Environment -- Honoring Our Planet

December 11, 2007

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, and Ali Frick

ENVIRONMENT

Honoring Our Planet

"The earth has a fever. And the fever is rising," warned former vice president Al Gore yesterday, accepting the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work as "one of the world's leading environmental politicians." Also accepting the award was Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), accepting the award on behalf of the world's preeminent scientific body unearthing the link between human activity and global warming. Before presenting the award to Gore and Pachauri, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel committee, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, praised them for "moving climate to the top of the world agenda." Mjoes also added that "this year's choice was not a difficult decision," linking "the threats posed by climate change to the foundations of human stability and peace." As the duo accepted their prizes, the House Oversight Committee released a report detailing the White House's egregious manipulation of climate change science. While much of Gore's speech focused on the impacts of the "planetary emergency" we now face, he did note that there is still time for action. "We have the ability to solve this crisis and avoid the worst -- not all -- of its consequences, if we act boldly, decisively and quickly," Gore said, specifically placing the "onus on the US and China to take the lead."

WHITE HOUSE JUNK SCIENCE: "Science is warning us" to prevent a "permanent carbon summer," Gore declared yesterday. The White House, however, will not accept this science. In its report yesterday, the House Oversight Committee came to the "inescapable conclusion" that "the Bush Administration has engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science and mislead policymakers and the public about the dangers of global warming." The administration censored 150 federal climate scientists from eight federal agencies and "exerted unusual control over the public statements of federal scientists on climate change issues." In response, the committee's conservative minority attacked the report: "The majority has relied on selective passages from two hearings, one deposition, and one transcribed interview to make grossly exaggerated claims of political interference with climate change science." White House Press Secretary Dana Perino called the report simply "untrue." But the committee's conclusions are consistent with the testimony of multiple former federal employees who were forced to fix the facts to fit White House policy. "The Bush Administration has acted as if the oil industry's communications plan were its mission statement," the report added.

CLIMATE CHANGE 'OUTCAST': A central tenet of Gore and Pachauri's acceptance speeches was urging action at Bali, where hundreds of delegates are working on a post-Kyoto climate change framework. "The question is whether the participants in Bali will support what Willy Brandt referred to as 'reasonable politics,'" Pachauri said. "If they do so at Bali and beyond then all my colleagues in the IPCC and those thousands toiling for the cause of science would feel doubly honored at the privilege I am receiving today on their behalf." But U.S. negotiators insisted on removing crucial mandatory targets for cutting carbon dioxide that called for "reductions of 25 to 40 percent in richer nations' emissions" by 2020. Instead, the United States is charting its own voluntary targets at Bali, claiming caps would damage the economy. Furthermore, the "United States is not ready to commit to limits on greenhouse gas emissions in part because the Bush administration is holding a series of climate conferences with the "major economies." James Connaughton, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said that these talks will help "reach agreement on a long-term global goal for reducing emissions." Unfortunately, the "United States, the only major industrialized nation to reject the Kyoto treaty, is widely seen as the outcast of Bali," observed the LA Times.

THE IPCC PIONEERS: In reality, climate change solutions are attainable and affordable. In a recent report, the IPCC -- comprised of the world's top scientists -- noted that successful global plans to combat global warming can be undertaken with a very modest reduction in global annual GDP growth of 0.12 percent. In November, officials from more than 150 companies around the world -- worth "nearly $4 trillion in market capitalization" -- signed a petition demanding "urgent measures to cut greenhouse gas pollution at least in half by 2050." Like Gore, Pachauri urged yesterday that "it is within the reach of human society to meet these threats. The impacts of climate change can be limited by suitable adaptation measures and stringent mitigation of greenhouse gas emission." While the science behind climate change is "unequivocal," there is still work to be done to advance the science. "There is also notable lack of geographic data and literature on observed changes, with marked scarcity in developing countries. Future changes in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet mass are another major source of uncertainty that could increase sea level rise projections. The need for further scientific input calls for continued trust and cooperation from policymakers and society at large to support the work needed for scientific progress," Pachauri said.

ETHICS -- HALLIBURTON COVER-UP OF EMPLOYEE'S GANG RAPE: Over two years after an employee for Halliburton/KBR in Iraq was gang-raped by her coworkers and told not to seek medical treatment or she'd be fired, the Justice Department has brought no criminal charges, ABC News reports. "In fact, ABC News could not confirm any federal agency was investigating the case." Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, was working in the Green Zone when she says that multiple co-workers raped her, after which "the company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed," for "at least 24 hours without food or water." KBR asserts that it was "instructed to cease" its investigation by the U.S. government officials "because they were assuming sole responsibility for the criminal investigations." However, two years later, "Poe says neither the departments of State nor Justice will give him answers on the status of the Jones investigation." Because of lack of legal oversight of contractors in Iraq, experts say Jones will likely be unable to bring criminal charges against her attackers. In October, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill to bring private contractors working in Iraq under the rule of U.S. law, though the Senate has yet to take up the bill.

