Marc Lynch reads the United Arab Emirates newspapers because I can't. The latest talk is that the Shiite coterie around Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has lost patience with the Sons of Iraq and is urging outright disbanding:
Mullen's Choice: Troops For Afghanistan Or Troops For Iraq
With these words, Adm. Mike Mullen joins the ranks of the reality-based community:
We are exploring a number of options and opportunities to get a better understanding of the scope of the threat and the best means with which to counter it. I've made no secret of my desire to flow more forces, U.S. forces, to Afghanistan just as soon as I can, nor have I been shy about saying that those forces will not be available unless or until the situation in Iraq permits us to do so. It's a very complex problem, and it's tied to the drug trade, a faltering economy and, as I've said many times, the porous border region with Pakistan.
There's no easy solution, and there will be no quick fix. More troops are necessary, and some of our NATO allies have recently committed to sending more of their own, but they won't fully ever be sufficient. We need and are pursuing a broader interagency international approach, one that includes infrastructure improvement, foreign investment and economic incentives, and I'm hopeful these efforts will begin to pay off in the near future. But we all need to be patient. As we have seen in Iraq, counterinsurgency warfare takes time, and it takes a certain level of commitment. It takes flexibility.
Justice in Hot Water Over Dubious Grants
Another Justice Dept. scandal is gaining traction. This time, it involves the wife of prominent Republican Bill Bennett.
State of Play: Colombian Hostages Freed
In an operation described in the press as "stunning" and "daring," Colombian military commandos rescued 15 hostages from a Colombian rebel group after years of captivity. The hostages, including three Americans and a French-Colombian politician, had been held in remote jungles by the FARC, a group on the State Dept.'s list of terrorist organizations. The Americans were defense contractors working on anti-drug operations when their plane went down four years ago. The politician, Ingrid Betancourt, was captured while running for president of Colombia six years ago. The freed hostages were flown to a military base in Texas where they will be reunited with their families.
Major American media outlets covered both Betancourt's reunion with her family and the arrival of the American defense contractors.
National Support for Energy Exploration Up
A new Pew Research Center study shows that as gas prices rise, so does support for energy exploration. Last week we reported that Rasmussen and Gallop polls had similar findings.
When Loan Workouts Don't Really Work
Can we just stop the madness now and come out and say it - voluntary loan workouts aren't doing much of anything to stem the mortgage crisis? Hope Now, a private sector group assembled by the Bush administration, released its latest numbers on Wednesday and, although they were, well, kind of awful, the Hope folks did their best to spin them. Sure, the number of workouts declined in May, the group said. But they're on track to complete a total of about 520,000 workouts in the second quarter, the highest since the program began.
Of course it all depends on how you define "workout." If you earn a modest income and you've got an interest only loan that recently reset so that your mortgage payment totals close to $4,000 or so - something not atypical these days - you need your loan modified entirely, the terms changed from top to bottom. You've got to convince the lender to reduce the interest rate on the loan or to convert it to a fixed-rate mortgage. That's a true loan workout.
New at TWI
Toxins hound Suemedha Sood has an update for us on the Consumer Product Safety Commission -- the federal panel that is supposed to protect us from dangerous plastic shower curtains, tainted toys and the like. Over the last few years the commission has seriously deteriorated, losing nearly half its staff. Some lawmakers are on the case.
The Permanent Base Plan Will. Not. Die.
July 31 is the stated goal for President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to ink a deal for an enduring U.S. occupation that neither the Iraqi people nor the American people desire. The deal has looked dead before, but the avarice of imperialism is a lot like a George Romero character. McClatchy and The Washington Post report that Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari forecasts smooth sailing. The Post:
Jeb Bush to Join McCain in Mexico
MEXICO CITY -- The McCain campaign just confirmed that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will join Sen. John McCain here today. Bush, the son of President George H.W. Bush and brother of President George W. Bush, will accompany McCain this morning on a tour of the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe -- the second most-visited Catholic shrine in the world, after St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
Bush did not endorse any Republican candidate during the primaries, though he did contribute $1,000 to McCain's campaign in February -- his only donation to a presidential candidate this cycle.
Consumer Safety Panel Weakened
Some lawmakers have been pressing for a bill that would reinvigorate the stumbling commission since last year's toy recall.
McCain, One Year After Black Friday
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--It seemed another life ago. Here was Sen. John McCain--the Esquire cover boy and the favorite to win the Republican nomination--letting go of many of his highly paid advisers, his campaign seemingly set amongst the ruins and smoldering rubble of great promise. This was July 2007 and the day everything came down was known to most people surrounding McCain supporters as Black Monday as campaign staff and advisers were sent packing. The money had simply run out.
In many ways it was a pivotal moment in the campaign. McCain--now streamlined and free of many financial burdens--returned to New Hampshire where he's treated as an adopted favorite son and proceeded to take the nomination on his terms, in his way. Mitt Romney had more cash. Mike Huckabee had the evangelical cred. Giuliani had, well, two kids who hate his guts. But McCain had experience and guile on his side and damn if he didn't find a way to outlast other candidates with bigger coffers to become the presumed Republican nominee. The Straight Talk Express was back baby!
Uribe Gives McCain a Going Away Present
MEXICO CITY -- Even though McCain campaign staff initially announced there would be no media avail during today’s Straight Talk Express flight from Colombia to Mexico -- because Sen. John McCain was napping -- there was still plenty of excitement. Approximately one hour into the flight, we received news that Colombian military forces had rescued a group of 15 hostages -- including three Americans and French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate who had been held by FARC, left-wing insurgents, for six years.
McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan came back into the press area and informed us that during last night’s meeting between McCain, Sens. Lindsay Graham and Joseph I. Lieberman, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, Uribe informed the senators that the Colombian government had a plan to liberate the hostages. Buchanan said the rescue was a coincidence and McCain did not know in advance the rescue would take place today.
War Contractors May Actually Have to Follow the Law
The New York Times reports that in the midst of negotiating their continued presence in Iraq, the U.S. has made a potentially huge concession-- U.S. government contractors would no longer have immunity from Iraq law. The Iraqi Foreign Minister said such an agreement was made yesterday, reversing an immunity provision drawn up in 2003 by Paul Bremer, then head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
Waxman: White House Knew Of Hunt/Kurdistan Oil Contract
Today the House oversight committee released a reportasserting that the White House knew about an oil deal between the Kurdistan regional government and Texas-based Hunt Oil, though President George W. Bush had claimed he knew nothing about the contract before it was announced. According to the report, Ray Hunt, President of the company, talked to Bush administration advisers months before the deal was made. Also, officials at the Commerce and State departments encouraged the deal and even congratulated Hunt after obtaining the contract.
The deal embarrassed the Bush administration and outraged the Iraqi government when it was announced in September. Bush criticized both parties for making a deal that bypassed the Iraqi national government, especially impolitic as a national oil law was still not established.
McCain on Free Trade in Colombia
CARTAGENA, Colombia -- After a closed press meeting with Colombian soldiers wounded while fighting FARC rebels, Sen. John McCain and his entourage, including his wife and Sens. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), received a briefing on Colombian drug interdiction efforts. The Arizona senator and his wife toured a port by fast boat. The group later returned to the hotel for a press conference with international press.
McCain began the conference by praising the Colombian foreign minister, who had been held hostage by FARC for six years, and called for all hostages to be freed, including three Americans.
