I wanted to remind everyone what a real anchor was all about. This was the last time Aaron hosted NewsNight. It was the day Libby was arrested. I thought Joe Wilson's comments were particularly of interest.
There is just no one like Aaron Brown. He was never much good at pointing out mildew or mold but he sure could lead a nation in shock from a rooftop. Those are pictures that we'll never see again.
Lewis Scooter Libby Indicted in CIA Investigation;
Karl Rove Off the Hook?;
Inside an Intelligence Meltdown
Aired October 28, 2005 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again, everyone. It began with 16 words uttered by the president about Iraq and nuclear weapons, only 16 words in a very long speech. It became a battle and a scandal, and now, perhaps, a crime.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Vice President Cheney's chief of staff is indicted. After two years of secretive digging, the special prosecutor sends shockwaves through the Bush White House.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Special counsel Fitzgerald's investigation and ongoing legal proceedings are serious.
ANNOUNCER: Suzanne Malveaux tonight on just how serious. Lewis Scooter Libby, described as second only to Karl Rove in the White House inner circle, resigned immediately and could face 30 years in prison. Gary Tuchman gets more on the man behind the controversy. President Bush's deputy chief of staff, Karl Rove, is off the hook, or is he?
PATRICK FITZGERALD, U.S. ATTORNEY: I will not end the investigation until I can look anyone in the eye and tell them that we have carried out our responsibility sufficiently.
ANNOUNCER: John King looks at the future of the president's top adviser. And, if Libby lied, there's this question: Why? David Ensor on the indictments and how the U.S. justified war with Saddam.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN AND ANDERSON COOPER.
Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, here's Aaron Brown.
BROWN: Good evening, again. As Larry said, Anderson is off tonight. The story of how we got from uranium in Africa to a reporter in jail, to a White House under siege, is only half-written tonight, at best. There are many more chapters to come, many questions to be answered, not the least of which is why, if true, did a smart and incredibly savvy White House insider lie so obviously to investigators? And did he do it, if he did it, to protect his boss, the vice president? There is that, and more. But, also, there is also this, the plain and powerful words of a federal prosecutor with a reputation for playing it straight. Laws were broken, he said, not technicalities, but laws. A full night on this tonight, a full house, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, John King in Washington, David Ensor as well. And we begin with Ms. Malveaux -- Suzanne.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT
(voice-over):
The cloud that has been hanging over the Bush administration for nearly two years from the CIA leak investigation finally broke. Scooter Libby was a trusted member of Mr. Bush's most inner circle, but the five-count indictment of vice president Cheney's chief of staff is not the end of the probe.
KARL ROVE, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BUSH: I'm going to have a great Friday and a fantastic weekend. Hope you do, too.
MALVEAUX: Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, escaped indictment today, but his lawyer says he remains under investigation.
FITZGERALD: I will not end the investigation until I can look anyone in the eye and tell them that we have carried out our responsibility sufficiently.
MALVEAUX: A beleaguered Mr. Bush, departing for his Camp David retreat, tried to soften the blow.
BUSH: While we're all saddened by today's news, we remain focused on the many issues and opportunities facing this country. I've got a job to do; so do the people that work in the White House.
MALVEAUX: White House insiders say they are saddened by Libby's departure but are relieved that Rove seemed to have been spared. Cheney, who stuck to his schedule of fund-raising and rallying Georgia troops, said in a written statement he accepted his top lieutenant's resignation will deep regret: "Scooter Libby is one of the most capable and talented individuals I have ever known. He has given many years of his life to public service and has served our nation tirelessly and with great distinction."In a statement of his own, Libby said, "I'm confident that, at the end of this process, I will be completely and totally exonerated."
BUSH: I look forward to working with Congress on policies to keep this economy moving.
MALVEAUX: For President Bush, the strategy is to pivot towards his political agenda.
AMY WALTER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: The question now is, can this White House get that famous first-term focus back? That is the real challenge.
KEN DUBERSTEIN,
REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: Certainly, he needs some fresh blood. He needs to focus on big, bold things.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And, Aaron, of course, one of those big things that he's talking about is picking his Supreme Court nominee.We're told by White House aides that could happen within days. Interesting enough, too, the strategy of the White House -- we saw two memos that went out to White House staffers late in the day, one from Chief of Staff Andy Card, saying, look, your job first and foremost is to serve the American people, the second one from White House counsel, which simply said that they should not reach out to Scooter Libby to discuss this case in any way, that it is still an ongoing investigation -- Aaron.
BROWN: Suzanne, thank you very much -- Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.
This all began, as I'm sure you know by now, with Ambassador Joe Wilson's trip to Niger back in February of 2002. He had nothing to say on camera when reached at his home today.
He did release a statement through his lawyer: "It is certainly not a day to celebrate," the statement reads.
It goes on to say: "When an indictment is delivered at the front door of the White House, the office of the president is defiled. No citizen can take pleasure from that."
Almost from the beginning, this story has been a story and a puzzle with three dimensions, policy and politics, and ,of course, the law. Before we get any further into all three, here are the charges facing Mr. Libby tonight, five of them, all felonies.
Count one, obstruction of justice. It alleges, Mr. Libby intentionally deceived the FBI and the grand jury about how he discovered Valerie Plame's status as a covert CIA officer.
Count two, false statement, lying to the FBI about whether Ms. Plame's status was well-known, saying, falsely, the indictment alleges, that NBC's Tim Russert told him that reporters were well aware of her identity.
Count three, false statement, lying to the FBI about the content of a conversation or conversations with "TIME" magazine's Matthew Cooper.
Counts four and five relate to the last two, but are classified as perjury, instead of simply making false statements, because the statements in question were made under oath to a federal grand jury.
If convicted of all five counts, Mr. Libby could receive as much as 30 years in prison. How much of this is intended to loosen up his tongue, we simply do not know. Only the prosecutor does. And he's not saying. Patrick Fitzgerald met the press this afternoon, after two years of virtual silence. The questions must have seemed like opening a trip valve on Hoover Dam. As for his answers, he said very little about the inner workings of the investigation. Instead, what made the moment so remarkable was how plainly and how passionately he stated the case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): In trying to explain how the disclosure of a CIA agent's name evolved into an investigation that ensnared one of Washington's most powerful men, Patrick Fitzgerald put it in terms he felt most comfortable using, the language of baseball. What would the punishment be, he asked, if a pitcher intentionally threw at the head of a batter?
FITZGERALD: And then you would make a decision as to whether this person should be banned from baseball, whether they should be suspended, whether you should do nothing at all and just say, "Hey, the person threw a bad pitch. Get over it."In this case, it's a lot more serious than baseball. And the damage wasn't to one person. It wasn't just Valerie Wilson. It was done to all of us. BROWN: What he decided, he said, was this.
FITZGERALD: This is a very serious matter and compromising national security information is a very serious matter. But the need to get to the bottom of what happened and whether national security was compromised by inadvertence, by recklessness, by maliciousness is extremely important.
BROWN: And this is why.
FITZGERALD: We need to know the truth. And anyone who would go into a grand jury and lie, obstruct and impede the investigation has committed a serious crime. But if what we allege in the indictment is true, then what is charged is a very, very serious crime that will vindicate the public interest in finding out what happened here.
BROWN: And about forcing Judith Miller of "The New York Times" to jail.
FITZGERALD: No one wanted to have a dispute with "The New York Times" or anyone else. I would have wished nothing better that, when the subpoenas were issued in August 2004, witnesses testified then, and we would have been here in October 2004 instead of October 2005. No one would have went to jail. I didn't have a vested interest in litigating it. I was not looking for a First Amendment showdown. We didn't bluff people. And what we decided to do was to make sure before we subpoenaed any reporter that we really needed that testimony.
BROWN: Testimony, he said today, that was vital to his case.
FITZGERALD: At the end of the day what appears is that Mr. Libby's story that he was at the tail end of a chain of phone calls, passing on from one reporter what he heard from another, was not true. It was false. He was at the beginning of the chain of phone calls, the first official to disclose this information outside the government to a reporter. And then he lied about it afterwards, under oath and repeatedly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: The allegations. If Mr. Fitzgerald has said little until now, the political establishment tonight is saying even less. Democratic lawmakers, by and large, are staying away from the microphones, by and large. So did a lot of Republicans. We did manage to get some reaction from Howard Dean, who is the chairman of the Democratic Party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD DEAN (D), DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: This is about what happens when you send people to foreign countries to fight without telling America the truth. This whole thing came about because the president wasn't truthful about why we went to Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: As for the Republican side, we spoke at some length late this afternoon with John Sununu, the senator from New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Why do you think it -- people at the vice president's right hand -- and whether this was criminal or not will be for a jury to decide -- apparently engaged in this effort to -- this is my words, certainly, not yours -- trash Ambassador Wilson?
SEN. JOHN SUNUNU (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: Well, I think they felt that Ambassador Wilson was a partisan -- and he certainly was, politically speaking, a partisan -- that he may have had specific motives and goals in mind that were certainly -- was certainly counterbalanced by other evidence and other sources of intelligence- gathering at the time. And they felt that there needed to be some sort of a balance out there. That doesn't justify the specific way that they approached it, but I think that was their concern at the time.
BROWN: Do you think the vice president, given that an important aide to the vice president, often referred to as his right-hand man, a national security adviser, that the vice president needs to answer some questions here?
SUNUNU: I don't have access to the material that was presented to the grand jury. And -- and I think the defense teams and the prosecution are perfectly capable of deciding who needs to provide information in order to fairly try the case.
BROWN: Respectfully, that's a very narrow legal answer to something, whether he needs to testify.And, actually, if I may try the question again, I'm interested in whether you believe there are questions that the vice president needs to answer.
SUNUNU: I think you need to be specific. What kind of a -- what kind of a question? I think everyone knows what Vice President Cheney's position was on -- on intelligence, on prosecuting the war. Certainly, people understand and know his relationship to Scooter Libby, who served him very well, very capably. So, look, if there's a specific question that you want to pose to the vice president, that the media wants to pose to him, yes, you should ask those questions.
BROWN: Well, let me try one then.
SUNUNU: Sure.
BROWN: Would you like to know if the vice president was in any way involved in discussions that led to the outing of Ms. Plame?
SUNUNU: I think that question has been largely answered in the release of the notes of the conversation that he and Scooter Libby had, that, apparently, by what's been reported and what's been presented in the way of information from the grand jury -- I guess this was one of the -- the leaks prior to the indictment -- there was a conversation between the two of them that did involve the fact that Joe Wilson's wife was an employee at the CIA.
BROWN: My question was, was he involved a decision to out her? Was he in any way involved in discussions? Did she say, yes, Scooter, that's a heck of an idea, or, don't you dare do that, or, what are you taking? Don't you want to know that?
SUNUNU: I think that's less important than whether the laws involving the disclose were violated. And I think the prosecutor has pursued that question fairly effectively and, of course, whether people have been forthcoming on the questions of perjury and cooperating with investigators.And, on that issue, he's been very clear that he believes a law was violated, and that's why he's handed down the indictments.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Republican Senator John Sununu. You would have a hard time knowing that there is other news to report tonight. And we have more on the indictments coming up. But here are some of the other stories we are following at this moment.
Forty-five police officers in New Orleans were fired today. They were let go for allegedly abandoning their posts, either before or after Katrina hit. Fifteen other officers have resigned.
In California, the mother of a teen accused of killing the wife of a prominent defense attorney has been released from jail. Esther Fielding was charged as an accessory to murder after the fact. But, today, police decided to drop the charges. Her son, who is 16, will be tried as an adult.
Today, the United Nations Security Council condemned recent comments by Iran's president that Israel should be wiped off the map. The Israeli government says Iran's membership in the U.N. should be revoked because of the harsh words.
And a fitting remembrance for Rosa Parks -- the mother of the civil rights movement, who died earlier in the week, will lie in honor Sunday and Monday in the Capitol Rotunda of the United States of America. Congress has authorized that right only 29 times in our country's history. And Ms. parks is the first woman to ever receive the tribute.
Back to the Libby indictment next -- this is a story, as we said at the top, with many dimensions and complications. It is still , by and large, a mystery.
Ahead tonight, we look more closely at the parts and the pieces and how they fit, and more on Scooter Libby himself, closer to the vice president, perhaps, than anyone but the president himself, and a closer look at where the case may go from here. We will talk with -- "Official A."
What next?
A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Leaving Saddam Hussein in possession of weapons of mass destruction for a few more months and years is not an option, not in a post-September 11 world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, SEPTEMBER 2003)
BUSH: If there's a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Innocent until proven guilty is a sacred American ideal. But if America's first impression of you comes from the mouth of a special prosecutor, you're probably -- probably already behind in the battle for public opinion. It may have been some comfort for Scooter Libby to hear the president and the vice president praise him for the work he's done for his country, but the stakes for him are now enormous. He could face up to 30 years in prison. So, who is Scooter Libby? Here's CNN's Gary Tuchman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just as George W. Bush relies on Dick Cheney, Dick Cheney has relied on Scooter Libby.
THOMAS MANN, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Scooter Libby, in my view, is the second most powerful staff member in the White House, second only to Karl Rove.
