Weak On Terrorists

President Bush has lately been speaking a lot about how he is doing everything possible to track down terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is thought to be orchestrating deadly attacks on U.S. soldiers in Iraq. What he is not saying is that the Bush administration repeatedly rejected Pentagon plans to neutralize Zarqawi in 2002 and 2003 before the war. According to NBC News:

"Long before the war, the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself — but never pulled the trigger...In June 2002, U.S. officials say intelligence had revealed that Zarqawi and members of al-Qaida had set up a weapons lab at Kirma [the autonomous northern Iraq region not controlled by Saddam Hussein]. The Pentagon quickly drafted plans to attack the camp with cruise missiles and airstrikes and sent it to the White House, where, according to U.S. government sources, the plan was debated to death in the National Security Council...Four months later, intelligence showed Zarqawi was planning to use ricin in terrorist attacks in Europe. The Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, and the White House again killed it...In January 2003, the threat turned real. Police in London arrested six terror suspects and discovered a ricin lab connected to the camp in Iraq. The Pentagon drew up still another attack plan, and for the third time, the National Security Council killed it. Military officials insist their case for attacking Zarqawi’s operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam."

You can read the full NBC News story here.

Cheney Went Abroad To Attack America

Check out the newest article Jonathan Baskin and I published - it shows how Dick Cheney actually did business with regimes the State Department listed as state-sponsors of terrorism. It also shows how Cheney actually went abroad in the 1990s to attack the U.S. government for not loosening sanctions on terrorist countries.

The story can be found at the American Prospect.

Cheney Loves Trial Lawyers

For the last four years, Vice President Dick Cheney has been out on the campaign trail saying “we need legal reform because the strength of our economy is undermined by frivolous lawsuits." Just a few months ago, the LA Times wrote a piece headlined "Cheney Says Rivals Too Cozy With Lawyers."

But as a new report shows, Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney had a love affair with trial lawyers, filing 151 court claims in 15 states in just 5 years. On average, Cheney’s company petitioned America’s legal system 30 times per year. Most of the suits were against corporations – the exact kind of torts Cheney now says he wants to limit.

Even today, Halliburton is actually suing its own retirees because they complained about health benefit cuts.

Why Is The White House Fighting Reimportation?

President Bush continues to refuse to support allowing American seniors to purchase lower-priced, FDA-approved medicines from Canada. His administration has claimed such medicines are unsafe - parrotting the drug industry's argument. But according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, even some high level pharmaceutical executives now admit just how much of a red-herring that assertion is:

Peter Rost, vice president of marketing for endocrine care at Pfizer said "During my time responsible for a region in northern Europe, I never, not once, heard the drug industry, regulatory agencies, the government or anyone express any concern related to safety. And I think it is outright derogatory to claim that Americans would not be able to handle reimportation of drugs when the rest of the world can do this...We have to speak out for the people who can't afford drugs, in favor of free trade and against a closed market."

See the full article here.