What are we to believe?
HOMEA couple links to help you quickly and easily contact your State's Representatives and Senators. Also lists important Congressional issues
CapWiz via NOW
CapWiz via The Nation
Links to transcripts of Pres, VP, Pentagon etc
Ari Fleischer
President
('News by Date' in col)
Pentagon
(Rumsfeld, Meyers, Franks, Wolfowitz)
CNN
(crossfire, Aaron Brown etc)
Cheney
Tracking press conferences, news reports and and other publicly disseminated information that are either untrue or clearly misleading.
Usually these are items that lead viewers/US citizens to believe that the war against Iraq is not only justified and that US citizens need to be very afraid of what Saddam will do to them if he's allowed to live.
CapWiz via NOW
CapWiz via The Nation
Ari Fleischer
President
('News by Date' in col)
Pentagon
(Rumsfeld, Meyers, Franks, Wolfowitz)
CNN
(crossfire, Aaron Brown etc)
Cheney
Tracking press conferences, news reports and and other publicly disseminated information that are either untrue or clearly misleading.
Usually these are items that lead viewers/US citizens to believe that the war against Iraq is not only justified and that US citizens need to be very afraid of what Saddam will do to them if he's allowed to live.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Cheney reasserts al-Qaeda-Saddam link as latest Pentagon report dismisses connection [04-05-07]
Vice President Dick Cheney repeated his assertions of al-Qaeda links to Saddam Hussein's Iraq on Thursday as the Defense Department released a report citing more evidence that the prewar government did not cooperate with the terrorist group.
Cheney contended that al-Qaeda was operating in Iraq before the March 2003 invasion led by U.S. forces and that terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was leading the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda. Others in al-Qaeda planned the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“He took up residence there before we ever launched into Iraq, organized the al-Qaeda operations inside Iraq before we even arrived on the scene and then, of course, led the charge for Iraq until we killed him last June,” Cheney told radio host Rush Limbaugh during an interview. “As I say, they were present before we invaded Iraq.”
However, a declassified Pentagon report released Thursday said that interrogations of the deposed Iraqi leader and two of his former aides as well as seized Iraqi documents confirmed that the terrorist organization and the Saddam government were not working together before the invasion.
The Sept. 11 Commission's 2004 report also found no evidence of a collaborative relationship between Saddam and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network during that period.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Text from Bush news conference (APWire 12-26-06)
As we work with Congress in the coming year to chart a new course in Iraq and strengthen our military to meet the challenges of the 21st century, we must also work together to achieve important goals for the American people here at home.
This work begins with keeping our economy growing.
As we approach the end of 2006, the American economy continues to post strong gains.
The most recent jobs report shows that our economy created 132,000 more jobs in November alone, and we've now added more than 7 million jobs since August of 2003.
The unemployment rate has remained low at 4.5 percent. The recent report on retail sales shows a strong beginning to the holiday shopping season across the country.
And I encourage you all to go shopping more.
....
Q: Mr. President, less than two months ago, at the end of one of the bloodiest months in the war, you said: Absolutely, we're winning.
Yesterday, you said: We're not winning; we're not losing.
Why did you drop your confident assertion about winning?
BUSH: My comments - the first comment was done in this spirit: I believe that we're going to win. I believe that - and, by the way, if I didn't think that, I wouldn't have our troops there. That's what you've got to know. We're going to succeed.
My comments yesterday reflected the fact that we're not succeeding nearly as fast as I wanted, when I said it at the time, and that the conditions are tough in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad.
....
Friday, December 08, 2006
Rumsfeld's Farewell Speech (WaPo 12-08-06)
if you just watched what's happening every time there's a bomb going off in Baghdad, you'd think the whole country's aflame. But you fly over it, and that's just simply not the case.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
"I have never painted a rosy picture...you'd have a dickens of a time trying to find instances where I've been excessively optimistic." - Donald Rumsfeld
Friday, June 23, 2006
Transcripts - Defense Department News Briefing (WaPo 06-22-06)
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, there has been a lot made on Capitol Hill about these chemical weapons that were found and may be quite old. But do you a real concern of these weapons from Saddam's past perhaps having an impact on U.S. troops who are on the ground in Iraq right now?
RUMSFELD: Certainly. What has been announced is accurate, that there have been hundreds of canisters or weapons of various types found that either currently have sarin in them or had sarin in them, and sarin is dangerous. And it's dangerous to our forces, and it's a concern.
So obviously, to the extent we can locate these and destroy them, it is important that we do so. And they are dangerous. Anyone -- I'm sure General Casey or anyone else in that country would be concerned if they got in the wrong hands.
They are weapons of mass destruction. They are harmful to human beings. And they have been found. And that had not been by Saddam Hussein, as he inaccurately alleged that he had reported all of his weapons. And they are still being found and discovered.
Democrats Criticize Claim on Iraqi Arms (WaPo 06-23-06)
The assertion by two Republican lawmakers that a new intelligence study proves that chemical weapons were found in Iraq has triggered sharp criticism from Democrats that the GOP is distorting intelligence for political purposes.
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"Iraq was not a WMD-free zone," Santorum told reporters earlier this week. "We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons." He added that he had been chasing the intelligence report "for 2 1/2 months."
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representatives of three intelligence agencies who told reporters that the study differed little from a 2004 report of a team of American weapons inspectors led by Charles A. Duelfer that concluded that Hussein was not in possession of significant stocks of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons at the time of the U.S.-led invasion.
The intelligence officials also said that the munitions referred to in the report were produced before the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and that they had degraded and could not be used as designed.
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Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, asked about the study, told reporters yesterday the munitions and canisters found are dangerous to coalition forces. "So obviously to the extent we can locate and destroy them it's important to do so." Rumsfeld also said there was concern "if they got into the wrong hands" because "they are weapons of mass destruction," and he added that the former Iraqi ruler did not declare or destroy them.
Lawmakers Cite Weapons Found in Iraq (WaPo 06-22-06)
Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), chairman of the House intelligence committee, and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) told reporters yesterday that weapons of mass destruction had in fact been found in Iraq, despite acknowledgments by the White House and the insistence of the intelligence community that no such weapons had been discovered.
"We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons," Santorum said.
The lawmakers pointed to an unclassified summary from a report by the National Ground Intelligence Center regarding 500 chemical munitions shells that had been buried near the Iranian border, and then long forgotten, by Iraqi troops during their eight-year war with Iran, which ended in 1988.
The U.S. military announced in 2004 in Iraq that several crates of the old shells had been uncovered and that they contained a blister agent that was no longer active. Neither the military nor the White House nor the CIA considered the shells to be evidence of what was alleged by the Bush administration to be a current Iraqi program to make chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
Last night, intelligence officials reaffirmed that the shells were old and were not the suspected weapons of mass destruction sought in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls (USAToday 05-11-06)
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.
For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made — across town or across the country — to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.
AT&T recently merged with SBC and kept the AT&T name. Verizon, BellSouth and AT&T are the nation's three biggest telecommunications companies; they provide local and wireless phone service to more than 200 million customers.
Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants.
Qwest's refusal to participate has left the NSA with a hole in its database. Based in Denver, Qwest provides local phone service to 14 million customers in 14 states in the West and Northwest. But AT&T and Verizon also provide some services — primarily long-distance and wireless — to people who live in Qwest's region. Therefore, they can provide the NSA with at least some access in that area.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
For Leading Exxon to Its Riches, $144,573 a Day (NYTimes 04-15-06)
For 13 years as chairman and chief executive, Lee R. Raymond propelled Exxon, the successor to John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust, to the pinnacle of the oil world.
Under Mr. Raymond, the company's market value increased fourfold to $375 billion, overtaking BP as the largest oil company and General Electric as the largest American corporation. Net income soared from $4.8 billion in 1992 to last year's record-setting $36.13 billion.
....
For his efforts, Mr. Raymond, who retired in December, was compensated more than $686 million from 1993 to 2005, according to an analysis done for The New York Times by Brian Foley, an independent compensation consultant. That is $144,573 for each day he spent leading Exxon's "God pod," as the executive suite at the company's headquarters in Irving, Tex., is known.
