Ain’t Gonna Happen

AP (06.28.05):

“Italy is preparing to request the extradition of 13 purported CIA officers accused of kidnapping a terrorism suspect and secretly transporting him to Egypt, a court official said Tuesday.

Prosecutors also have asked the help of Interpol in tracking down the suspects, all identified as U.S. citizens, said the official who asked that his name not be used because the investigation was still under way.”

Italy Preparing to Seek Extradition in Alleged CIA Kidnapping, Official Says

“The 13 were accused of seizing Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, known as Abu Omar, on a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003, and sending him to Egypt, where he reportedly was tortured, according to Milan prosecutor Manlio Claudio Minale.”

“The CIA in Washington declined to comment Tuesday. The U.S. Embassy in Rome also has declined to comment.”

Background on how the CIA stuck it to Italian intelligence on this one.

Running Amok

Citigroup was hosing over everybody. AP (06.28.05):

“Citigroup Inc., the world’s largest financial institution, will pay $25.4 million for breaching standards of behavior in bond trades last year, Britain’s financial watchdog said Tuesday.

The Financial Services Authority said the penalty was related to a trading strategy last Aug. 2 in which London-based employees of Citigroup sold a large volume of European government bonds on 11 electronic trading platforms, causing prices to fall. They later bought back some of the bonds at a lower price, earning a profit of 9.9 million British pounds.”

British Financial Watchdog Fines Citigroup $25.4 Million Over Bond Trades

“The FSA ordered Citigroup to relinquish the profit it made from the deal and imposed an additional penalty of 4 million pounds ($7.3 million).”

They’ve been in some hot water lately. Scorecard please:

• $2 billion to settle an Enron lawsuit;
• $5 billion over the last two years (including the Enron settlement) “to resolve allegations that it aided in corporate frauds and money laundering and published biased research”;
• One of 10 companies paying $1.4 billion April 2003 “after U.S. regulators accused them of twisting research to gain lucrative underwriting and merger assignments. Citigroup paid the largest share: $400 million.”; and,
• $244 million of costs due to the loss of its Japanese private-banking license.

Insult To Injury

This is routine in many civil matters, that the loser pays some or all of the winner’s court costs. It’s not punitive in any sense, and it’s strictly for costs, not for attorneys’ fees. Still, it sure do sting when you cut that old check. AP (06.28.05):

“The Washington state Republican Party paid Democrats $15,000 to cover court costs in the GOP’s unsuccessful challenge to the election of Gov. Christine O. Gregoire.

Officials said the check was cut Friday as Chelan County Superior Court Judge E. Bridges signed a final order to dismiss the Republican challenge, affirming a ruling he issued June 6 that upheld the election results.”

Washington State GOP Pays $15,000 to Democrats for Governor Election Challenge Court Costs

Day Late

Dollar short. Two actually.

Happy bday, pt!!

Ouch

From Ruy Teixeira (06.26.05), a recent Zogby poll. Bush’s numbers are terrible:

President’s Handling of Issue	Positive	Negative
War on Terrorism	49	50
War in Iraq	39	61
Taxes	36	62
Foreign Policy	36	61
Jobs and the economy	35	65
Education	33	64
Environment	30	66
Social Security and Medicare	27	69

Ruy comments, “OK, Bush is tanking….but how much is that likely to hurt the GOP in 2006? That’s still a long way away, but here’s something to think about”:

“The new EMILY’s List report on a large-scale survey by Garin-Hart-Yang and The Feldman Group points out that working class (non-college-educated) white women (whom I have maintained was the key group that swung to Bush and the GOP in the 2004 election) now support the Democrats by 18 points in a prospective 2006 Congressional matchup. In 2004, this same group supported Bush by 18 points and House GOP candidates by 15 points.”

Bush Continues to Weaken

“If anything like this holds up in 2006, the Republicans are in big trouble.”

Back In Business

AP (06.27.05):

“Baghdad’s airport reopened Monday amid a contract dispute between a British security firm and the Iraqi government that led to a 48-hour shutdown.

Global Strategies Group temporarily suspended its management of security operations at the airport Friday, saying there were ‘unresolved commercial issues’ with Iraq’s Transport Ministry. About 500 Global employees handle security at Baghdad’s airport.”

Baghdad’s Airport Reopens Amid Dispute Between British Security Firm, Iraqi Government

Global has 500 employees at the airport?

