The Voice of the White House

Washington , D.C. , March 27, 2008 : “Any number of interesting subjects today. First, we have incoming gen that the top Clinton people have been holding “substantive talks” with the McCain people, trying to stop Obama’s lead. Much speculation on how they plan to do this, in stupid defiance of Obama’s unquestioned popular support. If they pull off a typical back door coup, they could risk a serious public explosion from millions of people who are sick to death of their lies and thieving manipulations.

But even of more interest is the subject of a trip the nutty Cheney made to Saudi Arabia recently. While there, he told the Saudis that  there was an “excellent chance” that the U.S. would “launch aerial strikes against Tehran and that nuclear weaponry could not be ruled out.” The Saudis at once sent out warnings to their various diplomatic missions, warnings intercepted by the Army’s special unit. This is the same unit that has broken Israeli diplomatic codes and reads their incoming and outgoing mail.

The Pentagon is furious over this because Cheney or Bush never bothered to mention this putative attack to them. Cheney is a flaming nut and the sooner his pump gives out, the better the world will be. Bush is only a hand puppet for Cheney and the neocons but he is very stupid and very stubborn, hence very dangerous. The Army and the Marines have too much on their plate to get involved in any kind of a military adventure but the Air Force is unscathed. Cheney told an aide yesterday that if we did nuke Tehran , he hoped the large staff at the Russian embassy there “got fried” for daring to oppose American policies.

None of this means that the United States is going to attack Iran but shows the mindsets of the nuts running the country. The Monkey Palace rumor is that McCain was told about this and just loved it.

Aren’t these wonderful people? Hillary is a nasty, spoiling bitch, McCane is a stone nut (pre-Alzheimer’s), Bush a small-minded and vicious asshole and Cheney a monster. And these are our leaders? I think the American people deserve far better than these losers and I am sure the, at least, 4,000 dead soldiers ought to have a better memorial than to be known as Cheney’s executioners.”

Cheney Contradicts Facts and Findings Concerning Iran’s Nuclear Goals

March 26, 2008

by Borzou Daragahi

Los Angeles Times

BEIRUT — Vice President Dick Cheney charged in an interview released Tuesday that Iran is trying to develop weapons-grade uranium, though international inspectors and U.S. intelligence services have not found evidence of such an effort

“Obviously, they’re also heavily involved in trying to develop nuclear weapons enrichment, the enrichment of uranium to weapons-grade levels,” Cheney said, according to a transcript released by the White House of an interview done Monday in Turkey with ABC’s Martha Raddatz.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful energy production, but the U.S. and other Western countries fear Tehran will eventually develop nuclear weapons.

In its latest report, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency, says Iran is enriching uranium at its plant in Natanz to less than 3.8%, which is the level necessary to create fuel for a civilian reactor. Weapons-grade uranium is enriched to 80% or 90%.

Cheney’s comment also contradicted the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies, which concluded in a report revealed late last year that Iran had halted its efforts to develop nuclear weapons in 2003.

The vice president’s statement was the second time in a week that a White House official has made an allegation regarding Iran ’s nuclear program and its intentions that did not square with publicly known facts.

President Bush said last week that Iran ’s leaders had “declared” they were seeking nuclear weapons. Iran has always denied the charge, and the White House later backpedaled, calling the president’s remarks “shorthand.”

Cheney made the remarks at the end of a 10-day tour of Middle East countries to discuss high oil prices, the U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Arab-Israeli conflict. But the subject of Iran was never far from his agenda.

In addition to Israel and the Palestinian territories, his route took him to Oman , Saudi Arabia , Afghanistan , Iraq and Turkey , in effect encircling the country that has become the greatest U.S. rival in the region. And at almost every stop, he brought up the subject of Iran and its role in disrupting U.S. efforts in the region.

Before the first stop of his visit to Oman, a Cheney aide told Agence France-Presse news service that Iran “has got to be very high” on the agenda for the talks.

