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Impeach
Bush--Index 11
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September 08,
2005 Powell critical of US response to Katrina "I think there have been a lot of failures at a lot of levels --- local, state and federal," Powell said in an interview with the ABC News program "20/20," to air late Friday I don't think its racism, I think its economic," Powell said. "When you look at those who werent able to get out, it should have been a blinding flash of the obvious to everybody that when you order a mandatory evacuation, you can't expect everybody to evacuate on their own. September 07, 2005 Pew Reseach Poll: Two-In-Three Critical Of Bush's Relief Efforts The American public is highly critical of President Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Two-in-three Americans (67%) believe he could have done more to speed up relief efforts, while just 28% think he did all he could to get them going quickly. At the same time, Bush's overall job approval rating has slipped to 40% and his disapproval rating has climbed to 52%, among the highest for his presidency. Uncharacteristically, the president's ratings have slipped the most among his core constituents Republicans and conservatives. September 08, 2005 Zobby poll: Approval Rating Falls to 41%, All-Time Low 41 percent of respondents in the poll taken Sept. 6-7 gave Bush positive marks for his job performance, down from 45 percent in a July 30 survey and 50 percent in mid-February. Bush got negative marks from 59 percent of respondents, up from 55 percent in July and 50 percent in February in the poll. September 08, 2005 U.N. Report Cites U.S. and Japan as the 'Least Generous Donors' UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 7 - A week before world leaders gather here to set a course for combating global poverty, a United Nations report released on Wednesday names the United States and Japan as among "the least generous donors" and says American and European trade policies are hypocritical and contribute to impoverishing African farmers. September 07, 2005 Dems Assail White House on Katrina Effort Congress' top two Democrats furiously criticized the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina on Wednesday, with Sen. Harry Reid demanding to know whether President Bush's Texas vacation impeded relief efforts and Rep. Nancy Pelosi assailing the chief executive as "oblivious, in denial" about the difficulties. September 05, 2005 Did Newsweek get spun too? This week's Newsweek contains the same false claim -- and though their recital of the anecdote is unsourced, common sense suggests that someone or some operation fed them both the same line, which neither organization checked out before running. September 07, 2005 When disaster strikes Cheney buying $2.9 million waterfront estate Later this week (no point rushing things) W. is dispatching Dick Cheney to the rancid lake that was a romantic city. The vice president has at long last lumbered back from a Wyoming vacation, and, reportedly, from shopping for a $2.9 million waterfront estate in St. Michael's, a retreat in the Chesapeake Bay where Rummy has a weekend home, where "Wedding Crashers" was filmed and where rich lobbyists hunt. September 07, 2005 Top FEMA leaders have little experience WASHINGTON -- Top officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency have strong political connections to President Bush, but they also share at least one other trait: They had little or no experience in disaster management before landing in top FEMA posts. September 06, 2005 Frustrated: Fire crews to hand out fliers for FEMA Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers. Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA. September 06, 2005 Media Matters letter to Washington Post: anonymous sources that lie The Post was responsible enough to print a correction to the original article, pointing out that, in fact, Blanco declared a state of emergency on Friday, August 26 -- before the hurricane made landfall -- though the correction did not note that the error occurred because the Post relied on a "senior Bush official" who provided false information. Nonetheless, I believe this incident raises serious questions the Post needs to address. September 05, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Navy Pilots Who Rescued Victims Are Reprimanded PENSACOLA, Fla., Sept. 6 - Two Navy helicopter pilots and their crews returned from New Orleans on Aug. 30 expecting to be greeted as lifesavers after ferrying more than 100 hurricane victims to safety. The order to halt civilian relief efforts angered some helicopter crews. Lieutenant Udkow, who associates say was especially vocal about voicing his disagreement to superiors, was taken out of the squadron's flying rotation temporarily and assigned to oversee a temporary kennel established at Pensacola to hold pets of service members evacuated from the hurricane-damaged areas, two members of the unit said. Lieutenant Udkow denied that he had complained and said he did not view the kennel assignment as punishment. September 05, 2005 Michael Chertoff : 'New Orleans Dodged The Bullet.' NEW YORK On Sunday's "Meet the Press," Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff told Tim Russert that one reason for the delay in rushing federal aid to the Gulf Coast was that "everyone" thought the crisis had passed when the storm left town: "I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, 'New Orleans Dodged The Bullet.'" [note : "Meet the Press" is where republicans go to lie.] September 07, 2005 FEMA then, FEMA now Let's