In this issue:

Bush's Military Service Under Intense Scrutiny

GOP Newsletter Assails Republican Convention

1,000 U.S. War Dead Pinned on Bush/Cheney Policies

LaRouche Democrat Wins 9% in Nevada

For Rumsfeld and Myers, Failure in Iraq Is Success

Gitmo Detainee Review Process Rushing to Completion

Is Libby Preparing for a New Career?

Jimmy Carter Blasts Zell Miller

Army Ending Halliburton's Logistics Contract

From Volume 3, Issue Number 37 of EIR Online, Published Sep. 14, 2004

United States News Digest

Bush's Military Service Under Intense Scrutiny

On Sept. 8, CBS's "60 Minutes" aired a feature story on George W. Bush's National Guard service in the Texas Air National Guard and his alleged subsequent tour (or not) in the Alabama Air National Guard, which broadcast raises more questions about his so-called military record.

The documents revealed in the program are said to have come from the personal files of Bush's squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, after Bush abruptly moved from Texas to Alabama, to work on the electoral campaign of Winston Blount. Killian, who died in 1984, had ordered G.W. "to be suspended from flight status for failure to perform" to U.S. Air Force and National Guard standards and failure to take his annual physical "as ordered."

White House spokesmen have argued there was no reason for G.W. to take the annual physical exam required for fighter pilots, because there were no suitable planes for him to fly in Alabama.

The Killian records tell a different story. In addition to the order to Bush to report for a physical, the documents, include various memos from Killian, describing his conversations with Bush and other National Guard officers, about Bush's attempts to secure a transfer to Alabama.

Killian's notes include: "Phone call from Bush," which Killian recorded in a "memo to file" dated May 19, 1972. "Discussed options of how Bush can get out of coming to drill from now through November." Killian's files show that he ordered Bush "suspended from flight status" on Aug. 1, 1972, "for failure to accomplish annual medical examination," but does not mention his alleged failure to comply with National Guard and Air Force standards.

In another "memo to file," dated Aug. 18, 1973, Killian complained that he was under pressure from his superior, Col. Walter B. "Buck" Staudt, to "sugar coat" Bush's officer evaluations. Killian wrote: "I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job," in a memo titled "CYA" [cover your ass—ed.], "I will not rate [Bush]."

GOP Newsletter Assails Republican Convention

The Big Picture, a prestigious newsletter that circulates widely among Republican Party movers and shakers, published a lead story in its Sept. 6 edition, blasting the Cheney-Bush crowd for the scripted Republican Convention, which signalled that "The traditional Grand Old Party of Taft, Eisenhower, Goldwater, Nixon, and Reagan is gone. Vanished without a trace is the old GOP's 'Big Tent' philosophy, where the party's distinct liberal and conservative 'wings' fought out their differences on issues and ideology.... President George W. Bush's party is shaped like a church, and not a very big one," publisher Richard Whalen wrote. "Although the entire Federal government establishment is in Republican hands, the party is insecure, narrow, doctrinaire, and intolerant. The Bush party is entirely dedicated to perpetuating the President's power." Whalen blasted the Bush Administration's Iraq war, which he described as a "tragic detour" from the war on terrorism, and he zeroed in on Dick Cheney for having plotted an invasion of Iraq for years, in league with the neocons.

Whalen assailed both Zell Miller and Dick Cheney for delivering "stunningly mean-spirited speeches," which set the tone for Bush's own acceptance speech, "exploiting the memory of 9/11 and the public confusion between 'the war on terror' and the war in Iraq." Whalen's prognosis: "If the November election turns on Iraq and the war on terrorism, Bush will win. If the election turns on the disappointing economy, which remains more than a million jobs short in the third year of 'recovery,' Kerry will win."

Whalen also blasted Bush, and his "brain" Karl Rove, for devising an election strategy targetted almost exclusively at the Religious Right. "A Bush campaign targeted on mobilizing evangelical true believers in sufficient numbers to re-elect the President virtually alone, by its very exclusive nature, divides and polarizes America, and it literally could prove to be self-defeating—unless Kerry defeats himself."

Whalen's conclusion: Regardless of the November election outcome, "America is an inherently conservative nation, in need of a truly representative and inclusive majority party. The Republican Party urgently needs a long overdue post-Cold War updating and redefinition, especially the rejection of an unwanted empire and the hopeless doctrine of permanent war. Peace through strength was the heart of Ronald Reagan's uniting vision. America must regain domestic purpose and international respect through re-dedication to principles of freedom, nationalism and non-interference in the affairs of others."

1,000 U.S. War Dead Pinned on Bush/Cheney Policies

In its Sept. 9 edition, the New York Times printed a chilling pictorial indictment of Bush and Cheney with a front-page article, and five full pages about the 1,000 U.S. troops who have been killed so far in Iraq, with August having been the highest number of U.S. troops injured—1,100 of them—on top of these figures. Part of the five pages of coverage is two and one-half full pages of the postage-stamp-sized portrait photos of the 1,000 dead—most of them in their 20s. The pictures of the soldiers has a very shocking effect, and the accompanying articles report on how young many of them are, and how they joined the military because they were looking for economic and educational opportunities. The Times also quotes a number of family members saying that they could never vote for Bush again.

