Bush Says Democracy Spread Inevitable, Rebukes Russia

June 5 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush, calling the spread of democracy inevitable, rebuked the governments of Russia, Venezuela, Uzbekistan and other nations for lapses that he said threaten to unsettle a period of post-Cold War peace.

``Pursuing stability at the expense of liberty does not lead to peace,'' Bush said in a speech today at Czernin Palace in Prague. ``The policy of tolerating tyranny is a moral and strategic failure.''

Bush's aides billed his ``freedom agenda'' speech as the most significant of his weeklong European trip, which includes the annual summit of the leaders from the Group of Eight industrial nations. He used the backdrop of a former Soviet Bloc state to say that ``freedom can be resisted, and freedom can be delayed -- but freedom cannot be denied.''

Citing America's experiences with South Korea and Taiwan, Bush argued that it is compatible to push for democratic reforms in China and Russia while maintaining ``a friendship.''

``China's leaders believe that they can continue to open the nation's economy without also opening its political system. We disagree,'' Bush said. ``In Russia, reforms that once promised to empower citizens have been derailed, with troubling implications for democratic development,'' he said.

Bush said the U.S. intended to use its influence to prod other allies toward more open societies. He included among them Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. ``These nations have taken brave stands and strong action to confront extremists, along with some steps to expand liberty and transparency,'' Bush said. ``Yet they have a great distance still to travel.''

`Worst Dictatorships'

Bush identified Belarus, Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Sudan and Zimbabwe as ``some of the world's worst dictatorships.''

The president also directed his message at governments he said were ``unjustly'' holding dissidents. ``I call for the immediate and unconditional release of your loved ones,'' Bush said to the families of Alexander Kozulin of Belarus, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, Oscar Elias Biscet of Cuba, Father Nguyen Van Ly of Vietnam, and Ayman Nour of Egypt.

In his address, Bush said a global movement of ``violent Islamic extremists'' is threatening ``free people everywhere,'' and expanding freedom is ``the only realistic way to protect our people.''

Bush said that freedom is ``under assault'' in Venezuela, accusing President Hugo Chavez of resorting to ``a shallow populism to dismantle democratic institutions and tighten their grip on power.'' Chavez has refused to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television, a government critic.

Tension With Putin

Bush's remarks highlighted the increasing tension between Russia and the West over President Vladimir Putin's moves to stifle dissent and the U.S. president's plan to install a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, a dispute that is overshadowing the G-8 summit.

Putin warned that putting the anti-missile system in Europe would spark a new arms race and that Russia may retaliate by targeting Europe with its arsenal of missiles.

Earlier today, after meeting with Czech President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, Bush said he wanted to assure Putin that ``Russia is not our enemy.'' The missile defense is intended to thwart potential threats from ``a rogue regime,'' he said, inviting Russia to participate.

`Tone Things Down'

Bush's ``appeal to Putin on missile defense sounded genuine and on the mark,'' said Andrew Kuchins, director of Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and international Studies in Washington. ``I think Vladimir will tone things down at the G-8, but it does seem that whatever we say or do really sets him off now.''

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin rejects Bush's comment about the derailing of democratic reforms. ``Russia is a democratic country that shares common world and common European values,'' Agence France-Presse quoted Peskov as telling reporters before the G-8 meeting in Germany.

Bush plans to meet with Putin June 7 on the sidelines of the Heiligendamm summit, and has invited the Russian leader to the Bush family compound in Maine on July 1-2.

Bush's speech in Prague was the latest in a series of appearances around the world in which he has extolled the spread of democracy in a post-Sept. 11 world. Today's forum was organized by Jose Maria Aznar, the former prime minister of Spain, Vaclav Havel, the former Czech prime minister and Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident.

Under the auspices of the Prague Security Studies Institute, a non-profit group that promotes democracy and free markets in former Soviet satellite states, Bush's audience included dissidents and democratic activists from 17 countries.

Before leaving for Germany, Bush met privately with 30 delegates to the conference, the White House said.

Bush said in his speech that he ordered Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to direct all U.S. ambassadors to meet with activists for democracy and human rights. ``People living in tyranny need to know they are not forgotten,'' Bush said.

CIA running black propaganda operation against Iran, Syria and Lebanon, officials say

raw story
The Central Intelligence Agency has received approval at least twice in the last several years to conduct an “information war” against several countries in the Middle East, including Iran, Lebanon and Syria, according to current and former intelligence officials.

In addition, the Bush Administration has been running operations out of the Defense Department that are not subject to Congressional oversight, intelligence sources say. These programs appear murkier, and have included support for an alleged terrorist group in Iran.

A recent ABC News report revealed that President George W. Bush had signed a presidential finding giving the CIA the authority to conduct “non-lethal” covert operations against Iran. Former and current intelligence sources tell RAW STORY, however, that there have been “at least two” presidential findings over the past few years which have empowered the agency to run an “open-secret” information war against Iranian interests, mainly leveraging resources and assets “within the United States and France.”

Although the resources – people, groups, organizations – were not identified, sources say that they are not terrorist organizations or groups using violent tactics to achieve their goals. “It's a propaganda operation,” said a former intelligence case officer who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the information. “It is not new or aggressive,” the source added, explaining that the operation has been going on for some time and has Congressional funding and oversight.

CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano would not comment about the allegations made in the ABC report or discuss the existence of the presidential findings identified to RAW STORY.

“The CIA does not, as a matter of course, publicly discuss allegations of covert action, whether the assertions are wrong, right, or somewhere in-between,” Gimigliano said. “That's one reason why the term ‘covert action' still exists.”

“But it's important to remember that, through the Congress, there is vigorous oversight of secret intelligence activities,” he added.

According to current and former intelligence officials, the various presidential findings are not limited to Iran. Several countries within the Middle East – including Syria and Lebanon – as well as groups such as Hezbollah, are being targeted through what sources call “black propaganda” efforts.

Iran is being targeted by the CIA's activities with a “pro-democracy” message, sources say, and the agency is supporting overt “pro-democracy” groups.

The program's particulars are highly classified. Intelligence sources stress, however, that the groups being used are rather mainstream and the operations are almost entirely restricted to information warfare.

Sources would not identify what mechanism was being employed to distribute the propaganda, if it included news media, individuals or organizations, or whether that information was seeping back into domestic news reports.

One former intelligence case officer did explain that the CIA's program is operating largely outside of the Middle East and is aimed at identifying potential allies, as well as using already existing well known groups through whom information can be delivered. The type of “information” and the “groups” and “organizations” involved were not identified.

ABC News may have reported the presidential finding as “new” because of the recently passed massive intelligence budget. Under the bill, roughly $50 million was appropriated for the “Democracy Fund” and the “Broadcasting Board of Governors,” both earmarked for Iran operations.

Sources close to the Select Senate Committee on Intelligence would not discuss any aspect of the CIA program or comment on anything relating to the presidential findings.

“This is an area I simply cannot get into,” said one source.

Pentagon operation supporting terrorist group kept from Congress

RAW STORY has also learned that the Pentagon is continuing to conduct more aggressive “black” operations, approved by the National Security Council and the Office of the Vice President.