consider an obvious comparison: Michael Brown and James Lee Witt, who Bill Clinton appointed head of FEMA. As has been widely noted, before joining FEMA, Brown was a lawyer for the International Arabian Horse Association. Before Witt was tapped as FEMA chief, he had served for four years as director of the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services. Bush placed a crony--Brown was also an attorney for the Oklahoma Republican Party--in charge of FEMA (and permitted the agency's disaster work to be downgraded). Clinton gave the job to a fellow with years of experience in disaster management and maintained a close connection to Witt and FEMA, which then had Cabinet-level status. August 26, 2005 Roberts Supporters outspend opponents 8-1 Supporters of President Bush and his Supreme Court nominee, Judge John Roberts, have outspent opponents on television advertising at a pace of nearly 8 to 1 ($1,274,025 to $165,114) since Roberts was nominated on July 19. August 26, 2005 Limbaugh relied on inaccurate Army recruitment numbers from NY Post op-ed But as Media Matters for America noted, Peters used inaccurate first-time recruitment numbers to erroneously claim that "the U.S. Army is exceeding its re-enlistment and first-time enlistment goals." After widespread recognition of his error, Peters drafted a correction that was printed in the August 24 edition of the Post and appears at the bottom of the online version of the op-ed. In his correction, Peters acknowledged his "substantial error" and wrote: "The new-enlistment rates I cited were wrong. The Army is still falling short on new enlistments." September 02, 2005 NY Times reprinted Bush's false claim that nobody "anticipated the breach of the levees" NY Timess Lies Again: In an interview Thursday on "Good Morning America," President Bush said, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." He added, "Now we're having to deal with it, and will." September 04, 2005 Hurricane Center Briefed FEMA and Homeland Security NEW YORK Dr. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, told the Times-Picayune Sunday afternoon that officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, including FEMA Director Mike Brown and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, listened in on electronic briefings given by his staff in advance of Hurricane Katrina slamming Louisiana and Mississippi--and were advised of the storm's potential deadly effects. September 06, 2005 Gallup: Americans to Bush -- Withdraw Troops from Iraq In the same survey, only 40% of Americans approve, while 59% disapprove of the way Bush is handling Iraq. Fifty-three percent of Americans think going to war in Iraq was a mistake, similar to the 54% who said this in early August. September 04, 2005 FEMA asserted its authority and made things worse Far from deferring to state or local officials, FEMA asserted its authority and made things worse, Mr. Broussard complained on "Meet the Press." Ms. Bottcher was one of several officials yesterday who said she believed FEMA had interfered with the delivery of aid, including offers from the mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, and the governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson. September 04, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Navy ship nearby underused The USS Bataan, a 844-foot ship designed to dispatch Marines in amphibious assaults, has helicopters, doctors, hospital beds, food and water. It also can make its own water, up to 100,000 gallons a day. And it just happened to be in the Gulf of Mexico when Katrina came roaring ashore. But now the Bataan's hospital facilities, including six operating rooms and beds for 600 patients, are empty September 05, 2005 Officials Deal With Political Fallout by Pointing Fingers Louisiana officials pushed back hard against the White House yesterday, sharply criticizing President Bush for offering a tentative and insufficient response to the obliteration of New Orleans and then trying to shift the blame to the state and local governments. September 05, 2005 An Impeachable Offense U.S.S. Bataan was off the Gulf Coast without patients Here's one of many examples: The Chicago Tribune reports that the U.S.S. Bataan, equipped with six operating rooms, hundreds of hospital beds and the ability to produce 100,000 gallons of fresh water a day, has been sitting off the Gulf Coast since last Monday - without patients. September 05, 2005 White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to the region, leading up to an extraordinary return visit by Mr. Bush planned for Monday, directed administration officials not to respond to attacks from Democrats on the relief efforts, and sought to move the blame for the slow response to Louisiana state officials, according to Republicans familiar with the White House plan. September 06, 2005 Insurgents take Control of Iraq Town BAGHDAD, Sept. 5 -- Fighters loyal to militant leader Abu Musab Zarqawi asserted control over the key Iraqi border town of Qaim on Monday, killing U.S. collaborators and enforcing strict Islamic law, according to tribal members, officials, residents and others in the town and nearby villages. no date As South drowns, Rice soaks in N.Y. Like President Bush, the Secretary of State has been on vacation during the Hurricane Katrina crisis, with Rice enjoying her downtime in New York Wednesday and yesterday. A fellow shopper shouted, "How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!" - presumably referring to Louisiana and Mississippi. September 03, 2005 Bush Debate: Natural catastrophes are "a time to test your mettle." George W. Bush