The president we were warned about

Robert Scheer, Creators Syndicate

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

GEORGE W. Bush is the imperial president that James Madison and other founders of this great republic warned us about. He lied the nation into precisely the "foreign entanglements" that George Washington feared would destroy our experiment in representative government, and he has championed a spurious notion of security over individual liberty, thus eschewing the alarms of Thomas Jefferson as to the deprivation of the inalienable rights of free citizens. But most important, he has used the sledgehammer of war to obliterate the separation of powers that James Madison enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

With the "war on terror," Bush has asserted the right of the president to wage war anywhere and for any length of time, at his whim, because the "terrorists" will always provide a convenient shadowy target. Just the "continual warfare" that Madison warned of in justifying the primary role of Congress in initiating and continuing to finance a war -- the very issue now at stake in Bush's battle with Congress.

In his "Political Observations," written years after he had served as fourth president of the United States, Madison went on to underscore the dangers of an imperial presidency bloated by war fever. "In war," Madison wrote in 1795, at a time when the young republic still faced its share of dangerous enemies, "the discretionary power of the executive is extended ... and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people."

How remarkably prescient of Madison to anticipate the specter of our current King George, who imperiously is undermining Congress' attempts to end the Iraq war. When the prime author of the U.S. Constitution explained why that document grants Congress -- not the president -- the exclusive power to declare and fund wars, Madison wrote that "The delegation of such powers [to the president] would have struck, not only at the fabric of our Constitution, but at the foundation of all well organized and well checked governments."

Because "No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare," Madison urged that the constitutional separation of powers he had codified be respected. "The Constitution expressly and exclusively vests in the Legislature the power of declaring a state of war ... the power of raising armies," he wrote. "The separation of the power of raising armies from the power of commanding them is intended to prevent the raising of armies for the sake of commanding them."

That last sentence perfectly describes the threat of what President Dwight Eisenhower would describe 165 years later as the "military-industrial complex," a permanent war economy feeding off a permanent state of insecurity. The collapse of the Soviet Union deprived the military profiteers and their cheerleaders in the government of a raison d'être for the enormous war economy supposedly created in response to it.

Fortunately for them, Bush found in the 9/11 attack an excuse to make war even more profitable and longer lasting. The Iraq war, which the president's 9/11 commission concluded never had anything to do with the terrorist assault, nonetheless has transferred many hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars into the military economy. And when Congress seeks to exercise its power to control the budget, this president asserts that this will not govern his conduct of the war.

There never was a congressional declaration of war to cover the invasion of Iraq. Instead, President Bush acted under his claimed power as commander in chief, which the Supreme Court has held does allow him to respond to a "state of war" against the United States. That proviso was clearly a reference to surprise attacks or sudden emergencies.

The problem is that the "state of war" in question here was an al Qaeda attack on the United States that had nothing whatsoever to do with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Perhaps, to spare Congress the embarrassment of formally declaring war against a nation that had not attacked America, Bush settled for a loosely worded resolution supporting his use of military power, if Iraq failed to comply with U.N. mandates. This was justified by the White House as a means of strengthening the United Nations in holding Iraq accountable for its weapons of mass destruction arsenal, but as most of the world looked on in dismay, Bush invaded Iraq after U.N. inspectors on the ground discovered that Iraq had no WMD.

Bush betrayed Congress, which in turn betrayed the American people -- just as Madison feared when he wrote: "Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other."

U.S. Says Insurgent Leader It Couldn’t Find Never Was

U.S. Says Insurgent Leader It Couldn’t Find Never Was
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
BAGHDAD, July 18 — For more than a year, the leader of one the most notorious insurgent groups in Iraq was said to be a mysterious Iraqi called Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.

As the titular head of the Islamic State in Iraq, Mr. Baghdadi issued incendiary pronouncements. Despite claims by an Iraqi Interior Ministry official in May that Mr. Baghdadi had been killed, he appeared to have persevered unscathed.

On Wednesday, the chief United States military spokesman here, Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner, provided a new explanation for Mr. Baghdadi’s ability to escape attack: he never existed.

General Bergner told reporters that a senior Iraqi insurgent captured this month said that the elusive Mr. Baghdadi was actually a fictional character whose declarations on audiotape were read by a man named Abu Abdullah al-Naima.

General Bergner said the ruse was devised by Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the Egyptian-born leader of the insurgent group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Although the group is mostly Iraqi, much of its leadership is foreign, and Mr. Masri was reportedly trying to mask the outsiders’ dominant role.

The general’s briefing was part of an American effort to counter the psychological aspects of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia’s campaign as well as the military ones. The news conference seemed tailored to rattle the 90 percent of the group’s adherents who are believed to be Iraqi by suggesting that they were doing the bidding of foreigners.

General Bergner said that Mr. Masri’s ploy was to invent Mr. Baghdadi, a figure whose very name was meant to establish an Iraqi pedigree, install him as the head of a front organization called the Islamic State of Iraq, and then arrange for Mr. Masri to swear allegiance to him.

Adding to the deception, he said, the deputy leader in Osama bin Laden’s group Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri, publicly supported Mr. Baghdadi in a video and Internet statements.

The captured insurgent who was said to have alerted the Americans was identified as Khalid Abdul Fatah Daoud Mahmud al-Mashadani, who was said to have been detained by American forces in Mosul on July 4.

According to General Bergner, Mr. Mashadani is the most senior Iraqi operative in Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. According to some reports, he served in Saddam Hussein’s Special Republican Guard and later became an insurgent with the group Ansar Al Sunna. About two and a half years ago, Mr. Mashadani joined Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, where he served as the Media Emir, or publicity director, the general said.

General Bergner said that Mr. Mashadani was also an intermediary between Mr. Masri in Iraq and Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Zawahri, whom the Bush administration says are remotely supporting and guiding Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Critics of the administration have accused it of exaggerating the relationship between the groups, however.

