Coalition Provisional Authority Briefing
March 30, 2004

QUESTION: General, how are Marine operations going in Fallujah?

GENERAL KIMMITT: The operations in Fallujah. The Marines are quite pleased with how they're moving, progressing forward. There was a short period of time, perhaps a misjudgment on the part of a small number of insurgents out there that believed with the changeover between the 82nd Airborne and the Marines that somehow there could be exclusionary zones and areas where the coalition could not or would not operate.

The Marines, knowing that they have a responsibility for a safe and secure environment throughout the entire Al Anbar province, and fully understanding their requirement to have freedom of movement throughout the province, went in there. Some people challenged them. Some people tested them. Some people failed the test.

And the Marines are enthusiastic about, one, maintaining security, but more enthusiastic about the second aspect of that, which is getting on with the notion of providing support in that region, so that all citizens in the Al Anbar province, all citizens in the town of Fallujah will not be terrorized by a small number of insurgents, but in fact can profit from the significant amount of civic action projects that they can bring into the town of Fallujah.

So the Marines are quite pleased with how things are going in Fallujah, and they're looking forward to continuing the progress in establishing a safe and secure environment and rebuilding that province in Iraq.

U.S. Vows to 'Hunt Down' Attackers
April 1, 2004

The chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq vowed Thursday that American forces would "hunt down" those responsible for Wednesday's "bestial" killing and mutilation of four civilian contractors in Fallujah.

"We will respond," said Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt. "We are not going to do a pell-mell rush into the city. It's going to be deliberate. It will be precise and it will be overwhelming. . . . We will reestablish control of that city and we will pacify that city."

We've have another mysterious disappearance from the New Pravda this morning -- this time for reasons that are somewhat more obscure than when we last looked at the paper's willingness to make unpleasant facts disappear.

In that previous case, as you may recall, we found Judith Miller (or her copy editors, or both) trying to cover for her friends at the Department of Homeland Security by removing a rather obvious official lie from the paper's web edition and sending it where the bad electrons go.

This time, it's a much larger, if less obviously embarrassing, section of today's story on the Fallujah massacre that's vanished into the ether.

But not, however, before Phil Carter of the Intel Dump managed to cut and paste a chunk of the missing text into a post:

[American] generals have been saying that their main focus in the conflict has shifted to Islamic terrorists who they believe to have been responsible for many suicide bombings and other attacks on the Iraqi police, civilians and foreigners. These attacks, they say, have effectively carried the Iraqi conflict into a new landscape that makes the fighting here part of the worldwide war on terrorism.

But today's events at Falluja indicate that the war may not have changed as much as the generals have suggested.

The fact that the attack on the civilian vehicles occurred in Falluja, an overwhelming Sunni city that is the most volatile stronghold of support for Mr. Hussein, and that it followed a 10-day offensive by United States marines aimed at gaining effective control of the city, suggested that the current war may, in practice, be an extension of the conflict that began last year.

Now my first thought on reading these paragraphs was to file them under "Obvious, The Bleeding." But that was before I discovered they had gone AWOL from the Times. There are plenty of reasons why copy may disappear from a story, such as space limitations in the print edition, fresh information, etc. And saying the fighting in Falluja is a "continuation" of the war the United States began last a year doesn't seem particularly controversial -- or at least not outside Times itself, which spent several months last year insisting the war was over and done.

But it's also true that the current regime is becoming awfully touchy about people pointing out the bleeding obvious -- as we saw in the case of Richard Clarke v. the Grand Old Party. The fact that a year after the fall of Baghdad, resistance to the occupation is not only alive and kicking, but apparently alive and growing, is the kind of thing that might strike a similar nerve.

Whether that would be enough to trigger the Times's self-censorship reflexes is unclear. Somebody on the desk may have geniunely thought the missing section was unneeded filler.

So i guess we may have to put this one down as an unconfirmed kill. But it's also true that one of the story's missing details -- the "10-day offensive by United States marines aimed at gaining effective control of the city" may help explain today's explosion of rage in Fallujah.

It seems the Marines, who earlier this year had talked a good game about pursuing an alternative to the Army's "teeth and claws" approach to counterinsurgency, have actually been shooting the place up pretty thoroughly:

Up to 16 Die in Gun Battles in Sunni Areas of Iraq

FALLUJA, Iraq, March 26 — As many as 16 people, including a United States marine, were killed in a series of gun battles on Friday, as guerrilla violence swept the Sunni-dominated areas north and west of Baghdad in the latest show of strength by the insurgency here...

