Frontline: The lost year in Iraq

In the first weeks after the statue of Saddam Hussein fell, a group of young American bureaucrats led by Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III set off to establish democracy in Iraq. "We had an ambitious goal," Bremer tells FRONTLINE, "to try to bring better government to Iraq and help them rebuild their economy [and] their country." One year later, as Bremer made a secret exit to evade insurgent attacks, the group left behind a thriving insurgency, economic collapse and much of its idealism. "Our grand initiative there [was] to bring democracy to Iraq," says Rajiv Chandrasekaran, former Baghdad bureau chief for The Washington Post. Instead, says Chandrasekaran, "we were leaving with our tail between our legs."

Today, as America looks for an exit strategy, FRONTLINE examines the initial, critical decisions of the U.S.-led regime in Baghdad in The Lost Year in Iraq. From the same team that produced Rumsfeld's War, The Torture Question and The Dark Side, the film is based on more than 30 interviews, most of them with the officials charged with building a new and democratic Iraq.
The Lost Year in Iraq begins on April 9, 2003, as American troops help a crowd of Iraqis topple a statue of Saddam Hussein. In Washington there was celebration, but in Baghdad the looting was beginning. Jay Garner, the retired general picked by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to lead reconstruction, was forced to wait in Kuwait for authorization to enter Iraq. He and his team had arrived from Washington without computers, telephones or a plan. "Everybody was focused on the war; they were focused on regime change," Garner tells FRONTLINE. "That took all of their energy. I wasn't the central focus." On the day Garner finally arrived in Baghdad, he received a phone call from Rumsfeld: He was being replaced by L. Paul Bremer.

Bremer, who arrived with sweeping plans to remake the country, had a young and inexperienced team, but his staff had passed a political litmus test in Washington. "It's a children's crusade … of former Republican campaign workers, White House interns [and] Heritage Foundation people," says Thomas Ricks of The Washington Post. Col. T.X. Hammes, a counterinsurgency expert and adviser to Iraq's Interior Ministry, felt Bremer's staff could have been better trained. "We had so many of these very, very young people that are dedicated Americans, brave enough to take a chance and go into Iraq to try to do something right for their country," he tells FRONTLINE. "But [they] didn't get any training; they have no background. … And yet we put them in charge of planning at [the] national level."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/yeariniraq/etc/synopsis.html

Appoint or reappointment: that is the question.

Hmmm. A blast from July of this year from the President's speeech in Chicago and Fitzgerald is mention. Here is an excerpt of his speech in July:

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I think we had a reasonable chance of shooting it down. At least that's what the military commanders told me.Rick. Let's get a little local here, Ricky. Do you consider yourself local or national? Hybrid? Are you a hybrid?

Q It seems trendy --

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, very trendy. You're kind of a trendy guy. Got the gray shirt.

Q Thank you very much. Mr. President, the work of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in prosecuting alleged corruption is well-known here in Chicago, as well as nationally. It's my understanding that technically, he hasn't been reappointed to his position, and serves at your pleasure. Do you have any plans to formally reappoint him to the post, or any position at Department of Justice?

THE PRESIDENT: As a special prosecutor?

Q And would you give us your assessment of the job that he's doing?

THE PRESIDENT: I don't have any plans to reappoint him because I haven't thought about it. I will now think about it, now that you brought it up.The only -- I can give you an assessment of how I thought he handled the case in Washington. I haven't been following the cases here. I thought in Washington he handled the case with professionalism, he was very professional about it. You didn't see a lot leaks, you didn't see a lot of speculation, you didn't see a lot of people kind of dropping a little crumb here for the press to chew on.

And I really thought he handled himself well.

But as far as reappointing him as a special prosecutor, I don't know whether the Attorney General is going to do that, or not. That's his choice to make."For that and more, here is the complete White House transcript of the July 7 press conference in Chicago.

http://www.ilcampaign.org/blog/2006_07_01_archive.html

It would be really ashame if the White House wasted good talent like Fitz!

Remembering Pat Tillman

After Pat's Birthday

By Kevin Tillman

Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2000, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.

It is Pat's birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier leaves us without a voice… until we get out.
Much has happened since we handed over our voice:
Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can't be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.
Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.
Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few "bad apples" in the military.

In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don't be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that "somehow" was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.
Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat's birthday.




http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102006K.shtml

Is this Rove's October surprise?