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Shareholder advocates point to what they describe as stealth compensation arranged for Mr. Raymond but not disclosed in proxy filings. Consumer groups complain that while last year's rise in global oil prices left many consumers feeling less prosperous, oil executives have become a lot richer from the higher prices. And some corporate governance experts argue that much of Mr. Raymond's pay came from easy profits generated by skyrocketing oil prices.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Lacking Biolabs, Trailers Carried Case for War (WaPo 04-12-06)
On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile "biological laboratories." He declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."
The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.
A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement.
The three-page field report and a 122-page final report three weeks later were stamped "secret" and shelved. Meanwhile, for nearly a year, administration and intelligence officials continued to publicly assert that the trailers were weapons factories.
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"There was no connection to anything biological," said one expert who studied the trailers. Another recalled an epithet that came to be associated with the trailers: "the biggest sand toilets in the world."
....
Throughout the summer and fall of 2003, the trailers became simply "mobile biological laboratories" in speeches and press statements by administration officials. In late June, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell declared that the "confidence level is increasing" that the trailers were intended for biowarfare. In September, Vice President Cheney pronounced the trailers to be "mobile biological facilities," and said they could have been used to produce anthrax or smallpox.
By autumn, leaders of the Iraqi Survey Group were publicly expressing doubts about the trailers in news reports. David Kay, the group's first leader, told Congress on Oct. 2 that he had found no banned weapons in Iraq and was unable to verify the claim that the disputed trailers were weapons labs. Still, as late as February 2004, then-CIA Director George J. Tenet continued to assert that the mobile-labs theory remained plausible. Although there was "no consensus" among intelligence officials, the trailers "could be made to work" as weapons labs, he said in a speech Feb. 5.
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Back at the Pentagon, DIA officials attempted a quick resolution of the dispute. The task fell to the "Jefferson Project," a DIA-led initiative made up of government and civilian technical experts who specialize in analyzing and countering biological threats. Project leaders put together a team of volunteers, eight Americans and a Briton, each with at least a decade of experience in one of the essential technical skills needed for bioweapons production. All were nongovernment employees working for defense contractors or the Energy Department's national labs.
The technical team was assembled in Kuwait and then flown to Baghdad to begin their work early on May 25, 2003. By that date, the two trailers had been moved to a military base on the grounds of one of deposed president Saddam Hussein's Baghdad palaces. When members of the technical team arrived, they found the trailers parked in an open lot, covered with camouflage netting.
The technical team went to work under a blistering sun in 110-degree temperatures. Using tools from home, they peered into vats, turned valves, tapped gauges and measured pipes. They reconstructed a flow-path through feed tanks and reactor vessels, past cooling chambers and drain valves, and into discharge tanks and exhaust pipes. They took hundreds of photographs.
By the end of their first day, team members still had differing views about what the trailers were. But they agreed about what the trailers were not.
"Within the first four hours," said one team member, who like the others spoke on the condition he not be named, "it was clear to everyone that these were not biological labs."
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The technical team's preliminary report was transmitted in the early hours of May 27, just before its members began boarding planes to return home. Within 24 hours, the CIA published its white paper, "Iraqi Mobile Biological Warfare Agent Production Plants," on its Web site.
After team members returned to Washington, they began work on a final report. At several points, members were questioned about revising their conclusions, according to sources knowledgeable about the conversations. The questioners generally wanted to know the same thing: Could the report's conclusions be softened, to leave open a possibility that the trailers might have been intended for weapons?
In the end, the final report -- 19 pages plus a 103-page appendix -- remained unequivocal in declaring the trailers unsuitable for weapons production.
"It was very assertive," said one weapons expert familiar with the report's contents.
Then, their mission completed, the team members returned to their jobs and watched as their work appeared to vanish.
"I went home and fully expected that our findings would be publicly stated," one member recalled. "It never happened. And I just had to live with it."
Report Raises New Questions on Bush, WMDs (WaPo 04-12-06)
The Washington Post reported that a Pentagon-sponsored team of experts determined in May 2003 that two small trailers were not used to make biological weapons. Yet two days after the team sent its findings to Washington in a classified report, Bush declared just the opposite.
"We have found the weapons of mass destruction," Bush said in an interview with a Polish TV station. "We found biological laboratories."
Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said Wednesday that Bush was relying on information from the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency when he said the trailers seized after the 2003 invasion were mobile biological laboratories. That information was later discredited by the Iraq Survey Group in its 2004 report.
US shelved evidence discounting Iraq's WMD (WaPo 04-12-06)
On May 29, 2003, President George W. Bush hailed the capture of the trailers, declaring "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."
But a Pentagon-sponsored fact-finding mission had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons, the Post reported, citing government officials and weapons experts who participated in the secret mission or had direct knowledge of it.
The Post said the group's unanimous findings had been sent to the Pentagon in a field report, two days before the president's statement.
Friday, April 07, 2006
W.House does not dispute Bush leak allegation (ReutersUK 04-07-06)
According to court papers filed on Tuesday, Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, told a federal grand jury that Cheney had told him Bush authorised him to disclose information from a secret National Intelligence Estimate to then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller.
The disclosure arose out of a long-running investigation into the leak of CIA's operative Valerie Plame's identity. Plame is Wilson's wife and the former diplomat has accused the White House of revealing her identity to get back at him.
Libby resigned from the administration last October when he was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who is investigating the leaking of Plame's name. His trial is expected to begin next January.
The court documents did not say that Bush or Cheney authorised Libby to disclose Plame's identity.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Libby Traces Approval of Disclosure Back to Bush [LATimes 04-06-06)
President Bush personally authorized leaking long-classified information to a reporter in the summer of 2003 to buttress administration claims, now discredited, that Saddam Hussein was attempting to acquire weapons of mass destruction for Iraq, according to a court filing by prosecutors in the case against former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was indicted in October on charges that he lied to investigators about his role in the unmasking of former CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Court papers filed by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald late Wednesday said that before Libby's indictment, he told a federal grand jury investigating the leak that Cheney told him to pass on information about a secret National Intelligence Estimate to the press and that Bush had authorized the disclosure, according to the court papers.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Bush-Blair memo shows war penciled in early (PalmBeachPost 04-01-06)
Meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Jan. 31, 2003, President Bush suggested disguising a U.S. plane with United Nations markings and flying it over Iraq to see if Saddam Hussein would shoot at it. That doesn't sound as if Mr. Bush was trying to avoid a war.
In fact, a five-page memo on the meeting, written by a top adviser to Mr. Blair and obtained by The New York Times and others, makes it sound as though Mr. Bush had made up his mind to invade. "The start date for the military campaign was now penciled in for 10 March," the memo noted. The war began on March 19. The author, David Manning, who was at the meeting, also said it was evident that "our diplomatic strategy had to be arranged around the military planning."
Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair were concerned that U.N. inspectors had found no weapons of mass destruction. But they were concerned mostly from a public relations standpoint. They wanted some trigger to justify the invasion. That's when, the memo says, Mr. Bush suggested "flying U-2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in U.N. colours," because "if Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach."
Such an attack by Hussein could have led the U.N. to pass a second resolution specifically authorizing an invasion - a resolution Mr. Bush wanted but never got. At that Jan. 31 meeting, though, he made clear to Mr. Blair that he intended to invade even without another resolution.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says (NYTimes 03-27-06)
Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says (NYTimes 03-27-06) Printer Ready
During a private two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, he made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons, said a confidential memo about the meeting written by Mr. Blair's top foreign policy adviser and reviewed by The New York Times.
"Our diplomatic strategy had to be arranged around the military planning," David Manning, Mr. Blair's chief foreign policy adviser at the time, wrote in the memo that summarized the discussion between Mr. Bush, Mr. Blair and six of their top aides.
"The start date for the military campaign was now penciled in for 10 March," Mr. Manning wrote, paraphrasing the president. "This was when the bombing would begin."
The timetable came at an important diplomatic moment. Five days after the Bush-Blair meeting, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was scheduled to appear before the United Nations to present the American evidence that Iraq posed a threat to world security by hiding unconventional weapons.
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The memo indicates the two leaders envisioned a quick victory and a transition to a new Iraqi government that would be complicated, but manageable. Mr. Bush predicted that it was "unlikely there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups." Mr. Blair agreed with that assessment.
