Ohiocore

In a story titled US Iraq troops 'condone torture', the BBC reports that that a "Pentagon survey found that less than half the troops in Iraq thought Iraqi civilians should be treated with dignity and respect."

Not exactly reassuring.

BBC reports about Neil Coulbeck, Enron witness found dead in park.

From Reuters.com: Feds search former CIA No. 3's home, office.

The official in quesiton is former executive director of the Agency, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo. The investigators include:

• FBI
• CIA inspector general's office
• Internal Revenue Service, and
• Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

The investigations involve his suspected steering of contracts to one Brent Wilkes. And maybe some bribery... possibly involving prostitues at Watergate. No, but really, how close were they?

Foggo and Wilkes attended school together at Hilltop High in Chula Vista and San Diego State University, served as best men in each other's weddings and named their sons after each other.

After Foggo joined the CIA in 1982, Wilkes often visited him on Foggo's overseas assignments. Even before the CIA removed Foggo's undercover status last year, Wilkes and Foggo boasted to acquaintances about Foggo's secretive work.

At ADCS corporate headquarters, Wilkes set aside an office next to his executive suite where Foggo could work when he leaves the CIA, according to several former ADCS employees and business associates.

Remarkably, Foggo just retired on Monday, all of 1 business day after CIA Directory Porter Goss slipped in his "Friday surprise" resignation. Wow, these are the guys we have directing and day-to-day running our (officially about) 33,000-person foreign intelligence operation. Coincidence?

BBC says "more than three million", but
Forbes says "5 million". I wouldn't bet against the BBC here...

For anyone who entertains the question of whether the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping conducted by the NSA is legal, a definitive position is available from a group of 14 constitutional law scholars. I refer you to the The New York Review of Books: ON NSA SPYING: A LETTER TO CONGRESS.

In digesting the legal arguments, first job is to figure out what law(s) govern the case. The default answer is always the Constitution, because it governs all other laws. But I defy anyone to read the text (and caselaw) of FISA and determine that it is not governing. That is because it declares itself to be the "exclusive means by which electronic surveillance...may be conducted" including provisions for additional (but still limited) wartime authority and a system of checks/balances in the form of the FISA courts.

Good reading.

A quick survey of today's stories about Iran's resumed of nuclear development is an interesting case. The major facts are essentially understood by all sources, so the resulting variation in news coverage is a great example of observer expectancy result.

• Xinhua: "Iran optimistic about escaping UNSC referral"
• NY Times: "Iran Proposes New Talks With Europeans, Who Are Mostly Dismissive"
  
• The Australian: "Europe softens stance on Iran"
  
• Washington Post: Krauthammer can hardly manage to convert a third of his editorial comment into complete sentences. Proof the sentence fragment isn't dead. Because it isn't. "The Iran Charade, Part II". Actually, the title refers mainly to the EU Three nations' "head in the sand" approach. He opens quoting newly elected German Chancellor Merkel's claim of success on Iran, and proceeds to ridicule it.
• BBC News: Their own roundup up Arab newspapers is titled "West accused nuclear duplicity".
  • Al-Riyadh (Saudi Arabia):
  • Oman(Oman):
  • Al-Jumhuriyah (Egypt):
  • Al-Dustur (Jordan):
  • Al-Wafd (Egypt):
  • Iran Daily (Iran):
  • Resalat (Iran):

So which is it? Is Europe softening or stiffening? Is the West or Iran duplicitous? I think it is fair to say that all four assertions are true. Ah, complexity.

There are some stories that can give you insight into a national character. You might not expect the official state-controlled media to have any of them, particularly in the case of Russia, but, then again you might not have read RIA Novosti's story about Moscow's Homeless Subway Dog Monument:

A stray dog called Malchik ("Boy") lived underground inside the Mendeleyevskaya Station for about three years. He was of good character, and the Metro employees used to feed him...

One day, a fashion model, Yuliana R., was out with her Staffordshire terrier of impeccable breed. She noticed Malchik and started setting her dog against him. In effect, it was a parody of social conflict.

Malchik managed to defend himself and the pedigree terrier retreated. But the angry owner retrieved a knife from her elegant rucksack, and stabbed the stray dog before the eyes of stunned passers-by. They rushed to take her knife away, but the dog could not be saved.

This wild attack sent shockwaves through Moscow... The fashion model rushed off to Italy, but the incident was not hushed up. She was declared insane in a court hearing and is now in a mental hospital.

The moral of this story is that the little bitchy dog-as-accessory fad is indeed clinically insane. Don't do it.

