Time Dwindles Down And Issues And Problems Deepen: Iraq, Petraeus, Iran, Afghanistan Misunderstood, Holder, Bush-Cheney, Ginsburg Ill, Stimulus Stalls, Confirmation Stalls, Rove Yes Or No?
It Is Clear That Republicans Want An Emasculated Work Force And An Impoverished Non-entitled Middle Class…Corporate Enslavement Of This Nation.
"The action I am taking is no more than a radical measure to hasten the explosion of truth and justice. I have but one passion: to enlighten those who have been kept in the dark, in the name of humanity which has suffered so much and is entitled to happiness. My fiery protest is simply the cry of my very soul. Let them dare, then,
to bring me before a court of law and let the enquiry take place in
broad daylight!"
- Emile Zola, J'accuse! (1898) –
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude
than the animating contest of freedom, — go from us in peace. We ask
not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed
you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget
that ye were our countrymen!”
-Sam Adams-
Tomgram: The Empire v. The Graveyard | Whistling Past the Afghan Graveyard | Where Empires Go to Die
By Tom Engelhardt
It is now a commonplace -- as a lead article in the New York Times'sWeek in Review pointed out recently -- that Afghanistan is "the graveyard of empires." Given Barack Obama's call for a greater focus on the Afghan War ("we took our eye off the ball when we invaded Iraq..."), and given indications that a "surge" of U.S. troops is about to get underway there, Afghanistan's dangers have been much in the news lately. Some of the writing on this subject, including recent essays by Juan Cole at Salon.com, Robert Dreyfuss at the Nation, and JohnRobertson at the War in Context website, has been incisive on just how the new administration's policy initiatives might transform Afghanistan and the increasingly unhinged Pakistani tribal borderlands into "Obama's War."
In other words, "the graveyard" has been getting its due. Far less attention has been paid to the "empire" part of the equation. And there's a good reason for that -- at least in Washington. Despite escalating worries about the deteriorating situation, no one in our nation's capital is ready to believe that Afghanistan could actually be the "graveyard" for the American role as the dominant hegemon on this planet.
In truth, to give "empire" its due you would have to start with a reassessment of how the Cold War ended. In 1989, which now seems centuries ago, the Berlin Wall came down; in 1991, to the amazement of the U.S. intelligence community, influential pundits, inside-the-Beltway think-tankers, and Washington's politicians, the Soviet Union, that "evil empire," that colossus of repression, that mortal enemy through nearly half a century of threatened nuclear MADness -- as in "mutually assured destruction" -- simply evaporated, almost without violence.
(Soviet troops, camped out in the relatively cushy outposts of Eastern Europe, especially the former East Germany, were in no more hurry to come home to the economic misery of a collapsed empire than U.S. troops stationed in Okinawa, Japan, are likely to be in the future.)
In Washington where, in 1991, everything was visibly still standing, a stunned silence and a certain unwillingness to believe that the enemy of almost half a century was no more would quickly be overtaken by a sense of triumphalism. A multigenerational struggle had ended with only one of its super-participants still on its feet.
The conclusion seemed too obvious to belabor. Right before our eyes, the USSR had miraculously disappeared into the dustbin of history with only a desperate, impoverished Russia, shorn of its "near abroad," to replace it; ergo, we were the victors; we were, as everyone began to say with relish, the planet's "sole superpower." Huzzah!
Masters of the Universe
The Greeks, of course, had a word for it: "hubris." The ancient Greek playwrights would have assumed that we were in for a fall from the heights. But that thought crossed few minds in Washington (or on Wall Street) in those years….MORE.
Eric Holder has been confirmed as the U.S Attorney General. This is the moment we have all been waiting for and we must seize this opportunity to seek justice for all of those who have lost their lives and for our country to establish the rule of law and to ensure that no one is above the law. Here is what we must all do:
* Call Eric Holder today at 202-514-2001 and tell him to appoint an Independent Special Prosecutor to Investigate the Crimes of the Bush Administration.
