J's Cafe Nette

Archive for April 25th, 2007

From The Drudge Report:

Ex-CIA Director George Tenet says the intelligence extracted from terror suspects in the Agency’s “High Value Detainee” program, which includes so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” was more valuable than all the other terror intelligence gathered by the FBI, the National Security Agency and the CIA. In his first network television interview, the nation’s former top spy denied any torture took place, but tells Scott Pelley that the High Value Detainee program saved lives and allowed the U.S. government to foil terror plots. The interview will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, April 29 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

MORE

The High Value Detainee program uses “enhanced” techniques said to include sleep deprivation, exposure to extreme temperatures, and water boarding, in which suspects are reportedly restrained as a steady stream of water is poured over their faces, causing a severe gag reflex and a terrifying fear of drowning. In Sunday’s interview, Pelley challenges Tenet on the “enhanced interrogations,” a topic that gets little play in his much-anticipated book, At the Center of the Storm. “Here’s what I would say to you, to the Congress, to the American people, to the President of the United States: I know that this program has saved lives. I know we’ve disrupted plots,” he tells Pelley. “I know this program alone is worth more than the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency put together, have been able to tell us.”

MORE

The new program for interrogation came after the 9/11 attacks. When pressed by Pelley about whether interrogations included water boarding, Tenet insists he does not talk about techniques, and that what he means by “enhanced interrogation” is not torture. Whatever it is, it’s justified in his mind. “We don’t torture people. I want you to listen to me. The context is it’s post-9/11. I’ve got reports of nuclear weapons in New York City, apartment buildings that are gonna be blown up, planes that are gonna fly into airports all over again, plot lines that I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on inside the United States, and I’m struggling to find out where the next disaster is going to occur. Everybody forgets one central context of what we lived through: the palpable fear that we felt on the basis of the fact that there was so much we did not know.”

When 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured in a raid in Pakistan, the “enhanced interrogations” were apparently a surprise to him. According to Tenet, the captured terrorist told CIA interrogators, “I’ll talk to you guys when you take me to New York and I can see my lawyer.” Instead, he was reportedly flown around the world, kept in secret prisons and water-boarded. Tenet repeated his denial again and again: “Let me say that again to you. We don’t torture people. Okay?”

MORE

But when asked by Pelley why the “enhanced interrogation” techniques were necessary, Tenet says, “Because these are people who will never, ever, ever tell you a thing. These are people who know who’s responsible for the next terrorist attack….[who] wouldn’t blink an eyelash about killing you, your family, me and my family and everybody in this town,” says Tenet. When Pelley presses, asking whether he lost sleep over the interrogations, Tenet says, “Of course you lose sleep over it. You’re on new territory.”

Developing…

I don’t care what they do to these scum to get them to tell us what they’re up to. I don’t care if they put panties on their heads, hold them on a leash, or waterboard them if it will get the information we need to protect ourselves.

Some may disagree with me about the panties, dog leash and waterboarding, but compared to slicing our heads off those are mild indeed.

Tweet This Post

Someone please get this man some help.

Zachary Moyle, executive director of the state GOP, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Kramer invited him to look at something in the trunk of his Mercedes before pulling out a rifle, pointing it at his face and warning that he would be back if President Bush vetoed an emergency war spending bill being considered by Congress.

HT: HILLARY NEEDS A VACATION

Tweet This Post

Today the Dow closed at a record high of 13,089.89 just 128 days after it broke the 12,000 mark.

April 25 (Bloomberg) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed 13,000 for the first time after profit reports from more than half of its 30 members bolstered speculation that the biggest U.S. companies will weather slower economic growth.

The Dow reached the milestone 128 trading days after breaching 12,000, about 15 times faster than the previous thousand-point advance. The average, consisting of companies with a median market value of $117 billion, recovered from its biggest one-day slide in four years after first-quarter earnings at Citigroup Inc. and Caterpillar Inc. this month beat analysts’ estimates.

Dow members are about 21 percent cheaper than in October, when the index first climbed above 12,000, based on the ratio of prices to historical earnings. USAA Investment Management, Bank of America Capital Management and LPL Financial Services, which manage about $727 billion, say the shares may rise more this year as demand from fast-growing economies buoys profits.

“This is the rare exception where you’ve had a bull market without P/E expansion,” said Ronald Sweet, who helps manage about $37 billion at USAA in San Antonio. “Having good earnings reports for this first quarter is setting up the scenario we were viewing for this year — slower U.S. economic growth with corporate earnings still holding up.”

The Dow average, created in May 1896 by Dow Jones & Co. to measure the performance of industrial companies, climbed 1.1 percent to a record 13,089.89 today after first-quarter earnings at Boeing Co. surpassed analysts’ estimates. Profits for the gauge’s members have risen in 16 straight quarters.

Raised for 16 straight quarters. I believe that would be the last four years. Four years in which Bush has been President and his economic policies have been in full force.

The only “fixing” our economy needs right now is for Congress to extend the tax cuts set to expire soon and not raise the taxes. Who knows? They might become Republicans themselves if they just think they did it.

Look for the market to be down tomorrow as speculators cash in.

Tweet This Post

Captain Ed has done some research on Harry Reid and has put them all in one easy post to read.

These have floated in and out of the blogosphere in various forms, but I thought it would be useful to CQ readers to see the counterarguments to Harry Reid’s assertions in one easy format. I asked for some research from a friend connected to Capitol Hill on rebuttals, and he put together the resources on this. Enjoy.

MYTH #1:
General Petraeus Says The War Is A “Lost Cause”

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): Gen. Petraeus “Told” Our Troops That “They’re Fighting For A Lost Cause.” CNN BASH: “Is there something to that, an 18- and 19-year-old person in the service in Iraq who is serving, risking their lives, in some cases losing their life, hearing somebody like you back in Washington saying that they’re fighting for a lost cause?” REID: “General Petraeus has told them that.” BASH: “How has he said that?” REID: “He said the war can’t be won militarily. He said that. I mean he said it. He’s the commander on the ground there.” (CNN’s “The Situation Room,” 04/23/07)

FACT:
General Petraeus Sees “Positive” Signs in Iraq

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS: “While It Is Too Early To Judge The Success Of The Surge And The Emphasis On Population Security In Iraq, We Have Seen Some Positive Results – Though The Enemy Has Certainly Sought To Overshadow Our Achievements By Carrying Out Sensational Attacks.” “… Your visible presence alongside Iraqi soldiers and police has begun to restore a sense of normalcy to many areas that have seen little other than violence over the past year. Your hard work has also led to the uncovering of sizable weapons caches, the detentions of a number of death squad and car bomb network members, the bringing to justice of a number of militia extremists, a decrease in the number of sectarian killings, and a renewal of commerce in many markets and neighborhoods.” (Gen. David Petraeus, Letter To Soldiers Serving In Multi-National Force-Iraq, 04/14/07)

Tweet This Post

Play Video

Raw Video: Bush Busts a Move Associated Press – (APTN) Apr. 25, 2007. 03:30 PM EST President Bush joined a group of dancers on stage during the first ever Malaria Awareness Day, to help combat malaria on the continent of Africa. (April 25)

Doesn’t look like it to me, either.

Tweet This Post

The media is called on its bias by a source one might never suspect:

While the war between Israel and Hezbollah raged in Lebanon and Israel last summer, it became clear that media coverage had itself started to play an important role in determining the ultimate outcome of that war. It seemed clear that news coverage would affect the course of the conflict. And it quickly transpired that Hezbollah would become the beneficiary of the media’s manipulation.

Tweet This Post

DNC chairman Howard Dean, when asked how to avoid just hearing the same old sound clips from candidates suggested barring the doors and keeping the press out.

Sounds like he wants us to go back to the age before even the telegraph in our campaigns.

But then again he misses the good old days of Walter Cronkite:

The Democratic National Committee chairman criticized media coverage, arguing that networks such as CBS used to put content first and didn’t mind losing money for the prestige of delivering a quality news report. Dean said the days of Walter Cronkite are gone and the corporatization of the media has led to a desire to boost profits.

“The media has been reduced to info-tainment,” Dean said. “Info-tainment sells, the problem is they reach the lowest common denominator instead of forcing a little education down our throats, which we are probably in need of from time to time.”

But, but, but, Howard, how would the rest of the country know what a candidate stands for? Or does it matter just what the small groups care?

Tweet This Post

From today’s Omega Letter, a Christian subscription newsletter:

A Cup of Drunkenness

An Israeli-Arab member of the Israeli Knesset resigned his seat recently under suspicion that he aided Hezbollah during the 2nd Lebanon War last summer.

Azmi Bishara is suspected of transferring information to Hezbollah during time of war, maintaining contacts with a foreign agent and money-laundering.

Bishara has a long record of treason against the government of which he is a member.

In 2002, he was charged with organizing an illegal delegation to Syria, with whom Israel is still officially at war, and for calling on other Arab states to intensify their conflict with Israel.

The Palestinian side argues that Bishara isn’t a traitor to Israel, but rather a patriot to the Palestinian cause. Bishara swore an oath to Israel when he assumed his office, and, while still bound by that oath, he broke it.

Had Bishara resigned his seat first, and then went to work for the Islamic-Arab cause, the annihilation of Israel, then Bishara could lay claim to being a Palestinian patriot. But he didn’t.

Under any reading of the rules of war, that makes him a traitor to his oath, and a traitor to the country to which, as a citizen, his primary allegiance is due.

Bishara was born to Palestinian-Christian parents in Nazareth, where he attended the Nazareth Baptist school before going on to attend Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 1997, Bishara received a kidney transplant at the Jewish Hadassah Medical Center in a operation performed by Israeli doctors.

He demonstrated his gratitude by working actively to destroy the state that gave him so much.

It is one of the peculiar ironies of the Israeli-Arab conflict that Israel is not only willing, but is expected, to treat its enemies better than its enemies treat each other. Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post

We’ve been hearing the president described by various Democrats as “isolated”, compared to Nixon, a “spoiled child” etc.

It turns out it’s a concerted effort by the Democrats:

Emboldened congressional Democrats have turned up their rhetoric when talking about President Bush, comparing him to Richard M. Nixon and using sharp language that conjures up images of secluded dictators.

“The president’s in his bunker on both the war in Iraq and Attorney General Gonzales,” Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said yesterday. “What everyone else sees clearly he doesn’t see at all, and that’s a real problem for our country.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada advanced the same idea, saying: “The president is as isolated, I believe, on the Iraq issue as Richard Nixon was when he was hunkered down in the White House.”

Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the Democratic caucus, has labeled Mr. Bush’s war strategy the “fairy tales and rose-colored glasses plan for Iraq.” Mr. Emanuel, who worked in the Clinton White House, also recently urged his colleagues in a policy memo to portray Mr. Bush as pursuing a “stay-the-course, status quo strategy.”

“The president remains incredibly weak and at odds with public opinion. … His approval rating streak is now in the ballpark of Richard Nixon’s in the months leading up to his resignation,” read the Emanuel memo, first reported by the Associated Press.

Christopher Sands, a senior fellow at conservative-leaning Hudson Institute, said the “isolation” language allows the Democrats to paint the Bush administration as defensive and stubborn, and to try to control public opinion by getting voters to compare the president to Mr. Nixon during Watergate.

“This is the standard line now,” he said.

When asked on CBS’ “Face the Nation” about the Bush-Nixon comparison, Vice President Dick Cheney dismissed the Democratic rhetoric as a “ridiculous notion.”

Rep. James P. Moran, Virginia Democrat, accused Mr. Bush of acting like a “spoiled child,” saying it is a role the president has had “all his life.”

Mr. Bush’s own posture has changed since he offered the Democrats an olive branch after they gained control of Congress in November. Instead of working toward bipartisan cooperation as he initially promised, the president now accuses the Democrats of wanting to “undercut our troops” by including a withdrawal timetable in the Iraq-spending bill.

“They passed bills that would impose restrictions on our military commanders and set an arbitrary date for withdrawal from Iraq, giving our enemies the victory they desperately want,” the president said April 14 in his weekly radio address.

Mr. Sands said Republicans are wise to paint the argument as winning or losing in Iraq, because most voters would agree they would rather win.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, raised some eyebrows last month responding to Mr. Bush’s pledge to veto the war-spending bill. “Calm down with the threats. There is a new Congress in town,” she said.

In a recent television interview, Mrs. Pelosi said: “The president is not king.”

It sounded too smart to come from Reid alone and now we know.

Tweet This Post

New information on the Haditha Marines.

Writing at Macsmind, Clarice Feldman pens:

Bombshell In Haditha Case
Newsmax is reporting that an intelligence officer provided substantial exculpatory evidence in the Haditha case, evidence he says the NCIS sat on, evidence that supports the defendants’ version of the facts, and evidence which indicates the entire incident was an ambush which was being videotaped by our enemies who edited it and handed it over to anti-war activists to present the case in the worst possible way to our troops. If this is so, it would substantiate the belief of Steve Gilbert who early on was sceptical of the claims underlying this case.

In a nutshell, the case exploded when an intelligence officer dropped a bombshell on prosecutors during a pre-hearing interview when he revealed the existence of exculpatory evidence that appears to have been obtained by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and withheld from the prosecutors.

Links to further information included by Ms. Feldman.

Tweet This Post

On the lighter side:

Zoo: Don’t Stare at Chimps

ANTWERP, Belgium (AP) — We all know not to feed the animals when visiting the zoo. Now the Antwerp Zoo has urged visitors to, please, stop staring at the chimpanzees.

A new set of rules was posted outside the chimp enclosure at the city zoo urging visitors, especially regular daily ones, not to form a bond with a particular male chimp named ‘Cheetah.’ He was raised by humans but is now trying to forge a social bond with the other seven apes at the animal park, a zoo official said Wednesday.

“We ask, we inform our daily visitors and other visitors that one of the monkeys is particularly open for human contact,” zoo spokeswoman Ilse Segers told Associated Press Television. “He was raised by humans in a family and therefore we are trying to integrate him, to try to get more social integration with the group.”

A sign posted on the glass enclosure requests onlookers not to stare at the apes. “Look away when an animal seeks to make contact with you, or take a step back,” said the sign. “Some individuals are more interested with visitors than their own kind.”

Segers said the zoo was not barring visitors from looking at the chimps altogether. “Of course eye contact is not forbidden. We have more than one million visitors a year and of course they are very welcome still to have a look at the animals.”

As an animal lover I wish Cheetah well but somehow I cannot shake the thought of eye contact police roaming the zoo. Perhaps a blindfold with admission would be in order.

Tweet This Post

Words spoken on Capitol Hill Tuesday by Vice President Cheney:

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I usually avoid press comment when I’m up here, but I felt so strongly about what Senator Reid said in the last couple of days, that I thought it was appropriate that I come out today and make a statement that I think needs to be made.

I thought his speech yesterday was unfortunate, that his comments were uninformed and misleading. Senator Reid has taken many positions on Iraq. He has threatened that if the President vetoes the current pending supplemental legislation, that he will send up Senator Russ Feingold’s bill to de-fund Iraq operations altogether.

Yet only last November, Senator Reid said there would be no cutoff of funds for the military in Iraq. So in less than six months’ time, Senator Reid has gone from pledging full funding for the military, then full funding but with conditions, and then a cutoff of funding — three positions in five months on the most important foreign policy question facing the nation and our troops.

Yesterday, Senator Reid said the troop surge was against the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. That is plainly false. The Iraq Study Group report was explicitly favorable toward a troop surge to secure Baghdad. Senator Reid said there should be a regional conference on Iraq. Apparently, he doesn’t know that there is going to be one next week. Senator Reid said he doesn’t have real substantive meetings with the President. Yet immediately following last week’s meeting at the White House, he said, “It was a good exchange; everyone voiced their considered opinion about the war in Iraq.”

What’s most troubling about Senator Reid’s comments yesterday is his defeatism. Indeed, last week, he said the war is already lost. And the timetable legislation that he is now pursuing would guarantee defeat.

Maybe it’s a political calculation. Some Democratic leaders seem to believe that blind opposition to the new strategy in Iraq is good politics. Senator Reid himself has said that the war in Iraq will bring his party more seats in the next election. It is cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage. Leaders should make decisions based on the security interests of our country, not on the interests of their political party.

Thank you.

If the president could/would make his case this strongly he might have more support for what he’s doing.

Link

Tweet This Post

BBC News:

Terror chief warns of media leaks

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke of the Metropolitan Police said there were a “small number of misguided individuals who betray confidences”.

By doing so, they had compromised investigations, revealed sources of life-saving intelligence and “put lives at risk” during major investigations.

DAC Clarke also warned of a damaging “lack of public trust” in intelligence.

In a major speech at the Policy Exchange, a think-tank, DAC Clarke said his role as National Co-ordinator of Terrorist Investigations was to bridge the intelligence and policing worlds in an environment that had completely changed in recent years.

Amazing the parallels. Read more.

HT: lucianne

Tweet This Post