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Julia Goldberg: Chasing Tom Udall

2008-05-17T22:39:37Z

When I got the press release that US Rep. Tom Udall, D-NM, would be early voting at 2:30 pm, Saturday, May 17 at the Santa Fe County Fairgrounds, I decided to gamble that most reporters would be too busy having lives to show up and that, perhaps, I would be rewarded for my fortitude by Udall telling me, before anyone else, who he plans to support as a superdelegate.
Well, right on one score, anyway.
Udall is leaving his seat representing the third congressional district to run for the US Senate seat currently held by US Sen. Pete Domenici, R-NM. Two Republicans, US Reps. Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce, face off in New Mexico's June 3 primary. This means that in New Mexico, one US Senate seat and three congressional seats are up for grabs. For the third congressional seat currently held by Udall, six Democrats face off on June 3, as do two Republicans. There also are two Independents slated to run against the winners of those races in November.

After voting early myself, I caught up with Udall in the mostly empty parking lot and failed to get him to give anything up. Here's the sad transcript:

JG: Why won't you endorse in the third congressional district?
TU: I believe there is a great field out there and I've never endorsed in a primary before and I'm going to continue to uphold that tradition.

JG: Were you surprised your dad [former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall) endorsed [Ben Ray Lujan]?
TU: When I got the call from him I must say it was consistent with his pattern in the past of jumping into primaries both in city elections and in some other elections. I was a little bit surprised, but I've known him as being a strong independent-minded individual. He makes up his mind and it's very hard to get him to change his mind so I didn't even try.

JG: OK, your vote as a super-delegate. Come on! You have to give me something. I'm here at the county fairgrounds on a Saturday!
TU: Julia, I promised the voters when we had this big issue in New Mexico, I was in several town halls and meetings, some of them pretty lively, confrontations with voters and people said, 'this isn't about superdelegates, this is about people voting and we should allow the voting to take place as much as possible before the super delegates vote.' And I said at the time, and I've consistently said since then, I'm going to wait until June the third, until all the voters in the nation have voted, until South Dakota and Montana have voted and then I'll be in a position, very quickly, to be able to visit with other super delegates and visit with both campaigns and talk about my intention how to vote.

JG: Who did you vote for on Super Tuesday?
TU:That's something I'm going to keep quiet.

JG: If you had your choice, who would you run against in the general election: [US Rep Heather] Wilson or [US Rep] Steve Pearce?

[Udall's wife, Jill Cooper, drives into the county fairgrounds and loudly hits a rut]

Udall: There goes the Prius.

JG: Wilson or Pearce?
TU: I would say in a couple of words: Be careful what you wish for. I might get my hopes up too high and then I would get the opposite of what I wanted.

JG: I think you want Pearce.
TU: Be careful what you wish for.

I then watched Udall vote and as he did, he called out to me the names of people he was voting for: all Democrats in uncontested races. Gee, thanks!

Obama Iowa Rally Planned For Tuesday

2008-05-17T21:49:22Z

On Saturday the Obama campaign announced that they would be holding a rally in Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday, May 20, the night of the Kentucky and Oregon primaries. The announcement has set off speculation about whether Obama might declare victory in the Democratic primary that evening. From Reuters:

Hoping that a pair of contests in Oregon and Kentucky on Tuesday will allow him to essentially clinch the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama will make a symbolic return to Iowa, the state that launched his underdog bid for the White House.

Polls suggest the Illinois senator will win Oregon comfortably while his rival New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is expected to prevail in Kentucky by a wide margin.

But the Obama campaign expects that when the results from the two contests come in, he will have racked up a majority of the pledged delegates awarded in the state-by-state contests, making him the likely winner in his battle with Clinton to become his party's nominee to face presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in November.

ABC's Political Radar has more on what kind of victory the Obama camp may declare at the end of the evening:

While Obama still will not have the 2026 delegates he would need to clinch the nomination, the Obama campaign is playing up the symbolism of the majority mark.

On Wednesday night, Obama was asked by a reporter if he would declare victory Tuesday night if he reached the majority of pledged delegates.

"We will declare that we have the majority of pledged delegates," Obama replied flatly.

Dave Maass: McCain Can't Keep His Enemies Straight?

2008-05-17T20:14:40Z

Did McCain get his enemies mixed up again? Or was it a subtle pivot?

What he told reporters in regards to James Rubin's column in the Washington Post about McCain's earlier position regarding Hamas (note: Iran is not mentioned in the op-ed):

I don't know how [Obama] would react to what was an obvious distortion article that appeared in, on the op-ed page of the Washington Post today. I hope he would condemn it. But look, the point is that, the larger picture is that Senator Obama wants to sit down and negotiate with a leader of a country that's dedicated to the extinction of Israel. That just in the last few days called Israel a stinking corpse. That is a state sponsor of terror. There are explosive devices that they're sending into Iraq that are killing young Americans. I would never do that. And I think it is a mark of the inexperience that Senator Obama displays. And I think Americans will make a judgment accordingly.

Um... that wasn't Hamas. According to AP, that was Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

I guess Lieberman wasn't around this time to whisper clarifications in his ear. Obviously, McCain can argue he was talking about Ahmadinejad, since Obama does want to meet with Iran...but how did he get to Iran without even mentioning the country by name? Is "the larger picture" his code word? Sounds to me like he's just trying to paint a broad brush stroke across the region without educating the public on the subtleties between each group.

Lulu Mickelson: Redefining Patriotism

2008-05-17T20:06:53Z

Okay, I'll admit it. I have become patriotic. A word that just a few months ago I would never use to describe myself. In fact, I would most likely grimace at being labeled patriotic and deny such an accusation. The word evoked the taste of slimy Fourth of July potato salad and conjured up images of unquestioning citizens waving American flags. But as I've watched the events of the current election unfold, I have found a new respect, even love, for my country - redefining how I see patriotism.

