Cheney On Secrecy: ‘If You Don’t Want Your Memos To Get You In Trouble, Don’t Write Any’
Cheney On Secrecy: ‘If You Don’t Want Your Memos To Get You In Trouble, Don’t Write Any’
On Friday, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke in Grand Rapids, MI to pay tribute to his former boss, President Gerald Ford, telling the audience that he learned “early on” how to evade oversight:
This Museum, and the Ford Library in Ann Arbor, mean a great deal to me — not just personally but from the standpoint of history, because I was chief of staff in the Ford White House.
I’m told researchers like to come and dig through my files, to see if anything interesting turns up. I want to wish them luck — (laughter) — but the files are pretty thin. I learned early on that if you don’t want your memos to get you in trouble some day, just don’t write any.
Watch it:
Cheney was referring to attempts to gather information using the Presidential Records Act (PRA), passed in 1978 after Watergate “to underscore the fact that presidential records belong to the American people, not to the president.” His admission on Friday reflects the great lengths he has gone to under President Bush to avoid record-keeping and deflect oversight:
Cheney lawyer told Secret Service not to keep visitor logs: A lawyer for Vice President Dick Cheney told the Secret Service in September 2006 “to eliminate data on who visited Cheney at his official residence.”
Exempted himself from executive order protecting classified information: Since 2003, Cheney’s office has failed to provide data on its classification and declassification activities as required by Executive Order 12958, which President Bush has endorsed. “Cheney’s office provided the information in 2001 and 2002, then stopped.”
Attempted to dodge Information Security Oversight Office: In 2004, Cheney’s office specifically intervened to block an on-site inspection by the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), which is a requirement of an executive order from the President.
Sidestepped travel disclosure rules. Cheney and “his staff have been unilaterally exempting themselves from long-standing travel disclosure rules followed by the rest of the executive branch, including the Office of the President,” reported the Center for Public Integrity in 2005.
Ditching the rule of law is no joking matter, despite what Cheney would like to think.
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Second warmest August ever.
Second warmest August ever.
The National Climatic Data Center, a division of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, reports that last month was the second warmest August on record. Moreover, at the end of August, drought affected approximately 83% of the Southeast and 46% of the contiguous US. Climate Progress breaks down the key facts.
Chemerinsky re-hired by UC-Irvine.
Chemerinsky re-hired by UC-Irvine.
Last week, controversy erupted when the University of California at Irvine fired the inaugural Dean of its new law school, constitutional scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, because his “political views would make him a target for criticism from conservatives.” This morning, Chemerinsky and UC Irvine Chancellor Michael V. Drake announced that they had reached an agreement enabling Chemerinsky to return to his previous position.
McCain Falsely Claims Jones Report Doesn’t Say Political Reconciliation Is ‘Key’ To Progress In Iraq
McCain Falsely Claims Jones Report Doesn’t Say Political Reconciliation Is ‘Key’ To Progress In Iraq
Yesterday on NBC’s Meet the Press, host Tim Russert asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) about Maj. Gen. James Jones’s report to Congress, which concluded that the U.S. presence in Iraq currently is conveying the impression of being an “occupying force.” It also questioned the administration’s approach of trying to achieve security before political progress:
RUSSERT: [Gen. Jones] said the current administration’s thinking is that you cannot have political reconciliation without first having security. He says it’s the opposite, that you cannot have security…
McCAIN: He doesn’t say it’s the opposite.
RUSSERT: …unless you have political reconciliation.
McCAIN: Tim, I’ve known Jim Jones for 30 years. It’s not what he’s saying. What he’s saying is we have to have now political progress; and he, like all of us, are very frustrated by the lack of political progress, that the Maliki government has not done the things we want them to do.
Watch it:
McCain may have a long relationship with Jones, but apparently he didn’t bother to read Jones’s report, which found:
Political reconciliation is the key to ending sectarian violence in Iraq. … [T]he single most important event that could immediately and favorably affect Iraq’s direction and security is political reconciliation focused on ending sectarian violence and hatred. Sustained progress within the Iraqi Security Forces depends on such a political agreement.
