AP: Bolton lied to Congress, he WAS interviewed in an investigation

See Bolton sink. Sink, Bolton, sink.

John Bolton, President Bush's nominee for U.N. ambassador, mistakenly told Congress he had not been interviewed or testified in any investigation over the past five years, the State Department said Thursday.

Bolton was interviewed by the State Department inspector general in 2003 as part of a joint investigation with the Central Intelligence Agency into prewar Iraqi attempts to buy nuclear materials from Niger, State Department spokesman Noel Clay said.

The admission came hours after another State Department official said Bolton had correctly answered a Senate questionnaire when he wrote that he has not testified to a grand jury or been interviewed by investigators in any inquiry over the past five years.

The reversal followed persistent Democratic attempts to question Bolton's veracity just days before Bush may use his authority to make him United Nations ambassador after Congress adjourns for its summer recess. For months, Democrats have prevented the Senate from confirming the fiery conservative to the post.

"It seems unusual that Mr. Bolton would not remember his involvement in such a serious matter," said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "In my mind, this raises more questions that need to be answered. I hope President Bush will not make the mistake of recess appointing Mr. Bolton."

Hat tip to Democratic Daily Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Any news? Read the rest of this post...

Bush's Idea Of Good Iraqis

A sad story in the LA Times links a National Guard company from that state to some potentially criminal activity.

Members of three of four active companies in the battalion are being investigated for their alleged role in mistreating Iraqi prisoners and engaging in inappropriate financial agreements with local shopkeepers, according to military officials.

The most egregious case of detainee abuse reported so far occurred after a June insurgent attack, when soldiers allegedly tortured Iraqi detainees with an electric stun gun. At least one instance of abuse was recorded on video, military sources said.

As many as 17 soldiers are under investigation for mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners and at least six others have been charged with dereliction of duty. Lt. Col. Patrick Frey, the battalion commander, has been suspended pending the investigation.

Imagine that: suspending someone from duty while they're under the cloud of a serious investigation.

Now, every soldier is responsible for their own actions and should be held accountable. But I also blame Bush for repeatedly making clear that insurgents and terrorists don't deserve the same basic dignity as "real" people. Bush is the one who has rewarded virtually every top official connected with the prisoner abuse scandals. How can he pretend that he also disapproves of torture?

But what really struck me about this story was the infamous Wolf Brigade, an Iraqi unit that worked with that California Guard unit.

The [Wolf] brigade is both loved and feared in Iraq for its attacks on alleged insurgent hide-outs and the dramatic televised confessions those offensives produced.

But Sunni human rights advocates charged that the brigade elicited the confessions by beating their captives. A woman interviewed by The Times this year said brigade officers whipped her sister with telephone wires to force her to confess to terrorist acts and to accuse her male associates of raping her and of having homosexual relations.

The detainee, Khalida Mashhandani, was later released after it was determined that her confessions had been coerced.

Despite its controversial reputation, the Wolf Brigade is regarded by U.S. military officials as the gold standard for Iraqi security forces.

Read the rest of this post...

Creepy update about the space shuttle

ABC News is now reporting that in fact there were additional pieces of foam that broke off and DID hit the shuttle during take off. Yikes. Read the rest of this post...

American vets from Iraq war not qualified to serve in public office, GOP US House candidate says in Ohio

This is bad, seriously. Paul Hackett is running as the first Iraq war vet to run for Congress, and now his GOP opponent, Jean Schmidt, just said that being an American vet from the Iraq war is the wrong kind of experience for a member of Congress. I kid you not.

The Swift Boaters started it last year with Kerry, and Bush did the same thing to McCain in 2000. Slur a guy because he's a vet. And now we have a GOP candidate for Congress saying that service in the Iraq war apparently disqualifies you for being a member of Congress.

Any US service members watching? This is what I'm talking about. You think the Republicans are automatically your friends? Ask yourself why the only ones upset about all of you guys getting killed, maimed, sent to war based on a lie, not being given any plan to win the war, not even being given body armor three years after hostilities commenced - why the only people upset about all of that are Democrats? Then listen to this woman.