For the past eight years, I have felt powerless - unable to change or challenge the decisions of my government. As a citizen I came to the conclusion that nothing I could say or do would ever impact the choices of the Bush Administration. And this deeply discouraged me. How could I be a patriot when I fundamentally disagreed with the actions of my country and felt unheard by my leaders?

Somehow I had accepted someone else's notion that patriotism meant blindly endorsing the decisions of our leaders. That the word "patriot" is reserved only for those who automatically supported our country's invasion of Iraq, who were not bothered as the government stripped away citizen's constitutional freedoms. But this is not a patriot.

Over the last few months I have discovered my own definition of patriotism as my feelings of powerlessness have begun to shift. With the current presidential elections, I have an opportunity to transform the country by putting in a leader who represents my beliefs and opinions. Being able to finally enact change inspires and motivates me. Right now I feel part of democracy in action, a concerned citizen passionately fighting for the future of America. I am a patriot... and in no way does it evoke the taste of slimy potato salad.

Every four years, our country allows citizens this period of change - where we have the power to elect our next leader, choosing a new future for our nation. It is the revolutionary idea of giving power to the people that inspired our forefathers (and mothers) to break away from England. It is an idea that changed the world. And now, seeing it work successfully inspires me to actually call myself a patriot.

The election may not be what inspires you, but each of us can find something that we love about America that transcends its imperfections and leaders, each of us can live by our own definitions of patriotism.

Iraq detains 1,000 in anti-al-Qaida crackdown

2008-05-17T19:37:39Z

BAGHDAD — Nearly 1,000 people have been detained in a sweep to break al-Qaida in Iraq's sway in Iraq's third largest city, Mosul, but many of the fighters have fled to nearby areas, where troops are hunting for them, Iraqi officials said Saturday.

Iraq's leaders presented the crackdown as a success so far in depriving the terror network of what has been its most prominent urban stronghold since it lost hold of cities in Iraq's western Anbar province.

But the flight of al-Qaida fighters raises the concern they can regroup elsewhere, as has often happened in the past.

Yassin Majid, an adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said most of the leading insurgents had fled to the outskirts of Mosul or to a neighboring country amid the operations. He did not name the neighboring country. Mosul is about 60 miles from the Syrian and Turkish borders.

"Operations will continue and the Iraqi army will not leave Mosul until security and stability have been accomplished," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, the top U.S. commander in northern Iraq, whose forces are working with the Iraqi troops in the operation, said he didn't believe significant numbers of militants had escaped. He said Iraqi forces have surrounded the city with a circle of berms and checkpoints controlling entry and exits.

But he said some al-Qaida leaders, who directed their Mosul followers from outside the city, may have stayed away from Mosul ahead of the sweep to avoid arrest, he told The Associated Press.

"It's been very successful," he said. "I think the combination of the arrests plus the uncovering of a number of weapons caches will reduce the number of attacks in Mosul."

But he warned insurgents could try to strike back in the coming days with suicide bombings in the city.

The sweep was launched Thursday, after five days of preparatory operations and arrests in the city. U.S.-backed Iraqi police and soldiers have been conducting raids on homes and have fanned out with checkpoints on city streets, though no clashes have been reported in the city, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani said 1,068 people have been detained over the past week, but 94 were cleared and have since been released. Hertling said those detained included several high- and mid-level al-Qaida figures, including leaders of cells that organized suicide car bombings and facilitators for foreign fighters entering the country.

The assault on the Sunni al-Qaida in Iraq group was launched in the wake of two other major crackdowns against Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Basra and the Baghdad district of Sadr City in the past two months. Those two sweeps continue but uneasy truces with the powerful Shiite Mahdi Army militia have eased the heavy violence they sparked.

Al-Maliki said Saturday the series of crackdowns would bring a boost to reconciliation efforts, saying it has "reflected positively on the political process."

Al-Bolani told a gathering of some 300 former Saddam Hussein-era officers in Mosul that the army and police would make room for them and that al-Maliki was urging them to return. Many in the crowd cheered the announcement.

Mosul's Sunni Arab population was once a major source of officers for Saddam's army, many of whom were removed because of their ties to his regime in a purge that followed the 2003 U.S. invasion. Their bitterness is believed to have fueled the Sunni-led insurgency.

On Friday, al-Maliki offered amnesty and cash to fighters in Mosul who surrender their weapons within the next 10 days. Al-Bolani said no one has surrendered any weapons yet and warned they had "no other choice" but to comply or face being targeted by security forces in the coming days.

Al-Maliki made a similar offer to Shiite militias in Basra during the sweep there, but few surrendered weapons.

The prime minister returned to Baghdad from Mosul _ where he has been overseeing the crackdown _ to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who made a surprise visit to Iraq on Saturday.

Pelosi, a top Democratic critic of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, expressed confidence that expected provincial elections will promote national reconciliation.

She welcomed Iraq's progress in passing a budget as well as oil legislation, and a bill paving the way for the provincial elections in the fall that are expected to more equitably redistribute power among local officials.

"We're assured the elections will happen here, they will be transparent, they will be inclusive and they will take Iraq closer to the reconciliation we all want it to have," said Pelosi. She also met with Iraq's parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq.

Pelosi, who also traveled to Iraq in January 2007 shortly after the Democrats assumed congressional control, has been a sharp critic of the Bush administration's conduct of the war and has pressed for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country this year.

She also has called for the Iraqi government to contribute more money to the reconstruction of the country.

President Bush's Iraq war funding request failed in the House on Thursday as anti-war Democrats and Republicans unhappy about added domestic funding formed an unlikely coalition to kill, for now, $163 billion to support U.S. troops overseas.

In violence Saturday, a female suicide bomber blew herself up near an office for a U.S.-allied Sunni group, then a suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi police patrol heading to the scene in the Diyala provincial capital of Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad.

Police said at least 15 people were wounded in the attacks, including two children.