The memo also shows that the president and the prime minister acknowledged that no unconventional weapons had been found inside Iraq. Faced with the possibility of not finding any before the planned invasion, Mr. Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation, including a proposal to paint a United States surveillance plane in the colors of the United Nations in hopes of drawing fire, or assassinating Mr. Hussein.
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At several points during the meeting between Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair, there was palpable tension over finding a legitimate legal trigger for going to war that would be acceptable to other nations, the memo said. The prime minister was quoted as saying it was essential for both countries to lobby for a second United Nations resolution against Iraq, because it would serve as "an insurance policy against the unexpected."
The memo said Mr. Blair told Mr. Bush, "If anything went wrong with the military campaign, or if Saddam increased the stakes by burning the oil wells, killing children or fomenting internal divisions within Iraq, a second resolution would give us international cover, especially with the Arabs."
Running Out of Time
Mr. Bush agreed that the two countries should attempt to get a second resolution, but he added that time was running out. "The U.S. would put its full weight behind efforts to get another resolution and would twist arms and even threaten," Mr. Bush was paraphrased in the memo as saying.
The document added, "But he had to say that if we ultimately failed, military action would follow anyway."
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Faces of the Fallen-Fatalities In Iraq (WaPo)
Month by month list of all US Soldiers killed in Iraq along with photos.
Friday, November 18, 2005
Did oil execs lie to Congress about White House meeting (CNN 11-17-05)
Democrats asked the U.S. attorney general Wednesday to investigate whether top executives from big oil companies lied to Congress when they said their companies did not take part in Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force
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At a Senate hearing last week on record oil profits, Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey asked five executives, "Did your company or any representatives in your companies participate in Vice President Cheney's energy force in 2001?"
Each executive answered the question in the negative.
However, The Washington Post reported Wednesday that a White House document showed some companies did in fact meet with the task force. It said the document showed officials from Exxon Mobil Corp. (Research), Conoco (Research), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc., whose executives testified at last week's Senate hearing, met with Cheney aides.
Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force (WaPo 11-16-05)
A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.
The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being debated.
In a joint hearing last week of the Senate Energy and Commerce committees, the chief executives of Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips said their firms did not participate in the 2001 task force. The president of Shell Oil said his company did not participate "to my knowledge," and the chief of BP America Inc. said he did not know.
Friday, November 04, 2005
CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons (WaPo 11-02-05)
The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.
The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents.
The hidden global internment network is a central element in the CIA's unconventional war on terrorism. It depends on the cooperation of foreign intelligence services, and on keeping even basic information about the system secret from the public, foreign officials and nearly all members of Congress charged with overseeing the CIA's covert actions.
The existence and locations of the facilities -- referred to as "black sites" in classified White House, CIA, Justice Department and congressional documents -- are known to only a handful of officials in the United States and, usually, only to the president and a few top intelligence officers in each host country.
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It is illegal for the government to hold prisoners in such isolation in secret prisons in the United States, which is why the CIA placed them overseas, according to several former and current intelligence officials and other U.S. government officials. Legal experts and intelligence officials said that the CIA's internment practices also would be considered illegal under the laws of several host countries, where detainees have rights to have a lawyer or to mount a defense against allegations of wrongdoing.
CIA holds terror suspects in secret prisons (CNN 11-07-05)
The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement, the Washington Post reported.
The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents, the paper said Tuesday.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Kamikaze Jet Hijacking (Rotten.com)
Nevertheless, if anyone tells you that they "don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon -- that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile," rest assured that person is lying or woefully, woefully misinformed.
Timeline
10 Nov 1972 Two men hijack Southern Airways Flight 49 out of Birmingham, and hopscotch it variously in the U.S., Canada, and Cuba while demanding $7M. At one point they circle Oak Ridge National Laboratory and threaten to crash the plane into that top secret nuclear installation.....
and on and on and on and on....
Bush holds video rally for troops in Iraq (MSNBC 10-13-05)
The president engaged in a carefully choreographed question-and-answer session with 10 American servicemen and women and one Iraqi soldier, whom he saw on a large video screen set up in a room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House.
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Before it began, a Pentagon official coached the troops, telling them the president planned to ask questions on three topics: The overall security in Iraq, how they were preparing for the vote on Saturday and how much progress had been made in the training of Iraqi troops.
Allison Barber, a Pentagon official, said Bush would ask them specifically, “In the last 10 months, what kind of progress have we seen?”
She asked who was prepared to answer the question. “Master Sgt. Lombardo,” one said.
Here's a video including the audio from the pre-questioning prepping that the troops required to ensuer they gave Bush the best propaganda....
bushphotoopoct1305.wmv
Thursday, October 06, 2005
God told me to invade Iraq, Bush tells Palestinian ministers (BBC 10-06-05)
"President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan." And I did, and then God would tell me, "George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq …" And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, "Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East." And by God I'm gonna do it.'"
Abu Mazen was at the same meeting and recounts how President Bush told him: "I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state."
GAO- Bush Team Broke Law With 'Covert Propaganda' (Editor&Pub 09-30-05)
The Bush Administration violated laws prohibiting the use of covert propaganda when it secretly paid broadcaster/ columnist Armstrong Williams to promote its education policies, and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said Friday.
Williams received about $240,000 from the federal Department of Education. Tribune Media Services dropped Williams' syndicated column in January when it learned about the payments.
In its account Saturday, The New York Times said the report "provided the first definitive ruling on the legality of the activities....In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated 'covert propaganda' in the United States, in violation of a statutory ban."
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Best Quotes -- Katrina Style (Joeuser.com 09-10-05)
"Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?" --Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) to some evacuee children at the Houston Astrodome. I suggest Tom lose his home and have to flee and then decide for himself.
"Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch." --George Bush, telling America who the real victim of Katrina is. They'll be sipping Southern Comfort and listening to a chorus of "Day's nevah finish' / Masa' got me workin' / Someday Masa set me free..."
"Brownie, you're doin' a heckuva job!" --George Bush, seven days before he removed Brown from overseeing Katrina relief, after it was realized that Brown was a big, unqualified, douchebag liar.
"It's untidy. Freedom's untidy. And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes." --Donald Rumsfeld, talking about looters. So, okay, this one is a cheat, he's actually talking about Iraqi looters. But the irony is delicious.
"Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney. Go fuck yourself, you asshole." --a Mississippi ER doctor who lost his home in the storm. The home video is now available on E-bay.
"God does speak to you, and he's telling you, 'Take a hint.' " --Bill Maher, talking about George Bush on his television show.
". ..they didn't have the necessary brains and common sense to get out of the way of a Cat 5 Hurricane and then when it hit them- stood on the side of the convention Center expiring while reporters were coming and going..." --Mark Williams on "ShowBiz Tonight," neglecting to mention that most of those people were too poor (a matter of money, not brains) to find a way out of the city...and then held in on the east side of the river by men with guns and not allowed to leave.
"We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did." --Republican Representative Baker of Baton Rouge. His God sounds a bit like a raging alcoholic.
"...children out of school because of Hurricane Corrina are starting school this week..." --Laura Bush, getting the name of Hurricane Katrina wrong on national television. She would later, in the same interview, refer to "Hurricane Corrina" again. Either Laura's on some new sedatives or there was another hurricane last week we didn't know about.
"This is all the perspective you need!" --Shepherd Smith to gasbag Sean Hannity after Hannity expressed doubt at Smith's description of conditions in New Orleans.
"These declarations will allow federal agencies to coordinate all disaster relief efforts with state and local officials." --George Bush on Aug 28, talking about the declarations of emergency that would allow FEMA and DHS to bring aid to hurricane-struck areas. Bush must have forgotten about those, because he's still trying to pass the buck.
"We've provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they've gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day." --Michael Brown on Sept. 2. I'd have a comment here but the next quote says it all.
"Lies don't get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President." -- the New Orleans Times-Picayune, responding to Brown's statement.
"The city of Louisiana is underwater." --DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. The city of Mississippi was also hit by the storm, we hear.
"I don't think anyone expected the levees to be breeched." --George Bush, who must find lots to do beneath the rock under which he lives.
