Blogswarm - Online Political News Magazine

Iran heading towards conflict

The risk of a confrontation between Iran and the international community is set to escalate as it becomes likely that the Islamic Republic will soon possess its own nuclear weapon. JID's nuclear expert reviews the evidence and warns of a hardening attitude in Washington.

Back in September 2004, the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) reported that Iran was intending to convert 37 tonnes of milled uranium oxide ('yellowcake') into uranium hexafluoride, the 'feed' material for centrifuges that gets made into highly enriched uranium (HEU). This is viewed to be too small a quantity for a civilian programme but would provide enough material for around five nuclear weapons.

In undertaking the yellowcake conversion, Iran is going further in breaching the arrangement it made with the EU in October 2003 when it announced that it would suspend enrichment activities, shortly after which it decided to resume assembling centrifuges. Amid calls by the US to refer Iran to the UN Security Council, the EU member states have opted to allow Iran a final opportunity to come to a negotiated solution before supporting Washington's demands for tough sanctions.

The IAEA's resolution called on Iran to suspend all enrichment-related activities immediately and reconsider its decision to construct a heavy-water research reactor at Arak. Tehran has insisted that the Arak reactor would be used solely for research and the production of radioisotopes for medical and industrial purposes. Experts point out that such a reactor would also provide the means to produce plutonium without the need to enrich uranium.

In June 2004, Iran cut the IAEA seals on its existing centrifuge components and began assembling centrifuges from existing component stock. Other outstanding issues involve the origin of uranium contamination found at various locations; the completeness of Iran's declaration about the acquisition of advanced P2 gas centrifuges; establishing that undeclared enrichment has not taken place at other locations and confirming that no undeclared HEU has already been imported.

Sun Nov 14th, 2004 at 11:59:01 PST

[From the Diaries - MB]

This is not freaking believable.  When I first saw an article about purges in the intelligence community, I (naively) thought it was a purge of those responsible for intelligence failures.  My mistake.  The story which follows is not unique, only we are used to hearing about it after military coups in countries whose names many of us are not entirely sure how to pronounce.  But this is happening right here.

I am not one easily given to hyperbole, and I have avoided words like "junta" in the past, but does this sound like the behavior of a democratically elected leader of a free nation?

EDIT: (The direct source is here)

WASHINGTON -- The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.

"The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House," said a former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to both the agency and to the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president's agenda."

Purging the intelligence community of those disloyal to the president?  Purging liberal Democrats?

Scared yet?  You should be.

Bush likes to operate in secret.  Information is the enemy.  Write your senator.  Write your congressmen.  Write all your newspapers.  If Bush is intent on behaving this way, do not let him do it in the dark.

PLEASE PASS ON....the more e-mails we can send the better.

Randi Rhodes is calling for everyone to email F. James Sensenbrenner, the chairman of the house judiciary committee. He has the power to subpoena the black boxes that hold the votes in the counties in Florida that have all those suspicious votes for bush and all used optical scanners. These can be read and verified by a human being. Glenda Hood is the only other person that can do this, and she is never gonna do it.

Copy of a letter is below. She said we should be nice because we are asking for a favor. He is from Wisconsin and may be fairly reasonable and rational even though he is a Republican.

EMAIL HIM AND PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW.

sensenbrenner@mail.house.gov

Dear Chairman Sensenbrenner:
I am writing to request that as head of the judiciary committee you subpoena the black boxes that contain votes from the 47 Florida counties that have suspicious tallies.

One would be asked to believe that 100% of Republicans, 50% of Democrats, and 100% of Independents all voted for President Bush, despite exit polls to the contrary. To further arouse suspicion, all these counties used the same optical scanner system.

Perhaps if you would subpoena and examine the votes in some of these counties, you could put to rest the doubts and suspicions that many Americans harbor about the election. This would serve our country, our democracy, and help heal our great national divide.
Sincerely,  

----

i think it would be effective to also write, not to Glenda Hood, but about her.  letters to the editor of all the florida newspapers, calling on Glenda Hood to subpoena these records.  and there is no need to be nice in these letters.     :D  

it is probaly true that she would not be pressured by letters from concerned citizens.  but you bet your bippies she'd feel pressure from negative publicity - what possible rationale could there be to not support efforts at protecting our democratic process?  let's nail her!

thanks for that info!

DFA Week In Review

Monday morning began with a pointer to Thomas Tizon's article on problems with global warming in Alaska, followed by the Daily News Roundup and a posting by Tom McMahon. After the Governor's latest column, Maureen Dowd was featured on Rove's Revenge.