Additionally, on last week’s edition of Meet the Press, Jones stated that while “both” security and political gains are important, “reconciliation” is “more critical” and “absolutely the key to measurable and rapid progress.”
The White House and its right-wing allies have recently attempted to dismiss attempts to evaluate progress based on political benchmarks. Last week, outgoing White House Press Secretary Tony Snow claimed that they were “something that Congress wanted to use as a metric.” Actually, as The New York Times noted, it was “the White House and the Iraqi government, not Congress, that first proposed the benchmarks for Iraq that are now producing failing grades.”
Transcript: More »
Viguerie angered over Mukasey nomination.
Viguerie angered over Mukasey nomination.
Richard Viguerie, a right-wing political operative, expresses his great disappointment with Bush’s nomination of Michael Mukasey to head the DoJ. “The fact that President Bush caved in shows even more political weakness considering his willingness to claim and flaunt executive powers of questionable constitutional authority in other circumstances,” he writes. “This nomination is an invitation to liberal Democrats to run rough-shod over the remainder of Bush’s politically weakened presidency. Bush is now the lamest of lame ducks.”
UPDATE: More anger, this time from Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel:
Whenever Senator Schumer from New York not only recommends this individual as an attorney general, but also, a few years ago, put forth his name as a possible person to go on the United States Supreme Court, that ought to automatically give everyone pause.
Right Wing ‘Deflated,’ Concerned Over Bush’s Attorney General Nominee
Right Wing ‘Deflated,’ Concerned Over Bush’s Attorney General Nominee
Earlier today, President Bush officially nominated retired federal judge Michael Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales as the nation’s Attorney General. Fearing an outcry on the right, the Bush administration first leaked word of Mukasey’s nomination to necon ally Bill Kristol, who cautioned conservatives to “hold their fire” and “support the president.”
Though most are “holding their fire,” some prominent voices in the conservative movement are vocally expressing skepticism about Bush’s choice:
- “Michael B. Mukasey: The Second Coming of Harriet Miers?,” said a headline on the Jawa Report today.
- “It also isn’t obvious that he has the management or political skills to run an institution as big and unwieldy as DoJ – the same shortcoming that arguably led to Judge Gonzales’ difficulties,” a conservative lawyer told the National Review’s Kathryn Jean Lopez.
- Kathy at HangRightPolitics wrote “I feel somewhat deflated over the choice. Why is it that every time I see the word consensus used by a liberal I read ’surrender?’”
- “I am not prepared to delude myself into believing that Mukasey was the best choice,” wrote the Corner’s Mark Levin today.
- A right-wing Catholic group, Fidelis, “voiced serious concerns” about Mukasey, citing his “1994 denial of asylum for a Chinese man who said his wife had been forced to have an abortion under that country’s one-child law, which they say indicates he’s weak on pro-life issues.”
- The AP reports that “some legal conservatives and Republicans have expressed reservations about Mukasey’s legal record and past endorsements and said some groups have been drafting a strategy to oppose him.”
The extreme right appears concerned that Mukasey may not be as willing to tow the Bush administration line as Alberto Gonzales or perhaps Ted Olson. Given the the urgent need to repair a disheveled Department of Justice in the wake of Gonzales’ departure, Mukasey is a sound pick that should engender bipartisan support.
Progressives, however, should press hard to demand that Mukasey practice true independence at the Justice Department. During his confirmation hearing, his opinions on torture, wiretapping, and the role of politics at the DoJ should all be put under serious scrutiny. A central question must be would he have said “NO” where Alberto Gonzales said yes?
Vicente Fox: Bush is the ‘cockiest guy I have ever met.’
Vicente Fox: Bush is the ‘cockiest guy I have ever met.’
