Remembering the Forgotten War

"[F]ormer JAG officers say the regulation would end the uniformed lawyers' role as a check-and-balance on presidential power, because politically appointed lawyers could block the promotion of JAGs who they believe would speak up if they think a White House policy is illegal. . . .

"The JAG rule would give new leverage over the JAGs to the Pentagon's general counsel, William 'Jim' Haynes, who was appointed by President Bush. Haynes has been the Pentagon's point man in the disputes with the JAGs who disagreed with the administration's assertion that the president has the right to bypass the Geneva Conventions and other legal protections for wartime detainees."

Savage also offers some important history: "Key members of the Bush administration legal team have pushed to subject the JAGs to greater political control for years.

"In the early 1990s, both Haynes and Vice President Cheney's top aide, David Addington, were politically appointed lawyers in the Pentagon during the Bush-Quayle administration. On their advice, Cheney, who was then the defense secretary, proposed making each service's general counsel the boss of his JAG counterpart, but the Senate Armed Services Committee forced the administration to back down.

"In 2001, Haynes and Addington were restored to power in the Bush-Cheney administration, and the conflict over JAG independence resumed amid the fights over such war on terrorism policies as harsh interrogations.

"Responding to the conflicts, in 2004 Congress enacted a law forbidding Defense Department employees from interfering with the ability of JAGs to 'give independent legal advice' directly to military leaders. But when President Bush signed the law, he issued a signing statement decreeing that the legal opinions of his political appointees would still 'bind' the JAGs."

Wait Until the Next President

Thomas Fuller and Andrew C. Revkin write in the New York Times: "The world's faltering effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions got a new lease on life on Saturday, as delegates from 187 countries agreed to negotiate a new accord over the next two years -- pushing the crucial debates about United States participation into the administration of a new American president.

"Many officials and environmental campaigners said American negotiators had remained obstructionist until the final hour of the two-week convention and had changed their stance only after public rebukes that included boos and hisses from other delegates. . . .

"[T]he White House, while calling the negotiating plan 'quite positive' in a printed statement. . . described 'serious concerns' about the limited steps taken by emerging economic powers."

The New York Times editorial board writes: "America's negotiators were in full foot-dragging mode, acting as spoilers rather than providing the leadership the world needs. . . .

"Despite pleas from their European allies, the Americans flatly rejected the idea of setting even provisional targets for reductions in greenhouse gases. And they refused to give what the rest of the world wanted most: an unambiguous commitment to reducing America's own emissions. Without that, there is little hope that other large emitters, including China, will change their ways."

Budget Watch

Will Bush's budget victories end up costing him? That's the challenging premise of Jonathan Weisman's story in the Sunday Washington Post: "As Congress stumbles toward Christmas, President Bush is scoring victory after victory over his Democratic adversaries. He has beaten back domestic spending increases, thwarted an expansion of children's health insurance coverage, defeated tax hikes, won funding for the war in Iraq and pushed Democrats toward shattering their pledge not to add to the federal deficit with new tax cuts or rises in mandatory spending.