Progress Report: Fourth Time's A Charm

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Fri, 18 Feb 2005 08:48:05 -0800

Progress Report: Fourth Time's A Charm

" American Progress Action Fund "

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The Progress Report

by Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin

with Nico Pitney and Mipe Okunseinde

..February 18, 2005

INTELLIGENCE Fourth Time's A Charm

MEDIA These Are the People in Your Neighborhood

UNDER THE RADAR Go Beyond The Headlines

 

 

ThinkProgress.orgFor news and updates throughout the day, check out

our new blog at ThinkProgress.org.

 

 

INTELLIGENCE

 

Fourth Time's A Charm

 

After being turned down by Robert Gates, Sam Nunn and William Barr,

George W. Bush settled for no better than his fourth choice for the

new position of national intelligence director – John Negroponte. All

the papers report Negroponte – currently the U.S. ambassador to Iraq –

should be confirmed to the new post easily. It's unclear why.

Negroponte has a troubling record of unethical conduct and

incompetence. (Read the American Progress statement). Here's a brief

look at his record:

 

NEGROPONTE – COMPLICIT IN EGREGIOUS HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES: As ambassador

to Honduras in the early 1980s, Negroponte was told repeatedly about

Battalion 316, a Honduran army intelligence unit that kidnapped,

tortured and killed hundreds of Honduran citizens. But because

Battalion 316 was seen as useful to fighting Communism in the region,

Negroponte not only tolerated it but covered up its abuses. In a

series of reports to Congress – used to determine whether Honduras

should continue to receive military aid – Negroponte fabricated

conditions in the country. (For details, read this Baltimore Sun

expose.) Confronted with his fabrications by the Sun, Negroponte

denied he knew about the abuses, a claim contradicted by members of

his staff and over 300 press reports.

 

NEGROPONTE – DEFINITIVELY WRONG ABOUT IRAQ: Negroponte has precious

little intelligence experience. And the experience he does have has

been characterized by abject failure. As an ambassador to the U.N., he

pushed inaccurate intelligence about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass

destruction as a justification for war. In December 2002, he called an

Iraqi declaration that they didn't have any weapons of mass

destruction " an insult to our intelligence. " In January 2003 he said,

" we are convinced that Iraq maintains and continues to pursue its WMD

programs. " At the same press conference, asked whether the

administration knew Iraq was using aluminum tubes to enrich uranium

for a nuclear weapons program, Negroponte replied, " the answer is

definitively yes. " But hey, everyone was doing it, so no big deal, right?

 

NEGROPONTE – CUTTING AND RUNNING: John Negroponte was looking for an

excuse to leave Iraq. A senior administration official quoted in the

New York Times said Negroponte " made clear to everyone every time he

came back that 'I've got to get out of there.' " According to the

official, Negroponte said, " I want to get out of Baghdad as soon as

possible. They want me to come back for something, but I want to do

the private sector. " Just 10 months ago, in accepting his

ambassadorship to Iraq, Negroponte said our success in Iraq required

" resolve, constancy and unity of purpose. " Now, at this critical

juncture, Iraq is without an ambassador – and the administration has

yet to nominate a successor.

 

MEDIA

These Are the People in Your Neighborhood

 

The president and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Pat

Mitchell, announced she will not be seeking a third term earlier this

week, raising new questions about the future of a network beset by

partisan interference and faced with major budget cuts. The move comes

less than a month after Education Secretary Margaret Spellings

condemned the once-celebrated PBS show, " Postcards with Buster, "

because a not-yet-aired episode involved an 11-year-old girl with two

mommies. That was merely the latest in the Bush administration's

attempts to control content and enforce conservative themes at the

station. Fearful the right wing will continue to impinge on the

channel's independence, children's television advocates are calling

for a new funding model based on a " national trust fund or endowment

[that] would allow PBS to be free of the whims of the White House. "

(Share your thoughts on the conservative takeover at PBS on

ThinkProgress.org).

