The Cheney Observer
He didn't fool himself. He LIED to us !!
How Cheney Fooled Himself
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005; Page A21
President Bush planted the seeds of the destruction of his Iraq policy before the war started. Salvaging the venture will require an unprecedented degree of candor and realism from a White House that was never willing to admit -- even to itself -- how large an undertaking it was asking the American people to buy into.
The notion that the president led the country into war through indirection or dishonesty is not the most damaging criticism of the administration. The worst possibility is that the president and his advisers believed their own propaganda. They did not prepare the American people for an arduous struggle because they honestly didn't expect one.
How else to explain the fact that the president and his lieutenants consistently played down the costs of the endeavor, the number of troops required, the difficulties of overcoming tensions among the Sunnis, the Shiites and the Kurds? Were they lying? The more logical explanation is that they didn't know what they were talking about.
Because the White House failed to prepare Americans for what was to come, the administration now faces a backlash. Over the weekend Bush said that the terrorists in Iraq were seeking to "weaken our nation's resolve." But the rising impatience about which Bush complains is a direct result of the administration's blithe dismissal of those who warned just how tough the going could get.
The assertion of the "Downing Street Memo" that "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" of invasion has understandably become a rallying point for the war's opponents. But in some ways more devastating are other recently disclosed documents in which British officials warned that "there was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action." The British worried at the time that "U.S. military plans are virtually silent" on the fact that "a postwar occupation of Iraq could lead to a protracted and costly nation-building exercise."
The most damaging document supporting this claim is not secret, and remains one of the most important artifacts of the prewar debate. It is the transcript of "Meet the Press" from March 16, 2003, in which Vice President Cheney gave voice to the administration's optimistic assumptions that have now been laid low by reality.
Host Tim Russert asked whether "we would have to have several hundred thousand troops there" in Iraq "for several years in order to maintain stability." Cheney replied: "I disagree." He wouldn't say how many troops were needed, but he added that "to suggest that we need several hundred thousand troops there after military operations cease, after the conflict ends, I don't think is accurate. I think that's an overstatement."
Russert asked: "If your analysis is not correct, and we're not treated as liberators but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?"
Cheney would have none of it. "Well, I don't think it's likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators. I've talked with a lot of Iraqis in the last several months myself, had them to the White House. . . . The read we get on the people of Iraq is there is no question but what they want [is to] get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that."
Russert: "And you are convinced the Kurds, the Sunnis, the Shiites will come together in a democracy?"
Cheney: "They have so far." And the vice president concluded: "I think the prospects of being able to achieve this kind of success, if you will, from a political standpoint, are probably better than they would be for virtually any other country and under similar circumstances in that part of the world."
Was Cheney disguising the war's costs for political purposes? It's more likely that he believed every word he said. That suggests that the administration was not misleading the American people nearly so much as it was misleading itself.
Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska says in the current issue of U.S. News & World Report that "the White House is completely disconnected from reality" and that "it's like they're just making it up as they go along." Unfortunately, the evidence of the past suggests that Hagel's acerbic formulation may be exactly right. Those who still see the invasion of Iraq as a noble mission don't need to protect the policy from the war's critics. They need to rescue it from its architects.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/20/AR2005062001177.html
It's a darn shame Bush still hasn't learned how to get along with and play well with others. Maybe he was one of those ADHD kids in the faith based Pre-School that always got kicked out leaving him with self esteem issues. You suppose?
Bush Pushes Anew for Bolton Confirmation
Monday June 20, 2005 9:46 PM
AP Photo WHRE103
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans struggled to overcome Democratic delays and push U.N. nominee John R. Bolton to a Senate vote on Monday, while the White House left open the possibility that President Bush would install Bolton temporarily on his own.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5087077,00.html
THOMAS OLIPHANT
Patience running short on Iraq
By Thomas Oliphant, Globe Columnist June 21, 2005
WASHINGTON
THERE IS A reason why President Bush's aides are scrambling to come up with fresh justifications for the violence in Iraq, which mocks the latest protestations from the top that all is well.
