'Real Criminal Is Bush'

Saddam Hussein, was arraigned in a suburban Baghdad courtroom today. The courtroom was in a place that was once part of a palace built for him.

Saddam jabbed his finger a few times at the judge, but did not raise his voice. He did question the court, asking under whose authority the court is being run.

He sparred with the judge over whether the court had any jurisdiction over him and said the proceeding was the work of U.S. occupiers.

At one point Saddam asked the judge if he represented the coalition.

His lawyers were prevented from entering Iraq.

Saddam told the court: "this is all theater," and that "the real criminal is Bush," who he said is trying to win re-election.

Now no one will argue that Saddam was a dictator and that he did some heinous things for which he should be held accountable, but in reviewing the televised news reports on various channels, most are stating as factual (based on what, I don't know), that today's arraignment will help Bush because it will show people why the invasion of Iraq by the US was a good thing. Seems they have forgotten how the Reagan/Bush administration armed Iraq and used to be buddies with Saddam. Further, they also seem to be forgotting how many Americans have and continue to die or get maimed or wounded just to help Bush try to get reelected.

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Escape From the Green Zone

NY TIMES
July 1, 2004

Escape From the Green Zone
By MAUREEN DOWD

You'd think that President Bush would have learned by now to keep those snappy aphorisms to himself.

Gonna get Osama dead or alive.
Or neither.

Gonna smoke Osama out of his cave.
When exactly?

Bring 'em on.
Please don't.

Mission Accomplished.
Not.

Let freedom reign.
Couldn't Karl Rove and his minions at least get that "ad-lib" right about freedom ringing?

Not gonna cut and run.
We can't cut, but we certainly ran.

Paul Bremer scuttled out of Baghdad so fast, he didn't even wait for the new ambassador, John Negroponte, to arrive so he could pass along some safety tips. Mr. Negroponte, assuming the most perilous diplomatic post in the world, is going to need all the security advice he can get if Iraq keeps slouching toward Islamic fundamentalism and rampant terrorism.

The administration went from Shock and Awe to Sneak and Shirk. Gotta run, guys — keep chins up and heads down. The Bush crowd pretended the country was free and able to stand on its own, even as the odd manner in which Mr. Bremer scooted away showed that it wasn't. The president acted as if Iraq was in control, but our forces can't come home because Iraq's still out of control.

As Paul Bremer was sneaking out, Ahmad Chalabi, the swindler who has bilked America out of millions, was sneaking in. He was smiling from ear to ear at the swearing-in ceremony for the new prime minister, Iyad Allawi (a ceremony so secretive that coalition officials confiscated reporters' cellphones to enforce an embargo on the news for security reasons).

If Americans needed any more confirmation that they're viewed as loathed occupiers, not beloved liberators, it came with the sad little spectacle of a hasty, heavily guarded hand-over that no Iraqi John Trumbell will memorialize in an oil painting of the Declaration of Iraqi Independence.

Dick Cheney and the neocons had once hoped for a grand Independence Day celebration, no doubt, where Saddam's toppled statue once loomed, dreaming of a parade of Iraqi high school pep squads and the Iraqi Olympic bobsled team; sky boxes for Halliburton executives; grateful Iraqis, cheering and crying; President Bush making a surprise drop-in from the NATO summit meeting in nearby Turkey, with "Mission Accomplished" pen sets for the new government; Katie, Matt and Diane beaming it back to proud Americans.

Instead, there was no real transfer of power because there was no power to transfer. It was a virtual transfer, just the way the rationale for war was virtual and the shift of Saddam's custody to Iraq is virtual. The Bush team is not going to trust Iraqi security to hang onto Saddam because it doesn't even know yet whether Iraqi security can hang onto the country. With rumblings in Iraq that a strongman may be needed to tamp down the anarchy, what if the old Baathist crowd rushed to crown Saddam, instead of his foes storming the prison to "hack him to pieces," as Mr. Bremer speculated on the "Today" show?

Mr. Bremer's escape from the Green Zone was uncomfortably reminiscent of the last days of Saigon. No one was hanging onto the skids of helicopters, but the mood was furtive, not festive. American troops are still trapped in Iraq and being killed there, and 5,600 ex-soldiers are being involuntarily recalled in America's undeclared draft.

