Sunday, January 15, 2006
The Imperial Presidency at Work
The New York Times
The Imperial Presidency at Work
You would think that Senators Carl Levin and John McCain would have learned by now that you cannot deal in good faith with a White House that does not act in good faith. Yet both men struck bargains intended to restore the rule of law to American prison camps. And President Bush tossed them aside at the first opportunity.
Mr. Bush made a grand show of inviting Mr. McCain into the Oval Office last month to announce his support for a bill to require humane treatment of detainees at Guantánamo Bay and other prisons run by the American military and intelligence agencies. He seemed to have managed to get Vice President Dick Cheney to stop trying to kill the proposed Congressional ban on torture of prisoners.
The White House also endorsed a bargain between Mr. Levin and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, which tempered somewhat a noxious proposal by Mr. Graham to deny a court hearing to anyone the president declares to be an "unlawful enemy combatant." The bargain with Mr. Levin removed language that stripped away cases already before the courts, which would have been an egregious usurpation of power by one branch of government, and it made clear that those cases should remain in the courts.
Mr. Bush, however, seems to see no limit to his imperial presidency. First, he issued a constitutionally ludicrous "signing statement" on the McCain bill. The message: Whatever Congress intended the law to say, he intended to ignore it on the pretext the commander in chief is above the law. That twisted reasoning is what led to the legalized torture policies, not to mention the domestic spying program.
Then Mr. Bush went after the judiciary, scrapping the Levin-Graham bargain. The solicitor general informed the Supreme Court last week that it no longer had jurisdiction over detainee cases. It said the court should drop an existing case in which a Yemeni national is challenging the military tribunals invented by Mr. Bush's morally challenged lawyers after 9/11. The administration is seeking to eliminate all other lawsuits filed by some of the approximately 500 men at Gitmo, the vast majority of whom have not been shown to pose any threat.
Both of the offensive theories at work here - that a president's intent in signing a bill trumps the intent of Congress in writing it, and that a president can claim power without restriction or supervision by the courts or Congress - are pet theories of Judge Samuel Alito, the man Mr. Bush chose to tilt the Supreme Court to the right.
The administration's behavior shows how high and immediate the stakes are in the Alito nomination, and how urgent it is for Congress to curtail Mr. Bush's expansion of power. Nothing in the national consensus to combat terrorism after 9/11 envisioned the unilateral rewriting of more than 200 years of tradition and law by one president embarked on an ideological crusade.
America cannot win President Bush's much-vaunted war on terrorism as long as it is sending billions of dollars abroad for oil purchases every day.
The New York Times
Energy Impasse
Two weeks ago, a brief Russia-Ukraine squabble over natural gas pricing sent a tremor through Europe. One week ago, another tremor swept through the West - this time America joined in the shakes - when Iran broke open internationally monitored seals on its nuclear facilities, clearing the way for uranium enrichment activities that are a big step toward making a nuclear weapon.
These two events, in different ways, illustrate the dangers of relying as heavily as the West does on imported energy, much of it coming from chronically unstable countries. The United States, as the world's biggest and most profligate energy consumer, could do more than any other country to lessen this dangerous dependency, and in that way reduce the geopolitical leverage of capricious supplier nations.
In Europe, all it took was Russia's cutting the flow of the natural gas it pipes through Ukraine, ostensibly in a dispute over pricing and transit fees, to shake world energy markets and leave Europeans reviewing their reliance on Russia for energy.
Fast-forward one week, to last Tuesday, when Iranian officials, ignoring pleas and threats from Europe and America, broke the seals on its nuclear facilities. And why not? President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the clerics who run Iran know one thing that Western leaders also know but will not say: there is nothing the West can do because Iran has a bargaining chip - petroleum - that puts it out of reach. Iran is the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, after Saudi Arabia, and is home to some 10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves. Iran also has the world's second-largest natural gas reserves, after Russia's.
Iran has signed deals to provide natural gas to two emerging economic powers: China and India. India embarked last year on a gas pipeline project with Iran; in 2004, China signed a $70 billion oil and natural gas deal with Tehran. Those alliances are just a sign of things to come; as their economies grow, the Indians and the Chinese will become ever more hungry for energy resources.
That makes it much less likely that the United Nations Security Council, with China a permanent member, is ever going to agree to sanctions against Iran for pushing ahead with its nuclear program. But what if, by some miracle, America and Europe were able to persuade the Security Council to impose sanctions?
Well, slapping Iran with sanctions could very likely prompt Mr. Ahmadinejad and company to cut oil production in retaliation. Once upon a time, a drop in production from one OPEC member could be absorbed by the rest of the cartel. But today's global oil market is so tight, there is little spare capacity left. Any drop in production from a supplier can quickly send the price of oil soaring.
"There's no shock absorber left," says Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security. "That leaves us with zero options when it comes to leverage against these oil producers. Why do you think Hugo Chávez is so emboldened? Why do you think Ahmadinejad is saying, 'Go ahead, make my day?' "
Clearly, becoming less dependent on foreign sources should be among the West's - and most especially America's - most urgent priorities. But not in the way that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney seem to prefer, which is to try to drill our way out of dependency - an utterly impossible task for a country that uses one-fourth of the world's oil while possessing only 3 percent of its reserves, and whose once-abundant supplies of natural gas are now severely stressed. A much better answer would be a national commitment to more efficient vehicles and to the rapid deployment of new energy sources like biofuels.