Bush has not just had a run of lousy polling results on his presidency, leadership, credibility, and his handling of the war. The political byproducts of three years of propaganda contradicted by the hard news of ceaseless insurgency are now coming as well from a Republican Congress that is beginning to stir.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/06/21/patience_running_short_on_iraq/
Neil Cavuto is an idiot. If one is paying $1.59 a few months ago and is now paying $.50 more without a pay increase at the same rate at the same time, then YOU MORON, it's INFLATIONARY regardless of how you idiots work it out on Wall Street !! There is so little link between society and it's poor economy and Wall Street these days it's seems surreal. Neil Cavuto is FOX right? That figures. The live in the Aussie Dimension where all reality ends with, "Good day, mate. FOSTERS !!" It seems so Bush.
Wall Street Isn't Worrying About High Gas Prices, So You Shouldn't Either
In Bush-world, deficits don't matter, the insurgency in Iraq is in its "last throes," there is no global warming and the price of oil ain't no biggie. As Neil Cavuto is fond of saying (over and over again), oil would have to hit $80.00 a barrel in order to be "adjusted for inflation" and to cost as much as it did in the l970's. So relax already, right?
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/06/20/wall_street_isnt_worrying_about_high_gas_prices_so_you_shouldnt_either.php
Buyout leaves future up in air
Sarah Rabil
Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
A Farm Service Agency official estimates that 99.9 percent of Rockingham County tobacco growers and quota owners signed up to receive their cut of a federal tobacco buyout.
And the quota buyout has left the future of tobacco growing in the area uncertain.
http://www.reidsvillereview.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RVR/MGArticle/RVR_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031783406445&path=!frontpage
Reidsville police probe break-ins
Michael Pucci
Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Reidsville police investigated two break-ins to the Smith Stokes dealership on Barnes Street last Monday, according to reports.
At 7:30 a.m., the Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep half of the dealership reported that some employees came into work and found a white Jeep with the driver's side window broken and the radio stolen.
http://www.reidsvillereview.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RVR%2FMGArticle%2FRVR_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031783406600&path=!frontpage
Younts takes fifth at Forest Oaks
Steve Cannuli
Sports Editor
Sunday, June 19, 2005
GREENSBORO – Drew Younts of Stokesdale could not make one last run at the top of the leaderboard Friday at the American Junior Golf Association Invitational held at Forest Oaks Country Club.
Younts, who entered the final round one stroke behind leader Roberto Galletti, Jr. of Clayton, Calif., fired a closing round 74. He finished with a tournament total of 281 (-7).
Galletti, Jr. could not hang on either, as Daniel Woltman of Beaver Dam, Wis., won his first American Junior Golf Association Invitational in a sudden-death playoff over the Clayton, Calif.-native. Woltman and Galletti, Jr. finished the FootJoy Boys Invitational with scores of 10-under-par 278.
http://www.reidsvillereview.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RVR%2FMGArticle%2FRVR_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031783376846&path=!frontpage
Americans Are Finally Waking Up to the Failure of U.S. Policy in Iraq
June 20, 2005
Ivan Eland
Although the American people slept through the facile national debate about whether the Bush administration should invade Iraq and the post-invasion unraveling of justifications for doing so, the public is finally waking up to the nightmare of U.S. policy in Iraq. And their representatives in Congress, many of whom were previously hiding in the bushes, are now beginning to get the courage to finally speak out.
A recent New York Times poll shows how low support for the Bush administration’s adventure in Iraq has sunk. Sixty percent of the American public thinks that the U.S. effort to bring stability to Iraq is going badly, fifty-nine percent disapprove of the way President Bush is handling the situation, and 51 percent now believe that the United States should have stayed out of Iraq in the first place. All of these measures of support for the war effort have gradually deteriorated over time and can be expected to decline further as the carnage continues.
http://independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1524
Strike a success: Petroleum dealers
Monday, 20 June , 2005, 18:58
Shimla: All petrol pumps in the state remained closed today to press for the increase in commission on sale of petrol and diesel, a spokesman for the Federation of All India Petroleum Traders (FAIPT) said.
