:: Skeptical Notion

:: Friday, June 04, 2004 ::

Why hire a lawyer?

John Dean has a good take on Bush's hiring an outside lawyer. (I'm particularly amused at the fact that he's forced to use outside counsel because of Kenneth Starr. What goes around, comes around):

It is possible that Bush is consulting Sharp only out of an excess of caution - despite the fact that he knows nothing of the leak, or of any possible coverup of the leak. But that's not likely.

On this subject, I spoke with an experienced former federal prosecutor who works in Washington, specializing in white collar criminal defense (but who does not know Sharp). That attorney told me that he is baffled by Bush's move - unless Bush has knowledge of the leak. "It would not seem that the President needs to consult personal counsel, thereby preserving the attorney-client privilege, if he has no knowledge about the leak," he told me.

What advice might Bush get from a private defense counsel? The lawyer I consulted opined that, "If he does have knowledge about the leak and does not plan to disclose it, the only good legaladvice would be to take the Fifth, rather than lie. The political fallout is a separate issue."

I raised the issue of whether the President might be able to invoke executive privilege as to this information. But the attorney I consulted - who is well versed in this area of law -- opined that "Neither 'outing' Plame, nor covering for the perpetrators would seem to fall within the scope of any executive privilege that I am aware of."

If Bush authorized the leak, he's screwed. If Bush found out later who leaked, but didn't come forward, he's screwed. If Bush helped cover up the leak, he's screwed. Hell, he's probably screwed even if all he did was ensure he didn't know who leaked. If he didn't know anything and still doesn't, I'm a bit unsure why he needs a lawyer. It's not like he's facing Kenneth Starr.

Hell, I'd hire a lawyer if Kenneth Starr came after me, and I know I've never diddled a Washington intern.

(Note: The original version of this post referenced some speculation that "Bush knew". Upon closer examination, the source was Capital Hill Blue, which I don't trust. Pending corroboration, I retracted it).


:: Morat 9:34 AM :: ::

Interesting few days..

Well, I've been a bit busy lately -- I'm sure you can tell. However, I would like to sum up the last few days, just for a feel of the "Big Picture". So, without further ado -- and in no particular order -- are the highlights of the last few days.

• Tenet Resigns/Is Fired
• The Military extends the Stop/Loss Order
• Iraq picks a new President, after the last one got blown up. Brahimi is, reportedly, not terribly thrilled
• Chalabi, the White House's personal pick for new Iraqi leader, turns out to be spying for the Iranians and collecting blackmail information on US figures (we helped him get dirt on the Iraqis
• Bush hires a lawyer over the Plame incident

Wow. That's, well..that's bad, really.

Our President is happily embroiled in two cases of treason committed by members of his Administration (burning a CIA operative and telling a foreign national some sensitive signals information).

Things in Iraq are going so swimmingly that we're extending the stop-loss order (looks like that June 30th handoff is going to be long on symbolism, short of effectiveness) and we've managed to get one Iraqi President blown up...and the other chosen over the wishes of the one guy over there who isn't blinded by ideology or greed.

Yeah, I can feel the honor and dignity Bush is restoring to the White House. And, man, the sweet smell of victory is just hovering over that place.
:: Morat 12:32 PM :: ::

U.N. envoy urges Iraqis to back government

I'd say this is not the best sign:

A special U.N. envoy urged Iraqis on Wednesday to accept the new interim government and to work toward national elections -- the next major step in the country's advance toward democratic government.

I suppose how much of this "urging" is typical government-speak (after all, you can't please everyone, and interim government's like this are even worse) and how much is worried speculation remains unknown.

I'd imagine it will boil down to how well the Iraqis (Shia, Sunni, and Kurds) feel this interim government represents them, and whether they like the looks of where things are going.

