From Green Light to Yellow

"Mr. Mukasey should have said that based on the recent reports he is going to personally and vigorously pursue allegations of politicization in the department, no matter where they lead. . . .

"He should also have vowed that he would do everything in his power to see that President Bush's chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, his former White House counsel, Harriet Miers, and former top political adviser, Karl Rove, all comply with Congressional subpoenas to testify in public and under oath.

"As the nation's top law enforcement officer, Mr. Mukasey should demand that they tell what they know -- particularly about the firing of the United States attorneys -- and deliver relevant documents. Instead, he has supported their baseless claims of executive privilege."

Scott Horton blogs for Harper's: "Prior to his confirmation, Michael Mukasey fessed up, in a written response to Senator Dick Durbin, to a meeting the White House arranged with a group of movement conservatives. The team he met with had a simple agenda: They wanted his assurance that he would not appoint special prosecutors to go after administration figures involved in serious scandals at the Justice Department, including the U.S. attorneys scandal and the introduction of torture with formal Justice Department cover. . . . Mukasey is clearly keeping the understanding that brought him to the cherished post of attorney general. . . .

"This didn't 'just happen.' It was the result of a careful plan for partisan entrenchment at Justice -- consciously pursued in defiance of the law. A serious investigation would have focused on the senior figures responsible for this program."

Al Qaeda Watch

Joby Warrick writes in The Washington Post: "Al-Qaeda has exploited recent political turmoil in Pakistan to strengthen its foothold along the country's border with Afghanistan, a top U.S. counterterrorism official said yesterday in an assessment that also warned of a heightened risk of attack during the upcoming U.S. election season.

"Despite the loss of key leaders to U.S. strikes, Osama bin Laden continues to enjoy a haven in the border region and has managed to deepen alliances with a wide range of Islamist groups from South Asia to the Middle East, said Ted Gistaro, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats and an al-Qaeda expert."

Mark Mazzetti writes in the New York Times: "There is also a growing recognition among senior officials that the Bush administration for years did not take the Qaeda threat in Pakistan seriously enough and relied on President Pervez Musharraf to dismantle networks of militants there."

Iran Watch

Aluf Benn writes in Haaretz: "The American administration has rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and support that would improve Israel's ability to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. . . .

"The Americans viewed the request, which was transmitted (and rejected) at the highest level, as a sign that Israel is in the advanced stages of preparations to attack Iran. They therefore warned Israel against attacking, saying such a strike would undermine American interests. They also demanded that Israel give them prior notice if it nevertheless decided to strike Iran.

"As compensation for the requests it rejected, Washington offered to improve Israel's defenses against surface-to-surface missiles.

"Israel responded by saying it reserves the right to take whatever action it deems necessary if diplomatic efforts to halt Iran's nuclearization fail.

"Senior Israeli officials had originally hoped that U.S. President George Bush would order an American strike on Iran's nuclear facilities before leaving office, as America's military is far better equipped to conduct such a strike successfully than is Israel's."

Another tidbit from the Haaretz story: "Two weeks ago, [Defense Minister Ehud] Barak visited Washington for talks with his American counterpart, Robert Gates, and Vice President Richard Cheney. Both conversations focused on Iran, but the two Americans presented conflicting views: Gates vehemently opposes an attack on Iran, while Cheney is the administration's leading hawk."

State Secrets Watch

Steven Aftergood reports on his secrecy blog: "A new report from the Senate Judiciary Committee examines the use of the state secrets privilege by the executive branch.

"'In recent years, the executive branch has asserted the privilege more frequently and broadly than before, typically to seek dismissal of lawsuits at the pleadings stage. Facing allegations of unlawful Government conduct ranging from domestic warrantless surveillance, to employment discrimination, to retaliation against whistleblowers, to torture and 'extraordinary rendition,' the Bush-Cheney administration has invoked the privilege in an effort to shut down civil suits against both Government officials and private parties. Courts have largely acquiesced,' the report states.

"'While there is some debate over the extent to which this represents a quantitative or qualitative break from past practice, '[w]hat is undebatable . . . is that the privilege is currently being invoked as grounds for dismissal of entire categories of cases challenging the constitutionality of Government action,' and that a strong public perception has emerged that sees the privilege as a tool for Executive abuse.'"

Endangered Species

Bryan Walsh writes for Time: "Thanks to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) -- the 1973 law that requires the federal government to protect endangered species and plan for their recovery -- iconic animals like the bald eagle, the peregrine falcon and the gray whale have rebounded to healthier numbers. It is one of the real success stories of the green movement.

"If the Bush Administration has its way, however, those protections may soon be endangered themselves. The White House on Aug. 11 proposed a sweeping regulatory overhaul of the ESA, virtually eliminating the independent scientific evaluation of the environmental impact of federal actions. . . .