informed his opponent, Al Gore, that natural catastrophes are 'a time to test your mettle." Bush had seen his father falter after a hurricane in South Florida. But now he has done far worse. Over five days last week, from the onset of the hurricane on the Gulf Coast on Monday morning to his belated visit to the region on Friday, Bush's mettle was tested—and he failed in almost every respect. September 05, 2005 An Impeachable Offense The president and his top advisers chose vacation over action >Bush is trying to undo what many Republicans described as considerable damage to the White House inflicted by Bush's crisis management. "Almost every Republican I have spoken with is disappointed" in Bush's performance, said William Kristol, a conservative columnist with close White House ties. "He is a strong president . . . but he has never really focused on the importance of good execution. I think that is true in many parts of his presidency." September 05, 2005 An Impeachable Offense GOP, Bush gutted FEMA budget The agency's core budget, which includes disaster preparedness and mitigation, has been cut each year since it was absorbed by the Homeland Security Department in 2003. "They've taken emergency management away from the emergency managers," complained Morrie Goodman, who was FEMA's chief spokesman during the Clinton administration. "These operations are being run by people who are amateurs at what they are doing." September 04, 2005 Telling the Truth About Chief Justice Rehnquist Rehnquist's judicial philosophy was result-oriented, activist, and authoritarian. He sometimes moderated his views for prudential or pragmatic reasons, but his vote could almost always be predicted based on who the parties were, not what the legal issues happened to be. He generally [b]opposed the rights of gays, women, blacks, aliens, and religious minorities. He was a friend of corporations, polluters, right wing Republicans, religious fundamentalists, homophobes, and other bigots.[/b] September 03, 2005 Category Five Hurricane hit Cuba last year--no deaths At least one commentator compared the US relief effort to that of Cuba, which was hit by a Category 5 Hurricane Ivan last year. Despite seas that "surged 600 metres inland," 1.3 million people were successfully evacuated, amphibious tanks were used to retrieve people in flooded areas, and no deaths were reported. [note: very good blog--with many links relating to Katrina including racism in the media] September 02, 2005 Poll: Gas prices public's top domestic priority (Washington-AP, September 2, 2005, 7:36 a.m.) Gas prices are soaring past $3 a gallon and fuel supply lines have been crippled by Hurricane Katrina. Now the public is demanding that President Bush and Congress make fuel prices their highest domestic priority, an AP-Ipsos poll found. September 03, 2005 An Angry 'Times-Picayune' Calls for Firing of FEMA Chief and Others in Open Letter to President On Sunday It also cited "bald-faced" lies by Michael Brown. "Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach," the staffers pointed out. "We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry." August 26, 2005 Louisiana Declared a Federal Emergeney on the Friday before Katrina Hit The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing. September 04, 2005 Navy Turns to Halliburton for Help on Damaged Bases WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 - Facing extensive damage by Hurricane Katrina to naval installations in Mississippi, the Navy turned immediately to the Halliburton Company's KBR subsidiary for tasks like restoring electricity, repairing roofs and clearing debris at bases that are urgently needed for response efforts. September 03, 2005 Oil Firms Turn Katrina Into Profits, Clinton Says SYRACUSE, N.Y., Sept. 2 -- Pressed by constituents alarmed by skyrocketing gasoline prices in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) accused oil companies of manipulating energy markets to enhance profits and decried a lack of national leadership for a plan to free the country from dependence on foreign oil. not dated Homeland Security was Responsible for Federal Response In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. [b] This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort.[/b] September 03, 2005 A short history of Katrina Katrina emerged in the Gulf of Mexico during the morning of the 25th and moved west-southwest into open waters of the Gulf while re-strengthening. [b] By the 27th, Katrina reached category-five intensity[/b] on the Saffir-Simpson scale. September 03, 2005 An Impeachable Offense The United States of Shame Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs. Who on earth could have known that an American invasion of Iraq would spawn a brutal insurgency, terrorist recruiting boom and possible civil war? Any official who bothered to read the C.I.A.'s prewar reports. Who on earth could have known that New Orleans's sinking levees were at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy's uneasy fishbowl. September 02, 2005 The Rebellion of the Talking Heads In the last couple of days, many of the broadcasters reporting from the bowl-shaped toxic waste dump that was once the city of New Orleans have stopped playing the role of wind-swept wet men facing down a big storm to become public advocates for the poor, the displaced, the starving, the dying, and the dead. September 03, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Pentagon Investigator Resigns--suspected of blocking investigations of senior Bush officials. The resignation comes after Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) sent