Life in OUR America, Volume 5, the Livyjr Files Options

[Livyjr]

"Bush stands his ground, sets himself apart - U.N. message aimed at American voters"

ANALYSIS By Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post

Updated: 12:12 a.m. ET Sept. 22, 2004

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 21 - President Bush's speech before the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday was the verbal equivalent of a "greatest hits" album, repackaging and summarizing the key foreign-policy themes the president has embraced in the past four years.

He faced a tough audience -- many of the world leaders listening are quietly rooting for the victory of his opponent in the upcoming election -- but without apology or retreat, the president cast the war on terrorism as a defining moment that will usher in democracy across the globe.

His message was aimed directly at American voters, not the leaders unenthusiastically listening to him, and appeared designed also to respond to the assertions by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry that the U.S. invasion of Iraq has been a failure.

In the speech, Bush signaled he will continue to deal with the world on his own terms.

He brushed aside the United Nations' refusal to back the war -- and Secretary General Kofi Annan's recent comment that the war was illegal -- by asserting that "a coalition of nations enforced the just demands of the world."

Despite the inability to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq -- the stated reason for the attack -- Bush also said:

"We're determined to prevent proliferation and to enforce the demands of the world, and my nation is grateful to the soldiers of many nations who have helped to deliver the Iraqi people from an outlaw dictator."

Indeed, Bush's speech struck such a different tone than the speeches of other leaders Tuesday that as the day wore on the gulf between the Bush administration and the rest of the world appeared as wide as ever.

"In this young century, our world needs a new definition of security," Bush said.

"Our security is not merely found in spheres of influence or some balance of power; the security of our world is found in the advancing rights of mankind.'

"These rights are advancing across the world, and across the world the enemies of human rights are responding with violence."

Stark view of world

Bush, more than other leaders, sketched out a stark, almost apocalyptical view of the world, a battle between good and evil that will end only in the destruction of terrorists.

Bush's own actions have sometimes undercut his rhetoric.

He has repeatedly expressed his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, even as Putin has slowly strangled democratic institutions.

"U.S. to probe Russia on Iraq intel report"

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press
Last updated: 2:35 p.m., Sunday, March 26, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration will ask Russia about a report that Moscow turned over information on American troop movements and other military plans to Saddam Hussein during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.

"Any implication that there were those from a foreign government who may have been passing information to the Iraqis prior to the invasion would be, of course, very worrying," Rice said on CNN's "Late Edition."

"I would think the Russians would want to take that very seriously as well," she said.

A leading Senate Democrat said if the report is found to be true, the administration should reassess its relationship with Russia and reconsider President Bush's participation in a July summit meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, of the world's economic powers.

Rice declined to speculate on whether Russia's actions, as detailed in a Pentagon report based on captured Iraqi documents, resulted in casualties among U.S. troops or what Russian President Vladimir Putin knew about any possible Russian involvement.

"We will certainly raise it with the Russian government."

"We want to take a real hard look at the documents and then raise it with the Russian government," Rice said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service has dismissed the allegation that Moscow provided information to Saddam, whose government was toppled in the invasion.

"I think we need an entirely new assessment of our relationships with Russia, should this be true," Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., told CBS' "Face the Nation."

He questioned whether Bush should attend the Group of Eight meeting in the summer.

"Clearly, we're not going to have business as usual," Kennedy said.

The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee said "anything is possible in the area of intelligence."

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan said if the report proved true, "it would be obviously plenty discouraging as well as disgusting" and the U.S. should find ways to let the Russians know "that kind of conduct is not going to be acceptable to us."

A Pentagon report released last week said that two captured Iraqi documents indicate that Russia obtained information from sources "inside the American Central Command" in Qatar.

Russia passed battlefield intelligence to Saddam through the former Russian ambassador in Baghdad, Vladimir Titorenko, according to the Pentagon report.

"I will tell you that we take very seriously any suggestion that a foreign government may have passed information to the Iraqis prior to the American invasion that might have put our troops in danger," Rice told "Fox News Sunday."

"I do think we owe it to everyone to take a hard look at the reports and to really understand what's there."

Rice, who was Bush's national security adviser at the time of the invasion, said she knew nothing of these reports back then.

"I would not jump to the conclusion that this -- if, indeed, the reports are true -- that it had to be Moscow-directed," Rice said.

Calls to the Russian Foreign Minister on Sunday went unanswered.

A statement posted on the ministry's Web site noted that Rice and the foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, spoke by telephone Friday about Iran and "a series of international problems," but did not mention the newly released Pentagon report.

[Livyjr]

"Bush's EPA shows us two faces"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, March 24, 2006

New Yorkers enjoy the worst air to breathe in the country and the highest cancer risk as a result.

That's the latest news from the Environmental Protection Agency, although technically we're tied with California as most awful.

Undeniably, both states have contributed heavily to their own dilemmas with too much vehicle exhaust.

But where we differ from California is that a goodly share of our problem is airborne pollution from Midwestern states -- not in our control at all -- and that's been thoroughly documented for decades.

Even the specific guilty smokestacks among coal-burning utilities have been pinpointed.

None of this is a mystery to us, or the very same Environmental Protection Agency telling us our air is hazardous.

What the EPA and the Bush Administration know about unhealthy air quality, and how to control it, tempers my enthusiasm for the blockbuster win eastern states enjoyed last week in a federal court case against the EPA.

A three-judge panel, including one Bush appointee, didn't just refute the EPA's contention that it could skirt the Clean Air Act, specifically an arcane provision called New Source Review; the panel hammered it.

What the Bush-Cheney pro-utilities EPA was trying to get away with was encouraging dirty utilities to avoid or ignore costly pollution control technology when making modifications or improvements.

In essence, the EPA was abetting the worst polluters in the Midwest at the expense of our lungs in New York and other northeastern states.

At the same time, the EPA blithely informs us that, yes, our air stinks.

Now that's brassy.

We should be heartened that the federal courts kicked the EPA's butt right over the moon.

But, let's be realistic.

If the Bush administration was willing to sacrifice our health in the first place to promote its agenda, there is no assurance it won't go right back to the drawing board and try to find another avenue.

When we do not, as now, have an administration operating in good faith for all the states of the United States, our only recourse is the courts.

Congress may pass even-handed legislation, like the Clean Air Act, but without good faith in administration of those laws, what results is a perversion of congressional intent.

As Neil Woodworth, counsel for the Adirondack Mountain Club, points out, the best news that's apt to emerge from this decision is what our top lawyers can now do with the unequivocal message from the bench.

"This ruling clears the way for a series of New Source Review-based lawsuits filed by the northeastern states against power plant operators in the Midwest that rebuilt coal-fired utilities without installing scrubbers," says Woodworth.

Sure, there's no question this is great news.

Just before the Bush EPA tried to play games with New Source Review, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and his counterparts in the frigid Northeast were having pretty good success with offending utility polluters in the courts.

But that all went on hold for years while the EPA's attempted evisceration of the Clean Air Act went to court.

Now we can go back to business, and with a vengeance -- even though an appeal, however unlikely, is possible.

Not to be forgotten, though, is that when we see the end of acid rain and mercury pollution and can breathe clean air again, it's the courts we can thank.

Not the federal agency created to protect our health, or the White House either.

Fred LeBrun can be reached at 454-5453 or by e-mail at flebrun@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

And shades of jeffmoskin's Los Angeles here .....

With this next story ....

Get your poodles in, folks ....

The coyotes are coming ....

And so ....

"A wild chase ends in Central Park - Adventurous coyote is finally captured after eluding NYPD for more than 24 hours"

Associated Press
First published: Thursday, March 23, 2006

NEW YORK -- He's one tourist officials hope won't be coming back.

A young coyote made the most of his visit to the Big Apple, at one point leaping over an 8-foot fence as he led dozens of police officers on foot and in a helicopter on a chase through Central Park before being captured Wednesday.

"For a coyote to get to midtown, he has to be a very adventurous coyote," said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

Officials said the tawny animal, nicknamed Hal by park workers, was about a year old and weighed about 35 pounds.

Hal proved adept at avoiding capture, jumping into the water, ducking under a bridge and scampering through the grounds of an ice skating rink after authorities thought they had him cornered Wednesday morning.

Hal was caught near Belvedere Castle, close to 79th Street and Central Park West, around 10 a.m.

All the while, news helicopters hovering overhead tracked every turn in the chase.

Benepe said a NYPD officer shot the animal with a tranquilizer gun at close range.

The hunt began Tuesday afternoon when Benepe, among others, spotted the animal in the southeast corner of Central Park, near Fifth Avenue, before he leaped over a fence and disappeared.

Authorities said he had been hit by a tranquilizer dart, apparently to no effect.

It's unclear when Hal arrived in the city, but the first reported sightings of the animal came early Sunday.

