The Progress Report: SEPTEMBER 27, 2004

[Guest guest]

THE PROGRESS REPORT

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

 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2004

IRAQ Being President Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry

INTELLIGENCE REFORM Hastert's Political Trickery

UNDER THE RADAR Go Beyond The Headlines

 

 

IRAQ

Being President Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry

 

In May 2003, President Bush landed on an aircraft carrier in a flight

suit, stood under a banner proclaiming " Mission Accomplished, " and

triumphantly announced that major combat operations were over in Iraq.

Since that time, 900 U.S. troops have died, key cities have fallen

under the control of rebel forces, and the size of the insurgency has

quadrupled. Knowing what he knows now, would the president pull the

same stunt again? " Absolutely. " In a slap in the face to the families

of the 900 troops who have died in the last 16 months, Bush informed

Fox News' Bill O'Reilly that he wouldn't change a thing about the

spectacle he put on aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Bush told a

surprised O'Reilly, " You bet I'd do it again. " This April, even the

president's top political advisor, Karl Rove – not known for easily

admitting error – said that he regretted the use of the " Mission

Accomplished " banner. Catch Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) speak and answer

questions on the Iraq war today at 12:30 on C-SPAN.

 

VIOLENCE IS FREQUENT AND WIDESPREAD: In his weekly radio address on

Saturday, Bush reiterated his claim that the United States is making

" steady progress " in creating a secure and democratic Iraq. Secret

security reports prepared for the government and leaked to the

Washington Post, however, tell a different story. According to data

complied by Kroll Security International on behalf of the U.S.

government, " attacks against U.S. troops, Iraqi security forces and

private contractors number in the dozens each day and have spread to

parts of the country that had been relatively peaceful. " While Bush

frequently claims that the transfer of power from the U.S.-controlled

Coalition Provisional Authority to the Iraqi provisional government on

June 28 has improved conditions in Iraq, attacks on U.S. forces in the

past two weeks number about 70 a day, compared to 40 or 50 a day

before the transfer. At a Rose Garden press conference last week,

Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said " there is nothing, no

problem, except on a small pocket in Fallujah. " But the Kroll data

indicates attacks on troops in " nearly every major city in central,

western and northern Iraq. " Read more about the administration's

deception on the reality in Iraq.

 

SENIOR COMMANDER OF IRAQI SECURITY FORCES ARRESTED BY U.S.: Last week,

Bush stressed that " Iraq must be able to defend itself. And Iraqi

security forces are taking increasing responsibility for their

country's security. " Iraqi security forces may have more problems than

the president let on. On Sunday, the U.S. military " arrested a senior

commander of the nascent Iraqi National Guard. " The commander was

arrested on suspicion of " having associations with known insurgents. "

The move raised concerns " about the loyalty and reliability of the new

security forces just months before general elections are scheduled

across the embattled country. "

 

COLIN POWELL SAYS THINGS ARE GETTING WORSE: Bush continues to insist

that there have been " months of steady progress " in Iraq. Yesterday,

Secretary of State Colin Powell said that " the insurgency in Iraq is

getting worse and that the U.S. occupation there has increased

anti-American sentiment in Muslim countries. "

 

ABIZAID PREDICTS FLAWED ELECTIONS: Powell said that the only hope of

turning things around in Iraq was the elections scheduled for January.

But Gen. John Abizaid, top U.S. commander in Iraq, " said Sunday he

expected flawed elections. " Abizaid said he didn't think " Iraq will

have a perfect election. " But, according to Abizaid, that isn't

anything to worry about because Iraq will just be following the U.S.

model. Abizaid said, " if I recall, looking back at our own election

four years ago, it wasn't perfect either. " The administration " appears

to be willing to risk holding an election marred by violence and,

quite possibly, incomplete balloting to keep to its schedule. "

 

MOST IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION FUNDS NOT BENEFITING IRAQIS: According to

U.S. government officials and independent experts, " less than half of

the aid in the Bush administration's reconstruction package for Iraq

is being spent in ways that will benefit Iraqis. " Much of the money

spent on security services, insurance, property losses, contractors'

profits, and foreign workers' salaries never reaches Iraqis. According

to Frederick Barton of the Center for Strategic and International

Studies, " We're spending a lot of money we believe is helping people

and converting Iraq to a new kind of economy. That's where I think

we're kidding ourselves. "