___

Associated Press writers Hamid Ahmed and Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report.

Hillary Turns Fire On The Media

2008-05-17T19:11:16Z

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is increasingly aiming its punches not at her front-running opponent Barack Obama, but at the media.

On the campaign trail, in a new ad and in her meetings with donors and superdelegates, she blasts the D.C. punditocracy for counting her out and urges anyone who'll listen to ignore the hardening storyline that places Obama as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Senator Harkin: McCain Too "Military"

2008-05-17T19:07:46Z

Republican presidential candidate John McCain's family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, "and he has a hard time thinking beyond that," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said Friday.

"I think he's trapped in that," Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. "Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous."

Chris Bowers: Obama Camp 'Decapitated' Influential Progressive Group

2008-05-17T18:59:08Z

Progressive Media USA was a more important organization to the progressive movement than many people know. For one thing, it employed a large number of progressive movement types with an online focus. Also, even though it was accomplished behind the scenes, it is responsible for a strikingly large number of the anti-McCain stories to appear in the national press over the past six months. Further, it was not meant to just operate during the campaign, but also to fight media pushback against a new Democratic administration in 2009 and beyond.

Basically, it was a very netroots friendly organization doing a lot of very positive anti-McCain work, and was also a potentially important allay of a new Democratic administration. However, at the behest of the Obama campaign senior leadership, it has now been decapitated and decommissioned by Barack Obama's uber-wealthy donors.

Obama seeks focus on end of primary campaign

2008-05-17T18:51:53Z

EUGENE, Ore. — Attempting to lay a symbolic claim to his party's presidential nomination, Democrat Barack Obama will mark the latest round of primary voting with a rally in Iowa, where his solid win in January caucuses propelled him to his status as the front-runner.

Obama was campaigning Saturday for primaries Tuesday in Oregon and Kentucky as his aides announced the rally on primary night in Iowa, which they described as "a critical general election state that Democrats must win in November."

Rival Hillary Rodham Clinton has a strong lead in polls in Kentucky, but Obama has the advantage in Oregon.

Obama has built a solid lead in Democratic National Convention delegates over Clinton, and is working overtime to cast an image of inevitability to his campaign for the nomination. In recent days, he has spent more time focused on his differences with certain Republican nominee John McCain than sparring with Clinton.

While touring a hospital Saturday, Obama was asked by X-ray technician Ron Spooner, "How do I know that I can trust you?"

"The nice thing is we're going to have four more months, five more months of active campaigning where you can watch and see if I am consistent, do I stay honest," said Obama. "Let me take your advice and let me make sure that I try to stay honest in what is sometimes a dishonest profession."

Though health care was his theme of the day, Obama returned to a debate launched Friday with McCain on foreign policy. Both President Bush and McCain suggested that Democrats couldn't be trusted to be tough on terrorists, a charge Obama has rejected.

"The other side is going to keep calling us the same names, making the same cheap shots, using the same fear tactics they've used for the last four decades," said Obama.

Obama spoke to about 1,400 at a town hall meeting in Roseburg, arguing that McCain would merely follow a failed policy set by Bush.

"If you agree that we've had a great foreign policy over the last eight years, then you should vote for John McCain, you shouldn't vote for me," said Obama. "That's what this debate is all about, that's the choice in this election. Do you want more of the same or do you want change?"

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds argued that Obama's foreign policy shows "incredibly weak judgment. We're a nation rooted in a history of sacrifice and achievement, not in lofty campaign rhetoric or campaign promises."

Iowa has been a swing state in recent presidential elections. Democrat Al Gore narrowly carried the state in 2000, and President Bush collected the state's seven electoral votes by just over 10,000 votes in 2004. Since that time, however, Democrats have built a substantial edge in registered voters, and turnout in the January precinct caucuses was at record levels.

Obama will be joined by his wife, Michelle, for the Iowa rally, a homecoming of sorts for the couple. The rally is the latest effort by Obama to shift attention away from the primary season to the November election even though Clinton continues to maintain a full campaign schedule in primary states.

The last Democratic primaries are June 3 in Montana and South Dakota.

Clinton began the nomination race far better known than Obama, and was considered by many to be the likely nominee in the early days of the campaign. Obama countered that perception with an intense grass-roots campaign in Iowa that led to a surprisingly easy win. Though Clinton rebounded with a win in the New Hampshire primary, Obama has maintained his status as the front-runner.

Obama won't be able to capture the delegates needed to collect the party's nomination strictly through primaries _ he also needs to increase his support from superdelegates, the elected officials and party leaders who are delegates because of their positions. Clinton had led Obama in superdelegates through most of the year, but he recently overtook her and now leads 295.5 to 274.5 _ including a superdelegate in Maryland he collected Saturday.

Overall, Obama has 1,905 delegates to Clinton's 1,719, with 2,026 delegates are needed to secure the nomination.

Underscoring his shift to a general election strategy, Obama is heading to Florida next week _ a key general election state where he has not yet campaigned.

The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida of its delegates as punishment for moving up its primary to January, earlier than allowed by party rules.

Clinton, who did not campaign in the state either, won the Florida primary. She and Obama have been at odds over seating the state's delegation at the national convention in Denver in August.

William Bradley: What Is Appeasement?

2008-05-17T18:47:54Z

Recall the Soviet Union, whose leaders vowed to "bury" America and truly had the power to do it.

I have something to confess, dear readers. In the 1980s, I went to the Soviet Embassy in Washington to meet there with assembled ranking members of the Communist Party. Each had sworn to the defeat of America and triumph of international Communism. Included in the group were agents of the dread KGB.

Why was I there? To give a briefing on American politics, with a particular emphasis on California, a major area of interest to Soviet intelligence.

Was I a traitor? Was I engaging in what President Bush yesterday described as "appeasement?"