Hal is only the second coyote ever to be spotted in Central Park, Benepe said, the last being seven years ago.

Benepe said both coyotes strayed into the same area, the Hallett Wildlife Sanctuary.

"It's an area closed to people and dogs, so it's a good place for a coyote to hunt for birds," he said.

Benepe had warned that park visitors should keep their dogs leashed to protect the pets.

The coyote may have wandered into the city from Westchester County, or perhaps come across the Hudson River from New Jersey, Benepe said.

end quotes

Or he snuck in here from California, maybe ....

Or would that be "emigrated"?

jeffmoskin, are you missing any of your coyotes by chance?

[Livyjr]

"Bush and Cheney go after the Democrats" 
 
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press

Last updated: 7:15 p.m., Friday, March 24, 2006

INDIANAPOLIS -- President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney launched a one-two political punch against Democrats on Friday, saying they are ill-equipped to handle the economic recovery or the war on terror.

Bush and Cheney appeared to be repeating a page from the 2004 presidential campaign.

During a campaign stop then in Des Moines, Iowa, Cheney said a vote for Democrat John Kerry would risk another terror attack.

Making the "wrong choice" on Election Day would mean Kerry would follow a pre-Sept. 11 policy of reacting defensively, Cheney said.

 
"Bush stands his ground, sets himself apart - U.N. message aimed at American voters"

ANALYSIS By Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post

Updated: 12:12 a.m. ET Sept. 22, 2004

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 21 - President Bush's speech before the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday was the verbal equivalent of a "greatest hits" album, repackaging and summarizing the key foreign-policy themes the president has embraced in the past four years.

His message was aimed directly at American voters, not the leaders unenthusiastically listening to him, and appeared designed also to respond to the assertions by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry that the U.S. invasion of Iraq has been a failure.

In the speech, Bush signaled he will continue to deal with the world on his own terms.

"In this young century, our world needs a new definition of security," Bush said.

Yes, George .....

In this new century ....

OUR world does need a new definition of security ....

BECAUSE ...

The one you have given us ...

Is nothing but ...

PURE BULL **** ....

And lies ...

And torture ....

And a lot more lies ...

And a lot more BULL **** .....

And perverted practices ....

And so ...

George, you are right ....

Your FLAWED VISION is .....

SO WRONG for OUR America ..

And the world ....

And so ....

It is really time ...

For you ...

And all your pack of inept and corrupt REPUBLICANS ....

To go ....

OUR world, George ...

Does not need lawless rogue world leaders like you ....

And so ...

"15 Killed in Bombing on U.S.-Iraqi Base"

By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer

55 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber attacked a joint U.S.-Iraqi military base in northern Iraq on Monday, killing at least 15 people and wounding as many as 30, the Iraqi military said.

At least 21 more bodies were found — many with nooses around their neck — and mortar and bomb attacks killed at least four people.

The nationalities of the victims in the suicide bombing about 20 miles east of the ancient city of Tal Afar were not immediately known.

The bomber struck shortly after noon at an Iraqi army recruiting center in front of the base.

President Bush singled out Tal Afar in a recent speech as a success story for American and Iraqi forces in the drive to quell the insurgency.

Iraqi army Lt. Akram Eid told The Associated Press that many of the wounded were taken to the Sykes U.S. Army base on the outskirts of Tal Afar.

The U.S. military in Baghdad said it was checking the report.

Details of a joint U.S.-Iraqi Special Operations attack in northeast Baghdad late Sunday continued to filter out.

The military, in an updated report, said the joint operation "killed 16 insurgents and wounded three others during a house-to-house search on an objective with multiple structures."

"They also detained 18 other individuals, discovered a significant weapons cache and secured the release of an Iraqi being held hostage," the statement said.

AP reporters who visited the scene Monday morning said the site of the attack was clearly a neighborhood Shiite mosque complex, although the American military insisted, "no mosques were entered or damaged during this operation."

Baghdad police said at least 22 were killed in the attack after gunmen fired on the joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol from a position in the neighborhood but not from the mosque.

Police and representatives of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who holds great sway among poor Shiites in the eastern section of Baghdad, said all those killed were in the complex for evening prayers and no gunmen were there.

AP Television News videotape shot Monday showed crumbling walls and disarray in a compound used as a gathering place for prayer.

It was filled with religious posters and strung with banners denoucing the attack.

Mourners were gathering for funerals for the dead.

Sunday night video showed a tangle of dead men with gunshot wounds on the floor of what was said by the cameraman to be the imam's living quarters, attached to the mosque itself.

The compound, once used by Saddam Hussein's government, consists of a political party office, the mosque and quarters for the imam.

The tape showed 5.56 mm shell casings scattered about the floor.

U.S. forces use that caliber ammunition.

A grieving man in white Arab robes stepped among the bodies strewn across the blood-smeared floor.

In an audiotape broadcast Monday, Saddam's chief deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who has eluded capture since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq three years ago, purportedly called for Arab leaders to back Iraq's Sunni-backed insurgency.

The tape, which Al-Jazeera television said was made by al-Douri, appeared to be an address to the Arab League summit in Khartoum, Sudan, this week.

The voice on the tape said Iraq's Sunni-led insurgency was "the sole legitimate representative of the Iraqi people."

The tape's authenticity could not be verified.

Al-Douri was sixth on the U.S. deck of cards that enumerated the most-wanted members of Saddam's regime.

He had been Revolutionary Command Council vice chairman and a longtime Saddam confidant.

Al-Douri, who is at least 62, was among Saddam's oldest and closest associates.

In the capital, a bomb exploded in a bus headed for the Sadr City slum of east Baghdad, killing two passengers and wounding at least four others, police Col. Hassan Jaloob said.

The bomb had been left in a bag, he said.

A car bomb at the entrance to Sadr City also exploded, though reports on casualties were not immediately available.

The latest violence came a day after 69 people were reported killed in one of the bloodiest 24-hour periods in weeks.

Most of the dead appeared to be victims of the shadowy Sunni-Shiite score-settling that has torn at the fabric of Iraq since Feb. 22 when a Shiite shrine was blown apart in Samarra, north of Baghdad.

Thirty victims of the continuing sectarian slaughter — most of them beheaded — were found dumped on a village road north of Baghdad.

Of the 21 bodies reported Monday, nine were found in west Baghdad, handcuffed, blindfolded and with ropes around their necks, police Lt. Akeel Fadhil said.

Two men and a woman who were shot in the head were found late Sunday in east Baghdad, police said.

At a farm east of Baghdad, the bodies of nine men kidnapped a day earlier were discovered by relatives, police said.

All had been shot in the head.

Mortar rounds slammed into streets in east Baghdad's Zaiyona district and the central area of Karradah, killing one bystander and wounding at least five others, police said.

Another mortar hit a home in Baladiyat in the east, but no casualties were reported.

Two separate roadside bombs targeting police patrols wounded two policemen and three civilians in west and southwest Baghdad, police said.

Another bomb targeting a U.S. convoy exploded in Zaiyona, but there was no word on casualties, police said.

Much of the recent killing in Iraq is seen as the work of Shiite militias or death squads that have infiltrated or are tolerated by Iraqi police under the control of the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry.

In an apparent effort to clamp down on police wrongdoing, American troops raided an Interior Ministry building and briefly detained about 10 Iraqi policemen after discovering 17 Sudanese prisoners in the facility, Iraqi authorities reported.

The report was reminiscent of a similar U.S. raid last November that found detainees apparently tortured.

That discovery set off a round of international demands for investigations and reform of Iraqi police practices to ensure observance of human rights.

In this case the Americans quickly determined the Sudanese were held legitimately and had not been abused, said Maj. Gen. Ali Ghalib, a deputy interior minister.

The U.S. military command did not comment.

The raid in Baghdad came a day after U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad spoke out on the need to cap the sectarian, militia-inspired killing, saying "More Iraqis are dying today from the militia violence than from the terrorists."

He did not say which militias he meant nor did he define who the terrorists were.

The two major militia forces in the country are Shiite organizations — the Mahdi Army of al-Sadr and the Badr Brigades, the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

Both have ties with Iran.

Following the mosque raid Sunday night, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, expressed concern and telephoned Iraqi military leaders and U.S. Gen. George Casey to "discuss the situation," said spokesman Abdul Rezzaq Al-Kadhimi.

He said the prime minister promised government compensation for families of those killed in the raid and called for Iraqis to be patient until an investigation was completed.

[Livyjr]

"New name possible in Senate race" 
 
By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, February 12, 2006

ALBANY -- A former high-ranking national security official in three Republican presidential administrations is contemplating a challenge to U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.

Christian Winthrop, a spokesman to former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, who is the front-runner for the GOP nod in the Senate race and appears poised to land the Conservative line as well, derided McFarland as a "pro-abortion, big government, elitist liberal."

