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NOTEWORTHY NEWS ARCHIVE
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Archives
Noteworthy Archive:
20080331
-
Food
-
Crisis
-
World
-
People
-
Farmers
-
Land
-
Fuel
-
Money
-
Politics
-
History
-
Weather
-
Drought
-
China
-
UN
- "Tensions
rise as world faces short rations." ... "Food prices
are soaring, a wealthier Asia is demanding better food and farmers can't
keep up. In short, the world faces a food crisis and in some places it's
already boiling over." ... "Around the globe, people are protesting and
governments are responding with often counterproductive controls on prices
and exports -- a new politics of scarcity in which ensuring food supplies
is becoming a major challenge for the 21st century." ... "Plundered by
severe weather in producing countries and by a boom in demand from fast-developing
nations, the world's wheat stocks are at 30-year lows. Grain prices have
been on the rise for five years, ending decades of cheap food." ... "Drought,
a declining dollar, a shift of investment money into commodities and use
of farm land to grow fuel have all contributed to food woes. But population
growth and the growing wealth of China and other emerging countries are
likely to be more enduring factors." ... "World population is set to hit
9 billion by 2050, and most of the extra 2.5 billion people will live in
the developing world. It is in these countries that the population is demanding
dairy and meat, which require more land to produce." ... "In 2007 alone,
according to the U.N. [United Nations] Food and Agriculture Organization's
world food index, dairy prices rose nearly 80 percent and grain 42 percent."
[see also: Agflation]
(1, 2,
3,
4,5)
-By Russell Blinch and Brian Love with contributions
by Ayesha Rascoe, Missy Ryan, Alistair Thomson, Ho Binh Minh and Eddie
Evans -Reuters
20080330
-
Iraq
-
US
-
Military
-
Politics
-
History
-
Money
-
Accounting-
Investigators
- "After
years of effort, Iraqi army still can't 'stand up'."
... "Iraq's new army is "developing steadily," with "strong Iraqi leaders
out front," the chief U.S. [United States] trainer said." ... "That was
three-plus years ago, and the trainer was David H. Petraeus, now the top
American commander in Iraq. Some of those Iraqi officials at the time were
busy embezzling more than $1 billion allotted for the new army's weapons,
according to investigators." ... "The 2004-05 Defense Ministry scandal
was just one in a long series of setbacks in the five-year struggle to
"stand up" an Iraqi military as [Republican] President Bush has promised
and allow hard-pressed U.S. forces to "stand down." The latest discouraging
episode was unfolding this weekend in bloody Basra, the southern city where
Iraqi government forces -- in their toughest test yet -- were struggling
to gain the upper hand in a battle with Shiite Muslim militias." ... "Year
by year, the goal of deploying a capable, free-standing Iraqi army has
seemed to always slip further into the future." ... "How not to build
an army:" ... "Early 2003: The first reversal came even before
the March U.S. invasion, when the Pentagon discarded prewar plans that
called for restructuring the 400,000-man Saddam Hussein-era army into a
postwar force of 150,000 to 200,000." ... "Mid-2003: U.S. occupation
chief L. Paul Bremer III unilaterally ordered Saddam's army disbanded,
and the Bush administration opted for a token military force to guard Iraq's
borders. Bremer said the army had already fallen apart after Saddam's fall.
The controversial move helped prompt many Sunni officers to eventually
join the insurgency." ... "Iraqi view: [Lt. Gen. [Lieutenant General]
James] Dubik says Iraqi defense officials don't expect to take over internal
security until as late as 2012 and won't be able to defend Iraq's borders
until 2018." -By Charles J. Hanley
-AP via -Star-Telegram.com
20080325
-
American
-
Workers
-
Health
-
Safety
-
Lawsuit
-
KBR
Halliburton -
Corporation
-
Government
-
History
-
Texas
-
Oil
-
Construction
-
Science
-
Iraq
-
Cayman
Islands -
Politics
- "Iraq
contractor fights suit over toxic exposure: Tax loophole
may subject construction firm to damages." ... "When the American team
arrived in Iraq in the summer of 2003 to repair the Qarmat Ali water injection
plant, supervisors told them the orange, sand-like substance strewn around
the looted facility was just a "mild irritant," workers recall." ... "The
workers got it on their hands and clothing every day while racing for 2
1/2 months to meet a deadline to get the plant, a crucial part of Iraq's
oil infrastructure, up and running." ... "But the chemical turned out to
be sodium dichromate, a substance so dangerous that even limited exposure
greatly increases the risk of cancer. Soon, many of the 22 Americans and
100-plus Iraqis began to complain of nosebleeds, ulcers, and shortness
of breath. Within weeks, nearly 60 percent exhibited symptoms of exposure,
according to the minutes of a meeting of project managers from KBR, the
Houston[Texas]-based construction company in charge of the repairs." ...