America cannot win President Bush's much-vaunted war on terrorism as long as it is sending billions of dollars abroad for oil purchases every day. It cannot establish democracy in the Middle East because governments rich in oil revenue do not want democracy. And it will never have the geopolitical leverage it needs as long as it is dependent on unstable foreign sources for fuel.
William M. Byrne Jr., 75, Judge in the Ellsberg Leak Case, Dies
The New York Times
William M. Byrne Jr., 75, Judge in the Ellsberg Leak Case, Dies
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 14 (AP) - William Matthew Byrne Jr., the federal judge who presided over the trial of Daniel Ellsberg for leaking the Pentagon Papers in the 1970's, died here Thursday night. He was 75.
Judge Byrne's death was announced by Alicemarie Stotler, chief judge of the federal court for the Los Angeles-based Central District. The Los Angeles Times reported that the cause was pulmonary fibrosis.
Although he worked as a federal prosecutor and was named by President Richard M. Nixon in 1970 to head the Commission on Campus Unrest, Judge Byrne is best remembered as the Pentagon Papers judge. He got the case the same year he arrived on the bench.
Daniel Ellsberg, a military analyst, and a co-defendant, Anthony J. Russo Jr., were charged with espionage, theft and conspiracy for leaking to The New York Times a secret study of American involvement in the Vietnam War that became known as the Pentagon Papers.
Judge Byrne dismissed the case in 1973, ruling that the government was guilty of misconduct, including a break-in at the office of Mr. Ellsberg's psychiatrist that was orchestrated by White House officials seeking to discredit him.
Mr. Ellsberg learned of Judge Byrne's death as he was attending a conference of First Amendment lawyers in Palm Desert, Calif. where he took part in a panel discussion of the Pentagon Papers.
"His dismissal of all charges against Tony Russo and myself with the eloquent denunciation of government misconduct, in which he said it offends a sense of justice, gave my wife and me one of the best days of our lives," Mr. Ellsberg said.
At the trial, it was disclosed that Judge Byrne had twice met with John Ehrlichman, a top Nixon adviser, to discuss an offer to become director of the F.B.I. Nixon, who had appointed Judge Byrne to the federal bench, had himself met briefly with the judge at his Western White House in San Clemente, Calif.
Judge Byrne said that the trial had never been discussed and that he had declined to consider any future government positions while the case was pending. But he received much criticism for attending the meetings, and he was never again mentioned as a candidate for high public office.
He remained on the federal bench for the rest of his career and was chief judge of the Central District from 1994 to 1998, the same position that his father, William Byrne Sr., had held years before.
After earning his law degree from the University of Southern California, William Byrne clerked for a federal judge before enlisting in the Air Force. President Lyndon B. Johnson named him a United States attorney in 1967.
In 1970, with the American invasion of Cambodia and the Vietnam War leading to student protests and violence like the Kent State University shootings, Nixon created the President's Commission on Campus Unrest and chose Mr. Byrne as its executive director.
After public hearings, the commission issued a report concluding that Americans were dangerously polarized. The report condemned both the police and antiwar protesters for engaging in violent behavior. "Students who bomb and burn are criminals," it said. "Police and National Guardsmen who needlessly shoot or assault students are criminals."
Judge Byrne, who never married, is survived by several nieces and nephews.
Hundreds Honor McCarthy as Man Who Changed History
The New York Times
Hundreds Honor McCarthy as Man Who Changed History
By JOHN FILES
WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 - Eugene J. McCarthy, the Minnesota senator who upended President Lyndon B. Johnson's re-election effort amid the Vietnam War tumult of 1968, was remembered at a service on Saturday as a man of sharp intellect, broad curiosity and a deep sense of justice and compassion.
An audience of about 800, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, Ralph Nader and John D. Podesta, President Bill Clinton's last chief of staff, gathered at the National Cathedral here, where lawmakers, relatives and friends spoke of a humble and independent-minded leader who opposed the Vietnam War and believed that politics could make a difference in the lives of ordinary citizens.
Mr. Clinton, who eulogized Mr. McCarthy, said he had been instrumental in building pressure to stop the war.
"It all began with Gene McCarthy's willingness to stand alone and turn the tide of history," Mr. Clinton said.
With the war taking thousands of American and Vietnamese lives, Mr. McCarthy, an unabashed liberal, stoked a national debate over the war and over the model of an all-powerful presidency. He challenged Johnson in the New Hampshire primary in 1968, and Johnson, facing almost certain defeat, withdrew from the race. The Democratic party machine then forced the nomination of Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey to face President Richard M. Nixon. But Mr. McCarthy became the quintessential candidate of the Vietnam War protest movement.
"We do not need presidents who are bigger than the country, but rather ones who speak for it and support it," Mr. McCarthy told his supporters, the "Clean for Gene" legions who embraced his candor.
On Saturday, Mr. Clinton spoke of Mr. McCarthy's central role in the upheaval that occurred in 1968, a year during which Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated. "One thing remained constant," Mr. Clinton said. "The country had turned against the war."
Mr. McCarthy died last month of complications related to Parkinson's disease at an assisted-living home in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood. He was 89.
Mr. McCarthy took on a contrarian role in the Democratic Party, even endorsing Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate for president in 1980, rather than Jimmy Carter. Indeed, in 1998 Mr. McCarthy called for the resignation of President Clinton, who he said had "been running a pretty messy presidency in terms of constitutionality and tradition."
He was a habitual presidential campaigner, running in 1972, 1976, 1988 and 1992. Some of the audience wore McCarthy campaign buttons and nodded approvingly at the testimonials. Others were there for a bit of a history lesson.