In his new book out Oct. 4, former Mexican President Vicente Fox calls President Bush “the cockiest guy I have ever met in my life.” He also rates Bush’s Spanish skills as “grade-school” level and writes, “I can’t honestly say that I had ever seen George W. Bush getting to the White House.”
El Baradei Fights Off Drumbeat For Iran War, Warns Pre-War Iraq Failures Are Being Repeated
El Baradei Fights Off Drumbeat For Iran War, Warns Pre-War Iraq Failures Are Being Repeated
By all accounts, there is an increasing clamor in recent weeks from the right-wing for military action against Iran. U.S. News writes that calls for “stronger actions are intensifying, including among some U.S. officials.” Last week, Fox News reported that German officials were giving up on new sanctions against Iran, helping push the U.S. closer to a decision on a military strike.
Even French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner is now warning the world to prepare for a war against Iran, arguing that an atomic weapon in that country’s hands would represent “a real danger for the whole world.” The leading voice of restraint thus far has been Mohamed El Baradei, the head of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
Today, Baradei chastised Kouchner, saying “I would not talk about any use of force” except as a last resort. Recall, Baradei was one of the largely-ignored voices in the lead-up to the Iraq war. He warned there was “no evidence of ongoing prohibited nuclear or nuclear-related activities in Iraq.” He was later smeared by the administration, but ultimately vindicated as the recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize for getting it right.
Now, Baradei is sounding the alarms about an impending Iran war based on false intelligence. Here are some statements he has made in recent days that have been largely ignored in the U.S. media:
“I have made it very clear that I don’t see today a clear and present danger in regard to the Iran nuclear programme. [Link]”
“We haven’t received any smoking gun,” ElBaradei said. … ElBaradei said the talk of bombing made him “shudder” because the rhetoric was reminiscent of the period before the Iraq war. [Link]
“Based on the evidence we have, we do not see … a clear and present danger that requires that you go beyond diplomacy.” … [H]e called for an end to the pounding of the “war drums from those who are basically saying ‘the solution is bomb Iran.’” [Link]
To compound matters for Baradei, he is again having to fight off false intelligence reports. The BBC reports that the IAEA is calling a congressional report on Iran’s nuclear activity “erroneous” and “misleading” for asserting Iran was further ahead in its development that it really is. “There are rules on how to use force, and I would hope that everybody would have gotten the lesson after the Iraq situation, where 70,000 innocent civilians have lost their lives on the suspicion that a country has nuclear weapons,” he said.
If Baradei is able to stave off U.S. attempts to make the sale for war against Iran on nuclear grounds, the administration appears ready to claim that Iran’s cross-border activity in Iraq may justify military action. The Guardian reports, “The growing US focus on confronting Iran in a proxy war inside Iraq risks triggering a direct conflict in the next few months.”
UPDATE: On Friday, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) sent a letter to President Bush on Iran telling him that the 9/11 Authorization for Use of Military Force does not cover any military actions against Iran. Dodd called on Bush to appoint a special envoy to Iran to invigorate US diplomacy.
Chuck Norris’s ‘facts’ on Iraq: ‘Morale is up — way up!’
Chuck Norris’s ‘facts’ on Iraq: ‘Morale is up — way up!’
Chuck Norris, “six-time world professional karate champion, movie and TV star,” is visiting troops in Iraq. WorldNetDaily reports:
Norris’ pastor, Todd DuBord, who is part of the traveling team that arrived last week, says Norris so far has seen more than 10,000 soldiers, “shaking hands with nearly every one!”
Norris said in an e-mail from Iraq two things have become very apparent as he has traveled from base to base: The “surge is working” and “morale is up — way up!” [...]
“It is so much safer and more relaxed, particularly in the Al Anbar province,” Norris said. “It is so much better than often conveyed by the liberal media.”
In a previous WorldNetDaily column, Chuck Norris wrote that evolution is “not real.”
Colbert: Fighting global warming means ‘the earth wins.’
Colbert: Fighting global warming means ‘the earth wins.’