An important part of the American strategy against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has been to drive wedges between the group, other insurgent groups and the Sunni population, and General Bergner’s briefing continued that theme.

“Mashadani confirms that al-Masri and the foreign leaders with whom he surrounds himself, not Iraqis, made the operational decisions,” General Bergner said.

As proof that Mr. Mashadani had been captured, the military displayed a picture of him and an identification card the general described as the false ID he was found with.

Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has fired its own shots in the publicity war. Videos have been issued under the banner of the Islamic State of Iraq that were said to show a bomb attack in Diyala on an American Bradley armored vehicle and an assault on an Iraqi military checkpoint.

In one recent statement, the Islamic State of Iraq made light of the American code name for its offensive in Baquba, Arrowhead Ripper, by saying that “the arrows have been returned to the enemy like boomerangs,” according to the SITE Institute, a United States group that monitors international terrorist groups.

Bruce Riedel, a former C.I.A official and Middle East expert, acknowledged that experts had long wondered whether Mr. Baghdadi actually existed. Still, Mr. Riedel suggested that the briefing on Wednesday may not be the final word.

“They say we have killed him,” Mr. Riedel said, referring to earlier statements by Iraqi government officials. “Then we heard him after his death, and now they are saying he never existed. That suggests that our intelligence on Al Qaeda in Iraq is not what we want it to be.”

Mr. Riedel said the military needed to guard against the possibility that Mr. Mashadani might be trying to protect a real person by telling the Americans that Mr. Baghdadi was imaginary. The military insists that Mr. Mashadani provided his account because he resented the role played by foreign leaders in Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. They say he has not repudiated the group.

A larger question is what influence senior Qaeda leaders, believed to be hiding in Pakistan, may have over the operations undertaken by Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. General Bergner said Mr. bin Laden’s group provided guidance and general support. By way of example, he said that three foreign fighters — Khail, Khalid and Khattab al-Turki — were dispatched to Iraq by Al Qaeda to help Mr. Masri strengthen his organization in the northern part of the country.

“There is a flow of strategic decision, of prioritization, of messaging from Al Qaeda senior leaders to Al Qaeda in Iraq leadership,” he said. But he did not provide any examples of a specific raid or operation that was ordered by Pakistan-based leaders of Al Qaeda.

An unclassified National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism made public in Washington on Tuesday indicated that there was some link between Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. But the intelligence estimates also suggest that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has some autonomy and described the Iraqi-based group as an “affiliate” of Al Qaeda.

A statement issued just last week in the name of a Mr. Baghdadi suggested that his group’s enemies were varied and that some were much closer to home. A tape, posted on a jihadist Web site, warned Iran to stop supporting Iraqi’s Shiites.

“We are giving the Persians, and especially the rulers of Iran, a two-month period to end all kinds of support for the Iraqi Shiite government and to stop direct and indirect intervention,” the statement read. “Otherwise, a severe war is waiting for you.”

Sheehan on Hardball: Impeach Bush and Chenye

Cindy Sheehan calls to impeach Bush/Cheney for 'war crimes'

David Edwards and Adam Doster Published: Tuesday July 17, 2007

The mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who camped out at President Bush's Crawford ranch to protest the war called for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney on MSNBC's Hardball Tuesday.

"Well, I would say the lies and deceptions that lead to an illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq that has lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people," she said when asked for a reason. "I would say breaking the FISA laws by spying on Americans without warrants that George Bush admitted to."

She also pointed to the "inadequate and tragic response" to Hurricane Katrina, the authorization of torture and the consolidation of power in the executive branch.

When asked why she thought the war was waged, Sheehan was quick to point to financial motives.

"I think it's for profit. It's for Halliburton. It's for Blackwater. It's for Standard Oil. It's for the war profiteers and that's why wars are usually waged."

Matthews asked Sheehan if she thought the President was guilty of war crimes.

"Absolutely," she said. "For authorizing torture, which is against the Geneva Conventions and against our own Eighth Amendment, and for spying on Americans without due process and for detaining human beings without due process, which is against the Geneva Conventions and our Fourth Amendment to the Constitution."

The following video is from MSNBC's Hardball, broadcast on July 17.

Harriet Miers rejects subpoena compliance deadline, shakes off 'contempt' threats

Harriet Miers rejects subpoena compliance deadline, shakes off 'contempt' threats

Former White House Counsel Harriet Miers has again rejected calls from the House Judiciary Committee to comply with a subpoena for her testimony on the firing of 9 US Attorneys in 2006 and 2007. The Committee had set a deadline of 5 PM for Miers to explain how she would comply with the subpoena.

"In light of the continuing directives to Ms. Miers and as previously indicated to your Committee, I must respectfully inform you that, directed as she has been to honor the Executive privileges and immunities asserted in this matter, Ms. Miers will not appear before the Committee or otherwise produce documents or provide testimony as set forth in the Committee's subpoena," wrote Miers' attorney, George Manning, in a letter delivered Tuesday to Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

A copy of the letter was sent directly to RAW STORY.

In his letter, Manning suggested that the prohibition on Miers' subpoena compliance was 'unequivocal.'

"The correspondence communicating these unequivocal directives has been previously provided to the Committee," he wrote. "The Subcommittee has demanded that Ms. Miers do precisely what the President has prohibited her from doing."

Conyers had set 5 PM, July 17, as the deadline for Miers to make her intentions known about complying with the committee's subpoena. The Judiciary Committee had warned last week that it would contemplate other actions, including criminal contempt proceedings, if Miers failed to comply with the subpoena.

In a statement released late on Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Conyers said the committee's next move was being planned.

"The subcommittee has overruled Ms. Miers' claims of immunity and privilege," he said. "Her failure to comply with our subpoena is a serious affront to this committee and our constitutional system of checks and balances. We are carefully planning our next steps."

But even if contempt charges were being planned, Miers appeared ready to stand up to the possibility.

