Gonzales: ‘I Haven’t Really Thought About’ Habeas Corpus

Durin today ’s House Judiciary Committee hearing, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was asked whether any U.S. citizens are “being held today, for over a month, who have been denied habeas corpus or access to an attorney.” Instead of giving an answer, Gonzales replied, “[Y]ou’re asking me a question I hadn’t really thought about.”

yeah, hahaha…it’s just all fun and games… /snark
This fuck needs a taste of his own medicine, however that needs to be. I’d personally like to slap the smirk off his face.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 11 2007 7:23 utc | 4

@b in 1:
OFAC is of course the same government agency that figures so prominently in the Chichakli case . Whatever one may think of that matter, we may rest assured that the right to travel to Cuba is not one of those “freedoms they hate us for”.
For those desiring to see some of OFAC’s more questionable
decisions, Chichakli’s site contains considerable documentation, in particular of how to
get yourself removed from OFAC’s sanctions list.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | May 11 2007 7:30 utc | 6

Pentagon restricting testimony in Congress

The Pentagon has placed unprecedented restrictions on who can testify before Congress, reserving the right to bar lower-ranking officers, enlisted soldiers, and career bureaucrats from appearing before oversight committees or having their remarks transcribed, according to Defense Department documents.
Robert L. Wilkie , a former Bush administration national security official who left the White House to become assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs last year, has outlined a half-dozen guidelines that prohibit most officers below the rank of colonel from appearing in hearings, restricting testimony to high-ranking officers and civilians appointed by President Bush.
…
The memo has fueled complaints that the Bush administration is trying to restrict access to information about the war in Iraq.
The special House oversight panel, according to aides, has written at least 10 letters to the Pentagon since February seeking information and has received only one official reply. Nor has the Pentagon fully complied with repeated requests for all the monthly assessments of Iraqi security forces, reports compiled by US military advisers embedded with Iraqi units.

One wonders why the Pentagon feels the need to apply such a policy.
Besides that it is simply unlegal. Congress can subpoena the people it wants to ask and definitly should do so anytime the Pentagon blocks voluntary testimony.

Posted by: b | May 11 2007 12:39 utc | 8

The US has Returned Fundamentalism to Afghanistan
Afghan MP speaks about the US-backed warlords currently in power
by MALALAI JOYA, May 2007
quote, excerpt:
Let me list few of the key power-holders of Afghanistan:
• Karim Khalili, the vice-president, is leader of a pro-Iran party called Wahdat, responsible for killing thousands of innocent people, and named by Human Rights Watch as a war criminal.
• Ismael Khan, another killer warlord and lackey of the Iranian regime is the minister of water and power.
• Izzatullah Wasifi, Afghanistan’s anti-corruption chief has been a convicted drug trafficker who has spent around 4 years in a Nevada state prison in the US.
• General Mohammed Daoud, Afghanistan’s deputy interior minister in charge of the anti-drug effort, is a former warlord and famous drug-trafficker.
• Rashid Dostum, the chief of staff of the Afghan army, is a heartless killer and warlord, named by Human Rights Watch as a war criminal.
• Qasim Fahim, former defense minister and now a Senator and adviser to Mr. Karzai is the most powerful warlord of the Northern Alliance, and accused of war crimes.
link

Posted by: Noirette | May 11 2007 16:24 utc | 10

U.S., Germans Fear Imminent Terror Attack

“There are 300 to 500 people who are suspected to be part of al Qaeda cells in Germany,” said Col. Andrew Pratt (Ret.) of the George Marshall Center in Germany.
“In a democratic state like Germany, you just can’t go out and arbitrarily arrest people because they are under suspicion,” Pratt said.

hmmmmm – that can be changed – Alberto, ALBERTO, FREDO …

Posted by: b | May 11 2007 17:55 utc | 12

the gods being especially cruel – after a hard day’s work – the first thing i see on french tv is the mush of cheney – where is the grim reaper when you need him – in the case of cheney he is being very tardy indeed
petraeus might go before him – reading pliny, cicero or herodotus high on one of his tanks
ah! to have christian civilisation defended by such fellows assures us we can sleep at night

Posted by: r’giap | May 11 2007 19:15 utc | 14

hahaha…, Dkos, and kossacks can’t handle the truth! Democratic Leaders want to stay in Iraq, its good for power and control…. Yet again, the so called opposition supporters show it’s willingness to believe in the failed system.
Coke or Pepsi! Both rot your teeth. And one will kill to keep it’s secrets.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 11 2007 22:16 utc | 16