Any questions? Read the rest of this post...

Wait a minute, that's a non-denial from McClellan about Bush's finger

Look, I appreciate the White House press office contacting me to say Bush didn't flip the press off yesterday, but then Scott McClellan, their boss, refuses to deny the story in today's press briefing.

Here's what Scott had to say:

Q Scott, last night on the Tonight Show, Jay Leno, who apparently is subbing for Johnnie, displayed a video of the President at the Capitol yesterday. In that video, the President walking away from the press lifts his hand and raises a finger. Mr. Leno interpreted it as, shall we say, a finger of hostility. Each of our fingers has a special purpose and meaning in life. (Laughter.) Can you tell us what finger it was he held up?

MR. McCLELLAN: Ken, I'm not even going to dignify that with much of a response. But if someone is misportraying something, that's unfortunate.

Q Well, it was not a finger of hostility?

MR. McCLELLAN: Ken, I was there with him, and I'm just not going to -- I'm not going to dignify that with a response. I mean, I haven't seen the video that you're talking about, but I know the way the President acts. And if someone is misportraying it, that's unfortunate.

Well, with all due respect Scott, you just lied again. You know how the president acts? Implying, what, that the president would never flip someone off? Of course, he DID flip someone off and we have it on tape (see post below). He also called a NYT reporter a "major league asshole." So, I'm sorry, but you're outright lying when you say that the president never "acts" this way. And in fact, you didn't even really say that today. You simply refused to deny the story. That's downright weird, and in the context of RoveGate, where you first gave denials that were lies, and now you're giving cagey answers, we have to wonder why you're giving cagey answers again if nothing happened.

Again, you know the way the president acts. Well, we do too. And he flips the bird and calls people assholes. So, using your logic of "knowing how the president acts" then I guess it's true.

I don't want to belabor the point, because there is a chance we're misinterpreting the photo. But come on guys, can you ever come clean about any story ever? Jesus, not everything is a national security matter. Just once, come clean and stop playing word games like some liar. Read the rest of this post...

Cheetahs!

OK, vacation is clearly on my mind as I'm rounding up everything for my departure. A great article in the NY Times today about the African cheetahs. I had the good fortune to visit Okonjima, Namibia a few years ago and was impressed with the operation. The AfriCat foundation has a massive sanctuary in Namibia where they rescue and save the dwindling cheetah population and re-introduce the cheetahs (whenever possible) to parks. Farmers of course never like cheetahs (or other predators) because they tend to find easy prey with farm animals so instead of killing the animals, as was done in the past, the AfriCat foundation rescues the cats and moves them.

I am especially fond of cheetahs and absolutely loved seeing them at Okonjima. There are plenty of beautiful people, places and things to see across Africa but if you like nature, Namibia is fantastic and your chances of seeing cheetahs here are better than anywhere in the world, thanks to organizations such as AfriCat. The photo links in the article are great and yes, tracking a cheetah on foot is tons of fun. Read the rest of this post...

The White House just called (seriously)

David Almacy just called me from the White House communications office to clarify the reports that Bush flipped off reporters yesterday while visiting the Hill. David says that Bush was definitely giving the thumbs up sign with regards to the upcoming CAFTA vote (Central American Free Trade Agreement). I asked David if I could write about our conversation, and he said please do.

I have to say, I'm not real convinced by the thumbs up excuse. It's possible, of course, but the video doesn't look like his thumb, and Bush has a history of flipping off reporters (there's a video we posted last fall of him flipping off a reporter in Texas while governor). This is a still shot of that video from when Bush was governor.



There are also unconfirmed reports of Bush flipping off protesters last year. Bush called a NYT reporter a "major league asshole," and let's not even talk about VP Cheney's mouth.

And while, yes, it would be really stupid of him to flip off reporters while on the Hill, well, it would be pretty stupid to lie to the nation about going to war, and to keep Karl Rove and Scooter Libby on staff after it's already been proven that they outed a CIA agent. I'm not going to put it past Bush to do something really stupid.

