Entries by emptywheel

No Shiite Sherlock

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Kudos to Spencer Ackerman for FOIAing the rationale behind General Petraeus’ Magic September numbers out of the military. Generally, Ackerman explains that the numbers for sectarian violence don’t count attacks on same sect people or on the Iraqi government.

Interestingly, attacks against “same-sect civilians,” U.S. forces, theIraqi government or Iraqi security forces “are excluded and not definedas sectarian attacks.” So even though Sunni insurgent groups loathe theShiite-controlled government, insurgent attacks on it

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The Israeli Bombing Run in Syria

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Glenn Kessler and Robin Wright have the most comprehensive story, to date, on the mysterious bombing run Israel did in Syria on September 6. They confirm the story that had been floating around–that Israel’s target was a suspected nuclear site, supplied by North Korea. The story is interesting mostly for the exchange of intelligence it portrays.

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They Really DO Want Monica to Do FISA Applications!

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I joked earlier that the Administration had requested FISA be expanded so that Monica Goodling could make FISA certifications.

I’ll come back to his summary of the extra goodies the Administrationis requesting (the short version: they want to make it impossible forany case relating to wiretapping to go through normal courts, and theywant to expand the universe of people who can make FISA certificationsto include Monica Goodling non-Senate approved people the President

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Two More Details on the Rather Complaint

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Hey! Howie Kurtz has decided to do some reporting!!

He has two pieces on the Dan Rather lawsuit today. In a piece based on an interview of Rather, he notes that Moonves and Heyward demanded Rather resign the day after Bush was re-[s]elected.

Rather insisted to reporters on Nov. 23, 2004, that his decision tostep down as anchor the following spring was entirely voluntary.

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“Whenever It Is Convenient for You”

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Anonymous Liberal found the Wainstein testimony I said I was going to go look for. I’ll come back to his summary of the extra goodies the Administration is requesting (the short version: they want to make it impossible for any case relating to wiretapping to go through normal courts, and they want to expand the universe of people who can make FISA certifications to include Monica Goodling non-Senate approved people the

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And Now the Saudis

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Argentine meltdown, here we come. The Saudis are showing signs of disinterest in going down the economic tubes with their friend George.

Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the USFederal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulfkingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move thatrisks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East.”This is a very

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The Lobbyist-In-Chief Invites His Friends Over

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I criticize Mikey Isikoff a lot, but I’m very grateful for this story, via Laura Rozen. Isikoff and Hoseball reveal that the telecom industry is launching a full court press to get Congress to give telecoms immunity for having broken the law in helping Bush spy on Americans.

The nation’s biggest telecommunications companies, working closely withthe White House, have mounted a secretive lobbying campaign to getCongress to quickly approve a measure wiping

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$1.40

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Atrios points out that the Euro has just pushed past $1.40.

Let’s see. In the last two days, the Fed has cut interest rates by half a point, making what is probably a futile attempt to staunch the subprime crisis. And yesterday, Henry Paulson asked Congress to raise the debt limit before we once again hit our debt limit on October 1–which will make the fifth time Bush has had to

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The 1% Leadership Solution

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scout prime catches Michael Chertoff looking like the self-important incompetent he is. She finds that:Michael Chertoff has a blog. Yes, that’s right folks. And his blog is called How to Kill a City. No wait. I’m sorry. It’s called Leadership Journal.Faced with yet another intractable crisis, the Bush Administration is doing what it always does.

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CBS Collaborates in Torture

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The most interesting thing about the Dan Rather complaint, IMO, is the description it gave of CBS and Administration attempts to spike the Abu Ghraib story.

In late April 2004, Mr. Rather, as Correspondant, and Mary Mapes, a veteran producer, broke a news story of national importance on 60 Minutes II–the abuse by American military personnel of Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison.

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