“I said after I was elected in 1996 that 12 years in the Senate would probably be enough. It is…I will not seek a third term in the United States Senate, nor do I intend to be a candidate for any office in 2008.” Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) announces his retirement, which may just mean a return to the Senate for Bob Kerrey. (So, he’s not running…I guess the trial balloon popped.) In any event, I thought Hagel maddeningly buckled to party pressure more often than not when the heat was on, and I still hold his attempted poison-pill amendment to McCain-Feingold back in 2000 against him. But, he also possessed a definite maverick streak on the war and a penchant for speaking-truth-to-power every so often that’ll be sorely missed on his side of the aisle. So, farewell, Senator Hagel, and please give yourself at least a few weeks off before commencing the fundraising for 2012.
Category: Politics (2007-2008)
Morning in Baghdad: The Petraeus and Crocker Show.
Declaring that “the military objectives of the surge are in large measure being met” (an assertion which rests, of course, on how one jukes the stats and skews the benchmarks), Army General David Petraeus, Dubya’s most recent man in Iraq, tells Congress he’s recommending a drawdown of troop levels in Iraq to pre-surge levels — around 130,000 troops — by July of next year. [Transcript.] Not a huge surprise — As Fred Kaplan noted both a few weeks ago and in his quality preview of today’s testimony, the Army would run out of troops by April anyway, so this was a foregone conclusion. Also, obviously, not what you’d call a real withdrawal (although the WP story’s cited experts suggest it may be taken as the “beginning of the end” by interested parties in Iraq…and Iran.) So, in effect, Petraeus punted to next July.
For his part, US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker backed Petraeus’ “Things are Getting Better” remarks in his own testimony, and intimated that the surge had staved off a near-total collapse. He also warned the nation about the nature of our continuing commitment there: “‘There will be no single moment in which we can claim victory,’ and any turning point will be recognized only ‘in retrospect.’“
Turning a Deaf Earmark.
“They are trying to change the whole vernacular so that earmarks aren’t earmarks anymore,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.” (Or, put another way, “When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.“) Under the current Congress, it seems, “earmarks” have now become “congressionally directed spending” but, alas for real reform, the intent — to get pet projects into the public agenda by roundabout means — continues. “Members of Congress are now resorting to less obvious tactics that allow them to get money to favored beneficiaries without acknowledging support for what others consider to be earmarks…Government watchdog groups and a few dissident lawmakers have noticed these sleights of hand and have begun to complain. They say the approach deceives the public about how many special spending projects are being handed out, noting that lawmakers’ contacts with agencies usually are conducted out of public view.”
NSL Countdown.
Another brick from the wall…A US District judge in New York declares that the FBI’s secret use of “national security letters” (NSLs) under the Patriot Act is unconstitutional, violating the First Amendment and the separation of powers clause. “Marrero wrote in his 106-page ruling that Patriot Act provisions related to NSLs are ‘the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values.’“
Juking the Stats in Iraq.
Are things getting better in Iraq? If so, it’ll be hard to prove with the statistics lately offered by the US military, which critics claim once again have been cherry-picked and “selectively ignore negative trends.” “In its December 2006 report, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group identified ‘significant underreporting of violence,’ noting that ‘a murder of an Iraqi is not necessarily counted as an attack’…Recent estimates by the media, outside groups and some government agencies have [also] called the military’s findings into question.“
In any case, it seems that, despite Dubya and Gen. Petraeus’s claims to the contrary, Iraqi security forces are nowhere close to being able to handle the load in Baghdad, according to a new report by a commission of retired military officers. “The report expresses concern about what it calls the massive U.S. military logistical ‘footprint’ in Iraq and its effect on perceptions and problems. ‘The unintended message conveyed is one of “permanence,” an occupying force, as it were,’ the report says. It recommends reconsideration of ‘efficiency, necessity…and cost’ and calls for ‘significant reductions, consolidations and realignments” of U.S. forces.’”
The WMD Lie, exposed.
“On Sept. 18, 2002, CIA director George Tenet briefed President Bush in the Oval Office on top-secret intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, according to two former senior CIA officers. Bush dismissed as worthless this information from the Iraqi foreign minister, a member of Saddam’s inner circle, although it turned out to be accurate in every detail. Tenet never brought it up again.” Did Dubya know for a fact that Iraq possessed no WMD prior to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq? With two CIA sources to back him up, Sidney Blumenthal says so. “‘The real tragedy is that they had a good source that they misused,’ said one of the former CIA officers. ‘The fact is there was nothing there, no threat. But Bush wanted to hear what he wanted to hear.‘”
Right Said Fred?
“I’m running for president of the United States.” Really? No kidding. While his Republican rivals debated in New Hampshire, former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson at long last officially entered the presidential race on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Given both his fumbling entry thus far and his pro-choice past, it’s hard to believe the conservative Republican base will find him any more palatable than Giuliani or Romney. That being said, could television gravitas translate into the real thing? Admittedly, there are a lot of Law & Order aficionados in this country, so he’s probably good for a lot of votes there (although, to be honest, not as many as Chris Noth might’ve pulled.)
Black Addington.
“We’re going to push and push and push until some larger force makes us stop,” Addington said at one point.” The Terror Presidency, a new book by disgusted conservative and former Justice Department official Jack Goldsmith, further details the role played by Cheney henchman David Addington in this administration’s rolling back of the rule of law.”‘We’re one bomb away from getting rid of that obnoxious [FISA] court,’ Goldsmith recalls Addington telling him in February 2004.”
Snow Blind.
“Snow has also been a chief spokesman for the Bush administration’s domestic agenda, forced to argue continually that the typical American is doing just fine, and bravely pushing the unpopular elements of Bush’s vaunted ‘ownership society’…And yet Snow’s own life in many ways symbolizes the downside of the ownership society — and suggests how much a government role in health and retirement benefits is necessary.” Slate‘s Daniel Gross explains how the unfortunate plight of Tony Snow exemplifies the problems with Dubyanomics.
And, Whoa, My Nights are so long.
In the big news this past week, the wheels continue to come off over at Team Dubya. First Karl Rove jumped ship. Then Tony Snow told us he’ll be off soon to make some money. And now, at long last, Alberto Gonzales has announced his resignation as Attorney General. “[W]ithin the past week, Justice aides and other officials said, Gonzales concluded that his credibility with Congress, his employees and the public was so shattered that he could not promise to remain through the end of Bush’s term, as the White House chief of staff had demanded of Cabinet officers.” Well, that, and there’s the matter of continuing investigations into Gonzales, which the Dems say will continue (and should, since there’s solid evidence he’s perjured himself.) At any rate, good riddance, Gonzales. Like too many Dubya appointments, you’ve embarrassed the nation, with your justifications for torture and illegal wiretapping as much as with your tortured evasions and denials. Frankly, this should’ve happened months ago.