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Bush fell short on duty at Guard - Records show pledges unmet
by The Boston Globe
In February, when the White House made public hundreds of pages of President Bush's military records, White House officials repeatedly insisted that the records prove that Bush fulfilled his military commitment in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. |
Bush faces pressure over drugs and draft
by Rupert Cornwell
After weeks in which John Kerry's military record has been picked to pieces, President George Bush now faces a double blast of scrutiny over his own past, raising new questions over his avoidance of the Vietnam draft and his alleged use of drugs.The first salvo is due to be fired on CBS tonight, when Ben Barnes, a Democrat and the lieutenant governor of Texas in 1968, will explain his role in securing for the 22-year-old Yale graduate Bush a coveted place in the state's Air National Guard - a unit so full of the sons of Texas's rich and powerful that it was known as the "Champagne Unit". |
Mysterious Republican money
by Robert Parry
If House Speaker Dennis Hastert is really concerned about drug profits being laundered into the U.S. political process, he would not be sliming billionaire financier George Soros with that suspicion. Hastert would be looking at a principal conservative funder: South Korean theocrat Sun Myung Moon. |
A mythic reality
by Paul Krugman
The best book I've read about America after 9/11 isn't about either America or 9/11. It's "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning," an essay on the psychology of war by Chris Hedges, a veteran war correspondent. Better than any poll analysis or focus group, it explains why President Bush, despite policy failures at home and abroad, is ahead in the polls. |
Spin can't hide the economic slide
by Thomas Oliphant
POLITICIANS and journalists who fool with economic information at the height of a presidential election need to remember a fundamental truth: Numbers are mostly for politicians and journalists, increasingly removed from the experiences of real life.For the elites, numbers are what economists call coincident indicators -- stuff that informs on current developments. |
More lies from the GOP
by Michael Paul Williams
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.So wrote George Orwell, who would have had a field day last week watching a GOP convention where Democrats were Republicans, enemies were friends and the lie became the truth.Speaking of which: John McCain's "Straight Talk Express" sure veered off a cliff. |
Kerry on Iraq: 'Wrong War, Wrong Place, Wrong Time'
by Patricia Wilson
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry on Monday called the invasion of Iraq "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time" and said his goal was to withdraw U.S. troops in a first White House term.Under pressure from some Democrats to change the subject from national security -- regarded by many as President Bush's strength -- Kerry tried to focus on the economy and other domestic issues at a neighborhood meeting in Canonsburg, but members of the audience raised Iraq. |
US army 'to axe Halliburton deal' - The US army plans to end a contract given to Halliburton to provide its troops in Iraq with logistical support, the Wall Street Journal reports.
by BBCNews
The army will put the work out to contract, the newspaper says, quoting an army memorandum which estimates the contract to be worth $13bn (£7.3bn).Halliburton has been accused of overcharging since it was handed the no-bid contract last year.US Vice-President Dick Cheney headed the firm until he took office in 2001. |
Turf Wars Threaten Intel Reform
by Jessie J. Holland
Congress is giving itself a month to come up with legislation restructuring the nation's intelligence apparatus, but Republican leaders acknowledge the goal may fall victim to turf disputes and lawmakers' focus on getting themselves re-elected Nov. 2. |
Peace Activist Held as 'Danger to Israel' - Lawyers question state motives behind detention without trial of former woman soldier who befriended leading Palestinian militant
by Chris McGreal
Tali Fahima served her time in the Israeli army, voted for Ariel Sharon as prime minister and took it as given that her country was struggling for survival against terrorism.Then last year, the 29-year-old legal secretary from Tel Aviv picked up a newspaper and read about Zakariya Zubeidi, the Jenin leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the group responsible for killing hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and shootings. Ms Fahima decided she would ask Mr Zubeidi why he killed Jews. |
All the President's Spin - A new book studies the way that the Bush administration has dedicated itself to transforming the press from a watchdog to a mouthpiece for its spin.