"In fact, the cases cited in your letter confirm that the contempt statute is inapplicable to Ms. Miers," Manning wrote in the letter to Conyers. "None of these cases involves an assertion of Executive privilege and immunities at issue here. More importantly, as your letter acknowledged, these cases hold that the contempt statute does not apply where a witness has an 'adequate excuse.'"

Manning argued that Miers did in fact have such an 'adequate excuse' against complying with the subpoena, and that she also was not acting 'willfully' in contempt of Congress.

Manning's letter to Conyers can be downloaded at this link.

Conyers Threatens Contempt Proceedings against RNC Chair

Conyers Threatens Contempt Proceedings against RNC Chair
By Paul Kiel - July 17, 2007, 6:41 PM

Now on to the third development of this afternoon in the U.S. attorney firings subpoena battle.

On Friday, the House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to the Republican National Committee for the emails of White House staffers who used the RNC addresses -- the Justice Department emails show that Karl Rove and his aides often used the email addresses to communicate about the U.S. attorneys. The RNC has deferred to the White House on this, and the White House has in turn refused to turn over the emails, citing executive privilege.

The deadline to comply with the subpoena was this afternoon. And today, in a letter to the RNC, the White House said it needed more time, saying that attorneys had not yet had enough time to review all of the documents to establish whether to assert executive privilege. Emmet Flood, the special counsel to the President, wrote that the review should be done by July 31st. You can see the letter from the RNC's counsel to the committee and the White House's letter here.

Conyers accordingly agreed to postpone the subpoena deadline, but warned the RNC in a letter (see below) that "it would be improper for the RNC to refuse to produce subpoenaed documents in its possession based on an assertion of privilege by a third party" (i.e. the White House). It's not for the RNC to decide whether to hand the documents over, Conyers wrote -- if the White House wants to stop them, then the White House should do that in court.

But if the RNC still decides not to produce the documents, Conyers says that the committee may conduct contempt proceedings against RNC Chairman Robert Duncan.

If you're keeping track at home, that means the committee is now contemplating citing three separate figures with contempt: Harriet Miers, White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, and RNC Chairman Robert Duncan. And that's not counting the Senate Judiciary Committee's possible citation of Karl Rove's former aide, Sara Taylor. Phew.

Rep. Conyers' letter to the Republican National Committee:

July 17, 2007

BY FAX AND U.S. MAIL

Mr. Robert Kelner
Covington & Burling LLP
1201 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20004

Dear Mr. Kelner:

I am writing in response to your letter today concerning the subpoena for documents served on Mr. Duncan last Friday, July 13. Of course the White House does not have possession, custody or control of RNC documents, and accordingly we do not believe that the White House has any legal right to object to the production of documents from the RNC at this point. In any event, there has already been ample time for both you and the White House to prepare for the production of the documents requested. You will recall that we initially requested these documents on April 12, agreed to give the RNC until July 2 in part to provide additional time for consultation with the White House, and did not object to your request for another extension, until July 11, for purposes of such consultation. Nevertheless, our interest is in receiving the documents we have subpoenaed in order to proceed with our investigation and, as a further accommodation, I am willing to forbear efforts to enforce the Committee's subpoena until no later than 5 p.m. on July 31.

Your letter asks for additional time so that "specific determinations" can be made with respect to executive privilege. Accordingly, it is my expectation that by the time specified above, the Committee will receive the documents requested or, with respect to any withheld, will receive a document-by-document privilege log reflecting such "specific determinations." Your letter does not differentiate between the two categories of documents that you have previously refused to produce pursuant to White House objections, so we would expect to receive the documents or a privilege log with respect to documents in both categories.

I should also make clear that I believe it would be improper for the RNC to refuse to produce subpoenaed documents in its possession based on an assertion of privilege by a third party - in this case, the White House. Such a step would be precisely the type of "unilateral action" that your letter decries. I would note that in 1976, when AT&T received a House Subcommittee subpoena for documents to which the White House objected, the White House instructed AT&T to refuse to comply with the subpoena. However, AT&T "felt obligated to disregard those instructions and to comply with the subpoena," resulting in a lawsuit by the Administration to seek to enjoin such compliance.

To the extent that the White House wishes to object to our subpoena to the RNC as a private party, it therefore has ample opportunity to enforce its own asserted rights in court. If the RNC rejects the course followed by AT&T, and instead engages in "unilateral action" by simply refusing to comply with a House subpoena absent a court order, the refusal to produce the documents called for could subject Mr. Duncan to contempt proceedings, including but not limited to proceedings under 2 U.S.C. 194 and under the inherent contempt authority of the House of Representatives. I, of course, very much hope this will not occur and that your client will comply with the subpoena by the close of business on July 31.

Sincerely,

John Conyers, Jr.
Chairman

cc: The Honorable Linda Sanchez
The Honorable Lamar S. Smith
The Honorable Chris Cannon

"It's almost like the Richstag fire"

Bush like Hitler, says first Muslim in Congress

By Toby Harnden in Washington

Last Updated: 2:58am BST 17/07/2007

Keith Ellison, a convert to Islam, has cultivated a moderate image since being elected last November America's first Muslim congressman has provoked outrage by apparently comparing President George W Bush to Adolf Hitler and hinting that he might have been responsible for the September 11 attacks. Addressing a gathering of atheists in his home state of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, a Democrat, compared the 9/11 atrocities to the destruction of the Reichstag, the German parliament, in 1933. This was probably burned down by the Nazis in order to justify Hitler's later seizure of emergency powers. "It's almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that," Mr Ellison said. "After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it, and it put the leader [Hitler] of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted." To applause from his audience of 300 members of Atheists for Human Rights, Mr Ellison said he would not accuse the Bush administration of planning 9/11 because "you know, that's how they put you in the nut-ball box - dismiss you". Vice-President Dick Cheney's stance of refusing to answer some questions from Congress was "the very definition of totalitarianism, authoritarianism and dictatorship", he added. Mr Ellison also raised eyebrows by telling his audience: "You'll always find this Muslim standing up for your right to be atheists all you want." A convert to Islam who was previously linked to the extremist Nation of Islam, Mr Ellison, 42, has cultivated a moderate image since being elected last November, concentrating on issues such as health and education. He is an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. But he angered his own anti-war supporters by voting for a budget bill that aims to end the war over the next 18 months. His followers want an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. After his speech was reported, Mr Ellison said he accepted that Osama bin Laden was responsible for 9/11. But his demagogic comments threaten to plunge him in controversy. Mark Drake, of the Republican party in Minnesota, said: "To compare the democratically elected leader of the United States of America to Hitler is an absolute moral outrage which trivialises the horrors of Nazi Germany."