I experienced a little dose of local paranoia this morning. I spent two hours locked in my office with seven students while well-armed cops searched our campus for a suspicious man who had been reported hiding something cylindrical under a tan trenchcoat. Rumors were flying–one newspaper reported someone carrying a gun (with a concealed weapons permit) had been arrested. We were getting little information on our campus website; but students in the lockdown were getting reports via cell phones.
They finally found the guy…in a yoga class. It still took them an hour to evacuate campus. Better safe than sorry, right? It was a hell of way to spend a Friday morning, vacillating between fear, boredom, frustration, worry. We had a keyboard, two guitars, and a bunch of percussion instruments in the office, so we dinked around and played some blues in between phone calls and suppositions about what was actually going on.
Lesson for the day: no matter how embarrassed you are that your girlfriend talked you into trying yoga, DO NOT conceal your yoga mat under a trench coat.

Posted by: catlady | May 11 2007 22:30 utc | 18

Didja hear it? “Barack, The Magic Negro”!!!
So long, Rush.

Posted by: Jake | May 11 2007 22:31 utc | 20

it is clear that even amongst us, friends & comrades & certainly allies here – that the nationality of the cadaver is more important than the fact of how it became a cadaver
You guys can’t let this rest can you?
The only people arguing for the joy of reading about people of a particular nationality being killed were the proprietor of this log, the rhetorician, and yourself r’giap. The only ones arguing for a particular nationality’s cadavers bringing more joy than others was the same gang.
The people opposed to war, opposed to killing, argue against the sick arguments you all took, hopefully insincerely, becasue of their “rhetorical” value.
But apparently my hopes are wasted on you r’giap. You do hate a particular nationality so much that you are heartened when you read of their deaths, as though that would make up for any of the horror and monstrosity of the war in Iraq.

Posted by: John Francis Lee | May 12 2007 0:14 utc | 22

I just read the link that slothrop provided at #15, thanks to rgiap’s mention. GOD DAMN MORTON KONDRACKE — he is advocating genocide of the Sunni’s, pure and simple to “win” — what the fuck is winning! I would say he has lost his soul but so many already have.
I posted a little while ago on http://marklevinfan.com as a pseudo right-winger, arguing for torture, to see if I would provoke a negative response to their back-slapping. They agreed with me. Once I started posting my true feelings, I was banned by the site moderator, by IP address. I have since posted under different IP’s but was quickly banned under those.
When will those in the Kondracke/Speer camp see their moral degradation?

Posted by: brewster_north | May 12 2007 1:11 utc | 24

Yes, rgiap, it is language, the dead of Haditha (and the dead child killed when Zarqawi was killed) are not mentioned, but the troops, the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers prior to the war in Lebanon, and of course the dead of 9/11 are repeatedly invoked as justification for the atrocities that we (Americans) commit.
The soldiers know all too well this moral degradation, and they likely either become one with it, reject it and say no, or else become pathologic. Arthur Silber has written well on this

Posted by: brewster_north | May 12 2007 1:31 utc | 26

& that is the trick of the journalist’s trade – to make something out of a nonentity’s life like mr zaqarwi – but to obliterate the very singular lives of the innocents, who are mysterious, engaging, interesting – humans burning with life until they have been transformed into burning humans
there are at least 1 million of those singular lives in iraq – all have names, histories, myths & legends as interesting as our own
i will not forget them
i think what may sepêrate me from other friends here is i do not see the perpetrator as victim – not at this stage, i cannot & i’d argue that even in classic jurisprudential terms – that is also technically the legal reality
i wish i could beleive in a future where the likes of a blair or a cheney would appear before the hague

Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 12 2007 1:55 utc | 28

on the virtual murdering of iraqis…the people who dig this, the people of the knucklehead blogs, are twenty- thirty-something professionals (lawyers, architects, engineers, bureaucrats). they’re mostly white males. they are smart but have little or no erudition/experience in the arts/humanities/philosophy. they are the dehumanized product of the corporatization of academia.

