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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gamesmistress who wrote (23725)	1/10/2004 10:08:20 AM
From: gamesmistress	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793754

U.S. Says It Has Proof of Sales to Iraq Officials give no details but say evidence supports claims that Russian companies sold military equipment used in the war. By Paul Richter and Kim Murphy Los Angeles Times Staff Writers January 10, 2004 [as Glenn Reynolds says, this, of course, is why the Bush Administration's efforts to keep the UN relevant were a bad idea. The Security Council was -- and is -- packed with people who were on the other side.] WASHINGTON — U.S. officials have found evidence corroborating the Bush administration's allegations that Russian companies sold Saddam Hussein high-tech military equipment that threatened U.S. forces during the invasion of Iraq last March, a senior State Department official said Friday. The United States has found proof that Russian firms exported night-vision goggles and radar-jamming equipment to Iraq, the official said. The evidence includes the equipment itself and proof that it was used during the war, said the official. Such exports would violate the terms of United Nations sanctions against Baghdad. "We have corroborated some of that evidence," the official told a group of reporters. While insisting that the matter was "now in the past," he said that the Bush administration "never received entirely satisfactory explanations" to its charges, and acknowledged that the issue "is still a sensitive one in the relationship." "It's an issue that, shall we say, did not do much for strengthening trust," he said. The issue burst into public view March 24, just days after the war began, when President Bush called Russian President Vladimir V. Putin to voice his concern about the use of goggles, jamming equipment and advanced antitank missiles. The White House said at the time that it had "credible evidence" that the equipment came from Russian companies. The goggles and jammers were of special concern to the U.S. because American forces, seeking to wage war over great distances with low casualties, relied on night-vision devices and high-tech missile and aircraft guidance systems. The goggles use heat sensors to enable infantrymen to continue operations even in the pitch of night; the jammers block signals from satellites that guide cruise missiles and "smart" bombs. Putin staunchly denied the charges. But the allegation added friction to a relationship already strained at the time because of Russia's vocal opposition to the U.S.-led invasion. Yevgeny V. Khorishko, press secretary for the Russian Embassy in Washington, said Friday that although the allegations were first raised before the war, "we have never received real proof from the American side that Russian firms were involved in the delivery of this equipment." The State Department official declined to elaborate on what the proof was. Khorishko noted that the U.S. and Russia were now involved in broad talks to halt the spread of weapons around the world. He said he could not comment, under the terms of those talks, on whether they addressed U.S. concerns about the night-vision and jamming equipment. In raising the issue last year, U.S. officials contended that although the hardware was allegedly sold by private companies, the Russian government could have taken steps to oversee and block the traffic. They maintained at the time that the gear had been sold relatively recently, and with an understanding that it could be used in such a war. High-tech military equipment is a top export for Russia. Though the country's military budget has shrunk dramatically, its military industry exports about $5 billion annually in tanks, planes, small arms and other equipment — directly or through transshipment — to dozens of countries. During the war, U.S. military sources gave differing accounts of how much the Russian-made equipment affected American-led coalition forces. Some military officials were quoted as blaming jamming gear for sending missiles off course and into Iran and Saudi Arabia, and claiming that Russian-made Kornet antitank missiles destroyed at least two American M1A1 tanks during the war, the first time such tanks had been destroyed in battle. But other officials said the equipment had little effect during the rapid sweep to Baghdad. Some Russian arms industry executives and military analysts said the charges about the jamming equipment were made only to explain the inaccuracy of U.S. smart bombs. Some argued, too, that the allegations were pointless, since the hardware could have been legitimately sold to other countries and then exported to Iraq without Russian authorities' knowledge. A U.S. intelligence official said he could provide no further details on the alleged shipments and acknowledged that it was generally very difficult to determine whether a government is aware of, let alone involved in, shipments by companies operating within its borders. "It's always unclear as to what extent governments know about what companies are doing on their turf," the official said. Though top U.S. officials have not publicly named the companies believed to be involved, the firms are widely reported to have included Aviakonversiya, which manufactures radar-jamming equipment, and KBP Tula, the manufacturer of Kornet antitank guided missiles. Leonid B. Roshal, deputy director of KBP Tula, said in an interview late last year that his company sold about 1,000 Kornets to Syria three or four years ago, but insisted that the transaction was "absolutely legitimate." "As of today, there is no evidence that Kornet antitank missiles have ever been discovered in Iraq," he said. Aviakonversiya is a