“We were briefing them way before landfall. It’s not like this was a surprise. We had in the advisories that the levee could be topped." -- Dr. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, mentioning what his center had told the government. Bush must have been asleep.
"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this is working very well for them." --Barbara Bush, chuckling slightly. She must think the Astrodome is some kind of Xanadu.
"May the people in the city of New Orleans be broken by God's Holy Law." --Anti-Abortion group Columbia Christians for Life -- wishing death on people in order to save the unborn.
"As specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas." --The Salt Lake City Tribune on just one wise use of emergency services by the federal government.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Right-Wing Myths About Katrina, Debunked (ThinkProgress 09-13-05)
CLAIM — STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS WERE MOSTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR FAILURES: “White House Shifts Blame to State and Local Officials” [Washington Post, 9/4/05]
FACT – BUSH PUT FEMA IN CHARGE OF EFFORT BEFORE KATRINA STRUCK: “Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.” [White House, 8/27/05]
FACT — FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ABLE TO ACT WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM STATES: The Wall Street Journal: “Mr. Chertoff activated the National Response Plan last Tuesday by declaring the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina an ‘Incident of National Significance.’ The plan, which was rolled out to much fanfare in January, essentially enables Washington to move federal assets to the disaster without waiting for requests from state officials.” [Wall Street Journal, 9/13/05]
CLAIM — NO ONE COULD HAVE PREDICTED BREACHED LEVEES: On ABC’s Good Morning America, Bush said, “I don’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees.” [Good Morning America, 9/1/05]
FACT — LEVEE BREACH PREDICTED REPEATEDLY: Responding to Bush’s comments on Meet the Press, Dr. Ivor Van Heerden of the LSU Hurricane Center “I didn’t buy that because, you know, we had discussed on numerous occasions that a worst-case scenario would be if we had one of these major hurricanes and then we lost the levee systems.” A White House advisor sat in on the “Hurricane Pam Exercise,” a computer simulation of the possible effects of a Category 3 hurricane on New Orleans. The exercise found that “…a storm like Hurricane Pam would: cause flooding that would leave 300,000 people trapped in New Orleans, many of whom would not have private transportation for evacuation.” [Meet the Press, 9/11/05]
CLAIM — GOV. BLANCO DELAYED STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARATION: In a Sept. 4 Washington Post article, which was corrected hours later, an anonymous Bush administration source claimed Governor Blanco had not yet declared a state of emergency in Louisiana. The Post reported, “As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.” [Washington Post, 9/4/05]
FACT — GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA ON AUGUST 26: Three days prior to when Katrina made landfall. [Office of the Governor, 8/26/05]
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Bush wife doesn't know name of hurricane (CNN Video from 09-08-05)
"...children out of school because of Hurricane Corrina are starting to school this week...
...and I also want to encourage anybody who is affected by hurrican Ca..Corrina to make sure their children..." --Laura Bush
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Transcript for September 4 - Meet the Press (MSNBC 09-04-05)
MR. RUSSERT: People were stunned by a comment the president of the United States made on Wednesday, Mr. Secretary. He said, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." How could the president be so wrong, be so misinformed?
Mayor C. Ray Nagin's Interview - transcript (NYT 09-02-05)
NAGIN: I don't know whose problem it is. I don't know whether it's the governor's problem. I don't know whether it's the president's problem, but somebody needs to get their ass on a plane and sit down, the two of them, and figure this out right now.
WWL: What can we do here?
NAGIN: Keep talking about it.
WWL: We'll do that. What else can we do?
NAGIN: Organize people to write letters and make calls to their congressmen, to the president, to the governor. Flood their doggone offices with requests to do something. This is ridiculous.
I don't want to see anybody do anymore goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city. And then come down to this city and stand with us when there are military trucks and troops that we can't even count.
Don't tell me 40,000 people are coming here. They're not here. It's too doggone late. Now get off your asses and do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country.
Chertoff is the head of Homeland Security and doesn't seem to even have a clue as to what's really going on in New Orleans.
He not only says: "There is a more than adequate law enforcement presence in New Orleans" (which is clearly a false statement demonstrated by limitless live video footage of the LACK of security in New Orleans) but he also refers to the CNN and NPR reports of thousands of people without food and water as "rumors"
There are NPR and CNN reporters who have seen THOUSANDS of people at
the Convention Center (this is not the Superdome, it's about 10-blocks
away from the Superdome) who have been told to go there but have NO
food and NO water and haven't had any for days. There are at least
two dead bodies (elderly in wheelchairs) and it's a complete desperate
mess with no security and nobody in charge.
Chertoff claims that there is plenty of food and water and the only
people that aren't getting it are the ones that the authorities can't
get to because of the flooding.
And he refers to these CNN and NPR reports as "rumors" and "someones
anecdotal version of something"
If you haven't heard it, listen for yourself, the first link is
Chertoff, the 2nd is the reporter in New Orleans:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4828771
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4828774
The big disconnect on New Orleans (CNN 09-02-05)
the conflicting views on Thursday came within hours, sometimes minutes of each of each other, as reflected in CNN's transcripts. The speakers include Michael Brown, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, evacuee Raymond Cooper, CNN correspondents and others. Here's what they had to say:
Uncollected corpses
Brown: That's not been reported to me, so I'm not going to comment. Until I actually get a report from my teams that say, "We have bodies located here or there," I'm just not going to speculate.
Hospital evacuations
Brown: I've just learned today that we ... are in the process of completing the evacuations of the hospitals, that those are going very well.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta: It's gruesome. I guess that is the best word for it. If you think about a hospital, for example, the morgue is in the basement, and the basement is completely flooded. So you can just imagine the scene down there. But when patients die in the hospital, there is no place to put them, so they're in the stairwells. It is one of the most unbelievable situations I've seen as a doctor, certainly as a journalist as well. There is no electricity. There is no water. There's over 200 patients still here remaining.
Violence and civil unrest
Brown: I've had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they're banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I've had no reports of that.
CNN's Chris Lawrence: From here and from talking to the police officers, they're losing control of the city. We're now standing on the roof of one of the police stations. The police officers came by and told us in very, very strong terms it wasn't safe to be out on the street.
Reporters Confront Leaders on Government's Response (LATimes 09-03-05)
On Thursday's "Nightline," ABC News' Ted Koppel assailed Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael D. Brown for his inability to offer an accurate count of refugees at the New Orleans Convention Center: "Don't you guys watch television? Don't you guys listen to the radio? Our reporters have been reporting about it for more than just today."
On CNN, reporter Soledad O'Brien also lit into Brown: "How is it possible that we're getting better intel than you're getting? … Why no massive airdrop of food and water? In Banda Aceh, in Indonesia, they got food dropped two days after the tsunami struck."
"No one, no one in government is doing a good job in handling one of the most atrocious and embarrassing and far-reaching calamitous things that has come along in this country in my lifetime," said CNN commentator Jack Cafferty. The cable network reported being flooded with e-mails praising Cafferty's diatribe.
Also on CNN, Anderson Cooper had a bristling exchange Thursday evening with Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who was thanking leaders and praising the emergency aid bill Congress was about to pass.
"Excuse me, Senator, I'm sorry for interrupting. I haven't heard that, because, for the last four days, I've been seeing dead bodies in the streets here in Mississippi," Cooper said. "And to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, I got to tell you, there are a lot of people here who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated…. It kind of cuts them the wrong way right now, because literally there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats."
On MSNBC, host and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough called the situation in the Gulf Coast region "nothing short of a national disgrace."
Last man leaves Superdome (ChicagoSunTimes 09-04-05)
The last 300 refugees in the Superdome climbed aboard buses Saturday bound for new temporary shelter.
The sight of the last person -- an elderly man wearing a Houston Rockets cap -- prompted cheers from Texas National Guard members who were guarding the facility.
The dome was to be searched to ensure there are no bodies beneath the trash, while crews will rake away the piles to discourage rats.
No one knows how many were killed by Hurricane Katrina's floods and how many more succumbed waiting to be rescued. But the bodies are everywhere: hidden in attics, crumpled on wheelchairs, abandoned on highways.