I -- obviously -- don't share Bush's faux enthusiasm for the handover date. Symbolic gesture or not, I'd expect that ethnic tensions will begin to rise in Iraq as the new government takes shape. Few Iraqis are going to be thrilled with the interim puppet government. I'd imagine even fewer will be happy with the proposed permanent one.
:: Morat 2:39 PM :: ::

Brad DeLong, Health Care, and You

Brad DeLong takes a glance at Kerry's Health Care proposal and likes what he sees:

The Clinton health care reform effort is a decade dead. But now the Kerry campaign has dusted off and brought forward a very clever idea from Brandeis's Stuart Altman to not eliminate but at least diminish the magnitude of these two ways that market-based health-care reforms self-destruct. The idea? Have the government take its task of social insurance seriously, and reinsure private insurers and HMOs: construct a 'premium rebate' pool to pay annual health-care bills over $50,000. This greatly diminishes the cost to insurers and HMOs of covering the really sick. The cost of treating the really sick will then be on the taxpayer rather than on the insurance-purchasing consumer. Insurance rates will fall. And the incentive for the young without many assets to go naked and uninsured will diminish as well.

Thus two of the big problems with our health care system become smaller problems. If this plan is enacted, we will no longer have to worry as much (i) adverse selection--the enormous financial incentives HMOs and insurance companies have to figure out some way not to cover the sick people--and (ii) cost shifting--the fact that those who buy insurance have to pay not only their own routine costs and their own catastrophic costs but the catastropic costs of others and the uninsured as well. The first means that--often--those who need health care the most have a hard time getting it. The second means that--often--those who could afford or would buy insurance if it were priced at its fair actuarial value don't because of this cost shifting.

It's a serious and clever proposal. It's a proposal for the government to do something--risk spreading--for which it has, potentially at least, a powerful comparative advantage. And it's a government program that would significantly diminish the market failures that gum up the private sector health care market.

I don't really have much -- or anything -- to add to this (story of my life, it seems) but figured it was well worth pointing out. I'm more than a little lost when it comes to navigating the health care issues in America.

About all I know is my premiums seem to go up every year, and seem to cover less. And that's with good insurance, through a major corporation. Every time I look at the plans offered by smaller companies (or, God forbid, many school districts) I tend to shudder...
:: Morat 3:21 PM :: ::

John Kerry intern scandal - Alexandra Polier's account

Even though I wasn't a fan of Kerry's at the time (I'm still not, really. But God knows he'll be about ten million times more competent than Bush could even dream of), I'm glad to see this went nowhere, and glad to see someone is finally publishing her side of the story. I wasn't quick to dismiss it when it came out (Drudge does occasionally -- well, at least once in a blue moon -- get things right) and I admit my support of Dean undoubtably made me more likely to wonder if it might be true (at the time, I was still pretty sore over Iowa....)

But, in the long run, I'm glad to see this went nowhere. And I feel quite sorry for Ms. Polier and the crap Drudge and his ilk put her through, and think they owe her -- and Kerry -- a big apology.

As for myself: My apologies to both of you for not dismissing it out of hand. I should have realized earlier that Drudge was talking nonsense again.
:: Morat 2:58 PM :: ::

Really bad Apples...

David Adesnik makes a nice catch:

The WaPo has an interesting analysis of the time stamps on the Abu Ghraib prison photo. One fact that really struck me was that soldiers in the 372nd began to abuse prisoners within two days of arriving at Abu Ghraib.

That being the case, it's very hard to imagine how the abuse could have taken place without some sort of green light from either military intelligence or superior officers. Yes, it is possible that these few soldiers were so sadistic that they leapt at the opportunity to commit human rights violations. But the alternative is too compelling to be ruled out.

Looks like those "Few Bad Apples" soured pretty damn quickly, eh?

Seriously, I wonder how long the Pentagon will push the "few bad apples" theory? And I wonder who had control of that section of Abu Ghraib before the 372nd? (Link via Political Animal)
:: Morat 12:54 PM :: ::

Dooh Nibor Economics

Krugman writes about the latest leak from Washington. You know, the one where the OMB is directing agencies to prepare for post-election cuts? Cuts in Head Start, Homeland Security, and other fun programs?

Does Mr. Bush understand that the end result of his policies will be to make most Americans worse off, while enriching the already affluent? Who knows? But the ideologues and political operatives behind his agenda know exactly what they're doing.

Of course, voters would never support this agenda if they understood it. That's why dishonesty -- as illustrated by the administration's consistent reliance on phony accounting, and now by the business with the budget cut memo-- is such a central feature of the White House political strategy.

