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August 29, 2007: Draft Edition |
CORRUPTION UPDATES 108
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1) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms.
Iraq Weapons Are a Focus of Criminal Investigations
By JAMES GLANZ and ERIC SCHMITT
NY Times, August 28, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/world/middleeast/28military.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
BAGHDAD, Aug. 27 — Several federal agencies are investigating a widening network of criminal cases involving the purchase and delivery of billions of dollars of weapons, supplies and other matériel to Iraqi and American forces, according to American officials. The officials said it amounted to the largest ring of fraud and kickbacks uncovered in the conflict here.
The inquiry has already led to several indictments of Americans, with more expected, the officials said. One of the investigations involves a senior American officer who worked closely with Gen. David H. Petraeus...
There is no indication that investigators have uncovered any wrongdoing by General Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, who through a spokesman declined comment on any legal proceedings.
The inquiries are being pursued by the Army Criminal Investigation Command, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among other agencies.
Over the past year, inquiries by federal oversight agencies have found serious discrepancies in military records of where thousands of weapons intended for Iraqi security forces actually ended up.
...General Petraeus has said that the imperative to provide weapons to Iraqi security forces was more important than maintaining impeccable records.
In an interview on Aug. 18, General Petraeus said that with ill-equipped Iraqi security forces confronting soaring violence across the country in 2004 and 2005, he made a decision not to wait for formal tracking systems to be put in place before distributing the weapons.
But now, American officials said, part of the criminal investigation is focused on Lt. Col. Levonda Joey Selph, who reported directly to General Petraeus and worked closely with him in setting up the logistics operation for what were then the fledgling Iraqi security forces.
That operation moved everything from AK-47s, armored vehicles and plastic explosives to boots and Army uniforms, according to officials who were involved in it.
The enormous expenditures of American and Iraqi money on the Iraq reconstruction program, at least $40 billion over all, have been criticized for reasons that go well beyond the corruption cases that have been uncovered so far. Weak oversight, poor planning and seemingly endless security problems have contributed to many of the program’s failures.
The investigation into contracts for matériel to Iraqi soldiers and police officers is part of an even larger series of criminal cases. As of Aug. 23, there were a total of 73 criminal investigations related to contract fraud in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan...
Questions about whether the American military could account for the weaponry and other equipment purchased to outfit the Iraqi security forces were raised as early as May of last year, when Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia and then the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent a request to an independent federal oversight agency to investigate the matter.
But federal officials say the inquiry has moved far beyond the initial investigation of hundreds of thousands of improperly tracked assault rifles and semiautomatic pistols that grew out of Senator Warner’s query. In fact, Senator Warner said in a statement to The New York Times that he was outraged when he was briefed recently on the initial findings of the investigations.In a sign of the seriousness of the scandal, the Defense Department Inspector General, Claude M. Kicklighter, will lead an 18-person team to Iraq early next month to investigate contracting practices, said Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman.
The military did not take the routine step of recording serial numbers for the weapons, the inspector general found, making it difficult to determine whether any of the weapons had ended up in the wrong hands.
In July 2007, the Government Accountability Office found even larger discrepancies, reporting that the American military “cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 rifles, 90,000 pistols, 80 items of body armor, and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi security forces as of Sept. 22, 2005.”
Everything but the Oil...
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August , 2007
The invasion of Iraq has profited industry in every way, despite Bush's failure to capture the oil. But even the failure to control the oil has profited Big Oil. If things go according to plan, Big Oil will profit in both the short and long term. But things do not go according to plan in Iraq.
The original plan was deceptively simple: invade and cut off Iraq's oil flow, driving up global oil prices. Install dictator. Have dictator denationalize Iraqi oil, and place it under American Corporate control. So far, one out of three parts of the plan have worked out. But in the meantime, there must be over 100,000 private supply, support, and combat personnel in Iraq making big bucks for the various military industries.
Although it appears on paper that we only have 150,000 troops in Iraq, we actually are fielding 250,000 paid personnel in direct support of the troops. As these private troops are paid 10 to 15 times as much as regular military, our privatized Iraqi adventure is pumping out massive war profits. Profitable as this is in the short-term, the failure of our plan is a serious threat to long term profits.
Iraq's natural ally in the region is Iran. The Iraqi Government looks very unlikely to sign their oil over, nor establish a government controllable by the United States.. The disposition of the Iraqi oil depends on the final disposition of the Iraqi government. Bush's Iraqi adventure is threatening to enhance the rise of Iran's regional status with the addition of an Iraqi partner, rich in oil and resentment for the West.