The gun battle came after a week of steadily intensifying violence that has left at least three other marines dead and four wounded.

The fighting broke out when more than 300 marines entered a neighborhood on foot and were fired on by Iraqis.

The marines, it seems, have largely abandoned the Army's latter-day policy of leaving Falujah to stew in its own angry juices:

The fighting followed a shift from the approach of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, whose troops had largely pulled out of the city and turned it over to the Iraqi police and paramilitary forces. In the last several months, American soldiers maintained no permanent posts here and ventured into the urban center only on patrols.

Since marines took over here this month, they have sent platoons of troops into the heart of the city. The fighting gradually intensified, with the guerrillas' attacks marked by varied tactics and firepower.

As was the case in Mogadishu, this repeated poking of the hornet's nest may have helped trigger today's reaction. Then again, maybe it would have happened anyway -- considering how much Fallujah and the U.S. military have come to hate one another over the past year.

It seems the depth of this hatred was not entirely obvious to some of the marines, despite the ample quantity of blood (both Iraqi and American) spilled in the city since the Yanks arrived last April:

Lt. Ross Schellhaas, of the First Marine Expeditionary Force ... said his deeper concern was the attitude of the Iraqis civilians, in whom he sensed ambivalence about the American presence.

Every one of us is waving to the Iraqis, even the guys who got shot at," the lieutenant said as his men moved through the neighborhood. "We're trying to let them know that we are here to help them."

"I don't know if they believe it or not," he said.

I guess Lt. Schellhaas has his answer now.

Update 12:35 PM ET: Several readers have noted that the passage cited at the beginning of the post -- the one that disappeared from the New Pravda's online edition -- is in the print edition. Which makes the entire episode even more mysterious, although (like many mysteries) probably unimportant.

Record-Setting Bush Fundraising Drive Nears Climax

Analysts believe Bush has already reached or exceeded his $170 million fund-raising target for the 2004 race -- a level that would shatter the $100 million record he set during his 2000 contest against Democrat Al Gore.

Bush had raised $158.2 million by the end of February, according to official campaign disclosure documents.

Wednesday night's dinner was the 138th event since the Bush campaign hit the fund-raising trail on June 17, 2003, with its hierarchy of "Rangers" and "Pioneers" -- titles of honor awarded to Bush supporters who raise at least $200,000 and $100,000, respectively, for the campaign.

Since then, Bush has been raking in money at a rate of $4.1 million per week, $601,048 per day, $25,043 per hour or $417.40 per minute, according to Public Citizen, a nonprofit watchdog that operates the Web site www.whitehouseforsale.org.

This is definitely going to be the best election money can buy.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that if took, oh, maybe twenty nanoseconds for our conservative culture warriors to work themselves into a genocidal frenzy over today's atrocities in Fallujah. Actually, the big surprise is that it took them that long.

Just Tuesday, 87-year-old Radio Flyer Inc. announced it was closing its Chicago plant and moving the production of its metal red wagons loved by generations of American children to China, resulting in the expected layoffs of nearly half of its 90 employees.

The Macomb Daily
Treasury chief sees upside to 'outsourcing'
March 31, 2004

Asked in a newspaper interview whether he thought outsourcing of jobs to other countries made the U.S. economy strong, Snow replied, "It's one aspect of trade and there can't be any doubt about the fact that trade makes ... America strong."

Associated Press
Snow reignites fight over job outsourcing
March 31, 2004

"A lot of talk about jobs going overseas. There's a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace. For some people looking for work, I understand that. I understand that. But the best way to deal with that in my judgment is to make sure America remains the best place in the world to do business so that our job base will expand."

George W. Bush
Remarks on the Economy
March 30, 2004

"Our administration is pursuing a clear, comprehensive, pro-growth agenda."

Dick Cheney
Speech to the Chamber of Commerce
March 29, 2004

Job creation unexpectedly stalled in the U.S. Midwest in March, a report showed on Wednesday, tempering optimism that Friday's national employment report will show hiring at last picking up ... The employment component of the Chicago Purchasing Management Index dropped sharply, to just 49.2 from 54.8 in February, its best reading since April 1998. A number below 50 denotes contraction, and the Chicago jobs index has managed to struggle above this level only three times since 2000.

