Wash. Post puts focus on Rove

Finally:

Now, a fast-moving series of decisions over the past week involving Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper have brought a renewed public focus on what role White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove may have played in disclosing the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

A White House spokesman long ago asserted that Rove was "not involved" in disclosing Plame's identity. Rove, who has testified before a grand jury investigating the case, likewise has maintained that he did not break the law, saying in a television interview, "I didn't know her name, and I didn't leak her name."

But Fitzgerald still appears to want more answers about Rove's role. The prosecutor is apparently focused on Rove's conversations with Cooper.

Dan Balz even appears to have picked up on the semantics game the White House has been playing on this scandal for years now:

The admission that Rove had spoken to Cooper appeared at odds with previous White House statements. In retrospect, however, these statements -- which some interpreted as emphatic denials -- were in fact carefully worded.

Okay, now this is getting good. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

What a day. Read the rest of this post...

I've just gotten back from downtown London...

I'm not going to do too long an update now, as it's 2AM here and I have to get up at 6:30am for my flight back to the states.

I just saw a beautiful report on ABC News tonight about London, they rebroadcast it here. The final report, about how the city reacted to today's attacks was spot on. It really is giving me chills, because of how much ABC got it right. People were shocked by the attacks, but they really are determined not to let it get them down - I'd say much more so than we were on September 11. Meaning, we were more freaked than they are now. Much of that is due to their experience with the IRA bombings - this isn't exactly new.

Still, they were shocked, and saddened. And many businesses closed tonight, though I think of a lot of it was more out of respect than fear. Many however were open, and the restaurants, including outdoor restaurants, were packed. The trains were packed. The buses were packed. People walked through the Kensington Gardens (where we walked by Michael Stipe taking a walk with some friends).

I can imagine it would take me a long time to get back on any public transportion in DC after an attack. Here, they all did right away, and I joined them, and it didn't phase me. I'm not sure why. All I can say is that their calm in the face of all of this calmed me as well - I can't imagine I just rode the train in London and didn't really give a second look to who was on the car with me, or about the threat of any further attacks.

I've got lots more details to give, but really need to get to bed. I will say that more than one person has expressed a certain amount of sympathy, well, perhaps empathy or understanding is the better word, for why this happened. Again, none of those are the "right" word, they're not saying "we deserved it," but more than a few are saying, between the lines, that Blair's, and Bush's, actions led to the attack, even caused the attack. Perhaps the most surprising was a cop in front of Buckingham Palace who, when asked by my friend why he thought today happened, the cop responded: "Because some people just want to be free." Pretty interesting words from a cop guarding Buckingham Palace on the day the flag is at half mast for the second time in history (Lady Di's death being the first time).

But in the end, London still stands, strong, and lovely, calm, and resolved, and with dignity. It really is an amazing city.

Read the rest of this post...

Jeb loses on Schiavo...again

But it was never about winning on the law for Jeb, it was always and only about winning on the politics of the right wing whackos. From AP:

Florida's state attorney said there was no evidence Terri Schiavo's collapse 15 years ago involved criminal activity, and Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday declared an end to the state's inquiry.

Bush had asked State Attorney Bernie McCabe to investigate Schiavo's case after her autopsy last month. He said he now considers the state's involvement with the matter finished.

"Based on your conclusions, I will follow your recommendation that the inquiry by the state be closed," Bush said in a two-sentence letter.

Jeb milked this case for all he could...what a pig. Read the rest of this post...

AP's talking about Rove in the Plame case

Rove's name keeps popping up:

A prosecutor's hunt for Bush administration leakers of classified information has produced no indictments after almost two years, and legal experts say it's very possible the only person jailed will be a reporter who never wrote a story.

In pursuit of the officials who revealed a CIA officer's identity to reporters, special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald has gone to the highest reaches of the White House, interviewing President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and their closest aides, including deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove.

Rove's name resurfaced in the past week, with his lawyer saying that Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper spoke to him in the days before the name of CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame was first revealed by columnist Robert Novak. The Bush White House has denied since the issue first came up in 2003 that Rove was involved.

Read the rest of this post...

Rehnquist Retirement tomorrow????

YIKES....Capitol Buzz reports that may be the case. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

So much to discuss... Read the rest of this post...

Bush's Failure To Make America's Borders Safer

Sure, they've raised the color alert from yellow to orange. But I am still angry about Bush's weakness as a commander in chief and his failure to make our borders more secure. And to those who suggest I'm trying to score political points: wrong. I'm trying to make America safer.

A thousand different issues are contained in making our country safer and it wouldn't be surprising if something fell through the cracks. But our ports have been front and center as a vital and vulnerable area of our borders. Our coastlines and shipping have been front and center too.

