No more Moore!

June 17, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Politics

While the White House and the Republican National Committee have taken an official "no comment" approach to Michael Moore and his new anti-Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, some conservatives have mobilized a letter-writing campaign and crafted ads that slam the film and its maker.
Fahrenheit 9/11, which won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, attacks President Bush's rationale for the war in Iraq and accuses him and his administration of manipulating the Sept. 11 terror attacks and fostering fear for political gain.
It is set for release on June 25, debuting on at least 500 screens, with plans to expand to hundreds more in the coming weeks.
One of the organizations rallying against Moore is Move America Forward, a pro-Bush group that evolved months ago from the letter-writing campaign that led CBS to drop its controversial TV movie The Reagans.

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Former diplomats call for Bush ouster

June 17, 2004 D. H. McKee
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The Bush administration's foreign policy in Iraq and elsewhere has been a "disaster," and President Bush should not be re-elected, a group of former diplomats and military leaders say in a newly released statement.
The group, called Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, held a news conference Wednesday to explain why its members feel "the need for a major change in the direction of our foreign policy," and underscore that they believe their concerns are bipartisan.
A statement from the group notes its more than two dozen members include Democrats and Republicans who have "served every president since Harry S. Truman."

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U.S. hiding prisoner from Red Cross

June 17, 2004 D. H. McKee
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The U.S. military has been improperly holding a suspected Iraqi terrorist in a prison near Baghdad for more than seven months without informing the Red Cross, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
Defense officials confirmed that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered military officials to hold the suspected member of the Ansar al-Islam guerrilla group last November at the request of then-CIA Director George Tenet without telling the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told Reuters the United States was now moving to end the shadowy status of the man, who was not identified, and allow access to him by the ICRC.
Both assigning a prisoner number and notifying the Red Cross are required under the Geneva Conventions and other international humanitarian laws.

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9/11 Panel Casts Doubt on Iraq-al-Qaida Link

June 16, 2004 D. H. McKee
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(... at least Voice of America found this newsworthy)
Independent investigators said Wednesday they have found no evidence that Saddam Hussein cooperated with al-Qaida terrorists to target the United States. The conclusion came in a report released by the independent commission probing the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
The bipartisan, independent commission investigating the 9/11 attacks said Osama bin Laden met with an Iraqi intelligence official in Sudan in 1994.
But the commission report released Wednesday cast fresh doubt on the alleged links between al-Qaida and Iraq prior to the 2001 terrorist attacks.

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No al Qaeda, Iraq cooperation

June 16, 2004 D. H. McKee
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(... although CNN has listed this only as a sub topic of the original article. I suppose it wasn't very important to hear that Cheney is fibbing)
The panel said it found "no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."
The report contradicts statements from the Bush administration that Saddam Hussein had ties to al Qaeda.
In response, a senior administration official traveling with President Bush in Tampa, Florida, said, "We stand by what Powell and Tenet have said," referring to previous statements by Secretary of State Colin Powell and CIA Director George Tenet that described such links.
Bush and Vice President Cheney have made comments in recent days alleging such ties.

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Cheney claims ties between Saddam, al Qaeda

June 15, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that Saddam Hussein had "long-established ties" with al Qaeda, an assertion that has been repeatedly challenged by some policy experts and lawmakers.
The vice president offered no details backing up his claim of a link between Saddam and al Qaida.
...
The State Department said last week it was wrong in stating that terrorism declined worldwide last year in a report that the Bush administration initially cited as evidence it was succeeding against terrorism, Graham noted. Both the number of incidents and the toll in victims increased sharply, the department acknowledged.

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Cigars cost man 3 years in prison

June 9, 2004 D. H. McKee
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A lawyer was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in federal prison for smuggling thousands of fine Cuban cigars...

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Iraq Wants Foreign Troops

June 9, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Iraq will need foreign troops to fight insurgents even after a U.S.-led occupation formally ends in the three weeks required by a U.N. resolution adopted unanimously overnight, Iraq's interim prime minister says.
"The sovereignty is going to be total, is going to be complete," Iyad Allawi told Fox News in an interview to be aired on Wednesday. "We ask in fact and we want the...multinational forces to help us to face the security threats until such a time that we are able to build our own security and move ahead."
The United States and Britain, whose invasion toppled Saddam Hussein 14 months ago, hailed the passage of the resolution that endorses a "sovereign interim government" in Iraq and mandates a U.S.-led multinational force to keep the peace.
Compromises offered by Washington and London, at French and German insistence, over how much control Iraqis will have over U.S.-led forces helped overcome council divisions, but few expect the resolution to calm daily violence in Iraq soon.

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US split would damage morale

May 20, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Prime Minister Tony Blair has told Cabinet colleagues that any open disagreement with the US over Iraq risked damaging troops' morale.
The point was also underlined by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, said Mr Blair's official spokesman.
He said their comments came during a brief Cabinet discussion about progress towards the handover of sovereignty in Iraq on June 30.
Mr Blair's remarks came after Tory leader Michael Howard urged him to be more open about any disagreements with America.

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Pentagon finds more prison abuse photos

May 20, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Politics

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Another disc with 24 photographs depicting "apparent abusive acts by U.S. forces" has surfaced in the investigation of mistreatment of Iraqi detainees at a U.S.-run prison near Baghdad, the Pentagon says.
Thirteen of the photographs appeared to be images already seen in the international media, but 11 have not been identified in previous investigations, according to a Pentagon letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"They may not be original or true photographs," Powell Moore, assistant defence secretary for legislative affairs, wrote to the committee.
He said they were given to the Criminal Investigation Command in Baghdad "under circumstances that warranted investigation, including forensic computer evaluation."
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