However, in what could be a warning to John Kerry, family survivors are also saying they will vote for Ralph Nader, against Bush, because Kerry has not shown that he has any clear policy against the Iraq war.

The Sept. 9 Washington Post ran a similar portrait memorial, showing the full-color photos of hundreds of U.S. troops who have died since July 1, 2004.

LaRouche Democrat Wins 9% in Nevada

LaRouche Democrat Ann Reynolds received 9% of the vote in a three-way race for the Democratic nomination for Congress in Nevada's First Congressional District. According to AP, the incumbent, Rep. Shelley Berkley, received 84% of the vote in the Democratic primary Sept. 7, while the other candidate, Brian Kral, a college instructor, received 7%. Earlier, Reynolds had told New Federalist that she would battle on, whatever the outcome of the primary, to help LaRouche secure a victory for the Kerry-Edwards ticket in the state. Reynolds has expressed concern that Berkley is "more concerned about supporting the insane and genocidal war plans of that Israeli fascist Ariel Sharon and his 'Likudniks' than she is about winning this state for Kerry."

For Rumsfeld and Myers, Failure in Iraq Is Success

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld expressed a backwards logic, at a Sept. 7 Pentagon briefing, in response to repeated questions about the inability of the U.S. occupation to control large areas of Iraq, including the cities of Fallujah, Ramadi, and Samarra.

Myers insisted that part of the strategy is to stay out of these places while Iraqi security forces are trained to handle them on their own. "And while U.S. forces or coalition forces, on their own, can do just about anything we want to do, it makes a lot more sense that it be a sustained operation, one that can be sustained by Iraqi security forces."

When asked later if he conceded that Fallujah, Ramadi, and Samarra had become safe havens for terrorists (what the Pentagon calls all anti-American insurgents in Iraq) and militants, Myers replied that "They are places where we do not conduct patrols, we don't conduct joint patrols [with Iraqi forces], but they are all going to be dealt with on priorities that are developed by the Iraqi government and by coalition forces." Myers punted on whether or not the raging violence in Iraq might preclude elections in January. He said, that's up to the interim government to sort out.

Gitmo Detainee Review Process Rushing to Completion

Navy Secretary Gordon England, charged by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with overseeing the process of reviewing the status of the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, reported Sept. 8 that 55 tribunals to determine whether or not detainees are enemy combatants or not, have been completed, and 30 have been approved by the convening authority. Of the 30 completed cases, one detainee has been determined not to be an enemy combatant and is in the process of being released to his home country. England would not say which country the detainee was from, or give any other details as to what resulted in the change in his status. He would only say generally that "we just learn more over time." He also expressed confidence that the process of reviewing the status of all of the approximately 600 detainees would be completed by the end of this year.

Is Libby Preparing for a New Career?

According to Washington Post columnist Al Kamen, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff, is preparing for his future. Kamen wrote on Sept. 8 that while walking on the streets of Des Moines, Iowa, one recent evening, Cheney's man was asked by some reporters what bar he was heading to. Libby's response: "Bail bondsman, actually." Libby's name has most recently popped up in connection with the AIPAC/neocon/Israeli spy scandal.

Jimmy Carter Blasts Zell Miller

Former President Jimmy Carter wrote to fellow Georgia "Democrat" Sen. Zell Miller, accusing him of "unprecedented disloyalty," and calling his GOP Convention speech "rabid and mean-spirited." In the letter reported in the Sept. 8 Washington Post, Carter said he and others were "uncomfortable in seeing that you have chosen the rich over the poor, unilateral preemptive war over a strong nation unified with others for peace, lies and obfuscation over the truth, and the political technique of character assassination as a way to win elections or to garner a few moments of applause."

Army Ending Halliburton's Logistics Contract

The U.S. Army is ending Halliburton's no-bid logistics contract for feeding and housing U.S. troops in Iraq, and putting the work out to competitive bids in several smaller contracts, the Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 7. In an internal Army memorandum dated Aug. 25, the Army's head of procurement policy, Tina Ballard, instructed top officials at the U.S. Army Field Support Command "to immediately begin the transition to competitively award sustainment contracts for support of U.S. military forces in Iraq."

The memo also presents an option for the Army to stop efforts to negotiate contract costs with Halliburton's KBR unit—a whopping 42% of KBR's billings have been found by the Army to be not justified. This step means the Army could take unilateral action to come up with estimated costs on its own.

The intention of the move to axe KBR's Iraq logistics contract, according to a Pentagon official cited by the Journal, is to break up the contract—valued at as much as $13 billion—into six or more smaller deals, and to complete the competitive bidding process by year-end.

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