And the Coast Guard issue didn't fall through the cracks. Bush focused in on it. He looked at an aging fleet among the oldest in the world, one around when we were still in Vietnam. He saw plans developed three years BEFORE 9-11 to upgrade the Coast Guard in 20 years at about $20 billion. With the war on terror at full blast, with the 9-11 Commission highlighting the vulnerability of the ports (one of the Coast Guard's duties), with Republican Senator Olympia Snowe calling for the plan to be accomplished in 10-15 years, what did Bush do? He decided to DELAY the upgrading of our Coast Guard until 2030 to save a few bucks. That means a child born today will graduate from COLLEGE before Bush has gotten around to fully upgrading our Coast Guard.

A real Commander in Chief would look at the Coast Guard in the light of 9-11 and say $20 billion to upgrade it in 20 years? How fast can we upgrade it? How much to do everything in two years? $30 billion? $40 billion? Do it.

Would any American question that expenditure or think it a poor decision? Of course not. Bush's failure to make our country safer is a sign of weakness and incompetence.

It's been 4 years since 9-11 and we STILL don't have a combined list of terrorists that can be checked against people coming into our country by plane, car or boat. It was crazy we didn't have this before 9-11. It's criminal that we don't have it now.

It's been 4 years and Bush has failed to strengthen security around our highly vulnerable chemical and nuclear energy plants. Why? Because big business doesn't want to pay for increased security and Bush is putting their concerns ahead of the safety of America.

It's been 4 years and Bush is delaying the strengthening of our coastlines and ports to two and a half DECADES. Any reasonable person would speed up the strengthening of our coastlines and ports. Why isn't Bush?

It's been 4 years and Bush has failed to hunt down and kill Osama Bin Laden.

It's been 4 years and Bush can't even ferret out a felon in the White House.

What else has Bush failed to do in this country to make our nation safer?

The American people aren't worried they'll lose the war on terror. They're worried that Bush is too weak to win it. Read the rest of this post...

Froomkin's column on Rove situation

If you want a break from the carnage in London, read today's edition of Dan Froomkin's online column. It's a great compilation of the latest press on Rove. Key excerpts:

Time reporter Matt Cooper is not in jail, after a last-minute intervention from his source, who released him from confidentiality.

Signs increasingly point toward Karl Rove, Bush's chief political strategist, as Cooper's source. What's not clear is why Miller's source -- be it Rove or someone else -- has not given her the same explicit release from confidentiality.

Adam Liptak writes in the New York Times: "Mr. Cooper's decision to drop his refusal to testify followed discussions on Wednesday morning among lawyers representing Mr. Cooper and Karl Rove, the senior White House political adviser, according to a person who has been officially briefed on the case. Mr. [Special prosecutor Patrick J.] Fitzgerald was also involved in the discussions, the person said.

"In his statement in court, Mr. Cooper did not name Mr. Rove as the source about whom he would now testify, but the person who was briefed on the case said that he was referring to Mr. Rove and that Mr. Cooper's decision came after behind-the-scenes maneuvering by his lawyers and others in the case.

Newsweek warns of lawyers using word games, which is of course, what lawyers do:

But Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball suggest on Newsweek.com that maybe it was Rove after all -- just not by phone.

"Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, told Newsweek today that Rove 'did not call Cooper' prior to today's court hearing, nor had the two of them 'spoken' about the subject of waiving confidentiality.

"But Luskin would make no other comments, including whether there had been any other form of communications between Cooper and Rove."

and then there is this:

And here's NBC's Norah O'Donnell on MSNBC yesterday: "Let's step back for a moment because this story is huge, and I say it has huge political ramifications because of the subject and what originally launched this whole case. This is about the justification that the president used to go to war in Iraq. . . .

"I think what's most stunning about the case is the involvement of Karl Rove, the president's deputy chief of staff, a senior political advisor . . . his strongest defender in the White House. . . .

"'This case has been on the verge of blowing up for months now and we are closer than ever to finding out just what Fitzgerald wants to do. Many people may be looking at . . . [the] legal issues about jailing reporters -- [but] this is about a potential scandal in the second term of the Bush administration, and just what the prosecutor, Fitzgerald, is up to, no one knows. But it could be huge."

Huge indeed. Read the rest of this post...

Kidnapped Egyptian Ambassador Murdered

On another day, it might be bigger news that terrorists only waited to kill the Egyptian ambassador because they wanted more notches on their PR belts. Today, it's an afterthought. From BBC:

Egypt has confirmed its ambassador to Iraq has been killed, five days after he was kidnapped in Baghdad.

An internet message purportedly from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's militant group was released on Thursday, claiming Ihab al-Sherif had been killed.