As Borat would put it, "Not so much." I was there, as an advisor to a U.S. senator, and having been trained in the U.S. military to kill Russians and learn Soviet doctrines, to talk.

A long line of leaders of the Soviet Union vowed to destroy America. And these guys actually did have the power to do it. This was the Cold War. Which at times was extremely hot. Both overtly and covertly.

Did we negotiate with the Soviets on a regular basis? Did we talk with them, even those who clearly had blood on their hands, even American blood? Of course. As a matter, frankly, of routine. Bear in mind that the Soviet Union murdered tens of millions of people, far more than Nazi Germany, indeed, far more than any other world power in the history of this planet.

This did not make Ronald Reagan an appeaser any more than I was an appeaser. Reagan, in fact, engaged in summitry with Soviet leaders to win PR victories. And with constant vigilance, and a policy of aggressive containment, the Cold War was successfully concluded with the defeat of the Soviet Union.

Since then, some of my closest friends have been Russians, now free from the yoke of Communism. Free to pursue the American dream of Armani and champagne.

Anyone who understands history knows these things. I've defended Bush from hyperpartisan lefties who insist that he is stupid. He's hardly that; as best I can make out, he has an IQ of 128. Which is certainly smart enough for big-time politics.

Nevertheless, thanks to Bush's play, yesterday was, in game parlance, an unforced error for the Republicans.

John McCain, who has spent the bulk of the week showing his independence from a very unpopular president and a declining Republican brand, had just given an excellent speech. Which I wrote about at length yesterday.

Then President Bush said these things before Israel's parliament, the Knesset:

Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is--the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.

Which infuriated some of Israel's biggest backers, such as LA Congressman Henry Waxman.

As HuffPost and NWN readers are well aware, the Bush Administration is in fact negotiating with Iran now. Iran, most unfortunately, proved to have the necessary clout to end recent factional fighting in Iraq that was terribly distracting to our goal of bringing stability to that country more than five years after we defeated Saddam Hussein.

John McCain, who may feel he is in the business of building sand castles, had to choose between supporting his party's president -- who retains diehard support from the conservative base -- or denouncing his comments as the sort of hostile divisiveness he had himself just denounced in his Columbus, Ohio speech. McCain, as I've noted repeatedly, has a difficult balancing act to pull off in his run against Barack Obama.

He chose to support Bush. Which is exactly what Obama and the Democrats want.

Interception. Returned for touchdown.

Charlie Rose: My Conversation with Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez

2008-05-17T18:20:16Z

Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez was commander of coalition forces in Iraq at the time of the abuses took place at Abu Ghraib. After the scandal broke, Sanchez resigned from the army without a promised promotion. Here is what he told me about his accountability:

Obama picks up delegates in Kan., Md., Nev.

2008-05-17T18:11:03Z

WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama inched closer to securing the Democratic presidential nomination with delegate pickups in Nevada, Kansas and Maryland.

In Nevada, Obama stole a delegate from rival Hillary Rodham Clinton by drawing more supporters at the state Democratic convention Saturday.

A vote of more than 2,500 convention delegates broke 55-45 percent in Obama's favor, giving Obama 14 of Nevada's 25 pledged delegates to the National Democratic Convention in Denver this summer to Clinton's 11.

The shift is a gain of one pledged delegate for Obama over the split calculated after the state's January caucuses.

Although Clinton won the support of 51 percent of the caucus-goers in January, under the complicated system of awarding delegates Obama was put on track to winning 13 delegates to Clinton's 12.

Nevada Democrats were also scheduled to select an additional unpledged, or "add-on," delegate later in the day.

In an attempt to draw supporters, the Clinton campaign sent the New York senator's most popular surrogate to speak on her behalf, former President Clinton.

Faced with a vocal crowd of Obama backers, Bill Clinton all but abandoned typical campaign rhetoric. He mentioned his wife's candidacy only briefly, and instead focused his comments on a call for party unity against the Republicans in November.

"Don't you forget why you came here. You did not go to all this trouble to have an argument with each other," Clinton said. "The argument is necessary so we can pick the best president and the most electable one. Those are the only two things that matter ... After that, we have to get the show on the road, folks. We have a country to change and a future to secure."

Kansas Democrats also held their state convention Saturday, selecting Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson as an add-on delegate. He endorsed Obama in February.

"We have to make some major changes in the direction of the country, and I'm completely convinced that he is the person who can bring the country together and lead us to that change," Parkinson said.

Obama also won the endorsement of a Maryland superdelegate Saturday. Superdelegates are the elected officials and party leaders who are automatic delegates to the national convention due to their positions.

Greg Pecoraro, a city council member in Westminster, Md., praised Clinton, but called Obama "the right leader for our time."

"I strongly believe that Senator Obama offers us the best opportunity we have had for many years to turn away from the politics of division and despair, and look toward an America of opportunity and progress," Pecoraro said in a statement released by the Obama campaign.

The pickup brings Obama's delegate total to 1,907 to Clinton's 1,718. The number needed to secure the nomination is 2,026.

Obama has been widening his delegate lead over Clinton, thanks largely to the steady movement of superdelegates to his camp as party leaders coalesce around the candidate they anticipate will be the nominee.

___

Associated Press writers Kathleen Hennessey in Reno, Nev., and John Hanna in Topkea, Kan., contributed to this report.

Bush says Saudi oil boost doesn't solve US problem

2008-05-17T17:53:53Z

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt — President Bush said Saudi Arabia's small increase in oil production will not solve soaring U.S. fuel prices, but he defended the wealthy kingdom Saturday against American lawmakers "screaming the loudest" for Riyadh to open its spigots.

Bush also encountered bitter Arab criticism that he favors Israel too heavily and was bluntly questioned by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about whether he is serious about peacemaking. Bush said he was "absolutely committed" to reaching an Israeli-Palestinian agreement by the end of his presidency next January. But there was no sign during Bush's five-day Mideast trip that the two sides are moving closer toward an accord.

