Michael Moore Today

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Pamela Fiskus, mother of Army Sgt. Keith Fiscus begged him not to go
Townsend-area soldier laid to rest at Arlington
26-year-old Army Sgt. Keigh Fiscus died Saturday in Iraq
Deleware News Journal
The ashes of 26-year-old Army Sgt. Keith Fiscus, of the Townsend area, were laid to rest today at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Fiscus died Saturday in Baghdad of injuries suffered when a bomb detonated near his vehicle during combat operations.
Fiscus was assigned to the First Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, Third Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
Pamela Fiscus says her son was raised in Los Angeles but moved with his family to Delaware in 1998.
She says she begged Keith not to join the military, but her son would not be dissuaded. He enlisted in 2002.
Fiscus is the 14th serviceman from Delaware to die in Iraq.
Soldier 'Loved His Country'
Sergeant on 2nd Iraq Tour Had Childhood Interest in Military
By Fredrick Kunkle / Washington Post
A thin shroud of mist veiled Arlington National Cemetery yesterday as a line of soldiers in dress uniforms waited for the mourners to arrive.
A bugler stood at the entrance of a stone funerary vault, muffling his horn with a white-gloved hand while blowing a few practice notes.
Then a car drove up, and the soldiers snapped to attention, presenting arms.
One soldier removed a folded U.S. flag from the car. Another removed a box-like urn containing the remains of Army Sgt. Keith E. Fiscus.
Then Darrell and Pamela Fiscus, who had tried to dissuade their 26-year-old son from joining the military, fell in behind the escorts, followed by other family members and mourners.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8671


Mom's Message to the White House

TO THE CHOIR: If they vote for war, occupy 'em! ... by Mike Ferner
After nearly four years of war I'd wager that a few million Americans have held a candle at a vigil, carried a sign at a rally, passed out a flyer, forwarded an email to friends, or gone to a demonstration in a distant city. If you, Dear Reader, are one of these stout souls, this letter is to you.
But first, may I ask a favor? For the rest of this letter please forget that at least once during these years of protest you, no doubt, mourned that "only the choir" participated. The choir -- people who actually do something for peace -- is precisely who I'm writing to.
No doubt, it's frustrating that, except for a few grand occasions, "only the choir" shows up. But consider this: of the millions of women in the U.S. at the time, relatively few became active suffragists with the staying power to eventually get votes for women. Of the millions of workers suffering from the Great Depression, relatively few answered the call to sit down in the auto factories to win recognition for unions. Of the millions of blacks bearing the weight of segregation, relatively few sat down at lunch counters.
In their day they were "the choir." When they were the only ones who showed up for vigils and rallies, they, no doubt, bemoaned that "only the choir" had come again. They came to action after action, moving things forward imperceptibly each time. But when conditions were right, they acted one more time. And then they made history.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=793


Support the veterans who've served our country by sending them a phone card so they can call their loved ones over the holidays.

Veterans Administration (VA) budget cuts in recent years have left many of our nation's veterans at VA hospitals without the means to call their families over the holidays. These long distance calls are generally not covered by the VA, and many vets just don't have the financial resources to call all their loved ones.
So Working Assets, Veterans for Peace, CODEPINK, Iraq Veterans Against the War and Gold Star Families for Peace have teamed up on a project to thank our veterans by sending them phone cards loaded with 125 minutes of domestic long-distance calling time. We'll purchase these cards and deliver them to VA Medical Facilities all over the country on December 18th.
$10 will cover the cost of phone cards for three veterans. $20 will buy six phone cards. $33 will buy ten cards. $100 will buy phone cards for 30 veterans to call home over the holidays. 100% of your gift will go directly to buying phone cards -- so please give as generously as you can.

https://www.workingforchange.com/Order/index.cfm?OrderFormID=6


Congresswoman Diane Watson's Statement on Signing John Conyers' Impeachment Resolution
The following statement was issued this afternoon to MichaelMoore.com:
I believe that the President must be held accountable for his actions. This past November, the American people affirmed through the ballot their dissatisfaction with the Administration and, in particular, its policies in Iraq.
I have been a steadfast opponent of the President’s Iraq policy. His administration has not been forthcoming with the American people and Congress has failed to conduct effective oversight of the executive branch. That’s why I am a cosponsor of Congressman Conyers' legislation, H. Res. 635, to create a select Congressional committee to examine the Administration’s conduct in prosecuting the Iraq war.
In the New Year, Democrats will gain control of the House of Representatives. Mr. Conyers is slated to chair the Judiciary Committee. I am ready to follow his lead on the issue.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=791


H.RES.635 Title: Creating a select committee to investigate the Administration's intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, retaliating against critics, and to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HE00635:@@@N


Specter of Iraqi proxy war spooks Washington
By Stephen Collinson / AFP
WASHINGTON - The specter of a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran over the bones of an shattered Iraq is being conjured up by veiled warnings the kingdom may bankroll Sunni fighters if US troops go home.
Apparent Saudi anxiety over US intentions -- the idea of which is rejected publicly by US and Saudi officials -- coincides with President George W. Bush's quest for a new strategy to end carnage in Iraq.
Coupled with the sudden resignation and Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prine Turki al-Faisal, talk of frays in the crucial Saudi-US alliance have sent intrigue rippling through Washington.
"We may be on the verge of a Saudi intervention in Iraq on behalf of their (Sunni) kin, we may be on the verge of a proxy war," said Chas Freeman, former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Fears of such a scenario intensified after the New York Times reported Tuesday Riyadh may bankroll Iraq's Sunnis against Iran-backed Shiites, should US troops retreat and leave a raging civil war.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8666


