Bush’s golf story ‘doesn’t hold water.’
In an interview with Politico’s Mike Allen, President Bush claimed he gave up golf after UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello was killed in Iraq. “I remember when de Mello, who was at the U.N., got killed in Baghdad…I was playing golf — I think I was in central Texas — and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, it’s just not worth it anymore to do,” Bush said. De Mello was killed on Aug. 19, 2003. The Washington Post’s Dan Froomkin reports today: “Bush’s story doesn’t hold water“:
[T]he Associated Press reported on Oct. 13, 2003, that he’d spent a “cool, breezy Columbus Day” playing “a round of golf with three long-time buddies.
“Bush played at Andrews Air Force Base with Clay Johnson, Office of Management and Budget deputy director, Richard Hauser, Department of Housing and Urban Development general counsel and another friend, Mike Wood.”
On that outing, he was typically full of what passes for good humor at the White House. The AP reported: “‘Fine looking crew you got there. Fine looking crew,’ Bush joked to reporters. ‘That’s what we’d hope for presidential coverage. Only the best.’
“He hit a couple of practice balls before flaring his tee-off shot into the right rough.”
ACLU obtains new Defense Department docs on prison deaths in Iraq.
ACLU obtains new Defense Department docs on prison deaths in Iraq.
Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the ACLU “has obtained previously withheld documents” from the Defense Department that “shed light on the deaths of detainees in Iraq.” One of the documents is a list of “at least four prisoner deaths” that were investigated by the Navy, including one detainee at Abu Ghraib who died after “his head was beaten with a stove”:
The NCIS document contains new information about the deaths of some of these prisoners, including details about Farhad Mohamed, who had contusions under his eyes and the bottom of his chin, a swollen nose, cuts and large bumps on his forehead when he died in Mosul in 2004. The document also includes details about Naem Sadoon Hatab, a 52-year-old Iraqi man who was strangled to death at the Whitehorse detainment facility in Nasiriyah in June 2003; the shooting death of Hemdan El Gashame in Nasiriyah in March 2003; and the death of Manadel Jamadi during an interrogation after his head was beaten with a stove at Abu Ghraib in November 2003.
The documents obtained by the ACLU are here.
Larry Craig surfaces in contentious Senate GI Bill debate.
Huffington Post reports that Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) “quietly created presidential campaign ripples on Tuesday” when he “announced that he would offer an amendment to the forthcoming Iraq war supplemental that would strip the legislation of Sen. Jim Webb’s [D-VA] GI Bill.” Earlier today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also played politics with veterans’ benefits using the GI Bill as a “parliamentary gimmick” to kill first responder legislation.
Bush’s ‘Buddies’ Miss Out On E-Mails From Their ‘Pal’ George Because He Fears ‘Record Requests’
Bush’s ‘Buddies’ Miss Out On E-Mails From Their ‘Pal’ George Because He Fears ‘Record Requests’
Yesterday during an interview with Politico’s Mike Allen, President Bush said that the one thing he looks forward to after leaving the White House is getting back to the old days of e-mailing his “buddies” and his “pals”:
ALLEN: Mr. President, the one thing we don’t see in here is a computer, and we know that you went cold turkey off email for security reasons. What are you looking forward to when you finally get your computer back?
BUSH: Emailing to my buddies. I can remember as governor I stayed in touch with all kinds of people around the country, firing off emails at all times of the day to stay in touch with my pals. […] I want to stay in touch with them and there’s no better way to communicate with them than through email.
While Allen noted that Bush “went cold turkey off email for security reasons,” don’t be fooled. Bush isn’t trying to protect himself from hackers or terrorists. As Bush noted in an October 2006 interview with CNBC, he is afraid of “record requests,” or “in other words,” as Bush often says, he doesn’t want anyone trying to find out what he’s up to:
BUSH: I tend not to email or — not only tend not to email, I don’t email, because of the different record requests that can happen to a president. […] So, in other words, I’m very cautious about emailing.
Indeed, the entire Bush administration has been “cautious about emailing.” As a result, the National Security Archive and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington are suing the administration for allegedly violating the Presidential Records Act for failing to archive official e-mails. In fact, the administration just revealed that it failed to archive e-mails sent during the launch of the Iraq war.