small, private development company founded in Moscow in 1991 by Oleg Antonov, who used to work for the Soviet military complex before founding the company. It has recently specialized in the production of small, portable jammers. They are not considered military equipment by Russia, since they are not built according to Russian military standards and are made with commercially available parts. The jammers are said to have a range of 90 to 125 miles. Because they emit a radio frequency, six sites where they allegedly were used were found and destroyed by U.S. aircraft, according to the military. Antonov, in an interview last year, denied that Aviakonversiya sold any jammers to Iraq, and insisted that the company had no specialists in Iraq to train soldiers in their use. He said the company makes some components of the jammers in Russia, buys other components elsewhere and assembles the units abroad because of Russia's "crazy customs regulations." He said Iraqi delegations visited the company about 15 times, talking about buying the devices, but never came up with the money. "They promised to pay the money, then they would send two or three questions via e-mail, and after that they disappeared," he said. "A few months after that, another Iraqi delegation would arrive. And all that lasted for four years. I couldn't stay away from those meetings, even though I knew that I was simply wasting my time." In the end, he said, he became convinced that the Iraqis were trying to use him as a scapegoat: They would buy the equipment elsewhere, but make it look as though they bought it from him. "So if something is discovered, they could easily leave me vulnerable," Antonov said.* ----------------------------- Richter reported from Washington and Murphy from Moscow. Times staff writer Greg Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

To: gamesmistress who wrote (23725)	1/10/2004 1:25:46 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793754

I liked, Last month they thought we were funny. Birkenstock Liberals all soaking in honey. But now we have on hand What they most understand A big fat f**** pile of money Sing a Song of Howard Dean From the January 19, 2004 issue: The revival, if you can call it that, of campaign songs. by Matt Labash Weekly Standard NOT ALWAYS, BUT OFTEN, there comes a point in a Howard Deaniac's life when it's no longer enough to blog yourself silly, or to throw Dean-centric house parties, or to quit your job, move to Burlington campaign headquarters, and start dressing like a bike messenger. Sometimes, you've got to take off your "Hi-my-name-is" sticker, leave your Meetup early, and do something of greater consequence. Sometimes, you've gotta sing. Proof of this is on display at songsfordean.com--an unofficial site where grassroots types like you and me can download those who have lifted their voices in support of Dean with original compositions. The campaign-song tradition is, of course, a storied, if not largely moribund one. We all have our favorites. Mine is a two-way tie. First, there's John Quincy Adams's "Little Know Ye Who's Coming." With the melody pinched from the Scottish "Highland Muster Roll," it's a sunny little ditty that reminds voters what's coming if they fail to elect Adams. The list is not encouraging: "Fire's comin', swords are comin', pistols, knives and guns are comin'." Additionally coming were slavery, knavery, hatin', and Satan, "if John Quincy not be comin'." For unintentional hilarity, however, it's hard to beat William Howard Taft's entreaty to "Get on a Raft with Taft"--a chancy move, considering he weighed as much as a small manatee. In recent decades, however, candidates have settled for more generic fare, often with deleterious consequences. If Bill Clinton hadn't lifted "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow," we might have made it through the rest of our lives without a Fleetwood Mac reunion. And while George W. Bush originally spun Tom Petty's "Don't Back Down" at campaign events (Petty complained, Bush backed down), he ended up settling on a song ("We the People") performed by the most dreaded name in the English language: Billy Ray Cyrus. The 2004 cycle has seen a revival of the form. Erstwhile candidate Bob Graham went so far as to release the "Charisma Tour" CD--with cuts like a "Friend in Bob Graham," and the Spanish-language version, "Arriba Bob." And Dennis Kucinich, who's consorted with rappers and who has a "hip-hop coordinator," has an entire website called "Musicians 4 Kucinich," where he is the subject of flattering songs and testimonials from the likes of the perfectly named "Chester and the Over Anxious Sparrows." But for sheer volume of output, it is hard to match the fecundity of the Deaniac singer-songwriters. In fact, in the annals of songs written about former Vermont governors, it is a golden era of sorts--the equivalent of working in the Brill Building of the early sixties, or Topanga Canyon in the early seventies. As for the quality? "Varying" would most politely describe it. While I'm hardly the first to state that the Dean campaign is remarkably free of people of color, I am, after spending a day on songsfordean.com, the person who has suffered through the most painful reminders of it in rapid succession. From coffeehouse bluesmen who over-enunciate every whitebread word, to hot blasts of undiluted folk so earnest that it could make the Weavers cry uncle, the songs are by and for white people. Sort of. There are two versions of the "Howard Dean Rap." One interpretation is done by a Justin O. and Noah D. "D," or maybe it's "O," asserts that "Dean's balanced budgets and he's cut taxes / Don't you look at me, I'm just sayin' what the facts is" (which the cognoscenti will recognize as a rhyme sampled from those 1970s