Bill Gallery, 23, who lives in Washington and works at an international development firm in Bethesda, Md., said: "I had read about McCarthy, and I knew about his role in Democratic and progressive politics. But I thought it would be interesting and, well, educational to come and hear those who knew him."
Representative James L. Oberstar, Democrat of Minnesota, told the audience, "Gene McCarthy showed us moral force in politics without preaching."
Two of Mr. McCarthy's children, Michael and Ellen, also spoke at the service. Mr. McCarthy's son joked that his father had once suggested the Freedom of Information Act ought to afford people the right to review their obituaries before they die.
"He thought it would make reporters be more careful," he recalled his father saying.
Saddam judge threatens to quit at govt pressure
Reuters
Saddam judge threatens to quit at govt pressure
By Mariam Karouny
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The chief judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein has tendered his resignation in protest at political interference, casting fresh doubt on the U.S.-backed Iraqi government's ability to ensure a fair trial.
A source close to Kurdish judge Rizgar Amin told Reuters on Saturday that tribunal officials were trying to talk him out of his decision but he was reluctant to stay on because Shi'ite leaders had criticized him for being "soft" on Saddam in court.
"He tendered his resignation to the court a few days ago but the court rejected it. Now talks are under way to convince him to go back on his decision," the source said. "He's under a lot of pressure; the whole court is under political pressure."
"He had complaints from the government that he was being too soft in dealing with Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants. They (government leaders) want things to go faster."
Technically the departure of the presiding magistrate on the five-judge panel can be overcome by appointing a substitute; but Amin's complaints about government interference may do lasting damage to the credibility of the Iraqi High Tribunal.
The killing of two defense lawyers had already highlighted problems with the process amid a virtual civil war between Saddam's fellow minority Sunni Arabs and the U.S.-sponsored government, run by Shi'ite Muslims and ethnic Kurds intent on quickly hanging a man they say massacred their peoples.
International human rights lawyers have urged U.S. officials and the new Iraqi government to send Saddam and his aides to an international court abroad while the defense has branded the proceedings "victor's justice" imposed under U.S. occupation.
"The defense team has long warned about the dangers of political pressure that has undermined the court's independence and integrity," Saddam's chief attorney, Khalil Dulaimi, said.
"We expect the political pressures to mount on the court after ... the farce it has turned out to be," he told Reuters.
Miranda Sissons, who has observed the trial for the New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice, said that if Amin quit: "Public faith in the tribunal will have disappeared ... It will be a signal to the Iraqi public that political pressure on the tribunal has had an effect."
RELUCTANT
The source close to Amin said: "There's too much pressure ... it is a question of integrity ... I am not sure if he will go back on his decision. I don't think it's possible."
Amin, 48, told Reuters in November his family was worried about him and he had taken on two bodyguards after pressure from friends. But he stressed: "A judge should never be afraid."
Spokesmen for the High Tribunal were not available for comment on a weekend following the Eid al-Adha holiday.
In the first trial, which has sat for seven days since October 19 and is due to resume on January 24, Saddam and seven others are charged with crimes against humanity in the deaths of over 140 Shi'ite men after an assassination attempt on Saddam in 1982.
After hearings last month, some observers criticized Amin for allowing Saddam to speak at length, making allegations, including of maltreatment at American hands.
The judge, whose dry wit and courteous manner have been features of the proceedings so far, rejected the criticism and insisted the defense should have a fair hearing.
ELECTION
Al Qaeda claimed Friday's shooting down of a U.S. helicopter that killed the two crew. U.S. commanders have warned of an increase in violence when election results come out next week.
International experts investigating Sunni complaints of fraud in the December 15 vote will deliver preliminary findings on Sunday or Monday, the head of the team said. An election official said he hoped for final election results within a week.
An almost final tally of parliamentary seats, obtained by Reuters, confirmed Sunni parties would have about a fifth of the seats, while the dominant Shi'ite Islamist Alliance would fall only a few seats short of retaining its slim absolute majority.
A British journalist recounted a brush with Iraq's feared kidnap gangs, writing in several newspapers how U.S. troops stumbled across him five days after he was seized in Baghdad on December 26 and forced to make a video calling on the British government to pull its troops out of Iraq.
While Phil Sands, 28, was counting his blessings, another freelance journalist, American Jill Carroll, was still missing a week after she was snatched by gunmen in the Iraqi capital.
(Additional reporting by Twana Osman in Sulaimaniya, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Firouz Sedarat in Dubai and Alastair Macdonald, Mussab Al-Khairalla and Ross Colvin in Baghdad)
US decries Palestinian map display at U.N. event
Reuters
US decries Palestinian map display at U.N. event
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador John Bolton has complained to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan about an annual U.N. event where a map of pre-1948 Palestine, an area that now comprises the state of Israel, is displayed.
"It was entirely inappropriate for this map to be used. It can be misconstrued to suggest that the United Nations tacitly supports the abolition of the state of Israel," Bolton said.
"Given that we now have a world leader pursuing nuclear weapons who is calling for the state of Israel to be 'wiped off the map,' the issue has even greater salience," he said in a January 3 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters on Friday. The letter was first reported in the New York Sun.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said in October the Jewish state should be "wiped off the map," has denied pursuing nuclear arms.
Annan at the time expressed dismay about the Iranian leader's comment and later canceled a planned trip to Tehran.
Bolton's letter complained about the symbolism of Annan attending the latest International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, held last November 29, along with General Assembly President Jan Eliasson and Russian Ambassador Andrei Denisov, the Security Council president for November.