The White House pretended that the sovereignty was real. The administration that is loath to share information and presidential papers — even to help the 9/11 investigation find ways to make the country more secure — quickly turned over a photo of Mr. Bush's handwritten "Let freedom reign!" comment on Condi Rice's note to him announcing the transfer.

But it rings — or reigns — hollow in a week when Sandra Day O'Connor and the Supremes — except the Bush family fixer Clarence Thomas — slapped the commander in chief for torturing without a license. "A state of war is not a blank check for the president," the court ruled.

Still, Mr. Bremer put the best foot forward. Noting that the ex-proconsul was standing on the White House lawn still in the boots he wore with suits in Iraq, Charlie Gibson of ABC asked the escapee how he felt.

"Well, it's like having a rather large weight lifted off my shoulders," he said. "I'm delighted to be back."

If only our soldiers could say the same.

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CHENEY CUSSES OUT QUEEN ELIZABETH

(Humor from http://borowitzreport.com/)

Drops F-bomb Twelve Times During U.K. Visit

Vice President Dick Cheney scandalized the United Kingdom today, cussing out Queen Elizabeth II in what observers said was his most profanity-laden tirade to date.

Mr. Cheney was at Buckingham Palace to witness the knighting of legendary British journalist Harold Evans when the Queen made what one source called “a snarky remark” about the vice president’s relationship with the Halliburton Company.

At that point, observers said, Mr. Cheney “launched the f-bomb” at the Queen no fewer than a dozen times, shocking the dignitaries attending Sir Harold’s investiture.

“Mind your own [bleeping] business, you [bleeping] old [bleep],” Mr. Cheney was quoted as saying.

“Cheney has the mouth of a sailor, which is odd for someone who did everything he could to stay out of the Navy,” one observer said.

But according to Charles, the Prince of Wales, after Mr. Cheney’s f-bomb barrage was over the Queen stood her ground and returned fire with a potty-mouthed attack of her own.

“When it comes to cussing, my mother’s language can peel paint,” Prince Charles proudly told reporters. “After all, she learnt at the feet of the master – the Queen Mother. That old bag could drop the f-bomb with the best of them, may she rest in peace.”

The filthy war of words between the Queen and the vice president was carried live on worldwide television, meaning that both dignitaries could now face FCC fines topping well over $1 billion.

Mr. Cheney took the fines in stride, telling reporters that they would be paid for with revenue from Iraqi oil.

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INSPIRED BY IRAQI HANDOVER, BUSH HOLDS U.S. ELECTION FOUR MONTHS EARLY

(Humor from http://borowitzreport.com/)


Element of Surprise Cited As Bush Romps to Victory

Inspired by the early handover of sovereignty in Iraq, President George W. Bush employed the element of surprise once more last night, holding the U.S. presidential election four months early.

The election, about which only top Bush administration officials were notified, went exceedingly well for the president, who carried all fifty states and garnered approximately one hundred percent of the vote.

Mr. Bush’s victory speech, which he had originally scheduled for eleven P.M. last night, was at the last minute rescheduled to nine P.M., once again capitalizing on the element of surprise.

In his speech, Mr. Bush admitted that he might have had a more difficult time getting reelected if the American people had actually been notified about the time and date of the voting, but added, “A win’s a win, right?”

Mr. Bush’s second inauguration is slated to take place on January 20, 2005, but administration officials acknowledged that it could happen “at any time.”

“For all I know it has already happened,” one aide said.

While the stealth presidential election seems to have cemented the Bush administration’s reputation for secrecy, one aide said that some secrets were harder to keep than others: “For example, everyone knows how Paul Wolfowitz gets his hair to look so great.”

White House officials praised the performance of the controversial new Diebold electronic voting machines, which successfully tabulated final results from Florida before a single vote was cast.

