Info about subscribing or unsubscribing from this list is at the bottom of this message. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/updates.html The Next Bush Administration: While many Democrats are fleeing DC this week - too sad, depressed, and or aggravated to witness the 2nd Bush administration come back to town - now, more than ever, we need to stand up and take notice of who’s replacing who in key posts. Nine of Bush’s 15 Cabinet secretaries will be replaced - from a top polluter taking over as Energy Secretary to an Attorney General complicit with torture and a Secretary of State more concerned with touting missile defense than combating terrorism. This is no time to take our eyes off of what is happening in Washington. --Former National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice will take over for Secretary of State Colin Powell - from Bush’s foreign policy tutor to close friend and confidant - Ms. Rice will become the 66th Secretary of State, following in the footsteps of Henry Kissinger, the last National Security Adviser to move on to head the State Department. Rice told senators at her confirmation hearing she would reinsert diplomacy in the Bush administration’s foreign policy agenda. She like Powell, is expected to be equally vocal, though possibly more influential given the broad trust Bush places in her. At the same time, given her role in perpetuating false information on Iraq’s WMD, the handling of terrorist warnings before Sept. 11, and the lack of diplomacy used in dealing with nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea, it’s hard to tell what to expect. As Tom Barry of the International Relations Center points out, on an initially positive note, Rice’s selection of Robert Zoellick as her top deputy indicate that the ultra-hawks and neocon foreign policy revolutionaries won’t completely dominate the second administration. But don’t be fooled Barry warns, while Rice and Zoellick might not be ideologues, they aren’t moderate conservatives either. For more on Zoellick read Barry’s "No. 2 at Rice’s State Department," at rightweb.irc-online.org --The day Attorney General John Ashcroft announced his resignation, I jumped for joy - really. Now, with Alberto Gonzales almost certain to be confirmed for the post, my joy has subsided. Senators on both sides of the aisle were dissatisfied with Mr. Gonzales answers during his confirmation hearing. A Washington Post editorial cited his lack of responsiveness to questions about his judgments as White House counsel on the detention of foreign prisoners as cause for concern. The editorial also noted that "some expressed dismay at his reluctance to state that it is illegal for American personnel to use torture, or for the president to order it." Although believed to be less ideological than his predecessor, Mr. Gonzales firmly backs the administration’s aggressive policies and has a long history with the President - back in Texas, when President Bush was Governor Bush, Mr. Gonzales served as his General Counsel, followed by Secretary of State, and Supreme Court Justice. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) urged senators to reject President Bush’s nomination of his former chief counsel as an affront to the rule of law. CCR, which is the only organization in the country that actually represents men and women who were tortured in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo, charges that Mr. Gonzales knowingly and willingly provided counsel and advocated policies calculated to evade or circumvent domestic and international laws prohibiting the use of torture and inhumane treatment to extract information from soldiers or detainees held in U.S. custody, for more information go to www.CommonDreams.org --President Bush named Deputy Treasury Secretary Samuel W. Bodman as head of the Energy Department. Bodman is former chairman and chief executive of the Cabot Corporation. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Bodman will succeed Spencer Abraham, who resigned last month. The New York Times reported that Mr. Bodman will face many of the same issues that consumed Mr. Abraham: the future of nuclear power, the development of clean-coal technology, how to update an outmoded electricity industry and the battle over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. President Bush said, "In academics, in business and in government, Sam Bodman has shown himself to be a problem solver who knows how to set goals, and he knows how to reach them." He continued, hailing his nominee's "great talent for management and . . . precise thinking of an engineer." Despite Bush’s confidence in his nominee, many analysts were surprised that Bush did not appoint a nuclear weapons expert. Given Bodman’s limited experience in energy policy, some maintain his selection is strategic and meant to allow Vice President Cheney to keep a firm grip on the department. Karen Wayland, legislative director for Natural Resources Defense Council, told Reuters, "I think it’s pretty clear over the last four years that the energy plan the administration is pushing is taking its direction from the Vice President’s office." More concerning however, is the assertion that Bodman’s Boston-based Cabot Corporation was the fourth largest polluter in Texas in 1997, releasing 54,000 tons of toxic emissions. In an investigative article by Jason Leopold, "Cabot is the world’s largest producer of industrial carbon black, a byproduct of the oil refinery process." More troubling yet, Leopold goes on to note that in "October 2002, Bodman’s former company came under fire when a United Nations Panel of Experts