Free Internet Press Newsletter - Wednesday July 18 2007 - (813)

Wednesday July 18 2007 edition
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Analysis: Report Puts Bush Rationale For Iraq War On Shakier Ground 2007-07-18 01:22:12 The White House faced fresh political peril Tuesday in the form of a new intelligence assessment that raised sharp questions about the success of its counterterrorism strategy and judgment in making Iraq the focus of that effort. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush has been able to deflect criticism of his counterterrorism policy by repeatedly noting the absence of any new domestic attacks and by citing the continuing threat that terrorists in Iraq pose to U.S. interests. But this line of defense seemed to unravel a bit yesterday with the release of a new National Intelligence Estimate that concludes that al-Qaeda "has protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability" by reestablishing a haven in Pakistan and reconstituting its top leadership. The report also notes that al-Qaeda has been able "to recruit and indoctrinate operatives, including for Homeland attacks," by associating itself with an Iraqi subsidiary. These disclosures triggered a new round of criticism from Democrats and others who say that the administration took its eye off the ball by invading Iraq without first destroying Osama bin Laden's organization in Afghanistan. Read The Full Story White House Had Drug Officials Appear With Vulnerable Republican Candidates 2007-07-18 01:21:43 White House officials arranged for top officials at the Office of National Drug Control Policy to help as many as 18 vulnerable Republican congressmen by making appearances and sometimes announcing new federal grants in the lawmakers' districts in the months leading up to the November 2006 elections, a Democratic lawmaker said Tuesday. U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (California), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee,  said documents obtained by his panel suggest that the appearances by the drug control officials were part of a larger White House effort to politicize the work of federal agencies that "may be more widespread than previously known." Waxman cited a memo written by former White House political director Sara M. Taylor showing that John P. Walters, director of the drug control office, and his deputies traveled at taxpayer expense to about 20 events with vulnerable GOP members of Congress in the three months leading up to the elections. In a letter to Taylor, Waxman also pointed to an e-mail by an official in the drug policy office describing President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, as being pleased that the office, along with the Commerce, Transportation and Agriculture departments, went "above and beyond" the call of duty in arranging appearances by Cabinet members at campaign events. Read The Full Story Dow Board Reaches Tentative Deal To Sell Wall Street Journal To Murdoch 2007-07-18 01:21:17 It’s now down to the Bancrofts. After months of back-and-forth negotiations, the board of Dow Jones voted Tuesday night in favor of recommending a tentative deal to sell the publisher of the Wall Street Journal for $5 billion to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. The final decision will be made by Dow Jones’s fractious controlling family, the Bancrofts, which could still seek to scuttle the sale, people who have spoken with family members said. That point was underscored by the fact that two of the four Bancroft family members on the board did not take part in the vote. Read The Full Story Japan Mayor Orders Shutdown Of Nuclear Plant Damaged By Earthquake 2007-07-18 00:20:27 The mayor ordered that a nuclear power plant hit by a strong earthquake be shut down Wednesday until its safety could be confirmed after a long list of problems - including radiation leaks, burst pipes and fires - came to light. The malfunctions and a delay in reporting the problems at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant fueled concerns about the safety of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors, which have suffered a string of accidents and cover-ups. "They raised the alert too late. I have sent stern instructions that such alerts must be raised seriously and swiftly," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Tokyo. "Those involved should reflect on their actions." The facility is the world's largest nuclear plant in power output capacity. Japan's nuclear plants supply about 30 percent of the country's electricity, but its dependence on nuclear power is coupled with deep misgivings over safety. The power plant suffered broken pipes, water leaks and spills of radioactive waste when it was hit by the eathquake Monday, said the plant's operator. Read The Full Story Iranian Militants Demad Return Of British Diplomatic Compound In Tehran 2007-07-18 00:19:51 