It’s too bad all of Bush’s unethical and perhaps illegal activity have prevented his “buddies” from hearing from him over the last seven years.
Cindy McCain sells off $2 million in Sudan investments.
In an April 24, 2007 speech on energy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticized China for opposing sanctions in Darfur, saying that the reason it refused to do so was because “China needs Sudan’s oil.” Now, in a moment of irony, the AP reports that McCain’s wife, Cindy, just “sold off more than $2 million in mutual funds” whose holdings include companies that do business in Sudan’s oil industry:
According to McCain’s personal financial disclosure, Cindy McCain’s investments include two mutual funds — American Funds Europacific Growth fund and American Funds Capital World Growth and Income fund — that are listed by the Sudan Divestment Task Force as targets for divestment.
“Those have been sold as of today,” said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers.
Both funds have holdings in Oil & Natural Gas Corp., an India-based company that does business in Sudan. The American Funds Capital World Growth & Income Fund also has holdings in Petrochina, a Chinese government-owned oil company with vast investments in Sudan.
Despite the fact that her vast wealth has been used to benefit her husband’s campaign, Ms. McCain said recently that she will never release her tax returns, even if she becomes First Lady.
Congress to Rove: ‘No justification’ for refusing to testify on Siegelman case.
Congress to Rove: ‘No justification’ for refusing to testify on Siegelman case.
Today, House Judiciary Committee leaders sent a letter to Karl Rove’s laywer, Robert Luskin, rejecting Rove’s offer to answer questions on his involvement in the Don Siegelman prosecution and other issues in writing. They wrote that, considering Rove’s willingness to speak to the media on the subject, “we can see no justification for his refusal to speak on the record to the Committee”:
As our previous letters have made clear, the Siegelman case is a principal reason for our invitation to Mr. Rove. But as we have also explained, that issue cannot be separated from the broader concerns about politicization within the Department and the U.S. Attorney firings , and Mr. Rove has made on-the-record comments to the media about all these interrelated matters. […]
Since you indicate Mr. Rove is now willing to submit written answers to questions, which by definition would be recorded in a manner similar to a transcript, we do not understand why he would not submit to providing transcribed answers to live questions, as he has done in media interviews.
In April, Luskin had indicated that Rove would testify if Congress subpoenaed him. By the end of the month, Luskin backed away from the pledge, claiming he had been taken out of context.
Boehner’s ‘New’ GOP Strategy: Same Policies, ‘Refurbished’ Message
Boehner’s ‘New’ GOP Strategy: Same Policies, ‘Refurbished’ Message
Last week, an ABC News poll found that 82 percent of the public thinks the country is on the “wrong track.” Conservative candidates have lost three special congressional races in recent weeks, some in conservative districts. The Republican response? Better messaging.
The Washington Times reports today that House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said that “his party does not need to change its core principles,” but instead will bank on a “refurbished” message. “It’s a change election,” Boehner admitted, and according to him, only the Republican “brand” needs changing:
“It’s not that the party’s going to change, it’s what we talk about and how we talk about it,” he said. “You look at the Republican brand name being where it is, let’s be frank about it. Iraq has been very unpopular, right? It’s associated with Republicans. The president’s job approval is somewhere down around 30. Those are the two big issues that hurt the brand.“
In order to “counter the Democratic push for change,” GOP leaders adopted “The Change You Deserve” for their new slogan. Boehner tried out his new slogan on Fox News today. Watch it:
But “the change you deserve” is also the advertising slogan of Effexor XR, a drug used to treat depression. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said today, “‘Change you deserve’ is of course a trademark of a an antidepressant. It does have side effects…it can make you sick. 82% of Americans have indicated that they are sick and tired of the policies that have been pursued by the Bush/Boehner Administration and they want a change.”
While the brand is hurting, conservative policies are causing even more pain. As Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) explained, conservative policies have resulted in “$3 trillion in new debt, millions more Americans without health insurance, energy and gas prices skyrocketing and incomes stagnant.” Only 30 percent of the public supports the Iraq war, an all time low, and economic anxiety is at its “highest level on record since 1981.”