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Secret Early Government Transfer In Iraq

US Imposes Rules

$20B IN OIL REVENUES NOT ACCOUNTED FOR

THE PROGRESS REPORT
http://www.progressreport.org

by David Sirota, Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin

June 28, 2004

IRAQ - Leaving on a Jet Plane

In a move highlighting the severe threat the insurgency poses to security in Iraq, chief U.S. administrator Paul Bremer formally transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days early. The "near secret" (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/28/international/middleeast/28CND-HANDOVER.html?hp)
ceremony was attended by just "a half dozen Iraqi and coalition officials held in the heavily guarded Green Zone." The acceleration of the transfer date was "an apparent bid to surprise insurgents and prevent them from trying to sabotage the step toward self-rule." President Bush -- in Turkey for a NATO summit -- "marked the transfer with a whispered comment
(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/28/international/28WIRE-NATO.html) and a handshake with British Prime Minister Tony Blair." After handing a few legal document to Iraqi chief justice Mahdi al-Mahmood, Bremer immediately "left Iraq on a U.S. Air Force C-130." But the early handover does not change the reality on the ground -- Iraq's newly-sovereign government is beset by a growing insurgency, faced with enormous political challenges, and tasked with taking over the management of a tumultuous transition. Today, American Progress released a new plan outlining clear steps the Bush administration should take to promote peace and stability after the transition.

BREMER IMPOSES HIS WILL:

Before flying off into the sunset, Bremer "issued a raft of edicts
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8665-2004Jun26.html)
revising Iraq's legal code." The new rules -- which will be difficult, if not impossible, to overturn -- will "restrict the power of the interim government, and impose U.S.-crafted rules for the country's democratic transition." Controversially, Bremer empowered an appointed electoral commission to "eliminate political parties or candidates." Another last minute edict gave "U.S. and other Western civilian contractors immunity from Iraqi law while performing their jobs in Iraq" -- a provision that outraged many Iraqis because it "allows foreigners to act with impunity even after the occupation." Bremer also capped the tax rate at 15 percent, amended an industrial-design law to protect microchip designs, and stipulated the use of car horns be permitted in "emergency conditions only."

$20B IN OIL REVENUES NOT ACCOUNTED FOR:

A new report by Christian Aid -- a non-profit that seeks solutions to poverty -- reveals that Bremer left Iraq "without having properly accounted for what it has done with some $20 billion of Iraq's own money"
(http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/news/media/pressrel/040627.htm), accumulated from oil sales. The actions of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) appear to violate U.N. resolution 1483, which mandated that "Iraq's oil revenues should be paid into the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), that this money should be spent in the interests of the Iraqi people, and [that it] be independently audited." Bremer did not even appoint an auditor until April 2004, and the report is not expected until mid-July -- long after the CPA has been dissolved. In the meantime, the CPA has refused to provide even basic information about how the money is being spent. Christian Aid also notes that a "majority of Iraq's reconstruction projects have been awarded to U.S. companies, which charge up to 10 times more (http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/9029233.htm) than Iraqi firms."

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Are They Losing It?

NY Times
June 27, 2004

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/27/opinion/27DOWD.html

Are They Losing It?
By MAUREEN DOWD

WASHINGTON

One thing you've got to say for Dick Cheney: No one will ever again dismiss the vice presidency as a pitcher of warm spit. Mr. Major League Potty Mouth has shown that, with obsequiousness to the president and obtuseness to the facts, a vice president can run the world. Right into the ground.

This week, it's not just Democrats who are questioning whether Vice is losing it. Now, even some in the White House are saying it's bizarre that he chose a class photo-op on the Senate floor to suggest that Senator Patrick Leahy do something that you won't even find described in Bill Clinton's "My Life."

While Democratic lawmakers delayed final passage of a defense spending bill so they could mingle with Michael Moore, the once sweat-free Bushies were acting jangly.

First Vice chewed out The Times for accurately reporting that the 9/11 commission said there was no collaborative relationship between Saddam and Al Qaeda. Then Paul Wolfowitz called the reporters risking their lives in Iraq craven rumormongers. Then came Mr. Cheney's F-word. (Not Fox, the other one.)

Finally, President Bush got agitated when an Irish TV interviewer said most of the Irish found the world more dangerous now than before the Iraq invasion. "First of all, most of Europe supported the decision in Iraq," Mr. Bush declared. (It's all in how you define "Europe.")

Even as Tom Daschle proposed bipartisan family retreats to heal the harsh mood, even as the Senate passed the "Defense of Decency Act," Mr. Cheney profanely laced into Mr. Leahy for criticizing Halliburton's getting no-bid contracts.

