IRAQ
'Nightmare With No End In Sight'
Last Friday, retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez blasted the Bush
administration's handling of the Iraq war, calling it a "nightmare
with no end in sight." Sanchez, who has received praise from
President Bush for his "strong
leadership" and for doing "a
fabulous job," joins a growing
list of military officials who have attacked the Iraq war. His critique is
notable not only because he is the most senior military officer to
speak out against the war so far but also because he served
as the top American commander in Iraq from 2003-2004.
"From a catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan to
the administration's latest surge strategy, this administration has
failed to employ and synchronize its political, economic and military
power," Sanchez said. "There has been a glaring,
unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership within
our national leaders. ... There is no question
that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight." He added,
"Who will demand accountability for the failure of our national
political leaders involved in the management of this war? They have
unquestionably been derelict
in the performance of their duty."
MILITARY OFFICALS AGREE WITH SANCHEZ: Sanchez
joins the "more
than 20 retired U.S. generals [who] have broken ranks with the culture of salute and keep it in the
family"
to speak out publicly against the war. Maj. Gen. John Batiste said last
year, "I think the current
administration repeatedly ignored sound military advice and counsel
with respect to the war plans. ... And military leaders of all ranks,
particularly the senior military, have an
obligation in a democracy to say something about it." On CNN's
Late Edition yesterday, two other
retired generals agreed with Sanchez's main indictments of the Bush
administration's war policy. "This war has been done on the cheap from
the very beginning," retired U.S. Army Brigadier General David Grange
said. "So I think yes, the whole country, all
the leadership in the country is at fault for not putting the
nation at war to accomplish this mission." Criticism has not been
confined to retired generals. At Fort Leavenworth, KS -- "the
intellectual center of the United States Army" -- young officers are
undergoing an "outspoken
re-examination of their role in Iraq,"
questioning who "deserved blame" for the war's "major errors."
ABU GHRAIB LINGERS: Sanchez
has a mixed record when it comes to Iraq. A memorandum written
and signed by Sanchez on Sept. 14, 2003, contained as an
enclosure the specific interrogation techniques authorized to be used
in Iraq, and also noted that these methods were potentially in
contravention of the Geneva Conventions. In testimony before the Senate
Armed Services Committee, Sanchez denied signing off on these interrogation methods. He was the top military
commander during the Abu Ghraib scandal, though he denied knowing of
the abuse and maintains that he moved quickly to
investigate it when he found out. An internal investigation cleared
him of charges relating to the incident. To maintain the credibility of his current
criticisms of the Iraq war policy, Sanchez will need to address his
record -- and his current views -- on torture.
CONSERVATIVES DISMISS SANCHEZ: When
asked about Sanchez's remarks on Fox News Sunday, right-wing pundit
Bill Kristol dismissed the former general's opinion out of
hand. "He's simply wrong about what's happening in Iraq today," said
Kristol. Conservative columnist
Charles Krauthammer called Sanchez "a distraction." "Look. General
Sanchez, who presided over the
disastrous first year of occupation, criticizing the Bush
administration is like George McClellan criticizing the Lincoln
administration conduct of the Civil War when he was in command,"
Krauthammer
said. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) also refused
to respond to Sanchez's substantive criticisms,
and instead pointed the finger back at the general himself. "I
appreciate
his service," Graham told CNN, "but Abu
Ghraib got out of control under his watch, the war in general got
out of control under his watch. And it's not time to blame people, but
his criticism is a bit astounding to me given his role in the war
itself."
TIME TO RESET THE MISSION: Sanchez declared that
"continued manipulations and adjustments to our military
strategy will not achieve victory" and that the best the United States
could
hope for is to "stave off defeat." "Given the lack of a grand strategy we must
move rapidly to minimize that force presence and allow the Iraqis maximum ability to exercise their sovereignty in
achieving a solution," he said. The Center for American Progress
has outlined just such a
progressive strategy to end the war,
"Strategic Reset," which calls for a phased redeployment of troops out
of Iraq coupled with a "diplomatic surge" to bring Iraqis and neighbors
in the region together.
MEDIA -- FOX NEWS LAUNCHES NEW BUSINESS CHANNEL: Rupert
Murdoch's latest venture -- the Fox Business Channel (FBC) -- launches today. In an
extensive report on the new FBC, Media Matters states that viewers can
expect "rampant falsehoods, statements
praising the Bush administration, suggestive questioning, scantily
clad women, and celebrities discussing the news of the day." FBC's
host, Neil Cavuto, for example, has a history of making inflammatory
and ill-informed statements about the economy. After Bush adviser Karl
Rove resigned from the White House, Cavuto asked: "Karl Rove leaving: A
loss for Wall Street?" In May 2006, Cavuto interviewed Playboy
founder Hugh Hefner and Playboy model Kara Monaco, who had just been
named the 2006
Playmate of the Year, stating "this really is a big, big business
story." Explaining FBC's new aims, Fox News CEO Roger Ailes said in
February, "Many times I've seen things on CNBC where they are not
as friendly to corporations and profits as they should be." Murdoch's
recent acquisition of the Dow Jones & Company is already
proving fruitful. CNBC, the rival that Murdoch seeks to "conquer,"
purchased advertising on two Dow Jones websites, but was informed last
Tuesday that they
would not run on the day of Fox Business's launch.