At last night’s Emmy Awards, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert debated whether or not celebrity awards shows should be cancelled in order to help combat climate change:
STEWART: Perhaps even the very act of gathering tonight for an awards show, no matter how green, is wasteful. Maybe we shouldn’t even have award shows.
COLBERT: WHAT? Jon. If entertainers stop publicly congratulating each other, then the earth wins.
STEWART: You’re right, you’re right. You’re absolutely right. We can’t give in to that bastard. But what if winners were notified by e-mail or phone? And we didn’t have to —
COLBERT: Like common MacArthur Genius Grant winners, or Nobel Prize winners? No, no, not on my watch, Jon.
Field’s censored comments not technically ‘profane.’
Field’s censored comments not technically ‘profane.’
Last night, Sally Field began an anti-war acceptance speech at the Emmy Awards, stating, “If mothers ruled the world, there would be no –” But Fox then cut off her sound and pointed the camera away from the stage, silencing the rest of her sentence: “god-damned wars in the first place.” Tom O’Neil of the LA Times writes that technically, there was nothing profane about her comments:
Technically, Field’s censored words are not profane. A 2004 FCC ruling specifically stated no objection to the use of “god damn” on TV when making a judgment on the uproar over Bono swearing at the Golden Globes in 2003 where he used more colorful language.
See the FCC ruling HERE.
UPDATE: The Washington Post’s Tom Shales notes, “If Fox censored Field for political reason, it would be an ugly first in the history of the Emmys.”
ThinkFast: September 17, 2007
ThinkFast: September 17, 2007
The Iraqi Interior Ministry is pulling the license of Blackwater USA, an American security firm, after the company was “allegedly involved in the fatal shooting of civilians during an attack on a U.S. State Department motorcade.” “We have canceled the license of Blackwater and prevented them from working all over Iraqi territory,” Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell “heads to Capitol Hill this week” seeking to extend the government’s surveillance authority. “McConnell is scheduled to appear before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday.”
While Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) predicts that a federal ban on job discrimination against GLBT workers “will win House approval in coming weeks,” he and other gay rights supporters are “less optimistic” about the Senate, “where they would need 60 votes” to overcome stall tactics from conservatives, such as a filibuster.
In a “bluntly worded” cable, Ambassador Ryan Crocker “said the admission of Iraqi refugees to the United States remains bogged down by ‘major bottlenecks’ resulting from security reviews.” “About 2 million Iraqis are displaced inside Iraq, and an estimated 2.2 million more have fled” to neighboring nations.
Joel A. Scanlon has been named director of strategic initiatives, taking over the ‘think tank’ within the White House long led by the departed Peter H. Wehner.” Scanlon “is a former research assistant to syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer.” More »
Fox censors Sally Field’s anti-war speech at Emmy’s.
Fox censors Sally Field’s anti-war speech at Emmy’s.
At tonight’s Emmy Awards show, the audience cheered Sally Field’s acceptance speech, which recognized the mothers of U.S. troops. “Surely this [award] belongs to all the mothers of the world,” she stated. “May they be seen, may their work be valued and raised. Especially to the mothers who stand with an open heart and wait. Wait for their children to come home from danger, from harm’s way, and from war. I am proud to be one of those women.”
Field then continued, “If mothers ruled the world, there would be no –” But the Fox Emmycast cut off her sound and pointed the camera away from the stage, silencing the rest of her sentence: “god-damned wars in the first place.” Watch it:
Al Gore wins Emmy for Current TV.
Al Gore wins Emmy for Current TV.
Tonight, Al Gore won an Emmy for Current TV, his global television network that allows viewers to “create and influence what airs on TV.” The audience gave Gore a long standing ovation as he and his Current TV partner, Joel Hyatt, walked onstage to receive the award for “interactive television services.” From Gore’s thank you speech:
[W]e are trying to open up the television medium so that viewers can help to make television and join the conversation of democracy and reclaim American democracy by talking about the choices we have to make
Watch it:
In February, Gore’s film on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, won an Oscar for Best Documentary.