TUCHMAN: You may not have heard of Libby until the midst of this scandal, but he's been at the center of the power in the Bush White House. Libby, who is on crutches because of an injured foot, was educated at Yale and has been in and out of government for decades. He's a lawyer, and, ironically, considering what he's going through, was quite skilled at getting people out of legal trouble. Libby and the vice president got acquainted when Cheney was the defense secretary under the first President Bush. By 2000, Libby was one of Cheney's top advisers and followed him to the White House. Libby was with Cheney on September 11, 2001, and in the days after, when the vice president was moved into secure locations in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Libby has a well-established reputation as an administration hawk.
MANN: Scooter Libby is a formidable figure in this administration who's been involved in virtually every critical national security decision, including the war in Iraq.
TUCHMAN: Libby prepared a document that argued the case for going to war against Iraq, a document that reportedly became the basis for Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations. But there's a very different side to Libby. He authored a novel called "The Apprentice," a story of romance and intrigue set in 1903 Japan. It was a book that won praise from literary critics. Libby told a "New York Times" interviewer, when the paperback came out, that he occasionally dreams -- quote -- "of just becoming a novelist and sitting on Crete and drinking odd-named wines."He's got a lot more on his mind now. Gary Tuchman, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Coming up tonight, a look at the man who was not indicted today, Karl Rove. Was it just a temporary reprieve or is he off the hook? Also, this is going to sting a little. We will tell you some flu shots that weren't. We will also take a break first. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A quick look now at some of the other stories making news tonight.We go to Atlanta and Erica Hill. Good evening, Ms. Hill.
ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Aaron, on this Friday.
Unfortunately, I have to tell you about another storm, Tropical Storm Beta, causing concern in the western Caribbean tonight. It plowed into the tiny Caribbean island of Providencia today and has its sights set on Nicaragua. Forecasters say the storm could build hurricane strength at any moment. Now, a hurricane warning is in effect for the east coast of Nicaragua. And some coastal residents of villages -- some residents of coastal villages, that is, are being evacuated. Meantime, fake flu shots.
The FBI says 1,000 ExxonMobil workers in Texas were injected with fake flu vaccine. The owner of the health company hired to administer the shots has been arrested and officially charged with Medicare fraud. Investigators say he gave similar shots to 14 residents of a Texas senior citizens home the next day. Preliminary tests indicate the syringes were filled with purified water. A nurse who helped give the shots blew the whistle. So far, no ill effects have been reported.
And a record number of births to unmarried women, one-and-a-half million last year -- that's according to a new federal study. More than 80 percent, we should point out, 80 percent of teen mothers, are unmarried. But, actually, the number of teen mothers is falling. The biggest increase came among women in their 20s, because many of them are unmarried, but living with their partners, so, of course, still count as unwed mothers.
And Second City, no more -- thousands turned out in Chicago today to celebrate the White Sox's victory in the World Series. This is the team's first world championship since 1917, so, plenty to celebrate. Many fans say they still can't believe it. Some people in Boston probably still can't believe it from last year.
And, Aaron, I think I checked the correct paper online. I think.
BROWN: Yes. HILL: And I believe that the weather today called for a celebration.
BROWN: It did, indeed. And -- and there was one. And if you go back and look at the tape from -- I don't know -- last February or March, you will see that I actually predicted the White Sox would win the World Series.
HILL: I hope you had some money riding on it, my friend.
BROWN: I think I predicted that. I might not have.
(LAUGHTER)
HILL: We will find the tape.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: Thank you. Have a good weekend.
HILL: You, too.
BROWN: Thank you. On we go. The grand jury that indicted Scooter Libby today had nothing to say about Karl Rove. Does that mean the president's top political adviser is off the hook? Our chief national correspondent, John King, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The day's first clue came in Karl Rove's driveway. ROVE: I'm going to have a great Friday and a fantastic weekend. I hope you do, too.
KING: The Bush White House in turmoil, but the president's right-hand man is still on the job, though not out of legal jeopardy.
FITZGERALD: We either charge someone or we don't talk about them.
KING: The prosecutor won't name names, but Rove remains under investigation -- his attorney voicing confidence, when the special counsel finishes his work, he will conclude that Mr. Rove has done nothing wrong. At issue is Rove's initial failure to disclose to leak investigators a conversation with reporter Matthew Cooper about CIA operative Valerie Plame. Rove contends it was an inadvertent oversight and that he brought it to the prosecutor's attention as soon as he found an e-mail reminding him. Rove friend and former top White House aide Nick Calio says, those who don't accept Rove's explanation don't understand the pressure of 18-hour-a-day White House jobs.
NICHOLAS CALIO, FORMER BUSH LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS DIRECTOR: There are a lot of things that I don't remember. I go through notes sometimes now and say, I don't even remember being in the meeting, let alone, you know, having said what I said.
KING: Rove has, from the beginning, insisted he broke no laws.
ROVE: I didn't know her name and didn't leak her name.
KING: What is no longer in dispute, though, is that Rove took part in a hardball White House political campaign to discredit Plame's husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson, when Wilson accused the White House of hyping the case for the war in Iraq.
CALIO: I think, you know, hardball comes with politics, but hardball doesn't mean being not fair and it doesn't mean doing anything illegal.
KING: Some Democrats are more than skeptical and note, the investigation isn't over.
REP. TIM RYAN (D), OHIO: It is going to be interesting over the course of the next few weeks and the next few months to find out exactly what Karl Rove did know.
KING: But, for now, Rove is on the job and deeply involved in everything, including the urgent new search for a Supreme Court nominee.
HELGI WALKER, FORMER COUNSEL TO PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, Karl, as everybody knows, is an excellent adviser to the president, and has interests in a docket that's extremely broad.
KING: That portfolio in the past few weeks has included managing his own campaign to avoid indictment and quietly orchestrating a strategy to get his version of events out of the grand jury room and into the public domain.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now, Karl Rove is not named in the indictment of Scooter Libby by name. But we do know from two sources familiar with the investigation tonight that Karl Rove is indeed the mysterious "Official A" named in this indictment. "Official A," the prosecutor says, is the senior administration official who told Scooter Libby, before Novak published the column that started all of this, that Novak about to write that column. That "Official A," again, we're told, is indeed Karl Rove -- prosecutors using that to debunk Scooter Libby's argument that he first learned about this from reporters.But, Aaron, tonight, sources close to Rove insist they just have a few more questions to answer. They believe the prosecutor will shut down this investigation within a matter of weeks, with no charges. But the investigation is still ongoing -- Rove's closest friends telling him, be very careful.
BROWN: Does the fact that we can now say that "Official A" is Karl Rove mean he is in any more legal jeopardy, any less legal jeopardy, or have we just put a little more frosting on a cake?
KING: It is a little more frosting on a cake. It's essentially cracking one of the mysteries of the indictment. Prosecutor Fitzgerald said today, if you can't charge them, we don't name them in this indictment. So, from the Rove perspective, they're saying, this is proof he did nothing wrong. Others say, don't rush to that judgments so quickly. The investigation is still open.
BROWN: John, thank you very much -- John King in Washington tonight. Coming up, back to the future, from what did the president know , to swapping arms for hostages to, "I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky," thumbnails of scandals of our lives, because this is NEWSNIGHT.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROVE: I didn't know her name and didn't leak her name. This is at the Justice Department. I'm confident that the U.S. attorney, the prosecutor who is involved in looking at this, is going to do a very thorough job of doing a very substantial and conclusive investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Think about this for a moment. If you are a certain age, there's a good chance that, once upon a time, you were taught to and did trust your government. Indeed, we would like to think that none of us has become so jaded that we never trust our government. But have been tested in that regard because, sometimes, our elected officials lie, cheat, steal or, shall we say, kiss inappropriately. Today's scandal is just another in a line.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FITZGERALD: A few hours ago, a federal grand jury sitting in the District of Columbia returned a five-count indictment against I. Lewis Libby.
BROWN: Special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald today saying words no administration wants to hear, that one of its own has been indicted. No administration wants to hear it, but more than a few have. Some are about sex, others about money, power or just plain politics. In 1921, it was Teapot Dome, named for a Wyoming town that was home to U.S. oil reserves. Back then, James B. Fall, the secretary of the interior under President Harding, was indicted for accepting bribes from two oil operators. In return, he leased them oil reserves, oil reserved for the Navy. Fall spent a year in prison, paid a $100,000 fine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD NIXON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not a crook.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Fast forward to 1972. Nixon was president, Watergate the scandal. It started with what the president's press secretary called a third-rate burglary, five men arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate. You know the rest. "Washington Post" reporters Woodward and Bernstein kept digging around, uncovered a series of crimes and cover-ups that reached all the way to the White House. In the end, the burglars and two former White House employees, E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, were convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping. Three former White House aides were convicted of hindering the investigation.The president himself was named as a co-conspirator. And, on August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned, just ahead of an impeachment trial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD REAGAN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: In the mid-'80s, there was Iran-Contra, the Reagan administration selling arms, anti-tank missiles, to be precise, to Iran, in hopes of winning the release for Americans held hostage by Iranian-backed terrorists. Money from the sale was used to fund the Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua. And both actions contradicted U.S. policy. There were congressional hearings, indictments against National Security Adviser John Poindexter and one of his aides, Colonel Oliver North. Neither ended up in prison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And then, the mid-'90s, there was Monica. President Bill Clinton denied an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, denied it to a national television audience, and, unfortunately for him, denied it under oath. He was charged with perjury and obstruction, and he was impeached.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWN: People can debate how big a deal today's indictment is, but consider this. Not since 1875 and President Ulysses Grant has a sitting White House official been indicted. You don't remember Oliver Babcock, of course, but he shares company tonight with Lewis Scooter Libby. So, what is it like to work at a White House in the scandal crisis mode? David Gergen has advised both Republican and Democratic presidents, as we say to same all the time. John Podesta advised Bill Clinton. And Jeff Greenfield often advises me, but that's not why he's here tonight.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: Gentlemen, let me begin by rolling a piece of tape, or having the control room roll one. This is the president this afternoon. Kind of look at his face. I'm not sure we have seen him look quite like this or had a day quite like this. John, what would you guess the president was going through today?
JOHN PODESTA, FORMER CLINTON WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, this was a tough day, Aaron, I think for the president.But he looked like he intended to just tough it out. He didn't like a guy who intended to change course, to clean house. I think he looked like he was just going to kind of hunker down and try to tough -- tough -- tough things out at this point.
BROWN: And, David, the importance of looking like you're just -- you're going to tough it out to a president, which they all, honestly, try and do -- they want to get back to the people's business, they always tell us -- is what?
DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: Well, let me just say, first of all, I knew Oliver Babcock. I worked with Oliver Babcock.
(LAUGHTER)
GERGEN: And Scooter Libby is no Oliver Babcock.
(LAUGHTER)
GERGEN: The...
BROWN: Thank you, David.
GERGEN: OK. The -- I think, on a day like this, -- the importance of the president coming out and toughing it out is exactly what John Podesta said. And that is, he does look like he's being very introspective, that he's really taken it aboard. In fact, I think there's a certain defiance in this White House. They don't think they have done much wrong. They don't think they made a mistake on Harriet Miers, as far as I can tell. They think she was done in by politics. They don't really think they made much a mistake here. And, so, what that suggests is, you are not going to see much course correction, which I think is quite necessary, in fact, for them to recover.
BROWN: Let me come back to that, but let me draw Jeff in. One of the things I have heard a lot today is, they have lost control of the agenda. Do you think that the president has lost control of the agenda
J
EFF
GREEN
FIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: We're going to find out if he tries to restart his domestic agenda. And I think the one break that they have is that this is an odd- numbered year. Imagine this happening in late October of '04 or next year, late October of '06, as people prepare to vote. You know, I actually do think that we live in a time, partly because of us, the people process this stuff so -- so quickly, that it's entirely possible that, by next spring, he will be rolling out something. The question is, with everybody telling him he's got to change course -- you know, crisis has a 1,000 kibitzers...
(LAUGHTER)
GREENFIELD: Is he -- is he...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Oliver Babcock said that.
GREENFIELD: Is he of a mind to do that?Or, as the -- or, as John and David described, are they saying, you know what, we got here; we got reelected, we got most of our agenda passed in the first years; just give us a little time; we have got our conservative back...
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: ... because we Lanced the Harriet Miers problem?So, I'm not sure they have lost control. BROWN: John, people have said a lot, the president -- one way to get the agenda back, if, in fact, he's lost it, is that you launch big, bold ideas. He launched a big, bold idea in Social Security, probably the biggest, boldest idea in American politics, in a sense, given how many people it affects. And fell flat. So, what are the big, bold domestic ideas in a country that seems to have growing doubts over the president himself?
PODESTA: Well, look, Social Security completely crashed and burned. And, you know, when he says, I want to get back and do my job, I want to get back and -- and do the work of the people, it reminds me of what President Clinton said. But it's important to remember, when President Clinton was saying that, he had a 65 percent job approval. Right now, George Bush has a 38 percent job approval.
So, when people hear that, that he's going to just go back and do the same thing, I think they say to themselves, oh, no, you know, what is he talking about? I think that, you know, he hasn't done much about energy. He hasn't done anything to really deal with the middle- class squeeze in this country. He's got a real problem in Iraq. So, he's got his hands full.
