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July 14, 2005
Non-Rove Thread
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Link to ACLU“>Exposure of Rove’s lies throws Bush White House into crisis Interesting comments on WH Press untroubled by Miller, and Democratic positioning TO THE RIGHT OF REPUBS vis-a-vis expanding the Army and militarizing the WOT.
New York Times
Lawmakers Agree to Renew Patriot Act
Representative Jane Harman of California, the senior Democrat on the panel, said she, too, believed that the measure had proved its worth, but she argued that it needed refinements to guard against abuse.
“Our approach is, ‘mend it, don’t end it,’ ” Ms. Harman said.
Senators Who Averted Showdown Face New Test in Court Fight
“The last thing anybody in this group wants is to even have to decide whether to go to a filibuster, or have to decide whether they’re going to vote for the nuclear option,” said Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, who will be the host of Thursday’s breakfast. “We’re in the game of avoidance.”
Senate Democrats Call for Increase in Troops
WASHINGTON, July 13 – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and other Democrats proposed Wednesday to increase the size of the Army by 80,000 troops as a way to alleviate what she called a “crisis” in the military caused by lengthy deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
The lawmakers said they would introduce an amendment to the annual Defense Department authorization bill to raise the Army’s authorized strength by 20,000 troops annually in each of the next four years, raising the total force to 582,400. Joining Ms. Clinton at a news conference announcing the proposals were three other Democratic senators, Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and Ken Salazar of Colorado.
Now that the Republicrat pole of the Axis is seizing up the Demoplican end of the Axis will have to mount the drive wheel.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Jul 14 2005 12:21 utc | 4
From WRH. Seem to be a pretty piss-poor company.
FLASHBACK: ICTS International N.V. Reports Entering Into the Railroad Security Business ICTS International N.V. Reports Entering Into the Railroad Security Business
Posted Jul 14, 2005 07:44 AM PST
ICTS, the company that handled security at the 9-11 airports, moved into railroad security only 2 months ago, and landed a contract for the London tube.
Posted by: DM | Jul 14 2005 15:04 utc | 5
Meanwhile I notice that 52% of Americans now say that the Iraq war has not made us safer in the long run.
Remember when Saddam was captured and Howard Dean said, well, swell, but “The capture of Saddam has not made America safer”? Joseph Lieberman responded, “Howard Dean has climbed into his own spider hole of denial if he believes that the capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America safer.”
I’m waiting to hear Joe Lieberman accuse 52% of the US public of living in a spider hole of denial.
Posted by: ralphbon | Jul 14 2005 15:21 utc | 7
DM,
nice catch. and the link provides excellent advermation to:
Mr. Atzmon further stated that Mr. Graf’s knowledge and experience in the important area of rail security will also be used in connection with ICTS’s ongoing operations in other security fields.
For the past ten years Mr. Graf has headed the Israeli railways security division…
My bolding, of course.
Posted by: citizen | Jul 14 2005 15:42 utc | 8
Iraq not an “issue” for Barbara Boxer.
What about Ken Salazar? Vets deserve our support, goddamnit.
I’m stuggling here. It’s safe to say, so far, we have a “political class” and nothing more?
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 14 2005 16:03 utc | 9
ralphbon
maybe if public opposition climbs over 60% the democratic cockroaches will scuttle out into the light of publicity and declare opposition to WOT.
especially then, they deserve no support by any of us.
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 14 2005 16:06 utc | 10
That is to say, politicians defend class interests first, requiring a persistent aversion to morality and an embrace of quotidian ethics/pragmatism. If mass-murder advances these interests, and suburban mommy can keep the SUV, all’s well.
The war is foremost defense of capital accumulation, and even Ken Salazar can figure that one out.
We can simply exclude w/out exception, the democratic party as any kind of solution to WOT. Viewed in this way, Rove is a excellent distraction for democrats.
Ancien Régime: adieu
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 14 2005 16:17 utc | 11
Barney Franks A lot of Israel-is-cool stuff, but here he commits to reasonable opposition to the war, though via more cruel “containment” of Iraq.
Barney & Bernie in 2008!
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 14 2005 16:31 utc | 12
Now don’t go spreading them thar CCCCONSPIRACY THEORIES DM!
Let irrevelant nut cases like me do that:
Commissioner of London Transport is ex CIA!