* Continue to call Eric Holder for one week each and every day restating your demands.
* On every outgoing email place a note at the bottom with Eric Holder's phone number and email (AskDOJ@usdoj.gov) asking the recipient to either call or email him our demands.
* Publish Eric Holder's phone number, email and your demands on your Facebook and or MySpace page and ask all of your friends to do the same.
* Pass this message on to everyone you know.
Attorney General Eric Holder: Please Appoint a Special Prosecutor
By Bob Fertik, Democrats.com
February 4, 2009
President Obama's choice for Attorney General, Eric Holder, was confirmed by the Senate Monday, February 2, and sworn in Tuesday, February 3. In another proud historic first, Mr. Holder will be our first African American Attorney General.
During his confirmation hearings, Mr. Holder declared unequivocally, "Waterboarding is torture." This terrified Republicans because it means Holder must prosecute George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, and other top officials who authorized waterboarding and the rest of the "Bush System of Torture," as Keith Olbermann calls it.
Republicans pressured Mr. Holder to promise not to prosecute the torturers, but Mr. Holder refused. He said, "No one is above the law." That's exactly what President Obama said when ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked him our question on January 11.
Of course Mr. Holder must also end eight years of absolute corruption under John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, and Michael Mukasey. He must reverse George Bush's criminal policies on torture, habeas corpus, secret government, and warrantless wiretapping. How can Mr. Holder do it all?
The best solution would be for Mr. Holder to quickly appoint a Special Prosecutor to focus exclusively on Bush's crimes. That would take these crimes off Mr. Holder's desk entirely, and ensure a thorough and nonpartisan investigation.
In December, we launched a petition drive with our friends at Docudharma.com. Over 20,000 activists have already urged Mr. Holder to appoint a Special Prosecutor. Please join them:
http://www.democrats.com/special-prosecutor-for-bush-war-crimes
If you already signed, please use our petition form to encourage friends to sign.
You can also call Mr. Holder's office at 202-353-1555 and leave a simple message: "Appoint a Special Prosecutor for George Bush's crimes."
War Crimes Times: Action Opportunity: Contact Attorney General ...
By Kim Carlyle
... we feel that the Bush Administration’s blatant and egregious violations of international law demand special attention. The WCT has resolved to see that Bush, Cheney, & Co. are prosecuted for war crimes no matter how long it takes. ...
War Crimes Times - http://warcrimestimes.blogspot.com/
Putting War Waste on the Chopping Block
Political Affairs Magazine - New York,NY,USA
Congressman Dennis Kucinich has in the past proposed a 15 percent cut and .... "The 35 Articles ofImpeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush" ...
Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg Treated for Pancreatic Cancer
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery Thursday for early-stage pancreatic cancer, the court said in a statement. Ginsburg, who will turn 76 next month, was treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. [READ MORE]
Ginsburg, appointed by President Clinton in 1993, is a reliable member of the court’s liberal wing and the court’s sole female member.
The justices are not scheduled to hear arguments in any cases until Feb. 23. But any extended absence raises the possibility that cases could be deadlocked 4-4. That results in the lower court’s judgment being upheld. In the past, the justices have opted to delay consideration of particularly controversial matters until a full complement of nine is available to hear the case.
There has been widespread speculation that Ginsburg or other court liberals such as John Paul Stevens , who turns 89 this year, or David Souter, might retire now that a Democrat is in the White House. But any vacancy was not expected until the end of the term at the earliest and President Obama’s White House and Justice Department nominations team is just arriving or still awaiting confirmation.
If Ginsburg did leave the court, replacing her with another liberal would not change the ideological balance in which Justice Anthony Kennedy stands in the middle between four liberals and four conservatives.
A bigger confirmation battle would result if President Obama had occasion to replace one of the court’s conservatives such as Antonin Scalia . But the Obama administration would enter any confirmation fight in a strong position given the size of the majority Democrats enjoy in the Senate.
