ENVIRONMENT Global warming

From American Progress report

Bush's Bake Sale

Dozens of world leaders are currently assembled at the United Nations to create a "road map" for reducing greenhouse gas emissions once the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Yesterday, President Bush skipped the meetings, but managed to show up in time for a dinner hosted by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Even though a new poll finds that 90 percent of people worldwide believe action i

s necessary on climate change, Bush continues to undermine global progress on emission reductions. On Thursday, he will host a meeting of the world's major emitters of greenhouse gases where he will push them to accept his misguided framework of "voluntary" reductions. Embracing the rhetoric of global warming isn't enough. Scientists estimate that the world needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50-80 percent by 2050 to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. "Today, the time for doubt has passed," Ban told the General Assembly. "Inaction now will prove the costliest action of all in the long term.


BUSH'S ALTERNATE, 'ASPIRATIONAL' UNIVERSE: Thursday's White House-sponsored meeting will include the 15 major emitters of greenhouse gases, in addition to the United Nations and the European Union. Most of these countries are signatories to the Kyoto Protocol, with the exception of the United States and Australia, which remain the only major industrialized nations to stay out of the international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions. As Center for American Progress Senior Fellows Joseph Romm and Daniel J. Weiss note, Bush's meeting will end up starting "another process outside the United Nations and post-Kyoto talks -- a process consisting of multiple meetings that don't finish their work until the very end of his presidency." The Bush administration has made clear that it wants each country to adopt voluntary "aspirational" goals to reduce emissions. By convening this separate meeting, Bush is essentially undermining the mandatory caps on emissions that the United Nations is attempting to negotiate.

VOLUNTEERISM IS FOR BAKE SALES, NOT GLOBAL WARMING: Bush announced his idea for this major emitters meeting just five days before the G-8 summit in June. He said that he wanted the United States to be involved in post-Kyoto talks on greenhouse gas emissions, but that the focus should be on a "long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases." The Bush administration hailed the major emitters meeting as a "new" policy on climate change. Yet pushing for toothless, watered-down climate policies is nothing new for this administration. At the G-8 summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed that countries adopt a 50 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, "but had to settle for compromise language after President Bush made it clear the United States would not agree to it." Earlier this month, Bush also convinced leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation agree to a "long-term aspirational goal" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, instead of binding targets. Yesterday, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) told The Progress Report that Bush's focus on voluntary reductions is misguided and destructive. "We simply know that volunteerism is great for PTA bake sales, but they will not reorder the economic system of the world, and move to a clean energy technology," said Inslee.

HIDING BEHIND AMERICA'S SKIRTS: Bush's refusal to join the international community in battling climate change is more than just a nuisance. The United States is "responsible for roughly one-quarter of the world's carbon dioxide" and other greenhouse gases. While many nations have already agreed to adopt significant greenhouse gas reductions, U.S. action on the issue would make it more likely that countries such as China, India, and Brazil would do so as well. "The leadership role of the United States is absolutely essential," said former senator Timothy E. Wirth, who is now president of the United Nations Foundation. "Unless the United States decides that it wants to be a major and committed leadership player in this and make very specific commitments, much of the rest of the world is effectively going to hide behind the skirts of the United States and not do anything."
PUSHING FORWARD ON MANDATORY CAPS: Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) wrote to Bush and urged him to support "mandatory national and international limits," as well as Congress's energy bill that is currently being held up by Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and other conservatives. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy estimates that the strongest provisions of the House and Senate legislation -- including increasing fuel economy to 35 mpg and establishing a 15 percent renewable electricity standard -- could cut greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 20 percent by 2030, compared to business as usual. This bill would be an essential contribution to meeting long-term global warming pollution reduction goals. Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and John Warner (R-VA) are putting together a bill with a market-based approach that could reduce emissions by 70 percent by 2050. The bill, likely to be introduced in October, has "already garnered tentative support from members who have previously been opposed to measures mandating carbon limits." Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Todd Stern and Brookings Institution scholar William Antholis have also put together a plan for an E-8 summit that would "consist of four developed and four developing countries (or entities) focused on global ecological and resource problems." "While an E-8 would be small enough to facilitate productive dialogue," they write, "it would have such a formidable footprint that its actions would be consequential in their own right and could set the terms of the policy debate more broadly."