Having said that, the White House gets two points for reaching out to bloggers, especially bloggers on the other side of the aisle. That's the job of a smart public relations person, to reach out even when you don't agree, so they get points for that. Now how about reaching out on the issues, then we'll start really talking.

You can check out our earlier report on last night's episode and decide for yourselves. Read the rest of this post...

That supposed gay execution story in Iran

You all may have heard that last week a story was going around about a supposed execution in Iran of two teens killed because they were gay.

The source for the story was sketchy - it was an Irani student news site that often has good stories, I'm told, and sometimes doesn't. The story, also, was written in Farsi so someone, I don't know who, translated it and started passing it around. I didn't report on the story at the time because 1) I have no idea who translated the Farsi and would like to know before I believe them, but more importantly 2) I don't like quoting student news sites I've never heard of (and sites that after I check them out I'm told they're sometimes right and sometimes wrong).

Well, it now appears the story may have been wrong. The Iranis are claiming the kids were executed for putting a knife to the throat of a 13 year old child and raping the child. Now, I don't know if that's true or not, but if it is true, then this isn't a gay story. It might be a death penalty story, and that's fine if that's your cause, but that doesn't make it a story about gays being executed for being gay.

Anyway, that's why I didn't report on this story - I had a hunch that I didn't trust the source, that Irani news site, and it now looks like I may have been right. I also may have been wrong - maybe in the end we'll find out that the Iranians trumped up the charges to get two gay kids, who knows - but I'd rather have those facts in hand before I report them as true. Credibility counts. Read the rest of this post...

I'm going to say it again

At least give the recipient of your email the respect to read their blog before sending them a suggested story, a photo, or whatever that they've actually already reported on just a few hours ago.

As one person you may not think it's a big deal that you send stuff to blogs and its stuff they've already written about, but you'd be surprised how many people email us EVERY DAY with stories and photos etc that are already on our blog. It gives one the sense that folks are simply spamming us with everything they've got, rather than tailoring your emails to the blog/site in question. You might not think this a big deal, but try wading through several hundred emails a day when an increasing number of them are suggesting things you already wrote about. It's kind of insulting, because it means you really aren't reading the site anyway. But more importantly, you're watering down the value of every email sent to any blogger if you simply send stuff they can't use. That waters down your message and the mesage of every other good email we get.

Again, don't mean to be bitchy, but this email etiquette thing is becoming a problem. For some large organizations, like Hill offices, that have email lists that we've agreed to be on, obviously it's too much trouble to tailor emails, and that's okay. But in general, if you're not operating an email list-serv that someone has already opted in to, and you're just suggesting an article, or whatever, look at the site and see if they're already written about it. Please :-)

That's our bitchy two minutes hate for the day. We now take you back to regular programming. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Got my phone unlocked for $25 at a store downtown. Seems like a good enough deal (there was nowhere else to go). So in principle this means I can go to Europe, buy a SIM card with a number attached to it, plug it in my phone, and voila, I have a local phone in Europe. We'll see if it works, but it should. (And for those of you considering the same, make sure you have a GSM phone that actually WORKS in Europe, ottherwise unlocking it won't help). Read the rest of this post...

Good Morning America on Conversion Therapy

Zach, the blog kid who was forced into the fake "straight camp" program Love in Action and told he should be ashamed of himself by his parents is getting out tomorrow. That's what prompted at least two major stories on these scams. CNN last night ran a poor story that didn't even peg itself to the massive web story of Zach and his imminent departure.

This morning, GMA did virtually the same story, but a bit better. (Hey, I'm a late riser and just got around to watching it.) It talked about Zach and quoted from his blog, used clips from The 700 Club of the boy's awful parents (try loving the children you have rather than telling your kids they're awful, folks) and emphasized the dangers to children being forced into this scam. Diane Sawyer also noted wryly that the head of the program struggles with gay desires himself and questioned his ridiculous claims of a 65% success rate.