The news of Ginsburg’s illness echoes the court’s announcement in October 2004 that Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist was undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer. Rehnquist stayed on the court, though he missed many oral arguments and largely worked from home, until his death in September 2005.
Ginsburg underwent treatment for colorectal cancer in 1999. Her frail appearance in the years since sparked a decade’s speculation about her health and potential retirement though she has remained physically vigorous, including exercising at the court.
"Fidelity": Watch the video and sign our letter to the state Supreme Court
Tell the Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 8, reject Ken Starr's case, and let loving, committed couples marry. DEADLINE: Valentine's Day
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Keeping An Eye On The Right!
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Dems to introduce controversial card check bill ‘soon’
By Kevin Bogardus
In what will be the first step of a fierce battle waged on Capitol Hill, House Democrats are poised to introduce a controversial bill that is organized labor’s top legislative priority.
Asked on Wednesday when he plans to introduce his Employee Free Choice Act, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) said, “Soon.” Miller added the so-called card check bill would be unveiled in a matter of days or weeks.
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Rahm Throws Pelosi Under The Bus To Save Stimulus Bill
Huffington Post - New York,NY,USA
The story of the morning seems to be that the Obama team is unhappy with Nancy Pelosi and the House committee chairs for delivering up such a liberal, ...
See all stories on this topic
$$$ It's Japan Again, Stupid $$$
In his February 5 Wall Street Journal op-ed, Fox News contributor Karl Rove wrote of the House-passed economic recovery bill: "And it should not shock Americans that Democratic appropriators would funnel tax dollars to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now [ACORN]." In fact, as Media Matters for America has documented, the recovery bill does not mention ACORN or otherwise single it out for funding; ACORN itself has said that it is ineligible for the funds and has no plans to apply for them.
Rove's false claim is based on a misrepresentation of a provision that would appropriate $4.19 billion "for neighborhood stabilization activities related to emergency assistance for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes as authorized under division B, title III of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008."
ACORN has denied that it is eligible for the "neighborhood stabilization funds," and has stated that it does not intend to apply for them. After House Minority Leader John Boehner's (R-OH) office issued press releases claiming that the recovery bill "makes groups like ACORN eligible for a $4.19 billion pot of money for 'neighborhood stabilization activities,' " in a January 28 press release, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis called the claim an "obfuscation" that "was picked up across the right-wing echo chamber and has been used as a fig leaf by conservatives in their attempts to justify their opposition to progressive economic policies."
Lewis further stated: "We have not received neighborhood stabilization funds, have no plans to apply for such funds, and didn't weigh in on the pending rule changes." On January 29, Lewis wrote on The Huffington Post, "[L]et's be clear. ACORN isn't getting any of this money. Since it is set aside for non-profit housing developers to help purchase, rehab, and resell foreclosed properties, we aren't eligible for it in the first place."
Media Matters has previously documented CNN's Lou Dobbs, Fox News' Steve Doocy, and conservative radio host Limbaugh making the false claim that ACORN would receive billions of dollars from the stimulus bill and also noted that news reports by Hill and the San Francisco Chronicle repeated the falsehood. Republicans and media figures previously made false claims that Democrats attempted to direct millions of dollars to ACORN in the 2008 bank bailout legislation; in fact, neither the draft proposal nor the final version of the bailout bill contained any language mentioning ACORN.
Overhaul, More Transparency in Bailout Program
Key lawmakers and government watchdogs Thursday renewed calls for a complete overhaul of the government’s financial industry bailout efforts, while also demanding more transparency for the program’s inner workings. [READ MORE]
Senate Moves Toward Vote on Stimulus
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday afternoon that he believes Democrats will have the 60 votes needed to end debate and pass a huge economic stimulus package, as frustrated conservatives claimed that public opinion is turning against the bill. [READ MORE]
Rove says he won't comply with congressional subpoenas
John Byrne
Published: Thursday February 5, 2009
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Rove_says_he_wont_comply_with_0205.html
Attorney: Rove Will Cooperate With DOJ Probes
By Murray Waas - February 2, 2009, 7:08PM
Karl Rove will cooperate with a federal criminal inquiry underway into the firings of nine U.S. attorneys and has already spoken to investigators in a separate, internal DOJ investigation into the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, his attorney said in an interview.
