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HavenWorks.com/politics/archive/2004 |
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/ Archive
/ 2004
ELECTION
2004
Romania
- "Romania's
presidential election: An unexpected victory for
the opposition candidate." ... "Inexperienced as they may be in the ways
of democracy, Romania's voters seem keen to explore it to the full. Two
weeks ago they elected a parliament without a clear majority. This week
they voted Traian Basescu, a plain-spoken former sea captain who has been
mayor of Bucharest since 2000, into the presidency. He will try to put
together a centre-right government in place of the outgoing socialist one.
If he fails, he may have to settle for cohabitation, or even call early
elections." -Economist
Bernard
Kerik - Rudolph
Giuliani - 
New
York
- 
Police
- 
Government
- 
Politics
- "Kerik
made millions from agency contractor: Homeland Security
nominee sat on board of stun-gun maker." ... "Bernard Kerik, [Republican]
President Bush's choice to run the Homeland Security Department, made $6.2
million by exercising stock options he received from a company that sold
stun guns to the department — and seeks more business with it." ... "Taser
International was one of many companies that received consulting advice
from Kerik after he left his job as New York City police commissioner in
2001, when he was earning $150,500 a year. Kerik remains on Taser's board
of directors, although the company and the White House said he planned
to sever the relationship." ... "Partnering with former New York Mayor
[Republican] Rudolph Giuliani and also operating independently, Kerik has
had business arrangements with manufacturers of prescription drugs, computer
software and bulletproof materials, as well as companies selling nuclear
power, telephone service, insurance and security advice for Americans working
abroad." ... "Kerik and other former New York City officials joined the
ex-mayor in Giuliani Partners, a consulting firm. In 2003, Kerik became
chief executive officer of an affiliate consulting company, Giuliani-Kerik."
-AP via -MSNBC
Romania
- "Romania's
dubious elections:One more dubious vote? The left
narrowly wins, but the result is disputed." ... "A little fraud in Romania
is, you might say, like a little snow in Siberia. Only to be expected,
not really worth a fuss. But claims of trickery in the November 28th elections
for parliament and president, however predictable, have been embarrassing
for both Romania and the European Union. In the first place, Romania is
on the verge of being promised membership of the EU in 2007. It should
be now demonstrating its capacity to meet in full the EU's high standards
of democracy. Second, a disputed election in Europe's backyard weakens
the EU's moral authority as it resists the outcome of a rigged presidential
vote in Romania's northern neighbour, Ukraine."
-Economist
- 
- 
- Tom
DeLay
- "GOP
Pushes Rule Change to Protect DeLay's Post." ...
"House Republicans proposed changing their rules last night to allow members
indicted by state grand juries to remain in a leadership post, a move that
would benefit Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) in case he is charged
by a Texas grand jury that has indicted three of his political associates,
according to GOP leaders." ... "House Republicans adopted the indictment
rule in 1993, when they were trying to end four decades of Democratic control
of the House, in part by highlighting Democrats' ethical lapses. They said
at the time that they held themselves to higher standards than prominent
Democrats such as then-Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (Ill.),
who eventually pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced to prison."
-By Charles Babington -WashingtonPost
ELECTION
2004 - Florida
- Ohio
- "In
Victory's Glow: Despite early exit polls to the contrary,
the President took Florida, Ohio and, in the end, the election. How the
Bush team orchestrated its nail-biting win and woke up to another four
years in charge." ... "Tuesday was the night the ghosts died in the Bush
White House. There was the ghost of his last campaign, which Bush lost
among voters but won in the court. There was the ghost of his father's
last campaign, when even winning a war was not enough to earn a second
term. And then there was the ghost of Tuesday afternoon, when the entire
Bush campaign team was haunted by the possibility that they had got it
all wrong, as the first exit polls came in and nothing, but nothing, was
going their way." ... "When it was finally over, the President who had
become a radical champion of democracy's power to change the world became
the living symbol of how it works. He made his decisions and moved on;
the voters made theirs, in one of the most extraordinary displays of political
passion seen in a generation. About 120 million voted, 15 million more
than in 2000, with Bush beating Senator John Kerry by about 51% to 48.5%."
-By Nancy Gibbs
-TIME.com
Nathan
Sproul - Criminal
- Politics
- 
2004
Election - 
Oregon
- 
Nevada
- Phoenix
- 
Arizona
Nathan
Sproul - Criminal
- Politics
- 2004
Election - 
Library
- Portland
- Ore
- Nevada
- Arizona
Tom
DeLay - 
- "Ethics
Panel Rebukes DeLay: Majority Leader Offered Favor
To Get Peer's Vote." ... "The House ethics committee admonished Majority
Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) last night for offering a political favor to
a Michigan lawmaker in exchange for the member's vote on last year's hard-fought
Medicare prescription drug bill." ... "After a six-month investigation,
the committee concluded that DeLay had told Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) he
would endorse the congressional bid of Smith's son if the congressman gave
GOP leaders a much-needed vote in a contentious pre-dawn roll call on Nov.
22." -By Charles Babington -WashingtonPost
Larry
Franklin - 
Douglas
Feith - Criminal
Investigation - 
US
- 
Israel
- 
Italy
- 
Iran
- 
Military
- 
Intelligence
- 
History
- "Iran-Contra
II? Fresh scrutiny on a rogue Pentagon operation."
... "On Friday evening, CBS News reported that the FBI [Federal Bureau
of Investigation ] is investigating a suspected mole in the Department
of Defense who allegedly passed to Israel, via a pro-Israeli lobbying organization
[AIPAC], classified American intelligence about Iran. The focus of the
investigation, according to [United States] U.S. government officials,
is Larry Franklin, a veteran Defense Intelligence Agency Iran analyst now
working in the office of the Pentagon's number three civilian official,
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith." ... "The investigation
of Franklin is now shining a bright light on a shadowy struggle within
the [Republican President] Bush administration over the direction of U.S.
policy toward Iran. In particular, the FBI is looking with renewed interest
at an unauthorized back-channel between Iranian dissidents and advisers
in Feith's office, which more-senior administration officials first tried
in vain to shut down and then later attempted to cover up." ... "Franklin,
along with another colleague from Feith's office, a polyglot Middle East
expert named Harold Rhode, were the two officials involved in the back-channel,
which involved on-going meetings and contacts with Iranian arms dealer
Manucher Ghorbanifar and other Iranian exiles, dissidents and government
officials. Ghorbanifar is a storied figure who played a key role in embroiling
the Reagan administration in the Iran-Contra affair. The meetings were
both a conduit for intelligence about Iran and Iraq and part of a bitter
administration power-struggle pitting officials at [the Department of Defense]
DoD who have been pushing for a hard-line policy of "regime change" in
Iran, against other officials at the State Department and the CIA [Central
Intelligence Agency] who have been counseling a more cautious approach."
... "Reports of two of these meetings first surfaced a year ago in Newsday,
and have since been the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence. Whether or how the meetings are connected
to the alleged espionage remains unknown. But the FBI is now closely scrutinizing
them." ... "While the FBI is looking at the meetings as part of its criminal
investigation, to congressional investigators the Ghorbanifar back-channel
typifies the out-of-control bureaucratic turf wars which have characterized
and often hobbled Bush administration policy-making. And an investigation
by The Washington Monthly -- including a rare interview with Ghorbanifar
-- adds weight to those concerns. The meetings turn out to have been far
more extensive and much less under White House control than originally
reported. One of the meetings, which Pentagon officials have long characterized
as merely a "chance encounter" seems in fact to have been planned long
in advance by Rhode and Ghorbanifar. Another has never been reported in
the American press. The administration's reluctance to disclose these details
seems clear: the DoD-Ghorbanifar meetings suggest the possibility that
a rogue faction at the Pentagon was trying to work outside normal US foreign
policy channels to advance a "regime change" agenda not approved by the
president's foreign policy principals or even the president himself." ...
"The Italian Job" ... "The first meeting occurred in Rome [Italy's
capital] in December, 2001. It included Franklin, Rhode, and another American,
the neoconservative writer and operative Michael Ledeen, who organized
the meeting. (According to UPI, Ledeen was then working for Feith as a
consultant.) Also in attendance was Ghorbanifar and a number of other Iranians.
One of the Iranians, according to two sources familiar with the meeting,
was a former senior member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who claimed
to have information about dissident ranks within the Iranian security services.
The
Washington Monthly has also learned from U.S. government sources that
Nicolo Pollari, the head of Italy's military intelligence agency, SISMI,
attended the meetings, as did the Italian Minister of Defense Antonio Martino,
who is well-known in neoconservative circles in Washington." ... "Alarm
bells about the December 2001 meeting began going off in U.S. government
channels only days after it occurred." ... "Since the late 1980s Ghorbanifar
has been the subject of two CIA "burn notices." The Agency believes Ghorbanifar
is a serial "fabricator" and forbids its officers from having anything
to do with him." -By Joshua
Micah Marshall, Laura Rozen,
and Paul Glastris with contributions by Claudio Lavanga
-WashingtonMonthly.com
Education
- Law
- Politics
- "Nation's
Charter Schools Lagging Behind, U.S. Test Scores Reveal."
... "The first national comparison of test scores among children in charter
schools and regular public schools shows charter school students often
doing worse than comparable students in regular public schools." ... "The
findings, buried in mountains of data the Education Department released
without public announcement, dealt a blow to supporters of the charter
school movement, including the [Republican President] Bush administration."
... "The data shows fourth graders attending charter schools performing
about half a year behind students in other public schools in both reading
and math." ... "Charters are expected to grow exponentially under the new
federal education law, No Child Left Behind, which holds out conversion
to charter schools as one solution for chronically failing traditional
schools." ... ""The scores are low, dismayingly low," said Chester E. Finn
Jr., a supporter of charters and president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation,
who was among those who asked the administration to do the comparison."
... "Charters are self-governing public schools, often run by private companies,
which operate outside the authority of local school boards, and have greater
flexibility than traditional public schools in areas of policy, hiring
and teaching techniques." (1 of 2)
-By Diana Jean Schemo
-NYTimes
- 
-
- "Najaf
battle a crucial test for Allawi: Clashes between
US troops and Sadr militiamen escalated Thursday, as the US surrounded
Najaf for possible siege." ... "The final stages for an assault on Moqtada
al-Sadr's militia in the holy city of Najaf are now in place." ... "For
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, this is a crucial test of the strength
of his government, barely a month and a half old, and a first chance to
extend government authority over a key part of Iraq, most of which remains
under the control of armed militias and insurgents." -By
Scott Baldauf with contributions by James Brandon
-CSMonitor
Richard
Shelby - Criminal
- 
Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Politics
- Federal
- Classified
- Law
- 
Media
- 
Ala
ELECTION
2004 - "Kerry
vows freedom anew: In accepting nomination, he pledges
to improve security and rebuild alliances." ... "Promising ''a new birth
of freedom" for Americans facing economic uncertainty and security threats,
John Forbes Kerry accepted the Democratic presidential nomination last
night with a pledge to strengthen the US military and reform its intelligence
services, introducing himself as a Vietnam veteran who healed divisions
as a US senator and will unite a world uncertain about American power to
fight against terrorism." ... "''As president, I will bring back this nation's
time-honored tradition: the United States of America never goes to war
because we want to, we only go to war because we have to," Kerry, 60, told
a roaring Democratic audience bathed in red, white, and blue lights. ''With
confidence and determination, we will be able to tell the terrorists: You
will lose, and we will win. The future doesn't belong to fear; it belongs
to freedom."" ... "''I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead
us into war. I will have a vice president who will not conduct secret meetings
with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a secretary
of defense who will listen to the advice of our military leaders. And I
will appoint an attorney general who will uphold the Constitution of the
United States," Kerry said, delighting the partisan audience in his most
direct attack on their favorite targets: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald
H. Rumsfeld, and John D. Ashcroft, respectively." (1, 2,
3)
-By Patrick Healy -Boston/Globe
2004
ELECTION - "Clinton
to take key role in Kerry campaign." ... "Bill Clinton
will play a prominent role campaigning for Democratic challenger John Kerry
over the next three months, starting on Monday night with his speech at
the opening of his party's convention." ... "By contrast with the 2000
election when the Gore team had mixed feelings about Mr Clinton's contribution
and muted his role in the campaign, Mr Kerry and the 2004 Democratic leadership
are working up a busy programme for the former president." -By
James Harding and Joshua Chaffin -FT.com
2004
ELECTION - "Wavering
voters have doubts about Bush." ... "Persuadable
voters in a Associated Press poll taken by Ipsos-Public Affairs early this
month were more likely to say the country was headed down the wrong track
— 63% compared with 56% overall." ... "They were more likely to disapprove
of Bush's handling of the economy — 56% compared with 50% overall — and
more likely to disapprove of Bush's handling of other domestic issues like
health care and education — 59% to 52% overall. They also were more concerned
about the economy than voters generally." -AP
via -USATODAY
-
- 
- "Sudanese
slam genocide resolution." ... "Sudanese Arabs have
criticised a U.S. congressional resolution declaring genocide in the Darfur
region, while Darfuris asked what Washington would do to make it safe for
them to go back home." ... "hey do not understand anything," said Ismail
Gasmalseed on Friday, a 34-year-old driver in Khartoum." ... "The U.S.
Congress approved the resolution on Thursday and its supporters hope it
will help mobilise the international community to protect Africans in Darfur
from Arab militias." ... "But the accusation of genocide is highly controversial.
The United Nations has declared the situation in Darfur the world's worst
humanitarian crisis but has not called it a genocide, which would force
it to take action." -By Nima Elbagir-Reuters
-
- 
- 
- "Halliburton
unit's Iran role probed." ... "The investigation
centers on Halliburton Products and Services Ltd., a subsidiary registered
in the Cayman Islands and headquartered in Dubai that provides oil field
services in Iran. The unit's operations in Iran included [US Vice President]
Cheney's stint as CEO from 1995 to 2000, when he frequently urged the lifting
of such sanctions." ... "Current law forbids US companies from doing business
with countries considered by the US government to be sponsors of terror.
The list includes Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Sudan. However, numerous
US companies operate indirectly in Iran under strict guidelines requiring
that their subsidiaries have a foreign registry and no US employees, and
act independently of the parent company. At issue is whether Halliburton's
subsidiary met those criteria." --LAtimes
via -Boston/Globe
-
-
-
- "US
group admits to criminal probe over Iran." ... "Halliburton,
the oilfield services company formerly headed by US Vice-President Dick
Cheney, has disclosed that a Treasury Department probe into its business
dealings with Iran had been elevated to a criminal investigation. The company
acknowledged that it had been subpoenaed by a grand jury in the southern
district of Texas to present documents related to a Cayman Islands subsidiary
that serves the Iranian National Oil Company." -By
Joshua Chaffin -FT.com
-
- 
- 
- 
- 
-
- "Poor
Relations With Iran Turning Worse." ... "The Bush
administration is pressing Britain, France and Germany for strong measures
against Iran in response to its violation of a nonproliferation agreement
reached with the three last fall, a State Department official said Wednesday."
