Frank Rich: War suicides give us 'window' into culture of corruption New York Times columnist Frank Rich called in to MSNBC's Morning Joe program to discuss how the recent suicide of US Air Force official Charles Riechers -- just two weeks after a Washington Post piece exposed his acceptance of a phantom job with a defense contractor -- is part of "long hangover of shame" that will continue as an intangible cost of the war in Iraq.
Rich's Sunday column in the Times described Riechers' suicide as a "window into the culture" of corruption scandals within the Iraq war.
"You know, it's sad, it's tragic because as I wrote about it in the piece, there have now been several suicides of, you know, people in the military who I think earnestly and patriotically want to serve their country, but got caught up in all this money," Rich told host Joe Scarborough. "I mean, we know that for instance, there was $9 billion, almost all of it in American cash... that was given to the provisional occupation authority under [Director L. Paul] Bremer that just disappeared. Like something out of a gangster movie."
Rich went on to say that those who had focused exclusively on connections between Vice President Dick Cheney and the Halliburton company, which Cheney previously ran, had "neglected to realize there are many, many more contractors there and everyone sort of, a lot of people are sort of stealing everything that's not nailed down."
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Frank_Rich_speaks_on_long_hangover_1022.html
the op-ed: Suicide Is Not Painless
IT was one of those stories lost in the newspapers inside pages. Last week a man youve never heard of Charles D. Riechers, 47, the second-highest-ranking procurement officer in the United States Air Force killed himself by running his cars engine in his suburban Virginia garage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/opinion/21rich.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Congressman: Blackwater evaded federal income taxes The congressman leading an investigation into Blackwater said Monday that the embattled security company may have evaded tens of millions of dollars in federal taxes and was seeking to hide its tax practices.
Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, said that Blackwater has avoided paying Social Security, Medicare and unemployment taxes by treating its armed guards as independent contractors and not employees.
The other two large private security companies in Iraq, DynCorp and Triple Canopy, classify their guards as employees and pay the federal taxes that Blackwater has not, Waxman said.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/20754.html
Published on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 by The Monterey County Herald (California)
Kucinich Pushes Bush Impeachment
by Julia Reynolds
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, weary from a dozen campaign stops in a week, sat in a small room at the Monterey fairgrounds on Sunday, but he had a look in his eyes that said he knew he wouldn’t sit for long.
Still, his expression seemed to lighten as he recalled his comedic success last week as a guest on The Colbert Report, the farcical news show on “Comedy Central.”
“The secret of it,” he said, pausing for effect, “Don’t try to be funny.”
Only then did he let out a laugh.
The presidential hopeful was energized by a straw poll taken Sunday in San Mateo County, where he came in second after John Edwards as the favored Democratic candidate.
“That shows that I am electable,” he said. “That was very powerful, a sign of rising support because of the stand I take for peace - including standing up against war with Iran.”
He seized the moment to come out with perhaps his strongest stance to date toward impeaching President George W. Bush.
“I’m going to talk to members of Congress this week and tell them taking impeachment off the table is a big mistake,” he said.
Kucinich was moved to take action, he said, in part because of Bush’s recent suggestion to reporters that a world war with Iran might be imminent, leading Kucinich to wonder “whether he’s playing with Armageddon or he’s not well.”
“The world can’t countenance the president of the United States raising the specter of World War III,” he said. “A president must be temperate with his words.”
Kucinich was in town to introduce the political rock-reggae-hip hop of Michael Franti and Spearhead on Sunday night at the Monterey Music Summit.
“I’m here to be with my friend Michael Franti. He’s one of the most exciting performers,” he said. “He’s thoughtful, he’s deep and he’s a humanitarian.”
Kucinich, who announced his plans to run once more for president last December, has said he favors immediate U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, opting for a multi-national stabilization force to maintain order.
He was also in California pushing for single-payer health-care coverage.
“All other candidates want to keep our for-profit health care system,” he said, while he is pushing his congressional bill HR 676, which would expand the Medicare program to cover all virtually Americans.
“These are very powerful issues for Californians,” he said.
Kucinich said he was surprised by the popularity he’s gained after his debut on “Comedy Central.”
Hollywood actors have telephoned, he said, and videos of his performance are circulating all over the Internet.
“When people saw Colbert, they really responded,” he said, “They like to think their president has a sense of perspective.”
He said the appearance came off pretty well, considering that members of Congress have been warned not to appear on the show, where they’re likely to face skewering by host Stephen Colbert’s acid tongue.
Kucinich said it was his chaotic life that gave him a sense of humor.
“I moved around a lot, been through political ups and downs,” he said. “I don’t take myself seriously, but I take the issues very seriously.”
Other candidates, he said, could stand to lighten up a little. Well, he didn’t exactly say it that way.
“I hear one of the candidates announced they’re going to be funny,” he said in the deadpan style that seemed to win him fans on “Comedy Central.”
On that show, Kucinich pulled off a now near-famous routine about what he carries in his pockets, because he had previously showed off his pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution on national television.
Most of the shtick was built around the fact that he reportedly also carries tea bags in his pockets.
“I usually do have a tea bag,” he said, fishing through wads of business cards and few crumpled dollar bills before finally producing a bag of green tea. It was “Choice Organic Tea,” according to the label.
He had already flashed his copy of the Constitution at the fairgrounds, and had pointed to the autograph of elder statesman Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., on the first page.