He questioned whether the United Nations could promote the event when U.S. law prohibits funding such events. Washington's dues cover about a quarter of the regular U.N. budget.
Annan's office was preparing a response to the letter, U.N. chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
He said the secretary-general was grateful that Bolton and others had brought the matter to his attention and had raised the matter of the map with the General Assembly's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which stages the annual event.
It was not Annan but the committee that decided in 1981 to display the pre-1948 map at the annual event, he said.
"This gives a very unfortunate impression that the United Nations favors replacing Israel by a single Palestinian state, which is not the case," he said, stressing that Annan regularly describes Israel as a full U.N. member and strongly disapproved of the Iranian president's comments.
The United Nations is a member of the quartet of international mediators pursuing a road map to Middle East peace along with the United States, European Union and Russia.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
A Protest, a Spy Program and a Campus in an Uproar
The New York Times
A Protest, a Spy Program and a Campus in an Uproar
By SARAH KERSHAW
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The protest was carefully orchestrated, planned for weeks by Students Against War during Friday evening meetings in a small classroom on the University of California campus here.
So when the military recruiters arrived for the job fair, held in an old dining hall last April 5 - a now fateful day for a scandalized university - the students had their two-way radios in position, their cyclists checking the traffic as hundreds of demonstrators marched up the hilly roads of this campus on the Central Coast and a dozen moles stationed inside the building, reporting by cellphone to the growing crowd outside.
"Racist, sexist, antigay," the demonstrators recalled shouting. "Hey, recruiters, go away!"
Things got messy. As the building filled, students storming in were blocked from entering. The recruiters left, some finding that the tires of their vehicles had been slashed. The protesters then occupied the recruiters' table and, in what witnesses described as a minor melee, an intern from the campus career center was injured.
Fast forward: The students had left campus for their winter vacation in mid-December when a report by MSNBC said the April protest had appeared on what the network said was a database from a Pentagon surveillance program. The protest was listed as a "credible threat" - to what is not clear to people around here - and was the only campus action among scores of other antimilitary demonstrations to receive the designation.
Over the winter break, Josh Sonnenfeld, 20, a member of Students Against War, or SAW, put out the alert. "Urgent: Pentagon's been spying on SAW, and thousands of other groups," said his e-mail message to the 50 or so students in the group.
Several members spent the rest of their break in a swirl of strategy sessions by telephone and e-mail, and in interviews with the news media. Since classes began on Jan. 5, they have stepped up their effort to figure out whether they are being spied on and if so, why.
Students in the group said they were not entirely surprised to learn that the federal government might be spying on them.
"On the one hand, I was surprised that we made the list because generally we don't get the recognition we deserve," Mr. Sonnenfeld said. "On the other hand, it doesn't surprise me because our own university has been spying on us since our group was founded. This nation has a history of spying on political dissenters."
The April protest, at the sunny campus long known for surfing, mountain biking and leftist political activity, drew about 300 of the university's 13,000 students, organizers said. (Students surmise that, these days, they are out-agitating their famed anti-establishment peers at the University of California, Berkeley, campus, 65 miles northwest of here.)
"This is the war at home," said Jennifer Low, 20, a member of the antiwar group. "So many of us were so discouraged and demoralized by the war, a lot of us said this is the way we can stop it."
A Department of Defense spokesman said that while the Pentagon maintained a database of potential threats to military installations, military personnel and national security, he could not confirm that the information released by MSNBC was from the database. The spokesman, who said he was not authorized to be quoted by name, said he could not answer questions about whether the government was or had been spying on Santa Cruz students.
California lawmakers have demanded an explanation from the government. Representative Sam Farr, a Democrat whose district includes Santa Cruz, was one of several who sent letters to the Bush administration. "This is a joke," Mr. Farr said in an interview. "There is a protest du jour at Santa Cruz."
"Santa Cruz is not a terrorist town," he added. "It's an activist town. It's essentially Berkeley on the coast."
The university's chancellor, Denise D. Denton, said, "We would like to know how this information was gathered and understand better what's going on here."
"Is this something that happens under the guise of the new Patriot Act?" Ms. Denton asked.
As to the students' insistence that the university is monitoring their activities, Ms. Denton said that she had checked with campus police and other university offices and that "there is absolutely no spying going on."
The antiwar group is working closely with the California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which plans to file a public records request with the federal government on the students' behalf, A.C.L.U. officials said.
Meanwhile, members of the campus's College Republicans, strongly critical of the protesters' tactics last April, are rolling their eyes at all the hubbub.
"I think it's worth looking into, but right now I think they are overblowing it," said Chris Rauer, internal vice president of the College Republicans. "I think people are taking their anger over the war out on this."
The Defense Department has issued a statement saying that in October the Pentagon began a review of its database to ensure that the reporting system complied with federal laws and to identify information that might have been improperly entered. All department personnel involved in gathering intelligence were receiving "refresher" training on the laws and policies, the statement said.
With this happening in academia, there has been a good deal of philosophical contemplation and debate over the socioeconomic and political dynamics underlying the uproar.
"I had multiple reactions," said Faye J. Crosby, a professor of social psychology and chairwoman of the Academic Senate.
"One reaction was, 'Gosh, I wonder if we're doing something right?' " Professor Crosby said. "Another reaction was it's a waste of taxpayer money. What are we a threat to?"
"The real sadness," she added, "is the breakdown in discourse of the marketplace of ideas."