... "The issue is part of a deepening American concern over recent Iranian
activities that range from weapons programs to terrorism. To head off a
potential crisis, some analysts believe the administration should work
harder to promote a dialogue with Iran." ... "The United States believes
Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a view reinforced by Iran's recent
decision to resume construction of centrifuges. This is a key step in the
development of a uranium-based bomb, one that Iran promised the Europeans
last fall that it would not take." -By George Gedda
-AP via -Newsday.com
Stephen
Cambone - Torture
- Prisons
- Classified
- Military
- Intelligence
- US
- Iraq
- 
Afghanistan
- Noteworthy
- "Implausible
Denial II." ... "On Saturday, May 15--twenty-four
hours after The Nation published "Implausible
Denial"--The New Yorker posted on its website Seymour Hersh's latest
Abu Ghraib-related investigative report. Its central revelation: The interrogations
at [Iraq prison] Abu Ghraib were part of a highly classified Special Access
Program (SAP) code-named Copper Green, authorized by [Republican President
Bush's] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and ultimately overseen by Under
Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone. Originally a joint
[Central Intelligence Agency] CIA-Pentagon program in Afghanistan that
utilized highly trained Special Operations personnel, Copper Green eventually
expanded to Iraq, Hersh reports, where Cambone decided it would begin using
non-Special Operations personnel--including military intelligence officers
and other military personnel--to begin questioning prisoners whose status
was outside the program's original brief. The CIA objected and withdrew
from the program, while Cambone apparently tasked [Major General] Maj.
Gen. Geoffrey Miller, former Guantánamo Bay interrogations chief,
with "Gitmo-izing" Iraq's prison system." ... "What may be more surprising
than the revelations in Hersh's piece is the fact that leads to the Abu
Ghraib skullduggery were hidden in plain sight--and that the Pentagon press
corps all but ignored them. Though Cambone has been an exceptionally sub
rosa figure in his position as DoD's intelligence chief, on November 21,
2003, he sat down for a rare on-record meeting over breakfast with the
Defense Writers Group. Again in contrast to his May 11 comments, in which
he cast himself as a benign bureaucrat largely out of the loop, his November
comments offer a glimpse into the mechanics of how Cambone's office was
assertively taking the lead in coordinating intelligence operations in
Iraq." ... "Noting first that his office has "one group of people over
to do an assessment" and that another was getting ready to go, Cambone
said that "the requirement for an increased level of intelligence support
became increasingly evident as we went through a period between early July/late
August.... In that late August time frame, a delegation went over there
from the Department and included people from the CIA to look at how we
were structured, whether we had proper arrangement at the division level,
whether that information, as it was being compiled at the divisional level,
was being moved from that level up to the CJTF-7 [Combined Joint Task Force-7]
level in an expeditious manner."" ... "Cambone further stated that the
group "came back with a list of somewhere close to eighty or ninety recommendations,"
and went on to describe a rapid infusion of personnel and technology for
intelligence-related endeavors. He also noted that the Director of Central
Intelligence, George Tenet, had "made a number of adjustments in his complement
of people in Iraq" as part of a "concerted effort to lash up much more
tightly the work that is done in the context of the CIA activities with
those being done by the Department to ensure there is [a] cross-flow of
information and cooperation."" ... "Cambone's remarks at the breakfast
also bring into potentially clearer focus the role in Abu Ghraib of [Lieutenant
General] Lieut. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin, his deputy for intelligence
and warfighting support. "It is an office," Cambone says of Boykin's shop,
"that is designed to assure the types of capabilities we have just been
talking about here, whether it is people, or it is resources, or it is
material, or it is information, is moved forward to the people who need
it at various levels of command and operation in order for them to execute
their mission."" -By Jason
West -TheNation.com
US
- Afghanistan
- Military
- Terrorism
- Prisoner- War
Crimes Act - Human
Rights - Death
Penalty - Politics
- "Memos
Reveal War Crimes Warnings: Could Bush administration
officials be prosecuted for 'war crimes' as a result of new measures used
in the war on terror? The White House's top lawyer thought so." ... "The
White House's top lawyer warned more than two years ago that U.S. officials
could be prosecuted for "war crimes" as a result of new and unorthodox
measures used by the Bush administration in the war on terrorism, according
to an internal White House memo and interviews with participants in the
debate over the issue." ... "The concern about possible future prosecution
for war crimes-and that it might even apply to Bush adminstration
officials themselves- is contained in a crucial portion of an internal
January
25, 2002, memo by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales
obtained by NEWSWEEK. It urges President George Bush declare the
war in Afghanistan, including the detention of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters,
exempt from the provisions of the Geneva Convention." ... "In the memo,
the White House lawyer focused on a little known 1996 law passed by Congress,
known as the War Crimes Act, that banned any Americans from committing
war crimes-defined in part as "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions.
Noting that the law applies to "U.S. officials" and that punishments
for violators "include the death penalty," Gonzales told Bush that
"it was difficult to predict with confidence" how Justice Department prosecutors
might apply the law in the future. This was especially the case given that
some of the language in the Geneva Conventions-such as that outlawing "outrages
upon personal dignity" and "inhuman treatment" of prisoners-was "undefined.""
... "One key advantage of declaring that Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters
did not have Geneva Convention protections is that it "substantially reduces
the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act,"
Gonzales wrote." -By Michael Isikoff
-MSNBC/Newsweek
Stephen
Cambone - Torture
- Prison
- Military
- Intelligence
- Police
- Human
Rights - Law
- Politics
- US
- 
Syria
- Iraq
- "Knowledge
of Abusive Tactics May Go Higher." ... "Army intelligence
officers suspected that a Syrian and admitted jihadist who was detained
at [Iraq's] Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad [Iraq's capital] knew about
the illegal flow of money, arms and foreign fighters into Iraq. But he
was smug, the officers said, and refused to talk. So last November, they
devised a special plan for his interrogation, going beyond what Army rules
normally allowed." ... "An Army colonel [Thomas M. Pappas] in charge of
intelligence-gathering at the prison, spelling out the plan in a classified
cable to the top [United States] U.S. military officer in Iraq, said interrogators
would use a method known as "fear up harsh," which military documents said
meant "significantly increasing the fear level in a security detainee."
The aim was to make the 31-year-old Syrian think his only hope in life
was to talk, undermining his confidence in what they termed "the Allah
factor."" ... "According to the plan, interrogators needed the assistance
of military police supervising his detention at the prison, who ordinarily
play no role in interrogations under Army regulations. First, the interrogators
were to throw chairs and tables in the man's presence at the prison and
"invade his personal space."" ... "Then the police were to put a hood on
his head and take him to an isolated cell through a gantlet of barking
guard dogs; there, the police were to strip-search him and interrupt his
sleep for three days with interrogations, barking and loud music, according
to Army documents. The plan was sent to [Lieutenant General] Lt. Gen. Ricardo
Sanchez." ... "Congressional testimony by Defense Department and Army officials
over the past two weeks has highlighted the fact that the abuses in Iraq
-- which mostly occurred in the last quarter of 2003 -- came at a time
of heightened pressures in Washington for more robust intelligence-gathering,
because of proliferating attacks on U.S. forces and the dwindling intelligence
on Saddam Hussein's suspected weapons of mass destruction." ... "Although
no direct links have been found between the documented abuses and orders
from Washington, Pentagon officials who spoke on the condition that they
not be named say that the hunt for data on these two topics was coordinated
during this period by Defense Undersecretary Stephen A. Cambone, the top
U.S. military intelligence official and long one of the closest aides to
[Republican President Bush's] Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld."
... ""We've got no proof that a person in authority told them to do this
activity," [Lieutenant General] Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, the Army's deputy
chief of staff, said on May 11." ... "But three directives in particular
have already begun to attract congressional scrutiny: The first is a classified
report by Army [Major General] Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller on [September]
Sept. 9, 2003, demanding that the military police at Abu Ghraib be dedicated
and trained to set "the conditions for the successful interrogation and
exploitation of internees/detainees." The report, which Cambone has testified
was presented to his deputy William Boykin, contained five recommendations
spelling out how this was to occur and reported it had already begun."
... "The second is an [October] Oct. 12 classified memo signed by Sanchez
that demanded a "harmonization" of military policing and intelligence work
at Abu Ghraib for the purpose of ensuring "consistency with the interrogation
policies . . . and maximiz[ing] the efficiency of the interrogation.""
... "The memo, obtained by The Washington Post, also states "it is imperative
that interrogators be provided reasonable latitude to vary their approach,"
depending on a detainee's background, strengths, resistance and other factors.
It also explicitly demands humane treatment and requires that any dogs
present during the interrogations be muzzled." ... "The third is a [November]
Nov. 19 memo from Sanchez's office that formally placed the two key Abu
Ghraib cellblocks where the abuses occurred under the control of Pappas
and his 205th Military Intelligence Brigade. It was 11 days later, after
this memo placed the military police responsible for "security of detainees
and base protection" in Pappas's hands, that he sought, in his memo to
Sanchez, to draw military police explicitly into applying pressure on the
Syrian." ... "The fact that prison interrogations were so directly controlled
by these military directives, as well as the apparent cultural sophistication
of some of the abuses, has already led some lawmakers to conclude that
much more experienced and senior officers were involved than the seven
military police now charged by the Army with wrongdoing. " (1, 2,
3)
-By R. Jeffrey Smith with contributions by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
and Sewell Chan -WashingtonPost
Stephen
Cambone - Torture
- Prisons
- Military
- Intelligence
- Police
- Human
Rights - Law
- Politics
- Feith
- 
Rhode
Island - 
Virginia
- US
- Iraq
- Guantánamo
Bay - 
Cuba
- Noteworthy
- "Implausible
Denial." ... "Writing in the December 16, 2002, edition
of The Nation, I broke the news--and explored the concerns many
in the [United States] US intelligence community had--about [Republican
President Bush's] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's quiet success in
prevailing upon Congress to authorize the creation of a new senior position
at the Pentagon,the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Several
months later, in the pages of the Columbia Journalism Review, I
followed up with a piece devoted to the media's utter lack of interest--perhaps
best demonstrated by the absence of any reporter from a farcical confirmation
hearing--in the new Under Secretary himself, Stephen Cambone." ... "Despite
his status as the Pentagon's über-intelligence authority, in the initial
days of the breaking [Iraq prison] Abu Ghraib scandal Cambone was virtually
invisible. When Rumsfeld was called to the Hill to testify before the Armed
Services Committee on May 7, however, Cambone was unexpectedly summoned
to the witness table from his chair behind Rumsfeld. That cameo appearance
resulted in a more expansive return appearance on May 11, in which Cambone
less than deftly tried to undermine Abu Ghraib investigator [Major General]
Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba. (Cambone disputed the general's conclusion that
military intelligence units effectively controlled the prison's military
police detachment.) Cambone also reacted adversely to [Rhode Island Democratic]
Senator Jack Reed's assertion (confirmed by Taguba) that recommendations
made in a report on improving intelligence collection at Abu Ghraib by
then-chief Guantánamo Bay [Cuba] interrogator [Major General] Maj.
Gen. Geoffrey Miller clearly called for the use of [Military Police] MPs
in interrogations, which helped create an environment that begot the subsequent
abuse and torture in the tiers. As a May 12 Washington Post editorial
points out, Cambone's office approved interrogation practices that are
in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions." ... "At the May 11 hearings,
Cambone and another senior Defense Department official, Army intelligence
chief [Lieutenant General] Lieut. Gen Keith Alexander, essentially cast
themselves as mere Pentagon representatives fielding questions about Abu
Ghraib--and not as men who might bear any responsibility for what they
desperately tried to cast as an aberrant and isolated incident. Yet many
of their assertions on May 11 are in fact contradicted by statements they
made before the same committee a month before, as well as a year-old memo
outlining the responsibilities of Cambone's office." ... "The Under Secretary
of Defense for Intelligence, or OUSD(I) in Pentagonese, was originally
conceived by Rumsfeld as a centralizing measure, a way to give him "one
dog to kick" rather than a "whole kennel" of individual civilian and uniformed
defense intelligence agencies. In choosing the person responsible for ostensibly
bringing unprecedented order and control to the Pentagon's spy shops, the
Secretary chose Cambone, a man with no intelligence experience but a favored
protégé and loyal partisan who had served on Rumsfeld's ballistic
missile threat commission and worked with the neoconservative Project for
the New American Century. Previously principal deputy to Under Secretary
for Policy Doug Feith (and, in that capacity, liaison between Feith and
the ideological intelligence analysis unit that would later morph into
the notorious Office of Special Plans), Cambone went out of his way in
his confirmation hearings to say that he would closely "consult and coordinate"
with Feith to "insure [that Department of Defense] DoD-related intelligence
activity supports the goals" of the Pentagon's policy shop." ... "Two months
after Cambone's confirmation, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz described
his new portfolio in a detailed internal Pentagon memo. Reflecting the
seriousness and specificity of Cambone's mission, an organizational chart
appended to the memo shows a generic under secretary with six deputies,
including one for warfighting and operations, whose duties include specific
liaison with the intelligence elements of each of the armed services, each
individual combatant command, and the under secretary for policy. The document
itself explicitly states that Cambone's office will, among other things:"
... "provide oversight and policy guidance for all DoD intelligence activities;
provide policy oversight of all the intelligence organizations within the
DoD, to include ensuring these organizations are manned, trained, equipped
and structured to support the missions of the Department; provide
assessments of and advice [to] the Secretary and CJCS [Chairman, Joint
Chiefs of Staff] on the adequacy of military intelligence performance;
exercise management and oversight of all DoD counterintelligence and security
activities; coordinate DoD intelligence and intelligence-related policy,
plans, programs, requirements and resource allocations; oversee provision
of intelligence support and involvement in information operations, focused
on assessments in support of operations." ... "None of this should leave
much to the imagination, especially when it comes to policies and practices
pertaining to the dimensions of human intelligence collection that involve
interrogations conducted by military intelligence. Yet when asked by [Virginia
Republican] Senator John Warner if his office has "overall responsibility
for policy concerning the handling of detainees," Cambone dodged with a
"not precisely, sir," effectively denying any responsibility as set forth
in his charge by Wolfowitz. Rather, Cambone said, he only reactively "became
involved in this issue from the perspective of assuring there was a flow
of intelligence back to the commands and done in an efficient and effective
way."" -By Jason
West -TheNation.com
James
Inhofe - Torture
- Politician
- US
- Military
- Prisoners
- Photographs
- Iraqi
- Human
Rights - Lawmakers
- 
Oklahoma
- "GOP
[Republican] senator labels abused prisoners 'terrorists':
Other lawmakers disavow comment." ... "A Republican member of the Senate
Armed Services Committee dismissed Tuesday the outrage over the abuse of
Iraqi prisoners by [United States] U.S. troops, saying Iraqis depicted
in widely broadcast photographs probably had "blood on their hands."" ...
