United States News Digest
Powell Says U.S. Must Lead Occupation of Iraq
In what was officially termed "frank" discussion, Secretary of State Colin Powell met with his NATO counterparts in Brussels, Belgium. After a day of talks, Powell said that the U.S. would play a "leading role in determining the way forward" in Iraq after the war. He said he was receptive to full NATO participation as peacekeepers during the occupation, but European NATO members have tabled no such plan.
European Union Ministers want the occupation and reconstruction to be run through the UN, but Powell gave the UN only a "humanitarian role." He also called for what he termed an international "chapeau" (French for "hat") for the rebuilding period, in which the UN would provide "an endorsement, a recognition for what's being done" to rebuild Iraq after Saddam is ousted.
European Foreign Ministers who attended the meeting said the following:
*Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, whose country holds the rotating EU Presidency, said of the NATO meeting with Powell that: "We will be discussing how we will be reshaping and replacing our Transatlantic relationship.... A UN resolution will be prerequisite for a full involvement of the European Union."
*NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson said that he felt the allies would be "more willing" to provide peacekeepers if there were also an agreement of the UN to "rebuild Iraq." He made these comments after discussion with Powell.
*French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said: "We must stabilize Iraq and the region.... The United Nations is the only international organization that can give legitimacy to this."
*Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, also in Brussels for meetings of NATO "partners," told reporters that the main task "now before the entire world community is to search together for an exit situation."
*However, a usually reliable EIRNS Egyptian source based in Washington, D.C., said that there is concern among the Arabs and Organization of Islamic Countries that the effort of the Arab League to override the UN Security Council, by holding a meeting of the UN General Assembly on this matter to stop the war, was not receiving support from European countriesmuch as the Europeans claim that the occupation plans must be endorsed by the UN.
Rice Briefs Press on Postwar Iraq Arrangements
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice briefed the press on postwar Iraq arrangements on April 4, although she probably left more questions than she answered. She announced that the United States will work to establish an Iraqi Interim Authority, which will consist of representatives of the expatriate groups who have fought Saddam Hussein so hard for many years (in the salons and clubs of the London aristocracy), as well as representatives in the "liberated areas" of Iraq.
This will not be a "provisional government," however, she explained. The real power will still lie with the "coalition forces." There will a role for the UN, of course, Rice indicated, but just what role, is still to be decided. "The precise role of the UN will be determined in consultations between the Iraqi people, coalition members, and UN officials," Rice said.
Jay Garner's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) will "help to restore the basic services," but with the establishment of the Interim Authority, it will revert to an "advisory" role. "ORHA is not a provisional government for Iraq, civilian or military," Rice said. "The goal is to transition responsibilities to the Iraqi people as soon as possible. I just want to underscore that Iraqis will be involved in this process at its very earliest stages."
(Ahmad Chalabi's cousin Sam Chalabi is already busy working with the ORHA in the Kurdish area of the country.)
Asked about Congressional concerns that the money for "Iraq reconstruction" was being distributed through the Pentagon, Rice responded, "The thing that we need most here is flexibility to use this funding, so that the reconstruction effort is effective and efficient. The Defense Department, however, has been designated by the Presidentand Secretary Rumsfeldas the lead agency. The other agencies are supporting agencies to the Defense Department's effort."
Rumsfeld Growls at Allies, Don't Give 'Hope and Comfort' to the Enemy
At the Pentagon press briefing April 3, Defense Secretary Donald Rummy was asked, "Mr. Secretary, do you have any information that would lead you to believe that a third party, perhaps a foreign government, such as France or Russia, might be encouraging what's left of Saddam's regime to just hang on in hopes of cutting some kind of a deal? And is there any deal available to them, short of their end?"
Rumsfeld: "The answer is yes and no. There's no question but that some governments are discussing, from time to time, some sort of acutting a deal. And the inevitable effect of it, let there be no doubt, is to give hope and comfort to the Saddam Hussein regime, and give them ammunition that they can then try to use to retain the loyalty of their forces, with hope that one more time maybe he'll survive; one more time, maybe he'll be there for another decade or so, for another 17 or 18 UN resolutions.
"And as to the second question, there's not a chance that there's going to be a deal. It doesn't matter who proposes it, there will not be one."
Powell, at AIPAC Meeting, Warns Syria and Iran
On March 30, Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Over the course of several administrations, the Executive has kowtowed to this body, which interlocks with numerous political action committees, by sending top officials. Powell showed the usual obeisance to Israel, and followed this up by repeating the threats Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld had made against Syrian and Iran on March 28 (see last week's EIW).