Bush Rejects New German Leader's Suggestion to Close Guantanamo Prison
ABC News
Bush Rejects Call to Shut Gitmo Prison
Bush Rejects New German Leader's Suggestion to Close Guantanamo Prison
By ANNE GEARAN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush rejected a suggestion by Germany's new leader that the U.S. close its prison at Guantanamo Bay, saying after a first meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday that the facility is "a necessary part of protecting the American people."
Guantanamo has become a symbol in Europe for what many people see as Bush administration excesses in hunting down and interrogating potential terrorists. At least one German is among about 500 foreign-born men held indefinitely at the prison camp on Cuba's eastern tip.
"So long as the war on terror goes on, and so long as there's a threat, we will inevitably need to hold people that would do ourselves harm," Bush said at a White House press conference with Merkel.
The United States says the detainees are suspected Taliban or al-Qaida operatives or soldiers, but lawyers and rights groups say many were victims of circumstance who are not violent.
Bush and Merkel both had tough warnings for Iran over its nuclear brinksmanship.
"We will not be intimidated by a country such as Iran," Merkel said. She also condemned statements by Iran's leader challenging Israel's right to exist.
Iran threatened Friday to end surprise inspections and other cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency if it is hauled before the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program. The country's new hardline president vowed his country won't be cowed by sanctions the council could impose.
Iran's tough line came as Europe and the United States were trying to build support for taking Iran's case to the Security Council. They faced resistance from China, which warned that the move could only escalate the confrontation.
"Iran armed with a nuclear weapon poses a grave threat to the security of the world," Bush said as he praised Germany for trying to help solve the crisis.
"We want an end result to be acceptable, which will yield peace, which is that the Iranians not have a nuclear weapon with which to blackmail ... or threaten the world," Bush said.
The two leaders seemed determined to get off to a good start after chilly relations between Washington and Berlin under Merkel's predecessor, the staunch Iraq war opponent Gerhard Schroeder. Their discussions also included Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans.
Bush was fulsome in his praise of Merkel as smart, spirited and "plenty capable."
Merkel smiled, but showed she is no pushover. Both she and Bush called their 45-minute, one-on-one session "candid," diplomatic code for a meeting with real debate and differences.
"We also openly addressed that there sometimes have been differences of opinion," Merkel told reporters. "I mentioned Guantanamo in this respect."
Merkel said last week that while she thinks the prison should not remain open indefinitely, she did not plan to demand its closure when she met with Bush.
"We addressed this issue openly," Merkel said. "And I think it's, after all, only one facet in our overall fight against terrorism."
That is a fight Merkel said Germany agrees is vital, although "there may sometimes be differences as to the acuteness of that danger ... and how we face up to this threat."
Neither Bush nor Merkel mentioned the outrage in Europe over reports that the CIA operated secret prisons there, where terrorism detainees may have been mistreated in violation of European or international human rights law.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice faced a welter of questions on that topic when she visited Berlin and other European capitals in December, and public opinion in Europe remains strongly skeptical of Washington's motives and tactics in the terror fight.
The Guantanamo prison opened four years ago, after a U.S.-led force ousted the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and scattered an extensive al-Qaida terror network in the country.
Dozens of prisoners have gone on hunger strikes a sign, according to U.N. officials and rights groups, that some have lost hope.
Bush challenged reporters to tour the base and see for themselves "how the folks that are being detained there are treated."
"These are people picked up off a battlefield who want to do harm," Bush said, adding that "a lot of folks have been released from Guantanamo."
Of the approximately 760 prisoners brought to Guantanamo since 2002, the military has released 180. It also has transferred 76 to the custody of other countries, such as Australia, Britain, Kuwait, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Only nine have been charged with a crime, and their cases are to go before special military tribunals that many lawyers say lack basic legal protections for defendants.
On the Net:
White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov
Swift Boat Liars Redux
washingtonpost.com
Web Site Attacks Critic of War
Opponents Question Murtha's Medals
By Howard Kurtz and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), the former Marine who is an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, has become the latest Democrat to have his Vietnam War decorations questioned.
In a tactic reminiscent of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth assault on Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) during the 2004 presidential campaign, a conservative Web site yesterday quoted Murtha opponents as questioning the circumstances surrounding the awarding of his two Purple Hearts.
David Thibault, editor in chief of the Cybercast News Service, said the issue of Murtha's medals from 1967 is relevant now "because the congressman has really put himself in the forefront of the antiwar movement." Thibault said: "He has been placed by the Democratic Party and antiwar activists as a spokesman against the war above reproach."
Cindy Abram, a spokeswoman for Murtha, said, "We certainly believe that the questions being raised are an attempt to distract attention from what's happening in Iraq." As for how Murtha won the Purple Hearts, she said: "We think the congressman's record is clear. We have the documentation, the paperwork that proves that he earned them, and that he is entitled to wear them proudly."
Cybercast is part of the conservative Media Research Center, run by L. Brent Bozell III, who accused some in the media of ignoring the Swift Boat charges, but Thibault said it operates independently. He said the unit, formerly called the Conservative News Service, averages 110,000 readers, mainly conservative, and provides material for other Web sites such as GOPUSA. "We won't run anything against anybody if we don't have the goods," he said.
Former representative Don Bailey (D-Pa.), who was quoted in the article, confirmed his account to The Washington Post yesterday.
In a conversation on the House floor in the early 1980s, said Bailey, who won a Silver Star and three Bronze Stars in Vietnam, Murtha told him he did not deserve his Purple Hearts. He recalled Murtha saying: "Hey, I didn't do anything like you did. I got a little scratch on the cheek." Murtha's spokeswoman would not address that account.
