IRAQ
Negotiating A Neverending War

On Friday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told reporters in Amman, Jordan that negotiations over initial U.S. proposals for bilateral political and military agreements between the United States and Iraq had "reached a dead end" after U.S. negotiators demanded "control of Iraqi airspace and immunity from prosecution for U.S. troops and private contractors." BBC reports the disagreement between Maliki and U.S. negotiators "goes to the heart of the immensely sensitive issue of who is actually in charge in the country: the Americans or the Iraqis." "The Iraqi demands are unacceptable to the Americans, and the American demands are unacceptable to the Iraqis," Maliki said. "Iraqis will not consent to an agreement that infringes their sovereignty." The disposition of the negotiations will determine the future of the U.S. involvement in Iraq. Last week, members of the two ruling Shia parties leaked details of the U.S. proposal, telling McClatchy News that the United States is "demanding 58 bases as part of [an] agreement that will allow U.S. troops to remain in the country indefinitely." 

THE FUTURE U.S.-IRAQ RELATIONSHIP: A new agreement is necessary to legalize the U.S. presence in Iraq after the United Nations mandate expires at the end of 2008. In November 2007, President Bush and Maliki signed a non-binding "Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship" that set out parameters for negotiating an "enduring" political, economic, cultural, and security relationship between the United States and Iraq. The Bush administration said that the proposed agreement would not be submitted to Congress for approval, with one analyst noting that this was "purely an executive agreement." However, critics have pointed out that status of forces agreements have not traditionally committed the United States to guarantee the security of other countries. In testimony to Congress in March, the Center for American Progress's Lawrence Korb stated that the agreement was "substantially broader in scope than standard Status of Forces Agreements. The fact that the administration does not intend to submit the agreement for congressional approval is a testament to their own recognition of how the broad the implications of this agreement are." The United States has similar agreements with numerous countries where American soldiers are stationed on foreign soil, like South Korea, Japan, and Germany, but "none involve soldiers carrying out active combat operations." 

IRAQI POLITICIANS UNITED AGAINST: The proposed agreement has met with vocal political opposition in Iraq. Ironically, while genuine movement toward Iraqi political reconciliation has been elusive, a diverse coalition has formed in opposition to the agreement. In Washington, D.C. two weeks ago, Sunni parliamentarian Sheik Khalef al-Ulayyan said, "When we look at this treaty, we don't just think it's a treaty that affirms the occupation of Iraq. ... It looks like a treaty that will be the annexation of Iraq to the United States." In a letter to Congress, more than 30 members of  Iraq's Parliament rejected any agreement that is not "linked to clear mechanisms that obligate the occupying America military forces to fully withdraw from Iraq, in accordance with a declared timetable and without leaving behind any military bases, soldiers or hired fighters." A representative of Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Sistani reported that Sistani had told Maliki that "everything should be done to get back total [Iraqi] sovereignty on all levels." Supporters of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have held regular protests against the agreement, and Sadr has called for the agreement to be put to a popular referendum. Iran has also registered displeasure with the proposed agreement, with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, telling Maliki that the presence of U.S. troops was "the main obstacle on the way to progress and prosperity in Iraq." Iranian leaders have expressed concern that U.S. troops stationed in Iraq could be used in an eventual attack on Iran. Underscoring the careful line that Maliki must tread between his Iranian neighbor and American sponsor, Iraqi and Iranian defense ministers recently "signed a memorandum of understanding to boost defense cooperation" between the two countries.

THE FUTURE OF THE US IN THE MIDDLE EAST: The conclusion of the proposed agreement with the Iraqi government will have broad implications for the future U.S. military posture in the Middle East. Establishing bases in Iraq from which to project American power through the region has been one of the underlying goals of the war from its inception, and partially explains why the United States has been willing to accommodate parties such as Maliki's Da'wa and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (who are close to Iran but also support U.S. goals), at least in the short term. Conservative pundit Dick Morris spoke for much of the pro-war community when he told Fox News that, after 4,000 American casualties in Iraq, "I want bases out of that." If the administration gets its way, American troops would be stationed in the heart of the Middle East for the foreseeable future -- likely fueling continued extremist anti-American sentiment and political unrest. This highlights the tension between the U.S. goals of a democratic Iraq and a continued U.S. military presence in Iraq. For that presence to be legal and legitimate, it must be subject to agreement by the Iraqi government. But it is extremely unlikely that any Iraqi government that agrees to an extended U.S. presence -- especially on the terms the U.S. is currently demanding -- will be viewed as legitimate by the Iraqi people.

Under the Radar

ETHICS -- JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FILES GRAND JURY REFERRAL IN U.S. ATTORNEY SCANDAL INVESTIGATION: "Justice Department lawyers have filed a grand jury referral stemming from the 2006 U.S. attorneys scandal," the Wall Street Journal reports, "the first time the probe has moved beyond the investigative phase." The referral focuses on possible perjury by Bradley Schlozman. Schlozman had worked in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, but left last year "after he was challenged over his hiring of conservative lawyers" at the division. Schlozman also faced criticism for, as a U.S. attorney, charging a left-leaning voter-registration group with voter fraud days before the 2006 election. Last June, Schlozman admitted to a Senate panel that he had boasted about the number of Republicans he had hired to the division, and had changed performance evaluations of those employees "not perceived to be Bush administration loyalists." Schlozman was promoted to U.S. attorney in Kansas City after his predecessor, Todd Graves, was fired after showing "reluctance to bring voter-fraud-related cases." Testifying before Congress last October, a former Civil Rights Division employee said the "decline and the myriad other problems that have plagued" the Justice department "are a direct result of the actions of political appointees such as...Bradley Schlozman."