During his speech, Powell said: "It is now time for the entire international community to step up and insist that Iran end its support for terrorists, including groups violently opposed to Israel and to the Middle East peace process. Tehran must stop pursuing weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them. ... Syria also now faces a critical choice. ... Syria can continue direct support for terrorist groups and the dying regime of Saddam Hussein, or it can embark on a different and a more hopeful course. Either way, Syria bears the responsibility for its choices, and for the consequences."
With respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Powell called for an end to terrorism, and said that a transformed Palestinian state "must be a real partner for peace with Israel." He called upon Israel to take steps to ease the daily suffering and humiliation of Palestinians, and said there must be an end of Israeli settlement activity.
On April 4, in response, the Deputy Ambassador from Syria to the United States told BBC Radio that the line that Syria is shipping weapons to Iraqas claimed by Rumsfeld and echoed by Powellis categorically untrue. The United States has control over the Iraqi side of the border, he said, and if they have any evidence of such shipments, which the Syrians know do not exist, they must present that evidence to Damascus. The Deputy Ambassador claimed to have tremendous respect for Powell, but said that in this case, it must be said that he is being fed false information by those who have stated that they want Syria to be next, after Iraq.
Today's Most Ardent American Imperialists Weren't Born in the USA
That was the message of a March 23 commentary from the Boston Globe online, on the increasingly open push for an American Empire. Author Jeet Heer, who writes frequently for the National Post of Canada and the Boston Globe, discusses the pro-imperial debate, which he sees as reflecting a positive view of the British Empire among the propagandists. He cites in particular Rudyard Kipling and his "The White Man's Burden," which, he points out, was written on behalf of Teddy Roosevelt's seizure of the Philippines. He also notes that there is very little difference between "Wilsonianism" and straight-out imperialism, as Woodrow Wilson's invasions of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico demonstrate.
The "American Empire" group, he says, tends to include advocates of the expansion of an American Empire into the "Anglosphere," with the U.S. taking over the former role of the British.
Among the non-Americans Heer points to are: Max Boot (born in Russia, although arriving in the U.S. as a baby); Charles Krauthammer (born in Uruguay, grew up in Montreal); Dinesh D'Souza (born in India); Paul Johnson (born in Britain); Mark Steyn (Canada); Michael Ignatieff (Canada); and, of course, the Hollinger Corporation's Conrad Black.
Conrad Black Raves Against UN as 'a Farce'
According to the Edmonton Sun of March 31, Lord Conrad Black, the media mogul, in referring to efforts to move the Iraq war back into the UN framework, told one of his own media outlets in the Sun chain in Canada: "A huge proportion of the membership countries are just petty despots that have no civil policy at all." Black ripped into the UN for its failing to back the U.S. in seeking to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
Black ranted: "We have seen what a demeaning farce the whole business of rounding up votes in the Security Council is. Whoever happens to be there becomes the subject of all kinds of bribes and it is a good thing that the Americans took it as far as they did to expose [the UN] as the farce that it was."
Black denounced "vintage French skulduggery," followed by the Germans' "Freudian fantasy they are the extreme pacifist entry." Black threatened that Germany's decision to "alienate" the U.S. will go down in history as "the absolutely stupidest act Germany could implement."
Black said it's time to "dissolve" NATO, and there should be a "world alliance preserving the principle that an attack against one is an attack against all." This "alliance" should be made up of democratic countries prepared to be viable allies.
Former U.S. NATO Ambassador: American People Won't Let U.S. Become an Empire
Robert Hunter, the former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, told BBC World News April 3 that "the U.S. Congress and the U.S. people will never allow the U.S. to become an empire, starting with Iraq." Hunter, who served during the Carter Administration, told BBC that the United States may be able to win the war on a unilateral basis, but to win the peace, it will "need many friends." Pushed by the interviewer to defend the American and British position regarding the war and the occupation, Hunter chose to support the American people's sanity instead.
Bush's Domestic Agenda in Big Difficulties
As the military operation in Iraq takes a different direction than the one he anticipated, President George W. Bush is having a very difficult time with his domestic agenda as well. The March 30 Washington Post reported: "The President's $726-billion tax cut proposal has been sliced in half, his plan for oil drilling in Alaska defeated, his faith-based plan stripped to its bare bones, and his cap on medical malpractice lawsuit damages put on life support."
There are a crucial number of Republican Senators who have broken with the President on crucial votes. For example, on the Administration's 10-year, $726-billion tax-cut, Senators Snowe (R-Me.), Chaffee (R-R.I.), and Voinovich (R-Ohio), voted to cut the tax package in half, to $350 billion. Were it held at that level, it would restrict or doom outright the administration's proposal to eliminate individual taxes on corporate dividends. Though Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), is reportedly Bush's closest friend in the U.S. Senate, and the person Bush installed after Trent Lott was removed from that post, Frist has been unable to line up the Senate the way Bush wants.
