Thursday, April 26, 2007

because of the foreign press

* glenn:
"Third, the only real reason that we learned of the pervasive deceit in the Jessica Lynch case is because the foreign press -- principally the BBC and The Guardian -- aggressively investigated the U.S. government's claims. And they did so because officials in the British Government were appalled at how deceitful were the claims being made by the Pentagon, and how passive and uncritical our press was in passing it along."

* digby:
"Something awful has happened to our military with this infiltration of extremist Christians in the officer ranks. And the problem isn't that they are believers or even that some of them have simplistic views of what makes people tick. The problem with so many of these conservative Christian types in government across the board is that they are so unethical and dishonest. I don't know if that comes from the Elmer Gantry tradition or what, but our experience with experimental theocracy has certainly shone a light on this rather unexpected characteristic."

* tpmm:
"The House Judiciary Committee, by a vote of 32-6, just authorized a subpoena for Monica Goodling's testimony and an offer of immunity.

As former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico David Iglesias pointed out yesterday, Goodling should prove to be a very valuable witness to investigators. Since Goodling acted as the liaison to the White House at the Justice Department, communications from Karl Rove or other White House officials are likely to have gone through her. As Iglesias put it, she has "the keys to the kingdom.""

* tpmm:
"House Committee Approves RNC Subpoenas
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has just voted 20-8 to authorize subpoenas for both RNC Chairman Mike Duncan and emails held by the RNC. "

* tpmm:
"Ex-House Aide Snared in Abramoff Probe
"A former congressional aide pleaded guilty Tuesday to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from lobbyist Jack Abramoff in an influence-peddling scandal that has touched the White House, Interior Department and congressional Republicans. Mark Zachares was the 11th person to be convicted in the Justice Department probe. Zachares admitted engaging in official acts on Abramoff's behalf while working for Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who chaired the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee." (Houston Chronicle)

* The Hill:
"The ranking member of the House Government Reform Committee said he could not support the decision of the panel’s chairman to subpoena the secretary of state, marking the first time this year that he has broken with the committee’s top Democrat on a significant committee issue.

“Subpoenaing Secretary [Condoleezza] Rice to discuss the Iraq-uranium issue is duplicative of multiple investigations that have already been concluded,” said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.).

Davis accused panel Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) of overstepping his bounds to call on Rice. Waxman wants her to discuss in more detail how a National Security Council aide inserted incorrect intelligence indicating that Iraq sought uranium from Africa into the President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address.

“This is not only an overreach, this is disruptive,” Davis said. He indicated Rice was being brought before the committee for political reasons.

Until now, Davis has supported the subpoenas issued by Waxman and has sided with Democratic leadership on critical legislation such as the D.C. voting rights legislation that passed the House last week.
[]
Waxman’s office could not be reached for comment."
The Hill isn't the only one having trouble reaching Waxman's office...

5 comments:

Andrew Simon said...

And they did so because officials in the British Government were appalled at how deceitful were the claims being made by...

Tony Blair too. The latest from Chris Ames is that the Information Commissioner has indicated that he will issue a decision regarding the release of the very first draft of the September Dossier by the end of next week. Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett seems to be completely unwilling to admit to holding a cat-in-a-bag, far less to being in a position to release it. Me thinks she knows it's going to turn around and bite her very hard on her arse when it finally does get free!!! ;-)

Andrew Simon said...

(Oops - messed up second link - Try this one.)

lukery said...

thnx simon - fp'd

Anonymous said...

I see what you mean about Waxman's office, but I don't think the problem is just with Sibel's issue

On Wednesday morning I called the Dem staff on the Oversight committeer to discuss Waxman's letter Shays, Mar. 1, 2005 with respect to calling John Bolton and Fred Fleitz to tstify on how the 16 words got into the Preznitwits speech and had a very meaningful conversation.

Then I called Waxman's office and the person who answered the phone was so unprofessional I thought I'd called the wrong number, seriously. You know how sometimes you call a wrong number and the person answering the phone has the same name as the one you're calling and it takes you a while to figure out you've dialed a wrong number?

Mid phone call I asked if this was Waxman's office. When I mentioned John Bolton, I was told he was Micahel Bolton's brother and asked if I knew that, as if it mattered. When I mentioned Waxman's letter to Shays, he said "Whateverrrrr, When I said something else he repeated whateverrrr, and I'm a supporter of Waxman. Lord knows how he speaks to critics, assuming he can tell the difference. I tell you this Luke, so you won't be so discouraged about their response to people calling about Sibel. It could be some very ill-trained staffperson, not the issue itself.

I always prefer speaking to committee staff because they are lawyers and more familiar with the nitty gritty details of an issue, the schedule for hearings, etc, than general office staff.

I considered calling Waxman's District office to complain because I don't think it does Waxman any good to have such a person relating to the public.

lukery said...

kax - that's horrendous. fp'd.