And, you know, I think, at this point, he's got a team that, if -- if nothing else, has their credibility in shreds. You know, the one thing we know that is unassailable is that Karl Rove went out, told Scott McClellan to say he had nothing to do with it. We know that was not true.And I think he would be well-advised to clean house. But I don't think he's going to do it.
BROWN: David, on the -- the whole house-cleaning thing, I mean, to me, it -- it almost cuts two ways. I -- I -- gather there's some advantage in bringing new blood in. And people are tired. It is exhausting work. On the other hand, it feels or it can play as desperate.
GERGEN: It can. But, in this case, I think the country would welcome someone like a Fred Thompson, the former senator, coming in, someone of stature, of the kind of person that Howard Baker came in with Ronald Reagan.
But here -- on the substantive side, Aaron, I think he has this problem, that, you know, when Reagan was there, and he was looking for new initiatives after Iran-Contra, he had Gorbachev as a partner. And they went -- engaged in summits and they got an arms control treaty. And that really helped as a part of the substantive recovery.
With George W. Bush, you know, the next big decision he's got to make is on the Supreme Court. And every indication is that he is going to choose a fight, that he's going to go to someone who's -- you know, who's a strong conservative, who may well alienate and arouse the center and the left in the Congress. And he will have a huge fight on his hands. If he were to do that, if he can't find a -- sort of a John Roberts Jr...
BROWN: Yes.
GERGEN: And maybe McConnell would be that kind of -- Michael McConnell of Denver would be that kind of candidate.If he can't find that kind of person and he gets a fight, then I think his capacity to reach out and heal and -- and -- and build bridges is -- is -- is going really to be destroyed for a long time to come.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Jeff, let me give you the last word here. Is this a moment -- I don't think the president will call you and ask you for advice, but if he's watching tonight, is this a moment to fight or switch, as the old ad went?
GREENFIELD: It may be a moment, if I might quote Patrick Fitzgerald, to take a deep breath.
(LAUGHTER)
GREENFIELD: Because there's one great advantage that George W. Bush has, which is the other party. One pretty influential Republican said to me this week, you know, the wheels are coming off. We are in trouble. He says, if the Democrats weren't brain-dead, we would really be in trouble.
BROWN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: So..
BROWN: Jeff, it's good to see you. David and John, thank you for your time tonight.
PODESTA: Nice to be with you.
BROWN: Appreciate it very much.
GERGEN: Thank you.
BROWN: Coming up, Karl Rove, he is off the hook, at least for now. Is he out of the woods? Our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins us to talk about that and some of the other unknowns in all of this, things we would like to know.We will take a break first. From New York and around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDITH MILLER, SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": I served 85 days in jail because of my belief in the importance of upholding the confidential relationship journalists have with their sources.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FITZGERALD: Any notion that anyone might have that there's a different standard for a high official, that this is somehow singling out obstruction of justice and perjury, is upside down. If we -- if these facts are true, if we were to walk away from this and not charge obstruction of justice and perjury, we might as well just hand in our jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And that's Scooter -- Scooter Libby arriving at his home -- these pictures just in -- being driven to his home in McLean, Virginia, on what is, as he put it, a very sad day for him and his family. He issued a statement saying he expects to be exonerated, but he's no doubt got a long and difficult year ahead. His name is James McCord Jr. And for those of you who are Watergate history buffs old enough to remember, he was the Watergate burglar who first broke. Facing a long prison term and a tough-as- nails judge, Mr. McCord spilled the beans, as they say in the B- movies. But will Scooter Libby? Are there even more beans to spill? Here to take us through some of the knowns and unknowns in the indictment today and the investigation, our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin. Do you think that they will try and deal with Mr. Libby or is he a high enough fish or a high enough -- some animal?
(LAUGHTER)
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: No. I think this case will go to trial. I think, if there was a plea bargain to be made, it would have been made before indictment. He would have come in and plea. I think the chance -- the time for dealing was before.
BROWN: Yes.
TOOBIN: I think this case is going to trial.
BROWN: I -- I was in a conversation you may or may not heard with John Sununu, the senator earlier. And I said, you know, I would really like to hear from the vice president. There's a few questions of the vice president. Are there questions you wouldn't mind asking the vice president of the United States about his relationship to this and his right-hand man?
TOOBIN: Oh, it's astonishing. I mean, but, you know, President Bush answers questions all the time. I don't -- I mean, Vice President Cheney lives in a bubble, like no public official I have ever seen. Here he is involved in a very serious criminal case. He has never answered questions on this subject. He barely ever appears in public, except reading -- reading speeches. But, you know, he's been president for five -- vice president for five years. And he's been...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Some will accuse you of a Freudian slip there.
TOOBIN: It could -- could be.
BROWN: What would you ask him, if you could ask him one good one?
TOOBIN: Describe your role in -- when did you know about Victoria -- Valerie Wilson...
(CROSSTALK)
TOOBIN: Valerie Plame.
BROWN: ... Valerie Plame, Valerie Plame Wilson's identity? And, describe all your conversations with Scooter Libby about that.
BROWN: We -- we think we sort of know that he calls George Tenet and gets this information. And I forget the date. But don't -- I think the thing I want to know is, did you say, let's go out and trash the guy? I mean, you probably say it more elegantly, but something like that.
TOOBIN: And that's -- and -- and that's what is interesting -- important about his role, his -- well, the -- the actions described in the indictment are not improper or illegal. And it's certainly -- certainly makes a certain amount of sense. He says, this guy Wilson surface in the -- in the press.
BROWN: Yes.
TOOBIN: He calls the CIA, says, who's this guy? What's the story?And then he tells his chief of staff about him. The question, though, is, what did he tell him to do about it? And what did Scooter Libby think about that?
BROWN: All right. I -- I almost want to apologize for this question, because I don't think it's knowable, but I am going to it anyway, because I want it on the table. Here you have got a guy, Mr. Libby, who is a lawyer, I think Yale-educated lawyer.
TOOBIN: Yes, indeed.
BROWN: Very smart.
TOOBIN: Columbia Law School.
BROWN: OK -- very smart guy, in any case. He's got to know that there are notes in these conversations. There are records of meetings. Why do you go in front of the grand jury and life?
TOOBIN: It -- it is unbelievable, isn't it? I -- I -- I -- but -- but in white-collar cases, that is almost always the defense, which is...
BROWN: What, I wouldn't be that stupid?
TOOBIN: Yes, he couldn't be that stupid. It was the defense in the Martha Stewart case. How could she be so stupid, this intelligent woman? You know what? People do stupid things all the time. And that -- that -- that's usually the prosecutor's response. And a lot of people get convicted. They hope they don't get caught.
BROWN: Thank you. You have had a long day.
TOOBIN: It's been a long day
BROWN: I know it has. Thank you very much. Coming up, from failed intelligence to indictments and the war in Iraq, how they all may tie together to lead us to this day and this program, which is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: We learned today that a Marine from Ohio was killed in Iraq on Thursday. Lance Corporal Robert Eckfield Jr. was 23 years old. As the war continues, so, of course, do the questions. Today, the presidential counsel Patrick Fitzgerald was asked if the indictment was a vindication that the Bush administration took the country to war on a false premise. This is how he answered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FITZGERALD: This indictment is not about the war. This indictment's not about the propriety of the war. And people who believe fervently in the war effort, people who oppose it, people who have mixed feelings about it should not look to this indictment for any resolution of how they feel or any vindication of how they feel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: I don't think there was a more interesting person today, by the way, than Mr. Fitzgerald. Democrats disagree with him. They believe the indictment has everything to do with the war, how we got to war, partisan, yes, but it is part of the national debate. Our national security correspondent, David Ensor, has been doing an incredible amount of work, and good work, on the intelligence that led up to the war and how it came to be.And David joins us now. David, I think the -- people's perspective on this is, you know, of people who are opposed to the war, say that it wasn't just that the intelligence was wrong. It's that the intelligence was cooked.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
BROWN: Do we know? Can we answer that for them?
ENSOR: Cooked is probably a little too strong a word. You know, people in the intelligence community -- and I -- let's be honest. I also thought that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. They had used them on their own -- Saddam had used them on the people. He had used them against Iran. There were chemical weapons that were unaccounted for after the war. So, there was lots of good, logical reason to think there were weapons of mass destruction there. The amazing thing is, there were not. And, you know, I have tried to -- to find out why, how this could go so badly wrong, which is part of what, I guess, we're going to be -- be showing people in the next hour, this -- this -- this look at how this could go so badly wrong. But I was also today at the press conference that you just mentioned, Mr. Fitzgerald's press conference.And there were -- what was so striking there was, there were lots of questions about, well, isn't this really about Iraq? Isn't this really about the -- the WMD? And he -- he, of course, it is in his interests to be as narrow as possible, to say, no, it is just about lying. That's about all it is about. I don't want to go there.
BROWN: Well...
(CROSSTALK)
ENSOR: But, for most of the people in the country, whether they're for or against the war, that's what this is really about, in political terms
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Right. At some level, this is about Joe Wilson saying -- I'm not -- I'm not saying he's right about this -- I'm just saying what he said -- is that they took the country to war, when they knew the evidence was at least ambiguous and they never framed it in an ambiguous way.
BROWN: David, as you mentioned, we will take a deeper look at this in the hour ahead. We appreciate your spending a few minutes with us in -- in anticipation of that to sort of set the stage.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Thank you very much.
ENSOR: My pleasure. BROWN: David Ensor tonight. We will take a break and we will continue in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Well, good evening again.
In a moment, "CNN PRESENTS: Dead Wrong."First, here's what making news at this moment.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Getting started early tonight.
The Sept. 11 Records
A rich vein of city records from Sept. 11, including more than 12,000 pages of oral histories rendered in the voices of 503 firefighters, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians, were made public on Aug. 12.
The New York Times has published all of them.
The oral histories of dispatch transmissions are transcribed verbatim. They have not been edited to omit coarse language
It might be difficult for those whom don't belong to the New York Times Select to read these 'unedited' notes of interviews of the rescue workers but if a friend has a subscription to the NY Times it would be worth your time to read just a few of the journalists notes regarding interviews with these people. So far, I have read about ten of them. It paints a picture of that day that is really an untold story. It's unique. Only the New York Times, the home town paper there, could put together such a poignant record.
I can't imagine any other presentation on film that speaks to that day the way the unedited notes of the rescue workers did.
A rich vein of city records from Sept. 11, including more than 12,000 pages of oral histories rendered in the voices of 503 firefighters, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians, were made public on Aug. 12.
The New York Times has published all of them.
The oral histories of dispatch transmissions are transcribed verbatim. They have not been edited to omit coarse language
It might be difficult for those whom don't belong to the New York Times Select to read these 'unedited' notes of interviews of the rescue workers but if a friend has a subscription to the NY Times it would be worth your time to read just a few of the journalists notes regarding interviews with these people. So far, I have read about ten of them. It paints a picture of that day that is really an untold story. It's unique. Only the New York Times, the home town paper there, could put together such a poignant record.
I can't imagine any other presentation on film that speaks to that day the way the unedited notes of the rescue workers did.
Even tears are for sale at CNN
0959
Bigotry for the sake of politics by George H. W. Bush
Bush Sr. Condemns 'Ugly' Politics at King's Funeral, Defends Son
Posted on Feb. 10, 2006
Former President George H.W. Bush damns “political shots” taken at his son by former President Jimmy Carter and the Rev. Joseph Lowery during the Coretta Scott King funeral last week. Bush defends the administration’s domestic spying program, tritely invoking 9/11 as a blanket justification for trampling constitutional freedoms.
Story
Listen.
See our Uncovered file on MLK and John. W. Whitehead’s timely and important piece, "Spying on Martin Luther King." CBS
Former President George H.W. Bush has expressed dismay and anger at attacks on his son, President Bush, at the funeral for Coretta Scott King.
“In terms of the political shots at the president who was sitting there with his wife, I didn’t like it and I thought it was kind of ugly frankly,” the former president said in an exclusive radio interview with CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer.
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20060210_bush_carter_king_funeral/
NOTHING IS MORE UGLY THAN A FORMER PRESIDENT THAT can't discern politics from the USA Constitution. He defends a son that has destroyed the Division of Civil rights, dismissed a 25 year employee and laughed the next day at the devastation and death in New Orleans. The Iron Triangle must be upheld above all else otherwise the Bush Dynasty will fall and so will the contracts with Carlyle to rule the world.
OH, yeah, Former Prez. About those nukes that China built and aimed at this country with American money channeled through Pakistan. How does Neil feel about that? Safer?
PLEASE !
CNN on 'Save the King Bush Mode' in the face of impeachment. The incredible realization it that pandering to the guilty is more Anti-American than any words they can utter.
So how many Christians dance on the head of a pin for Larry King Live to promote a president that needs impeachment?
Well, Michael W. Smith is crowned as savior by George H. W. Bush and Larry sells his soul for chance to televise it. And to think the souls of Flight 93 has to be brought back to life to save Son Georgie from Impeachment. Pulling out all the 'stops' for hope the people of the country can be deceived by 'good will' and 'trained Pavlov grieving and fear' that the Repuglicans still hold a corrupt majority in the House and Senate come November 2006.
You are all pathetic. You love your money and cronies more than you ever had loyalty to this country.