"It breaks my heart to see the vast potential of the Palestinian people really wasted," Bush said. Pledging the creation of an independent homeland, Bush said "It'll be an opportunity to end the suffering that takes place in the Palestinian territories."

With Israel's occupation of Arab lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war entering its fifth decade, most Palestinians live in dire poverty.

On the last stop of his travels, Bush held a rapid-fire series of diplomatic meetings at this posh Red Sea resort, famous for its brilliantly clear waters and sea-snorkling reefs. After talks with Mubarak, Bush saw Afghan President Hamid Karzai and had dinner with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. On Sunday, he will confer with the leaders of Pakistan, Jordan, Iraq. He said every meeting advances prospects for peace.

As oil prices hit another record high on Friday, Saudi King Abdullah rebuffed Bush's request for higher oil production to take the pressure off prices. The high prices are a political nightmare in a presidential election year for Bush and his would-be Republican successor, Sen. John McCain. Bush said he cautioned the king about the repercussions of skyrocketing prices.

"I said very plainly, I said, `You've got to be concerned about the effects of high oil prices on some of the biggest customers in the world. And not only that, of course, high energy prices (are) going to cause countries like mine to accelerate our move toward alternative energy."

Saudi officials said the kingdom was pumping all the oil that its customers want and that production had been increased by 300,000 barrels a day earlier this month.

"It's something, but it doesn't solve our problem," Bush said. "Our problem in America gets solved when we aggressively go for domestic exploration. Our problem in America gets solved if we expand our refining capacity, promote nuclear energy, and continue our strategy for the advancement of alternative energies, as well as conservation."

Rather than criticize the Saudis, Bush turned his fire on Democrats back home threatening to kill a $1.4 billion arms sale to Riyadh unless it pumps at least 1 million additional barrels a day.

"One of the interesting things about American politics these days is those who are screaming the loudest for increased production from Saudi Arabia are the very same people who are fighting the fiercest against domestic exploration, against the development of nuclear power, and against expanding refining capacity," Bush said, standing on a manicured lawn overlooking the sea after talks with Karzai.

The president's first appointment was with 80-year-old Mubarak, who has led an authoritarian government in Egypt since 1981. In unusually blunt criticism, Egypt's state-owned press attacked Bush for his speech Thursday before the Israeli Knesset. The media accused Bush of being overly supportive of the Israelis and not mentioning the Palestinians' plight.

"The Torah-inspired speech of Bush raised question marks over the credibility of the U.S. role in the Middle East," wrote Mursi Atallah, the publisher of Al-Ahram, the flagship daily of the state-owned press. "Bush aims to do nothing but appeasing Israel."

Bush, in his address Thursday, showered Israel with praise, strongly reiterated its right to defend itself and only gently urged leaders to "make the hard choices necessary," without mention of concrete steps. He did not visit the Palestinian territories nor mention the Palestinians' plight. He spoke of them only in one sentence saying that Israel's 120th anniversary _ in 2068 _ would see it neighboring an independent Palestinian state.

Bush said Mubarak "wanted to make sure that my approach toward the Middle Eastern peace is firm, and that we work hard to get the Palestinian state defined." Bush said that "I believe we can get a state defined by the end of my presidency, and we'll work hard to achieve that objective."

He repeated those assurances later to Abbas. The Palestinian leader said that "we are working very seriously and very aggressively with the hope that we will be able to achieve this objective before the end of the year."

Bush said he and Abbas agreed on their concern about "radical elements undermining" the U.S.-backed government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

"This is a defining moment," he said. "It is a moment that requires us to stand strongly with the Saniora government and to support the Saniora government."

The militant group Hezbollah overran Beirut neighborhoods last week in protest of measures aimed at the group by Saniora's government, a display of power that shocked and concerned the West. The violence only ended when Lebanon's Cabinet reversed the measures and Saniora's government reached a deal with the Shiite militant group, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization. Bush had planned to meet with Saniora in Egypt on Sunday, but the session was canceled.

Andy Worthington: Betrayals, backsliding and boycotts: the continuing collapse of Guantanamo's Military Commissions

2008-05-17T17:50:02Z

Anyone who has kept half an eye on the proceedings at the Military Commissions in GuantÃ¡namo -- the unique system of trials for "terror suspects" that was conceived in the wake of the 9/11 attacks by Vice President Dick Cheney and his close advisers -- will be aware that their progress has been faltering at best.

After six and a half years, in which they have been ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, derailed by their own military judges, relentlessly savaged by their own military defense lawyers, and condemned as politically motivated and a rubberstamp for torture by their own former chief prosecutor, they have only secured one contentious result: a plea bargain negotiated by the Australian David Hicks, who admitted to providing "material support for terrorism," and dropped his well-chronicled claims of torture and abuse by US forces, in order to secure his return to Australia to serve out the remainder of a meager nine-month sentence last March.

In the last few weeks, however, Cheney's dream has been souring at an even more alarming rate than usual. Following boycotts of pre-trial hearings in March and April by three prisoners -- Mohamed Jawad, Ahmed al-Darbi and Ibrahim al-Qosi -- the latest appearance by Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni who worked as a driver for Osama bin Laden, spread the words "boycott" and "GuantÃ¡namo" around the world.

Salim Hamdan's boycott

Hamdan is no ordinary GuantÃ¡namo prisoner. It was his case, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, that shut down the Military Commissions' first incarnation in June 2006, when the Supreme Court ruled that they were illegal, a decision that forced the administration to press new legislation -- the Military Commissions Act -- through a sleeping Congress later that year.

But Hamdan's fame meant little to him on April 29, when he too decided to boycott his trial, telling Navy Capt. Keith Allred, the judge in his last pre-trial hearing before his trial is scheduled to begin, "The law is clear. The Constitution is clear. International law is clear. Why don't we follow the law? Where is the justice?"

