August 30, 2007
DOJ Inspector General Investigating Gonzales Testimony
The resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, effective Sept. 17, does not mean he will be able to wash his hands of the intense scrutiny he has faced in office.
Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine affirmed today in a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy that his office was investigating the possibility that Gonzales may have perjured himself multiple times in recent testimony before Leahy's committee and others.
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Posted at 3:20 PM
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Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Patrick Leahy, Senate
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GAO Draft Complicates Reports Of Iraqi Progress
UPDATED.
A new assessment of the situation in Iraq conducted by the Government Accountability Office paints a far gloomier picture of progress there than the White House's own preliminary findings, released last month. A draft of the report leaked to the Washington Post found that Iraq has met only three of the 18 military and political benchmarks set by Congress in order to measure progress there, while two others have been "partially met."
The Pentagon was quick to dispute that account. Today, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said that after reviewing the draft, military officials "made some factual corrections" and suggested the GAO change some of its grades. "We have provided the GAO with information which we believe will lead them to conclude that a few of the benchmark grades should be upgraded from 'not met' to 'met,'" he said.
Evaluating the progress in Iraq, the draft concludes that, "Overall, key legislation has not been passed, violence remains high, and it is unclear whether the Iraqi government will spend $10 billion in reconstruction funds." Elsewhere, it states simply, "The capabilities of Iraqi security forces have not improved."
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Posted at 1:00 PM
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Iraq, Middle East
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Bernanke Reassures Investors
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke promised that the Fed is keeping a close eye on financial markets and that it "is prepared to act as needed to mitigate the adverse effects on the economy arising from the disruptions in financial markets."
His statements were made in a letter written to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., released Wednesday. Bernanke has come under criticism for refusing to cut the federal interest rate or to loosen regulations on mortgage funding companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during a recent financial shake-up that sent stock markets worldwide tumbling.
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Posted at 12:52 PM
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Charles Schumer, Congress, Economy, Senate
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Taliban Releases More South Korean Hostages
The Taliban released four more South Korean hostages and is expected to release the remaining three sometime today, ending a six-week crisis. Twelve captives were released on Tuesday.
The Taliban originally kidnapped 23 Christian missionaries on July 19 as they were traveling from Kabul to the Ghazni province, a Taliban stronghold. Two male hostages were shot and killed when Taliban demands for a prisoner exchange were not met. In mid-August, two female hostages were released as a show of goodwill.
The 12 hostages freed on Tuesday were released in three separate groups in scattered locations after South Korean diplomats reached an agreement with Taliban representatives. It is reported that no money exchanged hands, but that the South Korean government reiterated previously agreed upon plans to withdraw 200 non-combat troops from Afghanistan, as well as to halt missionary work in the Muslim country.
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Posted at 11:23 AM
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Afghanistan, Asia, South Korea, Terrorism
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Report Faults Va. Tech In Shootings
Four months after Cho Seung-Hui's deadly shooting spree at Virginia Tech, a new report from an eight-member panel appointed by Gov. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) concludes that university officials could have taken steps to prevent the killings.
The school's failure to issue an alert immediately after Cho shot his first two victims in a campus dormitory, the report suggests, could have impacted the second round of shootings in a classroom building. Two hours elapsed between the two rounds of shootings, but the campus-wide email alert wasn't issued until just before Cho killed 30 more people and himself in Norris Hall.
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Posted at 10:40 AM
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Crime
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August 29, 2007
Musharraf To Leave Military Position
As part of a power-sharing agreement with his primary political rival, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will step down from his position as the country's military leader. Several days of talks in London led up to the announcement.
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto told CNN today that Gen. "Musharraf recognizes that it is very difficult to move to a transition towards democracy when there's a chief of army staff ruling the country.... I think he wants to make the right decision, so I expect he's going to take the uniform off."