"I felt better afterwards," he told Neil Cavuto during a no-bid interview with Fox News. Hey, if it feels good, Dick, do it.

He said he had no regrets about his "little floor debate in the United States Senate." He didn't want to go along with Mr. Leahy's attitude that "everything's peaches and cream" when the Democrat had just been jawing about Halliburton war profiteering. Peaches and cream have never been on the Bush-Cheney menu, only brimstone and gall.

By playing on the insecurities of an inexperienced leader, Mr. Cheney has managed to change W. from a sunny, open, bipartisan, uniter-not-a-divider, non-nation-builder into a crabby, secretive, partisan, divider-not-a-uniter, inept imperialist. Vice is bounding around the country, talking to his usual circumscribed audiences of conservatives, right-wing think tanks and Fox News anchors. No need to burrow in the bunker when you've turned America into one.

As they used to say about the Soviet Union, the defensive Bush imperialists have to keep expanding because they're encircled. Mr. Cheney's gloomy, scary, contentious world view has fueled a more gloomy, scary, contentious world.

After disastrously dividing the world into the strong (Bush hawks) and the weak (everyone else), Vice turned his coarseness into another macho, tough-guy moment against a Democrat considered a pill by many Republicans. "I think a lot of my colleagues felt that what I had said badly needed to be said, that it was long overdue," he preened.

The conservatives defending Mr. Cheney are largely the same crowd that went off the deep end because of a glimpse of breast on the Super Bowl, demanding everything from fines to new regulations to protect red states from blue language.

Mr. Cheney's foul outburst was not as bad as his foul reasoning. On Fox, he again belabored his obsession with "links" between Iraq and Al Qaeda. Exhibiting WASP chutzpah, this time he used The Times to bolster his faux case.

But the Thom Shanker story he cited said only that in the mid-1990's, Iraq agreed to rebroadcast anti-Saudi propaganda and that a request from Osama "to begin joint operations against foreign forces in Saudi Arabia went unanswered."

Rebroadcast anti-Saudi propaganda? As a threat to U.S. security, that's right up there with Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction-related program activities."

Mr. Cheney assured Fox's anxious viewers that he would stay on the ticket and in the White House until January '09. (No four letter words, dear Democrats.) Vice said of W., "he knows I'm there to serve him."

Mr. Bush must have missed that classic "Twilight Zone" episode where the aliens arrive with a book entitled, "To Serve Man." It turns out to be a cookbook.

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Shakespeare Turns A Spotlight On Bush And Iraq

By Arianna Huffington

June 02, 2004

As our anger, anguish and anxiety about Iraq continue to mount, I find myself looking for clarity and understanding not in the media’s daily play-by-play, which confuses more than it illuminates (Did we win in Fallujah or get our butts kicked?), but rather in Shakespeare’s “Henry V.” I’ve found it contains far more truth about our present situation than anything coming out of the White House or the Pentagon.

The impetus for this rearward search for insight was an invitation to take part in a debate sponsored by The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., about the wisdom of King Henry V’s decision to lead an English army into France in 1415.

The parallels between Shakespeare’s wartime king and our current president, George II, are many and delicious — from the pair’s hard-partying younger days (Prince Hal was a 15th-century feckless frat boy-prankster) to the challenge of following in a powerful father’s footsteps right up to the critical matter of whether their wartime adventures made them courageous commanders or failed leaders.

The central question, then as now, was whether the invasion of another country was a war of choice or a war of necessity. If the answer is a war of choice — and it is for both Henry and W — then the inevitable conclusion is that they were both immoral wars. For there can be no moral war of choice.

For complete article:
http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/column.php?id=714

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Ashcroft's bias shows in his actions

NY Times
June 22, 2004
Noonday in the Shade
By PAUL KRUGMAN

In April 2003, John Ashcroft's Justice Department disrupted what appears to have been a horrifying terrorist plot. In the small town of Noonday, Tex., F.B.I. agents discovered a weapons cache containing fully automatic machine guns, remote-controlled explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs and a chemical weapon -- a cyanide bomb -- big enough to kill everyone in a 30,000-square-foot building.