Reuters
Midwest Hiring Slowdown Dims Job Hopes
March 31, 2004

A crowd of cheering Iraqis dragged charred and mutilated bodies through the streets of the town of Falluja Wednesday after an ambush on two vehicles that witnesses said killed at least three foreigners ... Television pictures showed one incinerated body being kicked and stamped on by a member of the jubilant crowd, while others dragged a blackened body down the road by its feet.

Reuters
Iraqis Drag Bodies Through Streets After Attack
March 31, 2004

In the months since the Rangers came, they had been swooping over the city at all hours of the night and day, blowing the tin roofs off houses and roping in to shoot and arrest Habr Gidr clan leaders. It was an insult to Somalia. On this day all the hatred had come to a boil, and many were already dead ...

The mob descended on the Americans. Only one was still alive. He shouted and waved his arms as the mob grabbed him by the legs and pulled him away, tearing at his clothes. People with knives hacked at the bodies of the dead Americans. Others in the crowd pulled and tore at the dead men's limbs. Soon people were running, shouting and cackling, parading with parts of the Americans' bodies.

Mark Bowden
Blackhawk Down
November, 1997

Bombings today in Iraq left five U.S. soldiers dead and three British soldiers injured, military spokeswomen said.

Bloomberg News
Iraq Bombings Kills 5 U.S. Soldiers
March 31, 2004

The CPA, responding to a Baghdad City Council request, is allocating $10 million to brighten the city's public parks, squares and playgrounds.

The White House
Iraq Fact of the Day
March 30, 2004

The White House also agreed that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney would answer questions - together, in private - before the entire commission.

Associated Press
Bush, Cheney to testify together in private
March 30, 2004

Scene: The Roosevelt Room in the west wing of the White House. Time: The near future. Members of the 9/11 Commission sit on one side of a large walnut conference table, President Bush and Vice President Cheney on the other. Next to them is White House Counsel Albert Gonzales. An elderly secretary sits at one end of the table, pad of paper in her lap, dozing in her chair. Two beefy secret service agents guard the door.

Chairman Kean: (looks to his fellow commissioners to make sure they're ready, then taps his gavel lightly on the table) I hereby call this special executive session of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States to order. In keeping with your request Mr. President, today's session will not be recorded, and we will have only one note taker ... (she snores audibly) from the White House secretarial pool. Are these arrangements satisfactory?

Bush: (glances at Cheney, who barely nods his head) Yeah, this'll do, I guess. I mean, it's not like we've got anything to hide. (he catches Timothy Roemer trying to suppress a smile) Whaddya you laughin' at, Tiny Tim? You wanna piece of me? Mano a mano?

Kean: Mr. President, please! We don't have much time!

Cheney: (smiling) Fifty seven minutes and forty three seconds, Mr. Chairman.

Kean: But Mr. Vice President, Mr. Gonzales assured us you and the president would not set an arbitrary time limit on your testimony today!

Cheney: (still smiling) Fifty seven minutes and eighteen seconds, Mr. Chairman. (winks at Gonzales)

Kean: (flustered) Then I suppose we should proceed. Mr. President? Excuse me, Mr. President? May we begin?

Bush: (still glaring at Roemer) Fine by me. But just remember what I said: We got nothin' to hide, and Dick here can vouch for it. Why, he knows I woulda stopped those planes if the CIA had just told us where the damned ragheads were gonna strike ... (Cheney bursts out in a loud fit of coughing. We hear the sound of a foot being stomped under the table. Bush winces and stops talking.)

Kean: (rushes to fill an awkward silence) Then I believe Mr. Ben-Veniste is scheduled to go first. If someone would just, uh, alert our note taker there... (Jamie Gorelick leans over and nudges the secretary, who wakes up with a start)

Note Taker: Eh? Is it time for coffee?

Gorelick: (sotto voice) The testimony is starting.

Note Taker: (querulous) What? Farting? Who's farting? Don't tell me Mr. Card had the bean soup for lunch again today!

Gorelick: I said, the testimony is starting.

Note Taker: (stares at Gorelick for a moment, then starts to fiddle with a hearing aid in her ear) Just a minute dearie, I think I need to replace the battery in this thing ...

Cheney: (grinning) Fifty three minutes, seventeen seconds, Mr. Chairman.

