Newsweek - Nov 14, 2005 issue http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9938330/site/newsweek/
Can We Go Home Now? Wherever Bush travels, questions about Rove follow. By Howard Fineman A homebody by nature, and often unsteady in unscripted public situations, George W. Bush is no fan of high-profile presidential travel. Especially now. With job-approval ratings south of 40 percent-the lowest of his presidency-he risks hearing hecklers, even at his rigorously screened speeches. Foreign trips are even more problematic. At a summit in an Argentine resort, Bush's presence set off protest marches and even riots by anti-free-trade demonstrators last week. Travel offers no escape from the Washington scandal news. When he landed in Mar del Plata, the local TV put up a split-screen of Air Force One-and I. Lewis Libby hobbling into court to plead not guilty in the Valerie Plame leak case. CIA ESCANDALO read the headline. Briefly facing American reporters, Bush fielded only five questions. But four were on a single issue: the fate of Karl Rove, his top White House aide, who has been named-but not indicted-in the federal leak probe. Bush gave lawyerlike answers. "The investigation on Karl, as you know, is not complete," he said, "and, therefore, I will not comment about him and/or the investigation." Beyond the Beltway, voters fret about tangible matters: the war in Iraq, the direction of the economy, the price of a tank of gasoline or heating oil. In the capital, however, the obsession is the Karl Question. If Bush is to rebuild his battered presidency, it is hard to see him doing it without the man he calls "Boy Genius." But even if Rove is never indicted, he has some explaining to do. White House aides predict that Rove will talk when the probe is completed. "There's no one more willing to do that than Karl," said one aide who requested anonymity because Rove is still in power. Willing or not, Rove will have a big audience. At the very least, Rove misled White House officials and the public by allowing a Bush spokesman to say Rove had not been involved in discussions about Joseph Wilson, a critic of the administration's WMD rationale for the war in Iraq, and the fact that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. Those assertions are now inoperative, as they used to say in the Watergate days. Press Secretary Scott McClellan has hinted that he was not told the full story. What Rove (or Libby, for that matter) said to the president about their involvement-if anything-remains a mystery. But, on Bush's behalf, McClellan in 2003 said that any staffer found to have been "involved" in the leak would be booted. In Rove's case, is that statement inoperative, too? Students of the Bush-Rove team sifted tea leaves as a city full of Republicans offered tidbits, speaking on background because of the sensitive situation. Rove went about his business, calling senators to lobby on the budget, conducting meetings on immigration policy, sketching out the long-term strategy for what aides hope will be a political revival meeting in January-the State of the Union Message. Administration aides insist that there have been no discussions on Rove's departure. Fellow Republican strategists marveled at what one called Rove's "survivability." "Mere mortals would be affected," said a senior White House aide, "but Karl isn't mortal." Perhaps, but the Boy Genius was keeping a low profile. Normally a fixture on international trips, he hasn't been on one lately. He canceled several appearances on the campaign trail, and was a no-show at a recent D.C. fund-raiser. Most Republicans held their fire in public, but not all. It was payback time for Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, whose ouster as majority leader Rove had helped engineer. Lott openly questioned whether Rove should remain on the job. Rep. Tom Davis, known as something of a maverick, fretted about the effect of scandals on Republican chances in the 2006 elections. And Bush himself kept a smidgen of distance. As recently as July, he insisted that "Karl has got my complete confidence." But that was before Fitzgerald handed up an indictment-and before Rove tells the world his side of the story. With Holly Bailey and Richard Wolffe © 2005 Newsweek, Inc. *** http://tinyurl.com/7gggz US used white phosphorus on Iraqi civilians-report Tue Nov 8, 2005 12:01 PM ET By Phil Stewart ROME (Reuters) - U.S. forces in Iraq have used incendiary white phosphorus against civilians and a firebomb similar to napalm against military targets, Italian state-run broadcaster RAI reported on Tuesday. A RAI documentary showed images of bodies recovered after a November 2004 offensive by U.S. troops on the town of Falluja, which it said proved the use of white phosphorus against men, women and children who were burned to the bone. "I do know that white phosphorus was used," said Jeff Englehart in the RAI documentary, which identified him as a former soldier in the U.S. 1st Infantry Division in Iraq. The U.S. military says white phosphorus is a conventional weapon and saysit does not use any chemical arms. "Burned bodies. Burned children and burned women," said