Right now, it seems that the 2004 election will be a referendum on Mr. Bush's calamitous foreign policy. But something else is at stake: whether he and his party can lock in the unassailable political position they need to proceed with their pro-rich, anti-middle-class economic strategy. And no, I'm not engaging in class warfare. They are.

Credit Card conservatives. There really isn't a better term for the Bush fiscal plan. Free money now, stick us with the bill later. Except most of the money is going to those already wealthy, and most of the bill is going to those who can't afford it.
:: Morat 11:31 AM :: ::

3rd of detainees who died were assaulted

I think we're officially at an entire barrel of bad apples:

More than a third of the prisoners who died in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan were shot, strangled or beaten by U.S. personnel before they died, according to death certificates and a high-ranking U.S. military official.

The military official, who has direct knowledge of ongoing Pentagon investigations of the deaths, said that 15 of 37 prisoners who have died since December 2002 appear to have been killed or put in grave danger by U.S. troops or interrogators. In some cases, the immediate cause of death was listed as a heart attack, but that was in turn caused by a beating.

The article goes onto note that some of the cases have been cleared. Four of the deaths, for instance, occurred when guards shot prisoners during a riot at Abu Ghraib in November of 2003. USA Today doesn't speculate on why the prisoners were rioting, but I'd imagine that the sexual abuse, beatings, dog attacks, and torture might have had something to do with it.

The article catalogs the death: 6 dead from "blunt force trauma" (beatings), 4 from poor airflow (asphixia, strangulation, smothering), 9 from heart disease or heat-related problems.

So far one soldier has been disciplined. He was dishonorably discharged.

I wonder how long the military will continue to vote for Republicans? Most officers (the ones I've met, leastwise) take pride in the professionalism and standards of the military. I don't think this is the sort of service they'll take pride in.
:: Morat 11:12 AM :: ::

Texas Tuesdays: Chet Edwards

Texas Tuesdays is profiling Chet Edwards (17th District) today. Go check it out!

For the record, I think Texas Tuesdays is a great resource to those of us living in Texas, and hope similar sites spring up for the other 49 states. Nothing beats an informed electorate.
:: Morat 10:40 AM :: ::

Just a note..

One day, I am going to hunt down the person responsible for the browser hijack I spent all weekend cleaning off my system.

Then I am going to personally beat seven kinds of hell out of him, then appeal to the general internet community to pay for my legal bills.

And you know what? If I can capture the beating on video, I think I'll get it. Those things are annoying as all hell.

On the other hand, if you're facing a nasty browser redirect (like a fun home-page hijacking), email me. I've had to do a lot of research this weekend....
:: Morat 8:18 PM :: ::

Old pleasures long forgotten

I stumbled across an old friend yesterday, while finally unpacking some old boxes. I hadn't seen my copy of A Canticle for Leibowitz in at least ten years.

There's something to be said for rediscovering the old classics, and something to be said for the simple pleasure of ending a book with the thought: "I'd forgotten how good that was...."

If you haven't read it, you should. I can promise you your local library has a copy.
:: Morat 2:37 PM :: ::

To Tell the Truth

Once again, the Shrill One speaks:

The truth is that the character flaws that currently have even conservative pundits fuming have been visible all along. Mr. Bush's problems with the truth have long been apparent to anyone willing to check his budget arithmetic. His inability to admit mistakes has also been obvious for a long time. I first wrote about Mr. Bush's 'infallibility complex' more than two years ago, and I wasn't being original.

I can second that. I watched Bush as Governor, and then as Presidential candidate, and was very disturbed by the fact that he was outright lying about his record -- in easily checked ways -- and that no one was calling him on it.

Take the Patient's Bill of Rights, for instance. Healthcare was a big 2000 issue, and Bush constantly took credit for Texas' Patient's Bill of Rights. But that was a lie. He fought it tooth and nail, and when it finally passed -- by a veto-proof majority -- he allowed it to become law without his signature.

But no one bothered to report it, even though it wasn't an obscure fact by any means. I was even more disturbed that blatant lies just didn't appear to be news, whereas every statement Gore made was fact-checked and nitpicked to hell and gone, even when he didn't say them.