Posted by: slothrop | May 12 2007 3:08 utc | 30

We live in appalling times. Anyone who claims a “moral high ground” is a grifter, a con, a cheat. These guys’ only qualifications are to be used-car salesmen, but we’ve elected them to the highest office. We have to share the quilt; then do something about it.
There is a Jefferson Airplane song from about 1967 that carries the lines … “steal, cheat, lie, forge, fuck, hide and deal”.
The current situation didn’t begin with G Bush. We’ve been prepping up for a long time.

Posted by: Allen/Vancouver | May 12 2007 5:04 utc | 32

the only interesting testimony, imo, from thursday’s house committee on foreign affairs hearing, entitled Is There a Human Rights Double Standard? U.S. Policy Toward Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia, was the testimony from amnesty international’s advocacy director for africa, lynn fredriksson
U.S. Foreign Policy Saps Human Rights Improvements in Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea
on the latter nation’s government, grossly corrupt & an egregious human rights violator, she testifies that

Equatorial Guinea’s oil revenues enrich the President and his family when they should be used for poverty alleviation. While Equatorial Guinea has the second highest per capita income in the world, more than half its population is unable to access potable water. In 2004 a Senate investigation uncovered over $700 million of the country’s revenues in accounts at Riggs Bank. President Obiang himself is believed to have transferred over $16 million from state to personal bank accounts.
In April of last year the IMF reported that the Government of Equatorial Guinea still held offshore accounts for oil revenues worth $718 million, while the Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating U.S. oil companies’ potential involvement in Equatorial Guinean corruption under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Additionally, President Obiang’s son, the Minister for Forestry and Environment, sold a mansion in Los Angeles for $7.7 million in 2004, and the President himself owns mansions worth $2.6 million and $2.0 million in Maryland.
…
Equatorial Guinea is the third largest oil producing country and the fourth largest beneficiary of U.S. foreign direct investment (mainly in oil and gas) in Sub-Saharan Africa. Two-thirds of the 420,000 barrels of oil produced daily in EG are exported to the United States. The main oil companies present in the country are ExxonMobil, Marathon, and Amerada Hess, all U.S.-based corporations. Of particular concern, ExxonMobil and Marathon Oil signed new confidentiality clauses with Equatorial Guinea last summer.
…
Despite all of the above mentioned concerns, the U.S. Government has recently chosen to resume military assistance to Equatorial Guinea, and the President’s request for FY08 foreign operations appropriations includes $45,000 in International Military Education and Training (IMET) funding.

and on ethiopia, after listing several outstanding human rights violations by the meles regime, fredriksson comes pretty close to making an otherwise obvious conclusion.

The U.S. and other western powers have given the Government of Ethiopia fairly free rein to perpetrate serious human rights violations with no political or economic consequences. Ethiopia has developed close ties by way of relief and development assistance, military cooperation, and growing U.S.-led counter-terrorism operations in the region.
Not only is the Government of Ethiopia responsible for obstructing implementation of the Boundary Commission ruling, it has also recently intervened—with U.S. backing—to determine the outcome of a domestic conflict between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Council of Islamic Courts (formerly the Islamic Courts Union) in Somalia by carrying out a full scale military incursion. Equally disturbing from an international human rights perspective, scores of human rights defenders—from elected parliamentarians to journalists, students, and opposition party leaders—are still facing unjustified charges in several concurrent trials dragging on in Addis Ababa.
Consecutive U.S. administrations have preferred to conduct foreign policy with a cooperative and stable regime in Addis, despite clear signs of disturbing trends toward political centralization, repression, shrinking political space for civil society, and an incapacity or unwillingness to resolve ongoing conflicts with politically marginalized groups—particularly in the Oromo and Somali regions—which have resorted to armed violence around the country. The U.S. government has consistently and unquestioningly provided a range of assistance to the Government of Ethiopia beyond critical Economic Support Funds, Child Survival and Health, and Transition Initiatives funding—including Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and International Military Education and Training (IMET).
U.S. foreign policy’s focus on counter-terrorism has also played a significant role. It has contributed to the glaring absence of public statements and policy decisions in response to diminishing political space and the abusive treatment of prisoners of conscience and other political prisoners in Ethiopia. Given the close and long-standing relationship U.S. government policymakers have enjoyed with the Government of Ethiopia, are we left to assume that they have chosen to ignore universally recognized human rights norms in exchange for military bases, political intelligence and the façade of national stability?

i only hope that’s a rhetorical question. in his opening stmt, chairman delahunt laid out the historical evidence quite clearly

