Clipmarks | arifsali's 'bush administration' clips

Nicholas Burns: We Should Talk to Our Enemies

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:46:07 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Nicholas Burns started his career as a foreign service officer in 1983. He served in Cairo and Jerusalem, before working in the State Department’s Department of Soviet Affairs. Then in 1990 he shifted onto the National Security Council staff. In 1995 he became Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, and in 1997 he was appointed Ambassador to Greece. In 2001, the George W. Bush administration made him the United States’ Permanent Representative to NATO, and then in 2005 they made him Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs — the number three job in the State Department. This career diplomatic, widely respected and widely experienced, trusted with key missions by the Bush administration, has an article in Newsweek about how yes we should engage in direct, high-level talks with “bad guy” regimes:

Clip Source: www.newsweek.com

One of the sharpest and most telling differences on foreign policy between and is whether the United States should talk to difficult and disreputable leaders like 's or Venezuela's Hugo Chávez.

Are McCain and Palin correct that America should stonewall its foes? I lived this issue for 27 years as a career diplomat, serving both Republican and Democratic administrations. Maybe that's why I've been struggling to find the real wisdom and logic in this Republican assault against Obama.

of course we should talk to difficult adversaries—when it is in our interest and at a time of our choosing.

The more challenging and pertinent question, especially for the McCain-Palin ticket, is the reverse: Is it really smart to declare we will never talk to such leaders?

Tags: united states, politics, diplomacy

Judge orders Chinese Muslims at Guantanamo freed

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:22:52 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Earlier related clip

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the release in the United States of 17 Chinese Muslims who have been held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, a landmark ruling that dealt a major setback to the Bush administration.

The Uighurs remain at the prison even though the U.S. military no longer considers them "enemy combatants." The United States has been unable to find a country willing to accept the Uighurs.

Tags: chinese, united states, muslims, uighurs

How Tenet Betrayed the CIA on WMD in Iraq

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 06:15:59 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Habbush explained to the British official that Saddam tried to maintain the impression that he did have such weapons in order to impress Iran.

Suskind writes that the head of MI6, Richard Dearlove, flew to Washington to present details of the Habbush report to Tenet, who then briefed National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Soon after that, the CIA informed the British that the Bush administration was not interested in keeping the Habbush channel open, according to Suskind’s account.

Clip Source: www.ipsnews.net

Journalist Ron Suskind’s revelation that Saddam Hussein’s intelligence chief was a prewar intelligence source reporting to the British that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) adds yet another dimension to the systematic effort by then Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet to quash any evidence -- no matter how credible -- that conflicted with the George W. Bush administration’s propaganda line that Saddam was actively pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.

According to Suskind’s new book, ‘The Way of the World’, Iraqi Director of Intelligence Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti had been passing on sensitive intelligence to the UK’s MI6 intelligence service for more than a year before the U.S invasion. In early 2003, Suskind writes, Habbush told MI6 official Michael Shipster in Jordan that Saddam had ended his nuclear programme in 1991 and his biological weapons programme in 1996.

Tags: iraq, bush administration

Black Septembers

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:47:05 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: icga.blogspot.com

The Bush years will be remembered for many definitive events, but perhaps none so grave as the two black Septembers that now bookend his presidency.

Twin mega-disasters on the watch of one man. One in his first year as president, the other in his last. The first took down the Twin Towers, the second disaster took place, to borrow a phrase from ace illustrator Art Spiegelman, “in the shadow of no towers.”

The Bush administration is nothing if not nervy. They have the nerve to ask taxpayers to foot a questionable trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street on top of a questionable trillion-dollar war.

That’s asking a lot, especially when the asking is being done by “deciders” with no sense of shame or accountability. That’s asking a lot when the “deciders” game the system to reward their mistakes, when they war with other people’s lives.

Would it be too much to ask for the Bush administration to show some accountability for its mistakes and resign en masse?

What ever happened to honor?

Tags: united states, bush administration

My Guantanamo Diary: The Detainees and the Stories They Told Me

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:17:27 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.amazon.com

In this book My Guantánamo Diary the author shows why in an election year, we citizens have to know what our government is doing. Mahvish Khan is an American born lawyer, which I hope people remember.

She is not an enemy of the United States, but such a lover of the United States Constitution, which I wish more supporters of the Bush administration were. She even notes that when she first went to Guantánamo even she assumed she would be meeting terrorists.

