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Cheney's Fingerprint?
"Q But what he said today didn't quite fit that, Tony.
"MR. SNOW: I'd refer the questions back to him and I let him clarify."
Increasingly Perilous Situation in Iraq
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Karen DeYoung and Walter Pincus write in The Washington Post: "A long-awaited National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, presented to President Bush by the intelligence community yesterday, outlines an increasingly perilous situation in which the United States has little control and there is a strong possibility of further deterioration, according to sources familiar with the document. . . .
"The document emphasizes that although al-Qaeda activities in Iraq remain a problem, they have been surpassed by Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence as the primary source of conflict and the most immediate threat to U.S. goals. Iran, which the administration has charged with supplying and directing Iraqi extremists, is mentioned but is not a focus. . . .
"One senior congressional aide said the NIE had been described to him as 'unpleasant but very detailed.' A source familiar with its language said it contained several dissents that are prominently displayed so that policymakers understand any disagreements within the intelligence community -- a significant change from the 2002 document, which listed most key dissents in small-type footnotes. . . .
"The outgoing director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, briefed the president on the Iraq NIE yesterday, and the document will be made available to Congress early today. A two-page declassified version of its key judgments will then be posted on the DNI Web site."
Iran Watch
David E. Sanger and Mark Mazzetti write in the New York Times: "President Bush's national security advisers have ordered a delay in publication of evidence intended to support Washington's contention that Iran supplies lethal technology and other aid to militias in Iraq, senior administration officials said Thursday. . . .
"Some administration officials said there was a continuing debate about how well the information proved the Bush administration's case.
"One official who has reviewed elements of the briefing said the decision to delay it -- made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser -- was also motivated by concern about potentially disclosing the sources of the intelligence, and by a debate over what might be the most politically opportune moment to press the case that Iran is the source of some of the most deadly attacks on American and Iraqi forces. . . .
"Some administration officials admit they are in a bind: on one hand, the longer the White House issues heated statements aimed at Iran without backing them up with facts, the more the administration's case is called into question.
"At the same time, rushing to produce a flimsy case that is ultimately discredited could be more damaging in the long run, as was the case with Colin L. Powell's speech to the United Nations Security Council in February 2003, when he was secretary of state, outlining what he portrayed as irrefutable evidence that Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons."
Who's Arming Who?
But who's really arming the militias and the insurgents? Iran -- or the United States?
Tom Lasseter writes for McClatchy Newspapers: "The U.S. military drive to train and equip Iraq's security forces has unwittingly strengthened anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which has been battling to take over much of the capital city as American forces are trying to secure it.
"U.S. Army commanders and enlisted men who are patrolling east Baghdad, which is home to more than half the city's population and the front line of al-Sadr's campaign to drive rival Sunni Muslims from their homes and neighborhoods, said al-Sadr's militias had heavily infiltrated the Iraqi police and army units that they've trained and armed. . . .
"'Half of them are JAM. They'll wave at us during the day and shoot at us during the night,' said 1st Lt. Dan Quinn, a platoon leader in the Army's 1st Infantry Division, using the initials of the militia's Arabic name, Jaish al Mahdi. 'People (in America) think it's bad, but that we control the city. That's not the way it is. They control it, and they let us drive around. It's hostile territory.'"
Deja Vu?
Craig Unger writes in Vanity Fair: "By now, the story of how neoconservatives hijacked American foreign policy is a familiar one. With Vice President Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld leading the way, neocons working out of the office of the vice president and the Department of Defense orchestrated a spectacular disinformation operation, asserting that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction posed a grave and immediate threat to the U.S. Veteran analysts who disagreed were circumvented. Dubious information from known fabricators was hyped. Forged documents showing phony yellowcake-uranium sales to Iraq were promoted.
"What's less understood is that the same tactics have been in play with Iran. Once again, neocon ideologues have been flogging questionable intelligence about W.M.D. Once again, dubious Middle East exile groups are making the rounds in Washington--this time urging regime change in Syria and Iran. Once again, heroic new exile leaders are promising freedom.