“The Omanis . . . are concerned by the escalating tensions between much of the world community and Iran and by Iran ’s activities, particularly in the nuclear field,” the news agency quoted the aide as saying.

In Saudi Arabia , Cheney also brought up the Iran issue. According to the Jidda-based English-language Arab News, the Saudis oppose any war with Iran . Saudi King Abdullah also raised the issue of Israel ’s undeclared nuclear program, saying that the Middle East should be free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

In Jerusalem on Monday, Cheney accused Iran and Syria of “doing everything they can to torpedo the peace process,” a reference to the teetering talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Worried Yet? Saudis Prepare for "Sudden Nuclear Hazards" After Cheney Visit

March 24, 2008

by Chris Floyd

Salon

I. One Tick Closer to Midnight

Last Friday, Dick Cheney was in Saudi Arabia for high-level meetings with the Saudi king and his ministers. On Saturday, it was revealed that the Saudi Shura Council -- the elite group that implements the decisions of the autocratic inner circle -- is preparing "national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom following experts' warnings of possible attacks on Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactors," one of the kingdom's leading newspapers, Okaz, reports. The German-based dpa news service relayed the paper's story.

Simple prudence -- or ominous timing? We noted here last week that an American attack on Iran was far more likely -- and more imminent -- than most people suspect. We pointed to the mountain of evidence for this case gathered by scholar William R. Polk, one of the top aides to John Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and to other indicators of impending war. The story by Okaz -- which would not have appeared in the tightly controlled dictatorship without approval from the top -- is yet another, very weighty piece of evidence laid in the scales toward a new, horrendous conflict.

We don't know what the Saudis told Cheney in private -- or even more to the point, what he told them. But the release of this story now, just after his departure, would seem to be a clear indication that the Saudis have good reason to fear a looming attack on Iran 's nuclear sites and are actively preparing for it.

II. A Nuclear Epiphany in Iran ?

And they certainly should be bracing themselves. A U.S. attack on Iran will come suddenly, and if it is indeed aimed at destroying Iran 's nuclear capabilities -- a "threat" being talked up again with new urgency by both Cheney and Bush lately -- it has the potential for unimaginable consequences. As we noted here in a previous piece:

Twelve hours. One circuit of the sun from horizon to horizon, one course of the moon from dusk to dawn. What was once a natural measurement for the daily round of human life is now a doom-laden interval between the voicing of an autocrat's brutal whim and the infliction of mass annihilation halfway around the world.

Twelve hours is the maximum time necessary for American bombers to gear up and launch an unprovoked sneak attack – a Pearl Harbor in reverse – against Iran, the Washington Post reports….And when this attack comes – either as a stand-alone "knock-out blow" or else as the precursor to a full-scale, regime-changing invasion, like the earlier aggression in Iraq – there will be no warning, no declaration of war, no hearings, no public debate. The already issued orders governing the operation put the decision solely in the hands of the president: he picks up the phone, he says, "Go" – and in twelve hours' time, up to a million Iranians could be dead.

This potential death toll is not pacifist hyperbole; it comes from a National Academy of Sciences study sponsored by the Pentagon itself, as The Progressive reports. (Although Bush's military brass like to peddle the public lie that "we don't do body counts" of the enemy, in reality, like all good businessmen they keep precise accounts of their production outputs: i.e., corpses.) The Pentagon's NAS study calibrated the kill-rate from "bunker-busting" tactical nukes used to take out underground facilities – such as those which house much of Iran 's nuclear power program.

Another simulation by scientists, using Pentagon-devised software, was even more specific, measuring the aftermath of a "limited" nuclear attack on the main Iranian underground site in Esfahan, the magazine reports. This small expansion of the Pentagon franchise would result in stellar production figures: three million people killed by radiation in just two weeks, and 35 million people exposed to dangerous levels of cancer-causing radiation in Afghanistan , Pakistan and India . Bush has about 50 nuclear "earth-penetrating weapons" at his disposal, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Nor is the idea of a nuclear strike on Iran mere "liberal paranoia." Bush himself pointedly refused to take the nuclear option "off the table" this week. But what's more, Bush has made the use of nuclear weapons a centerpiece of his "National Security Strategy of the United States," issued last month, The Progressive notes. While reaffirming the criminal principle of "pre-emptive" attacks on perceived enemies which may or may not be threatening America with weapons they may or may not possess, Bush declared that "safe, credible and reliable nuclear forces continue to play a critical role" in the "offensive strike systems" that are now a key part of America's "deterrence."