W.House defends Bush use of Iraqi body counts
By Steve Holland / Reuters
WASHINGTON - The White House on Thursday defended President George W. Bush's rare use of a body count to describe Iraqi insurgent deaths as a way to show Americans that U.S. troops are fighting hard in Iraq.
Bush said on Wednesday on a visit to the Pentagon that U.S. and Iraqi forces had killed or captured 5,900 of the enemy during the months of October, November and early December.
It was a rare use of a body count by the president and came after public opinion polls said many Americans are concerned about rising U.S. casualties and believe the United States is losing the war in Iraq.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said one reason Bush gave the body count number was to offset concern about U.S. casualties and deaths that included 103 in October alone.
"And there is quite often the impression ... that our people aren't doing anything; they're just targets. And I think there's a certain amount of unease in the American public because they hear about deaths, but they don't hear about what's going on," Snow told reporters.
Presidents have shied away from giving body count numbers ever since the practice was discredited during the Vietnam war.
During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military publicized Vietnam body counts as a way to show progress, but it led to inflated numbers which damaged the Pentagon's credibility.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8664


2 Marines reportedly killed near Baghdad
By Qais al-Bashir / Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen killed a Shiite tribal sheik linked to British forces in a drive-by shooting Friday in the southern city of Basra, and two Marines were reported killed in fighting in a volatile province west of Baghdad.
One Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 and one Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died Thursday after fighting in Anbar province, an insurgent stronghold, the military said.
The deaths raise to 53 the number of American troops who have died in December, which is on track to being one of the deadliest months of the war. At least 2,941 members of the U.S. military have died the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
A senior official from the Iraqi Red Crescent, meanwhile, claimed that harassment from U.S. forces is a greater threat to his group's work than insurgent attacks.
"The main problem we are facing is the American forces more than the other forces," Dr. Jamal Al-Karbouli, vice president of the Iraqi Red Crescent, said in Geneva.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8668


Missing soldier classified as captured
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - An American soldier missing in Iraq since late October probably was captured by the enemy, the Pentagon said Thursday, making official what the U.S. military there has suggested for more than a month.
Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old Iraqi-born resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., was snatched off the street while he was visiting his Iraqi wife in Baghdad on Oct. 23.
U.S. forces have conducted raids in portions of Sadr City searching for al-Taayie, who worked as a translator. The U.S. government has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to his recovery.
He initially was listed as "whereabouts unknown," but the military generally reviews such cases to rule out all other possibilities, including being absent without leave. He is now considered "missing-captured."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8667


U.S. soldiers lead Iraq children in obscene chant

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/U.S._soldiers_lead_Iraq_children_in_1214.html

Iraqi Kid Runs For Water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9A_vxIOB-I&eurl=


Iraqi Red Crescent accuses U.S. forces of attacks
By Stephanie Nebehay / Reuters
GENEVA - The Iraqi Red Crescent accused U.S. forces on Friday of carrying out a spate of attacks on its offices over the last three years during operations to flush out suspected militants.
Jamal Al Karbouli, vice-president of the Iraqi Red Crescent, said that in the latest incident, U.S forces had occupied and nearly destroyed its Falluja office, held staff for hours, and burned two cars clearly marked with its neutral symbol.
The only Iraqi aid agency working in all 18 provinces, its 1,000 staff and 200,000 volunteers already face extremely difficult conditions because of the growing sectarian violence, he said.
"The main difficulties we are facing, first of all, is the presence of MNF, the multinational forces, which sometimes gives us a hard time. They are attacking some offices and detaining some volunteers," Karbouli told a news conference in Geneva.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8669


Iraqis flee war, run into hostility
As their numbers grow, refugees find that prejudice is growing and compassion is fading.
By Jeffrey Fleishman and Qaisar Ahmed / Los Angeles Times
CAIRO — Strolling the alleys and boulevards of this city, Raaid Lafta sometimes thinks he glimpses his old country: in the barber's face, in the baker's oven, in the way the restaurant chef serves the spiced dishes he's known since boyhood.
Like him, the barber, baker and chef are Iraqis adrift in war. Escaping their battered homeland in crowded cars and lopsided buses, boarding planes and walking stretches of desert, Iraqi refugees are a growing diaspora in Cairo, Damascus, Amman and other Arab cities. With children in tow and life savings hidden in pots and suitcases, they are another precarious burden for the Middle East.
"I see everyone speaking in an Iraq accent," Lafta said. "Iraqi men singing Iraqi songs in the streets, Iraqi cafes, Iraqi shops…. I was opening a bank account here, so when the banker asked for my address, I replied that I live in Cairo's 6th of October neighborhood. He smiled and said, 'You Iraqis have invaded October.'