“The firm, which also manages security at the Green Zone in central Baghdad, has about 1,100 workers on the ground in Iraq – mainly armed former Nepalese and Fijian soldiers.”

Former Nepalese and Fijian soldiers? What’s up with that? Well, hell, war is good business. NYTimes (04.02.04):

“Though there have been private militaries since the dawn of war, the modern corporate version got its start in the 1990’s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

At that time, many nations were sharply reducing their military forces, leaving millions of soldiers without employment. Many of them went into business doing what they knew best: providing security or training others to do the same.

Though many of the companies are American, others from Britain, South Africa and elsewhere are providing security in Iraq. Among them is Global Risks Strategies, a British company that hired Fijian troops to help protect armored shipments of the new Iraqi currency around the country.”

Security: Private U.S. Guards Take Big Risks for Right Price

Stuck With It

Detroit News (06.27.05):

“General Motors Corp. has indefinitely barred most senior executives and other employees with access to internal financial information from buying or selling company stock and has taken steps to limit the disclosure of such information.

The unusual move follows the Detroit automaker’s decision to suspend profit guidance to Wall Street in April amid uncertainty about the company’s financial future.”

GM won’t let execs trade stock

“The ban is intended to prevent GM insiders from inadvertently engaging in illegal insider trading based on information that is not publicly available.”

“The ban on stock trading also applies to employee 401(k) saving programs. Employees can continue to purchase company stock in those plans but must do so at the same rate as before the ban.”

Notoriously Unreliable About Paying

BBC, via WIIIAI:

“Baghdad airport has been closed indefinitely in a dispute over payment for security.

It is understood that Global has not been paid by the Iraqi government for three months.”

Cash row closes Baghdad airport

QOTD, by the BBC: “It is not clear whether there is any connection but the Iraqi transport ministry is frequently accused of corruption.”

No doubt merely a coincidence.

Mandate

Rasmussen Reports, via DailyKos:

“Forty-nine percent (49%) of Americans say that President Bush is more responsible for starting the War with Iraq than Saddam Hussein. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 44% take the opposite view and believe Hussein shoulders most of the responsibility.”

Who was more responsible for starting the war in Iraq?

“Overall, 42% of Americans say that they approve of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president, 53% disapprove, and 5% are undecided.” From the American Research Group, Inc. (06.23.05), via DailyKos, the breakdown by party id:

	Approve	Disapprove
Republican	84	12
Independent	17	75
Democrat	18	77

60% of Voters Disapprove of George W. Bush’s Handling of the Economy

There are times when things suck.

Then there are times when things really suck.

Then there are those times when “really sucks” doesn’t cut it.

Running Out Of Options

“Time magazine reported in February that a meeting had taken place between one representative of the insurgents and two US military officials. Earlier this month it was claimed that indirect negotiations had begun through an intermediary.” Sunday Times (06.26.05), via Billmon:

“After weeks of delicate negotiation involving a former Iraqi minister and senior tribal leaders, a small group of insurgent commanders apparently came face to face with four American officials seeking to establish a dialogue with the men they regard as their enemies.

The talks on June 3 were followed by a second encounter 10 days later, according to an Iraqi who said that he had attended both meetings. Details provided to The Sunday Times by two Iraqi sources whose groups were involved indicate that further talks are planned in the hope of negotiating an eventual breakthrough that might reduce the violence in Iraq.”

US ‘in talks with Iraq with Iraq rebels’

“According to an Iraqi commander, one of the Americans introduced himself as ‘a representative of the Pentagon’ and declared himself ready to ‘find ways of stopping the bloodshed on both sides and to listen to demands and grievances’.”

“The Americans were then said to have launched into a lengthy session of questioning about the structure of the insurgency, which is far from a unified entity.”

“‘It was a boring line of questioning that indicated an attempt to discover more about their enemy than about finding solutions,’ one of the sources added. ‘We told the translator to inform them that if they persisted with this line we would all walk out of the meeting.'”

No one is being fooled here, at least on the Iraqi side.

“Bush acknowledged on Friday that ‘the way ahead is not going to be easy’ and for once the Iraqi insurgent commander agreed with him.”

‘It looks like the Americans are in big trouble in Iraq and are desperate to find a way out,’ the commander said. ‘Why else would they have rounds of negotiations with people they label as terrorists?'”