"The White House is not responding to Michael Brown stating they HAVE THEIR OWN report in the works." Jeanne Meserve, servant to the King. NO CLUE, Jeanne. Even tears are for sale at CNN. Those contracts must be an incredible tools for political fodder.
1009
Somehow walking around a home with mildew on the walls is a message that conveys something. I would think the better message would be a hammer in Anderson's hand rebuilding homes since people can't get into FEMA trailers. Or better yet, some real passion. A shovel over his shoulder after digging through the mud for still the unrecovered bodies of the dead.
Anderson 'revisits' every image possible to try to redefine the testimony by Brown and distract from the facts that Bush didn't care about the emergency.
1013
COMMERCIALS
1021
Vice President Cheney and The Fight Over "Inherent" Presidential Powers: His Attempt to Swing the Pendulum Back Began Long Before 9/11
By JOHN W. DEAN
Vice President Dick Cheney has stirred up an old fight in Washington. He sent a rookie, however, to make his case publicly. It did not work.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to offer what may have been the weakest legal argument for presidential power to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance since Nixon's Justice Department invoked the views of King George III.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20060210.html
1022
Trent Lott suffered a loss. But not loss of life. Oh, insurance, of course.
Bigotry for the sake of politics by George H. W. Bush
Bush Sr. Condemns 'Ugly' Politics at King's Funeral, Defends Son
Posted on Feb. 10, 2006
Former President George H.W. Bush damns “political shots” taken at his son by former President Jimmy Carter and the Rev. Joseph Lowery during the Coretta Scott King funeral last week. Bush defends the administration’s domestic spying program, tritely invoking 9/11 as a blanket justification for trampling constitutional freedoms.
Story
Listen.
See our Uncovered file on MLK and John. W. Whitehead’s timely and important piece, "Spying on Martin Luther King." CBS
Former President George H.W. Bush has expressed dismay and anger at attacks on his son, President Bush, at the funeral for Coretta Scott King.
“In terms of the political shots at the president who was sitting there with his wife, I didn’t like it and I thought it was kind of ugly frankly,” the former president said in an exclusive radio interview with CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer.
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20060210_bush_carter_king_funeral/
NOTHING IS MORE UGLY THAN A FORMER PRESIDENT THAT can't discern politics from the USA Constitution. He defends a son that has destroyed the Division of Civil rights, dismissed a 25 year employee and laughed the next day at the devastation and death in New Orleans. The Iron Triangle must be upheld above all else otherwise the Bush Dynasty will fall and so will the contracts with Carlyle to rule the world.
OH, yeah, Former Prez. About those nukes that China built and aimed at this country with American money channeled through Pakistan. How does Neil feel about that? Safer?
PLEASE !
CNN on 'Save the King Bush Mode' in the face of impeachment. The incredible realization it that pandering to the guilty is more Anti-American than any words they can utter.
So how many Christians dance on the head of a pin for Larry King Live to promote a president that needs impeachment?
Well, Michael W. Smith is crowned as savior by George H. W. Bush and Larry sells his soul for chance to televise it. And to think the souls of Flight 93 has to be brought back to life to save Son Georgie from Impeachment. Pulling out all the 'stops' for hope the people of the country can be deceived by 'good will' and 'trained Pavlov grieving and fear' that the Repuglicans still hold a corrupt majority in the House and Senate come November 2006.
You are all pathetic. You love your money and cronies more than you ever had loyalty to this country.
"The White House is not responding to Michael Brown stating they HAVE THEIR OWN report in the works." Jeanne Meserve, servant to the King. NO CLUE, Jeanne. Even tears are for sale at CNN. Those contracts must be an incredible tools for political fodder.
1009
Somehow walking around a home with mildew on the walls is a message that conveys something. I would think the better message would be a hammer in Anderson's hand rebuilding homes since people can't get into FEMA trailers. Or better yet, some real passion. A shovel over his shoulder after digging through the mud for still the unrecovered bodies of the dead.
Anderson 'revisits' every image possible to try to redefine the testimony by Brown and distract from the facts that Bush didn't care about the emergency.
1013
COMMERCIALS
1021
Vice President Cheney and The Fight Over "Inherent" Presidential Powers: His Attempt to Swing the Pendulum Back Began Long Before 9/11
By JOHN W. DEAN
Vice President Dick Cheney has stirred up an old fight in Washington. He sent a rookie, however, to make his case publicly. It did not work.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to offer what may have been the weakest legal argument for presidential power to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance since Nixon's Justice Department invoked the views of King George III.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20060210.html
1022
Trent Lott suffered a loss. But not loss of life. Oh, insurance, of course.
1026
commercials
Bush lied over Katrina, sacked head of disaster agency says
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article344722.ece
Michael Brown, head of the federal disaster agency at the time of Hurricane Katrina, has reopened a painful wound for President George Bush, charging that the White House knew New Orleans' protective levees had broken far earlier than it had acknowledged.
Testifying to a Senate committee yesterday, Mr Brown said that by the evening of Monday 29 August, his Fema agency had reported to superiors that catastrophic floodwaters were pouring into the city, that fires were breaking out and large numbers of people were stranded.
...Further evidence that the administration had manipulated intelligence came in documents showing that Lewis Libby, Vice-President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, told prosecutors he had been "authorised by superiors" to leak classified intelligence to reporters in the early summer of 2003, as it became increasingly evident that contrary to White House claims, Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction.
1029
Bush ignored CIA advice on Iraq, says former spy Julian Borger in WashingtonSaturday
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1707520,00.html
February 11, 2006The Guardian
The CIA official in charge of intelligence on the Middle East until last year has accused the Bush administration of ignoring assessments that sanctions and weapons inspections were the best way to deal with Saddam Hussein, and that an invasion would have a "messy aftermath".
In an article in the next edition of the bimonthly journal, Foreign Affairs, Paul Pillar, has become the highest-ranking CIA official from the prewar period to accuse the White House of manipulating the intelligence on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Ex-Abramoff client subpoenaed in Republican fundraising probeChannel One's parent donated to TRMPAC before education board's vote on resolution
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3649210.html
By CLAY ROBISON and R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - New subpoenas issued by Travis County prosecutors on Thursday cast light on a campaign contribution made by Primedia Inc. in 2002 just two days before the State Board of Education cast a vote that could have affected the company's profits in Texas.
Records: Abramoff Paid for GOP Aide's Trip
By ERICA WERNER Associated Press Writer © 2006 The Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/3647533.html
WASHINGTON — A former top aide to California Republican Rep. John Doolittle traveled to Puerto Rico on a trip paid for by Jack Abramoff's lobbying firm, records show.
1041
commercials
Hastert, Frist said to rig bill for drug firms Frist denies protection was added in secret
http://www.gallatinnewsexaminer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060209/NEWS02/602090405/1309/MTCN04
By BILL THEOBALDGannett News Service
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert engineered a backroom legislative maneuver to protect pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits, say witnesses to the pre-Christmas power play.
The language was tucked into a Defense Department appropriations bill at the last minute without the approval of members of a House-Senate conference committee, say several witnesses, including a top Republican staff member.
1044
Recovery needs take-hold leadership
http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/letters/2275171.html
Published: Feb 8, 2006
It has been sometime since Katrina and Rita devastated coastal Louisiana, and the bickering continues. Instead of taking 10 years to recover, it will probably take 20 if all of our responsible officials continue to take potshots at each other. The Congress of the United States along with the president can get no positive vibes out of a local constituency that thrives on controversy and a history of corruption.Not only that, but each “principal” in the ongoing saga has an agenda propped up by several competing committees or commissions all “making noise” — cacophonous noise not harmonic.Getting a handle on the “science” doesn’t make things any easier. The Army Corp of Engineers can’t proceed (ever so slowly as always) with a clear-cut mission of what needs to be done and in what sequence without a cohesive scientific concept of what needs doing.Surely this has been the most devastating blow to hit this country in recent history. In the early days of the disaster, in spite of the confusion, some real leadership rose to the top and helped contain the loss of life and limit the damages. There were some real heroes out there. Surely the recovery deserves the same kind of “take-hold” leadership if New Orleans, for example, is ever to become a city again — not to mention protection for the rest of lower Louisiana. Where is that leadership today?Dick Schneider, director of developmentLSU School of the Coast and EnvironmentBaton Rouge
1049
Gupta went on and on about a congenital disease. There are many in the world. But, not once does he or Cooper proport any 'answer' to these maladies except sympathy. Anyone look into what is being done with genetic research? Nah. That would be turning their backs on Bush but it's okay to turn their back on helpless children seeking cures.
Jerks !
1053
Developer Lays Out Plans For Ore Dock
http://www.wluctv6.com/Global/story.asp?S=4431962&nav=81AX
A former Marquette resident has been working on plans to develop Marquette's Lower Harbor ore dock for the past six years. Monday night he presented his plans to the City Commission.
Gary Kropp told commissioners his plans for the ore dock will preserve its historic nature, increase the city's tax base, and be worthy of national attention. He also said the development will not disrupt the ore dock's quiet, serene, setting. Kropp wants to build 30 to 40 condos inside the dock with public space around the perimeter, including an area for large events.
The commission did not make a decision. Kropp said moving forward will be a lengthy process. Even if he gets city approval, he must also get approval from the Army Corp of Engineers and the DEQ.
1054
Fashion Week. Now, there is a thought. Anderson should go back walking the runway for Halston. At least that way he only has to strut and not speak.
1056
Feds offer seized-property deals online
KENNETH HARNEYKenneth Harney is a syndicated columnist.February 10, 2006
Whether you're a first-time home buyer, an investor, vacation property buyer, historic preservation buff - or even looking for a boat to convert into a live-aboard residence - you are not shopping the market to the max unless you check out the federal government's best real estate resources: the combined property disposition program inventories of 10 agencies, all rolled into one online access point.Want to buy a cabin in the woods near Lake Huron?
USG Makes $3.95 Bln Asbestos Pact to Exit Bankruptcy (Update2)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aMfEV9GpYvmo&refer=top_world_news
Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- USG Corp., the No. 1 maker of gypsum wallboard, agreed to pay as much as $3.95 billion to settle asbestos liability claims and emerge from 4 1/2 years of bankruptcy.
USG's shares rose as much as 24 percent after it said the settlement would be financed by selling $1.8 billion in new shares, underwritten by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., owner of 14.6 percent of Chicago-based USG. Berkshire Hathaway will buy whatever stock isn't purchased by current shareholders, who will be offered shares at $40 each, USG said.
The accord will enable USG to exit bankruptcy this year, the company said. Since 1982, at least 77 companies have cited asbestos liability in filing for bankruptcy. Compensating present and future asbestos plaintiffs may cost companies between $140 billion and $300 billion, according to private and public studies. Congress is weighing whether to establish a national asbestos trust to erase the related personal injury suits.
``We view it as another positive in the trend of resolving this longstanding problem'' of asbestos litigation, said Gene Pisasale, who helps manage $48 billion at Baltimore-based Mercantile Bankshares, which owns other company stocks beset with asbestos lawsuits including DuPont Co. ``I think you are going to see more stories like this.''
Publisher’s Note: The greatest sleazeballs of the 21st century
http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=2301
Wednesday 08 February @ 14:33:30
by Ed Felien
Dick Cheney is trying to push through the Senate a bill that would create a national trust fund for victims of asbestos poisoning. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? It does until you realize he’s doing it to cover his and Bush’s butts.A little background:
1114
Welcome to the first web site in America dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the connection between hurricane Katrina and global warming.
Featured Link:LA Times: Mike Tidwell Commentary
It is clear that Hurricane Katrina was no ‘natural’ disaster. Though nature played a part, human action played a key role in exacerbating this disaster. This website is the first step in a bipartisan effort to raise awareness about the connection between hurricanes and global warming.
As we rebuild New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast, we must simultaneously work to prevent the tragedy of Katrina from happening all across our shores; we must work to stop global warming. We invite you to learn how global warming is affecting our country and to get involved in the fight!
Chevron paid agents who destroyed villages
COMPANY DENIES RESPONSIBILITY FOR NIGERIAN DEATHS OR INJURIES, SAYING IT PAID ONLY FOR GENERAL SECURITY SERVICES
By Elise Ackerman
Mercury News
The bodies of the dead Nigerian villagers had not yet grown cold when the Nigerian navy captain presented Chevron with a bill: 15,000 naira, or $165 for responding to "attacks from Opia village against security agents.''
Within 24 hours Chevron paid up. It would be years before the San Ramon-based energy company would acknowledge the role it played in the destruction of Opia and another small village called Ikenyan in Nigeria's oil-rich delta in January 1999.
The receipt for the January 4 army raid, which left four villagers dead and nearly 70 missing and presumed dead, came to light only this summer as part of a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the victims in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. It is being reported first on MercuryNews.com.
The receipt also is among documents obtained by the Mercury News.
Chevron has denied any responsibility for the death or injuries that occurred that day. Charles Stewart, a Chevron spokesman, said the payment to the captain reflected ``a longstanding industry practice of paying a small amount for each day'' to military personnel who protected ``the people and the property of the oil companies located in the Niger Delta.''
The appearance of the receipt comes at a delicate moment for Chevron. The second-largest U.S. oil company is trying to drum up support for its $17 billion bid to buy Unocal, an oil-and-gas exploration company headquartered in El Segundo. Unocal shareholders are scheduled to vote on Chevron's bid on Aug. 10.