For his part, Capt. Allred did not give up without attempting to persuade Hamdan that he should believe in the legal process before which he found himself. "You should have great faith in the law," he said. "You won. Your name is all over the law books." This was true, but it was little consolation for Hamdan, who was charged again as soon as the Commissions were revived in Congress. Nor could Capt. Allred's addendum -- "You even won the very first time you came before me" -- sway him, even though that too was true.

Last June, when Hamdan appeared before Capt. Allred for the first time, in the first pre-trial hearing for his new Military Commission, Allred dismissed the case, pointing out that the Military Commissions Act, which had revived the Commissions, applied only to "unlawful enemy combatants," whereas Hamdan, and every other prisoner in GuantÃ¡namo for that matter, had only been determined to be "enemy combatants" in the tribunals -- the Combatant Status Review Tribunals -- that had made them eligible for trial by Military Commission.

It was small wonder that Hamdan was despondent, however. Two months later, an appeals court reversed Allred's decision, and Hamdan -- twice a victor -- was charged once more, and removed from a privileged position in GuantÃ¡namo's Camp IV -- reserved for a few dozen compliant prisoners who live communally -- to Camp VI, where, like the majority of the prisoners, he has spent most of his time in conditions that amount to solitary confinement, and where, as his lawyers pointed out in February, his mental health has deteriorated significantly.

As he prepared to boycott proceedings, Hamdan had a few last questions for Capt. Allred. He asked the judge why the government had changed the law -- "Is it just for my case?" -- and responded to Allred's insistence that he would do everything he could to give him a fair trial by asking, "By what law will you try me?" When Allred replied that he would be tried under the terms of the Military Commissions Act, Hamdan gave up. "But the government changed the law to its advantage," he said. "I am not being tried by the American law."

Col. Morris Davis condemns the Commissions (again)

Hamdan's eloquent and restrained explanation for his boycott was the most poignant event in his hearing, but it was not the most explosive. That accolade was reserved for Col. Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor for the Commissions, who resigned noisily last October, citing political interference in the process. Once the Commissions' stoutest supporter -- in 2006 he told reporters, "Remember if you dragged Dracula out into the sunlight he melted? Well, that's kind of the way it is trying to drag a detainee into the courtroom" -- Col. Davis explained his Damascene conversion in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times in December.

Laying into his chain of command, Col. Davis lambasted his immediate boss, Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, who had recently been appointed as the legal adviser to the Commissions' "convening authority" Susan Crawford, for politicizing the process, attempting to hold higher profile trials behind closed doors (whereas Davis insisted that transparency was "critical"). He also criticized Crawford, a retired judge, who had served as Army counsel and defense department inspector under Dick Cheney in the first Bush administration in the 1980s, for overstepping her administrative role by "intermingling convening authority and prosecutor roles" and "perpetuat[ing] the perception of a rigged process stacked against the accused."

Col. Davis also delivered a particularly stern rebuke to Crawford's overall boss, the Department of Defense's chief counsel William J. Haynes II, pointing out Haynes' role in "authorizing the use of the aggressive interrogation techniques some call torture," declaring, "I had instructed the prosecutors in September 2005 that we would not offer any evidence derived by waterboarding, one of the aggressive interrogation techniques the administration has sanctioned," and declaring, unambiguously, that he resigned "a few hours after" being informed that he had been placed in a chain of command under Haynes.

On April 28, Col. Davis testified for Hamdan and reprised his complaints, telling Capt. Allred, as the Washington Post described it, that senior Pentagon officials, including deputy defense secretary Gordon England, had "made it clear to him that charging some of the highest-profile detainees before elections this year could have 'strategic political value.'" After pointing out that he had wanted to wait until both the cases and the entire Military Commissions system had "a more solid legal footing," he reiterated his complaints against Haynes, telling Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, Hamdan's military defense lawyer, what he had told the Nation in February: that, during a discussion of the Nuremberg Trials, in which Davis had noted that there had been some acquittals, which had "lent great credibility to the proceedings," Haynes had told him, "We can't have acquittals. We've been holding these guys for years. How can we explain acquittals? We have to have convictions."

Col. Davis also defended his uncompromising opposition to the use of evidence obtained through torture, once more directing particular criticism at Brig. Gen. Hartmann. "To allow or direct a prosecutor to come into the courtroom and offer evidence they felt was torture, it puts a prosecutor in an ethical bind," he said, adding that, in response to his complaints, Hartmann had replied that "everything was fair game -- let the judge sort it out." He added that Hartmann "took 'micromanagement' of the prosecution effort to a new level and treated prosecutors with 'cruelty and maltreatment,'" and explained that he "was trying to take over the prosecutor's role, compromising the independence of the Office of Military Commissions, which decides which cases to bring and what evidence to use."

Ali Hamza al-Bahlul and Omar Khadr

A week later, on May 7, the boycott bandwagon rolled on when Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, another Yemeni, also refused to cooperate. Sitting alone in Camp Justice, GuantÃ¡namo's new courtroom, having spurned the assistance of his government-appointed attorney, al-Bahlul, who is accused of producing videos for al-Qaeda, and who famously boycotted his pre-Hamdan Commission hearings in 2006, essentially picked up where he left off over two years ago, proudly proclaiming his association with Osama bin Laden, and telling his judge, Army Col. Peter Brownback, "We will continue our jihad and nothing's going to stop us. You must not oppress the people in the land. Your oppression against us and your support to the strategic ally in the region is what made me leave my house and today, I'm telling you, and you're a man of law, if you sentence me to life ... me and the others will be the reason for the continuation of the war against America." He added that he did not intend to dispute any of the prosecution's allegations. "I am responsible for my own actions in this world and the afterworld," he said. "I don't consider it to be a crime."