"Now, nine Americans are accusing KBR, then a subsidiary of the oil conglomerate
Halliburton, of knowingly exposing them to the deadly substance and failing
to provide them with the protective equipment needed to keep them safe."
... "But the workers, like all employees injured in Iraq, face an uphill
struggle in their quest for damages. Under a World War II-era federal workers
compensation law, employers are generally protected from employee lawsuits,
except in rare cases in which it can be proven that the company intentionally
harmed its employees or committed outright fraud." ... "KBR is citing the
law, called the Defense Base Act, as grounds to reject the workers' request
for damages." ... "But the company's own actions have undermined its case:
To avoid payroll taxes for its American employees, KBR hired the workers
through two subsidiaries registered in the Cayman Islands, part of a strategy
that has allowed KBR to dodge hundreds of millions of dollars in Social
Security and Medicare taxes." ... "That gives the workers' lawyer, Mike
Doyle of Houston, a chance to argue to an arbitration board that KBR is
not an employer protected by federal law, but a third-party that can be
sued." -By Farah Stockman
-Boston/Globe
20080321
-
Government
-
E-Mail
-
Computer
-
Data
-
Archives
-
History
-
Presidential
Records Act -
Law
-
Politics
-
Secrets
- "White
House: Computer hard drives tossed." ... "Older [Republican
President Bush] White House computer hard drives have been destroyed, the
White House disclosed to a federal court Friday in a controversy over millions
of possibly missing e-mails from 2003 to 2005." ... "The White House revealed
new information about how it handles its computers in an effort to persuade
a federal magistrate it would be fruitless to undertake an e-mail recovery
plan that the court proposed." ... ""When workstations are at the end of
their lifecycle and retired ... the hard drives are generally sent offsite
to another government entity for physical destruction," the White House
said in a sworn declaration filed with U.S. [United States] Magistrate
Judge John Facciola." ... "At a House committee hearing last month, a computer
expert who previously worked at the White House called the e-mail system
"primitive" and said it was set up in a way that created a high risk that
data would be lost from White House servers where it was being archived."
-By Pete Yost -APvia
-Yahoo
20080319
-
John
McCain
-
Intelligence
-
Military
-
Terrorism
-
Politics
-
History
-
US
-
Iraq
-
Iran
-
Israel
-
Arizona
-
2008
Election - "McCain
Repeats Iran-Al Qaeda Gaffe Yet Again." ... "[2008
Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John
McCain has done it again." ... "For the third time in two days, the Arizona
Republican has pushed the definitively false statement that the terrorist
group Al-Qaeda was getting assistance from Iran, even though he was publicly
ridiculed for the same false assertion on Tuesday." ... "This time, in
a statement from his campaign honoring the fifth year anniversary of
the war, McCain wrote:" ... ""Today in Iraq, America and our allies stand
on the precipice of winning a major victory against radical Islamic extremism.
The security gains over the past year have been dramatic and undeniable.
Al Qaeda and Shia extremists -- with support from external powers such
as Iran -- are on the run but not defeated."" ... "On
Tuesday, the senator, appearing in Israel, made a nearly identical
assertion that al-Qaeda was leaving Iraq to retool and regroup in Iran."
-By
Sam
Stein -HuffingtonPost.com

-
John
McCain
-
Foreign
-
Intelligence
-
Military
-
Terrorism
-
Politics
-
History
-
Radio
-
2008
Election -
US
-
Iraq
- "McCain
stumbles in Amman." ... "[2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain has long presented
himself as a seasoned statesman and foreign policy expert, someone with
the wisdom and experience to guide the U.S. [United States] through troubled
times." ... "That's why the media and his rivals pounced on him when he
got a fundamental question regarding the violence in Iraq wrong." ... "Karen
Finney, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, issued a press
release:"
"After
eight years of the [Republican President] Bush administration’s incompetence
in Iraq, McCain’s comments don’t give the American people a reason to believe
that he can be trusted to offer a clear way forward. Not only is Senator
McCain wrong on Iraq once again, but he showed he either doesn’t understand
the challenges facing Iraq and the region or is willing to ignore the facts
on the ground."
"Democrats
also noted that McCain had made similar comments during an interview on
a conservative talk radio program, “The Hugh Hewitt Show."" -By
Borzou Daragahi -LAtimes
20080318
-
John
McCain
-
Intelligence
-
Military
-
Terrorism
-
Politics
-
2008
Election -
US
-
Iraq
-
Iran
-
Jordan
-
Arizona
- "A
McCain Gaffe in Jordan." ... "[2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate and Arizona] Sen. John McCain, traveling in the
Middle East to promote his foreign policy expertise, misidentified in remarks
Tuesday which broad category of Iraqi extremists are allegedly receiving
support from Iran." ... "He said several times that Iran, a predominately
Shiite country, was supplying the mostly Sunni militant group, al-Qaeda.
