by TChris

The White House wants to "reinterpret" the Geneva Conventions to permit a more aggressive approach to the interrogation of prisoners. John Negroponte told recalcitrant Republican senators that the Conventions "impose intolerable limits on any interrogation methods American intelligence officers might use against future terror suspects held by the Central Intelligence Agency in secret overseas prisons."

Those limits protect American soldiers from abuse and torture. It is intolerable that an administration official would advocate the weakening of an international agreement that safeguards captured Americans.

According to the NY Times, President Bush is "trying to put Democrats in a box by forcing them to take a stand and vote on Mr. Bush's authority to run two of his most controversial antiterror programs." Do Democrats need to be "forced" to take a stand against torture? Shouldn't we expect Democrats to stand in favor of long-standing agreements that assure humane treatment of American prisoners?

Talk show producers are relentless when trying to get guests with first-hand knowledge of a tragedy. They circle like wolves, cajoling and promising fair treatment.

That's not what Melissa Duckett got from Nancy Grace's show this week when she agreed to an on-air telephone interview with Nancy. She got cross-examined and practically accused of being responsible for her son's disappearance.

The interview was taped on September 7 and scheduled to air September 8. Hours before it aired, Ms. Duckett went to her grandparents' home, took a shotgun and killed herself.

Police have not named Ms. Duckett as a suspect in her son's disappearance, although she appears to be a person of interest to them (as are all parents in such cases.)

Duckett's family members disputed any suggestion that she hurt her son. They said that the strain of her son's disappearance pushed her to the brink, and the media sent her over the edge.

David Brock of Media Matters writes a great letter to ABC and Disney. First, he lists the film's major errors:

In fact, the miniseries was so rife with errors that even some conservatives spoke out against it. The first part of the film not only misrepresents some Clinton administration officials but also provides false depictions of others, including, reportedly, former FBI counterterrorism expert John O'Neill, who died on September 11, 2001, in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, where he was head of security.

The second half of the miniseries, which aired on September 11, also contained scenes that were factually inaccurate, this time showing President Bush taking aggressive action there is no indication he ever took. For example, in the film, Vice President Dick Cheney, after conversing with Bush over the phone immediately following the crash of American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, announced: "The president has just given the shoot-down order." Vanity Fair published an analysis of the recordings from the control room at NORAD's Northeast headquarters from September 11, 2001, indicating that Bush did not actually give the order to shoot down the hijacked airplanes; he authorized military commanders to make the decision themselves, and he did not grant that authorization until 41 minutes after Flight 77 had struck the Pentagon.

Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) reports that the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue has lost its tax-exempt status.

Bob Novak has a new column today disputing Richard Armitage's version of the Valerie Plame leak.

First, Armitage did not, as he now indicates, merely pass on something he had heard and that he ''thought'' might be so. Rather, he identified to me the CIA division where Mrs. Wilson worked, and said flatly that she recommended the mission to Niger by her husband, former Amb. Joseph Wilson. Second, Armitage did not slip me this information as idle chitchat, as he now suggests. He made clear he considered it especially suited for my column.

Novak writes that June, 2003 was the first time Armitage had sought him out. Before this, Armitage had rebuffed him:

First, the bad news. MSNBC has terminated its relationship with Eric Alterman, writer of its best blog, Altercation.

The good news: Altercation will be moving to Media Matters, where Eric will be a senior fellow.

Update your bookmarks, the new Altercation will be here, starting Sept. 18.

When I started TalkLeft in 2002, Altercation was one of my favorite blogs. Eric was gracious enough to link to it early on. After that, he let me help select and update the list of bloggers on his blogroll and guest write Altercation numerous times when he was out of town, which I continued to do through this summer.

I suspect the higher-ups at MSNBC want to limit themselves to blogs by their tv anchors, reporters and political analysts, in hopes that they can internally feed viewers and readers to each other. There's nothing wrong with that, but still, MSNBC is losing its most independent and provacative voice, and for that I'm sad.

On the other hand, kudos to Media Matters for having the foresight and wisdom to add Eric to their ever-growing team.