Before we turn to our witnesses to help us with current U.S. policy choices in Africa, let me demonstrate not in theory, but with concrete examples from recent history, why I am so concerned about this issue of double standards. I ask my colleagues to take a look at this first chart, prepared from data on U.S. aid programs compiled by the Congressional Research Service. You will also find the chart and its supporting tables in your committee memorandum.
This chart shows that in the 1980s four of the five largest recipients of U.S. economic and military aid in Sub-Saharan Africa were dictators whose rule led to civil war and even state failure: Sudan, Somalia, Liberia, and Zaire. The primary motivations for this aid were strategic: access to military bases and other forms of military cooperation, support for CIA operations, and access to strategic minerals.
· At the top of the chart, you see Sudan, which received $3.26 billion in total U.S. aid, much of it at a time when President, formerly colonel, Nimieri was offering concessions to U.S. oil corporations and cooperating with the Reagan administration efforts to topple Libya’s Gaddafi;
· Somalia received $1.56 billion after Marxist President, formerly general, Barre, granted President Carter the use of military bases for the U.S. Rapid Deployment Force for the Middle East. I note that the third country in line there, Kenya, had $1.55 billion in aid which was also related to the U.S. Rapid Deployment Force and its use of the Mombasa naval base;
· Liberia received $1.12 billion, in return for which President, formerly master sergeant, Doe continued throughout the 1980’s U.S. use of the U.S. Navy’s Omega navigational tower, as well as the widely-reported CIA operations center for Africa and the Voice of America continental transmitter; and
· Zaire, now known as Congo, received $1.07 billion in aid, which came at a time when access to such strategic minerals as cobalt was important to U.S. military production, and when President, formerly colonel, Mobutu was allowing the CIA to send through Zaire its weapons for the UNITA rebels in Angola.
Was it worth it, the short-term strategic benefits we gained from aiding these dictators? I think not.

but a problem that i have w/ much of the witness testimony (one of which is a veracity-impaired neocon stooge) is an underlying premise, especially evident the remarks by howard university’s professor nyang — that the united states risks losing its moral “authority” & “currency” due to its support for these dictatorships.
imperialists are leaders only in their own imagination, and, sure enough, when those who are predestined to be followers — whether by genetics, geography, or ideology — refuse to kowtow to the imperialists’ imaginary exceptionalism, hardly a second thought will be given when order is enforced, leverage applied, and/or sacrifices are expected (always on the part of the victim).
if i may generalize for a moment, i’d have to conclude, after wading through the shallows of numerous transcripts, reports & documents, that any committee on foreign affairs or foreign relations is essentially centered around damage control & children’s fables.
on a similar note, though driven more by reasons of pure greed than those of ideology, there’s always plenty of call for professional makeup artists putting lipstick on dictators, more likely to influence politicians than jane doe & joe six-pack.

Posted by: b real | May 12 2007 7:30 utc | 34

Footage you were never supposed to see
Spin baby spin.. Brasscheck TV

Artist Brian Springer spent a year scouring the airwaves with a satellite dish grabbing back channel news feeds not intended for public consumption. The result of his research is SPIN, one of the most insightful films ever made about the mechanics of how television is used as a tool of social control to distort and limit the American public’s perception of reality.
Take the time to watch it from beginning to end and you’ll never look at TV reporting the same again. Tell your friends about it. This extraordinary film released in the early 1990s is almost completely unknown. Hopefully, the Internet will change that.

I think this maybe a repost, however it is worth revisiting.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 12 2007 7:58 utc | 36

@ catlady
did the person who set off this chain of events (the busybody who thought a man going to yoga was a bomber) apologize? normally when you pull the fire alarm without a fire and disrupt classes and business there are consequences, why should this be any different?
I think it would be a good first step to make these paranoid schizoids have to weigh their actions. by all means report something suspicious but a freakin mat under a coat???? what can that look like? have there been a lot of suicide bombers in Oregon?
sounds like the cops might have over-reacted a bit too.