Bailey, who lost a House race to Murtha after a 1982 redistricting, said "Jack's a coward, and he's a liar" for subsequently denying the conversation. "That just really burned me," he said.
While saying he has only responded to reporters' questions and is not bitter toward Murtha, Bailey said the congressman's approach to Iraq is "not responsible" and that "it just turned my stomach" to see Murtha acting as a spokesman for veterans.
He said he shared the information with Republican William Choby, who ran against Murtha four times beginning in 1990 and made the Vietnam decorations an issue. Choby raised the issue again during Murtha's 2002 reelection campaign.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, citing Marine records, reported that year that Murtha was wounded during "hostile" actions near Da Nang, Vietnam: "In the first incident, his right cheek was lacerated, and in the second, he was lacerated above his left eye. Neither injury required evacuation." The Cybercast article cites a 1994 interview in which Murtha described injuries to his arm and knee.
The article included a 1996 quote from Harry Fox, who worked for former representative John Saylor (R-Pa.), telling a local newspaper that Murtha was "pretending to be a big war hero." Fox, who lost a 1974 election to Murtha, said the 38-year Marine veteran had asked Saylor for assistance in obtaining the Purple Hearts but was turned down because the office believed he lacked adequate evidence of his wounds.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, "The Swift Boat-like attacks on an American hero, Congressman Jack Murtha, are despicable and have no place in politics."
In November, when Murtha called for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the congressman was endorsing "Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party" and called his stance a "surrender to the terrorists." Days later, President Bush called Murtha "a fine man" and said they simply disagreed about Iraq.
The Cybercast article appeared shortly before a segment scheduled for CBS's "60 Minutes" tomorrow in which Murtha predicts that the "vast majority" of U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by year's end.
Pentagon to families: Go ahead, laugh
USA TODAY
Pentagon to families: Go ahead, laugh
By Gregg Zoroya
When the stress of the war in Iraq becomes too severe, the Pentagon has a suggestion for military families: Learn how to laugh.
With help from the Pentagon's chief laughter instructor, families of National Guard members are learning to walk like a penguin, laugh like a lion and blurt "ha, ha, hee, hee and ho, ho."
No joke.
"I laugh every chance I get," says the instructor, retired Army colonel James "Scotty" Scott. "That's why I'm blessed to be at the Pentagon, where we definitely need a lot of laughter in our lives."
Scott, 57, is certified as a laughter training specialist by the Ohio-based World Laughter Tour, a group that promotes mirth as medicine. It touts scientific research that suggests chuckling can boost the body's immune system and decrease stress hormones.
A Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, says the Pentagon is committed to the program and values Scott's skills. "We sent him to the training," she says.
The laughter program was Scott's idea. It costs the military virtually nothing, because Scott already travels to states as a director of military family support policy.
KEEPING THEM IN STITCHES
Ways military families are being taught to laugh:
Penguin exercise: Waddle and flap hands as though they're fins.
Lion laugh: Open eyes and mouth wide while repeating "ha ha's."
Repeat "ho, ho, ha, ha, ha," while clapping on each sound.
He has taught National Guard family group leaders in Alaska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Idaho, and will do so in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida, he says. Another laughter trainer is working with folks in North Carolina.
"We believe our program prevents hardening of the attitudes," says Scott, in one of his wordplay aphorisms that beg for a rimshot. The founder and chief executive of the World Laughter Tour is psychologist Steve Wilson, who calls himself "Cheerman of the Bored."
"The guiding principle is to laugh for no reason. And that's one of the reasons it works so well for military families," Scott says. "There's a lot they have to be stressed over, a lot of worries, a lot of concerns."
As foolish as students might feel, Scott says he's lost only one participant: a Marine sergeant major who, Scott says, fled the room with a bad case of the giggles.
Mary Frances Booth, the wife of a retired soldier, took the class last year and is an ardent devotee.
She and her two daughters — Meaghan, 10 and Sarah, 8 — were sobbing after Booth dropped her husband at the Boise airport Sunday; he was headed for Afghanistan for work as a civilian contractor, she says. Then Booth called for one of the laughing drills.
"They rolled their eyes at me and thought, 'Mom's on her laughing thing again,' " Booth says. "(But) it made it a little bit better."
Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-12-pentagon-laughter_x.htm?csp=34
Laura Bush sees woman president in future
USA TODAY
Laura Bush sees woman president in future
WASHINGTON (AP) — Laura Bush predicted on Friday that the United States soon will have a female president — a Republican, and maybe even Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "I think it will happen for sure," Mrs. Bush said about a woman in the Oval Office.
She made the comment in a CNN interview broadcast on Friday, the day before she leaves for Liberia to attend the inauguration of the first female president in Africa.
"I think it will happen probably in the next few terms of the presidency in the United States," Mrs. Bush said.
Rice has said she has no desire to be president when President Bush's second term expires, but Mrs. Bush said: "I'd love to see her run. She's terrific."
Mrs. Bush leaves Saturday night for Africa where she will visit Ghana and Nigeria to promote education and AIDS treatment after leading the U.S. delegation attending the swearing-in of Liberia's President-elect Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf on Monday in Monrovia.
Rice is part of the delegation, as is one of the president's daughters, Barbara, who worked recently at a pediatric AIDS hospital in South Africa. "She's interested in the policy surrounding AIDS and what we can do in our country and in other countries around the world to really stop AIDS," Mrs. Bush said.