Musharraf also agreed to drop the pending corruption charges against Bhutto and other government officials, a move that will allow her to re-enter the country after living as an exile in London and Dubai. Bhutto, a former prime minister, previously said that she would return to her position if Musharraf left his military post.
Posted at 5:03 PM
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Asia, Pakistan
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Craig Steps Down From Committees As Colleagues Scatter
UPDATED.
Idaho Sen. Larry Craig has agreed to temporarily step down from his committee posts in the wake of revelations about his recent arrest and guilty plea to charges of lewd conduct.
The move comes as an ever-growing chorus of Craig's GOP colleagues demands his resignation. This afternoon, Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan became the first Republican member of Congress to suggest Craig should resign, a call that was soon echoed by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Norm Coleman, R-Minn.
The White House did not join the resignation bandwagon, but spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters following the president in Mississippi today, "We are disappointed in the matter."
Just before Craig's press conference yesterday, during which he denied any wrongdoing, the Republican leadership in the Senate requested an ethics committee investigation into the three-term senator's arrest in June. Craig pleaded guilty (a move he now says he regrets) to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct after a plainclothes officer accused him of soliciting sex in the men's bathroom of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Craig didn't tell anyone, including the Senate GOP leadership, about his arrest.
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Posted at 4:31 PM
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Congress, Larry Craig, Senate
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Hurricane Katrina, Two Years Later
UPDATED.
Commemorating the moment Hurricane Katrina smashed the levees protecting New Orleans on this day in 2005, a huge crowd of people rang individual bells for two minutes at an event this morning. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (D) addressed the assembly, saying, "We ring the bells for a city that is in recovery. It is struggling and performing miracles on a daily basis."
"We ring the bells for hope that the promise that was made at Jackson Square will become a reality and will restore a confidence in government at all levels," Nagin said, referring to President Bush's assurances of federal assistance during a September 2005 speech at the French Quarter landmark.
Those bells rang out as Bush himself touched on a similar topic before a different crowd in New Orleans. Speaking at a charter school, Bush also took up bureaucracy and the divide between the levels of government, saying that after the storm, people in New Orleans "probably wondered whether those in the federal government... would pay attention to whether or not progress is begin made. And I hope people understand we're still paying attention. We understand."
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Posted at 11:55 AM
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Bush Administration, Katrina, President Bush
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Rove's Ride Pimped
Karl Rove will have a nicely wrapped present waiting for him when he gets back to Washington tonight: his Jaguar.
While Rove was away visiting with President Bush in Texas this week, White House wisecrackers wrapped his car in plastic wrap, covered the windows with stickers and topped it all off with a few stuffed toys and some stickers bearing messages such as "King Karl" and "I love Barack Obama." Rove left his car in the heavily patrolled parking lot adjacent to the White House, so the prank is more likely the work of some administration interns than rogue Obama staffers.
For the full story, you'll really want to take a look at the AP photos.
Posted at 11:54 AM
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Karl Rove
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Iranian Delegates Released By U.S. Military
The U.S. military has released eight Iranians and their seven-man Iraqi security detail after taking the group into custody on Tuesday and holding them overnight for questioning at a military base. The delegation's convoy of four cars was stopped at a security checkpoint, where American and Iraqi forces found that they were carrying unlicensed weapons.
Members of the group were allowed to continue on to their hotel, but shortly after they arrived, U.S. military personnel entered their rooms and confiscated a laptop computer, cell phones and a briefcase full of U.S. and Iranian money. The Iranians were led out blindfolded and handcuffed.
Two of the Iranians were embassy staffers and were carrying diplomatic credentials. The other six were Energy Ministry officials. The group had been invited to Baghdad by the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to help set up a new power plant. The Iranians were released by the U.S. military after consultations with the Iraqi government.
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Posted at 11:20 AM
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Iraq, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Military, President Bush
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Tim Johnson's Return Raises Questions About '08
Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., spoke before a cheering crowd of supporters in Sioux Falls yesterday, his first public appearance since a severe brain hemorrhage incapacitated him last December. The event was described by the AP as "a carefully choreographed gathering that took on the appearance of a campaign event" and by others in attendance as a moving experience.