The author also is a very positive person so please don't assume the book is all gloom and doom. As an American I found the book to be a wonderful insight into how far we have come since Washington was President, to a place I personally don't like.

Tags: afghanistan, united states, book

Oh Yes, I believe you, George!

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:36:05 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks:

"And I share their concerns."

You really don't, because you've been in the office for eight freaking years and you've had enough time to not let the crisis come to our doors.

Clip Source: www.sfgate.com

Bush says he's working hard on economic turmoil

Eager to show that he feels people's pain, President Bush scuttled a political fundraising trip Thursday to tell the country his administration is working feverishly to calm turmoil in the financial markets.

Bush was supposed to spend the day in Alabama and Florida raising money for Republicans and talking energy policy. He canceled his trip and sent Vice President Dick Cheney to sub for him at the fundraisers to focus on the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression.

"The American people are concerned about the situation in our financial markets and our economy," Bush said. "And I share their concerns."

The tumult in financial markets and the disappearance of corporate giants have shaken people's faith in the economy. On Wall Street, the fear is that more significant financial companies will fall, causing a spillover effect within the United States and on world markets.

Tags: united states, finance, bush administration

Islamic world should learn from Turkey court ruling

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:00:33 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: its relations with the United States have frayed over the past few years.

CNN: Why is that?

Zakaria: Mostly because of the Bush administration. The Pentagon never forgave Turkey for not allowing a second front (through Turkey) for the invasion of Iraq.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

The battle threatened to throw the country into turmoil. Now, it seems that stability has been restored. The party won't be banned, but it will curtail some of its more overtly Islamic activism. (Which was not very Islamic, in my opinion, anyway.)

CNN: Is this important beyond Turkey?

Zakaria: Yes, Turkey is the only genuinely liberal democracy in the Muslim world. If it appeared that it could not strike a balance between religion and politics, it would send a terrible signal.

People around the Islamic world should now take a hard look at Turkey, where the AK Party, which is full of very religious Muslims, is also the most progressive party in the country, passing dozens of liberal, European-style reforms of the economy, legal and social system. Turkey under the AK Party shows the most inspiring combination of Islam and democracy in the world.

Tags: turkey, democracy, muslims

Humans cause climate change, US body accepts

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:10:32 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: environment.newscientist.com

AS THE Bush administration enters its final months, the US Climate Change Science Program has issued a report concluding that computer models do effectively simulate climate. It also accepts that the models show human activity was responsible for the rapid warming of the 20th century.

The report is the 10th of 21 due to be issued by the body, which the sceptical Bush administration set up late in 2002 to review the validity of climate-change science before making policy decisions. At the time, environmentalists accused the administration of using the programme as a way to drag its feet on the issue.

"The evidence is pretty convincing that the models give a good simulation of climate," lead author David Bader of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California told reporters last week. He concedes that the report did not examine predictions of future climate change. Nor did it address policy issues, which will be left to the next administration.

Tags: environment, bush administration

The dilemma of anti-extremist Pakistanis

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:03:00 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: The whole piece is worth reading.

Clip Source: icga.blogspot.com

Yesterday the New York Times ran a front-page article on the growth of al-Qaida in Pakistan and the failure of the Bush administration to devise any strategy to confront it.

(Instead they are apparently thinking again about attacking Iran.

As usual, the Times article presented the alternatives as do nothing, Predator missile strikes, or invasion by U.S. Special Forces, without any discussion of competing Pakistani and Pashtun political agendas for the tribal agencies.

American hypocrisy has played into the hands of Islamic militants. They have been vigorously promoting the notion that this is a bipolar conflict of Islam, which they claim to represent, versus imperialism. Many Pakistanis, who desperately want someone to stand up to the Americans, buy into this.

According to Khattak, one part of the "government of Pakistan" is at war with groups created by another part of the "government of Pakistan." A policy toward "Pakistan" cannot address this problem.

Tags: terrorism, united states, pakistan

The Untold Story of Corruption in Iraq

Sat, 17 May 2008 01:13:07 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.chicagopublicradio.org

The Bush Administration says its makes strong efforts to fight corruption in Iraq — but according to my next guest — they’re making a strong effort to cover up corruption in Iraq.

Arthur Brennan is a retired Superior Court Judge from New Hampshire. He has experience helping Cambodia establish its court system. Judge Brennan is also a veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division and served in the Reserves for 20 years.