"[I]t's difficult to avoid the conclusion that the White House is simply trying to dismantle as much of the nation's framework for environmental protection as possible in its last months in office. The Bush Administration had tried in the past to push similar changes to the EPA through Congress, but was defeated. The new regulations, which do not require the approval of Congress, seem to represent a last-minute end run around that opposition."

The New York Times editorial board writes: "[M]any property owners and commercial interests, including developers and loggers, hate the act because, in their view, it unreasonably inflates costs.

"The Bush administration has tried hard to accommodate their interests. It has gone to great lengths to circumnavigate the clear language of the law by rigging the science (in many cases ignoring their own scientists), negotiating settlements favorable to industry and simply refusing to obey court orders. This time, however, the administration means to rewrite the law itself, albeit through regulatory means. . . .

"The Bureau of Reclamation likes to build dams; the Department of Transportation likes to build highways. Protecting endangered species is not their priority. Other agencies, like the Office of Surface Mining or the Bureau of Land Management, have shown themselves far too vulnerable to pressure from the very industries, like mining, they are meant to regulate."

Valerie Plame Watch

Kenneth R. Bazinet writes in the New York Daily News: "Another court said Tuesday that outed ex-CIA spook Valerie Plame can't sue Vice President Cheney, ex-Bush political guru Karl Rove or ex-Cheney senior aide Lewis (Scooter) Libby over the disclosure that she was an operative for the spy agency.

"The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington upheld a lower court decision to dismiss the lawsuit, which alleged the Bushies conspired to punitively expose Plame as a CIA agent after her husband conducted a fact-finding mission that helped debunk claims Saddam Hussein had tried to buy weapons-grade uranium in Africa to build a nuclear warhead."

Matt Apuzzo writes for the Associated Press: "It was an unusual case and even some on Plame's legal team acknowledged the case was an uphill fight from the start."

Amanda Terkel of thinkprogress.org wonders if White House officials will finally be forced to comment on their role in the leak.

Last year, after Libby announced he would not appeal his conviction, I noted that Bush, Cheney and their mouthpieces had promised that once Libby's legal options were exhausted, they would answer questions about the CIA leak case. But then -- surprise -- spokeswoman Dana Perino suddenly remembered there was a civil suit pending as well.

Legacy Watch

Ronald Brownstein writes for The Atlantic: "American voters nearly always elect a president who responds to the flaws they have found in his predecessor. Jimmy Carter was more honest than Richard Nixon; Ronald Reagan tougher than Carter; George H.W. Bush 'kinder and gentler' than Reagan; Bill Clinton more in touch than Bush; George W. Bush more morally upright in his personal life than Clinton. In November, whether most voters pull the lever for John McCain or for Barack Obama, they're likely to get a president who's more competent than Bush. What's less certain -- but equally important -- is whether they'll get one who can be the uniter that Bush promised to be, rather than the divider he has been."

He concludes: "Bush's failure has highlighted the fact that, ultimately, presidents who divide rarely conquer, and it has created an enormous opportunity for his successor to reshape the contours of American politics. . . . The opportunity to build a lasting majority would be greater for Obama than for McCain, because of the damage Bush has done to the GOP's image. But either man could strengthen his party by redefining it as more flexible, inclusive, and practical than it is seen to be today. More important, he could remind Americans, as Theodore Roosevelt once put it, that their 'common interests are as broad as the continent.' And that could be the key to progress on all of the problems -- from health care and energy to the economy and national security -- that will await the next president in January 2009."

Late Night Humor

Stephen Colbert hosted author Jane Mayer last night: "My guest tonight says that America is synonymous with torture. That is ridiculous. It is a euphemism for torture."

Colbert: "There's nothing in the constitution that says, 'don't torture.' The words 'don't torture' do not appear."

Mayer: "There is that little part, though, that talks about how you shouldn't have cruel and unusual punishment. . . . "

Colbert: "Let me point out that it says, 'cruel and unusual.' What we're doing may be cruel, but it is no longer unusual for us to do it, OK?"

Colbert also criticized Mayer for having "a problem with the term 'enhanced interrogation.'"

Mayer: "Enhanced interrogation is a euphemism for hurting people on purpose. . . . "

Colbert: "You're making it sound bad when -- when the term itself is meant to make it sound good."

And Colbert mocked the title of Mayer's book, "The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals."

Said Colbert: "If we had never known that the government was doing this -- the way the government didn't want us to know -- our ideals would still be intact. But people like you want to harm our ideals by letting us know what it is we're doing on the dark side. Aren't you part of the problem?"

Froomkin Watch

When this column was launched in January of 2004, I wasn't sure how long I could keep it going. But there's never been a dull moment. And today's column, by my count, is my 1,000th.

Live Online

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Cartoon Watch

Matt Davies on Bush's Georgia strategy, Lee Judge on Bush's message, Tony Auth on Bush and the bear, John Cole on the moral authority problem, and Chan Lowe on Bush's bright line; also John Sherffius on Mr. Mugookasey; Dwane Powell on endangered species; and Bruce Beattie and RJ Matson on Hamdan.