While al-Bahlul's words -- delivered to full advantage from his sudden perch in the media spotlight -- served only to underline, incongruously, the utter silence in which around 200 other GuantÃ¡namo prisoners are held (those considered less dangerous, or not dangerous at all, whom the administration has no intention of ever prosecuting), his words were almost immediately overshadowed when, the day after, Col. Brownback, who was on the verge of securing a dubious place in the history books by ruling that the trial of Omar Khadr -- the only prisoner to date who has not boycotted his hearings -- would go ahead in June, threatened his own boycott.

Furious that, despite repeated requests, the prosecution (led by Maj. Jeffrey Groharing) had failed to provide Khadr's lawyers with their client's Detainee Information Management System records, to analyze his treatment in an attempt to uncover reasons why incriminating statements -- possibly obtained through torture -- should be suppressed, Col. Brownback declared, "I have been badgered, beaten and bruised by Maj. Groharing since the 7th of November to set a trial date. To get a trial date, I need to get discovery done." He then ordered the government to provide the records by May 22, or, he said, he would suspend the proceedings entirely.

While Khadr's lawyer, Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, expressed skepticism about Col. Brownback's exclamation, telling reporters, "What we've seen in this process is that military judges will give the defense pyrrhic victories when it doesn't threaten the foundations of the system," Brownback's intervention at the very least delayed confirmation of his own notoriety. If he decides, after May 22, to proceed with the trial of Khadr, who was just 15 years old when he was captured after a gun battle in Afghanistan that left one US soldier dead, he will be the first judge since the Second World War to proceed with a war crimes trial against a prisoner who was just a child when he was captured.

Judge bars Commissions' legal adviser

The day after Col. Brownback's shake-up of the prosecutors in Omar Khadr's case, Capt. Allred, having mulled over Morris Davis' complaints against Brig. Gen. Hartmann, surprised everyone, and threatened the Commissions' teetering legitimacy once more, by disqualifying Hartmann from playing any role in Salim Hamdan's trial. Clearly swayed by Davis' testimony, Capt. Allred ruled on May 9 that he was "too closely allied with the prosecution," as the New York Times described it. "National attention focused on this dispute has seriously called into question the legal adviser's ability to continue to perform his duties in a neutral and objective manner," Allred wrote, explaining that public concern about the fairness of the cases was "deeply disturbing," and that he did not find that Hartmann "retains the required independence from the prosecution."

The Times followed up with more excerpts from Capt. Allred's decision, which confirmed his support for Morris Davis' views. "Telling the chief prosecutor (and other prosecutors)," he wrote, "that certain types of cases would be tried and that others would not be tried, because of political factors such as whether they would capture the imagination of the American people, be sexy, or involve blood on the hands of the accused, suggests that factors other than those pertaining to the merits of the case were at play."

Capt. Allred also referred explicitly to Morris Davis' statement that Brig. Gen. Hartmann had put pressure on him to use evidence obtained through torture. Noting, as the Times put it, that "prosecutors have an ethical obligation to present only evidence they consider reliable," Allred wrote that directing the use of "evidence that the chief prosecutor considered tainted and unreliable, or perhaps obtained as a result of torture or coercion, was clearly an effort to influence the professional judgment of the chief prosecutor."

9/11 charges confirmed, but Mohammed al-Qahtani dropped

While the administration tried to make light of Capt. Allred's ruling, arguing that it applied only to Hamdan's case, and that Brig. Gen. Hartmann's position was secure, it was difficult not to whiff a stench of desperation in the Pentagon's announcement, just three days later, that a date had been set for the first pre-trial hearing of another group of prisoners -- the alleged 9/11 conspirators, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who confessed in his tribunal last year that he was "responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z" -- against whom charges had been announced in February.

Although it's almost certain that this decision -- though perhaps rushed forward -- had already been making its tortuous way through the necessary bureaucratic processes, its propaganda value was immediately undermined when it became apparent that, of the six men initially charged, one -- Mohammed al-Qahtani -- was missing from the final charge sheet.

As Time explained, the charges against al-Qahtani were dropped by Susan Crawford "without formal explanation," and Brig. Gen. Hartmann's offering -- that the dismissal provided evidence of the "strength of the system and the careful, deliberative and fair legal process in place at GuantÃ¡namo" -- was hardly sufficient to paper over the cracks. Although the charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning that they could be reinstated in the future, nobody expects that this will happen.

The problem, as immediately became apparent, is that al-Qahtani, unlike the other five men, who were held for many years in secret prisons run by the CIA, was subjected to torture in GuantÃ¡namo, under a program devised specifically for him and approved by Donald Rumsfeld in late 2002. The details of his ordeal are well known, as Time published his leaked interrogation log in 2006, and even a military investigation in 2005, which stopped short of describing his treatment as torture, concluded that he had been subjected to abuse.

In the world of the Military Commissions, al-Qahtani's case was damaging for two specific reasons: firstly, because, although the other five men were tortured in CIA custody -- and the CIA has publicly acknowledged that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was subjected to the torture technique known as waterboarding (a horrendous form of controlled drowning) -- he and the others have been reinterrogated by "clean teams" of FBI agents, who have solicited confessions without resorting to torture, whereas al-Qahtani, according to his lawyers, has not.

Leaving aside for a moment the implausibility of somehow "purifying" confessions obtained through torture by using "clean teams" -- and what it reveals, unintentionally, about the "dirty teams" whose activities are purportedly being airbrushed from history -- the second reason for dropping charges against al-Qahtani only reinforces the legal netherworld in which the Commissions operate. According to their rules, the records of al-Qahtani's interrogations, which took place in GuantÃ¡namo, could be produced as evidence of torture, whereas those of the "high-value detainees," interrogated by CIA teams in secret overseas prisons, can be overlooked, because, as Time put it, "Military courts overseeing GuantÃ¡namo have indicated they cannot compel evidence from US intelligence agencies."