In fact, officials have said they believe Iran is helping Shiite extremists
in Iraq." ... "Speaking to reporters in Amman, the Jordanian capital, McCain
said he and two Senate colleagues traveling with him continue to be concerned
about Iranian operatives "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and
sending them back."" ... "Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it was "common
knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back
into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran,
that's well known. And it's unfortunate." ... "The mistake threatened to
undermine McCain's argument that his decades of foreign policy experience
make him the natural choice to lead a country at war with terrorists."
-By Cameron W. Barr and Michael D. Shear
-WashingtonPost
20080314
-
Dick
Cheney
-
Illegal
-
Spying
-
Criminal
Investigations -
Military
-
Government
-
Intelligence
-
Politics
-
History
-
Data
-
Secret
-
Torture
-
Executions
- "President
weakens espionage oversight." ... "Almost 32 years
to the day after [Republican] President Ford created an independent Intelligence
Oversight Board made up of private citizens with top-level clearances to
ferret out illegal spying activities, [Republican] President Bush issued
an executive order that stripped the board of much of its authority." ...
"Ford created the board following a 1975-76 investigation by Congress into
domestic spying, assassination operations, and other abuses by intelligence
agencies. The probe prompted fierce battles between Congress and the Ford
administration, whose top officials included Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld,
and the current president's father, George H. W. Bush." ... "To blunt proposals
for new laws imposing greater congressional oversight of intelligence matters,
Ford enacted his own reforms with an executive order that went into effect
on March 1, 1976. Among them, he created the Intelligence Oversight Board
to serve as a watchdog over spying agencies." ... "The board's investigations
and reports have been mostly kept secret. But the [Democratic President]
Clinton administration provided a rare window into the panel's capabilities
in 1996 by publishing a board report faulting the CIA for not adequately
informing Congress about putting known torturers and killers in Guatemala
on its payroll." ... "But Bush downsized the board's mandate to be an aggressive
watchdog against such problems in an executive order issued on Feb. 29
[2008], the eve of the anniversary of the day Ford's order took effect."
... "Under the old rules, whenever the oversight board learned of intelligence
activity that it believed might be "unlawful or contrary to executive order,"
it had a duty to notify both the president and the attorney general. But
Bush's order deleted the board's authority to refer matters to the Justice
Department for a criminal investigation, and the new order said the board
should notify the president only if other officials are not already "adequately"
addressing the problem." ... "Bush's order also terminated the board's
authority to oversee each intelligence agency's general counsel and inspector
general, and it erased a requirement that each inspector general file a
report with the board every three months. Now only the agency directors
will decide whether to report any potential lawbreaking to the panel, and
they have no schedule for checking in." ... "Some analysts said the order
is just the latest example of actions the administration has taken since
the 2001 terrorist attacks that have scaled back intelligence reforms enacted
in the 1970s." ... "In his 1976 executive order, for example, Ford also
banned foreign intelligence agencies, such as the National Security Agency,
from collecting information about Americans. The Bush administration bypassed
that rule by having domestic agencies collect information about Americans
and then hand the data to the NSA, The Wall Street Journal reported this
week." -By Charlie Savage
-Boston/Globe

-
Political
-
Government
-
Environmental
-
Air
-
Science
-
Health
-
People
-
Farm
-
Land
-
Animals
-
Clean
Air Act -
Law
-
Industry
-
Motor
Vehicles - "Ozone
Rules Weakened at Bush's Behest: EPA Scrambles To
Justify Action." ... "The Environmental Protection Agency weakened one
part of its new limits on smog-forming ozone after an unusual last-minute
intervention by [Republican] President Bush, according to documents released
by the EPA." ... "EPA officials initially tried to set a lower seasonal
limit on ozone to protect wildlife, parks and farmland, as required under
the law. While their proposal was less restrictive than what the EPA's
scientific advisers had proposed, Bush overruled EPA officials and on Tuesday
ordered the agency to increase the limit [of allowable air pollution],
according to the documents." ... ""It is unprecedented and an unlawful
act of political interference for the president personally to override
a decision that the Clean Air Act leaves exclusively to EPA's expert scientific
judgment," said John Walke, clean-air director for the Natural Resources
Defense Council." ... "The president's order prompted a scramble by administration
officials to rewrite the regulations to avoid a conflict with past EPA
statements on the harm caused by ozone." ... "Solicitor General Paul D.