In the depraved jargon of atomic warmongering, a "credible" nuclear force is one that can and will be used in the course of ordinary military operations. It is no longer to be regarded as a sacred taboo. This has long been the dream of the Pentagon's "nuclear priesthood" and its acolytes, going back to the days of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . For decades, a strong faction within the American power structure has been afflicted with a perverted craving to unleash these weapons once more. An almost sexual frustration can be discerned in their laments as time and again, in crisis after crisis, their counsels for "going nuclear" were rejected – often at the very last moment. To justify their aberrant desire, they have relentlessly demonized an ever-changing array of "enemies," painting each one as an imminent, overwhelming threat, led by "madmen" in thrall to pure evil, impervious to reason, fit only for destruction. Evidence for the "threat" is invariably exaggerated, manipulated, even manufactured; this ritual cycle has been enacted over and over, leading to many wars – but never to that ultimate, orgasmic release.

Now this paranoid sect has at last seized the commanding heights of American power....

And they have found a most eager disciple in the peevish dullard strutting in the Oval Office. Under their sinister tutelage, Bush has eviscerated 40 years' worth of arms control treaties; officially "normalized" the use of nuclear weapons, even against non-nuclear states; rewarded outlaw proliferators like India, Israel and Pakistan; and is now destroying the last and most effective restraint on the spread of nuclear weapons: the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The treaty guarantees its signatories – such as Iran – the right to establish nuclear power programs in exchange for rigorous international inspections. But Bush has arbitrarily decided that Iran – whose nuclear program undergone perhaps the most extensive inspection process in history – must end its lawful activities. Why? Because the country is led by "madmen" in thrall to pure evil, impervious to reason, who one day may or may not threaten America with weapons they may or may not have.

So the NPT is dead. As with the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Constitution, it now means only what Bush says it means. Force of arms, not rule of law, is the new world order. The attack on Iran is coming….

The nuclear sectarians have waited decades for this moment. Such a chance may never come again. Will they let it pass, when with just a word, in just twelve hours, they can see their god rising in a pillar of fire over Persia ?

Tales of the ‘Successful Surge’ in Iraq

Iraq Mortars Strike Near U.S. Embassy

Apparent Rockets Hammer Green Zone for Fourth Day This Week

March 27, 2008

Associated Press

BAGHDAD -Shiite militants are hammering the U.S.-protected Green Zone with rockets and mortars for the fourth day this week.

Thick, black smoke is billowing from inside the heavily fortified home to the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government.

Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo says no one has been injured in Thursday's attacks.

American military officials say the attacks are coming from breakaway factions of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.

The groups are believed to be funded and trained by Iran . However, Iran has denied the allegations.

Diplomats told to take cover in Baghdad

March 27, 2008

by Matthew Lee

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The State Department has instructed all personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad not to leave reinforced structures due to incoming insurgent rocket fire that has killed two American government workers this week.

In a memo sent Thursday to embassy staff and obtained by The Associated Press, the department says employees are required to wear helmets, body armor and other protective gear if they must venture outside and strongly advises them to sleep in blast-resistant locations instead of the less secure trailers that most occupy.

"Due to the continuing threat of indirect fire in the International Zone, all personnel are advised to remain under hard cover at all times," it says. "Personnel should only move outside of hard cover for essential reasons."

"Essential outdoor movements should be sharply limited in duration," the memo says, adding that personal protective equipment "is mandatory for all outside movements."

"We strongly recommend personnel do not sleep in their trailers," it goes on to say, offering space inside the Saddam Hussein-era palace that is the embassy's temporary home as well as room at an as-yet uncompleted new embassy compound and a limited supply of cots.