The Washington Post noted that these setbacks "are unusual for Bush, who used a combination of charm, promises, and outright bullying to pass most of his agenda through Congress in 2001 and 2002."
Profile of a Stressed-Out President
USA Today on April 2 ran a front-page lengthy story, "Strain of Iraq war showing on Bush, those who know him sayHe's said to be 'burdened,' tense, angry at media, second-guessers," describing President Bush as very stressed-out, enraged, impatient, and moody, since the launching of the Iraq war two weeks ago. USA Today reporter Judy Keen obtained interviews with at least two Bush intimates for the storyCommerce Secretary and long-time Bush friend Don Evans, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The overall profile she put together showed Bush to be angry at Cabinet and staff members who are second-guessing the war plan, and furious at the media, in general. Perhaps one explanation for Bush's state of mind is the fact that every morning, after a 30-60-minute National Security Council meeting, the President meets alone with Rumsfeld, who provides him with the detailed up-to-the-minute map briefing on the status of the war. They talk at least twice a day, following the morning session.
Evans, who was one of the people who reportedly got Bush into the born-again treatment to overcome his bouts of alcoholism, told USA Today that Bush copes with his anxiety over the war by praying and doing exercise. Keen reports that Bush gave up sweets just before the war began in order to get his running time back down to 7.5 minutes per mile. Evans was quoted as saying, "He knows that we're all here to serve a calling greater than self. That's what he's committed his life to do. He understands that he is the one person in the country, in this case really the one person in the world, who has a responsibility to protect and defend freedom."
State Officials Target the Most Vulnerable, Cut Medicaid, Health Insurance
State officials are targetting the most vulnerable Americans as they cut Medicaid and health insurance for low-income citizens, in an effort to balance budgets.
COLORADO: To save $2.7 million, Colorado Governor Bill Owens signed a law eliminating medical benefits to legal immigrants under the state's Medicaid program. The result: 120 elderly Coloradans were expected to be evicted from nursing homes starting April 1. These legal immigrants have no other means of payment, as they are not entitled to Social Security benefits or public assistance programs.
WASHINGTON: The supplemental budget passed 95 to 1, in the state House of Representatives March 31, begins a new round of budget gouging. This plan will require 200 more state worker layoffs, and axe 20,000 residents from obtaining state-subsidized health care coverage. This is one piece of bloodletting supposed to rectify the $2.6-billion deficit.
MASSACHUSETTS: Last-minute efforts by a State Senate Democrat to reverse GOP Governor Mitt Romney's cut to the state's Medicaid program failed. Thus, as of April 1, 36,000 chronically unemployed adults lost their state-funded health insurance.
TEXAS: Opposing a "restoration" motion put up by Republicans, 11 Democrats walked out of the House Appropriations Committee on March 31. The $2.75-billion GOP-sponsored motion was billed as restoring cuts to the health and human services budget, but still cut 250,00 children from the CHIP program, 300,000 from Medicaid, 17,000 pregnant women from health care, and 55,000 disabled elderly from home health care services. Despite the walkout, the motion later passed.
When Budget Cuts Kill: Oregon Cuts State Health Plan for the Poor
According to the Seattle Times of March 31, in its latest round of budget-cutting, the Oregon Legislature axed funds for 9,000 citizens in the Medically Needy Program, and 100,000 covered by the Oregon Health Planboth aid the poor. While some of the cuts have been restored through June 30, some hospitals have begun to remove poorer uninsured patients from waiting lists for organ transplants, or to keep them off the list all together.
The logic of this genocidal triage policy, is that since these patients have had their prescription drug benefits cut, they won't be able to afford the $1,000-per-month anti-rejection drugs needed for a transplant.
Ironically, it was the 1987 death of a seven-year-old boy whose unemployed mother couldn't raise needed funds for a bone-marrow transplant to cure his leukemia, which led to the creation of the Oregon Health Plan program to cover low-income citizens.
Bottom line: Nazi-like mentality to "save money" will cost lives.
Supreme Court: HMOs Must Open Their Networks
The Supreme Court last week ruled that HMOs must open their networks to all doctors willing to accept their payment rates. Health maintenance organizations claim they can only control health-care costs by limiting the number of doctors and hospitals that participate in their networks. At issue was a Kentucky law which the HMOs opposed and which required HMOs to sign contracts with "any willing provider" or doctor who agrees to their rules. The Supreme Court said the law offers patients more choices. and upheld a lower-court ruling that backed the law and preserved the states' power to regulate insurance.
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