Thursday, July 18, 2013. Chaos and violence continue, the President of Iran visits Iraq, Baghdad residents have trouble getting into their own neighborhoods, the effects of NSA whistle-blower Ed Snowden are still being felt, and more.
Starting with NSA whistle-blower Ed Snowden who remains in Russia.
Kasie Hunt and Kelly O'Donnell (NBC News) report US Senator Lindsey Graham "has told NBC News that the United States should consider boycotting the upcoming Winter Games if Russian President Vladimir Putin grants leaker Edward Snowden asylum -- a suggestion that a top U.S. Olympic official quickly rejected." First off, Putin has no say in temporary asylum. The process involves one ministry only.
As we noted Tuesday, "Putin wouldn't have a formal voice in temporary asylum. In fact, he should have no role in the decision. Again, that's per State Dept friend, however, that's how the process is
supposed to work and government processes don't always work as they are
supposed to." The temporary process also moves quickly. As from Graham's suggestion?
Stupidest thing in the world. Unless he's trying to get kicked out of the Senate. In 1980, the US boycotted the summer Olympics in Moscow. Jimmy Carter was President of the United States then. The decision was costly in so many ways. First off, US citizens have been training for four years. Second off, this politicizes the Olympics which are not supposed to be politicized. Third, do you realize how much money is at play right now? NBC suits will not be forgiving (NBC is carrying the Winter Olympics). That's a ton of ad revenue at stake and they've got nothing currently to plug into the schedule if the US doesn't compete. (And if the US doesn't compete, they could still air the Olympics but the US ratings would be in the toilet.)
Again, if Graham's trying to retire from the Senate, this is the way to do it. He will be publicly vilified for weeks should this take place.
Chris Moody (Yahoo News) reports US House Speaker John Boehner has responded, stating, "Listen, I love Sen. Graham. We've been close friends for 20 years. But I think he's dead wrong. Why would we want to punish U.S. athletes who have been training for three years to compete in the Olympics over a traitor who can't find a place to call home?"
Traitor? A traitor would be someone, for example, in Congress who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and then worked to secretly destroy the Bill of Rights. That would qualify as a traitor. Ed Snowden? Nope. But
Boehner's remarks put him in the same camp as the editor of The Moscow Times' Michael Bohm. In other words, Boehner's talking like the Kremlin. How strange it must be for his home district.
Roger Runnigen (Bloomberg News) reports the White House's stomping feet and pity party may mean that a September summit with Putin is called off, "Canceling the Putin meeting, announced in June, would deal
a blow to administration efforts to bolster already strained
relations with
Russia and would be a direct challenge to the
Russian’s prestige on the world stage." Whether the meeting is on or off isn't the only thing the White House is staying silent on.
Spencer Ackerman (Guardian) reports:
The Obama administration is refusing to say whether it will seek to renew a court order that permits the National Security Agency's bulk collection of phone records on millions of Verizon customers when it at the end of this week.
Officials
declined to discuss what action they intend to take about the order at
the center of the current surveillance scandal, which formally expires
at 5pm Friday.
Yesterday PBS' The NewsHour (link is video, audio and text) featured a debate on the topic between whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg (Pentagon Papers) and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey
DANIEL ELLSBERG, former State Department official:
Pardon me, but listening to that just now, I have to smile at the
thought that our friends will be very upset about the thought that
Snowden had exposed that we were spying on them, which he has done.
I must say, I think a lot of them would be envious of our capability.
I think Russia and China would be envious of our capability, the NSA
capabilities. It's exactly what they want in countries that aren't
exactly democratic.
My concern is that the very existence of this kind of capability
chills free speech in a disastrous way. I cannot see how there can be
investigative reporting of the national security community, when the
identity, the location, the metadata, and really the contents of every
communication between a journalist and every source, every journalist,
every source, is known to the executive branch, especially one that has
been prosecuting twice as many journalist -- sources as any president
before.
Moreover, my even larger concern is, I don't see how democracy can
survive when one branch, the executive branch, has all the personal
communications of every member of Congress, and every judge, every
member of the judiciary, as well as the press, the fourth estate that I
have just been describing.