In reality, of course, it's inconceivable that the trials of tortured prisoners -- even those who apparently masterminded the 9/11 attacks -- can actually proceed without torture being mentioned, but for now, at least, the administration is clinging to its "clean team" alibi, and hoping to minimize the fallout from Capt. Allred's latest ruling.

As for al-Qahtani, described by his lawyer, Gita Gutierrez, as a "broken man, broken by torture," his only way out now is for the Saudi government to negotiate his repatriation. Gutierrez told Time that she was "extremely concerned about his ability to survive mentally and physically for much longer in GuantÃ¡namo," and stated, unequivocally, that the dismissal of charges "clearly indicates the government's awareness that any and all statements obtained from Mohammed [al-]Qahtani were extracted by torture or the threat of torture." Replace his name with that of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any of the other four men charged -- Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Mustafa al-Hawsawi, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Walid bin Attash -- and you see the problem that faces the administration as it prepares for the United States' most significant trial since 9/11.

Andy is the author of The GuantÃ¡namo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America's Illegal Prison.

Ted Kennedy Hospitalized

2008-05-17T16:38:34Z

BOSTON — A spokeswoman for Sen. Edward Kennedy says he is conscious and talking to family after he suffered a seizure in his Cape Cod home and was flown to a Boston hospital.

The 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat fell ill at his home Saturday morning and was rushed to a local hospital. He later was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital to determine the cause of the seizure.

Spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said he is "conscious, talking, joking with family."

His wife, children and niece Caroline Kennedy are among those with him at the hospital.

The second longest serving member of the Senate had surgery in October to repair a nearly complete blockage in a major neck artery. The surgery is done to prevent stroke.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BOSTON (AP) _ Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was airlifted to a hospital Saturday after suffering a seizure at his home, and did not appear to have had a stroke as initially suspected, his spokeswoman said.

The 76-year-old Democrat, the lone surviving son in a famed political family, was undergoing tests at Massachusetts General Hospital to determine the cause of the seizure, spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said.

"Senator Kennedy is resting comfortably, and it is unlikely we will know anything more for the next 48 hours," she said. Kennedy's wife, Victoria, two of his children and Caroline Kennedy were among those with him at the hospital.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, speaking at the Nevada Democratic Convention in Reno, said he spoke to Kennedy's wife Saturday afternoon and was told "his condition is not life-threatening, but serious."

"But the one thing I can say, if there ever was a fighter, anyone who stood for what we as Americans, we as Democrats, stand for, it's Ted Kennedy," Reid said.

Kennedy went to Cape Cod Hospital on Saturday morning "after feeling ill at his home," Cutter said. After discussion with his doctors in Boston, Kennedy was taken to Massachusetts General.

An official who declined to be identified by name, citing the sensitivity of the events, had earlier said that Kennedy had stroke-like symptoms. The hospital declined to comment on his condition.

In October, Kennedy had surgery to repair a nearly complete blockage in a major neck artery. The discovery was made during a routine examination of a decades-old back injury.

The hourlong procedure on his left carotid artery _ a main supplier of blood to the face and brain _ was performed at Massachusetts General. This type of operation is performed on more than 180,000 people a year to prevent a stroke.

The doctor who operated on Kennedy said at the time that surgery is reserved for those with more than 70 percent blockage, and Kennedy had "a very high-grade blockage."

Distinguishing between a seizure and TIA, often called a mini-stroke, can sometimes be difficult.

Seizures are little electrical storms in the brain. They tend to be brief; an occasional one can happen to anyone even without a prior history of seizures, especially if there has been some prior brain trauma.

A stroke is either ischemic _ a clog in a blood vessel _ or hemorrhagic, bleeding in the brain. Hemorrhagic ones are very rare. Kennedy had the carotid artery surgery to try to prevent the ischemic type. A stroke kills brain tissue; how much depends on how big it is and how long it lasts. Some people show no lasting effects; others can be partly paralyzed on one side or somewhere in-between.

Kennedy, the second-longest serving member of the Senate, was elected in 1962, filling out the term won by his brother, John F. Kennedy. He is the lone surviving son in the famed family. His eldest brother, Joseph, was killed in a World War II airplane crash. President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and his brother Robert was assassinated in 1968.

Kennedy is active for his age, maintaining an aggressive schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts.

He has been vocal in both his opposition to the Iraq war and support for Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. He made several campaign appearances for the Illinois senator in February, and most recently another in April.

Always concerned about maintaining his health, Kennedy regularly consults with a battery of Massachusetts General doctors. Still, he maintains homes in both Boston and Washington and attends not only official events, but numerous others recognizing his family's political history.

Just last week, he and his niece Caroline Kennedy awarded the annual "Profiles in Courage" award commemorating President Kennedy. And on Friday, he attended a ribbon cutting at the Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.

He was preparing to host the annual Best Buddies Challenge event on Saturday afternoon, a fundraiser for the Best Buddies organization founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver that helps people with intellectual disabilities. The event attracted celebrities, including New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Olympian Carl Lewis.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, Kennedy's niece, said they appreciated all the messages of care they had received for the senator.

"It's always a comfort to the family to know that Sen. Kennedy is in the prayers of millions," their statement said.

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who went to the hospital, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Obama said were offering their prayers for his quick recovery.

Obama, beginning a tour of hospitals in Eugene, Ore., told reporters that he had been in touch with the senator's family. He said, "We are going to be rooting for him. I insist on being optimistic about how it's going to turn out."

A man walking by Massachusetts General was startled by the news when he asked about the reason for the large media presence. "Ted? Is he all right? Jeez, I'm taken aback. I just saw him on television yesterday," said Jerry Leonard, 76.

"He's a Kennedy. His name is synonymous with this area," the retired bartender said. "I'm a Bostonian, too, and he's done a lot for us around here and for the senior citizens in particular."

___

Associated Press reporters Lauran Neegaard in Washington, Matt Pitta in Hyannisport, Mass., and David Espo in Boston contributed to this report.