I think the press was overly critical with Gore -- fed by Rove, no doubt -- but I'd prefer that press to the one that followed Bush around. Better to be overly skeptical, overly critical, than the coverage Bush got. The man could have said the sky was green and they wouldn't have bothered to look up and check for themselves.

On another note, Krugman adds this tidbit:

Amazing things have been happening lately. The usual suspects have tried to silence reporting about prison abuses by accusing critics of undermining the troops — but the reports keep coming. The attorney general has called yet another terror alert — but the press raised questions about why. (At a White House morning briefing, Terry Moran of ABC News actually said what many thought during other conveniently timed alerts: "There is a disturbing possibility that you are manipulating the American public in order to get a message out.")

Did Moran really say that? If so, we need to get some major kudos out. That was ballsy....and it spoke to a long-running concern, one that had been raised as far back as Ashcroft's condemnation that anyone daring to question provisions of the Patriot Act was "aiding terrorists" or Fleischer's "Watch what you say" response to Maher.
:: Morat 11:11 AM :: ::

US intelligence fears Iran duped hawks into Iraq war

Well, this would just be the bloody icing on the cake, wouldn't it?

An urgent investigation has been launched in Washington into whether Iran played a role in manipulating the US into the Iraq war by passing on bogus intelligence through Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, it emerged yesterday.

Some intelligence officials now believe that Iran used the hawks in the Pentagon and the White House to get rid of a hostile neighbour, and pave the way for a Shia-ruled Iraq.

According to a US intelligence official, the CIA has hard evidence that Mr Chalabi and his intelligence chief, Aras Karim Habib, passed US secrets to Tehran, and that Mr Habib has been a paid Iranian agent for several years, involved in passing intelligence in both directions.

Sweet lord. As if it wasn't bad enough that we invaded Iraq under false pretenses -- alienating the world in the process --, but to have been tricked into it by Iran?

Just sort of sum this up in your head. If this is true, then Iran not only tricked the US into knocking off Iran's worst enemy (and strengthening Iran in the region, something that we've been trying to prevent for 25 years now), but did so in a fashion that wrecked US credibility, turned Arab sentiment even more heavily against us, isolated the US from the world community and severely hampered the US military's ability to respond to world events for years to come.

This is why you don't elect idiots or fanatics to the Presidency. Hell, I suppose it's really Clinton's fault. Things were so calm and prosperous, I guess we assumed even an idiot couldn't screw them up.
:: Morat 10:57 AM :: ::

Abu Ghraib: Greater Urgency on Prison Interrogation Led to Use of Untrained Workers

It appears, to paraphrase the great Stephen Colbert, that the facts on Abu Ghraib continue to have an anti-Bush bias:

The pace accelerated last December, after the capture of Saddam Hussein, which led to a near-doubling of the number of two-person 'Tiger Teams' assigned to an interrogation center at the prison, which operated under the control of Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez's top deputy for intelligence.

The accounts depict a high-pressure environment at the prison, particularly within the interrogation center, where military intelligence personnel exerted substantial influence over a cellblock where most of the notorious abuses at Abu Ghraib apparently took place. In interviews, some soldiers who served in military intelligence units at the prison said the sense of urgency contributed to the loosened standards and the abuses that followed.

'When you let people take power in their own hands, it's going to happen,' said a soldier who served as a military intelligence analyst at the prison. 'There was no higher authority really.'

The accounts are among the first from military intelligence personnel at the prison, and they include acknowledgments by some of those soldiers that the military intelligence units, as well as the military police, may have played a role in the abuses. They were given in interviews with The New York Times, or in statements to Army investigators that were obtained by The Times, by people who served under the overall command of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, a unit based in Germany under Col. Thomas M. Pappas, the highest-ranking active-duty officer known to be under scrutiny in Army investigations into the abuses.

So far only members of the MP company assigned to Abu Ghraib have been charged, but it appears the "Few Bad Apples" theory continues to lose credibility -- not that it had much to begin with.

Poor George. You've got to feel sorry for the man. Given his background, I doubt he would realize that his actions would have consequences that even his Daddy couldn't fix.