During the 13-minute interview in the Map Room of the White House, Mrs. Bush talked about how she and the president try to comfort the families of fallen U.S. troops by saying that their service in the armed forces is helping to establish a stable democracy in the Middle East.
In another gesture of consolation, Mrs. Bush said that on Thursday she called to offer encouragement to the wife of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, Martha-Ann Bomgardner, who left her husband's testy Senate confirmation hearing in tears, eliciting sympathy from senators of both parties.
"I think it's very important for the Senate to have a very civil and respectful hearing for anyone that has been nominated for the Supreme Court or for the other jobs that require Senate confirmation," Mrs. Bush said.
"But on the other hand, my family has been in politics for a long time and I think you do develop a thick skin. Does it ever not hurt? You know, not really."
Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-13-woman-president_x.htm?csp=34
Ohio congressman could be second casualty in Abramoff scandal
CNN.com
Ney may be forced from committee chair
Ohio congressman could be second casualty in Abramoff scandal
From Mark Preston and Ed Henry
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- House Speaker Dennis Hastert is making moves to push fellow Republican Rep. Bob Ney from his post as chairman of the House Administration Committee, Republican sources said Friday.
Hastert, who voiced his support for Ney just days ago, is under pressure from his own caucus to take a stand against ethical misconduct, the sources said.
Ney is linked in documents to the investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who recently pleaded guilty to fraud, conspiracy and tax-evasion charges stemming from an influence-peddling scheme. (Full story)
The Ohio congressman could be ousted from his post as early as next week, the sources said.
"There have been ongoing discussions between Speaker Hastert and Representative Ney about his role as chairman," said Ron Bojean, a spokesman for Hastert, R-Illinois.
Ney was in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Friday, chairing a congressional hearing on reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina. He could not be reached for an interview, and his office had no comment.
A source close to Ney, however, said that the congressman has been in discussions with Hastert and is willing to step down from his post if it best serves his House GOP colleagues.
Ney could be second casualty
If Ney steps down, he will become the second high-profile Republican to give up his post amid the Abramoff affair. Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a longtime associate of Abramoff, announced Sunday he would not seek to reclaim the leadership position he was forced to abandon in September. (Full story)
That decision followed the congressman's indictment in Texas on money-laundering and conspiracy charges. A judge dismissed the conspiracy charge in December. DeLay has pleaded not guilty.
DeLay's announcement Sunday followed a move by his Republican colleagues, who began pushing for a new leadership election that would have forced DeLay from his post.
According to court papers from the Abramoff case, the lobbyist and his business partner, Michael Scanlon, gave an unidentified member of Congress gifts in exchange for the lawmaker helping their clients. Included among the favors were agreements to support specific bills and place statements in the Congressional Record.
In pleading guilty earlier this month, Abramoff agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors in a wide-ranging bribery investigation.
Government sources have told CNN that the unidentified member of Congress is Ney, who has acknowledged being subpoenaed in connection with the investigation. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Sources with knowledge of the investigation say that as many as six people -- including Ney, another member of Congress and current and former staff members -- could face charges. The sources would not identify the other member of Congress. (Full story)
Laws brewing in Senate
In another sign that congressmen are scrambling to formulate plans to curb lobbyist influence, Senate Democrats and Republicans are thinking about taking measures to ban gifts, meals and private travel, according to working drafts of the proposals.
Among other initiatives, the drafts indicate senators are considering: eliminating floor privileges for lobbyists who are former legislators; increasing public disclosure requirements for lobbyist activities; and imposing strict rules on lawmakers and staffers considering employment in the private sector.
A Republican proposal adds that legislators' spouses and relatives would be prohibited from lobbying, while Democrats would like a 24-hour window to review legislation before Congress acts.
"Next week, House and Senate Democrats will unveil an aggressive series of proposals designed to highlight their commitment to reforming Republican-run Washington so that the abuses we have seen over the past number of years can never happen again," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. "We will put the American people's interests first and bring honesty and integrity back to government."
A senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, confirmed the working components of the GOP proposal.
Details of the plans emerged after Speaker Hastert indicated his interest in banning privately funded travel as a means of lobbyist reform.
Reform, however, could prove difficult as relations between the two parties are strained.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, announced on Thursday the formation of a task force to "address the Republican culture of corruption" in Congress.
Republicans responded by noting that Rep. William Jefferson, D-Louisiana, was "implicated in an international bribery scheme" this week by a former aide.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/13/ney.leadership/index.html
Friday, January 13, 2006
List of Alito “Murder Board” Participants; Includes Lawyers Who Approved Warrantless Surveillance
thinkprogress.org
EXCLUSIVE: List of Alito “Murder Board” Participants; Includes Lawyers Who Approved Warrantless Surveillance
During this morning’s hearing, Sen. Russ Feingold noted that the same lawyers who created the legal justifications for Bush’s warrantless domestic spying program coached Alito about how to answer questions during the confirmation hearings:
I’m going to say that I am still somewhat troubled by the idea that you were prepared for this hearing by some lawyers who were very much involved in promoting the purported legal justification for the NSA wiretapping program….
I note, for example, that one of the people who participated in these sessions was Benjamin Powell. He recently advised President Bush on intelligence matters and was just given a recess appointment as general counsel to the national intelligence director.
I also see the name of White House Counsel Harriet Miers on the list. And she, obviously, is involved in the president’s position on this matter.
This a serious ethical issue.
Miers personally approved Bush’s warrantless domestic surveillance program as White House Counsel. The evidence suggests that Powell is also a strong proponent of the program. In July, before Bush’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program was revealed by the New York Times, Powell testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to indicate that he wanted to expand the rules that limited intelligence agencies’ authorities to collect and share intelligence about U.S. citizens.