Posted by: dan of steele | May 12 2007 9:11 utc | 38

Whatever your feelings on Mark Crispin Miller he says some dire things here…
Youtube:Laughing in the Dark-Mark Crispin Miller on Gonzo, Regent U
Stop laughing.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 12 2007 11:39 utc | 40

No yoga mat–that was just the joke going around, since the unarmed student was found in a yoga class. He’s pretty rattled. No report about the student(s) who panicked over the sight of a trench coat. Lots of congratulatory back-patting over the swift, thorough, and “calm” response.
Baaa, baaa. Keep yer heads, down, sheep, and trust the big dawgs.
lockdown followup

Posted by: catlady | May 12 2007 15:02 utc | 42

Security alerts:
the thing to do is to immediately leave one’s work station (office, crib, cubicle, cocoon, tasks) and start making loud noise – yells, protest, banging – in whatever public way / space is available.
At the same time, post look outs, and make fit young males ready to take on a ‘controlling’ role – things should not get out of hand. In Switz. this is not a prob because we have a civil protection service ready to go. Sorry to look like I’m boosting Ch, that is not the point, ppl in large workplaces can organise all that themselves.
Create mayhem, that is all.
Fear – of unpredictable events, of terrorists, of disruption, of violence, or of resistance or inappropriate behavior that may lead to arrest, imprisonment, social degradation, exclusion – is the supreme killer of citizen participation. It must be fought at *all costs*
Easy to do, it really is, just make a lot of noise. Dance and jeer. Yell and stamp.
Ok it is easy for me to say.

Posted by: Noirette | May 12 2007 15:52 utc | 44

Here’s another link to Uncle’s no. 36 – Spin (just the direct google link.)
I like to download stuff when I can and watch it on a full computer screen.
catlady- sounds like you weathered it as best someone could…with music. unfortunately, such incidents like V. Tech do spawn copycats, according to psyche researchers. (They use this as a call to stop giving so much airtime to these tragedies… not likely.)
However, the circle would have been complete if the guy had had a yoga mat.
I’m glad I checked back here today. I miss so much on this site. Uncle, you should create a “weekly links’ link to your blog — or make it a compilation and have b post that as a thread each Saturday. (hey, I like that idea!)

Posted by: fauxreal | May 12 2007 19:39 utc | 46

& in pakistan – it is going to be a hot night in the town tonight

Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 12 2007 22:07 utc | 48

& the panzerpapen going with his friends from opus dei to give the liberation theologians in latin america a good kicking & show us that the inquisition is alive & well

Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 12 2007 23:45 utc | 50

Some AFRICOM issues:
Ignatius in the Post: Ethiopia’s Iraq

Overall, about 8,000 Muslim fighters were killed in the brief war, while the Ethiopians lost just 225, with 500 wounded.
A successful proxy war, from the American standpoint. But then what?
…
It’s like Iraq and Afghanistan, in other words. A decisive military strike has destroyed one threat. But what’s left behind, when the dust clears, is a shattered tribal society that won’t have real stability without a complex process of political reconciliation and economic development.
There’s no turning back now, says a U.S. diplomat, but he cautions: “Anyone working in Somalia has to have developed a certain humility about our ability to pick leaders from clans and sub-clans.”

Fatal Blast Disrupts U.N. Somalia Trip

The United Nations’ top humanitarian official made a landmark visit to this battle-scarred capital on Saturday, but his trip was disrupted by an explosion that killed four people near the United Nations compound.

More money for the Pentagon to fuck up more countries: Pentagon Hopes to Expand Aid Program

Legislation sent to Capitol Hill — under the title of Building Global Partnerships Act of 2007 — would allow the secretary of defense, “with the concurrence of the secretary of state,” to spend up to $750 million to help foreign governments build up not only their military forces, but also police and other “security forces” to “combat terrorism and enhance stability.”
…
The act is an outgrowth of the Section 1206 authority, which initially provided funds to the Pentagon, renewed annually, to train and equip military and police forces in Iraq and Afghanistan without State Department involvement. It was later broadened to allow for paying the costs — with State Department agreement — of coalition partners in Iraq, including Algeria, Chad, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Yemen, and Sao Tome and Principe.
…
On Wednesday, the House Armed Services Committee took a step in formalizing the Special Operations Command’s activities abroad by writing into law its authority to undertake “counterinsurgency” and “information operations.” In an April 23 interview with the national security blog IntelliBriefs, Maj. Gen. David P. Fridovich said the Special Operations approach includes providing “civil affairs assets to assist in humanitarian and civic assistance” and offering “information operations resources to aid the host nation in countering violent ideological threats.”

That seems to cover all dirty tricks one can think about.