“Don’t leave home without it,” he said, sliding it into a breast pocket.
Despite tireless campaigning that now includes his wife, Elizabeth, and her mother, Julia Massey, who came out from the London area to traipse 10 days through the U.S. Southwest, in polls Kucinich has trailed well behind candidates whose campaign chests are packed much fuller.
Though he also trailed in the 2004 primaries, his numbers in online polls kept showing promise and he continued to campaign right up to the Democratic National Convention, saying he still wanted to influence the party’s agenda.
In fact, he was the very last candidate to call it quits before John Kerry got the nomination. Which may say a thing or two about his tenacity, if nothing else.
He gave every indication he’ll show similar determination in Campaign 2008.
“I’m in this absolutely,” he said. “This tide keeps building. It’s not about me. What I stand for resonates in peoples hearts.”
With that, he braced for another interview before heading off to take the stage.
Julia Reynolds can be reached at 648-1187 or jreynolds@montereyherald.com.
Published on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
The Imperial Presidency
by Ralph Nader
Mired in the disastrous Iraq quagmire, opposed by a majority of Americans, George W. Bush has reached new depths of reckless, belligerent bellowing. At a recent news conference, he volunteered that he told our allies that if they’re “interested in avoiding World War III,” Iran must be prevented from both developing a nuclear weapon or having “the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.”
To what level of political insanity has this Washington Caesar descended? Only two countries can start World War III-Russia and the United States. Is Bush saying that if Russia, presently opposed to military action against Iran, persists with its position, Bush may risk World War III? If not, why is this law-breaking warmonger, looking for another war for American GIs to fight, while his military-age daughters bask in the celebrity lime light?
Why is he using such catastrophic language?
Surely he does not think Iran could start World War III. His own intelligence agencies say that, even assuming that the international inspectors are wrong and Iran is moving toward developing the “knowledge” of such weapons, it can’t build its first such weapon before 3 to 5 years at the earliest.
Why would a regime ruling an impoverished country risk suicide, surrounded as it is by countries armed to the nuclear teeth, such as Israel and the United States? This nation of nearly 80 million people hardly needs to be reminded that the U.S. overthrew its popular premier in 1953, installing for the next 27 years the brutal regime of the Shah.
They recall that President Reagan and his Vice President, George Herbert Walker Bush urged, funded and equipped Saddam Hussein in his invasion of Iran-a nation that has not invaded any country in over 250 years-which took around 700,000 Iranian lives.
Moreover, the undeniable historical record shows that U.S. companies received licenses from the Department of Commerce, under Reagan, to ship Saddam the raw materials necessary to make chemical and biological weapons. Saddam used such lethal chemical weapons, with the tolerance of Reagan and Rumsfeld, on Iranians to devastating effect in terms of lives lost.
Then George W. Bush labels Iran a member of the “axis of evil” along with Iraq, ignoring a serious proposal by Iran in 2003 for negotiations, and shows what his language means by invading Iraq.
The authoritarian Iranian government is frightened enough to hurl some defiant rhetoric back at Washington and widen its perimeter defense. Seymour Hersh, the topflight investigative reporter for the New Yorker magazine has written numerous articles on how the crowding of Iran, including infiltrating its interior, has become an obsession of the messianic militarist in the White House.
The Pentagon is more cautious, worrying about our already drained Army and the absence of any military strategy and readiness for many consequences that would follow Bush’s “bombs away” mentality.
Then there is the matter of the Democrats in Congress. After their costly fumble on Iraq, the opposition Party should make it very constitutionally clear, as recommended by former New York Governor, Mario Cuomo in a recent op-ed, that there can be no funded attacks on any country without a Congressional declaration of war, as explicitly required by the framers of our Constitution.
But the Democrats are too busy surrendering to other Bush demands, whether unconstitutional, above the law or just plain marinated in corporate greed. Some of this obeisance was all too clear in the Democrats questioning of Bush’s nominee for Attorney General, Michael B. Mukasey.
After the two days of hearings, no Democrat has yet announced a vote against Mukasey, even after he evaded questions on torture and argued for the inherent power of the President to act contrary to the laws of the land if he unilaterally believes he has the inherent constitutional authority to do so.
This position aligns Mukasey with the imperial views of Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft and Gonzales on the “unitary Executive.” In short, reminiscent of the divine right of Kings, the forthcoming Attorney General believes Bush can say that ‘he is the law’ regardless of Congress and the judiciary.
After two recent lead editorials demonstrating its specific exasperation over the Democrats’ kowtowing to the White House, the New York Times added a third on October 20, 2007 titled “With Democrats Like These…” The editorial recounted the ways Democrats, especially in the Senate, have caved on critical constitutional and statutory safeguards regarding the Bush-Cheney policies and practices of spying on Americans without judicial approval and accountability.
Accusing the Democrats of “the politics of fear,” the Times concluded: “It was bad enough having a one-party government when the Republicans controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. But the Democrats took over, and still the one-party system continues.”
There is more grist coming for the Times’ editorial mill. Last week, the first African-American chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, Charles Rangel (D-NY), declared that Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, Jr., fresh from Wall Street, had persuaded him, during a decade of increasing record profits, to lower the porous corporate income tax rate from 35% to 25%.
“We can live with that,” Chairman Rangel declared.
Would the working families in his District, who would be paying a higher tax rate on their modest income, agree?
Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author. His most recent book is The Seventeen Traditions. These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.