Britain's tense relations with Iran are likely to be further strained next week by an officially linked campaign demanding the handover of the British embassy residence compound in Tehran. Hardliners will stage a conference demanding the return to Iran of Gholhak gardens, a 200,000 square-meter  (50-acre) compound providing accommodation for British diplomats and their families. The compound, in north Tehran's up-market Shemiran district, was presented to Britain at the height of its imperial might by the Qajar monarchy in the 19th century. It is separate from the sprawling British embassy complex several miles further south. Read The Full Story Democrats Maneuver To Chip Away At Republican Resolve To Back Bush's Iraq Strategy 2007-07-17 01:47:08 U.S. Senate Democratic leaders are planning a rare all-night session Tuesday night, employing theatrics and scheduling votes that they hope will chip away at Republican resolve to back President Bush's Iraq war strategy. Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nevada) had hoped to convince Republicans to allow a simple-majority vote on a Democratic proposal to withdraw most U.S. troops from Iraq by next spring, but Republican leaders held firm to a 60-vote threshold for passage - a routine maneuver in today's closely divided Senate but a number Democrats have been unable to meet all year. And Republicans decried Reid's decision for a marathon session as a stunt. Democrats employed similar delaying tactics when they were in the minority, but Reid said the gravity of the Iraq war calls for a straightforward debate, free of political or procedural gimmicks. "We're going to continue working on this until we get a vote on this amendment," said Reid. "It's unfortunate that President Bush has proven, beyond any doubt, that he won't listen to the Congress or the American people unless he's forced to, and that's what this amendment does." Read The Full Story U.N. Secretary General Says U.S. Should Be At Climate Meeting 2007-07-17 01:46:43 United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he will ask President Bush on Tuesday to have a top U.S. official attend a high-level U.N. meeting on climate change in September because "American participation is crucially important." The secretary-general told a news conference Monday before he headed to Washington to meet Bush that he wants the September meeting to provide "strong political (momentum) and guidelines" for a major meeting in Bali, Indonesia in December on a new global climate pact. Ban, who has made climate change a top priority since he became secretary-general on Jan. 1, has called the meeting on Sept. 24, the day before the annual General Assembly ministerial meeting begins. Bush traditionally addresses the opening session as the representative of the host country. "I would like to discuss this matter with President Bush, and would expect President Bush and the American administration will be represented at the highest possible level," he said. Read The Full Story FDA Bonuses Spending To Get Scrutiny From U.S. House Committee Tuesday 2007-07-17 01:46:09 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is giving workers more than $8 million in bonuses to keep them from defecting to pharmaceutical and other regulated industries, at the same time the agency is being pressed to spend more on food and drug safety. The retention bonuses, worth $5,000 or more per employee, are triple what it paid in 2002 and more than any other federal agency pays. As recently as 2005, the FDA accounted for more than 40 percent of the overall $21.6 million the government paid in retention bonuses, according to FDA and other government records. The retention bonuses are only part of an overall financial incentive program, including recruitment and relocation bonuses paid its employees, that has grown sharply at FDA in recent years. In 2002, the agency gave out just $3.2 million in bonuses worth $5,000 or more. That grew to $9.5 million last year. Read The Full Story Help Us Out, West Asks OPEC; Warning That Oil Could Hit $95 A Barrel By Year-End 2007-07-17 00:51:54 Middle East members of the oil cartel OPEC were under pressure Monday night for an immediate rise in production, after a warning from Goldman Sachs that prices could hit $95 a barrel this year. With a bout of speculative activity Monday driving Brent crude to within a few cents of the record $78.65 of last summer, Goldman said that shortages of supply were behind the steady rise. However, the price later dropped to $77.63 and a decline in gasoline futures led New York analysts to question Goldman's forecast. A further rise in oil prices would add to inflationary pressures in developed countries, with some U.K. analysts fearful that dearer energy increases the risk of at least one more quarter-point increase in base rates from the Bank of England. Despite recent declines in North Sea output, Britain's status as an oil producer has been a contributory factor in the recent rapid rise in sterling against the dollar. The pound Monday exploited nervousness about further fallout from the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis to climb above $2.04 for the first time in more than a quarter of a century. Analysts in London were looking to Tuesday's inflation figures for June, and tomorrow's release of the minutes of the meeting this month at which the Bank [of England] raised borrowing costs to 5.75%, to assess the chances of what would be a sixth increase in bank rate since last August. Read The Full Story	Editorial: The Politics Of Fear 2007-07-18 01:21:57 Intellpuke: The following editorial appears in the New York Times' edition for Wednesday, July 18, 2007. It had to happen. President Bush’s bungling of the war in Iraq has been the talk of the summer. On Capitol Hill, some of the more reliable Republicans are writing proposals to force Mr. Bush to change course. A showdown vote is looming in the Senate. Enter, stage right, the fear of terrorism. Yesterday, the director of national intelligence released a report with the politically helpful title of “The Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland,” and Fran Townsend, the president’s homeland security adviser, held a news conference to trumpet its findings. The message, as always: Be very afraid. And don’t question the president. Certainly, the report’s conclusions are disturbing. Nearly six years after 9/11, terrorism remains a huge threat.  Al-Qaeda has replaced leaders killed or captured by the United States, regrouped in its former home base in the tribal lands on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and is trying to use affiliated terrorists in Iraq “to raise resources and to recruit and indoctrinate operatives.” If the report is given an honest reading, it is a powerful rebuke to Mr. Bush’s approach to the war on terror. It vindicates those who say that the Iraq war is a distraction from the real fight against terrorism - a fight that is not going at all well. Read The Full Story R. James Nicholson, Head Of Veterans Administration, Resigns 2007-07-18 01:21:31 R. James Nicholson, the secretary of veterans affairs, resigned yesterday and said he would leave his post by Oct. 1, ending a tenure marked by the largest data breach in the federal government's history and sharp criticism of the care given to injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In an interview, Nicholson said he first considered leaving his position at the government's second-largest department in February and recently made the decision final, in part because he will turn 70 next year and wants to get back into the private sector. He does not have a job lined up, he said. "My yearn to get back into the business world is strong," said Nicholson, adding that he was not asked to step down. "It is a good time - if there ever is a good time - to leave the V.A. There were no frustrations causing me to think about resigning. ... This job is so big and our mission is so multifaceted that there are always frustrations, so that was not a factor." Read The Full Story Bush Middle East Plan Starts To Unravel 2007-07-18 00:20:38 George Bush Tuesday encountered the weakest of welcomes for his call for an international peace conference on the Middle East. A day after he unveiled his plan for a conference of Israelis, Palestinians and Arab governments in the autumn, there were few signs of optimism that such a gathering could produce a final resolution to the conflict. The White House moved to douse expectations. "I think a lot of people are inclined to try to treat this as a big peace conference. It's not," Tony Snow, the White House's press secretary, told reporters. He added the conference would not address final status issues, such as borders, further lowering expectations. Israel had put Washington on notice earlier Tuesday that it was not prepared to discuss such issues as borders at the conference. Read The Full Story 200 Feared Dead In Plane Crash At Sao Paulo, Brazil 2007-07-18 00:20:13 At least 200 people were believed dead Tuesday night after a passenger plane crashed in the heart of South America's largest city, Sao Paulo. The accident, apparently the biggest in Brazilian history, happened at 6:45 p.m. local time when an Airbus-320 belonging to the Brazilian company TAM reportedly skidded on the runway while landing at Sao Paulo's domestic airport Congonhas. The plane, which was carrying 176 people, then slid over one of the city's busiest roads during rush hour before crashing into a warehouse located next door to a gasoline station and exploding. Television images showed flames and thick black smoke bellowing out from the warehouse and emergency services surging towards the scene. Sixteen deaths had been officially confirmed last night. Read The Full Story Europeans Lukewarm As Britain Seeks Support In Diplomatic Spat