The senator was brought onstage in a wheelchair but was able to stand up at the podium and speak for about 15 minutes, impressing supporters with the extent of his recovery. Johnson has spent the past eight months recuperating with his family near Washington and going through a demanding regime of speech and physical therapy.
This week, Johnson told ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff, "I expect to run and to win" re-election in 2008, but his staff later clarified that he is still considering the matter. Adding to the speculation, a national political firm working to re-elect Democratic lawmakers recently launched a Web site welcoming back the senator, which some have read as an attempt to lay the groundwork for a campaign next year. Johnson won the state in 2002 by a precarious 524-vote margin, and Republicans have already announced their intention to target his seat in '08.
Posted at 11:10 AM
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Congress, Senate
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Daydreaming About Gonzales' Successor
The obits on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales are borderline gleeful, and for that reason it will be a good day indeed when Washington no longer has Al Gonzales to kick around anymore. There's little disagreement on how good Gonzales was at his job (not very) or whether he stayed on the job too long (he did). Now Washington insiders are playing their second-favorite sport: the speculation-a-thon.
Will President Bush really move DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff over to DOJ? Will there be an ugly nomination battle? And what will become of Gonzales, the man known affectionately (and not so affectionately) as Gonzo?
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Posted at 9:46 AM
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Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Harriet Miers, President Bush
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August 28, 2007
Sen. Larry Craig: I Did Nothing Wrong, And I Am Not Gay
UPDATED.
In a brief but fiery press conference, Sen. Larry Craig sought to put to rest rumors that he is gay.
"Let me be clear: I am not gay. I have never been gay," the Idaho Republican said with his wife at his side.
Craig called reporters to the outdoor plaza in Boise to explain why he pleaded guilty earlier this month to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge after a plainclothes officer accused him of soliciting sex in a men's restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Roll Call broke the news of Craig's June arrest and plea yesterday.
"I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport," Craig said. "I did nothing wrong, and I regret the decision to plead guilty."
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Posted at 5:37 PM
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Congress, Crime, Larry Craig, Senate
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Foreign Firefighters Head To Greece
Several days of wildfires have destroyed nearly half a million acres of land in Greece, and firefighters from Israel, Austria, Italy and other countries arrived today to assist in efforts to extinguish the blazes. The European Union said it's offering unprecedented assistance to its member state.
More than 60 people have been killed since the fires first broke out all over the country, threatening populated areas and ancient sites such as Marathon and Olympia.
Greek President Karolos Papoulias declared states of emergency and deemed the fires a "national catastrophe." Elections are set for mid-September, and the government is facing widespread criticism over its handling of the spate of fires that has been plaguing the country all summer.
Posted at 3:02 PM
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EU, Europe
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SAT Scores Drop For Second Year In A Row
The College Board released a report on the infamous SAT college entrance exam today and found that the Class of 2007 posted the lowest test scores in several years. The report focuses on the growing number of students taking the exam and, particularly, on the record numbers of minority test-takers. It trumpets a modest increase in reading scores for Asian- and Hispanic-Americans. However, national critical reading and math scores dropped by one and three points, respectively, and the relatively new writing section, introduced in 2006, also posted a drop of three points.
This is the second year in a row that the board has reported a drop in SAT scores. The New York Times reports that "in 2006, the first class to take a new three part test including a writing section, average SAT scores showed the largest decline in 31 years: 5 points in critical reading and 2 in math." Educators and guidance counselors blamed a longer test and student fatigue for last year's drop in scores, while the College Board attributed it to a drop in the number of students who took the test more than once.
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Posted at 1:30 PM
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Education
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Paging John Ashcroft
Now that Alberto Gonzales is on his way out of the DOJ, will John Ashcroft finally come out and talk about that dramatic night in his hospital room?