Administration: Polar bear ‘threatened’ by global warming, but Arctic drilling can continue.
Administration: Polar bear ‘threatened’ by global warming, but Arctic drilling can continue.
After years of delay, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne finally declared the polar bear a “threatened species,” under the Endangered Species Act, due to global warming. Yet at the same time, Kempthorne also decreed that drilling in the Arctic can still continue:
This rule, effective immediately, will ensure the protection of the bear while allowing us to continue to develop our natural resources in the arctic region in an environmentally sound way.
Kempthorne’s decision calls into question the legality of a Feb. 6 sale of oil and gas drilling right in polar bear habitat, when the ESA decision was being illegally delayed. Go to the Wonk Room for in-depth analysis.
GOP Uses GI Bill As A ‘Political Gimmick’ On Senate Floor To Thwart Passage Of First Responder Legislation
GOP Uses GI Bill As A ‘Political Gimmick’ On Senate Floor To Thwart Passage Of First Responder Legislation
Today, the Senate debated the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2007 (H.R. 980), a bill strengthening the collective bargaining powers of firefighters, police officers, and first responders.
At noon, the Senate quickly “devolved into a procedural mess” when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) attempted to attach Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) watered-down GI Bill — which is strongly backed by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) — as an amendment. McConnell also immediately seconded his measure, but then filed cloture, “prohibiting Democrats from filing their own version of the proposal.”
This amendment is a poison pill. It not only kills the Public Safety bill, but also blocks Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) more generous GI Bill from being considered. In one swift maneuver, conservatives trampled over first responders and veterans. In a fiery speech, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) responded on the floor:
We have seen this parliamentary gimmick that has taken place offered by the Republican leadership that is a slap in the face to every firefighter and police officer and first responder in the country. […]
We’re saying to the firefighters of this nation and to the police officers of this nation and the first responders of the nation: Your interest, the safety and security of our communities across the nation, should be put aside in favor of some political gimmick by the Republican leader here in the United States Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) angrily reacted to the GOP maneuver by issuing a quorum call and denying Sen. Judd Gregg’s (R-NH) right to speak three times. Watch it:
This morning, Politico reported that McCain and his allies were “reaching out” to Webb “in the hope of finding a compromise on a GI Bill.” It seems, however, that McCain became desperate to avoid a “potential embarrassment” and resorted to this political stunt. Unlike McCain’s bill, Webb’s has strong bipartisan support and the backing of a majority of the American public.
Why not focus on the GI bill after the first responders bill is over? Kennedy asked. “Do it Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. Maybe Sen. McCain will come back for it,” he said. “Maybe he won’t.”
McCain was not in the Senate today and questions remain whether he approved this strategy. “Maybe the leadership on the other side can tell us whether Sen. McCain approved this strategy,” added Kennedy. “Maybe you can find that out. I think the police and firefighters would like to know.”
Washington University refuses to back down on Schlafly award.
Washington University refuses to back down on Schlafly award.
Today, Washington University chancellor Mark Wrighton finally responded to the intense criticism the school has been receiving over its decision to award anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly an honorary degree. In a letter to the “Washington University Community,” Wrighton wrote:
Following the public announcement of the honorary degrees, many in the University community have called for the University to rescind that offer, stating that Mrs. Schlafly is associated with some views, opinions and statements that are inconsistent with the tolerant and inclusive values of the Washington University community. Personally, I do not endorse her views or opinions, and in many instances, I strongly disagree with them.
However, after further consultation with members of the University’s Board of Trustees, the University has concluded that it will fulfill its commitment to award the degree to Mrs. Schlafly. I apologize for the anguish this decision has caused to many members of our community.
Read the full letter below: Read the rest of this entry »
Lieberman Says Bombing Iran ‘Has An Appeal To It’
On right-winger Bill Bennett’s radio show this morning, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) expressed his openess to bombing Iran, saying that there is “an appeal to it.” Discussing the West Virginia primary results, Bennett praised what he claimed was Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) transformation into his “style” of politician, which he said is someone who “throws down a shot of liquor and bombs Iran.”