Schmitz several letters this summer informing him that he was the focus of a congressional inquiry into whether he had blocked two criminal investigations last year. August 26, 2005 Deadly hurricane could hit again Monday as a Category 4 HOLLYWOOD, Florida (CNN) -- Hurricane Katrina will make a "big shift" to the west on its way across the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to reach dangerous Category 4 intensity before making landfall Monday afternoon in Mississippi or Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center said Friday. September 01, 2005 Pentagon's IG Takes Job at Contractor The Pentagon's inspector general will be leaving his post Sept. 9 to take a top job at the parent company for Blackwater USA, one of the largest private security firms in Iraq, the Defense Department said yesterday. September 01, 2005 Gov. Blanco Demands Apology fom Hastert A furious Gov. Kathleen Blanco issued a message to House Speaker Dennis Hastert: "I expect an apology as soon as possible." She was referring to Hastert's comments about spending billions of dollars to rebuild New Orleans. September 02, 2005 This is a national disgrace "This is a national disgrace. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control," Ebbert told the Associated Press as he watched refugees evacuate the Superdome yesterday. "We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans. We have got a mayor who has been pushing and asking, but we're not getting supplies." August 31, 2005 Bush and Katrina: A time for action, not aloofness Katrina already is measured as one of the worst storms in American history. And yet, President Bush decided that his plans to commemorate the 60th anniversary of VJ Day with a speech were more pressing than responding to the carnage. September 01, 2005 An Impeachable Offense FDA Official Resigns Because Contraceptive Decision was Political The top Food and Drug Administration official in charge of women's health issues resigned yesterday in protest against the agency's decision to further delay a final ruling on whether the "morning-after pill" should be made more easily accessible. Sept. 02 31, 2005 Gas Supplies Tight; Bush Asks Drivers to Conserve After meeting with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, President Bush said Hurricane Katrina had severely disrupted U.S. energy supplies and asked consumers to conserve fuel in the coming days. "Americans should be prudent in their use of energy during the course of the next few weeks," he said. "Don't buy gas if you don't need it." Some oil companies, including Chevron Corp., have begun rationing the amount of gas they sell to suppliers. August 31, 2005 US accounts for 33.5% of weapon sales The United States once again dominated global weapons sales, signing deals worth $12.4 billion in 2004, or 33.5 percent of all contracts worldwide. But that was down from $15.1 billion in 2003. August 30, 2005 U.S. Ranks 12th Among Richest Nations for Foreign Aid WASHINGTON -- The United States has significantly increased its foreign aid to poor countries but still ranks 12th among the 21 richest nations in its overall performance in helping the world's poor, according to a widely watched annual report. August 31, 2005 Strain of Iraq War Slows Relief With thousands of their citizen-soldiers away fighting in Iraq, states hit hard by Hurricane Katrina scrambled to muster forces for rescue and security missions yesterday -- calling up Army bands and water-purification teams, among other units, and requesting help from distant states and the active-duty military. August 31, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Flood control money diverted to tax cuts and war in Iraq Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. August 29, 2005 Reuters demands release of wounded Iraq journalist BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Reuters demanded the immediate release on Monday of an Iraqi cameraman who was still being held by U.S. forces in Baghdad more than a day after being wounded in an incident in which his soundman was killed. August 31, 2005 Poverty Rate Rises to 12.7 Percent Overall, the nation's poverty rate rose to 12.7 percent of the population last year. Of the 37 million living below the poverty level, close to a third were children. It marks the fourth straight increase in the government's annual poverty measure. August 22, 2005 Views on warming hard to thaw McCain and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., have drawn about 40 Senate votes for a measure that would cap America's greenhouse gas emissions in 2010 at the 2000 level. The Bush administration is also in denial. A White House aide -- since departed for the petroleum industry -- repeatedly censored and softened references to global warming in reports by the president's Council on Environmental Quality. August 18, 2005 McCain, Clinton probe melting Arctic Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton, touring Alaska this week to view melting permafrost and shrinking glaciers, said the evidence is mounting that global warming is real and human activity is significantly to blame. The National Academy of Sciences and the academies of 10 other nations issued a statement this summer saying there is strong evidence that significant global warming is under way and that "it is likely that most of the warming in recent decades can be attributed to human activities." August 14, 2005 Icy Greenland turns green This land was being exposed for the first time for millions of years. Even a century ago, where I stood would have been solid ice, and I was struck by just how much vegetation