Posted on 09/16/2006 3:51:28 PM PDT by Wolfstar
PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: The President and First Lady are spending a quiet weekend prior to what will be another very busy week for them. The President will address the UN next week, while Mrs. Bush will also have a busy schedule while they are in New York.
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, a big FR favorite, has added a new and very welcome aggressive touch to White House communications efforts. The White House website now prominently features a series of rebuttals to inaccurate media reports. Called "Setting the Record Straight," the site has three rebuttals to news reports last week. All three are important, so I've linked them here, beginning with the transcript of the most significant item:
Setting the Record Straight: JAG Leaders Say Common Article 3 Provisions Would Be "Helpful"Incorrect media assertion: The New York Times reports that JAG leaders "would agree only to say that they could not find anything illegal about the specific issue of amending [Geneva Conventions] Common Article 3." (Kate Zernike, "Rebuff For Bush On Terror Trials In A Senate Test," The New York Times, 9/15/06).
White House rebuttal:
JAG Leaders Affirmatively Say The Administration's Common Article 3 Provisions Would Be "Helpful"
According to the JAG lawyers' letter: "Indeed, we think these provisions would be helpful to our fighting men and women at war on behalf of our country."
TEXT OF LETTER to Sen. John Warner and Rep. Duncan Hunter, 9/13/06:
"We do not object to Section 6 of the Administration proposal, which would clarify the obligations of the United States under Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, and Section 7 of the Administration proposal, which would address crimes under the War Crimes Act. Indeed, we think these provisions would be helpful to our fighting men and women at war on behalf of our Country."
Signed:
Major General Scott Black, U.S. Army, Judge Advocate General
Major General Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., U.S. Air Force, Deputy Judge Advocate General
Rear Admiral Bruce Macdonald, U.S. Navy, Judge Advocate General
Brigadier General James C. Walker, Staff Judge Advocate to the U.S. Marine Corps
Colonel Ronald M. Reed, U.S. Air Force, Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of StaffIn an August 2 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Military JAG’s support bringing definition to Common Article 3.
SEN. FEINSTEIN: "Admiral MacDonald and Admiral Black -- excuse me, General Black -- you both speak about Common Article 3 in your written comments, the prohibition -- Admiral MacDonald -- you say 'Common Article 3's prohibition upon outrages (up)on personal dignity is not well defined.' How would you suggest we define it?"
GEN. BLACK: "In its current formulation, it's entirely too vague, and it puts -- as you mentioned before -- our service members at risk, our own service members at risk." (Committee On The Judiciary, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 8/2/06)GEN. RIVES: "We welcome congressional efforts to better define which 'outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment,' amount to serious breaches worthy [of] classification as felonies. Such efforts would serve our men and women fighting the global war on terrorism by providing clearly delineated limits…Congressional efforts to better define these terms for Common Article 3 purposes will provide needed clarity to the rules of conduct for our military forces." (Committee On The Judiciary, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 8/2/06)
SEN. GRAHAM: "To the judge advocates, have you been consulted fairly extensively about military commissions and Common Article 3 by the administration?"
JAG GENERALS: (1) "Yes, sir, we have." (2) "Particularly of late, sir." (3) "Yes, sir." (Committee On The Judiciary, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 8/2/06)
Now and Then: Editorials on the McCain Amendment
Newspaper editorials previously said the the Administration's Common Article 3 proposal would prohibit torture, but they now say it will permit torture.
The Rest of the Story: Iraq's Links to Al Qaeda
The Washington Post quotes the President without including the full context of his remarks distinguishing Al Qaeda from Saddam, and falsely reports that the CIA said Saddam did not have links to Al Qaeda.
GOVERNOR ANN RICHARDS FUNERAL: Former Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a Texan and close personal friend of President and Mrs. Bush, will attend the funeral services to be held for Governor Ann Richards at the University of Texas Frank Erwin Center on Monday, September 18, on behalf of President and Mrs. Bush. The first couple will be in New York for the UN General Assembly address and meetings. The White House released a statement that said: "As a lifelong Texan, Secretary Evans had the highest regard for the Governor, and he appreciated her tireless efforts on behalf of the state and her zest for life that endeared her to the entire country. The President regrets being unable to attend her funeral, and he and Mrs. Bush send their deepest condolences to the Governor's family."
Fans of Press Secretary Tony Snow will enjoy hearing the news that he has hired a new assistant. Tony Fratto, currently Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Treasury, will be coming over to the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President and Assistant Press Secretary, or Deputy Press Secretary [title to be determined], a week from Monday [i.e., 9/25/06].
THE WEEK AHEAD: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, President and Mrs. Bush will be in New York to participate in the 61st United Nations General Assembly and related events. In addition to the formal UN-related events, the President will meet bilaterally with several other world leaders during the visit. The Palestinian Authority issued a statement today that President Bush will meet with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas. However, the White House had not confirmed this meeting as of early evening today.
_ Sept. 18, the First Lady will be highlighting the importance of literacy for both individual and national growth by hosting the first White House Conference on Global Literacy. The conference will be held at the New York Public Library._ Sept. 19, President Bush will address the Plenary Session of the General Debate of the General Assembly. He will meet with Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Sheikha Haya bint Rashid al Khalifa, who assumes the presidency of the General Assembly this month, to discuss a range of issues. GWB will host a meeting of leaders from democratic states and civil society organizations involved in building the institutions of democracy around the world. He will also attend a luncheon hosted by the Secretary-General. That evening, President and Mrs. Bush will host a reception for Heads of Delegation.