A few pundits are joking that Gonzales' poor performance as attorney general succeeded in making Ashcroft look good. The former AG was the regular butt of jokes because of his old-fashioned brand of patriotism and religious devoutness, which is pretty unfair. We've said it before and we'll say it again: a few people out there might owe Mr. Ashcroft an apology.
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Posted at 1:01 PM
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Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, John Ashcroft
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Turkey Gets First Ex-Islamist President
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul received the simple majority of votes he needed to finalize his election, making him the first Turkish president with an Islamist background.
Gul, of the ruling AKP party, won 339 of 550 votes in a third round of parliamentary balloting. His win brings to a close a tension-filled election, in which Turkey's military threatened a coup in order to uphold the overwhelmingly Muslim country's secularist constitution.
Strains between Turkey's secularists and those who backed Gul's candidacy remain. With Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan still in office, AKP now controls Turkey's highest offices as well as Parliament. Gul, a devout Muslim, has promised that his associations with political Islam are in the past, and AKP remains popular for shepherding an unprecedented economic boom.
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Posted at 11:15 AM
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EU, Europe, Turkey
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Taliban To Release South Korean Hostages
Over a month after the Taliban abducted a group of South Korean aid workers in central Afghanistan, the militants agreed to release the 19 remaining hostages in captivity.
The South Korean government reported today that the Taliban had agreed to let the Christian aid workers go after face-to-face talks mediated by the Red Cross in the Afghan city of Ghazni. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi confirmed the deal to the Associated Press but declined to give specifics on the date or location of the hostages' release.
Bloomberg cited a negotiator and tribal elder who told the Agence France-Presse that the South Koreans "will be freed in three or four days," and Thomson Financial reports that the hostages are expected to be transferred to Kabul.
In exchange, South Korea promised to withdraw its 200 troops stationed in Afghanistan by the end of the year -- which had already been scheduled -- and end missionary activities in the country.
Twenty-three hostages were originally captured. The group's leader was killed a few days after the July 19 kidnapping, and a second was killed in late July after the Afghan government failed to appease the kidnappers. Two female hostages were released a few weeks ago in a sign that negotiations were progressing.
Posted at 10:50 AM
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Afghanistan, Asia, South Korea, Terrorism
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August 27, 2007
GOP Senator Craig Arrested For 'Lewd Conduct' In Bathroom
UPDATED.
Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig, one of the Senate's most conservative members and an opponent of gay rights, was arrested in June for an incident involving lewd conduct in a public men's room, Roll Call reports.
According to the report, Craig was arrested June 11 following a complaint of lewd conduct in a restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. TPM has obtained the incident report, and so far the details appear to be tame.
"At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot," the officer states. After Craig "proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times," the officer flashed his identification card and informed the senator he was under arrest.
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Posted at 6:40 PM
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Congress, Crime, Gay Rights, Senate
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Alberto Gonzales Resigns; Chertoff Floated As Replacement
UPDATED.
Describing his career trajectory as "a remarkable journey," U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced he was finally stepping down after months of bipartisan calls for his resignation.
"Yesterday, I met with President Bush and informed him of my decision to conclude my government services as attorney general of the United States effective September 17," Gonzales said at a 10:30 a.m. EDT press conference. "It has been one of my greatest privileges to lead the Department of Justice."
The timing of Gonzales' announcement, late in the summer while Congress and the president are away, succeeded in taking the Beltway by surprise. Together, Gonzales and Bush had formed a two-man chorus of defiance, insisting the AG would not resign in the face of what they termed a political witch hunt. Neither Gonzales nor Bush publicly wavered on the matter, despite a mountain of damning testimony -- much of it the AG's own -- portraying him as an out-of-touch, ineffectual leader of the nation's criminal justice system.
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Posted at 5:10 PM
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Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Paul Clement, President Bush
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Bush Stands By Al-Maliki, But For How Long?