GOP senator to Rove: Bush legacy on the line in Iraq

GOP senator to Rove: Bush legacy on the line in Iraq

Voinovich told CNN he has warned Karl Rove that the president needs to salvage his legacy.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A Republican senator says he warned top White House aide Karl Rove that President Bush quickly needs to craft a workable plan to withdraw U.S. troops fom Iraq in order to salvage his legacy.

White House spokesman Tony Snow insisted last week that Bush’s GOP allies in Congress are not breaking with Bush over the war. But Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, told CNN that he warned Rove last week that “The president is a young man and should think about his legacy.”

He should know history will not be kind unless he can come up with a plan that protects the troops and stabilizes the region,” Voinovich said he told Karl Rove, whom Bush dubbed “the architect” of his 2004 re-election.

Voinovich added that other Republicans are close to speaking out against the President’s current strategy.

“I won’t mention anyone’s name. But I have every reason to believe that the fur is going to start to fly, perhaps sooner than what they may have wanted.”

In private, Voinovich is more blunt, using a profanity to describe the White House’s handling of Iraq by charging the administration “f—ed up” the war.

Voinovich stressed he expressed his views to Rove as a positive “opportunity” for the president to come together with Democrats and Republicans on an exit strategy that will be good for the country.

A White House spokeswoman confirmed to CNN that Rove, who speaks with Voinovich frequently, had the phone conversation with the senator last week and they did discuss the President’s legacy. But the spokeswoman declined to provide further details, citing Rove’s desire to keep phone conversations with senators private.

“I got into this to get them to move, and they’re moving,” said Voinovich, who is pushing for the president to put together a workable plan for withdrawing U.S. troops that will be ready in time for a September progress report on the military surge from Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

“I really think that they understand,” said Voinovich. “We’ll see by September what they put together. But the main thing is were running out of time — we should take advantage of this time.”

And while Voinovich is giving the White House some breathing space until September to receive the progress report from Gen. Petraeus, the senator is privately warning if there’s not a dramatic new strategy ready to be unveiled in the fall, he will endorse a Democratic plan mandating a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq within 120 days.

In June, Voinovich urged Bush to take a new tack in Iraq — one he dubbed “Plan E,” for exit. Voinovich called for a decrease in U.S. military engagement, coupled with a “surge” in diplomatic engagement.

His break with the White House came one day after another senior Republican, Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, delivered a dramatic Senate floor speech declaring the president’s current strategy was not working.

Since then, Voinovich said he has spoken to both Rove and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and is expressing some satisfaction that in the short term, the White House has heard his concerns.

– CNN’s Ed Henry and Dana Bash

Harriet Miers's empty seat

Miers’s empty seat.

Former White House counsel Harriet Miers’s chair sits empty today on Capitol Hill during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the U.S. attorney purge. As the AP notes, Miers “obeyed President Bush” and skipped the hearing.

Today, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) “ruled out of order Bush’s executive privilege claim that his former advisers are immune from being summoned before Congress,” clearing the way for contempt proceedings. The charge was upheld by the panel 7-5 vote.

Iraq 'Progress Report': More Than 50 Tortured Bodies Found in Baghdad, Officials Executed, Police Attacked

Iraq 'Progress Report': More Than 50 Tortured Bodies Found in Baghdad, Officials Executed, Police Attacked

Reuters Alternet, July 11th, 2007

* BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed at least 11 people when they locked them inside a house in the town of Garma west of Baghdad and then blew it up, the U.S. military said. A spokesman said it may have been a "vendetta attack" against the owner who is involved with the provincial security forces.

BAGHDAD - Police said they found 30 bodies on the streets of Baghdad, victims of sectarian death squads. They said eight bodies were found in the Sunni district of Doura alone.

GARMA - At least seven members of one family were killed when gunmen broke into their house in Garma, west of Baghdad, and planted explosives inside and blew it up, police said.

SAMARRA - The mayor of Samarra, a mainly Sunni city 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad, was shot dead, police said.

BAGHDAD - Police found 26 bodies in Baghdad on Tuesday.

BAGHDAD - At least four policemen were killed and two others wounded when gunmen attacked their patrol in northern Baghdad on Tuesday evening, police said.

ISKANDARIYA - At least two people were killed and 17 wounded when four mortar bombs landed in a residential area in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad on Tuesday evening, police said.

ISKANDARIYA - Gunmen killed a civil servant when they broke into his home in Iskandariya on Tuesday evening, police said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen attacked a police commando checkpoint, killing one policeman in the Saidiya district of southern Baghdad on Tuesday, police said. Eight civilians were wounded.

FALLUJA - A suicide motorcycle bomber attacked a police patrol on Tuesday, wounding two policemen in Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

HASWA - Police found two bodies showing signs of torture in Haswa, 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.

DIWANIYA - Gunmen killed a policeman inside his car in Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.

NAJAF - Gunmen on a motorcycle killed a police intelligence officer in northern Najaf on Tuesday evening, police said.

