National Security

Hold the Phone: House Passes FISA Sans Telecom Immunity

After weeks of threats, arguments and a secret session thrown in for good measure, the House on Friday passed a controversial bill to renew the administration's electronic surveillance program. Unlike the Senate-passed version, however, the lower-chamber's proposal would not give the phone companies amnesty for crimes they may have committed in cooperating with the program in past years without a judicial order. The House vote was 213 to 197.

 

House and Senate leaders now must meet to hash out the differences between the two bills. But as House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) pointed out this afternoon, even Democrats don't believe the immunity language is likely to survive the process.

 

The White House has said that legal immunity is vital to entice the telecom industry to participate in the program in the future. Roughly 40 lawsuits have been filed against the companies on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union and others who argue that the warrantless wiretapping program violates the Fourth Amendment. Despite the threat of those suits, however, all the companies have agreed recently to cooperate in the program.

If We Arm the Terrorists, Who Detains Us?

It's not often that Washington Republicans will go out of their way to attack the world's largest oil supplier and Bush administration ally, Saudi Arabia. But that's precisely what three GOP House members did yesterday in an attempt to prevent a planned $123 million arms sale to the strategically placed monarchy.

McCain Hesitant to Support GI Bill for Post-9/11 Vets

While Sen. John McCain is busy bolstering his friend-of-the-military image in the Middle East this week, Democratic Sen. Jim Webb is calling on the GOP presidential nominee to show similar troop support at home by endorsing a proposal to update the GI Bill, The Hill's Roxana Tiron reported today.

While 50 senators (including nine Republicans) have joined Webb in supporting the proposal, McCain has yet to do so, despite entreaties from Webb. Webb spokeswoman Kimberly Hunter said that having McCain on board would "bring more Republicans over to support the bill."

Petraeus: Best COIN-Ready Army Ever

Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Tex.) is talking about costs in terms of readiness. Petraeus replied that there’s another component of readiness: "How much more that our troopers get it about what it is we’re doing." In other words, the troops are better equipped to understand and execute a counterinsurgency strategy.

A War, a Democracy and a Vice President

Lest anyone think that criticism of Vice President Dick Cheney's now-infamous contempt for public opinion surrounding the Iraq war is a partisan contrivance, former GOP congressman Mickey Edwards had a revealing piece in The Washington Post Saturday, arguing that executive branch recognition of public sentiment in wartime is not just in everyone's interest, it's also the administration's constitutional duty.

And on the Sixth Day, the Intelligence Programs Plunged Into Uncertainty

For House Democrats, who left Washington last week without acting on legislation to expand White House spying powers, Attorney General Michael Mukasey has a few words of caution: The nation's intelligence programs, he wrote in a Feb. 22 letter (pdf here) to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), are now officially plunged into uncertainty due to your inaction.

And We Thought Hitchens Was Tough on Kissinger

On a slow, rainy Friday in Washington, when all eyes are on presidential politics, this little gem arrived over the ticker courtesy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Speaking at the Brookings Institution Monday, Gates said:

"I Will Not Be Eligible"

One last Goldsmith post and then you'll have to forgive me but I can't take any more of this. I'll have a wrap-up piece later today.

"Lemieux, I Think Your Views On This War Are Affecting Your Reports."

Sgt. Lemieux related an incident to Congress that I don’t recall him saying at Winter Soldier in March, though my memory could be faulty and I don’t have my March notebook on-hand. He said that in one awful early 2006 day in Tamim, U.S. Marines responded to minimal sniper fire with massive amounts of ammunition. A group of Marines received "four rounds of poorly-aimed enemy fire," and returned it with "thousands of rounds" of grenade, machine gun and rocket fire "all into an area of Tamim known to be owned and occupied by local civilians.

"That Dream Turned Into Nightmares"

These are the words of Kristofer Goldsmith, who said he dreamed his entire boyhood of joining the Army. "That dream turned into nightmares. I joined the Army to kill people. I joined the Army to kill Iraqis, to kill Muslims. To kill people that were a skin tone other than mine and inhabiting the Middle East."

'Appalling Gap'

Now here are four words you love to see in the same sentence: "appalling gap" and "homeland defense." Ann Scott Tyson of The Washington Post explains:

'Bin Laden Determined To Strike In U.S.' Pt. 2

Everyone remembers that on Aug. 6, 2001, while President George W. Bush was clearing brush in Texas, he received an intelligence brief warning about Al Qaeda’s strategic intent to attack the U.S. homeland.

'Bipartisan' Think Tank Attacks Democrats

The neo-conservative non-profit has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the State Department.

'I Can Speak Human'

From the testimony of an Iraq veteran. Time is circa the invasion and the early days of the occupation. He was an infantryman with the 82nd Airborne. I missed his name as I was setting up so I'll update.

 

He's telling a story about raiding a house in Baghdad. When he said "we never went on a raid where we got the right house, let alone the right person," the room applauded.

 

From his testimony:

'I Don't Work For You No More'

Jon Michael Turner's tattoos cover his arms almost entirely. They peeked out under the rolled up sleeves of his crisp blue shirt, on which were the medals and ribbons he earned as an automatic machine gunner with the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines in Anbar Province in 2006. One of them is more like a scar.

'It Becomes Almost Impossible To Find A Purpose In What We Do.'

A friend of a friend just received the following email from a junior officer serving in Iraq. It makes for especially powerful reading in the wake of the Second Sadrist Intifada. Reprinted with permission.

'It Boils Down to Trust'

One of the signature achievements of the surge, according to General David Petraeus and the White House, has been the creation of so-called "Concerned Local Citizens" groups—that is, bands of tribal fighters, mostly Sunni and including many former insurgents, who have agreed to take U.S. cash (and in some cases weaponry) if they pledge to fight al-Qaeda.

'No Democracy In Iraq. Ever'

Four thousand Americans died to empower this torturer. From a brilliant Washington Post piece:

What [Col. Faisal Ismail] Zobaie wants is for the U.S. military to hand over full control of Fallujah. He believes Iraq's current leaders are not strong enough. Asked whether democracy could ever bloom here, he replied: "No democracy in Iraq. Ever."

"When the Americans leave the city," he said, "I'll be tougher with the people."

'Rewarding Failure'?

The following are the thoughts of a two-tour Iraq veteran Army officer on the Petraeus, Odierno and Chiarelli promotions. Criticism follows.

'Sons Of Iraq': After The Money's Gone

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) wants to know: we’re paying 91,000 mostly-Sunni militiamen not to shoot us. What happens when the money runs out? "We’re seeing more and more burden sharing, cost-sharing," Petraeus said of the Iraqi government.