And the dying goes on -- at the convention center and an airport triage center, where bodies were kept in a refrigerated truck.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Saturday that she expected the death toll to reach the thousands.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
A CIA Cover Blown, a White House Exposed (LATimes 08-25-05)
For the last 20 months, a tough-minded special prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, has been looking into how the media learned that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA operative.
Top administration officials, along with several influential journalists, have been questioned by prosecutors.
Beyond the whodunit, the affair raises questions about the credibility of the Bush White House, the tactics it employs against political opponents and the justification it used for going to war.
What motivated President Bush's political strategist, Karl Rove; Vice President Cheney's top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby; and others to counter Wilson so aggressively? How did their roles remain secret until after the president was reelected? Have they fully cooperated with the investigation?
The answers remain elusive. As Fitzgerald's team has moved ahead, few witnesses have been willing to speak publicly. White House officials declined to comment for this article, citing the ongoing inquiry.
But a close examination of events inside the White House two summers ago, and interviews with administration officials, offer new insights into the White House response, the people who shaped it, the deep disdain Cheney and other administration officials felt for the CIA, and the far-reaching consequences of the effort to manage the crisis.
July 6, 2003....
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Robertson - U.S. should 'take out' Venezuela's Chavez(CNN 08-23-05)
"Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has called for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him "a terrific danger" bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas.
"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson told viewers on his "The 700 Club" show Monday.
....
In October 2003, Robertson, criticizing the State Department during an interview on "The 700 Club," said "maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up," referring to the nickname for the department's headquarters in Washington.
....
In July 2003, Robertson asked his audience to pray for three justices to retire from the Supreme Court so they could be replaced with more conservative jurists. "One justice is 83 years old, another has cancer and another has a heart condition," he said.
....
In November 2002, Robertson charged that the Muslim holy book, the Quran, incites followers to kill people of other faiths and disputed Bush's characterization of Islam as a religion of peace."
Bush links Iraq war with Sept. 11 attacks (MSNBC 08-20-05)
"President Bush said Saturday U.S. troops in Iraq were fighting to protect Americans at home from terrorism like the Sept. 11 attacks four years ago."
Army Planning for 4 More Years in Iraq (SF Gate 08-20-05)
"The Army is planning for the possibility of keeping the current number of soldiers in Iraq — well over 100,000 — for four more years, the Army's top general said Saturday."
Friday, July 29, 2005
Profit Soars at Exxon Mobil (WaPo 07-29-05)
Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said yesterday that second-quarter profit rose 32 percent, to $7.64 billion, as Asia and North America used more crude oil and gasoline.
The quarterly profit was the third-highest in the company's history. Revenue climbed 25 percent, to $88.57 billion, Exxon said. A doubling of oil prices since 2003 has put the Irving, Tex.-based company on a pace to surpass Wal-Mart Stores Inc. this year as the largest U.S. company by total revenue.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Galloway vs The US Senate - Transcript of Statement (TimesOnline 05-17-05)
On the very first page of your document about me you assert that I have had 'many meetings' with Saddam Hussein. This is false.
"I have had two meetings with Saddam Hussein, once in 1994 and once in August of 2002. By no stretch of the English language can that be described as "many meetings" with Saddam Hussein.
"As a matter of fact, I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps the better to target those guns. I met him to try and bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war, and on the second of the two occasions, I met him to try and persuade him to let Dr Hans Blix and the United Nations weapons inspectors back into the country - a rather better use of two meetings with Saddam Hussein than your own Secretary of State for Defense made of his.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Smoking Gun Memo (FAIR 05-10-05)
The document, first revealed by the London Times (5/1/05), was the minutes of a July 23, 2002 meeting in Blair's office with the prime minister's close advisors. The meeting was held to discuss Bush administration policy on Iraq, and the likelihood that Britain would support a U.S. invasion of Iraq. "It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided," the minutes state.
The minutes also recount a visit to Washington by Richard Dearlove, the head of the British intelligence service MI6: "There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
That last sentence is striking, to say the least, suggesting that the policy of invading Iraq was determining what the Bush administration was presenting as "facts" derived from intelligence. But it has provoked little media follow-up in the United States. The most widely circulated story in the mainstream press came from the Knight Ridder wire service (5/6/05), which quoted an anonymous U.S. official saying the memo was "an absolutely accurate description of what transpired" during Dearlove's meetings in Washington.
Molly Ivins They Lied to Us (alternet 05-10-05)
On May 1, the Sunday Times of London printed a secret memo that went to the defense secretary, foreign secretary, attorney general and other high officials. It is the minutes of their meeting on Iraq with Tony Blair. The memo was written by Matthew Rycroft, a Downing Street foreign policy aide. It has been confirmed as legitimate and is dated July 23, 2002. I suppose the correct cliché is "smoking gun."
The secret Downing Street memo (Sunday Times 05-01-05)
The Foreign Secretary said he would discuss this with Colin Powell this week. It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force.
The Attorney-General said that the desire for regime change was not a legal base for military action. There were three possible legal bases: self-defence, humanitarian intervention, or UNSC authorisation. The first and second could not be the base in this case. Relying on UNSCR 1205 of three years ago would be difficult. The situation might of course change.
The Prime Minister said that it would make a big difference politically and legally if Saddam refused to allow in the UN inspectors.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
New Details on F.B.I. Aid for Saudis After 9-11 (NYTimes 03-27-05)
The episode has been retold so many times in the last three and a half years that it has become the stuff of political legend: in the frenzied days after Sept. 11, 2001, when some flights were still grounded, dozens of well-connected Saudis, including relatives of Osama bin Laden, managed to leave the United States on specially chartered flights.
Now, newly released government records show previously undisclosed flights from Las Vegas and elsewhere and point to a more active role by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in aiding some of the Saudis in their departure.
The F.B.I. gave personal airport escorts to two prominent Saudi families who fled the United States, and several other Saudis were allowed to leave the country without first being interviewed, the documents show.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Schiavo's parents appeal another legal setback (Mercury news 03-25-05)
Terry, the spokesman for Schiavo's parents and former leader of the antiabortion group Operation Rescue, threatened to unleash political retribution on those who did not support them.
''I promise you, if she dies, there's going to be hell to pay with pro-life, pro-family, Republican people of various legislative levels, both statewide and federally, who have used pro-life, pro-family, conservative rhetoric to get into power, and then when they have the power they refuse to use it,'' he said.
Baby dies after hospital removes breathing tube (Houston Chron 03-16-05)
"It's sad this thing dragged on for so long. We all feel it's unfair, that a child doesn't have a chance to develop and thrive," said William Winslade, a bioethicist and lawyer who is a professor at the Institute for the Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
....
Texas Children's contended that continuing care for Sun was medically inappropriate, prolonged suffering and violated physician ethics. Hudson argued her son just needed more time to grow and be weaned from the ventilator.
....
Sun was born with a fatal form of dwarfism characterized by short arms, short legs and lungs too tiny, doctors said. Nearly all babies born with the incurable condition, often diagnosed in utero, die shortly after birth, genetic counselors say.
TX HEALTH & SAFETY CODE - CHAPTER 16
§ 166.046. PROCEDURE IF NOT EFFECTUATING A DIRECTIVE OR
TREATMENT DECISION. (a) If an attending physician refuses to
honor a patient's advance directive or a health care or treatment
decision made by or on behalf of a patient, the physician's refusal
shall be reviewed by an ethics or medical committee. The attending
physician may not be a member of that committee. The patient shall
be given life-sustaining treatment during the review.
(b) The patient or the person responsible for the health
care decisions of the individual who has made the decision
regarding the directive or treatment decision:
(1) may be given a written description of the ethics or
medical committee review process and any other policies and
procedures related to this section adopted by the health care
facility;
(2) shall be informed of the committee review process
not less than 48 hours before the meeting called to discuss the
patient's directive, unless the time period is waived by mutual
agreement;
(3) at the time of being so informed, shall be
provided:
(A) a copy of the appropriate statement set forth
in Section 166.052; and
(B) a copy of the registry list of health care
providers and referral groups that have volunteered their readiness
to consider accepting transfer or to assist in locating a provider
willing to accept transfer that is posted on the website maintained
by the Texas Health Care Information Council under Section 166.053;
and
(4) is entitled to:
(A) attend the meeting; and
(B) receive a written explanation of the decision
reached during the review process.