It’s over. Rumsfeld confirms the Sunday Times’ story. AP (06.26.05):

“Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld acknowledged Sunday that U.S. officials have met with insurgents in Iraq, after a British newspaper reported that two such meetings took place recently at a villa north of Baghdad.”

Rumsfeld Acknowledges U.S. Officials Met With Insurgents in Iraq

What To Do About Dick

Hell, isn’t Cheney running the show anyway? LATimes (06.26.05):

“For months, President Bush has struggled to maintain public support for the war in Iraq in the face of periodic setbacks on the battlefield. Now he faces a second front in the battle for public opinion: charges that the administration is not telling the truth about how the war is going.

Bush and his aides have delivered a positive, if carefully calibrated, message. The war is not yet won, they acknowledge, but steady progress is being made. ‘We can expect more tough fighting in the weeks and months ahead,’ the president said in his weekly radio address Saturday. ‘Yet I am confident in the outcome.’

But last month, Vice President Dick Cheney broke from the administration’s ‘message discipline’ and declared that the insurgency was in its ‘last throes.’ The White House has been paying a price ever since.”

Bush’s Credibility Takes a Direct Hit From Friendly Fire

“Cheney spokesman Steve Schmidt said the vice president thought the controversy was mostly partisan politics. ‘He understands that it’s natural for political opponents to seize on a statement and try to make political hay of it,’ Schmidt said.”

“But other administration officials and Republican elders, who spoke anonymously because they feared retribution from the White House, said the vice president had blundered.”

That’s just great. Spoke anonymously because they feared retribution from the White House. In the interests of free, frank and open discussion, please, please, please don’t use my name.

Polls are starting to show that a majority of Americans have come to believe Iraq has been a big mistake. Why is that?

Maybe folks are asking themselves this question: “‘If things are going so well, why do we hear every morning that 30 people have been killed in Baghdad?'” That, by the way was from a top Republican advisor who refused to be identified.”

And maybe it’s also because there’s a growing suspicion the “war has been conducted with tactical and strategic incompetence.”

And maybe it’s also because there’s a growing suspicion that “‘(t)he White House is completely disconnected from reality. It’s like they’re just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we’re losing in Iraq.'”

So maybe it’s because it’s looking more and more like the Administration hasn’t had a clue about what it’s been doing, and it doesn’t look like they’ll be finding one any time soon.

Running A Simulation

First, we start in December, 2005, with “growing unrest in Nigeria.” Knight-Ridder (06.24.05):

“The economic effects of unrest in faraway Nigeria are immediate. Crude oil prices soar above $80 a barrel. June’s then-record $60 a barrel is a distant memory. A gallon of unleaded gas now costs $3.31. Americans shell out $75 to fill a midsized SUV.”

Simulated oil meltdown shows U.S. economy’s vulnerability

Ouch.

Fast forward about a month. “A blast rips through Saudi Arabia’s Haradh natural-gas plant. Simultaneously, al Qaida terrorists seize a tanker at Alaska’s Port of Valdez and crash it, igniting a massive fire that sweeps across oil terminals. Crude oil spikes to $120 a barrel, and the U.S. economy reels. Gasoline prices hit $4.74 a gallon.”

Double ouch.

“Fast-forward again, to June 23, 2006. Emboldened Saudi insurgents attack foreign oil workers, killing hundreds. A mass evacuation follows from the world’s pivotal oil producer, the one country that could be counted on to boost production during shortages in global supplies.”

“Oil prices have reached an unthinkable $150 a barrel. In Philadelphia, Miami and Kansas City, Mo., gas prices reach $5.74 a gallon. Now it takes $121 to fill that midsized SUV.”

Uh oh.

Former CIA Director Robert Gates (1991-1993) played the role of top national security adviser to the president. He noted that a “‘million or a million and a half barrels of oil a day off the market is a very realistic kind of scenario. You can think of a dozen different countries around the world … where you can see that happening. Or even a natural disaster could do that.'”

Former CIA Director (1993-1995) James Woolsey played the role of Homeland Security chief. He described the scenarios they simulated as “‘relatively mild'”.

And now, back to reality. Financial Times (06.23.05), via PerfessorDeLong:

“US oil futures rose above $60 a barrel for the first time amid high demand for petrol and diesel and market worries about lack of spare refining capacity.

The new nominal all-time high was reached after the US Department of Energy reported a jump in consumption that showed higher prices were not dampening demand.”