 

IRAQ WAR ASSISTS AL QAEDA RECRUITING: According to intelligence and

law enforcement officials interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, the

Iraq war has emerged as " a rallying point for a seemingly endless

supply of young extremists willing to die in a jihad, or holy war. "

Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, dean of Europe's anti-terrorism

investigators, said, " In Iraq, a problem has been created that didn't

exist there before. " The sentiment was echoed by Pakistani President

Pervez Musharraf, who said on Friday that the invasion of Iraq has

" ended up bringing more trouble to the world, " in part because it " has

aroused the passions of the Muslims. "

 

ADMINISTRATION PRIVATELY LOWERS EXPECTATIONS: Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ)

said that members of the administration have privately told him

they've lowered expectations for democracy in Iraq. Kolbe quotes one

administration official: " When we went in there, I thought we would

build American-style democracy. Hell, I'd be happy with Romanian-style

democracy now. "

 

INTELLIGENCE REFORM

Hastert's Political Trickery

 

A House bill crafted by GOP leaders with no input from Democrats seeks

to " graft broadened police powers " onto a plan to reform the nation's

intelligence-gathering agencies. The bill, released to House members

on Friday, " stands in sharp contrast to the bill passed unanimously

[last] week by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. " Rather than

working in the spirit of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission for which the

bill is named, GOP leaders crafted the legislation behind closed doors

and added several controversial provisions many groups say could

endanger Americans' civil liberties. The changes in the House bill,

besides potentially threatening the freedom of American citizens,

" will present major challenges for House-Senate negotiators trying to

agree on a single bill later this year. "

 

POLITICIZING SECURITY: " Ebullient Republicans " all but admitted the

provisions had been slipped into the bill as a political trick to bait

Democrats into voting against a bill concerned with national security.

John Feehery, a spokesman for House Majority leader Dennis Hastert

(R-IL), said it would be hard for Democrats to oppose measures aimed

at preventing future domestic attacks. " The Democrats got spanked hard

on homeland security [in 2002], " Feehery told reporters, referring to

the GOP's crass politicization of homeland security issues in 2002

Senate races. " I don't think they want to get spanked again. " But some

House Republicans were less than thrilled with such politicization.

" The bill that I saw … I don't intend to support, " said Rep. Ray

LaHood (R-IL), who serves on the House Intelligence Committee. LaHood

joined Democratic leaders in expressing skepticism the House and

Senate would be able to reconcile their differing versions of the bill

before Congress adjourns in mid-October. Here's more on how the

Republicans have used national security as a political tool.

 

BROAD NEW POWERS FOR POLICE: The new bill includes broad measures that

could do more harm to Americans' civil liberties than to terrorists.

The New York City Bill of Rights Defense Council calls the new

provisions " some of the most repressive legislation that we've

witnessed in recent years…These provisions represent a massive attack

on all of our civil liberties, and in particular the rights and

liberties of immigrants and members of the Arab, Muslim, and South

Asian communities. " Among such provisions are measures permitting

" warrants against non-citizens even when a target can't be tied

directly to a foreign power. " The bi-partisan 9/11 Commission, in

contrast, called for civil liberties to be strengthened.

 

PATRIOT ACT: THE SEQUEL: Though it is named for the bipartisan 9/11

Commission, controversial portions of the House bill more closely

mimic provisions suggested not by the 9/11 Commission report but which

appeared " in a leaked Justice Department memo in January 2003, dubbed

by critics 'Patriot II,' after the 2001 USA Patriot Act. " That memo,

crafted in secret by the Department of Justice and leaked to the

public, sought to weaken " many of the checks and balances that

remained on government surveillance. " According to the ACLU, Patriot

II made it easier for the government to initiate surveillance and

wiretapping on U.S. citizens, enhanced the government's ability to

obtain sensitive information without prior judicial approval and

authorized secret arrests in immigration and other cases where the

detained person is not criminally charged. One section explicitly

expanded the attorney general's authority to authorize electronic

surveillance and physical searches without court approval at any time

after " Congress authorizes the use of military force. "

 

UNIONS NOT TRUSTED WITH SECURITY: The Washington Post reports a small

section buried deep within the new House legislation " would make it

easier for the president to exclude unions from representing 'homeland

security' employees. " No one seems to know " where the proposal came

from or why it is needed. " The two-paragraph provision " would amend

one part of civil service law and repeal a section of the 2002 law

that sought to smooth the transition of unionized employees into the

new Department of Homeland Security. " It would also add " homeland

security " to the list of functions that the president can deem exempt

from union representation.