Strikingly, GMA used the same expert from the APA but got a better quote about the dangers of this debunked and misleading practice. They also interviewed the same young man CNN did who went through the program and rejects it but embraces faith and his new boyfriend side by side with a young man who "graduated" and now works for LIA. (Pity their initials aren't LIE.)

Still, GMA failed to provide context about conversion therapy, how it was founded by two men who ultimately declared their love for each other, admitted it was all a fraud and are now married and campaign against it. GMA failed to note how the rare "success stories" trumpeted by the far right have proven to be failures time and time again. GMA failed to speak to the many experts who have studied these groups or make clear how health professionals can have nothing to do with them or potentially lose their license for endangering the health of a client.

GMA failed to emphasize how these groups have already admitted defeat -- they used to claim they could turn people straight; now apparently everyone admits they're still gay and struggle with desire but just try not to act on it. That's a far cry from what they used to believe -- it admits the fundamental point that being gay is not a choice, something they used to deny heatedly. GMA also failed to tie the hatred these parents have for their own children to the trial of a man in Florida who killed his three year old son because he feared the boy was gay and literally tried to beat it out of him.

Imagine doing a story on teen steroid use and spending equal time with the people who extoll its virtues rather than devoting most air time to the vast majority of the medical and scientific community that condemn it. GMA did a little better job than CNN, but it could have accomplished much more.

NOTE: here are some links to learn more. Disinformation, a Salon story and an HRC report. You can also check out Wayne Besen's expose "Anything But Straight." Read the rest of this post...

Redefining Success In Iraq

I posted yesterday about the Army's recruitment shortfall and how a top US general said we could begin a pullout in spring of 2006. And what conditions did that general call for before we begin pulling up stakes and heading home? How did that general (re)define success in Iraq?

Speaking earlier with U.S. reporters traveling with Rumsfeld, Gen. George Casey, the top American commander in Iraq, said he believed a U.S. troop withdrawal could begin by spring 2006 if progress continues on the political front and if the insurgency does not expand.

So the insurgency is stronger than ever, killing more people this year than it did last year, killing foreign diplomats with impunity, and generally things have gone to hell in a handbasket in the two years since Bush trumpeted "Mission Accomplished." And now we're saying, well, as long as IT DOESN'T GET ANY WORSE, our job is done? Talk about moving the goalposts. Read the rest of this post...

Bush's Pals In Pakistan Training/Arming The Taliban To Kill Our Troops

Bush's idea of a war on terror is to cozy up to the people most responsible. Bush is chummy with the Saudis (who fund the spread of extreme Islam all over the world) and pals with Pakistan (the country that has sold more WMD know-how and equipment to terrorists and rogue states than anyone else in the world).

Now it turns out Pakistan is very likely back to training and arming the Taliban and helping them attack US troops. The LA Times details reports of reopened training camps, new sophisticated mines way beyond the capability of the Taliban on its own and jubilant militants thrilled about the new support.

Lt. Gen. Moin Faqir, who oversees the Afghan army's operations as central corps commander, said his forces first started seeing bombs with computer components six months ago in Kunar province.

"It is not easy to use these mines unless you are well trained for it," he said....

Faqir said he could not say with certainty who was providing the equipment and training to build the new bombs.

"I think we all know where these mines are from," he added with a pained smile.

The Afghan general chose his words carefully. A uniformed U.S. military advisor was sitting on a couch next to him, taking notes on everything he said.

Bush of course says this is nonsense because he ain't reality based. But the troops on the ground know the truth and they are paying the price. Read the rest of this post...

Food aid starting to arrive in Niger

Yes, it's too late for many since they have already died of starvation but food shipments are starting to arrive in Niger. In the Western/developed world distribution across 400 miles of road is an easy drive but in a large, poor country such as Niger, such a journey can take days.

Let's hope that more is on the way and that the international community is also preparing shipments for the other neighboring countries who are also suffering from drought. Read the rest of this post...