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=13877132
'
This Day (Lagos)
INTERVIEW
June 19, 2005
Posted to the web June 20, 2005
Cletus Akwaya
Lagos
Halliburton, the US multi-national company has been in Nigeria since 1959 offering essentially oil exploration services and in the later 1990s got involved in the construction of the NLNG at Bonny under the TSKJ consortium. In the last few years, however, the company has been in the news for all negatives purposes.
It has some problems on tax with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), some of which have been subject of litigation in the law courts.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506201368.html
French and U.S. probe Halliburton:-
UK backs oil firm despite bribery inquiry
Halliburton arm gets $10m DTI loan guarantee
David Leigh
Tuesday June 21, 2005
The Guardian
The controversial oil firm Halliburton has been awarded new British government backing, despite being at the centre of a bribery investigation, the Guardian can disclose.
Halliburton's British arm, Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), is being supported in an oilfield deal in Kazakhstan with a $10m (£5.5m) loan guarantee from the Department of Trade and Industry.
This is despite the fact that KBR recently received British government loan guarantees for a large gas plant deal in Nigeria now alleged to have been corrupt. In that case, evidence came to light that $180m in back-door payments was going to Nigerian officials.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/economics/story/0,11268,1510898,00.html
PARIS June 20, 2005 7:11:18 PM IST
Justice officials from France and the United States are cooperating in a Halliburton inquiry regarding an oil project in Nigeria.
According to a Monday report in the French daily Le Figaro, French Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke and other French officials had a lengthy meeting last week with representatives of the U.S. Justice Department's anti-corruption department.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=90051&cat=World
Soldiers' sustenance, teen's abstinence
BY NOEL HOLSTON
STAFF WRITER
June 21, 2005
First it was that silly rabbit Buster bounding up to Vermont and acting like it was no big deal for a gaggle of kids to have two mommies. Now here's "Frontline" nosing around in Iraq and suggesting that Halliburton and other private contractors are inflaming the Iraqi populace, not to mention keeping lousy books. And here's "P.O.V." lionizing a Texas teenager who doesn't see any inconsistency in her personal virginity and her belief that her high school can't afford to teach abstinence alone.
What's PBS trying to do, start an outbreak of open-mindedness? An epidemic of questioning? Let us hope and pray.
"Private Warriors" is the most extensive report to date by any network, broadcast or cable, about the private companies that are providing everything from bodyguards to catering in Iraq. And that includes, in some cases, bodyguards for caterers.
Talking with correspondent Martin Smith, retired Marine Col. Thomas X. Hammes criticizes the "misguided luxury" at bases such as Camp Anaconda that he believes puts private workers needlessly at risk, even as it fans resentment among Iraqis who'd be glad to have clean water.
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-ettvtwo4312520jun21,0,4563553.story
Gov. Bush Changes Election Laws
http://www.am850.com/news/archives/001716.asp
FL Governor Jeb Bush Speaks at AR Republican Fundraiser
June 20, 2005 -- Posted at 6:26 pm CDT
LITTLE ROCK (AP) _ Florida Governor Jeb Bush is scheduled to speak tonight night at an Arkansas Republican Party fundraising event honoring Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=3498336&nav=0jshbFPI
White House defends Cheney - Iraq insurgency in "last throes"
WHITE HOUSE The White House is defending Vice President Cheney's assertion that the Iraq insurgency is in its "last throes."
And White House officials reject a top G-O-P senator's assertion that administration claims on Iraq are "completely disconnected from reality."
The senator -- Nebraska's Chuck Hagel -- says in a magazine interview the reality is that America is "losing in Iraq."
However, Press Secretary Scott McClellan says President Bush is optimistic -- and he gets his information direct from U-S commanders. He says Iraqi security forces are getting "better each week" at thwarting insurgent attacks.