For the record, the number of times that VOA has even used phrase "social struggle" is exactly once: in the obituary for Johnny Cash. If you didn't already love the man, that is almost enough right there.
But it was the emphasized lines that really got my attention. I don't think you'll ever catch Voice Of America (or Xinhua for that matter) making a similar statement, even though it is essential for understanding a story like this. A monument is being built... to a dog. Why? Why would people identify with a homeless dog? Because it was a good dog. Poor. It learned to ride the subway and survive on its own. And it was violently crushed by an insane parody of class struggle. Just like you.

RIA finishes with a moment of Zen: "There is a saying, if you beat a rabbit long enough, it will learn to strike matches. Unfortunately, Moscow has taught dogs to do the same."

Meet a former Vietnam War hero and decorated Navy "Top Gun" pilot, recipient of numerous commendations including the Navy Cross and two Silver Stars, the Representative of California's 50th Congressional District elected no fewer than eight times, and recently, admitted felon. Say hello to Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA).

You might hear a lot about him since he just plead guilty to Federal charges of :

• conspiracy to commit bribery;
• mail/wire fraud; and
  
• tax evasion.

San Jose Mercury News: "The tax evasion charge came after Cunningham reported joint income with his wife of $121,079 for 2004 and claimed he was due a refund of $8,504. Prosecutors said his income was $1,215,458 and he owed $385,077 in taxes." Whoopsy, he just left off the $1.1 Mill. on the front of that.

The story continues:

In court documents, prosecutors said Cunningham admitted receiving at least $2.4 million in bribes paid to him by several conspirators through a variety of methods, including checks totaling over $1 million, cash, furniture, yacht club fees and vacations. Prosecutors did not name the conspirators.

The implicated parties is where things will get even more interesting. Clearly Cunningham's buddy Mitchell Wade who bought the Congressman's house at $700,000 over market and also received blanket military appropriations contracts is part of the scandal: "Wade let him live rent-free on his yacht, the Duke Stir, at the Capital Yacht Club. His firm, MZM Inc., donated generously to Cunningham's campaigns."

MZM?
MZM's own piddly webpage banners itself as "Athena Innovative Solutions, Inc." Ok, wtf. So maybe they don't have their name straight, but hey, they're hiring... how do you feel about being National Intelligence Policy Advisor, a HUMINT spy or "Media Exploitation Specialist"? Perhaps you'd be better at supplying "all levels" of law enforcement with "Nontraditional Information Collection". I hear that's popular again.

ADCS?
See also Brent Wilkes, president of ADCS Inc:

An associate of Wade, Brent Wilkes, president of a Poway company called ADCS Inc., also gave Cunningham campaign cash and favors. Wilkes reportedly flew Cunningham in a corporate jet to go hunting in Idaho and golfing in Hawaii, and a charitable foundation Wilkes started spent $36,000 hosting a black tie 'Tribute to Heroes' gala in 2002 that feted Cunningham with a trophy naming him a hero.

ADCS, which specializes into turning paper records into digital files, has received tens of millions in Defense Department contracts since the late 1990s.

ADCS's webpage is worse than piddly. It only has *one page*. This is an electronic document specialist company, and they don't have even a single hyperlink on their webpage. No email, no address, no testimonials, no demos, no staff lists, no biography, no contact information. NOTHING! Wonder what they've been doing with all those millions of dollars, eh? Oh, they've been busy as the "unchallenged leader in developing and providing a total enterprise solution combining data capture and indexing, data conversion, and information management." Yeah, I can tell.

Their company.monster.com/adcs/ profile is more detailed, but it seems to think that /ADCS/ is the "Wilkes Corporation". In fact, that page touts their support of ADCS, Inc. amongst some other nefariously named shell corporations:

1. Group W Outfitters
2. Group W Media
3. Group W Advisors
4. Group W Transportation
5. Group W Holdings

Wow, impressive, they've got the whole Group W. (Isn't that the Army recruits of questionable moral character in Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant"? I believe it is.) ADCS doesn't have anything posted on monster right now, but Wilkes Corporation is hiring. Check out that webpage... Look familiar? I guess when they got 5 or 6 pages up they had a whole new company!

What is it with these guys? Why start with a stupidly self-named shell corporation: when you are trying to encapsulate the numbers from yourself, having your last name on them is a bad idea! I'm glad their corporate culture statement says "Here at Wilkes Corporation we have a work hard-play hard mentality."

This scandal should include others from a rather exclusive bunch. According to his own Official Biography, Cunningham "has been recognized for his work as a fiscal conservative by such organizations as Citizens for a Sound Economy, the National Taxpayer's Union, and the National Federation of Independent Businesses.... and by several law enforcement organizations for his tough-on-crime position." I'm sure these organizations enjoyed broad credibility before this rude fellow selflishly perverted their commendations into personal criminal gains, but let's look at them anyway.