Our National Security Damaged By Bush's Hatred Of Gays

I don't care how much you hate gays; our nation's security is more important than pandering to the far right. Bush kicked out trained and patriotic Americans who have the valuable skill of speaking Middle Eastern dialects. Why? Because they're gay. And when those soldiers tried to get placed in other branches of the government where their skills are desperately needed -- such as the FBI -- Bush sent them packing.

Bush doesn't care if this endangers national security. For all we know, the Paris address of Osama Bin Laden or info on the next 9-11 or the next 7-7 could be buried in our files untranslated and we wouldn't know. Mind you, these translators go in to work, sit at a cubicle and go home at night, so we're not even talking about combat troops sharing living quarters. Anyone who cared about this country would order the military to let these people serve their country and place our nation's defense ahead of blind hate. And now onto the absurd situation at the FBI that inpsired this rant.

We've known for years that our intelligence units are piling up emails, transcripts from phone conversation taps, letters and literally millions of pieces of info all in Middle Eastern languages few speak and even fewer are learning. And the backlog is growing. Bush's lackeys were grilled by a Senate committee today.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's backlog of untranslated terrorism intelligence doubled last year, and the time it takes the bureau to hire translators has grown longer, officials said Wednesday....

The F.B.I. "has no assurance" that some 8,300 hours of untranslated material does not include information that could be critical to terrorism investigations.

In addition, the bureau told the committee that its long-delayed effort to overhaul its computer system and allow agents to search terrorism files more easily would not be completed until 2009 at the earliest.

Two of the F.B.I.'s most pressing problems - its computer capabilities and its ability to translate terrorism material - have continued to languish, and in some respects have worsened....

The F.B.I. was not the only counterterrorism agency that came under fire at Wednesday's Judiciary Committee hearing.

At the office of John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, a program manager who runs the information sharing environment office - responsible for linking federal, state and local offices to combat terrorism - told the committee that he had only one full-time employee and two contractors, some seven months after the directorate was created.

2009. 2009!! Bush was President when this country suffered the worst attack on our soil from a foreign power in history. And he's going to spend EIGHT YEARS in the White House without even being able to update the computer system of the FBI. How incompetent does Bush have to be before people wake up?

If Bush were President when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he'd still be trying to translate documents and be PLANNING to pump up the military and maybe focus on the war in 1946...after the Nazis had invaded London and the Japanese invaded Hawaii.

REVISED DIG (courtesty of threader cervantes): If Bush were President when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he would have invaded Mexico.

Every day that Bush refuses to put those gay translators back to work is another day Bush endangers our country unnecessarily. When Bush refuses to do EVERYTHING to make this country safer, he is putting our troops, our cities, our harbors and our way of life at greater risk. Read the rest of this post...

Bush flips the press the finger yesterday

UPDATE: I got a call from the White House, they say Bush was just giving the thumbs up - read about that call here.

So not kidding. This was on Leno last night, among other places. Guess maybe Jesus isn't his favorite philosopher. I have no problem with him flipping the bird to the press, but don't pretend you're holier-than-thou Christian man then start saying "frak you" to the media. This man is no conservative Christian.

Watch the video here:

Read the rest of this post...

More terror arrests in London

But keep in mind, as the shooting of the innocent Brazilian showed last week, and as our own war on terror has shown, just because the government arrests someone doesn't mean they were involved in the crime. Read the rest of this post...

Third administration official leaked Plame's identity as well

Oh it just keeps getting better.

In the same week in July 2003 in which Bush administration officials told a syndicated columnist and a Time magazine reporter that a C.I.A. officer had initiated her husband's mission to Niger, an administration official provided a Washington Post reporter with a similar account.

The first two episodes, involving the columnist Robert D. Novak and the reporter Matthew Cooper, have become the subjects of intense scrutiny in recent weeks. But little attention has been paid to what The Post reporter, Walter Pincus, has recently described as a separate exchange on July 12, 2003.