So, Mr Bremer, where did all the money go?, The Guardian, July 7, 2005
Iraq's missing millions, The Gaurdian, Feb. 8, 2007
U.S. firm botching jobs, WP, Sept 29, 2006
Corruption Updates 25, 9th article on the page, PENTAGON WITHOUT FRAUD WATCHDOG FOR 2ND YEAR AS IRAQ WAR FRAUD SPIRALS OUT OF CONTROL
Corruption Updates 94, 6th article on the page, Bribery Network to Bloat War Costs Is Alleged: Bush and Friends Robbing the US Blind
Pentagon Splits War-Support Contract 3 Ways, NY Times, 6-8-07
Pentagon 190,000 Weapons Missing in Iraq, Iraqis Oppose Oil Bill, Iran Daily, 8-7-07
Corruption Updates 108, 6th article on the page, Iraq Weapons Are a Focus of Criminal Investigations
$6 Billion in Contracts Reviewed, Pentagon Says, NYT, September 21, 2007
NYT, October 16, 2007; Top Air Force Contracting Official Dies in Apparent Suicide
43.5 Billion to Spy on us, NYT, October 31, 2007
AP, September 18, 2007; State Department Under Hill Scrutiny: Honest Oversights forced out, allowing the Administration and its Minions to Steal Billions
Pentagon Cites Poor Controls for Iraq Fund, Billions in weapons missing, NYT, December 7, 2007
Army Overseer Tells of Ouster Over KBR Stir, nyt, 6-17-08
American Envoy Is Linked to Arms Deal Cover-Up, nyt 6-24-08
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Pentagon
Iraq War (31 Abstracts)
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2) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.
Report Finds Iraqi Government Precarious
Thursday, August 23, 2007
(08-23) 10:19 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) –
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/23/national/w101943D20.DTL
The Iraqi government will become more precarious over the next six to 12 months and its security forces have not improved enough to operate without outside help, U.S. spy agencies conclude in a new assessment of the country's political and military fortunes.
Despite some uneven improvements, the analysts concluded that the level of overall violence is high, Iraq's sectarian groups remain unreconciled, and al-Qaida in Iraq is still able to conduct highly visible attacks.
"Iraqi political leaders remain unable to govern effectively," the 10-page document, a declassified summary of a more detailed National Intelligence Estimate, concludes.
The report represents the collaborative judgments of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and the intelligence organization of each military service.
The report predicts that the Iraqi government "will become more precarious over the next six to 12 months" because of criticism from members of Iraqi Shiite parties, Iraq's top Shiite religious figure Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and Sunni and Kurdish factions.
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, are due to report next month on how much progress is being made with the buildup, which now has some 162,000 troops, the highest of the four-year-old war.
The report also finds:
_ Sunni Arab resistance to al-Qaida in Iraq, a Sunni group blamed for significant civilian bloodshed, has expanded in the last six to nine months. However, it hasn't created broad Sunni Arab support for the Iraqi government.
_ Iraq's neighbors will continue to focus on improving their leverage in Iraq, expecting the U.S. and its allies to leave. "Assistance to armed groups, especially from Iran, exacerbates the violence inside Iraq."
_ Security improvements have been brought by Sunni groups fighting al-Qaida in Iraq, but the same groups may eventually pose a threat to the Shiite-dominated central government in Baghdad.
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August , 2007
war on terrorism is bogus, guardian, 9-6-03
Rice: Don't take Iraq errors 'literally,' cnn, 4-1-06
Zinni on Meet the Press, MSNBC, 4-2-06
Don't Let Iraq's Sunni-Shia Conflict Spread Through the Mideast, Cato Institute from the Globe, April 14, 2006
Corruption Updates 33, 3rd article on the page, "Sen. Warner Gets Cold Feet Over War"
Corruption Updates 43, 6th article on the page, "Bush impeachment on the table, Hagel says: Hegel accuses Bush of Everything but High Crimes and Treason
Pelosi: Impeachment 'off the table, Oct 23, 2006, RAW story
Pelosi: Pelosi Kills Impeachment Resolution, Nov 6, 2007, AP
Corruption Updates 45, 1st article on the page, "McCaffrey Paints Gloomy Picture of Iraq"
Corruption Updates 56, 5th article on the page, "Batiste: Army Career Behind Him, General Speaks Out on Iraq"
Corruption Updates 58, 6th article on the page, War-torn Iraq 'facing collapse'
Corruption Updates 67, 1st article on the page, "'03 Iraq reports warned Bush: Bush is an Irresponsible Idiot"