News Unfit to Print

By Carlton Meyer

Aug/09/2007

Americans have limited news because editors fear upsetting readers. There are millions of naïve American simpletons who become furious at bad news and blame the messenger. Traditionally, news organizations did their best to report the facts while management rebuffed angry responses from those who disapprove of reality. Over the past decade, news departments have been absorbed by entertainment divisions keen on ratings, so they ignore news that may upset some viewers. For example, most of the U.S. Army consists of excellent soldiers, but the integrity of some senior generals is disappointing. Here are four shocking news stories from this year that America’s corporate media declared unfit to print: American Paratroopers Lynch Arab-American Sergeant A U.S. Army sergeant was found hanged with his hands cuffed behind his back. He was an Arab-American, Sameer Rateb, who grew up in the USA. Rateb had already served his initial three year enlistment, and had just reenlisted for five more. He was going home on leave from Iraq in a few days with plans to visit his parents. Perhaps Rateb was killed by Muslim-hating soldiers, or maybe he was upset by illegal activity and someone worried that he might file complaints while back in the USA. The Army immediately ruled his death a suicide, but opened a criminal investigation only after his mother complained. The Army insists that finding the truth takes time, maybe 18 months.[1] It is possible that he committed suicide, but that seems unlikely. He wasn’t a young teenage soldier, but a 22-year old sergeant. He left no suicide note. Moreover, soldiers have ample ammunition. If they want to die, it is far easier and less painful to shoot oneself in the head. Hanging requires finding a rope, somewhere to hang it where no one is around for several minutes while the hangee suffers a slow death. Then he cuffed his own hands behind his back before getting his head in the noose? In addition, this would embarrass his family. Why not just pull a grenade pin and wait for death? On the other hand, suicidal people are not always rational. What is clear is that America’s corporate media will not cover this story. Army Deploys Unready Brigade The U.S. Army’s “Stryker” brigade from Fort Lewis deployed to Iraq in early May. It had target strength of 4000 men, but 700 stayed behind for various legal and medical reasons. An Army officer admitted this was a very high figure, which indicates that hundreds of soldiers sought reasons to miss the 15-month deployment. The officer mentioned that such problems have become common in other deploying units.[2] Within two months of arrival, the unit suffered 17 killed and 170 wounded, which included 30 so disfigured that they were sent home. At this rate of attrition, during the remaining 13 months, the 3300 soldiers that deployed with this brigade can expect another 110 killed and 1105 wounded, to include 195 so badly injured they will be discharged. After this brigade returns to Fort Lewis, surviving soldiers can expect to return to Iraq within a year since President Bush has indicated that pacifying Iraq may take 50 years of sacrifice. As a result, career soldiers should expect they will end up dead or crippled before they can retire. Football Star Murdered by Army Ranger Pat Tillman was a handsome American football star who enlisted in the U.S. Army after the 9-11 terror attacks to fight terrorists. He was assigned to an elite U.S. Army ranger unit and rose to the grade of corporal. He was killed while on patrol in Afghanistan and hailed as a national hero by President Bush. After unofficial reports from fellow rangers made their way to Tillman’s family, the Army admitted that Tillman was killed by “friendly fire” from fellow soldiers. Army generals claimed his death was a typical accident of war during a major firefight with the Taliban. Tillman’s family had doubts since the Army never explained why all Tillman’s personal effects and gear were burned immediately after his death. The family learned that the Army had not performed an investigation into his death, which is required whenever a soldier dies from an accident. The Army conducted an investigation after the Tillman family complained, but refused to release details. The Army recently complied with a Freedom of Information Act request from the Associated Press concerning Tillman’s death.