TORTURE -- CHIEF GUANTANAMO PROSECUTOR RESIGNED WHEN PLACED UNDER COMMAND OF TORTURE ADVOCATE: Until Oct. 4, Morris Davis served as chief prosecutor for the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. When originally asked why he was stepping down, Davis said that the Pentagon had ordered him "not to communicate with the news media about my resignation or military commissions." Yesterday in a Los Angeles Times op-ed, however, Morris reveals that part of the reason he resigned was that the Bush administration placed him under the command of Defense Department General Counsel William J. Haynes, a torture advocate whose nomination to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals was blocked by the Senate. Morris wrote that he "had instructed the prosecutors in September 2005 that we would not offer any evidence derived by waterboarding," and to give Haynes command over the chief prosecutor's office was to "cast a shadow over the integrity of military commissions." Haynes is a close ally of Vice President Cheney and has been described as a "prime mover" in the effort to contravene the dictates of the Geneva Conventions. A 2003 working group appointed and supervised by Haynes argued the Geneva Conventions "must be construed as inapplicable to interrogations undertaken pursuant to [President Bush's] Commander-in-Chief authority."

TORTURE -- DETAINEE CLAIMS TO HAVE BEEN VIDEOTAPED AFTER CIA SAID IT STOPPED VIDEOTAPING INTERROGATIONS: In his letter to CIA employees last week informing them of the destruction of videotapes featuring interrogations, CIA director Michael Hayden claimed that "videotaping stopped in 2002" after officials "determined that its documentary reporting was full and exacting, removing any need for tapes." But the New York Times reports today that "on Monday, a lawyer representing a former prisoner who said he was held by the CIA. said the prisoner saw cameras in interrogation rooms after 2002." The former detainee, Muhammad Bashmilah of Yemen "was seized by Jordanian intelligence agents in 2003 and turned over to the CIA." Bashmilah was "flown from Jordan to Afghanistan in October 2003 and held there until April 2004, when he was flown by plane and helicopter to a C.I.A. jail in an unidentified country," according to an Amnesty International report. Bashmilah's lawyer, Meg Satterthwaite, said yesterday that "Mr. Bashmilah described cameras both in his cells and in interrogation rooms, some on tripods and some on the wall." Asked about Bashmilah's account, CIA spokesperson Paul Gimigliano "said he had nothing to add to General Hayden's statement" about videotaping stopping in 2002.

CIA Director Michael Hayden begins two days of testimony today about the agency's destruction of videotaped interrogations of terrorist suspects. Hayden will answer questions today from the Senate Intelligence Committee "and Wednesday from its House counterpart. Both are closed sessions."

"Lawyers within the clandestine branch of the" CIA "gave written approval in advance to the destruction" of hundreds of hours of videotapes documenting interrogations. The revelation of "written documents" is expected to "widen the scope of the inquiries into the matter."

Last week on ABC's The View, Whoopi Goldberg called the estate tax "horrible." Anti-tax groups such as Americans For Tax Reform and the American Family Business Institute are already using her words in their campaigns as an "anti-Buffett" tool. "Her statement is all we need," said John Kartch, a spokesman for Americans for Tax Reform.

Iraq will never allow permanent U.S. military bases on its soil, a top government official said yesterday. "I say one thing, permanent forces or bases in Iraq for any foreign forces is a red line that cannot be accepted by any nationalist Iraqi," said Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "said a plan is in the works for him to visit Iraq, although he did not reveal a timetable for a trip. 'I am hoping to do that,' Ahmadinejad said. 'We are negotiating to arrange a program.'"

Five years ago, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee concluded that the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba was bad for businesses. "Now that he's a top-tier candidate for president, Huckabee has decided he favors the embargo -- so much so that he vowed Monday to outdo even President Bush in strangling the regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro and punishing those who do business there."

President Bush intends to name conservative commentator James Glassman "to lead the State Department's struggling efforts to improve the U.S.'s image abroad" and replace Karen Hughes. Glassman is a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank in Washington and publisher of the group's magazine, The American.

Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Scott Lilly examines the little-known Office of Labor-Management Services, which under the Bush administration, has worked to "undermine the reputation of the labor union movement through a classic political misinformation campaign." A Labor Department spokesman simply responded that the OLMS "serves a vital purpose in protecting rank-and-file union members."

And finally: According to the State Department, White House officials -- including President Bush -- "received thousands of dollars worth of gifts from foreign leaders and friends last year." For example, former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gave Bush the CD "Junichiro Koizumi Presents: My Favorite Elvis Songs," valued at $50. Vice President Cheney received a "fur-lined cashmere Arabic coat" from Saudi King Abdullah, valued at $400.

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Yesterday, Harvard University announced a "major financial aid initiative" that will make the school "more affordable to middle- and even upper-middle-class families."

LOUISIANA: Newly-elected Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) "faces a test in taming Louisiana politics."

ENVIRONMENT: Federal officials reach a new pact with several Western states on how to allocate water if the Colorado River runs short.

ECONOMY: "The housing slump impacted revenue in 24 states this year and 18 say they are 'concerned' about their revenue outlook."

THINK PROGRESS: Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's law firm led the effort to kill the Senate energy bill.

HORSE'S MOUTH: The Washington Post's David Ignatius dismisses President Bush's Iran intelligence lie as a "non-story."

EMPTY WHEEL: Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) wants Attorney General Michael Mukasey to finally answer questions on torture.

NEWS HOUNDS: Live on the air, Fox News host Shepard Smith said "Fox is Bush's network after all."

"Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, says that after she was raped by multiple men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job. ... Jones' alleged assailants will likely never face a judge and jury."
-- ABC News, 12/10/07

VERSUS

"[C]ivilian contractors cannot be tried in military courts, and it is unclear what American criminal laws might cover criminal acts committed in a war zone."
-- New York Times, 10/30/07

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