Corruption Updates 79, 1st article on the page, "Iraq Ranks No. 2 of Failed States"
Corruption Updates 86, 2nd article on the page, Lugar shakes Capitol, calls Bush Iraq strategy a failure
Corruption Updates 94, 5th article on the page, Oil Law Stalls in Iraq
Bush Wars Push Saudi Arabia out of American Axis, essay, July 07
Bush Arms Everybody, essay, August 4, 2007
Failed war, failed state, failed empire, essay, August 3, 2007
NY Times, August 12, 2007; Democrats Say Leaving Iraq May Take Years: Dems Still Voting for Iraq War
Corruption Updates 108, 2nd article on the page, Report Finds Iraqi Government Precarious
Corruption Updates 113, 1st article on the page, Poll: Americans see War as Failure
Corruption Updates 113, 2nd article on the page, Poll: Iraqis see War as Failure
Compromise on Oil Law in Iraq Seems to Be Collapsing, NY Times, September 13, 2007
In divided Baghdad, fear rules, McClatchy Baghdad Bureau, September 15, 2007
Cases of Cholera Reach Baghdad, NYT, September 21, 2007
Ex-general calls Iraq a 'nightmare,' Aljazeera, OCTOBER 13, 2007
Uneasy allies in historic summit: Iran Secures Northern Border with Russia Anticipating hostilites from all other Quarters, BBC News, Oct 15, 2007
US had No Post-War Plan for Iraq, BBC, Oct 27, 2007
For his failures, Rumsfeld must go, General Paul Eaton, International Herald Tribune
A failure in generalship, Lt. Col. Paul Yingling, Armed Forces Journal, May 2007
Gulf Arms Race: bush arms everyone, isn, 12-15-07
Arab bitch states expect israel to destroy iran nuke tech, dawn, 2-12-08
Minister Sees Need for U.S. Help in Iraq Until 2018, nyt, 1-15-08
We're never leaving iraq, mcclatchy, 1-17-08
Iran dismisses israeli threats, meo, 1-18-08
the situation in iraq: continued deception by administration, committee, 1-30-08
what the generals, (ret.) have said, committee, links
More than one million Iraqis dead since US-led invasion, meo, 1-31-08
Kurds’ Power Wanes as Arab Anger Rises, nyt, 2-1-08
Law lords to rule whether decision to invade Iraq warrants inquiry, guardian, 2-4-08
prince Andrew: US ignored Uk interantional colonial experience, new.au, 2-5-08
Injecting war in the middle east: croker on us support of saddam, iranmania, 2-8-08
Sadr warns Mahdi militia not to break ceasefire, meo, 2-8-08
British Iraq Dossier Surfaces, Without Crucial Weapons Claim, nyt, 2-19-08
Revealed: the first draft of dossier that took Britain to war, independent, 2-19-08
The true cost of war, guardian, 2-28-08 a news story covering: The Three Trillion Dollar War by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes
Revealed: the first draft of dossier that took Britain to war, independent, 2-19-08
war on terrorism is bogus, guardian, 9-6-03
Arab Summit
days of fury, Al Ahram, 3-5-08
saudi-iranian links
us troops an insult to middle east, bbc, 3-4-08
yet another military chief pushed out, esquire, 3-11-08
US commander quits 'over Iran', aljazeera, 3-11-08
Five years on, Bush again talks of Iraq victory, reuters, 3-19-08
Iraqi Unit Flees Post, Despite American’s Plea, nyt, 4-16-08
US imperialism fuels rise of iran
bribed politicians are killing you, your country, and your planet
dems want iraq to pay costs of american destruction, occupation of iraq, nyt, 4-17-08
dem's audacity: they want iraq to finance their war crimes, committee, 4-19-08
Pentagon institute: Iraq war 'a major debacle' with outcome 'in doubt:' iraq war defines military, political, and moral failures of US government, mcclatchy, 4-17-08
The middle east yesterday, today, and tomorrow, committee, 4-17-08
Iraq falling further apart
Australia pulls troops out of Iraq cnn, 5-31-08
The insider report: Sistani Forbids Feeding Americans, Warns against Security Agreement, informed consent, 5-25-08
Iraq resisting long-term American Domination, occupation, nyt, 5-31-08. (note: "nyt" and "jyt" both refer to the New York Times' proper label, the Jew York Times)
Thousands of Iraqis rally against U.S. troop accord, reuters, 5-30-08
background: Bush, American government lying: long term bases planned and built in iraq: Links
Pentagon propaganda-hypocrisy machine: a mouthpiece of the military industrial complex
Military Chief Warns Troops About Politics, nyt, 5-25-08, Unless it is pentagon propaganda:
background:. article: Pentagon propaganda machine leads corporate media, american opinion, by the nose, nyt, 4-20-08
How the Pentagon shapes the world, asia times, 5-31-08
Liars and Criminals in High Office
Ex-White House spokesman Scott McClellan attacks Bush, lat, 5-28-08
US Senate: Bush lied us to War, nyt, 6-6-08
status of iraq: continued deception by administration, congress, military, committee.
Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control, the independent, 6-6-08
US holding $50 billion in iraqi funds hostage in exchange for permeant US bases, the independent, 6-6-08
Al Jeezera analysis of the two stories above, aljazeera, 6-6-08
nyt reveals, finally, that there are over 310,000 troops and support in iraq:
Use of Iraq Contractors Costs Billions, Report Says, nyt, 8-11-08
White House Ordered CIA to Forge Iraq Intelligence, democracynow, 8-5-08
background: endless war links
White House Ordered CIA to Forge Iraq Intelligence, democracynow, 8-5-08
US Senate: Bush lied us to War, nyt, 6-6-08
Ex-White House spokesman Scott McClellan attacks Bush, lat, 5-28-08
Revealed: the first draft of dossier that took Britain to war, independent, 2-19-08
war on terrorism is bogus, guardian, 9-6-03
Law lords to rule whether decision to invade Iraq warrants inquiry, guardian, 2-4-08
prince Andrew: US ignored Uk interantional colonial experience, new.au, 2-5-08
US had No Post-War Plan for Iraq, BBC, Oct 27, 2007
Corruption Updates 43, 6th article on the page, "Bush impeachment on the table, Hagel says: Hegel accuses Bush of Everything but High Crimes and Treason
war on terrorism is bogus, guardian, 9-6-03
the situation in iraq: continued deception by administration, committee, 1-30-08
China arms Taliban, bbc, 9-7-03
british army broken by iraq and afghan wars, bbc, 1-28-08
close to a failed state, lat, 1-31-08
risk of state failure, bbc, 1-31-08
canada to pull out, javno, 1-30-08
grim news out of Afghanistan, committee, 1-24-08
this will not end well, committee, 6-07
insurgencies spread in afghanistan and pakistan, reuters, 2-3-08
BBC hides Nato Conflict over Afghanistan, bbc, 2-7-08
NATO DISPUTE OVER AFGHANISTAN FORCES, spiegel, 2-9-07
US warns NATO on Afghanistan, bbc, 2-11-08
NATO adviser for talks with Taliban, daily times, 3-9-08
ashdown warns of afghan failure, ft, 3-12-08
taliban woos karzai's warlords, reuters, 3-11-08
another torture victim emerges from CIA secret prison-torture system, reuters, 3-14-08
Taliban leader offers truce, dawn, 3-15-08
New Paki govt partner ANP opens talks with taliban, dawn, 3-30-08
Terms of the Paki taliban: peace with Paki govt, but continued war against Americans Invasion of Afghanistan, mcclatchy, 4-1-08
Afghanistan has no problem convicting bush victims, nyt, 4-10-08
AFGHANISTAN: Over 400,000 people receive food aid amid soaring prices, irin, 4-13-08
An Impending Global Famine, committee, 4-6-08
Afghan fighting poised to escalate, lat, 4-13-08
US predicts increase in Afghan violence, ap, April 24, 2008
Pakistan Defies U.S. on Halting Afghanistan Raids, nyt, 5-16-08
Telegraph, (UK) What the Army faces in Afghanistan, 6-10-08
Financial Times, (UK) The dream of Afghan democracy is dead, 6-11-08
Daily Times, (PK) Is there a deal with the taliban? 6-11-08
this will not end well, committee, 6-07
NATO, Afghan forces preparing to storm Taliban-held villages, Afghanistan Sun, Tuesday 17th June, 2008
Taliban fighters infiltrate area near Kandahar, iht, 6-18-08
American Envoy Is Linked to Arms Deal Cover-Up, nyt 6-24-08
Militants breached US Afghan base, bbc, 7-14-08
Pakistan draws a bead on Baitullah, asia times, 7-26-08
Pakistan ending US Terror War
Peace deal with militants must be enforced: US, daily times, 4-24-08
Pakistan taliban orders cease-fire in tribal areas, dawn, 4-24-08
Terms of the Paki taliban: peace with Paki govt, but continued war against Americans Invasion of Afghanistan, mcclatchy, 4-1-08
US predicts increase in Afghan violence, ap, April 24, 2008
Pakistan Defies U.S. on Halting Afghanistan Raids, nyt, 5-16-08
Telegraph, (UK) What the Army faces in Afghanistan, 6-10-08
The Nation, (PK) Army protests deadly US-led coalition air strike, 6-11-08
Pakistan army: U.S.-led coalition airstrike killed 11 troops, usa today, 6-11-08
Daily Times, (PK) Is there a deal with the taliban? 6-11-08
background: links: Pakistan
Other Information you need to know
Winter Solider
review four days of testimony from iraq-afghan vets, winter solider or foreign policy in focus, or testimonials: realnews network
solider blogs
Casey J Porter Speaks Out Against Stop-Loss, youtube (many iraq videos)
Casey J Porter tells it like it really is in Iraq: the movie
My name is Casey J Porter. I'm right and we all know it.
Iraq War Topics
Pre-emptive war, first strike nukes
oil, guns, and money: links
endless war links
War Fraud links
Lugar, other conservatives, condemn war
essay: The bubbling regional war to pick up speed? 1-14-08
essay updated: report on bush incompentence: chances for regional war up? 4-17-08
Search the Corruption Database under
Iraq War (31 Abstracts)
Afghanistan
Please limit comments to 400 words, unless you write really well! Remember to include the Corruption Updates page number, and the article number on the page. Example: (82_1.)
3) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.
No-bid contract from drug office
Feds find ways to avoid competitive bidding
Thursday, August 23, 2007
(08-23) 04:00 PDT Washington - --
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/23/MNT4RMVO2.DTL
Under pressure from the White House and Congress to deliver a long-delayed plan last year, officials at the Department of Homeland Security's counter-narcotics office took a shortcut that has become common at federal agencies: They hired help through a no-bid contract.
Scott Chronister, a senior official in the Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement, reached out to a former colleague at a private consulting firm for advice. The consultant suggested that Chronister's office could avoid competition and get the work done quickly under an arrangement in which the firm "approached the government with a 'unique and innovative concept,' " documents and interviews show.
A contract worth up to $579,000 was awarded to the consultant's firm in September.
