By Kenneth J. Theisen
Surprise! Senate
Fails to Halt the War, but Manages to Condemn Advertisement
On September 21, 2007, the Senate once again failed to pass
legislation that would have withdrawn some troops from Iraq. The legislation failed by 13 votes. What a
surprise? Despite polls and last year’s
midterm election, the Democratic-controlled congress allows the war to
continue. But the Senate is not without power.
The day before the war vote, it managed to pass a resolution by a 72-25
vote condemning an advertisement by MoveOn.org. portraying General Petraeus as
“General Betray Us.” Who says this is a “do nothing” Congress?
Speaking of General Betray Us, recent polls indicate that
the public’s view of the war was not swayed by his and Ryan Crocker’s
congressional testimony and the Bush regime’s media blitz last week. This week, a poll conducted by the Pew Research
Center found that 54 % of Americans
still favor bringing troops home as soon as possible and 47% said the U.S. will likely fail in Iraq.
Kouchner Threatens “War” against Iran, then Meets with Gates, Rice
& Hadley
On September 21, 2007, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
and national security adviser Stephen Hadley met with French Foreign Minister
Bernard Kouchner. Kouchner has been
escalating the Iranian war rhetoric this last week and this has made him a
welcome guest with the Bush regime. Last
Sunday, he threatened war against Iran to prevent it from obtaining
nuclear weapons. On Thursday, he continued his tough talk about Iran and he met
with Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
After the meeting with Rice, there was a joint press
conference held by Rice and Kouchner. Rice stated, “I think that there’s,
essentially, no difference in the way that we see the situation in Iran and what
the international community must do.”
France,
under the leadership of Kouchner and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has
recently been leading the sanctions charge against Iran. France
is marching in lockstep with the U.S. to tighten international sanctions.
The French are also seeking European Union sanctions against Iran, a move
that the Bush regime applauds.
Kouchner has become the darling of the Bush regime which is
shown by his high-level meetings this week with regime officials. He views Iran as a threat to global
security. He said, “To those who say that we should handle Iran with kid
gloves, since it could destabilize the region, I say this: look at its
adventurism today and imagine what it would be like if Tehran thought itself
one day protected by a nuclear umbrella.” (There is no truth to the rumor that Kouchner
is Dick Cheney in disguise.)
Before the meeting with Rice and Hadley, State Department
spokesman Tom Casey in referring to the new French attitude stated, “I think it
is extremely helpful that the international community continues to take actions
that we mean business when it comes to dealing with their nuclear program.”
North Korea
and Syria
Hold High-Level Meeting
On September 21, 2007, North
Korea and Syria
met for high-level talks in Pyongyang,
North Korea. According to the official Korean Central News
Agency a meeting between Choe Tae Bok, secretary of the Central Committee of
the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, and Saaeed Eleia Dawood, director of the
organizational department of Syria’s
Baath Arab Socialist Party, took place where they discussed “ways of improving
friendship and cooperation and other issues of bilateral interest.”
But the Bush regime is attempting to portray the meeting as
part of a plot for Syria
to possibly acquire nuclear equipment for the development of nuclear
weapons. Where have we heard the WMD
argument before?
Last week, Andrew Semmel, U.S.
deputy assistant secretary of state for nuclear nonproliferation policy claimed
that North Koreans were in Syria.
He further stated that Syria
may be in contact with “secret suppliers” to obtain nuclear
equipment. On September 20, 2007 President Bush was questioned in a news
conference about the suspicions raised by Semmel that North Korea may be giving nuclear assistance to Syria. Bush sternly replied, “We expect them
not to.”
These latest developments occur during the same period as a
possible Israeli attack on Syria
overnight between Sept. 5 and 6, 2007.
It is unclear whether such an attack occurred, and if so, what the
target of the attack was. At the
September 20th press conference, Bush repeatedly refused to comment on reports
that Israeli planes guided by Israeli ground forces attacked an alleged nuclear
installation in Syria.
World Can’t Wait will continue to follow this story.
Iraqi Government Concludes Blackwater Massacre was
Unprovoked
After an investigation into the September 16, 2007 massacre
by the U.S. security
contractor, Blackwater USA,
the Iraqi government has concluded the Blackwater guards in a convoy weren’t
fired upon and that their response was unprovoked. The Iraqi Interior Ministry reported that
“the Blackwater company is considered 100 percent guilty through this
investigation.” The Interior
Ministry also reportedly recommended foreign security companies in the country
be replaced by Iraqi companies, have their immunity lifted, and that Blackwater
pay compensation for the massacre.
U.S.
officials remain mute about the massacre details. But the Bush regime is
concerned at the highest levels about the consequences that may result from
this most recent massacre.