Current and former intelligence officials would not identify new specific covert programs running out of the Pentagon, though sources stressed these are far riskier and more truly covert operational activities against Iran than the activities of the CIA.

These operations started almost immediately after the Iraq war and have continued for several years. Because they can be considered part of a military operation, they are not subjects to the same requirements for Congressional authorization as the activities of the CIA.

The majority of these efforts to destabilize Iran through a covert war of aggression have been carried out by the Department of Defense, largely steered by the Office of the Vice President and by then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

A series of RAW STORY reports has identified some of the “off book” or black operations running out of the Pentagon over the last several years. In 2003, the Defense Department began working with terrorist and dissident groups in an effort to destabilize Iran, bypassing traditional intelligence channels. One of the assets the Pentagon used was a terrorist organization known as Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), which was being “run” in two southern regional areas of Iran, including a Shia region where a series of attacks in 2006 left many dead and hundreds injured.

These activities have often been guided by the same individuals whose actions during Iran-Contra were the reason for a 1991 law on covert activities which for the first time clearly defined covert activities and how their oversight should be handled.

During Iran-Contra, the Reagan White House – via the National Security Council – sold weapons to Iran, an avowed enemy of the United States, and used the money to fund various terrorist and dissident groups, collectively called the Contras, to fight a proxy war against the government of Nicaragua.

Sources say that MEK has been used for intelligence collection, an activity which has traditionally fallen under the CIA. The administration also appears to be looking the other way as groups such as MEK commit acts of violence.

Intelligence sources interviewed for this article all expressed concern over the lack of attention to the Pentagon's covert activities. Some believe illegal activities like those of the Iran-Contra days are now being hidden under the loophole of “traditional military activities” to avoid Congressional oversight.

Steven Aftergood, director for the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy, says this loophole exists in Congressional oversight with regards to military covert activities.

“CIA covert actions have to be authorized by a written presidential finding, which must be provided to Congress,” Aftergood said. “By contrast, DOD operations, including clandestine or covert operations, are not subject to this procedure.

“As a result,” he added, “there may be a temptation to opt for a purely military action to take advantage of the loophole in congressional notification requirements.”

Covert economic warfare may not be limited to CIA

Another former intelligence official said that the CIA has been cleared to target Iran's economic interests, but that the approval is limited to non-aggressive activities. The CIA “has been empowered to put economic pressure on Iran,” the former intelligence officer stated, but would not elaborate on what the meaning of “pressure” is.

Yet some suggest that the economic element of the covert program is either far more aggressive or is being attributed to the CIA when in fact another agency may be running it.

Foreign intelligence sources say that economic pressure is aimed at Iran's oil-rich economy, with US efforts serving to “persuade” financial institutions, oil companies, and international investment interests to pull out of Iran and even drop already existing energy projects.

These sources cite the example of an unnamed company that is being denied financing for energy projects inside Iran by international banks, indicating that many more such examples exist.

Other possible forms of pressure would include less subtle activities, such as intercepting supply convoys and confiscating equipment. Foreign sources are not sure if this covert activity is in fact part of the CIA program.

The Department of Defense did not respond to comment on this story.

Muriel Kane contributed to the research for this article.

Most of Baghdad 'not controlled'

bbc
US and Iraqi forces control fewer than one-third of Baghdad's neighbourhoods, according to a review of a security crackdown in the city since February.
An interim US military assessment says sectarian violence has diminished in some areas, but is particularly serious in Sunni-Shia areas of west Baghdad.

More than 20,000 US reinforcements are being deployed as part of the campaign.

Details of the report came as police said they had shot a suspected female suicide bomber in east Baghdad.

An interior ministry spokesman said the woman in traditional Muslim dress, walked towards a police recruiting centre and ignored calls to stop.

Three police recruits received minor wounds from the explosion. The woman died at the scene of the attack.

"Some elements of the mechanised brigade saw a suspicious woman and ordered her to stop, but she didn't respond and approached the recruits, so they opened fire on her and she exploded," a police spokesman said.

Although suicide bombings are a frequent occurrence in Iraq, female bombers are relatively rare.

'Iraqi failures'

A US military spokesman said it would not be possible to judge the success of the Baghdad security plan until all the extra units had been put in place.

"It's going to get harder before it gets easier," Lt-Col Christopher Garver said. "We know it's going to be a tough fight over the summer."

Details of the interim assessment included information that US and Iraq forces were in control of just 146 of Baghdad's 457 districts.

The report highlighted a failure of Iraqi police and army units to provide all the forces promised to carry out basic security tasks including manning checkpoints and conducting patrols.

May had the third highest death toll of American soldiers, 127, since the US-led invasion to overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein in March 2003.

Thousands of Iraqis have been killed since February.

Correspondents say there was a significant reduction in the number of sectarian killings early on in crackdown, but numbers have now risen again, with dozens of bodies being found in Baghdad almost every day.

President George W Bush won a tough battle with opposition-controlled Congress to fund the crackdown and is under pressure to show progress or start bringing troops home.

Experts cast doubt on credibility of JFK terror plot

afp
An alleged plot to blow up fuel tanks and pipelines at New York's JFK airport had little chance of success, according to safety experts, who have questioned whether the plot ever posed a real threat.

US authorities said Saturday they had averted an attack that could have resulted in "unfathomable damage, deaths, and destruction," and charged four alleged Islamic radicals with conspiracy to cause an explosion at the airport.

But according to the experts, it would have been next to impossible to cause an explosion in the jet fuel tanks and pipeline. Furthermore, the plotters seem to have lacked the explosives and financial backing to carry out the attack.

John Goglia, a former member of National Transportation Safety Board, said that if the plot had ever been carried out, it would likely have sparked a fire but little else, and certainly not the mass carnage authorities described.

"You could definitely reach the tank, definitely start the fire, but to get the kind of explosion that they were thinking that they were going to get... this is virtually impossible to do," he told AFP.

The fuel pipelines around the airport would similarly burn, rather than explode, because they are a full of fuel and unable to mix with enough oxygen.

"We had a number of fires in the US. All that happens is a big fire," he said. "It won't blow up, it will only burn."

Even if the attackers had managed to blow up a fuel tank, the impact would be limited, he said, citing the example of North Vietnamese forces attacking US fuel dumps during the Vietnam war.

"They hit the fuel tanks with pretty big rockets. You would get a big fire but not a big explosion other than the rocket."

"There is a difference between just exploding the tank and a huge explosion. The tank may explode and blow up some metal, but that certainly wouldn't go very far," he said.

His comments contrasted with those of US Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf, who insisted at the weekend that "the devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable."

Jake Magish, an engineer with Supersafe Tank Systems, also cast doubt on the credibility of the plot, saying: "The fantasy that I've heard about the people saying 'they will blow the tank and destroy the airport,' is nonsense."

"There are people there responding to hysteria, I think. But from an engineering point of view, if someone is successful in blowing a hole into a tank, they will just have a fire from one tank.

"There is no way for the fire to go from tank to tank, that is nonsense. It just won't happen."

Besides the alleged plotters' capability, other questions have focused on the main source in the probe -- a convicted drug dealer who infiltrated the group and whose sentence was pending as part of his cooperation with police.