Posted by: b | May 13 2007 9:48 utc | 52

Happy Mother’s day to all the mother’s here at MOA and elsewhere!

Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 13 2007 11:07 utc | 54

grrr, sorry, In addition to the missing link in my above: (which can be found at the dkos link at the bottom of #55:
Contingencies for nuclear terrorist attack

Government working up plan to prevent chaos in wake of bombing of major city

We are living in a science-fiction world where Disney and Disney’s science-fiction have won.~Bob Dylan
and whilst here, I may as well, post another:
U.S. won’t allow governors to direct military

Gates rejects proposal for commanding active duty troops during disasters
The Associated Press
Updated: 10:36 p.m. ET May 9, 2007
WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates has rejected a proposal to let governors command active duty troops responding to disasters, officials said Wednesday, though the Pentagon will grant National Guard leaders more authority to coordinate with other military and homeland security agencies.
Gates told Congress Wednesday he had approved 20 of the 23 changes recommended recently by an independent commission in an effort to improve Guard funding, equipment and coordination in emergencies.
His comments came just days after tornadoes in Kansas highlighted deficiencies with Guard equipment and gaps in planning that were exposed by the Gulf hurricanes more than 18 months ago.
Gates did not reveal which recommendations from the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves that he rejected. But two defense officials familiar with the matter told The Associated Press he didn’t agree with the panel’s suggestion that governors be allowed to direct active duty troops responding to emergencies in their states.
The officials requested anonymity because Gates’ decisions on the commission report have not yet been made public.
Asked for comment, a spokeswoman for Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski said, “The governor doesn’t believe the best structure is dual command during a time of emergency.”
“He thinks there needs to be further discussion and review of whether a governor and adjutant general should be given command of all troops assisting in the response during a time of emergency,” said the spokeswoman, Anna Richter-Taylor.
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, chairwoman of the National Governors Association, had no immediate comment on the development, spokesman Jeanine L’Ecuyer said.
Military worked with governors during Katrina
In previous situations such as Hurricane Katrina, military leaders have worked side by side with governors but have maintained command of their active duty troops.
The governors have authority over their own National Guard troops during state disasters, but the U.S. military takes command if the Guard is federalized by the president, such as in major crises such as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The governors cannot command regular, active-duty forces.
The commission in its March 1 report, concluded that states and governors are not adequately considered in decisions relating to the Guard. Gates concurred with the panel’s other proposals to have the governors work more closely with the Pentagon.
He told the Senate Defense Appropriations panel Wednesday that the department is “trying to deal with some of these Guard problems. And we will be more than happy to work with you all, with the governors association, with the adjutants general to get at this problem.”
Specifically, he said, he approved making the chief of the National Guard a four-star general, rather than a three-star.
According to the officials, Gates also agreed that the head of the National Guard — currently Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum — should be made an adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other top military commanders.
Communication flaws highlighted
In its March report, the commission concluded that the National Guard and Reserves don’t get enough money or equipment and are left out of important planning for national emergencies. The panel found a significant lack of communication between reserve officials and other military leaders, the Homeland Security Department and U.S. Northern Command, which is responsible for the military’s defense of the U.S.
Many of the 23 recommended changes are largely administrative, aimed at improving coordination between the various federal agencies.
Gates also rejected a proposal that would require that at all times either the commander or deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command be a Guard or Reserve officer, and a change that would elevate the Guard to a joint military command.
During the Senate hearing, lawmakers expressed repeated concerns about whether Guard units in the states are adequately prepared and have all the needed equipment to respond to disasters.
“These Guard and Reserve have answered the call when they’ve been sent abroad. But we also need them to answer the call at home if they’re needed,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
Gates said there is nearly $22 billion in the budget for the Army Guard between 2008-2013.

