The faulty 2005 NIE that said Iran was racing to develop nuclear weapons was “written by some of the same team that had produced key parts of the flawed Iraq estimate.” The “starkly different view of Iran’s nuclear program that emerged from U.S. spy agencies this week” drew lessons from the “intelligence debacle over supposed Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.”
“Confidential Arkansas state government records, including letters from these women, obtained by the Huffington Post,” reveal that, as governor, Mike Huckabee pushed for the release of convicted rapist Wayne Dumond despite being warned that the convict would strike again. After being released, Dumond raped and murdered Carol Sue Shields.
The “ex-chief of staff to former Republican Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania was charged Tuesday with allegedly using his wife” to accept $19,000 in kickbacks to “help a consulting firm get federal funding.”
A new campaign ad from Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) claims that immigrants coming into the United States are “pushing drugs, raping kids, and destroying lives.” He adds that these “tactics of vicious Central American gangs” are coming into the United States because of “gutless politicians.”
Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker “have agreed on the details governing the operations of Blackwater and other private security contractors” in Iraq. Though the agreement improves oversight of the contractors, it does not address “the legal framework to prosecute any State Department contractors who violate the law.”
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said President Bush’s claim of not having previously learned of the NIE’s findings is “unbelievable.” “I refuse to believe that,” he added. “If that’s true, he has the most incompetent staff in modern American history, and he’s one of the most incompetent presidents in modern American history.”
President Bush has announced he will make the first visit to Israel of his presidency in January. Some Israeli leaders have expressed doubts about the new NIE, arguing that it is incorrect and will hurt diplomatic efforts against Iran.
“Black Americans are 10 times more likely to be imprisoned for illegal drug offenses than whites, even though both groups use and sell drugs at the same rate, according to a study released” by the Justice Policy Institute on Tuesday.
The Iraqi government yesterday “urged some refugees not to go back to their homes yet, saying the country was unprepared to accommodate their return.” “The reality is that we cannot handle a huge influx of people,” said Abdul Samad al-Sultan, the minister of displacement and migration.
And finally: Missing from Monday’s “black-tie White House holiday ball for all three branches of government” was Vice President Cheney, who skipped the gala for “his favorite pastime: hunting.” Supreme Court Justice and former Cheney hunting partner Antonin Scalia did attend the party, and reportedly “regaled some partygoers with stories of his hunting exploits.”
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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