Progress Report: Major League Deception

[Guest guest]

Tue, 19 Oct 2004 08:59:50 -0700

 

 

Progress Report: Major League Deception

" American Progress Action Fund "

<progress

 

 

The Progress Report

 

by Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin

OCTOBER 19, 2004

 

IRAQ Elections At Risk

POLITICS Major League Deception

VOTING Fraud And Suppression In The Battleground States

UNDER THE RADAR Go Beyond The Headlines

 

IRAQ

Elections At Risk

 

The United Nations, " frustrated that the United States has not quashed

the insurgency, leaving the country too dangerous for foreign election

workers, " is understaffed in Iraq. As a result, while President Bush

continues to insist elections in that country will be held in three

months no matter what, " election experts say the U.N. team is

inadequate to oversee the process. " Officials say a major increase is

" unlikely soon because of deteriorating security and the U.S. failure

to quickly mobilize Georgian and Fijian troops for a protection force

or provide an acceptable alternative. "

 

NUMBERS GAME: The top U.N. election official originally estimated at

least 270 U.N. advisers would be necessary to oversee legitimate

elections; today, only five of the 35 U.N. workers in the country are

elections experts. (Afghanistan, which has a " similar-sized

population, has about 600 international staff and 266 elections experts. " )

 

INSURGENCY COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED: Meanwhile, the New York Times

reports the dangerous insurgency now hindering the election process

wasn't inevitable: the chief intelligence officer for the war states,

" We had momentum going in and had Saddam's forces on the run. " That

was lost because " we did not have enough troops, " he concludes. " They

took advantage of our limited numbers. "

 

POLITICS

Major League Deception

 

What was billed by his campaign as a " major policy address " by

President Bush about foreign policy turned into a brutally dishonest

partisan diatribe. On many occasions Bush " ignored elements of Mr.

Kerry's record and stated positions in a way that paints an incomplete

or distorted portrait of his approach. " Bush also brazenly misled the

American people about his own record on terrorism and Iraq.

 

BUSH DECEPTION #1 – TERRORISTS NOW OPERATE IN A LIMITED AREA: Bush

said that the war in Iraq and other administration policies have

worked " to shrink the area where the terrorists can operate freely,

and that strategy has the terrorists on the run. " The London-based

International Institute for Strategic Studies, however, found the

occupation of Iraq actually helped al Qaeda recruitment. In its annual

report, the IISS said " the network has reconstituted itself after

losing its Afghan base. " It estimated al Qaeda today has " 18,000

potential operatives and is present in more than 60 countries. "

 

BUSH DECEPTION #2 – ASHCROFT'S COUNTERTERRORISM EFFORTS ARE EFFECTIVE:

Bush bragged that " since September the 11th, law enforcement

professionals have stopped terrorist activities " in eleven states,

including New Jersey. It's unclear how the Justice Department has

" stopped terrorist activities " because it hasn't convicted any

terrorists. According to Georgetown Law professor David Cole, " On

September 2 a federal judge in Detroit threw out the only jury

conviction the Justice Department has obtained on a terrorism charge

since 9/11... Until that reversal, the Detroit case had marked the

only terrorist conviction obtained from the Justice Department's

detention of more than 5,000 foreign nationals in antiterrorism sweeps

since 9/11. So Ashcroft's record is 0 for 5,000. "

 

BUSH DECEPTION #3 – 100,000 IRAQIS ARE TRAINED: Bush claimed, " more

than 100,000 soldiers, police, and border guards are already trained,

equipped, and bravely serving their country. " Bush has repeatedly made

that claim in campaign appearances during recent weeks. But, according

to the Pentagon, " only about 53,000 of the 100,000 Iraqis on duty now

have undergone training. "

 

BUSH DECEPTION #4 – HE NEVER WAVERS IN THE WAR ON TERRORISM: According

to Bush, " winning the war on terror requires more than tough-sounding

words repeated in the election season. America needs clear moral

purpose and leaders who will not waver. " But Bush himself has wavered

on whether the war on terrorism can be won. On Aug. 30 he told NBC's

Matt Lauer, " I don't think you can win it [the war on terrorism]... I

think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool

are less acceptable in parts of the world. Let's put it that way. "

 

BUSH DECEPTION #5 – HE NEVER WAVERS ON IRAQ: Bush accused Kerry of

taking " almost every conceivable position in Iraq " and that such

vacillation will " lead to a major defeat. " An analysis by the Los

Angeles Times illustrates that " Bush's statements on Iraq show that he

also has sent differing...signals " on the justification for war in

Iraq. For example, before the war, " the major chord was security and

terrorism. Bush continually warned that Hussein could provide weapons

of mass destruction to terrorists. " When it became clear Iraq did not

possess WMD, " Bush increasingly has argued that building a democracy

in Iraq would inspire democratic change across the region in a domino

effect. " Read the full article, complete with timeline.