En route to a GOP fundraiser in Albuquerque, President Bush made an unscheduled statement about a new tentative Iraqi political accord.
"I congratulate Iraq's leaders on the agreement reached yesterday in Baghdad," Bush said after disembarking from Air Force One. "While yesterday's agreement is an important step, I reminded them, and they understand, much more needs to be done."
Yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced a deal that would move the central government closer to unity after a meeting with President Jalal Talabani, who is Kurdish, Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who is Sunni, Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who is Shia, and Massoud Barzani, president of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. Included in the package were an agreement to release detainees held without charge, the majority of whom are Sunni, and a consensus on oil, gas and water distribution. Many of the 18 benchmarks laid out by Congress had been worked out, the leaders said.
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Posted at 3:46 PM
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Bush Administration, Iraq, Middle East, President Bush
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Afghan Opium Production Booming
Opium production in Afghanistan has reached "frightening" new levels, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime announced today. The opium business there is up 17% from last year, and now comprises 93% of the drug's worldwide output.
"No other country in the world has ever had such a large amount of farmland used for illegal activity, besides China 100 years ago," UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa told AP.
The report did note one positive development: The drug trade in Afghanistan's northern provinces has significantly declined. The opium boom has taken place almost entirely in the troubled Helmand province in the south, where the presence of Taliban and other insurgent fighters is strongest.
Costa blamed not only insurgents in Helmand for the crisis but also the Hamid Karzai government's "benign tolerance of corruption."
See the full UNODC report here [PDF]. Reuters has a fact sheet on the Afghan poppy trade, and the New York Times reports on firefights in Helmand province over the weekend.
Posted at 2:40 PM
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Afghanistan, Asia, Crime, Drugs, Terrorism
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August 24, 2007
Criminal Charges Not Likely Against Foley
Scripps Howard News Service is reporting that former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., is "unlikely" to face criminal charges in Florida for soliciting sex with teenage congressional pages. "Sources close to the yearlong investigation" by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into the sexually charged e-mails sent by Foley to teenage boys say there does not appear to be sufficient evidence that his behavior was criminal.
Earlier this week Foley and House officials denied the FDLE access to the former congressman's e-mail account. AP reported yesterday that the House general counsel claimed that suggestive photos sought in the FDLE's investigation were nowhere to be found in Foley's e-mails.
The FBI has conducted only a "preliminary" investigation into Foley at this point, and there is no word on whether a full-scale inquiry might be in the offing.
Posted at 5:20 PM
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Congress, Crime, House
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How To Force Bush To End The War
Here's some hopeful news for you anti-war protesters out there: By the middle of next year, it may be impossible to keep current operations going in Iraq.
Obviously, there really isn't anything hopeful or positive about this development. Officials inside and outside the Pentagon have been saying for at least a couple of years that the military was nearing its breaking point. According to Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace, everything goes poof in 2008 unless forces in Iraq are reduced by almost half, the Los Angeles Times reports.
There's good reason to suspect that so long as U.S. forces continue to make some gains on the ground, as is currently the case, President Bush will continue to say that the U.S. is winning and should keep at it until Iraq is a semblance of a self-sustaining nation. Probably the only thing that could compel Bush to order a withdrawal is being told that unless he and the rest of the Bush clan are willing to take up arms and fight the war themselves, keeping it going is a physical impossibility.
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Posted at 2:47 PM
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Bush Administration, David Petraeus, Iraq, Middle East, Military, Peter Pace, President Bush, Robert Gates
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Saudi Embassy Protest Highlights Role In Iraq
UPDATED.
About a hundred Iraqi-Americans rallied this morning outside the Saudi Embassy -- and across the street from The Gate -- in protest of the kingdom's support for Sunni insurgents and terrorists in their home country. Bearing signs and banners that read "Saudi Are Behind 9/11 And Iraqi Suiside Bombing [sic]" and "Wahhabi Saudi Money Kill Our Children," the protesters traveled from across the country to send Saudi Arabia a message.
