HT Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University

The NSA wiretap debate is complicated, raising questions about FISA law and the Authorization to Use Military Force, as well as constitutional issues of separation of powers and the Fourth Amendment. Sometimes, even members of Congress need help interpreting these issues. When House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner needed insight on the law, he contacted Ashbrook’s own Robert Alt and John Eastman for their legal opinions. Robert’s letter to the chairman can be found on the Judiciary Committee’s web site here, and John’s letter can be found here. Robert tackles the statutory questions, showing why it is that Congress’s Authorization to Use Military Force passed in the aftermath of 9/11 gave the President all the statutory authority he needed to conduct the NSA program, and John addresses the separation of powers issues, demonstrating that the President has extensive authority in conducting intelligence operations in wartime.

Both letters are important to the current debate. In fact, Chairman Sensenbrenner wrote to the Congressional Research Service, which had previously written a memo suggesting the wiretap program was unlawful, asking them to respond to critiques of the memo made by Alt and Eastman. Interesting stuff this. Who would think that lawyers might be capable of insight?

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[See the link for PDF downloads of these letters]

By Kenneth R. Timmerman
FrontPageMagazine.com | February 16, 2006

The good news is that the Bush administration has finally understood that talking about freedom is not enough. The United States must devote serious assets to helping pro-democracy forces inside Iran, if there is to be any hope of a long-term resolution to the nuclear crisis with Iran.

The bad news is that after all these years, the administration still has no plan of how to do it.

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice asked Congress yesterday for an extra $75 million to enhance radio and television broadcasting into Iran and to support pro-democracy forces inside Iran. But she couldn’t say with any precision, either during an open hearing with members of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, or in a private briefing later that day, how she wanted to spend the money.

[...]

Finally, it appears, Miss Rice got angry. Or just stepped in and took charge. No administration likes Congress to tell it how to craft policy, although that is exactly what’s been happening with Iran since Congress first threatened sanctions in 1995.

“I want to thank the Congress for giving us $10 million to support the cause of freedom and human rights in Iran this year,” she said on Wednesday. So much for lifting the State Department block on the Brownback-Santorum bill.

[...]

All of this sounds encouraging, until you realize that the only part of the program that has any substance are existing Persian language broadcasts by the Voice of America and by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. And these broadcasts are themselves problematic.

First, VOA. While the Voice of America has tremendous talent, and has made serious efforts over the past year to expand its programming in Persian and make it more professional, VOA remains a U.S. government news source.

This can be an advantage, when the U.S. government speaks with one voice to deliver a powerful message. But more frequently it has been a disadvantage, since VOA’s charter does not allow it to actively subvert foreign governments. And that is precisely what we need in Iran.

In addition, VOA is turning away from radio programming to more expensive television broadcasts, which it intends to “simulcast” over its old radio frequencies. VOA will add one hour a day of short wave broadcasting later this year, in an effort to reach a less urban audience, but that is not enough.

The problem here is Iran’s poverty. Despite fabulous oil revenues, the World Bank estimates that Iran’s per capital income is around $2,000 per year. The audiences we need to reach do not all have access to television. And periodically, the regime conducts massive seizures of satellite dishes, which remain illegal.

We need more radio, especially short-wave, and programming that is geared to informing the Iranian people just how corrupt and brutal are their leaders, and that teaches them the mechanics of political organizing and non-violent protest.

In principle, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty could do this. But its Persian service, Radio Farda (“tomorrow”), has become an open object of ridicule to Iranians. Established in 1997, it became known as “Radio Khatami,” because it openly supported the “reformist” regime of the previous Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami. More recently, it has become irrelevant, playing Brittney Spear and other non-entities in hopes of attracting a younger audience, while splicing in just ten minutes of political programming each hour.

To her credit, Miss Rice seems instinctively to grasp the problem. We need to shut down Radio Farda, help VOA to produce quality radio programs in addition to TV talk shows, and hand over more money to Iranian broadcasters in Los Angeles and elsewhere who have their finger on the pulse of the people inside Iran.