Rove previously refused to cooperatewith an earlier Justice Department inquiry into the firings. The Justice Department's Inspector General and its Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) said in a report released last September detailing their earlier probe of the firings of the U.S. attorneys that their investigation was severely "hindered" by the refusal by Rove and other senior Bush administration officials to cooperate with the probe.
Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, said that Rove, however, will cooperate with a federal criminal probe of the firings being led by Nora Dannehy, the Acting U.S. Attorney for Connecticut who was selected by former Attorney General Michael Mukasey to lead the investigation. Dannehy has recently empaneled a federal grand jury to hear evidence in the matter.
Luskin told me that Rove had earlier not cooperated with the Inspector General and OPR probe into the firings because "it was not his [Karl's] call... it was not up to us decide." Luskin said that Rove was directed by the Bush White House counsel's office not to cooperate with the Inspector General and OPR.
Regarding the more recent probe by Dannehy, Luskin said: "I can say that he would cooperate with the Dannehy investigation if asked."
In recent days, according to legal sources, two former Bush White House officials, including one former aide to Rove, have been contacted by investigators working for Dannehy and asked for interviews. One of the two has agreed to be interviewed.
Regarding the decision to cooperate with Dannehy, Luskin said that Rove "has not and will not assert any personal privileges." He also said that in regard to the earlier probe, Rove had not done so, but had rather only "followed the guidance of the White House."
Justice's Inspector General and OPR in their investigation could not compel testimony from witnesses other than that of current Justice Department employees. The two Justice Department watchdog agencies also cannot initiate criminal investigations.
But both the Inspector General and OPR can refer allegations of criminal wrongdoing to the Attorney General, who can then name a criminal prosecutor or special prosecutor to build on the earlier investigations.
Glenn A. Fine, the Inspector General, and H. Marshall Jarrett, the head of OPR, sought the appointment of a special prosecutor in the matter because they said they could not get to the bottom of the U.S. attorney firings because of the refusal by the Bush White House and the senior Bush administration officials to cooperate with their efforts.
Besides Rove, the Inspector and OPR said that former White House Counsel Harriet Miers, former White House counsel William Kelley, and Associate White House counsel, Richard Klingler, declined requests to be interviewed by investigators. The Bush White House also refused to "provide internal emails or internal documents related to the U.S. attorney removals," citing executive privilege concerns.
In a related matter, Luskin disclosed that Rove has already been cooperating with a probe by Justice's OPR into the prosecution of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman. At the request of Congress, the Justice Department watchdogs are probing whether prosecutors acted ethically in their prosecution of Siegelman as well as allegations that Rove might have encouraged the federal investigation in the first place. Siegelman, who was governor of Alabama, from 1999-2003, was convicted in 2006 of federal charges of bribery and mail fraud.
Regarding Siegelman, Luskin said: "At no time has he or will he assert personal privilege in that matter." While declining to discuss specifics of what Rove has told investigators regarding Siegelman, Luskin said: "What Karl has said [to investigators] is entirely consistent with what he has said publicly--that he absolutely nothing to do with this."
The conclusions of that OPR investigation are expected sometime soon.
(ed.note: Murray Waas is a longtime investigative reporter based in Washington D.C.)
IRAQ: No Unemployment Among Gravediggers
BAGHDAD, Feb 5 (IPS) - Amidst the soaring unemployment in Iraq, the gravediggers have been busy. So busy that officials have no record of the number of graves dug; of the real death toll, that is.
"I've been working here four years," a gravedigger who gave his name as Ali told IPS at the largest cemetery in Baghdad, a sprawling expanse in the Abu Ghraib section of the capital city. "In 2006 and some of 2007, we buried 40- 50 people daily. This went on for one-and-a-half years.
