Day: April 2, 2006

Why Won’t Reporters Ask Bush about Permanent U.S. Bases in Iraq?

Jon Ponder

Gary Hart wants to know why the White House Press Corps is avoiding an obvious question:

“As we learned nothing from the French experience in Indochina, we have learned nothing from the 28-year British occupation of Iraq.”
— Gary Hart

I have been pleading with the American press corps for months to ask the Bush administration one simple question, a question designed to expose our true agenda: “Are we, or are we not, constructing permanent military bases in Iraq?” Full stop.

Finally, this from Gen. John Abizaid, our senior military commander in Iraq: The United States may want to keep a long-term military presence in Iraq to bolster moderates against extremists in the region and to protect the flow of oil…

As we learned nothing from the French experience in Indochina, we have learned nothing from the 28-year British occupation of Iraq. Presumably, our remaining forces, say 50,000 to 75,000, will be garrisoned outside the chaotic urban areas where they will be used to keep Syria at bay, intimidate the Iranians, and protect the Saudis (and their/our oil). Problem is, garrisoned U.S. forces will be safe within their fortresses from suicide bombers but sitting targets for mortars and IEDs launched by primitive artillery.

Hasn’t this been the long-range plan all along? In the run-up remember hearing that we could use a conquered Iraq as a sort of aircraft carrier from which we could police the Middle East.

Last One Out of the Harris Campaign, Please Turn Out the Light

Jon Ponder

Saturday mutiny: The floundering campaign of Rep. Katherine Harris, a Republican, to take the seat of Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, took a triple hit yesterday when four top advisers resigned:

Congresswoman Katherine Harris’ U.S. Senate bid suffered a surprising setback Saturday with the resignation of her campaign manager, press secretary, media consultant and outreach director.

“I didn’t know I was going to get the knives in my back from my own party, and I’ll be honest, it’s infiltrated my campaign staff.”
— Harris

“I was told if I didn’t get out of the race, I would have an April surprise,” Harris said at a meeting at the First Baptist Church of Cocoa Beach, where she met with about 50 Brevard County Republican stalwarts Saturday morning. She said she could not verify who warned her.

“I didn’t know I was going to get the knives in my back from my own party, and I’ll be honest, it’s infiltrated my campaign staff . . . For too long, we have been undermined by people in our own party and staffers in our own campaign.”

Harris said campaign manager Jamie Miller, campaign spokeswoman Morgan Dobbs, director of field operations Megan Ortagus and media consultant Adam Goodman have been replaced by people who will be publicly announced next week.

“We have real professionals coming on board,” Harris said.

Former campaign manager Jim Dornan, who resigned in November, disagreed.

“She had the best people in the country. This is a campaign that is spiraling downward by the minute and the smartest thing for her to do would be to get out of the race,” Dornan said. “Katherine’s trying to run it and a candidate can’t run her own campaign. It’s foolish for her to try.”

The resignations follow a half-dozen others from Harris’ campaign in recent months.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had anything quite like it,” said David Colburn, a history professor at the University of Florida and the author of several books on Florida politics. “I can’t help thinking what the Republican Party is going to do.”

Meanwhile, recent polls show that the incumbent, Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, maintains a healthy lead:

Nelson, who was targeted by the White House as one of five “red state” Democrats who might be toppled, remained above 50 percent [at 51 percent] in the Mason-Dixon Florida Poll.

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