Tuesday morning, frequent discussion contributor Volneysimmons started out the day with her story. Equal Rights were reported to be alive and well in Massachusetts, but Bush is continuing his assault on the middle class. Following the Daily News Roundup, we asked if aggressive was the right word for Bush's foreign policy, and we ended the day with a report of closed doors in Warren County.

Wednesday morning began with a note from Shaunee Higgins on her experience Poll Watching in Vermont. After some disturbing numbers from Florida, Amy Vasquez sent in her thanks. The Daily News Roundup was followed by news of Ashcroft's resignation, and Dean Dozen candidate Christine Cegelis wrote in about her campaign.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat passed away in the early hours of the morning on Thursday. After the Daily News Roundup, we invited you to share your thoughs on what we can do better in the future. The Harper's Index had some interesting facts, and after some hopeful news from Salon's Lisa Chamberlain, Dean Dozen candidate Mary Jo Kilroy informed us of this weekend's public hearings in Franklin County, Ohio.

Friday, Democracy For San Francisco's Will Easton wrote in about their successes, and John Burns wrote in from Columbus, Ohio about his poll watching experiences. We ended out the week with a summary of DFA's own successes and the Daily News Roundup.

Changes:

Now that Alberto "The Geneva Convention is obsolete" Gonzales is slated to become the head of the Department of Justice, we can look forward to a new attitude - and a new seal:



Translation: The ends justify the means. (Other Latin expression pages are here and here.)

Grand Old Police Blotter: Lift Every Face Edition

Republican Linda Schrenko, who in 1994 became the first woman elected to a statewide office in Georgia (!) and advocated the teaching of creationism in Georgia's schools, has been indicted (registration required on most links) on allegations she helped herself to over $500,000 of the people's money.

Not just the people of Georgia's money. That wouldn't be right. In true Republican fashion, Schrenko is accused of redistributing money from the Blue States to her own personal account.

Former Georgia School Superintendent Linda Schrenko, whose groundbreaking political career dissolved into erratic behavior and defeat, was indicted Wednesday on federal charges that she stole more than $500,000 in taxpayer money and spent part of it on cosmetic surgery.

Schrenko, 54; her close friend and chief assistant Merle Temple, 56; and Alpharetta businessman A. Stephan Botes, 47, were named in an 18-count indictment that alleges they were involved in a scheme to steal federal education funds and secretly funnel about half the money to Schrenko's failed 2002 campaign for governor.

In addition, the indictment charges the Republican school superintendent used $9,300 of the money to pay for cosmetic surgery.

Schrenko allegedly filched the funds from programs for deaf students.

The federal funds purportedly were used to purchase computer services for two state schools for the deaf and the Governor's Honors Program, but officials say the services weren't delivered.

I guess we can leave some children behind for the sake of Republican politics and a more youthful appearance. Why waste money on the handicapped?

Fortunately, God is on Schrenko's side.

On Wednesday, Rusty Paul, former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, said he listened in disbelief to news reports of Schrenko's indictment.

...

"She had a lot of support from the Christian conservatives in the Republican Party, both in her gubernatorial run and in her tenure as school superintendent," he said.

I'm sure she did.

A former teacher and principal whose only prior campaign was a losing race for school superintendent of Columbia County, Schrenko was first elected to head the $6 billion state Education Department in 1994, running a down-home campaign and with a 100 percent approval rating by the Christian Coalition. Once in office, she put personal friends on the DOE payroll, including her pastor and his wife.

Schrenko was popular with the fundies because she advocated teaching the Bible and creationism in Georgia's public schools.

Linda Schrenko seems like quite the idiot.

by Jerome Armstrong

Or, I could label this, "How the DNC Chair is bought." And not only bought, but made secure in such a way that Iowa remains as the fist in the nation caucus in 2008. See, that's a big priority for someone with $50M left over in campaign funds; someone who mostly secured the Democratic nomination in Iowa; someone who wants a second chance at being President. Yep, that someone is John Kerry.

$45 million (minus whatever the DNC gets paid out), will be the lead that we gave John Kerry toward 2008. The money leftover from the campaign was to be used for a recount and transition. But given that Kerry lost by over 3 million votes, there's no real need to bother with that fight-- though I'm glad we are at least getting some questions.

I don't want to come off as a critic of his 2004 performance, but let's just all agree-- John Kerry underperformed. And in terms of understanding how to use the netroots, his campaign failed. Maybe we can blame our way out of the loss by castigating the fetus-lovers and gay-haters voting block for Bush, but don't deny this-- we got our collective asses kicked by a failed trifecta majority in 2004, and John Kerry was who we followed in that historical defeat. 2004 felt like 2000 and 1994 combined.

