The Pentagon plans to promote Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, former head of military operations in Iraq, risking a confrontation with members of Congress because of the prisoner abuses that occurred during his tenure.
Senior Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have privately told colleagues they are determined to pin a fourth star on Sanchez, two senior defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said this week.
Rumsfeld and others recognize that Sanchez remains politically "radioactive," in the words of a third senior defense official, and would wait until after the Nov. 2 presidential election and investigations of the Abu Ghraib scandal have faded before putting his name forward.
The reward for these soldiers' loyalty and service is poverty, amputation, medals that were earned but never show up, and collection notices from the Pentagon.
U.S. and Iraqi officials doled out hundreds of millions of dollars in oil proceeds and other moneys for Iraqi projects earlier this year, but there was little effort to monitor or justify the expenditures, according to an audit released Thursday.
Files that could explain many of the payments are missing or nonexistent, and contracting rules were ignored, according to auditors working for an agency created by the United Nations.
"We found one case where a payment ($2.6 million) was authorized by the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) senior adviser to the Ministry of Oil," the report said. "We were unable to obtain an underlying contract" or even "evidence of services being rendered."
In a program to allow U.S. military commanders to pay for small reconstruction projects, auditors questioned 128 projects totaling $31.6 million. They could find no evidence of bidding for the projects or, alternatively, explanations of why they were awarded without competition.
The report was released by Rep. Henry Waxman of California, ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee and a leading critic of reconstruction spending to rebuild Iraq.
"The Bush Administration cannot account for how billions of dollars of Iraqi oil proceeds were spent," Waxman said. "The mismanagement, lack of transparency, and potential corruption will seriously undermine our efforts in Iraq. A thorough congressional investigation is urgently needed."
[...]
Iraq's Ministry of Finance maintained two sets of accounting records, one manual and one computerized.
"A reconciliation between these two sets of accounting records was not prepared and the difference was significant," the report said.
Auditors questioned why checks were made payable to a U.S. official - a senior adviser to the Iraqi ministry of health - rather than to suppliers.
Other questions were raised about funds provided by the U.S.-run governing authority to Kurdish officials in northern Iraq. In one instance, auditors were given a deposit slip that showed the transfer of $1.4 billion to a Kurdish bank. Auditors said they were denied access to accounting records and were unable to verify how - or if - the money was spent.
The administration commits vast accounting frauds as part of their so-called war on terror. It will take years to figure out exactly who is profiting and what deals were cut by whom.
Yet another piece of evidence why the Bush administration is just Enron writ large.
It became quite clear that Kerry's pervasive interest in the world is genuine and intrinsic to his personality; Bush's artificial interest in the world commenced on the day in the 1990's when he was invited to George Schulz's living room to consider being set up by the GOP machine in a marionette campaign for the White House.
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, citing vote-fraud concerns, is publicly balking at a City of Milwaukee request for almost 260,000 additional ballots in anticipation of high turnout for the Nov. 2 presidential election.
Mayor Tom Barrett blasted Walker's stance, and Common Council President Willie Hines Jr. immediately joined in, saying it was an attempt to suppress the central-city vote.
[...]
Barrett said that the 679,000 ballots the county had agreed to print were less than the amount prepared for the presidential election in 2000 as well as for the the gubernatorial race in 2002. He and the city's top election official said that the city requested 938,000 ballots from the county, which, by law, pays for and prints ballots.
[...]
The flare-up between Barrett and Walker pits two of the most prominent politicians in the Milwaukee area who - while holding non-partisan offices - are on opposite sides of the presidential race. Walker, a Republican, is a state co-chair of President Bush's campaign, while Barrett, a Democrat, is state co-chair of the John Kerry campaign.
Neither cited those roles in the exchange, but the dispute is playing out against a partisan backdrop in a battleground state.
More specifically, it involves central-city voters, most of them minorities, thousands of whom have been registered in recent months by voter-registration groups. Those efforts, though non-partisan, are widely viewed as helping the Democrats; Bush drew just 2% in 2000 in Milwaukee's predominantly African-American voting wards.
Similar vote-stifling games are being played by GOP operatives in Nevada, Oregon, and elsewhere.
Here's your October surprise: voter suppression. Anti-democracy is the new Republican platform.
UPDATE: Unsurprisingly, Paul Krugman cites this same story and theme in his column in today's New York Times.
Kendra of the Chicago chapter is organizing folks throughout the Midwest to road-trip to WI, OH, and IA. Check it out.
UPDATE: Holly writes in to inform us all that in Wisconsin "you can register to vote right up to the very day of elections. I'm not sure why everyone thinks there's a deadline." In my case, I believed the deadline supplied with the DrivingVotes.org map linked above. For more Wisconsin info, see Activote.