With Russia Over Litvinenko Murder 2007-07-18 00:19:33 The furious diplomatic row between Britain and Russia spilled into Europe yesterday as Britain looked for solidarity from its European Union partners and Russia warned them not to get involved. Britain failed to win the immediate, concerted response it was seeking. The Foreign Office had wanted a quick statement from the Portuguese, who hold the E.U. presidency, that would express a united European position denouncing Moscow for its lack of cooperation over the Litvinenko murder inquiry. But late Tuesday the Portuguese prime minister, Jose Socrates, had been unable to find a consensus among his fellow leaders. A statement may come Wednesday, but the delay may have weakened its impact. Read The Full Story Glaciers In Retreat 2007-07-17 01:46:56 This is how a glacier retreats. At nearly 13,000 feet above sea level, in the shadow of a sharp Himalayan peak, a wall of black ice oozes in the sunshine. A tumbling stone breaks the silence of the mountains, or water gurgles under the ground, a sign that the glacier is melting from inside. Where it empties out - scientists call it the snout - a noisy, frothy stream rushes down to meet the river Ganges. D.P. Dobhal, a glaciologist who has spent the last three years climbing and poking the Chorabari glacier, stands at the edge of the snout and points ahead. Three years ago, the snout was roughly 90 feet farther away. On a map drawn in 1962, it was plotted 860 feet from here. Dobhal marked the spot with a Stonehenge-like pile of rocks. Dobhal’s steep and solitary quest - to measure the changes in the glacier’s size and volume - points to a looming worldwide concern, with particularly serious repercussions for India and its neighbors. The thousands of glaciers studded across 1,500 miles of the Himalayas make up the savings account of South Asia’s water supply, feeding more than a dozen major rivers and sustaining a billion people downstream. Their apparent retreat threatens to bear heavily on everything from the region’s drinking water supply to agricultural production to disease and floods. Read The Full Story Los Angeles Judge OKs $660 Million Clergy Sex Abuse Settlement 2007-07-17 01:46:25 Sobs and a moment of silence for those who died during years of negotiations punctuated a Monday hearing at which a judge accepted a $660 million settlement between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and alleged victims of clergy sex abuse. ''This is the right result,'' said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Haley Fromholz. The settlement is by far the largest payout by any diocese since the clergy abuse scandal emerged in Boston in 2002. Individual payouts, to be made by Dec. 1, will vary according to the severity of each case. Cardinal Roger Mahony, whose archdiocese counts 4.3 million Catholics, sat through the hearing but did not speak. He issued an apology Sunday after the settlement was announced and said Monday in a statement that he would spend the rest of the day praying for those who claimed abuse. Read The Full Story Man Shot, Killed In Colorado Capitol 2007-07-17 01:45:56 A man carrying a gun and declaring "I am the emperor" was shot and killed Monday outside the offices of Gov. Bill Ritter by a state trooper, a spokesman said. Ritter was in his office but was not injured. The unidentified man refused orders to drop his gun, spokesman Evan Dreyer said. Four or five shots were heard, but authorities would not say how many times the patrolman fired. The gunman did not fire his weapon, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said. Before he was shot by a member of the governor's security detail, the gunman said, "I am the emperor and I'm here to take over state government," said Dreyer. The man initially walked into the vestibule of Ritter's office and was being escorted out when he produced the gun and refused orders to put it down, Jackson said. The shooting occurred about 2 p.m. in a hall outside the governor's offices on the first floor of the Capitol. Read The Full Story London Mayor Steps In As Tube (Subway) Company Faces Bankruptcy 2007-07-17 00:51:42 Metronet, the company charged with a £17 billion ($34 billion) upgrade of the London underground network, was heading for administration last night as the London mayor prepared to step in. It is understood that Mayor Ken Livingstone has lined up accountancy firm Ernst & Young to take over the running of Metronet, which is facing a cash crunch following a regulatory decision Monday. The referee for the Public-Private Partnership project to renovate the capital's tube (subway) network said Metronet, would not receive the emergency cash injection that it needs to continue with its work. Having asked for £551 million ($1.02 billion), the rail regulator Chris Bolt said it would only get £121 million ($242 million). Read The Full Story
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