"If she wants to run for Senate, he added, "I suggest she try the Democrat Party."

And while George W. Bush and his pack of inept, lawless, rogue REPUBLICANS are attempting to take over the world ....

It looks like they are trying to "BUY" an election in the State of New York, as well ....

And so ....

"Clinton's foe draws out-of-state money - Two-thirds of larger contributions to Spencer aren't from New Yorkers"

By JAY JOCHNOWITZ, State editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, March 27, 2006

ALBANY -- More than two-thirds of U.S. Senate candidate John Spencer's larger contributions have come from outside New York, with people from Maine to Alaska and Hawaii donating to the conservative who hopes to unseat Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Federal Election Commission records show less than 29 percent of the itemized donations to Spencer's campaign came from New York.

Fewer than one in five of those donors -- 19.6 percent -- were from the state.

Spencer, a former Yonkers mayor seeking the Republican and Conservative lines against Clinton, had the fourth-highest rate of known out-of-state contributions among House or Senate challengers in the country, according to statistics compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Spencer's campaign spokesman, Christian Winthrop, said the numbers don't give a full picture because they don't include the "thousands" of people who sent in smaller contributions that don't need to be itemized on federal campaign finance reports.

Only contributions of $200 or more must be itemized.

As of his most recent federal filing, Spencer had raised $689,402, of which $92,150 was itemized.

"Senator Clinton has the Hollywood elite who are dropping $4,200 on her campaign," said Winthrop.

Spencer's backers, he said, are "just grass-roots everyday voters who just want to see Hillary Clinton out of the Senate."

He added that the next filing in April will show that Spencer has raised about $1.6 million, and that donations will have come from some 50,000 people nationwide.

To be sure, Clinton's itemized contributions show she, too, took in more money from out of state than in-state.

But the percentage was far less -- 55 percent, compared with Spencer's 71 percent.

In terms of individuals, 43 percent of Clinton's donors were from New York, 57 percent were not.

Clinton's campaign spokesman, Howard Wolfson, said Spencer's low numbers in his home state suggest "he has very little support in New York."

Spencer, he said, is using an "extreme, over-the-top" conservative message to raise funds nationally.

"John Spencer is not running to represent the people of New York in the U.S. Senate," Wolfson said.

"He's running to rough up Hillary Clinton."

Spencer's finances are not entirely surprising, given his broad-based efforts to tap into anti-Clinton sentiment -- and assumptions that she'll run for president in 2008 -- to underwrite his campaign.

Interviews with some of his more generous donors suggest the strategy is working, albeit modestly.

Donors interviewed in various states said they received multiple mailings asking them to donate to Spencer.

And while some felt familiar with him and others didn't, they shared one thing in common: they were happy to give to someone opposing Clinton.

"Anything that can beat Hillary Clinton and put her out of the running, that would be good," said George Benesch, a retiree from Anchorage, Alaska, who gave Spencer $2,100.

He reasoned the Senate is her "first step" to the White House.

Like others who were interviewed, Benesch said he received "quite a bit of correspondence" on Spencer, who struck him as a "worthwhile" candidate.

Admittedly, Spencer has a long way to go before he catches up to the incumbent Democrat.

As of last month, he had $243,845 on hand.

She had $17.1 million.

Joan Camp of Kahaluu, Hawaii, chairwoman of a construction supply firm, said she thinks Spencer's "got a snowball's chance in hell," but she nonetheless gave his campaign $750, one of the few political donations she's made.

"Anyone to go up against Hillary Clinton," she said.

"We're not too happy with her."

While one might think such heavy out-of-state donations would be normal for candidate running against a nationally known political lightning rod, a look at other races shows that isn't a clear rule.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research group based in Washington, D.C., that tracks money in politics, challengers in eight out of 26 Senate races took in more of their money from outside their home state than from within.

The analysis involved contests where challengers raised at least $50,000 in itemized contributions.

Those races included challenges to at least one fairly well-known incumbent -- Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

But in other races with high-profile names, such as Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, both the incumbents and their challengers have gotten most of their money from their home states.

"I wouldn't overgeneralize," cautioned Joseph Zimmerman, a political science professor at the University at Albany.

Historically, Zimmerman said, "you do get candidates who have most of their money come from out of state," and a variety of factors can be in play.

In this case, for example, conservative groups that strongly oppose Clinton may be helping fuel Spencer's out-of-state numbers, although Winthrop said no such help has come in.

The Republican Party, too, may be looking to see how strong a performance it can get out Spencer as it grooms candidates for the future.

Jay Jochnowitz can be reached at 454-5424 or by e-mail at jjochnowitz@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

March 22, 2006

"Bush Concedes Iraq War Erodes Political Status"

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

WASHINGTON, March 21 — President Bush said Tuesday that the war in Iraq was eroding his political capital, his starkest admission yet about the costs of the conflict to his presidency, and suggested that American forces would remain in the country until at least 2009.

In a quick remark at a White House news conference about the reserves of political strength he earned in his 2004 re-election victory — "I'd say I'm spending that capital on the war" — Mr. Bush in effect acknowledged that until he could convince increasingly skeptical Americans that the United States was winning the war, Iraq would overshadow everything he did.

The president's news conference was part of a White House campaign to convince Americans that there is good news in Iraq, not only the daily bloodshed they see on television.

Mr. Bush admitted mistakes and acknowledged chaos on the ground, but emphatically asserted that the situation would improve.

"Bush told Blair determined to invade Iraq without UN resolution or WMD"

Mon Mar 27, 2:13 AM ET

NEW YORK (AFP) - US President George W. Bush made clear to British Prime Minister Tony Blair in January 2003 that he was determined to invade Iraq without a UN resolution and even if UN arms inspectors failed to find weapons of mass destruction in the country, The New York Times reported.

Citing a confidential British memorandum, the newspaper said the president was certain that war was inevitable and made his view known during a private two-hour meeting with Blair in the Oval Office on January 31, 2003.

Information about the meeting was contained in the memo written by Blair's top foreign policy adviser and reviewed by The Times.

"Our diplomatic strategy had to be arranged around the military planning," the paper quotes David Manning, Blair's chief foreign policy adviser at the time, as noting in the memo.

"'The start date for the military campaign was now penciled in for 10 March,' Mr. Manning wrote, paraphrasing the president.

"'This was when the bombing would begin'," the paper continued.

The timetable came at an important diplomatic moment, the paper said.

Five days after the Bush-Blair meeting, then US secretary of state Colin Powell was scheduled to appear before the United Nations to present evidence that Iraq posed a threat to world security by hiding unconventional weapons.

Stamped "extremely sensitive," the five-page memorandum had not been made public, according to the report.

Several highlights were first published in January in the book "Lawless World," which was written by British lawyer and international law professor Philippe Sands.

In early February, Channel 4 in London first broadcast excerpts from the memo.

But since then, The New York Times has been able to review the five-page memo in its entirety.

The document indicates the two leaders envisioned a quick victory and a transition to a new Iraqi government that would be complicated, but manageable, the paper said.

Bush predicted that it was "unlikely there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups."

Blair agreed with that assessment.

The memo also shows that the president and the prime minister acknowledged that no unconventional weapons had been found inside Iraq, The Times noted.

Faced with the possibility of not finding any before the planned invasion, Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation, including a proposal to paint a US surveillance plane in the colors of the United Nations in hopes of drawing fire, or assassinating Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

[Livyjr]

"Bush told Blair determined to invade Iraq without UN resolution or WMD"

Mon Mar 27, 2:13 AM ET

NEW YORK (AFP) - US President George W. Bush made clear to British Prime Minister Tony Blair in January 2003 that he was determined to invade Iraq without a UN resolution and even if UN arms inspectors failed to find weapons of mass destruction in the country, The New York Times reported.

Bush predicted that it was "unlikely there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups."

Blair agreed with that assessment.

"U.S. Raid Irks Shiites; Bombing Kills 40"

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer

2 hours, 15 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Shiite politicians raged at the United States and halted negotiations on a new government Monday after a military assault killed at least 16 people in what Iraqis claim was a mosque.

Fresh violence erupted in the north, with 40 killed in a suicide bombing.

The firestorm of recrimination over Sunday's raid in northeast Baghdad will likely make it harder for Shiite politicians to keep a lid on their more angry followers as sectarian violence boils over, with at least 150 dead since Sunday.

A unity government involving Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds is a benchmark for American hopes of starting to withdraw troops this summer.

The U.S. military said in a statement that "no mosques were entered or damaged during this operation."

It said the raid targeted a building used by "insurgents responsible for kidnapping and execution activities."

The military said the building had been under observation for some time and that gunmen opened fire as Iraqi special operations troops closed in with U.S. forces in a backup role.

It said the troops killed 16 insurgents and wounded three "during a house-to-house search," detained 18 others, found a significant weapons cache and secured the release of an Iraqi hostage.