In order, that's:

• Citizens for a Sound Economy: Headed nationally by Dick Armey. You might have heard of the Texas brand, directed by one Peggy Venable, granted $305,250 from ExxonMobil. They fought to purge mention of global warming and other unpatriotic thoughts from the $345 Million Texas textbook market, an effort simultaneously ignorant and dogmatic, Quixotic and Orwellian, if not apparent in their own description:

  "Texas CSE is leading the campaign to insure that Social Studies, History and Economics textbooks... instill patriotism in our students and are free from propaganda.... [we] found hundreds of errors and anti-American sentiment in proposed science textbooks"
  

  then perhaps best captured by the Texas Observer. The Texas CSE are based at 1005 Congress, Ste 910 in Austin. Well, isn't that remarkable! The very same suite occupied by:
  


• LILLY & COMPANY, LLC: the legal encapsulation of one Coulter-esque young blond hatchet, Susan Lilly, who "proudly serves as the chief fund-raising consultant to three congressional Republican candidates, five statewide Republican candidates and numerous other candidates, PACs, associations and committees." In fact, it might be more than that...
  

National Taxpayer's Union; and

National Federation of Independent Businesses.

Are all the fundraising consultants in Red Texas women under 35? More later...

Howard Kurtz is incisive in his "Dressed for Success, Primed for Failure" at the Post. The topic is everybody's favorite former FEMA Director, Mike Brown:

After Brownie was reckless enough to appear alongside Bush in a long-sleeved white shirt, came this urgent advice from Worthy: 'Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt, all shirts. Even the president rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this [crisis] and on TV you just need to look more hard-working.'

Look more hard-working. Key word: look. Forget results. It's all about image.

The hurricane hits on Aug. 29. What was the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency worrying about? His appearance. 'You look fabulous,' Worthy told him.

'I got it at Nordstroms. ... Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?' Brown replied in perhaps his only rapid response of the crisis. And an hour later: 'If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god.'

Yes Mike, you can quit now. A major American city was just decimated and permanently disabled on your watch, while you were getting paid a 6-figure salary to prevent precisely that! How great do you look now? It's messed up that you're *still* getting paid it too, even after being tossed from the job. So yes, Mike, you can take your FEMA funded fashion and phantom salary and go home, you prissy lazy incompetent bitch!!

You can get the firsthand account by reading Brown's own email correspondence, now part of the Congressional record, having been downloaded more than 350,000 times as of Nov 3rd.

Is it the Onion?:

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers told George W. Bush in a 1997 birthday card that he was "the best governor ever" and, in a separate note to her boss, said she hoped his twin daughters recognize their parents are "cool."

No... it's the Washington Post. See also, W's reply:

Bush wrote back to wish Miers a happy 52nd birthday, telling her that he appreciated her friendship and to "never hold back your sage advice." He ended with a postscript: "No more public scatology."

I wish I was joking.

At the end of the same BBC article you get a few "Oh, and by the way" points to consider:

• Nine Iraqi police and a civilian have died in suicide bombings between Baghdad and Karbala, where Shias are attending a major religious festival
• ... a nephew of Saddam Hussein, Ayman Sabawi, has been sentenced to life in prison for funding Iraq's insurgency
• An Iraqi reporter working for the New York Times, Fakher Haider, has been found dead in Basra
• Iraq's Finance Minister, Ali Allawi, tells the UK's Independent newspaper that large-scale corruption in Iraq's ministries, particularly the defence ministry, has led to the theft of more than $1bn.

That's a "B". On the one hand, it's total corruption. On the other hand, since the goverment hasn't even existed for 18 months yet, you have to be impressed with their efficiency!

The BBC reports on a striking story:

British forces have rescued two UK servicemen who were arrested by Iraqi police in the southern city of Basra. Official Iraqi sources say British tanks stormed the city's jail, but the Ministry of Defence says the men's release was negotiated. Basra governor Mohammed al-Waili said it was a "barbaric act of aggression".

This seems to represent a continuation of the conflict between British tanks and Iraqi locals. A Shite leader in the "Shia Mehdi Army" had been arrested earlier. As I previously blogged, Basra's police force was heavily and knowingly infiltrated by religious extremists. After some exchange in this case, 2 undercover British operatives were involved in a skirmish with Basra cops, killing one of the officers. They were then arrested, and then there were street protests were 2 UK tanks were burned, and crews forced to abandon them. 6 tanks then assaulted the Basra jail and busted out 150 prisoners, including the 2 operatives.

MoD officials insist they have been talking to the Iraqi authorities to secure the release of the men - who were reported to be working undercover. But they do acknowledge a wall was demolished as UK forces tried to "collect" the men Iraqi police accused of firing on them.

However, sources in the Iraqi Interior Ministry say six tanks were used to smash down the wall in a daring rescue operation.