Oil prices touch all-time record of $60 a barrel

Working Vacation

Washington Post (06.26.05):

“For 19 American intelligence operatives assigned to apprehend a radical Islamic preacher in Milan two years ago, the mission was equal parts James Bond and taxpayer-financed Italian holiday, according to an Italian investigation of the man’s disappearance.

The Americans stayed at some of the finest hotels in Milan, sometimes for as long as six weeks, ringing up tabs of as much as $500 a day on Diners Club accounts created to match their recently forged identities, according to Italian court documents and other records.”

Italians Detail Lavish CIA Operation

“(A)fter abducting their target and flying him to Cairo under the noses of Italian police, some of them rounded out their European trip with long weekends in Venice and Florence before leaving the country, the records show.”

But first, let’s burn the Italians!! Turns out the Italian secret police had been “aggressively pursuing a criminal terrorism case against Mr. Nasr, with the help of American intelligence officials.” After he disappeared, the Italians started to investigate. What they found was that “some of the C.I.A. officers who had been helping them investigate Mr. Nasr were involved in his abduction.”

Ha, ha. Guess how easy it’s gonna be to operate in Italy from now on?

For spies on a top-secret mission, our guys were real smooth, subtle, top-notch professionals. “While most of the operatives apparently used false identities, they left a long trail of paper and electronic records that enabled Italian investigators to retrace their movements in detail.” What they did is pretty nutty:

• They often stayed in the same five-star hotels;
• They rarely paid in cash;
• They gave their frequent traveler account numbers to desk clerks; and,
• They made dozens of calls from unsecure phones.

It does not appear, however, that they provided Italian intelligence copies of their mission briefs or itineraries.

“The Americans’ whereabouts are unknown, and Italian authorities acknowledged that the odds were slim that they would ever be taken into custody. The CIA has declined to comment.”

All Hat; No Cattle

Sure know how to talk the talk though, don’t they? Seeing as how this article is from Fall, 2004, they’ve been doing it quite a while. Knight-Ridder (09.01.04), via DailyKos:

“Young Republicans gathered here for their party’s national convention are united in applauding the war in Iraq, supporting the U.S. troops there and calling the U.S. mission a noble cause.

But there’s no such unanimity when they’re asked a more personal question: Would you be willing to put on the uniform and go to fight in Iraq?”

Young Republicans support Iraq war, but not all are willing to join the fight

Jeepers, I’m kinda busy now and what not. “(Seventeen-year old Vivian) Lee said she supports the war but would volunteer only if the United States faced a dire troop shortage or ‘if there’s another Sept. 11.”

Ms. Lee continued: “‘As long as there’s a steady stream of volunteers, I don’t see why I necessarily should volunteer.”

“‘If there was a need presented, I would go,’ said Chris Cusmano, a 21-year-old member of the College Republicans organization from Rocky Point, N.Y. But he said he hasn’t really considered volunteering.”

“‘I physically probably couldn’t do a whole lot’ in Iraq, said Tiffanee Hokel, 18, of Webster City, Iowa, who called the war a moral imperative.”

“‘I’m in college right now, but who knows?” said Matthew Vail, a 25-year-old from Huntsville, Ala., who works with Students for Bush. He said he might consider enlisting after he finishes his degree at the University of North Carolina, but not until then.

“‘The bug may get me after college,’ he said.”

Not that we doubt it or anything. Old Matt sounds like he’s one rough, tough cream puff. Give it to me, baby:

You know it‘s kind of hard,
just to get along today.
Our subject isn‘t cool,
but he fakes it anyway.
He may not have a clue,
and he may not have style,
but everything he lacks,
well he makes up in denial.

Check’s In The Mail Too?

Ooops!! Washington Post (06.25.05):

“The chairman of the House ethics committee apparently did not properly file a required report about a $3,170 trip to Canada last year. His staff said it must have been lost in the mail.

Perhaps the report, due nine months ago, will turn up. But this is a potentially embarrassing juncture for the chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), to suffer a paperwork blunder.”

Required Report on Trip by House Ethics Chairman Is Missing

“Intense scrutiny of the travel of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) has impelled lawmakers from both parties to file or amend reports on more than 200 trips, some from years ago. The Hastings committee, currently stalled by a partisan standoff, eventually will have to decide whether any of that tardiness should be punished.”