produced a report accusing the company, along with several other US corporations, of helping to fuel the wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) while he ran Cabot by purchasing coltan from Congo during the conflict and illegally plundering the country’s vast natural resources." For more on Cabot and Bodman read, "Bush’s Choice for Energy Secretary Was One of Texas’ Top Five Worst Polluters," by Jason Leopold, www.CommonDreams.org --Stephen Hadley will take up Condi Rice’s former post as National Security Adviser. Formerly Deputy National Security Advisor, before joining the Bush administration, Hadley was a partner in the Washington law firm of Shea & Gardner, which represents Lockheed Martin. Hadley was also a co-author of the National Institute for Public Policy report, the blueprint for the Bush Nuclear Policy Review. But most recently, as Rice’s right-hand man in the Bush administration’s National Security Council, Hadley served as the fall guy when allegations arose regarding the national security adviser’s mishandling of information about Iraq ’s purported effort to buy uranium from Niger . For more on Hadley read Tom Barry’s "The Vulcans Consolidate," rightweb.irc-online.org --Judge Michael Chertoff will replace Tom Ridge as Secretary of Homeland Security - Chertoff's nomination follows the December 10, 2004 withdrawal of Bush's first pick, Bernard Kerik, over an immigration problem with a nanny. In the January 18th edition of the Village Voice, (http://www.VillageVoice.com) Rick Perlstein points out that Chertoff, formerly assistant attorney general in the Justice Department - head of the criminal division under John Ashcroft - was responsible for the plan to preventively detain immigrants of Arab descent after 9-11. Hundreds of "material witnesses" were detained, and none of the detainees had anything to do with the terrorist attacks. Perlstein goes on to note that in 2003 Justice Department officials recommended that Chertoff hire a lawyer because the program raised serious legal liability questions. Interestingly, Chertoff was the only U.S. Attorney Bill Clinton kept on when he first took office. --Margaret Spelling, Bush's former domestic policy adviser, will succeed Roderick R. Paige as education secretary --President Bush on Dec. 13 nominated the current head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Mike Leavitt, to run the Department of Health and Human Services, replacing Tommy Thompson, who resigned Dec. 3. --President Bush on Dec. 2 named Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns, a Republican attorney who grew up on an Iowa dairy farm, to replace Ann Veneman as Secretary of Agriculture, who resigned Nov. 15. --President Bush nominated Carlos Gutierrez on Nov. 29 as Commerce Secretary, to replace Donald Evans, who resigned Nov. 9 to return to his native Texas. A native of Cuba, Gutierrez was chief executive officer of Kellogg Co. --President Bush on Dec. 9 nominated former Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson to head Veterans Affairs. Nicholson is a decorated Vietnam veteran and former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi announced his resignation Dec. 8. --The president has nominated Robert Zoellick to be deputy secretary of state, but there are no leading candidates to succeed him as US trade representative. Possible successors include Gary Edson, former deputy assistant to the president for international economic affairs, and Grant Aldonas, undersecretary of commerce for international trade. --President Bush asked Treasury Secretary John Snow to stay in his administration on Dec. 8, and Snow agreed. --The White House announced Dec. 9 that Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta has agreed to President Bush's request to remain in the Cabinet for the second term. --The White House announced Dec. 9 that Interior Secretary Gale Norton agreed to President Bush's request to remain in the Cabinet for the second term. --The White House announced Dec. 9 that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson agreed to President Bush's request to remain in the Cabinet for the second term. --The White House announced that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will remain in the Cabinet for the second term. --The White House announced Dec. 9 that Labor Secretary Elaine Chao has agreed to President Bush's request to remain in the Cabinet for the second term. The Arms Trade Resource Center was established in 1993 to engage in public education and policy advocacy aimed at promoting restraint in the international arms trade. http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms _____________________________ Note: This message comes from the peace-justice-news e-mail mailing list of articles and commentaries about peace and social justice issues, activism, etc. If you do not regularly receive mailings from this list or have received this message as a forward from someone else and would like to be added to the list, send a blank e-mail with the subject "subscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or you can visit: http://lists.enabled.com/mailman/listinfo/peace-justice-news Go to that same web address to view the list's archives or to unsubscribe. E-mail accounts that become full, inactive or out of order for more than a few days will be deleted from this list. FAIR USE NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the information in this e-mail is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. I am making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of copyrighted material as provided for in the US Copyright Law.