We are living in a science-fiction world where Disney and Disney’s science-fiction have won.~Bob Dylan

Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 14 2007 6:58 utc | 56

the report mentioned again confirms what has been reported before, that the AQ-bogeyman-in-somalia-shtick is a pack of lies
Somalia too tough for al Qaeda – report by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point

WASHINGTON – Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda has failed for more than a decade to establish an operational base in Somalia due to the country’s austere environment and inhospitable clans, a new U.S. military report says.
Fears that Somalia, on the Horn of Africa and accessible by land and sea, is ripe to become an al Qaeda hub have so far failed to materialize.
“Al Qaeda found more adversity than success in Somalia,” states the report by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. “In order to project power, al Qaeda needed to be able to promote its ideology, gain an operational safe haven, manipulate underlying conditions to secure popular support and have adequate financing for continued operations. It achieved none of these objectives.”

the actual report is avail here and is revealing in the techniques used in their defense analysis.
for instance, there’s projection:

Conventional thinking suggests that Somalia, a failed state, would be an ideal safe haven for al-Qa’ida. Our analysis, however, indicates that weakly governed regions such as coastal Kenya, not failed states like Somalia, provide an environment more conducive to al-Qa’ida’s activities. In Somalia, al-Qa’ida’s members fell victim to many of the same challenges that plague Western interventions in the Horn. They were prone to extortion and betrayal, found themselves trapped in the middle of incomprehensible (to them) clan conflicts, faced suspicion from the indigenous population, had to overcome significant logistical constraints and were subject to a constant risk of Western military interdiction.

there’s plenty of splitting, idealization, and rationalization to fit predetermined objectives, etc, as well. the rpt (229 pages long) also contains abridged versions of some previously classified documents on terrorism studies in the horn from 1992-94.
but remember, “counterterrorism” is still terrorism

Posted by: b real | May 14 2007 19:04 utc | 58

Dancing with the warlords! (dated may 06)

Within the past three days, Ali Ghedi, the Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), pompous with a premature jocularity, declared a godless victory over a crushed and tired Mogadishu populace. Ahmed Dirie, the spokesperson of the Hawiye elder’s group, aware of the overwhelming casualties, capitulated to the traitor camp.
The irony of the sunken statements of these men is that the two were indeed mere spectators in a very brutal and bloody theatre set up by Bush and his “war on terror”.
And with these proclamations, we have been promised that the Mogadishu inferno of the past weeks is over. However, the killing fields of Mogadishu are far from done and defeat. Neither party; the occupying Ethiopian troops and their warlord clients, nor the insurgent Islamist and their loyal clan militias, laid their guns down for good.
…
It is the reality on the ground that forced the Somali insurgency to back away. Putting civilian in the crossfire was a price the weary insurgents couldn’t keep on any more.
The fighting between the occupying Ethiopian troops and the Somali insurgents had caused the death of more than 1,500 people in less than 10 days, more than 5,000 people injured, whole neighborhoods razed to the ground, more than half a million people out of the two million residents in the capital, displaced. The violent “ethnic cleansing” caused a major humanitarian crisis: outbreaks of serious diseases, including cholera and malaria, shortage of food and water. That is insupportable price to stomach.
The silence and apathy of the International Community was also another tip-off for the insurgents to change course. Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary for African Affairs of the State Department, sealed this international indifference with a kiss and hug to the warlords for “job well done”.
Since then, there seems to be a lull in some areas of the capital but a horrendous tale of elimination, looting, intimidation, arbitrary arrests and hostage-taking is taking place.
At the same time, the warlord government is flexing its illegitimate force by bringing estranged warlords into the fold. Two of the warlords the Islamists ousted last year, are now appointed as the Chief of the Police and the Mayor of the Capital. The other notorious Mogadishu warlords are being groomed for governmental positions while opposition parliamentarians are being replaced with door-knobs and yes-men.
The preparation of the fake reconciliation congress to dupe the International donors and swindle their funds is in full gear. An Inclusive clan political participation and power-sharing is promoted as a panacea to the Somali predicament. This is what the illegitimate Transitional Federal Government patrons would like to happen so as to keep other Somali ideological alliances and actors who eschew clan-based politics out. The 4.5 clan formula is the only criterion for participation in this congress. The moderate elements of the courts and those who reject violence are summoned and courted to sit with the brutal warlords. There is no hope that Somali warlords and their opponents will comprise. How can one accept the ruthless Somali warlords as partners for peace? How can one negotiate with warlord traitors who have blood on their hands? Aren’t these the ones who brought our enemies to mutilate our innocent masses?
Another hurdle is how to deal with this practical joke put on the plate? The International community seems to buy it and benevolently endorsing a primordial plan to build what is supposed to be a 21st century nation-state.
The dilemma is all ours.

Posted by: b real | May 14 2007 20:27 utc | 60

Heh. World’s most hated blogger.

Posted by: ran | May 15 2007 2:15 utc | 62