""I'm probably not the only one up at this table that is more outraged
by the outrage than we are by the treatment," [Oklahoma Republican Senator]
Sen. James Inhofe said during a hearing on the [Iraqi] Abu Ghraib prison
scandal. (Full
story)" ... "[Republican] President Bush and other top U.S. officials
and leading Republicans have condemned the abuse of Iraqis held at the
Baghdad[Iraq's capital]-area prison, once a notorious torture chamber under
ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein." ... "Though he [Inhofe] called the
soldiers charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners "seven bad people," he added,
"I am also outraged that we have so many humanitarian do-gooders right
now crawling all over these prisons looking for human rights violations
while our troops, our heroes, are fighting and dying."" -With
contributions by Ed Henry -CNN
Richard
Pombo
- Government
- Animal
- 
Land
- Law
- Politics
- 
California
- "Profile:
Rep. Richard Pombo." ... "Congressman [Richard Pombo,
California Republican] finds fault with federal environmental rules." ...
"He chairs the House Resources Committee, which drafts many of the nation's
most important environmental laws and oversees 700 million acres of public
land. The budgets of the Forest Service, the National Park Service and
other land management agencies must be vetted by his panel. In Washington,
he's as powerful a player on environmental issues as the Interior Secretary
or the Environmental Protection Agency administrator." ... "Last week,
his committee began the first of several hearings on proposed changes to
the Endangered Species Act. For the last 12 years, Pombo has been on a
mission to rewrite the law, which he argues saves few species and tramples
on the rights of farmers, ranchers and other landowners." ... "Pombo's
selection as Resources Committee chairman last year frightened the nation's
largest environmental groups, which have long clashed with the congressman.
Now those groups are gearing up to challenge Pombo and block his effort
to rewrite the Endangered Species Act." ... ""He doesn't believe in the
Endangered Species Act," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra
Club. "He doesn't believe we should protect our wildlife heritage."" -By
Zachary Coile -SFGate.com
-
-
- 2004
ELECTION - "Unleashing
the Cheney factor: Joint 9/11 appearance with Bush
highlights debate about V.P.'s role." ... "When President Bush and Vice
President Cheney sit down together on Thursday for their long-anticipated
meeting with the 9/11 commission, it will cap a week that has, like no
other in Mr. Bush's presidency, been dominated by the White House's No.
2 man." ... "It was Mr. Cheney who used such red-meat language against
Democratic presidential contender John Kerry in a speech Monday that the
president of the host college publicly objected to "the content and tone"
of the vice president's remarks and offered Senator Kerry a similar speaking
engagement." ... "It is Cheney who is at the center of a long-anticipated
Supreme Court case, argued Tuesday, over his energy task force - and the
breadth of the zone of privacy in which the executive branch of government
may operate. Cheney has long advocated restoration of the White House's
powers to pre-Watergate levels." -By Linda Feldmann
-CSMonitor
-
-
- "House
OKs Speedy Elections if Attacked." ... "Under the
legislation, the House speaker could declare "exceptional circumstances"
when 100 or more seats in the 435-seat body are left vacant by a catastrophic
event, triggering special elections in affected districts that must be
held within 45 days." ... "While the final vote was decisive, many Democrats
warned that speeding up elections was not enough and, at a time of terrible
crisis, could expose Congress to weeks of lacking the manpower or the authority
to act. Many sought a constitutional amendment that would allow temporary
appointments of lawmakers before elections could be held." ... "Some warned
of the executive branch, possibly headed by a Cabinet secretary if the
president is killed, assuming dictatorial powers."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- -
- "Saudi
envoy: Oil policy standard, not a deal: Calls U.S.
politics: 'Your seasonal tribal warfare'." ... "Saudi Arabia's ambassador
to the United States stood firm that his country made no secret deals with
the White House to try to drive down gas prices to help re-elect President
Bush and sought to reassure Democratic contender Sen. John Kerry." ...
""I really don't see what is the big deal," Prince Bandar bin Sultan told
reporters Wednesday after a White House meeting with national security
adviser Condoleezza Rice." ... ""Unless somebody would like to see the
oil prices stay high, then nobody should complain."" -By
John King -CNN
- 
- 
- 
- "High
court mulls Mexican truck access." ... "A Bush administration
lawyer told the Supreme Court yesterday that the president must be able
to open America's roads to Mexico's trucks without delays for an environmental
study." ... "But a lawyer for labor and environmental organizations cautioned
justices that ''we're talking about tens of thousands of trucks" packing
US roads after a two-decade moratorium ends." ... "Some of those trucks
are older and may be pollution-causing safety hazards, said the organizations'
lawyer, Jonathan Weissglass." -By Gina Holland
-AP via -Boston/Globe
ELECTION
2004 - "4
potential running mate picks hit trail with Kerry."
... "Max Cleland was the most ferocious. John Edwards, with a tan that
only enhanced his telegenic good looks, sounded the most silky smooth --
if oddly subdued. Bob Graham and Bill Nelson drew laughter and applause
from voters but did not rouse them to their feet." ... "In recent days,
the Democratic ''veepstakes" -- that shadowy process by which Senator John
F. Kerry is sizing up possible running mates -- took on a decidedly public
cast this week as those four southern politicians (all senators save Cleland,
a former senator from Georgia) spoke at campaign events and Kerry fund-raisers
alongside the prospective presidential nominee." (1, 2)
-By Patrick Healy
-Boston/Globe
ELECTION
2004 - "Kerry,
Bush launch rival television ads." ... "Just as John
Kerry launched two campaign ads Wednesday intended to help voters become
familiar with him, President Bush's campaign unveiled a commercial calling
the Democrat more liberal than Ted Kennedy or Hillary Rodham Clinton."
... "Kerry says in one of his new ads: "My priorities are jobs and health
care. My commitment is to defend this country." In the other, the presumptive
nominee says he would "reach out to the international community in sharing
the burden" in Iraq." -By Liz Sidoti
-AP via -Boston/Globe
-
- 
- 
- 
- 
-
- "Powell
urges coalition leaders to keep troops in Iraq."
... "Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday the U.S.-led coalition
in Iraq remains strong despite decisions by Spain and Honduras to pull
out their troops. Later, the Dominican Republic announced that it also
would withdraw its troops." ... "Powell told reporters that leaders of
13 coalition countries with whom he spoke by telephone Monday and Tuesday
"all expressed steadfast support" for their respective troop commitments."
... "Among the leaders Powell spoke with was Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart
Sathirathai." ... "In addition to Surakiart, Powell spoke with leaders
of El Salvador, Dominica, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Portugal, Poland, Bulgaria,
Holland, Romania, the Philippines and Ukraine." -By
George Gedda -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Poll
Shows New Gains for Bush: Lead Over Kerry Widens
On Issues of Security." ... "President Bush holds significant advantages
over John F. Kerry in public perceptions of who is better equipped to deal
with Iraq and the war on terrorism, and he has reduced the advantages his
Democratic challenger held last month on many domestic issues, according
to a Washington Post-ABC News Poll." ... "In a matchup, Bush held a lead
of 48 percent to 43 percent over Kerry among registered voters, with independent
Ralph Nader at 6 percent. In early March, shortly after he effectively
wrapped up the Democratic nomination, Kerry led Bush by 48 percent to 44
percent." (1, 2)
-By Richard Morin and Dan Balz with contributions
by Claudia Deane -WashingtonPost
-
-
- 
- ELECTION
2004 -
- "Kerry
hits alleged Bush-Saudi deal: Seizes on account in
journalist's book." ... "The latest inside account of the Bush administration
has provided fresh fodder for John F. Kerry's campaign, with the presumptive
Democratic nominee yesterday condemning the president for reportedly allowing
the Saudis to maintain high gasoline prices until just before the fall
election, when they would be cut to boost the US economy." ... "Kerry said
the deal, reported in "Plan of Attack," the new book by Washington Post
editor Bob Woodward, and mentioned in his appearance Sunday on the CBS
program "60 Minutes," was "fundamentally wrong" and "outrageous and unacceptable
to the American people." A day earlier, the Massachusetts senator condemned
Bush for withholding details about Iraqi war planning from Secretary of
State Colin L. Powell, again relying on Woodward's account of the administration's
war planning." -By Glen Johnson -Boston/Globe
- "Victory
for Roh's party in South Korea vote." ... "South
Korea's political landscape changed radically on Thursday as voters handed
control of parliament to a progressive liberal party, backed by the suspended
President Roh Moo-hyun, that was formed five months ago." ... "The opposition
Grand National party - associated with the country's business community
and traditional ruling elite - lost control of parliament but avoided the
annihilation it feared, winning about 121 seats." ... "The GNP's popularity
has been declining for months after it emerged that the party had received
millions of dollars of secret funds from the country's chaebol business
groups, such as Samsung and LG." -By Andrew Ward
-FT.com
-
- "South
Koreans Vote Heavily for Impeached Leader's Party."
... "In a sharp political backlash against last month's impeachment of
President Roh Moo Hyun, South Koreans voted heavily today for congressional
candidates of Mr. Roh's party, according to surveys of voters by South
Korea's three largest broadcasting networks." ... "If the forecasts hold
up, the president and the Parliament will be of the same party for the
first time since democracy was restored here in 1987. Mr. Roh has four
more years in his term, and the legislators were elected today to four-year
terms." ... "In the vote, the Grand National Party avoided electoral disaster
largely through determined campaigning by Park Geun Hye, the new party
chairman. Ms. Park learned her political skills in the 1970's, when her
father, Park Chung Hee, an army general, ruled South Korea with dictatorial
powers." -By James Brooke -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- 
- 
- "Cheney
Warns China About Hong Kong: Policy There Linked
to Taiwan, He Says." ... "Linking two contentious issues in U.S.-Chinese
relations, Vice President Cheney warned China's leaders Wednesday that
any efforts by Beijing to thwart democracy in Hong Kong would likely reinforce
the budding movement in Taiwan to formally separate from China." ... "Cheney's
message, which was described, on condition of anonymity, by a senior administration
official, echoed the arguments of recently reelected Taiwanese President
Chen Shui-bian, who has vowed to draft a new constitution for the island
by 2006. In the talks, Cheney reiterated the long-standing U.S. position
that there is "one China," a statement prominently mentioned in China's
state media." -By Glenn Kessler and Edward Cody -WashingtonPost
- "U.N.
Envoy to Iraq Calls for New Interim Government: Continued
Violence Could Upset Election Plans, Brahimi Warns." ... "U.N. special
envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, wrapping up a mission to Iraq to help devise a new
plan for creating a democratic Iraqi government, said today that the U.S.-led
occupation administration could hand over power as scheduled on June 30
to a new interim government but he acknowledged that the current unrest
in the country could upset plans for elections to follow that transfer
of power." ... "Speaking to reporters in Baghdad, Brahimi said, "The security
situation has to improve significantly for these elections to take place
in an acceptable environment," according to a transcript of his remarks.
Nonetheless, he reiterated the need to push forward with that vote next
January." (1, 2)
-By Mark Stencel-WashingtonPost
-
- "Bush
endorses 'courageous' Sharon plan to withdraw from part the West Bank."
... "Breaking with long-standing U.S. policy, President Bush on Wednesday
endorsed Israel's retention of part of the West Bank in any final peace
settlement with the Palestinians. In a show of support for Israel's leader
that brought immediate condemnation from the Palestinians, Bush also ruled
out Palestinian refugees ever returning to Israel." ... "An elated Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said his plan would create "a new and better
reality for the state of Israel."" ... "But minutes after Bush spoke, Palestinian
Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said in Ramallah that "he is the first president
who has legitimized the (Israeli) settlements in Palestinian territories.""
-Barry Schweid -AP
via -SFGate.com
- "Taiwan's
parties finalise plans for election recount." ...
"Under presiding judge Wu Ching-yuan, both parties hammered out an agreement
on the scope and the procedures for the recount yesterday. "All the major
points of disagreement are solved now," said Jaclyn Tsai, head of [opposition
candidate] Mr Lien's legal team. Wellington Koo, [the president] Mr Chen's
lawyer, said he expected the recount to begin in mid-May." ... "The recount
is expected to take up to four days, Mr Koo said. It was therefore unlikely
to be finished before Mr Chen's inauguration for his second term on May
20." -By Kathrin Hille
-FT.com
-
- "Taiwan
Riot Police Battle Election Protesters." ... "Riot
police officers fought with demonstrators and used water cannons mounted
on armored cars as a large rally turned unexpectedly violent here on Saturday
night in front of the presidential palace." ... "A crowd estimated by organizers
at 300,000 and by the police at 100,000 assembled peacefully on Saturday
afternoon to call for a parliamentary investigation into a shooting incident
that wounded President Chen Shui-bian on the eve of elections here last
month, and may have helped him win re-election." ... "On March 20, President
Chen won a second four-year term by fewer than 30,000 votes out of 13 million
cast, defeating Mr. Lien of the Nationalist Party and his running mate,
James Soong of the People First Party. The president had been grazed across
the abdomen the day before by a bullet while standing in an open Jeep in
a motorcade through his hometown, Tainan." ... "The Nationalists have suggested
that presidential aides inside the Jeep may have staged the shooting, in
a bid to bolster Mr. Chen's support." -By Keith Bradsher
-NYTimes
-
-
- "Japan
court rules against shrine visits, PM unbowed." ...
"A Japanese court ruled on Wednesday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
had violated the constitution by visiting a shrine honouring Japan's military
war dead, a landmark ruling on his annual pilgrimages that have angered
China and other Asian neighbours." ... "But Koizumi vowed to keep visiting
Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are among those honoured and
which critics at home and abroad regard as a symbol of Japan's past militarism."