A video on the website showed a blindfolded man who identified himself as Mr Sherif saying he had worked at Egyptian embassies in Iraq and Israel.
...
Mr Sherif was abducted in Baghdad on Saturday. ID cards bearing his name appeared on a website on Wednesday.

A statement also released on Wednesday in the name of al-Qaeda in Iraq said Mr Sherif would be killed because he was an "apostate", who had betrayed his faith.
...
"The reason we delayed the announcement of capturing the ambassador of the dictator Egypt was to be able to capture as many ambassadors as we can," it said.

For a murderous bunch, they certainly have their PR strategy in order. It has also been speculated that the bombings in London today were timed to coincide with the G8 conference because all of the primary security forces would be away in Scotland protecting the conference. Perhaps we are continuing to misunderestimate our opponent in this fight? Read the rest of this post...

Where's the National Guard? Overseas.

God forbid there should be an attack on one of our cities say via chemical weapons. But it's something we need to be prepared for. A key part of those plans: the National Guard and Army Reserve. And where is the National Guard and Army Reserve? Iraq. Don't you feel safer?

What is the availability of troops from the National Guard and Army Reserve here in the US? How does that troop strength here at home compare to their levels in 2000? How thinly spread out are they? If there was a security need in Los Angeles, what troops are close enough to respond within 24 hours or whatever the essential time frame may be? What about Chicago? What about Seattle? What does that diminished ability mean for our national security? What could we do safely 5 years ago that we can't do today because those troops aren't available -- they're overseas? What is the retention rate for the National Guard and Army Reserve today compared to five years ago?

Reagan once asked, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" Here's my question, "Do you feel safer now than you did four years ago?" Read the rest of this post...

Update from John -- Open Thread

Just talked to John who is now in London. He said the subway has re-opened...he'll have internet access soon and will give a more thorough update about what today has been like over there.... Read the rest of this post...

Terror Alert From Yellow To Orange. Whew! I Feel Safer.

Just watched the press conference with Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff who spoke smoothly and reassuringly. He took questions for about three minutes, which seems rather abrupt given the situation and that he can't be too pressed for time, since the attack took place in another country.

The most foolish moment: Chertoff said the terror alert for transportation only was raised from yellow to orange. Then he claimed that since we've been on heightened alert yellow for years, that this had provided us an added level of comfort and security. No, being on heightened alert yellow for years is a joke that makes us look foolish. You can't be on heightened alert for years at a time; if that's the level of security we will need forever than that isn't a heightened alert level, it's the standard level of security and keeping the threat level raised for years is ridiculous. It's like saying putting on your seat belt while driving is heightened security when driving. No, that's standard operating procedure.

The debasement of security alerts: no one has addressed the fact that the color coded levels of threat have become a joke or that Tom Ridge admitted the White House often raised the security threat for political purposes over his objections. When the codes have been abused for years, don't they lose their effectiveness.

The missing question: we're worried about our transportation and security. Homeland Security oversees the Coast Guard. And not one question about the front page story in USA Today about the crumbling equipment they use and Bush's plan to delay upgrading that equipment fully from 2025 to 2030. How can Chertoff justify taking 25 years to upgrade the Coast Guard when we are at war? How can that possibly make us safer? Read the rest of this post...

During War On Terror, Bush Leaves Our Coastlines Unguarded

Think Bush will get a bounce from another terrorist attack? Keep in mind this very terrific, page one story in USA Today about our crumbling Coast Guard. Yes, it's been underfunded for decades (most of their ships are almost 40 years old!), but Bush has been our President since 9-11. He's had three years to attack this problem.

The Coast Guard's ships, planes and helicopters are breaking down at record rates, which may threaten the service's ability to carry out its post-9/11 mission of protecting ports and waterways against terrorism.

Stunning details include radar systems that break down daily, to the point where some ships have no idea who is even a mile away when patrolling our coasts. (They buy store-bought radars with their own money just so they won't be completely blind.)

And what is Bush's reaction to this?

The Bush administration wants to increase the amount of time it will take to replace a fleet that's among the oldest on the globe — older even than fleets owned by nations such as Algeria and Pakistan. The "deepwater" replacement program, conceived in 1998 as a $20 billion, 20-year plan to replace the fleet, could be increased to 25 years under a White House plan.

The strategy would save the government money in the short term. The White House budget office declined to comment.

That's right, we had a 20 year program to upgrade the Coast Guard formulated three years before 9-11. Then the US is attacked and Bush's instinct is to DELAY upgrading the Coast Guard's vital equipment needs from 20 years to 25 years! Republican Senator Olympia Snowe wants to speed this up to 10-15 years. But they're both out of their minds. $20 billion to provide essential needs of the Coast Guard and BEGIN to secure our coastlines and ports? We spend $5 billion a month in Iraq. And Bush wants to DELAY this? And why 10-15 years? It should be done in 2 years. This is a WAR and Bush is callously leaving our coastlines unguarded.