there was. Sheep once again graze the surrounding hillside and shiny new tractors work the fields near the southern coast. Greenland is turning green, something the rest of us should be very worried about indeed. August 31, 2005 Iraq war costs more per month than Vietnam WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. war in Iraq now costs more per month than the average monthly cost of military operations in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s, according to a report issued on Wednesday. Year 2004 An Impeachable Offense Republicans accused of witch-hunt against climate change scientists The demands in letters sent to the scientists have been compared by some US media commentators to the anti-communist "witch-hunts" pursued by Joe McCarthy in the 1950s. The three US climate scientists - Michael Mann, the director of the Earth System Science Centre at Pennsylvania State University; Raymond Bradley, the director of the Climate System Research Centre at the University of Massachusetts; and Malcolm Hughes, the former director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona - have been told to send large volumes of material. Year 2004 Ranking Aid by Country But although the United States gives more aid than any other country in absolute terms, it still gives less aid in proportion to its size than any other rich country, and so finished near the bottom in this category. Sweden led the aid component this year, followed closely by neighbors Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands. August 29, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Army Contract Official Critical of Halliburton Pact Is Demoted A top Army contracting official who criticized a large, noncompetitive contract with the Halliburton Company for work in Iraq was demoted Saturday for what the Army called poor job performance. August 29, 2005 A national emergency Pat Buchanan: Why is a Republican Congress permitting this president to persist in the dereliction of his sworn duty? George Bush is chief executive of the United States. It is his duty to enforce the laws. Can anyone fairly say he is enforcing the immigration laws? Those laws are clear. People who break in are to be sent back. Yet, more than 10 million have broken in with impunity. Another million attempt to break in every year. Half a million succeed. Border security is homeland security. How, then, can the Department of Homeland Security say America is secure? August 13, 2005 Rove and Ashcroft face new allegations in the Valerie Plame affair Several of the federal investigators were also deeply concerned that then attorney general John Ashcroft was personally briefed regarding the details of at least one FBI interview with Rove, despite Ashcroft's own longstanding personal and political ties to Rove, the Voice has also learned. The same sources said Ashcroft was also told that investigators firmly believed that Rove had withheld important information from them during that FBI interview. August 24, 2005 Was Pat Robertson's Call For Assassination Of A Foreign Leader A Crime? First, Robertson said he wanted to assassinate President Chavez. His threat to "take him out," especially when combined with the explanation that this would be cheaper than war, was clearly a threat to kill. Then, Robertson said he was only talking about kidnapping Chavez. Under the federal statute, a threat to "kidnap" is expressly covered. August 25, 2005 Fox News misrepresented general's statement on Army recruitmentt On August 25, Fox News anchor Donna Fiducia declared that Army recruiting "is on the rebound" and reported a statement by Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army's chief of staff, that the service expects to exceed its August recruiting goal, as it did in June and July. But Fiducia ignored the rest of Schoomaker's comments, which included a more dour announcement that the Army expects to miss its annual recruitment goal for the fiscal year that ends in September. In early May, the Army realized it would likely fall short of its recruitment goal again and lowered its target for the month from 8,050 to 6,700 recruits, according to a June 8 New York Times article. After the Army failed to meet even the lowered recruitment goal by 25 percent August 29, 2005 U.S. Studies Report Its Soldiers Killed Journalist BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 28 (Reuters) - A soundman working for Reuters Television was shot dead Sunday in Baghdad, and a cameraman with him was wounded and then detained by United States soldiers. An Iraqi police report, read to Reuters by an Interior Ministry official, said the two had been shot by American forces. August 28, 2005 Peace Rally Links 911 with Iraq War "I thought it would've been a nice gesture if that's all it was. But I don't believe in tying Sept. 11 to anything else," said Craig Sincock, whose wife died in the Pentagon attack. "Now it's too big and there's too much. I'll go and support the troops any day, but I won't support the troops on the back of my wife's death." What soured Sincock and raised the hackles of antiwar groups was the Freedom Walk's tie-in to the military's "America Supports You" campaign -- a Department of Defense effort to bolster support for all U.S. troops, but primarily those in Iraq August 26, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Recusal Questions for Roberts One of the judges was John Roberts, who in April heard arguments about the Bush administration's policy as he was discussing a Supreme Court appointment in private conversations with the White House. On July 15, when Judge Roberts met with President Bush