By Leah Valencia – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pointed her finger at the Bush administration Thursday, blaming it for the current conditions in Afghanistan.

“Our troops in Afghanistan are at risk because… the entire Bush administration looked the other way on Afghanistan, there was never a plan,” Pelosi said during her weekly press conference.

The Speaker said that during President Bush’s time as Commander in Chief the Taliban gained strength because there was not a policy that indicated to the Afghan government that the U.S. would not tolerate corruption.

“We have missed opportunities over the years and made matters worse…for President Obama,” Pelosi said.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney accused President Barack Obama Wednesday night of being weak in his strategy for Afghanistan, saying that his indecision “hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries.”

“The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger,” Cheney said while making remarks at a function held by the Center for Security Policy.

Pelosi defended the current President, saying that he should take the appropriate time needed to make sound decisions.

“The President should not make a decision any sooner than he has the right information to do so,” she said. “Matters are so much worse because of the missed opportunities for seven and a half years, it is really tragic.”

Morton Rosenberg, a legal expert from the Congressional Research Service, says President Obama has continued “controversial” policies used by former President George W. Bush, and that Congressional oversight over the executive branch has “yet to be revived.” (0:58)

 

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By Justin Duckham-Talk Radio News Service

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) offered a biting rebuttal to complaints levied by congressional Republicans that the Democrats have botched the recovery of the U.S. economy.

“Republicans are consistent with being consistently wrong,” Hoyer quipped during a pen and pad session with reporters Tuesday.

The Majority Leader pointed to the economic program pursued by the Democratically controlled Congress in 1993, noting that although Republicans issued warnings of job loss and and out of control deficits, the economy faired quite well.

“Exactly the 180 degree opposite happened. Deficits were eliminated [and] we created 20.8 million jobs,” Hoyer said.

Hoyer contrasted the 1993 economic program with the one proposed by the GOP controlled Congress in 2001.

“[Congressional Republicans] indicated that if we adopted their economic program…our economy would explode: creation of jobs, elimination of the deficit, and that our economy would be in very good shape,” Hoyer said. “What happened? Exactly the opposite.”

“Our policy worked, [the Republicans'] policy failed,” Hoyer added. “The American public decided they needed a change and they asked us to get the economy moving again.”

The Majority Leader also touched upon Rep. Charles Rangel’s (D-N.Y.) proposal to apply a surtax to individuals making over $280,000 in order to help cover the cost of health care reform. If adopted, Hoyer noted that he does not expect the proposal to harm small businesses.

“I don’t know many small businessmen or women who are making $280,000, so I’m not sure that very many small businesses are going to be affected by this.”

By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

According to federal law, foreign countries cannot be sued by individuals in the U.S. and that is one of the points the Supreme Court had to consider before releasing its decision today. But an exception applies that a country can be sued by American citizens if it is designated as a sponsor of terrorism. Immunity is ordinarily attached to foreign sovereigns.
 
In 2003, Congress authorized the President to make exceptions with respect to Iraq, which was designated as a sponsor of terrorism. The Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act repealed previous restrictions. President George W. Bush said that year that EWSAA allowed him to “make inapplicable with respect to Iraq of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or any other provision of law that applies to countries that have supported terrorism.”

That same year, families of torture victims filed suits against Iraq, alleging mistreatment by Iraqi officials during, and following the 1991 Gulf War. Kenneth Beaty is a U.S. citizen who was working as an oil-rig supervisor in Kuwait when he was arrested by Iraqi border guards after asking them for driving directions. William Barloon was serving as an aircraft maintenance supervisor in Kuwait when border police also arrested him. The two men were taken to prison in Baghdad where they were allegedly denied basic living necessities and their case is entitled Republic of Iraq v. Beaty.

The unanimous Supreme Court decision was delivered today by Justice Scalia. It stated that Iraq’s sovereign immunity was restored when the President exercised his EWSAA authority to make Iraq an exception. The ruling said that the U.S. courts therefore lost jurisdiction to hear suits against Iraq and should have dismissed the cases at that point. The judgement of the Court of Appeals was reversed. The Court also decided that the subset provision applied to the President’s power to create waiver. However, the waivers created by that power or the restoration of Iraq’s sovereignty, are not affected by the sunset.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) explains how she, as speaker, tried to pass a law banning torture, but it was vetoed by President Bush. Because the Democrats lacked the necessary amount of seats they were unable to override Bush’s decision. She knew that the only way torture would have been banned was through the election of a new president, and with President Obama, torture was once again banned. (0:22)

 

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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) attempted to clear-up any questions regarding how much she knew about the CIA’s use of waterboarding and when she knew that they did employ it. She unequivocally stated that she was given an “inaccurate and incomplete” briefing as waterboarding had already occurred at the time of the meeting, though the agent failed to mention this point. Also, she stated that the CIA lied to America at the same time in regards to their statements on weapons of mass destruction. (0:29)

 

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By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News service

Ali Soufan, a former FBI supervisory agent, confirms that the George W. Bush administration lied on its use of torture in its interrogation
processes.