TORTURE -- INVESTIGATION FINDS WIDESPREAD ABUSE IN AFGHANISTAN DETENTION CENTERS: An eight-month McClatchy investigation has found systematic torture and mistreatment of detainees in detention centers throughout Afghanistan, starting in 2001 and lasting at least 20 months. Sixty-eight percent of former detainees interviewed reported being assaulted in Afghanistan, a rate higher than the 42 percent of cases in Guantanamo Bay. Detainees said abuse ranged from being baptized by prison guards dressed as Roman Catholic priests to being "chained hand and foot in a fetal position on the floor" and "left there for 18, 24 hours or more." While most press attention has focused on the detention center at the Soviet-built Bagram Airbase, where two detainees were beaten to death by guards in December 2002, former detainees of internment centers in Kandahar also reported being hit by guards on a regular basis during the same period. Though the Department of Defense maintains that such detainee abuse is isolated, prison guards say they were deployed to Afghanistan with inadequate training, were placed in an environment where the rules were unclear, and in the absence of supervision, "everybody hit their boiling point."

ENVIRONMENT -- BUSH ADMINISTRATION GIVES OIL COMPANIES A PASS TO HARM POLAR BEARS: Last week, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued regulations allowing seven oil companies to annoy and potentially harm polar bears while searching for oil and gas in the Arctic's Chukchi Sea. These regulations, which include legal protection for the incidental harm of "small numbers" of polar bears, come despite the Interior Department's decision last month to list polar bears as a threatened species because of habitat loss due to global warming. Even though "vibrations, noises, unusual scents and the presence of industrial equipment can disrupt" polar bears' "quest for prey and their efforts to raise their young in snow dens," the FWS said "oil and gas exploration will have a negligible effect on the bears' population." "The oil and gas industry in operating under the kind of rules they have operated under for 15 years has not been a threat to the species," claimed FWS director H. Dale Hall. Environmentalists, however, are calling the regulations a "blank check" for the oil companies to harass polar bears. Prior to this decision, environmental groups had announced a "plan to sue the federal government for not imposing new regulations on oil development in Alaska's Arctic waters as part of offering protective status to polar bears."

Think Fast

A new Pew poll finds that "Americans dissatisfied with political sound bites are turning to the Internet for a more complete picture." Nearly 30 percent of adults have "used the Internet to read or watch unfiltered campaign material" and 6 percent have "contributed to a campaign using the Internet, compared with 2% in 2004."

FEMA director David Paulison blamed Louisiana officials for turning down $85 million of emergency supplies that the agency recently gave away, after they had "lingered on storage shelves while hurricane victims suffered without the items they needed." "We did ask Louisiana, 'Do you want these?' They said, 'No, we don't need them.' So we offered them to the other states," Paulison said.

Launching a new Politico series dubbed "Dear 44," Center for American Progress CEO John Podesta calls on progressives to "look beyond skimpy policy proposals and meager reforms to provide leadership and an alternative vision" on the key issues of the day, including restoring America's international standing, solving the climate crisis, and recreating economic security for the middle class.

When DMC Pharmacy opens this summer in Chantilly, VA, "anyone who wants condoms, birth control pills or the Plan B emergency contraceptive will be turned away." The pharmacy is among a growing number of drugstores around the country "pitting patients' rights against those of health-care workers who assert a 'right of conscience' to refuse to provide care or products that they find objectionable."

And finally: Writer Stephen E. Frantzich has coaxed the normally spotlight-averse C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb into cooperating on a new biography. "I really don't think I am very interesting," said Lamb. Some revelations from the book include the fact that Lamb's appearance is often compared to Tweety Bird, and he has a collection of the cartoon figurines. He is also the godfather of one of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's children, and "is in bed by 8 p.m. and up at 3 a.m."

Good News

"Congress has embarked on a push to protect as many as a dozen pristine areas this year in places ranging from the glacier-fed streams of the Wild Sky Wilderness here to West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest."

State Watch

CALIFORNIA: Same-sex couples begin legally exchanging vows.

OHIO: "Military pensions are now exempt from the state income tax, and estates of those who died in a combat zone can avoid certain probate fees."

NEVADA: "NAACP and ACLU officials have expressed concern over tougher admission standards at Nevada's two universities, citing a report that shows they have caused a drop in minority enrollment."

FLORIDA: "Florida's multibillion dollar citrus industry is beleaguered by citrus greening or yellow dragon disease and is mounting an effort to formulate ways to eradicate the disease."

Blog Watch

THINK PROGRESS: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: Supreme Court's detainee decision will "cost us a city."

WONK ROOM: How Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer redefined success in Iraq.

ATTACKERMAN: Moqtada al-Sadr's latest gambit in Iraqi politics.

CROOKS AND LIARS: Conservative columnist George Will claims Americans are better off economically now than they were eight years ago.

Daily Grill

"[O]il is being drilled right now 60 miles off the coast of Florida. But we're not doing it, the Chinese are, in cooperation with the Cuban government."
-- Vice President Cheney, 6/11/08

VERSUS

"It is our understanding that, although Cuba has leased out exploration blocks 60 miles off the coast of southern Florida...no Chinese firm is drilling there."
-- Cheney, 6/12/08