Go To Full Story

Leahy: Taylor’s Testimony ‘Undercuts’ White House Claims To Executive Privilege »

During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the U.S. attorney scandal today, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the chairman of the committee, asked former White House political director Sara Taylor, “did you speak with President Bush about replacing U.S. attorneys?” “I did not speak to the president about removing U.S. attorneys,” Taylor responded.

Taylor also acknowledged that she “did not attend any meetings with the “President where that matter was discussed” and that she was “not aware of a presidential decision document” in which the president decided to proceed with the firing plan.

In his closing comments, Leahy noted Taylor’s admission that she did not discuss the U.S. attorney firing plan with the President, saying it “seriously undercuts his claim of executive privilege if he was not involved.” “And that really shows, again, that the White House counsel’s broad instruction is not only unprecedented, but it’s unsound,” added Leahy. Watch it:

Leahy then mused on the White House’s possible motivations for asserting such a broad interpretation of executive privilege:

So I ask again, what is the White House so intent on hiding? If the president didn’t make these decisions, well then who did and why did they? Was it Mr. Rove or was it, as some of us feel, to corrupt law enforcement for partisan advantage, which would bother me far more than political machinations if it’s corrupting law enforcement?

So we’ll continue our efforts. We’ll keep trying.

(HT: TP commenter Marcus Aurelius)

BREAKING: Bush blocks Miers from appearing before House Judiciary Committee, contempt charges possible

BREAKING: Bush blocks Miers from appearing before House Judiciary Committee, contempt charges possible

After the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from former top Karl Rove aide Sara Taylor, the House Judiciary Committee announced that the White House has asked former Counsel Harriet Miers to not even appear before a similar hearing in the firing of 8 US Attorneys on Thursday.

The refusal to appear could open Miers to criminal contempt charges when the panel convenes tomorrow, according to a letter sent to her attorney.

"We are aware of absolutely no court decision that supports the notion that a former White House official has the option of refusing to even appear in response to a Congressional subpoena," says the letter from Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.).

Taylor appeared Wednesday before the Senate panel and answered some of its questions while refusing to answer others on executive-privilege grounds. Miers refusal even to appear Thursday, the letter states, "could subject Ms. Miers to contempt proceedings."

"I am extremely disappointed in the White House's direction to Ms. Miers that she not even show up to assert the privilege before the Committee," Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the committee's chairman, said in a statement released to RAW STORY. "We understand that the White House has asserted privilege over both her testimony and documents, and we are prepared to consider those claims at tomorrow's hearing."

Miers attorney, George Manning, informed the panel his client would not appear in a letter sent late Tuesday evening.

"It is disappointing that Ms. Miers has chosen to forego this opportunity to give her account of the potential politicization of the justice system," Rep. Linda Sánchez, Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law chairwoman added. "Our investigation has shown - through extensive interviews and review of documents - that Ms. Miers played a central role in the Bush Administration's decision to fire chief federal prosecutors.

Sanchez still called on Miers to testify.

"I am hopeful that Ms. Miers will reconsider the White House's questionable assertion of executive privilege and give her testimony on the firing of U.S. Attorneys," she said.

Guards steal $282 million from a bank in Baghdad

Guards steal $282 million from a bank in Baghdad

By Alissa J. Rubin

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

BAGHDAD: In an astonishing heist, guards at a bank here made off with more than a quarter-billion dollars on Wednesday, according to an official at the Interior Ministry.

The robbery, of $282 million from the Dar Es Salaam bank, a private financial institution, raised more questions than it answered, and officials were tight-lipped about the crime. The local police said two guards engineered the robbery, but an official at the Interior Ministry said three guards were involved.

Both confirmed that the stolen money was in American dollars, not Iraqi dinars. It was unclear why the bank had that much money on hand in dollars, or how the robbers managed to move such a large amount without being detected.

Several officials speculated that the robbers had connections to the militias, because it would be difficult for them to move without being searched through many checkpoints in Baghdad.

Otherwise on Wednesday, there was only scattered violence in the city, although 18 bodies were found by the police in different neighborhoods, signaling that sectarian killing had not ebbed.

In a village just north of Falluja, however, extremists in two vehicles, possibly in an act of revenge, forced the residents of a house inside, locked the doors and blew up the building. Eleven people died, according to a report by United States marines who operate in the area. The house is owned by a member of the local provincial security forces, which are fighting Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a homegrown Sunni Arab insurgent group that includes some foreigners.

In Mosul, an American helicopter returned fire after being shot at, but hit civilians, according to Brigadier General Abd al-Kareem Khalaf Juboori of the Mosul police. Two people were killed and 14 wounded, including two children.

The killing continued in Diyala Province, where American operations are under way to try to reduce the influence of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Three bodies were found with signs of torture near the town of Khalis; an army checkpoint was attacked with mortars; a local police station was attacked; and a roadside bomb killed an Iraqi Army soldier and wounded four others in Khan Beni Sa'ad, about 50 miles from Baghdad.

Iraqi solders at a checkpoint near the Syrian border seized a truck carrying 200 suicide vests. While the vests had not yet been loaded with explosives, a car filled with explosives was found nearby. The police suspect that the two were traveling together, said Major General Abdul Kareem Khalaf, an official at the checkpoint.

The government announced several measures to help repair the damage from the enormous truck bomb earlier this week in Amirli in northern Diyala Province. Families who lost one or more relatives will receive a payout of $2,400, and families that had a relative wounded will be awarded $800, said Abbas al-Bayati, a member of Parliament designated by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to oversee the area's reconstruction. Maliki also allocated $10 million to rebuild the remote village.

The Ministry of Trade announced it had begun a coordinated effort with the Defense and Interior Ministries to ship food to areas that insurgents had cut off, and was making Amirli a special priority, along with Rutba in western Iraq and Tal Afar in the north near Mosul.

The German Foreign Ministry announced the release of Hannelore Krause, who had been held hostage for 155 days by Iraqi insurgents calling themselves the Arrows of Righteousness. But her son, who is 20, was still being held, and in an interview on the Arabiya satellite television network she asked the German government to comply with the kidnappers' demands that her country withdraw their troops from Afghanistan.