Strangely, though, the attorney general didn't call a press conference to announce the discovery of the weapons cache, or the arrest of William Krar, its owner. He didn't even issue a press release. This was, to say the least, out of character. Jose Padilla, the accused "dirty bomber," didn't have any bomb-making material or even a plausible way to acquire such material, yet Mr. Ashcroft put him on front pages around the world. Mr. Krar was caught with an actual chemical bomb, yet Mr. Ashcroft acted as if nothing had happened.

Incidentally, if Mr. Ashcroft's intention was to keep the case low-profile, the media have been highly cooperative. To this day, the Noonday conspiracy has received little national coverage.

Full article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/22/opinion/22KRUG.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists


In the article you will find the following intriguing question:

"Was Mr. Ashcroft, who once gave an interview with Southern Partisan magazine in which he praised "Southern patriots" like Jefferson Davis, reluctant to publicize the case of a terrorist who happened to be a white supremacist?"

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The Rev. Moon Honored at Hill Reception

The Rev. Moon Honored at Hill Reception
Lawmakers Say They Were Misled

By Charles Babington and Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, June 23, 2004; Page A01

More than a dozen lawmakers attended a congressional reception this year honoring the Rev. Sun Myung Moon (owner of the Washington Times newspaper) in which Moon declared himself the Messiah and said his teachings have helped Hitler and Stalin be "reborn as new persons."

Full article at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61932-2004Jun22.html

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Bush Administration Documents on Interrogation

White House, Pentagon and Justice Department documents about interrogation policies.

The documents were released by the Bush administration on June 22, 2004, and can be found at the link below:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62516-2004Jun22.html

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Poll Shows Bush Losing Ground on Antiterror Policy

By Gary Langer
ABC News

June 21, 2004

Amid rising disenchantment with the war in Iraq, President Bush has lost significant ground on the issue on which he's staked his presidency: fighting terrorism.

For the first time in ABC News/Washington Post polls, more than half of Americans, 52 percent, say the Iraq war was not worth fighting. Seven in 10 call U.S. casualties there "unacceptable," a new high. And there's been a steady slide in belief that the war has enhanced long-term U.S. security; 51 percent now say so, down 11 points this year.

Bush, moreover, has weakened in his once-strongest area. Approval of his handling of the U.S. campaign against terrorism has fallen to 50 percent, its lowest yet -- down eight points in the last month and 29 points below its immediate postwar peak. In a hazardous turn of fortune for Bush, Democrat John Kerry now runs evenly with him in trust to handle terrorism; Bush had led by 13 points on this issue a month ago, and by 21 points the month before.

Full article at:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/Polls/iraq_election_040621.html

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State Dept. Corrects Report on Terrorism

Correcting a previously issued report, the State Department has announced that acts of terror have increased slightly worldwide since last year and that the number of people wounded has risen dramatically.

Full article at:
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040622_862.html

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Cheney in firing line over Nigerian bribery claims

Antony Barnett and Martin Bright
Sunday June 20, 2004
The Observer

A British lawyer is emerging as a key witness in a $180 million bribery investigation that could lead to the indictment of US vice president Dick Cheney.

Last week, US oil corporation Halliburton cut all ties with a former senior executive, Albert Stanley, after it emerged he had received as much as $5m in 'improper personal benefits' as part of a $4bn gas project in Nigeria. Halliburton also sacked a second 'consultant', William Chaudan in connection with the bribery allegations. At the time of these alleged payments, Cheney was chief executive of the corporation.

Full story at:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1243393,00.html

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Will Michael Moore's Facts Check Out?

Michael Moore's new documentary movie "Fahrenheit 9/11" is bound to generate lots of talking heads trying to dispute or spin the facts in this movie. But apparently Mr. Moore is prepared. According to a NY Times article on June 20, 2004 titled "Will Michael Moore's Facts Check Out?," Mr. Moore is "readying for a conservative counterattack, saying he has created a political-style 'war room' to offer an instant response to any assault on the film's credibility." He has hired some highly respected strategists and fact-checkers to vet the film and is threatening to "bring defamation suits against anyone who maligns the film or damages his reputation." Moore says "Any attempts to libel me will be met by force." He goes on to say: "The most important thing we have is truth on our side. If they persist in telling lies, knowingly telling a lie with malice, then I'll take them to court."