Kean: Commissioner Ben-Veniste, you may begin.

Ben-Veniste: Mr. President, what did you know and when did you know it?

Bush: Say what?

Ben-Veniste: (chuckles) Sorry, Mr. President. I couldn't resist that one. (clears throat, grows more serious) Mr. President, you were inaugurated as president on January 20th, 2001, were you not?

Bush: (evasive) You mean as president of the U.S. of A.?

Ben-Veniste: Yes sir, that's right.

Bush: Well, I, that is, um ... I think ... (Cheney loudly stamps his foot under the table, twice)

Bush: (carefully pronouncing each word) Yes, Commissioner, that statement is correct.

Ben-Veniste: And as president, you bear the ultimate responsibility for your administration's performance, do you not?

Bush: Responsibility? I'm not sure I like the sound of that ... (Cheney loudly stamps his foot, once.)

Ben-Veniste: (annoyed) Is something wrong, Mr. Vice President?

Cheney: It's just my foot, Commissioner. I'm afraid it's gone to sleep. (stamps it again, once.)

Bush: (slowly and precisely) No Commissioner, I must disagree with you about that.

Ben-Veniste: About what?

Bush: What?

Ben-Veniste: You must disagree about what?

Bush: (flustered) Whatever you just said, that's what.

Ben-Veniste: (sighs, consults his papers) Mr. President, we've heard testimony from Director Tenet, and others, that you were briefed on August 6, 2001 about the threat of terrorist hijackings -- either in the United States or abroad -- and that your senior counter-terrorism advisor urged you to take the federal government to "battle stations." Do you recall these conversations?

(Cheney drums his fingers on the table, loudly.)

Bush: (grins at Cheney) Could you repeat your question, Commissioner? A little more slowly?

Ben-Veniste: (exasperated) Mr. President, on August 6, 2001, were you or where you not warned that Al Qaeda terrorists might be planning a major hijacking?

Bush: (slouches back casually in his chair) Welllll, lessee now. August 6th, you say? Hmmmm...you know Commissioner, that was a mighty long time ago. (he glances at Cheney, who nods sympathetically)

Bush: I'm going to have to think real hard about that one, Ben.

Ben-Veniste: My name's Richard.

Bush: Whatever. August 6th ... August 6th ... You know, I think I was on vacation that month, back in Crawford. Ain't that right, Dick? (Cheney nods) You ever been down to that part of Texas, Ben? Awful pretty country ... (Cheney looks at his watch, smiles)

Ben-Veniste: (wearily) Let's move on, Mr. President, maybe we can return to that question later. (Cheney makes a scoffing noise in the back of his throat.)

Ben-Veniste: Mr. President, have you ever had any business dealings with any members of the Bin Laden family?

Bush: (gives Ben-Veniste a shifty look) Have I ever had any what?

Ben-Veniste: Business dealings. Have any members of the Bin Laden family ever invested in any of the companies you've been associated with, or served as directors with you on any corporate boards ...?

Gonzales: (interrupts) Mr. Ben-Veniste, the administration wants to cooperate with the commission's work, but we have clearly stipulated as a condition for this session that questions about the president's relationship with the Bin Laden family are entirely out of bounds.

Ben-Veniste: (frowns) You have? I've seen no record of it.

Gonzales: That's because there isn't any. (snorts) We just made it up. (Cheney gives Gonzales a high five)

Kean: (interjects) Works for me! Now if you have no further questions, Commissioner Ben-Veniste, we'll move on to Commissioner Thompson. (Ben-Veniste starts to protest, but thinks better of it after noticing that one of the secret service agents is cracking his knuckles and glaring at him.)

Kean: Big Jim?

Thompson: (puts down the porno novel he's been reading) Thank you Mr. Chairman. I yield the balance of my time to Mr. Cheney. (picks up porno novel.)

Gorelick: Objection, Mr. Chairman!

Kean: (bangs gavel) Overruled. Mr. Cheney?

Cheney: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Since our time here is growing short... (Gorelick tries to interrupt, but Kean gavels her down.)