In a separate public notice to American citizens in Iraq , the embassy said the restrictions would remain in place "until further notice."

The staff memo says all personnel under the authority of the chief of mission "are required to wear body armor, helmet and protective eyewear any time they are outside of building structures in the International Zone. In addition, chief of mission personnel in the International Zone have been advised to remain inside of hardened structures at all times, except for mission essential movements."

The memo and warden notice were sent after a second American citizen was killed by a rocket attack in the Green Zone on Thursday. A U.S. citizen military contractor died of his wounds on Monday after being severely injured with four others in an attack.

One explosion from a rocket launched by suspected Shiite militiamen on Thursday ignited a fire in the central area of the zone that sent a massive column of thick, black smoke drifting over the Tigris River .

U.S. military officials said that among the weapons used in recent attacks are 107mm rockets made in Iran . One official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said they have included rockets stamped with 2007 Iranian manufacture dates.

Military and diplomatic officials would not say what had been hit inside the Green Zone. A U.S. military statement said one civilian was killed and 14 wounded "in the vicinity" of the protected district.

The first wave of rockets this week came on Easter Sunday. The Green Zone — and areas nearby — have barely had a breather since.

On Sunday, at least 12 Iraqis were killed that day outside the Green Zone, apparently by salvos that went astray

44,000 wounded Iraq war GIs treated at US hospital in Germany

March 26, 2008

Mathaba

Almost 44,000 American soldiers wounded during the Iraq war over the past five years have received medical treatment at the US Landstuhl military hospital in Germany , the largest medical facility outside the US , the European edition of the US military daily Stars and Stripes reported Tuesday.

Located in southwestern Germany , Ramstein has seen more than 50,000 injured GIs from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan , as the US death toll in Iraq has topped 4,000, according to American military officials.

Around 11,000 of those patients -or 22 percent- at the Landstuhl medical center are regarded combat injuries.

Although US military leaders allege that the troop "surge" in Iraq has been successful in Iraq , the Landstuhl military hospital has not witnessed a major reduction in the number of overall patients.

According to US military statistics, the number of inbound patients from the Iraq war has dropped from a record 771 in June 2007 to 564 in February this year.

However, US Major John Langevin, the facility's commander, also cautioned that the number of patients historically has been down from summer to winter.

The Landstuhl medical center has traditionally been the first stop for US personnel wounded overseas, ranging from the US embassy bombings in Africa to Afghanistan and Iraq . --IRNA

Secrecy News

SECRECY NEWS

Volume 2008, Issue No. 30

March 27, 2008

MARINE CORPS WILL RESTORE ONLINE ACCESS TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

The U.S. Marine Corps has agreed to restore public access to unclassified doctrinal documents on its web site.

The official Marine Corps doctrine web site remains inaccessible. But in response to a Federation of American Scientists request under theFreedom of Information Act, the Marine Corps said that all releasable contents would soon be made publicly available through the Publications directory of the main USMC web site (www.usmc.mil).

"Publications are actively being loaded with the goal of having all distribution A publications (approved for public release) loaded onto this site as soon as possible," wrote Captain E.C. Snyder on March 19.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2008/03/usmc-031908.pdf

The move follows a similar action by the Army's Reimer Digital Library last month. The Army had barred public access to its unclassified holdings, but then relented in response to a Freedom of Information Act action by the Federation of American Scientists (Secrecy News, Feb. 25).

A selection of U.S. Marine Corps documents on intelligence and security doctrine may be found on the FAS web site here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usmc/index.html

NEW INTEL DIRECTIVE ON TECHNICAL SURVEILLANCE COUNTERMEASURES

Last month the Director of National Intelligence issued a new Intelligence Community Directive (ICD) on "Technical Surveillance Countermeasures" (TSCM).

TSCM "represents the convergence of two distinct disciplines -- counterintelligence and security countermeasures," the directive explained. Its purpose is "to detect and nullify a wide variety of technologies used to gain unauthorized access to classified national security information, restricted data, or otherwise sensitive information."