"In our observation of the place and the activities that were going on, it's difficult for us to consider this a place of prayer," said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman.

"It was not identified by us as a mosque, though we certainly recognized it as a community gathering center."

"I think this is frankly a matter of perception."

Associated Press reporters who visited the scene Monday said the site of the attack clearly was a neighborhood Shiite mosque complex.

Television footage showed crumbling walls and disarray in a compound used as a gathering place for prayer.

It was filled with religious posters and strung with banners denouncing the attack.

Interior Minister Bayan Jabr angrily rejected the U.S. account and demanded a "clear explanation."

"Entering the Mustafa Shiite mosque and killing worshippers was unjustified and a horrible violation from my point of view," Jabr said on the Al-Arabiya TV network.

"Innocent people inside the mosque offering prayer at sunset were killed."

President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said he called U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and that they decided to form an Iraqi-U.S. committee to investigate.

"I will personally supervise, and we will learn who was responsible."

"Those who are behind this attack must be brought to the justice and punished," Talabani said.

The United Iraqi Alliance, the largest Shiite bloc in parliament, canceled Monday's session of negotiations to form a new government because of the raid, said lawmaker Jawad al-Maliki.

"We suspended today's meetings to discuss the formation of the government because of what happened at the al-Moustafa mosque," al-Maliki said, adding that the alliance was expected to decide Tuesday when to resume the talks.

The Baghdad governor said he cut ties with U.S. forces and diplomats.

And all 37 members of the Baghdad provincial council suspended cooperation with the United States in reconstruction projects planned for the remainder of the year, as well as political and security coordination, said council chairman Moeen al-Khadimi.

He said the local government would try to rely instead on the budget allocated to it by the Finance Ministry and on the money that comes from donor countries.

Explaining the mosque raid, Iraqi police said gunmen fired on the joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol from a position in the neighborhood but not from the mosque.

Police and representatives of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who holds great sway among poor Shiites in eastern Baghdad, said all those killed were in the complex for evening prayers and none was a gunmen.

Police said 22 people were killed.

The al-Sadr officials put the death toll at 17.

Other AP video from Sunday night showed a tangle of dead male bodies with gunshot wounds on the floor.

The cameraman narrating the video said it was taken in the living quarters of the imam of the small mosque, part of a compound once used by Saddam Hussein's government.

It also now houses a Shiite political party office in addition to the room for prayers and quarters for the imam.

The video showed 5.56 mm shell casings scattered on the floor.

U.S. forces use that caliber ammunition and have provided it to Iraqi special operations troops.

The U.S. statement described the kidnappers and killers they were targeting as "insurgents," which was unusual because the operation took place at a Shiite facility.

The insurgents who have been carrying out nearly daily bombings are Sunnis, while those believed responsible for execution-style slayings are primarily Shiite militias or death squads working inside the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry, which runs the police.

Monday's major suicide bombing took place at an Iraqi army recruiting office near the gate of a U.S.-Iraq military base about 20 miles east of Tal Afar, an ancient city not far from the Syrian border.

The bomber, wearing an explosives vest, struck shortly after noon, killing at least 40 Iraqis and wounding 30 others, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said.

The U.S. military said no American troops were hurt in the attack.

U.S. troops helped secure the area after the attack and treat the wounded.

In yet one more gruesome discovery — a nearly daily occurrence since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad — 29 more bodies were found, nine with a noose around their necks.

A variety of attacks with guns, bombs, mortars and rockets killed at least 12 other people, police said.

The country's senior Shiite politician, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, told CNN that the bombing of the shrine in Samarra "was similar to what happened on 9/11 in the U.S."

As a result of the attack, he said it is much more difficult to control the streets.

He said Shiites had earlier exercised restraint in the wake of attacks by Sunni insurgents.

"For three years we've been burying the slaughtering, killing, explosions, attacking of our scholars, our mosques, our facilities, our pilgrims, our barbers, our bakers, our innocents," al-Hakim said.

"We are always speaking to people to restrain themselves and calm down."

In Monday's largest single attack aside from the suicide bombing, a rocket hit a building in southeast Baghdad that housed the headquarters of the Shiite Fadhila party, killing seven people and wounding at least 35, including children, police Capt. Ali Mahdi said.

Later, gunmen kidnapped 16 employees of an Iraqi trading company, an Interior Ministry official said.

The men arrived at the headquarters of the Saeed import and export company in four civilian cars and appeared to rifle through papers and computers before driving away with the employees, Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammadawi said.

Also, gunmen kidnapped a university president after barging into his home in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, a relative said.

Four men grabbed Anbar University chief Abdul Hadi Rajab al-Hitawi and shoved him into a black car, said his brother-in-law, Khaldoun al-Ani.

end quotes

Donald Rumsfeld made it plain as day ...

On many occasions ...

That under his guidance ...

OUR American military ...

Was going to be turned into something ...

That was untruthful .....

Which is to say ...

A LIAR ....

And so ....

It is ....

And thanks to Donald Rumsfeld ...

It always will be ...

And so ...

[Livyjr]

Live ...

Unrehearsed ....

Totally spontaneous ....

As it happens ....

Life ...

In OUR America .....

WHAT WILL IT BE?

Well ...

How about this, then ....

This is life in OUR America ...

And that is a fact ....

"Andrew Card Resigns as White House Chief of Staff"

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 28, 2006; 8:24 AM

White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. plans to announce his resignation this morning after nearly 5-1/2 years as President Bush's top aide and will be replaced by Joshua B. Bolten, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, a senior administration official said.

Bush plans to make the announcement in the Oval Office at 8:30 a.m.

Card will serve until April 14 to provide a transition period, but the move could presage broader staff changes as Bolten takes over an operation hobbled by political problems heading into a crucial midterm election season.

Card has held the top staff job at the White House longer than any person since Sherman Adams under President Dwight D. Eisenhower and had earned enormous respect within the building and around Washington for his calm professionalism and stamina.

But his stewardship of the Bush team had come under question in recent months after a series of mishaps, including the failed Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers, the slow public disclosure of Vice President Cheney's shooting accident and the unexpected Republican revolt over a plan to turn management at a half dozen ports to an Arab-owned company.

The senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid upstaging the president's announcement, said Card approached Bush earlier this month about the possibility of stepping down and then two had several discussions about the idea.

Card then went with Bush to Camp David last weekend, where they settled on a decision and timing.

"He's been here 5-1/2 years."

"The average tenure of chief of staff is two years," said the official.

"Change can be good and necessary and that's what they had discussed about."

The official said the decision was Card's, not Bush's.

"Andy initiated it with the president," the official said.

Bolten is among the most respected officials within the administration and a trusted confidant of the president's.

His selection as chief of staff suggests the likelihood of a smooth transition, but officials anticipate that he might want to make further changes to a team that has largely been intact since the beginning of the Bush presidency in January 2001.

Bolten served as deputy White House chief of staff in Bush's first term and then was moved over to head the budget office at a time when spending on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Medicare benefits and the recovery from Hurricane Katrina pushed up deficits.

In an attempt to deal with the new spending demands, Bolten oversaw two consecutive budgets that actually cut overall non-security discretionary domestic spending.

But many Republicans in Congress have complained that the administration has not done enough to tighten the federal belt.

ANDREW H. CARD JR.

Card, 59, served as secretary of transportation for President George H.W. Bush.

He was previously a vice president at General Motors, and a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Card is married with three children.

Pressure Cooker: Andrew Card Has the Recipe for Chief of Staff Down Pat (Jan. 5, 2005)

From the Post Archives: 'Bush Sets Key Role For a Longtime Family Foot Soldier' (Nov. 28, 2000)

[Livyjr]

And then, of course ....

There is GUMMINT SECRECY here in OUR America .....

Where pretty soon ....

We won't know nothing at all ...

Because it's a secret ...

So don't tell anyone ...

And they won't know either .....

EVEN IF THEY ARE A DEFENDANT IN A CRIMINAL TRIAL ...

Here in THEIR America ......

Which is to say ...

George W. Bush's warped and twisted version of OUR America ....

Which is no longer a NATION OF LAWS .....

But a nation of the whims and foibles and outright follies of George, instead .....

"Judge upholds terror counts - Federal jurist's sealed order denies mosque case defendants' request to dismiss indictment based on national spy program" 
 
By BRENDAN LYONS, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, March 12, 2006

ALBANY - The secrecy enveloping an FBI counterterrorism case against two members of an Albany mosque continues, as a federal judge has issued a sealed order refusing to dismiss the indictment.

U.S. District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy handed down the order, which cannot be viewed by the public or defense attorneys, after reviewing a sealed motion filed by the Justice Department.

The New York Civil Liberties Union has filed a motion trying to intervene in the case on the NSA issue, but it's not clear now whether the effort will be moot.