In that exchange, Mr. Pincus says, "an administration official, who was talking to me confidentially about a matter involving alleged Iraqi nuclear activities, veered off the precise matter we were discussing and told me that the White House had not paid attention" to the trip to Niger by Joseph C. Wilson IV "because it was a boondoggle arranged by his wife, an analyst with the agency who was working on weapons of mass destruction."...

Mr. Pincus has not identified his source to the public. But a review of Mr. Pincus's own accounts and those of other people with detailed knowledge of the case strongly suggest that his source was neither Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political adviser, nor I. Lewis Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, and was in fact a third administration official whose identity has not yet been publicly disclosed.

So there's a third traitor running around the administrator, perhaps even the White House. Too bad President Bush doesn't care. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

75 degrees! Okay, I'll stop talking about the weather, but it is thrilling Read the rest of this post...

The Bush environmental scam

I don't know why this article even refers to global warming and Bush together because Bush and the GOP don't believe it exists. Putting that aside, this lame attempt to make people think that Bush actually gives a damn about the environment is pure BS. This is a guy who never saw an oil field that he didn't love and has offered little more than talk when it comes to converting the US from oil to alternative energy sources.

This latest environmental scam which is supposed to complement Kyoto is called a "results oriented partnership" by Bush but when the hell was the last time we ever saw big business, especially the major polluters, do anything voluntarily? Uh huh, I can't think of such a time either. Big business complains about regulations but they simply can't get anything done unless they are forced to do so. Read the rest of this post...

Bush Ignored US Military's Opposition To Torture

Chickenhawks love to think they're John Wayne tough by saying only wimps oppose torturing prisoners. Well now we know that the US military's own lawyers vehemently opposed the armchair warriors of the White House who wanted to overthrow nearly 100 years of US precedent by ignoring the Geneva Convention and flout international law and everything we hold decent as Americans by torturing prisoners. Yep, our own military made clear that torture is stupid and wrong and it endangers our troops. But does Bush ever listen to his own generals? Of course not.

In memorandums written by several senior uniformed lawyers in each of the military services as the legal review was under way, they had urged a sharply different view and also warned that the position eventually adopted by the task force could endanger American service members....

Rear Adm. Michael F. Lohr, the Navy's chief lawyer, wrote on Feb. 6, 2003, that while detainees at Guantanamo Bay might not qualify for international protections, "Will the American people find we have missed the forest for the trees by condoning practices that, while technically legal, are inconsistent with our most fundamental values?"

Brig. Gen. Kevin M. Sandkuhler, a senior Marine lawyer, said in a Feb. 27, 2003, memorandum that all the military lawyers believed the harsh interrogation regime could have adverse consequences for American service members. General Sandkuhler said that the Justice Department "does not represent the services; thus, understandably, concern for service members is not reflected in their opinion."

Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Romig, the Army's top-ranking uniformed lawyer, said in a March 3, 2003, memorandum that the approach recommended by the Justice Department "will open us up to criticism that the U.S. is a law unto itself."

Yep, Rear Admirals, Brig. Generals and Major Generals all spoke out strongly and consistently against torturing prisoners. Indeed, the entire military spoke with one voice out of concern for damaging our country's core values and for the safety of our men and women who might be captured.

But Bush and Cheney couldn't be bothered to listen to men who had risked their lives defending this country when those two had better things to do. They don't give a damn about the troops. If they did, those men and women would be properly equipped. If they did, Bush and Cheney would listen to their generals and not ignore expert advice about what was best for the safety of our soldiers.

So there's a question for Scotty after beating him up on Rove -- why did Bush ignore the advice of every single branch of the military? Why wasn't Bush worried about the safety of our troops? Does he often ignore the unanimous opinion of his top military leaders?

My only complaint? That no general or major military official has had the bravery to come forward and resign out of disgust with Bush's disregard for the Geneva Convention, the safety of our troops, his incompetence in securing the peace, his refusal to put the boots on the ground needed to get the job done and his lies that dragged the military into an unnecessary war. Read the rest of this post...