Just as Miss Rice was testifying before Congress, a team of State Department officials was visiting Iranian-American broadcasters in Los Angeles to assess which programs might be worthy of U.S. support. My opinion: let a thousand flowers bloom. The Iranian-American broadcasters know how to craft their own programming. What they need is money to buy satellite time to beam into Iran, and short-wave transmitters to reach the broader population. We should give it to them.

The real question remains the one the State Department avoided last year: what type of programs should the U.S. be supporting inside Iran? And are we prepared for Tehran’s angry response, which could come in the form of a large number of small suicide packages?

The pro-democracy groups are out there. And they are chaffing at the bit. They know what to do and can’t wait to get started.

Anyone ready to overthrow a regime?

HT Spook86 at In From the Cold

Lost in Translation?

According to former UN weapons inspector (and Arabic linguist) Bill Tierney, there are significant differnces between his translation of the Saddam tapes, and the ABC News version. Tierney was originally contracted by a civilian translation agency, working for the U.S. government. He told Sean Hannity that when he learned the disc with the conversations was unclassified, he offered them to ABC, which hired its own translator.


Among the differences: according to Tierney, Saddam never says a terrorist WMD attack "would never come from Iraq." There is also discussion, he says, of getting the French and Russians to help Iraq resolve its problems with UN weapons inspectors. That "assistance" is probably a reference to getting Paris and Moscow to lean on the UN and end the inspection process--a long-term goal of Saddam.

Tierney will appear on Hannity and Colmes at 9 pm tonight, on FNC. Recommended viewing, to say the least.

Link

Saddam talked of WMD attack in U.S.

Tapes show him ‘almost obsessed’ with weapons, don’t prove he had them

By Lisa Myers & the NBC Investigative Unit
NBC News
Updated: 6:29 p.m. ET Feb. 15, 2006

WASHINGTON - Among the treasure trove of information captured after Saddam Hussein's fall were tape recordings of the Iraqi leader discussing weapons of mass destruction with top aides.

Transcripts of Saddam's tapes reviewed by NBC News show him ruminating about future terror attacks in the United States using weapons of mass destruction.

"We shouldn’t be surprised to see a car bomb with nuclear [material] explode [in] Washington, either germ or chemical," Saddam tells aides. "So this is coming,” Saddam says on the tapes, “but not from Iraq," he adds, seeming to indicate that Iraq would not be the source of any such attack.

An unidentified Saddam aide replies that biological weapons are easy to construct: “… any biologist can make it in water tank and kill 100,000 person … so you can’t accuse a country, one person can do it. One American person can do it in a house, next to the White House.”

On another tape, Saddam says future terrorism will be with WMD. "It is possible in the future to see a booby trap and the explosion turns out to be nuclear, germ or chemical."

U.S. intelligence analysts have confirmed to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that Saddam’s voice on the audiotapes is authentic. The analysts believe most of the tapes were recorded in the ’90s, after the first Gulf War.

“What the tapes show is that between the first gulf war and the second gulf war, Saddam Hussein had not lost his appetite for, or interest in, weapons of mass destruction,” says Gary Milhollin of the Wisconsin Project, an advocacy group working to slow the spread of weapons of mass destruction. “To the contrary, he was almost obsessed by them.’’

[...]

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HT Dr. Zin - Regime Change Iran

Russian Political Expert Predicts US Missile Attack on Iran in Early Summer

MosNews

U.S. will launch a missile attack against Iran this summer, says Russian political expert Mikhail Delyagin.

“Lately the demand of U.S. military actions against Iran has become really obvious,” Delyagin was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday.

Delyagin said the current situation was in many ways similar to the situation in 1999 that preceded NATO attack on Yugoslavia, and that of 2003 before the Coalition forces invasion in Iraq.

“I think that today’s statements, the propaganda and the actions allow us to say quite clearly that the missile attack on Iran is a question of time,” he said.