GOP to Air Ad Warning of Terror Attacks

Republicans to Start Airing TV Ad That Warns ore Cataclysmic Terror Attacks Against U.S.

WASHINGTON Oct 19, 2006 — The Republican Party will begin airing a hard-hitting ad this weekend that warns of more cataclysmic terror attacks against the U.S. homeland.
The ad portrays Osama bin Laden and quotes his threats against America dating to February 1998. "These are the stakes," the ad concludes. "Vote November 7."
Brian Jones, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said the ad would run on national cable beginning Sunday, but he declined to discuss specifics of the buy.
The commercial tracks with Republican Party strategy to make the war on terrorism a central theme of this election. It will air as recent polls show Republicans losing ground as the party best able to combat terrorism.
Last month, President Bush made the war against terrorism a recurrent topic in public appearances. But his message was drowned out by the e-mail sex scandal involving former Republican Rep. Mark Foley of Florida and by increasing fatalities in Iraq.
The ad displays an array of quotes from bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri, that include bin Laden's Dec. 26, 2001 vow that "what is yet to come will be even greater."
The ad also cites al-Zawahri's claim to have obtained "some suitcase bombs," followed by a scene that appears to show a nuclear explosion.
Despite al-Zawahri's claim, portable nuclear devices are believed to be particularly difficult to produce and elusive to rogue regimes and terror groups.
The ad is also featured on the RNC's Web site. The party said the ad, called "The Stakes," will be e-mailed to millions of GOP supporters, activists and the state parties.
Democrats denounced the ad as scaremongering.
"This is a pathetic move by an increasingly desperate GOP," said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney. "Clearly Republicans are so afraid of their abysmal record they can't offer one example of what they've done to keep America safe."
Former U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Joe Sestak, a Democratic congressional candidate running against incumbent Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., said the war in Iraq has made Americans less safe. "It's disturbing that the Republicans in Washington are trying to reinvent history with this latest message of fear," he said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/the06fix/index.php?id=313

Bush is acting quickly on the habeas cases

Court Told It Lacks Power in Detainee Cases


Moving quickly to implement the bill signed by President Bush this week that authorizes military trials of enemy combatants, the administration has formally notified the U.S. District Court here that it no longer has jurisdiction to consider hundreds of habeas corpus petitions filed by inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
In a notice dated Wednesday, the Justice Department listed 196 pending habeas cases, some of which cover groups of detainees. The new Military Commissions Act (MCA), it said, provides that "no court, justice, or judge" can consider those petitions or other actions related to treatment or imprisonment filed by anyone designated as an enemy combatant, now or in the future

In a notice dated Wednesday, the Justice Department listed 196 pending habeas cases, some of which cover groups of detainees. The new Military Commissions Act (MCA), it said, provides that "no court, justice, or judge" can consider those petitions or other actions related to treatment or imprisonment filed by anyone designated as an enemy combatant, now or in the future.
More on the story.

Fitz's filings for October 18, 2006

Click on Fitz's document






On a side note, this was reported on NBC Nightly News blog:

Today, Judge Reggie Walton, who is presiding over the case, revealed a rare insight on just how much the CIA leak case is on his mind.In a footnote to an order extending the deadline for a pre-trial filing by both parties, the judge writes, "As the parties are aware, Judge Walton will be on vacation in Jamaica beginning November 18, 2006 and it is particularly important for the expeditious resolution of these motions that Judge Walton have something to work on while relaxing on the beach."

Rove's magic pixie dust turns into saw dust with the GOP

Sorry Karl. The GOP koolaid is dry!

Republicans Walk Away From Rove's "Run On Iraq" Strategy

Adam Nagourney of the NYT runs a piece today that follows on something I mentioned earlier in the week about the NRSC withdrawal from DeWine’s race in Ohio: Rove’s midterm strategy of running on the war and its alleged central relationship to the war on terror has not only failed, but Republicans rather than embrace Iraq on the campaign trail are trying to ignore it. After two elections where Democrats were the ones who tried to ignore Iraq, they are the ones who are making Iraq and the failed Bush occupation a central issue in this campaign.

