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Thursday, June 19, 2008
We are led by war criminals, says general
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Army Maj. Gen. Anthony Taguba led the military’s investigation into the abuse at Abu Ghraib, and he did so honestly and forthrightly. As reward for doing his job well, he was forced to retire from the service he loved.
The two-star general has now written a forward to a report on widespread, systematic, officially sanctioned torture by U.S. soldiers and civilians. His conclusion is stunning:
“This report tells the largely untold human story of what happened to detainees in our custody when the Commander-in-Chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture. This story is not only written in words: It is scrawled for the rest of these individuals’ lives on their bodies and minds. Our national honor is stained by the indignity and inhumane treatment these men received from their captors….
After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”
The truth will emerge, and when it does this nation’s reputation will be seriously damaged in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of its own people. Our shame will be compounded by the fact that for so long we dumped blame for Abu Ghraib and other atrocities on the very lowest soldiers in the chain of command, those powerless to protect themselves, while allowing those at the top of that chain of command to claim clean hands.
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The oil-drilling solution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’ve gone over this before, but since it seems to be taking on new political importance, let’s review:
Would opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other coastal areas to oil drilling have any effect on gasoline prices, as many politicians claim?
No, it would not. For one thing, oil companies already hold a backlog of leases on offshore areas that they haven’t begun to tap, in part because of a global shortage of drilling equipment. They face no shortage of domestic areas waiting to be exploited.
On the other hand, it’s true that drilling technology has improved, and that environmental risks of offshore drilling are much lower than a generation ago. So we probably could begin to assess on a case-by-case basis whether to someday open areas now off-limits to drilling.
However, that would not lower gas prices and it would not alter our basic strategic energy situation. Here’s why:
Take ANWR as an example. Many Americans would be surprised to learn that oil produced from ANWR would be sold to Americans at whatever the global price for oil happened to be. There’s no “hometown discount” - U.S. consumers would pay 100 percent of the global price for ANWR oil, just as we do today for oil produced from Alaska, Texas or the Gulf of Mexico.
That’s because all oil produced in this country goes into the world oil market. All oil sold in this country is bought off the world oil market. The only way to change that would be to nationalize our oil industry.
So there’s only one way that opening ANWR and other areas could lower the price of gasoline here in the United States: It would have to put enough “new oil” on the global market to drive down the price of oil worldwide.
A newly released study by the federal Energy Information Administration says that simply would not happen. According to the EIA, if drilling began in ANWR this year, oil production from that region would peak around 2027-2030. At peak production, ANWR would produce enough oil to lower the world price of oil by about 1 percent.
So if gasoline is selling at $5 a gallon in 2030, that would amount to 5 cents a gallon.
That EIA prediction has actually been confirmed recently in the oil markets. Saudi Arabia has announced it would increase production by 500,000 barrels a day. It sounds like a lot, but it isn’t. Not when you consider total world consumption of about 85 million barrels a day. So it’s no surprise that the Saudi announcement has had no discernible impact on world oil prices.
Furthermore, the EIA predicts that as ANWR oil came on the world market, OPEC would simply cut back its own production, thus keeping the global oil supply - and the global price - unchanged, So in the end, drilling in the wildlife refuge and offshore areas would have little or no impact on oil prices. It is a false hope.
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Martin best pick to face Chambliss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
from today’s editorial….
Five candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate and the right to challenge Saxby Chambliss, the Republican incumbent, in the fall. But only one - former state Rep. Jim Martin — has the experience, the character and the intellect demanded for the role.
Rand Knight, an environmental engineer and software salesman, has the intellect and character but has never held or sought public office. A seat in the U.S. Senate would be too big a step, too soon. Dale Cardwell, a former TV reporter, touts himself as an alternative to “business as usual” but has done nothing to establish himself as more than a protest candidate. Camping out on a tower in the dead of winter may draw publicity, but it is not the act of a potential U.S. senator. Josh Lanier, a retired businessman and consultant, is not running an aggressive campaign.
The remaining candidate, DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones, is a special case. He is a man of large talents and large flaws, but those flaws of temperament, character and judgment are so large as to disqualify him from consideration for higher office.
During his controversial tenure as county executive, Jones has twice been accused of physical confrontations with women, with one case ending only after Jones wrote two apologies to a fellow county official “for the language I used and/or for my conduct toward you, which I now realize was inappropriate and which I now acknowledge has no place in the conduct of our personal and professional affairs.”
In a third case, Jones was accused of rape. His defense — that sexual acts between himself and two women had been consensual, not forced — does not engender confidence in a senatorial candidate. (The charge was later dropped at the request of the alleged victim, who continued to stick by her version of events.)
Voters in a Democratic primary might also question the wisdom of nominating a man who has acknowledged voting for President Bush in 2000 and again in 2004. Having Jones at the top of the Democratic ticket statewide would not just harm the hopes of candidates for lesser office, it would taint the Georgia campaign of presidential nominee Barack Obama as well.
Fortunately, Martin offers an attractive alternative. A Vietnam veteran, he has earned deep bipartisan respect through his service in the state Legislature and as commissioner of the state Department of Human Resources under Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat, and Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican.
Martin also stresses the importance of being an independent voice for Georgia in the Senate regardless of who is elected president, drawing a contrast to the blind allegiance he claims Chambliss has given to Bush. His nomination would bring credit both to his party and to his state.
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