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 14 2005 17:31 utc | 13
Uncle $cam
re building collapse in NY today
Chicago Trib had article saying that neighbors opposed the redevelopment, and then mentioned in the last line of the article the building was acquired by the Carlisle Group in April or May 2005.
The article has been edited and no longer mentions that, a matter of hours later.
I had a post written but never posted it because I am trying to resist the conspiracy theories today.
Posted by: correlator | Jul 14 2005 17:53 utc | 14
Make Your Own in a double pack:
Suspected leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq captured
U.S.-led coalition forces have captured two alleged leaders of the insurgent group al Qaeda in Iraq, including a man suspected in the death of an Egyptian envoy, an American military spokesman said Thursday.
Troops caught Khamis Farhan Khalaf abd al Fahdawi, also known as Abu Seba, on Saturday in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, after intelligence led them there.
Abu Seba reportedly is a senior lieutenant for` Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and is suspected in this month’s attacks on Bahraini and Pakistani diplomats and the killing of Ihab al-Sherif, who came to Iraq to be Egypt’s ambassador.
…
In addition, forces detained Abdulla Ibrahim Muhammed Hassan al Shadad, also known as Abu Abdul Aziz, on Sunday in Baghdad. He reportedly is the leader of al-Zarqawi’s operations in the Iraqi capital and a key officer for the insurgent group.
The U.S. spokesman said the arrests and recent raids yielded evidence and equipment implicating the men in al-Zarqawi’s leadership cell.
Todays Wall Street Journal Poll details (pdf).
Nation headed in the right direction? 34% yes, 52% no
Along the lines of Uncle $cam’s post, Guliani was in London, nearby in fact, when the bombs went off….
Reach for yr. blood pressure medication, and jaw wire before reading the following:
They might have been congratulated for their “green” efforts in an area of heavy air pollution.
Instead a group of French cleaning ladies who organised a car-sharing scheme to get to work are being taken to court by a coach company which accuses them of “an act of unfair and parasitical competition”.
The women, who live in Moselle and work five days a week at EU offices in Luxembourg, are being taken to court by Transports Schiocchet Excursions, which runs a service along the route. It wants the women to be fined and their cars confiscated.
Bus firm takes car sharers to court
Posted by: jj | Jul 14 2005 20:57 utc | 17
Guliani the Next Supreme Court justice?
wouldn’t surprize me in the least.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 14 2005 21:06 utc | 18
General contradicted his sworn testimony on Pentagon, Abu Ghraib
WASHINGTON – (KRT) – An Army general who has been criticized for his role in the treatment of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq has contradicted his sworn congressional testimony about contacts with senior Pentagon officials.
Gen. Geoffrey Miller told the Senate Armed Services Committee in May 2004 that he had only filed a report on a recent visit to Abu Ghraib, and did not talk to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld or his top aides about the fact-finding trip.
But in a recorded statement to attorneys three months later, Miller said he gave two of Rumsfeld’s most senior aides – then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary for Intelligence Steve Cambone – a briefing on his visit and his subsequent recommendations.
“Following our return in the fall, I gave an outbrief to both Dr. Wolfowitz and Secretary Cambone,” Miller said in the Aug. 21, 2004, statement to lawyers for guards accused of prisoner abuse, a transcript of which was obtained by the Chicago Tribune.
“I went over the report that we had developed and gave them a briefing on the intelligence activities, recommendations, and some recommendations on detention operations,” Miller added.
Specific interrogation techniques, he said, were not discussed.
Miller’s statement about the meeting, if true, suggests that officials at the very top of the Pentagon may have been more involved in monitoring activities at the prison than previously disclosed. Abu Ghraib was later at the center of a scandal surrounding prisoner abuse, which has led to punishments for soldiers.
Miller, Cambone and Wolfowitz, who is now acting director of the World Bank, each declined to respond to written questions about Miller’s contradictory statements. Rumsfeld, Cambone, Wolfowitz and Miller have denied knowledge of prisoner abuse….
Posted by: Nugget | Jul 15 2005 5:26 utc | 19
Robert Graves said that the indirect benefits of a classical education are much greater than the direct ones. He noted a teaching job he got at Cairo University, where one of the students he taught in his English Literature class was the young Nasser.
The pleasures of a classical education are similar. I loved Bill’s recent reference to George Bush as “Little Boots”, though I think the noun should have been singular.
In that spirit:
Q. What does a Scotsman whear under his kilt?
A. It depends.
JH
Posted by: John Hill | Jul 15 2005 23:44 utc | 20