Clement warned administration officials late Tuesday night that the rules
contradicted the EPA's past submissions to the Supreme Court, according
to sources familiar with the conversation. As a consequence, administration
lawyers hustled to craft new legal justifications for the weakened standard."
... "Ozone, which is formed when pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and
other chemical compounds released by industry and motor vehicles are exposed
to sunlight, is linked to an array of heart and respiratory illnesses."
(1, 2)
-By Juliet Eilperin -WashingtonPost
20080313
-
Noteworthy
-
Consumer
-
Finances
-
Law
-
Politics
- "'Muscle'
Silences Credit Card Adversaries." ... "Christy Mylar
Smith and her husband paid their Citibank card bill on time for years --
but when they paid late twice in one year, their interest rate increased
from 12.9 percent to 31.4 percent overnight." ... "Steven Strachan has
a FICO score in the high 700s, has always paid on time, has never gone
over the limit, yet Chase increased his rate from 10.99 percent to 24.99
percent." ... "Steve Autry accepted a fixed rate for life of 9.9 percent
from Capital One. Now Capital One tells him that the cost of business and
rising interest rates will cause his rates to increase, even though he
has been a customer in good standing for many years." ... "Marvin Weatherspoon
took advantage of a low introductory rate from Bank of America, but because
he was a few days late in paying one month, his interest rate has been
increased from 4.25 percent to almost 25 percent. Only $108 of his $347
monthly payment goes to the principal. He has tried to work with the bank,
but felt "he had no voice."" ... "At the 11th hour, the credit companies
found a way to stop those that had traveled to Washington today to tell
their story to the congressional panel on consumer credit." ... "The banks
whose practices were about to be discussed on Capitol Hill demanded that
those testifying before Congress about credit card practices sign a waiver
that allowed their personal financial information be revealed to the public."
... "The Republicans on the subcommittee backed the banks' requests and
a procedural battle would have ensued." (1, 2)
-By Vija Udenans -ABCNEWS.com

-
Stephen
L Johnson -
Corporate
-
Government
-
Politics
-
Environmental
-
Air
-
Health
-
Science
-
Clean
Air Act -
Law
-
History
-
Vehicles
-
Manufacturing
-
Power
Plants -
Children
- "EPA
Tightens Pollution Standards: But Agency Ignored
Advisers' Guidance." ... "The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday
limited the allowable amount of pollution-forming ozone in the air to 75
parts per billion, a level significantly higher [meaning more polluting]
than what the agency's scientific advisers had urged for this key component
of unhealthy air pollution." ... "[Republican President Bush's Environmental
Protection Agency] Administrator Stephen L. Johnson also said he would
push Congress to rewrite the nearly 37-year-old Clean Air Act to allow
regulators to take into consideration the cost and feasibility of controlling
pollution when making decisions about air quality, something that is currently
prohibited by the law. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that the government
needed to base the ozone standard strictly on protecting public health,
with no regard to cost." ... "The new pollution rules -- one of the most
important environmental decisions facing the Bush administration in the
president's final year in office -- will be a major factor in determining
the quality of the air Americans will breathe for at least a decade. The
standards, which are aimed at protecting both public health and welfare,
are designed to limit the amount of nitrogen oxides and other chemical
compounds released into the air by vehicles, manufacturing facilities and
power plants. In sunlight, the pollutants form ozone." ... "Johnson said
he did "what was required by the law and the recent scientific evidence,"
but his decision to set a lower but still less-restrictive limit than what
the EPA's advisory committees had recommended sparked a backlash from Democratic
lawmakers, public health advocates and his own independent advisers." ...
"Nearly a year ago, EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee reiterated
in writing that its members were "unanimous in recommending" that the agency
set the standard no higher than 70 parts per billion (ppb) and to consider
a limit as low as 60 ppb. EPA's Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee
and public health advocates lobbied for the 60-ppb limit because children
are more vulnerable to air pollution." ... "EPA and other scientists have
shown that ozone has a direct impact on rates of heart and respiratory
disease and resulting premature deaths. The agency calculates that the
new standard of 75 ppb would prevent 1,300 to 3,500 premature deaths a
year, whereas 65 ppb would avoid 3,000 to 9,200 deaths annually. " -By
Juliet Eilperin -WashingtonPost
20080312
-
John
McCain
-
Corporate
-
Politics
-
European
-
Built
-
Planes
-
US
-
Military
-
Government
-
Space
-
Arizona
-
Los
Angeles -
California
-
Texas
-
2008
Election - "McCain
Advisers Lobbied for Europeans to Win Air Force Tanker Deal."