"If they do not withdraw, they will slaughter my son," she said.

Meanwhile, the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants said Wednesday that the number of refugees worldwide increased by almost two million in 2006, pushing the total to nearly 14 million, the highest level since 2001, The Associated Press reported. Iraqis accounted for more than a third of the increase.

The committee, a nongovernmental group in Washington, said that of the 790,000 people who left Iraq last year, 449,000 went to Syria and 250,000 to Jordan. About 80,000 went to Egypt and 202 to the United States.

Cleric Flees After Death Threats

BAGHDAD, July 11 (AP) — An Anglican vicar who may have received a cryptic warning about the recent failed car bombings in London and Glasgow has fled Iraq after threats against his life, an associate said Wednesday.

The vicar, Canon Andrew White, a Briton who ran Iraq's only Anglican church, left Tuesday and returned to Britain, the associate said on condition of anonymity, saying the British Foreign Office had asked that it be the only source of information on the case.

The associate refused to elaborate on the threats. But the BBC Web site said pamphlets dropped in Shiite areas of Baghdad said Canon White was "no more than a spy."

Canon White had been working to secure the release of five British hostages who were seized at the Iraqi Finance Ministry on May 29 by gunmen wearing police uniforms.

On July 4, he told The Associated Press that he had met a man in Amman, Jordan, in April who was identified by religious leaders as a leader of Al Qaeda. The man told him, "Those who cure you will kill you."

Canon White said in retrospect that it might have been a warning of the plot to blow up car bombs in London and Glasgow. All the suspects worked in the medical professions.

Canon White had been visiting Iraq regularly since 1998 and remained here after the American invasion in 2003, holding services inside the Green Zone.

Democratic Presidential Candidates to Have First-Ever Gay Debate

The Human Rights Campaign's Joe Solmonese and Melissa Etheridge will question Democratic candidates in Los Angeles in a first-ever debate on gay issues, sponsored by LOGO and HRC. It will take place on August 9 and be broadcast live on LOGO as well as stream live at their website.

According to 365gay.com, "the panelists in a statement said they plan to cover a range of issues including relationship recognition, marriage equality, workplace fairness, the military, hate crimes, HIV/AIDS and other important issues."

In addition to questions from Solmonese and Etheridge, others will be able to participate by submitting questions through LOGOonline and HRC.

Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama have all confirmed they will take part in the debate.

Wash Post: Gonzales illegally lied to Congress AGAIN
by John Aravosis (DC) · 7/10/2007 02:41:00 PM ET
Discuss this post here: Comment s (84) · digg it · reddit · FARK · · Link

It's time the Congress did something final about Alberto Gonzales, our chief law enforcement officer who has repeatedly broken the law. It's a crime to lie to Congress. A crime Gonzales has committed repeatedly.

There's a reason that Democratic voters aren't happy with Democrats in Congress. We feel as if Democrats in Congress are missing opportunities. Gonzales' crimes are one such opportunity. Rather than have another hearing, or issue another statement calling on him to resign, why not do something about it? Appropriations season is coming up. Cut off all funds to Gonzales' office, or at least his salary. The GOP may filibuster the bill, let them. If it's filibustered, it dies, and so does Gonzales' salary. If the bill passes the Congress, Bush will threaten a veto. Let him. You control the appropriations, not Bush. If he vetoes the bill, we win, Gonzales still gets nothing.

Now, Bush will claim that we're hurting the war on terror by stopping the DOJ from getting its funding. Let him. You will give DOJ all the funding it needs, you simply won't give it Gonzales' salary, because he's a criminal. If Bush wants a massive showdown over the fact that he is insisting in keeping a criminal as the head of the Justice Department, we as Democrats should welcome that battle.

The reason Democratic voters are upset with Democrats in Congress is because we sometimes fear that you don't have backbone. Gonzales latest stint of criminally lying to Congress gives Democrats in Congress the opportunity they need to actually do something about a situation that needs some serious doing.

Don't just hold hearings and issue statements, don't just threaten and then back down at the last moment. Do something.

The Florida Times-Union

July 8, 2007

Files show talks on 'vote caging'

By J. Taylor Rushing,
Capital Bureau Chief

TALLAHASSEE - Internal city memos show the issue of Republican "vote caging" efforts in Jacksonville's African-American neighborhoods was discussed in the weeks before the 2004 election, contradicting recent claims by former Duval County Republican leader Mike Hightower - the Bush-Cheney campaign's local chairman at the time.
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"Caging" is a longtime voter suppression practice by which political parties collect undeliverable or unreturned mail and use it to develop "challenge lists" on Election Day.

The contradiction comes to light as the U.S. Justice Department continues to consider a June 18 request from two U.S. senators for an investigation into potential illegal voter suppression tactics in Duval County three years ago. A department spokeswoman said last week that the request is still being reviewed.

Hightower, in a Times-Union interview last month, said the controversial voter suppression tactic of "caging" was never raised in daily meetings hosted by former Duval County Supervisor of Elections Bill Scheu, and he had never heard "of that expression or that practice." Hightower said last week he stands by those recollections.

City officials have disputed that, saying Scheu's daily pre-election meetings with local Republicans, Democrats and African-American community leaders repeatedly included the topic. The city also released attendance records showing Hightower was present.

"This issue was raised during the 2004 election; the supervisor of elections and his counsel were aware of the allegations, discussed them at times during daily meetings with both political parties, and did not have any instances of challenges based on caging," Cindy Laquidara, chief deputy general counsel for Jacksonville, said in a June 20 e-mail to Duval County elections officials. The elections office was responding to a Times-Union public record request; the e-mail was obtained through a similar request.

Scheu told the Times-Union last week the caging issue "probably" came up during repeated discussions over vote challenges.