proto-rappers, the Steve Miller Band). From there, it gets much, much worse. They use dated rap terminology like "chill" and "wack." One line goes, "Stop and stare, say hey, lookie there! / It's a doctor! Where? And he knows health care!" "Lookie there?" If they were real rappers, they'd get their asses kicked even in East Hampton, where Dean hails from. By the time they recite Bush's falling "P to the O to the double L" numbers, you just want to grab the first B-to-the-L-to-the-ACK person you can find, and tuck a reparations check into their breast pocket while apologizing profusely. A recurring theme of the Dean corpus is his doctorhood. Dean's five terms as governor, among supporters, pale next to his M.D. credential. Two different songs are titled, "The Doctor Is In," and one is less imaginatively titled "Doctor Howard Dean" (featuring the considerably more imaginative lyric, "This land is showing symptoms of having a disease / More serious than acne, more serious than fleas"). No fewer than 10 songs mention that Dean's a doctor, and rarely do they do so in the poetic, rock'n'roll sense (such as the Thompson Twins' early '80s plaint, "Doctor, Doctor, can't you see I'm burnin', burnin'"). Some get painted into unfortunate lyrical corners. Denny Zartman, an AM radio-board operator from Smyrna, Ga., sings in "We Want Howard Dean": "We're gonna need a doctor to fix us up quick / We need to remove our Bush and our Dick." But many of the doc references come off like the boasts of beaming old women in the bingo parlors of their assisted-living complexes--as in, "My son's a doctor." If Dean songwriters don't come in all colors, they do come in all stripes. Dan Tyler, author of one of the "The Doctor Is In"s, exhibits sturdy songcraft and is an accomplished writer, having penned hits for the likes of LeAnn Rimes and the Oak Ridge Boys. As a performer, he could pass for Guy Clark if you had a few beers in you--perhaps the only legal way to pleasantly make it through an afternoon at songsfordean.com. Then there's "Pi," who does not, as her name suggests, represent the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle. Rather, she says via email (in true Deaniac fashion, I interviewed a good many songwriters via email), she is a Pisces. Her real name is Lisa Marie, after Elvis's daughter, so she understandably sticks to the nickname. A self-described "child of liberal hippies" and "international it-girl," Pi would like to be in charge of Dean's inauguration music, where she would mix it up: some old-school rock, some Missy Misdemeanor Elliott, some Groove Armada "so people could dance," and a variety platter from trip-hop to jungle. Convinced that even she, a "lowly, flaky musician," would make a better president than Bush, she has turned out "Dean 4 Prez." To a swing-songy Nelly Furtado-ish beat, she sings that Dean represents "the Party People's Party," and stays with his résumé motif ("here's a list of his qualifications" goes one line), baldly asserting that "Dean thinks that you should sleep with who the hell you want." Party people, indeed. While most of the singing Deaniacs say they have never lent such support to another political candidate, some are downright sheepish that a reporter spied their work. When I contacted the author of "Sleepless Summer," 52-year-old media designer Marc Montefusco, he said, "You discovered my guilty secret, and I feel--well, guilty." His song lightly rips off Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Travelin' Band," because "I didn't want to write some fulsome, personal, yucky folk tribute." Like scores of first-timers who have been sucked into Dean's grassroots-charisma nexus, he seems almost surprised that he's gone so far as to post a Dean song: "I haven't told anyone--not my partner, not my friends. . . . It's almost completely unlike me." Creative people, by nature, create. And so it is that many of the singing Deaniacs have a body of work unrelated to Dean. Carlton Schreiner, for instance, who wrote the Dean-themed "Let's Take Back America," also wrote "Sick Camel," a harrowing story-song about Gaza Strip strife, told from the camel's perspective. Likewise, Bryan Hitchcock, who wrote the Dean-themed "Song For America," is an administrative assistant at a landscaping company who also runs a role-playing website with buddies he's been playing Dungeons and Dragons with since high school. ("Yes," he writes, "I am a geek. LOL.") Not only did he write "Annihilation Rock," about the first Gulf War, but he also dabbles in gothic poetry, with selections like "Scarlet Witch," "Ragnorok," and "two-hundred and twelve degrees fahrenheit," the last of which contains this little snippet of light verse: "Dip my oozing body in your hot liquid soul / so that I may emerge / new and wet / and glistening / with the essence of our union / So that I may wrap you / in my writhing spirit / and engulf you / in my own boiling flesh." Hitchcock, however, will have his work cut out for him if he aims to be the poet laureate of a Dean administration. That honor will most likely go to David Teller, a New York City subway busker. Like Dean, he seems kind of angry. Several times a week, he says, "I take my guitar into the subway and scream at the world to relieve the stresses" involved in being a full-time caregiver to his disabled wife. In addition to issuing an entire CD of Dean songs, he also writes Dean-inspired limericks. He's got 23 of them in the can. And while it's easy to clown on Deaniacs, as I hope I have demonstrated, scoffers should be mindful of Teller's Dean Limerick #22: Last month they thought we were funny. Birkenstock Liberals all soaking in honey. But now we have on hand What they most understand A fat f**** pile of money. Matt Labash is senior writer at The Weekly Standard.