Chevron's principal rival in the deal was China's government-controlled CNOOC, that nation's third-largest oil producer. One of the top arguments Chevron's lobbyists have used to persuade members of Congress to side with Chevron is China's human rights record.
CNOOC withdrew its $18.4 billion bid for Unocal Corp. today, ending a politically charged takeover battle that highlighted the United States' growing apprehension about the economic rise of the world's largest country.
CNOOC's retreat clears the way for Chevron, the second largest U.S. oil company, to complete its acquisition of Unocal next week, even though its cash-and-stock offer is currently worth nearly $1 billion less.
Still, Chevron's involvement in the events in Africa are crucial, human rights activists say.
``It's important to look at Chevron's own record, '' said Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of several law firms representing the plaintiffs.
``It's important to look at the allegations of this lawsuit against the backdrop of violence and communal unrest in Nigeria,'' Stewart countered.
In a motion requesting dismissal of the lawsuit, Chevron initially cited press reports that Opia and Ikenyan had been destroyed by a rival tribe. But company documents later surfaced describing how the attacks had occurred a day after Opia youths had visited a nearby Chevron rig and demanded compensation.
Such demands have been common since the mid-1990s, as tribal communities around the Delta have sought a greater share of oil wealth and compensation for spoiled fishing areas and blighted farm land.
When oil exploration began in the 1950s, residents hoped for an economic bonanza. But the anticipated boom never materialized. Half a century later, the 20 million residents who live in the Niger River Delta continue to eke out a bleak existence while the oil fields surrounding their communities rank among the top producers of high-grade petroleum in the world.
By the late 1990s, demands for economic justice were being met with violence. In 1995 the military government executed Ken Saro-Wiwa, a prominent playwright and activist with the Ogoni tribe, along with eight sympathizers. In May 1998, Nigerian forces attacked about 100 members of the Ilaje tribe who were occupying an offshore oil platform belonging to Chevron's Nigerian subsidiary. Two protesters were killed and two were seriously injured. Later that year, Ijaw youth began holding oil company employees hostage.
In December, Ijaw activists issued ``The Kaiama Declaration,'' which called on all oil companies to stop ``exploration and exploitation'' activities in Ijaw areas of December 30. ``We are tired of gas flaring; oil spillages, blowouts and being labeled saboteurs and terrorists,'' the declaration stated. ``It is a case of preparing the noose for our own hanging.''
To oil company executives the declaration meant one thing: Get out by the end of December -- or else. Chevron began evacuating staff from Ijaw areas and preparing for mayhem.
That set the stage for the Opia violence, to which Chevron has been connected by court records.
It was at this time, when company leaders expected the worst, that youths from Opia, a community of thatched huts along Robin Creek, decided to press their grievances with a local Chevron representative. Months earlier, they had submitted a list of items, including fishing nets, traps, hooks and other materials that had been destroyed by Chevron's tug boats and floating barges.
Attorneys representing surviving villagers say their clients, who live without running water, electricity and newspapers, did not know about the Kaiama Declaration when they set out for the rig on January 3.
The returning residents found the rig deserted, except for guards who told the youths to leave. ``They rushed at them and they started beating them, you know, and they fell into the river,'' Anthony Lawuru, the chairman of the community, testified during a deposition in April 2005.
Back at the village, there was an urgent meeting.
``We'd been having a cordial relationship even with the security men,'' Lawuru said. A delegation that included women and elders decided to return with the youths to the rig the next day in order to demonstrate that the youths had community support.
The next day, the guards greeted the delegation with gunfire.
Shaken, the villagers returned to Opia. Not more than 15 minutes had passed before a blue-and-white helicopter dropped out of the sky. As it hovered above the center of the village, just below the level of the coconut trees, the helicopter door opened and gunfire sprayed out, according to sworn testimony,
``We were running into the bush, we heard the gun as it was going round,'' Lawuru said.
He estimated the fusillade continued 15 to 20 minutes. When villagers emerged from the bush nearly all the houses in the village were burning. Canoes, fishing materials, boats had been shot up and burned. Lawuru's brother lay dead.
There was panic as villagers rushed to pack their canoes and flee. In the confusion, Lawuru recalled, four boats known as ``sea trucks'' arrived, full of men in army uniforms. ``They did not land before they started shooting,'' Lawuru said. ``Then we started running again. Another round of running.''
The soldiers then moved downstream to Ikenyan.
There, the scene was replayed. In a declaration submitted in federal court in San Francisco, John Ikenyan, the son of the village chief, said a helicopter first appeared over the houses. ``I thought maybe that Chevron was coming to see my father again as they had before,'' Ikenyan said. Women and children waved.
A shot was fired from the helicopter and then another.
Villagers fled to the bush. Their homes were set on fire. The villagers returned and struggled to put out the flames. With no fire engine, no hoses and no pumps their efforts were hopeless. The sea trucks arrived. Once again, the villagers ran for the bush. Ikenyan said his father, the chief, stayed behind and was shot by the riverside.
``I later learned that many people had been killed or disappeared or were wounded at both Opia and Ikenyan on January 4,'' Ikenyan said.
According to Human Rights Watch, a total of four bodies were recovered from the two villages. Sixty-eight people were missing and believed dead.
Barbara Enloe Hadsell, an attorney for the villagers said that in addition to paying the security forces, Chevron loaned them the helicopter that was used in the attack. She said Chevron personnel not only accompanied the soldiers as they flew to Robin Creek but also directed the pilot to ``deviate from his course'' to pursue villagers who were ``getting away.''
``That's complete Chevron involvement,'' Hadsell said.
Stewart, the Chevron spokesman, admits that Chevron's Nigerian subsidiary helped transport the military reinforcements to the rig after gunfire was heard on the radio. Stewart also acknowledged that a Nigerian military officer onboard one of the helicopters ``discharged a gun during flight.''
But Stewart said Chevron did not authorize the weapons to be fired and that it occurred when no village was in sight. ``We are confident as the case progresses, Chevron will be vindicated,'' he said.
A jury trial on the villagers' claim is currently scheduled for the fall of 2006 in federal court in San Francisco.
Contact Elise Ackerman at eackerman@mercurynews.com or call (650) 688-7588.
COMPANY DENIES RESPONSIBILITY FOR NIGERIAN DEATHS OR INJURIES, SAYING IT PAID ONLY FOR GENERAL SECURITY SERVICES
By Elise Ackerman
Mercury News
The bodies of the dead Nigerian villagers had not yet grown cold when the Nigerian navy captain presented Chevron with a bill: 15,000 naira, or $165 for responding to "attacks from Opia village against security agents.''
Within 24 hours Chevron paid up. It would be years before the San Ramon-based energy company would acknowledge the role it played in the destruction of Opia and another small village called Ikenyan in Nigeria's oil-rich delta in January 1999.
The receipt for the January 4 army raid, which left four villagers dead and nearly 70 missing and presumed dead, came to light only this summer as part of a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the victims in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. It is being reported first on MercuryNews.com.
The receipt also is among documents obtained by the Mercury News.
Chevron has denied any responsibility for the death or injuries that occurred that day. Charles Stewart, a Chevron spokesman, said the payment to the captain reflected ``a longstanding industry practice of paying a small amount for each day'' to military personnel who protected ``the people and the property of the oil companies located in the Niger Delta.''
The appearance of the receipt comes at a delicate moment for Chevron. The second-largest U.S. oil company is trying to drum up support for its $17 billion bid to buy Unocal, an oil-and-gas exploration company headquartered in El Segundo. Unocal shareholders are scheduled to vote on Chevron's bid on Aug. 10.
Chevron's principal rival in the deal was China's government-controlled CNOOC, that nation's third-largest oil producer. One of the top arguments Chevron's lobbyists have used to persuade members of Congress to side with Chevron is China's human rights record.
CNOOC withdrew its $18.4 billion bid for Unocal Corp. today, ending a politically charged takeover battle that highlighted the United States' growing apprehension about the economic rise of the world's largest country.
CNOOC's retreat clears the way for Chevron, the second largest U.S. oil company, to complete its acquisition of Unocal next week, even though its cash-and-stock offer is currently worth nearly $1 billion less.
Still, Chevron's involvement in the events in Africa are crucial, human rights activists say.
``It's important to look at Chevron's own record, '' said Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of several law firms representing the plaintiffs.
``It's important to look at the allegations of this lawsuit against the backdrop of violence and communal unrest in Nigeria,'' Stewart countered.
In a motion requesting dismissal of the lawsuit, Chevron initially cited press reports that Opia and Ikenyan had been destroyed by a rival tribe. But company documents later surfaced describing how the attacks had occurred a day after Opia youths had visited a nearby Chevron rig and demanded compensation.
Such demands have been common since the mid-1990s, as tribal communities around the Delta have sought a greater share of oil wealth and compensation for spoiled fishing areas and blighted farm land.
When oil exploration began in the 1950s, residents hoped for an economic bonanza. But the anticipated boom never materialized. Half a century later, the 20 million residents who live in the Niger River Delta continue to eke out a bleak existence while the oil fields surrounding their communities rank among the top producers of high-grade petroleum in the world.
By the late 1990s, demands for economic justice were being met with violence. In 1995 the military government executed Ken Saro-Wiwa, a prominent playwright and activist with the Ogoni tribe, along with eight sympathizers. In May 1998, Nigerian forces attacked about 100 members of the Ilaje tribe who were occupying an offshore oil platform belonging to Chevron's Nigerian subsidiary. Two protesters were killed and two were seriously injured. Later that year, Ijaw youth began holding oil company employees hostage.
In December, Ijaw activists issued ``The Kaiama Declaration,'' which called on all oil companies to stop ``exploration and exploitation'' activities in Ijaw areas of December 30. ``We are tired of gas flaring; oil spillages, blowouts and being labeled saboteurs and terrorists,'' the declaration stated. ``It is a case of preparing the noose for our own hanging.''
To oil company executives the declaration meant one thing: Get out by the end of December -- or else. Chevron began evacuating staff from Ijaw areas and preparing for mayhem.
That set the stage for the Opia violence, to which Chevron has been connected by court records.
It was at this time, when company leaders expected the worst, that youths from Opia, a community of thatched huts along Robin Creek, decided to press their grievances with a local Chevron representative. Months earlier, they had submitted a list of items, including fishing nets, traps, hooks and other materials that had been destroyed by Chevron's tug boats and floating barges.
Attorneys representing surviving villagers say their clients, who live without running water, electricity and newspapers, did not know about the Kaiama Declaration when they set out for the rig on January 3.
The returning residents found the rig deserted, except for guards who told the youths to leave. ``They rushed at them and they started beating them, you know, and they fell into the river,'' Anthony Lawuru, the chairman of the community, testified during a deposition in April 2005.
Back at the village, there was an urgent meeting.
``We'd been having a cordial relationship even with the security men,'' Lawuru said. A delegation that included women and elders decided to return with the youths to the rig the next day in order to demonstrate that the youths had community support.
The next day, the guards greeted the delegation with gunfire.
Shaken, the villagers returned to Opia. Not more than 15 minutes had passed before a blue-and-white helicopter dropped out of the sky. As it hovered above the center of the village, just below the level of the coconut trees, the helicopter door opened and gunfire sprayed out, according to sworn testimony,
``We were running into the bush, we heard the gun as it was going round,'' Lawuru said.
He estimated the fusillade continued 15 to 20 minutes. When villagers emerged from the bush nearly all the houses in the village were burning. Canoes, fishing materials, boats had been shot up and burned. Lawuru's brother lay dead.
There was panic as villagers rushed to pack their canoes and flee. In the confusion, Lawuru recalled, four boats known as ``sea trucks'' arrived, full of men in army uniforms. ``They did not land before they started shooting,'' Lawuru said. ``Then we started running again. Another round of running.''
The soldiers then moved downstream to Ikenyan.
There, the scene was replayed. In a declaration submitted in federal court in San Francisco, John Ikenyan, the son of the village chief, said a helicopter first appeared over the houses. ``I thought maybe that Chevron was coming to see my father again as they had before,'' Ikenyan said. Women and children waved.
A shot was fired from the helicopter and then another.
Villagers fled to the bush. Their homes were set on fire. The villagers returned and struggled to put out the flames. With no fire engine, no hoses and no pumps their efforts were hopeless. The sea trucks arrived. Once again, the villagers ran for the bush. Ikenyan said his father, the chief, stayed behind and was shot by the riverside.
``I later learned that many people had been killed or disappeared or were wounded at both Opia and Ikenyan on January 4,'' Ikenyan said.
According to Human Rights Watch, a total of four bodies were recovered from the two villages. Sixty-eight people were missing and believed dead.
Barbara Enloe Hadsell, an attorney for the villagers said that in addition to paying the security forces, Chevron loaned them the helicopter that was used in the attack. She said Chevron personnel not only accompanied the soldiers as they flew to Robin Creek but also directed the pilot to ``deviate from his course'' to pursue villagers who were ``getting away.''
``That's complete Chevron involvement,'' Hadsell said.
Stewart, the Chevron spokesman, admits that Chevron's Nigerian subsidiary helped transport the military reinforcements to the rig after gunfire was heard on the radio. Stewart also acknowledged that a Nigerian military officer onboard one of the helicopters ``discharged a gun during flight.''
