[truth-updates] News from TheTruthAboutGeorge.com

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THE TRUTH ABOUT GEORGE

a project of the National Organization for Women
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http://www.thetruthaboutgeorge.com/

June 7, 2004

You wanted to learn the truth about George W. Bush. Here are the latest updates to TheTruthAboutGeorge.com. Feel free to pass them on!

THE WAR:
+ CIA Director Tenet 'Resigns' Amid Intense Scrutiny ... New York Times Apologizes for WMD Coverage ... Bush's Primetime Iraq Speech Falls Short on Answers

DOMESTIC POLICY:
+ Bush Campaigns on Domestic Programs Slated for Budget Cuts ... Administration's Medicare Ads Ruled 'Covert Propaganda'

BUSHISMS:
+ Dubya puts his foot - er, hand - in his mouth ... discusses a "humane, well-supervised" prison system in Iraq

THE WAR
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+ CIA Director Tenet 'Resigns' Amid Intense Scrutiny
George Tenet's departure from his post as the head of U.S. foreign spying operations, announced June 3, comes after a year in which the quality - or lack of quality - of the intelligence filtering through the Central Intelligence Agency and informing U.S. foreign policy has come under intense scrutiny. Recurring themes have been the failure to prevent the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and to find weapons of mass destruction in post-war Iraq. Though both Tenet and George W. Bush attributed the resignation to "personal reasons," critics pointed out that Tenet's resignation may have been hastened by the anticipation of three heavily critical reports about the agency?s operations. Or perhaps, as Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post suggests, "Tenet [is] finally being served up as a sacrificial lamb by an administration that loathes to admit a mistake." Under Tenet, the CIA has been the subject of blistering critiques for what its detractors have called the two worst intelligence failures of the last 50 years: not anticipating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and exaggerating the threat of Iraq's weapons capability. Mark Leibovitch of the Washington Post notes that, in an exchange depicted in Bob Woodward's book "Plan of Attack," Tenet told George W. Bush that it was a "slam-dunk" that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. Some believe Tenet's resignation signals the beginning of the end of the Bush administration's foreign policy team: Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice have reportedly made it clear they will depart at the end of the current term, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld may also be unlikely to remain in the wake of the prison scandal in Iraq and the many calls for his resignation.

+ New York Times Apologizes for WMD Coverage
The New York Times, arguably America's most influential newspaper, published a sweeping apology on May 26 for a series of prominent reports before the war highlighting the apparent threat from Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. The Times said the articles in question shared a common feature: All depended "at least in part" on information from a circle of Iraqi informants, defectors and exiles, once trusted by the Bush administration, whose credibility has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks. "The most prominent of the anti-Saddam campaigners, Ahmad Chalabi, has been named as an occasional source in Times articles since at least 1991, and has introduced reporters to other exiles," the editorial said. "He became a favorite of hard-liners within the Bush administration and a paid broker of information from Iraqi exiles, until his payments were cut off last week." The Times editorial also said that the exiles' accounts were "often eagerly confirmed by United States officials convinced of the need to intervene in Iraq." The editorial acknowledged that Times editors at several levels were perhaps too intent on rushing scoops into the paper, and should have challenged reporters and pressed for more skepticism. Information from Iraqi defectors was not always weighed against the defectors' strong desire to have Saddam Hussein ousted. Articles based on dire claims about Iraq tended to get prominent display, while follow-up articles that called the original reports into question were sometimes buried. In some cases, there was no follow-up at all.