The directive was released (in a fuzzy, not very well scanned copy) by the ODNI Freedom of Information Act office.

See "Technical Surveillance Countermeasures," ICD 702, February 18,

2008:

http://www.fas.org/irp/dni/icd/icd-702.pdf

DIA WITHDRAWS, CORRECTS OFFICIAL HISTORY

To its credit, the Defense Intelligence Agency promptly withdrew an official DIA history that mistakenly described the 1981 Israeli attack on an Iraqi nuclear reactor in the 1980s as an attack on Iran (Secrecy News, March 26). As soon as the error became public, DIA replaced the entire document with an updated account.

In an email message yesterday to Israeli author Gideon Remez, who discovered the error, DIA webmaster David Baird wrote: "You are correct that the historical fact is wrong. We did not realize it until you pointed it out. We are taking steps to correct it."

By yesterday afternoon, the 1996 "Defense Intelligence Agency: A Brief History," which contained the error, had been replaced on the DIA web site by a 2007 "History of the Defense Intelligence Agency." Both documents can be found on the FAS web site here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/dia/index.html

NATO ENLARGEMENT, AND MORE FROM CRS

Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.

"Enlargement Issues at NATO's Bucharest Summit ," March 12, 2008:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34415.pdf

"The NATO Summit at Bucharest , 2008," March 24, 2008:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS22847.pdf

"Selected Federal Homeland Security Assistance Programs: A Summary," updated January 31, 2008 :

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL32348.pdf

"Selected Laws Governing the Disclosure of Customer Phone Records by Telecommunications Carriers," March 10, 2008:

http://www

Volume 2008, Issue No. 29

March 26, 2008

DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY HISTORY CONFUSES IRAQ AND IRAN

In a memorable TV interview with former Secretary of State James Baker, prankster "Ali G" (Sasha Baron Cohen) wondered about the possibility of confusing " Iran " and " Iraq ."

"Do you think it would be a good idea if one of them changed their name to make it very different sounding from the other one?" he asked Secretary Baker.

"Ain't there a real danger that someone give like a message over the radio to one of them fighter pilots whatever saying bomb 'Ira...' and the geezer don't hear it properly and bomb Iran rather than Iraq ?"

"No danger," Secretary Baker gamely replied.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yXbNLkNhy1M

In an official history published on its web site, however, the Defense Intelligence Agency really has confused Iran and Iraq .

Among the "world crises" that transpired during the 1980s, the DIA history cites "an Israeli F-16 raid to destroy an Iranian nuclear reactor."

See "Defense Intelligence Agency: A Brief History" (originally published in 1997) at page 14:

http://www.dia.mil/publicaffairs/Foia/dia_history.pdf

or here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/dia/dia_history.pdf

But there never was an Israeli attack on an Iranian nuclear reactor.

Rather, "The description appears to match Israel 's raid on Iraq 's [Osirak] nuclear reactor" in 1981, observed Gideon Remez, an Israeli scholar who is co-author of the recent book Foxbats Over Dimona (Yale, 2007).

"Today's preoccupation with Iran 's nuclear program seems to have been projected onto the events of 27 years ago," Mr. Remez suggested this week in an email message to DIA public affairs.

"If that is indeed the case, I'd recommend a correction," he wrote.

MORE FRUS ERRORS OF OMISSION AND COMMISSION

Close examination of several recent volumes of the State Department's Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series has turned up errors and questionable editorial judgments.

The record of conversations between Chinese Prime Minister Chou En-lai and Henry Kissinger that was published in FRUS last month failed to include what is arguably among the more sensitive and significant discussions that they held, regarding Kissinger's offer to establish a US-China "hotline," development of contingency plans for accidental or unauthorized launch of nuclear-armed missiles, and provision of warning information in the event of Soviet moves against China. That discussion, which does not appear in FRUS, was memorialized in this document:

http://www.fas.org/irp/world/china/memcon111473.pdf

Fortunately, this memorandum and many more of comparable significance were collected and published by William Burr of the National Security Archive in his 1999 volume "The Kissinger Transcripts":

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/publications/DOC_readers/kissinger/19990110.htm

In another surprising editorial lapse (in Nixon FRUS volume XXIX on Eastern Europe, document 77, page 203, footnote 2), the editors state that "On January 17 [1969] student Jan Palach set himself on fire in the center of Prague to protest the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia."