for the job-clinching interview, he joined a ruling in favor of the defendants, who included Mr. Bush. August 27, 2005 Experts Warn Debt May Threaten Economy You owe $145,000. And the bill is rising every day. That's how much it would cost every American man, woman and child to pay the tab for the long-term promises the U.S. government has made to creditors, retirees, veterans and the poor. August 10, 2005 McCaffrey: "The National Guard is in a stage of meltdown." McCaffrey, a retired US Army commander, told the US Senate's foreign relations committee on July 18 that the strain of the war in Iraq was pushing the US military forces toward a "meltdown". McCaffrey told the committee: "The Army and Marines are starting to come apart. The National Guard is in a stage of meltdown." August 12, 2005 Lessons for an Exit Strategy Henry A. Kissinger--All this demonstrated two principles applicable to Iraq: Military success is difficult to sustain unless buttressed by domestic support. And an international framework within which the new Iraq can find its place needs to be fostered. Is it then possible to speak of a national army at all? Today the Iraqi forces are in their majority composed of Shiites, and the insurrection is mostly in traditional Sunni areas. It thus foreshadows a return to the traditional Sunni-Shiite conflict, only with reversed capabilities. August 28, 2005 The Vietnamization of Bush's Vacation In the wake of Ms. Sheehan's protest, the facts on the ground in America have changed almost everywhere. The president, for one, has been forced to make what for him is the ultimate sacrifice: jettisoning chunks of vacation to defend the war in any bunker he can find in Utah or Idaho. Mr. Hagel backed up his assertion that we are bogged down in a new Vietnam with an irrefutable litany of failure: "more dead, more wounded, less electricity in Iraq, less oil being pumped in Iraq, more insurgency attacks, more insurgents coming across the border, more corruption in the government." August 27, 2005 Adam, Eve and T. Rex Science holds that dinosaurs were the Earth's royalty for about 160 million years. Their reign ended abruptly, possibly after a meteorite smacked into the planet, but they're considered the forebears of birds. Unearthing dinosaur bones that are millions of years old "doesn't prove evolution, but it shows the Genesis account doesn't work," said Nick Matzke, a spokesman for the National Center for Science Education. August 27, 2005 Nearly 1,000 Abu Ghraib detainees released BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Nearly 1,000 detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison were released this week at the request of the Iraqi government, Multi-National Forces said Saturday. Those chosen for release were not convicted of violent crimes. August 25, 2005 Wash. Post ignored Republican divisions over Iraq -- again In fact, a number of Republicans, including potential presidential candidates, have publicly criticized the Bush administration over Iraq in recent weeks. This is the second time within a week that the Post has failed to note Republican criticism of the Iraq war while reporting Democratic criticism. August 26, 2005 Results of AP-Ipsos poll on attitudes about Iraq 2. All in all, thinking about how things have gone in Iraq since the United States went to war there in March 2003, do you think the United States ... —Made the right decision in going to war in Iraq, 43 percent. August 25, 2005 U.S. Rejects Media Concerns about Journalist Detentions BAGHDAD (Reuters) The U.S. military rejected on Thursday concerns aired by Reuters and other media organizations in Iraq about its detention of journalists, saying it would not consider the special nature of their work in reporting conflict. International media rights groups have joined Reuters in seeking an urgent explanation for the arrest of a cameraman working for the news agency, who has been held incommunicado for more than two weeks and is now in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. August 25, 2005 Groups Demand Release of Reuters Cameraman in Iraq LONDON (Reuters) Media rights groups demanded on Thursday that U.S. forces immediately release a Reuters journalist held in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq unless they could explain why he is being held without charge. August 26, 2005 Base-closing plan angers Republicans A Defense Department plan to close hundreds of facilities that it says are obsolete has infuriated prominent Republican lawmakers at a time when their support for President Bush's Iraq strategy could be more critical than ever. August 24, 2005 McCain Supports teaching intelligent design On Tuesday, though, he sided with the president on two issues that have made headlines recently: teaching intelligent design in schools and Cindy Sheehan, the grieving mother who has come to personify the anti-war movement. August 21, 2005 Utah station won't air Sheehan ad In a statement Saturday evening explaining its decision, KTVX said that after viewing the ad, local managers found the content "could very well be offensive to our community in Utah, which has contributed more than its fair share of fighting soldiers and suffered significant loss of life in the this Iraq war.' August 19, 2005 Frist Backs Bush on Teaching 'Intelligent Design' in Schools WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 - The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, aligned himself with President Bush today when he said that the theory of "intelligent design" should be taught along with evolution in public schools. August 25, 2005 American Legion Condems War Protests--calls protests 'treason' We had hoped that the lessons learned from the Vietnam War would be clear to our fellow citizens: public protests against the war here at home while our young men and women are in harm's way on the other side of the globe only provide aid and comfort to our enemies. 