 

 

Under the Radar

 

ELECTION –THE GOP DIDN'T LEARN THIS IN SUNDAY SCHOOL: Republicans

finally came clean last week and admitted they were responsible for a

mass mailing campaign in West Virginia and Arkansas which warned that

Democrats want to ban the Bible. The pamphlets – featuring a photo of

a bible with a big red " BANNED " stamped across the front – warned that

" liberal " support for legal rights for same-sex couples " could lead to

hate-crimes laws that could be applied against sermons of Bible

passages criticizing homosexuality. " The ugly tactic was part of the

GOP effort " to mobilize religious voters for President Bush. "

 

GOVERNMENT – DEPARTMENT OF LABOR OUTSOURCED TO CHINA: Your tax dollars

at work: The Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment

Policy, which exists to promote employment opportunities for Americans

with disabilities, spent $2,000 on " foam-filled, stress-relieving

squeeze things " in the shape of red-white-and-blue stars to hand out

as promotional items. The problem? While you might assume the

Department of Labor would practice what it preaches by contracting an

American workshop to craft these doodads, the stars instead were

imported…from China.

 

ETHICS – HITTING THE JACKPOT BY WORKING BOTH SIDES: The Washington

Post reports Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and public relations

consultant Michael Scanlon quietly teamed up with right-wing religious

activist Ralph Reed in a get-rich-quick scheme to exploit Indian

tribes. The group quietly worked behind the scenes to help the state

of Texas close an Indian casino in 2002, using Reed's ties to the

religious community to rally local religious leaders, pastors and

religious activists, while conducting a media campaign to support

closing the casino. Once it closed, Abramoff and Scanlon turned around

and persuaded the Indian tribe " to pay $4.2 million to try to get

Congress to reopen it. " The ethically challenged Abramoff and Scanlon

worked closely with Reed on other shady casino operations as well;

they also " represented tribes in Mississippi and Louisiana that sought

to block other tribes from operating rival casinos in Texas, Louisiana

and Alabama that could draw away gamblers. " Reed was paid upwards of

$4 million to stop those rival casinos from opening.

 

TAXES – CORPORATE WINDFALL: According to a new study by the trade

journal Tax Notes, " America's biggest corporations are increasingly

funneling profits earned in the United States to tax havens around the

globe, depriving the United States Treasury of anywhere from $10

billion to $20 billion in lost tax revenue each year. " Last year, U.S.

corporations " shifted $75 billion in domestic profits last year to

no-tax and low-tax foreign havens like Bermuda and Ireland. " This

comes on the heels of a separate study released last week by the

Citizens for Tax Justice which showed 82 of America's largest – and

most profitable – corporations paid zero federal income tax in " at

least one year during the first three years of the George W. Bush

administration. "

 

REGULATIONS – TRADING SAFETY FOR POLITICAL SUPPORT: It's a case of

quid pro quo. The New York Times reports, " federal agencies across the

vast Washington bureaucracy have delayed completion of a range of

proposed regulations from food safety and the environment to corporate

governance and telecommunications policy until after Election Day. "

Just one example: the government swiftly passed safety regulations to

assuage public fears after the outbreak of mad cow disease last year.

But a few weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration bowed to heavy

lobbying from the beef and feed industries and, ignoring the concerns

of safety groups, " took steps to delay…possibly kill – completion of

the most controversial and perhaps most expensive proposal for cattle

companies. " Soon after, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association

immediately " broke its nonpartisan tradition and endorsed President

Bush for re-election. " Gene Kimmelman, a senior director of public

policy at Consumers Union, warns there is a " clear pattern of holding

back regulatory decisions that will benefit the largest industry

players and will drive up prices and market place risks for

consumers…[which] will ultimately benefit the largest players and hit

consumers in the pocketbook.''