The most talked-about moments in the film may prove to be the least impeachable. As stated in the article: "Mr. Moore makes extensive use of obscure footage from White House and network-news video archives, including long scenes that capture President Bush at his least articulate. For the White House, the most devastating segment of 'Fahrenheit 9/11' may be the video of a befuddled-looking President Bush staying put for nearly seven minutes at a Florida elementary school on the morning of Sept. 11, continuing to read a copy of 'My Pet Goat' to schoolchildren even after an aide has told him that a second plane has struck the twin towers. Mr. Bush's slow, hesitant reaction to the disastrous news has never been a secret. But seeing the actual footage, with the minutes ticking by, may prove more damaging to the White House than all the statistics in the world."

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THE TIMETABLE: To the Minute, Panel Paints a Grim Portrait of Day's Terror

NY TIMES
June 18, 2004
THE TIMETABLE
To the Minute, Panel Paints a Grim Portrait of Day's Terror

This detailed timetable of the events of 9/11/01 shows a frighteningly unprepared, disorganized, defense system and an unprepared, confused, President and his administration. No one was in charge. No one knew what was going on even after the general public knew what was going on.

Only one person, finally, but sadly too late for many, made a command decision at 9:42AM -- F.A.A. Operations Manager Ben Sliney, who "ordered all F.A.A. sites to direct all airborne aircraft to land at the nearest airport, the first such action in the nation's history. About 4,500 aircraft soon landed without incident."

Complete story at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/18/politics/18minutes.html

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U.S. jobless rate misses "hidden" unemployed

U.S. jobless rate misses "hidden" unemployed

Mon Jun 14, 2004 09:57 AM ET

By Victoria Thieberger

NEW YORK, June 14 (Reuters) - Buried inside the official U.S. employment report each month is a little-known figure that gives a much less rosy picture of the labor market than the headlines.

The government agency that produces the data also publishes an alternative measure that tries to capture the hidden unemployed, those who are not included in the official unemployment rate for various statistical reasons.

That broader measure is dramatically higher, at 9.7 percent in May, compared with the official level of 5.6 percent.

Full story at:

http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?pe=bondsNews&storyID=5415670

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9/11 Commission: No credible evidence of link between Iraq and al-Qaida - contradicts Bush and Cheney

September 11 Panel: bin Laden Rebuffed by Saddam

(Washington, DC -WABC, June 16, 2004) The commission investigating the September 11 attacks found "no credible evidence" of a link between Iraq and al-Qaida in attacks against the United States. The findings contradict President Bush's assertion that such a
connection was among the reasons it was necessary to topple Saddam Hussein.

It says a senior Iraqi intelligence official met with bin Laden in 1994 in Sudan, and bin Laden "is said to have requested space to establish training camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but Iraq apparently never responded."

"There have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al-Qaida also occurred after bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan, but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship," the report said. "Two senior Bin Laden associates have
adamantly denied that any ties existed between al-Qaida and Iraq."

As recently as Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney asserted that Saddam had "long-established ties" with the terrorist network.

There is one point upon which the 9/11 Commission and the Bush administration agree: The commission says al-Qaida remains poised to attack the United States in a devastating chemical, biological or "dirty bomb" attack.

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HALLIBURTON - Play Contractopoly

HALLIBURTON
Play Contractopoly
(http://www.americanprogress.org/contractopoly)

Last September, Vice President Dick Cheney appeared on national television and denied that he had any advance knowledge of or involvement in lucrative government contracts given to his former employer, Halliburton. Cheney said, "I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040607-644111,00.html)
of contracts led by the [Army] Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the Federal Government." But Cheney wasn't telling the truth. In a letter to the vice president on Sunday, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) reveals that the vice president's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby " was briefed in October 2002 about the proposal (http://www.house.gov/reform/min/pdfs_108_2/pdfs_inves/pdf_admin_halliburton_contract_inves_june_13_let.pdf)
to issue the November 11 task order [contract] to Halliburton." Earlier this month, Time Magazine unearthed an e-mail which indicates that a $7 billion no-bid contract awarded to Halliburton on March 8, 2003 was " coordinated (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040607-644111,00.html)
" with Cheney's office. Pentagon officials now acknowledge (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-halliburton14jun14,1,2397635.story)
that Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith discussed the March 2003 Halliburton contract in advance with Cheney's office. But don't let Dick Cheney have all the fun. Check out Contractopoly
(http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=90056) --
the new interactive game from American Progress that lets you win billions in sweetheart deals from the Bush administration as you rebuild Iraq.

