What's wrong with this picture...

Here, in a nutshell, is the problem with insurgencies. We aren't precisely fighting terrorists anymore, if we ever were. We are fighting the homeboys. Here's a story of how the insurgecy is going through police training, then taking the money and guns and using them against us.

OF1-9/29/04 6:25AM A HOSTAGE STORY

From the Osgood file:

In Iraq seven kidnapped hostages including two Italian women abducted three weeks ago have now been released. In the case of the Italian women Italy's President Berlusconi won't say whether there was a ransom or some other quid pro quo. Another recently released hostage. a Canadian. is reporting something very ominous His story after this for Smart Balance.

Canadian Journalist Scott Taylor spent five days as a kidnapped hostage in Iraq.

SOT: Scott Taylor, Canadian Journalist and Former Hostage in Iraq

"They pronounced that I would be executed the following morning and I was handcuffed and chained to the bed and I laid there for about 6 or 7 hours just anticipating my own death. " :08

But what's most chilling about Taylor's story is what he'd already learned by then. from the moment of his capture as he and a Turkish journalist approached an Iraqi police checkpoint outside the city of Talafar.

SOT: TAYLOR: "We were instructed to get into a car with four masked gunmen, this is by the Iraqi police, and the masked gunmen were sitting next to the checkpoint." :07

The Iraqi police, mind you. are the ones we're counting on to provide security for the January elections. BY then it's hoped there'll be 145 thousand of them. But as his kidnappers were driving their hostages to Mosul, they encountered MORE Iraqi police. And guess what.

SOT: TAYLOR: "They actually welcomed these guys like you would welcome home the local baseball team after a game. These were obviously about 30 heavily armed mujahedeen coming in dusty cars across the desert with captives, evident captives, myself and the Turkish journalist, inside the car. They were giving them cigarettes, giving them water." :14

Taylor says this wasn't just garden variety police corruption.

SOT: TAYLOR: "This wasn't something where these guys were just paying protection and turning a blind eye. They were actually willingly encouraging the mujahedeen in their fight against the American occupiers.":09

And they were LAUGHING. says Taylor.

SOT: TAYLOR: "They were laughing about this because it meant that in fact the munitions they were purchasing for the resistance were in fact being bought with American money that was intended for the salaries of the Iraqi police and army that were supposed to be combating the resistance, so they found this rather ironic." :13

Don't YOU find that troubling? I do. The Osgood File. Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network.

The Osgood File. September 29, 2004

Eyes open, boots on the ground

It is beginning to look more and more like this election may not be resolved on election night. It is profoundly dismaying to watch corruption in action, in Ohio, in Minnesota, Michigan, but especially in Florida. It will be up to vigilant citizens everywhere to reclaim the integrity of American elections.

Check out the Independent's Politics and sleaze envelop Orlando:

In Orlando, the Florida home of Disneyworld and a vital political battleground, the campaign for the November presidential election is getting sly, nasty and very, very personal. Normally, at this stage of the proceedings, Ezzie Thomas, a well-known character on the predominantly African-American west side of town, would be out chatting to the people, registering them to vote before the 4 October deadline and helping them with absentee ballots if they do not think they will have time to make it to the polls on election day. But the 73-year-old Mr Thomas, an affable ladies' man, is staying out of public view for fear of exacerbating what is already a highly controversial - and highly political - criminal investigation of his election-related activities.

A similarly low profile is being taken by Steve Clelland, the head of the local firefighters' union. Last week, he did not even dare attend a local appearance by John Kerry, the candidate he is supporting for President, in case it added to the legal troubles facing his own organisation. The firefighters are also subject to a criminal investigation, the chief allegation - for which no evidence has been produced - being that they colluded with City Hall to set up an illegal slush fund for political campaigning.

What makes the troubles facing the two men particularly sinister is that they are declared Kerry supporters, with the power to bring in hundreds if not thousands of votes for the Democratic Party. The investigations are being conducted by the state police, known as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), which reports directly to Governor Jeb Bush, brother of President George Bush.

And why are black voters being braced by by police who are "investigating" voter fraud? Both the Independent article and the New York Times reference the problem of "Voting while black" in Florida.

The smell of voter suppression coming out of Florida is getting stronger. It turns out that a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation, in which state troopers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando in a bizarre hunt for evidence of election fraud, is being conducted despite a finding by the department last May "that there was no basis to support the allegations of election fraud."

The truly disturbing thing about this is that these activites are such a violation of everything Americans hold dear.