_ Sept. 22, President Bush will welcome President Pervez Musharraf of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the White House. The two Presidents last met during President Bush's historic visit to Pakistan in March.
EXTENDED SCHEDULE:
_ Sept. 26, President Bush will welcome President Hamid Karzai of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the White House. The visit will be an opportunity for the President to congratulate President Karzai on the progress Afghanistan has made over the last five years and to reaffirm America's commitment to stability and reconstruction in Afghanistan._ Sept. 26, First Lady Laura Bush will attend a fundraiser at the Hotel Utica, upstate New York, for State Senator Raymond Meier's congressional campaign. Sen. Meier is running for the open seat of retiring Rep. Sherwood Boehlert.
_ Sept. 29, President Bush will welcome President Nursultan Nazarbayev of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the White House. Kazakhstan is an important strategic partner in Central Asia.
_ Oct. 3, President Bush will visit Northern California to campaign for two Republican congressional candidates. GWB will visit Stockton to headline a fundraiser for Rep. Richard Tracy. The breakfast is expected to be at the Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium. Later that same day, President Bush will headline a fundraiser for Rep. John Doolittle at the El Dorado Hills Country Club. Both incumbents represent Republican-leaning districts that the President carried handily in 2004.
_ Nov. 28-29, President Bush will travel to Tallanin, Estonia, for meetings with the President and Prime Minister of Estonia. He will then travel to Riga, Latvia, for the NATO summit.
VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: The Vice President has been on a hectic schedule of campaign stops, including one in California last Friday. On Monday, he will visit northeastern Pennsylvania to raise campaign funds for Republican Rep. Don Sherwood. He will also attend a fundraiser for Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. The Santorum campaign announced that the visit will be next week, but no specific date was given. Although no date has been announced yet, the VP will be traveling to Houston soon to raise funds for the Congressional campaign of Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, several sources told the Fort Bend Herald this week.
Someone called you a "Bushbot"...really??? I am SHOCKED!
What an honor! I live for people to call me that...after all that's what we are...and DARN proud of it! LOL!
I only wish they had gotten much more aggresive 5 years ago. When they are passive, they make the president look weak...and we sure don't want that!
LOL! Yeah...it was some twit of a Buchananite who was bragging about PJB's latest book and how he won the New Hampshire primary but GWB did not. So I reminded him that GWB won the presidency twice, the 2nd time with over 60,000,000 votes (largest total in the history of democratic voting anywhere in the world). I then asked how many times PJB had won the presidency. Of course, that unhinged the twit. ;-)
This is very true. Ari Fleisher's book unwittingly revealed one reason for their passivity. His book is almost a total attempt to beg for the media's forgiveness for the way Ari had to behave toward them from time to time. Barf!
May God Bless President Bush.
As I read that, I can hear the President saying it all over again...and again, I want to stand up and cheer.
Amen.
I'm presently out of work, and while that's not a good thing by any means, one side benefit is that I was able to see the President's press conference live. I did raise my fist in the air and cheer when he slapped Gregory down.
Thanks for an awesome Dose. I want to mention that I appreciate the posting of POTUS's upcoming schedule each week. Ditto for First Lady's.
I read (with disgust) that belligerent Tancredo thread. You were one of the select few posters who made any sense at all. Of course, you and the others were summarily attacked by some of the zealots.
Captions, tres cute (to borrow from french speaking Dave)
This is soooo not nice, but I am sick of Ann Richards. Sorry she had to suffer from cancer, but she was a blight on Texas and two days in a row the Dallas Morning News has devoted their front page to the woman.
Okay, had to get that out. Hope God forgives me.
Grin...when I have the time to engage with the twits, I love being attacked by them. Lets me exercise my gray matter a bit. ;-)
I don't think there's anything to forgive. Last time I looked at God's commandments, there was nothing about being obliged to like other people. :)
and while I'm at it, Ann had no loyalty to her democrat friends.
She totally undercut Jim Mattox, a long-time friend and supporter. She knew Jim was running for governor and had been planning it for a long time. He would have won, as Clayton Powell...not a bad guy, but clueless... had a way of putting that big cowboy boot in his mouth.
So, Ann jumps into the race; Jim had given up his congressional seat to run (later occupied until a few years ago by the infamous Martin Frost- who would still be there if it hadn't been for Tom Delay getting the redistricting through)
Basically Jim's political career was over. He was actually one of the better dems the state has known.
Not that he was good, but ....
And, by the way, Delay was good for Texas and would be good for the house. Too bad whatever happened, happened.
Well, thank God for that. Cause sometimes I just don't like a lot of people.
Nobody ever calls me a Bushbot.
I can't figure it out?????
His parents must be Friday the 13th fans.
Ralph, forgive me for being dense, but I don't understand your post.
You're not dense :-) In the Friday the 13th movies, Jason is the scary guy in the hockey mask who goes around killing the campers at Crystal Lake. Jason's last name is Vorhees.
Wolfstar, as always, your commentary is wonderful. Thanks for posting the pics of our good President.
I watched yesterday's news conference and was cheering when our President slapped down that arrogant, disrespectful David Gregory. The President was awesome. You could SEE his anger with those who would put us in danger. President Bush LOVES this country and he understands that our enemies will try to kill us regardless of how nice we are to them or how much money we give them. It is mind boggling that Senators Warner, Graham, McCain and their ilk do not or will not get this!
God bless George Bush for his courage.
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