1999 American Legion Letter to President Clinton--hypocrites Mr. President, the United States Armed Forces should never be committed to wartime operations unless the following conditions are fulfilled: * That there be a clear statement by the President of why it is in our vital national interests to be engaged in hostilities; * Guidelines be established for the mission, including a clear exit strategy; * That there be support of the mission by the U.S. Congress and the American people; and * That it be made clear that U.S. Forces will be commanded only by U.S. officers which we acknowledge are superior military leaders. August 25, 2005 A Nine Part Series A CIA Cover Blown, a White House Exposed WASHINGTON — Toward the end of a steamy summer week in 2003, reporters were peppering the White House with phone calls and e-mails, looking for someone to defend the administration's claims about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. August 24, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Lawrence A. Greenfeld: Demoted for doing his job The demotion of the official, Lawrence A. Greenfeld, whom President Bush named in 2001 to lead the Bureau of Justice Statistics, caps more than three years of simmering tensions over charges of political interference at the agency. And it has stirred anger and tumult among many Justice Department statisticians, who say their independence in analyzing important law enforcement data has been compromised. August 24, 2005 Media compares Iraq to Vietnam The August 23 CyberAlert recounted: Like feeding raw meat to a lion, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel on Sunday gave television journalists what they wanted and couldn't resist: A soundbite comparing Iraq to Vietnam when he said on ABC's This Week that "we are locked into a bogged-down problem, not dissimilar to where we were in Vietnam.' CNN's Aaron Brown trumpeted at the top of Monday's NewsNight how "the anti-war voices are not just liberal groups camped out with Cindy Sheehan in Texas, but at least one senior Republican Senator August 22, 2005 GOP senator: Iraq Destabilized Mideast--another Vietnam Washington - A leading Republican senator and prospective presidential candidate said Sunday that the war in Iraq has destabilized the Middle East and is looking more like the Vietnam. August 23, 2005 CBS Affiliate Will Not Air Sheehan Ad Because There Is "No Proof" Of Absence Of WMD In Iraq Sheehan "claims the President lied about, among other things, the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,' said Jeff Anderson the Vice President of sales at Fisher Broadcasting Inc., which owns KBCI (CBS). "There is no proof that we are aware of regarding the truthfulness of her claim. We require proof of claims such as this. Until that is provided, our station will not carry this ad.' August 22, 2005 Bush approval: 36% George W. Bush's overall job approval ratings have dropped from a month ago even as Americans who approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president are turning more optimistic about their personal financial situations according to the latest survey from the American Research Group. Among all Americans, 36% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 58% disapprove. When it comes to Bush's handling of the economy, 33% approve and 62% disapprove. August 21, 2005 Hagel: "The Longer We Stay, The More Problems We Are Going To Have" And so I think by any standard when you analyze two and a half years in Iraq where we have put in over a third of a trillion dollars, where we have lost over 1,900 Americans, over 14,000 wounded. Electricity production down, oil production down. Any measurement, any standard you apply to this, we're not winning. July 31, 2005 Sources indicate Rove may have learned Valerie Plame's identity from within Administration. The previously undisclosed fact gathering began in the first week of June 2003 at the CIA, when its public-affairs office received an inquiry about Wilson's trip to Africa from veteran Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus. That office then contacted Plame's unit, which had sent Wilson to Niger. August 16, 2005 Judge Rules Some Arguments in Abu Ghraib Prison Photo Case Must Be Divulged NEW YORK (AP) A judge said he generally ruled in favor of public disclosure when he ordered the government on Monday to reveal some redacted parts of its argument for blocking the release of pictures and videotapes of detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. August 17, 2005 Cindy Sheehan: Anti-war catalyst (Nixon's Wagergate?) Put bluntly, the bottom is falling out of support for the commander in chief. What is remarkable is that no Democrat has stepped forward, as Gene McCarthy did, to lead an anti-war crusade and call for a date certain for withdrawal of U.S. troops. Cindy Sheehan is filling that vacuum. August 15, 2005 US Investors Move Away From US Assets US investors bought $146bn of overseas bonds and equities in the past 12 months more than at any time since 1994. August 14, 2005 Bush: It's also important for me to go on with my life "And I think it's important for me to be thoughtful and sensitive to those who have got something to say. But, I think it's also important for me to go on with my life. . ." August 14, 2005 U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say. August 