THE DAILY BLADE: Dems Knew About Foley E-Mails For A Year, But Did Nothing To Protect Pages
The Washington Times reports that the Standards of Official Conduct Committee (a.k.a. "the House ethics panel" investigation into the Foley sex scandal unearthed this startling revelation: Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) had been aware of the inappropriate e-mails that ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) sent to a former page since the fall of 2005.
Emanuel was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) when Foley's e-mails to teenage pages became front-page news in late September.
John Fund writes in OpinionJournal’s Political Diary (subscription required):
According to the Committee's report, "the communications directors for both the House Democratic Caucus and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee" had copies of the worst Foley emails back in 2005. The report indicates that Matt Miller, the House Democratic Caucus communications director, did nothing with the emails for months until he decided to send them to various news organizations apparently to gin up negative stories.
The Ethics Committee report makes clear everyone who knew about the emails had a responsibility to act, including Democrats. The emails should "at the very least" have prompted someone to confront Mr. Foley. Instead, the emails apparently only served as fodder for a scandal timed by Democratic staff aides for maximum effect weeks before the 2006 elections.
Six-State Raid Of Meat Plants Nets Hundreds Of Illegals
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided Swift & Co. meat processing plants in six states and arrested 1,300 illegal immigrants in an identity theft investigation that lasted almost a year. ICE is an investigative unit of the Department of Homeland Security.
The alleged scheme involved the theft and/or purchase of the identities and Social Security numbers of several hundred U.S. citizens and legal residents. The six plants that were raided are located in Greeley, CO; Grand Island, NE; Cactus, TX; Hyrum, UT; Marshalltown, IA; and Worthington, MN.
Swift participates in Basic Pilot, a U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services program that validates Social Security numbers of new employees by checking information provided on the Employment Eligibility Verification form (Form I-9) against federal databases. However, the program cannot identify immigrants who have assumed other people’s names and identities.
The federal agents said most of the workers were arrested on administrative immigration violations, but some had existing criminal arrest warrants.
No charges had been filed against Swift.
Are The Iraq Study Group’s Recommendations A Roadmap To Peace And Stability In Iraq?
The Washington Times reports that Iran and Saudi Arabia are gearing up to fight "a proxy war" with one another using Iraq as the battlefield:
U.S. and Iraqi officials fear the sectarian conflict in Iraq will become a proxy war pitting Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim nations against Shi'ite Iran if a U.S. drawdown in Iraq leaves a weak government in place.
The conflict also threatens to strengthen al Qaeda in Iraq, which is seen as supporting the Sunnis in their fight against the steady expansion of Iranian influence over Iraq's Shi'ite-led government, said one Iraqi Sunni exile close to the insurgency.
"It is a religious war," said the exile, who added that Sunni tribal leaders in Saudi Arabia are already funding Sunni insurgents in Iraq.
The Iraq Study Group (ISG) report highlighted Saudi Arabia’s duplicity as a partner in the war on terror. The Saudi government has "declined to provide debt relief or substantial economic assistance to the Iraqi government" while "funding for the Sunni insurgency comes from private citizens in Saudi Arabia" – which further destabilizes the government, and exponentially increases the peril our soldiers face from escalating sectarian violence.
Against this backdrop, and using the principle that "you know a report by its friends," this roundup
of recent articles tells The Stiletto everything she needs to know about whether these recommendations are good for America’s interests in Iraq– and whether they are feasible enough to be worth even trying:
† Saudis Say They Might Back Sunnis If U.S. Leaves Iraq
† Iraqi President Rejects Baker Recommendations
† Baker And Hamilton Defend Report On Iraq
† Panel Response Mirrors Iraqi Divisions
† Arab World Welcomes Iraq Study Group Report
† Kurdish Leader Rejects Baker-Hamilton Report
† A Reality Check On The Iraq Study Group Report
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