Meantime, the spokesman says the administration stands by Cheney's assessment of Iraq in a recent T-V interview. McClellan says the terrorist and regime elements there are clearly desperate -- since they've got nothing to offer but chaos and death.
http://www.kasa.com/Global/story.asp?S=3499330
All Africa
Côte d'Ivoire: Mbeki Calls Another Summit to Try to Salvage Peace ProcessJune 20, 2005Posted to the web June 20, 2005DakarWith the peace process in Cote d'Ivoire running into fresh difficulties and the rebels once more resisting pressure to disarm, international mediator and South African president Thabo Mbeki has called the warring factions to a new summit."The president proposed the 25th and 26th (of June) as the dates but all the parties can't make it. Therefore arrangements are being made to find another suitable date," Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo was quoted as saying by Agence France Presse.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506201023.html
Burundi: Violence, Tension As Parliamentary Poll Campaigns Get Under WayBujumburaCampaigning for legislative elections in Burundi entered its third day on Monday, already marked by tension and violence following the killing of three people, among them two candidates, in the capital, Bujumbura.A woman and the two candidates, members of President Domitien Ndayizeye's FRODEBU party, died in a grenade blast on Saturday in a bar in Kamenge neighbourhood, in the northern part of the capital. They were from a political rally.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506200478.html
Investment in Africa May Prove a Battle As U.S. Trust Runs LowJune 20, 2005Posted to the web June 20, 2005Jonathan KatzenellenbogenJohannesburgEARLIER this month in Cape Town the World Economic Forum summit gave a resounding endorsement of Commission for Africa proposals for debt relief, doubling of aid, and enlarged trade access for the continent.But that will not be the case this week at the biannual meeting of the US Corporate Council on Africa in Baltimore.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506201346.html
AU Begins Peer ReviewPosted to the web June 20, 2005Josephine LohorAbujaConsiders Ghana, RwandaAfrican Union leaders yesterday in Abuja examined the report of the African Peer Review panel which specifically looked at progress in two of its member countries.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506200129.html
Namibia Deserves Aid, Debt Relief, Despite 'Mid-Income' Status, Says President PohambaWashington, DCHifikepunye Pohamba, who three months ago became Namibia's second president since independence in 1990, was one of five African leaders who met with President George Bush at the White House on June 13. Pohamba succeeded the founding head of state, Sam Nujoma, who led a decades-long struggle against South African rule. Pohamba, a long time aide to Nujoma in Swapo, the ruling party, has emphasized continuity while also outlining a range of priorities for his administration. As minister of lands in the last Nujoma cabinet, he had responsibility for the complicated issue of addressing the expectations of the landless majority without alienating the wealthy, white populace and outside donors. "Land expropriation does not mean confiscation, but means selling land to the government at fair prices as provided in the constitution and the relevant laws," Pohamba said, just before he assumed office in March. While in Washington, DC this week, he reaffirmed to members of the Congressional Black Caucus that he is committed to a policy that redistributes land, follows legal procedures and is fair to all parties.In an interview with AllAfrica, Pohamba discussed a number of other issues he is facing as the new leader.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506171069.html
Fish Industry Crisis Claims Veteran FirmThe Namibian (Windhoek)Werner MengesWindhoekA 58-year-old stock exchange-listed company this week became the latest victim of the deep financial malaise that has gripped Namibia's fishing industry.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506170042.html
Tourism Says It With FlowersThe Namibian (Windhoek)Maggi BarnardWindhoekACCOMMODATION establishments in Namibia are often placed in beautiful, but also ecologically sensitive areas, posing a serious threat of permanent damage to the environment.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506160011.html
Six Oil Workers KidnappedPaul Ibe And Onwuka NzeshiAbuja/WarriGroup demands $20m ransomThe Niger Delta yesterday relapsed into violence as six oil workers including two German employees of Bilfinger and Berger, an oil service firm working with the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), were kidnapped and held hostage by some armed youths. The hostages, THISDAY learnt, are currently being detained in a remote location in the creeks of Ekeremor, an Ijaw community in Bayelsa State.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506160137.html
N-Delta: Kidnapped Oil Workers FreedVanguard (Lagos)June 19, 2005Posted to the web June 20, 2005Emma Amaize and Sam OyadonghaTHE six workers of Bilfinger Berger (B+B) Nigeria Limited: two German expatriates and four Nigerians, who were kidnapped, last Wednesday, by militant youths from Iduwuni kingdom in Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa State, were released, yesterday afternoon, three days after they were taken hostage.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506200251.html