“Judging by the pre-elections motivation, the attack must take place late spring or late summer,”

Delyagin added the attacks will only target nuclear objects.

“It will be a pinpoint, surgical operation. Iran has a limited capacity to response,” he said.

Link

HT Dr. Zin - Regime Change Iran

It's about time!

*****

Yahoo News:

The US administration will ask Congress for another 75 million dollars to boost democracy in Iran amid growing concern over Tehran's nuclear program, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

She told a Senate committee the money, which amounts to more than a doubling of the funding for pro-democracy activities in Iran, would go to stepped-up radio and television broadcasts and other programs.

"The United States has been at the forefront of nations seeking to take Iran to the UN Security Council on fears that it is seeking nuclear weapons," Rice said in prepared testimony for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"The United States will actively confront the aggressive policies of the Iranian regime," she said. "At the same time, we will work to support the aspirations of the Iranian people for freedom and democracy in their country."

A State Department official said the 75 million dollars would be requested as supplemental funding for the 2006 fiscal year, on top of the 60 million dollars already appropriated.

[...]

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Investor's Business Daily
Issues & Insights
Gunsmoke On ABC

Posted 2/15/2006

WMD: Did Saddam Hussein possess weapons of mass destruction? We've always thought so. But proof positive may soon be forthcoming if secret tapes of the Iraqi dictator turn out to be real.

The tapes in question, 12 hours in all, represent recordings of Saddam Hussein discussing the possibility of a terrorist attack on Washington, D.C., and the use of WMD.

The tapes are held by John Loftus, a former U.S. prosecutor, who says they were given to him by a "former American military intelligence analyst." Loftus will officially reveal the tapes on Saturday, during the opening session of the Intelligence Summit, a private conference of former defense and intelligence officials from around the world. ABC News' "Nightline" scheduled a preview of the tapes for broadcast Wednesday night.

Loftus insists the tapes provide the "smoking gun" of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Meanwhile, Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., head of the House Intelligence Committee, said the tapes are authentic and show "Saddam had a fixation on weapons of mass destruction and he had a fixation on hiding what he was doing from the U.N. inspectors."

That's not surprising, since the recordings fit with what we already know: that Saddam had a program to make WMD and likely had some stockpiled — though he also probably shipped them to Syria or Libya shortly before the March 6, 2003, U.S. attack.

That scenario has become clearer in recent days, as two former Iraqi military commanders have come forward to admit that, yes, Saddam had WMD and hid them.

Two weeks ago, we wrote here about Georges Sada, the former No. 2 in Saddam's air force who says Saddam moved his WMD to Syria six weeks before the U.S. invaded — a claim bolstered by Western intelligence at the time.

Now Sada's claim has been confirmed by Ali Ibrahim al-Tikriti, a key commander of Saddam's Fedayeen militia and a close, hometown acquaintance of the former dictator, who says this was all part of Saddam's plan.

Yes, it worked. Americans have heard repeatedly that "Bush lied" about WMD in Iraq to justify war. War critics agree that Saddam once had WMD, but they contend he destroyed them when sanctions were imposed after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

[...]

It'll be interesting to hear what's on Loftus' tapes. They may indeed be a "smoking gun." If so, the case that so many have made against the war for so long will have been blown out of the water.


© Investor's Business Daily, Inc. 2000-2006. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or redistribution is prohibited without prior authorized permission from Investor's Business Daily.

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Brian Ross - ABC News Chief Ivestigative Correspondent

EXCLUSIVE: The Secret Tapes -- Inside Saddam's Palace

ABC News Obtains 12 Hours of Recordings of Saddam Hussein Meeting with Top Aides

By BRIAN ROSS and RHONDA SCHWARTZ

Feb. 15, 2006 — ABC News has obtained 12 hours of tape recordings of Saddam Hussein meeting with top aides during the 1990s, tapes apparently recorded in Baghdad's version of the Oval Office.

