Progress Report: Reality Check Badly Needed

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The Progress Report

 

by David Sirota, Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin

..SEPTEMBER 17, 2004

 

IRAQ Reality Check Badly Needed

CIVIL LIBERTIES Military Injustice

UNDER THE RADAR Go Beyond The Headlines

 

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IRAQ

Reality Check Badly Needed

 

The White House has a problem recognizing reality. With the U.S. mired

in a bloody war that gets grimmer with each passing day, President

Bush clings to the rosiest projections, no matter how unlikely.

Suicide bombings, kidnappings, rising casualties, cities under siege

and ambushes all paint a picture of a nation descending into

intractable violence. In just 17 days this month, 52 U.S. soldiers

have died, threatening to make September the second deadliest month in

the 18 months since the war began. And these clashes came a day after

a team of kidnappers grabbed two Americans and a Briton in an early

morning raid on their home. Even the fortified Green Zone is no longer

completely secure. Yet the White House refuses to acknowledge the

situation is spiraling dangerously out of control, preferring

disingenuous rhetoric to hard action.

 

HEAD IN THE SAND: A classified National Intelligence Estimate, given

to President Bush in July, " spells out a dark assessment of prospects

for Iraq... The estimate outlines three possibilities for Iraq through

the end of 2005, with the worst case being developments that could

lead to civil war, the officials said. The most favorable outcome

described is an Iraq whose stability would remain tenuous in

political, economic and security terms. " However, the president is

continuing to misrepresent the situation to the American public. On

8/5/04, he stated, " [iraq is] on the path to lasting democracy and

liberty. " His press secretary, Scott McClellan, said on 9/15/04, " The

President talks often about the progress we've made in places

like...Iraq. "

 

CONSERVATIVES SPEAK OUT: The president may be out of touch with

reality, but his fellow conservatives are increasingly concerned about

the deteriorating situation. Conservative Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE),

noting the White House's recent plan to divert $3.4 billion from

reconstruction efforts to emergency security efforts, said: " Now, that

does not add up, in my opinion, to a pretty picture, to a picture that

shows that we're winning. But it does add up to this: an

acknowledgment that we are in deep trouble. " Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)

also " expressed exasperation at the administration's rosy prewar

assessments that as soon as Hussein was deposed, a euphoric Iraqi

population would embrace democracy. " He charged, " The nonsense of that

is [now] apparent. "

 

CRESCENDO OF CRITICISM: Some of the nation's editorial boards

criticized the president's lack of candor on Iraq today. USA Today

points out, " While all of the options have downsides, the longer the

administration denies the deepening crisis in Iraq, the longer the

crisis will fester. That places U.S. troops in greater peril, risks

turning Iraq into a terrorist haven and dims hopes of creating a

viable government, much less a model of democracy in the Middle East. "

Despite the NIE report projecting " dicey to disastrous " scenarios for

Iraq, the Boston Globe notes, " President Bush and Vice President

Cheney nevertheless go on campaigning on the false pretense that their

Iraq policy has been a great success. " Instead, " continuing

mayhem…casts light on the unmistakable failures of the Bush

administration's efforts at peacemaking and nation-building in postwar

Iraq. "

 

NO EVIDENCE OF WEAPONS: Before the invasion, President Bush and his

administration hyped the threat of an armed and dangerous Iraq to

frighten Americans into supporting the war. President Bush ominously

warned on 10/7/02, " Iraq could have a nuclear weapon in less than a

year. " Vice President Cheney did him one better, claiming, " We believe

Saddam has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons. " And Donald

Rumsfeld sounded the alarm bells, saying, " We know where the [WMDs]

are. " A new report by the top American weapons inspector in Iraq,

Charles A. Duelfer, finds " no evidence that Iraq had begun any

large-scale program for weapons production by the time of the American

invasion last year. " According to the report, which will be made

public in the upcoming weeks, the sanctions put in place by the United

Nations were holding these desires firmly in check. The report

provides another devastating blow to the administration's case for

rushing to war.

 

CIVIL LIBERTIES

Military Injustice

 

The administration's last ditch efforts to restore legitimacy to the

prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have hit a major snag. After two

years of delay, the Bush administration has slowly allowed detainees

to have their status reviewed by a military tribunal consisting of six

military colonels. On Sept. 7, however, the Pentagon's chief

prosecutor, Army Col. Robert Swann, " quietly called for three of the

six colonels to be knocked off the panel. " Swann " agreed with defense

lawyers that the three officers are unsuitable " because it was

doubtful they could rule impartially. Two of the colonels were

involved in rounding up and transporting detainees to Guantanamo. A

third has admitted to describing all those held at Guantanamo as

" terrorists. " Swann also asked the chairman of the panel, Army Col.

