Twelfth Bough

i run my own damn think tank

Archive for January 16th, 2008

Shocking

Jan 16

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney | 4 Comments

The White House recycles. They recycle things like backup tapes, because that is a “best practice” in the industry. What industry, you ask? Oh, that would be the Criminal Industry.

The White House has acknowledged recycling its backup computer tapes of e-mail before October 2003, raising the possibility that many electronic messages — including those pertaining to the CIA leak case — have been taped over and are gone forever.

…Before October 2003, the White House recycled its backup tapes “consistent with industry best practices,” according to a sworn statement by a White House aide.

I’m sorry, but I just have to say, that is rich. You’d think they were running a McDonald’s franchise.

Backup tapes are the last line of defense for saving electronic records.

Separately, the statement reveals the extent to which the White House is apparently unable to answer how many e-mails are missing from White House servers.

The White House “does not know if any e-mails were not properly preserved in the archiving process,” said the statement by Theresa Payton, chief information officer for the White House Office of Administration. “We are continuing our efforts,” said Payton, whose staff is responsible for the White House e-mail system.

If the e-mails were not saved, the White House might have violated two laws requiring preservation of documents that fall into the categories of federal records or presidential records.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that “there is no basis to say that the White House has destroyed any evidence or engaged in any misconduct.”

Fratto said that despite the recycling, some tapes should contain e-mails from before October 2003.

“Of course the disaster recovery backup tapes were, at one time, recycled,” said Fratto. “However, since October 2003, the Office of Administration has retained and preserved its disaster recovery tapes. The disaster recovery system is set up to regularly back up everything on the network for the Executive Office of the president at the time of each backup.”

The recycling of backup tapes by the Bush White House represents a reversal in policy from the final year of the Clinton administration. The Clinton White House halted recycling of backup tapes in March 2000, when it was discovered that some e-mail from the office of Vice President Al Gore was not preserved.

The seven-page document filed in U.S. District Court says the White House in October 2003 “began preserving and storing all backup tapes and continues to do so.” Payton said this means that e-mails sent or received in the 2003-2005 time period should be contained on existing backup tapes.

The period of 2003 and 2005 is the time frame at issue in lawsuits seeking information about possibly millions of missing e-mails at the Bush White House.

…“It appears that the White House has now destroyed the evidence of its misconduct,” said Anne Weismann, the chief counsel for CREW, the other private group that sued.“The White House declaration raises more questions than it answers, specifically the likelihood that for a very significant period of time — March 2003 to October 2003 — the White House recycled its backup tapes,” said Weismann.

“As a result there may be no way to recover the missing e-mails from a period in which the U.S. decided to go to war with Iraq, White House officials leaked the identity of Valerie Plame and the Justice Department started a criminal investigation of the White House,” the lawyer said.

The sworn statement by Payton did not say how early in the Bush administration the recycling of backup computer tapes began. The statement does not say why the White House stopped recycling backup tapes in October 2003.

The Bush Administration behaves in openly criminal ways. They show flagrant disregard for the rule of law. I know everybody already knows this, but still, let it get right under your skin. Pretty soon we will all be preparing our taxes. When you’re sweating out all those damned forms and schedules, trying to line up receipts and every other piece of evidence you need to stay out of the IRS’s way, just think about the White House taking your hard-earned money and blowing it on wars. Think of them giving it to their rich pals. Think of them blithely erasing their emails to cover up their own crimes.

What country is this?

Getting to March

Jan 16

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Iran, Nuclear Weapons, Politics | No Comments

Mohamed ElBaradei visited Iran while Bush was visiting other Middle East countries. This is the most hopeful news article I’ve read in some time.

IAEA spokeswoman in Vienna Melissa Fleming has since confirmed that ElBaradei’s visit has been of a substantive nature, with Iran committing to answering all questions about its past nuclear activities within the coming four weeks, including activities that were alleged by the US as linked to a weapons program. Fleming revealed that ElBaradei was given information on Iran’s “new generation of centrifuges”, which was a topic of considerable interest to the IAEA for assessing the extent of Iran’s technological advancement in the nuclear field. [1]

Fleming claimed ElBaradei was able to “press his case” with his hosts for a suspension of Iran’s uranium enrichment. Conceivably, ElBaradei proposed to the Iranian side an exit strategy for the impasse that the United Nations Security Council currently faces. He told the media he discussed in Tehran “ways of solving the issue as well as ways to negotiate with the United Nations Security Council”. He stressed his intention is “to find solutions for Iran’s nuclear issue so as to turn the problem into a normal issue”. The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh, also confirmed that “grounds are now being prepared” for resolving all issues and that Tehran has the “necessary political determination” in this direction.

This looks like a big deal, and the timing means that events from now through March will be critically important. A huge power shift is taking place, I think for the better, but it’s very dangerous because the neocons must be desperate to achieve their goals before it’s too late. The window of opportunity inches shut with each day.

ElBaradei being in Tehran has major implications. In Iranian politics itself, it becomes a boost for Ahmadinejad’s standing and is bound to cast its shadow on the parliamentary elections of March 14. The continuing cooperation between Iran and the IAEA makes it virtually impossible for the Bush administration to rake up the matter in the Security Council. The indications are that Paris senses that President Nicholas Sarkozy needlessly antagonized Tehran. European rhetoric on the whole has diminished. Russia and China are able to dig in with greater conviction on the issue in the Security Council, while at the same time they feel more comfortable in pressing ahead with their strategic cooperation with Iran.

All eyes are now on the report of ElBaradei at the IAEA meeting in March. Tehran, naturally, is pinning high hopes that the Iran nuclear file may become a routine affair involving a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty member country. But the most important outcome of the ElBaradei visit is perhaps its impact in molding regional opinion in the Middle East and in the Persian Gulf region.

It gives the decisive push to the “pro-West” Arab regimes to turn their backs on Bush’s desperate pleas to join an anti-Iran coalition. Even for the most ardent “pro-West” Arab regimes, there is a serious problem now in identifying with the US-Israeli chorus. Equally, this “new thinking” will have implications for the Palestine-Israel peace process, as well as the situation in Lebanon and Iraq. Simply put, Tehran may be on the verge of breaking through to mainstream Arab regional politics - a historic breakthrough.

This excellent article goes on to describe in some detail the current positions of various Arab nations on Iran and the United States. It does not appear that they will be easily drawn into a conflict. US power and credibility, under the scurrilous leadership of George W. Bush, has withered away.

In the Arab world, perceptions matter the most, and nothing hurts more than being made to look foolish. The Filipino Monkey and Jafari have caused havoc on US standing in the Persian Gulf. Washington looks foolish. The Arabs have assessed that the right thing to do is to bide their time until a new president moves into the White House - which is also what Tehran’s substitute Friday prayer leader Khatami advised them to do.

Well, Washington looks foolish because Washington is foolish, and everybody knows it but the very people in power. God willing, it’s time to put the crazies back in the box.