 

FAMILY CONNECTIONS: Mitchell maintains the " Postcards " controversy has

nothing to do with her decision to leave, but the episode was

indicative of the political wrangling that has complicated her job at

PBS. Mitchell originally signaled she was " comfortable " with the

episode in question, but according to PBS spokesman Lea Sloan, she

changed her mind " after conversations with a number of PBS stations

and 'national leadership.' " Asked who among the " national leadership "

had contacted Mitchell, " Sloan named John Lawson, who lobbies for

public TV stations on the Hill. " Lawson, besides being CEO of the

Association of Public Television Stations, is Spellings's

brother-in-law. His role in the controversy suggests a direct conflict

of interest: Lawson is supposed to advocate for public television

stations, but has a family connection with media censors in the Bush

administration.

 

CONSERVATIVES STACK CBP: In the current model, the bulk of PBS's

funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB),

whose board President Bush has attempted to stack with partisan

political operatives. Two of the board's newest members, Gay Hart

Gaines and Cheryl Halpern, have given more than $816,000 to

conservative causes over the past 14 years. In addition, both have

shown contempt for the board's function. According to Common Cause,

Gaines was a key fundraiser for Newt Gingrich a decade ago when the

House speaker campaigned to " zero out " CPB funding and privatize PBS.

 

NEW MEMBERS SEEK CENSORSHIP: Halpern signaled her intentions during

her confirmation hearing, when she suggested the CPB should be given

authority to penalize and " remove physically " someone whose broadcasts

it decided were unbalanced. Halpern took repeated shots at esteemed

" Now " host Bill Moyers and advocated a policy of " aggressive "

censorship. This was apparently part of a " litmus test " the Bush

administration used to select board members – media watchdog groups

say the White House sunk the candidacy of UCLA media professor Chon

Noriega after he said the CPB should intervene in programming only in

" extraordinary circumstances. " The Public Broadcasting Act prohibits

CPB from interfering with public TV's programming.

 

NEW PROGRAMMER: In addition to stacking the board of CBP, the

administration hired Michael Pack, a producer with close ties to the

Bush administration. In 2002, Pack greeted Mitchell at Vice President

Cheney's house and proceeded to push a children's series featuring the

vice president's wife, Lynn Cheney. Just weeks after pitching the show

to PBS programmers – who found the whole idea " inappropriate " – Pack

was appointed senior vice-president for television programming for the

CPB, " which dispenses federal funding to PBS and local stations. "

 

COMING UP NEXT: The partisan CPB has already begun to have an effect:

the hosts of PBS's two new public affairs programs are right-wing CNN

commentator Tucker Carlson and Paul Gigot, of the Wall Street

Journal's editorial board (which once called for the " complete

withdrawal " of federal funding for PBS). Moyers's former newsmagazine,

which also came under attack during a CBP Board meeting last winter

(one member reportedly screamed, " You've got to get rid of Moyers! " ),

has been zero funded and cut from an hour to thirty minutes. And

President Bush has " ordered an internal review " of " Postcards with

Buster, " a show the Education Department once praised as helping kids

learn to read and giving them a " greater understanding and

appreciation of the varied cultures in North America. "

 

ON THE FRONT LINES: On Thursday, PBS found itself in the middle of

another controversy when the producers of a " Frontline " documentary

about U.S. combat troops in Iraq criticized the channel's decision " to

send member stations an edited satellite feed of the program that cut

out profanity used by soldiers. " The channel " opted to change from

practice " by sending only the edited version of the show and forcing

stations to " sign a legal waiver indemnifying PBS " if they want to get

the unedited version. The producers charge PBS is bowing to concern

about Federal Communications Commission indecency rules and that the

network should " stand firm " for the " principle of editorial

independence. " The latest dust-up highlights the " inside-the-Beltway

environment in which PBS is forced to operate, where funding concerns

often trump programming decisions, and the fear of upsetting

conservatives has become a driving force. "

 

 

Under the Radar

 