"Anyone who knows this subject is aware that Palach immolated himself on the 16th of January, not the 17th," said Mark Kramer, editor of the Journal of Cold War Studies at Harvard. "This date is very well known in Czech society, and no one would confuse it with the 17th."

Interestingly, while the State Department got this date wrong, Wikipedia got it right.

Needless to say, everyone makes errors. The FRUS series remains a crucial resource for historical understanding, even with the occasional error. And a robust FRUS publication schedule with some errors is vastly preferable to a gridlocked schedule with no errors. Still, there may be room for improvement in the editorial process.

HOMELAND SECURITY COUNCIL FADES TO BLACK

The Homeland Security Council (HSC), a White House agency that advises the President on homeland security policy, has become one of the darkest corners of the U.S. Government.

The Council was established by President Bush shortly after September 11, 2001 and it was chartered as an agency within the Executive Office of the President in the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

"Thereafter, the HSC disappeared from the public record," a new report from the Congressional Research Service noticed.

In particular, according to CRS: The Homeland Security Council "does not appear to have complied with requirements for Federal Register publication of such basic information as descriptions of its central organization."

It has never disclosed "where, from whom, and how the public may obtain information about it." Nor has it published the required "rules of procedure, substantive rules of general applicability, and statements of general policy."

Moreover, "No profile of, or descriptive information regarding, the HSC or its members and staff has appeared, to date, in the annual editions of the United States Government Manual."

This peculiar state of affairs was described by Harold C. Relyea of the Congressional Research Service in "Organizing for Homeland Security: The Homeland Security Council Reconsidered," March 19, 2008 :

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RS22840.pdf

Last week, President Bush appointed assistant attorney general Kenneth L. Wainstein to be homeland security adviser and chair of the Homeland Security Council, succeeding Frances F. Townsend.

RUSSIA WEIGHS RESTRICTIONS ON INTERNET

Legislation pending in the Russian Duma [parliament] would impose new Russian government controls on online content, according to an analysis of Russian news reports from the DNI Open Source Center .

Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the Duma, was quoted as saying: "We know that the Internet is all too often used as an instrument for destabilization and for terrorism. That kind of use of the Internet must be stopped."

"Bloggers expressed varying degrees of alarm over the potential danger the law would pose to their community, with some alleging [that a sponsor of the legislation] is trying to use the law to silence his opponents and dismissing the law as unlikely to be passed," according to the OSC report.

See " Russia --Increased Attempts to Regulate Internet," DNI Open Source Center , March 24, 2008 :

http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2008/03/osc-russia.html

DOMESTIC SATELLITE SURVEILLANCE, AND MORE FROM CRS

Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following.

"Satellite Surveillance: Domestic Issues," March 21, 2008 :

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RL34421.pdf

"The Next Generation Bomber: Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress," March 7, 2008 :

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL34406.pdf

" U.S. Nuclear Cooperation With India : Issues for Congress," updated February 12, 2008 :

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RL33016.pdf

"Nuclear Weapons in U.S. National Security Policy: Past, Present, and Prospects," updated January 28, 2008 :

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RL34226.pdf

"U.S.-China Military Contacts: Issues for Congress," updated February 1, 2008 :

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32496.pdf

"Direct Overt U.S. Aid, Export Assistance and Military Reimbursements to Pakistan , FY2002-FY2009," March 24, 2008:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/pakaid.pdf

"Cybercrime: An Overview of the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Statute and Related Federal Criminal Laws," updated February 25, 2008 :

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/97-1025.pdf

Crisis in Pakistan

Pakistan ’s New Leaders Tell US: We Are No Longer Your Killing Field

· Visiting envoys earn cold reception from coalition

· PM wants new approach to fight Islamic extremism

March 27, 2008

by Declan Walsh

The Guardian

The Bush administration is scrambling to engage with Pakistan ’s new rulers as power flows from its strong ally, President Pervez Musharraf, to a powerful civilian government buoyed by anti-American sentiment.