RADICAL RIGHT -- FOX ALL STARS:
'ANTI-AMERICAN' AL GORE SHOULDN'T HAVE WON NOBEL FOR 'BLOVIATING' ABOUT
GLOBAL WARMING: On Fox News Sunday, Weekly
Standard editor William Kristol
and conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer attacked former Vice
President Al Gore's Nobel
Peace Prize win, calling him "anti-American" and derisively
claiming that he got the award for "nothing" but "bloviating
about global warming." Sarcastically calling Gore's win
"deeply moving," Kristol disparaged
Gore and the Nobel prize itself, saying "it's
a prize given by
bloviators to a bloviator." Claiming that the Nobel Peace
Prize is "the Kentucky Derby of the world
left," Krauthammer was even more shrill than Kristol, saying, "Al Gore
now joins the ranks of Yasser Arafat, the father of modern terrorism."
He then claimed the award "has nothing to do with peace" and that the
judges give
"it to people whose politics are either
anti-American or
anti-Bush, and that's why [Gore] won it." Kristol and
Krauthammer's attacks continue the efforts of Fox and the right to undermine the importance of Gore and the IPCC's efforts to make climate change a
central issue on the world stage. But, as NPR's Juan Williams noted
when responding to Kristol and Krauthammer, Gore has taken the global
lead on an issue that the Bush administration didn't "even
acknowledge
for a long time." Kristol and Krauthammer's
attacks are just "sour
grapes," Williams said, over Gore's success in exposing and undermining
the far right's vast disinformation campaign against global warming science.
GLOBAL WARMING -- BRITISH CLIMATE
CHANGE SKEPTIC
BACKED BY CORPORATE ENERGY LOBBY: Yesterday, news reports
revealed that Stewart Dimmock, who filed a
lawsuit seeking to prevent British schools from screening An
Inconvenient Truth, was financially
backed by energy lobbies seeking
to discredit
Al Gore's
film. Dimmock reportedly received funds from "a network of
business interests, including ones with links
to the fuel and mining industries," as well as Scientific
Alliance, a British group with links to Exxon
Mobil. Dimmock's case was seized upon by right-wing ideologues as a
barometer for the scientific accuracy of An Inconvenient Truth. When
London's High Court finally issued its ruling last week, many media
reports wrote that the judge found
"nine
scientific errors" in the film. Fox News seized upon the case
and reported that the ruling had confirmed that "Al Gore
exaggerated climate change." In fact, the court found
that the film was "broadly
accurate," allowing it to be shown in British schools accompanied
by "guidance
notes." As Tim Lambert points out, in his ruling the
judge did not actually say there were "errors" in the film, but merely
"referred to the things that [Dimmock's lawyer] alleged
were errors." News coverage also largely ignored the fact
that the judge stated he was not attempting to perform "an analysis of the scientific
questions" in his ruling.
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The U.S. military believes it has dealt a "devastating and perhaps
irreversible blows to al-Qaeda in Iraq" in recent months,
leading some generals to advocate a "declaration
of victory"
over the group. "I think it would be premature at this point," a senior
intelligence official said of a victory declaration over AQI.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is sticking up for Donald
Rumsfeld in a
battle with students and professors at Stanford University.
"Universities ought to be places where all
views are welcomed," Rice told ABC News. "Stanford has always been
a place that has been able to tolerate many different views."
"As the chief federal trial judge in Manhattan, Michael Mukasey
approved secret warrants allowing government roundups of Muslims in the days after the Sept. 11
attacks." Confirmation hearings are set to begin on Wednesday, and
detentions are likely to be a "hot
topic."
On Friday, Justice Department officials indicated that they may hold
"new hearings for some" Guantanamo Bay "detainees to decide whether
they are being properly held." Lawyers for detainees say the move
may be "a
'massive' repeat of the military's combatant-status hearings originally held in 2004 and 2005."
A new study by the Women's
Campaign Forum finds that the number
of top women aides on Capitol Hill is rising. The study found "that 23
percent of top Senate staffers and 31 percent of top aides in the House are women, compared with 16
percent of Senators who are women and 17 percent of House Members."
The Food and Drug Administration is "moving with
unprecedented speed to launch a drug research center to be paid for by
companies it regulates." Its goal is to "streamline and improve the
development of drugs and medical devices, a goal long sought by
regulators and the biggest players in
the industry."
And finally: On Saturday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice turned
down the chance to "show off her ice-skating talents" during a visit to
a rink in Russia. "There is this theory
that ice skating is like riding a bicycle:
you just get back on it, you immediately know how to do it," she said.
"I'm not going to take that chance -- just in case it's not true!" Rice
was a competitive ice skater between the ages of 12 and 17, but
hasn't skated for the past 10 years.
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A new report shows cancer
deaths declined on average 2.1 percent each year from 2002 to 2004,
a rate "nearly twice the annual decrease from 1993 to 2002."
MINNESOTA: The
2,600 members of the Minnesota National Guard who recently returned
from 16 months in Iraq get "their first glimpse at a state program
intended to help them overcome the challenges of life at home."
OREGON:
"For the second time in a week, opponents of new gay-rights laws have
failed to get a referendum on the November 2008 ballot."
FLORIDA:
Florida lawmakers propose a budget with cuts "that take aim at
schools, colleges and healthcare providers across the state."
THINK
PROGRESS: NPR correspondent Juan Williams: Weekly Standard editor
Bill Kristol is pushing for "the next world war."
BLOG
OF LEGAL TIMES: Sara Taylor, a former White House aide to
Karl Rove, has registered to lobby for an energy group.
INSIDE
CABLE NEWS: Right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin will no
longer appear on Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor.
THE
HORSE'S MOUTH: Even the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial
page says the right-wing attack on the Frost family over SCHIP is
wrong.
"After September the 11th...I authorized the National Security Agency
to intercept the international communications of people with known
links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations."
--President Bush, 5/11/06
VERSUS
"Former chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio...said the NSA approached
Qwest more than six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks [about
surveillance contracts]."
--Washington Post, 10/13/07
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