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/

Congressional Campaign Behind Letter Telling Immigrants They Will Be Deported If They Vote

Approximately 14,000 Hispanic Democratic voters in Orange County, CA recently received a Spanish-language letter warning them to stay away from the polls:


Here is the Spanish threatening letter to the Spanish voters.

National legislatives of thieves and perverts on Capitol Hill

The Worst Congress Ever

How our national legislature has become a stable of thieves and perverts -- in five easy steps

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12055360/cover_story_time_to_go_inside_the_worst_congress_ever/1

Drum roll please for the 10 worst people in Congress:


1. THE HIGHWAY ROBBER
DENNIS HASTERT (R-ILL.)

2. THE DICTATOR
JAMES SENSENBRENNER JR. (R-WIS.)

3. MR. PORK
DON YOUNG (R-ALASKA)

4. THE BRIBE TAKER
WILLIAM JEFFERSON (D-LA.)

5. THE KING OF PAYOFFS
JERRY LEWIS (R-CALIF.)

6. MR. BIGOTRY
TOM TANCREDO (R-COLO.)

7. ENEMY OF THE EARTH
DICK POMBO (R-CALIF.)

8. THE CONSPIRACY NUT
CURT WELDON (R-PA.)

9. BIN LADEN'S BEST FRIEND
HAL ROGERS (R-KY.)

10. THE CHRISTIAN SOLDIER
MARILYN MUSGRAVE (R-COLO.)

Going after a candidate's dating habits

Meet Harold Ford Jr. who running in the Senate race in Tennessee.

The GOP has updated the attack with what may be the lamest criticism of the entire election season.
Don't tell us that Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr.'s past relationship with a local college coed is the most Republicans can muster in diverting attention from the Mark Foley congressional page scandal.
"More Details of Ford's Fancy Fling" — or so blares the National Republican Senatorial Committee's headline about the personal life of the Tennessee Democrat, who is in a tight race for his state's open Senate seat.
The so-called "fling" was several years ago, when the unmarried Mr. Ford was celebrating his 31st birthday at Georgetown's Paolo's restaurant and laid eyes on Julia Baugher, then a sophomore at Georgetown University (after graduation, she penned a column in New York about dating. In fact, she wrote about the couple's otherwise ordinary relationship for Cosmopolitan.)
As the Memphis Flyer quotes Miss Baugher, "Other than a fabulous weekend ski vacation and a few fancy dinners, all Harold gave me was the certainty that dating a [politician] is overrated."
Let me get this straight — the National Republican Senatorial Committee is not only interested in Ford's personal life, the NRSC also finds it fascinating that a 31-year-old bachelor went out with a college student. That's it. No weird sexual scandals, no untoward lobbying contracts for the girlfriend, no illicit pictures. Republicans genuinely believe Ford having dated someone should be a campaign issue.

I know the Republicans are getting desperate, but are they really this pathetic?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8789.html

GOP need to worry about cleaning up their own party and scandals than attacking Ford's private life!

Ken Lay gets a get out of jail free card for good

It think Lay was really E.T. that phoned home!
















Court Vacates Ken Lay's Conviction

The federal judge in Ken Lay's Enron trial has vacated his conviction. Charges against him were dismissed.
In his decision, Lake cited a decision in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that makes death, before the appeals process has been exhausted, grounds for throwing out a conviction and dismissing an indictment.
Although the Justice Department tried to get Congress to trump the precedent by passing a law, no member of Congress voted for it.
The Department of Justice tried to trump that precedent, however, when it asked Congress in early September to pass a law that would essentially prevent courts from vacating criminal convictions if a defendant dies before going through the entire appeals process....The proposed law does not appear to have been picked up a sponsor in Congress.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/10/17/175924/11

K.A. Paul Speaks! Again! Some More!

Dr. K.A. Paul throws Hastert under the bus!

Dr. K.A. Paul, the evangelist who says he convinced House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to resign over Foleygate, is upset that Hastert's promise didn't stick. So he's calling a news conference:

Leading Evangelist Who Met with Hastert to Hold Major News Conference to Offer Details

Religious Leader Upset Speaker Hastert Broke 7 Day Commitment
News Advisory:

Dr. K. A. Paul, the evangelist who met and prayed with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) at his home in Plano, Ill., will hold a news conference on Wednesday to outline what Speaker Hastert said to him about a 7-day commitment he made during the meeting.
The Sun-Times called the meeting a "serious security breach," but a spokeswoman for the Capitol Police, which is responsible for Speaker Hastert's security, said "this wasn't a security breach," according to the Capital Hill newspaper, Roll Call.
With the midterm elections next month, Paul has launched a crusade to save America from the wrath of God and Republicans abusing their power and mired in scandal. Paul has been supported and endorsed by major Republican and evangelical leaders across the country. He prayed with President Bush and mobilized thousands of voters in Florida to help him win the 2000 presidential election and has counseled more than 60 heads of state around the world.