"http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8661


China Daily

US, China officials work for economic integration
The first high-profile economic talk between top American and Chinese officials in Beijing has achieved tangible results: Beijing will invest in an American-led clean coal technology project; the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ is allowed to open Chinese offices.
And, China's most powerful woman, Vice-Premier Wu Yi, said that Beijing will do more to liberalize its currency valuation regime, which American officials believe is now undervalued and has attributed to the trade imbalance between the two giant economies.
For his part, U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, the head of the Bush administration economic team, promised that America will try to increase its dismal savings rate. American consumers simply cannot spend more than they earn, he said.
Paulson, a well-weathered investor turned politician, knew he couldn't come home to Washington empty-handed, hence the energy, stock exchange and other concrete deals. And, it is his belief and gauge that Chinese leaders are genuine reformers, just more gradual than Americans would like.
"There's no doubt the Chinese were committed to reform," Paulson told Fortune magazine reporters during a brief limousine ride back from his private meeting with President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People on Friday.
Paulson, facing pressure from Democrats on Capitol Hill who blame inexpensive Chinese competition for American trade debt, said the NYSE-NASDAQ deal "a symbolic milestone toward China's further integration into the global marketplace." "This is the beginning of a conversation of a level and scope that hasn't been witnessed before," said a senior Treasury official.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said the American delegation "asked and received assurances" from Beijing that economic reform was not stalling, though she added " there are some voices there that want to turn back the clock.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke tried to drive home American concerns, with a Friday afternoon speech to elite members of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a top Beijing think tank. "The fact that Ben Bernanke was there gave a whole new dimension to it," said Paulson.
In his remarks, Bernanke argued that flexible exchange rates were in China's best economic interest, and will also be helpful in addressing the trade debt of the United States. During the two-day session, though Chinese officials responded to U.S. pressure for more currency flexibility by expressing concerns over the country's economic stability if its currency rose in value, the currency, the yuan, did rise to a new record high. And, Chinese domestic money analysts predict it will gain more grounds against the greenback in 2007.
And, there are more demands from the Americans. In his speech, Bernanke said that while a more flexible yuan rate would be helpful, a more direct way to address the global imbalance is to reduce China's savings rates. The country's high savings rates, he said, reflect China's "thin social safety net", that means that families have to save for medical expenses, their old age and children's education.
However, in the language of global economic imbalances, it's hard for Americans to complain about Chinese families saving their earnings without the Chinese bringing up the American practice of spending far more than they earn. Americans are simply over-spending. So, like Paulson, Bernanke lowered his critique of Chinese savings rate with a self soul-searching that the U.S. needs to save more and borrow less.
With a second meeting of the Strategic Economic Dialogue scheduled for Washington in May 2007, officials from both countries agreed to form study groups to address how to further open up China's services sector, improve rural health care, address environmental and energy concerns and inject more transparency into areas like the regulatory process. They also agreed to continue discussing trade concerns, as well as how to better police copyright and trademark piracy.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-12/16/content_760549.htm


China's ultra-wealthy rev up in style
How are rich people in China showing off their success?
Owning one or more luxury and even ultra-expensive cars appears to be one of the most popular ways.
Boosted by the ever-increasing numbers of people getting rich as a result of the nation's booming economy, demand for these cars is in the fast lane, offering rich pickings for the world's top luxury carmakers.
British brand Rolls Royce, owned by German carmaker BMW, said it expects to sell 70 Phantom vehicles this year in China including Hong Kong which will enable the world's most populous country to unseat Japan as the firm's No 3 single market after the United States and the United Kingdom.
On Thursday in Hong Kong, Rolls Royce delivered its largest order yet 14 Phantoms to Sir Michael Kadoorie's Peninsula Hotel.
To further boost China sales, the brand plans to add three dealerships in Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu. It now has one each in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.
In a telephone interview on Friday, Jenny Zheng, general manager of Rolls Royce Motor Cars Greater China, said: "China's thriving economy is creating very successful people in all business areas at a staggering pace. This is a big opportunity for us and other luxury car manufacturers."

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-12/16/content_760463.htm


China's economic growth to slow: think tank (AFP)
Updated: 2006-12-16 10:15
China's economic growth will ease moderately next year due to a global slowdown and official efforts to curb investment, a senior government economist has said. Growth in the world's fourth-largest economy will decelerate slightly to 9.5 to 10 percent next year, according to Zhu Baoliang, the vice director of forecasting at the State Information Center, the Cabinet's think tank.
China's economy increased 10.7 percent in the first nine months of this year and the government has said it expects a growth rate for the full year to be 10.5 percent.
The slowdown will reflect decreasing overseas demand for Chinese products due to a less brisk global economy, affecting China's exports, Zhu told a briefing in Beijing.
It will also reflect government efforts to rein in investments, especially in industries that consume a lot of energy or pollute the environment, he said.
A large number of small steel and cement enterprises will be closed down next year as a result of this campaign, he said.
However, the risk of a rebound in fixed-asset investment is still rather high, he warned.
He said abundant funding resources will help fuel next year's investment as many enterprises have large profits that they can use to finance spending on new capacity.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-12/16/content_760552.htm


Nations aim for common development
By Qin Jize (China Daily)Updated: 2006-12-16 06:59
China and the United States reaffirmed their commitment on Friday to promoting strong and balanced economic development and prosperity by pursing Beijing's exchange rate regime reform and increasing Washington's national savings.
The two sides also agreed to let the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ open offices in China while Washington will support China's membership in the Inter-American Development Bank. No timetable has been mentioned yet.
The agreements were announced at the end of the one-and-half-day high-level Sino-US economic strategic dialogue, co-chaired by Vice-Premier Wu Yi and US Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson. It focused on overarching and long-term strategic economic issues.
Through the discussions, the two sides decided to prioritize work during the next six months in areas including service sectors, health care, energy and the environment.
The two governments also pledged to explore the possibility of a bilateral investment agreement and easing of travel restrictions.
Both sides concluded an agreement facilitating financing to support US exports to China and agreed to re-launch bilateral air service negotiations beginning in January 2007.
The second session of the dialogue will be held in Washington next May.
While meeting with the US delegation, which is composed of almost half of Bush's cabinet, President Hu Jintao said he hoped the two countries would take full advantage of the new platform to make the strategic dialogue an efficient mechanism for communication.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-12/16/content_760459.htm


