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Politics

Webb: No permanent presence without Congress’s consent.

By Satyam Khanna on Dec 6, 2007 at 8:07 pm

Bush recently announced a new, “enduring” occupation of Iraq, to be implemented without Congress’ approval. Today, Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Robert Byrd (D-WV), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Carl Levin (D-MI) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) warned Bush against committing the U.S. to a long-term presence without congressional consent:

[W]e want to convey our strong concern regarding any commitments made by the United States with respect to American security assurances to Iraq to help deter and defend against foreign aggression or other violations of Iraq’s territorial integrity. Security assurances, once made, cannot be easily rolled back without incurring a great cost to America’s strategic credibility and imperiling the stability of our nation’s other alliances around the world. [...]

It is unacceptable for your Administration to unilaterally fashion a long-term relationship with Iraq without the full and comprehensive participation of Congress from the very start of such negotiations. [...]

We trust you agree that the proposed extension of long-term U.S. security commitments to a nation in a critical region of the world requires the full participation and consent of the Congress as a co-equal branch of our government.

Read the full letter to President Bush below: Read more

Politics

More than $1 billion in military equipment missing in Iraq.

By Amanda Terkel on Dec 6, 2007 at 7:01 pm

A new Government Accountability Office Pentagon Inspector General report details “massive failure in government procurement,” revealing that there is “more than $1 billion in unaccounted for military equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces.” According to the analysis, the military, for example, “could not account for 12,712 out of 13,508 weapons, including pistols, assault rifles, rocket propelled grenade launchers and machine guns.”

Politics

CIA destroyed tapes of ‘harsh interrogations.’

By Matt Corley on Dec 6, 2007 at 5:40 pm

In 2005, while “in the midst of congressional and legal scrutiny” over its secret detention program, the CIA “destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Al Qaeda operatives in the agency’s custody,” the agency admitted today. The videotapes, which contained footage of “severe interrogation techniques,” were “destroyed in part” out of concern that they could “could expose agency officials to greater risk of legal jeopardy.” The decision to destroy the tapes was made “within the C.I.A. itself.”

UPDATE: The AP reports that “House and Senate intelligence committee leaders were informed of the existence of the tapes and the CIA’s intention to destroy them.”

Yglesias

These Guys Should Really Acknowledge the Progress

By ThinkProgress on Dec 6, 2007 at 5:22 pm

Since the Clinton campaign seems to be succeeding in its strategy to refocus the debate onto domestic issues, the whole question of what the candidates are planning to do about Iraq seems to have faded increasingly into the background. Still, it continues to be my view that this talk of continuing an open-ended training mission in Iraq is a bad idea.

This isn’t doesn’t really get to the core of the problem with the training concept, but it’s amusing to know that when we take Iraqis out of the country for training they tend to not want to go back. Along those lines, it seems that the main reason refugees are going back to Iraq from Syria is that Syria’s kicking them out.

Media

Joe Klein Is Never Wrong. ‘Obviously.’

By ThinkProgress on Dec 6, 2007 at 5:05 pm

kleinnie.gifThis morning, Time columnist Joe Klein was interviewed on MSNBC and heaped praise on President Bush’s response to the Iran NIE. Klein told Joe Scarborough:

The Bush reaction to [the NIE] — he didn’t try to block it. He didn’t try to postpone it. He didn’t spend weeks, he didn’t ask the intelligence community ‘give me a couple of weeks, let’s see if we can figure out some kind of negotiating initiative or some way to respond to this.’ He didn’t try to spin it to our advantage. This is an amazing moment of candor by the United States.

ThinkProgress criticized Klein for his comment that Bush’s reaction to the NIE was “an amazing moment of candor by the United States.” In a post titled “Misinterpreted,” Klein responds to our criticism:

This is wrong. OBviously, I was referring to the NIE itself as a remarkable moment of candor for the United States. I thought that Bush’s reaction to it was, literally, incredible. As in, not to be believed–which was made completely clear in my cover story.

In just a few short hours, Klein has gone from saying Bush engaged in an “amazing moment of candor,” to saying Bush is “not to be believed.” We appreciate the conversion, but we don’t appreciate the disingenuousness of it.