I don't see how the blackmail capability that's involved there can be
-- will not be abused, as it has happened in the past, including to me,
by the way, and to other -- and to journalists.
Without that freedom to investigative or bring checks and balances, we won't have a real democracy. That's my concern.
But Snowden's whistle-blowing is having an impact on Americans.
Mark Clayton (Christian Science Monitor) reports:
Roughly 70 lawsuits have been filed since 2005 alleging that secret
US surveillance programs violated someone's constitutional rights, but
federal judges have dismissed most of the cases before the merits of the
charges were ever heard, these experts say. In particular, plaintiffs
have stumbled over the challenge of gaining legal standing to even bring
suit against the government, primarily because they could not identify
the secret surveillance program that they claimed had harmed them.
But fugitive leaker Edward Snowden, who in June divulged to reporters top-secret documents about two US surveillance programs run by the National Security Agency (NSA),
may have provided a way to get around that hurdle, constitutional
lawyers say. Since the Snowden leak (and US officials' subsequent
confirmation that the documents are real), at least five lawsuits have
been filed, the latest on Tuesday, alleging that the NSA program to
track all Americans' telephone records violates the US Constitution.
Ed Snowden's whistle-blowing had made a real impact. Yesterday's House Judiciary Committee hearing would not have taken place without those revelations. Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte asked near the start of the hearing, "Why not simply have told the
American people that we're engaging in this type of activity in terms of
gathering the information?"
Asking a simple question, it turns out, is much easier than getting an answer.
Ali Watkins (McClatchy Newspapers) reports: US House Rep Jerrold Nadler stating, "The fact that a
secret court unaccountable to public knowledge of what it’s doing . . .
may join you in misusing or abusing the statutes is of no comfort
whatsoever. So to tell me you go to the FISA court is
irrelevant."
The hearing was on the
spying and the FISA court. The first panel was made up of DoJ's James
Cole, NSA's John C.
Inglis, Office of Director of National Intelligence's Robert S. Litt
and the FBI's Stephanie Douglas. The second panel was Steptoe &
Johnson, LLP's Stewart Baker, the ACLU's Jameel Jaffer and CNSS' Kate
Martin. We covered it in
yesterday's snapshot,
Kat covered it in "
FISA rulings,"
Wally covered it in "
Proof that we should be thanking Ed Snowden (Wally)" and
Ava covered it in "
House Judiciary Committee hearing."
Ranking Member John Conyers attempted to get some straight answers.
Ranking Member John Conyers: If only relevant conversations can be
secured under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, then why on earth would we
find now that we are collecting the names of everybody in the United
States of America who made any calls for the last 6 years or more?
Stephanie Douglas: Sir, we're not collecting names. 215 only
collects phone numbers, the time and date of the phone call and the
duration of the phone call.
Ranking Member John Conyers: Well how do you consider that to be
relevant to anything if there is only collecting the names. I mean,
look, if this is an innocent pastime we just do to keep busy or for some
other reason why on earth would be collecting just the numbers of
everybody in the United States of America for at least six years?
Stephanie Douglas: I can speak to the, uhm, applications against
investigations and, in this case for 216, it would be specific to
counterterrorism investigations, uhm, that information enables us to,
uh, search against connections to other, uh, if there's a communication
between a US-based phone number and a phone number that is overseas
related to terrorism. And I know that Mr. Inglis explained to you the
reasonable articula -- articulable suspicion standard by which we have
to search against those phone numbers.
Ranking Member John Conyers: Well here-here we're faced with the
fundamental problem in this hearing. We're not questioning access,
we're talking about the collection in the first instance. In the first
instance when you collect the phone numbers of everybody in the United
States for over six years, there wasn't anything relevant in those
conversations. Now you have them. What I've been getting out of all of
this is that they may -- "This access may become valuable, Mr. Ranking
Member, and so that's why we do it this way." But I maintain that the
Fourth Amendment to be free from unreasonable search and seizure to mean
that this mega data collected in such a super aggregated fashion can
amount to a Fourth Amendment violation before you do anything else.