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REAGAN - The Legacy's Other Side

REAGAN - The Legacy's Other Side

With the solemn farewell to Ronald Reagan now complete, the right-wing spin machine has ramped up efforts to whitewash the Reagan record. Despite glowing media coverage last week of the Reagan presidency which downplayed contentious issues, radio host Rush Limbaugh continues to browbeat the media for its supposedly negative coverage of the Reagan record (http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_060704/content/truth_detector.guest.html). But as journalist William Greider notes, the Reagan presidency is one "the major media, draped in mourning, is solemnly fictionalizing (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/177122_greider13.html)." The phenomenon is similar to the media's coverage of Reagan in the 1980s, where the actor-turned-president "spun [the media] around brilliantly, used the White House reporters and cameras as hapless props in his melodrama, ignored the tough questions and stuck unyieldingly to his cripted version of reality." But while conservatives like Vice President Dick Cheney claim " what lingers from [Reagan presidency] is almost all good (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/06/20040609-48.html)," beneath the hyperbole remains a legacy rife with controversy.

More details at http://www.progressreport.org

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State Dept. Understated Terrorism Attacks

State Dept. Understated Terrorism Attacks
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: June 11, 2004

Filed at 11:44 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The State Department acknowledged Thursday it was wrong in reporting terrorism declined worldwide last year, a finding used to boost one of President Bush's chief foreign policy claims -- success in countering terror.

Instead, both the number of incidents and the toll in victims increased sharply, the department said. Statements by senior administration officials claiming success were based ``on the facts as we had them at the time. The facts that we had were wrong,''
department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

The April report said attacks had declined last year to 190, down from 198 in 2002 and 346 in 2001. The 2003 figure would have been the lowest level in 34 years and a 45 percent drop since 2001, Bush's first year as president. The department is now working to
determine the correct figures.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman, who had challenged the findings, said he was pleased that officials ``have now recognized that they have a report that has been inaccurate, and based on the inaccurate information they tried to take self-serving political credit for the results that were wrong.''

Among the mistakes, Boucher said, was that only part of 2003 was taken into account.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday the errors were partly the result of new data collection procedures. ``I can assure you it had nothing to do with putting out anything but the most honest, accurate information we can,'' he said.

``Errors crept in that frankly we did not catch here,'' Powell said. The report showed both a drop in the number of attacks worldwide in 2003 and the virtual disappearance of attacks in which no one died.

Waxman said this week the administration had refused to address his contention that the findings were manipulated for political purposes. Waxman asked Powell for an explanation.

On Thursday, Powell called Waxman, D-Calif., who said he accepted the secretary's explanation that the mistakes were unintentional.

``He says it wasn't politically motivated so I will accept that,'' Waxman said. Still, he said, ``We are still left with the fact that this report is useless until it is corrected.''

Boucher said the errors began to become apparent in early May. ``We got phone calls from people who were going through our report and who said to themselves, as we should have said to ourselves: 'This doesn't feel right. This doesn't look right.' And who started
asking us questions,'' he said.

One of Bush's major foreign policy claims is that his post-Sept. 11 strategy to counter terror was showing success.

Ken Mehlman, the president's campaign manager, said in April, ``Ultimately the most important thing that people want to see on the war on terror is, what is your vision for dealing with it and what is your record.''

``Obviously one of the most important issues in this election is the question of how do we continue to fight and win the war on terror so we keep our homeland safe,'' Mehlman said.

At the same time, Vice President Dick Cheney and Mehlman have questioned whether Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry was qualified to conduct a war against terrorism.

When the annual report was issued April 29, senior administration officials used it as evidence the war was being won under Bush.

J. Cofer Black, who heads the State Department's counterterrorism office, cited the existence of only 190 acts of terrorism in 2003 as ``good news'' and predicted the trend would continue this year.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage said at the time, ``Indeed, you will find in these pages clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight.''

His office did not respond Thursday to a request for a statement in light of disclosures some of the findings in ``Patterns of Global Terrorism'' were inaccurate and understated.

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