Cheney: As I was saying (smiles at Gorelick), since our time is now short, I'd like to take this opportunity to put something on the record -- something that's been bothering me really ever since 9/11. To the families of those who died on that terrible day, I want to say how sorry I am that so many of our career federal bureaucrats failed to protect you and your loved ones from the Islamic menace. Dick Clarke failed you. George Tenet failed you. But most of all, Dick Clarke and George Tenet failed you. They tried -- maybe not as hard as they should have, but nobody's perfect. Still, they failed. I just hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive them someday. (wipes an imaginary tear from his eye, then glances at his watch)

Bush: (cuts in) And now Mr. Chairman, in the few minutes remaining, I'd like to offer a prayer for each and every soul who went to meet our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on that tragic day. Please bow your heads while Al here reads the names of our honored dead Ready when you are, Al. (Bush bows his head)

(As Gonzales pulls a thick list from his briefcase, the Democratic commissioners fume, throwing down their pens and angrily gathering up their papers. The Republican commissioners, meanwhile, stare blissfully into their folded hands.)

Gonzales: (reading from list) Adams, Edgar P. ... Afford, Janice ... Agee, Betty L. ... Agee, Simon F. ...

Bush: (bellowing over Gonzales) Oh Heavenly Father, we beseech you to accept the Christians on this sacred list into your loving care, and we beg you also to show mercy to the nonbelievers, that they may someday be released from the gates of hell, and find their way to Jesus ...

(Bush's prayer gradually fades into an echo, leaving only the sound of Gonzales reading the names of the dead)

Gonzales: Butcher, Gerald R ... Bzyninski, Maude ... Carmine, Joseph .... (his voice gradually dies away)

(Fade to black)

"I would like nothing better, in a sense, than to be able to go up and [testify.] But I have a responsibility to maintain what is a long-standing separation, constitutional separation, between the executive and legislative branch."

Condoleezza Rice
White House press briefing
March 24, 2004

"In order for President Bush and future presidents to continue to receive the best and most candid possible advice from their White House staff on counterterrorism and other national security issues, it is important that these advisers not be compelled to testify publicly before congressional bodies such as the Commission."

White House Counsel Albert Gonzales
Letter to the 9/11 Commission
March 25, 2004

"If every time there is a scandal they can go deep into the White House staff and pull it up under oath and make every piece of advice that a president's adviser gives, all of a sudden that become open laundry, then it decimates the White House decision-making process. I think there is a genuine danger about that."

New York Times columnist David Brooks
NewsHour
March 26, 2004

"She's being asked to appear before a congressionally mandated commission under oath, and there is a presidential authority problem here. I have been a national security adviser and a deputy national security adviser. And I wouldn't have done it during the time I was there working for President Reagan."

Colin Powell
Face the Nation
March 28, 2004

"For decades, it has been a practice that a president and the people who advise a president know before the fact that the advice they get will be not something that will be subject to analysis after the fact ... They have prerogatives and responsibilities that need to be protected ... If you eroded away and degraded it somewhat, a little bit each year, you end up with an imbalance in our society, which wouldn’t be a healthy thing."

Donald Rumsfeld
Remarks to Reporters
March 28, 2004

"This commission, it takes its authority, derives its authority, from the Congress, and it is a long-standing principle that sitting national security advisers do not testify before the Congress."

Condoleezza Rice
60 Minutes
March 28, 2004

"I wish she would just skip the television interviews and take the time to testify in an open hearing under oath. I believe that I deserve the answers to the questions I have, and so does our country."

Mary Fetchet, Co-chair, Voices of September 11th
Interview with the Los Angeles Times
March 26, 2004

"She doesn't make the decision whether to testify. It's the president's decision."

Former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft
Interview with the Chicago Tribune
March 27, 2004

"It's a political blunder of the first order."

9/11 Commissioner John Lehman
ABC This Week
March 28, 2004

President Bush, spending a long weekend on his Texas ranch, gave no ground, and several aides said he will not change his mind on letting Rice testify.

Associated Press
Rice pressed to testify on 9/11
March 29, 2004

"Today I have informed the Commission on Terrorist Attacks Against the United States that my National Security Advisor, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, will provide public testimony."

George W. Bush
Statement to the Press
March 30, 2004

Today I hear much gnashing of teeth and cries of woe from the left -- and screams of savage triumph from the right -- because of a new Gallup poll showing Bush allegedly "surging" against Kerry -- despite (or perhaps even because of) the Richard Clarke media frenzy.

I suggest everyone pop a few Vitamin B-complex stress tabs and calm down. There is much, much less to this than meets the eye.