The Carter Center, run by former President Jimmy Carter, is internationally renowned for its election monitoring. "The Carter Center has monitored more than 50 elections, all of them held under contentious, troubled or dangerous conditions." Mr. Carter informs us, with regret, that the conditions do not exist in Flordia for a transparent, fair election. Whether or not you agree with Carter's politics, I think it's easy to agree with the following statement.

It is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or biased electoral practices in any nation. It is especially objectionable among us Americans, who have prided ourselves on setting a global example for pure democracy. With reforms unlikely at this late stage of the election, perhaps the only recourse will be to focus maximum public scrutiny on the suspicious process in Florida.

Carter isn't the only canary in the coal mine.

A five-member team from the Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in Europe, a 55-state security group invited by the Bush administration, also pointed to problems with voter registration lists and provisional and absentee ballots, allegations of voter intimidation and slow implementation of the Help America Vote Act.

If you want to get even more ill, read The Long Arm of Jim Crow, Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America Today, from People for the American Way. It includes these gems:

- In South Dakota’s June 2004 primary, Native American voters were prevented from voting after they were challenged to provide photo IDs, which they were not required to present under state or federal law.

- In Kentucky in July 2004, Black Republican officials joined to ask their State GOP party chairman to renounce plans to place “vote challengers” in African-American precincts during the coming elections.

- Earlier this year in Texas, a local district attorney claimed that students at a majority black college were not eligible to vote in the county where the school is located. It happened in Waller County – the same county where 26 years earlier, a federal court order was required to prevent discrimination against the students.

- In 2003 in Philadelphia, voters in African American areas were systematically challenged by men carrying clipboards, driving a fleet of some 300 sedans with magnetic signs designed to look like law enforcement insignia.

- In 2002 in Louisiana, flyers were distributed in African American communities telling voters they could go to the polls on Tuesday, December 10th – three days after a Senate runoff election was actually held.

- In 1998 in South Carolina, a state representative mailed 3,000 brochures to African American neighborhoods, claiming that law enforcement agents would be “working” the election, and warning voters that “this election is not worth going to jail.”

Once you have doorknocked, and campaigned for John Kerry as if your kid's life depended on it (it does, by the way) I encourage you to keep you eyes and ears wide open on election day. Be ready. The only way to stop this kind of crap is to expose it as boldly and quickly as possible. It is abundantly clear that a certian element in the GOP will take grave risks to win this election. Democrats and those who love democracy in a free pluralistic republic need to be vigilant to prevent chicanery. I recommend that Democrats everywhere take Mr. Carter's advice and focus maximum public scrutiny on suspicious processes in all states, including Minnesota.

Bush's Hometown Newspaper Endorses Kerry

It appears as though George Bush's fabulously named home town newspaper, The Lonestar Iconoclast, has endorsed Kerry. A ringing endorsement it is, too. A taste:

Few Americans would have voted for George W. Bush four years ago if he had promised that, as President, he would:

• Empty the Social Security trust fund by $507 billion to help offset fiscal irresponsibility and at the same time slash Social Security benefits.
• Cut Medicare by 17 percent and reduce veterans’ benefits and military pay.
• Eliminate overtime pay for millions of Americans and raise oil prices by 50 percent.
• Give tax cuts to businesses that sent American jobs overseas, and, in fact, by policy encourage their departure.
• Give away billions of tax dollars in government contracts without competitive bids.
• Involve this country in a deadly and highly questionable war, and
• Take a budget surplus and turn it into the worst deficit in the history of the United States, creating a debt in just four years that will take generations to repay.

These were elements of a hidden agenda that surfaced only after he took office.

President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief

Speaking of flip-floppers, have you ever seen a comprehensive list of the flip-flops of George Bush? It's impressive.

Kerry waiting for press to recognize campaign not in trouble

This is the most objective, cynical, funny take on the campaign I have read to date. It's a snarky take on life on the bus by a 30-year vet of presidential campaigns. I found it exhilerating and mildly depressing, yet fun to read.

Elections in Iraq a logistical nightmare

The more I read about the upcoming elections in Iraq, the more I don't think the interim government will be able to pull them off. I think they are logistically impossible.

Set aside the crumbly foundation for future peace that would be set by excluding the conflicting areas of the country and consider what is neccessary for free and fair elections to happen in Iraq. Carina Perelli, Director of the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division, described the logistical job this way back in June:

In terms of the training and capacity-building needs facing the Electoral Commission and the United Nations, she said that an estimated 30,000 polling stations would be needed countrywide, which meant approximately 120,000 to 130,000 individuals working on polling and vote counting. Those individuals would be trained by the Electoral Commission, including through cascade training; however, the members of the Commission were to be trained by the United Nations and other international trainers.

120,000 individuals working at 30,000 polling stations? In three months? Even in peace, that would be difficult, let alone in the middle of 100 attacks a day, plus car bombings, plus kidnappings.