... "A co-chairman of [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate
and Arizona] Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign and other top
campaign advisers and supporters were lobbyists for the European Aeronautic
Defense and Space Company, part of a group that beat out Boeing for a $35
billion contract to build aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force."
... "Boeing, which has filed an appeal with the Government Accountability
Office, is expected to focus at least in part on Mr. McCain’s role in the
deal, including letters that he sent urging the Defense Department, in
evaluating the tanker bids, not to consider the potential effects of a
separate United States-Airbus trade dispute." ... "That contract was won
by the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, known as EADS, the
corporate parent of Airbus, and Northrop Grumman, the military contractor
based in Los Angeles [California]." ... "Mr. McCain’s campaign co-chairman,
former Representative Thomas Loeffler, a Texas Republican, also runs a
lobbying firm, the Loeffler Group, which earned $220,000 working for EADS
in 2007. Mr. Loeffler was the McCain campaign national finance chairman
when his firm was hired to lobby for EADS." ... "Two other Loeffler executives
who were registered to lobby for EADS are now top campaign advisers for
Mr. McCain: Susan Nelson, the finance director, and William L. Ball III,
the former Navy secretary. Ms. Nelson and Mr. Ball left the lobbying firm
to join the campaign." ... "Another major money raiser for Mr. McCain,
Wayne Berman, who was named vice chairman of the campaign last year, also
worked for EADS through another lobbying firm, Ogilvy Government Relations,
where he is a partner. Ogilvy earned $240,000 from EADS in 2007." ... "Also
supporting Mr. McCain and lobbying on behalf of EADS was Kirk Blalock,
a national chairman of Young Professionals for McCain and a former aide
to [Republican] President Bush. Mr. Blalock’s lobbying firm, Fierce, Isakowitz
& Blalock, earned $320,000 from EADS in 2007, according to disclosure
forms required by Congress. " -By David
M. Herszenhorn with contributions by Michael Cooper and Steven R. Weisman
-NYTimes
20080311
-
Joshua
B Bolten
-
Harriet
E Miers
-
Michael
B Mukasey
-
US
Attorneys -
Politics
-
Investigation
-
Lawsuit
-
Federal
-
Texas
-
Mich
-
Calif
- "House
Panel Sues to Force Bush Aides to Table: Bolten and
Miers Ignored Subpoenas In Prosecutor Probe." ... "The House Judiciary
Committee filed a lawsuit yesterday to enforce subpoenas against [Republican]
President Bush's chief of staff and his former counsel in a probe of suspected
White House involvement in the 2006 firings of nine federal prosecutors."
... "The panel filed the federal court suit against Joshua B. Bolten, White
House chief of staff since April 2006, and Harriet E. Miers, a close associate
of Bush's from Texas who resigned as White House counsel in January 2007
after a little more than two years on the job." ... "The lawsuit charges
that Bolten and Miers, who were cited by the House for contempt of Congress
last month, defied committee subpoenas by refusing to testify or provide
documents demanded by the panel." ... "But Attorney General Michael B.
Mukasey said White House aides involved in the case cannot be prosecuted
because they were following legal advice from the Justice Department. He
refused to refer the contempt citation to a grand jury." ... "The refusal
of Bolten and Miers to comply with the subpoenas "did not constitute a
crime," Mukasey said in a Feb. 29 letter to [California Democratic Representative
and] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)." ... "[Michigan Democratic
Representative] Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), the Judiciary Committee
chairman, described Mukasey's refusal as "contrary to federal law" and
said the panel filed the civil lawsuit to enforce the subpoenas." ... "According
to the lawsuit, the committee launched its investigation in part to "examine
allegations of malfeasance, abuse of authority and violations of existing
laws by Executive Branch personnel."" ... "It says the year-long investigation
"has uncovered substantial evidence" that the Bush administration and Justice
Department "injected partisan considerations into the forced resignations
or retention of U.S. attorneys."" ... "It cites "credible evidence" that
U.S. attorneys who "failed to return desired indictments or failed to bring
voter fraud prosecutions that were considered politically useful to the
administration were forced to resign," as were those who "prosecuted officeholders
allied with the administration."" -By William Branigin
-WashingtonPost
20080310
-
Water
-
Drugs
-
Human
-
Health
-
Environmental
-
Science
-
Investigation
-
Industry
-
Consumer
-
Safety
-
Federal
-
Law
-
Earth
-
Wildlife
-
California
-
New
Jersey -
Michigan
-
Ky
- "Sex
Hormones, Mood Stabilizers Found In Drinking Water Of 41 M Americans."