But Stewart said Chevron did not authorize the weapons to be fired and that it occurred when no village was in sight. ``We are confident as the case progresses, Chevron will be vindicated,'' he said.
A jury trial on the villagers' claim is currently scheduled for the fall of 2006 in federal court in San Francisco.
Contact Elise Ackerman at eackerman@mercurynews.com or call (650) 688-7588.
Group claims New Orleans election plans hurt blacks; lawsuit filed
http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=4483096&nav=5D7l
NEW ORLEANS An advocacy group is trying to stop city elections in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans.The federal court suit argues that the process will keep blacks out of elected office.
The Advancement Project wants changes to the election plan, including polling stations outside the state.
Meanwhile, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People warned that it might organize protests and challenge the elections in court. It says displaced voters need to be given greater consideration in plans to hold elections April 22nd.
Among other races, voters will cast ballots for mayor. So far, the most striking aspect of that race is the number of prominent white business leaders and politicians who have jumped in.
Incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin remains the only black candidate.
Jailed pregnant reporter not accredited-Ethiopia
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09406220.htm
09 Feb 2006 18:29:54 GMTSource: ReutersADDIS ABABA , Feb 9 (Reuters) - A pregnant reporter has been jailed in Ethiopia for more than two weeks, and Ethiopia's Information Ministry said on Thursday she had not been legally accredited.
Press freedom advocates have criticised the arrest without charge of online journalist Frezer Negash, who works for the U.S.-based Ethiopian Review website, which is critical of the government.
Fanthaun Assres, the head of journalist accreditation for Ethiopia's information ministry, said Frezer did not have the proper paperwork.
1128
Cheney Spearheaded Effort To Discredit Wilson
http://www.countercurrents.org/us-leopold100206.htm
On September 14, 2003, during an interview with Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press," Cheney maintained that he didn't know Wilson or have any knowledge about his Niger trip or who was responsible for leaking his wife's name to the media.
"I don't know Joe Wilson," Cheney said, in response to Russert, who quoted Wilson as saying there was no truth to the Niger uranium claims. "I've never met Joe Wilson. And Joe Wilson - I don't who sent Joe Wilson. He never submitted a report that I ever saw when he came back .. I don't know Mr. Wilson. I probably shouldn't judge him. I have no idea who hired him."
This article first appeared on TruthOut
Frank and 45 lawmakers ask Rice to explain U.N. denial
http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories06/february/0210065.htm
by Eric Resnick
Washington, D.C.--Openly lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and 44 other Democrats are demanding that Secretary of State Condolezza Rice explain and repudiate a January 23 United Nations vote against two international gay groups.
Their February 7 action followed Reps. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Tom Lantos of California, who issued separate statements condemning the Bush administration’s United Nations vote to deny status to the two groups.
Ohio Reps. Sherrod Brown and Dennis Kucinich are among the signatories to Baldwin’s effort, as is Lantos.
“I had hopes for better from you,” wrote Frank to Condolezza Rice on February 2.
“I was deeply troubled to learn that the U.S. government, presumably at your direction, sided with some of the most undemocratic, anti-human rights regimes in the world in voting against consultative status for two international organizations, solely on the grounds that they represent gay and lesbian people,” Frank continued.
US waives export restrictions on Pakistan
http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=4483096&nav=5D7l
NEW ORLEANS An advocacy group is trying to stop city elections in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans.The federal court suit argues that the process will keep blacks out of elected office.
The Advancement Project wants changes to the election plan, including polling stations outside the state.
Meanwhile, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People warned that it might organize protests and challenge the elections in court. It says displaced voters need to be given greater consideration in plans to hold elections April 22nd.
Among other races, voters will cast ballots for mayor. So far, the most striking aspect of that race is the number of prominent white business leaders and politicians who have jumped in.
Incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin remains the only black candidate.
Jailed pregnant reporter not accredited-Ethiopia
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09406220.htm
09 Feb 2006 18:29:54 GMTSource: ReutersADDIS ABABA , Feb 9 (Reuters) - A pregnant reporter has been jailed in Ethiopia for more than two weeks, and Ethiopia's Information Ministry said on Thursday she had not been legally accredited.
Press freedom advocates have criticised the arrest without charge of online journalist Frezer Negash, who works for the U.S.-based Ethiopian Review website, which is critical of the government.
Fanthaun Assres, the head of journalist accreditation for Ethiopia's information ministry, said Frezer did not have the proper paperwork.
1128
Cheney Spearheaded Effort To Discredit Wilson
http://www.countercurrents.org/us-leopold100206.htm
On September 14, 2003, during an interview with Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press," Cheney maintained that he didn't know Wilson or have any knowledge about his Niger trip or who was responsible for leaking his wife's name to the media.
"I don't know Joe Wilson," Cheney said, in response to Russert, who quoted Wilson as saying there was no truth to the Niger uranium claims. "I've never met Joe Wilson. And Joe Wilson - I don't who sent Joe Wilson. He never submitted a report that I ever saw when he came back .. I don't know Mr. Wilson. I probably shouldn't judge him. I have no idea who hired him."
This article first appeared on TruthOut
Frank and 45 lawmakers ask Rice to explain U.N. denial
http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories06/february/0210065.htm
by Eric Resnick
Washington, D.C.--Openly lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and 44 other Democrats are demanding that Secretary of State Condolezza Rice explain and repudiate a January 23 United Nations vote against two international gay groups.
Their February 7 action followed Reps. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Tom Lantos of California, who issued separate statements condemning the Bush administration’s United Nations vote to deny status to the two groups.
Ohio Reps. Sherrod Brown and Dennis Kucinich are among the signatories to Baldwin’s effort, as is Lantos.
“I had hopes for better from you,” wrote Frank to Condolezza Rice on February 2.
“I was deeply troubled to learn that the U.S. government, presumably at your direction, sided with some of the most undemocratic, anti-human rights regimes in the world in voting against consultative status for two international organizations, solely on the grounds that they represent gay and lesbian people,” Frank continued.
US waives export restrictions on Pakistan
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200602091001.htm
Washington, Feb. 9. (PTI): The United States has waived restrictions on exports to Pakistan noting that it would facilitate the transition to democratic process in the country.
US President George W Bush yesterday eased the prohibitions under the 'Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Relations Programmes Appropriations Act of 2006', which targets countries where a coup has overthrown a democratically formed government.
Asking Secretary of State Condolezza Rice to inform about the waiver to the Congress, Bush said that the easing of prohibitions under the Section 508 of the Act was "aimed at facilitating the transition to democratic rule" in Pakistan.
The waiver was also "important to the United States' efforts to respond to, deter or prevent acts of international terrorism," the memo to Rice said.
IN CONCLDING for the evening? George H. W. Bush should have raised a son that was WILLING to be first honest.
E. N. O. U. G. H.
Friday, February 10, 2006
AC360 morphs into "Larry King, Jr. LIVE"
959
The Entwistle Murder
Jason Carroll
Briton accused of killing wife and baby in US
By Nick Britten and Harry Mount
(Filed: 10/02/2006)
A Briton appeared in court last night hours after being charged with the murders of his American wife and their baby daughter.
Extradition proceedings have been started to take Neil Entwistle back to the United States to face trial over the death of his wife, Rachel, and nine-month-old daughter, Lillian.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/10/ntwistle10.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/10/ixnewstop.html
Winter Olympics videos
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=owner%3Anbc_olympics
Event Schedule
http://www.nbcolympics.com/results/index.html
The Official Site of the Olympic Games
http://www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp
Follow the Flame
1011
commercials
Donate to the Gulf Coast Hurricanes Recovery Fund for Children
In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Save the Children is focusing on the needs of children in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi and expanding its response efforts to include other rural communities in Southern Louisiana recently devastated. Save the Children is combining its international and U.S. expertise to help children heal and recover through structured programs including drawing, music and cooperative games and activities and expanding its after-school programs focusing on literacy, physical activity and good health and nutrition.
http://www.savethechildren.org/radio_hurricane_usa.asp?stationpub=x_ggkatrina_da
1014
More about the Entwistle. Trying the trial before it happens.
Jill Carroll. The kidnappers need to let her go. They received women out of jail already. Women are free and so Jill should be. The kidnappers aren't living up to their promise. Let Jill secure the release of those still in question after she is released. I know the newpaper she works for will do the right thing. The kidnappers have to prove they are trustworthy and not just killers !
Timeline of Events Involving Jill Carroll
By The Associated Press
© 2006 The Associated Press
— Here's a timeline of events involving Jill Carroll, a 28-year-old freelance reporter on assignment for The Christian Science Monitor who was seized Jan. 7 in Baghdad:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/3648520.html
Jill Carroll update
•
Posted February 9, 2006 at 4:55 p.m.
A newly released video of abducted reporter Jill Carroll has been aired by a Kuwaiti TV station, Al Rai TV, and rebroadcast on US networks. In the video, which was shown with audio, Jill Carroll appeared composed - a stark contrast to the previous video that aired on Al Jazeera on Jan. 30, in which Carroll appeared distressed.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0113/carroll_update.html
1018
The news secretary
1020
Commercials
1025
More Entwistle Exploitation. Here we go with the OJ murder trials all over again. This is sad. He is turning his 120 minutes of programming into "Larry King Live." Where is Dr. Lee? Anderson Cooper, failure. All the 'weighty' issues of the world await. Where is Aaron?
Residents break law to restore power
NEW ORLEANS — Tired of waiting in the dark for the lights to come back on, Walter Vine took matters into his own hands: He unscrewed his electrical meter and rigged it to bring power into his flood-damaged home.
Vine, a building contractor, broke the law and risked serious injury or death. But like so many others in this hurricane-ravaged city, he figured it was the only way to avoid the red tape and frustration so many have faced in trying to get their electricity restored.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060209/NEWS0110/602090358
Israel stunned by Putin's remarks
Acting PM's aides say Olmert disappointed over Russian president's invitation to Hamas leaders, say Putin's remarks contradict Quartet's stance; Minister Boim: Putin dancing with wolves. Meanwhile, Annan counsels international patience with Hamas
Ronny Sofer
Officials at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem expressed their shock Thursday evening following Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation to Hamas leaders to visit Moscow.
The officials made it clear that Putin's remarks contradict the Quartet's stance. They added that the Putin's statement Russia does not consider Hamas a terror group contradicts the outlook of the entire international community.
"Russia is part of the Quartet, and the Quartet's statement after Hamas' election was totally different," a senior official in Jerusalem said.
Putin's move is considered by Israel as a breach of the international circle of agreement regarding Hamas. Following the PA elections and talks held by Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni with state leaders and foreign ministers, it appeared that Russia would act according to the same understandings.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3213842,00.html
Olmert speaks to Chirac, Annan
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tells world leaders that Israel will hold talks with Hamas only if group disarms, abandons pledge to distroy Israel and supports PA-Israel agreements
Ronny Sofer
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Saturday that Israel will hold talks with Hamas only if the Islamic group disarms, abandons pledges to destroy Israel and endorses agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3207503,00.html
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Commercials
1033
Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information
By Murray Waas / National Journal
Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, testified to a federal grand jury that he had been "authorized" by Cheney and other White House "superiors" in the summer of 2003 to disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case to go to war with Iraq, according to attorneys familiar with the matter, and to court records.
Libby specifically claimed that in one instance he had been authorized to divulge portions of a then-still highly classified National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein's purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons, according to correspondence recently filed in federal court by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5805
Haitian Vote Count Continues; Preval Takes Early Lead
By Amelia Shaw
Port-au-Prince
10 February 2006
In Haiti, front-running candidate Rene Preval has taken an early lead as election workers continue to count ballots from the national elections on Tuesday. Millions of Haitians turned out for the balloting, which is the first since former president Jean Bertrand Aristide was forced into exile following a violent uprising two years ago.
Ballots keep trickling in to the capital, transported from the rural areas by helicopter, truck and mules.
Preliminary figures give the front-runner candidate Rene Preval an early lead in the race for president. A 63-year old agronomist and former president, Preval is one of the few Haitian leaders who served out his term without being overthrown. Seen as a close ally of former president Aristide, Preval gained widespread support among Haiti's poor.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-02-10-voa2.cfm
Military action on a nuclear Iran 'not inevitable'
09.02.06 1.00pm
By Madeline Chambers
LONDON - Military action against Iran is not inevitable even if the Islamic state develops the technology to build a nuclear bomb, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said today.
Straw, pressed by a parliamentary committee about the possibility of Western powers taking military action against Iran over its atomic ambitions, repeated that such a step was not on the agenda and insisted he would pursue diplomacy.
"I don't believe that even if Iran were in that position (of having the capability to make nuclear weapons) that there would be nothing the international community could do about it short of ... military action," Straw told the committee.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10367472
Istanbul bomb blast kills 1, wounds 16 others
10.02.06 12.20pm
By Daren Butler
ISTANBUL - A bomb blast today at an internet cafe in Istanbul killed a man and injured 16 other people, including seven police officers, and a hardline Kurdish group claimed responsibility.
The Kurdistan Liberation Hawks, which has claimed to be behind a series of bombings in Turkey in recent years, carried out the attack in the Bayrampasa district, not far from Istanbul airport, according to a person who called the Kurdish Firat news agency claiming to speak on behalf of the group.