Justice Brennan testified at a Senate hearing this week and said the work of these organizations was ignored and demeaned by the State Department, the Justice Department and the Iraqi government.

Justice Brennan only spent a few weeks in Iraq before his wife was diagnosed with cancer and he had to resign — but what he saw amazed him.

In his Senate testimony, Judge Brennan testified that the State Department had “negligently, recklessly and sometimes intentionally misled Congress, the American people and the people of Iraq.”

Tags: iraq, corruption, united states

Muslim true/false

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:54:00 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: What you think you know about them is likely wrong -- and that's dangerous.
By John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Winning hearts and minds -- the Bush administration, foreign policy wonks, even the U.S. military agree that this is the key to any victory over global terrorism. Yet our public diplomacy program has made little progress on improving America's image. Few seem to recognize that American ignorance of Islam and Muslims has been the fatal flaw.

How much do Americans know about the views and beliefs of Muslims around the world? According to polls, not much. Perhaps not surprising, the majority of Americans (66%) admit to having at least some prejudice against Muslims; one in five say they have "a great deal" of prejudice. Almost half do not believe American Muslims are "loyal" to this country, and one in four do not want a Muslim as a neighbor.

Why should such anti-Muslim bias concern us? First, it undermines the war on terrorism: Situations are misdiagnosed, root causes are misidentified and bad prescriptions do more harm than good

Second, it makes our public diplomacy sound like double-talk.

Tags: muslims

The Day King George Was Crowned...

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 21:42:54 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Seems like a hottest youtube for this week.

Clip Source: youtube.com

The Day King George Was Crowned...

Today, 135 years to the day after the last American President suspended habeus corpus, President Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006. At it's worst, the legislation allows President Bush or Donald Rumsfeld to declare anyone -- US citizen or not -- an enemy combatant, lock them up and throw away the key without a chance to prove their innocence in a court of law. In other words, every thing the founding fathers fought the British empire to free themselves of was reversed today with the stroke of a pen.

Tags: bush, bush administration, politics, youtube, president, united states

Not in the name of democracy

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:09:03 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

On the eve of the invasion of Iraq, Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior Middle East analyst, warned of the dangers of imposing democracy on sovereign nations in the region.

Citing the bitter memories of western colonialism and imperialism on Arab lands in the first few decades of the 20th century, Bishara predicted that invading Iraq would lead to untenable chaos.

His predictions and calls at the time remain poignant today.

The Bush administration should be careful when it talks about democracy in the Middle East. The idea is too valuable, and too vital, to be used as cynical camouflage for other agendas, whether those are based on oil interests, or Israel's, or the desire to have a solid military beachhead in a volatile region.

America

does not seem to realise what bitter memories we Arabs have of foreign democracies trying to shape and dominate our region.

Tags: iraq, united states

U.S. Resisting Ban on Cluster Bombs

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:32:23 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: They come in handy to bomb empty caves!

Clip Source: www.ipsnews.net

BRUSSELS, Oct 29 (IPS) - The U.S. is leading efforts to resist a complete ban on cluster bombs, human rights activists have complained.

Although an accord appears likely to be reached during 2008, activists are concerned over diplomatic manoeuvres by Washington to ensure that it will not be too stringent.

Representatives of the U.S., the world's number one user of cluster munitions, have been holding bilateral discussions with some European governments recently in a bid to water down any potential accord. The Bush administration has observer status at the Brussels conference, though it is a Europe-led initiative.

"Almost 90 countries have joined the Oslo process," said Stan Brabant from Handicap International, one of the groups most vociferous in opposing cluster bombs.

Tags: united states, bomb, politics

Congressmen extend first U.S. apology to Arar

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 04:26:12 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.canada.com

Republican and Democratic members of a U.S. congressional panel issued personal apologies to Maher Arar Thursday, and denounced the Bush administration for refusing to admit it erred in sending the Canadian software engineer to Syria on suspicion he had ties to terrorist groups.

But even as lawmakers called on the U.S. government to compensate Arar, a pair of prominent Republican congressmen laid the blame for his ordeal at the doorstep of the Canadian government and the RCMP.

"Let me personally give you what our government has not - an apology," Representative Bill Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat, told Arar during an emotional Capitol Hill hearing into the U.S. policy of extraordinary rendition.

"We should be ashamed," said Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican.

Tags: politics, canada, united states, congress