Wu outlines China's economic goals for US
(Xinhua)Updated: 2006-12-15 11:33
Vice Premier Wu Yi told a high-level delegation from the United States yesterday that the country remains committed to economic reform while admitting that China still needs to make more progress in spreading its increasing wealth among all segments of society. In a keynote speech delivered at the groundbreaking session in Beijing, Wu said that while China's overall economy ranked fourth worldwide in 2005, its per capita gross domestic product was below the 100th spot worldwide. "Tapping China's underdeveloped productivity remains a long-term and arduous task," Wu said.
"Only by focusing on development over the long run can China lay the necessary material foundation for the constant improvement of the people's living standard."
The two-day dialogue is aimed at examining strategic issues in trade relations between the two countries.
The US delegation is headed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and includes several other Cabinet secretaries and Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve.
In her remarks, Wu pointed to the many challenges China's economic policy makers are facing.
Among them, up to 150 million Chinese are living in poverty, according to World Bank figures.
The proportion of rural labor to total employment is still much higher than the level in industrialized countries, and even in some developing ones.
State officials estimate that 300 million people will migrate from the rural areas to the cities within the coming two decades.
Over the next 10 years or so, the population will increase as much as 10 million a year.
"Confronted with such a huge challenge, it is imperative that China commit herself to accelerating economic development and gradually realize a smooth transformation from the urban-rural dual economic structure to a modern economic mix," Wu said.
Despite the challenges, the vice premier was optimistic about the future.
From 1979 to 2005, China's economy has grown at an annual average rate of 9.6 percent, and the momentum will be sustained for the next 15 years, Wu predicted.
"China will uphold the scientific concept of development featuring people-oriented, comprehensive, harmonious and sustainable development, and strike a proper balance between urban and rural development, development among different regions, economic and social development, development of man and nature, and domestic development and opening up to the outside world," Wu said.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2006-12/15/content_759833.htm


China's car industry on fast track
(Shanghai Daily)Updated: 2006-12-13 10:00
The fast development of China's automotive industry has exceeded all expectations since the nation entered the World Trade Organization five years ago. China established itself as the most shinning example in vehicle sales despite more and more overseas car makers making inroads into the country, banking on price-competitive models to cash in on market potential.
Vehicles are seen along a road in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning province December 11, 2006. November car sales in China, the world's second-largest vehicle market, rose 26.41 percent to 499,700 from a year earlier, the country's official industry association said. [Reuters] With the influx of new players releasing new models, competition became fierce, dragging down prices.
Growing maturity, to accompany the burgeoning sales, may be the best way forward for China, which is the world's second-largest auto market.
Shanghai Daily has selected the top 10 auto news stories of this year to give readers an overview of the whole industry. Numbers six to 10 will be published next Wednesday.
Buoyant vehicle sales help to boost profit

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2006-12/13/content_757691.htm


Economic relationship with China vital to US
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson said Monday that U.S.-China economic relationship is vital to U.S. future prosperity.
"Managing our economic relationship with China to ensure both nations benefit is vital to our nation's future prosperity," Paulson said in his article published Monday by The Washington Post.
"A market-based economy in China, with sustainable economic growth and full participation in rules-based international trade, is in our best interest -- and in the interest of the Chinese people," he said.
The U.S.-China economic relationship epitomizes both the opportunities and challenges of globalization , he said in the article titled "A Broad Dialogue With China."
The secretary said that this week a delegation made up of U.S. cabinet secretaries, agency directors and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, will participate in the first meeting of the Strategic Economic Dialogue between the two countries.
"My colleagues and I will meet with Chinese leaders in Beijing for discussions in three areas: maintaining sustainable growth without large trade imbalances; continuing to open markets to trade, competition and investment; and improving energy security and the environment," he said.
Paulson said that the United States and China "each have a vision of how our relationship will evolve, and in many respects our visions are similar."
"We both want strong commercial ties that produce benefits for workers and consumers in America and China. We both want China to grow in a way that is sustainable economically and environmentally and that contributes to global prosperity," he said.
"By engaging Chinese leaders with an eye to producing long-term benefits for our two nations, we can build a productive and prosperous partnership for the 21st century," said Paulson.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2006-12/12/content_756960.htm


The Cheney Observer - How far have we come from here edition

Blue Dog Democrats Have First Meeting With Bush
Congressman Mike Ross and other centrist Democrats met with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for the first time on Friday.
While the meeting was productive, Ross says it came several years late. He serves a co-chairman of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of Democrats with fiscally conservative ideas. (See link.)
Ross says Bush is receptive to the concerns of Democrats, including those regarding the Iraq war, earmark reform and alternative fuels. To Ross, Bush "really appeared to me he's speaking from the heart."
Ross says Bush wants to make something out of his final years of office. Ross says Bush doesn't want his last years to "be ineffective, and he still has work to be done."