The group is believed to have links to outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting security forces in southeast Turkey. It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the report.
"It's a bomb explosion," Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah told reporters after visiting the scene.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10367654
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See John King the fast talking mess maker was sent in to bolster Anderson's inability to do same. Gee, whiz, John that is some of the 'fastest and slickest' talking I ever hear.
Cheney authorised leak in CIA case, says report
10.02.06 2.15pm
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney directed his aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby to use classified material to discredit a critic of the Bush administration's Iraq war effort, the National Journal reported today.
Court papers released last week show that Libby was authorized to disclose classified information to news reporters by "his superiors," in an effort to counteract diplomat Joe Wilson's charge that the Bush administration twisted intelligence on Iraq's nuclear weapons to justify the 2003 invasion.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10367702
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Religious right calls for action on climate
10.02.06
By Rupert Cornwell
WASHINGTON - Evangelical Christians, pillars of the Bush Administration and the Republican majorities in Congress, are increasingly breaking with the White House and demanding real action to tackle climate change.
Yesterday 86 prominent figures in the movement, among them leading pastors, the heads of evangelical colleges and the Salvation Army, released a statement warning that "millions of people could die this century" because of global warming - most of them in the poorest regions of the earth.
Until recently global warming has not been a priority for evangelicals, most familiar for their uncompromising stances on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage, and their emphasis on the family.
"Many of us required considerable convincing" that it was a problem, the statement acknowledges. "Now we have seen and heard enough."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367603
Fears grow after bird flu moves into Africa
10.02.06 1.00pm
By Estelle Shirbon
JAJI, Nigeria - The unexplained deaths of large numbers of birds in northern Nigeria fanned fears today that the H5N1 avian flu virus was spreading rapidly after it was detected in Africa for the first time.
Bird flu has killed at least 88 people since it re-emerged in late 2003, most of the victims in east Asia. Indonesia said today that two women in their 20s had tested positive for the virus and were being treated at a specialist Jakarta hospital.
The virus has been spreading steadily westwards, killing four children in an outbreak in eastern Turkey last month and also claiming the life of a teenager in war-ravaged Iraq.
Greece said it had found an H5 bird flu virus in three swans and has sent samples to Britain to find out if it is the deadly H5N1 strain.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367663
Fossils of T.rex relative unearthed in China
09.02.06 1.00pm
By Steve Connor
Fossils of the earliest known relative of Tyrannosaurus rex - one of the largest of the meat-eating dinosaurs - have been unearthed in the desert of western China.
A scientific analysis of the fossilised remains has revealed that the creature lived some 160 million years ago, about 90 million years prior to T.rex, and sported an ornamental bony crest on its nose.
Scientists believe that the dinosaur belonged to the same group of extinct animals that gave rise to T.rex.
Like other tyrannosaurs, it was a carnivore that walked on two legs, although it was substantially smaller than its more famous cousin.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367487
Toxic waste ends Sydney harbour commercial fishing
10.02.06
SYDNEY - Toxic waste in Sydney Harbour has forced authorities to end centuries of commercial fishing, warn recreational anglers not to eat too much harbour fish, and undertake a A$200 ($220.70) million clean-up programme.
The New South Wales state government announced yesterday an end to commercial fishing after tests showed the level of cancer-causing dioxin in fish was almost 100 times World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended maximum levels.
The state's Primary Industry Minister Ian Macdonald said the dioxin, a key ingredient of the Agent Orange defoliant used in the Vietnam War, was the result of years of industrial pollution and that further fish testing would occur.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367607
'Happy' pills put newborns at risk
10.02.06
Prozac-type antidepressants can raise the risk of a potentially deadly breathing problem in newborns but only if the mother takes them during the second half of pregnancy, a study shows. A team led by Christina Chambers of the University of California at San Diego found that women taking selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors, the drug class that includes Prozac, were six times more likely to have a baby suffering from persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN).
In moderately severe cases, PPHN kills about up to 20 per cent of babies and half the survivors are left with serious abnormalities.
However, Dr Chambers and her colleagues found that exposure to the medicines posed no risk during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Nor did other classes of antidepressants.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367537
US straps down Guantanamo hunger strikers, says report
10.02.06
NEW YORK - US military officials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, strapped hunger-striking prisoners into restraint chairs for hours to feed them through tubes and isolated them in cold cells, The New York Times said yesterday.
A Pentagon official said there was no one immediately available to comment on the report.
The Times, citing unnamed military officials, said tougher measures came in recent weeks after authorities concluded some of the prisoners were determined to kill themselves.
The apparent result has been a sharp drop in the number of inmates refusing to eat. Only four hunger strikers remain, down from 84 at the end of December, the chief military spokesman at Guantanamo, Lt. Col. Jeremy M. Martin, told the newspaper.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367629
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Randy McCloy.
Manchin Makes Good on Promise to Families
Posted 1/23/2006 10:05 PM
Announces new mine safety proposal
Story by Nicole Ward
"What we did ... is we kept our promise to the families -- our promise that the loved ones of the 14 -- did not die in vain, our promise to our miracle Randall McCLoy Jr. That his colleagues should not have to go into a situation that is not as safe as it could be."
Governor Joe Manchin made good on his promise on Monday. After two mining accidents and 14 miners dead in a span of just three weeks, Manchin wants to turn tragedy into a new beginning.
http://wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=8245
Dead boy in southern Iraq may be bird flu victim
Tue Feb 7, 2006 7:16 PM GMT
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-07T191627Z_01_GEO754474_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BIRDFLU-IRAQ.xml&archived=False
US troops look set for a long haul in Iraq
By Robert Reid
Baghdad - All signs point to a major draw-down of United States troops in Iraq in 2006 - perhaps to fewer than 100 000 by the year's end. But it is far from certain when there will be further reductions, or a total pullout, after that.
In fact, it now looks as if the United States may have a long-term and substantial military presence in Iraq, military experts say.
Generals have been reluctant to set specific public timetables, but General George W. Casey Junior, the top US commander, noted this week that insurgencies in the 20th century lasted on average nine years. The Iraq war is coming up on year three.
Pasted from <http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=2813&art_id=qw1139519165388B226&click_id=2813&set_id=1>
Control of Bird Flu Difficult in Iraq Because of Poor Communications, Scarce Equipment, Violence
By PAUL GARWOOD
BAGHDAD, Iraq Feb 9, 2006 (AP)— Some Iraqi farmers are letting their birds loose rather than slaughter them and the lack of a proper shipping container has kept the tissue sample of a man suspected of dying of bird flu sitting in Baghdad despite reports it was being tested abroad.
Poor communications, scarce equipment and the dangers of the insurgency are all plaguing efforts to combat bird flu in Iraq.
In Nigeria, meanwhile, the deadly H5N1 strain has been detected in two more northern states and has been killing birds some 100,000 for weeks, Nigerian authorities said Thursday, raising fears the disease will spread elsewhere in Africa.
Pasted from <http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=1600158>
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The news secretary
Bishop Of St Davids Slams Bush's War On Terror.
THE Bishop of St Davids has slammed the American “crusade” in the Middle East and called for understanding and respect.
Speaking at the Islamophobia conference in Carmarthen yesterday, Bishop Carl Cooper attacked the rhetoric used by US President George Bush to support an “unjustifiable” war on terror.
During his speech, Bishop Cooper also criticised First Minister Rhodri Morgan’s recent refusal to state whether supported the invasion of Iraq.
He also called for greater understanding and respect between the world’s major religions in light of events surrounding the publication of anti-Islamic cartoons in a Danish newspaper.
http://www.pembrokeshiretv.com/content/templates/v6-article.asp?articleid=1402&zoneid=50
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1059
On the West Coast and Frankenstein, the boy toy takes over. The people of LA don't deserve to be treated with respect. Only Hollywood glitz and gimmicks. This is a news program? Could have fooled me.
1101
Anderson, the boy toy, is confused about Libby and Cheney. What's so hard to understand Anderson? Libby finally figured out he was being fucked.
1102
Scotty. The Scotty dog of the Bush White House. There's Scotty the 'trained doggy liar.' Sit up and roll over, Scootie dog.
White House messages missing in Plame case
By Joe Baker, Senior Editor
Print this page
More than two dozen e-mails related to CIA agent Valerie Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, are missing, according to investigative reporter Jason Leopold. The messages were sent to several senior members of the George W. Bush administration between May 2003 and July 2003.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald suspects these messages may have been destroyed.
In the most recent development, Vice President Richard Cheney has been implicated in the case. A formerly secret legal opinion, disclosed in court proceedings against Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s former chief of staff, stated that Cheney told Libby about the identity of Valerie Plame more than a month before it was revealed by right-wing columnist Robert Novak.
Knowledgeable sources close to the investigation said the e-mails were sent by Libby, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, then Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, former CIA official Frederick Fleitz, former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, John Hannah, former Cheney National Security assistant David Wurmser, former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs John Bolton and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.
Leopold reported Fitzgerald also believes some e-mails sent to Vice-President Cheney by Libby and some senior officials of the CIA, as well as the replies, were not turned over to his staff.
Sources told Leopold that the Special Prosecutor learned of the missing e-mails during grand jury testimony by key figures in the case. Some of them are cooperating with Fitzgerald to avoid being indicted for their own parts in the leak of Plame’s identity.
http://www.rockrivertimes.com/index.pl?cmd=viewstory&cat=2&id=12390
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So when is Larry King leaving while Anderson has three hours of his glamour shot? I mean it just isn't right that Blitzer has more exposure than Cooper on live television.
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1119
Top Boehner Aide Tied To Trip To Visit Abramoff Client
WASHINGTON D.C. -- Records obtained by The Associated Press show that the former chief of staff for House Majority Leader John Boehner helped plan a 1996 trip to the Northern Marian Islands organized by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Barry Jackson -- who is now chief deputy to White House adviser Karl Rove -- later decided to not go on the trip.
But Jackson's involvement runs counter to Boehner's recent claims that his office's contact with Abramoff was incidental and only involved lower-level staff.
Abramoff is the central figure in a wide-ranging corruption probe in Congress.
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/6841111/detail.html
The Entwistle Murder
Jason Carroll
Briton accused of killing wife and baby in US
By Nick Britten and Harry Mount
(Filed: 10/02/2006)
A Briton appeared in court last night hours after being charged with the murders of his American wife and their baby daughter.
Extradition proceedings have been started to take Neil Entwistle back to the United States to face trial over the death of his wife, Rachel, and nine-month-old daughter, Lillian.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/10/ntwistle10.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/10/ixnewstop.html
Winter Olympics videos
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=owner%3Anbc_olympics
Event Schedule
http://www.nbcolympics.com/results/index.html
The Official Site of the Olympic Games
http://www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp
Follow the Flame
1011
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Donate to the Gulf Coast Hurricanes Recovery Fund for Children
In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Save the Children is focusing on the needs of children in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi and expanding its response efforts to include other rural communities in Southern Louisiana recently devastated. Save the Children is combining its international and U.S. expertise to help children heal and recover through structured programs including drawing, music and cooperative games and activities and expanding its after-school programs focusing on literacy, physical activity and good health and nutrition.
http://www.savethechildren.org/radio_hurricane_usa.asp?stationpub=x_ggkatrina_da
1014
More about the Entwistle. Trying the trial before it happens.
Jill Carroll. The kidnappers need to let her go. They received women out of jail already. Women are free and so Jill should be. The kidnappers aren't living up to their promise. Let Jill secure the release of those still in question after she is released. I know the newpaper she works for will do the right thing. The kidnappers have to prove they are trustworthy and not just killers !
Timeline of Events Involving Jill Carroll
By The Associated Press
© 2006 The Associated Press
— Here's a timeline of events involving Jill Carroll, a 28-year-old freelance reporter on assignment for The Christian Science Monitor who was seized Jan. 7 in Baghdad:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/3648520.html
Jill Carroll update
•
Posted February 9, 2006 at 4:55 p.m.
A newly released video of abducted reporter Jill Carroll has been aired by a Kuwaiti TV station, Al Rai TV, and rebroadcast on US networks. In the video, which was shown with audio, Jill Carroll appeared composed - a stark contrast to the previous video that aired on Al Jazeera on Jan. 30, in which Carroll appeared distressed.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0113/carroll_update.html
1018
The news secretary
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1025
More Entwistle Exploitation. Here we go with the OJ murder trials all over again. This is sad. He is turning his 120 minutes of programming into "Larry King Live." Where is Dr. Lee? Anderson Cooper, failure. All the 'weighty' issues of the world await. Where is Aaron?
Residents break law to restore power
NEW ORLEANS — Tired of waiting in the dark for the lights to come back on, Walter Vine took matters into his own hands: He unscrewed his electrical meter and rigged it to bring power into his flood-damaged home.
Vine, a building contractor, broke the law and risked serious injury or death. But like so many others in this hurricane-ravaged city, he figured it was the only way to avoid the red tape and frustration so many have faced in trying to get their electricity restored.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060209/NEWS0110/602090358
Israel stunned by Putin's remarks
Acting PM's aides say Olmert disappointed over Russian president's invitation to Hamas leaders, say Putin's remarks contradict Quartet's stance; Minister Boim: Putin dancing with wolves. Meanwhile, Annan counsels international patience with Hamas
Ronny Sofer
Officials at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem expressed their shock Thursday evening following Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation to Hamas leaders to visit Moscow.