... "A vast array of pharmaceuticals _ including antibiotics, anti-convulsants,
mood stabilizers and sex hormones _ have been found in the drinking water
supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated
Press investigation shows." ... "To be sure, the concentrations of
these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion
or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist
their water is safe." ... "But the presence of so many prescription drugs
_ and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen _ in
so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of
long-term consequences to human health." ... "In the course of a five-month
inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking
water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas _ from Southern California
to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit [Michigan] to Louisville, Ky. [Kentucky.]"
... "How do the drugs get into the water?" ... "People take pills. Their
bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through
and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is
discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is
cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers.
But most treatments do not remove all drug residue." ... "And while researchers
do not yet understand the exact risks from decades of persistent exposure
to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals, recent studies
_ which have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public _ have found
alarming effects on human cells and wildlife." ... "The federal government
doesn't require any testing and hasn't set safety limits for drugs in water."
... "The AP's investigation also indicates that watersheds, the natural
sources of most of the nation's water supply, also are contaminated." ...
"Even users of bottled water and home filtration systems don't necessarily
avoid exposure. Bottlers, some of which simply repackage tap water, do
not typically treat or test for pharmaceuticals, according to the industry's
main trade group. The same goes for the makers of home filtration systems."
... "Pharmaceuticals also permeate aquifers deep underground, source of
40 percent of the nation's water supply." -By Jeff
Donn, Martha Mendoza, and Justin Pritchard
-AssociatedPress via -HuffingtonPost.com

-
US
-
Iraq
-
Military
-
Osama
bin Laden
-
Terrorism
-
Intelligence
-
Archives
-
History
-
Declassification
-
- "Exhaustive
review finds no link between Saddam and al Qaida."
... "An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were
captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam
Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida
terrorist network." ... "The Pentagon-sponsored study, scheduled for release
later this week, did confirm that Saddam's regime provided some support
to other terrorist groups, particularly in the Middle East, U.S. officials
told McClatchy. However, his security services were directed primarily
against Iraqi exiles, Shiite Muslims, Kurds and others he considered enemies
of his regime." ... "The new study of the Iraqi regime's archives found
no documents indicating a "direct operational link" between Hussein's Iraq
and al Qaida before the invasion, according to a U.S. official familiar
with the report." ... "[Republican] President Bush and his aides used Saddam's
alleged relationship with al Qaida, along with Iraq's supposed weapons
of mass destruction, as arguments for invading Iraq after the September
11, 2001, terrorist attacks." ... "Then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
claimed in September 2002 that the United States had "bulletproof" evidence
of cooperation between the radical Islamist terror group and Saddam's secular
dictatorship." ... "Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell cited multiple
linkages between Saddam and al Qaida in a watershed February 2003 speech
to the United Nations Security Council to build international support for
the invasion. Almost every one of the examples Powell cited turned out
to be based on bogus or misinterpreted intelligence." ... "As recently
as last July, Bush tried to tie al Qaida to the ongoing violence in Iraq.
"The same people that attacked us on September the 11th is a crowd that
is now bombing people, killing innocent men, women and children, many of
whom are Muslims," he said." ... "The new study, entitled "Saddam and Terrorism:
Emerging Insights from Captured Iraqi Documents", was essentially completed
last year and has been undergoing what one U.S. intelligence official described
as a "painful" declassification review." -By
Warren
P. Strobel -McClatchyDC.com

-
Secretive
-
Government
-
Domestic
Spying -
American-
Peoples
-
Communications
-
Travel
-
Finances
-
Electronic
-
EMails
-
Internet
-
Searches
-
Databases
-
Civil-Liberties
-
Law
-
Terrorism
-
Politics
-
Investigation
-
International
-
Military
-
Intelligence
-
TIA
- "NSA's
Domestic Spying Grows As Agency Sweeps Up Data."
... "Five years ago, Congress killed an experimental Pentagon antiterrorism
program meant to vacuum up electronic data about people in the U.S. to
search for suspicious patterns [the TIA program: the Total Information
Awareness program]. Opponents called it too broad an intrusion on Americans'
privacy, even after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." ... "But the data-sifting
effort didn't disappear. The National Security Agency, once confined to
foreign surveillance, has been building essentially the same system." ...
