Guest guest Posted September 8, 2004 Report Share Posted September 8, 2004 > Wed, 08 Sep 2004 08:30:48 -0700 > Progress Report: The Toll of War > " American Progress Action Fund " > <progress > DON'T MISS NATIONAL SECURITY: Safety Second POLITICS: WP reports Bush likely will skip the presidential debate that has a town meeting-style format. LABOR: Write your representative today to tell him or her to vote for the amendment restoring overtime rights to more than 6 million American workers. GUARD: More questions about whether Bush fulfilled his obligations to the National Guard. DAILY GRILL " I did my duty [in the National Guard]#8230;I showed up in Alabama " during the summer of 1972. - President Bush, 2/8/04 VERSUS " Bush fell well short of meeting his military obligation [in the National Guard]#8230;Bush's service records do not show him logging any service in Alabama until October of that year [and] no one has come forward with any credible recollection of having witnessed Bush performing guard service in Alabama or after he returned to Houston in 1973. " - Boston Globe, 9/8/04 DAILY OUTRAGE The Republican running for Senate in Illinois, Alan Keyes, said that " Christ would not vote for [the Democratic candidate] Barack Obama. " ARCHIVES Progress Report STUDENTS The Center for American Progress is now accepting intern applications for the fall semester. Get a free DVD of Outfoxed. Sign up here to host a screening on your campus. Combat the right-wing noise machine on your campus. Become a member of our network of campus publications and student journalists. by David Sirota, Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin SEPTEMBER 8, 2004 IRAQ 'Not Everything Has Gone As We Would Have Liked It To' TERRORISM Vote for Us or Die POLITICS 'Didn't Meet His Commitments' MEDICARE Scully Should Pay Up For Medicare, Just Like Taxpayers UNDER THE RADAR Go Beyond The HeadlinesSign up | Send tip | Permalinks | Mobile | Print IRAQ 'Not Everything Has Gone As We Would Have Liked It To' Brutal fighting over the past week brought a new, grisly milestone in Iraq, as the number of troops killed in Iraq passed the 1,000 mark. Also, as an indication of the intensity of battles in urban areas, about 1,100 U.S. soldiers and Marines were wounded in Iraq last month, " by far the highest combat injury toll for any month since the war began. " So far, over 7,000 soldiers have been wounded in combat. Attacks in sovereign Iraq have been on the rise: Since the transfer of power on June 28, U.S. forces have been attacked an average of 60 times a day, up 20 percent from the three-month period before the transfer of power on June 28; more troops have died in the months after the transfer of power than in the months just before.#160; Condoleezza Rice admitted yesterday, " Not everything has gone as we would have liked it to. " And in a press conference yesterday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged that the situation in Iraq is likely to get worse, not better, in the coming days. The efforts of American troops, the Wall Street Journal writes, have " been made all the harder by the hesitancy of their civilian leaders in the White House. " (Americans can remember our fallen soldiers with a new, poignant exhibit, " Eyes Wide Open. " ) THE HESITANT LEADER: President Bush's leadership in Iraq is often hesitant. This has huge ramifications for the war, as now, according to top Pentagon officials, insurgents are in control of crucial sections of central Iraq. According to the New York Times, the U.S. military has decided to pull out or stand back from many of these towns, even if that means the town will fall to rebels. " That certain Iraqis believe their cities and neighborhoods would be better off without American soldiers is neither new nor surprising; that is what the guerrillas' insurgency, now in its 17th month, is all about. What is new, however, is that the Americans, in certain cases, appear to agree or have decided that the cost to prove otherwise would be too high. " As the WSJ writes, the hesitance in towns like Fallujah has set a terrible precedent, as " other Sunni towns like Ramadi and Samarra now appear to be slipping away from the control of legitimate authority, and Fallujah continues to serve as a haven for the terrorists and bomb-makers targeting American forces and Iraqi civilians. " ELECTORAL POLITICS: The New York Times reports that the Bush administration, citing the need to use Iraqi troops, has decided to delay using force in retaking areas in Iraq which have been seized by the insurgents for a couple of months: a two-month hiatus " would also mean a delay until after the American presidential election. " Jane's Defense Weekly reports, " a U.S. officer in Sadr City, a restive Shia area of Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: 'We're supposed to turn our zones over to the [iraqi government] by October. They're not ready for that, so unless it's a coincidence it seems politically driven, bearing in mind the presidential election in November#8230;everything we do is driven by political considerations. We don't have enough forces to stay here. We move into Sadr City and then we leave and each time the Mahdi Army comes straight back in. " IRAQI ELECTIONS AT RISK: Another possible casualty of war: elections in Iraq. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday " warned that violence in Iraq could make it more difficult to create the conditions for successful elections in January 2005. Officials say there is increasing concern that " if significant parts of the Sunni areas cannot be secured by January, it may be impossible to hold a nationwide balloting that would be seen as legitimate. Putting off the elections, though, would infuriate Iraq's Shiite majority. " TERRORISM Vote for Us or Die Speaking in Iowa yesterday, Vice President Cheney took fear mongering to a new level when he indicated that the United States risked suffering another terrorist attack if voters make " the wrong choice " in November. " It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2nd, we make the right choice, " Cheney said, " because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again. We'll be hit in a way that will be devastating. " In January, 2002, President Bush assured Americans he had " no ambition whatsoever to use [national security] as a political issue. " SCARE TACTICS " IRRESPONSIBLE " : Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, weighed in on Cheney's comments: " I have heard a lot of outrageous statements at various times in my president's elections, but I think this kind of scare tactic by the vice president of the United States is irresponsible. " POLITICS 'Didn't Meet His Commitments' One day before CBS's much-anticipated segment on President Bush's record in the National Guard, the Boston Globe published a major expose that concludes he " didn't meet the commitments " of service. As the story points out, " Bush fell well short of meeting his military obligation " in two separate periods during his Guard service. The White House has insisted it released all documents to prove otherwise, but a new report today proves those denials were false. As the Associated Press reports, " Months after insisting it could find no more records of President George W. Bush's Air National Guard service, the Defense Department has released more than two dozen pages of files " #8211; though still none which prove the president fulfilled his obligations. The documents also show, " Bush was not with his Texas Guard unit #8211; the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group #8211; in 1972 when it joined in a '24-hour active alert mission to safeguard against surprise attack' in the southern United States. " IN DESPERATION, MCCLELLAN ATTACKS HIS OWN MOTHER'S BACKER: CBS's 60 Minutes II will interview former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, who now admits to helping Bush get into the Texas National Guard and avoid combat during Vietnam. In anticipation, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan attacked Barnes, saying " It is not surprising coming from a longtime partisan Democrat. " Barnes, however, gave his endorsement to and is a top fundraiser for Republican Texas State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn #8211; Scott McClellan's mother. NATIONAL GUARD COLLEAGUE SAYS BUSH WASN'T THERE: Texans for Truth, a 20,000-member online activist group, has produced a new 30-second television advertisement featuring Robert Mintz #8211; one of many who served in Alabama's 187th Air National Guard unit when Bush claims to have been there. Mintz testifies that he has no memory of Bush on the base, even though he sought him out. Watch the ad. MEDICARE Scully Should Pay Up For Medicare, Just Like Taxpayers The Government Accountability Office (GAO) yesterday charged former Bush administration Medicare official Thomas Scully broke the law and should repay his government salary after ordering his actuary to withhold high estimates of the president's prescription drug plan from Congress last year. The GAO said, " Federal law prohibits a federal agency from paying the salary of an official who prevents another federal employee from communicating with Congress. " Since the law probably would not have passed if Congress had known of the higher estimates, the GAO's ruling means the Bush administration achieved passage of landmark domestic legislation by unlawfully withholding information. (Act now to try to undo the harm done to Medicare: Send a letter to your member of Congress calling to bring the Medicare legislation before the House for debate and a fair vote.) THE TRUE STORY: Though previous investigations have stopped short of charging Scully with criminal behavior, the facts of the case have been known for some time. An internal investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in July confirmed that Scully threatened to fire Richard Foster, his chief Medicare actuary, if Foster told Congress that drug benefits would cost much more than the White House acknowledged. At the time, the Bush administration was struggling to convince Senators from both parties the bill was worth its supposed $395 billion price tag, even though it included massive benefits for health care providers and private insurers, failed to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and prohibited the importation of low-cost drugs from Canada. Foster's numbers indicated the law would cost nearly $150 billion more than lawmakers had been told by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). His estimate was above President Bush's self-imposed " ceiling, " and likely would have " led to several conservative Republicans voting against the bill. " The measure passed narrowly, with lawmakers knowing of no alternative to the CBO's estimate. FOSTER SPEAKS OUT: In a public statement, Foster revealed he had been ordered to withhold the data by Scully, for what he considered " inappropriate " political reasons. He said Scully's decision to " restrict the practice of our responding directly to Congressional requests " was part of a " pattern of withholding information " which surrounded the bill. Ironically, in June, 2003 Scully had defended the cost estimates of his actuaries on some elements of the new legislation even though they conflicted with CBO numbers. He told the Senate Financial Services Committee, " The difference is that our actuaries have looked extensively #8211; obviously I'm biased towards my actuaries. " THE PRICE TAG FLIP-FLOP: Less than two months after it was signed, the Bush administration officially changed its estimate to confirm closely with Foster's own prediction, admitting the new law " would cost at least $530 billion over 10 years, or one-third more than the price tag used when Congress passed the legislation. " At the time, several conservatives admitted they would not have voted for the bill if they'd known the true cost. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) told USA Today, " It's safe to say that the votes would not have been there with a higher number. It was a bitter enough pill for many to swallow at $400 billion. At $550 billion, it would have been a bridge too far. " CAUTION: REVOLVING DOOR: Like many Bush administration officials, Scully was appointed to his position after lobbying for the interests he was then asked to regulate. He represented the nation's for-profit hospitals as a lobbyist before being joining the administration in June 2001. Eight months after Scully landed the job, the agency " moved to settle final claims involving HCA Inc., a hospital chain that was the biggest member of Scully's former employer, the Federation of American Hospitals. " Scully said he'd stay out of the case, but an attorney who represented the whistleblowers said the final settlement represented " a total sellout by Scully, who totally negotiated it behind Justice's back. " THE POSTGAME SHOW: Scully left the Bush administration in December 2003, just after the president signed the Medicare bill, to work for two firms representing drug manufacturers and Medicare providers who benefited from the law. As a study by Common Cause points out, " These jobs did not just drop into his lap in December. He had apparently been negotiating with healthcare-related firms at the same time he was helping the Administration push the controversial prescription drug legislation through Congress, which directly affected those industries. " Remarkably, Scully's conflict of interest was sanctioned by the Bush administration, which granted Scully an ethics waiver " so that he could negotiate with potential employers while he helped write the Medicare law. " Continuing its permissive stance towards corruption, HHS spokesman William Pierce said the department does " not see the need to act " on the GAO's latest recommendation. Under the Radar BUDGET #8211; ANOTHER RECORD DEFICIT: According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, " this year's federal budget deficit will reach a record $422 billion, and the government is now expected to accumulate $2.3 trillion in new debt over the next 10 years. " Next year's projected deficit " is $46 billion more than last year's record shortfall. " CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former economist for the Bush White House, made clear, " This is a fiscal situation in which we cannot rely on economic growth to cause deficits to disappear. " Rather, " The budgetary outlook will be dictated by policy choices. " If President Bush is successful in passing his tax cuts, " the expected total 10-year deficit would climb from $2.3 trillion to $3.6 trillion. " The forecast suggests " President George W. Bush is on track to miss his pledge to halve the ballooning U.S. budget deficit within five years. " LABOR #8211; TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW: The American Progress Action Fund is urging Americans to write their representatives in the U.S. House asking them to support an upcoming amendment that would restore overtime rights to more than 6 million workers. The amendment, sponsored by Rep. David Obey (D-WI) would force the Bush Labor Department to rescind its harmful overtime changes. A recent report by three of the highest-ranking career DOL officials in the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations found that, with one exception, all of the Bush changes would strip workers of their rights. Go to the special American Progress Action Fund website to fill out a letter to your representative today. GUANTANAMO #8211; ANOTHER CASE COLLAPSES: USA Today reports, " Military prosecutors who accused an Air Force translator at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of taking part in a spy ring that tried to pass more than 200 secret documents to U.S. enemies now say that only one of the documents was secret. " The change comes six months after the collapse of a case against the Muslim chaplain James Yee #8211; whom the government originally threatened to execute #8211; in the same probe. Now, there are questions " about whether there ever was a spy ring at Guantanamo. " #160;#160; TERRORISM #8211; LESS THAN 15 MINUTES FOR FEAR FACTOR: Journalist Josh Marshall points out how quick the Bush administration was in trying to squelch media coverage of the fact that 1,000 Americans have now been killed in Iraq. At 4:27 eastern time, AP put a story on its wire with the headline, " U.S. death toll in Iraq passes 1,000 mark. " Just 13 minutes later, a new AP headline read " Ridge: Terrorists hope to disrupt election " after a press conference by the Homeland Security secretary. Ridge offered no new evidence, and simply reiterated what the administration has been saying for months, with no apparent new news angle. HALLIBURTON #8211; SCHEMING TO JACK UP PROFIT MARGINS: After multiple abuses and accounting irregularities, the government is finally taking steps to end Halliburton's massive no-bid contract to provide logistical support in Iraq. Halliburton tried to spin the move to investors as another way to increase profits. David J. Lesar, the chief executive of Halliburton, said at a conference in New York, " If we do choose to rebid, we're going to jack the margins up significantly. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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