(Click here, here and here for photos of the protest.)
"The muftis of Saudi Arabia send fighters to kill the Iraqi people for their religion," said Abdul al-Mayahi of New Orleans. With protesters shouting "No bomb!" and "Down with Wahhabi!" in Arabic behind him, he continued, "We ask Saudi Arabia to act against those people who import terrorism, who come to Iraq. They need to live in peace."
But aren't the Saudis our allies in the war on terror, you ask?
Not quite.
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Posted at 2:30 PM
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Bush Administration, Condoleezza Rice, Iran, Iraq, Middle East, Robert Gates, Saudi Arabia
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NIE: Political Gains In Iraq Have Been 'Elusive'
A new report from U.S. intelligence officials paints a dim picture of Iraq's political future, calling the prospects of reconciliation "elusive" and predicting a "challenging road ahead" for those wishing to bring stability to the war-torn nation. The National Intelligence Estimate [PDF] released yesterday also recognizes "measurable but uneven" progress in the country's security.
But while they predict the political situation will become more "precarious" over the course of the next year, intelligence officials are not advocating a change of course similar to the one many members of Congress and Democratic presidential candidates have been suggesting.
"We assess that changing the mission of Coalition forces from a primarily counterinsurgency and stabilization role to a primary combat support role for Iraqi forces and counterterrorist operations to prevent" al-Qaida "from establishing a safe haven would erode security gains achieved thus far," the report warns.
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Posted at 9:30 AM
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Iraq
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August 23, 2007
Lawmakers Ready New Probes After Utah Mining Tragedy
Many Americans may still remember the January 2006 Sago tragedy in West Virginia, particularly wrenching because the media had erroneously reported that the trapped miners were found alive, only to present the country hours later with the somber news that all but one had perished. That saga moved Congress to pass an overhaul of mining safety regulations, which President Bush signed into law the following June.
This week, the apparent deaths of six Utah miners and the confirmed deaths of three rescue workers who tried to find them is once again putting lawmakers in an investigative posture. The Senate Subcommittee on Workplace and Employment Safety has scheduled a Sept. 5 hearing in which it's seeking testimony from Mine Safety and Health Administration head Richard Stickler, mine co-owner Bob Murray and Cecil Roberts, head of the United Mine Workers of America. Last week, The Gate looked at Stickler, a former mining exec whom Bush installed through a recess appointment after criticism from a Congress then dominated by Republicans.
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Posted at 5:00 PM
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Bush Administration, Congress, President Bush, Senate
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McConnell Spills New Details On Wiretapping, Border Security
Speaking to a local newspaper in Texas last week, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell may have felt he was at a safe enough remove from Washington to drop the standard political evasiveness and talk plainly. Turns out he was wrong.
In a candid interview with the El Paso (Texas) Times, McConnell revealed new details about the government's warrantless wiretapping program and its efforts to secure the border with Mexico. The story went largely unnoticed at first, and might have languished in obscurity had the paper not posted a transcript of the interview on its Web site yesterday.
Among other revelations, McConnell said that the government was monitoring the communications of "100 or less" individuals in the U.S. and "thousands" more overseas. He also gave the first official confirmation of previous reports that private companies had been involved in facilitating the government's domestic spying operation.
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Posted at 3:41 PM
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Bush Administration, Homeland Security, Mike McConnell
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Foley Refuses To Turn Computers Over To Investigators
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced today that its criminal investigation into alleged misconduct by Mark Foley is being hampered by the former Republican lawmaker's refusal to let investigators examine his congressional computers.
Foley ignited scandal and resigned from Congress last September after it was brought to light that he was having inappropriate conversations with young, male congressional pages on the Internet. Foley could face criminal charges if investigators find that he attempted to seduce any boy under the age of 18.
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Posted at 2:27 PM
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Crime, House
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War Spending: The