Then there is the political situation -- the areas that both Rumsfeld and Powell say might be excluded from the election - Falluja, Najaf, Basra, Summara, even Baghdad - represent about half of the population of Iraq. How on earth will the election be viewed as legitimate when half the population is likely to be excluded.

Finally, the security situation is likely to supress voter turnout, to say the least. Given the propensity for the isurgents to blow up people standing in line to participate in the new Iraq, how likely is it that people will come to vote?

To a person, the first hand accounts of the situation there all say the same thing: The security is very, very bad. The King of Jordan says the same thing.

The monarch said it was too dangerous to hold elections in Iraq and said if the U.S.-backed interim Iraqi government pushed ahead with them, extremists could well be the biggest winners.

Good point King Abdullah. What happens if an election is held and the extremists win?

Musharraf: World is less safe because of Iraq

From the department of interesting interviews: Paula Zahn scored an interesting few minutes with General Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan. While acknowledging some progress in rolling back Al Qaeda, he spared no quarter when assessing the war in Iraq:

ZAHN: Is the world a safer place because of the war in Iraq?

MUSHARRAF: No. It's more dangerous. It's not safer, certainly not.

ZAHN: How so?

MUSHARRAF: Well, because it has aroused actions of the Muslims more. It's aroused certain sentiments of the Muslim world, and then the responses, the latest phenomena of explosives, more frequent for bombs and suicide bombings. This phenomenon is extremely dangerous.

ZAHN: Was it a mistake to have gone to war with Iraq?

MUSHARRAF: Well, I would say that it has ended up bringing more trouble to the world.

ZAHN: Even members of President Bush's party are saying that the United States is in trouble in Iraq and it's possible the United States won't win the war in Iraq. Is that the way you see it?

MUSHARRAF: Well, when you enter operations, you can go wrong in your calculations. That always is a possibility in any operation.

ZAHN: Has that happened in Iraq?

MUSHARRAF: Well, there are difficulties. One can't predict. Maybe the difficulties are surmounted and then it ends up with a victory, with a success. But, at the moment, we are bogged down, yes, yes indeed.

That is basically the theme song for the Bush Presidency: The world is not safer. Iraq brought more trouble to the world. We are bogged down there.

Ban them dangerous pagey thingys and get back to the speeches

Hey wait a sec...I thought this was supposed to be a free country?

Groups Accuse U.S. of Imposing Book Ban

NEW YORK - A group of organizations representing publishers and authors sued the federal government Monday, saying it is blocking the works of authors in countries such as Cuba, Iran and Sudan from reaching the United States.

In the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the groups asked a federal judge to remove government restrictions that allegedly block the free exchange of information and ideas. Otherwise, it said, "Americans who want information from Cuba, Iran and Sudan are limited to reading what has already been written in those countries."

The lawsuit noted that authors in those countries already work under government restrictions and blamed the Treasury Department (news - web sites)'s Office of Foreign Assets Control for, in effect, extending "the force of foreign censorship to the United States."

I wonder if that includes bloggers.

GOP moves to suppress voter turnout in Ohio

The recent moves by Secretary of State Marry Kiffemeyer and Gov. Pawlenty to affect voter turnout in Minnesota are most definitely not happening in a vacuum. Ohio is experiencing a bureaucratic assault on new voter registration that is difficult to believe.

Voters-rights advocates are criticizing two recent decisions by Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell that they say will unfairly limit some people's ability to vote Nov. 2. Blackwell's office has told county boards of elections to follow strictly two provisions in Ohio election law:

One requires Ohio voter registration cards be printed on thick, 80-pound stock paper.

The other ordered boards to strictly interpret the rules regarding provisional ballots, the ones cast by voters who move before the election but are still registered in Ohio.

Go ahead, write the offending party. Tell him to let folks vote:

J. Kenneth Blackwell-R
180 E. Broad St., 15th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
614-466-3910
E-Mail: blackwell@sos.state.oh.us

This story came my way via Chris Bowers at My DD who has a nice post up about it. He rightly draws attention to Florida as well. Jimmy Carter says that
conditions for a fair election still do not exist there.

The numbers game

I have a post up at New Patriot called, Honey I shrunk the Iraqi Police Force. Juan cole covers the same topic here: The numbers that the administration is throwing around regarding the state of the Iraqi Police Force do not in any way square with reality.

Basic conclusions: Whether it is dishonesty, incompetence or bad information that is leading Bush to mislead us, it is inexcusable.

Say what...?

Here's a headline you just can't make up:

Black Gay Republicans Break with Log Cabin Republicans, Endorse Bush