United States News Digest

Waxman Exposes More Bush Administration Lies on 'Yellowcake' Fraud

Dec. 19 (EIRNS)—More lies by top officials of the Bush-Cheney Administration, used to justify the unlawful invasion of Iraq, have been documented by the outgoing chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).

In a Dec. 18 memorandum to committee members, Waxman shows that, contrary to what former White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales told the Committee, the CIA had objected to the insertion of the false claim that Saddam Hussein had sought uranium ore from Niger, which some White House officials wanted to use in President Bush's speech to the UN on Sept. 12, 2002, and in another Bush speech on Sept. 26, 2002.

Gonzales, speaking on behalf of former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, told the committee that the CIA had "orally cleared" the uranium claim for use by the President. Rice, while refusing to be questioned by the Committee, stated publicly that she knew nothing of any doubts that the CIA had raised prior to the January 2003 State of the Union Address.

"For more than five years, I have been seeking answers to basic questions about why the President made a false assertion about such a fundamental matter," Waxman writes in his memorandum. Waxman says that he has new evidence showing that the CIA rejected the use of the uranium claim in regard to at least three Presidential speeches prior to the State of the Union; one of the examples he cites is a telephone discussion between Rice and the CIA's Deputy Director for Intelligence, Jami Miscik.

Gonzalez's false statements were also adopted by the Senate Intelligence Committee in its report on pre-war intelligence.

Cheney Admits Support for War Crimes

Dec. 17 (EIRNS)—In a Dec. 15 ABC-TV interview, Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledged what everyone already knew: that he approved and encouraged torture. When he was asked about accusations of "torture and illegal wiretapping," Cheney of course gave his pat response, "We don't do torture," but then went on to admit that he had supported the CIA's interrogation program, and that he had helped to get the program "cleared." Asked if he thinks that waterboarding is appropriate, Cheney answered simply, "I do."

What is now called "waterboarding," is properly called "water torture." It dates back to the Spanish Inquisition, and the United States military has prosecuted it as a war crime for over 100 years, including in the Spanish-American War, World War II, and the Vietnam War.

Just last week, the Senate Intelligence Committee, without dissent, issued a report concluding that the authorization of abusive interrogation tactics by senior Bush Administration officials was a direct cause of the torture and abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo; low-level military personnel were prosecuted and jailed for these abuses, while Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al. are still walking around free.

"On the question of so-called 'torture,' it's been a remarkably successful effort," Cheney claimed. "I think the results speak for themselves."

Those results, in fact, are the death and injury of thousands of American military personnel, and many more thousands of Iraqis. The Senate Intelligence report quotes former U.S. Navy General Counsel Alberto Mora as testifying that "there are serving U.S. flag rank officers who maintain that the first and second identifiable causes of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq—as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat—are, respectively, the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo."

Why Soros Hates Holder: 'Zero Tolerance' for Dope

Dec. 16 (EIRNS)—George Soros's dope pushers in NORML (National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws) and the Drug Policy Alliance Network are furious about Attorney General-designate Eric Holder's policies as U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C. (he was the first African American to hold that post); and as Deputy Attorney General under President Bill Clinton. Holder's policy was "zero tolerance," for drugs—the dope lobby's most hated policy. They have spent many years trying to replace the policy with "harm reduction." But, according to NORML's "Daily Audio Stash" this week, the dope lobby will rely on Barack Obama's statements during his Presidential campaign, that he would not have the Justice Department prosecute users of medical marijuana, to press for rejection of Holder. In addition, the Soros dopers—who could not stop Holder on their own—will join with the Rupert Murdoch forces and neocon/libertarians against Holder.

Not only did Holder reject marijuana decriminalization in the District of Columbia, but he worked for a law, passed by the D.C. City Council, that reversed the de facto legalization of marijuana in the District.

An associate of Holder's with the organization Concerned Black Men that mentors African American youth, reported that Holder passionately opposes drugs, and believed that the high number of homicides in D.C. during the 1990s was directly related to dope—not just crack cocaine, which was rampant at that time, but also marijuana.

In a Dec. 5, 1996 article in the Washington Times, Holder wrote he would "seek to make marijuana distribution in the District a felony and reinstate mandatory-minimum sentences for convicted drug dealers." He also said that "the D.C. Council's vote a year ago to repeal mandatory minimums was 'misguided,'" and that "the city is on the verge of an explosion in violence associated with the sale and use of marijuana." He also said in an interview, reported the Washington Times, that "marijuana is a significant problem for the city.... Crack cocaine still drives most of the violence in this city, but marijuana violence is increasing. We need to nip it in the bud."

Holder pushed to make the penalty for distribution and possession with intent to distribute marijuana a felony, punishable with up to a five-year sentence; the D.C. City Council passed that change in the law in July 2000.

Soros's Groups Turn Against Obama

Dec. 14 (EIRNS)—The drumbeat of criticism of the incoming Obama Administration continues from the George Soros-funded stable of groups that backed Obama in the campaign, but are now turning against him as he picks his Cabinet.

Progressive Democrats of America head Tim Carpenter was quoted in Politico saying that Obama "has confirmed what our suspicions were, by surrounding himself with a centrist-to-right-wing cabinet." And the head of Campaign for America's Future, Roger Hickey, said, "There's a concern that he keep his basic promises—and people are going to watch him."

These follow complaints against Obama's shaping of his administration, by Soros agent Mark Leonard, head of the European Council on Foreign Relations, which billionaire speculator Soros funds.

Lyndon LaRouche warned today that Soros will agitate Democrats to oppose confirmation in the Senate of some of Obama's Cabinet choices, and will fight to pin Obama to continuation of the disastrous Wall Street bailout policies of the Bush-Paulson Treasury and the Bernanke Federal Reserve.