You've already violated the law, as far as I am concerned. And that is,
in my view, the problem. And of course to further document the first
question that the Chairman of this Committee asked -- is why didn't we
just tell everybody about it -- is because the American people would be
totally outraged -- as they are getting now as they become familiar with
this -- that every phone number that they've ever called is already a
matter of record. And we skip over whether the collection was a Fourth
Amendment violation, we just say that the access proved, in one case or
two, that it was very important and that's why we did it this way.
The witnesses' non-answers and rationalizing was frustrating throughout the hearing.
James Risen (New York Times) observes:
While administration officials defended the surveillance during the
hearing, several lawmakers said that the data collection was
unsustainable, and that Congress would move to either revoke the
legislative authorization for the bulk collection now or at least refuse
to renew it when it expires in 2015. Mr. [James] Sensenbrenner interrupted
James Cole, a deputy attorney general, to say, “Unless you realize
you’ve got a problem, that is not going to be renewed.”
Last night, Ava noted the disrespect shown the Committee by the witnesses on the
first panel. She wrote about how the Committee members were talked down
to and she's correct. The witnesses were not respectful and they
behaved as if they owned the House.
Sari Horwitz and William Branigin (Washington Post) report, "The
sharp and sometimes angry questioning stood in stark contrast to the
tone of hearings on the surveillance programs by congressional
intelligence committees in recent weeks."
In the House (as in the Senate), during rounds of questioning, each
member of the Committee is limited to a set time. (It's five minutes in
the House.) Conyers' time had expired and he wrapped up -- or thought
he had when he was interrupted.
Ranking Member John Conyers: This is unsustainable, it's outrageous and must be stopped immediately.
John Inglis: Sir, if I may compliment the answer Ms. Douglas gave,
uh, with respect to the question of relevance, of course it must be
legally relevant and it must therefore have operational relevance. I'd
like to address the operational relevance and then defer to my
colleagues.
Ranking Member John Conyers: Well you don't -- Wait a minute. We're
handling this discussion. I, uh, I asked her. Maybe somebody else can
do it. But my time has expired. And I appreciate you're volunteering
to help out here but it's clear to me that we have a very serious
violation of the law in which the Judiciary Committee deliberately put
in the issue of relevance. And now you're going to help me out and
defer to somebody else?
John Inglis: No, sir, I meant to actually provide additional
information. I'd be happy to take the question for the record if time is
not allowing that.
Ranking Member John Conyers: Well in all fairness --
Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte: Without exception, the gentleman is
recognized for an additional minute to allow another member of the panel
to answer the question if he so chooses.
Ranking Member John Conyers: No, I don't so choose. I'm satisfied
exactly with what I've gotten from the witness I asked the question to.
Former US Senator Gordon Humphrey wrote POLITIO about Ed Snowden, "Respectfully,
I say to Sweden, ‘\'America has done wrong in this instance. Stand up to
her. Grant Edward Snowden asylum. You will do the people of the United
States a great favor to resist their government in this matter and at
this moment.."
Earlier today,
Fu Peng (Xinhua) reports, "
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left for Iraqi
capital of Baghdad on Thursday for talks on subject of mutual interest,
semi-official ISNA news agency reported." AFP's Ammar Karim Tweeted:
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Prensa Latina notes, "The president's agenda includes interviews with Vice President of the
host country, Khuder al Khuzaie, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki,
reported IRNA news official agency."
Al-Manar explains Ahmadinejad was greeted on the red carpet by Shi'ite Vice President of Iraq Khudayr al-Khuzaie.
AFP reports, "The Iranian president was invited by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani,
but will be hosted by Khuzaie, as Talabani is abroad for medical
treatment." Last December, Iraqi
President Jalal
Talabani suffered a stroke. The incident took place late on December
17th (see the
December 18th snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital.
Thursday, December 20th,
he was moved to Germany. He remains in Germany currently.
Adam Schreck (AP) points out, "Ahmadinejad is just weeks away from handing over power to
president-elect Hasan Rouhani, who is expected to be sworn in in early
August."
Mu Xuequan (Xinhua) reports:
Ahmadinejad, who arrived in Iraq's capital Baghdad on
Thursday afternoon, said "The Iran-Iraq relation is outstanding and
exceptional, which is significant for spreading progress in the region."