+ Terror Warnings - Prime Timing?
The Bush administration said on May 26 that it had credible intelligence suggesting that Al Qaeda is planning to attack the U.S. in the next several months, a period in which an international summit meeting and the two political conventions could offer tempting targets. But some intelligence officials, terrorism experts, and to some extent even Attorney General John Ashcroft's own F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, offered a more tempered assessment, saying, "for the next few weeks we have reason to believe there is a heightened threat to the U.S. interests around the world." Some Bush opponents, including police and firefighter union leaders aligned with Sen. John Kerry, the expected Democratic presidential candidate, alleged the timing of the announcement was intended in part to distract attention from Bush's sagging poll numbers and problems in Iraq. The New York Times reported that officials at the Department of Homeland Security said just a day before Ashcroft's announcement that they had no new intelligence pointing to the threat of an attack. Ashcroft conceded that authorities did not know of any specific plans for a terrorist attack and had no evidence to publicly share that would tie individuals identified as potential suspects to any specific threats. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge did not elevate the color-coded terror level.

+ Bush's Primetime Iraq Speech Falls Short on Answers
In a speech May 24, George W. Bush failed to address key concerns that have triggered growing skepticism about the war in Iraq. Bush did not provide the midcourse correction that even some Republicans had called for in the face of increasing violence in recent weeks. Nor did he try to answer the looming questions that have triggered growing skepticism and anxiety about the final costs, the ultimate length of stay for U.S. troops, or the terms of a final U.S. exit from Iraq. After promising "concrete steps" toward making progress in Iraq, the White House basically repackaged stalled U.S. policy as a five-step plan. In the hours before the address, delivered at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., Bush received a fresh reminder of just how fully his political fate is now tied to events in Iraq. A new crop of opinion polls showed that his job approval ratings continue to fall, that Americans increasingly think the nation is on the wrong track and that most people do not think Bush has a clear plan for bringing U.S. involvement in Iraq to a successful conclusion. While Bush said the handover of power would proceed as scheduled on June 30, he added the U.S. would keep troops in Iraq at the current level as long as necessary, because of the continuing unrest. Iraq's defense minister said he wanted U.S. troops out within the year, to be replaced by newly trained Iraqi forces. Shortly before Bush spoke, Washington asked the United Nations to endorse a plan that would give U.S. forces an open- ended mandate to stay in Iraq, renewable in a year. But Iraqis, from the streets of Baghdad to the ranks of the U.S.-installed administration, made clear they wanted a final end to 14 irksome months of occupation as soon as possible.

+ Practice Can't Perfect Bush?s Pronunciation of Abu Ghraib
Two rehearsals for his primetime May 23 speech were not enough to keep George W. Bush from mangling the name of the prison that brought shame to the U.S. mission in Iraq. Tom Shales of the Washington Post noted that "in addition to a generally lackluster delivery, Bush stumbled over the crucial name Abu Ghraib, the now infamous prison where grisly torture of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops has become an international scandal as well as an enormous embarrassment to the Bush administration." During the half-hour televised address, Bush mispronounced the infamous prison?s name each of the three times he mentioned it while announcing U.S. plans to tear it down and replace it with a new facility. The prison, the scene of torture under Saddam Hussein and the setting for the Iraqi prison abuse scandal under the U.S. military, has a name that English speakers usually pronounce as "abu-grabe." But Bush stumbled on the first try, calling it "abugah-rayp." The second version came out "abu-garon," and the third attempt sounded like "abu-garah." White House aides, who described the speech as an important address on the future of Iraq, said Bush practiced twice on Monday before boarding his helicopter for his trip to the speaking venue at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.

+ Moore's Documentary About Bush and Sept. 11 Wins Top Prize at Cannes
Tense relations between Disney and the company?s art-house division, Miramax, are complicating a deal to find a distributor for Michael Moore's new documentary movie "Fahrenheit 9/11," a film that criticizes the launching of the war in Iraq and explores ties between the Bush family and Saudi Arabia?s upper class. Two days after winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival, the film - the first documentary since 1956 to win the competition's top prize - was still without American representation. Walt Disney chairman Michael Eisner was said to be furious over news reports just before the Cannes festival that Disney had prohibited Miramax to distribute the film for political reasons. The news stoked a controversy that ultimately drew more attention to the movie, embarrassing Eisner and possibly raising the price for the film. The Montreal Gazette noted the uncertainty surrounding the documentary?s release date: "Something about Disney not releasing it for fear of offending Florida Governor Jeb Bush and his nice Disney tax abatements there."