Transcript: More »
Lantos agrees with Greenspan: Iraq war was largely about oil.
Lantos agrees with Greenspan: Iraq war was largely about oil.
In his new book, The Age of Turbulence, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan asserts, “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows. The Iraq war is largely about oil.” Today on CNN’s Late Edition, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-CA) said he agreed with Greenspan “to a large extent,” adding, “I think it is very remarkable that it took Alan Greenspan all these many years and being out of office for stating the obvious.” Watch it:
UPDATE: Defense Secretary Robert Gates rejected Greenspan’s claim. “I wasn’t here for the decision-making process that initiated it, that started the war,” Gates said. But he added, “I know the same allegation was made about the Gulf War in 1991, and I just don’t believe it’s true.”
Transcript: More »
Bush meets with ‘friendly circle’ of military bloggers.
Bush meets with ‘friendly circle’ of military bloggers.
On Friday, President Bush “sat down for a round-table interview” with military bloggers and talked about the war in Iraq. As the Washington Post notes, the blogs at the meeting were “generally pro-Bush and pro-military, and the ensuing reports were highly sympathetic to the president”:
Matthew Burden, a former Army officer who blogs under the name Blackfive, raved about how Bush slapped his hand and called him “brutha.”
“The President was very intelligent, razor sharp, warm, focused, emotional (especially about his dad), and genuine,” Blackfive wrote. “Even more so than this cynical Chicago Boy expected. I was overwhelmed by the sincerity — it wasn’t staged.” [...]
When it was all over, the bloggers seemed wowed. “All in all, it was an amazing day for Military.com and one I’ll never forget,” Carroll wrote. “In fact, I’d rank the event a close second to the time I sat in with Cheap Trick. It was that good.”
Gates Raises Possibility Of Deploying More National Guard And Reserve Forces To Iraq
Gates Raises Possibility Of Deploying More National Guard And Reserve Forces To Iraq
Today on ABC’s This Week, host George Stephanopoulos challenged President Bush’s assertion that the troop drawdown is because of “success” in Iraq. He asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates, “Wasn’t the drawdown a matter of military necessity?”
Gates insisted that the military was not broken, noting the large size of the armed forces: “After all, we’ve got 2.1 million men and women in the United States armed forces. If the circumstances required it, other choices could have been made.”
Stephanopoulos continued to push Gates, asking, “So if General Petraeus comes back in March and says we’re making some progress, but we can’t continue to draw down right now, where would the troops come from?” Gates tried to back away from answering a “hypothetical,” but eventually conceded that they would potentially have to deploy more National Guard and Reserve forces. Watch it:
The United States may have “2.1 million men and women” in the armed forces, but 1.6 million of them have already served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Approximately 525,000 troops have served more than once. Additionally, all “38 of the Army’s available combat units are deployed, have or are just returning or are already scheduled to deploy to Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere – leaving the U.S. without any available combat-ready units.”
Despite Gates’s claims, several current and former Bush administration officials have publicly warned for several months that current troop levels could not be sustained past the summer:
Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace: Pace “is expected to advise President Bush to reduce the U.S. force in Iraq next year by almost half” and “is likely to convey concerns by the Joint Chiefs that keeping well in excess of 100,000 troops in Iraq through 2008 will severely strain the military.” [8/24/07]
Army Chief of Staff George Casey: “Right now we have in place deployment and mobilization policies that allow us to meet the current demands. If the demands don’t go down over time, it will become increasingly difficult for us to provide the trained and ready forces.” [8/20/07]
Commanding General Odierno: “We know that the surge of forces will come at least through April at the latest, April of ‘08, and then we’ll have to start to reduce…we know that they will start to reduce in April of ‘08 at the latest.” [8/26/07]
Army Secretary Peter Geren:“[T]he service’s top official, recently said he sees ‘no possibility’ of extending the duty tours of US troops beyond 15 months.” [8/30/07]
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell: “[T]hey probably can’t keep this up at this level past the middle of next year, I would guess. This is a tremendous burden on our troops.” [7/18/07]
Gates’s suggestion that the National Guard and Reserve could be further called upon is also unrealistic. The nation’s governors have confirmed that the Iraq war is straining their states’ abilities to respond to national emergencies. According to a recent report by a congressional commission, nearly “90 percent of Army National Guard units in the United States are rated ‘not ready,” largely “as a result of shortfalls in billions of dollars’ worth of equipment.”