Peter Brownback, the only lawyer on the panel, to " closely evaluate

his own suitability to serve. "

 

PANELS DON'T MEET BASIC STANDARDS FOR FAIR TRIALS: Human Rights Watch

has written a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arguing

that " the failure of the Guantanamo Bay hearing to meet basic

standards for fair trials shows that the U.S. military commissions are

fatally flawed and must be scrapped. " The group has concluded the

hearings, where recognized rules of legal procedure were not used,

" fall far short of international fair trial standards. " Early cases

have been marred by poor translation and inadequate resources for

defense counsel. Panel members – most of whom have no legal training –

have been visibly confused about basic legal issues. Instead of

reinventing a legal system from scratch, the military could use

" existing criminal courts or courts-martial. "

 

'STUNNING REVERSAL' ON HAMDI: For more than two years, the Bush

administration argued that Yaser Hamdi was " so dangerous that he had

to be detained indefinitely in solitary confinement with no access to

counsel and no right to trial. " In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled

that " a state of war is not a blank check for the president " and Hamdi

must be allowed to have a lawyer and challenge his detention. Now in a

" stunning reversal " by the administration, Hamdi " will soon be

released from military prison in South Carolina under an agreement

that will allow him to fly home to Saudi Arabia as a free man. " He

will be set free " without ever having been charged with any

terror-related activity. " Michael Ratner, president of the New York

Center for Constitutional Rights, said, " The fact that they are

letting Hamdi go without charges proves the importance of courts and

attorneys. People ought to be screaming about this not just for what

was done to Hamdi, but for what it says about what America has become.

 

THE YEE FLIP-FLOP: The Bush administration branded Muslim chaplain

Cpt. James Yee as a spy, placed him in solitary confinement for 76

days and threatened to execute him. When it became clear the case

against Yee wasn't there, he was maligned with charges of adultery and

downloading Internet pornography. Eventually, those charges were

thrown out as well. The Army has now agreed to grant Yee an honorable

discharge. He will continue to serve at Fort Lewis until he is

discharged in January. The administration also announced it has

dropped all charges against Jackie Farr, " a colonel who served as an

intelligence officer at the Guantanamo prison and had been accused of

trying to take classified material from the base. "

 

Under the Radar

 

U.S. COMPANIES USING OVERSEAS SUBSIDIARIES TO AVOID TAXES: A new study

published in the journal Tax Notes reveals that " American

multinational companies booked a record $149 billion of profits in

tax-haven countries in 2002. " American companies have become

increasingly adept at setting up subsidiaries in places with low or no

corporate taxes – places like Ireland, Bermuda, Luxembourg and

Singapore – to dodge U.S. taxes and increase their bottom line.

According to the study, " the more that American companies can use

foreign subsidiaries to lower taxes, the greater their incentive to

invest and employ staff abroad. " The trend is also costing the

treasury " many billions of dollars. " Check out Job Tracker to find out

which companies are sending jobs overseas.

 

RE-ENLIST…OR TAKE YOUR CHANCES IN IRAQ: The ongoing war in Iraq has

left the U.S. military stretched paper thin. According to the Rocky

Mountain News, the military is strong-arming soldiers into staying in

the Army after their service requirements have been fulfilled. Troops

from a Fort Carson combat unit say they were issued an ultimatum:

re-up for three more years or take their chances in Iraq. Soldiers

were told if they didn't sign the recruitment form extending their

enlistment through December 2007, they would be reassigned to units

likely to ship out to Iraq.

 

FEWER PEOPLE WITH HEALTH INSURANCE FROM THEIR EMPLOYER: A new study by

the Economic Policy Institute reveals that over the last four years,

" the persistently weak labor market in tandem with sharply increasing

health costs have led to a related problem for working families: the

loss of employer-provided health coverage. " Among those who hold jobs,

employer-provided coverage has dropped from 58.9 percent to 56.4

percent since 2000. Children were hit especially hard, " with a net 2.4

million fewer children covered by employer-provided health insurance

in 2003 than in 2000. "

 

BUDGET – THE NOT-SO-FRIENDLY SKIES: AP reports that the Bush

administration wants to slash the Federal Aviation Administration's

" budget for buying new air traffic control equipment at a time when

more planes are in the air. " According to air traffic controllers,

backup equipment is desperately needed to avoid problems such as the

shutdown of a radio system at Los Angeles International Airport

Tuesday which " left controllers unable to talk to pilots and caused a

ripple effect of delays across the country. " (In that case, " the loss

of voice contact with pilots caused at least five incidents where

planes flew dangerously close to each other and delayed or canceled

hundreds of flights. " ) Instead of fixing the problem, President Bush

wants to slice next year's FAA budget for equipment by 12.6 percent,

from $2.862 billion to $2.5 billion.

 

DON'T MISS

 

DAILY TALKING POINTS: The Pinocchio President.

 

HEALTH CARE: The Economic Policy Institute has a new study on the

problem of declining employer-provided health insurance.

 

CORRUPTION: Evidence shows Halliburton backed the operative now at the

center of a bribery inquiry while Cheney was CEO.

 

CIVIL LIBERTIES: Check out the Century Foundation's new Patriot Act

user manual.

 

REGULATIONS: OMBWatch outlines the Bush White House's failure to

protect public health, safety and environment.

 

DAILY GRILL

 

" A classified National Intelligence Estimate prepared for President

Bush in late July spells out a dark assessment of prospects for

Iraq... The estimate outlines three possibilities for Iraq through the

end of 2005, with the worst case being developments that could lead to

civil war, the officials said. The most favorable outcome described is

an Iraq whose stability would remain tenuous in political, economic

and security terms. "

 

- New York Times, 9/16/04

 

VERSUS

 

" [iraq is] on the path to lasting democracy and liberty "

 

- George W. Bush, 8/5/04

DAILY OUTRAGE

 

The Heritage Foundation wants women to show a little leg. The

conservative institution is adamant that " gals " skip wearing pants

when job hunting, insisting the appropriate attire is a skirt or dress.

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