Hightower, however, stuck by his denial.

"I've never heard the phrase or the practice. I don't care what anybody says," he said. "That's their opinion. Mike Hightower doesn't remember that. Call it a senior moment."

"Vote caging" has a long history in politics. In one such procedure, a campaign will send out postcards to a particular group of addresses with instructions to return the mail. The campaign then creates a database of addresses that did not return the postcards and challenges the right of anyone registered at those addresses who attempts to vote on Election Day. The effect often dissuades turnout. The tactic is legal, but not if voters are targeted by race.

The 3-year-old allegation of caging in Jacksonville gained new life last month, when the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee received testimony indicating the GOP may have used the tactic in 2004.

Ann Farra, a former chairwoman of voter registration and education for the Duval County Democratic Party, said the fact no challenges occurred in 2004 is irrelevant, and Hightower was aware of the Bush-Cheney campaign tactics.

"This is like Bill Clinton saying he didn't have sex with Monica Lewinsky," Farra said. "Word had gotten out into the communities and caused people to stay away from the polls. Suppression was going on left and right."

jt.rushing@jacksonville.com,

(850) 224-7515

Conyers: Bush more helpful as impeach pressure mounts

Rep. Conyers predicts Bush cooperation as impeachment support grows

RAW STORY Published: Sunday July 8, 2007

Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, appeared Sunday on This Week with George Stephanopoulos to discuss his promise to hold hearings next week on President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's jail sentence. He also responded to questions on his committee's outstanding subpoenas in the matter of the US Attorney firings, offering the striking suggestion that growing public support for impeachment of the president might make the White House more inclined to cooperate.

Conyers began by explaining why hearings into the Scooter Libby commutation are appropriate, even though the president's pardon power is absolute. "What separates this from President Clinton's pardons, and anybody else's," said Conyers, "is that ... the president is not supposed to intervene until there has been an exhaustion of the appeal process. And here the president didn't wait. ... The suspicion was that if Mr. Libby went to prison, he might further implicate other people in the White House, and that there was some kind of relationship here that does not exist in any of President Clinton's pardons."

"You seem to be suggesting that President Bush commuted Mr. Libby's sentence in order to keep him quiet," said a surprised-sounding Stephanopoulos.

"That's what the general impression is," responded Conyers. However, he insisted that his committee was simply asking Bush to do what Clinton had done and release his lawyers from executive privilege so they could explain the commutation and and "put this kind of feeling, that is fairly general, to rest."

Stephanopoulos next asked Conyers what he intended to do in light of a Washington Post report that the White House plans to deny his request for documents on the US Attorney firings. Conyers refused to be drawn into speculation, replying that "we don't have any other choice" but to press ahead with the subpoenas.

Conyers emphasized that his committee is continuing to negotiate with the White House, and told Stephanopoulos, "We're hoping that as the cries for Cheney and Bush now reach 46% and 58%, respectively, for impeachment, that we could begin to become a little bit more cooperative, if not even amicable in trying to get to the truth of these matters."

"We're seeking cooperation," insisted Convers. This is not partisan in any way." He also told Stephanopoulos, "I didn't put impeachment on the table. I was just telling you that 46% of the American people polled want Bush impeached."

The following video is from ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, broadcast on July 8.

Gore kicks butt at Live Earth DC

washingtonpost.com

Gore Slams GOP Global Warming Doubters At Live Earth DC

U.S. Aborted Raid on Qaeda Chiefs

July 8, 2007

U.S. Aborted Raid on Qaeda Chiefs in Pakistan in ’05

By MARK MAZZETTI

WASHINGTON, July 7 — A secret military operation in early 2005 to capture senior members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas was aborted at the last minute after top Bush administration officials decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan, according to intelligence and military officials.

The target was a meeting of Qaeda leaders that intelligence officials thought included Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s top deputy and the man believed to run the terrorist group’s operations.

But the mission was called off after Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, rejected an 11th-hour appeal by Porter J. Goss, then the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, officials said. Members of a Navy Seals unit in parachute gear had already boarded C-130 cargo planes in Afghanistan when the mission was canceled, said a former senior intelligence official involved in the planning.

Mr. Rumsfeld decided that the operation, which had ballooned from a small number of military personnel and C.I.A. operatives to several hundred, was cumbersome and put too many American lives at risk, the current and former officials said. He was also concerned that it could cause a rift with Pakistan, an often reluctant ally that has barred the American military from operating in its tribal areas, the officials said.

The decision to halt the planned “snatch and grab” operation frustrated some top intelligence officials and members of the military’s secret Special Operations units, who say the United States missed a significant opportunity to try to capture senior members of Al Qaeda.

Their frustration has only grown over the past two years, they said, as Al Qaeda has improved its abilities to plan global attacks and build new training compounds in Pakistan’s tribal areas, which have become virtual havens for the terrorist network.

In recent months, the White House has become increasingly irritated with Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, for his inaction on the growing threat of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

About a dozen current and former military and intelligence officials were interviewed for this article, all of whom requested anonymity because the planned 2005 mission remained classified.

Spokesmen for the Pentagon, the C.I.A. and the White House declined to comment. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed about the planned operation.

The officials acknowledge that they are not certain that Mr. Zawahri attended the 2005 meeting in North Waziristan, a mountainous province just miles from the Afghan border. But they said that the United States had communications intercepts that tipped them off to the meeting, and that intelligence officials had unusually high confidence that Mr. Zawahri was there.

Months later, in early May 2005, the C.I.A. launched a missile from a remotely piloted Predator drone, killing Haitham al-Yemeni, a senior Qaeda figure whom the C.I.A. had tracked since the meeting.

It has long been known that C.I.A. operatives conduct counterterrorism missions in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Details of the aborted 2005 operation provide a glimpse into the Bush administration’s internal negotiations over whether to take unilateral military action in Pakistan, where General Musharraf’s fragile government is under pressure from dissidents who object to any cooperation with the United States.