http://www.house.gov/cardoza/BlueDogs/bluedogs.shtml


Iraq Study Group Can't Undo the Failures of Others
By Steve ChapmanDec 14, 2006
The report of the Iraq Study Group was eagerly awaited by many Americans, but no one was more thrilled to get it than staunch supporters of the Iraq war. Not because they agreed with what it said, but because they didn't. After all these years of haplessly defending a war that has been a dismal failure, they leaped at the chance to go on the attack.
Richard Perle, a leading neoconservative advocate of the invasion, sneered at the Baker-Hamilton commission for daring to propose negotiations with Iran and Syria. Middle Eastern scholar Fouad Ajami ridiculed its suggestion that we address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Johns Hopkins University professor Eliot Cohen accused the panel of "sheer fantasy" and said all we need to prevail in Iraq is "energy and competence in fighting the fight."
Energy and competence from an administration that stumbled into this quagmire with no idea what lay in store? Well, look who's fantasizing. He might as well invite Obi-Wan Kenobi and Princess Leia to join the struggle.
The amazing thing is that these great thinkers still have the nerve to show themselves in public, much less feign wisdom about how to conduct the war. Three long years ago, Perle airily assured an interviewer that "we will soon be turning Iraq over to the Iraqis" and that "they are capable of, with our help, handling their own security."
Ajami predicted that when we invaded, the streets of Iraq would "erupt in joy." Last winter, Cohen announced that in Iraq, "we have the right people at the top and the right policies in effect -- and even more importantly, the right philosophy behind it all." And they accuse the Iraq Study Group of not having a clue?
It should come as no surprise that having been given a pig, the commission has no formula for turning it into a princess. Its members don't pretend that our mistakes in Iraq can be undone easily, if they can be undone at all. The panel merely made a game effort to separate the bad options from the worse ones.
Any of the panel's 79 recommendations can be derided, but they deserve to be weighed against the alternatives. During the time we've spurned negotiations, Iran and Syria have fomented considerable violence in Iraq, and Tehran has made great progress toward a nuclear arsenal. Maybe we could do worse by talking to them, but it would be hard. And ignoring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- gee, that's worked out swell for everybody, hasn't it?
If the group's proposals are not likely to produce a happy outcome, that's only because nothing is likely to produce a happy outcome. Had supporters of the war been right about Iraq, we wouldn't need outside advice.
The administration is contemplating disaster partly because it screwed up so many things along the way, but mainly because the invasion was a doomed enterprise from the start. One thing we should have learned from the last century is that people generally detest foreign occupation. Another is that when resistance to occupation flares into full-fledged war or insurgency, the resistance almost always prevails in the end.
Look at the French in Algeria, the Americans in Vietnam, the Israelis in Lebanon (in the 1980s and '90s) or the Soviets in Afghanistan. Each had huge advantages in military might, but all failed.
The administration and its allies learned nothing from this history. So the United States now finds itself in a familiar dilemma. It can withdraw from Iraq, accepting failure and leaving chaos and civil war behind. Or it can stay and keep spending lives and money in a lost cause that has forfeited public support.
Supporters of the war think that's the fault of the public. Former House Republican Leader Tom DeLay complained that what happened in Korea and Vietnam may be happening in Iraq as well: "Our nation lost the will to fight the war."
But you can hardly expect the people to favor a war that is protracted, costly, launched on mistaken premises and so far unsuccessful -- especially when they were told it would be quick and easy. If the administration lacks public support, that's because the public can no longer believe this war will have a happy ending.
On that point, the public is right. The Iraq Study Group can be criticized for not offering a reliable path to victory. But that's like blaming Noah for the flood.
Barnes: Why Not Dick Cheney in 2008?By James Joyner Fred Barnes argues that, even though Vice President Cheney has been Shermanesque in his unwillingness to seek the presidency in 2008, President Bush should do everything he can to change his mind.
In all likelihood, the 2008 election, like last year’s contest, will focus on foreign policy. The war on terror, national security, and the struggle for democracy will probably dominate American politics for a decade or more. Bush’s legacy, or at least part of it, will be to have returned these issues to a position of paramount concern for future presidents. And who is best qualified to pursue that agenda as knowledgeably and aggressively as Bush? The answer is the person who helped Bush formulate it, namely Cheney.
He then notes that Condi Rice, the Bush foreign policy official often mentioned as a presidential possibility, “would face the distinct disadvantage of being a first-time candidate.”

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2005/03/dick_cheney_in_2008/


Economists: Greenspan too optimistic
www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-08 08:21:22
BEIJING, Mar. 8 -- When it comes to the US savings rate, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan may be engaging in a little "irrational exuberance."
Greenspan says Americans are poised to start socking away more savings, cushioning their own future and helping the US economy at the same time. He may be optimistic, say economists including Robert Shiller, a professor at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and the author of the 2000 book "Irrational Exuberance," about the 1990s stock boom and the phrase Greenspan made famous.
Concerning an increase in the savings rate, Shiller says, "I don't see any suggestion of it right now." Efforts to encourage savings "haven't been a big success," he says.
Greenspan told the House Financial Services Committee on February 17 that the national savings rate, "is probably going to prove a low point, and we will start to rise from here." Central bankers care because Americans' appetite to spend their money or invest in housing, rather than to build deposits that banks spread through the economy as loans, means the United States needs to rely more on an influx of foreign cash.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/08/content_2665434.htm


Our Common Cause: Money for aid, not war
9 March 2005March 20 marks the second anniversary of the start of the criminal war on Iraq. Today, Iraq lies in ruins; its own people have become prisoners of war and terror. The war and occupation has brought neither freedom nor democracy. The elections have done nothing to change this.
Already more than 100,000 Iraqis have been killed, almost as many as perished in the recent tsunami disaster. Iraq's infrastructure has been devastated and its environment polluted for thousands of years through the use of depleted uranium weapons.
The Iraqi people's resistance to the occupation is proof that the invaders have no legitimacy.
Following the military invasion, designed to secure strategic US economic and political interests, another began — a corporate invasion.
US companies, such as Halliburton and Bechtel, were awarded millions in reconstruction contracts, while qualified Iraqi businesses were sidelined.
Halliburton was awarded contacts by Saddam Hussien’s regime worth over $US70 million while US Vice-President Dick Cheney was CEO of the company. While Cheney has consistently maintained that as the company's CEO he maintained a firm policy that Halliburton would not do business in Iraq, a number of executives have claimed there was no such policy. Halliburton, like many other US companies got around the legal restrictions on dealing with Iraq by operating through subsidiaries. Bechtel, another major US corporation has been awarded 184 contracts out of 279 in Iraq by USAID.
John Howard's government, a key part of the “coalition of the willing”, is complicit in this murderous endeavour, with Australian troops an important part of the occupying forces.
A number of greedy capitalists in Australia were quick to take advantage of the destruction in Iraq. It wasn't long before Woodside announced plans to move into the war-torn country. Woodside CEO Don Voelte has announced that “the board has taken the view that countries like Iraq are special cases. There are just a few countries that have a capacity that if opened up to Western-style contracts we would certainly want to be there.”

