Bush Administration Archives - Page 2 of 38

News Roundup – domestic spying, gun violence and more

The news media erupted yesterday with the news that the United States government, our government, is spying on its own citizens. Domestic Spying. I had a distinct sense of déjà vu. Weren’t we just talking about this a couple years ago? It was just six or seven years ago when we found out that the Bush administration, through the NSA and other agencies, was listening in on our conversations. We were told that this was necessary in order to combat terrorism. Since the initial revelation, we came to understand that the Bush administration was mischaracterizing (or lying, depending upon your perspective) about the extent of the domestic spying program. Initially, we were told that the domestic spying program only involved overseas switches in which the NSA would scan American foreign calls. Slowly but surely we found out that this program was far more extensive. Conservatives told us not to worry. Now, when conservatives find out that the Obama administration has been continuing this exact same program, there is outrage. From my standpoint, I have no idea whether this program is helping to keep Americans safe or if it is an unnecessary violation of our privacy. As I understand the program the NSA is allowed to collect a bunch of data, but they’re not able to look at individual calls or listen to individual calls unless they go back to the FISA court and ask for permission.

I must admit I have not been following the case of a man who asked for an escort and then shot that woman for not performing sexual acts. Somehow, the accused man was able to convince a jury that it was okay to kill a prostitute because under Texas law you can use deadly force to retrieve stolen property. Yep, I don’t understand it either.

Our whole culture around sexual assault and rape seems to be completely backwards to American ideals. A Fox News host was “baffled” that MSNBC was covering the military sexual assault hearings. She said, “Sex crimes in a military, they are a real issue. There’s no doubt about that. I’m not going to poo poo it and say it’s not. What baffles me though is the way they prioritize these issues. The timing and the tone of them. If these were liberal groups targeted by George W. Bush, they would not be covering sex assault in the military. … Why is MSNBC devoting so much time to this issue when, as David Axelrod points out, there are so many other issues to deal with?” First of all, I find the statement mind-boggling. Why isn’t this a big story? Why shouldn’t this be promoted? Should the military be forced to change their ways? Shouldn’t Americans be informed about this issue that has been swept under the carpet for way too long?

What stories are you following today?

By ecthompsonmd|2013-06-09T10:26:24-04:00June 7th, 2013|Domestic Spying, Mass Shooting|Comments Off

The United States and North Korea — part two (the Bush years)

A few years ago, I wrote this post on North Korea. I was trying to understand what was going on in North Korea and how our response was causing a negative or positive feedback. Because North Korea has strategically jumped back into the limelight, I thought was worth reviewing what I knew or at least what I thought I knew about North Korea. It looks like I hit the nail on the head.

North Korea

I highly recommend that you read yesterday’s post on North Korea. I looked at North Korea’s history of nuclear interest dating back to late 1950s and early 1960s.

To use a football metaphor, I’m not going to tell you that the Clinton administration had taken a football (North Korea’s nuclear issues) down to the two-yard line and all the Bush administration had to do was to carry the ball over the goal line. President George Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary Colin Powell needed to do much more than that. In retrospect, Bush was ill-prepared for North Korea. I have no idea how much he was briefed. I have no idea if alternative viewpoints (outside of the neoconservative line of thinking) were presented to the president. (Here’s a North Korean timeline.)

In my opinion, foreign policy is like three-dimensional chess. There are lots of moving pieces. You need to be very smart and very prepared in order to anticipate your opponent’s move. In foreign policy you are playing multiple opponents at the same time.

As far as I know, there were no high-level discussions about how to approach the North Koreans when President Bush announced to the South Korean president that he was unclear if North Korea was holding up their end of the bargain (the Agreed Framework). He basically stated that North Koreans were liars and cheats and could not be trusted. “We’re not certain as to whether or not they’re keeping all the terms of all agreements.” (NYT) While such a provocative statement would not get a second look in downtown Baltimore, in the world of diplomacy it was a slap in the face. The big question is, if the United States were to break off discussions with North Korea, which was a basic tenet of the “Agreed Framework,” then what? What leverage did we have against a country that is already isolated? Was it possible that we could squeeze China or Russia in order to use their leverage against North Korea? None of this had been discussed prior to Bush’s statement. At least, not to the best of my knowledge. This all happened in early March of 2001. By September of 2001, we were focused on Afghanistan and some in the Bush administration had already begun to focus on Iraq. (more…)

By ecthompsonmd|2013-04-04T19:01:08-04:00April 3rd, 2013|North Korea, Pakistan|Comments Off

Where’s the Outrage? 10/28/06 Podcast

Ops. I have gotten behind in posting my show. Here’s the podcast.

We have never been about staying the course. We are for changing language without really changing anything. Tony Snow only found eight times where the President said “stay the course.” Olbermann found 29 repetitions of “stay[ing] the course.” Google remains a tool that the White House can’t figure out how to use. (He even hears “stay the course” in Spanish.) 94 deaths in Iraq so far this month beg the question why did we go to Iraq?

My guests. I feel very lucky that I have had some great guests. I’m happy to say that I’m continuing the tradition. Bill Scher, the founder and editor of Liberal Oasis, is in the HOUSE. We discuss his new book – Wait! Don’t Move to Canada. Great book. He doesn’t just point out some of the problems in the US. He also puts forth a plan to take back the discussion and the government.

My second guest is really a hero of mine. I have heard him on the Diane Rhem Show tons of times. He doesn’t back down in the face of neo-con noise. He is very detail-oriented. I cited his previous book many times in my own book, A Letter to America. He is the Washington editor of The Nation, David Corn. His new book, Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling of the Iraq War, is written with Michael Isikoff. On the show, we discuss a few of the reasons that the Bush Administration told us that we needed to invade Iraq. This is one of the best books that I have read in the last couple of years. If you don’t have it, I highly recommend it.

Remember I’m on iTunes and several other podcasting sites.