by Ben Fritz, Bryan Keefer and Brendan Nyhan
Bush’s White House has broken new ground in its press relations strategy, exploiting the weaknesses and failings of the political media more systematically than any of its predecessors. The administration combines tight message discipline and image management – Reagan’s trademarks – with the artful use of half- or partial truths and elaborate news management – Clinton’s specialties – in a combination that is near-lethal for the press. |
U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq Pass 1,000
by Hamaza Hendawi
U.S. military deaths in the Iraq campaign passed the 1,000 milestone Tuesday, with more than 800 of them during the stubborn insurgency that flared after the Americans brought down Saddam Hussein and President Bush declared major combat over.A spike in fighting with Sunni and Shiite insurgents killed seven Americans in the Baghdad area on Tuesday, pushing the count to 1,002. That number includes 999 U.S. troops and three civilians, two working for the U.S. Army and one for the Air Force. The tally was compiled by The Associated Press based on Pentagon records and AP reporting from Iraq. |
Cheney Warns Against Vote for Kerry
by Amy Lorentzen
Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday warned Americans about voting for Democratic Sen. John Kerry, saying that if the nation makes the wrong choice on Election Day it faces the threat of another terrorist attack.The Kerry-Edwards campaign immediately rejected those comments as "scare tactics" that crossed the line. |
The Unwinnable War
by James Carroll
GEORGE W. BUSH finally told the truth. It happened last week when he said of the war on terrorism, "I don't think you can win it."We know it was the truth because of the way it embarrassed him, because of the way his handlers immediately required him to repudiate it ("I probably need to be more articulate"), and because the mass of Republicans were deaf to it. Just as Bush had inadvertently spoken the exact truth about the war on terrorism at its onset ("This crusade, this war on terrorism"), he had inadvertently done so again. |
Bush Family Wounds America Below The Belt Line
by Thom Hartmann
In 1988, the Bush campaign planted a lie in the media that Michael Dukakis had suffered from depression after losing an election for governor. According to Susan Estrich, his campaign manager, it cost Dukakis six points in the polls. A Bush family friend planted another lie that Dukakis' wife, Kitty, had once burned a flag at a demonstration - and Dukakis took another hit in the polls. |
AIPAC Spy Case Involves Intelligence on Iranian WMD
by Juan Cole
James Gordon Meek reports that both FBI investigations of leaks from the Pentagon concern in part secret US intelligence on Iranian weapons of mass destruction programs. The FBI suspects that this intelligence was leaked to AIPAC and the Israelis on the one hand, and to Ahmad Chalabi on the other. Chalabi in turn is suspected of passing the information on to Tehran, playing the role of double agent. Although the FBI seems to be keeping the two inquiries separate, there is strong circumstantial evidence that there was a behind-the-scenes connection between Chalabi and the Israelis. That is, the information circuit may have been ingrown among the Neoconservatives, the Israelis and Chalabi's people. |
GOP Convention's Looney Tunes
by Robert Scheer
An advertising guru once warned his acolytes never to confuse the thing being sold with the thing itself. Good sizzle can always sell a lousy steak.This strategy is on brilliant display these days as the Republicans emerge post-convention, bristling with tough-sounding talk about "girlie men" and shamelessly attacking decorated war veteran John F. Kerry as some kind of traitorous wimp. The same leaders who have never apologized for being totally oblivious to the terrorist threat before Sept. 11 continue to mawkishly exploit the tragedy for political gain, all while trumpeting far-off victories for democracy that dissolve like mirages under the mildest scrutiny. |
New Iraqi PM a Longtime CIA Source
by Matt Kelly
The new Iraqi prime minister, trying to stave off attacks by anti-American militants, has a long relationship with Washington as a trusted intelligence source, former officials say.Ayad Allawi also helped British intelligence gather information about Saddam Hussein's regime during nearly three decades in exile. Once a member of Saddam's Baath Party, Allawi later formed the Iraqi National Accord to act as a conduit for defectors from, and sources in, the former Iraqi government. |
Scientist: Extreme Weather Will Kill Millions
by Jeremy Lovell
Millions of people across the globe are set to die early due to extreme weather events such as floods and heat waves caused by climate change, a British scientist said Tuesday.Professor Mike Pilling cited the heatwave in Europe last year that killed thousands of people from a combination of heat exhaustion and an increase in atmospheric pollution. |
