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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (29813)	10/8/2003 11:45:28 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Respond to of 89467

In this case, however, the leak WAS an abuse of power.

To: stockman_scott who wrote (29813)	10/8/2003 11:47:10 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Respond to of 89467

Rice running Iraq: Some Republicans worry that it's risky to move accountability for postwar Iraq closer to the Oval Office because then there's no one else to blame. Is Condi Gaslighting Rummy? By MAUREEN DOWD Published: October 9, 2003 nytimes.com WASHINGTON It's easy to see why the Bush crowd is getting so tetchy. The itch to ditch officials who fritter away the public trust is growing, as Arnold and his broom bear down on Sacramento. And we know now that our first pre-emptive war was launched basically because Iraq had . . . a vial of Botox? Just about the scariest thing the weapons hunter David Kay could come up with was a vial of live botulinum, hidden in the home of an Iraqi biological weapons scientist. This has very dire implications for Beverly Hills and the East Side of Manhattan, areas awash in vials of Botox, the botulinum toxin that can either be turned into a deadly biological weapon or a pricey wrinkle smoother. And it may have dire implications for the Pentagon and White House if Americans come to believe that their trust was betrayed when the president and his team spread the impressions that Saddam was about to blow us up and that he was behind the 9/11 attacks. It doesn't help to have a former-NATO-commander-turned-presidential-contender running around telling the country that the Bush dream team is a bunch of dunces. Or a former-diplomat-turned-angry-husband-of-an-outed-spy running around telling the country that the Bush dream team is a bunch of backstabbing lawbreakers who are dead wrong on Iraq. The administration that never let you see it sweat is sweating, as two of its control freaks openly tug over control. The president's foreign policy duenna and his grumpy grampy over at the Pentagon are suddenly mud wrestling. Women who are discouraged at the ascension of Conan the Barbarian in Cal-ee-fornia can take heart. In this delicious gender-bender, Condoleezza Rice triumphs as the macho infighter, driving Rummy into a diva-like meltdown. The trigger was Monday's coverage of the Iraq Stabilization Group (a.k.a. Fat Chance Group); the group is a desperate bid to get a grip on Baghdad before the campaign starts by transferring power for postwar Iraq from the Pentagon to the national security adviser's office inside the White House. Condi used a trick she learned from Rummy: pre-emption. She outflanked the famous Washington infighter by talking about the new alignment to The New York Times before he had a chance to object. It was the first time the chesty defense czar — who had tried to freeze out the softies at State, which the Pentagon sneeringly refers to as "the Department of Nice" — had been downgraded by the president and outmaneuvered by a colleague. "And because he is a cantankerous egomaniac," one longtime Rummy watcher said, "he compounded his own problems by acknowledging it in public, further undermining his own stature." President Bush clearly realizes that Mr. Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz have gotten him into a fine mess. He wants his trusted Mother Hen, as he calls Condi, the woman who probably spends as much time with him as Laura — weekends at Camp David, vacations at the ranch, workouts at the gym — to make it all better. This will be the first time Ms. Rice, a Soviet expert who has functioned mostly so far as First Chum, will have her reputation on the line. Some Republicans worry that it's risky to move accountability for postwar Iraq closer to the Oval Office because then there's no one else to blame. In a meeting with foreign reporters on Tuesday in Colorado Springs, Rummy made no effort to mask his displeasure, saying he had not been consulted, even though Condi said he had, and cattily referring to the "little committees" of the N.S.C. When a German broadcast reporter pressed the defense secretary, he hissed: "I said I don't know. Isn't that clear? You don't understand English?" One of Rumsfeld's Rules is: "Avoid public spats. When a Department argues with other government agencies in the press, it reduces the President's options." Hmm. Maybe Rummy hasn't brushed up lately on the Washington rulebook he wrote in the 1970's — after his stints as President Gerald Ford's chief of staff and secretary of defense. Otherwise, he might have recalled this Rumsfeld rule before he bullied the world and ripped up Iraq: "It is easier to get into something than to get out of it."