What are some of the duties of the Coast Guard?

The Coast Guard was moved into the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 and given primary responsibility for maritime security in addition to its regular duties. The added responsibilities include patrolling the nation's 361 ports and 95,000 miles of coastline, boarding and inspecting tens of thousands of cargo ships and recreational boats, and reviewing security at the nation's commercial ports.

As the 9-11 Commission reported:

"While commercial aviation remains a possible target, terrorists may turn their attention to other modes. Opportunities to do harm are as great, or greater, in maritime or surface transportation."

We've heard time and time again that our ports are highly vulnerable and we aren't doing nearly enough to protect them. And what is Bush doing TODAY? Cutting back; pinching pennies. As always, he wants to rattle his sabres but have a "pain-free" war on terror. Only the children of the poor are expected to fight. No dramatic push for a Manhattan Project of energy that would find new sources of power that would wean us off our dependency on Middle East oil. No responsible call for money to strengthen our security -- no, Bush calls for tax cuts for the super-wealthy, not taxes to make our country secure.

Do you feel safer with Bush as President? Is he making the right decisions in how to protect this country in the war on terror? When he takes questions from reporters in the next few days, ask Bush why during a war on terror he is leaving our coastlines unguarded? Why does he want to delay the upgrade of the Coast Guard fleet from 2025 to 2030 to try and save a few pennies? Does he really think 2030 is a reasonable target year to bring our coastline security up to speed? Our ports are vulnerable and Bush is asleep. Read the rest of this post...

One Bright Spot: Decency In The Face Of Terror

It's amazing to me how decent and humane we can remain in the face of terror. I'm watching CNN and a panel of police taking questions. DAC Brian Paddick is one of them -- he's the most senior out gay officer in the UK police force and a hero to many in the GLBT community. Someone asked a question about "Islamic terrorists" and Paddick actually took a moment to denounce the very idea. He said that anyone who is a terrorist can hardly claim to be a Muslim, since attacking innocent people is counter to the very beliefs of Islam. (I'd say the same about "Christian terrorists" like Eric Rudolph et al.) This right after dozens are killed and hundreds are injured. He's not just being politic -- words like that can keep angry people from taking revenge on the innocent UK citizens who are Islamic.

It reminds me of how the US ran public serve ads after 9-11 with celebrities and politicians distinguishing between proud American citizens who are muslims and the terrorists. It's a remarkable sign of our strength and decency -- something you'd NEVER see from the corrupt govts of the Middle East or certainly from Al Quaeda. (Can you imagine Al Quaeda broadcasting a message after a US bombing that Islamic people should distinguish between the US govt and its people? Of course not. They paint all Westerners as decadent and worthy of death.) It's one sign of why we will ultimately prevail in the face of such evil.

P.S. Having been riding on those tube lines just weeks ago, having a sister in London who rides the buses (she's fine), this feels very personal to me. The British are sadly used to terrorism, thanks to the IRA. They won't be cowed by this. Read the rest of this post...

More from O'Donnell on Rove

I just like the title, The One Very Good Reason Karl Rove Might Be Indicted. O'Donnell provides a very good analysis of the law and how the case has proceeded in a way that really could implicate Karl. Read the rest of this post...

At least 40 Dead, 300 injured

MSNBC:

At least 40 people were killed in the explosions that ripped through three London subway trains and a bus on Thursday, according to a U.S. law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because British officials have yet to make public the death toll.

The near simultaneous explosions caused at least 300 injuries in what Prime Minister Tony Blair said was a "barbaric" terrorist attack.

Read the rest of this post...

Bush Speaks....John Checked in

Bush just did remarks on the London bombing..."the war on terror goes on" he told us. But, he's talked to the folks back here and told them to be vigilant as our folks go to work.

Also had a message from John who was, I believe at the airport in Edinburgh. He said everyone was glued to the tv. He is heading to London for a flight back.

NBC reports that there were 4 bombings...3 in the subway, one on a double decker bus.

Two good sources of info:

The Guardian Blog

Londonist Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

NBC just reported that according to Italian news an unknown group is taking responsibility for the London bombings in the name of Al Qaeda. Read the rest of this post...

London hit with mutliple explosions

It's still breaking news at the moment and information is limited but one London bus was ripped apart and there are talks of multiple other explosions in the Underground and possibly buses. I thought that one BBC report suggested the blasts (at least 6) started at around 8:50AM but more details will become available as the day progresses. The blasts were all at about the same time so that does sound like a familiar policy that is used by Al Qaeda but nothing is yet confirmed.

London hospitals are treating the injured and there are numerous casualties coming in. So far two people are reported dead. Central London is shut down. Read the rest of this post...