DATE: Wednesday, Oct. 18

TIME: 10 a.m.

PLACE: Hilton Towers Joliet Room, 720 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill.

PARTICIPANTS:
Dr. K. A. Paul, evangelist and president, Global Peace Initiative
Dorothy Brown, clerk, Cook County Circuit Court
Dr. Jacob Agepog, Archbishop-elect

FIRST BUSH-APPOINTED CHAIR OF U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION SPEAKS OUT.

EXCLUSIVE: FIRST BUSH-APPOINTED CHAIR OF U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION SAYS 'NO STANDARDS' FOR E-VOTING DEVICES, SYSTEM 'RIPE FOR STEALING ELECTIONS'

The BRAD BLOG has obtained an EXCLUSIVE partial transcript from a recent, unaired interview by a major broadcast network with former U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) chair Rev. DeForest Soaries.
Soaries was appointed by George W. Bush as the first chair of the commission created by the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in the wake of the 2000 Presidential Election Debacle. In the interview, available here for the first time, Soaries excoriates both Congress and the White House, referring to their dedication to reforming American election issues as "a charade" and "a travesty," and says the system now in place is "ripe for stealing elections and for fraud."
Having resigned from the commission in April of 2005, Soaries goes on to explain that he believes he was "deceived" by both the White House and Congress, and that neither were ever "really serious about election reform."

TRANSCRIPT FROM UNAIRED SEPTEMBER 2006 INTERVIEW

Rev. DeForest Soaries, Former U.S. Elections Assistance Commission Chair

"I resigned, effective April 30th, 2005 after having served through the 2004 elections and concluding that neither the White House nor the Congress was really serious about election reform.
"Florida 2000, the whole world watched America express embarrassment over the status of the Election Assistance Administration and by November 2004, we had not only not made significant changes but in many ways, had made things worse through the passage of the Help America Vote Act."After Florida 2000, the politicians were all on the soap box promising the country that we would 'repair' the problem and the problem was much more than hanging chads and lever machines. For instance, the Help America Vote Act mandates that an electronic voting machine be in every precinct in the country and that mandate preceded the funding of research necessary to ensure that there is some prototype or standard for such machines. If every home were mandated to have a microwave without the prerequisite kinds of safety standards for microwaves, it would be considered scandalous. But we know more today about how to build a machine to take pictures of rocks on Mars than we know about how to build a machine to safeguard the American right to vote. More on the story.

Somebody has egg on his face!

Egg On His Face

I am still waiting on the fashion police on his tie!

Let me remind you of what the maverick McCain said about Clinton:

"I would remind Senator Clinton and other Democrats critical of Bush administration policies that the framework agreement her husband's administration negotiated was a failure."--John McCain, October 10th

Really John? It was Clinton's failure that led to last week's test?

It now has been determined that last week’s nuclear weapon tested by North Korea wasn’t a uranium-based bomb, but rather a plutonium-based bomb.

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/

Can we say the "I" word for Condi?

Condi's Empty Threats

From our “Tilting At Windmills” file comes the empty threat today that Condi tells Iran they should pay attention to the possible naval blockade of North Korea as an indicator of what could happen to them if Tehran doesn’t dismantle its nuclear program. Please, make her stop. There is no way Tehran is going to be bullied into stopping what so far is a nuclear energy program because of a threat from Condi Rice or George W. Bush predicated on a North Korean naval blockade that the Chinese will never tolerate, no matter what Bush or Rice or Bolton think the Chinese agreed to in the Security Council resolution over the weekend. There were signs right after that vote that the Chinese had no intention of allowing what Bolton thought he “negotiated” on North Korea, despite the empty warnings from the White House that the Chinese needed to play ball here. And China confirmed just a while ago that they have no intention of interdicting shipping to North Korea.
Lastly, here are several more thoughts on how empty-headed and shortsighted the administration’s foreign policy has become:

1. Why does Bush think Japan would support a blockade against Iran?

2. Why does Bush think that China would support a blockade against Iran?

3. Why does Bush think that Russia would support a blockade against Iran?

4. If Iran saw such a provocation as a US battle group arriving off their shores, why wouldn’t they simply stop shipping oil and throw the world market into turmoil just before the midterm elections?