Read more at http://www.thetruthaboutgeorge.com/war/index.html

DOMESTIC POLICY
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+ Bush Campaigns on Domestic Programs Slated for Budget Cuts
George W. Bush appears to be planning to run for re-election as a tax cutter without acknowledging the federal programs that will be sacrificed to make up for the lost revenue. The White House put government agencies on notice this month that if Bush is reelected, his budget for the 2006 fiscal year may include spending cuts for virtually all agencies in charge of domestic programs, including education, homeland security and others. On the campaign trail, Bush has been touting Head Start and other education programs; a nutrition program for women, infants and children; and home ownership, job-training, medical research and science programs, all of which face cuts in his 2006 budget. Also slated for cuts are the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the Small Business Administration, the Transportation Department, the Social Security Administration, the Interior Department and the Army Corps of Engineers. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported that the White House has tried to deny that these budget cuts are being planned.

+ Bush Administration's Medicare Ads Ruled 'Covert Propaganda'
The Bush administration has violated federal law by producing and disseminating television news segments that portray the new Medicare law as a boon to the elderly, a government agency said recently. The General Accounting Office (GAO) said May 19 that the videos - broadcast by at least 40 television stations in 33 markets - were a form of "covert propaganda" because the government was not identified as their source. The GAO said that a specific part of the videos, a made-for-television "story package," violated the prohibition on using taxpayer money for propaganda. People seeing the videos in a newscast would "believe that the information came from a non- government source or neutral party," it said. The GAO also found that the department had violated a second law, the Antideficiency Act, against using federal money for unauthorized purposes. Since "covert propaganda" is illegal, the GAO said, there were no funds authorized to produce it. The administration spent $44,000 for the three videos, two in English and one in Spanish. And they made it clear they would use the finding to try to further discredit the law, which surveys suggest most voters oppose. The GAO?s decision is not binding, but House Democrats immediately vowed to pressure the government to repay the money spent.

+ Bush Helps Wall Street in Exchange for Campaign Contributions
Personnel from seven major securities firms have donated more than $2.33 million dollars to the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, according to several recent news reports. In exchange, according to a number of reports, the Bush administration has championed causes that send money directly through the Wall Street investment banks. Three successive Bush tax cuts passed by Congress were specifically designed to lower taxation on savings and investment: The tax rate on most corporate dividends fell from 38.6 percent to 15 percent, and most capital gains are now taxed at 15 percent rather than 20 percent. Such measures were explicitly designed to encourage investment, thus channeling billions of dollars through Wall Street investment banks.

+ Bush Falls Off His Bike; Aides Blame Nonexistent Rain
George W. Bush, always star-crossed in his leisure pursuits, had another mishap May 22 when he fell off his bicycle during a 17-mile ride near his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Bush suffered scrapes and scratches on his chin, upper lip, nose, right hand, and both knees. Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman, immediately offered excuses for his boss. "It's been raining a lot, and the topsoil is loose," he said. However, Daily Kos, a political blog, noted that it hadn?t rained at all in Crawford for eight days before Bush?s bike accident, when the area got a measly three-tenths of an inch of rain. As Daily Kos put it: "As everything else, it wasn't Bush's fault. Nothing is Bush's fault. Ever."

Read more at http://www.thetruthaboutgeorge.com/domestic/index.html

BUSHISMS
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"I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand
cut off by Saddam Hussein."
—Bush, meeting with Iraqi citizens who received medical care in the U.S., May 25, 2004

"A new Iraq will also need a humane, well-supervised prison system."
—Bush, speaking at Carlisle, Virginia, May 24, 2004

"In the last 32 months, history has placed great demands on our country, and events have come quickly."
—Bush, speaking from Carlisle, Virginia, May 24, 2004

Read more at http://www.thetruthaboutgeorge.com/bushisms/index.html

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