Lieberman whole-heartedly endorsed the “appeal” of the hawkish caricature Bennett had created:
BENNETT: Listen, I give her credit. She has found her…three things. She’s found her voice. He is very much in the background now, it’s not this, you know, ventriloquial thing, it’s definitely her voice.
LIEBERMAN: That’s true.
BENNETT: And Joe, you know, this is my style. This is a girl who puts on her pearls, goes down, throws down a shot of liquor and bombs Iran, you know. This is…lookout Mrs. Bennett, this is my kind of girl.
LIEBERMAN: Hehehe, it does have an appeal to it.
Listen to it:
Neither Lieberman nor Bennett is shy about his willingness to militarily strike Iran.
Almost a year ago, Lieberman declared on Face The Nation that “we have to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians.” Earlier this week, he called airstrikes against Iran “a distinct possibility.”
In April, after Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker testified before Congress, Bennett told the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol that the “conclusion” he drew was that their testimony was “less an argument for getting out of Iraq than going into Iran.”
McConnell’s Farm Bill Priority: Tax Breaks For Thoroughbred Race Horse Owners
McConnell’s Farm Bill Priority: Tax Breaks For Thoroughbred Race Horse Owners
This week, Congress is expected to take up a $300 billion farm bill, which President Bush has vowed to veto. The AP reports that the bill “contains something for everyone” — including the following important project tucked within the massive bill:
A tax break for horse owners was included by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Politico’s Crypt explains:
The measure would essentially allow race horse owners — who pay millions for Triple Crown contenders — to write down their investment over four years. … Senate aides say it will cost between $60 million and $70 million.
McConnell’s measure is a shameless ploy for votes in Kentucky. His spokesman claimed, “it’s the largest agricultural product in Kentucky.” But the tax break would most likely apply only to the very wealthy; after all, the average cost of training and racing one racehorse is $30,000 per year — which does not include purchase price of the horse, anywhere from $12,000 to millions.
The millionaire-only earmark is just McConnell’s latest attempt to have it both ways on pork barrel spending. After securing nearly $195 million in earmarks for FY2008, he voted in favor of a one-year earmark moratorium in March. Yet his “eleventh hour” decision earned him criticism that he was “playing both sides by not lobbying for the measure, which ensured that it failed, while voting for the amendment in order to insulate himself from attacks on the right.”
Allen: Bush’s ’spring in his step’ implies ‘he must not read the papers or watch TV much.’
Allen: Bush’s ’spring in his step’ implies ‘he must not read the papers or watch TV much.’
In an interview with a local ABC affiliate, Politico’s Mike Allen discussed his interview with President Bush yesterday, in which Bush said he has given up golf because of the Iraq war. Describing Bush’s “upbeat” mood about his presidency, Allen said it makes him realize that Bush “must not read the papers or watch TV much”:
ALLEN: The president’s physically aged in the last seven years, but he still seems to have a spring in his step. He says he still enjoys the job. Makes me realize that he must not read the papers or watch TV much. He says he only watches sports.
Watch it:
The “spring” in Bush’s “step” might be a little less pronounced if he read in the news that his job disapproval rating is the worst of any president in history.
Schlafly brushes off protestors: ‘They are a bunch of bitter women.’
Schlafly brushes off protestors: ‘They are a bunch of bitter women.’
Since Washington University in St. Louis announced it would honor anti-feminist activist Phyllis Schlafly with an honorary degree at Friday’s commencement, protest has been swift. Yesterday, 14 law school faculty members wrote to the university chancellor asking that he rescind the degree; a similar petition has 240 faculty signatures. Schlafly, however, is unrepetant, yesterday calling the protestors “a bunch of bitter women“:
“They are a bunch of bitter women,” she said of her detractors. “It was 25 years ago that we buried the Equal Rights Amendment and they are still whining about it.”
Her suggestion to them?
“Get a life. Move on. Try to do something with your life.” […]
“If they make a scene, they just make themselves look ridiculous,” Schlafly said. “It doesn’t bother me. I’m not going to let a bunch of tacky women ruin my day.”