Pentagon officials familiar with covert operations said that planners had to consider the political and human risks of undertaking a military campaign in a sovereign country, even in an area like Pakistan’s tribal lands, where the government has only tenuous control. Even with its shortcomings, Pakistan has been a vital American ally since the Sept. 11 attacks, and the militaries of the two countries have close ties.

The Pentagon officials said tension was inherent in any decision to approve such a mission: a smaller military footprint allows a better chance of a mission going undetected, but it also exposes the units to greater risk of being killed or captured.

Officials said one reason Mr. Rumsfeld called off the 2005 operation was that the number of troops involved in the mission had grown to several hundred, including Army Rangers, members of the Navy Seals and C.I.A. operatives, and he determined that the United States could no longer carry out the mission without General Musharraf’s permission. It is unlikely that the Pakistani president would have approved an operation of that size, officials said.

Some outside experts said American counterterrorism operations had been hamstrung because of concerns about General Musharraf’s shaky government.

“The reluctance to take risk or jeopardize our political relationship with Musharraf may well account for the fact that five and half years after 9/11 we are still trying to run bin Laden and Zawahri to ground,” said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University.

Those political considerations have created resentment among some members of the military’s Special Operations forces.

“The Special Operations guys are tearing their hair out at the highest levels,” said a former Bush administration official with close ties to those troops. While they have not received good intelligence on the whereabouts of top Qaeda members recently, he said, they say they believe they have sometimes had useful information on lower-level figures.

“There is a degree of frustration that is off the charts, because they are looking at targets on a daily basis and can’t move against them,” he said.

In early 2005, after learning about the Qaeda meeting, the military developed a plan for a small Navy Seals unit to parachute into Pakistan to carry out a quick operation, former officials said.

But as the operation moved up the military chain of command, officials said, various planners bulked up the force’s size to provide security for the Special Operations forces.

“The whole thing turned into the invasion of Pakistan,” said the former senior intelligence official involved in the planning. Still, he said he thought the mission was worth the risk. “We were frustrated because we wanted to take a shot,” he said.

Several former officials interviewed said the operation was not the only occasion since the Sept. 11 attacks that plans were developed to use a large American military force in Pakistan. It is unclear whether any of those missions have been executed.

Some of the military and intelligence officials familiar with the 2005 events say it showed a rift between operators in the field and a military bureaucracy that has still not effectively adapted to hunt for global terrorists, moving too cautiously to use Special Operations troops against terrorist targets.

That criticism has echoes of the risk aversion that the officials said pervaded efforts against Al Qaeda during the Clinton administration, when missions to use American troops to capture or kill Mr. bin Laden in Afghanistan were never executed because they were considered too perilous, risked killing civilians or were based on inadequate intelligence. Rather than sending in ground troops, the Clinton White House instead chose to fire cruise missiles in what became failed attempts to kill Mr. bin Laden and his deputies — a tactic Mr. Bush criticized shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Since then, the C.I.A. has launched missiles from Predator aircraft in the tribal areas several times, with varying degrees of success. Intelligence officials say they believe that in January 2006, an airstrike narrowly missed killing Mr. Zawahri, who hours earlier had attended a dinner in Damadola, a Pakistani village.

General Musharraf cast his lot with the Bush administration in the hunt for Al Qaeda after the 2001 attacks, and he has periodically ordered Pakistan’s military to conduct counterterrorism missions in the tribal areas, provoking fierce resistance there. But in recent months he has pulled back, prompting Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to issue stern warnings in private that he risked losing American aid if he did not step up efforts against Al Qaeda, senior administration officials have said.

Officials said that mid-2005 was a period when they were gathering good intelligence about Al Qaeda’s leaders in Pakistan’s tribal areas. By the next year, however, the White House had become frustrated by the lack of progress in the hunt for Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Zawahri.

In early 2006, President Bush ordered a “surge” of dozens of C.I.A. agents to Pakistan, hoping that an influx of intelligence operatives would lead to better information, officials said. But that has brought the United States no closer to locating Al Qaeda’s top two leaders. The latest message from them came this week, in a new tape in which Mr. Zawahri urged Iraqis and Muslims around the world to show more support for Islamist insurgents in Iraq.

In his recently published memoir, George J. Tenet, the former C.I.A. director, said the intelligence about Mr. bin Laden’s whereabouts during the Clinton years was similarly sparse. The information was usually only at the “50-60% confidence level,” he wrote, not sufficient to justify American military action.

“As much as we all wanted Bin Ladin dead, the use of force by a superpower requires information, discipline, and time,” Mr. Tenet wrote. “We rarely had the information in sufficient quantities or the time to evaluate and act on it.”

majority of Americans think Cheney should be impeached

New poll shows majority of Americans think Cheney should be impeached

A new video released Friday morning makes a three-part case for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney. Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films released the short film at their website ImpeachCheney.org.

The video comes the same day that a polling firm found a majority of Americans supporting impeachment of the Vice President. American Research Group, in a poll of 1,100 respondents taken from July 3-5, found that 54% of Americans favored impeachment. Only 17% of Republicans in the poll favored the impeachment of Cheney, while 76% of Democrats supported the move in the House of Representatives. However, of independents polled, a slight majority of 51%, also supported impeaching the Vice President.

The poll also reflected deep disapproval of President George W. Bush's commutation of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

The Brave New Films video, which is presented below, selects key Cheney media appearances and speeches that correspond with the three allegations of 'high crimes and misdemeanors' that are identified in H. Res. 333. The bill was introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), and accuses the Vice President of promoting false intelligence about the danger of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs as well as the relationship between the Saddam Hussein regime and al Qaida terrorists. It also accuses the Vice President of saber-rattling against Iran.

The film ends with Greenwald's usual message of "pssst...Do Something!"

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JFK Speech on Secret Societies and Freedom of the Press