Neal Sonnett, a former federal prosecutor, told the New York Times there was also a danger in overstating how serious or sophisticated a plot really was.

"There unfortunately has been a tendency to shout too loudly about such cases," he said. "To the extent that you over-hype a case, you create fear and paranoia," he said.

The New York Times on Sunday pointedly avoided giving much coverage to the alleged plot, devoting only a brief on its front page continued on the local section, despite the story breaking in the early afternoon on Saturday.

Bush derails attempts to end illegal wiretapping

Press Esc
President Bush derailed a bill by the US Congress aimed at ending the Administration's illegal wiretapping by not providing documents related to the President's warrantless wiretapping program to the Senate Intelligence Committee that is currently reviewing the proposed legislation.

The US house of representatives last month passed the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 bill with an amendment that makes Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) the only means by which domestic electronic surveillance for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence information may be conducted.

The bill has been referred to the Senate Intelligence Committee, but the Committee is unable to proceed as the White House has repeatedly refused to hand over the relevant documents.

"Another critical priority for congressional oversight is government wiretapping of Americans, conducted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and, illegally, under the President's warrantless wiretapping program," Senator Russ Feingold said. "When the program was finally placed within the FISA process, an opportunity arose for the Administration and the Congress to move forward, under the law. Unfortunately, the Administration has yet to demonstrate a real interest in doing so."

Feingold accused the Administration of seeking broad new authorities unrelated to keeping FISA up-todate with new technology, and pursuing these authorities while refusing to rule out further surveillance activities entirely outside of the law.

"For more than four years, the Administration failed to inform the full congressional intelligence committees of the warrantless wiretapping program," said the Senator who cosponsored an ammendment by co-sponsor by Senator Feinstein to ensure that all members of the Committee receive, at a minimum, summary information about programs that the Administration has sought to limit to the Chairman and Vice Chairman. "In doing so, the Administration violated the National Security Act, which allows restricted notification to the “Gang of Eight” only in certain limited cases involving covert action."

In 2005 Bush acknowledged that he authorised the National Security Agency in 2002 to eavesdrop on US citizens communicating with people overseas.

16,000 police deployed to halt violence

london guardian
A multinational coalition of protesters will today begin their bid to physically prevent world leaders from gathering at the G8 summit despite widespread criticism of violent tactics during growing demonstrations in Germany.

Water cannons, riot vans and 16,000 police officers - one per protester - last night fanned out around the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm to end the protests.

More than 1,000 people were injured on Saturday in Rostock, the nearest city, in some of the most violent protests seen in postwar Germany. The authorities are desperate to avoid a repeat of the violence that marred the 2001 G8 in Genoa, where a student was shot dead by police.

As 8,500 people yesterday marched in Rostock in favour of "global freedom of movement and equal rights" - one of a series of themed protest days in the run up to the summit's opening tomorrow - hundreds more were in camps just outside the seven miles of steel and barbed wire fencing guarding the G8 venue.

Four miles from the fence, protesters set up their own security around a 4,000-strong camp in the village of Reddelich. A wooden watchtower has been built to survey the tents and police beyond.

While the atmosphere in the camp was relaxed, with bratwurst and beer on sale, a children's playground and bands and cabaret in the evening, groups also got to work practising how to evade capture and arrest by the police.

German police, newspapers and even some protesters have voiced doubts about the violent tactics during the weekend protests but organisers insisted their aim remained to shut down the G8 and their methods would be forceful.

Police said more than 400 officers and 520 demonstrators were hurt after a peaceful rally turned violent in Rostock on Saturday night.

Officers blamed the violence on 2,000 militants known as the "black block" - black-clad hooded and masked youths who attacked police lines. Forty-nine people were arrested yesterday.

US debt could trigger dollar collapse, UN warns

GLOBAL PRESS

The United States dollar is facing imminent collapse in the face of an unsustainable debt, the United Nations warned today.

United States debt, which had now deepened to well over $3 trillion, might turn out to be unsustainable in the rest of 2007 or next, putting further downward pressure on the United States dollar, Rob Vos, the Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference.

He pointed out that since its peak in 2002, the dollar had depreciated vis-à-vis the major currencies by some 35 per cent and by 25 per cent against a broader range of other currencies.

Vos made these comments at the launch of the 2007 World Economic Situation and Prospects report midyear update.

With that increased debt the risk of a sharp depreciation of the dollar continued, he warned. If countries willing to invest in United States dollar assets expected further depreciation, they might be less willing to hold dollar assets, triggering a much sharper fall in the United States dollar. The risk of disorderly adjustment and the steep fall of the dollar existed. The policy challenge was how to prevent a hard landing of the United States dollar and forge a benign adjustment of the global imbalance.

In terms of the United States housing sector, he noted that a recession in the housing sector had continued in 2007, with a slowdown in activity and a large number of unsold homes. While house prices had not fallen, that might happen in the months and years to come if the recession continued as expected. A decline in prices would affect the domestic market, particularly household consumption in the United States, resulting in the risk of a serious recession in its economy, slowing growth from 2.1 per cent to 0.5 per cent in 2007 and 2008. That would then significantly slow the world economy and transmit the recession into the rest of the world.

The United States deficit had increased to $860 billion at the end of 2006, and was expected to fall to $800 billion in 2007. That deficit was basically being financed by surpluses in the developing and oil exporting countries, as well as some major developed countries, in particular Japan and Germany. The European Union,at large, was projected to continue to have a slight deficit on its current account.

Continuing, he said the current tendency in macroeconomic policy was not all in the right direction, particularly in the surplus countries where there had been a tightening of monetary and fiscal policies, particularly in Germany and Japan, making it more difficult for the United States to lower its external deficits by export growth. The United States would also need to adopt some contractionary policies to slow down its deficit, he recommended.

Is the dollar facing collapse?

MONEYWEEK
‘Dollar bills are looking rather scrunched up,’ says John Authers in the FT. The greenback posted a marginal recovery last week after hitting an all-time low of almost $1.37 against the euro a fortnight ago, and it also recently touched a 26-year low of more than $2 to the pound. On a trade-weighted basis - against a basket of its major trading partners’ currencies - it has fallen by around 27% over the past five years.

There are several influences on currencies and, as Edward Hadas points out on Breakingviews.com, ‘all of them are pointing to a lower dollar’. A key factor over the short to medium term is interest rates; high rates boost the yield on a currency’s assets. With US growth disappointing - the IMF expects it to marginally underperform Europe in 2007 - many analysts are pencilling in US rate cuts later this year; in Europe and the UK, they are set to rise. Stronger growth outside the US means ‘there’s a depreciation bias in the dollar’, Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University told Bloomberg.com. Meanwhile, US inflation is uncomfortably high, which undermines the dollar’s appeal as a store of value, notes Hadas.

Then there’s the key long-term influence on currencies, the current-account balance. The US current-account deficit appears to have stabilised of late, but it still comprises a ‘scary’ 6% of GDP, says Hadas. Given all this, it’s no wonder BNP Paribas is expecting the dollar to fall to $1.40 amid a hard landing in the US, while Rogoff foresees another 10% drop in the trade-weighted index by the end of 2008.