MILITARY – FINANCIAL AND MEDICAL 'FRIENDLY FIRE': In yet another

" bureaucratic mistake, " nearly a thousand Army Reserve and National

Guard troops who were hurt in Iraq and Afghanistan " have gone months

without pay or medical benefits they were entitled to receive. " The

problem is that the soldiers are removed from the active duty rolls

upon returning home and then face a " convoluted and poorly defined

process " to begin receiving their benefits and many just give up. One

Army veteran, who suffered injuries to his brain and several other

body parts during his tour, said that " it wasn't until he returned

home for extended treatment that his 'real troubles began.' " The

chairman of the House Government Reform Committee described the

situation as " the equivalent of financial and medical 'friendly

fire.' " The Government Accountability Office declared that the

military has yet to resolve " underlying management control problems, "

despite these investigations.

 

HOMELAND SECURITY – FAILING GRADE FOR GOVERNMENT'S COMPUTERS: Maybe

the administration should consider subjecting the government's

computer systems to the same standards as the No Child Left Behind

Act. The House Government Reform Committee recently released a report

concluding that " the overall security of computer systems inside the

largest U.S. government agencies improved marginally since last year

but still merits only a D-plus. " The investigators gave failing grades

to nearly a third of the 24 largest agencies, one of which was the

Department of Homeland Security. This sloppy state of affairs has led

private sector industry groups to call on the government to practice

what it preaches. Averse to reform, these groups are fighting back by

arguing " that the government needs to improve its own computer

security before requiring business to make such changes. "

 

PRIVATIZATION – THE MORE YOU KNOW...: Despite months of highly

publicized speeches and friendly town hall meetings, the American

people are more skeptical of the president's privatization scheme than

ever. A poll reported in the Los Angeles Times actually shows that

" support for Social Security overhaul has slipped since Bush began

campaigning for private accounts. " Now even conservatives are getting

wet feet. When President Bush this week announced a " new willingness

to consider a tax increase to pay for the changes, " conservatives

" fumed. " And President Bush's most recent privatization rally was

notable mostly for its empty seats and tepid audience. " The president

tells a good story, but I think this is scare tactics, " one Bush

supporter said. The clock is ticking: House Majority Whip Roy Blunt

(R-MO) told Congress Daily this week that selling privatization is

" already about as hard as anything you can imagine to do politically,

and I think after [2005] it becomes impossible. "

 

FDA – WHISTLEBLOWER SPEAKS TRUTH TO POWER: Dr. David Graham, a Food

and Drug Administration drug safety epidemiologist turned

whistleblower, made a stunning declaration yesterday to the FDA panel

investigating Cox-2 medications: " Patients who take any painkiller in

the Cox-2 inhibitor family of drugs will increase their risk of having

a heart attack or stroke, in some cases by as much as if they smoked. "

Dr. Graham, who has been described as " the closest thing to a hero, "

continued on to tell the panel that he saw no need for the Cox-2

inhibitor family of drugs, which includes Celebrex and Vioxx. If the

panel agrees with the scientist, the FDA will either completely ban

Cox-2 inhibitors or place restrictions on prescribing them; the

pharmaceutical industry stands to lose billions in revenue depending

on the decision. Interestingly, at the same panel investigation, a top

Merck research official stated that the company, which has been

accused of knowingly hiding the dangers of Vioxx, may start selling

the heart damaging drug again, citing its " unique benefits. "

 

TORTURE – EVIDENCE OF RECENT DETAINEE ABUSE EMERGES: Documents

released yesterday by the ACLU show continued abuse of detainees in

Iraq and Afghanistan through 2004. In one instance, " an Iraqi detainee

asserted that Americans in civilian clothing beat him repeatedly,

dislocated his shoulder, stepped on his nose until it broke, choked

him with a rope and hit him in the leg with a bat, " the New York Times

reports. " Medical reports in the file confirmed the broken nose and

fractured leg. " In another case, reported by the Associated Press, a

detainee was " found suspended by his wrists, which had been handcuffed

behind his back, " and his arms were " nearly…pulled from their

sockets. " The ACLU documents show several of the incidents were

" investigated only briefly. " Indeed, nearly a year after detainee

abuse at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere became public, there still has been

no independent, overarching investigation of the scandal.