"Meanwhile, a series of recent moves by the military have lent credence to widespread reports that the U.S. is secretly preparing for a massive air attack against Iran. (No one is suggesting a ground invasion.)"
Here's Keith Olbermann on MSNBC: "Consider the similarities between the phrases Mr. Bush uses now about Iran and the ones he used in 2002 about Iraq.
A video montage then shows Bush saying the following:
Then: "The Iraqi people cannot flourish under a dictator that oppresses them--threatens them."
Now: "Our struggle is not with the Iranian people. As a matter of fact, we want them to flourish."
Then: "Iraq is land rich in culture and resources and talent."
Now: "And the Iranian people are proud people, and they've got a great history and a great tradition."
Then: "If we fail to act in the face of danger, the people of Iraq will continue to live in brutal submission. The regime will remain unstable. The region will remain unstable, with little hope of freedom and isolated from the progress of our times."
Now: "One of the things that the Iranian government is doing is they've begun to isolate their nation, to the harm of the Iranian people."
Then: "Hopefully this can be done peacefully."
Now: "I believe we can solve our problems peacefully."
Then: "All options are on the table."
Now: "All options are on the table."
Crooks and Liars has the video.
Rendition Watch
Paul Koring and Jeff Sallot write in Toronto's Globe and Mail: "A top-secret briefing yesterday failed to convince two senior U.S. senators that the Bush administration was right to send Maher Arar to Syria.
"Both Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy and Republican Senator Arlen Specter, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate judiciary committee, said the briefing resulted in more questions than answers.
"Neither would say whether they had been convinced of the merits of the U.S. government's position that Mr. Arar should remain on a no-fly list -- effectively banned from entering the United States -- despite being exonerated in Canada and paid $11.5-million in compensation by Ottawa."
Budget Watch
Robert Pear writes in the New York Times: "President Bush will ask Congress in his budget next week to squeeze more than $70 billion of savings from Medicare and Medicaid over the next five years, administration officials and health care lobbyists said Thursday.
"The proposals, part of a White House plan to balance the budget by 2012, set the stage for a battle with Congress over entitlement spending. Even some administration officials say they cannot imagine approval of such large cutbacks in a Congress now controlled by Democrats....
"Representative Charles B. Rangel, the New York Democrat who heads the House Ways and Means Committee, said Thursday: 'There is a large area for potential compromise and agreement, but with these latest Medicare proposals, the president is just asking for controversy. He still acts as if Republicans were in complete control and Democrats had lost the election.'"
White House Welcomes Oversight?
I do not think the word means what he thinks it means.
Ben Feller writes for the Associated Press: "A White House management official said Thursday there is 'very little real accountability' in the federal government, and he welcomed the tougher oversight the Democrats have promised now that they control Congress.
"'There cannot be enough accountability in the federal government,' said Clay Johnson, deputy director of the Office and Management and Budget, which supervises executive branch agencies. 'There is very little today. Very little real accountability.'
"Yet Johnson challenged Democratic lawmakers to help solve problems -- not just hold hearings about them."
Fat Chance
Michael Abramowitz writes in The Washington Post: "President Bush yesterday added his voice to the growing debate over childhood obesity, as he met at the White House with representatives of some of the companies considered responsible for aggravating the problem and urged them to stress the importance of healthful eating and physical fitness in their marketing campaigns. . . .
"As described by those present, the meeting was cordial and the president signaled no intent to pursue more aggressive policies favored by some consumer groups, such as banning the marketing of junk food to children or requiring more detailed nutritional labeling. Bush told the executives that it is an individual's responsibility to maintain a healthful diet, not the government's."
Late Night Humor
Jon Stewart tries valiantly to find some way to express concerns about the war that doesn't embolden the enemy.
Cartoon Watch
John Sherffius on Cheney's monster.