To: stockman_scott who wrote (29813)	10/9/2003 7:23:53 AM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Suicide Car Bomber Kills 10 in Baghdad 7 minutes ago By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber drove through the gates of police station in northeast Baghdad and detonated an explosive Thursday morning, killing eight people and injuring 28, police and the U.S. military said. The car's driver and a passenger also died in the blast. Outside Baghdad, a 4th Infantry Division soldier was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a U.S. convoy. U.S. Central Command said the soldier died from wounds received in the attack at 2 a.m. Thursday in Baqouba, 30 miles northeast of Baghdad. Also Thursday, a Spanish military attache was shot to death by a group of men as he was opening his front door, Spain's Foreign Ministry said. Jose Antonio Bernal Gomez was an air force sergeant attached to Spain's National Intelligence Center, according to a ministry statement. A Spanish diplomat in Baghdad said one of the gunmen who killed Bernal was disguised as a Shiite Muslim cleric. The man dressed all in black as if a Shiite imam knocked on the military attache's door between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., the diplomat said on condition of anonymity. Without explaining how he knew the details, the diplomat said Bernal was suspicious and ran outside where he was shot in the neck by several men sitting in a dark-colored car. Thursday's death of an American soldier brought to 92 the number killed in hostile fire since President Bush (news - web sites) declared an end to major fighting on May 1. A total of 321 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq (news - web sites) since the war began on March 20. At the bombing site, mangled police cars were scattered around and debris filled the big courtyard in front of the one-story police building. A U.S. officer said the blast left a crater in the courtyard that was about 10 feet across and 4 feet deep. Scores of U.S. soldiers surrounded the building in Humvees. Capt. Sean Kirley, of the 2nd Armored Cavalry, said three policemen and five civilians were killed. Iraqi police Capt. Bassem Sami said two people were in the car that exploded. The attacker drove the white Oldsmobile through the police compound gate, was fired at by officers, then detonated the bomb, police Maj. Majid Abdel-Hameed said. A dozen ambulances raced toward the facility in the Shiite Muslim slum known as Sadr City. The attack happened just as 50 police officers were gathered in the yard to collect their pay. Sgt. Saad Drawal al-Dharaji, 29, injured in the leg, said a local Shiite Muslim imam had threatened the police. "We will have our revenge for this. The one who did it threatened us first. I don't know his name. He is the imam of Friday prayers at the al-Mohsen mosque," al-Dharaji said. "Last Friday at the mosque he threatened us. He sent us letters and sent letters to other police stations. He told the police to hand over a policeman for punishment because he said he had worked with Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime." Police Sgt. Jassim Mhos, 31, confirmed that threats had been issued against police. An Iraqi policeman who pushed through the thousands-strong crowd around the scene was stabbed in the upper right arm after being set upon by the mob. He was treated by military medics at the scene. His arrival created a commotion among the crowd, which began chanting: "No, no to America." Associated Press Television News camera crews also were attacked by the crowds and had some equipment stolen. One crew member was slightly injured. A mosque near the scene was blaring warnings to the thousands of residents who had gathered at the station to leave the area for fear of a second booby-trapped car. "It was a huge blast and everything became dark from the debris and sand. I was thrown to the ground," said Mohammed Adenine, 35, who sells watermelons from a rickety stand across from the blast. Also opposite the police station, vegetable-seller Fakhriya Jarallah said two of her sons were repairing the outside wall of the compound when the blast occurred. "I ran across the road like a mad woman to find out what happened to my sons. But thanks to God they are both safe," she said. Meanwhile, U.S. soldiers conducted a big raid near the Syrian border and detained 112 suspects, including a high-ranking official in the former Republican Guard, officials said Thursday. The massive raid Sunday in Al-Qa'im, about six miles from Iraq's western border with Syria, ended with the capture of a man intelligence officials said was a major general in the guard air defense branch. "The general officer that they captured, Abed Hamed Mowhoush al-Mahalowi ... was reported to have links with Saddam Hussein and was a financier of anti-coalition activities, according to intelligence sources," a military spokeswoman said, on condition of anonymity. Troops from the 1st and 4th squadrons of the Third Armored Cavalry cordoned off sections of the town and searched 29 houses to find "subversive elements," including 12 of the 13 suspects they had targeted for capture, she said. Bernal, who had been working at Spain's embassy in Baghdad for two years, is Spain's second casualty in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein six months ago. Navy Capt. Manuel Martin Oar was among the 22 killed in the Aug. 19 truck-bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. The government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar supported the war, despite strong opposition among Spaniards, and subsequently sent about 1,300 peacekeeping troops who are based at Diwaniyah, 100 miles south of Baghdad.