[3] These documents revealed that no Afghans were in the area when Tillman was killed. No one else was killed or injured, and no government equipment damaged. Army doctors thought Tillman had been murdered since he died from three bullet holes to the forehead, which was inconsistent with the explanation of the incident given by ranger officers. The doctors estimated the shooter would have to be less than 10 yards from Tillman when he fired those three rounds. This new information revealed that Army generals refused to conduct the required investigation, so belligerent Army doctors took the unusual step of bypassing the chain-of-command and contacting Army generals in the USA to complain. They were rebuffed, and an investigation only occurred because some of Tillman’s ranger comrades provided details to his family. There are other facts to consider not found in these Army documents. First, Americans carry M-16 and M-4 rifles that fire a 5.56mm round. Afghans carry Soviet-type weapons that fire the much louder 7.62mm round. The sound from these weapons is distinct, so it easy determine friend from foe when shooting starts. Second, a rifle barrel moves when fired as the bullet exits, and the human body jerks from the impact of a bullet. Shooting Tillman three times in the forehead with an “accidental” burst of automatic rifle fire is nearly impossible. The shooter had to fire, aim, fire, aim, and fire to hit him neatly in the forehead with three shots. It is obvious that Pat Tillman was murdered, something his mother has openly declared. Perhaps he was personally disliked by a ranger in his unit. Given that Tillman had become a vocal critic of the invasion of Iraq and frequently called President Bush a war criminal, it is not unthinkable that a fanatical ranger decided to kill this dissident. Tillman was scheduled to return to the USA soon and meet with prominent anti-war activist, MIT Professor Noam Chomsky. A famous anti-war former ranger touring the USA would devastate the Bush administration and the U.S. Army, so his death was fortunate for some. Americans find this controversy fascinating, as Internet chatter reveals. Fox News fills hours of airtime with detailed investigations of missing teenagers and murders of obscure housewives. Certainly, the murder of a football star by a fellow ranger is newsworthy, and would draw large numbers of viewers, yet the supposedly ratings hungry “news” organizations declared this murder unfit to print. American General Compares the U.S. Army to the Mafia When reports of abuses at the Army-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq reached senior army officers in 2004, an investigation was ordered. The general in charge of the prison was a one-star, so a more senior general was required to lead the investigation. Major General Antonio M. Taguba had just arrived in Kuwait, so he was assigned. His detailed, confidential investigation about the abuse was sent to senior Army officers, and top civilian leaders in the Department of Defense. Many senior generals were upset that Taguba reported the truth, among them four-star General John Abizaid, then the head of Central Command. They felt Taguba should have covered-up the hundreds of cases of torture. According to a June 25, 2007 article in the New Yorker, a few weeks after his report was leaked to the public by an unknown person, Taguba found himself in the back seat of a Mercedes sedan with Abizaid who issued warning: “You and your report will be investigated.” “I wasn’t angry about what he said but disappointed that he would say that to me,” Taguba said. “I’d been in the Army thirty-two years by then, and it was the first time that I thought I was in the Mafia.”[4] Taguba was forced to retire, and no Army officers have been prosecuted for those war crimes. Taguba declared in 2007: “I know that my peers in the Army will be mad at me for speaking out, but the fact is that we violated the laws of land warfare in Abu Ghraib. We violated the tenets of the Geneva Convention. We violated our own principles and we violated the core of our military values. The stress of combat is not an excuse, and I believe, even today, that those civilian and military leaders responsible should be held accountable.”[5] ______________________________________________ [1] “Army soldier hanged, mom says”, Atlantic City, June 7, 2007. [2] “Stryker Brigade felt strain even before it left for battle”, Seattle Times, July 29, 2007. [3] “Was Tillman Murdered?”, Editor & Publisher, July 26, 2007. [4] “The General’s Report ”, The New Yorker, June 25, 2007. [5] Ibid.