In 2005, President Bush said that “America does not condone torture”,
a statement that has been put into question following the recent
decision by President Barack Obama to publish four memos which detail
the legal justification used by the Bush administration to justify the
methods employed in the interrogation process led by the CIA.

Chairman of the Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the
Courts Sheldon Whitehouse said “John Yoo (former official in the Department of Justice) told Esquire Magazine that waterboarding was only done ‘three times’ when public reports now indicate that two detainees were waterboarded 83 and 183 times”.

This revelation has hindered the American reputation abroad, resulting
in a struggle between institutions of the government such as the
intelligence agencies and the Department of Justice on who is to blame
the most for having carried out these seances.

Philip Zelikow, former counselor of the State Department, said that “
Attorney General John Ashcroft and his Department of Justice, along
with the White House Counsel, Alberto Gonzalez, assured the
government’s leaders that the proposed program was lawful.”

Whitehouse said that “We were told that waterboarding was
determined to be legal, but were not told how badly the law was
ignored, bastardized and manipulated by the Department of Justice’s
Office of Legal Counsel, nor were we told how furiously government and military lawyers rejected the defective OLC opinions-but we ignored.”

In parallel, Soufan said that “The interrogation team was a
combination between the FBI and the CIA. All of us had the same
opinion that contradicted with the contractor.”

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said “I’m also proud of the fact that
the United states of America, when its made mistakes, has not been
afraid to admit these mistakes and learn from them and pledge not to
make the same mistakes again.”

Ali Soufan, a former FBI supervisory agent who worked under the Bush administration, describes the two methods of interrogation used by both the CIA and the FBI: the “informed interrogation approach” and the “enhanced interrogation method”. The second corresponds to torture and is regarded “compliance rather than to elicit cooperation, according to Soufan. (0:55)

 

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White House Update
Thursday, April 23

The President’s meeting today with 13 executives from the credit card industry underscores one of the administration’s most vexing dilemmas: trying to stabilize the banks while getting the struggling U.S. economy back on its feet.

Here’s the dilemma: the White House acknowledges that a sound banking system is one of the bedrocks of the American economy. To be sound, banks have to have, and are shoring up, their capital position. But at the same time, they’re being asked to step up lending.

Obama told the executives today that the interest rates and fees they charge are “unfair” and says they need to be more “consumer friendly.” The banking industry’s response – although they didn’t say this to the President’s face today – has been along these lines: “We HAVE been consumer friendly; TOO consumer friendly. We flooded the market with cheap credit for much of this decade and now a lot of customers can’t pay it back.”

The President himself knows all too well about credit card debt. At the White House news briefing this afternoon, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that up until recently – obviously before the multi-million dollar book sales – Obama himself was in the red.

But the high levels of credit delinquency, personal bankruptcies, auto repossessions and, of course, mortgage foreclosures, appear to support the banks’ point. No question, millions of Americans are hurting – but for people with a proven inability to pay, who are already up to their necks in debt, is more debt the answer?

In short, that is the banking industry’s position – and the President’s dilemma.

WITHER IRAN?

Another dilemma for the West Wing – surprise, surprise: the Middle East. During talks Tuesday with Jordan’s King Abdullah, the President said he wants to see Israel, the Palestinians and neighboring Arab countries – like Jordan – to step efforts to forge some kind of peace agreement. The White House envoy to the region, former Senate Majority Leader and architect of the Northern Ireland peace agreement, George Mitchell, says he is cautiously hopeful.

To nudge things along, Obama will invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to the White House for talks in the next few weeks. But not all at once.

But Obama’s priorities are not Israel’s. Netanyahu said earlier this week that he will not participate in talks until the President makes headway on Israel’s number one issue: stopping Iran’s nuclear program. To drive that point home this morning, the President was told by Israeli Ambassador Sallai Meridor to confront Iran “before it’s too late.”