Changing minds one at a time. The Wall Street Journal, apparently tired of seeing Kerry win every debate poll, altered the question last night to a pretty good one: "Have the presidential debates changed your decision about whom you'll vote for?" As of now the results are yes 24% (!) and no 75%. Here are some of the post-vote comments from readers (each paragraph is from a different person):
I am a registered Republican who voted for President Bush's father. I have decided to vote for John Kerry because of his views on how to involve the rest of the world in important decisions which affect Americans as well as other countries. George W. Bush sees everything as black and white when the reality is gray. We need to find other countries with similar problems and involve them in our solutions. I can't imagine why we went into Iraq and after Suddam Hussein when there are 30 other countries with similar leaders! At this rate, we will have to take out leaders of North Korea and Iran through preemptive force. Leila Engman Alexandria, Virginia
I'm voting for John Kerry because I believe he will lead honestly and strongly making us more secure, safe and fiscally stable where President Bush has not. Andrea Hobright Madison, Wisconsin
Tonight Bush showed himself as a fool. Ignorant of the present situation of this country, and with no idea of how to improve the situation in the future. He tried to reassure us by making the same promises that he has failed to live up to these past 4 years. Kerry spoke eloquently and with knowledge about the problems of this once great country today, and presented a plan through which we can once again live up to the potential this country has. With Kerry I know that America will be heading in the right direction, and not led, as Bush said, by special interest groups (was he talking about himself here?). Eben Broadbent
I was disappointed that President Bush did not reply directly to the questions. He seemed to relate to particular points that he felt he needed to get across and didn't have the confidence to bring the points forward in a more dramatic or forceful way. Virginia Thielbahr
Boy, what a great job John Kerry did tonight in the final presidential debate. He has the right plan to get us out of the several messes Mr. Bush has dragged us into including war in Iraq, 2) homeland security, 3) jobs, 4) the economy and 5) health care. On all fronts, John Kerry knows what needs to be done and Mr. Bush is just a deer caught in the headlights. Ken Boggs
The debates reveal a president in grave trouble, and without any appropriate doubts or reservations. On the question of faith, neither candidate spoke of the virtue of prayer as a way to reflect on our errors, and neither man spoke adequately of the way religious beliefs lead us to question our motives and correct our failures. But Kerry is nevertheless believably reflective. Bush, on the other hand, mistakes the appearance of unwavering commitment for the reality of leadership. His attacks sound cocky, sometimes a bit snide. Kerry's attacks are tough, but they are directed at the substance of policy. As an ethics teacher, I'm shocked by a leader refusing to accept responsibility. We have a President who is a poor example to students of how to deal with our mistakes, how to negotiate with our opponents, how to educate supporters and constitutuents. I hope he does not prevail. Bruce Payne Durham, NC
The debates confirmed for me what I suspected about the two candidates. I feel Kerry is the more intelligent and the more able to run the country effectively, both in terms of the domestic agenda and in terms of foreign policy, restoring the high place the US had in the world. Dennis Bourgault
I will now vote for John Kerry, an articulate, intelligent man who will get our country back financially as well as our good name in the civilized world. Bush had his chance, he was selected in 2000, but is too absorbed with his own intelect and got us into a war without a clear solution for peace. RRM
Those are just the first ten of 127 messages like it.
For a conservative newspaper, that's a downright shrill, un-American group of readers. Either that, or it truly is time for regime change in the United States of America.
BUSH: Gosh, I just don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. It's kind of one of those exaggerations. Of course we're worried about Osama bin Laden. We're on the hunt after Osama bin Laden.
[...]
BUSH: Talk about the VA: We've increased VA funding by $22 billion in the four years since I've been president. That's twice the amount that my predecessor increased VA funding. Of course we're meeting our obligation to our veterans, and the veterans know that.
[...]
[BUSH on Social Security:] I will work with Republicans and Democrats. It'll be a vital issue in my second term. It is an issue that I am willing to take on, and so I'll bring Republicans and Democrats together.
And we're of course going to have to consider the costs. But I want to warn my fellow citizens: The cost of doing nothing, the cost of saying the current system is OK, far exceeds the costs of trying to make sure we save the system for our children.
These three incidences unfortunately don't indicate Bush's every lie or bluff or distortion of reality — doing that would take much longer than the debate itself.