Debt Write-Off Good, Free Trade Better - ActivistsThe Monitor (Kampala)June 20, 2005Posted to the web June 20, 2005Despite the recent debt cancellation by the G8 for the poorest countries, aid agencies fear the deal could shift focus from other major issues. Badru Mulumba looks at the depth of this fear.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506201534.html
Confab: North Threatens Boycott Over 25 Percent DerivationJune 17, 2005Posted to the web June 17, 2005Emmanuel AzikenAbuja* South-South insists on 25 percent benchmarkPROCEEDINGS at the on-going National Political Reform Conference were stalled for the second day running yesterday as some Northern delegates threatened their own boycott should the conference redress the perceived procedural errors in the adoption of the report on resource control that forced the walk out of the South-South delegation.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200506170104.html
The New Zealand Herald
Unusual conditions bring both heatwave and intense storms in UKBy Michael McCarthyUnusual meteorological conditions in the UK led to the topsy-turvy weather at the weekend, which saw torrential storms in the North contrast with bright sunshine and near-record temperatures in the South.A mass of very warm air from south of the Azores moved up over Britain late last week, bringing with it intense heat and humidity unusual for the UK in June.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10331857
Flash floods devastate North YorkshireLocal volunteers help clear the flood damage in Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe near Thirsk in North YorkshireBy Ian HerbertThompsons the butchers have traded for three generations and over 100 years from a shop perched precariously close to the River Rye in Helmsley, North Yorkshire.But nothing could prepare the family for the night when "the roads turned to rivers" - as their local vicar described the village's flash floods yesterday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10331877
Wood not going back to Iraq says his familyMELBOURNE - Freed hostage Douglas Wood stunned his family, and others, when he declared on his return to Australia that he may return to Iraq.Today, one day later, the engineer's family appeared to have snuffed out any plan he had to return to the country where insurgents kidnapped and threatened to execute him.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10331892
South Africa to charge ex-deputy president ZumaThe national prosecuting authority have decided to bring criminal charges against South Africa's former Deputy President Jacob By Alistair ThomsonPRETORIA - South Africa's popular former deputy president Jacob Zuma will face corruption charges in a case that triggered his dismissal last week after an aide was convicted of bribing him, state prosecutors said today.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10331884
N to probe Zimbabwe's evictions of squatter townsUNITED NATIONS - The United Nations is sending a special envoy to Zimbabwe to investigate a government crackdown on squatter settlements that aid workers say has left 200,000 people homeless.President Robert Mugabe's government says the clean-up campaign, dubbed "Operation Restore Order," is meant to get rid of structures that have sprouted around urban centres in the last few years and are seen as a haven for illegal traders in foreign currency and scarce food items.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10331869
SOUNDS LIKE 'BUSH'S AMERICA.'Religious 'vote-rigging' buoyed fundamentalist candidateBy Angus McDowallAs Iran faces a stark choice between a conservative cleric and a hardliner in the presidential runoff, details emerged of a campaign by fundamentalists that has put Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in contention for the top office.Although many Iranians still believe Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani will score an easy win in Friday's voting, the last minute surge in support for the Tehran Mayor has put the result in serious doubt.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10331768
Japan loses bid for secret whale votesBy Angela GregoryJapan suffered a major setback on the first day of the International Whaling Commission meeting in South Korea after losing a vote to allow secret ballots.New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter said from the meeting last night that member countries had narrowly voted against the proposal, 30-27, despite Japan’s confidence it would succeed
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10331818
Dutch doctor in UK organ scandal found guiltyLONDON - A Dutch doctor at the centre of a British hospital scandal was found guilty of serious professional misconduct on Monday for removing organs from the bodies of 850 dead children without their parents' consent.The General Medical Council (GMC) ordered Professor Dick van Velzen be struck off the UK medical register after his actions at the Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, northern England.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10331854
concluding . . .