And a dollar collapse ‘cannot be ruled out’, says the FT. The hole in the current-account deficit is being plugged by purchases of US government bonds by oil-producing nations and, crucially, Asian central banks determined to keep their currencies low against the greenback to bolster their exports. China’s reserves alone amount to about $1.2trn. A further decline in the dollar could ‘push forward the day on which the world’s dollar holders begin to worry that they have a trillion or two too many’, says Dailyreckoning.co.uk. The FT highlights IMF worries that investors appear increasingly willing to dump their underperforming dollar holdings. So the dollar looks set to either keep drifting lower - or plummet. The latter, says Dailyreckoning.co.uk, should cause ‘real excitement’ in world markets.

Hong Kong Monetary Chief Fears a U.S. Dollar Collapse, and Hedge-Fund Destabilization

May 29, 2007 (EIRNS)—The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has warned about the dangers posed to the world financial system by the vulnerabilities of the U.S. economy, in a statement yesterday, the Hong Kong Standard reported. "A sudden and sharp depreciation of the U.S. dollar, the disorderly unwinding of global imbalances and a spillover of U.S. housing market weakness are external risks to the currency stability in Hong Kong. Financial instability and volatile capital flows are induced by an increased risk aversion of market participants and higher market volatility and the destabilizing activities of hedge funds," HKMA chief executive Joseph Yam Chi-kwong said in a report to the Hong Kong Legislative Council Panel on Financial Affairs.

Yam's warning points to those made by Lyndon LaRouche for two years against those bankers, elected officials, and economists who want to force China's currency dramatically upward; they are driving for a global dollar collapse and financial chaos. The HKMA recently decoupled the Hong Kong dollar from China's yuan, according to Yam, and kept it pegged to the U.S. dollar, though it has slid to the 22-year low end of its range against the U.S. dollar. Meanwhile, he said, the value of China's yuan has actually already risen 7% in two years. Now he is warning about "an asset bubble in China"; but clearly, Yam's real worry is of a U.S. dollar collapse and "an interest rate shock," with China tightening and raising interest rates even as the dollar plunges.

While Yam maintained that the economy of Hong Kong itself is "normal," he had warned in February, that efforts in Beijing to control liquidity and China's enormous trade surplus, means that "the economy may be faced with consequences beyond imagination, eventually."

Hong Kong, although only a "special zone" of China, has the eighth-highest amout of foreign exchange reserves in the world, $137 billion, more than either Germany or Brazil.

Buying up the US, Chinese-style

TAIPEI TIMES
When China National Offshore Oil Company tried to buy the US firm UNOCAL two years ago, it set off a political firestorm in the US. When Dubai Ports World bought Britain's P&O Steam Navigation Company, the fact that P&O operated ports inside the US led to more controversy.

One would think that a country like the US, with a current account deficit of roughly US$800 billion a year, would realize that such a yawning external gap is inevitably financed only by selling off assets, which means that foreigners with money acquire ownership and control of US-based businesses.

But the US -- or at least Congress and the media -- doesn't get it. Americans evidently hope for a world in which they have feckless deficit-generating fiscal policies, a very low private savings rate and a moderate rate of investment, all financed by foreign capital whose owners are happy to bear the risks yet have no control over their assets.

One might think that foreign investors would quake in terror at these terms and shy away from dollar-denominated assets. But this has not been the case. High oil prices have created huge export revenues for Middle Eastern governments, which still want to park their earnings in US assets. The same is true of Russia, whose oligarchs, as well as the huge state investment fund that Finance Minister Alexi Kudrin has created, also want to invest their oil revenues in the US.

As for Asia's governments, with China in the lead, the US remains the importer of last resort. The key to their development strategy is to put migrants from the countryside to work making exports destined for the US market. They doubt that an alternative development strategy based on boosting domestic demand would succeed. Thus, the real values of their currencies must be kept low relative to the dollar, which means that their reserves now invested in the US must continue to grow.

Someday, of course, this will come to an end. Perhaps Asian real currency values will rise sharply as a result of a burst of inflation in Asia. Perhaps the dollar will collapse and there will be a burst of inflation in the US as the Federal Reserve Board decides that temporarily abandoning its price-level peg is a lesser evil than the unemployment fallout that will result from a dollar collapse and interest rate spike.

A government that buys political risk insurance by placing an ever-growing stock of reserve assets in dollar securities guards against some dangers. But it is exposed to other risks, especially if it confines its investments to that slice of the asset pool, US Treasury and high-grade corporate bonds, that US politicians are comfortable having foreigners own. Nominal bonds are not well hedged against inflation and, over the long run, assets that are claims to cash without effective control are highly vulnerable to financial vultures. Prudent foreign government and private investors would find some way to diversify.

But how? Buying other countries' bonds would mean abandoning the goal of keeping real currency values low against the dollar. Buying up whole enterprises triggers angry speeches in the US Congress. What are needed are intermediary organizations that will grant a measure of control to foreigners, allow diversification across a wider range of US-located assets, and yet still appear 100 percent American to US politicians.

Enter the Blackstone Group.

China's US$3 billion investment in Blackstone, while insignificant relative to China's US$1.3 trillion in reserve assets -- a sum headed for US$1.5 trillion by the end of this year and likely to hit US$2 trillion sometime in 2009 -- is but a toe dipped in the water, a test run. At the start of the process, China will have small and indirect ownership stakes in a great many US enterprises, and the odds are that the usual objections will be absent. China will gain a measure of risk diversification, reduce the price pressure that has kept earnings on its foreign exchange reserves low and avoid running into political trouble. Blackstone will gain extra cash to deploy and extra fees.

Some observers think that the US political backlash against foreigners "buying up America" is what will bring the current configuration of global imbalances to an end. Deals like China's investment in Blackstone postpone that backlash, but not for long: US$3 billion is equivalent to what China accumulates in reserve in less than three working days.

The question following China's Blackstone investment is this: How far can this process go? And how much control will US investors ultimately realize they have given up?

JFK Airport Plot Has All The Hallmarks Of Staged Terror

Near-retarded "ringleader", paid government provocateur mirrors legion of previous cases
PRISONPLANET

An alleged plot to blow up fuel tanks, terminal buildings and fuel lines running beneath Kennedy International Airport has all the hallmarks of being another staged terror alert, having never advanced beyond a rudimentary planning stage while being prodded and provocateured by a paid government informant.

In every single major terror sting we have researched in the west since 9/11, not one single plot has been absent the ingredient of a government provocateur, save the cases that were outright manufactured by imaginative government propagandists in alliance with the corporate media.

In this case, the provocateur was "An informant with a criminal history including drug trafficking and racketeering agreed to work with investigators on the case, in exchange for payments and a reduced sentence," according to the New York Times.

Officials have refused to say how they became aware of the plot in the first place, but in every previous case of this nature we have found that it is the government agent provocateur who radicalizes the group and formulates the plot. The cover story is that the group is infiltrated by the informant having already planned the attack but as more details emerge, inevitably the plot always reveals itself as an artificial creation on behalf of the intelligence services.