"Twenty-five percent of these were from violence, and another 70 percent were killed by the Mehdi Army (the militia of Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr)." Only a few appeared to have died from natural causes.
"Most of the dead were never logged by anyone," Ali said, "because we didn't check death certificates, we just tried to get the bodies into the ground as quickly as possible."
An Iraqi Army checkpoint was set up outside the vast cemetery a year ago. ..
http://www.wecanstopthehate.org/
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Sound The Alarm! Peterson Foundation Assault On "Entitlements"
At a press conference today by Wall Street mogul Peter Peterson, he and his invited speakers informed Americans who are losing their jobs and homes in record numbers that our nation’s biggest problem is the national deficit—and that the solution is to cut Social Security and Medicare.
We don't need this campaign. What the nation needs right now is an increase in the federal deficit to stimulate economic recovery and to create and save jobs. Yes, President Obama inherited a large budget deficit and national debt due to George W. Bush’s reckless tax cuts for the very wealthiest Americans, like Peterson. Economist Dean Baker has pointed out that Peterson and his partners made a fortune running a Wall Street private equity fund, much of which he was able to shelter from normal taxation through the "fund managers" tax break.
The Delay In Approving Hilda Solis has been caused by nothing more than conservative obstruction. In particular, the widely praised Hilda Solis, currently a Democratic U.S. representative from California, is being blocked by Senate Republicans for her progressive views supporting American workers. "This is just harassment," said Scott Lilly, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. "I haven't seen anything that has been raised that looks like a truly substantive question about whether President Obama should have her serve him as labor secretary." After waiting 55 days since her nomination on Dec. 19, Solis will finally face a scheduled vote in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today.
REBUILDING THE ECONOMY BY STRENGTHENING WORKERS: Solis has been one of Congress's strongest backers of the Employee Free Choice Act, serving as a co-sponsor of the measure in 2007. "The Employee Free Choice Act provides more protections for workers and requires employers have to recognize a union elected by authorization cards," wrote Solis, the daughter of animmigrant union family, on the Huffington Post that same year. "The current system stacks the deck against workers." Indeed, under the current system, employees who have the option to join a union are regularly intimidated and pressured by management against doing so.
At a time when the economy is struggling and workers are facing layoffs and pay cuts, the case for increased participation in organized labor is stronger than ever. As the SEIU notes, workers in unions "earn 14 percent higher wages than workers who are not, are 28 percent more likely to have health insurance, and 54 percent more likely to have a pension." However, the Center for American Progress's David Madland and Berkeley Professor Harley Shaiken write that even "non-union workers -- particularly in highly unionized industries -- receive financial benefits from employers who increase wages to match what unions would win in order to avoid unionization."
A 'PROXY FIGHT FOR EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE': The right wing strongly opposes EFCA and any attempts to increase participation in unions, arguing that the bill unnecessary, "a threat to one of the fundamentals of democracy," and an attempt to "Europeanize America." Last month, Senate Republicans initially attempted to passive-aggressively bury Solis in paperwork, saying that they needed her to clarify her position on the Employee Free Choice Act. As CQ wrote on Jan. 29, "Although the written questionnaires don't constitute an official hold on Solis' nomination, the paperwork has the same delaying effect."
The New York Times similarly remarked, "The delay in confirming Ms. Solis isn't because the Senate needs to know more. It's a way for Republican senators to score tough-guy points with business constituents who are driven to distraction by the thought of unions." Since that time, the right wing has gone all out to block her,now claiming that she is facing ethics issues. Earlier this week, the Heritage Foundation called her "The Next Tom Daschle," and the National Review wrote, "While everyone is looking at Tom Daschle's tax problems...a new issue has arisen concerning another Obama cabinet nomination, that of Rep. Hilda Solis to be Secretary of Labor." According to The Hill, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) "has questioned whether Solis had done lobbying work while she was both a House member and an official at a pro-labor group, American Rights at Work" (ARAW).