http://www.greenleft.org.au/2005/618/35214


Washington close to decision on offering incentives to Iran: report(AFP)
28 February 2005

WASHINGTON - Washington is close to a decision on joining Europe in offering incentives to Iran in exchange for giving up plans to develop nuclear weapons, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
The new willingness comes after President George W. Bush’s talks with German and French leaders in Europe last week and a meeting with key cabinet members and Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday.
“There’s no timetable,” a senior State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, “but we’re looking for a decision.”
Officials told the Post that after “really good” meetings in Europe last week the White House “wants to move quickly to finalize a list of incentives to offer Tehran as part of European talks with Iran,” the daily said.
One of the main arguments for joining the diplomatic efforts was that Washington could be blamed if it does not and they fail, the Post said.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2005/February/middleeast_February841.xml&section=middleeast


Doggett Upset with Cheney Hunting Trip to Valley
He's in the Valley for a weekend hunting trip, but a Valley lawmaker is sounding off on the vice president Dick Cheney's trip to South texas.
Congressman Lloyd Doggett is voicing his disapproval of Cheney's visit to the 50,000 acre Armstrong Ranch in Willacy County.
Doggett says the only thing that can come out of this is free publicity for hunting in the valley and nothing else.
"South Texas is a great place to hunt, and I hope the Vice President's visit will encourage others to come here. Unfortunately, neither the Vice President nor the President have bothered to come to the Valley on official business since their first election," said Doggett.
"From their recent budget proposal it is apparent that neither has thought much about the Valley either."
Doggett, who was in the Valley for several days, says he didn't even know the vice president was going to be in the Valley until he saw it on news.



Who set energy policy?
California ratepayers' worst suspicions were confirmed when audiotapes were released the other day revealing that Enron plotted in January 2001 to take a power plant offline in a deliberate bid to jack up electricity prices during the worst of the energy crisis.
What few people may realize, though, is that just three months after the company's power-plant conspiracy, which resulted in rolling blackouts throughout Northern California, Enron was making its case to the White House for why the government shouldn't cap energy prices.
And Vice President Dick Cheney, who met with then-Enron Chairman Ken Lay in April 2001 and was handed a secret memo stating the company's policy wishes, subsequently echoed Enron's position on why price caps are unnecessary.
I obtained a copy of the three-page memo in early 2002 and showed that a number of Enron's recommendations either made it into Cheney's energy plan or were reflected in comments by senior Bush administration officials.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/02/09/BUG7RB7VEU1.DTL&type=business


Nethercutt joins lobbying firm
By MATTHEW DALYTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- Former Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., and former Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles are joining a lobbying firm headed by a former top White House energy adviser.
Nethercutt gave up his U.S. House seat last year to make an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Patty Murray.
Griles, who oversaw the Bush administration's push to open more public land to energy development, announced last month he was stepping down.
The pair are joining a firm headed by Andrew Lundquist, who led Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force in the Bush administration's first term.
The Lundquist Group LLC will be renamed Lundquist, Nethercutt & Griles LLC and will remain based in Washington.
In a statement, Nethercutt, who represented the Spokane area for five terms in the U.S. House, said his new job would continue a longtime interest in developing partnerships among the federal government, businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
Griles earned a reputation as a go-to broker in Bush's program to lease out vast oil, gas and coal reserves below federally owned land in the West.
During nearly half his four-year tenure at the Interior Department, Griles was investigated by the department's inspector general. Inspector General Earl Devaney concluded Griles didn't appear to violate ethics rules by arranging meetings between Interior officials and former clients and partners, or in the award of $1.6 million in contracts to a former client. But Devaney described Griles' behavior as an example of "an institutional failure" among Interior officials who potentially eroded public trust.
Griles continued to receive $284,000 a year, in addition to his Interior salary, as part of a four-year severance package from his former lobbying and consulting firm.
Lundquist also has been a controversial figure. In January 2001, Cheney named the Energy Department employee to direct a task force that wrote a national energy policy.
Environmental groups criticized the task force for holding secret meetings with the energy industry, but Lundquist has said he also met with conservation and consumer groups. The panel called for expanded oil and gas drilling on public land and rejuvenating nuclear power.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/210028_nethercutt31.html


Democrats to raise wages for poor workers
By Thomas FerraroReutersThursday, December 14, 2006; 8:40 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The incoming Democratic-led U.S. Congress intends to give a hand to dishwashers, fast-food cooks and America's other poorest-paid workers by raising the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade.
With the gap between rich and poor widening, Democrats promised such a pay hike as a part of their campaign that saw them win control of both chambers of Congress in the November 7 elections from President George W. Bush's Republicans.