(Guest Post by Big Tent Democrat)

So the question is will Iran stand up so the U.S. can stand down?:

In his first state visit to Iran, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki today discussed the security situation in Iraq with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and asked for Mr. Ahmadinejad's support in quelling the violence that threatens to fracture this country.

"We had a good discussion with Mr. Ahmadinejad," Mr. Maliki said at a news conference in Tehran, the Iranian capital, after the two met. "Even in security issues, there is no barrier in the way of cooperation." Mr. Ahmadinejad said that "Iran will give its assistance to establish complete security in Iraq because Iraq's security is Iran's security."

For Mr. Maliki, the visit was a kind of homecoming, since he had spent a part of his exile years during Saddam Hussein's rule living in Tehran. Many members of Mr. Maliki's Shiite political group, the Islamic Dawa Party, fled to Iran to escape the wrath of Mr. Hussein's security forces. Iranian leaders are close to Dawa and other religious Iraqi Shiite parties, because Iran is governed by Shiite Persians.

Iran wins. So what about that Axis of Evil?

by TChris

This TalkLeft post criticized President Bush (and the media) for promoting the nonsensical phrase "Islamic fascist." Senator Feingold yesterday echoed that criticism.

"We must avoid using misleading and offensive terms that link Islam with those who subvert this great religion or who distort its teachings to justify terrorist activities," Feingold said Tuesday in a speech to the Arab American Institute on Capitol Hill. ...

"Fascist ideology doesn't have anything to do with the way global terrorist networks think or operate and it doesn't have anything to do with the overwhelming majority of Muslims around the world who practice the peaceful teachings of Islam," Feingold said.

Predictably, the spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee dismissed Feingold's call for the president to stop slandering a religion, accusing Feingold of "overreaching political correctness."

by TChris

Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer: "I think we are winning this war."

Tony Snow: "It is conceivable that other people have differing assessments."

Despite his optimism, Zilmer concurs with the "frank and candid" analysis of "Col. Pete Devlin, the Marine intelligence chief in Iraq, who concluded that prospects for securing Anbar province are dim."

According to several Defense Department officials who have read the report, Devlin also argued that the lack of political progress has created a political vacuum in the province. He wrote that the gap is being filled by the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, said one Army officer who read the assessment.

Today's news from Iraq provides little cause for optimism:

by TChris

Michael Chertoff tells us that the goal of al Qaeda is to bankrupt the United States. If so, the President is surely assisting al Qaeda by squandering public resources on the war in Iraq.

Chertoff explained that "the American public must accept that the government cannot protect every possible target against attack." There's no doubt that choices need to be made -- better choices than cutting anti-terrorism grants to New York so that money can be diverted to protect petting zoos and popcorn factories. But finding money to protect ports and to inspect cargo would be easier if the Bush administration didn't continue to squander billions on a war that simply breeds supporters of terrorism.

by TChris

Missouri's latest attempt to fashion a protocol for executing condemned prisoners by lethal injection failed to satisfy Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. Judge Gaitan wanted a board-certified anesthesiologist to participate in executions to assure that the injected drugs do not cause excruciating pain in a conscious prisoner, but no anesthesiologist was willing to help the state take a life. Judge Gaitan modified his order yesterday to permit "a physician with training in the application and administration of anesthesia to either mix the chemicals or to oversee the mixing of the chemicals for lethal injection."

Gaitan also said the protocol must include additional safeguards for ensuring that inmates were adequately anesthetized before the injection of succeeding chemicals that stop their breathing and heart.

Judge Gaitan barred the doctor who had mixed the drugs in the past from participating in future executions.

Why would I fly to New York for a day? Because former President Bill Clinton invited a group of progressive bloggers (who happen to be Democrats) in for a 2 hour roundtable meeting at his Harlem office. It was awesome. More later, including a list of all the bloggers there (and yes, even the TL kid was there, thrilled at the opportunity.)

Bill Clinton, Peter Daou, Jeralyn Merritt

Bill Clinton and Bloggers

Criminal defense lawyers take note: He's far better on our issues than we thought while he was President, from mandatory minimums, to drug courts to restoring the right to vote to former offenders. I'm totally impressed.

More later, time to board the plane. I'll have lots more pictures up tonight as will all the bloggers there. I'll also update with a list of the bloggers.

First Update: