John Dean Skewers Bush Wiretapping

Censure Resolution Sparks Bitter Debate in Senate

By David Stout, New York Times

WASHINGTON, March 31 — President Bush's once-secret surveillance program sparked a bitter debate today before the Senate Judiciary Committee over what kind of president George W. Bush has become and how he stands in history.

The committee met to consider a resolution by one of its members, Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, to censure the president over the surveillance program. The resolution was not voted on and is almost surely going nowhere, but it still had the power to ignite feelings.

Under Mr. Bush's theory of government, Mr. Feingold said, "we no longer have a constitutional system consisting of three co-equal branches of government. We have a monarchy."

Then there was John Dean, the White House lawyer for President Richard Nixon, making his first appearance before a Congressional panel since he mesmerized the country in his Nixon-incriminating testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee more than three decades ago.

Mr. Dean, who spoke in favor of Senator Feingold's measure, is the author of the 2004 book "Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush." Presidents "push the envelope as far as they can" in their power struggles with Congress, Mr. Dean warned. Had Mr. Nixon been censured, "it would have been a godsend," Mr. Dean said, apparently meaning that all the abuses that led to Mr. Nixon's resignation might never have happened.

One thing Mr. Dean said prompted no disagreement whatever. "I must say, I think I have probably more experience first-hand than anybody might want in what can go wrong and how a president can get on the other side of the law."

Noose Tightens Around DeLay

Ex-DeLay aide pleads guilty in lobbyist fraud probe

By MICHAEL HEDGES, Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Tony Rudy, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy this morning in connection with an influence-peddling scheme that for the first time brought the Sugar Land lawmaker into the federal investigation.

The plea from Rudy, who served as DeLay's deputy chief of staff, is part of a sprawling federal investigation into the activities of Abramoff, whom DeLay once called "one of my closest and dearest friends.''

Earlier this week, Abramoff was sentenced to 70 months in prison for fraud in connection with the purchase of a casino-boat company in Miami. Abramoff is still under investigation in Washington, where he has also pleaded guilty to fraud charges relating to bribery activities on Capitol Hill.

Former DeLay spokesman Michael Scanlon, who was an Abramoff business partner, has also pleaded guilty to fraud charges in the case.

Doggie-Style, In Sweden

Note to RNC: "War on Terror" not playing well?
Try touting legislation to ban puppy sales to lesbians

Kennel Owner Won't Sell Puppy to Lesbian

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- A Swedish court has imposed a 20,000 kronor ($2,600) fine on a woman kennel owner who refused to sell a puppy to a lesbian.

The kennel owner, who was not identified, had initially been willing to sell the woman a puppy but changed her mind when she found out the woman was living with a lesbian partner, according to Sweden's discrimination ombudsman, a government watchdog who filed the lawsuit.

GOP Lobbyist Gets 6 Years in Slammer

Bush fund raiser Jack Abramoff will sing for prosecutors. That's the only way a convicted felon gets the minimum sentence. And that means more Republicans will be in hot water in the months ahead.

Abramoff Gets Minimum Sentence

Former Lobbyist to Spend 5 Years, 10 Months in Prison

By Peter Whoriskey and William Branigin, Washington Post

Abramoff pleaded guilty in January to federal charges of fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials. His plea deal with federal prosecutors in that case required him to cooperate with a broad federal investigation of corruption involving members of Congress, congressional staffers, other lobbyists and employees of the Interior Department and other federal agencies.Among the congressmen whose names have come up in the probe are Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), former chairman of the House Administration Committee, and Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), the former House majority leader.

Ney has been identified as the "Representative #1" who, according to court documents, received bribes from Abramoff in exchange for official acts, including congressional statements that promoted the SunCruz deal during contentious purchase negotiations. DeLay, who once described Abramoff as "one of my closest and dearest friends," took three overseas trips with the lobbyist and received more than $70,000 in political contributions from him, his associates and his Native American tribal clients. Ney and DeLay have denied any wrongdoing.

Abramoff also raised funds and made political contributions to President Bush while becoming a major player in Republican efforts to dominate Washington lobbying. He has claimed close ties to the Bush White House, although the president has publicly denied knowing him.

How to Start a War - Bush Style

Gulf of Tonkin Redux

Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says
By Don Van Natta Jr., New York Times
LONDON — In the weeks before the United States-led invasion of Iraq, as the United States and Britain pressed for a second United Nations resolution condemning Iraq, President Bush's public ultimatum to Saddam Hussein was blunt: Disarm or face war.

But behind closed doors, the president was certain that war was inevitable. During a private two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, he made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons, said a confidential memo about the meeting written by Mr. Blair's top foreign policy adviser and reviewed by The New York Times.

The memo indicates the two leaders envisioned a quick victory and a transition to a new Iraqi government that would be complicated, but manageable. Mr. Bush predicted that it was "unlikely there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups." Mr. Blair agreed with that assessment.

The memo also shows that the president and the prime minister acknowledged that no unconventional weapons had been found inside Iraq. Faced with the possibility of not finding any before the planned invasion, Mr. Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation, including a proposal to paint a United States surveillance plane in the colors of the United Nations in hopes of drawing fire, or assassinating Mr. Hussein.

Mama Bush: Charity Begins at Home

Bush League Ethics: Everything is a business deal

Katrina donation ignites debate
HISD says focus on Neil Bush's software didn't violate policy
By Jennifer Radcliffe, Houston Chronicle

As Barbara Bush spent two hours championing her son's software company at a Houston middle school Thursday morning, a watchdog group questioned whether the former first lady should be allowed to channel a donation to Neil Bush's Ignite Learning company through Houston's Hurricane Katrina relief fund.

"It's strange that the former first lady would want to do this. If her son's having a rough time of it, couldn't she write him a check?" said Daniel Borochoff, founder of the American Institute of Philanthropy, a Chicago-based charity watchdog group. "Maybe she isn't aware that people could frown upon this."

Some critics said donations to a tax-deductible charitable fund shouldn't benefit the Bush family. Others questioned whether the Houston Independent School District violated district policy by allowing the company to host a promotional event on campus.

"I said to George one day: 'Maybe it's sort of selfish of me, but I'd like to give something that I could see the results of,' " she told the crowd.

Bush Remains Out of Touch

If it seems that George Bush is the only politician who thinks the Iraq war is beneficial to the United States, the American people can rest assured that he is sensitive enough to brood about the drawbacks -- and let the toughest decision fall to someone else.

Bush vows to stay in Iraq

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON — President Bush said today that American forces will remain in Iraq for years and it will be up to a future president to decide when to bring them all home. But defying critics and plunging polls, he declared, "I'm optimistic we'll succeed. If not, I'd pull our troops out. "The president rejected calls for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, chief architect of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Listen, every war plan looks good on paper until you meet the enemy."

"I understand war creates concerns," the president said. "Nobody likes war. It creates a sense of uncertainty in the country."

Bush has adamantly refused to set a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Asked if there would come a day when there would be no more U.S. forces in Iraq, Bush said, "That, of course, is an objective. And that will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq."

Florida 2000 Tactics Don't Travel Well

White House Calls for New Belarus Vote

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House on Monday called for new elections in Belarus after independent observers said the re-election of hard-line incumbent Alexander Lukashenko was a farce.

Earlier Monday, independent observers called the re-election of iron-fisted President Alexander Lukashenko "a farce" because his opponents were systematically intimidated and detained.

The European Union said it likely will impose financial and diplomatic sanctions on Belarus' top leaders in response.

Consider the Source: Five-Deferment Cheney

Next time you hear Deadeye Dick lash out at critics of the Bush no-exit policy in Iraq, remember what a real combat veteran thinks.

John Murtha on Cheney:

"I like guys who've never been there that criticize us who've been there. I like that. I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done."

Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania is the antithesis of Dick Cheney. He went directly from college in 1952 and enlisted in the Marines to fight in Korea. In 1966 he volunteered for combat in Vietnam, receiving the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. He spent a total of 37 years with the Marines and has been serving his country as a Congressman since 1974.

Unlike draft-dodgers Bush and Cheney, Rep. Murtha -- who originally supported the Iraq war -- believes it is now time for the U.S. to get out.

Mission Accomplished?

On May 1, 2003, President Bush landed on the deck of the carrier U.S.S. Lincoln to proudly proclaim that all major combat operations in Iraq had been completed. "Mission Accomplished" read the huge White House-prepared banner behind him. As of that day, 140 U.S. soldiers had been killed in Iraq. The search for WMDs had not yet begun.



On the third anniversary of the Iraq war, the death toll is now 2,318. The number of WMDs uncovered in Iraq remains zero.

So far, the only positive development in Iraq has been for Halliburton shareholders, who have seen their company rake in more than $10 billion in government contracts.

When it became clear -- not only from U.N. weapons inspectors but from the president's own chief arms investigator David Kay -- that Saddam Hussein possessed no WMDs, the rationale for the war shifted to capturing Saddam Hussein and forcing democracy on Iraq. Many Americans accepted this as a suitable booby prize for the president's failure to capture Osama bin Laden -- who, unlike Hussein, did attack the United States.

As the years dragged on, however, Americans have became increasingly disenchanted with the Iraq quagmire and Bush's approval rating steadily slid from 69% to 29%.

Fewer Americans than ever before think the war is worth the cost in lives and dollars; more are eager to see U.S. troops come home. Unfortunately, one of the few who believes the opposite is George W. Bush. But that's not surprising, considering Bush won't even refer to his major blunder as a war.

WASHINGTON Mar 19, 2006 (AP)— President Bush marked the anniversary of the Iraq war Sunday by touting the efforts to build democracy there and avoiding any mention of the daily violence that rages three years after he ordered an invasion.

The president didn't utter the word "war."

Lowballing the Costs of Iraq War

Administration fends off demands for war estimates

March 3, 2003

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The number of U.S. troops that would be required to administer Iraq after a U.S.-led military campaign is "not knowable" because of the large number of variables in how a conflict might unfold, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday.

He also said it "makes no sense to try" to come up with cost estimates for a war in Iraq because the variables "create a range that simply isn't useful."

Rumsfeld said the post-war troop commitment would be less than the number of troops required to win the war. He also said "the idea that it would take several hundred thousand U.S. forces, I think, is far from the mark."

Administration sources told CNN the White House is working on an emergency spending plan and may ask Congress for as much as $95 billion.

In September, White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey estimated the cost of a war at more than $100 billion. After Lindsey was asked to resign in December, Mitch Daniels, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said it was impossible to know how much a war might cost.

=======================================

March 16, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House voted soundly on Thursday to give President Bush $92 billion more for Iraq, Afghanistan and Gulf Coast hurricane relief, despite bipartisan worries about the ballooning costs of the war and the recovery effort.

The bulk of the bill, $67.6 billion, would pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once approved, the money would boost to nearly $400 billion the total spent on the conflicts and operations against terrorism since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Bush Hits TWO New Lows

Bush Approval Rating Hits New Low
By Mark Memmott, USA TODAY

President Bush's approval rating has sunk to a new low according to a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll.

The latest results show only 36% of those polled saying they approve of the way Bush is handling his job. Bush's previous low was 37%, set last November.


Jessica Simpson Snubs Bush

LOS ANGELES (Fox News) — Jessica Simpson didn't want to meet the president.

Concerned about politicizing her favorite charity, the singer/actress on Wednesday turned down an invitation to meet with President George W. Bush at a major Republican fund-raiser.

The sexy "The Dukes of Hazzard" star still planned to visit Washington on Thursday to lobby members of Congress on behalf of Operation Smile, a non-profit venture offering free plastic surgery for disadvantaged children overseas with facial deformities.

But people close to Simpson said she passed on a request to appear at the fund-raiser of the National Republican Congressional Committee,even after she was offered some private time with Bush — because Operation Smile is a non-partisan group.

War on America Continues

U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq: 2,314
WMDs Found in Iraq: Zero



Bush to Restate Terror Strategy
2002 Doctrine of Preemptive War To Be Reaffirmed

DOES it matter?—losing your legs?...
For people will always be kind,
And you need not show that you mind
When the others come in after hunting
To gobble their muffins and eggs.
Does it matter?—losing your sight?...
There’s such splendid work for the blind;
And people will always be kind,
As you sit on the terrace remembering
And turning your face to the light.
Do they matter?—those dreams from the pit?...
You can drink and forget and be glad,
And people won’t say that you’re mad;
For they’ll know you’ve fought for your country
And no one will worry a bit.

--Siegfried Sassoon, 1918

Former Bush Advisor Caught Red-Handed

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) -- A former domestic policy adviser to President Bush has been charged with theft for allegedly receiving phony refunds at department stores.

Claude Alexander Allen, 45, was arrested Thursday by Montgomery County police for allegedly claiming refunds for more than $5,000 worth of merchandise he did not buy, according to county and federal authorities.

Allen was the No. 2 official in the Health and Human Services Department when Bush nominated him in April 2003 to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. Bush nominated Allen to the court again a year later, but he never received a Senate vote.

During his confirmation hearing, Allen was questioned about his use of the word ''queer'' when he was a press aide to Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., in 1984. Allen said he didn't intend it as a slur against gay people.

In early 2005, Bush hired Allen as a domestic policy adviser. He resigned abruptly on Feb. 9, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.

=========================================================

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush on Saturday said he was shocked and saddened to learn that former domestic policy adviser Claude Allen was charged with theft for allegedly receiving phony refunds at department stores.

"When I heard the story last night, I was shocked, and my first reaction was one of disappointment, deep disappointment -- if it's true -- that we were not fully informed."

Why Does Bush Call Dubai an Ally?

A few facts about the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part:

– The UAE was one of three countries in the world to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

– The UAE has been a key transfer point for illegal shipments of nuclear components to Iran, North Korea and Lybia.

– According to the FBI, money was transferred to the 9/11 hijackers through the UAE banking system. Two of the hijackers were from Dubai.

– After 9/11, the Treasury Department reported that the UAE was not cooperating in efforts to track down Osama Bin Laden’s bank accounts.

Interior Secretary Resigns During Scandal Probe

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Interior Secretary Gale Norton resigned Friday after five years in President Bush's Cabinet and at a time when her agency is part of a lobbying scandal over Indian gaming licenses.


The leading Republican and Democrat on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee have said that e-mails uncovered by the committee show that Steven Griles, Norton's former deputy, had a close relationship with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from an investigation of his ties to Congress and the administration.

Another one-time Norton associate, Italia Federici, helped Abramoff gain access to Griles in exchange for contributions from Abramoff's Indian tribe clients, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., the committee chairman, and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., have said.

A former Colorado attorney general, Norton guided the Bush administration's initiative to open Western government lands to more oil and gas drilling.

Leading Conservatives Admit Iraq War a Mistake

NeoCon allies desert Bush over Iraq
These are the right-wing intellectuals who demanded George Bush invade Iraq. Now they admit they got it wrong. [Only Bush and Deadeye Dick refuse to fess up.]

from The Independent

William Buckley Jr
INFLUENTIAL CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST AND TV PUNDIT

'One can't doubt the objective in Iraq has failed ... Iraqi animosities have proved uncontainable by an army of 130,000 Americans. Different plans have to be made. And the kernel here is the acknowledgement of defeat.'


Francis Fukuyama
AUTHOR AND LONG-TERM ADVOCATE OF TOPPLING SADDAM

'By invading Iraq, the Bush administration created a self-fulfilling prophecy: Iraq has now replaced Afghanistan as a magnet, a training ground and an operational base for jihadists, with plenty of American targets to shoot at.'


Richard Perle
ARCH-WARMONGER AND PIVOTAL REPUBLICAN HAWK

'The military campaign and its political aftermath were both passionately debated within the Bush administration. It got the war right and the aftermath wrong We should have understood that we needed Iraqi partners.'


Andrew Sullivan
PROMINENT COMMENTATOR AND INFLUENTIAL BLOGGER

'The world has learnt a tough lesson, and it has been a lot tougher for those tens of thousands of dead, innocent Iraqis ... than for a few humiliated pundits. The correct response is not more spin but a sense of shame and sorrow.'


George Will
RIGHT-WING COLUMNIST ON 'THE WASHINGTON POST' AND TV PUNDIT

'Almost three years after the invasion, it is still not certain whether, or in what sense, Iraq is a nation. And after two elections and a referendum on the constitution, Iraq barely has a government.'

Flight Instructor Connected the Dots

[Intelligence reports that mentioned the possibility of terrorists hijacking commercial jetliners. A presidential briefing paper entitled "Osama bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside U.S."
An FBI report on suspicious Muslims eager to learn how to control jumbo jets without learning how to land or take off.

The official Bush line is that this simply wasn't enough information to prevent the 9/11 attacks. Exaggeration, criminal malfeasance or another outright lie?]

Flight Instructor Recalls Suspicions About Moussaoui

By Neil A. Lewis, The New York Times


WASHINGTON, March 9 - A veteran airline pilot and instructor told a jury Thursday how he and others at a Minnesota flight school quickly grew suspicious of Zacarias Moussaoui's motives for trying to learn how to pilot a large commercial airliner.

The pilot, Clarence Prevost, testified that he at first was baffled at why Mr. Moussaoui, who had not yet even been qualified to fly solo in a small private plane, had signed up to take expensive lessons with a flight simulator for a Boeing 747-400. He said he became especially alarmed when he discovered that Mr. Moussaoui had paid for the lessons in $100 bills.

Mr. Prevost said he persuaded the managers at the Pan Am International Flight Academy near Minneapolis to call the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an action that eventually led to Mr. Moussaoui's arrest on immigration charges three weeks before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Mr. Moussaoui's case drew wide attention in 2002, when an F.B.I. agent in Minnesota, Coleen Rowley, complained that top bureau officials repeatedly stifled attempts by Minneapolis agents to obtain a warrant to examine Mr. Moussaoui's laptop computer. Mr. Moussaoui's computer was not searched until after the attacks. It contained data about the cockpit layouts of large commercial aircraft and phone numbers like one in Germany for the roommate of Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the Sept. 11 plot.

Lobbyist Abramoff Calls Bush a Liar

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff says President Bush knew him well enough to joke with him about weightlifting. ''What are you benching, buff guy?'' Abramoff said Bush asked him. The president has said he doesn't know Abramoff.

Abramoff said he finds it hard to believe Bush doesn't remember the 10 or so photos he and members of his family had snapped with the president and first lady.


''He (Bush) has one of the best memories of any politician I have ever met,'' Abramoff wrote in an e-mail, according to Vanity Fair's April issue being released this week. ''Perhaps he has forgotten everything. Who knows?''

''I had my picture taken with him, evidently,'' Bush said of Abramoff on Jan. 26. ''I've had my picture taken with a lot of people.''

''I frankly don't even remember having my picture taken with the guy,'' Bush added. ''I don't know him.''

A few days later, Abramoff wrote to Washingtonian magazine that he had met briefly with the president nearly a dozen times and that Bush knew him well enough to make joking references to Abramoff's family.

Abramoff told Vanity Fair that he once was invited to Bush's Texas ranch where he would have joined with other big Bush fundraisers. Abramoff, an Orthodox Jew, said he didn't go because the event fell on the Sabbath.

The lobbyist said that when Bush made a speech to fundraisers in 2003, he sat just a few feet from the president. Abramoff, the only lobbyist on the dais, was seated between Republican Sens. George Allen of Virginia and Orrin Hatch of Utah.

Three former associates of Abramoff have told The Associated Press the lobbyist frequently told them he had strong ties to the White House through its deputy chief of staff, Karl Rove.

Bush Foiled by Republican Opposition

House GOP Defies Bush On Ports Deal

In an election-year repudiation of President Bush, a House panel dominated by Republicans voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to block a Dubai-owned firm from taking control of some U.S port operations.

By 62-2, the Appropriations Committee voted to bar DP World, run by the government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, from holding leases or contracts at U.S. ports.

Bush has promised to veto any such measure passed by Congress, but there is widespread public opposition to the deal and the GOP fears losing its advantage on the issue of national security in this fall's elections.

"This is a national security issue," said Rep. Jerry Lewis, the chairman of the panel. The California Republican said the legislation would "keep America's ports in American hands."

[What makes these Republicans bold enough to stand up to Bush?]

President Bush's unpopularity has become a drag on his party's prospects in the fall. Roughly three-in-ten registered voters (31%) say they consider their vote for Congress as a vote against Bush, compared with 18% who say they see it as a vote for the president; 47% say Bush is not much of a factor in their decision. This represents a marked change from a comparable point in the previous midterm campaign ­ in February 2002 ­ when by nearly four-to-one (34% to 9%) more voters considered their vote as one in favor of, rather than against, the president.

By a 50% to 41% margin, more registered voters say they will vote Democratic in this year's Congressional election. The Democratic advantage stems from the party's significant lead among independent voters, 51% of whom favor the Democrats, while just 32% favor the Republicans.
--Pew Research Center

Reward Terrorists AND Halliburton

[Bad enough Bush wants to push through the Dubai deal that gives port operation contracts to a nation that sent us two of the 9/11 hijackers and has funneled money to terror groups over the years...now he's considering getting Halliburton in on the deal.]