There is no conflict-of-issue problem here. Solis wasn't paid for her activities with ARAW, and as the Washington Independent pointed out, her role was "well-known and ceremonial." As one official at a union noted, these excuses to hold up Solis are nothing more than a "clear proxy fight for Employee Free Choice."
RESTORING THE TRUST OF WORKERS: Obama has made clear that his Labor Department won't be anything like the one under Bush. "Remember, this is supposed to be the Department of Labor, not the Department of Management," he has stated. Elaine Chao -- Bush's Secretary of Labor who was confirmed in just 18 days -- made it through all eight years of the Bush administration, causing such a drop in morale at the Labor Department that staffers threw a "good-riddance party" to cheer her departure.
She left behind a "deeply troubled department" that "spent eight years attacking workers' rights, strong workplace health and safety rules, and unions while they carried the water for Big Business." Chao, of course, was also a stalwart opponent of the Employee Free Choice Act. Under Solis, the Department of Labor will once again defend the rights of workers. As a state senator, Solis authored the first environmental justice law in the nation, and she has since said she is committed to creating green jobs. She also told the Senate that she would address the retirement security crisis; ensure that workplaces are safe, healthy, and fair; and protect workers from job discrimination.
http://www.thenation.com/special/grittv.mhtml
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BERNARD AVISHAI: For 20 years, Paul Krugman's warnings about the looming financial bust were largely ignored. Now, with his visionary book about Depression economics, we can read him and weep.
Capping CEO Pay is Just a Start | Doing the Recovery Right
http://www.constitutionproject.org/
Coalition Releases Liberty and Security Policy Roadmap
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Senators of the 111th Congress Akaka, Daniel K. - (D - HI) Class I 141 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-6361 Web Form: akaka.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home Alexander, Lamar - (R - TN) Class II 455 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-4944 Web Form: alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.... Barrasso, John - (R - WY) Class I 307 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-6441 Web Form: barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs... Baucus, Max - (D - MT) Class II 511 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-2651 Web Form: baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue Bayh, Evan - (D - IN) Class III 131 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-5623 Web Form: bayh.senate.gov/contact/email/ Begich, Mark - (D - AK) Class II 825C HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-3004 E-mail: senator@begich.senate.gov Bennet, Michael F. - (D - CO) Class III 702 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-5852 E-mail: senator_bennet@bennet.senate.gov Bennett, Robert F. - (R - UT) Class III 431 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-5444 Bingaman, Jeff - (D - NM) Class I 703 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-5521 Bond, Christopher S. - (R - MO) Class III 274 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-5721 Web Form: bond.senate.gov/contact/contactme.cfm Boxer, Barbara - (D - CA) Class III 112 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-3553 Web Form: boxer.senate.gov/contact Brown, Sherrod - (D - OH) Class I 455 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-2315 Web Form: brown.senate.gov/contact/ Brownback, Sam - (R - KS) Class III 303 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-6521 Web Form: brownback.senate.gov/CMEmailMe.cfm Bunning, Jim - (R - KY) Class III 316 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-4343 Web Form: bunning.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Co... 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Former Vice President Dick Cheney is blasting the fledgling administration of Barack Obama, arguing that its policies dealing with terrorism and international foes are naïve and dangerous, making it all the more likely that terrorists will succeed in their next attempt at killing Americans, according to a report in Politico.
Simply by closing Guantanamo Bay’s detention camp for terrorists, Cheney said, Obama inadvertently will aid enemies eager to make another attack on the United States. Another major attack on this country — perhaps even using biological or nuclear materials — is very likely in the next few years, Cheney said.
“I think there’s a high probability of such an attempt,” Cheney said. “Whether or not they can pull it off depends whether or not we keep in place policies that have allowed us to defeat all further attempts, since 9/11, to launch mass-casualty attacks against the United States.”
Cheney opined that the inevitable attack will be “a 9/11-type event where the terrorists are armed with something much more dangerous than an airline ticket and a box cutter — a nuclear weapon or a biological agent of some kind” that is set off in an American city.