Meridor made the comments at a Holocaust memorial service on Capitol Hill. Also speaking: a top official of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Joel Geiderman, who was even more blunt, reminding Obama about Iran’s pledge to destroy Israel. He warned the President to ignore that threat at America’s “own peril.”

The White House also faces a dilemma with the Palestinians. Abbas’ Fatah faction has seen its power eroding, to the benefit of the Islamist militant group Hamas. Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, but the administration has so far maintained the Bush policy of refusing to deal with – branding it a terrorist group.

TORTURE LATEST

At the briefing, Gibbs appeared to distance himself from comments made this morning by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who said he supported the release of sensitive memos on detainee interrogation methods. Gates said he viewed the disclosure as inevitable.

Gibbs’ response: “I have not seen Secretary Gates’s full remarks.” Gibbs inferred that a lot of people have different opinions on the subject. He added “The problem…isn’t the existence of a paragraph or a term in a memo…It is the very existence of their use.”

FIRST 100 DAYS (94 and counting)

Conflicting editorials in the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.

The Post’s David Broder says Obama has gotten off to a good start: The “President has shown – and it is important – a mastery of the art of managing the presidency.” He lauds Obama’s He lauds his “good organizational and management skills” and says in sum, “A bravura performance on Obama’s part.”

The Journal’s Daniel Henniger counters, focusing on the president’s grip-and grin with Venezualan President Hugo Chavez as symbolic of White House weakness. He writes: “The weirdly ebullient Mr. Obama did not…show reserve.” He adds: “The Obama people seem to believe that talking top guy to top guy is the yellow brick road to progress” and that “There appears to be no coherent strategy beyond “talk to our enemies.”

WEST WING NOTES

…the President will hold a prime-time news conference next Wednesday at 8pm, EDT; it is the 100th day of his presidency.

…it was “Take Your Daughters to Work Day” at the White House, but Malia and Sasha Obama didn’t make the 60-secnd commute to the Oval Office with Dad. First Lady Michelle Obama did speak to 160 kids – of administration, household and Secret Service employees. Mrs. Obama said: She doesn’t miss cooking, the new dog, Bo, is “crazy” and says one of the best parts about being First Lady is that she gets to do a lot of “fun stuff.”

Immigration Redux
Immigration is regarded as a “second-tier” issue in the West Wing (education, health care and energy being the administration’s top priorities), but the president still wants a “comprehensive solution” to the problem and a bill to be crafted this Fall. The centerpiece of any legislation would be putting the estimated 12 million illegals in the U.S. on the path to eventual citizenship. But Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters this afternoon that illegals would be put in “the back of the line” and made to wait. Gibbs also suggested that they learn English. The White House also warned that it wants to step up the crackdown on employers who flaunt the law by hiring illegals. If all of this sounds familiar, it is: President George W. Bush tried, and failed, to pass comprehensive immigration legislation in 2007. Analysts warn with the economy in rough shape, the task of passing a sweeping immigration bill may prove to be infinitely more daunting.

War Funding Flip Flop?
The President is also asking for an additional $83.4 billion for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama opposed such funding two years ago when he was in the Senate. The request would finance the additional 17,000 troops for the Afghan theater bringing the number of American servicemen and women there to 55,000, a 59% increase. Meantime: the Congressional Research Service says the funding request would push the costs of both wars to nearly $1 trillion since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Housing Confab
President Obama claims that his administration’s policies (along with actions by the Federal Reserve) have lowered mortgage rates to historic lows, giving millions of Americans the opportunity to refinance their homes. Critics say the rates are artificially low, but the administration says it will do whatever is necessary to get the housing industry moving again. Meeting in the Roosevelt Room with the president was Treasury Secretary Geithner, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Donovan – and homeowners from the Washington DC area who seemed pretty nervous in their high-powered surroundings. Reporters asked about the Somali pirate situation and were rebuffed by the president: “Guys, we’re talking about housing now…”

Quick Hits
…Did the President bow when meeting Saudi King Abdullah at last week’s G20 summit? “No,” Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. “He bent over to shake his hand…”
…Next Thursday (Apr. 23) the White House sponsors “Bring Your Child to Work Day.” Will Malia and Sasha accompany Dad on his 60-second commute to the Oval?
…The East Wing has released the White House Easter egg design. They have an environmental theme…
…First Lady Michelle Obama was seen puttering around in the new White House garden this afternoon. With her: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a White House chef and students from Bancroft Elementary. They planted seeds – 55 kinds of fruits and vegetables, except for beets. The President doesn’t like beets…