-By Masayuki Kitano -Reuters
-
-
- "Attack
on expectant mom a crime against 2: Relatives of
Peterson, other victims attend bill signing." ... "President Bush signed
legislation Thursday making it a separate crime to harm a fetus during
the commission of a violent federal crime against a pregnant woman, and
he declared that, with the new law, the United States was "building a culture
of life."" ... "The Unborn Victims of Violence Act protects a fetus at
any stage of its development. The measure does not deal with abortion but
at its foundation it deals with the central question in the abortion debate:
At what point does an embryo or a fetus deserve full protection of the
law as a living person?" ... "Advocates of abortion rights fear it will
be used to establish precedent that could undercut those rights, established
in 1973 by the Supreme Court in Roe vs. Wade." -By
James Gerstenzang-LAtimes
via -SFGate.com
-
-
- "Sept.
11 Panel Scrutinizing Past Testimony." ... "The staff
of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is conducting
a detailed review of all discrepancies found in public and private statements
by Condoleezza Rice and Richard A. Clarke in drawing up questions for Ms.
Rice when she testifies before the panel, probably next week, commission
officials said Wednesday." ... "The White House, they said, is hoping to
limit any political damage to the president by having Ms. Rice testify
quickly in the hope of ending the furor over the accusations made by Mr.
Clarke, Mr. Bush's former counterterrorism director." ... "Mr. Clarke said
in testimony before the commission last week and in his new best-selling
memoir that the Bush administration — and Ms. Rice, in particular — largely
ignored threats by Al Qaeda before the Sept. 11 attacks." (1, 2)
-By Philip Shenon and Doublas Jehl -NYTimes
via -Google-News
2004
ELECTION -
-
- "Political
titles play an unusual role in this campaign." ...
"The influential role that serious, issues-based books are playing is unusual,
historians and political scientists say. "I can't think of anything close
to this happening during a campaign, at least in the 20th century," says
James Campbell, a political science professor at the State University of
New York at Buffalo." ... "The hottest book is Against All Enemies:
Inside America's War on Terror by Richard Clarke. The counterterrorism
expert served in the Reagan, Clinton and both Bush administrations. He
says the current administration paid too little attention to the threat
of terrorism before Sept. 11 and made terrorism more of a threat by going
to war in Iraq." -By Mark Memmott
-USATODAY
Rove
- 
Abramoff
- 
Ralston
- 
DeLay
- 
Norquist
- 
Reed
- Scanlon
- Money
- Religion
- Government- Law
- Politics
- Texas
- 2004
Election - History
- "K
Street Stumble." ... "As [Republican] presidential
adviser Karl Rove set up shop in the West Wing in 2001, he was looking
for an assistant to serve as the trusted gatekeeper of his new fiefdom.
Superlobbyist and Republican fundraiser Jack Abramoff was happy to lend
a hand. Abramoff knew just the right person for the job: his own assistant,
Susan Ralston. She interviewed with Rove and got the position." ... "For
a staunch conservative and smooth GOP operative like Abramoff, losing a
valuable aide was well worth the opportunity to ingratiate himself with
the president's senior political adviser." ... "An active fundraiser for
George W. Bush's 2000 election race, Abramoff has done even better in the
2004 campaign, raising more than $100,000 and becoming an elite "Pioneer"
in the president's re-election drive. For years, Abramoff has been a generous
donor and key fundraiser for powerful GOP members of Congress, notably
House Majority Leader [Republican]
Tom DeLay, R-Texas. In the 2004
election cycle, Abramoff and his wife, Pam, have contributed $83,000 to
Republicans, landing themselves at No. 93 on the nationwide list of individuals
who have donated to either political party, according to the nonpartisan
Center for Responsive Politics. Nine other Washington lobbyists are higher
on that list." ... "For almost a quarter-century, Abramoff has counted
among his friends and allies anti-tax activist Grover Norquist and grassroots
strategist and former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed. An Orthodox
Jew, Abramoff has moved easily in conservative circles since the early
1980s, when he was chairman of the College Republican National Committee."
... "On March 2, Abramoff abruptly resigned from [lobbying law firm] Greenberg
Traurig, and now he's embroiled in what's shaping up as a legal and political
fight to salvage his reputation." ... "When asked about Abramoff's troubles,
DeLay distanced himself, telling reporters, "If anybody is trading on my
name to get clients or to make money, that is wrong and they should stop
it immediately."" ... "One reason for the touchiness is that the controversy
has also ensnared Michael Scanlon, a former aide to DeLay who worked with
Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig before setting up his own grassroots firm,
Capital Campaign Strategies." -By Peter H. Stone
-NationalJournal
Tom
DeLay
- "Charity
Tied to DeLay Is Questioned: Group Asks Lawmakers
To Demand Ethics Probe." ... "A public advocacy group yesterday asked each
House member to request an ethics inquiry into a charitable organization
linked to Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), the latest step in a quickening
pace of ethics complaints and reactions in Congress." ... "Democracy 21
contends that the charity, Celebrations for Children Inc., is a political
scheme established to let DeLay raise huge sums from interest groups and
supporters to host lavish parties at this summer's Republican National
Convention." -By Charles Babington -WashingtonPost
- "Taiwan's
Chen offers to meet opposition." ... "Chen Shui-bian,
Taiwan's president, on Wednesday offered to meet the opposition leaders
who are challenging his narrow victory in last weekend's election." ...
"However, he demanded that Lien Chan, presidential candidate of the Kuomintang
(KMT) and his running mate James Soong of the People First Party (PFP)
first end the demonstrations their parties were organising in front of
the presidential office." -By Kathrin Hille
-FT.com
- "Amid
Terror Debate, Public Hearings Open on 9/11 Attacks."
... "An issue that has dominated Washington since the weekend — the question
of what the Bush and Clinton administrations knew about the possibility
of terror attacks before 9/11, and how the Bush White House responded afterward
— is taking center stage in the capital today." ... "The public hearings
before the independent commission investigating the attacks of 2001 come
amid a furious debate caused by accusations in a book by a former counterterrorism
official, Richard A. Clarke. Mr. Clarke wrote that the Bush administration
did not heed warnings about Sept. 11 and that President
Bush pushed him the day after the attacks to look for a link to Saddam
Hussein." -By Terence Neilan -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- "Bush
Asks Allies for Unity on Iraq: No Nation Exempt From
Terrorism, President Says on War Anniversary." ... "President Bush yesterday
marked the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq with an appeal
for international unity after a year of division by warning that there
can be "no separate peace" with the West's enemies." ... "Bush spoke to
an audience of 83 diplomats, including those from such countries as France
and Germany, which opposed the war. But his remarks seemed directed toward
such countries as Spain and Poland, allies in Iraq that are now expressing
misgivings, and, in Spain's case, rethinking their cooperation with the
United States." -By Dana Milbank -WashingtonPost
- "Taiwanese
president's supporters jubilant with victory one day after assassination
attempt." ... "Supporters of Taiwanese President
Chen Shui-bian celebrated victory with booming fireworks and blasting air
horns Saturday as he won a narrow re-election just a day after being wounded
by a would-be assassin's bullet." ... "Chen beat Nationalist Party rival
Lien Chan, a former vice president, in an electoral rematch that lifted
his Democratic Progressive Party to its second presidential win. Lien vowed
to challenge the results of what he called an unfair contest." -By
Christopher Bodeen -AP
via -SFGate.com
2004
ELECTION - "Bush
camp executes media game plan: Aggressive ad blitz
will define Kerry as indecisive and lacking conviction." ... "President
Bush's re-election campaign is following an aggressive and precise 90-day
media strategy to define Sen. John Kerry as indecisive and lacking conviction,
with a coordinated blitz of advertisements, speeches and sound bites, senior
campaign advisers said this week." ... "The goal, several campaign aides
said, is to first strip Kerry of the positive image that he carried away
from the Democratic primary contests and then to define him issue by issue,
in their own harsh terms before the summer vacation season. The central
thrusts will be national security and taxes, they said." -By
Jim Rutenberg -NYTimes
via -HoustonChronicle.com
-
- Free-Speech
- "China
Changes Constitution to Address Rights Issues." ...
"China's Parliament formally approved today constitutional amendments that
address private property and human rights, while the country's new prime
minister promised to rein in the overheated economy." ... "Chinese legal
experts and even lawmakers said the constitutional changes, which were
decided in closed-door sessions of the ruling Communist Party last fall
and formally approved today, would not lead to lifting restrictions on
speech and political protest. China's constitution is subordinate to the
party and is amended often to reflect changes in official ideology." -By
Chris Buckley -NYTimes
-
-
-
- "Spain's
ruling party swept from power amid anger of Madrid terror attacks."
... "Spain's ruling conservatives crashed to surprise defeat in elections
overshadowed by anger over terrorist bombings, becoming the first government
that backed the U.S.-led war in Iraq to be voted out of office." ... "The
win by the Socialists over President Jose Maria Aznar's favored Popular
Party Sunday came amid charges that Aznar made Spain a target for terrorist
by supporting the Iraq war." ... "Spain's incoming prime minister, Jose
Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has pledged to bring home the 1,300 Spanish troops
in Iraq when their tour of duty ends in July." -By
Daniel Woolls -AP
via -SFGate.com
- "A
vote for democracy, Putin-style: Russia's president
is expected to win reelection handily Sunday - with tactics that critics
decry as 'Soviet.'" ... "President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to win
reelection by a wide margin, came to power four years ago promising a "dictatorship
of the law." Indeed, he has brought a new stability and economic growth,
while playing it tough in Chechnya - as well as with political rivals,
constricting the marketplace of ideas in favor of firm control from the
top." ... "Critics and a handful of opposition candidates - who between
them can't muster a fraction of Mr. Putin's over 70 percent popularity
rating - charge that Sunday's vote is a "farce" that has been pre-engineered
by the Kremlin, and marks the end of Russia's experiment with democracy."
-By Scott Peterson -CSMonitor
-
- 2004
ELECTION - "Kerry:
Comment aimed at 'attack dogs': Hastert takes 'great
umbrage' at comment." ... "Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John
Kerry said on Thursday that he was not referring to all Republicans as
"crooked" in an off-the-cuff comment captured on camera -- just his political
opponents' "attack dogs."" ... "After a union rally in Chicago, Illinois,
on Wednesday Kerry
told a worker that "these guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group
of people I've ever seen." His microphone was still on when he made the
comments." -CNN
2004
ELECTION - "Kerry
Decries GOP as 'Crooked' and 'Lying'." ... "Sen.
John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) dueled with President Bush over taxes and the economy
yesterday and then, in an offhand comment to factory workers in Chicago,
called the Republicans "the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever
seen," triggering an angry denunciation from Bush's campaign." -By
Dan Balz -WashingtonPost
2004
ELECTION - "Kerry
within striking distance of mathematically sealing nomination."
... "John Kerry's commanding sweep of four Southern primaries has him on
the verge of mathematically clinching the Democratic presidential nomination,
most likely in the next week." ... "Kerry had 2,037 delegates Wednesday,
just shy of the 2,162 needed to win nomination at the Democratic convention
in Boston in July, an Associated Press tally shows." -By
Genaro C. Armas -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- "Bush
Asks Allies for Unity on Iraq: No Nation Exempt From
Terrorism, President Says on War Anniversary." ... "President Bush yesterday
marked the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq with an appeal
for international unity after a year of division by warning that there
can be "no separate peace" with the West's enemies." ... "Bush spoke to
an audience of 83 diplomats, including those from such countries as France
and Germany, which opposed the war. But his remarks seemed directed toward
such countries as Spain and Poland, allies in Iraq that are now expressing
misgivings, and, in Spain's case, rethinking their cooperation with the
United States." -By Dana Milbank -WashingtonPost
- "Taiwanese
president's supporters jubilant with victory one day after assassination
attempt." ... "Supporters of Taiwanese President
Chen Shui-bian celebrated victory with booming fireworks and blasting air
horns Saturday as he won a narrow re-election just a day after being wounded
by a would-be assassin's bullet." ... "Chen beat Nationalist Party rival
Lien Chan, a former vice president, in an electoral rematch that lifted
his Democratic Progressive Party to its second presidential win. Lien vowed
to challenge the results of what he called an unfair contest." -By
Christopher Bodeen -AP
via -SFGate.com
2004
ELECTION - "Bush
camp executes media game plan: Aggressive ad blitz
will define Kerry as indecisive and lacking conviction." ... "President
Bush's re-election campaign is following an aggressive and precise 90-day
media strategy to define Sen. John Kerry as indecisive and lacking conviction,
with a coordinated blitz of advertisements, speeches and sound bites, senior
campaign advisers said this week." ... "The goal, several campaign aides
said, is to first strip Kerry of the positive image that he carried away
from the Democratic primary contests and then to define him issue by issue,
in their own harsh terms before the summer vacation season. The central
thrusts will be national security and taxes, they said." -By
Jim Rutenberg -NYTimes
via -HoustonChronicle.com
-
- Free-Speech
- "China
Changes Constitution to Address Rights Issues." ...
"China's Parliament formally approved today constitutional amendments that
address private property and human rights, while the country's new prime
minister promised to rein in the overheated economy." ... "Chinese legal
experts and even lawmakers said the constitutional changes, which were
decided in closed-door sessions of the ruling Communist Party last fall
and formally approved today, would not lead to lifting restrictions on
speech and political protest. China's constitution is subordinate to the
party and is amended often to reflect changes in official ideology." -By
Chris Buckley -NYTimes
-
-
-
- "Spain's
ruling party swept from power amid anger of Madrid terror attacks."
... "Spain's ruling conservatives crashed to surprise defeat in elections
overshadowed by anger over terrorist bombings, becoming the first government
that backed the U.S.-led war in Iraq to be voted out of office." ... "The
win by the Socialists over President Jose Maria Aznar's favored Popular
Party Sunday came amid charges that Aznar made Spain a target for terrorist
by supporting the Iraq war." ... "Spain's incoming prime minister, Jose
Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has pledged to bring home the 1,300 Spanish troops
in Iraq when their tour of duty ends in July." -By
Daniel Woolls -AP
via -SFGate.com
- "A
vote for democracy, Putin-style: Russia's president
is expected to win reelection handily Sunday - with tactics that critics
decry as 'Soviet.'" ... "President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to win
reelection by a wide margin, came to power four years ago promising a "dictatorship
of the law." Indeed, he has brought a new stability and economic growth,
while playing it tough in Chechnya - as well as with political rivals,
constricting the marketplace of ideas in favor of firm control from the
top." ... "Critics and a handful of opposition candidates - who between
them can't muster a fraction of Mr. Putin's over 70 percent popularity
rating - charge that Sunday's vote is a "farce" that has been pre-engineered
by the Kremlin, and marks the end of Russia's experiment with democracy."