"We believe that if the Iranian and Iraqi peoples put their potential
together in one path, they would lead the way to solutions to the
problems in the region," he said in a briefing after talks with Iraqi
Vice President Khudair al-Khuzaie.
NINA reports Ahmadinejad also met with Nouri al-Maliki:
A statement issued by the Prime Minister's Media Bureau quoted Maliki
saying during the meeting that Iraq seeks to develop its relations with
all countries of the world, especially its neighbors, "We continue to
overcome the old burden, on both regional and international levels."
Maliki
added, "Iraq supports peaceful solutions to all of the area's problems;
in its relations, it adopts open door policy, based on mutual respect
and interests." He pointed out that long borders with Iran require more
cooperation in all fields.
The Iranian leader's visit was planned in advance but kept secret.
Prensa Latina explains, "Days ago an Iraqi official source refuted versions about the visit,
apparently for security reasons due to the attacks and terrorist attacks
especially against areas in which the majority Shiite community lives."
Through yesterday,
Iraq Body Count counts 480 violent deaths in Iraq so far this month. Monday, AKE's John Drake noted the increase in violence:
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Last night,
Elaine noted
the lack of coverage on the violence from the US press, "The US press
helped the US government unleash all the hell that has followed in Iraq.
How dare they think they can walk away."
The violence continues today.
All Iraq News reports a
battle in Anbar Province left 2 Iraqi soldiers and 3 rebels dead,
4 police officers were killed and twelve people injured when "police patrols in Aitha village" (near Tikrit) were attacked,
1 Ministry of Oil employee was shot dead in Mosul and his nephew was left injured, and a
Mosul bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier while leaving another injured.
Alsumaria adds
that, south of Tikrit, a farmer was shot dead and when police arrived
to investigate a bomb went off and they were shot at resulting in four
of them being injured.
AFP reports
it was 2 farmers (husband and wife) killed in the attack (by a bomb,
not gunfire) and they note a Wajihiyah bombing claimed the lives of 3
"young men." Alsumaria notes a
Tuz Khurmatu bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer, that
gunmen stormed a Kirkuk home and killed 1 woman, and a
Kirkuk bombing injured one civilian. That's 18 reported deaths and 19 reported injured.
Mustafa Habib (Niqash) reports one result of the ongoing violence:
Increased violence in Iraq recently has seen new
security measures in Baghdad. Now locals cannot enter a neighbourhood
unless they live there and can prove it. Some locals say they will stop
visiting relatives elsewhere and politicians suggest it’s a violation of
human rights.
Escalating violence in Iraq has seen increased security
measures instituted in the capital Baghdad. Today locals are not always
able to move freely from one area to another. To enter neighbourhoods
that are not necessarily their own, they have to show a special card
verifying their place of residency, be accompanied by someone from that
neighbourhood with such a card or take an oath at a security checkpoint
promising that this is indeed where they live and that they are not a
terrorist.
It has gotten to the stage now where locals have started
making fun of the procedures. One oft-told joke is about the
“indulgence” that must be granted before anyone can get into their own
home. Indulgences were given out by the Catholic Church to parishioners
if a sin had been forgiven.
Joking aside, many people in Baghdad believe the new
security measures are only adding to the conflict, causing further
divisions between various sections of the city and fuelling feelings of
sectarian conflict.
We'll come back to the violence in a moment. Right now, we'll note this Tweet from the
Washington Post's Liz Sly:
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Really? The way they 'improved' Iraq? Don't pin that on Bully Boy Bush. Not only did numerous Dems vote for authorization of war but Barack's had five years as president to 'help' Iraq and all he's done is nullify the will of the people (by insisting Nouri get a second term as prime minister after the Iraqi people said no. Iraq is in shambles and what the State Dept does there, spending billions, is kept from the American people either due to indifference or secrecy.
Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) noted Kerry yesterday:
The Obama Administration’s refusal to characterize Egypt’s
military takeover as a “coup” even though that’s what the word coup
actually means continued today, with Secretary of State John Kerry seeming to praise the junta for its action.
“You had an extraordinary situation in Egypt of life and death, of the
potential of civil war and enormous violence, and you now have a
constitutional process proceeding forward very rapidly,” insisted Kerry,
warning against a “rush to judgment.”
So a coup is now a good thing? These are the values the State Dept and White House want to espouse?