(c) The written explanation required by Subsection
(b)(2)(B) must be included in the patient's medical record.
(d) If the attending physician, the patient, or the person
responsible for the health care decisions of the individual does
not agree with the decision reached during the review process under
Subsection (b), the physician shall make a reasonable effort to
transfer the patient to a physician who is willing to comply with
the directive. If the patient is a patient in a health care
facility, the facility's personnel shall assist the physician in
arranging the patient's transfer to:
(1) another physician;
(2) an alternative care setting within that facility;
or
(3) another facility.
(e) If the patient or the person responsible for the health
care decisions of the patient is requesting life-sustaining
treatment that the attending physician has decided and the review
process has affirmed is inappropriate treatment, the patient shall
be given available life-sustaining treatment pending transfer
under Subsection (d). The patient is responsible for any costs
incurred in transferring the patient to another facility. The
physician and the health care facility are not obligated to provide
life-sustaining treatment after the 10th day after the written
decision required under Subsection (b) is provided to the patient
or the person responsible for the health care decisions of the
patient unless ordered to do so under Subsection (g).
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Baby at center of life support case dies (CNN 03-15-05)
A critically ill 5-month-old was taken off life support and died Tuesday, a day after a judge cleared the way for doctors to halt care they believed to be futile. The infant's mother had fought to keep him alive.
Sun Hudson had been diagnosed with a fatal genetic disorder called thanatophoric dysplasia, a condition characterized by a tiny chest and lungs too small to support life. He had been on a ventilator since birth.
Explanation of Sun Hudson's Disease - Thanatophoric Dysplasia (eMedicine)
Although the literature documents several reports of survival into childhood, TD virtually is always lethal in the neonatal [1st 4-wks of life] period. Respiratory insufficiency secondary to reduced thoracic capacity or compression of the brainstem leads to death.
Terri Schiavo, Terri Schiavo, Terri Schiavo....
Schiavo Case Timeline (WPBF 03-18-05)
1990 Feb. 25: Terri Schiavo collapses in her home
1998 May: Michael Schiavo files petition to remove Terri's feeding tube.
....
2005 March 24, 2:06 p.m. EST: Greer rules that Gov. Jeb Bush and DCF don't have legal ground to take custody of Schiavo.
For Bush, High Drama and Mixed Reviews (WaPo 03-21-05)
It's unanimous here in Washington: We've just witnessed some great political theater. It doesn't get much better than the president rushing home from his beloved ranch to sign emergency, life-or-death legislation passed by Congress in the middle of the night.
But there is no such unanimity when it comes to speculation over what President Bush's primary motivation was for making such a dramatic move. And the long-term impact of his decision on voters -- and the country -- is still anyone's guess.
....
"I will continue to stand on the side of those defending life for all Americans, including those with disabilities," he said
....
Bush signed a Texas law in 1999 that created a legal mechanism to allow attending physicians and hospital ethics boards to pull the plug on patients -- even if that specifically contradicts patient or family wishes.
Poll - No Role for Government in Schiavo Case (ABC 03-24-05)
Regardless of their preference on the Schiavo case, about two-thirds of conservatives and evangelicals alike call congressional intervention inappropriate. And majorities in both groups, as in others, are skeptical of the motivations of the political leaders seeking to extend Schiavo's life.
Should Feeding Tube Be Removed?
Support Oppose
Non-evangelical 77% 18
Evangelical 46 44
Catholics 63 26
Liberals 68 24
Moderates 69 22
Conservatives 54 40
Democrats 65 25
Independents 63 28
Republicans 61 34
Conservative Reps. 55 40
Should Federal Government Intervene?
Support Oppose
Non-evangelical 26% 71
Evangelical 44 50
Catholics 38 56
Liberals 34 62
Moderates 29 67
Conservatives 48 49
Democrats 34 63
Independents 31 61
Republicans 39 58
Conservative Reps. 41 57
Baby born with fatal defect dies after removal from life support (Houston Chron 03-15-05)
Sun's death marks the first time a hospital has been allowed by a U.S. judge to discontinue an infant's life-sustaining care against a parent's wishes, according to bioethical experts. A similar case involving a 68-year-old man in a chronic vegetative state at another Houston hospital is before a court now.
....
Texas law allows hospitals can discontinue life sustaining care, even if patient family members disagree.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Before and After the War (WaPo 01-12-05)
The chart below compares findings from the Iraq Survey Group investigation into Iraqi weapons programs and claims made by the Bush administration officials before U.S. troops invaded Iraq in March 2003
Iraq WMD search ended (reutersUK 01-12-05)
The search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq ended last month, but the analysis of documents seized in the hunt continues, U.S. officials have said.
Charles Duelfer, the CIA special adviser who led the investigation, has returned home and is expected next month to issue a final addendum to his September report that concluded pre-war Iraq had no WMD stockpiles, officials said.
Asked if Duelfer's Iraq Survey Group, or ISG, had stopped actively searching for WMD, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "That's my understanding." He added, "A lot of their mission is focused elsewhere now."
The Washington Post newspaper on Wednesday quoted ISG officials saying the violence in Iraq coupled with a lack of new information led them to fold up the effort shortly before Christmas -- nearly two years after President George W. Bush invaded the country, accusing it of a secret weapons program.
Search for Banned Arms In Iraq Ended Last Month (WaPo 01-12-05)
The hunt for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in Iraq has come to an end nearly two years after President Bush ordered U.S. troops to disarm Saddam Hussein. The top CIA weapons hunter is home, and analysts are back at Langley.
...
Four months after Charles A. Duelfer, who led the weapons hunt in 2004, submitted an interim report to Congress that contradicted nearly every prewar assertion about Iraq made by top Bush administration officials, a senior intelligence official said the findings will stand as the ISG's final conclusions and will be published this spring.
President Bush, Vice President Cheney and other top administration officials asserted before the U.S. invasion in March 2003 that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program, had chemical and biological weapons, and maintained links to al Qaeda affiliates to whom it might give such weapons to use against the United States.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
U.S. Report Finds No Evidence of Iraq WMD (WaPo 10-07-04)
The report of weapons hunter Charles Duelfer was presented Wednesday to senators and the public in the midst of a fierce presidential election campaign in which Iraq and the war of terror have become the overriding issues.
The report chronicles the decay of Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs after its defeat in the 1991 Gulf War. By the late 1990s, only its long-range missile efforts continued in defiance of the United Nations; even then, Iraq's ballistic and cruise missile designs had not proceeded far past the drawing board. Saddam's other plans would have to wait until he was free of the sanctions and free of international attention.
"Indeed, from the mid-1990s, despite evidence of continuing interest in nuclear and chemical weapons, there appears to be a complete absence of discussion or even interest in BW at the presidential level," according to a summary of Duelfer's 1,000-page report.
And Iraq also abandoned its nuclear program after the war, and there was no evidence it tried to reconstitute it.
Saddam's intentions to restart his weapons programs were never formalized.
"The former regime had no formal written strategy or plan for the revival of WMD after sanctions," the summary says. "Neither was there an identifiable group of WMD policymakers or planners separate from Saddam. Instead his lieutenants understood WMD revival was his goal from their long association with Saddam and his infrequent, but firm, verbal comments and directions to them."
Report Iraq had no WMDs (Indianapolis Star 10-07-04)
Contradicting prewar statements by President Bush and top administration officials, the final report of the chief U.S. arms inspector concludes that Saddam Hussein did not have chemical and biological stockpiles when the war began and his nuclear capabilities were deteriorating, not advancing.
....
Also this week, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld backed off the Bush administration's assertion that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization was working with Hussein and that they posed an imminent threat to the United States.
On Monday, Rumsfeld backtracked, said he had seen ''no strong, hard evidence" to support the notion that the two had a working relationship. That follows a similar conclusion reached by the independent Sept. 11 commission..
On Wednesday, the White House asserted anew that there were clear ties between Hussein before the invasion and the al-Qaida-linked terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
....