What's the motive? The war on terror is the most politically exploited concept since the cold war. The propaganda boon from hoodwinking Americans into thinking they are constantly under threat from terrorists is unsurpassed. On the very day that this alleged plot was announced, Rudy Giuliani was already using it to inflate his presidential campaign.

In addition, the new head of the Arkansas Republican Party, Dennis Milligan, told a reporter this past weekend that America needs to be attacked by terrorists so that people will appreciate the work that President Bush has done to protect the country.

Once again we learn that "the plot was only in a preliminary phase and the conspirators had yet to lay out detailed plans or obtain financing or explosives," and yet the event is reported by a jingoistic and frothing media as if an imminent attack on the scale of 9/11 has been averted.

But as always, the devil is in the details, because even if the group had managed to acquire the financing and explosives to enact the plot, it would have been unsuccessful, due to "safety shut-off valves would almost assuredly have prevented an exploding airport fuel tank from igniting all or even part of the network."

The sum of the group's planning for the alleged attack amounts to nothing more than visiting Google Maps and printing off photographs.

It appears that part of the agenda in hyping the alleged plot is to undermine Hugo Chavez, since the ringleader, Russell Defreitas, has links to Jamaat al-Muslimeen, a Muslim group headed up by Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, and in turn Bakr has been affiliated with Chavez.

As Kurt Nimmo writes, Neo-Con websites are already exploiting these tenuous links to demonize Hugo Chavez, who - whatever you think of his domestic policies - has been a constant thorn in the side of the Globalists and was subject to an attempted CIA coup in 2002.

Defreitas is described by one law enforcement official as “a sad sack” and “not a Grade A terrorist,” who would have been incapable of carrying out any attack. A friend described him as "not smart enough" to have carried out the attack.

In several other cases, we see a pattern where near-retarded individuals are used as patsies for terror plots orchestrated by intelligence agencies because they are easily manipulated and cannot defend themselves after the fact.

From out of nowhere, Defreitas goes from embracing American culture and enjoying jazz music to dressing in traditional Muslim garb and referring to himself as Mohammed while planning a devastating attack due to his supposed hatred of the west.

The basic tenet that the terror threat has been overhyped and magnified a thousand-fold for political propaganda is proven alone by documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act that show only 0.0015 percent of the total number of cases filed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were terrorism related, despite the fact that the Bush administration has repeatedly asserted that it is the primary focus of the DHS.

As more details leak out, there seems little doubt that the JFK airport plot will dissipate into nothing more than another hyped terror alert - coddled, molded, and directed by the government, before being unleashed on an increasingly skeptical American public in another vain attempt to prop up the flagging legitimacy of the "war on terror".

Gop Head: We Need More 'attacks On American Soil', so people appreciate Bush

raw story
In his first interview as the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, Dennis Milligan told a reporter that America needs to be attacked by terrorists so that people will appreciate the work that President Bush has done to protect the country.

"At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001]," Milligan said to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country."

Milligan, who was elected as the new chair of the Arkansas Republican Party just two weeks ago, also told the newspaper that he is "150 percent" behind Bush in the war in Iraq.

In his acceptance speech on May 19th, Milligan told his fellow Republicans that it was "time for a rediscovery of our values and our common sense."

The owner of a water treatment company, Milligan was a relative unknown in Arkansas politics until last week's vote. He had previously served as the party's treasurer and the Saline County Republican chair.

Plame vows to battle CIA over speech - Politics - MSNBC.com

Plame vows to battle CIA over speech - Politics - MSNBC.com

Plame vows to battle CIA over speech
Outed former covert agent plans to press lawsuits against Cheney, agency
By Claudia Parsons
Reuters
Updated: 3:30 p.m. ET June 2, 2007

NEW YORK - An ex-spy whose unmasking led to the conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney’s top aide vowed on Saturday to press on with lawsuits against Cheney and the CIA for the sake of freedom of speech.

“Just as we have to be vigilant to protect our national security—something I believe in passionately—we have to be vigilant to protect our freedom of speech and First Amendment rights,” Valerie Plame Wilson said in a speech at a book convention.

Plame and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New York on Thursday against top CIA officials for blocking publication of her memoir on national security grounds.

Plame’s cover as a CIA agent was blown when her identity was leaked to reporters and appeared in a newspaper column in July 2003, shortly after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, emerged as an Iraq war critic.

Plame said she had no intention of endangering national security with the book but was entitled to tell her story.

“This has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with political influence and manipulation,” Plame said of the CIA’s demand that she not discuss her service before 2002.

The CIA has argued her book could hurt operations and affect its ability to conduct intelligence activities in the future.

“I’m not seeking carte blanche to reveal all the details of my government service,” Plame said.

The book, “Fair Game,” is set to be published on Oct. 21.

The leaking of Plame’s identity prompted an investigation to determine if government officials had broken any laws.

Nobody was charged with blowing her cover, but Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s former chief of staff, was found guilty in March of lying and obstructing the investigation. He is due to be sentenced on Tuesday and faces up to three years in prison.

‘Troubled times’
Evidence at Libby’s trial showed he and several other White House and State Department officials leaked her identity to discredit her husband, who had accused the administration of twisting intelligence to build a case for invading Iraq.

Plame has since filed a lawsuit against Cheney and other top administration officials, seeking money damages for violating the couple’s constitutional free speech, due process and privacy rights.

She said initially she was reluctant to sue, but did so for three reasons.

“The first one is to get the truth,” she told the audience of publishers and booksellers in New York who gave her a standing ovation even before she spoke.

“Secondly, to hold our government officials to account for their words and their deeds ... Finally it’s to prevent future abuses.”

“We are living in very troubled times and it’s imperative that we all understand what our rights are and understand when we are being trampled on,” she said later, answering a question from the audience.

Plame said she expected a judge to rule by the end of the summer on a motion by Cheney to dismiss the suit.

All publications by current and former CIA agents must be approved by a review board, which says its only objective is to prevent classified material from being released to the public.

Simon & Schuster is a unit of CBS Corp.

Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19001829/
MSN Privacy . Legal

Putin reacts to U.S. defense plan with warning - Focus on Russia - MSNBC.com

Putin reacts to U.S. defense plan with warning - Focus on Russia - MSNBC.com

Putin reacts to U.S. defense plan with warning
He says U.S. defense plans will force Russia to target weapons on neighbors
The Associated Press
Updated: 12:59 p.m. ET June 3, 2007

ROME - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe would force Moscow to target its weapons against Europe.

The threat, in an interview published Sunday in Italy’s Corriere della Sera and other foreign media, marked one of Putin’s most strident statements to date against the U.S. plans and came just days before he is to join President Bush and other leaders at a Group of Eight summit in Germany.

In the interview, Putin was asked whether the proposed missile defense shield would compel Moscow to direct its own missiles at locations and U.S. military sites in Europe, as during the Cold War.

“If the American nuclear potential grows in European territory, we have to give ourselves new targets in Europe,” Putin said, according to Corriere. “It is up to our military to define these targets, in addition to defining the choice between ballistic and cruise missiles.”

Russia has not overtly targeted Europe since agreeing after the fall of the Soviet Union not to direct missiles against specific countries, according to Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst based in Moscow. He added however, that that was simple technical matter, since a missile can be given a target within minutes.