A recent congressional report estimated that federal spending on contracts awarded without open competition has tripled, to $207 billion, since 2000, with a $60 billion increase last year alone.
Government auditors say the result often is higher prices for taxpayers and an undue reliance on a limited number of contractors.
"The rapid growth in no-bid and limited-competition contracts has made full and open competition the exception, not the rule," according to the report, by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles.
Keith Ashdown, chief investigator at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group, said that in many cases, officials are simply choosing favored contractors as part of a club mentality.
"Contracting officials are throwing out decades of work to develop fair and sensible rules to promote competition," Ashdown said. "Government officials are skirting the rules in favor of expediency or their favored contractors."
Corruption Updates 20, 9th article on the page, ROVE USING PATRONAGE AND PAYOFF PROMISES TO MOTIVATE SUPPORTERS
Corruption Updates 43, 9th article on the page, Doan. GSA Chief Is Accused of Playing Politics
Corruption Updates 93, 6th article on the page, Waxman studies possible political use of drug office
Corruption Updates 108, 3rd article on the page, No-bid contract from drug office
Search the Corruption Database under
Candidates (47 Abstracts)
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4) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.
New law may go far beyond wiretapping
It could even allow physical searches of citizens, experts say
SF Chron, August 19, 2007
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/19/MNGTRLCS0.DTL
(08-19) 04:00 PDT Washington - --
Broad new surveillance powers approved by Congress this month could allow the Bush administration to conduct spy operations that go well beyond wiretapping to include - without court approval - certain types of physical searches of U.S. citizens and the collection of their business records, Democratic congressional officials and other experts said.
Administration officials acknowledged they had heard such concerns from Democrats in Congress recently and that there is a continuing debate over the meaning of the legislative language.
The dispute illustrates how lawmakers, in a frenetic, end-of-session scramble, passed legislation they may not have fully understood and may have given the administration more surveillance powers than it sought.
Two weeks after the legislation was signed into law, there is still heated debate over how much power Congress gave to the president.
Beyond wiretapping
Some civil rights advocates said they suspect the administration made the language of the bill intentionally vague to allow it even broader discretion over wiretapping decisions. Whether intentional or not, the end result - according to top Democratic aides and experts on national security law - is that the legislation may grant the government the right to collect a vast array of information on U.S. citizens inside the United States without warrants, as long as the administration asserts that the spying concerns the monitoring of a person believed to be overseas.
Several legal experts said that by redefining the meaning of "electronic surveillance," the new law undercuts the legal underpinnings of several provisions in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, indirectly giving the government the power to use intelligence collection methods far beyond wiretapping that previously required court approval if conducted inside the United States. These new powers include the collection of business records, physical searches and so-called "trap and trace" operations, analyzing specific calling patterns.
Bush administration officials have already signaled that, in their view, the president retains his constitutional authority to do whatever it takes to protect the country, regardless of any action Congress takes. At a tense meeting last week with lawyers from a range of private groups active in the wiretapping issue, senior Justice Department officials refused to commit the administration to adhering to the limits laid out in the new legislation and left open the possibility that the president could once again use what they have said in other instances is his constitutional authority to act outside the regulations set by Congress.
At the meeting, Bruce Fein, a Justice Department lawyer in the Reagan administration, along with other critics of the legislation, pressed Justice Department officials repeatedly for an assurance that the administration considers itself bound by the restrictions imposed by Congress. The Justice Department, led by Ken Wainstein, assistant attorney general for national security, refused to do so, according to three participants in the meeting.
That stance angered Fein and others. It sent the message, Fein said in an interview, that the new legislation, though it is already broadly worded, "is just advisory. The president can still do whatever he wants to do. They have not changed their position that the president's Article II powers trump any ability by Congress to regulate the collection of foreign intelligence."
Dem Traitors Fully Join Bush's Attack on Civil and Constitutional Rights
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 29, 2007
Congress has, incompentently or not, given Bush a law that confirms his claims to unlimited searching powers within the United States. The Dems are trying to portray this as some kind of oversight. This was no oversight.
Although Congress may not have intended to give away all of our Constitutional Liberties, the clearly intended to give up the core principal of the 4th Amendment, that there be no searches without an independent warrant showing proof and naming a specific location for the search.
Giving up the right itself was no oversight, but was an act of official treachery and malfeasance in office. This law is in clear violation of the Constitution, it has no legal or moral legitimacy, and is therefore void.
Lets's check this with the Constitution:
The specific words of the Fourth Amendment of The Constitution are:
“...and No warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Neither the President nor Congress has any legitimate authority to interfere with, or alter the Constitution's specific standard defining legal searches. Nor can the Courts strike down our Constitution.
Each branch of our government is required to remain within its Constitutional bounds, while ensuring that the other branches also keep within their limits.
All of the branches of our government are failing both these tasks.
As things stand now, Congress thinks its duty is to divide the wealth of our nation among themselves and their corporate sponsors. The President is openly consolidating and exercising the powers of a dictator. The courts have been working on a decades-long devolution of our Constitutional and civil rights.
It is way past the time when honest citizens, let alone our dishonest politicians, should have stood up against these crimes and corruptions which threaten our Constitution, the rights of our citizens, and the safety of our country.