Bush’s warrantless surveillance program may soon come before the Supreme Court. Now we have key lawyers who created legal justifications for the program, such as Powell and White House counsel Harriet Miers, suggesting to Alito how he should respond to senators who ask questions about it. It is hard to imagine that these recommendations were not highly suggestive of how he should adjudicate the issue.
ThinkProgress has obtained a full list of everyone who attended Alito’s “murder boards.” You can check it out here:
http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/01/Alito%20hearing%20prep%20list.pdf
"The GOOD OLD PARTY line" - Republicans create millions of job opportunities
huffingtonpost.com
Listen People
Buddy Winston
"The GOOD OLD PARTY line" - Republicans create millions of job opportunities
WASHINGTON D.C. - (NEWSWIRE) - January 13, 2006 - Save your country and get paid to help your fellow Americans have their voice heard.
Millions of positions available for the Bush administration's new "Reach Out and Tap Someone" program. According to a white house spokesman "The key to having your view heard in America is now as simple as picking up the phone, calling any friend, and mention words like terror, Jihad, or Guantanamo.
Once the government begins listening in you can mention bringing the troops home from Iraq, medical care for our citizens, and protecting the Alaska wilderness."
If the more than half of our country that didn't vote for George W. Bush begin to take advantage of this exciting new method of utilizing the first amendment it will require thousands of listeners. Not since the introduction of phone sex operators has a business opportunity been introduced that allows US workers to sit at home, watch TV, and make a living on the couch. Make money, and make a difference.
Apparently this offer is not void where prohibited.
Birdflu spreads, World Bank approves funds
Reuters
Birdflu spreads, World Bank approves funds
By Paul de Bendern and Gareth Jones
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish authorities struggled to contain a spreading outbreak of avian influenza on Thursday, setting up quarantine zones around infected areas and sending samples of virus to laboratories for testing to ensure it is not evolving into a more dangerous form.
Neighboring countries expressed concern the virus might spread to its poultry flocks. Iraq said it was on high alert, but officials conceded that poor border controls would make it difficult to enforce a ban on importing birds.
Global officials said they were gathering steam to help fight the virus, with the board of the World Bank endorsing $500 million in aid to help countries hit by the virus or that are at high risk.
The World Health Organization said Turkish officials had now documented 18 human cases of H5N1 avian influenza infection and said three children had died. One boy who was found to be infected without being sick had begun to show symptoms, WHO officials said.
"Human cases have now been reported from nine of the country's 81 provinces," the WHO said in a statement posted on its Web site.
The two newest patients are young children, aged 4 and 6, WHO said. "Both have a documented history of direct contact with diseased birds," it said.
"Altogether, agricultural officials have confirmed poultry outbreaks in 11 provinces and are investigating possible outbreaks in an additional 14 provinces across the country."
CLOSE CONTACT WITH BIRDS
The more birds are infected, the more likely that people could become infected through close contact. Experts said as cold weather forced animals and people indoors together, especially in rural areas, animal-to-human infections could become even more common.
A British lab found that two of the first Turkish victims were infected with a slightly mutated strain of H5N1.
Although it did not seem to be more dangerous, the mutation in theory could help the virus more easily pass from a chicken to a human. Of gravest concern is that the H5N1 virus will mutate so it passes from human to human.
WHO said its experts were working with Turkish officials to study the virus and its patterns of attack. More samples of virus were en route to labs, WHO said.
"These studies should deepen understanding of the epidemiology of the disease, including the possibility that any human-to-human transmission may have occurred, the vulnerability to infection of health care workers and other occupationally-exposed groups, and the possibility that milder forms of the disease might be occurring in the general population," WHO said.
The good news was that the virus seems sensitive to the few drugs available to treat patients, WHO said.
Turkish officials said they had set up a 2-mile (3-km) quarantine zone around infected areas, and information was being broadcast via television commercials and vans fitted with loudspeakers.
They said they had culled more than 350,000 birds in the past two weeks.
Fears hit poultry markets. The U.S. Agriculture Department said chicken meat exports would be 315 million pounds (143 million kg) less than previously forecast because consumers in Turkey and other countries affected by the deadly bird flu disease were eating less poultry.
Globally H5N1 has infected 147 people and killed 78 of them, according to the latest official WHO tally, which includes only four of the Turkish cases.
NOT MORE DANGEROUS -- YET
Scientists stressed they have no evidence the virus has become more, and said the same mutation has been seen before without causing a big outbreak. But it shows the need for careful watching and testing, they said.
"When we have a child infected we are giving the virus more chance to adapt to human beings and giving it this chance could help create conditions of the emergence of a new virus," Rodier said in an interview.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the mutation affected the ability of the virus to infect cells. "It is really unclear what this means," Fauci said in a telephone interview.
"This same mutation was identified in 2003 in Hong Kong and yet did not take off in a way that led to greater transmissibility either from chicken to human or human to human."
The World Bank was pressing for funding to help the worst-affected countries cope, and endorsed spending $500 million, ahead of a meeting of donors next week in Beijing where it was hoped $1 billion more would be pledged.
World Bank Vice President Jim Adams told Reuters that Kyrgyzstan would be the first beneficiary and would get $5 million to prepare for bird flu. He said Turkey could be in line for some money, too.
(Additional reporting by Daren Butler in Van, Richard Waddington and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, and Lesley Wroughton, Christopher Doering and Maggie Fox in Washington)
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