ABC News obtained the tapes from Bill Tierney, a former member of a United Nations inspection team who translated them for the FBI. Tierney said the U.S. government is wrong to keep these tapes and others secret from the public. "Because of my experience being in the inspections and being in the military, I knew the significance of these tapes when I heard them," says Tierney. U.S. officials have confirmed the tapes are authentic, and that they are among hundreds of hours of tapes Saddam recorded in his palace office.

Watch "World News Tonight" for more on the secret tapes, and watch ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross' full report on "Nightline" tonight.

[...]

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The New Documents
The release of the Saddam tapes should neither be hyped nor dismissed.
by Stephen F. Hayes
02/15/2006 3:25:00 PM

[Re ABC News release tonight]

FOR MORE than a year, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has sought the release of documents captured in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have pressured Pentagon officials, cajoled intelligence analysts, listened to would-be whistleblowers, interviewed Iraqis and filed numerous Freedom of Information Act requests with multiple government agencies. Today, because of two developments that have nothing to do with these efforts, we will all learn more about the captured documents and what they tell us about our enemies in the global war on terror.

Yesterday, the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, released 28 captured al Qaeda documents in connection with the publication of a study called, Harmony and Disharmony: Exploiting al Qaeda's Organizational Vulnerabilities. The documents come from the Department of Defense's HARMONY database. They provide a fascinating look into the ideology of terror that motivates al Qaeda members and sympathizers, the conflicts among these individuals and groups, and their widely disparate views on everything from Mohammad Farah Aidid in Somalia to the late King Fahd in Saudi Arabia, from working with "infidels" to the terrorists' reaction to the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

[...]

Estimates from people involved in the document exploitation project tell us the U.S. government has in its possession some 2 million "exploitable items." Of that number, less than 3 percent--somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 items--have been fully exploited. The information that will be made public by the end of this week--28 captured al Qaeda documents and 12 hours of audiotape from Iraq--will provide a glimpse of a fraction of a fraction of the total collection.

[...]

Similarly, on the al Qaeda documents: The scholars from West Point examine the relationship in the 1980s between the jihadists from the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the former Iraqi regime. Saddam supported and trained some of these jihadists in his effort to destabilize the Syrian regime. On the one hand, this data suggests that whatever their religious and ideological differences, the jihadists and the allegedly secular Iraqi regime were not opposed to cooperating against a common enemy. This view is supported by an al Qaeda document that reports, among other things, that Osama bin Laden's chief deputy Ayman al Zawahiri sought assistance from both the Iraqi regime and Iran. On the other hand, another al Qaeda document sets forth "lessons learned" from the experience of the past jihadist-Iraq collaboration and concludes that such relationships can be counterproductive and are to be avoided in the future. It's all very interesting and it will be helpful to learn more.

What these documents demonstrate more than anything else is that the U.S. intelligence community and the Bush administration should make document exploitation a high priority.

Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer at The Weekly Standard.

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Time will only tell if John Loftus is on the mark with this one. Rocketsbrain has mentioned before there are stacks of Saddam's documents awaiting translation. Saddam's Regime just like Hitler's Third Reich kept very accurate records of their evil doings.

This tends to fit with the now emerging view that Saddam's WMD went to Syria in the run up to the current Irai War. The pieces of this puzzle have been floating around the Blogos for the last several years. This just resurfaced again with Iraqi Air Force General Sada's book alleging portions of Saddam's WMD were flown to Syria in civilian aircraft that had the seats removed as "disaster relief supplies" after a Syrian dam disaster.

*****

Secret Saddam WMD Tapes Subject of ABC Nightline Special
By Sherrie Gossett
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
February 15, 2006

(CNSNews.com) -- Secret audiotapes of Saddam Hussein discussing ways to attack America with weapons of mass destruction will be the subject of an ABC "Nightline" program Wednesday night, a former federal prosecutor told Cybercast News Service.