Englehart, who RAI said had taken part in the Falluja offensive. "White phosphorus kills indiscriminately." A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said he did not recall white phosphorus being used in Falluja. "I do not recall the use of white phosphorus during the offensive operations in Falluja in the fall of 2004," Lieutenant Colonel Steven Boylan said. An incendiary device, white phosphorus is used by the military to conceal troop movements with smoke, mark targets or light up combat areas. The use of incendiary weapons against civilians has been banned by the Geneva Convention since 1980. The United States did not sign the relevant protocol to the convention, a U.N. official in New York said. The Falluja offensive aimed to crush followers of al Qaeda's Iraq leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said to have linked up with local insurgents in the Sunni Arab city west of Baghdad. Some Western newspapers reported at the time that white phosporus had been used during the offensive. In the documentary called "Falluja: The Hidden Massacre", RAI also said U.S. forces used the Mark 77 firebomb, a weapon similar to napalm, on military targets in Iraq in 2003. It cited a letter it said came from British Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram, claiming 30 MK 77 weapons were used on military targets in Iraq between March 31 and April 2, 2003. RAI posted a copy of the document at: http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/foto/documento_ministero.jpg. Italy has nearly 3,000 troops in Iraq despite strong opposition to their presence there. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is trailing in opinion polls ahead of April elections, and his center-left rivals have vowed to eventually pull troops out of Iraq. RAI posted the full report, including television images, at http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/ (Additional reporting by Alistair Lyon in London and Claudia Parsons in Baghdad) *** WANTED: 400 Pallbearers to Carry the Grief of the Nation, on Sat. Nov. 12th Please distribute widely... Veterans For Peace and Gold Star Families For Peace are LOOKING FOR 400 VOLUNTEERS TO SERVE AS PALLBEARERS HELP CARRY THE GREIF OF THE NATION >From Arlington West on Morning of Saturday, November 12th Through Streets of Santa Monica As the Death Toll for US Troops Killed in Iraq Rises Sharply to 2,058 to Date WE NEED YOU TO BE PART OF A VISUALLY POWERFUL VETERANS DAY WEEEKEND PROCESSION: 400 Volunteer Pallbearers Will Carry 100 Flag-Draped Mock Coffins For a Procession Lead by Contingent of California Gold Star Families Through Streets of Santa Monica at Noon Saturday, November 12th TO VOLUNTEER CONTACT: Tonia Young Arlington West Veterans Day Weekend Coordinator 310-455-2688 / [EMAIL PROTECTED] WHERE: Arlington West Memorial, North of the Santa Monica Pier on the Beach (Near Santa Monica Fwy. and Pacific Coast Hwy.) VOLUNTEER SCHEDULE FOR ARLINGTON WEST VETERANS WEEKEND WHEN: VETERANS DAY FRIDAY, NOV 11TH 7:30 AM - 9:30 AM: Join Congresswoman Maxine Waters and former U. S. Diplomat Ann Wright who are planning to participate in set-up the memorial of over 2,050 crosses in the 'temporary cemetery' WHEN: SATURDAY, NOV 12TH 7:30 -11:00 AM Help assemble and draped with flags mock coffins NOON- Volunteer to be one of the 400 pallbearers needed to carry 100 flag- draped mock coffins. Procession will begin at Arlington West and loop through the streets of Santa Monica,. California Gold Star Families will lead the march carrying large photos of their beloved husbands and children who were killed in Iraq: Melanie House, of Simi Valley, CA, husband, HM3 John D. House, 28, was killed near Ar Rutbah in western Iraq on January 26, 2005 Vickie Castro, of Corona, CA, son Army Spc. Jonathan Castro, 21, was killed in Mosul, Iraq on December 21, 2004 Bill Mitchell, son Army Sgt. Michael Mitchell, 25, of Porterville, CA was killed in Sadr City Baghdad on April 4, 2004 (along with 'Peace Mom,' Cindy Sheehan's son Casey) Joanna Kubik, of Long Beach, CA, boyfriend Lance Cpl. Shane C. Swanberg, 24, of Kirkland, Wash, was killed in Ramadi, Iraq on Sept 15, 2005. The Figueroa Family, of Lance Cpl. Luis A. Figueroa, 21, of Los Angeles, Ca, killed in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, on November 18, 2004 Along with a contingent of Iraq War Veterans and veterans from the Gulf War, Vietnam, Korea, and WWll. Elected officials, veterans, clergy, and the public will serve as pallbearers. PROCESSION ROUTE: Leaving from Santa Monica Pier, going North through Palisades Park, along Ocean Ave. In the Palisades Park, veterans will lay 4 wreaths at the Veterans Monument. Then the coffin procession will head East toward the Third Street Promenade, and South back to the pier. FOR COMPLETE ARLINGTON WEST VETERANS DAY WEEKEND - FRIDAY, NOV. 11th thru SUNDAY, NOV. 13th SCHEDULE GO TO: http://la.indymedia.org/news/2005/11/138740.php Veterans for Peace - LA http://www.veteransforpeacela.org Gold Star Families for Peace http://www.gsfp.org/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/7gSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