An analysis of the spying program by Harvard Law School Professor Laurence H. Tribe, a noted constitutional law scholar, called the NSA eavesdropping program "as grave an abuse of executive authority as I can recall ever having studied."

And this is life in OUR America as well ....

Although the "America" that this is life in ....

Seems to get stranger and stranger ....

As the days go by ....

"STALINIST MURRIKA" .....

That is what it should be called ...

To reflect reality ....

And so ....

"NYCLU fights court secrecy in terror sting case - Civil liberties group wants ruling unsealed"

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press
First published: Tuesday, March 28, 2006

NEW YORK -- A civil liberties group asked an appeals court on Monday to force a federal judge to unseal a ruling he made in a terrorism case involving two members of an Albany mosque and the government's warrantless wiretapping program.

The New York Civil Liberties Union said in a submission to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the First Amendment requires the ruling in the case of two Muslims accused of supporting terrorism be made public.

"Courts do not have authority to issue entire opinions in secret," the NYCLU said.

It said it was unprecedented that a judge would seal a ruling without explaining why.

The NYCLU asked to intervene three days after defense lawyers for the men asked the same appeals court to say the judge erred in letting authorities keep information about wiretaps secret.

The two men, Yassin Aref, imam at an Albany mosque, and Mohammed Hossain, a pizzeria owner and mosque member, are accused of laundering money in 2003-04 for an FBI informant, a Pakistani businessman posing as an arms dealer.

The mosque was raided by federal agents on Aug. 5, 2004, following a yearlong sting aimed at Aref.

The defense lawyers argued that charges against their clients should be tossed out and evidence from wiretaps should be suppressed because illegal wiretaps may have been used.

The NYCLU noted in its papers that the judge rejected the defendants' suppression motion less than two hours after the government on March 10 submitted a secret court document opposing it.

It said the First Amendment requires U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy in Albany to make public his ruling and the government's submission or to find a narrowly tailored response to the need to protect classified national security information.

The NYCLU asked the appeals court to order the judge to release his opinion publicly with redactions only to the extent necessary to protect classified information.

"We do not have secret courts in this country," said Chris Dunn, NYCLU associate legal director.

"It's not a surprise that the government wants this to be secret, but it's extraordinary for a court to go along."

Assistant U.S. Attorney William C. Pericek declined to comment.

end quotes

But, of course, we do ....

Have secret courts, that is ...

And here is one staring us right in the face .....

This, America, is George W. Bush's vaunted "judicial philosphy" .....

In spades ....

The EXECUTIVE IS THE LAW ...

And the courts are merely an extension of the EXECUTIVE .....

Which is how it should be, afterall ...

In the world of George W. Bush, anyway ...

Which is rapidly becoming ...

All the "world" we have left, anymore ....

As distasteful as that "BUSH WORLD" may be ...

And so ...

[jeffmoskin]

jeffmoskin, are you missing any of your coyotes by chance?

Nope.

Both of them are present and accounted for.

But with Barbeque season approaching, we'll have to keep our eyes open.

[Livyjr]

And speaking of the whacky, zany world of politics .....

Here in what has become ....

The BIZARRO-WORLD of George W. Bush ....

And his pack of NEW CONS ....

And other asssorted HUCKSTERS .....

Where LIES are the only truth that can be told ...

And the TRUTH .....

IS A TOP GUMMINT SECRET .....

We have from George W. Bush's corrupt REPUBLICAN PARTY as follows ....

"Stretching the truth - One of Sen. Clinton's Republican rivals turns out to be less than what she claimed to be"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Kathleen Troia McFarland was probably in over her head in her campaign for Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate seat all along, even before there was reason to think she had fudged her resume and made some other odd statements.

Only now, with The New York Times reporting that she exaggerated her role as a Defense Department official during the Reagan administration, there's cause for wondering if Mrs. McFarland's candidacy isn't doomed already.

The credentials she cites, like being one of the authors of President Reagan's 1983 "Star Wars" speech, would be of marginal value even if they were indisputably true.

The damage that comes with suggestions that she exaggerated, however, could be devastating.

Yes, Mrs. McFarland worked on that speech on national security policy.

But she had no role in the part that so many people still remember.

It was Mr. Reagan himself, along with a few top national security advisers, who proposed the lunacy of an anti-ballistic missile program that instantly became known, much to the White House's annoyance at the time, as "Star Wars."

Suddenly, John Spencer, Mrs. McFarland's rival for the Republican nomination, looks pretty good by comparison.

There's no disputing that he was once the mayor of Yonkers.

Why do politicians do this?

A bold enough exaggeration is tantamount to dishonesty, after all, the least desirable trait imaginable.

It's also an invitation, almost pleadingly so, to get caught.

It was in an uphill Senate campaign in 1982, for instance, that a candidate named Bruce Caputo had to abandon his quest to unseat Daniel Patrick Moynihan when it came out that he wasn't the combat veteran of the Vietnam war he claimed to be.

Five years later, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware had to give up an otherwise promising campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination when he turned out to have a far worse problem with speeches than Mrs. McFarland does.

Mr. Biden was cribbing the words of Neil Kinnock, the British Labor Party leader at the time.

Even jokes can be an issue.

The big story in the New York Post last Saturday had Mrs. McFarland claiming that the Clinton campaign was spying on her.

Of course, Mrs. McFarland hastens to add, she isn't serious, even if Mr. Spencer heard her say all this and thought she meant it.

Heavens, Mrs. McFarland, you don't want a campaign resume, real or embellished, that smacks of Ross Perot, when he made similar accusations while running for president in 1992.

As for the spying, it would have to be a joke, however lame, we'd think.

Why would Mrs. Clinton eavesdrop on such a troubled campaign?

end quotes

Why do politicians lie ...

Well ..

Because it is what people have come to expect from them ....

And it really hasn't done George W. Bush or Dick Cheney or "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice much harm .....

All their lying, that is ....

And so ...

When the LEADER of the nation promotes outright lying as the centerpiece of his adminstration .....

Why should his underlings and lackeys and such worry about telling the truth?

Afterall, the truth is a TOP GUMMINT SECRET .....

That we, the people, are totally incapable of handling ...

And so ...

The best way to protect us ...

From that truth ....

Is to tell us a bunch of lies ....

And to then give us a nice pat on the head ...

While sticking our thumbs back in our mouths ...

And so ...

[Livyjr]

Nope.

Both of them are present and accounted for.

But with Barbeque season approaching, we'll have to keep our eyes open.

Good morning, jeffmoskin .....

By the way ....

Out there in the haute couture world of California ....

Is it considered gauche .....

To serve a chilled white wine ...

With coyote .....

I mean ...

Well .....

Should it be a Beaujolais ....

Or am I getting too LIBERAL in here .....

Because back here ....

Coyotes are served up ...

By the CONSERVATIVES ....

With just a pitcher of beer ...

Or a jug of Ripple ...

And so ....

[jeffmoskin]

I like a nice Chardonnay with coyote fritters. I feel that a red wine is a little too heavy. You wouldn't want to mask the subtle flavor of the coyote.

[Livyjr]

I like a nice Chardonnay with coyote fritters.

I feel that a red wine is a little too heavy.

You wouldn't want to mask the subtle flavor of the coyote.

Ah, yes ...

Nuance ....

And sublety .....

So important .....

And it seems that this coyote in New York City ....

Well, the "talk" now is ...

That it was in from somewhere around Perth Amboy, New Jersey ....

Or somewhere down there, anyway ....

And it was supposedly involved in "gang-related" activity .....

Although there is further talk ...

That George Pataki ....

The REPUBLICAN governor of New York ..,

Well ..

It is said ...

That he thinks ...

This coyote could be aligned .....

With al-Qaida ....

Although Pataki generally thinks everything is "aligned" with al-Qaida ...

And so ....

Anyway .....

Apparently, this coyote got all kinds of small dogs down there ...

Very tense ...

And so ...

The "Dog Psychologists" in New York City ....

Are themselves apparently being severely overloaded ....

Doing "grief counseling" for all these traumatized poodles and such ....

So that they are going to need counseling themselves ...

And so ...

WHERE WILL IT EVER STOP?

Is the world going crazy?

Or what?

If you have a clue, jeffmoskin ....

Please ...

For the sake of NATIONAL SECURITY ....

Keep it to yourself ...

And don't let anyone know ...

That you know ...

And so ....

You'll then be considered to be ...

A "GOOD AMERICAN" ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

And speaking of the world going crazy ....

And "law and order" in OUR America ....

Going "up in smoke" ....

In this day and age of .....

George W. Bush .....

We have ....

"Crazy cat in Conn. ambushes the Avon lady"

Associated Press
Last updated: 6:25 p.m., Tuesday, March 28, 2006

FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- Residents of the neighborhood of Sunset Circle say they have been terrorized by a crazy cat named Lewis.