Christer Fuglesang of Sweden reconfigures part of the international space station so the station can someday support a larger crew. ( NASA TV via Associated Press)With the new 110th Congress set to convene on January 4, Democrats vow a vote soon on a bill to raise the minimum wage over two years to $7.25 per hour from $5.15 per hour. And they seem positioned to make the popular measure law.
"This is a moral issue, as well as an issue of economic fairness and justice," said Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who will be the House of Representatives' Democratic majority leader.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121400402.html


New faiths are represented in 110th Congress
Buddhists and Muslim are firsts in history Monday, December 11, 2006
BY JONATHAN TILOVENEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON -- The new Congress will, for the first time, include a Muslim, two Buddhists, more Jews than Episcopalians and the highest-ranking Mormon in congressional history.
Roman Catholics remain the largest faith group in Congress, ac counting for 29 percent of all members of the House and Senate, followed by Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Jews and Episcopalians. While Catholics in Congress are nearly 2-to-1 Democrats, the most lopsidedly Democratic groups are Jews and those not affiliated with any religion. Of the 43 Jewish members of Congress, there is only one Jewish Republican in the House and two in the Senate. The six religiously unaffiliated members of the House are all Democrats.
The most Republican groups are the small band of Christian Scientists in the House (all five are Republican), and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints (12 Republicans and three Democrats) -- though the top-ranking Mormon in the history of Congress will be Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the incoming Democratic majority leader.
Baptists divide along partisan lines defined by race.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1165815675294600.xml&coll=1


Democrats study proposal for outside ethics panel
WASHINGTON: House Democrats are exploring the creation of an independent ethics arm to enforce new rules on travel, lobbying, gifts and other issues that Democrats intend to put in place on taking power next month.
Senior party officials said Tuesday that Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the incoming speaker, had consulted with Representative John Boehner of Ohio, the minority leader, on forming a bipartisan group to examine outside enforcement. The goal would be to have the group report back in the spring.
An independent congressional monitor, if approved, would be a major break with tradition. Some lawmakers say House and Senate members have sole responsibility for policing themselves when it comes to internal rules.
Some lawmakers have said an independent entity could be unconstitutional.
The Democratic officials, who spoke only if they would not be publicly identified because the proposal for the new panel was being presented to lawmakers, said the prominence of corruption as a concern in the elections last month had given new impetus to such an idea.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/13/news/congress.php



By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats taking control of Congress next month say they will try to ban for the remainder of fiscal 2007 the special-interest "pork" projects that got Republicans in so much trouble with voters in the November elections.
"We will place a moratorium on all earmarks until a reformed process is put in place," the incoming Democratic chairmen of the Senate and House appropriations panels, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin, said late on Monday.
The recent proliferation of billions of dollars worth of special-interest projects being attached to annual spending bills likely contributed to Republicans losing majority control of Congress in November elections.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-12-12T192010Z_01_N12346999_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-CONGRESS-FUNDING.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C3-politicsNews-2


About Face: Soldiers Call for Iraq Withdrawal
For the first time since Vietnam, an organized, robust movement of active-duty US military personnel has publicly surfaced to oppose a war in which they are serving. Those involved plan to petition Congress to withdraw American troops from Iraq.

(Note: A complete version of this report will appear next week in the print and online editions of The Nation.)

After appearing only seven weeks ago on the Internet, the Appeal for Redress, brainchild of 29-year-old Navy seaman Jonathan Hutto, has already been signed by nearly 1,000 US soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen, including dozens of officers--most of whom are on active duty. Not since 1969, when some 1,300 active-duty military personnel signed an open letter in the New York Times opposing the war in Vietnam, has there been such a dramatic barometer of rising military dissent.
Interviews with two dozen signers of the Appeal reveal a mix of motives for opposing the war: ideological, practical, strategic and moral. But all those interviewed agree that it is time to start withdrawing the troops. Coming from an all-volunteer military, the Appeal was called "unprecedented" by Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070101/cooperweb


Middle East questions stump Democrats' intelligence overseer
Suzanne Goldenberg in WashingtonWednesday December 13, 2006
The Guardian
Of all the things on the to-do list before the Democrats take control of Congress next month, one item seemed to have escaped the attention of Congressman Silvestro Reyes: read something about the Middle East.Mr Reyes, a Democrat from Texas, was chosen by party speaker Nancy Pelosi to chair the house intelligence committee, charged with the oversight of the CIA and other agencies.
So there was much chagrin when the congressman was unable to answer even the most rudimentary questions about militant Islamist organisations such as "Who is in al-Qaida", and "What is Hizbullah"?
Mr Reyes's lack of expertise was exposed by a columnist for the Congressional Quarterly, a political magazine. During an interview last week, the columnist, Jeff Stein, set Mr Reyes a quiz on the modern Middle East.The congressman stumbled when asked whether al-Qaida was predominantly a Shia or a Sunni organisation.
Mr Reyes guessed that the followers of the Saudi fugitive, Osama bin Laden, were primarily Shia.
In fact, al-Qaida is an extremist Sunni organisation, and many of its followers see Shia as heretics.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1970943,00.html