Top diplomats John Negroponte and Richard Boucher travelled to a mountain fortress near the Afghan border yesterday as part of a hastily announced visit that has received a tepid reception.

On Tuesday, senior coalition partner Nawaz Sharif gave the visiting Americans a public scolding for using Pakistan as a “killing field” and relying too much on Musharraf.

Yesterday the new prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, said he warned President George Bush in a phone conversation that he would prioritise talking as well as shooting in the battle against Islamist extremism. “He said that a comprehensive approach is required in this regard, specially combining a political approach with development,” a statement said.

But Gilani also reassured Bush that Pakistan would “continue to fight against terrorism”, it said.

Since 2001 American officials have treasured their close relationship with Musharraf because he offered a “one-stop shop” for cooperation in hunting al-Qaida fugitives hiding in Pakistan .

But since the crushing electoral defeat of Musharraf’s party last month, and talk that the new parliament may hobble the president’s powers, that equation has changed. Now the US finds itself dealing with politicians it previously spurned.

The body language between Negroponte and Sharif during their meeting on Tuesday spoke volumes: the Pakistani greeted the American with a starched handshake, and sat at a distance .

In blunt remarks afterwards, Sharif said he told Negroponte that Pakistan was no longer a one-man show. “Since 9/11, all decisions were taken by one man,” he said. “Now we have a sovereign parliament and everything will be debated in the parliament.”

It was “unacceptable that while giving peace to the world we make our own country a killing field,” Sharif said, echoing widespread public anger at US-funded military operations in the tribal belt.

“If America wants to see itself clean of terrorism, we also want our villages and towns not to be bombed,” he said.

US officials have long paid tribute to the virtues of democracy in Pakistan . But, as happened in the Palestinian Authority after the 2006 Hamas victory, policymakers are racing to catch up with the consequences of a result that challenges American priorities.

The US has long been suspicious of Sharif, whom it views as sympathetic to religious parties. Unlike Benazir Bhutto, whose return from exile was negotiated through the US , Sharif came under the protection of Saudi Arabia . But now Sharif’s party, which performed well in the poll, is an integral part of the new government.

Yesterday Negroponte and Boucher travelled to the Khyber Pass in North-West Frontier Province , the centre of a growing insurgency. They met with the commander of the Frontier Corps, a poorly equipped paramilitary force that the US has offered to upgrade. The US has earmarked $750m (£324m) for a five-year development programme in tribal areas. At least 22 military instructors are due to start training the corps this year.

The timing of the American visit - before the new cabinet is announced - has offended Pakistanis. “It flies in the face of normal protocol at a time when public opinion is rife that they are making a last ditch effort to save Musharraf,” said Talat Hussain, a prominent journalist.

It is unclear how Pakistan ’s foreign policy will be formulated in future. Musharraf’s power may have been cut but the strong army is lurking in the shadows, and the coalition is wrangling over cabinet posts, including that of foreign minister.

Gilani must manage other tensions, particularly over whether to reinstate Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the deposed chief justice who was freed from house arrest on Monday. Chaudhry has become a folk hero but is viewed with suspicion by Gilani’s Pakistan People’s party.

Lies from the Campaign

HILLARY CLINTON HELPED WRITE THE CONSTITUTION. . . . AND A FEW OTHER MISSTATEMENTS

March 27, 2008

The Progressive Review

Hillary simply cannot tell the truth. Here's her scorecard:

Admitted Lies Chelsea was jogging around the Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 . (She was in bed watching it on TV.) . Hillary was named after Sir Edmund Hillary. (She admitted she was wrong. He climbed Mt. Everest five years after her birth.) . She was under sniper fire in