Lewis for his part has been uniquely cited, personally issued a restraining order by the town's animal control officer.

"He looks like Felix the Cat and has six toes on each foot, each with a long claw," Janet Kettman, a neighbor said Monday.

"They are formidable weapons."

The neighbors said those weapons, along with catlike stealth, have allowed Lewis to attack at least a half dozen people and ambush the Avon lady as she was getting out of her car.

Some of those who were bitten and scratched ended up seeking treatment at area hospitals.

Animal Control Officer Rachel Solveira placed a restraining order on him.

It was the first time such an action was taken against a cat in Fairfield.

In effect, Lewis is under house arrest, forbidden to leave his home.

Solveira also arrested the cat's owner, Ruth Cisero, charging her with failing to comply with the restraining order and reckless endangerment.

------

Information from: Connecticut Post, http://www.connpost.com

[Livyjr]

"U.S. Raid Irks Shiites; Bombing Kills 40"

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Shiite politicians raged at the United States and halted negotiations on a new government Monday after a military assault killed at least 16 people in what Iraqis claim was a mosque.

The firestorm of recrimination over Sunday's raid in northeast Baghdad will likely make it harder for Shiite politicians to keep a lid on their more angry followers as sectarian violence boils over, with at least 150 dead since Sunday.

The U.S. military said in a statement that "no mosques were entered or damaged during this operation."

"In our observation of the place and the activities that were going on, it's difficult for us to consider this a place of prayer," said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman.

"I think this is frankly a matter of perception."

Associated Press reporters who visited the scene Monday said the site of the attack clearly was a neighborhood Shiite mosque complex.

Well, of course it is a "matter of perception", Colonel ....

Yours ...

Versus the world's ....

And so ....

"Shiites shun talks after disputed raid - U.S. military leaders insist mosque was not attacked in Baghdad"

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press
First published: Tuesday, March 28, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Shiite politicians raged at the United States and halted negotiations on a new government Monday after a military assault killed at least 16 people in what Iraqis claim was a mosque.

Fresh violence erupted in the north, with 40 killed in a suicide bombing east of Tal Afar.

There were numerous conflicting statements from Iraqis and the Americans about Sunday's raid in northeast Baghdad.

Iraqi police, Shiite militia officials and major politicians have all said the structure attacked was the al-Mustafa mosque.

But the U.S. military disputed this, saying no mosques were entered and that the raid targeted a building used by "insurgents responsible for kidnapping and execution activities."

In a conference call with reporters early today, Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, deputy commander in Iraq, and Maj. Gen. J.D. Thurman, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, which is in control of Baghdad, said 25 U.S. forces were in a backup role to 50 Iraqi Special Operations troops.

The mission, the generals said, was developed by the Iraqis on their intelligence that an Iraqi dental technician, kidnapped 12 hours earlier because he could not come up with $20,000, was being held in what they called an office complex.

"It's important to remember we had an Iraqi unit with us, an Iraqi unit of 50 folks and they told us point blank that this was not a mosque," Chiarelli said.

"It's not Mustafa mosque."

"Mustafa mosque is located six blocks north on our maps of this location."

Associated Press reporters who visited the scene of the raid identified it as a neighborhood Shiite mosque complex.

An earlier military statement said gunmen opened fire as Iraqi special operations troops closed in.

It said the troops then killed 16 insurgents and wounded three "during a house-to-house search," detained 18 men, found a significant weapons cache and freed the hostage.

"In our observation of the place and the activities that were going on, it's difficult for us to consider this a place of prayer," said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman.

For their part, Iraqi police said gunmen fired on the joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol from a position in the neighborhood but not from the mosque.

Police and representatives of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who holds great sway among poor Shiites in eastern Baghdad, said all those killed were in the complex for evening prayers and none was a gunman.

Police put the death toll at 17 -- seven members of al-Sadr's militia, seven civilians and three Shiite political activists.

The United Iraqi Alliance, the largest Shiite bloc in parliament, canceled Monday's session of negotiations to form a new government because of the raid, said lawmaker Jawad al-Maliki.

The Baghdad governor said he cut ties with U.S. forces and diplomats.

And all 37 members of the Baghdad provincial council suspended cooperation with the United States in reconstruction projects.

Documents on the Web

The federal government is making public a huge trove of documents seized during the invasion of Iraq, posting them on the Internet.

All the documents are available on http://fmso.leavenworth.army .mil/products-docex.htm.

The documents' value is uncertain, some analysts said.

[Livyjr]

 
Politics

"Bush: Iraqi troops not ready for security duties - In news conference, he calls performance under fire ‘unacceptable’"

NBC News
President Bush addresses reporters Monday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

The Associated Press

Updated: 12:44 p.m. ET Dec. 20, 2004

On other matters, Bush:

Defended his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin .....

"U.S. to probe Russia on Iraq intel report" 
 
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press
Last updated: 2:35 p.m., Sunday, March 26, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration will ask Russia about a report that Moscow turned over information on American troop movements and other military plans to Saddam Hussein during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.

"Any implication that there were those from a foreign government who may have been passing information to the Iraqis prior to the invasion would be, of course, very worrying," Rice said on CNN's "Late Edition."

"I would think the Russians would want to take that very seriously as well," she said.

A Pentagon report released last week said that two captured Iraqi documents indicate that Russia obtained information from sources "inside the American Central Command" in Qatar.

Russia passed battlefield intelligence to Saddam through the former Russian ambassador in Baghdad, Vladimir Titorenko, according to the Pentagon report.

"I will tell you that we take very seriously any suggestion that a foreign government may have passed information to the Iraqis prior to the American invasion that might have put our troops in danger," Rice told "Fox News Sunday."

Why would the Iraqis need the Russians to tell them about what George W. Bush was going to do in IRAQINAM?

Before the actual invasion, George W. Bush was running his mouth so much .....

That a dead man would have known what was coming ...

And so ....

Leave off with the cheap theatrics, please, Ms. "CON-JOB" .....

For we have had one CON JOB too many from you already ...

And so ....

"Rice Asks Russians to Probe Spying Reports"

By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer

1 hour, 9 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday she had asked her Russian counterpart for an investigation into a report that Russian intelligence fed U.S. battle plans to Saddam Hussein before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

"I have talked with the Russian foreign minister and asked them to look into this and to take it very seriously," Rice said.

At the same time, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, raised the possibility that the allegation of Russian collusion might be "disinformation," which in military parlance could mean that American commanders had sought to spread false information about battle strategy in order to deceive Saddam about actual troop movements.

The allegation first became public last Friday with the release of a 210-page Pentagon report on how Saddam's government viewed the U.S. invasion.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who said he was briefed extensively on the report months ago, said Tuesday he was not aware of the allegation against the Russians until last Friday.

"It merits looking into," he said.

Rumsfeld declined to say whether he thought there should be a U.S. investigation into whether someone inside the U.S. military gave classified information to the Russians, as is suggested in the report.

"I'd have to go back and read it carefully and see what credence one ought to give to it, and see what we may have discovered through other channels, and then make a decision," Rumsfeld said.

Rice, testifying at a Senate hearing, said, "We take very seriously any implication that someone might have been passing information that endangered the operation at the outset of the war, and we will look for an answer back from the Russian government."

Rice and other U.S. officials made no direct accusations against Russia, whose government has an increasingly prickly and complicated relationship with the United States.

"We've wanted not to conclude before we've had the discussion, but it's obviously a very serious matter and we're taking it up with the Russians," Rice said.

She placed a telephone call Tuesday to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to ask for an investigation, said State Department spokesman Adam Ereli.

Russian officials have said the allegation is false, and Lavrov has called it politically motivated.

The Russian government strongly opposed the U.S. invasion.

Pace, in his first public comments on the idea of Russian help to Saddam, expressed a degree of doubt about the veracity of the information as presented in a Joint Forces Command report.

The report cited two Iraqi documents captured during the early days of the invasion — one of which said the Russian ambassador in Baghdad had passed sensitive information about U.S. battle plans to Saddam.

The other document said Russian intelligence had obtained information from "sources" inside U.S. Central Command's war-fighting headquarters hear Doha, Qatar, and passed it to Iraqi officials.

"We still don't know whether or not the translation itself is 100 percent accurate," Pace said.

"We don't know if this is real information or disinformation."

"There's all kinds of pieces of this that need to be looked into."

The authors of the report, who briefed reporters on its details last Friday, said they saw no reason to doubt the authenticity of the information relating to alleged Russian collusion.

In at least one case, the report suggests that the information provided by the Russians did more harm than good for Saddam.

In fact it may have reinforced in Saddam's mind a mistaken impression about the timing of the U.S. ground assault into Baghdad — an impression that permitted U.S. forces to preserve an element of surprise.

Referring to a Russian letter to Saddam that claimed the Russians had "sources" inside the U.S. Central Command, the Pentagon report said, "Such external sources of information were only one of the fog-generators obscuring the minds of Iraq's senior leadership."