Anyway, when you see someone writeoff Kerry's chances for 2008, scoff at them. It's palatable among the Dems in DC. Kerry's already got Iowa's Gov Tom Vilsack ready and willing to be bolt his incumbancy to be placed at the chair of the DNC, with one mission in mind-- preserving the Iowa caucuses. Such vision!

I want a DNC chair who's first interest is rebuilding the Democratic Party throughout the nation.

In reading an article about a win against the un-American Patriot Act, a few paragraphs offered a chilling description of just how bad the PA is.  It is nothing less than an affront to our American values and our belief in liberty and justice for all.

"The provision we challenged [that the judge struck down]," says Jaffer, "allows the FBI to issue NSLs against 'wire or electronic service communication providers.' Telephone companies and Internet service providers [are included.]" As Judge Marrero noted, the FBI could also use an NSL "to discern the identity of someone whose anonymous web log, or 'blog,' is critical of the Government."

Jaffer adds that by requiring information from telephone companies and Internet providers, "The FBI could . . . effectively obtain a political organization's membership list, like the NAACP or the ACLU, [and could] obtain the names of people with whom a journalist has communicated over the Internet."

Furthermore - dig this - every National Security Letter comes with a gag order. The recipients are forbidden to tell any other person that the FBI has demanded this information, and can't even tell their lawyers that the long hand of the government is scooping up their data.

As Judge Marrero said in his decision, this omnivorous invasion of privacy is so broad that it mandates this gag rule "in every case, to every person, in perpetuity, with no vehicle for the ban to ever be lifted from the recipient."

Scary, huh?  You can't even tell your lawyer what is happening, so you are essentially completely powerless.  This is the kind of thing we fight against when it happens in other countries.  How in the hell is it happening in our own backyard?

This ruling will no doubt be appealed.  We need to keep a very public eye on this and take note of who is for and against this incredibly un-American piece of legislation.  We must make sure this attempt at undermining our civil liberties does not get swept under the rug.

The Gulfstream 5 and a Boeing 737 are both leased from Premier Executive Transport Services in Massachusetts.  They have been spotted at airports abroad, taking on hooded, drugged suspects who are bundled onto the planes by masked US agents.  

The movements of the Gulfstream 5 leased by agents from the United States defence department and the CIA are detailed in confidential logs obtained by The Sunday Times which cover more than 300 flights.

Countries with poor human rights records to which the Americans have delivered prisoners include Egypt, Syria and Uzbekistan, according to the files. The logs have prompted allegations from critics that the agency is using such regimes to carry out "torture by proxy" -- a charge denied by the American government.

The logs record flights originating in Washington and going to Afghanistan, Iraq and Indonesia to pick up suspects, then travelling to Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Uzbekistan and Guantanamo to drop off their human cargo.  Witnesses have also seen the Gulfstream take on prisoners in Sweden, Pakistan and Gambia.  The foreign state governments imprison and torture the suspects on our behalf to provide information to our intelligence services.

The most chilling paragraph is near the end of the article, describing the heirarchy of choices open to the CIA:

Bob Baer, a former CIA operative in the Middle East, said: "If you want a serious interrogation you send a prisoner to Jordan.  If you want them to be tortured you send them to Syria.  If you want someone to disappear . . . you send them to Egypt."

Among the countries where prisoners have been sent by America is Uzbekistan, a close ally and a dictatorship whose secret police are notorious for their interrogation methods, including the alleged boiling of prisoners.  The Gulfstream made at least seven trips to the Uzbek capital.

Rentogen points out that Seymour Hersh referred to this scandal when he spoke in Berkeley back in October. He said that:

My government has a secret unit that since December of 2001 has been disappearing people just like the Brazilians and the Argentineans did. Rumsfeld decided after 9/11 that he could not wait. The president signed a secret document...There's a team of people, they fly in unmarked planes, they fly in Gulfstreams, they have their own choppers, they don't carry American passports, and they just grab people. And maybe in the beginning I can understand there was some rationale. Right after 9/11 we were frightened, we didn't know what to do ...

Oh, but not to worry because Bushco says none of this is true:

The American government, however, denies it is in any way complicit in torture and says it is actively working to stamp out the practice.

The perception of the United States among civilised nations is becoming more and more like a banana republic rogue state.  Substantiation of US torture tactics and abuse of international laws and conventions will reinforce a prejudice against and distrust of the US government.  It is worth remembering that the 370 million people of Europe's 25 nations have banned the death penalty, torture, racial discrimination, religious persecution and abuse of human rights.   Many lived under Soviet or Nazi occupations and know the implications which follow from a government placing itself above the interests of its people and above laws ensuring protection of due process.  They take these principles very seriously indeed, and cannot understand how Americans can be blind to them, or even support their erosion.

