United States News Digest
Dick Cheney on the Ropes; Attacks 'Outrageous' Media
Vice President Dick Cheney is such a negative factor in the 2004 election campaign, insiders report, that he is frantically giving press interviews to try to rescue his standing on the Bush ticket. On June 16, following George Bush's hysterical denial of the report of the 9/11 Commission that there was no relationship between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, Cheney outdid the President in insisting on such a relationship.
In an interview with Alan Murray and Gloria Borger on CNBC-TV, Cheney denounced the New York Times for its June 17 lead editorial headline, "Panel Finds No al Qaeda-Iraq Tie," calling it "outrageous," and accusing the paper of undermining the Administration's credibility.
Cheney got so riled up, that Borger remarked on his uncharacteristic state of agitation.
Cheney was confronted with the question: The 9/11 Commission found "No credible evidence that al-Qaeda collaborated with Iraq or Saddam Hussein. Do you disagree with its findings?" He exploded, "I disagree with the way their findings have been portrayed. This has been enormous confusion over the Iraq-al-Qaeda connection, Gloria. First of all, on the question of whether or not there was any kind of a relationship, there clearly was a relationship. It's been testified to. The evidence is overwhelming. It goes back to the early '90s."
Cheney then went through a series of alleged "facts" to demonstrate this, facts he was to repeat several times during the interview, reading from a prepared script. The cited "facts" are very close in content to a series of articles by Stephen Hayes, a writer for the neo-con Weekly Standard, who is believed to have based his information on a leaked classified report that was prepared by Assistant Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith, when the intelligence community repeatedly found that no evidence of Iraq-al-Qaeda collaboration.
Cheney insisted on quibbling that there are two questions involved: whether there was an Iraq-al-Qaeda link (which he insisted there was), and whether Iraq was involved with al-Qaeda in 9/11. The Commission merely found "no evidence" of the link, said Cheneywho is apparently still dedicated to looking for the Saddam-al-Qaeda links (as well as the nuclear weapons that he insisted already existed in Iraq's arsenal). Bush claims that "the Administration" never claimed a 9/11-Iraq linka difficult claim to prove.
So, Cheney railed at the media: "What the New York Times did today was outrageous. They do a lot of outrageous things, but the headline, 'Panel Find[s] [No] Qaeda-Iraq Tie.' The press wants to run out and say there's a fundamental split here now between what the President said and what the Commission said. Jim Thompson is a member of the Commission who's since been on the air. I saw him with my own eyes. And there's no conflict. What they were addressing was whether or not they were involved in 9/11. And there they found no evidence to support that proposition. They did not address the broader question of a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda in other areas, in other ways."
His brutish statements have provoked new rounds of investigations of previous Administration claims.
Ethics Complaint Filed Against Tom DeLay
A new flank is being opened against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) with an ethics complaint filed by Rep. Chris Bell (D-Texas) against the former exterminator. Bell lost his seat as a result of the redistricting plan pushed through the Texas legislature by DeLay. The complaint focusses on DeLay's relationship with Westar Energy Inc., and Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee. DeLay is also under investigation within Texas by Travis County (Austin) District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who is looking into both illegal fundraising and use of PAC money.
Bell's action against DeLay led to a completely hysterical response from the Congressman's spokesman Jonathan Grella. "These are warmed-over and factually deficient allegations from a bitter partisan seeking liberal martyrdom on his way out of office." California Republican Rep. John Doolittle said GOPers are "going to have to respond in kind" to the charges against DeLay, and said a prominent Democrat, whom he declined to name, would be charged with an ethics violation. The Republican heavy threatened, "From now on," it's a matter of, "you kill my dog, I'll kill your cat." Bell replied that this kind of response is expected from the DeLay people, adding that "I'm glad I don't have a cat."
Bell's spokesman, Eric Burns, said that the charges against DeLay "are very serious and well documented"; they are said to include fraud, extortion, bribery, and "abuse of power." An NPR radio report of June 15 said DeLay is guilty of "extremely serious criminal actions."
DeLay, a "born-again" religious nut, actively pursuing a genocidal war in the Middle East, is under increasing pressure in his Congressional district, as activists in the LaRouche Youth Movement have targeted him for defeat. Local Democrats, who have generally submitted, meekly, to DeLay, have been energized by the LaRouche Youth Movement campaigning, so he cannot take his reelection for granted.
Bush's Church Organizes Ad Against Torture by U.S.
Expressing their "deep sorrow" for the Abu Ghraib abuses in Iraq, top U.S. religious leaders, including Bishop Melvin Talbert, the ecumenical officer of the United Methodist Church, President Bush's denomination, organized the placing an advertisement for Arab television viewers, delivered in English (with Arabic subtitles). Other religious leaders, include Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia; the Rev. Donald W. Shriver Jr., former president of Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan; Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, founder and president of the American Sufi Muslim Association; and Sister Betty Obal, a United Nations representative and a member of the Roman Catholic Sisters of Loretto.