Transcript: More »
Gates: I Would Recommend That The President Veto Giving Troops More Time At Home
Gates: I Would Recommend That The President Veto Giving Troops More Time At Home
The Washington Post reported this morning that one of the “best opportunities” for war critics “to change policy” in Iraq is an amendment by Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), which would “mandate that home leaves for troops last as long as their deployments.” The measure failed in July to break a Republican filibuster, “but it appears to be gaining momentum in the Senate.”
On Fox News Sunday this morning, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said he would recommend that the President veto the bill should it pass. “Yes, I would,” said Gates when asked by host Chris Wallace, calling it a “well-intentioned idea” that would “pose greater risk to our troops”:
GATES: I think that it’s a well-intentioned idea. I think it’s really, pretty much, a back door effort to get the President to accelerate the drawdown, so that it’s an automatic kind of thing rather than based on the conditions in Iraq, with all the consequences that I talked about earlier. I think, if as I believe, the President would never approve such a bill. It would mean, if it were enacted, we would have force management problems that would be extremely difficult and in fact create, I think affect combat effectiveness, and perhaps pose greater risk to our troops.
Watch it:
Later in the show, Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), whose son is set to deploy to Iraq in 2008, responded to Gates, arguing that the Webb measure is necessary because the “long-term consequence” of “these kind of deployments is absolutely disastrous for the United States of America and for the United States military.”
“If you don’t figure out how to get these folks some time home, you are gonna break, break this military,” said Biden. He also said that Gates’ concerns were overblown because “we can do what we need to do in Iraq with significantly fewer troops”:
BIDEN: What are the consequences of continuing to do what we’re doing with essentially the way in which we’re deploying these troops? As the military said we’re breaking, we’re breaking the United States military. Flat breaking it. And what we’re doing is we’re going to end up in a situation where you don’t have people signing up. you’re gonna end up having to go to draft. This long-term consequence, keeping these kind of deployments is absolutely disastrous for the United States of America and for the United States military. It’s not a good thing the other way either. You choose two very bad alternatives. One very bad and one okay. If you don’t figure out how to get these folks some time home, you are gonna break, break this military. That’s what this is about. and we can do what we need to do in Iraq with significantly fewer troops. That is my contention and the contention of a whole lot of other people outside this administration.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army Chief of Staff, and other leading generals agree with Biden that the military has been stretched to a breaking point. The Webb amendment is a crucial first step towards guaranteeing it doesn’t actually break.
Arctic ice drops to record low levels.
Arctic ice drops to record low levels.
AP reports:
Arctic ice has shrunk to the lowest level on record, new satellite images show, raising the possibility that the Northwest Passage that eluded famous explorers will become an open shipping lane.
The European Space Agency said nearly 200 satellite photos this month taken together showed an ice-free passage along northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland, and ice retreating to its lowest level since such images were first taken in 1978. [...]
A U.N. panel on climate change has predicted that polar regions could be virtually free of ice by the summer of 2070 because of rising temperatures and sea ice decline, ESA noted.
(HT: Garance)
Albright: Bush ‘must think we’re all idiots.’
Albright: Bush ‘must think we’re all idiots.’
Yesterday in Iowa, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that Iraq will “go down in history as the greatest disaster in American foreign policy. That means that I am acknowledging it is worse than Vietnam.” She added, “I don’t think I have ever seen the world in such a mess.”
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