Administration: Contempt Of Congress

ADMINISTRATION — ROVE: ‘I MAKE NO APOLOGIES’ FOR ANY OF ADMINISTRATION’S BLUNDERS: This weekend at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Karl Rove spoke at length about his involvement in a series of key administration blunders related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rove grossly distorted the conditions at Guantanamo Bay prison, claiming, “Our principal health problem down there is gain of weight, we feed them so well.” In fact, Guantanamo prisoners are facing a mental health crisis, with over 40 suicide attempts, including one suicide in May. Some have been treated by “experts in treating torture victims.” Rove fearmongered that 80-90 percent of violence in Iraq is due to al Qaeda. In fact, as former Secretary of State Colin Powell noted earlier in the Aspen conference, only 10 percent of violence in Iraq is due to al Qaeda. Rove also argued that “we all thought [Saddam Hussein] had weapons of mass destruction. The whole world did.” But U.N.weapons inspectors and prominent members of the international community strongly disagreed with this assessment before the invasion. Downplaying his role in the CIA leak scandal, Rove said, “My contribution to this was to say to a reporter, which is a lesson about talking to reporters, the words ‘I heard that, too.'” In fact, Rove may have intentionally leaked Valerie Plame’s identity, writing in an e-mail to a reporter that “[Joe] Wilson’s wife…works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction].” One reporter said his conversation with Rove was the first time he heard anything about Plame. Subsequently, Rove partook in an “an aggressive campaign to discredit Wilson.” Nonetheless, Rove remains confident today. “Look, I make no apologies,” he said. 

ENVIRONMENT — LIVE EARTH SPREADS GLOBAL WARMING AWARENESS: On Saturday, more than 150 performers took the stage on all seven continents to “publicize the issue of climate change.” Organized by former Vice President Al Gore and broadcast to more than two billion people in 100 countries, the Live Earth concert series asked fans to “make little changes such as buying low-energy light bulbs or unplugging electrical outlets when they are not in use” to save energy and reduce their carbon footprint. Gore “called on fans to adhere to a seven-point pledge to tackle global warming including demanding more renewable energy and helping to preserve forests.” In an effort to protect the interests of the oil lobby, conservative critics, led by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a think tank funded by both the oil and auto industries, lined up to attack the event. On MSNBC’s Tucker, Myron Ebell, the director of energy and global warming policy at CEI, said Gore “makes this stuff up” about global warming and “there is no scientific support for his claims.” Ebell also criticized the concerts “because they just use too much energy.” In fact, Live Earth organizers went to considerable lengths to minimize the environmental impact of the events. “In the planning stages, all air travel has been put through a rigorous approval process and trips deemed necessary” were offset through carbon credits and investments in renewable energy. Organizers distributed a “Green Handbook” of touring tips to artists, and individual staffers were dedicated to helping artists participate in the event in an environmentally friendly manner. According to Gore, “the carbon offsets and the innovative practices that are being used to make this a green event, I think, will set the standard for years to come.”

IRAQ — SEN. GRAHAM: ESCALATION ‘IS WORKING BEYOND MY EXPECTATIONS’: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), returning from a visit last week to Iraq along with his pro-escalation partner Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), offered the following assessment of the situation in Iraq: “The military part of the surge is working beyond my expectations,” Graham said. “We literally have the enemy on the run. The Sunni part of Iraq has really rejected al-Qaida all over the country. We’re getting more information about al-Qaida operations than we’ve ever received.” Graham isn’t the only proponent of the military surge who is now desperately spinning reality in order to maintain the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) also contended recently that the escalation has the enemy “on the run.” Despite the rosy picture painted by Graham, Lieberman, and others, over the weekend, more than 220 people were killed across Iraq. In response, “[p]rominent Shiite and Sunni politicians called on Iraqi civilians to take up arms to defend themselves” and a large block of senior Iraqi leaders are seeking “a no-confidence vote in the Iraqi parliament as the first step to bringing down the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.” As the New York Times reports today, “White House officials fear that the last pillars of political support among Senate Republicans for President Bush’s Iraq strategy are collapsing around them” and “Defense Secretary Robert Gates is quietly pressing for a pullback that could roughly halve the number of combat brigades now patrolling the most violent sections of Baghdad and surrounding provinces by early next year.” Declining support for the war was clearly demonstrated on Saturday when the New York Times became one of the first major news papers to declare: “It is time for the United States to leave Iraq.”

The Washington Post reports “the Iraqi government is unlikely to meet any of the political and security goals or timelines President Bush set for it in January when he announced a major shift in U.S. policy.” Defense Secretary Robert Gates today canceled a visit to Latin America so he can participate in policy meetings in advance of a report to Congress July 15 on the results of the escalation.

A New York Times source says the massive bombing in Amerli, Iraq, this weekend killed 155 people, making it now “the worst single bombing in the war (the March bombing in Tal Afar killed 152).” In Amerli, “almost everyone seemed to have lost relatives or friends, if not entire families.”

Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff reports that Bush’s decision to commute Libby’s sentence was done in part to avoid “a fracture with the vice president.” Also, Bush reportedly instructed his counsel Fred Fielding to see “if there was compelling evidence that might contradict the jury’s verdict that Libby had lied to a federal grand jury.”

“Attacks on supply convoys protected by private security companies in Iraq have more than tripled as the U.S. government depends more on armed civilian guards to secure reconstruction and other missions.” 

“Crews stayed on the offensive against major blazes around California and other Western states” this weekend, as Utah experienced its “largest-ever wildfire, at 283,000 acres,” and “ferocious” fires “scorched parts of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.”

“The Bush administration has failed to fill roughly a quarter of the top leadership posts at the Department of Homeland Security, creating a ‘gaping hole’ in the nation’s preparedness for a terrorist attack or other threat, according to a congressional report to be released today.”

In an op-ed entitled “Spineless on Sudan,” Nicholas Kristof writes Bush has “turned away” from Darfur. “For years, Mr. Bush’s aides have discussed whether he should give a prime-time speech on Darfur to ratchet up the pressure; he still hasn’t. Laura Bush just completed a four-nation swing through Africa, but she didn’t include a visit to any of the areas affected by the Darfur crisis.”

And finally: The new White House briefing room will reopen on July 15. The refurbished quarters “will have 49 leather chairs (which, incidentally, are slightly wider than the old ones). Asbestos has been removed, and presumably, so have the rodents that once prowled in the shadows.”