Previously, some Russian military officials have said Moscow could aim Russian weapons at Europe-based missile systems.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek accused Russia on Sunday of misleading the public about the planned missile defense bases in the Czech Republic and Poland to hide Russia’s internal problems.

“Russia needs an outside enemy to hide problems at home,” Topolanek said.

U.S. wants radar base in Czech Republic
The United States made a formal request in January to place a radar base in a military area southwest of Prague, Czech Republic, and 10 interceptor missiles in neighboring Poland as part of plans for a missile defense shield that Washington says would protect against a potential threat from Iran.

The U.S. plans have brought a strong reaction from Russia, which accuses the United States of threatening Russian territory and of trying to start a new arms race.

Putin was interviewed Friday at his dacha by journalists from each of the G-8 countries, Corriere said.

The three-day summit, Wednesday to Friday at the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm, will bring together leaders of the United States, Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, and Japan.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19013495/
MSN Privacy . Legal
© 2007 MSNBC.com

Suicide bomber kills 7 near Somali PM's home | Top News | Reuters

Suicide bomber kills 7 near Somali PM's home | Top News | Reuters

Suicide bomber kills 7 near Somali PM's home
Sun Jun 3, 2007 6:00PM BST

By Guled Mohamed

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed seven people outside the Somali prime minister's home in Mogadishu on Sunday, just hours after an official said Western jihadists were among the dead from U.S. strikes in the north.

Security sources said Ali Mohamed Gedi was unhurt, but five soldiers and two civilians died when the bomber detonated a car rigged with explosives at the gates of his residence in a heavily guarded neighbourhood of the capital.

"I saw limbs nearly a kilometre from where the suicide bomber detonated," a police officer at the scene who asked not to be named told Reuters by telephone.

"We don't know how the suicide bomber managed to pass through undetected ... The wounded cannot be counted."

African Union peacekeepers raced to the area. "We took the prime minister to a safe place after the blast. He is well," said their spokesman, Captain Paddy Ankunda.

Gedi's interim administration is struggling to impose its authority on the anarchic Horn of Africa nation. Near daily attacks on government troops and their Ethiopian military allies are blamed on members of a defeated Islamist movement who have vowed to wage an "Iraq-style" insurgency.

On Friday, a U.S. warship fired missiles at one group of foreign fighters in the remote mountains of northern Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland. CNN said the attacks were aimed at an al Qaeda suspect.

On Sunday, the region's finance minister said six Islamists -- from America, Britain, Sweden, Morocco, Pakistan and Yemen -- had been killed in the air strikes and in gun battles with local forces. He gave no other details.

AL QAEDA TARGETED

Speaking in Singapore, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates declined to comment on the strikes in rugged northern Somalia, saying it was possibly an operation still in progress.

A Somali jihadist group calling itself the Young Mujahideen Movement said it suffered no casualties in what it called "random" U.S. air strikes and said it killed 11 soldiers. The Web posting could not immediately be verified but was on a site used by al Qaeda and other Islamists.

Sources told CNN the air strikes were the second in six months aimed at a suspect in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 240 people.

The United States also launched air strikes in southern Somalia in January aimed at three top al Qaeda suspects but killed their allies instead, U.S. officials have said.

They were believed to be in a group of Islamists who fled Mogadishu in January after being routed by Somali interim government forces and the Ethiopian military.

Washington says six al Qaeda operatives or associates are in Somalia, including alleged embassy bomber Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, and Abu Talha al-Sudani, accused of orchestrating the 2002 bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya that killed 15.

Others include Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, hardline leader of the ousted Somali Islamic Courts Council (SICC), and Adan Hashi Ayro, head of the SICC's feared military wing, the Shabaab.

(Additional reporting by Abdiqani Hassan in Bossasso)

BBC NEWS | Africa | Ethiopia seeks prince's remains

BBC NEWS | Africa | Ethiopia seeks prince's remains

Ethiopia seeks prince's remains
By Elizabeth Blunt
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Ethiopia's president has sent Queen Elizabeth II a formal request for the remains of a prince who died in Britain more than a century ago.

The royal household at Windsor Castle, where Prince Alemayehu was buried, is said to be considering the request.

President Woldegiorgis Girma hopes the prince's bones can be reburied for millennium celebrations in September.

Ethiopia has been waging a lively campaign to get back historic treasures looted during the last two centuries.

Father's suicide

Its most striking success has been in recovering a massive stone obelisk from Axum, carried off to Rome by Mussolini's army.

But the campaign now has a new impetus.

Ethiopia's calendar is more than seven years behind that of the rest of the world - here, it is still 1999 and Ethiopians are planning to mark what they believe is the 2000 anniversary of the birth of Christ with big celebrations in September.

[Prince Alemayehu] was buried at Windsor Castle, with Queen Victoria describing as "too sad" his short life and early death

Now the Ethiopian president has put in a formal request for the return of the remains of Prince Alemayehu.

His father, the Emperor Tewodros II, committed suicide after his defeat by the British at the Battle of Magdala in 1868.

The young boy was taken to Britain and sent to boarding school and officers' training school at Sandhurst, but died at the age of 18.

He was buried at Windsor Castle, with Queen Victoria describing as "too sad" his short life and early death.

The Ethiopian embassy in London says Windsor is now considering their request.

The young prince was not the only thing the British took from Magdala - they reportedly needed 15 elephants and nearly 200 mules to carry away the treasures that Tewodros had accumulated.

Many of them are still in Britain and the Queen has some of them - notably six of the very finest illuminated manuscripts, which are part of the royal collection in Windsor Castle.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6716921.stm

Published: 2007/06/03 15:40:26 GMT

© BBC MMVII

BBC NEWS | Europe | Gorbachev criticises US 'empire'

BBC NEWS | Europe | Gorbachev criticises US 'empire'

Gorbachev criticises US 'empire'
The former Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, has blamed the US for the current state of relations between Russia and the West.

In a BBC interview, Mr Gorbachev said that the Russians were ready to be constructive, but America was trying to squeeze them out of global diplomacy.

He added that the Iraq War had undermined Tony Blair's credibility.

Mr Gorbachev accused America of "empire-building", which he said the UK should have warned it away from.

'New empire'

Moscow and the West have been in dispute over Iraq, America's plans for a missile defence system and civil rights within Russia itself.

I don't understand why you, the British, did not tell them, 'Don't think about empire'
Mikhail Gorbachev

Britain's extradition request for a Russian man in connection with the murder of ex-agent Alexander Litvinenko has also caused tension.

In an interview with Radio Four's The World This Weekend, Mr Gorbachev said relations between Russia and the West were in a bad state.

"Well, it's worse than I expected," he said through a translator.

"We lost 15 years after the end of the Cold War, but the West I think and particularly the United States, our American friends, were dizzy with their success, with the success of their game that they were playing, a new empire.

"I don't understand why you, the British, did not tell them, 'Don't think about empire, we know about empires, we know that all empires break up in the end, so why start again to create a new mess.'"

He added that the war with Iraq had damaged Britain's relationship with Russia after a promising start.