14, 2005 Someone Tell the President the War Is Over Nothing that happens on the ground in Iraq can turn around the fate of this war in America: not a shotgun constitution rushed to meet an arbitrary deadline, not another Iraqi election, not higher terrorist body counts, not another battle for Falluja August 11, 2005 Cindy Sheehan: This is George Bush's Accountability Moment This is George Bush's accountability moment. That's why I'm here. The mainstream media aren't holding him accountable. Neither is Congress. So I'm not leaving Crawford until he's held accountable. It's ironic, given the attacks leveled at me recently, how some in the media are so quick to scrutinize -- and distort -- the words and actions of a grieving mother but not the words and actions of the president of the United States. August 11, 2005 Side Issue in the Plame Case: Who Sent Her Spouse to Africa? Over the past months, however, the CIA has maintained that Wilson was chosen for the trip by senior officials in the Directorate of Operations counterproliferation division (CPD) -- not by his wife. August 12, 2005 An Impeachable Offense GOP Pays Legal Bills in Vote-Thwart Case WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican Party says it still has a zero-tolerance policy for tampering with voters even as it pays the legal bills for a former Bush campaign official charged with conspiring to thwart Democrats from voting in New Hampshire August 15, 2005 An Impeachable Offense CIA Commander: U.S. Let bin Laden Slip Away Berntsen says he had definitive intelligence that bin Laden was holed up at Tora Bora—intelligence operatives had tracked him—and could have been caught. "He was there," Berntsen tells NEWSWEEK. August 06, 2005 61% disapprove of Bush handling of war in Iraq Aug. 6, 2005 - As U.S. troops endured a deadly week in Iraq, 61 percent of Americans polled say they disapprove of the way President George W. Bush is handling the war in Iraq, according to a new NEWSWEEK poll. Thirty four percent say they approve. August 06, 2005 Libby, Miller met two days after Wilson column I. Lewis "Scooter' Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, has told federal investigators that he met with New York Times reporter Judith Miller on July 8, 2003, and discussed CIA operative Valerie Plame, according to legal sources familiar with Libby's account. August 04, 2005 Sen. Arlen Specter: Novak column was a malicious attack on ‘revered' staffer THE ROBERT NOVAK syndicated column dated July 21 libeled Ms. Bettilou Taylor, who is one of the most respected, really revered, staffers after serving 16 years in the United States Senate. August 07, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Halliburton Whistleblower Demoted Last October 6, she was summoned to the office of her boss. Major Gen. Robert Griffin, the Corps' deputy commander, was demoting her, he told her, taking away her Senior Executive Service status and sending her to midlevel management. Not unlike being cast out of the office of bank president into the cubicle of branch manager. Griffin declined to be interviewed by the AP. Later, she would tell Democratic members of Congress: "The abuse related to contracts awarded to KBR represents the most blatant and improper contract abuse I have ever witnessed during the course of my professional career." August 03, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Documents Tell of Brutal Torture, Murder by GIs Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush was being stubborn with his American captors, and a series of intense beatings and creative interrogation tactics were not enough to break his will. On the morning of Nov. 26, 2003, a U.S. Army interrogator and a military guard grabbed a green sleeping bag, stuffed Mowhoush inside, wrapped him in an electrical cord, laid him on the floor and began to go to work. Again. It was inside the sleeping bag that the 56-year-old detainee took his last breath through broken ribs, lying on the floor beneath a U.S. soldier in Interrogation Room 6 in the western Iraqi desert. Two days before, a secret CIA-sponsored group of Iraqi paramilitaries, working with Army interrogators, had beaten Mowhoush nearly senseless, using fists, a club and a rubber hose, according to classified documents. July 31, 2005 Vacationing Bush Poised to Set a Record Until now, probably no modern president was a more famous vacationer than Ronald Reagan, who loved spending time at his ranch in Santa Barbara, Calif. According to an Associated Press count, Reagan spent all or part of 335 days in Santa Barbara over his eight-year presidency -- a total that Bush will surpass this month in Crawford with 3 1/2 years left in his second term. August 01, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Two Prosecutors Say Terror Trials are Rigged In his electronic message, Captain Carr said the prosecution team had falsely stated to superiors that it had no evidence of torture of Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al-Bahlul of Yemen. In addition, Captain Carr said the prosecution team had lost an F.B.I. document detailing an interview in which the detainee claimed he had been tortured and abused. Major Preston, in his e-mail message of March 11, 2004, said that pressing ahead with the trials would be "a severe threat to the reputation of the military justice system and even a fraud on the American people." August 01, 2005 CIA Knew Iraq Shelved WMD Plans WASHINGTON, July 31 - The Central Intelligence Agency was told by an informant in the spring of 2001 that Iraq had abandoned a major element of its nuclear weapons program< |