The officials made it clear that Putin's remarks contradict the Quartet's stance. They added that the Putin's statement Russia does not consider Hamas a terror group contradicts the outlook of the entire international community.
"Russia is part of the Quartet, and the Quartet's statement after Hamas' election was totally different," a senior official in Jerusalem said.
Putin's move is considered by Israel as a breach of the international circle of agreement regarding Hamas. Following the PA elections and talks held by Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni with state leaders and foreign ministers, it appeared that Russia would act according to the same understandings.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3213842,00.html
Olmert speaks to Chirac, Annan
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tells world leaders that Israel will hold talks with Hamas only if group disarms, abandons pledge to distroy Israel and supports PA-Israel agreements
Ronny Sofer
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Saturday that Israel will hold talks with Hamas only if the Islamic group disarms, abandons pledges to destroy Israel and endorses agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3207503,00.html
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Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information
By Murray Waas / National Journal
Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, testified to a federal grand jury that he had been "authorized" by Cheney and other White House "superiors" in the summer of 2003 to disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case to go to war with Iraq, according to attorneys familiar with the matter, and to court records.
Libby specifically claimed that in one instance he had been authorized to divulge portions of a then-still highly classified National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein's purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons, according to correspondence recently filed in federal court by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5805
Haitian Vote Count Continues; Preval Takes Early Lead
By Amelia Shaw
Port-au-Prince
10 February 2006
In Haiti, front-running candidate Rene Preval has taken an early lead as election workers continue to count ballots from the national elections on Tuesday. Millions of Haitians turned out for the balloting, which is the first since former president Jean Bertrand Aristide was forced into exile following a violent uprising two years ago.
Ballots keep trickling in to the capital, transported from the rural areas by helicopter, truck and mules.
Preliminary figures give the front-runner candidate Rene Preval an early lead in the race for president. A 63-year old agronomist and former president, Preval is one of the few Haitian leaders who served out his term without being overthrown. Seen as a close ally of former president Aristide, Preval gained widespread support among Haiti's poor.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-02-10-voa2.cfm
Military action on a nuclear Iran 'not inevitable'
09.02.06 1.00pm
By Madeline Chambers
LONDON - Military action against Iran is not inevitable even if the Islamic state develops the technology to build a nuclear bomb, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said today.
Straw, pressed by a parliamentary committee about the possibility of Western powers taking military action against Iran over its atomic ambitions, repeated that such a step was not on the agenda and insisted he would pursue diplomacy.
"I don't believe that even if Iran were in that position (of having the capability to make nuclear weapons) that there would be nothing the international community could do about it short of ... military action," Straw told the committee.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10367472
Istanbul bomb blast kills 1, wounds 16 others
10.02.06 12.20pm
By Daren Butler
ISTANBUL - A bomb blast today at an internet cafe in Istanbul killed a man and injured 16 other people, including seven police officers, and a hardline Kurdish group claimed responsibility.
The Kurdistan Liberation Hawks, which has claimed to be behind a series of bombings in Turkey in recent years, carried out the attack in the Bayrampasa district, not far from Istanbul airport, according to a person who called the Kurdish Firat news agency claiming to speak on behalf of the group.
The group is believed to have links to outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting security forces in southeast Turkey. It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the report.
"It's a bomb explosion," Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah told reporters after visiting the scene.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10367654
1036
See John King the fast talking mess maker was sent in to bolster Anderson's inability to do same. Gee, whiz, John that is some of the 'fastest and slickest' talking I ever hear.
Cheney authorised leak in CIA case, says report
10.02.06 2.15pm
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney directed his aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby to use classified material to discredit a critic of the Bush administration's Iraq war effort, the National Journal reported today.
Court papers released last week show that Libby was authorized to disclose classified information to news reporters by "his superiors," in an effort to counteract diplomat Joe Wilson's charge that the Bush administration twisted intelligence on Iraq's nuclear weapons to justify the 2003 invasion.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10367702
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Religious right calls for action on climate
10.02.06
By Rupert Cornwell
WASHINGTON - Evangelical Christians, pillars of the Bush Administration and the Republican majorities in Congress, are increasingly breaking with the White House and demanding real action to tackle climate change.
Yesterday 86 prominent figures in the movement, among them leading pastors, the heads of evangelical colleges and the Salvation Army, released a statement warning that "millions of people could die this century" because of global warming - most of them in the poorest regions of the earth.
Until recently global warming has not been a priority for evangelicals, most familiar for their uncompromising stances on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage, and their emphasis on the family.
"Many of us required considerable convincing" that it was a problem, the statement acknowledges. "Now we have seen and heard enough."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367603
Fears grow after bird flu moves into Africa
10.02.06 1.00pm
By Estelle Shirbon
JAJI, Nigeria - The unexplained deaths of large numbers of birds in northern Nigeria fanned fears today that the H5N1 avian flu virus was spreading rapidly after it was detected in Africa for the first time.
Bird flu has killed at least 88 people since it re-emerged in late 2003, most of the victims in east Asia. Indonesia said today that two women in their 20s had tested positive for the virus and were being treated at a specialist Jakarta hospital.
The virus has been spreading steadily westwards, killing four children in an outbreak in eastern Turkey last month and also claiming the life of a teenager in war-ravaged Iraq.
Greece said it had found an H5 bird flu virus in three swans and has sent samples to Britain to find out if it is the deadly H5N1 strain.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367663
Fossils of T.rex relative unearthed in China
09.02.06 1.00pm
By Steve Connor
Fossils of the earliest known relative of Tyrannosaurus rex - one of the largest of the meat-eating dinosaurs - have been unearthed in the desert of western China.
A scientific analysis of the fossilised remains has revealed that the creature lived some 160 million years ago, about 90 million years prior to T.rex, and sported an ornamental bony crest on its nose.
Scientists believe that the dinosaur belonged to the same group of extinct animals that gave rise to T.rex.
Like other tyrannosaurs, it was a carnivore that walked on two legs, although it was substantially smaller than its more famous cousin.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367487
Toxic waste ends Sydney harbour commercial fishing
10.02.06
SYDNEY - Toxic waste in Sydney Harbour has forced authorities to end centuries of commercial fishing, warn recreational anglers not to eat too much harbour fish, and undertake a A$200 ($220.70) million clean-up programme.
The New South Wales state government announced yesterday an end to commercial fishing after tests showed the level of cancer-causing dioxin in fish was almost 100 times World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended maximum levels.
The state's Primary Industry Minister Ian Macdonald said the dioxin, a key ingredient of the Agent Orange defoliant used in the Vietnam War, was the result of years of industrial pollution and that further fish testing would occur.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367607
'Happy' pills put newborns at risk
10.02.06
Prozac-type antidepressants can raise the risk of a potentially deadly breathing problem in newborns but only if the mother takes them during the second half of pregnancy, a study shows. A team led by Christina Chambers of the University of California at San Diego found that women taking selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors, the drug class that includes Prozac, were six times more likely to have a baby suffering from persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN).
In moderately severe cases, PPHN kills about up to 20 per cent of babies and half the survivors are left with serious abnormalities.
However, Dr Chambers and her colleagues found that exposure to the medicines posed no risk during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Nor did other classes of antidepressants.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367537
US straps down Guantanamo hunger strikers, says report
10.02.06
NEW YORK - US military officials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, strapped hunger-striking prisoners into restraint chairs for hours to feed them through tubes and isolated them in cold cells, The New York Times said yesterday.
A Pentagon official said there was no one immediately available to comment on the report.
The Times, citing unnamed military officials, said tougher measures came in recent weeks after authorities concluded some of the prisoners were determined to kill themselves.
The apparent result has been a sharp drop in the number of inmates refusing to eat. Only four hunger strikers remain, down from 84 at the end of December, the chief military spokesman at Guantanamo, Lt. Col. Jeremy M. Martin, told the newspaper.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367629
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1051
Randy McCloy.
Manchin Makes Good on Promise to Families
Posted 1/23/2006 10:05 PM
Announces new mine safety proposal
Story by Nicole Ward
"What we did ... is we kept our promise to the families -- our promise that the loved ones of the 14 -- did not die in vain, our promise to our miracle Randall McCLoy Jr. That his colleagues should not have to go into a situation that is not as safe as it could be."
Governor Joe Manchin made good on his promise on Monday. After two mining accidents and 14 miners dead in a span of just three weeks, Manchin wants to turn tragedy into a new beginning.
http://wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=8245
Dead boy in southern Iraq may be bird flu victim
Tue Feb 7, 2006 7:16 PM GMT
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-07T191627Z_01_GEO754474_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BIRDFLU-IRAQ.xml&archived=False
US troops look set for a long haul in Iraq
By Robert Reid
Baghdad - All signs point to a major draw-down of United States troops in Iraq in 2006 - perhaps to fewer than 100 000 by the year's end. But it is far from certain when there will be further reductions, or a total pullout, after that.
In fact, it now looks as if the United States may have a long-term and substantial military presence in Iraq, military experts say.
Generals have been reluctant to set specific public timetables, but General George W. Casey Junior, the top US commander, noted this week that insurgencies in the 20th century lasted on average nine years. The Iraq war is coming up on year three.
Pasted from <http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=2813&art_id=qw1139519165388B226&click_id=2813&set_id=1>
Control of Bird Flu Difficult in Iraq Because of Poor Communications, Scarce Equipment, Violence
By PAUL GARWOOD
BAGHDAD, Iraq Feb 9, 2006 (AP)— Some Iraqi farmers are letting their birds loose rather than slaughter them and the lack of a proper shipping container has kept the tissue sample of a man suspected of dying of bird flu sitting in Baghdad despite reports it was being tested abroad.
Poor communications, scarce equipment and the dangers of the insurgency are all plaguing efforts to combat bird flu in Iraq.
In Nigeria, meanwhile, the deadly H5N1 strain has been detected in two more northern states and has been killing birds some 100,000 for weeks, Nigerian authorities said Thursday, raising fears the disease will spread elsewhere in Africa.
Pasted from <http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=1600158>
1054
The news secretary
Bishop Of St Davids Slams Bush's War On Terror.
THE Bishop of St Davids has slammed the American “crusade” in the Middle East and called for understanding and respect.
Speaking at the Islamophobia conference in Carmarthen yesterday, Bishop Carl Cooper attacked the rhetoric used by US President George Bush to support an “unjustifiable” war on terror.
During his speech, Bishop Cooper also criticised First Minister Rhodri Morgan’s recent refusal to state whether supported the invasion of Iraq.
He also called for greater understanding and respect between the world’s major religions in light of events surrounding the publication of anti-Islamic cartoons in a Danish newspaper.
http://www.pembrokeshiretv.com/content/templates/v6-article.asp?articleid=1402&zoneid=50
1056
Commercials
1059
On the West Coast and Frankenstein, the boy toy takes over. The people of LA don't deserve to be treated with respect. Only Hollywood glitz and gimmicks. This is a news program? Could have fooled me.
1101
Anderson, the boy toy, is confused about Libby and Cheney. What's so hard to understand Anderson? Libby finally figured out he was being fucked.
1102
Scotty. The Scotty dog of the Bush White House. There's Scotty the 'trained doggy liar.' Sit up and roll over, Scootie dog.
White House messages missing in Plame case
By Joe Baker, Senior Editor
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More than two dozen e-mails related to CIA agent Valerie Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, are missing, according to investigative reporter Jason Leopold. The messages were sent to several senior members of the George W. Bush administration between May 2003 and July 2003.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald suspects these messages may have been destroyed.
In the most recent development, Vice President Richard Cheney has been implicated in the case. A formerly secret legal opinion, disclosed in court proceedings against Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s former chief of staff, stated that Cheney told Libby about the identity of Valerie Plame more than a month before it was revealed by right-wing columnist Robert Novak.
Knowledgeable sources close to the investigation said the e-mails were sent by Libby, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, then Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, former CIA official Frederick Fleitz, former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, John Hannah, former Cheney National Security assistant David Wurmser, former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs John Bolton and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.
Leopold reported Fitzgerald also believes some e-mails sent to Vice-President Cheney by Libby and some senior officials of the CIA, as well as the replies, were not turned over to his staff.
Sources told Leopold that the Special Prosecutor learned of the missing e-mails during grand jury testimony by key figures in the case. Some of them are cooperating with Fitzgerald to avoid being indicted for their own parts in the leak of Plame’s identity.
http://www.rockrivertimes.com/index.pl?cmd=viewstory&cat=2&id=12390
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So when is Larry King leaving while Anderson has three hours of his glamour shot? I mean it just isn't right that Blitzer has more exposure than Cooper on live television.
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Top Boehner Aide Tied To Trip To Visit Abramoff Client
WASHINGTON D.C. -- Records obtained by The Associated Press show that the former chief of staff for House Majority Leader John Boehner helped plan a 1996 trip to the Northern Marian Islands organized by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Barry Jackson -- who is now chief deputy to White House adviser Karl Rove -- later decided to not go on the trip.
But Jackson's involvement runs counter to Boehner's recent claims that his office's contact with Abramoff was incidental and only involved lower-level staff.
Abramoff is the central figure in a wide-ranging corruption probe in Congress.
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/6841111/detail.html
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