That letter was dated March 24, five days into the war.

On the other hand, the Russians also reportedly told Saddam that the main focus of U.S. ground forces moving toward Baghdad from the southwest was the area around the city of Karbala.

This was true.

After crossing a bridge over the Euphrates River outside of Karbala, the 3rd Infantry Division had a clear path to the Iraqi capital.
___

AP Military Writer Robert Burns contributed to this report.
___

On the Net:

State Department: http://www.state.gov

Pentagon: http://defenselink.mil

[Livyjr]

 

International News

"More than 50 killed in attacks across Iraq - Police reported killed execution-style; U.S. girds for Fallujah raids"

MSNBC News Services

Updated: 4:27 a.m. ET Nov. 7, 2004

American commanders have assembled a force of Marines, Army soldiers and U.S.-trained Iraqi fighters around Fallujah, a major insurgent base 40 miles west of Baghdad.

They are awaiting orders from interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to launch an all-out assault.

Col. Gary Brandl voiced his troops’ determination:

“The enemy has got a face."

"He’s called Satan."

"He’s in Fallujah and we’re going to destroy him.”

SO!

Now just days after this last presidential election, we finally get some truth here, in this news article above!

George W. Bush has got Satan himself holed up in Fallujah, Iraq, and George W. Bush is going to destroy Satan!

SO?

After thousands and thousands of years, has Satan finally met his match?

In the Bible, it says that Jesus was tempted by the Devil, this same Satan, in the Garden of Gethsemene, BUT ....

Jesus, for some reason, at that time, did not try to destroy Satan!

Now, apparently the job that Jesus either didn't or couldn't do has apparently been given by God to our own George W. Bush to accomplish!

What a publicity coup!

Thousands of years from now, Jesus will be looked on as a loser, and George W. Bush?

Well, if Karl Rove has his way, and it looks like he has to me, George W. Bush will be remembered across the world as the true Messiah, the Mahdi, who not only was not tempted by Satan, as Jesus, the apparent weak man, here, in this on-going passion play about the life and times of George W. Bush was; but also went out and destroyed Satan, finishing for once and for all the job that Jesus either botched, or just could not handle!

Biblical history in the world is being re-written right before our eyes, as we sit here on this Sunday morning, drinking our coffee, and pondering the fate of the rest of the world now that the Red Sox have won the world series, and the world has once again safely placed George W. Bush in his proper position of power above us all as God's annointed and "True Chosen" down here on earth.

We have the King James Bible out there now; I wonder when we will have access to the New George W. Bush Bible that is sure to be coming out soon, now that we have Satan himself on the ropes, hunkered down and cowering in a hole in the ground in Fallujah, Iraq, as if he were just another Saddam Hussein, afraid of the very shadow of George W. Bush!

Holy War in the Middle East, anyone?

If George W. Bush cannot lick Satan as announced in this news article above, I wonder what that portends for us?

Watch, listen, learn, I guess; after all, what else can we really do?

George W. Bush has his blood up and Satan is right there in his sights, so watch out!

Don't get mistaken for one of Satan's crowd!

It just won't go well for you when the Sheriff, George W. Bush, is in town to gun Satan down.

Yeah, right.

"U.S., Iraqi forces attack rebel cleric's followers - At least 16 killed; al-Sadr's aides say the dead were innocent people in mosque"

By JONATHAN FINER and JOHN WARD ANDERSON, Washington Post
First published: Monday, March 27, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. and Iraqi Special Forces killed at least 16 followers of fiery Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in a twilight assault Sunday on what the military said was a "terrorist cell" responsible for attacks on soldiers and civilians.

No U.S. or Iraqi troops were killed in the clash, which occurred in the predominantly Sunni Muslim neighborhood of Adhamiya in northern Baghdad, according to a U.S. military statement late Sunday.

One Iraqi soldier was wounded and 15 people were detained.

An unidentified hostage was found at the site, the statement said, along with materials used to fashion homemade bombs.

Aides to al-Sadr, who is backed by one of the country's largest and most feared militias, said those killed were innocents praying in the Mustaffa mosque in the Shaab neighborhood, well north of Adhamiya, when the assault began at 6 p.m.

But the U.S. military said in a statement that "no mosques were entered or damaged during this operation."

It was impossible to verify precisely where the raid took place because of a government-imposed curfew that begins at 8 p.m., hours before news of the incident broke.

The killings further inflamed an already capricious political climate as Iraqi leaders are struggling to form a new government amid mounting sectarian violence.

An outspoken and volatile opponent of the U.S. presence in Iraq, al-Sadr has grown into a potent political force with more than 30 loyal members of Iraq's new parliament.

The incident Sunday was his deadliest encounter with U.S. and Iraqi forces since his Mahdi Army militia waged two violent uprisings in 2004.

"I think we are going to have a firm stance against the American forces because of this crime," said Salam Al-Maliki, the country's transportation minister and a close al-Sadr ally, appearing on Al-Iraqiya television, which aired footage throughout the night of bloody bodies on a concrete floor, lit with glow sticks by men who wrapped them in blankets and carried them away.

Al-Maliki blamed the incident on American ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who has accused the Mahdi Army of carrying out a slew of recent killings in the wake of the bombing last month of a revered Shiite mosque north of Baghdad.

In a statement read by a government spokesman on Iraqiya television, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari called for calm and said that he had spoken about the incident with Gen. George Casey, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, who al-Jaafari said had "promised to investigate."

"We call upon the sons of our people to be aware of what is being plotted against the country," al-Jaafari said.

"We hope that they will enjoy patience till the conclusion of the ongoing, immediate investigations."

An aide to al-Jaafari, who was endorsed by al-Sadr's political wing to retain his job in the next government but is opposed by other Iraqi factions, said the government was not notified about the raid in advance.

"The incident has injured the whole political process," said the aide, who spoke on the condition that he not be named, referring to the deliberations about the makeup of the next government that have deadlocked since the country's elections in December.

"Some leaders will be dismayed of this situation and hesitate to participate knowing that such an incident took place and how the government was not aware."

"We need to sort of calm down the situation now."

The clash in the Iraqi capital was one of several incidents with potentially far-reaching political ramifications occurring Sunday.

Also in Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi forces stormed an Interior Ministry detention facility and found 17 foreign prisoners.

Wire services reported that as many as 40 police were detained in the operation.

Elsewhere in Iraq, army and medical officials in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad said 30 headless bodies were discovered in a deserted brush area 35 miles from the capital.

Meanwhile, in an incident apparently unrelated to the clashes involving his followers in Baghdad, al-Sadr escaped injury when two mortar shells struck near his Najaf home while he was inside.

Other developments

The White House will ask Russia about a report that Moscow turned over information on American troop movements and other military plans to Saddam Hussein during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.

A confidential memo by a top British foreign policy official that was reviewed by The New York Times says that during a private two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, President Bush made it clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second U.N. resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons.

[Livyjr]

"Reform is in the air - Tom Suozzi enters a gubernatorial primary that will put the Capitol's dysfunction in the spotlight" 

Albany, New York Times Union 

First published: Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Reform is a word that's almost gone out of fashion in Albany, and just a year after the Legislature was shamed and pressured into taking the first steps toward making state government more open and more representative.

No one thinks those changes, however welcome, went nearly far enough, do they?

It's in places like the Long Island town of Glen Cove where there's still so little tolerance for the Albany political culture.

That's still the essence of Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi's campaign for governor.

His formal announcement of his candidacy made that much clear.

No sooner was Mr. Suozzi officially in the race than Eliot Spitzer, the state attorney general and his rival for the Democratic nomination, vowed to visit every county and every town in New York in his own campaign to change state government.

Hear, hear -- to both of them.

The Democratic primary for governor has the potential to be an especially constructive affair.

Both Mr. Suozzi and Mr. Spitzer have formidable credentials as reformers.

Well ...

Of course ...

That is not really true .....

New York State Attorney General Eliot "Big EL" Spitzer certainly has managed to get his name plastered all over the place as the "White Knight on Broadway" ...

Or some such crap as that ...

For taking on a small part of the corruption on Wall Street ....

In New York City ....

BUT ....

When it comes to GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION ....

"Big EL", or the "Elster", as he is affectionately known down there in the HALLS OF POWER in Albany, New York ....

Well, old "Oncle Eliot" ....

Why, he is just soft as anything on GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION ...

And so ....

That makes him popular with the MACHINE ...

Which is fueled by corruption ....

BUT ....

Unpopular with the handful of New Yorkers ....

Who are simply damn sick and tired of GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION ...

Here in OUR America ....

However .....

Since CORRUPTION rules the roost ....