Our corrupt Congress and our criminal President are a clear and present danger to the shredded remnants of our democracy and our few remaining civil liberties.
We voted out the last Congress, and like magic, nothing has changed. This Congress continues to feed at the trough of corruption, and the President continues to assault our Constitution. Nothing has changed.
Congress and President must be removed from office and prosecuted for openly violating our laws and betraying our Constitution.
The only solution to controlling political corruption requires that we change who funds the candidates. Any meaningful reform to our elections must make all the candidates, and the results of all of our elections, reflect power of the local voters, rather than the power and interests of the corporations who sponsor our politicians.
Local voters must be put back in charge of their representatives. This can only be done if we make the local voters the primary source of funding for local candidates.
The funding and contributions that support every candidate in every election must come only from the voters in that election.
Today, the outcome of local elections-all elections-are decided by which candidate can raise the most outside money. The dependency of candidates on vast sums of outside money assures voters that the final winner of the election will be more dependent on the corporations and special interests who bribed them, than the support of their own voters.
The reason we are suffering under a criminal Congress and President is that elections today are a function of wealth and power, not of democracy.
As deeply as our elections are corrupted by wealth and power, so too is the depth of corruption of our representatives. These corrupted politicians are only capable of emitting legislation and policy that serves the interests of their corporate sponsors.
Restoring control of our elections to the local voters is only the first step in restoring our democracy. We still face the tasks of restoring the individual rights that have been eroded in recent decades. We are faced with the task of restoring the free press from its corporate captivity. And finally, we will have to drive Congress and the President back within the bounds of our Constitution.
Pelosi's Congress just "gave" Bush a "law" that suspends the Constitution just to his tastes, while at the same time dividing up earmarks between themselves, and our national wealth between their corporate sponsors.
Rather than making Bush's warrantless wiretapping programs legal, Congress' passage of this vile law joins them to the President as enemies of our rights, and the Constitution of the United States.
Bush has led us to war on false pretexts.
Bush has made rules for captures, which the Constitution grants exclusively to Congress.
Bush has claimed the power to practice the use of torture, a clear violation of repeatedly affirmed domestic and international laws.
Bush has created secret prisons beyond law or oversight.
Bush and Congress have, in concert, attacked habius corpus, and pretended the right to diminish the fundamental rights of all persons held under legitimate American authority.
Bush has kidnapped and unlawfully detained numerous individuals in sovereign countries far from any war, exceeding the lawful exercise of war powers by any legitimate President of the United States, violating the sovereignty of these nations, as well as the laws of war, and the rule of law itself.
Bush has claimed and exercised unlimited power to search all Americans without warrant, a clear violation of the Constitution and law of this country.
Bush and Congress have, indiviually and in concert, repeatedly attacked the right of every American to be secure in their possessions and their effects. The President has broken the law and his oath of office by ordering illegal searches, illegal detentions, torture, and executive branch trials.
Congrss has assisted these crimes by repeatedly passing laws in violation of the Constitution, allowing secret warrantless searches of American's homes, their possessions, and records, or as the Constitution defines it, their effects.
Bush has claimed the power to set aside law and the Constitution using signing statements, an innovation not named in the Constitution, in clear violation of the process for creating laws required by the Constitution.
Bush has refused the lawful oversight of Congress, claiming that national security concerns put him above and outside of the Constitutionally checked and balanced duties of the office of the President.
And Congress sits idly by, collecting their wages of bribery as its powers, and our protections are stripped away, Constitutional right by Constitutional right.
Corruption Updates 23, 9th article on the page, "TIMES SOFTPEDALS PRESIDENTIAL WAR CRIMES AND DOMESTIC CRIMES"
Corruption Updates 25, 8th article on the page, "FBI CHIEF DEFYS CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT REFUSAL TO DISCLOSE ILLEGAL PROGRAM"
Corruption Updates 32, 3rd article on the page, "PRESIDENT TRIES END RUN AROUND CONSTITUTION: CLAIMS ACTIONS ARE SECRET, AND ABOVE THE LAW"
Corruption Updates 36, 5th article on the page, "White House Confirms Americans Have No Constitutional Protections"
Corruption Updates 41, 5th article on the page, "FBI Violations May Number 3,000, Official Says: HOW DO YOU SAY ILLEGAL SEARCH? “National Security Letter"
Corruption Updates 51, 9th article on the page, "Administration Seeks to Expand Surveillance Law
Corruption Updates 70, 5th article on the page, Democrats May Subpoena N.S.A. Documents (Comey testified to Congress about the hospital assault, Congress wanted legal justifications for program, and his side of the episode from Gonzales)
Corruption Updates 88, 6th article on the page, Bush Authorized Domestic Spying: Bush is a Criminal, and an Enemy of our Constitution
Corruption Updates 88, 7th article on the page, Spying on the Home Front
Washington Post, August 5, 2007; House Approves Wiretap Measure: Pelosi, Dems, Betray Constitution Again
Washington Post, August 7, 2007; Same Agencies to Run, Oversee Surveillance Program: Liar Gonzales Runs Unconstitutional Searching Program
Corruption Updates 104, 1st article on the page, Notes Detail Pressure on Ashcroft Over Spying: Gonzales Caught Lying, yet Again
Corruption Updates 104, 1st article on the page, Notes Detail Pressure on Ashcroft Over Spying
Corruption Updates 108, 4th article on the page, New law may go far beyond wiretapping
Search the Corruption Database under
Illegal Searches (37 Abstracts)
Please limit comments to 400 words, unless you write really well! Remember to include the Corruption Updates page number, and the article number on the page. Example: (82_1.)
5) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.
Scholar says Bush has used obscure doctrine to extend power 95 times
09/23/2005 @ 6:54 pm
Raw Story, Filed by Jennifer Van Bergen
http://rawstory.com/printstory.php?story=397
The Bush administration has been using an extreme version of an obscure doctrine called the Unitary Executive Theory to justify executive actions that far exceed past presidents' power, RAW STORY has learned.
The doctrine assumes, in its extreme form, nearly absolute deference to the Executive branch from Congress and the Judiciary.
According to Dr. Christopher Kelley, a professor in the Department of Political Sciences at Miami University, as of April 2005, President Bush had used the doctrine 95 times when signing legislation into law, issuing an executive order, or responding to a congressional resolution.
The President announced in these signings that he would construe provisions in a manner consistent with his “constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch.” While the President clearly has the authority to supervise the executive branch, it is unclear how far he might construe this authority under the unitary executive theory.
In fact, according to professors Steven J. Calabresi and Christopher S. Yoo, “a veritable all-star list of constitutional scholars” has rejected judicial supremacy, considering it inconsistent with the idea of checks and balances among the three branches of the federal government.
The President announced in these signings that he would construe provisions in a manner consistent with his "constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch." While the President clearly has the authority to supervise the executive branch, it is unclear how far he might construe this authority under the unitary executive theory.
The Administration’s actions under this doctrine have become so prevalent that even conservatives on the Supreme Court who are sympathetic to the unitary executive theory have felt compelled to reject them. Last year, for example, the Court ruled that the President does not have absolute authority to detain enemy combatants without due process.
Under the Constitution, the president’s role is to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Congress has the power to make the laws and the judiciary interprets the law.
For over 200 years, the United States Supreme Court has been viewed as the final arbiter of what is and what is not the law. “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is,” declared Chief Justice John Marshall in 1803. “This is the very essence of judicial duty.”
...Congress did not react to the legality of the Guantanamo detentions. Nor did they respond when the CIA used an unmanned plane fitted with a five-foot-long Hellfire missile to kill a senior al Qaeda leader as he was riding in a car in the Yemeni desert, also killing a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Congress has never questioned the order to assassinate these individuals, even though the CIA has been banned from conducting or participating in assassinations since 1976.
The Geneva Convention
The Administration’s claim that it has the authority to decide what is or is not the law is most manifest in its decision not to apply the Geneva Conventions to certain persons. A 2003 memo on torture written by Department of Defense lawyers stated that “criminal statutes are not read as infringing on the president’s ultimate authority” as commander-in-chief, and prohibitions on torture “must be construed as inapplicable to interrogations.”
“Congress may no more regulate the president’s ability to detain and interrogate enemy combatants than it may regulate his ability to direct troop movements on the battlefield,” said the memo.
White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales wrote in 2002 that the Geneva Conventions were “obsolete” and “quaint” and argued that Bush had the constitutional authority to determine that Geneva did not apply to al Qaeda or the Taliban.
Several mainstream legal scholars have declared that the President’s claim of unlimited executive power turns the Constitution on its head. University of Texas law professor Douglas Laycock told the L.A. Times that “It is just wrong to say the president can do whatever he wants, even if it is against the law.”
Charles Gittings, founder of the Project to Enforce the Geneva Conventions, asserts that the President’s decision not to apply Geneva, or to apply it selectively, is a grave breach of the Convention and thus a violation of the War Crimes Act of 1996.
“The President has no Constitutional authority to commit crimes,” he said.
The President is an Enemy of the American People and Our Constitution
Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August , 2007
BUSH TRAINING CONGRESS TO OBEDIENCE
PROBLEM TEACHING THEM TO ROLL OVER WHEN THEY ARE ASLEEP
This article was written on October 5th, 2006 for CU 16_1
The article above describes how the President has put himself above the law, claiming powers that were never granted by the Constitution. The Constitution, section 7, number 1, clearly states that, when Congress crafts
“...a law, (it) be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections to that house in which it shall have originated,...and (the house shall) proceed to reconsider it...”
The constitutionally mandated process leads to a law, or no law.
The Constitution does not authorize “signing statements,” or any Presidential power to accept, or reject, part of a law.
“Signing statements” are clearly Unconstitutional, and undermine the balance of Powers between the branches of Government, to the detriment of the rights of the people.
Bush is using the illegal signing statements to claim he can ignore The Constitution and Law, and the Congress and Judiciary are so corrupted that they cannot do their duty to protect our country, or the honor of their offices, by objecting to these repugnant acts of the President.