Sun Nov 14th, 2004 at 11:49:40 PST

Since 11/2, there have been various stages of dealing with what happened.  Anger, denial, claims of fraud, etc., etc.  Blaming Kerry for "quitting."  More recently, talk has shifted to procedural issues like how to fix the voting system (didn't we DO this four years ago?  Apparently not.)

What has become clear to me, reading between the lines and ignoring a lot of shit (sorry) is that THIS ELECTION IS NOT OVER.  Floating around in various threads is the notion that several states are still counting votes (Ohio and New Mexico principally, but also Iowa and Nevada).

I made a comment here this morning about the 155,000 provisional ballots in Ohio, and the critical importance of the requested recount, so as to get to the 93,000 undervotes.

Folks, it's not over.  I don't think the Kerry folks think it's over either.  If I'm right, and if it comes out the way I think it might, it will be the greatest stealth campaign in the history of the world, quite frankly.

Let's pull it together.  Right now, it's 286-252 in favor of Bush.  Ohio has not even begun to count the provisional ballots.  There are 155,000 or so.  Ohio has a history of provisional ballots, based on state law.  In 2000, 90% of the ballots counted, and of those I understand that 90% were for Gore.  Applying that standard to the 155,000 would give Kerry 125,550 additional votes, and Bush 13,950.  That would narrow the margin from 132,000 (the 136,000 figure includes the now-infamous Gahanna 4,000 vote error in Franklin County) down to about 24,600.  Originally, this was why Kerry conceded; he just couldn't get it done on the provisional ballots alone.

Ahh, but now there's a new development.  A recount (or an "audit," as one diary called it).  Fine.  Whatever, call it what you want.  But Kerry couldn't ask for it, because he'd be called a sore loser, Al Gore with a Brahmin accent.  The lawyers are there, they're sniffing around, they're ready to deal with the shenanigans.  But (here's the great part) it's not Kerry's recount.  The media is treating the Cobb/Badnarik recount request as a joke, but it's not.  If the recount is held, the first thing elections officials have to do is dust off the 93,000 undervotes on punch cards (dear God, not again).  And yes, Ohio has a uniform state standard:  0 or 1 corners attached, vote counts.  2 or 3, no dice.  So the recount won't be shut down -- and Blackwell can't change the rules.  God, I love Bush v. Gore (never thought I'd write those words).

Again, look at the history.  Traditionally, 90% count, and the split is about 4-1 for Democrats -- undervotes are almost exclusively from poor and/or minority areas.  Take 93,000, 90% is 83,700.  80% of that is 66,960 for Kerry, with 16,740 for Bush.  That 24,600 vote Bush lead after the provisionals now goes to  . . . . fanfare, please . . . . ladies and gentlemen, I give you the 44th President of the United States, John Kerry, by a 25,660 vote margin in Ohio.

Now the margins could change, most likely on the undervotes.  Let's say Kerry only gets 70%, rather than 80, of the undervotes.  He still wins, this time by about 9,000 votes.

Obviously, it would help if we could turn around New Mexico, Iowa and/or Nevada as well, to create a cushion for legal challenges and to create more legitimacy to this process.

OHIO HAS NOT EVEN BEGUN THIS PROCESS OF COUNTING PROVISIONAL BALLOTS, OR THE RECOUNT THAT HAS BEEN REQUESTED BY COBB AND BADNARIK.

Since 11/2, Blackwell has been trying to make rule changes, like the one where he tried to say that if you left your birthday off the provisional ballot, it didn't count.  Sorry, Ken, there's a prior rule about that, and it says that the absence of the birthday is not enough to disqualify a provisional ballot.  Privately, I suspect they are absolutely freaking out, because Bush v. Gore limits their ability to pull post-election shenanigans like changing the rules.

I think that one of the reasons that Bush has been accepting a lot of Cabinet resignations now, rather than in January, is to create an inevitability in the minds of the public and the media that this is a done deal.  No one in the media is dealing with the analysis I set forth herein, which is not my own analysis, but simply a mathematical exercise gleaned from what little public information is out there.  The media went home on 11/3, and other than a few smirking
"conspiracy" stories since, has not really addressed the final counting of votes in Ohio or elsewhere.  Bush's lead in New Mexico has been cut from 14,000 to less than 6,000, and they're still counting.

Repeat after me:  it ain't over til they count the votes.  Which means it ain't over.  Will Kerry win?  No idea.  Can he win?  Yes.