The tapes are being called the "smoking gun" of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. The New York Sun reported that the tapes have been authenticated and currently are being reviewed by the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

[...]

On Tuesday night, Loftus told Cybercast News Service that ABC's "Nightline" would air an "extensive report" on the tapes Wednesday night. Loftus also described an ABC News "teaser," which reportedly contains audio of Saddam Hussein discussing ways to attack America with WMD. "Nightline will have a lot more," said Loftus.

The tapes are scheduled to be revealed to the public Friday morning at the opening session of The Intelligence Summit, a conference which brings together intelligence professionals from around the world.

[...]

The exclusive report featured documents showing numerous efforts by Saddam Hussein's regime to work with some of the world's most notorious terror organizations, including al Qaeda, to target Americans.

The documents also demonstrate that Saddam's government possessed mustard gas and anthrax, both considered weapons of mass destruction, in the summer of 2000, during the period in which United Nations weapons inspectors were not present in Iraq. The papers showed that Iraq trained dozens of terrorists inside its borders.

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From GOPUSA

Insider's Book Should Blow Lid Off WMD Debate
By Doug Patton
February 13, 2006

On Sunday morning, February 12, 2006, in a church in Bellevue, Nebraska, I couldn't escape the feeling that I was a witness to history. There, at the sparsely attended 8:30 service, stood Gen. Georges Sada, a retired Iraqi general from Saddam Hussein's air force. As he shared his personal testimony, I found myself wondering how long the so-called mainstream media could ignore the message he was imparting.

Sada is a member of the board of directors of World Compassion, headed by Dr. Terry Law, an Oklahoma minister who accompanied the general on Sunday morning. The reasons for Sada's presence in the church were two-fold: to profess his own Christian faith and to let Americans know that liberating Iraq was the just and right thing to do.

[...]

But most significantly, Sada's book reveals information that should blow the lid off the whole debate over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Remember those WMDs that supposedly don't exist? Well, according to the general, they not only did exist but still do -- in Syria.

[...]

Gen. Sada says that a plot to kill thousands of people in Amman, Jordan, using these same weapons, has since been foiled, thus indicating that they have fallen into the hands of al-Qaida.

Watch for the national media to begin their reluctant coverage of this story. Fox News and talk radio will force them to cover it. And since Sada's documentation is reportedly being examined by the House Select Committee on Intelligence, chaired by U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., they can't ignore it forever. Or can they?

-----------

Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has worked as a political speechwriter, communications consultant and advisor to conservative Republican candidates and elected officials, as well as public policy organizations. His weekly columns are published in newspapers across the country and on selected Internet web sites, including GOPUSA (www.gopusa.com), where he is a senior writer and state editor. Readers may e-mail him at dougpatton@cox.net.

Link

HT In from the Cold

Iraq's WMD File

From the Unfinished Business Department, there are new claims about what might have happened to Saddam's WMD. In a new book, a former senior general in Iraq's Air Force claims that large quantities of WMD materials were flown to Syria in the months before the U.S.-led invasion. The retired Iraqi officer--Air Marshal Georges Sada--reports that two Iraqi transport aircraft made more than 50 WMD flights to Syria, under the guise of humanitarian relief missions for flood victims. Mr. Sada said he learned of the flights from the pilots who flew them.

The original New York Sun story can be found here, and Rick Moran at Right Wing Nuthouse has more on Sada's report. As Rick points out, none of Sada's claims have been fully corroborated, and he's relying on second-hand information, at best. But the reported flights fit a pattern of pre-war activity that saw a steady flow of traffic from Iraq to Syria. This traffic--which consisted mostly of vehicle convoys--has been confirmed by other sources, ranging from the head of the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (retired Lieutenant General James Clapper), and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Gen Clapper, Mr. Sharon and other experts believe the detected traffic was related to the movement of Iraqi WMDs and related material to Syria.