At a September 20, 2007 press conference, President Bush stated
he will discuss the incident with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in New York next week. Bush
said, “Folks like Blackwater who provide security for the State Department
are under rules of engagement. They have certain rules. And this [investigating]
commission will determine whether they violated those rules”Obviously, to the
extent innocent life was lost, you know, I’m saddened. Our objective is to
protect innocent life. And we’ve got a lot of brave souls in the theater
working hard to protect innocent life.”
It was also reported by a senior State Department official,
that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called al-Maliki and requested him to
delay any reaction to the shooting and to hold up all permanent measures until further
facts were ascertained. But al Maliki is also under great internal Iraqi
pressure to do something. The massacre is just the latest source of tension
between the puppet government in Baghdad and its
Washington
masters.
On Friday, September 21, 2007 American convoys under the
protection of Blackwater USA
resumed after being temporarily suspended for part of the week.
The Rich get Richer under the Bush Regime
Forbes Magazine has reported that it now takes more than $1
billion to make the magazine’s 400 richest Americans” list thanks to the Bush
tax cuts for the rich. In order to make
it onto the list, you must now have a minimum net worth of $1.3 billion. (Darn,
I just missed the cut.) Eighty-two American billionaires failed to make the list
this year. The top 400 billionaires had
a collective worth of $1.54 trillion.
Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the nation’s
official poverty rate was 12.3 percent in 2006 with 36.5 million people in
poverty. These millions have a negative
net worth. The number of people without health insurance coverage also rose to
47 million in 2006. This is at a time
when the President is currently threatening to veto a bill that extends health
care coverage to millions of children.
If he does so, several million kids will be without health care.
Isn’t life good in George W. Bush’s America?
Former CBS News Anchor Charges “Big Corporate and Big
Government Interference and Intimidation in News”
On September 20, 2007 Dan Rather stated on CNN’s Larry King
show that, “Somebody, sometime has got to take a stand and say democracy
cannot survive, much less thrive with the level of big corporate and big
government interference and intimidation in news.” On September 19, 2007, Rather filed a $70
million lawsuit against CBS and its former parent company Viacom, Inc. He
stated that the influence of government and corporations over the news media
prompted his suit.
Rather has charged that CBS and Viacom Inc. made him a
“scapegoat” and deliberately botched the aftermath of a story about
President Bush’s military service, or lack thereof, to gain favor with the Bush
regime. As a result he was removed from
his “CBS Evening News” anchor spot in 2005. He stated, “They
sacrificed support for independent journalism for corporate financial gain””
Rather was ousted by CBS after he narrated a September 2004
report that said Bush disobeyed orders and failed to perform duties during his
National Guard service. The report also said a commander was under pressure to falsify
Bush’s National Guard record.
The documents used to support the story were challenged by
Bush supporters. CBS conducted an
investigation of the story headed by Louis D. Boccardi, the retired chief
executive of the Associated Press and Richard Thornburgh, the former Republican
U.S. attorney general. They claimed the story “was neither fair nor accurate.” The
story’s producer was fired and other CBS employees were pressured to resign. Rather was forced to leave as CBS anchor. On
CNN Rather claimed the investigation “was in many ways a fraud. It was a setup.”
The televised CBS report was broadcast just before the 2004
presidential election and the Bush regime went all out to discredit it before
the election. If the report was proven
true, Bush’s chance for stealing the election would be damaged. VIACOM which owned CBS had important legislation
that it wanted passed and signed into law by Bush at the time. It had a huge financial interest to
protect. Rather and the other CBS
employees were sacrificed and Bush was re-elected.
World Can’t Wait will continue to follow this lawsuit story.
Is there a “Culture of Corruption” in the Bush Regime?
On September 20, 2007 Pentagon officials testified before
the House Armed Services Committee about Federal investigations involving
criminal misconduct related to $6 billion worth of contracts for equipment and
services needed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The witnesses included Thomas Gimble, the
Pentagon’s deputy inspector general, Lt. General. N. Ross Thompson, a top Army
acquisition official, and Shay Assad, director of defense procurement. Numerous
investigations of contract fraud and abuse are currently underway.
But the Pentagon officials denied to the committee that
there is a culture of corruption in military purchases. Instead they blamed the problems on a few “bad
apples,” poor accounting controls, too few properly trained contracting
personnel, and the fog of war.
Gimble said the Pentagon Inspector General is working on 90
investigations and 29 audits. He stated that approximately half of the
investigations are for procurement fraud, which includes undelivered or
defective products, overcharges and false claims. Twenty-six of the investigations involve
public corruption, which covers bribery and conflicts of interest. Sixteen
involve theft or violations of U.S.
export regulations. He said that those under suspicion include military and
civilian government personnel, as well as contractors.