-By Scott Peterson -CSMonitor
-
- 2004
ELECTION - "Kerry:
Comment aimed at 'attack dogs': Hastert takes 'great
umbrage' at comment." ... "Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John
Kerry said on Thursday that he was not referring to all Republicans as
"crooked" in an off-the-cuff comment captured on camera -- just his political
opponents' "attack dogs."" ... "After a union rally in Chicago, Illinois,
on Wednesday Kerry
told a worker that "these guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group
of people I've ever seen." His microphone was still on when he made the
comments." -CNN
2004
ELECTION - "Kerry
Decries GOP as 'Crooked' and 'Lying'." ... "Sen.
John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) dueled with President Bush over taxes and the economy
yesterday and then, in an offhand comment to factory workers in Chicago,
called the Republicans "the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever
seen," triggering an angry denunciation from Bush's campaign." -By
Dan Balz -WashingtonPost
2004
ELECTION - "Kerry
within striking distance of mathematically sealing nomination."
... "John Kerry's commanding sweep of four Southern primaries has him on
the verge of mathematically clinching the Democratic presidential nomination,
most likely in the next week." ... "Kerry had 2,037 delegates Wednesday,
just shy of the 2,162 needed to win nomination at the Democratic convention
in Boston in July, an Associated Press tally shows." -By
Genaro C. Armas -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
-
- "An
Interim President for Haiti Is Sworn In." ... "Interim
President Boniface Alexandre was installed in the National Palace in a
brief, awkward ceremony on Monday, as hundreds of supporters of Haiti's
exiled president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, marched through the capital,
chanting "Aristide or death!"" ... "A power struggle continued in the city's
streets and its salons with the search for a new prime minister, a day
after Aristide loyalists opened fire on anti-Aristide demonstrators near
the presidential palace. Six people were killed and about 30 wounded. United
States marines said on Monday that their return fire had killed one gunman."
(1, 2)
-By Lydia Polgreen and Tim Weiner -NYTimes
via -Google-News
2004
ELECTION - "Bush
Attacks Kerry on Bill to Trim Intelligence Budget."
... "President Bush accused Senator John Kerry on Monday of having tried
to "gut" the nation's intelligence services in 1995 when Mr. Kerry introduced
legislation that would have cut intelligence spending by $1.5 billion over
five years." ... "On a day of rock-'em, sock-'em politics unusual for such
an early stage of a presidential campaign, Mr. Bush said the 1995 legislation,
proposed two years after the first attack on the World Trade Center, undermined
Mr. Kerry's claim to have given the nation the intelligence tools it needs."
... "Mr. Kerry's campaign responded that Mr. Bush's attacks were misleading
and that Mr. Kerry had a long record of supporting increased spending on
intelligence agencies." -By Richard W. Stevenson and
Jodi Wilgoren -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "Iraqi
Council Signs Interim Constitution." ... "Iraq's
Governing Council signed a landmark interim constitution Monday after resolving
a political impasse sparked by objections from the country's most powerful
cleric. The signing was a key step in U.S. plans to hand over power to
the Iraqis by July 1." ... "But there were signs that a dispute that delayed
plans to sign the constitution on Friday might surface again." ... "One
clause in dispute, according to [council member Ibrahim] al-Jaafari, would
give Kurds and Sunni Arabs veto power over a permanent constitution expected
to be drafted and put to a referendum next year. The other bars any changes
to the document signed Monday except with the approval of a proposed president,
his two deputies, and three-fourths of a parliament to be elected by January
2005." -By Hamza Hendawi
-AP via -AJC
-
-
-
- "Aristide
Again Says He Was Kidnapped from Haiti." ... "Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide says his departure from his country was
a "kidnapping" as heavily armed "white men" surrounded the National Palace,
according to a statement released on Saturday." ... "The United States
has repeatedly dismissed Aristide's contentions that he was kidnapped when
he left Haiti on Feb. 29. The Bush administration blames the crisis in
Haiti on Aristide, who was restored to power a decade earlier by 20,000
U.S. troops after his ouster in a military coup."
-Reuters
- 2004
ELECTION - "9/11
election ads have Bush in hot water." ... "George
W. Bush tripped over the wreckage of the World Trade Center and stumbled
into controversy yesterday as he tried to take the high road with an expensive
advertising campaign for re-election but was immediately attacked for playing
politics with tragedy." ... "Relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks lashed out at the President's first major TV ad campaign, saying
it was both insensitive and inaccurate." -By Doug
Saunders -GlobeAndMail
-
- "Signing
of Iraqi Charter Is Delayed by Shiite Objections."
... "The scheduled signing of a previously approved interim constitution
for Iraq was delayed indefinitely today after five Shiite members of the
Iraqi Governing Council rejected wording that dealt with the Kurds and
the proposed setup of the presidency." ... "The council unanimously agreed
to the accord on Monday. But an official on the council said today that
the changes being called for were necessary if they were to gain the acceptance
of Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani." -By
Dexter Filkins and Terence Neilan -NYTimes
via -Google-News
2004
ELECTION - "Edwards
quits presidential race: US Senator John Edwards
has pulled out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination following
his defeat in the "Super Tuesday" polls." ... "In an emotional speech to
a crowd in Raleigh, North Carolina, Mr Edwards praised Senator John Kerry
who will now face George W Bush." ... ""The truth of the matter is John
Kerry has what it takes," he said." ... "Speculation is now increasing
that Mr Edwards may be picked by Mr Kerry as his vice-presidential running
mate." ... "Mr Edwards, a North Carolina senator, failed to win any of
the 10 states on Tuesday and throughout the race only won his native state
of South Carolina." -BBC/News
2004
ELECTION - "Edwards
Plans to Announce Withdrawal Wednesday Afternoon at His Late Son's School."
... "Facing sweeping losses in Tuesday's contests, Senator
John Edwards of North Carolina flew home to Raleigh and made plans
to withdraw from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination on
Wednesday, a senior adviser and Democrats familiar with the situation said."
... "Mr. Edwards plans to make his withdrawal announcement on Wednesday
afternoon at Broughton High School, the school his 16-year-old son, Wade,
attended before he was killed in a car crash in 1996. Friends have said
the teenager's death caused Mr. Edwards to reassess his successful career
as a trial lawyer and fulfill a goal to enter politics as a Senate candidate
in 1998." (1, 2)
-By Randal C. Archibold -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- Media
- Free-Speech
- "Iran
shuts down reformist papers: Iran's hardline judiciary
has shut two leading newspapers for publishing a letter criticising the
Islamic republic's supreme leader." ... "The letter criticised Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei's decision to exclude thousands of reformist candidates from
Friday's elections." ... "It was written by disgruntled reformist deputies
who've been barred from standing in the general election." ... "Criticising
the supreme leader is regarded as a serious offence." ... "Paris-based
rights group Reporters Without Borders said last year that Iran had more
journalists behind bars than any other country in the Middle East."
-BBC/News
- Media
- "Tehran
shuts down papers ahead of election." ... "Neither
the Yas-e No nor the Shargh daily appeared on Thursday after they carried
long extracts of a letter from reformist parliamentary deputies criticising
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, in their editions the previous
day." ... "Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran's general prosecutor, also ordered internet
service providers to block three websites." ... "The judiciary also on
Thursday sealed an office belonging to the Islamic Iran Participation Front,
the leading reformist party, agencies reported." -By
Gareth Smyth and Mohsen Asgari -FT.com
-
- "Scientists
accuse Bush of twisting facts in his favor: White
House says policy decisions based on sound data." ... "The Bush administration
has deliberately distorted scientific fact to serve policy goals on the
environment, health, biomedical research and nuclear weapons at home and
abroad, a group of about 60 influential scientists said in a statement
issued Wednesday." ... "The statement was released by the Union of Concerned
Scientists, an independent organization that focuses on technical issues
and has often taken stands at odds with administration policy. The organization
also issued a 37-page report that it said detailed the accusations."
-DallasNews.com
- 2004
ELECTION - "Bush
distances himself from jobs figure in forecast."
... "President Bush distanced himself Wednesday from a forecast made by
his economic advisers predicting that the U.S. economy will add 2.6 million
jobs this year." ... "A Feb. 9 report by the White House Council of Economic
Advisors (CEA) predicted that payrolls would grow to an average of 132.7
million in 2004 from 130.1 million in 2003, an exceptionally rapid employment
gain for an economy that has shed 2.3 million jobs during Bush's tenure.
Facing the prospect that Democrats would make a campaign issue of Bush's
failure to meet his own projections, the president and top administration
officials declined to endorse the 2.6 million jobs forecast." -By
Dana Milbank -WashingtonPost
via -StarTribune.com
- "Annan
Is Said to Have Doubt on Iraq Voting." ... "Secretary
General Kofi Annan will endorse the view that the interim Iraqi government
to take office this summer cannot be chosen by direct elections, but he
will not make his recommendation on Iraq's political future for at least
a week, senior United Nations diplomats said Wednesday." ... "The diplomats,
who did not want to be quoted by name, said that Mr. Annan would consult
Thursday with his special envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, who is returning
from a weeklong examination of the political situation in the country.
Afterward, Mr. Brahimi is to discuss his findings in a meeting with the
Security Council." -By Warren Hoge -NYTimesvia
-Google-News
- 2004
ELECTION - "Howard
Dean Ends His White House Bid." ... "Former Democratic
front-runner Howard Dean on Wednesday pulled the plug on his roller-coaster
White House bid." ... "Dean said while his White House campaign is over,
he will turn his Internet-based operation, which set fund-raising records
and connected with legions of new activists, into a grass-roots force for
change." -By Thomas Ferraro
-Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Haitian
Premier Warns of Possible Coup: Haitian Premier Warns
of Impending Coup Amid Fears on Uprising Reaching Cap-Haitien." ... "Haiti's
premier warned of an impending coup amid fears that an uprising that has
left at least 57 people dead may have reached the country's second city,
Cap-Haitien." ... "Police and armed supporters of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide mounted barricades and patrolled the streets of Cap-Haitien on
Haiti's north coast on Tuesday." ... "[The city of] Hinche, at a strategic
crossroads in Haiti's agriculture-rich Artibonite district, was seized
Monday by some 50 rebels reportedly led by former death squad leader Louis-Jodel
Chamblain." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
2004
ELECTION - "Kerry
wins Wisconsin, edges out Edwards." ... "John Kerry
squeezed past hard-charging John Edwards on Tuesday to win Wisconsin's
primary, gateway to a 10-state, two-man showdown March 2. Howard Dean,
his candidacy doomed, considered endorsing one of his rivals." ... "Clinging
to a six-point lead, Kerry said, "A win is a win."" ... "Counting Wisconsin,
Kerry has pocketed 608 of the 2,161 delegates needed to secure the nomination,
according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Dean had just 201, Edwards
190 and Al Sharpton 16." -By Ron Fournier -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Pakistan
Opposition Charges Atomic Cover-Up." ... "Opposition
parties accused the military-dominated government of hiding the army's
role in the proliferation scheme; humiliating the scientist, Abdul Qadeer
Khan; appeasing the United States; and bypassing the elected legislators."
-By Salman Masood and David Rohde -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- 2004
ELECTION - "Woman
denies Kerry relationship: Rumor wanes as Drudge
backs off earlier Internet report." ... "A rumor that was circulated widely
on the Internet and in the British press, purportedly linking Senator John
Kerry to a much younger woman, crumbled Monday as the wom- an issued a
strong denial and the Inter- net site that launched the report changed
its story." ... "The Massachusetts senator, who is married, denied Friday
that he had a re- lationship with the woman, later identi- fied as Alexandra
Polier, 27, a former Associated Press intern. ‘‘I just deny it categorically,’’
Kerry said." -By Brian Knowlton
-IHT.com
-
- "U.N.
Envoy Backs Iraqi Vote: In Meetings, Brahimi Says
Elections Are Viable Before Date Set by U.S." ... "A senior U.N. envoy
has indicated to Iraqi leaders that he believes nationwide, direct elections
could be held late this year or early next year, according to several Iraqis
who met with the envoy this week." ... "The envoy, former Algerian foreign
minister Lakhdar Brahimi, was dispatched to resolve disagreements among
Iraqis over the formation of a transitional government. He has suggested
through questions and responses to various proposals that he favors holding
elections sooner than the United States has envisaged but not before a
planned handover of sovereignty this summer, the Iraqis who met with him
said Thursday." (1, 2)
-By Rajiv Chandrasekaran -WashingtonPost
Poverty
- Business
- Politics
- 2004
Election - "Wages
up for the well-off, but not for others: 'Rich-poor
gap' relates to long-term forces, but could hurt Bush as it reaches record
level prior to election." ... "Most US workers saw their earnings fall
or stagnate last year, with those at the bottom of the income scale hit
hardest." ... "The trend, coming alongside a slack job market, explains
why many Americans feel left out of the economic recovery - and why President
Bush faces a tough sell with his campaign-trail message that there is "good
strong growth." Democratic rivals point to "two Americas," one for the
rich, one for the poor." ... "Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina speaks
of "two Americas," while the leading contender, John Kerry, promises "a
prosperity where we will reduce the poverty of millions instead of constantly
reducing taxes for millionaires."" -By David R. Francis
-CSMonitor
- 
-
-
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "White
House releases Bush's Guard records." ... "Moving
to squelch an election year controversy, the White House yesterday made
public records showing that President Bush attended some Air National Guard
training between mid-1972 and mid-1973 and was paid for it, and said the
records refute reports that Bush did not fulfill his military obligation
during the Vietnam War." ... "But the same records also show that Bush
may not have met the minimum-service requirement expected of most Guard
members, according to National Guard officials. And after releasing the
records, the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, could not explain
why, if Bush appeared for duty on the days listed in the documents, Bush's
superiors wrote on May 2, 1973, that he had not been seen at his Houston
air base for the previous 12 months." -By Walter V.
Robinson and Michael Rezendes -Boston/Globe
-
- "France's
ban on religious symbols in schools gets approval."
... "France's lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to
ban students from wearing Islamic head scarves and other conspicuous religious
items in public schools." ... "The classroom ban, which also applies to
Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses, was approved 494 to 36. In
early March, the measure will go to the Senate, where there is little opposition."
-By Elaine Ganley -AP
via -StarTribune.com
2004
ELECTION - "Kerry
Claims Decisive Wins In Virginia and Tennessee: Clark
to End Candidacy After Southern Defeats." ... "Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.)
cruised to victory in Virginia and Tennessee last night, adding the first
southern states to his growing string of primary and caucus wins as he
continued to run away with the race for the Democratic presidential nomination."