We weren’t “wrong” or “misinterpreted.” TV pundit Joe Klein explicitly said that an “amazing moment of candor” occurred in the context of “the Bush reaction” to the NIE; he marveled that Bush “didn’t try to block it” and “didn’t try to spin it.” But Time magazine blogger Joe Klein says, “I thought that Bush’s reaction to it was, literally, incredible. As in, not to be believed.”

So what was it? Was Bush’s reaction part of America’s “moment of candor,” or was it “not to be believed”? The two Joe Kleins should interpret one another, sort it out, and get on the same page. And maybe one of the Joe Kleins should apologize to the other.

As Atrios stated, “Is it possible for Joe Klein to admit error at all? He could just say: I misspoke, which is easy to do on live radio or television.”

UPDATE: BarbinMD recalls Joe Klein’s classic response to his FISA distortions: “I have neither the time nor legal background to figure out who’s right.”

Media

Diversity

By ThinkProgress on Dec 6, 2007 at 4:28 pm

Oh that whacky, whacky Washington Post opinion section:

The famously liberal Washington Post op-ed page displays its commitment to ideological diversity today. The contributors, in full:

John Bolton, Robert Novak, George Will, Michael Gerson and Robert Samuelson.

For commentary of a different stripe, readers might want to turn here.

And of course it seems like only yesterday that they were upset that new, less alarmist intelligence on Iran might make the people who were right about Iran feel vindicated. Or something.

Politics

Bush gives out wrong mortgage hotline phone number.

By Matt Corley on Dec 6, 2007 at 4:20 pm

During his speech today announcing his plan “to ease the mortgage crisis for consumers, President Bush accidentally gave out the wrong number for his new “Hope Now Hotline” that worried homeowners are encouraged to call for assistance. CNN reports:

President Bush accidentally gave out the wrong phone number for the new “Hope Now Hotline” set up by his administration.

“And I have a message for every homeowner worried about rising mortgage payments: The best you can do for your family is to call 1-800-995-HOPE. That is 1-800-995-H-O-P-E,” he said.

Anyone who dialed 1-800-995-HOPE was greeted by just a busy signal.

Watch it:

[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2007/12/BushWrongNumber.320.240.flv]

The correct “Hope Now Hotline” number is 1-888-995-HOPE.

Politics

House passes energy bill.

By Ali Frick on Dec 6, 2007 at 4:06 pm

In a 235-181 vote, the House approved the Energy Independence and Security Act today.

energy-bill-vote.jpg

The bill would raise the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) level for cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, require utilities to generate 15 percent of their energy from renewable sources, and increase funding for biofuels like “cellulosic” ethanol. The White House has threatened to veto the bill.

Yglesias

Edwards on Lieberman-Warner

By ThinkProgress on Dec 6, 2007 at 3:32 pm

I’m not entirely sure what I think about the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill that made its way out of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee yesterday. John Edwards says:

Addressing global warming is one of the great moral tests of our generation, and it’s time for bold action and leadership to address this crisis that threatens the globe. While I’m glad to see that global warming legislation is finally moving in the Senate, unfortunately the Lieberman-Warner bill doesn’t go far enough to address the crisis of global warming. We cannot be limited in our approach by the armies of lobbyists from big oil companies and other special interests. This bill gives away pollution permits to industry for free – a massive corporate windfall – instead of doing what is right and selling them so that we can use these resources to invest in clean energy research, create a new economy of green jobs, and help regular families and business go green.

That’s all true, but still is it better to pass the half measure now than to do nothing? The fear is that if Lieberman-Warner becomes law, everyone kind of convinces themselves that we’ve done “something” and that since “something” needed to be done, we’re now done, and can all just kind of not pay attention as the climate degrades at a somewhat-slower rate. Another way of looking at it, though, is that even inadequate steps might strengthen the hand of the good guys. Lieberman-Warner would do something to help spur alternative energy sources, which could grow the power of the alternative energy lobby and thus spur further change.

And of course one also needs to take George W. Bush into consideration. My sense of this is that in some ways the best possible outcome would be for the bill to pass, and then for Bush to veto it. That would mean that “something” still needs to be done, but it would also set Lieberman-Warner as the minimum, thus making it obvious that a 2009 bill — most likely in a context of a Democratic administration and with more Democrats in congress — needs to be more ambitious.

Photo by Flickr user Chisvick used under a Creative Commons license

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