Write a (polite) e-mail to Washington University Chancellor Mark Wrighton here to object to the Schlafly award.
T-shirts for sale in Georgia compare Obama to ‘Curious George.’
T-shirts for sale in Georgia compare Obama to ‘Curious George.’
Mike Norman, a bar owner in Marietta, GA, who is peddling t-shirts that feature “a look-a-like of cartoon chimp Curious George peeling a banana, with ‘Obama in ‘08′ underneath” claims that the shirts are “not meant to offend,” despite his acknowledgment of “the imagery’s Jim Crow roots“:
Norman acknowledged the imagery’s Jim Crow roots but said he sees nothing wrong with depicting a prominent African-American as a monkey.
“We’re not living in the (19)40’s,” he said. “Look at him…the hairline, the ears — he looks just like Curious George.”
Radar notes that Norman could have been inspired by listening to Rush Limbaugh, who apologized on-air earlier this year after laughing at a caller’s suggestion that Obama “looks like Curious George.”
ThinkFast: May 14, 2008
By an eight-point margin, Democrat Travis Childers won a GOP-held House seat in northern Mississippi yesterday, “leaving the once-dominant House Republicans reeling from their third special-election defeat of the spring.” The seat had been held by Republicans since 1995; in 2004, Bush won the district with 62 percent of the vote.
In an interview yesterday, President Bush said he wasn’t “misled” into invading Iraq. “You know, ‘mislead’ is a strong word; it almost connotes some kind of intentional — I don’t think so. … Intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was,” Bush said. “Do I think somebody lied to me? No, I don’t.”
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is now reaching out to Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) “in the hope of finding a compromise on a GI Bill that would eliminate a potential embarrassment for the Arizona Republican’s presidential campaign.” Yesterday, there were also “discussions” between Webb and McCain ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), along with “a staff meeting that lasted more than an hour.”
On Tuesday, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers predicted that “her constitutional clash with Congress over executive privilege” may not be settled until after Bush leaves office. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it extended beyond this administration,” said Miers, who was cited for contempt by Congress after refusing to testify about her role in the U.S. attorney scandal.
President Bush said that when he leaves the White House, the first thing he’ll do is resume e-mailing his buddies. “I can remember as governor, I could stay in touch with all kinds of people around the country firing off e-mails at all times of the day to stay in touch with my pals,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Pentagon said O’Reilly, Malkin had ‘thoughtful’ views on Guantanamo.
Pentagon said O’Reilly, Malkin had ‘thoughtful’ views on Guantanamo.
Last month, the Pentagon released a document collection on its military analyst propaganda program. In a July 2006 e-mail between Public Affairs official Jeffrey Gordon and other Pentagon officials, Gordon attached several articles on detention policy by right-wing talkers, including Bill O’Reilly and Michelle Malkin, that he said were “thoughtful.” In a later e-mail, Gordon said officials could use the articles “with military analysts as appropriate” (p. 5808). His initial e-mail lauded the right-wing voices (p. 5808):
From: Gordon, Jeffrey D LCDR OSD PA
To: Ruff, Eric, SES, OSD; Bryan Mr OSD PA; Keck, Gary L Col OSD PA; [Redacted] AFIS-HQ/PIA
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 6:38 PM
Subject: RE: articles on detaineesGentlemen,
As requested, attached document contains four thoughtful articles/columns about Guantanamo, from Charles Krauthammer, Bill O’Reilly and Michelle Malkin. I have a call out to OGC and DoJ to provide some inputs as well. I Envision that I will have more material tomorrow a.m.
What were the “thoughtful” remarks of Malkin and O’Reilly on detention policy? In the Malkin column, she said that a “far greater threat” than Guantanamo to America is the “unseriousness and hypocrisy of the terrorist-abetting left.” O’Reilly said there were only “minor cases of abuse” there. In fact, when news broke of suicides at the prison, Malkin’s reaction was “boo-freaking hoo.”
U.S.-Backed Head Of Iraqi Anti-Corruption Agency Now A ‘Destitute’ Undocumented Immigrant In U.S.