John Glazer (Antiwar.com) notes reports that US President Barack Obama was warned against arming the so-called 'rebels' in Syria, that White House lawyers told him it would be illegal. Glaser points out, "First, this is a case in point for anyone who wonders whether the
federal government is guided by the rule of law or operates on the basis
of perceived interests. As can be consistently demonstrated throughout
U.S. history, even if it’s illegal, the Executive Branch (which has
usurped essentially all of the governments war-making powers) will still
do it if they want to."
Meanwhile
Defense Industry Daily notes the remarks of Lt Gen Robert Calsen (formerly in charge of the Office of Security Cooperation - Iraq --
as of Wednesday, he's now in charge of West Point)
to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction:
“We have 479 separate FMS [DID: Foreign Military Sale,
where a branch of the US armed forces acts as Iraq's project and
contracting agent] cases valued at $14.8 billion: 166 are pending cases
valued at $2.3 billion, 152 are active Iraqi-funded cases valued at $11
billion, and 161 are closed cases valued at $1.5 billion. Of the closed
cases, 85 were funded with $750 million from the Iraq Security Forces
Fund (U.S. money) and 76 were Iraqi-funded cases valued at $750 million.
We currently have 73 cases in development. OSC-I continues to push the
total-package approach, which is equipment, training, maintenance, and
sustainment for each case. We have FMF [US-funded Foreign Military
Financing]… at $850 million, with $566 million obligated and $284
million still available.”
DID has covered ongoing and planned requests for F-16 fighters, C-130J medium aerial transports, and M1 tanks, among others. These American buys have been accompanied by multi-billion deals for Ukrainian transport aircraft and armored personnel carriers, and for Russian
attack helicopters and point defense anti-aircraft units. According to
Lt.-Gen. Caslen, There’s more to come for the Americans [. . .]
Where others see misfortune and mourning, the defense industry sees potential profit.
Al Mada reports
that the Iraqi Ministry of Defense has put out a request for members of
Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army to help them in locating lost weapons and
lost weapons contracts. Nouri's government has spent the last 7 years
demonizing these people but now they want their help. Why? Again, the
profit motive. Iraq, out of Chapter VII (but now in Chapter VI), is
eager to see that contracts were enforced fairly and that any monies
owed the former government be quickly paid to the current one. Weapons also figure into where Iraq stands on Syria, it turns out.
John Hudson (Foreign Policy) reports:
For months, the Obama administration has tried and failed to persuade Iraq to block
flights over its territory from Iran to Syria -- a corridor the U.S. believes
is sustaining Syria's military advantage over the rebels. Though U.S. officials
insist Iranian flyovers present a critical lifeline for the Assad regime, Iraqi
officials say they can't stop Iran's military airlift: Iraqi air defenses are
too weak. Now, Iraq's newly-minted ambassador to the U.S. has a plan to bridge
the diplomatic impasse: Help me help you.
In an interview on Wednesday, Ambassador Lukman Faily said he's
busy trying to convince U.S. officials that if they agree to bolster Iraqi air
defenses, it will improve Iraq's ability to halt weapons coming from Iran. "We
don't have full control of our airspace because we don't have an Integrated Air
Defense System in place and this is why I'm talking with Capitol Hill, I'm
talking with the State Department and the [Pentagon] because we already have a
request for an Integrated Air Defense System plus Apache helicopters which
total $10 billion," he told The Cable.
"It's beneficial for the United States."
We'll note
Rajiv Chandrasekarn's important article for the Washington Post tomorrow. We'll also note that
Isaiah's
The World Today Just Nuts "
The Lemon On The Lot" went up.
iraq
kasie hunt
pbsthe newshour
bloomberg news
spencer ackerman
the christian science monitor
mcclatchy newspapers
ali watkins
the washington post
sari horwitz
william branigin
the new york times
james risen
prensa latina
defense industry daily
all iraq news
alsumaria
afp
fu peng
xinhua
ammar karim
ake
john drake
al mada
the associated press
adam shreck
xinhuamu xuequan
niqash
mustafa habib
antiwar.comjason ditz
john glaser
john hudson
hurriyet daily news
Ammar karim
Liz Sly