"Tony Blair and Putin established a very good relationship and that made it possible to advance our relationship," he said.

"But then Iraq happened and Tony found himself in the embrace of that military monster, of that war situation, and he lost a lot of his credibility in the world and in Europe."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6717037.stm

Published: 2007/06/03 15:48:42 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Anti-crime teams being sent to 4 cities - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com

Anti-crime teams being sent to 4 cities - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com

Anti-crime teams being sent to 4 cities
Move comes ahead of FBI stats expected to show rise in violent crime
The Associated Press
Updated: 6:21 p.m. ET June 1, 2007

WASHINGTON - A violent crime spike in four cities led the Justice Department on Friday to dispatch additional teams of federal agents to combat guns, gangs or surging murder rates in Mesa, Ariz.; Orlando, Fla.; San Bernardino, Calif., and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The four-city push comes as the FBI is expected to report a 1.3 percent rise in violent crime nationwide in 2006 — an increase for the second straight year.

At the same time, a new internal Justice report rapped crime-busting task forces for failing to coordinate efforts and potentially endangering agents’ lives.

“Each of these cities has seen an unacceptable increase in homicides or other violent crimes,” Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told employees at the Washington headquarters of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “Authorities in each have come forward and asked for our help.”

Defying critics who have demanded his resignation over the firings of U.S. attorneys, Gonzales said he would spend the final 18 months of his tenure “in a sprint” to curb violent crime.

The influx of agents brings the number of ATF Violent Crime Impact Teams, which first deployed three years ago, to 29 cities. The FBI is also adding to its more than 180 Safe Streets Task Forces by sending one to Orlando, which Gonzales said has been plagued by gang violence.

Orlando police spokeswoman Barbara Jones said the department “welcomes any additional federal support in our efforts to combat violent crime.”

No additional funds or grants are expected to be funneled to communities to bolster their own law enforcement efforts, Justice officials said. Gonzales also called anew for laws to strengthen penalties against criminals, including imposing mandatory minimum sentences on federal convicts.

Team issues
The report, released Friday by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine, warned of problems with federal crime-fighting task forces. It concluded the teams duplicate efforts and compete for help from local authorities while failing to communicate among themselves. The poor communication, in particular, resulted in three so-called “blue-on-blue” cases where federal agents mistook each other for criminals.

Those incidents, which the report found “put officers’ safety at risk,” included:
# An undercover ATF agent and informant in Chicago bought a loaded gun from an informant working for the FBI’s Safe Streets task force.
# FBI Safe Streets agents in Atlanta pulled over a member of a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force whose car matched the description of a suspect both teams were looking for.
# ATF agents working an undercover sting at a Las Vegas gun show arrested a suspect for illegally buying firearms. The buyer turned out to be an informant working for the FBI — even though the ATF had taken steps to make sure there would be no overlap between federal agencies.

Fine’s inspectors studied task forces in eight cities: Atlanta, Birmingham, Ala., Camden, N.J., Chicago, Gary, Ind., Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. Nearly 130 task force members in the cities reported working on at least 45 duplicate investigations.

Gonzales said Justice’s investigative agencies have already taken steps to fix the problems, and were ordered in March to make sure their task forces coordinate and share information with each other to prevent overlap. Additionally, the nation’s 93 U.S. attorneys were told last month to meet with task force leaders in their districts and fix any coordination problems.

Between 2003 and 2006, Fine’s report showed, 210 Justice Department task forces were working in 256 cities nationwide.

$1.5 million teams
ATF Director Michael J. Sullivan said each of his Violent Crime Impact Teams cost an estimated $1.5 million in personnel, equipment and other expenses. After being strapped by budget cuts last year, the new teams are being deployed now so “we can come in with money and bodies — we can have new agents, investigators, intel analysts” to help local authorities, Sullivan said in an interview.

But violent crime nationally continued to climb last year, if at a slower pace than in 2005, which marked the first increase since 2001.

FBI data set for release Monday is expected to show an overall 1.3 percent rise in violent crime during 2006, according to a Justice Department official who had seen the numbers. Comparatively, violent crime increased by 2.2 percent in 2005.

A second Justice Department official said the murder rate also is up, if modestly, but robberies rose by as much as 6 percent. And a third department official said the number of property crimes — such as burglary, car theft and arson — again dropped.

All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the data had not yet been released.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18984489/
© 2007 MSNBC.com

White House seeks new path to secrecy - Politics - MSNBC.com

White House seeks new path to secrecy - Politics - MSNBC.com

White House seeks new path to secrecy
Bush officials had lengthy debate before calling visitor records confidential
The Associated Press
Updated: 3:08 p.m. ET June 1, 2007

WASHINGTON - A newly disclosed effort to keep Vice President Dick Cheney's visitor records secret is the latest White House push to make sure the public doesn't learn who has been meeting with top officials in the Bush administration.

Over the past year, lawyers for President Bush and Cheney have directed the Secret Service to maintain the confidentiality of visitor entry and exit logs, declaring them to be presidential records, exempt from a law requiring their disclosure to whoever asks to see them.

The drive to keep the logs secret, the administration says, is essential to assuring that the president and vice president receive candid advice to carry out their duties.

Exploiting exemptions
Cabinet officers often don't want to give up their meeting calendars to journalists. They have no choice under the Freedom of Information Act, which provides public access to some records kept by federal agencies.

But the FOIA disclosure law, which doesn't apply to Congress, also doesn't apply to presidential records.

The Bush administration has exploited that difference, triggering a battle in the courts.

The administration is seeking dismissal of two lawsuits by a private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, demanding Secret Service visitor logs.

In trying to get the cases thrown out, the Justice Department has filed documents in court outlining a behind-the-scenes debate over whether Secret Service records are subject to public disclosure. The discussions date back at least to the administration of President Bush's father and involve the Justice Department and the National Archives as well as the White House and the Secret Service.

The government's court filings show that the Bush White House focused on the issue in the months before Election Day 2004.

Discussions moved into high gear when the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal prompted news organizations and private groups to demand that the administration turn over Secret Service records of visitors to the White House complex and the vice president's residence.

Standing on principle
There was precedent for the demands.

During the Clinton administration, Republican-controlled congressional committees obtained Secret Service visitor logs while conducting investigations of the president and first lady.

Christopher Lehane, a former special assistant counsel to President Clinton and press secretary to then-Vice President Al Gore, points out the political implications of the Bush administration campaign to close off access to the records.

"The question it raises is 'what are these guys hiding?'" said Lehane, now a Democratic consultant. "They can live with it because they've only got a year or so left, but it doesn't do a lot for public confidence in open government."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Thursday, "I can't comment on a case in litigation, and I can't speak to the decisions made by other administrations."

The Bush administration says it is standing on principle.

"It is important that the president be able to receive candid advice from his staff and other members of the administration," Fratto said. "To ensure that he receives candid advice, it is essential as a general matter that the advice remains confidential."

In a declaration filed in court a week ago, Cheney's deputy chief of staff, Claire O'Donnell, stated that "systematic public release of the information regarding when and with whom the vice president and vice presidential personnel conduct meetings would impinge on the ability of the OVP (office of the vice president) to gather information in confidence and perform its essential functions, including assisting the vice president in his critical roles of advising and assisting the president."