Sada was something of a rarity in Saddam's Iraq--a non-Baathist and Christian who rose to the upper echelons of power. Since the overthrow of Saddam, he has worked as an advisor Prime Minister Allawi, and also serves as Iraq outreach director for an Oklahoma-based evangelical group. Sada never provides any explanation as to why he waited so long to "go public" with his story (other than the fact he's hawking a book). There's also the issue of how reliable the Air Marshal's information might be; he was forced out of the Iraqi Air Force in 1986 (because he refused to join the Baath Party), recalled in 1991 (to interrogate Allied POWs), then tossed into prison himself because he refused Qusai Hussein's order to execute the POWs. He was clearly an "outsider" in the last days of Saddam's regime, although he retained contacts within the Iraqi military.

At the very least, Air Marshal Sada's story sounds credible, and matches pre-war activity that has been confirmed by other, independent sources. He is also highly respected by post-war Iraqi leaders and by American evangelicals who have worked with him, including Dr. Terry New. I've met Dr. New and know him as a man of great integrity who has risked his life to spread the Gospel throughout the Middle East. Dr. New has only the highest praise for Georges Sada, and says "everything he's told me has completely checked out." Given his background and references, Sada's claims cannot be arbitrarily dismissed. But I'm guessing that Sada's book will receive virtually no attention from the MSM, because his information doesn't fit the "Bush lied" template.

Link

HT The Counterterrorism Blog

Ain't this the truth!

*****

My recent article "The Mullah Wars" (which I discussed on the CT Blog) examines internal poltical fissures in Iran that the West should try to exploit as it attempts to stall Iran's production of weapons-grade uranium. The key internal battles are between president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the establishment mullahs who have controlled the country ever since the revolution. Ahmadinejad is a true believer in the Khomeinist vision, while the mullahs have grown fat off the revolution and no longer fully identify with its aspirations. Ahmadinejad hasn't hesitated to point this out. The establishment mullahs have engaged in a campaign of character assassination directed at Ahmadinejad in response, which has only caused Ahmadinejad to escalate his verbal assault.

In the article, I mentioned that even supreme leader Ali Khamenei could be threatened by Ahmadinejad's dangerous idealism: "Khamenei is very much an establishment figure, having served two terms as president before being elevated to supreme leader. Ahmadinejad favors Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, who is considered more ideologically pure than Khamenei. Observers think it possible that Ahmadinejad could try to replace Khamenei with Mesbah Yazdi. While there have only been two supreme leaders in Iran's history, Ahmadinejad could make the switch if he's able to stack the powerful Assembly of Experts with figures loyal to him." Yesterday Amir Taheri had an important article in Asharq Alawsat that explores this threat to Khamenei's power in greater depth. He states that even while the world focuses on Iran's nuclear program, "the other clock, that of the nation's domestic politics, is all but ignored by most commentators"

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SADDAM'S SECRETS - How an Iraqi General Defied and Survived Saddam Hussien

By Georges Sada with Jim Nelson Black

I bought a copy at Barnes & Noble last week and have been reading it in my spare time. I posted some background info on the author that lends to his credibility.

In reading the first few chapters I too believe Iraqi General Georges Sada is sincere, credibible, and a true patriot of the new Iraq. General Sada tells why it was so important to remove Saddam from power. General Sada personally knows Saddam.

The key factor of General Sada's credibility is that he is an Iraqi Christian and was not a member of the Baathist party. He is a pilot's pilot and his true love is flying. He was trained at both US and Russian flight schools.

Rocket has been in transit the last couple of days. Catching up on the news of the world at the Sacramento Airport waiting for a flight.

It's figures. An entrenched stagnant bureaucracy maintains the status quo. No creative thinkers.

*****

New Grant System Excludes Mac Users
Electronic Forms Compatible Only With Microsoft

By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 13, 2006; Page A19

What if the federal government were about to give away more than $400 billion in grants, but only people whose computers ran on Microsoft software could apply?

That is the predicament that many scientists, scholars and others say they are in as the government enters the final phase of its five-year effort to streamline its grant-application process.

[...]

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