The text is as follows: "As Salaam A'alaykum. As Americans of faith, we express our deep sorrow at abuses committed in Iraqi prisons. We stand in solidarity with all those in Iraq and everywhere who demand justice and human dignity. We condemn the sinful and systemic abuses committed in our name and pledge to work to right these wrongs." Talbert organized an interfaith group, FaithfulAmerica.org, to place the ads. Ten spots begin airing June 15 on Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. Commenting to newsmen about reports of Administration memos on bending law to allow torture, Bishop Talbert said "If the law allows torture, then no way can I as a religious person condone it. We are speaking out for the human family."
Rift Within Bush Family Over Iraq War
Former President George H.W. Bush disagrees with his son's decisions on the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which is why he won't comment publicly on the war, reported the Washington leak sheet Capitol Hill Blue, on June 14. The elder Bush, a former CIA Director, also faults his son for pressuring the CIA to provide hastily-prepared and faulty intelligence to justify the war. The report says that Bush has told his son that he "messed up big time" in trying to link Saddam to the 9/11 attacks against the United States.
As support for the war declines, political aides allied with the Bush "43" have urged the father to come out in support of the war, which he has refused to do.
Key CIA Functions Being Outsourced and Privatized
CIA officers are being recruited right out of the Agency by private companies, and then sent back into their old jobs as much better paid private contractors, writes author James Bamford, in the June 13 New York Times.
"Private contractors are taking over jobs once reserved for highly-trained agency employees: regional desk officers who control clandestine operations around the world; watch officers at the 24-hour crisis center; analysts who sift through reams of intelligence data; counterintelligence officers who oversee clandestine meetings between agency officers and their recruited spies; and reports officers who act as liaisons between officers in the field and analysts back at headquarters," Bamford wrote.
Because of classification, Bamford continues, it is almost impossible for Congress to get any information about the practice. The process involves "hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of contractors," and the quality of intelligence often suffers.
Democratic Activists Not Fooled by Kerry's Poll Lead
On June 14, the Washington Post news story and a New York Post op-ed both reported on the dissatisfaction among Democrats with Sen. John Kerry's campaign, despite his latest small lead in national campaign polls over a President Bush whose popular support is falling dramatically. Both cite Democratic leaders and activists (the New York Post's are all unnamed; the Washington Post names the Soros-funded former Clinton aide John Podesta and Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee) to the effect that Kerry is avoiding a grassroots mobilization of the party constituencies, is relying on a money-and-ads campaign, and has fallen far behind the Bush campaign in what the NY Post calls "the ground game" of mobilization.
A late-May ABC News poll showed Kerry and Bush even. But, 77% of the likely Bush voters said they were voting for Bush; while only 38% of the likely Kerry voters said they were voting for Kerry. Of the Kerry voters, 62% said they were voting against Bush. Podesta is quoted in the WP saying, "You can't just be against something." Another, anonymous "top Democratic aide" said many in the House of Representatives find it hard to explain what Kerry stands for, or what he has stood for in the past.
Las Vegas Slots More Secure Than Voting Machines
The New York Times recently visited the State of Nevada's Gaming Control Board laboratory, to compare the security procedures applied to electronic gambling machines (almost the only kind used these days), to those for electronic voting devices. "To appreciate how poor the oversight on voting systems is," the Times said in its lead editorial of June 13, "it's useful to look at the way Nevada systematically ensures that electronic gambling machines in Las Vegas operate honestly and accurately. Electronic voting, by comparison, is rife with lax procedures, security risks and conflicts of interest."
Gamblers are better protected than voters, it writes:
* The state has access to all gambling software, and it is illegal to use software which is not on file with the state. In contrast, electronic voting machine vendors claim that their software is a trade secret.
* The software on slot machines and other gambling devices is constantly being spot-checked, with unannounced inspections that compare the computer chip in a slot machine to the one on file. Nothing of the sort is required for voting machines.
* "There are meticulous, constantly updated standards for gambling machines ... intended to cover anything that can possibly go wrong." In contrast, voting machine standards are out of date and inadequate.
* "Manufacturers are intensively scrutinized before they are licensed to sell gambling software or hardware," but, "When it comes to voting machine manufacturers, all a company needs to do to enter the field is persuade an election official to buy its equipment. There is no way for voters to know that the software on their machines was not written by programmers with fraud convictions, or close ties to political parties or candidates."
* "The lab that certifies gambling equipment has an arms-length relationship with the manufacturers it polices, and is open to inquiries from the public," but in contrast: "The federal labs that certify voting equipment are profit-making companies. They are chosen and paid by voting machine companies."
* "When there is a dispute about a machine, a gambler has a right to an immediate investigation," but a voter has little recourse if he suspects a problem.
The editorial concludes saying, "a vote for president should be at least as secure as a 25-cent bet in Las Vegas."
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