In May 2006, the Secret Service and the White House signed a memorandum of understanding designating visitor records as presidential.

They are "not the records of an 'agency' subject to the Freedom of Information Act," says the agreement that was not disclosed until months later, in late 2006. The records are "at all times under the exclusive legal custody and control of the White House."

In search of vice presidential visitors
Four months after the memorandum of agreement, Cheney's counsel wrote the Secret Service, stating that visitor records for the vice president's personal residence "are and shall remain subject to the exclusive ownership, custody and control of OVP."

The Sept. 13, 2006, date on the Cheney letter coincides with requests by The Washington Post seeking records on the vice president's visitors under the Freedom of Information Act.

The law enforcement agency "shall not retain any copy of these documents and information upon return to OVP," stated the letter to the Secret Service's chief counsel.

"If any documents remain in your possession, please return them to OVP as soon as possible," the letter added.

The Justice Department filed the Cheney letter last Friday in one of the lawsuits brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which is invoking the FOIA law in seeking the identities of conservative religious leaders who visited the White House complex and the vice president's residence. The group, which represents Valerie Plame and her husband in their lawsuit against Cheney and other key administration figures in the leak of Plame's CIA identity, also is seeking White House visitor logs in the Abramoff scandal.

Document destruction stopped
According to government documents, the Secret Service routinely destroyed five of eight categories of information relating to visitors to Cheney's residence. Of the records it retained, the Secret Service regularly turned over handwritten visitor logs to Cheney's office.

The Secret Service stopped the destruction in June 2006 because of lawsuits by various groups, according to the court papers. The law enforcement agency also is retaining copies of the material, contrary to the directive in the September 2006 letter from Cheney's counsel.

The court filings by the government show that:
# On three occasions late in the administration of the first President Bush and during the first term of President Clinton, the Secret Service proposed treating copies of White House visitor documents as non-presidential records. In its court filings, the current Bush administration opposes releasing details of the Secret Service proposals, saying this "poses a substantial risk of creating public confusion" because the proposals were never adopted.
# In January 2001, as Clinton prepared to leave office, White House lawyers proposed the transfer of visitor records from the Secret Service to the White House. The proposal was entitled "Disposition of certain presidential records created by the USSS," or the Secret Service. The records are now at the Clinton library in Little Rock, Ark., the National Archives confirmed Thursday.
# In September 2004, a lawyer for the Bush White House and a special assistant to the director of the Secret Service proposed "informal views on one way to address the disposition" of visitor records, according to court documents. The unnamed associate White House counsel and the Secret Service assistant jointly authored a July 29, 2004, document bearing the same title as the Clinton administration document from 3 1/2 years earlier.
# In July 2005, the Secret Service gave a presentation on the issue to the White House counsel's office, the Justice Department and the National Archives.
# On May 11, 2006, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel provided a legal opinion on the issue, which is among the many documents the government is refusing to disclose. Six days later, the White House and the Secret Service signed the agreement designating the records as presidential.

Power grab?
Presidential records are released starting five years after a president leaves office. Under the Presidential Records Act of 1978, non-classified material is disclosed first, with classified documents and advice to the president released later after review by federal agencies, the White House and the former president.

Under an executive order President Bush signed in 2001, the archivist of the United States cannot unilaterally release the records without the permission of the current president, former presidents and their representatives.

"The scary thing about this move by the vice president's office is the power grab part of it," said Tom Blanton, head of the National Security Archive, a private group which uses the FOIA law to pierce government secrecy.

"We're looking at a huge problem if the White House can reach into any agency and say certain records have something to do with the White House and they are presidential from now on," Blanton said. "This White House has been infinitely creative in finding new ways and new forms of government secrecy."
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18977033/page/2/
MSN Privacy . Legal
© 2007 MSNBC.com

Baghdad embassy plans appear on Internet - Security - MSNBC.com

Baghdad embassy plans appear on Internet - Security - MSNBC.com

Baghdad embassy plans appear on Internet
Computer-generated images of heavily fortified compound removed
The Associated Press
Updated: 10:25 a.m. ET June 1, 2007

WASHINGTON - Detailed plans for the new U.S. Embassy under construction in Baghdad appeared online Thursday in a breach of the tight security surrounding the sensitive project.

Computer-generated projections of the soon-to-be completed, heavily fortified compound were posted on the Web site of the Kansas City, Mo.-based architectural firm that was contracted to design the massive facility in the Iraqi capital.

The images were removed by Berger Devine Yaeger Inc. shortly after the company was contacted by the State Department.

“We work very hard to ensure the safety and security of our employees overseas,” said Gonzalo Gallegos, a department spokesman. “This kind of information out in the public domain detracts from that effort.”

The 10 images included a scheme of the overall layout of the compound, plus depictions of individual buildings including the embassy itself, office annexes, the Marine Corps security post, swimming pool, recreation center and the ambassador’s and deputy ambassador’s residences.

U.S. officials said the posted plans conformed at least roughly to conceptual drawings for the new embassy, which is being built on the banks of the Tigris River behind huge fences due to concerns about insurgents’ attacks.

Dan Sreebny, a spokesman for the embassy in Baghdad, declined to discuss the accuracy of the posted images.

“In terms of commenting whether they’re accurate, obviously we wouldn’t be commenting on that because we don’t want people to know whether they’re accurate or not for security reasons,” he said.

No help to enemies
Berger Devine Yaeger’s parent company, the giant contractor Louis Berger Group, said the plans had been very preliminary and would not be of help to potential U.S. enemies.

“The actual information that was up there was purely conjectural and conceptual in nature,” said company spokesman Jeffrey Willis. “Google Earth could give you a better snapshot of what the site looks like on the ground.”

Some U.S. officials acknowledged that damage may have been done by the postings and used expletives to describe their personal reactions. Still, they downplayed the overall risk.

“People are eventually going to figure out where all these places are, but you don’t have to draw them a map,” said one senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the embassy project.

Few are, and in Baghdad, the construction is under heavy guard and treated with extreme secrecy. It is off-limits to all but those with special passes, surrounded by tall, concrete blast walls and impossible to see except from the air.

The images posted on the Web site show that the $592 million embassy, expected to be completed in September on prime real estate two-thirds the size of Washington’s National Mall, will be a spacious and comfortable facility, albeit dangerous.

Identified as the “Baghdad U.S. Embassy Compound Master Plan,” the images show palm-lined paths, green grass gardens and volleyball and basketball courts outside the Marine post, as well as the swimming pool.

“In total, the 104-acre compound will include over twenty buildings, including one classified secure structure and housing for over 380 families,” the Web site says.

It says the compound will include the embassy building, housing, a PX, commissary, cinema, retail and shopping areas, restaurants, schools, a fire station, power and water treatment plants as well as telecommunications and wastewater treatment facilities.

A U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report last year said embassy security will be extraordinary: Setbacks and perimeter no-go areas will be especially deep, structures reinforced to 2.5 times the standard and five high-security entrances, plus an emergency entrance-exit.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18979621/
© 2007 MSNBC.com