In a wide-ranging interview with Politico, Cheney emphasized the usefulness of the interrogations at Gitmo while lambasting the policies emerging from the new administration.
“When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an al-Qaida terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry,” Cheney said.
Concentrating on the merits of Gitmo, Cheney described it as a first-class operation, noting that one of the painful lessons learned was the penchant for those detainees who were released to return to their terrorist roots.
He noted that 61 of the inmates who were released from Guantanamo during the Bush administration had “gone back into the business of being terrorists.” He also characterized the remaining 200 or so remaining detainees as “hard core” cases that were even more likely to be repeat offenders.
Releasing the prisoners or ramping up their due process would be unwise, Cheney charged.
“The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected. Sometimes, that requires us to take actions that generate controversy. I’m not at all sure that that’s what the Obama administration believes,” he said.
Cheney defended the hard-line tactics of the Bush administration as responsible for the safety of the country after 9/11.
“If it hadn’t been for what we did — with respect to the terrorist surveillance program, or enhanced interrogation techniques for high-value detainees, the Patriot Act, and so forth — then we would have been attacked again,” he said. “Those policies we put in place, in my opinion, were absolutely crucial to getting us through the last seven-plus years without a major-casualty attack on the U.S.”
Protecting the country’s security is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business,” he said. “These are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek.”
Obama cites as one of his chief goals in Afghanistan ensuring “the insurgency-hit country does not destabilize its nuclear-armed neighbor, Pakistan,” Karachi’s The News International notes — while Lahore’s Daily Times finds the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, too, fretting that Pakistan’s nukes could fall into the hands of terrorists. “Inevitably, Iranian leaders and policy experts have to confront the question: what happens if ardently anti-Shiite [Pakistani] extremist groups get their hands on nuclear bombs?” Kaveh L. Afrasiabi comments, relatedly, in Asia Times.
Feds: A top DHS official for the Northeast has now been indicted on charges of encouraging her housekeeper, whom she knew to be an illegal immigrant, to stay on in the United States, The Associated Press reports. Twenty new Montana CBPagents hit a Great Falls public swimming pool this week for some “Primary Aviation Survival Schooling,” KRTV News’ Shannon Newth notes. Check out, finally, a CRS report on homeland security intelligence gathering and another on expiring Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act amendments.
One Hundred Days: Asked in a television interview why he hasn’t used the oft-repeated Bush-era “war on terror” phrase, President Obama said he believes the United States can win over moderate Muslims if he chooses his words carefully, AP’sLolita C. Baldor relates. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., has been picked to be his party’s top congressional watchdog over DHS as the ranking Republican on the homeland panel’s oversight subcommittee, The Tampa Tribune’s Billy House mentions.
Guantanamo Bay Watch: With the Cuban terror prison’s demise pending, six detainees have applied for resettlement in Canada, including three Uyghurs from China who have been cleared of all charges, The Toronto Globe and Mail relates. Obama concedes there is a risk detainees sprung from Gitmo might launch further attacks, but suggests the risk is still worth it to close the much-condemned terror prison, The Brisbane Courier Mail mentions — while The New York Times has 11 names on a Saudi list of 85 wanted terrorists belonging to ex-Guantanamo inmates who fled the kingdom to join terror groups abroad after completing a rehab program.
Holy Wars: “Unfortunately, there is a general hatred, consciously or unconsciously, against Muslims in the Christian world. This attitude can be traced back to Muslim conquests of Eastern Europe, Spain, etc. The spirit of the Crusades has never died,” the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb tells Die Weltwoche. “Now that Barack Obama’s America seeks conciliation rather than confrontation in the Middle East,” a new book “reveals how Islamic culture helped the West to emerge from the Dark Ages into the Renaissance,” an Irish Times review starts. “The ‘war on terror’ is an ideological conflict that the Islamist movement has initiated by re-asserting Islam as a socio-political system to counter western cultural, political and economic influence,” a Muslim World Today essay explains.
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