... "Kerry's victories claimed another victim late last night when retired
Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark decided to end his candidacy after finishing
third in both states. Clark plans to make a formal announcement in Little
Rock this afternoon." (1, 2)
-By Dan Balz and Michael D. Shear
-WashingtonPost
-
- "Americans
warned against travel to Haiti." ... "With Haiti
wracked by civil unrest, the United States urged Americans Tuesday to leave
the country "if they can do so safely."" ... "Haiti has been wracked by
violence in recent weeks with armed opponents of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide taking control of several cities." ... "Authorities believe the
rebels are a combination of former paramilitary troops and former supporters
of Aristide, who was ousted in a military coup in 1991 but won a new term
as president in 2000." -CNN
-
-
- "Gore
Says Bush Betrayed the U.S. by Using 9/11 as a Reason for War in Iraq."
... "In a withering critique of the Bush administration, former Vice President
Al Gore on Sunday accused the president of betraying the country by using
the Sept. 11 attacks as a justification for the invasion of Iraq." ...
""He betrayed this country!" Mr. Gore shouted into the microphone at a
rally of Tennessee Democrats here in a stuffy hotel ballroom. "He played
on our fears. He took America on an ill-conceived foreign adventure dangerous
to our troops, an adventure preordained and planned before 9/11 ever took
place."" -By Katharine Q. Seelye -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "Challenger
to Putin for Russian Presidency Is Missing." ...
"One of Vladimir V. Putin's challengers in next month's presidential election
is missing, and the police and security services announced today that they
had begun a search for him." ... "Ivan P. Rybkin, a former Parliament speaker
and national security adviser under Boris N. Yeltsin, has not been seen
or heard from since Thursday evening, raising fears among his family and
campaign aides that something dire had happened to him." -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- 2004
ELECTION - "Kerry's
rivals say race still open, but voters say otherwise."
... "The three major candidates hoping to outlast one another and take
on John Kerry, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination,
argued Sunday that it's too early to end the race. But in contests across
the country, Democrats are indicating they disagree." ... "Saturday and
Sunday, Kerry won caucuses in Washington state, Michigan and Maine for
a season record of 10 wins, two losses." -By Jill
Lawrence
-USATODAY
- "Iraq's
secular parties try to gain ground in face of Shiite Muslim clerics' political
strength." ... "With Iraq's top Shiite ayatollah
able to bring tens of thousands of marchers out into the streets, seemingly
on a moment's notice, secular politicians can only hope the cleric keeps
his promises not to seek political power." ... "Their parties are still
staggering back from the grave where Saddam Hussein buried them and, as
they jostle for a position in the government to come, may be too weak to
compete with Islamic movements backed by popular clerics." -By
Lee Keath -AP
via -SFGate.com
2004
ELECTION - "Kerry
Wins Gephardt Backing, Dean Makes a Stand." ... "Democratic
presidential front-runner John Kerry, riding a hot streak in the presidential
race, won the backing of former rival Richard Gephardt on Thursday as rival
Howard Dean vowed to make what could be his last stand in Wisconsin." (1,
2)
-By John Whitesides -Reuters
- 2004
ELECTION - "Pentagon
scraps 2004 online voting." ... "The Pentagon has
canceled plans to allow military personnel to vote online in the November
2004 presidential elections, a Defense Department spokeswoman said Thursday."
... "A group of four computer scientists criticized
the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment in a Jan.
20 report. The scientists were invited by the Pentagon to critique the
program, and they alleged that the SERVE system has numerous "security
problems that leave it vulnerable to a variety of well-known cyberattacks.""
-By David McGlinchey -GovExec.com
2004
ELECTION - "Dean
Says He Will Quit Race if He Fails to Win Wisconsin."
... "Howard Dean sent an overnight e-mail message to supporters saying
he would quit the Democratic presidential race if he did not win the Wisconsin
primary on Feb. 17." ... "The message, which comes as Dr. Dean is under
increasing pressure to quit the race from unions and members of Congress
supporting his campaign, is a marked shift from the candidate's recent
comments." ... ""The entire race has come down to this: we must win Wisconsin,"
Dr. Dean, the former governor of Vermont, said in the e-mail, which asked
for $50 contributions, with a goal of raising $700,000 by Sunday, to put
television advertisements up before Wisconsin's primary." -NYTimes
via -Google-News
2004
ELECTION - "Unable
to clinch a state, Lieberman ends quest." ... "Surrounded
by family and supporters, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the
Democrats' 2000 vice-presidential nominee, has ended his candidacy for
the presidential nomination in a small, nondescript ballroom here." -By
Diane Cardwell -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
-
- "Iraqi
Kurds Vow Unity as Blast Toll Reaches 67." ... "U.S.
military officials said the number killed in Sunday's coordinated attacks
had risen to 67 -- from an earlier estimate of 56 -- and those wounded
numbered 247." ... "The attacks, the worst since a suicide car bomb killed
more than 80 outside a mosque in the holy city of Najaf last August, killed
several senior members of the main Kurdish parties --the Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party." ... "The attacks were
especially hard on the KDP, which lost its veteran deputy leader, Sami
Abdul-Rahman, whose moderate views carried much weight." (1, 2,
3)
-Reuters
-
-
-
- "Bush
to Establish Panel to Examine U.S. Intelligence."
... "President Bush will establish a bipartisan commission in the next
few days to examine American intelligence operations, including a study
of possible misjudgments about Iraq's unconventional weapons, senior administration
officials said Sunday. They said the panel would also investigate failures
to penetrate secretive governments and stateless groups that could attempt
new attacks on the United States." ... "The pressure to establish such
a panel became irresistible after David A. Kay, the former chief weapons
inspector, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that "it
turns out we were all wrong, probably," about the perceived Iraqi threat,
which was the administration's basic justification for the war." ... "The
commission will not report back until after the November elections. Some
former officials who have been approached about taking part say they believe
it may take 18 months or more to reach its conclusions." (1, 2)
-By David E. Sanger -NYTimes
-
"More
Than 100 Iranian Legislators Resign." ... "More than
a third of the Iranian parliament handed in resignations on Sunday to protest
the decision by hard-liners to disqualify hundreds of would-be legislators
in upcoming elections." ... "A letter of resignation was submitted to parliamentary
speaker Mahdi Karroubi by reformists who said they could not go ahead with
the Feb. 20 elections. It was initially signed by 109 liberal legislators,
but later grew to 117 members." ... "Karroubi said each resignation will
be discussed and put to vote in future sessions of the parliament, but
he did not say how long that process will take. He insisted that the final
decision on the resignations rests with parliament." -By
Ali Akbar Dareini -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "Twin
Bombings in Northern Iraq Kill at Least 56." ...
"The attack took place on the first day of Id al-Adha, or the Feast of
Sacrifice, which commemorates the Koranic account of Ibrahim's willingness
to slay his son for God, and God's mercy in the face of such devotion.
American military officials have said they expect a surge in attacks during
the four-day holiday. This morning, Kurdish party leaders were receiving
hundreds of people in each building as part of the festivities." ... "The
bombings today killed senior officials of both the Kurdistan Democratic
Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which separately govern two
halves of the rugged region called Kurdistan." ... "The bomber at the offices
of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was a woman wearing a belt of explosives,
he [Bakhtiyar Amin, a spokesman for Kurdish representative Mahmoud Othman
of the Iraqi Governing Council] said, while the one at the offices of the
Kurdistan Democratic Party was wearing the robes of a cleric." -By
Edward Wong-NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- "Bombs
kill 12 in Iraq, including 3 U.S. soldiers." ...
"Two suicide bombers strapped with explosives have blown themselves up
in the offices of two Kurdish parties aligned with U.S. occupation forces
in northern Iraq, killing at least 56 people and wounding 200." ... "The
Arbil offices of Iraq's two main Kurdish political groups were crowded
with senior officials celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha when
the bombers struck, killing many top leaders of the two groups." -By
Shamal Aqrawi -Reuters
via -Reuters.co.uk
- 2004
ELECTION - "Kerry,
Bush in statistical dead heat among Minnesota voters."
... "Democratic Sen. John Kerry and President Bush are in a statistical
dead heat in Minnesota, according to a new statewide poll." ... "Forty-three
percent of Minnesota voters favored Kerry compared to 41 percent for Bush.
Sixteen percent were undecided, according to the poll commissioned by the
St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minnesota Public Radio."
-AP via -StarTribune.com
2004
ELECTION - 
- "Politics
as punch line: Young voters are turning to comics
like... Jon Stewart, Dennis Miller, and Bill Maher as an alternative to
the news anchors." ... "Philosophy major Joe Harper has never voted in
a presidential election. He doesn't know yet whom he'll vote for this fall.
He is clear on one thing, however." ... ""I'm not watching the evening
news to figure it out, that's for sure," says the 21-year-old college student.
His favorite sources of information about the candidates are the ones increasingly
favored by the under-30 crowd, the comedy of Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show"
and "anything" from Bill Maher. "I trust these guys," says Mr. Harper.
"Their stuff is funnier, but it's also truer."" -By
Gloria Goodale -CSMonitor
-
- "About
2 Million to Use Up Jobless Benefits." ... "Nearly
2 million people are expected to exhaust their state unemployment benefits
in the first half of the year without access to more government aid or
a regular paycheck, according to a study released Thursday." ... "Congress
has refused to approve another extension of federal unemployment benefits
for people who exhaust their state aid." -By Leigh
Strope -AP
via -AJC
-
- 2004
ELECTION - "Ariz.
hosts first primary test out West." ... "Targeted
by every major candidate except Sen. John Edwards, Arizona is a prize with
symbolic value beyond the 55 convention delegates at stake. Its primary,
one of seven contests on Feb. 3, is the first to test the contenders' appeal
in the West and among Hispanic voters. Neighboring New Mexico has caucuses
that day." ... "In 1996, President Clinton became the first Democrat to
win Arizona's electoral votes since Harry Truman in 1948. In 2000, Bush
beat Al Gore here, 51%-45%, but Gore put up no fight, Arizona Democrats
say." -By Martin Kasindorf
-USATODAY
ELECTION
2004 - "Kerry
turns to the 'band of brothers': Republicans are
keen to portray John Kerry as a limp-wristed liberal, but this genuine
war hero has already tapped into the Vietnam generation, says Philip James."
... "As headline grabbing as his surprise win was in Iowa, and his decisive
victory in New Hampshire, together these two states add up to only 32 delegates
for Kerry. He needs another 2,000 or so to be assured the nomination."
... "Traditionally March 2, aka Super Tuesday, is the date when contested
nominations are decided. California, New York and eight other mostly big
states put over 1,000 delegates in play." ... "But this year a change to
the primary schedule has seven southern, mid-western and western states
voting together on February 3. Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma have clustered
with South Carolina, Delaware, North Dakota and Missouri, to give it the
status and influence of a mini Super Tuesday- with 269 delegates up for
grabs." -Guardian.co.uk
2004
ELECTION - "Trailing
Dems refine strategies: Dean replaces campaign manager
-- others vow to stay in race." ... "While Democratic front-runner John
Kerry picked up endorsements Wednesday in Missouri and South Carolina,
his challengers focused on their best bets to win a contest in Tuesday's
coast-to-coast primaries and slow the Massachusetts senator's march to
the Democratic presidential nomination." ... "Former Gov. Howard Dean,
his campaign disappointed by his double-digit loss to Kerry in the New
Hampshire primary, shook up his staff and conducted satellite interviews
with local television stations in each of the seven states that vote Tuesday."
-SFGate.com
2004
ELECTION - "Kerry
Appeal: Behind New Hampshire Win: Broad Base, Moderate
Image, Electability." ... "A broad base on issues, a moderate image and
a sense of electability powered John Kerry to a double-digit victory in
the New Hampshire primary and being someone other than Howard Dean
didn't hurt." ... "Kerry did best with voters who were looking mainly for
a candidate who can beat George W. Bush (he won 62 percent of them), and
for someone with the "right experience." But Kerry also won big in two
other, larger groups: Those who viewed Dean unfavorably and those who didn't
think Dean has the right temperament for the job." -By
Gary Langer with David Morris, Dalia Sussman and Maureen Michaels
-ABCNEWS.com
- "Deficit
forecast collides with Bush's plans: Projections
of $477 billion budget gap sharpen debate over extending tax cuts." ...
"This year's deficit will be a record in dollar terms, at $477 billion,
according to CBO. That's equal to about 4.5 percent of the nation's gross
domestic product." -By Peter Grier
-CSMonitor
-
- "UN
team begins Iraq poll mission: A United Nations security
team has arrived in Iraq to see if it is safe enough to send election experts."
... "The US and Iraq had asked the world body to send experts to investigate
the chance of a vote by the end of June." ... "UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan agreed to the request, but said he had to be convinced the mission
was safe." -BBC/News
-
- "U.N.
envoy warns against premature polls in Iraq." ...
"U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said on Tuesday premature elections in Iraq
could do more harm than good and signaled he would not play the kind of
leadership role there that Washington wanted him to play." ... "Annan said
earlier in Paris that, security permitting, he would send a team to Iraq
to see if early elections were feasible." ... "Annan said he would send
a mission to assess whether direct polls would be possible before the U.S.
hands back power to Iraqis mid-year, as the influential Shi'ite cleric,
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has demanded." -Reuters
- "Iranian
Cabinet warns it would scrap election." ... "Iran's
reform-minded Cabinet on Monday threatened to scrap upcoming parliamentary
elections if the hard-line Guardian Council doesn't change course and allow
hundreds of reformist candidates to run." ... "The warning deepened Iran's
worst political crisis in years and raised the possibility of mass government
resignations. The government can only stop an election by stepping down
or sending a bill to parliament, which the Guardian Council would almost
certainly veto." -By Ali Akbar Dareini
-AP via -SFGate.com
- "Karzai
signs Afghan constitution: The President of Afghanistan's
transitional government, Hamid Karzai, has signed the country's new constitution
at a ceremony in Kabul." ... "The document was agreed earlier this month
at a grand assembly, or loya jirga, of regional representatives." ... "It
is intended to pave the way for elections later this year." ... "However,
doubts remain about the chances of holding those polls because of continuing
insecurity in large parts of Afghanistan."
-BBC/News
- -
"Japan's
defense chief issues dispatch order for bulk of ground troops to Iraq."