Key findings of U.S. weapons report
Nuclear weapons
• Saddam Hussein ended his nuclear program in 1991, after the Gulf War, and there was no evidence he tried to restart it. Senior Iraqi officials thought Hussein would restart the program if U.N. sanctions imposed after the Gulf War were halted.
Biological weapons
• Baghdad abandoned its biological weapons program in 1995 out of fear it would be discovered and make it harder to free itself of U.N. sanctions.
• Iraq destroyed its hidden biological weapons stocks in 1991 and 1992. It kept a few samples that would have been useful in starting a biological weapons program and had scientists knowledgeable about such weapons.
Chemical weapons
• Iraq destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile in 1991, and there is no evidence it resumed producing such weapons.
Before the war, the Bush administration cast Hussein as an immediate threat, not a gathering threat.
In a speech on Aug. 26, 2002, 6 1/2 months before the invasion, Vice President Dick Cheney said:
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies and against us."
In a speech on Oct. 7, 2002, Bush laid out what he described then as Iraq's threat:
• "It possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons."
• "We've also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas."
• "Iraq possesses ballistic missiles with a likely range of hundreds of miles -- far enough to strike Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey and other nations -- in a region where more than 135,000 American civilians and service members live and work.""
Monday, September 27, 2004
Key Bush assertions about Iraq in dispute (Reuters 09-27-04)
Many of President George W. Bush's assertions about progress in Iraq -- from police training and reconstruction to preparations for January elections -- are in dispute, according to internal Pentagon documents, lawmakers and key congressional aides on Sunday
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He said nearly 100,000 "fully trained and equipped" Iraqi soldiers, police officers and other security personnel are already at work, and that would rise to 125,000 by the end of this year.
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documents show that of the nearly 90,000 currently in the police force, only 8,169 have had the full eight-week academy training. Another 46,176 are listed as "untrained," and it will be July 2006 before the administration reaches its new goal of a 135,000-strong, fully trained police force.
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Bush touted preparations for national elections in January, saying Iraq's electoral commission is up and running and told Americans on Saturday that "United Nations electoral advisers are on the ground in Iraq."
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So far, the United Nations has been reluctant to send staff back into the battle zone. It only has 30 to 35 people now in Baghdad, no more than eight working on the elections.
"The framework for it (free and fair elections) hasn't even been set up. The voter registration lists aren't set. There have to be hundreds of polling places, hundreds of trained monitors and poll watchers. None of that has happened," Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State for President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, told ABC's "This Week."
No Regrets From the President (WaPo 09-27-04)
Even Karl Rove recognized that, in retrospect, the "Mission Accomplished" banner was a mistake.
But President Bush, not one to admit mistakes, is standing firm.
...
Bill O'Reilly, in a sit-down with the president taped last week, "asked Bush whether he would still do the carrier landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln beneath the 'Mission Accomplished' banner. At the time, 16 months ago, Bush referred to Iraq as a 'victory' and declared an end to major combat there.
" 'Absolutely,' the president replied
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Adam Nagourney and Robin Toner write in the New York Times that "Mr. Bush never actually said 'mission accomplished,' but stood in front of a banner that contained those words."
In fact, in that May 1, 2003 speech, Bush did not use that term but did declare: "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."
And visiting troops in Qatar a month later, he was explicit: "I am happy to see you, and so are the long-suffering people of Iraq. America sent you on a mission to remove a grave threat and to liberate an oppressed people, and that mission has been accomplished."
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Five months ago, Bush's chief political adviser met with the Columbus Dispatch and expressed regret.
" 'I wish the banner was not up there,' Rove said.
How Much U.S. Help (Time 09-27-04)
U.S. officials tell TIME that the Bush team ran into trouble with another plan involving those elections — a secret "finding" written several months ago proposing a covert CIA operation to aid candidates favored by Washington. A source says the idea was to help such candidates — whose opponents might be receiving covert backing from other countries, like Iran — but not necessarily to go so far as to rig the elections. But lawmakers from both parties raised questions about the idea when it was sent to Capitol Hill. In particular, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi "came unglued" when she learned about what a source described as a plan for "the CIA to put an operation in place to affect the outcome of the elections." Pelosi had strong words with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in a phone call about the issue.
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Pentagon-Bush military records destroyed (Seattle Times 07-09-04)
"Military payroll records that could more fully document President Bush's whereabouts during his service in the Texas Air National Guard were inadvertently destroyed, according to the Pentagon.
In a letter responding to a freedom of information request by The Associated Press, the Defense Department said that microfilm containing the pertinent National Guard payroll records was damaged and could not be salvaged. The damaged material included payroll records for the first quarter of 1969 and the third quarter of 1972.
"President Bush's payroll records for those two quarters were among the records destroyed," wrote C.Y. Talbott, of the Pentagon's Freedom of Information and Security Review section. "Searches for back-up paper copies of the missing records were unsuccessful.""
Thursday, July 08, 2004
PAKISTAN FOR BUSH - July Surprise (NewRepublic 07-08-04)
The New Republic has learned that Pakistani security officials have been told they must produce HVTs [Hige Value Targets] by the election. According to one source in Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), "The Pakistani government is really desperate and wants to flush out bin Laden and his associates after the latest pressures from the U.S. administration to deliver before the [upcoming] U.S. elections."
Introducing target dates for Al Qaeda captures is a new twist in U.S.-Pakistani counterterrorism relations--according to a recently departed intelligence official, "no timetable[s]" were discussed in 2002 or 2003--but the November election is apparently bringing a new deadline pressure to the hunt.
Another official, this one from the Pakistani Interior Ministry, which is responsible for internal security, explains, "The Musharraf government has a history of rescuing the Bush administration. They now want Musharraf to bail them out when they are facing hard times in the coming elections.
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What's more, this source claims that Bush administration officials have told their Pakistani counterparts they have a date in mind for announcing this achievement: "The last ten days of July deadline has been given repeatedly by visitors to Islamabad and during [ul-Haq's] meetings in Washington." Says McCormack: "I'm aware of no such comment." But according to this ISI official, a White House aide told ul-Haq last spring that "it would be best if the arrest or killing of [any] HVT were announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July"--the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston. "
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
A little flashback to late March 2003 when a handful of US soldiers were taken prisoner and were shown (unbelievably!) on TV. (hmmmm... like the bodies of Saddam's sons? Or maybe like the images of a ragged Saddam having his teeth checked. What kind of war criminals would do such a thing?)
american_pows_iraq.jpg 
Man those DOD boys sure liked the Geneva Convention back then. They were ready to "punish" and charge the Iraqis with war crimes because FIVE POWs WERE SHOWN ON TV SAYING THEIR NAMES!:
Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz Interview with KABC-TV (DOD 03-23-03)
Wolfowitz: It is very important to stress to the people who are holding them that there are very clear obligations under the Geneva Convention about the proper treatment of prisoners including a prohibition on anything that humiliates them. And that sooner or later, and probably sooner rather than later, we will be in control of that country and if they violate the Geneva Convention they will be punished.
Secretary Rumsfeld Interview - Face The Nation (DOD 03-23-03)
Rumsfeld: I will say this, the Geneva Convention indicates that it's not permitted to photograph and embarrass or humiliate prisoners of war, and if they do happen to be American or coalition ground forces that have been captured, the Geneva Convention indicates how they should be treated.
Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz Interview with WSVN-TV (DOD 03-23-03)
Wolfowitz:...if they violate the Geneva Conventions that require that these people be treated humanely, they themselves are going to be in serious jeopardy soon of being punished for that.
Q: Apparently they were actually interviewed on television, which you said was against the Convention.
Wolfowitz: There's definitely a rule in the Convention against humiliating prisoners and I'd have to see exactly the interview to see whether that in itself violated the Convention, but the Convention is very clear that prisoners have got to be treated properly. We are treating the Iraqi prisoners extremely well. In fact I think they get good food and shelter and they're free from the horrible commanders they used to work for. I think most of them are much happier, frankly.
Rumsfeld Interview with Tim Russert, NBC Meet The Press (DOD 03-23-03)
Rumsfeld: under the Geneva Convention, it's illegal to do things with prisoners of war that are humiliating to those individuals.
