Political Skullduggery

"The former president of the U.S. Family Network said Buckham told him that Russians contributed $1 million to the group in 1998 specifically to influence DeLay's vote on legislation the International Monetary Fund needed to finance a bailout of the collapsing Russian economy."

(...)

"Records and interviews also illuminate the mixture of influence and illusion that surrounded the U.S. Family Network. Despite the group's avowed purpose, records show it did little to promote conservative ideas through grass-roots advocacy. The money it raised came from businesses with no demonstrated interest in the conservative "moral fitness" agenda that was the group's professed aim."

posted by Effwit @ 12:53 PM

Even in those early days, there were hints of the troubles to come. "If anyone is not surprised at the rise and fall of Jack Abramoff, it is me," said Rich Bond, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Abramoff and his crew busted the College Republicans' budget with a 1982 national direct-mail fundraising campaign that ended up "a colossal flop," said Bond, then deputy director of the party's national committee. He said he banished the three from GOP headquarters, telling Abramoff: "You can't be trusted."

Abramoff started right where many self made men do, at the top:

Abramoff also counted on his father, who had a wealth of connections from his days as president of the Diners Club credit card company. Frank Abramoff had once looked into operating a casino in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. territory that includes Saipan. He introduced his son around, and the Marianas became one of the first important clients of the new lobbyist.

Soon the younger Abramoff developed a key alliance with Rep. Tom DeLay, a conservative Republican from Texas who was working his way up in the House leadership.

As shown above, Abramoff always associated himself with the highest caliber people:

Another Abramoff financial vehicle was the nonprofit American International Center, a Rehoboth Beach, Del., "think tank" set up by Scanlon, who staffed it with beach friends from his summer job as a lifeguard. The center became a means for Abramoff and Scanlon to take money from foreign clients that they did not want to officially represent. Some of the funds came from the government of Malaysia. Banks and oil companies there were making deals in Sudan, where U.S. companies were barred on human rights grounds.

This is a very long piece, but it is essential reading for anyone looking to make his life's work in lobbying.

posted by Effwit @ 4:15 PM

"In its ruling last week, the 4th Circuit questioned the government's changing rationale for Padilla's detention since the September decision, because the criminal charges do not mention a dirty bomb plot or any attack inside the United States. The court said prosecutors had left the appearance that they were trying to avoid Supreme Court review of Padilla's case and suggested that Padilla might have been "held for these years, even if justifiably, by mistake."

(...)

"Yesterday, prosecutors denied any attempt to avoid the Supreme Court and said they had narrowed the charges against Padilla because elaborating on the original allegations would compromise intelligence "sources or methods."

posted by Effwit @ 11:07 AM

"In Samarra, about 65 miles north of Baghdad, a few thousand demonstrators gathered to condemn the elections. Some carried photos of Sunni leaders or of Hussein carrying a rifle, and they waved banners that read: "Forgery in the election is treason."

"If they don't respond to our demands, we shall show them things they have never seen before," Ahmad Mahdi Dhaye, a cleric and member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, a leading Sunni religious group, told the crowd."

U.N. Official Endorses Iraq Vote

posted by Effwit @ 9:25 AM

We know only the barest outlines of what the NSA has been doing. The most reliable accounts have appeared in the New York Times, the newspaper that broke the story. Although the headline has been "warrantless wiretapping," the Times accounts suggest the program actually was something closer to a data-mining system that collected and analyzed vast amounts of digitized data in an effort to find patterns that might identify potential terrorists.

The legal problems, as Arkin suggests, involve the dots -- what digital information can the government legitimately collect and save for later analysis, and under what legal safeguards? As it trolls the ocean of data, how can the government satisfy legal requirements for warrants that specify at the outset what may only be clear at the end of the search -- namely, specific links to terrorist groups? These and other questions will vex lawyers and politicians in the coming debate, but they aren't a reason for jettisoning these techniques.

America's best intelligence asset is technology. The truth is that America has never been especially good at running spies or plotting covert actions. Our special talent has been the application of technology to complex problems of surveillance.

posted by Effwit @ 1:19 PM

(T)here is now greater attention in Washington, both in Congress and at the Pentagon, on out-of-control spending on some weapons. The Pentagon currently has $1.3 trillion of weapons program in its portfolio - with $800 billion of the bills for them still to be paid. The Pentagon has commissioned a major study to make recommendations on curbing these runaway costs.

This would mean the Pentagon would want to buy more of the highly agile and high-technology weapons that they need. Specialized skills like language, intelligence and communication are also becoming top priorities.

(...)

But already there are signs of trouble ahead. In the last few years, Mr. Rumsfeld has tried to kill some weapons systems he saw as Cold War anachronisms and to push a military modernization plan. But his efforts were thwarted by what Washington calls the Iron Triangle of Congress, the uniformed military command and military contractors.

Many military experts said the same fate could be in store for this review, although Mr. Henry, and some military analysts, argued that this round could be different.

Still, some military analysts remain skeptical. "Congress equates weapon systems with jobs and votes," Mr. Thompson said. "It's hard to convince them of anything that will lead to less jobs and fewer votes."

Contractors Are Warned: Cuts Coming for Weapons

posted by Effwit @ 3:53 PM

Jeffrey White, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Sunnis need to come to terms with their minority status, something they never had to confront under fellow Sunni Saddam Hussein and his predecessors.

"Some Sunnis will never accept it," White said.

This does not appear to be the Bush administration's best case scenario playing out after the "successful" national elections in occupied Iraq.

Sunnis Promise More Protest Unless Re-vote Is Taken

posted by Effwit @ 9:51 AM

"The bipartisan gerrymander of the state's congressional districts after the 2000 census all but wiped out competition between the two parties. As a result, none of the state's 33 Democrats in the House faces any viable threat next year from the GOP, strategists say, and only two of the 20 Republican incumbents seem to stand even a slim chance of trouble in November: Reps. Richard W. Pombo of Tracy and, to a lesser extent, David Dreier of San Dimas.

"Nationally, independent analysts say that plausible Democratic scenarios for taking over the House assume the party will capture not a single Republican seat in California,— or perhaps just one: Cunningham's."

posted by Effwit @ 9:03 AM