U.S.-Backed Head Of Iraqi Anti-Corruption Agency Now A ‘Destitute’ Undocumented Immigrant In U.S.
After the 2003 Iraq invasion, Coalition Provisional Authority chief Paul Bremer created a major anti-corruption ministry in Iraq, the Public Integrity Commission (CPI). Last October, former CPI commissioner Judge Radhi al-Radhi, who was appointed by Bremer and whose work has been praised by top U.S. officials, told Congress about the “rampant” corruption in Iraqi ministries that had cost Iraq as much as $18 billion.
Radhi’s gripping account detailed how Prime Minister Maliki tried to subvert his commission and how nearly four dozen of his staff members were killed. Subsequently, he was forced to seek asylum in the United States.
But today, Radhi is living as an undocumented immigrant in Virginia. In a Democratic Policy Committee hearing yesterday, former State Department official James Mattil told Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) that Radhi has no “official status” in the U.S. Currently, only a group of Quakers and Arthur Brennan, the former head of the department’s Office of Accountability and Transparency, are funding Radhi, he said:
DORGAN: And where is Judge al-Radhi at the moment?
MATTIL: Living in an apartment in Springfield, maybe for the rest of the month if they can get it worked out that somebody is going to pay for it. But he’s not allowed to work. He has no official status, so he’s not — he’s undocumented — I don’t know what he is. I mean, he’s lost. He’s a person without a country.
Watch it:
The State Department turned against Radhi, according to Mattil and Brennan. They “said a senior State Department official had ordered agency employees not to give al Radhi references or contact him” about the asylum. Radhi is “destitute” in his current situation, they noted.
An infuriated Dorgan slammed the administration’s neglect of an ally whose work it didn’t like. “This is about betrayal,” Dorgan declared. “[O]ur government turned against him. Our State Department and our embassy pulled the rug out from under him. … [W]e’re going to ask the State Department what in the hell are they thinking.”
The American asylum program for Iraqis who have aided U.S. forces in Iraq has “fallen far short of demand,” as the Washington Post noted in January. Even Iraq’s top anti-corruption official, who has “praised the U.S. invasion of Iraq,” is subject to complete abandonment.
Bush gives up golfing because of Iraq war.
Bush gives up golfing because of Iraq war.
In a new interview with the Politico today, President Bush says that he has given up golf because of the Iraq war, to show “solidarity” with U.S. troops and their families. He added that “playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal”:
Q Mr. President, you haven’t been golfing in recent years. Is that related to Iraq?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, it really is. I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander-in-Chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be as — to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.
Evidently, Bush learned his lesson since this incident after 9/11. Watch it:
McCain Adviser Misleadingly Cites CBO Report, Says Webb’s GI Bill ‘Does Nothing To Address Reenlistment’
McCain Adviser Misleadingly Cites CBO Report, Says Webb’s GI Bill ‘Does Nothing To Address Reenlistment’
On Fox News’s America’s Election HQ yesterday, Nancy Pfotenhauer, a senior policy adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), disingenuously attacked Sen. Jim Webb’s “21st Century GI Bill,” in order to justify her boss’s opposition to the bill. Webb’s bill “does nothing to address reenlistment and retention,” charged Pfotenhauer.
Pfotenhauer cited a recent Congressional Budget Office report to support her specious claims:
Senator McCain has his own legislation, and by the way, he’s largely supportive of the goals of the Webb bill. The problem is, it doesn’t do enough — it doesn’t it quickly enough and it does nothing to address reenlistment and retention. In fact, CBO, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that if the Webb bill went through, we’d see a reduction in reenlistment rates of 16 percent.
Watch it:
But, as ThinkProgress has noted, the CBO report cited by Pfotenhauer actually shows that Webb’s bill would increase enlistment to such an extent that it would completely offset the loss in retention:
Literature on the effects of educational benefits on retention suggest that every $10,000 increase in educational benefits yields a reduction in retention of slightly more than 1 percentage point. CBO estimates that S. 22 (as modified) would more than double the present value of educational benefits for servicemembers at the first reenlistment point — from about $40,000 to over $90,000 — implying a 16 percent decline in the reenlistment rate, from about 42 percent to about 36 percent. […]
Educational benefits have been shown to raise the number of military recruits. Based on an analysis of the existing literature, CBO estimates that a 10 percent increase in educational benefits would result in an increase of about 1 percent in high-quality recruits. On that basis, CBO calculates that raising the educational benefits as proposed in S. 22 would result in a 16 percent increase in recruits.