AFTER THE WAR: INTELLIGENCE; Expert Said to Tell Legislators He Was Pressed to Distort Some Evidence
By JAMES RISEN AND DOUGLAS JEHLPublished: June 25, 2003A top State Department expert on chemical and biological weapons told Congressional committees in closed-door hearings last week that he had been pressed to tailor his analysis on Iraq and other matters to conform with the Bush administration's views, several Congressional officials said today.
The officials described what they said was a dramatic moment at a House Intelligence Committee hearing last week when the weapons expert came forward to tell Congress he had felt such pressure.
By speaking out, they said, the senior intelligence expert, identified by several officials as Christian Westermann, became the first member of the intelligence community on active service to make this sort of admission to members of Congress.
The House Intelligence Committee was examining questions concerning the Bush administration's handling of prewar reports on evidence that Iraq had illegal weapons and ties to terrorist groups.
Mr. Westermann, officials said, is an analyst in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, a small but important office at the State Department that is intended to provide the secretary of state with intelligence analysis independent of the C.I.A. and other agencies.
Mr. Westermann told lawmakers last week that while he felt pressure, he never actually changed the wording of any of his intelligence reports.
He did not immediately provide lawmakers with details about his complaints, and it remains uncertain the degree to which his concerns related to Iraq or other regional issues.
Administration officials said his most specific complaints concerned issues related to intelligence on Cuba, and he has not yet provided similar specific complaints about the handling of intelligence on Iraq.
Mr. Westermann, who is in his mid-40's, has worked as a State Department expert on unconventional weapons for the last several years and is viewed within the department as a careful and respected analyst of intelligence.
An administration official said he had served previously as a Navy officer and had not worked for the C.I.A. or other intelligence agencies.
Mr. Westermann's decision to speak out has caused a stir inside the House and Senate intelligence committees, even though he did not go into details and indicated he was not comfortable doing so in front of the large group of officials around him in the House hearing. But he said he was prepared to discuss the matter further.
In a second hearing last week with the Senate Intelligence Committee, he made it clear that he had felt pressure from John Bolton, the under secretary of state for arms control and international security, that originally dated to a clash the two had over Mr. Bolton's public assertions last year that Cuba had a biological weapons program. Mr. Westermann argued those assertions were not supported by sufficient intelligence.
Mr. Bolton declined to comment on the matter. Mr. Westermann also declined to comment.
The State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, said tonight, ''We don't comment on closed hearings, but I can tell you that the secretary and deputy secretary have full confidence in John Bolton.''
A number of analysts at the C.I.A. and other agencies have privately complained over the past few months that they felt pressure from administration officials to write reports that they believe overstated evidence that Iraq had illegal weapons programs and terrorist links.
Mr. Westermann was one of a large group of officials from several intelligence agencies who had been summoned to appear at the opening session of the House intelligence panel's review on Iraq last week.
Addressing the group, Representative Silvestro Reyes, a Texas Democrat, asked whether any of them had felt political pressure in the development of their intelligence reports, which are supposed to be objective. All of the intelligence officials remained silent -- except for Mr. Westermann. Staff members from the House and Senate committees have begun to pursue the matter in greater detail with him, Congressional officials said.
Representative Jane Harman, a California Democrat and a ranking member on the House panel, declined to discuss the matter.
A spokesman for Mr. Reyes, Kira Maas, said, ''The congressman does not comment on closed hearing information.''
The failure of the United States to find evidence of Iraq's weapons programs or its links to Al Qaeda has raised questions about whether the administration overstated the threat posed by Baghdad as it made the case for going to war. Both the House and Senate intelligence committees have begun investigations into the matter, and the C.I.A. has begun an internal review of its prewar intelligence reports.
Pressure to politicize intelligence is often subtle and extremely difficult to corroborate or quantify. A number of analysts have said that the pressure they felt came in the form of intensive questioning from senior administration officials, particularly about reports that concluded that there was little evidence of links between Iraq and Al Qaeda.
A number of analysts have suggested that they felt less direct pressure on reports concerning the status of Iraq's unconventional weapons, but were angered that senior Bush administration officials selectively disclosed classified intelligence reports that supported the worst-case scenario concerning Iraq's weapons programs, making it seem as if there was an imminent threat to the United States.
The analysts believe that in some cases, White House and Pentagon officials made public statements about Iraq's weapons based on intelligence that was far from definitive.
An administration official said that Mr. Westermann had clashed repeatedly with Mr. Bolton.
A State Department official sympathetic to Mr. Bolton's views said of Mr. Westermann, ''He doesn't have anything that he can point to, and he doesn't have anything more recent than Cuba.'' That official added, ''We're in a period where people are looking for particular evidence of intelligence being altered, and he's talking about mood swings.''
But other administration officials said there had been ongoing tensions between the two since the Cuban issue first came up, to the point that Mr. Bolton has unsuccessfully sought to have Mr. Westermann reassigned.
Correction: June 27, 2003, Friday An article on Wednesday about Congressional committee testimony by a top State Department expert on chemical and biological weapons misstated the response of other officials from several intelligence agencies who were asked whether they had been pressured to tailor their analysis on Iraq and other matters to conform with the Bush administration's views. All said no; they did not remain silent.
Correction: June 28, 2003, Saturday An article on Wednesday about Congressional committee hearings on chemical and biological weapons misspelled the given name of a Democratic representative from Texas who questioned officials from intelligence agencies. He is Silvestre Reyes, not Silvestro.

http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=FA0F10F8385F0C768EDDAF0894DB404482


Republicans push tax bill through the House before Democrats take over
WASHINGTON – House Republicans, in a final display of majority power, pushed through a major tax break bill Friday, clearing a hurdle to passage before making way for a new Congress under Democratic control. After the 367-45 vote on the tax bill, the House moved to a trade measure that was to become part of a giant package it was sending to the Senate later in the day.
Whether the Senate could vote on Friday was in doubt, however, because of concern about spending and lingering opposition to trade provisions among senators from states with large textile industries. The tax measure includes $38 billion in tax breaks for businesses, higher education costs and schoolteachers as well as credits for alternative energy initiatives.
Congress must also act on a bill to keep federal programs funded through next February, concluding its work for the year. With that, the Republican control of Congress, lasting 12 years in the House, would be over, setting the stage for the 110th Congress to convene in January with Democrats in the majority in both the House and the Senate.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20061208-1253-congressrdp.html

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