“George W. Bush has helped those who have most, hurt those who have least and ignored everyone in between.” Wes Clark

Nick Kelly

Wes Clark could still secure America as a national security candidate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6o6y8x5jGg

Nick Kelly

Wes Clark could still secure America as a national security candidate.

CQ Politics: Republicans Try to Make Lieberman Switch Official

When Sen. Joe Lieberman returns to work this week, "he can expect some arm-twisting from his Republican friends and the cold shoulder from some Democrats" for giving a speech at the Republican convention, CQ Politics reports.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), said he "intended to try to pry Lieberman from the Democratic fold, beginning with Monday's cloture vote on a motion to proceed to the fiscal 2009 defense authorization bill."

Said Specter: "I would like to see him vote with Republicans in September. He's practically there. That would have the consequence of giving us a Republican Senate."

*****************************************

snip from Michael Sneed column @ Chgo Sun-Times:

Sneed is told by a top Dem source that former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is in line to become Barack Obama's chief of staff if he gets elected. Daschle is hot on the Obama fund-raising trail.

******************************************

Sept 8, 2008

NY Times: MSNBC Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat

(snip)

MSNBC tried a bold experiment this year by putting two politically incendiary hosts, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, in the anchor chair to lead the cable news channel’s coverage of the election.

That experiment appears to be over.

After months of accusations of political bias and simmering animosity between MSNBC and its parent network NBC, the channel decided over the weekend that the NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host David Gregory would anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night. Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews will remain as analysts during the coverage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/business/media/08msnbc.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Don't know if regular travelers to CCN saw my post about

DOOM

so here's the link.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/16488#comment-327389

I just added a new story about peak oil, for your reading pleasure.

Now, back to your regular programming...

Bob Woodward's 60 Minutes interview:

(snip)

"The War Within" tracks the growing alarm inside the White House in 2006, as U.S. casualties mounted during Iraq’s plunge toward civil war. The book is based on more than 150 interviews, including recorded conversations with the president. Mr. Bush told Woodward that he was frustrated with his commanders - and asked for enemy body counts so he could keep score.

Bush: "I ask that, on occasion, to find out whether or not we were fighting back. Because the perception is that our guys are dying and they're not, because we don't put out numbers. We don't have a tally. On the other hand, if I'm sitting here watching the casualties come in, I'd at least like to know whether or not our soldiers are fighting," the president explained in one of Woodward's recorded interviews.

"It gets so intense that in one of the secure video conferences between Washington and Baghdad the president says to Casey, 'George, we're not playing for a tie.' And Casey's knuckles, according to witnesses, literally go white as he's gripping the table. And he says, 'No Mr. President. We are not playing for a tie.' And this is Bush's concern that we're not going out and killing; in fact, Casey told one colleague privately that the president's view is almost reflective of 'Kill the bastards. Kill the bastards,' and that way we'll succeed," Woodward told Pelley.

(snip)

At the time, top military advisors were urging the president to reduce U.S. forces so Iraqis would do more of the fighting. But the president asked his national security advisor, Steven Hadley, to work on a different strategy, and three weeks after the ’06 election, Mr. Bush was moving towards a fateful decision.

"The president traveled to Amman, Jordan, to meet with Prime Minister Maliki, and behind closed doors he said what to him?" Pelley asked Woodward.

"He said, 'I am prepared to send tens of thousands of more troops here. And I need your cooperation. I need your endorsement of this idea.' Maliki’s a little resistant, but eventually, they hammer home, and get Maliki to go on board with this," Woodward said.

"So the president has told Maliki, 'There's gonna be a surge of thousands of troops.' Has the president told General Casey, his top man in Baghdad, that?" Pelley asked.

"No, no. The military is kind of on the outside of this, because they are adhering to the strategy of drawing down," Woodward said.

(snip)

But beyond all of that, Woodward reports, for the first time, that there is a secret behind the success of the surge: a sophisticated and lethal special operations program.

"This is very sensitive and very top secret, but there are secret operational capabilities that have been developed by the military to locate, target, and kill leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq, insurgent leaders, renegade militia leaders. That is one of the true breakthroughs," Woodward told Pelley. "I'd love to go through the details, but I'm not going to," Woodward replied. The details, Woodward says, would compromise the program.

(snip)

There's another revelation in your book about U.S. intelligence, and that is just how closely we are watching the Iraqi prime minister. Supposedly our ally, Nouri al Maliki," Pelley commented.

"There is significant surveillance of Maliki. And as one source told me, 'We know everything he says.' And others I've talked to about that say, 'You can't literally know everything.' But we know a great deal," Woodward said. Asked if there's any indication that Maliki knows the U.S. is watching him that closely, Woodward said, "Some people think that he should know, and that he might know. Others think he’s gonna be shocked."

"Well, he knows now," Pelley remarked.

"It’s part of the hidden story here," Woodward replied.

(snip)

"The president suggests to you, in your interview, that he believes he's already outmaneuvered whoever the next president is. Foreclosed their options on what to do about Iraq," Pelley said.

"He and the secretary of defense, Gates, both by appointing Petraeus as central commander, in other words the boss of the whole Middle East. And no matter who becomes president, they're not going to be able to replace him. Petraeus is what my old boss at the Post used to call 'fireproof' - he's done so well that he can't be fired. And there is some satisfaction people in the Bush administration take with that," Woodward explained. "Satisfaction" because they believe Gen. Petraeus will resist a quick withdrawal from Iraq.

"General Petraeus is sitting with 140,000 troops, in Iraq now, when conditions are definitely better. But Petraeus says, 'It's still reversible and fragile, because so many bad things have happened,'" Woodward said.

Transcript & video:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/04/60minutes/main4415771.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4415771