 

BUSH DECEPTION #6 – KERRY OPPOSES ALL PREEMPTIVE ACTIONS: Yesterday,

Bush said that " Senator Kerry's approach would permit a response only

after America is hit. " Kerry has specifically endorsed the use of

preemptive force. During the first debate, Kerry said, " The president

always has the right, and always has had the right, for preemptive

strike...No president, through all of American history, has ever

ceded, and nor would I, the right to preempt in any way necessary to

protect the United States of America.

 

BUSH DECEPTION #7 – KERRY'S RECORD ON INTELLIGENCE FUNDING IS

SHAMEFUL: Bush said that Kerry " has a record of trying to weaken

American intelligence. " His evidence is that Kerry " proposed a $6

billion cut in the nation's intelligence budget " in 1993. Kerry's

proposal was part of a bipartisan effort to balance the budget. In

fact, " Kerry's proposed intelligence cuts were smaller than those

proposed in 1995 by Bush's choice to head the CIA, Porter J. Goss. "

 

BUSH DECEPTION #8 – KERRY DOES NOT SUPPORT VITAL WEAPONS SYSTEMS: Bush

accused Kerry of voting " against vital weapon systems during his

entire career. " The nonpartisan factcheck.org notes, the " Bush

campaign bases its claim mainly on Kerry's votes against overall

Pentagon money bills in 1990, 1995 and 1996, but these were not votes

against specific weapons. " Nevertheless, Kerry voted for Pentagon

bills in 16 of the 19 years he's been in the Senate. Therefore, " even

by the Bush campaign's twisted logic, Kerry should – on balance – be

called a supporter of the " vital " weapons. "

 

VOTING

Fraud And Suppression In The Battleground States

 

In his speeches lately, President Bush likes to tell the story of

Afghan elections – of voters registering by the millions, camels

carrying ballot boxes across mountains, the " dream of freedom " taking

root at polling places. Sadly, for Americans, " President Bush's

enthusiasm to export democracy is not matched by his desire to defend

it at home. " Even as the president sings the praises of voter

registration abroad, his operatives in Pennsylvania, Florida, Nevada

and elsewhere are working around the clock to suppress the vote and

disenfranchise minorities in crucial battleground states. Thankfully,

Americans are continuing to register in record numbers: The Center for

American Progress has joined 23 concerned parties in a joint statement

on how to uphold democracy – and encourage everyone to get out and

vote – in the upcoming election.

 

SUPPRESSING PHILADELPHIA: According to the Philadelphia Inquirer,

" Republican operatives working to re-elect President Bush " in

battleground Pennsylvania " submitted last-minute requests in

Philadelphia on Friday to relocate 63 polling places…Of the 63

requests for changes, 53 are in political divisions where the

population of white voters is less than 10 percent. " All 63 are " in

political divisions where Democrats hold an overwhelming advantage

among registered voters. " The city denied the requests, saying they

were filed too late to be eligible for a hearing and appeared to be

" discriminatory. "

 

ROBB OPPOSES AFRICAN-AMERICAN POLLS: Challenged on the transparent

attempt to make it more difficult for 37,000 – mostly minority –

Philadelphians to vote, Republican Alderman Matt Robb pleaded

discomfort with African-Americans. Robb said he allowed his name to be

used on the request " because those polling places are in neighborhoods

he doesn't wish to visit. " 'It's predominantly, 100 percent black,' he

said. 'I'm just not going in there to get a knife in my back.' "

 

FRAUD AND LOATHING IN NEVADA: A district judge in Nevada, Valerie

Adair, has denied the Democratic Party's request to reopen voter

registration to voters whose forms may have been destroyed by a

Republican-backed organization. Despite testimony by a former employee

of the Republican-backed group Voter's Outreach of America, who told

local media that his " organization paid only for Republican forms and

tore up any Democratic registration forms, " Adair claimed she did not

want to " 'open the floodgates' to allow people not affected by the

purported fraud to register " (indeed, what could be worse than a

" flood " of registered voters). She said the " appropriate remedy " was

for those who believe they've been denied the vote to file individual

lawsuits. Of course, most of the people who have had their

registrations trashed will not know it until Election Day.

