm proud as an Argentine to repudiate the presence of this human trash, George Bush," said Maradona.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Bush feels hand of God as poll ratings slump) ¶ 15:29 0 comments
11.03.2005
East Europe 'Has Secret CIA Jails for Al-Qaida' (Guardian.co.uk)
Jamie Wilson in Washington and Ian Traynor in Zagreb
Thursday November 3, 2005
The Guardian
The CIA has been interrogating al-Qaida prisoners at a Soviet era compound in eastern Europe as part of a covert jail system set up after the September 11 attacks, according to the Washington Post. The secret facility is part of a network of "black sites" spanning eight countries, the existence and locations of which are known only to a handful of US officials and usually only the president and a few top intelligence officers in the host countries.
The internment network has also been kept almost entirely secret from the US Congress, which is charged with overseeing the CIA's covert actions, the newspaper said.
The CIA refused to comment on the allegations yesterday, but human rights groups demanded an urgent inquiry. "We've long been concerned that the USA could be running a totally secret network of 'war on terror' prisons and these claims need to be urgently investigated," an Amnesty International spokesman said.
Citing several former and current US intelligence and other officials, the Post said the CIA was holding the top 30 al-Qaida suspects at the secret facilities, where they were kept in dark, sometimes underground, cells in isolation from the outside world. They have no recognised legal rights, and no one outside the CIA is allowed to talk with them or see them.
The covert prison system was set up nearly four years ago in eight countries, including a facility in Thailand that was closed down after its existence was made public in 2003.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | East Europe 'has secret CIA jails for al-Qaida') ¶ 18:22 0 comments
Thursday November 3, 2005
The Guardian
The CIA has been interrogating al-Qaida prisoners at a Soviet era compound in eastern Europe as part of a covert jail system set up after the September 11 attacks, according to the Washington Post. The secret facility is part of a network of "black sites" spanning eight countries, the existence and locations of which are known only to a handful of US officials and usually only the president and a few top intelligence officers in the host countries.
The internment network has also been kept almost entirely secret from the US Congress, which is charged with overseeing the CIA's covert actions, the newspaper said.
The CIA refused to comment on the allegations yesterday, but human rights groups demanded an urgent inquiry. "We've long been concerned that the USA could be running a totally secret network of 'war on terror' prisons and these claims need to be urgently investigated," an Amnesty International spokesman said.
Citing several former and current US intelligence and other officials, the Post said the CIA was holding the top 30 al-Qaida suspects at the secret facilities, where they were kept in dark, sometimes underground, cells in isolation from the outside world. They have no recognised legal rights, and no one outside the CIA is allowed to talk with them or see them.
The covert prison system was set up nearly four years ago in eight countries, including a facility in Thailand that was closed down after its existence was made public in 2003.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | East Europe 'has secret CIA jails for al-Qaida') ¶ 18:22 0 comments