... "Japan's defense chief issued a dispatch order Monday for the bulk
of the ground troops Japan is sending to Iraq, moving ahead with the humanitarian
mission despite concerns about the soldiers' safety." ... "Defense Agency
Director Shigeru Ishiba announced the order after the ruling Liberal Democrats
won backing from coalition partner the New Komeito Party, which had expressed
reservations about the deployment." -By Mari Yamaguchi
-AP via -Boston/Globe
-
- "Iraqi council
splitting under Shiite pressure: Many defer to cleric
on election format." ... "A powerful cleric's demand for quick elections
has delayed the drafting of an interim constitution and has created a serious
new split in the Iraqi Governing Council, officials said, further undermining
the Bush administration's troubled plan for a political transition in Iraq."
... "Without an interim constitution, which is supposed to be completed
in less than five weeks, the entire timetable for a U.S. transfer of power
to an Iraqi government by June 30 could be disrupted. And the divide in"
-By Edward Wong -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
- "Iraq's
Path Hinges on Words of Enigmatic Cleric." ... "An
austere home in a dusty alleyway here [Najaf, Iraq] has become a center
of power rivaling the American occupation headquarters in Baghdad — and
the scene of fierce inner struggles for one man's ear." ... "Grand Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani, a reclusive 73-year-old cleric revered by many of Iraq's
15 million Shiites, hears arguments and requests here from the country's
most senior politicians, occasionally issuing decrees through them that
thwart the plans of the world's sole superpower." ... "The ayatollah's
secular power is clear: his insistence on direct elections for a transitional
national assembly before Iraqi sovereignty in June drew up to 100,000 supporters
to Baghdad's streets on Monday and left the Bush administration scrambling
to salvage plans for a caucus-style selection." (1, 2)
-By Edward Wong -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- "Japan's
Diet to consider bill to change constitution." ...
"Most attention will focus on article 9, which renounces Japan's right
to belligerency. Many in the LDP want to amend the constitution to make
it easier for Japan to participate in international operations, such as
that in Iraq." ... "There is also an intention to normalise the status
of Self Defence Forces, Japan's armed forces-equivalent, whose status sits
uneasily with the constitutional ban on maintaining land, sea and air forces."
-By David Pilling -FT.com
- ELECTION
2004 - "Reflecting
surge, Kerry focuses fire on Republicans." ... "Kerry
accused President Bush and his administration on Friday of shortchanging
health and pension programs for veterans. The tough, patriotic rhetoric
from the White House isn't backed up by actions, he told a group of 400
activists, most of them veterans." ... ""The first definition of patriotism
is keeping faith with those who have worn the uniform of the country,"
said Kerry, a decorated Navy veteran of Vietnam. He said some veterans
must wait too long for health care, while others who are disabled receive
a reduced pension." -By Mike Glover-AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Infiltration
of files seen as extensive: Senate panel's GOP staff
pried on Democrats." ... "Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary
Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret
strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media, Senate
officials told The Globe." ... "From the spring of 2002 until at least
April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch
that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications without
a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read
talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial
nominees Democrats would fight -- and with what tactics." -By
Charlie Savage -Boston/Globe
2004
ELECTION - "Transcript:
Democratic Presidential Debate in N.H.." ... "" -FDCH
e-Media via -WashingtonPost
- "'Ministers
quit' in Iran poll row." ... "Iran's Vice President
Mohammad Ali Abtahi says a number of ministers have tendered their resignations
in an ongoing dispute over the disqualification of hundreds of pro-reform
candidates." ... "But with the Iranian President Mohammad Khatami at the
World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the ministers will have to
wait for Khatami to accept or turn down the resignations." -Contributed
to by Shirzad Bozorgmehr -CNN
- "State
of the Union Address." -By President
George W. Bush -Whitehouse.gov
- 2004
ELECTION - "Edwards
Snags Second Place (Remarkably): The come-from-way-behind
kid proves he’s not going away." ... "[John] Edwards’ positive message
had to be the deciding factor in his surge. Even without the ground organizations
of Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt, Edwards was able to capture the silver.
The final reasons won’t be known until the returns are more fully analyzed,
but a huge amount of the Iowa electorate remained on the fence until caucus
day, and those late deciders swung to Kerry and Edwards. Those fence-sitters
might have stayed home in past years, but had an added motivation: They
want George W. Bush out of the White House so badly that nominating the
strongest opponent has become more important than the perfect candidate."
-By Mitch Frank
-TIME.com
- ELECTION
2004 - "'Underdog'
Dean looks to New Hampshire." ... "After finishing
a distant third behind U.S. Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and John
Edwards of North Carolina, Dean flew directly to New Hampshire, which holds
its primary on January 27." ... ""I would love to come in first but you
only have to come in the top three," he told several hundred cheering supporters
at a predawn airport rally in Portsmouth on Tuesday." ... "He cited as
examples Bill Clinton, who won the presidency after losing Iowa, and Michael
Dukakis who also lost in the Midwestern state but went on to become the
Democratic nominee." -By Patricia Wilson
-Reuters via -Reuters.co.uk
- ELECTION
2004 - "Kerry,
Edwards 1-2; Gephardt to pull out." ... "Iowa Democrats
handed Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry a come-from-behind victory in the
state's presidential caucuses Monday night, throwing wide open the national
race that had been expected to settle quickly on former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean." ... "Dean finished a distant third, behind North Carolina Sen. John
Edwards." ... "Edwards' second place finish was nearly as big a victory
for him as was first place for Kerry. Ten days ago, Edwards was barely
holding double digit support in the polls, while Dean was the frontrunner."
-By Sharon Schmickle -StarTribune.com
-
-
-
- "Annan
Meets With U.S., U.K. on Iraq Role." ... "Secretary-General
Kofi Annan sought ``greater clarity'' about a possible U.N. role in Iraq,
meeting on Monday with U.S. and Iraqi officials as the Bush administration
faced a dispute with a prominent Shiite cleric over choosing a provisional
government." ... "The U.S.-led coalition wants to keep its June 30 timetable
for the handover of power to an interim Iraqi government. But its plan
for caucuses to choose a provisional assembly has been attacked by the
country's most prominent Shiite leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani,
who has demanded direct elections." -By Edith M. Lederer
-AP via -AJC
- ELECTION
2004 - "Democrats
gird for showdown in Iowa tonight." ... "Swept up
in the closest nomination fight in recent history, Democratic candidates
pulled out surprise guests to vouch for them on the final day before tonight's
Iowa caucuses, while campaign strategists worked intensely behind the scenes
to mobilize voters in a race that hinges on turnout." ... "Howard Dean
introduced his wife on the campaign trail for the first time after staging
an appearance with Jimmy Carter -- events that advisers hoped would grab
headlines and overshadow polls that indicated Dean was trailing Senators
John F. Kerry and John Edwards." -By Anne E. Kornblut-Boston/Globe
- ELECTION
2004 - "Key
precinct reflects wider caucus drama." ... "Each
candidate faces a different set of challenges in Iowa, reflecting their
disparate bases of support. Gephardt needs labor muscle in the urban centers
and votes from family farmers. Dean needs an unprecedented influx of first-time
caucusgoers, not just energetic support in the college towns of Ames and
Iowa City." ... "Kerry needs veterans to turn out on his behalf -- and
big showings in the more heavily populated eastern two-thirds of the state.
For Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, his extensive campaigning in
tiny rural towns, especially in western Iowa, must pay off with bodies
at caucuses." -By Rick Klein -Boston/Globe
- ELECTION
2004 - "Kerry,
Edwards surge: Iowa Poll finds surge by Kerry, Edwards."
... "A late surge by Democratic presidential candidates John Kerry and
John Edwards has pushed them slightly ahead of long-standing front-runners
Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt in the race to win Monday's Iowa caucuses,
a new Des Moines Register poll shows." ... "Kerry, a U.S. senator from
Massachusetts, leads the Iowa Poll with 26 percent of likely caucus participants
naming him their first choice for the presidency. The poll, conducted Tuesday
through Friday, also showed him gaining strength as the week wore on."
... "Edwards, a North Carolina senator who was in single digits in an Iowa
Poll taken two months ago, follows in second place at 23 percent - his
highest finish in any media poll of Iowans." -By Jonathan
Roos -DesMoinesRegister/News
-
- "Cheney,
Scalia socialized while Supreme Court considered case."
... "Government watchdogs are raising concerns about a potential conflict
of interest for Justice Antonin Scalia because he had dinner and went on
a hunting trip with Dick Cheney while the Supreme Court was involved in
a case about the vice president's energy task force." ... "Scalia and Cheney,
longtime friends, had dinner at a restaurant on Maryland's Eastern Shore
in November, two months after the Bush administration asked the justices
to overrule a lower court's decision requiring White House to identify
task force members." -AP
via -USATODAY
- ELECTION
2004 - "The
Iowa Poll, conducted for The Des Moines Register
by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on telephone interviews with
randomly selected Iowans."| John Kerry | 26% |
| John Edwards | 23% |
| Howard Dean | 20% |
| Dick Gephardt | 18% |
| Dennis Kucinich | 3% |
| Wesley Clark | 2% |
| Carol Moseley | 1% |
| Joe Lieberman | 1% |
| Al Sharpton | 1% |
| Not sure/Uncommitted | 5% |
- 
- "Court
Won't Block Texas Redistrict Plan." ... "The U.S.
Supreme Court refused Friday to block Texas from holding congressional
elections next fall under a hard-fought new map that could cost the Democrats
as many as six House seats." ... "Congressional Democrats and others claim
the map dilutes minority voting strength, but that was not at issue on
Friday; the high court has yet to decide whether to hear that argument."
... "Instead, the justices rejected an emergency appeal that sought to
stop the state from using the new boundaries in next fall's elections."
-By Jim Vertuno -AP
via -Miami/Herald
-
- "Arizona
Map Ruled Unconstitutional." ... "A judge overturned
Arizona's legislative redistricting map Friday, ruling that it violated
the state constitution by failing to give enough consideration to competitive
districts." ... "The decision found that the new congressional map for
Arizona's eight House seats also was flawed, but allowed those boundaries
to stand. The judge said the congressional map accomplished other goals,
including protecting minority representation." -By
Paul Davenport -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
- ELECTION
2004 -"Iowa
race this year: closest in decades: Monday's caucuses
are likely to have a greater impact than usual on the primaries that follow."
... "As Iowa Democrats prepare to kick off the presidential nominating
process in just three days, this year's caucuses are shaping up to be the
closest - and most critical - in decades. Depending on who emerges next
Monday night, the Democratic race could seem on the verge of being over
- or else be blown wide open." ... "The race is already unusually turbulent,
with Iowa polls dramatically tightening in the final days, and now showing
Howard Dean in a virtual three-way tie with Dick Gephardt and John Kerry,
with John Edwards close behind." -By Liz Marlantes
-CSMonitor
-
- "Bremer
will press UN on larger role: U.S. aide and Iraqis
expected to seek support for plan on power transfer." ... "L. Paul Bremer
3rd, the administrator of the occupying authority in Iraq, was leaving
Thursday for Washington to consult with the White House before a meeting
on Monday at the United Nations. There, both the United States and the
Iraqis it has temporarily installed in office will press for a significant
United Nations role in support of their plan for a rapid handover of sovereignty.
The meeting, called by Secretary General Kofi Annan and attended by leaders
of the American-backed interim Iraqi Governing Council as well as the Americans,
will be the first significant, high-level negotiations between the parties
to discuss the mechanics of selecting a new legislative body for Iraq by
this summer." -By John H. Cushman Jr.-NYTimes
via -IHT.com
- "Iranian
Cleric Rules in Favor of Some Reformist Candidates."
... "Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, broke his
silence Wednesday on the barring of reformist candidates from parliamentary
races, saying the incumbents among them should be allowed to run." ...
"Ayatollah Khamenei, meeting with members of the anti-reformist Guardian
Council on Wednesday evening, also said nonincumbent candidates should
be considered on their merits rather than rejected out of hand." ... "Ayatollah
Khamenei has the final word over all state matters, and his intervention
is expected to ease the mounting political confrontation." -By
Nazila Fathi -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
-
- "Kennedy
Hits Bush On War." ... "President Bush marketed the
war on Iraq as a "political product" to influence the 2002 elections and
is doing so again this year, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) charged yesterday
in a scathing speech accusing Bush of putting politics ahead of national
security." ... ""No president of the United States should employ misguided
ideology and distortion of the truth to take the nation to war," he said.
"In doing so, the president broke the basic bond of trust between the government
and the people. If Congress and the American people knew the whole truth,
America would never have gone to war."" -By Helen
Dewar -WashingtonPost
-
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Braun
to Quit Presidential Bid, Back Dean: Ex-Illinois
Sen. Carol Moseley Braun to Drop Democratic Presidential Bid, Endorse Howard
Dean." ... "Carol Moseley Braun plans to end her White House bid Thursday,
leaving an all-male field for the presidency and giving her support to
Democratic front-runner Howard Dean." ... "Braun was to officially endorse
the former Vermont governor Thursday afternoon during an appearance at
Carroll High School in Carroll, Iowa, said Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Reformists
reject Iranian president's request to end their sit-in."
... "Iranian lawmakers vowed to continue a sit-in protest Wednesday as
President Mohammad Khatami struggled to resolve a crisis over the disqualification
of reformist candidates in next month's election." ... "About 90 lawmakers
have gathered in the lobby of the legislature for five hours daily since
Sunday in a sit-in demonstration against the council's move." -By
Ali Akbar Dareini -AP
via -SFGate.com
- ELECTION
2004 - "Iowa's
Dark Art of Caucusing Is Turning a Bit More Public."
... "To the uninitiated, the inner workings of the Iowa caucuses can be
as mysterious as the rites of a secret society. No ballots are punched,
all voting is public, politicking on-site is at the heart of the process
and delegates can be won with a coin toss." ... "Though the caucuses have
an aura of days gone by, some of the home-style charm of the meetings is
disappearing this year. The organizers, hoping high interest and anti-Bush
sentiment spur a record turnout that shows Iowa deserves its place at the
head of the presidential election line, have moved most of the gatherings
out of parlors into public buildings that can hold more people. Fewer than
75 will be held in private residences." (1, 2)
-By Carl Hulse -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "Iran
officials ready to quit in election row." ... "About
12 top Iranian government officials are ready to quit if powerful hardliners
do not overturn a decision barring hundreds of reformists from running
in parliamentary elections, reformist MPs say." ... "The MPs, who declined
to be identified, told Reuters on Tuesday the list of those prepared to
resign included four of Iran's six vice-presidents and six ministers."