Dubai & Dubya in dash for lifeboat
Bush team urges firm to get a U.S. partner

BY THOMAS T. DeFRANK and KENNETH R. BAZINET, DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

The White House is quietly pushing a Dubai company to "significantly restructure" and partner up with a U.S. outfit to keep the port deal from sinking, sources told the Daily News yesterday.

"It's in the hands of the company now. ... They're going to have to significantly restructure," said a Republican source familiar with White House expectations.

A revamped deal to allow Dubai Ports World to take over six major U.S. ports - including Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container depot - would have to be something along the lines of the Marine One contract.

British- and Italian-owned AgustaWestland had to take on Maryland-based Lockheed Martin to win the contract to build the President's helicopter last year.

"A lot of people are talking about this, a subsidiary or a deal like that," a congressional source confirmed.

One snag to such a deal may be that sources say the U.S. company best equipped to partner with DP World is Halliburton, once headed by Vice President Cheney.

After undergoing so much scrutiny for its no-bid Iraq contract and the handling of some of its duties there, Halliburton may not be able to help DP World land the deal, a source admitted.

Honest Republican Blasts Bush on Dubai Port Deal

(AP) One of the most prominent House Republicans on military issues said Thursday he would try to scuttle a Dubai-based company's effort to manage U.S. ports as lawmakers' complaints about the Bush administration's handling of the issue continued to spread.

"Dubai cannot be trusted," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and normally one of the administration's most trusted allies. He called the United Arab Emirates "a bazaar for terrorist nations" and asserted that the United States should not permit DP World to take over significant operations at six U.S. ports.

"I intend to do everything I can to kill the deal," Hunter said.

Crooked Republican Heads for the Slammer

Former GOP Lawmaker Gets 8 Years
Cunningham Also Must Pay Back Millions for Bribery and Tax Offenses

By Sonya Geis and Charles R. Babcock, Washington Post Staff Writers

SAN DIEGO, March 3 -- Former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a decorated fighter pilot in Vietnam who admitted taking $2.4 million in bribes from two defense contractors, was sentenced Friday to eight years and four months in federal prison for selling his office.


Lenny Ignelzi - AP
The California Republican resigned from Congress after pleading guilty to tax evasion and conspiracy to commit bribery in November.

Appearing much thinner than he did last fall, Cunningham choked up as he addressed the judge. "No man has ever been more sorry," he said. "I made a very wrong turn. I rationalized decisions I knew were wrong."

[Don't feel too bad, Duke -- so did George Bush]

Iraq Death Toll Hits Another Ugly Milestone

U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq: 2,300
WMDs: Zero

See Iraq Coalition Casualty Count for updated details

Bush Ignores Dubai Terror Link

Warning siren went unheeded on port deal

By MARTIN SCHRAM, Scripps Howard News Service

We are focusing today on one sentence in a two-page U.S. document officially known as number AFGP-2002-603856. It is a 2002 letter in which al Qaeda says that it has infiltrated United Arab Emirates security and other agencies.

It was a warning siren document that should have raised urgent concerns at the highest level of the U.S. government. President Bush and his entire team initially dozed through the alarm and apparently expected we all would, too. They rushed to approve a bid by Dubai Ports World (a United Arab Emirates company) to buy a British firm that runs six major U.S. ports without publicly addressing the obvious questions the document raises.

The document, a letter from the al Qaeda terrorist organization to the United Arab Emirates government, mainly warns UAE officials to stop arresting al Qaeda's "Mujahideen sympathizers." The second paragraph begins with a potentially chilling boast: "You are well aware that we have infiltrated your security, censorship, and monetary agencies along with other agencies that should not be mentioned."

This document was not exactly a tip top government secret. U.S. officials could find and read it (in its original Arabic or English translation) in the files of various government counter-terrorism agencies. But you can find and read it too. Just check out the Web site of the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and peruse the list of unclassified documents. It is the one that says at the top, "In the Name of Allah the Most Compassionate and Merciful," followed by a warning title, "Get the Idolaters out of Arab Island (Gulf Countries)."

Bush Lies Caught on Tape

Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: ''We are fully prepared.''

The footage -- along with seven days of transcripts of briefings obtained by The Associated Press -- show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.

Linked by secure video, Bush expressed a confidence on Aug. 28 that starkly contrasted with the dire warnings his disaster chief and numerous federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Katrina-Video.html?_r=1&oref=slogin