Sen. John Warner (R-AZ), a co-sponsor of Webb’s bill who is also a veteran of World War II and Korea, has said that the flip side of the impact on retention is that “putting a big piece of cheese out there will induce more qualified people to join just to get this.”
The Army is need of new incentives like Webb’s bill in order to attract higher quality recruits. Thus far, in 2008, 13 percent of the Army’s recruits have been granted “conduct” waivers for misdemeanor or felony charges, which is up from 11 percent in 2007 and 4.6 percent in 2004.
Transcript: Read the rest of this entry »
McCain on whether he’s still comfortable with Hagee’s endorsement: ‘I’ve accepted his endorsement.’
McCain on whether he’s still comfortable with Hagee’s endorsement: ‘I’ve accepted his endorsement.’
Earlier today, controversial pastor John Hagee issued an apology to the Catholic church for inflammatory comments he made in the past. But as ThinkProgress noted, Hagee has yet to apologize to other groups he has denigrated, such as the LGBT community. Asked today if he was still comfortable with Hagee’s endorsement, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) deflected the question, saying he merely “accepted” Hagee’s support and doesn’t embrace everything he says:
Look, as I’ve said many times I’ve accepted his endorsement. I didn’t endorse everything that he said. The point is that the fact that he has made an apology I think is very helpful.
But McCain didn’t just “accept” Hagee’s endorsement; he actively sought it. In fact, he “personally wooed Hagee for more than a year.” Hagee recently told the New York Times Magazine that “it’s true that McCain’s campaign sought my endorsement.”
Moore making ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ sequel.
Variety reports that Michael Moore is making a sequel to “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which was a “scathing indictment of George W. Bush’s war on terrorism and a hit at the worldwide box office.” The new film will reportedly pick up where “Fahrenheit” left off: “In the time since, President Bush’s popularity has plummeted, while the Iraq war continues and the economy falters.”
Charges Dropped Against ‘Dangerous’ Detainee Who Was Tortured At Guantanamo
Charges Dropped Against ‘Dangerous’ Detainee Who Was Tortured At Guantanamo
The AP reports today that the Pentagon has “dropped charges” against Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002 who was alleged to have been the so-called “20th hijacker” on 9/11.
Known as Detainee 063, Qahtani was the subject of a 2002 meeting at Guantanamo that included former Bush lawyer Alberto Gonzales, Cheney’s lawyer David Addington, and former Rumsfeld lawyer Jim Haynes. The trio approved the interrogations at Guantanamo, with Donald Rumsfeld then authorizing the “First Special Interrogation Plan” specifically for Qahtani. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) noted that these methods included:
[F]orty-eight days of severe sleep deprivation and 20-hour interrogations, forced nudity, sexual humiliation, religious humiliation, physical force, prolonged stress positions and prolonged sensory overstimulation, and threats with military dogs. The aggressive techniques, standing alone and in combination, resulted in severe physical and mental pain and suffering.
“This is a very dangerous individual who has provided us with valuable intelligence,” claimed former White House press secretary Scott McClellan in 2005. But as Marcy Wheeler notes, the dismissal raises questions about the credibility of torture-based evidence.
Renowned international lawyer Philippe Sands, who has extensively studied Qahtani, talked to PBS’s Bill Moyers about the interrogations of Qahtani on Friday. “And the bottom line of it was, contrary to what the administration said, they got nothing out of him,” Sands explained. Watch it:
In 2006, Qahtani recanted a confession he said he made after he was tortured. In fact, “Qahtani never made a single statement that was not extracted through torture or the threat of torture,” CCR notes.
Records of the interrogations of Qahtani, however, were “mysteriously lost.” Cameras that “run 24 hours a day at the prison were set to automatically record over their contents,” the Guardian reported last month.