... "Blocked at almost every turn by hardliners, liberal MPs and Khatami
have made repeated threats to resign in recent years." ... "But the threats
have so far not been carried out, devaluing their impact." -By
Parisa Hafezi and Paul Hughes -Reuters
via -Reuters.co.uk
-
- "Treasury
seeks probe into papers taken by O'Neill." ... "The
Treasury Department has asked for a probe into former Treasury secretary
Paul O'Neill's possible misuse of documents that may have been classified,
a department spokesman said Monday. But O'Neill said Tuesday, "The truth
is, I didn't take any documents at all."" ... "At least one of the documents
was shown Sunday during an interview on CBS' 60 Minutes in which
O'Neill described his disillusioning experience in the Bush administration.
O'Neill served as Treasury secretary for two years before he was forced
to resign in December 2002. His perspective is laid out in a new book,
The
Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House and the Education of
Paul O'Neill." -By Peronet Despeignes
-USATODAY
- "Iran
reformists' protest continues." ... "Dozens of Iranian
legislators are reported to have resumed their protest in parliament over
a hard-line commission's disqualification of moderate election candidates."
... "The head of parliament's national security and foreign policy commission,
Mohsen Mirdamadi -- who was rejected by the council -- described the rejections
"a civilian coup d'etat," IRNA said." ... ""They have barred certain individuals
in every electoral constituency in order to clear the way for their favorite
candidates," he said. "By doing so, they have practically specified the
make-up of the seventh parliament from now, and this is not an election,
but a selection."" -CNN
-
- "Top
Shiite Cleric Hardens Call for Early Iraqi Vote:
Sistani Reiterates Opposition to U.S. Plan." ... "The cleric, Grand Ayatollah
Ali Sistani, rebuffed delegates from the U.S.-appointed Governing Council
who visited the holy city of Najaf in an effort to convince him that regional
caucuses should choose a new assembly. The assembly would in turn choose
a transitional government. The U.S.-backed plan would culminate in a new
ratified constitution and a new elected government by the end of 2005."
... "Sistani insisted, as he has since November, on direct elections this
year that would give the country's majority Shiite population a chance
to flex its electoral muscle." -By Daniel Williams
-WashingtonPost
- ELECTION
2004 - "It's
going down to the wire in Iowa." ... "The caucuses
in Iowa, unlike in most states, represent a real exercise in retail politics.
A push in big population centers in some states can produce the primary-election
votes a candidate needs. In Iowa, however, party activists will gather
for hours at neighborhood schools or friends' homes to make their preferences
known." ... "Thus, several candidates have visited all 99 Iowa counties
while seeking to organize support in the state's nearly 2,000 precincts.
The approach awards candidates with the best ability to mobilize and organize
local support." -By Brian Knowlton
-IHT.com
- "Liberal candidates
are barred in Iran: Khatami vows to fight 'senseless'
ruling." ... "Dozens of reformist lawmakers held a sit-in protest at the
Parliament building Sunday after a watchdog group barred thousands of liberal
candidates — including more than 80 members of the current Parliament —
from running in parliamentary elections next month." ... "The Guardian
Council disqualified nearly half of 8,200 candidates who had registered
to run for 290 seats in the elections on Feb. 20." ... "The supreme religious
leader [Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei] appoints six members of the Guardian
Council and six other members are appointed by the judiciary. The head
of the judiciary is also appointed by Khamenei. The council is responsible
for vetting electoral candidates and approving laws to make sure they are
compatible with Islamic law and the constitution." -By
Nazila Fathi -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
-
-
- "Bush
began Iraq plan pre-9/11, O'Neill says." ... "President
Bush and his senior aides began plotting the invasion of Iraq just days
after he took office in January 2001 and not, as the administration has
indicated, after terrorists struck against the United States eight months
later, according to former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, who was forced
from his post in December 2002." ... "In an interview scheduled to air
tonight on CBS News' "60 Minutes," O'Neill derided what he considered the
administration's intent from the start to remove Saddam Hussein by force."
... ""From the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein
was a bad person and that he needed to go," O'Neill told the news program,
according to excerpts released yesterday. "For me, the notion of preemption,
that the US has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do, is
a really huge leap."" -By Bryan Bender-Boston/Globe
- ELECTION
2004 - Des-Moines
- QC
- Davenport
- "Des
Moines Register Endorses Edwards." ... "Iowa's largest
newspaper endorsed North Carolina Sen. John Edwards for the Democratic
presidential nomination while three other Iowa newspapers went for Massachusetts
Sen. John Kerry in weekend editions[.]" ... "The Des Moines Register backed
Edwards and called him a cut above several well-qualified candidates despite
the fact that he doesn't have as much experience as other Democrats." ...
"The Quad-City Times in Davenport, the Iowa City Press-Citizen and the
Hawk Eye in Burlington endorsed Kerry, saying his foreign policy experience
makes him the best candidate to face President Bush in the fall election."
-Contributions by David Tirrell-Wysocki, Kate McDann,
and Nedra Pickler -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
- ELECTION
2004 - "Iowa
Sen. Tom Harkin Endorses Dean." ... "Iowa Sen. Tom
Harkin endorsed Howard Dean for president, calling him ``the best person
to beat George W. Bush'' and giving a key boost to the embattled front-runner
10 days before the state's kick-off caucuses." ... "Dean is ``the Harry
Truman of our time. Howard Dean is really the kind of plain-spoken Democrat
we need,'' Harkin said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday,
hours before his official announcement." ... "Harkin represents the state's
most durable Democratic politician, a four-term senator whose organization
can prove a vital asset on caucus night Jan. 19." -By
Mike Glover with contributions by Ron Fournier, David Pitt in Iowa, and
Nedra Pickler -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
- 2004
ELECTION - "Caucus-night
vote-swapping could tilt Iowa." ... "For the first
time in decades, a quirk in the Iowa nominating contest on Jan. 19 --vote-swapping
on caucus night -- could determine the outcome of the Democratic presidential
contest here, according to advisers for several campaigns who are mapping
strategies to swing stray votes in the final hours." ... "With candidates
required to win at least 15 percent of the voters in each precinct to survive,
strategists assume a number of candidates will fall short -- freeing their
caucus voters to support other campaigns." ... "Several campaigns are developing
ways to swing support in some of the 1,990 precincts on caucus night --
to benefit their own candidate or to hurt someone else." -By
Anne E. Kornblut -Boston/Globe
-
- 2004
ELECTION - "Texas
Redistricting Opponents Appeal Map." ... "Opponents
of a Republican congressional redistricting plan asked the U.S. Supreme
Court on Friday to stop Texas from using the map for the 2004 elections
pending an appeal to the high court." -By Kelley Shannon
-AP via-AJC
- 2004
ELECTION - "Tape
Shows Dean Maligning Iowa Caucuses." ... "Four years
ago, Howard Dean denounced the Iowa caucuses as "dominated by special interests,"
saying on a Canadian television show that they "don't represent the centrist
tendencies of the American people, they represent the extremes."" ... "Videotapes
of the show were broadcast on the NBC Nightly News on Thursday, less than
two weeks before the Jan. 19 caucuses, the first contest of the Democratic
nominating race. The tapes show Dr. Dean arguing that the lengthy caucus
process in which neighbors gather to debate their preferences is inconvenient
for ordinary people." (1, 2)
-By Jodi Wilgoren and Rachel L. Swarns -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "Hong
Kong Postpones Timetable For Reforms: Beijing's Request
for Talks Forced Delay, Officials Say." ... "Hong Kong's chief executive,
Tung Chee-hwa, indefinitely postponed plans Wednesday to set a timetable
for democratic reform, breaking a promise made after huge street demonstrations
last summer. Senior aides blamed the delay on a last-minute request from
Chinese leaders for consultations on "matters of principle and legislative
process."" ... "By requesting the delay and asking for talks just before
preliminary discussions about political reform were to be scheduled in
Hong Kong, China's Communist leaders signaled a new willingness to intervene
openly and directly in the affairs of the former British colony, which
was promised a high degree of autonomy after its handover to Chinese rule
in 1997." -By Philip P. Pan
-WashingtonPost
-
- "IMF
Researchers: US Budget Gaps Endanger Global Economy."
... "Economists at the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday expressed
alarm at growing U.S. budget deficits, saying continued deficits could
hurt the global economy by roiling currency markets and driving up interest
rates." ... "In a report on U.S. budget outlook, IMF researchers described
the state of government finances as "perilous" in the long run and urged
Congress and the White House to take steps to quickly rein in the deficits.
Although federal tax cuts and spending increases since 2001 bolstered the
global economy in the short run, the report said "large U.S. fiscal deficits
also pose significant risks for the rest of the world."" -By
Joseph Rebello -WSJ.com
-DJ via -Quicken.com
-
-
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Many
see Bush immigration proposals as non-starter." ...
"President Bush dived into a heated political debate on Wednesday by proposing
to create a class of legal "guest workers" in the United States, but analysts
said it was doubtful the blueprint could gain congressional approval in
this election year." ... "In a carefully balanced speech, Bush proposed
giving some of the estimated 8 million to 14 million illegal immigrants
in the country a way to gain three-year temporary work permits, but offered
them no clear path to becoming U.S. citizens." ... "The proposal seemed
calculated to win Bush Hispanic support ahead of the November presidential
election while pleasing employers looking for workers to fill mainly manual,
agricultural or low paid service jobs." -By Alan Elsner
-Reuters via -Forbes
-
- "Judges
Uphold GOP-Drawn Texas Districts: Judges Uphold Congressional
Map Pushed Through Texas Legislature After Democratic Walkouts." ... "A
three-judge federal panel Tuesday upheld a new congressional map for Texas
that the Republicans pushed through the Legislature after months of turmoil
and two walkouts by the Democrats." ... "The decision followed a December
trial in which Democrats and minority groups argued that the new map tramples
the rights of Hispanic and black voters." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- Des-Moines
- ELECTION
2004 - "The
NPR Debate: Democrats Face Off in Radio Broadcast in Iowa."
... "Two weeks before the key Iowa caucuses, the Democratic presidential
candidates face off in the only radio debate of the election season. The
debate, sponsored by NPR and the WOI Radio Group, is being broadcast from
2 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET from Des Moines, Iowa, and features six of the nine
Democratic presidential candidates. NPR's
Neal Conan will host the event, which will include questions e-mailed
by NPR listeners." ... "The debate comes two weeks before the Jan. 19 Iowa
caucuses, the first-in-the-nation test of the Democratic nominating contest."
... "Sitting out today's debate are retired Gen. Wesley Clark, North Carolina
Sen. John Edwards and New York City activist the Rev. Al Sharpton."-NPR/News
- "The Debate's First Hour: Part
One, Part
Two,
Part
Three."
-
-
- "India,
Pakistan hope to improve relations further." ...
"The leaders of nuclear-armed India and Pakistan will try to build on recent
moves to improve ties after meeting on Monday, India's foreign minister
said, but there was no word on whether they had made concrete progress."
... "India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf held their first meeting in over two years on Monday on
the sidelines of a regional summit in Islamabad, boosting hopes for peace."-Reuters
via -AlertNet.org
ELECTION
2004 - "The
front-runner as lightning rod: Howard Dean's lead
going in to the primaries draws unusual party rancor." ... "As the 2004
primary season officially begins, Democrats are facing one of the most
unusual - and divisive - contests in decades, with insurgent front-runner
Howard Dean sharply polarizing his party even as he appears positioned
to capture its nomination." -By Liz Marlantes -CSMonitor
-
-
- "Further
thaw for India, Pakistan: The prime ministers of
the two nuclear powers met Sunday, a first since the nations averted war
in 2001." ... "As the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) opened its summit in the Pakistani capital Islamabad under a dense
umbrella of security, the leaders of India and Pakistan made their first
cautious moves in more than two years to shake hands and brush off piles
of accumulated mistrust." ... "Hopes have risen after Indian Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart, Mir Zafarullah Jamali,
met Sunday for the first time. In an unexpected breakthrough, diplomatic
sources have said that Mr. Vajpayee is scheduled to meet with Pakistani
leader Pervez Musharraf Monday." -By Owais Tohid
-CSMonitor
- "Poll
landslide for Saakashvili in Georgia." ... "Georgians
flocked to the polls on Sunday to vote in Mikheil Saakashvili, the 36-year-old
leader of November's "rose revolution", as president. Exit polls indicated
Mr Saakashvili gained 85.8 per cent of the vote, with 12.8 per cent voting
"against all" candidates." ... "About 1.6m Georgians turned up to cast
their ballots in the snap election which confirmed a change of power brought
about by mass protests in November. Since Mr Saakashvili faced little opposition
in the poll, all eyes yesterday were on the turnout figure, which far surpassed
the 50 per cent necessary for the election to be valid." -By
Tom Warner -FT.com
- "Deal
reached on Afghanistan constitution: Breakthrough
paves the way for free elections." ... "Afghanistan's constitutional convention
agreed on a historic new charter on Sunday, overcoming weeks of division
and mistrust to hammer out a compromise meant to bind together the war-ravaged
nation's mosaic of ethnic groups." ... "Just a day after warning that the
meeting, or loya jirga, was heading toward a humiliating failure, chairman
Sibghatullah Mujaddedi announced that last-ditch diplomacy had secured
a deal." -AP
via -MSNBC
-
- "Koizumi
makes controversial visit to war shrine." ... "Junichiro
Koizumi, Japan's prime minister, on Thursday visited a shrine that venerates
the country's war-dead, including several war criminals, in a move that
is likely to trigger protests from Japan's neighbours." ... "The [Yasukuni]
shrine honours the 2.5m Japanese who have died in war since the 1850s.
But for some it is a symbol of Japan's military expansion and brutal colonisation
of its Asian neighbours because of the 14 convicted war criminals buried
on the site." -By Bayan Rahman
-FT.com
ELECTION
2004 - "FEC
to divide $15.4 million among six presidential candidates."
... "The government will give six presidential candidates $15.4 million
combined in federal matching funds on Friday, less than half of the amount
it divided among presidential candidates during the same period in 2000."
... "The Federal Election Commission certified the first checks on Wednesday
for those participating in the presidential public financing system in
2004. The FEC's first checks in 2000 totaled $34 million for eight candidates.
In 1996, the amount was $37.4 million for 10 hopefuls."
-AP via -DallasNews.com
- ELECTION
2004 - "Democrats:
Caucus poll reports risk inaccuracy: Iowa Democratic
Party officials warn entrance polls could result in 'a firestorm of confusion.'"
... "The Iowa Democratic Party says the nation's largest news organizations
run the risk of offering a skewed picture of the Democratic presidential
candidates' performance by reporting entrance polls on caucus night." ...
"Officials of the polling firm hired by the big five national news networks
and the Associated Press defended their survey's validity and said it will
supplement the party's official results with information about who participates
Jan. 19." -By Thomas Beaumont
-DesMoinesRegister/News
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