5. Moreover, in light of such a provocation, why wouldn’t Iran drag our asses to the Security Council?

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/

Weldon and his daughter being investigated on ties to lobbying clients

Just this weekend we learned that the FBI was investigating the relationships between Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) and his daughter's lobbying clients.
Today, federal agents have raided the home of Karen Weldon, who launched her successful lobbying career at 28, and whose clients reportedly enjoy remarkable attention from her father's office.

But, did you know that Melanie Sloan of CREW asked for investigation into Weldon and his daughter in April 2004?

Here is an excerpt:

CREW Requests Investigation of Cong. Curt Weldon

CREW today requested that the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section investigate whether Pennsylvania Congressman Curt Weldon violated federal bribery law by using his public office to benefit companies that hired his daughter as a lobbyist.

April 7, 2004

John Ashcroft
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Re: Request for Investigation of Cong. Curt Weldon

Dear Attorney General Ashcroft:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington requests that you have the Department's Public Integrity Section investigate whether Pennsylvania Congressman Curt Weldon violated federal bribery law by using his public office to benefit companies that hired his daughter as a lobbyist. Here is the entire letter from CREW to Ashcroft in April 2004.

Ney: The liquor made me do it.

Ney's Drinking Problem Could Cut His Jail Time

A smaller number of readers thought this rehab gambit was a way to trim his eventual jail sentence. When at Ney's guilty pleading yesterday his lawyer, Mark Tuohey, specifically asked the judge that Ney be considered for a treatment program while incarcerated, I began to wonder if they were right.
So I checked the Bureau of Prisons Web site, and guess what? It looks like our readers were onto something.
"Non-violent inmates who are diagnosed with a substance use disorder may be eligible for up to a year off his/her sentence," the site says. And in certain prisons, inmates with substance abuse problems can be placed in a separate residential treatment program which keeps them apart from the general inmate population.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001803.php

Could we be in a November surprise?

U.S. officials have been helping guide the Saddam Hussein trial from the outset, and today we learn that the case should be wrapped up soon — just in time for a certain domestic event.

A verdict against Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants charged with crimes against humanity in connection with an anti-Shiite crackdown in the 1980s will be announced Nov. 5, a senior court official said on Monday.
Sentences for those found guilty will be issued the same day, chief investigating judge Raid Juhi told The Associated Press.
Hmm, Saddam Hussein will almost certainly be convicted and sentenced to death on Nov. 5. You don't suppose Bush administration officials pushed for a date that would fall just 48 hours before the midterm elections, do you? It's not as if politics has ever been allowed to dictate events in Iraq before, right?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8766.html

Go Melanie!

CREW'S MELANIE SLOAN OFFERS TO TESTIFY BEFORE HOUSE ETHICS COMMITTEE ON FOLEY EMAILS

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) Executive Director Melanie Sloan yesterday wrote to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, better known as the Ethics Committee, to offer to testify under oath on CREW's handling of email exchanges between former Rep. Mark Foley and a former congressional page.

CREW received the emails in July and immediately forwarded them to a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Various inaccurate stories have circulated regarding exactly what CREW sent the FBI and how the agency responded upon receiving the emails, including false reports that CREW gave the FBI redacted emails, that CREW refused to cooperate with the FBI, and that CREW was ABC's source for Foley's emails and instant messages.

http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=168

Are you listening Karl?

In recent Harris Interactive polls, the number of respondents who refuse to acknowledge a preference for either party has risen to about 25 percent of the electorate from about 12 percent for most of the last decade.
Much of this increase in independents, he said, is probably accounted for by former Republican voters not quite willing to say they lean Democratic, but also unlikely to turn out this year.
“It is a red flag that Republican politicians need to watch,” Mr. Wirthlin said. Although Republicans have long outperformed Democrats at turning out their voters, he added, “this year they may be raking water up a hill.”
More on the story.


Here is a chart.