Wolfowitz Interview with New England Cable News (DOD 03-23-03)
Wolfowitz: ...there are very clear obligations under the Geneva Convention to treat prisoners humanely, not to humiliate them, and in this case, I think we'll be in a position before long to enforce any violations of the Geneva Convention.
News Briefing - ASD PA Clarke and Maj. Gen. McChrystal (DOD 03-24-03)
Clarke: ....it is a blatant violation of the Geneva Convention to humiliate and abuse prisoners of war or to harm them in any way. As President Bush said yesterday, those who harm POWs will be found and punished as war criminals. The Iraqi regime must allow the International Red Cross to see the prisoners.
Rumsfeld Interview with CNN Late Edition (02-23-03)
Rumsfeld: ....the Geneva Convention makes it illegal for prisoners of war to be shown and pictured and humiliated.
Wolfowitz Interview with BBC World Service (DOD 03-24-03)
Wolfowitz: The Geneva Convention is very clear on the rules for treating prisoners. They're not supposed to be tortured or abused, they're not supposed to be intimidated, they're not supposed to be made public displays of humiliation or insult, and we're going to be in a position to hold those Iraqi officials who are mistreating our prisoners accountable, and they've got to stop.
News Briefing - Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Myers (DOD 03-25-03)
In recent days, the world has witnessed further evidence of their brutality and their disregard for the laws of war. Their treatment of coalition POWs is a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Wolfowitz Interview with KIRO-TV (DOD 03-23-03)
Wolfowitz: I think it's very important for the Iraqis who are holding our people to understand clearly the obligations they're under, under the Geneva Convention, to treat these people humanely, not to humiliate them. And they ought to understand that we are going to be in a position when that regime goes -- and it's on its way out -- to enforce the provisions of the Geneva Convention.
We observe them ourselves. We have hundreds of Iraqi prisoners that are being treated well. They're being fed. I would imagine they're actually relieved no longer to be under command of the brutal army that they used to work for.
And heaven forbid that we forget how Bush feels about the topic
President Discusses Military Operation (Whitehouse transcripts 03-23-03)
people who mistreat the prisoners will be treated as war criminals.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Diplomats, military leaders call for Bush ouster (Toronto Star 06-13-04)
"Angered by his administration policies they contend endanger national security, 26 retired U.S. diplomats and military officers are urging Americans to vote U.S. President George W. Bush out of office in November.
The group, which calls itself Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, does not explicitly endorse Democrat John Kerry for president in its campaign, which will start officially Wednesday at a Washington news conference.
Among the group are 20 ambassadors, appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents, other former U.S. State Department officials and military leaders whose careers span three decades.
Prominent members include retired marine Gen. Joseph Hoar, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East during the administration of Bush's father; retired Adm. William Crowe, ambassador to Britain under former president Bill Clinton and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under former president Ronald Reagan; and Jack Matlock, a member of the National Security Council under Reagan and ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 to 1991."
Saturday, June 12, 2004
TIA now verifies flight of Saudis (St Petersburg Times 06-09-04)
"Two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, with most of the nation's air traffic still grounded, a small jet landed at Tampa International Airport, picked up three young Saudi men and left.
The men, one of them thought to be a member of the Saudi royal family, were accompanied by a former FBI agent and a former Tampa police officer on the flight to Lexington, Ky.
The Saudis then took another flight out of the country. The two ex-officers returned to TIA a few hours later on the same plane.
For nearly three years, White House, aviation and law enforcement officials have insisted the flight never took place and have denied published reports and widespread Internet speculation about its purpose.
But now, at the request of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, TIA officials have confirmed that the flight did take place and have supplied details"
General Granted Latitude At Prison (WaPo 06-12-04)
"Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior U.S. military officer in Iraq, borrowed heavily from a list of high-pressure interrogation tactics used at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and approved letting senior officials at a Baghdad jail use military dogs, temperature extremes, reversed sleep patterns, sensory deprivation, and diets of bread and water on detainees whenever they wished, according to newly obtained documents.
The U.S. policy, details of which have not been previously disclosed, was approved in early September, shortly after an Army general sent from Washington completed his inspection of the Abu Ghraib jail and then returned to brief Pentagon officials on his ideas for using military police there to help implement the new high-pressure methods.
The documents obtained by The Washington Post spell out in greater detail than previously known the interrogation tactics Sanchez authorized, and make clear for the first time that, before last October, they could be imposed without first seeking the approval of anyone outside the prison. That gave officers at Abu Ghraib wide latitude in handling detainees.
Unnamed officials at the Florida headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, which has overall military responsibility for Iraq, objected to some of the 32 interrogation tactics approved by Sanchez in September, including the more severe methods that he had said could be used at any time in Abu Ghraib with the consent of the interrogation officer in charge.
As a result, Sanchez decided on Oct. 12 to remove several items on the list and to require that prison officials obtain his direct approval for the remaining high-pressure methods. Among the tactics apparently dropped were those that would take away prisoners' religious items; control their exposure to light; inflict "pride and ego down," which means attacking detainees' sense of pride or worth; and allow interrogators to pretend falsely to be from a country that deals severely with detainees, according to the documents."
Thursday, June 10, 2004
US marines plead guilty to prisoner abuse (Guardian UK 06-03-04)
"Two US marines have pleaded guilty to giving electric shocks to an Iraqi prisoner they were guarding at a temporary detention centre south of Baghdad, the US military announced today.
The torture occurred in early April inside the Al Mahmudiya prison, several months after the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, military officials said. "
Ashcroft Refuses to Release '02 Memo (WaPo 06-09-04)
"Document Details Suffering Allowed In Interrogations
Attorney General John D. Ashcroft told Congress yesterday that he would not release a 2002 policy memo on the degree of pain and suffering legally permitted during enemy interrogations, but said he knows of no presidential order that would allow al Qaeda suspects to be tortured by U.S. personnel.
Under questioning, Ashcroft said he could not discuss whether the president issued any orders on the interrogation of detainees, but said: "I want to confirm that the president has not directed or ordered any conduct that would violate any one of those enactments of the United States Congress or that would violate the provisions of any of the treaties as they have been entered into by the United States."
Ashcroft said he would not discuss the contents of the Justice and Pentagon memos, and would not turn over the Justice memo to the committee. "I believe it is essential to the operation of the executive branch that the president have the opportunity to get information from the attorney general that is confidential," he said.
Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) warned Ashcroft that his refusal might place him in contempt of Congress.
"If such a memo existed, would that -- is that good law? . . . Do you think that torture might be justified?" Biden demanded.
Ashcroft responded, "I condemn torture. I don't think it's productive, let alone justified." "
Memo Ashcroft Wouldn't Release - military_0604.pdf
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From Bush, Saddam-Style Justice (Business Week 06-07-04)
"Imagine for a moment, federal agents hustle you off an airplane and take you...somewhere. You're locked up for two years. You're never charged with any crime. You're never allowed to see a lawyer or communicate with your family. The Justice Dept. will never charge or try you. Instead, it intends to keep you imprisoned indefinitely.
The stuff of a cheap paperback novel? Can't happen here? Actually, it has.
....
The Bush Administration believes that it alone has the right to decide who is protected by the legal system. Which brings us to Brandon Mayfield, who's a pretty lucky guy, all things considered. Luckier for sure than Padilla.
WAY OUT OF LINE. Mayfield is a lawyer from Aloha, Ore. Like Padilla, he's an American citizen who converted to Islam. And, like Padilla, he was accused of being involved in a bombing plot. In some respects, the allegations against Mayfield were even more serious. The FBI claimed that a fingerprint found on an explosive device used in last March's Madrid train bombing -- which killed 191 people -- was Mayfield's. As a result, he was arrested and held for two weeks as a material witness.
But, unlike Padilla, Mayfield had access to the legal system. He retained an attorney and invoked his right to due process. And thanks in part to his aggressive defense counsel, the FBI was forced to admit it had the wrong guy. The fingerprint on which the government held Mayfield for two weeks...well, it wasn't his. A judge ordered Mayfield released immediately.
The government was way out of line in Mayfield's case. It leaked word of his arrest to the media, trashed his reputation in public, and by holding him as a material witness, it tried to limit his legal rights. And why did it take two weeks for the FBI to correctly read a fingerprint in such a high-profile case. Still, Mayfield's ordeal "