"Upstate Democrats blast Suozzi campaigning - Spitzer allies claim Long Islander's phone calls show favoritism"

By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, March 29, 2006

ALBANY -- Gubernatorial hopeful Tom Suozzi drew fire Tuesday from allies of his opponent, who said a recorded phone call the Nassau County executive sent to thousands of Long Island Democrats showed he cares more about that region than the rest of New York.

Suozzi, a Democrat challenging state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the party's gubernatorial front-runner, started the call that went out Sunday and Monday nights with a familiar mantra -- "The biggest issue we face here on Long Island" is high local and school property taxes.

Later, Suozzi said: "Long Island needs a Long Island governor who has the independence and record of government reform to stand up to the insider politicians, shake things up and fix Albany."

That didn't sit well with Erie County Democratic Chairman Leonard Lenihan.

"When you're running statewide, you should present yourself as someone who cares about the whole state," said Lenihan, who was one of the first Democratic leaders to endorse Spitzer for governor.

Suozzi's campaign manager Kim Devlin responded the county executive "thinks everyone needs a Long Island governor, because a Long Islander, Tom Suozzi, is the only Democratic candidate who is a proven government reformer and chief executive, and has the independence and record to shake things up and fix Albany."

Assemblyman Paul Tokasz, D-Buffalo, another longtime Spitzer supporter, said he found Suozzi's call "troubling" and "a myopic view of the state."

Tokasz went so far as to suggest Suozzi had slighted upstate, much in the same way then-New York City Mayor Ed Koch did during the 1982 governor's race when he called upstate life "sterile" and "a joke."

Koch's comments became a liability, and he lost to Mario Cuomo in a Democratic gubernatorial primary that year.

Spitzer's Republican opponents have suggested Spitzer also has slighted upstate New York.

Earlier this month, the attorney general remarked that upstate is so economically depressed in some areas it "looks like Appalachia."

Suozzi ended his pre-recorded telephone call by asking listeners to press "1" if they "think Long Island needs a Long Island governor" and planned to support him, "2" if they weren't sure and "3" if they're backing someone else.

Suozzi has been trailing far behind Spitzer in fundraising and opinion polls.

A recent Newsday/NY1 poll showed Suozzi losing to Spitzer among Democrats in his home county of Nassau and in Suffolk County.

Elizabeth Benjamin can be reached at 454-5081 or by e-mail at ebenjamin@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

Well ...

Of course ...

That is not really true .....

New York State Attorney General Eliot "Big EL" Spitzer certainly has managed to get his name plastered all over the place as the "White Knight on Broadway" ...

Or some such crap as that ...

For taking on a small part of the corruption on Wall Street ....

In New York City ....

BUT ....

When it comes to GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION ....

"Big EL", or the "Elster", as he is affectionately known down there in the HALLS OF POWER in Albany, New York ....

Well, old "Oncle Eliot" ....

Why, he is just soft as anything on GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION ...

And so ....

That makes him popular with the MACHINE ...

Which is fueled by corruption ....

BUT ....

Unpopular with the handful of New Yorkers ....

Who are simply damn sick and tired of GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION ...

Here in OUR America ....

However .....

Since CORRUPTION rules the roost ....

And with respect to New York State Attorney General Eliot "Big EL" Spitzer ....

Old "Oncle Eliot" ....

Way back when, in the opening days of this forum, right after the November 2004 elections, to be exact, I was reading a book entitled "The Power of Many" by Christian Crumlish, who himself had experience with the use of the internet as a real professional "tool" for communications among separate and disparate groups of people in the world during the Dean Campaign, and a point he made to me in that book was that on the internet, where none of us are in any sense of the word "real", i.e.: having discernable physical features that can be "read" by another, IT WILL BE HOW WE TREAT OUR SUBJECT MATTER, that we will be judged in here, and so ....

Everyone has a viewpoint!

And so ....

With respect to "Big EL" ....

Here is mine .....

Succinctly stated for the candid world to see in this e-mail letter from myself to Senator John Kerry sometime around the time of the Democratic National Convention .....

Just before the 2004 presidential elections ....

Dear Mr. Kerry:

I am an honorably-discharged, twice-wounded, fully disabled Viet Nam war veteran who is a life member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the D.A.V., the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Tri-County Viet Nam Veterans in the Albany, New York area.

In that capacity, as an honorably-discharged, fully disabled Viet Nam combat veteran, I am asking you personally on behalf of all other disabled veterans in this area of the State of New York who must rely upon the integrity of the medical health and public health fields in the State of New York to not allow New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer an opportunity to speak at the podium of the Democratic National Convention on the grounds that he is pandering to partisan political interests in the State of New York by countencing blatant acts of discrimination against a disabled veteran in the State of New York who has been working to expose corruption in county government in the capital district area of State of New York.

Presently, Mr. Kerry, as this appeal is being written to you personally in this community forum, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is actively engaged in defending in Federal District Court for the Northern District of New York what can only be termed blatant acts of discrimination and retaliation against this disabled Viet Nam veteran in New York State by Republicans in the State of New York who wish to permanently suppress this individual and his testimony to the Federal Bureau of Investigation concerning Hobbs Act corruption involving Republicans in the Capital District area of the State of New York.

To stifle that testimony and evidence, in August of 2001, in the weeks before 9-11, as the record shows, this disabled veteran was the victim of what has become known in the Albany, New York area of the State of New York, as a "psychiatric takedown".

A "psychiatric takedown" is a defensive political manuver by which the Republicans in the capital district area of New York State have a witness against them removed by the vehicle of having a "pet doctor" sign a psychiatric arrest warrant for the individual which directs the New York State Police to take the individual into custody and transport them to the secure mental health facility of a local hospital, for psychiatric "care and treatment".

In this manner, the witness is removed, their crediblity is destroyed and their effectiveness as professional witnesses on behalf of the public health of the community is robbed forever.

In this case, the victim, in addition to being a disabled veteran, was also the local public health engineer, who had previously been commended in writing for his integrity by the New York State Health Commissioner.

In March of 1989, based upon an investigation conducted by this local public health engineer, the State Health Commissioner, a well-respected medical doctor named David Axelrod, declared that the public health and environment in our county was threatened by an inordinate amount of sewage system failures which were the legacy of ten years worth of negligence in the Environmental Health Division of the State Health Department itself.

A March 1989 Federal Bureau of Investigation report confirmed these findings by Dr. Axelrod, and further noted that the Republicans in charge of the county had no intention of cleaning up the corruption, and that to cover matters over after the Axelrod Report, the Republicans had removed the public health engineer from his position on grounds that his Viet Nam combat service had rendered him a threat to society.

Thus, ten years of corruption in the environmental health programs of the state public health services in the Capital District area of the State of New York was covered over as if it had never existed, and thus, has flourished up until this time.

In August of 2001, to prevent this same individual from coming forth with videotape evidence demonstrating that these corrupt public health practices have flourished to this day in the capital district area of the State of New York, the Republicans attempted a "pshchiatric takedown", and the result has been disastrous for this individual personally, and all fully disabled veterans who would rely upon this individual for his integrity and expertise in the public health field to boot.

Presently, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, by and through his New York State Department of Law, is defending the actions of a New York State Veterans' Service officer who made alleged false statements to the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York in connection with the false arrest of this honorably-discharged, decorated veteran on mental health grounds.

Because of those false statements, which are still being defended by Eliot Spitzer at this time in the State of New York, despite conclusive evidence to the contrary in his possession, including a graphic videotape portrayal of a violent physical assault on this individual intended to deter him from appearing in court in connection with the matter, this disabled veteran has been branded in the State of New York as a dangerous mental patient with no opportunity afforded him whatsoever at due process to either confront or combat this theft of this person's real identity as an honorable professional person of good standing in the community.

In the face of all of this, which is known to the veterans' community in capital district area of the State of New York, to then allow Eliot Spitzer to stand up at your side and speak at the Democratic National Convention would be an abomination, a travesty, as far as the protection of the rights of the disabled to equal protection of law goes, and well as the public health protection of the disabled veteran population of the State of New York.

For the disabled veterans population of this area, from a civil rights and equal protection of law for the disabled perspective, having Eliot Spitzer standing by your side at the Democratic National Convention would be just like having George W. Bush or George Pataki themselves standing there.

It would make a mockery of all of your promises to the disabled veterans of America to help us have dignity in our own communities, despite our combat-related disabilities, equal to that enjoyed by Max Cleland in his own community in the United States.

Help us prove to America that despite our disabilities, which are often disfiguring, or totally disabling as far as being effective in modern society, that disabled combat veterans are citizens of America too, and that despite our disabilities, we deserve the protection of law in America too.

Help us make this point by keeping Eliot Spitzer off the podium at the DNC.

Thank you on behalf of the disabled veterans of the Capital District area of the State of New York in the United States of America for considering this request.

I remain, sincerely and respectfully, a patriotic disabled American veteran.

Livyjr