"The central role the NSA has come to occupy in domestic intelligence gathering
has never been publicly disclosed. But an inquiry reveals that its efforts
have evolved to reach more broadly into data about people's communications,
travel and finances in the U.S. than the domestic surveillance programs
brought to light since the 2001 terrorist attacks." ... "Congress now is
hotly debating domestic spying powers under the main law governing U.S.
surveillance aimed at foreign threats. An expansion of those powers expired
last month and awaits renewal, which could be voted on in the House of
Representatives this week. The biggest point of contention over the law,
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, is whether telecommunications
and other companies should be made immune from liability for assisting
government surveillance." ... "Largely missing from the public discussion
is the role of the highly secretive NSA in analyzing that data, collected
through little-known arrangements that can blur the lines between domestic
and foreign intelligence gathering." ... "According to current and former
intelligence officials, the spy agency now monitors huge volumes of records
of domestic emails and Internet searches as well as bank transfers, credit-card
transactions, travel and telephone records. The NSA receives this so-called
"transactional" data from other agencies or private companies, and its
sophisticated software programs analyze the various transactions for suspicious
patterns. Then they spit out leads to be explored by counterterrorism programs
across the U.S. government, such as the NSA's own Terrorist Surveillance
Program, formed to intercept phone calls and emails between the U.S. and
overseas without a judge's approval when a link to al Qaeda is suspected."
... "The NSA's enterprise involves a cluster of powerful intelligence-gathering
programs, all of which sparked civil-liberties complaints when they came
to light. They include a Federal Bureau of Investigation program to track
telecommunications data once known as Carnivore, now called the Digital
Collection System, and a U.S. arrangement with the world's main international
banking clearinghouse to track money movements." ... "The effort also ties
into data from an ad-hoc collection of so-called "black programs" whose
existence is undisclosed, the current and former officials say." ... "Two
current officials also said the NSA's current combination of programs now
largely mirrors the former TIA [Total Information Awareness] project. But
the NSA offers less privacy protection." -By Siobhan
Gorman -WSJ.com
20080306
-
Illegal
-
Corporate
-
Government
-
Surveillance
-
Terrorism
-
Investigation
-
Consumer
-
Finances
-
Telephone
-
Internet
-
Data
-
Intelligence
-
Politics
-
Rights
-
History
-
Audit
-
Vt
- "More
FBI Privacy Violations Confirmed." ... "The FBI [Federal
Bureau of Investigation] acknowledged it improperly accessed Americans'
telephone records, credit reports and Internet traffic in 2006, the fourth
straight year of privacy abuses resulting from investigations aimed at
tracking terrorists and spies." ... "Testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee
hearing, [FBI Director Robert] Mueller raised the issue of the FBI's controversial
use of so-called national security letters [NSLs] in reference to an upcoming
report on the topic by the Justice Department's inspector general." ...
"An audit by the inspector general last year found the FBI demanded personal
records without official authorization or otherwise collected more data
than allowed in dozens of cases between 2003 and 2005. Additionally, last
year's audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many
national security letters were requested by more than 4,600." ... "National
security letters, as outlined in the USA Patriot Act, are administrative
subpoenas used in suspected terrorism and espionage cases. They allow the
FBI to require telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks,
credit bureaus and other businesses to produce highly personal records
about their customers or subscribers without a judge's approval." ... "Speaking
before the FBI chief, [Vermont Democratic Senator and] Senate Judiciary
Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. [Democratic-Vermont], urged Mueller to be
more vigilant in correcting what he called "widespread illegal and improper
use of national security letters."" ... ""Everybody wants to stop terrorists.
But we also, though, as Americans, we believe in our privacy rights and
we want those protected," Leahy said. "There has to be a better chain of
command for this. You cannot just have an FBI agent who decides he'd like
to obtain Americans' records, bank records or anything else and do it just
because they want to."" -By Lara Jakes Jordan
-AP via -SFGate.com

-
Dick
Cheney
-
Corporate
-
Military
-
Government
-
KBR-Halliburton
-
Cayman
Islands -
United
Arab Emirates (Dubai) -
Secret
-
Iraq
-
Oil
-
Infrastructure
-
History
-
American
-
Workers
-
Health
-
Security
-
Legislation
-
Massachusetts
- "Top
Iraq contractor skirts US taxes offshore: Shell companies
in Cayman Islands allow KBR to avoid Medicare, Social Security deductions."