Bush attached a signing statement to a law prohibiting the Pentagon from collecting information in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Bush also attached a signing statement to a law prohibiting torture of prisoners in U.S. Custody. The Administration has claimed exemption to the Constitutional prohibitions on searches and torture, as well as the laws crafted to protect these unalienable rights. Let's be clear on the issues:
The specific words of the Fourth Amendment of The Constitution are:
...and No warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The president has no authority to interfere with this Constitutionally mandated standard. Nor does Congress, nor the Courts. It is time for officeholders to protect and enforce the Constitution. Those that do have rendered themselves Constitutionally illegitimate, and must be removed from office and prosecuted for betraying our Constitution.
The Congressional, and Court, deference to clearly illegal actions by the President, against the Constitution and laws of this country, are a galling testament to the extent corruption has eroded our political institutions.
The Democrats and Republicans have both rejected the reforms required to restore honest democratic elections by and for the people. Both have failed to protect either the Constitutional rights of the people, or protected the general welfare of its citizens.
The Democratic and Republican parties, and their politicians, have proved themselves to be nothing more than the illegitimate tools of wealth and power. Both parties are the enemies of the American Constitution, enemies of the rights of the American people, and promote interests that are antithetic to the general welfare of our country.
Political corruption has produced a series of administrations, and Congresses, that have intentionally, and constantly, broken not just the law, but have consistently attacked the specific words, as well as the spirit, of the Constitution. Both parties feed from the same source of special interest wealth and power, allowing them create, and fight over, superficial distinctions in policy that conveniently mask the fact that both parties are controlled by the same special interests.
The corporations do not care if you have any “rights” to abortion, guns, gay marriages, privacy, freedom of speech, or anything else: they fund both sides of the argument, and they win in every election, and they win every time American politics are used to take away our citizen's rights. Each extension of governmental power allows the special interests to expand their power. This generational expansion of political control by the special interest now has a stranglehold on our politicians, parties, and our government.
Neither Democrats nor Republicans have the ethics, or the basic values, to reject, or even fight, the bribery and deception that is stealing the wealth and honor of our country. Both parties have rejected, sold short, and violently sacrificed, our basic values, for the rewards of illegitimate wealth and power. Both parties are equally complicit in these domestic and foreign crimes, and have backed each other up. The Democrats only difference with the Republicans, is that they claim they would have done a better job of committing these crimes.
Americans have profited handsomely from this corruption, but we are going to pay a high price for the profits and luxury our corruptions have brought us. The most costly price we are paying, both domestically and internationally, is spiritual. We have lost the spirit of freedom. This is reflected in the character of the governments and leadership we support around the world. Our allies are dictatorial, and murderous.
For our tardiness to attend to these ethical problems, we now have a spiritual disease that has corrupted the character of our people, and caused greed, corruption, and murder, to rise around the world. The vital interests of our country, and the world, demand that we curb the political criminals that have hijacked our democracy, and are using it to torture the world. We are duty-bound to restore democratic legitimacy to our government, control our greedy excesses, and craft foreign and domestic policy that truly reflects our democratic roots and values.
Only after fixing our own house may we be able to fix the world, and end these conflicts our greed and political immorality have caused. But we must start at the beginning, by restoring our own democracy.
NOTE:
We give it a 70% probability that Bush will extend war after the November elections, to Iran. Possibly through Syria. It will be the only way to rescue his Middle East policy. Otherwise, we lose Iraq and provide the means for ending our hegemony over Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt.
If Bush expands the Middle Eastern war, I give it a 50-50 chance that a “national emergency” will be found, or created, to “temporarily” put off the 2008 Presidential Election.
The Corporations and political parties will go for it, and that should bring the Congress along, Especially if they get to keep their seats. The people have already accepted a government that breaks the law, and suspending elections is only a small jump from the elections we have now. This is the only way that Bush and the Democrats will be able to prevent their failed Iraq war and Israeli policies from leading to the rise of an independent Middle East which hates the United States. Otherwise, all is lost.
Join us to fight these illegal acts by our corporate politicians: help us spread the word about the voter-only reform initiative. After we fix the foundation, we will be able to fix the house.
Read more about the exercise of Unconstitutional Presidential Power
NSA Spying on Americans Is Illegal, ACLU, (12/29/2005)
Corruption Updates 16, 1st article on page, “BUSH TRAINING CONGRESS TO OBEDIENCE: PROBLEM TEACHING THEM TO ROLL OVER WHEN THEY ARE ASLEEP
Corruption Updates 21, 7th article on page, “Ex-judges: Detainee law unconstitutional “
Corruption Updates 22, 7th article on page, “Reid Threatens Bush with Oversight” (laughable)
Corruption Updates 23, 4th article on page, “Bush Claims to Unlimited Power Contested”
Corruption Updates 23, 8th article on page, “Harmon Calls Wiretapping Illegal”
Corruption Updates 23, 9th article on page, "TIMES SOFTPEDALS PRESIDENTIAL WAR AND DOMESTIC CRIMES"