 

JEB IGNORES ELECTION OFFICIALS: New evidence indicates Florida Gov.

Jeb Bush ignored advice to throw out a flawed felon voter list before

it went out to county election offices, despite warnings from state

officials. A May 4 e-mail revealed Gov. Bush had been told to " pull

the plug " on the voter database by Department of State computer

experts. The e-mail said state election officials " weren't comfortable

with the felon matching program they've got, " but added, " The Gov

rejected their suggestion to pull the plug, so they're 'going live'

with it this weekend. " Despite efforts by election officials to keep

the felon list private, news organizations including the Miami Herald

found deep flaws in how the list was put together, including thousands

of African-American voters who should have had their rights restored.

Bush was finally forced to scrap an earlier state-sponsored list,

which caused thousands of innocent voters to be disenfranchised in

2000, in July.

 

CRASHING EARLY AND OFTEN: Meanwhile, citizens in Gov. Bush's state

began casting votes on Monday, " and within an hour problems cropped

up. " A Democratic state legislator in Palm Beach County said she

wasn't given a complete ballot when she opted to use paper instead of

the touch-screen machine, and " in Orange County, the touch-screen

system briefly crashed, paralyzing voting in Orlando and its immediate

suburbs. " Meanwhile, " early voters at nine of Broward County's 14

sites ran into computer-generated problems. " The breakdowns resulted

in long lines and many would-be voters leaving for work. A coalition

of private citizens and elected officials plan to file a lawsuit to

avoid similar problems in New Jersey.

 

 

Under the Radar

 

MEDIA – CARL CAMERON, GET YOUR RESUME READY: The Washington bureau

chief of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Jon Lieberman, was fired yesterday

after " accusing the media company of 'indefensible' conduct for

planning to air a movie attacking Senator John F. Kerry's Vietnam

record in the coming days. " Lieberman – who also was the lead

political reporter for the broadcast company – said he was compelled

to speak out because ''I feel so strongly that our credibility is at

issue here. . . . I feel our company is trying to sway this election. "

 

CONTRACTS – BOEING BONANZA: According to a new federal audit, lax

oversight means the Transportation Security Administration ended up

overpaying Boeing by " at least $49 million for the installation and

maintenance of explosives detection equipment at U.S. airports. " The

report found the TSA " didn't use 'sound contracting practices' in

awarding a cost-plus contract to Boeing and failed to monitor the

company's progress to ensure it deserved the financial awards it

received. " Homeland Security Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin

charges, " There was no incentive on Boeing's part to get the costs

down because it was getting a profit based on the cost. "

 

HEALTH CARE – PRESCRIBING WISHFUL THINKING: Faced with a flu vaccine

shortage which will leave millions of Americans unable to get the

shot, the administration tried to downplay fears with wishful

thinking. CDC spokesman Dave Daigle pushed the theory that the flu

might be mild this winter. His evidence was thin: " The Southern

Hemisphere saw a moderate year, and we're hoping we will too, " he

said. Health officials at the same time have also admitted that one

particularly dangerous strain expected to circulate this year " is

known to cause more deaths and hospitalizations than other strains. "

(Want to know what your representatives in Congress are doing to

alleviate the flu shortage crisis? E-mail them here and see what steps

they plan to take and whether they're bypassing the lines to get shots

for themselves.)

 

IRAQ – DISARMAMENT'S DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD: In an attempt to get weapons

out of the hands of insurgents before the elections planned for

January, Iraq's government is launching a nationwide arms-for-cash

drive next week. The intent is good, but trading money for guns can be

a double-edged sword. It's putting cash directly into the pockets of

black market arms dealers, who flocked to the experimental version of

the program in Sadr City; they buy cheap guns in the provinces and

sell them for profit there. Iraqi Security Minister Kassem Daoud

conceded to Reuters news agency on Monday that " the weapons handover

had had the unintended effect of increasing the flow of arms into Sadr

City. " The Financial Times reports, " The strong supply of weapons

stems from the high prices offered, far higher than street prices. The

US has complained that many of the weapons are old or broken. They

suspect that newer weapons are being kept. "