After all, Daddy -- or Daddy's friends -- bailed him out of ever mistake or failure he ever made.
:: Morat 10:50 AM :: ::

Howard Dean

I'd just like to note: Back before the primaries, I heard many people -- bloggers too -- making dark predictions about what Dean would do if he lost. Third party runs, deliberately spiking the winner's campaign...all sorts of nasty tricks.

Perhaps I've missed it, but I haven't seen many of these people apologize for misjudging Dean so badly. The man raised 500,000 for Kerry in a single day, has been very supportive of Kerry's run, and has spent his time since the primaries refocusing his grassroots network on lower-level Democratic campaigns -- the sort that don't get much money or many volunteers from the DNC or the DLC.

In short, he didn't take his ball and go him, he didn't send a giant "Screw you" to the DLC or the party, and appears to be -- and this is a shocker -- pretty damn gracious in defeat, and very focused on building the party.

I'm still a proud Dean supporter, and always will be. And I'm grateful that my faith in his character wasn't misplaced.
:: Morat 10:40 AM :: ::

New photos show Abu Ghraib tactics

What's the first thing you're supposed to do when you find yourself stuck in a hole? Oh yes. Stop digging.

Members of Congress from both parties complained Wednesday that while an expanded report by Taguba was delivered as promised, as many as 2,000 pages considered vital to the investigation were missing.

Congressional sources told NBC News that the missing documents included a written report from Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller that apparently lays out aggressive interrogation tactics for Abu Ghraib. Miller was recently reassigned to Iraq after spending 17 months as commander of operations at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Also missing was key testimony from Col. Thomas Pappas, the commander of military intelligence at Abu Ghraib, the sources said.
Lawrence Di Rita, a spokesman for the Defense Department, characterized the missing documents Wednesday as insignificant, saying the information was "available otherwise".

It appears the White House has decided to try out a new saying: "If you find yourself stuck in a hole, rent a backhoe."

The report was six thousand pages long, true. But to think Congress wouldn't notice -- or wouldn't mind -- you "accidentally" forgetting to send along a third of the report is pretty stupid. Not even GOP Control of the House and Senate makes that a safe move.

Luckily, we know part of what they're trying to hide. Pappas has stated that the idea for using dogs came from General Miller (head at Gitmo) and that it was approved by Sanchez (the top US military figure in Iraq). Kinda damning to that "few bad apples" theory, eh?

Still, Pappas didn't fill 2000 pages with testimony. So what else are they hiding?
:: Morat 11:52 AM :: ::

Another Fallujah Solution

It appears we've struck a bargain with al-Sadr, and we're solving the Najaf revolt the same way we solved the Fallujah one. By surrendering.

The U.S.-led coalition agreed Thursday to suspend offensive operations in Najaf after Iraqi leaders struck a deal with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end a bloody standoff threatening some of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines.

Coalition forces will pull out of most of Najaf once Iraqi security forces reenter the city and assume control of strategic buildings from al-Sadr's militia, coalition spokesman Dan Senor told reporters in Baghdad.
[...]
Once Iraqi security forces move in, U.S. troops will "reposition" outside the city, though units will remain in coalition offices, at government buildings and Iraqi police stations, Senor said.

Iraqi leaders had urged the Americans to accept the agreement, although it does not require al-Sadr immediately to disband his militia and surrender to authorities to face charges in the April 2003 assassination of a moderate cleric — key U.S. demands to end the standoff

This seems to be the same deal we struck in Fallujah. We pull out, bring in "Iraqi forces" that will end up consisting heavily of the very insurgents we were shooting at yesterday. I'm willing to bet that they've even agree to follow our orders, if we agree not to give them any.

It's surrender by another name, and I bet it's going to piss Bush off. Still, as I said about Fallujah, it's probably the best solution. Continued fighting would cause even more problems and lead to even more unrest.

On the other hand, we've proven -- twice! -- that we don't have the troops or support to carry out the fight against determined resistance. Fight hard enough, and we'll leave and turn over the city to you.

I also note that -- buried deep in the article -- we lost another three marines yesterday. I guess that's no longer "real news".
:: Morat 11:39 AM :: ::