Tall tells. Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post had noted a Bush "tell" before the second debate: "Here's a debate-watching tip: Perk up your ears every time President Bush says 'of course' tonight. Because if recent history is a guide, what's coming is a statement that his supporters might find obvious, but that his critics might consider a whopper."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened at 10,587.59 on the first dayof the Bush (Junior) presidency and closed at 10,002.33 today. American assets saw a loss of 5% after nearly four years of Bush — because the only way to make money during this administration is simply to have lots of money already and to get an undeserved tax cut for it.
A purist might argue that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is too narrow an index for this purpose. If you go through the same calculation for the S&P 500 Index , a composite of 500 companies instead of just 30, the results are quite similar: a gain of 308% for Clinton's two terms in office, versus a loss of 17% for Bush's first term, now thankfully nearly over. Note that the loss of 5% for the very biggest companies is somewhat less than the loss of 17% for the next tier. In Bushworld, even the losses disproportionately play favorites.
Big companies long lobbied for a tax cut on their overseas profit as a way to spur U.S. job growth. But now that it has been granted, much of the windfall won't go toward hiring but for such uses as strengthening balance sheets, buying back shares and making acquisitions.
The one-year break, included in a sweeping tax bill that cleared the Senate and went to the president this week, will allow hundreds of billions of dollars in overseas profit to be brought home by dozens of U.S. companies at a steeply reduced tax rate. By some estimates, U.S. companies have parked as much as $500 billion in profit abroad to avoid taxes back home.
"We wanted a tax cut so we can create jobs. Now that you've given it to us, fuck the jobs. We'll send the jobs overseas, but bring the money home — as long as it stays out of the hands of the workers and the US Treasury."
What is the Bush presidency really about? It's the $500 billion, stupid.
Sinclair Broadcasting Group, under fire for ordering its 62 networks to broadcast a film sharply critical of John Kerry’s opposition to the Vietnam War, is a major investor in a company recently awarded a military contract by the Bush Administration, RAW STORY has learned.
Jadoo Power Systems, Inc., a producer of portable power systems, announced Sept. 28 that it had been awarded a contract to supply its products, which are used for covert surveillance operations, to US Special Operations Command. According to the SOCOM website, SOCOM “plans, directs, and executes special operations in the conduct of the War on Terrorism.”
Jadoo, a Folsom, California company, is owned by Sinclair Ventures, Inc. and Contango Capital Management. Sinclair Ventures is “a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. as well as other individuals.”
A Jadoo press release (in PDF format) reveals that in February, 2003, President Bush was personally briefed by the CEO of Jadoo, Larry Bawden, about Jadoo products.
A Bush-Cheney '04 ad claims Kerry would raise taxes on 900,000 small businesses and "hurt jobs." But it counts every high-salaried person who has even $1 of outside business income as a "small business owner" -- a definition so broad that even Bush and Cheney have qualified while in office. In fact, hundreds of thousands of those "small businesses" have no jobs to offer.
Furthermore, by the Bush definition 32 million "small businesses" would see no tax increase. The ad doesn't mention that, of course. Nor does it mention Kerry's proposals for some tax cuts specifically targeted for small businesses.
(Update, Oct. 1: After this article was posted, the Tax Policy Center issued a new estimate that the number of small employers is 471,000 -- barely half the number the Bush ad claims.)
That's from FactCheck.org, where George Soros has been working overtime.
The Bush administration has promoted its education law with a video that comes across as a news story but fails to make clear the reporter involved was paid with taxpayer money.
The government used a similar approach this year in promoting the new Medicare law and drew a rebuke from the investigative arm of Congress, which found the videos amounted to propaganda in violation of federal law.
The Education Department also has paid for rankings of newspaper coverage of the No Child Left Behind law, a centerpiece of the president's domestic agenda. Points are awarded for stories that say President Bush and the Republican Party are strong on education, among other factors.
The news ratings also rank individual reporters on how they cover the law, based on the points system set up by Ketchum, a public relations firm hired by the government.
The video and documents emerged through a Freedom of Information Act request by People for the American Way, a liberal group that contends the department is spending public money on a political agenda. The group sought details on a $700,000 contract Ketchum received in 2003 from the Education Department.
One service the company provided was a video news release geared for television stations. The video includes a news story that features Education Secretary Rod Paige and promotes tutoring now offered under law.
The story ends with the voice of a woman saying, "In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting."
It does not identify the government as the source of the report. It also fails to make clear the person purporting to be a reporter was someone hired for the promotional video.
This level of fakery is far worse than anything Dan Rather found on his fax machine, which, if forged, at least had the benefit of being true.
If you're an American paying taxes, you're paying to be lied to just like in the movie Brazil, where citizens are invoiced for their own wrongful arrest. You're contributing part of your income for the active demolition of your own rights.
The people who work for Ketchum should do us all a favor and just commit mass suicide.