But at least Congress is now looking into this vast waste of
taxpayers” money and we do not need to worry about it continuing, right? Or is it all a show for the public. You decide.
There are 61 members of the House Armed Services Committee. Very few even came to yesterday’s hearing. As
the hearing was about to end, only the Committee Chair and one other member
were present to hear testimony. This is your Congress at work “watching” over
the public purse.
In related corruption news, the Kuwaiti company, First
Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting, which is building the massive $592
million U.S. embassy in Baghdad has been accused of conspiring to pay $200,000
in kickbacks in return for two unrelated Army contracts in Iraq. According to
court documents the scheme allegedly involved First Kuwaiti and a Kellogg Brown
& Root Inc. (KBR) manager, Anthony J. Martin. (Yes, the former Halliburton
subsidiary. Four former KBR procurement employees have been charged or pleaded
guilty in contracting fraud cases involving Army contracts.) In July, Martin pleaded guilty to taking
kickbacks.
Because of First Kuwati’s role in building the embassy and
in other government contracts, the Bush regime has tried to keep its name out
of public records related to Martin’s corruption case. But details of Martin’s grand jury testimony
were included in a document filed in an unrelated federal court case and were
discovered by the Associated Press before the records were sealed. Martin told
the grand jury that he conspired in the kickback scheme with Wadih Al Absi, who
controls First Kuwaiti. First Kuwaiti naturally denies Martin’s allegations. And of course the Bush regime is not eager to
have the truth come out as it may prove embarrassing.
First Kuwaiti is also under investigation for alleged
contract fraud on the embassy project. In January the Department of Justice
requested the State Department inspector general to investigate allegations of
misconduct by First Kuwaiti in regard to the embassy construction. Now a Congressional committee is
investigating State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard for purportedly
preventing his investigators from cooperating with the Justice Department investigation.
Representative Henry Waxman released an e-mail which states the charges
regarding First Kuwaiti “are basically contract fraud and public
corruption.”
And in still another related development of either fraud,
waste, or corruption, Peter Velz, a foreign affairs specialist in the Defense
Department has recently stated that oversight of American weapons bound for
Iraqi forces were so loose that no one knows where all the 190,000 plus guns
and ammunition ended up. The Pentagon does not know how many weapons that were
destined for the Iraqis “were in fact transferred,” he said. Turkish officials have complained to the U.S. that many of the weapons are in Turkey. The General Accounting Office (GAO) has
reported that 30% of the weapons the US had allegedly given to Iraqi
forces since 2004 are not accounted for. Nearly $3 billion dollars has been spent on
equipment including weapons for Iraqi security forces since 2003, according to
the GAO. The only problem is that the U.S. does not
know where all the equipment is. By the way, General Petraeus was formerly the
guy in charge of training Iraqi security forces and thus was in charge of the
weapons” distribution during part of the time that so many disappeared.
But do not worry about a few billion dollars being wasted
here and there by the U.S.
military and its contractors. Remember
that it is not a culture of corruption.
It is only a few bad apples.
The Artic melts, while the Bush regime offers useless plans
to stop global warming
According to NASA satellite data released on September 20,
2007, sea ice in the Arctic shrank 1 million
square miles more this summer than the average melt of the last 25 years. Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data
Center attributed this to
the global increase in ocean and air temperatures. In other words folks, global warming is having
a huge impact. But do not worry.
The day after this announcement, the Bush regime set out its
plan to cool down the earth with voluntary cooperation and by reducing global
trade barriers. President Bush has also called for a two-day climate conference
in Washington.
Deputy national security adviser Dan Price, told reporters, “Tackling
global climate change requires all major economies, developed and developing,
to work together. And it requires each to make a contribution consistent with
its national circumstances. Not every country can afford to invest large sums
to develop or acquire technologies. But every country can eliminate tariffs and
other barriers to trade in clean energy goods and services.”
The Bush regime rejects any mandatory compliance with
emissions cuts and instead wants a strictly voluntary agreement among nations. The Kyoto Protocol, which the U.S. refused to
sign, mandates emissions cuts through 2012 to a collective 5 percent below 1990
levels. It only applies to industrial
nations that agreed to the protocol. The Bush regime, which in the past
rejected the reality of global warming, now seeks to have countries set goals
for 2020 and 2030. It wants no treaties
or enforceable international agreements.
In other words it does not really want any real controls on global
warming.
But why worry? It is
only the fate of the world at stake.
Maybe the Bush regime should offer more tax cuts for the rich. That seems to be its solution to most problems.