... "Kellogg Brown & Root, the nation's top Iraq war contractor and
until last year a subsidiary of Halliburton Corp. [Corporation], has avoided
paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicare and Social Security
taxes by hiring workers through shell companies based in this tropical
tax haven [Cayman Islands]." ... "More than 21,000 people working for KBR
in Iraq - including about 10,500 Americans - are listed as employees of
two companies that exist in a computer file on the fourth floor of a building
on a palm-studded boulevard here in the Caribbean. Neither company has
an office or phone number in the Cayman Islands." ... "The Defense Department
has known since at least 2004 that KBR was avoiding taxes by declaring
its American workers as employees of Cayman Islands shell companies, and
officials said the move allowed KBR to perform the work more cheaply, saving
Defense dollars." ... "But the use of the loophole results in a significantly
greater loss of revenue to the government as a whole, particularly to the
Social Security and Medicare trust funds." ... ""Failing to contribute
to Social Security and Medicare thousands of times over isn't shielding
the taxpayers they claim to protect, it's costing our citizens in the name
of short-term corporate greed," said [Massachusetts Democratic] Senator
John F. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee
who has introduced legislation to close loopholes for companies registering
overseas." ... "With an estimated $16 billion in contracts, KBR is by far
the largest contractor in Iraq, with eight times the work of its nearest
competitor." ... "The [secret] no-bid contract it received in 2002 to rebuild
Iraq's oil infrastructure and a multibillion-dollar contract to provide
support services to troops have long drawn scrutiny because [Republican]
Vice President Dick Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive from 1995
until he joined the Republican ticket with [Republican] President Bush
in 2000." ... "The largest of the Cayman Islands shell companies - called
[SEII] Service Employees International Inc. [Incorporated, which is not
associated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)], which
is now listed as having more than 20,000 workers in Iraq, according to
KBR - was created two years before Cheney became Halliburton's chief executive.
But a second Cayman Islands company called Overseas Administrative Services,
which now is listed as the employer of 1,020 mostly managerial workers
in Iraq, was established two months after Cheney's appointment." ... "If
KBR's American workers averaged even as much as $63,000 per year, they
and KBR would have owed more than $100 million per year in Social Security
and Medicare taxes, split evenly between them. Over the course of the five-year
war, their tax bill would have been more than $500 million." ... "The real
managers of Service Employees International work out of KBR's office in
Dubai. KBR and Halliburton, which also moved to Dubai [an emirate of the
United Arab Emirates], severed ties last year." -By
Farah Stockman with contributions by Stephanie Vallejo and Matt Negrin
-Boston/Globe
20080228
-
US-
Iraq
-
Military
-
Intelligence
-
Torture
-
Prison
-
Psychology
-
Book
-
Political
-
History
- "How
Good People Turn Evil, From Stanford to Abu Ghraib."
... "[Psychologist Philip] Zimbardo conducted a now-famous experiment at
Stanford University in 1971, involving students who posed as prisoners
and guards. Five days into the experiment, Zimbardo halted the study when
the student guards began abusing the prisoners, forcing them to strip naked
and simulate sex acts." ... "His book, The
Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, explores
how a "perfect storm" of conditions can make ordinary people commit horrendous
acts." ... "Wired: You were an expert defense witness in the court-martial
of Sgt. Chip Frederick, an Abu Ghraib guard. What were the situational
influences in his case?" ... "Zimbardo: Abu Ghraib was under bombardment
all the time. In the prison, five soldiers and 20 Iraqi prisoners get killed.
That means automatically any soldier working there is under high fear and
high stress. Then the insurgency starts in 2003, and they start arresting
everyone in sight. When Chip Frederick [starts working at Abu Ghraib] in
September, there are 200 prisoners there. Within three months there's a
thousand prisoners with a handful of guards to take care of them, so they're
overwhelmed. Frederick and the others worked 12-hour shifts. How many days
a week? Seven. How many days without a day off? Forty. That kind of stress
reduces decision-making and critical thinking and rationality. But that's
only the beginning." ... "He [complained] to higher-ups on the record,
"We have mentally ill patients who cover themselves with [excrement]. We
have people with tuberculosis that shouldn't be in this population. We
have kids mixed with adults."" ... "And they tell him, "It's a war zone.
Do your job. Do whatever you have to do."" ... "Wired: How did what
happened at Abu Ghraib compare to your Stanford prison study?" ... "Zimbardo:
The military intelligence, the CIA and the civilian interrogator corporation,
Titan, told the MPs [at Abu Ghraib], "It is your job to soften the prisoners
up. We give you permission to do something you ordinarily are not allowed
to do as a military policeman -- to break the prisoners, to soften them
up, to prepare them for interrogation." That's permission to step across
the line from what is typically restricted behavior to now unrestricted
behavior." ... "In the same way in the Stanford prison study, I was saying
[to the student guards], "You have to be powerful to prevent further rebellion."
I tell them, "You're not allowed, however, to use physical force." By default,
I allow them to use psychological force. In five days, five prisoners are
having emotional breakdowns." ... "The situational forces that were going
on in [Abu Ghraib] -- the dehumanization, the lack of personal accountability,
the lack of surveillance, the permission to get away with anti-social actions
-- it was like the Stanford prison study, but in spades." ... "Those sets
of things are found any time you really see an evil situation occurring,
whether it's Rwanda or Nazi Germany or the Khmer Rouge. " (1, 2)
-By Kim Zetter -Wired