Thursday, May 8, 2003

Oxymoron=Military Intelligence QUOTE OF THE DAY "I fired MacArthur because he wouldn't respect the authority of the President. I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail." - - Harry S. Truman (33rd US President of the U.S.A.) MAY 8th IN HISTORY: 1933 - - In India, Gandhi begins a 31-day fast in jail. 1962 - - In Belgium, an estimated 9 million people participate in a ten-minute work stoppage to protest nuclear weapons. RHINO HERE: Today's BOTTOM LINE is "A Troubling Speech" by U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd. I recently mentioned Gary Hart as having possibly the first political candidate blog. Seems Howard Dean & crew have one as well, reporting daily on issues & events. Here's an interesting entry: Posted by Kate O'Connor at 5/7/2003 08:14:31 PM DEAN JOINS KERRY, URGES BUSH TO PRESSURE SYRIA AND LEBANON Governor Howard Dean today joined Senator John Kerry in calling upon President Bush to pressure Syria and Lebanon amidst allegations of money laundering in those two nations. "President Bush must address the concerns about possible money laundering by Syria immediately," said Governor Dean. "Given the long history of terrorist organizations operating in Syria, we cannot afford to take chances when $1 billion may be working its way into the coffers of terrorist organizations." In response to suspicions that Saddam Hussein's son, Qusai, took $1 billion from a Baghdad bank as the war began and transported it to Syria, Senator Kerry asked President Bush to label Syria and Lebanon "money-laundering concerns" under the USA Patriot Act. He also urged the Administration to request that financial institutions monitor transactions involving the two countries. Governor Dean supports taking this action as a defense against terrorism under the applicable provision of the USA Patriot Act as it now stands. Governor Dean suggested, however, that the Patriot Act should be substantially revised because it includes attacks on our rights of privacy and our civil rights. "While I advocate strong measures against countries that launder money that could be used for terrorism, I recommend that Congress re-examine the Patriot Act and strip out those provisions that undermine our civil liberties-- such as the ability to hold American citizens without the right to counsel and to allow the government to rummage through the library and video rental records of citizens without first obtaining search warrants." HOWARD DEAN'S BLOG SITE: http://deancalltoaction.blogspot.com/ DEAN FOR AMERICA CAMPAIGN SITE: http://www.deanforamerica.com Meanwhile Congressman Dennis Kucinich , apparently not one to beat around the bush, was quoted as saying, "...get the insurance industry out of health care." Rhino recalls a pin he wore as a paramedic thru the 70's; "Health Care For People, Not For Profit." Go Dennis. Kucinich proposes health plan By THOMAS BEAUMONT, Des Moines Register, 5/06/03 Davenport, Ia. - Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said Monday he would propose raising taxes on employers to pay for a government-run universal health insurance program. "It's time to get the insurance industry out of health care," said Kucinich, a U.S. House member from Ohio. "I think the people of this country are going to be overjoyed to learn that there's one candidate who understands that if you don't get the private sector out of health care, that Americans will never have their needs met." Kucinich is the only candidate in the field for the 2004 presidential nomination who has proposed raising taxes. He is the second of the nine candidates to offer a plan to cover the nation's uninsured. Kucinich made his remarks on a campaign swing in eastern Iowa... READ IT ALL AT: http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4789004/21183072.html This week in The New Yorker, Seymour M. Hersh reveals, in depth, a new entity within what they call the "Intelligence Community" called "The Pentagon's Office of Special Plans". A small circle of analysts & advisers who have, it seems, overpowered the C.I.A. as the President's primary source of intelligence on Iraq. Before the excerpt & link to Hersh's fly-on-the-Pentagon's wall story, is a sample & link to a Q&A with Hersh about his investigation. For those who want to know all... Q & A with Sy Hersh War and Intelligence The New Yorker, 5/6/03 AMY TÜBKE-DAVIDSON: This week in the magazine, you look at how the case for going to war with Iraq was made. What did you find out? SEYMOUR M. HERSH: Well, the biggest thing I found out is that what we think of as the intelligence community may not be a community at all. For example, I was just listening to Secretary of State Colin Powell describe how he had briefings from the intelligence community on weapons of mass destruction. It turns out that the intelligence community is really very much dominated by a small group of people in the Pentagon. Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, has more or less muscled his way into day-to-day intelligence operations.... The Q&A IS POSTED AT: http://www.newyorker.com/online/content/?030512on_onlineonly01 Selective Intelligence Donald Rumsfeld Has His Own Special Sources. Are They Reliable? by Seymour M. Hersh, the New Yorker, 5/6/03 They call themselves, self-mockingly, the Cabal-a small cluster of policy advisers and analysts now based in the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans. In the past year, according to former and present Bush Administration officials, their operation, which was conceived by Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, has brought about a crucial change of direction in the American intelligence community. These advisers and analysts, who began their work in the days after September 11, 2001, have produced a skein of intelligence reviews that have helped to shape public opinion and American policy toward Iraq. They relied on data gathered by other intelligence agencies and also on information provided by the Iraqi National Congress, or I.N.C., the exile group headed by Ahmad Chalabi. By last fall, the operation rivaled both the C.I.A. and the Pentagon's own Defense Intelligence Agency, the D.I.A., as President Bush's main source of intelligence regarding Iraq's possible possession of weapons of mass destruction and connection with Al Qaeda.... ARTICLE POSTED AT : http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030512fa_fact RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE today was published Tuesday, May 6, 2003 by CommonDreams.org. 8:37:29 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - A Troubling Speech 'A Troubling Speech' Remarks by U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd US Senate Chamber, May 6, 2003 In my 50 years as a member of Congress, I have had the privilege to witness the defining rhetorical moments of a number of American presidents. I have listened spellbound to the soaring oratory of John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. I have listened grimly to the painful soul-searching of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Presidential speeches are an important marker of any President's legacy. These are the tangible moments that history seizes upon and records for posterity. For this reason, I was deeply troubled by both the content and the context of President Bush's remarks to the American people last week marking the end of the combat phase of the war in Iraq. As I watched the President's fighter jet swoop down onto the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, I could not help but contrast the reported simple dignity of President Lincoln at Gettysburg with the flamboyant showmanship of President Bush aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.... SENATOR BYRD'S SPEECH IS POSTED AT: http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0506-01.htm "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. 7:29:12 AM    comment

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